Michelle Williams was on hand at the Palm Springs International Film Festival too, joining the likes of Brangelina, George Clooney and Charlize Theron. Michelle won the Desert Palm Achievement Award for her work as Marilyn Monroe in My Week With Marilyn (which I will discuss in a moment). First, lets’ talk about Michelle’s look. The mini-dress (or cocktail dress) is Prada. It’s cute… but I’m not in love with it. I would have liked to have seen a version of the dress that was all-beaded, you know? I don’t think the skirt is as special as it wants to be, but the beaded top part is lovely. Michelle has also (finally) darkened her hair. This thrills me to no end – I really disliked the too-white-blonde hair she had been sporting ever since she played Marilyn. This reddish-brunette suits her coloring so much better, and she looks less like a Mia Farrow-wannabe.

As for My Week With Marilyn, I finally saw it a few weeks ago, and I have to admit, I was impressed. I still think Michelle’s voice work as Marilyn was hit-or-miss, but overall, her performance was noteworthy, and I wouldn’t hate it if she was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar. I would hate it if she won, though. Kenneth Branagh – who was on hand at Palm Springs to honor Michelle – was really very good at Laurence Olivier, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he got an Oscar nomination as well. But I have to admit that my favorite part of the film was Dame Judi Dench. She only had a few scenes, and she owned them, beautifully. On the whole, the film can get a little bit cloying and eye-roll-inducing (it wants to be a great love story, but really it’s a portrait of a screwed up movie star), but the period details are fantastic, and it’s worth watching for the actors’ performances.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Dear Michelle Williams,

We get it. You’re virginal and pure. You are fragile and delicate. Noted. You always wear creams and whites and barely-there beiges and those colors combined with your skin, it’s blinding me. Try blue. Try red. Try violet. Because these creams and whites and are making my eye twitch.

Love, Me.

So… yeah. These are photos of Michelle Williams and Kenneth Branagh at the NYC premiere of My Week With Marilyn last night. Michelle wore this wispy little white Erdem dress and black Roger Vivier shoes which don’t really go with the dress. The dress itself is very pretty. I would love it on Sofia Vergara. I would love it on Angelina Jolie. I would not love it on Anne Hathaway. You know why? Because much like Michelle, Anne Hathaway is too pale to make these creams and whites work. And much like Michelle, Anne is the other girl who would also try to make this dress work.

Note: I’m not hating on pale girls. I love the pale and proud girls. I love all of you and your SPF. I love nothing more than a pale person with some adorable freckles. I just wish *some* pale girls would know when they’re giving people snow-blindness when they wear colors that are much too light.

By the way, doesn’t Kenneth Branagh look good these days? I haven’t liked him in a while (the Emma Thompson thing), but he’s aging really well, isn’t he? Very distinguished and dashing.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

These are photos from the Australian premiere of Thor, that film starring Australian nobody Chris Hemsworth, and directed by Shakespearean actor Kenneth Branagh. The film has a really good cast, actually: Natalie Portman, Jeremy Renner, Idris Elba, Anthony Hopkins, and Renee Russo are all in it too – but none of them is showing up to promote the damn movie, and so now I’m thinking that the film is a train wreck. Maybe I won’t even have to learn anything about Chris Hemsworth, because his career will be over after this. Just in case, here are the basics: he’s Aussie, he’s the older brother of Liam Hemsworth, best known as Miley Cyrus’s on-again/off-again boyfriend. Here’s what else I know about him: he’s very pretty. Very, very pretty. Too pretty for my tastes, but I suspect that he’s got the kind of prettiness that CB enjoys in a man.

So as I was glancing through the photos from the Australian premiere, I caught sight of Kenneth Branagh too. Ken is looking… really good, right? And this is my problem: if I was given the choice between Ken and Chris, I would go home with Ken. He’s infinitely sexier to me than some blonde Aussie pretty boy. What is wrong with me? Am I the only one so skewed on men?

Photos courtesy of WENN.

In one of the more confusing directorial decisions I’ve ever encountered, Kenneth Branagh is directing an epic film on the Norse god of thunder, Thor. The movie will be based on the Marvel comic book adaptation of the story. Though the project was announced months ago, there has been very little speculation about the film because there has been very little talk from its directors or producers. Back in December, MTV asked Branagh a few questions about the movie and got some usual stock answers.

So what’s the appeal of “Thor,” Kenneth? “To work on a story about one of the immortals, Gods, extraordinary beings, inter-dimensional creatures,” he enthused.

He continued excitedly, “There’s science fiction and science fact and fantasy all woven into one. It’s based on Norse legends which Marvel sort of raided in a brilliant way.”

[From MTV]

Now, finally, the first full-blown news on the film comes in the form of a casting call for the lead.

Male must be mid-late 20′s and six feet or taller. Lead.

Physically powerful, very handsome, occasionally egotistical, petulant, and wild. A natural warrior with a quick charming wit who must be genuinely and severely humbled before becoming the compassionate, mature hero of our film.

The start date of filming is given as July and the wrap is September.

[From Coming Attractions]

I have to say that I love Kenneth Branagh. Much Ado About Nothing was beautiful, and Hamlet powerful and eerie. His Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, on the other hand, was less than wonderful. Since this film seems to be more in the vein of the latter, I’m more than a little concerned. I don’t know if he’ll be able to handle the battle scenes and violence that this movie will require. On the other hand, maybe he’s looking to make something different from what people are expecting. Perhaps he’s looking to break out of the whole “comic book movie” theme and create something that is more about the characters than the larger epic story. Surely the transformation of their “natural warrior” into a “compassionate hero” will be fodder enough for the script.

Here’s Kenneth Branagh at the BAFTA/LA awards season tea party held at the Beverly Hills Hotel on January 10th. Images thanks to WENN.