Carol

Even if you love Christmas Carols, I'd avoid this film.  You will not find me "singing" this movie's praises! This film has great reviews and many critics consider it to be the best movie of the year!  Call me crazy, but I thought it was slow and boring.  (The two women who saw it with me also felt the same way.) Essentially, it's a love story taking place around the early 1950's about a married woman, Carol Aird (Cate Blanchett), and a younger single woman, Therese Belivet (Rooney Mara). Carol is wealthy and elegant. Therese has a boyfriend who wants to marry her, but something isn't right (although Therese doesn't know quite what's wrong).  There is an obvious attraction when the two women meet and, soon thereafter, their affair begins. Unfortunately, a same-sex love affair isn't automatically interesting.  The film doesn't reveal what brought them together (other than perhaps their looks). There is no depth to their relationship or any character development by either of them during the film.  The movie has a very schmaltzy score and frequent, lengthy close-ups, taking itself way too seriously.  The only aspect of the film that was interesting to me was the issue of child custody between Carol and her angry, hurt, and confused husband who wants to get sole custody of their young daughter because of Carol's "immorality." If you are interested in a non-heterosexual love story, I recommend you see "The Danish Girl" instead.