Hollywood has been making romantic movies for decades (and believe it or not there was a time when they were actually good!). If you’re looking for something more than simply latest braindead romcom here are few Hollywood classic love stories worth spending some time with this Valentine’s Day.
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Written and directed by John Wells, former West Wing showrunner and once president of the Writers Guild of America, The Company Men takes a look at three men each effected when the company which has employed them for years begins massive downsizing that eventually leaves each of them without a job.
Ben Affleck stars as the hot-shot salesman, with a wife (Rosemarie DeWitt) and family, who can’t accept his new situation and becomes increasingly frustrated when no new opportunities for employment present themselves. Chris Cooper is the longtime company man who worked his way from the factory floor to the boardroom. And Tommy Lee Jones is the best friend of company owner (Craig T. Nelson) who dislikes his life, the compromises being made in the company he helped start, and a wife whose only cares seem to be opportunities to shop – which explains why he prefers the spending time with the company’s hatchet woman (Maria Bello) instead.
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Jack Abramoff was a greedy prick. That’s really the only message Casino Jack has. If you were expecting anything more from this political biopic by director George Hickenlooper and screenwriter Norman Snider you’re bound to leave disappointed.
Kevin Spacey stars as the Washington D.C. super-lobbyist who became a household name working for Preston Gates & Ellis and Greenberg Traurig and a director of the National Center for Public Policy Research. The film gives us a look into Abramoff’s rise to prominence and the personal flaws and series of events which led to his conviction on charges of embezzlement, fraud, and corruption.
The script is never quite sure what to do with this charismatic character who has dreams of helping the world while robbing his defrauding of Native American tribes and lining his own pockets with gold. It’s certainly a meaty role for Spacey, but the film gives us no reason to root either for or against this deeply flawed individual addicted to both money and power.
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Although the film is based on the real events surrounding the life of Robert Durst, the main problem with the screenplay by Marcus Hinchey and Marc Smerling is how ridiculous the events appear when recreated on film.
What starts as a love story and tense drama about a troubled son of a real estate broker devolves into a thriller. Then the thriller turns into the kind of cinematic disaster nobody wants on their resume. All Good Things may be based on a real story but it plays like bad fiction.
There’s something off about David Marks (Ryan Gosling) the first time we meet him, but that’s not enough to stop the charming Katie (Kirsten Dunst) from falling for him. Needled by his father’s (Frank Langella) disapproval David and Katie leave the tranquil health food store in Vermont so David can act as the bagman for the family business collecting cash from various seedy Times Square enterprises which the Marks famly owns.
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