Romance

Notting Hill

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Notting Hill
  • IMDB: link

Notting HillRecently re-released on Blu-ray as part of Universal Studios “Best of the Decade Series,” 1999’s Notting Hill romatic comedy featuring the unlikely pairing of a Hollywood star (Julia Roberts) and British book store owner (Hugh Grant) is a watchable, but not always entertaining, piece of romcom fluff helped by the performances of its two leads (but not always the script by Richard Curtis).

Asking an interesting question of what happens when a celebrity falls for a nobody, the film rather quickly gives up any attempt to say anything original while falling back on the clichéd romcom roller-coaster template complete with a final act break-up and ridiculous last moment romantic gesture to bring the lovers back together. In comparison with other movies of this genre (see the filmogprahy of Kate Hudson or Katherine Heigl), Notting Hill isn’t awful but it’s far from one of the best films of this decade.

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Blue is the Warmest Color

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: La vie d’Adèle
  • IMDB: link

Blue is the Warmest ColourAdapted from the graphic novel by Julie Maroh by writer/director Abdellatif Kechiche, Blue is the Warmest Color examines the sexual awakening of a French secondary-school student and the journey her first lesbian relationship will lead her on over the next few years.

In its best moments Keciche’s film captures the perfect mix of emotions between the young Adèle (Adèle Exarchopoulos) and the more experienced Emma (Léa Seydoux) creating a completely believable and natural love story where passions run extremely high but whose differences lead to problems down the line.

The film doesn’t immediately start with Adèle and Emma. Instead we get Adèle’s attempt at a heterosexual relationship with a cute young classmate (Salim Kechiouche). Feeling something missing, Adèle journeys into a gay bar with friends where she meets Emma for the first time.

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A Post-Apocalyptic Zombie Love Story

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Warm Bodies
  • IMDB: link

warm-bodies-posterNever was there a tale of love condemned more than that of Julie (Teresa Palmer) and her zombie boyfriend (Nicholas Hoult). One is a human-acting zombie from the wrong side of the tracks. The other is the tempestuous daughter of the leader (John Malkovich) of the army obsessed with blasting the brain-eaters off the face off the Earth.

From writer/director Jonathan Levine (50/50, All the Boys Love Mandy Lane) comes a post-apocalyptic zombie love story take on William Shakespeare‘s classic Romeo and Juliet which definitely has a pulse.

Presented from the point of view of R (Hault), a thoughtful zombie who begins to believe he can be more than just an undead scavenger after meeting Julie (Palmer) and eating her boyfriend’s (Dave Franco) brains, Levine’s script is far more clever than I expected. Warm Bodies may not reach the heights of Shaun of the Dead, but with some heart and a good sense of humor this new take on a classic love story embraces the more absurdist elements of it’s premise and is a surprisingly compelling and entertaining story.

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Romanticized Plagiarism

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: The Words
  • IMDB: link

the-words-posterIt’s like Inception but with all the fun, action, and humor taken out. The Words provides stories within stories within stories. After all, why settle on a single plot with one narrator, when three will do? The film by directing and screenwriting duo Brian Klugman and Lee Sternthal certainly does its best to fill all the major roles with capable actors but somehow still comes off as a bland romance novel which never justifies its existence.

Dennis Quaid stars as Clay Hammond, a celebrated author who, as the film opens, is giving a dramatic reading of his latest novel. Clay’s narration introduces and concludes each of the passages as we find ourselves in a world of his imagination invoking yet another author and a story about yet another book.

Bradley Cooper stars as Rory Jansen, the main character in Clay’s novel, a struggling young author, with a wife (Zoe Saldana) who is obviously too good for him, who has finally hit the big time with his first best seller. The trouble is, Rory didn’t actually write the book that made him famous.

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Ruby Sparks

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Ruby Sparks
  • IMDB: link

“This is the true and impossible story of my very great love.”

ruby-sparks-posterAnyone who has ever sat down to write has done so with the desire to see their creation burst from the page and come to life in front of their eyes. For Calvin Weir-Fields (Paul Dano) this literally comes to pass when the renown young novelist solves his current state of writer’s block by writing about the perfect girlfriend who one day magically shows up, living in his apartment.

At first it may seem odd that Zoe Kazan wrote the screenplay in mind casting herself not as the writer but the creation. However, it’s Ruby Sparks (Kazan), not Calvin, who has the far more demanding role as the woman whose entire behavior must change on a dime depending on what her creator decides to type next.

Dano is well cast as the writer whose best work came far too soon and seems lost, unprepared to deal with his mother’s (Annette Bening) current boyfriend (Antonio Banderas), the suggestions of his psychiatrist (Elliott Gould), the lovable but annoying antics of his dog Scottie, or the advice of his brother (Chris Messina). Calvin instead chooses a solitary life which makes his creation of Ruby Sparks all the more remarkable.

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