Tag: Romance

In this gothic, barbaric tale, there are themes of female victimization, male attempts to suppress women, and unrepressed rebellion.

R | 1h 29min | Drama | 14 July 2017 (USA)

In 19th-century rural England, a young bride who has been sold into marriage discovers an unstoppable desire within herself as she enters into an affair with a worker on her estate.
Director: William Oldroyd
Writers: Nikolai Leskov (based on Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk), Alice Birch
Stars: Florence Pugh, Cosmo Jarvis, Paul Hilton

The woman is the thing in this one. I loved her audaciousness and almost animal survival techniques in a stodgy English arranged marriage. I couldn’t help but think about just how bad women had it back then. In this case, she was sold into marriage with a man who didn’t love her. Florence Pugh is the actresses name and I was amazed watching her performance in this. It was electrifying.

The director is William Oldroyd. I don’t recognize any of his titles. This may be why this film is so banal and raw, and all the while, successfully so. Perhaps he hasn’t succumbed to the trappings or ordinary Hollywood treatments. He has made a unique period piece here.

The actors are all new names. I have to repeat that Lady Macbeth was completely shocking and alluring. You’ve never seen a 19-century rural wife behave this way and it’s glorious.

I recommend this to fans of the genre. It isn’t a “feel good” film like Pride and Prejudice but romance fans will be happy with it on one level. It is a very dark film but I found the ending wholly satisfying. I can’t think of any way to improve this film, it’s a perfect and complete message to its viewers, storytelling at its highest.

10/10

Long Nights Short Mornings (2016)
1h 40min | Drama, Romance | 24 January 2017 (USA)

An examination of the romantic life of a young man in New York City and his sometimes fleeting, sometimes profound experiences with the women he encounters.
Director: Chadd Harbold
Writer: Chadd Harbold
Stars: Shiloh Fernandez, Ella Rae Peck, Paten Hughes

Upon first look, this seems like a romantic comedy, a fling of a playboy with several women. As you get deeper into it though you see this is not a nice guy. Women are like stepping stones into the nothing that is his ever elusive future. Director Chadd Harbold seems interested in manhood and what it’s all about. By the way, he is also writer and producer on this. I saw this film because it was on Netflix. I am not sure it was ever in a theater.

The protagonist is a hot guy and I think a lot of women would love to go out with him. When he’s done with them, he’ll do whatever he can to push them away. It’s that behavior that makes it interesting to me. I kept wondering what he would do as he went to the next one again and again and so on and so on. Frankly, that was never my life. I was never devastatingly handsome and able to string women along. I found this film a little dull and hard to relate with I guess for that reason. I learned when you love someone you should hold on. I’m not sure what the message of this film is.

4/10

Almost every movie can be defined as a mythic journey, even a teen love story like “Say Anything.” John Cusack is in love with a rich girl and he barely has enough money for the gas in his car. The movie becomes a journey from “dork” status to royalty when he finally wins her over.

Say Anything

Cast

John Cusack, Ione Skye, John Mahoney

Directed by

Cameron Crowe

Written by

Cameron Crowe

Other Info

Comedy, Drama, Romance
Rated PG-13
100min
Riley’s Rating:

These are some really funny bits in this film. One I really like is when his friend is  playing 100 songs she has written for her unrequited boyfriend “Joe.” At one point she is in a bedroom at a party when people are drinking beer and listening to her sing these “odes to Joe.” One song lyric she sings is simply, “Joe lies … When he cries.” Please make sure you don’t leave the room and miss that scene.

Anyone who wasn’t sure what to do with their life after high school will certainly relate. John Cusack is the poor dude caught up in his passion for kickboxing. He gets caught up with a rich, smart girl: Diane Court. He tries to woo her but just for a date much to Diane’s father’s disapproval. It’s a common story but this one gives hope to the poor guy, this underdog.

What ensues in “Say Anything” is a heroic journey. John Cusack starts out a bit of a simpleton but ends up the victor. He wins the hand of the suburban maiden, played by Ione Skye. Many “best of” lists on the internet rank “Say Anything” near the top. It’s a lie story and a comedy about graduating seniors but the entertainment value is certainly suited to about age 14-?

Grazie for this film! In a raw spirit of the late 70’s this film inspires and entertains and brings out the humanity in me. This is a “go to” film and will be until the day I die. A masterpiece you might say.

Listen to my quick and dirty review!
https://podomatic.com/embed/html5/episode/8569086?autoplay=false

Breaking Away

“A small-town boy obsessed with the Italian cycling team vies for the affections of a college girl.” -IMDB

Cast

Dennis Christopher Dave
Dennis Quaid Mike
Daniel Stern Cyril
Jackie Earle Haley Moocher

Directed by

Peter Yates

Written by

Steve Tesich

Other Info

Comedy, Drama, Romance, Sport
PG
Fri 20 Jul 1979 UTC
101min
IMDB Rating: 7.7

Known for An Innocent Man, Krull and Steve McQueen’s Bullitt, Peter Yates is the accomplished director who brought this vision to life. It’s college/career coming of age film with a gritty passion not seen much in the genre.

Dennis Christopher is pure oxygen as “Dave.” His plight is the plight of every young man in American between the ages of 16 and 20. I was right there with him. Hormones make you want to hump every girl you see and explore a new universe apart from what your parents have made for you at home. He’s a guy who’s ready to take on the world but the world won’t let him yet. There is a cast of thousands besides him including: Dennis Quaid, Daniel Stern, Jackie Earle Haley, Jackie Earle Haley Barbara Barrie, and Paul Dooley. They are ALL in top form in telling this story and MY how young the all look in 1979.

This film is the story of Dave and his friends just out of high school with nowhere to go. Their dads were “cutters” of concrete. They feel trapped in the identity. The film is about Dave finding himself. He pretends to be Italian to get girls and portray a more preferable identity. He also races a bike. Two strategic races make a metaphor for the content the film seeks to get across. Who are you when you’re young and who can you be when you choose to break away from assigned identity.

The italian classical music in this is uplifting. Dave is one of my favorite young men filled with angst in film as well as all literature. He is remarkable to watch. I feel like he is me, at that age anyway. The bike racing, the gang of guy friends stuff, the tension from his father to get out of the house, it’s all beautiful like a rainbow landing on ones face. I can’t say enough good about this film.

FINAL THOUGHTS
This film transcends time. It’s principles and contexts are so primal and universal to growing up and finding ones way in the world that it is truly timeless. I recommend to any and all, this is a remarkable “perfect” film like only a few others I have run across.

10/10

“Seventh Son” is a masterpiece replete with witches, dragons, shape shifters, “spooks,” creatures, and other engaging remnants from medieval mythology.

Seventh Son (2014)

Cast

Jeff Bridges as Master Gregory
Ben Barnes as Tom Ward
Julianne Moore as Mother Malkin

Directed by

Sergei Bodrov

Written by

Charles Leavitt, Steven Knight

Other Info

Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Rated PG-13
1h 24min

Can witches save the day? I suppose in “Seventh Son” they can try. Our age-old fascination with witches is shown on the big screen here. There is a new concept I hadn’t heard of called the “spook” profession. These are basically witch hunters. They are endowed and recruited through generations to destroy bad witches. Jeff Bridges is a powerful one. Ironically we find he once had a romance with a witch but he is evermore hateful of witches and his occupation is to burn them so they don’t cause cataclysmic trouble.

And so we have the backdrop for this epic tale. It’s more sorcery than good and evil. We learn that sometimes good witches watch over the land as other times, evil humans do more hard than any evil witch could ever do. This story line requires your full attention so if you’re a “multitasker” as you watch films, you’ll need to set your phone down and take in the foundation of the story which are very interesting indeed.

Like so many movies these days, it is based on a book. I can’t imagine a book being as visually stunning as this film is. I felt like I was on a swashbuckling roller coaster most the time. The effects didn’t come cheap, the film cost almost 100 million dollars to make. The good news for them is that it did well at the box office earning well above and beyond its costs. I gave this quasi-medieval action, adventure, fantasy a perfect 5 stars. I recommend it!

“Pull my neck back, I’ll pull yours.” -relatives posing for a photo

Sequels are rarely good and this one isn’t good at all. Written by comic, Nia Vardalos, it shows a definite need for a writing partner or team. It’s a redo of the gags from the first movie with no real “new” message for the audience. I was shocked to see this film was produced by Tom Hanks. I suppose he thought it would make him money based on the first film in the franchise. I wonder if he visited the set and offerred his advice to the director.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 (2016)

Cast

Nia Vardalos

as Toula

John Corbett

as Ian

Michael Constantine

as Gus

Directed by

Kirk Jones

Written by

Nia Vardalos

Other Info

Comedy, Romance
Rated PG-13
94 min

The best part of a good date movie is one that makes your wife or girlfriend laugh. There is nothing more satisfying on a movie date than hearing her laugh out loud. There were just a few ties in this film I heard my wife laugh: so there you go. In the first movie, the Greek father showed how Windex was a cure for everything but even Windex can’t save this long movie.

It’s about another wedding but this time it’s her parents. They find out the wedding was never fully sealed since the priest was not fully ordained, or something like that. There are a lot of significant particulars in this movie that I just didn’t care about. The script goes all over the place and when it seems it’s too far afield, they just crack a joke from the first move assuming that will save the scene. It doesn’t.

I never walk out on a movie but when the old mother and father were planning their wedding it really was like fingernails scratching down a chalkboard: irritating. There were a few gags here and there that worked but overall it was a mediocre comedy moving at a snails pace. The angle of having the parents remarry could have been expanded thus making the movie better. Unfortunately the directors were content to show that Greek women do best married with children. It’s also shown that Greek men rely on their wives for too much and nothing really changes even now in modern times. There were a few laughs and it was a light-hearted movie. That only took me as far as to give it 2 stars though. I wouldn’t recommend this film unless you are just in love with the actors. It lacks the charm of the first film in the franchise.