Tag: Romance

It Had to Be You

Once I realized I wasn’t seeing a gaunt Alyssa Milano in this film, I settled in and enjoyed a truly funny and modern love tale for our times. It wasn’t perfect, but the story was cute and it was a romance which always wins me points with my wife.

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So we have a female protagonist who is not ready to commit. This was seen last year in a big film by a stand up comedienne, it’s like that but totally different. This actress is younger and more unsure of her place in the world. That makes her more attractive I think. The couple in the film decide to give their relationship one last shot and there you have the basis for the plot.

Usually it’s the woman in movie that wants the man to commit. This is the other way around. They go through so much, and much of it is comical, to discover whether they are right or each other. He is a techie geek trying to get hired at Google. She is a music soundtrack artists doing whatever small ads and the like she can to pay the bills. When together, they shine like a post-modernist couple and I couldn’t help wanting to see them end up together.

This is a diamond in the rough as a date movie. If you can get a hold of it, you and your date will not be let down. I recommend it to fans of cutesy romances. It went over well at my house because my wife is very much one of those.

Green Room

If you knew punk like I did in the 1980’s, you should watch this if for no other reason than to see how much the punks of today have fucked it up. At the same time, there is a punk spirit still alive in this film that makes the film worth watching. It’s as violent as hell, so much so that is has been labeled as horror. I myself don’t agree it fits in that genre.

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The band is slumming it. I heard Michael Stipe talking about the early days of REM when they were in a van on “tour” of little America. They survived on bags of potatoes and beer. It’s the romance of the things that sounded so fun. I this film you see this same scenario only things aren’t going as well for this band as they did for REM.

There is some sort of scuffle in the venue they play and somehow, someone gets stabbed. The film grows in violence from that point to a raging crescendo of blood and gore that in some metaphorical way might be considered a video to a Sex Pistols song. Unfortunately for me, I got bored. Even though the cause was justified, the violence just seemed to predictable. The things we find below in within this jam house are also a bit predictable.

A lor of people were telling me the same thing about this film, so I’m surprised I felt the urge to see it. It’s not a bad movie per se but I just didn’t find anything worth running to the laptop over to share. For that reason, I don’t recommend Green Room unless your watchlist is about played dry and there’s nothing else really to watch.

The Walking Dead

Zombies! Where have they come from and into modern culture? I’d say George Romero might tell us. His B&W low-budget scares in 1968’s Night of the Living Dead scared a generation and continue to do so up to the present day. There are some similarities in every zombie movie. Some eat only brains, some move slow, and some move fast. The common denominator is that they’re dead … and they’re walking!

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Rick Grimes is the central character but there are many many more side characters. This show can often appear like a soap opera. Of course, in between some of the sappy lines you have buck knives slamming into zombie skulls, putting them out of their misery. There is something here for everyone: abject violence (and I mean that adjective 100%), romance and sex, gore, horror, thrills, mystery … a whole lot of all these things and more.

Currently, there is a power struggle going on with a dictator of sorts. How should we treat dictators? If you say we should rise up against them to take them down, just remember there are no organized systems to protect you. I am enjoying this season quite a bit as we see what this psychopathic leader will do and more importantly, how long will the people let him.

What I find most cool about TWD is the way people treat each other in a zombie apocalypse. It tackles issues of sociology and government. Some segments resemble The Lord of the Flies and others Utopia. It’s not just about zombies you see, you get a look at us and how we are. Us, of course, meaning humanity. After 5 seasons, it has less to do with stabbing them in the brain and more to do with how we will rebuild the world. The dead are walking but just ahead, so are we. I highly recommend this as a binge watch to anyone really but horror and drama fans the most.

Miracle On 34th Street

Young Natalie Wood is skeptical about the existence of Santa Claus. A few verification tugs on his beard get her on the long path to believing.

This film is such a great Christmas classic on many levels. You have the black and white retro props which weren’t retro in the 40’s when this was made. In other words, the props are real! Beyond that you have a timeless story with powerhouse and legendary actors.

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This is one of those family films that has appeal for both kids and adults. Its written in such a way that there is something for everyone to relate with. For example, there is a drunk imitation Santa who gets his just desserts. There’s a young man who plays Santa as part of the union and gets advice from the man himself. Theres a hardened divorcee trying to raise her daughter without make believe and her suitor bachelor who sees a flaw in that. Finally, among many entertaining characters is Kris Kringle, the man who almost gets committed to an asylum for claiming he is Santa Claus.

There is a romance here along with a court drama, intelligent comedy, and a hint of childhood Christmas magic. I recommend to all.

The Story of Us

Some movies are feel-good the whole way through. Others are just sad. Others still take you through ups and downs to leave you sighing because you have just experienced life as it is, or almost anyway. This film is definitely one of those. I won’t call it feel good but it can still be called a romantic comedy. Hat tip on this one to Rob Reiner.

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Bruce Willis and Michelle Pfeiffer play a couple who have been married for 15 years and have reached the breaking point. It’s a series of flashblacks intermingled with present day challenges. There are some real keen insights into marriage: what works and what takes years to work out.

The rest of the review may contain spoilers

They have two kids, which makes the film more heart-rending. In one scene their daughter lays in bed with them pulling their hands together, very touching. You go through the whole movie asking yourself if they will get back together. In fact, you sometimes hope they won’t, the fighting is stressful to watch. You ask yourself if she has a real gripe with him because he “talked intimately” with another woman at work. She caught wind of it and initiated the separation. The issue of affairs and what really constitutes one comes up again and again.

It seems to me there were a lot of conflicts prior to the questionable “talking.” As you watch the film it seems questionable whether they should have ever gotten together at all. She is a mathematical, ordered thinker whereas his head is in the cloud. Can an analytical type ever be happy with an artist? That’s another question brought up here again and again.

It’s a movie singles and couples can enjoy. If you don’t identify with the couple, perhaps you were the children at a younger age. The great thing about this film is that it dares to present real people. I’ll take that over a fake romance, unless I want to watch fake romance, which from time to time I do, then I wouldn’t watch this. Still, I’m glad it’s here, I’m glad this film was made.

The Loft

“The people you love, they’re the only ones who can hurt you.” -Anne Morris

According the “The Loft” movie, it’s every man’s dream to have a cave or a loft where he can do whatever he wants, including cheating on his wife (or girlfriend). I say no thanks, even in a movie. The idea of cheating is only somewhat interesting to me. “The Loft” explores it. Then again, maybe the movie is meant to show us the consequences of such actions.

The Loft (2014)
Cast
Karl Urban

as Vincent Stevens

James Marsden

as Chris Vanowen

Wentworth Miller

as Luke Seacord

Directed by
Erik Van Looy
Written by
Bart De Pauw (based upon the film written by), Wesley Strick (screenplay)
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Mystery, Romance, Thriller
Rated R
1h 48min

My favorite aspect of this movie isn’t the subject matter but rather the mystery woven through. In the first scenes we see a body fall out of the loft onto a car. The viewer is given clues but the key to the mystery about that body takes a real sleuth.

For me, this was almost a good tv movie but it shouldn’t be a cinema film. It had all the trappings of an Zach Galafinakis/Bradley Cooper drunken comedy ony there aren’t any jokes and we certainly aren’t meant to shake our fists and say “Hell yeah, have another shot.”

While I’m on that subject of men partying, I want to share with you I feel so disenfranchised from films like this. I don’t have friends who are pouring vodka down my throat and hooking me up with centerfolds. Why do we see this so much in movies like this?

The concept here is that a group of men share the rent on a secret loft penthouse style apartment. The understanding is that they can cheat on their significant other without being caught. Well, there is a murder and seemingly another death that may be suicide (the falling body onto the car). You get a lot of clues, some are obvious the others more cryptic. Nonetheless, it is a well woven mystery and I would recommend it on that basis alone. The characters, their lines, the story besides the mystery, unbelievable for me anyway. I don’t know what kind of dudes you run with but these ‘aint my peeps. If you liked it, let me know why? Like I said, it was an alright mystery.