The Illusionist (2006)
DIRECTOR: Neil Burger
CAST:
Edward Norton, Paul Giamatti, Jessica Biel, Rufus Sewell
REVIEW:
The Illusionist is the kind of low-key, independent, art house fare that often gets lost in the shuffle among the action flicks and romantic comedies, which is kind of a shame, because while it aims to be fairly lightweight entertainment, isn’t anything terribly ambitious, The Illusionist is a lot of fun- a pleasant, enjoyable brew of romance, mystery, and magic. Continue reading
Brokeback Mountain (2005)
DIRECTOR: Ang Lee
CAST: Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Williams, Anne Hathaway, Randy Quaid
REVIEW:
While the comparison might not occur to everyone, Brokeback Mountain (adapted from a 1997 short story of the same name by Annie Proulx, with the movie screenplay written by Diana Ossana and Larry McMurtry) is a spiritual cousin to such films as Witness, Bridges of Madison County, and The Remains of the Day. All four films, while depicting characters living very different lives in different times and places, are at their core about the longing between two people who are unable or unwilling to bridge the gulf that separates them. Obviously, the distinguishing factor setting Brokeback Mountain apart is that its forbidden love affair, unlike the above films, is between two men, and while the homosexual aspect will make some viewers uncomfortable, to pigeonhole it as a “gay cowboy movie”, as some have dismissively done, is a disservice and an oversimplification. The complexity of the characters’ dynamics defy such easy labels. Continue reading
Pride & Prejudice (2005)
DIRECTOR: Joe Wright
CAST: Keira Knightley, Matthew Macfadyen, Rosamund Pike, Brenda Blethyn, Donald Sutherland, Simon Woods, Tom Hollander, Jena Malone, Carey Mulligan, Talulah Riley, Judi Dench, Kelly Reilly, Rupert Friend
REVIEW:
While some will still consider the three-hour 1995 TV miniseries (starring Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth) to be the definitive onscreen adaptation of Jane Austen’s 1813 novel, Joe Wright and screenwriter Deborah Moggach (and uncredited script doctor Emma Thompson, who starred in Ang Lee’s 1995 adaptation of Austen’s Sense & Sensibility) have done about as good of a job as anyone could expect of adapting the dense material into a two hour format. While various subplots and supporting characters have been condensed, Pride & Prejudice remains a handsome and lively adaptation that sacrifices neither the story’s core themes and heart, nor the central romance.
Continue readingEternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
DIRECTOR: Michel Gondry
CAST: Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Kirsten Dunst, Mark Ruffalo, Tom Wilkinson, Elijah Wood
REVIEW:
Taking its quirky title from a poem by Alexander Pope, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, a product of offbeat French music video and movie director Michel Gondry and the twisted mind of screenwriter Charlie Kaufman, is stimulating and refreshing proof that a movie’s existence within the “romantic comedy” genre—sort of—does not inherently doom it to cookie-cutter formula. There’s nothing conventional or formulaic about this charmingly eccentric, visually inventive movie, which uses a quirky and original premise to explore themes of love, loss, memory, and the ideas that “it is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all”, and that we need all of our memories, both happy and painful, to make us who we are.
Continue readingMaid in Manhattan (2002)
DIRECTOR: Wayne Wang
CAST: Jennifer Lopez, Ralph Fiennes, Bob Hoskins, Stanley Tucci, Natasha Richardson, Frances Conroy, Tyler Garcia Posey
REVIEW:
There have been innumerable versions of the Cinderella story, some conventional (the animated Disney version), some fresh, irreverent, and enjoyable (Ever After), some simply redundant, and Maid in Manhattan is surely one of the most uninspired and perfunctory of them all. Granted, romantic comedies are rarely original, but Maid in Manhattan is such a formulaic, by-the-numbers movie with nary a spark of energy or distinction that it’s one of those most depressing movies to sit through- something completely mediocre. Continue reading
Chocolat (2000)
DIRECTOR: Lasse Hallstrom
CAST: Juliette Binoche, Johnny Depp, Alfred Molina, Judi Dench, Lena Olin, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugh O’Conor, Peter Stormare, John Wood, Leslie Caron, Victoire Thivisol
REVIEW:
Chocolat is a fluffy dessert rather than a full banquet of cinematic depth, but if it stays on the side of being a trifle insubstantial, it’s still a delightful confection that whips light humor, a dash of romance, and food porn into a cute, safe little feel good movie that goes down as pleasantly and as easily as a cup of hot chocolate. Continue reading
Return to Me (2000)
DIRECTOR: Bonnie Hunt
CAST: David Duchovny, Minnie Driver, Carroll O’Connor, Bonnie Hunt, James Belushi, David Alan Grier, Robert Loggia, Joely Richardson
REVIEW:
Return to Me, from writer/director/co-star Bonnie Hunt, is an unabashedly old-fashioned romantic comedy-drama that might be a little too tame and sugary-sweet for cynics or viewers seeking something more “edgy” but will be a welcome counter-programming for viewers seeking something refreshingly warm and gentle and unabashedly “feel good”. It’s the kind of movie one could almost imagine (apart from some minor raunchy elements) being made in the 1950s starring the likes of Doris Day and Jimmy Stewart, but for those who appreciate kinder, gentler romantic comedy-dramas, it’s an enjoyable and pleasant morsel that goes down gently and easily, suffused with an almost impossible-to-dislike warmth and a dash of quirky but subdued comedy.
Continue readingEver After (1998)
DIRECTOR: Andy Tennant
CAST: Drew Barrymore, Anjelica Huston, Dougray Scott, Megan Dodds, Melanie Lynskey, Patrick Godfrey, Lee Ingleby, Timothy West, Judy Parfitt, Richard O’Brien
REVIEW:
Remakes are a dime a dozen, but among the unnecessary and superfluous variations of the same old story, Ever After—a take on the oft-told Cinderella story—proves that occasionally one comes along that’s fresh and irreverent enough to still have spunk and energy, to stand on its own and justify its own existence. A costume romantic comedy, Ever After is a frothy delight that demonstrates that it is possible to put a fresh spin on a classic just when it seems the premise has run out of anywhere interesting to go.
Continue readingTitanic (1997)
DIRECTOR: James Cameron
CAST: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Billy Zane, Gloria Stuart, David Warner, Bill Paxton, Kathy Bates, Frances Fisher, Victor Garber, Bernard Hill, Danny Nucci, Jonathan Hyde, Suzy Amis, Eric Braeden, Jenette Goldstein, Ioan Gruffudd
REVIEW:
With sci-fi thrillers like The Terminator, Terminator 2, Aliens, and The Abyss, and the action-comedy True Lies under his belt, James Cameron turned his sights in a totally different direction for his next project….a romance set onboard the notorious ill-fated luxury ship the RMS Titanic. Nearly anyone knows the basics of the story of the 1912 disaster, with more than 1,500 of the 2,200-plus passengers, including many rich and famous of the day, perishing at sea when the “unsinkable” ship struck an iceberg on its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York City, but none among the many, many films to deal with Titanic had the means to bring the massive ship and its end to the screen with such visual splendor. To draw crowds, Cameron centered his script around a star struck love story, cast with primed-to-explode heartthrob Leonardo DiCaprio and soon-to-be Oscar nominee Kate Winslet. Titanic clearly struck a chord with audiences, standing for twelve years as the highest-grossing film of all time, surpassed only by Cameron’s next film, 2009’s Avatar. Unfortunately, it’s also overrated, and the story doesn’t equal the spectacular visuals surrounding it. Continue reading
The Scarlet Letter (1995)
DIRECTOR: Roland Joffe
CAST: Demi Moore, Gary Oldman, Robert Duvall, Joan Plowright, Robert Prosky, Dana Ivey, Edward Hardwicke
REVIEW:
That Roland Joffe’s film is “freely adapted”, as it puts it, from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s 1850 novel isn’t necessarily an inherent problem. Book purists would grumble, for sure, but a movie adaptation of a book taking significant liberties is nothing new. The problem isn’t necessarily that The Scarlet Letter has been freely adapted into a movie, it’s that it’s been freely adapted into this movie, which cheerfully throws Hawthorne’s themes to the wind and turns his Puritan morality play into a feminist treatsie on sexual and religious liberation. Those themes are all well and good, but they’re not The Scarlet Letter, and what’s worse, it’s all wrapped up in a sudsy, overwrought romantic soap opera.
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