Tag: Chick Flicks

Chick Flick from the Past: ‘Brief Encounter’ (1945)

Brief Encounter

Director: David Lean

Writer: Based on the play “Still Life† by Noel Coward

Cast: Celia Johnson, Trevor Howard, Stanley Holloway, and Joyce Carey.

Run time: 86 minutes (black and white)

Rating: None

Awards: Nominated for 3 Oscars, won Grand Prize at the 1946 Cannes Film Festival

DVD features: Audio commentary from film historian Bruce Eder, original trailer (which I found quite amusing).

Plot: Laura Jesson (Celia Johnson) is a lonely housewife who makes weekly trips to town every Thursday. During these trips Laura shops and usually catches a matinee at the local theater before taking the train home. One particular Thursday, Laura is standing by the train tracks and an express train speeds by causing dirt to fly into her eye. Laura walks into the train station’s cafà © to ask for some water to help clean her eye. Dr. Alec Harvey (Trevor Howard) hears of Laura’s distress and offers to help thus marks the beginning of an ill-fated love affair. Continue reading Chick Flick from the Past: ‘Brief Encounter’ (1945)

Sept. ’08 Chick Flicks

A wide-range of chick flicks are coming to a theater near you this September. Films range from fun romantic comedies to 18th century royalty downfalls. Of course all release dates are subject to change.

Everybody Wants to be Italian:

-Limited release: Sept. 5th, 2008

-Rating: R for sexual references

-Director: Jason Todd Ipson

-Writer: Jason Todd Ipson

-Cast: Jay Jablonski, Cerina Vincent, John Kapelos, John Enos, and Richard Libertini

-Summary: Is a romantic comedy based in Boston. Jake (Jay Jablonski) has been in love with the same woman for 10 years, but she is married with children. To help Jake, his friends set him up on a blind-date with an Italian beauty. All the mayhem begins when Jake is convinced that such a woman would never date outside her ethnic community so he fakes being Italian.

Continue reading Sept. ’08 Chick Flicks

Review: ‘Fool’s Gold’ on DVD

Fools Gold is a romantic comedy with breathtaking tropical scenery, but with little else to offer. Matthew McConaughey reunites with his How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days costar Kate Hudson as a soon to be divorced couple at each other’s throats. Benjamin Finnegan (McConaughey) is an immature treasure hunter looking for the lost dowry of the Queen of Spain, which supposedly sunk off of Key West during a hurricane. When Ben finds his first clue, he accidentally sinks his boat, which he co-owns with his wife Tess (Hudson). Tess was going to sell the boat and use the money to attend graduate school. Using Tess’s connections with a local millionaire Nigel Honeycutt (Donald Southerland), the couple set out on their treacherous hunt for the Queen’s dowry. Added to the mayhem, Ben is being pursued by the local gangster for unpaid debts.

It was remarkable how Kate Hudson channeled her mother’s persona (Goldie Hawn) in this film, but Kate’s comedic abilities could not save this movie. The storyline was an unstructured mess. McConaughey’s acting was mediocre, he had lackluster chemistry with Hudson, and the only thing he had to offer was a hot body. Fools Gold is a poorly acted and written version of Romancing the Stone.

The DVD includes a behind-the-scenes featurette and a gag reel.

Rated PG-13 for action violence, some sexual material, and language.

[rating: 2/5]

Review: ‘Over Her Dead Body’ on DVD

When I rented Over Her Dead Body I was reluctant to watch it. I let it sit by my DVD player until I finally gave in on this boring Sunday afternoon. The film is a typical Romantic Comedy with a few high points.

Kate (Eva Longoria Parker) is a high-strung bride who meets her early demise via an ice sculpture on her wedding day. Henry (Paul Rudd) depressed over his fiancà ©s death is taken by his sister Chloe (Lindsay Sloane) to see Ashley (Lake Bell) a local psychic. Henry is a Veterinarian and “a man of science,† skeptical of Ashley’s abilities until she reveals personal details of Henry’s relationship with Kate. As Ashley and Henry become close, out of the blue the jealous ghost of Kate starts to haunt Ashley. What ensues is a supernatural cat-fight. Dan (Jason Biggs) tags along as Ashley’s gay best friend for added comic relief.

One of the few high points in this film is Paul Rudd. He is funny even when he is trying not to be. His sarcastic deadpan humor is spot on. Another is a scene in which two veterinarian technicians are trying to lift an overweight dog onto the examining table. They drop the dog several times and even end up on the ground themselves.

Throughout the whole film I was thinking why would a local laid back Veterinarian be engaged to a neurotic prissy woman like Kate. Their relationship was not believable. This is the first time I’ve seen Lake Bell. She is beautiful and sweet, but forgettable just like this film.

This DVD does not include anything special. The only special feature is a few trailers.
Director/Writer: Jeff Lowell
Rated PG-13 for sexual content and language.
Box Office Gross: $7.6 Million (USA)

Review: ‘Then She Found Me’

I was pleasantly surprised by this little Independent film. It was an impressive vehicle for Helen Hunt to make her directorial debut. Hunt spent 10 years bringing this loosely based adaptation of Elinor Lipman’s novel to the big screen and it was worth the time and effort.

Then She Found Me opens with April Epner’s (Helen Hunt) wedding to the immature child-like Ben (Matthew Broderick). Several months go by without April becoming pregnant. Being adopted, April’s one wish is to experience the biological bond between mother and child, but at 39 years old she feels time is slipping away. Ben, not able to cope with any adult issues, leaves April to move back in with his mother. From this point on, April’s life falls apart. After her husband leaves, April’s beloved adopted mother dies, her biological mother, played by the fantastic Bette Miller, appears out of thin air, April meets the possible love of her life, played by the dashing Colin Firth, and then she finds out she is pregnant with Ben’s child. April’s mid-life crisis is a fantastic heart-felt journey to experience.

I cannot recommend this film more. There is perfect acting all around. Bette Miller stands out by pulling back her bigger then life personality into a caring mother trying to connect with  her  lost daughter. Colin Firth proves again how perfect he is as a leading-man. Helen Hunt makes you feel her pain and longing for a child of her own.

With this wonderful directorial debut, Hunt has solidified her future as a top notch director. Make sure to catch this intelligent romantic comedy before it leaves theaters.

Winner of the Palm Springs 2008 International Film Festival Audience Award

Rated R for language and some sexual content.

[rating:4.5/5]