Archive for the ‘romance’ Category
Author: Otilia
What lies beneath
Based on an original story by director Luca Guadagnino (Melissa P. (2005)) and co-produced by star Tilda Swinton, Io sono l’amore (I Am Love) (2009) is far more than just another family drama.
Author: Otilia
Become who you are
Director Yann Samuell’s L’âge de raison (2010) is characteristic of his sweet-yet-tearful Love Me If You Dare (2003), namely French cinema at its best.
With a splendid cast, led by Sophie Marceau, the movie goes deep into your soul, searching for your inner child. That’s right, the one who reminds you of your childhood dreams.
Author: James
See worthy, but not a classic
Well I remember my intitial reaction to James Cameron’s sweep-all-before-it 11 Oscar winner in 1998 – my film critic career was still in its infancy then and, like seemingly most of the civilized world (it was the most succesful film ever until Cameron’s Avatar (2009)) overtook it recently, though thankfully not with Academy Awards), I was blown away by the scale, sweep and power of a film that, as far as I knew, was an accurate account of the sinking of HMS Titanic, a story of human folly and arrogance, and the thousands of souls who paid the ultimate price.
Author: James
Light, bright night
Picturenose is delighted to welcome Otilia Ilie to our reviewing team, who opens her account with her take on a date with a difference.
From Shawn Levy, director of The Pink Panther (2006) and Night at the Museum (2006) comes a funny, light action-comedy – Date Night (2010). Claire (Tina Fey) and Phil (Steve Carell) Foster are “just a boring, married couple from New Jersey” who decide to add some spice to their marriage with a ‘different’ sort of date.
Author: James
Hard to forget
Kerry Richards returns with her thoughts on a romantic drama with a twist.
Robert Pattinson has become a household name in the past couple of years due to his performances in Twilight (2008) and New Moon (2009) and I expect his featuring in Allen Coulter’s Remember Me (2010) brought in a lot of viewers for the film’s the opening week. However, as I nestled into my seat, I was unsure as to what I should expect. As a huge Twilight fan I wondered if I would be able to get Edward Cullen out of my mind. But, in fact, I was pleasantly overwhelmed with the movie.
Author: James
British, warm and human
Recent favourable talk of The Bodyguard (1993) and, God save us all, Dirty Dancing (1987) has forced me also to indulge in more praise for another guilty pleasure. I have never been a huge fan of writer Richard Curtis’s rosy views of London, such as Love, Actually (2003) (which he also directed) or the Bridget Jones adaptations, but Notting Hill (1999), directed by Roger Michell (The Mother (2003)) managed both to make me laugh and move me. There, I’ve said it.
Author: Emma
Love and war
This is my all-time favourite feel-good, feel-sad, feel-just-pretty-darn-emotional movie. The cast of characters is so alive, you’ll be whisked away in seconds to Britain at war and find yourself hanging on every twist and turn in the tales of three American soldiers who fall in love with local girls as they train for their grim deployment to war-torn Europe.
Author: Emma
Top Gere?
Richard Gere was back in uniform just three years after Yanks (1979) as trainee naval aviator Zack Mayo in this blockbuster about the gritty life of officer training college.
Mayonnaise, as his drill sergeant calls him, is determined to pass flight school and head off for a glittering career without a woman in tow after watching his booze-soaked navy skivvy father get his leg over a legion of prostitutes.
Author: Emma
Lord of the dance? Hmmm.
Emma Portier Davis returns with her thoughts on one of the chickiest flicks known to humanity.
Ah. This is every schoolgirl’s dream. An ugly duckling goes on a holiday with her parents who call her Baby and treat her as such and a boorish sister who has the proverbial for brains although is supposedly beautiful. Baby (Jennifer Grey) falls in with the racy dancing corps, falls in love with the hot dancing instructor Johnny (Patrick Swayze), and discovers her talent for tripping the light fantastic.
Author: James
Rings a Belle?
So, it was 39 years on, and someone decided to provide a follow-up to the classic cult film from Luis Buñuel, Belle de Jour (1967), without Catherine Deneuve returning to the role of Séverine that she made legendary.
Instead of Bunuel’s surrealism, we are shown how people change. Henri Husson (Michel Piccoli, who was in the original) spots Séverine (played now by Bulle Ogier) at an elegant opera house, and his curiosity is sparked. How has her life moved on after the torturous events of four decades ago when she was secretly a prostitute at a high-class brothel?
- Colin: Mike: the Matrix was utter toss. Don’t go there. Anyhow, I’m right with you on Aliens –...
- Colin: James: Why not do ten more and see if you can avoid putting the god-awful travesty that is Independence Day in...
- CD: The Day the Earth Stood Still (it’s about an alien who is Jesus…but better than ET) Soylent Green...
- James: Hello Chris, and welcome to Picturenose!
Many thanks for your comment – I thought, in fact, that... - James: Colin, good points, both on Westworld (which should really have been included, I know, I know) and otters.