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Ibiza (2018)
Fun fun fun
What a gem of a movie, Netflix. It was wonderful to watch something that strayed from the downtrodden path of mainstream Hollywood although I suspect you have to be European and a bit adventurous to get this. Omg it brings back memories. Never did drugs but had an equal amount of fun none the less. More people should travel, take risks, jump for the chance of love and have each others back. Because this film is about friendship as much as falling in love. And Spain is so much like that. God I miss it. Anyway, give it a watch, laugh, cringe and escape your dreary lives a little. This movie is a treat.
Oh, and btw, ladies, this does happen in real life. That is pretty much exactly how I found my Brit! When you leap amazing things can happen.
Something's Gotta Give (2003)
Keanu Reeves is the real star here!
I've got to be honest. I have just watched this movie, 12 years after it premiered. I simply didn't have the stomach for another Jack and Diane movie, with two otherwise awesome actors doing the same thing again. This says a lot because I love Nancy Meyers films and must have watched the holiday at least ten times. And I was right. Jack is Jack and Diane is Diane. Its awkward and worn, albeit funny here and there. An absolute delight though, was Keanu Reeves. For a guy who is often typecast in roles as the mostly silent, pained, strained and/or not very bright guy, he is playing the role of his life here. He is witty, in tempi, charming and carefree - even a little bit audacious and he does not skip a beat. Any previous fans should watch this just for him and everybody else, like myself, should be a fan after watching this. Keanu, I saw a quote, where you call yourself "not very bright" - I refuse to believe that. One cannot act smart with that twinkle of "knowing" in their eyes unless they are smart. I rated this movie with a 7, but without Keanu it would only scratch the sole of a 4.
Beauty and the Beast (2012)
Finally a great action series with something for all - watch it and get hooked!
Sometimes I am simply amazed by the way the industry prioritizes shows. I only found this show because Netflix recommended it (which I normally find annoying, but, boy, was I grateful this time). But this is a great show. Simply excellent. It is not perfect, but in my book that would reduce its excellency. You need to sometimes be a little annoyed with one episode because the relief when the next one hits home perfectly is so sweet.
I heard season 3 was touch and go for a while there which I cannot believe is true. Again, who prioritizes these things?
So what do you get for you time and money?
First of all, we are for once pampered with strong women, women who fight, women who save men, men who are victims and good, men who are victims and bad, men who mess up but also grovel profusely and a main couple who take turns being strong/weak, steady/wavering, smart/stupid. And that is just the character development. Apart from that you get fast paced action, a little bit of fantasy (it is about a beast after all) and some pretty hot relationship scenes. This should be appreciated by both men and women alike.
CGI is well done and although I loved the original series, on which this is based, I am more than relieved that no one tried to pass me a lion-masked Perlman again. This is 2014 and the beasts look and background story is much more believable today. Kudos to whoever came up with that idea.
Jay Ryan is a great beast. He manages to walk that fine line between an overdose of testosterone and mushy lovesick puppy. He walks it so sharply that I would be as bold as to say that the beast would appeal to about 90% of all straight women, who have all at one time or another had that bad boy in their life, who somehow devours them completely and who they just want to save with their love. Ladies, watch it and you will understand. I am truly surprised, that he hasn't been snatched up by a couple of blockbusters already. He has great timing, an incredibly expressive range of mimics and looks and exudes sharply whatever emotion he needs to, be it anger, frustration, love, confusion etc. It has been a long time since Hollywood had something of his caliber.
Kristin Kreuk does a tremendous job as well. She is super sharp on the fight/action scenes (of which there are plenty) and she is sweet but thankfully not to weepy in the love scenes. She too swings between the different fast paced moods effortlessly and is both believable and endearing and annoying at the same time. Just as a New York detective with baggage should be. She plays a woman who has dysfunctional relationships, control issues and a incessantly analytic brain that she can barely turn off in bed, without ever being too much and Kristin makes her very real.
Now, I realize that some will feel that the police stories are somewhat unrealistic. I have to remind you, that you are watching a show about a beast. It is not real, it is a fantasy world and I think the creative allowances are adequate.
I have one concern for the show. I worry that it will turn too soapy and forget the original premise. If I could sit down with the writers I would strongly recommend that they remember that the beast story and the love story are the background and the crime solving, mystery solving police episodes are the foreground. A few episodes of season 2 slightly lose balance because the writers seem to over complicate the background. I know it is important to be innovative and creative above and beyond, but really, with a show like this, you need to be on the edge of your seat action wise, but trust that everything will somehow be okay in the end. If you throw too much into the mix, if the characters waver too much or change personality too many times, we are thrown off. Please dear writers do not fall in that same trap of so many other great shows who ended up being all soap opera and intricate story at the expense of great episode mysteries/crimes (yes x-files, I am looking at you).
Anyway, if you have reached the end of this, I hope I have convinced you to watch this show. It really is great and it will have you hooked, chained and begging for more before you know it.
Enjoy!
The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)
Treat yourself to this gem of a movie
The Grand Budapest hotel is a surreal comedy but in a way that pushes you to think of the old Greek comedies, where tragedy becomes edible because it is wrapped in comedy.
I am giving this amazing movie a 9, not a 10, for the simple reason that I did not like the prologue and I am not at all a fan of Willem Dafoe. He kills films for me. Maybe it is great acting because he is in both appearance and behavior so unappealing, I find it hard to watch. But then it is unfortunately acting, I would rather be without.
But when that is said, this is more than a movie. It is sublime art. The likes of Van Gogh, Gaultier and Wagner. It is obscure and crude but it enraptures you beyond belief. I laughed so much during the film, but strangely the afterthought of it is not laughter and fun. Anyone who has read "The emperor of lies" by Steve Sem-Sandberg will be moved by the deeper themes of the Grand Budapest Hotel. Again like the Greek comedies, heavy subjects seem to be well served to the mind through comedy.
But, this review would serve anyone poorly if I did not mention the bearing pillars of it all. A sublime Ralph Fiennes finally working with a director who understands to cater to his excessive ability. I will not demean Fiennes by calling it talent. It is more. And Wes Anderson somehow manages to play to him in a way that lets us all enjoy the full repertoire of his abilities. Do not cheat yourself of this incredible performance. Fiennes is always a great actor, bringing craft and devotion to his movies but in this movie he gives us more.
Almost climbing to the same heights is Adrien Brody, who I was thrilled to see as "the bad guy". An unfamiliar role for him but wonderfully played.
And Tony Revolori. Cudos for being such an impressive sidekick. Walking with giants is not easy but he held his own.
I know that Wes Anderson is renowned for his cinematography, the techniques of art nouveau film making and for being, well, obscure. But to me his true talent, his gift, is everything that you do not see. The sub-story that lingers after the laughter fades. The surefooted way he lets his actors unfold every little tingle of hidden ability. The way he eases the viewer through some very unpleasant and provocative issues by knowing exactly how far he can push you and never stooping to the temptation to overdo it. And somehow the big colorful "do" that he wraps his film in serves to help you digest a fan of difficult issues that would otherwise be inedible.
Promise yourself to see this movie whichever way you can. It is well worth it. I will be watching it again. And again.
Dancing at the Harvest Moon (2002)
What a waste of a good story!
I am totally in the right age segment for this kind of movie. 40+ and very happy to be convinced that a woman can still be appealing to a 25 year old man. This story could have been great! It had all the right ingredients: Young handsome, fit and energetic man ditches pretty same age girlfriend for a forty something divorcée. But this movie messes the story up completely for one simple reason, Jaqueline Bisset. How on earth are we to believe that John would fall for her? She is supposed to have been in love with his dad at the age of 18, which is twenty something years ago and would therefore be in her forties. But she looks so old! At old older than 45 and more like the 60 odd years, she actually is. Not only does she not look the part, she has apparently lost all ability to act. I dare say the producer could have easily saved her salary and instead have had an extra walk around with a cardboard cut out playing a metallic tape recorder robot voice - and done a better job. She is so stiff and passionless, that I cannot for the love of anything see how anyone would feel the quandary of whether it is love or just sexual attraction. When they kiss, it looks like a kid kissing a grandmother without an ounce of tension or passion. Well she could be his grandmother, so that is probably why. I had to look away during some of the romantic scenes - it was that awkward and inappropriate.
I am so sad they did not make more of this, getting a great mature actress to play the part. It had all the elements to become a favorite, but it failed badly.
Do not watch this, even if you get it for free. It is horrible.
Safe Haven (2013)
A whole different story than the book
First of all, I am not saying the movie is bad. Actually, I kind of like it being in my romantic phase occasionally. And hands down, Lasse, is a great director. The light, the scenery, the way you can almost smell the sea. I love that.
******Everything below contains spoilers*****
It bears however little resemblance to the Nicholas Sparks novel the movie is named after and which I really loved. There some corresponding points between book and movie. Most of the main characters keep their names. The wife who died of cancer (well, it was 3 brain tumors in the book, but they were probably cancer). The chase is fine in my opinion as it probably needed fine tuning for the big screen.
But why change the key elements. The wonderful thing about the book was the extensive character build up. This is no sleazy whipped off your feet romance. The book describes two people so scarred and beaten by life, that you rally for them along the way. There is no sending her away crisis(also because there is no warrant for murder), no sex whatsoever in the book. Why? Because the main issue is not the relationship Alex and Katie wind up having but the road to this relationship, the recovery and how they struggle with their conflicting emotions along the way. I feel the story has been trivialized by this film. I feel equally so about the characters. In the book Alex is an ex military man, who is rock solid and never wavers. Katie is the beaten emaciated woman, who falls for the safe haven of not only Southport, but also of Alex, but she struggles with the serious after effects of physical and mental abuse and the vows of marriage which she holds sacred. And the point of the book is that they understand each other. In all their emotional disability they get each other and they find not only peace but room for these disabilities in each other.
I agree with another review that without the explanation of Katies escape, you do not grasp the severity of the situation and the degree of psychopathy her husband possesses. I am not sure it would have worked on film and if it had, it would have been much more like "Sleeping with the enemy". But it should have been incorporated somehow. The one scene where they do talk about her past is not working for me at all. Abused women do not react like that when talking about their foe. They do not lie relaxed in bed with their naked new beau. If an abused woman were to open op she would most likely be extremely detached from the conversation and not even shed a tear or wrapped up and curled up in the agony of recounting her misery.
By the way. In the book, the story takes place from January to August. If you do not know that, you might get the impression that it is only a few weeks of dating etc. in the film. The duration also emphasizes the obsession of Kevin.
I give the film a 5 out 10, because it is not a bad film and most women will enjoy watching it. Just lower your expectations before going, if you read the book.