During the 90's Meg Ryan is a surefire hit for romantic comedies and here she tries her best alongside another great actor in Tim Robbins.
Tim here is Ed Walters, a small town mechanic who immediately falls in love with Catherine Boyd (played by Meg Ryan), who's an accomplished mathematician. Although she's engaged, this didn't stop Ed from pursuing her.
In his attempt to woo her, Ed manages to make an introduction to her uncle, the great Albert Einstein (played by Walther Matthau). Even at that brief first meeting, Ed impressed on Einstein that the latter believed that he is the better fit for his niece than Catherine's current boyfriend. Albert then helps Ed in his quest for the love of Catherine. At this juncture the comedy moments starts to roll.
Albert concocts a scheme to make Ed a "wunderkind", or a new found genius. Albert and his genius friends tried their best to make his look like them, complete with nerdy attire. This lie rolled bigger with more lies up to the point that Ed would publish his own paper (it was Einstein's old theory) and read it to the whole scientific community.
Catherine eventually falls with Ed but she saw through the lies. She was able to read through Ed's paper (Einstein's actually) and proved it to be false. She broke up reluctantly with Ed, but as fate would have it (actually it was Einstein's doing again), both found each other in a field where one can do stargazing and both fell in love again.
If you ask us, both actors were decent, but somehow both lacked the magic or sparkle that you find in "Sleepless in Seattle". Tim Robbins is great here, but as a comedian, he is not. But he does his best as Tim Robbins would do, do drama. The comedy was neither delivered by Meg Ryan as she should have been serious as a mathematician but somehow there were some scenes that we see her character in "You've got Mail". The only actor who stood out here was Albert Einstein err Walther Matthau. He delivered the kicker here along with his cooky scientist friends who provided the comedy from start to finish.
Although classified as a romantic comedy, we can say it delivered more comedy than romance. We love the story line and the although the plot may a bit used, it provided still a fresh take with some witty lines from Albert Einstein.
If you want to be E=MC2 then head off to Amazon Prime Video and shout Wahoo together with the great scientist.
Mixed couples usually is still a touchy issue so when this movie takes a crack at it, they did take a crack at it via comedy.
When Theresa Jones (played by Zoe Saldana) brings home his man, Simon Green (played by Ashton Kutcher) to meet her parents, all hell breaks loose in the Jones' household. Theresa failed to mention to his father Percy Jones (played by Bernie Mac) that Simon is a white dude. Immediately Percy went into racist mode and tries to alienate Simon, while the latter tries his best to impress the former. Here we have an adventure like no other as two great comedians take a hit from each other in different situations.
Bernie Mac is Bernie Mac and he can really deliver his comedic scenes to the hilt and we were not disappointed with Ashton Kutcher either. The latter being a great comedian himself, so the witty and slapstick back and forth between the two was seamless if we may so. The seriousness of Percy's wife and daughter provided for a contrast making the film an interesting watch.
Although racy jokes are in the mix here, we have no problem with some stereotypes that were given. We felt it was all in jest and the objective here was to make us laugh. In the end the movie is great way to relax and enjoy your friday night marathon.
Lucky for you this one is currently showing on Amazon Prime Video.
Movie is around Kathleen Kelly (played by Meg Ryan) who owns a children's bookstore in New York. That aside from tending her store, she's excited to hear three words from her computer, when AOL rings "You've Got Mail". Whenever she hears this, it means that she's got mail from her online friend named NY152 (her online persona is "Shopgirl"). Both are bonded through emails, even if they don't know each other in person, they feel a connection of their minds.
From emails, they moved on to online chats as Kathleen's bookstore is being threatened by a new bookstore partly owned by Joe. As each do not know each others personal details, they didn't know that they are competitors in real life. Finally they decide to meet but somehow Joe manages to discover who Shopgirl really is and he stood her up at their meeting.
Joe started to have feelings for Kathleen yet the latter would not have any for Joe. In spite of their being competitors, Joe tried his best to win over Kathleen's favors. With Joe's persistence, both managed to become friends, close friends even. With a heightened friendship between them, Joe then confessed to Kathleen his true feeling for her. She's now confused as he likes Joe now but still pines for her online friend NY152. She left Joe on the streets while she prepares to meet with NY152.
While waiting for online friend in the park, in comes Joe. Kathleen cried upon seeing him, only then she realized that NY152 is Joe. She cried because in her heart, she wanted NY152 to be Joe. She cried because she was happy.
This couple is great together especially in the romance comedy department. We liked them in "Sleepless in Seattle" and now they are back together in this movie. Although if we weigh in these two movies, we favor heavily on Sleepless over this but we don't get enough of them so we recommend this too.
Tom Hanks is in his usual self, a great actor and performer and he is so cool and relaxed when paired with Meg Ryan. Meg is so cute and innocent looking here and our screen lights up when these two are together.
Don't expect here the magic found din Sleepless as this film is a different animal altogether. It feeds on our craving for affection found online, but in the end, what we need is physical love and affection. Nothing compares to reality and this movie showed that Meg Ryan truly hopes Tom Hanks is NY152. So after watching this movie, try to get out more and socialize physically. Meeting people in real life is far more exciting than clicking like buttons on your friend's posts. :)
What do you get when you have Woody Allen and John Turturro in a film? You get a wonderful film that's what.
Now the movie takes off with Dr. Parker (played by Sharon Stone) telling her patient Murray (played by Woody Allen) that she wants a menage a trois with her friend Selima (played by Sofia Vergara). She asks Murray if he could refer a willing male to join them. Murray then recommends Fioravante (played by John Turturro) to be that man. Murray then acted as a pimp and charges Dr. Parker for Fioravante's services. It turned out that he has a knack for this service and clients are streaming in courtesy of Murray. With a thriving business they take on trade names, Dan Bongo for Murray while Fioravante is Virgil.
As they say love is not good in prostitution but eventually Virgil fell in love with a jewish Widow Avigal (played by Vanessa Paradis). Their love blossomed until such time that Avigal realized that their relationship could never be. Heartbroken, Virgil then wants to retire but during a brief moment in a cafe with Murray, he meets a beautiful french woman in Loan (played by Loan Chabanol).
First off, you got to watch this movie if you can get your hands on this. Written and directed and starred in by John Turturro, a great actor and here, writer and director. A trivia regarding the great Woody Allen, he mostly does movies where he writes and directs and in this one, he is just an actor. We love Woody Allen's movies and we were skeptical if his performance as an actor would diminish if he was being directed by somebody else. Being a great performer that he is, he is great here as Dan Bongo aka Murray and the whole movie, has a Woody Allen feel to it which we love.
We were glad that John Turturro was able to deliver his best here opposite of Woody Allen and he truly is at par with the great comedian. The duo had great chemistry here making the film a marvel to watch.
Story line is simple. Its about a male prostitute and of course the movie shows him reluctant at first to be one then succeeding scenes with him encountering different women. All these were necessary for character development for both characters of Woody and John. Consider the pacing a smoldering ember, it just a flash fire that dies out as soon as it ignites, but this is a slow burn. Although we have the two here as leads, the movie revolves around a few women here, namely Dr. Parker, Selima and Avigal. Other characters lend their talents as supports were lead by Liev Schreiber, another great actor of our times.
Comedy without slapstick, without the cussing and dissing, this is the comedy that Woody Allen dishes out and we love this kind of comedy. We appreciate the dialogues as it was nicely written by John himself. Lines were witty and the story telling was simple yet endearing. Truly this movie is among our top 10 in our list of favorite movies.
When the Russian mafia comes in and wants to get hold of a bio-chemical weapon all hell breaks loose in Korea. Two special agents Ahn Soo-ji (played by Kim Ha-neul) and Lee Jae-joon (played by Kang Ji-hwan) were working for two different organizations and kept their identities secret from each other. While Soo-ji was very well suited to her job, Jae-joon was a rookie in this case.
The two have been dating without knowing that both of them were government agents so it was unavoidable they would be called in their cases. Each one wondering why they had to leave on short notice and much funnier when they do find themselves in the same area where their operations are located.
Their relationship went high and low due to this but their passion to their craft and their love for each other prevails. They were able to work together in the end and solve their case or cases at the same time, saving the whole world in the process.
Overall the movie is a feel good movie with both actors doing their roles nicely. Ha-neul was great as a seasoned veteran agent, meanwhile Ji-hwan's antics were fine at first, but it continued long enough that it became annoying. So near the end we like to see more of her and less of him, but we were lucky enough to be granted this wish as both had to be together fighting the bad guys in the end.
If you want a feel good, romantic and comedy at the same time, watch this without being technical about it. The production pulled off a nice movie in this one, so if you can get hold of a copy of this, we suggest watch it with popcorn and drinks and a few friends over the weekend.
Others wrote that this is a Korean version of that hit Hollywood Movie Mr and Mrs Smith with Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. It might have similar overtones, but underneath it's very very far off. Both are cute but this one had more laughs if you ask us.
Does one person really looks on the outside? Our lead here is Kang Hanna (played by Kim Ah-joong). She's a plus sized part time phone sex call center agent and ghost singer for a popular singer Ammy (played by Ji Seo-yun). She's got a huge crush on director Han Sang-jun (played by Joo Jin-mo) and she tries her best to be noticed. But then there was an instance that she overhears a conversation between Ammy and Sang-jun that she was just being used for her voice and this hurt Hanna so much. She decided to end her life that night but was pre-empted by a call from her phone sex regulars who happened to be a famous plastic surgeon. She begged him to transform her from weight loss and plastic surgery operations on her whole body.
She went on a one year hiatus without telling anyone that she would be undergoing such an arduous procedure. Ammy and Sang-jun were trying to find her as The former's career is on the line without her but to no avail.
A year past and when we see Hanna again, she turned into a slender and incredibly beautiful woman. Even her best friend Park Jung-min (played by Kim Hyun-sook), a back up singer, didn't even recognize her. Hanna wants to go back to her previous work as Ammy's ghost singer and with Jung-min's help, she auditions as Jenny in front of Sang-jun and Ammy. Impressed with her singing, instead of being hired as a ghost singer for Ammy, she was awarded a contract.
Jenny's first single "Maria" became a hit and they were having celebrations when Ammy bring's Hanna's (Jenny) father into the party. To keep her new identity as Jenny, she ignores her father much to the disgust of her best friend Jung-min. Even with her secret, Sang-jun was still able to discover that she really is Hanna. He tells her that they will still use her new identity Jenny and will still continue with her planned big concert.
With Ammy's doing, she tries her best to prevent Jenny's concert from happening. Even threatening to divulge her secret to the public and the music company executives were scared with the scandal it would create. Sang-jun would have none of it and still wants to push with the concert.
During her opening act, Jenny's father went in front of the stage and started dancing with her. A few security personnel accosted her father and she stopped singing. What happened thereafter was a big revelation of sorts. She confessed in front of the crowd that she isn't Jenny but is Kang Hanna, a plus sized ghost singer and she revealed that with the new identity, she couldn't remember who Hanna was. With Sang-jun's help, he played Hanna's old singing videos on the big screen. Her fans moved by her confession accepts who she was and began chanting "its okay".
The following day "Jenny" was a has been, with records and posters being pulled out from stores. But Hanna was a big hit, and she became a famous singer. All her Jenny records and posters were replaced by Hanna and her fans loved her.
From the title itself, you will immediately have an idea of how the story will be told. A plus sized girl falling in love with a handsome guy, then thinking that she won't be noticed, tries her best to slim down and undergo the knife to be beautiful. She thinks the guy is superficial and would only go with beautiful women. So expect a lot of situations that will show her oversized figure and what happens after the transformation.
Having said that, we did not anticipate how the story would be told beautifully and cleanly. Character development even with mostly comedic rendition would endear to us and hold us to an emotional state in the end. What we thought was a predictable story line gave us some roller coaster rides midway and a big drop was shown near the end. That drop gave us tears in our eyes as we felt Hanna's pain and vindication.
Kim Ah-joong really was the driving force in the movie and thank god she was spectacular here. She gave us a performance that would endear us for a long time. Joo Jin-mo played second fiddle here and he gave a decent acting for us. Wasn't the same level as Ah-joong, but it wasn't bad either. He gave us a smoldering presence that we can feel him from start to finish. A great support to our Ah-joong.
Another thing we liked with the movie was the presence of a lot of celebrities who did cameos along the way. We have Lee Beom-soo as a taxi driver, Kim Yong-gun as the company CEO, Lee Won-jong as a fortune teller, Ryu Seung-soo as a traffic officer.
To add credence to the movie, this one got lots of awards not only for Ah-joong but for the rest of the production. To kick you more in the butt, Ah-joong sang most of the songs here. Really, she sang 5 out of 11 from the movie soundtrack. This girl can sing.
So better watch this movie and add this in your playlist. Currently showing in Youtube, simply click on the thumbnail below.
When a single lady with a long standing relationship decides to marry, she can do so in Ireland during a leap year. It has been a tradition that women can propose on Bachelor's Day and the man proposed to must accept.
So Anna Brady (played by Amy Adams) pushed herself to Ireland to follow her boyfriend Jeremy Sloane (played by Adam Scott) so she can "propose" to him. In her journey there, her flight was diverted due to bad weather. She tried all efforts to reach him in Dublin even hiring a boat amidst the rough seas. She eventually reached a town called Dingle where she asked the local bar owner Declan O'Callaghan (played by Matthew Goode) to take her to Dublin. He agreed to take her for 500 Euros. Then the journey starts.
To make the movie interesting, our duo had to go through an ordeal on their way to Dublin. A lot of things happen along the way, both good and bad. Anna still has the passion to reach Dublin at all cost but waivers already her feelings for Jeremy. In her travel to reach him, she has gotten to know more about Declan and she is slowly falling in love with him. Her situation with Jeremy prevents her from showing off this love and likewise Declan tried to express his feelings but somehow things do not fall in his favor.
In the end, Anna fell out of love with Jeremy and flies back to Dingle to meet with Declan. She proposed to him and he simply left. Feeling turned down, Anna went off to cliff overlooking the waters of Dingle to mope, but then Declan followed her. He asked her why she left the bar and she said he was turned down. Declan mentioned that he didn't say anything but instead he left to get something. And that something was his mother's ring. He knelt on one knee and he proposed to her.
The first time we saw Matthew Goode was his portrayal of a secret service agent in Chasing Liberty with Mandy Moore. He really does great in romantic comedies so this one is no exception. He reall is a cool guy here, stoic and has been hurt already in the past so he had a heart of stone in this one. It took an american lady in Amy Adams to melt his heart slowly and pushes him to love again.
Amy Adams is a talented actress and from what we can deduce from the roles she has taken, she gives each one a separate life. We can see each character come to life and her acting does not mirror or be similar with the others. In her bit roles in "Catch me if you can" her portrayal as nurse, it endeared to us. Then we saw her again in that Disney movie "Enchanted" where she showed us her talent in singing and dancing. That too was memorable to us and until now we keep singing that song in our heads whenever we remember that movie. She wowed us as that spunky Amelia Earheart in "Night at the Museum", the shy and timid girl in "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby" opposite of Will Ferrell. She showed us she can dish out some comedy as well. In the drama department, she dished it out with the great Client Eastwood in "Trouble with the Curve". If you watched her in all those films, her performances were not the same in our view and we just love her for doing it. She is also the Lois Lane in the recent Superman franchise so just you know.
There were three characters that resonate with us here in the movie and that the two, Amy Adams and Matthew Goode carried the bulk of the movie to greater heights. They had an onscreen chemistry that we liked and the romantic interludes between although they kept it, we can feel the vibe the way they held their feelings in check.
A must watch for romcom addicts out there. Lucky for you its being shown in Amazon Prime Video right now.
We love that actor Daniel Henney when we saw him X-Men origins: Wolverine and in that another asian movie Shanghai Calling. Here he plays an expat Robin Heiden assigned to a Korean branch where he meets up with Min-June (played by Uhm Jung-hwa). Their first encounter was coincidental as Min-June was playing hooky when suddenly she figures in a car bumping incident with Robin. The latter speaks in English while the former feigns she doesn't know english, creating confusion between them. Unknown to both, they would again find each other as both were working in the same office. Robin being the new country manager where Min-june works.
A classic tale of awkwardness befalls our two leads as Min-june is always mired with her boyfriends while Robin tries his best to educate her in the game of love. In the process of her education, both finds themselves falling in love with each other.
This is a romantic comedy so surely you will find some cute moments between the two. The clash of two cultures is apparent here as the Americanized Robin mingles with Korean Min-june. The perception of incompatibility is to be expected as this movie gives no surprise there. What endears this movie to us is the comedic and acting prowess of Uhm Jung-hwa as that out of luck in love Min-June. She really brings the character to life and even if some of the scenes might not be realistic as dictated by the script, she pulls us back to be entertained by her performance.
Daniel Henney is great as that corporate stiff boss who tries very much to "help" Min-june. His performance was nice here but if you have watched his other asian flick Shanghai Calling, you will find it equal to that. So equal in fact that you might think the other was a sequel. LOL.
Story pace was done nicely, a nice blend of fast and slow moments, mostly scenes were comedic and cute, but it also offers some drama somewhere in the middle. The story line might offer you no surprises however it does give us that zing in some parts of the film.
We recommend this movie to those who love romantic comedies, best to watch this with popcorn. We don't know if this is shown in streaming services but you can watch a low definition version in YouTube. Simply click on the thumbnail below to watch it for free.
For a change we will be having a heroine today in Joan Wilder (played by Kathleen Turner), a romance novel writer based in New York City. She stays indoors always until she books a flight for Colombia. Her sister Elaine (played by Mary Ellen Trainor) was kidnapped by smugglers Ira (played by Zack Norman) and Ralph (played by Danny De Vito) and they ransomed her for a map that Elaine sent to Joan.
En route to the meet up point, Joan was misdirected by Colonel Zolo (played by Manuel Ojeda) hoping to get the map from her. He tricked her in boarding the wrong bus to Cartagena, the meeting point. Ralph saw her board the wrong bus and pursued her into the jungles of Colombia. While going through the jungle, the bus crashed into a parked car and was wrecked. Joan was stranded and Colonel Zolo made his move against Joan, who then was saved just in time by Jack Colton (played by Michael Douglas), an exotic bird smuggler.
Joan then requests Jack to help her reach Cartagena but the latter demanded to be paid. Agreeing at USD375, the two went on through the jungle to Cartagena while Colonel Zolo is still in hot pursuit. The duo reached a small village and met with the local drug lord Juan (played by Alfonso Arau), a huge fan of Joan Wilder's novels. He helped them escape Colonel Zolo when they were almost apprehended in the village. While they were in the nearby town, they decided to decipher the map and look for the treasure before they hand it over to Ira and Ralph.
They eventually found the treasure, an emerald called the "Corazon" or heart, Ralph takes the stone at gunpoint, but when Zolo's troops appeared, it gave Jack the chance to get the emerald back. In their escape from Ralph and Zolo's men, Joan and Jack were separated on separate sides of a river, Joan has the map and Jack has the stone. Jack tells Joan how to reach Cartagena and promises he will meet her there.
In Cartagena, Joan gives the map to Ira and true to his word, he releases her sister Elaine. Zolo then arrives with his captives, Jack and Ralph. Looking for the emerald, Zolo tries to torture Joan but the emerald was found to be with Jack all along. Jack tried to heave the stone to a crocodile pool but was caught by Zolo. Being close to the pool, a wayward crocodile bit off Zolo's hand that held the emerald, maiming him and the crocodile swallows the hand along with the stone. Jack follows the crocodile and tries to prevent it from escaping but he has to let go of it to save Joan against Zolo.
Zolo eventually falls into the crocodile pool and dies, Ira escaped when the police arrived, leaving behind Ralph. Jack dove off the pier to try to go after the crocodile with Joan and Elaine left at the pier to be with the authorities.
Joan and her sister went back to New York and Joan has written a new book about her latest adventure in Colombia and her editor loved it so much. Another best seller she says. On her way home, she finds a huge yacht on a trailer on the streets of New York and wondered why it was there in the first place. It turned out that Jack owns this yacht and he tells Joan that the crocodile with the emerald had a fatal case of indigestion.
We love the onscreen chemistry between Kathleen Turner and Michael Douglas here and with this, the two put up a great show for us. Both were great actors and they didn't disappoint even with a very cheesy script. A love story with a little bit of hate, joy and love is cheesy in our books. Yet the two played with it with gusto and finesse that we forgot its a cheesy movie in the onset.
Pacing was nice and there was not a boring moment for us. We didn't even have to push that forward button if there were boring moments. Action was great and we like the Little Mule, you better watch it so you'll know what we are writing about here.
If you are a fan of both actors and the comedy romance genre, make sure to add this to your playlist. This is not on Netflix, but most likely it would be on Amazon Prime (we don't have an account with them anymore).
Timeless Romance or Timeless Love is a story of 4 women who transcends through time, just to win 4 men that got away. All their souls were trapped in stones that eventually was made into a necklace and comes upon our hapless heroine in Qin Duyi in the modern times.
These spirits use Duyi's body to go after the men that will hopefully move them to the afterlife. Being 4 souls, they are after 4 men obviously. So each of these 4 souls have to to share Duyi's body confusing the men. To think that even Duyi has her own man to capture as well.
The movie is more on the silly side rather than on the romance side as we keep seeing these souls going in and out of our main character indiscriminately. We pity the girl for being overly used by these souls and of how the men would react knowing in the end that they were after just one woman with multiple personalities. There were funny moments here of course but we simply can't accept the fact the term "used and abused" is constantly being seen with out heroine. The four souls had great performances however the lead actor playing Duyi is somehow left out in our point of view. It's difficult acting alone, and with additional 4 more characters? I think that was a stretch for her. There were still other things to discuss but we like to leave it at that since the ending would just make our review moot and academic. If you want fish out of water antics and confused men looks, then watch this one. Per write ups, its being shown on Amazon Prime but we watched this in YouTube instead. Simply click on the thumbnail below.
Story is set in Beijing China, starts off with a young lady Miao Miao (played by Ni Ni) getting off an expensive car and enters another car with Jiang LiangLiang (played by Feng Shaofeng) who's driving. She asks him to drive off with her with the expensive car trailing them eventually Liangliang was able to elude the other car. With this, Miao Miao then hops off Liangliang's car into a taxi without bothering giving each others names.
As luck would have it, both were to meet again in one advertising shoot as Liangliang is a copy director on set while Miao Miao is a commercial model. They had a connection and immediately they are in a relationship. In such a short time thereafter, they lived together already. This was a bad move as Liangliang found out how jealous and controlling Miao Miao really is. She made a living hell out of Liangliang that they are constantly fighting already. Miao Miao constantly nags him about his constantly meeting or talking with his ex girlfriend and his spending long hours with his workmates. In the end, Liangliang felt he is constricted by their relationship.
This is not your typical romantic and sweet love story but instead its a love and hate kind of relationship. Of one woman's love that encroaches on a man's life and of how a man's efforts dealing with such kind of a woman. The film is head on drama and you will really feel how controlling Miao Miao is to Liangliang. We liked how the story was laid out, from the very beginning, of how they met, the sweet moments leading to their relationship.
then relationship went south from there. Miao Miao turned to be a nightmare for Liangliang. We thought this was just a passing story and that somehow it would lead them to change and maybe just maybe they will live happily ever after. This wasn't the case and their love have spiralled so much that love really did tore them apart. However the ending of the story confused us as to how did it really end.
The writer intentionally left us hanging as everything went on reverse without the actors acknowledging they went back to where they all started.
Overall the movie is a fatal attraction kind of love on the side of Miao Miao and we thought this was going to lead into a suspense thriller. This was still a love story of sorts in a weird kind of way.
If you are into romantic comedies, this is not the movie for you. If you like heavy dram kind of love ,then watch this and not expect a happy ending that you might expect. Being positive people that we are, we believed that they had a happy ending, going back to the emotions where they all started, but this was presented as to the way we expect it to be.
Currently being shown in YouTube, simply click on the thumbnail below.
Love means nothing in tennis. Love means zero score. But who would ever thought there was another kind of love in this sport? Paul Bettany stars as an outgoing British professional player, Peter Colt, on his last wimbledon tournament when suddenly love finds him on the court. He meets an american tennis sensation Lizzie Bradbury (played by Kirsten Dunst) and she had a penchant for Colt. A romance ensued much to the dismay of Lizzie's dad who made known his disapproval of her daughter's digressions. Whenever they both have a night together, Colt unexpectedly wins much to the delight of the media. They were not focusing on Colt as he is on his way out, but his string of wins made him a darling of the press again. Meanwhile Lizzie's game falters and was booted out of the competition. This loss struck a chord between Lizzie and Colt that they broke up. Colt was still playing in the tournament finals against another american sensation. Expectedly Colt was still reeling from the effects of his breakup that it clearly showed in his game. Colt was clearly losing, until Lizzie showed up and showed Colt how to win over his opponent. Eventually Colt wins the Wimbledon Cup and is now a national hero, he then marries Lizzie and although not shown in the movie, Lizzie wins the US Open and Wimbledon twice. This was our first time seeing Paul Bettany in the movies and what a smashing (no pun intended) serve it was. His acting was really great as a professional tennis player and we never doubted that he wasn't. Although we have seen a behind the scenes coverage of the film, the ball was CGI but their smashes, serves, lobs weren't so I give credit to the actors especially to Paul. Kirsten Dunst wasn't left behind either as she delivered her role perfectly and they do look good together. We also loved James McAvoy here as Paul's brother who bets on his opponents always (almost). His character can be omitted without damaging the story line but he was a great icebreaker to some of the scenes herein. Jon Favreau (of Marvel fame) was also here as Paul's agent and he provided also comedic relief to a romance drama comedy theme of the movie. Seriousness was best delivered by Sam Neill as Kirsten's father here and he is great as the super protective dad. To add more credibility to the film, we can see real professional tennis players here and they are a lot. I counted 11 of them, most of them acting as commentators and some were players who fought against Paul and Kristen's characters. Another plus to watch this is its wonderfully written and the story telling is light and very detailed as per our view. Even the narration was well placed, especially those in when Colt is speaking with his mind. It's cute and goes a long way in pushing the film higher in our entertainment level. To be deep, this film shows a man's inferiority amidst a tennis tournament full of ambitious, young and passionate athletes. Of how he overcame using his focus and determination over age and enthusiasm. So if you are a tennis fan, you will surely love this film. For those who love romance ala romeo and juliet, then get blown by their love story here. For the full movie being shown on YouTube, click on the thumbnail below.
Finally we get to see a film by that lovable star in the tv series "Princess Hours" and "Coffee Prince", Yoon Eun-Hye. She plays Han Min-joo, the class captain who's a boxer and tough mannered lady in school. The story though is not about her, its about the legend, Seven cutter, who's a tough guy known to be unbeaten in fights in different schools. That legend is Jung Han-soo played by Ahn Jae-Mo.
Movie starts out with Han-soo tranferring to the school where Han Min-joo is. The name of Han-soo is quite a legend so when the students learned about his arrival, everybody was scared of him. He was given an icy welcome and the tough guys in that school gave him a hard time at first. It turned out that Han-soo dislikes confrontation and tries his best to be peaceful. However his actions sometimes were misconstrued and the students believes he is that tough guy, Seven Cutter.
Being a teenager in high school, Han-soo gets into a situation with Min-joo and she challenges him to a fight. Being a pacifist of sorts, he escapes the fight by telling Min-joo that he loves her and she believed him. All the while he really likes Lee Yoon-ah (played by Han Da-min) the school crush, with a diva like attitude. They became an item while Han-soo still likes Yoon-ah.
When Min-joo found out that he likes Yoon-ah, she broke up with him. In her disgust, she wandered off and was kidnapped by some thugs whom Han-soo defeated early on, using her as bait. This time also Han-soo realizes he loves Min-joo and went after her. He defeats the bad guys and both are together again.
If you like highschool comedies, that are composed of comedy skits, punchlines and slapstick, then this movie is for you. There are a lot of those here and I wondered how I was to sit down and watch this in its entirety. The plot should have been simple but its not, as it had a lot of twists and turns.
At first we believed that there were two Han-soo's. Because the lead character tells everyone that he was not that legendary "seven cutter". He acts like a coward and abhors fighting, uses his wits and words to get out of confrontation, and even runs away. So we believed it then that he was not that legend to begin with. Then there was a situation wherein he divulges his secret to Min-joo but we don't believe him as we thought we was just making stories to impress her. It turned out that he was great in fighting and that he is the legendary Seven Cutter.
Let us be clear that the reason we wanted to watch this was because of Yoon Eun-Hye. We love her in Princess Hours and Coffee Prince thus the fascination for The Legend of the Seven Cutter'. Her cuteness with the TV series however runs thin when it came with this movie. What you see in her on TV is what you can see here. So her acting will not be surprisingly new. I can't blame her as all the titles mentioned here were done in 2006 and 2007. We will surely find a movie around the 2011 onwards era to find out if she developed more in the acting department.
The movie is not about her however, its about Jung Han-soo played by Ahn Jae-Mo. Judging from his filmography, this movie is second to his last done. His last movie made was in 2006 as per wikipedia. All performances after 2006 were all on TV. His acting here was a bit quirky but effective. He was the reason why we thought there were two characters in the movie. It may or may not be intentional on his part but his portrayal of his character led us to believe of two different Han-Soos. Or maybe it was the script?
The script is not original for us, the idea of one student who escapes his past, starts anew in another school, is not new to us. In as much as he tries to be a new person, eventually his past catches up on him as his adversary was able to track him and forces him for a rematch and possibly get revenge. The script offers less on this story line but offers more of comedy situations. There were a lot of skits that prey on youth shenanigans that we find amusing for most parts. This situations are distractions that momentarily we are thrown off from the story.
This is movie is a feel good movie, and with a bowl of popcorn will offer momentary entertainment. It won't offer you fine dining but will do offer fast food instead. Good to watch if you don't have anything else on your movie night, or if you haven't paid yet your Netflix or Amazon Prime account. Click on the thumbnail below and watch it on YouTube.
Ain't it obvious already that we love Audrey Hepburn. This is one of her great movies as she won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her role as Princess Ann.
Movie starts off with the royal Princess Ann being on an official goodwill tour of Europe, where she attended various ceremonies in behalf of her country. Rome was her last stop, she was already tired of the tour. She saw some people dancing below her window and she wished she could join them. Being a princess she was stuck with her bedroom. Her aide then proceeded to remind her of their next day's schedule when she snapped. She had a small nervous breakdown and her doctor gave her some sedatives. Thinking that she was asleep, they left her alone. She then escaped from her room and wanders around Rome.
The story then progresses when she was met by Joe Bradley (played by Gregory Peck), who is a reporter for the American News Service. Bradley did not disclose his work to the princess so that he can gather information for a story that will give him a big payday. All she was was a story in the beginning until he fell in love with Princess Ann. In the end, he ditches the article and informs his editor he doesn't have it.
In the end Princess Ann returns to her duties and when she met with the Press, Joe Bradley was there and she was shocked. Joe then put her fears to rest when he had a chance to talk to her amidst all the other press people. Joe's photographer, Irving (played by Eddie Albert) was also at the press conference and gave her the pictures of her "tour" of Rome.
Princess Ann then thanked everyone of the press who were there and turned around and walked away. Likewise Joe walked alone from the press conference.
Although this one did not have happy ending, it was a delightful movie to watch. We can understand why Hepburn won an Academy Award here as she was great at being an innocent princess who sneaked out of her royal duties to be a commoner for a change.
We had a young Hepburn here, looking sweet and delightful to watch. She simply lights up the movie with her screentime. The movie is about her so expect much of her in the entire film. Can't complain here.
The production was also decent enough to feature much of Rome's features and although they may have "cheated" with the brief tour of the other European nations, we couldn't care less as we expected much of Rome anyway. The market scene, the crowd, the carabinieri or italian police made up for a truly wonderful roman experience. We love rome and its nice to see it in black and white and with less people that is.
Gregory Peck was in his usual handsome form and was great in pretending he is not a reporter to Hepburn. His actions were appropriate to the scenes but we can't say that he excelled herein. It was Hepburn who shined and thanks to his performance, he added that needed boost to bolster Hepburn's character to the hilt. So we applaud also his performance here. We also can't discount Eddie Albert's acting here. He was great as that hired photographer and he had lots of screen time here as well.
As we have started to review movies of this era, we noticed that story telling during this time was very much in the early stages if we compared it to modern times. This was mostly done by dialogues and not much of visual renderings, except for the location scene. Unlike the movie Charade, this was less of the dialogues and we appreciate the different style used in this one. We loved this movie more than Charade although we can't endear to the love angle between Peck and Hepburn. We simply can't relate to the fact they can be indeed lovers here in the story. She may have been young compared to Peck (15 year age gap) and Cary Grant (25 year age difference in Charade), but she had more chemistry with Cary Grant on screen as per our opinion.
In summary, we have read many great things about Roman Holiday and how glad we watched other classics prior to this movie. Story telling was very much different and when we compare Roman Holiday with the films in the 1950s and 60s, we can say that this was unique for this era. A lovely film to begin with, a simple story with simple twists, story telling kept on a steady pace, although with an ending we didn't like, other than the last one, we liked it.
Sadly its not being shown anymore in Netflix but with little research on our part, you watch this streaming on Amazon Prime. You may also watch a cut of version (split into 13 parts) on YouTube. Simply click on the thumbnail below.
As we featured a prince who turned into a beast then turns back into a prince, here we will feature a different kind of a prince. The kind of prince from Denmark that falls in love with a commoner. Sounds familiar? Then read on.
This movie shows Prince Edvard (played by Luke Mably) who lives like a playboy and plays with big toys. He has been a constant pain in the royal ass of his parents and he decides to escape temporarily the hang ups of being a prince and likewise give a welcome respite to his parents from his constant front page news.
Of all places he likes to escape, he decides on Wisconsin in the United States. Where in a television show he watched portrayed some wild co-eds flashing their breasts on screen. Thinking that this is the case in Wisconsin, he decided to attend college there as a normal flemish rich kid, not as prince Edvard.
In college he meets with Paige Morgan (played by Julia Stiles), a typical american farm girl with high hopes and dreams. Who works part time so that she can attend university with an attitude that's totally reverse of Prince Edvard. This difference between them later on turned to finding similarities ultimately leading to love.
No secrets remain secret for too long and eventually Edvard's real identity was revealed to Paige and she felt lied to. She break off with Edvard and they tried to move on after. While during Paige's dissertation in front of her professors, she learns that she's in love with Edvard so she tried to pursue him. Only to find that Edvard has been recalled to Denmark to look after his ailing father the king.
Paige then decides to follow Edvard in Denmark and when she arrives, she saw him in a parade. Edvard went past her as she could not be easily seen in a crowd but the Paige was famous now in Denmark. People began calling her name and Edvard finally took notice. He brought her to the palace and Edvard had a talk with his parents about Morgan.
Paige then was accompanying Edvard and his mother the Queen in almost all Royal functions and events. It was all rosy for the two until Paige realized, although she was happy to be with Edvard, she hasn't forgotten his own dreams of being a doctor. Being tied up the Queen of Denmark would mean some of her dreams would not come true. Eventually Edvard had to let Paige go and to let her follow her dreams. Edvard subsequently became the King of Denmark (without a queen) and Paige continued on and graduated at the university.
A few years had gone by and Paige eventually graduates and Edvard was there to witness it. He wants her back in his life and Paige is wary if Denmark was ready for her to be their queen. To this he replied, they have to be since he was ready.
The movie is a straight romantic comedy with a fairy tale plot with a modern woman empowerment thing. It's a fish out water thing as well, as we find a playboy prince, who can get everything she wants, never been declined by the ladies, then experiences working and denied by a girl he wants in Paige. It's a typical rich kid meeting the girl from the other side of the tracks. Similar to a lot of teen movies that uses romance as a focus and this one levelled it up by introducing a real prince into the story.
Usually the unveiling part of the prince usually happens in the end but here it happened midway. You may wonder why too early? It was done with intent as we have seen the prince doing menial jobs, then we get to see a commoner, farm girl at that doing the work of a royalty. Another fish out of water similar to that of the Princess Diaries by Anne Hathaway.
So we see both sides of the coin here for both Edvard the prince and the commoner Paige.
Production and scriptwise it was decent in delivery. Lines were short and sweet, the exchanges between our leads was evenly paced, turning hate into love wasn't a surprise but sweet none the less. And we get to see a castle and servants and a safe full of expensive royal jewelry, along with a meat slicer as well. Story telling was a mix of being slow but not dragging, then a quick turnaround in pace midway made us jump again in our seats. This was especially so just before the paparazzi caught up with Edvard and Paige in the library. Everything before it were a bit slow but it was necessary to drum up the love angle between the two, then all because fast paced when they were discovered in the library.
Performance wise, it was Julia Stiles who holds more beef in the film and we love her farm girl character. Her idea of empowerment was a welcome treat in 2004 and she fits the role very well. For Luke Mably however we liked his accent. Acting wise it was pretty adequate being a prince, but we still expected more from him. We believe he can pass off as a modern prince but we wish he could have spin it a bit more. We don't know how, but we just felt he can do a little bit more.
The movie is a feel good movie and you can enjoy this for sure. Just don't expect much more. We just know that it will tickle your fancy romance side so simply look at the chemistry between the two.
As of this writing, this movie is not on Netflix, but is available on YouTube. Just click on the thumbnail next to this.
We really love Yifei Liu of Mulan fame that we dug up this 2014 film of hers with no less than Rain as his leading man. Yifei stars here as Xing Lu, a flight attendant at the beginning of the movie and bumps into Xu Chengxun (played by Rain). This was in Vienna and for both characters this was supposed to be just a passing thing until they meet up again in Shanghai.
Xing left her job and went back to Shanghai to find her rich boyfriend being wed at a hotel. She was so heartbroken that she tried to kill herself by jumping off an apartment building. It so happened that Xu was passing along and saw her at the top. He went up and tried to reason with her but both fell into an airbag that the Fire Department had set up below.
Both then started a friendship and Xu was constantly visiting Xing at her coffee shop. Xing then found out that Xu is an artist and she loved his work. Xu was barely scratching a living and it was Xing who gave him inspiration in his next paintings. All was going well until Xu proposes marriage to Xing of which she declined. Not only that she declined, Xu then later found her in a hotel with her rich ex-boyfriend who earlier got married in the film. This was devastating to Xu so he went back to his mother, who was uber rich. Xu is an heir to a vast rich empire and did not share the same view with his mother and he lived off his own means, leaving his studies in London to pursue art in Vienna. With Xing gone, thinking that greed came upon her, he accepts his life of fame and fortune.
In one of his exhibits, he instructs to sell the paintings for cheap but some gallery in Vienna bought it for 15 Million (Yuan or Dollars we don't know). Xu was angered by this considering he just want to sell the paintings for cheap, he went to Vienna to find the buyer, and he found Xing.
Xu still hated Xing and he said some harsh words to her, not knowing it was her who bought the paintings. While he raced away from Xing, she followed her running. Xu later realized that he still loves her went back to an empty apartment, to find his paintings neatly tucked away in the corner. Meanwhile Xing was held up while trying to catch Xu, and was stabbed. Even with the wound, she ran to find Xu only to be bumped by Xu's car throwing her into a river. She was taken to the hospital and she survived. Xu then returns all the fame and fortune to her mom just to be with Xing in the end.
First off, we had reservations on the performance of Yifei after seeing her in So Young 2 (Never Gone), even though we really loved her. We also have seen her in Forbidden Kingdom and the Four franchise. Her acting in So Young and in some of those mentioned wasn't that endearing enough for us that she might do the same here in For Love or Money. We were wrong. Although some critics (yes we read some of them) didn't like this film, they may be right but somehow we disagreed. We are are hopeful romantics here and we really love Yifei's performance here. So much so we think this was her best performance ever. She cried a lot here and her eyes were filled with emotions that we were taken by these scenes. Best acting for her as of yet here in this movie.
Rain as Xu Chengxun, the rich heir who abhors his fortune delivered a fine performance as well. He tried crying also as much as Yifei, but we don't like crying, it didn't set well with us but in scenes where he tries to impress Xing, there we can feel that she loved her very much. Great job these two gave us and almost, yes almost, we can see a chemistry between the two in this film. We say almost because Yifei for us has to improve her role as a "lover", yes we like her crying, but some scenes require an amorous approach to a scene. Rain had no problem in this department, only the crying part. So they complement each other in this film. LOL.
We would like also to note the decent performance of Joan Chen as Xu's rich and manipulative mother. She really is great playing the villain of sorts and this one is easy for her.
Storywise its your age old rich guy pretending to be poor to find his love, while poor girl is bought off by the rich mother hoping to give frustration to the rich son who pretends to be poor. Nothing new here and almost you can see where the story will lead you. We hope there were some surprises but nothing jumped out from nowhere to interest us. Thanks to the story telling and of the actors, we have a good film if you ask us.
The story or script was well written but one might be confused at the first an hour and 10 minutes of the movie. There were some flashbacks, side stories that muddle the story, and that only at this point we really knew what was happening. It is as if you can watch the first 15 minutes then skip to that point and you might be able to catch up to the story without missing a beat. Anyway, it was still a good watch the first part, but keep your emotions in check as you might want to fast forward it a bit. Which we did in our first time watching it.
As of this writing, the full movie is shown on YouTube and just click on the thumbnail below.
