Tag: Romance

100 Word Review – Sixteen Candles (1984)

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Written/directed by John Hughes (Pretty In Pink, The Breakfast Club), like many of his other films, this is a staple of main stream 80s Hollywood, and partly credited with the rise of the teen comedy/romance.

Being a teenager is already hard, but Samantha (Molly Ringwald) suffers humiliation after humiliation on her sixteenth birthday.

Funny, stupid, romantic and with the kind of outfits that were only popular in the 80s, this is a great, fun film that doesn’t ask to be taken too seriously.

Look out for a very young John Cusack and a wonderful part for his sister Joan Cusack.

100 Word Review – Breakfast At Tiffany’s (1961)

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“A girl can’t read that sort of thing without her lipstick.” – Holly Golightly

Based on the novel by Truman Capote of a prostitute and her next door neighbour, this Hollywood version keeps all of the glamour of its source.

Holly Golightly (Audrey Hepburn), a New York Socialite, lives next door to ‘average Joe’ and hopeless romantic Paul Varjak (George Peppard) in this 1960s cult movie.

Screenplay by George Axelrod (The Seven Year Itch, Paris When It Sizzles), this film manages to live up to its stylish reputation while sneaking in some of the darkness and turmoil of the original story.

100 Word Review – Absolutely Anything (2015)

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Written and directed by Terry Jones (of Monty Python fame) with the help of skilled screenwriter Gavin Scott (Small Soldiers, The Borrowers), this is a weird and wonderful concoction.

Neil (Simon Pegg) is a teacher and aspiring writer when he is given the powers to do absolutely anything by a group of all-powerful aliens (voiced by the Python crew). The fate of the world rests on whether he uses his powers for good or evil.

With Kate Beckinsale and Robin Williams supporting, this film is brilliantly put together and very funny. It’s also extremely silly, in the best possible way.

100 Word Review – Being John Malkovich (1999)

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Craig (John Cusack) a puppeteer with a failing career finds a portal that allows him inside the mind of famous actor John Malkovich, where he starts to put his skills to work.

Written by Charlie Kaufman (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Adaptation) and directed by Spike Jonze (Where The Wild Things Are, Her), this film was always going to be an unusual movie.

With John Malkovich playing himself and co-starring Cameron Diaz and Catherine Keener, this film is weird, dark and completely trippy. The acting is superb and there are moments of dark humour that make it thoroughly watchable.

100 Word Review – Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

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It’s not often you see Jim Carrey in a serious film, and I’m not sure why because he’s brilliant in this.

At the end of their relationship, Joel (Carrey) and Clementine (Kate Winslet) undergo a procedure to have each other removed from their memories.

As would be expected with a film written by Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich, Adaptation) and directed by Michel Gondry (Be Kind Rewind, The Science of Sleep), it’s equal parts wacky and beautiful.

The film is far from linear and takes you on an extraordinary journey filled with romance, laughter as well as darkness and despair.

100 Word Review – Demolition (2015)

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LIFE: Some Disassembly Required. – Tagline

After losing his wife (Heather Lind) in a car accident that left him unscathed, Davis (Jake Gyllenhaal) writes a series of increasingly confessional complaint letters to a vending machine company. He also starts taking things apart.

Co-starring Naomi Watts, Chris Cooper and Judah Lewis (definitely a young actor to look out for), this film finds humour and sympathy in the cathartic actions of one man.

Directed by Jean-Marc Vallee (Wild, Dallas Buyers Club, The Young Victoria) and written by Bryan Sipe, it is funny, heartbreaking and brilliantly destructive. It also has a toe-tappingly wonderful soundtrack.

100 Word Review – Cloud Atlas

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Adapted from David Mitchell’s novel and directed by Tom Tykwer (Run Lola Run, Perfume:The Story of a Murderer) and the Wachowskis (The Matrix, V for Vendetta), this film is extraordinary.

There is no describing the plot. It crosses time and space in seconds, covering both the past, present and future as well as alternate worlds.

The cast is fantastic (Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Hugo Weaving, Hugh Grant, Doona Bae, Jim Broadbent, Susan Sarandon) and the cinematography is exquisite. There is simply too much to see to take it in with one viewing. This film is Romantic with a capital R.

100 Word Review – Deadpool (2016)

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This may be the perfect comic book movie.

Set in the X-Men universe, this is an origin story film for the funniest mutant around, Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds).

It’s the first feature for director Tim Miller, who was involved in the visual effects for Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, and it was written by the team behind Zombieland. It’s stylised, it’s got a dry and dark sense of humour, and it shows a tongue-in-cheek self-awareness which is missing from the more run-of-the-mill comic book movies.

Even the opening credits are hysterical. It’s not suitable for children, but definitely for everyone else!

100 Word Review – The Voices (2015)

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The best word to describe this film is ‘weird’.

Jerry (Ryan Reynolds) is a likeable mentally unstable man working a dead-end job. When he follows the advice of his pets and pursues his office crush (Gemma Arterton) things get dark pretty quickly. And that’s just the beginning.

Written by Michael R. Perry (Paranormal Activity 2) and directed by Marjane Satrapi (Persepolis) it sits on a very stylised fence between horror thriller and quirky comedy.

If you don’t like bloody films, this is not the one for you, but otherwise do watch it. Anna Kendrick costars and Reynolds is magnetic as always.

100 Word Review – Sisters (2015)

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Amy Poehler (Inside Out, Mean Girls) and Tine Fey (Megamind, Mean Girls) reunite with writer Paula Pell (Saturday Night Live) in this wonderful and ridiculous comedy.

Two sisters (Poehler and Fey) attempt to recreate their youth by throwing the ultimate house party. The problem is they aren’t as young as they used to be, and neither are their friends.

The cast is full of “O it’s that guy from that thing” faces which makes the whole film feel like you’re watching a group of friends have a great time. Not the world’s greatest comedy, but certainly good for a laugh.