Tag: romantic comedy

Movie Review: Larry Crowne (2011)

Larry Crowne (2011)

3 out of 5 stars

Terry and I watched this early Saturday evening.  A pleasant if unexciting way to spend a couple of hours together.  We laughed out loud several times, so the comedy portion of this romantic comedy worked well.  The romance, however, never really sparkled.

Julia’s performance seemed a bit off, until near the end, and even then left me indifferent.  Tom does well no matter what character he plays.  George Takei just came across as creepy for the most part, but I believe that was the intent.

Movie Review: This Means War (2012)

This Means War (2012)

3.5 out of 4 stars

Fun and funny.  Terry and I laughed out loud several times in the near empty movie theater (#7 at the Legends 14 – my personal favorite spot to watch newly released action flix or science fiction extravaganzas) this past Sunday afternoon.

An interesting if a bit of an over-the-top twist on the old love triangle between two CIA agents (and best friends) who discover, date and fight over the the same woman (who is oblivious to their surveillance shenanigans or even to the fact they know each other until it’s nearly too late).

Some discrepancies that bugged me after I left the theater:

If Lauren loved classic rock so much, why is it she only ever danced or sang or exercised to pop or dance music?  Not my definition of classic rock.  And, if she really loved animals and specifically a canine rescue shelter, why did she not foster a dog or two in her apartment?

And since when does a Brit work for the CIA?  Is Tuck on loan from MI6?  Did he defect?  Did he seek political asylum?

That being said, I still enjoyed watching the movie with Terry.  I can’t say I’m entirely happy with the ending, but it still turned out well for everyone involved, excepting the cuts and bruises of course.

Movie Review: Midnight in Paris (2011)

Midnight in Paris (2011)

3 out of 5 stars

Terry and I watched this over a week ago, on a Monday evening.  We were interrupted a couple of times by telephone calls from our children, so the flow of the movie suffered a bit.  I believe we also paused the DVD while we made dinner.

As with all of Woody Allen‘s films, I take time to absorb his presentation and vision.  In the case of Midnight in Paris, however, additional time did not endear me to the film.  I guess I felt it a bit too obvious.

If I had not read a recent FilmCritic blog post on the past year’s mediocre scifi Academy Award scarcity by John Scalzi, I doubt I would have ever watched this film.  Since Scalzi claimed Midnight in Paris actually masqueraded as a time travel tale, it intrigued me enough to place it at the top my Netflix queue.

As stated at the Wikipedia article, “the movie explores themes of nostalgia and modernism.”  Woody Allen tapped into the ‘Golden Age’ vibe for each succeeding character, leading us down the path of impending disillusionment, liberally laced with nearly every famous author or artist of the late 19th and early 20th centuries who conveniently converged at midnight in Paris (insert appropriate year here … and there’s the beauty of time travel as a plot device).  But not all this famous name dropping could elevate this film to greatness, at least for me.

Movie Review: Love’s Kitchen

Love’s Kitchen (2011)

Three out of Five Stars

While searching for new Netflix titles to add to my queue, I stumbled across this movie, available for immediate streaming.  My husband and I watch quite a few shows on the Food Network channel, so we thought it might be a good fit.  I had hoped it would be similar to 2007’s No Reservations which I thoroughly enjoyed.  Sadly, Love’s Kitchen fell a wee bit flat.   We laughed occasionally, but did not feel the romance at all.  I did, however, really want to taste that Trifle dessert that everyone in the movie thought was divine.