11/19/07
Legally Blonde
She's a California sorority girl who'll do anything to keep her man. Even if it means going all theway'to law school! Reese Witherspoon (Election) stars with Luke Wilson (Charlie's Angels), Selma Blair (Cruel Intentions), Matthew Davis (Pearl Harbor) and Victor Garber (Titanic) in a knock-out comedy with a heart of goldand hair to match! Elle Woods (Witherspoon) is a California blonde with couture clothes, fabulous friends and the hottest boyfriend on campus. So when Warner Huntington III (Davis) suddenly dumps her and heads for Harvard Law School, Elletakes matters into her own perfectly manicured hands. She enrolls too! Now getting Warner back should be a snap, right? Wrong! Elle's about to begin the toughest fight of her lifefor love, honor, justice and respect for blondes everywhere!
Miss Congeniality
Sandra Bullock stars as a bumbling female FBI agent assigned to go undercover as a participant in the Miss United States beauty pageant when it is discovered that one of the contestants is being targeted for murder. Benjamin Bratt leads the undercover team, while also playing the reluctant love interest. Candice Bergen and William Shatner manage the pageant and hire Michael Caine to turn Bullock from rough and tumble agent to stunning beauty queen. The physical transformation is impressive, although the klutzy personality remains. Everything seems to be fine once the killer is suddenly caught, but Bullock suspects there is more to this story, and the truth eventually unfolds with an unexpected twist. For her part, Bullock received a Golden Globe nomination for best actress, and heads the star-studded cast in the year's most hilarious comedy.
Prince of Tides
Barbra Streisand's best film as a director is helped enormously by one of Nick Nolte's finest performances. Nolte plays a football coach who is estranged from his wife (Blythe Danner) and who enters into an affair with the psychiatrist (Streisand) of his suicidal sister (Melinda Dillon). Streisand is acceptable in her star turn, but behind the camera she paces the story very well and provides lots of room for Nolte to inhabit his burdened but likable character. George Carlin is a bit token as a gay New Yorker, although Jason Gould (Streisand's son) is good as a struggling teen in desperate need of a father figure. The whole film is worth watching just to see a great moment near the end where Nolte stands on a street, a bit slump-shouldered and wearing a look of sad resolve. It's great acting at its most minimal. --Tom Keogh
The Horse Whisperer
Academy Award(R)-winner Robert Redford (Best Director, 1980, ORDINARY PEOPLE) stars with Adademy Award(R)-nominee Kristin Scott Thomas (Best Actress, 1996, THE ENGLISH PATIENT) in this landmark epic adapated from one of the most acclaimed novels of our time! After a devastating riding accident, a young girl and her beloved horse are both left with serious physical and emotional scars. Determined to help, the girl's desperate mother (Thomas) puts her busy, big-city life on hold and travels west to seek out the "Horse Whisperer." When she meets this rugged, down-to-earth rancher (Redford), she discovers his extraordinary gift with animals also touches the lives of the people around him! Featuring Hollywood favorites Sam Neill (JURASSIC PARK) and Oscar(R)-winner Dianne Wiest (Best Supporting Actress, 1994, BULLETS OVER BROADWAY) in a superb cast -- critics and moviegoers alike were captivated by this powerful motion picture event!
The Bridges of Madison County
Some called it a snooze-fest, while others tearfully clutched their Kleenex. In any case, Clint Eastwood was an unusual and (as it turned out) perceptive choice to direct and costar in this lush adaptation of Robert James Waller's phenomenally bestselling novel. Meryl Streep costars as Francesca, the lonely Iowa farmer's wife who is instantly attracted to Robert (Eastwood), the photographer from National Geographic who is in the area to photograph the bridges along Iowa's rural roadways. The two fall in love while Francesca's husband and children are away at a county fair, but the story's passion and lasting appeal derive from their decision to part forever after just a few brief days of intimate connection. Superbly acted with an emphasis on quiet, graceful moments of tender revelation, the film builds to a crescendo of powerful and conflicting emotions. Like David Lean's Brief Encounter (to which it bears marked similarities), The Bridges of Madison County is destined to become one of the classic movie love stories. --Jeff Shannon
Top Gun
In TOP GUN, Tom Cruise stars as Maverick, a talented training pilot in an elite U.S. school for fighter pilots. When he stumbles upon some MiG's over the Persian Gulf, and his wingman panics, Maverick cleverly talks him through the situation to safety. Consequently, he is moved up in rank and sent to the Top Gun Naval Flying School. There he has several conflicts with other students while trying to live up to his deceased father's reputation. Unable to cope with the death of his best friend, and fellow pilot, Goose, Maverick contemplates dropping out, but follows through with his dream and ultimately becomes one of the "best of the best."
Pretty Woman
This 15th Anniversary celebration of PRETTY WOMAN is even more irresistible than ever with all-new, never-before-seen special features you'll love at first sight. Academy Award(R) Winner Julia Roberts (Best Actress, ERIN BROCKOVICH, 2000) is a spirited, streetwise diamond in the rough when she meets a no-nonsense billionaire played by Golden Globe winner Richard Gere (Best Actor In A Motion Picture -- Musical Or Comedy, CHICAGO, 2002). It's a chance encounter that turns a weeklong business arrangement into a timeless rags-to-riches romance. This Special Edition will seduce you with all the comedy, charm, and passion you remember about this classic -- plus more!
Somethings Gotta Give
As upscale sitcoms go, Something's Gotta Give has more to offer than most romantic comedies. Obviously working through some semi-autobiographical issues regarding "women of a certain age," writer-director Nancy Meyers brings adequate credibility and above-average intelligence to what is essentially (but not exclusively) a fantasy premise, in which an aging lothario who's always dated younger women (Jack Nicholson, more or less playing himself) falls for a successful middle-aged playwright (Diane Keaton) who's convinced she's past the age of romance, much less sexual re-awakening. As long as old pals Nicholson and Keaton are on screen discussing their dilemma or discovering their mutual desire, Something's Gotta Give is terrific, proving (in case anyone had forgotten) that Hollywood can and should aim for an older demographic. Myers falls short with the sitcom device of a younger lover (Keanu Reeves) who wants Keaton as much as Nicholson does; it's believable but shallow and too easily dismissed. Myers also skimps on supporting roles for Frances McDormand, Amanda Peet, and Jon Favreau, but thankfully this is one romantic comedy that doesn't pander to youth. Mature viewers, rejoice! --Jeff Shannon
As Good As It Gets
For all of its conventional plotting about an obsessive-compulsive curmudgeon (Jack Nicholson) who improves his personality at the urging of his gay neighbor (Greg Kinnear) and a waitress (Helen Hunt) who inspires his best behavior, this is one of the sharpest Hollywood comedies of the 1990s. Nicholson could play his role in his sleep (the Oscar he won should have gone to Robert Duvall for The Apostle), but his mischievous persona is precisely necessary to give heart to his seemingly heartless character, who is of all things a successful romance novelist. As a single mom with a chronically asthmatic young son, Hunt gives the film its conscience and integrity (along with plenty of wry humor), and she also won an Oscar for her wonderful performance. Greg Kinnear had to settle for an Oscar nomination (while cowriter-director James L. Brooks was inexplicably snubbed by Oscar that year), but his work was also singled out in the film's near-unanimous chorus of critical praise. It's questionable whether a romance between Hunt and the much older Nicholson is entirely believable, but this movie's smart enough--and charmingly funny enough--to make it seem endearingly possible. --Jeff Shannon
Gable and Lombard
This is one of the most underrated movie of the 1970's. Jill Clayburgh is absolutely first-rate in her portrayal of Carole Lombard and James Brolin is surprisingly dead-on as Clark Gable. The movie begins at the site of the plane crash that killed Lombard and flashes back to the beginning of Gable and Lombard's risky and soulful love affair. Critics destroyed this movie when it was released nearly 4 decades ago, but I urge everyone to give it a shot. The production design is faultless, the musical score is lush and romantic, and the performances are terrific. I plan on being the first one to buy it. --David R. Horstman
She's a California sorority girl who'll do anything to keep her man. Even if it means going all theway'to law school! Reese Witherspoon (Election) stars with Luke Wilson (Charlie's Angels), Selma Blair (Cruel Intentions), Matthew Davis (Pearl Harbor) and Victor Garber (Titanic) in a knock-out comedy with a heart of goldand hair to match! Elle Woods (Witherspoon) is a California blonde with couture clothes, fabulous friends and the hottest boyfriend on campus. So when Warner Huntington III (Davis) suddenly dumps her and heads for Harvard Law School, Elletakes matters into her own perfectly manicured hands. She enrolls too! Now getting Warner back should be a snap, right? Wrong! Elle's about to begin the toughest fight of her lifefor love, honor, justice and respect for blondes everywhere! Miss Congeniality
Sandra Bullock stars as a bumbling female FBI agent assigned to go undercover as a participant in the Miss United States beauty pageant when it is discovered that one of the contestants is being targeted for murder. Benjamin Bratt leads the undercover team, while also playing the reluctant love interest. Candice Bergen and William Shatner manage the pageant and hire Michael Caine to turn Bullock from rough and tumble agent to stunning beauty queen. The physical transformation is impressive, although the klutzy personality remains. Everything seems to be fine once the killer is suddenly caught, but Bullock suspects there is more to this story, and the truth eventually unfolds with an unexpected twist. For her part, Bullock received a Golden Globe nomination for best actress, and heads the star-studded cast in the year's most hilarious comedy.Prince of Tides
Barbra Streisand's best film as a director is helped enormously by one of Nick Nolte's finest performances. Nolte plays a football coach who is estranged from his wife (Blythe Danner) and who enters into an affair with the psychiatrist (Streisand) of his suicidal sister (Melinda Dillon). Streisand is acceptable in her star turn, but behind the camera she paces the story very well and provides lots of room for Nolte to inhabit his burdened but likable character. George Carlin is a bit token as a gay New Yorker, although Jason Gould (Streisand's son) is good as a struggling teen in desperate need of a father figure. The whole film is worth watching just to see a great moment near the end where Nolte stands on a street, a bit slump-shouldered and wearing a look of sad resolve. It's great acting at its most minimal. --Tom Keogh
The Horse Whisperer
Academy Award(R)-winner Robert Redford (Best Director, 1980, ORDINARY PEOPLE) stars with Adademy Award(R)-nominee Kristin Scott Thomas (Best Actress, 1996, THE ENGLISH PATIENT) in this landmark epic adapated from one of the most acclaimed novels of our time! After a devastating riding accident, a young girl and her beloved horse are both left with serious physical and emotional scars. Determined to help, the girl's desperate mother (Thomas) puts her busy, big-city life on hold and travels west to seek out the "Horse Whisperer." When she meets this rugged, down-to-earth rancher (Redford), she discovers his extraordinary gift with animals also touches the lives of the people around him! Featuring Hollywood favorites Sam Neill (JURASSIC PARK) and Oscar(R)-winner Dianne Wiest (Best Supporting Actress, 1994, BULLETS OVER BROADWAY) in a superb cast -- critics and moviegoers alike were captivated by this powerful motion picture event! The Bridges of Madison County
Some called it a snooze-fest, while others tearfully clutched their Kleenex. In any case, Clint Eastwood was an unusual and (as it turned out) perceptive choice to direct and costar in this lush adaptation of Robert James Waller's phenomenally bestselling novel. Meryl Streep costars as Francesca, the lonely Iowa farmer's wife who is instantly attracted to Robert (Eastwood), the photographer from National Geographic who is in the area to photograph the bridges along Iowa's rural roadways. The two fall in love while Francesca's husband and children are away at a county fair, but the story's passion and lasting appeal derive from their decision to part forever after just a few brief days of intimate connection. Superbly acted with an emphasis on quiet, graceful moments of tender revelation, the film builds to a crescendo of powerful and conflicting emotions. Like David Lean's Brief Encounter (to which it bears marked similarities), The Bridges of Madison County is destined to become one of the classic movie love stories. --Jeff Shannon Top Gun
In TOP GUN, Tom Cruise stars as Maverick, a talented training pilot in an elite U.S. school for fighter pilots. When he stumbles upon some MiG's over the Persian Gulf, and his wingman panics, Maverick cleverly talks him through the situation to safety. Consequently, he is moved up in rank and sent to the Top Gun Naval Flying School. There he has several conflicts with other students while trying to live up to his deceased father's reputation. Unable to cope with the death of his best friend, and fellow pilot, Goose, Maverick contemplates dropping out, but follows through with his dream and ultimately becomes one of the "best of the best." Pretty Woman
This 15th Anniversary celebration of PRETTY WOMAN is even more irresistible than ever with all-new, never-before-seen special features you'll love at first sight. Academy Award(R) Winner Julia Roberts (Best Actress, ERIN BROCKOVICH, 2000) is a spirited, streetwise diamond in the rough when she meets a no-nonsense billionaire played by Golden Globe winner Richard Gere (Best Actor In A Motion Picture -- Musical Or Comedy, CHICAGO, 2002). It's a chance encounter that turns a weeklong business arrangement into a timeless rags-to-riches romance. This Special Edition will seduce you with all the comedy, charm, and passion you remember about this classic -- plus more! Somethings Gotta Give
As upscale sitcoms go, Something's Gotta Give has more to offer than most romantic comedies. Obviously working through some semi-autobiographical issues regarding "women of a certain age," writer-director Nancy Meyers brings adequate credibility and above-average intelligence to what is essentially (but not exclusively) a fantasy premise, in which an aging lothario who's always dated younger women (Jack Nicholson, more or less playing himself) falls for a successful middle-aged playwright (Diane Keaton) who's convinced she's past the age of romance, much less sexual re-awakening. As long as old pals Nicholson and Keaton are on screen discussing their dilemma or discovering their mutual desire, Something's Gotta Give is terrific, proving (in case anyone had forgotten) that Hollywood can and should aim for an older demographic. Myers falls short with the sitcom device of a younger lover (Keanu Reeves) who wants Keaton as much as Nicholson does; it's believable but shallow and too easily dismissed. Myers also skimps on supporting roles for Frances McDormand, Amanda Peet, and Jon Favreau, but thankfully this is one romantic comedy that doesn't pander to youth. Mature viewers, rejoice! --Jeff Shannon As Good As It Gets
For all of its conventional plotting about an obsessive-compulsive curmudgeon (Jack Nicholson) who improves his personality at the urging of his gay neighbor (Greg Kinnear) and a waitress (Helen Hunt) who inspires his best behavior, this is one of the sharpest Hollywood comedies of the 1990s. Nicholson could play his role in his sleep (the Oscar he won should have gone to Robert Duvall for The Apostle), but his mischievous persona is precisely necessary to give heart to his seemingly heartless character, who is of all things a successful romance novelist. As a single mom with a chronically asthmatic young son, Hunt gives the film its conscience and integrity (along with plenty of wry humor), and she also won an Oscar for her wonderful performance. Greg Kinnear had to settle for an Oscar nomination (while cowriter-director James L. Brooks was inexplicably snubbed by Oscar that year), but his work was also singled out in the film's near-unanimous chorus of critical praise. It's questionable whether a romance between Hunt and the much older Nicholson is entirely believable, but this movie's smart enough--and charmingly funny enough--to make it seem endearingly possible. --Jeff Shannon Gable and Lombard
This is one of the most underrated movie of the 1970's. Jill Clayburgh is absolutely first-rate in her portrayal of Carole Lombard and James Brolin is surprisingly dead-on as Clark Gable. The movie begins at the site of the plane crash that killed Lombard and flashes back to the beginning of Gable and Lombard's risky and soulful love affair. Critics destroyed this movie when it was released nearly 4 decades ago, but I urge everyone to give it a shot. The production design is faultless, the musical score is lush and romantic, and the performances are terrific. I plan on being the first one to buy it. --David R. Horstman
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Comments
CoolThings wrote:
Response to TF:
Hi TF, I questioned that one too, but my girlfriend swears many women love it. Maybe it's Tom Cruise. In the end I had to choose between Top Gun and Under A Tuscan Sun. I opted for Top Gun.
You're more than welcome to addend the list. I'd like to see what others come up with.
Hi TF, I questioned that one too, but my girlfriend swears many women love it. Maybe it's Tom Cruise. In the end I had to choose between Top Gun and Under A Tuscan Sun. I opted for Top Gun.
You're more than welcome to addend the list. I'd like to see what others come up with.
11/20/07 12:05:24
TF wrote: