16 5 / 2013
This Means War (2012)
tagline It’s Spy Against Spy
subgenre Spy Lovers
director McG (Chuck)
who is in it Reece Witherspoon (Legally Blonde) as Lauren, Chris Pine (Star Trek) as FDR Foster, and Tom Hardy (Warriors) as Tuck
what is it about Two spies and best friends (Foster & Tuck) fall for the same woman Lauren and woo her with espionage tactics.
best scene The scenes in which they use espionage tactics to forestall each other’s foreplay are great.
how romantic is it The comedy/action is really more important and better than the the romance. The romance leans toward the lusty and shallow, which adds to the comedy. The characters are mistrustful of romance - or flat out don’t acknowledge it till late in the game.
15 5 / 2013
Brigadoon (1954)
tagline In the Joy of Color
subgenre Romantic Utopia
who is in it Gene Kelly (Singin’ In the Rain) as Tommy Albright and Cyd Charisse (Band Wagon) as Fion Campbell
what is it about Tommy goes to Scotland and finds himself in an idyllic town with a beautiful woman Fiona who lives in an enchanted town.
best line When I look at you I feel wee tadpoles dancing on my spine!
how romantic is it The movie is drenched in romance - in fact, the couple’s romance threatens the enchanted life that the villages enjoy. Love is akin to the Disney kiss - it makes all right. The love, especially of the women, instant and unhesitating which makes it less developed. Everything is very poetic and graceful.
14 5 / 2013
REMAKE NEEDED
Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947)
starring Gene Tierney (Lucy), Rex Harrison (Cpt. Daniel Gregg)
based on The novel by R. A. Dick who was actually Josephine Leslie.
what it’s about Victorian era Lucy takes a house that is haunted by the ghost of an irritable sea captain.
trouble spots It comes off as as long and pointless. I didn’t find Harrison as attractive as the movie clearly meant him to be. The editing is very stagey.
remake tips I suggest a more charismatic couple, perhaps Daniel
Craig and Catherine Zeta-Jones. Also have a faster-moving plot with real events.
I would also like a more conclusive ending - perhaps she finds a living man or perhaps she dies and they join in the afterlife.
13 5 / 2013
Ryan Reynolds - cleancut, earnest and heroic.
Seen in The Proposal, Green Lantern.
