Posts Tagged ‘romance’

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Carnival in Costa Rica DVD Review: An Endless Unfunny Rom-Com Musical

In case it has slipped past both your central and peripheral paths of vision in recent years, the residents of the United States of America don’t really care for its neighbors beneath it. Apparently, they feel they’re, well – beneath them. Canadians? Kosher – so long as they don’t talk politics or health care. Mexicans? Never. Not in a million years. Who cares if they do all of the menial tasks most of the USA’s own citizens feel are a tad too tedious: they still don’t like them. And that goes doubly so for those lazy, happy-go-lucky Costa Ricans – who are something of the subject of the awful 1947 Twentieth Century Fox Technicolor romantic comedy musical, Carnival in Costa Rica. Note how I say they are “something of the subject” – this is because there’s nary an actual Costa Rican in the entire dreadful picture. Read the rest of this entry »

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The Marriage-Go-Round DVD Review: James Mason, ’60s Swinger at Large!

Adapting a work from one form of entertainment to another is not an easy task. Imagine, if you will, what might happen were one to add a Descriptive Video Service audio track to a film like Koyaanisqatsi. Or if Cannibal Holocaust were turned into a bloodless Broadway musical. Something would inevitably get lost in translation, making way for that age old adage about capturing lightning in a bottle. But what happens if you hand that magical glass container over to someone – say a complete and total dumbass – and they go and punch holes in the lid so that the poor lightning can breathe? Well, if you’re looking for a good example, The Marriage-Go-Round should more than suffice. Read the rest of this entry »

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Oh, Men! Oh, Women! DVD Review: Oh, Brother!

If someone were to voluntarily stroll up to me and willingly make it a point to talk to me about the classic War of the Sexes genre of romantic comedies that highlighted many a headliner at cinemas of yore, chances are they would invoke the holiness of those oh-so-dated-yet-timeless Doris Day/Rock Hudson vehicles. Were such a conversation with a complete stranger to occur, however, my first thought would not stray towards the appeal of either aforementioned lead performer. Instead, I would grin with delight over the very thought of the quintessential War of the Sexes co-star, Tony Randall – one of the few male comedic performers in history to be able to make me laugh without having to do anything – and who is preceded in my book of greatness only by Avery Schreiber. Read the rest of this entry »

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DVD Review: Purple Noon – The Criterion Collection

Article first published as DVD Review: Purple Noon – The Criterion Collection on Blogcritics.

Those of you who have only ever seen Matt Damon in The Talented Mr. Ripley may not be entirely aware of this, but Patricia Highsmith’s titular character, Tom Ripley, has been portrayed on several other occasions throughout the years by completely different (not to mention different looking) actors. Well, some of them have been actors. Apart from Damon, there were three other contestants in this unofficial race — including Dennis Hopper, John Malkovich, and, uh, Barry Pepper. Now, while each performer possessed his own unique grasp of the fictional fellow (well, two of ‘em, perhaps), the possibility of an intense argument has the potential to exist between several really drunk and heavy non-science fiction/fantasy/horror movie geeks as to which one of the aforementioned four were the least talented Mr. Ripley. (more…)

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Blu-ray Review: House of Dark Shadows / Night of Dark Shadows

Article first published as Blu-ray Review: House of Dark Shadows / Night of Dark Shadows on Blogcritics.

Though they had been recorded throughout the annals of human history long before anyone ever came up with a standard, universal word to refer to them by, vampires had almost always walked hand in pale hand within the confines of the moon-drenched night with the element of romance. Many a tale of Gothic romance had been spawned over the years focusing on undead bloodsuckers and mortal maidens — most notably Bram Stoker’s immortal Dracula — but in 1966, a fellow working in that grand (and still relatively new) world of television by the handle of Dan Curtis revamped (ahem) that horrifying romantic constituent into airwave material. Thus, the long-running supernatural soap opera Dark Shadows was born. (more…)

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Blu-ray Review: Seeking a Friend for the End of the World

Article first published as Blu-ray Review: Seeking a Friend for the End of the World on Blogcritics.

Every once in a while, somebody does something right — and manages to make a highly enjoyable movie. Naturally, said flick goes largely unnoticed by the populace; an act of negligence that only makes this less-than-perfect world even inferior — and which should condemn them all to be doomed in my book. Coincidentally, Lorene Scafaria’s Seeking a Friend for the End of the World is about a less-than-perfect world’s final days, wherein the Earth and all its inhabitants are about to be destroyed by an oncoming asteroid. But this isn’t your average Roland Emmerich atrocity, folks: this one’s actually a love story, completely devoid of such burdening contemporary cinematic elements like shallow characters, bad acting, and excessive amounts of CGI. (more…)

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Lili DVD Review: When Is a Musical Not a Musical?

Question: When is a musical motion picture actually not a musical, despite the fact that it contains every cinematic musical element contained within the confines of its short 81-minute runtime? Answer: When it’s Lili. One of many Technicolor MGM romantic dramas with singing added produced during that bodacious period of filmmaking when audiences actually craved such things, Lili tells the tale of a young naïve country French lass named Lili (Leslie Caron, still riding on the success of An American in Paris) who follows a handsome fellow (Jean-Pierre Aumont) around one afternoon after he saves her from a lecherous shopkeeper. Read the rest of this entry »

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Blu-ray Review: Lola Versus

Article first published as Blu-ray Review: Lola Versus on Blogcritics.

Relationships can be a gigantic nuisance. Just ask anyone who has ever been in one — especially an individual that has just been dumped. Why, I’ve been left holding the bag many times, and have discarded my time with another human being on several occasions myself. For poor Lola (Greta Gerwig), however, her dreams of being a beautiful June bride have become a waking nightmare of loneliness and confusion — as her former fiancée (Joel Kinnaman) has just left her hanging in that precarious limbo of uncertainty for no apparent reason. Worse still, her horoscope predicted this whole sordid thing was going to happen. Damn mass-publication hippie astrologers! (more…)

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Blu-ray Review: The Preacher’s Wife (1996)

Article first published as Blu-ray Review: The Preacher’s Wife (1996) on Blogcritics.

In the mid ’90s, I was employed at a video store in a rural community in Northeastern California that primarily consisted of white, white, God-fearing white folks. One day, a regular, elderly (white) customer rented The Bishop’s Wife with Cary Grant, Loretta Young, and David Niven, commenting in a typical predominately backwoods fashion, “I hear they’re remaking this with the blacks.” Several months down the road, well after the initial state of shock I had experienced from my customer’s remark had long since subsided, I discovered who “the blacks” in question were. (more…)

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DVD Review: Battle Circus – Humphrey Bogart’s MASH

Article first published as DVD Review: Battle Circus – Humphrey Bogart’s MASH on Blogcritics.

Long before Robert Altman unleashed his classic anti-war adaptation of MASH way back in 1970, filmmaker Richard Brooks (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, In Cold Blood) teamed with the one and only Humphrey Bogart to bring us a similar story. In fact, I’m sure that it could be contested that the 1953 war drama Battle Circus may have partially served as the inspiration of Richard Hooker’s novel the better-known Altman film was based on. Interestingly, it only takes Bogie 90 minutes to accomplish what Alan Alda would later take eleven damn years to do in the TV series M*A*S*H. (more…)