Austenland

I think anyone who has read this blog, has already made some assumptions about my intelligence. This isn't going to help boost that reputation but I had been recommended by Netflix and others to see Austenland a long time ago, to which I scoffed and declined assuming that this movie took place in Texas and Bush has led me to hate that state so much that not even its coolest city could make me interested in a rom-com about it. But for some odd reason, I suddenly noticed that its an E and not an I and so I hit play on Austenland to my pure pure delight and now I am in love with this movie! And I vow dear readers (all ten of you) that if I win the lottery, I will make my own rom-com single woman's theme park! I often tell my husband about one of the most romantic days of my life, how I went horse back riding and the guy that was supposed to lead the group was super super hot, a romance novel Native American man who winked and flirted with me and then asked the other assistant to take over as he pulled me over and said "You really know what you are doing, what do you say we give these horses a run, you know how to ride a horse don't you? Just like a man, you just squeeze your thighs". Sigh... oh so so hot. And no we didn't do it! That's it, we ran the horses! That was hot, sexy and PG13 ya'll! I totally want to give a whole theme park filled of moments like that for women! And here is this gem of a film with that same premise. Adorable and funny, Jennifer Coolidge stealing every scene she can and some genuine plot twists I didn't expect (which come on, I may not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but I've been around the block, I know almost every rom-com plot out there). So lets check this one off shall we (and by the way, yes I'm back, and not actually because of this movie but another, which I'll have to go back to and write on another evening but this one is currently the most fresh in my mind, but yes I took a long break away because, a) I really actually hate any kind of thing that is routine and b) I couldn't find the password to this email address ) Giddy: Um, this comes as no surprise to you, I am an Austen fan (of Pride and Prejudice not Austin the town in Texas that is unfortunately in Texas). That mixed with hot guys, British accents, and period costumes, yeah the Giddiness was OFF THE CHARTS! Lie: Well really from the beginning you are assuming that all the men are actors in this, that they are all hired theme park performers and so you never know who is really telling the truth. Great way to keep a gal guessing. We actually (yes I forced my hubby to watch this TWICE with me) watched this twice to try and get clear the end and who was really acting and who was really in love. Big out burst: Spoiler alert- not that I expect that really matters here but at the end 2 men chase down our heroine at the airport. Hilarious! Dance Sequence: During the credits they do a lip sync to a a great song! Wedding: Alas no.. but there is a ball - and its wonderful! Rewatchable: I saw this 2 times in 24 hours and laughed just as much both times. I'm already vowing to own it. Love: Okay well, perhaps its only downside is that I really didn't know who to believe until the last 10 minutes so I wasn't fully invested in that romance plot. Fantasy: Everyone walking around in full Austen garb and a damn stuffed peacock in every scene? Yup, I'd say so.. but not for long, not when I win the lottery and start my own single ladies theme park! Journey of the Main character: I know that the journey she is supposed to be on is finally coming to terms with Austen's novels not being all they are cracked up to be and that she wants to live in reality but this is pretty weak here in the movie. I was wrapped up in the silly and spectacle that I hardly believed her, and her heartache didn't seem too earth shattering. Body count: There were a lot of stuffed peacocks but I have to say zero on humans... sigh. I really was rooting for the aunt to get it in the end. Music montages: Yep there are a couple, they are nice. Again, Jennifer Coolidge steals every scenes she is in, she is so friggen brilliant! Strong Female: She does turn down one guy...she is looking for her Darcy which basically means she's looking for a man that doesn't exist... I say

yes and no. I could go further, but my personal jury is still out on us Austen fans and where we lie on the feminist spectrum.

Can't Buy Me Love

Can’t Buy Me Love
Oh oh oh! This is the movie that started it all! McDreamy at his best! Everyone’s been copying this teen out line since, but here we are at the one that taught us all those valuable life lessons: Borrowing ‘Moms’ clothes will always lead to disaster (or as in my case, borrowing Dad’s vest – what?! Vests were popular in the 90s – will lead to him taking all of your clothes out of your room leaving you with only what is on the floor to wear for an entire month), It doesn’t matter how hot you are no one wants to hear your poetry, If you do a weird tribal dance with confidence everyone will like you and join in, If you finally stand up for the nerds you will earn a slow clap, You can go from totally geek to totally chic with hair gel and ripping your clothes, and of course: You can buy your popularity but not love. Despite the fact that watching 80’s movies right now makes me feel a little like I never lived up to my own potential (yes, I’m feeling that “I’m old and I never did anything with my life” depression again), this movie can bring me nothing but joy joy joy! So lets check it off shall we?
• Giddy: Hell yes! We have several dance scenes, the geeks vs. the cools, emotional outbursts on top of lawn mowers and slow claps!
• Lie: Ohhh yes! Its supposed to be their lil secret that he pays her 1,000 bucks just to pretend to go out with him so he can become popular. But oh how she spills the beans!
• Big Emotional Outburst: Is there any other way than on a lawn mower?
• Wedding: No but that’s okay, just looking at the suede white suit she and her mother fight over, I’m guessing that it would be so full of tacky 80’s garb, I might fight down vomit.
• Dance Sequence: I think we have 3! If you count the white girl “cheering” in the beginning, which is nothing short of bad jazz-pre-stripper routine.
• Rewatchable: Yes! Oh hell yes! So glad to finally own this one!
• Love: I think Ronald sums it up best in his speech to the jock who is about to pummel his friend. And he gets the slow clap for such a wonderful performance (sigh, I never got the slow clap, Oh wait, no I think I did but it was for something drunk and stupid I did at a party and it was more out of a way to make fun of me and not to encourage me onward – jokes on them though – I’ve been drunk and stupid many many times since!).
• Fantasy: I think this is actually closer to reality than you think. I think popularity only takes money, always has and always will (I saw that there is a company now out there who will take your money, put you in places near stars and get you your own paparazzi thus enabling you to be talked about and made famous- for a fee of course. I think my fee to get me famous would have to be a lot larger than some young 100 pound beauty). But we are transported back to the golden age of 80s and highschool and thus there is a lovely scent of nostalgia (and the pungent smell of regret) in the air.
• Journey of the main character: Again, see Ronald’s slow clap moment.
• Body Count: none
• Music Montages/Soundtrack: Oh we have a few golden oldies
• Strong Female: Not really no. If finally going for a ride on the boy’s lawnmower is redemption enough for ya, maybe but for me, nope this girl ends up arm candy to somebody else who can support her shopping habit.

The Back Up Plan

The Back Up Plan
Happy birthday to me! I’m 35 today. And what better way to celebrate than watch a wonderful Romantic Comedy! But oh noooooooooooo, it’s The Back Up Plan! Oh god, I suddenly am lying in the fetal position on the floor crying because my clock has been ticking for years (it’s real, it’s INSANE how real it is, I’m not kidding, I never wanted kids, EVER, and now… my god… it’s babies, its all I think of… and I’m married to a man who well…isn’t there yet and now...I’m OLD… oh my god its physically painful at times) and here is a rom com about a woman who decides to take matters into her own hands at the exact moment she meets the one. Breath, just breath… but actually, it’s pretty funny and after an impropriate glass of wine in the middle of the day… its not so bad…once I get past the whole- I’m-35-years-old-and-I-don’t-have-a-kid-and-don’t-even-get-me-started-on-the-whole-fertility-drugs-selfishness-soap-box. So yeah, despite the feeling of personal utter failure welling up on my part, I still found this film adorable and no Jenn birthday should be without a cute adorable rom com! And away we go…
• Giddy: The first date…in the garden, before everything goes beautifully wrong (hell even when it does), it is the ultimate date, and despite that it’s “cheap” pizza it would cost a fortune to do in NY. I’m smiling down to my toes!
• Lie: She doesn’t tell him the moment she meets him that she’s preggers, but seriously…would you?! I wouldn’t say anything till… um… the babies out?
• Big Emotional Outburst: Okay seriously, can you top an emotional outburst as big as this? She’s in LABOR! With TWINS (damn fertility drugs… many of you who read this already know my prejudice against the over-population of the world and disgust in fertility drugs instead of adoption)!
• Wedding: Yes, and this time, it’s not so appealing, it’s old people, so its sweet but not so glamorous.
• Dance Sequence: Yes of course, in the wedding with walkers! Woohoo!
• Rewatchable: Yes, especially as soon as I’ve got a damn kid of my own!
• Love: What I really like about this kind of love, is its actually quite opposite of most of the loves. It’s the love that says “I’m still gonna be there through all the crap, cause you, and us are worth it”. It’s a rarely seen in rom com land kind of love and its really heartwarming. Because after the passion dies down THIS- this is what you really want, a partner.
• Fantasy: Other than having a baby, a nice pet store, enough money to afford twin in NYC?...
• Journey of the main character: Here we have a woman who is truly being irrational, she dumps him over the dumbest thing, because she’s made up her mind she can do it on her own rather than deal with compromise with another, and then learns that she’d rather do it all with him.
• Body Count: None… hrm.
• Music Montages/Soundtrack: Not very noticeable to me, but maybe some other time.
• Strong Female: Yes, she’s willing to do it all alone. But finds the courage to do it with someone else.
And here is a bit of my own rom-com:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=te94SZ0nIrY

Just My Luck

Just My Luck
Hollywood infected my brain (check out the song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1VTcJfL7RE)!
Okay, yes, this movie has Lindsey Lohan, and yes she’s not very good, but I had never seen this movie before now, and I find it ADORABLE! That’s right, I think I might finally be going off the deep end, being alone everyday with my dog and a ton of Rom Coms, because I actually liked this movie. I mean don’t get me wrong, I have my standards, its’ no Princess Bride! But its cute, and perfect for a snowy day (and snow, is there anything better that watching snow fall? Oh wait there is (Hawaii) never mind)! I know you’re rolling your eyes (Blohan? Really? I know I know!) so lets just cut the chit chat and get to it shall we?

• Giddy: Okay I’m sucker for those damn blue eyes (I don’t trust them, but I’m a sucker for em),Chris Pine is adorable, and then we have this whole luck thing (something I’ve been more on the down side of than the upside of) that I find so fascinating: she doesn’t know she has luck till she loses it and they both give it up for each other in one of the greatest romantic places in all of NYC, Grand Central Station (okay seriously what is wrong with me, the majority of the Rom-Coms are set in NYC and I do NOT feel the love for real when I walk through the same places).
• Lie: not really no…
• Big Emotional Outburst: Yes!
• Wedding: um no
• Dance Sequence: No
• Rewatchable: Yes actually, I love this cute magical plot
• Love: Love makes us not care about our luck, because we’re lucky to be with the one we love
• Fantasy: This whole sweet luck plot that is switched by a kiss is adorable, and man, I wish I could find someone with that luck and kiss them! But best yet, there is an entire scene where she goes around kissing strangers trying to get her luck back (something I have often fantasized about – what you don’t? Really? You know standing there on the train, seeing some cute person engrossed in their book or iphone and you focus on their lips and wonder just how they taste and that little devil pops up inside you and says ‘wouldn’t it be a great way to shake up their day’ and the urge just swims with in you the entire ride? No?)
• Journey of the main character: Ms. Lohan learns that she had great luck only once she’s lost it and learns to live with in the bad luck and learns that others are more deserving of her good luck than herself.
• Body Count: none boo
• Music Montages/Soundtrack: Oh here it is just awful! And we even have one of those music montages where we sum up the entire movie, or last 10 minutes in a flash back montage. Oh dear lord!
• Strong Female: Somewhat…

Letters to Juliet

Letters to Juliet
This movie should be one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen, this movie’s plot should go down in history as the worst plot ever, and this movie should be on my list of ones to never watch again BUT… darn it all, I find it strangely pulling me in, maybe its my own insecurity in the choices I’ve made in my life and the hope that maybe I’d be able to redeem them one day or maybe its my pms, but I end up liking and being swept up into this ridiculous plot. I really didn’t want to like this film. It has a HORRIBLE plot (come on, anyone who has been to Italy or even read EAT, PRAY, LOVE knows that there is no way that a letter would go from Italy to England that quickly): A girl goes to Italy on what is supposed to be a pre-honeymoon and while her fiance neglects her she stumbles upon a wall where women write to Juliet and finds a group of women who write letters back as Juliet, she becomes one, sends a letter to a woman who wrote 50 years before, and the woman shows up and she journeys with her in search of her “one true love”! The society of Juliets? Really? Every detail about this plot is ridiculous. And then the jerk grandson comes in, teaching me that Brits aren’t all warm and fuzzy (seriously, their accent is so damn cute, I thought they were all super sweet and adorable). Despite myself, I kind of liked this movie. I’m as shocked as you are dear reader! Like I said, maybe it’s the pms. But…well lets just check it off shall we, maybe I’ll change my mind…

• Giddy: When Vanessa Redgrave finally meets her true love… yeah I’m a little giddy.
• Lie: um none really
• Big Emotional Outburst: Oh dear lord, the end scene where Amanda is on a balcony and the angry brit (whom I never warmed up to) pathetically tried to climb up to her… oh I feel embarrassed for those actors but we do have the big emotional outburst…ug, HOWEVER lets give him credit for saying the only true line in the movie: New York is overated.
• Wedding: Yes actually! And its beautiful! I want one just like it
• Dance Sequence: nope
• Rewatchable: um…well…its gonna be at the bottom of the pile, I’m gonna have to be a bit desperate
• Love: Well first she’s with a guy who is more passionate about his work and food than her (that sounds familiar to me… a little TOO familiar and he never even reads her writing or shows any real interest in her own passion… also way too familiar…my husbands doesn’t read this blog…) and then she falls for a guy who… I guess loves her (after he’s done hating her- and I’m not sure when that switch actually happened)…
• Fantasy: Besides this horrible plot? Well… there’s Italy and my god, if your gonna give me a bad bad plot and bad actors at least give me something pretty to look at… and you did: Italy!
• Journey of the main character: Um… I think there is supposed to be one in there, I just had a hard time seeing it. She journeys through Italy though! That’s something!
• Body Count: none…we could have used some here!
• Music Montages/Soundtrack: typical Italian music during pretty drives through Italy
• Strong Female: Um no… you really can’t call this woman strong at all. Perhaps Ms. Redgrave makes up for it?

Just Wright

Just Wright
So, once upon a time, in my pathetic lil brain, I couldn’t understand that there really were women that were cold hearted Gold-diggers. I mean, I had always chalked it up to nasty labels like “psycho” that ex-boyfriends used to sum up women. But that obviously (just like Psycho- which usually means the men did something wrong and the woman lashed out and god forbid dumped the men and then the guys go around saying that she’s just Psycho) there must be a deeper story there. However with age (and my god, I’m getting old), and experience, I’ve come to understand that just like there CAN be pure evil out there in the world (Dick Cheney) there does exist these women, looking for men to just “take care of them”(also proven true: a dear friend of mine who recently got dumped from a true “psyco”). I discovered the majority of them live here in NYC and in LA. It’s sad. Really sad. And this movie, is one of those wonderful fantasies of good triumphing over the gold digger! And not just good, Queen Latifah good! I think Queen Latifah is my new Goddess of Rom Coms, because I want her to win so badly, I’m on her side from the moment she enters the screen and she always exudes beauty, confidence, with just enough of vulnerability. If only her male lead could act. Sigh. Well, he’s pretty to look at. So, lets get to it:

• Giddy: Jersey Represent!
• Lie: The GOLD DIGGER! AAAAH!
• Big Emotional Outburst: “Common” doesn’t have the chops to pull it off and the scene lies flat
• Wedding: nope – um… dear friend who got me started on this by giving me all these movies to watch… we’re not off to a good start this year! Where are the pretty white dresses?!?!?!?!?!?!
• Dance Sequence: Once again we have some dancing of one – the kind we all do in the bed, you know after we’ve been laid properly?
• Rewatchable: Yes indeed
• Love: Aw that sweet, I’d never notice the fat chick, not when hottie gold digger is around but oh wait, when hottie leaves, the fat chick actually has a soul and I find that so much more appealing.
• Fantasy: That good ol’ fat chicks like me could triumph over skinny hot gold diggers! My god I really love this fantasy! Reality is, even if he did end up with the Queen, she’ll spend her whole life insecure and paranoid that he’s cheating or going to leave her because she’s not as hot as her cousin!
• Journey of the main character: see the Love bullet.
• Body Count: none! And we really could have used one! I really feel that the gold digger should have died!
• Music Montages/Soundtrack: okay, um the bombom music during the making love scene is a bit over the top but the songs are okay.
• Strong Female: The Queen! Bow down to the Queen!

The Bounty Hunter

Bounty Hunter
So I just recently read a small yahoo blurb where they reported on Hugh Jackman “slamming” Jennifer Aniston because she makes crap movies and still gets to be considered Hollywood elite. And well, this one probably is one of the movies he’s talking about. But for my taste, I kind of like the movie. I like it the best so far of all her Rom Coms and it’s a cute lil flick. I don’t know if that means she deserves her huge paycheck but I would rather wonder why CEOs and the producers and hell Wallstreet deserve their big paychecks more than wonder why an actor does. As I am an actor who has never received paychecks for my acting, I kind like to at least be “pro-check” in case my luck ever does change…

• Giddy: Oh we start off with her breaking out of the trunk of a car, yes we have giddy moments all over. There is a palpable chemistry between Gerard and Jennifer (well, I think all us gals would have chemistry with Gerard, he’s yummy in a thug way). I actually like this tougher side of Jennifer too, like stealing the kids bike after he asked to see her boobs and she screams over her shoulder show me your penis! But her stripper mother(Christine Baranski) is fantastic!
• Lie: There’s a lovely mystery that has to unravel that keeps things moving along smoothly 
• Big Emotional Outburst: Yes, yes there are some big ones
• Wedding: nope
• Dance Sequence: No, except in my living room, while watching this movie…there are a few songs, I just can’t help it, the butt starts jigglin…
• Rewatchable: Yes, it’s adorable, I don’t care what Hugh Jackman thinks!
• Love: My favorite kind! Hate/Love! Yay! As some wise person once said (and I think I ignored them then as much as now): The worst thing is Apathy, Hate and Love can always lead to one another, but apathy can lead nowhere.
• Fantasy: To think that this relationship is really going to work a second time around? That’s a big Fantasy!
• Journey of the main character: Gerard goes to get his revenge for a broken heart by taking his exwife to jail but gets caught up in the mystery that needs to be solved and falls back in love with her.
• Body Count: I don’t think there are any but there is a lot of people getting really hurt, so… that counts as a plus in my book!
• Music Montages/Soundtrack: “It’s tricky to rock a rhyme, to rock a rhyme that’s right on time, its tricky”, butt jiggling good tunes! YAY!
• Strong Female: Yes, Jennifer, you did well. Some people tell me (when I bother to actually try and look nice with make up on and such) that I resemble you and most of the time that irritates me but today… It makes me PROUD!

The Holiday

Holiday
So this isn’t a great movie, it might have been better with some different casting choices (I’m not sure I can believe Ms. Diaz as an all work no play kind of gal and Jack Black?! Really?!What is it with Hollywood and being fine with men being ugly or dumpy as long their funny but no way no how can that be the case with women) or perhaps even split up the two stories into two different movies but… well it’s got some good points (Jude Law and Kate Winslet) so… away we go:

• Giddy: Really, the pickings are a bit slim here but Jude Law pretty much anytime gets me giddy.
• Lie: There aren’t any major ones going on, nope.
• Big Emotional Outburst: Well of course we got 2 ladies heartbroken and taking off to different countries to break away from it so there are outburst to be had, but the one I believe usually comes at the end of the movie, the big emotional “I love you” didn’t really go down that path.
• Wedding: nope
• Dance Sequence: We have several! We have both of the girls doing their own little dances (I dance that goofy too all the time alone) and we have a finale dance with the loves and kids.
• Rewatchable: meh
• Love: We have all kinds, the unrequited, the unemotional, the unavailable, the “we’re just friends but you might be good for me”, and the “I refuse to fall in love with you but can’t help myself”
• Fantasy: I’d love to jet off to England after a heart break, I’d love to have half as much money as Ms. Diaz has in this movie.
• Journey of the main character: Each girl goes off to get away from heartbreak and discovers all new love. But my favorite line in the movie sums it up for us all: Your Leading Lady material, why are you behaving like the best friend”
• Body Count: nada damn!
• Music Montages/Soundtrack: Holiday songs are always a hit (until you’re listening to them for the millionth time because the damn radio started playing them Nov. 1st) But I do love Jack Blacks line to Kate when he says “If you were a melody this is what you’d be” he plays a sweet sad melody and then says “I used only the good notes”.
• Strong Female: Well I think if we had seen this done as intended by the writers, we would have seen one woman (Ms. Diaz) who is seemingly strong and got it all, money, career, nice house but learns to let it down a little and warm up to love and the other (Ms. Winslet) who is run over by every person because she allows them to, learns to stand up for herself and demand the treatment and love she deserves. But… alas… we don’t really see that.

Say Anything

Say Anything

Ah, yes, the classic! I haven’t seen this movie in a long time, and I think age has improved this movie. Everyone is so much cuter, their dialogue so much more adolescent and adorable. Well…the only downside is that well… Ione Sky is really not a great actress, sigh.
So lets get right to it shall we?

• Giddy: Kissing in the rain, having sex in the backseat of the car (hey it’s how I was conceived), the 65 Joe songs, THE BOOMBOX (seriously who can not be giddy during that scene?!), “I gave her my heart, she gave me a pen”
• Lie: The Dad’s been stealing from the old people (bad Daddy, bad!)
• Big Emotional Outburst: Does the boombox count? It does to me!
• Wedding: Um no
• Dance Sequence: Not really, breaking pure 80s tradition, there is a wild party with an over the top Piven that might count?
• Rewatchable: Um YES!
• Love: I actually think this relationship won’t work in long term but first love, ah first love! So very sweet!
• Fantasy: I think we all fantasize about being loved that hard, that passionately.
• Journey of the main character: Well Ms. Sky really doesn’t do a great job of it, but it’s the journey of a girl who has worked so hard and finally getting to enjoy herself a little.
• Body Count: Um none
• Music Montages/Soundtrack: Isn’t this one of the greatest? In your eyes! I get weak in my knees!
• Strong Female: ‘Diane Court’ starts out strong, extra credit classes, working jobs, volunteering, a real go-getter, but everything is to please her Dad and once her Dad comes off the pedestal she links herself with ‘Lloyde Dobler’ as her new crutch. I foresee a long future of going from man to man until someday in her late 30s she wakes up and realizes it should be about herself and not the men in her life…

Moonstruck, Killers, She's out of my League

Happy New Year! So, I’ve watched a ton of movies as we dragged ourselves into this new year (needing to escape is um… at its highest). My god, lets really hope this next year brings us all so much more happiness and so much more success than this past year. For me and many of my dear friends 2010 was extremely rough. I didn’t get anywhere near my resolution to be in a romantic comedy instead of just watching them. Ah well, here’s hoping 2011 brings on the greatness we all so well deserve! And lets start the year off with a bang! 3 count them THREE of the movies that my dear friend gave me to watch and blog on. Whew, that’s a lot of typing so lets just get right to those check off lists shall we?

Moonstruck

• Giddy: Yes, the passion in this movie is okay…well… yes, a bit over the top but I love it! When Nick Cage throws the table across the room and grabs Cher passionately and kisses her… whoa! Then he picks her up, screaming “Son of a bitch” and carries her to the bedroom…mmmmm. Also when she goes to the Opera (which I’ve never been to and sniff… would love to go) and she looks so amazing! Do my giddy dance! Lalala!
• Lie: There really aren’t too many big lies, I mean, she plans on telling her fiancé she slept with her brother, and her father is cheating but her mother already knows.
• Big Emotional Outburst: Oh god, every ten minutes there’s one! My favorite is this little exchange: “I’m in love with you” smack “Snap out of it” or this one: “Why didn’t you wait for the right man” “Because he didn’t come” “I’m here” “Your Late” or this one “Old man you give those dogs another piece of my food and I’m gonna kick you till your dead”.
• Wedding: Nope, but there’s 2 engagements
• Dance Sequence: Does Cher kicking a can down the street count?
• Rewatchable: I’ve been watching this movie since I was a kid, and yes I will continue to do so.
• Love: Ah my favorite kind, Passionate!
• Fantasy: I used to fantasize about living in NY like they are…but now that I’m here (and really don’t love it anymore, but this is a topic I actually need to hit on, many many movies are based in NYC and they all romanticize this town, so that I think oh wow look how beautiful how hopeful it is, and in the last year and half I’ve found nothing of what I see in the movies in this town, granted it is pretty to look at, but it’s a city of desperation and hungry people striving to live as rich and as superficially as the top 1% do and all the money it bleeds from you and all the dreams it dashes, it sort of takes off that rom-com shine and make it dingy and sad), I guess the only thing I fantasize about anymore is to get a shred of the passion seen in this movie back into my life.
• Journey of the main character: Cher is resigned to a boring nice life until she meets Nick who sweeps her off her feet (literally) and awakens her a desire to be sexy and passionate again.
• Body Count: nada
• Music Montages/Soundtrack: When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie…
• Strong Female: Cher has got to be one of the strongest women on and off screen out there. Granted she’s a bit more in the gay-con category then rom-com-icon but still… she’s fantastic! I wish I had her balls!

The Killers

• Giddy: Alright, alright, now some of you are really gonna hate me for this (my husband does, he hates all Ashton Kutcher and refuses to watch anything he does) but this whole movie makes me giddy! It’s exactly what I like to see: action, ridiculous side characters, and even though I can’t buy that Ashton is a spy let alone in love with Ms. Heigl, I still have his abs to look at! And that means a lot to us ladies over a certain age…mmmmm…. Muscles! And this movie had my heart by Ms. Heigl’s speech about her name: “Its Jen, Jennifer, sometimes Jenny, no… no it’s just Jen. Just Jen.”
• Lie: Oh dear lord EVERYONE is lying, all the neighbors, Ashton (badly granted)..Tom Selleck.
• Big Emotional Outburst: Oh yes, we have several!
• Wedding: They skip that (sniff)
• Dance Sequence: Sort of, when some jerk at a club thinks she’s a hooker.
• Rewatchable: Yes. I’m sorry to all you, you judging people, yes this is right up my alley!
• Love: He gives up the killing career for her and then goes out of his way to protect her… yeah that’s love. We also have the scary overprotective dad kind of love going on here too.
• Fantasy: I love the action sequences in this movie. They are great!
• Journey of the main character: She learns that her husband is a former professional killer and so is her dad and that she’s pregnant and she finds her own inner strength and ability to deal with a little spontaneity.
• Body Count: Too many to count, but I really love how almost every single person they think are their friends, neighbors and co-workers are out to kill them. Just goes to show you… you really DON’T need to know your neighbors that well.
• Music Montages/Soundtrack: I think I own a lot of the songs in this soundtrack.
• Strong Female: She becomes one.

She’s out of my league

• Giddy: Yes! This movie is adorable! Giddy all over with this lovely little film, more of a man-rom-com (like 40 Year Old Virgin) where the men are idiots and the women are on pedestals (vs. most female rom-coms where the women are quirky, cute and odd). But the side characters MAKE this movie, we have the lovable assholes (male and female) that just give this movie not only all the best lines like “No one wants to fuck a moodle” and “Oh the Hamburgler wasn’t in to me?” but the charm and sweetness from the other characters – ones like the sweet Nate Torrence who calls Jay’s lady love “Princess Jasmine” and he even helps his him shave his balls!
• Lie: Well there’s some attempted lies like when Jay tries to get back his bitchy ex girlfriend by saying he’d been on a “snatch parade” and Alice Eve is only dating him because he’s safe.
• Big Emotional Outburst: Yes we have that lovely big end, brought on by the lovable assholes to bring the kids together again.
• Wedding: nope (sigh)
• Dance Sequence: Well we do have the lovable assholes tribute band playing at a party and that’s… well close…
• Rewatchable: Yes, this movie is hysterical!
• Love: A hot girl with a dorky guy… it happens!
• Fantasy: For most guys I guess it would be having such a hot girl… for me… wishing I was that hot?
• Journey of the main character: Through love…you can have the confidence to follow your dreams… yeah… and with confidence you can get the hot girl
• Body Count: nada… sigh
• Music Montages/Soundtrack: I love this soundtrack! Everytime I hear Chelsea Dagger I want to jump around in joy!
• Strong Female: Um… maybe it’s my prejudice against pretty people, but I don’t think she’s very strong. But her best friend is kick ass and funny as hell soo…

Eat Pray Love

So, it begins again, another great gift of 24 mystery movies for me to talk about on this blog. And we start this gift package off with none other than Eat Pray Love. Sigh. My heart is a little sad having to talk about this movie. It’s all so complicated for me. The book, I read (as I think most women do and why we love it so fiercely) during a huge identity crisis time in my life and troubles in my marriage. It helped me in countless ways, mainly because here was a woman I completely identified with who was getting not only the luxury of wallowing in her emotional needs, getting to rediscover herself, rediscover her passion, but also do it in a way I can’t even fathom how I’d ever afford to: in 3 countries for a year. So she gets to live the life I want but I get to read the book and end with a calmer awareness of myself. And I love this book! I recommend it to every woman I know who is going through that crisis (which typically seems to be in the 30s). Now, when I heard the movie was going to be made, I thought: How? How can you show this in film? And then I heard Julia Roberts was attached to it and I sighed and said, ah you are not making this book into a movie, you are making a romantic movie that Julia can be in and your going to vaguely hit on points from the book. As they did.
Now lets talk about the heartbreak… I used to love Julia Roberts (I love all her rom coms- they make me smile down to my liver). But this past year (which has been a very hard struggle for me and it is my sincere hope that next year I get a little of my sparkle, hope and joy back, among other hopes of.. you know success and money and such), while working as the-lowest-of-low-on-the-totem-pole-of-films: an extra, I had many opportunities to sit around with fellow dirt-levels and we would talk about the stars we’ve been around. These conversations inevitably led to who was a jerk to work with(Walberg) and who was surprisingly sweet (Gandolfini). And time and again, I heard horror stories about what a bitch, what a diva, what a nightmare Julia Roberts was. I didn’t want to believe it, America’s Sweetheart? Surely she is nice, that’s how I can believe she is in all those movies. But no, I heard a story about how she so diminished a young actress playing a stewardess who messed up one line that the girl up and quit acting, it ruined her to be so humiliated by the wrath of Roberts on the set. Well, I must admit, this has affected my ability to watch her. I just have so little room in my heart for those who look down on others, those who can be so cruel.
So I went in to seeing Eat Pray love with those 2 very large marks against it: my once idol was a bitch and they aren’t going to be able to really make this book into a movie. And so this movie, which I should have wanted to love, I only walk away with a meh. Julia seemed cold to me. She has lines in the movie (because the character in the book is actually this way) that she says she’s a Suzy Cream Cheese, a happy talkative person and I don’t believe that for a moment from Julia. I don’t really see the complicated journey to loving herself and loving the whole world too in her. And she also talks about her “muffin top” and has an entire scene where they try and close jeans on her and um… seriously she has NEVER had a muffin top! Arg! So with all that said, lets check Eat Pray Love off of my list, shall we?
• Giddy: Well there are moments when they quote the book like: You select your thoughts like you select your clothes in the morning, and Look through your heart and not your head but the parts that usually get me giddy (the love scenes) don’t really do it for me here.
• Lie: This is a book/movie about facing your truth. So no.
• Big Emotional Outburst: We have a typical Roberts blow up scene on the beach of Bali. And of course there is the one at the very beginning of the movie… the one that scares the shit out of me quite frankly. The scene where she goes to pray about her unhappiness and decides she doesn’t want to be married anymore. I think I’m more re-living my own fears and bad moments then empathizing with Julia here though (but unlike Julia’s character, I came out of that situation realizing it was better to work on the love I have than throw it away and start over- but I still tear up every time I hear that line: The only thing more impossible than staying was leaving). Also… my god can we please praise once again an amazing performance from Richard Jenkins- his scene where he describes why he is at this ashram in India is heart wrenching!
• Wedding: Why yes there are 2! An Indian wedding (so beautiful despite the fact that its so sad) and flash backs of her own.
• Dance Sequence: In the flash backs of her own there is a lovely scene where Billy Crudup (another supposed jerk in real life) dances around Julia
• Rewatchable: I have to admit, this movie does the opposite for me of what is its intentions: to lift you up so… well yes when I’m feeling doomed (which is often lately).
• Love: This is supposed to be as I said before the learning to love yourself and then love others, but I had a hard time buying it from Julia. There is also the love with Javier Bardem, which is sweet and that perfect rom-com hate em first then love him. Honestly I must give the film credit here, I thought they’d skip right over Italy and India and focus mostly on the Javier affair but they did a good job of keeping them all balanced and showing us that love is not in one form – it is not just romantic but the love of friends, of strangers, of places and passions.
• Fantasy: A writer takes a year off of life and travels to 3 exotic places to discover herself. It’s my number 1 fantasy!
• Journey of the Main Character: Read the book, her journey is amazing!
• Body Count: none
• Music Montages/Soundtrack: Its got some good songs
• Strong Female: Again… read the book.


Side note: It's driving me bonkers that I can't lay out this blog by title and that it only lays it out by date. If anyone knows how to change it so I can lay this blog out by title instead of date can you email me at jennremke@gmail.com ? Love to you all!

Assassin In Love

What a crazy year! But currently I have a job at home and from the miracle of Wii netflix I get to expand my rom-com watching. And recently, I got to see this sweet little film: Assassin in Love. And I just had to add it to my lil blog.

“Professional hit man Milo (Damian Lewis) flees the city after failing to carry out a contract, and gets mistaken for a baker while hiding out in the country. But just as Milo begins to embrace his leisurely new lifestyle and strike up a romance with local veterinarian Rhiannon (Kate Ashfield), his secret gets out, and the locals start asking for much more than specialty cakes”- says the netflix description.

Adorable film with great odd side characters! And of course, we have deaths! Now, granted, Milo is cute, but with those lips, I’m not quite convinced he’s straight (though my last production: Macbeth, the director had similar poofy lips and he turned out to be “straight” so who knows anymore) and I definitely don’t buy him as a cold blooded killer but never the less, he charms me anyway and this one will now be added to my ongoing list of films I can’t stop watching. And here is how it checks off my list:

• Giddy: Assassins gets me giddy all on its own! But we also have a hysterical and really odd love making scene with every ingredient in the kitchen.
• Lie: Milo is a trained assassin, hiding out in a small town pretending to be a baker.
• Big Emotional Outburst: This comes from a few of the side characters.
• Wedding: Yes at the end and it is beautiful!
• Dance Sequence: Non. However we have a group song, this should maybe go in my music category but it gave me the same thrill a group dance does.
• Rewatchable: So now that I am working from home (I’m uploading baby pictures and sending them to parents – which is one of the greatest jobs I’ve ever had, finally affording me the freedom to audition, and to watch in the background all the rom-coms I want, the only downsides being that I actually can’t seem to get that many auditions- damn this town is hard to break through to, and I’ve got a massive ticking clock and seeing cute babies all day long does not really help this) I’m really putting this category to the test. I saw this movie 3 times so far. There are so many great side characters, and that British wit creeps up on you.
• Love: As I said, I’m not sure I buy that this guy is straight (maybe I just don’t trust guys with blue eyes) but the sex is hot and I really feel that like me, Milo falls in love with this quirky town. Living in a city that I don’t love and dealing with the struggles of no longer having the comfort of a core group of people who “get you” and “love you anyway” (well that’s not exactly true, I have some wonderful friends here – its just they are very spread out in this big big city and the trials I face trying to live here and make it here overshadow these good people), I understand what its like to fall in love with a place, a town, loving it for its flaws, its beauty and all the people that inhabit it.
• Fantasy: This town! Oh these charming people!
• Journey of the Main Character: Milo moves to this small town to hide out but ends up wanting to stay and give up his evil ways of killing people quickly with guns an opt for the killing them slowly with baked goods. We’ve all been there right?
• Body Count: 3!! Not counting the Ram’s head!
• Music Montages/Soundtrack: Okay maybe some of these songs are a bit overdone, maybe we’ve all heard them before in a bunch of other rom-coms but I really love them. They make me happy!
• Strong Female: The Vet is a nice tough gal all on her own (or maybe its just her short hair- as all my girlfriends with short hair have proved- the shorter the hair, the tougher the gal- which really says a lot about me I guess- since… well mine is extremely long – but this is no surprise to you dear reader who know I only play tough on stage and am such a sap in real life).

So what a crazy year, I quit a job where my boss screamed, I got a great job that I quit for a dream of making kick ass money in fit modeling, got fired from fit modeling for not being “modely” enough, and fell into this current job where I upload baby pics, which doesn’t pay the bills enough so I have to do a lot of extra work on the movies and tv shows being shot around town (and extra work is by far the most brutal for us non union folks). I’ve only been in one play but it was a great role: Lady Macbeth! But art wise… I’m still on the losing end. I have no idea where I’m going, what is coming next, or how I’ll get through it, but I have to admit, just for now… especially after the horrible trials and tribulations of this past year, I’m pretty happy! I’m really quite blessed! I’ve got some great friends here, I’ve got a great job where I get to be at home watching the movies I’d rather be in but alas we can’t have it all, and my husband and I are stronger than ever! So my own little rom com, is having a good music montage moment right now. Happy Holidays and may this next year bring us all many great romantic moments, great success and dreams come true!

Overboard!

Overboard!
In honor of the return of the 80’s in fashion (seriously, I’m dizzy walking the streets of now – I had to actually call my friend and have him remind me which decade I’m in. It’s scary. And you know something- that is still ugly clothing this time around too!) I sat down and watched one of my all time favorites: Overboard! This is a classic! I love this movie on so many levels: it’s a loosely based adaptation of The Taming of the Shrew, it’s got all the good and bad of being rich vs poor and the great divide between the two, it’s a true warning that a woman is a slave in the household unless she is given respect and love, and its got all the great gooey chemistry between this hot Hollywood couple. Here is how the timeless (I used to think this movie was ugly and dirty but through the goggles of nostalgia and brain washing by the fashion industry that 80’s are cool I find it quite glamorous) Overboard checks off my list:

• Giddy: From the first twang of that terrible song during the credits, I’m in heaven! Goldie playing rich-bitch is so cute, then you have great moments like “Fuk her Fuk her” “I don’t think you can say that on television” “No, No, Fuk her means seal in my country” ; and the Katarina and Arturo story, the making love scene; the dirty boys (filthy in mind and in body); “Baby, if you have a baby, you won’t be the baby anymore” (something I am still trying to convince my parents of) and countless other moments
• Lie: Oh heck yeah! A big one! Let’s see here: He gets knocked off her yacht and left unpaid for building a cabinet made of oak so when she turns up in a mental hospital with no memory he fakes being married to her in order to get a SLAVE to cook, clean, and raise his children as payback. Written down it sounds so much more awful then on screen. (But seriously, the hospital considers it proof that they are married because he can describe a strawberry like birth mark on her ass, if its always that simple there are quite a few people who could claim being married to me…)
• Big Emotional Outburst: We have several, cause Goldie is friggin adorable when she’s angry! My favorite though (besides jumping in the water for each other at the end of the movie) is when she tells off that nasty judging teacher.
• Wedding: No but there are faked pictures of the wedding which are HILARIOUS!
• Dance Sequence: Yes Jim Dandy to the Rescue Jim Dandy to the Rescue! (Um Goldie- you look like your having an orgasm on the dance floor).
• Rewatchable: YES YES YES YES YES
• Love: I love this kind of love story! This is the backwards kind- start with work, family, obligations, start at hate and discover respect, admiration, and love.
• Fantasy: At the very end, they all discover that she’s the rich one. Rich enough for friggin servants and a yacht and evening gowns for no good reason at all! The one boy sums it up best “How do you spell Porsche?” This ranks right up there with my lottery fantasy.
• Journey of the Main Character: Oh I actually think Goldie does an amazing job with this character! Here she goes from being a rich-bitch snob who can not have any empathy for someone not rich like her to being battered around as a slave for a sweaty bohunk man to finding virtue in the smaller things in life (like teaching a child to read and cleaning a house) to once again fit back into the world she came from. It’s a really fascinating journey to watch.
• Body Count: Cest la vie: Non!
• Music Montages/Soundtrack: Ok this music sucks, but true to the 80’s there are lots of great montages. Especially in building the greatest thing Elk Snout has ever seen: A mini put put.
• Strong Female: Yes! Goldie! I love you!

Valentine's Day

I’ve always had a problem with Valentine’s Day. It is an excuse for the lazy to not be romantic all year long until one stinkin’ day. That said, just like my love for Romantic Comedies, I am completely irrational about it and still desire to get something nice on that holiday. So I sat down this weekend, newly inspired by the greatest proposal of all time (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3rlU8bGovU ) to watch Valentine’s Day. I hadn’t rushed out to see this one in the theatres because I am not enthusiastic about this trend in films where you have tons and tons of stars with short interwoven plots that occasionally collide. It feels a bit like ADD and I’m not sure who to give my heart and attention to. There are some great exceptions like Love Actually and He’s Just Not That In To You, but this really didn’t measure up. It actually felt like a knock off version of those two films. Maybe it is just that nothing could possibly put me as over the moon as that You Tube proposal, or maybe it is that Ashton Kutcher just looks like the dumbest puppy dog ever, or maybe it just wasn’t that great...
Maybe it would also help, if I stopped drinking an entire bottle of wine when I sit down to enjoy these movies... I might be able to follow more... just sayin. But we’re not here to talk about my flaws (wait...are we?!)...but here is how Valentine’s Day checked off my list of must have’s:

• Giddy: I’ve noticed a trend here that I’m extremely giddy in the beginning of a movie and as the movie unfolds, I tend to get less so. Quite like most of my past relationships. And like those past relationships, they might not have been good the first time around but nostalgia and a more complicated current reality make me long for the already tried-and-not-really-so-true. So the scenes that could have been heart pumping here might be so in a year but for tonight... not one thing compared to that proposal...
• Lie: There is McDreamy lying to his 2 women, and Jessica Alba lying that she wanted to marry Mr. Puppy dog but not really (and um the director who cast her in the role of powerful go getter woman is lying to himself if he thinks we’re buying Alba in that role) and there’s that guy that looks like he is related to Leonardo DiCaprio who has been lying about being gay... oh there’s lies- lots of em... too many to keep track of!
• Big Emotional Outburst: Oh yes, again- in spades and hard to keep track of.
• Wedding: No, but I think if they had tried to squeeze in one more RC stereotype something would have had to explode!
• Dance Sequence: No
• Rewatchable: Ask me next year
• Love: Every kind there is
• Fantasy: I guess its seeing this many hot people. There are lots of hot people in this movie.
• Journey of the Main Character: Which ONE!?
• Body Count: No – and this – they could have used a bit of- so there would be less plots to keep track of!
• Music Montages/Soundtrack: Actually I liked a few songs on this soundtrack. I will most likely be downloading them soon...
• Strong Female: Um, I think there were a couple- Like Queen Latifah (but when isn’t she?) and Julia Roberts is a soldier... um but again, I didn’t get to have a full 2 hours to judge them, I got maybe 10 minutes of each character so... I can’t really say.

Leap Year

So before I ever got around to watching this movie my whole being was in conflict about seeing it. Yes we have a RC and cute Amy Adams (Enchanted!)and some hot Irish guy...but we also have an insult to strong women that you can only propose to a man on one freakish day every 4 years(I want to start a campaign that women can propose to men - I have written several great commercial specs and designed some great male engagement rings but alas no one is biting...) and the commercials, to be quite honest, looked pretty dumb. And sure enough that conflict was not resolved in the actual watching. Yes there are some very cute moments but the pace is off and the plot in spots is almost too thin, like they were trying too hard to get these two to fall in love. So even though I own it now and it resides with the rest of my porn stash under the bed next to the dark chocolate and good reviews from past shows I was in.... it may stay at the bottom of the box for a while. So lets try to resolve this conflict by checking it off my list shall we?


Giddy: Okay there is the kiss (a very familiar plot device - I kinda liked it better in Addicted to love when Granny tells Meg to kiss Matt - but this one sends significant butterfly flutters into the pelvis area).

Lie: oh there isn't really one

Big Emotional Outburst: A few... but in that cute Amy Adams way where I just want to pinch her cheeks.

Wedding: Yes and another great moment- one of which I could completely relate- Amy is the biggest klutz ever and makes royal mess of this wedding.

Dance Sequence: Yes Irish folk dance and even though the moment getting her onto the floor was really odd, once there, I had fun watching this.

Rewatchable: Hmm...it may take a bit more desperate day than I've been having lately (and that's kind of saying a lot)

Love: You have the I love you enough to propose to keep the apartment love and the you are unbearable and rude but I'm stuck with you and oh look you might actually be more of the Mr./Ms. Right kind.

Fantasy: Ireland. Oh lovely.

Journey of the Main Character: She is on a physical journey to get the man she wants and she sends the cute Irish guy on an emotional journey to find a way to deal with the pain of loosing his girlfriend.

Body Count: none

Music Montages/Soundtrack: nope

Strong Female: Okay see... hrrrmmmm... in some ways she seems like she is going to be (but seriously I'm a sensible shoes kind of girl and am pretty judgemental on what that high of heels in EVERY moment of the day says about your inner strength), she does chase the guy (but she waited around for 4 years - um but then I'm one to talk - but I am not as cute as her and I didn't get many(ANY) offers) and she does walk away from him when she finds out he was only marrying her for the apt., but she's well... wishy washy on most things - even her own proposal to the cute Irish guy. So I give her C - .

My Big Fat Greek Wedding

I adore this movie! And like most people, I can relate. Though, I'm on the quiet white side of things (I can relate alot more to Michael than Nia in this movie: I married into a large Filipino family). What should be the sequel is 2 large outrageous families from different cultures. I wonder what that would be like! (Well as long as Joey Fatone is in it that is, isn't he adorable?)
Another way this movie is way too similar to my own life is that Nia is a bit more on the chunkier side in this film and they never excuse it. She was an instant role model for me, that chunky women can play the romantic lead. I wish I could have such luck! I wish she had stayed the way she was (did anyone see her latest film I Hate Valentine's Day - She looks like in every scene her only subtext is "I wish someone would let me have a burger"). But alas, she lost a ton of weight... and alas, I'm here writing about RC's instead of being in them. Bitter table for one! Okay lets just get right to it shall we:

Giddy: Yes! I love the sweet proposal, the scene where Michael gets baptized and Nia says to her brother "I keep waiting for him to say 'Yeah right your so not worth'" and her brother replies: "Yes you are", and lines like "Did you say I was beautiful" and "I'm a snowbeast".

Lie: Nia is lying to her family to hide her boyfriend.

Big Emotional Outburst: Yes quite a few! I love particularly when the father is yelling at Michael about not asking for his permission to date his daughter and Michael asks if he can and he says "NO". So cute!

Wedding: Yes! Maybe not a fantasy wedding, honestly its up there with maybe one of the more hideous weddings I've seen and I've seen a redneck version of a Renfaire wedding so I know what I'm talking about, but its great! Spitting and all!

Dance Sequence: Yes! Opa! My favorite is with Joey Fatone-he looks so intense I think he might kill her.

Rewatchable: Yes! Again we have another movie my husband just won't sit through with me. Maybe I should start that as a category? The ones I can get others to sit with me through vs. those I have to have closet love for?

Love: This guys joins her religion for her! That is LOVE!

Fantasy: Okay I'm gonna be a bit brutal here, but I'm thinking the fantasy is that family can always be that unconditionally loving

Journey of the Main Character: She had spent the majority of her life being embarrassed by her family but through the love of her man, she learns to love herself and thus learn to love that part of herself.

Body Count: none

Music Montages/Soundtrack: I don't really find the music that memorable but there is a great dating/making out in the car montage that has me contemplating was I just way too easy?

Strong Female: mmm...not really... I mean she does finally take the step to getting classes and changing her life to something better and that takes courage soo... well sort of... she's just not you know "Angelina kickin ass strong".

Practical Magic

So as if its not bad enough I'm such a sucker for Romance, I also am a sucker for all things Magic! No I'm not like a closet wicken(not that there is anything wrong with that) or anything. But I really get drawn into stories that have to do at all with magic. Harry Potter? Yes Please! Witches of Eastwick? Charmed? The Illusionist? The Prestige? Yes Yes Yes Yes! (some of you are shaking your heads in dismay and saying oh god Jenn why? and to that I say I don't know, maybe because I loved a man who was a magician and its stuck... or maybe its because I like the idea of a world where a spell can fix things).
So of course this movie, Practical Magic, is not just ice cream on a hot day but ice cream banana split with cherry on top on a hot day! And I think it is the ONLY movie I can ever think of where the book actually SUCKED and the movie is something so so much better! How the hell did they ever get this movie out of that book? That book was AWFUL!
But I digress...lets get to it shall we?

Giddy: Magic? Curses? The scene where Sandra makes out with Aiden... YES! We have many giddy moments!

Lie: Sandra's lying to herself about her gifts and Nicole is lying about the accidental murder of her boyfriend.

Big Emotional Outburst: Yes - and it takes a COVEN to resolve it!

Wedding: no

Dance Sequence: Put da lime in da coconut... mmmmm margarita dance (I've had a few of those).

Rewatchable: YES! This is one of those movies my husband really doesn't understand how on earth I could watch so much and has to go find something to do when its on. He knows I will not turn it off mid movie and he can't possibly stomach one more viewing of it.

Love: Yes! A spell cast love, a love that breaks the family curse!

Fantasy: Magic! YEAH!

Journey of the Main Character: I love that classic tale of the girl who denies her own gifts because she's seen as not normal but comes to embrace them and learn that self acceptance is far superior to others'.

Body Count: 2! Husband and boyfriend.

Music Montages/Soundtrack: Oh yes! We have several great montages and this soundtrack has a lot of great classics!

Strong Female: Yes each woman (Sandra an Nicole, Dianne and Stockard) has strength, endurance, and MAGIC! Yay! I assume having magical powers has to make you pretty damn strong. I don't have magical powers... and strength is something I struggle to attain everyday.

The Princess Bride

Blog about the greatest Romantic Comedy of all time? As You Wish!
I would like to mention that the day came when I realized I'm old and that there might actually be people in this world who have not seen this movie. I actually worked with a couple on one of my last jobs and it broke my heart! This is the greatest film of all time. It has everything (well except a lot of females to emulate but we'll get to that later). It should be mandatory in school or something. You know those dumb surveys where they ask if there is only one thing you can bring on an island with you... this is the thing I bring!
However, small sad note, I never realized before that Wesley has a cheezy mustache in this movie. Uck... I usually find almost every man with a moustache to be a child molester (or at least look like one). But I guess I will forgive him.. cause.. well.. he's my childhood fantasy of the perfect man and I'll just have to! Also, its always bugged me, what were the 5 most romantic kisses of all time? I often wanted to have one (I think I did once, in the 42nd street subway station, where time stood still and moved in slow motion around us... but I digress). I have 5 copies of this book (given to me by past loves) and I've read it cover to cover trying to have that answered for me. But it makes a great party game question I guess...so again.. forgiven!
But back to the greatest movie of all time... Oh lets just get right to the check list shall we?

Giddy: From the first cough of the young Fred Savage, I'm in heaven. We have some of the best lines ever written like: "I wonder if he's using the same wind we are using", "Inconceivable", "As you wish", "Move?: Your alive, if you want I can fly", "I don't accept excuses, I'll just have to get myself a new Giant" and many many more!

Lie: The prince is lying to Buttercup the whole darn time! Boo! Boo!

Big Emotional Outburst: A couple small ones...but my favorite is "Hello, My name is Inigo Montoya, You killed my father, prepare to die" (of which I have a great tshirt)

Wedding: Yes! Maaawwwaaaaggeee is wwwwwhhhat bwwwwinnggs us togevah twoday

Dance Sequence: no, but i forgive you!

Rewatchable: I know every line of this movie. And its perfect for every occasion! Its perfect for the Saturday afternoon chore day and its perfect for the date night and its perfect for the getting stoned night (which you may not be able to get through the death of Vizzini without tiring yourself out from laughing so hard)and also perfect for slow days at work.

Love: TRUE LOVE!

Fantasy: True Love (which I have to admit, I went searching for way too long because of this film)! The fantasy of true love alone is pretty darn good, but then you also have storybook fairytale with princes and princess and pirates and sword fights. Mmmm. Lovely!

Journey of the Main Character: Wesley fights everything, even death, to get back to her. Oh also, Fred Savage learns to love books read by his Grandpa.

Body Count: 8 I think: Vizzini, Wesley, The Albino, 4 soldiers and Tyrone :)

Music Montages/Soundtrack: I love this soundtrack. I get weepy every time I hear Storybook Love, I know, I know, its not like it has a bunch of hummable tunes, but it reminds me of this movie, and my heart swells!

Strong Female: Okay, here's the downside... there are only 2 women in this movie. One is a witch ("I'm not a witch I'm your wife") and the other is Buttercup. And for all her beauty, for all her wit and charm, she's just a pretty female that has to be rescued. When I was a little girl, I never cared. Most girls don't. The fairy tales we have grown up listening to were all this way and thus feminism for me was delayed a few years I believe because I didn't grow up necessarily having those great women role models. Well... now I'm stretching it aren't I? Because there were Romantic Comedies like His Girl Friday and anything with Kate Hepburn in it to look up to. But you get my gist right? One of the reasons I am in love with this genre of movie is because, typically, its one of the only genres where women are strong, are role models. And so, even my childhood favorites must be called out, when they do not bring the role models!
But I still love you Princess Bride! I still love you!

Mr. & Mrs. Smith

Okay, technically this isn't a RC. It falls under action/adventure. Proof is in my body count, where I lost count of the dead at 19 and we were only half way through the movie... but... a)lets not forget that it was this movie that broke up the Bennifer and started the Branjolina and it shows cause the chemistry is off the charts in this movie between the two hottest people in Hollywood (who can I just once again gripe about how unfair it is that these two superpowers procreated? What happens to us ugly mortals when the Gods team up? More crap work and groveling that's what!)and b)I laughed a LOT! And as I stated earlier: laughter and love are the key ingredients so with that in mind lets see how this action/adventure Mr. and Mrs. Smith checks off Jenn's list of RC's:

Giddy: Oh yes, but in a "it tingles down there" kind of giddy. This movie is SEXY!! We have 2 dance scenes, the most violent make up sex scene I've ever witnessed and some great funny moments from Mr. Vahn too.

Lie: Mr. and Mrs. Smith have been lying to each other from day 1 pretending to be something they are not while they are both killers.

Big Emotional Outburst: Oh yes in the form of guns and beating the crap out of each other.

Wedding: There is video footage of their wedding... its small but I must count it

Dance Sequence: Yes 2!!!!

Rewatchable: Well yes, yes I think I will

Love: This is that almost competitive kind of love, the kind where they may have to concede at some point that one or the other is slightly better at one aspect of their job but they make an unstoppable team when together.

Fantasy: The fantasy is Brad and Angelina ... either one... together... blowing stuff up... as sexy as they can... mmmmmm

Journey of the Main Character: I think both of them have to learn that the other has some talents they wish they had and learn to fight for their marriage.

Body Count: As I stated previously... I stopped counting at 19! My god, I really don't think horror films ever have as high of body counts as Action movies do... then again- a lot are just getting shot... as we have learned from before being shot does not necessarily mean dead...

Music Montages/Soundtrack: Not that notable to me

Strong Female: I would like to praise Miss Jolie right now...okay she has her flaws and she's a bit weird but no woman has ever held the high honor of Action Hero like her before. She plays strong, sexy, with a hint of vulnerability and I wish so badly I could be her or do her. She plays that perfect strong female here in this movie and I don't even mind (staunch feminist that I am) that she "took his last name" because she breaks every other stereotype of women in two in this film.

Everafter

Sigh...mmmm...I feel like frolicking through a flower laden field and blowing bubbles and dancing barefoot...maybe it's spring is here... or maybe... its EVERAFTER! I love this movie. I love Drew (even though it is obvious she's super self conscious about her accent in this and thus not so good at it - You gotta jump in Drew just like Renee in Bridgette Jones). Again, we have a new take on an old story and no pumpkins or mice needed, we have the classic Cinderella tale turned on its head with a strong woman with Utopian ideals that saves herself and winning the prince is secondary. Here is how the beautiful Everafter adds up to my wish list of RC's:
Giddy: What girl doesn't get giddy from that never worn down phrase: Once upon a time...
Lie: She is pretending to be a rich courtier when really she's just a peasant.
Big Emotional Outburst: Brought on by the evil step mother (a wonderfully over the top Angelica Houston who brings the real honest side of evil: vanity and greed to the role)
Wedding: Yes! But its fraught with the best hysterical crying I've ever seen. Seriously chica - your crying over the wrong guy!
Dance Sequence: not really no...but we have a BALL!
Rewatchable: Yes! This is part of my other Ipod collection! yummy!
Love: I love that this is not a love at first sight, just cause the girl doesn't have dirt under her nails anymore love (like the original story) but that she earns his respect and he is in awe of her fierce spirit and wit and that leads him to see the love.
Fantasy: I don't know a girl who hasn't fantasized about becoming a princess. I still have the occasional fantasy that Prince Harry is going to run into me on the street, fall madly in love, demand I divorce my husband and marry him.... um... yeah it's called a FANTASY!!!
Journey of the Main Character: Her's is not so much as his. He learns to be a better human, a better leader and find love through her. YAY!
Body Count: 1 - the Daddy!
Music Montages/Soundtrack: uh no not really
Strong Female: Yes! Yes!