Romantic Comedy Movies
Romantic Comedy Movies Are Back in a Big Way.
Back in the 40s and 50s, romantic comedy movies were huge hits. Stars like Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, Doris Day, Jimmy Stewart, Rock Hudson, and many others began their careers in romantic comedy movies. Many spent their entire careers doing these kinds of fun films that combined love stories with situational comedy and witty banter. Movies like Bringing Up Baby and The Philadelphia Story became shining examples of the genre and helped to bring in lots of new audiences around the world to theatres.
Today’s top romantic comedy movies are crowd pleasers with hilarious storylines and wacky performances by some of the industry’s top actors and actresses. In 2009 we were given the gift of The Proposal starring Sandra Bullock as a Type A workaholic, tough as nails executive and Ryan Reynolds as her beleaguered and overworked assistant. When Bullock’s character is about to get deported to Canada she comes up with the hare- brained scheme to get married with Reynolds. The results are very funny and even touching near the end.
One of the best romantic comedy movies of the last ten years is The 40 Year Old Virgin starring sad sack comic actor Steve Carrell and the mature but still sexy Catherine Keener. Directed by then first-timer Judd Apatow, it has made a tremendous killing at the box office and in rentals and DVD sales all over the world and propelled Apatow and Carrell to further superstardom.
2007 brought us a deep dish goodie of a movie called Waitress starring the lovely Keri Russell as an abused wife who works in a pie restaurant somewhere in the Deep South. Russell is endearing and you fall in love with her as she battles her drunken, abusive husband and ends up having a torrid affair with the new, dashing town doctor. This movie is great fun overall with a good message.
In 2003 audiences were treated to one of the funniest romantic comedy movies of all time with Somethings Gotta Give starring a feisty Jack Nicholson and the colder, but sincere Diane Keaton in a pairing made in movie heaven. Nicholson plays an old playboy who is dating Keaton’s twenty-something daughter. When Jack gets a heart attack while having an amorous interlude and ends up recuperating for a few days at Keatonís house, the sparks fly and comedy magic ensues. This is one that is not to be missed.
One of my personal favorite romantic comedy movies is the hilarious Forgetting Sarah Marshall which came out in 2008 and now ranks as one of the top money makers of the past ten years. Directed by Nick Stoller and written and starring Jason Segel, this is a very funny movie about a guy who canít get over his break-up with a girl. Segel plays a nerdy TV show theme music composer who heads to Hawaii to somehow get over the loss of his gorgeous actress girlfriend, only to find her and her new rock star boyfriend vacationing in the condo next door.
Romantic comedy movies will continue to tickle our fancies as long as men and women continue to date, love, and get married.
Oscar Nominated Movies
Some of the Best Oscar Nominated Movies Never Won,
I try to watch the Oscars as often as possible, and I routinely find that the movie that I liked best in a particular year is the winner for best picture. On a couple of occasions, however, I felt that there were some very good Oscar nominated movies that should have won, but did not.
Let’s start with 2010, in which the best picture award went to The Hurt Locker. I thought that there were two movies that were better in The Blind Side and ìInglourious Basterds. To me, they had better stories and were more interesting than the winner.
I was happy to see that Sandra Bullock received the Best Actress in a Leading Role award for The Blind Side and that Christoph Waltz won the award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for ìInglourious Basterds.
Going back a few decades, in 1990, two Oscar nominated movies that did not get the nod for Best Picture were Field of Dreams and Born on the Fourth of July. Instead, it was Driving Miss Daisy, that won, and I never could understand why. I liked the movie all right, but to me, Field of Dreams in particular was such an iconic movie.
Then in 1993, one of my favorite Oscar nominated movies of all time, A Few Good Men, got beaten out by Unforgiven.
I have to admit, I really did not like the movie Unforgiven that much, and I still scratch my head over that one.
In 1999, Shakespeare in Loveî beat out two Oscar nominated movies that I thought were much better, Saving Private Ryan and Life is Beautiful.
That is one that actually made me a little angry, because I did not feel that Shakespeare in Love should have even been nominated, and I definitely don’t think that it is on par with the other two.
Million Dollar Baby won in 2005, and don’t get me wrong, I absolutely loved that movie. But I still think that Ray, another Oscar nominated movie, was a little better. That year was a bit too close to call, but I still thought that Ray should have won, and it always takes me aback a little when one wins that I didn’t think would.
I know that it is all a matter of opinion and I am sure that there are some people out there who are looking at the movies that I like and thinking that I am out of my mind for suggesting that they should have won. I just feel that a lot of the Oscar nominated movies that did not win were better than the ones that did. Of course, that is probably why they were nominated in the first place.
2005 Movies
Remembering the Year 2005 in Movies.
2005 was not a particularly strong year for film making in general around the world, and even less so for Hollywood, but there were some shining moments on the big screen.
The Best of Youth by Marco Tullio Giordana was made in Italy and aired there as a television miniseries. You can now get the DVD on Amazon or Netflix and get ready to hunker down because each disc is over three hours long, but it is well worth the time to get to know one of the best 2005 movies made. It tells the story of two brothers who take different paths in life and the women they love, all with the background of sixties radicalism and rioting.
King Kong by Peter Jackson is a flawed, overly long effort that is still one of the most incredible movies ever shot and all due to the characterization of the ape by the actor who portrayed him (yes there is an actor, but no monkey suit). This remake of the 1933 black and white classic is fantastic after the first boring hour. This 2005 movie stars Jack Black and Naomi Watts.
Batman Begins was great and stars Christian Bale. This movie is dark but fiercely realistic. The Batman here is no superhero, just a man on a mission. Very suspenseful and that made this one of the 2005 movies that you can’t forget. This was also the prequel if you will of 2008′s The Dark Knight.
Sin City with Mickey Rourke is one of the most visually stunning 2005 movies with its larger than life film noir look and comic book stylizations.
A History of Violence directed by David Cronenberg and starring Vigo Mortensen was bloody and vicious, but also suspenseful and full of surprise twists. Wallace and Gromit The Curse of the Were-Rabbit was best of the 2005 movies to feature animation, and claymation at that. Although suitable for children, the humor is perfect for adults as well. Very funny.
Kung Fu Hustle directed and starring the funny and twisted Kwok Kuen Chan still ranks as one of the funniest and weirdest 2005 movies and is well worth renting. This is the same director who brought us the very funny Shaolin Soccer.
War of the Worlds starring Tom Cruise was notable for great special effects but goes on too long. The end sequence is just plain boring. The first hour though is fantastic and will keep you on the edge of your seat.
These are just some of the best 2005 movies and you will certainly have your favorite. Get the popcorn ready, time for movie night!
Top List of Oscar Winners
Top List of Oscar Winners from Foreign Countries
It goes to reason that most of the great oscar winners of all time have been from the United States of America. After all, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is based and headquartered in Beverly Hills (on La Cienega Blvd.). What many people do not realize is that there have been many fine actors who hailed from other countries around the world.
Heath Ledger, an Aussie, won best actor posthumously in 2009 for his phenomenal portrayal of the deranged Joker in The Dark Knight, a Batman movie unlike any other ever made. It was sad and ironic that after a short but brilliant career, Ledger would win the award but not live to receive it. It was a clean sweep that year for foreign Oscar winners as British born actress Kate Winslet (Titanic) won Best Actress for her role as a German woman who seduces a boy and is later found to have ties to the Nazis and tried as a collaborator. She also won a Golden Globe, a BAFTA, and a SAG award the same year.
In 2008 Marion Cottilard from France joined the growing list of foreign Oscar winners when she won Best Actress for her electrifying performance as Edith Piaf in La Vie en Rose. Also in 2008 another Australian, the actress Cate Blanchett was nominated for Best Actress honors for her role as the besieged Queen in Elizabeth: The Golden Age. Spanish born hunk Javier Bardem won Best Supporting Actor in the ultra violent No Country for Old Men, which also won Best Picture.
Back in 2003, another Australian actress, the lovely Nicole Kidman, won Best Actress in The Hours. Another of the Oscar winners that same year was Welsh born Catherine Zeta-Jones who won Best Supporting Actress for her role in Chicago, the musical, where she portrayed Velma Kelly.
More Oscar winners that are not from the U.S. include Jim Broadbent who won Best Actor in 2003 for a foreign film that nobody saw called Iris, and 2002 saw New Zealander Russel Crowe win Best Actor honors for the film everyone saw, Gladiator.
It also won for Best Picture that year. Best Supporting actor in 2002 went to the versatile Puerto Rican actor, Benicio del Toro, who wowed audiences in 2010 as The Wolfman. In 2002 British actor Michael Caine finally joined the ranks of Oscar winners when he won Best Supporting Actor for his role as the loving doctor in the poignant Cider House Rules, a great movie.
Over the years, many foreign born actors and actresses have been counted as Oscar winners and you can expect the same in years to come. The U.S. has no lock on the chances of winning this award, no matter where they originated.
Independent Film Making
Independent Film Making is Facing a Rocky Road.
Hollywood has had a stranglehold on movie making since the early 20th century but since the late 60s more and more mavericks have taken independent film making to greater heights. Movies like Putney Swope and The Graduate were innovative when they were first released and paved the way for future generations of independent film making students and directors. Who can forget the young, fresh-faced Dustin Hoffman in The Graduate? This movie not only introduced us to Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft but also brought us the great song from Simon and Garfunkel Mrs. Robinson.
We also got to see a young star named Jon Voight play a lost and lonely character in Midnight Cowboy. These are movies that Hollywood was just incapable of making back in the sixties. It took some cinematic rebels to take independent film making techniques and make these films then fight for them until they got widespread distribution.
Distribution is still the key to getting any movie seen by audiences at theatres, though the methods of distribution are changing. International distribution is still controlled largely by the big Hollywood studios. They have locked up contracts with all of the top theater chains around the world. That is why you always see studio movies playing at the local multiplex and rarely any independent offerings except at small art house theaters in big cities.
Even when independent film making results in a great movie, the distributors are usually the art house subsidiaries of the big studios such as Fox Searchlight. Other art house subs have vanished when Paramount shut down Paramount Vantage, or when Time Warner shut down Warner Independent. The economic trouble is felt very strongly by indie film makers all over the world as the meltdown of indie distributors continues. Only 11 indie film distributors remain from the 38 official ìfront endî art house affiliates of the majors since 2007. There are still some die hards like Think Films but many are in free fall and will disappear unless something radical happens soon.
In the past few years independent film making has had some major successes. When Slumdog Millionaire won Best Picture at the 2009 Academy Awards it came as a shock, but not a complete shock. Other independent films had paved the way for this over the previous years. Movies like The English Patient, Little Miss Sunshine, Sideways and many others.
The Blair Witch Project was a great example of successful independent film making gone right. New Line picked it up at one of the festivals and that movie which was made on a miniscule budget went on to make several hundred millions of dollars in worldwide profits.
Independent film making today faces its most difficult challenge ever in the face of the economic problems in the world. We are in danger of losing this much needed industry and people need to get out and support independent film making by paying to see these movies when they come to theaters.
Categories: Movie, News Tags: Film, film making, indipendent, Movies
List of the horror movies
List of Horror Movies that Don’t Suck.
Horror movies have always been the favorite genre of many movie aficionados around the world. Unfortunately horror movies don’t get the respect from film critics that other genres get. It is extremely difficult to make a really good and scary horror movie. The list of horror movies that are actually any good is not very long. Slasher movies tried to replace horror movies about twenty years ago but those are not real horror movies.
On any list of horror movies that donít suck you will find some truly frightening films. Here is my list of horror movies that are worth watching.
Rosemary’s Baby may be a bit dated now and may not give you the kind of chills it did when it first came out, but it is still one of the really great atmospheric movies ever made and still can creep you out. Psycho may have been the first slasher movie but it is a true horror picture and has all the gothic trademarks of great horror films plus a dangerous and cheesy contemporary setting that everyone who has ever stayed at a roadside motel can attest to.
The Exorcist of course is still at the pinnacle on anyone’s list of horror movies that don’t suck. If you have never seen it, then you need to drop anything and everything that you are doing and go buy it right now. Put it on your big flat screen tonight and watch it with someone else that has never seen it. It is still the most unsettling and deeply frightening film ever made by a longshot and will keep you awake for many nights to come. This movie is definitely not for young children and not for the faint of heart. It is extremely brutal and very disturbing.
The Blair Witch Project was perhaps the greatest grossing film of all time in any genre because it cost so little to make and yet made hundreds of millions of dollars. Using handheld shaky cameras the film is a mock documentary about a group of students filming a documentary on the famous Blair Witch in the Maryland forest. The three students get lost deep in the forest and encounter some truly terrifying things out there. Without spoiling it you need to stick with this one until the very end.
The 2009′s Blair Witch Project was a little indie film called Paranormal Activity and is about a suburban couple that find their San Diego house haunted by an evil demon (are there any other kinds?) and they again use handheld cameras and night vision cameras to film the ghostly situations.
This is a movie that begins slowly but builds to a shocking final act. This picture joins our list of horror movies that don’t suck because it will truly terrify you!
Travel Italy Rome Venice Florence Siena Italy Movies
Travel Florence Venice Rome Siena Verona Italy – Italian Travel Tourism Movies, Videos, Photos and Music Jennifer Treur © 2008. Travel Italy. www.jamdirections.com.au
The Best Ben Affleck Movies On Satellite Television
The Best Ben Affleck Movies On Satellite Television
Everyone loves a rags to riches tale. Whether it’s college dropout who became a dot com billionaire, or a struggling single mother who penned one of the most profitable books of all time, we always like to see the underdog prevail. Hollywood is full of stories like these, and handsome leading man Ben Affleck has one of the best. After growing up in a working class Boston neighborhood, he went on to win a screenwriting Oscar with best friend and childhood companion, Matt Damon. Since then, he has starred in and even directed some of the best movies of our time.
Perhaps what makes Ben so appealing is his every-guy persona, mixed with a bit of Hollywood charm. He appeals to sports-watching, beer-swigging guys, and girls who just want to swoon over him. On top of that, he’s a great actor to boot. If you’re not familiar with Ben Affleck’s work, consider having a movie night soon. Nothing beats ordering in a pizza and slumping down in front of your HD televison. Don’t have a great movie collection at home? Consider installing satellite tv. You’ll have countless more programming options and can watch all your favorite movies without running to the video store.
If you’re looking to have a Ben Affleck marathon this weekend, here are some favorites to get you started:
Dazed and Confused (1993) – This classic movie takes place on the last day of school in 1976. The new incoming freshmen spend most of the day getting hazed by upper classmen, while just about everyone is looking for the night’s party. Ben played an upperclassmen bully looking to torture his younger peers, and was hilarious in the role. At the very least, watch the movie for the amazing rock soundtrack and hilarious dated outfits.
Good Will Hunting (1997)- This is the movie that made Ben, and best friend Matt Damon stars. Ben and Matt wrote the movie, which takes place in the Boston neighborhood that the two grew up in. It is a poignant story about a troubled genius who lives in a tough neighborhood and can’t stay out of some kind of trouble. Ben was the movie’s comic relief as the goofy sidekick who tries to encourage his best friend to make a better life for himself.
Boiler Room (2000)- It would be quite applicable to the times to give this film a viewing, especially if you already haven’t seen it. Boiler Room tells the tale of a fraudulent investment firm’s rise and fall, and shows what happens when you get too greedy. Ben played Jim Young, a broker at the fake firm that makes its profits off of other people’s naiveté. While the firm’s brokers live in fancy apartments complete with flat screen high definition televisions, they are running a complete scam.
He’s Just Not That Into You (2009)- This romantic comedy is definitely one for the ladies, but guys can enjoy it as well. Based on the bestselling book by the same name, it follows several couples and singles as they try to deal with love and relationships in a modern world. Ben plays a boyfriend who is reluctant to propose to his longtime girlfriend, but eventually comes around in one of the most heartwarming scenes in the film.
Watch your favorite Ben Affleck movies with directv satellite service. Look to directv deals for the best prices around.
The terrible Ben Affleck break downs on the terrible HBO show, Lifestories: Families in Crisis. This is from Body to Die For: The Aaron Henry Story. Be sure to check out the new Benny Hill version!
Video Rating: 4 / 5
Related Ben Afflecks Articles
