Category: Romance
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What’s Your Number? Let’s go with ***
What’s Your Number? – 2011 Directed by Mark Mylod Starring Anna Faris, Chris Evans, Joel McHale, Zachary Quinto, Martin Freeman, Andy Samberg, Anthony Mackie, Blythe Danner, Ed Begley, Jr., Ari Graynor, Written by Gabrielle Allen, Jennifer Crittenden Anna Faris has the unique ability to look beautiful and hilarious at the same time. Kind of like a…
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Forgotten Gem: Skateland: Remember when people responded to tragedy?
Skateland – 2010 Directed by Anthony Burns Starring Shiloh Fernandez, Ashley Greene, Brett Cullen, James LeGros, Taylor Handley, Haley Ramm, Heath Freeman, Melinda McGraw Written by Anthony Burns, Brandon & Heath Freeman, Justin Gilley, Nicholas Jayanty, Victor Moyers There was a point, about 4 hours after I got my first driver’s license, when I got into…
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One Day: One wishes it to be over early
One Day – 2011 Directed by Lone Scherfig Starring Anne Hathaway, Jim Sturgess, Patricia Clarkson, Rafe Spall, Ken Stott Written by David Nicholls Early on, one gets a sense of the game they are being subjected to with One Day: what if we made When Harry Met Sally, but instead of making random check ins throughout…
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Friends with Benefits: Soft core romance and little else
Friends with Benefits – 2011 Directed by Will Gluck Starring Justin Timberlake, Mila Kunis, Woody Harrelson, Patricia Clarkson, Jenna Elfman, Richard Jenkins, Emma Stone, Adam Samberg, Bryan Greenberg Written by Keith Merryman, David A. Newman, Will Gluck, Harley Peyton Four writers for one movie about spontaneous, no strings frivolity. The effect is a labored, clunky excuse for…
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Crazy Stupid Love has plenty of all three
Crazy Stupid Love – 2011 Directed by Glen Ficarra and John Requa Starring Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Julianne Moore, Emma Stone, Kevin Bacon, John Carroll Lynch, Marisa Tomei, Analeigh Tipton Written by Dan Fogelman This is the kind of movie, made so many times in Hollywood, The Big Chill, Parenthood, Love Actually and Valentine’s Day…
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Water For Elephants is an easy job until the elephants arrive
Water for Elephants – 2011 Directed by Francis Lawrence Starring Reese Witherspoon, Robert Pattison, Christoph Waltz, Tai, Hal Holbrook, Paul Schneider, James Frain, Ken Foree, Tim Guinee, Mark Povinelli, Scott McDonald, Jim Norton, Richard Brake Written by Richard LaGravenese, based on the novel by Sara Gruen One thing that is apparent in watching the first half hour…
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Arthur: Guess who’s playing Russell Brand?
Arthur – 2011 Directed by Jason Winer Starring Russell Brand, Helen Mirren, Greta Gerwig, Jennifer Garner, Luis Guzman, Nick Nolte Written by Peter Baynam based on a story by Steve Gordon There is a point 30 minutes into Arthur where Nick Nolte joins Russell Brand on the screen. After squinting really hard for about a…
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The Adjustment Bureau is waiting for Godot
The Adjustment Bureau – 2011 Written and Directed by George Nolfi Starring Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, John Slattery, Anthony Mackie, Anthony Ruivivar, Terence Stamp, Michael Kelley Based on “Adjustment Team” by Philip K. Dick There is a lot of talk about free will in The Adjustment Bureau. With a series of officers who looked like they…
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Going the Distance? Okay, maybe we’ll take a shortcut.
Going The Distance – 2010 Directed by Nanette Burstein Starring Drew Barrymore, Justin Long, Christina Applegate, Jason Sudeikis, Charlie Day, Ron Livingston Written by Geoff LaTulippe Nanette Burstein has a career varied and dotted with awards. Most of what she’s done have been documentaries thus far. That she was chosen to direct the latest Drew Barrymore…
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Forgotten Gems: Flipped is Reiner’s sweetly realistic view of young love
Flipped – 2010 Directed by Rob Reiner Starring Maddy Carroll, John Mahoney, Callan McAuliffe, Aidan Quinn, Rebecca DeMornay, Anthony Edwards, Penelope Ann Miller Written by Reiner and Andrew Scheinman based upon the book by Wendelin Van Draanen Rob Reiner has quietly put together one of the greatest directorial resumes of the last 30 years. The style and category…
Ebert Did It Better: Gasbag Reviews 