Tag: Romance

Long Nights Short Mornings (2016)
1h 40min | Drama, Romance | 24 January 2017 (USA)

An examination of the romantic life of a young man in New York City and his sometimes fleeting, sometimes profound experiences with the women he encounters.
Director: Chadd Harbold
Writer: Chadd Harbold
Stars: Shiloh Fernandez, Ella Rae Peck, Paten Hughes

Upon first look, this seems like a romantic comedy, a fling of a playboy with several women. As you get deeper into it though you see this is not a nice guy. Women are like stepping stones into the nothing that is his ever elusive future. Director Chadd Harbold seems interested in manhood and what it’s all about. By the way, he is also writer and producer on this. I saw this film because it was on Netflix. I am not sure it was ever in a theater.

The protagonist is a hot guy and I think a lot of women would love to go out with him. When he’s done with them, he’ll do whatever he can to push them away. It’s that behavior that makes it interesting to me. I kept wondering what he would do as he went to the next one again and again and so on and so on. Frankly, that was never my life. I was never devastatingly handsome and able to string women along. I found this film a little dull and hard to relate with I guess for that reason. I learned when you love someone you should hold on. I’m not sure what the message of this film is.

4/10

Almost every movie can be defined as a mythic journey, even a teen love story like “Say Anything.” John Cusack is in love with a rich girl and he barely has enough money for the gas in his car. The movie becomes a journey from “dork” status to royalty when he finally wins her over.

Say Anything

Cast

John Cusack, Ione Skye, John Mahoney

Directed by

Cameron Crowe

Written by

Cameron Crowe

Other Info

Comedy, Drama, Romance
Rated PG-13
100min
Riley’s Rating:

These are some really funny bits in this film. One I really like is when his friend is  playing 100 songs she has written for her unrequited boyfriend “Joe.” At one point she is in a bedroom at a party when people are drinking beer and listening to her sing these “odes to Joe.” One song lyric she sings is simply, “Joe lies … When he cries.” Please make sure you don’t leave the room and miss that scene.

Anyone who wasn’t sure what to do with their life after high school will certainly relate. John Cusack is the poor dude caught up in his passion for kickboxing. He gets caught up with a rich, smart girl: Diane Court. He tries to woo her but just for a date much to Diane’s father’s disapproval. It’s a common story but this one gives hope to the poor guy, this underdog.

What ensues in “Say Anything” is a heroic journey. John Cusack starts out a bit of a simpleton but ends up the victor. He wins the hand of the suburban maiden, played by Ione Skye. Many “best of” lists on the internet rank “Say Anything” near the top. It’s a lie story and a comedy about graduating seniors but the entertainment value is certainly suited to about age 14-?

Grazie for this film! In a raw spirit of the late 70’s this film inspires and entertains and brings out the humanity in me. This is a “go to” film and will be until the day I die. A masterpiece you might say.

Listen to my quick and dirty review!
https://podomatic.com/embed/html5/episode/8569086?autoplay=false

Breaking Away

“A small-town boy obsessed with the Italian cycling team vies for the affections of a college girl.” -IMDB

Cast

Dennis Christopher Dave
Dennis Quaid Mike
Daniel Stern Cyril
Jackie Earle Haley Moocher

Directed by

Peter Yates

Written by

Steve Tesich

Other Info

Comedy, Drama, Romance, Sport
PG
Fri 20 Jul 1979 UTC
101min
IMDB Rating: 7.7

Known for An Innocent Man, Krull and Steve McQueen’s Bullitt, Peter Yates is the accomplished director who brought this vision to life. It’s college/career coming of age film with a gritty passion not seen much in the genre.

Dennis Christopher is pure oxygen as “Dave.” His plight is the plight of every young man in American between the ages of 16 and 20. I was right there with him. Hormones make you want to hump every girl you see and explore a new universe apart from what your parents have made for you at home. He’s a guy who’s ready to take on the world but the world won’t let him yet. There is a cast of thousands besides him including: Dennis Quaid, Daniel Stern, Jackie Earle Haley, Jackie Earle Haley Barbara Barrie, and Paul Dooley. They are ALL in top form in telling this story and MY how young the all look in 1979.

This film is the story of Dave and his friends just out of high school with nowhere to go. Their dads were “cutters” of concrete. They feel trapped in the identity. The film is about Dave finding himself. He pretends to be Italian to get girls and portray a more preferable identity. He also races a bike. Two strategic races make a metaphor for the content the film seeks to get across. Who are you when you’re young and who can you be when you choose to break away from assigned identity.

The italian classical music in this is uplifting. Dave is one of my favorite young men filled with angst in film as well as all literature. He is remarkable to watch. I feel like he is me, at that age anyway. The bike racing, the gang of guy friends stuff, the tension from his father to get out of the house, it’s all beautiful like a rainbow landing on ones face. I can’t say enough good about this film.

FINAL THOUGHTS
This film transcends time. It’s principles and contexts are so primal and universal to growing up and finding ones way in the world that it is truly timeless. I recommend to any and all, this is a remarkable “perfect” film like only a few others I have run across.

10/10

“Seventh Son” is a masterpiece replete with witches, dragons, shape shifters, “spooks,” creatures, and other engaging remnants from medieval mythology.

Seventh Son (2014)

Cast

Jeff Bridges as Master Gregory
Ben Barnes as Tom Ward
Julianne Moore as Mother Malkin

Directed by

Sergei Bodrov

Written by

Charles Leavitt, Steven Knight

Other Info

Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Rated PG-13
1h 24min

Can witches save the day? I suppose in “Seventh Son” they can try. Our age-old fascination with witches is shown on the big screen here. There is a new concept I hadn’t heard of called the “spook” profession. These are basically witch hunters. They are endowed and recruited through generations to destroy bad witches. Jeff Bridges is a powerful one. Ironically we find he once had a romance with a witch but he is evermore hateful of witches and his occupation is to burn them so they don’t cause cataclysmic trouble.

And so we have the backdrop for this epic tale. It’s more sorcery than good and evil. We learn that sometimes good witches watch over the land as other times, evil humans do more hard than any evil witch could ever do. This story line requires your full attention so if you’re a “multitasker” as you watch films, you’ll need to set your phone down and take in the foundation of the story which are very interesting indeed.

Like so many movies these days, it is based on a book. I can’t imagine a book being as visually stunning as this film is. I felt like I was on a swashbuckling roller coaster most the time. The effects didn’t come cheap, the film cost almost 100 million dollars to make. The good news for them is that it did well at the box office earning well above and beyond its costs. I gave this quasi-medieval action, adventure, fantasy a perfect 5 stars. I recommend it!