Sommersby starring Richard Gere, Jodie Foster and Bill Pullman

Posted on August 14, 2009 Written by ripitup

Sommersby starring Richard Gere, Jodie Foster and Bill Pullman.

After Civil War. When Jack Sommersby (Richard Gere) returns home after 6 years, town folks are happy to have him back safe and sound. So they try not to mind some mildly odd behavior- it looks like he is a kinder man. He is more respectful to the black folk, for instance. But the most surprised person is his wife (Jodie Foster). The man who she remembers as a bastard, has come back as a kind,loving man. A good husband, a good father. War changes people,right? Or is this guy really Jack? The only man who is not happy with happy with Jack’s return is Orin (Bill Pullman). Had he not returned, he would have got to marry Jack’s wife…

The story is romantic, emotional and quite captivating. You also keep wondering if people can change this much. And if it isn’t Jack, how come his wife doesn’t realize it? Or does she?

Other Posts on Richard Gere

Brooklyn’s Finest starring Richard Gere, Ethan Hawke and Don Cheadle

Nicolas Sparks vs. Happy Endings – featuring Nights in Rodanthe starring Diane Lane and Richard Gere.

Pretty Woman starring Richard Gere and Julia Roberts

Mr. Jones starring Richard Gere and Lena Olin

Allure of the older Guy feat. Richard Gere

Gerard Butler, Richard Gere and Jeffrey Dean Morgan: Allure of the Older Guy

Posted on August 14, 2009 Written by ripitup

“Kissing is a man’s business” – Gerry (P.S. I love you, character portrayed by Gerard Butler)

Oh my God, how true. Having kissed men and boys, trust me; I know the difference. Boys think they know they

are getting it right and have no concern whether they are pleasing you or not.

Men on the other hand, know that the more you are satisfied, the harder you will work at satisfying them-

it is a win-win situation. It goes for kissing and everything else.

P.S. I should know. I did date a guy 12 years older than me. Was so much fun…

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When I heard Gerard Butler‘s character utter the sentence quoted, I was thinking “Hell, you are so right!!!”.

*** Gerard Butler: Oh, Gerard was born in 1969- which makes him a good 15 years older than me.

And add the sweetness and romantic qualities of his character, I would embrace that difference. And in the movie, Hillary Swank‘ s Holly meets Gerry when she is college and he is a musician. I guess we are supposed to assume a 10 year difference or something like that. Whatever. Bring it on!

P-S--I-love-you-Photoshoot-ps-i-love-you-664426_305_400 — P.S. I love you photoshoot. Damn, I want Swank's career.

***Richard Gere

Oh well. The name speaks for itself, doesn’t it? Pretty Woman might be fun but the story of a businessman + a hooker = fairy tale?? C’mon. Seriously. And I don’t really like his earlier stuff- I find them boring and him looking too neat. But when his hair is scruffy, he is wearing his jeans and just a shirt, he is passionate and a little rebellious, all I can say is Hallelujah!!!

Let’s see more with 3 examples.

*Mr. Jones: The lovely manic-depressive patient. 1993. Richard is 44 years old. Barely looking to be in his mid 30s. Longish hair. Impulsive attitude. No wonder his doctor falls in love with him.

MrJoness — Richard Gere and Lena Olin in Mr. Jones.

*Sommersby: Jack Sommersby comes home 6 years after the war. Right after Jodie Foster shaves the beard, we have an amazing-looking man, who is fun,loyal and loving. Oh boy. Who cares if the guy is 20 years older??? 30?? I want him. (Gere, that is) right here, right now basically.

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* Nights in Rodanthe: 2008. Richard is 59. His character has fathered a son played by James Franco. Who do you want? Richard’s character Paul!! He has made mistakes and he is trying to amend them. He meets Diane Lane’s Adrienne. 4 intense days. Totally honest and open. Total attraction and emotional involvement. I fell in love with Jack.

*** Jeffrey Dean Morgan. 43. Ever since I saw him in Grey’s Anatomy, I want this guy.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan-ALO-020660

Whatever that comes my way really. One night stand, a serious make-out session, marriage, bed buddies…Oh,yes! I was seduced badly. He barely looks 35 and I like a guy who is older and looks younger than he really is. I guess we have already established that. In Grey’s, he was playing a patient who needed a heart transplant. He charmed Doctor Izzie Stevens (Katherine Heigl) with his good nature, funny self and good looks.

She cared for him so much she risked her career to save him. My relationship with the show is limited with Jeffrey’s appearances as Denny Duquette.

Then came P.S. I love you. Oh when Gerry sends his wife to Ireland with his letters, he is a musician she runs across at a bar. All those good looks and the sexiness of vocals and guitar. Oh,wow!!!

psiloveyoupic18 — Jeffrey Dean, playing the guitar. He had to learn in a week.

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Below; The Accidental Husband : Silly movie but Jeffrey was there and it was enjoyable. Oh, he played a fire-fighter.

aacidental_husband09 — Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Uma Thurman in The Accidental Husband. The adversary is Colin Firth. The movie isn't great but I sure love the cast.

If you are thinking he only plays the good guy, please see the Watchmen. He is supposedly a superhero but he is more like a psycho in there. He is as good as a villain.

Favorite Canadians, Part 2: Jim Carrey

Posted on August 14, 2009 Written by ripitup

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Have you seen Doing Time on Maple Drive? There is a big chance you haven’t. It is a TV movie from 1992 and it was the first time I saw Jim Carrey. Jim plays one of the leads as an alcoholic brother and it was a solid drama. Yep, I did not need to see the Truman Show before I could decide he was good at drama. In fact he was so good, it didn’t occur to me he was a comedian. Being much younger than Jim, I didn’t have the chance to follow his filmography in a chronological manner so it explains how I fell behind. And Dumb & Dumber did not appeal to me at all. Not my sense of funny. Ace Ventura was OK. But The Mask??? Oh my god- I love that movie. In fact I was shocked to realize it was the same guy!!! How could be so funny? Of course later I became a fan and realized he was essentially a comedian, having got to Hollywood from the stand-up performances in Canada.

After The Mask, I knew I was hooked to this guy’s performances. Liar Liar was brilliant, and so was Bruce Almighty. Me,myself and Irene- though a little-vulgar was insanely entertaining. Yesman was also typical Jim. Yeah, I haven’t mentioned the critically acclaimed The Truman Show,Majestic, Man on the Moon or the cult hit Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I enjoyed Truman Show. It was bittersweet. Majestic was rather enjoyable and interesting. It portrayed the nightmare that is called reality shows so well. To be honest, the latter two bored me a little. It has nothing to do with Jim’s acting skills. But I don’t want to watch this guy in a drama!!! And especially not in depressing “romantic” stories or real-life stories (Eternal was about two lovers having their memories wiped out of each other-although I appreaciate the idea, I wouldn’t have wasted it on a bad break-up. And Man on the Moon was based on the life of Andy Kaufman.)

Don’t get me wrong. I like dramas. I do. If done well, they touch you,move you and make you feel alive. You find yourself thinking about them afterwards. It haunts you. But… There are so many good actors out there!!! There are so many actors who can make you feel like you were kicked in the gut. That can make you cry. Oh, Jim can make you cry too. The difference is while Jim can bring you to tears in a drama, he also has the amazing talent to make you cry because he makes you laugh so hard. Now, that is a much more scarce talent. I love laughing so hard that my muscles hurt, and Jim can do that. Not just with his movies. His appearances on talk shows are nothing short of hilarious and you got to admire how he comes up with a new persona/ show at movie award nights. He once dressed as a stoned, long-haired, bearded hippie biker and his own friends didn’t recognize him until he got to the stage to claim his award.There was a time he tried to french Will Smith. Once he thanked himself for the award:

Jim!! (he gets off the stage.)
Yeah?
(he gets on the stage again) I couldn’t have done this without you buddy!!!

I love this handsome and utterly funny Canadian. Boy, I really felt like watching one his movies now!

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as Joel in "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind"

Jim Carrey’s movies on Amazon:

The Mask

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Ace Ventura

Liar Liar

Other Posts on Carrey

The One Jim Carrey Movie to Hate: I Love You Philip Morris

Jim Carrey is Just The Funniest Man Alive!

10 FUNNIEST MOVIES EVER: Laugh Till Your Ribs Hurt

ALIAS: Story of Syndey and Vaughn

Posted on August 10, 2009 Written by ripitup

* Let there be spoilers!

Forget about the societal expectations (such as: keeping promises, marrying into the right class…etc) in period pieces; and the misunderstandings in romantic comedies. It makes much more an exciting watch when the boy and the girl can not be together because both their lives are at stake. It also doesn’t help the fact that the girl’s mother killed the boy’s father. What the hell am I talking about? Sydney (Jennifer Garner) and Vaughn (Michael Vartan). The show’s name is Alias.

Syd has problems. Big ones.

aliasSsssssssssssssssssssss — Jennifer Garner as Sydney Bristow in Alias

** Sydney is a double agent for the CIA and SD-6. SD-6 has been posing as a secret branch of CIA and unfortunately Sydney Bristow has been fooled for 7 years. SD-6 are the bad guys, her father has been misleading her about his own identity for years and her fiance is dead because of SD-6.

*: More details on the show, visit here.

all-the-time-in-the-world-20060523034321178-000 — Victor Garber as Jack Bristow in Alias

* So she goes to the real CIA, and joined their quest in bringing SD-6 down. And She starts to have feelings for her CIA handler: Michael Vaughn. (Michael Vartan)- The feelings are mutual and growing stronger everyday but there is no way Vaughn and Syd can be seen together. If they were, SD-6 will kill them both. Oh and CIA will not be so pleased either…
* Oh, and Syd learns that her mother wasn’t a primary school teacher who died in a car-crash as she was led to believe. Her mother-played by Lena Olin- was KGB. She was sent to USA to seduce and marry a CIA operative. But before they learned teh truth, the evidence kind of pointed towards her dad.

*Michael has to sit in the office while Sydney risks her life on every mission. He sometimes has to risk his career and/or his life to get her out of trouble. Although she is great at her job, sometimes she has to undergo unauthorized operations to satisfy her own curiousity or save her dad…

* Michael knows everything about her, yet their conversations usually take place in CIA storage rooms. They can not go out. They do help out each other with risk operations that are dangerous and personal. They have complete faith in each other. But their most romantic lines can only be: “Yeah, I’ll break into the Vatican with you.” They can not go see a movie but they do get to diffuse a bomb together. How romantic and safe.

* At the end of season 1, Michael drowns. Or so Syd thinks. She has to go through a painful period-and so do we- when she thinks all is lost, while trying to make CIA thinks there is nothing going on between her and Michael. While they are not acting on their feelings, they both want to be like two normal people, having a chance to date.

* Season 2 finally gives them a chance to get together. For a little while.

Reg_3571_2 — Michael Vartan and Jennifer Garner. Yeah, they dated in real life too.

alias-jennifer-garner_l — First official date for Vaughn and Sydney.

* Second season finale makes Michael Vaughn think Sydney died. So season 3 puts Sydney through a hard time, trying to deal with the new woman in Mike’s life: His wife. Of course they are not over each other. And being Alias, the wife will not turn out to be an angel…

syd-vaughn-sydney-and-vaughn-5830592-238-133 — Michael Vartan and Jennifer Garner in Alias

xAiHU7kWpPw — Michael Vartan and Jennifer Garner in Alias. Season 3.

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So to sum up:

Boy meets girl. Boy falls for girl. Boy can not date girl on many matters of life and death. Boy gets the girl. Loses the girl. Boy’s new girl turns out to be psycho and tries to kill boy and girl. Boy and girl save each other…And we get two more seasons with other twists. What a story to tell the kids…

103317__alias_l — Michael and Sydney go gothic rock on us in the season 1 finale.