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From Paris with Love starring John Travolta and Jonathan Rhys Meyers

Posted on June 14, 2010 Written by ripitup

From Paris with Love starring John Travolta and Jonathan Rhys Meyers. Read for kick-ass entertainment? Good. Image from: divxplanet.com

Paris. James Reece (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) is the US Ambassador’s(Richard Durden) assistant As far as the ambassador is concerned, James is the perfect assistant. He is timely, efficient and organized. He speaks foreign languages and he is a great chess player. What the ambassador doesn’t know is that Reece is also trying to be a spy in the name of the American government. Sure, it is patriotism but it is enough to make Reece’s life complicated. He needs to do secret tasks in front of his boss or he needs to leave his beloved girlfriend Caroline (Kasia Smutniak) behind to leave for an operation.

Reece’s most important and dangerous mission to date arrives when he is asked to drive American Charlie Wax around. He is a field-rated spy and is very unconventional, to say the least. Pretty soon, Reece finds himself in the middle of shootings, gang beatings, prostitutes and their pimps…He is freaked out. Before he can get used to one hectic and deadly situation, another one breaks out. ..

Fun. This movie was really fun. Before I say why you should see it, I want to talk about what you might not like.

Cons:

*If you want to look for poor character development (Caroline)or some unrealistic situations, you will find it.

* And you might be bothered that almost none of the criminals/terrorists are white. The bad guys are either black or Asian or Pakistani. Our two Americans are out to save the day….But if you can past this, the movie is a real riot.

* You might think that John Travolta’s bad ass characters seem incredibly similar.

Pros:

*John Travolta. His character is so much fun. And if you do think you may have seen him as a bad ass one two many times, start thinking about his good roles and then you will appreciate the range After all, he was in the ever popular musical Grease. He was in Saturday Night Fever. He did comedy and romance in Look Who’s Talking He played a governor in Primary Colors. And do remember that he played an angel in Michael and a woman in Hairspray. Add that all up and it becomes even more fun to watch him.

* Jonathan Rhys Meyers. He is a good actor. So far he played King Henry, Elvis, a social-ladder climber, a misunderstood bad boy, a girls’ team football coach and more.

* Action. Tons of it! The story belongs to Luc Besson, the guy who created the Taxi series and Taken.

*The chemistry between John and Jonathan’s characters. The opposites are entertaining.

Favorite Scenes:

Well, almost any scene where John Travolta is kicking ass – especially the car chase with a “heavier metal”.

6.4. on IMDB. If you start analyzing characters and plot, it might very well be a 6. But if you don’t, it is at least a 7. It is mindless action and it is pretty damned good at that. And is it just me, or does Travolta still look at home in action movies?

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Coupling starring Jack Davenport, Sarah Alexander, Ben Miles, Richard Coyle, Kate Isitt and Gina Bellman

Posted on June 13, 2010 Written by ripitup

Coupling starring Jack Davenport, Sarah Alexander, Ben Miles, Richard Coyle, Kate Isitt and Gina Bellman. 2000. Characters: On the bed are Susan (Sarah Alexander) and Steve (Jack Davenport). Staring, from left: Jane (Gina Bellman), Sally (Kate Isitt), Jeff (Richard Coyle) and Patrick (Ben Miles). Image from: http://i26.tinypic.com/2u6ec60.jpg

Now, all I have to say is that there are only three mistakes ever made about this show:
1) This brilliant sitcom, like many UK TV series, has too few episodes.6 -9 episodes? Are you kidding me? I keep coming back to watch the show again and again and all episodes through 3 seasons are downright hilarious. Too bad they didn’t shoot more.

2) The 4^th season was a mistake. I am sorry, but taking Jeff (Richard Coyle) from Coupling? What were they taking. Think what could have happened if Matthew Perry a.k.a Chandler from Friends left. And put another actor as another character into the mix. Yep, it simply would suck.

3) Remaking this show? Are you nuts? Remaking shows a decade later is one thing. Remaking a British show in The USA, just failed. It might have worked for The Office. I didn’t like the original and I didn’t care for the American version. But Coupling? That show is very British yet very universal. Still, it is impossible to recreate the comic chemistry and timing with other actors.

Coupling has actually a very simple premise. 3 women, 3 men. They have all dated or will date one another at some point. While the everlasting and the more sensible couple remains to be Susan and Steve, the conversations and events will have you crying out of laughter.

Because with coupling, romance takes a very backseat to comedy. It is about sex, relationships and the eccentricities of these 6 characters. While Susan (Sarah Alexander) and Steve (Jack Davenport) have less quirks, Jane (Gina Bellman), Sally (Kate Isitt), Jeff (Richard Coyle) and Patrick (Ben Miles) provide enough weirdness to make your day. And don’t even think Susan and Steve are any less hilarious.

What’s so special about these characters? Well, it is the script and the acting- but let me start with Jeff. I suspect that he is probably almost everyone’s favorite character. Any sane girl would want to date Steve. But Jeff is…entirely in a league of his own when it comes to advice, views and philosophies on dating. I’ll provide you with some of the Jeffisms. The show’s fans will have a great time remembering and others might realize they should watch this show at once. If you think Jeff’s not funny, you really don’t need to read the rest. Of course plain writing won’t do Richard Coyle any justice, but will give you a rough idea.

“Unflushable”: Season 1, Episode 1 (These are terms coined by Jeff, not episode titles)

Jeff: (on Steve not being able to break up with girlfriend Jane): Steve..Do you know what I call this type of woman? You know, the one you can’t get rid of?

Steve: Is this going to be tasteless? Am I going to be ashamed to be your friend?

Jeff: It’s a technical term. A harmless expression.

Steve: Alright. Hit me.

Jeff: Unflushable.

Steve: Turn around and walk away, Jeff.

*The Zone: Season 1 Episode 1

Steve (on how Jane “made” him have sex with her): She just leans over, looks me in the eyes and says “I’m wearing stockings.”

Jeff: No!

Steve: She had never worn them before. Not once in the entire relationship. I’d begged!

Jeff: But, Steve, you are entitled to her stockings!

Steve: Am I?

Jeff: Yes! You’re still in the zone!

Steve: The what?

Jeff: The boyfriend zone! This is the telling off period. You still have a lot of stuff in her flat, you might still have a wedding to go to together and you’re under joint headings in your friends’ address books?

Steve: That means I’m entitled to see her underwear?

Jeff: If it comes up! That’s the rules of the zone. Good luck in there.

Steve: You are a strange and disturbing man, Jeff.

Jeff: Thank you.

* The Sock Gap: Season 1, Episode 2

Jeff: OK. Have you thought through your foreplay yet?

Steve: What do you mean foreplay?

Jeff: What do you think I mean? I mean when exactly do you take your socks off? My advice is to get them off right after your shoes and before your trousers..That’s the sock gap! Miss it, and suddenly you are a naked man in socks! No self-respecting woman will ever let a naked man in socks do the squealchy with her!

Patrick: That’s your foreplay tip? Socks?

Jeff: Many men have fallen through the sock gap, Patrick!

*The Reason for celebrity marriages: Season 1, Episode 2:

On thinking about somebody else during sex…

Susan: Is it absolutely necessary to think about somebody else?

Jeff: I mean everybody does. That’s why there are so many celebrity marriages. If you fantazise about somebody else during sex and so does your partner, and those two people you are fantasizing about happen to meet while you are still doing it, they are bound to sense something, aren’t they? They are connectiong on like a virtual plane. So can you imagine what it was like when Posh first met Beckham? They were the epic center of a non-stop, nationwide virtual shag there! There is no wonder she got pregnant!

****

That’s Jeff for you. Oh, his gems are endless. The other are funny in different and original ways.

Jane loves creating stories about how she is a bisexual even when she is not, especially when she wants to excite a guy. She is very “unflushable”, persistant and downright weird. She is sort of attractive too, so her romantic life does get action, even though almost all her actions are mentally questionable. Sally is a beautician and loves youth. She freaks out at the idea of unnecessary smiles causing wrinkles on her skin, so she only smiles to single men, for instance.

Patrick thinks he is godsend to women. Even thought I can’t see what is particularly attractive about him, he is the one with many conquests. It is like Joey in Friends or Barney in How I Met Your Mother. It just works in the context of the story. And Steve…As cute as he is and comparably very normal and sweet compared to Jeff, he also has a tendency to freak out a lot, at the weirdest instances. And while Susan is normally the sexy, independent, sexually active woman every man dreams about, things change a bit when she is in a relationship. But then a relationship, especially a serious one, gets the best of almost anyone…

Sex and The City had a fairly female audience. In Coupling, you get the best jokes about sex, weirdest and most original dialogues about dating (thanks to the writers and Jeff), funny situations, physical comedy and more. The area that it is superior to Sex and The City is that it is purely funny with no drama involved and it includes lots of reality for both men and women. Like when Sally overhears Jeff trying to give Steve advice on foreplay, she is taken aback. She asks “Do they know about that”. And of course, they don’t…What Jeff means is that Steve shouldn’t be late to take his socks off and that he should call -whoever he fantasizes about sex- Susan. So there won’t be hell to pay if he says another girl’s name… Now, these two shows are very different in format and genre and I wouldn’t give up on either. But it is nice to have such a hilarious yet truthful sitcom on relationships where you can sit with friends of both sexes and laugh together…

Coupling on Amazon. com

Remember Me starring Robert Pattinson, Emilie de Ravin, Pierce Brosnan, Lena Olin and Chris Cooper

Posted on June 12, 2010 Written by ripitup

Remember Me starring Robert Pattinson, Emilie de Ravin, Pierce Brosnan, Chris Cooper and Lena Olin. 2010. Image from www.sinetif.com

Tyler Hawkins (Robert Pattinson)’s older brother Michael has killed himself some years ago. Having been very close, Tyler still can’t seem to have shaken his death. His parents have divorced. He is close with his 11-year-old sister Caroline (Ruby Jerin) and gets along with his mother Diane (Lena Olin). He can’t however communicate with his workaholic father Charles (Pierce Brosnan). Charles seems to be much more interested in his company than his children and Tyler is blaming him for Michael’s death on some level.

Ally (Emilie de Ravin) goes to the same college as Tyler. She has lost her mother 10 years ago. She was killed right in front of her at a subway station. This has caused her to be a one spontaneous person who will do anything to make the best of her life. She has a close relationship with her father Neil (Chris Cooper).

When Tyler meets Ally, what’s supposed to be just a bit of fun, turns into something intense and powerful. They connect at a level neither of them have ever expected. This relationship will cause both of them to confront their fathers, each other and their perspectives on life…

Now, on the surface, having read the plot summary I wrote, you may not be that impressed. You might even be less impressed when you see the trailer. So I strongly advise you to stay away from the trailer and see the movie. I half-expected to see a good movie. After all, I like all the actors here. And despite my sympathy for Pattinson, I saw the movie for Pierce Brosnan and Chris Cooper. Finding out Lena Olin was also in it was a bonus. And the movie wasn’t just good. It was amazing. I guess I don’t have to persuade Robert Pattinson and Twiligh t fans to go see this movie. I suspect they have already seen it. But for those who don’t like him and the series, forget whatever prejudice or disdain you might be holding against the guy. Forget the popularity and the vampires. See the movie. From the first moment credits roll, you will not be thinking about Twilight, I promise you.

The leading and most difficult role is Pattinson’s. His character could have come off as cliché d, but instead it comes out genuine and powerful. Despite what he has been through, he is not without love, hope and sense of humor. But he is also still in a dark place where he is deeply connected to Michael. His anger for his father makes his life even more difficult.

His relationship with Ally is right in the center but the movie is not all about the romance. It is one of the hundred other things that make the movie worth watching. Their relationship starts with fun and original dialogue and keeps interesting all over the film.

So here you have a movie centered on two lovers that came with baggage, with Tyler’s outweighing Ally’s. There is love, loss, family, friendship, murder, suicide, faith in others and hope. It is engaging, depressing, powerful and sometimes uplifting. Mind you, this is not a feel good movie. It doesn’t however go out of its way to make you feel something. It all happens naturally. Tate Ellinton plays Aidan, Tyler’s roommate/ best friend who provides all the comic relief on his own and lifts up your spirits. Does his actions remind you of your own best friends? He reminded me of mine. But Tate’s fun presence and lines aside, you will feel a lot of things during this movie. But it won’t be an overall happy experience. You will not be reassured and you will not escape reality.

It is 6.7/10 on IMDB. Severely and tragically underrated. It is by far one of the best films I have seen. And I am not a drama addict. I hate Nicholas Sparks’ way of writing, which is creating drama for drama’s sake. This screenplay however is in a league of its own. 9/10. Written by Will Fetters. Directed by Allen Coulter.

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A fun note: This is not the first movie Chris Cooper and Pierce Brosnan appeared in a film together.They previously made Married Life together, where they both had leading roles. They don’t have scenes together in this one though. It is a brilliant crime drama that also features Rachel McAdams and Patricia Clarkson. Married Life is a smart little journey with some clever, romantic and dark twists.

* Buy Remember Me on Amazon.com: currently at 19.99 with lots of other options!

Sex and The City The Movie (2008) starring Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon, Kim Catrall and Kristin Davis

Posted on June 11, 2010 Written by ripitup

Sex and The City movie starring Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Catrall, Cynthia Nixon and Kristin Davis. Image: thecia.com.au

I saw this really bad review on IMDB. I had already seen the movie and enjoyed it so the review realy caught me off guard. Sure, you don’t have to like the movie but this viewer had given it the lowest score possible, called it thrash and named the characters selfish, self-absorbed, superficial and so on. My first question was: Was this viewer a male? While I have some male friends who liked Sex and The City as TV series, the majority of the show’s audience is female. After all, the show is about 4 girls’ sexapades, friendships and romantic experiences while they hang out at New York’s poshest places and spend a fortune on their clothes. Now, while the show may not be a deep one and can’t relate to all women, it sure as hell appealed to strong, independent career women who were like these 4 or who just wanted to be like them. So I wondered if the viewer had seen this really original and daring show at all.

Talking about a strictly movie perspective, I may not have exactly fallen in love with the movie. 4 characters’ love lives, occasional work trouble and their friendships is not every screenwriter’s dream script. However, I am not just a girl who stumbled on this movie. I am a fan of the show who loved and watched all 6 seasons of the shows and identified at least some characteristics of the characters.

If you are interested in the back story or trivia, you can visit the show’s profile page. Here I will tell where each character ended up:

*Sex and The City is originally a best-selling book written by Candace Bushnell. The show tells the story of Samantha (Kim Catrall)- a totally promiscuous, sexually adventurous man-eater who is also a successful career women running her PR company. She has no limits or reservations. And while she couldn’t have cared less about family, kids and other traditional expectations, she eventually fell in love with young actor Smith (Jason Lewis).

* Charlotte (Kristin Davis) is every feminist’s and cynic’s nightmare: She dreamed of the big white dress, the fairy-tale wedding and the perfect husband. And while most women could understand her romantic fantasies, even her best friends were amazed as Charlotte left her art career to stay at home and work at a family. They were even more fazed when she changed her religion because the love of her life (Harry- played by Evan Handler) said he couldn’t marry a non-Jew. So she changed it and married Harry. And since they couldn’t have children,they adopted a Chinese baby.

* Successful, and cynical lawyer Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) finally married her on and off boyfriend and the father of her baby/bartender Steve (David Eigenberg). And even if it killed her to leave Manhattan, she moved to Brooklyn so that her kid could grow up in a nice house with a garden instead of a small apartment.

*And the show’s leading character/narrator/writer of her own newspaper column Sex and The City/author of bestselling books/ shoe-addict Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) finally married the love of her live John, a.k.a Big (Chris Noth). After a very turbulent love affair that took many levels and forms, trials of friendships and break-ups, Carrie and Big finally got together for good.

Carrie and Big decide to move in together and buy the dream house. They even decide to take it to the next level and get married. Her career is also on the rise as she is working on her third book. It is time to say good-bye to her flat and plan a wedding. As Charlotte “lends” Carrie her friend/wedding planner, Carrie get carried away with all the glamorous ideas. And to Big’s concern, she wants him as involved and excited as she is. However Big is older than Carrie’s 40 years and he has been married twice before. And nothing would make him happier than just to go to the city hall to get married.

Samantha has moved in with Smith (Jason Lewis). He has finally got the fame and the career he craved for so Samantha has moved to Los Angeles with him, also working as his PR manager. And while Smith is gorgeous, thoughtful and nice, his primary concern is to make his career successful and permanent. And Samantha is homesick. Big time. She misses New York, her regular hang-outs with her three best-friends and she is missing the good old days when she wasn’t in a relationship. It doesn’t help that Smith is away a lot and her next-door neighbor is a hunk whose sex life sees as much action as Samantha’s used to have.

Charlotte is still blissfully happy with her husband, adopted daughter Lily and beautiful little dogs. In fact she is so happy and her life is so perfect, it’s scaring her.

Miranda’s world comes crashing down when Steve admits that he has cheated on Miranda. She doesn’t care that it has happened only once. She doesn’t forgive Steve and taking their kid Brady, she moves back to New York.

Carrie’s life comes chrashing down when Big leaves her alone right before the altar. Even though he tries to make up for it, this disappointment is too much for Carrie. So the story follows as the girls try to balance their lives with trying to get Carrie back to life. Can she handle being without Big? Can Big survive without Carrie? Can Miranda ever forgive Steve? Can Samantha ever get used to living in L.A?

As I said, if you look at the screenplay alone and not the TV show, the story might seem like plain and ordinary that happens to be set in glorious settings. However, for a lot of fans of the show, the movie gives more time with the characters that we never wanted to say goodbye to in the first place. We wanted to see if a-happily-ever after was possible for Carrie and Big. It was fun watching Samantha as she turned into a ticking bomb, trying to keep her sexual appetite under control. It also took years for Steve to make Miranda to believe in love, them as a couple and in him as an individual. Miranda screwed up many more times than Steve did during the course of the show. For the first time, Steve screwed up big time. And Charlotte still is as tuned to her friends’ lives and problems as always.

The magic of the show lied in New York, Carrie’s wardrobe, her weekly columns, the adventures of tall/dark/handsome charm of Big, the perfect one-liners and much more. Sure, Carrie spends more money on shoes than any woman should (I mean $500/a pair? Seriously!) and she probably loves Loui Vitton or Manola Blahnik as much she loves Big…Charlotte is way too traditional and family-oriented. And Samantha? As much as girls do tend to talk about their sex lives in detail, I am not sure how many women go as explicit and vulgar as Samantha.

But these characters worked. The chemistry was good, the jokes were good. The situations were all too familiar among most modern single women, not just New Yorkers. The supporting cast did a marvelous job and the shown was like a really cool fashion statement. I am a week away from seeing the second installment. And I am looking forward to it. Remember,Sex and City has three lead roles: The 4 girls,sex and New York. And we love that combination.

Buy Sex and The City on Amazon.com