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27 Dresses starring Katherine Heigl, James Marsden, Malin Akerman & Edward Burns

Posted on October 8, 2012 Written by ripitup

27 dresses starring Katherine Heigl, James Marsden, Malin Akerman & Edward Burns — Image via http://blog.psprint.com

Jane Nichols (Katherine Heigl) is the best bridesmaid a bride can ever hope for: She is supportive, meticulous, is there every step of the way, and she doesn’t even complain about the ridiculousness of the bridesmaid dress. She is also hard-working at work, making her boss George’s (Edward Burns) life a lot easier. But George is completely oblivious to the fact that Jane is in love with him.

When New York Journal’s commitments writer Kevin Doyle meets Jane at a wedding and realizes that she switches back and forth between that wedding and another one, he is amused and intrigued. And when he gets his hands on Jane’s planner, he realizes that her wedding-centered life might just be the perfect ticket out of section he hates to write. Now he just has to charm his way into Jane’s life, which turns upside down when her selfish yet hot sister Tess (Malin Akerman) comes to town and starts a whirlwind romance with George. Now Jane finds herself help plan her sister’s wedding, with Kevin following her around to write the piece.

Of course things will get more complicated when Kevin starts having feelings for Jane, and will try to prevent his editor (Melora Hardin) from running something that will end his chances with Jane, who might start being attracted to him too…

27 Dresses ended up being one of my favorite romantic comedies- It’s in my top 10, and for good reason. It is very funny, without going into slapstick mode. It has great funny situations and witty one-liners, mostly provided by Jane, Kevin and Jane’s best friend Casey (Judy Greer). It also has the optimal balance of comedy and romance- and while comedy dominates most of the time, there is always the romantic build-up, until we finally get what we expected all along.

Oh, and if you feel like you might have seen James Marden in a love triangle before, you are right. You can read Actors and Their Niches 2: James Marsden – Lover in a Love Triangle to find out where else he had a male rival or obstacle.

Trailer:

[pro-player width=’530′ height=’253′ type=’video’]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VV1-pePln_I[/pro-player]

Favorite Lines (There might be some minor spoilers)

Jane: God, Casey, can’t you keep it in your pants for one wedding?
Casey: Are you kidding? The only reason to wear this monstrous dress is that so some drunken groomsman can rip it to shreds with his teeth.

Jane: How refreshing! A man who doesn’t believe in marriage.
Kevin: I’m just trying to point out the hypocrisy of the spectacle.
Jane: Oh! That’s so noble of you. Do you also go around telling small children that Santa Claus doesn’t exist? ‘Cause someone needs to blow that shit wide open.
Kevin: A-ha! So you admit that believe in marriage is kind of like believing in Santa Claus!

Casey: (in the bar, on George) He asks if you want a drink. You smile and say, ‘Vodka soda.’ If you already have a drink, you down it. Then there’s some flirting, some interoffice sex, an accidental pregnancy, a shot gun wedding, and a life of bliss. How many times do we have to go over this?

Casey: (on Kevin) Who was that and where can I get one?

Jane: (on finding out that the cynical Kevin is actually her favorite columnist Michael Doyle) I feel like I just found out my favorite love song was written about a sandwich.

Kevin: (on her mermaidy, green dress) What color is that – vomit?

Kevin: (on her ridiculous yellow, flowery bridesmaid dress) What the hell is that?
Jane: Theme wedding.
Kevin: What was the theme? Humiliation.

Jane: Oh, I’m a really… very good caulker.
Kevin: (into his recorder) Likes caulk.

Jane’s Aunt: Must be so hard to watch your younger sister get married before you.
Jane: Yes. Then I remember that I still get to have hot hate sex with random strangers and I feel SO much better!

Favorite Scenes

In addition to ones that feature my favorite lines:

-Kevin and Jane gift registering for Tess

-Jane putting on all the dresses for Kevin and their banter.

-The fight between Jane and Kevin in the car, followed by the chat in the bar, and their Benny and the Jets duet, in addition to the hook up afterwards. Rock’n’Roll, sexy and romantic, just the way I like it.

– Jane’s getting back at Tess

– Kevin’s speech after Jane got back at Tess

-and obviously the last two scenes

Also on James Marsden

Straw Dogs starring James Marsden, Kate Bosworth, Alexander Skarsgard & James Woods

The Box starring James Marsden, Cameron Diaz & Frank Langella

James Marsden Trivia

Actors and Their Niches 2: James Marsden – Lover in a Love Triangle

Stardust, The Air I Breathe, Playing by Heart, The Good Shepherd, Hairspray & He’s Just Not That Into You: 6 Good Movies with Brilliant Casts (Hairspray features James Marsden

Enchanted starring Amy Adams, Patrick Dempsey & James Marsden

Movie Reviews of 4 Nicholas Sparks Adaptations: A Walk to Remember, Nights in Rodanthe, Message in a Bottle and The Notebook (The Notebook co-stars James Marsden)

Gossip starring James Marsden, Lena Headey, Norman Reedus, Kate Hudson & Joshua Jackson

The 24th Day starring James Marsden and Scott Speedman

Also on Katherine Heigl

Life As We Know It starring Katherine Heigl, Josh Duhamel & Josh Lucas

Killers starring Ashton Kutcher, Katherine Heigl and Tom Selleck

The Ugly Truth starring Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler

The Accidental Husband and Denny Duquette: Jeffrey Dean Morgan

3 TV Series About Aliens: Roswell, 3rd Rock From The Sun and V (2009)

Tall Actresses: Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Garner, Katherine Heigl, Sigourney Weaver and Uma
Thurman

Actors and Their Niches 2: James Marsden – Lover in a Love Triangle

Posted on September 29, 2012 Written by ripitup

James Marsden — Image via awardscircuit.com.

This is part 2 in the Actors and Actor Niches article series, where Part 1 covered Robert De Niro.

Now, as talented and diverse James is, and as many as different kind of scripts he has picked, he seems to end up in love triangles a lot.

This hadn’t really occurred to me, until I read this blog post about Marsden being a part of a love triangle in the X-Men trilogy. Then I remembered all the movies James had handsome male rivals…and voila! Discovered his niche. But I have to point out, he is one of my favorite actors- and I do like the movies I covered here.

X-Men: James Marsden vs. Hugh Jackman for Famke Janssen

x-men-3-the-last-stand-movie-poster — Image via coolpapae.com.

Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) is in love with Jean (Famke Janssen). And this is a very tricky situation for Jean, as she is married to Cyclops (James Marsden.)

Hugh Jackman vs. James Marsden…Now, that’s dilemma I’d have loved to be a part of.

Now, even though Jean has some feelings for Wolverine, they don’t get dangerous until the 3rd movie where weird things have happened to her…

The Notebook: James Marsden vs. Ryan Gosling for Rachel McAdams

The Notebook movie poster. Image via wikipedia.

The first movie I saw Ryan Gosling in was the Nicholas Sparks adaptation The Notebook, and even though I loved how he portrayed his character and how much in love he was with Rachel McAdams’ character, I was rooting for James Marsden too.

While Noah (Ryan Gosling) was Allie’s first and biggest love, class differences and her mother (Joan Allen) drove them apart. Then she met the lovely Lon (James Marsden)- and frankly, after that, I wasn’t rooting for Noah. Not just for Noah anyway. Because Lon was also a great guy- sweet, lovely, fun…and very good-looking. Oh, and as a perk, he had money. He was also very easy-going, and he truly loved Allie. And I’m not a big fan of the fighting is a sign of passion theory.

And I’d have to imagine your guy being adored by your parents can’t hurt a relationship either.

Yes, Noah gets the girl. Oh, come on- even if you haven’t seen the movie, it is Ryan Gosling on the cover, not Marsden.

Enchanted: James Marsden vs. Patrick Dempsey for Amy Adams

Enchanted-movie-poster-(2007) — Image via posters555.com.

Fairy tale prince (James Marsden)’s relationship with his bride-to-be Amy Adams is endangered when his evil stepmother (Susan Sarandon) sends her to earth to separate them. That’s where she meets the lovely but cynical divorce lawyer (Patrick Dempsey). Then he follows her there to save her and complications ensue…

27 Dresses: James Marsden vs. Edward Burns (sort of-see below) for Katherine Heigl

Cynical wedding columnist Kevin Doyle (Marsden) meets the too-often-bridesmaid Jane (Katherine Heigl) during a wedding and is instantly amused by her attitude to weddings. When she leaves her significant notebook behind, he calls her. She doesn’t even realize how cute Kevin is, however, as she is too busy being in love with her handsome boss George (Edward Burns)- who is instantly smitten when he meets her sister Tess (Malin Akerman).

Talk about a mess when Kevin comes to cover the wedding of Tess and George.

* Even when it is not exactly him vs. the other guy, somebody complicated his relationship, or he complicated somebody else.

Straw Dogs: Alexander Skarsgard vs. James Marsden about Kate Bosworth

Straw Dogs movie poster — Image via movietaxi.com.mx.

Successful novelist (Marsden) goes with his wife (Bosworth) to her hometown only to realize her ex (Skarsgard) and his gang may not be so welcoming to strangers who don’t live according to their rules. And by complications, we mean serious threats and violence here.

24th day: Scott Speedman vs. James Marsden – on Scott’s dead wife

The-24th-Day — Image via freecodesource.com

Marsden is a carefree gay player who couldn’t care about the lives of his conquests. But one day one of them captures him, quite willing to him. As it’ll turn out, Scott cheated once, with Marsden. He now has AIDS, and it is wife his wife died from. Marsden won’t likely survive if he’s the one who gave it to her. This can be my favorite Marsden movie. Great script, killer performances and solid ending. What more would you want?

Love Triangle or not, Marden is a joy to watch.

My recommendations for his niche movies are (in order):

24^th Day

X-Men Trilogy

27 Dresses

Enchanted

(*Straw Dogs: Not a great movie. But wouldn’t be a total loss to watch it.)

Recommended Non-Niche James Movies:

Gossip – a gem of a mystery/drama/thriller co-starring Lena Headey, Joshua Jackson & Kate Hudson

Hairspray – a very entertaining musical starring Michelle Pfeiffer, John Travolta & Christopher Walken

Interstate 60: Episodes of the Road – weird, but cute road comedy/drama feat. Gary Oldman

Looking Forward To:

Red Machine – action thriller co-starring Piper Perabo & Thomas Jane

The Loft – thriller co-starring Karl Urban & Wentworth Miller

2 Guns – action drama co-starring Denzel Washington & Mark Wahlberg

What are your James favorites?

Man on a Ledge with Sam Worthington, Elizabeth Banks, Edward Burns & Jamie Bell

Posted on June 16, 2012 Written by ripitup

Man on a Ledge movie poster with Sam Worthington, Elizabeth Banks, Edward Burns & Jamie Bell. Prison break? Check. Cool heist? Check. A female negotiator more invested in helping and solving than the protocol? Check. Image via sinemafilmler.net.

Ever watched a movie that made you feel like you were the spot-on target audience? A movie that makes me feel like that usually has these elements: an entertaining story, a genre that I love, actors that I like and some good humor.

Movies don’t have to be masterpieces or mind-blowingly creative attempts to entertain. I usually just want to have a good time – and Man on a Ledge can definitely show you that.

Here’s why:

1) The Plot

We have the innocent convict Nick (Sam Worthington) who takes a day off for his father’s funeral to make his escape. He knows it is his only shot, and frankly, he’d rather die to go back to serve 20+ years of jail. An former cop, he makes sure he has enough time to set his plan in motion: he rents a room on one of the top floors of a luxury hotel, enjoys a “last” meal, leaves a “note”, wipes off his parents, steps on the ledge and makes his request when the cops (though not the ones who know who he is) arrive in the room: They’ve 30 minutes to get suicide-negotiator Lydia Mercer (Elizabeth Banks) to talk to him, or he jumps.

The cop who takes his request is Dougherty (Edward Burns), and neither he nor the cop in charge of “ground control” (Titus Welliver) are pleased about it.

But after a short while, Mercer seems to have formed a bond and Dougherty is becoming more convinced of her skills. Still she fears that he might jump, and is also suspecting he might be up to something. And he is. He’s gathering all the attention so that his brother (Jamie Bell) and brother’s girlfriend (Genesis Rodriguez) can break into the vault next door- so that they can steal the “supposedly stolen” diamond from the rich and powerful man (Ed Harris) who framed him.

But as resourceful as he is, he still has to race against time, help out his brother, dodge the cops who are after him while maintaining the Mercer’s trust. Will they be able to pull it off on time?

2) The fun: the heist, Nick’s tactics to keep everyone busy, Dougherty’s reactions to Mercer’s unorthodox methods, and most of all- the fun one-liners between Joey and his girlfriend.

3) The cast: Sam Worthington, Elizabeth Banks, Edward Burns, Jamie Bell, Ed Harris, William Sadler (Sheriff of Roswell and McGarrrett’s father in the new Hawaii Five-O) and Kyra Sedwick – who makes brief but entertaining appearances as the cheeky reporter.

4) The predictable but highly enjoyable twists. There’re very few twists that get a movie addict shocked, or at least hasn’t seen coming. But I don’t watch a fun action movie for twists – surely you see them coming, but they are so entertaining as a whole that you just care if the way to the “twists” are fun.

5) A protagonist to root for

6) Interesting supporting characters

7) A totally ruthless villain

Man on a Ledge is rated only at 6.6 on IMDB, and I think it should be higher – for its entertainment value. See it to enjoy it. It’s good entertainment- it doesn’t try to be anything more.

Directed by Asger Leth and written by Pablo F. Fenjves.

No Looking Back starring Edward Burns, Lauren Holly & Jon Bon Jovi

Posted on January 14, 2011 Written by ripitup

No Looking Back starring Edward Burns, Lauren Holly & Jon Bon Jovi. Feat. Jennifer Esposito, Blythe Danner & Connie Britton. Image via filmlerim.com

Claudia (Lauren Holly) is living in the small town she grew up. Working as a diner waitress, her time is divided between her depressed mother (Blythe Danner) and her sister (Connie Britton), her live-in boyfriend Michael (Jon Bon Jovi) and with her friends – who are also Michael’s friends and they pretty much end up doing the same things every night.

Claudia is fed up with her life, but she doesn’t feel like there is much she can do, until her ex/the-love-of-her-life Charlie (Edward Burns) comes back to town. Charlie has never been content with the domestic town life and he makes sure he reminds Claudia that neither has she.

Sure, Charlie seems like an exciting change but can Claudia ever trust her again? And what about Michael?

Don’t accuse me of being a hypocrite for watching this just yet. So, I said I wasn’t really dying to watch Natalie Portman’s Love and Other Impossible Pursuits because it had such an unoriginal storyline. Yet here I am reviewing a film that, on the surface, offers nothing but a love triangle and small town depression. But then again, No Looking Back has two good things to offer: Jon Bon Jovi and Edward Burns. And I never had anything against Gwyneth Paltrow’s real life mother Blythe Danner, Spin City’s Nikki Connie Britton or Jennifer Esposito, who deliver nicely on the sidelines. But this movie, for me, was about Jon and Edward.

Yeah, Lauren Holly is a good actress. But what makes No Looking Back worth a look for me is that it is mainly a one-man effort, just like many Edward Burns movies. It was written and directed by Burns, he has the lead role and he has co-produced it. He doesn’t always come up with the best storylines, but he is good at creating ordinary yet life-like characters and he has always been one of my idols. Come on- how many movie buffs fantasized about shooting their own story, with their favorite actors? I am guessing and the difference is Burns has managed it. Remember his first The Brothers McMullen? Shot with $25,000 and making 10 million – all that with an unknown cast? Yep, that was Burns. As I said, No Looking Back is nothing special storywise, but it is a nice, modest little effort.

And Jon Bon Jovi. Yes, I am a Bon Jovi fan and yeah, that automatically makes me a fan of Jon’s singing, (most) song-writing and stage presence. But believe it or not, the guy can act. He first got the acting bug when he shot a scene for buddy Emilio Estevez’ Young Guns II, where Jon was doing the soundtrack. The movie did well and the soundtrack did even better, scoring Jon a Golden Globe for Best Song, as well as an Oscar nomination.

When Jon gave acting a serious shot in the mid-90s and while he wasn’t a box office star, he was critically liked and that was what he wanted. No Looking Back is a great film for Jon to shine because the heart of the movie lies in the triangle and he is smack in the middle of it.

Jon is a good example for getting what you want the old-fashioned way. He worked really hard to become a rock star and he did. He could have bought his way into a studio, but he did auditions and took acting lessons.

So yeah, the movie is more for Burns and Jon Bon Jovi fans as well as aspiring (indie) filmmakers.

It is also for getting nostalgic. 1998. Do you remember where you were? For me, it was the start of 9^th grade. But worry not- the themes in the movie won’t get obsolete. Clichéd and over-used? Sure. Obsolete? No. After all, depression, identity crisis, settling down, settling vs. chasing your dreams…they have been the core themes for a long while.

Rated 5.8 on IMDB. Sounds fair enough. No Looking Back is not recommended if you are after escapism or original screenplay. It is recommended for those who are after the familiar themes, a lovely soundtrack (Sheryl Crow, Bruce Springsteen, Lynyrd Skynyrd,Pete Yorn, The Allman Brothers Band and more) and well, for those who are wondering whether Jon Bon Jovi can act.

Oh, I also like the ending. This part has a spoiler: the movie picks a neither- nor approach rather than either or;)

Fun Stuff:

The singer most heard in the background is the rock legend Bruce Springsteen and he is the favorite musician of Jon Bon Jovi. They are both from New Jersey and they performed on stage together.