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Chasing Liberty starring Matthew Goode, Mandy Moore, Jeremy Piven & Annabella Sciorra

Posted on October 28, 2010 Written by ripitup

Chasing Liberty starring Matthew Goode, Mandy Moore, Mark Harmon, Jeremy Piven, Annabella Sciorra and Caroline Goodall.

This one could have been so much more fun if it hadn’t been chasing a ridiculous soundtrack and well, cheesy dialogue.

I mean I know most romcoms are cheesy but this tends to overdo itself. Nevertheless, I can think of worse things (for a girl) than sitting at home and watching a Matthew Goode movie where he gets to ne ridiculously romantic and all that. There is also some really fun scenes and great locations.

Here’s the movie’s deal:

Anna Foster (Mandy Moore) is the First Daughter. She is 18 and it is impossible for her to enjoy a romantic and private date out with a boy she likes because there are agents everywhere watching and following her. Her last date goes awry again and she decides that she can get a taste of the normal teenage life in Prague, where she will be traveling with her parents. She even convinces her dad (Mark Harmon) to assign only two agents: Weiss. and Morales (Jeremy Piven and Annabella Sciorra). She goes out with her friend Gabrielle (Beatrice Rosen), only to realize that Secret Service are again everywhere. So to punish her dad and prove her point, she gets on the motorcycle of the handsome English guy – Ben (Matthew Goode). Ben helps her ditch the agents Anna can’t believe her luck- she is free in Prague, hanging with a cute guy. Unbeknownst to Anna, however, Ben is also an agent. When her father learns that she ditched the others, he tells Ben to look after Anna, staying undercover. After all, he is sure Anna will come running very soon.

But Anna has other plans, including attending the Love Parade in Berlin. Ben does his best to try to keep her out of trouble but of course Anna is far too naive, pig-headed and optimistic to be safe. There is also the fact she is making it clear she wants him. What is a secret agent to do, especially when he wants her too?

Fun premise, beautiful locations. We get to see Berlin, Venice, Prague, London…I really like Jeremy Piven’s character. He is simply too funny to resist and the sub-plot involves him trying to get Morales to like him.

The movie is only enemy is that it tries too hard to be romantic and it could have been just more fun and genuinely romantic, had they not exaggerated too many things on Mandy Moore and Matthew Goode’s sides. If you want Mandy Moore be subtler (and she can), watch Dedication. If you want a non-cheesy, genuinely sweet and naturally romantic film, watch Before Sunrise.

But even though it has too many flaws, Chasing Liberty follows a fun fantasy. Forget about being the president’s daughter, it is just so fun running off in Europe with a hot stranger no matter how old you are. Still, I’d like the movie more if Anna’s character hadn’t been so stupid in general…

Co-starring is Caroline Goodall as Anna’s mother.

Fun note: Matthew Goode’s 2010 romantic comedy Leap Year also has the leading female called Anna.

Favorite Lines/Scenes

Anna Foster: Dad! Way to go. I can’t believe you had that restaurant swarming with all of your secret servants. You ruined my date! And now, I’m going to die before I ever get to third base… I mean second base.
[Anna turns to see others in room]
President James Foster: Anna?
Anna Foster: I’ll talk to you about this later.
President James Foster: No, no. Stay. Pull up a chair. We were just discussing the G8 Summit in Prague, how to best persuade the EU leaders to adopt our plan for distributing humanitarian aid and medical technology to developing nations, but you had a bad date, so we should probably focus on that.
Anna Foster: No, no, no, I’m so sorry to have interrupted. Excuse me.
[Anna leaves]
President James Foster: So third base is what again?
[indistinct mumbling]
President James Foster: Glad I asked.

***

Anna Foster: I want to swim naked in the Danube!
Ben Calder: Actually, it’s the Vltava.
Anna Foster: Who wants to swim naked in the Vltava? Nobody says that.
Ben Calder: Because in English,Vltava means ‘unhealthy bacteria level’.
Anna Foster: Yeah, right.
Ben Calder: Why can’t you be free without being naked?

***

Ben Calder: [to Anna] Can you please stop taking your clothes off around me?

Other Matthew Goode Movies

Copying Beethoven starring Ed Harris, Diane Kruger and Matthew Goode

Watchmen starring Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Malin Akerman & Matthew Goode

Leap Year starring Matthew Goode and Amy Adams

Other Posts feat. Mandy Moore

Nicholas Sparks vs. Happy endings. feat. A Walk to Remember starring Moore

Leap Year starring Amy Adams and Matthew Goode

Posted on October 24, 2010 Written by ripitup

Leap Year starring Amy Adams and Matthew Goode

American Anna (Amy Adams) has a profitable career in “staging homes” for the real estate agents and she is really good at it. She’s also in a 4-year relationship with her cardiologist boyfriend Jeremy (Adam Scott). They are candidates to live in her dream apartment so things just seem perfect.

However when Jeremy fails to propose at the expected moment, Anna gets inspired by the idea she gets from her loving but unreliable father (John Lithgow): she’ll honor the Irish Leap Year tradition and will go to Dublin- where Jeremy will be attending a medical conference- and propose to him.

But awful weather conditions land her in a remote town in Ireland, where she will need to persuade the unwilling bartender/motel owner Declan (Matthew Goode) –who of course is young and really attractive in a scruffy way.

Monetary issues for Declan to drive her. But everything that can go wrong on the way does-including a growing attraction between the two seemingly opposite strangers.

Is there a chance that Declan is the one instead of Jeremy? And can they figure out they feelings until it is time to part in Dublin?

I know the three words you’re thinking: typical romantic comedy. And you are right. I am not saying to bash the movie, it is a fact. However it is a perfectly enjoyable experience for those in the target audience- romantic (mostly)females who love a good romcom escapism (which I am a part of) it.

It also helps it when you like the leads and I really enjoy watching both Amy Adams and Matthew Goode.

Yeah, it is full of clichés and it is highly unbelievable that they can fall for each other in a couple of days and decide to pursue it. But then again, it is precisely for these clichés that we watch romcoms. And frankly Declan, to me, is the perfect fantasy male. He is ruggedly good-looking, has a good sense of humor, isn’t materialistic and is actually really romantic. And Irish countryside is always a plus (for watching in the films).

Yes, there are no surprises in this film. It is simple, ordinary and entirely predictable. But it is also a good genre example. Watch it if you are not allergic to romcoms. I had fun. My only complaint is that John Lithgow has such a small role.

Other Matthew Goode Movies

Watchmen starring Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Malin Akerman and Matthew Goode

The Lookout starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Matthew Goode and Jeff Daniels

Other Amy Adams Movies

Enchanted starring Amy Adams, Patrick Dempsey and James Marsden

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day starring Amy Adams, Frances McDormand and Lee Pace

Anticipating Restless – The New Gus Van Sant Drama starring Henry Hopper and Mia Wasikowska

Posted on October 20, 2010 Written by ripitup

Restless starring Mia Wasikowska and Henry Hopper. A Gus Van Sant film. Coming in January. Image via screencrave.frsucrave.netdna-cdn.com

Catching a lovely little trailer on the IMDB page can be quite annoying if you really love the feel of the movie and find out that it will be coming to the theaters on January 28^th, 2011. I guess better late than never.

Here’s the plot:

Anabelle (Mia Wasikowska) is young, terminally ill girl.

Enoch (Henry Hopper) likes going to the funerals of people he doesn’t even know. Oh, he also sees a ghost.

Anabelle meets Enoch at the funeral of a friend of hers and saves him from getting kicked out. They hit it off and become friends – later falling for each other. But can this relationship actually have a future? Or does it really matter when you have found your soul mate despite all the odds and your own quirks?

Written by Jason Lew. Directed by Gus Van Sant (Good Will Hunting, Milk, Paranoid Park, My Own Private Idaho).

Below is the trailer. Let me know what you think.

[pro-player width=’530′ height=’253′ type=’video’]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7t29dNoTxs[/pro-player]

It Could Happen to You starring Nicolas Cage and Bridget Fonda

Posted on October 19, 2010 Written by ripitup

It Could Happen to You starring Nicolas Cage, Bridget Fonda, Rosie Perez and Stanley Tucci — It Could Happen to You starring Nicolas Cage and Bridget Fonda. Lovely romantic comedy from 1994. Image via moviesoftheday.com

Charlie (Nicolas Cage) is a really nice guy and a decent cop. He is honest, good with people and he definitely doesn’t mind living in Queens, New York. Unfortunately, he is married to his high school sweetheart Muriel (Rosie Perez), who couldn’t have been more different. She is a hairdresser who believes she is destined to have a much better life and a husband who makes more money. She doesn’t want kids (at least not on Charlie’s salary) and she is dying to get out of Queens. That’s why she encourages Charlie to buy a lottery ticket.

Yvonne (Bridget Fonda) is having the worst year of her life. Her actor wannabe husband (Stanley Tucci) has left her broke. So broke in fact that, she can’t even afford a divorce. To top it all, he has maxed out her credit cards and the court declared bankrupt.

It is on this day that Charlie and his partner Bo (Wendell Pierce) walk into the diner she waiting tables at. Charlie realizes that he only has enough money for the bill and not the tip, so he tells Yvonne that he has bought a lottery ticket. If he wins, he will share half of the money with her. If he doesn’t, he will come back the next day with her tip. With her luck in life, she is skeptical that Charlie will come back at all.

But Charlie’s ticket wins a total 4 million dollars. He is shocked and Muriel is over the moon. Being the decent man he is, he goes back to the diner and tells Yvonne to choose either her tip or half the lottery money. Yvonne chooses option number two and against his wife’s wild objections, he shares the money with Yvonne.

He and Yvonne become good friends – who are really attracted to each other. But 4 millions is a lot of money and Muriel won’t let go without a fight. And of course 2 million dollars suddenly make Yvonne the target of her husband…

It could happen to you is a very warm-hearted, sweetheart of a comedy that is like a modern day fairy tale. Charlie is too nice to be true – Muriel is pretty much like the evil witch and Yvonne fits the damsel in distress model. The story is too hopeful and it sounds too good even to the romantic/dreamers like me. But let’s be honest. What are the odds of your hitting the jackpot? And even you do win, would you really share it with a stranger who you made a promise to on a whim?

But despite its fairy-tale like qualities, this is a really fun movie. Made in 1994, it is the first movie I ever watched Nic Cage in – and the movie that made me a fan. Going back to this movie, I realize once more what a good actor he is. Watching Charlie, you couldn’t imagine Nic could ever be a villain or a whacky character or a depressed alcoholic or an obsessive compulsive conman…

Yet he pulls it off. Watch it if you can suspend your skepticism. And you will get a large smile on your face.

One bad thing about the movie is Rosie Perez’ character. I know she’s supposed to be annoying but the accent and the tone of voice make me cringe every time.

Written by Jane Anderson, directed by Andrew Bergman.

Other Nicolas Cage Movies and Posts

Face/Off starring John Travolta and Nicolas Cage

Lord of War starring Nicolas Cage, Ethan Hawke and Jared Leto

Nicolas Cage Trivia

Moonstruck starring Nicolas Cage and Cher

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice starring Nicholas Cage, Monica Belluci, Jay Baruchel and Teresa Palmer

City of Angels starring Meg Ryan and Nicolas Cage

Knowing starring Nicolas Cage

Favorite Actors to Play Villains feat. Nicolas Cage, John Travolta and more