A vacation is supposed to be a time to relax, take a breather, and enjoy ourselves. It should not be a time to worry about entanglement with law enforcement.
In the 1999 film Brokedown Palace, Alice (Claire Danes) and Darlene (Kate Beckinsale) are best friends. To celebrate their high school graduation, they decide that a trip to Thailand is in order. Their party grows from two to three when they meet Nick Parks (Daniel Lapaine), a handsome and charming Australian.
Nick convinces the girls to extend their trip by going to Hong Kong before heading home. At the airport, drugs are found in their luggage and they are detained. Sentenced to three decades in jail, their only way out is American lawyer Hank Greene (Bill Pullman). Hank can get Alice and Darlene out of prison and on their way home, for a price.
This is an interesting coming-of-age tale. Most of the narratives within this genre are usually romances. But this is different. It is about friendship, the loss of innocence, and the decisions that are made during difficult times.
In our fiction-crazy world, there are narratives that may seem like they are miles apart. The truth is that with a little tweaking, they can coexist beautifully together.
The 2004 horror/action-adventure film, Van Helsing, uses Dracula and Frankenstein as a narrative base while adding new flavors and colors that do not exist in the original texts. The title character, Van Helsing (Hugh Jackman) is not the old man who some of us may remember from Dracula.
He is a monster hunter whose newest job is to stop Count Dracula (Richard Roxburgh) from using Dr. Frankenstein‘s (Samuel West) research and a werewolf for dangerous purposes. Joining him is Anna Valerious (Kate Beckinsale), who has her own reasons to prevent the Count from seeing his plan to completion.
This is one of those summer popcorn movies that does not require a lot of brain cells. But that’s ok. It is fun, entertaining, and takes characters that we think we know in new directions.
Life for most of us is busy. Between our jobs, our families and everything else that is going on, we forget to breathe and enjoy being alive.
In the 2006 movie, Click, Ben Newman (Adam Sandler) is trying to achieve a work/life balance, but that is seeming more impossible as the days go on. In order to receive a very desirable promotion, Ben is working his tail off for his hard to please boss, Ammer (David Hasselhoff). But that means less time with his wife, Donna (Kate Beckinsale) and their family. He wishes for a remote to control his life. Enter Morty (Christopher Walker) a salesman who sells Ben the remote he desires. Ben thinks he can control the remote, but then remote turns on him.
Growing out of the various man-child characters that made him a star, Sandler proves that he has grown as an actor. While he can easily play comedy,he shows that he has the chops to play a mature character going on a mature journey.
Since I last wrote about the Harvey Weinstein scandal last week, the floodgates have opened.
He was fired from Miramax, the production company he founded with his brother. His wife will soon be his ex-wife and the many women he took advantage of or tried to take advantage of have come forward. Kate Beckinsale, Angelina Jolie, Rose McGowan (whose twitter account was locked) and Mira Sorvino are some of the bold-faced names who claim to have met the former movie mogul under less than honest and moral circumstances.
The problem is that what Harvey Weinstein has been accused of is not limited to just the entertainment industry. This heinous act is repeated every day in every corner of the globe. It could be a male teacher with a female student, a male boss with a female employee, etc. It’s just so disgustingly pervasive that we don’t have to read about or hear about a similar story.
The one small nugget of hope that I have in all of this, is that there is light at the end of the tunnel. The men who commit these horrible acts will get the message that what they are doing is wrong and will think twice about doing it.
Perhaps then, we will be one step closer to being truly equal.
Today, two new trailers were released that are all Jane Austen all the time (my kind of heaven).
The first is Love & Friendship. Lady Susan Vernon (Kate Beckinsale, Emma Woodhouse in 1996 BBC production) is one of the most unlikable characters in the Austen cannon. She is smart, cultured, charming, but also manipulate and heartless. She is the heroine you love to hate.
The second is the second sequel to Bridget Jones’s Diary. Bridget (Renee Zellweger) is back as the most iconic single woman of the past two decades. So is Mark Darcy (Colin Firth in the 1995 Pride and Prejudice). I won’t say anything else, as the trailer speaks for itself, but I will say that I am pretty excited for both movies.
December 7th, A Day That Will Live In Infamy- Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Every generation has that event that forever alters their collective lives. For the Greatest Generation, the event is Pearl Harbor.
The 2001 film, Pearl Harbor, is the story of America’s forced entry into World War II. Rafe (Ben Affleck) and Danny (Josh Hartnett) are best friends. Rafe falls in love with Evelyn (Kate Beckinsale). Rafe is then transferred to England while Danny and Evelyn are transferred to Pearl Harbor. Things become complicated when Danny and Evelyn’s relationship becomes more than platonic. Then the Japanese attack.
This is a typical Michael Bay movie. The action and special effects are wonderful. The plot needs some tweaking.
Were the critics wrong? Not entirely. Comparisons to Titanic are inevitable (semi weak story, poorly written dialogue, major historical event, incredible special effects, etc). But where Titanic succeeds, Pearl Harbor fails.
Do I recommend this movie? If the audience is looking for historical accuracy, no. If they are looking for a typical Michael Bay film, yes.
William Shakespeare’s works are immortal. They have outlived his lifetime and will continue to outlive our lifetimes.
Much Ado About Nothing is one of his greatest comedies. Last year, Joss Whedon released his version of Much Ado about Nothing.
In 1993, actor/director Kenneth Branagh released his take on the classic comedy. His Benedict is opposite his then wife, Emma Thompson as Beatrice. Robert Sean Leonard and Kate Beckinsale are Claudio and Hero. Secretly planning on bringing the lovers together is Don Pedro (Denzel Washington), Leonato (the late Richard Briers) and Antonio (Brian Blessed). Conspiring to keep the lovers apart is Don John (Keanu Reeves).
This is how Shakespeare should be done, every time. The cast is spot on and the movie is perfect. I still think that Hero should have not been so quick to take Claudio back, but that is the play overall and that is another topic for another post.
Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition, seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence; and had lived nearly twenty-one years in the world with very little to distress or vex her.
Emma Woodhouse is Austen’s Queen Bee. She is confident in her view of the world and her place in the world. Living with her widowed father (her mother died when she was a baby, her elder sister is married and moved away), Emma is mistress of her father’s house. Unlike some of other the Austen heroines she is not a dependent on the good will of her relations (Mansfield Park), nor is her home entailed away to the nearest male relative after the death of her father (Sense And Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice).
That being said, I will compare three of the filmed Emma adaptations.
Cast: Alicia Silverstone (Cher Horowitz), Dan Hedaya (Mel Horowitz), Josh (Paul Rudd), Tai (Brittany Murphy)
Pro’s: Amy Heckerling as both director and screenwriter, perfectly adapted the novel. The transition from rural 19th century Highbury to mid 1990’s Los Angeles is seamless. The movie is totally funny, totally quotable and iconic in it’s own right.
Cast: Kate Beckinsale (Emma), Bernard Hepton (Mr. Woodhouse), Mark Strong (Mr. Knightley), Samantha Morton (Harriet Smith)
Pro’s: It is a well done adaptation. The casting is on target and the screenplay is true to the novel. Beckinsale, as the title character is both infuriating and charming. Strong is sexy and annoying in the all knowing big brother sense.
Cons: Mark Strong’s Edwardian Mullet, which really is the only con I can think of.
Cast: Romola Garai (Emma), Michael Gambon (Mr. Woodhouse), Jonny Lee Miller (Mr. Knightley) Louise Dylan (Harriet Smith)
Pro’s: This adaptation is well done and so very funny. Garai and Miller have this bickering brother and sister relationship that is just so endearing. There is almost this Benedict and Beatrice style relationship where they begin to fall in love through the bickering and in fighting.
Writergurlny 