DVD Review: Love Again

Love Again
(DVD Love)

Love Again is a romance film with some comedic undertones, and also featuring a soundtrack comprised almost entirely of Celine Dion music, including 5 all-new Dion songs — and Dion appears as herself in the film! Mira Ray (Priyanka Chopra Jonas) is still recovering from the tragic death of her longtime boyfriend (and near fiancee), John. When her younger sister tries to push her back into the dating scene, Mira is reluctant but willing. Meanwhile, Rob Burns is a British writer working as a music critic for a New York City newspaper/website. Rob has just been assigned to write a profile piece on Celine Dion, who is about to start her new tour, but finds no connection for himself to Dion’s soaring love-filled songs.

 

Until he starts receiving heart-wrench text messages on his newly-assigned work cellphone, from an unidentified young woman pouring out her grief and loneliness. The sender is Mira, texting her late boyfriend’s old number. When Rob doesn’t immediately respond back, he finds himself pulled into a quest to find the woman with her heart on her sleeve. And with the love advice of Celine Dion, he may actually have a chance.

Heartfelt performances, great music, terrific chemistry between the leads, and some laugh-out-loud humorous moments from the supporting cast. Though the central relationship is tinged with sadness, regrets and uncertainty, this still falls into standard RomCom territory, and I enjoyed it tremendously…enough so as to go out and buy the film’s Celine Dion-heavy soundtrack on CD!

 

( Internet Movie Database entry for this film )

 

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

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New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

DVD Review: Marry Me

Marry Me

(DVD Marry)

 

Although the premise is ridiculous, the chemistry of the stellar cast still manages to make this a feel-good film. Jennifer Lopez plays Kat Valdez, an international pop star, who is preparing to marry her fellow singing star fiancee in a splash live broadcast. Owen Wilson is Charlie Gilbert, a single-father public school math teacher, struggling to connect to his pre-teen daughter Lou. When Charlie’s co-worker and best friend Parker drags him to the concert/wedding event, he ends up front-and-center in the audience, holding a sign saying “Marry Me” (the title of Kat’s hit new song), when Kat learns, seconds before the wedding ceremony, that her fiancee is been unfaithful to her. Impulsively, Kat dumps Bastian and, seeing Charlie and his sign, agrees to marry Charlie live and in front of thousands of cheering fans.

 

After Charlie agrees, the rest of the film is Kat and Charlie (and Kat’s friends and handlers, and Charlie’s friends and family) trying to figure out what to do next — ultimately agreeing to try to integrate Kat’s and Charlie’s lives enough to for them to learn more about each other. Though the initial premise was ludicrous, Wilson and Lopez end up having terrific chemistry together, and the supporting cast (including Sarah Silverman as Parker, Chloe Coleman as Lou and John Bradley as Kat’s manager, Colin) is lots of fun. South American pop singer Maluma is an appropriate mix of Latin lothario and sleeze as Bastian. There are lots of great little scenes, especially as Kat interacts with the kids at Charlie’s school, but tons of implausibility as well (Kat and Charlie walking his dog down NYC streets without paparazzi following them). None the less, in the end, Marry Me is a fun, feel-good rom-com with some Hollywood superstars in the main roles. I enjoyed it.

 

(Also available in graphic novel format — though not currently in the libraries’ collection.)

 

( Internet Movie Database entry for this film ) | ( official Marry Me Facebook page )

 

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

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New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

DVD Review: Long Weekend

Long Weekend
written and directed by Steve Basilone (DVD Long)

This is a quirky little character study film, with elements of romantic comedy, magical realism and science fiction, written and directed by Steve Basilone, a former writer and producer on the TV series Community, The Goldbergs and the Michael J. Fox Show.

 

Finn Wittrock plays Bart, a struggling writer who’s also still suffering the aftereffects of a break-up with his longtime girlfriend. He’s basically just going through the motions of life, without actually investing himself in anything. He’s in the process of moving out of the loft apartment he’d shared with the girlfriend, and temporarily moving into the garage of his best friend Doug (Damon Wayans Jr.) and his growing family.

One night, while attending (and falling asleep during) a late movie showing, he encounters Vienna, a quirky yet appealing young woman, Vienna (Zoe Chao) who strikes up an unexpected friendship with him. She’s mysterious…doesn’t want to share too much about her background…but their chemistry is undeniable.

Vienna brings Bart out of depressed funk, but he can’t help but be curious as to her story, and why she won’t share more personal details. But when he forces the issue, the revelations she makes to him make their relationship far more complicated and make Bart question his own reality.

 

The performances by Wittrock and Chao as the leads are tremendous, and Wayans adds both some outrageous humor and some serious friendly support. This film probably won’t go the way you expected, but that’s okay — in this case it’s not so much the destination that’s important…it’s the journey to get there.

 

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try All My Life, Safety Not Guaranteed or Save Yourselves!)

 

( Internet Movie Database entry for this film )

 

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

Have you watched this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

DVD Review: Last Christmas

Last Christmas
[DVD Last]

Last Christmas was a November 2019 theatrical release, timed to tap into the obvious holiday movie crowds. It was an interesting mix of “typical romcom Christmas movie”, which you see a lot of on television in the final months of the year, and character study of a life in decline.

 

Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones, Solo: A Star Wars Story) plays Kate, a young woman whose life is, for the most part, on the rocks and who seems to be careening from one personal and emotional disaster to another — especially distressing at the beginning of the holiday season. And especially as she works, dressed as an elf, in a year-round Christmas-themed store. Henry Golding (Crazy Rich Asians) plays Tom, the charming, witty, humorous young man Kate encounters on the city streets one day with his bicycle.

 

An unlikely and unpredictable friendship develops between these two, and the plot involves several unexpected twists before an emotional ending. That’s all one can really say about Last Christmas without spoiling the story. I’ve run into several people who really ended up disliking Last Christmas, but I’m not one of those folks. Strong performances, and an abundant reliance on George Michael’s music made this an excellent film, in my opinion.

[ Internet Movie Database entry for this film ] | [ official Last Christmas web site ]

 

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library – Public Service

 

Have you watched this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

DVD Review: Leap Year

Leap Year
(DVD Leap)

A little late for "Leap Day", a week ago, but what the heck...

I had to watch this one again on February 29th, 2020, as another Leap Day came and went. It’s a charming romantic comedy film, focused on the “opposites attract” concept. Anna (Amy Adams) is from Boston, where she’s a successful “stager” — staging homes or apartments for potential buyers. She’s in a long-term relationship with cardiac physician Jeremy (Adam Scott), who gives her a pair of diamond earrings on a night that she anticipated him proposing to her. They’ve been angling to get a flat in one of Boston’s most prestigious condominiums, which caters mainly to married couples. When Jeremy has to fly to Dublin, Ireland, for a medical conference, Anna decides to take a leap of faith and follow him — planning to take advantage of an old Irish tradition that women can propose to their beaus on February 29th in a Leap Year.

Unfortunately, her plane is redirected, and through a series of travel misadventures, she finds herself in a small seaside Irish community at a quaint but struggling bar/inn run by Declan (Matthew Goode). They both rub each other the wrong way, but against each of their better judgments, Declan agrees to drive Anna to Dublin, to meet her Leap Year deadline in two days. More misadventures ensue and Anna and Declan are both forced to reassess their impressions of each other. There’s lots of funny and romantic bits and pieces over the course of two hours in this film, including some humorous supporting roles — the gents who hang out in Declan’s bar and get into heated disagreements were a hoot. Sadly, John Lithgow as Anna’s ne’er-do-well father is under-used — in fact, he shows up in the “deleted scenes” special features in a couple of great scenes that would have worked really well in the film, and makes one wonder why the editor cut them.

Overall, Leap Year is a fun and satisfying rom-com, with two stars that actually have great chemistry together. And a charming film to watch during a year that actually is a Leap Year!

[ Internet Movie Database entry for this film ] | [ official Leap Year movie Facebook account ]

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library

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New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

DVD Review: Isn't It Romantic?

Isn’t It Romantic?
[DVD Isn’t]

I prefer to take actress/singer Rebel Wilson in small doses but, in this movie starring her, I’m okay with the whole shebang for once. Wilson plays Natalie, an overlooked junior architect who, through a head injury, seems to have been transmogrified into a life full of glamor, power, and [shudder] treacly romance. As she navigates her resulting relationship with a dream-guy boyfriend, she starts losing touch with her work bestie, Josh. How does it all turn out? This has a surprisingly sweet tone in among the surrealism and sarcasm, and it pairs Adam Devine with Wilson again (Pitch Perfect movies) for satisfying chemistry. Liam Hemsworth and Priyanka Chopra round out the main cast.

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try watching the films What Women Want, Bride and Prejudice or Leap Year.]

[ Internet Movie Database entry for this film ] | [ official Isn’t It Romantic? web site ]

Recommended by Becky W.C.
Walt Branch Library

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New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!