- Hauru no ugoku shiro- It's a bit complicated but also charming and delightful and sweet and magical. A very strange-looking 'castle' moves around on legs thanks to the magic of Calcifer the Fire, a demon-spirit bound to obey Howl's orders. Howl is a young wizard on the run who wants to be free and not used by any king or by the big witch Saliman for their wars. Sophie is a young, pretty girl who works all day making hats, although she totally lacks self-confidence and thinks herself very plain; one day she's approached by two soldiers and a mysterious blonde man comes to her rescue. The evil Witch of the Wastes puts a curse on her making her very old. She's probably jealous because she wants Howl for herself. Looking like that, Sophie can't stay where she is, so she leaves. She goes out of town and accidentally helps a magical scarecrow with a turnip as a head. Sophie thought it was just a piece of wood, but once she sees it she talks to it and goes away. Turnip follows her bringing her a cane to help her walk, and such. When she asks for a home and a warm fire she meets Howl's castle, Calcifer and little Mark, a child that somehow lives alone in there in a sort of secretary-capacity, taking messages for Howl. Having no other home she stays there, cleaning the place up. When Howl finds her inside his home, he appears to be barely surprised and no troubled at all. She looks very old, so she doesn't tell him they've met before. Howl is a strange character; he acts like a young lord or an enthusiastic kid, he goes out transforming himself into a monster-bird-man to fight the witch's slaves constantly looking for him; he tells Sophie he is a coward running away from both the war and Saliman and asks her to go in his place but then he goes too to protect her, saying he wouldn't have had the courage to go alone before but now there's her and he wants to protect her. For someone saying to be a coward he fights many tough battles, and yet he loses it after his hair lost their blonde shine. Sophie cleaned the bathroom, maybe moving his products/potions/whatever so now his hair appears to be red, slowly changing to black. Basically the magic that made his hair blonde is gone: he freaks out, he says without beauty there is no reason to live, he starts melting all over the place, in a serious depression. He seems bipolar to me frankly, with his extreme ups and downs, but I admit I envy him his extreme ups. Anyway, Sophie helps him, she puts him in a hot bathtub and then to bed, and talks to him. :-)
During all this time Sophie keeps changing her appearance, looking more or less older, sometimes even her young self. She's young when she sleeps, old when she wakes up, less old when she works around, younger when she worries about Howl or feels herself full of love for him, but very old when she convinces herself to be insignificant and not at all pretty.
When Howl asks her to take his place in responding to the King's summon, she meets there both Saliman and the Witch of the Wastes (whose magic is taken away from her).
Saliman wants to force Howl into fighting her war, so he takes Sophie and runs away. The now-old Witch of the Wastes and Saliman's dog join the group and go living in the castle. Howl shows Sophie his secret-hideout, the place where he went as a child, but when he sees how the war is becoming worse and close he decides to go fighting to protect the city, saying he's finally found someone he wants to protect:her. She's afraid for him and thinks that if she abandons the castle and hide he'll no more have to fight. She takes Calcifer out of the castle and it collapses, without its magic.
Once outside she sees Howl in danger and goes back in , asking Calcifer to take them to him, and she gives Calcifer her long ponytail to become stronger. When the old witch sees Howl's heart in the fire she takes it: she always said she wanted his heart for herself only. It's burning so Sophie throws water on it. The castle, already half of what it once was, breaks in two and Sophie is separated from the others. She cries fearing that she's killed Calcifer with the water and therefore Howl too, but the magic ring he gave her makes her believe he's still alive. Somehow she finds herself in Howl's past, when as a boy he caught in his hands a falling star, talked to it, and ate it. I'm not sure if he got his magic from it or if he already had magic in him, anyway after he ate the star/magical-being/demon Calcifer comes out of his chest: that's the secret bond Calcifer talked about. Sophia shouts to them to wait for her because they'll meet her again in their future, then she finds herself again in the here and now where an exhausted monster-looking-Howl is waiting. He takes her to the others. She convinces the old witch to give her the heart to save him. She says goodbye to Calcifer and puts it back into Howl's chest. Howl wakes up and Calcifer flies away, not dead but finally free.
Without Calcifer's magic they are all in danger but they are helped by the scarecrow, in love with Sophia. She gives him a kiss as a thankyou and his curse is broken. We see he is the prince of the Country they're at war with, who will now go home and stop the war. When her dog shows her this happy ending, Saliman decides to stop the war too.
Calcifer comes back to them, because after such a long time he feels like they're a family now, so the final scene shows again a new moving-castle, much prettier now that a girl is part of the picture, with a lovely image of Sofia and Howl kissing in the wind. Beautiful image.
I don't know if he still has his magic now that Calcifer's not part of him anymore, maybe he does, maybe it simply is not as strong as it was, or maybe he doesn't, I can't be sure.
I believe he does because that's a nicer picture, but there's no proof of it, actually.
I can't remember if he said anything about his relatives or himself having any magic before he met Calcifer, I'll have to watch it again one day, I guess.
The castle moves again because of Calcifer's magic, not his, but if Howl has no magic how are they going to support themselves? :lol They'd need a fix home and job, that's why I like the version in which he still has magic better. Not that it truly matters, the film is beautiful as it is, the ending image is lovely, I love it. It'll be no sacrifice to watch it again :-))
ITA il castello errante di Howl
ENG Howl's moving castle
domenica 29 maggio 2016
venerdì 20 maggio 2016
The Cincinnati kid by Richard Jessup
The end was a bit... unsatisfying, but still not a bad book, in its own way. I was kind of surprised, actually. So little story, so many pages describing poker games, and yet it was captivating enough, not bad; in a way it's the usual 'western' story of 'who is the fastest with a gun', only it is 'who is the best at playing poker'.
The Cincinnati kid, as everybody calls him, or Eric, as his girlfriend Christian calls him ( I thought it was a man's name..), has played poker since he was very young. Now he's a professional, and has made a name for himself. The "Champion", the number one, is a guy called Lancey. Now Lancey is in town and the kid wants to play with him. The kid thinks he's the best and wants to prove it.
He's told that he's not ready yet, but he still wants to play, he still thinks he can beat him.
In the week before the game we get a description of how women should never want 'more' from professional poker players ( :-/ ) and a glimpse into the kid's life: how he misses Christian when she goes back to her parents' home, to the point of going there to spend a day with her before the big game, and yet he tells her father that the game, what he does, is more important than she is :-/ then the day comes.
They play long hours at stud poker, a kind of poker I don't like too much. Long pages but not as boring as I'd have imagined, and at the end... should I say it now? Well, I'd like to remind myself that I have absolutely no intention of reading it again, so yes, let's write how it ends.
Everyone's watching, it's an important game, but Lancey has been the number one for many years, and not for nothing. He wins again, and the kid loses the game and a lot of money, but it's not the loss of money that hurts him, it's having lost the game. He starts drinking.
His friends call Christian to come back and take care of him. Now it's her that has to support him with her job as a waitress. Days go by, he stops drinking but doesn't start playing again until she insists and gives him money to start. He wins, pays his debts and makes enough money to try again.
Another game with Lacey, but this time it's told in two lines. The kid loses again, and the book ends on the kid down, depressed and again Christian and his friends that try to help him...
Come on, get it together kid, or should people call you child instead?? :-/
ITA Cincinnati kid
The Cincinnati kid, as everybody calls him, or Eric, as his girlfriend Christian calls him ( I thought it was a man's name..), has played poker since he was very young. Now he's a professional, and has made a name for himself. The "Champion", the number one, is a guy called Lancey. Now Lancey is in town and the kid wants to play with him. The kid thinks he's the best and wants to prove it.
He's told that he's not ready yet, but he still wants to play, he still thinks he can beat him.
In the week before the game we get a description of how women should never want 'more' from professional poker players ( :-/ ) and a glimpse into the kid's life: how he misses Christian when she goes back to her parents' home, to the point of going there to spend a day with her before the big game, and yet he tells her father that the game, what he does, is more important than she is :-/ then the day comes.
They play long hours at stud poker, a kind of poker I don't like too much. Long pages but not as boring as I'd have imagined, and at the end... should I say it now? Well, I'd like to remind myself that I have absolutely no intention of reading it again, so yes, let's write how it ends.
Everyone's watching, it's an important game, but Lancey has been the number one for many years, and not for nothing. He wins again, and the kid loses the game and a lot of money, but it's not the loss of money that hurts him, it's having lost the game. He starts drinking.
His friends call Christian to come back and take care of him. Now it's her that has to support him with her job as a waitress. Days go by, he stops drinking but doesn't start playing again until she insists and gives him money to start. He wins, pays his debts and makes enough money to try again.
Another game with Lacey, but this time it's told in two lines. The kid loses again, and the book ends on the kid down, depressed and again Christian and his friends that try to help him...
Come on, get it together kid, or should people call you child instead?? :-/
ITA Cincinnati kid
Eurovision song contest 2016
I just saw it all. I watched the first and the second semi-finals, and tonight I watched the final. I can't even begin to understand why but this year they (who?) decided to change the voting system - they're changing a lot lately: first Australia enters the ESC as a guest, then as an actual participant; it was once an "eurovision" show, now it airs live in USA and China...I've reason to fear that in no time they'll destroy the whole thing...
The main change is that every Country gives the points in the old-fashion way, yes, but they are the "jury"'s points. Whoever might be part of those juries... are those still the televoting points of regular watchers from home? Why are they called "jury's points"? Who gave those points? Anyway.
Then there is another voting routine, counted all together and not divided by Country, and they call these points 'the people's voting', but how, by tele-voting or by Internet? This new system is not clear to me, and who knows how the ESC jury divided those votes into 2436 points. I counted them. I don't know how many votes they received but I'd guess more than 2436, so how did they get to that number?
I don't like the new system, it's weird. It was easier before: every Country voted, then each one said: this is out top ten, and the Country that received more votes is; easy.
Anyway, the brilliant result of this new system is that the Country juries voted Australia first than Ukraine, and the people in Europe and Australia (and Israel, or is that in Europe too?) voted Russia first and Ukraine second, and yet Ukraine won the Eurovision song contest...
Moving on: the semi-finals: I liked Macedonia's song in her original language, I was sorry it didn't get to the final. It's sad that almost everybody sings in English. Easier to understand, sure, but it loses a big part of the Eurofestival charm. I'd have preferred Moldavia Greece and Montenegro over Armenia, Azerbaijan and Malta, and also Belarus, Macedonia, Denmark and Norway over Israel, Serbia, Lithuania and Bulgaria. I'm talking about songs, here, and not Countries, obviously. Having said that, the final:
Belgium, a cute young girl called Laura Tesoro, a name which for me is already adorable in itself.
Malta, Armenia and Azerbaijan went for the Beyoncé-look to impress the viewers.
Hungary, cute guy but no voice, in my personal opinion.
The Netherlands, nice country-song, a bit repetitive, I didn't like that long break, though.
Bulgaria, a disco song not too bad after all, but not among my favs.
Sweden, omg really? You'd better try with Mans every year, listen to me!
France, I didn't like it but I was surprised he sang in English too! I thought France would never accept to speak or sing in English! Well, good, I say.
Germany, seriously, I mean, I even liked the girl, but is this ESC material? She looked like a Japanese idol/Manga character that certainly did non scream 'Germany' to me...
Poland, talking only about the song and not the singer's weird look, yes, I liked the song, indeed.
Australia, I liked the song a lot, I just can't understand, why she doesn't comb back her hair, she'd look much better in my opinion.
Cyprus, it was cool, I liked it a lot, finally a bit of rock at the ESC.
Russia, I liked it, yes: they really studied the Eurovision contest and have learned from last year's victory: it reminded so much of Mans' performance, although of course different in a couple of ways, meaning he got more 'special effects' but not enough of Mans' charisma.
Spain, I liked her look :-p can't decide on the song, yet, I need to listen to it again.
I mean, the five Countries that go directly to the final have a great advantage, sure, because not all of them would actually get to the final if they were to be voted, but at the same time we've heard already all the other songs, but we hear their songs for the first time... just once.
Latvia, I liked this 'heartbeat' pop but would someone please buy these ESC singers some new clothes please? His trousers are broken... how long is this fashion of broken clothes going to last?? Didn't they use to say that fashion changes very quickly? Then change please, once it was something, now it's just boring.
Since we're at it, would someone give them a mirror and a comb please? So many of them adopted the head-out-of-the-car-window look :-/ I didn't like it, personally.
Georgia, cool, again, like Cyprus, it was great to have a rock song!
Austria, she sang in French... for whatever reason, is she Austrian?
UK: is UK trying to recreate Jedward? Jokes aside, they were not bad, they played their part well, but they're very young and I did not like the song. I'm left now with only Ukraine and Italy.
Well, I do like Francesca Michielin, she sings well, but there are things to consider: 1-I think it's not enough to hear this song just once, I think it needs more time to be appreciated 2-she sang almost entirely in Italian, a fact that guarantees from the start 'she will not win' 3-there was no show at all, which is good in a song contest, but it's not enough for the ESC, and she even dressed like a tree! Personally I didn't get the link between the song and her dress, and the whole 'nature-thing' going on around her, and the seed (?) in her hand at the end..
About Ukraine, it was not my favourite song but I liked it, and I can appreciate the fact that only half of it is in English, but the chorus is not. It's a bit different, not the usual pop-song.
I enjoyed the two semi-finals more than the final for these two reasons:
-they were shorter; -the final, In Italy, aired on a different channel (the major one!) and unfortunately I could not switch to the original audio and I really couldn't bear the incessant blabbering of the two men commenting the show and talking over the singer's postcard, over the show-hosts, over every bit of the show that was not the contest songs themselves.
I hit the mute, they just wouldn't stop blabbering. Aaaargh.
One last thing, I liked Petra and Mans, both charming professionals. He's also quite hot, and she's nice beautiful and funny :-)
I liked them throughout the show, all three nights. :-)
The main change is that every Country gives the points in the old-fashion way, yes, but they are the "jury"'s points. Whoever might be part of those juries... are those still the televoting points of regular watchers from home? Why are they called "jury's points"? Who gave those points? Anyway.
Then there is another voting routine, counted all together and not divided by Country, and they call these points 'the people's voting', but how, by tele-voting or by Internet? This new system is not clear to me, and who knows how the ESC jury divided those votes into 2436 points. I counted them. I don't know how many votes they received but I'd guess more than 2436, so how did they get to that number?
I don't like the new system, it's weird. It was easier before: every Country voted, then each one said: this is out top ten, and the Country that received more votes is; easy.
Anyway, the brilliant result of this new system is that the Country juries voted Australia first than Ukraine, and the people in Europe and Australia (and Israel, or is that in Europe too?) voted Russia first and Ukraine second, and yet Ukraine won the Eurovision song contest...
Moving on: the semi-finals: I liked Macedonia's song in her original language, I was sorry it didn't get to the final. It's sad that almost everybody sings in English. Easier to understand, sure, but it loses a big part of the Eurofestival charm. I'd have preferred Moldavia Greece and Montenegro over Armenia, Azerbaijan and Malta, and also Belarus, Macedonia, Denmark and Norway over Israel, Serbia, Lithuania and Bulgaria. I'm talking about songs, here, and not Countries, obviously. Having said that, the final:
Belgium, a cute young girl called Laura Tesoro, a name which for me is already adorable in itself.
Malta, Armenia and Azerbaijan went for the Beyoncé-look to impress the viewers.
Hungary, cute guy but no voice, in my personal opinion.
The Netherlands, nice country-song, a bit repetitive, I didn't like that long break, though.
Bulgaria, a disco song not too bad after all, but not among my favs.
Sweden, omg really? You'd better try with Mans every year, listen to me!
France, I didn't like it but I was surprised he sang in English too! I thought France would never accept to speak or sing in English! Well, good, I say.
Germany, seriously, I mean, I even liked the girl, but is this ESC material? She looked like a Japanese idol/Manga character that certainly did non scream 'Germany' to me...
Poland, talking only about the song and not the singer's weird look, yes, I liked the song, indeed.
Australia, I liked the song a lot, I just can't understand, why she doesn't comb back her hair, she'd look much better in my opinion.
Cyprus, it was cool, I liked it a lot, finally a bit of rock at the ESC.
Russia, I liked it, yes: they really studied the Eurovision contest and have learned from last year's victory: it reminded so much of Mans' performance, although of course different in a couple of ways, meaning he got more 'special effects' but not enough of Mans' charisma.
Spain, I liked her look :-p can't decide on the song, yet, I need to listen to it again.
I mean, the five Countries that go directly to the final have a great advantage, sure, because not all of them would actually get to the final if they were to be voted, but at the same time we've heard already all the other songs, but we hear their songs for the first time... just once.
Latvia, I liked this 'heartbeat' pop but would someone please buy these ESC singers some new clothes please? His trousers are broken... how long is this fashion of broken clothes going to last?? Didn't they use to say that fashion changes very quickly? Then change please, once it was something, now it's just boring.
Since we're at it, would someone give them a mirror and a comb please? So many of them adopted the head-out-of-the-car-window look :-/ I didn't like it, personally.
Georgia, cool, again, like Cyprus, it was great to have a rock song!
Austria, she sang in French... for whatever reason, is she Austrian?
UK: is UK trying to recreate Jedward? Jokes aside, they were not bad, they played their part well, but they're very young and I did not like the song. I'm left now with only Ukraine and Italy.
Well, I do like Francesca Michielin, she sings well, but there are things to consider: 1-I think it's not enough to hear this song just once, I think it needs more time to be appreciated 2-she sang almost entirely in Italian, a fact that guarantees from the start 'she will not win' 3-there was no show at all, which is good in a song contest, but it's not enough for the ESC, and she even dressed like a tree! Personally I didn't get the link between the song and her dress, and the whole 'nature-thing' going on around her, and the seed (?) in her hand at the end..
About Ukraine, it was not my favourite song but I liked it, and I can appreciate the fact that only half of it is in English, but the chorus is not. It's a bit different, not the usual pop-song.
I enjoyed the two semi-finals more than the final for these two reasons:
-they were shorter; -the final, In Italy, aired on a different channel (the major one!) and unfortunately I could not switch to the original audio and I really couldn't bear the incessant blabbering of the two men commenting the show and talking over the singer's postcard, over the show-hosts, over every bit of the show that was not the contest songs themselves.
I hit the mute, they just wouldn't stop blabbering. Aaaargh.
One last thing, I liked Petra and Mans, both charming professionals. He's also quite hot, and she's nice beautiful and funny :-)
I liked them throughout the show, all three nights. :-)
martedì 17 maggio 2016
The talented Mr Ripley - 1999
So good and so sad. It has been years since I saw it the first - and last - time, and I only remembered that it was good, but nothing more. I'm not even sure I really understood it the first time. It's based on a novel I haven't read, but I've read another book written by Patricia Highsmith so I'm not surprised that this one too was a mix between a psychological drama and a crime movie.
It all starts, as Tom Ripley (Matt Damon) says right at the beginning, because he 'borrowed' a friend's jacket. The friend was supposed to play the piano at a party but couldn't so asked Tom to replace him. Wearing his Princeton jacket, Tom went in his place and met Mr Greenleaf. Because of the jacket, Mr Greenleaf thought Tom was an ex Princeton student, and approached him saying Tom must know his son Dickie. Tom lied and said yes. As Tom will say at the end, he always thought it better to be a fake someone than a real nobody. So he lied and when, some other day, Mr Greenleaf proposed to pay him to go to Italy and bring Dickie back home, Tom accepted.
This is the start, an immediate look on Tom's personality.
During the long journey Tom learns as much as he can about Dickie, also listening to the jazz disks Dickie is so fond of. In South Italy Tom approaches Dickie (Jude Law) and his girlfriend Marge Sherwood (Gwyneth Paltrow) saying that they were at Princeton together, and hastily accepts Marge's invitation. Once at their house Dickie asks Tom what's his talent, and he very honestly replies that he's good at copying other people's signatures and at pretending to be someone else. Pity I don't remember the exact words. So early in the film it can be easily taken for a joke, but actually he's being honest, for once. That is his "talent".
Dickie finds him funny, but it would end soon without Tom's trick. He pretends to 'accidentally' drop his jazz disks, and the discovery that they both love jazz brings Dickie to invite Tom to a jazz club.
After that they spend a lot of time together; Tom has revealed to Dickie that he's paid to bring him back, so Dickie is enjoying very much this 'double-cross', because Tom reads to him his father's letters and they spend together his money.
Although engaged to Marge, spoiled Dickie has a relationship with Silvana (Stefania Rocca), but unfortunately for her it's only sex for him, and one day she commits suicide. Dickie reveals to Tom that Silvana was pregnant: she had asked for his help, but he wouldn't give her a cent, the bastard. This is 1958-59 and she was not married.
Tom says he'll keep his secret forever, because he's so gripped by this Dickie (who is, let's admit it, annoyingly beautiful) he'd do anything for him.
During a trip to Rom, Tom meets Dickie's friend Freddy (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and immediately looks annoyed and hurt to be now in second place. Marge explains to him that this is how Dickie is: he makes you feel special when he pays you all his attention, but he is also a very fickle person, something like that. Personally I'd say that he's a spoiled, rich brat who only cares about his own entertainment and doesn't care at all about others. I don't like Dickie at all, does it show? :-p
This is just the beginning, because nothing has happened yet.
Tom's "job" has ended, they won't receive any more money from his father, and Dickie shows no pain in saying goodbye to Tom, but before that they take a last trip together. During a boat trip, just the two of them, Tom says he's thinking of getting a house in Rome in order to be together (at Tom's house when in Rome, at Dickie's house when in Mongibello) but Dickie doesn't think it a good idea, so Tom says that he doesn't have to worry about the "Marge problem", and here it all starts. Dickie says she's not a problem, he loves her and he's going to marry her, and Tom gets angry saying that he doesn't really know what he wants, looking at every girl, loving Marge, loving Tom, but Dickie stops him with a blunt "I don't love you" and then he keeps talking, saying how Tom can be boring and annoying and how he's glad to see him go because he's had enough of him, things like that. Tom begs him to stop but Dickie is on a roll and wouldn't stop, so Tom hits him with an oar in the head. Dickie is now bleeding quite heavily, and Tom tries to help him, he's shocked and he probably doesn't want to lose him, but Dickie becomes a fury and throws himself at Tom determined to strangle him, shouting quite coherently that he wants to kill him.
Tom tries to stop him, and kicks him away, but Dickie won't calm down so Tom takes hold of the oar again and hits Dickie until he dies. I can imagine the book, here, from Tom's point of view, explaining how Dickie's words were hurting him and how he couldn't take it anymore and needed it to stop.
Tom sinks the boat with the body and swims ashore. Going back to the hotel, he is mistaken for Dickie and he plays along, he probably gets right here the idea of impersonating Dickie.
He tells Marge that Dickie has decided to stay in Rome, takes all his stuff and then rents a house in Rome as Dickie while staying at a hotel as Tom Ripley. He even calls himself leaving messages, maybe to make more true the fantasy, who knows.
He spends Dickie's money, faking his signature. He meets Meredith (Cate Blanchett) and as Dickie he spends some time with her, and one night they go to the opera where he meets Marge and her friend Peter. Tom was scared they might meet Meredith, but Peter seemed very glad to know him. I liked Peter a lot, how tenderly he looked at Tom.
Tom 'breaks up' with Meredith now that Marge is in town, but then troubles come with the face of Freddy, looking for Dickie. He can feel that something's not right, and he gets worse when he sees the house owner (I think) calling Tom "Dickie". Freddy hurries back inside, but Tom's waiting for him behind the door, and smashes his head.
Of course the police come right away to talk to him, a few times since he is the major suspect. Feeling that things are getting too ugly, he writes a suicide note to himself signing Dickie's name, then escapes. He knows that the police will want to talk to him too (as Tom) and he can't do that with this inspector (Sergio Rubini) because he knows him as Dickie. He reaches Venice, where Peter is waiting for him. The police send someone from Rome but luckily for Tom is someone else, a colonel (Ivano Marescotti). Mr Greenleaf comes to Italy with a private investigator, who finds out a lot of things: the story with Silvana, and the fact that Dickie almost beat a guy to death at Princeton, so they believe that Dickie killed Freddy and that Tom was trying to help as a true friend. Only Marge believes that Tom killed Dickie and Freddy, after finding Dickie's rings among Tom's belongings.
[I liked a lot the scene when Tom gave Peter the key to his home :-) Peter is so sweet ]
Things look good for Tom now, he's free, everybody believes Dickie killed Freddy, and now he's alone with sweet Peter. Could it end here? Of course not :-/
Well, it's true that Tom's a murderer, so I shouldn't be on his side, and yet when you follow the story you feel for him. Neither Dickie or Freddy were nice, good people, but of course did not deserve this. And yet I feel for Tom, so sad and so tormented: he tells Peter that 'people' put all the bad things in their lives in a dark cell and try to forget about it, but it's not possible and it's so cold and dark there..
I admit it was so nice to see Tom and Peter together, I was kind of hoping for a happy ending for them, but of course I knew it wasn't possible.
During some kind of boat trip [Tom: you know what I miss right now? Peter: what? Tom:nothing .....]
Tom is alone for a few minutes and he meets Meredith with lots of relatives. They know him as Dickie, and there is no escape this time, so Tom goes to Peter's cabin, hugs him and tells him of how much he wishes to be free to be himself, and Peter tells him what lovely person he is, right before being strangled by a Tom crying desperately. He loved Peter but it was the only was to save himself.
The film ends on Tom's face, like life has been drained out of him, then the dark comes to cover him: the end. He'll never get out of that dark place...
Poor Peter... :-((
Anthony Minghella - screenplay and directed by.
ITA il talento di Mr Ripley
It all starts, as Tom Ripley (Matt Damon) says right at the beginning, because he 'borrowed' a friend's jacket. The friend was supposed to play the piano at a party but couldn't so asked Tom to replace him. Wearing his Princeton jacket, Tom went in his place and met Mr Greenleaf. Because of the jacket, Mr Greenleaf thought Tom was an ex Princeton student, and approached him saying Tom must know his son Dickie. Tom lied and said yes. As Tom will say at the end, he always thought it better to be a fake someone than a real nobody. So he lied and when, some other day, Mr Greenleaf proposed to pay him to go to Italy and bring Dickie back home, Tom accepted.
This is the start, an immediate look on Tom's personality.
During the long journey Tom learns as much as he can about Dickie, also listening to the jazz disks Dickie is so fond of. In South Italy Tom approaches Dickie (Jude Law) and his girlfriend Marge Sherwood (Gwyneth Paltrow) saying that they were at Princeton together, and hastily accepts Marge's invitation. Once at their house Dickie asks Tom what's his talent, and he very honestly replies that he's good at copying other people's signatures and at pretending to be someone else. Pity I don't remember the exact words. So early in the film it can be easily taken for a joke, but actually he's being honest, for once. That is his "talent".
Dickie finds him funny, but it would end soon without Tom's trick. He pretends to 'accidentally' drop his jazz disks, and the discovery that they both love jazz brings Dickie to invite Tom to a jazz club.
After that they spend a lot of time together; Tom has revealed to Dickie that he's paid to bring him back, so Dickie is enjoying very much this 'double-cross', because Tom reads to him his father's letters and they spend together his money.
Although engaged to Marge, spoiled Dickie has a relationship with Silvana (Stefania Rocca), but unfortunately for her it's only sex for him, and one day she commits suicide. Dickie reveals to Tom that Silvana was pregnant: she had asked for his help, but he wouldn't give her a cent, the bastard. This is 1958-59 and she was not married.
Tom says he'll keep his secret forever, because he's so gripped by this Dickie (who is, let's admit it, annoyingly beautiful) he'd do anything for him.
During a trip to Rom, Tom meets Dickie's friend Freddy (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and immediately looks annoyed and hurt to be now in second place. Marge explains to him that this is how Dickie is: he makes you feel special when he pays you all his attention, but he is also a very fickle person, something like that. Personally I'd say that he's a spoiled, rich brat who only cares about his own entertainment and doesn't care at all about others. I don't like Dickie at all, does it show? :-p
This is just the beginning, because nothing has happened yet.
Tom's "job" has ended, they won't receive any more money from his father, and Dickie shows no pain in saying goodbye to Tom, but before that they take a last trip together. During a boat trip, just the two of them, Tom says he's thinking of getting a house in Rome in order to be together (at Tom's house when in Rome, at Dickie's house when in Mongibello) but Dickie doesn't think it a good idea, so Tom says that he doesn't have to worry about the "Marge problem", and here it all starts. Dickie says she's not a problem, he loves her and he's going to marry her, and Tom gets angry saying that he doesn't really know what he wants, looking at every girl, loving Marge, loving Tom, but Dickie stops him with a blunt "I don't love you" and then he keeps talking, saying how Tom can be boring and annoying and how he's glad to see him go because he's had enough of him, things like that. Tom begs him to stop but Dickie is on a roll and wouldn't stop, so Tom hits him with an oar in the head. Dickie is now bleeding quite heavily, and Tom tries to help him, he's shocked and he probably doesn't want to lose him, but Dickie becomes a fury and throws himself at Tom determined to strangle him, shouting quite coherently that he wants to kill him.
Tom tries to stop him, and kicks him away, but Dickie won't calm down so Tom takes hold of the oar again and hits Dickie until he dies. I can imagine the book, here, from Tom's point of view, explaining how Dickie's words were hurting him and how he couldn't take it anymore and needed it to stop.
Tom sinks the boat with the body and swims ashore. Going back to the hotel, he is mistaken for Dickie and he plays along, he probably gets right here the idea of impersonating Dickie.
He tells Marge that Dickie has decided to stay in Rome, takes all his stuff and then rents a house in Rome as Dickie while staying at a hotel as Tom Ripley. He even calls himself leaving messages, maybe to make more true the fantasy, who knows.
He spends Dickie's money, faking his signature. He meets Meredith (Cate Blanchett) and as Dickie he spends some time with her, and one night they go to the opera where he meets Marge and her friend Peter. Tom was scared they might meet Meredith, but Peter seemed very glad to know him. I liked Peter a lot, how tenderly he looked at Tom.
Tom 'breaks up' with Meredith now that Marge is in town, but then troubles come with the face of Freddy, looking for Dickie. He can feel that something's not right, and he gets worse when he sees the house owner (I think) calling Tom "Dickie". Freddy hurries back inside, but Tom's waiting for him behind the door, and smashes his head.
Of course the police come right away to talk to him, a few times since he is the major suspect. Feeling that things are getting too ugly, he writes a suicide note to himself signing Dickie's name, then escapes. He knows that the police will want to talk to him too (as Tom) and he can't do that with this inspector (Sergio Rubini) because he knows him as Dickie. He reaches Venice, where Peter is waiting for him. The police send someone from Rome but luckily for Tom is someone else, a colonel (Ivano Marescotti). Mr Greenleaf comes to Italy with a private investigator, who finds out a lot of things: the story with Silvana, and the fact that Dickie almost beat a guy to death at Princeton, so they believe that Dickie killed Freddy and that Tom was trying to help as a true friend. Only Marge believes that Tom killed Dickie and Freddy, after finding Dickie's rings among Tom's belongings.
[I liked a lot the scene when Tom gave Peter the key to his home :-) Peter is so sweet ]
Things look good for Tom now, he's free, everybody believes Dickie killed Freddy, and now he's alone with sweet Peter. Could it end here? Of course not :-/
Well, it's true that Tom's a murderer, so I shouldn't be on his side, and yet when you follow the story you feel for him. Neither Dickie or Freddy were nice, good people, but of course did not deserve this. And yet I feel for Tom, so sad and so tormented: he tells Peter that 'people' put all the bad things in their lives in a dark cell and try to forget about it, but it's not possible and it's so cold and dark there..
I admit it was so nice to see Tom and Peter together, I was kind of hoping for a happy ending for them, but of course I knew it wasn't possible.
During some kind of boat trip [Tom: you know what I miss right now? Peter: what? Tom:nothing .....]
Tom is alone for a few minutes and he meets Meredith with lots of relatives. They know him as Dickie, and there is no escape this time, so Tom goes to Peter's cabin, hugs him and tells him of how much he wishes to be free to be himself, and Peter tells him what lovely person he is, right before being strangled by a Tom crying desperately. He loved Peter but it was the only was to save himself.
The film ends on Tom's face, like life has been drained out of him, then the dark comes to cover him: the end. He'll never get out of that dark place...
Poor Peter... :-((
Anthony Minghella - screenplay and directed by.
ITA il talento di Mr Ripley
lunedì 16 maggio 2016
Around the world in 80 days - 2004
A bit silly but never too much as to be unacceptable, it's quite funny and enjoyable. It's not at all a remake of the old movie, there are many things that are different or bluntly added to the original story. Basically there are two stories colliding into one: story a) Phileas Fogg (Steve Coogan) is a British inventor full of rather eccentric ideas, like "one day men will fly" or "a man could travel around the world in 80 days". The head of the Royal Academy of Science Lord Kelvin (Jim Broadbent) doesn't believe it and quite despises Fogg, and they make a bet. If Fogg, who has never travelled anywhere, can go around the world and be back in 80 days, he'll take Lord Kelvin's place in the Academy, but if he fails he'll have to destroy his laboratory and stop being an inventor, he'll never invent anything again. Story b) A precious and sacred jade Buddha has been stolen from the Chinese village Lanzhou and given to Lord Kelvin in exchange for weapons, who then put it in the 'safest' place in the world... until Lau Xing (Jackie Chan) robs the Bank of England to get it back :-D
The police are looking for him so he finds refuge as Fogg's new valet :-) He tells him his name is Passpartou (of course he wouldn't say his real name, but how he got to Passpartou from LauXing I don't know) and he takes advantage of the bet to get back to China as quickly as possible.
First stop: Paris. They meet Monique (Cécile De France), a pretty girl who wants to be an impressionist. She joins them in their travels because she wants to see the world, and needless to say, Fogg and Monique will fall in love, no surprise there.
They travel to Turkey, India and finally China. All the time they are attacked by the 'black scorpions' warriors, following the orders of the female Chinese warlord (I don't think the word warlady exists...) that gave the jade Buddha to Lord Kelvin, and by Kelvin's attempts to stop them by corrupting cops and sending out a wanted ad, claiming Fogg robbed the bank and escaped using the bet as an excuse. Monique quickly learns Xing's secret, but keeps it safe. Once in China though, Fogg learns the truth by himself and is deeply troubled by it, feeling betrayed. Right there and then the 'black scorpions' attack again but Xing is one of the "ten tigers of Canton" and all together they succeed in defeating them. Fogg decides to go on alone, but he needs help: in San Francisco he is robbed of everything he has and ends up a beggar. Luckily for him his friends followed him to help.
In New York they have the final showdown with the scorpions and warlord Fang. Xing fights them all but Fang's quite tough. Fogg has the opportunity to go on with his journey leaving Xing fighting, but he can't leave him in danger so he stops to help, missing his boat. Of course he's not much help at all, but Monique is :-) She knocks Fang out and they continue to England where they arrive on a flying machine designed by Fogg. Once in London, Kelvin wants them arrested. All the town's there to watch, while his friends try to unmask Kelvin's cheating and illegal actions. He's so full of himself he starts blabbering that he has the power and nobody can stop him, he even makes fun of the Queen! Shame on him! He's very disrespectful , but the Queen herself comes (Kathy Bates) to order his arrest and inform Fogg and friends that they haven't lost, since there is still a whole day :-) Victory, obviously :-)
Now I found it very funny, Jackie Chan was really funny :lol: I didn't much like Coogan-Fogg but the film was fun: Xing claiming to be French to be hired explaining his Chinese accent by saying that his French dad never talked while his Chinese mother talked all the time :-) I found that funny, basically I found every scene with Chan funny. Surprisingly for me, I quite liked Monique, nice character and nice acting, her move while knocking Fang out was good enough for me and her meow after Xing told her she was the 11th tiger was somehow cute and funny, which is even more surprising, since it would have been so easy to mess that up and appear annoying instead.
There were a lot of guest stars: Arnold Schwarzenegger was a Prince met in Turkey, half funny and half embarassing, honestly. Owen Wilson and Luke Wilson were the Wright brothers that help them in the desert. John Cleese was the funny policeman in London when they arrive. I liked that scene. :-)
I don't remember ever hearing about this movie but it's not a bad one. I could have been happier with another Fogg, and Schwarzy was unnecessary, but the rest I liked.
Both the action scenes and the funny lines were alright :-)
ITA il giro del mondo in 80 giorni
The police are looking for him so he finds refuge as Fogg's new valet :-) He tells him his name is Passpartou (of course he wouldn't say his real name, but how he got to Passpartou from LauXing I don't know) and he takes advantage of the bet to get back to China as quickly as possible.
First stop: Paris. They meet Monique (Cécile De France), a pretty girl who wants to be an impressionist. She joins them in their travels because she wants to see the world, and needless to say, Fogg and Monique will fall in love, no surprise there.
They travel to Turkey, India and finally China. All the time they are attacked by the 'black scorpions' warriors, following the orders of the female Chinese warlord (I don't think the word warlady exists...) that gave the jade Buddha to Lord Kelvin, and by Kelvin's attempts to stop them by corrupting cops and sending out a wanted ad, claiming Fogg robbed the bank and escaped using the bet as an excuse. Monique quickly learns Xing's secret, but keeps it safe. Once in China though, Fogg learns the truth by himself and is deeply troubled by it, feeling betrayed. Right there and then the 'black scorpions' attack again but Xing is one of the "ten tigers of Canton" and all together they succeed in defeating them. Fogg decides to go on alone, but he needs help: in San Francisco he is robbed of everything he has and ends up a beggar. Luckily for him his friends followed him to help.
In New York they have the final showdown with the scorpions and warlord Fang. Xing fights them all but Fang's quite tough. Fogg has the opportunity to go on with his journey leaving Xing fighting, but he can't leave him in danger so he stops to help, missing his boat. Of course he's not much help at all, but Monique is :-) She knocks Fang out and they continue to England where they arrive on a flying machine designed by Fogg. Once in London, Kelvin wants them arrested. All the town's there to watch, while his friends try to unmask Kelvin's cheating and illegal actions. He's so full of himself he starts blabbering that he has the power and nobody can stop him, he even makes fun of the Queen! Shame on him! He's very disrespectful , but the Queen herself comes (Kathy Bates) to order his arrest and inform Fogg and friends that they haven't lost, since there is still a whole day :-) Victory, obviously :-)
Now I found it very funny, Jackie Chan was really funny :lol: I didn't much like Coogan-Fogg but the film was fun: Xing claiming to be French to be hired explaining his Chinese accent by saying that his French dad never talked while his Chinese mother talked all the time :-) I found that funny, basically I found every scene with Chan funny. Surprisingly for me, I quite liked Monique, nice character and nice acting, her move while knocking Fang out was good enough for me and her meow after Xing told her she was the 11th tiger was somehow cute and funny, which is even more surprising, since it would have been so easy to mess that up and appear annoying instead.
There were a lot of guest stars: Arnold Schwarzenegger was a Prince met in Turkey, half funny and half embarassing, honestly. Owen Wilson and Luke Wilson were the Wright brothers that help them in the desert. John Cleese was the funny policeman in London when they arrive. I liked that scene. :-)
I don't remember ever hearing about this movie but it's not a bad one. I could have been happier with another Fogg, and Schwarzy was unnecessary, but the rest I liked.
Both the action scenes and the funny lines were alright :-)
ITA il giro del mondo in 80 giorni
Sea of love - 1989
Not too bad, but nothing too good either. There's Al Pacino in it, and that's not only a good thing, but it's basically the only thing that makes this film worth a rewatch. He's a detective; he's still not over the fact that his wife divorced him, and the fact that she lives now with his partner is not easy I guess. When they find a man murdered, all Frank (Pacino) can think of seems to be his ex-wife living with Gruber (Richard Jenkins). When detective Sherman (John Goodman) informs him that he had in his district an identical murder, the two start working together. They discover that all the dead men had paid to have a personal ad appear on a paper. A poem. The detectives then think that a woman who likes poetry dated them and then killed them. They arrange to have a similar ad printed in the 'singles' column in a newspaper , using a poem written by Frank's mother when she was a girl, then the plan is simple: in turns, one of them plays the part of the 'date' and the other plays the waiter, so to gain access to the glass the woman touched and have them processed for prints. First, Frank meets one woman after the other in a bar while Sherman plays the waiter. One by one they go away (I didn't like how unpleasant he was towards that older woman. She was beautiful and did not deserve his harsh comments). Finally Helen (Ellen Barkin) walks in. Like the others, she replied to Frank's ad, but she does not touch her glass. She says it can not work between them and goes away without drinking. They go on with their job, and a man, Terry, known to have been working in one of the buildings where a murder occurred, throws them on a false track talking of a delivery boy.
Frank meets Helen again, and this time she seems to be all smiles, and they start dating, and the thing gets kind of serious, but there are problems. Once he sees a gun in her bag and freaks out, treats her very roughly only to discover it's a fake gun. He has the chance to get her fingerprints but he believes in her innocence so he doesn't hand the glass over to be processed as proof; she is annoyed to find out that he is a cop, because she doesn't like that he lied to her, but he has to keep lying because he can't reveal the truth yet. He is then resolved that he can no more live without her, but then he finds out that she dated all the men that were murdered, and suddenly he believes she did it. When she joins him in his house, he confronts her, asks her why, but she's scared and doesn't understand what got into him. After she leaves, Terry comes in. It turns out he's her ex-husband, and that she had no idea he was so close, she had no idea of where he was. Frank and Terry fight for some time until Terry falls out of the window and dies. The investigation is closed, but so seems to be their relationship. Time passes, Frank gives up drinking, and then go to make peace with Helen. At first she's too angry, but then she forgives him. Happy ending.
I liked him a lot (I liked the fact that he was no kind of terminator at all, confronted with a gun pointed at him he freaked out :lol: ), but I did not like her. Maybe with another actress I would have liked the movie more, who knows.
ITA seduzione pericolosa
Frank meets Helen again, and this time she seems to be all smiles, and they start dating, and the thing gets kind of serious, but there are problems. Once he sees a gun in her bag and freaks out, treats her very roughly only to discover it's a fake gun. He has the chance to get her fingerprints but he believes in her innocence so he doesn't hand the glass over to be processed as proof; she is annoyed to find out that he is a cop, because she doesn't like that he lied to her, but he has to keep lying because he can't reveal the truth yet. He is then resolved that he can no more live without her, but then he finds out that she dated all the men that were murdered, and suddenly he believes she did it. When she joins him in his house, he confronts her, asks her why, but she's scared and doesn't understand what got into him. After she leaves, Terry comes in. It turns out he's her ex-husband, and that she had no idea he was so close, she had no idea of where he was. Frank and Terry fight for some time until Terry falls out of the window and dies. The investigation is closed, but so seems to be their relationship. Time passes, Frank gives up drinking, and then go to make peace with Helen. At first she's too angry, but then she forgives him. Happy ending.
I liked him a lot (I liked the fact that he was no kind of terminator at all, confronted with a gun pointed at him he freaked out :lol: ), but I did not like her. Maybe with another actress I would have liked the movie more, who knows.
ITA seduzione pericolosa
In the cut - 2003
A bad movie. Awful, really terrible. Meg Ryan must have really hated her "America's sweetheart" reputation, to destroy it like this. A bad movie with bad acting and bad dialogs, I didn't like it at all.
The story: Detective Malloy and his partner are investigating a series of murders: girls cut to pieces, blood everywhere. Malloy (Mark Ruffalo) starts a relationship with Franny (Meg Ryan), a sort of witness. She saw a man with one of the victims, a man with the same tattoo he has. When she tells him that she saw him with that poor girl, he replies "it wasn't me". For this reason she thinks he's a liar, but keeps seeing him. Basically we're either looking at very messy crime scenes, or we are looking at them naked/hearing them talk about sex or murder. The dialogs were terrible, and Franny did not seem a teacher at all. Franny's half sister Pauline is also killed. Malloy wants to go back to the house to look around, he has the key, so Franny again thinks it was him, but then again they are together and she handcuffs him to play a sex game, then she sees that he found the bracelet's pendant that she had lost the night she was assaulted, and now she's again sure it was him. She runs out of the house leaving him handcuffed there and meets Malloy's partner; she runs into his arms crying that Malloy's the murderer, that she saw his tattoo, and he drives her away. Only after he takes her to a lighthouse she sees he has the same tattoo! Ooops, it was him, not Malloy. Franny still has Malloy's gun, so she shoots him in the leg, then when he tries to strangle her she manages to shoot him again, in the chest this time. She kills him then she comes back home, still in her red dress, all covered in blood.
That was probably the only scene worth remembering, when she stood in her red dress, all her body covered in blood, hitch-hiking.
It was terrible, really terrible. And what about that other bloke played by Kevin Bacon? A character completely crazy, and she never makes a fuss of finding him around or even inside her own house.
Awful.
The story: Detective Malloy and his partner are investigating a series of murders: girls cut to pieces, blood everywhere. Malloy (Mark Ruffalo) starts a relationship with Franny (Meg Ryan), a sort of witness. She saw a man with one of the victims, a man with the same tattoo he has. When she tells him that she saw him with that poor girl, he replies "it wasn't me". For this reason she thinks he's a liar, but keeps seeing him. Basically we're either looking at very messy crime scenes, or we are looking at them naked/hearing them talk about sex or murder. The dialogs were terrible, and Franny did not seem a teacher at all. Franny's half sister Pauline is also killed. Malloy wants to go back to the house to look around, he has the key, so Franny again thinks it was him, but then again they are together and she handcuffs him to play a sex game, then she sees that he found the bracelet's pendant that she had lost the night she was assaulted, and now she's again sure it was him. She runs out of the house leaving him handcuffed there and meets Malloy's partner; she runs into his arms crying that Malloy's the murderer, that she saw his tattoo, and he drives her away. Only after he takes her to a lighthouse she sees he has the same tattoo! Ooops, it was him, not Malloy. Franny still has Malloy's gun, so she shoots him in the leg, then when he tries to strangle her she manages to shoot him again, in the chest this time. She kills him then she comes back home, still in her red dress, all covered in blood.
That was probably the only scene worth remembering, when she stood in her red dress, all her body covered in blood, hitch-hiking.
It was terrible, really terrible. And what about that other bloke played by Kevin Bacon? A character completely crazy, and she never makes a fuss of finding him around or even inside her own house.
Awful.
The carousel by Rosamunde Pilcher
Well, as my first Pilcher's book it was kind of a disappointment, but I can see its merits too. Maybe it just suffers the passing of time, maybe in 1982 the characters didn't appear so plain and unreal, and the plot was not so predictable back then. Maybe.
Now in 2016 unfortunately everything does appear plain and predictable. She writes well, that's true, but I can easily see why so many of her books (if not all of them) have been made into films, because the background is essential, and the heart of it all.
Somehow it mains me to say this, but I didn't like it. The characters were very plain.
Prue has the kind of boyfriend that mothers like (her mom too) but doesn't make her laugh; she goes to her aunt Phoebe's home to help her because she broke her arm (not that she does much helping, to be honest, basically she drives her to a neighbor's house once and that's it) and surprise (?) she meets famous and rich painter Daniel and falls for him in a moment. I so didn't like him. He never made me laugh, on the contrary I found him very unpleasant. As most artists (or most men?) he runs away from responsibilities. It turns out that sweet and lonely child Charlotte is Daniel's daughter (he had an affair with her mother Annabelle 11 years ago) and very conveniently what happens? Her mom runs away with another man, her "father" doesn't want her because he always knew she was not his, her grandma can't have that burden on her shoulders, so she goes to live with Prue and Phoebe. Charlotte has known Daniel for no more than a day but already loves him (blood doesn't lie, they say...)
Daniel runs away, escaping the responsibility again, but it takes him only two days to change him and he comes back, and tells Prue his plan to adopt Charlotte. He was like a wanderer who had always thought only of himself, but in only two days he has bought a car, arranged where to live with the child, reached an agreement with Charlotte's other-father, and made up his mind to adopt her and live with her and with Prue. Easy, isn't it? He found out he's much richer than he thought too!! This because for ten years his agent has thought of everything for him, that it involved finding an accountant, a lawyer or arrange his exhibitions, he did everything himself, honest and reliable... do this kind of people really exist in real life???
But the worst thing for me were the dialogs. Plain, unreal characters can sometimes be ok in this kind of stories, but the dialogs were so... can't find the right word here, they were unreal and annoying and false. I did not find Daniel funny or charming at all. This is what killed the story, I believe.
I so liked her boyfriend in London, much more than I liked Daniel!
ITA le bianche dune della Cornovaglia
Now in 2016 unfortunately everything does appear plain and predictable. She writes well, that's true, but I can easily see why so many of her books (if not all of them) have been made into films, because the background is essential, and the heart of it all.
Somehow it mains me to say this, but I didn't like it. The characters were very plain.
Prue has the kind of boyfriend that mothers like (her mom too) but doesn't make her laugh; she goes to her aunt Phoebe's home to help her because she broke her arm (not that she does much helping, to be honest, basically she drives her to a neighbor's house once and that's it) and surprise (?) she meets famous and rich painter Daniel and falls for him in a moment. I so didn't like him. He never made me laugh, on the contrary I found him very unpleasant. As most artists (or most men?) he runs away from responsibilities. It turns out that sweet and lonely child Charlotte is Daniel's daughter (he had an affair with her mother Annabelle 11 years ago) and very conveniently what happens? Her mom runs away with another man, her "father" doesn't want her because he always knew she was not his, her grandma can't have that burden on her shoulders, so she goes to live with Prue and Phoebe. Charlotte has known Daniel for no more than a day but already loves him (blood doesn't lie, they say...)
Daniel runs away, escaping the responsibility again, but it takes him only two days to change him and he comes back, and tells Prue his plan to adopt Charlotte. He was like a wanderer who had always thought only of himself, but in only two days he has bought a car, arranged where to live with the child, reached an agreement with Charlotte's other-father, and made up his mind to adopt her and live with her and with Prue. Easy, isn't it? He found out he's much richer than he thought too!! This because for ten years his agent has thought of everything for him, that it involved finding an accountant, a lawyer or arrange his exhibitions, he did everything himself, honest and reliable... do this kind of people really exist in real life???
But the worst thing for me were the dialogs. Plain, unreal characters can sometimes be ok in this kind of stories, but the dialogs were so... can't find the right word here, they were unreal and annoying and false. I did not find Daniel funny or charming at all. This is what killed the story, I believe.
I so liked her boyfriend in London, much more than I liked Daniel!
ITA le bianche dune della Cornovaglia
domenica 15 maggio 2016
Xin jing cha gu shi - 2004
That should be the original title of the movie that I know as "New police story". I liked it, it's a Jackie Chan movie, but with less laughing and more crying than usual. I don't know, maybe it was just me but I cried...
Jackie Chan is inspector Chan, a hero, a supercop, he never fails, until a new gang of robbers appears. Four boys and a girl heavily armed who rob banks and then wait for the police to come with the purpose of killing as many as they can, taking counts like in a game. Chan promises to catch them in three hours (... :-/...) but they knew he was coming. The gang set up a big trap. Chan is separated from his men, and one by one they are hurt and taken prisoner. The gang leader Joe (I think) - (Daniel Wu, handsome and cool) plays with him and then kills them all in front of him. The gang escapes and Chan is devastated, takes leave from work and starts drinking, a lot, and ignoring everything and everyone, even his fiancée (Charlie Yeung). He feels so guilty he can't forgive himself (he will discover later on that they were betrayed). He's lost and in pain, until one day a young man picks him up and helps him (that he wants it or not!).
This guy Cheng (Nicholas Tse) says he's his new partner and tries everything he can to get him back together. Slowly Chan starts working again, after Cheng tells him that one of the officers that died that day was his older brother. With the help of Sahsa (Charlene Choi), a girl who works in the police force as a technician, they find the gang: all rich boys. It won't be easy to stop them, and even Chan's girlfriend will be hurt (but she'll get better in the end and Chan will propose to her again :-D ).
A nice switch is when Chan finds out that Cheng is not who he said he was, he's not even a cop, but he cares a lot about Chan and in the end he will remember why: when Cheng was a little boy, his broke father stole some food for him and was killed by a truck while trying to escape. The boy is witness to it all, and sees Chan arriving and covering the body with his coat (the same one that Cheng now wears everywhere, only to leave it behind when his 'job of helping Chan' is done). Chan gave him food and words of comfort.
The final showdown is long and dramatic. The girl has already died, and the four boys are planning another cop-massacre when they see their parents entering the building. A boy runs to them and Joe kills him personally as a traitor, and he also accidentally injures the other two.
Obviously it had to end with Joe and Chan face to face, as it always happens in every action movie. Joe keeps on playing with Chan, threatening Cheng's life, when a lot of policemen and special forces surround them. Joe can't stop, he's not the common spoiled brat. He's ruined, broken inside. He never did it for the money, he wanted to kill cops because his father is a cop. The father who has beaten and humiliated him all his life. When he understands there is no getting out of the situation, with lots of weapons pointed at him and his father yelling what a disgrace he is, he chooses his escape: suicide by cop. He points his empty gun at Chan first and then at his father, and is twice shot in the chest. The end. Chan tries to save Cheng, until the firemen save them both. He then proposes again to his girlfriend who loves him deeply and Cheng goes away leaving his coat behind. Giving it back, in a way.
It was very dramatic, much tougher then I expected from a Jackie Chan movie. There isn't much to laugh about in this film, maybe once or twice, yes, but it is mostly dramatic. I don't remember ever seeing a Jackie Chan movie with so many deaths in it.
Let's not talk about the detail that Chan can shoot better firing his gun at random without even looking than those guys with their assault rifles...
A funny scene was when Chan and Cheng are imprisoned and Sahsa comes to free them, because her father is the guardian of their cell, and when they tell her 'do something', she can only think of one thing: she fakes crying "my dad told me to become a policeman and uphold justice but it was all a lie, I'll resign tomorrow" so the father gives a big sigh and goes to the bathroom giving them the keys :-p then the two of them escape trying not to be noticed but they make a lot of noises and everybody sees them but just pretends they haven't :-p
Jackie Chan is inspector Chan, a hero, a supercop, he never fails, until a new gang of robbers appears. Four boys and a girl heavily armed who rob banks and then wait for the police to come with the purpose of killing as many as they can, taking counts like in a game. Chan promises to catch them in three hours (... :-/...) but they knew he was coming. The gang set up a big trap. Chan is separated from his men, and one by one they are hurt and taken prisoner. The gang leader Joe (I think) - (Daniel Wu, handsome and cool) plays with him and then kills them all in front of him. The gang escapes and Chan is devastated, takes leave from work and starts drinking, a lot, and ignoring everything and everyone, even his fiancée (Charlie Yeung). He feels so guilty he can't forgive himself (he will discover later on that they were betrayed). He's lost and in pain, until one day a young man picks him up and helps him (that he wants it or not!).
This guy Cheng (Nicholas Tse) says he's his new partner and tries everything he can to get him back together. Slowly Chan starts working again, after Cheng tells him that one of the officers that died that day was his older brother. With the help of Sahsa (Charlene Choi), a girl who works in the police force as a technician, they find the gang: all rich boys. It won't be easy to stop them, and even Chan's girlfriend will be hurt (but she'll get better in the end and Chan will propose to her again :-D ).
A nice switch is when Chan finds out that Cheng is not who he said he was, he's not even a cop, but he cares a lot about Chan and in the end he will remember why: when Cheng was a little boy, his broke father stole some food for him and was killed by a truck while trying to escape. The boy is witness to it all, and sees Chan arriving and covering the body with his coat (the same one that Cheng now wears everywhere, only to leave it behind when his 'job of helping Chan' is done). Chan gave him food and words of comfort.
The final showdown is long and dramatic. The girl has already died, and the four boys are planning another cop-massacre when they see their parents entering the building. A boy runs to them and Joe kills him personally as a traitor, and he also accidentally injures the other two.
Obviously it had to end with Joe and Chan face to face, as it always happens in every action movie. Joe keeps on playing with Chan, threatening Cheng's life, when a lot of policemen and special forces surround them. Joe can't stop, he's not the common spoiled brat. He's ruined, broken inside. He never did it for the money, he wanted to kill cops because his father is a cop. The father who has beaten and humiliated him all his life. When he understands there is no getting out of the situation, with lots of weapons pointed at him and his father yelling what a disgrace he is, he chooses his escape: suicide by cop. He points his empty gun at Chan first and then at his father, and is twice shot in the chest. The end. Chan tries to save Cheng, until the firemen save them both. He then proposes again to his girlfriend who loves him deeply and Cheng goes away leaving his coat behind. Giving it back, in a way.
It was very dramatic, much tougher then I expected from a Jackie Chan movie. There isn't much to laugh about in this film, maybe once or twice, yes, but it is mostly dramatic. I don't remember ever seeing a Jackie Chan movie with so many deaths in it.
Let's not talk about the detail that Chan can shoot better firing his gun at random without even looking than those guys with their assault rifles...
A funny scene was when Chan and Cheng are imprisoned and Sahsa comes to free them, because her father is the guardian of their cell, and when they tell her 'do something', she can only think of one thing: she fakes crying "my dad told me to become a policeman and uphold justice but it was all a lie, I'll resign tomorrow" so the father gives a big sigh and goes to the bathroom giving them the keys :-p then the two of them escape trying not to be noticed but they make a lot of noises and everybody sees them but just pretends they haven't :-p
Entre las piernas - 1999
It means 'between the legs' in Spanish, but it's not a porn movie; let's be clear from the start there is actually very little sex scenes involved and only a couple of nude scenes. It's actually a sort of thriller, and not a bad one. Miranda (Victoria Abril) meets Javier (Javier Bardem) at a secret meeting, a therapy group for sex addicts, and they start seeing each other. They almost do it that same night in a car park, inside a random, abandoned car left unlocked, but she stops and runs home. She has a husband, Felix (Carmelo Gomez), and a daughter. Things get complicated very quickly, and we learn a piece of it at the time throughout the whole movie. Javier is a famous screenwriter, and has a sort of fetish for phone-sex. Once he met a woman who started telling him stories. He was gripped by the stories or by her, by both maybe. They started an affair (Javier was married too at the time, but the marriage will soon end) and there were a lot of these stories told to each other on the phone. Now, the night he walks Miranda at the radio station where she works, a man comes up to him saying he recognized his voice from some famous tapes circulating all over Madrid. Javier learns this way that his phone-calls have been taped and distributed. One night Felix is out on the streets and sees Miranda getting in a car with Javier. He follows them only to see them having sex in a club. Felix is a policeman, and he just had his proof. His world is shattered to pieces. He doesn't tell her what he saw, but she soon guesses the truth and gets scared because she heard in the news of another policeman who shot his wife in similar circumstances (more or less, I don't know if she cheated or not but she clearly didn't want anything to do with him anymore and told him so) - a man who later has the 'nice' idea of shooting himself in Felix's house and with Felix's gun.
Javier finds out that his business partner is now living with his (Javier's) wife, and also that it was him who distributed those tapes after being blackmailed; apparently that woman threatened to expose the illegal porn videotapes he made using hidden cameras, or something like that. Things get even more complicated when a body is found in that same abandoned car that Javier and Miranda used that night. It's the body of a guy that for a long time obsessed Javier with his scripts until Javier sent him a very brutal letter to get rid of him, but also the same guy who had something to do with his business partner's illegal activities (somehow, not too clear on that...).
Felix is in charge of the investigation, and he goes to question Javier, finding Miranda there. Felix looks really out of his mind, like a bomb ready to explode. Javier informs his partner of what's going on (meaning, that the police are here asking about that dead man), and both of them meet Felix right after his confrontation with Miranda. Felix shouts at Javier but his partner gets scared, thinking Felix is talking to him, and runs out only to get hit by a car and die. The police find out about his past and close the case believing he's the murderer, so Javier is safe now, but Felix can't let it go, he's sure Javier did it, but how can he be "really sure"? He actually has no proof at all, he just wants Javier to be guilty because of Miranda. Too scared to go back home, now Miranda lives with Javier, and in another flashback we see the end of the story. Javier had gone to that woman's house to talk about those tapes and she admitted everything , but also told him that those stories were the same written in the scripts that he had rejected as scum. Apparently she wanted to avenge her friend's work and reputation. Being the addict he is, the fight ends with them having oral sex, where he finds out that she's not simply a friend of that wanna-be-writer, they are actually the same person, and in his shock and repulsion he grabs something and hits him/her on the head at least twice. So it was him! Felix was right! The film ends with another revelation. While Felix discovers he has won something (maybe a lottery of some kind, he has a ticket and he's told he's been lucky) he sees his daughter coming back from a trip and smiles: he has a precious daughter, his life is not over - we see Miranda and Javier at the airport, ready to fly somewhere together. He meets a taxi-driver coming back from a trip with his family: this was another one of the stories in the movie. This man told Javier of how his life got ruined because he didn't resist and had unprotected sex with a stranger and is now sick and his wife took the kids and left him. He doesn't have a lot to live, and we discover now that after hitting that guy Javier had called him on the phone and given him money to hide the body somewhere, money that he used to take his family to Disneyland to create good memories before he dies.
All these people's stories are tied together in some way, and the last we see of Miranda and Javier is when they go on board of the plane, taking advantage of two seats left empty by someone who didn't show up, exactly the same thing that happened in one of those script/stories, where the plane blows up killing everyone. Of course we don't know what happens in reality to 'this' plane, we only know they're happy and together, we're not told if they actually land safe and sound or not.
Anyway, the film was a pleasant surprise, well done and captivating till the end.
My guess is, with another title it would have been more successful. I watched it because it was on tv and because being old I had already read something about it here and there on the internet, but I would have never gone to the cinema for such a title.
ITA tra le gambe
Javier finds out that his business partner is now living with his (Javier's) wife, and also that it was him who distributed those tapes after being blackmailed; apparently that woman threatened to expose the illegal porn videotapes he made using hidden cameras, or something like that. Things get even more complicated when a body is found in that same abandoned car that Javier and Miranda used that night. It's the body of a guy that for a long time obsessed Javier with his scripts until Javier sent him a very brutal letter to get rid of him, but also the same guy who had something to do with his business partner's illegal activities (somehow, not too clear on that...).
Felix is in charge of the investigation, and he goes to question Javier, finding Miranda there. Felix looks really out of his mind, like a bomb ready to explode. Javier informs his partner of what's going on (meaning, that the police are here asking about that dead man), and both of them meet Felix right after his confrontation with Miranda. Felix shouts at Javier but his partner gets scared, thinking Felix is talking to him, and runs out only to get hit by a car and die. The police find out about his past and close the case believing he's the murderer, so Javier is safe now, but Felix can't let it go, he's sure Javier did it, but how can he be "really sure"? He actually has no proof at all, he just wants Javier to be guilty because of Miranda. Too scared to go back home, now Miranda lives with Javier, and in another flashback we see the end of the story. Javier had gone to that woman's house to talk about those tapes and she admitted everything , but also told him that those stories were the same written in the scripts that he had rejected as scum. Apparently she wanted to avenge her friend's work and reputation. Being the addict he is, the fight ends with them having oral sex, where he finds out that she's not simply a friend of that wanna-be-writer, they are actually the same person, and in his shock and repulsion he grabs something and hits him/her on the head at least twice. So it was him! Felix was right! The film ends with another revelation. While Felix discovers he has won something (maybe a lottery of some kind, he has a ticket and he's told he's been lucky) he sees his daughter coming back from a trip and smiles: he has a precious daughter, his life is not over - we see Miranda and Javier at the airport, ready to fly somewhere together. He meets a taxi-driver coming back from a trip with his family: this was another one of the stories in the movie. This man told Javier of how his life got ruined because he didn't resist and had unprotected sex with a stranger and is now sick and his wife took the kids and left him. He doesn't have a lot to live, and we discover now that after hitting that guy Javier had called him on the phone and given him money to hide the body somewhere, money that he used to take his family to Disneyland to create good memories before he dies.
All these people's stories are tied together in some way, and the last we see of Miranda and Javier is when they go on board of the plane, taking advantage of two seats left empty by someone who didn't show up, exactly the same thing that happened in one of those script/stories, where the plane blows up killing everyone. Of course we don't know what happens in reality to 'this' plane, we only know they're happy and together, we're not told if they actually land safe and sound or not.
Anyway, the film was a pleasant surprise, well done and captivating till the end.
My guess is, with another title it would have been more successful. I watched it because it was on tv and because being old I had already read something about it here and there on the internet, but I would have never gone to the cinema for such a title.
ITA tra le gambe
Radio - 2003
I liked this movie, I found it very touching and I really enjoyed Ed Harris' acting. Apparently it's a true story because at the end they show the real Radio and the real coach, which makes it even more touching. It's the story of Radio, a retarded guy who wanders around the high-school until coach Jones (Harris) takes an interest in him. At first Radio (Cuba Gooding Jr) is so fearful and shy he doesn't even talk so they call him Radio because he likes radios so much he always has one with him. Coach Jones starts taking Radio to football matches and training, spending a lot of time with him, thus taking time from his own family. Slowly the kids in school as well as the people in town grow fond of him, because Radio is good, simple, friendly. Radio causes trouble too, sometimes, for example at a match when he shouts out loud in his enthusiasm the team strategy, so the ambitious father of the star player (of both football and basketball, apparently) is against him and wants him gone, putting Jones in a difficult position; however, his wife tells him that it's never a mistake to care about someone, and with the support of his wife and daughter he decides to step down from his position of high school coach. He loves football very much, but there are things more important :-)
I liked the scene when the coach tells his daughter about an episode of his past, when he saw another child who needed help but did nothing about it, to explain why he can't do the same thing this time. I liked it because he said it to her. I wouldn't have liked it had he said that to someone else, it would have seemed a cheap trick to gain sympathies. But saying that to her is different, to me it felt like telling his daughter that he's not choosing someone else over her, he's simply doing something that he feels it's right, that he has to do. She had felt sort of put in a corner, as if Radio was more important than her, but now she understands :-)
About the acting, I don't know how to judge Gooding's performance, without knowing the real Radio or anybody like him, but I sure felt involved in the story, and never felt he was 'off-key'. What really gripped me was Harris' acting, he was really good, I liked him very much. He was touching, never overdoing it. His acting was the winning point because he looked like a real man, a tough coach but also a good, caring man.
The movie ends saying that Radio, now in his 50s, is still present at every football match.
It was a good movie, and it's a shock to think that Gooding was actually 35 years old! Watching the movie he never seemed so "old". I'm glad I didn't even recognize him, I learned it was him when I looked it up on IMDB. Once or twice, watching the movie, I thought "but how old is Radio?" because it was not clear to me how to place him..
I also liked Alfre Woodard as the Principal of the school, she was very good too, indeed.
ITA Mi chiamano Radio
I liked the scene when the coach tells his daughter about an episode of his past, when he saw another child who needed help but did nothing about it, to explain why he can't do the same thing this time. I liked it because he said it to her. I wouldn't have liked it had he said that to someone else, it would have seemed a cheap trick to gain sympathies. But saying that to her is different, to me it felt like telling his daughter that he's not choosing someone else over her, he's simply doing something that he feels it's right, that he has to do. She had felt sort of put in a corner, as if Radio was more important than her, but now she understands :-)
About the acting, I don't know how to judge Gooding's performance, without knowing the real Radio or anybody like him, but I sure felt involved in the story, and never felt he was 'off-key'. What really gripped me was Harris' acting, he was really good, I liked him very much. He was touching, never overdoing it. His acting was the winning point because he looked like a real man, a tough coach but also a good, caring man.
The movie ends saying that Radio, now in his 50s, is still present at every football match.
It was a good movie, and it's a shock to think that Gooding was actually 35 years old! Watching the movie he never seemed so "old". I'm glad I didn't even recognize him, I learned it was him when I looked it up on IMDB. Once or twice, watching the movie, I thought "but how old is Radio?" because it was not clear to me how to place him..
I also liked Alfre Woodard as the Principal of the school, she was very good too, indeed.
ITA Mi chiamano Radio
domenica 8 maggio 2016
Bo bui gai wak - 2006
I suppose that's the original Chinese title, I found it on the internet, but I know it as Rob-b-hood.
It was nice, a classic Jackie Chan movie, with characters that are a bit stupid but not too bad after all, and funny and unusual fight scenes. Since fights and generally action scenes are always present in his movies, there's always a sort of innovation, a research for new ways of showing old things.
Here he plays Thongs (sic) who is a thief and a gambler who never ever wins, basically he's a loser and his old father's reason for shame. He works with Octopus (ri-sic) who acts like a bastard with his beautiful and poor wife, treating her very badly.
They work with an old thief who taught them all the secrets of his 'profession', and who lives with a good but a bit crazy woman who treats a doll like a real baby.
They steal everything they can sell for good money. At the beginning of the movie they are stealing expensive drugs from a hospital when a crazy guy kidnaps a baby , just born, because he wants the young mother to go away with him. All security is on him, and eventually he falls to his death, but Thongs manages to save the baby. After that they go back to their usual life of stealing money and then throw them away in different ways. One day they are offered three millions to kidnap a baby, and later the reward will rise to thirty millions! A lot of money, no doubt, but they've spent a lot of time learning how to take care of a little baby, they have taken lessons, learned to change him, feed him, make him stop crying, and who could resist that, of course they grow fond of the little one. Of course that little smile melts their hearts. As soon as they give the baby to the boss who wants him, they get really worried about him and try to get him back.
The old boss is the father of the crazy guy that died falling in that hospital, and he thinks that this baby is his grandson, but a quick (very quick) blood test proves that he's not, the baby is the son of his mother and her husband, how about that! The old man loses it definitely, leaves the baby to freeze with the corpse of his own son and goes away. Our two 'heroes' save the baby (but only because an inspector comes to save them).
It all ends with the baby being saved, of course, and the three thieves being arrested. Now they all try to make amends to start a new life. They will be released soon and are offered a job by the baby's family as a thank you for saving him. Octopus (sigh) has a lot to be forgiven for but his wife seems to enjoy having him as her doorstep now :lol:
The Chinese title says nothing to me but apparently it is very similar to the title of a Chan's old movie.
It was nice, a classic Jackie Chan movie, with characters that are a bit stupid but not too bad after all, and funny and unusual fight scenes. Since fights and generally action scenes are always present in his movies, there's always a sort of innovation, a research for new ways of showing old things.
Here he plays Thongs (sic) who is a thief and a gambler who never ever wins, basically he's a loser and his old father's reason for shame. He works with Octopus (ri-sic) who acts like a bastard with his beautiful and poor wife, treating her very badly.
They work with an old thief who taught them all the secrets of his 'profession', and who lives with a good but a bit crazy woman who treats a doll like a real baby.
They steal everything they can sell for good money. At the beginning of the movie they are stealing expensive drugs from a hospital when a crazy guy kidnaps a baby , just born, because he wants the young mother to go away with him. All security is on him, and eventually he falls to his death, but Thongs manages to save the baby. After that they go back to their usual life of stealing money and then throw them away in different ways. One day they are offered three millions to kidnap a baby, and later the reward will rise to thirty millions! A lot of money, no doubt, but they've spent a lot of time learning how to take care of a little baby, they have taken lessons, learned to change him, feed him, make him stop crying, and who could resist that, of course they grow fond of the little one. Of course that little smile melts their hearts. As soon as they give the baby to the boss who wants him, they get really worried about him and try to get him back.
The old boss is the father of the crazy guy that died falling in that hospital, and he thinks that this baby is his grandson, but a quick (very quick) blood test proves that he's not, the baby is the son of his mother and her husband, how about that! The old man loses it definitely, leaves the baby to freeze with the corpse of his own son and goes away. Our two 'heroes' save the baby (but only because an inspector comes to save them).
It all ends with the baby being saved, of course, and the three thieves being arrested. Now they all try to make amends to start a new life. They will be released soon and are offered a job by the baby's family as a thank you for saving him. Octopus (sigh) has a lot to be forgiven for but his wife seems to enjoy having him as her doorstep now :lol:
The Chinese title says nothing to me but apparently it is very similar to the title of a Chan's old movie.
Magic Mike - 2012
As bad as I though, maybe even worse. Why did I watch it then, if I knew beforehand? Well, it was on tv and therefore free, so I thought, why not? Just out of curiosity. Well, the actors are cute, sure: Mike (Channing Tatum) and even more Adam (Alex Pettyfer) - I never cared much for Matthew McConaughey, honestly - but you know, once I've seen them shirtless a couple of times, that's enough, the strip-scenes become boring, to be honest, they're all the same after all. Aside from that there's not much more, almost nothing. Adam's sister is the only person that seemed real to me.
I can't tell you how it ends because I couldn't bear it till the end, so when a guy gave Adam some strange drugs and told him to try his wife's boobs, I decided I had more than enough, switched off the tv and went to make me some tea.
I can't tell you how it ends because I couldn't bear it till the end, so when a guy gave Adam some strange drugs and told him to try his wife's boobs, I decided I had more than enough, switched off the tv and went to make me some tea.
Hitch - 2005
I liked this, it was fun, it was much nicer than its trailer led me to believe. First of all Will Smith's character Alex Hitch is really a nice guy, a sweet puppy, and not a total jerk. The story is pretty simple: Hitch helps uncool guys have a shot with the woman of their dreams who usually doesn't even know they exist. He creates the right opportunity, teaches them how to behave on the first date, until the couple kisses for the first time, then they're on their own. He calls himself "the date doctor" and last he helps chubby, messy Albert (Kevin James) have a chance with rich, famous and beautiful Allegra Cole (Amber Valletta). Meanwhile, unknown of his real job, Sara (Eva Mendes) goes out with him a couple of times, all of which are a complete disaster, but leave an unforgettable sign on her :lol: She has a gossip column on a paper, and as she herself puts it she deals with gossip, not facts, still I think she got away with what she did too easily. She was a real bitch, if you pardon my language, she really was. Thing is, a shit guy wanted to hire Alex to help him "bang" a woman (disgusting guy), but Alex refuses because Alex deals with "love" and the guy's just a pig (I apologize to the pigs).
The woman he was talking about is Sara's best friend who is hurt by him, and Sara thinks Alex helped him hurt her, but she doesn't put that man on the front page of her paper, no, she puts Albert's relationship with Allegra, because she wouldn't do that to her dear friend, because Allegra is famous and because frankly she doesn't care one bit to destroy her happiness (she herself, watching the unusual couple, marveled at how happy Allegra seemed to be). I think nothing justifies what she did. Had she talked only of Alex it would have been more acceptable, she was clearly a broken heart looking for revenge behind the useful cover of her friend's story, but if someone hurts you this doesn't give you the right to involve other people you know nothing about.
Alex goes to talk to Allegra to explain to her he only provided Albert with a chance to be noticed, and she has to admit she probably wouldn't have , otherwise. She asks him if all the things she liked about Albert were researched by Alex, but no, she came to like Albert because he was sweet and funny and made her feel good with herself.
Sara apologizes to Alex (and only to him). Thanks to Albert, Alex realizes he must stop running away from love just because he was once hurt, so he goes to Sara to confess his love. He's now no more the self-confident professional, just a blubbering-guy who can't even talk to her if she looks at him. So he speaks to her through her closed door: "what do you want Alex?" "you". That was good, because it is always a good one and because he said it well.
So, happy ending all over, with Albert marrying Allegra :-)
I'm not a fan of Eva Mendes, but here she was ok (I'm not saying she can only play the heartless bitch, but simply that here she was ok). On the other hand I do like Will Smith and I did like him here. It was much much nicer than I had prognosticated, it was lots of fun, and it was sweet and romantic. Albert and Allegra were well casted, she was perfect in her role, I liked Allegra a lot.
ITA - (purtroppo) Hitch lui si che capisce le donne (sic)
The woman he was talking about is Sara's best friend who is hurt by him, and Sara thinks Alex helped him hurt her, but she doesn't put that man on the front page of her paper, no, she puts Albert's relationship with Allegra, because she wouldn't do that to her dear friend, because Allegra is famous and because frankly she doesn't care one bit to destroy her happiness (she herself, watching the unusual couple, marveled at how happy Allegra seemed to be). I think nothing justifies what she did. Had she talked only of Alex it would have been more acceptable, she was clearly a broken heart looking for revenge behind the useful cover of her friend's story, but if someone hurts you this doesn't give you the right to involve other people you know nothing about.
Alex goes to talk to Allegra to explain to her he only provided Albert with a chance to be noticed, and she has to admit she probably wouldn't have , otherwise. She asks him if all the things she liked about Albert were researched by Alex, but no, she came to like Albert because he was sweet and funny and made her feel good with herself.
Sara apologizes to Alex (and only to him). Thanks to Albert, Alex realizes he must stop running away from love just because he was once hurt, so he goes to Sara to confess his love. He's now no more the self-confident professional, just a blubbering-guy who can't even talk to her if she looks at him. So he speaks to her through her closed door: "what do you want Alex?" "you". That was good, because it is always a good one and because he said it well.
So, happy ending all over, with Albert marrying Allegra :-)
I'm not a fan of Eva Mendes, but here she was ok (I'm not saying she can only play the heartless bitch, but simply that here she was ok). On the other hand I do like Will Smith and I did like him here. It was much much nicer than I had prognosticated, it was lots of fun, and it was sweet and romantic. Albert and Allegra were well casted, she was perfect in her role, I liked Allegra a lot.
ITA - (purtroppo) Hitch lui si che capisce le donne (sic)
Merlin - the series in general
I've watched it on tv, here and there, and it was good, yes, but the ending is very bitter and abrupt, I don't think I'll ever buy it. Finally this century has seen an improvement in how series are made and considered, with more care and respect. They are not b-products now, but real cinema. This series is good too, it has good acting and it's well done. Five series of young sorcerer Merlin hiding his magic to serve and protect young Arthur, son of king of Camelot Uther Pendragon. I gladly saw Anthony Head in the role of the king, I really like him. Sure the king was often quite irritating, but he's a very good actor, and so lovely and sexy :-p
Magic is forbidden, so Merlin has to hide his powers to protect the person he believes (he knows) will be the king to bring peace on Camelot. What makes this series so interesting is all there: the great friendship between Merlin and Arthur - it is fantastic and lovely to watch. And yet it is often frustrating, because Arthur has no idea of how much Merlin is helping him, Merlin constantly has to hide what he does, lie every day. So ofter Arthur refers to Merlin as nothing more than a good friend, a sort of good-for-nothing. I mean, although Merlin has saved him so many times, to his eyes Merlin does very little, and that is why I longed for more, at the end.
Of course there are many differences between the series and the legend, but so what, this is not an historical documentary, it's a fantasy series!
The great love between the two men that although being king and servant are real true friends is what gives life to all. The acting is good, throughout the five series.
Now talking about the last episodes.
I liked Mordred and Kara's dramatic scenes, really really good and touching, but then in the end, when Merlin comes to help in the last big battle, and reveals to a badly injured Arthur that he is a sorcerer, what follows as good as it is still left me a sense of dissatisfaction; it was all good, watching Arthur looking at Merlin while he uses his magic, as he has done many times before, all those times that Arthur thought of his good luck instead it was Merlin.
Arthur finally understands everything Merlin has ever done for him, how many times he has helped him without gaining anything in return, but he's too badly injured to recover, so he says "thank you" and dies. As precious as that Thank You might be, it still feels like not enough. I don't know how to explain this: imagine a man is dying from thirst, you show him a well of fresh water, give him only half a glass and then close the well forever... he will still be thirsty, won't he?
I mean, it wasn't bad, but after five series I really wanted to see at least a few scenes with Arthur and Merlin really knowing each other, I'd have liked to see Merlin no more hiding his powers, at least not to Arthur, I mean one episode, not a whole series! Just one episode, then they could have ended with on-screen lines saying when Arthur would die and how long would Merlin wait for his return, that would have been good.
I know series endings are really difficult, and up until now only two or three have my total approval, but this is not one of them.
So no, I don't think I will buy the dvds this time.
Magic is forbidden, so Merlin has to hide his powers to protect the person he believes (he knows) will be the king to bring peace on Camelot. What makes this series so interesting is all there: the great friendship between Merlin and Arthur - it is fantastic and lovely to watch. And yet it is often frustrating, because Arthur has no idea of how much Merlin is helping him, Merlin constantly has to hide what he does, lie every day. So ofter Arthur refers to Merlin as nothing more than a good friend, a sort of good-for-nothing. I mean, although Merlin has saved him so many times, to his eyes Merlin does very little, and that is why I longed for more, at the end.
Of course there are many differences between the series and the legend, but so what, this is not an historical documentary, it's a fantasy series!
The great love between the two men that although being king and servant are real true friends is what gives life to all. The acting is good, throughout the five series.
Now talking about the last episodes.
I liked Mordred and Kara's dramatic scenes, really really good and touching, but then in the end, when Merlin comes to help in the last big battle, and reveals to a badly injured Arthur that he is a sorcerer, what follows as good as it is still left me a sense of dissatisfaction; it was all good, watching Arthur looking at Merlin while he uses his magic, as he has done many times before, all those times that Arthur thought of his good luck instead it was Merlin.
Arthur finally understands everything Merlin has ever done for him, how many times he has helped him without gaining anything in return, but he's too badly injured to recover, so he says "thank you" and dies. As precious as that Thank You might be, it still feels like not enough. I don't know how to explain this: imagine a man is dying from thirst, you show him a well of fresh water, give him only half a glass and then close the well forever... he will still be thirsty, won't he?
I mean, it wasn't bad, but after five series I really wanted to see at least a few scenes with Arthur and Merlin really knowing each other, I'd have liked to see Merlin no more hiding his powers, at least not to Arthur, I mean one episode, not a whole series! Just one episode, then they could have ended with on-screen lines saying when Arthur would die and how long would Merlin wait for his return, that would have been good.
I know series endings are really difficult, and up until now only two or three have my total approval, but this is not one of them.
So no, I don't think I will buy the dvds this time.
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