Category: romance
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Blind [2017] ★★
“Blind” defines cheese. It does offer Alec Baldwin with a juicy role and it’s always good to see Demi Moore back onscreen, but the story itself ranges from absurd to absolutely preposterous. I don’t know what first time director Michael Mailer was hoping to extract from this surprise-free script, but there isn’t much to recommend…
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Everything, Everything [2017] ★★½
“Everything, Everything” features two extremely likable characters that it almost doesn’t matter that it isn’t very original. God knows I’ve suffered through endless romantic movies based on Nicholas Sparks’ books, so it’s always refreshing to encounter a love story that doesn’t have Sparks’ signature written all over it. The author, this time, is Nicola Yoon,…
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Beauty And The Beast [2017] ★★½
“Beauty and the Beast” is one of my favorite Disney animated movies, so naturally, I wanted the live action version to be as enchanting. First the good news: the film is beautiful to look at and well cast. Emma Watson needs no introduction, and she effortlessly becomes Belle, the young woman who finds herself taken…
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The Last Face [2016] ★
How can a movie have a powerful message and still suck so bad? Director Sean Penn’s attempt at telling a love story amidst a political conflict in Africa is a slow, stupefyingly dull mess from start to finish. What’s even worse is all the talented people who wasted their time on this. Javier Bardem and…
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Movies to watch this Valentine’s day (or any other day)
I’m not here to tell you to watch a Nicholas Sparks movie or (God forbid) “50 Shades of Grey”. This is a list of good movies that you can enjoy alone or with your partner over beer (yes, beer) and pizza (why the hell not?).As far away as possible from the Hollywood formula, the “Before”…
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Fifty Shades Darker [2017] ★
I can think of 3 ways to torture your Valentine date this year: buy them a crappy giant teddy bear from Malik’s bookshop, force them to read/watch any Nicholas Sparks story, or just take them to see “Fifty Shades Darker”, the sequel to the equally terrible “Fifty Shades of Grey“, released a couple of years ago.…
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Equals [2016] ★½
It’s not the worst Science-Fiction movie you could see, but “Equals”, clumsily directed by Drake Doremus, bored me to tears. I suppose it would only make sense to have Kristen Stewart in it, since everyone in this future society is supposed to be emotionless, even lifeless. The only actor who is allowed to dig into…
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![Me Before You [2016] ★★★](https://tlkabtmovies.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/me-before-you-movie-poster.jpg?w=1024)
Me Before You [2016] ★★★
Formulaic as though it may be, “Me Before You” is filled with a sweet spirit and engagingly likable characters, which makes it almost hard to resist. Game of Thrones’s Emilia Clarke transforms herself completely, playing a small town Englishwoman who gets hired to take care of a wealthy, paralyzed man, played by Sam Claflin. A cheesy love story…
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![The Choice [2016] ★½](https://tlkabtmovies.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/the_choice_1sht_f.jpg?w=1024)
The Choice [2016] ★½
This terrible tearjerker from the king of cheese himself Nicholas Sparks could well be his worst ever. You know who Sparks is, the guy who writes bestselling romance that become awful movies, such as “Dear John”, “The Last Song” and “Safe Haven”. The newest Sparks is “The Choice”, about two neighbors who meet and fall in love.…
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Truffaut: the adventures of Antoine Doinel
Way before “ Boyhood ”, François Roland Truffaut, French film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film critic, as well as one of the founders of the French New Wave, directed “ Les 400 coups ” (“ The 400 blows ”), a childhood movie featuring his own alter ego: Antoine Doinel. Years later, Doinel appears in four subsequent films (including one short: “ Antoine…
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Brooklyn [2015] ★★★
“Brooklyn” is a low key, likable film with all the right ingredients to call it a “crowd pleaser”. I’ve been a fan of Saoirse Ronan ever since she played Briony Tallis in 2007’s “Atonement”, and in “Brooklyn” she finally gets the chance to shine in her own love story. She plays an Irish girl who leaves her…
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Carol [2015] ★★★
“Carol” has all the classic ingredients of an Oscar contender: it’s extremely well directed by Todd Haynes (“Far From Heaven”) with a keen eye for detail, it features Cate Blanchett like you’ve never seen her before (and you’ve seen her in many different roles throughout her colorful career), and more importantly it has an emotional story…
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Before We Go [2015] ★½
Ripping off the classic movie “Before Sunrise”, “Before We Go” (look there’s even a “before” in the title!) tells the story of two people (Chris Evans, who also directs, and Alice Eve) who meet in Manhattan one night and end up learning a lot about one another. Unlike “Before Sunrise”, this dull, uninspired film has nothing…
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Aloha [2015] ★½
Good directors tend to screw up. If you admire Cameron Crowe and his movies (Jerry Maguire, Almost Famous) like I do, you’ll be rooting for him to score another bull’s eye with his latest effort. But it’s clear from the very first moment that “Aloha” is a complete misfire: a tiresome, dull romantic comedy/drama about a…
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Suite Française [2015] ★★★
If there can be such a thing as a sweet, reflective fable about love during WWII, “Suite Française” is it. Based on the best selling novel by Irène Némirovsky, who perished in Auschwitz in 1942 before she could finish her book (her daughter finally took care of it and published it in 2004 to worldwide acclaim), the film…
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5 To 7 [2015] ★★★
Here’s a surprising treat: a sweet, bracingly original, wholly entertaining film from writer director Victor Levin with a solid part for Anton Yelchin. In fact, every role is perfectly and inventively cast, which makes the movie almost hard to resist. The unusual plot involves aspiring writer Brian (Yelchin), who gets into a passionate love affair with a glamorous French woman (Bérénice Marlohe…
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The Age Of Adaline [2015] ★★
Like a cute puppy, this romantic drama starring Blake Lively as a woman who doesn’t age will wag its tail so you’ll find it irresistible and take it home. Not this time. There’s nothing terribly wrong about “The Age of Adaline”, it’s just that it rarely rises to its potential. And the movie does have…
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The Longest Ride [2015] ★★½
Based on yet another novel by Nicholas Sparks. I thought you should know that before you cringe and stop reading. But truth be told, “The Longest Ride” is better than most Sparks movies. Yes, it follows the same old formula we’ve come to expect from Mr. Sparks (“The Lucky One”, “Dear John”, “The Best of Me”…),…
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Magic In The Moonlight [2014] ★★½
The best thing about being a Woody Allen fan is the certainty that if you don’t fully appreciate his latest film, he’s already got another one in the oven. Following the unprecedented audience reaction to “Midnight in Paris” and “Blue Jasmine“, Allen has conceived a new character-driven story set in 1928 France. It isn’t Allen’s…
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Love, Rosie [2014] ★★½
“Love, Rosie” feels a lot like deja-vu, but it’s sweet, charming and entertaining. I’m sure you’ve seen a lot of romantic comedies that cover a long time period in a constantly-changing relationship. From the peak of “When Harry Met Sally” to the low of “A Lot Like Love”, we’ve seen it all. So basically the outcome…
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