Posts tagged Ben Barnes
The Big Wedding – Movie Trailer
May 10th
With an all-star cast led by Robert De Niro, Katherine Heigl, Diane Keaton, Amanda Seyfried, Topher Grace, with Susan Sarandon and Robin Williams, THE BIG WEDDING is an uproarious romantic comedy about a charmingly modern family trying to survive a weekend wedding celebration that has the potential to become a full blown family fiasco. To the amusement of their adult children and friends, long divorced couple Don and Ellie Griffin (De Niro and Keaton) are once again forced to play the happy couple for the sake of their adopted son’s wedding after his ultra conservative biological mother unexpectedly decides to fly halfway across the world to attend. With all of the wedding guests looking on, the Griffins are hilariously forced to confront their past, present and future – and hopefully avoid killing each other in the process.
“Easy Virtue” Different from You and Us
Jul 2nd
Different from You and Us
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
EASY VIRTUE is one of those films that sound better when you hear about them or read about them than they are when you actually see them.
That could be because it is based on a 1924 play by Noel Coward, the English playwright who was best known for his witty, brittle, and sophisticated comedies about the British upper class.
Yes, this film is witty, brittle, and sophisticated, and it is about the British upper class, but unfortunately it is just not very enjoyable.
The story takes place in the Twenties in England. Jessica Biel stars as Larita, an American free spirit. She has married John Whittaker, an English upper-class twit, and the story involves John bringing Larita home to meet his family.
In anticipation of the meeting, John’s mother, Veronica, played by Kristin Scott Thomas, says to her husband, Jim, played by Colin Firth, “Please try to make an effort to be civil.”
Now, there are some delightful sight gags, but they seem to have been thrown in by the filmmakers in an attempt to spice up the weakness of the overall movie more than anything else.
John and Larita plan to stay at the Whittaker estate only a few days, which upsets Veronica, because she expected them to stay much longer, even though she has developed an obvious dislike of Larita.
Larita, however, tells John in private that she doesn’t think she will manage to make it to breakfast.
Veronica has a little Chihuahua named Poppy who is always barking at Larita, and an unfortunate accident causes even more difficulties for Larita.
Something mysterious seems to be going on with Jim, who indicates that he doesn’t care at all for the upper-class life he has, and he also seems to just barely tolerate his wife, Veronica.
There are visits from neighbors, including John’s old girlfriend, a fox hunt that Larita disapproves of, a revue at which one of John’s two sisters scandalizes the audience, and a painting that Larita presents to the Whittakers which scandalizes Veronica.
F. Scott Fitzgerald once wrote that the rich are different from you and me, to which Ernest Hemingway responded, Yes, they have more money.
The upper class are different from you and me, because they all believe that their lives mean something.
EASY VIRTUE is different from you and us.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
