My past week's movies

Okay, au contraire to my last post, it turns out there was one movie at the Windsor multiplexes that was half decent. It’s Richard Curtis’s latest, About Time. Curtis is the man behind the best Christmas movie of our era and one of the best romantic movies of all time, Love Actually (2003), with a great ensemble cast. He’s also the man who wrote Notting Hill (1999) and Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994). When I read about this film at first I was kind of turned off by the time travel aspect of the film, at least the way it was described. I was worried the main character, Tim (Domhnall Gleeson) would be transported back to King Arthur’s time or some such. But no, the time travel here works in the very recent past, as in days or weeks - i.e., if Tim falls flat making a move on a young lady he learns the best way to approach her and travels back in time to that moment and tries a different tack. This happens several times over various incidents in the movie and it’s a bit tiring but on the whole tolerable. In the end you’re left with the old Curtis magic. The acting is pretty well done with performances by Rachel McAdams as Mary, Bill Nighy as Tim’s dad, and Lindsay Duncan as mum.

 

My others movies of the past week have all been on DVD or Netflix:

 

It’s a Great Feeling (DVD) (David Butler, 1949), one of Doris Day’s earliest films, is a send up of the superficiality and back-stabbing of Hollywood - even then! – and has an amazing array of cameo performances, making the movie worth watching just for them alone. These include by Danny Kaye, Errol Flynn, Sydney Greenstreet, Patrician Neal, Edward G. Robinson, Ronald Reagan, Jane Wyman, and Joan Crawford doing a parody of her classically angry film roles. Who knew this little obscure movie was such a gem.

 

Serendipity (Netflix) (Peter Chelsom, 2001) has Kate Beckinsale (Sara) and John Cusack (Jonathan) playing lovers who meet by, how else, serendipity? The entire movie plays on the theme of chance meetings and misses as the would be lovers pursue one another over time and geography. It’s a bit corny and the scenes sometimes clumsy and no doubt you’ve seen this type of thing before, but there’s still a little spark that keeps it moving along

 

And I finally remembered to bring my SCENE card with me to a Cineplex theatre, after obtaining the card three or so years ago. Usually I forget. Now, only one or two more movies until I get a freebee!