Tag: Romance

REVIEW: ‘Cold War’ is a captivating romantic drama

“Cold War” is a movie about trying to escape, but it’s certainly not escapist entertainment.

The picture tells the story of a singer, Zula (Joanna Kulig), and a composer, Wiktor (Tomasz Kot). Zula and Wiktor find themselves as part of a government funded music group in Poland, which is tasked with giving pro-Stalin performances.

The two soon find themselves in a romance, but they’re also in the Soviet Union during the Cold War, making things difficult. As a result, the two consider fleeing Poland. However, the power of the government and life in general throw a lot of issues at the couple.

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REVIEW: ‘Portrait of a Lady on Fire’ burns bright with quality

Like the very paintings featured in this movie, “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” is a true work of art.

Noemie Merlant portrays Marianne in this film, a young woman who arrives in a secluded area of France to work on a portrait for a family. Marianne soon learns that a woman, (played by Valeria Golino and only known as The Countess), her employer, wants a portrait of her daughter Heloise (Adele Haenel), who’s arranged to be married.

Heloise, though, has no interest in going through with the marriage and refuses to pose for a portrait. In an effort to connect with her, Marianne begins to take walks in the scenic coastal areas of France with Heloise and the two begin to connect. From there, the relationship only grows as the two understand each other more and a romance blossoms.

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REVIEW: Latest ‘Emma’ adaptation is a stilted experience

“Emma” is a novel rich enough to spawn several on-screen adaptations, but unfortunately, the latest is rather dry.

Anya Taylor Joy plays the titular character here. A wealthy young woman in England, Emma has a reputation as a matchmaker. The movie picks up with her starting a friendship with Harriet Smith (Mia Goth), and eventually, she decides to try and set her up with one of the local suitors.

At the same time, Emma herself is looking at starting her own relationship with someone. However, some of her previous actions make the process somewhat tricky.

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REVIEW: ‘Gloria Bell’ glows thanks to Julianne Moore

Director Sebastian Lelio had some experience going into this project, since “Gloria Bell” is actually a remake of his own 2013 Chilean film “Gloria.”

Gloria, played in the American version by Julianne Moore, is a woman who frequents disco dance clubs in Los Angeles on a regular basis. Having been divorced for about a decade, Gloria visits the clubs and mingles with some of the guys there, with the hope of maybe sparking a new relationship in mind.

During one of her outings, she meets Arnold (John Turturro), another divorcee who’s also looking for a new relationship. The two hit it off and begin dating each other. However, they find out that they might not be the most perfect match.

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Best of the Decade: Romance

This is a series called “Best of the Decade.” It’s a list including 10 movies that I found to be the best in a specific genre from 2010-2019.

Several great romantic relationships were brought to the big screen over the past decade, with some getting more attention than others. Here were my favorites.

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REVIEW: One can just move on to tomorrow, because ‘Yesterday’ doesn’t offer much

An Oscar and Golden Globe winning director, a writer with several charming hits, along with a fantastic concept ripe for all sorts of possibilities. On paper, “Yesterday” looked like a slam dunk, which makes it a total shame that it turned out so poorly.

The movie follows a struggling singer named Jack Malik (Himesh Patel), who lives day-to-day playing small gigs with help from his manager Ellie (Lily James). Getting fed up with his lack of success and his dead-end job, Jack considers leaving music all together.

However, during one bike ride home, Jack is hit by a bus at the exact same moment a blackout occurs worldwide. When he wakes up and recovers from his injuries, he comes to find himself in a world where the Beatles never became a band and their music does not exist in the pop culture landscape. Seeing an opportunity, Jack starts singing the songs and claims credit for the work, which of course leads him to his own fair share of fame.

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REVIEW: ‘The Sun is also a Star’ is only a two star movie

“The Sun is Also a Star.” The North Star is also a star. And now I just miss the North Stars.

Anyway, there’s a movie to review. “The Sun is Also a Star” is the latest romance film based on a young adult novel. Of course, the movie follows two young adults, Natasha (Yara Shahidi) and Daniel (Charles Melton). Natasha is a Jamaican whose family is about to be deported back to Jamaica by the U.S. Government, while Daniel, whose family immigrated from Korea, is preparing to apply for college.

One day, through a chance encounter, the two meet and after talking, find out that they have differing opinions. Daniel believes in fate, destiny, and thinks that the universe brought them together. Natasha is much more of a skeptic, to the point where she doesn’t believe in fate or love. To convince her, Daniel suggests they spend the day together to prove who’s right and see if they fall in love.

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REVIEW: Chemistry with leads boosts ‘Long Shot’

What? No general or midterm election this year? Well let’s have a political film to fill that gap. At least it’s a comedy.

“Long Shot” tells the story of Charlotte Field (Charlize Theron), the Secretary of State for a fictional president, who’s looking to run in the 2020 presidential race. She has a good amount of experience under her belt, but her campaign staff sees opportunities to improve her speeches and become more personable.

Enter Fred Flarsky (Seth Rogen), a loose cannon investigative journalist who recently found himself unemployed. However, because he knows Field, Fred comes to work as a speech assistant for Field, especially with helping punch up the statements. However, on top of working together, Frank and Charlotte find themselves falling for each other.

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REVIEW: ‘After’ is a romantic drama disaster

I’m convinced the makers of this movie have never been to college.

So, upon some digging, it turns out “After” is based off a novel, which originally started as a fanfiction about the band One Direction on the website Wattpad. I’m not making this up.

In that case, what can one expect from the story? Well, it follows Tessa (Josephine Langford), a young woman who’s just starting her college career at Some Random University as a freshman. Tessa is what one could call a goodie-two-shoes, as she plays by the rules, is a book-worm and never seems to get into trouble.

However, there’s a chance that will change when she starts attending. See, her new roommate does things like drink and hangout with friends that attend parties. The horror. In the first act Tessa goes along with her roommate to a party and meets Hardin (Hero Fiennes Tiffin), a British guy who wears ripped jeans, a leather jacket, is well-read and is too cool to do anything but brood. You guessed it, he’s the love interest.

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REVIEW: ‘Five Feet Apart’ has just enough to engage an audience

Over the last few years, going back to at least 2014 with “The Fault in Our Stars,” there’s been quite a few films focused on older teens with terminal conditions. Fortunately for audiences, “Five Feet Apart” is one of the better ones.

“Five Feet Apart” focuses on three young characters living at a hospital as part of a clinical drug trial. The trio includes Stella (Haley Lu Richardson), Will (Cole Sprouse) and Poe (Moises Arias). Of the three, Stella is the main character and is the most positive about fighting her cystic fibrosis.

Will, meanwhile, is not as optimistic, and it annoys Stella at first. However, the two come to understand each other and eventually fall in love. However, they can never get too close with the threat of getting infected.

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