Premise: A young widowed mother moves back in with her folks and takes in an orphan - and more melodrama occurs.
Stars: Erin Cottrell * Dale Midkiff * Victor Browne
Story: Missie LaHaye (Cottrell) is back (it's part of a series of Hallmark TV movies based on novels by Janette Oke). After her husband and daughter die, she goes back to her folks (Midkiff) and tries to rediscover joy in her life. Along the way, she takes up teaching at the local school, adopts an orphan, gets embroiled in the rescue of another orphan from an abusive foster family, and falls in love with the town sheriff. And the sheriff (Browne) discovers God.
Review: It's full of Western-style melodrama - the young widow woman, the smiley-happy son, God-fearing people, a wounded horse that needs to be put down, discovering God through a miracle, runaways, tomboys being ridiculed and standing up for themselves, hard day labor for kids, the separated siblings who want their parents to rescue them, the bright-blue eyes, the hard rain, the hard men and the women that love them, the young man's man of a sheriff, etc. Lawdy.
With all of that, and the fact that it's a Hallmark TV movie and a Janette Oke adaptation, I have to wonder why I watched it.
Overall: Bad
Links: IMDb * Wikipedia
Showing posts with label romance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label romance. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Meet the Browns (2008)
Premise: An inner-city mom finds out she has family in Georgia and travels to meet them. She also has to struggle with the burden of being a single mother with three children, including a teenage son who is tempted by friends to follow a wrong path in life.
Stars: Angela Bassett * Tyler Perry * Rick Fox * David Mann * Lance Gross
Story: Brenda (Bassett) is a single mom living in Chicago with three kids, including teenage son Michael Jr. (Gross) She struggles to keep her kids in a safe, loving environment with a positive focus on the future. She gets laid off from work, and as the father of the children is a deadbeat dad with another family, he refuses to support her. She is about to hit rock bottom when a letter arrives, telling her of her father whom she never met as well as her new relatives. Before traveling to Georgia for the funeral, she meets Harry (Fox) a nice man who has discovered Michael Jr.'s basketball skills and wants to coach him.
When she arrives in Georgia, she meets the eccentric family, including L.B. (Mann) who wears flashy clothes, is a prima donna and preacher, as well as other members of her father's family. Harry also lives in the area and begins to romance her. She inherits a house, but leaves to take her kids back to Chicago where she believes things will better. After Michael Jr. starts to fall into drug-dealing and gambling, he gets shot - causing her to change her mind. She returns to Georgia at the end of the film.
Review: The movie is predictable. An inner city drama as well as the appeal of black families and eccentric characters, the film combines many elements popular in urban movies. That notwithstanding, Angela Bassett puts in a solid performance as a single mother trying to do right by her children. It's familiar pap, but it's a nice positive film.
Overall: Mediocre
Links: IMDb * Wikipedia * AllMovie * Rotten Tomatoes
Stars: Angela Bassett * Tyler Perry * Rick Fox * David Mann * Lance Gross
Story: Brenda (Bassett) is a single mom living in Chicago with three kids, including teenage son Michael Jr. (Gross) She struggles to keep her kids in a safe, loving environment with a positive focus on the future. She gets laid off from work, and as the father of the children is a deadbeat dad with another family, he refuses to support her. She is about to hit rock bottom when a letter arrives, telling her of her father whom she never met as well as her new relatives. Before traveling to Georgia for the funeral, she meets Harry (Fox) a nice man who has discovered Michael Jr.'s basketball skills and wants to coach him.
When she arrives in Georgia, she meets the eccentric family, including L.B. (Mann) who wears flashy clothes, is a prima donna and preacher, as well as other members of her father's family. Harry also lives in the area and begins to romance her. She inherits a house, but leaves to take her kids back to Chicago where she believes things will better. After Michael Jr. starts to fall into drug-dealing and gambling, he gets shot - causing her to change her mind. She returns to Georgia at the end of the film.
Review: The movie is predictable. An inner city drama as well as the appeal of black families and eccentric characters, the film combines many elements popular in urban movies. That notwithstanding, Angela Bassett puts in a solid performance as a single mother trying to do right by her children. It's familiar pap, but it's a nice positive film.
Overall: Mediocre
Links: IMDb * Wikipedia * AllMovie * Rotten Tomatoes
Monday, July 14, 2008
definitely, maybe (2007)
Links: IMDb * Wikipedia * AllMovie * Rotten Tomatoes
Premise: After a school sex ed class, a young girl asks her father how she came to be, and he tells of the three great love affairs in his life.
Director: Adam Brooks
Stars: Ryan Reynolds * Abigail Breslin * Rachel Weisz * Elizabeth Banks * Isla Fisher * Kevin Kline
Review: A surprise. A pleasant one.
The chemistry between the two leads - Breslin and Reynolds - is quite refreshing. Reynolds normally delivers in his roles - from Van Wilder to the remake of The Amityville Horror to Waiting - and while he excels in comedy, it is nice to see a change of pace from him. Breslin - Little Miss Sunshine herself - is also charming as Maya, his daughter in the film.
The three love affairs - Banks, Weisz and Fisher - are all presented as a tale to his daughter, but also are quite charming in and of themselves. The story is presented by Will to his daughter in order that she can know what love is, in order to placate her interest in sexual education - provoked by an earlier school lesson. In telling the story of his life's adventures, his daughter learns of her mother's relationship with her father, as well as who Will really is in love with.
The three actresses are all excellent in their parts, as Banks is the first true love that he experiences and then loses; Weisz plays the brainy, passionate affair during his early years in New York; and Fisher is the smouldering affair that is unrealized until later, although moments are clear clues to all but William.
An entertaining appearance by Kevin Kline as an acerbic mentor to Weisz's reporter-on-the-move lightens the movie slightly early on, but also prods the growth necessary for both Weisz and Reynolds later in the film.
A pleasant, moving film that definitely entertains.
Overall: Good
Premise: After a school sex ed class, a young girl asks her father how she came to be, and he tells of the three great love affairs in his life.
Director: Adam Brooks
Stars: Ryan Reynolds * Abigail Breslin * Rachel Weisz * Elizabeth Banks * Isla Fisher * Kevin Kline
Review: A surprise. A pleasant one.
The chemistry between the two leads - Breslin and Reynolds - is quite refreshing. Reynolds normally delivers in his roles - from Van Wilder to the remake of The Amityville Horror to Waiting - and while he excels in comedy, it is nice to see a change of pace from him. Breslin - Little Miss Sunshine herself - is also charming as Maya, his daughter in the film.
The three love affairs - Banks, Weisz and Fisher - are all presented as a tale to his daughter, but also are quite charming in and of themselves. The story is presented by Will to his daughter in order that she can know what love is, in order to placate her interest in sexual education - provoked by an earlier school lesson. In telling the story of his life's adventures, his daughter learns of her mother's relationship with her father, as well as who Will really is in love with.
The three actresses are all excellent in their parts, as Banks is the first true love that he experiences and then loses; Weisz plays the brainy, passionate affair during his early years in New York; and Fisher is the smouldering affair that is unrealized until later, although moments are clear clues to all but William.
An entertaining appearance by Kevin Kline as an acerbic mentor to Weisz's reporter-on-the-move lightens the movie slightly early on, but also prods the growth necessary for both Weisz and Reynolds later in the film.
A pleasant, moving film that definitely entertains.
Overall: Good
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