aboutagirly's Reviews

The Stepfather (2009)

7/10

30 May 2011

Susan Harding(Sela Ward)is an attractive and lonely widow with children. One, Michael(Penn Badgley), returns home from military school to find his mother has a live-in boyfriend David(Dylan Walsh). On first appearances David seems a likable and charming guy. But this ultimate nice guy has a past on the darker side. Pretending to be the ideal husband and stepfather, David has an ulterior motive when picking out Susan at the grocery store. David seems to have a bad habit of changing families like some people change houses. Michael begins delving into David's past to discover some possible deviate and psychotic activities. There is now an awkward feeling when you hear that "Daddy's home".

Walsh makes himself pretty easy to dislike. Ward is good at what she does; but her friend Jackie(Paige Turco)is a stone fox. Also in the cast: Jon Tenney, Skyler Samuels and Amber Heard. Violence is pretty ordinary and the chills were at a minimum.

2 out of 3 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Bridesmaids (I) (2011)

10/10

Great

30 May 2011

Annie (Wiig) plays a character going through tough times. In fact, you would think it's a drama based on how depressed she is. But she is tasked with planning her best friend's (Rudolph) wedding. There, we meet the antagonist along with some of the other bridesmaids.

Melissa McCarthy was unbelievably hilarious in this movie. Every single scene she was in was funny. Some of the other bridesmaids were excellent like Rose Byrne and Ellie Kemper.

Every situation Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo (the co-writers) put the bridesmaids in allowed the women to do what they do best--be funny.

For people comparing this movie to the Hangover, they are completely different premises with a few similarities. But there is no doubt that the Hangover Part 2 will have to be extremely funny to top this one.

Kudos to Kristen Wiig and Melissa McCarthy for making some of the most classic scenes that people will still be laughing to years from now.

4 out of 10 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

A Smile Like Yours (1997)

8/10

Fun

30 May 2011

I thought the film was really funny and thought provoking. As my husband and I are going through the same sort of problems it made it light relief and took the seriousness out of it all. We were laughing out loud at the lengths she want to to get the first sample but possibly it was just nervousness. My husband thought the nurse would be enough to put anyone off giving a sperm sample!! It was on the same sort of lines as Maybe Baby written by Ben Elton although this is not as explicit. I thought the way it showed how committed you need to be to go through fertility investigations was well presented and just how they could push a couple apart. I suppose the moral of the story is that there is hope out there for everyone, just keep on trying!

4 out of 6 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Arthur (1981)

Dudley!

30 May 2011

Dudley Moore is fantastic in this largely unknown classic. This film is very witty film that relies hugely on the actors talent. Without Dudley Moore, John Gielgud, Liza Minnelli, and a few others, this film could have been a disaster. It is not always well shot and at times has some very corny music that tries to force a mood (the "psycho"-like music at the wedding fight), but the acting overcomes it. The character Arthur is hilarious, with his drunken comments. But he develops well into a more mature, well rounded character as he learns to live by his own free will. The end is fairly corny, though. I wont give it away, but it could be improved. Worth seeing many times.

0 out of 0 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

As Good as It Gets (1997)

10/10

Brilliant

30 May 2011

among the best 3 movies of 1997, along with good will hunting & l.a.confidential. this movie has 3 top artistes giving off their best. the story is simple, and yet so complex. the characters are out- of-the-world and yet so real. as good as it gets revels in this paradox.

touching at the raw chords, a story of a man who cannot (or rather does not want to) reveal his emotions. helen hunt plays the woman that turns him around, the one person who makes him "want to be a better man". greg kinear plays a brilliant role as the gay friend. he would have bagged the Oscars in most years, his tough luck that he ran into robin williams giving his career best performance in good will hunting.

as good as it gets is funny, endearing, touching, dark, sad, cathartic, confusing and enlightening all at once. one of the modern masterpieces. the casting director deserves a special award for this casting coup. watch the movie for the brilliant performances, the arresting chemistry between these superstars, the heart-rending moments between them. this is one of the best movies of the 90s.

1 out of 1 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

An Unmarried Woman (1978)

7/10

Decent

30 May 2011

Jill Clayburgh plays an affluent New Yorker whose life crumbles when her husband reveals that's he's having an affair and wants a divorce. What's a woman to do when everything she's built her life around is suddenly whisked away?

This feminist anthem from Paul Mazursky is well meaning but also condescending. It's a movie that was clearly made by a man, and it's a man's guess at what a feminist awakening would look and feel like, rather than the real thing. Therefore, it records Clayburgh's emotional development with the neatness of a house wife checking off items on a grocery list, and even throws in a lesbian daughter just to prove that there are women out there who don't need men at all, as if that's even remotely what feminism is about.

Clayburgh is game, but she's better than the movie.

0 out of 6 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

The Believers (1987)

8/10

Good watch

30 May 2011

I was expecting some horror to be sure, I just was not expecting a full blown horror movie with some supernatural stuff thrown in to boot. I was more expecting a serious thriller dealing with cults or something. The movie seems to have a plot device similar to a Dean Koontz book I have heard about in that a cult is out to get the child of a man whose wife dies in a rather unpleasant way right at the beginning of the movie. The cult is sort of on the voodoo side of things and the movie has them doing things in their power to not only to sacrifice the guy's son, but to get him to do it. Add a bit more to it and you have yourself a really good horror movie. There still is a bit to much thriller and drama in it to be a really good horror movie though and I have never been wild about Martin Sheen. I actually always enjoyed watching his son's movies more. So in the end you get a movie that seems to not quite know what it really wants to be, but it had enough horror elements in it for me to overall enjoy.

0 out of 2 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Obsessed (2002 TV Movie)

8/10

Jenna

29 May 2011

Warning: Spoilers

Recap: Ellena Roberts is arrested but insists that everything must be a misunderstanding. She had an affair with a successful surgeon and got a little over-zealous when he broke it off. At least that is her story. The surgeon, David Stillman, has a completely different story. He claims Ellena harasses him and his family and that the affair never took place. Lawyer Sara Miller offers to represent Ellena and finds her in the unenviable position to decide what is the truth, Ellena's version or David's.

Comments: Often when you see a made for television movie you dismiss it before you even see it. Sometimes that is a mistake, and so it is in this case. This was a very interesting and intriguing movie that kept me alert the entire time. What is most interesting that the movie actually seems unbiased. Often enough the movie chooses side for the audience, we are clearly shown who is the good guy to root for and who is the bad guy to loathe and fight against. For once, this movie lets both parties, literally in a court, present their cases. And both stories make sense. At least initially there is precious little that indicates whom to believe. Which is interesting because in real life, in real court, this must be a common situation. There are two versions, both mutually exclusive, and you must decide which one is the truth. And in this movie you get to see which one, but it is not presented right away so it is an interesting tale to see.

It is a good cast, even if few of them is famous. But Jenna Elfman do deserve an extra mention because her role could not be easy to do, and she pulls it off spectacularly.

This movie is much better than expected, well worth to rent if you wish to see something else than a fast paced action. Do not dismiss it beforehand.

4 out of 6 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Another Man's Wife (2011 TV Movie)

8/10

Liked it

29 May 2011

Warning: Spoilers

Fun popcorn movie. I love, love, LOVE (did I mention love) Rena Sofer ever since I saw her on General Hospital and she just gets better with age. She is a fine wine.

I also love these obsession stories and thought this had some neat twists, even though the commercial told me the twists ahead of time lol (why do the networks do that?)

I like the idea of the wife watching Rena, which lead to the villain watching Rena and that started the stalking.

Good cast and dialogue. I PVR'd it and watched it a second time, which was interesting to see how it was set up.

Had some audio issues but not sure if that was my TV.

24 out of 30 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

The Burning Bed (1984 TV Movie)

10/10

Realistic!

29 May 2011

Farrah Fawcett works very hard here at making herself willowy and one-dimensional--helpless, in other words--but one can sense right away she's a tough cookie. The deep growl in her voice, the ire in her manner when she gets angry.

Portraying a battered wife in "The Burning Bed", Fawcett is holding herself back so we will more easily understand the plight of this abused woman with no resources, but it isn't always convincing (and I'm not sure who was responsible for talking Farrah into looking so drab--I'm sure there are lovely women who are victims of marital abuse). Nevertheless, this TV-film is a no-nonsense take on the subject and the flaws can be overlooked. The jazz score is incredible, the kids are very natural, Grace Zabriskie is perfectly hissable as Paul LeMat's mother. LeMat, playing Fawcett's drunken, explosive husband, is effective, but I still think a woman of Farrah's stature could have stood up to him. I believed her much more as the unbalanced child-killer of "Small Sacrifices" than I did her here.

5 out of 7 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Destination: Infestation (2007 TV Movie)

4/10

Ants on a plane

25 June 2010

ants on a plane snakes on plane snakes on a train, hmmm, what's next? plantanes on plane?

I don't mind TV movies, and thought this was strange for to be on Lifetime (one of my guilty pleasures) but everything just felt a little too over the top.

would they really not let the plane land? are ants actually scary? is saboto still doing underwear adds?

some OK performances considering the material, but not enough to make me watch it again. if you like plane thrillers check out flightplan. if you don't like plane thrillers check out Airplane. if you don't like lifetime creature features, skip this one.

there is still some fun to be had which is why i gave it a four. maybe I wasn't the target market for this.

1 out of 2 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Confined (I) (2010)

7/10

Good not great, but overall decent for a TV movie.

25 June 2010

Good not great. Seen better and seen worse. But the pace was pretty decent so it keeps you tuned in.

Some good action sequences and decent suspense. It's pretty much what I look for in a Lifetime movie. No Emmy here, but you're probably not expecting that from this network.

Was hoping it would stick a little closer to the true story but I guess there's only so much you can show on television. Liked the performances all around, which were above par for the course.

David James Elliott should be working more. Looking forward to his Hallmark movie.

Good: Acting Dialogue Sound Score

Not so Good: Some of the casting

19 out of 22 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Seventeen and Missing (2007 TV Movie)

8/10

Not bad

4 February 2007

Warning: Spoilers

I loved Dedee Pfeiffer (is that spelled right?) in Cybil. Haven't seen her for awhile and forgot how much I missed her. I thought she did a great job in this. The supporting cast was pretty good too. In some angles, the daughter even looked like a young Nicole Kidman. The abductor was pretty creepy and the story generally had some good twists. The young boyfriend was a hottie. I thought the husband definitely had something to do with it for sure.

Just got the Lifetime Movie Network for Christmas and am loving these movies. Kept my interest and I'll watch it again when they rerun it. Can anyone else recommend any similar movies to this? You can post on the board or send me a private email if you want. Thanks in advance. Aboutagirly.

32 out of 34 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

aboutagirly

Reviews

Tell Your Friends

Recently Viewed