Your Sister's Sister (2011)

"Your Sister's Sister" (90 min.) starts off with an eye-popping 5 min. prologue: we see a group of people mourning someone's passing, and just when one of them is giving a eulogy on how great a guy that person was, Jack (played by Mark Duplass) interupts and gives his own (less idyllic) version of that man, who turns out to be his brother. Iris (played by Emily Blunt), who is Jack's best friend and was the girlfriend of his brother, eventually talks to Jack to control his emotions.

Flash forward: at Iris' suggestion, Jack agrees to retreat to the country house of Iris' family, to 'clear his head' and some much needed 'me time'. Much to Jack's surprise, it turns out that Iris' sister Hannah (played by Rosemarie DeWitt) is also there, also in need of some 'me time' after just coming out of a 7 year relationship. The next 20 min. or so nothing happens, other than Hannah and Jack sitting at the dinner table and talking, talking, talking (it's done brilliantly). Things develop from there, as Iris then shows up as well. To give away much more of the plot would really ruin your viewing experience.

This is a talk movie (filmed theatre-like) about relationships. There are no pyrotechnics, no special effects, no CGIs. Instead, this movie centers on 3 acting performances, and each of them is as good as the other. Emily Blunt continues her impressive streak of recent performances (just this year we've seen her in Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, The Five Year Engagement, and now this). But the ultimate credit must go to writer-director Lynn Shelton, who brings it all home. This is MILES away from your standard Hollywood fare. If you are in the mood for a good indie movie that has no action whatsover but focuses on relationships, come on over, you will very much enjoy this. Meanwhile "Your Sister's Sister" is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

If I'd heard the plot of this before seeing it, I'd have passed. It's tough to summarize--the magic is in the watching. So I'd have missed this little marvel of writing, acting, and directing. Jack is unsettled a year after his brother's death, and his best friend Iris (the dead brother's ex-girl friend? wife? doesn't really matter)sends him off to her family's cottage in the woods to regroup in peace and quiet. But Iris' sister Hannah has also taken refuge there, and Jack and Hannah console each other. At least we think that's what we saw. When Iris shows up next day, a lot of unsaid things float around, only some of which the audience knows. Because each of the three has a secret, because almost all the action/drama takes place in a short time, in a small place, and because the acting and directing are top-notch, this study in the complex relationship between three decent, though often confused, people, commands the viewer's interest. I couldn't wait to see what would happen next once one of them knew something else about the other two. Nor did I see the various secrets coming (all right, I'm a little slow). Everything you need to know to understand and appreciate it is included, but not a smidgen more. The filmmaker gives you credit for being quick on the uptake--I loved that.

Many a big-budget film would kill for the kind of hold this movie casts on an audience, for what looked like not much money. Just goes to show, explosions and special effects are no substitute for a compelling human interest plot and great execution.

Note: if you steer clear of movies with lesbians or occasional strong language, you should probably skip this. But you'll miss something really good.

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The movie had a few brilliant twists and turns, and I was laughing through a lot of it. It was really a rather perfect movie for what it was trying to do. I went into it not expecting much, but I left grading it a 9 or 10 out of 10. I only have a handful of movies that rate that highly on my list. Your sister's sister is actually a great movie to watch with a significant other as it shows a lot of different kinds of relationships. I would highly recommend this movie to anyone who enjoys just a very entertaining movie where the acting and directing were matched well together.

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I don't like telling too much of the story in any of my reviews, because who likes a spoiler. I have to say I thought the movie was good. If you enjoy indie flicks, then you might enjoy this one. I wouldn't watch it over and over again, but I didn't regret renting it. I, however, get annoyed with movies that end on a note where I think.... seriously? I will not explain that, for as I mention I do not like to tell the story. I also found some of the story unbelievable and not in a good way. If your in a mood for a indie love story flick with no action, then you might enjoy this one.

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This is an indie chick flick. It is about "the relationship." After a whole year, Jack (Mark Duplass) can't get over his brother's death, an indication this has written by a woman who believes men think like women. At the recommendation of his brother's ex-girlfriend Iris (Emily Blunt) he utilizes a remote cabin on an island in Washington state. As he arrives late at night Iris' sister Hannah (Rosemarie DeWitt) is also there. She just broke up with her girlfriend and they hit it off well, in fact a little too well.

Iris, for some unexplained reason, arrives and confesses to her sister her love for Jack, one that is mutual but never spoken. We wait for the moment.

The movie starts out with a bunch of pretentious dialouge, including the old, "remember when he stole a wheelchair" flashback. The dialouge was written badly. The acting was good, and I admit Lynn Shelton did a better job at directing this formula than writing it. Can we stop with a guy riding a bicycle with beautiful scenery to an acoustical accompaniment? It is time to move on.

Parental Guidance: F-bomb. Brief sex scene. No nudity.

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Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (Sophia Loren Award Collection) (1964)

Most of the Amazon reviews linked to this new Region 1 DVD from NoShame films refer to the awful bootleg versions that have been previously available. Ignore them!

This DVD is gorgeous with a beautiful 16x9 Widescreen (2.35:1) high definition transfer. There is an Italian track with optional English subtitles. There is also the option to choose the English dubbed track if you want to.

NoShame is also releasing a pristine version of the Fellini/Visconti/DeSica multi-part comedy Boccaccio '70 completely uncut for the first time ever in the U.S. The long missing Mario Monicelli segment has finally been restored as well!

I bought this because it looked like a good deal but I had no way of knowing that it was dubbed. I had originally seen both films in Italian with subtitles...and both truly are wonderful films (Sophia won Best Actress for Two Women). If they only included the information (dubbed or subtitled) I would have been able to make an informed decision instead of taking a shot in the dark. Obviously, I'm not happy with the dubbed version. Oh, and also, the quality of the video is less than great.

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Ignore the reviews of the bootleg DVD; this new digital transfer from the internegative is lush and clean. There is both a subtitled Italian audio track and a English dubbed version. No comment is needed about the film; time has proved its value.

Please view this extraordinary picture and compare it to modern sex comedies; you might conclude that we haven't advanced the art of film over this wonderful production. Buy, enjoy and spread the word.

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I believe the Amazon.com Editorial Review is self explanatory. This film is a masterpiece, an important component of Sofia Loren's filmography and one of her most admired performances.

Now let's address this DVD release! It was apparently transfered from deteriorated film elements, horrendous (jolts) pan and scan with an annoying monophonic dubbed soundtrack. This DVD release does not do justice to this Italian cinematographic jewel. It should not be in the market. Perhaps it is best to visit Italy, buy its PAL version and play it back in one of today's fine multi region DVD players. Don't spend a penny on this monstruosity.

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Not paying attention to the reviews, I purchased the Entertainment Programs International release of Yesterday today and tomorrow. This is a classic of Italian cinema. Well worth owning for any fans of european cinema. I am however not impressed with this transfer and urge buyers to look to the widescreen, No Shame release. I own boccaccio '70 (another Italian classic) from No Shame And it has excellent audio and video quality.

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Don Juan Demarco (2012)

A young man believing himself to be the greatest lover in the world, Don Juan(Johnny Depp), is depressed at losing the one great love of his life and is ready to committ suicide. (But first must have one last romantic encounter with a woman in need). He is rescued by a psychiatrist who cares for him at a state mental facility. Doctor Jack Miglon(Marlon Brando) is fascinated by this case and takes it on, even though he is to retire in 10 days, which by the way is the amount of time "Don Juan" has to convince everyone he really doesnt belong there.

Over the next 10 days, as doctor listens to his tales of romantic adventures(and they are numerous),Don Juan charms everyone he comes into contact with.(except some of the other doctors who feel he should be medicated.) The stories make Jack look at his own life after 32 years of marriage to Marilyn(Faye Dunaway), and starts him trying to rekindle an old flame. So the question is here, who was curing who?????

The story will grab you fom the beginning, put a smile on your face and keep it there to the end of the credits, during which you can still listen to the Carmenesque score and the Bryan Adams song "Have you ever Really loved a woman".

The cast is perfect in their roles. You will believe that Johnny Depp IS DON JUAN!. Brando was funny and charming, Dunaway, glowed.

The DVD is excellent. The sound quality so good, the musical score filled the room, the dialouge crisp. Picture quality, color, and widescreen excellent as well. The Dvd comes with some nice features, there's a music video featuring Brian Adams, theatrical trailers, filmographies of the cast, and if you cant' get the music out of your head and want to hear more of it you can isolate the score and have the movie dialouge silent. There are also subtitles if needed.

This film may not go down in the annals of Hollywood history as one of the classics but it took me somewhere else for a little while and kept me there. Maybe it will do the same for you.

Enjoy.......Laurie

more delightful romantic comedy:

A Couch in New York

Some Like It Hot

Maxie [VHS]

Don Juan isn't just a great romantic comedy; it is THE romantic comedy for anyone looking for just as much romance as laughs.

The movie deals with a mental patient (Johnny Depp)who believes he is the legendary Don Juan, greatest lover in all the world. Marlon Brando plays Dr. Jack Mickler, the retiring pshychatrist who tries to cure him.

After Don Juan tries to kill himself and winds up in a mental hospital, Jack listens to him tell his life story and decides how to interpret it.

The cast is excellent. Johnny Depp is as soulful as he is sexy. Faye Dunaway is perfect as Jack's loving, devoted and somewhat neglected wife. And you can't help falling in love with Dr. Mickler.

This movie is quirky, heartwarming, funny, romantic, sexy and beautiful. It will make you want to fall in love if you're single, and make you want to rediscover your partner if you're not.

I highly recommend you buy this movie and watching it with your boyfriend/girlfriend, fiance, or husband/wife immediately.

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This glorious and enchanting film is one of my favorites. Johnny Depp is contagious as the mental patient who convinces everyone with latent, romantic hearts, that he is indeed Don Juan de Marco, the greatest lover who ever lived. I love Johnny Depp in offbeat roles. In spite of all the controversy he has incurred over the years, he still captures my heart, especially when he plays roles like Don Juan and the Charlie Chaplin copy cat in Benny and Joon. I always thought he would have been sensational in the movie, Chaplin. Marlon Brando is also superb as the rotund, tired psychiatrist whom Don Juan, the patient, rescues from mediocrity. Faye Dunnaway is beautiful as his pragmatic, middle-aged wife. Together, they recapture the spirit of youth and demonstrate that regardless of advancing age, fun, sex appeal, and energy don't have to be wasted on the young. If you love adventure, passion, and joy, don't miss this alluring, little gem!

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This is a very entertaining movie. The cast is excellent and the story is quite a bit of fun. There are some short comings in the film, but who cares.

Johnny Depp plays a deranged man who believes he is Don Juan. After he tries to kill himself he is sent to a mental hospital where he begings to tell his story to his doctor, Marlon Brando. Brando is about to retire and he takes on Depp as a last case in more ways then one. Brando is seemingly having troubles of his own and in an odd way these two characters end up helping each other.

From that description, you would never guess it, but this is a comedy. So now that we are past that, it is the relationship between Depp and Brando is the real charm of Don Juan DeMarco. They seem to really enjoy working together. The diologue Depp delivers in this film is enormously cheesy, but he is so great he pulls it off. Certainly for Brando this is the most substancial role(as far as screen time goes) he has played in twenty something years. I find his role amusing and it is always good to see Brando having a good time.

Don Juan DeMarco is a fun little movie. It is kind of light though. However to me that does not really matter because it is witty and clever. It is definately a must see for Brando and Depp fans. People who enjoy quirky comedy should enjoy it as well.

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Johnny Depp in the title role is more a Casanova type than a Don Juan. Don Juan only enjoys the chase; once he has captured the female, he abandons her. Casanova adored women, all women and found in them spiritual and physical perfection. This last describes Johnny Depp's role.

The movie opens with a gloriously romantic seduction of a modern day young woman by a masked, 18th century Spanish aristocrat. He leaves her stunned and ecstatic with joy while he dashes (cape swirling) to a building top to ---commit suicide? It appears he has disgraced his true love. Marlon Brando, a psychiatrist, is called to the scene to "talk him down." No ordinary stairs or elevators to reach the rooftop for Mr. Brando. In a memorable scene, the portly gentleman grandly rides to the top in a cherry picker for his first meeting with Don Juan reincarnated. Their rapport is instantaneous (Depp identifies Brando as Don Ottavio de Flores,) and they ride down to street level together.

The real world intervenes. Don Juan is detained for psychiatric observation for his delusions and attempted suicide. Brando, about to retire, wants Depp to be his last case. Their meetings are florid reconstructions by Don Juan of his history (he was even as an infant enchanted by the ladies, seduced a gorgeous unhappy wife at 14, dueled with her husband, was sold in slavery to a Turkish caliph and not too surprisingly found himself in a harem). Brando becomes increasingly intrigued and gradually their positions are reversed. He is learning from Don Juan. He wants this romance in his own life as well. At home, he woos the bewildered Faye Dunaway with the strains of Mozart's magnificent "Don Giovanni" in the background.

The movie is a froth of visions---it is worth the price of admission to see Brando dancing a chiffon-clad Faye Dunaway on an exotic beach. They are touchingly in love. Johnny Depp never once steps out of character (or his well-done accent) and you almost conclude he is indeed the real Don Juan. It is his genius to be completely serious and yet wildly comic at the same time. "Don Juan de Marco" is a film for the romantic in all of us.

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Blu-Cube 10-Pack

When the primary attraction to a product is that you are getting a $150 "value" for $42.50, you likely aren't. Ask yourself how they can afford to stay in business, if this truly is a $150 "value". In my opinion, this 10 disc set isn't even worth $10.

The included titles, hardly are ones to take advantage of the benefits of Blu-ray in the first place, let alone ones that are considered highly desirable. At $3.53 per disc, you would be better off looking for inexpensive DVDs, and making sure that your Blu-ray player will also play DVDs. Then, buy the titles you actually want, as opposed to the titles that are being "dumped" at a "fire sale".

The whole purpose of Blu-ray is to offer the capability of having more special features, and higher quality for today's 1080p TVs and projectors. This set defeats that core purpose pretty handily. Never mind the fact that all of these titles are movies that didn't sell well to begin with.

The included titles are:

1. The Big White

2. Category 7: The End of the World

3. Mortuary

4. Mysterious Island

5. Beer League

6. Blackbeard

7. The Poseidon Adventure

8. Final Days of Planet Earth

9. 10.5: Apocalypse

10. The Curse of King Tut's Tomb

I wanted to get a library started for my Blu-Ray player and thought this would be a good way to kickstart the library. I did not realize the made for tv movies had choppy parts where the commercials should go and in movies that spread out over 2 nights (like 10.5) the movie ending showed, and a bit later the second night part of the movie was shown. It is okay but if I had paid full price for the cube, I would have been sorely disappointed.

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A 10 pack of B-flicks. For forty-bucks, you can't really complain too much. You get 10 BluRay films... for forty-bucks.

First, none are worth paying more than five-bucks for. But since they're four-bucks each... not too bad. These are straight to BluRay movies. Skipped the theaters all together.

Only buy if you're a collector of movies. The average viewer shouldn't buy these.

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This set is actually quite good if you know what to expect. These are not movies that flopped in the theater, and they are technically not made for video, unless you count made for cable as made for video. Here is the low-down on what seven out of the ten films in this set are: they are Hallmark movies, made for the Hallmark channel. Generally, Hallmark does a good job with movies, especially with movies based on classic stories. If you're expecting 50 movie pack type drive-in schlockfest films, that's not really what this is. The "theatrical" films are not huge hits, but they are not terrible if you know what to expect. Grant it none of the three theatrical films is an Oscar contender, but they do have appeal. Howard Stern fans will probably like Beer League, as it was made by one of Stern's "gang" Artie Lange, and Mortuary was made by Tobe Hooper whose original Texas Chainsaw Massacre was far better than the schlocky remake (which SHOULD be shovelware)so it does have a connection to a Horror legend, and the Robin Williams film is not his best, but it has its silly charm. The reason I gave this four stars is this: If they took out the theatrical films and replaced them with Gulliver's Travels, Moby Dick, and The Odyssey, this would be a five star set, considering the price. All three of those films were fairly close to their source material, (although not exact, but what movie is?)and I would love to find ANY of these movies back in print in ANY form. The DVDs are long out of print and quite costly. Of course if they had included the awful Monkey King or Noah this would have been a three star set.

So these are Hallmark movies; nothing more, nothing less. If you enjoy the Hallmark Channel and Hallmark's made-for-TV fare, you would probably enjoy this. I find it to be good for the price, but I still wish Moby Dick, The Odyssey, and Gulliver's Travels were all here as well. Of course the picture quality is not up there with most of the theatrical blockbusters you will find today, but remember, these movies were made for cable, not the big screen.

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