Category Archives: Romance

Far and Away (1992)

far and away movie posterThere have only been a handful of movies I’ve been able to call my favorite of all time. From 2015 to the present (February 2024), it has been The Revenant. The Town had a few years run before that. Before that, the honor belonged to The Shawshank Redemption, holding it for many years after wrestling it away from Braveheart, which had an equally long run. It dates back to the 1980s, The Goonies and a surfing movie called North Shore until Young Guns took the title in 1987. The ’90s was when my favorite film changed hands the most, full of some of the first Rated R movies I saw in the theater, including FlatlinersTrue RomanceSaving Private RyanTitanic, and Ron Howard’s (In The Heart of the SeaRush) sweeping romantic adventure Far and Away.

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It Ends With Us (2024)

it ends with us movie posterIt Ends With Us, the 2024 film from director Justin Baldoni (Clouds, Five Feet Apart), is another example of a film movie that had the potential to be great but ultimately tried to either do too much or incorporate too many elements that weren’t otherwise needed in an attempt to want to be more than the movie was capable of delivering. While there is quite a discrepancy between critics and audiences (55% vs. 89% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes), it’s tough to dispute that this touches on issues significant in today’s society, including a conclusion that feels murky and haunting, but also honest and authentic, and one that I haven’t seen before in movies or shows about the subject matter. It Ends With Us does have trigger warnings. Proceed cautiously as you decide to watch or read my review.

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Anora (2024)

anora movie stillBlue ValentineAn EducationSilver Linings Playbook, Pretty Woman, The Worst Person in the World, Before Midnight, and Like Crazy. These were the seven movies in the first article I pulled up after an online search of “movies like Anora” returned. As a fan of all seven films, I needed nothing more to decide that Sean Baker’s (Red Rocket, The Florida ProjectAnora was one I needed to see. I did not need to see a preview. I did not need to read a synopsis. Instead, I had to find out how quickly I could watch the film. My viewing happened soon after. It was a mixed bag and one that mostly failed. While Silver Linings Playbook and Pretty Woman have good-natured moments of good-naturedness and humor, I wouldn’t label any of these as comedies or unbelievable. While I could see vague similarities, Anora was much more comedy-first, absurd second, and attempts to portray emotional bleakness third. I would not have listed it with the movies the article I read compared it to.

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Sommersby (1993)

summersby movie stillMy first viewing of Jon Amiel’s (Entrapment, CopycatSommersby was when I was 17. I liked the story, was intrigued by the slow unraveling mystery, and ate up the sentimentality created by Richard Gere (Pretty Woman, The Mothman Prophecies) and Jodie Foster (Panic Room, The Silence of the Lambs). Had I reviewed the film in 1993, I likely would have given it an A-. As I watched the movie most recently, some 30 years later, I was impressed by how well it once again grabbed and held my interest. Much of that was trying to spot each clue that connected the start and end, which rewatches allow. However, as simple as the story was, I fell victim to Jack Summerset’s (Gere) six-year return to Laurel (Foster) following the U.S. Civil War.

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After Everything (2018)

after everything movie posterJeremy Allen White has a commanding presence. Whether he’s the troubled but brilliant New York chef Carmy Berzatto in FX’s The Bear or the successful but haunted professional wrestler Kerry Von Erich in The Iron Claw, Allen shows how to make his character the one that you can’t take your eyes off of in each scene. Before his recent success and recognition from this show and movie, Allen was known for his recurring role on Showtime’s Shameless. During the show’s decade-long run, White was carving out a name for himself on the big screen during that time with critically acclaimed but mostly unseen  Afterschool, We Gotta Get Out of This Place Bobby, and co-directors Hannah Marks (Don’t Make Me Go, Turtles All the Way Down) and Joey Power’s romantic dramedy After Everything.

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