Ladyhawke

V: If you watch this in 2011, you will be bugged by the synthesizer music.  It really doesn't fit with the whole knights in armor thing.  Maybe this is how A Knight's Tale will seem in a few years - but at least they punked up their hair and accepted the fact that they were being anachronistic.  Anyway, the story is alright.  The knight is out for revenge.  Matthew Broderick is his old quirky self.  Michelle Pfeiffer is gorgeous, as always. This movie is okay. 2 1/2 stars

M: Pretty funny, sometimes unintentionally so, movie. It takes place in mid-evil times, but has a spunky synthesizer soundtrack. You've got to love the 80s. And, on a related note, it will help you with this movie if you love the 80s. 2 stars

The Time Traveler's Wife

M: I don't want to lose my man card, but I kind of liked this movie. Maybe its because I like the notion of time travel, and it was interesting to see what they did with that. I didn't really care for the relationship in the movie, which I suppose is pretty important. I hated the notebook, same actress, way too sappy. This relationship also dripped a bit of sap, but not nearly as bad. It felt like the relationship moved too quickly and then went backwards though. The first time they meet, at lease that the viewer sees, she is madly in love with him and they jump in the sack. A little while later, he is gone for a few weeks and she is intensely mad at him. This after a lifetime of his being gone most of the time, which she didn't seem to mind? Not buying it. In the end though, I loved the idea of his moving through time and how it came together, especially with his daughter. That saved this from being another lame over-the-top romance. 2 1/2 stars

V: Interesting concept. My disbelief was almost immediately un-suspended though by the way they were so matter-of-fact about the whole time-traveling thing. This poor little boy loses his mom in a car crash, and immediately this weird man shows up and says, "It's okay, I'm you. I time-traveled here." Only the friend of the wife's friend seemed to show some real dismay at the idea. Okay, other than that . . . It made for some good - wait, pause the movie, let's talk about these time-travel implications - moments. But that is outside of the movie, isn't it. The end had me a little teary, not because of what the movie achieved really - but the thought of *Spoiler* seeing your husband again after he had died - yikes. And what does she do? She smiles pleasantly and holds her daughter at her side as he disappears again. No! That is the time for the tearing of hair and gnashing of teeth! What was that blithe "See you maybe some other time for a couple of minutes love." Arg. So, it was kind of interesting, but not particularly well-executed, I thought. 2 stars.

Sense and Sensibility (BBC, 2008)

V: Here we are again, I think this is the last S&S we'll be reviewing - partly because this one really satisfied. Like Mike mentioned about the last one, this is better than the book. The main reason? Colonel Brandon. I think this is a better told story because they flesh out Brandon, all the way through the movie. It really adds to the tension and romance. (Probably because he reminds us of Darcy - and who doesn't love Darcy?) There's a particularly great moment when he catches Marianne - I was sold. True, it's not in the book. Who cares? If it's an improvement to an already good story, I accept it. I think we all (4 of us) agreed that this is a bit better than the Emma Thompson version. But giving credit, I do think it borrowed some things from Thompson's. And I preferred Thompson's Willoughby. (As did Thompson, actually, she married him. Well, the actor, anyway.) This Willoughby wasn't as handsome, and gave you reason to dislike and distrust him from the beginning. I preferred to be taken in. Keeps things complicated. This was a little more Villain-Hero simplistic. But I still liked it a little better than the other. 3 1/2 stars

-

M: Great movie, great casting. I liked this even more that the last version we watched, which was also very good. As V said, the characters and their relationships were just a bit more fleshed out. This contained more from the book which the earlier version had cut out; it helps that it was 3 hours long. Although it was better that the prior version, and I gave that 3 1/2 stars, I just don't think this can quite jump to the 4 star mark for me. That is pretty prestigious company and this doesn't quite make it there, but it is close. See it. 3 1/2 stars