The Writer's Poke

At the end of the movie, we see the words The End crossed out with the words The Beginning. Since I know three additional Bridget Jones movies have now been made, I take that to mean that they had at least planned for one additional Bridget Jones film, if not a full franchise. (I have no current plan to watch the sequels, but I have read the IMDb summaries, and so I know, in summary, how the following years of Jones's life have gone. Usually, I wouldn't count that against the original movie, but I feel like it's difficult with this one, as this movie is a Romance with a Romantic ending, and yet, I know "the rest of the story.") A simple love triangle. There's Daniel (Hugh Grant), a womanizing prick she knows better than to get involved with... but once he shows the least bit of interest in her, she immediately gets involved with him. Then there's Mark (Colin Firth). He's like a real man, the one she was "destined" to be with, but she can'...

Certain actors seem to pop up in movies together. Anyway, Tara Fitzgerald and Sam Neill have worked with Grant in other films, and I just wonder how the casting works, and how often actors ask for, request, or suggest other actors to appear with them in different films.  In this one, Antony (Hugh Grant) is a clergyman who is going to visit Australian artist, Norman Lindsay (Sam Neill), with the purpose of maybe convincing him to tone down the obscenity in his paintings? Antony acknowledges that nudity can be completely fine, but there's a difference between nudity and obscenity. He brings Estella (Tara Fitzgerald), his wife, along.  The Sirens are Norman's models. Norman's compound and studio is somewhere inconveniently located in the Australian outback, and as it turns out, Estella and Antony get stuck there for a few days. Sheela (Elle Macpherson) and Pru (Tziporah Malkah) are the main two Sirens, but maybe they're not the only ones to count as "sirens." Nev...

Original title: Remando al viento So the film has an English-speaking cast, but the director and crew speak Spanish. I got to be honest, I probably spent more time thinking about why a Spanish-made film was being shot in English than I did about the story being told. This is Lord Byron and the Shelleys in 19th century Europe. They were young and poetic. They agreed to write some stuff, and when Mary Shelley (Lizzy McInnerny) wrote Frankenstein -- not something the film ever dwells on -- people close to her start dying. She feels cursed, and "the Monster" starts following her around. I enjoyed the settings, as well as seeing Grant and Elizabeth Hurley on screen (she played Claire Clairmont), but beyond retaining a basic knowledge of the underlying story itself, I know this is one of those kinds of movies that I will watch and quickly forget. Although "the Monster" is featured in the film, this one was not shot as a horror movie, nor is "the Monster" meant t...

I like getting DVD collections of different actors and directors. Restoration (1995) was included in a Hugh Grant collection, and while Grant is in the film, he's in a relatively minor supporting role. This is a Robert Downey, Jr. movie. But that's fine. Sometimes "forgotten" movies need a little help to be found, and I'm glad it was included in the collection. So the year is 1662, and Merival (Downey, Jr.) is a doctor. England has just restored the monarchy, and there's also a plague. King Charles II (Sam Neill) has a mistress, but he marries her off to Merival so that she can be close to the King without arousing any suspicion. Unfortunately, Merival does the only thing in the situation he cannot afford to do: He falls in love with his "wife." Eventually, Merival has a falling out with Charles II, who takes back the estate he had given him, and Merival has to return to his friend Pearce (David Thewlis) to find a job This leads him to Katharine (Meg...

If high school football matters to west Texas, then size matters to Wales. Because quite frankly, what else sets Wales apart? Everyone easily recognizes Ireland, Scotland, and England, but Wales? What's it known for?  I'm sure there are a few mainstream movie titles that are longer, but at 12 words long, this one is pretty long. And, it essentially contains the synopsis of the story. Anson (Hugh Grant) is the Englishman. He and his partner come to the small Wales community to measure the mountain, and World War I is in the background. Soldiers in Europe have dug trenches across the continent. They know what's possible.  So, when the measurement is complete, the "mountain" turns out to be 16 feet short. It's just a 984-foot hill. But the town decides, with the blessing of the local clergyman, to make their hill into a mountain, one pailful of dirt at a time. Everyone pitches in, and after climbing the hill five times in single day. the octogenarian Reverend Jon...