Love Me If You Dare Movie Review: I Dare You

Movie Review



Parlez-vous francais? Un peu – which for any non-speaking French people, translates to a little bit, in English. Personally, I enjoy watching foreign films. They could be from Asia, France, Germany, India or anywhere in the world. Sometimes, I will be adventurous and try to just watch a movie to see how much I can understand, and other times, it’s a real blessing to have the option of subtitles!

Love Me If You Dare is a movie that I stumbled upon when I browsing through the international film section. It is yet another beautiful French film, filled with wonder and mystery, directed by Yann Samuell.  

What starts out as an innocent game during childhood between both characters Julien and Sophie, soon turns into an emotional struggle of survival throughout the rest of their adult lives. The dares seem simplistic enough to begin with, but as the years pass by and the game continues, the dares start to carry a lot of underlying ammunition.

It’s fascinating and perhaps a little morbid to watch Julien and Sophie’s lives spiral out of control over a measly game that could have been stopped long ago. However the yearning to hold onto each other seems almost like a surreal experience, and not the typical romantic fairy tale that love is made out to always be.

This was an amazing movie on so many levels. What I got out of the movie is that trying to run away from something much deeper inside your heart and soul is harder than anyone could ever dare to admit.

Somewhere In Time Movie Review: Come Back To Me

Movie review

In the film Somewhere in Time, on the opening night of his first play, Richard Collier (played by Christopher Reeve) is greeted by a mysterious older woman who subtly puts an antique watch into his hand with a picture of a beautiful woman. Several years later, wanting to get away from work, Richard decides to take a break and finds himself staying in a hotel where he becomes awe-struck and obsessed by the same photograph he was given inside the watch. On the hunt for answers, he finds out that the woman was an actress back in the 1900's named Elise McKenna (played by the beautiful Jane Seymour.) Unable to get her out of his mind, he resorts to self-hypnosis in the hope of travelling back in time to meet and fall in love with her. 

This was such a romantic movie filled with beauty and utter simplicity. Christopher Reeve gave a brilliant performance showing his strong-willed character on the brink of madness and my heart was filled with awe feeling the passionate love between Richard and Elise that endured throughout the film. His obsession with Elise reached a point where the yearning for her became almost heartbreaking to watch. Seeing how far of a journey he went, even in his own mind, makes time travel a truly life-changing experience.

Another tear-jerker of a movie, with the great possibility that if you’re watching this alone, you’ll be finishing off that giant tub of ice cream, by the time the film credits roll.

It's Complicated Movie Review: I’ve Never Really Known How To Live Without You

Movie review:

In the movie, It’s Complicated, after 10 years of being divorced, Jane and Jake played by Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin find themselves in each other’s arms after reuniting for their son’s graduation. Jane is a workaholic and is unsure about going back into the dating scene, while Jake has taken the plunge again, this time marrying a younger woman. As Jane battles being the other woman in this discrete yet exciting affair, she is suddenly courted by a new love interest played by Steve Martin who is recently divorced and wants to start anew. Going on dates yet still sleeping with your jealous ex-husband who wants you back, doesn’t seem so easy anymore and so Jane and Jake need to decide what kind of benefits they are really looking for so things won’t remain complicated.

I loved every second of this movie! Everyone can relate to this film in some way as relationships at any age or of any kind are not always simple. Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin were fantastic together. The dialogue between them was really entertaining. Add in the painfully shy but zany character played by Steve Martin, and this was a sure hit. John Krasinski from the popular show The Office had a small but great role worth mentioning too. There were tons of hilarious scenes especially one involving a webcam and some tender moments as well that had a lot of meaning. 

It was anything but complicated to go out and purchase this movie, which I know that I will watch repeatedly and hopefully you’ll feel the same.

Valentine's Day: REEL LOVE

In honour of Valentine's Day, I dedicate this blog post to all the wonderful movies out there!

Reel Love

Well today is a holiday that people truly love or loathe, there is really no in-between. You’re either spreading virtual love all over Facebook or cranking up your stereo and making voodoo dolls of all your ex-lovers, while listening to Boy’s Don’t Cry by The Cure.

Over the years, I’ve had some amazing Valentine’s Day celebrations and others that I’d rather forget. Still, it’s my favourite holiday because I guess you can simply say that I’m in love with love! I’m that girl who you’d say is the hopeful romantic at heart. 

The beauty of film is that no matter what your mood is, there is always a movie to go with your emotion and a character that can somehow relate to your current situation.

So here we go, my diverse list of favourite movies for the following categories (note that these films can go into more than one category, I just put each in the one that I felt was the most appropriate) 

Passionate lust:

•  9 ½ Weeks
• Sex, lies and videotape
• Sliver
• The Hunger
• Red Shoe Diaries

First loves:

• Pretty in Pink
• The Princess Bride
• Never Been Kissed
• 13 Going On 30
• Clueless
• Some Kind of Wonderful

Alternative loves:

• Get Real
• Chasing Amy
• Priscilla Queen of the Desert
• Rocky Horror Picture Show
• Mannequin

Long-distance/virtual lovers:

• Sleepless in Seattle
• You’ve Got Mail
• The Holiday
• Must Love Dogs

Wishing they were in love with somebody:

• The Wedding Singer
• Amelie
• Bridget Jones’s Diary
• Love Actually

Confused about love:

• Serendipity
• The Break-Up
• It’s Complicated
• Reality Bites
• Benny and Joon
• Knocked Up
• Love Me If You Dare
• 40 Year Old Virgin
• All About Steve

Jaded, I-will-make-you-love-me/I-want-to-see-you-suffer-badly-and-take-pictures:

• Cruel Intentions
• Fatal Attraction
• Kill Bill
• Psycho
• The Last Seduction

Broken-hearted who have loved and lost:

• PS I Love You
• Cashback
• The Phantom of the Opera
• Life is Beautiful
• Bed of Roses
• High Fidelity
• Somewhere in Time

Hopefuls who want to find love again:

• When Harry Met Sally
• Romancing the Stone
• Say Anything
• As Good As It Gets

"I'm not willing to gamble my whole life on someone who's, well, not quite sure. It's like you said. I'm still looking for something more extraordinary than that." - Bridget Jones's Diary

I’ll stop here, but realize that there are countless others to recommend. So to wrap up this Valentine’s Day blog, a few last thoughts:

Know the difference between loving someone and being in love, it will save you a lot of heartache in the long run. 

Chuck Palahniuk Book Review: Hysteria is impossible without an audience

My book review on Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk

Channeling your inner diva to find the monster within yourself seems to be the best way I could describe Invisible Monsters by well-known author Chuck Palahniuk.

The story is told through the narration of a disfigured woman named Shannon McFarland, who was on top of the world being in love and living the dream of a fashion model. After a freeway accident left her disfigured and unable to speak, fair-weather friendships, an unfaithful partner as well as a shattered identity, the reader can get a real sense of how desperate times can often lead to desperate measures. Along the way, she befriends a pre-op transsexual named Brandy Alexander who is anything but what she appears to be and will teach a valuable lesson to Shannon; to take charge of one’s life means to stop trying to control it.  

As an author, Palahniuk appears to be cynical and probably the most jaded person on the face of the planet. He’s raw and unapologetic and a lot of the dialogue is extremely graphic and might even churn some stomachs. It’s anything but politically correct. The book does not follow any order at all either. It jumps around from thought to thought, weaving in and out to add some witty conversational dialogue, while still managing to tantalize the reader with intrigue. The foreshadowing of events that I picked up on were very subtle too. The laughter that escaped me came from Palahniuk’s twisted humour, showing the epitome of dysfunctional family dynamics. I’m still not sure how something so wrong (you’ll understand what I mean once you read this book) could fit in as well as it did, but I’m sure afterwards, you’ll be thinking your family life is perfectly normal.

Oddly enough, this book is a hit with creative story-telling, interesting characters, memorable lines and overall obscurity. I would consider this mature reading and so heed my warning if you are very conventional and squeamish.

I look forward to reading other books by this author. Surely a warning label should be on any of Palahniuk’s books though. When entering his mind, buckle up, but remember to enjoy the ride!

Chicken Soup for the Soul Book Review: Joy, pain, sunshine and rain.

My book review on Chicken Soup for the Soul: Count Your Blessings:

Chicken Soup for the Soul: Count Your Blessings is a wonderful book, plain and simple. All the stories deal with the challenges that we all might face at one point or another in our lives, from broken hearts to broken promises and everything in between. Every story is personal and if you haven't gone through the situation before, you could at least empathize with the person who is sharing his/her experience with the reader and even recall what you can do if you are ever in crisis. 

Chicken Soup for the Soul books are always a favourite of mine because they are incredibly comforting, no matter what my mood is at the time. They are down-to-earth, emotional stories that are meant to be read by everyone, from very young children who want their parent(s) to read them a story before bed, to older individuals who are inspired and want to continue to share their wisdom with others by reading books.

The best part is how encouraging and positive the stories are, even in the worst conditions imaginable. Examples are: a divorce, leaves a family torn apart, and a mother hopeless and alone until finds her purpose again in life in the strangest of circumstances and a loss of a beloved partner allows a widow to reclaim her forgotten youth and find peace within.

A lot of the stories have a religious undertone, which some may not resonate with due to their own belief system or lack of belief. However, no matter what, I feel that everyone in their own way could appreciate the power of faith that is presented in this book.

To end this review, I must quote one of my favourite lines in a Depeche Mode song, which makes total sense because one can learn valuable coping strategies and lessons from this book. 

"Try walking in my shoes, you'll stumble in my footsteps."