I met Spencer Barbosa on the street at Walt Disney World and it was incredible to see her fans’ reactions in person!
Browsing Tag
Valentine’s Day
It’s interesting to see Valentine’s Day posts on social media from brands considering it’s a Hallmark holiday. I’ll highlight the posts I like and ignore the embarrassing ones I stumbled upon. Let’s just say that making a pun about the word “sweet” isn’t going to make the cut. Perhaps you’ll get some ideas for next year!
My favourite Valentine’s Day posts fit into 3 categories: roundups, greeting card templates and community. Roundups are easy to create while greeting card templates require more design resources. In 2018, I wrote about brands creating templates for Instagram Stories, so it’s cool to see this trend continue on a larger scale. Community posts are always a smart choice too!
“Josh does not complete me. I complete myself.” I loved hearing this quote as I sat in the movie theatre alone watching Isn’t It Romantic. It’s a refreshing type of romantic comedy that I saw after visiting the movie’s pop-up shop on Queen St. West on Valentine’s Day.
Isn’t It Romantic is about a young professional in New York who becomes unconscious and enters an alternate universe. It’s an alternate universe where Natalie (Rebel Wilson) gets to critique the romantic comedies she grew up watching and experience that lifestyle at the same time.
All of a sudden she’s got it all, including a handsome, wealthy boyfriend. She’s recognized as a superstar at work and she has an amazing walk-in closet too. After Natalie walks into her magically renovated apartment for the first time, she says, “You win. I’m going to love it, not list it.” Through a mix of authentic and fake looking scenes, the movie makes New York look beautiful. Obviously I loved how they recreated Prince St. in SoHo!
The satirization of a rom-com within a rom-com is very meta. Sometimes you’re laughing at how the whole story develops and sometimes it’s funny to see how the alternate universe is so phony. For example, when Natalie tosses things out the window, like an alarm clock, someone acknowledges and appreciates it, which would only happen in fantasyland.
I don’t think this movie will become a classic like the movies it mentions, such as Sweet Home Alabama, The Wedding Singer, Pretty Woman and 13 Going On 30. After all, how could it? A movie mocking rom-coms can’t be as iconic as the original rom-coms.
But it’s timely. It’s a modern romance without any texting. Natalie only looks at her phone once to check the time. She also jokingly references her tracking device while talking to Blake (Liam Hemsworth). “Sometimes my Fitbit says ‘Wanna stroll?’ but when you say it, I don’t want to smash you!”
This movie is fresh, vibrant and charming. Or shall I say beguiling? (You’ve got to see the movie to understand why!)
All of Rebel Wilson’s outfits looked like they were tailor-made for her body, proving that anyone as talented as her can look gorgeous in a leading role. And in the age of inclusivity, I think that’s important. It’s good that they mocked how cheesy gay sidekicks can appear in movies. It’s good that the main actress was a plus-sized woman who killed it and made Priyanka Chopra’s character look like an idiot. It’s good that this movie came out when it did. I hope that going forward, studios will release movies that offer a mix of criticism and escapism. That’s important, isn’t it?
Photo Source: ComingSoon.net
Motivated by the success of his hit novel The Notebook, Nicholas Sparks aimed to recreate similar characters and obstacles in The Choice. I don’t think The Choice deserves to be a classic like The Notebook, but it’s definitely worth reading.
The Choice is about two neighbours, Travis and Gabby, who fall in love. In their first face-to-face encounter, Gabby storms over to Travis’ deck and falsely accuses his dog of impregnating her dog. I’m not an animal lover, but I didn’t mind reading about their pets. Sparks sprinkles in their dogs Moby and Molly just enough and doesn’t go into great detail when describing the animals at Travis’ veterinary clinic.
In Canadian director Ivan Reitman’s latest romantic comedy, No Strings Attached, Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman play Adam and Emma, two young and naive professionals who try having a casual relationship.
All relationships have rules, both explicit and unspoken, and friends with benefits are no exception. Adam’s neighbour reinforces this in passing, knowing very well that it’s foolish of Adam to think his friendship with childhood crush Emma is any different. Even Pinnocchio knows that there are always strings, but these two stubborn lovers would rather explore the benefits of their friendship. As if their fate wasn’t predictable from the trailer, Emma and Adam quickly realize that having “no strings attached” is unachievable.
Furthermore, its use of symbolic moments and holidays support critics’ motives for passing it off as another formulaic chick flick. Must there always be a wedding or Valentine’s Day to motivate the characters to make a move or realize they’ve made a mistake? Then there’s the Hugh Hefner like age gap between Adam’s famous father and his girlfriend, as well as the romance between Adam’s roommate and Emma’s best friend. Kudos to them for being entertaining while doing what several supporting actors have done before them.
Nevertheless, there are several witty lines, including a metaphor about an 8-track. Among its humorous scenes are one in which Adam makes Emma a mix CD and lists a number of song titles that can be construed to have a subtext about menstruating. Like many modern movies, there is also Adam’s debate with his friends about the best way to respond to a late night text. As for what first resembled Britney Spears’ ‘Baby One More Time’ music video’, Reitman’s parody of Glee was clever and amusing. Finally, while it may be surprising that a Jewish widowed mother would date a boorish man nicknamed Bones, Reitman subtly references his and Portman’s Jewish heritage a few times throughout.
Most romantic comedies leave room for criticism, but this one is definitely worth renting. If its plot is a topic of interest, then stay tuned for the upcoming summer blockbuster, Friends with Benefits, starring Justin Timberlake. I wonder if there will be any references in it to Nsync’s ‘No Strings Attached’ album.
Update: Re-watched the film, this time recognizing New Girl actor Jake Johnson who plays Adam’s roommate! [January 2013]