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January 6, 2015January 20, 2015 | Paul Wake Baker

The Lady Vanishes

Set in the fictitious European country of Bandrika, this 1938 British comedy-mystery remains one of Alfred Hitchcock’s best movies. Based on the 1936 novel The Wheel Spins by Ethel Lina White, the script by Sidney Gilliat and Frank Launder is truly funny, even the suspenseful parts. Enhanced by Hitchcock’s own wit, it emerges as a truly entertaining popular film that reaches well beyond his normal confines of mystery and suspense.

Leap Year

Genre films are really hit and miss. If you’re quite lucky, you’ll get a hit, but producers find out all the time that it’s really easy to think you’ve got a winner and then just miss. This is especially true with romantic comedies, which are perhaps the most difficult genre to score a hit. Usually, either the comedy fails, the situation isn’t quite creative enough, or–most frequently–the leads just don’t have chemistry, which comes back to the casting.

Little Women (1994)

This Robin Swicord adaptation of Luisa May Alcott’s classic novel is very good, considering that the movie comes in under two hours. Overall, it is a very good film. This is the fourth adaptation of Little Women to the screen, it stars Wynona Ryder, Susan Sarandon, Claire Danes, and Kirsten Dunst.

Lost in Austen

The general fascination with Jane Austen is continued in this 2008 four-part British television film, originally aired by ITV and released in the United States as a three hour film. Amanda Price is a modern Jane Austen stuck in an unromantic relationship with a boozy, uncouth guy, Michael (Daniel Percival) and living in a flat in Hammersmith with a girlfriend, Pirhana (Gugu Mbatha-Raw). All she really wants is to be left alone so she can immerse herself in Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.

Lovelace

This film is a 2013 biographical picture about the life of Linda Boreman, beginning at the age of 20 and going through her marriage to Chuck Traynor and the release of her biography, . Under the trade name of Linda Lovelace, she starred in the 1972 pornographic breakthrough movie Deep Throat and that is her lone claim to fame aside from her biography, Ordeal.

The First Annual Amy Adams Film Festival

October 30, 2014October 31, 2014 | Paul Wake Baker

When I finished the fifth draft of my novel Walk Against Time, I was suffering a bit of post-partum depression and decided to fill the void with Amy Adams movies, so I decided to create the First Annual Amy Adams Film Festival. Okay, it was a low-key affair, just me and a bowl of popcorn, but it was great fun.

I must confess right from the beginning that I love Amy Adams unconditionally.

There, it’s out in the open. A friend recently asked me what I love about Amy and I’ve got to confess that it’s pretty much the whole package. Red hair, green eyes, a cute little pixie nose. What’s not to love? She’s not emaciated, but not overweight, either (okay, maybe just a tiny hint of baby fat). Inside that perfect shell, there is a personality that just radiates optimism. Don’t blame her, she can’t help it. It’s how she is. She’s like the Tom Hanks of female actors. There’s just something that will never, ever give up on humanity and our potential. Finally, you crinkle in a moderate dash of vulnerability that brings tears to my eyes. Please, Amy, DON’T CRY! I admit it freely. I am besotted.

The film list below contains links to my reviews for each of the movies. Just click on the name or photo to read the full review.

The First Annual Amy Adams Film Festival

Day 1

Leap Year

Amy plays an Irish-American girl who travels to the auld country to propose to her sweetie on February 29th, when she believes he can’t refuse. Along the way, she meets an Irish pub owner that just might change her mind. This is easily the worst of all the films in the festival. It is a romantic comedy that is not entirely successful. Read the review to find out why. It’s a good film to begin the festival with because every movie will get better from now on.

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day

One of Amy’s most adorable roles as nightclub singer Delysia Lafosse, a flibbertygibbet who is bouncing between three men. It takes a wonderful performance by Frances McDormand to help her realize her true love and find happiness. A wonderful comedy!

American Hustle

Amy does some real acting in this hilarious comedy about two con artists in the 1970’s who get into something over their heads. Christian Bale is unbelievably good in this movie and frankly he steals the show, but Amy is great, too. In fact, everyone is good.

Enchanted

This is an amazing Disney film containing both animation and live action with great music and some incredible songs. Yes, Amy sings again! She is at her delightful best as Princess Giselle who is thrown out of her cartoon kingdom into downtown Manhattan by the evil queen Narissa, played by Susan Sarandon. It’s joyful and funny and one of the best Amy Adams films ever. A personal favorite.

Day 2

Sunshine Cleaning

This is kind of a dark comedy about two down and out Albuquerque sisters, played by Amy and Emily Blunt, who start a business cleaning up crime scenes. It is both funny and touching and features a great performance by Blunt. Alan Arkin appears as their father.

The Fighter

A great film on so many levels! Again, Christian Bale is over the top good and won a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award for his role as Dicky Eckland, the older brother of Amy’s love interest, Micky Ward, played by Mark Wahberg. Amy plays a smart bartender who helps Micky to escape his family’s bungling of his boxing career. She’s really good in this movie and creates a real regular girl-type character (except that she’s like totally gorgeous, as usual). This is a must-see movie!

Trouble with the Curve

What more could one possibly ask than to have Clint Eastwood as Amy’s crusty old baseball scout father? She’s at her most vulnerable here in a movie that combines some subtle comedy with a deep hurt that she suffered in her childhood. She and Clint are dynamite together and when you add in Justin Timberlake as her love interest, you have a wonderful, feel-good movie that just can’t be resisted. Wonderful!

Julie and Julia

The festival ends, appropriately enough, with Julie and Julia. The first time I actually remember seeing Amy Adams in anything, it was this and I fell for her really hard as Julie Powell, a talented wannabe writer in a post 9/11 world who decides to cook her way through Julia Child’s legendary cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Although they have no scenes together, Meryl Streep’s endearing performance as Julia Child is a perfect counterpoint to Amy’s vulnerable, lovable Julie. This is a film that I can literally watch over and over and love more each time. As a writer, two scenes touch me the most. First, when Julia receives the first printed copy of her book, and second, when Julie gets a call that a publisher is interested in publishing her blog. I’m still waiting for the magical moment in my own life, but these two women are wonderful in their own joy of publication. LOVE—LOVE—LOVE this movie!

And so the festival ends. An empty bowl of popcorn. A little wetness about my eyes. And a hope that the Second Annual Amy Adams Film Festival will be just as enjoyable as the first.

I hope you all like my reviews, please feel free to subscribe to my web site to enjoy all of the reviews I write in the future.

Until then, as Julia Child would say, Bon Appetit!

Leap Year

September 25, 2014 | Paul Wake Baker

Unfortunately, Leap Year is a near miss and that’s real shame because it is full of promise, even with a hokey idea, and the female lead is Amy Adams, which is as close to a sure bet as you can get.

Anna Brady (Adams) is a Type A apartment stager. She’s a ball of energy, completely full of herself, and engaged to cardiologist Jeremy Sloane (Adam Scott). For as long as she can remember, she’s wanted to get into a certain apartment complex, so they apply with the notion that they are engaged. After five years of waiting, Anna truly wants to be engaged, but Jeremy doesn’t seem to take the hint.

Her Irish father, Jack Brady (John Lithgow) has told her of an Irish tradition whereby if a woman proposes to her mate on February 29th (of a Leap Year, obviously), he must accept. As it happens, Jeremy is going to Dublin for a cardiology conference, so she decides to take advantage of the tradition to get a Yes. However, a terrible storm detours the plane to Cardiff, Wales, and all flights to Dublin have been cancelled. Somehow, she hires a boat to take her to Dublin, but the storm forces them to stop at Cork, where they let her off on the Dingle Peninsula. Wandering into a pub, she tries to get a taxi to Dublin, but the only one available will be driven by Declan O’Callaghan (Matthew Goode), the pub owner. His inn is threatened with foreclosure unless he can raise the money, so he agrees to drive her for 500 Euros.

Thus begins a series of catastrophes that sees them walking most of the way. While staying overnight at a bed and breakfast, they must pretend to be married and sleep in the same room. During the dinner, each of the old Irish couples kiss and they force Anna and Declan to follow suit. It is a kiss that surprises both of them with its tenderness and intimacy. While avoiding a hailstorm, they barge into a wedding and become part of the party. Anna gets drunk and tries to kiss Declan, but ends up soiling his shoes. The next time we see them, they are sleeping on a bench at a bus stop.

It doesn’t take a doctorate to figure out what happens. It is, after all, a romantic comedy.

The most serious problem in the film is that there is no heat between Adams and Goode. As an Amy Adams fan, I am left to blame Matthew Goode. I think the issue really is casting. He comes off a bit cold, for all his Irish humor, but nothing ever sizzles between the pair and frankly, I didn’t ever believe them as a couple. That Amy Adams would settle for either Jeremy or Declan is a huge stretch of the imagination, which has already been severely strained by the improbable series of events that make up the movie.

Although Anna and Declan wear coats throughout the trip, we never really see them cold, yet they are walking through Ireland in February. I didn’t believe that. One can only imagine the freezing wind, yet all they face is a little rain that doesn’t ever seem to chill. All of the Irish characters are very well done and quite believable. The scenery is fantastic. Throughout the movie we are treated to one beautiful view of green hills and countryside after another. The cliffs at Dingle are spectacular and the camera captures them beautifully.

However, with an unbelievable script and a lack of chemistry between the stars, the movie just never really takes off and a fine performance by Amy Adams is wasted. If it weren’t for Amy, I’d skip this one, but she is as lovable as ever and that makes it worth seeing.