FC Barcelona Sport

This is not Shirley Temple’s A Little Princess, it’s the classic you know, re-told with a greater sense of fantasy.

Sara Crewe is pulled out of India where her soldier father is stationed and sent to a school for girls in the U.S. while her father helps the British army fight in WWI. After a few months of the dean Miss Minchin spending Sara’s money they are informed Sara’s father was killed in action. Instead of throwing Sara into the street Miss Minchin forces Sara into servitude. What no one knows is that Sara’s father survived but has amnesia and doesn’t know he even has a daughter…

Alfonso Cuaron is one of my favorite directors, and strangely enough this is the movie I discovered him with. I used to work at a video store, and one of the free screeners we received was A Little Princess; I didn’t remember Curaon’s name after watching the film, but I remembered his visuals. A Little Princess is one of the most stunningly visual children’s films I have ever seen. The name didn’t come back to my attention until he was given Prisoner of Azkaban.

No film based around a child character can really work unless you have a compelling child actor; great examples of this are The Phantom Menace & The Sixth Sense - one of those worked and one didn’t…I’ll let you guess which is which. A Little Princess is helmed by a good child actress – Liesel Matthews. Matthews hasn’t done much in the acting world since A Little Princess but I think perhaps that’s because she developed other interests as she grew up.

A Little Princess is not Cuaron’s best film, but now that I’ve seen most of his films I can safely say that Cuaron has not made a bad film.

Director: Alfonso Cuaron
Writers: Richard LaGravenese & Elizabeth Chandler
Sara Crewe: Liesel Matthews
Miss Minchin: Eleanor Bron
Capt. Crewe: Liam Cunningham

Miss Minchin: Don't tell me you still fancy yourself a princess? Child, look around you! Or better yet, look in the mirror.
Sara Crewe: I am a princess. All girls are. Even if they live in tiny old attics. Even if they dress in rags, even if they aren't pretty, or smart, or young. They're still princesses. All of us. Didn't your father ever tell you that? Didn't he?

Mike Chadway has the most offensive public access show in the Sacramento area, on The Ugly Truth he talks about men, and what men want out of women. Enraged one night local morning show producer Abby calls in and gives Chadway a piece of her mind & his highest ratings ever. Abby’s boss hires Chadway to boost their shows ratings. Angry and relationship challenged Abby agrees to a bet with Chadway, he’ll get her doctor crush to date her or he’ll quit.

The Ugly Truth is a romantic comedy in the tradition of great romantic comedies like When Harry Met Sally, which is a refreshing tradition after a string of boring, bland romantic comedies pumped out as cheap date movies. Instead, The Ugly Truth actually manages to build character, plot and chemistry while engaging in the formula of “meet cute” and romantic conflict.

What made The Ugly Truth work for me was the character of Mike Chadway, played by Gerard Butler. Chadway is a womanizing, offensive, egotistical, dog of a man but the writer thought enough about the character to make him human and actually give him empathetic characteristics. There is a reason Chadway is the way he acts now, and even better there is a second side to Chadway that is slowly revealed through the movie.

I think The Ugly Truth will play well to audiences of both sexes. Men & women enjoy the chemistry between Chadway & Abby, and the humor is rooted in the battle of the sexes, something that can always manage to appeal.

Director: Robert Luketic
Writers: Nicole Eastman, Karen McCullah Lutz & Kristen Smith
Abby Richter: Katherine Heigl
Mike Chadway: Gerard Butler
Georgia: Cheryl Hines
Larry: John Michael Higgins
Joy: Bree Turner
Jonah: Noah Matthews
Elizabeth: Bonnie Somerville
Colin: Eric Winter

Abby: I am not desperate! Why, did you think I sounded desperate?
Mike: Listen to you. Desperately asking me if you sounded desperate?

Anyone who reads this blog consistantly knows there was no way I only watched about 12 movies last month - that's only like 2-3 a week.

If you were thinking that you are right. September was kind of a crazy month for me. I haven't even been able to publish my September feature at Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Film.

This will be corrected soon. I plan on taking advantage of the weekend and power blogging to get it all done.

Stay tuned!