Category: Comedies - Comedy - Comedy Video - Feature Film-comedy - Movie
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DVD Calendar Girls
In the sensible yet elegant hands of actresses Helen Mirren and Julie Walters, Calendar Girls walks a fine line between sappiness and snickering and ends up both wonderfully funny and gently touching. When her best friend Annie (Walters, Billy Elliot) loses her husband, Chris (Mirren, Prime Suspect, Gosford Park) cooks up a scheme to memorialize him: They and their friends--all fiftysomething women--will make a nude calendar to raise money for the hospital where he died. The calendar becomes hugely popular, but the success may drive a wedge between the two women's friendship. Based on an actual event, Calendar Girls carefully balances the stories of several women as it follows the calendar's media explosion, becoming a surprisingly moving fable of loss, determination, and the perils of fame. And let's face it--Helen Mirren is one of the wittiest and sexiest women alive, clothes on or not. --Bret Fetzer
`Calendar Girls' is fresh and witty and quite funny. It's actually much better than I was expecting it to be. I absolutely love Helen Mirren who just loses herself in every role, and here, in this comedy it's no exception. As Chris, Mirren plays the rebellious fiftysomething housewife who causes quite a stir in her little community. When her best friend's husband dies of leukemia she devises a plan to raise money for the hospital where he died, to help furnish the waiting room making it more comfortable for the grieving family. The plan is for their annual calendar (they belong to NWI or National Women's Institute). Every year they do a calendar, usually with flowers and churches and such, but this year Chris suggests doing a nude calendar, starring of course the women belonging to the NWI (all in their fifties or older), in order to cause a stir and sell more calendars (most likely out of pure curiosity). At first her idea is baulked at but eventually it's allowed and they raise more money then they could have dreamed...and they become more famous then they would have expected...but with fame comes a price, and that price may be their friendship. Julie Walters is wonderful as the grieving Annie, but it's Mirren who steals the show and breathes so much life into this cute, funny and smart little film.
I loved this British Comedy/Real life story!
The women of North Yorkshire, England do as many English country women do and join the Woman's Institute (WI) for friendship and to learn new things. Unfortunately the WI that is in Rylstone has gotten a bit dull. They seem to only be learning about things such as how many uses there is for broccoli and how to pick the perfect tea towel. But, this is all due to change. Annie's husband who is the local arborist suddenly develops leukemia. Unfortunately the love of friends, family and lots of medicine does not cure him and he passes on. When sitting with Annie in the "Relatives Room" one afternoon Chris comments that if people spend too much time on the couch in the room then they will need to build a wing of the hospital to treat them. During one of the WI meetings the chair starts to talk about the yearly calendar that is put together as a fund raiser, this year's tropic is sure to inspire lots of shots, as it is Church Steeples of Rylstone. Later while at a local auto body shop Chris spots the Pirelli Tire calendar and suddenly has a brain storm. Chris convinces a number of the WI to pose nude, yes nude in their golden years for a fund raising calendar. Her plan is to buy a new leather couch for the relative's room. After much hemming and hawing the idea takes root and then the hunt for a photographer begins.
Humor abounds as they look at portfolios of abstract artists, poodle photographers as well as butterfly aficionados. But, no one is right for the photographer they need. Finally they remember one of the orderlies for Annie's husband was a photographer. They twist his arm into the project. He comes back with the idea to have photos taken as if they were doing the painting, baking, knitting, gardening that the WI is known for, but with one slight difference, they would do it in the nude. After much wine, a lot of peer cheering and encouragement they make the calendar.
The calendar takes hold and becomes a hit. Once it is a hit in Britain it also becomes a huge success "across the pond" in the States.
I loved this movie. I thought I would be a little turned off at seeing the women posing nude. But as the show states "it isn't naked it's nude". If you like the Full Monty you will love this one. One thing that is to be noted is that this is based on a true story. To date they have done 2 calendars as well as planning for a 2007 version and have raised more than 1 million pounds (2 million dollars) for the leukemia foundation, and yes they got the leather couch. This movie was very tastefully done with the normal British flair for using normal looking people and likeable characters that are not perfect.
Bravo for the women of Yorkshire
After John Baker's death, his wife Annie and a few of her friends - all middle-aged women - decide to pose for the annual local women's charity calendar. The idea is to raise enough funds to purchase a new sofa for the leukemia wing at the local hospital. How about pulling a twist on the same boring idea of the annual calendar... and have a nude picture of a housewife for each month, while tending to the everyday chores. From a marketing standpoint, the idea is simply brilliant. But the real achievement of these "calendar girls" does not just lie in the fact that they stripped for a good cause during their middle age (although that would have been good enough, especially for actresses with a body like Helen Mirren's), but in the actual originality of their idea.
This is a great movie because it portrays a true story of courage and determination, in which real people command the attention of the world by doing something uncommon. Additionally, and as one of the previous reviews stated, Helen Mirren's and Julie Walters' elegance, brings a special, cozy touch to this typical "girls' movie".
The setting is wonderful, with charming views of the British countryside. The DVD includes not only deleted scenes (thank God they were), but also two documentaries where we learn about the "real" Calendar Girls; plus interviews with the cast, and the two photographers (the "real" one, and the one who took the movie stills).
Though she made her first movie at the age of 13, Diane Lane has only blossomed into a true star in her 30s, and Under the Tuscan Sun marks her full flowering. After a brutal divorce, Frances (Lane, Unfaithful, A Walk on the Moon) is persuaded by her friend Patti (Sandra Oh) to take a tour of Italy--where, on a whim that she hopes will rescue her from her desperate unhappiness, she buys a rundown villa and sets out to renovate it. Along the way, she gets advice from a former Fellini actress, meets a scrumptious Italian lover, and helps support Patti after her own relationship derails. The conclusion of Under the Tuscan Sun holds no surprises, but the deft turns and observations along the way are delightful. Lane carries the film effortlessly but surely, exuding... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Audrey Wells DVD Release Date: Released the 03 February 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Imagine a Cheech and Chong pothead comedy, only instead of two scruffy lowlifes, the movie is about an aimless Scottish gardener and a middle-aged British widow with a green thumb. Grace (Brenda Blethyn of Secrets and Lies and Little Voice) has just discovered that her recently deceased husband has left her with an enormous debt when her gardener Matthew (Craig Ferguson, The Big Tease) asks her to help him tend to his small, personal-use marijuana crop. Grace soon realizes that they can turn her green house into a hydroponics laboratory and turn out a profitable crop--if only they can keep the local constables at bay and then find a dealer to actually sell the stuff. Saving Grace has well-developed characters, intelligent dialogue, a charming and... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Brenda Blethyn Director(s): Nigel Cole DVD Release Date: Released the 19 December 2000 Usually ships in 24 hours
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A group of unemployed Yorkshire steelworkers hopes to replenish their empty wallets and boost their flagging morale by following in the footsteps of the Chippendale's strippers. These guys are hardly what you would think of as buff, and few can even dance. They simply take these problems in stride, because these are men with a plan--displaced, unemployed, and feeling suffocated by the women in their lives, they just want to earn a little respect. The dialogue and interaction between these men will have you screeching with laughter, but of equal importance is their sense of camaraderie and caring. First-time director Peter Cattaneo is a name to watch for; he easily conveys the sheer humanity of these people in their small town with their sad stories and irresistible sense of optimism.... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Robert Carlyle - Mark Addy - Tom Wilkinson Director(s): Peter Cattaneo DVD Release Date: Released the 06 March 2001 Usually ships in 24 hours
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When local wag Jackie O'Shea (Ian Bannen) discovers that one of his neighbors in the village of Tulaigh Mohr is a lottery winner he sees a chance to share in the wealth. Things get complicated when Jackie and his pal Michael O'Sullivan (David Kelly) discover that the winner, Ned Devine, died of shock at the very moment he learned of becoming a millionaire. Undaunted, Jackie and Michael dispose of the lucky stiff and hatch a plot to impersonate him and claim the prize. Soon the whole village is involved and the plot rapidly thickens.
This film has been compared to The Full Monty, but it lacks the vein of desperation that added depth to that film. Instead, Waking Ned Devine is closer in tone to classic British comedies like Whisky Galore!, with its cast of... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Kirk Jones (III) DVD Release Date: Released the 01 June 1999 Usually ships in 24 hours
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