Tag: patrick dempsey

You can take the girl out of the honky tonk, but you can’t take the honky tonk out of the girl. “Sweet Home Alabama” (2002)

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directed by Andy Tennant
© 2002 Buena Vista Pictures. All Rights Reserved.

1st of May, Friday and finally some time to rest. At least for me. To all the weekend-working readers: lots of respect for you. However, when you get back from work, you deserve to relax and give your brains a break. That is why I’m recommending you a nice rom-com today. I’m not saying it’s a stupid production, but it’s definitely not a film on which you need to focus much. Let’s face it, it’s a rom-com. Anyway, I had a nice time watching it, so why not sharing it with you? The main character is Melanie Carmichael (Reese Witherspoon), who is a fashion designer and a very successful woman living in New York. She gets engaged to Andrew Hennings (Patrick Dempsey), who’s also an important person. He’s even planning to run for President of the US. So, watch out guys. Melanie is thrilled about her upcoming wedding and she goes to Alabama to inform her parents about the news. And do one more thing… Well, Melanie is actually… married. She got married to Jake Perry (Josh Lucas), a man she’d known since childhood. Unfortunately, those two separated and Melanie ran away to New York to start over and change her life entirely. Even though they don’t live with each other, they are still officially married. That is why Melanie asks Jake to sign divorce papers, which… he doesn’t really want to do. Not because he’s still in love with his wife, but because he wants to play with her a bit. Obviously, the film is full of irrational scenes, dialogues and behaviour, but, in the end, my brain was grateful for this relaxation. What’s very interesting is that, apparently, “Sweet Home Alabama” was the first film that got the permission to be shot in New York after the 9/11 events. So you won’t only watch a decent rom-com, but also a somehow important production in the history of cinema. Enjoy.

My rating: 6/10
S.

With all due respect, fuck you, sir. “Outbreak” (1995)

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directed by Wolfgang Petersen
© 1995 Warner Bros. All Rights Reserved.

I’ve seen this film several times and each time I watch it as if I didn’t knew what’s about to happen. It isn’t a documentary, but it was based on a nonfiction book called “The Hot Zone” by Richard Preston, which presents the danger of the filoviruses (including the very well known Ebola virus). In the film we have a made-up virus called Motaba. The story starts in 1967 in the jungle where plenty of people are suffering from a deadly fever. The US Army deals with it. How? You’ll see. Then we move 28 years later to Zaire where there’s an outbreak of Motaba. A group of American virologists go there to investigate the problem. They return to inform that there’s no need to worry about getting infected. Unfortunately, the host to the virus gets smuggled to the US. And this host is a capuchin monkey. The smuggler, his girlfriend and the man who took the monkey to his pet store catch the virus. Luckily, they are the only ones infected. The problem begins when the monkey gets released, those three die and the scientists realise that Motaba mutates. Now it’s enough to go to the cinema, breath in, breath out and done. You’re about to die in few days. Creepy? Horribly. I always feel uncomfortable thinking of this story, because it can actually happen. We hear about dangerous viruses somewhere on another continent and we don’t even worry about it. Because it’s there, not here. But we forget that we’re living in the 21st century now. Going to another continent takes around 10 hours. We already know how dangerous flying is when it comes to that. You get stuck in a tube with hundreds of different people. You never know who they are or what kind of illnesses they have. You may also catch a virus from a random person at the airport and you don’t even need to be travelling to the same country. If I destroyed the idea of your perfect holidays now, I’m sorry. I can just say that I also travel and “exchange viruses” with plenty of people. So far I’m fine. But this film gives you some food for thought. Besides, it’s full of amazing actors, such as Dustin Hoffman, Rene Russo, Morgan Freeman, Kevin Spacey, Donald Sutherland, Cuba Gooding Jr. or Patrick Dempsey. Despite the topic, it’s really pleasant to watch it. 

My rating: 7/10
S.