Reviews Written by Lanis
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November 19, 2000
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November 19, 2000
Same Time Next Year
1 of 1 Yahoo! Users found this review helpful What a wonderful movie! Two people who would otherwise probably have never have met, strike up a conversation over dinner at a lodge where they are each staying overnight for different reasons..away from their families and spouses. That's the start of their meeting the same time next year, every year. The movie is so well done! And the leading characters are FANTASTIC. Beside his wonderful portrayal of everyone's favorite prankster/schemer/ ...rebel/ surgeon, Hawkeye Pierce, in the television series M*A*S*H, this is without doubt the BEST performance of Alan Alda's that I've ever seen. It's a movie that will have you laughing one moment, crying the next, and at the end of it all feeling oddly "human", when you realize that we ALL change and grow throughout our lives, that we never stop learning, and perhaps most of all, that we have an amazing capacity for loving others without losing any part of ourselves. This may be about two people married to others, meeting once a year for what begins as a fling and becomes almost a marriage in so many ways...but after I saw it the first time, I realized that wasn't it...it doesn't have to be with a "stranger". So, I asked my husband if he'd meet me one weekend a year, at the same time, same place, every year, for a couple days of freedom to be ourselves spending time together, without the ties that bind two people into one "US" and bind that "us" to our "real" life and all of those ties that marriage bring. It's like giving ourselves a gift...the gift of a few days each year when we don't have to do anything but simply "be". Like Helen and George, we've come to cherish that same time each year. We get to know each other better in those two or three days in many ways than we do the rest of the year I think...because nothing else is in the way and we make the time to do that, and so we get to know ourselves better too. Watch this movie, and I guaranty you, you'll love it...and you'll want a special weekend like their's, and then you'll want it again and again...the same time, next year.
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Chaplin
I laughed, I cried, I laughed until I cried...for those of us who were born too late to experience those first silent films as they happened; who never got to see the oh-so-talented star, Charlie Chaplin, who has often been referred to as a genius ahead of his time for the genre, with which I quite agree...this is just one really amazing movie! It isn't just a biography of the much beloved Chaplin, it's also a look back at the times and the people of that decadent era...who are brought back so vividly, that you feel you're there, (or wish you had been!) because you're watching so many talented actors bring back to life the film industry's pioneers like little Mary Pickford and the legendary Erol Flynn, (played brilliantly by Kevin Kline, just as one would imagine Mr. Flynn must have been, based on all the accounts of his lifestyle and his zest for life). It doesn't matter if you've never seen a Chaplin movie, or whether you even know enough about his work to be a true fan of his...actually that's all the more reason to get this movie...unique because it's a biography, while at the same time it's a film about films, with today's stars portraying those stars that started it all. I became a real fan of Robert Downey Jr. thru this movie, even though I was already a great admirer of his incredibly versatile talent. I'm also grateful to Mr. Downey, for his amazing portrayal of Charlie Chaplin. It's so easy to see throughout that he gave this movie his all and then some to bring forth the character so true to life. He gave me the oppportunity to fall in love with The Tramp and his work all over again. What a treat to step back in time and see all of the legends brought to life on the silver screen that made them stars to begin with! I rarely urge people to BUY something, definitely not just based on my opinion! However, in this case you can take this one to the bank, as one of those few exceptions! It brings back the magic and the excitement of the beginning of the film industry, and shows us the man behind the bowler and oversized shoes with the funny walk and swaggering cane, the beloved Tramp, Charlie Chaplin. ...