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Movie Bliss: A Hopeless Romantic Seeks Movies to Love
Heidi Rice
The Romance Lover's Guide to Movie Must-SeesIf you adore Sleepless in Seattle and Pride and Prejudice and The Avengers, then you want a movie guide aimed at women like you. Women who enjoy romances and more! You like both a good kiss and a good knockout and refuse to be categorized-but you wish someone like you would recommend movies.Which brings Harlequin author and professional movie critic Heidi Rice to the rescue. Whether it's nonstop action with a little heart 'n' soul, sweetly adorable cartoons, a classic black-and-white screwball comedy or that under-the-radar flick that you never knew you were missing, Heidi Rice will lead you through her must-sees and why you will also enjoy them. From Ryan Gosling's six-pack to that iconic orgasm sandwich delivered by Meg Ryan, right up to the double whammy of hotties in Prisoners (Gyllenhaal and Jackman)—there's a little something for everyone.And a little something for that teenager inside you who's ready to watch "nekkid" man-candy and spend two hours falling in love all over again….
The Romance Lover’s Guide to Movie Must-Sees
If you adore Sleepless in Seattle and Pride and Prejudice and The Avengers, then you want a movie guide aimed at women like you. Women who enjoy romances and more! You like both a good kiss and a good knockout and refuse to be categorized—but you wish someone like you would recommend movies.
Which brings Mills & Boon author and professional movie critic Heidi Rice to the rescue. Whether it’s nonstop action with a little heart ’n’ soul, sweetly adorable cartoons, a classic black-and-white screwball comedy or that under-the-radar flick that you never knew you were missing, Heidi Rice will lead you through her must-sees and why you will also enjoy them. From Ryan Gosling’s six-pack to that iconic orgasm sandwich delivered by Meg Ryan, right up to the double whammy of hotties in Prisoners (Gyllenhaal and Jackman)—there’s a little something for everyone.
And a little something for that teenager inside you who’s ready to watch “nekkid” man-candy and spend two hours falling in love all over again….
Dedication
To my Mum and Dad—who love the movies almost as much as me, and loved each other even more. Xx
Movie Bliss: A Hopeless Romantic Seeks Movies to Love
Heidi Rice
Mills & Boon E POP!
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
Modern Tempted author and film journalist Heidi Rice indulges her inner chick-flick bitch with her take on some of the greatest romantic movies of all time, some movies which boast wonderful touchy-feely moments and a few others that you may never have heard of but will soon wish you had.
Whether you’re looking to have a fabulous Girls’ Night In, planning to drag your other half to a darkened cinema on a secret mission to ogle Ryan Gosling’s nekkid pecs, stuck indoors with bored children on a rainy day, or simply trying to cajole your teenage sons into watching something with a little heart and soul alongside the blood, sweat and firepower… Have no fear; Heidi is here to celebrate what women want in a great movie experience. So if it be Hugh’s sculpted abs gilded by campfire light, Rhett and Scarlett bickering their way through the American Civil War, Meryl cooking boeuf bourguignon (and Alec Baldwin) to within an inch of their lives or Bradley and Jennifer learning to tap-dance, badly, this is so the movie guide for you.
Table of Contents
1) Oldies That Are Awesome (#u4a9ef90b-2b7f-5a89-9e04-f51f3f6a6bd8)
It Happened One Night: A Hitch-hikers Guide to Screwball Romance (#uf5bda954-58c9-43ed-bb55-d6ab20c8f22a)
The Wizard of Oz: Because of the Wonderful Things It Does (#ua71db351-f128-41e8-8216-78bdd0ff578e)
It’s a Wonderful Life: How a Banker Steals My Heart Every Christmas (#u93fdc657-5046-4841-b957-3a8677a82e3f)
On the Waterfront: Brando in His Prime Does Bad Boys Proud (#uca1e21e1-013d-41a2-9300-d140310ed244)
The Long, Hot Summer: When Paul Met Joanne… (#uebca0a4f-e5e0-409a-adcf-f839f6a74a8b)
The Apartment: Mad Men with Laughs (#u956c9d96-1f69-4e1d-8e11-7c91f2875e1a)
The Thomas Crown Affair (1968): How to Beat a Guy at Chess, Every Time (#u652d1433-1ada-42f0-9f6e-96c3881ff63a)
2) Cartoon Capers, but Not Just for Kids (#u0416aedc-2f1d-53de-831c-02db3c6b815e)
Beauty and the Beast: A Tale That’s Old but Timeless (#u345f2078-b37c-4d98-993a-91b6c4f0b9ef)
Pocahontas: Love on the Wild Frontier (and Mel Gibson Sings!) (#litres_trial_promo)
The Princess and the Frog: It’s Not Easy Being Green on the Bayou (#litres_trial_promo)
Up: And Away in My Beautiful Balloon House (#litres_trial_promo)
Tangled: Rapunzel Has a Good Hair Day (#litres_trial_promo)
Toy Story 3: For When You Wanna See Grown Men Cry (#litres_trial_promo)
3) Rom-Coms R Us (#litres_trial_promo)
When Harry Met Sally…: And Meg Ordered an Orgasm Sandwich (#litres_trial_promo)
Pretty Woman: Confessions of a Streetwalking Shopaholic (#litres_trial_promo)
Bridget Jones’s Diary: Pride and Prejudice with Really Enormous Knickers (#litres_trial_promo)
It’s Complicated: Especially After You Sleep with Your Ex, Meryl. Sheesh! (#litres_trial_promo)
He’s Just Not That Into You: Oh, Yes He Is! (#litres_trial_promo)
The Proposal: Ryan Reynolds Looks Good Nekkid. It’s Official (#litres_trial_promo)
Love & Other Drugs: When Love Means Never Having to Fake an Orgasm (#litres_trial_promo)
Silver Linings Playbook: Nobody Puts Bradley in a Corner (#litres_trial_promo)
4) Joys for the Boys (and the Girls, Too) (#litres_trial_promo)
Public Enemies: Johnny Depp as a Bad Man with a Tommygun (#litres_trial_promo)
Source Code: He Follows the Plot, While You Follow Jake Gyllenhaal (#litres_trial_promo)
Limitless: Bradley Takes a Drug That Makes His Eyes Even Bluer…Seriously? (#litres_trial_promo)
Cowboys & Aliens: aka Buff & Buffer (#litres_trial_promo)
Drive: Ryan Gosling Riding on the Edge (#litres_trial_promo)
John Carter: A Massive Flop but Not So’s You’d Notice (#litres_trial_promo)
Skyfall: Bond Is Back and Bardem’s Got Him (#litres_trial_promo)
Prisoners: Two Hotties, Lots of Heartache (#litres_trial_promo)
Rush: Chris Hemsworth to Drive You Wild? Anyone? (#litres_trial_promo)
5) Offbeat but Right Up My Street (#litres_trial_promo)
Dear Frankie: Starring Gerard Butler, When He Still Did Subtle (#litres_trial_promo)
Julie & Julia: The Great American Cook-Off (#litres_trial_promo)
The King’s Speech: Or How an Aussie Saved the British Monarchy (#litres_trial_promo)
Attack the Block: The Kids Are Definitely Not All Right (#litres_trial_promo)
Young Adult: A Mean Girl Grows Up…Eventually (#litres_trial_promo)
The Artist: Black, White, Silent, French…et Magnifique! (#litres_trial_promo)
Cedar Rapids: Insurance Salesmen of the World Unite (#litres_trial_promo)
Rust and Bone: A Gallic Love Story with Nothing Lost in Translation (#litres_trial_promo)
6) Big Is Beautiful, Bold Is Even Better (#litres_trial_promo)
Gone with the Wind: The Civil War Never Had It So Good (#litres_trial_promo)
The Last of the Mohicans: Featuring the Best Kiss-Off Line in Movie History (#litres_trial_promo)
Brokeback Mountain: A Fine Bromance (#litres_trial_promo)
Australia: Nicole Explores the Wonders of Oz (and Hugh Jackman, Nekkid) (#litres_trial_promo)
Valentine’s Day: Twenty Star-Studded Hallmark Cards Come to Life (#litres_trial_promo)
Man of Steel: Is It a Bird? Is It a Plane? No, It’s the Hottest Guy on the Planet (#litres_trial_promo)
Glossary
Buff, Buffer, Buffest: Men who make you drool. Henry Cavill being a case in point.
Chick-Flick: A film where the action is mostly in the snarky, snappy, sexy dialogue—and there are a lot more fluffy-cuddly bits than a dick-flick.
Dick-Flick: A film that overdoses on gun action, or car action, or spy action, or sci-fi action or all of the above. And it tends to stint on the fluffy-cuddly bits. (I.e., the opposite of a chick-flick, really.)
Modern Tempted Hero/Heroine: This Mills & Boon hero is still alpha, but he’s also a whole lot of flirty fun—as are the women who can tame him. He’s gonna be smart, sexy and successful, but she’s going to be able to match him every step of the way. He could be Clark Gable’s hitch-hiking reporter in It Happened One Night, cartoon bad boy Flynn Ryder in Tangled or Jake Gyllenhaal’s flirty, dirty Viagra salesman in Love & Other Drugs, while she could be Meg Ryan’s orgasm-faking Sally in When Harry Met Sally…or Joanne Woodward’s Newman-taming smart cookie in The Long, Hot Summer. She’s gonna have to put her heart on the line with this guy—while making sure he never gets the upper hand!
Modern Romance Hero: This is the ultimate alpha male in the Mills & Boon universe. We’re talking the hot guy who’s at the top of his game. Powerful, protective, overpowering—a guy you don’t want to mess with (but secretly can’t resist). For the purposes of this movie-review book, we’re talking Daniel Day-Lewis in Last of the Mohicans, Clark Gable in Gone with the Wind or Daniel Craig in Skyfall—and larger than life in every respect.
Heart-Warming Romance: The home of Mills & Boon American Romance, Cherish Romance and Heartwarming Romance, featuring tough, tender and always relatable heroes and heroines. Look no further than Dear Frankie or It’s a Wonderful Life for a Heart-Warming Romance fix on screen.
Nekkid: That would be Hugh Jackman in Australia and Ryan Reynolds in The Proposal—and several other hunks I haven’t mentioned specifically—so you can be pleasantly surprised when you see the movie.
Romance-arama: A word that I am myself patenting to mean a film with enough different stories to make you dizzy. Coined here to apply to Valentine’s Day and He’s Just Not That Into You, but also applicable to such movies as Love Actually.
Series Romance: This is the stuff Mills & Boon is made of…small books with big themes, hot heroes, heroines just like you and a happy ending. Be warned: not every film in this collection has a happy ending, but they all have a whole lot of heart.
1) Oldies That Are Awesome
Who says you need CGI, SFX, 3D or even colour film to do some amazing storytelling?
It Happened One Night (1934): A Hitch-hiker’s Guide to Screwball Romance
Directed by Frank Capra
Starring:
Clark Gable as Peter Warne
Claudette Colbert as Ellie Andrews
Walter Connelly as Mr Andrews
Jameson Thomas as King Westley
The 1930s in Hollywood were a golden era. There were glittering epics such as Gone with the Wind and The Wizard of Oz, fabulously overblown women’s pictures like Dark Victory and The Women and a raft of acclaimed literary classics such as The Grapes of Wrath and Wuthering Heights…. But by far the most entertaining films of that golden age for me, and the films I return to again and again, are the glorious romantic comedies of Frank Capra. Because Capra’s comedies weren’t just funny and gloriously romantic, they were also heartfelt and genuine, shedding a healing light on the hard times of the Great Depression.
Escapism with an edge, I like to call it.
Now, Capra was a fan of Gary Cooper (Mr. Deeds Goes to Town) and later James Stewart (It’s a Wonderful Life), but my favourite of his rom-coms (and it’s got a lot of competition) has to be the time he cast Clark Gable as his leading man in It Happened One Night. This was Gable five years before he took on the iconic role of Rhett Butler in GWTW, and while the darkly handsome good looks, alpha tendencies and trademark playboy tache are already in evidence here, this is a younger, more playful and laid-back Gable—he’s supersexy, but his reporter, Peter Warne, is also witty, wonderfully contemporary and gets as good as he gives from his sassy heroine—Claudette Colbert’s runaway heiress, Ellie Andrews. So if we translate that into Harlequin terms, while Rhett is more of a Presents hero, Peter for me is all KISS.
Like most of Capra’s films, the story is simple and remarkably subtle, brilliantly clever and always character led.
Ellie has decided to tie the knot with ‘society aviator’ King Westley against her millionaire father’s wishes. Dad whisks her away to his luxury yacht to make her see sense, but she escapes—determined to make her way back to King, come what may. Enter our smart, jobbing reporter, Peter Warne, who’s on the lookout for a headline-grabbing exclusive. And Ellie’s race across the country to be reunited with her beau is it. At first Ellie’s reluctant, but after a spot of blackmail and the realisation that she needs Peter—because you see she has no money, very few clothes and she is not used to slumming it—they end up hitch-hiking and bickering their way across the country together.
Thus begins an often-hilarious, frequently heart-warming and also exceptionally sexy battle of wits that turns to romance, when Ellie finally figures out that Peter’s more of a match for her than King will ever be, and Peter figures out that his career isn’t as important as finding true love—and a woman who knows ‘the limb is mightier than the thumb’!
But don’t take my word for it. This film won the five big Oscars of 1935—namely Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay—can still charm the pants off you three-quarters of a century after it was made and, most important of all, put an end to men wearing vests (when Gable revealed his bare chest). And let’s face it, ladies, we’ve all got to salute it for that!
There are two key scenes that encapsulate the perfect blend of humour and romance this movie has to offer. First, the now-legendary hitch-hiking scene in which Ellie strings Peter along beautifully while he happily gallops towards his own comeuppance as he instructs her on the proper way to use your thumb. Only, he discovers that, as already stated, Ellie’s long-legged limb is mightier than his thumb, no matter how he chooses to use it!
And then there’s the pièce de résistance—considered super risqué in its day, and still pretty hot now—when the couple has to share a motel room and Peter constructs the Walls of Jericho (i.e., a blanket hung on a washing line) between their two beds. But you’ll have to watch the movie to see the Walls of Jericho come tumbling down!
I give you It Happened One Night—proof that not only does money not buy you love, but slumming it can actually be very romantic…. Especially if you happen to be doing it with Clark Gable.
The Wizard of Oz (1939): Because of the Wonderful Things It Does
Directed by Victor Fleming
Starring:
Judy Garland as Dorothy
Frank Morgan as the Wizard
Ray Bolger as the Scarecrow
