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Love Actually


wild_turkey

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It's become a tradition for us as well. But only the R-rated version (fuck the edited for TV broadcast). It's a great "on in the background" flick when you're wrapping gifts, doing cards, etc. Easy to tune out the plot lines you don't give a shit about & watch the segments you like (Judy, the perky young porn stand in FTW). And fuck anyone if they don't laugh at Rowen Atkinson's gift wrapping scene.

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PSA:  shouldn't have to be said, but it's actually a terribad movie about love - almost every story line sucks.  don't watch if you are going through a tough time with relationships.  My gf and I watched it while we were simultaneously going through divorce/breakups after 20 years each.  fucking hated the movie.  ruined it actually (yes, I said actually intentionally there).  watcher beware.  highly likely we will watch this year though.

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Sorry but every story line doesn't suck. This might be my wife's favorite Christmas movie. I enjoy it for the consistently mean British humor. They really hate people being overweight there. As far as the love stories. Hugh Grant and the secretary get together. Colin gets laid and helps his friend get laid. Jamie gets a girl that hopefully won't cheat on him. Liam Neeson recovers from the death of his wife by helping his step son with his first love while also getting a Claudia Schiffer clone. Billy Mack realizes his best mate is the person he'd rather spend the rest of his life with. The porn stand ins get married. The only two portions that aren't happy endings are actually pretty accurate representations of love. One that stays together because of convenience even though the romance and trust are gone. The other is wanting something you can't have. Andrew Lincoln is the worst best man/friend in human history though. Plus it ends with God Only Knows which is one of the best songs about love. 

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I like it, but the wife doesn't.  So when she wants to watch a movie together and I pick this, in my mind I am doing her a solid, but in her mind she thinks she's doing me a solid.  Then about halfway through I remember she doesn't like it and I realize that I should have picked Die Hard or something if I knew this was going to count as my choice.

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I love the movie, but absolutely hate the Laura Linney storyline. They should have kept the deleted scenes about the principal and dumped LL and the brother. 

Lots of favorite parts for me, but Firth marching thru the streets to the restaurant and the simultaneous Sam racing thru the airport as the music bed swells is tremendous. And for pathos, not much tops Emma Thompson, realizing Hans Gruber spent his bearer bonds on another woman, as Joni Mitchell wails in the background.

Someone pointed out in the Queen’s Gambit thread that Thomas SangsWhatever (Sam) and Keira Knightley are only about five years apart in age. 

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You're a lonely, ugly asshole. You must accept it.

I forgot about the Laura Linney part in my above post. That's another one that's not a happy ending but is a reality for some. Love and duty to family over yourself. 

Karl was also Xerxes in 300 and Paulo from the worst Lost episode in that show's history. 

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4 hours ago, troph said:

PSA:  shouldn't have to be said, but it's actually a terribad movie about love - almost every story line sucks.  don't watch if you are going through a tough time with relationships.  My gf and I watched it while we were simultaneously going through divorce/breakups after 20 years each.  fucking hated the movie.  ruined it actually (yes, I said actually intentionally there).  watcher beware.  highly likely we will watch this year though.

troph, for me this type reaction to a movie is Sleepless in Seattle. There’s a scene in a restaurant when Meg’s sad sack beau (Bill Pullman?) was essentially dumped because there was no “magic.” (“Magic” was the missing element, right? It’s been a while.)

As my girlfriend and I left the theater, I think I got something like, “Do we have magic?” Nothing was the same after that. 

(And Mdmost, Rodrigo Santoro also had a pretty good-sized role in the Westworld reboot.)

 

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25 minutes ago, Vito Andolini said:

troph, for me this type reaction to a movie is Sleepless in Seattle. There’s a scene in a restaurant when Meg’s sad sack beau (Bill Pullman?) was essentially dumped because there was no “magic.” (“Magic” was the missing element, right? It’s been a while.)

As my girlfriend and I left the theater, I think I got something like, “Do we have magic?” Nothing was the same after that. 

(And Mdmost, Rodrigo Santoro also had a pretty good-sized role in the Westworld reboot.)

 

 

I'm guessing (and hoping) that your gf at that time isn't your wife now.  fingers crossed.

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1 hour ago, South Austin said:

I always thought the scene with Emma Thompson in her bedroom after she realizes her husband is having an affair was a fantastic piece of acting. Funny that it was my ex-wife’s favorite part of the movie.

she's really good in this movie.

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6 hours ago, mdmost said:

Sorry but every story line doesn't suck. This might be my wife's favorite Christmas movie. I enjoy it for the consistently mean British humor. They really hate people being overweight there. As far as the love stories. Hugh Grant and the secretary get together. Colin gets laid and helps his friend get laid. Jamie gets a girl that hopefully won't cheat on him. Liam Neeson recovers from the death of his wife by helping his step son with his first love while also getting a Claudia Schiffer clone. Billy Mack realizes his best mate is the person he'd rather spend the rest of his life with. The porn stand ins get married. The only two portions that aren't happy endings are actually pretty accurate representations of love. One that stays together because of convenience even though the romance and trust are gone. The other is wanting something you can't have. Andrew Lincoln is the worst best man/friend in human history though. Plus it ends with God Only Knows which is one of the best songs about love. 

Agree with this pretty much word for word, up to and especially that God Only Knows is one of the best songs about love, ever.

 

 

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Not to be a contrarian, but I have re-watched it many a time (including in the theater when the Paramount used to show it) and it was always appreciated. 

That said, I just can't go back to it now, not sure what happened.  It's too sweet, perhaps, either way just imagining a revisit feels like loading up on donuts with that sick queasy feeling you get later from all the sugar. 

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Been hearing about this every Christmas and usualy click past anything smelling of RomCom but am a big Bill Nighy fan mostly because of Pirate Radio.  Got it cued up on the DVR box for watching this week.  Already had a quick peek.  Love the spontaneous "All You Need Is Love" at someone's wedding.  Wpuld like to "jam" with the lady backup vocalists in the opening studio scene.  Actually saw the Troggs in person circa 1970.  Not bad atall.

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I watch this one every year and love it. My wife is British and forced it on me years ago, claiming it was the best Christmas movie ever (she's wrong about that, but I digress), and I was stunned by how much I enjoyed it. I agree with a lot of the sentiments here, specifically about the fact that there are storylines throughout the movie about love and happy endings, as well as the dumpster fire that was the Laura Linney storyline. It would have been better if they x'ed out LL's work and gave us full frontals from Natalie and Rickman's secretary, but hey, nothing's perfect.

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Maybe this belongs in the WTF Celebrity Crush thread, but I’ve always had a thing for Laura Linney.

Maybe Ozarks LL, but not 2000’s LL. She’s been in numerous movies showcased in sexually-prurient ways and probably got paid extra. Definitely not.

Nevertheless, not my cup of tea. But the LL storyline helped balance that movie.
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On 12/21/2020 at 1:34 PM, Vito Andolini said:

troph, for me this type reaction to a movie is Sleepless in Seattle. There’s a scene in a restaurant when Meg’s sad sack beau (Bill Pullman?) was essentially dumped because there was no “magic.” (“Magic” was the missing element, right? It’s been a while.)

As my girlfriend and I left the theater, I think I got something like, “Do we have magic?” Nothing was the same after that. 

(And Mdmost, Rodrigo Santoro also had a pretty good-sized role in the Westworld reboot.)

 

As usual Bob's Burgers has the straight truth 

 

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I simultaneously love and hate the movie.

Bill Nighy’s storyline may be my favorite, and it’s actually the real-est, most revelatory love story in the whole movie. His character is a blast, and the honesty of that kind of love for a friend, for a shared life, is great to see on screen.

LL’s storyline just pisses me off. Yes, be devoted to your brother, but you can do that without sacrificing your whole life.

I love Alan Rickman, so it makes me mad that I want to kick him in the nuts for being a dumbass. That’s a hard period in a marriage - entering middle age, young kids taking all of the energy and attention of both spouses. But nut up and get through it. Mr bean gift wrapping is great though. Emma Thompson’s performance is great.

Andre Lincoln is a pathetic pussy and the worst best man ever and should have been beaten and left bleeding in a cold alley for pulling that fucking stunt. There was nothing good about that. At all. And Keira is really pretty, but needs a sandwich.

I want to like Jamie and Aurelia. They really are cute to watch, and good together. It’s believable chemistry. But come on. Just show up having never spoken to her and propose? And she says yes?

Hugh grant and Nathalie, I really like. Hugh is almost always good. And yeah, Nathalie is totally my type. Exactly my type. And their chemistry is believable too.

Liam Neeson is cool. Always. Sam is likable. But his crush....she’s an annoying diva. Sure, she’s 12, but whatever.

Still...it comes on, and I watch it. I’m a sappy romantic, always have been. No apologies.

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It's cloying and awful - I'm embarrassed for many of the good actors in this thing and thank god my wife and kids never took to it (although if they stumble upon it they will watch.)

How you guys can stand this load of crap more than the one time you were forced to watch it is beyond me.

(For what it's worth, I adore "You Can Count On Me" Laura Linney.  But that flick was perfect.)

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On 12/21/2020 at 10:19 AM, Gene Parmesan said:

I like it, but the wife doesn't.  So when she wants to watch a movie together and I pick this, in my mind I am doing her a solid, but in her mind she thinks she's doing me a solid. 

(I don't fault you lot for tolerating this flick if you are forced to watch it out of Christmas obligation, but actually picking it?

I need to go watch Prancer and One Magic Christmas and all the Bridget Jones' sequels to get the taste of this thread out of my mouth....)

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On 12/21/2020 at 5:34 AM, Biff Tannen said:

I love this movie, but I already got lambasted once on this board for it, so you kids have fun. 

Ha ha...

On 11/30/2020 at 2:35 PM, Biff Tannen said:

Love Actually.  Fight me.

Fight you?    Please, a house mom who likes Hallmark movies could kick your ass.

 

 

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I've always liked it.  A girl dragged me to it and I knew nothing about it.  I ended up liking it so much I took a different girl to see it at the theater. 

It was always a guilty pleasure until it seems like about 5 or 10 years ago it finally felt okay to come out of the closet about being a grown ass man and genuinely liking it.  Either that or I just finally grew up a little and quit caring so much about what others think.

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On 12/21/2020 at 1:34 PM, Vito Andolini said:

troph, for me this type reaction to a movie is Sleepless in Seattle. There’s a scene in a restaurant when Meg’s sad sack beau (Bill Pullman?) was essentially dumped because there was no “magic.” (“Magic” was the missing element, right? It’s been a while.)

As my girlfriend and I left the theater, I think I got something like, “Do we have magic?” Nothing was the same after that.

 

 

This makes me think of "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" for me and an ex-girlfriend when Jim Carry was sitting at the table with his gf all sullen and silent thinking to himself "are we the dining dead?"

Silences suddenly became very awkward and a source of worry for me at meals for a while. 

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