The Holiday
|
List Price: Our Price: $5.49 You Save: $9.50 (63%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $1.47 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
Movie Reviews of The Holiday
Movie Review: Awsome movie
Summary: 5 Stars
Have you ever seen a movie and you want to see it over and over again? The Holiday is just that kind of movie. This movie is about two women; Iris and Amanda who are played by Kate Winslet and Cameron Diaz respectively. Amanda, a Los Angeles workaholic has just kicked her boyfriend out of her house because he cheated on her with his secretary and now she feels that she in dire need of change. At the same time Iris, a British newspaper journalist finally realizes that the man she has been pining for for over three years does not love her. She learns that he is engaged and is devastated. She has lost who she believes is the love of her life and now can not seem to put the pieces back together. Amanda goes online and finds a really cool website where she can basically switch house and lives with someone on the other side of the world. Amanda and Iris meet online and decide to swap lives for two weeks, just to get away from all that has been happening in their respective lives.
Once in each others homes, Amanda thinks that she has made a huge mistake and tries to book a flight back to the life she has left. However, she soon changes her mind. Graham, played by Jude Law enters and suddenly things are looking up for Amanda. He sweeps her off of her feet in what they both expect to be a one night stands but it turns out to be a lot more. Iris too is having a great time in LA. She becomes friends with Amanda's neighbor and also a renowned screenwriter. This relationship is what helps her move on from her failed relationship. She meets composer Miles who is played by Jack Black and he sweep her off her feet. Both women have entered new relationships in which they are happy and in love. However, they both have to soon go back to their lives and are faced with a decision.
This movie is right up there with Nancy Meyers other movies namely What Women Want and Something's Got to Give. Meyers have earned my respect for pulling off a movie that has two different plots. Two romance stories in one. This is definitely a treat for anyone who is a fan of romance comedies. It has the perfect blend of comedy and romance. I found it hilarious that Amanda jumps out of the limousine that was to take her to the airport and runs back to Graham's place in the snow in very high heels. I also found in delightful when Miles makes a special song for Arthur (Amanda's neighbor) so that he can have confidence when he goes onstage to receive his lifetime achievement award. This was funny because as soon as he hears the song its like he got new life and was able to overcome the flight of stairs. Plus the song was so cheerful that you couldn't help but laugh. It was very romantic in that Amanda was willing to run in heels to Graham's house and that she really bonds with Graham's children. It is also very romantic that Iris decides that her decision of whether to leave for England can wait until after the New Year.
This movie is definitely not the typical girl meets guy movie in that both of these women are not actively looking for love. In fact they are trying to avoid it as this is the exact reason why they both have switched lives. They both are not spending their time pinning that they do not have a boyfriend. They are just having a good time and love finds them. Also, what it not typical is the relationship that developed between Miles and Iris. No one would ever guess that they would be in a relationship. This is just a few of the things that make this movie not fall into the typical routine of boy meets girl.
It is because of this that I would have to say that this movie has a story line that would keep anyone glued to their seats. It certainly kept me glued to mine. This movie is funny, lighthearted and good all round entertainment for the entire family.
The Holiday reminds of Roman Holiday- one of Andrea Hepburn's movies in which she plays an Egyptian princess who tries to get away from the royal family who she finds to be very annoying. She is found on the street asleep by a character played by Gregory Peck, after being injected with some kind of sleep aid. She too unexpectedly falls in love after getting away from it all. This is one of America's all time romance movies. I would suggest putting this movie on your list as well.
All four of the leads played their roles exceptionally well. I couldn't help but like them. It was such convincing acting that I found myself caught up in their prospective problems. This is quite a feat for any movie- to make the audience a part of the movie instead of just the person inside the movie theatre or on their couch passing time. Although the movie is approximately two hours long, it doesn't feel this way. In fact I would have been able to watch another half hour and not complain that the plot was drawn out.
The Holiday is an awesome movie which I would recommend to anyone looking for a good romantic comedy. The characters are lively, entertaining and convincing. In my opinion, this is all we can ask of acting. The combination of Winslet, Diaz, Law and Black made this movie a big success. It a movie I am sure I will be watching over and over again. In fact, I have already watched it twice since it came out on DVD. Watching the Holiday is a great way to spend time. I would undoubtedly give this movie five stars. You will not be disappointed after seeing this movie.
Movie Review: Allusion to illusion
Summary: 5 Stars
The Holiday combines the books, The Empty Mirror: Experiences in a Japanese Zen Monastery with Lost Horizon: A Novel, set to music by Jerome Kern Swing Time); a tribute to film as denial, escape, respite from the Stock Crash of 1929.
Cameron Diaz, Jude Law, Kate Winslet, Jack Black, Eli Wallach play 5 singles mashed by love who execute a meet-cute to the strains of hummable music (The Mirror Has Two Faces: when people kiss in movies, they hear Puccini), and snow-slipping walker-shuffle swimming choreography.
The human nostalgia for Shangri-La, spirituality, theology, heaven, Nirvana in chiaroscuro with what is, our yearning for myth, ritual, lights, color, music dance flowers, comfort amplifies during war, recession. Cinema like The Holiday, ballet, symphony, books, art, museums provide sanctuary, a generosity of time, comfort, conversation, intellectual stimulation, collegial support, Hannukah beef brisket and macaroon leftovers.
The Holiday, alluding to every major film, film-maker writer set designer costume designer actor music (You are lovely: Jude Law channeling Jerome Kern's The Way You Look Tonight) dance of the Golden Age of Film, is an affectionate romantic musical comedy, while mining film history. 90 year old Eli Wallach represents the dignified, honorable, elder statesman of film playing himself.
The editing of Holiday is so crisp that momentary allusions to films past are condensed into easily missed seconds (Dustin Hoffman playing himself referencing The Graduate, Lindsay Lohan The Parent Trap). Jude Law plays a single dad of two girls in UK, Cameron Diaz type A, LA career woman, Kate Winslet gumptionless writer editor, Jack Black a kind, decent music composer who meet, discover facing and sharing their frailties and fears somehow makes life's realities more tolerable.
The settings, Surrey and LA contrast small village to large city, homey decency to minimalism, Art Moderne, Art Deco, home cooking to restaurants, problematical pairing to independence, multigenerational community to isolation, maturity to selfish using (Rufus Sewell in an unenviable role as emotional abuser, same role he has in Illusionist).
Music Therapy is sometimes helpful for Alzheimer's. Specific tempo/rhythm music therapy smooths Alzheimer's, Parkinson's erratic activity: slows festination, urges forward from halts, eases caregiver burden. Music acts like a whole body metronome, coordinating muscle function.
In The Holiday the joys of each life stage are portrayed: youthful experiences survived become laughter or wisdom for another generation as Arthur (Eli Wallach)shares his tales of love and moviedom past. Arthur's theme music helps him overcome his fear of steps and speaking in front of an audience.
The Holiday gently combines multicultural wisdom Tao Te Ching: A New English Version (Perennial Classics), The Enchiridion by Epictetus, Cicero De Senectute (On Old Age) in a romantic comedy package: age deserves honor, good guys help us rid ourselves of hurtful people and memories, everyone is broken in some way, we can help one another survive. Our circles of friendship are our surrogate families.
The Holiday deserves repeated viewing, it celebrates an aging future we all share.
Movie Review: A Blast of Good Cheer
Summary: 5 Stars
"The Holiday" put a smile on my face. It is a heartwarming romantic film that winds up being a blast of good cheer for the holidays. Director Nancy Meyers has one Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay for Private Benjamin (Full Screen Edition) and did Something's Gotta Give with Diane Keaton & Jack Nicholson and What Women Want with Helen Hunt & Mel Gibson. She hits the right chords in this romantic genre again.
Kate Winslet who was once nominated for a picture titled "Iris" plays the character Iris. Winslet is an interesting actress who has been nominated for 27 various film awards including 5 Oscars and has only won two smaller awards as Best Supporting Actress for "Iris" by the L.A. Film Critics and for "Sense & Sensibility" by the Screen Actors Guild. While I think my favorite film performance of hers was in "Finding Neverland," I found it interesting in the DVD extras her comments on how pleased she was to try comedy. The scene with the split phone call where she has Diaz and Law on the other ends & keeps connecting with the wrong one is hilarious. She does a charming job throughout the film.
Jack Black plays "Miles." I think I will always think of him as the guy who Bruce Willis blows his arm off in The Jackal - Collector's Edition. Seeing him as an offbeat romantic lead was not as great a thrill as seeing him spurt blood and run mindlessly around a meadow. But hopefully even guys who don't look like Jude Law will be inspired to one day find their true love. As a film music composer, Black was most interesting in Blockbuster where he knew the scores to random movies.
Cameron Diaz has a smile that is as wide as the state of North Carolina. From her films like "There's Something About Mary," "Being John Malkovich," "Vanilla Sky" & "Gangs of New York," she's shown her ability to fit in a wide number of film genres. She captures our attention as Amanda who heads off to England after breaking up with Ed Burns' character.
Jude Law is impressive as an actor. He fits into the romantic comedy genre effortlessly as Graham who is a young widowed father with two small children. The girls who play his kids Sophie and Olivia are darling. I'm not sure if he clicks as deeply as he did as Inman with Nicole Kidman in "Cold Mountain," but we feel a connection and hope the lovers get together. (One recent high school graduate who watched the film with me commented that Jude Law & Johnny Depp are God's gift to women. ...I smiled...)
Eli Wallach who was over 90 years old when this was filmed plays Arthur, a screenwriter who Iris connects with while on holiday. Rufus Sewell from Helen of Troy plays Jasper who breaks Iris' heart & tries to keep her on a string.
I found it interesting that all of these characters worked for the media from a film trailer editor to a music score composer to a screenwriter to a book editor to a newspaper writer. While we might have had a variety of occupations like a plumber, a piano tuner or a construction contractor, the similarity of occupation was not a major distraction.
I found the interplay between Los Angeles & England to be a delight. A good love story may not differ that much in its essentials from story to story, but this one is done with great style & lifted my spirits. I hope it does your too. Cheers!
Movie Review: A menorah on Hanukkah two days before Christmas
Summary: 5 Stars
Don't jump to the ceiling yet, don't get up into the sky. That's not the film of the next century, nor decade. That's not even the comedy of the present decade. It is just a decent comedy, romantic, sentimental and happy to the highest uppermost acme of what we can conceive as a happy ending. In fact the structure is Shakespearian to the very detail in every scene. "As You like It" is the model and here we are even nearly modest, shy about the happy ending. Shakespeare managed to have four marriages at the end of his play, and he will do it again at the end of his "A Midsummer Night's Dream". Here we have only two couples who find their happy ending in England, because frankly such a thing cannot happen in Los Angeles the country of fake make-believe. The real stuff can only happen in the depth of Surrey, with a cow in the back garden and a tent in the girl's bedroom. But it is funny and at the same time it is slightly ironically critical of what Hollywood has become in its superficial illusionary virtual reality based on special effects and canned sentiments and roles, when it is not preserved music that comes out of the brain of an elevator, even if the British may call that a lift that can lift your fat, flesh and bones but will never lift, not to speak of elevating, your artistic and musical senses. And to prove his point, the director, though I should say directress to be accurate even if that is not politically correct and I cannot use a word like directing person that has not yet succeeded to escalator-ize itself up to the tip of my tongue, has a cameo of an aging Dustin Hoffman appearing in the aisles of a DVD store in the background of "The Graduate" where he was a juicy short student looking for the way to lose his maidenhead or should I say bachelor-head between the legs of a ripe woman. Maybe Hollywood might be becoming in the coming decade realistic and more human, closer to real life, probably under the influence of the competition that is already simmering in India, in China, in Asia in general, and in Europe of course, though Europe is still bogged up in the mud of the tradition of cultural protectionism which is nothing but the impotence in front of the challenge that comes from outside. A funny film and a question at the end: how in hell are they going to fly a cow from London's Heathrow Airport to Los Angeles International Airport? I guess Air France will volunteer since they are the European specialist of the air-lift of all kinds of cattle in between two strikes when the passengers are treated by the striking personnel as samples of the valueless cattle that deserves nothing but being sent to the local slaughterhouse to get out of the way of their resistance to change and restructuring, just before the company is bought up by Air China or Aeroflot, now Russian millionaires are buying newspapers in France, and elsewhere.
Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris Dauphine, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne & University Versailles Saint Quentin en Yvelines
Movie Review: An Unexpected Christmas Treat
Summary: 5 Stars
"The Holiday" seems to be getting average reviews (at least when I checked on the Movie Review Query Engine). That fact tells me that sometimes critics aren't able to perceive a good movie, perhaps because they've gotten so jaded from seeing so many of them.
I for one really enjoyed the film. Ever since seeing Kate Winslet in "Enigma" and "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," I've pretty much adored her. Her portrayal of lovelorn Iris in "the Holiday" was spot on. I particularly liked the scene where she expressed such unexpected joy at discovering she was going to spend her vacation in a luxurious Los Angeles mansion.
I also felt the other three leads, Jude Law, Cameron Diaz, and Jack Black did very well in their respective roles. I initially thought that the romance between Diaz and Law was a bit contrived, but in the end the film sold it. And while I could predict most of the twists and turns of the film, it managed to surprise me with a couple about that romance.
As for Jack Black, casting him as a match for Kate Winslet worked for me because while he is a talented comic and a developing actor, he's a pretty average guy (gives hope to us guys in the real world), and I liked the idea that he wound up with someone as so appealing and enticing as Kate Winslet.
As for Eli Wallach, while he didn't get as much screen time as the four leads, I think he pulled off playing a charming and cranky "father figure" for Winslet's Iris. And while some might dismiss his advice to her that she needs to be a "leading lady in her own life" as trite, it's still good advice.
My only criticism of the film was at the very beginning where Cameron Diaz punches her soon-to-be ex-boyfriend twice in the face. The audience laughed, but I always find myself thinking that no one would be laughing if the boyfriend character slugged Diaz. But it's a minor fault to a great movie.
A final criticism made by some of the critics that needs to be rebutted is the one that the story in England was "stronger" than the one in Los Angeles. My response is that the relationship dynamics were totally different, hence the plotlines were different. Winslet and Black's characters were essentially getting over bad relationships that had left them pretty hurt. Conversely, Diaz's character was someone who had fallen out of love with her aformentioned boyfriend and was more open to a conventional romance.
So I'd say, ignore what any negative reviews may say, and go and see the movie. As for myself, I know I will add it to my collection, and since I am pretty tired of "It's a Wonderful Life," this will be a film I watch around Christmas again and again.