Tuesday, September 3, 2013

STOP ALL THE CLOCKS, CUT OFF THE TELEPHONE:  Perhaps no screenwriter is more responsible for the modern romantic comedy canon—or at least the British wing thereof, and especially the parts including Hugh Grant—than Richard Curtis, who is responsible for the scripts to Four Weddings and a Funeral, Bridget Jones's Diary, Notting Hill, Love Actually as well as the sitcoms Blackadder and Mr. Bean.

About Time, his latest is coming out in November, and if you are interested in what looks to be Curtis' spin on Groundhog Day, or seeing Rachel McAdams in another time-travel-ish romance (and millions apparently do), well, you'll want to see the trailer. Co-starring The Guy Who Played Bill Weasley as The Boy, and much-beloved Bill Nighy as The Dad.

[I saw the trailer before The World's End this weekend. As I often say of films, if you were someone who was thinking about seeing it, you should see it. The whole cast is quite charming—Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Paddy Considine ... even the guy who played Walder Frey and Argus Filch—and it's a winning mix of buddy nostalgia and, well, other stuff that we shouldn't discuss.]

11 comments:

  1. This and Prisoners have been before seemingly 80% of the movies I've seen over the past few months.

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  2. Please let us never speak of that abominable adaptation again. Horrible.

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  3. Joseph Finn10:20 AM

    Mr. Bean?

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  4. Joseph Finn10:22 AM

    And if you like David Bradley (Frey/Filch) you should be watching Broadchurch on BBC America. (Also, I can't wait to see him play William Hartnell in the TV movie coming up about the origins of Doctor Who.)

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  5. The trailer looks good but also feels like it gives away a good 80-90% of the movie.

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  6. On the subject of Richard Curtis, he's also largely responsible for "The Vicar of Dibley" which I've been rewatching on Netflix streaming. Still funny and Dawn French is a comic genius.

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  7. Joseph Finn11:23 AM

    I want to see the stained glass window episode again now.

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  8. lisased1:02 PM

    Paul, whenever that film is mentioned, I think fondly of our long-held hatred.

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  9. And I value our bond, Lisa, I do, but that doesn't stop me from wishing the whole thing would just disappear via wipe edit, leaving a wad of crumpled clothes behind.

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  10. Between Bill Nighy's voice explaining things in The World's End and Bill Nighy explaining time travel in the About Time trailer and, if we go back, Bill Nighy explaining why Billy Mack's new record just doesn't compare to the old stuff in Love Actually, let's just put Bill Nighy only in roles where he gets to explain a lot of things from now on.


    I don't really want to see About Time, but I would, for whatever reason, totally watch 90 minutes of Bill Nighy explaining the joys and pitfalls of time travel.

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  11. First, I love the title you chose. John Hannah's reading of that W.H. Auden poem is, in my opinion, one of the finest showcases of acting and a personal favorite scene of mine.


    Second, "my son... my dad..." from the "About Time" trailer gets me every time. And I'm okay with admitting that.

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