TWENTY-FIVE LOVE STORIES YOU REALLY SHOULD SEE

Good evening.  As most of you know my name is Gigi and I’m a parti poodle.  Love is in the air because tomorrow is Valentine’s Day.  I am here to wish you all the hearts and flowers and of course chocolate (white chocolate only for me because I’m canine) in the world.  My novelist and I were going to post a list of the best movies not to be nominated for an Oscar from the past two decades.  But as it’s the season of love, we decided to postpone that list until next week to bring you the following romance fest.  Without further ado, here’s my novelist.

Earlier this week I put together a list of twenty-five of the best scripts from 2000-2019 that never received an Oscar nomination to feature in this week’s blog post.  Then I realized tomorrow is Valentine’s Day.  So, instead of making those films the headliner I’m going to postpone that list until next week and dedicate this post to a list of twenty-five off-beat love stories. 

Most of the films on my list did well with the critics but some got a bad rap and I want to encourage you to watch them despite their reviews.  One of the most polarizing subjects for critics is sex.  So, when a movie comes along that involves a lollypop and a strip club, reviewers seem to think there can’t be a story there.  That’s just snobbish and wrong.  The film I’m referring to is not a paint by numbers love story.  It provides a provocative look at love in the modern age.  And the two leads are fabulous actors who give great performances.  One of them is in another fantastic controversial love story which I will discuss later.

A second film that made my list also got the short end of the stick by the detractors.  But if you go to Rotten Tomatoes and look at just the top critics for this film, you’ll see three of the four gave it a positive review.  And all the performances in it are top notch.   Not to mention it’s a great deal more satisfying than a lot of eye rolling rom coms you’ll find on a bevy of other lists.  That isn’t to say there aren’t good rom coms.  There just aren’t very many of them. 

That said there were some rom coms which did make my list.  Five to be exact.  And none of them are the usual bill of fare.  One’s about an alcoholic.  One has public defecation.  One’s got a suicide attempt in it.  One suggests using sperm for hair gel.   And one’s about making pornography.  Not your usual warm and fuzzy kind of stuff.  But if you can get past some of those things you might find a genuine romance at the center of them. 

Now, there is another film on my list some critic said contained the rape of an underaged child.  This is complete bunk.  There’s no rape in that film at all.  In fact, it’s one of the least sexually explicit films on the list.  Now if you want to watch another one of this writer/director’s films about “happiness” in suburbia well then that’s a whole other ball of wax.  And it’s a love story too in its own way if you can get past…just about everything else in the film.    

Anyway, I hope you’ll take the time to see all the films on this list if you haven’t already.  They are well worth the effort.  Have a very Happy Valentine’s Day!

I’ll post every Thursday.  That’s the schedule.  While you’re waiting for my next post check out my novel Chicane currently available on Amazon. Here’s the list:

TWENTY-FIVE LOVE STORIES YOU REALLY SHOULD SEE

9 ½ Weeks

A Patch of Blue

Arthur (original)

Blue Velvet

Bridesmaids

Buffalo 66

Chasing Amy

Harold & Maude

Head On

Keith

Leaving Las Vegas

The Long Hot Summer (either version)

Notorious

Secretary

Sex, Lies and Videotape

Sid and Nancy

Sweet Hostage (Welcome to Xanadu)

The Center of the World

The Graduate

The Piano

The Shop Around the Corner

There’s Something About Mary

Untamed Heart

Welcome to the Dollhouse

Zack and Miri Make a Porno