AllMT3

You know the drill: Celtic head honcho women are trying to keep Christianity from taking over Wales, while Arthur spawns trouble children and Lancelot and Gwenavear fall in love on the side, with some weird lovemaking thrown in for good measure.

My two cents: Well... The book's 900 pages. They cram the first 200 pages into the first 10 minutes. That should give you some idea of how much the main plot was abbreviated. Most of the philosophy of the book is left out in favor of the 'weird lovemaking' mentioned above (which is probably the only part of the movie that's true to the book, sadly enough, and one I could have done with LESS of). The only people who would really understand what's going on in this movie are those who have read the book (I spent a lot of time filling in back story for the benefit of my friends), and the fans are the ones least likely to care, given how uninteresting this adaption is. If it's any credit, the scenery (especially of Avalon) was nice, and the acting, while not brilliant, is serviceable.

Recommendations: Fans of the book "Mists of Avalon" should check out Katherine Kerr's Deverry series. Stephen Lawhead's Pendragon series isn't too bad, if you're a huge King Arthur fan. The "Merlin" miniseries is a much better adaption of the Arthur legend than this, and "First Knight" and "Sword in the Stone", while not as in depth, aren't bad either.

You know the drill: Miles Massey, the most evil divorce attorney in the world, meets Marilyn Rexroth, the most evil multiple divorcee in the world, and they fall in love (or something resembling it) while trying to outmaneuver each other.

My two cents worth: Anyone who says this movie is awful is missing the point. It's not supposed to be taken as a serious romantic comedy. The story I heard (granted, this may be a rumor with nothing concrete supporting it) is that the studio had a script that was SO BAD they couldn't do anything with it. So they gave it to the Coen brothers to rip apart. When viewed from this perspective, this is a perfect spoof of every bad romantic comedy that I've ever been forced to see, from the cheesy acting by the pretty yet vacant leads to the over-earnest "I've seen the light" speech towards the end to the "supposed to be funny but aren't really" supporting characters. Is it cliched? Yeah. BUT IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE. The icing on the cake is making the two leads not the "gosh darn wonderful" people that most romantic comedies have (or try and make you believe the main characters are) but instead centering the story around two people so morally bankrupt that almost any sane real-life individual would run away screaming into the night upon meeting them.

Bottom line: If you have a wicked sense of humor and a firm hatred for 95% of the romantic comedies out there, this is for you.

Recommendations: A great romantic movie that stays out of cliche ville is "Before Sunrise." A good completely cliched, yet still funny romantic comedy is "Miss Congeniality". "Down With Love" is another romantic comedy spoof, but if you're only familiar with post 1970's rom-coms this isn't as funny.

You know the drill: It's the 1950's. Body turns up in the desert. The victim has a past connection to the detective investigating the case.

My two cents worth: The look of this movie was perfect, kind of a dreamy, washed out sepia tone. The cast is perfect, and does the best job it can with what it has to do. The script is functional and moves the plot along. The problem is you've seen this kind of movie before. It's a pleasant enough way to pass the time, you certainly won't be sorry you watched it, but it's not the best of its kind, nor is it the worst. It just is.

Recommendations: Most people here seem to prefer Chinatown or L.A. Confidential to this movie. I'd recommend checking out some 1940's film noir as well, maybe something like Double Indemnity.