A walk in the clouds, 1995

A walk in the clouds, 1995
Director: Alfonso Arau
Cast: Keanu Reeves, Altana Sanchez Gijon, Anthony Quinn



Stage: home theatre, Sunday TV selection

A walk in the clouds in short: After returning from the war, Paul and a young woman meet on a bus as she's headed home from college to help with the grape harvest and face her Old World domineering dad. The woman has not married but is pregnant and she thinks her father is going to kill her. Paul proposes to pose as her husband to help her face her father. When their passion for each other is finally ignited and explodes, they realize they must overcome all odds to be together.



Preps: Normalwise (and I don't get it why), Slovene TV selection on a Sunday night poses something extraordinary or at least decent. On the other hand, Saturday and Friday nights are usually reserved for crappy movies. At least haven't seen one good in a while. So my expectations to finish up a lovely weekend with a movie, are now more than decent. And Keanu is one of my favourite actors anyway.. Apart from this fact, I have heard this piece is a strong one.



Reality: Well, the plot is quite good. And strong. However, the cast seems awful at the beginning. I seriously doubt that there are such gentlemen in the world, that would go and support a woman in that way. I think.. naaaah, not a chance. To lie to a family just for the sake of her facing the parents? Well, the relationship with her parents is built on a solid ground and has the factor of probability very well embedded inside. And I go with it, in a sense I buy it. But the relationship between Keanu and Aitana? Very shallow, yet inspiring. How much crap can a man take from the father of a girl he likes (or at the beginning he just feels sorry for)?

I am impressed with powerful scenes within family conversations. Have seen quite a few in reality and some entities are quite realistic. Therefore, a big plus for showing family values in such a way. I wouldn't buy it in any fiction, however the story allows Keanu to repeat and repeat his gentlemenism over and over again. Showing maybe that he has no backbone - or maybe that he has stronger than any average person? I am not sure. The dilussions he's having when drifting away into WW2 dream are a bit too much to eat up in this piece, in my opinion, quite unimportant and could be easily left out.

The romance deriving is very chick-oriented and I am sure most of the romantic souls should get it and embrace it. A bit too much for a guy when seeing this. Maybe in the arms of a girl he likes and regarding the fact she might like him for being so supportive and watch it with her. My strong opinion is that this piece should be seen in the company of a girlfriend (at least two girls). Too much teasers inside for a girl company. Guys, stay away.

For both genders, however, the movie poses some excellent ideas what to do on your next trip, family holiday or something. The place, where most of the movie is taken, seems like paradise and all the people inside act as if they are in heaven. Are they? Don't know for sure, but popped into my mind as one of the next wanna-be-holliday resorts for me and my piece. So, the photography is brilliant, the scenery is more than amazing. Almost no music at all and the dialogue is weak.

A beautiful and picturesque showing of picking up the grapes and turning it into the wine. The girls, barefoot, walking on the grapes - almost a bit of an erotic scene. Seems very real :)


My personal rating: 6,0 (you will fall in love with the scenery and for sure will want to experience this in one of your next vacations. And a scent of decent guy, that knows how to be a gentleman, will also drag your attention).


A walk on IMDB

Speed, 1994

Speed, 1994
Director: Jan de Bont
Cast: Keanu Reeves, Sandra Bullock, Dennis Hopper


Speed in short: A young cop must save the passengers of a bus that has a bomb set to explode if the bus goes below 50 MPH.

Stage: Home TV selection


Preps: None in perticular. I have seen this in the local movies as a young girl and I adored the couple, the adventure, the idea that I could be as bold as she was and adopt a cute guy like I thought he was. Or be a brave police officer. Has to do a lot of childhood dreaming and interaction with movie characters.


Reality: I see this for the millionth time. Through this movie I became a deep fan of Sandra Bullock and am still now (although when I see her act in this case or for this time, I cannot tell why. Because it's simply said, horrible. It's not just the words or the scenario, it's the whole package). The same goes for Keanu Reeves. You can see in one of my critics (Top Gun), that I claim that to be one of the movies of my childhood. Well, the same goes for Speed. I have wanted to see this for million times and every now and then I saw it again. Now the gap between the last viewing and this one is more than 10 years and when I see it again, all the soft hystorical feeling is here, but from the critic point of view, the movie lacks energy, believability, or dare I say reality (you just don't jump over a gap with a bus and stay solid, you don't crash with a metro and survive (not like this).. it lacks true scenario and some energy between the actors. Although when seeing this as a young lady, I saw it straightforward (probably wanted to see it, anyway) - now I don't even though I try really hard.

Speed was a synonim for successful US cop forces at that point and in that time, did a great job. Looking it again from a whole different aspect and with a different approach, besides from memoirs what it was like seeing it as a child, nothing else remains. Pity.




My personal rating: 6,0 (for the sake of my memories as a child. As Top Gun, Ghost, Pretty Woman, etc, also Speed was one of my favourites and the one I could watch over and over again)


Speed on IMDB

The Lake House, 2006

The Lake House, 2006
Director:Alejandro Agresti
Cast:Keanu Reeves, Sandra Bullock, Christopher Plummer



Lake House in short: A lonely doctor who once occupied an unusual lakeside home begins exchanging love letters with its former resident, a frustrated architect. They must try to unravel the mystery behind their extraordinary romance before it's too late.


Stage: Home theatre
Preps: I thought I have already seen this one. Seeing Sandra Bullock and Keanu sort of ringed my bell. But I fully remembered after 10 minutes. A beautiful love story, a chick movie, definitely worth seeing for another time.

Reality: I was right. A beautiful story about the longing, waiting and trying to find the one true love we all seek. And then, ironically, finding it two years before your time. The idea of having something like a post box (a real one, not an e-mail one) as a gateway between two worlds, is amusing, romantic and sets all the butterflies in me. Again, Bullock cast is one of her typical, not like in her latest The blind side, still, you will adore her, if you are a fan of the genre. And furthermore, Keanu here is not a hot shot like we saw him in the Matrix, but in my opinion, from time to time he suits damn well into these cissy romantic comedies (see drama Sweet November and his cast there - also worth seeing if you like the genre).

Don't watch it if you don't like romance in a movie and wet eyes. Definitely watch it to dream away in the night, how cool would it be to.. well, you know what I mean. And the main idea I believe is, that it's once in a lifetime you find something really worth waiting and fighting for. Completely agree.

Fav. quote.. She was more real to me than anything I have ever known.. when describing his relationship with her


My personal rating: 8,0 (in this genre, one of the good ones :)

Lake House on IMDB
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