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Best Movies To Watch in February
by Kevin Gardner
February is a time to celebrate love and romance: the promise of it if you are in a relationship and the prospect of it if you are not. No matter how you are spending Valentine's Day, or the rest of the month, whether with a significant other, a group of friends, or an adoring pet, here are some movies that celebrate the hope and joy of romantic love.
Never Been Kissed
Drew Barrymore plays an unlucky-in-love journalist in her 20s. She doesn't bother bringing her circle lip balm to her new assignment, which is to go undercover as a student at a high school. She's never been kissed, and this certainly doesn't seem like the venue in which it is going to happen. However, she and one of her teachers take a shine to one another, which causes him stress because he knows that it would be inappropriate for him to get involved with an underage student. It's a premise that could come across as creepy but instead is incredibly sweet, partly because of the charm of the two leads (the teacher is played by Michael Vartan) and the chemistry between them.
The Time-Traveler's Wife
Speaking of premises that could be creepy but end up being sweet, "The Time-Traveler's Wife" is an intelligent and passionate love story with a sci-fi/fantasy twist. Eric Bana plays a man who, due to a genetic mutation, involuntarily and spontaneously shifts through time, backward and forward, beyond his control. He is drawn to places and people who have emotional significance to him, so when he meets his eventual wife, played by Rachel McAdams, he starts shifting back to her childhood and befriends her as a little girl. When they finally "meet" in the present, she already knows him. The premise defies explanation, but the masterfully crafted and well-told story demonstrates that love transcends even elemental restrictions of time and space.
Romeo + Juliet
"Titanic" may have cemented Leonardo DiCaprio as a rising star and teen heartthrob, but it was "Romeo + Juliet" that first introduced him as a leading man in an adaptation of one of the most famous romances of all time. Directed by Australian impresario Baz Luhrmann, the movie uses the text of the original Shakespeare play but is set in contemporary times. This helps to make the classic more accessible to a modern audience. Claire Danes plays Juliet to DiCaprio's Romeo and lights up the screen with an understated, authentic performance.
10 Things I Hate About You
Another Shakespeare adaptation set in modern times, this one dispenses with the Elizabethan vernacular. Based on "The Taming of the Shrew," the movie does an adept job of making a sometimes problematic text believable and largely inoffensive. The movie stars an impossibly young Heath Ledger as a charming rogue whose bad-boy image belies his sweet nature, while Julia Stiles hides vulnerability just below the surface of her character, Kat's, acerbic nature.
Pride and Prejudice
There are many adaptations of Jane Austen's famous novel about mistaken first impressions, and everyone has their favorites. The 2005 version stars Keira Knightley as Elizabeth Bennett and Matthew Macfadyen as Mr. Darcy. The chemistry between them smolders at just the right temperature.
The Princess Bride
A fairy tale equally accessible to children and adults, "The Princess Bride" was an instant classic upon its release in 1987. Nostalgia has made it, if anything, even more popular today. This is the movie that introduced the perennially talented Robin Wright to the world as the beautiful but haughty Buttercup. As the shy farm boy turned dashing pirate, Cary Elwes has you immediately with his first "As you wish." The story is framed by the narrative device of a grandfather, played by Peter Falk, to his sick grandson, played by a pre-"Wonder Years" Fred Savage.
Prior to beginning the story, the grandfather assures the grandson, as well as any skeptics in the audience, that the story has something for everyone, not only "true love and miracles" but also, "fencing, fighting, torture, revenge." You won't have any trouble trying to stay awake.
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