Even More Best Movies You've Probably Never Seen

Tamara: Les Liaisons dangereuses, a French epistolary novel by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, was published in 1782. The storyline has been used many times since.  As a play, it has received rave reviews. As a movie, It's been made several times in keeping with the 18th century period,including Les liaisons dangereuses (1959), Dangerous Liaisons (1988), Valmont (1989) and again Les liaisons dangereuses (2003). Set in more modern times, the story was told in Cruel Intentions (1999), Cruel Intentions 2 (2000) and Cruel Intentions 3 (2004). One would wonder how many times this story line needs to be told.

I had seen Dangerous Liaisons back in 1988 when it was released, but did not know of Valmont which was made at the same time. Release was delayed a year because of Dangerous Liaisons. In 2001, on the recommendation of a friend, I located Valmont at my local Blockbuster.

Valmont stars Colin Firth as Valmont and Annette Benning as Merteuil, parts played by John Malkovich and Glenn Close in Dangerous Liaisons. The story is the same, but the performances are different. Firth plays the devious vicomte with more charm and sweet smiles, while Malkovich appears more cynical and devious. Both Benning and Close play the marquise expertly, but Benning is younger and looks more innocent, which makes her wickedness almost worse. I enjoyed both Meg Tilly's and Michelle Pfieffer's Madame de Tourvel, but Fairuza Balk's Ceclie was more in character to me than the older Uma Thurman.

Milos Forman's Valmont has been called a more witty and playful version of the story, versus the "terse" adaption in Dangerous Liaisons.  Yet, Dangerous Liaisons won three Oscars - best costume design, best set direction and best adapted screenplay - and was nominated for best picture. Valmont was only nominated for best costume design.

If you are intrigued by the story, or by comparing similar movies with the same story line, I recommend renting Valmont. There is much debate on which of the two movies is really the better one. But, regardless, Valmont and the performances therein are worth the price of admission.

Gail:

My favorite movie is August Rush.  It's about a boy who was placed in an orphanage as an infant.   As he gets older his wish is to find his parents so he runs away from the orphanage and starts his quest in New York.  He claims to hear music in the wind and the sky.

 

August is played by Freddie Highmore, and a major player in the movie is Robin Williams, he does not play the funny man in this movie.  One fact that I found interesting is that Freddie could not play the guitar until he was cast into the role of August Rush, he then learned some fingering so that it would look real in the movie.  It's a great chick flick,  make a bowl of popcorn and enjoy this fantasy film.