Valentine’s Day has come and gone but you’re still feeling romantic so here’s my top 15 favorite romantic movies or movie romances… I don’t know, I like them and I hope they like me just as much! First up: a classic romantic comedy and its remake, that’s right, Sabrina (1954) and Sabrina (1995). The original was written and directed by Billy Wilder whose filmography we should all know by heart. Wilder’s Sabrina starred Humphrey Bogart, Audrey Hepburn and William Holden, and you’re thinking why would anyone want to remake this all-star classic? Don’t ask why, just watch the Sydney Pollack remake starring Harrison Ford, Julia Ormond and Greg Kinnear. It’ll be worth your time. No, the remake is not better than the original but it is good and I do hope you’ve seen both or are planning on watching them soon!

Next up on the list is the Meg Ryan section a.k.a. Nora Ephron section which also has a Tom Hanks subdivision. When Harry Met Sally… is the movie I reference most when friends can’t figure out why they can’t be friends with people of the opposite sex. I’ll let you in on a little secret- the sex gets in the way. This modern classic romantic comedy was written by Nora Ephron, directed by Rob Reiner and starred Billy Crystal, Meg Ryan, Carrie Fisher and Bruno Kirby. Probably Carrie Fisher’s second best movie, behind The ‘Burbs, this rom-com was just what we needed to leave the 1980s behind us and kick start the 1990s. The 1990s was the decade of love for Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks (not sure what either of their spouses thought of this) as they started in Joe Dante’s Joe Versus the Volcano before meeting up again in two films written for the screen and directed by Nora Ephron 1993′s Sleepless in Seattle and again in 1998′s You’ve Got Mail. Sleepless in Seattle, or An Affair to Remember without the ocean, was the second Meg Ryan movie to feature Harry Connick Jr.’s golden tones (When Harry Met Sally… was the first) on the soundtrack. You’ve Got Mail, or The Shop Around the Corner remake, came to us at a time when we needed to know how to have an online relationship and basically bridged the gap between the 1990s and 2000s. What will the decade of the 2010s be without Meg’s guidance?

Now we’ve reached the Hugh Grant part of our romantic journey, beginning with 1994′s Four Weddings and a Funeral written by Richard Curtis (we’ll see him again) and directed by Mike Newell (Donnie Brasco). Richard Curtis also scripted 1999′s Notting Hill and starred Julia Roberts alongside Hugh. 2002′s About a Boy was adapted for the screen by the Weitz brothers from Nick Hornby’s novel and taught us that no man is an island. Richard Curtis wrote and directed Hugh in 2003′s Love Actually a wonderful rom-com and holiday film starring Bill Nighy, Colin Firth, Liam Neeson, Emma Thomson, Martin Freeman, Keira Knightley, Laura Linney and Alan Rickman. Love Actually in my opinion is the only star-studded cast to successfully pull off the rom-com.

Since we’ve been in merry old England with Hugh Grant what better time to reveal two recent romantic films with foreign appeal- Paris, je t’aime (2006) and Amelie (2001). Paris, je t’aime has your love story in it — it has to, with 18 different stories being told in all! Based on the subject of love in Paris the film is actually a collection of short films by sometimes famous directors such as Gus Van Sant, the Coen brothers and Alexander Payne, starring Steve Buscemi, Juliette Binoche, Willem Dafoe, Nick Nolte, Bob Hoskins, Elijah Wood, Emily Mortimer, Rufus Sewell, Natalie Portman, Gerard Depardieu and Ben Gazzara. Paris, je t’aime is definitely a film in a league of its own. Amelie, I really don’t know where to begin other than saying Amelie has more style in minute 2 than most directors have in a lifetime and if you don’t fall in love with Audrey Tautuo then you’ve truly got a heart of stone. Please don’t have a heart of stone.

Rounding out our list is Woody Allen’s Annie Hall (don’t be a dead shark) and Michel Gondry’s Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind which I would never delete from my memory. Finally there’s Ewan McGregor starring in the homage to 1950s romantic comedies Down With Love and also starring in the only musical I like- Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge! see I didn’t have to include Pretty Woman to have a hooker with a heart of gold on this list! romance! film! loveliness! am I right? am I wrong? would my favorites ever breach your top ten? leave me a note in the comments section! LYMI

No movie in recent years has poked fun at, mocked and downright dragged the good name of Hollywood through the mud, laughing all the way quite like “Tropic Thunder”.  In a time when theaters are overpopulated by comedies that somehow have Judd Apatow’s name attached to them, “Tropic Thunder” is Apatow-free, but it still retains that gleeful sense of vulgarity that audiences seem to now love so much.  Not only does “Tropic Thunder” work with that vulgarity, it soars with it, easily making this the funniest movie I’ve seen so far this year.

In this laugh-a-second action comedy directed by its star, Ben Stiller, the very idea of Hollywood is taken for a ride.  “Tropic Thunder” also happens to be the title of a war movie being shot in the film, its cast a hodgepodge of movie stars.  There’s the action guy, Tugg Speedman (Stiller), the star of countless special effects-driven films that have gradually lost steam and the star of “Simple Jack”, a box-office dud centered around a retarded farmer.  Next is Jeff Portnoy (Jack Black), a comedian famous only for his film flatulence but yearns for more respect for his name.  Then comes the five-time Oscar winner Kirk Lazarus (Robert Downey Jr.), an intense method actor who undergoes a controversial skin pigment alteration procedure in order to play the film’s main black character.  This really ticks off the cast’s real black actor, a rapper who goes by Alpa Chino (say that name out loud).  Anyway, the fed-up director (Steve Coogan) gets the idea from  the writer of the film’s source material (Nick Nolte) to take his actors out into the real “battle zone”, a jungle rigged with hidden cameras and shoot the entire film “guerrilla style”.  The only problem?  Well, the actors are mistaken for D.E.A. operatives and get caught up in a war against Korean drug runners, with good humor all the way.

Well, the real gem of “Tropic Thunder” is Robert Downey Jr., who shines as Kirk Lazarus.  In the hands of any other actor, I think the role could have easily gone off the rails as a result of stereotyping, but thankfully, Downey Jr leaves stereotypes of any kind at the door.  He’s black, but in a tasteful manner as he spews profanity, talks about collard greens and takes offense when Speedman says “you people”.  Downey Jr never overplays it, and his many arguments with Alpa Chino and the other cast members are sure to have everybody in the audience gasping for breath while laughing hard; the audience I saw the film with certainly behaved that way.  Downey Jr has always been one of my personal favorites, despite his personal problems, and I’m happy to see him back on his game.  He’s on a roll this year with “Iron Man” and now this.

However, that’s not to say that everybody else is just mediocre, because they’re not.  “Tropic Thunder” has a lot of funny performances, in addition to great cameos which are really supporting roles.  Matthew McConaughey has a good one as Tugg Speedman’s spaced-out agent, whose primary concern seems to be getting his star a Tivo.  And the other one that I just have to talk about is Tom Cruise as a vulgar, mean-spirited studio executive with no hair and quite a bit of paunch.  Cruise gets great laughs, both from his profane demeanor and his weirdly funny dance moves.  And suffice it to say that this role is one of the highlights of Cruise’s career.

Stiller both acts and directs perfectly for this material, as he amazingly makes us forget that he helmed the god-awful “Zoolander” back in 2001.  Stiller is clearly mocking Hollywood as best he can, and having fun with it.  The way the actors, agents and studio executives are portrayed in this movie will have film buffs such as myself cracking up continuously.  The film opens with clever fake trailers that introduce each actor to us, and they are hilarious.  Ben Stiller really does have a sense of what notes to hit for this movie, and it all winds up being a comedy experience for those interested in the film.

So, would I see “Tropic Thunder” again?  Definitely, because even though you can pretty much catch every joke about the movie industry the first time through, I think there’s still some subtlety underneath the surface of these jokes that cannot be picked up in the first viewing.  What Stiller has done is essentially created a biting commentary on Hollywood itself, one that always has something funny and interesting to say about how the studios operate and how actors can be taken as something they don’t want to be.  But the trick is that Stiller, who also co-wrote the screenplay, does so in a very fast-paced manner, hitting us with jokes left and right as he makes his point.

In the end, I would gladly take “Tropic Thunder” over other crude comedies like “Knocked Up”.  The movie is a laugh-riot with a LOT of F-bombs and other four-letter words, but that works here…somehow.  I know, crudeness and profanity actually working for me is something that rarely happens.  But I guess you could say “Tropic Thunder” is that rare type of comedy that I can say with all confidence that I loved.

Rating: ★★★★☆