The “Love Goes On” Blogathon – Final Recap

Our enthusiastic bloggers made it to the home stretch of our blogathon devoted to movies about eternal love. Click on the appropriate days to read the entries for Day 1 and Day 2. For our final round of entries, click on the name of the blog to read their work.

As always, Movierob captures three movies of different eras and tones: Noel Coward’s Blithe Spirit, Steven Spielberg’s A Guy Named Joe remake Always, and Mark Ruffalo and Reese Witherspoon in Just Like Heaven.

Diary of a Movie Maniac follows up his review of Foxfire with a second Hume Cronyn-Jessica Tandy outing, To Dance with the White Dog.

Musings of an Introvert offers a Robert Downey Jr. double feature of Chances Are and Only You.

And finally, who’s to say you can’t fall in love with a ghost if he’s as suave as Rex Harrison? Pure Entertainment Preservation Society states her case in her review of The Ghost and Mrs. Muir.

My heartfelt thanks to all readers and participants of this blogathon. I appreciated the respect you paid to the blogathon’s theme, and it took at least a little of the sting of my wife’s death away.

Kathleen Feindt-Bailey, 1960-2020.

BIRTH (2004) – After-birth queasiness isn’t just for women anymore

The following is my entry in The “Love Goes On” Blogathon, being hosted at this blog from May 1-3, 2020 in honor of my late wife. Click on the above image, and read bloggers’ takes on movies about earthly romances that extend beyond death!

For this blogathon, I was going to submit a straightforward entry about a romance movie. But then I came across this oddity from the filmography of Nicole Kidman.

Birth is the story of Anna (Nicole Kidman), a widow engaged to be re-married, who is accosted by a 10-year-old boy (Cameron Bright) claiming to be the reincarnation of her late husband Sean. Initially affronted by this kid’s claim, Anna eventually comes to believe him all too much.

Some reviews just write themselves, don’t you think?

Nevertheless, I’ll be happy to point out the obvious: No matter how you slice it, this premise involves some most unseemly matters. If Anna falls for this kid, it’s going to lead to the kind of subject matter that you’d never want to see in a mainstream movie, even if the MPAA let you.

I’m relieved to report that the movie doesn’t quite go that far. At the same time, it veers closely enough to the edge — what with a boy-woman bathtub scene, and later a frank discussion about how the kid would handle Anna’s “needs” — that by movie’s end, you feel like a slimed Ghostbuster.

And what of this kid, anyway? The movie explains his presence so lackadaisically, it’s as though the movie was trying to reach a rare demographic of 10-year-old boys who suddenly want to be married to Nicole Kidman.

And don’t even get me started on Anne Heche, whose part in the story is supposed to be mysterious at first. Even so, from the very start, you can tell that her character has an interest in young Sean that has gone seriously awry.

The supporting cast, including 80-and-still-fabulous Lauren Bacall (What would Bogie think of this?), all have the same shell-shocked looks on their faces, as though they signed on for the movie before reading the script.

Announcing “The Love Goes On Blogathon”!

Don’t things such as the coronavirus just make you want to spit into the face of Death?

Sadly, I currently have my own reasons for death-aimed expectorations. My wife of 30 years died on March 9.

As with anyone who deals with this sad situation, I am finding my own ways of coping…and one of them is

THE LOVE GOES ON BLOGATHON!

What We’re Looking For

Your blogathon entry should be about a movie in which a couple’s love for each other is so strong that it survives the death of one of those partners — perhaps even reaching out from (or into) the afterlife! Your entry can be from any category — comedy, drama, fantasy, etc. If you need inspiration, Google a list such as “Movies about love after death,” and you might be surprised at some of the titles that pop up. Or if you have a choice of your own, as long as it fits our blogathon’s motif, it shall be honored.

(Since there are so many choices in this “genre,” no duplicate entries will be allowed. Check the regularly updated list below to ensure that your choice has not already been taken.)

Instructions

In the “Comments” section at the bottom of this blog, please leave your name, the URL of your blog, and the movie you are choosing to blog about. Below are banners you can use to promote your blog entry. Please choose a banner, display it on your blog, and link it back to this blog.
The blogathon will take place from Fri., May 1 through Sun., May 3, 2020. When the opening date of the blogathon arrives, leave a comment here with a link to your post, and I will display it in the list of entries (which I will continually update to the beginning of the ‘thon, so keep checking back!).
I will not be assigning particular dates to any blog posts. As long as you get your entry in by the end of the day on May 3, I will be satisfied. (That said, the sooner the better!)

Again, be sure to leave a comment below and grab our banner, and do your entry proud! Here’s the line-up so far:

Movie Movie Blog Blog II – Birth (2004)

Taking Up Room – Corpse Bride (2005)

Maddie Loves Her Classic Films – Truly Madly Deeply (1990)

Moon in Gemini – Wuthering Heights (1939)

Caftan Woman – Chances Are (1989)

Outspoken and Freckled – Ghost Town (2008)

Realweegiemidget Reviews – Misunderstood (1984)

Movierob – Always (1989)

The Flapper Dame – Rent (2005)

Tales from the Freakboy Zone – Hairspray (2007)

Dubsism – Heaven Can Wait (1978)