Rating: 
Summary: follow the light
Review: a sunflower, in all it's majesty, isn't named a sunflower because it looks like the sun, it's named a sunflower because it follows the light; it's flowering head follows the light of the sun... even the dimmest bit of light can be found and followed by the sunflower... And this movie... is one of the brightest rays of light I have seen in a long time. Two thumbs, and eight fingers up! Well done, very very well done!
Rating: 
Summary: Utterly rubbish! 15th april 2004.
Review: Saw it at the cinema, so boring. I think this movie would be great for a lady, they would enjoy it more than i did, although it is a good film.
Rating:
Summary: What a brilliant film!
Review: It is very funny in the way that only British films can be. Rather than being laden with jokes, the characters and their situations provide the humour here. The main appeal of the film is the incongruity of a group of middle-aged ladies making a nude calendar for their Women's Institute with the hope of raising maybe £1,000. Although the characters and their personal
stories have been changed, this is based on a true story, and the ladies involved in the making of the real 'Alternative W.I. Calendar' gave their approval to the script (and even appear in a cameo as members of a rival town's W.I. group!). As well as fund-raising, the calendar has had two other important effects. It has modernised the image of the Women's Institute, thought for years to be rather old-fashioned, and helped alter people's
conceptions about the acceptability of older people's bodies. The film uses older actresses Julie Walters, Annette Crosbie, and Helen Mirren (and one younger, Celia Imrie) who laudably went topless for the photo shoot scenes.In real life, the calendars were a runaway success and have together with other linked efforts now made over half a million pounds to combat Leukaemia, but what will happen in the film? Will their efforts be defeated by family objections, administrative obstacles, lack of sponsorship, or jealousy? Watch and find out. The DVD is rather mean with extras, but the Naked Truth is a reasonable well made promotional type making-of feature, and a very short short (under seven minutes) Making Of the Calendar shows how the actresses were photographed to make the mock-ups of the calendars seen in the movie. There are four deleted
scenes which total about five minutes. I would have thought a director's commentary could have been included, and perhaps some more background on the differences between the real story and the movie, and something about the different locations (the Yorkshire countryside shown in the film is wonderful).
Rating:
Summary: Calendar Girls
Review: As a bereavement counselor, I thought this was one of the very best films on the various dynamics of grieving and how you can begin to heal.
I am teaching a bereavement class in March and will encourage my students to see this film. I teach that time does not heal, but action does. This story teaches that lesson so well that I have written an analysis of it for my class.
Thank you all for making a wonderful movie with such class!!
Dodie Lemley, MFCC
Rating:
Summary: Women are definitely on the move !
Review: This film is a real manifesto. A manifesto about England and its Women's Academy that has to open up women's concerns and initiatives onto the modern world and onto real feminity which is both spiritual and physical. A manifesto about charity : to « levy » money by using the market and not the state in order to improve services and health research. A manifesto about death and how to cope with it when it touches you closely. A manifesto about women and their relationship within a society that has merchandized everything and that bases its merchandizing on the lowest instincts and pulses in men essentially but also in women. A manifesto about liberating women, mature women of their complexes and their total jailing in a vision from the old centuries when women were supposed - but were they really ? - to be limited to broccoli, cauly-flower, plum jam, swiss cakes and other kitchen inventivity, creativity and slavery. A manifesto finally about young people, young boys particularly, teenagers at that, who practice the old pornography at night and in the dark and then hide it under their beds. When things are pushed into the open, they cannot cope, they have a problem. For them sex is supposed to be illegal and hidden. For them sensuality is supposed to be reduced to voyeurism in the night between their sheets and their legs. And that is a real crisis for a teenager when his mother decides to go public about her mature nudity. In other words, these women are telling us that the world has to cope with nudity AGAIN and in a responsible way : nudity is beautiful, not only because of the photographer but also because nudity is the natural state of men and women, the anthem of life and material existence we need in this world of virtual voyeurism. A great film that will not titillate your dark impulses, but your intellect, if you have one, that will titillate you not between your legs but between your ears.
Rating: 
Summary: A sweet, funny movie.
Review: Calendar Girls is very enjoyable. Helen Mirren and Julie Walters do a wonderful job as best friends who decide to raise money for a much-needed new sofa for a local hospital's family waiting room. They approach others in their local women's group about doing a nude calendar. The best part of the movie is the build-up to the creation of the calendar as each woman goes through her own adjustment to the idea.
The second half of the movie becomes a bit too Hollywood as they deal with unexpected repercussions and fame. It's still cute but does lose a little of the charm. It finally ends with the focus back where it belongs - friendships and relationships. This is a good film and worth seeing, especially if you like sweet, light fun. It reminded me a lot of Saving Grace - another good British film.
Rating:
Summary: sweet-natured and light-hearted
Review: "Calendar Girls" will touch your heart. Fine performances by Helen Mirren and Julie Waters and other cast members bring to life this story of middle-aged Yorkshire women who devise an unusual fund-raising scheme. They pose, wearing only their pearls, for a calendar. The scheme turns out to be wildly successful, far surpassing their modest expectations. A subplot in the movie is how the friendship of the two main characters is tested by their newfound celebrity. Based on actual events, this British movie with its wonderful rhythm-and-blues sound track is entertaining from the first minute to the last. Although suitable for all audiences, it will especially appeal to women "of a certain age" who will embrace its message---women can be beautiful at any stage of life!
Rating:
Summary: Entirely Infectious (Except I'm Not Tying This In The Buff)
Review: CALENDAR GIRLS is one of those rare films that, from the onset, provokes a knowing smile and then maintains the energy to keep you smiling up until the bold finish. GIRLS has been given a lot of press for its premise -- the true story of some not-quite-over-the-hill prim & proper English ladies who concoct the idea to make their annual "prim & proper English ladies" calendar not so much in the ordinary but, rather, in the semi-nude, concealing the 'proper bits' and leaving the real deal to the imagination. Helen Mirren, as Chris, gives a brave performance of a woman finding herself by having to -- literally -- strip down to the basics, but she's supported by a incredibly gifted and attractive supporting cast who hold their own (no pun intended) in this plan to raise money for the local hospital. The charm surrounding GIRLS is that the film -- as the story progresses to the point of the photo shoot -- becomes less-and-less a statement on nudity; rather, the script brilliantly grows more and more around these characters: a woman coming to terms with the loss of her husband, another discovering that her husband is a creepy philanderer, etc. Sure, there are discussions about female empowerment for "seasoned" women, but these are largely relegated to the background in favor of some excellent character writing. All in all, GIRLS feels a bit weighted down in the last third by the two leads' rediscovered friendship, but, come the last few images of these ladies still enthralled by their fellowship, it's a calculated misstep easily forgiven ... given the bare facts.
Rating:
Summary: These Gals Put The FUN Back Into Fundraising!
Review: When attempting to come up with a brainstorm to help raise money for a national charity, a group of proper British middle-aged ladies (featuring a cast which includes Julie Walters and Helen Mirren amongst them) most likely thought about these ideas before hitting upon the correct solution. They huddled amongst themselves, thinking: "Hmm, how about a bake sale, to help raise funds for the Women's Institute, to assist women with health-related and other similar issues?". The gals thought about this, and said to themselves: "No, too commonplace, and too much manpower.". Then, they came up with a second scheme, and thought: "Hey, how about a concert, where we sing and dance for our charitable supper?". Huddling amongst themselves, they pondered: "Uh-uh, too far out and going too far off the deep end. Besides, none of us can neither sing or dance, and who would come to our little shindig?". Finally, hitting the collective nail squarely on its head, they arrived at the perfect solution, and came up with: "A-ha! How about we pose nude, and put our middle-aged nude bodies on a series of calendars to benefit the Women's Institute?". To which one of the debonair British ladies replied: "By jove, I think she's got it!". Nearly everyone in the quaint English village of Skipton thinks this is a modestly great idea, except the ladies' husbands, who take to the local pub the way a fish takes to water, and absolutely drink their troubles away, while the gals scatter the countryside profiling and styling, while at the same time looking for potential buyers to distribute their "Playboy cousin" 'masterpiece'. After modest and partially successful sales in their native country, the gals take off to the good ole U.S. of A., where they land a spot on national television (the "Tonight Show"). Jay Leno has a brief guest cameo, and even seems both joyful and elated over the gals' success. What's also surprising, is the gals' reaction of surprise, when they learn their airline tickets have been upgraded to first-class status when they depart from Heathrow Airport in London (Gee, you'd think they'd never travelled first-class before, let alone stay in a ritzy hotel [which they do in Los Angeles]). However, what's not surprising, is the lighthearted humor and first-rate dramatics the entire cast (male and female) brings to the film's script and screenplay. But overall, how would the ladies be able to withstand the up and coming fame and fortune faced in a land that's foreign to them, both socially and culturally? To seek out the answer to this and other burning questions, there's a first-class ticket waiting at your local theater now. So, queue up, and reserve your seat today!
Rating:
Summary: True to Yorkshire
Review: The characters reminded me of the woman my grandmother must have been in her 50's. The Yorkshire scenery made me homesick for a place in which I didn't grow up, but still feel attached to through my roots. I attended the WI meetings as a child guest with my grandmother and I remember liking plum jam and Victoria sponge! The acting was superb and true to the characters.
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