"Two Night Stand", "Brief Encounter" in Blu-ray

Miles revealed on Twitter that his girlfriend Keleigh Sperry had never seen Titanic before they watched it together that day. “‘So, does Jack work on the boat?’ I happen to be dating the one person who has never seen Titanic @keleighsperry,” Source: www.justjared.com

Fortunately for all involved, Max Nichols’ Two Night Stand has enough charm, spark, and chemistry to overcome a seemingly cookie-cutter premise. In a spur of the moment decision, Megan (Analeigh Tipton) signs up for a dating site (Megan has some seriously funny answers for even the most banal of questions), desperate to mix things up and dip a toe back into the dating waters. It soon becomes readily apparent that Megan has been in a state of regression for some time – and, yes, she does yell out, “I’m regressing!,” but that’s not nearly as on the nose as it sounds – and something needs to change for her in a big way. The pair exhibit a crisp, quick chemistry, and their interactions are funny and zippy – just what a rom-com needs. The duo bicker and banter, get high, engage in some petty crime, and nearly ruin a bathroom. Source: geeknation.com

Two Night Stand really gets interesting because it’s not tied down by the dumb, supportive best friend, conventions about dating or the unimaginative premise. With the rest of the film taking place almost entirely in Alec’s apartment, viewers join the pair in awkward, uncomfortable and truly laughable situations, finally bringing the audience into a world they can imagine, one where sex isn’t the be-all and end-all.

Alec and Megan decide to correct each other’s sexual techniques for fun and “science,” and though their sex tips could be drafted from a Cosmo article, the banter is believable and the indignation on either side relatable and hilarious. The casting is commendable — it helps that neither of the stars is chiseled, Photoshop-perfect or suave in manner. Viewers might see a little bit of themselves in Tipton’s awkward attempts to learn to sexily undress and Teller’s college boy solution to their problems. Teller is a fantastic leading man, caring without seeming disingenuous, silly without being ridiculous. Source: dailytrojan.com

Megan takes to the Web for a no-strings hookup: within moments she’s trading nervously chipper banter and cute laptop visuals with Alec (Teller), a similarly uncommitted young fellow who appears to want as little as Megan does from the encounter. A little late in the day, “Two Night Stand” turns into an absorbing dramedy about two bruised souls mustering the nerve to open themselves up to love again. Tipton is sweet and has lovely green eyes. But indie film guys, I beg you, enough with the manic pixie dream girls already. 

Teller is an intelligent young actor who’s been worth watching since his affecting turn opposite Nicole Kidman in “Rabbit Hole.” As Alec, though, he seems not quite in control of the residual smirkiness that he turned to superb advantage as a cocky young alcoholic in “The Spectacular Now.” “Two Night Stand’s” strength lies in the doubts and the ambivalence it expresses about the way we love now. Internet dating, Alec admits once his guard is down, is “a bunch of people sitting around in the dark, texting.” Source: variety.com

For all the romances the movies have given us, there are precious few that show two people gradually falling in love. Contemporary rom-coms generally engineer a movie-long feud that builds to a climactic smooch; Nicholas Sparks-style weepies go for insta-passion shorthand, the better to clear the way for whatever ludicrous tragedy its lovers have in store. And that makes sense, really, as the realistic alternative—with ardent feelings accumulating bit by bit over time, in a context devoid of manufactured conflict—seems like it would be too politely dull to endure. All the same, that perfectly describes Brief Encounter, David Lean’s 1945 masterpiece of British restraint and repression, which Criterion has at long last upgraded to a stand-alone Blu-ray title. The sheer helplessness Laura and Alec feel, as they lay the tracks toward that rendezvous, is what makes Brief Encounter so intensely poignant. Source: www.avclub.com