Calendar Girls (2003) | Helen Mirren, Julie Walters | A lovely telling of a true story.     vhs video:     Calendar Girls (2003)   Calendar Girls (2003) Helen Mirren, Julie Walters Walt Disney Video, 2004 average customer review:based on 98 reviews view larger image  for more information click here        highly recommended Shows a woman's true beauty, add another 5 stars I don't think "Calender Girls" got ever got the credit it deserved. The movie had all the important elements to make it a hit. It was funny, sad, daring, creative, unique, a true story and it had partial nudity. What was missing was special effects, improbable story lines, obnoxious characters and expensive sets, all things I do well without. Helen Mirren (Prime Suspect 1-6, Teaching Mrs. Tingle, Gosford Park, Raising Helen) and Julie Walters (Harry Potter, Educating Rita) were fantastic and exuded beauty that transcends beyond age. This is an uplifting movie that I first rented but then bought to keep in my collection. It's not just for baby boomers and above, both my kids, ages 15 and 10 enjoyed it too. My ten year old, a boy, roars with belly laughter at the movie's most famous line "I think we're going to need significantly bigger buns." This is a must-see for anyone who has ever truly loved a woman. "Calendar Girls" makes a great Mother's Day gift too!  for more information click here A lovely telling of a true story. The story of the WI in a sleepy Yorkshire village trying to raise money for their local hospital's oncology unit, intially to buy a sofa for the visitor's room, following the death by cancer of one their flock's husband. Walters, the bereaved woman, is exquiste in her expression of deep seated pain and she is uncharacteristicly not playing the funny lady. Mirren has the joker role here and does it very well. It's a heart warming and funny film and the woman's good intentions pay huge dividends when the idea to make a nude calender is hit upon. They raise hundreds of thousands of pounds, eventually millions! Like all good innocent things the venture is almost destroyed by the intrusion of a greedy and muck raking press. There are tender and beautiful performances on mass here, particularly the woman's roles played by some of the UK's most outstanding actresses. A must see and a great gift for your Mum! I can also tell you as a native of Yorkshire that the village at the centre of the story really is that pretty!  for more information click here Poignant, funny, and touching When Annie's husband dies of leukemia, her friends, led by her best friend Chris, rally around her and decide to raise money to fight leukemia by producing a nude calendar with them and their friends as models. To say that they are a bit older than most pin-up girls is to understate the case, and they approach the actual day of the "shoot" with fear and trepidation. However, they soon overcome their reluctance and the result is a fantastic success which they never dreamed could happen. They are beseiged with newspaper reporters and camera men and they even end up going to Hollywood to appear on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Their sudden success is not without its downside, however, as marriages are effected and children are thoroughly embarrassed by their mother's "exposure". This movie is a delight and the subject matter is handled tastefully and always with wit and good humor. The women are all members of the WI, Women's Institute which was a stuffy organization before they lightened it up. This film is highly recommended!  for more information click here A Contemplative, Warm and Caring Comedy... In the western society, ageism is becoming more prominent as people fear growing old and miracle nip and tuck solutions are steadily growing. TV shows and commercials spew out an abundance of messages of staying fit and healthy, which is often related to youth. In times such as these it is essential that people are enlightened that maturing is a normal and healthy aspect of life. The film Calendar Girls does a brilliant job getting this message across to the audience as women in their 50s and older undress in front of a photographer for the good cause of fighting leukemia. The story takes place in a small town in Northern Yorkshire where the Women's Institute (WI) holds regular meetings that often consist of some slumber-inducing lecture. Two of the WI members are best friends, Chris (Helen Mirren) and Annie (Julie Walter), who attend the meeting just to get away from home. Not that the women don't like their home life--they just do so in order to get away and gossip. However, when Annie's husband, John (John Alderton), discovers that he has leukemia, which also leads to his unfortunate death, it changes everything at the WI. John's departure changes the perspective on life for Annie, and also for Chris who comes up with the idea of making a unique calendar in honor of John. The calendar is to have the theme of a sunflower, which was John's favorite flower as he described it as a satellite dish that sought sunshine. The satellite is an analogy for life and what was important to John. This is what the women want to capture through the calendar as they decide that they will undress in the honor of John. Nudity is often something that is considered dirty, naughty, and often is the reason for a film to get a stricter rating by the MPAA here in the United States. However, in many European nations nudity is often consider normal and cultured, as it does not affect the rating in a harsh manner as long as the nudity is projected in a natural manner. For example, a natural manner would be such as a taking a shower without sexual meaning. Calendar Girls has some similarities with Full Monty (1997) and one of these similarities would be the decent manner of depicting nudity. Here, the nudity is natural as the women struggle with their own awkward feelings about it, but the photographer is the one who feels the most awkward. Calendar Girls is a warm and caring comedy by the director Nigel Cole who is not foreign to depicting mature women as his heroines. In Saving Grace (2000) Cole depicted a middle-aged woman finding a financial solution through growing Marijuana in her house. This time Cole brings a film based on a true story where 11 women made a calendar in order to raise money for a hospital. The cast also provides a solid performance, which is to be expected from skilled actors such as Helen Mirren and Julie Walkers among others. Despite some similarities with other films Cole succeeds in directing a unique story with several subplots that holds the audience's interest while being amusing and contemplative.  for more information click here Very good movie, however...... I won't bother you with how good I thought this movie was. Others have done that quite well already. I do have one question about the widescreen presentation, though: Why is the ratio for the movie itself different from the ratio in all the deleted scenes? Makes you wonder if the movie is presented in the so-called "fake" widescreen. Anybody know why there's a difference? reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, page 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 products you might be interested in   search for videos calendar girls, 2003, calendar, girls      toavi.com    web randomly chosen book: Three Cups of Tea: Young Reader's Edition