Best 10 All Time Nicholas Sparks Movies You Should Watch Now!
Nicholas Charles Sparks is an author, screenwriter, and philanthropist from the United States. He has written twenty-two novels and two non-fiction works, all of which have been New York Times bestsellers, selling over 115 million copies in more than 50 languages.
Author:Elisa MuellerReviewer:James PierceOct 12, 202196.6K Shares1.4M Views
Nicholas Charles Sparks is an author, screenwriter, and philanthropist from the United States. He has written twenty-two novels and two non-fiction works, all of which have been New York Times bestsellers, selling over 115 million copies in more than 50 languages.
The Choice, The Longest Ride, The Best of Me, Safe Haven (on all of which he acted as a producer), The Lucky One, Message in a Bottle, A Walk to Remember, Nights in Rodanthe, Dear John, The Last Song, and The Notebook are among the eleven of his books that have been converted to a cinema.
Sparks now resides in North Carolina, where he supports several local and national organizations. In 2011, he founded the Nicholas Sparks Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to enhancing cultural and international understanding for children of all ages via global education programs.
The Choice
The Choice is Nicholas Sparks' last new film, made under his now-defunct production firm, Nicholas Sparks Productions. It's also my least favorite Sparks film, and evidence that if you keep producing the same movie over and over again, you'll ultimately experience diminishing returns. The story follows Gabby (Teresa Palmer), a medical student, and her next-door neighbor Travis (Benjamin Walker), a veterinarian and incorrigible bachelor.
The main protagonists in The Choice, like many of the films on this list, get caught up in their hopeless desire for one another and cheat on their present relationships. I find myself still cheering for the characters in the greatest Nicholas Sparks films, despite their adultery. However, The Choice strove to make their actions seem romantic rather than selfish.
I had a hard time cheering for Travis, whose good ol' boy aversion to the "complications" of committed relationships appeared to me to be more sexist than anything else. Which option would I choose? Instead, skip this and watch another Sparks picture.
The Choice (Nicholas Sparks 2016 Movie) – Official Teaser Trailer
The Best Of Me
This 2014 picture, the most recent in the Sparks repertoire, is filled with Mad Libs-styled Sparks features that make it almost difficult to distinguish from any of his previous films. The Best of Me has it everything, from fated adolescent sweethearts to disapproving parents, friendly elderly folks, and a cruel illness, like a horrible Frankenstein's monster of repeated story elements.
Car accidents, gardens, and romantic meals are all present. A story point is a deceased kid. Those who would abandon their loves are given money. Someone drinks excessively and is a jerk about it. It's also the first Sparks film to contain a subplot involving meth traffickers, so it's aiming for a lurid, straight-from-the-news depravity vibe.
Even with all of its kitchen-sink components, the entire thing simply doesn't function. Maybe it's because we're meant to believe that little Luke Bracey grows up to be old James Marsden, or because there's a meth dealer subplot once again. It's probably simply that the entire thing has been done before, and the apparent twists disease-related or not can't even surprise the most devoted watcher.
The Best of Me Official Movie Trailer [HD]
Dear John
Dear John addressed the tough reality of long-distance love with two excellent performances from A-listers Amanda Seyfried and Channing Tatum. After a soldier named John (Tatum) falls in love with a college student named Savannah (Seyfried) during spring break, John's deployment forces them apart.
The film follows the couple's increasingly turbulent relationship over seven years, as their reunions grow more infrequent and their only connection is via love letters.
The complicated connection between John and his father (a spot-on Richard Jenkins) was especially poignant and emotionally evocative, and Seyfried and Tatum had palpable chemistry that enhanced the original material.
DEAR JOHN - Official Trailer (HD)
The Last Song
First and first, kudos to director Julie Anne Robinson for casting a real singer in this music-themed film (a pre-Bangerz Miley Cyrus). What about minus points for everything else? Sparks ultimately felt that putting in twists involving death and they always include death needed a little more pizazz to truly make them jump off the screen (and pull those tears), so he aimed his death laser at minor characters.
Yes, some aspects of this narrative shift work, namely in terms of providing additional emotion without depriving our love of their relationship. But mostly, everything seems cheap, and nothing feels cheaper than Greg Kinnear's character's death (by cancer!) in this 2010 film.
The whole story revolves around Cyrus's emotionally unprepared Ronnie, who is full of raw feelings and furious expressions and is only brought down by the love of a decent Hemsworth (Liam, not Chris). Sparks upends the entire goddamn thing with unexpected stomach cancer, which is terrible for everyone, despite some useful lessons about the power of love and the value of really supporting others.
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Safe Haven
Sparks' tales have always been haunted by ghosts, but they've usually been of the psychological type. So many of Sparks' different heroes and heroines are victims of lingering memories, emotional poltergeists manifesting as "secrets" and "falsehoods," as well as "complete misunderstandings that might simply be sorted up by having a nice talk."
The inevitable twist in many Sparks stories if it isn’t surprising cancer, which happens frequently is some previous event that reappears at inconvenient times (like when our fated pair is ready to embrace real bliss and/or make out in a rural shed). The Mrs. Rochester effect, as it's known.
Sparks, on the other hand, has seldom used a real ghost in his stories, which is why the surprise in the 2013 feature film is so startling. No one ever looked askance at Cobie Smulders' Jo, a friendly neighborhood gal who only Julianne Hough's Katie ever spoke to, allowing her to eventually reveal herself as not just a friendly ghost, but the ghost of Katie's paramour's dead wife, demonstrating the disposable nature of Sparks' supporting characters. There's also fire, for good measure.
Safe Haven Trailer
The Lucky One
The Lucky One has an innately disturbing concept that not even the chemistry between Zac Efron and Taylor Schilling can make me ignore. Logan (Efron), an Iraqi marine, discovers a photograph of a young lady. His colleagues surrounding him are murdered moments later.
Logan considers the lady in the picture to be his lucky charm after his near-death experience, and when he returns home, he sets out on a quest to locate her. Despite finding Efron's infatuation with Beth (Schilling) a bit odd, I sympathized with his moody, violin-playing, incredibly beautiful marine, who is suffering from PTSD.
Beth isn't the idealized rescuer Logan imagines she's a flawed person with her ambitions and traumas, and Logan gets close to her under pretenses throughout most of the film. However, since this is a Nicholas Sparks film, the unhealthy motivation for their connection isn't as important as it should be.
THE LUCKY ONE Trailer 2012 Movie - Official [HD]
Message In A Bottle
Nicholas Sparks' tales are as much about death as they are about love, so you can anticipate a little sorrow when you read them. However, Message in a Bottle is such a ridiculously terrible story that it crossed the line from sorrowful to nearly funny for me.
Theresa (Robin Wright), a Chicago newspaper researcher, discovers a note in a bottle addressed to a lady named "Catherine." The letter is published in the press, and Theresa follows out its writer, Garrett (Kevin Costner), to discover the sad truth about his connection with Catherine via a predictable and distressing sequence of events. Of course, the two falls in love along the road, but will Garrett ever be able to let go of Catherine completely?
Message in a Bottle (1999) Official Trailer - Robin Wright Movie
A Walk To Remember
Where have you been for the last 16 years if you haven't watched A Walk to Remember? A Walk to Remember was my first introduction to Nicholas Sparks, and no matter how many times I watch Landon (Shane West) and Jamie (Mandy Moore) fall in love, it never fails to make me cry.
Jamie is the wallflower daughter of a preacher, whereas Landon is a bad guy with an alienated father and a chip on his shoulder.
They shouldn't fall in love with one other, yet they do. I won't give anything away about the conclusion (although, again, if you haven't seen A Walk to Remember, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN THE LAST 15 YEARS?) But it's both heartbreaking and corny at the same time. This Sparks classic has survived the test of time well.
A Walk to Remember (2002) Official Trailer #1 - Mandy Moore Movie HD
The Notebook
This is without a doubt the most hyped Nicholas Sparks film and with good cause. Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams' connection as Noah and Allie was so strong that they began dating in real life! What about the beach kissing scene? It is magical.
Are Allie and Noah going to die at the same time when they become older? It's very sad, but it's also extremely romantic. Noah and Allie are to thank The Notebook for continuing to give viewers all the emotions for years to come.
The Notebook Trailer
The Longest Ride
The crazy-hot 20-somethings at the heart of our tale are played by Scott Eastwood and Britt Robertson. Bull riding, two star-crossed lovers, and an intertwined tale of a turbulent love affair between an elderly couple? Nicholas Sparks romances don't get much better than this.
Because Luke and Sophia seem to be meant for one other, you'll be pulling for a happy ending throughout the film's tear-jerking scenes.
Sophia Danko & Luke Collins (The Longest Ride)
Elisa Mueller
Author
James Pierce
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