10 Years: a story that warms the heart...

... of those who look back at their memory of past...

the Trailer:



the Plot:
Jake (Channing Tatum) along with his girlfriend Jess (Jenna Dewan-Tatum) arrives at his high school friend's house owned by married couple, Cully (Chris Pratt) and Sam (Ari Graynor).






There, some of Jake's friends start to arrive including: best buddies Marty (Justin Long) and AJ (Max Minghella), musician Reeves (Oscar Isaac) and Scott (Scott Porter) together with his Japanese wife, Suki (Eiko Nijo).

The boyfriends then start driving to their high school reunion venue. Other friends from their high school arrive including: Garrity (Brian Geraghty) along with his wife Olivia (Aubrey Plaza) and Garrity's best friend Andre (Anthony Mackie).

Meanwhile, a reclusive woman Elise (Kate Mara) arrives at the reunion alone. She tries to greet the party planner, Julie (Kelly Noonan) but is cut off when Anna (Lynn Collins) arrives to the delight of the others.

Though, the now highly successful rock star Reeves notices her and appears to be the only person who remembers every detail of Elise during high school amongst the clique. it seems all night that amidst other people's clamoring for pictures with him, Reeves tries to get Elise into a conversation.



long before, Elise used to have a boyfriend who moved to Austin. and because of that Reeves never gets the chance to date her. and meeting again, this time she has a boyfriend in Chicago.

All night, Cully, the former school bully is trying to make amends with all his victims, to no avail as he, after excessive alcoholic binge, reverts to his old self, much to the consternation of his long suffering wife.

luckily Jess is a sport who keeps her company in her own misery of watching Jake unfolds when Mary (Rosario Dawson), his high school sweetheart arrives with her husband, Paul (Ron Livingston).



Marty just breezes in from New York City, but his Wall Street lifestyle may not be all that he claims. AJ reprises his not-so-friendly competition with Marty for the attention of Anna. They fawn over her and looking at the old pictures, AJ even commends that Anna always has the glow about her.

As the night goes on, the gang proceeds to Pretzels for some karaoke and more booze. Anna declines though, much to the disappointment of AJ and Marty as Anna is always known to be the party girl. She graciously exits and the two best friends decide to follow her home and do some toilet-paper-bombing just for the fun of it.



Anna freaks out as she catches the two in action. to their surprise, Anna is actually a single mom with 2 kids.



her vivacious appearance at the reunion is her dismal attempt at reliving the glow and now that the guys find out how screw-up she is, the facade is ruined. in aghast, Marty confesses that his life in NY is not that dandy either. and AJ confides that his doctor wife is leaving him. they settled down for a late night supper with Anna's kids. looking at her dealing with her kids, Marty whispers to the teary Anna that she looks more glowing than ever.


And Garrity (Brian Geraghty) has changed in a manner that surprises his best friend, Andre who thought that he has lost his nigga attitude and married a white woman for real. Olivia is stumped likewise to realise that Garrity has a different persona growing up and that perhaps she doesn't know him much at all.



Jess notices the tactful way Jake is reacting around Mary and decides that she'd rather go back to the motel to give Jake the space he obviously needs to settle the matter with Mary. Jake offers to go back with her but Jess insists that he stay.

it is later revealed that because of Mary's father being hospitalised on Prom Night, both Prom King and Prom Queen were not in attendance to receive their dues. and as the others left for college, Jake has tried to stay and keep Mary company during her father's illness but later he just got to leave for college and be a man.

Paul is upset when he finds out about how close Jake was once to Mary and she confesses that thinking of Jake always reminds her of her deceased father. and she is not comfortable about mentioning Jake because of that. Paul then leaves for home and Mary is left alone.

during a karaoke session, Cully made a fool out of himself. and then he invites Reeves to sing his hit: "Never Had". Elise who never hears it before is stumped to know that the song is of her. and feeling much out of depth, she feels that she has to go, only that Reeves manages to coax her to be with him now. at the parking lot 10 years ago, Elise had left him alone. and this time, Reeves finally fulfills his desire of being with Elise, at the car park, steaming the windows together.

as the night went on and the last couple is leaving, Jake and Mary resolves what was left unsaid before. and Jake is relieved to find out that Mary is happy with Paul, and she's expecting. knowing Jake, Mary softly encourages him to propose to Jess, something that Jake has postponed to do for the last 8 months.



back at the motel, Jess is actually waiting up for Jake to come back. and much to Jake's profound happiness, that the woman he's marrying really understands that he just got to see Mary settled down happy before he can continue with his life. they then leave for some breakfast at the nearby cafe. luckily Scott, Suki, Julie and other friends are there too. looking at Jess, Jake wills his courage and gathers the ring he kept in the car, finally deciding to propose.


the Review:

there are a lot of familiar faces in this movie. chemistry is there and i love the laidback way the story unfolds. it was quite hard to follow their conversation word to word because i have not the subtitle. nonetheless i manage to enjoy the story. it is bittersweet, touching the inner chord of us lamenting our past.



it touches me so when CT looks to his wife. JD was more adept at concealing her true feelings that the chemistry they had seems lukewarm or so. but i like her attitude. she's not like other jealousy gf so insecure of the guy she loves.


the bittersweet attachment between Mary and Jake is also apparent. seems that first love really last long, especially if the guy was decent enough a fellow.



i really like Scott's character. he's cool and charming. and when he confides about staying in Japan for good, it was real nice. his reasoning is really fine and reflects his mature sense of self.

as for Anna, it is a pity that she stumbled in life. but it took real heart and guts to show up vivaciously confident. i for one would not have that in me. last 2 days in fact, i showed up in an event that some old friends showed up too and i stayed for measly 10 mins before bailing out.

Cully is really a douche. and Sam is really a patient wife though she does cracked up at the end. the slight she received from Peter as she tried to apologise on behalf of her husband is more than she deserves for finding something nice and sweet about Cully. if left to me, i would dump his ass quicker than he can dunk the tequila shot himself.




some reviewers say the story of Reeves-Elise deserves more than window-steaming ending. but to me, it is a start. and it is sweet that someone remembers you so fondly after all the years and makes a song about you that ends up a big hit that launches his career. aww.. so shweeetttt! enjoy the soundtrack. i kept hitting replay everytime it ends :)

the Soundtrack:


PS:
i'm sorry i reneged on my promise for Safe Haven and the Bourne Legacy. i'll try soon, ok.

13 Going On 30: endearing~

the Poster:

the Plot:

Jenna Rink (Christa B. Allen) is an unpopular girl celebrating her 13th birthday on May 26, 1987, who is desperate to overcome her unpopularity at school. Jenna especially wants to join the "Six Chicks", a school clique led by Lucy "Tom-Tom" Wyman (Alexandra Kyle), who takes advantage of Jenna's desire to fit in by manipulating her into doing her school works and stuffs.

For Jenna's 13th birthday, her best friend, Matty Flamhaff (Sean Marquette), gives Jenna a doll dream house he built for her and a packet of "magic wishing dust" for her birthday, which is sprinkled on the roof of the house.

At the birthday party hosted at Jenna's home basement, Tom-Tom dashes Jenna's hopes of joining the Six Chicks by pulling a cruel practical joke on her. Jenna, mistakenly thinking Matt was responsible, yells at him and barricades herself in the closet where she put the Dream House. She cries and rocks backs and forth, bumping into the wall, wishing to be "30, flirty, and thriving". The wishing dust from the dollhouse sprinkles on her, and seconds later, Jenna awakens as a 30-year-old woman (Jennifer Garner) living in a Fifth Avenue apartment, without her friends or family. It is now 2004, but Jenna has no memory of the 17 years that have passed since her 13th birthday.

30-year-old Jenna's best friend, Lucy (Judy Greer) (no longer nicknamed Tom-Tom), drives her to her work office. Soon, Jenna discovers she works for Poise, her favorite fashion magazine when she was a teenager. Missing her best friend from 1987, Jenna asks her assistant to track down Matt. To her dismay, Jenna learns she and "Matty" have been estranged since high school when Jenna fell in with the in-crowd, and that Matt (Mark Ruffalo) is now engaged to Wendy (Lynn Collins).

Back at office, the magazine editor, Richard (Andy Serkis) informed the staffs that for the 7th time Poise is scooped by Sparkle and this leads to the company decision to redesign their theme to revamp Poise. After Jenna overhears Lucy badmouthing her to a co-worker, she sadly realizes that what she thought she wanted wasn't important after all. This is complicated by the fact that Jenna has become a shadow of her former self. She has lost almost all contact with her parents, and she is having an affair with the husband of a colleague. Not only that, she is generally hated by her co-workers and anyone else she has worked with.

Jenna slowly realizes that the person she has become is neither trustworthy nor likable. in the fit of everything awful, Jenna heads back to her hometown in New Jersey and, while her parents are out, hides in the same closet as 17 years before and cries. Her parents return and find her hiding, and they welcome her in for the night.

The next day, she reminisces by looking through school yearbooks and other items from her school days and catch-up on the 17 years she doesn't remember. These inspire her on her return to Manhattan.

Over several outings and working together on the Poise revamp project, Jenna becomes friends with Matt again, asking his help for her project. Although Matt is engaged and Jenna has a boyfriend, they kiss during a nighttime walk.

After making a successful presentation for the planned revamp for Poise, Jenna prepares for the lunch date with Matt to celebrate the success.

During her time away from the office, Lucy snooped around at Jenna's desk and found the letters that incriminate Jenna as the person who shared Poise materials with Sparkle in return for the offer to be Sparkle Editor in Chief. Matt showed up at the office to cancel the lunch with Jenna and met Lucy instead. Lucy informed him that Jenna's not going to use the photos Matt took earlier for Poise and made Matt sign a release forms that she schemed to take to Sparkle instead for the post.

When Jenna arrived at Matt's home, Wendy was there and commented that Matt was not in, perhaps getting the tuxedo for the wedding during the weekend.

Dejected, Jenna returned to the office the next day only to receive the bad news: Poise is shutting down because the work she put into the relaunch ended up in Sparkle. Jenna learns from Lucy that in all these months, she was the one responsible for sabotaging Poise from within by sending their material to Sparkle. Lucy herself has accepted the position of Sparkle editor-in-chief, using Jenna's work as her own, similar to what she did when the girls were in middle school.

When everything in her world seems to crumble down, distraught Jenna rushes to Matt's house and begs him to call off the wedding. Dazed, Matt confesses he loves Jenna, but cannot change the fact that he's marrying Wendy. From his closet, he pulls the "dream house" he made 17 years before and gives it back to her. Jenna realizes how hard it is to Matt to make such decision and thus, she backs away and leaves in tears, saying that she wishes him to be happy for she loves him.

Unbeknownst to Jenna, specks of wishing dust still remain on the dream house, and as she wishes she was 13 again, she finds herself back in the closet of the basement at her parents' house, being a 13-year-old again. When Matt comes to check on her, she jumps on top of him and they kiss. She also realizes that Tom-Tom will never be a true friend and tells her down.

17 years later, Jenna and Matt are married and live in a house which resembles the dollhouse, happy and content as Mr and Mrs Flamhaff.

the Review:
blame the sick me but i cried buckets over the scene where Matt confesses he still loves Jenna yet he has to honour his promise to marry Wendy.. wallahai.. sedih betul..

sweet je JG ni..

a very nice pair :)

the two main characters are really lovable.. and even the protagonist in the form of Lucy is believable.. what is the main theme is that at 30-ish, we are given a certain time to relook back at what we have done and achieved to the point that is it this that we really want..

thinking back, personally, i only had that one moment when one guy loves me, and i turned him away. it's sad really. and even if i had to ask, do i want to give a different answer if Allah takes me back to that moment in midValley, some 13 years ago, i really have to say, no matter how hard it was to say no, to watch him watch me walk away, i have to say yes, i'd say no again.

kerana Tuhan.

Uncertainty: certainly will put you to sleep

ola!

thanks to unifi, i now have the privilege to watch indie films at the comforts of home. nice!

i've been wiki-ing on Joseph Gordon-Levitt's past works and this guy sure got a lot of indie movies under his belt. though masses do tend to identify him with Inception (smooth!), (500) days of summer (lovable!) and ten things i hate about you (dorky!), just to name a few, i believe that his other work also warrant some peeking into.

so i watched 'uncertainty'. some movie that focus on this couple, kate (Lynn Collins) and bobby (JGL) on the crossroads of making life-changing decisions on the eve of fourth of July. kate is an aspiring actress waiting for a break but somehow is 11 weeks pregnant. whilst bobby has a job of which i'm not sure what but he knows how to fix computers.

the movie explores the idea of the uncertainty principle which brings the movie to be split into 2 set of events moving in complete opposite direction but somehow, helping the couple to decide on what to do for their future. kate and bobby are at some bridge where they each choose opposing paths ahead of them. at the end of the bridge, kate got into a taxi that has bobby in it with a misplaced handphone wanted by mobs, whilst on the other end of the bridge, bobby runs off into a green van driven by Kate en route to her family's home.

kate's path is more eventful with the chasing by the mobs and yada-yada when bobby decided to pass the handphone for a price. as for bobby's path, it's much sombre and only punctuated by family dramas during the couple brief stay for kate's family dinner.

all in all, i think the movie is pointless. boring. no wonder wiki doesn't have much to say about it. but here's some explanation given by wiki regarding the uncertainty principle that this movie based on:

In quantum mechanics, the Heisenberg uncertainty principle states a fundamental limit on the accuracy with which certain pairs of physical properties of a particle, such as position and momentum, cannot be simultaneously known. In other words, the more precisely one property is measured, the less precisely the other can be controlled, determined, or known