Total Recall (1990): Full of Suspense!

Trailer:
here

Plot:
n 2084, Earthbound construction worker Douglas Quaid (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is having troubling dreams about Mars and a mysterious woman there.

 

His wife Lori (Sharon Stone) dismisses the dreams and discourages him from thinking about Mars, where the governor, Vilos Cohaagen (Ronny Cox), is fighting rebels while searching for a rumored alien artifact located in the mines. At Rekall, a company that provides memory implants of vacations, Quaid opts for a memory trip to Mars as a Secret Agent fantasy. However, during the procedure, before the memory is implanted, something goes wrong, and the story diverges between the question of what is real and what is hallucination. Apparently, Quaid starts revealing previously suppressed memories of actually being a Secret Agent. The company sedates him, wipes his memory of the visit, and sends him home. On the way home, Quaid is attacked by his friend Harry (Robert Costanzo) and some construction co-workers; he is forced to kill them, revealing elite fighting-skills.

 
He is then attacked in his apartment by Lori, who reveals that she was never his wife; their marriage was just a false memory implant, and Cohaagen sent her as an agent to monitor Quaid. He is then attacked and pursued by armed thugs led by Richter (Michael Ironside), Lori's real husband and Cohaagen's operative.

After evading his attackers, Quaid is given a suitcase containing money, gadgets, fake IDs, a disguise, and a video recording. The video is of Quaid himself, who identifies himself as "Hauser" and explains that he used to work for Cohaagen but learned about the artifact and underwent the memory wipe to protect himself. "Hauser" instructs Quaid to remove a tracking device located inside his skull before ordering him to go to Mars and check into the Hilton Hotel with a fake ID. Quaid makes his way to Mars and follows clues to Venusville, the colony's red-light district, primarily populated by people mutated as a result of poor radiation shielding. He meets Benny (Mel Johnson, Jr.), a taxi driver, and Melina (Rachel Ticotin), the woman from his dreams; but she spurns him, believing that Quaid is still working for Cohaagen.



Quaid later encounters Dr. Edgemar (Roy Brocksmith) and Lori, who claim Quaid has suffered a "schizoid embolism" and is trapped in a fantasy based on the implanted memories. Edgemar warns that Quaid is headed for lunacy and a lobotomy if he does not return to reality, then offers Quaid a pill that would waken him from the dream. Quaid puts the pill in his mouth, but after seeing Edgemar sweating in fear, he kills Edgemar and spits out the pill. Lori alerts Richter's forces, who burst into the room and capture Quaid, but Melina rescues him, with Quaid killing Lori in the process. The two race back to the Venusville bar and escape into the tunnels with Benny. Unable to locate Quaid, Cohaagen shuts down the ventilation to Venusville, slowly asphyxiating its citizens. Quaid, Melina, and Benny are taken to a resistance base; and Quaid is introduced to Kuato (Marshall Bell), a parasitic twin conjoined to his brother's stomach.

 

Kuato reads Quaid's mind and tells him that the alien artifact is a turbinium reactor that will create a breathable atmosphere for Mars when activated, eliminating Cohaagen's abusive monopoly on breathable air. Cohaagen's forces burst in and kill most of the resistance, including Kuato, who instructs Quaid to start the reactor. Benny reveals that he is also working for Cohaagen.

Quaid and Melina are taken to Cohaagen, who reveals the Quaid persona was a ploy by Hauser to infiltrate the mutants and lead Cohaagen to Kuato, thereby wiping out the resistance. Cohaagen orders Hauser's memory to be re-implanted in Quaid and Melina programmed as Hauser's obedient wife, but Quaid and Melina escape into the mines where the reactor is located. They work their way to the control room of the reactor, and Benny attacks them in an excavation machine. Quaid kills Benny, then confronts Richter and his men, killing them too.

Quaid reaches the reactor control room, where Cohaagen is waiting with a bomb. During the ensuing struggle, Cohaagen triggers the bomb, but Quaid throws it away, blowing out one of the walls of the control room and causing an explosive decompression. While reaching for the reactor controls, Quaid knocks out Cohaagen, which causes him to be sucked out onto the Martian surface, killing him. Quaid manages to activate the reactor before he and Melina are also pulled out. The reactor releases air into the Martian atmosphere, saving Quaid, Melina and the rest of Mars' population. As humans walk onto the surface of the planet in its new atmosphere, Quaid momentarily pauses to wonder whether he is dreaming before turning to kiss Melina.

Review:
So.. what do you think? Real or not real?

:smile:

the whole story is engaging. never mind the out dated futuristic gadgets that they are using but focus instead on the whole premise. cool, huh? it boggles one's mind to decipher the clues to identify whether it's real or not. i do have issues though.. the world is supposed to be sophisticated yet they didn't think to make a better, bulletproof dome at Mars. what with the rebel wars and whatnot, shouldn't Cohaagen thought to fortify the domes to protect his investment on Mars? very cheapskate la lorrr..

all in all, i love the story, it's a favourite! Sharon Stone is one kick ass lady here :D

Tomorrowland (2015): plain boring :yawn:

Trailer:
watch it here.

Plot:
An adult Frank Walker (George Clooney) and Casey Newton (Britt Robertson) relate to the audience their experiences, beginning with Frank's visit to the 1964 New York World's Fair as a child. In the flashback, he (Thomas Robinson) meets David Nix (Hugh Laurie), an official who is unimpressed with Frank's prototype jet pack. Frank does draw the attention of a young girl named Athena (Raffey Cassidy). Seeing his potential, Athena gives Frank a pin embossed with a "T" symbol and tells him to follow her aboard the fair's "It's a Small World" attraction. Frank sneaks onto the ride, where his pin is scanned and he is transported into a futuristic cityscape known as Tomorrowland. He falls from a ledge, but straps on his jet pack in mid air and lands safely before Nix and Athena.

The narration then shifts to the present, where Casey takes over from Frank to relate her story of how she sneaks into a decommissioned NASA launch pad in Cape Canaveral, where her father Eddie (Tim McGraw) is an engineer. She sabotages the machines that are dismantling the launch pad and returns home where Athena sneaks another pin that is programmed to Casey's DNA into Casey's motorcycle helmet. The next night, Casey attempts to break into the NASA compound again, but is arrested. At the police station, she sees the pin among her personal items, and discovers that upon contact, the pin instantly shows her a view of Tomorrowland that only she can see. She briefly explores the vision until the pin's battery runs out.

Assisted by her brother Nate, Casey finds a Houston memorabilia store related to the pin, but upon meeting the two owners, Hugo and Ursula (Kathryn Hahn), Casey is questioned about it, and when she says she knows nothing else about it, they attack her. Athena bursts in and fights Hugo and Ursula, who are both revealed to be robots. The two girls escape as the robots self-destruct, destroying the store. After stealing a car, Athena reveals that she is an Audio-Animatronic robot, and the one who gave Casey the pin, revealing that she needs her help to save the world. Athena drives Casey to Frank's home in Pittsfield, New York and leaves her there.

The reclusive Frank declines Casey's request for an audience, but she manages to lure him out of the house and sneak in, locking him out. Frank re-enters through a secret tunnel and tells her angrily that he was thrown out of Tomorrowland and cannot go back. He also asks if she would like to know the exact moment of her death. Casey ponders whether accepting the truth about her time of death would actually be the cause of it, and while she admits that she would like him to tell her, says that she probably would not believe him, preferring to make her own destiny. When she says this, a monitor showing the probability of the end of the world changes its reading from 100% to 99.9994%, which startles Frank. Robot agents appear at Frank's house ordering him to turn over Casey or be killed.

After evading the robots and reuniting with Athena, the trio uses a teleportation machine that Frank invented, and transport themselves to the Eiffel Tower in Paris. They enter a room with mannequins of Gustave Eiffel, Jules Verne, Nikola Tesla, and Thomas Edison. Frank explains that the four men were the founders of Plus Ultra, a group of inventors dedicated to finding other dreamers and inventors who shared the hope of shaping a better future, which eventually led them to discover a new dimension where Tomorrowland was founded. The trio enter a rocket hidden underneath the tower, which launches into outer space and after traveling through dimensions, lands back on Earth, arriving at a now desolate Tomorrowland. Nix appears to greet them, and takes them to a building linked to a tachyon machine designed by Frank that can show images from the past and future, from which Casey learns that a worldwide catastrophe will happen in the near future. Because of this discovery, Frank lost all hope and was banished from Tomorrowland. Casey does not accept that the world is destined to end, and the future slightly changes as a result, a fact that Frank glimpses, but which Nix ignores before ordering them arrested.

As they await being sent back to their time on Earth, Casey realizes that a side effect of utilizing tachyons to obtain information about the future is that it introduces a backfeed into the time flow. It makes the future it shows all the more likely to occur, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. Destroying the device could avert the apocalypse. Nix opens a portal to an idyllic beach dimension, inviting them to live out the last days there, but Frank refuses, seeing that Nix has simply given up on Earth and intends to allow the apocalypse to happen. A fight ensues and Frank tries to use a bomb to blow up the machine. However, during the ensuing fights, Casey failed to deliver the bomb to the machine. In order to save their lives, she throws the bomb outside the portal and the explosion pins Nix's leg under debris. Nix retrieves a plasma gun and aims at Frank. Athena, who was able to see it happening beforehand due to the tachyon images, jumps in front of him and is damaged beyond repair, which activates her self-destruct sequence. In her last moments of consciousness, Athena instructs Frank to take her to the machine and reveals that she loved him. Her self-destruction bomb takes down the machine and kills Nix as well.

Back in the present, Frank and Casey's audience are revealed to be androids like Athena, who are entrusted with new pins and instructed to bring other "dreamers" to Tomorrowland.

Review:
The movie is boring! i couldn't help but feeling antagonistic towards Casey who is a major spoiled brat! i mean, there's nothing to like about her, maybe us the audience were not given enough background story to warm up to her but seriously, i do not like her. she's into vandalism, she runs off from home at night, she asks her little brother to lie for her, she hijacks a car, she terrorizes Frank and like her, i don't know why Athena thought her to be special. you know what, i wish they would choose another actress to play Casey, someone younger and more believable.

GC plays the disgruntled inventor character to a tee. except that i don't get it, in the beginning of the movie, Frank sound pessimistic about the future. and their narration was done back at Frank's house. yet in the end of the movie, the narration is in fact done in Tomorrowland. there is some continuity issue also when they escape in the bath tub. Frank was on the right side. but as they landed in the pond, he went out from the left side.

i know, i could be petty and point out that how on earth there is a jet pack nearby to be used to fly Athena to the machines. plus, just because Nix died, look, how can it be so easy for people from Tomorrowland to embrace Frank and Casey? sigh.. i feel demotivated talking about this movie :(

but i would like to applaud both Thomas Robinson and Raffey Cassidy. they are really likeable. plus, TR does a very good job at picking up GC's mannerism, the eye tic and all, they are similar-like!

Bedazzled (2000): good, devilish fun!

Trailer:


Plot:

The opening sequence takes the form of a computer simulation run by the Devil to analyze souls and determine individual weaknesses to exploit and corrupt. The program finally settles on Elliot Richards (Brendan Fraser), a geeky, over-zealous man working a dead-end technical support job in a San Francisco computer company. He has no friends and his co-workers are always avoiding him. He has a crush on his colleague, Alison Gardner (Frances O'Connor), but lacks the courage to ask her out. After Elliot is again ditched by his co-workers at a bar while trying to talk to Alison, he says to himself that he would give anything for Alison to be with him. The Devil, in the form of a beautiful woman (Elizabeth Hurley), overhears him and offers to give Elliot seven wishes in return for his soul.

As a test, he wishes for a Big Mac and Coke. The Devil takes him to McDonald's and places the order. Elliot has to pay for it, because, "there ain't no such thing as a free lunch."

After taking Elliot to her office, based at a nightclub in Oakland, the Devil convinces Elliot to sign her contract, and delivers further wishes. Each wish has Elliot living them out with Alison and his co-workers in surrogate roles. However, he doesn't know that the Devil will always spoil his wishes by adding something he doesn't want. Elliot wishes to be rich and powerful, with Alison as his wife. The Devil makes him a Colombian drug lord whose wife despises him and cheats on him with Raoul, his co-worker, who is secretly planning to get rid of Elliot and take his position and property. Soon after there is a firefight between his and Raoul's people where Elliot "dies". When he returns to the real world, the Devil points out that he never wished for Alison to love him.

Secondly, Elliot wishes to be emotionally sensitive so he will understand the needs and desires of women. The Devil makes him so sensitive that he spends most of his time crying over how beautiful the world is, and constantly asks Alison, his girlfriend of "three magical weeks," whether he has hurt her or if she needs anything. Alison says she has had enough of it and wants to be with a man who is strong and shallow. She then leaves Elliot for a man who is strong, rude and completely different from the romantic and emotionally sensitive Elliot. Elliot then wishes to be a superstar athlete who would be a woman magnet. The Devil makes him a cliché-spewing NBA star, but also gives him a small penis and a low IQ, which causes Alison, a sports reporter, to lose interest in him shortly after they meet.

He then wishes to be intelligent, witty and well-endowed. The Devil grants this by making him a famous writer whom Alison falls in love with at a cocktail party. When they arrive at Elliot's home to make love it is revealed that Elliot is gay and living with a flamboyant male partner. Lastly, Elliot wishes to be President of the United States to try to improve the world and get Alison to take him seriously. The Devil makes him Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre on the night of his assassination which he nearly avoids. After each wish is renounced, Elliot meets with the Devil and she blames him for not being specific enough. Eventually he returns to work, thinking about what he should do with the last two wishes. The Devil then appears on the computer screen, pointing out that he only has one wish left. This is because on their first meeting he asked for a Big Mac and Coke, although she had stated that it was a test wish and granted it before Elliot signed the contract. Elliot loses his patience and storms out of his office.

Elliot visits a church looking for God's help, where he briefly confesses to a priest who seems sympathetic. However, after being asked whether he thinks asking the Devil for a Big Mac and Coke counts as a wish, the priest, believing he is drunk, has Elliot arrested. The sergeant books him, and the Devil, dressed as a police officer, throws him in a cell, telling him that she does like him, and it would not hurt to have her as a friend. Elliot's cellmate (Gabriel Casseus) tells him that he cannot possibly sell his soul as it belongs to God, and although the Devil may try to confuse him, in the end he will realise who he truly is, and what his purpose is. Elliot questions the man as to his identity, but the response is simply "a really good friend", hinting that he may in fact be God, or at least, an angel.

Elliot asks the Devil to cancel their contract. When the Devil refuses, Elliot states he will not use his final wish. The Devil teleports them to Hell, where she transforms first into a black horned monster, then into a giant. When the Devil pushes him to make a final wish, Elliot wishes that Alison could have a happy life. The Devil sighs and Elliot falls into the depths of Hell. Elliot wakes up on a marble staircase, wondering if it is Heaven. The Devil tells him that because a provision in the contract's fine print, unread by Elliot, states that a selfless wish voids the contract, Elliot keeps his soul. Elliot admits that despite her manipulation of him he has come to like the Devil and regards her as a friend, something she does not object to. She also advises that Heaven and Hell can be found on Earth; it is up to humans to choose. Elliot finally asks Alison out, only to learn that she is already dating another man. He continues with his life, but with a better understanding of who he is.

Later Elliot is confronted by Bob (Paul Edelstein), one of his co-workers, who starts ridiculing Elliot at the encouragement of his co-workers. Elliot loses his temper and grabs a terrified Bob by the shirt, but lets go, simply saying, "Nice talking to you." A threatening look sends his other co-workers scurrying away in fear. At home, he meets a new neighbor, Nicole Delarusso (also played by Frances O'Connor), whose looks resemble Alison's, but whose personality, interests and fashion sense are much closer to his. He offers to help her unpack and they begin a relationship. While the two walk along a boulevard, the Devil and Elliot's cellmate, both dressed in white, are seen playing chess, looking at Elliot and his new girlfriend, with the Devil taking the opportunity to fix the game but get caught by the guy, who only laughs about that and let her finish her cheating moves. The scene ends with the Devil's computer program listing foibles of Nicole's and Elliot's, which they both tolerate.

The Review:
I love this movie because of its fun devilry that keeps Elliot out of turn everytime he makes a wish :D

for example, in the first wish that he made, the Devil turns him into the Spanish speaking drug lord, hahahah



the scene where he realises he's homosexual is also funny. the boyfriend is really a scene stealer, hahahah



the best scene would have been when Elliot meets Nicole. she's adorable!! too adorable that she completely made up for the shortcomings of Alison in all the 5 wishes Elliot has made :)



watch this movie, because it's hilariously funny. trust me. plus, EH is really charming as the Devil, she seems to be having a lot of fun with Elliot that in the end, i couldn't be mad at her at all. plus, she looks real good in this movie, love her clothes!

Footloose (2011): decent fun to watch

Trailer:


Plot:

After a long night of partying, Bobby Moore and four of his friends drink beer and drive over a bridge, not paying attention to the road. Their car crashes into a truck, killing all five of the teens. Bobby's father Shaw Moore (Dennis Quaid), the reverend of the church of the small Southern United States town of Bomont, Georgia, persuades the city council to pass several paternalistic laws, including a ban on all unsupervised dancing within the city limits.

Three years later, Ren McCormack (Kenny Wormald), a teenager raised in Boston, moves to Bomont to live with his uncle Wesley (Ray McKinnon), aunt Lulu (Kim Dickens), and cousins after his mother's death from leukemia and his father abandoning them. Soon after arriving, Ren makes friends with Willard Hewitt (Miles Teller), a fellow senior at Bomont High, and from him Ren learns about the ban on dancing.

He soon begins to be attracted to Moore's rebellious daughter - Bobby's sister Ariel (Julianne Hough) - who is dating dirt-track driver Chuck Cranston (Patrick Flueger). At an illegal dance-off stint by the cafe, Ren gets to dance with Ariel, much to the consternation of Chuck that he then dares Ren to race him using buses. Despite his inability to drive a bus, Ren wins.

Reverend Moore distrusts Ren and forbids Ariel from ever seeing him again, mistaking Ariel's rebelliousness to be due to Ren's influence. Ren and his classmates want to do away with the law and have a senior prom. Ren also teaches Willard how to dance.

After a while Ariel begins to fall for Ren and dumps Chuck, and he beats her up. Moore initially wants Ren arrested for Ariel's beaten condition, but Ariel tells him that he can't blame everything on Ren just like he did with Bobby, who was killed in the car crash. She then reveals that she is no longer a virgin, which prompts her dad to slap her across the face.

Moore's wife, Vi (Andie MacDowell), is supportive of the movement to allow dancing. She explains to Moore he cannot be everyone's father, and that he is hardly being a good father to Ariel. She also says that dancing and music are not the problem.

Ren goes before the city council to plead for the petition. He then reads several Bible verses, given to him by Ariel, that describe how in ancient times people would dance to rejoice, exercise, celebrate, and/or worship. The city council votes against him.

Daunted, Ren tries to move on but his employer, Mr Beamis convinces to hold the prom at the cotton mill where he works as it is just outside the Bomont city limits. Ren goes to see Moore, knowing that Moore still has enough influence to pressure the parents not to let their teenagers come. Ren tells Moore that even though they denied the motion to dismiss the law, they cannot stop the teenagers from having the dance at the cotton mill. He then asks him respectfully if he can take Ariel.

On Sunday, Shaw talks about giving more trust to the children in order to have them be trustworthy. He then asks his congregation to pray for the high school students putting on the prom, much to everyone's delights.

On the day of the prom, Ariel and Shaw reconcile and bury their hatchets. Ren then comes to pick Ariel up, with blessings from her parents.

Not long after Ren and Ariel arrive at the prom, Chuck and several of his friends ride up, intent on beating up Ren. However, Ren and Willard fend them off along with Rusty and Ariel's help.

Rejoiced with triumph, Ren then flings some confetti into a shredding machine and yells, "Let's dance!" The movie ends with everyone dancing in the barn to the song from the opening credits, "Footloose".

The Music:







The Review:
i love the songs in this movie, they are so catchy. and the protagonist, Ren is so likable. he's decent and talented. smart too. as for Ariel, she's just a little girl lost in the woods.

the movie delivers a good message to the young teenagers, in an example of Ren. he doesn't dabble with drugs and he works for his keep. he refused to continue sneaking to neighboring town in order to dance. instead he filed a petition in order for the rest of the young people in Bomont to gain their freedom to dance. and he respects Ariel even when she herself doesn't.

it's kinda sweet, to see Ariel's redemption. JH plays her role brilliantly. there is the vulnerability and rebelliousness in good measure. plus, the chemistry was there between the lovebirds. and i love to see how it developed, bit by bit, as Ren didn't quickly swooped in to be his boyfriend. he waited and even later asked Shaw's permission to take her to the prom, instead of sneaking around.

i enjoyed it. very much.

He's Just Not That Into You: a romance galore!

Poster:

Trailer:



Plot:

Nine people in Baltimore deal with their respective romantic problems, usually thwarted by the differing ideals and desires of their chosen partner. At the center of this is Gigi Phillips (Ginnifer Goodwin), a young woman who repeatedly misinterprets the behavior of her romantic partners.

Gigi and Alex

Gigi is a single woman who repeatedly misreads mundane actions and comments from her dates as indications that they are romantically interested in her, and frets when the guy does not call her.

In attempting to meet Conor Barry (Kevin Connolly), a real estate agent, at a bar, she befriends the bar owner Alex (Justin Long), who reveals the strategies men use to avoid a woman.

He explains that if a man is interested in a woman, he will overcome any obstacles to ensure they date again, and that Gigi has been misinterpreting and obsessing over imagined "signs" that she receives.

Their friendship continues, and Gigi interprets his eagerness to always assist (such as taking Gigi's call while he is on a date) as a sign that he is interested in her. She makes a move, but Alex claims he is not romantically interested in her and chastises her for ignoring his advice. She angrily replies that at least she has not let herself become cynical and bitter like him.

Gigi eventually moves on from Alex, however, in a role reversal, Alex begins falling for Gigi.

After leaving several unanswered messages, Alex arrives at Gigi's apartment to declare his love. Gigi thinks that she is the rule, but after Alex suddenly kisses her passionately, he says that she is his exception.

Janine, Ben, and Anna

Gigi's friend and co-worker Janine Gunders (Jennifer Connelly) is having difficulties in her marriage to Ben (Bradley Cooper). As Janine obsesses on their home renovations, Ben becomes attracted to Anna Marks (Scarlett Johansson), a yoga instructor and aspiring singer, and the feeling is mutual.

Ben and Anna pursue a flirtatious friendship under the pretense of him helping her establish a singing career. Ben reveals to Anna that Janine once gave him an ultimatum by threatening to leave him if he did not propose. Ben agrees to be friends with Anna, and in order to flirt with him she strips and jumps naked into a swimming pool. She invites him to join, but he decides against it.

Fervently anti-smoking (due to her father's death from lung cancer), Janine pointedly asks Ben if he has been smoking and later is perturbed to find cigarette butts hidden in their back yard. Ben insists that they are not his, and their contractor, Javier (Luis Guzman), says none of his workers smoke at the house.

During a tense shopping trip, Ben reveals to Janine that he has cheated on her. Janine is devastated but rationalizes Ben's behavior, blaming herself for being too cold in the relationship, and decides she wants to save their marriage.

After a positive meeting about her singing career, Anna begins to have sex with Ben in his office. They are interrupted by Janine who, hoping to spice up their marriage, has arrived unexpectedly. Anna hides in a closet, and Ben attempts to send Janine away who then makes a heartfelt plea to save their marriage, and there are indications she succeeds in seducing him. After Janine leaves, Anna angrily departs vowing to cut ties with Ben. As Janine tidies up Ben's clothes back at their completed house, she discovers a fresh pack of cigarettes in a pocket, and she explodes in anger. When Ben returns home, he finds his clothes neatly folded with a carton of cigarettes and a note attached from Janine asking for a divorce. Janine moves into a new apartment by herself to start a new life, and Anna is later seen performing at an upscale nightclub. Ben is alone, purchasing the same beer at the same supermarket where he met Anna.

Conor, Anna, and Mary

Meanwhile, Anna enjoys a close friendship with Alex's friend, Conor. He is romantically interested in her, but Anna is only interested in a casual relationship. Conor misinterprets her hugs and cute nicknames for potential romantic interest.

Anna's friend, Mary Harris (Drew Barrymore), works in advertising for a local newspaper, and helps Conor promote his real estate business in a series of print ads. Like Gigi, she meets many men (mostly online), but despite constantly monitoring emails, pager, phone, and Myspace messages, her dates go nowhere.

While Conor attempts to cultivate a gay clientele, two gay men tell him how he is going wrong with Anna. Taking their advice, Conor decides to declare his love to Anna. Vulnerable after falling out with Ben, Anna agrees to start a serious relationship with him. But when Conor proposes buying a house and moving in together, Anna admits she doesn't want to, and they break up.

Mary later runs into Conor, recognizing him from his ad photo, and introduces herself, since they have only spoken over the phone. They hit it off, and start dating.

Beth and Neil

Gigi's other co-worker, Beth Murphy (Jennifer Aniston), is living with her boyfriend, Neil (Ben Affleck), who is also friends with Ben. After seven years of dating, Beth wants to get married, but Neil does not believe in marriage. With Gigi's newfound pragmatic stance on relationships after advice from Alex, she announces she will no longer misinterpret vague gestures from men as more than they really are. This spurs Beth to confront Neil about their relationship. When he still doesn't want to get married, she breaks up with him.

Later, the preparations for her younger sister's wedding brings the issue into sharper focus for Beth after hearing many back-handed comments from various family members. During the reception, her father Rod (Kris Kristofferson) suffers a heart attack. Beth looks after him as he recuperates while her sisters wallow, and their husbands remain glued to the television playing video games and watching football with constant takeout as the household falls into chaos. As Beth reaches the end of her patience looking after her siblings and in-laws as well as her recovering father, Neil arrives with groceries and helps with the chores. The two reconcile, with Beth saying that Neil is more of a husband to her than her sisters' spouses are to them, and she will not insist they be married. Neil later proposes to her, and they marry in an intimate ceremony aboard his sailboat.

Review:

I've watched the movie many times that i could literally mouthed off the lines :D

the most favourite couple would of course be Alex and Gigi. they're sweet together. especially after Alex starts mooning over Gigi soon as they parted ways.. amek kau. padan muka Alex :evil laughs:

then, there would be the sweet pairing of Connor and Mary. they hit it off so easily because they had the same sense of humor. funny isn't it, how easily one can bumped into one's soulmate after despairing for so long over someone unavailable.

i like the part when Neil realises that though he doesn't believe in marriage, he's willing to give it a shot just because he loves Beth too much. it made the 7 years of waiting worthwhile, don't you think? Beth ni mmg sabar betul!

as for Janine, JC played it so convincingly that to this day i detested her character, she made me itched! same detest goes to SJ's character, she's only into Ben so much so because he resisted at first. but you have to admit, he was unhappy with Janine. when Anna continued to charm his pants off, he simply surrendered, albeit haltingly due to his loyalty to Janine. in the end, they were all three unhappy people. though Janine admitted that she's now dating again.

but then, i do think Ben and Janine are best divorced. their marriage is lukewarm at best and Ben is always held by guilt to stay married to her. of course you have to work hard at making the marriage works. but if you can't find it in yourself to confide in your partner about the things not right in your relationship, maybe it wasn't meant to be. Ben was suffering. he doesn't know how to convey that he's not happy without having Janine freaked out and feeling an ass himself. so he rebelled by smoking as in retaliation.

Well, enough of that. This however is my favourite scene of the movie:



love it!

the Pretty One: a story of finding oneself

Poster:

Trailer is here.

Full Movie is here.

Plot:
Laurel and Audrey (both by Zoe Kazan) are identical twins. Although they look the same on the outside, their personalities are very different. After their mom died, Audrey has left the town to work as a real estate agent in the city whilst Laurel stays home to take care of their father, Frank (John Carrol Lynch.

On the day of their birthday, Audrey comes back home where she notices how unhappy Laurel is when Hunter (Sterling Beaumont) makes a pass at Audrey. It upsets Laurel as the morning beforehand she has lost her virginity to Hunter.

After the birthday party, Audrey invites Laurel to stay with her in the city. Trying to cheer Laurel up, Audrey takes her out for a makeover where innocently Laurel has asked the hairdresser to cut her hair similarly to Audrey's. At first it is kind of upsetting Audrey but she got over it, as they talk it over the drive home.

When they get in a severe car crash together, Laurel is taken to the hospital and is informed that her sister has died. Suffering from post-traumatic amnesia, Laurel doesn't remember being who she is at first. The morning of her sister's funeral, she remembers who she is but decides to keep everyone thinking that it was she who had died and not Audrey. It is not on purpose but rather because her father's girlfriend let slip about how weird Laurel is as she was about to tell Frank that it is Audrey who died. Her words make Laurel keep silent. Then at the funeral, nobody seems to have anything to say the last words in the memory of her. getting hysterical, Laurel rants about her disappointment at everyone for taking Laurel for granted before running away to Hunter's. There she is further aghast when Hunter confesses that it was Audrey that he loves, not Laurel.

Feeling dejected, Laurel then flies back to the city where Audrey used to live. There, she meets her sister's tenant Basel (Jake Johnson) who is confused about her sudden change of personality, because Audrey was never nice to him before.

Living her life posing as her sister, she learns that Audrey had a boyfriend, Charles (Ron Livingston) who is married, but broke up with him before the accident. Laurel continues to spend more time with Basel and Audrey's best friend Claudia (Frankie Shaw), who is suspicious about Audrey's change of behavior.

Laurel begins a relationship with Basel, and they fall in love.

When she finally feels that she is adapting to her new life, she accidentally tells her boss that Charles is her ex-boyfriend, not knowing that Charles is actually her boss's husband, and gets fired immediately. Shortly after this, Basel proposes to Laurel saying that he loved her since he first met her. Laurel, unable to continue deceiving everyone, decides to tell Basel the truth about her being Laurel all along. Devastated, Basel breaks up with her.


Laurel returns to her father's home and he is shocked after she tells him the truth. They have another funeral for Audrey, since the first one was for Laurel. After this, Laurel realizes how much people cared for both her and her sister, helping her come to terms with her own insecurities about being the less fortunate one of the pair.

Laurel returns to the city as herself and looks for Basel who still loves her. In the end he forgives her, they share a kiss and start making plans for the future.


Review:
i have always been a fan of ZK after watching her movie What If with Daniel Radcliffe. She's quirky and i love how her whole face lights up when she smiles.

and in this movie, she doesn't disappoint. her portrayal of Laurel's frustration and bewilderment is topnotch. it was an honest mistake that happens at first but in her journey to find her true self, Laurel understandably decided to live her cool twin's life for a change. when she found the equally quirky Basel, she really fell for him. and he her. i love how comfortable they are in their playful quirkiness.. it is really heart-rendering.

the movie is ok enough to enjoy. it's a simple movie on how to deal about losing someone. first you have to move on, change the scenery, deal with the situation and lastly have someone companionable to share your loss. it is not easy, but it is going to be worth it. as for Laurel, she was finally brave enough to reach out and say out loud what she wants, that is to share her life with Basel, whom i might add, is handsome in his own sweet way :D

all in all, not a bad movie at all.