Playing by Heart: love Jon Stewart :)

Plot:
Among the characters are a mature couple about to renew their vows (Sean Connery and Gena Rowlands); a woman (Gillian Anderson) who accepts a date from a stranger (Jon Stewart); a gay man dying of AIDS (Jay Mohr) and his mother (Ellen Burstyn) who has struggled to accept him; two young people who meet in a nightclub (Ryan Phillippe and Angelina Jolie); a couple having an affair (Anthony Edwards and Madeleine Stowe) and a man (Dennis Quaid) who tells his tragic life story to a woman he meets in a bar (Patricia Clarkson), but seems to have a strange connection to another mysterious woman. As the film continues and the stories evolve, the connections between the characters become evident.


I love how the movie reveals the connections between the characters, it was done expertly and seamlessly. At first, the couples' narratives stand independently.

Meredith (Gillian Anderson) is a theater director being wooed by an adroit, enamored architect, Trent (Jon Stewart) whom she tries to rebuff at every turn only to finally succumbed. it is explained that her problem in trusting man starts when the guy next door she married so early in age turned out to be gay and they ended up divorced.

Then there is willful Joan (Angelina Jolie) who's trying to catch the eyes (and heart) of sullen Keenan (Ryan Philippe). Joan is an actress wannabe, and she pulls no stop in ensnaring Keenan's interests, including having her sister steals her car to have Keenan walks her home. it turns out that Keenan is keen to be with her, it's only that he has AIDS, transmitted from his now demise drug addict girlfriend. however, Joan rallies for his affection and in the end, Keenan relents for them to be together.

the film also includes the many secret trysts of Gracie (Madeleine Stowe) and Roger (Anthony Edwards) in which Roger is getting frustrated at not having their relationship out in the open whereas Gracie is content to have the affairs as it is. she is however not content with her rather unimaginative husband though.

as for Hugh (Dennis Quaid), he frequents clubs and dining places each night with different sob stories for anyone eager to hear his stories. his stories are often tragic and imaginative that it could only be true that he's lying.

Mark (Jay Mohr) on the other hand is dying in the company of his mother Mildred (Ellen Burstyn). it is terrible for her to find out that he is gay when it is clearly he's nearing his end. she doesn't even get to know her son's partner who died earlier due to AIDS. it was a heartbreaking moment when they openly share honest truth to each other.

The tale is interwoven with a lover's spat between Paul (Sean Connery) and Hannah (Gena Rowlands) over a supposed infidelity on Paul's side which occurred a long time before their daughter was born. It seems that Paul was attracted to a co-worker once and when he decided not to pursue her, he found in himself that he loves Hannah more than ever.

it is revealed first that Meredith was once Mark's wife, and that after attending his funeral, she went back to her parents' home. it is then revealed that Gracie and Hugh are husband and wife, that he's taking improv class just so he could be imaginative as Gracie wanted.
 

 

all in all, it is revealed that Gracie, Meredith and Joan are the daughters of Paul and Hannah. all the couples gathered at Paul and Hannah's vow renewal ceremony officiated by Roger, the family pastor. there, they mingled together and Keenan commended Hugh on his imagination for being able to produce great video games, much to the surprise of Gracie. As they danced together, everything turns out well for all of them, except for Roger.


Review:
the most likable character in this movie would have been Trent! i love his sense of humor and honest conversation. i mean, you would have a heart of stone not to like him immensely. so is Joan. her persistence is commendable. i do love the scene where she's sans make up and caught vulnerable by Keenan. yet her beauty shines through.

even though Hannah doesn't understand it, I get it when Paul said he realizes his love is much greater for Hannah once he decided not to pursue Wendy. i mean, that is one solid moment of truth, an epiphany even, for you to realize whether the person you are with is worth staying for or not.

i don't like Gracie much. she's selfish.

to sum it all up, this is a nice family movie. about shedding cynicism and mistrusts to be in love, to take it all, the hardships and all that, in the name of love.

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.