Thursday, October 13, 2011

Footloose

PG-13
Starring: Kenny Wormald, Julianne Hough, Dennis Quaid, Andie Macdowell, Miles Teller and Ziah Colon
Running Time: 1 Hour and 53 Minutes

This movie is the remake of the 1984 version of "Footloose" starring Kevin Bacon. Craig Brewer directed this film and
I feel like he did a really good job and followed through with the original story very closely. I enjoyed this movie and I really wish they would have had even more dancing in it.
The story is set in a small country town Bomont, Georgia. The town was traumatized by a terrible car accident several years ago when five teenagers were driving home from a dance and they were all killed. The City Council decided in order to keep the youth safe that they had to outlaw dancing and the playing of loud music and it was to be strictly observed!
When the new kid Ren MacCormack (Kenny Wormald) moves in to town from Boston to live with his Aunt and Uncle after his mother had passed away, he finds the town rules outdated and antiquated. He struggles to find his fit in the community. He is introduced to Ariel Moore (Julianne Hough) and he is immediately attracted to her. Her father is the town's minister, Reverend Shaw Moore (Dennis Quaid) who just happens to be the father of the boy who was driving the car when the five teenagers were killed. Reverend Shaw feels strongly that if you don't let the kids play music or dance they will all be safe and no one will ever get hurt.
Ariel is a girl who tries to get away from the stress of her fathers rules, she has a difficult time trying to communicate with him and they don't see eye to eye. She also has a boyfriend who is selfish, he tries to take advantage of her and is physically abusive to her.
When Ren tries to get her attention she is aloof and she resists him. Finally, they start to like one another and the sparks fly. Her father does not want her to see Ren or have any relationship with him.
Ren gets tired of the city rules against music and dancing and decides to appeal it before the City Council. They try not to hear his case but he demands to be heard with the support of many of the local townspeople including Ariel and her mother (Andie Macdowell). Her father the Reverend Moore is totally opposed to overturning the rules. The Reverend has a change of heart and finally realizes he has been to strict with his daughter.
The kids get clearance to host a dance party across the county line with the help of some adults. They have a great time planning for the big event. Her father agrees and allows her to go to the dance with Ren. That was a really special scene. The dancing was really fun and well worth seeing.
I really enjoyed this movie and found it to be very entertaining. I enjoyed the supporting characters and found them to be a lot of fun as well.
Parents be advised this is definitely a PG-13 rating, with teenage rebellion, alcohol and drug use, domestic abuse, sexual references, profanity and fight scenes.
I am giving "Footloose" three and a half bags of popcorn!

Friday, October 7, 2011

Real Steel


PG-13
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Evangeline Lilly, and Dakota Goyo
Running Time: 2 Hours and 7 Minutes

This movie takes place somewhere in the future when human boxing has been eliminated and robot boxing is now the sport to watch. These robots box each other until the underdog is literally knocked-out! This is a total rock-em, sock-em robot movie.
Hugh Jackman plays Charlie a down and out former boxer who is really down on his luck when he bet more than he had.
His former girlfriend dies and leaves him with an eleven year old son (Max) whom he has never had a relationship with.
Max is adopted by his mother's wealthy aunt and she pays Charlie a large amount of money while she and her husband vacation for the summer. When he receives both the boy and the money, he buys another robot to box.
He and his son Max start to form a bond and become close with one another, Max insists upon going with him to the match. After his robot loses the match, they go to an old robot junkyard and after Max falls down a long, deep chute, he comes upon an old sparring robot. He and Charlie pull the robot up and take him to clean him up and get him ready to rumble. Charlie has his doubts and doesn't believe that this robot named Atom will amount to anything. But, this robot has a special gift, the ability to shadow, which enables him to follow the movements of humans. He shadows young Max and learns all of his moves. They enter him into some matches where he shadows Charlie with his own personal boxing experience.
When they dare to compete with the worlds greatest robot boxer, Zeus, the tension mounts and the action begins.
This movie has a lot of heart and soul. The relationship between Charlie, Max and Atom is sweet and tender. Parents be advised there is a lot of robot boxing violence and some human violence. There was quite a bit of profanity, even young Max had his share of profanity as well.
Overall, I enjoyed this movie, I thought the robots and the sounds they made were really fun. I would advise parents to follow the PG-13 rating guideline.

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