2011 Movies - Footloose

City kid Ren MacCormack moves to a small town where rock 'n' roll and dancing have been banned, and his rebellious spirit shakes up the populace.

What? Don't roll your eyes, sometimes, in order to appreciate intellectual films, one has to cleanse one's pallet with, shall we say, something that requires little to no thinking! The story is simple - a boy moves from Boston to a small hick town called Bomont. He's a gymnast (cool, right?), with a rebellious streak (like I'm sure they all have). He goes to this town, where some kids died because they were idiots who drank and drove to their own deaths - but because they had been dancing, the towns folk decided that ALL DANCING will lead to your death - so it's banned. Well, naturally. It's what I'd do. Don't ban the alcohol the kids somehow got hold off, ban the dance! 

Of course, this leads to kids (aided by some cooler adults) starting a kind of underground dance scene. Mostly they do sexy line-dancing, but some of them break out some stellar hip-hip moves. All in cowboy boots, mind. HIP! 

There's a girl who has a chip on her shoulder for no reason, and the boy who likes to rebel despite the fact that it's not really believable in his character and of course it's a love hate relationship. 

Oh, and there's this one boy... wait, you're gonna love this, there's this one boy who CAN'T dance. He just can't do it. God, how dare he not be able to dance. It's a secret though, and the rebellious little gymnast decides to teach him, and lo and behold -not to spoil - but, well, he's quite the natural in the end. Boy, can he dance! 

In between all of this fun, there's a love rivalry, an uprising of the kids who want to dance and are trying to overthrow the stupidest law you ever did hear in the wild west, and of course a big party at the end - which comes only after the brutal fight which normally would lead to people being hospitalised because of how over the top it actually is (yeah, hit me with the wing-mirror of the car, and that crowbar... I'll be fine, I swear!). What can I say? Entertaining it was - but also cringe-worthy. I had to look away at some parts because I was ashamed FOR them!

Final Verdict: 2.5 stars - it's watch-able, but it's no Step-Up!

2011 Movies - In Time

In a future where people stop aging at 25, but are engineered to live only one more year, having the means to buy your way out of the situation is a shot at immortal youth. Here, Will Salas finds himself accused of murder and on the run with a hostage - a connection that becomes an important part of the way against the system.

When this film first came out I was really excited to see it... then I missed it at the cinema. Bummer, major bummer... but I'm kind of glad. But only because I was glad to be able to pause it when I needed a bathroom break, or had to get a drink or something, because I feel if you missed even a second of this film you'd kind of be a little out of the loop.

It's really important to watch the first 20 minutes, because otherwise you'll be left out in the cold, with no time on your hands and no lifelines. Time really is important in this movie. Go figure.

So the general concept is as above - you get to live a normal life until you hit 25, and when you DO hit 25 you then have to work your ASS off to get time coded into your life clock so you don't time out and die. Justin Timberlake's character lives in the poorest 'time zone', which means he's basically living day to day, only ever having about an hour on his life at any given moment, and he strives to get more so he doesn't die... with me so far? It's a really cool concept, a great idea and sci-fi gold. But something was missing...

The story line was a little annoying - Amanda Seyfried's character was the 'bored rich girl', who didn't want to live on Daddy's time anymore because it wasn't really living. She only came up with this new lifestyle choice when she was faced with JT's rugged chops, getting all up in her bid'ness. Huh, pretty important decision to make, cutting yourself off from your dad and in the process becoming an outlaw, but, you know, when you have a chance to hit it up with the self-proclaimed Justified Body-rocker, you can't help but say Hasta la Vista, wealth and youth. Right? 

I'm being judgy. I did like the film, I thought it was good, despite a little bit of confusion with the story arcs - why were all those guys after them? Who was his real dad? Why were all the background actors so... awkward? 

It's a good watch if you like action/adventure sci-fi's with a semi romantic twist. And if you like Amanda Seyfriend in tight clothes, running in high heals with a wig on. And if you like Justin Timberlake... 

Final Verdict:

2011 Movies - Another Earth

Another Earth

On the night of the discovery of a duplicate planet in the solar system, an ambitious young student and an accomplished composer cross paths in a tragic accident.

I'm blasting back to December 2011 today, because I thought I should really comment on this movie. It was a sci-fi drama... kind of. It's hard to categorise, but I can honestly say no film got to me as much as this one did last year. It was the last original film I saw in 2011 and even now I can't stop thinking about how I want to watch it again.

Basically, it tells the story of a young girl. She's smart and set on going to some great school in America, she has her whole life ahead of her, until she accidentally fucks everything up. She drink drives. She's listening to a radio station break some news on another planet visible in the night sky that has signs of life - so, like you would, she looks up to see if she can see it. But, it's not the best idea, drunk or otherwise, and she accidentally ploughs into a family in a car, killing the woman and child but leaving the husband in a coma.

Off she goes to jail, and when she comes out 5 or so years later she's a changed person. No longer being able to start a fantastic life she becomes somewhat of a hermit. All in this time people are investigating this new world that is getting continuously closer to Earth.

The guy who was in a coma is now awake and he, too, has become a shell of his former self - the story centres on her attempt to apologise for wrecking his life, but she can't go through with it and so accidentally becomes a cleaner in his house. They befriend each other - he, because he needs someone to talk to, and she because she wants to help him, but can't. They cling to each other and the relationship starts to take on an unexpected life of it's own.

In the meantime people are trying to contact this other planet, which is an exact duplicate of Earth - when they do make contact they decide to send some people over there, and hold a competition for civilians to go, because, well, why the hell not?

The girl enters and wins, and then decides to tell this man who she really is. And then all hell breaks loose for  everyone involved.

I've tried to write this with as little spoiler-ness as possible, so to describe the end all I can say is, this, much like Shame, is one that leaves you wanting more. You don't really know what the ending could mean, as there are many ways to interpret the events.

With a stunning soundtrack and a haunting storyline this film could be one of the greatest sci-fi dramas I have ever seen. 

Final Verdict: