I am not really a big comment leaver but this doesn't mean I don't enjoy your reviews! :) xx
I am not really a big comment leaver but this doesn't mean I don't enjoy your reviews! :) xx
Member since:19.12.2005
Reviews:102
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Finding myself with an evening alone to watch my choice of film on the TV, I browsed through the shelf and saw Footloose, still in it's cellophane and decided it was high time I reminisced to this fantastic feel good film.
Ren McCormack and his mum move to small town Beaumont from the city, only to discover that rock and roll music and dancing are banned following an accident five years previously, when a teenage boy dies after a drink fuelled car stunt goes wrong.
The town is lead by the seemingly severe yet kind, Reverend Shaw Moore who backs the town's outrageous rules against teenage good times. Being the father of a rebellious daughter, Ariel, is harder for him to undertake than he thought and when Ren moves to town and fires her up even more he thinks he has lost her for good.
Deciding to fight for the kids of this town and their right to have a good time without being cast as a bunch of delinquent sex crazed, drug fuelled, fighting rock and roll fiends, Ren puts forward the idea of a high school dance in a local barn to the town council. He is fighting the town's folk who have enforced this law for the last five years, following the death of Rev Shaw's son (the aforementioned accident), but will he be able to lay to rest the ghosts of the past and free up the
future of the teenage good times?
##MY OPINION##
Ah, this has to be the ultimate feel good film of the 80's. Fresh faced Kevin Bacon thrusts his pelvis and throws his tightly toned body around like only the likes of John Travolta and Patrick Swayze can really do and pull off well.
From the minute the credits open at the start of the film your foot will be tapping and if you are like me your body will be twitching to the beat of the fabulous soundtrack while your on the settee. At certain points in the film I even wanted to leap up off the sofa and start dancing round the front room, it really is that powerful. If you were born in the same era as me, early 70's, then this music and film will really liven you up inside and get you smiling and jigging along even if watching on your own.
Seeing the clothes and the way the houses are decorated is so 80's and dated, but in such a good way. The leg warmers and the stilettos, along with the polo neck jumpers, everyone thinking they look so cool dancing to Shalamar and Foreigner. It brought back so many memories and made me feel really happy in a reminiscent kind of way. There are not many films that can make you feel that way and still pull off an enjoyable watch. Footloose has the power to get you involved in the story and gets your memories flowing all at the same time. There were times when I wanted to be in the film actually, it has such a powerful feel good atmosphere about it. The tractor chicken race is especially fabulous with Ren and Chuck facing off in tractors to the theme of Bonnie Tyler's "I need a hero". Fantastic! My cheeks were hurting by the end of it, from such a wide smile.
Lori Singer who plays Ariel, the rebellious preachers daughter is fantastic. I read she beat Madonna to get the role and I am very pleased. I love Madonna, but she is a singer, not an actress and she would have spoilt this film so badly. Lori Singer, for me had a touch of class in her looks, tall and delicate, yet bold and brash at the same time. The inevitable romance with Bacon is done at a tantalising pace and a few classic one-liners, like when she says to Bacon "Do you wanna kiss me?" and he replies, "I have a feeling you've been kissed a lot and I might not be comparable." Classic and the look on her face says it all. She is hurting badly after the loss of her brother five years earlier, but rebels against the rules and her father as she is growing up and feels repressed due to the tragic accident. She loves life and proves this with the crazy stunts she pulls, like train dodging and truck chicken. Ren knows this and gently coaxes her out of this mind set, and into his fight for the freedom of their rights.
Willard is another fabulous character, Ren's best friend and played by Christopher Penn, who sadly died in real life this January just gone. His whole character is centre to the story, with his support for Ren and gives us some hilarious scenes where Ren is trying to teach him to dance to the brilliant song "Let's here it for the boy" by Deniece Williams. He plays the boyfriend of Ariel's best friend too, none other than the famous Sarah Jessica Parker, looking very young and very far from any Sex and the City character.
This is as much a story about growing up and changing family dynamics as it is a feel good dance movie and Ariel demonstrates this the most with her dad (John Lithgow) not wanting to let go of his control over her actions and her mum (Diane Wiest) recognising she is getting older and understanding her need for freedom.
This has to be one of my all time favourite films, with it's great story, great characters - played by great actors, and fabulous soundtrack. If you like reminiscing to some feel good 80's songs and fashion then this will not disappoint you and if you're like me it will have you foot tapping and head jigging all the way through.
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Production Year: 2004 - Drama - Director: Nick Cassavetes - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over, 12 years and over - Starring: Rachel McAdams, Ryan Gosling, Gena Rowlands
First released in 1984,Footloosenow enjoys the same sort of semi-ironic nostalgic cachet ... more
as John Hughes' contemporary schlock-fests about angst-ridden teens with silly hair. This is partly due to the fact that, as breathtakingly predictable kids-agains...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Footloose jumps with spirit, dazzling dance numbers and an electrifying musical score. It ... more
portrays the timeless struggle between innocent pleasure and rigid morality. When city-boy Ren McCormick (Kevin Bacon) finds himself in an uptight Midwestern town...
First released in 1984,Footloosenow enjoys the same sort of semi-ironic nostalgic cachet ... more
as John Hughes' contemporary schlock-fests about angst-ridden teens with silly hair. This is partly due to the fact that, as breathtakingly predictable kids-agains...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
FootlooseDirector Herbert Ross (The Turning Point) pulled a winning movie out of this ... more
almost self-consciously archetypal tale of teenage rock rebellion. Kevin Bacon stars as a hip city kid who ends up in a Bible-belt town after his parents divorce. An ...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
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Jun 2nd, 2006
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