Plot of Movie Sex and the City

Set four years after the events of the series finale, the film Sex and the City  begins with a montage of Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker), Samantha (Kim Cattrall), Charlotte (Kristin Davis) and Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) walking through New York City and a recap of what happened in the TV series as well as what happened between the season six finale and the film. It then jumps to Carrie and Big (Chris Noth) viewing apartments with the intention of moving in together. Carrie falls in love with a penthouse suite far from their price range, which Big immediately agrees to pay for. However, Carrie experiences doubts over the wisdom of this arrangement, explaining that they are not married, and as such she would have no legal rights to their home in the event of a separation. She offers to sell her own apartment, and quelling her fears, Big suggests that they get married.

Samantha (Kim Cattrall) has relocated her business to Los Angeles to be close to Smith (Jason Lewis), who is now a prime-time television star. She finds her five-year-old relationship humdrum and yearns for her old life—especially after witnessing the public sexcapades of Dante, the hot new neighbor. She takes every opportunity to fly East to be with the other girls.

Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) finds that balancing her home, work, and social life ever the more difficult, and confesses to the girls that she hasn’t had sex with Steve (David Eigenberg) in six months. She is devastated when Steve reveals he has slept with another woman, and immediately separates from him.

After an argument with Steve at the rehearsal dinner, Miranda, still upset about Steve's indiscretion, tells Big bluntly that he and Carrie are crazy to be getting married, as marriage ruins everything. On the day of the ceremony, Big cannot go through with it, but repeated attempts to telephone Carrie fail. A devastated Carrie flees the wedding. Big changes his mind and intercepts Carrie as he sees her limousine drive away. Carrie furiously attacks Big with her bouquet while he earns scathing looks from Miranda and Charlotte. The four women subsequently take the honeymoon that Carrie had booked to Mexico, where they de-stress and collect themselves.

Upon her return to New York City, Carrie hires an assistant, Louise (Jennifer Hudson), to help her move back into her old apartment and manage her administration. Charlotte learns she is pregnant after a visit to her doctor. Miranda eventually confesses to Carrie about what happened during the night of the rehearsal dinner, and the two have a brief falling out.

After reflecting on the argument she had with Carrie, Miranda agrees to attend couples counseling with Steve, and they are eventually able to reconcile. Samantha begins over-eating to keep from cheating on Smith with Dante, but eventually realizes that their relationship is simply not working, and that she needs to put herself first. The two break up, and she moves back to New York. Charlotte for several months is concerned that something might happen to the baby, because she feels her life seems to be too perfect.

A surprise encounter with Big at a restaurant leaves Charlotte so outraged that she goes into labor. Big drives her to the hospital, and waits until baby Rose is born, hoping to see Carrie. Harry passes on the message that Big would like her to call him, and that he has written to her frequently, but never received a reply. Carrie searches her correspondence, before realizing that Louise has kept his e-mails password-protected from her, after Carrie earlier announced she wished to sever all communication with him. She finds that he has sent her dozens of letters copied from the book she showed him in the weeks before their wedding, Love Letters of Great Men, Vol. 1, culminating with one of his own where he apologizes for screwing it up and promises to love her forever.

One hour before the locks are due to be changed on their shared penthouse apartment, Carrie travels to the home Big had bought for them to collect a pair of blue Manolo Blahnik shoes she had left there. She finds Big in the walk-in closet he had built for her, and the moment she sees him, her anger at his betrayal dissipates. She runs into his arms and they share a passionate kiss.

After they have spent the final hour in their apartment together making up, talking and apologizing to one another, Big proposes to Carrie properly, using one of her diamond-encrusted shoes in place of a ring. They later marry alone, in a simple wedding in New York City Hall, with Carrie dressed in the original dress she had bought in a vintage shop and the blue Manolos. After Big kisses the bride, he whispers into her ear "Ever thine. Ever mine. Ever ours," a line by Ludwig van Beethoven Carrie read to him from Love Letters of Great Men, Vol. 1 earlier in the film. They hold a get-together at a local diner with their friends. The film ends with the four women around a table in a restaurant, sipping cosmopolitans, and celebrating Samantha's fiftieth birthday, with Carrie making a toast to the next fifty.

"The Artist" Restores Your Belief In The Magic Of Performances

Just as you are on the verge of losing faith in the prominence of 'pure undiluted acting' in films, The Artist restores your belief in the magic of performances and simple storytelling over modern day high production values.

A heart-warming ode to the glorious era of silent cinema, The Artist proves 'Silence indeed speaks louder than words'! The 10 Oscar nominations and various wins at international festivals are very well deserving.

Set in 1927 Hollywood, French director/Writer Michel Hazanavicius tells us the lifestory of a famous movie star who rules the silent cinema but refuses to jump onto the bandwagon of the talkies. With younger actors preferred by studios, the ageing washed up superstar becomes reclusive with no hope of getting to relive his glory days.

The very talented French actor Jean Dujardin plays George Valentin, a leading superstar of silent cinema in Hollywood. From being a heartthrob of the ladies to being a no-body with no standing in the 'talkies', The Artist is the story of rise and doom of a movie star.

What happens when fame stops giving company and fans fancy new faces?

The film opens with George's cinema running to packed houses. Used to people's adulation, the good hearted celebrated hero poses for the press at his movie premiere.

Aspiring actress Peppy Miller (Berenice Bejo) gathers outside the theatre to see George. She accidentally drops her autograph book as the crowd gets hysterical. As Peppy gets down to pick it up, she skips the security barricade thus stumbling into George. Love happens at first sight and only gets stronger as fate brings them together again and again. Years pass, tables are turned. Peppy's the rising star and George the fading one, what happens next?

Chances are The Artist will be your new favourite film. This French film has a fresh script, smart direction and a charming central performance by Jean Dujardin. Also, the film is in black-and-white and it’s silent. This French film has taken the world by storm, and is a front runner in all major categories at almost every awards ceremony so far this year.

Directed by Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist tells the story of Dujardin’s George Valentin, the quintessential star of the American silent film era. Everyone loves him and his films, but in a cruel twist of fate, a technological breakthrough becomes Valentin’s eventual downfall: the transition from silent films to “talkies” in the late ’20s and early ’30s (watch the trailer below).

As audiences yearn for these novel films with proper dialogue in the new Golden Era of Hollywood, silent films and their stars quickly become a thing of the past. In this new age of film, it’s all about the likes of Peppy Miller (Bérènice Bejo), a girl Valentin accidentally discovered, who becomes a superstar while Valentin descends into a life full of regret and frustration. All the former star has now is his loyal dog (Uggie), a definite scene-stealer, with whom he forms an endearing bond.

Hazanavicius’s direction is so authentic that The Artist could well have been an actual ’20s film. Nonetheless, the less one says about The Artist, the better. This of course is meant as a compliment, as viewers should find out for themselves just how absolutely sublime this film is. Jean Dujardin carries the entire film on his broad shoulders and charming smile – he is sure to go places. Berenice Bejo plays the seductive dancer-cum-actress very naturally. John Goodman and James Cromwell add some star value with their short but strong roles.

The Artist would be one film that, if it were to happen, would deservedly win a Best Picture Oscar. The attention to detail is amazing for this kind of film and every department has done a remarkable job. This film is an ode to good cinema, and a win for The Artist would really be a triumph for cinema itself. Yes, The Artist is authentic cinema in its true essence and this wholesome entertainer of a film has some true intelligence for which it should be lauded.

The Pursuit Of Happyness Is A Encouraging Movie

Will Smith doesn't seem the likeliest candidate to play a desperate, struggling man. Whatever the role (love coach, alien fighter, Ali), he projects speed and good times, an almost aerobic self-confidence. But in The Pursuit of Happyness, which is set in San Francisco in 1981, at the dawn of the age of go-go capitalism, Smith doesn't just wear a few flecks of gray in his hair. He slows himself down, playing a man who awakens to the reality that life is nickel-and-diming him to death.

It's a beautiful and understated performance, one that hums with a richer, quieter music than Smith has mustered before.

What hooks you in this shrewdly touching movie, based on a true story, is how specific it is about one man's economic perils. Smith's Chris Gardner is an earnest fellow in his late 30s who sells medical equipment — or, rather, one particular item, a high-density bone scanner that he hawks, with middling success, on a freelance basis. His mistake was to invest his savings in these contraptions, and now he's stuck, toting them around town like oversize typewriters.

His marriage has fallen apart, and when the prickly, impatient Linda (Thandie Newton) takes off, leaving Chris and his young son (played by Smith's son Jaden with a sly-eyed lack of fuss that matches nicely with his father's), he applies for the internship program at Dean Witter, where he'll compete to be a stockbroker. Smith makes Chris a go-getter with a hint of sadness — a bit of a fuddy-duddy, but a smart, dogged one. (He gets his foot in the door by solving a Rubik's Cube.)

In The Pursuit of Happyness, we don't just know Chris' dreams. We know his bank account, his tally of parking tickets, his back taxes. The fact that he's African-American is there at the margins — he would surely have gone to college had he come from a less hardscrabble background — but the real issue is the subtler one of class mobility in America. Since the internship is unsalaried,

Chris is forced to survive by other measures, and what this means is that the job is really geared to people who've already attained middle-class solidity. Chris has to pretend to be something he's not, and the power of Smith's acting is in the gentle, mounting fury with which he absorbs a hundred misperceptions and slights.

As compelling as the film is, it does have a rather single-minded, one-ordeal-after-another,

Murphy's Law quality. Yet the director, Italy's Gabriele Muccino, lends a humane touch even to the running joke of Chris getting his bone scanners stolen, and the plot is an inexorable chain of money logic: Chris' escape from a cabbie he can't afford to pay, his looming tax crisis, his move to a hotel and, finally, a homeless shelter. The lower he falls, the more Smith endows him with a ragged nobility and will. The Pursuit of Happyness speaks eloquently to the anxieties of our own time, when staying afloat, let alone movin' on up, has rarely been tougher.

The King’s Speech-Racking Up Award Nominations

The King’s Speech’ is a competent Oscar-baiting historical drama, but does the film stammer too much for the mainstream moviegoer? Read our review to find out.

Since it’s debut at the Telluride Film Festival back in September, The King’s Speech has been steadily racking up award nominations as well as several wins, including: The Producers Guild of America Award for Best Theatrical Motion Picture and The Golden Globe for Best Actor (Colin Firth).

There’s no doubt that The King’s Speech – a historical drama about King George VI’s pre-World War II  rise to power – is the type of film award shows love to celebrate. However, despite being a competent and beautiful film, is director Tom Hooper’s movie too stuffy to provide mainstream moviegoers with a satisfying trip to the box office?

Fortunately, the answer is no. Despite critical acclaim, some Academy Award-nominated historical dramas never get a wide release – in large part due to their limited appeal to the greater movie-going population. The King’s Speech, however, is an intelligent film with beautiful direction by Hooper, that manages to offer a charm and sense of humor that even audiences at the megaplex will enjoy (not just the local independent theater).

If you’re still unfamiliar with the story of King George VI, or subsequently The King’s Speech, here’s the official synopsis:

After the death of his father King George V (Michael Gambon) and the scandalous abdication of King Edward VIII (Guy Pearce), Bertie (Colin Firth) who has suffered from a debilitating speech impediment all his life, is suddenly crowned King George VI of England. With his country on the brink of war and in desperate need of a leader, his wife, Elizabeth (Helena Bonham Carter), the future Queen Mother, arranges for her husband to see an eccentric speech therapist, Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush). After a rough start, the two delve into an unorthodox course of treatment and eventually form an unbreakable bond. With the support of Logue, his family, his government and Winston Churchill (Timothy Spall), the King will overcome his stammer and deliver a radio-address that inspires his people and unites them in battle.

Based on the true story of King George VI, THE KING’S SPEECH follows the Royal Monarch’s quest to find his voice.

As mentioned in the summary, the entire movie revolves around the importance of voice. With the recent invention of the wireless radio, as well as the growing threat of Nazi Germany, King George VI is forced into a unique moment in history – where a King’s radio booth is suddenly more important than his throne.

Despite being the type of role typically labeled as “Oscar-bait,” Colin Firth’s performance as the stammering Prince Albert (George VI) is an honest portrayal that never oversteps the boundary between interpretation and caricature. While Firth’s stammering is certainly painful to listen to, it’s clear this is Hooper’s desired effect – and the director balances Albert’s stammers, as well as his succeeding frustration and anger, with a charming performance by Geoffrey Rush as the Australian speech therapist, Lionel Logue.

Like many dramas that revolve around a “burgeoning friendship” dynamic, many of the best moments in The King’s Speech are centered around the dynamic between the two would-be friends as Logue attempts to draw the stubborn Prince Albert down from his high horse, in order to truly address the root of the problem (Albert’s fear of being King). In the process, the audience is treated to a number of great moments: some humorous, some painful, and others that are genuinely inspiring.

That said, at times a few of these moments can follow the three act historical drama a bit too closely – resulting in several predictable character arcs. Without giving anything away, the end of the first and second acts are each punctuated with some misunderstanding or regression that tears at Lionel and Albert’s friendship. Surely the pair had their ups and downs in real life, and the framework doesn’t ruin the film or even take much away from the viewer’s enjoyment, but, because of where they’re placed, these moments end up coming across as the contrived movements of the plot, instead of the organic transition of the characters.

It’s a fine line, and certainly won’t bother most moviegoers, but in these moments it was easy to see the screenplay for The King’s Speech shining through a bit too clearly on the silver screen.

However, despite the over-obvious movie structure that, on occasion, gets forced onto the historical events depicted in the film, The King’s Speech is a terrific film with great performances by the cast, as well as an inspiring, not to mention charming, story about a man who not only finds his voice, but finds his place as one of the most important leaders in history.

Development Of The Lord of The Rings Film

The Lord of the Rings film trilogy comprises three live action fantasy epic films; The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003). For simplicity, the titles are often abbreviated to 'LotR', with 'FotR', 'TTT' and 'RotK' for each of the respective films.
Set in Middle-earth, the three films follow the young Hobbit Frodo Baggins as he and a Fellowship embark on a quest to destroy the One Ring, and thus ensure the destruction of the Dark Lord Sauron, but the Fellowship becomes broken, and Frodo continues the quest together with his loyal companion Sam and the treacherous Gollum. Meanwhile the Wizard Gandalf and Aragorn, heir in exile to the throne of Gondor, unite and rally the Free Peoples of Middle-earth in several battles cumulating in the War of the Ring. The Wizard Saruman is defeated, the Ring is destroyed, and Sauron and his forces are vanquished.

The movies were directed by Peter Jackson and released by New Line Cinema. The trilogy is based on the book The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien and follows its general storyline, despite some deviations. Considered to be one of the biggest movie projects ever undertaken with an overall budget of $280 million, the entire project took eight years, with the filming for all three films done simultaneously and entirely in Jackson's native New Zealand.

The trilogy was a large financial success, with the films being the 25th, 17th and 5th highest grossing films of alltime respectively, unadjusted for inflation. The films were critically acclaimed, winning 17 Academy Awards in total, as well as wide praise for the cast and innovative practical and digital special effects. Each film in the trilogy also had Special Extended Editions, released a year after the theatrical release on DVD.
Director Peter Jackson first came into contact with The Lord of the Rings when he saw Ralph Bakshi's 1978 film, which he found confusing. Afterwards, he read a tie-in edition of the book during a twelve-hour train journey from Wellington to Auckland when he was seventeen. Jackson's reaction was, "I can't wait until somebody makes a movie of this book because I'd like to see it!

In 1995, Jackson was finishing The Frighteners and considered The Lord of the Rings as a new project, wondering "why nobody else seemed to be doing anything about it". With the new developments in computer generated imagery following Jurassic Park, Jackson set about planning a fantasy film that would be relatively serious and feel "real". By October, he and his partner Fran Walsh teamed up with Miramax boss Harvey Weinstein to negotiate with Saul Zaentz who had held the rights to the book since the early 1970s, pitching an adaptation of The Hobbit and two films based on The Lord of the Rings. Negotiations then stalled when Universal Studios offered Jackson a remake of King Kong. Weinstein was furious, and further problems arose when it turned out Zaentz did not have distribution rights to The Hobbit; United Artists, which was in the market, did. By April 1996 the rights question was still not resolved. Jackson decided to move ahead with King Kong before filming The Lord of the Rings, prompting Universal to enter a deal with Miramax to receive foreign earnings from The Lord of the Rings whilst Miramax received foreign earnings from King Kong.

When Universal cancelled King Kong in 1997, Jackson and Walsh immediately received support from Weinstein and began a six-week process of sorting out the rights. Jackson and Walsh asked Costa Botes to write a synopsis of the book and they began to re-read the book. Two to three months later, they had written their treatment. The first film would have dealt with what would become The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and the beginning of The Return of the King, ending with the death of Saruman, and Gandalf and Pippin going to Minas Tirith. In this treatment Gwaihir and Gandalf visit Edoras after escaping Saruman, Gollum attacks Frodo when the Fellowship is still united, and Farmer Maggot, Glorfindel, Radagast, Elladan and Elrohir are present. Bilbo attends the Council of Elrond, Sam looks into Galadriel's mirror, Saruman is redeemed before he dies and the Nazgûl just make it into Mount Doom before they fall. They presented their treatment to Harvey and Bob Weinstein, the latter of whom they focused on impressing with their screenwriting as he had not read the book. They agreed upon two films and a total budget of $75 million.

During mid-1997, Jackson and Walsh began writing with Stephen Sinclair. Sinclair's partner, Philippa Boyens, was a major fan of the book and joined the writing team after reading their treatment. It took 13-14 months to write the two film scripts, which were 147 and 144 pages respectively. Sinclair left the project due to theatrical obligations. Amongst their revisions, Sam, Merry and Pippin are caught eavesdropping and forced to go along with Frodo. Gandalf's account of his time at Orthanc was pulled out of flashback and Lothlórien was cut with Galadriel attending the Council of Elrond. Denethor, Boromir's father, also attends the Council, and other changes included having Arwen rescue Frodo, and the action sequence involving the cave troll. Arwen was even going to kill the Witch-king. Most significantly, there was an all-new sequence. A Ringwraith kills Saruman and attacks Gandalf at Orthanc. Seeing this from the Seeing Seat, now at Emyn Muil rather than Amon Hen, Frodo puts on the Ring and draws him all the way to the Seat on his Fell beast. Frodo manages to save Sam and stabs the wraith in his heart.


Trouble struck when Marty Katz was sent to New Zealand. Spending four months there, he told Miramax that the films were more likely to cost $150 million, and with Miramax unable to finance this, and with $15 million already spent, they decided to merge the two films into one. On June 17 1998, Bob Weinstein presented a treatment of a single two-hour film version of the book. He suggested cutting Bree and the Battle of Helm's Deep, "losing or using" Saruman, merging Rohan and Gondor with Éowyn as Boromir's sister, shortening Rivendell and Moria as well as having Ents prevent the Uruk-hai kidnapping Merry and Pippin. Upset by the idea of "cutting out half the good stuff" Jackson balked, and Miramax declared that any script or Weta Workshop's work was theirs. Jackson went around Hollywood for four weeks, showing a thirty-five minute video of their work, before meeting with Mark Ordesky of New Line Cinema. At New Line Cinema, Robert Shaye viewed the video, and then asked why they were making two films when the book was published as three volumes; he wanted to make a film trilogy. Now Jackson, Walsh and Boyens had to write three new scripts.

The expansion to three films allowed a lot more creative freedom, and Jackson, Walsh and Boyens had to restructure their script accordingly. Each film is not exactly based on each volume of the book, but rather they represent a three-part adaptation, as Jackson takes a more chronological approach to the story, whilst Tolkien retold chunks of his fictional history. Frodo's quest is the main focus, and Aragorn is the main subplot, and many sequences (such as Tom Bombadil and the Scouring of the Shire) that do not contribute directly to those two plots were left out. Much effort was put into creating satisfactory conclusions and making sure exposition did not bog down the pacing. Amongst new sequences, there are also expansions on elements Tolkien kept ambiguous, such as the battles and the creatures.

Above all, most characters have been altered for extra drama. Aragorn, Théoden and Treebeard have added or modified elements of self-doubt, whilst Galadriel, Elrond and Faramir have been darkened. Boromir and Gollum are (arguably) relatively more sympathetic, whilst some characters such as Legolas, Gimli, Saruman and Denethor have been simplified. Some characters, such as Arwen and Éomer, are given actions from minor characters such as Glorfindel and Erkenbrand, and generally lines of dialogue are somewhat preserved or switched around between locations or characters depending on suitability of the scenes. New scenes were also added to expand on characterization. In the meantime, during shooting, the screenplays would undergo many daily transformations, due to contributions from cast looking to further explore their characters. Most notable amongst these rewrites was the character Arwen, who was originally planned as a warrior princess, but reverted back to her book counterpart, who remains physically inactive in the story (though she sends moral and military support).