{"id":1568,"date":"2011-10-14T04:41:45","date_gmt":"2011-10-14T11:41:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=1568"},"modified":"2011-10-14T04:41:45","modified_gmt":"2011-10-14T11:41:45","slug":"footloose-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=1568","title":{"rendered":"Footloose Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nI have an unbelievably fond memory of the first time I saw \u201cFootloose\u201d. I gazed upon a giant outdoor screen at the local drive-in mesmerized by the cutting loose of agile feet. It was a hot summer night and my brother and I had lawn chairs set up besides my father\u2019s red Volkswagen Rabbit but they weren\u2019t needed- we stood the entire time shadow dancing to the grooving gyrations issued by Mr. Kevin Bacon and crew. I loved the music, especially the main theme by Mr. Kenny Loggins (The Master of \u201880\u2019s Movie Theme songs: \u201cTop Gun,\u201d \u201cCaddyshack\u201d) and the Moving Pictures number \u201cNever\u201d that featured our hero Ren McCormack \u201cangry dancing\u201d while performing some amazing gymnastics in an abandoned warehouse. Inspired cheese. I loved the dancing even more and to this day I still get tight-chest excited at the end of the film when Ren declares to the room full of awkward teens, \u201cI thought this a party? Let\u2019s dance!\u201d Cue the glitter.<\/p>\n

In other words, I\u2019m biased and can not trust myself to write a balanced review for the remake of this film. That is because it\u2019s a bias based solely on nostalgia. I can\u2019t give objective opinion about the film because the joy I get from watching the original \u201cFootloose\u201d spawns from my memory of watching that first time. And I can\u2019t even trust that memory. The movie opened in February back in 1984 so how the hell did I watch it outside on \u201ca hot summer night\u201d? And maybe it was my dad\u2019s blue Datsun we danced besides or (more likely) we didn\u2019t dance during the film at all. I might not even have made it to the end of the flick. I historically fell asleep at the drive-in at that age. I don\u2019t know if \u201cFootloose\u201d is a good film or not; I just know I love it because it makes me feel like a nine year old kid.
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\nSo when I say that this new \u201cFootloose\u201d is entertaining and exciting it is because director\/screenwriter Craig Brewer (\u201cHustle & Flow,\u201d \u201cBlack Snake Moan\u201d) delivers a film that follows the same footprint as its predecessor to a near \u201cGus Van Sant doing \u201cPsycho\u201d\u201d level of imitation. Same plot, same dialogue, same costumes, same Volkswagen! Brewer\u2019s touch is also felt on a beefed up script. We see a group of teenage kids die in a traffic accident which prompts the town of Bomont, Georgia to make dancing illegal. Ren (Kenny Wormald) is the new yungin’ in town all the way from Boston (instead of Chicago) and gives the proper attitude to go along with his geographic upbringing (although his accent comes and goes). His mother has passed away, leaving him an orphan and adding to his angst. He decides that dancing is a God given right and begins a petition to allow the high school kids a prom. His love interest is\u00a0 Ariel (Julianne Hough), the local preacher’s daughter. Ariel is a little less suicidal this time around (she spends much of the original dangling from moving vehicles and facing off trains) but her asshole boyfriend Chuck (Patrick John Flueger) is just as doucey as ever. As the good preacher, Rev. Shaw Moore (Dennis Quaid), struggles with the decision to let the kids hold their dance, the movie bogs down a bit but is redeemed by the glorious closing number.
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\nBoth Wormald and Julianne Hough (who looks like a young Jennifer Aniston and, at times, suffers through some hurried and stilted dialogue delivery) are professional dancers and add an authentic touch. Bacon\u2019s performance suffered from obvious cuts to a dance double. Wormald\u2019s style is aggressive, hectic but controlled. The crowd favorite will likely be Miles Teller who takes on the role of Willard. He provides the heart of the movie and it is easy to pull for the kid as he learns to dance while \u201cLet\u2019s Hear for the Boy\u201d blares on.<\/p>\n

That song, plus three others (\u201cFootloose,\u201d \u201cAlmost Paradise,\u201d and \u201cHolding Out for a Hero\u201d) are pulled from the original soundtrack and given a country twang. None of the new songs hit the heights of these staples.
\nMost importantly the remake duplicates the fun and energy of the original film. I am pleased to announce that I, again, got tight-chest excited when the Modern Ren declares to the room full of awkward teens, \u201cI thought this a party? Let\u2019s dance!\u201d with the required glitter cued. My inner nine year old just loved it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have an unbelievably fond memory of the first time I saw \u201cFootloose\u201d. I gazed upon a giant outdoor screen at the local drive-in mesmerized by the cutting loose of agile feet. It was a hot summer night and my brother and I had lawn chairs set up besides my father\u2019s red Volkswagen Rabbit but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1579,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[4846,7714,11147,11595,11597,13963,14430,16848],"class_list":["post-1568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-craig-brewer","tag-footloose-2011-movie-review","tag-julianne-hough","tag-kenny-loggins","tag-kenny-wormald","tag-miles-teller","tag-musicals","tag-remakes"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1568\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}