“Love Again” is a 2023 American romantic comedy-drama film directed and written by James C. Strouse. The movie is an English-language remake of the 2016 German film “SMS für Dich”, which is based on a novel by Sofie Cramer . The movie stars Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Sam Heughan, and Celine Dion, in her first feature film, portraying a fictionalized version of herself . The movie was produced by Screen Gems, 2.0 Entertainment, and Thunder Road Films and was released in the United States on May 5, 2023, by Sony Pictures Releasing.
Love in the Villa is a 2022 American romantic comedy film written, directed and produced by Mark Steven Johnson. It stars Kat Graham, Tom Hopper, and Raymond Ablack.
Plot
A third-grade teacher Julie is fascinated with Verona because it's a setting for William Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet. As she is getting ready for her long-awaited trip to Verona, her boyfriend Brandon abruptly ends his relationship with her and now Julie must therefore travel alone.
On arrival at the reserved villa, she finds the villa has been double-booked and she must share the place with a wine expert named Charlie. As they spend time together, they begin to fall in love.
“Before We Go” is a 2014 American romantic drama film directed by Chris Evans in his directorial debut. The film stars Chris Evans and Alice Eve as two strangers who are stuck in Manhattan, New York City, for the night. The film had its world premiere in the Special Presentations section of the 39th Toronto International Film Festival on September 12, 2014 . The plot of the movie revolves around a woman named Brooke Dalton who misses her train to Boston and is left stranded in New York City. She meets a street musician named Nick Vaughan, played by Chris Evans, who helps her during the course of the night and the two form a romance . The movie was released on video on demand on July 21, 2015, and had a limited theatrical release in the United States on September 4, 2015.
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PLOT
While busking in Grand Central Terminal, Nick Vaughan (Chris Evans) sees a woman, Brooke Dalton (Alice Eve), drop her phone while running to catch a train. She misses the train and returns to the station where Nick returns her broken phone. When he finds her standing outside the terminal she confesses that she has just been robbed and is trapped in the city. He offers to pay for a cab to take her to Boston but his debit card is declined and his credit card has expired. When he tries to call a friend to come lend him the money he finds his phone has died. Nick offers to try to pay for a room for Brooke for the night, but she insists that she needs to reach Boston by morning.
Nick decides to help Brooke find her missing purse. They are able to track it down at a sweatshop that deals in stolen purses. Nick heads inside to retrieve the purse while Brooke uses a payphone to call her husband. After using the phone, she then gets a couple of police officers passing by to investigate the building Nick is in. The sweatshop owners get spooked, punch Nick, and run out along with the bag. Nick and Brooke then head for the wedding of a friend of Nick's, hoping to borrow money. Along the way, Nick and Brooke open up more about why they're in New York. Brooke had just sold a painting and was going to surprise her husband by coming home early. Nick has an audition for a band that he has wanted to play with for a while. Instead of ending up at the wedding, they stumble upon an event where they are mistaken for members of the band. Nick and Brooke perform "My Funny Valentine" and flee when the real band shows up. After their last-ditch attempt to get a bus to Boston fails for lack of funds, Brooke borrows a man's phone, calls a friend, and begs her to retrieve a letter she has left for her husband that she does not want him to read.
Elated that her problem is now solved, Brooke offers to go to Nick's friend's wedding and pretend to be his girlfriend in front of his ex, Hannah. At the reception, Nick sees Hannah, but after being introduced to her new boyfriend, he leaves abruptly. Outside, Nick tells Brooke that this was the first time he had seen Hannah since she rejected his marriage proposal and broke up with him six years ago. At Brooke's insistence, Nick goes back to speak to Hannah and discovers that she is pregnant and that their relationship is truly over. Wandering around the city, the two find a psychic who is still open. After he reads her future, he allows Brooke to use his phone and she learns her friend could not get into her home to retrieve the letter.
After they leave the psychic, Brooke reveals to Nick that she discovered that her husband was cheating on her. Though he ended the relationship, she discovered that he was going to see his mistress again. Devastated, she wrote him a letter ending the marriage and went to New York for work. However, during her trip she received a phone call from her husband saying he was coming home early, and she realized that he had ended the relationship with his mistress for good.
At a restaurant, Nick tells Brooke that her husband will most likely understand why she wrote him the letter and that if he doesn't, that's that. Brooke, worried about the possible end of her marriage, sneaks out the back of the restaurant and tries to hail a cab to the airport to fly to her mother's in Indiana. Nick appears, frustrated that she tried to bail on him, and they argue about their relationships. They then go to Nick's friend's hotel room. Together, they unwind from the night's adventures. They then share a kiss, write on the back of paintings in the room (a reference to an earlier encounter with a painting with erotic writing on the back of it) and reflect on their night.
In the morning, they return to the train station where they are about to part. Nick picks up a phone from a phone booth and, like an earlier joke, uses it as a "time machine" and pretends to call himself in the past, saying that he will meet a woman and "you will need her more than she needs you". They share one last kiss and finally depart. On her way home, Brooke finds a guest service paper that she and Nick filled out at the hotel. On the bottom it says, "Turn over". After reading what was on the back, she smiles.
Demolition is a 2015 American comedy-drama film directed by Jean-Marc Vallée and written by Bryan Sipe. The film stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Naomi Watts, Chris Cooper, and Judah Lewis. The film opened the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival and was theatrically released on April 8, 2016, by Fox Searchlight Pictures.
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PLOT
Davis is a successful Private Equity Investor at a firm founded and run by his father-in-law Phil. His wife, Julia, is driving them when they are struck by another vehicle, killing Julia. Recovering in the hospital, he attempts to purchase some candy from a vending machine which malfunctions. Davis drafts a complaint to the vending machine manufacturer that includes some venting of his personal experiences. This leads to a series of conversations with a customer service representative, Karen Moreno, in which they end up sharing details of each other's life burdens. Karen appears to be the only one he talks to, though he tells his stories in an understated and unemotional style. He brings this same unemotional process to work, which he has returned to much earlier than anyone expected. Davis does tell one other person, a fellow commuter train rider, that he realizes that he didn't love Julia because he doesn't feel "...sad, or pain, or hurt...". When the commuter prompts the question, "What do you feel?" Davis abruptly stops the train.
Davis's changing emotional state causes him to behave erratically. He notices that he is being followed by a green station wagon. The only thing Davis seems to connect with is trying to understand what's inside things, using a small toolkit to dismantle his household appliances, his work computer, a bathroom stall—eventually telling Phil that he has an urge to dismantle a 120-year-old grandmother clock in Phil's office.
Karen follows Davis, talking with him on his commuter train without revealing her identity. She mistakenly leaves some identification, and Davis is sufficiently moved to track her down at home, where she lives with her boyfriend and boss, Carl, and her 15-year old troublemaker son, Chris. When Carl goes on a long business trip, Davis bunks at her house, where they develop a deep platonic friendship. Chris initially dislikes Davis, but later grows not only to like him but to help Davis cope, while Davis becomes his mentor in return.
Davis joins his in-laws in funding a foundation in Julia's name that will award an annual scholarship; during interviews, Davis behaves disrespectfully towards one of the award candidates, and Phil asks him to sign a transfer of his beneficiary rights in Julia's $2.6 million life insurance policy to the scholarship fund in her name. Davis purchases demolition tools from a hardware store (and, later, a bulldozer) and, with Chris's assistance, destroys his house. When Davis finds an ultrasound of Julia's from the previous year, he is devastated that she failed to inform him.
A climactic night impacts everyone. Davis brings Karen to the party for the scholarship winner, greatly troubling Julia's parents. A young man makes an inappropriate advance on Karen, and she later laughs out loud when he is introduced as the scholarship winner. Davis announces to everyone that Julia had been pregnant and kept it secret. Julia's mother tells him his wife was seeing someone else, the child was not his, and she had an abortion. Returning to Karen's house, Davis finds Carl has returned and is reading the letters Davis wrote to Karen. Carl assaults Davis, while Chris receives a brutal group beating after coming out as gay.
Davis visits his wife's grave and the green station wagon arrives; a man carrying flowers gets out of the car. He turns out to be Michael, the driver of the car that killed Julia. Davis forgives Michael and he experiences flashbacks of his wife and him together and he finally cries, bringing closure.
Davis has turned a corner. He reconciles with Julia's parents, asking Phil to contribute to refurbishing a carousel – destined for demolition – as a memorial for Julia.
Davis receives a letter from Chris saying that he is recovering from his beating, his mother has left Carl, and Davis must be at Pier 54 at a particular time, which results in Davis witnessing the demolition of some waterfront buildings across the Hudson River. Chris watches Davis through binoculars from a nearby vantage point. In the final scene, Davis joyously joins a bunch of kids running as he races ahead accomplishing his childhood memory and desire for winning a race since he always used to lag behind in his childhood.
The Notebook is a 2004 American romantic drama film directed by Nick Cassavetes, from a screenplay by Jeremy Leven and Jan Sardi, and based on the 1996 novel of the same name by Nicholas Sparks. The film stars Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams as a young couple who fall in love in the 1940s. Their story is read from a notebook in the present day by an elderly man, telling the tale to a fellow nursing home resident.
The Notebook had its world premiere at the Seattle International Film Festival on May 20, 2004, and was theatrically released in the United States on June 25, 2004. Despite generally mixed reviews from critics, Gosling and McAdams were singled out for praise for their performances. The film was a sleeper hit at the box office, grossing $117 million against its $29 million budget, and has become a cult classic in the years since its release. On November 11, 2012, an extended version premiered on ABC Family with deleted scenes added back into the original storyline.
The film earned several accolades, including the MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss for Gosling and McAdams at the 2005 MTV Movie Awards. At the 11th Screen Actors Guild Awards, James Garner was nominated for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role and Gena Rowlands won Best Supporting Actress – Drama at the 9th Golden Satellite Awards.
TRAILER
PLOT
At a modern-day nursing home, the elderly Duke reads a romantic story from a notebook to a female patient:
In 1940, at a carnival in Seabrook Island, South Carolina, lumber mill worker Noah Calhoun sees 17-year-old heiress Allison "Allie" Hamilton, there for the summer. He pursues her, coerces her into dating him, and they begin a romance.
When Allie meets Noah's father Frank Calhoun, he immediately likes her. However, when Noah meets her parents, they disapprove. That night, Noah takes Allie to the abandoned Windsor Plantation, telling her he will buy and restore it. As the sun sets, they start to make love for the first time. Noah's friend Fin interrupts to warn them Allie's parents sent the police out looking for her.
When Allie and Noah return to her parents' mansion, Allie's mother Anne makes it clear they are against the relationship and forbid her from seeing him. Noah leaves and Allie follows, they argue and she impulsively breaks up with him, but immediately regrets it.
The next morning, Anne announces they will be returning to Charleston immediately. Allie seeks Noah to apologize but is unsuccessful, so asks Fin to tell him she loves him. Noah rushes to Allie's when he hears but is too late.
Noah writes Allie every day for a year, but Allie's mother intercepts the letters. When all 365 go unanswered, he stops writing to move on. He and Fin enlist and fight in the Battle of the Bulge where Fin is killed. Allie nurses wounded soldiers in a hospital, meeting Captain Lon Hammond Jr., a young lawyer who comes from old Southern money. After a few years, they become engaged, to Allie's parents' delight.
Noah returns from the war and finds his father has sold their home so Noah can buy The Windsor Plantation. He believes that if he restores it, Allie will return to him. Once it's completed, Noah resists selling it. As Allie tries on her wedding dress, she sees a newspaper photo of Noah in front of the renovated house and faints.
Allie's feelings for Noah come rushing back, so she asks Lon to take a solo trip before the wedding. Returning to Seabrook, she finds Noah living in their dream house. They rekindle and consummate their relationship. Noah tells Allie about the 365 letters and they realize her mother kept them from her.
Days later, Anne appears to warn Allie that Lon has come to Seabrook. She also reveals that she once loved a lower-class young man in town and still wonders how changed their lives would have been if she had chosen differently. She gives Allie Noah's letters, suggesting she choose wisely.
Noah and Allie argue and he tells her to decide what she wants, not what everyone else does. She drives back to her hotel, sobbing and confused, and confesses her infidelity to Lon. He still wants her back, but she follows her heart and returns to Noah.
In the present, the elderly woman is revealed to be Allie, now suffering from dementia. Duke is actually Noah, who uses a pseudonym to not startle her in her disoriented state. The journal he reads to her she wrote during the early stages of her illness, detailing their romance and life together so he could help her come back to him. Noah has kept the promise to read it to her almost daily.
Almost at the end of the journal in the notebook, Allie asks Noah what happened at the end of the story and Noah prompts her that she knows. She briefly recognizes him and remembers. Allie asks how long they have before she forgets again and Duke tells her possibly five minutes. They dance to their song, "I'll Be Seeing You", and she asks about their kids.
However, Allie's dementia quickly relapses and she panics to see a stranger touching her, so is sedated. Duke has a heart attack and is treated in the nursing home while Allie is taken to the dementia ward. Upon recovering and despite not being permitted, Duke sneaks into Allie's room in the night. She instantly recognizes him, they kiss, and fall asleep holding hands. They are found in the morning, having died peacefully in each other's arms.
The Fabelmans is a 2022 American coming-of-age drama film directed by Steven Spielberg, who co-wrote and produced it with Tony Kushner. The film is a semi-autobiographical story loosely based on Spielberg's adolescence and first years as a filmmaker. The plot is told through an original story of the fictional Sammy Fabelman, a young aspiring filmmaker who explores how the power of films can help him see the truth about his dysfunctional family and those around him. It stars Gabriel LaBelle as Sammy, alongside Michelle Williams, Paul Dano, Seth Rogen, and Judd Hirsch in supporting roles. The film is dedicated to the memories of Spielberg's real-life parents, Leah Adler and Arnold Spielberg, who died in 2017 and 2020, respectively.
TRAILER
PLOT
On a January night in 1952, in Haddon Township, New Jersey, Jewish couple Mitzi and Burt Fabelman take their young son Sammy to see his first film: The Greatest Show on Earth. Dazzled by a train scene, Sammy asks for a model set for Hanukkah, which he crashes late one night.
Mitzi, understanding Sammy's intentions, allows him to shoot another crash scene using Burt's 8mm camera. Sammy begins filming regularly, sometimes involving his sisters. Burt is offered a new job in Phoenix, Arizona, where he and the family move in early 1957. At Mitzi's insistence, Burt's best friend and business partner Bennie Loewy goes, too.
Years later, teenaged Sammy makes films with his friends in the Boy Scouts, begins utilizing post-production effects and earns a badge in photography. Later, the Fabelmans, including Bennie, take a camping trip with Sammy capturing footage of their vacation.
Shortly afterwards, Mitzi's mother dies, leaving her distraught. Providing him with film editing equipment, Burt suggests Sammy turn the vacation footage into a film to cheer Mitzi up. Sammy objects over the scheduling of his next film, but Burt, who sees his passion for film as simply a hobby, argues that the home movie is more important. The next morning, the Fabelmans receive a surprise visit from Mitzi's uncle Boris, a former lion tamer and film worker. That night, he speaks with Sammy about compromising his family with art, telling him that both aspects will continue to be at odds with one another.
Boris leaves, and Sammy begins editing the vacation footage, during which he finds evidence of Mitzi and Bennie having an affair. Sammy and Mitzi get into an argument after weeks of him treating her and Bennie harshly. In a fit of rage, she slaps him across the back after he shouts that he wishes she wasn't his mother. Distraught, Sammy shows her the compiled footage and promises to keep their secret.
The following week, Burt receives another promotion, requiring another move to Saratoga, California. Bennie stays in Phoenix, but not before gifting Sammy a new camera. Sammy refuses it until Bennie lets him pay $35 for it. Despite purchasing the camera, Sammy decides to never use it.
Soon after arriving in his new neighborhood and school, Sammy becomes targeted by students Logan and Chad, who levy antisemitic abuse toward him. He also begins dating the devoutly Christian Monica. While having dinner with the Fabelmans, she suggests that Sammy film their Ditch Day at the beach, something he eventually accepts after Monica tells him her father owns a 16mm Arriflex camera that he would let him use.
After moving from a rental to their newly purchased home, Mitzi and Burt announce their divorce due to her extreme depression and his discovery of the affair. This leaves the family heartbroken.
At prom, Sammy declares his love for Monica and asks her to come with him to Hollywood after high school. Unwilling to throw away her own life's plans to attend Texas A&M University, she breaks up with him.
The Ditch Day film is played in front of Sammy's peers to a rapturous response. It glorifies Logan and vilifies Chad. When Logan confronts Sammy, confused over his positive portrayal, they reach an understanding, cemented when Logan fights Chad off when he tries to attack Sammy. The next morning, Mitzi and Sammy talk about their future together; just as she cannot give up her love for Bennie, she tells Sammy not to give up his love for filmmaking.
The following year, Sammy is living with his father in Hollywood. He wants to drop out of college but is unable to find work in filmmaking. Burt grudgingly accepts his son's passion and tells Sammy to keep on his path if it makes him happy. Sammy receives an offer to work on Hogan's Heroes.
Knowing he is more interested in filmmaking, show co-creator Bernard Fein invites Sammy to meet director John Ford, one of his greatest influences. During their brief meeting, Ford offers Sammy some pointers on framing such as never framing the horizon in the center of the frame. Newly invigorated, Sammy walks through the sunlit studio backlot. The camera first frames the horizon in the center, then suddenly tilts up to place it near the bottom of the frame, following Ford's advice.
The Secret Garden is a 2020 British fantasy drama film based on the 1911 novel of the same name by Frances Hodgson Burnett, the fourth film adaptation of the novel. Directed by Marc Munden and produced by David Heyman, it stars Dixie Egerickx, Colin Firth, and Julie Walters. Set in 1947 England, the plot follows a young orphan who is sent to live with her uncle, only to discover a magical garden at his estate.
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PLOT
In 1947, Mary Lennox is found abandoned in her home in British India, her parents having died from cholera and her having been forgotten in the turmoil of Partition. Mary is sent to her uncle, Lord Archibald Craven's Misselthwaite Manor in Yorkshire, England. She is an unpleasant, unkind young girl who has had to repress her own emotions whilst growing up in the Raj.
Upon arriving, she meets Mrs Medlock, a strict and firm lady who is Lord Craven's housekeeper and servant. Mary is instructed to not explore the house and is confined to her room at night. There, she meets Martha, a servant who is unsettled by her demands.
Mary is allowed to leave the house to explore the estate and woods nearby and stumbles upon a stray dog whom she names Jemima. Later that night, she hears tiny screams and wailings throughout the corridors only to find Lord Craven's bedridden son, Colin Craven.
The next day, Mary meets Lord Craven in his study and he tells her to not cause any trouble. Mary continues exploring and follows Jemima into the mist. When she catches up with Jemima, she finds the dog with its leg caught in a trap. She helps Jemima, freeing her from the trap but the dog runs away. Mary follows and climbs a wall and falls into the secret garden.
Mary is then guided by a Robin to a stone statue within the garden which has a key to the garden within it. She leaves the garden as Mrs Medlock calls out for her. Back at the estate, Mary meets with Colin again as he talks about having a hunchback and not being able to walk. She tells him about the garden on the estate but Colin is uninterested. Snooping around later, she finds a room with pictures of both Mary's mother and Grace Craven, and she grabs a souvenir, a pearl necklace.
The next day, Mary returns to the garden to find Dickon, who offers to help heal Jemima. Mary then brings Colin in his wheelchair for the first time to the same room with his mother's pictures and dresses. Both Mary and Dickon hatch a plan to bring Colin to the garden, hoping to heal his immobility, but upon returning, Mrs Medlock confronts Mary for stealing the pearl necklace and she is punished by being signed up for a boarding school. Later, confined and locked in her room, Mary finds letters between her mother and aunt in a rocking horse. She persuades Colin to read them and the three continue reading letters in the garden.
A depressed and distracted Lord Craven, while lighting a candle, sets the desk on fire. The next morning, Mary, Dickon and Colin are in the garden when they see black smoke coming from the house. Colin persuades Mary and Dickon to run to check it out. Mary enters the burning house to find Lord Craven frantically looking for his son in the fire. She tries in vain to convince him to escape as his son is safe outside, but he resists until the ghost of his wife guides them out safely as the fire brigade arrives. An anxious Lord Craven and Mrs Medlock go with Mary and Dickon to Colin in the secret garden. Lord Craven gazes in awe at his son's mobility as they rekindle their relationship.
The film ends with Lord Craven rebuilding the estate and Mary, Dickon and Colin having fun in the secret garden.
