~Movies~

The Other Boleyn Girl

When Catherine of Aragon fails to produce a male heir to the English throne, the Duke of Norfolk and his brother in law, Thomas Boleyn, scheme to install the latter's elder daughter Anne in the court of Henry VIII as the king's mistress and potential mother of his son, thereby furthering their own political ambitions much to the disgust of Thomas' wife and the duke's sister, Elizabeth Boleyn. At first, Anne is reluctant to go along with the idea, fearing that her reputation will be ruined, but in the end goes along to please her father and uncle. The plan backfires when Henry, injured in a hunting accident indirectly caused by Anne, is nursed by her recently married sister Mary and he becomes smitten of her. With great reluctance, Mary and her husband William Carey agree to accept positions at the court, knowing full well what will be expected of her. William is then sent away on an assignment by the king. Separated from her spouse, Mary finds herself falling in love with Henry.

Rebellious Anne secretly marries betrothed nobleman Henry Percy to impress her family and confides in her brother George. Thrilled, George tells Mary about the elopement. Concerned that Anne will disgrace herself by marrying a nobleman without the King's consent, she alerts her father and uncle of the union. They confront Anne, who argues that the marriage has been consummated and what is done before God cannot be undone. Despite her argument, the marriage is annulled and she is exiled to France in disgrace. Feeling that Mary betrayed her only to increase her own status, Anne vows revenge.

The Boleyns' fortunes seem to be secured when Mary becomes pregnant. The two men are thrilled by their success, but Elizabeth warns them, especially Thomas, that all their fortunes will eventually turn on them. However, the men don't believe her.

When Mary nearly suffers a miscarriage, she is confined to bed for the remainder of her pregnancy, and Norfolk recalls Anne to England to keep Henry's attention from wandering to another rival, particularly Jane Seymour. Still deeply hurt by Mary's betrayal, Anne successfully embarks on a campaign to seduce Henry, revealing herself to be more sophisticated and accomplished prior to her exile. By withholding her sexual favors, she ensures the king's continued interest, finally making him promise never to bed his wife or speak to her sister in exchange for her giving him hope of possessing her. Anne exacts this promise just after Mary gives birth to twins, a daughter named Katherine and the much-anticipated son, Henry, making her triumph hollow. Shortly after, Henry banishes Mary from court. She returns home just as her husband, William, dies of the sweating sickness.

The ambitious Anne encourages Henry to break from the Roman Catholic Church when Pope Clement VII refuses to annul his marriage to Catherine. Henry succumbs to Anne's demands, declares himself the Supreme Governor of the Church of England, and divorces his wife. The scandal of Anne's brief, secret marriage to Henry Percy threatens her forthcoming marriage to the king until Mary, out of loyalty to her family, returns to court and lies on Anne's behalf, assuring Henry her union with Percy was not consummated.

Despite the success of her plans, Anne's schemes drive Henry to his breaking point mentally and he rapes her. Hurt and confused by the attack, a now-pregnant Anne still goes through with the marriage to please her family and becomes the new Queen of England. Also, Mary and Anne announce a truce and Mary stays by her sister's side at court. She eventually meets William Stafford, a soldier, and the two fall in love and eventually marry.

Despite the birth of a healthy daughter, Elizabeth, Henry is unhappy with Anne's failure to deliver a son and legitimate male heir to the throne. After she miscarries their second child, a boy, a now hysterical Anne asks George to impregnate her. Though he refuses and calms Anne back into reason, his neglected wife Jane witnesses enough of their encounter to become suspicious. Her testimony leads to the arrest, trial, and eventual execution of both George and Anne. Elsewhere, Elizabeth Boleyn denounces both her husband and brother, vowing she will never forgive them for what their greed had done to her children.

Leaving her children in William's care, Mary returns to court to plead for her siblings' lives, but arrives too late to save George, who is executed in front of his horrified father. 

Mary begs Henry to spare her sister, referring to Anne as half of herself. The king softens and tells her he would never harm part of her. Believing that Henry has spared her sister, she leaves to see Anne right before the scheduled execution. The two sisters truly reconcile and embrace. Before she leaves for her execution, Anne makes Mary promise to take care of Elizabeth if anything should happen to her. Mary watches from the crowd as Anne makes a final statement. A letter from Henry is given to Mary, which reveals that he has decided not to intercede the execution and save Anne; it also tells Mary that she was only spared because of his respect for her and warns her never to come to court again, because her family's disgrace could result in danger to her. Horrified, she watches as Anne is beheaded. Mary then fulfills her last promise to her sister and leaves court with the toddler Elizabeth.

The closing captions reveal that Thomas Boleyn, disgraced and alone, died two years after the deaths of Anne and George while Elizabeth Boleyn died a year after her husband. The Duke of Norfolk was later imprisoned while his son and grandson were both executed. True to her word, Elizabeth never saw or spoke to her husband or brother again. Mary returned to William and lived happily with him and the children away from court for the rest of her life. The captions also reveal that perhaps Henry should not have been concerned about leaving England with a strong heir because he, in fact, did. However, it was not the son he desired, but the strong red haired daughter Anne gave him, Elizabeth.

* Well, its totally an 'old' storyline: a male heir is needed for the English throne. And the so-called-high profile-offiecers (the duke and his brother in law), helped out the king to get a heir. These people do kindly wanted to help soo much (of course, they get back something). But end up, a happy family was torn apart, hating each other, and finally, there is no family left. The only thing that the family really 'achieved' was: DISGRACE. Really, if what is potrayed from the movie is what really happened at those old days, I'm glad that I was not born at that time, to witness these things. How can people thought of these things? A father asked his daughters to be the king's mistress so that he can get a heir? At first, it was intended for the still single and available's daughter to be smitten by the king, but the king fell for the married daughter. And things happend between the two sisters, as 1 think of the other 1 had betrayed her and wanted to get revenge. In the end, although she managed to get revenge and got the king, she still doesn't have a long life. I would understand if you ask that women to be his second or third wife so that he can get a heir, at least she still has a status (though not a very good status). I mean, at that period, men do got married to many women, so it's not suprised. At least the babies will have a status. But it's like another way round: get pregnant first, and if got a male heir, then you'll have the status. And then, the problems get bigger as it's not only 1 daughter, is daughters! Oh man! Surely the king was very desperate for wanting a male heir! When 2 daughters are involved, surely things will happen. But after all those unfortunate things happen on Mary, she still stood by her sister's side. What a graceful sister she is!

Jerry Maguire

Jerry Maguire is a 35 year old sports agent working for Sports Management International (SMI). After suffering a nervous breakdown as a result of stress and a guilty conscience, he writes a mission statement about perceived dishonesty in the sports management business and how he believes that it should be operated. He goes to a copy shop early the next morning and distributes copies to all of his fellow employees. His fellow employees are touched by his honesty and greet him with applause the next business day, but the company management orders Maguire fired for his actions.

The management sends Bob Sugar, Maguire's protégé, to fire Maguire. Jerry and Bob then proceed to call all of Jerry's clients to try to convince them to not hire the services of the other. Jerry gets through to Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Rod Tidwell, one of his clients who is disgruntled by his contract that he believes to be far inferior than that of his teammates. Tidwell tests Jerry's resolve through a very long telephone conversation, which culminates in the famed "Show Me the Money!" telephone yelling match between Rod and Jerry. Meanwhile, Bob Sugar secures most of Jerry's previous clients as his own. Frank Cushman, a superstar football prospect expected to be drafted #1 in the NFL Draft, also ends up staying on with Jerry after he makes a visit to Cushman's home. Leaving the office, Jerry announces he will start his own sports management agency and asks if anyone is willing to join him to which only 26 year old single mother Dorothy Boyd agrees. Boyd had previously bumped into Maguire in the airport and told him personally how inspiring she found his "memo."

Jerry travels to the NFL Draft with Cushman and convinces Tidwell to come along as well, to give him exposure to representatives of other NFL teams should he later become a free agent. Though Tidwell at first feels neglected compared to the superstar Cushman, Bob Sugar contacts Cushman's dad while Jerry is in the lobby with Tidwell and re-signs Cushman to SMI. Jerry is devastated and turns to his fiancée Avery for support, but she rebukes him and he breaks up with her. He then turns to Dorothy, becoming closer to her young son, Ray, and eventually starts a relationship with her. However, without any commissions coming in to support their business, Dorothy contemplates moving to San Diego as she has a secure job offer there.

Jerry concentrates all his efforts on Tidwell, now his only client, who turns out to be a very difficult client to satisfy. Over the next several months, the two direct harsh criticism towards each other with Rod claiming that Jerry is not trying hard enough to get him a contract while Jerry claims that Rod is not proving himself to deserve the money for which he asks. Eventually, Rod's star starts to rise but the two invariably get into an argument and remain estranged. He ends up later marrying Dorothy in order to provide her medical insurance and share expenses to help them both stay afloat financially and to keep her from moving to San Diego. He is emotionally and physically distant during the marriage, but is clearly invested in becoming a father to Ray. Although Dorothy is totally in love with him, she breaks up with him because she believes he does not love her, and married her out of fear of being alone and because he enjoyed playing father to her son.

Bob Sugar spots Rod just before the game and attempts to steal him, an attempt rebuked by Rod and Jerry, who travels to the Cardinals game. The two reconcile soon after. Rod plays well but appears to receive a serious injury when catching a touchdown. He recovers, however, and dances for the crowd, which cheers wildly for him. After the game, Jerry and Rod get renewed confidence for a lucrative new contract for Rod. After months of harsh words and criticism directed towards one another, the two embrace in front of other athletes and sports agents and show how their relationship has progressed from a strictly business one to a close personal one, which was one of the points Jerry made in his mission statement. Jerry then flies back home to seek out Dorothy and tell her that he loves her and wants her in his life. He also mentions that his business has really picked up.

Rod Tidwell later appears on a sports show for an interview. Unbeknownst to him, Jerry has secured him an $11.2 million contract with the Cardinals that will allow him to finish his pro football career in Arizona. The visibly emotional Tidwell proceeds to thank everyone who helped accomplish this success and extends warm gratitude to Jerry for his help. Jerry, who is also on the set of the show, speaks with several other pro athletes, some of whom have read his earlier mission statement and express their positive opinion of it as well as respect for the work he had done with Tidwell. The film ends with Jerry, Dorothy and Ray walking in the park and stumbling across a Little League baseball game. When the ball lands near them, Ray picks it up and throws it back onto the field; a surprised Jerry then comments on his natural throwing ability, much to Dorothy's dismay.

*Well, the storyline is quite good. Sports agent and atheletes should not only strictly bined with business, but they need to form a close relationship as well. It's a human thing, you know. Besides, it also show how Jerry coped with his failures to get clients, and when he finally concentrates on Rod Tidwell, he needs to find ways to satisfy him, as he is a difficult client. They remain estrange as they criticised toward each other for some times. However, they reconcile soon after. It also shows Jerry's feeling towards Dorothy, where he actually found her to be his friend when he was left alone, by failures, fiancee, etc. He married Dorothy, at first, not for love ( I guess can say it's as his companion), but then finally found out that she is important for him, as she 'complete him'. But actually all this while, though both Dorothy and Jerry was in 'separation period', she still loves him so much, as Jerry 'had her at 'hello''! I think this movie is an all time favourite or should I said well-known. Once you said Jerry Maguire, most of the people sure had seen before (well, not many youngster like me. I got it from my mum, though. The movie was a hit in 1996. I'm still very young!), and they'll like: Ah! Jerry Maguire!