Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Groundhogs Day.


(original summary)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groundhog_Day_(film) 
Self-centered and sour TV meteorologist Phil Connors (Bill Murray), news producer Rita (Andie MacDowell) and cameraman Larry (Chris Elliot) from fictional Pittsburgh television station WPBH-TV9 travel to Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, to cover the annual Groundhog Day festivities with Punxsutawney Phil. Having grown tired of this assignment, Phil grudgingly gives his report and attempts to return to Pittsburgh when a blizzard shuts down the roads. Phil and his team are forced to return to Punxsutawney and stay in town overnight.
Phil wakes up to find that he is reliving February 2. The day plays out exactly as it did before, with no one else aware of the time loop, and only Phil aware of past events. At first he is confused, but, when the phenomenon continues on subsequent days, he decides to take advantage of the situation with no fear of long-term consequences: he learns secrets from the town's residents, seduces women, steals money, drives recklessly, and gets thrown in jail. However, his attempts to get closer to Rita repeatedly fail.
Eventually, Phil becomes despondent and tries more and more drastically to end the time loop; he gives ridiculous and offensive reports on the festival, abuses residents, and eventually kidnaps Punxsutawney Phil and, after a police chase, drives into a quarry, evidently killing both himself and the groundhog. However, Phil wakes up and finds that nothing has changed; further attempts at suicide are just as fruitless as he continues to find himself awaking at 6:00 A.M. on the morning of February 2 with the clock-radio on his bedstand playing I Got You Babe, by Sunny and Cher. 
When Phil explains the situation to Rita, she suggests that he should take advantage of it to improve himself. Inspired, Phil endeavors to try to learn more about Rita, building upon his knowledge of her and the town each day. He begins to use his by-now vast experience of the day to help as many people around town as possible. He uses the time to learn, among other things, to play piano, ice sculpt and speak French.
(My summary)
Negative and bitter college freshman, Dominique Turek, is sent from the Bronx to travel to Guilderland, New York to engage in the annual summer break festivities starting on May 18th 2011. Dominique grudgingly relocates back to Guilderland and then attempts to escape to just about anywhere else in the United States. Unfortunately, she has no job, no cash and five failed road tests trailing behind her. Dominique is forced to stay in Guilderland for the summer due to her laziness and inability to get her act together.  







Dominique wakes up to find that she is reliving May 18th 2011 day after day after day after day. The day plays out exactly as it did before. No one else seems to be aware of the time-loop. At first she is confused, but, when the phenomenon continues, she decides to take advantage of the situation with no fear of long-term consequences: she learns that her neighbor doesn't like it when cars park too close to his house. She earns money by pulling weeds for her father dressed like a lesbian in front of Route 7. She cannot drive anywhere because she does not have a license and would be thrown in jail if she sat anywhere in a car besides the passenger seat or the trunk. Her attempts to get closer to having an eventful summer repeatedly fail because of her proximity to the worlds most average capital in the world, Albany.







Eventually, Dominique becomes despondent and tries more and more drastically to end the time loop; she gives ridiculous and offensive criticisms of Albany and its residents. She decides to plan an escape route that will land her anywhere over 50 miles outside of Guilderland. She sees herself behind the wheel of a car gunning it towards Vermont or Colorado or Georgia. Police chase her until she drives into a quarry, evidently killing both herself and her small dog she brought along. However, Dominique wakes up to find that nothing has changed; Dreams about escaping persist but her plans to run off are just as fruitless as she continues to find herself awaking at 1:30 PM every afternoon with her t.v blaring episodes of Roseanne. 
When Dominique explains the situation to fellow Albany residents, they suggests that she is a bitch who needs to stop complaining about her hometown. Curious why people are so defensive of this place, Dominique endeavors to try to learn more about Guilderland, building upon her knowledge of the town each day. The experience has taught her close to nothing. She has re-learned that Albany/Guilderland is as shitty as a place as she previously believed it to be. She uses her negative attitude to piss off as many people as possible. She also spends her time eating, going to the bathroom and reading horoscopes.







Eventually, Dominique is able to de-friend almost everyone she meets during the day, using her experiences to make passionate Albanites even more defensive of their hometown. She crafts a blog on the summer vacation festivities, or lack thereof. People become so irritated by her constant complaining that most readers close out of her blog and suddenly turn into Guilderland patriots.
After dominique's 5th grilled cheese, she retires to her room, the spot in her bed still warm and sunken in from having laid in it right before the cheese melting began. She wakes up the next morning to find that the time loop is still in action; it is still May 18th and everything is still the same. After going outside, Dominique talks to herself because she is slowly losing her mind. She then goes back inside because it's too hot out.

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