5 Dreamers And A Horse

Rock and a Heart Place (2006)
DVDRip | 640x480 | .MKV/AVC @ 1344 Kbps | 1h 12mn | Audio: English AAC 128 kbps, 2 channels | Subs: None | 701 MiB
Genre: Documentary

It started one Christmas when Tim McCloone volunteered to feed the homeless: "It was so quiet. So depressing." Something was missing. Music. In 1993, McCloone formed the answer: Holiday Express. Each year from Thanksgiving to Christmas Eve, nearly 400 New Jersey musicians and volunteers band together to spread Christmas cheer. Their venues are soup kitchens and nursing homes. Their audience is the poor – poor in health, wallet, and spirit. "If Christmas were on wheels," said one fan, "it would be Holiday Express." Weeks after the tragedy of 9/11, Holiday Express launches its most ambitious season: 50 shows in 30 days. To pull it off, they'll have to place 3,000 phone calls, pack 11,000 gift bags, inflate 4,500 balloons, make 2,000 ornaments, travel 5,000 miles, give 5,000 hugs – and sing 1,800 songs. Along the way, a Grinch-like setback: losing their warehouse. On the road, a walk-on – by a guitarist named Springsteen. And in the end, a revelation: the true meaning of Christmas.

This acclaimed British comedy centers on the intermittent romance between a charming (if slightly bumbling) Englishman and a beautiful American woman, who seem to always run into each other at weddings. Indeed, it is at the first of the title's four weddings that Charles (Hugh Grant) and Carrie (Andie McDowell) meet, enjoying a brief but fleeting connection. The spark is rekindled several months later, when they unexpectedly meet at another wedding. Unfortunately, however, Carrie has become engaged to another, a fact that complicates matters for them both. The story may seem simple, but the film is elevated by screenwriter Richard Curtis' ear for witty dialogue and a colorful supporting cast. Director Mike Newell's sympathetic attention to character keeps the proceedings believable, and prevents the film's more serious moments from seeming mawkish. These elements, along with Grant's star-making performance as Charles, helped the film achieve unexpected international success, including an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture.