WHOM YOU KNOW KICKS OFF COVERAGE OF SONY PICTURES HOME ENTERTAINMENT Featuring an All-Star Cast Including Gerard Butler, Jessica Biel, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Uma Thurman, Judy Greer and Dennis Quaid PLAYING FOR KEEPS, Recommended by Whom You Know Our Coverage Sponsored by Stribling and Associates
For over 30 years, Stribling and Associates has represented high-end residential real estate, specializing in the sale and rental of townhouses, condos, co-ops, and lofts throughout Manhattan and Brooklyn, and around the globe. Stribling has more than 200 professional brokers who use their respected expertise to provide personalized service to buyers and sellers at all price levels. A separate division, Stribling Private Brokerage, discreetly markets properties over $5 million, and commands a significant market share in this rarified sector of residential real estate. Stribling is the exclusive New York City affiliate of Savills, a leading global real estate advisor with over 200 office in 48 countries.
Check out their listings:
& their most recent State of the Market:
Whom You Know Congratulates their new President, Elizabeth Ann Stribling-Kivlan:
***
He shoots, he scores! Sports often emulate life, and Playing For Keeps kicks off with worldwide appeal for soccer, or football for anyone reading us outside of the United States. As New York gets ready to greet the upcoming Tartan Week, we are pleased feature the Scottish actor Gerard Butler in particular who shines in this movie and are absolutely thrilled to kick off our overall coverage of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. In one of her past lives, Peachy Deegan worked as a sportswriter, so this was a particularly glorious film for us to critique.
Speaking of "Things to do in Connecticut" books via ESPN...we could have written that! Our ancestor Patrick Deegan came to Bristol, Connecticut from County Offaly about 100 years before ESPN started in the late 1970's and built on Middle Street first. And guess who was an intern for ESPN under her producing Boston College Professor who took her on. As a side note, we'll also let you know that making a demo tape to be a sportscaster is harder than you might think-you'll see it done in this film! Peachy Deegan grew up in a town in New England where soccer was the main sport for kids to play and we see this trend continuing in America today, so Playing for Keeps is an ideal movie for our evolving athletic culture. Everything about this movie was right up our alley, and once you pop it in and start watching you'll see how universally relatable it is as well. Up with exercise for all ages, particularly in sports where life lessons are learned so well.
The balance between the sport of soccer and the sport of life was brilliantly executed, and we'd echo that it IS an equation that makes sense with the stellar cast that meshed well and told a great story in tandem. Reminiscent of soccer movies like Bend it Like Beckham, Playing For Keeps shows us how the best lessons in life can be translated by sport. Each character was exactly that: a total character!
A typical responsible mother, Jessica Biel as Stacie glows as a supportive All-American mom to the contrasting convertible-driving carefree Dad George (Butler), who comes and goes as he pleases and now has decided to waltz into his son's life on a more permanent basis. Initially much more his mother's child, Lewis exercises words like plethora effortlessly intellectually trumping his dad George. The challenge of a broken family is a strong theme throughout. The evolution of the story will captivate you-we won't give it away!
So how to repair a broken relationship? Though it is always helpful to thrill your child with an opportunity to drive a Ferrari, it is perhaps more lasting to show the children just how soccer is supposed to be played. Early on the old coach is on his cell during practice which surely doesn't help a losing team, but when King George has the reins, it is all about the love of the game, doing your best and achieving results to be proud of. And of course, knocking the Gatorade off the crossbar. Ironically, George finds his direction by giving direction to others as coach and transitions into a family man role....possibly.
As the game develops for the children, it becomes apparent that it is the parents that may have the greater dilemmas-complete with a visit to jail-executed in a most entertaining manner by Dennis Quaid, Uma Thurman and one of our favorites, Catherine Zeta-Jones.
Finally, one character that does not play a big part but will certainly capture your heart in the end is George's landlord. With a bark stronger than his bite and a charm about him that does result in him routing for the right team, he'll leave everyone in Manhattan wondering not only why we don't live somewhere where rent is $900 but also why landlords here are not quite as nice.
The charms of playing soccer in the rain, the simplicity of suburban life, and the love of the game and the life behind it will win you over in more than one way.
Whom You Know Recommends Playing for Keeps! You don't need to be a soccer mom to love it!
***
Gerard Butler (The Ugly Truth) and Jessica Biel
(Total Recall) lead an all-star cast in the romantic comedy PLAYING FOR KEEPS, coming to Blu-ray™ and DVD with UltraViolet™ March 5th from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. From Director Gabriele Muccino (The Pursuit of Happyness), the film also stars Academy Award® winner Catherine Zeta-Jones (Best Supporting Actress, Chicago, 2002), Academy Award® nominee Uma Thurman (Best Actress, Pulp Fiction, 1994),
Judy Greer (The Descendants) and Dennis Quaid (Soul Surfer). PLAYING FOR KEEPS is a heart-warming story about George (Butler), a retired soccer star hoping for a second chance at life and fatherhood.
After falling on hard times, George returns home attempting to get his life together and rebuild a relationship with his son and ex-wife (Biel) by coaching his son’s soccer team.
Bonus features on the Blu-ray and DVD include seven deleted scenes from the film, as well as two behind-the-scenes featurettes: “The Playbook: Making Playing for Keeps” features filmmakers and cast discussing what it was like to shoot the film; and “Creating an All-Star Team: The Cast of Playing For Keeps” offers a peek behind the camera for a look at the cast and filmmakers exploring what made each star perfect for their role.
Synopsis
Gerard Butler, Jessica Biel, Uma Thurman, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Dennis Quaid star in
PLAYING FOR KEEPS, a romantic comedy about a charming, down-on-his luck former soccer star (Butler) who returns home to put his life back together. Looking for a way to rebuild his relationship with his son,
he gets roped into coaching the boy’s soccer team. But his attempts to finally become an “adult” are met with hilarious challenges from the attractive “soccer moms” who pursue him at every turn.
PLAYING FOR KEEPS was directed by Gabriele Muccino from a screenplay by Robbie Fox. The film was produced by Kevin Misher, Jonathan Mostow, Gerard Butler, Alan Siegel, Heidi Jo Markel and John Thompson with Avi Lerner, Danny Dimbort, Trevor Short, Ed Cathell III, Boaz Davidson and Peter Schlessel serving as executive producers.
DVD and Blu-ray bonus features include:
Seven deleted scenes
Two featurettes:
“The Playbook: Making Playing for Keeps”
“Creating an All-Star Team: The Cast of Playing for Keeps”
PLAYING FOR KEEPS has a running time of approximately 106 minutes and has been rated PG-13 for some sexual situations, language and a brief intense image.
Artwork and digital clips are available for download at www.sphepublicity.com.
Visit Sony Home Entertainment on the Web at www.SonyPictures.com.
“Academy Award®” is the registered trademark and service mark of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
ABOUT ULTRAVIOLET
UltraViolet is an entirely new way to collect and enjoy your digital entertainment, giving you the power to instantly access your movies and TV shows with unprecedented flexibility. For more information, visit www.uvvu.com.
About Sony Pictures Home Entertainment: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment is a Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) company. Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) is a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Sony Corporation. SPE's global operations encompass motion picture production and distribution; television production and distribution; home entertainment acquisition and distribution; a global channel network; digital content creation and distribution; operation of studio facilities; development of new entertainment products, services and technologies; and distribution of entertainment in more than 159 countries. For additional information, go to http://www.sonypictures.com/
COMPANY HISTORY
Lighting Up Screens Around the World
Sony Pictures Studio's rich history can be traced back to 1918 when brothers Harry and Jack Cohn formed a partnership with their associate Joe Brandt, to produce low-budget short films and featurettes. They called the company CBC Film Sales (Cohn-Brandt-Cohn- or as it was more commonly known in the trade press, "Corned Beef and Cabbage"). By 1920, the film industry was attracting audiences of 35 million a week willing to pay five cents a pop to be drawn into the magical world of filmed entertainment.
Meanwhile, down the road in Hollywood, Columbia Pictures got its start, bringing pictures like It Happened One Night and Lawrence of Arabia to life.
Columbia Pictures officially moved onto the studio lot in 1990 after its acquisition by Sony Corporation; and the rest is history, as they say.
