The Bucket List

A bucket list is a list of the things you would want to do or wish to achieve before you die. It is this list that Carter (Morgan Freeman) was writing one day while bedridden in the hospital for cancer. And it is this list, crumpled and thrown, that Edward (Jack Nicholson) picked up and read the next day while fixing himself on the bed next to Carter also because of cancer. And it is with this list that a friendship bloomed between otherwise two strangers with extremely different backgrounds, one a lonesome billionaire and the other a poor family man. It is with this friendship that they finally realized the joys of life and laid to rest with a satisfaction of having lived life to the fullest.

Touching, yes. Acting, excellent. Lessons, a handful. Realistic, nah.

I Am Sam

I’ve never been close to tears since Life is Beautiful, but I Am Sam is up front in my drama favorites and is putting up a contrite rivalry.

I just watched this a couple of hours ago, and I can’t resist writing a review. Anyway, here goes.

I am Sam is a story of Sam Dawson (played by Sean Penn), a retarted, middle-aged man with a mental capacity of a 7-year old (that’s what they would always say in the movie) who, accidently, impregnated a woman who simply wanted to have a place to sleep for a night. When the child was born, the bitch – sorry – left them alone. The lovely child was named Lucy Diamond (played by Dakota Fanning), after the song Lucy in the Diamond Sky which happened to be playing in the background right there in the hospital room. Sam’s parenting capabilities were not really remarkable, and taking care of a baby was unimaginable. Thanks to a friendly neighbor, Alice (played by Dianne Wiest), who came to help. Alice is an intelligent woman, a summa cum laude from music school, and she brought to Sam much light on how to deal with the little Lucy.

When Lucy was 7 years old, which made her at the level of mental capacity as her father, it became apparent that Sam might no longer be able to provide Lucy of everything she might need. On her birthday, Lucy was visited by a social worker, and Lucy was taken away while Sam’s custody over her daughter was brought to court.

Determined to take her daughter back, Sam’s friends, which were also retards, advised him to seek the legal help of Rita Harrison Williams (played by my crush, Michelle Pfeiffer), the fastest talking lawyer who never loses. Rita wasn’t very sympathetic at first but was later caught up with Sam’s troubles and surprisingly agreed to be his lawyer pro bono.

Then, well, I highly recommend that you watch the movie to know how it all worked out. Not even the meanest and the monolithic of hearts would resist its humane charm and sensitivity. 5 stars!

meryl streep – mama mia!

I was supposed to watch Mama Mia when it showed in the cinemas, but I am so good in not doing what I’m saying that I failed to watch it. This is one of the reasons why I have to be thankful for p2p sharing clients (whoever came up with the torrent must have his statue erected).

My copy was far from good. It was dark, angled a certain degree to the right, and at first i thought I was cheated when the title flashed AMMA MIA! A typo, but what the foot. Anyway, that was expected from a pirate.

Meryl Streep – the Meryl Streep – is simply incredible. If only there is an award for the Most Versatile Actress, she should have bagged loads before. This is in sharp recall of her performance in the Devil Wears Prada where she played the  role of the Runway empress, utterly demanding, but always at a cool and always composed, that you can’t help but admire, pity, and hate her all at the same time.

Here in Mama Mia, I swear I couldn’t believe my eyes when the devil  suddenly turned into an ordinary woman from a far-off island, wearing a rugged denim jumper and with a hair that makes you wonder whether she’d been electrocuted. Plus, she’s actually so hyper, jumping in bed one time, cying copiously other time, and singing – yes, singing! – almost half the time. Now imagine Miranda.

One thing I loved in this movie is that the songs were surprisingly all fitting. Unlike the other musicals wherein the songs follow after the story, here, the story was made, I suppose, to give credit to the songs. They were all ABBA, all classics, all familiar, all beautiful. I was so happy to hear Super Duper and Chiquitita. I used to play them over and over in our karaoke.

It would be exciting to hear and see other musicals from artist-exclusive classics. How about MLTR? Or the Beatles? 

Gabriel

This movie breaks the cliche that angels are always clad in white and would, as much as possible, evade anything that has to do with blood and gore. Set in the midworld, a.k.a. the Purgatory, an archangel is sent to destroy the fallen angels who have made a strong grip on the entire city (yes, with skyscrapers too). once there, the angel is to take the form and vulnerability of a human (and so he learns to fornicate?) and worse, becomes a mortal. It is this fear of death, more than anything else, that weakens the angel’s conviction and leads him to failure, either in isolation from the senses of the Fallen or as a member of their group. Even the strongest warrior of the archangels, Michael, was not successful. Now, the last of them, Gabriel is the remaining hope in setting things right. But just like all the other angels before him, Gabe was on the first day full of hope, love, and faith, but as he dwells even further in the depths of reality beneath him, he had in ways succumb to the vulnerabilities of being a human and finds himself confused and utterly..hmm..wild? The most difficult challenge here though is not the battle with the Fallen, but that with a brother and a friend.

The storyline was perhaps produced from biblical and nonbiblical stories of angels and the battle between good and evil, and there are some points of the movie that may perturb the minds of the conservative but at the same time excite the more lax and adventurous believers. It is also interesting to see the Purgatory as something very similar to the real world, but just darker, lonelier, and poorer (people seem to feed on bread and a mercury-looking soup only).

With guns and matrix-style stunts, sin city-like environment, bloody encounters, and though apparently made with a low budget, this movie, trust me, is a must to see.

“Freedom… is the ability to challenge yourself far beyond the constraints
of traditional rule and order. We draw strength from our passions… we’re
driven by desire… even hatred can be a worthy ally when used against an
enemy… and yet, we are told to turn our backs on these things… the very
feelings, emotions… that make us all… human.” – Sammael, Gabriel 2007

sex and the city

a story of friendship, labels, love, and sex. nice to watch but not unforgettable. maybe girls will love this one especially those who have been fans of the series (it is soo like the series). but to those who would watch sex and the city for the first time, the uninitiated to say, brace yourself for a bore.