Gidget 1959

I watched "Gidget" when I was a kid and just re-watched it. I love it just as much the second time. It makes life seem so simple, care-free, and sweet. Aaaahhh... And Moondoggy is somewhat of a hunk, aye?

Transporter 3

My hubby and I wanted to watch a no-brainer movie last night, so popped in Transporter 3. I really didn't expect it to be a great movie, because in many cases, sequels are bad, but a trilogy is worse. It exceeded my bad expectations. It was waaaay worse than I thought it was. The plot wasn't very intriguing. The story was written pretty poorly. The dialog wasn't that great. But the worst part of the movie was the female star, Valentina played by Natalya Rudakova. What in the world were the people in charge thinking?!?! They should ALL be fired!!! She cannot act and is ridiculously unattractive. Her character has no depth, though they try by making her spout out different types of foods she wants to eat... which doesn't add anything at all to the story or her character. She was just 100% horrible. The movie would have been a million times better if they had casted someone who can even act a little or is even decent looking. Besides that horrible horrible woman, a bunch of other things were just so incredibly unbelievable that it was just sort of stupid. Movies like this generally push realism a little, but this was just... ugh! The only reason why I kept watching was because of Jason Statham. And how hard it is not to watch him... his perfect body in motion. And he looks damn good in a suit.

Avatar

Avatar is so good on so many levels. There's the obvious - mind blowing computer graphics, great use of 3D, absolutely stunning landscape designs, cool character design, and a great plot.

It also brings to light how people generally are - selfish savages... spoiled bullies. We take what we want. We take more than what is needed. When supplies run out, we go and force it out of others. We destroy what is beautiful. We destroy what is good. We destroy what is needed to survive... For what?? Greed. History tells the same story. I'm not a historian, but I doubt there was ever a point in the last few centuries where the world was at peace. The message is clear. Pandora, the planet the humans are out to destroy, represents Earth. And humans are humans. Humans need more natural resources, so they are on a mission to take it and not think twice about the consequences. Typical, right? We can't keep doing this. Conserve. Reuse. Recycle. Life is at stake. Protect our planet. We need it to be healthy so that we can continue living. I hope people who watch this movie will see the beauty and importance of our planet and do what they can to make it a better one.

The World is NOT Coming to an End

I watched 2012 over the weekend. It was a really entertaining story and the visual effects were pretty awesome, but chances of something like that happening so unlikely. I hope this movie will not instill more fear into people's minds, but looking at our track record of believing everything that we see onscreen, that will probably not happen. All of this rumor about the world ending on December 21, 2012 is so silly. How can you possibly believe all of this cataclysm will happen on a single day? It's absurd to try to say that all of these cultures from all over the planet and different time periods predicted the same thing. Saying that they have come to the same conclusion is such a big stretch. And thank you NASA for saying these fears are stupid and makes no sense. http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/afp-nasa-2012-myths.html That's it from me for now. Until next time, my friends.

Nanking

In 1937, Japanese armed forces entered Nanking, China, and systematically raped and killed over 200,000 Chinese in one of human history's worst atrocities. Decades later, there's still bad blood... "In 1937, Japanese armed forces entered Nanking, China, and systematically raped and killed over 200,000 Chinese in one of human history's worst atrocities. Decades later, there's still bad blood and unresolved tensions. This wrenching documentary from Bill Guttentag and Dan Sturman combines harrowing archival footage, interviews with survivors (including contrite Japanese vets), and reenactments with actors Woody Harrelson, Stephen Dorff, Mariel Hemingway, and Jurgen Prochnow (as a Schindler-like member of the Nazi party), reading from the diaries of real-life heroic westerners who set up a safety zone in attempt to shelter the hundreds of thousands of refugees from the city. Though this element adds some much-needed hope for humanity, this is still a deeply upsetting documentary. It's very well made and should be considered required viewing, but be warned: some of the rarely-before-seen archival footage is truly graphic and disturbing. Based on the bestselling book, THE RAPE OF NANKING by Iris Chang, this documentary makes effective use of a quietly shattering Kronos Quartet score. The film is presented in English, Japanese, and Mandarin with English subtitles." - synopsis taken from Rottentomatoes.com

What happened in Nanking was a holocaust of the east, but what made it worse is that the Japanese never apologized and many still don't even own up to these atrocities. How can you deny something that people have hard evidence on?! Please go rent this documentary... or even read the book "The Rape of Nanking." Everyone should watch this. People need to know.

Go watch... Fabian...

Prince Caspian

I just watched the second movie of the Narnia series, "Prince Caspian." I know. I know. It came out a long time ago, but I liked it. The special effects were cool. I liked the mice characters. :) Kinda like Puss-'n-Boots from "Shrek." It definitely had a different feel from "The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe." That one felt more magical. This lacked a bit. Maybe because the bad guys are human... Some parts were still really cool though. The magical trees are much better than LOTR's Ents. They were so much more lively and flexible.

And what's up with Susan's stupid lines? In the first movie, she said something like "Just because you're given a sword doesn't mean you're a hero!" to Peter as he was trying to find a way for them to cross the river or ice crossing or something. And in this movie, to Peter, she says, "Just exactly who are you doing this for, Peter?!" as he's trying to save the Narnians. The answer is kinda obvious? He's doing it for Narnia? For his country? I give this movie ***.* (3.5 stars).

Defiance

Oh! I cannot wait until this movie comes out. I love love love movies about war and survival. But I gotta wait until next December, I think. Oh the torture!

Valkyrie

This movie is "eh." Maybe it was just "eh" because I was sitting in the second row third seat from the aisle, and I had a hard time understanding some of their accents? And they talked really fast sometimes! Damn! Should I go back to my ESL classes??!! Hahah! I thought I would absolutely love this movie because I love almost anything that has to do with war and victims of war, but this one was just okay. Some moments were really intense, and I certainly don't have a problem staring at Tom Cruise for a couple of hours. (Too bad he's weird. His hot points went down after that whole Katie Holmes thing started...) I've never heard of Operation Valkyrie until now. Since this movie was just based off of a true story, I don't know how much of it is factual. But it's good and sort of comforting to know that there were people trying to overthrow Hitler. All of these people were true heroes. They sacrificed their lives and their families to fight for righteousness and freedom. This movie gets ***.* (3.5 stars). :)

Seven Pounds

Excellent acting. (There's talk of Will Smith getting an Oscar?) Beautiful and interesting story. A bit of a slow beginning. Makes you think. What would you give for love? What would you give to erase mistakes you've made? What would you want to do before you die? What are you taking for granted? What would you give your life for? How would you commit suicide? (Yikes! Don't like that last question too much, but it is kinda interesting... :\) This movie gets **** (4 stars). :)

Best Movie of the Year Goes to...

Gran Torino. I haven't seen a lot of the new releases so don't know how this compares to other '08 releases, but I'm sure a lot of others will agree that this is yet another fine movie by Mr. Clint Eastwood.


What's it about? It basically tells the story of an old white veteran (who seems to hate everybody except his late wife) who gets to know... and eventually like... his Hmong neighbors. This Hmong family clashes with an Asian gang, and Walt (Eastwood's character) gets involved. It's sort of silly to think of a 78-year-old man being an action hero, but with Clint Eastwood, not only does he deliver, but he sure is scary. His words and menacing eyes can make anyone pee in their pants.

One small detail included in the movie that many people will not get is the tattoo of one of the Hmong gangsters. Two Chinese characters for "family" is written proudly across his chest. Another member kept using their blood lines as an excuse to get Walt's neighber, a teenage boy named Thao, to join their gang. After refusing to partake, this gang commits horrendous and unspeakable acts to their "family." It makes you think what does "family" really mean. Is it defined with a family tree? Is it defined with love for each other? Walt struggles with this throughout the movie...

This film kept my attention from beginning to end. The dialog is hysterical, particularly the racist bits. The story and the lives of these people seem so real. It deals with family, honor, violence, vengeance, love, life and death... I don't want to give anything away so will stop here. Just wanna say, this movie gets ***** (five stars). :) It is so awesome.

Moonlight Resonance

I've always been a huge fan of Chinese soaps. Moonlight Resonance is my latest addiction. This 40 chapter masterpiece at 40 minutes a chapter offers hours and hours and hours of mouth-dropping drama, humor, suspense... everything!!! I'm already dreading the final chapter. Once it's over, I will be suffering from major withdrawal. In the meantime though, this is the best thing ever!

P.S. I Love You

Spread the word! Josephine has a new favorite movie! And the honor goes tooooooo... P.S. I Love You.

Yes, this is a chick flick, but it doesn't have your typical ditz playing the leading role. It's Hilary Swank. C'mon. And the leading man is Gerard Butler. Remember King Leonidas from 300? The man's man? Yup, that's him!

I really loved Hilary Swank's character, Holly. She was so flawed and imperfect. She was so real and lovable. And Gerry (Gerard Butler) was such a lovable character too! And he's not bad looking. :) I'm not going to say anything about the storyline because I knew nothing about the movie before watching it. Maybe that made it better? But I cried 10+ times during, and even while talking about it later on, I continued crying! What is it about these crying movies that make me love them so?!

So if you have nothing to do, please go rent or buy P.S. I Love You. It may entice you a little more to know that my male boss (who is not gay) cried a couple times while watching as well. :) I can't wait to watch it again! I love love love this movie.