New Moon: My Movie Review
I watched New Moon with my girl friend this past weekend. We talk about the books that we read and the movies that we watch but this is the first time we ever went to the movies together. It was nice.
I like New Moon. And I love Taylor Lautner as Jacob Black. He’s cute, he’s hot and “he’s sort of beautiful.” 🙂 Now I find Taylor more appealing than Robert Pattinson. I apologize to Rob’s fans. Not that I don’t like him. But just look at the bulked up, dark and smiling Jacob and then turn to the pale, slender, and always brooding Edward Cullen. Don’t you just want to turn your eyes to Jacob again?
Robert is a lot more good looking without the pale Edward make-up and the restrained look. I’ve seen him on The Ellen Degeneres Show and yes, I did find him appealing on that interview. He was smiling and laughing and he’s sort of humble. And I like that kind of personality in a person, celebrity or not.
In New Moon, Edward left Bella. Heartbroken, she turns to Jacob for comfort. The movie stayed pretty close to the book, although there were a few changes and they weren’t that bad. As usual, it’s exciting to see the characters that we’ve only read about in the books, like the werewolves and the Volturi.
The movie is better than Twilight, as I hoped it would be. I’ve read a movie review of New Moon where the critic had a problem with the acting. It was flat, he said. I don’t even know what that means. I’ll have to look it up. How are teenagers supposed to act anyway? The acting was okay for me.
The only thing that I wish they could have done better was the transformation of the werewolves. One second, Paul and Jacob are human, and the next, they’re werewolves. The special effects are great, but I just wish that they could have shown how they have transformed a little bit slowly so we could see maybe at least a close up of the face changing into that of a wolf’s. After all, this is the first time we see them transform.
But overall, I like New Moon. Can’t wait to see Eclipse. And did I hear it right? It’s going to be shown in June? Only seven more months.
Watching Indiana Jones
Warning: Long post, but NO spoilers on The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
When I was a little girl, I was never interested in adventure films. It was only after having boys that I got to experience this kind of films and stories. It was my oldest son Reggie who introduced me to Harry Potter. He was the one who got me to watch Star Wars and Indiana Jones.
I was glad when I learned last year that they were making a fourth Indiana Jones movie. And I got all excited when the opening of The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull neared. There I found myself again doing an Indy movie marathon. The Indy theme song has been playing in my head ever since.
And today my boys and I watched Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. It’s good to see Dr. Jones again. But it was kind of weird for me. Because I was just watching the first three movies last week and Harrison Ford was so young and fresh in those movies. And here I’m watching him on the big screen in his 60s with gray hair and lines on his face. He still looks good though. I’ve read that he kept fit all these years since there had been plans of doing a fourth Indy film. Well anyway, as Harrison Ford said, Indy’s appeal is not his youth, but his imagination and resourcefulness, his ability to get out of tight situations.
I’ll try not to give out any spoilers but I enjoyed this film just as I did the first three ones. I wasn’t blown away but I think it was still a good movie. It was a thrilling adventure film with the exciting car chases, things blowing off, a temple crumbling down and of course the supernatural element. Indiana Jones is back with his fedora and whip. I didn’t see much whip cracking though. And it was young Mutt Williams, played by Shia Lebeouf, who did much of the hanging and swinging in the jungle. Indy’s love interest in the first movie is also back, Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen), now Marion Williams.
Before I am tempted to reveal anymore, let me share with you some trivia that I gathered about the Indiana Jones movies.
While they were both vacationing in Maui after the success of Star Wars, Spielberg told Lucas that he wanted to direct a James Bond movie. But Lucas told him that he already had something in mind, something better than James Bond, which he called The Raiders of the Lost Ark. It was about a character named Indiana Jones who is an archeologist who goes around the world looking for antiquities.
At first, Lucas wanted to cast a fresh face so as not to be identified with any project. Tom Selleck was initially cast as Indiana Jones, but he already had a contract for a TV series, Magnum P.I. Spielberg suggested Harrison Ford.
Harrison Ford did as much stunts as he could in the first three movies and even in the fourth film.
Karen Allen was cast as Marion Ravenwood because she was spunky and had a devilish smile like that of Ford’s.
Lucas and Spielberg wanted the series to be about a treasure hunt of mystical objects. They wrote the Nazis in the first movie because they thought that the Nazis were the personification of evil. Also, Hitler was possessed with supernatural artifacts.
In the first movie, Indiana Jones and The Raiders of the Lost Ark, we learned that Indiana was afraid of snakes when he found a snake in the helicopter. And it made me laugh when the pilot said, “That’s my pet snake Reggie.” Well, that is my oldest son’s name, too. And how funny it is that Indy had to encounter 9,000 snakes later on in the Well of Souls. By the way, there’s also a snake in The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. And yes, Indy’s still afraid of snakes.
The second movie, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, is actually a prequel to the first movie. Lucas wanted to give a backstory to the first one.
In the first movie, the female lead was very tough, very strong and very independent. Lucas didn’t want to repeat that character. And so enters Willie Scott, less self-confident, a spoiled brat, a prima donna, and not at home with the outdoors. Spielberg cast Kate Capshaw. But Lucas wanted a blonde this time, so Kate had to bleach her hair. And did you know that Spielberg later on married Kate?
The name of the Shanghai nightclub in the opening of The Temple of Doom is Club Obi Wan, as in Obi Wan Kenobi from Star Wars. I couldn’t help but smile today when I was watching The Kingdom of Crystal Skull and I heard Indy say, “I have a bad feeling about this.” This line has been mentioned in all the six Star Wars movies.
When they were planning the third movie, Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade, they thought that it would be the final installment in the Indiana Jones series. They struggled on how to make it different. They wanted Indy to go after an antiquity rarer than the Shankara Stones or the lost Ark of the Covenant. He was going to go after his father. That was going to be his rescue mission, the antiquity that he retrieves.
They also wanted the third movie to be lighter than The Temple of Doom. And the father-son theme brought humor to this one. The third movie’s my favourite of all in the series, by the way.
Who would they cast as Indy’s father? Who could intimidate Harrison Ford? Since the James Bond film was the father of the Indy movies, who better to play Indy’s father than James Bond himself, Mr. Sean Connery. At first Connery didn’t want to play the part. Because he’s only twelve years older than Ford.
The actor who played young Indy in the third movie was River Phoenix of Stand By Me. He was such a promising actor who died at a young age of 23 due to a drug overdose. He was the older brother of Joaquin Phoenix (of Gladiators and Walk the Line), who once called himself Leaf because he wanted to have a nature-related name like his brother, River, and sisters, Rain and Summer. Their parents were missionaries.
Indiana Jones was named after the family dog. Indiana was also the name of Lucas’ dog. We learned in the third film that Indiana Jones’ real name is Henry Jones, Jr. In the fourth film, he was referred to more often as Henry than Indy.
There were snakes in the first movie, bugs in the second, what else was left for the third movie? Spielberg thought that the viewers would be looking for the equivalent of the snakes and bugs. So they came up with rats. And did you know that Harrison Ford was not actually afraid of snakes? And that he raised lab rats when he was 16 years old? So he wasn’t really put off by them. What did they have then in the fourth movie? You’ll just have to go and find out.
Blood Diamond
The story is set in the 1990s during the Civil War in Sierra Leone and it centers around this rare pink diamond that Solomon Vandy (Djimon Hounsou), a fisherman, found while he was captured by the rebels and was forced to work in the diamond fields. While he is in prison, Danny Archer (Leonardo DiCaprio), a smuggler, learns that Solomon has hidden this stone. Later on they join in a quest to recover the diamond with Danny promising Solomon that he’d help find his son who has been captured by the rebels. With the help of Maddy Bowen (Jennifer Connely ), the American journalist, they trekked through rebel territory.
I don’t usually watch action films but this one stars Leo. And you guessed it right. A Leo fan here. I watched him the very first time he appeared in the hit show Growing Pains and I just fell in love with him. I thought I’d check out this movie because he was nominated for an Oscar and lost to Forest Whitaker. I mentioned this in my comment on Wil’s post The Last King of Scotland, and there were a couple of people who reacted on my comment. Anyway, it’s all good. 🙂 We all have our reasons for wanting to watch certain actors and films. And from Wil’s description of the disturbing scenes in Scotland, I don’t think that I’ll be watching it. Sorry, Wil.
Blood Diamond also portrays how the children are trained to be soldiers and kill people, even their family. I was deeply touched by that scene when Dia, Solomon’s son, has the gun pointed at his father and Solomon tries to talk to him telling him he is a good boy and that he loves soccer and school and he is sorry that these men made him do bad things and that his mother and sister are waiting for him back home. And that he loves him. And tears are falling on their cheeks. Ah, it’s so heartbreaking.
I think both Leo and Djimon gave very good and intense performances in this film. I also like the way it ended.
My favourite quote (And I’m sorry if I offend anybody with this):
“Well, off the record, I want to get kissed before I get fucked.”
Don’t we all? 🙂 And you expect to hear that line from a woman. But it was Leo who said that, in his South African accent.
Reading and Watching Harry Potter
Warning: Spoilers ahead. If you haven’t read the fifth, sixth and seventh Harry Potter books and you are like me who hate spoilers and have avoided the words Harry, Potter, Deathly, Hallows and spoilers in the internet in the last few weeks, then turn away now and click on the back button or go to the next blog on your list.
I have been on a Potter-a-thon for the last six weeks. Whatever do I mean by that? Well, I have wanted to re-read Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix before I watched the movie. So I was glad to have been able to do than once the kids were off from school. Because really, it’s only in the summer when I can have enough free time to catch up with my books, DVDs, cleaning up and organizing the house, etc. But I am a slow reader, and unlike my niece who read the Order of the Phoenix in only two days, it took me a few weeks to finish Phoenix. When I asked her, “How do you people do that? I can only read one chapter a night.” She replied, “Well, that’s what I did the whole two days, Tita. I have only been reading the book.” Of course, she wasn’t working, at least on those two days, and she doesn’t have her own kids to look after. So please tell me, whoever is reading this. Is it only people who have don’t have kids who could read a book that quick? Because I can’t imagine any other parents, or at least mothers, who could just lock themselves up in a room to finish a book overnight or over a few days and ignore their small children.
Watching Spiderman 3 on Mother’s Day
Don’t worry. There are no spoilers here.
I wanted to wait til next week (long week-end) to see Spiderman 3, but my 12-year old son, Ryan, wanted to watch it now. Most of his friends at school have already seen it and I guess he couldn’t wait to tell them what he thinks about it. My nine-year old, Ryland, was also excited to see it and so was I. I was so intrigued by this Venom character and the black Spiderman suit. I wasn’t sure if my 17-year old, Reggie, wanted to come with us, but he did.
So we agreed to watch it today. And since it’s Mother’s Day, I thought that it’s a nice way to spend the day out with the kids. I did ask their dad if he wanted to come, “Naku, wala akong hilig manuod ng sine,” was his reply as usual. He didn’t want to go.
I looked at the entertainment section of the paper last night to check the show times at the Famous Players at Kildonan Place. 11:40 am, 12:00 noon, 3:00 pm, etc. Why not go at the earlier showing? I thought. This way, we’d also be done early and we could still do some of our Sunday chores and relax a bit after.
The Day After Tomorrow
The Day After Tomorrow shows us to the possible effects of global warming. Drastic changes in temperature, tornadoes that flatten L.A., a tidal wave that engulfs New York, abrupt coldness in the Northern Hemisphere where everything turned solid and nobody could survive outside. You’d freeze to death.
Climatologist Jack Hall (Dennis Quaid) tried to warn the president who wouldn’t listen to him. And inspite of the dangers waiting for him, Jack set out to get his teen-age son, Sam (Jake Gyllenhaal), who was stuck in a Public Library in New York, together with a few friends and survivors. Jack warned him to stay inside. And he followed his father’s instructions.
Cool spectacular effects.
Superman brings me back in time
“Oh look guys, it’s Superman!” I was so giddy. My kids must be wondering why I was acting like a child when I first saw the Superman action figures at Superstore about two weeks ago.
I grew up with the Superman movies and Superman has become a part of my childhood.
I was in High School when the first movie came out. I can’t remember exactly my movie experience but I remember explaining to my cousin Meann, who was four years younger than me, how Superman turned back time to save Lois from the San Francisco earthquake. She couldn’t grasp it yet at that time. She was still in grade school.
Everything Is Illuminated
Everything is Illuminated is about Jonathan Safran Foer (Elijah Wood), a Jewish American who sets out to the Ukraine to search for “dead family,” Augustine, the person who his grandfather said saved him during World War II. Jonathan is not your usual kind of guy. He wears these big thick glasses and he collects things, family things. “I collect them because sometimes I think I’ll forget,” he explains to Alex.
Alexander Perchov (Eugene Hutz) is the grandson of Jonathan’s tour guide in Ukraine and is his translator, whose butchered English made this movie very funny. He keeps referring to Jonathan as Jonfen. Alex was named after his father who was named after his grandfather. They brought with them their dog, Sammy Davis Jr. Jr. on this “very rigid search.”
Here are just some of my favourite quotes from the movie:
Forgive my speaking of English, Jonfen, for it is not premium.
Many girls want to be carnal with me because I am a very premium person.
Why would he not eat meat? Because he is deranged.
I’m worried, Jonfen. My grandfather seems to be dreaming even if he is not in repose.
I have a phobia with dogs. I am distressed by dogs.
I am beginning to like road trip movies such as this one, where the main character sets out to search for one thing and ends up finding out more than he expected. Let me borrow Alex’s words, “Everything is illuminated in the light of the past.”
My Movie Room 