23 posts tagged “movies”

I'm not really looking forward to the next week..at all. In fact I've been putting it out of my mind and hoping that I'll just wake up on Friday, next Friday not tomorrow. I am pretty much a bundle of nerves...anxiety...meh. I get to see The Princess and the Frog tomorrow night with my sissy though..

Christa

I am going to preface this by saying that I am going to spoil this movie (2012) in the following paragraphs and so if you’re the sort of person that doesn’t like that happening to you then you should stop reading when I tell you to! But if you've seen one Roland Emmerich movie then I'm pretty sure you know how the movie will play out.

I went to see 2012 with my cousin and I was not dragged. I willingly went and saw it and actually I can give you a little preface on the whole thing.

First Zack told me about it and I saw the teaser trailer where not much happens except destruction and a lot of black and 2012 coming soon. And I thought yeah there’s action so I’ll go see it.

Second I saw another teaser trailer with just a little bit more and I thought to myself that I would still go see it but I don’t know if I would race to theater to see it.

Third I saw the actual trailer where you get to see who’s starring in it because before I never paid attention to it and this was my reaction “OMG JOHN CUSACK IS IN THIS?!?! OMG I must go see this! I will be there opening weekend!”

Alright now that we’ve established that I love John Cusack and will simply be biased about anything from here on out you might want to skip this review altogether! No just kidding read it because I might be making fun of 2012! Although I totally think everyone should go see it because it’s so bad that it’s really good! Worth that 10 bucks (well in my case 7.25 since I went to the matinee.)

This is where you should stop reading!

This film was directed by Roland Emmerich who directed such films as Independence Day which is FREAKIN awesome and you know possibly one of the best action movies of my time. You just can’t go wrong with Will Smith beating up aliens and stuff. Then he moved on to direct such films as The Day After Tomorrow which I think I was some how tricked in to seeing because ID4 was so awesome that I thought that you know he could do it again! I think maybe The Day After Tomorrow’s only real redeeming quality is that Jake Gyllenhaal is in it which is why it has a place in my DVD collection and well I kind of liked it. Kind of…

Moving on…

So is it me or does every single Roland Emmerich “The earth is in terrible peril” movie kind of have the same story line? I don’t know if that last sentence really made sense but here’s the thing they all have the same story line! You see he starts out the movie with some catastrophic event that some scientist finds out about and has to go tell the world and at first the person he wants to tell doesn’t want to listen to him and then he does! Then he’s like you better get ready because you are about to meet the president! Then switches to a scene with the president telling other countries that the world is coming to an end in so many years! ONLY the scientist guy got it WRONG! It turns out you only have like 30 minutes to prepare for whatever is inevitable. Well ok I’m exaggerating there were a couple of years where they obviously had to prepare for the end of the world in this movie but the scientist still calculated wrong and they quickly have to alter things. Also there always seems to be a divorced couple that finds each other in the end again.

So basically the first few scenes is “omg the world is coming to an end because of some scientific stuff that I can’t even go in to” and it basically takes forever to get to scenes with John Cusack (yay!). John Cusack is a divorced father of two who hates the guy his ex-wife is dating and his son is basically angry at him. Also his daughter has a thing for hats which I think is suppose to serve for some comic relief for something that happens later on in the movie when LA is falling in to the ocean. Anyways John(YAY!) or Jackson takes his kids on a camping trip that ultimately will be cut short because Amanda Peet’s character wants him to bring them home immediately due to the fact that she was in the grocery store when a major earth quake happened that split it in half. Sorry about that run on sentence! While they are on this camping trip they meet Woody Harrelson who of course plays this crazy character and Jackson finds out all this conspiracy type stuff that’s going on and how the end of the world is near and that these giant “ships” are being built but you have to have lots of money to get on them! Also Woody Harrelson’s character likes pickles just throwing that out there.

So Jackson (YAY!) brings his kids back and then it turns out he is a limo driver for some Russian rich guy and finds out that this rich guy is actually going to get on the “ship”. Oh and you know basically LA is about to become nothing and that’s pretty much what happens for the next few scenes. Jackson some how manages to get a plane and rescues his kids, Amanda peet and the boyfriend (Gordon) and they make it to the air port just in time only the pilot is dead! But that’s ok because Gordon knows how to fly a plane or just barely I guess which also serves as some comic relief. For whatever reason they are unable to really get the plane in the air so they have to fly through all the tumbling buildings and blah blah blah. My cousin had to make a comment about it to which I told her to be quiet because a.)John Cusack(YAY!) is in this movie and b.) I love action and all I could think about was how good this would look on blu-ray!

Sooo after all that they go back to get the map from crazy Woody Harrelson who doesn’t want to go with them and wants to die while watching the world come to an end and die he does. But the catch is the ships are in China! They have to get a bigger plane! Turns out they run in to Jackson’s (YAY!) Russian boss and then they have a plane! Only they need a co-pilot but that’s ok because Gordon knows how to fly a plane but not really! Also Gordon is a plastic surgeon and did the Russian boss’s girlfriend’s(who I will now call RBG) boobs so they know each other. RBG is really nice and apparently was having an affair with some other guy and so when they finally make it to China ,and not without a lot of trouble either, Russian boss ditches them all but he doesn’t make it on the ships anyways.

Well whatever Jackson(YAY!) and Co. plus RBG and RBG’s dog some how make it to the ships that turn out to be not space ships but arks. They sneak on to the ships with some help only a lot of stuff happens and you know they almost don’t make it and basically I’m getting tired of writing everything that happens in this movie because it was 2 hours 38 minutes! Which actually it didn’t feel that long since enough was going on that I was entertained! But they almost don’t make it..well RBG doesn’t make it and neither does Gordon. Which come on that’s just not fair! All Gordon wanted was a family and to be happy and thought Jackson(YAY!) was so lucky! But Gordon had to die obviously so that Jackson and Amanda Peet could find each other again and the family could live happily ever after!

On a side note there are a lot of other scenes I’m not mentioning like the President dieing in a huge Tsunami wave because he insisted on staying behind rather then going to the ships with everyone else. There is also a lot of other around the world scenes where the world is coming to an end and more science guy scenes as well. 

And lastly as my cousin says the whole world meets its end except for the thing that is meant to save them. That some how manages to make it through it all and they set sail for Africa because of course there is still land for people to populate.

Now what did I learn from this movie?  That if I’m not rich then I sure as heck better go to Yellowstone and meet some crazy Wood Harrelson type character to tell me about said “ships” so that I can make my way to China. That or find John Cusack(YAY!) because I’m certain he’ll know what to do!

I'm doing my own project where I watch all my comfort movies before I go back to school at the end of August, which I'll be really busy sadly since I have to take four classes on top of a correspondence class. Should be interesting but on the plus side hopefully (fingers crossed) I'll be graduating in December!

The reason I started this project is because I'm pretty sure I'm going through a bout of depression right now and I need something to take my mind off it. I've been reading to but somehow movies have always been really comforting to me. So the first movie I decided to watch is Finding Nemo:

The Art of Finding Nemo

Mark Cotta Vaz

I saw this movie a few times in the theater and I loved it each time. I remember the first time I saw it, the part where Dory thinks she can speak whale just pretty much had me rolling in laughter. I still find the movie enjoyable and funny which is why it is a comfort movie for me. This movie reminds me of living in the condo with Summer and Chris. I use to sleep with my window open there because we were upstairs and my room was in the part that was gated off. My room had a little window seat that I use to like to sit in with pillows and read. I also would set my lap top up on it. There was one night that I was watching Finding Nemo on my lap top making screen captures when Summer came in and we ended up watching it all together with Kyle and his now ex-girlfriend. This for some reason really sticks out in my mind as a comforting night.

Another memory of this movie is that I went to Washington the summer it came out and two times Jennie and I tried to go see it. The first time we went we just ended up being to late and we saw something else. The second time we brought my other cousin Jay with me and it was opening day for Pirates of the Caribbean. So while we were waiting in line I turned to Jennie and said “I really want to see Pirates of the Caribbean”. To which she said “me to” and then we asked Jay if it was alright if we went to see it instead, and so we did, which was worth it btw. Finally we got to go see it together and so I associate this movie with that time to. Just getting to be with my family and friends is a real comfort to me.

I like to watch Romantic Comedies/Chick Flicks when either I am depressed or sick. I don’t know why but they are most comforting to me so here are the top ten movies that I like to watch. It’s actually changed over the years…if you’d asked me 10 years ago what they were I’m sure the list would be very different. Also I picked from my own collection so there isn’t anything on the list that I don’t own.

Before I start I’m going to say that I’m leaving out The Notebook, which is probably the ultimate girl movie since Dirty Dancing. While I love The Notebook I just don’t watch it when I’m down because I end up just crying all over myself through the last 15 or 20 minutes of the movie and probably a couple times before that.

Here they are in no particular order

Fever Pitch – I can’t really explain why I love this movie so much. I’m not a huge Jimmy Fallon fan or anything but I do like Drew Barrymore. I pretty much like everything Drew is in with the exception of that world poker movie…I don’t know what it’s called but it was pretty boring. I don’t even care about baseball but I just love this movie. There are so many good lines like “You love the red sox but have they ever loved you back?”  I also think this is one of those stories in which the girl ends up with a guy that she never saw coming.

Legally Blonde – I have pretty much loved this movie since the first time I saw it. I was working at blockbuster when it came out, and I could get the movies a week before they were released to the public. I don’t know if they did this so that we could talk about whether they were good or not but I wasn’t complaining. I bought it on VHS as Previously Reviewed because that was back in the day that I didn’t own a DVD player.* This is one of those movies that I have watched back to back. It also is what made me really like Reese Witherspoon (well I think maybe Cruel Intentions helped). It just has the right amount of comedy to make me feel better about myself. Plus there were a few lines that I really liked in it like when she is talking about getting to Harvard and she says “What like it’s hard?” I should mention here that I don’t like the second one as much and the bend and flip scene kind of makes me cringe.

America’s Sweethearts – This has Julia Roberts, John Cusack and flash back scenes. What more could you ask for? Plus they’re flash back scenes of Julia Roberts in a fat suit which is hard to imagine.
 
Enchanted – I can’t really begin to describe why I like this movie so much but there is one scene where I love Giselle’s dress. It’s the first dress that she makes out of his curtains. I also like all the songs and Patrick Dempsy is in it. This is one of those movies that even though I own I will watch it when it’s on cable as well as the DVD. I also usually bring it on vacations.

Made of Honor – I haven’t decided why I like this one so much yet since it’s newly added. I realize it’s another Patrick Dempsy movie and the first half of the movie I am like You are idiot because he has this beautiful girl that clearly was in love with him already.

Runaway Bride – I relate to Julia in this movie. My mom always says that about me to. That is why I like this movie plus the majority of my favorite girly movies use to star Julia Roberts. Not so much anymore obviously but this one does still live on in my top ten favorite. 

Never Been Kissed – More flashback scenes! Plus it’s so funny and David Arquette  is in it, he’s married to Courtney Cox who plays Monica on Friends, who happens to be my TV doppelganger* .

You’ve Got Mail – This is another movie that has been on my list for quite some time. Actually in my house Tom Hanks is considered possibly one of the best stars along with Michael J. Fox…no really. I think Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan have excellent chemistry with each other and it totally makes the movie worth watching five billion times.

Twilight – I know this probably isn’t considered a romantic comedy but possibly a dramady…whatever it is a chick flick. I love this movie so much that I have now seen it enough to quote it or say the lines before they happen while watching. And confession I absolutely hated the baseball scene in the book. I was cringing at the thought of having to watch it on the movie but it turns out that movie did a really good job with it.  Also about 15 minutes in to the movie when I first saw it I was afraid it was going to be terrible but all of sudden I lost track of time and have loved it ever since. So that is why it makes it’s way on to this list.

The Wedding Planner – A long time ago there were a few lines in this movie that always got to me. One of them was when she thought she just wasn’t enough and then Mathew Mcconwhatever tells her that she is. Then the other one was have you ever loved someone but the timeing was off…way off. Actually to this day that line still gets me.
 

*Which side note my brother and I seriously had a conversation with my niece about how “we didn’t have DVDs back when we were little, and we had to record movies off the TV…and we didn’t even have CDs! We had walkmans and tapes!”. Seriously I dated myself with my niece I swore that would never happen!

*Actually I have two of these as Felicity Porter is also my TV doppelganger. Also Friends happens to be something that I watch when I’m feeling down, it never fails to make me laugh.

I'm done with finals week, except now I have turn around and go to summer school on Monday..bummer.

Except that once I'm done with summer school I get to go to Washington to be with my Grandma and my cousins for a whole month. A WHOLE month...all my friends here aren't really a fan of this me being gone a whole month but you see..I am! So it's always so hard for me to act all sad about it because while I'll miss them terribly, mostly just Oliver j/k, I'm still pretty excited about going.

I haven't updated in awhile because I've been to busy with studying and that is pretty much all I did the past couple of weeks. That and get over being sick...I had that flu for two weeks! But I got to Wolverine, which I loved, and I read Vanishing Acts by Jodi Picoult. And so far I have earned two A's(human sexuality and policy and law), not sure yet on the other two grades. Probably a B in abnormal pscyh. and either an A or a B in my Psychology of Spirituality and Religion class.

So now I think I'm going to have happy hour with my mom and read The Hunger Games.

Max Payne: Max Payne is trying to get vengeance or revenge on the death of his family. I think I’m going to have to go with vengeance because dictionary.com says that it is a “Violent revenge”. I liked this movie for about an hour especially because Sucre was in it and I liked him….. for about an hour. Once that hour was up I got kind of bored and started surfing the internet.

Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist: I blind bought this movie but I’m glad I did. It’s one of those movies where a whole bunch of stuff happens in one night like Go. Although it was a lot better then Go and the music was really good, which actually I have the Go soundtrack and the music was good in it to. Nick and Norah are kind of pushed together to push out Nick’s ex-bitch (sorry there's no other way to describe her) of a girlfriend Tris. There is only one part that I was like cringing and felt the need to fast forward past but it was because I was so embarrassed for her, Tris that is. I know I was embarrassed for the ex-girlfriend! As a side note, I swear I know Tris or at least someone like her and actually looks kind of like her to.

Confessions of a Shopaholic: This movie is based off the book Confessions of A Shopaholic, which happens to be a book I love. I own all of them except Shopaholic and Sister because I was seriously poor when that one came out so I had to resort to getting it at the library. I’m not dissing the library here as I go there weekly* but usually I buy the books of authors that I love. But again I was poor, like so poor that I was buying food at McDonalds with change. Also because it was the first time the Shopaholic book came out in hardback my mom would not I repeat not help me out by buying it for me. Plus she is a strong advocate of the library.

WOW I just deviated from talking about the movie to my personal problems and my lack of funds. Ok so they really Americanized the book for the movie and it takes place in New York not in London. For some reason when I read the book I didn’t really pick up on the emotional implications of Becky’s shopping problems but I did in the movie. I was kind of annoyed because they changed Luke’s character a little bit as well as a lot of the plot but I still enjoyed and probably will be buying it.

So last night I went to the Gaslight Theater with Summer, Chris and Zack. The current show was The Ballad of Two-Gun McGraw. What they do is do spoof type plays that are hilarious. The Christmas one is often the Christmas Carol and the next show is Harley’s Angels., which I think I’m going to have to see because it starts around my birthday. I always say that I want to go but we often don’t end up going but this is something I might want to do…for my birthday. You can order dessert and food! I had a chocolate shake but for some reason I wasn’t very hungry last night and didn’t eat much of my dinner or of my chocolate shake, I suck.  They also bring the audience in to the play and when they mess up or adlib it’s very funny. ANYWAY I really enjoyed last nights, I hadn’t seen that one before (I have seen the Christmas Carol several times).

Today I’m going to see He’s Just Not That Into You with my mom so maybe I’ll discuss that later. I will not be discussing Wuthering Heights because that book angered me, I did not care for any of characters. I felt they were all self-indulged and self obsessed, Heathcliffe was among the worst. Ok so I did just kind of talk about it.

* This is probably an exaggeration

"You don't have to yell...this isn't a train station. We're in a tiny car."

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist

The Afterlife Experiments: Breakthrough Scientific Evidence of Life After Death

Gary E. Schwartz

"How can you prove to anyone that you love your husband, or wife, a child, a friend, a pet? Not by what you say-people often lie to protect themselves or others. Not by what you do-we all do some things because they're expected of us rather than because we truly want to do them.

What Reverand Joss was teaching Dr. Arroway was that there is no substitute for having the experience of love-or, for that matter, any other experience. One must ultimately have the experience for oneself. Everything else is indirect-a process of inference, of interpretation."

* I'm taking this class called Psychology of Relgion and Spirituality. My Professor is the author of this book and it is assigned reading for the class.

* Before that we had to read this book called Science of the Akashic Field...I'm not really sure  I know what I read in that book as most of it went over my head...sadly.

* However we had to watch this movied called What the Bleep Do We Know? and I found it very fascinating to say the least.