Random Snapshots From A Moving Train

Friday Night Escape

Things were pretty tough at work and at the end of my shift this morning, I immediately looked up movies to see at the theaters. Still bleary-eyed, tired and feeling mildly aggravated, I chose War of the Worlds and Batman Begins. Yep, two movies! That's how much I needed an escape from the real world that I can will myself to sit on an uncomfortable chair in the dark for 4-5 hours. My husband was amused about the "plan" but clearly understood why. He saw me come home looking very exhausted and frustrated for the past two days. Also, this is not unusual for me to go to the movies by myself and see more than one. The most I've seen in one day (in a theater) was three. I even brought some food (Chipotle soft tacos with barbacoa) to tide me over in between movies. Didn't I say I am a movie fanatic?

First on the list: War of the Worlds. Steven Spielberg's new film of H.G. Wells' science fiction classic "War of the Worlds" took us on a wild journey. A pop entertainment packed to the brim with astounding effects and near-non-stop action and suspense -- and laced with painful undercurrents, including numbing portrayals of social collapse and chilling references to 9/11. In the movie, Tom Cruise, as Ray Ferrier, is sent through one blood-chilling roller-coaster ride after another, chased toward Boston by monsters from space in huge tripod walking machines that lay waste to much of the planet. Pulling along little daughter Rachel (the prodigious Dakota Fanning), and rebellious son Robbie (Justin Chatwin) from one horrific chase to the next, Ray runs through a landscape turned into a chaos of fleeing citizens, outmatched military and one loony survivalist named Ogilvy -- played by Tim Robbins.

I thought it was a well made movie although I understood why some people were not as pleased because it's a big-bucks project that follows surefire formulas and because Cruise is a superstar of movies, tabloids and weird TV stunts. That doesn't matter; the movie works on its own terms. As a horror-adventure science fiction spectacular, it delivers the goods. But it's not the world-beater it could have been; it definitely wins its battle, but not the war.

Next stop: Batman Begins. In this movie, which re-ignites the bat-saga, Christian Bale is the new face of the bat-guy and his secret identity Bruce Wayne. Bale's is a grimmer, tauter, more serious face. He's a wounded man hell-bent on revenge against the evil world that slaughtered his parents and scarred him. It's a violent portrait of a revenge-driven, two-faced hero -- frivolous playboy socialite Bruce Wayne by day and masked crime-fighter Batman by night -- waging pathological warfare against the criminals who have turned Gotham City into hell on Earth.

The movie was able to mix the drama and revenge motifs with light hearted gags and comic book allusions, including a barrage of arch cracks and takes from Michael Caine as Wayne's unflappable butler, Alfred. With Jeeves-like omnipotence, Caine's Alfred guides his master through introductions of the Batcave, the Bat-signal and the Batmobile. Caine also heads a stellar troupe of Bat allies that include Neeson's iron-hard but ambivalent Ducard, Katie Holmes as idealist love interest Rachel Dawes, Gary Oldman in a rare good-guy turn as Jim Gordon and this movie's equivalent for gadget-master Q of the James Bond series, Morgan Freeman as wry-faced Lucius Fox.

Overall, I think it was a very entertaining movie . I just wished that Kenny was able to see it with me as he would surely appreciate the samurai education sequence set in Iceland -- one part "Kung Fu" and two parts "Kill Bill"-- which taught and tested young Bruce, setting him on the road to glory and infamy as Gotham's caped crimebuster.

Well, I was going for a third movie, The Island, but by then, my husband would already be at home and wondering if I had fallen asleep in the theater or drove into a ditch. I had a great time and was able to escape the realities of life and work for a few precious hours. Hmmm... maybe I could drop by at Blockbuster tonight and check out some movies to take home.

Movies... Seen and Remembered

It's been a while since we went to see a movie. We were initially planning to see "War of the Worlds" but upon a friend's discouragement, we opted to see " Charlie and the Chocolate Factory " instead. I just saw the original movie starring Gene Wilder a couple months ago so I was interested to see how this remake will turn out. This year's summer movies were mostly disappointing especially the sequels and remakes so we were hoping  this movie will be worth seeing.

The critics were right for once about this movie. Director Tim Burton's version of writer Roald Dahl's 1964 children's classic is almost everything you'd want it to be: a story delightfully imagined by Dahl and lushly realized by Burton. It's full of witty or awesome scenes, flights of fancy and characters either totally, lovably sweet or outrageously, humorously rotten. And let's not forget Johnny Depp's performance. He plays Wonka like a man-child, brilliant and petulant, always in control but only because he owns everything in sight. Depp's line readings are disarmingly twisted and unexpected; he bends phrases, just as Wonka springs traps and double meanings. Also, the movie went more in-depth on the characters, especially Willy Wonka's. What I would have liked retained were the Oompa-Loompas' original tunes. Kenny told me that as a kid, the diminutive character's singing scared him but it was memorable as well. He gave me a pretty funny rendition of the Oompa-Loompa song.

As I mentioned, I just recently saw the original version of the movie. I didn't have a recollection of seeing this movie when I was a kid so I assumed that it was never shown in the Philippines. I was informed otherwise. Apparently, Mariah saw this movie back then in the Phils and was also frightened by it. I figured my parents thought it wasn't an appropriate movie for us but having seen it as an adult, I didn't see what the deal was. The Oompa-Loompas were rather adorable. 

Speaking of movies we saw as kids, I remembered the first one I ever saw in the theaters was " Oh, God" starring George Burns, followed by "The Sound of Music", my all-time favorite. Most of my childhood movie experience were saturated with Jackie Chan flicks and "Star Wars" episodes. No kissing scenes was the biggest rule in selecting movies for us to watch. It wasn't until I got to high school when I finally had some variety and I went crazy . I became the biggest movie fan ever and still continues to be.

The Final Cut

It has been an exhausting day doing house chores and packing up for the trip. We also have to prepare for dinner tomorrow for Father's Day. Kenny's sister suggested for us to host it. We'll just have steak and stuff but it'll be fun to hang out at the patio deck. If only the view is scenic... oh, well!

I spoke with Mariah on the phone and she has been busy packing up too but getting worried that Tom has not done much yet. He posits that there's still 2 more days to go. Sheeeshhhh!!! I guess Mariah will have to take matters into her own hands and get into his closets. Also, it seems like she has a lot more items to pack up. Her aunt asked her to bring some "pasalubong" for the family in her behalf. I suppose there's a discussion with Tom about this which didn't sit well with Mariah who is having a case of PMS. He still has to grasp the concept of "pasalubong" and "balikbayan" boxes and questions the logic of it. Kenny just advised Tom to do what she asks and roll with it and assured him it's just part of the occupational hazards of being with a Filipina ;-) I'm sure Tom will learn plenty about the culture once he gets to the Philippines soon.

We finally got to relax and decided to stay in for the night. We watched the movie" The Final Cut" starring Robin Williams. He plays an expert "cutter" who's in demand for his ability to distill anyone's lifetime into a feature-length film that highlights the better side of anyone's nature. His profession is made possible by the "Zoe" chip, a prenatal brain implant capable of recording a person's lifetime. Post mortem, these memories are removed and edited into a reel depicting the life of the departed for a commemorative ceremony, called a Rememory. The story forces us to question the power of our memories and the sanctity of our privacy. It's an interesting premise but it didn't go anywhere that made me sit up and say "Way cool!". It didn't help that the cinematography was moody and joyless - dark rooms, dark streets, and dark buildings. Nevertheless, it's a good rental DVD when the computer is down and you can't surf the Web using "depression" as your search engine key word.