The Bucket List

I'm a big fan of Netflix, primarily because I'm lazy. I think I've stepped foot in Blockbuster once since I joined Netflix a couple years ago. Another plus is that you can keep the DVD as long as you want. They just won't send you a new one until you return the one you have. I've returned things the next day, and I've return things a month later. No one cares (except at about $9 a month, I really should watch at least 2 discs to make it worthwhile).

Yesterday I watched the Bucket List. I wanted to see it when it came out in the theaters earlier this year, but I was too busy at the time. A coworker confirmed that it's a good movie, he got it from Netflix a few weeks ago. I thought it was a good movie as well, and I'm not really sure why it didn't do better at the box office. Though I suspect it's because it's like a chick flick, except with guys starring in it.

A brief synopsis: two men, Edward (Jack Nicholson) and Carter (Morgan Freeman), are strangers sharing a hospital room and both are diagnosed with terminal cancer. Carter is making a "bucket list" - what to do before he "kicks the bucket." However, he actually starts this list before he gets the news that his cancer is terminal. Edward, a billionaire, really takes to the idea of the bucket list and urges Carter to join him to fulfill everything on the list. Money is no object.

To the dismay of Carter's wife, the two men take off around the world to fulfill some of the things on the list together, even though the items on the list were conceived individually. So Carter ends up doing some crazy things that are Edwards ideas, and vice versa. That's what adds humor to the movie.

I expected the movie to be extremely funny, based on the previews. And the funny parts were pretty funny, but it was also a very touching movie about friendship and dealing with death. Of course, part of it is dealing with death and making sure you'll have no regrets when your time comes.

The unlikely friendship developed between Carter, a mechanic, and Edward, a billionaire who happens to own the hospital they're in, adds to the depth of the movie. I was also very pleased to see Sean Hayes in the movie. He played Jack McFarland ("just Jack") in Will and Grace. I loved his character in W&G. He was good in the Bucket List too, although they probably could have made better use of him comically.

I thought this was a very good, multi-faceted movie. I would definitely watch it again. The DVD has a special feature that talks about a bucket list book, where celebrities wrote their own bucket lists. Proceeds from the book will go toward cancer research. I have to go look that up on Amazon. After seeing the movie, I want to create my own bucket list. You should too.

Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2

I have always loved movies. They're kind of therapeutic for me. It's kind of an escape from reality for a little while, and I really appreciate the artfulness of movies, no matter how good or bad they are. There is usually SOMETHING interesting in a movie, whether it be the plot, the characters, the special effects, the acting, or the setting.

Since my significant other (who from here on shall be referred to as "Hedgehog") is living on the other side of the world until sometime mid-2009, I have tried to thinking of things I really enjoy that I want to focus my time on. Movies are one of them. I decided I would try to see one movie each week, and I've done that for about the past 4 weeks. This week I decided on Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2.

I watched the first Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants on DVD, probably a year and a half after it was released in theaters. I didn't have a desire to see it when it first came out, but then I discovered Ugly Betty and started to love almost all things America Ferrera. If you are also an America Ferrera fan, watch Real Women Have Curves. I ended up really enjoying the first Sisterhood movie. Again, not Oscar material, but I thought it was a really great story about friendship (although it is really bizarre that the same pair of jeans would fit four women with drastically different body types and heights).

When I heard Sisterhood 2 was being made, I knew I'd see it because I liked the first one and I also wanted to see America Ferrera since I still have to wait another month and a half to see her on some new Ugly Betty episodes, but I didn't really have high expectations of the movie. I mean, what else could they do? The pants had already been all over the world in the first movie, which took place after the four girls graduated from high school. Now it's three years later. What have the pants been doing since?

For those of you who are not familiar with the story of the first movie, the four friends decide to rotate the pants in one week intervals and send it off to the next person with a note about what happened to them while the were wearing the pants. This goes on the whole summer, with the friends sharing their life-changing experiences with each other as the pants go from one friend to another. The pants are supposed to bind them together, no matter where they are.

Sisterhood 2 is predictably the same, since the pants still travel from one friend to another. But this time, the experiences of the friends are different and more mature, although they do have their childish moments. I suppose part of the movie is the transition of the women into adulthood where they have to deal with more adult situations, and being able to confront their emotions head-on rather than letting them stew. Besides having their own personal struggles, the women struggle with each other, trying to find a way to maintain their friendships with each other on top of the stuff they're dealing with personally.

Besides the story of friendship and personal revelations, I just enjoy the scenery in the movie. There are scenes in Vermont, Yale, New York, Turkey, and Greece. (Well, I'm not really sure it was really Turkey, but that's where Bee, the tall blonde one, was supposed to be!)

I kind of doubt many guys will like this movie, unless you're extremely in touch with your sensitive side, or you think the main characters are attractive. The majority of the people in the theater were women, with a few husbands and boyfriends who were probably reluctantly dragged along. But if you're a woman, and you're in the mood for a chick flick, give this one a chance.

The Dark Knight

Before I start with The Dark Knight, I have to say that I went to see Mamma Mia! again today, and I enjoyed it even more than I did the first time! It's just such a FUN movie. It's definitely something I will buy as soon as it comes out on DVD.

On to The Dark Knight. There was so much hype about this movie, I was almost afraid to see it. Sure, I was intrigued, and I thought Batman Begins was terrific. Heck, I even liked all the "other" Batman movies with everyone and their brother taking turns playing Batman. I've decided that almost anyone looks pretty darn good in that batsuit. But I've always been a sucker for Batman -- he's my favorite superhero, although Iron Man may rival him in my book. Especially if it's Robert Downey, Jr. playing him.

But, I digress...as I was saying, I was almost afraid to see it. I was looking forward to it for a really long time, and with Heath Ledger's passing the hype multiplied exponentially. THAT is what scared me. I started to think that the movie in no way would live up to expectations, especially with people talking about how it was Heath Ledger's best performance, that he was a genius, blah, blah, blah. I was beginning to convince myself that everyone was just saying that Heath was great in it. But you know what? They were right.

I subscribe to Entertainment Weekly magazine, mostly because it keeps me informed about movies, tv shows, music, and books that are out there. I read an article about Heath Ledger's performance in The Dark Knight, including how his look as the Joker was in-part created by him. He decided to see what it would look like if he just started smearing makeup all over his face. This gave him a darker, mad look than Jack Nicholson's precisely-painted look in the 1989 version of "Batman."

Heath's performance was a far cry from Brokeback Mountain, which is probably what makes him shine as an actor. I found myself "looking" for Heath Ledger in the Joker's face. But all I could see was the Joker. I really believed that he was pretty psycho. Some of the facial expressions and quirks were really amazing. The movie was worth seeing just for his performance alone. However, there was another actor who really impressed me in this movie, Aaron Eckhart, who played Harvey Dent, an Assistant District Attorney. I've seen him in other movies before like "No Reservations," but I really enjoyed his performance in The Dark Knight. I don't want to give away too much for those of you who haven't, but intend to, see it, but suffice it to say that something occurs in the movie that really allows him to stretch himself as an actor and makes him shine.

As far as the plot goes, it's pretty good. Maybe not stellar, and it's fairly typical of superhero movies, but I have to say that I was shocked at the turn of events in this movie. I am normally the type that is pretty good at guessing where things are going and anticipating surprises, but there are a couple of things that happened in this movie that really surprised me. I kept thinking, "no, that's not right, something's going to happen to turn this around." But it never did. So that element of surprise really added something for me.

The short synopsis is that Batman, played by Christian Bale who I think has the greatest looking Batman lips ever, is trying to stop the Joker from wreaking havoc on Gotham City. In the meantime, Batman is trying to figure out if he can trust the new assistant DA, Eckhart, who happens to be dating his former flame, Rachel Dawes (now played by Maggie Gyllenhaal -- Katie Holmes played this role in Batman Begins). So, predictably, there is also a love-triangle in this story as well.

And if you want to play a little game of Six Degrees of Separation: Maggie Gyllenhaal is the older sister of Jake Gyllenhaal, who was Heath Ledger's lover in Brokeback Mountain. Which, by the way, is a movie I didn't "get." Don't get me wrong, my views on same-sex relationships are very liberal, and I don't mind it being the topic of a movie, but whether it was two men, or a man and a woman, I still didn't get it, nor did I get what the big deal was about that movie. I was glad that "Crash" beat it and won the best picture award during the 2005 Oscars.

Once again, I'm getting sidetracked. Suffice it to say that this is a good movie and you should go see it. While I am more likely to watch Mamma Mia! over and over and over again, The Dark Knight definitely has a broader appeal and seeing Heath Ledger as the Joker is worth the price of admission alone.

Random Musings

Yeah, yeah, I know I owe my loyal readers, I think I'm up to 8 or 9 of you now, a bunch of reviews on a bunch of stuff. You don't even know what I owe you, because I've been keeping a mental list, but I feel like because it's in my mind it's a done deal...I owe you. I owe you reviews on the movies Kung Fu Panda, Get Smart (although I fell asleep thru some of the best parts -- but don't hold that against the movie), and most recently, the Dark Knight. I also plan on a bunch of food reviews: a second review of J.J.'s French Pastry and breakfast and Diamond Head Market and Grill.

But for now I just feel like babbling. Maybe if I babble a bit, I'll get all of the excess energy out of my system and be able to focus on finishing the reviews I owe you. So what is it I want to babble about? Well, all kinds of things really, which is probably why my mind is so cluttered.

A while back, I mentioned that my reunion is coming up. This weekend, in fact. Part of the fun of a reunion is not just the reunion itself, but all the things that come along with it like planning, and the "are you going?" stuff, as well as catching up with people you haven't seen or talked to in a while. The funny thing is, there are some people who you can not talk to for 5 or 10 years, yet you can pick up as if you just spoke with them yesterday. And I find this applies to all kinds of friends, from the super close ones you were friends with for years, to the ones you may have had a sort of short-term friendship with. Applying a timeline or term-limit to a friendship is really a misnomer. Although I have had one or two friendships that have been terminated for one reason or another, I really consider the majority of my friendships to have a life term.

Why am I getting all "deep" about this stuff? I guess every so often I really think about how important friendship is to me, and my reunion has led me to "renew" some of my friendships, long-distance and short-distance. So today, one of my long-distance friends who is visiting from the mainland and one of my short-distance friends and I spent the day driving around the island, which reminded me of what we used to do 15 or so years ago. While we were driving around, we pieced together what's going on with who, and reminisced about what teachers said when we were in 7th grade, the teachers we had in high school, and how we used to get into trouble in trigonometry class.

I only communicate with my long-distance friend maybe once a year. This visit was unusual since I recently saw her in November. And my short-distance friend, until earlier this month, I probably haven't seen or communicated with for maybe 3 or 5 years. Does that really matter? Really? No, not at all. Life goes in cycles. We all have lives. I don't hold it against anyone, and I hope they don't hold it against me. Friendships should be based on quality, and not the quantity of time spent. People have different philosophies on this...some people feel it's good to know lots of people and to constantly be surrounded by them. I probably know more people than I think I do, but I don't care about that. It's my oldest friends that I consider my closest, regardless of the cumulative amount of time I've spent with or communicated with them. Even though I've developed some pretty close friendship in my adult life, even the closest of those friendships do not hold the same bond that my older friendships from intermediate and high school days do.

Anyway, I'm getting too deep. So deep that I'm starting to confuse myself and my brain is starting to hurt. So let's talk about something to relieve the pressure on my brain, and yours too, if you're still reading.

So my short-distance friend has introduced me to his own blog, which has links to his friend's blogs. My blog is linked on his site now (thanks!). Sometime soon I'm going to revise this blog and will add links to other blogs as well. Anyway, so his friends have some really cool blogs! And likewise, his friends blogs have links to their friends blogs, which are also cool! One of the fun ones I spent a bunch of time on last night was about bentos. This girl has an obsession with creating festive and colorful bento. Some of you have probably seen e-mails going around with cutesie pictures of bento, and I suspect a lot of those pictures came from her site. Some of the other sites have stuff about food, weight loss, pregnancy, photography, and travel. All cool stuff! What I think is really cool is that I find myself enjoying reading about these people I don't even know. Their blogs are exemplary of them and their interests, and they are very skilled in conveying their thoughts, emotions, and opinions through their blogs in an entertaining and compelling way. I can only hope that someday my blog will emulate what so many other blogs have to offer.

In addition to my class reunion, this weekend I'm also getting together with some girls I worked with a LOOONNNGGG time ago at Bank of America. To give you an idea how long ago this was, I left that job in January 1998 -- yep, 10 years ago. I've been really lucky that with all of my jobs, I've made some good, lasting friendships. The "bank girls" get together a couple times a year. Usually we have a holiday get together, and maybe one or two other outings. Out of this group, only one is still at the bank (now American Savings) -- this Sunday makes her 20th year anniversary with the bank! Amazing! And congratulations!

Ok, I think I have gotten the excess energy (and thoughts) out of my system for now. My short-distance friend refers to this as "brain dump," which is quite literally what it is. Thanks for hanging in there with me. And remember, I owe you...

Iron Man

Ok, now that I've reviewed Mamma Mia!, I can go back to Iron Man, which I saw what seems like a really long time ago. Is it even still in theaters? Oh well. I liked it enough where I still remember some of the details.

I'm not much of a comic-book person, so I can't really tell you about Iron Man from that perspective. However, I can tell you that it was a great movie from many aspects: good story, good character development and interaction, and good casting. And it was just plain fun. And Robert Downey, Jr. is in it, so how can you go wrong? Who cares if he had a drug problem.

I have to say that the beginning of the movie is not what I expected, I guess because I'm not familiar with comics and Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.). But I don't think I'd be giving too much away by saying that the story begins with Tony Stark, the very rich head of a company that develops weapons, in the Middle East, confronted in a situation involving a weapon made by his company, Stark Industries. What happens to him because of this weapon is what leads him to become Iron Man. Iron Man's mission then becomes, ironically, to get rid of all such weapons, including the ones produced by his own company. This creates some problems with other people in the company.

I love that Terrence Howard is in this movie as Tony Stark's best friend, Col. James "Rhodey" Rhodes. His friendship with Tony is an interesting one, almost strange in its closeness, and he adds levity to the story. I also love that Gwyneth Paltrow is in this movie as Tony's assistant, Pepper Potts. I haven't seen her in a movie in a long time. And it took me quite a while to even realize it was her in this movie, with her red hair! Something about her demeanor in this film is much more alluring than I remember her being in other films.

I'll leave it at that since I don't want to say too much. Suffice it to say that there is something for everyone in this movie. You want action? You want romance? You want to see hot guys? Hot girls? A good storyline, especially for a super hero, comic book flick? You got it.

Oh, and one more thing. Stay until the VERY end of the credits. If you have to pee, go when the credits start rolling, but go back to the theater.

Mamma Mia! (The Movie)

I know I'm super-behind on the movie reviews, but I have to do Mamma Mia! first because I just saw it today and I'm really excited about it.

This movie has gotten mixed reviews. I saw the play in Las Vegas a couple of years ago and LOVED it, and I knew the movie could possibly be a let-down, so I didn't want to get my hopes up too high about it. And while I like Meryl Streep, I thought this might be a stretch, even for her. However, I was not let down at all! I liked this movie a lot, and would gladly pay another $6.25 (matinee price) to go see it again. Heck, I'd even pay the $8, or whatever it is, to see it again at night!

My theory about the people who didn't care for this movie is that they went in with different expectations. This isn't the kind of movie you go to see because you think Meryl Streep is going to be nominated for an Oscar for her performance, nor is it a movie you go to see because you think Pierce Brosnan is going to be giving a James Bond-type performance. This is the kind of movie you go to see because:

1. You love ABBA music
2. You want to see Pierce Brosnan just because he's hot, even for an older guy
3. You want to see if Meryl Streep can really sing
4. You enjoyed the play and want to see if the movie is just as good
5. You just want to relax, forget about the real world, and have a good time

I went to the movie for all of the above reasons, except maybe for #2 and #3. Well, partly because of #3. And well, yeah, I guess Pierce Brosnan looks pretty good too, for an old guy, but I'm kind of partial to George Clooney. In any case, if you go to see it just because you want to have a good time and don't really give a rip if the acting or singing is worthy of an Oscar or a Grammy, chances are you'll have a good time.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the storyline, the basic premise is that Sophie (Amanda Seyfried), the 20-ish lead character is getting married, and her mother, Donna (Meryl Streep) has never told her who her father was. It turns out that mom was a bit promiscuous in her youth, and there are 3 possible fathers: Bill (Stellan Skarsgard), Samuel (Pierce Brosnan), and Harry (Colin Firth). Sophie wants her father to walk her down the aisle, but because she doesn't know which of the three is her father, she invites all three of them to her wedding, unbeknownst to her mother. You can probably guess that this is where the chaos begins.

On top of all of this, Donna has a couple of wacky friends, Tanya (Christine Baranski) and Rosie (Julie Walters). For those of you who don't know who Julie Walters is, she plays Mrs. Weasley in the Harry Potter movies -- I couldn't even tell she was the same person in this movie! And she was really a show-stealer.

The story is set in Greece, where it was primarily filmed, so the scenery in the movie is beautiful. I felt that Meryl Streep was quite impressive as this is a very different role for her, and her singing was actually quite good! Pierce Brosnan's singing on the other hand, was not so great. Something about his tone was a little grating. However, he played his character brilliantly, and I felt that I saw a side of him (a goofball side) that I haven't seen from him before. Although his singing wasn't the greatest, I would still rather hear his real voice than a dubbed one.

I won't give away any more of the story, because the premise already tells you that 3 possible fathers who don't know that they may be Sophie's father, a mother that doesn't know that these men are invited to the wedding, and 2 crazy friends, plus all of the other characters, is a recipe for a rollercoaster-ride of a story. And it's all based on music by ABBA! I find it amazing that they can make the songs tell the story and express the emotions so well. My only slight disappointment with the film is that I felt that the songs should have been longer. I'm not sure if it was overedited, but I think some of these actors could've really gotten into singing some of these songs and it might've made for a better movie than it already is (in my opinion).

So if you want to see a movie just for a good time, where you can forget about things for a while, and not leave the theater wanting to kill yourself, then go see this movie. Disclaimer regarding killing yourself...if you hate ABBA music, then this movie may want to make you kill yourself, and you probably shouldn't see it. Otherwise, you should be fine.

The Kite Runner

I'm going to do my first ever blog book review. While I don't read as much as I did during my college years, judging from discussions with friends, I'd say I probably read more than the average adult does. In my younger years, I read a LOT of novels, mostly romances and some adventure-type books. Now I read a lot of personal development and travel books, but not as much fiction, other than the Harry Potter books, which I can read over, and over, and over...

At the urging of someone who reads a lot of fiction, I read The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini. I had heard of it before because there is a movie by the same name, which I have in my Netflix que. Many of the comments from the reviews on the cover and inside of the book use the word "powerful" to describe the book, and powerful it is.

It is the tale of two boys and their trials and tribulations in modern Afghanistan. The story begins in the mid '70s and spans about 3 decades. The writing style is interesting. At times I had to pause and think and go back a few pages partly because the time periods skipped a few times throughout, and a couple of times the narration changed. For the most part, the story is told from the point of few of the main character, Amir, one of the two boys whose lives are intertwined in so many ways.

This probably isn't the book to read if you're looking for something uplifting. While there are points that are uplifting, it's usually part of the aftermath of a particularly disturbing occurrence. I couldn't help but wonder if the author wrote this based on some of his personal experiences in Afghanistan, as there are some similarities between his life and that of Amir.

The other boy is Hassan, who is the son of the servant to Amir's family. However, while Hassan and his father are servants and there is a distinct line between their family and Amir and his father, who is very wealthy, they are strangely connected and have chosen to disregard their ethnic differences, which would normally be unacceptable in their society. The story begins by weaving the lives of Hassan and Amir together, how they enjoy their time together and are portrayed almost like best friends, yet there is still a barrier between them that allows Amir to be superior to Hassan. But Hassan's loyalty to Amir never fades. It is Hassan's loyalty to Amir that seemingly results in a tragic incident that changes their lives forever, and that is where the bulk of the story lies. And let me tell you, it is haunting, especially because what happens in this book is probably based on things that have actually occurred in Afghanistan. The possibility that this is real is what makes it haunting.

However, despite the haunting and powerful nature of this book, it is also fascinating. Despite the fact that I am a history major, I really suck and remembering the details of history. Most of my studies focused on Asia and the Pacific, and a little bit of European history. But I probably know the least about the Middle East, and particularly the modern history of that region, which we should probably all make ourselves more aware of given the state of our nation and our current interaction with that region (don't worry, I'm not going to get into a discussion about the war!).

I also found this book interesting because it kind of ties in to a movie I recently watched, Charlie Wilson's War. I won't review that movie here, but perhaps I'll get to that one day. Suffice it to say that I enjoyed that movie a lot, partly because it stars Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts, two of my favorite actors, but also because it's an interesting and little known story based on factual occurrences and the real Charlie Wilson, a Senator from Texas who makes it his mission to do something about the Russian occupation of Afghanistan in the '80s. This is a topic I knew absolutely nothing about. Charlie Wilson's War and the Kite Runner both discussed it from different perspectives, yet not so different.

I don't want to give away too much about The Kite Runner in the event you decide you want to read it, but it is a very interesting, well-told, haunting story. You will learn about Afghanistan while reading about the experiences of Amir and Hassan. I'm a sap and shed some tears reading this story, but I won't be giving away much by saying that there are a lot of sad and tragic things that happen. While it's not the most uplifting story, it is worth reading.