IndoDONKEY

So I’ve heard a lot of people talking about how good this movie is and how it’s much better than Marley and Me.  I was like, AW COME ON!  Marley and Me is like one of the best movies about dogs that I’ve seen by far..  It’s even much better than Lassie!  OK well Lassie is a TV show, so can’t really compare that one with Marley and Me.  Totally different.  I guess I can just say Marley and Me is much better than Scooby Doo?

Hachiko (or Hachi) is the name of the dog that Parker Wilson (Richard Gere) found at the train station when he was on the way home.  For the next few days, he was trying to find out whom Hachiko belonged to.  He put up ads everywhere, and he was also trying to give him up for donation.  But somewhere along the way, he started to fall in love with Hachiko.  So he decided to keep him.  His friend said, “It wasn’t you who found him..  He found you.”

Hachiko is actually an American adaption of a Japanese tale about a loyal dog named Hachiko.  The dog would accompany his master to the train station every day and return each afternoon to greet him after work.  One day, his master passed away and never returned to the station.  Hachiko faithfully returned to the same spot at the station the very next day, and every day for the next nine years to wait for his beloved master until he finally died.  It is truly a sad story and I was really touched by his devotion, love, compassion and unyielding loyalty.  It’s one of the best movies I’ve seen by far, and I was really surprised that this one didn’t even come out in the theater.

“A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than he loves himself.” – Josh Billings (American Humorist , 1818-1885)

IndoDONKEY Alert!

Up in the Air is a story of Ryan Bingham, whose job is to fire people.  He flies 320 days a year, he’s living out of a suitcase and his main goal is to rack up frequent flyer miles until he reaches 10 million miles.  His secondary job he has is to give motivational speeches on relieving one’s life of excess physical and emotional baggage.  He’s not close to any of his siblings nor does he ever want to have a family.  When his boss hires a 20-something year-old overachieving woman named Natalie Keener, she develops a new method to fire someone by doing it via remote computer access.  Obviously this has threatened the existence Ryan has so cherished, taking him out of his comfort zone – which is flying around the country while accumulating frequent flyer miles.  He believes that Natalie doesn’t understand the nature of the business, so their boss (who is played by Justin Bateman – whom I think is perfect for the character) suggests that she accompany Ryan on a business trip.  That’s when the adventure begins.

Such a cute movie.  I heard so many good reviews about the movie prior to watching it.  I’d definitely recommend this to you guys (and girls)…  Highly recommend it, I might add.  The movie was very entertaining, cute and even the chemistry between all the three stars – George Clooney, Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick – was great.  Jason Bateman was awesome in the movie, even though he only showed up for a few minutes.  I honestly think Anna Kendrick gave the best performance in the movie – she was smart, witty and definitely stole the spotlight from both George Clooney and Vera Farmiga.  I was really impressed with her acting, considering she was the youngest amongst the other actors in the movie.  After watching this movie, I kinda felt sorry to the character that George Clooney was playing (Ryan Bingham).  He was lonely, never made himself attached to anyone for a while – by the time he felt he was ready to change and make a connection with the woman he was falling for, turns out she’s already married (SPOIL ALERT!).  That’s just really messed up.  Ryan Bingham was the epitome of “success”, with money, prestige and a great career.  He felt he was at the top of his game and didn’t need anyone.  All of sudden the tables suddenly turned.

I guess the point of the movie is no matter how successful you are, how much money you have or how great your career is, if you don’t have anyone to share with..  Then what’s the point?  If you think about it, your favorite memories, the most important moments in your life…  Were you alone?  Life is better with company.  Much much better.

IndoDONKEY Alert!

First of all, I’d like to say one thing before I start writing my review..  I DO NOT WATCH CHICK FLICKS! I don’t think I can ever get into chick flicks at all.  Well okay, I think there was one time when I watched The Notebook with my buddies..  But that was because I had read the book which the movie was based on and really liked it, and Rachel McAdams was just too damn cute in that movie.  The book was very well-written, so when the movie came out I’d thought I would just give it a shot.  Aaand as I said before, Rachel McAdams was in the movie.  So that was perfectly reasonable.

I never wanted to see Dear John.  Never ever.  I even made fun of my co-worker who was sooo looking forward to seeing it, she even put it up as her Facebook status.  When I saw the trailer for the first time, I was like wait a minute..  Is that Duke from GI JOE making out with Dakota Fanning???  I honestly thought that blond girl who was Duke’s love interest was Dakota Fanning!  Later I found out her name was Amanda Seyfriend.  Apparently she was one of mean girls in Mean Girls (remember that Lindsay Lohan’s movie that came out years ago?).

It was never my intention to see Dear John (okay this is the second time I wrote it here).  We were doing our Sunday Movie Buffet (you go to the theater and see two to three movies back-to-back, but only pay for one) and just as we finished our first movie (The Wolfman), we were going to sneak in to another theater next door only to find out there was a theater attendant standing by the entrance, checking everyone’s ticket.  We were like, shittt..  Let’s wait for a few minutes.  We assumed he’d be gone after 15-20 minutes.  Apparently not – he was still standing there, and we honestly thought he’d be standing there for another half an hour.  So I was like, okay this is way too long.  Let’s just sneak in to another theater.  We can’t just hang out here for another 15 minutes, someone will get suspicious.  So I checked the movie schedule on my BlackBerry, trying to see which movie that was playing around that time or within the next 5 minutes or so..  And sure enough, all other movies would not start for another hour, except for………DEAR FU*KIN JOHN.  CRAP!

Dear John was based on a book with the same title, written by Nicholas Sparks.  It’s about a story of a soldier who falls in love with a college student while he’s home on leave.  It’s a pretty romantic story; I assume the book is probably much better than the movie.  It kinda felt pretty entertaining and relaxing to watch a romantic drama, especially when you had just finished watching a suspense thriller movie where it showed a lot of decapitated human limbs.  Both Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried really had great chemistry in the movie.  I thought they really nailed the characters down pretty well.  I really loved her beach house..  Gosh I wonder when I’ll be able to afford to have something like that.  A house by the beach..  A real beach, I might add.  I also loved the guy who played as Channing’s dad.  Can’t remember his name though..  But I’ve seen this guy many times in comedy movies.  Too bad he didn’t have a lot of lines in this movie since he was playing as an autistic guy (who collected coins and made freakin’ lasagna every Sunday.. Come onnnn!).  Even though Amanda Seyfried acted really well in Dear John, I kinda wished that the producers would’ve picked another girl for the character.  Somehow every time I saw her face, she really reminded me of Dakota Fanning.  I wish they had cast Jennifer Love Hewitt..  Oh that would’ve been so much better!

The movie was pretty sad – just like other movies that were based on Nicholas Sparks’ tear-jerker novels.  It was romantic and sad, but not depressing though.  Thank God I didn’t shed a tear – but I assumed 99.9% of the audience was probably crying at that time.   I definitely recommend this as a movie to watch on a Valentine’s Day or a first date.  It’s a mighty chick flick, but it can get you lucky with your date afterwards.

IndoDONKEY Alert!

Look, I always enjoy watching all DiCaprio’s movies.  Starting from the one that he did years ago with Johnny Depp – I believe he was playing as a retard (What’s Eating Gilbert Grape), then the ones where he played as a druggie (The Basketball Diaries), a guy who’s romantically involved with some rich spoiled brat in a sinking ship (Titanic), a funny-lookin’ royal prince who turns out to have a twin brother who’s been locked up in a dungeon (The Man in The Iron Mask), a lazy-ass bum who spends countless hours getting tanned in some beach near marijuana farm in Thailand (The Beach), an Irish guy with a silly Irish accent (Gangs of New York), a con man who likes to dress up as a pilot (Catch Me If You Can), a filthy-rich guy with a bad case of OCD (The Aviator) and a South-African guy with a funny accent who’s been after a huge-ass diamond all over Africa (Blood Diamond).

So anyways, he was reunited again with Kate Winslet in this movie which I believe was based on a book, and was directed by Sam Mendes, the guy who directed in American Beauty and Road to Perdition.  I was like, okay DiCaprio was in it and the director was actually a great director.  Kate Winslet was okay, I’m not so much into British chicks (except for Kate Beckinsale), but whatever.  I thought as long as DiCaprio was in it, everything would be fine.  So I decided to get it from Netflix.

Revolutionary Road is a story about a young couple, Frank and April Wheeler who lives in the Connecticut suburbs in 1955.  Everyday Frank commutes to New York City where he works in an office job; a job that he despises with passion, while April stays home as a housewife.  April has given up her dream of becoming an actress and Frank, well in addition to hating his job, he feels he hasn’t really figured out what his passion in life is.  Until one day, April suggests that they should move to Paris – a city where Frank visited during the war and loved, but where April has never been – in order to rejuvenate their life.  However, things happen later on which make Frank  become skeptical with the whole plan.

Frankly, I honestly think this story should’ve not been made into a movie.  It’s too freakin’ depressing!  I think it should’ve been made into a Broadway play instead since it would’ve shown the strong acting performances and the story.  I mean don’t get me wrong, it’s still a good movie..  But I just thought it would’ve been much better if it were turned into a play.  Every minute I spent watching this movie, I felt I was dying inside and feeling so miserable..  Just as I finished watching it, I felt so bad I wanted to eat two gallons of ice cream and four scoops of guacamole. I did love their acting/performances though.  The actors have done a great job in this movie.  Too bad it wasn’t a happy ending.

IndoDONKEY Alert!

Mann I gotta tell ya…  This movie has completely surprised me.  When it first came out,  I was like, “Oh great..  Another movie about dogs.  I still don’t understand why Hollywood keeps involving animals as the supporting characters in the movies.  There was one movie where the supporting character was a Loch-Ness monster.  I mean, who the f*** in the world has seen a Loch Ness monster?  They made it look like it was a mix between a sea lion and a dolphin.  The movie came out a few years back, and until now I can’t even remember what the title is.  And now, a puppy.  What’s next?  A porcupine?”

Anyways, so when this movie came out in DVD, I decided to give it a shot.  Hell, if I could survive watching Lassie re-runs for hours when I was growing up, I definitely could handle 2 hours watching another dog movie.  I had a very low expectation for this movie despite all the rave reviews that I had heard from a lot of people.

This movies tells a story about a young newlywed couple who moved to a new city, and tried to adjust their life with the new surrounding and new jobs, and a little puppy in between.  I was pleasantly surprised how much I liked this movie.  It wasn’t just all about dogs, but it was also about a journey of love, romance and relationships.  Marley, the dog, was just too adorable.  Well he looked adorable at first..  But after a while, the dog has turned into a little force to be reckoned with.  He’d be peeing everywhere, ripping the sofa cushions, eating pretty much anything in his sight, pooping anywhere he wanted to, biting and chewing anything, going after the postman and much much more..  He was like a living nightmare, to be honest hahahahaaa..  But beyond that, he was a sweet dog whose loyalty was unquestionable, very affectionate, loving and sweet.  Even for those who think dogs aren’t man’s bestfriend, they would find this movie sweet and enjoyable.

This movie kinda reminds me of our family dog, Sir John.  Don’t ask me why we named him Sir John – my siblings were the ones who came up with the name.  I had always been against having any four-legged animals running around the house as pet.  That’s why all my life I’ve only had 2 very low-maintenance pets, a turtle and a gold fish named Bob.  But when I had a privilege of getting to know Sir John when I went home for my vacation in 2008, I immediately liked him.  He was basically the perfect dog I’ve ever met in my life..  Doesn’t bark, doesn’t lick, doesn’t run around and destroy everything, doesn’t fight with other dogs and doesn’t poop/pee anywhere.  He was just basically a fun, sensitive and loving dog.

Marley and Me is definitely not another romantic, cheesy type of chick flick.  Well..  It still falls under category chick flick, but it ain’t The Notebook or Confessions of Shopaholic – if you know what I mean.  It had a wonderful story, and lots of times I felt the movie played with my emotion.  No, I did not shed a single tear, in case if you’re wondering..  Yes, I’d definitely recommend this one as a date movie.  Just make sure you bring some protection…  And I don’t mean helmet, by the way.

IndoDONKEY Alert!

I’m not really a big fan of movies about relationships.  Most of them tend to have the same plot, like some chick falls in love with some guy but the guy doesn’t even notice so she proceeds to do any possible silly things to get her noticed.  Or maybe some guy likes his girl co-worker and she always gives him a hard time, so he develops some crazy theories why the girl is doing that to him, etc.  Crappy screenplay, awful dialogs, not-so-funny jokes and extremely good looking stars for main characters are basically the recipes for chick flicks, and they always end with happy ending.

So when I saw the Ugly Truth movie poster and trailer, I completely had zero interest.  OK so it had King Leonidas and sweet lookin Katherine Heigl as the main characters, yea BIG DEAL.  I still wasn’t tempted to watch it.  Until it finally came out in Netflix, I was like hmm OK maybe I should check it out..  At least I wouldn’t have to pay $11 to see it in the theater.

The Ugly Truth is about male and female relationships.  Gerard Butler hosts a TV show that talks about all the ugly truths in male and female relationships, like when a guy sees a girl, the first thing that he’d notice is her boobs and her butt; her personality will come second – which I have to admit, it is kinda true hahahaha..  And Katherine Heigl is a TV producer whose morning show is struggling to keep up with ratings, until her boss finally decides to bring in Gerard Butler and incorporate his show into a  five-minute segment in the morning show.  As a result, ratings go up and everyone is happy but not Katherine Heigl because she thinks he’s the biggest jerk that she’s ever met and she’s just so eager to proves that all his theories are untrue.

To be honest with you, some of the theories and wisdoms that Gerard Butler says in this movie kinda make sense.  For instance, you wanna make your guy happy?  Just show up wearing a tiny little lingerie and he’ll be happy.  Guys are simple, they’re easy to please and they’re very direct.  We’re not melodramatic like the soap opera.  But girls, aww man..  We’re talking about getting a nice bouquet of flowers, going to some romantic candlelit dinner, taking her to see ballet, buying some nice necklace from Tiffany, etc etc etc..  YES, sometimes it really does take a lot of (so much) effort to make a girl happy and it still wouldn’t guarantee that she’ll be happy.

I was pretty surprised when I found myself enjoy watching the movie.  I seriously couldn’t stop laughing at every joke the movie delivered.  Sometimes in the middle of the movie, the image of Gerard Butler as King Leonidas (bearded and wearing the red cape and Sparta red underwear) popped up in my head.  It happened every so often and I wasn’t sure why..  Hahahhaaa..  You know what, I kinda wished that there would be a twist in the movie where Gerard Butler would scream “This is the ugly truth, biatccchhh!” and kick Katherine Heigl down to a dark, endless pit.

IndoDONKEY Alert!

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