IndoDONKEY

Look, I have no problems at all with Nicholas Sparks.  I’ve read some of his books (Message in a Bottle and The Notebook), and watched some of the movies that based on his books (Message in a Bottle, The Notebook and Dear John).  Dear John was a mistake, by the way.  I was dragged to see that one even though I knew watching Duke from GI Joe falling in love with Dakota Fanning wasn’t something that I would enjoy watching.

Anyways, I found this on Cracked.com and thought I’d like to share with you all – in case if you want to make your own Nicholas Spark movie..  Hahahahahaa..

I wonder what would have happened if Nicholas Spark was the one who wrote Star Wars..  Hmmm…

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!

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!