Category Archives: movies

up

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The lazy stick hit me again.

I’ve been preoccupied with watching Jon and Kate Plus 8 marathons (they are totally separated; how sad), catching up with the show Life that my cousin got me addicted to (like I NEED another show to add to my TV viewing schedule), rooting for the LAKERS, hanging out with visiting friends, and even summer vacation planning.

Speaking of vacations, I just remembered a (maybe?) funny story from a few weekends ago. So Rob and I are tentatively planning an overseas vacation for our first anniversary this summer. While we haven’t officially booked anything yet (waiting and waiting for my vacation to be approved), I figured that I should go ahead and update my passport since I changed my name. Plus, I couldn’t wait to change my passport photo. It is THE WORST picture ever. It was raining in SF the day I took it and I didn’t think to take off my big wool coat or the scarf around my neck for the picture. So I look all huge and bulky. Not a good look. Since I can renew my passport by mail, all I have to do is fill out the application with my new name, write a check for the fee, and send a couple of 2×2 photos. I took my new passport photos at a local mail center and they are EVEN WORSE than the previous ones. My eyes are half closed so I look like I am sleeping standing up. UGH UGH UGH. I was so tempted to take them again but I’m cheap and didn’t want to spend another $10. I’ll just have to live with it for the next 10 years. GREAT.

ANYWAY.



I went to see Up this past weekend. (spoilers?)
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star trek

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I thought the release date for Star Trek was Friday, May 8 but for some reason, it was playing at our local movie theatre on Thursday night. So off we went!

The trailers shown before the movie totally got me excited for summer movies! I want to see…

G.I. Joe: The Rise of the Cobra. Channing Tatum. :P
Terminator Salvation. CHRISTIAN BALE. *drool*
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. No, not because of Shia LaBeouf. It’s all about Bumblebee! Oh, also Josh Duhamel.

YAY FOR FUN SUMMER BLOCKBUSTERS WITH CUTE BOYS.

Back to Star Trek. Confession – I’m not a Trekkie. I might have seen 1 or 2 episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation (I thought Wil Wheaton was cool) but I never saw the original series or any of the previous movies. So my thoughts on the new movie might be totally off the mark. Oh well. :)

So I really, really liked it! I liked that it was accessible to non-fans like me. I’m sure there were lots of inside jokes and references but I never felt left out.

Spoilers? Maybe.

The cast was amazing. I absolutely LOVED Karl Urban as Bones. Chris Pine did a great job as Kirk too — he’s a cocky character but Pine managed to make him charming and likable. I’m a fan of Zachary Quinto’s so I naturally thought he was a great Spock. The weakest link was Zoe Saldana as Uhura but I’ve never really liked her acting. I always feel like she’s OVER-acting. The interaction between the whole cast felt natural and real — I particularly loved the friendships between Kirk/Bones (one of my favorite scenes was when Bones injected Kirk with a virus to get him on board Enterprise and Kirk kept saying “STOP IT” — lol-arious) and Kirk/Spock (they had a great push/pull relationship).

The movie started out strong with an amazing opening sequence. I only knew Kirk’s dad for a few minutes and my heart broke. After that, the movie took a while to get going again (although totally necessary to introduce the characters and their background) but once it did, the action was pretty much non-stop until the end. Like I said earlier, I know nothing about Star Trek canon so I thought the twist of the alternate reality was interesting. I have no idea how hard core fans will react but I like that this movie (and any of its possible sequels) now exists in a different “universe” from all the previous ones.

My only real complaint about the movie is that Nero is kinda boring and forgettable. THE VILLAIN of all characters. What a waste of Eric Bana!

Regardless, I would totally watch this again. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

watchmen

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WHAT DID YOU DO 24?!? Tonight’s episode made me so sad. :(

I’m a huge fan of Dwayne Johnson (formerly known as The Rock) and I found this clip of his recent Saturday Night Live opening monologue. Gotta love a cute guy who can sing and dance. :D



Anyway, I went to see Watchmen on Saturday and enjoyed it!



I haven’t read the graphic novel (though now I want to) so the movie seemed unnecessarily violent at times (a certain jail scene comes to mind) and there were one too many shots of Dr. Manhattan (I know you know what I mean *wink wink*) but the plot and themes worked and resonated with me.

By far, my favorite part was the credits. I loved that in just a few short minutes (and complete with Bob Dylan), the credits told the story about 2 sets of “watchmen” with such amazing detail and visual interest. Relive the credits here (hopefully Warner Bros won’t have this video taken down)!



I thought all the lead actors were great, particularly Patrick Wilson (I fell in love with Nite Owl), Jeffrey Dean Morgan (The Comedian), and Jackie Earle Haley (Rorshach). I wanted to love her but unfortunately, Malin Ackerman as Silk Spectre II was definitely the weakest of the leads.

I just read that the movie only grossed $55 million this weekend. Is it just me or isn’t that a really low figure? Maybe cause it’s rated R? I would have guess-timated it to make at least $75 million. Huh. Warner Bros must be really disappointed right now.

hsm3

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I’m around. Just been tired lately so I haven’t felt much like blogging.

BUT. Something has brought me out of my blogging funk and that is…


HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 3: SENIOR YEAR

Oh, yes. I just came back from watching it. :D In the theatre. On opening day. With Rob. Look how much fun he had!



The picture is super blurry… I was rushing because Rob was yelling at me to hurry up. Oh well. You can still tell that he’s standing with the huge HSM3 cut-out in the lobby of the movie theatre. :)

Anyway. Back to the movie. I LOVED it. It was SO much fun. The musical numbers were huge productions — they were bigger and brighter with dazzling choreography and lots of props and costumes to tease the eye.

Spoilery thoughts.

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SatC movie

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So I managed to have a good weekend despite the unexpected hack job. (GRRR).

I finally went to see the Sex and the City movie. WOO HOO! It totally made my weekend. I’ll post my thoughts after the cut.

I’ve also been getting through some movies on our Netflix queue. Let’s see if I can write quick 2-3 sentence reviews.

Atonement
Enjoyed it (mostly because I loved the romance between Robbie and Cecilia) but it was depressing. And I’m actually still mad at Briony. Can’t help it.

27 Dresses
I’m in the throes of wedding planning so of course, I thought this was a cute movie. Jane could have been a really sad, sad character but Katherine Heigl did an amazing job at giving her real depth. And she totally pulled off the scene where she tries on every single one of those 27 horrifying bridesmaid dresses. Plus, Judy Greer! I love her.

National Treasure 2
Cheesy (and I’m sure terribly historically inaccurate) but so much FUN! I totally want to see the first one now.

Juno
I think I might have bought in to the hype cause I liked the movie but wasn’t WOW-ed by it. I hate when that happens.

August Rush
Again, I liked this movie (as you can probably tell, I am very easy to please when it comes to movies) but I also felt like it was too… something. I can’t quite put my finger on it. Too sentimental maybe? Almost like it was trying a tad too hard to win over the audience. Anyway, Keri Russell as Lyla really sold this movie for me (and it didn’t hurt that there was eye candy in the form of Jonathan Rhys Meyers). I think Evan (Freddie Highmore) was supposed to be the heart of this story but I found it in Lyla.

Ok, now for some Sex and the City thoughts (spoilery! beware!)…

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ironman

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There is a freaking heat wave here in the Bay Area. The one day I would have preferred to stay in my nice air-conditioned office, I had to run out and do errands at the post office. UGH. It was about 90 degrees in the city today. It’s almost midnight now and it is STILL sweltering. YUCK.

I just realized that I forgot to mention a couple of recent milestones…

On April 12th, Rob and I celebrated our 9th anniversary. Can you believe he’s put up with me for that long? :D And then this past Monday, on May 12th, we celebrated our “engagement-versary.” (I don’t know what else to call it!) :D Time has flown by so quickly. It seriously feels like I just got engaged yesterday. And now there’s only 86 days until the wedding. (!!!) I feel really lucky that I have Rob in my life. He understands and loves me despite all my faults (see below entry for evidence). We share the same hopes for the future. We have interests that overlap (TV!) but we have our own things as well. But best of all, Rob can look at me and smile and I can still feel the butterflies. (Points for you if you get the reference :P ).

< / end sappiness>

So. Iron Man was AWESOME. I totally want to go see it again (possible spoilers)…

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sarah marshall

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Rob, some friends, and I went to see Forgetting Sarah Marshall last night.
I know the genre of “Apatow-ian” comedy isn’t everyone’s cup of tea but I found this movie to be HILARIOUS. It’s still crude like the others (less than Superbad, though) but it’s also really charming and sweet. Peter (Jason Segel) was totally endearing. Sarah and Rachel (Kristen Bell and Mila Kunis, respectively) were, surprisingly, not one-note characters. But Aldous (the “other guy” played by Russell Brand) was, by far, the complete stand-out. OMG. He was awesome.

I loved the pop culture references, like… Crime Scene: Scene of the Crime (BWAH!) and “You shall not pass!” (Lord of the Rings). Hee.

And, of course, Paul Rudd has a small role in the movie and as always, he rocks.

“The weather outside is… weather.”

Seriously, just go see it! :)

And a TV meme stolen from Ceci…

1. Bold the shows you’ve watched every episode of
2. Italic the shows you’ve seen at least one episode of
3. Post your answers
___
50. Quantum Leap
49. Prison Break
48. Veronica Mars
47. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
46. Sex & The City

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ramen and movies

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Again I wrote a post that I forgot to publish… oy vey.

I am *so* not a Monday person. I just LOATHE waking up knowing the weekend is over and I have to go back to work. UGH.

Had a good weekend… on Saturday morning, Rob and I had THE BEST ramen EVER. We went over to Santa Ramen in San Mateo. Yes, all the way on the other side of the Bay. It was SO worth it. The portion size was ginormous and I ate every last bit of it. I wish I had pictures to share so you could all see the size of the bowl I consumed. Unfortunately, we were sitting at a cramped 2-person table with 2 other couples sitting on either side of us so I did not feel comfortable whipping out the camera, hehe.

We also watched a few movies…
21
We actually went to the theatre! :D But only because we had free passes and a gift card so we totally splurged on Coke and popcorn. Awesome. As for the movie, I really enjoyed it! It established the characters and motivations at the start, got to the “action” quickly, and was entertaining all at the same time. Kevin Spacey was amazing as he always is but I wasn’t that impressed with either Jim Sturgess or Kate Bosworth as the main characters. Aaron Yoo as Choi was hilarious, though. Gotta love those Asian sidekicks. I also loved the contrast between Las Vegas and Boston — Vegas was all bright lights and glamour while Boston was gray and drab. It’s kind of an obvious distinction but it created a feel of heightened excitement every time they were in Vegas. The story did get a little complicated towards the end and I do not understand how to count cards but I’d still recommend it. :)

I Am Legend
Good movie but I got a little bored. :/ And I like Will Smith! One thing I want to mention — it felt like the movie got to the present without really explaining what happened to Robert Neville in the time since the quarantine. I didn’t realize this until just now, though, so it obviously didn’t affect my viewing at the time. Recommended.

The Game Plan
Cheesy, cheesy, cheesy movie. :D But then I’m a HUGE fan of Dwayne Johnson, aka The Rock. (Rob used to watch wrestling religiously — that’s when I discovered the greatness that is The Rock). It was the typical “guy discovers daughter he never knew he had and his whole life changes” story. But I liked it (I think Rob rolled his eyes throughout most of the movie and proceeded to fall asleep at the end) and recommend it.

netflix weekend

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I finally have some good work news to share… I got a raise! WOOT. It’s not much (6%) but anything is better than nothing, especially with the wedding coming up. I wasn’t even expecting it, so YAY.

Watched a few movies this weekend…
Bourne Ultimatum
Love Matt Damon. Love the Bourne series. Good, solid fun. I love the way this movie takes off and doesn’t let up until the end… the quick editing and fast-paced shooting style definitely contributes to the thrill of the story. Recommended.

American Gangster
Another solid movie. But it was a tad too long. I got distracted a few times. At the same time, though, I thought that the collaboration between Frank and Richie came too soon. It just seemed like there was so much time spent establishing the players and the setting but when it was time for the resolution, the story became rushed. I’d still recommend the movie, particularly because Russell Crowe and Denzel Washington deliver strong performances.

Two Days in Paris
Ok, I rented this movie because it’s set in Paris and I’m obsessed with the city. So sue me. :P I wanted to love this movie but didn’t. :/ After a “romantic” trip to Italy, Marion (Julie Delpy) and Jack (Adam Goldberg) stop in Paris for 2 days to visit Marion’s parents before returning home to New York. While there, they deal with culture shock and Marion’s romantic past. The dialogue is snappy and witty but I just didn’t find it very funny. I guess I’d recommend it with reservations.

Haven’t done this in awhile… the Fannish Five…
What were your five favorite series finales? This could be a TV series finale, the end of a series of books or a comics run, or the finish of any other serial media.
1. Dawson’s Creek. Just a roller coaster of emotions from Jen’s death to Pacey and Joey’s reunion. And I love every minute of it.
2. Everwood. Ephram and Amy!
3. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. A beautiful culmination to a very special series.
4. Sex and the City. I’m looking forward to the movie!
5. The OC. I love the sneak peeks we got to each character’s future.

Hope everyone has a good week!