what's been happening..

just a quick update - i haven't been slacking!! seriously!

well - maybe, just in actually writing posts, but i have been making notes, seriously! from today onwards, you'll get a shot of my scribblings, hastily written notes i penned while i was watching a tv show or a movie and after i read a book.. some of the notes probably won't make sense but i'll try to expand on them as i actually write about the show..

so, see? my notebook is brimming with random thoughts, haha.. i can't wait to get them all in..

til then..

TV review: Nikita season 1 episodes 6 & 7

My notes:

- Did Devon kill Nikita's fiance? (ahh! im on a roll!)

- Finally something I think is worthy of a true spy school - pretending that the recruits were kidnapped and about to be tortured to see how far they'd go and what they'd divulge to the enemy.. Something clever from Division, finally!

- Because of the test (which turns out to be not just to test Alex but to test Michael as well), Alex and Nikita almost got found out.. I'm not sure though how they missed that fact that Alex used a payphone outside the gasoline station (they made a point of saying that they've activated her tracker but didn't see her go inside a phone booth?!). Another fail for Division, as usual.. Seriously, I don't know why Nikita is bothering.. From all these lapses, I don't know how Division got to be where it is right now..

- I had a good laugh when Robbie, who was so sure that he'd be the next James Bond, was assigned on guard duty.. Haha! Well, he did snap but it was still funny (Amanda transferred him to the cleaner program instead)

- I think Michael will team up with Nikita soon.. He's starting to grow a pair (finally!)

- I thought Devon will become one of the main cast but after leaving on his own to collect the black boxes, I think he'd just be a recurring guest on the show.. I hope they don't kill him off though, so that he'd always pop in once in a while.. It was really great seeing him and I have Casper recorded on my TV, scheduled as my next blast from the past movie, haha..   

TV review: Nikita season 1 episode 5: The Guardian

Here are my notes:

- Good to see you again Devon! :)

- When the episode started, we see a safe deposit box being opened (heavy door, under lock & key). You'd assume then that since people went to the trouble of renting a safe deposit box that its contents are valuable and therefore if you want to open it, the viewing room should be heavily guarded as well. Right? Right? Well, it seems that in Nikita's world, the boxes are under lock and key, yes, but when you view the box, you're just right outside the main foyer of the bank. What was the purpose of showing us the big, heavy bank vault door then?!

- I noticed that sometimes Maggie Q seems to be more believable when she is acting as Nikita-pretending-to-be-someone-else (reporter, scorned wife, office worker) rather than being spy-Nikita..

- I find it hard to believe that there are no cameras in the recruits' rooms so I was surprised and disappointed that there weren't cameras in the recruits' rooms and so Alex was able to get away with lifting off Birkhoff's fingerprint. In real life spy world, can she do that? Hmm..

- After Alex got in Percy's office using the fake fingerprint, Birkhoff and Michael shows up and I wondered how the computer didn't register that Birkhoff was supposed to be already inside Percy's office (how perceptive of me, right? great pick up, me! :) they entered by bypassing the fingerprint scanner but further down the track Birkhoff shows Michael the security logs showing he went inside Percy's office)

- When Birkhoff and Michael entered Percy's office, Alex had no choice but to hide.. For some reason, she turns her head and the camera pans to the "finger" that she used to gain entry, giving the audience the impression that she saw the "finger" on top of the table. Unless she has x-ray vision that can make her see objects above a wooden table, I don't know how she was able to see it. If you're going to argue that she "remembered" rather than "saw" the finger on top of the table, they should have asked her to act that she remembered something, rather than acting like she saw something..

- They might not have cameras in the recruits' rooms but I would assume that they have cameras in the training rooms. Apparently, they don't. How can they not notice that Alex is always on the computer? Also, how can they not notice that when something big is happening, Alex is always just outside of the window into the control room?

- Sorry Mojos, Devon is looking too good and the action/fight scenes with him in them were well executed that I think I might have developed a crush, hahaha..

- Speaking of black boxes, if you read my previous blog about Percy having leverage (click here), I was proven right in this episode (another yay! for me! im getting good at this, hahaha!)

TV review: Nikita season 1 episode 4: Rough Trade

Without going further into details, here are the notes I wrote while watching the show:

- Sometimes I find Maggie Q not convincing as a spy. I mean, she has the looks and the moves, but sometimes how the lines are delivered throws me off

- I can't believe that noone called the cops or for help when she assaulted the designer in order to get the location of the sweatshop

- Gotta love the action sequences

- Re: Alex, maybe I've read too many spy novels to know that you don't drink something that your enemy offers you unless you see them drink something out of the same bottle or kettle or container. She was sitting right in front of Amanda so there's no way that Amanda would have had time to do something to the cup so you'd know it came from the kettle.. Tssk.. Rookie! LOL!

- I wondered, if Homeland Security asked Percy/Division to deal with Victor and Percy orchestrated Victor's death to pacify his client, why didn't they clamor for Percy's head when Victor turned up alive and well after all that time?! Percy lied to them.. Granted that Percy may have a secret weapon in his arsenal as leverage, but still..

TV review: Modern Family season 3 episode 4: Door to Door

STELLA!!!! Cmon, how is that not beyond an LOL moment?! Oh Cam! You had me at the flash mob scene, then the "I'm breaking the window" scene and now this.. I just love you so much.. Amazing Eric Stonestreet for his portrayal of Cam, seriously!

Aside from this, I was mildly surprised at the relative closeness that the sisters now seem to have.. I know they're close in their own way but seeing them gossiping on the car and talking to each other instead of bickering was nice..

Highlight is always Cam.. Love love love!

Book review: Locked On by Tom Clancy with Mark Greaney

It goes without saying that the book is action-packed and I enjoyed every single page-turning experience.. It was also great to say 'Hi!' again to characters that I have grown to love so much (cue to Jack Ryan Sr and John Clark)..

My thoughts:

- I miss the old Tom Clancy of old where seemingly random accidents would be showcased on a chapter.. They used to make me wonder in anticipation as to how he would tie all those things up in one glorious, explosive finish.. He was positioning everything and everyone, like chess pieces, and then would hit you out of nowhere with a checkmate.. I miss those.. This book feels like it goes into the offensive from the get-go, it's one action sequence after another. It's not that I didn't like it because I enjoyed the book thoroughly.. It's just that I feel that ever since the focus changed from Jack Ryan Sr to Jack Ryan Jr, it became more, I don't know, I guess for lack of a better word, action-packed.. Not that the books of old weren't, but like I said, when the focus shifted to Junior, the storytelling also shifted.. I guess what I'm saying is that the old books had a certain feel to it, a certain degree of poetry in motion instead of brute force..

- I teared up with what happened to John.. I won't go into details but I was heartbroken..

- Jack Ryan Sr president again! Cmon, like you didn't know that would happen when he went back on the campaign trail.. I'm sooo happy.. I wish the focus would shift back to Sr coz he's a much better character than Jr..

- Melanie. I didn't like her because when she was first introduced I knew that she & Jr would hook up and I wanted Jr to myself since it's so clear that Sr and Cathy are for life (hahahaha!). I'm not sure what to make of her.. It was mentioned that Alden ordered her to keep tabs on Jr even after practically getting the boot from the Agency for the brief she's written. Then she started to work for Mary Pat but was still working for Alden. That in itself is enough reason to dislike her.. Then there's the disturbing call at the end of the book.. Who was she speaking to when Alden was imprisoned? Mary Pat? Oh, I hope not.. :(

All in all, it was a great read.. More Jack Ryan Sr, please..

Til then!

Movie review: The Kids Are All Right

I dare say that a movie with Mark Ruffalo in it is worth watching, hehe.. It doesn't matter if he's the lead or supporting or even on a cameo, just to see him on screen is enough for me.. He's just that good, in my own opinion..

The film is about a family comprised of Jules (Julianne Moore), Nic (Annette Bening) and their kids Joni (Mia Wasikowska) and Laser (Josh Hutcherson). Nic is Joni's biological mother while Jules is Laser's. Both kids had the same donor as their father.

At the start, we see that Laser seems to feel that he needs male companionship that a father can provide if he were in a normal family. And so he asks his sister Joni to contact the clinic and ask them for their father's details. I thought that was the premise of the movie, how a child in a lesbian household might try to find a father-figure and how the moms are going to cope with it.. Well, see, it didn't exactly happen that way..

Joni and Laser do end up meeting their father who turns out to be this free-spirited & charming restaurateur Paul (Mark Ruffalo). The initial meeting is awkward but then we see that in the end, it became apparent that Joni liked their father while Laser seemed to lose interest in something that he instigated.. We also see how the kids probably have felt that they have to be like their respective moms, but are really not. Joni tried to be in control like Nic but she hides a rebellious, free-spirit like Jules. Laser seems to be an average, laid-back lad but is like Nic in more ways than one..

When the moms found out that the kids have spoken with their father, they invite him over for dinner where the movie shifted from the kids to the adults. Jules and Nic have been together for so long that everything seems to have become routinary. Jules was starting to feel restless and that she's no longer Nic's priority. I think Jules would have started to have an affair at any point after that and since it was Paul who started to make her feel appreciated and wanted, the two started an affair.

While this was happening, Paul got close to both his kids and realised he's tired of his free-spirited ways. He wants to settle down and he's fallen in love with Jules. The affair is inevitably discovered and because they all needed someone to blame, the family's anger got directed to poor Paul.. I say poor because I felt that it was unfair the way he was treated in the end. I just think that Nic and the kids were too harsh, considering that he's brought about some positive influences in the family. He could have been let down gentler, is what I'm saying..

While there were solid performances by the leads, I ultimately got lost in trying to determine what the story actually is.. Was it a child in a lesbian family longing for a father? Was it about a relationship crisis that most longterm couples experience at some point in the relationship? Was it about self-discovery? Was it even about the kids? I don't know.. Maybe I'm overthinking this when I shouldn't be.. It's just that it felt that there's a lot about this dynamic that could have been developed further but was discarded.

Maybe I was too busy imagining Josh as Peeta that I got distracted and missed the story of this movie, haha.. In my defense, I watched it again and I didn't come up with anything new. Please don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the movie because while I was confused with the over-all story, the parts I saw had depth and it was quite heartwarming. From what I can gather, there's no need to worry about the kids because they're alright, it's the parents who have issues. :)

Til then!

TV review: Modern Family season 2 episode 21, 23-24

These episodes were too good and merited separate posts, haha..

Mother's Day - I loved this episode.. Where to begin? Oh, I guess, I have to start with my word for the day after watching this episode: persnickety. And I have to thank not Alex, not Claire and not Manny for this word, but Gloria.. Haha..

Okay, first up: Claire & Gloria and the kids on a hiking trail.. I have to say that when the kids caught on with how smart *cough wily cough* their mother is, I smiled.. And I'm not just thinking of my own mother, but just mothers in general.. They have to be, otherwise their kids would always have the upper hand, right? And that's why we love them sooo much.. They just know which button to push.. Haha.. Moms! :)

Meanwhile, Cam is mad because people, including Mitchell, think of him as the 'mom' in the relationship..

Cam: There's nothing gays hate more that being treated like women. Okay? We don't want to go to your baby shower, we don't have a time of the month, and we don't love pink.
Mitchell: You love pink.
Cam: No, pink loves me.

You should see Cam's reaction when he said that pink loves him, hahaha.. Argggh! How awesome is Cam? Anyway, he and Mitchell went to the park for a Mother's Day celeb with some of their friends and he was not happy when he was asked to pose with the moms. To prove his point, he threw a football (spectacular throw, by the way) which unfortunately hit an elderly man in a bike. Cue to come running to help hysterically and Mitchell reminding him of his hands.. Hahaha.. You just have to see it..

As their wives were hiking, it was left to Phil and Jay to prepare the feast. Jay got teary when Phil saw a poem that Phil wrote for his mom when he was a kid. As usual, Phil feels this brought him closer to Jay but doesn't know how to best handle the situation. He wants to hug the proud lion but is scare of getting bitten.. Hee.. When dinner came, Jay asked him to get the bottles of wine for telling the family that he cried but when Phil came back he sees Cam hugging Jay in comfort when Jay cried again.. Haha.. He wanted to be the one who hugged Jay like that, but Cam beat him to it, LOL..

All in all, a great Mother's Day episode.. Two thumbs up!

See You Next Fall - With the title, I though this was the season finale. Turns out there's one more episode, so, yay!

The show starts with the principal calling Alex on the podium to give her speech as the class valedictorian and Luke wondering where his parents are.. Cue in to four hours earlier where we see Phil trying to get Claire to breakdown with this family milestone so he can comfort her now and be free to go to Vegas the next day with his college friends. Cue in to Mitchell laughing hard when Cam falls into the kiddie pool. Cue in to Jay hiding a horrible botox disaster which had the left side of his face drooping (I loved how Manny reacted when he realised his Phantom mask covered the wrong half of Jay's face. I also loved Gloria's reaction to Jay's little vanity). Cue in Hayley advising Alex against giving the speech she's planned on giving as it will make Alex a social "piranha" LOL!

When Cam walked into the screen and all three adult Pritchetts burst out laughing, he realised that meanness is hereditary. I also realised that if I'm part of the show, I would have been part-Pritchett as well because I laughed when he fell on the kiddie pool and when he banged himself on the screen, teehee.

There were lots of laughs on this episode, but there were lots of touching scenes as well. Like Phil & Claire's empty nest discussion and Hayley & Alex's discussion about 'stuff'..

Then we get back to the present but not before seeing Phil and Claire rolling down the hill after "Felipe" managed to hitch a ride to the school after the chain on the tandem bike that Gloria rolled out for them to use broke.

My most fave part of this episode was Hayley's reaction when Claire and Phil started to hug her because "she's back." Loved it.. I imagine that's how I look when my mom gets a hold of me and I have to ask for my siblings' (particularly my brother's because he gets the joke, haha) help.. Teehee..

All in all, an extremely touching and solid episode.

The One That Got Away - The season finale. Heartwarming.

It's Jay's birthday and there's nothing he wants more than to spend a quiet day at the lake and leave everything behind. Cue in to the rest of the family trying to get the perfect present for the head of the family..

I want to itemise some things that made Jay's day go from bad to worse: He ended up with two phones (his and Gloria's) so he was forced to pick Sophia from the vet. Cam got kicked out of the bakery (people heard him giving love advice to Manny that people misunderstood) so Jay was forced to pick up his own cake from the shop. Claire & Mitchell got trapped on their old tree house so Jay ended up distracting the dog so his kids could go down and go home (while being obnoxious along the way, showing us how close these two are).. When dinner came, the adults have nothing to show for it so it was up to the kids to save the day. However, Luke's video editing skill was slammed when he came up with barely 5 minutes of footage that didn't really say or do anything.. No wonder Jay just wanted to go upstairs and curl with a Ludlum (My all-time fave author mentioned in this show! I was so happy I almost cried!).

The original footage contained some instances that relate to previous episodes (Mitchell practising for the flash mob dance, Cam putting on make up as Fizbo on Lily's birthday, etc) which was a nice touch as it brought back to mind the episodes that made me love this show so much.. When Gloria mentioned Baby Jesus, it reminded me of that episode where they all made fun of her mispronounciations and accent (definitely reminds me of someone, hahahaha..)

Cam was not his flamboyant self in this episode.. He was actually dialled down and I loved his interaction with Manny on this episode. It was obvious that he wanted to be the one to take Manny to the batting cages to teach him the sport but was gracious and understanding enough when Manny said he'd ask Jay to take him. I loved this dialled down Cam, but I love him so much that his being flamboyant doesn't bother me at all.. It's endearing. Cam is endearing.

All in all, this was a good episode to cap the season.. I think I missed a couple of episodes from this season but I'm not worried as Fox 8 will be showing Modern Family from season 1 starting next week.. Woohoo..

Til then! 

TV review: Modern Family season 2 episodes 14-20, 22

I know I skipped an episode from my list, but I wanted to write about it separately because it was a good one..

Bixby's Back - I'm not sure if Clive and Juliana were in the Valentines Day episode in the first season.. They probably are.. But I must say that over-all, this wasn't a strong episode for me.. I actually didn't find the restaurant reservation confusion that made all 3 Pritchett couples get a table on a busy Valentines Day that fun.. Clive and Juliana weren't fun either.. The subplot between Jay's plans that were changed by the wily Gloria was so-so.. The subplot with Mitch's assistant was the only one that entertained me.. If you ask me, I think Cam's right, the assistant liked him, hehe..

Princess Party - First off, it was great to see Matt Dillon, it felt like forever since I last saw him on tv or in a movie.. Still looking great, though.. Alright, it's Lily's birthday and Nana DeDe (Shelley Long) is giving Claire a hard time, apparently more than usual because she just invited Robbie (Matt Dillon) over for dinner without informing Claire..

Anyway, it was also nice to see Cam don his Fizbo costume. I read that he was awesome as Fizbo in the first season so I'm looking forward to that.. Cam berating the princess for breaking out of character was just funny.. I just love Cam! I do, I really, really do..

Regrets Only - Gloria singing made me laugh, no, not because she was awful or anything like that, she just reminded me of someone, hahahahaha.. I'm trying to look for a video of it and show it to my family.. They would know who I'm talking about.. LOL!

Cam & Luke's interaction on this episode was funny! Cam is such a drama queen, I love it! When the phone rang and he was right beside it, he still called Luke to answer it for him because Luke was his assistant, haha.. Then that scene when he asked Luke to call Mitchell was fun to watch as well.. Another poignant scene from Phil when he said he has Claire all over him and Mitchell saves the day!

Two Monkeys and a Panda - Coco and Mico, awesome names! Love Cam for coming up with it.. Phil in a spa is just Phil being Phil.. He didn't want to waste the spa ticket they won so he used it, haha.. Classic Phil.. I love Phil too.. Seeing clips of Cam being scared by the prospect of having a baby was just heartwarmingly hilarious.. I also found it funny that Claire tried to make her daughters close, without realising that they'd get close on their own.. I mean, they already are but they're just too different..

Boys' Night - Nathan Lane, Robin Williams and Hank Azaria in Birdcage were just fab! Anyway, the story was about perception. Mitchell didn't think that Jay would actually be a fun guy to be around with while spending an evening with his friends. Phil & Claire just assumed that their next-door neighbor is not nice without bothering to really get to know the guy, good thing Luke is adorable..


The Musical Man - Oh, this was fun.. When I saw the posters I knew how it would look like on Phil's van, but I still burst out laughing when I saw it. Hilarious! But Claire's reaction when she found that there were more guys calling for her was just priceless.. Julie's such a superb actress, I mean, really! She knows Claire so much, I know I keep saying that, but the way she portrays Claire is just faultless..  Cam in this episode was a handful, taking over the role of interim musical director to the extreme, haha, but he's Cam.. I'd have been surprised if he did anything different.. There was also the scene with Jay and his brother that was touching..

Someone to Watch over Lily - Claire thinks that Luke is too much like his father and that while Phil's already an adult and can no longer be changed, she hopes that things could still be changed for Luke.. Of course, Phil feels bad about it but in the end, says the most perfect thing he could have said under the circumstances that just made me love him so much, hehe.. Mitchell thought that he heard Gloria say hair rings instead of earrings was another fun Gloria-ism.. And Cam realising that Lily would be best with Jay and Gloria if anything should happen to them was touching.. Manny, you da boy! Claire, of course, objects that they didn't consider her and Phil to be Lily's guardians but decides to fight over it another day since Hayley and Alex were caught vandalising school property, hehe..

Good Cop Bad Dog - Again, my admiration for how Julie plays Claire comes out.. She was awesome in this episode as Claire.. The role reversal between Claire and Phil was an effective way to show how right they are in their assigned roles because switching roles would highlight Claire's irresponsible and competitve streak and Phil's strict and scary side.. Meanwhile, Mitchell is trying to make it like Cam's okay to let him go the the Lady Gaga concert on his own while Cam is feeling under the weather.. I think if it was Mitchell who was sick, Cam would have stayed, but I do understand Mitchell's actions.. I wouldn't have missed a Lady Gaga show if I had tickets, that's a fact!

So there you have it, eight super episodes.. Til then!

Book review: The Litigators by John Grisham

I came upon this book with the events from The Confession still fresh from my mind so I was expecting another hard-hitting legal fiction.. After the first few pages imagine my surprise when I suddenly found myself laughing.. Laughter caused by a Grisham novel? Yeah, I found it hard to believe too.. But there it was..

Poor David is a young successful attorney who's on the verge of a serious meltdown when he came to work that fateful day.. He decided right there and there that he's had enough so he jumped back into the elevator, ignored his phone, and luckily stumbled into a pub with a good bartender where he sufficiently got wasted..

On the cab home, still inebriated, he saw this "boutique" law firm nestled between a massage parlor and a lawnmower repair shop. It was a far cry from the big and successful corporate firm he's been slaving at for years and so out of nowhere, he applied for a job on this small firm. A laugh out loud moment for me was when he, still in a drunken state, tried to swing a piece of metal against other lawyers to keep them from taking "their" clients when they all ran to site. This impressed the partners of the firm of Finley & Figg - a small legal firm who's so low on funds and clients that the junior partner had opted to advertise their trade on bingo cards, teehee..

The junior partner, Wally, dreams big and is always on a hunt for juicy cases that would result in a huge settlement with almost no work on their part.. A too-good-to-be-true case lands in their lap when Wally meets the son of a recently deceased old client of theirs. Brimming with anticipation, Wally realised that they could join a class action against a pharmaceutical company for a drug that was thought to cause heart attacks. In short, Wally was already counting his share on the huge settlement he was sure the pharma company would shell out. Were they successful? Won't say.. Hehe..

The main characters:

The characters are flawed but you know they're good guys and so you can't help but love them.. Wally is like any person who dreams to have it all and goes about achieving it by using shortcuts. David loves the law but is inexperienced with litigation (it was funny how he started to read Perry Mason books just so he could have an idea on what to do in a courtroom, hahaha.. Kudos to Grisham for mentioning Erle Stanley Gardner (via Perry Mason) in his book.. I don't know if he's done it before, but I loved it because I'm such a Perry Mason fan!) and was at a point in his life that he (bravely!) chose to be happy earning so little rather than earning big but wasting away. Oscar, the senior partner, doesn't really want to rock the boat and just wants a divorce from his wife and then retire peacefully.. Rochelle is the glue that binds these men together with her quick wit and managerial skills.

My thoughts:

The book is surprisingly funny and serious at the same time..  It was so funny how David ended up doing all the work for their class action. For a newbie, he seriously was able to pull it off on cross examination. The Perry Mason novels helped, I suppose, hahaha.. He also ended up with cases of his own that were seriously downplayed in the novel but were actually the ones that brought about results. Ah, the irony! It was everywhere in this book, starting from the title itself. I loved it, I simply loved it!

The serious tone of the book was the lead poisoning case that David and by extension, his wife, worked on.. It could happen and the thought really scares me.. Toys for kids should be strictly QA'ed and made with kid-friendly materials.. Not all firms in the real world are as quick to claim responsibility as the one in this novel..

I highly recommend this book and I know you'd enjoy it the same way that I did, Grisham fan or not..

Til then!

TV review: Modern Family season 2 episode 13: Caught in the Act

I've been remiss.. I forgot what I was doing that kept me from writing about Modern Family, haha.. Anyway, here's a rundown of one of the episodes I've seen so far..

Overall, it wasn't a laugh-out-loud episode for me, although it had moments.. I'll just focus on the main story this week, which for me was the Pritchett-Dunphy subplot..

The kids, bearing breakfast as their gift to their parents on their anniversary walked in on them doing the deed..

Luke: What were mom and dad doing?
Alex: Nothing!
Luke: Whatever it was, it looked like dad was winning.

Claire believes it will traumatise her kids the same way she was traumatised when she walked in on her parents.. And to which Phil says:

Phil: Claire, we're not your parents; we're in much better shape..

Hahaha! I just love Phil! So, while Claire was panicking..

Phil: Maybe they didn't see anything.
Claire: Sweetie, they-they screamed, they dropped a tray of dishes and they ran out of here like they were on fire.
Phil: You were on fire, lady.
Claire: Really? You're still going?
Phil: Well, forgive me for thinking your zesty performance deserved some praise.

Claire: We need a game plan, we need to map out exactly what we are going to say, because that is the only way I will be able to hold it together while our babies look at us with judgment and disgust.
Phil: That's how they always look at us.

..and Phil started eating their breakfast off the floor, the kids went out and talk about it, knowing that their mom would want to have a meeting to discuss what happened.. Luke (I just love him) said that he'd rather have parents who have sex rather than have parents who are divorced. Unbeknownst to Claire, the kids decided to think happy thoughts and pretend to be listening to her discuss the event which ended up pleasing everybody.. The kids gave their parents a lock for their door but the sound of their parents using it to lock their their door can be heard around the house so the kids still end up knowing what their parents are up to.. Hahaha..

I love this show! Til then!

Movie review: Mars Attacks!

My blast from the past movie this week is one of my brother's all-time fave movie (hehe) - Mars Attacks!

Every time my brother and I hear would hear the opening notes of Tom Jones's song "It's Not Unusual", we'd just burst out laughing because of this movie.. Then you'd hear us talking like the Martians while just laughing like crazily.. Yeah, my brother and I can be pretty silly sometimes.. You should hear us with our own version of Independence Day quotes, LOL!

Back to the movie..

This was simply one goofy movie.. It has a star-studded cast that didn't try to out-act each other.. Instead, they showed us that they're capable of not taking themselves too seriously.. Also, it was great to see a young and deadpanned Natalie Portman (I'm such a big fan!)

It was of course the Martians who stole the movie, what with their silly antics and their two-facedness.. Their meanness was, for me, shown the best when they tried to get their giant laser gun as close to Grandma as possible as silently as they can.. Teehee..

Just don't take this movie seriously and you'll enjoy it..

All in all, all I can really say is Ack! Ack!

Hahaha..

Movie review: I Am Number Four

I wasn't expecting much, really, but I had hoped that they'd at least make an effort to try to stay true to the book or stay true to most of what's in the book. The book itself was okay and I actually thought it would make a decent movie because of the action sequences in the book.. In fairness, they did try to stay close to the book - they just focused on the love story instead of the actual story as to why Four is Number Four..

Here's a bit of a rundown of the things I didn't like:

a) Like the movie adaptation of Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, I felt that the characters in the movie are waaaaaay off base with the characters in the book. Did the actors even bother to read the book? I apologise if I'm mistaken and that they did read the book, but watching them felt to me that they didn't really know the characters they were playing.

b) I liked Number Six in the book and I certainly don't remember that every sentence that came out of her was loaded with sexual innuendo.. If I'm wrong and the character in the book really talked like that, please let me know.. I just don't remember her that way..

c) One of the best scenes in the book was when Henri narrated what actually happened to their planet while Four sees a vision of how it occured. How was this not in the movie?? Aside from focusing on the love angle, this really bugged me the most. Their desire for a sequel by withholding this tidbit of information from the movie is such hogwash! The title of the movie is I Am Number Four! If the viewer has not read the book, it would have been great to provide the background information given on the book that explains everything that's happening to the main characters..

d) Also another good scene in the book was Henri's death.. In the book, Henri died during the fight.. In the movie? I don't know, something about a car chase and him getting speared while they were driving away or something like that.. I dunno, I just stopped paying attention way before this scene.. Henri's death in the book teared me up while the one showed in the movie made me roll my eyes..

e) The chest was opened in the book, why wasn't it opened in the movie? More mystery? More excuse to make a sequel? It's stupid..

I know there's more but those are the main ones..

Honestly, after seeing the first 10 minutes of the movie, I turned it off and read a book instead.. The next day, I picked up where I left off and again, after a few minutes, I opted to watch regular TV instead.. I just kept putting it off because it was irritating until I finally finished it..

Okay, I have to admit that the only thing I liked about the movie was Bernie Kosar.. He was the only character in the book that was portrayed almost perfectly, down to the giant CGI form he took in the movie (I say almost because there should have been more interaction between him and Four because one of Four's legacy was animal telepathy).. Six catching up with Four was nice, but as mentioned, this was a different Six from what I remember from the book.. This scene in the picture is cliche, but there was so very few things to like about the movie so I'll give a nod to this as well..

If you're going to see it, choose to buy or borrow the book instead. Reading it is not a waste of your time compared to watching this movie.

Til then!

TV review: Nikita season 1 episodes 1 - 3

I was excited when I saw the ad on Fox8 about this show, not that I heard positive reviews or such, but simply because all the shows I was watching were in hiatus (now, they're all going to be coming back this year so I guess I have no reason to complain anymore, hehe..)

The premise is of a rogue agent out for revenge against the secret organisation who "created" her. Reminds me of Alias a bit (I miss seeing Jennifer Garner on the small screen) but we'll see how it goes..

The first episode didn't really convert me into a fan.. It was so-so, which was disappointing because how can you hook fans if the 1st episode gets a lukewarm reaction? I didn't feel connected with the main character, Nikita, even though I really wanted to because I love Maggie Q.. I love it that she's doing her own stunts and she really looks amazing. I guess the character is a bit robotic, in a sense, or maybe it's just the dialogue.

I also wasn't too thrilled with Shane West as Michael.. I dunno, something about seeing him smirk or frown or just plain seeing him didn't sit well with me.. I wish he'd do more than just act tough or cocky, I get irritated when he does it, haha.. I guess, I am comparing him with Vaughn (played by Michael Vartan in Alias) who was Sydney's handler. Shane West's Michael trains the new recruits so it was easy for me to identify him as sort of their handler. He knows that Division is no longer one of the "good guys" so I guess it would be nice to see some internal struggle going on with Michael.. Sadly, it's hinted at, but I just don't see it.. They told the new recruits that they're working for the government but Michael's over-all vibe is that of a bad guy.. It doesn't make sense. In fairness to his character, he was naive enough to volunteer information that would help Nikita in her quest to bring Division down. He did tell Nikita that killing Percy would just eliminate all proof of cover-ups and illegal activities that Division has been doing since it began.

Alex (Lyndsy Fonseca) was a breath of fresh air, she's really pretty (I kept asking myself where I saw her from when it hit me that she's Ted Mosby's future daughter in HIMYM, not sure if she's going to still make guest appearances on that show, I hope so..) and I hope she does good with this because it was revealed that she's the mole working with Nikita right on the first episode (I was thinking that they'd keep us all in suspense for a bit longer but they didn't).

Because I get insanely loyal to shows I still watch even if I don't know why I spend time watching them (cue in Two & a Half Men), I decided to give this another go..

Episode 2: Alex goes on her first mission but for a covert organisation, they sure don't give their agents aliases (for fear of reminding people of Alias?!). Granted that all information and background about the Division's recruits have been deleted from the system, still, why risk sending their agents on a mission with their real names? Hmm.. Anyway, the 2nd episode still didn't do it for me..

Oh well, on to episode 3..

Episode 3: They should have made the title "Gold Star" instead of "Kill Jill", haha.. Alex "earned" it from Nikita and then from Michael, so I'm just sayin'..

Anyway, finally! Some action and story and sense.. A freelance journalist has a source who saw what happened on a plane crash site before a forest fire conveniently burned all the evidence (courtesy of Division minions).

I loved the fight scene between Michael & Nikita.. I also enjoyed the subterfuge Alex had to employ to assist Nikita from the inside. I was also finally glad that they've pinpointed Birkhoff as the possible mole in the organisation. Man, are they slow or what? For an evil covert group, they're really starting to annoy me.. Why didn't they do a full body search on Birkhoff when he got back after a face-to-face with Nikita?! He said that he's been debriefed by Percy (the boss) himself.. Did Percy not consider what Nikita would want with their head IT guy?! Seriously?! Like Nikita would kidnap the tech guy and not do something to him?! Or like Nikita would grab the tech guy and then just send him back to the organisation she's going to bring down without using him to help her win in her fight?! 

I dunno.. Division is stupid, I think, LOL!

Another Division op foiled and they're no closer to finding the mole because they thought they got rid of a transmitter that Nikita placed on Birkhoff. Now Alex and Nikita would have to think of something else to draw attention away from her.

For my part, I think that Birkhoff is secretly working with Nikita. He says he owns their computer system and yet Alex and Nikita can still communicate via encrypted chat using a computer terminal within Division. How can Birkhoff not know that? Unless it means that Alex is much more computer savvy than Birkhoff, which I think is unlikely.. The chip found on him might be a decoy but I still think that he is Nikita's second set of eyes within Division without Alex knowing about it.. He did yell out that there's a new target that prompted Alex to initiate a fight against Jaden that would bring her closer to the operations room and see who the target is..

All in all, I'm happy I stuck with the show.. Hoping for more good episodes to come.. Til then!