The Movie Formula

I was sitting at home with my family one night and we were discussing what makes the movies we like attractive to us. If we take all the Disney/Pixar movies as an example we came to the conclusion that all of them have a few key elements that appear in each movie, that draw our attention time and time again. For example, they all have a main hero who makes a mistake but gets a chance to fix it, an extremely funny and totally outrageous sidekick (who the movie would not be complete without), an evil entity and a moral (each movie teaches us a lesson).

Movie #1: Aladdin
Aladdin was the main character. His grave mistake was trying to fool the princess Jasmine into believing he was a prince so that she would marry him. He gets to redeem himself later on by saving them all with his wit and cunning. The utterly hilarious Genie is the sidekick (although Robin Williams can never be anything but the centre of attention). The evil entity would be the hideous and jealous Jafar and the moral of the story is that even if you had a genie that could grant your every wish, when it comes to love, you cannot fool anyone, you must be yourself so that you can be loved for who you are.

Movie #2: Nemo
This movie has two different heroes, depending on your point of view. On the one hand we have Nemo, and on the other we have Marlin. The ever so trusty sidekick is Dory the forgetful blue tang. Nemo’s naughty deed for the movie is ignoring his father and swimming out too far, but, he gets to save his fellow fish friends from a life in a tank. And Marlin, well, he probably should not have been on Nemo’s case all the time, but he gets to save him in the end, so it is all good. Moral of the story, children, listen to your parents. Parents, listen to your children. Children, your parents will come save you wherever you are. Parents, trust your children they are smart and resourceful.

Movie #3: Monsters Inc.
Well, our hero for this movie is Sulley. His big mistake was letting a human into the monster world, but I guess it was all for the better when he found out it was not really necessary for monsters to be scary. And our trusty sidekick would be Mike Wazoski, who, as we said, the movie would not be complete without. And like all great movies, we have an evil character, Randall the evil serpent. Moral of our movie is that if you have two options, either to scare someone into doing something, or making them do it by making them happy, the better option is usually to make them happy, they will do it better.

Movie #4: Mulan
Well, Mulan was our heroin for this movie, and her utterly hilarious sidekick was Mushu. Mulan's big boo boo was pretending to be a man, but she more than made up for it when she saved all of China from an invasion. Evil guy was probably Shan Yu the leader of the Hans, but I suppose all of them together would represent the evil entity. The moral of this story has a few parts. One, be yourself and do not try to turn yourself into something you are not. Two, follow your heart. Three, be flexible, adapt, accept that some things are different to what you expect. And the final one is probably the importance of family.

Each of these movies teaches us a valuable lesson and we get to see that lesson from different points of view, from the view of the goofball, the hero, and the villain. I suppose the main thing all these movies are trying to tell us is that if you are predominantly good, the world will do right by you. While this is not always true, because the world can be harsh, these movies give those 2 hours of knowing that everything will sort itself out in the end.

Tsoof and Eden love to download full movies from the Internet.

Healthy Movies make you laugh

I love a good laugh. At dinner time, when we tell jokes and recite funny scenes from movies, I can tell we are a healthy family. Funny movies are a constant guest at our dinner table. I guess this is our magic pill against sickness and sadness. I believe laughter is the best medicine, a wonderful vehicle to happiness.
There is a whole new science now, dealing with the importance of laughter to our wellbeing. Terminally ill patients watch comedy movies to heal themselves. Think about it, instead of a pill or a painful treatment, the doctor can prescribe – a movie!
There are courses that teach people how to laugh. Funny, isn't it?! Laughter is one of the most natural things in childhood, and yet we need to re- learn it as adults.
If you think of movies, you can see that most kid's movies are funny. If they are not, they have a character in the movie that makes the whole thing fun. Kids are in the mood for laughing most of the time. We can learn a lot from them, they are healthier.
Children laugh a lot. One of the greatest joys is to hear a baby laugh. More people find that irresistible. Children do not need a “real” reason to laugh. They laugh at things that seem silly. What do you think? Is it better to laugh over millions of silly things or only to laugh at rare “seriously funny” things? Who has more fun in life, kids or grown-ups?
Watching funny movies has great physical benefits and entered as a method in “Laughter Therapy”.
Laughing has great benefits like:
• It strengthens your immune system
• It enhances your cardiovascular flexibility
• It increases your motivation
• It helps you think more clearly and increases your intellectual performance
• It improves your information retention (memory)
• It increases your creativity
• It changes your emotional state to the positive
• It releases and transforms your emotional pain
• It develops your abdominal muscles
There are so many other benefits to laughter that it makes you wonder why we do not laugh more. If you want to enjoy a wonderful feeling, grab yourself a funny movie and start laughing.
If you are a typical adult and do not laugh very often, here are some tips to help you improve this natural medicine –laughing.
• Laughing is contagious. Hang around with people who appreciate laughter. Laughing in a group is easier to start, especially if you feel comfortable with the group (family, friends, and colleagues) find the right company to watch movies with.
• Find a movie that suits your style. Some like "Wayne's World" style, some love "Notting Hill" or parody movies. Stick to what works for you.
• Let go of any embarrassment associated with laughing – just go for it!
• You need a reason to laugh every day. Tell jokes or share funny scenes out of movies with humour lovers.
• Keep practicing until you get the hang of it. It will get easier over time
Movies are an easy tool to encourage laughter. As opposed to medication, they are much cheaper and they have no side effects. The effect lasts long afterwards and it actually keep you healthy.

Tsoof and Eden love to download full movies from the Internet.

Musicals are Back

Dating back to the time of the Ancient Greeks musicals started when the Greeks included music and dance in their stage comedies. From the 5th century B.C Musicals have developed into amazing acts and performances not even close to what they were in the past. Some include: Cats, The Phantom of The Opera, Broadway and newer ones like Hairspray and The Producers.

I have not watched very many musicals as they only come out every once in a while but one of the more recent ones is Hairspray. It is about a girl named Tracy Turnbland who manages to show everyone the stupidity in segregation and that 'coolness' is on the inside.

Tracy is a severely overweight high school student in Baltimore, Maryland whose favourite TV program is The Corny Collins Show that is broadcasted by Baltimore's WYZT station every weekday afternoon. The show involves young teens dancing and singing up a storm. The manager of the station, Velma Von Tussle (Michelle Pfeiffer) goes out of her way to ensure her daughter Amber is prominently featured and that the show remains segregated. All of the kids on the show are white. Black kids are only allowed on the show on Negro Day, the last Tuesday of the each month, hosted by local R&B radio DJ Motormouth Maybelle (Queen Latifah).

One day, Corny Collins (James Marsden) announces that one of the dancers is going on a leave of absence and auditions are going to be held for a replacement the following morning – during school hours. Even though their parents are far from supportive, Tracy and her best friend Penny go to audition. Velma turns Tracy away for being overweight and supportive of integration.

Unfortunately for Tracy, she gets caught and sent to detention for skipping school, but lo-and-behold, detention is where all the black kids hang out and dance. Tracy befriends hot detention dancer Seaweed (Elijah Kelley), who as it turns out, is Motormouth Maybelle's son. Seaweed teaches Tracy some R&B moves that later get her a spot on The Corny Collins Show.

Tracy quickly becomes a big star on the show thanks to her great moves and bubbly personality but Velma does not see it that way. All she sees is how Tracy is a threat to Amber's position in the "Miss Teenage Hairspray" pageant and Amber's courtship with Link, the lead performer for The Corny Collins Show.

Out of anger, Velma cancels Negro Day from The Corny Collins Show and the black kids and their leader Maybelle have nowhere to express their talent.

Without giving too much away, Tracy shows everyone the importance of not giving up, of standing up for what you believe in and for the people you are friends with. While racism against blacks and segregation has stopped being the main focus in everyone's lives, it is still surprisingly popular today among the less accepting of society. This movie shows us that it is important to be proud of who you are and the people you are associated with, whether they are fat, gangly, black or even purple.

Tsoof and Eden love to download full movies from the Internet.

Movies, Antidepressants with no Side Effects

It is depressing news that according to Australian Government statistics, everyone will, at some point in their lives, be affected by depression, their own or someone else's.

Statistics show that:
• Us depression statistics are comparable to those of the Australian and the UK
• 15% of the population of most developed countries suffers severe depression
• Depressive disorders affect approximately 9.5% of the population aged 18 and older in any given year. This includes major depressive disorder, dysthymic disorder and bipolar disorder
• Pre-schoolers are the fastest-growing market for antidepressants. At least 4% of preschoolers are clinically depressed
• The rate of increase of depression among children is an astounding 23% per year
• 30% of women are depressed. Men's figures were previously thought to be half that of women, but new estimates are higher
• 54% of people believe depression is a personal weakness
• 41% of depressed women are too embarrassed to seek help
• 80% of depressed people are not currently having any treatment
• 15% of depressed people commit suicide
• Depression will be the second largest killer after heart disease by 2020
• Studies show that depression is a contributory factor to fatal coronary disease

Reading these statistics, you cannot help but feel depressed. Realizing that there really is no way we can run away from it and we will all one day be affected by depression is shocking news. Of course we were not always such a sorry bunch, so there has to be a way to boost people's moods, right?

I have investigated depression in detail and there are many treatments for depression, some are more successful then other, some are cheaper than other, some are long term and others are shorter. One of the things you often hear about is people healing themselves with positive thoughts and laughter. I have to say, that is the best treatment I have found so far, movies- the anti depressant with no side affect besides an aching stomach from the laughter.

Funny movies make us laugh. Laughter has been found to be a great stimulator of many organs in the body. There is a whole science promoting health and wellbeing through laughter, people even study how to laugh, if you can believe it.

Laughing is so easy, but surprisingly, to combat depression around the world most medical institutions give medication. The pharmaceutical companies are growing and with them so is depression.

I believe the reason depression is on the rise is because fun is declining. People are just to busy to have any fun these days. We go to work every day, we are at work all day and sometimes on the weekends too. That leaves no time for fun and joy. People live to work not work to live. Laughter, joy and fun are harder to come by today.
Kids are in a much better condition; this is why depression most commonly affects adults. Kids laugh a lot. Even their movies are mostly funny. Make a short survey at your local cinema. What is the percentage of funny movies offered to adults and how many funny movies there are for children? In all the kids' movies, even if the movie is not meant to be funny, there is at least one character to lighten the mood.
So let's start laughing!
• Laughter is healthy; it is fat free and has no side affects.
• Laughter can cure cancer and heartbreak.
• Laughter does not need storage, you do not need to produce it in a factory and ship it from place to place. It functions without batteries and is tax free
• Laughter is not affected by temperature. And works great in any weather, especially on cold and rainy days.
• Laughter has no preservatives or food coloring. No traces of nuts and no allergic elements known to man.
• Laughter is good for people with high cholesterol and suitable for organic lovers.
• Laughter is the most natural anti depressant and is very cheap because you can use it at home, sitting in your living room and just watching a movie.

Tsoof and Eden love to download full movies from the Internet.

The Water Horse – The Legend of the Deep

Things like myths and legends usually have some basis in fact. Often times it is just for the moral of the story but somehow there will always be, even if it is only a little piece, a part that really existed. If the legendary Scottish Loch Ness monster exists, "The Water Horse" imagines how it may have come to be.

The movie is based on the book by Dick King-Smith and is predominantly set during World War II. An elderly gentleman tells a young couple about a photo of the Loch Ness monster hanging in a local bar. While the photo is a fake, the monster is no monster at all and so the story begins: A young Scottish boy named Angus MacMorrow (Alex Etel) takes home a rather large and dirty rock he finds on the beach. He soon realizes that it is a magical egg, and finds himself raising a cute little sea creature which he names Crusoe.

Angus's family lives in a massive and rather empty Scottish manor. On the day of his discovery of the magical egg, an entire English battalion shows up on their doorstep and starts to spread themselves out. The battalion stands guard over the local lake from invading submarines.

On that same day, a new handyman by the name of Lewis Mowbray (Ben Chaplin) starts his job at the manor. After their first small dispute, Mr. Mowbray takes on the role of a father figure in the place of the late Mr. MacMorrow whose ship had been sunk at sea a year previous.

As Crusoe grows to be abnormally large over a short period of time, it begins to be a problem to keep him a secret. When Angus and his older sister Kristie finally get themselves into a bind with Crusoe, they decide to let Lewis in on it. Lewis recognizes Crusoe as the creature of legend. As legend goes there exists a magical water horse that is both male and female. There is only ever one in the world at any given time and when it comes to the end of its days, it lays a single egg and then passes away of old age before the new egg is hatched. The egg is always adopted by a young boy.

Well, war takes its toll on the household and Crusoe, who has by now been moved to the lake due to the fact that he is as big as a skyscraper. Local people begin to notice the giant creature and gossip begins to float around. The soldiers start to see enemies in every corner and Crusoe becomes violent from all the attacks. It is up to Angus to find a solution to save the mythical creature and ensure that the legend goes on.

I think this movie shows us that sometimes we assume the worst when we come across things we are not used to. Miscommunication can be deadly, as always, and of course, war achieves nothing but death. And yet there are always stories and legends to keep us going and give us hope that magical creatures really do exist.

Tsoof and Eden love to download full movies from the Internet.

Healthy Movies make you laugh

I love a good laugh. At dinner time, when we tell jokes and recite funny scenes from movies, I can tell we are a healthy family. Funny movies are a constant guest at our dinner table. I guess this is our magic pill against sickness and sadness. I believe laughter is the best medicine, a wonderful vehicle to happiness.
There is a whole new science now, dealing with the importance of laughter to our wellbeing. Terminally ill patients watch comedy movies to heal themselves. Think about it, instead of a pill or a painful treatment, the doctor can prescribe – a movie!
There are courses that teach people how to laugh. Funny, isn't it?! Laughter is one of the most natural things in childhood, and yet we need to re- learn it as adults.
If you think of movies, you can see that most kid's movies are funny. If they are not, they have a character in the movie that makes the whole thing fun. Kids are in the mood for laughing most of the time. We can learn a lot from them, they are healthier.
Children laugh a lot. One of the greatest joys is to hear a baby laugh. More people find that irresistible. Children do not need a “real” reason to laugh. They laugh at things that seem silly. What do you think? Is it better to laugh over millions of silly things or only to laugh at rare “seriously funny” things? Who has more fun in life, kids or grown-ups?
Watching funny movies has great physical benefits and entered as a method in “Laughter Therapy”.
Laughing has great benefits like:
• It strengthens your immune system
• It enhances your cardiovascular flexibility
• It increases your motivation
• It helps you think more clearly and increases your intellectual performance
• It improves your information retention (memory)
• It increases your creativity
• It changes your emotional state to the positive
• It releases and transforms your emotional pain
• It develops your abdominal muscles
There are so many other benefits to laughter that it makes you wonder why we do not laugh more. If you want to enjoy a wonderful feeling, grab yourself a funny movie and start laughing.
If you are a typical adult and do not laugh very often, here are some tips to help you improve this natural medicine –laughing.
• Laughing is contagious. Hang around with people who appreciate laughter. Laughing in a group is easier to start, especially if you feel comfortable with the group (family, friends, and colleagues) find the right company to watch movies with.
• Find a movie that suits your style. Some like "Wayne's World" style, some love "Notting Hill" or parody movies. Stick to what works for you.
• Let go of any embarrassment associated with laughing – just go for it!
• You need a reason to laugh every day. Tell jokes or share funny scenes out of movies with humour lovers.
• Keep practicing until you get the hang of it. It will get easier over time
Movies are an easy tool to encourage laughter. As opposed to medication, they are much cheaper and they have no side effects. The effect lasts long afterwards and it actually keep you healthy.

Tsoof and Eden love to download full movies from the Internet.

The Fifth Element

I usually like really deep and meaningful movies a lot more than any others. Surprisingly, actions movies take my fancy once in a while and Bruce Willis usually stars in the more entertaining of the lot. "The Fifth Element" was a great action / sci-fi movie that I particularly liked and it managed to squeeze in a cute message just for good measure.

In 1914 in a ruined temple in Egypt, an archaeologist and a priest uncover ancient writings describing the arrival of a Great Evil every five millennia. The excavation is interrupted by the arrival of giant aliens called Mondoshawan. The Mondoshawan enter the temple and removed four stones corresponding with the four elements (water, fire, earth and air) from a hidden crypt inside the temple. They hide the stones until such time as the Great Evil arrives. They charge the priest with preserving the temple and its knowledge through the generations and promise to return with all the stones and the fifth element necessary to protect the world when the time comes.

In the year 2263, a Federal Navy space fleet is swallowed by a planetary eclipse, giving birth to the Great Evil that was foretold by the Mondoshawan. As they promised, the Mondoshawan come to earth to return the stones in order to stop the Great Evil. However, during their journey, the Mondoshawan's ship is shot down by a war-like alien race called Mangalores. From the wreck, scientists recover a fragment of one of the Mondoshawan with several living cells. From the fragment they clone Leeloo Minai Lekarariba-Laminai-Tchai Ekbat De Sebat (played by the beautiful Milla Jovovich), a supreme being. Leeloo escapes the laboratory and dives into a passing taxicab driven by Korben Dallas (Bruce Willis), a former major in the Federated Army's Special Forces. Korben brings an unconscious Leeloo to Priest Vito Cornelius.

The Mangalores meet Zorg (Gary Oldman), a wealthy industrialist who commissioned the assault on the Mondoshawan ship. Zorg offers to give weapons to the Mangalores in exchange for the stones inside the case salvaged from the crashed Mondoshawan ship. Unfortunately for Zorg, and the Mangalores who he subsequently kills, the case from the Mondoshawan ship is empty.

Meanwhile, at Cornelius's apartment, Leeloo reveals that the stones are actually safeguarded by renowned opera singer Diva Plavalaguna (Ma?wenn Le Besco), whom Leeloo must meet and that she is the fifth element necessary to save the world from the Great Evil.

The Galactic President learns about the stones and the Diva and drafts Dallas back into the Federated Army to retrieve the stones. Dallas is sent to Fhloston Paradise, a space liner where the Diva will be performing, as a winner of a contest. Dallas and Leeloo go to Fhloston Paradise where all hell breaks loose during the Diva's evening performance.

In order to save the world, Leeloo must take the four stones and herself to the ancient temple. When they finally get to the temple, a physically and emotionally wounded Leeloo questions the validity of protecting life that is not worth protecting. She is hesitant to provide the Divine Light needed to complete the process, fearing that humans will inevitably destroy themselves. As it turns out, the fifth element, necessary to save the world and protect it from the Great Evil, is Love.

It all just goes to show that, in the past hundreds of years, we humans have been destroying ourselves in many different ways and the reason life is worth living, is for the love we share. So save the world, spread the Divine Light, share the love.

Tsoof and Eden love to download full movies from the Internet.

Lack of Communication

One of the common themes in most teen TV series is a lack of communication. The girl purposely does not tell they guy about her deceased brother who she misses terribly. The guy omits the fact that he once got arrested. The father is (of course) having an affair, and the mother has a drug habit that no one knows about. Their neighbor on one side didn't come to the party because his daughter has a fatal illness and the one on the other side has a hidden obsession with Star Wars. While all these things individually can be dealt with and overcome or accepted once they are actually addressed, when they start to pile up on top of each other the characters get edgy. The guy thinks the girl likes someone else; the neighborhood thinks the first neighbor killed someone and that the second neighbor has a mistress. The father thinks his wife is having an affair so it is ok for him to have an affair and the mother does not feel loved enough to put in an effort. All of this is because little tiny details get left out in conversation.

I recently watch a mini TV series of 8 episodes called "Hidden Palms". I am not usually one for teen flicks like the "OC" or even romantic dramas like "Passions" and "the Bold and the Beautiful". This time I checked some reviews and figured it would be cool, a little romance, a little mystery and short because it was only 8 episodes. Well, it was a whole lot more mystery than I bargained for.

Johnny Miller, a young recovering alcoholic, moves to Palm Springs with his mother and step-father Bob after witnessing his father commit suicide. Bob omits any facts about the new house, which later comes back to bite him in the ass. Johnny quickly discovers that the boy who used to live in his room, Eddie Nolan, killed himself, which causes an enormous fight.

Nikki, an ex-girlfriend of Johnny's from rehab shows up in Palm Springs. She conveniently forgets to mention that she has lapsed in her rehabilitation and has not been sober in 3 years. At a party that night, she drinks far too much and causes a major scene.

Johnny starts getting strange instant messages from an anonymous person telling him that Eddie Nolan didn't kill himself, he was murdered. The instant messenger, like every eles, leaves out the little tid-bit of information that is who they are and what exactly they want Johnny to do about this information. Just like every other omitted piece of information, when Johnny finds out the messenger is Liza, his neighbor, he is royally pissed.

Johnny finds out that his girlfriend Greta and Eddie's best friend Cliff were in Eddie's room straight after he died. He goes over to Greta to ask her questions about Eddie. Instead of just telling him the truth, Greta doesn't want to talk about it. Meanwhile, Nikki calls her friend and asks her to pick her up in the morning. When her friend shows up with a few extra people and mass amounts of alcohol, Nikki just gives up and lets everyone come in without putting up much of a fight. When Johnny's parents come home, there is a big scene.

Greta finally admits that she slept with Cliff while she was going out with Eddie and she thinks Eddie killed himself because of it. Couldn't she have said that earlier?

Instead of just telling him the truth, Cliff and Greta each miss out little bits of information in their stories and Johnny is forced to shift his suspicions from one to the other. And the story goes on, and twists and turns in new directions, shifting from one person to another, from parent to child, to neighbor. Could someone have just told Johnny the truth the very first time? It would have saved his falling out with Cliff and his fight with Greta. Bob could have probably prevented his fight with Johnny and his mother too.

Is it so hard to just tell the truth? While it is not constructive, people who do not know the truth can assume a million and one different scenarios and act accordingly. It would be so much easier to tell your mom how you feel about your deceased father and for your neighbor to tell you about the boy next door who killed himself. It does not have to be so complicated. Communicate!

Tsoof and Eden love to download full movies from the Internet.

Alvin and the Chipmunks

Created by Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. in 1958, Alvin and the Chipmunks is a five time Grammy Award winning animated music group. The group consisted of three talking chipmunks (Alvin, the mischievous trouble maker, Simon, the smart one with glasses and Theodore, the chubby sweetheart). In the past, the chipmunks were shown as cartoons and now they are shown in a full length movie as anthropomorphic chipmunks.

The movie begins in a tree farm where the three chipmunks are storing acorns for the winter whilst singing 'Bad Day' (by Daniel Powter). Seconds later their tree is cut down and taken to Los Angeles where it is place in the middle of Jett Records recording company and fitted with tinsel and wrapping and Christmas decorations. They abandon the tree and jump into the basket of Dave Seville (who is a songwriter) only to be thrown into a trashcan with the basket.

After escaping from the trashcan and messing up his entire house the chipmunks are discovered and thrown outside. They stand next to the window and sing a song. Dave opens the window and lets them in. He then explains to them that they must sing his song to stay there for the night. Even though they make Dave lose his job and girlfriend, they become the biggest pop sensation the world had ever seen and give Dave his job and his girlfriend back. But shortly after their first performance the record executive Ian Hawke begins to break the family up. Hawke takes the chipmunks on tour not realizing the damage he is doing to their vocal cords. Meanwhile what is Dave doing? And what will happen to his little family?

This movie was one of the funniest I have ever come across and I would love to see it again and again.

Here are some memorable quotes from the movie that I loved

David Seville: [picks up a sandwich from the floor]
Simon: we put a few toaster waffles aside for winter
Theodore: and we're not sharing!
David Seville: guys, we're gonna have food all winter so if you start storing it, it's gonna get gross and we're gonna have rodent - ...
Simon: [looks at dave]
Theodore: [looks at dave]
Alvin: [looks at dave]
David Seville: bad you know... non-talking rodents around here

David Seville: [sees Theodore eating something small and brown] Whoa Theodore, did you just-?
Alvin: Relax Dave, it's just a raisin.
David Seville: Prove it.
Alvin: [swipes the 'raisin' and eats it] Mmm-hmm.
David Seville: Okay.
Alvin: [he leaves]
Alvin: [quickly spits it out and points a finger at Theodore] Dude, you owe me big time!
Theodore: Oh...
David Seville: Chipmunks don't talk.
Simon: Our lips are moving and words are coming out.

Alvin: [during a chase] They'll never take us alive!
Simon: [in the cat carrier] They just did take us alive, Alvin!

Alvin: Don't ya wish yo girlfriend was hot like me? Don't ya wish yo girlfriend was a freak like me?
Alvin: [Dave opens dishwasher] AH!
David Seville: Get out.
Alvin: I'm waiting for the rinse cycle!

I highly recommend this movie, it was catchy and funny and it all rolled into one memorable movie.

Tsoof and Eden love to download full movies from the Internet.

Pay It Forward

Most young children believe in the goodness of human nature. Later on, parents start telling their kids those stories about being careful with strangers because parents know that the big bad world is…well…bad. As we get older, we start to see that maybe the world is not quite so perfect. We realize that maybe our parents do not always know the answers and that now that we are older, we have responsibility for our actions.

“Pay It Forward” is a movie about the big bad world and how we can each make it just that little bit better. 12-year-old Trevor Mckinney (played wonderfully, as always, by Haley Joel Osment) is given a project in school by his social studies teacher, Eugene Simonet (Kevin Spacey), to come up with a plan that will change the world through direct action. On his way home from school later that day, Trevor notices Jerry, a homeless man, and decides to make a difference in Jerry's life. Trevor then comes up with a plan for his project. He will do a good deed for three people and instead of "paying him back" they must each in turn do good deeds for three other people and "pay it forward". Each of those people must then pay it forward to three people each, and so on. Trevor's first good deed is to help Jerry by feeding and housing him so he can "get on his feet."

Trevor's mother, Arlene (Helen Hunt) is an alcoholic, single mother who is working two jobs. When she finds out Trevor is housing a homeless man she becomes angry with Trevor and confronts Eugene about the reason Trevor has allowed Jerry into their home. Eugene is also intrigued by Trevor's response to the social studies project.

Meanwhile, journalist Chris Chandler (Jay Mohr) finds himself stuck on the road without a car late one night after his 1965 Ford Mustang was damaged in a car accident. A stranger stops and gives him the keys to a brand new Jaguar S-type car, asking him only to pay the favor forward to someone else; astonished, Chris wants to find out where this philosophy came from.

For his next good deed Trevor decides to help Eugene by setting him up with his own mother. Their relationship comes along perfectly until Arlene's ex-husband Ricky (Jon Bon Jovi), shows up unannounced, claiming he is sober and Arlene decides to give him another chance. When things turn ugly and Arlene turns to Eugene when she discovers that Ricky is still the mean drunk he always was, Eugene is not willing to forgive her.

Chris finally tracks down Trevor as the originator of "pay it forward," and interviews him. Trevor explains his hopes for the concept, but expresses his concerns that people may be too afraid to change their own lives in order to make the whole world a better place. Eugene and Arlene are both present during the interview. When Eugene hears Trevor's words, he realizes that he and Arlene should be together.

For his last good deed, Trevor decides to help a friend who is constantly tormented by bullies.

Without giving too much away, the movie promoted a truly inspiring message that reminds you that there is still good in the world and even if you are just one person, you can make amazing changes. If we all did a good deed for three different people, and then they in turn did a good deed for three more people, is that hard? No. Is it possible? Yes. Would it make a difference? You bet! Make a difference, pay it forward.

Tsoof and Eden love to download full movies from the Internet.

The Sixth Sense

Many people say that they will believe something is true and that it exists, only when they see it with their own eyes. I used to be one of those people and sometimes I still am. When I was younger, my parents would explain this phenomenon by saying that you cannot see electricity and you cannot see air but they both still exist. My rebuttal was usually that maybe you cannot see them but you can either feel them, like air (which you could not live without), or you can see their effect, like a light turning on with electricity. The catch was usually with spirits, ghosts etc. Where as I don't believe in them because I cannot see them, hear them, smell them, taste them or even feel them, other people say they can. So, do they exist because some people believe in them or don’t they exist because I can’t feel them?

One of the great movies of the past couple of years is "The Sixth Sense". It was so good that when someone told me about the movie, I managed to get that eerie feeling associated with ghosts without even having seen it yet. The movie centres on a child psychologist, Dr. Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis) and his new patient, 9-year-old Cole Sear (Haley Joel Osment).

In the beginning scene, Malcolm and his wife Anna return home from an event in which Malcolm received an award for his work with children. They discover a very disturbed, nearly naked Vincent Grey in their bathroom wielding a gun. Vincent tells Malcolm, “I don’t want to be afraid any more” and Malcolm quickly realizes that Vincent was a patient of his as a child and that Vincent is upset at Malcolm for not having helped him. Vincent shoots Malcolm in the stomach and then shoots himself.

The following autumn, Malcolm starts working with Cole Sear. It appears that Cole is in a similar situation to Vincent. Dr. Crowe becomes dedicated to helping Cole and slowly gains his trust while his home life and his wife are starting to suffer and fall apart. Meanwhile, he is haunted by doubts over his ability to help Cole after his failed attempt to help Vincent.

Malcolm earns Cole’s trust and Cole ultimately confides in him. “I see dead people” he tells him. At first Malcolm is skeptical but he eventually comes to believe that Cole is telling the truth and that Vincent may have had the same ability, a “Sixth Sense”, the ability to see ghosts. Cole is very frightened, “I don’t want to be scared any more” Cole confesses. Malcolm suggests that he try to find a purpose for his gift by communicating with the ghosts and trying to aid them in their unfinished business so that they can move on.

Cole communicates with the ghost of a young girl who is violently ill in his room one night. Cole finds out where the girl, Kyra Collins (Mischa Barton), lived and goes to her house, where a funeral reception is being held for her. Kyra’s ghost gives Cole a videotape to give to her father. The tape reveals that when Kyra was confined to bed with illness, her mother was poisoning her food, which eventually led to her death. Now that Cole has helped her move on, Kyra can stop haunting and rest in peace.

For those of you who have not seen this movie, I do not want to ruin it and I highly recommend you watch it. I will just tell you that the end brings on such a twist, you never realise where it came from and it gives you that feeling of “Ah…Now everything is all in its right place in the world”.

The movie makes you think about the people you know that have died, whether they had any unfinished business or things to tell you. It also made me think about what I would do if I knew someone who said they could see ghosts. Would I believe them? Would you?

Tsoof and Eden love to download full movies from the Internet.

Crash

I have been to a fair few countries and met people of different background. I like to hear about different customs and beliefs, languages and heritage. My brother's high school is one of the most multicultural schools with students from over 90 different countries in a school of just under 2,000. Unfortunately, not everyone else is so accepting.

"Crash" is a movie that addresses not only racism but also stereotypes and that everything is a matter of perspective. People are born with good hearts, but they grow up and learn prejudices. The movie is set in Los Angeles, a place where there is a mix of every nationality. The story begins when several people are involved in a multi-car accident. We are taken back to the day before the crash, seeing the lives of the main characters, and the problems each character encounters during that day. The movie shows us that life is not always black or white, good or bad, it is all a matter of perception.

The theme of the movie was the fact that in recent times, people have gotten so that we are constantly protecting ourselves, putting up shields from strangers, being extra careful not to touch others in case of lawsuits. The opening lines explain clearly: "It's the sense of touch. In any real city, you walk, you know? You brush past people, people bump into you. In L.A., nobody touches you. We're always behind this metal and glass. I think we miss that touch so much, that we crash into each other, just so we can feel something."

Rick Cabot (Brendon Frazer) a white district attorney and his wife Jean Cabot (Sandra Bullock) are depicted as helpless "good" guys when they are carjacked at gunpoint by two black young men (no racism intended). Rick Cabot later shows his "bad" side when he tries to win votes to save his career by pretending to be racially sensitive. Jean proves her "bad" self when a young Hispanic man comes to change her locks and she describes him as a "gang banger with the shaved head, the pants around his ass, [and] the prison tattoos" who is going to sell her key as soon as he steps out the door.

The two young boys who steal Rick and Jean's car, Peter and Anthony also have a good and a bad side. Throughout the movie, Anthony walks around pointing out racist tendencies in the people around. While he tends to exaggerate a fair bit in terms of the boys experience in the movie, he hits the mark with regard to perception out in the wide world. Bad: the boys hijacked a car. Good: Anthony may have been right about racism and people's perceptions against blacks because when Peter tries to pull out a figurine of a saint to show a young police officer, the officer mistakes the gesture for Peter pulling out a gun and shoots him.

Well, the young officer, Tom Hansen (Ryan Phillippe), is not all bad. He is partnered up with a bigoted white officer who continuously harasses black people for no apparent reason other than the fact that they are black. Officer Hanson is very unhappy with his partner's behavior and protects the people that are unfortunate enough to get stopped.

Surprisingly, Officer Hanson's partner, John Ryan (Matt Dillon) is not all bad either. His father has suffered great financial and business losses due to racist policies and is now very ill. He has been miss-diagnosed and will not be treated due to a black insurance representative who takes offence to Officer Ryan's behavior. I suppose he can also swallow his pride because later on in the movie, a black woman he molested is trapped in a car that is burning and he risks his life to save her.

There are many other characters in the movie, each with their own intricate lives, with their good and bad sides, with their right and wrong opinions. The movie keeps you guessing right till the last minute, what is going to be around the next bend? But most of all, it makes you feel utterly ashamed of how we treat each other, with suspicion and revenge, with preconceived stereotypes. If a black man reaches into his pocket, is he getting a gun? If a young man has tattoos, does that mean he is a criminal and he has been to prison? If a man looks middle-eastern does that mean he is a terrorist? Even if you are not a minority, do you have to be discriminated against? We may be different colors, shapes, sizes, with different backgrounds and different opinions, but in the end, we are all people.

Tsoof and Eden love to download full movies from the Internet.

Seeing is Believing…Right?

The thing about magic tricks, is that magicians can perform amazing things like decapitating limbs and it looks so real, if you didn't know better, you would think it was so. Pulling objects out of thin air and making things disappear, no matter how simple, appears genuine to the viewer.

"The Illusionist" is one of the more recent movies in my well of infinitely wise movies. The movie centers on Eduard Abramovich, the son of a peasant cabinetmaker in Austria-Hungary. As a young boy, Eduard befriends Sophie, the Duchess von Teschen, whose parents have hired Mr. Abramovich as a cabinetmaker. As a teenager, Eduard meets a traveling magician along a road. The magician performs several tricks for him and then, according to various accounts, both the magician and the tree he was sitting under vanish. Eduard becomes obsessed with magic tricks after this and decides to travel the world.

Because they are forbidden to see each other, Eduard and Sophie meet in a secret hideout in the forest. Eduard gives Sophie a unique puzzle locket which, if twisted correctly will open to reveal the picture within. Eduard tells Sophie of his plans to go to China to learn more magic and Sophie promises to go with him. On the day that they are going to leave, however, the police come looking for Sophie. The two hide in the secret room and Sophie begs him to make them both disappear. Of course, he cannot do it and they are separated.

Eduard leaves his village to travel the world and perfect his magic. He arrives in Vienna 15 years later as Eisenheim the Illusionist (Edward Norton). In his first performance, Eisenheim talks of life by using his tricks. He manages to slow the speed of an orange while he is throwing it from one palm to another and to grow an orange tree in mere seconds. He meets Sophie (Jessica Biel) at his performance when she is volunteered by the Crown Prince as a reluctant participant in a trick. The trick involves Sophie standing before a mirror in a hooded cloak. Behind her mirrored reflection, appears a duplicate of her which beheads her reflection. A cloud of white (which represents a soul) comes floating up from the dead reflection and out of the mirror and Sophie silently faints.

The Crown Prince Leopold invites Eisenheim to perform before the greatest minds in Vienna at a private viewing. Using the Crown Prince's sword, he manifests the story of the sword Excalibur. Men from the audience come up and try to lift the sword but none can do it because as the story goes, only the rightful king can raise the sword and so, only with a slight tug, can Leopold himself claim the sword. Eisenheim learns that Sophie is going to marry the Crown Prince Leopold (Rufus Sewell). Sophie soon recognizes Eisenheim and they meet privately and make love.

After his humiliation of the Crown Prince during their private show, Eisenheim's show is shut out of Vienna. He and Sophie plan to flee the Empire together; but first Sophie reveals that Leopold is planning a coup d'etat to overthrow his Father, Franz Joseph I of Austria, while his engagement to her will win him the Hungarian half of the Empire. Eisenheim devises a way to free the Duchess von Teschen from her engagement and prevent the overthrowing of Franz Joseph I by creating new illusions at every turn.

Eisenheim buys a theatre and performs a new type of show by summoning spirits. Like the theme of this article, seeing is believing, the audience believes that Eisenheim is summoning real spirits.

I don't want to ruin the movie for you any further if you are going to see it, but suffice it to say that in the end, Eduard Abramovich/Eisenheim the Illusionist does manage to make himself and the love of his life, the Duchess von Teschen, disappear.

Of course Eisenheim states frequently to all the viewers of his majestic shows that everything is an illusion, but it makes you think, doesn't it? What you see is a tree growing before your eyes, but is that what is really happening? What you see is a handkerchief being thrown in the air and becoming a raven, but is that what is really happening?

Tsoof and Eden love to download full movies from the Internet.

Humor Stimulation

Children laugh a lot but they don’t think everything is funny to them. Funnily enough, young children don’t have a sense of humor. The younger the child, the easier it is to see the connections in the brain and the cognitive capacity necessary in order to understand jokes.

Around the age 6 or 7, children develop a sense of humor when they discover that certain words can have more than one meaning. Riddles are one of the first methods for developing a sense of humor. Only at this stage of their understanding do they develop the ability to distinguish between two meanings. Without this ability it is impossible to understand the punch line of every joke. Having a sense of humor has benefits in the development of children from intellectual benefits and social benefits to health benefits.

Intellectual Development
Due to the fact that humour is an intellectual game of language, kids develop their sense of humour together with their language. This is the reason jokes and riddles appear at the end of grade one or at the beginning of the second year of learning to read. Until then, many kids need an explanation as to why the joke was funny.

Understanding humour helps children increase their general knowledge. A correlation has been found between kids' sense of humour and their creativity. Their ability to understand that there is more than one meaning to a word, expression or sentence, helps them later on with problem solving.

Social Stimulation
Kids understand very early that telling jokes is a great way to get attention. In an adult situation, if an adult tells a joke and everyone is laughs, kids will try to imitate grown up jokes. Their first times seem funny and they try to re- tell the joke without understanding the punch line. When they try to tell it, we can understand why humour is not that funny when you don’t understand.

For kids, humour is a way to establish a certain social status. Kids telling jokes are found to be more socially accepted. They also found that kids using humours make others feel better with their problems and creates an atmosphere that helps communication, an ability that makes others like them.

Emotional stimulation
A lot has been written about the Emotional Intelligence (EQ). The ability to handle feelings is one of the highest ability in EQ. People who can handle their feelings better, were found to be successful in most of their life areas. In many researches on EQ, they found that humour is effective in handling emotions, establishing positive attitude and the ability to handle hard situations.

Laughing for body and soul
Kids laugh a lot. Most of the time when you look at kids, they are laughing. Laughter is an expression of joy and happiness. Much research has been done about the contribution of laughter to people’s health. It was found to help with heart problems, respiratory illnesses, blood pressure, viruses and tumours. Because the main problems of the modern world are related to stress, laughter is sure the great solution. The younger kids develop this ability, the better they could handle stress in the future.

Tips for parents:
• Use humour at home around the dinner table
• Help kids understand the double meaning
• Help your young kids practice telling a joke and be patient with them when they say things that make no sense
• Get joke books and riddle books from the library and read it with them
• And the last thing, comedy movies are very helpful in developing sense of humour. Watch comedy movies with your kids and make sure the humour is suitable to their age. Many animation movies are great because they always have a funny character, no matter how serious the movie is.

All the recommendations here are good for kids and especially good for their tensed parents.

Tsoof and Eden love to download full movies from the Internet.

Enchanted Life

Fairy tales usually bring to life a fantasy about far away lands, kings and queens, wizards, fairies and witches, trolls and talking animals. They take us to a place where the poor get rich and the weak gets strong. All fairy tales, (though not all have fairies, like Hansel and Gretel or Little Red Riding Hood) include fantasy and unreal scenarios. The more unreal the idea, the more enchanting the story.

When you examine the classic children's tales you see that the real fascination with fairy tales is the comparison between fantasy and reality. Readers and viewers know the movies and stories are not part of reality. How many talking wolves do you know? And why would old women eat children? Who wouldn’t want to be a princess? How easy it is to kill a dragon?

Imagination has been a great tool for humanity since the Stone Age. People have imagined things they have never seen before and progress has been sparked. When Jules Verne wrote “20 Thousand Leagues under the Sea”, his fiction, and imaginary underwater ship sparked an idea in people’s minds to build the first submarine.

Fantasies, fairy tales and science fiction are all stories about an unreal world and are a wonderful stimulation for people's imagination, becoming a great source for joy and creativity.

In the beginning, stories were passed down from generation to generation or from one place to another by story tellers. The enthusiasm and accuracy of each story was at the mercy of the story teller and their sharp memory. In those days, every time the same story was told, details varied, characters and scenes changed to suit the audience. Later, written books helped keep the accuracy of the story. Acting became a great way for story tellers to pass on their messages and keep those stories alive.

The next stage of each tale was to add pictures. This was a great way to help people see creatures they had never seen and could not imagine: dragons, trolls, monsters, witches and fairies. Picture books opened a new era of imagination. One significant part of this evolution was the comic book.

The next stage in the evolution of fairy tales was the birth of Motion Pictures - animation. Walt Disney, for example was a great visionary who dreamed about times when all people, young and old would watch animation. Sure enough, not too long after his first creation, movie theatres are filled with people.

While animation was still limited to drawn pictures, advanced technology has made the movie creators advanced story tellers. With tricks of a camera, people can vanish in a cloud of dust, animals can talk, outer space can be re-created and fascinating creatures come to life. Some of them look so real the difference between fantasy and reality has faded.

Last week, we watched “Enchanted”, a movie in which fantasy characters have entered the real world. The movie compared the worlds. Surprisingly, characters from the fantasy showed the real people, that life can be so much better if they believed in good things.

Tsoof and Eden love to download full movies from the Internet.

What if Someone You Loved Died?

I'm an absolute sucker for sad movies. They make me cry every time, even the kid's ones. I think that is why they are called "Tearjerkers". Maybe it is just because I hate seeing people suffer but they always seem so real to me. I think the thing that gets me is the feeling of "what if that was me?"

I was trying to decide between "Into the Wild" which is more of a drama/adventure and "PS I Love You" which is a love story. I'm not usually a very "lovey-dovey" type of person and I tend to go for drama more often than not but this time, my friend put her foot down and we went to see "PS I Love You". The acting wasn't award quality and the scenario wasn't altogether realistic but you know what, I could not have cared less. It seemed so real to me it would not have been any more genuine if the actors popped out of the screen before my eyes.

"PS I Love You" is about Holly Kennedy (Hillary Swank). Just shy of her 30th birthday, Holly's passionate, funny, and impetuous Irishman husband Gerry passes away of a brain tumor. Holly locks herself at home replaying Gerry's answering machine voice until a cake arrives on the day of her 30th birthday with a recording of Gerry's voice. The recording explains that before his death, Gerry wrote letters to Holly, that would arrive in their own time and she should just do what he says," because the truth is, I am just not ready to let go yet…PS I love you".

I don't think I have ever cried so much in a movie. Even the man next to me was starting to sniffle. Holly walks around during the majority of the movie looking stunned and miserable and you can't help sympathizing. Each time a letter arrived, Gerry's voice can be heard and sometimes he appears. Once each letter is read through and "PS I love you", Gerry quietly disappears again. Every time he leaves even the audience feels alone, it is utterly gut wrenching. The movie shows their good times together, how they met, where they went. Between each happy memory from the past, Holly is somewhere, feeling alone and just waiting for Gerry to walk through the door again. Every letter pushes Holly to move on further with her life, to gently let Gerry go and then to help her rediscover herself and her passion for life.

I left this movie asking: What if that was my daughter whose husband had died? Would I do and say the same things as this mother? If I was Holly, how would I feel? What would I do to make it better? Would I move on? Would I find love again? If I had died so young like Gerry, would I die with no regrets like him, having loved someone so much?

I think in the end, the best we can do is tell the people that we love, that we love them. And do our best to live our lives the best that we know how. Because when our loved ones die, we cannot change anything, we cannot bring them back by grieving forever, we can only cope, heal and find peace with ourselves.

Tsoof and Eden love to download full movies from the Internet.

I Will Come for You

My mum always says that when you have children, you want them to know how much you love them, how important they are to you and that no matter what trouble they get themselves into, you will come for them.

I once lived in Thailand and during a trip to the beach one day, my parents spoke to an older man who said he was looking for his son. His son had left for a trip in Asia with a friend and had not returned for a very long time. His friend had returned home with serious drug-induced damage to his brain and was unable to tell anyone where the man's son was. The father had decided that he would fly to India, and then to Thailand, and look for his son, no matter how long it took, how much it cost or where he would have to go. And he found him!

One of the ways my parents have found to show me they would come for me is by recommending movies that they think will portray what they feel. While the movies are not directly about our family, the feelings come across perfectly and the movies make me think what they (and I) would do in a similar situation.

The movies that show parents' love for their children have been some of my all time favorites. One movie that I was particularly impressed with was called "Evelyn". The movie is based on a true story, set in Ireland in1953. Desmond Doyle (played superbly by Pierce Brosnan) is deserted by his wife for another man on the day after Christmas and is left unemployed with 3 children. Desmond struggles to raise his kids and show them his love as a single father but is reported by his wife's mother to the authorities. The Children's Act of 1941 stated that a man is not able to care for his children without a mother and therefore his children must be placed in state care. The power of the Church and the Irish courts placed the 2 Doyle boys, Dermot and Maurice, in an orphanage and the young Evelyn Doyle in a Convent.

The courts state that Desmond needs to find employment and improve his means to care for his children before he can get them back. Desmond stops drinking and with the help of his father, Desmond earns some money singing in his local pub and then finds work. The courts inform him that he needs the mother's consent to release his children from care, which he cannot do, as the mother is in Australia with her new lover.

Meanwhile, the three young Doyle kids, and particularly Evelyn, are abused in their new "homes". Every time he hears about it, Desmond runs to the rescue, beating senseless anyone who dares touch them.

With the help of a local waitress, 2 solicitors and a retired barrister, he decides to take the case to the Supreme Court to challenge the Irish Constitution and set a new precedent in Irish law. Doyle's fight to keep his family together becomes an inspiring testament to the strength of a father's love and the power of the human spirit.

I do not have any children of my own yet, but I know I will go to the ends of the Earth to save them when they need me.

Tsoof and Eden love to download full movies from the Internet.

Happily Ever After

After careful consideration of the movies I have seen in my time, I have come to the conclusion that all those fairy tale, Disney movies like "Aladdin" and "The Little Mermaid" comprise a large part of my movie repertoire.

When I was younger, those movies were always interesting because that princess was the prettiest and those animals could talk. And guess what! Everyone always seemed to live happily ever after. While they were all similar enough, they each had their own appeal.

As I got older, I never picked those movies when one needed to be picked, but I just happened to be walking by as my sibling were watching them, and of course I had nothing better to do so I may as well sit down and watch. They are a funny story, an easy laugh and a good way to spend time with family. What fun we have afterwards, imitating voices and repeating lines, it goes on forever.

Being the daughter of a teacher and a life coach, I learnt quickly that after watching a movie, we each choose different morals and make decisions based on how we see movies compared to our own lives. For children, fairy tales help clarify important points and alleviate fears. They help to easily distinguish between what is right and what is wrong, what is evil and what is good.

All fairy tale movies tend to start with a sentence that is kin to "once upon a time…" and they all end with "happily ever after". They have delicate females who fall swiftly in love and strong brave males that always come to the rescue. Ugly beasts that haunt the woods and wicked step mothers are definitely bad, and of course, animals can speak and will help in any trouble. Sometimes fairies and genies exits and there are other worlds out there besides our own. The poor and the good hearted always triumph, and fears are conquered in times of trial.

In the past, these movies were a great pastime, an easy way to entertain children by telling a story and passing on a message. They were often legends and old wives' tales passed down from generation to generation. These movies play a large role in my opinion. They simplify things. They make every thing "black or white," (so to speak), it is either wrong or right, good or bad. These movies give the feeling that, yeah, sometimes bad things happen, but in the end, it will be ok.

We live in a world where sometimes the evil person is not always so ugly and easily identified, the princess is not always so pretty and slim, and sometimes, the poor stay poor forever. The good at heart don't always end up heroes, the fairies can't save you and you cannot conjure things out of thin air. The dead cannot be saved by will alone and muscles don't grow overnight.

Once upon a time there was a fairy tale movie. In the movie there was a beautiful princess and her charming prince. They experienced a great adventure and in the end, they lived happily ever after. If only real life was so easy.

Tsoof and Eden love to download full movies from the Internet.