Movie Download

Juno – The Lessons in Life

2008-04-11T01:08:00.000-07:00

I went to see the movie "Juno" with my best friend the other day. While it wasn't a movie that showed particularly realistic acting or extreme special effects (both of which I like), it struck a chord with me.

16-year-old Juno MacGuff (Ellen Page), after three pregnancy tests, is finally convinced she is almost nine weeks pregnant by her friend Paulie Bleeker (Michael Cera). While she appears slightly disappointed when it is 100% certain, she takes it surprisingly well. No crying or pity-seeking.

Juno decides to have an abortion but changes her mind at the last minute when she gets to the abortion clinic and a school-mate tells her babies have fingernails and the receptionist tries to give her blueberry flavored condoms. Juno decides to make plans to have her baby and give it to a couple who really want one. With the help of her best friend Leah (Olivia Thirlby), Juno searches in the local newspaper and finds a couple, Vanessa (Jennifer Garner) and Mark (Jason Bateman) Loring, who she feels will provide a suitable home for her baby.

Having decided to have the baby, Juno has to tell her parents. You would expect them to be slightly pissed off about it, maybe a little angry. While they both hoped she was going to tell them she was expelled when she sat them down, they seem surprisingly supportive.

As autumn turns into winter, Juno strikes up a friendship with Mark as she discovers they share common interests in music, film and pop culture. Mark is a commercial composer who has a childhood dream of being a rock star. He has had to set aside his dream for a more conservative life with Vanessa, who wants a child more than anything.

As months pass Juno wages an internal war against her feelings towards her baby's father, Paulie. Meanwhile, Paulie gently expresses his feelings towards Juno and tells her he very much hopes that when the pregnancy is over they can start up their band again and maybe even get back together. At the time, Juno suggests Paulie go out with another girl from their class but when Paulie takes her up on her suggestion, Juno finds herself extremely upset. Could it be that she actually likes the gentle and caring Paulie?

While Juno seemed completely un-bothered by the fact that she was the size of a whale, and the general gist of the story was very left of centre, the morals of the story still managed to sneak around the back and bite you on the nose just as the movie was ending. It was a little bit "in you face" because of the fact that Juno's character was so bluntly honest and rebellious but the main points definitely came across. When you are young and irresponsible the way Juno was, you will most likely get pregnant and have to deal with it. If you decide to be pregnant (and during school at that), students will talk about you behind your back, you will draw attention to yourself, you will get big, you will eat lots, you will have aches and pains and then you will have to deliver the baby. And then towards the end of the movie we also learn that the people who love you for who you are (beautiful, fat, old or hairy) are those worth sticking with.

High School Musical – It is all about the moral

2008-02-01T20:43:00.000-08:00

There is something to be said about teen flicks and something else altogether to be said about Musical, teen flicks. I am not much of a musical type person and the movies I tend to like lean more towards serious and heartfelt, but I have to admit this is the type of movie that manages to squeeze in jingle-type songs, famous young actors and a gazillion morals all into less than 2 hours. It is quite impressive.

I believe one of the reasons teen movies are suitable for…well, teens, is because there is always some hot young thing to drool over in order to snag their attention, and just in case you did not read the blurb before you watched it, the movie recaps everything under the sun that you could possibly want your kids to know – always be yourself, stand up for what you believe in, support your friends etc.

High School Musical is all about Troy Bolton (Zac Efron), the young basketball captain and Gabriella Montez (Vanessa Anne Hudgens), the child Einstein. On New Year's Eve the two are forced to sing together but manage to exchange phone numbers afterwards. When the school year starts Troy is surprised to discover that Gabriella is a new student at his school in Albequerque, New Mexico.

The drama teacher, Ms. Darbus announces auditions for the upcoming Musical and Gabriella and Troy decide not to audition. Gabriella thinks she needs to focus on her studies and Troy thinks while Gabriella thinks his singing is good, his showerhead is the only thing that is very impressed with it.

As school life goes on, Troy tries to focus on his basketball and Gabriella on her science club but I guess it is not that easy because they both decide to admit their interest in singing and start to consider auditioning for the Musical. Troy's friend Chad is not too impressed with Troy admitting to such a feminine tendency such as singing and uses the basketball team to bully him into forgetting the whole thing. Meanwhile others around the school take Troy's example and admitting to inner-most desires such as cooking, or dancing, instrument playing and more.

Troy and Gabriella, after a few embarrassing moments, audition for the musical. They quickly find out that they are being called back for a second audition. The basketball team needs Troy to win and the Decathlon team (Science club) needs Gabriella to win. The two teams devise a plan to separate Troy and Gabriella and ensure they do not go for the callback audition and everything goes down hill from there. Gabriella gets angry with Troy, Troy gets angry with the team and his dad, the Decathlon and the Basketball team feel bad about what they have done and no one is happy.

So while this movie is still young and undeveloped in terms of acting abilities (and that is only my opinion of course), it still manages to pass on a few messages. Be yourself no matter what. Stand up for yourself and for what you want. Be confident and true to yourself. Support your friends in what they want instead of trying to fit them into your own molds of what they should be like. Accept the fact that people are different. Be honest, lying will catch up and bite you on the ass. There is no end to the things you can learn from a movie.

Narnia – The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe

2008-02-01T18:49:00.000-08:00

I have always loved fantasy movies, especially ones based in the olden days and in the past. There are many movies I can name that have been based on the fantasy genre but none as great as The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe.

Based on the second book of The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis, The Lion the Witch and The Wardrobe is set in London of World War II, where the German air raids were claiming many lives. The four Pevensie children - Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy are sent away from London to a safer place with the eccentric Professor Digory Kirke (played brilliantly by Jim Broadbent) and his cranky housekeeper Mrs MacReady (Elizabeth Hawthorne) after their house is destroyed by a bomb.

Shortly after being introduced, a game of hide and seek gets under way and Lucy discovers the land of Narnia in the wardrobe in the spare room. There, she meets Mr Tumnus, a faun. After spending a few hours with him, she returns to the spare room only to find out that no time at all had passed from the time that she had hidden in the wardrobe. She explains all the experience to her brothers and sister, only to be laughed at.

Later Edmund follows Lucy and discovers Narnia for himself. Days later after smashing a window during a game of cricket, the four run to the spare room to hide in the wardrobe only to be poked and prickled by tree branches. The siblings apologise to Lucy for not believing her and are then greeted by a beaver who takes them to Aslan. The beaver then tells them that according to a prophecy, they are two sons of Adam and two daughters of Eve that were supposed to defeat the White Witch who was causing the horrible winter in Narnia. Together the four Pevensies go forth to defeat the white witch.

I won't tell you the rest but I will tell you that the moral of this story is to never give up and listen to your siblings, even if they are not right, still believe them and go check out what they have found.

Here are some memorable quotes from the movie:

Susan Pevensie: [about Lucy] She thinks she's found a magical land...
Professor Kirke: Hmmm.
Susan Pevensie: In the upstairs wardrobe.
Professor Kirke: [eyes widening, he rushes to the children] What? What did you say?
Peter Pevensie: Lucy thinks she's found a forest inside...
Susan Pevensie: She won't stop going on about it.
Professor Kirke: What was it like?
Susan Pevensie: Like talking to a lunatic...
Professor Kirke: No, no, not her, the forest!
Susan Pevensie: [stares] you're not saying you believe her?
Professor Kirke: And you don't?
Susan Pevensie: Of course not. I mean, logically it's impossible.

Peter Pevensie: I don't suppose "we're sorry" would quite cover it?
Lucy Pevensie: No, it wouldn't.
[Pelts him with a snowball]
Lucy Pevensie: But that might!

[Peter hands Edmund a fur coat]
Edmund Pevensie: But that's a girl's coat!
Peter Pevensie: [nods] I know.

[Peter sees Mr. Beaver in the woods and doesn't yet know he can talk]
Peter Pevensie: Here, boy, tsk, tsk, tsk.
[holds out hand]
Mr. Beaver: I ain't going to smell it if that's what you want.

I warmly suggest this movie to any fantasy lovers and those who want some pure movie fun.

The Movie Formula

2008-01-23T23:04:00.000-08:00

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.

Healthy Movies make you laugh

2008-01-23T23:03:00.000-08:00

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.

Musicals are Back

2008-01-23T23:02:00.000-08:00

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.

Movies, Antidepressants with no Side Effects

2008-01-23T23:01:00.000-08:00

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.

The Water Horse – The Legend of the Deep

2008-01-23T22:59:00.000-08:00

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.

Healthy Movies make you laugh

2008-01-20T20:38:00.000-08:00

The Fifth Element

2008-01-16T15:30:00.001-08:00

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.

Lack of Communication

2008-01-16T15:29:00.000-08:00

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!

Alvin and the Chipmunks

2008-01-16T15:24:00.000-08:00

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.

Pay It Forward

2008-01-13T15:48:00.000-08:00

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.

The Sixth Sense

2008-01-11T15:42:00.000-08:00

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?

Crash

2008-01-09T14:47:00.000-08:00

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.

Seeing is Believing…Right?

2008-01-06T15:45:00.000-08:00

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?

Humor Stimulation

2008-01-06T15:24:00.000-08:00

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.

Enchanted Life

2008-01-06T14:57:00.000-08:00

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.

What if Someone You Loved Died?

2008-01-02T23:04:00.000-08:00

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.

I Will Come for You

2008-01-02T18:58:00.000-08:00

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.

Happily Ever After

2008-01-02T01:31:00.000-08:00

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.

Human Trafficking - Made You Think Again

2007-12-30T20:39:00.000-08:00

I wrote an article not too long ago about movies that make you think – about love, money, life. The other night I watched "Human Traffic" and it topped all the movies I've seen in a while. This movie made me think about just-about-everything.

Single mother Helena, from Prague, meets a romantic, successful man who invites her to spend a weekend in Vienna. On arriving at a big mansion, Helena finds out that the wonderful gentleman actually set her up to be a sex slave.

Sixteen-year-old Nadia from Ukraine is selected by a modeling agency that helps her get a passport. She travels to the United States with the other selected candidates. Freshly off the plane, Helena tells her that her dreams of being a model are no longer possible as she has just been lied to and cheated and is going to be used to sell sex. These young girls are brutally beaten and raped and told their families will be harmed if they try to run away or contact police.

American twelve-year-old Annie Gray is staying in the Philippines on a holiday with her parents. While she is out shopping with her mother, she wanders towards a young boy selling jewellery and is suddenly abducted. She too is going to be used for sex.

Joining Annie are is a young girl from the Philippines whose parents have reached such poverty they sell her to a local man. Later on, the young girl suffers from meningitis and is killed before she can infect the other children.

Meanwhile, the families of these young people each tries to help in their own way. Helena's mother looks after Ivanka, Helena's 3 year-old daughter. Annie Gray's mother stays on in the Philippines and joins a not for profit organization that battles sex slavery. Nadia's father finds a way to go under cover and join the group of traffickers in order to save his daughter.

This movie made me question so many things my head was buzzing by the time I went to bed.
• Could this happen to me?
• What would I do if this happened to me?
• What would I do if that was my child?
• How can I prevent this?
• Who would do such a thing?
• Is the money really worth it?
• Why did no one help them? Are people so cold and wrapped up in their own lives?
• What did these young girls ever do to deserve such a thing?

The movie also showed police participants in these brutal activities, which made me think that terrible people come in all shapes and sizes.

The movie ended well, THANK GOODNESS! I don't think I could have managed to sleep for the next 6 months if it hadn't. The man responsible for terrorizing these girls was shot in the NYPD raid of one of his houses, the enslaved girls were rescued and Nadia went home with her father. But just as an afterthought, so that you all know, before the credits rolled, came the shocking news that over 800,000 people are enslaved this way every year, all around the world. Human trafficking is the third largest criminal activity in the world. These organizations only grow because there is a demand and people willing to pay for sex and the innocence of young children.

I think this movie raises important points. It tells us that so long as there is demand for paid sex, someone will find a way to supply it. We should all be aware that such things happen. Before watching this movie, it might have registered that it happened to a few unlucky people, but now…800,000 people cannot be ignored. Be aware, and be careful. I sincerely hope that the only time I, and everyone else, ever have to combat such an issue, will be while watching this movie.

The Golden Compass – The Best Movie this Boxing Day

2007-12-28T21:06:00.000-08:00

In the past couple of months I have seen at least 20 different movies. I've seen movies such as "Heaven's Fall" and "Flyboys". I watched "The Ron Clark Story" and even children's movies such as "Zoom". Of all those movies, one of the very few that I liked was, surprisingly, "The Golden Compass" which was released this Boxing Day.

Based on the first story of a trilogy by Philip Pullman, "The Golden Compass" is about a young girl by the name of Lyra Belaqua (Dakota Blue Richards), who is the subject of a prophecy concerning the fate of the world. The movie is set in a parallel universe in which humans are accompanied by Daemons, an animal representation of their souls. Mrs. Marisa Coulter (played by Nicole Kidman) explains to Lyra that long ago when the people first disobeyed the 'Authority', a particle called 'dust' was created. As children become adults, 'dust' contaminates them through their Daemon. A sinister religious body called the Magisterium (of which Mrs. Coulter is a strong part) tries to create a population that will never question their authority by a process called intercision. Intercision separates children from their Daemon before they can be contaminated by 'dust', leaving them confused and easily controlled. Meanwhile, children are being snatched up off the street by kidnappers called 'Gobblers', to a facility in a vast ice-land so that they can be separated from their Daemon and a new, compliant generation can be created.

The movie showed some witty examples of human characteristics. One fantastic depiction of childhood and growing up was the Daemons. Young children's Daemons can change shape into any animal they choose. As each child settles, chooses a path and makes their life choices, so will their Daemon. Adult's Daemons settle into one animal shape and do not change. This explains children's indecision and how they are easily impressed.

A scene, in which one of the children escapes from the intercision facility, sheds some light on the whole 'soul' business. The child has been separated from his Daemon
(soul) and is confused, weak and deathly pale. This perfectly depicts the phrase 'to lose your spirit'. When someone is so lost and confused, they have no faith in anything, they may still be alive but they seem to walk around in a stupor, with no direction and no hope, they 'lose their spirit'.

Many recent movies have been dramas, and even romantic ones, that have tried to portray a more realistic scenario by ending on a sad note. They show stories about how bad things happen, not necessarily at the fault of the hero or heroine, and unlike it is often portrayed in fairy tales, it cannot always be fixed. While this is very true in real life, I personally don't find it particularly appealing in a movie. I think we go to the movies for a bit of a break from our lives, for some hope, and even to see someone else's life take a turn for the better, so that we may have faith in the world.

"The Golden Compass" showed all of the things I love in a movie: great actors, fantastic visual effects, amazing scenery, a great story and a good ending.
As one of seven different movies released on Boxing Day, "The Golden Compass" was given the Boxing Day Crown. Other movies released on the 26th include "Alien vs Predator: Requiem", "Enchanted", "Atonement", "PS I Love You", "No Country for Old Men" and "Served the King of England", but it was "The Golden Compass" that came in at the top of them all with over $1,613,225. Rightly so!

How Do Kids Choose Movies

2007-12-28T21:05:00.000-08:00

How do kids choose their movies? It's a question many parents ask themselves. Young kids (and many adults) are so stressed about watching each movie the minute it hits the big screen that enormous queues are formed and tickets sell out before you even get half way to the door.

40 years ago, movies were not a big part of everyday life. In the 60’s, kids spent more time outside, or reading and socialising than they do today. Movies back then were a luxury not everyone could afford. When it could be afforded it was only ever at the cinema. Over the past 40 year period, movie watching habits have changed dramatically. In 2000, there was a major shift. From one channel televisions and occasional cinema outings, now-a-days children can watch any of a number of different channels and going to the cinema is a common occurrence. In the past few years, movie watching has become very popular and easy to access; families can borrow movies from the video store, from the library, download them from the internet and watch than in the comfort of their home. New movies come out in the cinema every week.

WHY do kids choose movies?

Today, movies have become a measurement of social standing. Children who haven't seen a certain movie are "way uncool", and are perfectly aware of what they have missed out. The other children in their class will make them aware of exactly what goes on in every movie. This creates a lot of pressure on parents. All you need to do to understand how serious the pressure is, is simply see the massive queues at the cinema on the release dates of every new movie. It is very hard for people, and especially young kids to wait a week or two weeks after the release of a new movie to go and see it. Just the thought of missing out, or being the last person to see the movie is quite stressful.

There are many movies targeted at young children that come out regularly. For movie makers, children's' movies are a great investment since young kids are such a big market. Every time kids go to a movie, at least one grownup must join them. This more than doubles the profit, not to mention the sales of related products that get sold after the movie – McDonald toys, figurines etc.

Movies today are advertised as far back as a year in advance. Posters are put up in every spare space, in shopping centres and food-courts. TV ads for certain movies start as early as 6 months before a movie comes out. Even 3-year olds can tell you they are going to watch a movie that will come out in 6 months. School holidays are especially hard for parents since most movies come out during the school holidays. Sometimes, over a period of two or three weeks or holiday, there are over six movies to watch. In the local cinema there is only a two to three week window in which to watch all the movies that have come out. Young kids are afraid to miss out. Missing out is a very hard feeling for young kids to deal with and this puts pressure on their parents.

A good way to help parents handle the pressure is to assure kids they will be able to see the movie later. The movie will still be there in a week, even too weeks. If its not, it probably wasn't worth it, and if they still want to see it, it can be borrowed from the video store or downloaded at a much cheaper price. Knowing this will relieve the stress of missing out on that great movie that everyone's raving about and when you go to the cinema, you won't have to wait in line for half an hour and you'll definitely have a ticket when you get to the desk.

Made You Think

2007-12-28T21:04:00.000-08:00

Of all the different movies out there, I like to watch the ones that make me think; about money, and friends, work, love and even life itself. At the end of these movies I always ask myself, “What would I do, if this were my life?”.

One of the movies that made me think the most about my beliefs towards life and death was a movie called “Tuck Everlasting”. The movie was about a young girl who came across the Tucks, a family living in the woods owned by her family. As it turns out, the Tucks had mistakenly drunk from a fountain of youth, granting them immortality. They had already been alive over 100 years. The young girl fell in love with the youngest of the Tuck boys and was given the chance to choose immortality. But as Mr. Tuck told her “What we Tucks have, you can't call it living. We just... are. We're like rocks, stuck at the side of a stream”. While the young girl pondered the chance for immortality and a life with the young Tuck, Mr. Tuck said to her, “Don't be afraid of death, Winnie. Be afraid of the unlived life”.

If you had the choice between living a full life and dying eventually or living eternally, what would you choose?

“Equilibrium” mad me think about the quality of life. Set sometime in the future, the government has eliminated war by suppressing emotions. Books, art and music are forbidden and feeling is a crime punishable by death. There is no love in a society like this, no friendship and no affection. There is no appreciation and no respect for others, no freedom of choice and very minimal individuality. Indeed it’s true that love is messy, and feelings can get out of hand, but for all their flaws, is life really better without emotions?

If you could choose to eliminate emotions, to think only logically, would you be willing to forgo all your feelings in order not to feel pain?

“The Matrix” takes another angle altogether. Thomas A. Anderson discovers that human life on Earth is nothing more than an elaborate fa?ade created by cyber-intelligence. The world we live in is an imaginary program made to give humans the illusion that everything is alright in the world while they are used as fuel for The Matrix. So while we walk around doing our everyday things and contemplating the meaning of life, does the world we live in really exist?

Assuming life does indeed exist, is it set in stone and unchangeable? “The Butterfly Effect” tells the story of Evan Treborn. Evan has the power to go backwards in time and change the past in order to prevent pain and suffering in the present. As he quickly discovers, it’s not as simple as changing one persons life. Every time he changes one thing for the better, something worse happens to someone else. Only when he finds a scenario where he doesn’t interfere, can he find the best solution.

If you had the power to change your past to make your present better, at the chance that you would hurt someone else, would you do it?

While all these movies are generally fictional, they ask the hard questions. Do we really exist? Can we change the past? Does love last forever? Is beauty everything? Does everything we do only affect us? Do we appreciate what we have?

If this was your life, what would you do?

Books or Movies

2007-12-28T20:53:00.000-08:00

Have you ever been disappointed by reading a book and then watching its film? Have you ever watched a film and then read the book that it was based on?

Many movies remain very true to the book. Others only follow the core of the book’s story, while mostly taking poetic license with the plot and the characters.

There are many reasons that make these movies what they are. For example, the length of the movies is set to be between one and a half to two hours, while books come in different lengths, from short stories to long 600-page books spanning several generations. In the past, full length movies were about an hour and a half. They even had an intermission in the cinema to allow people to take a break and buy some refreshments. Nowadays, full length movies take up to two hours without intermission.

Many descriptions in books, such as scenery, can be presented in a few seconds in a movie. In books, this may require many words. In a movie, one picture is indeed worth a thousand words. On the other hand, many feelings or thought descriptions are not as easy to present in a movie.

While reading a book, the reader has the freedom to imagine the characters as they like while in a movie, the director and the casting crew will make that choice for the viewers. This often leaves big gaps between the choices. There is a whole industry of casting whose job is to find the actors that are most likely to fit into most people’s imagination of the characters, but even the best selections cannot fit everyone’s style.

When comparing books to full length movies, there is always the dilemma about which parts to include or omit. In films like Eragon, Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings, the books included many details that the movies did not. This is a typical situation as books always contain more details and descriptions and the chance that the reader and the director or the script writer will choose to include the same details are low.

People can be divided to two groups, the ones that like to see the movie first and read the book later and those who like to read the book first and watch the movie after. Watching and then reading gives you all the details, but takes away the surprise, because you already know the main plot and the ending by the time you read. Watching after reading allows you to experience a different interpretation of what you have read, imagined and experienced but may result in disappointment from the movie.

Most people like both reading and watching to have a complete experience. All they need is to take into consideration that there are advantages and disadvantages for each option: reading and watching or watching and reading.

One particular challenge for the book-first approach is that by the time you are finished reading, the movie may not be showing in cinemas anymore. Fortunately, Internet technology has made it much easier to get your hands on any movie whenever you like. Every person with a computer and access to the Internet can easily download full length movies and watch them at the comfort of their home. While in the past, going to the movies cost money (for tickets, travel and perhaps babysitting) and took time, today, people can download any movie they like and watch it whenever they like for close to nothing.

If you're going to read your next book then stop and download that movie from the internet.

Merry Movies

2007-12-28T20:32:00.000-08:00

One of the most common movie genres that stretches from as far back as the silent films is Comedy. Comedic movies are designed to amuse and entertain through humorous exaggeration of situations, actions and human characteristics. In essence, they are intended to make you laugh!

Some movie watchers say that Comedy movies portray situations that don’t correspond with anything real and generally ‘just aren’t serious enough’. But who said serious is best?
Not only for the purpose of having a good time and rejoicing in the misfortunes of the characters on screen, Comedy movies are one of the best ways to laugh.

Research shows that laughter relieves stress and muscle tension, strengthens the immune system and reduces the risk of heart attack. Even respiratory problems, high blood pressure, viruses, tumors and other illnesses can be relieved with laughter.

According to some articles, studies have shown that patients that have a clown present prior to surgery had less anxiety. This reduces the risk of complications.

A Dr. Norman Cousins wrote a book about how he recovered from a life-threatening tissue disease by watching Comedy movies. "Laughter is an antidote to apprehension and panic," wrote Dr. Cousins.

During Christmas time, everyone is stressed about just about everything. How much the tree cost, how many presents they still have to get, dealing with family relations, last minute party details and why the dog keeps chewing the tinsel. On top of that the flu always seems to go around, your back aches from cleaning, you haven’t slept in 3 days and it’s nowhere near over.
When all is said and done, take the time to watch a Comedy movie. Reduce your stress and strengthen your immune system. Laugh at the ridiculous behavior of some people and the magnified scenarios of day to day life.

Christmas is a time of laughter and merriment with friends and family. For those celebrating at home and even those who are just taking a quick breather before going back to work, celebrate the Christmas season or end of year with a surge of laughter in order to begin 2008 with a smile on your face and a positive attitude.