Summary:

"The Proof" (2005) was directed by John Maddon. Gywenth Paltrow played Catherine, the daughter of the famous but disturbed mathematics professor in Chicago. The movie began on Catherine's 27th birthday. Her father (Anthony Hopkins) just died of aneurysm a few days before. She lived with him for five years, and took  care of him. In the beginning of the movie, she expressed concerns about her becoming crazy like her dad. In her "dreams," her dad told her that "crazy" people would never admit that they're crazy nor would they question if they're crazy. She dropped out of Northwestern; she was studying mathematics. Meanwhile, her sister, Claire, was living and working in Manhattan. Claire flew in for the funeral and to help take care of the affairs. On Catherine's 27th birthday, a Ph.D. student, Hal, dropped by to look over her dad's notes and books to see if her dad ever developed any proof. After the one night stand between Hal (Jake Gyllenhaal) and Catherine, she gave him a book of proof that she claimed she did it. However, Hal and Claire did not believe her. The truth is revealed at the end of the movie.

Review:

First of all, the scenery in this movie has sentimental value for me. My husband lived in Chicago for four years, and he lived close to the University of Chicago. His seminary graduation was at the Rockefeller Chapel, which was where the funeral scene was filmed. The Point at the Lake was where I was proposed; this is where Catherine and her father sat on the bench at the lake in few scenes. I didn't realize how much I miss Chicago until I saw the movie.

Secondly, I enjoyed the plot -- trying to figure out who wrote the proof, whether if Catherine is crazy, and the interactions between Catherine, Hal, the father, and Claire. Let me warn you: There were a lot of flashbacks, and I had to keep reminding myself which is which - the past and the present. I liked that challenge, and kept me intrigued. Catherine, at times, was not lucid, so you had to decide if she was sane or not. It was almost as if you were a participant rather than a spectator in this movie, without posing any questions.

Thirdly, I really like this movie. I know I sound like a teenager, but I can't think of a better way of saying it at the moment. So please forgive me for the lack of better wording. I didn't fall asleep during this movie like I did with the Pirates. I'm quite impressed with Paltrow's, Hopkins's, and Gyllenhaal's acting in this movie. They delivered the lines well. They were into their characters; they were believable.

Overall, it's a good movie to queue in your Netflix or Blockbuster.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Oh... by the way, I feel little geeky after watching this movie. I forgot to mention -- there's some math in the movie, which I believe raised a few IQ points. (okay, that was a bad joke.)

I've seen all three Pirates movies this week. I planned to watch the third one at the movie theatre, since it was open captioned. My friends and colleagues informed me that I need to watch the first two in order to understand the third movie. Luckily, I was able to watch the first movie on television, and the second one was from my friend's DVD. Thanks to my friend.

Let's see... the first one, "The Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl" was not too impressive. I found the plot to be "blah" and "flat." Johnny Depp really made Captain Jack look like a rock star of the pirates, which I find interesting. Also, it was hard to figure out if Captain Jack is gay or not. I read that Depp created that character, and I wonder why he did that. It certainly made it interesting and fun to watch. Captain Jack's actions were funny. However, I didn't find the humor in the fighting between Captain Jack and Captain Barbossa -- they were trying to kill each other but they can't. They're the "undead." My friends thought it was funny. Ha, ha, ha. (note the sarcasm) Basically what happens is that Will Turner was searching for his love, Elizabeth Swann, who was kidnapped by Captain Barbossa. Captain Jack Sparrow came to help Will in this search. Captain Barbossa and his crew were cursed as the "undead." That includes Captain Jack. So, there must be a sacrifice and a missing Aztec coin to bring back the "undead" to life. Captain Jack got his ship, "The Black Pearl," while Will and Elizabeth got together.

Then, the second movie... "The Pirates of the Caribbean: The Dead Man's Chest" was a little better and had more action. The plot is a little more complicated than the first. Davy Jones is a really ugly character with an octopus for a head. I love the water wheel scene. That was hilarious. I love how Captain Jack says, "Savvy!"  Read on to find out what happens. Captain Jack owes a debt to Davy Jones, who is a captain of "The Flying Dutchman." It's a ship with a crew from the underworld. Jack needs to find the heart of Davy Jones, which is locked up in a chest. Turner and Elizabeth came to help Captain Jack on this journey. Through a long wild goose chase, the British captain got a hold of the heart and used it to lure Captain Jack. However, Captain Jack becomes stuck in the "Locker of Davy Jones." At the end, we meet Calypso.

The last movie, "The Pirates of the Caribbean: The World's End," was the best of the three. I hate to admit this, but I fell asleep twice during this movie. I guess it was cold and dark, and I was tired before I came to the movie theatre. This movie is the longest of the three: almost three hours! There were long and dragged out fights. There was a little too much action for me to follow and to figure out who is fighting whom. However, I like the plot of this movie, because it gave a little more complicity and more in-depth. You can see the classic good vs evil conflict, and this movie is the darkest of the three. I like how Captain Barbossa married Will and Elizabeth in the middle of the sword fight. That was funny and a little too much at the same time. Of all the characters, Elizabeth Swann has grown over the three movies. Captain Jack and Will Turner's characters were a little flat in all three movies. I wish there were more depth to them; perhaps the audience would like to have a clue to what they're thinking and feeling. Here is what happens: we return to where Captain Jack is -- in Davy Jones' locker. Will and Elizabeth and the crew came to rescue him. They came to fight Davy Jones and Beckett, the British captain of the Eastern Trading Company. Beckett formed an alliance with Davy Jones to control the seas and to get rid of the pirates. Jack, Barbossa, Will, Elizabeth and others called for a meeting with the Council. They have decided to release Calypso, Jones's lover.  At the end, the pirates and Davy Jones/Beckett fought, and ended with some interesting consequences for Will and Elizabeth

Rating: 3 stars out of 5 stars

Summary:

Julio and his friend, Tenoch, were making plans for the summer. Julio is from the lower class; Tenoch's father has a position with the Mexican government. They were into drugs and booze. At the wedding, they met a woman, Luisa, wife of Tenoch's cousin. She joined them on a road trip to a made up beach on the Oaxacan coast. During the trip, there were tension building up between them. Luisa had relations with both of them, and both of them were "vying for her affection." They argued with each other, which almost destroyed their relationship. Also, the narrator tells you about what happens later on, and about the accidents that occurred on the road that the boys took.

This movie won awards in 2001. Alfonso Cuaron, a Mexican born and New York based filmmaker, was the director.

Review

This movie is hilarious and funny. Surprising events keep you interested and make you laugh. Whatever preconceptions I had, I was wrong. It kept me awake, which is a good thing. Half of the time I am too tired to watch a movie. So it's a good thing if a movie can keep me awake. I'm  fascinated with the commericialization of America in Mexico: Ruffles potato chips, mega stores, the life in Mexico City vs. rural areas, and so forth. The landscape where it was filmed is beautiful. However, swimming with leaves in the pool is not my thing. These boys didn't care. I shiver to think of what kind of bacteria or whatever is in that pool. Yuck! Dialogue between these them and Luisa piqued my attention; they had interesting discussions about life in general.

Deleted scenes are subtitled. Closed captioning is provided during the movie, including off-stage sounds and references to the speakers.

Rating

4 out of 5 stars

I'm really tired tonight. Please forgive my mistakes up there. :)

Last weekend, i watched Spiderman 3 with open captions at the local theatre. The movie started after a long 15 minute session of previews, but there weren't any open-captions. So I got up and went to see the movie theatre attendant to see if this particular theatre is supposed to have open-captions. He verified, and he went to turn it on. I was thinking... that's all they have to do? Push a button to turn it on? Hmm... why do they set up weird times to have the movie open-captioned? I know... it's the marketing and the demographics. And that people don't want to "read" the captions. Blah, blah. Whatever!

Summary: I'm not bothering to write up a summary since most people know what it is about. Spiderman saves the city of New York. What else? :)

Review: I didn't know what to expect from Spiderman 3. I haven't seen Spiderman 1 or 2. All I knew about Spiderman was that he likes to climb skyscrapers and fly using his spider web thingy. The movie started with the most boring, no... one of the more boring... beginnings that I've seen. It took 45 minutes to actually get to the "meat" of the story. There was a lot of action. There was that classic fight between good and evil. The plot focuses on what one can do with the evil and how it impacts the character. There was a love story intertwined in the story, which I think attracts the female viewers, i.e. chicks. I think the movie was trying to be an action film for men and a chick flick for women. As you can tell, I was not totally impressed with the movie, and I was bored with the movie.

Rating: Sorry Spiderman fans... I'll have to give it a 2 1/2 stars out of 5.

Original Sin (2001)

Summary
A man from Havana, Cuba meets his mail-order bride from Wilmington, Delaware. The bride turns out to be an actress pretending to be her. The real bride was murdered. The man doesn't know about it until she runs away with his money. He finds her and brings her back. The private investigator searches for her and investigates the mail-order bride murder. He turns out to be an accomplice of the actress. There's much more to the story, and I don't want to give away too much.

Review
At first, I was not interested in the movie, because I did not have great first impressions of Antonio Banderas and Angelie Jolie. I knew that they were both very good looking people, but can they act? I was doubtful. After watching the first several minutes, I realize that my "original" impressions were wrong. I admit that. They're good looking and good actors.

The plot of the movie was gripping and kept me on my feet. The first conflict was about her stealing the money, and then they came back together. Second was when the private investigator (PI) told the man that she killed the mail-order bride. Lastly, it was about the relationship with the PI, which I'm not going to reveal. Yet... close to the end, I was anxious to get the movie over with. One can see the ending from a mile away. When I saw the ending, I was shocked. It was not what I expected it to be; let's just say, it ended happily.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Goodbye Lenin (2003)

Summary
The young man grew up in East Germany. His mother had a heart attack just when East Germans were protesting which led to the fall of the Berlin Wall. She then went into coma for eight months. She missed all of the changes during that time. So the son decided to keep everything just like it was before the fall, because the mother was heavily involved in the Communist party. He felt that it would be too much for her, and she would have another heart attack which possibly will kill her.

Review
This movie is fascinating to watch. It brought back memories of what happened in Germany in 1990. I found it interesting about how the son had changed and matured while she was in coma. When she woke up, he fell asleep one time while taking care of her.  She got up and walked out of the apartment. She saw the changes. That's when she had to grow up, too. My favorite comedic part was when his girlfriend, a student nurse, was practicing putting on cast, they had an argument. She got up and left the bathroom. He was stuck in the bathtub, and he tried to get up.

This movie is much better than "Wings of Desire," a German film with Peter Falk. The plot of "Goodbye Lenin" hooks you in, and you would want to know how it ended. "Wings of Desire" was much more complex, and it was not easy for me to sit and relax while watching it. Yes, "Wings of Desire" was a good movie (it won an award at Cannes Film Festival) but it required deep thinking. "Goodbye Lenin" didn't require deep thought, and you can enjoy the plot better.

The ending was good. I'm not going to spoil it. Go and watch it!

Rating
4 1/2 stars out of 5 stars

      It is a funny movie to watch with women on a snowy and icy night. It’s a movie that you’ll laugh with your friends. It’s not a movie to watch with a boyfriend or a husband. Trust me!
    It’s about Andie Anderson who wants to be a “to go” girl. She worked for the magazine. What she did for her article is try to date a guy for 10 days and lose him, just like guys do to girls. All the stuff she did to the guy, one would think he would drop her. The guy also did the same thing to her, too; he dated her and then try to lose her for the advertising campaign. I think you can infer the ending.
    I love the scene where their dog peed on the pool table. The guy also peeked in her medicine cabinet and it had too many “things” in there. He got turned off right away.

RATING: 3 out of 5 stars. Funny, hilarious, light-hearted, but not worthy of an Oscar nomination.