Nacho Libre

Nothing special about the movie but if you like a hearty laugh, the Jack Black style, this movie is for you!

SYNOPSIS:
Nacho is a man without skills. After growing up in a Mexican monastery, he is now a grown man and the monastery's cook, but doesn't seem to fit in. Nacho cares deeply for the orphans he feeds, but his food is terrible--mostly, if you ask him, a result of his terrible ingredients. He realizes he must hatch a plan to make money to buy better food for "the young orphans, who have nothing" (and if in doing so Nacho can impress the lovely Sister Encarnacion, that would be a big plus). When Nacho is struck by the idea to earn money as a Lucha Libre wrestler, he finds that he has a natural, raw talent for wrestling. As he teams with his rail-thin, unconventional partner, Esqueleto (the Skeleton), Nacho feels for the first time in his life that he has something to fight for and a place where he belongs. As Lucha is strictly forbidden by the church elders at the monastery, Nacho is forced to lead a double life. Disguised by a sky blue mask, Nacho conceals his true identity as he takes on Mexico's most famous wrestlers and takes on a hilarious quest to make life a little sweeter at the orphanage.

PRODUCTION DETAILS:
Untitled (Nickelodeon/Jack Black Project)
Genres: Comedy and Sports
Running Time: 1 hr. 31 min.
Release Date: June 16th, 2006 (wide)
MPAA Rating: PG for rough action, and crude humor including dialogue.
Distributors: Paramount Pictures, United International Pictures
Production Co.: Black & White Productions, Nickelodeon Movies
Studios: Paramount Pictures
U.S. Box Office: $80,197,993
Filming Locations: Oxaca, Mexico; Los Angeles, California USA
Produced in: United States

I have been looking forward to watching this movie for sometime now. Mainly because I liked the idea of a new superhero with bulges everywhere. Cool! I am glad that a DivX copy is finally out! Thursday Night, movie night. Miki and I was choosing between The Da Vinci Code and Nacho Libre. Since we were both not in the mood for philosophizing, we opted for comedy (which was what I was hoping for since I have already read and watched The Da Vinci Code). I am just glad that the movie didn't fail my expectations. It's great to be entertained by a good moviewith no philosophical underpinnings whatsoever.

What I liked about this movie:

1. It is not star-studded but the actors that were picked were visually apt to play the roles. I especially liked Eskeleto, the sidekick who reminded me so much of a college friend. It’s more of a physical resemblance actually. I also liked his portrayal of a “lampayatot” but loyal friend to Nacho.
2. The music haunted me! I am referring to Religious Man.
3. Jack Black and his weird roles, liked it so much. The guy is adventurous when it comes to his projects and I think I like the variation. There’s really not much likeable comedy in the theaters lately.
4. I liked the Latino setting. A third for me this year – to watch a movie with the Latino touch! The first was Fun with Dick and Jane where their son called their TV – telemundo and his favorite cartoon character – Spongha Roberto Kwadrado Pantalones aka Sponge Bob Square Pants! The second was Adam Sandler’s Spanglish which dealt with their Latina housemaid who was learning the American lifestyle through her interaction with her employer and her daughter. Hmmmmm, am I just biased against the American brand of comedy?
5. The story line was so simple but effective! Talk about running away from your destiny and finding yourself being haunted by it. It teaches children to believe that they can be who they want to be despite the odds. And it’s a good feeling.

Tuedays with Morrie

Morriefied!

That's how I characterize what I felt after finally reading the phenomenal Tuesdays with Morrie. It's a sad book, yes, so many issues. I have to put it off a week before finally mustering the courage to put my thoughts and feelings into writing. And you only get that clarity when you are not emotionally burdened. Which makes now a very good time.

Needless to say, it is a very moving piece. So let me just write here bits and pieces of the book that I want to commit to memory:

About the World
"The most important thing in lide is to learns to give out love, and let it come in."

About Feeling Sorry for Yourself
"...I don't allow myself any more self-pity than that. A little each morning, a few tears, and that's all."

About Regrets
"... we're involved in trillions of little acts just to keep going. So we don't get into the habit of standing back and looking at our lives and saying, Is that all? Is this all I want? Is something missing?"

About Death
"Learn how to die, and you learn how to live."

"Death ends a life not a relationship."

About Family
" Love each other or perish." "This is part of what a family is about, not just love, but letting others know there's someone who is watching out for them. "

About Children
"There is no experience like having children. You cannot do it with a friend. You cannot do it with a lover. If you want the experience of having complete responsiibility for another human being, and to learn how to love and bond in the deepest way, then you should have children."

About Emotions
"...detachment doesn't mean you don't let the experience penetrate you. On the contrary, you let it penetrate you fully. That's how you are able to leave it."

About the Fear of Aging
" We all yearn in some way to return to those days when we were completely taken care of - unconditional love, unconditional attention. Most of us didn't get enough."

" Aging is not just decay, you know. It's growth. It's more than the negative way you're going to die, it's also the positive that you understand that you're going to diem and that you live a better life because of it."

"You have to find what's good and true and beautiful in your life as it is now. Looking back makes you competitive. And, age, is not a competitive issue."

About Money
" Remember what I said about finding a meaningful life? ...Devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning. You notice... there's nothing in there about a salary."

"Each night, when I go to sleep, I die. and the next morning, when I wake up, I am reborn." ~ Mahatma Gandhi

"A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where is influence stops" ~ Henry Adams

About How Love Goes On
" When you're in bed, you're dead."

"...love is how you stay alive, even after you are gone."

About Marriage
"Still... there are a few rules I know to be true about love and marriage: If you don't respect the other person, you're gonna have a lot of trouble. If you don't know how to compromise, you're gonna have a lot of trouble. If you can't talk openly about what goes on between you, you're gonna have a lot of trouble. And if you don't have a common set of values in life, you're gonna have a lot of trouble. Your values must be alike... And the biggest one of those values... [is] your beliefe in the importance of your marriage."

About Culture
"In the beginning of life, when we are infants, we need others to survive, right? And at the end of life... you need othres to survive... but here's the secret: in between we need others as well."

"What's wrong with being number two?" ~ Morrie in a basketball game in 1979 when cheerers were shouting "We're number one!"

About Forgiveness
"It's not just other people we need to forgive... we also need to forgive others... for all the things we didn't do. All the things we should have done. You can't get stuck on the regrets of what should have happened."

"Forgive yourself. Forgive others. Don't wait."

Thank you Mitch for sharing with us life's lessons!

Mission Impossible 3

SYNOPSIS:
Super-spy Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) has retired from active duty to trains new IMF agents. But he is called back into action to confront the toughest villain he's ever faced - Owen Davian (Philip Seymour Hoffman), an international weapons and information provider with no remorse and no conscience. Hunt assembles his team - his old friend Luther Strickell (Ving Rhames), transportation expert Declan (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), and background operative Zhen (Maggie Q), to rescue one of his very own trainees, Lindsey (Keri Russell) who was kidnapped while on a surveillance detail of Davian. It soon becomes evident that Davian is well-protected, well-connected, and downright malicious, forcing Hunt to extend his journey back into the field in order to rescue his wife, Julia (Michelle Monaghan), and uncover IMF double agents in the process.


PRODUCTION DETAILS:

• Production Status: Released
• Genres: Action/Adventure and Sequel
• Running Time: 2 hrs. 6 min.
• Release Date: May 5th, 2006 (wide)
• MPAA Rating: PG-13 for intense sequences of frenetic violence & menace, disturbing images & some sensuality
• Distributors: Paramount Pictures, United International Pictures
  
• Production Co.: Cruise/Wagner Productions (C/W Productions)
  
• Studios: Paramount Pictures
• U.S. Box Office: $133,382,309
  
• Filming Locations: Los Angeles-USA, Antwerp-Belgium, Prague-Czech Republic, Berlin- Germany, Ghana-Africa, Rome-Italy, Naples-Italy, Shanghai-China
• Produced in: United States

After watching too many sci-fi flicks this year, I didn't really see anything new in this movie. It's still the anti-god, biological warfare, good and evil plot. I've watched it twice, actually, the first time was from a cam-copy which made me appreciate it less. Then I watched it again last night (Thursday night, movie night!) with Miki, a DIVx copy this time.

Well, the movie showed some new stuff. It started with the conflict then unfolded the events that happened before it. You will see more of the "real" life lived by Ethan Hunt in contrast to his secret agent identity. More moral dilemma scenes with him asking his fiance to just trust him without asking questions, between his responsibility to his new recruit and going back to the mainstream. The hopping from one country to another in pursuit of the "rabbit's foot" is not really new to Alias followers (both were directed by J.J. Abrams, that's why).

Unfortunately, I missed out some details in the middle of the movie because... I fell asleep hahahahhahahaha! Sorry about the outburst. It's just that Tom doesn't have the spellbinding effect on me anymore.

Overall, Miki said he liked the movie being better than the first two installments. I don't agree, though. Perhaps, I am more of the John Woo action flick fanatic with all the drama and slow-mo effect. MI:3 just didn't do that for me.

March of the Penguins

SYNPOSIS: Each winter, alone in the pitiless ice deserts of Antarctica, deep in the most inhospitable terrain on Earth, a truly remarkable journey takes place as it has done for millennia. Emperor penguins in their thousands abandon the deep blue security of their ocean home and clamber onto the frozen ice to begin their long journey into a region so bleak, so extreme, it supports no other wildlife at this time of year. In single file, the penguins march blinded by blizzards, buffeted by gale force winds. Guided by instinct, by the otherworldly radiance of the Southern Cross, they head unerringly for their traditional breeding ground where--after a ritual courtship of intricate dances and delicate maneuvering, accompanied by a cacophony of ecstatic song--they will pair off into monogamous couples and mate. The females remain long enough only to lay a single egg. Once this is accomplished, exhausted by weeks without nourishment, they begin their return journey across the ice-field to the fish-filled seas. The male emperors are left behind to guard and hatch the precious eggs, which they cradle at all times on top of their feet. After two long months during which the males eat nothing, the eggs begin to hatch. Once they have emerged into their ghostly white new world, the chicks can not survive for long on their fathers' limited food reserves. If their mothers are late returning from the ocean with food, the newly-hatched young will die. Once the families are reunited, the roles reverse, the mothers remaining with their new young while their mates head, exhausted and starved, for the sea, and food. While the adults fish, the chicks face the ever-present threat of attack by prowling giant petrels. As the weather grows warmer and the ice floes finally begin to crack and melt, the adults will repeat their arduous journey countless times, marching many hundreds of miles over some of the most treacherous territory on Earth, until the chicks are ready to take their first faltering dive into the deep blue waters of the Antarctic.

PRODUCTION DETAILS:

Also Known As: La Marche de L'Empereur, The Emperor's Journey, The Emperor's Journey (United States)

Production Status: Released

Genres: Art/Foreign and Documentary

Running Time: 1 hr. 20 min.

Release Date: June 24th, 2005 (limited)

MPAA Rating: G for General Audiences

Distributors: National Geographic Feature Films, Warner Independent Pictures

Production Co.: Canal +, APC, French Polar Institute, Bonne Pioche Productions, National Geographic Feature Films
U.S. Box Office: $77,413,017
Filming Locations: Antartica
Produced in: France

Lessons we should all learn from the penguins:

1. On marriage. Married life is a dynamic merger. It involves interaction, role portrayal, role reversal at some point, concession, submission, trust and confidence.
   
2. On goodbyes. Go when it is time to go. Goodbyes are difficult, but sometimes, you have to let go of someone for others to grow and realize their potentials. And for those who are left behind, don't mope too long, use the time for what it can do and rather than what you can't have.
   
3. On directions. The penguins didn't ask for directions but they were able to make it to their nesting ground. But since we are purportedly more superior than them, there is no reason why we can't ask for directions.
4. On new relationships torn by premature separation. Before you embark on a long distance relationship, make sure you have laid a strong foundation for your love to thrive from miles away. Although absence makes the heart grow fonder, as they say, the heart may grow weary, then warry then fade away.
   
5. On distant parenthood. Nurture them in their youth and give them all the love, care and endearment that you can give. So they will remember even when you are away.
   
6. On solidarity and self-sacrifice. In order to survive, every one of the penguins took their turn of acting as shield against the blasting winds. Why can't we all do it for the sake of the nation?
7. On fear of the unknown. Those chicks saw their parents swim away and they learned to do it on their own. Instincts.... and we fails to listen to ours most of the time.
8. On what happens to us tomorrow and the day after next. It will come to us, be it good or bad. But we will be guided as most of the penguins were able to survive the harsh weather and the predators around it, by God's grace and personal determination, the worst will be over.

Kudos Penguino!