INTO THE STORM – A movie review

It was a school night last night but we were kinda getting tired of watching our usual soaps so we decided to watch a movie and we ended up choosing, Into the Storm. It is a movie released just last August (2014) about a group of storm chasers out to film the biggest tornado that has ever hit their town in Oklahoma, like Twister (1996 movie). The film begins with four HS teenagers hanging out in their car one night, well actually making out was more like it. Then, they suddenly hear a storm brewing and from afar see several transformers blowing out. One student bravely go out to film the tornado while the others are already begging for them to leave. But by the time they do leave, it’s already too late and the tornado sucks up their vehicle, killing all of them.

In the next scene, the Titus Team is introduced, a group of filmmakers who are intent on filming tornados. Pete is the leader of the group and he is kinda pissed since they missed the tornado last night. The group is composed of two teams, one rides the Tornado Intercept Vehicle – a heavily armoured van where the filmmakers ride to take video footage. The other team are in a van filled with numerous monitors for tracking storms and tornados, manned by Allison and Daryl. They soon learn that a Tornado Watch has been declared for five states so the group gets excited since after many months of filming nothing, they may soon get to film their first tornado.

Meanwhile, high school vice principal has tasked his two sons, Donnie and Trey, to film a time capsule video for the students to watch in 25 years. But while Donnie was filming his piece Trey comes in to disrupt his message by leaking about Donnie’s crush on another HS junior, Kaitlyn. He introduces his brother, Trey and also their father who is a bit distant to the two boys, or maybe he is just busy with the graduation ceremony later that day. Trey makes his own message for the time capsule then Donnie decides to take the bike to school and not join his dad and brother in car. His father realized he was mad and so he tried to apologize but Donnie brushes him off saying he’s used to his indifference by now.

Allison and Pete get into an argument on where to go to track the storm, Allison’s instincts tells them to go to Silverton but Pete wants them to go elsewhere. They decide to follow Allison as she was the one with the degree on this. Meanwhile, we meet two idiot buddies who are trying to make a youtube video using an ATV that they crash into a lawn rubber pool which ends up wrecked in the process. But the two are quite happy with what they’ve done thinking they would soon be famous...well, until their mom sees the ruckus they made and yells at them to leave.

Back with the Titus team, Pete introduces his Tornado Intercept Vehicle and marvels at its unique features particularly designed to run after and capture tornados on film. Then, Allison gets a call from home and she tries to reassure her daughter that she will be coming home soon, after they get footage of the storm, after all she had been away on the road for three months already.

At the school, Trey secretly videotapes Kaitlyn being reprimanded by a teacher so Donnie approaches her to ask how she is. Trey also records his approach and he learns she needs to do a video project for her internship application but the video got corrupted. Donnie offers to help her out with the video but he needs to tape the graduation ceremony so he makes Trey do it so he can help Kaitlyn with her project. So Trey proceeds to do the interviews for the video time capsule and interviews different students and school personalities. He also starts to set-up the camera for the upcoming school graduation and when their dad asks where Donny was, he replied that he didn’t know but he must be around somewhere.

The Titus team watch news about the storm and Pete gets a bit mad at Allison that she was wrong about its location then suddenly a hail storm happens while they were at the hotel and they realize that the storm is headed their way. Meanwhile, Donnie and Kaitlyn are already at the abandoned papermill to take some footage for Kaitlyn’s project just as the graduation ceremony has commenced. The team drives down the fields to take footage just as Donk and Reevis approach and they also try to get video footage of the tornado. Rain starts to fall on the graduating students and so they finish the speeches and the storm alarm goes off so they all head back to the school building.

The Titus team anchors down the TIV in a field and wait for the tornado to pass its way but surprisingly the tornado veered its course and turned left towards the school. The principal and the students keep their heads down as the tornado hits the school directly and throws a tree through the doors and tears a hole through the roof and sucking a few students out. Gary tries calling Donnie but he refused to answer the phone thinking he would just be mad for skipping out on the graduation ceremony. He used Trey’s phone instead and so Donnie answers but he was unable to warn Donnie about the tornado approaching since the line was cut-off then the paper mill suddenly collapses around them.

The Titus team tracks a second tornado headed downtown and proceeds there just as Gary and Trey head off to find Donnie. As they pass thru the town, they see the devastation wreaked by the tornado and help their neighbour and his dog to safety. Allison, meanwhile stops to advise the two drunkards – Donk and Reevis to go somewhere safe but they refuse to heed her advice as they want to also film the tornado that suddenly appeared in front of them. The team runs to safety and while Trey was able to join the others inside a nearby cafe, Gary prevents Allison from being sucked by the tornado and holds on to her until it dissipates. The storm chasers decide to take Gary and Trey with them as they need to get to the paper mill but can’t anymore since their car got wrecked. Meanwhile, Pete’s newbie cameraman (Jacob) wants to quit since he was afraid that he may not make it out alive, chasing storms like this. So as backup, Pete talks to Trey to just keep filming and he will buy his footage for three thousand dollars.

Meanwhile, back at the paper mill, Donnie ties up a cut from Kaitlyn’s leg and he shared his mom was a nurse which is why he knows how to do that. He also shared with Kaitlyn his resentment about his mom leaving them and how on the last day he saw her he barely acknowledged her goodbye but little did he know it was the last time he gets to see her before a car accident takes her life. Then they hear some knocking sounds and figured it may be someone trying to find them but it turns out to be a pipe breaking and suddenly water begins to fill the hole they fell into, flooding it. Donnie succeds i n finally getting a signal and tells his dad that they are being flooded before getting cut-off again.

Pete tries to pep-talk Jacob into staying and apologizes for yelling at him a lot. He also tells Jacob that when he was younger, he was scared too but this is the chance he had been waiting for all his life and they are going to be fine. The team sees the tornado split into many more tornadoes and when one of them hits Allison’s van they decide to take shelter at a nearby church. Donk and Reevis get sucked inside one of the tornadoes and the team watches as one of them becomes a firenado. Jacob stops to take footage and when he drops his camera and turns back to get it, he gets pulled into the firenado. In the church, Allison blames Pete for Jacob’s death but Daryl steps in to take the blame saying it was him who convinced Jacob to stay on for just one more day. He opted to stay and find Jacob’s body and contact his parents. Allison shall take Gary and Trey in his vehicle to find Donnie and Pete is left alone in his TIV to finish filming.

Donnie and Kaitlyn feel that hope is running out as the water keeps getting higher and no one seems to be coming to find them. They both decide to record a final message for their parents, making their apologies and sending their love. By then, Gary receives Donnie’s message in his mailbox and they proceed to the paper mill even faster. When they reach the paper mill, they see a beam that traps them underneath which is too heavy for them to lift. So Trey rams the van to push the beam but also causes something to fall on Donnie’s leg. They pull Kaitlyn out and Gary jumps in for Donnie, cutting him loose with Trey’s knife. They perform CPR on him until he coughs and wakes up. Gary hugs him and Trey and they were happy to see Pete come back to help them and so they head back using the TIV as the van is now unusable.

The group sees a larger and more powerful tornado coming at them and so they proceed to the school to warn everyone as the warning signals are all down. They manage to get everyone inside the buses and get to safety. But as Gary and his family, with Alison get on a bus, a powerline falls and blocks their path so they turn back to find another way out. The group decide to take refuge inside a storm drain and as the giant tornado comes, the group inside is threatened when the grates are pulled by the wind. So Pete drives the TIV down the drain and uses the anchoring system to keep the grate in place. The storm intensifies while Allison and Gary hold each other and the kids down and Pete and the TIV are pulled up into the air. Pete soon finds himself high up above the clouds and sees the sun and marvels at the extreme beauty of it all before he falls back to the ground and dies.

The tornado finally leaves the town and in its stead, the devastation it left was enormous. The entire town was destroyed and the next scene shows the town citizens returning to their homes and putting back what they could together again, finding relatives alive. Allison assures her daughter that she is coming home and Trey finishes the time capsule video by recording the citizens and how thankful they were to be alive after the storm. Gary and the boys make their own video tribute and it seems they became closer after what happened. And before the movie finally ends, Donk and Reevis are shown hanging on the trees and they were both darn happy to have survived the storm. They just knew that their latest video would finally make them both rich and famous.

What do I think of this movie...? Well, it was reminiscent of the early Twister movie back in 1996 but then the fact that it dealt with tornados too was the main reason I watched the film and I ended up getting just that...a film about the tornado and not much else, even the characters they introduced were forgettable...I guess I am just glad that the effects were definitely much better than the previous disaster films.

MOCKINGJAY PART 1 – Movie review

My daughter and I watched this movie together since her Kuya cannot come with us as he was at church. Tatay did not want to go, too, since he says he would just fall asleep inside the theatre...he just took us to the moviehouse and picked us up afterwards. Well, watching the Hunger Games series has become quite a tradition for my daughter and I. So the moment November rolls in, we both become excited wildly anticipating for the time we would be able to watch the next instalment of the series. We did this for the past two movies - the Hunger Games and Catching Fire and I hope we would be able to do this for more movie bonding moments together.

Mockingjay Part 1 starts where Catching Fire left off, with Katniss Everdeen being rescued from the arena and brought to District 13 together with Gale, her mom and sister Prim. The screen opens with Katniss hiding somewhere in the underground facility as she was having nightmares about her moments in the arena. She is forcibly taken by some men and brought to a hospital/clinic for treatment of post-traumatic stress along with her co-tribute Finnick Odair who she saw in the room next to hers mumbling something about wanting to go back for Peeta and Joanna. He also expressed worries about Annie because they have her too back at the Capitol. He wished they were dead...and that they were too.

Katniss next meets Colonel Boggs, District 13 head of security who would be taking her to President Alma Coin, 13’s leader. On the way, Boggs tells her that their District was bombed to rubble by the Capitol some 75 years ago but their military training taught them how to survive below ground. They built a bunker below the ruins - preparing, training for the day when they can finally come out and fight the Capitol once again, that time, they believe is NOW. Katniss meets President Coin with Plutarch Heavensbee, the former Gamemaster whom the Capitol never realized to be helping the rebels. The President welcomed Katniss to 13 and expressed admiration for her bravery. President Coin explained to Katniss that when she fired her arrow into the arena’s forcefield, she also electrified the nation and fired up the rebellion that caused riots and uprisings to occur in seven districts. 13 wants to keep the rebellion burning since they believe they would not have another opportunity like this to unite the districts and fight the Capitol for another 75 years.

The two try to convince Katniss to become the Mockingjay that would unite all the districts against the Capitol. They want everyone to emulate Katniss and stand up against the mighty Capitol. They plan to shoot a series of propaganda videos to continue to stoke the fires of rebellion and make everyone stand up against their common enemy. But Katniss was still concerned about Peeta’s fate since Plutarch left him behind in the arena and so she refuses to take part. Coin and Plutarch discuss their options to convince Katniss to join their fight. They decide to make it a personal issue for her and allowed her to see how much the Capitol ravaged her district. Coin, however, believes that the games must have destroyed her...but Plutarch believes that her anger can be redirected and she can become the face, their symbol for the revolution.

Katniss is allowed to go to District 12 and she goes with Dale convincing him that she needs to do this, to see for herself what happened to their home. Katniss is brought to tears seeing the destruction wreaked on her district, nothing was left standing, all buildings were burned and were even still smoking at the time she arrived. She steps on a skull which visibly shakes her knowing it may have come from somebody she used to know. She proceeds to the Victor’s village where she and Peeta and Haymitch lives and the houses were relatively untouched. She goes inside their home and picks up a few things she want to bring to 13, including some of Prim’s herbal oils. She sees Buttercup, Prim’s cat and brings her too inside the satchel bag then she sees a single white rose that President Snow had given her last year, still fresh and unwithered.

President Snow prepares to address the nation and decides he doesn’t want to mention the rebellion in his speech as it would legitimize them. Instead, he would call them radicals and highlight the long-standing peace they have had due to their respect for law and order. They said that the system they had long practiced kept them all alive since the Capitol served as the heart of that system. The radicals want to put the entire system in danger and so they must be punished. He ordered that all symbols of the mockingjay shall henceforth be forbidden and anyone who ignores shall be punished with death. He then proceeds to kill off several captured rebels to show Panem that he means business.

Katniss returns to 13 and gives her the cat, telling her to keep it hidden as she only smuggled the cat in. Then, while eating with Dale at the cafeteria, they get a broadcast from the Capitol and sees Peeta being interviewed by Caesar, the Hunger games host. Katniss was obviously glad to see he was alive but he seems to be somehow being misguided or made to believe that Katniss knew all along about the rebellion. At first Peeta denies this but Caesar wants him to think otherwise and was upset that they would think that. Peeta then addresses the rebels and urges them to stop and think what a civil war could mean...that killing/violence is not the answer. The people of 13 were obviously not happy with Peeta’s words and branded him a traitor to their cause. Katniss leaves the cafeteria and talks with Dale, agreeing that there can’t be a ceasefire after everything that Snow has done. Dale tells Katniss that maybe Peeta was just forced to say what he did, maybe even to protect her as he is wont to do.

Katniss dreamt about Peeta being there with her in 13 and Prim sees her awake. She tells Prim her thoughts about wanting so badly to save Peeta but knowing that once she openly joins the rebellion, she may end up killing him instead. Prim tells her how important she is to the rebellion and that she could demand almost anything she wants, even Peeta’s safety. The next day, Katniss meets with President Coin and Plutarch and agrees to ne their Mockingjay but on the condition that the other tribute-prisoners of the Capitol be rescued at the earliest opportunity and pardoned. But Coin disagrees since at 13 they believe in having a fair trial. But Katniss insists it wasn;t their fault being abandoned in the arena and now they are forced to do and say all sorts of things in order to survive. Katniss is determined that the tributes shall be pardoned in front of everyone in 13 or else they will have to find another mockingjay. Her anger convinced Heavensbee that their Mockingjay is definitely back so Coin agrees to her terms, even Katniss’ request that Prim can keep her cat.

Plutarch visits Effie Trinket, obviously annoyed at being made to wear a plain gray overall just like everyone else when she is used to the flamboyant wardrobe of the Capitol. He asks Effie to become part of Katniss’ team because she is someone that Katniss trusts, especially now that she has agreed to be the mockingjay. But Effie thinks that aiding a rebellion is not her cup of tea but Plutarch advises her that the days of the Capitol are over and she could choose to stay locked up inside like a prisoner (though she is obviously not) or she can be the mockingjay’s escort. In the end she agrees as she knew no one else in 13 knows Katniss like she does. That day, Coin addresses the people of District 13 and announces Katniss as the face of the rebellion. In exchange, she also promised to rescue the remaining victors still held hostage in the Capitol and pardon them for their crimes, though this was met with dismay by the people. But, if Katniss fails to fulfil her duties as mockingjay then the deal is off.

Katniss is elated to see Effie and admits that she too was ‘rescued’ and condemned to what she considers a horrible place of ‘jumpsuits’, without coffee and strict rules all the time. She missed her wigs and her outrageous outfits. Effie brings to Katniss some designs that were made by Cinna before he died, if and when Katniss decides to be the mockingjay. His designs emphasized Katniss role as the symbol of the rebellion, fully believing she would someday be their mockingjay. Katniss starts a series of propaganda videos under Plutarch’s direction, but she fails to deliver her lines with enough conviction. Then Haymitch arrives and recommends that Katniss be made to deliver her lines in spontaneous situations and not taught or coached on what to say. He suggests that they put her in the field, under protection and with a crew that can shoot propaganda footage while she is in action.

Beetee, took Katniss to his laboratory where he designed a new set of bow and arrows for her to use complete with color-coded bows (for incendiary or explosives). Before they leave, Katniss sees the weapons stockpile of 13 and wonders why they left the other Districts to fend for themselves. Colonel Boggs argued that they needed to find the right moment to attack and that if they did back then they all would have been annihilated by the Capitol. Katniss gets to meet film crew – Cressida (her director), director’s assistant Messala, cameraman Castor and Pollux, an Avox. Gale joins them as her bodyguard. The team averred that they all came from the Capitol and voluntarily left, for the rebellion, for the Mockingjay.

The team first fly out to District 8 where Katniss visits a hospital full of wounded rebels. The wounded soldiers and their families are obviously surprised by her visit and at the same time delighted that she came. She promised them that she would fight with them...and they all give her the three-fingered salute. But then the Capitol’s cameras identify Katniss which prompts Snow to send in jets to bomb the hospital compound, due to their association with the Mockingjay symbol. Colonel Boggs advised the team to hide in one of the abandoned buildings but Katniss and Gale, seeing that the bombers were targeting the hospital decided to do something and managed to fight off the bombers with her red-tipped bow. Katniss and her group then sees everyone in the hospital dead and she gives her most emotional speech yet urging others to help them stop the Capitol because they would stop at nothing, even bomb innocent civilians it is here that she delivers her famous lines – “Fire is catching...and if we burn, you burn with us!”

The video was shown and the people of District 13 and Coin were quite pleased with the footage telling Katniss that Plutarch’s faith in her was not misplaced. In another district, the workers were entering the woods led by soldiers and one of them sees the Mockingjay symbol on a tree and whistles. The group then started running away from the soldiers and going up the trees but they were shot at by the soldiers. Then bombs planted on the ground go off killing all the soldiers. Gale visits an obviously depressed Katniss with good news that Coin had allowed them to hunt above ground. Katniss sees an elk but she failed to shoot it since it did not want to run away. They find a pretty river and sit to calm themselves but after awhile they receive a message that they must go back to 13.

Inside they witness a live feed of another interview with Peeta being urged by Caesar to condemn Katniss for inciting people to violence. Katniss sees how different Peeta has become, how they seem to have tortured him to say anything they want. Peeta was made to think that Katniss was being forced to support the rebellion so he told her to start thinking for herself...that it was the rebels that made her into something she was not, something that could destroy everything. Peeta further urged her to make the rebels stop the war and even asked if she can still trust the people she works with. Gale and Katniss get into an argument over what Peeta just said since Gale thinks Peeta is a coward and he would never do what he just did. Katniss defended that Peeta was just saying these things to protect himself or maybe even Katniss.

Katniss thinks that Peeta may be unaware of what the Capitol did to his own district and so she decided to visit District 12 and show the world the devastation that the Capitol wreaked. Gale starts talking about what happened to 12 on the night that Katniss fired the arrow that ended the 75th Hunger games. The next day, when Gale saw that the peacekeepers were leaving, he and two others started pulling people from their houses, urging them to go over the fence line but most of them were afraid. He shared that only 915 made it to the fence and they watched in misery as bombers circled back and fired at the main highway. Only 915 made it out alive, out of ten thousand. He knew he could have saved so much more, carried more children but it was just too late to evacuate more. The crew visits Katniss’ old home at the Victor’s Village and inside Katniss and Gale share an intimate moment.

The crew rest near a river and they soon notice a few mockingjay birds flocking towards them and they whistle a tune which the birds imitate. Katniss is asked to sing a song and they film her while singing ‘The Hanging Tree’ and as soon as it was broadcast to the other districts, it was adopted as their protest song. A group of rebels conduct a mission aimed to destroy a large dam near the Capitol so that all power to the Capitol will be cut off. The outage temporarily cut power to even President Snow’s house and severely weakened their defences which enabled Beattie to enter their broadcast system. That night, Peeta gives another message to the rebels and he looks obviously tortured. Just then Beattie was able to enter their system and he airs Katniss footage at District 12. Peeta seem surprised to see Katniss alive but upon the prodding of Ceasar continues on with his message to the rebels but in the end he issues a warning to Katniss and everyone in District 13 that they will be coming to bomb them. But Peeta was silenced and the broadcast interrupted.

President Coin and the others then decide to quickly evacuate to the lower levels where they will be safe from the bombings. Katniss goes down with the others but she can’t seem to find Prim in the shelter so she goes back up to find Prim going back for her cat. Katniss goes back to the upper level and reaches her at the stairs just in time before the shelter locks down. As the bombers start dropping their bombs, Coin decides not to fire back so as not to reveal to the Capitol the extent of their defences. She effectively sealed the District and kept their weaponry hidden so that the Capitol would not know where to target them. While in the bunker, Prim shared to her sister that she had been promoted to work in the hospital as they are training her to be a doctor. Soon the people grow bored just sitting or lying on their bunk beds and decide to play with Buttercup, making it run after the light coming from a flashlight. She soon realized that it was what the Capitol was making Peeta do, to make him follow the light. She shares her realization with Finnick who tells her that she must love Peeta too and that their relationship was not truly an act.

The next morning, Coin made Katniss deliver a statement to Panem that District 13 is alive and suffered no casualties, thanks to Peeta, they were able to have some eight minutes of leeway time before the first bomb dropped. Katniss goes out of 13 to make the shoot and is surprised to see a whole meadow of white roses amid the rubble of the bombing. Katniss knew that the roses were meant for her, as a warning that he would kill all of the people she loved, particularly Peeta. Katniss decides she cannot do this anymore...she realizes that Peeta is being punished because she is the mockingjay and so she stops filming any propaganda for the rebellion as it would lead to Peeta’s demise. Katniss admits to Haymitch that she can’t be the Mockingjay anymore. Haymitch told her that they are now attempting to rescue Peeta and the rest of the tributes since Beetie was able to enter their defences when the power went out. Katniss wants to help but Haymitch tells her that the group of volunteers already left, led by Gale.

Finnick takes Katniss’ place to deliver the message to Panem that District 13 is alive and survived the bombing. Finnick also reveals many of Snow’s dirty secrets – how he was sold/pimped and couldn’t refuse or else someone he loves would be killed. He also revealed that President Snow uses poison to kill off his opponents in order to rise to power. Meanwhile, at the ops center, President Coin with the rest of the leaders, including Katniss and Haymitch see the rescue team enter the Capitol and reach the Tributes Center without being detected by their perimeter defence system, thanks to Beetie. They see the team going thru a laboratory containing several torturing devices. Then, the group reaches Peeta and the tributes but the power is suddenly restored and Beetie can no longer hack their system. Katniss decides that she be used to distract President Snow and eventually he responds. She tries to convince him that she did not really want to be part of neither the games nor the rebellion; she just wants to save her sister and Peeta. Snow did not seem to believe her and instead remarks that it is ‘the things she loves most that destroys us’. He also tells her that he knows that her friends are in the tribute center and then immediately cuts the broadcast off. Katniss bursts out crying fearing that she may lose them both – Gale and Peeta.

Later on, Katniss learns that the rescue team made it back home safely with the tributes. Katniss first sees Joanna Mason, obviously emaciated and tortured then Annie arrives shouting Finnick and they have a tearful reunion. Katniss sees Gale and asks if he was alright and he admits confusion because he knew every radar and weaponry at the Capitol saw them but they flew past them...it seems they were allowed to escape. He thanks Gale and Colonel Boggs and approaches Peeta for the first time. He looks weak and wounded but at the sight of Katniss he immediately springs into action and chokes her to death. It was only when Boggs knocked him unconscious that Katniss managed to survive. Plutarch later explains that what they did to Peeta was called hijacking through psychological torture and fear conditioning using tracker jacker venom. It seems that the Capitol had put in new and different memories for Peeta making him hate Katniss and turning him into the ultimate weapon to kill her. It is Snow’s ultimate revenge on her...though they could try to reverse what they did but it would be difficult. President Coin announces to the people of 13 the successful return of the rescue mission to liberate the tributes. Katniss, in the hospital, sneaks in to peek at Peeta and sees him kept in isolation, strapped to his bed and screaming in agony.

The movie ends here and expectedly this has left many of us hungry for more and wishing that the next movie instalment would come soon! Mockingjay, the book, is undoubtedly quite long but I am just so sad that for more profit the franchise was further split into two! So unfair! Expectedly, too since the setting of the Mockingjay is outside of the games already there was less action in the movie as compared to the first two instalments. Rather, the movie delved in the inner conflict within Katniss – as she struggles to accept becoming the symbol of the revolution in order to save the people she loved. The movie is set underground so most of the film is dark but in moments when the people of the movie do come out, we are greeted by breathtaking and dramatic scenery of the outside world, some parts still untouched while the rest destroyed by Snow. In all, I liked the movie but only just a bit... I hate the fact that the film was cut just when it got to the interesting part (Peeta is back!) and I have to wait 12 whole months to watch how the director interpreted the rest of the Mockingjay book. Ugh! This is just pure and absolute agony!

OUIJA – A MOVIE REVIEW

The movie starts with a young Debbie Galardi and Laine Morris playing with a Ouija board in a flashback, where young Debbie tells Laine the rules of the board, the most important being not to play alone. She also teaches Laine that the eye allows them to see spirits from the other side and when she does try to peer thru the lens, she gets scared seeing her sister, Sarah. Then, in the next scene, an older Debbie is shown playing with the Ouija board alone, saying goodbye to some spirit then she tossed the board into the fireplace. She gets a call from Lanie who invites her to a game but she won’t come so Lanie shows up at her house and asks what was wrong with her and she tells her it was nothing, she just doesn’t want to go out. She admits playing with the Ouija board though, some two weeks ago and she admitted some apprehensions. Lanie dismissed Debbie’s anxiety saying it was just a game and offered to stay in with her. But Debbie refused and promised to see her the next day.

Lanie reluctantly leaves and Debbie goes back inside the house, eats dinner by herself and feels a presence in the house (door opens by itself and stove lights up). She goes up to her bedroom and sees the Ouija board on the bed, untouched. She decides to look into the board’s eye and becomes possessed by an evil spirit and hangs herself. The next day, Lanie, Isabella and her boyfriend Trevor wait at a neighbourhood cafe for Debbie while planning to watch a movie later tonight. Then, Lanie gets an urgent text from her Dad and when she gets home she gets the news that Debbie committed suicide last night. Lanie goes to Debbie’s house to mourn with Debbie’s family and the like the rest of her friends and family, they were filled with questions about her ‘suicide’. Lanie hugs Pete, Debbie’s boyfriend and goes up to Debbie’s room where she sees the Ouija board and was convinced that it may have played a part in her friend’s death.

Lanie talks to Debbie’s mom and they discuss how full of optimism Debbie was for college. She agrees to house-sit for them while they stay at another friend’s house. While Lanie was cleaning up a bit Debbie’s house, her boyfriend Trevor covered up the pool. She hears sounds from Debbie’s room and goes up to investigate and sees the Ouija board again. She decides to enlist Trevor’s help to use the board to contact Debbie and they are later joined by their friend Isabelle, Debbie’s boyfriend, Pete and her sister Sarah. On the first time that they play the board, the group was able to contact a spirit named “D”, whom they believe was Debbie. The board spells out ‘Hi Friend’ but Lanie at first thinks that it was Sarah pushing the planchette. Lanie starts to ask Debbie some questions and tell her they miss her then suddenly the power goes out.

The group scatter out into the darkness with Lanie and Trevor going to the kitchen to find the stove burner turned on...it’s a creepy scene while they move stealthily inside the darkened house and Pete approaches a mirror and gets pushed by ‘someone’ from behind, shattering the glass. The friends leave the house and as Trevor drops off Lanie at her house, he worried that she brought the board home and instead advised her to move on, anyway she was already able to say her goodbyes (if it was indeed Debbie they were talking to)

As days passed, Lanie and Isabelle decide not to talk about what happened but Lanie thanked her for doing it with her even if she does not believe in it. Lanie’s grandmother sees the board inside her room and made her promise to stop trying to contact the dead...and she did. However, Pete starts seeing the message ‘Hi Friend’ written on the wall of a creepy tunnel he normally passes by while biking; while Isabelle sees the message written in the windshield of her car; Trevor gets a message, too, etched on his desk; Lanie and Sarah meanwhile gets a visit from a spirit in their own home who was banging doors and just freaking them out, when the noise subsides and they get out of the closet they hid in, they see the same cryptic message on their laptop screen.

The friends decide that maybe it was Debbie’s way of trying to reach them and so they use the board again to ask her why she had been sending ‘Hi Friend’ messages. This time, however, they start asking Debbie if she killed herself and they find out that she did not but someone else did. Pete decided to ask a question he knew Debbie would know and it made them realize that it was not truly Debbie they were talking to but someone named DZ...the spirit that even Debbie contacted when she played the board by herself. Lanie decided to look into the ‘eye’ or glass window of the ‘planchette’ and she sees DZ’s spirit, a young girl with her mouth sewn shut. Then the board spells out ‘RUN’, ‘SHE’S COMING’, ‘MOTHER’. So Lanie looks into the eye once again and sees a woman with a gaping mouth and the board flies up from the table. They scream and run from the house vowing not to play the board again. But Sarah was fearful that maybe they started something like what Debbie did and may also end up dead.

Lanie begins to investigate what happened to Debbie and she discovers a USB with some sort of a video diary in it. Lanie discovers that Debbie found an antique Ouija board while cleaning up their attic and she broke the cardinal rule of never playing alone. That same night, Isabelle is killed by the same spirit that haunted Debbie and which possessed her as she was flossing her teeth. Her mouth gets sewn shut with the floss and then banged her head on the sink, killing her. The guidance counsellor starts to talk to Lanie to teach her how to cope with loss but she brushed him off saying he had no idea what they were going through. Lanie insists that they did not need his help and she doesn’t know who could help them at all.

Lanie decides to talk to Pete and Trevor who seem mad at her for making them play the Ouija and she admits she would never forgive herself for unknowingly causing Isabelle’s death. She was able to convince Pete to go with her to Debbie’s house and she goes up into the attic and finds a box that includes pictures of a mother with two daughters. Before she was able to go down, though, a presence made itself felt to her and she sees a shadow of someone in there. Through further internet research, they learn about a missing girl named Doris Zander who lived in Debbie’s house in the 50s. The mother was the suspect in her mysterious disappearance while the other sister murdered her mother and was taken to a mental institution. They search for and find Paulina, Doris’ sister, in the asylum and Lanie learns that their mom was a medium. She shared with Lanie that their mother used the Ouija board in her séances and Doris was her vessel for the spirits. But something went wrong and their mom went insane as she cannot turn the spirits off so she sews Doris’ mouth shut to keep the spirits from talking. She also admitted that Doris was still inside the house and that’s why she had to kill her own mother.

Paulina also learned that Lanie and her friends used a spirit board that was why they were able to open a channel to the spirit world that awakened their mother and Doris as well. Paulina told Lanie about a secret room in the basement of their house where she thinks their Mother hid Doris’ body. They were told to cut the stitches from Doris’ mouth and pray that Doris can deal with their mother. She told Lanie not to go alone as she won’t be strong enough to fight the spirits. Lanie went with Trevor, Pete and Sarah but Trevor was attacked first by the spirit’s shadow, Pete ran after to save him and the door sealed shut behind them. Lanie continued on to a small opening to get to the secret room and proceeded to cut the stitches from her mouth. Doris was able to overcome her mother’s spirit so Lanie and her friends are now safe. Then, when Pete gets home she sees Debbie in his room who transforms into Doris and kills him.

Laine goes to Paulina to ask why Pete still died when they did everything she asked them to do. She soon realized that Paulina lied to her and it was their mom who was preventing them from using the board. It was Doris who was evil and they helped Paulina to set her free. They approach their grandmother who tells them that they have to destroy both the board and the girl’s body. They seek Trevor’s help who arrives at Debbie’s house early but is killed by Doris by drowning him in the pool. Sarah and Laine go on to the basement and they light up the furnace but Doris takes Sarah away so Laine plays the board alone, to call Doris out. Doris appears and twists her arm, trying to possess her but Debbie arrives to save her friend and while they were busy Sarah takes Doris’ body out and throws it into the furnace. Doris spirit is finally banished and she bursts into ashes. In the end, Lanie and Sarah talk about missing their friends and moving on but when Lanie goes into her room she finds the planchette and she picks it up and peers into the eye but we are not shown what she sees as the movie ends there. Creepy ending, really but it just means that someone else is out there. Overall, I guess the story is kinda spooky as it is based on a creepy board game and though the jump scares are quite predictable, it delivers just the right amount of fright factor for the kids who watched it with me.

LIFE OF PI – a movie review

The Life of Pi was our chosen movie today…we started watching the movie after breakfast/brunch at around ten am. I thought my daughter would soon get tired of the movie because it lacked some action and was only about a young boy’s adventures on a boat…but I was wrong since she watched the entire film and was really interested with what happened to him in the movie. The movie is actually about an Indian boy named Pi Patel, he tells his story to a novelist/writer in Canada and he starts about his childhood in India. Pi relates that his family owned a zoo and that he was particularly fond of animals, in particular a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. One day, he tried feeding the tiger but his father angrily shoved him away and told him that the tiger is dangerous. As proof, he made Pi witness the tiger killing a goat and made him promise not to go near it again. But then his father came home one day with sad news that the municipality cannot support the zoo anymore hence they needed to sell the zoo and its animals. The family will be also be relocated to Canada and so they rode a Japanese ship. One night while Pi is on deck, the ship is met with a heavy storm, he tries to find his family but a Japanese crew member throws him out into a lifeboat and he watched as the ship sinks killing his entire family. The next day, he discovers a zebra with him on the lifeboat. They later discover an orangutan floating at sea who they also take into the lifeboat. Then, suddenly a hyena emerges from under tarp covering half of the boat and kills the zebra. It also kills the orangutan and tried to approach Pi when suddenly a tiger comes out from underneath the tarp and kills the hyena. So Pi decides to get out of the boat and use the flotation device to stay at a safe distance from the tiger. He gets some emergency food rations and water that he found on the boat. He starts to fish and also collects rainwater for him and the tiger. After many days, Pi teaches the tiger to accept him inside the boat and it was then that he realized that caring for the tiger was what kept him alive. But despite his survival efforts, the two almost die of starvation until later on they reach an island filled with many edible plants, fresh water pools and thousands of meerkats. They eat and drink what they could find in order to regain their strength. But come nightfall, they soon discover that the island turns onto a carnivore, since Pi sees dead fishes floating in the now acidic water and discovers a human tooth inside a flower. So the next day, he and Richard Parker decided to leave the island. Soon, they reach the coast of Mexico and as Richard Parker walks away into the forest, Pi looks on and expects him to look back at him to acknowledge him. But instead, the tiger walks on and goes into the jungle. Pi cries as he is rescued and brought to a hospital. After some time, insurance agents come to interview him but do not believe his story and ask him to relate what really happened and so he makes up a story about being on the boat with his mother, a Buddhist sailor with a broken leg and the cook. In this story, the cook killed the sailor in order to eat him and use him as bait then Pi's mother pushed her son to safety on a smaller raft before the cook stabbed her and threw her overboard. Pi later returned, to kill the cook with a knife. Pi then asked the writer what story he prefers and he responds ‘the one with the tiger’ as it is the better story. Later on, he sees the insurance report and notes that the insurance agents wrote that Pi survived 227 days at sea with an adult Bengal tiger so I guess it seems they believed his story after all. What was originally a quite boring story about the adventure of a young boy with a tiger came truly alive with the 3D effects that this film used. In fact, many critics described the movie as a 3D masterpiece since you just don’t watch the movie, you live it. The film is visually amazing, the effects that Ang Lee made in the sky and the water makes it so much interesting. The movie is filled with so much marvelous things that you may even doubt what you are already seeing with your own eyes. And in the end, it makes you even wonder if you have seen anything at all. In fact, if you read the making of the film, the tiger and all the other animals in the film is not real at all and just the product of magnificent visual effects. But then again, this draws us back to the story’s real ending – which is the story that truly happened? The one with the tiger? Or the one with the humans? But I guess it does not really matter, as it depends on what you prefer to believe as a moviegoer: if you are someone who only believes what he sees and touches or someone who believes in miracles and accepts things based on faith. What matters is that the movie made me believe in the majesty and miracle of God and believe in something that would have been thought of as impossible.

SEEKING JUSTICE - A movie review

The movie begins with a fidgety man who is shown being interviewed by someone (like an investigator) asking him about the meaning of the phrase ‘hungry rabbit jumps’. I am not sure if he answered since the next clip shows him going out to his car in a parking lot then another car comes in behind him and pushes his car over the edge of the parking lot which makes him fall to death. The movie is actually about an English teacher, Will Gerard (Nicolas Cage) who was shown celebrating their anniversary thru dinner with his wife, a musician while the news on TV about the ‘accident’ at the carpark plays in the background. The two proceed to a dance club with some friends, like Jimmy, who also works as a security officer at the high school.

One night, while Will and Jimmy hang out at their regular chess club meeting and after a performance, Will’s wife was beaten and brutally raped by a stranger inside her car. When Will gets out of the chess club he sees a frantic message on his cellphone so he proceeds to the hospital. There he sees his wife badly bruised and unconscious and is comforted by Laura’s friend and Jimmy. While he is waiting for news about Laura’s condition, Will is approached by a man who offers to ‘take care’ of the man who did this to his wife. He tells him that he comes from an organization that doesn’t believe in the justice system due to its propensity to let go of criminals who were guilty due to a technicality. In fact, he revealed that the suspect who did this to his wife was paroled just three weeks ago. Instead, the man, Simon, proposes that in exchange for a favour from Will in the future, Simon will arrange for someone to make Hodge (the suspect) pay for what he did to Laura. This will save both Laura and Will from the undue suffering that a trial may bring. He claims they are just a few citizens seeking justice and are tired of watching the city ‘go to hell’.

Will consents to the deal and a few hours later, Hodge is killed. A picture of Hodge’s body and the necklace that Will gave his wife as an anniversary present was sent to him as proof. The next morning, when Laura wakes, Will told her that the police found her rapist, dead, that he committed suicide. A few days later, Will and Laura go home and they struggle to find normalcy in their lives once again.

Six months later, the couple is seen still struggling to get over the incident. Laura always makes sure that Will lock the door when he comes in and asked if she can have a gun but Will won’t agree to it. Instead, Laura takes gun shooting lessons and buys pepper spray. Then, one night while he and Laura were playing billiards, Simon contacts him and asks him to follow a woman and her two kids to the zoo and look out for a man. Then, if Will sees the man, he should call a number attached to the picture immediately. Will agrees thinking this might be the favour that Simon wants in exchange for their ‘taking care’ of the guy who raped his wife.

But it seems the ‘favor’ does not end there as Simon in fact wanted him to kill the guy since he is a sex offender. At first, Will declines but Simon harasses him even at school and approaches while having dinner with his wife so he had no choice but to obey. Simon instructs Will to kill the man while he passes by a pedestrian walkway under a high overpass by accidentally bumping him to make it look like a suicide. However, instead of killing the man, he decides to talk to him and ask him about Simon. But the man, already paranoid, tries to escape Will and throws his bike at him, they struggle and the man falls off the walkway despite Will trying to save him.

Will, obviously distraught, goes home and his wife asks him about her necklace which she finds in the trunk of his car. She leaves when he is unable to provide him a satisfying answer. Then two detectives arrive to arrest him for the murder of the man in the pedestrian walk since CCTV footage clearly placed him on the scene before the incident and then running after he fell. Will tried to tell them what happened but the two detectives don’t seem to believe what he says. The two detectives’ boss, Lt. Durgan, talks to Will alone and after a few questions, they play a game where Will must complete his sentences. The detective then asks, ‘the hungry rabbit...’ to which Will responds ‘jumps’. Durgan then sets Will free, tells him to walk out after ten seconds and to leave the city within twenty four hours or else they will kill him and make it look like a suicide.

Will escapes the precinct using the pass/ID provided for him by Durgan. Laura tries to talk to Will but was surprised when the detectives answer his phone. Instead of running, Will tries to search for answers and finds out that Alan Marsh, the guy he was sent to kill was not really a sex offender but a journalist for the New Orleans Post. He was investigating the ‘secret vigilante organization’ before his death and now Will knew why Simon wanted him dead. Will visits Laura at her rehearsal and tells her everything. She understood and admits if someone approached her that night, she would have done the same thing. Then, they see the cops who arrested Will at home so he had to leave. He advised her though not to go home and proceed instead to a hotel.

Will decides to attend the memorial for Allan held at a local pub to find out more about Allan’s ‘research/investigation’ into the organization. His friends admit that he was indeed investigating the secret group and was, in fact, about to make it public so they figured they killed him and made it look like a suicide. Then, Will saw Simon and his other gangster friends at the same pub looking for him so he runs away, jumping out onto the freeway and dodging cars. One of them, Scar, follows him but was killed after being hit by a truck.

Simon then tricks Laura into coming with them, telling her that they have new evidence to prove that Will is innocent. Inside the car, Laura asks about the new evidence and they evasively answer that they will show her at the police station. She realizes then that the two guys who have her are not really cops so she used pepper spray on them and escapes. Meanwhile, Will enters the newspaper office and searches at the desk of Allan Marsh to search where he kept his files on the investigation. He chances upon some paper receipts/notes on Allan’s desk then proceeds to a storage facility which he discovered that Allan uses. Inside he finds some discs containing all of Allan’s investigation files. He escapes just as a police car arrives after the watchman reported his presence there (he saw Will’s photo in the newspaper).

Will finds out more about the syndicate run by Simon and learns that Simon is out of control. He also finds out more people involved in the organization, including his friend, Jimmy. Will confronts Jimmy and admits he joined some fifteen years ago after his brother was murdered. He coerces Jimmy using a gun and learns that Simon’s real name is Eugene Cook. Will is confronted by someone who tried to kill him and called him a pedophile. He knew then that the man was forced by Simon to follow him. Will instead lets the man go but uses his cellphone to contact Simon and work out a trade - he will give a copy of the video from Allan’s investigation in exchange for the security footage that proves Will’s innocence in Allan’s murder.

The two agree to meet at the Superdome during a game of monster cars. Meanwhile, Jimmy and another of Cook’s henchmen (Cancer) kidnap Laura as a form of insurance. They meet by a hotdog stand and there Will learns that Laura is being held hostage at an abandoned mall next door. Will gives cook the DVD but decided that they both be killed so that he would not anymore be able to threaten their organization since what they do is too important. However, just as Laura was about to be shot, Jimmy shoots Cancer while Will pushes the other guy beside him down the escalator. Jimmy tells Cook that he promised not to hurt his friends and so Cook shoots Jimmy dead. Cook and Will struggle and they both fall down the escalator then as Cook was about to shoot Will, Laura fires shots straight into Cook’s chest. The two start to walk away until Lt. Durgan arrives and when he asked who killed Cook, Will respond that it was him. Durgan said however that it seemed the dead guys killed each other and that he never saw them both. Next scene shows news footage of Will having been cleared of the murder of Allan Marsh. Will decides to give Allan’s investigation to a senior reporter at the New Orleans Post but as the guy was leaving, he utters the phrase, ‘the hungry rabbit jumps, eh?’ signifying that he, too, belonged to the organization.

(photo grabbed from IMDB)

CHOOSE - A movie review

I like horror movies but I am not such a huge fan of gory ones, the less blood I see the better but I guess it can’t be helped because horror and gore often come hand-in-hand so whether I like it or not I almost always end up watching horror movies with bloody scenes. Like this next movie that I recently watched, it is not exactly a horror film like Ju-on or The Ring but more a suspense thriller / serial killer on the loose type (reviews liken it to Seven and Saw but since I haven’t watched both films yet, I guess I couldn’t really make the comparison).

The movie starts with a family falling victim to a sadistic killer who enters their house and makes a teenage girl choose between killing her mother or her father otherwise the killer kills all of them. The perpetrator is masked, has a menacing voice and uses a bloody timer. But what’s even worse is that the killer makes the girl kill her own father. The film then proceeds to introduce the main protagonists – journalist student Fiona who lives alone in an apartment. She is first shown in a shower scene reminiscent of Pscyho but thankfully, the killer does not make an appearance just yet and there is not much nudity either in this film unlike in other horror films so I guess it is meant to be viewed by even young audiences.

Fiona’s father is next introduced as a cop who tries to pacify his daughter who gets freaked by the thought that someone entered her apartment while she was in the shower. The movie also reminisces about Fiona’s past and establishes that her mom killed herself in a hotel, her suicide note is shown and in it the word choice is mentioned. This makes Fiona think twice if her mom was also a victim of this so-called serial killer. And so she starts to investigate (she is a reporter, after all).

The next scenes show the succeeding victims of the serial killer – first, is a pianist who was made to choose between his fingers and his hearing. Then, surprisingly, Fiona gets a chat/message from the serial killer that seemed to insinuate that her mom’s death may not, in fact, be a suicide. The next victim is a bitch model who is made to choose between her beauty and her eyes. Afterwards, Fiona starts to investigate and her amateurish efforts make her a better investigator than her dad since she is able to track down a hotel room where the serial killer had apparently stayed in (judging from the symbol she found in the bathroom mirror)

So Fiona decides to do more research on Choice Therapy as it seems to be a recurring theme in all the murders conducted so far. But when she tries looking for reference books in the library, she can’t find any of the books listed and so she was surprised upon returning to her desk to find the books she was looking for on her chair. But when she tries to check out the books in the counter, the librarian says the books do not belong to them. She tries (with the help of another friend) to figure out where the books came from. They eventually trace it to an already closed-down juvenile facility and Fiona reveals what she knows to her father to aid in their investigation. His dad doesn’t want her to be involved but Fiona says she doesn’t seem to have a choice since the killer chose to involve her.

Father and daughter next visit a doctor-psychiatrist specializing in choice therapy and who was once involved in an experiment in Milburne Juvenile facility. He gives them some recorded tapes of the children he studied in Milburne and the two leave, hoping to find the identity of the killer in those tapes. The entire investigating team watches the tapes and they are already tired until they get to the last boy in the tapes and realized that they have found THE ONE - because all the loose ends tie up. The boy named Nathan Jones is an orphan, adopted by the musician (that had his fingers cut off) and who allegedly molested the boy. Next, he was adopted by another family, with the daughter who later on became the model (who had her eyes gouged out). He stayed with this family for only two years because the girl allegedly was raped by the boy.

The police search the boy’s last known residence and they are greeted by an unmistakable stench from the blood and different body parts that can be found all over the house. They find the decomposing body of Dr. Pendleton (the doctor-psychiatrist from Milburne) and from the photos they find in his bedroom, the investigators surmise that the sheriff (Fiona’s dad) is the one next in line to be killed.

Meanwhile, the killer contacts Fiona and tells her there is something she needs to know about her mother’s death but she must come alone. The sheriff tries to contact Fiona but is victimized by the killer and put to sleep. Fiona reaches Milburne and she is taken to Isolation Room number 17 (which explains the serial killer’s chat name – ISO 17) and when Fiona gets gassed, she is taken to a hotel room, apparently the same one where Fiona’s mother died.

The killer eventually reveals that the he and Fiona are siblings with the same mother but different fathers and Fiona’s father made their mom choose to give him up for adoption because he doesn’t want to bring up another man’s child. He revealed too, that Fiona’s mom chose to kill herself so that Fiona may live. Then, the killer shows Fiona her father badly beaten up, and all black and blue. The killer puts a plastic bag over the sheriff’s head and proceeds to kill him until Fiona breaks loose from her bonds and gives the killer a whack on the head. But she is too late because her dad is dead. Then, when the killer attempts to get up, she pummels his head repeatedly with a gun.

But I guess I have to agree with all the reviews made on the film – it doesn’t have a good ending it was a bit confusing even. But I do like the storyline and though the story was a bit slow in some parts, it was greatly shot and had just the right amount of cinematic effect. Would I recommend this film – well, it depends if you’re looking for a Grade A horror film or a suspense thriller, this would not be for you. But if you just need to pass the time and be entertained in the meantime, then this movie might just give you that.

FINAL DESTINATION 5 - a movie review

It's another lazy Sunday, and so when we finished eating breakfast at ten and while the pork for sinigang simmers in the stove, my daughter and I started watching a horror/suspense thriller - Final Destination 5. The movie starts with a bunch of workers gathered together for a company team-building/retreat. Sam Lawton, who is also a short-order cook has prepared the breakfast before the bus ride. He is praised by his boss for the breakfast he prepared and tells him to decide whether he wants to stay on as a sales guy or pursue his dreams of being a chef. Molly Harper, Sam's girlfriend, arrives and then breaks up with him. Meanwhile Peter's girlfriend Candice, an intern for the company and a gymnast, arrives with another co-worker, Olivia Castle. Finally, their boss arrives and told them to be ready to leave in 90 seconds. Peter, meanwhile had to fetch another co-worker from the plant so they could finally leave.

As the bus crosses a bridge that’s being constructed, Sam notices something amiss with the road, and he begins to have weird feelings while on the bus. The bus is stopped by a traffic operator, and then the bridge moves as if there is an earthquake. The road starts to crack and the suspension wires holding the bridge slowly breaks. The group immediately get off the bus. Candice is trapped when chunks of the road fall into the lake below. She hangs onto the railing of the bridge far off to the side, but the railing detaches, impaling her on the sail of a passing boat. The group panics as the bridge disintegrates more with each passing second.

Isaac, who was inside the restroom of the bus when they all disembarked is left inside and dies next as the bus is sent crashing into the lake. The crack in the middle of the bridge widens and so they all run. Another crack in the road occurs and they are left with only a rickety steel railing to cross. Olivia loses her eyeglasses in the melee and had difficulty finding her way. Peter helps her after he has seen that his girlfriend Molly has made it safely across the rails. But the railing falls and Olivia falls to the water. A car falls in after her, crushing her to death. Nathan dies next when he is hit by a swinging suspension wire. Then their boss dies too after being slathered with hot boiling asphalt from a truck that overturned. Peter and Sam make a jump towards the railings and try their best to go up to safety. But a truck beside Molly falls and with it, the steel bars it was carrying impaling Peter. Sam continues on up but another steel contraption falls from the truck and slices Peter in half.

At this point Sam suddenly returns to his senses (as if waking from a dream) and he sees he is still alive. And then everything in his dream starts to happen – like the bus stopping abruptly and the cut in his finger even the music playing on the radio. So Sam gets Molly off the bus and tries to convince others to get off the bridge too because the bridge is going to collapse. But they don’t seem inclined to believe him. Peter gets off to run after Sam and Molly to convince them to come back. Candice follows him, and Olivia, Nathan, Isaac, and Dennis soon get down too. Then they see the road starting to crack and they all run. The bridge collapses and their bus falls into the water but Sam and his friends are able to run to a safe place. The group looks surprised and confused as to how Sam knew the accident was going to happen.

An investigation ensues and even the investigator is baffled as to how Sam knew the incident was going to happen but Sam himself found it difficult to explain that he had a ‘vision’ before the event actually occurred. The investigator doesn’t believe this though and tries to pin the destruction of the bridge on Sam – like a terrorist act. But the engineering investigation failed to support his theory saying that it was the wind that caused the ‘freak accident’ on the bridge. So he had no choice but to stop his nosy questions on the eight Presage employees who survived.

During the company funeral for their seventeen officemates who died when the bridge collapsed, William Bludworth, a local coroner, is present and he warns the group that Death is after them because it doesn’t like to be cheated. They all ignore his warnings and move on with their lives. Sam and Molly try to reconcile later that night but Molly insist that Sam follow his dreams and take the job in Paris.

The next day, Candice is with Peter at her gymnastics practice, and he convinces her to go on despite her misgivings after what just happened. So, Candice does some work on the balance beam, and a nail from a malfunctioning fan falls on the beam. But the said nail doesn't injure her, instead another girl falls on the nail and she knocks off a pit full of powder. This then causes Candice, who was then doing vault work to lose her sight, and as she flips she loses her grip on the bars and lands on the floor dead with a broken spine... Ewww! Truly a very gory scene, much worse than being impaled on a ship's sail.

The next day as the group is gathered together at their work place and starts drinking to relax, Isaac goes through a dead co-workers' desk and steals some of his loose change and even a free coupon for a Chinese massage parlor. He thinks his dead friend won't miss them anyway. He proceeds to the massage place, starts flirting with the receptionist and the girl retaliates by giving him an old Chinese woman attendant who speaks little English. She gives him a ‘hard’ kind of massage – one that he doesn’t at all expect and in the process one of the screws of the bed’s legs comes out. Then, she does acupuncture on him, and leaves him alone in a sound proof room. A fire starts when one of the incense sticks falls on an open book. He shouts but no one hears him. Isaac rolls off the bed when one of its legs caves in sending him to the ground, pushing the needles into his body. He tries to get up and takes off the needles piercing his now bloody body. But his cellphone set on vibrate causes a candle to fall to the floor that had been drenched with alcohol. Isaac avoids the fire, but as he lay trapped against the wall, a shelved Buddha falls and crushes his head. As gory as the way he died in the bus when it crashed into the lake while he was lying smack against the windshield...ewww!

Sam sees Budworth, the same guy who was present in all of their friends’ deaths so far. The friends have started to believe that their friends’ deaths are not ‘freaks’ and they cannot be coincidences anymore. Sam approaches him and asks him what had been happening to them. Sam asks him about his statement the other day, that death doesn’t want to be cheated. He says that the lucky few who usually survive disasters do not really have a way to escape death. They are doomed to die in one way or another. But there is another way to avoid Death - they would have to kill someone to gain their remaining days on Earth. Peter starts to believe in the idea and even gets angry at Sam for deciding to save Molly while the rest of them were not saved.

Olivia goes for eye surgery on the same day, and the doctor straps her head into place. Olivia, fearful, holds a teddy bear, and as the doctor put in contraptions to keep her eyes open, she rips off an eye from the bear. Olivia is told by the doctor to wait, but the machine begins to malfunction, overheating, and the button to begin surgery is dropped as she reaches for it in panic. The remote drops and the laser slices her eye open. The laser goes off a few more times and it burns through her hand and scars her face. She then escapes the machine. Sam and Molly and the doctor run in to see a scared Olivia, and she trips on the teddy bear's eye. She falls through the window onto a parked car, and falls off as her eye rolls away to be run over by a car.

The same investigator visits them and starts to doubt that the deaths were all caused by ‘freak accidents’, he believes there is a pattern and wants Sam and Molly to tell him what they know. So they share with him what they believe that they weren’t supposed to survive the bus crash, and so now they’re being taken one by one. That night Sam is kept awake thinking about the ‘premonition’ he had and tells Molly how the sequence of events happened and how it seems to fit the pattern of their friends’ deaths. First it was Candace who fell off the bridge, then Isaac who crashed with the bus, then Olivia as she was being helped by Sam to cross the railings - they’re all dying in the exact order of his ‘dream’.

Nathan is next shown working in the construction plant. He talks to Roy who is angry with him for management’s decision to cut everyone’s working hours. As they talk, Nathan sees a beam moving closer to them with a hook under it. Nathan urges Roy to move, but he accidentally pushes him backwards as the hook falls, and Roy is stopped from landing on the spikes below. Nathan then sees Roy has been impaled by the hook through the head. Peter discovers that Nathan accidentally killed Roy, taking his days, skipping him in Death's design. Meanwhile, their boss, Dennis arrives, asking about the incident when suddenly a wrench that Roy placed on a machine flies off right into Dennis's face, just as Sam was telling them that there seems to be an order to the deaths and that Dennis will be next.

Later that night, Sam goes to work in the café, Le Miro 81. Inside the kitchen, Sam gets apprehensive approaching all those kitchen gadgets that may get him in an accident and so he remains careful. Sam accepts the apprenticeship in Paris. His mentor also lets Sam have the restaurant for the night to spend it with Molly. The investigator meanwhile stays on guard outside the restaurant/café. Peter crashes the dinner, and tells them how he tried to push a woman in front of a truck to steal her life. But he admits he couldn't do such an act, and he then ponders Candice's death and how she didn't deserve to die, but yet Molly survived because of Sam. Peter then tries to kill Molly because he thinks Molly didn’t deserve to live while all of them dies. Molly takes refuge in the kitchen and Sam fights off Peter. Agent Block hears gunshots and enters the café. He is shot by Peter, taking his years. Molly and Peter continue to struggle because Peter refuses to just go and let Molly live because she witnessed him killing a federal agent. Sam wakes after being knocked out earlier by Peter and they struggle with the gun and it falls on the burning stove. But as Peter was about to kill Molly, Sam stabs him in the back with a large skewer. The gun in the stove goes off but misses Sam by a few inches and Sam realizes he stole Agent Block's life from Peter, and so both he and Molly are saved.

Two weeks later, Sam and Molly are on a plane to Paris, and she asks for the window seat. As they are boarding, a group of high school students get into a fight and a kid is kicked off with a teacher. During takeoff, and as the lights were dimmed Sam tries to sleep and puts on his headset but he freaks out hearing the same song on the radio before their bus crashed – ‘Dust in the wind’. Then the lights begin to flicker and the plane is rocked by turbulence, it’s like déjà vu all over again. Sam overhears the stewardess talking to a passenger that the kid that got off the plane claimed to have a vision that the plane was going to explode. When Sam and Molly looked out the window, the wings of the plane begin to explode just as the kid predicted. A hole materializes at the side of the plane and Molly and her seat is sucked out as Sam desperately tries to hold on to her. He wasn’t able to though and she is cut in half by the wing as the rest of the passengers, including Sam get engulfed in flames. As the plane goes down Nathan is shown at a local bar, and he is seen talking to a guy who reveals that Roy was going to die in the next few days anyway due to a huge tumor in his brain. Then suddenly the flaming engine from Flight 180 crashes through the bar and crushes Nathan to death.

What I can say about the movie? Well, aside from it being a truly gory experience, I guess all I could say is that I am just glad I was not watching the film while eating otherwise, I would’ve been totally disgusted because of all the blood and disjointed body parts flying off eeewww! Well, I have been able to watch a few other Final Destination films before so I have been pretty much forewarned. But this is a better installment because its ending is different than all the other Final Destination films. It also had a twist in the end. In all, it is a very violent film where kids die one after another after being saved from a catastrophe. The underlying message that all Final Destination films have is that no one can really cheat death. If you are meant to die, you can’t be saved, you’re going to die in one gruesome way or another.

A FILM REVIEW: THE BUCKET LIST

This is a story about two guys from two opposite sides of society – a mechanic named Carter Chambers (played by Morgan Freeman) and billionaire hospital magnate Edward Cole (played by Jack Nicholson). The two terminally-ill patients become friends as they share a hospital room. Carter is a gifted amateur historian and family man who had wanted to become a history professor, but his black background just never allowed him to rise above his job at the garage shop. Edward, meanwhile, is a four-times-divorced healthcare tycoon and cultured loner who enjoy nothing more than tormenting his personal valet/servant, Matthew, whom he calls Thomas.

The story revolves around Carter’s writing of a "bucket list," or things to do before he "kicks the bucket", especially after hearing he has less than a year to live. But a frustrated Carter wads it up and tosses it on the floor which Edward finds the next morning. He urges Carter to do everything on the list (suggesting he add things like skydiving) and offers to finance the trip. Carter agrees, despite the protests of his wife, Virginia.

And so the pair begins an around-the-world vacation, go skydiving, drive a Shelby Mustang, fly over the North Pole, eat dinner at Chevre d'Or in France, visit and praise the beauty and history of Taj Mahal, India, ride motorcycles on the Great Wall of China, and attend a lion safari in Africa. Atop the Great Pyramid, looking out over the pyramids of Khafre and Menkaure, they confide about faith and family, revealing that Carter has long been feeling less in love with his wife and that Edward is deeply hurt by his estrangement from his only daughter, who disowned him after he drove away her abusive husband.

In Hong Kong, Edward hires a prostitute (Rowena King) for Carter, who has never had sex with any woman but his wife. Carter declines and asks to return home, and reciprocates by trying to reunite Edward with his daughter. Edward angrily storms off. Carter returns home to his wife, children, and grandchildren. But their family reunion is short-lived. In the preparation for a romantic interlude, Carter suffers a seizure and is rushed to the hospital. The cancer has spread to his brain. Edward, who is now in remission, visits him and they share a few moments, where Carter reveals to great amusement the disgusting origin of the "world's most rare coffee" (Kopi Luwak), over which Edward obsesses and Carter has refused to drink. Carter crosses off "laugh till I cry" from his bucket list and insists Edward finish the list without him. Carter goes into surgery but the procedure is unsuccessful. He dies on the operating table.

Edward delivers a eulogy at the funeral, explaining that he and Carter had been complete strangers, but the last three months of Carter's life were the best three months of his (Edward's). He crosses off "help a complete stranger for a common good" from the list. We see Edward finally attempt to reconcile with his daughter. She not only accepts him back into her life but also introduces him to the granddaughter he never knew. After greeting the little girl with a kiss on the cheek, Edward crosses "kiss the most beautiful girl in the world" off the list. In the epilogue, it is revealed that Edward lived until the age of 81, and his ashes are brought to the top of the Himalayas. It turns out to be Matthew who does this, and as he places Edward's ashes alongside a can containing Carter's, he crosses off the last item on the Bucket List ("witness something truly majestic") and places it beside them. In the final lines of the movie, Carter explains “I’m pretty sure he {Edward} was happy with his final resting place. Because he was buried on the mountain, and that was against the law."

This is one of the few good movies that I have watched this year, I know, I know, ‘The Bucket List’ had been around since 2007 but I never got around to watching the movie until now and I am just quite glad that I did. Let’s start with the film’s cast - Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman - they are quite considerably two of the best actors in Hollywood today. Jack Nicholson is just funny, no matter what he says or does; he has many funny moments here while Morgan Freeman is such a great actor. Jack Nicholson's performance is excellent as his character undergoes a change of heart due to Carter's friendship. Morgan Freeman can make me laugh and cry from moment to moment. These two actors work so well together – the chemistry between these veterans is pleasantly refreshing, and because of it, The Bucket List is one of the most entertaining films I have watched.

The story is predictable, but still quite enjoyable. It is a great movie about friendship - how two men become great friends in a short time and help each other out throughout the time they are together. The story is not boring, with the emotional parts done just right, and the conversations conducted between the two are never dull - meaningful, affecting and downright funny, the script is amazingly well paced and flows quite naturally.

The film emphasizes the message that the journey is the important thing, not the destination. It is one of the best feel good movies that I have seen and conveys the point that life should be led to the fullest because not everyone is given the chance like Edward and Carter to do the things they want to do before they ‘kicked the bucket’.

In due time, I guess I too want to do my own version of a ‘Bucket List’ - not because I’m going to die soon but because I feel like I am getting old too soon - and I feel that there are just so many things I want to do while both my mind and body are still capable of doing it. Maybe in a few more days or weeks maybe I’ll just come up with my own list!

[phot grabbed from IMDB]

ZOOKEEPER: A film review

On the exact day of my birthday, I stayed at home (still @ BP) not just because I was too tired with all the biyahe we made yesterday (to Tagaytay) but because I had zero balance already so no money and energy left to cook any more food. Well, I told them that yesterday was already my birthday celebration so they should not expect anything more. Instead, I just slept all day and watched movies on my Tab, including this one that I am reviewing today.

Zookeeper is a good film that was shown in 2011 and it tells the story of Griffin Keyes (played by Kevin James) who makes a move to propose to the love of his life, Stephanie, but she turns him down saying that the fact he was a zookeeper is not really good enough for her. The next scene shows Griffin five years later, he is now the lead zookeeper at the Franklin Park Zoo. Griffin held a party at the zoo for his brother Dave who is getting married. He was surprised to know that Stephanie was invited. Dave offers Griffin to come and work with him at the car dealership, since he says it is the best way to win back Stephanie. Griffin starts thinking of quitting his job at the zoo and joining his brother.

And so, the animals hold a meeting since they don’t want Griffin to leave knowing he is the best zookeeper they ever had. They decide to help him win Stephanie's heart. Some of them want to teach Griffin some mating tricks but the lion (voiced by Sylvester Stallone) protests, reminding them that it's against the animal code to talk to humans. The monkey (voiced by Adam Sandler) says that Stephanie will be at the zoo tomorrow so all they need is to make Griffin look like a hero in front of her.

They planned to unlock the door to the lion enclosure and let Joe, the lion, out to confront Stephanie and Dave's fiancee Robin. But it was Kate, the zoo vet, who saved them from the lion, as Griffin didn’t jump into the lion enclosure, thus ruining the animals' plan. So, the animals decide to break their code of silence and talk to Griffin.

Griffin at first was surprised and then became glad that the animals love him so much and want to help him. Once, taking advantage of his now newfound closeness and ability to talk with the animals, he visits Bernie, a gorilla banished to his cave after allegedly attacking Shane, another zookeeper. Bernie explains to Griffin that Shane abuses the animals and once while abusing Bernie, he fell. He lied and said that Bernie attacked him, causing Bernie to lose his trust in anyone.

Griffin gets a tip from Joe’s wife and decides to be seen with another female to make Stephanie jealous. So Griffin asks Kate to go on a date with him at Dave and Robin's wedding where Stephanie goes with another ex-boyfriend, Dale. Griffin and Kate have a great time together. Griffin even starts to stand up to Gale and this grabs Stephanie's attention. But when it was time for them to leave and Kate was telling Griffin she had a great time with him, Stephanie comes in to ask Griffin out to dinner. Griffin accepts and they both go to dinner and then to a fashion show.

Stephanie tells Griffin that his job at the zoo is holding him from the outside world, so Griffin decides to quit and accept Dave's offer, making Kate and all the other animals in the zoo upset. This includes Bernie, the gorilla whom he has started to befriend and regain his trust. Kate decides to leave the zoo and go work at a zoo in Nairobi.

Griffin becomes the best employee at the car dealership, but misses working at the zoo. Stephanie proposes to Griffin, but Griffin refuses and dumps her. He then goes back to the zoo and apologizes to Bernie, who accepts Griffin's friendship. The animals then tell Griffin that Kate is heading to the airport. With the help of Bernie, Griffin manages to catch up with Kate and confesses his love for her. Six months later, Griffin and Kate are back working at the zoo and Bernie is now living in a new enclosure where he gets a great view of the city.

The movie has its funny moments and can be considered a slapstick of sorts with most of the actors involved in ‘clumsy stunts’ that intend to make the audience laugh, especially the kids. But considering that the plot is mostly about dating and involves some double-edged jokes, I am not sure though if the kids would be fully engaged in this movie. Well, I guess that explains why my daughter stopped watching it after just a few minutes. I still love the effects though – of the animals talking and the voices used such a stellar line-up – with Stallone, Cher, Adam Sandler, Nick Nolte, among others. It was good for a few laughs and to keep my mind off anything else for a few hours.

[photo grabbed from IMDB]

MOVIE REVIEW: BREAKING DAWN

[photo grabbed from IMDB]

Despite being a Twilight fanatic (I read and possess all of Meyer’s Twilight saga e-books) I was not able to watch this movie though it was shown last November 2011. I guess I didn’t want to move with the crowds that are sure to deluge this second to the last installment of the Twilight series. Besides, I didn’t want to end up like the others who watched this first installment – so bitin as they stepped out of the moviehouse . That is why I refrained myself and succeeded too for the past three months. But my resolve just broke when an officemate arrived with a DVD or I guess it’s just the Valentine’s fever still hanging in the air. But whatever the reason I’m afraid I have to admit that I WATCHED BREAKING DAWN! And I don’t regret it one bit because it truly is a great movie!

It starts with a scene of Jacob running out of the house and transforming to a wolf as he receives an invitation to Bella and Edward’s wedding. Afterwards, wedding preparations are being made with Alice arranging the whole event. Bella is nervous as she gets the recurring dream that all her human guests get killed by Edward’s vampire friends (particularly those who are non-vegetarians like them). But Alice assures her that everything will be fine and that she just needs to get some beauty sleep. Before she sleeps though, she and Edward talk inside her room and Edward tries to convince her one last time to back off (not from the wedding) but from becoming a ‘monster’ like him. But Bella was insistent and believes she won’t become a ‘monster’ with Edward and the rest of his clan there to guide her.

Then, the big day arrives and I like the rest of the movie going public, I too was enthralled with the couple’s beautiful garden wedding where human, vampire and even wolf guests live in peace. Edward leaves us with this very touching line “No measure of time with you will be long enough, but let’s start with forever…” Then, suddenly Jacob arrives and he apologizes for being late. Jacob explains that he came just to see Bella one last time before she becomes a vampire. But Bella admits she wants to wait until after the honeymoon and so Jacob gets upset knowing that having sex with a vampire may kill her. Edward tells him to mind his own business and the other wolves appear to pull Jake away.

Edward whisks Bella off to an undisclosed place for their honeymoon and soon we discover it is an island off Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. They make love just once when Edward sees how bruised and battered he has left Bella that one time. And so they spend the rest of their honeymoon playing chess. Bella tries to convince Edward to touch her again but instead Edward takes her to do so many tiring activities (like cliff diving, mountain climbing, etc.) so that by the time they get back, Bella is too tired and just sleeps.

Two weeks into their honeymoon, Edward leaves Bella by herself to hunt. She sets off to make breakfast for herself and while eating ends up vomiting what she just ate. Bella realizes that her period is late and sees a tiny bump in her stomach. They both believe that it is impossible for her to be pregnant until Bella feels a kick in her tummy as if the baby was trying to tell her it’s there! Then, Alice suddenly calls because she says she stopped seeing Bellas’ future so they became worried and the two share their belief that Bella may be pregnant. The two immediately pack their things to return home. Edward intends to have Carlisle abort the baby but Bella enlists the help of Rosalie to prevent this from happening.

Meanwhile, Bella calls her Dad to say she’s caught some bug and needs to extend their trip so she can’t go home just yet. But Jacob gets worried and visits the Cullens to know what really happened to Bella. It turns out that Bella and Edward had been home for two weeks already and so Jacob is shocked to see Bella looking so terrible and obviously sick. Until Bella shows her stomach obviously pregnant (like 7 months pregnant!) when only a month has just passed. The Cullens tell Jacob that they too were quite surprised with what has been happening and they have completely no knowledge at all about the baby – Alice’s powers seem to be not working because she can’t see the child nor Bella’s future anymore. Jacob asked why they haven’t tried to take the baby out of her since it is obviously killing Bella but Bella insists on keeping the child – with Rosalie’s help. Edward goes outside to enlist Jacob’s help to convince Bella to let the child go since it may end up killing her. They make a pact that if Bella remains unconvinced and ends up dying, Jacob gets to kill Edward at last.

The wolf pack learns what happened and they make a decision to kill Bella since they are unsure if the creature inside Bella’s womb will be safe for the tribe or the rest of the humans. They want to kill Bella but Jacob refuses since she’s still a human (and of course he’s in love with her). So Jacob uses his birth right to become a true alpha to resist Sam’s order and creates a second pack. Seth decides to follow Jacob but Jacob at first insists that Seth return to the pack. But Seth is adamant and I guess knowing how Seth has befriended the Cullens too, he just lets Seth be. Jacob tells the Cullen’s to get ready since the pack is going after Bella. Jacob and Seth set up guard outside the Cullen’s house and both are surprised at the arrival of Leah who has also left Sam’s pack. She says she’s just looking after her baby brother but in fact, she just wants to be out of Sam’s pack (still due to unrequited love reasons) and so Jacob just lets her be too.

The next scene show the Cullens getting worried because the baby has started to grow stronger as Bella gets weaker and weaker. It has started to crush her ribs and may end up killing/crushing her from the inside. They are fearful that her heart may give out before she gets to deliver the baby. But Bella insists on holding on for as long as she could and when her heart gives, Edward or Carlisle gives her the vampire venom to try to start her heart back up. But they can’t give her any guarantees that it may work. Bella and Edward get into an argument because Bella seeks Edward’s understanding and help in raising the baby even after she’s dead but Edward says he can’t possibly love someone responsible for her death and walks out the door!

They all huddle around a deathly pale Bella as they try their best to figure out a way to help her survive with the baby growing fast inside her. Until Jacob starts thinking that the baby may want blood which Edward reads from his thoughts and agrees to and so they make Bella drink blood. The plan worked and Bella began feeling better. Bella and Edward make up their differences as well and Edward apologizes for not understanding Bella more. Then, all of a sudden Edward hears another voice and thinks at first it may be Bella but realizes it was the baby inside her speaking to him in his mind.

But the Cullens have another problem, for the past few days they have not been able to venture away from their home not just to protect Bella but to protect themselves too since Sam and his pack are just outside the perimeter of Jacob’s pack and they would stop at nothing to get the Cullens. But they need to hunt since they fear Bella may deliver the baby soon and they need to be strong for her. So Jacob goes out and tries to talk to Sam and his pack. He convinces them that when the time comes he will be the one who will kill the baby when it gets out because he’s the only one they trust. Meanwhile, as they talk Esme, Carlisle and Emmett are able to escape and leave the compound to feed.

Suddenly as they were talking about baby names, Bella bends forward to try to reach her cup of blood when her back just breaks! She falls to the ground with her knee breaking as well. Edward moves fast to catch her head as she falls and so Edward performs an emergency cesarean procedure on Bella. But they can’t cut her tummy because the placenta with the baby is just too strong. So Edward sinks his teeth into her tummy to break her open. Edward successfully gets the baby out and confirms to Bella that it’s a girl – their Renesmee.

Bella smiles as she gazes at her baby until suddenly her heart stops beating. Edward injects his own venom straight into Bella’s heart to try to revive her then he proceeds to bite her all over but it doesn’t seem to work. Jacob feels his worst nightmare has come true. So he vowed to Edward that he won’t kill him because he wants Edward to live in guilt for the rest of his life for killing Bella. Jacob walks out and slumps on the ground crying.

Jacob, in his fury, then proceeds to do what he was meant to do – kill the monster that killed Bella. Sam and his pack, on the other hand, prepare to kill the baby, too, even if it meant killing Jacob and the rest of the Cullens. But the moment Jacob sees Renesmee he imprints on her and he sees her entire life flash before his own eyes. Now, he has no choice but to do everything to protect her. Meanwhile, Edward, Alice and Jasper get out of the house to get ready for the approach of Sam and the rest of the wolves. They are severely outnumbered but good thing Carlisle, Esme and Emmet return just in time. The fight continues with Leah and Seth fighting their own kind to save the baby. Then Jacob comes out to tell everyone that he has imprinted on the baby. Now, they can’t do anything to hurt her as "whoever a wolf imprints on can’t be harmed, it’s their most absolute law”.

After that they began cleaning out Bella’s body and Edward voices misgivings that they may have been too late but Carlisle said there’s still hope and that he should listen to her heart that has began to beat even if haltingly. Slowly color begins to return to Bella’s skin, her bones and muscles repair themselves and blood starts to flow again through her veins. Memories in her dreams start to regress until she returns to her childhood with a younger version of her mom and dad and then her heart just stops and her eyes open – showing bloody red pupils.

In all, I guess I can say I truly enjoyed the movie despite the fact that it had less action scenes like the previous Twilight movies. It focused more on the love story between Edward and Bella and does no more than that but I loved it still! I don’t care what the others say that it was kinda cheesy and boring but I liked the way the director spiced it up a bit by putting a bit of gore especially in Bella’s childbirth and a bit of sci-fi effect with the blood rushing in her veins. It was a real good movie but just SO BITIN! I just knew I would feel this way but I’ll try my best to wait and be patient for the final installment. Meanwhile, I could do a film vs book review while waiting, who knows I may just have the time and energy to do it!