A Bucketful

Staying faithful to the lazy ass, anti-social image I've been projecting, I decided to snub the Rusell Watson Show at the Polo Club for a much needed movie night. After having an early dinner, I got into my jammies with no intention of going to sleep...only to lie in bed with my laptop and headphones with a handful of DVDs.

First up was Narnia. 5 minutes into the movie and I was already crying. Everytime Lucy ( the youngest queen) would shed a tear, I ended up joining her. Especially the part where Aswald (?), the Lion King was murdered on the stone table by the evil fake Queen of Narnia. I loved the ending where the director effectively left a feeling of childlike hope and wonder (which made me cry again).

Next up was The Constant Gardener. Mildly nostalgic imagery (with children running about amidst a backdrop of rundown cardboard houses with rusty rooftops and filthy streets), that reminded me of the slums back home. I cried during two scenes -

1. Weisz and Feinnes are in the car, on the way home from the dingy hospital where she miscarried. A young boy and his mother are walking towards their home 40kms away, with the mother carrying her newlyborn grandaughter. The baby's 15 yr. old mother died in the hospital a few beds away from Weisz. Feinnes is told to stop the car and give the boy and his mother a lift back to their village. He refuses,

There are millions of people who need our help and we can't help all of them.

Here are three RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW that we CAN help, Weisz counters.

I have to put you first. I'm sorry, and he drives off.

I tear up with the image of the boy and his mother projected in the side mirror. They will reach their destination at dawn the next day.

2. Feinnes is in a government Aid plane set to take off to save a few people from the village where a group of bandits is mass murdering the inhabitants and sparing only a few little children who will be sold as slaves. He sees a little girl and takes her on board. The pilot refuses to take the girl with them and snubs the money Feinnes desperately thrusts in his hand.

Don't insult me. We cannot take her with us. We do not have permission to take her. They might spare her life and sell her somewhere. There are others out there like her and we cannot save them all. We simply can't.

How can you take that chance? She is a child! Here's one you can save, RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW.

The little girl jumps off the plane and is seen running as the plane takes off.

Having read similarly plotted novels, the twists in the movie weren't so hard to guess. Spent the better half of the film talking to Naning over YM and making plans for a much awaited hiatus in the island.

The Cave followed, featuring one of the yummiest actors in my book, Eddie Cibrian. I fell in love with him in a soap that for the life of me can't recall the title of. I've seen him in a couple of B movies that I've tolerated only to see those dimples of his deepen when he smiled and those eyes that made me hungry for more. ;) The movie had countless jump-out-of-your-seat-in-surprise scenes. And that was it. Characters were merely showpieces with no relevance and depth. The title was basically the whole film in one word.

I did cry, however, when Cibrian's brother Charlie bravely died attacking one of the winged Alien lookalikes to save the 3 remaining people in the team. There were 10-12 of them when they started out. Them icky, slimy winged mutants had the others for dinner. The ending was very Jurassic Park and Godzillaish...Catherine turns out to be infected and goes out into the world to propagate the species. Cibrian runs after her but finds that a white buttondown shirt and blue jeans ensemble is quite common in downtown Naples (or was it Andes???;)

Charlize Theron woke me up next in Aeon Flux. Kudos to the costume designer!!!!! Hail to futuristic chic! Charlize's performance and appeal more than made up for script deficiencies. She did remind me a lot of Angelina Jolie's Lara Croft portrayal. Exceptional women kicking ass is such a turn on, dontcha think???

The human race is hit with the Industrial Disease and only a few thousand survive. One clan (Goodchild) rebuilds a human community and reigns over the walled city for 400 years. Dissatisfied with the monarchy, a rebel group called the Monikans, are working to overthrow Goodchild and orders its number one fox, ehem, assassin (Theron) to kill the sexy head honcho. She gets her chance while he's practising a speech in the empty auditorium but buckles as they are both hit by deja vu. She gets caught and is put in a ultra high tech jail cell. She escapes but later gives Goodchild a visit in his room to find an explanation for the deja vu. Under the sheets action follow. The rest of the movie was anticlimactic after that. *fiendish grin*

Teary moment during the scene where she strangled Goodchild (the morning after) even as she was having flashbacks of their past life together.

Turns out they are all clones since the women were unable to reproduce as an effect of the Industrial Disease. Curiously enough, clones retain snippets of memories. Hence, deja vus. Goodchild and Foxy were husband and wife in their "past (real human) life". As I said, after the sex everything is just bland and unimportant. *2nd fiendish grin*

To cap the night (or early morning) off, I put in Mine, Yours & Ours for a light note. Not a film for family planners, I must say. Two high school sweethearts who couldn't be more different (the Admiral Dad imbibed everything military, while the Designer Mom was all about free expression) meet each other again in their school reunion and get married right then and there. Their children (Boheme mom has 10 United Colors of Benetton kids, and Anal dad has 8 *the eldest son is scorching hot!!!;)) hate each other on sight and are forced to live a lifestyle totally different from what they were used to. . All 18 connive to split up the Two Poles but end up getting along instead. As is quite predictable human behavior, when they finally succeed they realise they like their new life in the lighthouse and patch things up between Mom & Dad.

Take 2 on the Wedding (with the "army/sailing team/busload" in attendance this time). Yes, I cried when they had a huuuuge group hug. Awww, happy family endings...yech! Now, if there had been a little incest between the Admiral's eldest son and the Designer's curly-haired daughter then I would've enjoyed myself tremendously. *3rd fiendish grin*

I should do this more often. On second thought, no I shouldn't. My tearglands wouldn't be able to handle that much action. Lights out, kiddies...;)