The Vow - Movie Review

Summary: A car accident puts Paige (McAdams) in a coma, and when she wakes up with severe memory loss, her husband Leo (Tatum) works to win her heart again.

Leo: How do you look at the one you love and tell yourself it is time to walk away.

As you all probably already know, I'm OBSESSED with any romance story, especially anything written by Nicholas Sparks. Though this was not one of Sparks' creations, two of his previous actors (McAdams from The Notebook and Tatum from Dear John) came together to create a love story with his signature passion. 

Leo: Life's all about moments of impact, and how they change our lives forever. But what if one day you could no longer remember any of them?

Leo and Paige had such a perfect love in the beginning of the movie. They met, they dated, they fell hopeless and madly in love. So when Paige loses her memory of the last five years, the years she met Leo, they have to work to get that once in a lifetime love back. The only problem is Paige still thinks she's engaged to her ex-fiance (Scott Speedman - from Underworld & Felicity "Ben") and living a wonderful, classy life as a law student. Leo loves Paige with all his heart, but how does he make the love of his life fall in love with him all over again? 

Paige: I vow to help you love life, to always hold you with tenderness, to have the patience that love demands, to speak when words are needed, and to share the silence when they are not, to agree to disagree about red velvet cake, to live within the warmth of your heart, and always call it home.

This movie is filled with so much emotion but there seems to be something missing. The movie had you rooting for Leo the entire time and although there were not enough twists in the plot to keep you on your toes. It's not the typical perfect love story; there are so many ups and downs in the relationship that it's impossible not to have some sort of reaction to it. Although someone told me that since it was based from a true story, it was much better when you get to read it via Reader's Digest. :) I'm going to look for that issue :)

Some events in the movie annoyed me and I wasn't too big of a fan of how everything ended, but the entire journey of the story was impossible not to life. Rachel McAdams is just gorgeous, she can be paired to anyone and you'll just smile watching her and Channing Tatum is cute, I'm also imagining Ryan Gosling foe the role. If your in the mood for a love story that's perfect yet so unperfect at the same time, check out this movie. And watching Channing Tatum for a full two hours (and I mean REALLY seeing Channing Tatum) doesn't hurt either. Do you think if I went and got hit by a car, I'd wake up to have Channing Tatum as my husband? Hmmm, I'd say it's worth a shot ;)

Check out this interview of Rachel McAdams & Channing Tatum

Underworld: Awakening Movie Review

I've been waiting for this movie ever since I finished watching the first sequels: UNDERWORLD, UNDERWORLD: EVOLUTION & UNDERWORLD: RISE OF THE LYCANS. I totally love the film series. I really felt that I was watching a "vampire" movie. Plus, I am biased for saying this but Kate Beckinsale totally rocks as a vampire. She portrays the role of Selene. If you've read my past review about the first film series or if you've watched the movie, you'll definitely catch the drift.

The film started in the realm of Gothic theme. Full of darkness and amazing stunts. Breath taking stunts! 

Taking place shorty after 2006′s “Underworld: Evolution” and continuing the story set in motion by 2003′s “Underworld”, “Awakening” shows us a world steeped in hatred and darkness. However, instead of humans fighting each other or vampires fighting lycans (read: werewolves), this is a world where humans take the fight to both vampires and lycans. You see, humans haven’t taken kindly to the discovery of the non-humans among them. In an effort to prevent further “infection,” humans have declared martial law, which soon devolves into a mass cleansing. At first I was a little baffled since I was shocked over the fight scenes but yes, it all sink in once the movie progressed.

We’re quickly introduced to the franchise’s heroine, the centuries-old vampire Selene (Kate Beckinsale), and the love of her life, the vampire-lycan hybrid Michael (Scott Speedman) who, I believed portrayed a cameo role to this movie-to my dismay-you won't see him that much, as they seek to escape the evermore hostile city. However, fate intervenes, and the next thing Selene knows, she’s waking up from a 12-year cryogenic freeze at Antigen Laboratories, naked and angry as all hell. She quickly escapes, only to realize she wasn’t the only one to do so. Subject No. 2 also freed herself from her confines and then freed Selene, and somehow the two share a psychic link. (Selene was dubbed Subject No. 1.)

To make matters more convenient, Selene, though just having awoken from a decades-long slumber, retains all of her legendary Death Dealer skills, wreaking merciless havoc on human and lycan alike. (After extracting information from an Antigen worker, she causally throws him from a high-rise apartment window. It does not end well for the worker.)

After learning that Subject No. 2 is her daughter (India Eisley) and that Michael is dead, Selene bands together with David (Theo James)Bless you David for letting me have another crush, a vampire who goes against his coven’s and father’s (Charles Dance) wishes to aid Selene, and Detective Sebastian (Michael Ealy), a human sympathetic to Selene’s fight. The group seeks to prevent any harm from befalling Subject No. 2, a hybrid being sought out for her genetic material by Dr. Jacob Lane (Stephen Rea).

Spoiler Alert: Yes. Underworld: Awakening has another sequel and it goes on :) I'm happy with that :) We'll see more of the Lycans and their kind as they battle the humans and other possible species that they can tear down. Like what I said, I love Kate Beckinsale. I can't imagine anyone else portraying the role.

In other news, according to Columbia Pictures Philippines (you can catch their latest updates via Facebook-click the link to like their facebook page)

UNDERWORLD AWAKENING, #1 in the U.S., #1 in the Philippines! A spectacular P49.7 million box office gross on its 1st 4 days in Philippine cinemas.

Underworld: Awakening is still showing in over 100 cinemas nationwide, if you haven't watched it, watch it now! It's totally worth it :)

watch the trailer here:

The Runaways: Movie Review

The Runaways in real life

The Runaways from the movie

I've always wanted to watch this movie, this was released sometime in 2010 or late 2009. I got a little too excited because it was a film that starred Dakota Fanning & Kirsten Stewart. The movie is all about high power rock n' roll during the 70's and the story of Joan Jett, and her band back The Runaways then when it disbanded, she had another group which is Joan Jett & the Blackhearts where her famous song "I love Rock n' Roll" got famous. 

This movie also depicts what goes on in the life of famous rocks bands. What they go through before they hit stardom and after stardom. Kirsten Stewart played the role of Joan Jett while Dakota Fanning played the role of Cherie Curie. The movie focused with the two main roles with their lowly beginnings and unlike stardoms. It also focused some low lights like drug addiction, sex and more which I got a little surprised since I was used to watching Daota Fanning in movies that she portrays a goody-goody role. We might get used to the fact that she's a grown up now. 

I also loved the role of Michael Shannon who played the Kim Fowley, a sexed-up music producer who never fails to catch every scene with his antics. In real life, he is indeed one of the most colorful character in rock n' roll. He has made a lot of contribution and produced/write most of the songs. One of the bands he created before are The Runaways and Kiss. As of the moment, he can be found around California sporting a red hair hairdo. 

Between the story, the acting and the scenes, the movie is an eye opener to the movie goers. Not everyone can hit stardom but one you get to the top, you might want to do everything to maintain it and be a good role model not only to others but also to yourself. It's a classic treat to people who loves rock n' roll. It's a journey lost adolescence to achievements and moving on.  

watch the trailer here:

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1

I don't know how to react on this movie simply because I haven't read the book so when I get to watch the movie, I don't know what to expect. All I know is that Bella (Kirsten Stewart) and Edward (Robert Pattinson) will get married and eventually, Bella will have a baby. 

When I get to watched it, soon after the opening credits, Jacob Black's abdominals made a disturbing appearance. Of course, there are a lot of people who are looking forward to this scene, any scene that shares Jacob not wearing anything at all. Fortunately, I'm not one of them. :) He was mad upon receiving the wedding invitation of Bella and Edward. Alice, even from the start has always been there to support and help Bella, this time around, she helps Bella in the preparation of the wedding. 

Then came the wedding, nothing much happened, some drama involving some of the Cullen's relatives irritated because they invited the wolves pack into the wedding. Soon enough, scenes shifted to Brazil where Bella and Edward will have there Earth Shattering honeymoon. Well, not really, it's just that they made a complete havoc on their bedroom. Kudos to the cinematography simply because Brazil is really an amazing place. I love the sceneries, the beach scene, the falls, the forest. I'm quite disturbed with the Bella and Edward playing chess all the time. Do honeymooners do this all the time? :) I'm not sure though :) 

Soon enough, Bella started having signs of pregnancy, of course, I think, Edward is just plain stupid not to realize that this is inevitable. But on the contrary, is it possible that cold blooded creatures like Edward can make a human pregnant? He's a vampire after all. Since I haven't read the book, I don't know the answer. They packed their bags and went home straight, Bella not telling her parents so that they will not worry about her. They are clueless that Bella is pregnant with a monster that is literally sucking all her blood. It was quite funny when Alice often calls the baby "fetus" and Edward calling the baby "IT". This is the time when Edward and Jacob started to argue. Jacob told Edward that is Bella didn't survive the pregnancy, he will kill him. 

After much agreement, Jacob agrees to protect Bella from his werewolf pack because these they are out to kill her. For some reason, the werewolves are afraid of her baby monster. 

Let's fast forward to the main event since some of the scenes are really, not that important. After giving birth to an infant which is Renesme, Bella dies but not after her husband stab her with an enormous needle filled with his venom. He also bit him several times to make sure she regains her life. Bella wakes up.Looking very much like Dakota Fanning or a Volturi then the end.

Although I didn't like the movie that much, there are some points that I like. 

1) the wedding gown, because it has gorgeous details,
2) the Brazilian island resort house, because it has gorgeous architectural details, and
3) the wedding nightmare of Bella, because it looks like a grotesque wedding cake with gruesome details.

With the acting parts, Lautner continues to squint whenever he is making a point or delivering lines in the middle of an important scene. Stewart still tucks her hair, bites her nails, or avoids eye-to-eye contacts and has mastered the constipated look in each frame (or is Bella Swan really like that in the book? I'm not sure). Pattinson is terrible. He is not to blame because it is hard to act when covered in eerie white make-up and tons of hair products. Creepy indeed. 

Lastly, the controversial love scene. According to some reports, the filmmakers had to tone it down because it got an R-13 rating. Better if the scenes remained in the final cut to add more entertainment. Broken beds. Injured bodies. Lesson: monsters and humans are not compatible. The insane thing though, Bella does not mind the aftermath. Oh no. She likes it. She does not mind doing it more and more despite resistance from her husband. Author Stephanie Meyer, who also served as producer, is sending a curious message to the audience. Oh well. 

For die hard Twilight fans out there, *PEACE* :) I', still looking forward to the second part :)

watch the trailer here:

Taken: Movie Review

This is, in my opinion one of the best action packed film I've ever seen for the last years. I also love Liam Neeson. I totally recommend this to parents who has teenager kids, especially high school to college students as well. Most of the time, we neglect some of the important reminders our parents is giving to us. Like "Don't talk to strangers." "Don't go home late.." and more. 

I don’t know who you are, I don’t know what you want. If you are looking for ransom, I can tell you I don’t have money. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills – skills I have acquired over a very long career, skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you let my daughter go now, that will be the end of it. But if you don’t, I will look for you. I will find you. And I will kill you. - Bryan Mills

As the movie opens, the hero of the story, a divorced ex-CIA operative named Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson), is already paranoid about his 17-year old daughter, Kim (Maggie Grace) traveling to Paris for the first time with only one other friend, Amanda (Katie Cassidy - Gossip Girl star & also starred in Monte Carlo). After initially refusing to sign consent for her to travel as a minor without parental supervision, he reluctantly agrees thinking that this may be his chance to bond with his estranged daughter since he has moved closer to her in L.A. although she has told more than a few lies to be able to slide past Bryan’s seemingly overbearing paranoid assumptions. Then, when she arrives in Paris and while on the phone with her, he overhears her being taken away by some group of men. 

The initial introductions of Bryan attempting to reconnect with his daughter and his ex-wife, Lenore (Famke Janssen), who is now married to Stuart (Xander Berkeley) but still mad at him for sacrificing his family for his covert job are no doubt a little bit hokey. But the movie quickly shows that it means business once Neeson’s Bryan gives his ultimatum to a kidnapper on the phone he overhears, assuredly warning them that he will find and kill them with all the skills he has acquired. As he quickly hears from a spy analyst friend, Sam (Leland Orser) that the kidnapper is part of a sex trade trafficking mob, he finds he has only 96 hours to find his daughter or else she will likely never be found.

Once Bryan flies into Paris, the movie becomes a nonstop ride in which the kidnappers can barely blink before they can figure out Bryan’s next move. 

This movie accurately depicts aspects of sex trafficking. In real life, traffickers do target naïve girls traveling alone, befriend them and capture them. They take the girls to holding places, and then sell them into the sex trade. They force drugs on the girls and condemn them to awful living conditions. This is a sad truth, even here  in the Philippines, it is still very rampant. 

But the movie, though dark with a heavy theme and saturated with violence and profanity, nevertheless shimmers with Hollywood dazzle. In real life, it would be almost too impossible for a father to hunt down his daughter, killing everyone in his path in his effort to rescue her, most fathers would not have the strength and skills that Bryan Mills has to even face up to these nasty, brutish human traffickers. And in reality, girls are usually immediately violated, humiliated, and forced into submission physically and sexually.

Taken dramatically communicates a harsh reality, but the continuous brutality is disturbing, particularly for those unaccustomed to violent portrayals. Kim’s father eliminates his adversaries by shooting, breaking necks, and torture. But the violence does show how nearly impossible it would be in real life to rescue a loved one from human traffickers. Really, sad truth, and for some worst scenarios, some parents, due to poverty, even parents trade their very own daughters just to earn money. 

My favorite scene in the movie is towards the beginning, after Bryan gives his ultimatum to a kidnapper on the phone, the kidnapper says smirking, “Good luck.” When the phrase is repeated again later, the villains don’t even have the time to wipe off the smirk after Bryan Mills asked this hoodlum to translate an Albanian word which is "Good luck" in English. :) Totally love that scene. :)

Watch the trailer here:

Trespass 2011: Movie Review

Trespass is one of those movies that you'll know what will happen in the  end but you still manage to watch it from beginning till the end. Of course, I wanted to watch this movie simply because it is from Joel  Schumacher and it stars two of my favorite actyors: Nicolas Cage and Nicole Kidman.


The story of a rich couple and their daughter who become the victim of a brutal home invasion,  they play a married couple, Kyle and Sarah Miller, who live in a sprawling modern mansion so remote and chilly-looking it could double as a house in horror flicks (here goes my wild imagination) . It's meant to reflect the state of their marriage, with the work-obsessed Kyle (he's a diamond dealer) ignoring the already ignored-feeling Sarah. They have a teen-age daughter, Avery (Liana Liberato), who sneaks out on the evening in question to go to a party her parents have forbidden her from attending.


Enter the burglars, led by the scary, skeevy Ben Mendelsohn (Animal Kingdom), a group that also includes the growly Dash Mihok and the hunk Cam Gigandet. Convinced that Kyle has a fortune in uncut stones and cash in his home office safe, they threaten Kyle and Sarah with death unless Kyle turns over the valuables. The rest of the movie became too repetitive. The bargaining part is a little irritating though.

"Do this or I kill her." "If you kill her, I won't do it. Let her go and I'll give you what you want.""No, give me the stuff first and then I'll let her go.""No, because I know you'll kill us when I give you what you want."


The villains in this movie are not very threatening. Without spoiling anything, they make so many decisions that come off as really idiotic and it’s hard to take them seriously. I also had some trouble telling them apart sometimes. There wasn’t really much time taken to develop any of them on an individual level. I couldn’t even figure out who the main bad guy was.


There are times when the movie is very poorly shot and edited. At times it’s hard to see what’s going and therefore it’s difficult to get sucked into the story.


Throughout the film, the main characters are in constant danger yet I never was really concerned about them. We don’t really learn much about them. So they didn’t feel very real. There were  a few moments where I kind of cared about them, but for the most part I didn’t.

And this is just a small thing, but did anyone think that the way Nicholas Cage and Nicole Kidman were dressed in this movie seemed a little bit off. It looked they were in another decade or something. I don’t know, maybe that’s just me.


This isn’t like a movie that made me angry or I couldn’t handle watching or something like that, but it’s not good. I recommend that you don’t watch it, unless you want, I guess you can. But I’m warning you, you might not like it. 

watch the trailer here:

Colombiana: Movie Review

After seeing the trailer of this movie, I told myself, I've got to see this movie. I braced myself because one afternoon, after finally having the chance to watch it, I was breathless. I remember liking her in her graceful film debut in the 2000 movie, Center Stage. And then almost a decade later she was starring in the mega hit, Avatar. Now she was turning to a film focused on revenge and violence, two of my favorite movie-going themes.

The plot is basically about a little girl in Bogota sitting patiently in the kitchen of her home as her parents are being murdered in the house by a rival gang. She escapes and provides the US government, via a puke delivery system, with evidence on this gang that her father gave her just before he was killed. This buys her passage to the United States where she joins her Colombian uncle (played by New Zealander Cliff Curtis) after evading her US government escort. Yes, this little girl, on her own, eludes a trained government agent in a strange country, finds her way to Chicago from Miami by bus and then is able to navigate the Chicago subway system, all this without knowing, as far as I know, any English. Anyway, she’s then all grown up and determined to bring her parent’s killer, Don Luis, to justice by killing him. He very conveniently, by the way, was moved to the Chicago area by the CIA for reasons never made clear. She kills the guy, of course, like 99 minutes later and then the movie ends as if they wanted to make the viewers anticipate that they're doing a part 2. 

The little girl, wanting to be “a killer” is straight from Besson’s The Professional with Natalie Portman. Then there are the Bourne Identity rip-off scenes. You might remember this films while watching this movie. 

Although a lot of people have been criticizing this movie simply because they think it is giving a bad image to the country itself and to the citizens, it is clear that referring to Colombians in the United States has become shorthand for drug cartels, violence, crime and gangs. This, unfortunately, has become major marketing and plot shorthand in a whole lot of movies and television shows over the years. 

I love the film, I think Zoe is savvy and perfect for the role. Although I am envisioning Halle Berry on this role as well. I recommend for you to watch it. 

The Lake House (2007)

I've been wanting to watch this movie, finally, I had the time to watch it :) Sandra Bullock & Keanu Reeves at their finest :)

The film is about a working man, a working woman, a lake house, a dog, and a mailbox. One of these things is not like the others. One of these things is a time machine.

Sandra Bullock plays a doctor named Kate Forester. Keanu Reeves plays an architect named Alex Wyler. They lead separate, lonely lives in the Chicago area. Kate and Alex become pen pals and tell their friends they’re in a long distance relationship. What they don’t tell their friends, and who could blame them, is that an enchanted mailbox is allowing them to communicate two years apart.

The lake house was designed by Alex’s father, a pompous, aging horse’s ass played by Christopher Plummer (who my grandmother is convinced is Charlton Heston). The house is beautiful and on stilts, made mostly of windows, and even has a tree growing out the middle of it. The tree is displayed by a remote that actually pulls the house apart to reveal the tree. It’s 2004, the house has been “empty for years”. It’s hilarious how young people in romantic comedies are content to sit on piles and piles of cash. My family would have lost the lake house to one addiction or another decades ago.

The format of the movie seems to be as follows: show Kate being a doctor, show Alex being an architect, show Kate tolerating her boyfriend, show Alex tolerating his father. Between these scenes, are more scenes in which Kate is alone and Alex is alone. Actually, they are not alone, because there is a dog. The same dog. Yes, they are strangers… separated by two years… both with the exact same dog.

In the scenes where they are alone, they do lonely people things like eating for one or playing chess with themselves or brushing their teeth in a tiny bathroom. My favorite of these scenes is the one where Alex has made himself some sort of stew or curry or gumbo or something and it is steaming and he says, “Come to papa!” as he pours it from the pot into his bowl. Haha! It’s hilarious!

It’s during the times that they are alone that we hear their letters to one another, through voice-over of each person reading the letter they wrote. The magic mailbox belongs to the lake house. The first letter is left from Kate to Alex, greeting the next tenant and requesting him to forward her mail to the inner city Chicago address she provides. I’m still superbly confused about the precise deliverance of the timemail. Alex responds to Kate at her new address, so I assume that mailbox must also compromise time. But then it shows Kate receiving mail at the lake house mailbox, which is empty in 2006. So theoretically, she is driving out there every time, and reaching into the small metal vortex to retrieve something written two years ago.

At two points in the film, Kate stands outside the lake house mailbox, writing messages and putting them in the mailbox and raising the red mailbox flag. The flag moves up or down before Kate’s eyes in the year 2006 to indicate that Alex is receiving the message, standing in the same spot in 2004. The flag raises up and down like the sound of a google chat notifier ding.

Approximately halfway through the film, they start communicating in sentences. No, less even! Whereas they had previously conversed in entire letters, now they are saying things.

They aren’t shown writing letters at this point, instead they are doing lonely people exercises and talking out loud to the other who is not in the room, nor in the hour, nor in the year.

According to the film’s own logic, they are now connecting through time and space in an instant, line by line as they speak, like time travel instant messaging. (What?) Theoretically, Kate is driving to the lake house mailbox to retrieve each sentence, but it’s portrayed as if they are in the same room. 

Some unsurprising things about this film:

-Kate’s minuscule, nondescript silver earrings. A perfect representation of the film’s lack in characterization.

-This is more or less the director’s first mainstream American film. (Could it be Alejandro Agresti’s last? Is the world that kind?)

-Both characters have been burned by love before. 

-Kate’s present self gets stood up by Alex’s future self. 

-Someone’s future death is prevented. Yawn!

-At no point do either of the main characters express wonder, awe, or general freaked-out-ness. It is unsurprising becase they are unexcitable people.