What's Eating Gilbert Grape?

So, this is one of the few movies where Johnny Depp acts as a normal guy. You can see how good-looking he is in this movie! He acted in this film when he was younger. So far, the Johnny Depp movies that I’ve watched were Edward Scissorhands, Secret Window, Pirates of the Caribbean, Sleepy Hollow, Chocolat, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Almost in all those movies, his characters were odd and unusual.

So, Depp is Gilbert Grape in “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?”. What’s eating the guy, huh? He thinks his life is a complete misery. He has 3 other siblings. The youngest brother (Leonardo DiCaprio), Arnie, is a bit mentally-challenged and needs to be watched most of the time. If not, he’ll always be up to no good and get into trouble. For example, he loves to climb a water tower somewhere in their neighbourhood and the police will come to persuade him to come back down. DiCaprio played the Arnie character really well! That was when he was much younger too.

Gilbert’s mother is also obese and eats a lot. She never leaves the house anymore and is literally stuck to the couch in front of the television. Gilbert said that she used to be pretty in her younger days but since their father committed suicide years ago, she started to eat her feelings. When she finally stepped out of her house just once, the people in town stared at her like they have never seen her before. Well, they don’t see her much anyway. But it was very rude of them to stare!

Besides that, Gilbert is also having an affair with a married woman, Betty! She has two sons and quite a nice husband but maybe she’s not so happy with him and finds it more exciting to be with Gilbert. Their relationship deteriorated when a new girl, Becky (Juliette Lewis), appeared in town.

Gilbert is seen as being a selfish son who’s ashamed of his mother and allows other people to make fun of her. His life is kind of complicated and he’s already making it worse, that is by getting involved with a married woman. But when Becky came into the picture, he confides in her and she helps him understand himself and his family better.

It’s a nice movie, a great one for the whole family to watch together. Arnie’s escapades are quite funny. I enjoyed watching DiCaprio act as Arnie. That one was really fascinating.

Movie Review: Driving Miss Daisy

I was looking through my pile of movies, trying to find some good comedy as I needed some good laughing medicine. Anyway, I came across Driving Miss Daisy starring Morgan Freeman, Jessica Tandy, and Dan Aykroyd. Hmm, it seemed like an interesting one because Morgan Freeman’s in it. I’ve always thought Freeman as a natural and funny actor. You’ll rarely be disappointed with his movies.

Miss Daisy (Tandy) is an elderly woman who thinks she can drive properly. She’s quite a stubborn old lady and always insists on driving her car herself. One morning, while attempting to drive out of her driveway, she crashes her car.

Her son, Boolie (Aykroyd), then hires Hoke (Freeman) to be Miss Daisy’s chauffeur. She doesn’t need a chauffeur. If she wants to get anywhere, she can either walk or call a taxicab. So Hoke’s just hanging around the house helping out here and there while being reprimanded by Miss Daisy all the time.

Whatever he does, she has a reason to tell him to stop doing it whether it’s tending to her garden, or if he’s having a small chat with the servant or even when he’s just looking at her photographs! You’ll be amazed at Hoke’s endless patience and happy-go-lucky attitude. Those days were Martin Luther King days and African Americans still received unequal treatment. For example, they weren’t allowed to use the toilets at gas stations.

However, Miss Daisy begins to treat Hoke in a less harsh way and allows her to drive her around. She also discovers that he can’t read but he knows his ABCs. She then gives him a book to practise his writing during Christmas but she says that it’s not a Christmas present.

It’s a nice movie which touches on racism and friendship.

Movie Review: The Last Samurai

If you are not accustomed to movies that are bloody and gory, then you had better not watch The Last Samurai! I’m warning you first that this movie is not for the faint of heart but if you want to go ahead and watch it, don’t be hunting for me. :D

Tom Cruise is Captain Nathan Algren, a fearless, stubborn and determined soldier from America. He’s been asked to go to Japan and train the Emperor’s newly-picked soldiers to fight against the rebellious samurai. Although Algren thinks that the soldiers aren’t ready for battle yet, they are sent to fight with the attacking samurai.

It was a losing battle for the Emperor’s army but the leader of the samurai gang, Katsumoto (Ken Watanabe), decides to keep Algren alive. His reason? Probably he wished to learn more about the enemy. He was probably fascinated by Algren’s will and determination to keep on fighting even though he’s already badly wounded during battle.

So Algren is brought back to the samurai’s village and put in the care of Katsumoto’s sister, Taka (Koyuki). During battle, Algren killed Taka’s husband. It must be awfully hard for her to nurse the man who took her husband’s life!

When Algren’s somewhat recovered and has stopped asking for sake, he walked around the cozy little village and took in what he saw. Men practicing fighting, children playing and women working. Somehow, Algren felt kind of peaceful to be there at that village despite being held hostage there!

But as time went by, he and Katsumoto began learning from each other and Algren gets along with the people. There’s even attraction between him and Taka.

Algren’s supposed to be against the samurai but now he’s become their friend. What’ll happen next?

The Last Samurai’s a really interesting movie and it’s quite sad too. I was flabbergasted with the scenes where they sliced people’s heads off! But overall, it’s a great movie and like I said, the slicing of heads was truly realistic! Ugh!

Movie Review: Chariots of Fire

This movie would be great to watch during the Olympic season. Alright, the Olympics are over but we can still watch it anytime! Why, it’s also about the Olympic Games but in 1924. The movie begins by showing a group of men running happily along the beach.

The two heroes are Eric Liddell (Ian Charleson) and Harold Abrahams (Ben Cross). They are real people and this movie was based on a true story. Both guys are excellent sportsmen and they run as quick as lightning.

Now this Harold guy is really competitive and I think he wants to be the fastest man on earth. However, he has to compete with Eric to see who is better. When both of them finally ran with each other, Eric won and Harold took the loss rather badly. He’s a sore loser and just wants to win the race. So he asks Sam Mussabini to train him to be a better and faster runner.

Well, the Olympic Games is around the corner and the athletes are told on their days of events. When Eric found out that he’s going to be running a 100m race on a Sunday, he didn’t want to. He’s a pious man and believes that Sunday is a day of rest and that he couldn’t run on that day.

The authorities tried to change Eric’s mind so that he’d run on that day. They even roped in the President of the United States to persuade him to run on Sunday. Luckily, another athlete came up and offered to trade places with Eric. So Eric would still be running but in the 400m on Thursday.

It’s just a simple movie about a few runners before the Olympic Games. It shows how they trained, ran, went to college, met girls, etc. A good movie for aspiring athletes out there.

Movie Review: 10 Things I Hate About You

This is the modern and high school version of William Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew. There are two sisters who are still named Kat (Julia Stiles) and Bianca (Larisa Oleynik). Kat is the older, bad-tempered and scary sister whilst Bianca is sweet and absolutely charming.

Cameron (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), the new boy in school has a major crush on Bianca. His guide and new friend, Michael, shows him around school and tries to tell him that Bianca is not worth chasing after because she’s shallow and conceited. However, Cameron is too deeply in love that he’ll do anything just to go on a date with Bianca.

The sisters’ father, by the way, has this rule that forbids his daughters to date until they graduate. But later, he changed the rules. The new rule is that Bianca can only date when Kat does. Now almost every guy in school is afraid of Kat and Bianca thought that all hope is gone since she thinks that Kat will never, ever date since she’s kind of like anti-social.

But then, Cameron and Michael came up with a plan. They’ll try to get Patrick Verona (Heath Ledger) to go out with Kat. Patrick’s a hilarious character. It’s said that he ate a live duck once and many other bizarre things! He’s the bad boy character with long hair and don’t-care attitude. So the two fellas thought this guy is the one who can handle Kat.

All they need now is money to get Patrick to ask Kat out on dates. Well, that’s where Joey comes in. Joey’s the rich and popular guy in school and he’s also interested in Bianca. Cameron and Michael trick him by telling him that if he paid Patrick to go out with Kat, then he himself can also go out with Bianca. He doesn’t know that Cameron actually wants the girl for himself!

You’ve got to watch the movie for yourself to actually enjoy it. I’ve always liked the story ‘The Taming of the Shrew’, so I couldn’t wait to watch this movie. Did you know there’s another movie version of this Shakespeare story starring Rufus Sewell? I’ve watched that too and that’s really funny. Rufus Sewell’s a talented actor and his character was delightful to watch.

Movie Review: The Notebook

Finally I watched this movie. It was not shown in Malaysia, right? And why didn’t they??? It’s such a good movie that it should be shown everywhere. It’s a sad and happy movie.

Noah (Ryan Gosling) ‘blackmails’ Allie (Rachel McAdams) to go out on a date with him. That part was funny. There he was hanging from the roller coaster on one hand to make Allie agree to go out with him. But she got back at him by pulling his pants down right there in front of everyone!

But then both of them fall in love. They spent more and more time together and probably fell in love with each other more every day. However, Allie has to go back to New York to continue her studies while Noah will remain in Seabrook, his hometown. That time was summer time, by the way. Allie’s mother doesn’t approve of the relationship between the teenagers because Noah's poor while Allie has a bright future in front of her.

So, the last time Allie and Noah saw each other was that night when they fought and broke up with each other. The next day, Allie tried to find Noah to tell him that she’s already leaving for New York but she couldn’t find him. She tells Noah’s friend, Fin, to pass a message to Noah saying that she’s sorry for everything and that she loves him.

They then move on with their lives. Allie meets a new guy (James Marsden). He asks her to marry him. Noah rebuilt an old house his father bought for him. He built it the way Allie had asked him to the last time they were in it. He still hoped for Allie to return to him.

One day, he spots Allie walking in a street and he gets down from the bus he was in to go after her. He then sees her with another man, which is her fiancé. He leaves feeling devastated and without speaking to Allie.

I'm not going to reveal the ending to you but I guess you know it already! It's a happy and sad ending actually.

It’s really a great and moving story. I cried profusely while watching it! Hmm, I bet many girls cried too. I wouldn’t be surprised if even guys did shed a few tears. Great movie. One of the best romantic movies I ever saw.

Movie Review: The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor

I went to watch The Mummy 3 a few days ago. Quite a number of people have been talking about it so I might as well watch it myself! I’m not really a fan of The Mummy movies but this Mummy 3 movie was really good and hilarious. The hilarious parts would include John Hannah’s scenes in the movie.

The Evelyn character is played by a different actress too, Maria Bello. The original actress, Rachel Weisz rejected the movie because she had problems with the script, I think. Well, what a waste. Anyway, the new actress is not that bad.

Of course, there’s Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh but their roles are minimal ones. You won’t see much of kung fu stunts from Jet Li. Michelle Yeoh had more stunts than him.

So the story’s about the Terracotta army and the evil Dragon Emperor who wants to marry Zi Yuan (Michelle Yeoh) but her heart belonged to another guy, General Ming. Well, she managed to curse the Emperor and his army before going on to live an immortal life.

About 2000 years later, Rick O’Connell’s son, Alex (Luke Ford), all grown up and following in his father’s footsteps, discovered the Terracotta army. His father thinks he’s a good-for-nothing kid while his mother is quite over-protective over him. I thought Alex an arrogant and cocky kind of guy.

Besides that, a General Yang is set on bringing back the Emperor to life to continue leading his army to conquer everything in sight. When he managed to bring the Emperor to life, he pledged loyalty towards the emperor.

Oh, I almost forgot about another new character, Lin (Isabella Leong). She is Zi Yuan and General Ming’s daughter. She is ready to stop anyone who tries to bring the emperor back to life. Alex falls for her but she tells him that they can’t be together. Ah, the usual drama!

That was a great Mummy experience for me although no mummies are involved now, only an evil emperor in the form of Jet Li.

Movie Review: American Pie

Okay, I’m going to say outright that this is a stupid movie. Maybe not extremely stupid but just mediocre. And why is it called American Pie? Well, I’ll let you find out yourself.

So, this movie is about four teenage boys who are about to finish high school and also dreading to go to college as virgins. Jim (Jason Biggs), Chris (Chris Klein), Kevin (Thomas Ian Nicholas), and Paul Finch (Eddie Kaye Thomas) make a pact that they’ll do whatever it takes to try to get a date on prom night and then make their move.

Jim is always caught in ‘the act’ alone in his bedroom by his father (Eugene Levy). His father then tries to explain to him about the facts of life but in an embarrassing and funny way. Also, Jim likes Nadia, who’s a sexy foreign exchange student.

Chris seems to be the nice guy and joins the choir to meet girls. He’s actually a lacrosse player, so his teammate, Stifler (Seann William Scott) is always teasing him. However, Chris gets lucky when he befriends a choir mate, Heather (Mena Suvari).

Kevin already has a girlfriend but they’ve not done it yet. His girlfriend overhears him saying something inappropriate and gets angry with him. Uh-oh. Does this mean that Kevin will still be a virgin on prom night?

Then, there’s the socially-awkward Paul Finch who manages to impress a lot of girls with his quirky ways, much to the surprise and bewilderment of his friends. Now, almost every girl would like to go to the prom with Finch!

Anyway, Stifler has got to be the most irritating character. He’s arrogant, self-centred, and a bully. But it’s hilarious to watch him teasing the 4 friends and they can’t say much in retaliation. Stifler’s always holding huge parties and is disrespectful to girls most of the time.

In the end, is that all that the guys really want? Just to lose their virginity? Well, the ending is okay, though. It’s also not one of the funniest movies I’ve ever seen. There are way more other movies that are funnier. Hmm, perhaps I was more engrossed with the guys’ stupidity and thinking what they’ll get into next. Oh yeah, look out for Michelle, Jim’s date for the prom. I think she says the funniest line in it.

Movie Review: Over Her Dead Body

Eva Longoria Parker once again takes the role as the self-centred, fussy woman, like in Desperate Housewives! I bought this movie just because she’s in it and I can’t wait to see how it’d be like.

Well, this movie was just okay. There are a few funny bits here and there but I find the storyline a bit odd. Anyway, let me tell you briefly what it’s about. Kate (Eva Longoria Parker) and Henry (Paul Rudd) are about to get married. Kate is shown bossing people around getting ready for the big day. Then, as of her luck, a huge ‘angel’ ice sculpture falls down on her, probably killing her on the spot.

It is then one year later and it looks like Henry isn’t moving on because he probably doesn’t have the heart to go out with another woman. His sister drags him to see a psychic, Ashley (Lake Bell), to try to contact Kate and maybe talk to her. Ashley has her gay best friend, Dan (Jason Biggs), as her assistant but he’s too clumsy to be of any kind of help!

Ashley, seeing how hot Henry is, starts to fall for him and vice versa. Kate, whose soul still isn’t at rest yet, is agitated because she thinks Henry is moving on way too fast. So she tries to break the new lovebirds up even if it’s the last thing she does on Earth.

This is a story about letting go of someone you really love, even though you are already dead. True, it’s hard, but for how long can you really hold on to a person and not move on?