The Italian Job

There's only one thing I can say about this movie: Charlize Theron is PRETTY! But aside from that, the story and action is pretty clever. I never get tired of these incredible-thieves-scheme type of movies, ala-Oceans11. Pretty boy Mark Wahlberg does a pretty lame job as the lead guy, but the rest of the gang carries him through. Ed Norton is really one of my favorite actors, but that mustache on him just sucks big time. And of course, this movie is not complete without mentioning... the Mini-Coop! Truly an amazing tiny car. Also, don't forget that catchy theme song, the one that goes "what comes around goes around...".


As usual, I did some research on the movie and found out that this wasn't the original... Mike Caine starred as Charlie Croker in the first, released in 1969. Different story, although some similar elements were there: the gold, the mini-coops and the clever steal. Unfortunately, there was no Charlize Theron in this one.

Overall, this was a truly entertaining movie to watch; I give it a 4/5.
Another one that deserves its place in the DVD Collection.

"I trust everyone. It's the devil inside them I don't trust."

- John & Stella Bridger, in The Italian Job

Catch Me on a Rainy Monday

I woke up today a little dazed and confused. It was almost 10 in the morning and yet the sky outside was still quite dark. I was a bit concerned since I already made plans to treat my friends out to dinner in order to belatedly celebrate my 22nd birthday... all that planning and fate hands me a glum day to celebrate my birthday.

After lunch I continued going through the DVD collection and found Catch Me If You Can as the next movie that I'd like to see again. Honestly, the first time I saw it, I didn't have good expectations for this movie - after all, it was a Leonardo DiCaprio flick... probably some romantic chick flick. But the story of Frank Abagnale Jr. just really blew me away. I really admired Abagnale, he had real guts and determination to pull of all of those scams... and all in his teens. And here I am already at 22, without the guts and determination to make my mark in the world. Once again, Tom Hanks comes up with some superb acting for his role as FBI Agent Carl Handretty. A total change in character from his part in Saving Private Ryan. I did do some research on Frank Abagnale Jr. after the movie and it turns out that the movie was actually tweaked... the real story is in here.

Well, in between I was actually interupted since I made plans to go see a movie with my friends before my birthday bash. We all decided on National Treasure, starring Nicholas Cage. I've heard a lot of rave reviews about this and decided to check it out. In the end, all I can say is that it is a typical Jerry Bruckheimer movie... admittedly entertaining, but hollow in the end. In other words, it's not a movie I'd like to watch again, not a movie I'd be putting in my DVD collection. A couple of interesting actors in the movie though: Boromir from the Lord of the Rings was in the flick, he's playing the main badguy. Jon Voight plays Nic Cage's father, and because of his role in Mission Impossible, I just can't help but feel that there's something fishy about this guy, like he was going to backstab his son or something. Unluckily, there was no such twist in the movie.

We agreed to have dinner at this Japanese restaurant beside Citibank. I knew at once that having Japanese was going to mean mucho dinero, but went with it anyway. Also, a couple of my friends told me it was quite affordable, so I bit into it. Well, we ended up with a ton full of food and of course, I ended up footing the bill. The sad part about it was that I was so engrossed and so worried about the tab that I didn't get to enjoy my food. Well, at least my friends were satisfied.

All throughout the afternoon it was raining hard and the pace just intensified that night. As a result two of my friends had to stay at another friend's condo for the night because it was flooded in the streets. I'm now feeling really guilty because they might take their leave tommorow because of this. Well at least it sure is going to be a memorable celebration for them tonight!

BTW, Liverpool beat Arsenal, 2-1 in the English Premiere League. I just finished downloading the game on Bit Torrent... but i'm a bit sleepy now so maybe tommorow, I'll watch how this tragedy occured.

A Sunday for the Lambs

Okay, not such a good start for my first blog... Internet Explorer crashed while I was surfing ESPN.com, and just when I was about to finish my first entry.

Anyway, I get to sleep late tonight since its Bonifacio Day tomorrow, or at least the government moved it to tommorow to give the public a long weekend. :) I just basically wasted the weekend by just bumming around the house and doing absolutely nothing productive.

Second night in a row that I decided to take a dive into the DVD collection and pick out some great classics. Yesterday it was Saving Private Ryan; tonight I went further back and settled for The Silence of the Lambs. No doubt one of the best films ever, you got to admire the acting put in by Anthony Hopkins as the crazed cannibal psychiatrist Hannibal Lector. What is incredible here is that what truly makes him frightening is not that this guy is a cannibal, but that he is a cannibal with a cool and calculating mind. I just love the way he acted like he was having a seizure to get him into that ambulance. Of course, there was also Jodie Foster doing a great role as Clarice Sterling. The only bad thing about the movie was the ending. I felt it was stupid for Buffalo Bill to get shot at... he should have used a blunt instrument instead and whacked Clarice to death. Pretty stupid if you ask me.

Afterwards I caught the replay of the final few rounds of the Barrera-Morales Fight which I missed earlier in the day. Amazing fight, and although Barrera ended up winning the bout, both fighters really fought well today... It could have gone either way. Morales just looked a bit more beaten up because his right eye began swelling. But talk about disrespect, this was the first time I saw two fighters nearly fighting again after the match. Apparently Barrera was going to shake Morales' hand when Morales threw some water at Barrera's father. I guess these guys have a genuine dislike of one another. Anyway, I think that a Barrera-Pacquiao rematch will be in the books soon. Forget about his match with Fasham, it's a sure win anyway. I'd like to see some other quality opponent for Pacquiao's next opponent. It's definitely gotta be Barrera, Marquez or Morales.

Finally, got to start listening to that Collective Soul discography I got from the edonkey network. I'm digging up lots of those old stuff that I like. So far, it has been The World I Know, December, Precious Declaration, Run, Shine, Listen, Maybe, Full Circle, Blame and Gel on my favorites list. But that's just half of the list, so I still got a lot of listening to do.

"Before this fight, everyone said Marco Antonio Barrera is bad, Marco Antonio Barrera is lost... Talk, talk, talk. I don't like talk. I show that I am OK in the ring with my fists." - Marco Antonio Barrera