Hitch'd and In Good Company

I've watched two movies the past few days--"Hitch" and "In Good Company". Let me begin with Hitch and then proceed with In Good Company. I'm excited to talk about these two movies for they are different and are both good in the aspects where they differ.




Hitch is simply one of the coolest movies around. Up there with "Chasing Amy". It's about this love doctor (Will Smith) that hitches courtship-challenge guys with the girl of their dreams. What I like about it is how Will Smith carries himself in his life. Eva Mendez was again stunning, although there were a few scenes that I felt she dropped the ball. I thought the movie would have been funnier if Meg Ryan or Sandra Bullock played that role.

A lot of guys can definitely learn something from Will Smith here. He's confident and knows how to talk to women. He also shows how he can handle himself in awkward situations.

Kevin James (the lead actor in "The King of Queens") was superb as a supporting actor and in some scenes he actually steals the show from Will Smith.

The only thing I didn't like with the movie is its ending. As with a lot of movies that appeal to the masses, this one opts for the happy ending even if it's not consistent with how the characters play out. Basically in the end, the characters realize their mistakes, and fall in love with one another, with the assumption that they all live happily ever after. It's all nice and sweet, but watch this kind of ending many times, and you begin to feel a sort of pretentiousness to it.

Now on to "In Good Company". At first I felt ambivalent about this movie. I thought it was a romantic comedy like Hitch. When I saw the ending, I was disappointed. I was asking myself "where was the romance?" Then it came to me that this was NOT a romantic comedy. And as I began to see the movie in that light, it's actually a good movie.

I like how the characters are real to themselves. No changes here. Even the ending, although probably scorned because of it wasn't a happy ending was satisfying to me. It showed that the hero doesn't always get the girl, and doesn't always succeed. The movie didn't portray life as glamorous, in fact I found myself thinking how hard their lives must be, but despite that, they continue to strive on.




I especially like it when Alex Foreman (Scarlett Johanssen) broke up with Carter Duryea (Topher Grace). You realize that they really weren't meant to be. And that their romance isn't the central point of the movie. Ironically, the central theme of the movie was Carter's and Dan Foreman's (Dennis Quaid) relationship.

But this too dies, and in the end, the movie ends up with it's cast of characters moving on with their lives, enriched (and wiser?). The ending was satisfying to me, as it wasn't a cop out.

Quote

Found this very nice quote from U.G. Krishnamurti

"We don't want to be free from fear. All that we want to do is to play games with it and talk about freeing ourselves from fear."

Made me stop and think about the nature of fear...

Recap

It's been almost a month since I last posted. A lot of things happened during that time. I wish I could write more often, but sometimes, time just seem to disappear and I find myself going on doing another activity.

I quit WoW finally. It's been more than 3 weeks now. I don't plan on coming back. It was a great journey, and I'd like to keep it at that.

I also went to Chicago during Memorial day. I have some pics. It was a blast, and everyone had a lot of fun. It was pretty tiring, but it was worth it. We went to museums, theme parks, boat rides. Chicago is a very vibrant city. You can feel the aliveness of that city and it's people. You can feel it's energy.

Here are some pictures from that vacation:




Here's one of our first pics. I thought naka-isa na ako e. Turns out the jokes on me :P




This one's a nice fountain. At this point (we just got here in Chicago), I was already amazed at how beautiful the city is. To my surprise, I was still to see the best.




Chicago is known for it's modern art. The structure at our top and back are prime examples of it.




This is us hanging out at the lobby of our hotel the next day.




Chicago's city sky line viewed from the famous Navy Pier.




Stolen shot. I wonder what I was thinking lol.




Falling in line at the science museum. We went to this "Body Worlds" exhibit, where dead people's body parts were preserve and on display. Too bad cameras weren't allowed. Here's the link if you're interested: http://www.msichicago.org/bodyworlds/gallery.html




After an exhausting day, a little fun during dinner. I like this pic, cause Ruby, the one at the right, still manages to maintain her pose despite hitting Francis with her glass. =P




Taking pictures at the top of the Sears Tower--the tallest building in America.

Oh well, that's was it. It was an exhausting 3 days of travel, adventure and discovery. We're planning on going to another place next time. Probably this time it will be Minneapolis, Minnesota. I'll post pictures when we do go. Ciao!