Moonrise Kingdom

So this post isn't really about Moonrise Kingdom . However, this movie did make me think about connections between human beings because the two kids that fall in love seem to both be a bit weird and sort of connect through their weirdness. This made me think about soul mates. About whether they exist or not, or if it's just that we connect through our commonality. So... It's a little bit about soul mates. Yesterday, all of a sudden, I got sick. Out of the blue I felt like shit. My mom checked and I had no fever. I just couldn't move because everything hurt. (I went to see Moonrise Kingdom because I took some Panadol that made it better, but while I was watching the movie all of a sudden I had chills and it was NOT because of the movie, because it is GREAT!!! A must watch) I didn't know what it was until late last night (I couldn't sleep either) I got some bad news from someone very close to me. Is that possible? Is it possible to have such a deep connection with someone that when something that affects that connection is going to happen you get sick? The most interesting part is that I sort of knew that that would happen. I was expecting it. I was expecting something bad to happen with that particular person, but for no particular reason. Is it possible that two human beings can be miles apart and feel each other? Or is it that I can be miles apart from someone and still feel them? I don't like to feel someone and not see them. I don't know if it's because of a special connection I have with that person or because I have always been a deeply spiritual person. I wonder if it is one-sided. I guess, now, I will never know. I guess with time the connection will fade away and hopefully, die. The sad part is not missing that person, the sad part is that I can't stop thinking about how I don't want days, weeks, years, to go by without seeing or knowing about that person. At the same time, I can feel them and it makes it a lot harder to let go... Are only deep connections, commonalities possible or... do you think soul mates exist?

Love and Other Disasters

An American intern at U.K. Vogue helps her friends find love.

"Love and Other Disasters" (2006) is a romantic comedy written and directed by Alek Keshishian (who also directed one of my favorites from the 90's, "With Honors") and starring Brittany Murphy (1977-2009, may she rest in peace). Yes, I watched yet another unknown Brittany Murphy movie. (this one is way better than "The Ramen Girl". HBO must have gone on a Brittany Murphy films shopping spree) I must admit that I always really liked her, ever since she was the "chubby" (compared to very skinny Alicia Silverstone) in "Clueless." I always thought she was cute and charismatic, definitely the perfect actress for lead roles in cute romantic comedies. "LOD" is set in London, where Emily Jackson, nicknamed "Jacks" (played by Murphy) is a very stylish, educated, and wordy intern at UK Vogue.  (you can imagine the fashion is amazing in this movie, all the wardrobe changes for Murphy are uber-stylish) The plot of this movie is forgettable, but what I did find memorable were the conversations on love. (although I would be happy to not hear Murphy's at times forced british accent) The movie is really one big conversation on love between Jacks and her gay roommate, Peter Simon (played by the adorable Mathew Rhys). Peter is a screenwriter who lives his love life like if it were a movie and keeps trying to get Jacks to do the same, while Jacks keeps trying to ground Peter. To make him live his life outside his screenwriting and with a more realistic point of view. 

When Jacks is asked by Peter about why she keeps having sex with her ex, she responds: "I happen to care about James. A lot. And I hate the fact that he feels more than me, and I hate the fact that I'm not IN love with him because I know I should be, because he's smart and sweet and decent and I don't wanna hurt him. So I keep hoping that I'll grow into it. That maybe one day I'll wake up and I'll feel..." And that is one of the eternal truths on love, that the ideal person isn't necessarily the person you actually fall in love with. 

The one big conversation on love is quite charming. The dialogue in this movie is key and I really did enjoy it. It is a very wordy movie. You feel that you are hearing Murphy the whole entire movie, even when they aren't speaking. Some of the dialogue I loved:

Jacks: If this was a movie, you'd be famous.
Peter: That's the problem with life. It's nothing like movies.

Jacks: "Love isn't always a lightning bolt, you know? Maybe sometimes it's just a choice. Maybe true love is a decision"

I think I agree that love is a choice, but at the same time, you can't force love. You have to be ready for it but  one cannot love someone just because you want to, just because that person is the ideal person, one must feel it. Love isn't something you can force on yourself, but something that must grow from within. However, to fall in love you must allow it, and hence it is a decision.

Like I mentioned, this movie isn't groundbreaking or anything like that, but the conversations between the characters provide great food for though on love.

Love and Other Disasters IMDB

Savages

Pot growers Ben and Chon face off against the Mexican drug cartel who kidnapped their shared girlfriend.

I went to see Savages for 3 reasons that made me curious about it: (1) directed by Oliver Stone, (2) Salma Hayek, and (3) Benicio del Toro.  (also maybe a little bit for John Travolta and Demián Bichir) The cast was definitely well chosen to attract many different types of fans. There were, however, 2 reasons why I didn't want to see it: (1) Blake Lively has never convince me as an actress and (2) the whole polyamorous relationship thing I just don't buy. What I didn't expect was that this movie was going to start off so sexy, sexy, sexy! We watch O have sex with Ben and Chon in the first 20 minutes of the movie. (I found it interesting that as she narrates she mentioned that between the two of them, they made one man. A statement that can be quite demeaning to men)Anyways, one thinks that what will be interesting about this movie is the relationship between Chon and Ben and their girlfriend, O (for Ophelia like the bipolar woman in Shakespeare's Hamlet says "O" herself). I haven't read Shakespeare in a while, but from what I remember Savages has nothing to do with Hamlet. Just a cute fact included in the movie that adds nothing to the plot line. Anyways, the movie is titled Savages because the Americans think the Mexican cartel are savages and the Mexicans think "Ben and Chon" are savages. In the end, we learn that they are all savages... The battle is over the greatest strain of weed of all time, with the highest content of THC. In other words the mother of all weeds. (no pun intended) And O is caught in the middle. What is really interesting about the story is how the characters are presented and how Mr. Stone constructs it. O is actually quite the pothead and quite the character, a little rich kid who is used to getting what she wants and at the end has to get down and dirty to save herself. Also, Benicio del Toro as the two-timing blood-thirsty "Lado" is brilliant! He portrays his character so well that you are disgusted and horrified by him. (and must I point out that Ben and Chon are not too hard on the eyes either and deliver a respectable performance) I won't tell you how it ends, I would never spoil that. I just have to tell you that there is a twist and even though I'm not really a fan of Blake Lively and this movie is generally forgettable, Mr. Stone has delivered yet another dysfunctional stoner movie to mankind.  

Savages IMDB

Savages Official Webpage

Puerto Rico Production Capital opens up in PR to finance tax credits

In light of the very competitive Film Incentives Act (Act 27 of March 2011) adopted by the Puerto Rico Legislature last year, Production Advisory Services has partnered up with Film Production Capital LLC from Louisiana to offer film tax credit financing in the island. This means that by financing in Puerto Rico, producers can count the financing costs and interest towards the 40% tax credit (the tax credit financing expenses and interests count as expenses paid to Puerto Rico residents).

Nueva Oficina en la Isla para financiamiento de producciones filmicas

Un Cuento Chino

Debo admitir que fui a ver esta película con mi mamá porque me llamó la atención el nombre. Un cuento chino es como una excusa o un cuento increíble que nadie puede creer. En este caso, la película trata de Roberto (interpretado por el genial Ricardo Darín) que es un hombre solitario, testarudo y huraño que es dueño de una ferretería pequeña que heredó de su padre. Sus padres murieron hace ya mucho tiempo y él parece no tener más familia así que el se dedica todo el día a la ferretería (al punto que vive al lado de ella) y tiene sus hábitos muy arraigados. Sin embargo, Roberto tiene un "hobby" muy particular que heredó de su padre: el colecciona historias de periódico que son increíbles de cosas que como decimos solo pasan en las películas. Un día cuando está viendo los aviones llegar cerca del aeropuerto conoce a Jun. Jun es un chino que viaja a Buenos Aires en busca de su tío y que no conoce ni pizca de español. Roberto le ayuda a regañadientes y está toda la película tratando de salir de él. Como siempre, no les contaré como termina la película pero sí les diré que hay mucha comedia en lo que estos dos se conocen y que Roberto trata de salir de él en varias ocasiones. Resulta entonces que el título no es sólo sobre los "Cuentos chinos" que Roberto colecciona sino también sobre la relación que se desarrolla atropelladamente entre Jun y Roberto. Al final, curiosamente, Jun resulta ser el protagonista de una de las historias de Roberto, demostrando que el mundo es bien pequeño y que hasta los cuentos chinos pueden ser verdad.


Un Cuento Chino IMDB

Crazy Stupid Love

A middle-aged husband's life changes dramatically when his wife asks him for a divorce. He seeks to rediscover his manhood with the help of a newfound friend, Jacob, learning to pick up girls at bars.

I love, love, love this movie. I think I have watched it like 50 times in the last month. It's funny and insightful. It is definitely not your typical boring predictable Hollywood rom-com which I despise so much. (Hottie Ryan Gosling helps a lot too, specially when he re-enacts a Dirty Dancing scene WITH HIS SHIRT OFF!!!).  This movie is very well cast (and not because of Gosling!!): all the actors have great chemistry!!! Aside from the  fact that it is very well shot and that it is very funny, I like this movie because it is about staying young at heart and believing in soul mates: that very deep connection with someone else that one rarely finds in this superficial world.  It is about a teenager teaching his Dad a lesson on love. It is about finding love with the most unexpected people and it is also about keeping love alive when we find it. There are many types of love and this movie definitely touches on all of them: family love, young love, puppy love, mature love, friendship love. 

But, what is love anyways? I love (no pun intended) to look up such important words in the dictionary. According to my iMac's dictionary, love is a noun and a verb. As a noun it has 3 meanings: (1) an intense feeling of deep affection (a deep romantic or sexual attachment to someone); (2) a person or thing that one loves (no shit Sherlock) as in "he was the love of her life"; (3) in tennis, squash and some other sports a score of zero. As a verb it means "to feel a deep romantic or sexual attachment to someone, like very much, find pleasure in." Yep, the meaning throws no light on what love really is nor how to attain it and/or maintain it. I do find it interesting that love is a "deep sexual attachment" because we are usually taught by social convention something else: that love is not just about sex even though sex (intimacy) is sort of a big important part of a couple's relationship. Without it what's the point of having a relationship anyways? Anyhow, since it is so hard to define, I do believe it is just crazy stupid. It is crazy because only a fool would love knowing that somehow or some way you will get hurt (be it on purpose or by accident or just by nature (as in natural death) and stupid because when their is love involved all logic and reason goes out the window. 

Yep, this movie is all about all types of love and you know they are all a little bit crazy and a little bit stupid. 

This is crazy. This is stupid. This is love. 

CRAZY STUPID LOVE IMDB

What's your number?

"What's your number?" (2011) is another romantic comedy about a girl re-visiting her old relationships and/or sexual encounters. The movie stars Anna Faris ("Ally Darling" yes in typical Hollywood rom-com style even her name is cute) and Chris Evans (starving hotness musician "Colin"). Ally decides to re-visit her past sexual encounters after reading an article about the famous "number" of men a woman has been with. According to the article that is supposedly based on research by a Harvard professor, a woman's number, on average, is 10 point something. Also, the research found that the closer a woman's number gets to 20 the less likely she will be able to get married. Of course Ally immediately counts and finds out that her number is 19. She decides that she has only one more chance to get married and that she is not going to waste on not just anybody. However, she gets drunk and wastes her number 20 by having sex with her icky former boss. Because she wasted her last chance, she then decides to re-visit all of her past sexual encounters and/or relationships. That way her number won't go up to 21. That's when her front-door neighbor, Colin, begins to help her because he is good about "digging up people's dirt." Colin helps Ally find all of her past flames and in the process they both learn (which turns out to be the whole point of the movie anyway) why her past relationships haven't worked: Ally failed to remain true to herself in all of them, to the point where she dated an English man and faked an English accent with him the whole time. In every relationship she would leave her own true self aside and would become what she thought they wanted her to be. At the same time, this provides some great humor to the plot. The lesson of the whole movie (which thankfully isn't just about her finding her true love like a lot of Hollywood's rom-coms) is that in order to find true love or for someone to really love you, one must remain true to oneself. In other words, "being in love means being yourself." The person who truly loves you must love you for exactly what you are no more and no less. Which is also a lesson in self-esteem. In the end, Ally finds love with the person who has gotten to know her and loves her for exactly her authentic self. No I won't tell you who it is you have to watch it for yourself, but it is definitely very predictable. Why is it there are so many authentic and beautiful love stories, but a lot of the Hollywood rom-coms getting made are so predictable??? The only thing that differentiates this movie from any of the other rom-coms is the fact that there is a very valuable lesson: be authentic.

"I think too much sun makes people stupid" - Ally Darling

What's your number? IMDB