Category: Movies

My best friend Christina is not the type who loves movies.  I always keep asking her to watch movies with me but she never agrees to.  Last week though, she mentioned that she wanted to watch Till My Heartaches End starring Kim Chiu & Gerald Anderson.  I was like “Wow!”, she must really want to watch it.

For someone who rarely watches movies, I figured I had to accompany her to watch Till My Heartaches End.  It was such a rare occasion, I knew I shouldn’t pass it up.  I also remember how good the last movie with Kimerald were, Paano na Kaya.  It was one of the best Filipino movie I have watched and I assumed that Till My Heartaches End would be as good.

The story is about 2 people Pawie & Agnes.  Coming from 2 different worlds, destiny does have its ways.  They met in a coffee place where Pawie works as a barista.  After quite some time, they met again in a different place.  As they got to know each other better, they fell in love.

The process from how they met until they became an official couple was just so nice to watch.  Their ever-cute lines, the way their eyes talk, their facial expressions, their actions really showed how 2 people are in love.  Those perfect times started to wind down when Pawie started becoming successful in his chosen career.

Pawie started to become really busy as work demands a lot of his time and attention.  Agnes, who fell in love only with one person (Pawie), demands a lot of time from Pawie as well.  She would text the guy every 30minutes demanding a response.  She became too dependent on the guy that her life already revolved around Pawie.

Everything in excess is really not good.  With those situation at place, the relationship started to become rocky.  Even though they both loved each other dearly, they just had to let go.  One line that Pawie blurted out to Agnes really got stuck in my mind and I believe this is a great lesson to all the couples out there “Agnes, hindi lang tayo dalawa dito sa mundo!!”.  It’s true, our partners and us are not the only ones in this world.  It’s important for us to have our own personal time as well.

The movie was doing great until the last scene.  It just doesn’t match, period.  I believe the opening and last part is really important for a movie (especially the ending).  They cannot just insert a scene to end a movie.  It has to be smooth and it has to match the previous scenes or at least has a great impact to end the movie.  Till My Heartaches End wasn’t able to do as such thus my rating for the movie reflects my disappointment.

My Rating for Till My Heartaches End: 2.5 out of 5 stars

I went to see the movie Salt with my fiance when I went to visit her just a few weeks ago in August.  She usually does the movie reviews, but this time around, let me do the review for the readers here at HeaRty’s Haven, since Roch slept the entire movie! hahaha

If I could sum up the movie in just one sentence, then it’s definitely this: Nonstop action, twist and turns, espionage, and a well rounded cast of characters.  But I guess, even the cover of the movie does an even better job in summing it all up: “Who is Salt?”.  Because all throughout the movie, that’s exactly what I had to keep on thinking to myself about, just who she was, whose side was she on.  Those who love Bourne movies, will certainly like this movie.  The main character is played by Angelina Jolie, and she does a terrific job in this role.  She maintains the action movie character just like in the Tomb Raider days, but this one is more personal, and really shows off her versatility even in the more dramatic scenes.

I don’t do well with summary of movies, but let me try my hand at it.  The movie is about Evelyn Salt, a CIA agent who becomes accused of being a Russian Spy.  Apparently, as the movie progresses, it is found out that she was raised as a child in an elite group of very young children, home grown in the Soviet days, to be a Russian spy.  Each of these children raised to be spies would be selected to infiltrate key areas of government, and in Salt’s case, her chosen area was to be at the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

But these Russian spies, because of the nature of their work, usually never ever married.  Which is why, when Salt falls in love, and eventually marries to an Arachnologist, her unit worries that she has turned on them.

So basically, when her cover is blown, that she is a Russian spy, both sides end up chasing after her.  This is why, in the movie, I honestly could not tell at some points whose side she was on.  But, eventually, there is a point where you finally understand where she stands.  I don’t want to give too much of the movie away, but let’s put it this way.  I think there are two turning points in this movie, one is where she is outed as a Russian spy, and the other is when she is betrayed and something happens to her husband.

After that betrayal, and that incident with her husband, it all starts making sense a bit, but that doesn’t mean that even until the very end, you just don’t know where this movie will lead you.  And that’s exactly why I loved the movie.  Because even though I finally figured out at some point whose side she was on, I still couldn’t figure out where it would all lead.  There’s a lot of surprises along the way, until the very end.  The action and a lot of the shootings are very well orchestrated, and you really feel just how excellent a training Salt had as a Russian spy as well as a CIA agent.

Overall, I really loved this movie.  While my baby slept, she really missed one heck of an action-packed movie.  But I’m glad that I could share to you some of the reasons why this movie is defnitely a must-see.  I’m a fan of the Bourne movies, and this is sort of like those movies, the only difference is that it’s a woman this time that’s actually doing a lot of the shooting, killing, and some great action moves.

Rating for Salt: 4 of 5 stars.

I’m currently in a long distance relationship, and when I saw the movie trailer of Going the Distance, I was immediately intrigued.  I said to myself that even though I don’t watch movies that often these days, I would make sure that I watch Going the Distance.

I asked my mom to accompany me yesterday to watch the movie.   I was so excited because I was expecting that I would be able to relate to most of the scenes in the movie, and maybe even get some pointers.  We ordered our favorite popcorn & drinks and went inside to watch at Powerplant Cinema.

The story revolves around 2 people Garrett (played by Justin Long) & Erin (played by Drew Barrymore).  They met at a bar in New York City while Garrett was nursing a broken heart.  They immediately hit it off and spent time together for 6 weeks.  Erin then had to go back to San Francisco, but they still liked each other so they decided to continue the relationship despite of the long distance.

They would call each other at wee hours of the day, would text each other often (even have phone sex!?).  The people around them were worried.  Garrett’s friends were worried he might be taking the relationship too seriously and he might end up being hurt while Erin’s sister is against long distance relationships and would not like her to repeat mistakes from the past.  Even with those challenges, they ended up making some adjustments to make the relationship work and thus a happy ending.

The movie actually has a simple storyline and plot, and I actually think that a simple story is sometimes all you need.  However, the problem I had with this movie is that it just didn’t have the type of humor that works in many successful romantic comedies.  They inserted so many dirty jokes that it seemed like one dirty joke after another.  I really was expecting at least more touching moments but instead we ended up seeing Justin Long’s butt and just a whole lot of making out and other dirty scenes.  I was very disappointed.  This movie isn’t like the other movies with Drew Barrymore that I liked.  Movies like 50 First Dates or even Never Been Kissed were so much better than this recent movie of hers.  I think if they focused on more touching scenes, cut out the dirty jokes, this movie would have been decent.

My Rating for Going The Distance: 2 out of 5 stars

I rarely watch movies these days.  Two weeks ago though, I had to find time to watch Inception.  Why?  Because everyone has been raving about it.  Phrases like “mind fuck”, “must watch”, “worth it” are words I’ve seen in my Twitter timeline about the movie.  Even in my facebook, everyone has been talking about it.  I couldn’t help but wonder why, so I asked my friend Rhona if she was free to watch it with me.

In two words – Totally superb!  Everyone should really go out and catch this movie.  If it’s not showing anymore then go buy the DVD once it comes out.  One of the best movies I’ve watched!  Christopher Nolan is just pure genius!  He has directed, produced & even written about Inception.

The movie is well-casted as well, here are the stars & their roles:

• Leonardo DiCaprio – Dominic Cobb (extractor)
• Marion Cotillard – Mallorie Cobb (wife)
• Ellen Page – Ariadne (architect)
• Ken Watanabe – Saito (tourist)
• Cillian Murphy – Robert Fischer (the mark)
• Joseph Gordon Levitt – Arthur (the point man)
• Tom Hardy – Eames (forger)
• Dileep Rao – Yusuf (chemist)

If you search the word inception in the dictionary, you would find it to mean start or commencing.  In the movie, it has a different meaning, using dreams to implant an idea.  That’s basically the core of the movie, Cobb was hired by Saito to perform inception on Fischer.  Saito as a corporate rival to Fischer’s father who wanted Fischer to break up his father’s empire.

The project is risky considering that Cobb is known to perform extraction (using dreams to steal ideas) not inception.  Cobb forms a team to make the inception successful: Ariadne, Arthur, Eames & Yusuf.  Each of which performs a role.  They planned it to have multiple dreams within each other thus making it dangerous.  If one of them dies in the act, they will then be sent in a limbo dream where their minds will be stuck for an indefinite time.

Some of them did die in the dream and went into limbo.  The thing is, at the end of the movie, Cobb was reunited w/ his kids (payment to him by completing the project).  We were all left thinking if Cobb was still dreaming or was already in reality.  If you already watched Inception, what do you think?

My rating for Inception: 5 out of 5 stars.

I can’t remember the last time I watched a Tom Cruise movie, but hopefully Knight & Day won’t be the last one for another long while until the next Tom Cruise movie that I watch.  Actually, I’ve been noticing that most of the movies these days showcase younger actors and actresses.  It really is refreshing to see a Tom Cruise-Cameron Diaz tandem.

It’s sad that the movie is not doing well in the box office, because I feel that it’s really actually a very entertaining action comedy movie.   The plot was not realistic but definitely, it was entertaining & nice eye-candy with 2 gorgeous stars in it!

Not to give away too much, here’s a brief overview of the movie.   It’s about Roy Miller (Knight, which is his real last name) and it’s also about June Havens played by Cameron Diaz.  It follows the sequence of events of a chance encounter between these two characters at the airport where they actually run into each other twice.  Now, Knight is actually a secret agent.   And is about to be killed on the flight that he’s going to be on by a group of agents.  Another agent by the name of Fitzgerald who is heading the attempt to kill Miller/Knight, because of the chance encounter earlier at the airport, thinks that Havens is working with Miller, so he has Havens go on the same flight with Miller.

Havens is very much attracted to Miller, and during the flight goes to the washroom to freshen up. And while in the bathroom, the agents all try to kill Miller, but are unsuccessful and are all killed in the process. Havens comes out of the washroom and Miller tells her that everyone is dead. Havens only believes it after seeing the pilots dead, and the bodies start falling to their sides.

Anyway, they eventually end up crashing the plane in a field.   The movie is basically a fast paced chase, where we learn that Miller’s real last name is Knight, where his parents think he’s dead, and where Miller and Haven’s end up falling for each other.

The chase itself is basically about a perpetual energy battery called the Zephyr which is invented by Miller’s genius friend and inventor Simon Feck.

The plot and the sequence of events are not perfect, but it is fast and entertaining.  It’s not as serious as Mission Impossible because it’s meant to be a romantic action comedy.  I think Tom Cruise is underrated in this movie, and his performance is believable and definitely perfect for the role.  Diaz and Cruise were in that Vanilla Sky Movie like 8-9 years ago, so their chemistry was probably already there even before the shooting started.

Again, I hate how sometimes reviewers get too over themselves in criticizing movies like these as if all movies should be Oscar nominated to be taken seriously and to be enjoyed. They forget the goal of what movies should be to viewers, and that is the entertainment value.  With Knight & Day, you get a feel-good movie that I think we need once in a while, plus a little of that action and romance that is perfect for most viewers.

It’s still showing and if you want to relax and enjoy then Knight & Day is for you.

My Rating for Knight and Day: 4 out of 5 stars