When I started on Drive, I was expecting a standard fare Hollywood action movie. Then I saw on the starting credits that it was directed by Nicolas Winding Refn and I immediately reset my expectations. I’ve seen one of Refn’s previous works Valhalla Rising. It was a good film with a real story to tell, good acting, unconventional direction, and bloody. But it was not easy to watch. So I expected the same for Drive.

Surprisingly, it was actually way easier to watch. It was almost mainstream. But Refn’s touch is quite visible: novel camera angles, tense periods of silence and motionlessness, short and quick (but very bloody) fights. The car scenes are not stylized like in say Fast Five but they are nevertheless very kinetic and adrenaline-pumping.

Gosling is simple the driver: He’s a stunt driver and getaway driver. He also works as a mechanic at a garage. He befriended a neighbor and her kid and later became close. The neighbor’s husband returns from prison but soon got into trouble with some people that he owes money to. To help, the driver acted as a getaway driver for the husband in a heist that went awry.

As the driver puzzled out the pieces, it turned out that the heist was a setup by none other than the partner of the friend and new partner of the employer of the driver. Complicated huh? This is definitely not a no-brainer action movie. So more people got offed in the  most brutal manner, until finally the driver wrapped things up by killing off the last villain and leaving everything behind.

It’s a new year, relatively speaking, and it’s time to review my past year’s resolutions:

1. Learn iPhone programming. Review: I started on Objective-C and got the basics. Continued with Flex for Mobile. Released my first app.
2. Declutter, or attempt to, the house. I’ll need two shelves for starters.
3. Swim more regularly. Review: Not too frequent but definitely more regular.
4. Read more books (or e-books). Specifically literary classics but maybe I’ll throw in a contemporary book. Maybe also one in French. Review: I read all the currently published books of the Song of Ice and Fire series as well as Steve Job’s biography.
5. Take cooking or dance classes maybe with Michelle.
6. Take advanced photography classes.
7. Go on another road trip. Revisiting Pagudpud would be nice but I’m open to another place. Review: I’m sort of cheating here. Michelle, Jeanne, and I went to Hong Kong. It was not a road trip but it was an adventure. And that’s the main point, right?
8. Go surfing in La Union. I’ve been to Zambales and I want to try another place.
9. Go hiking and camping in one trip.

I intend to continue those that I was able to accomplish but it looks like I’ll carry over most:

1. Declutter, or attempt to, the house. I’ll need two shelves for starters.
2. Take cooking or dance classes maybe with Michelle.
3. Take advanced photography classes.
4. Go surfing in La Union or some other surfing destination. I’ve been to Zambales and I want to try another place.
5. Go hiking and camping in one trip.
6. Be closer to family. Fix my marriage for starters. Attend family events. Talk with the members of the family.
7. Be closer to God. Attend mass regularly, reflect and pray regularly.

Hopefully I’ll do better this year.