Tag: movies

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Fireproof

Today, I found myself again not knowing what to do. So I prayed for guidance and called my parents. We had a long talk about many things. I followed it up with research. Which somehow led me to the movie Fireproof. I remembered having it on my hard drive a long time ago. I checked and it’s still there! And so I watched.

It was uncanny, the similarity to my situation. You could change the names and certain details and it would be like it is about Michelle and me. There are many things to learn from the movie. But the top three for me are:

  1. Change begins with us. If we must wait for others to change before we do, then we can’t answer the question: When will they change? And maybe we never will. But if we take it upon ourselves to change, we can, we can do so now.
  2. Love is unconditional. We should not look for reciprocation. We should not stop loving because of rejection, or perceived rejection. The love of Jesus is for everyone, he gave his life for everyone, for those who accepts Him and those who rejects Him. So must we. I love Jeanne unconditionally but I was blind to the fact that I should love Michelle the same way.
  3. Marriage is a covenant. During the wedding, I vowed to be true to her in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. To love her and honor her all the days of my life. It is how God intended it to be. And by making my vow, I made a commitment to her and to God. As soon as I saw this, I put back my wedding ring on and I resolved that though I have stumbled, I will pick myself up and I will strive towards how He intends it to be.

Fireproof is highly-recommended watch for everyone. Through it, God provided me guidance. I’m sure it will do the same for others, too.

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Contagion

Watched Contagion last night. This movie is the polar opposite of Outbreak. Much like what The Thin Red Line (yay!) is to Saving Private Ryan (nay!). It may be boring to many but I actually found it quite interesting. In particular, the movie’s focus on the life cycle of a pandemic, the lives of those affected, and– to an extent– the role of the Internet. With the spread of the disease as the backdrop, the movie takes you through how it affects the lives of ordinary people who lost (or are about to lose) loved ones, the doctors desperately helping the sick, the doctors running against the clock looking for a cure, the government striving to contain the chaos as society disintegrates. It’s a doomsday scenario but it’s a very plausible doomsday scenario. And that makes the movie feel very real.

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Blue Crush

A long time ago, Roly and I were talking about surfing and this surfing movie, Blue Crush, and how it made her want to surf. I never got to watch it and we never got to go surf together but after the surfing trip last week, I dug it up and watched it with Michelle. It’s a chick flick (one reason why I never watched it) about a surfer girl with personal issues, throw in a love interest that causes more issues, and a nice pre-packaged resolution at the end. Standard chick flick fare. But where it shines is in the surfing. From beginner waves to pro big waves, the shots were just awesome! It’s something not to be missed. Made me want to learn to surf even more. Oh and there’s Kate Bosworth :P

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Hanna

Hanna is a spy thriller and growing-of-age drama. Sort of like Leon but different, quite different. Erik (Eric Bana) is a widowed ex-CIA officer living in remote isolation with his daughter Hanna. He is raising Hanna to prepare her for going out into the world. And that world just happens to be a worst case scenario. Toss in shades of the Grimms’ fairy tales (e.g. Cate Blanchett is “The Witch”) and the almost surreal (watch it) and you have a quite an interesting movie. The action choreography needs a bit of work but is quite passable.

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Space Battleship Yamato

Back when I was a kid, I watched bit and pieces (or maybe I just recalled bits and pieces) of an animated TV series called Star Blazers. Later I learned that it’s called anime (but before that, Japanimation) and that in Japan it was called Space Battleship Yamato. It was an interesting series and really captured my imagination back then. So when I heard that there was going to be a live action version, I was very excited.

I finally finished watching it today and it was great. It captured and condensed the story (based on aforementioned bits and pieces) of the animated series very well. The production quality was unexpectedly good, reminiscent of Battlestar Galactica but not overdone like in the new Star Wars movies. There were some awkward acting, including that of Meisa Kuroki (but since she’s kawaii, I can overlook that).

In the movie, Earth is under attack by aliens called Gamilas, irradiating it with a constant bombardment of radioactive asteroids. To save Earth, an battleship is sent out to a remote planet called Iskandar where an anti-radiation device is supposed to be located. Beset by Gamilas at all twists and turns, the crew retrieves the device and eventually returns to Earth, finally ending with a blaze of glory, a big kamikaze bang befitting a Japanese battleship. Somehow it gave me a feeling of fulfillment and satisfaction rather than a feeling of waste. Now that’s a good ending.