Enchanted

On Tuesday, December 18, 2007, I went to see the movie Enchanted. This was a movie by Disney, and it's a fairy tale, but with modern adaptations.

First of all this, movie is a mixture of both animated features, and real-life acting and special effects. And also about a clash of two worlds, an adult world, a world of reality, and a children's world, a world of fantasy.

The story starts off with a very typical Disney scene, where there's some girl in the forest and she's got her animal friends to help her put together the statue of her prince. And unfortunately, she had everything, except something for the lips. And this launches into a song about how important a true love's kiss is. And of course, at this very moment, the prince of the country is out troll hunting, and overhears the song. Of course, the evil queen is allowing his son to do all this fun stuff, because that way, she can be queen for a long long time. She sees any princess whom her son meets as a threat to her throne. And so, à la Disney, these two fall in love, and it starts off the story.

The princess to be is named Giselle, and when she's off to get married to her prince, she gets stopped by an old woman, who is the queen in disguise, and Gisele makes a wish in the well. However, the old woman pushes her into the well, and sends her to a place where "There is no happily ever after" (aka New York). This starts off a whole chase for the princess in New York.

This movie has jokes both for children and for adults... This is one of the few Disney movies that does this... Granted of course, there are Disney films that do this, but not very many. As well, there were a few big names in this movie, and I didn't recognize some of them until the end of the film. For example, the evil queen was played (and voiced) by Susan Sarandon. The prince was played (and voiced) by James Marsden. The other lead male character - Robert Philip, was Patrick Dempsey, who is known as Dr. McDreamy on Grey's Anatomy.

I don't want to give away too much of the plot, but this movie was definitely worth the time, and it is highly entertaining. I laughed at so many things that I think people in the theatre was starting to get annoyed.

And besides, Patrick Dempsey on the big screen... Who wouldn't go see this movie? Haha

Even the stars above are teasing me...

Tonight (December 14, 2007), I went to the holiday dinner with YMCA Guy-Favreau. During the evening, we had a draw for a present, and everyone ended up having a present... I ended up with a tray of nuts. I'll just leave it there. Let your imagination go wild.

Atonement

On Tuesday, December 11, 2007, I went to see the movie Atonement. This movie is about a pair of characters, a pair of lovers, who were torn apart by an accusation from a child who didn't understand what was going on. This child, who has a very vivid imagination, and ends up being a writer, is named Briony Tallis.

There was also a story of war as well... The guy who was accused of a crime he did not commit was given a choice: Either to stay in prison, or enroll in the army. This dude, played by James McAvoy, whose character name is Robbie Turner, chooses the army, and fights along side the British forces during WWII. His lover, Cecilia Tallis, played by Keira Knightley, ends up training to be a nurse, so that she can be of use to the troops.

It is not until later on in Briony's career that she realizes that what she did was very very wrong, and it cost the future of Robbie Turner, and it ruined his reputation as well. She also delayed the love that was growing between Robbie Turner and Cecilia Tallis.

This movie was slow moving, but it is a drama, so that is to be expected. The ending, however, hit me like a tonne of bricks. I have not read the book, but I want to read it now... This movie was based on the book written by Ian McEwan. Not to be confused with Sir Ian McKellan, the great actor. Haha.

A moving drama that spans generations... Not a must-see, but if you like period pieces and/or dramas and/or love films, this is a good film for you.

What is love?

What is love? That is an interesting question, and I'm sure that everyone has their own definition. I myself don't know the answer, as I'm still meandering through the world of love and discovering its many twists and turns, pleasures and pains... Perhaps this question is best answered in the not definition, let me explain.

The not definition is something that you use in probability or set theory. For example if you have a set A = {2, 4, 6, 8}, and this set is in S = {1, 2, 3, ..., 10}, then Not A (or A complement - if you want) = {1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 10}

So, perhaps there is no answer to this question, but there are a lot of non answers.

For example, what my friend Raoul and Rupert have, it's not love, even though Raoul claims that it is: "Yeah, it's love, because we stop fighting very fast."

By this train of reasoning, my exes didn't last with me, because it was not love, and that's because we never fought. There were times when my exes did bizarre things (like going crazy on me, and then they realized it was their fault and called to apologize, but we never had full fledge arguments).

If what Raoul and Rupert have is considered to be love... One of the following things (or possibly all of them) reflect my train of thought:

a) Count me out. I do not want this type of love where there are so many issues;
b) I don't think that love is this simplistic... It is not so formulaic... It is not P(t) = Poe^kt;
c) Love is related to the person, and not how much a couple fights. If this were the case, my parents would be the best lovers in the world... They fight all the time, and then they make up quickly so they can sleep in the same bed...

So, to wrap it all up... I think that love is different for everyone, and that there is no single definition for it... However, there are an infinite amount of not statements - i.e. love is not this, and love is not that, and what they have is not love, etc.

Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium

On December 4, 2007, I went to see the film Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium. This is a movie about a magical toy store, its owner Mr. Magorium (played by Dustin Hoffman), the store manager Molly Mahoney (played by Natalie Portman), a nine year old kid who collects hats - Eric Applebaum (played by Zach Mills), and the accountant Henry Weston (or mutant) played by Jason Bateman.

The story line is simple. Mr. Magorium hires an accountant to determine how much his store is worth, because he's leaving it to Mahoney. However, Mahoney doesn't want to be the new owneer of the store, and she would rather become the great pianist that she is supposed to become, since she won many awards when she was young as a concert pianist...

This movie is fun, and it's heart warming. It is also a great comedy. Also, it is a great children's film as well as a date movie... Wouldn't mind seeing this with Dr. McDreamy.