Movie Date Last Night

Once in a while we watch movies in marathon. Last night we did at the AMC Metreone in San Francisco's Fourth Street. We were there from 5 PM to 12. 30 MN. So many people watched the movies. Gosh, I thought it was a Sunday but TGIF! Here's my ten cents' worth of movie review. Read if you wish, skip if you must~I am good~read on if you insist!


1. "The Illusionist"
This is about a magician named Eisenheim who fell in love with Sophie, duchess of Austria. The two met during their teen years but were separated by time and space due to their polarities in life. She was a duchess while he was a peasant. It's a typical love story but peppered with a twist, suspense, magic and promise. ocation: Austria. Eisenheim left his village during his late teen and in the realm of his journey met a mystic who manifested to him under a tree~ showed him magic and then made himself disappear. The legend said even the tree disappeared as well! He returned 15 years later to the village he met Sophie where he gave her a special wooden rectangular locket that when twisted it becomes a heart. Inside it was his photograph in sepia. Eisenheim was madly in love with Sophie but he had no power to get her back during his youth. He was poor, a cabinet maker's son- whose family worked for Sophie's family. Upon his return to the village, he found out that Sophie was engaged to the son of the emperor of Austria. Eisenheim of course was heart broken. Although he had traveled around the globe and was raved upon everywhere as an illusionist par excellente, nothing meant so much to him butto get back his Sophie. His return brought intrigues and attention that drove Sophie's bf to be quite edgy. He happened to be the future emperor Austria (whose father was the ruling emperor at that time). Later, he would have Eiseheim be brought to him for questioning and later, the magician would go through a series of interrogation as done by the chief inspector. This was to harass Eisenheim. To sum it all, Sophie was killed by her cold blooded royal fiance; was found by the river one morning by Eisenheim and the police. Later on, her memory was erased in the local scene. She was categorically labeled as a "victim of murder." Months came by, soft whispers about her mysterious death became uncontrollable. During Eiseheim's several performances in Austria, he was able to make Sophie to manifest as a 2- D spirit that drove the viewers glued to his esoteric performance~to the point that the people almost were fanatical to it. Right there and then, they asked her where she was, how she died and who killed her? For them she was a mystery and the stage apparition was enough to make them believe she was dead. Eisenheim was awesome and was disctinctively ranked as a man of "super natural gifts" by the paranormal society. Despite having all these popularity and strict following of admirers of Eisenheim, he remained humble and unassuming. During his last performance on stage, Eiseheim was to be arrested by the police for making the public be interested in the paranormal for which he found no responsibility~as his shows he claimed~ was only meant to entertain. For the police, this is a dangerous time and zone as his performances could trigger queries about the state of affairs in Austria. The political bandwagon would be at stake so to stop this brouhaha about him, he was designed to be arrested that evening. Slick as an illusionist, his trick was magical~he was able to make himself disappear on his last performance. No wonder, he endorsed all his assets and properties to his manager. After seeing his disappearance on stage, the police was silent and embarrased; ransacked his place but found no evidence to attest to their defense that indeed he was dangerous. All they saw in his workshop were his tools, props and notebooks that showed illustrations of his magic tricks. In the end, it was the chief inspector himself who found out that he was the victim of Eisenheim's trick. The inspector concluded that Sophie's death was indeed just an illusion~ perfected and crafted by Eisenheim himself, the master magician-illusionist of his time. Engineered to reunite him with Sophie, he was successful in doing so. In another corner of the earth, Sophie awaits for his return with so much passion and desire. The film ended with him coming to her place, chained in an embrace that could warm up and flame old ashes of the earth. This is a movie to watch- has great entertainment value- for its cinematic treatment and amazingly great direction. Sorry I don't write actors' names. Am not good at remembering names! But this is a movie to watch!

2. The Marine
This should have been entitled as "Incredible Hulk," "The Terminator," "Fire Starter" or "Super Man." An old cliche ran the whole time in this movie. The marine hero fought all his antagonists in flying colors. His biceps and triceps would make you want to poke them with needles and pins making sure they are real and not just gas or air! He is a Matt Damon look alike with the body of Lou Ferigno. In the end he came by a super heo; brought back to life his skinny wife and survived endless flames of disaster. I believe the director of this movie has a fascination for fire! This is an action film with lots of violence. I am not recommending this to anyone with a blood pressure over 140/120. But go get a kick and watch this at your own risk!

3. Jackass: Number 2
We only saw the last 15 minutes of this film. This is all about stupidity and violence, experimentation and stunts~ as done by macho men to prove they are what do you think? Macho men! One scene that really grossed me out was about finding the props beard and moustache of the American dude (who pretended to be a Middle Eastern suicide bomber ). They were actually a collection of shaven pubis of his fellow actors in the film! Can you imagine how gross that is? He threw up all right, complete with the excrement of his puke in living colors! Yuck...! If you have the taste for the bizarre, this is for you. If you want to be entertained in terms of paranoia, this is the film to watch. Be sure to take your valium with you!

4. "Little Miss Sunshine"
A story about a dysfunctional family on a road tour to the beauty pageant for kids. Present were mom, dad, 10-year old or so daughter (who is the contender in the pageant), speech defiant teen aged son, suicidal gay uncle and eccentric grand daddy. They were in synch and were all inside the family bus on their way to L.A., California from Albequerque. The family went through heaves of trials and tribulation while travelling: old VW bus broke down; granddaddy died at the motel; speech defiant son got enraged and started talking again-thank god; dad going bankcrupt; mom ready for a divorce and gay uncle meeting his ex-gay lover at the convenience store. Finally, they reached the hotel where the pageant was to be held. Miss Sunshine almost didn't make it to register as she was late but for heaven's sake, the gay uncle was able to persuade the chairwoman's side kick. She ruled out the stage and came out with flying colors. Her dance routine was unexpected.
Dressed modestly in an Annie Hall ensemble with a magician's hat, she dedicated her dance routine to her granddaddy who choreographed it. Husband and I were expecting a wholesome dance number when our wits won over us: she started to strip like a pro! Wow, this was the catch! We almost died laughing nside the theatre! Lesson learned by the bro and the uncle plus the dad:ilm? Don't join the arena of stupid girls trying to be young women while they are still 8, 9 or 10-years old! Embarrassed by the strip show of little sister, eventually the entire brood went upstage and started gyrrating. The audience smile arched into a dismay. The family ended up in the police precint. Moral of the story? The family that stinks together stay together. This is all. Until next blog, ciao! Have a great Saturday morning! Moowah!