I’ve tried not to be very annoying about it and I bit my tongue (tied my fingers) several times no to write about it, but it’s only thirty days away and I can’t help talking about ‘Sex And The City: The Movie’ now. I’m so excited about seeing the most popular newyorkers again. Can’t wait to find out what happens between Carrie & Mr. Big, if Charlotte really does get pregnant, how Miranda and Samantha have changed. And of course, can’t wait to enjoy seeing the coolest places in town, those I can’t get it because I do not have enough kaching to afford those places… well, I’ve been to one of the bars, but that’s all. Here’s begins the countdown!

I’ve watched some interesting movies in the last month. Here’s a brief review (listed in the order I’ve seen them):

The Nanny Diaries (Scarlett Johansson). USA
I was a little eskeptical about this movie at first, for some reason I kept thinking it would be trash. No plot, no good acting, no nothing… I was surprised to see it was actually an entertaining film, with an interesting plot. What makes it even more interesting is that it is based on a true story. I always say that the best ideas for novels/movies come from real experiencies…

Death of A President. USA
It is actually a documentary film. It is fiction, but it was very realistic. It talks about the murder of President Bush after giving a speech in Chicago. Very well achieved.

At First Sight (Val Kilmer, Mira Sorvino). USA
A friend recommended that I watched this movie. It was beautiful, I don’t want to unveil much, just in case you decide to see it. But it made me cry a couple of times and made be believe in the power touch has for the human kind.

Bunty aur Babli (Abhishek Bachchan, Rani Mukerji). India
Cute comedy about to country people who dream big and leave their small villages to pursue them. After being realizing it is harder than they thought to achieve those dreams, they’ll adopt new identities and begin stealing from the rich. It is a cute comedy, entertaining and Bachchan and Mukerji make a good pair.

Atonement (Keira Knightley). United Kingdom
I had high expectations about this movie. I thought I was going to love it, it had all the ingredients to be an A++: great cast, great sorroundings, great director… but these things always happen. I thought I’d love it as much as Pride & Predujice and all these movies the UK produces, but I was so disappointed to see a movie that was missing something… it was boring at times, confusing at other times… and yes, right at the end of the film, you get to tie all the knots and say, oh, it makes sense now… but it was too late already.

Black (Rani Mukerji, Amitabh Bachchan). India
An amazing film about a blind & deaf girl who is initially raised like an animal by her parents, but later on becomes a very intelligent woman with the help and support of her teacher. A very inspiring movie, with an outstanding performance by Mukerji and Bachchan. Honestly, one of the best movies I’ve seen in a long-long time. A+++

Some Like It Hot (Jack Lemmon, Marylin Monroe and Tony Curtis). USA
I never thought I’d enjoy watching a classic movie this much. I borrowed the film from my boss and I thought I’d get bored halfway through, I mean… black & white film, old,… but along with Black I think it’s one of the best movies I’ve seen in a long time too. It tells the story of two musicians that witness and murder and have to escape to Florida with a female orchestra to be safe. A+++

That’s it for now.
Next topic: Tea.

(Post escrito sólo en inglés) Every now and then, I’ll browse my dvd collection and always pick the same movie: The Notebook. I remember the day a friend told me about this film, that is actually based on a novel by Nicholas Sparks. She told me she’d just seen it at the theatre and that she loved it. It usually takes 2 to 6 months (sometimes up to a year) to get Hollywood movies in my country and I just couldn’t wait that long. I was intrigued to find out what the movie was about. So, I downloaded it. The quality was terrible, it was recorded at the theatre but I still enjoyed watching it. I loved the plot, I loved the characters, I loved the fact the story took place at a Southern state (I love Southern states) and I loved the fact that it reminded me so much of my Grandma. I cry every time I see this movie. I try not to, but I can’t help it. I did cry a few moments ago, again. I thought I’d write down some of my favorite quote from the movie:

“And if in some distant place in the future we see each other in our new lives, I’ll smile at you with joy and remember how we spent the summer beneath the trees, learning from each other and growing in love. The best love is the kind that awakens the soul and makes us reach for more, that plants a fire in our hearts and brings peace to our minds, and that’s what you’ve given me. That’s what I hope to give to you forever. I love you. I’ll be seeing you” - Old Noah

“Young Allie: Now, say you’re a bird.
Young Noah: If you’re a bird, I’m a bird” - bathing at the beach.

“Summer romances end for all kinds of reasons. But when all is said and done, they have one thing in common: They are shooting stars-a spectacular moment of light in the heavens, a fleeting glimpse of eternity. And in a flash, they’re gone” - Old Noah

“She had come back into his life like a sudden flame, blazing and streaming into his heart. Noah stayed up all night contemplating the certain agony he knew would be his if he were to lose her twice” - Old Noah

*Sigh* Good night, y’all! (I miss you Grandma, I wish I could help you remember too).

I’ve seen many movies in the past week and I thought I’d comment on them, since all of the films I’ve seen are good. I just noticed all four movies are of 4 different nationalities…

Becoming Jane (Anne Hathaway). United Kingdom

I saw a book entitled Becoming Jane last summer. I was at a Barnes & Noble on Fifth Avenue browsing books, big sales & stuff, when I read this title. I saw Anne Hathaway on the cover, an actress I have liked since I saw her acting on The Princess Diaries (yes, I still watch Disney movies!). A few hours later, at this theatre located a few blocks away from Union Square, I realized there was a movie called Becoming Jane as well. I was hoping the film would be released in Spain soon, since I’ve always liked that period of time.

Anyway, Becoming Jane talks about an adolescent Jane Austen, when she was still unknown but already had marvelous writing skills. The movie, as I understood it myself, explains how she began write Pride & Prejudice (another movie you MUST watch if you haven’t yet. And if you want it with some spicy/curry taste, I also recommend Bride & Prejudice). Turns out, the novel is based on her real life. Many scenes of the movie reminded me of Pride & Prejudice.

It’s a good movie and Anne Hathaway does a great job here. Plus, I really enjoyed watching those 19th century gowns and dances… if only I could turn back time and show up at one of those candle-lit parties…

Persepolis (Marjane Satrapi). Iran

I never thought I’d enjoy watching a comic-movie or a movie-comic this much. Another movie based on a real life story. Marjane Satrapi tells the story of her life in this film. About how the islamic revolution changed her country’s path. Satrapi was a lucky girl and managed to move to Europe to be educated in Austria and France. But not everyone had such luck… It’s a touching, yet funny & ironic film.

Guru (Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai). India

Bollywood likes to make long films, this one lasts nearly 3 hours… but it doesn’t seem like it. When I found out Aishwarya Rai & Abhishek Bachchan became engaged I wondered what Rai could’ve seen in him. He was ok, good for any woman, but Rai being Miss World I always thought she’d marry Mister World too. But I’ve learned something over the past few years that you can’t judge a book by its cover. And I know what Rai saw in Bachchan, or at least I can guess… When I saw Kuch Naa Kaho, I realized Abhishek Bachchan enjoyed being sorrounded by kids, something I got to see in Guru as well. The impression I’ve gotten of this man is that he is a kindhearted, funny and active person, which makes him attractive to 99.9% of women. Even I am starting to find him physically attractive. He’s got that something. Well, he had to gain quite a few pounds for Guru, so don’t take this movie as an example.

Anyway, Guru talks about this young man Gurukant Desai who dreams of becoming a big business-man in his country, India. He achieves that goal, but with many difficulties. I like this movie because it talks about the aspiration of a simple villager of becoming someone important. Breaks the rules, laws and cast system of his country to achieve his dreams. All throughout the movie, Aishwarya Rai portrays as his supportive wife, who even though he married for monetary reasons, can’t help falling in love with her.

PS: I loooove, love, love the soundtrack of the movie. If you have the chance, please listen to Barso Re and Tere Bina. I don’t understand a single word they say, it’s in Hindi, but the music is just beautiful.

Enchanted (Amy Adams, Patrick Dempsey, Susan Sarandon) USA

I just got home from the theatre. I went to see Enchanted with my sister and I looooved it. Yes, I’m almost 24 but I still enjoy watching Disney movies. And Enchanted was a fantastic fairy-tale. Amy Adams plays the role of Giselle a villager from Andalasia who dreams of marrying prince charming. And she eventually finds him, but Prince Edward’s stepmother casts a spell so that Giselle doesn’t marry prince charming. She sends her to the place where romance has died, New York City. There she will have to face the fact that people in the big Apple are not nice, friendly or charming like Edward. But along the way, she’ll run into Robert Philip a nice lawyer who does not believe in fairy-tales or ‘ever after’ type of endings. What happens next, I won’t reveal.

All I can say is I missed watching these movies. Enchanted took me back to the late 80’s/beginning of the 90’s when going to the movies to see The Little Mermaid, Sleeping Beauty or Cinderella with grandpa was fun. Thank you Disney for bringing back fantasy in such an original way.

The Namesake is the title of the last movie I’ve seen. Back in August, when my summer vacation had just begun, I went to Barcelona for a few days. I have friends living there and I stopped by before going to La Pineda (the place where my family has a flat). It was nice to spend some time with Mertxe, Idoia, Mónica, Yon and Iván. Mertxe and I have known each other since I was in Primary School, we also went to the same High School and majored in Communication. We have remained friends all this time and even though among all these years there has been a lapse of time in which we didn’t know what each of us was doing, for the last couple of years we’ve become quite close.

Anyway, while I was visiting them in Barcelona, and after having dinner at an Italian restaurant, we saw this huge sign in the middle of the street announcing an upcoming Bollywood show in the city. When we got to her place at around 2.30am, and after considering the possibility of attending the show, she mentioned having seen a movie called El buen nombre (The namesake in Spanish). She told it was a really good film and she suggested that I saw it.

I’ve been a little busy these days, but I finally got to see the movie yesterday evening and what can I say, it was one the best films I’ve seen in the last couple of years.

The Namesake talks about the importance of chosing the right name to a newborn child and how a wrong choice may affect the child in the future. The movie is set in the late 70’s. After two families arrange a wedding for their son and daughter, the couple moves to New York to “live the American dream”.

Soon after getting married, Ashima gets pregnant and had a child. To be able to leave the hospital, she needs to have the kid named, but according to the Indian tradition he has to wait until his Grandma sends a letter with his good-name. In the mean time, his father decides to name the child Gogol to honor his favorite writer.

Gogol is the last name of a Russian writer that commited suicide and that facts affects the child’s teenage years.

Anyway, I don’t want to reveal any more details about the movie just in case you decide to see it. All I can say is a magnificent film, brought tears to my eyes and made me discover a new, talented and good looking actor. Now, I might reconsider what I said about Richard Gere on my previous post!

Gogol is played by a guy called Kalpen, though he’s changed his name to Kal Penn to fit better in the American society. I’ve been reading some about his biography and according to wikipedia and other sources, he’s the first American-Indian person to succeed in Hollywood. So, congrats to him! Truth is, I found his performance to be stellar and he’s definitely easy on the eye. I hope he gets far in the business, that would mean I’d get to see him in more movies.

And just as good as the cast is the soundtrack. The music plays such an important role all throughout the movie. One of these days, whenever I go to San Sebastian I’ll try to buy the cd.

And last but not least, after seeing the movie, I have this increasing desire of going to Agra to see the Taj-Mahal. It is shown in the movie, from different angles and inside of it and all I can say is no wonder why it has been chosen one of the 7 wonders of the world. And to think this a construction of love… Someday, hopefully, I’ll stand there.

San Sebastian does NOT need a festival to look fabulous (sorry, I’m on a Sexy & The City mood today). To this day and after all the cities I’ve been to, San Sebastian still remains up on my list of favorite destinations. There’s nothing like walking the walk of La Concha or looking at the horizon when the sun starts to go down. I’ll never get tired of San Sebastian. For almost two weeks, the capital city of Gipuzkoa, has become the capital of cinema. The best (and worst) movies are shown in the city. And some of the best Hollywood stars come to visit us in San Sebastian.

I remember standing next to Dennis Hopper and America Ferrera (when she still wasn’t known as Ugly Betty). Taking pictures to Charlize Theron, Mark Whalberg, Ewan McGreggor and Oliver Stone. I also remember spending BILLIONS of hours sitting in front of the Maria Cristina Hotel (5 star hotel in the city) with Jon and Aitor to get a darn autograph and Marisa Paredes refusing to sign my piece of paper…

I recall watching 4 to 6 movies a day when I was a member of the Youth jury at the festival. And not going to the movies in a year after that experience too!

San Sebastian is looking especially glamorous these days. And it will look even better when Mr. Richard Gere gets out of the black Mercedes and walks the red carpet. God, I’ve never been this excited about a Hollywood star coming to San Sebastian. I know it may sound like a cliché, but if I were allowed ONE infidelity in my life I would probably pick him. And there would probably not be sex involved, I would just enjoy having dinner with him, going ontop of the Empire State building. All classy.
That’s how I’ve always pictured him, as a classy man. That’s probably how the industry has pictured him. But darn it, he gets better with age! I don’t what buddhism has done to him, but even with grey hair he looks so darn attractive. He smiles and I melt. And don’t us women, dream of being rescued by a Knight like him? With a red rose in his hand and saying, “you’re all I need to be happy”. Of course, then you wake up and realize life is no fairy-tale.

I have never considered myself to be a fan of his, but I’ve seen Pretty Woman a hundred times, I’ve melted seeing him dance on Shall We Dance and I’ve felt pitty for him on Unfaithful. He’s a great actor.

I’ll see if I can go to San Sebastian this weekend and have a picture taken with (of) him.

Siento no haber escrito últimamente, pero además de haber andado bastante liada con el trabajo, no me he encontrado con muchas ganas de escribir aquí. Esta vez hablaré de la penúltima película que he visto (anteayer vi Premonición de Sandra Bullock, que me dejó un poco indiferente). Hace dos fines de semana fui a ver Music and Lyrics, que protagonizan Hugh Grant y Drew Barrymore. Leí la crítica de Begoña del Teso y aunque en un 99% de los casos no compartimos opinión, decidí ir a ver la película tras leer su escrito.

Y lo cierto es que una película entretenida y las actuaciones, tanto de Grant como de Barrymore son buenas. Music and lyrics habla de un cantante popular en los ochenta venido a menos (Hugh Grant) al que le ofrecen la oportunidad de componer una canción para la artista de moda, una flipada a la que le va el rollo budista. Consigue a un letrista de poca monta que no le sirve de gran ayuda y justo cuando su desesperación parece que va a tocar su límite, la mujer que se encarga de regar sus plantas, resulta ser su mano derecha en la elaboración del tema, que como es lógico se convierte en un bombazo.

Entre verso y verso sucede varias cosas que no descubriré por si alguien tiene ganas de ver la película. Pero, en resumen, es entretenida y te permite conocer un poco cómo funciona la industria musical hoy en día… le iría muy bien la frase de “por interés te quiero Andrés…”.

Pues eso, *** tres estrellas

Hacía cinco meses que no me sentaba en una butaca. Ayer quedé con una amiga para ir a cenar a un italiano y después ver una película. La cena fue muy divertida y es que tener en el menú la opción de comer un ‘penne’ colaboró en nuestras disparatadas conversaciones… En fin, comí una pizza margarita, la más sencilla, no me gusta cuando le echan tres mil ingredientes. Luego compré unas chucherías y fuimos a ver ‘La vida de los otros’, filme premiado en numerosos festivales y también, en la ceremonia de los Oscar.

Es una película muy buena. El director germano Florian Henckel-Donnersmarck (subanestrujenbajen… cojona con los apellidos alemanes!) nos traslada hasta 1984, cuando Alemania todavía estaba dividida en la República Democrática Alemana y la República Federal Alemana. La Stasi, cuerpo de investigación comunista, investiga a un dramaturgo alemán, pero su espía parece cogerle simpatía y termina modificando sus informes para evitar que éste vaya a la cárcel.

Me gustó mucho la forma en la que transcurre la historia. La película se hace muy amena y no pierde el interés en ningún momento. Algo que me sorprendió es que hasta los alemanes tienen sentido del humor! Se me escapó más de una risita durante la proyección…

Lo más impresionante no es que podría tratarse de una historia real, sino que esto es reciente. Fue practicamente ayer cuando cayó el muro de Berlín. Aún recuerdo cuando visitamos la capital alemana con el instituto y estuvimos en un interesante museo que mostraba todas las triquimañas que los alemanes del este hacían para conseguir escapar a la Alemania occidental. Y no hace nada de eso!

Tengo varios temas que contar así que no me extenderé con esto.