My husband is a certified movie buff. His growing collection of VCDs and DVDs is a tangible proof of his fascination with movies. It’s the same reason, too, why he bought a big TV when he moved to our condo unit in 2008. He wants to get a cinematic feel when he’s watching movies at home.

I know he plans to have his own home theater someday, and to help him get started on this endeavor, I’m doing my own research on what items we need to make his dream come true. Scouting for home theater décor and accessories on the Internet is not easy as there are too many choices. I guess I’ll just make hubby decide which ones he likes for his dream home theater.

Justin’s first time inside a movie house wasn’t very successful. He was only 2 ½ years old then, and we just happened to pass by the cinema area of Robinsons Galleria mall. The big numbers at the entrance of the movie theaters piqued his curiosity to get inside the movie house. Thinking that he was ready for his first movie house experience, his Dad bought two tickets for Adam Sandler’s film Bedtime Stories.

Because it was his first time, my son thought it was okay to roam around the movie theater, so his Daddy had to scoop him up every time he did that. He also pooped while inside the cinema (he wasn’t potty-trained yet at that time!), which made his Daddy decide they needed to leave pronto! They only spent 30 minutes inside the movie house.

This year, all three of us watched Toy Story 3. While my son became bored at some point during the movie, we finished watching it. Success! We also watch movies at home. Below are some of my son’s favorites.


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I had the opportunity to watch a very nice movie at Harvesters Christian Fellowship last Sunday. The title of the movie is Flywheel. FLYWHEEL: Director’s Cut is the first movie produced by Sherwood Pictures, the moviemaking ministry of a Georgia church that went on to produce Facing the Giants in 2006. I love this movie for all the wonderful lessons it teaches the viewers. This movie made me laugh and cry a lot, but I went home with a renewed hope in my heart.


Jay Austin is a shrewd businessman. He sells used cars in the worst way. He grossly overcharges his clients and does practically everything (even lying) just to sell a car. His manipulative ways permeates all aspects of his life including his relationship with his family. His wife and son know they can’t trust him.

Jay’s wake-up call comes one day as he works on restoring a classic convertible. Nothing can make this car run but a flywheel. The car represents Jay because he, too, needs restoring. The flywheel symbolizes the presence of God in Jay’s life. Jay realizes how bad he conducts himself and starts honoring God with his business, his relationships, and his life!

Jay encounters many setbacks when he starts doing things the right way, but he continues to hold on to God’s promise, and true enough, God’s way does not fail! When Jay feels beaten, God comes just in time to show Jay that He is very much in control.

The following Sunday after Valentine’s Day, I got the chance to see a really nice movie for couples at my sister’s church. I cried buckets just like the rest of the audience, but I went home really blessed.


Fireproof is a movie that revolves around the firefighter’s motto of “Never leave your partner behind.” The marriage of Caleb Holt (Kirk Cameron), a heroic fireman, and Catherine (Erin Bethea) is on the rocks, and Catherine wants a divorce. As a last-ditch attempt at saving his marriage, Caleb’s father John (Harris Malcolm) presents his son with “The Love Dare” challenge. Each day for 40 days, Caleb has to do something for his wife to convince her to stay. This seems to be a formidable feat as Catherine constantly rejects him. Find out how Catherine is swayed in the end to give her husband a second chance.

I love this movie for the wonderful lessons it imparts to husbands and wives. Here are some of the things from “The Love Dare” that are worth remembering:
1. Say something nice to your spouse.
2. Do an unexpected act for your spouse.
3. Buy your partner a gift that says you’re thinking of him/her today.
4. Ask your spouse if he/she is doing okay or if he/she needs anything today.
5. Pray for your spouse.

According to the movie, we will definitely encounter fire in our marriage. The most important thing is that we’re able to withstand the fire if it does happen.

I went to the preview night of The Red Shoes at The Podium last night primarily because the venue is walking distance from our place. The second reason I went is because I was curious about the film. To be honest, I haven’t seen a poster of the movie prior to last night's screening, so I was absolutely clueless about it. Thanks, Nuffnang, for the invite!


The Brains behind the Movie
The Red Shoes is directed by Raul Jorolan, written by Jayel Ladioray, and presented by Unico Entertainment. Set in the post-Marcos era, it is a story of “love, aspiration and new hope amid changing fortunes and the country’s fickle, contemporary history.”

Synopsis
Lucas (Marvin Agustin) stole a pair of former first lady Imelda Marcos’ shoes when he was a little boy and gave it to the two most important women in his life, his mother (Liza Lorena) and his childhood sweetheart Bettina (Nikki Gil). The story started with that pair of red shoes and ended with the same pair (with a twist!). The characters in the story are represented by their favorite shoe color. The main theme is moving on, which the main character Lucas has finally learned to do when he decided to change the color of his shoes in the end.

My Review
The screenplay was well-written, the actors/actresses gave a fine performance, and the movie is loaded with metaphors, which make it doubly interesting to watch. The Red Shoes opens on March 10, 2010.

Incidentally, I also met Pie in last night’s movie preview, and she took this photo of us.


I hope to see her again in future events.

Blame it on typhoon Ondoy why I cried buckets of tears yesterday. It’s been raining nonstop since Friday night, and there’s nothing we could do but stay inside the house to keep us warm. But I have to go out to do our weekly grocery shopping. I know my husband was getting restless, too, just staying at home, so I urged him to go with me, so we could also watch a movie.

We took advantage of this chance to go out together since Justin’s lolo and lola (my parents) were there to take care of him while we’re gone. And so off to the cinema we went. We had different movies in mind, however, so we decided to go our separate ways and meet up afterwards to go to the supermarket. He went to see Surrogates, and I went to see Ate Vi’s movie In My Life.

I was glad I watched this flick. What I want most in this movie aside from Ate Vi’s and John Lloyd’s superb acting (Luis’ portrayal of a homosexual was fine, too) is that I went home with wonderful lessons about motherhood, such as:

1. What we tell our children can make or break them. When we tell them they aren’t capable of one thing for one reason or another, they think that’s the truth and they may later end up not believing in themselves, so we should be careful with our words.

2. We should allow our children to live their own lives. We can only nurture them and guide them, but we can’t mold them into the kind of persons we would like them to be. They are thinking individuals, and they know what they want for themselves.

In My Life is a story of a single mom, Shirley (Ate Vi), who works as a school librarian. When she learns of her daughter Dang’s plans to leave her to go to Australia, she opts to stay with her gay son, Mark (Luis Manzano), in New York. Mark’s lover, Noel (John Lloyd), helps her start a new life in the Big Apple as she also tries to recapture her lost relationship with Mark. She feels shortchanged when she learns that Mark and Noel are keeping a dark secret from her.

Yesterday was Justin’s first time to be inside a movie house. It wasn’t planned, though. We were having a leisurely walk in the mall, and we happened to pass by the cinema area. What piqued Justin’s interest were the big numbers near the entrance of each cinema. He wanted badly to get inside the theater, so his dad yielded and bought tickets for Adam Sandler's film Bedtime Stories.

I still had to do my grocery shopping, so I begged off, leaving Justin in his dad’s care. I did not leave the two of them immediately, however. I asked the lady guard if I could get inside the theater to see my little boy’s reaction.

Father and son occupied two seats initially, but Justin was uncomfortable in his, so his daddy scooped him up and placed him on his lap instead. I left the two of them in that position. I took advantage of this time alone to do some shoe shopping for my mom and for myself before heading to the supermarket.

After two hours, there was still no text or call from Justin’s dad. I texted him while I was lined up at the cashier to pay for my groceries. When I saw the two of them, I excitedly asked how Justin’s first movie theater experience went.

From the look on hubby’s face, it wasn’t very successful. Why? Hubby recounted that Justin couldn’t stay still in one place and wanted to roam around the theater. Perhaps, he thought it was just another play area where he could do what he wanted and play all he wanted.

And what’s worse? My son pooped. He isn’t potty-trained yet! And that was the end of the story. Father and son only lasted 30 minutes inside the theater, that after having paid Php300.00. We learned earlier that children one year old and above should also pay full flick fare.

What was your kid’s first movie theater experience like?

There are a number of things that my son Justin took after his daddy. One of those is his fondness for watching TV and VCDs/DVDs. In fact, the only time the TV set in our living room is off is when Justin is taking his afternoon nap at the sofa bed. Otherwise, it’s on the whole day.

That’s the same with his dad. When he’s not in front of the computer playing chess or watching an international chess tournament, you’ll find him in front of the TV watching his favorite shows or a VCD/DVD of a film he already watched before or he’s yet to see. To date, Justin’s daddy already has around 300 original VCDs. He started collecting when we got married. DVDs are quite expensive, so he only had a few originals. He actually had wooden shelves installed in our living room wall to house his growing collection.


Ed's VCD/DVD library

Justin’s daddy already started buying his son his own DVDs. (Note: There are DVDs for kids that are selling at Php100.00 in selected stores.) Justin’s own VCD/DVD library consists of a few Barneys, 3 Blues Clues, 3 Thomas & Friends, 2 Dora the Explorer, 2 Brainy Baby, 1 Bob the Builder, 1 Bee Smart Baby Vocabulary Builder, and 1 Brilliant Baby Collection. Justin’s daddy did not buy all of these, however. Some are gifts from friends. I now wonder what part of our living room wall will be for Justin’s own collection.

Hubby and I watched this film last year, I think, in the movie theater, and we highly recommend it. I actually wrote this piece after we watched the movie, but I’ve revised some parts for the purpose of posting it in this blog. Blood Diamond is a movie worth-watching and worth spending your hard-earned bucks on. It’s one of the more sensible films we’ve watched in years.

In a gist, it’s a story of how literally blood is spent for every piece of diamond unearthed in Africa; hence the term “blood diamond.” It is also known as “conflict diamond” for out of greedy desires to acquire one, conflicts arose in a land deprived of its own natural resources among people exploited by their own kind or otherwise and in a nation seemingly resigned to its fate.

Introspectively, it’s a black man’s struggle to reunite his family, a journalist’s advocacy to expose the intricacies surrounding the world diamond trade and the exploitation consequentially suffered by people forced to work in the mines, and finally, it is a white man’s journey to finding himself and the things that really matter, things more precious than the rarest piece of rock any man can find, the gifts of love and friendship.

If only for these things, I hope you find time to watch this film in the comfort of your own home. There’s more to it than meets the eye. It hits you where it hurts. But in the end, you feel there’s hope for love (maybe not always in this lifetime) and peace and happiness in the world -- at least those thoughts come to mind as I try to relive the scenes in my mind. And it opens your eyes to the harsh realities of life. You may not know it, but a life or two may have been risked for a piece of bling-bling you buy. It won’t hurt to ask if it’s conflict diamond or not, don’t you think?

If I may add, Di Caprio is spectacular in this film, fits his role to a T, and so ruggedly handsome at that. I intentionally missed out the movie details here so you’ll hunger for more and grab a DVD copy of this film. You’ll feel sorry if you don’t.