FILM NOTES: From GLADIATOR to THE BATMAN: PART II & More

Last Friday, I watched Hitch at Paramount Studios in Hollywood...and thought the film was good. The bad thing is, I could relate to it, since Will Smith’s character chooses to be a player (though I definitely wouldn’t call myself that. If you’re about to agree, then shut up! LOL) instead of actually falling in love because—this is where I could relate to his character, haha—he got dissed (a.k.a. broken-hearted, but this term is a bit too sappy for my tastes here) by a girl in the past. I obviously wouldn’t call myself a playa', but it’s a lot easier getting touchy-feely with beautiful import models I don't know than a girl I could actually get to know personally. If you need proof, check out the March 5 journal entry below!

Anyways, if you want to know the name of the girl who I’m talking about specifically, here’s a hint: I’ve been talking about her for the past 5 years. If you’ve been reading my journal entries since November of 2000 (not freakin’, bloody likely), you’d know who I’m talking about. Yep, Duyen. Seems like whatever I watch, wherever I’ll go (sounds like the lyrics to a cheesy love song), I’ll be reminded of her, when I'm trying not to. If I actually followed Hitch’s advice, I’d go to Garden Grove, find the house where she lives—err, I mean the office where she works... Yea, that’s it, work—and go up to Duyen and let her know how I feel about her up close (as opposed to telling her through crappy e-mails. Don’t ask). And a happy ending would dictate that Duyen runs up to me and gives me a hug, and we leave her work to get "lovey-dovey" somewhere in Orange County. Of course, in reality Duyen will be extremely weirded out and probably get her boyfriend to come after me. (Bring it on! Even though I don’t know how he looks or what his name is, her bf is the only dude I’d be willing to go to jail for...insert the term for a deliberate act of violence here. Though in hindsight, I wouldn't want Duyen to read this part!) Either that, or seek a restraining order so I won’t go nowhere near 20-30 miles of her. So basically, the distance from my house to Garden Grove, haha!

As I said, Hitch was good. But contrary to what one of my friends told me, that is not a film to look up to as a way to learn to get chicks. "Be yourself?" You don’t say! The reason why this is not a film to look up to is because this is a typical Hollywood film. It’s contrived! Of course Will Smith and Kevin James' characters get with the girls at the end!! If Hitch was a European movie (specfically, a neorealist Italian film), Hitch and Albert (James' character) would be rejected by Eva Mendes and Amber Valletta's characters respectively, and Hitch would start a life of drugs and alcohol (oh wait, he already does the latter) and swear off women while Albert would take his own life by leaping off the Brooklyn Bridge. Speaking of Kevin James, the actress (Leah Remini) who played his wife on the TV sitcom The King of Queens is hot. ‘Nuff said.



UPDATE: Speaking of Paramount Studios, yesterday's episode of 24 (which is such an awesome show) featured the night scene that was shot when Sarina, two of her co-workers and I walked to the set and saw the action sequence being filmed (go to the December 18, 2004 entry for more details). In this sequence, Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) and the ex-husband of Bauer's girlfriend must hide in a sporting goods store near an aerospace company where Jack and Paul Raines (the ex-husband, who also works for the Counter Terrorist Unit, or CTU) printed out a piece of data that could incriminate the aerospace firm in the terrorist attacks that took place earlier in the day. The aerospace company dispatches a commando team to hunt down Bauer and Raines, and Bauer—who is helped by two other guys who are owners of the store—engage in a gunfight with the commando team to force it to break radio silence and reveal their location to CTU, which is trying to locate Bauer and Raines through satellite coverage (since radio communications and electricty are down in the city after the aerospace company detonates an electromagnetic pulse device in a vain attempt to destroy all incriminating data before Jack could get to it. Hope I'm not losing you guys, haha). Bauer and Raines are eventually located, and the CTU's commando team arrive to take out the remaining attackers sent by the aerospace firm.

But things aren't over yet as Quintus, err Dave Conlon (played by Tomas Arana, who was Quintus in the movie Gladiator)—still alive even after a CTU commando shot him—puts a bullet in Paul Raines' stomach before Conlon is gunned down by Bauer. So next week's episode will be about Raines fighting for survival and Bauer in the midst of finding Habib Marwan (played by The Mummy's Arnold Vosloo), who was the mastermind behind that day's terrorist attacks. Can't wait!