The R.I.P.D. Dead Ringer Review

The Rest. In. Peace. Department. You'd think it's an incredibly original movie-making idea (except for the fact that it's a translation of a comic book cult hit). But really, what it is is a cinema fest of dead ringer bits. First off, it's a fun-filled version of Constantine. Dead people running about re-killing each other.... except made to look like Rush Hour in the action department.

The old guy vs young guy tandem isn't anything new either. That non-chemistry between 2 generations that always makes good formula for shits and giggles still works --so why fix it? Think Ghost Rider horseback rider and motorcycle rider editions, complete with creepy characters. Or, M.I.B., complete with creepy characters and swanky secret HQ.

Oh, and the evil master plan --to open a portal welcoming all the baddie souls into the city of man. Kinda like The Avengers, eh?

So after that pale intro, why the heck would you waste your time on R.I.P.D.?

Powerhouse cast
Ryan Reynolds. Jeff Bridges. Kevin Bacon. Mind Blown.

Partner deceit
I love plots that make you question your comfort zone. And Kevin Bacon definitely brought evil ex-partner to light in the darkest manner. It's official. Bacon does bad good.

Human sacrifice
Well, this is new. No one does sacrifices to open up evil dimensions anymore. Plus, Stephanie Szostak makes a cute sacrifice.

Firepower
It's like watching team Fortress 2 The Human vs Dead-but-still-kicking Abomination Version. Lots o' guns, lots o' fun!

Fight scenes
Since everyone's dead, everyone gets their heads pummeled with cars and concrete and they bounce right back up. It's Tom and Jerry in the real world! Oh boy, oh boy!

The blond bombshell and old Chinese man 
This is pure comedy genius! This is the only part of the movie that got me laughing like a loon. If you must watch, do it for the bombshell and the Chinese man.

So, are those reasons convincing enough? Mmm... probably not. For practicality's sake, R.I.P.D. is better watched on DVD than on the big screen. And with lots of buttered popcorn.

Bonus! It's an original but a dead-on cringe-worthy moment: Mary Louise Parker biting Jeff Bridge's scraggly beard in an awkward show of gross seductive force. Uh-huh. I'm still having nightmares about that one.

Tripping out on Turbo!

SPOILER ALERT!

Wow!  This is definitely a month of movie reviews!  All the family movies we were expecting to be showered with in the summer all came in like a massive hurricane as soon as school started.

On our plate today:  Escargo!  Oh wait... TURBO! 
It's a tiny player compared to the bigness of Monsters University and Despicable Me 2.  Save for the usual trailer, Dreamworks didn't put much fanfare to this flick.  There's not even a single spot of merchandise at the cinema door.

That's why it was so cool to realize that this movie is actually awesome!

Admittedly, I was skeptical at first.  It reeked so much of Disney Pixar's Cars.  You know, downtrodden town (in this case, mall) gets back on the map, thanks to a race car (in this case, race snail) but not before said race car (in this case, race snail) gets arrested (in this case, snailnapped), and then taken in by a misfit band of town cars (in this case, misfit --yet badass-- snails) and given the blind support of a broken-down tow truck (in this case, a very broke taco guy).

But you know what, Turbo has more heart than Cars.  That's because it's an underdog story.  It's a rising against the norm story.  It's a brotherhood story nicely played by snails Chet and Theo --and their human counterparts, Angelo and Tito.  And it's a reality story where your biggest hero can be your biggest enemy.  My kids loved that twist!
Speaking of twists, the best line in the movie ironically came from said hero/archenemy.  'No dream is too big and no dreamer is too small.'  Imagine that!

Turbo is solid with the right amount of moral lesson and breathtaking action.  The incredible snail attachments got my boys geeking out, too.  They might just gear up our dogs with rocket boosters soon.  Uh-oh.

Starring Ryan Reynolds as Turbo and Paul Giamatti as Chet (my favorite character.  haha!).  TURBO --don't miss it.  Seriously.  Because this snail is fast!

Yep, it's my boys' favorite song right now.

Despicable Me 2: The Love Angle

Aaand they're back!  This time, with an unexpected twist.

We should've seen this coming though.  Villainous overlord to a gazillion minions turned doting dad to three bubbly little girls.  The logical sequel is to reward this reformed sinister being with --ding-ding-ding-- a love interest!  And so that is what Despicable Me 2 is in a nutshell.  A love story.  With a generous spattering of gadgets, evil potions, and maniacal world domincation plotting on the side.

Steve Carell still mans the vocal power of Gru, a retired evil dude who got recruited to be a good guy spy in this latest Universal Pictures film treat.  And the one who mans (or womans... er...) Gru's heart is his lovestruck fangirl, spy partner, Lucy. 

The love bug proves to be contagious as it goes PG level when Margo goes into puppy love mode with Antonio, the contravida El Macho's son.

Speaking of which, El Macho proves to be a lovable baddie, too.  He's so funny, it's cute!  And he dances a mean tango.

And, if you fell in love with Gru's adorable and ultra hilarious yellow minions in part 1, you'll definitely relive the feels for them as purple World War Z zombies in part 2. 

The boys and I were ecstatic that the minions were given more purpose in this movie.  They're not just a comic relief or a running joke as they used to be.  They are, in fact, the essential movers of the plot itself.  Despicable Minions.  Hehe.  I just had to.

No wonder they were given the well-deserved spotlight in the teaser trailer that ran and went successfully viral months before the movie release. 
Don't tell me you didn't love THAT? 

If the family is in for a little love and laughter, take them on a date to Despicable Me  Po-ta-TWO-oh-oooh!

How to pull off a little BIG school party

Hosting a school party for pre-teens can be the scariest thing.  These kids are on the brink of teenhood --moody, highly opinionated, and judgmental (lol!).  It's even scarier when the party you're hosting is for your boy's 12th birthday, and he's all, "I don't want a kiddie party, mimi.  Just something simple but awesome.  Like I won't get embarrassed or anything..."
Oohkaay.

Solution:  GO BIG!  Without breaking the bank.

Go big on food.  You can never go wrong with pizza.  But why stop there?  Get the biggest thing in pizzas.  Say, Jugno's Monster Pizza.  I went with kid-friendly flavors but went the whole 20 and 36-inch goodness.  The kids were all "Wow!", "That's huge!", "Awesome!"
A tip:  Get them pre-sliced into squares for that no-hassle, easy distribution.

Go big on the cake.  I went with cupcakes --again, for that no-hassle, less messy distribution.  For the design, I went with the biggest thing in gaming:  Teen Fortress 2.  And the biggest thing in themed cakes:  Midnight Snacks.

Midnight Snacks rock the character cake-making department, like, so hard!  Can you just look at these details?  The kids were geeking out the whole time!  I heard a lot of "That's Pyro!", "This is so cool!", "Whoa!  TF2!!!"  And the cupcakes were in choco banana flavor.  Another win!  This time, in the taste department!

Of course, you want to be the bigger party planner for the teachers, too.  So even with a shooting video game theme, you DO NOT put guns in your design; and you DO NOT serve soda with your pizza.  Good, good mommy. :)

The best part is watching my boy, Miro, from afar --beaming like the sun as he munched on a cheese pizza alternating with a badge cupcake (He didn't have the heart to eat his favorite TF2 characters, lmao!) as his classmates went on thanking him and telling him how cool his little party is.

All in all, I spent less than Php4,000 for this success.  A small price to pay to hear your preteen say, "That was the best birthday ever, mimi!"
Hear that?  That's MY birthday wish coming true. :)


Disclaimer:  This blog does not aim to push TF2 to preteens.  The point of this blog is to push party planning bigness without spending big.  Feel free to theme your child's party to what he or she feels is 'big' for him or her.

Back to School with Monsters University

SPOILER ALERT!

Here's a fabulous way to celebrate surviving the first month back to school --Monsters University!  A prequel to Monsters Inc. which takes us back to Sulley and Mike Wazowski's extra colorful college days.  The nice thing about this flashback is that it shows us exactly how our beloved monsters have changed through the years. 

How Mike wasn't just a funny monster, but a determined scarer.

How Sulley wasn't always a responsible furry 'Kitty', but a party jock and jerk.

How Randall wasn't always a conniving villain, but actually a nerd who sported glasses and wanted nothing more than just to fit in.

A big plus is seeing Mike as a wide-eyed toddler with braces.  Ain't he adorable????  Awww...

The story is all about Determination and Positivism.  How you can fight the odds when they're all against you.  And how you can make things work to your advantage as long as you have the drive.  I didn't quite like the cliche 'Nerds Fight Back' theme that went on.  But the scene where Mike and Sulley first worked together to scare human adults instead of children is definitely our favorite ever.  That was the best scaring scheme!  And adult screams generate more energy than kids'.  Who knew?

Lastly, when Mike finally accepted the fact that he couldn't be a scarer... he went on and became a scare coach.  How's that for making your weakness work for you!

My kids got a different message though. 
"So let me get this straight.  We don't need to finish school to get a job?"
Ugh.  Thanks a lot, Disney Pixar.

Monsters University is still running.  So finish your homework and catch it!

WORLD WAR Z AND MORE!

IT.  IS.  INCREDIBLE!!!

With that kind of intro, you just know spoilers are afoot.  If you don't dig that kind of thing, avert yer eyes!

Nothing would have ever prepared us for World War Z.  Nothing.  It was literally a heart-pounding ride all throughout with only the shortest stops for a bite of popcorn.  And before you go saying "Not another zombie movie!", oooh... World War Z promises to be that and more.  MORE being the operative word here.

MORE ZOMBIES.

Think 'army of ants attacking a downed roach'.  That's how much more!  And these are not your typical Walkers.  This breed of undead are runners... no wait, athletes!  They sprint like Olympic Gold Medalists, throwing their bodies over walls, catching wind for a fraction of a second, and then resuming a mad dash for your jugular without breaking a sweat.  Oh, and once they bite you, you're zombified in 12 seconds.  Hence, more zombies in record-breaking time.

MORE EMOTIONS.

Brad Pitt takes the helm in this survival fest.  Starting off as the father of a happy family.  Quickly catapulting into a panic-stricken dad running around with his brood in a zombie-filled city.  Then, relief as his family was saved.  Only to get angered by the government keeping his family hostage unless he saves the world.  Followed by utter desperation to get the job done... all for his family.  And you thought you knew what an emotional rollercoaster was.

MORE HEROIC... uh... INTUITION.

Ok, I know this movie is fast-paced.  But I just think Brad might've been way too swifty in figuring out a way to protect the survivors from the zombie menace.  There were a couple of signs.  But were those really enough?  Oh well.  It's a slight kink which, with all this slam-bang happening, I can simply overlook.

And... MORE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE THEORIES!  Love these!

Is this a mere 'rabies' epidemic gone out of hand?
Is this a massacre brought on by the serial killer known as Mother Nature?
Is this a plague sent by God to reset the mankind button once again?  I got all giddy when He tried to spare Jerusalem all over again, too.
Or, is this an invasion conspiracy wherein only the healthy turn into zombies while the ill and weak continue to survive while they can?  Seriously, these zombies won't even eat you.  They just bite you so you, too, will turn.  Evil.  I say that's pretty scheme-ish.  It makes the zombie apocalypse almost like a weapon of war.  Hmm...

But I overanalyze.

If you plan to watch World War Z soon --and I highly recommend it-- prepare to lose your breath.
If you plan to survive the zombie apocalypse in the future --and I highly recommend this, too-- lose the stilettos and run.

And the highlight of this post is...

I get bored easily.  And I take it out on my hair.  I change styles like every couple of months.  I've gone from the sleeked to the flipped, from the bobbed to the geometrically odd --all thanks to the patience and valuable input of David's Salon.  Yeah, I don't go for the ultra expensive hair centers.  I've got my creative crew right here.

Soon enough, of course, the inevitable happened.  I ran out of style ideas.  My style team (yes, I actually have one --haha!) was equally stumped.  So I guess this can only mean one thing:  Time to Dye!

I sat there staring at pages upon pages of possible colors and all I could think of was "Eeenie, menie, minie, mooooe...".  I'm not a stranger to color.  But my mane has been the jettest of blacks for years now.  It all felt like a first time kind of thing all over again.  All I knew was that if I wanted a change, it just had to be obvious.  And it shouldn't embarrass my children... too much.  Hehe.

After a longish meeting with my style team (Haha!  They will deny this for sure!), we decided that highlights is the way to go.  But, highlights that seriously create, you know, a REAL highlight.  None of those regular browns that are only visible when hit with the right amount of outdoor lighting.

3 hours later... VOILA!  My old hair is crowned with stripes of violet, purple, blue, with funky bright reds at the tips! 
I know, it sounds 'scary killer clown' when I enumerate it like that, but really, it's fine.  Super fine, in fact.  The colors are carefully distributed so as not to give the regular bystander a heart attack, but a lovely shock instead.  I've never felt this high about highlights before!  I got the huge change I needed, the unique style I wanted, and my kids love it.  They say my hair reminds them of peanut butter and jelly with a little bit of zombie attack.  Ha!
Kudos to my style team! (Haha!  I just can't stop myself, can I? :P)