Hey everyone! It definitely has been a while since my last post so I will try to make this one good. Over the past two days, I have seen 3 movies: Charlie Wilson’s War (the one about the senator who conducts a covert war), National Treasure: Book of Secrets(Sequel to National Treasure) , and Enchanted (yes, enchanted the one about princes and princesses). To make this easy for me to keep myself organized, I will break the movies into three sections.

CWW

Premise: Based on a true story of an alcoholic womanizing Texas congressman works with CIA agent to fund and assist the ragtag Afghan army in their fight against Soviet Russia.

Impression: I really liked this movie for two main reasons. The first is because I like movies that have a historical parallel. About 10-20 minutes of the movie looked like actual historical footage of helis, planes, and tanks being blown up by rockets. The second is the fact that a congressman who regularly drinks before 10 AM and has a secretary staff full of beautiful, loyal women (at one point, he calls them jailbait….yes, jailbait but they were all mature, rest assured) can singlehandedly persuade the CIA to engage in a war that was financially the costliest covert war in the history of the United States. Charlie was initially the typical congressman who gobbled up all the intel that was fed to them by the CIA, which left him utterly speechless when questioned about the United State’s commitment by the Afghan President and his advisers. But all this changed when Charlie visited an Afghan refugee camp along the Iran/Afghan border. What he saw gave him the resolution to help these Afghan rebels in their plight against Red Russia. Though in the end the Afghan rebels were successful in fending off the Russians, Charlie had failed to help Afghanistan build its infrastructure. Charlie had taken the Afghanistan situation to heart and had desperately tried to push his cause but the funding was being diverted else where. This event eventually set the stage for the problems in the Middle East today and captures the cusp of the decline of the Soviet power perfectly. To sum up quickly, it was an easy to follow movie, had a great premise and cast, and was good for a few laughs. It can get boring at certain points where plane after plane is bombed.

NT: BoS

Premise: Thomas Gates, deceased great grandfather of renowned treasure hunter Benjamin Franklin Gates, is accused of aiding and masterminding the assassination of president Lincoln. Benjamin Gates must once again call on the aid of his hacker friend and ex-girlfriend, Riley and Abigail (her name does not sound hot…but she’s fine) respectively. Together, they travel to France, England, and to Mount Rushmore to uncover the truth about their family history.

Impression: I really liked the first movie because of all the historical references/parallels (as I had already mentioned above) and I was expecting the same from the second movie. I couldn’t help but notice some things that did not fit their historical context but beyond that, the movie was alright. Ugh, it’s 2:30 AM and I’m freaking tired so I’ll just finish up quick. I recommend it, go watch it. It is a little on the fantastical side, but I do not know enough history to ruin the movie for me.

E

Premise: Princess is being kept in a forest so her true love won’t find her. Evil step mother wants to take the crown for herself, blah blah right? Same old princess story for the most part, with a New York twist.

Impression: It starts out like any other Disney animated movie, and for a while, I thought the movie was gonna be animated. But the main characters are teleported into ‘real life’ as it turns out, and are separated. Giselle (the princess) is very fairy tale-y. She seems delusional to the lawyer who helps her but to the lawyer’s daughter, she represents all the hopes and dreams of childhood. I must say, Giselle does break out into song in the middle of Central Park, and a Jamaican band happens to know the song and merrily joins her. And I think I have part of the song stuck in my head. Again, this is very hard for me to continue as I am growing more tired by the second. To sum up, it is the typical Disney princess movie with some twists. There was a role reversal where the guy was the ‘damsel in distress’ and the girl was the ‘knight in shining armor come to save the day’. I really liked how the makers built up to the ending with the loss of innocence of the princess and her realization that love makes people blind to their true love.

Ok, for my final statements, I would like to say I got everything I got I wanted for Christmas and I hope everyone else did too. And I want to say ‘Have a Happy New Year’s!’