where: CENTURY 14 VALLEJO in Vallejo, CA
when: Sunday, August 23rd, 2009
show: 11:20 a.m. "extra dollar off on first show" matinee
costs: $6.00 Ticket + $3.75 small Diet Coke ( plain ) + $4.00 junior Popcorn = $13.75
auditorium: 1
seat: 4th row, 7th column
synopsis: In the corporate-owned Black Falls community, three brothers come upon a wishing rock at the beginning of a rainbow. When they realize that it can grant wishes both good AND bad they decide to get rid of it. But the rainbow-colored rock soon changes hands until the adults greedily and selfishly take turns at it, making things go from bad to worse.
noteworthy scenes: 1.) The no-blinking contest; 2.) The community; 3.) The company meeting; 4.) The school bullies; 5.) The class presentation; 6.) The candy bars; 7.) The mini UFOs; 8.) The gourmet chefs; 9.) The housekeepers; 10.) The orthodontists; 11.) Air walking; 12.) "Up my nose;" 13.) The Chemistry demonstration; 14.) Contortionist; 15.) The rainbow; 16.) The fortress; 17.) The crocodile's wish; 18.) Pterodactyl; 19.) Telephonesis; 20.) The smart one; 21.) The catapult; 22.) The Noseworthys' residence; 23.) The company costume party; 24.) The united front; 25.) Think Green; 26.) Transporting the prisoner; and 27.) Bonus note during the music credits.
audience reaction: Strangely, the audience didn't seem to enjoy this movie as well as I had hoped for. There were no "hands clappers" and the laughters were not that audible. It is still a kid-friendly movie, the kind with messages built-in, that parents can take their children to go see.
recommendation: This is a perfect summer matinee movie for kids.
spoiler alert! The "no blinking" contest was plain stupid because you cannot keep your eyes open for long without your eyes tearing to wash away pollutants and irritants, and neither kid shed a tear. Why weren't the bullies, who constantly picked on "Toe" Thompson ( Jimmy Bennett ) on a DAILY basis, reported to the teacher and school principal? When the bullies who were chasing after "Toe" threw rocks at him, one "hit" the foreground side of a dirt mound from what could only have been an impossible trajectory. When the "chefs" were mixing the eggs, they kept the shells IN the bowl. With all that food cooking and baking, neither Mr. & Mrs. Thompson ( Jon Cryer and Leslie Mann ) nor their daughter, Stacey ( Kat Dennings ), smelled anything coming from the kitchen. When the Thompson couple were riding a bicycle, Mrs. commanded, "Turn left!" To which, Mr. asked, "Which left, your left or my left?" They were fused into ONE body so they both had the same left side--Duh!
fyi: One of the mini UFOs reminds me of a passage in The Old Testament's book of Ezekiel, chapter 1, verse 16 about a "wheel within a wheel." Is the similarity unplanned or intentional?
In college, for one of my Microbiology class's experiments, we had to do bacterial cultures on aerobic microbes from dried nasal mucus--boogers, in layman's terms. After the incubation period, as I transported my Petri dish back to my table for analysis, I dropped my culture on the floor. So I quickly picked it up. My professor looked at me and said, "Decontaminate yourself!" But it's my booger, I answered, as I held it between the thumb and index finger of my left hand. To which she said, "Wash with Betadine." I stood there, at the lab sink, all embarrassed before the whole class, as I washed for no less than 30 seconds with the Betadine solution, all the while thinking to myself that I pick at my nose all the time and should be immune to my own "germs" ( microbes, to scientists ).
Back in Kidapawan, Cotabato, Philippines, I went to my mom's dental clinic one day to be greeted by the sight of a dead baby with two heads kept inside an aquarium with the puncture hole in its throat stuffed with cotton. It died at childbirth when the midwife ( or doctor, I can't remember which ) pulled hard at one head, not knowing about the other head. Rumor was that its mother was cursed by God for being sexually promiscuous. To this day, I don't know what it was doing in my mom's clinic.
At around the same time, my other sister told me that one of our maids slept with her eyes wide open. One night, I went to where the maid was sleeping and turned on the light. Yep, she slept with her eyes wide open. I waved my hand in front of her eyes, I snapped my fingers ... nothing! She slept that way! Weird.
Can you imagine marrying a girl who sleeps with her eyes wide open, and not knowing about her strange condition? You wake up early the day after the honeymoon, turn to look at your lovely new wife and---Oh, Shit!
Out of boredom one day, during lunch period at Notre Dame Elementary School, Boys' Department, in Kidapawan, Cotabato, Philippines, I climbed on top of a table in the lunch room and called the other older kids to gather around me because I was about to perform a magic trick. Once they gathered, I pulled out my handkerchief and proceeded to blow my nose into it. After holding it up for everybody to see, I licked it clean! I got sent home early.
word of advice: "Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it." An ancient Chinese saying.
tidbits: I love the "Baby in the walker with a crocodile in mid-air" freeze-frame--such a great shot!
Throughout the movie, a bratty toddler cried intermittently and the mother was inconsiderate in not taking the brat outside the auditorium so the rest of us could enjoy the show. This must be why the movie received a lackluster response from the audience. Like I said more than once before, the Vallejo crowd is rude, inconsiderate, disrespectful and irresponsible. Only in Vallejo can I expect something like this to happen!
