where: CENTURY 14 VALLEJO in Vallejo, CA
when: Tuesday, February 21st, 2012
show: 4:30 p.m.
costs: $7.50 Ticket + $3.75 two-scoop Ice Cream ( Strawberry Cheesecake & Cookie Dough ) + $4.50 medium 24 oz Diet/Zero ( w/ Barq's Root Beer & Cherry flavors ) Coke = $15.75
auditorium: 3
seat: 4th row, 4th seat
synopsis/overview: Shawn, a sick and frail boy, goes to his grandparents' country home to rest-up before he goes to a hospital for heart surgery. But the home is also home to a very tiny "human" girl, Arrietty, and her parents who call themselves, The "Borrowers". The borrowers take things from humans that will usually not be missed. Shawn and Arrietty become friends. But it's a friendship that puts the borrowers' lives at risk.
noteworthy scenes: 1.) Bush; 2.) "My own little garden"; 3.) Kitchen; 4.) Dollhouse; 5.) Discovered; 6.) Sugar cube; 7.) Note; 8.) Crow; 9.) "We've better start looking for a new home"; 10.) Pest control; 11.) Dollhouse story; 12.) "Too many memories of wishes that never came true"; 13.) "It really would have made a lovely home"; 14.) Another borrower; 15.) Cricket leg; 16.) Kitchen remodel; 17.) Face to face; 18.) "Sometimes, you have to stand up and fight for what you believe in"; 19.) Caught; 20.) 'Phone call; 21.) Exterminators; 22.) Nest; 23.) "Not gone"; 24.) "Someone's been making tea"; 25.) The cat; 26.) Parting gifts; and 27.) Bonus Scenes during the Ending Credits.
audience reaction: The few people in the audience were mostly families with little brats, like the one in the 5th row whose brats were talkative! The man in the 3rd row was with his brat-daughter; and they left halfway through the movie--I don't know what that was all about. There were people seated further back. And the general consensus of the audience was that this movie was "Enjoyable Enough" for them to watch.
recommendation: I felt the same way, too. This is a family movie that you might want to take your little brats to. Just be sure to keep them quiet or else ....
spoiler alert! That flashlight bulb would need a bigger battery. When Arrietty was standing on Shawn's shoulder, the thought that came to my mind was, Gee, I hope he doesn't have bad breath--I say this because Shawn was never shown brushing his teeth! Ha, ha, ha. How was their house covered with rubbish, and wouldn't the house still be under that pile? They were supposed to "borrow" things that the humans wouldn't miss, but the neighbors noticed that some things went missing.
fyi: What I'm about to tell you might come across as unbelievable, that you might be well-advised "to take it with a grain of salt"--or a lump of sugar, in this case--but I'm telling it to you just the way that it happened many years ago back in Mindanao, Philippines.
We were already living at a Matina, Davao City, apartment at that time. It was probably around the time when I was ten or eleven years of age. At certain times, we would make it a family trip to visit our old house in Kidapawan, Cotabato. But this time around was going to be different because my mother planned for us to stop by a house between Bansalan and Makilala, a house that she heard was inhabited by little people.
The house, in particular, was a typical native-style nondescript house on stilts. The lady owner invited us into her house and told us some things about the little people that lived under her house. She said to treat the little people with respect because they had magical powers that could do both harm and good to humans. And she said that the little people even had the power to assume human proportions whenever they needed to. And, as "humans", they'd even travel to Davao City to do some shopping. The lady even showed us a porcelain jar ( the kind used for beauty creams ) that has a pair of tiny sandals ( i.e. Flip-flops ) in it. My father had to suppress his laughter when he saw the pair of sandals which were the exact same ones quite commonly used to adorn keychains with! The sandals even had holes in them were a keychain ( like the kind used for dogtags ) would be threaded through.
Finally, it was time for us to look under the house. This area under the house was boarded-up on all four sides with plywood. But it had an opening under the staircase. We gathered there at the opening as we peered into the darkness. After staring into the darkness for a few minutes, I noticed a flash of light shoot from left to right in front of my eyes. Then, in the middle of the darkened area, I saw a pair of tiny lighted orbs moving slightly closer to us onlookers. The orbs turned out to be the headlights of a tiny truck with a canvas-covered bed ( like the kind that you see in WWII movies )! The tiny driver got out and walked a few inches in front of the truck and got down on his knees to "scoop water" with his hands from an invisible source in front of him. He was "drinking water", from the look of it! And I saw another tiny man using a pick, and another one digging for something with a shovel.
My eldest sister, the one who now lives in Michigan, was the only other one in the family who saw something in that darkened area under the lady's house. But I can't recall exactly what she saw. I will have to ask her about it someday.
To be sure, there was no Arrietty down there. And the closest to it would have been had my other sister pinched me in disbelief and made me exclaim, Aray, Ate! ( Ouch, older sister! )
And the subdivision that my family moved to, the G.S.I.S. Heights Subdivision in Matina, Davao City, also had some houses inhabited by tiny people. I learned of two such houses. One house, I was told, had friendly tiny people living in it that were bold enough to introduce themselves to the son of the owner of said house. These tiny people decide who they want to reveal themselves to and/or be friends with. It is considered Good Luck to have such friends, so long as you are respectful to them and not abuse the friendship--Yeah, like, good luck with that!
If I could have such friends right now, I'd probably have them hunt down the lowlifes who stole from and trashed my Geo Metro last month. And I'd have them put a curse on the pair of lowlifes and cause them acute pain and suffering! Bwa, ha, ha, ha, ha. Oh, if I could only have such friends ....
word of advice: Be self-sufficient.
tidbits: I went back to Best Buy today to have the car alarm installation completed. I arrived there at exactly 1:00 p.m. But the two installers were backed-up in their work. I was told to come back at 3:30 p.m. ( I just hate it when things don't go according to plan--my plan ). But, I wanted to get this over with a.s.a.p. So I agreed to come back later.
I swung by the Dollar Tree Store at the Target Shopping Center to pass the time away and to buy a bathtub mat and a 3-litre bottle of Root Beer.
Then, I drove to Selecta Pilipino Buffet for lunch. And, would you believe it, I was not in the mood for pigging-out! I only ate about half of what I usually eat--I should have loosened my belt by a notch, or two.
Anyway, as I went to the counter to pay for my meal, I noticed that the proprietor, Ray P., was wearing a brace on his right arm. And he was leaning to his left while on a crutch. He suffers from Gout. He wasn't here the last time that I was here because of his gout. Maybe, his condition is a warning to me not to eat Pilipino food anymore! So, what am I gonna do when I get that certain craving for a "Taste of Home"?
I told Ray P. that I know of a doctor who did something drastic when he discovered that he had gout. This doctor went on a strict Vegetarian Diet for One Whole Year! And that was a long-enough time for him to heal himself of gout. Now, that's a doctor who practices what he preaches. And, if it's good enough for a doctor, it should be good enough for everyone else.
After perusing a couple of Pilipino newspapers at the buffet to pass the time away, I walked next door to the 99 Cent Only Store to buy a 20 oz bottle of Nestea Pomegranate & Passion Fruit Red Tea to water-down the food which I just ate. Whenever I eat at a Pilipino buffet, I make sure to wash my food down with a tall can of Coconut Drink because it is high in Potassium, a mineral that counter-balances the effects of Sodium. And, one thing about Pilipino food, it can get quite salty! I even drank half a glass of water at the buffet on top of the Coconut drink that I had. But these weren't enough. I had to buy the tea next door to help-out with the counter-balancing. ( And if you noticed, I even opted to buy a medium drink--instead of a small--at the theatre concession counter for the same reason. )
At 3:20 p.m., I was back at the install bay at Best Buy. One of the two installers, Theo, a former co-worker of mine, and I got to talking for a bit. He told me that he races cars at the local racetrack, Infineon Raceway, as a hobby. I asked him if he races against cops on Wednesday nights at the racetrack. He told me, No, because he considers it a form of "Entrapment". Heck, I feel that way about it, too.
The local police departments in the area have a race program to keep the streets safe from crazy and reckless dragsters. They use their police cars to drag-race against modified street cars. And the cops almost always lose the race. I think the cops just do that on purpose so that they can gather info on "fast and furious" cars with their on-dash cameras. Word to the wise: Avoid drag-racing against cops.
The other installer, John, showed me the right-side door actuator. He said that it worked, but that it wasn't connected to the wiring system at all. He asked me if I bought the car new. I told him that I bought it used ( It had 10,500 miles on it when I bought it back in August of 2002 ). Maybe it was disconnected back in '05 when I had the right side door fixed after some bitch broadsided my car on Tennessee Street here in Vallejo.
Anyway ... the installation was done by 4:10 p.m. Which left me with plenty of time to go see this movie. So, I did.
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Thank you, once again. Please keep on reading my weekly updates. And don't forget to tell your friends, and everyone else who you know, about my movie review blogsite.
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