Scream 3 - 2000

Edit after I’ve watched the first two. Cotton is now famous on tv has his own show but has no intention of doing any cameos in the movies. GhostFace cals him threatening his girlfriend, to know where Sydney is. Christine hears his voice so when he arrives she’s scared of him, but Cotton tries to fight him and is killed. Sidney is away, in hiding, with her dad, in a place with lots of alarms. She works from home, on the phone, “California’s women’s crisis counseling”. 

A cop goes to Gale with the news that Cotton and Christine were killed. Ghostface left a picture of Sid’s mom. Gale meets Linus/Dewey again, he’s the technical advisor for the film and they’re bickering again, he’s all rude and accusing. 

Sid still has nightmares. 

Tori Spelling refused to keep playing Sid, so they had to change her.

Sarah plays Candy, the second victim, and indeed she is that. This time Ghostface used director Roman’s voice - te security guy heard a noise and didn’t even look if there was someone, he just closed the door and went out. Right before she died.

Gale stayed with Dewey through all his recovery, but she could not live in Woodsboro and took a new job. He’s resentful because of that.

Gale’s character is killed in Stab3 and so Jennifer, the actress playing her, is terrified because in the script she’s the third to die. 

Everyone is always putting Dewey down :-/

Apparently though, there are three versions, three different script to keep the secrets secret, so who knows who’s next. Sid gets a call with her mom’s voice, that turns to Ghostface’s voice. The voice said ‘home’ but if he’s in her house he doesn’t attack her…

Gale researched Maureen’s life but nothing is known before she married Sid’s dad. 

The big bodyguard who was so rude to Dewey is killed next. Ghostface used Dewey’s voice this time.

Actor Tom is next, lighting a ligter in a room full of gas… which he did not have any suspicions about… not even a little sniff of suspicion…

When Dewey sees Ghostface behind Gale he shoots to save her. Ghostface wrote “I killed her” behind one of Maureen’s pictures, so the police wants Sid to clear that. Sid comes without being called. 

Martha has a very small part as Randy’s sister.

Jennifer keeps close to Gale because this way maybe Ghostface will kill the real Gale and not her, and keeps acting like Gale. 

Maureen was once known as Rina Reynolds, actress in John Milton’s horror movies. He is the producer of Stab.

Ghostface attacks Sid on set. Milton now says that ‘Rina’ went to his parties, where girls could make ‘connections’, but Rina didn’t play the part, she said that someone took advantage of her. 

Dewey, Gale and Jennifer are lured to Roman’s lame birthday party by Ghostface using Sid’s voice.

There they find the small device he uses to mimic their voices. Roman is killed, then Angelina - who should have played Sid’s role - and then Tyson and Jennifer. Gale is captured, she calls Dewey but his gun is not loaded and he’s knocked out. Once he has them, Ghostface calls Sidney. At the house, cop Kinkaid arrives and he’s injured. Sid has to fight Ghostface, who is actually Roman - Gale checked that he was dead… didn’t check very well, did she?

Roman is her brother… he kills Milton in front of her, planning to blame it all on her, with a recorded confession in her voice. He said he killed Maureen because after she rejected him, he spied on her, and he told Billy about Maureen and his father, he ‘directed’ his actions…

Sidney fights him a lot, giving Dewey and Gale time to find her so Dewey can finally shoot him in the head. 

Back at her safe house, Dewey and Gale get engaged. Sid doesn’t set the alarm she even leaves the door open, before she goes to watch a movie with Dewey, Gale and Kincaid. 

The end.

Liev Schreiber as Cotton Weary

Kelly Rutherford as Christine

Scott Foley as Roman Bridger

Lance Henriksen as John Milton

Emily Mortimer as Angelina Tyler

Parker Posey as Jennifer Jolie

Carrie Fisher as Bianca

(A small part where she says she only looks like her, then give them information about Rina :lol: )

It was on tv, there was nothing else, so I watched it, I sure didn't go looking for it! I only watched it out of curiosity, I never really believed it could be any good, of course. Well, I'm not a big fan of horror movies in general, but this is not a horror movie, anyway, and if I remember correctly I liked a good half of the first Scream.
In this third Scream we meet again old characters Sid, Gale, and Dewey. The story: the third movie inspired by the Woodsboro murders is being made, and it's called "Stab 3", (do I laugh or do I cry? ah the dilemma) . When the actors start dying, murdered, cop Kincaid (Patrick Dempsey) calls for Gale's help (Courteney Cox), who meets Dewey (David Arquette) at the Studios, working for the show. Sidney (Neve Campbell) is now in hiding, alone somewhere (why? at the end of each movie a killer is caught right? I don't remember Scream 2, I'm not even sure if I've ever watched it or not, but did they catch him or not at the end??). The killer leaves pictures of Sid's mother, and also calls her on her phone, so she comes back and joins the investigation. One by one all the actors are killed (at least 6). The killer takes Gale and Dewey prisoners instead of killing them to lure Sidney in. She goes and there's the final showdown, face to face, between her and a whining psychopath (Scott Foley) complaining because "mommy didn't want me" : basically the big surprise is that Sid has a brother, born after her mom was raped, who tracked her down and was rejected, so he killed her (?) and then lots of other people who had nothing to do with it (?) until Sid and then Dewey stop him. Of course not one but two women had said he was dead (we saw Gale checking) but who cares about details and coherence in this kind of movie. It's not like they're expected to make sense right? :-/
By the way, how come in movies people always find out the identity of their real parents, or stuff like that, shouldn't it be kept a secret?
Anyway, I find only two positive things to say about this movie: here and there it was sort of funny to have together Gale and actress-impersonating-Gale, investigating or screaming side by side, or running hand in hand. Second thing: the ending, the last scene is not bad, with Sid coming inside the house to watch a movie with Gale and Dewey back together and also cop Kincaid (are they living all together now?) and not turning on the alarm at the door, even not caring when the wind opens the front door. Instead she smiles, because she doesn't have to fear anymore, she's safe and doesn't need to jump at any sudden movement anymore. She's finally safe and at peace.
That's it, all the rest was worth nothing.

Coldplay (hymn for the weekend)

First song I talk about, had no intention to talk about songs, but I'm amazed. What happened?? I never liked Coldplay, their songs were boring and I disliked the singer's voice so much, and I disliked so much that "fix you" song, with that little voice that sounded like Roger Rabbit's villain...
and now this is the second song I like. I can't believe it. There was that "adventure of a lifetime" that was nice, and the video was fun with the dancing monkeys, and now there is this "hymn for the weekend" where his voice is now more 'full', warmer, cooler than it was before, and the videoclip is so cool I really like it, with all those colors, and I don't know, I really like it. What happened? Have I changed or did they change?
I don't think it's me because I still don't like the old songs just like before, so it must be them, or him since my main problem with Coldplay was the singer's voice.
Whatever the reason: good! I really like this song and video!

Taxi 3 - 2003

Well, the beginning was very cool, but the rest was too silly for me. Too much really. I haven't watched the first two of the series, so I can't compare them.This one starts off with a big chase: one man is being chased by a gang using roller skates: he uses a motorcycle, then a bycicle, at the end he takes a taxi: it's Daniel's taxi! The man takes off his helmet and surprise! It's Sylvester Stallone in a cameo :-D nice touch :-)
He asks Daniel if he can get to the airport in twenty minutes, and he replies he still has time to finish his sandwich :lol: Daniel has a super car: one button and it changes wheels, plate, and a spoiler comes out. He starts driving and the speed is terrific! Then he says: put on your belt because I'm about to change into third gear :lol: the faces Stallone makes :lol: When they arrive he's like destroyed :-p
Then the cool bit ends for me. The rest is a stupid story - which wouldn't be the problem in itself, one doesn't watch this kind of films for an intellectual story, but here they go too far for me. The policeman Emilien is really too stupid, and he's supposed to be an inspector too! Come on, eight months and he didn't notice his girlfriend was pregnant! Eight months!
Daniel's girlfriend is pregnant too, but he understands pretty quickly. By the way, she leaves him because of it, because things in their lives should change if they're going to have a baby, I mean they live in a garage and he spends all his time around his car.
The story revolves around a gang of thieves always wearing Santa Claus' costumes to go by unnoticed. Emilien does a stupid thing after the other, but the rest of the police force is not much better: from the policeman who can't drive and drags his car into a swimming pool, to the chief, so stupid he lets the gang's leader in, letting her spy on them just because she's a pretty girl who can tell a lie.
At the end there is a big chase, but the worst I've seen, at the top of a mountain covered in snow, the gang tries to escape skiing and Daniel presses another button and its peugeot becomes like a snowmobile, and he goes top speed down the mountain after them! Come on, there's a limit to silliness, or there should be.
Worst of all is that Emilien character, really too silly, too much, really an idiot, he shouldn't be allowed to go around without a guardian!


In Italy: Taxxi 3 (for mysterious reasons...)

Abre los ojos - 1997

1997 so this came first, and Vanilla Sky is the remake. Well, it's incredible how identical the movies are, but this one is better because there is everything I liked but it lacks everything I did not like. Only thing I liked more in Vanilla Sky is Cameron Diaz. I'm not a big fan, but she's good, very good, and in her performance I could clearly see how in love she was and how she was suffering, and I felt sorry for her at the party, but here I didn't feel all that, actually I found this Nuria character more scary than sad, more psychopath than heartbroken. Everything else was better here. Well, I liked Tom Cruise, sure, but I also liked Eduardo Noriega here as César.
The movie starts with César and Nuria waking up, with him leaving her and going out to an empty city: a dream. There's César talking to the psychiatrist in his cell (this was definitely a cell, I don't know where Cruise's character was), with his mask on. César's friend Pelayo (Fele Martinez) goes to his birthday party with Sofia (Penelope Cruz), a normal, pretty girl without all the silliness in the other film. Sofia is cute and funny and César won't leave her alone. Basically the same lines in both films:  same scenes, same words, it was unbelievable.
César takes her home, they chat, they watch tv, they have a lovely time together, and he's in love.
He goes home in the morning, and out of her house he meets Nuria, who tells him she wants to have sex with him and have fun, but he refuses. She asks if he's afraid and he accepts.
...
Really? Does this really work?? You say 'are you afraid?' and that's enough to make any man do what he doesn't want to do?? Please tell me it's not.
Anyway.
She takes some drugs, then asks him what happiness is, she tells him she's happy when she's with him and that it's sad that he doesn't know anything about her, only her first name, but he seems totally uninterested, and then she speeds up and crashes her car and dies.
Like in the other movie there's the dream with Sofia, the very disfigured face after he woke up from the coma caused by the accident, the meeting with the doctors, the mask...
and then he really meets her, she works as a mime at a park. He talks to her, kind of aggressive, like 'how do you think I am? You didn't even call'. She was definitely uncomfortable, but in the end she accepts a date with him. Looking at her, it seems like she didn't want to hurt him.
The night of the date there's Pelajo too, who tells César to take off the mask he put on, but he replies it is a protection against infections...Pelajo doesn't buy it, they argue, César moves away from them and starts drinking and watching them talk or dance. When César goes back to her, he's completely drunk which makes her even more uncomfortable. They all go out, but Sofia just wants to be left alone and go home, so they all go their own way.
It's unbelievable how identical the two films are, but here the bar scene was not so long.
Everything was the same: César living happily with Sofia until he starts seeing Nuria everywhere and ends up killing Sofia believing her to be already-dead Nuria, until he realizes this is all a dream, he killed himself and had his body crionized or whatever, so it was his own brain that created all that mess. Years have passed, everything's changed, and now he can wake up and be alive again, but in a world without Sofia or anyone he ever knew because they're long gone.
With Cameron Diaz's performance it would have been just great.

Legion - 2010

Oh I like it, the battle, the angels, the little old lady crawling on the walls like a demonic spider-person, and of course him, Michael, the rebel archangel, who cut off his wings and came to protect humanity (not each human) against the apocalypse (or extermination, like he calls it), sexy Paul Bettany who would be just perfect if only he could get a bit of voice out, I mean 'louder please, what on Earth are you saying??? '
Anyway, I like the story: God is very rightly disgusted with humanity, and not for the first time. He once sent a flood, now he sends his angels. All the weak humans are possessed and try to annihilate everyone. Archangel Gabriel obeys the order, but Michael feels it's not right, he suffers but can't help it. God once told them to love 'us' and now how can he ask them to kill 'us'?
In some mysterious way the baby of still-pregnant waitress Charlie is the key, he's important, he's humanity's only hope or something like that, and Michael protects her until the baby's born. Actually he should have killed him, but as I said he disobeys because he still has faith in the people, and I like the speech he gives to Jeep (how can he be called Jeep???): "my love for mankind was no less than his... I have watched you kill each other over race or greed, waging war over dust and rubble and the words in old books. Yet, in the midst of all this darkness, I see some people who will not give up, even when they know all hope is lost...I see you Jeep...you love a woman who bears the child of another and you love her even though you know she may never love you the way you love her.You, Jeep, you're the reason I still have faith" and he says this to his face :lol:
So, the baby is born, everyone in that diner in the desert in the middle of nowhere dies, only Jeep Charlie and the baby are alive. Michael helps them escape, but in the battle that follows he's killed by Gabriel who still has his bulletproof wings. It was not a fair fight and he says "you wanted to live like them, you will die like them". You #@#
Michael's body disappears and Gabriel goes after the baby. Charlie refuses to surrender her child to him, and Jeep attacks Gabriel to protect her. When Gabriel is about to kill Jeep, here it comes in a bright white light my Michael, alive and whole again, God saved him and forgave him. Gabriel doesn't understand why. "You gave him what he asked for, I gave him what he needed" is the answer.
Then they battle and in a fair fight Michael wins in a moment, but doesn't kill his opponent.
Gabriel:"I would not have shown you such mercy" : yes we know you #@#
and Michael "I know. That's why you failed him"
Then Michael tells Jeep to protect Charlie and the baby because he's the protector, always has been.
Last scene, we see Jeep and Charlie (and baby of course) driving away smiling in a car full of weapons :-p
Well, this means the battle goes on? Weak people will keep being possessed by whatever turns them into monsters?

I didn't write any name, did I? Well:
Michael-Paul Bettany of course
Jeep-Lucas Black
Charlie-Adrianne Palicki
Kyle (a divorced father who tried to protect a child, only the boy was possessed and killed him)-Tyrese Gibson
Percy(diner's cook, a good man)-Charles S. Dutton
Howard (first to die, and in quite a way too: first the little old demonic lady bites off half his neck, then he's dragged away by the horde outside, sort of crucified upside-down under the sun right out of the diner (don't know why the boils full of acid)  until he finally explodes killing poor Percy)-Jon Tenney (the one from The Closer right?)
Bob(Jeep's father, owner of the diner)-Dennis Quaid
Gladys(the demonic old lady)-Jeanette Miller
Gabriel-Kevin Durand, that according to IMDB was in a lot of films I've seen but I just can't remember him. I looked him up because I thought I had seen him somewhere but I still can't place him...

Elephants can remember by Agatha Christie

A very nice book, I like it a lot. Not difficult to understand, a quite easy mystery, at least nowadays after so many mysteries have invaded our libraries and screens. Still, as always it's very well written, there's Poirot in it which is always a plus point from me, and there's also writer Ariadne Oliver: she's always fun and makes me think of Agatha herself so much it's always a pleasure to read about her :-)
The story starts with Mrs Oliver, when a stranger comes to her at a party to ask her a rather odd question: was it Celia's mother who many years ago shot herself after killing her husband or was it her father who shot her and then killed himself? Apparently this Celia Ravenscroft is about to marry Desmond Burton-Cox, this woman's adopted son. Of course her reasons are not noble (protecting her son or stuff like that), but money-related. He's about to inherit a lot of money from his real mother, and she wants to prevent the marriage. Mrs Oliver dislikes her but can't help the curiosity. She talks to Poirot and they start investigating. Many years have passed, but Mrs Oliver knows about elephants having an amazing memory, and she thinks, if elephants can remember maybe some people can too.
She starts 'hunting for elephants', meaning talking to old people she hasn't seen in years, then tells everything to Poirot.
As I said, it's not too difficult once you learn that Mrs Ravenscroft had a twin sister identical to her who was crazy and had spent some time in a mental institute. The sister was not only crazy, but jealous too because she loved Mr Ravenscroft too. At this point it's quite easy to guess the truth, and basically Poirot's challenge is to find proof, but he finds a girl who lived there and knew everything. She never said a word because of a promise to Mr Ravenscroft. She always knew that Mrs Ravenscroft was killed by her sister, but she still loved her poor crazy sister so asked her husband to protect her, she didn't want her locked up. Still, he felt that she was dangerous and could not be let free in the world, so he killed her and then killed himself. It was not a double suicide after all.
Maybe Celia and Desmond will never reveal the truth to the world, but at least now they know.

ITA Gli elefanti hanno buona memoria

Raising Helen - 2004

I liked it enough, mostly the second part. It's the story of Helen (Kate Hudson), single working girl who likes fashion, parties and dancing all night. She has two sisters, Lindsay and Jenny, both married and both mothers. Helen lost her parents when she was very young, so Jenny (Joan Cusack) raised her. When Lindsay and her husband die in an accident, both sisters receive a letter: surprisingly Lindsay chose Helen to take care of her three children: teenage Audrey (Hayden Panettiere), and younger Henry (Spencer Breslin) and Sarah (Abigail Breslin). Helen is freaking out, Jenny is hurt and can't understand why. Helen's life changes completely: she changes home, job, friends and habits. She meets pastor Dan (John Corbett) who helps her a lot and then asks her out. As soon as I saw him with the white collar, helping out, it felt so weird because it was so obvious he liked her, but then I remembered: American movie not Italy, pastor not priest. Right. Good. So, they eventually date. Helen learns quickly how to deal with Henry and Sarah, just by following her heart, but Audrey is a teenager, so things are much more difficult. Like apparently every kid in America she has fake ID (where do they get them???) and likes the wrong guy. Helen doesn't like to be tough, doesn't want to be hated, and when she learns that Audrey has left the prom with this BZ guy she asks for help. Dan 'interrogates' BZ's friends to know the exact motel they went to, and Helen begs Jenny to do the 'dirty work' for her. It's Jenny to bust in the room and shout at the two kids, she takes Audrey home. Helen just couldn't do it and now she thinks she doesn't have what it takes to be a mom. Jenny takes the three kids to her home and Helen has her old life back, but now somehow, dancing all night doesn't seem as much fun as it used to be, and coming back to an empty house feels so sad. She wants them back. Jenny always knew Helen loves the three kids like she does but she questioned Helen's ability to raise them. Now, watching Helen taking Audrey's fake ID away from her, bearing her "I hate you" with a brave "I'll just have to live with that" makes her understand that little-living-the-life-Helen has become a mom. They all make peace, Helen has the kids back, Audrey says "I'm sorry", Dan is lovely and Jenny will always be there to help if needed.


Ita: quando meno te lo aspetti

World figure skating championship 2016

Beautiful. I loved it. I watched almost all of what aired on tv, I only missed the Ladies free dance unfortunately. I love figure ice skating, although I didn't like all this year's programs.
My favourite skater is and will always be Yuzuru Hanyu: I mean, how good is he?? I love how he feels the music, how smooth he skates, how light he seems while jumping... he's perfect, he's everything I love about ice-skating. Here he made a few mistakes and was only second but I don't care, to me he's the best since the first time I saw him, I love his style, and anyway it probably wasn't simple for him to skate with all the media pressure (after the world records) and after Javier did the program of his life.
Javier Fernandez is a big champion and everything, sure, blah blah blah, I know, but he's just not my style.
Aliona Savchenko and Bruno Massot (Germany), third place. I knew she was good, now that she has another partner I was surprised to see how good he is and how good they are together, and it was a pleasure to watch them because they were great together and because skaters usually look concentrated, determined, things like that, but here she was shining, she looked happy, having fun, doing something she loves, she reminded me of myself the rare occasions I get to dance. I'm really happy for their third place. maybe I shouldn't because the Italians were fourth, but honestly I don't like this "dolce vita" program.
Wenjing Sui/Cong Han (I hope I wrote it right). I didn't know them but they were very good, and I loved their exhibition, it was lovely. (music: Champagne sung by Bocelli)
The Shibutanis, I always love them but unfortunately I hate that Coldplay song :-/
Cappellini/LaNotte: I usually love them, but I don't like this free program, sorry. I still love their "Dance of the hours" though. Lovely.
Charlene Guignard/Marco Fabbri: I knew they couldn't win, but they did really well (10) and I love their programs, both short dance and "schindler's list" free program.
Papadakis/Cizeron (France) They won the gold and I agreed, I liked their program and they were great. I also liked their exhibition (and her shorts :lol:), it was fun and sexy.
Bojang Jin, I think they should give him programs a little more... rock. He would probably do better artistically.

Little black book - 2004

It's nice, I liked it enough. It's the story of Stacy (Brittany Murphy) who works in a tv show with her friend Barb (Holly Hunter). Stacy has a boyfriend, Derek (Ron Livingston) who never talks about his past. Because of this, Stacy easily accepts when Barb suggests to take a look inside Derek's 'little black book', his digital organizer that he left home when he went out for work. Stacy discovers many things, and can't stop until she learns more about him. Among his ex-girlfriends there is supermodel Lulu (Josie Maran), successful and confident Dr Keyes (Rashida Jones) and sweet cook and hockey fan Joyce (Julianne Nicholson). Stacy talks to all three of them using a false name (Barb) and lying about the reason she wants to talk to them (obviously).
She interviews Lulu, she pretends to need a doctor to meet dr Keyes, but when it comes to Joyce, Stacy actually likes her very much, as did I. Joyce was so sweet and nice and lovely that Stacy thought she'd like to be friends with her, although Joyce talks about Derek in a way that hurts, because she's still in love with him. Without consulting with her first, Barb sets her up: she throws Stacy in front of the cameras of Kippie's (Kathy Bates) live show, showing on tv pictures and even his interview to Lulu; Barb lured to the show everyone: Lulu, Dr Keyes, Joyce, and of course Derek. Right there, live on tv, Stacy is forced to reveal the truth to the women and to Derek, she cries and tells him they are not right for each other : he never talked to her about his life (not just his past, but his present too. It turns out he still sees dr Keyes because they share a dog, and he's still a good friend of Joyce), and she was always afraid to tell him simple truths like "I hate hockey". She breaks up with him and goes away, but before going she "breaks up" with Barb too.
She goes out and meets and old friend, a guy that went to her same school, and she was all "this is a sign, I was meant to meet you!" but surprise: he's married, and happily too. But he gives her good advice: stop planning everything or you'll miss your life. That's right, all the movie was Derek here, Derek there, and nights of solitude at home listening at Carly Simon's songs or "let the river run" which, I think, makes for a perfectly suited ending: Stacy being interviewed for a new job. She gets it, and once alone she phones her mom (Sharon Lawrence) to yell "I got the job" and that was so much like Working Girl. I would have stopped right there, honestly, it would have been right, but they decided to overdue it, and here it comes Carly Simon in the flesh. There's fainting and hugs and that's the end.




Italia: Tutte le ex del mio ragazzo

Theodore Boone: the activist by John Grisham

I didn't know Grisham also wrote young-adults novels. This is the first I've seen and read. It was good, very simple, and simplistic too, it all ends quite easily and happily. It was a nice reading, written very well.
The story: Thirteen year old Theo, not good at sports but good at talking who wants to become a lawyer like his parents, is a very decent, smart kid. He gets involved in a rather political matter: the Government intends to build a bypass to reduce traffic on the busiest road of his town, and it might sound like a good idea only he learns that because of it the farm that one of his friend's family has owned for generations will be taken by the Government to destroy and make space for the new big road; also Theo learns that this new project will cost many millions, and he questions whether it is right to spend so much money on something not "really necessary" when at the same time many people in town are being fired due to cuts to the town's funds. It starts slow, with his friend asking him about Eminent Domain, but Theo gets more and more involved: three workers almost kill his dog Judge, and he meets with some activists who explain to him how this road will be close to places where young children and kids go to school or to play football. Theo learns that those in favor of the project plan to gain an awful lot of money, it it will go through, and he's convinced that it is a useless, even dangerous project and wants to stop it. The ending was very simple and maybe even a little disappointing (maybe). Here it is:
The day comes when five people have to vote on the project: three yes and the bypass will be built Theo goes forward to speak for the town's kids and makes a very good speech, saying how Eminent Domain can be useful, sure, but must be used by the Government only in case of need, and since the town can go on very well even without the bypass, in this case the Eminent Domain would be an abuse of power.
After his excellent speech, they vote: two yes, one no (everybody knew those three were going to vote that way), another no (general surprise) and the last one refused to vote, which actually counts as a no, because there was no majority and in case of a tie the proposal is rejected. General round of cheers and applause, happy ending for all the good people of Strattenburg.

A very simple story, ideal for young teenagers.