How Zach Braff does it? I'm not too sure. All I know is that - the guy is brilliant. He has incredible insight in the kind of projects he chooses to work on. He's a genius, for sure.. from screenwriting to acting, soundtrack selection to directing.

In many a series of lead roles, he plays Michael in the film called The Last Kiss. Michael, a twentysomething architect on the verge of pushing 30, is happily settled with his girlfriend Jenna (Jacinda Barrett) - the kind of relationship his friends were quite envious of. He realizes that everything he wanted since he was young falls into place. He has a great job, maintains a friendship with his childhood friends and Jenna, who is expecting their first baby. Pretty much, he has it all.


While at a friend's wedding, he meets Kim (Rachel Bilson) - a charming yet aggressive college student who caught his eye. With her forward nature, she seems to easily get Michael wrapped around her fingers without hesitation. While making conversations with her, Michael confesses how much he thinks that even in his otherwise perfect life - there's no more room for surprises anymore. Kim suggests that he's in a crisis which he agrees in silence.

On the homefront, Jenna is caught offguard of her parent's separation and tries to tie loose ends hoping to get Anna and Stephen (played by Blythe Danner and Tom Wilkinson respectively) back together especially with the pending birth of their granddaughter. While, Michael's friends are in a tsunami of relationship turmoil. Izzy, who got jumped by his girlfriend Ariana, and Kenny, who is commitment-phobic, decide to embark on a roadtrip to get away from Wisconsin. Chris, on the otherhand, is stuck in a ticking timebomb of a marriage with Lisa waiting to disintegrate.


With everyone around them in a state of domestic disturbance, Michael is secretly brewing a mix of his own by meeting Kim from time to time with Jenna kept in the dark. Despite having an inkling of what the consequences of his actions will be, he becomes more enamored with Kim's youthful and carefree ways. Chris suspects of Michael's cheating ways and decides not to get involved in any of his alibis.

On the night when he was partying with Kim at a club, Jenna tries to get hold of him with sad news of Izzy's dad who passed away. He puts up an excuse that he is out with Chris only to get busted by her at the wake where all of Michael's friends including Chris are present except him. Upon rushing his way home, Jenna confronts and interrogates him of his whereabouts. Preferring to stick to his alibi only to get outed with Chris, he starts confessing and vows of its meaningless implication in their relationship. With his apologies holding no weight on the matter, she kicks him out of the house. So left with no place to go, he drops by at Kim's dorm and decides to sleep with her instead.

Jenna moves to her parent's house to compose herself and cool down. He figures it right away and thinks of visiting her there when Kim ambushes him at his office. He explains to Kim of his predicament and tries to apologize to her of the confusions caused between them. Michael then rushes out and arrives at the house to talk to Jenna. As her parents tries to get some sense talking to them, she bolts out of the door and goes straight to their house and locks Michael out. He makes up for everything that he has done by waiting and staying in the porch for days and nights - rain or shine. Until Jenna gives in.


What's fascinating about the film is how it dissects the very complicated depths of how relationships is responsible to its own demise. The human factor, is almost and always, a given factor. How being human is an imperfection in itself that explaining lapses in judgment is like beyond the radars of being human. With a contemporary story and setting, Braff has become a poster boy for sensitively flawed leads experiencing dramatic highs and lows of a relationship. His performance is just seamless to begin with. In the meantime, Bilson can easily master the role of a sex kitten trying to seduce the male protagonist and sway him off the tracks. But somehow, you can't help but notice bits and pieces of her O.C. days with Summer Roberts springing from behind her - not so hard to miss on that one though. Overall, the material on this remake is relatively modern and likeable. Kudos!


** This story is taken from my old blog - popcorn sessions. **

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Photos via Aceshowbiz, Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, JoBlo

A few weeks ago on this blog, I posted a two-part series entitled “What Dreams Are Made Of… Sometimes!” It was written at a time when my mind and body was consumed with too much work and personal stress that it took an insane toll even during in my sleep and dream state. I had no idea then what I was running into. Until I realized that it was a dream that had zero – I repeat, zero – sound taking place. No sound, no noise, and most definitely, no music. It was an audiophile’s worst nightmare!

And so, I thought maybe in the future we could manipulate the kind of dreams we have. Maybe make some edits as our dream starts unfolding. Wouldn’t that be so cool? It’s like those scenarios in the movies where a character breaks the fourth wall and tries to revise the story in real time – should some situation proved disadvantageous – in order to gain the upper hand.

In the spirit of that theory, I had this idea what if we can pre-select the kind of tunes that gets played in our dreams. Nothing blah or meh in this case. But a trove of ultra quirky, part dreamy, part ambient, hyper pop alternative soundtrack that even MTV would pale in comparison. So I’ve run down a list of what I felt best suits that surreal and, most often, inexplicable dream environment. Let’s go through it – shall we?


(1) Under The Water – Merril Bainbridge

(2) What I Am – Emma Bunton f/ Tin Tin Out

(3) Symptom Of My Time – Marie Frank

(4) Indestructible – Alisha’s Attic

(5) Damned – Shimoli

(6) Tattooed On My Mind – D’Sound

(7) Totally Underwater – Shelly Poole

(8) Snow On The Sahara – Anggun

(9) Templefrog – Kiln

(10) The Rain – Oh Wonder

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Photos via (from left to right, starting from top panel)  1 - Wikipedia, 2 - Wikipedia, 3 - MusicStack, 4 - LaDiscoàTibronx, (middle panel) 5 - MusicStack, 6 - Lyrics 007, (bottom panel) 7 - iTunes, 8 - Wikipedia, 9 - Ghostly, 10 - All Things Go Music

[This is the second part of the two-part series. To read the first part, click here.]

What I stepped into was a world beyond recognition – it was strange and otherworldly. I was floating in the air with the misty wind moving all around me. I could feel that there were others just like me but just outside my peripheral vision at every turn of my head. It’s like being sucked into a world that was sort of Tim Burton-esque in all its fantastical glory. I was floating in a patch of land that seemed to be elevated by a sea of clouds. A few distances away, I could see a cascading waterfall with the water dropping off to a bottomless pit. Across it were vines growing in total abandonment as it made its way towards some funny looking trees resembling the kind found in exotic Socotra. I was spellbound.

But to add another layer of weirdness was that there was a complete absence of noise, sound, or perhaps even, music. Ever thought how intriguing it can be when you can actually bring your senses forward when you’re under a dream state, of course, with the exception of your tactile and olfactory senses? I’ve always thought it to be rather bizarre that I can still feel, see, hear and say something in that dream state when, after all, you are in deep sleep. But at that point in time, I was missing the hearing part or, yet, the absence of it.


As all dreams often are, they normally don’t make sense. Maybe they served as a reflection of your waking state of how exhausted you are from what you were doing and how badly you needed the rest. Maybe they don’t. And, in that particular dream, all I was doing was just roam aimlessly around that mystical environment – enjoying the sight of the waterfall, the sea of clouds underneath, the intertwining vines and the funny trees.

Before I know it, I started falling off the bottomless pit and I could sense my body was moving uncontrollably. My arms were spread out in the air hoping to grab something to keep me from falling further. I was screaming like mad minus the sound of my voice. All of a sudden, I was taken back to reality. It turned out – I had fallen off the bed with half of my blanket held tightly in my hands and the other half tucked in on top of the bed.

I was awake but didn’t have the strength to get up just yet. I opened my eyes and kept thinking what the dream was about. I replayed it over and over in my head about what it meant. But unfortunately, I didn’t reach any conclusion whatsoever. Then I realized something… there was melody in the air. A song was playing. I also realized… I can hear the music playing. Thank God – everything’s back to normal! Phew!

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Photos via HDW, michaelpickard

Fact: Paris is the city of romance. Yes, everyone knows this even for someone who hasn't been there. But true to form, be it in a postcard, there's always the tacit knowledge of how seeing a film that uses the place as a backdrop makes you want to go there. The Eiffel Tower, the Palais Royal, the French language, Musee de Louvre, the Seine... these and more just give you some kind of fairytale experience.

In Le Divorce, it starts off with Isabel Walker (played by Kate Hudson), an American, who just arrived in Paris to visit her sister, Roxanne de Persand (played by Naomi Watts) exactly the same time when her sister's husband Charles-Henri took off. Immediately caught by surprise on what the sisters are faced with, Isabel's stay couldn't have been more perfectly timed to be there and be of help to Roxanne and her daughter.


Isabel accompanies them to visit Roxanne's in-laws without breaking the news of Charles-Henri's departure. Worried about her sister, she decides to call her parents in Santa Barbara about it and discusses of retrieving a painting owned by the Walkers that Roxanne is holding in her care which might be of interest to her husband. After which, she goes along with Roxanne to meet Charles-Henri and then with writer Olivia Pace, who hires her for a job on the spot while out for drinks.

While working, she meets Yves, who's also under the employment of Pace renovating the apartment. Quickly enough, the two hit if off and even spend the night together in bed watching TV, she comes across one interview of Edgar Cosset, an in-law of hers, whom she becomes infatuated to. This leads to a friendly banter with Yves and drops the issue.

Roxanne, on the other hand, faces bitter divorce proceedings while being pressured to have a baby boy by her mother-in-law despite the predicament. At home, a Getty curator visits the sisters to determine the authenticity of the painting they have believing it is an original La Tour. Even when the curator showed an interest to it, the sisters were encouraged by friends not to give up the Saint Ursula as it is too priceless.


In the middle of channel-surfing, Isabel comes across yet another Cosset interview on TV and decides to call and meet him at Cafe George to help speed up her French. And right off the bat during lunch, Edgar offers a proposition to her to become his mistress which she agrees provided that they keep it on the down-low. Next thing she knows, an Hermès Kelly bag is sent to her way prompting Roxanne to warn her not to accept expensive gifts from men. She now embarks on a relationship simultaneously between two men, one in public with Yves and the other one in clandestine with Edgar.

At Olivia's and Roxanne's book event, Isabel starts getting harassed by Tellman, the husband of Charles-Henri's mistress and asks Yves to kick the guy out from interrupting the book-reading. What follows is a series of negotiation between the Walkers and de Persands making the Saint Ursula the centerpiece of the divorce settlement. It almost lead Roxanne on a suicide attempt while still pregnant. Fortunately, Isabel finds her in time before it causes serious repercussions to the baby. After finding out, the Walkers flies in to Paris to be with their daughters. During lunch, it shows that Roxanne's lawyer, Maitre is having a thing towards her. Their brother, Roger (played by Thomas Lennon) is adamant in discussing the value of the Saint Ursula and how it can be divided equally within the family. The Walker family goes to visit the de Persands country house outside the city to continue their negotiation emphasizing the ownership of the painting as an heirloom. Even the topic involving the supposed affair with Edgar comes into play where Isabel just shrugs off the conversation preferring not to care.


One morning, as Isabel along with her mother and niece tours the Eiffer Tower, Tellman starts following the two on board the lift to the top. He takes them hostage and keeps asking them if Roxanne is coming. As if Roxanne is not experiencing enough domestic problems, she arrives home to find her husband dead. It is then found out that Tellman was the culprit and was sent to a psychiatric institution.

In the later part, Isabel and Edgar ends the affair amicably. The Walkers makes the decision to sell the Saint Ursula and gets astouded how its value skyrocketed to an amount more than $4M USD and even opened up a foundation after the said painting.

The film's dialogue is about 50% in French. So this is more like a nice starter for anyone who wants to learn the language or any Francophile for that matter. Overall, it's a gem to watch not to mention that adorable scene stealer of a haircut on Kate Hudson - it's just vivacious. If only I could pull off that hair style like hers. Très chic!


** This story is taken from my old blog - popcorn sessions. **

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Photos via My French Life, Tribute, Showtimes