So bale no (parang si Harry lang) after having breakfast, doing the chores sa house and fixing my room, I decided to watch Vantage Point. Unfortunately, sira yung DVD and Josh said na papalitan na lang nya (since sya naman ang nagbigay). So, Inside Man na lang and City of God yung pinanood ko. Ayos tong movies na to I swear! Kaya lang, sobrang violent ng City of God tapos naiyak pa ko sa scene when 2 little boys were shot sa toes tapos yung isa was killed ng tuluyan... Grabe, until now pag naaalala ko sya, naluluha ako. YA knows na iyakin ako sa movies (I even cried over the movie Powder)... and maybe that's the reason why I really don't like watching movies. Ok na ko sa DVD. Hehe...
I copied synopsis of the movies I mentioned from Wikipedia:
Taking place over the course of over two decades, City of God tells the story of Cidade de Deus (Portuguese for City of God), a lower class quarter west of Rio de Janeiro. The film is told from the viewpoint of a boy named Rocket (Busca pé in Portuguese) who grows up there as a fishmonger's son, and demonstrates the desperation and violence inherent in the slums. Based on a real story, the movie depicts drug abuse, violent crime, and a boy's struggle to free himself from the slums' grasp.
The movie begins cinematically depicting chickens being prepared for a meal. A chicken escapes and as an armed gang chases after it bumps into Rocket who believes that the gang wants to kill him. The movie then flashes back ten years earlier, to tell the story of how he got himself into that position.
Three "hoodlums", "The Tender Trio", one being Rocket's brother, Goose, are terrorizing local businesses with armed holdups. In Robin Hood fashion they split part of the loot with the citizens of City of God and are protected by them. Li'l Dice is a hanger-on who convinces them to hold up a motel and rob its occupants. Li'l Dice ("Dadinho" in Portuguese), serving as lookout, fires a warning shot, then proceeds to slaughter the inhabitants. The massacre brings on the attention of the police forcing the three to quit their criminal ways. Each meets an untimely end, except one who decides to join the church. Goose, Rocket's brother, is slain by Li'l Dice after robbing the younger boy and his friend Benny who have been hiding out and committing crimes themselves.
The movie fast forwards a number of years. Li'l Dice now calls himself Li'l Zé ("Zé Pequeno" in Portuguese), and, along with his childhood friend Benny, he establishes a drug empire by eliminating all of the competition except for a drug dealer named Carrot ("Cenoura" in Portuguese). Meanwhile, Rocket has become a part of the "Groovies" a hippie-like group of youth that enjoy smoking pot. He begins his photography career shooting his friends, especially one girl that he is infatuated with, but who is dating another boy.
A relative peace has come over City of God under the reign of Li'l Zé who plans to eliminate his last rival, Carrot, against the judgment of his best friend Benny, who is keeping the peace. At one point, his best friend and partner in crime Benny has decided to become a "playboy" and becomes the "coolest guy in City of God". Eventually, along with the girl that he has wooed away from Rocket, he decides to leave the criminal life behind to live on a farm. However, he is gunned down at his going away party by former drug dealer, Blackie, who is actually aiming for Li'l Zé. Benny was the only thing keeping Li'l Ze from taking over Carrot's business, so now Carrot is in danger.
Li'l Zé humiliates a peace loving man Knockout Ned at the party and afterwards rapes his girlfriend and kills Ned's uncle and younger brother. Ned turns violent and sides with Carrot. After killing one of Li'l Ze's men, Ned starts a war between the two rival factions that creates a "Vietnam" of City of God. Jealous of Ned's notoriety in the newspapers, Li'l Zé has Rocket take photos of himself and his gang which, unknown to Rocket, are taken by a reporter and published in the daily paper. Rocket then mistakenly fears for his life believing that Li'l Zé will want to kill him for it. In actuality, Li'l Zé is pleased with his newfound fame.
Coming full circle, Rocket is startled by Li'l Zé's request that he take a picture of the gang which had been chasing the chicken at the beginning of the film. Before he can, however, a gunfight ensues between the two gangs, but is broken up by the police. Ned is killed by a boy who has infiltrated his gang to avenge his father, who was killed by Ned during a bank robbery. Li'l Zé and Carrot are arrested and Carrot is taken away to show to the press. Li'l Zé is shaken down for money, humiliated and finally released, all of which is secretly photographed by Rocket. After the cops leave, the Runts (a gang of young children who robbed and terrorized the local merchants) come upon Li'l Zé and shoot and kill him in retribution for him killing one of their gang earlier in the film. Rocket takes pictures of Li'l Zé's dead body and goes to the newspaper.
Rocket is seen in the newspaper office looking at all of his photographs through a magnifying glass, and deciding whether or not to put the pictures of the crooked cops in the newspaper, or the picture of Ze's dead body. The photos of the cops would make him famous but put him in danger, while the photos of Li'l Zé would guarantee him a job at the paper. He decides to take the safe route and gives the paper the picture of Li'l Zé's bullet-ridden body, which runs on the front page.
The story ends with the Runts walking around the City of God, making a hit list of the dealers they plan to kill to take over their drug business.
Inside Man opens with a closeup of Dalton Russell (Clive Owen) sitting in confinement, though the location of the cell he is in is not revealed. He muses, to the audience, the difference between a cell and a prison and offers to explain to the viewer his "perfect" plan for a bank robbery.[1]
The film flashes back to the robbers, who refer to each other using variants of the name "Steve", gathering in a van to prepare for the heist. Led by Russell, the robbers enter a bank disguised as painters. Knocking out the security cameras, they brandish firearms and begin taking over the bank, moving staff and customers deeper into the bank, confiscating cell phones and keys, Russell delivering a beating to a manager who attempts to withhold his. The robbers force all of the hostages to don the same clothes as the robbers, hooded coveralls with sunglasses and masks. They lock them in a number of different rooms, periodically moving them around, and also substituting themselves in as hostages occasionally, each one making a scene to ensure that the other hostages take note of them.
Meanwhile, the police arrive and surround the bank. Detectives Keith Frazier (Denzel Washington) and Bill Mitchell (Chiwetel Ejiofor) introduce themselves to Captain Darius (Willem Dafoe) and briefly discuss the situation.
Meanwhile Arthur Case (Christopher Plummer), chairman of the board of directors and founder of the bank, hires fixer Madeleine White (Jodie Foster) to try to arrange for the contents of his safe deposit box at the bank to remain secret. White meets with the mayor, then manipulates Frazier to let her talk to Russell. Mentioning the special interests she wants to protect, she persuades Russell to let her enter the bank to talk. When White requests access to the safe deposit box, Russell shows her a document, which indicates that Case had received money, enough to set up his bank, from the Nazis during World War II for unspecified services that resulted in Jewish deaths. After assuring Russell that Case will make him a very wealthy man if he is able to escape the bank with this document, White leaves.
Attempting a bluff, Frazier tells Russell that his plane is ready but he needs to know that all the hostages are safe before he can let them leave. Russell allows him to enter the bank, and Frazier is taken on a tour of the building and checks all the hostages, while they discuss the situation, and also Frazier's desire to propose to his girlfriend, something which Russell suggests he should do regardless of finances. Upon exiting the bank, Frazier attempts to overpower Russell, only to fail when another robber comes to Russell's aid. Russell still lets Frazier leave unharmed with seemingly no repercussion for his attack. Frazier reveals to his colleagues that he intentionally tried to provoke Russell, but as Russell did not harm him, he believes that Russell is not a killer.
Soon after, the robbers call and direct the police to point their cameras to a specific window on the second floor, where they show the execution of one of the hostages. An enraged Frazier confronts Russell again, demanding to know their true intentions. Russell simply replies that Frazier is "too damn smart to be a cop" and closes the door on him.
The hostage execution prompts the ESU team into action, and they plan to raid the building, intending to use rubber bullets to knock everyone out. Frazier, however, realizes that the written message Russell sent out has a transmitter inside it. He orders Captain Darius, in command of police on the scene, to recall his men, but Darius ignores him.
Inside the bank, Russell hears the conversation between Darius and Frazier and is alarmed that the police plan to move in. The robbers detonate smoke bombs throughout the bank and release the hostages, leading to a horde of identically dressed people exiting through the smoke, in a mass of confusion. The police detain and interrogate everyone, however, due to the robbers earlier pretence in the bank, Frazier is unable to identify any of them, even Russell, who is missing. No money has been stolen and no people killed or seriously injured, the hostage execution having been faked. Even the weapons left behind were merely toy replicas, leaving it as if the incident never occurred, prompting Frazier's boss to bury the case.
Frazier however keeps looking through the bank's records and finds that safe deposit box #392 never appeared on any records since the bank's founding. He obtains a search warrant from a judge to open it. He is then confronted by White, who informs him of Case's dealings with the Nazis. She also tries to convince Frazier to drop his investigation, reminding him that she has held up her end of her deal with him (guaranteeing he would be promoted, and returning money he was implicated in stealing prior to the events of the movie). He refuses again, and points out there was no deal that he agreed to, and using a James Bond-style recording pen to replay the conversation.
White confronts Case about dealings with the Nazis, in which he confesses everything to her. He also reveals that the safe contained diamonds, including a Cartier ring, belonging to a Jewish friend whom he allowed to die at the hands of the Nazis in exchange for money. He is remorseful for what he did, and had thus led a life of philanthropy and humanitarianism to try to assuage his guilt.
It is then revealed that Russell hid himself behind a fake wall erected inside the supply room (literally, the "inside man"), where he was narrating from the beginning of the movie. He emerges a week after the "robbery" was committed, deliberately bumping into Frazier (who does not recognize him) along the way. Russell is picked up by his associates, and is presumably never caught. Russell's associates ask him for the ring, and Russell reveals it is in good hands, namely Frazier's.
Frazier opens the safe deposit box to find the Cartier ring and a message, "Follow the ring." He confronts Case, informing him of his desire to investigate the ring. He then finds White telling her that the ring was linked to Case's past. He offers White the pen with the recording, and gives her a card to have the Office of War Crimes Issues at the U.S. State Department look into the situation.
After his final encounter with White, Frazier goes home and finds a diamond in his pocket, realising that that it must have been put there by the man he bumped into in the bank. As the movie ends, it is implied that Frazier will use the diamond to propose to his girlfriend.
So, after watching, my eyes were watery na and tired so I slept until dinner time. Wow... And I thought wala na kong maiitulog that night... I was wrong. Iba talaga nagagawa ng Stresstabs...
Halloween's fast approaching, kaya naman, to break the monotony in the office, we held the annual Trick or Treat for kids. Sons, daughters, nieces and nephews of Medicard employees were invited to participate in the program. This was the first time I made time to pack candies sa lootbags. Never ko ginawa yan kasi nanghihinayang ako sa mahal ng candies at tinatamad ako, hehe... Naalala ko, I really need to give these kids something man lang kasi malamang sa malamang papasukin nila ang room ko at magt-trick or treat sa kin. =)
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