The Wedding Planner (2001)

Directed by Adam Shankman (1)

Cast: Jennifer Lopez (2), Matthew McConaughey (3), Judy Greer (4), Alex Rocco (5), Justin Chambers (6), Bridgette Wilson (7), and Kathy Najimy (8)

(Watch the trailer)

My favourite quotes - "You need to learn the patience. I mean love can't always be perfect. Love is just love." & "Love isn't like some enchanted evening. It isn't a fairy tale. Or even love at first sight. That isn't real life."

My favourite dialogue - 

Mary: Dad, you cannot push some guy at me. That's not how it works. You know that. You had Ma.
Salvatore: Yes! And I didn't meet her until the day of our wedding. 

Mary: What are you talking about?
Salvatore: Your mother and I had an arranged marriage. 
Mary: An arranged marriage?
Salvatore: We met on the day of our wedding. We couldn't even look at each other. I was in love with another girl and your mother wanted nothing to do with me. She said I had big eyebrows and a low IQ. Anyway, one day I got very sick with scarlet fever, and er, she stayed by my side. She took good care of me. For the first time, I appreciated her. Then the appreciation grew to respect. Respect grew to like. Then like grew to love. A deeper love than I could ever hope for. So give Massimo a chance. Maybe you don't like him now. But maybe you might love him later. I should have told you about your mother and I a long time ago. Maybe then you'd feel differently about love. 
Mary: I don't feel anything about love.


Edward: You know what I used to love when I was a kid Phil?
Philip: What?

Edward: Building blocks. Erector sets.

Philip: So...? I liked Monopoly. Boardwalk, Park Place. What's the point?

Edward: We don't build anything Phil. We don't make anything.

Philip: We make money Edward. We worked for a year on this deal. It's what you said you wanted. I'm handing it to you.

Dialogue from the film Pretty Woman 

What we loved to play as a child might be pretty telling of how we turn out to be it seems. What was your favourite toy as a child? Believe it or not, I played with Barbie Dolls. I loved their pretty dresses. Hmm... but I didn't end up becoming a fashion designer. So I guess that theory is out the window. I love everything about The Wedding Planner. It's one of those films that took me by surprise. It was possibly because I saw Jennifer Lopez more as a singer rather than an actress. Then after watching the film I remember, she did an awesome job in the film Selena even before I noticed her in The Wedding Planner. Or it could be because the subject matter is very close to my heart - Love, Weddings, and Marriage. 

I have never been married. And only 2 of my very good girlfriends have gotten married so far. Both of them didn't have any wedding jitters. But that's how we first meet Jennifer Lopez's Mary Fiore. Nope. She's not the one having the jitters. She's the wedding planner who's putting the bride at ease. Immediately we get a good sense of her personality. And the minute we see we her home life, we realise that she's not one of those airy fairy types with romantic notions about love or marriage. She doesn't have her head in the clouds.

"Love isn't like some enchanted evening. It isn't a fairy tale. Or even love at first sight. That isn't real life. Massimo's a good man. Don't worry Papa. I know what I'm doing. I'm just all grown up now." 

- Mary Fiore

Romance novels, romantic comedies and romantic dramas, Disney fairytale happy endings. I think all these contribute to the idealistic notions that some women have about love, weddings, and marriage. Most women hope for their Prince Charming to sweep them off their feet. And most women aren't practical about what they expect of their partner. Sure, Prince Charming possibly exists. But they are few and far between. So not everyone is going to get their fairytale ending. And some people don't expect a fairytale ending. It really depends on how practical you are. 

I think I am both practical and idealistic. Can that be possible? I think so. I want the whole nine yards. That's the idealistic me talking. But at the same time, I recognise that I have to be realistic in my "demands" with regards to a life partner. So while I yearn for Prince Charming, I realise that I need to remember that Prince Charming need not be perfect. 

Truth be told, in some ways, I think I'm quite like Mary Fiore. She's constantly needs to be in control, she tells herself that she's happy and doesn't make time to date or get to know new people. The main difference between Mary and I is the fact that I don't have some unresolved issues with an ex boyfriend and I've never had a fiancé. I want someone special to come home to, but at the same time I love myself enough to know that I should not settle for less than what I truly want in a life partner.

Steve: Do you ever think about that night at the park?
Mary: What?

Steve: I barely know you. I don't know your dad's first name, I don't know if you ever wore braces, or contacts, or glasses and I have no idea how you came to be a wedding planner, Mary. But I do know the curves of your face. And I know every fleck of gold in your eyes. I know that the night at the park was the best time I've ever had. Please say something.

Mary: I'm a magnet for unavailable men, and I'm sick of it. It's simple. I know Fran, I respect her, and she loves you. So besides your tux measurements, that's all I need to know. Please go away.

Must Love Dogs (2005)

Directed by Gary David Goldberg

Cast: Diane Lane (1), John Cusack (2), Elizabeth Perkins (3), Stockard Channing (4), Christopher Plummer (5), Dermot Mulroney (6), Julie Gonzalo (7) Victor Webster (8), Bobby Coleman (9), and Colin Egglesfield (10)

(Watch the trailer)

My favourite quote - "You know, but I think your heart grows back bigger. You know? Once you get the shit beat out of you. And, um, the universe lets your heart expand that way, and I think that's the function of all this pain and heartache that we all go through, you know. You gotta go through that to come out to a better place and that's how I see it, anyway."

Blink & Miss It - Colin Egglesfield only has a blink and you'll miss it appearance in this film. See if you can spot him. Victor Webster played Coop aka Cupid in the last season of Charmed and marries one of the Charmed ones. He also has a small role in the film. Now I first noticed Bobby Coleman in the film The Last Song, but after re-watching this film, I realised he also has a small part in the film. See if you can spot the very much younger Bobby Coleman in this film.

Dolly: I love this internet. It's part fantasy, part community, and you get to pay your bills naked. 
Sarah: They don't stress that enough as a selling point. 
Dolly: It's Jeremy in San Diego. He thinks I'm 16. He inverted the numbers on my age. I didn't have the heart to tell him.
Sarah: Oh no that would have been cruel. 
Dolly: He comes to me for advice. He thinks I'm very mature. We're pinned. 
Sarah: Oh...
Dolly: You're on this site aren't you?
Sarah: Umm. PerfectMatch.Com
Dolly: What just one site?
Sarah: Yeah.
Dolly: Honey, you got to put more bets on the table. I'm on at least 10. You get to try out different personalities. Like here I say, "I'm into opera, antiques, poetry in the original Greek". And on this one, "I like to skydive, ride motorcycles, and enjoy rodeo".
Sarah: But you don't do any of those things.
Dolly: It's an ad. It's like those cars that say that you get 30 miles to the gallon. Who knows. You just want someone to take you out on a test drive.
Sarah: I'm just not comfortable advertising myself this way.
Dolly: Honey, when you get to be my age, and you're approaching your expiration date, it pays to advertise. This baby never sleeps. It's working for me 24 hours a day. God bless it's little pentium chip heart. 

Online dating. Yes or no? I recently ventured into the world of online dating and found that while it allows you to meet very interesting people and widens your social circle, it doesn't guarantee that you'll meet your special someone online. No, I'm not saying its impossible. Just that it doesn't happen for every single person that tries online dating. Well, it hasn't happened for me yet at least. But I'm not throwing in the towel just yet.

And what does online dating have to do with Must Love Dogs? Just that it's something Diane Lane's Sarah Nolan tries in order to meet someone new after her divorce. Sarah Nolan is a divorcee who has loving family and friends that try to get her to stop wallowing and find love again. And one of her sisters starts a profile for her on an online dating site. And one of the criteria her sister puts on her profile is that the guy must love dogs. Now, this kind of family intervention is not new in film, Diane Keaton's Daphne does the same thing for her daughter Milly, played by Mandy Moore, in the film Because I Said So. 

Hall Of Fame by The Script (2012)

Performed by: The Script (feat. will.i.am)

Album: #3

Do you know what The Corrs, Boyzone, B*Witched, Westlife, The Script, U2, The Cranberries, and Enya have in common? They're Irish! That, and the fact that I enjoy their music of course. 

I'm thrilled that it's finally the month of March! In 19 days, The Script will perform here at the Singapore Indoor Stadium! And I've got tickets to the concert! This would only be the 5th concert I've been to. The first concert I went to was in Sydney. I wanted to go to S.H.E's concert so much that I flew to Sydney from Brisbane to catch the concert. And because I didn't want to go alone, I paid for my friend's ticket too. (Oh and by the way, my friend is an Aussie girl who doesn't really understand Mandarin.)

The Script is an Irish band I noticed in 2008 after hearing their song The Man Who Can't Be Moved. Besides that song, I never really got into their music until their recent album #3. The song that sealed the deal for me with regards to their latest album is Hall Of Fame. The album #3 was released in late last year, and Hall Of Fame is the lead single for the album. 

But what do I like about this song? The lyrics! (I have a thing for songs that start with a piano or violin solo or contains a piano or violin solo in the middle of the song.) The lyrics combined with the catchy and inspirational tune can really lift my spirits up. It gives me strength and motives me because it makes me feel like I can achieve anything, as long as I set my mind to do it.

Recently, this has been my go-to song for inspiration. Because it's a song that helps motive me and remind me that I'm "never gonna know if (I) never even try"!

So what’s the uplifting track actually about?

“It’s all about hard work, dedication – the euphoria of the Olympics is there’s a generation about to be inspired by all these athletes and these things,” O’Donoghue explains.

“We wanted to do the same thing but also for music and teachers and politicians and people that are actually pillars of the community. It’s just a kind of call to arms… Do something in your community and hopefully you’ll go into their hearts and minds and that’s kind of the way you’ll live on forever, really.”

- an extract from Novafm.com

Hall Of Fame Lyrics:

Yeah, You could be the greatest
You can be the best
You can be the King Kong banging on your chest

You could beat the world
You could beat the war
You could talk to God go banging on his door

You can throw your hands up
You can beat the clock
You can move a mountain
You can break rocks
You could be a master don't wait for luck
Dedicate yourself and you gonn' find yourself

Standing in the hall of fame
And the world's gonna know your name
Cause you burn with the brightest flame
And the world's gonna know your name
And you'll be on the walls of the hall of fame

You could go the distance
You can run the mile
You can walk straight through hell with a smile

You could be the hero 
You could get the gold
Breakin' all the records that thought never could be broke

Do it for your people
Do it for your pride
Never gonna know, if you never even try

Do it for your country
Do it for your name
Cause there's gonna be a day

When you're standing in the hall of fame
And the world's gonna know your name
Cause you burn with the brightest flame
And the world's gonna know your name
And you'll be on the walls of the hall of fame

Be a champion, be a champion, be a champion, be a champion

On the walls of the hall of fame

Be students
Be teachers
Be politicians
Be preachers

Be believers
Be leaders
Be astronauts
Be champions
Be truth seekers

Be students

Be teachers
Be politicians
Be preachers

Be believers
Be leaders
Be astronauts
Be champions

Standing in the hall of fame
And the world's gonna know your name
Cause you burn with the brightest flame
And the world's gonna know your name
And you'll be on the walls of the hall of fame

(You can be a champion)
You could be the greatest
(You can be a champion)
You can be the best
(You can be a champion)
You can be the King Kong banging on your chest

(You can be a champion)
You could beat the world
(You can be a champion)
You could beat the war
(You can be a champion)
You could talk to God go banging on his door

(You can be a champion)
You can throw your hands up
(You can be a champion)
You can beat the clock
(You can be a champion)
You can move a mountain
(You can be a champion)
You can break rocks

(You can be a champion)
You could be a master
(You can be a champion)
Don't wait for luck
(You can be a champion)
Dedicate yourself and you can find yourself
(You can be a champion)

Standing in the hall of fame


Music Video:

I love this music video for Hall Of Fame! Although the song is powerful enough on its own without the visuals to explain or get across what it's trying to say, the music video does a fantastic job at portraying the underdog coming from behind to come out on top. It's one of those music videos that you can watch over and over again. And still, each time you watch it, it hits you right in the heart again and again.

The Eclectic Reviewer thinks... The Script's Hall Of Fame is her #1 favourite. It's a great song to listen to when you're feeling the need for a little motivation and to get you all fired up. I also really enjoyed the music video so do check it out!

* Album cover from Wikipedia

Click here to follow Entitled To Opinion on Facebook

My Bucket List

You only have one life, live it! Treasure the people around you and remember that every moment you have with them is a gift. 

In the later half of 2012, because of the Korean drama Scent Of A Woman, I started thinking about creating a bucket list of my own. And the first thing I did was to google 'bucket list' and it lead me to Alice's Bucket List. This site belonged to a girl who had terminal cancer. The reason why I use the word 'had' is because she passed away on 12 January 2013. I had only just found out that she has met her maker today. 

Although I didn't know her at all, and I didn't read many of her entries, I can't help but get emotional about her death. Maybe it's because my grandmother on both my father and mother's side died of cancer and so did my great grandfather on my mother's side. And while I cannot make EVERYONE have a bucket list (getting everyone to have a bucket list was one of the things on her bucket list), I can help by doing one of my own.

In my entry about the film A Walk To Remember, I did briefly mention a few things I would put on my bucket list. And truth be told, although there are some things I know I'd want to do before I die, I never actually wrote it down or put it in a list. Is it important to put it in a list? Well, I think it is. When I was an Assistant Producer, I would have a list of things to do for my various projects. The checklist made it easier for me to not only remember the things I needed to do, but also made me actively think about having to check them off my list and when I had to finish them by. 

So! Here goes nothing. 

Monica's Bucket List

1) Win an Oscar or Emmy for my work

2) Visit the ruins of Atlantis

3) Live in space

4) Live in an underwater colony

5) Represent my country in the Olympics

6) Watch all the Cirque du Soleil shows - So far I've watched 3; O, KÀ, and Mystère.

7) Be a writer - Done!

8) Travel the world - Go to my travel blog to check out the list of places I want to go to

9) Live a full life with a man I love, respect, and can communicate well with

10) Play a role, no matter how big or small, in helping to find a cure for cancer - Done? I may not have the medical know-how, but I hope the money I regularly donate to the Singapore Cancer Society can help in some small way. You can donate too, click here to find out more.

11) Own a house with a library 

12) Get a tattoo

13) Swim with the dolphins

14) Live in a new city for 2 to 3 years everyone once in a while - New York City is on the top of this list, Santorini is next.

15) Learn how to figure skate

16) Speak 5 languages fluently - Currently it's just English and Mandarin (although my friends would insist that I don't speak it fluently)

17) Handpick and train a Miss Singapore Universe delegate to successfully become the first Singaporean to win take home the Miss Universe crown

18) Watch a live Stanley Cup match

19) Learn how to fence

20) Be a show runner for a hit American television series

21) Write for a film magazine

22) Publish my own novel

23) Write a box office hit

24) To nurture the next generation of directors, screenwriters, and producers

25) Invent something that benefits others

26) To be a world famous photographer

27) Fly first class (again!)

28) Be famous

29) Be a detective and solve a crime

30) To make an important discovery
31) Write a song
32) Learn how to play ice hockey

For now it's just these 32 items on my bucket list. And I've only done 2 items on this list, but hopefully, one day, I'll get everything done. Although, that might be quite tough, because I'm pretty sure this list will grow. 

Now that I've finally written my bucket list, all that's left is to start checking them off the list. Wish me luck! 

Finding Atlantis (2011)

Network: Discovery

Synopsis: Finding Atlantis follows a team of Spanish, American and Canadian scientists as they employ satellite space photography, ground penetrating radar, underwater archaeology, and historical sleuthing in an effort to find the lost civilization of Atlantis.

In the news recently:

A private foundation is working to send a pair of non-NASA astronauts, possibly a married couple, on a slingshot journey to Mars, with blastoff slated for January 2018.

The nonprofit Inspiration Mars Foundation is starting work on life-support systems and other technologies that will be needed to keep two people alive and healthy for the 501-day mission. The flight path would put the spacecraft to within 150 miles of the Martian surface before automatically returning it on a direct approach to Earth.

-  An excerpt from Discovery News

Wow! Would you volunteer for this particular road trip to Mars? My first reaction was, "Hell yeah!". Then when I read on, I realised that the spacecraft that would be carrying me into space and back would be really cramped. While I can deal with being cooped up in a room with nothing but my Mac, Blu Rays, music, books, and basic necessities, I don't think I can deal with the size of it and the fact that it'll be for more than a year!  

That being said, I would love to one day live in a spaceship (I'm thinking of Star Trek Voyager right now) and I'm definitely going to put it in my bucket list. But, there is something I want more than going into space - I want to visit the ruins of Atlantis!

The island of Atlantis has always fascinated me. I don't remember how old I was when I first heard about the island or how I learned of it. But I remember watching an episode of seaQuest DSV called Lostland in 1995, and in that episode, the crew stumbles across the remains of a warrior from the island of Atlantis. I also watched a film titled Sing (1989) which is about a dying neighbourhood in the US that results in the only school left in the neighbourhood to be shut down. The students annually perform in a Sing! production and in the film, the seniors put up an item based on the last days of the people of Atlantis. I also watched the Disney animation, Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001). 

In fact, my fascination with Atlantis is the reason why I watched this documentary. Although we are no closer to knowing for sure the exact location of the island of Atlantis, visiting the ruins of the city of Atlantis is high on my bucket list. Yes. This sounds a bit far fletched isn't it. But if Mandy Moore's Jamie Sullivan (from the film A Walk To Remember) can put "Be in 2 places at once" on her bucket list, then I believe that me putting "visit the ruins of Atlantis" in my list is not a ridiculous notion at all. 

There are many theories and speculation as to the location of Atlantis, but they will all remain just that until there is concrete evidence that tells us otherwise. In fact, until we find proof of its existence, we will never know if Atlantis is even real or just a work of fiction in Plato's writing. And of course, finding Atlantis will be the ultimate proof.

In Finding Atlantis, there is a generous use of 3D animation to help the viewers understand the scientists' theories as to why they believe the location they are at is where Atlantis can be found. The documentary also makes it easy for the audience to digest the information proving and disproving their theories through the use of a checklist. A checklist made by the careful reading and understanding of Plato's description of Atlantis. 

In fact, I enjoyed Finding Atlantis so much, that I have gone on a hunt of my own, for other documentaries about Atlantis that is. And to all the scientists out there who are searching for Atlantis, please keep going even when the going gets tough. Then maybe in the near future, I will be able to strike off number 2 on my list - "Visit the ruins of Atlantis".


Click here to follow Entitled To Opinion on Facebook