The Prestige

"Now you're looking for the secret. But you won't find it because of course, you're not really looking. You don't really want to work it out. You want to be fooled"

Did you like Inception? Memento? What about Dark Knight? If so, you will love this movie.

This masterpiece from Christopher Nolan will make you believe in something that, in the end, will turn out to be quiet different from what you expect. Are you watching closely?

The movie tells the story of a rivalry between two men in chasing the ultimate magic trick. This rivalry is seeded by love, anger, jealousy and by the thirst of becoming better than the other. In the end, the ultimate illusion is performed by the one who successfully manages to live his whole life as a magician. His whole life.

This is one of those movies that have forum topics such as "What is the real meaning of the end scene of The Prestige??"


For sure one of the best movies I have seen so far. A must see!

El Orfanato

It's been a while since the last time I posted something around here, but i have been a bit busy getting my life back. Which i did! :)

So here is my movie selection for today: El Orfanato (The Orphanage).

This Spanish movie from 2007 was one of the most awarded international films of the year, and obviously won most of the Spanish awards as well, including 7 wins out of 14 nominations on the famous Goya Awards. Internationally, it was mostly awarded as best movie, actress (Belén Rueda), and director (Juan Antonio Bayona).

The movie is a stunning thriller about a women that moves with her family to her childhood home, an abandoned orphanage, with the intention of opening her own orphanage for handicap children. Soon things get pretty exciting as her son starts to communicate with a new (invisible) friend.

I must say I was very impressed with the movie. I particularly enjoyed the soundtrack - very good! gets into you from the first scene - as well as the particular way in which the movie is shot. Well done to the (very) young director Juana Antonio Bayona.

Here's the trailer. Enjoy ;)

Adidas is All In

Marketing is all about satisfying the needs of your target customers. Following the market trends of the society in several fields such as fashion and music. In the end, the ones that exceed what consumers expect and keep innovating will for sure succeed. Well done Adidas. Well done Justice.

Black Swan

And here it is, the "Movie of the Year"! (or at least that's what has been said about it... I still don t think it beats Inception :) )

Here are a few remarks from this very good movie..

1) Natalie Portman

To begin with, is brilliant, and it is almost for sure that she will win the academy award for best actress..
Nina (Portman) is a ballerina in a New York ballet company whose life is completely consumed with dance, and when Thomas Leroy (Cassel) gives her the main role in Swan Lake for their new season, her life starts to change. Swan Lake requires a dancer who can play both the White Swan with innocence and grace, and the Black Swan, who represents guile and sensuality. The movie soon catches you up as soon as Nina starts to obsessively perform the Black Swan character, which eventually consumes her inside and turns her life into a mess!
Take a close look at the final scene where she is dancing the Swan Lake.. Is that the sane actress dancing the Black Swan? Yes, it is.


2) Darren Aronofsky

A second remark for Mr. Darren Aronofsky, who once again directed a movie in a perfect way! After "Requiem for a Dream" and "The Wrestler" (which by the way are really good movies!), one could totally see that he would be the perfect choice for this movie. And he sure was.

3) Plot
The story of the movie is quiet simple, but behind it there is much more going one than one would expect. I love movies with unexpected endings, and although this one is not that much unexpected, it is definitely perfect!

How far would you go in pursuing your dreams? How strong do you believe it is possible to achieve them? And most importantly, what would you let go?

Presidential Elections in Portugal - A Foreign Perspective

Yesterday I followed carefully the news related to the election of the new President of Portugal. Without any surprise, Cavaco Silva will remain the President for another 5 years (53% of the votes). Also without any surprise, a couple of other things happened that marked these elections as another demonstration of incompetence of a country that I love, but also of a country that makes me sad.. specially now, seen from a foreign perspective.

Yesterday, a new system was tested in the whole country to facilitate people's votes. A new website was created that allowed a citizen to comfortably vote at home, without having to face long queues and the usual lack or organization of the places to exercise this right. Obviously, this didn't work out! The system "crashed" and everybody had to go to the usual places to vote. Together with this, the new electronic citizen's card (a truly remarkable card that puts together ID, tax no, social security no, health no., and also the old voter registration card ) also faced several problems leading a lot of people to give up voting and contributing to a turnout record number of 53,4% (the highest number ever seen)!

Well, if half of the population didn't vote, and half of the one that did vote for Cavaco, then with some simple math we conclude that 1/4 of the country wanted him to be elected. Nice!

Of course the turnout rate is not totally explained by these technical problems... This election took place amid a mounting debt crisis in Portugal. The country's economic problems have been compounded by sluggish growth and stringent labour laws that weaken business competitiveness. Unlike Greece, however, there has been no violent unrest in the streets. And unlike Ireland, where the economic crisis has led to a political near-collapse, its banks have not been exposed to toxic assets or property bubbles.

The president’s post is largely ceremonial but he does have the power to dismiss the prime minister and dissolve parliament without having to justify the decision.

The BBC's Alison Roberts reports from Lisbon that many on the left fear that, with a renewed mandate, a conservative president might be tempted before long to take such action in the hope of seeing the party he once led, the centre-right Social Democrats, return to government.

But after casting his vote in a chilly Lisbon, Cavaco Silva, a former economics professor who was prime minister from 1985 to 1995, said he did not want to speculate about that possibility.
“I am a president in favour of stability. I consider that it is very important for Portugal to have political stability to solve its problems,” he said.

This result is expected to ensure short-term political stability as the government fights to avoid an international financial bailout. However, my opinion is that everyday people care less and less about a possible change is the country's route. I see no hope on a beautiful country full of potential, but trapped under corruption, bad leaders, and no hope. As I usually say, the typical portuguese is happy as long as Benfica wins. The rest, doesn't matter that much.

The Usual Suspects

Yes, I know it's a classic, but it was missing me for a long time. Tonight I saw it and yes, it's brilliant!

You get trap in the movie as soon as it starts. Looks confusing in the beginning, but you quickly get into the plot..  When it gets to the middle you already want to know how it is going to end, and as time goes by you loose yourself trying to understand what is really going on. The end... excellent!

The movie is about a boat that was mysteriously destroyed, and follows the interrogation of Roger "Verbal" Kint (Kevin Spacey), one of the "usual" suspects in this complex accident. Using flashback and narration, Kint's story becomes increasingly complex and interesting. Kevin Spacey plays a very good role on the movie, and without surprise he was awarded with the "best supporting actor" Oscar. Besides his superb performance and the complex but addicting plot, I also like the soundtrack very much! Helps getting you all in the movie..

This is one of those films that when it finishes you are still trying to connect the dots and make everything fit. Nowadays there are a couple of good ones doing it. This was one of the first. A truly must-see movie.

Rodrigo y Gabriela

Today I'm gonna tell you about a man and a women, that with a single guitar each are capable of doing very creative music, catchy from the first moment you hear it..

Rodrigo y Gabriela are a Mexican musical duo who specialize in playing fast, rhythmic acoustic guitars. After having started playing in a trash metal band (yes, a trash metal band!), they moved to Dublin where they start playing in some pubs. Soon they became famous and in 2001 released their first album - Foc. So far they have released 6 albums in total, being "Rodrigo y Gabriela" my favorite.. Particularly I like when they play Metallica cover songs and some other nice oldies (Check "Stairway to Heaven", beautiful cover..).

Nowadays they have become very popular, having performed a song from their latest album "11:11" in "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno". Also in May 2010 they performed in front of Barack Obama, with Beyoncé also featuring..

Well enough of talking and more of listening. Check the video below, as you can truly get a sense of what kind of music they play and especially how they play!

"Diablo Rojo"

Fun isn't it?! Just read on Wikipedia that last September they had to stop some shows because of a stress injury caused by the heavily playing style of Gabriela...

If you are looking for a "best of" kind of thing, check the album "Live in Japan". It's amazing! I spent some weeks listening to is from the first to the last song. They are really entertaining and their music unique!