Movie Review: Ocean's 8

In the words of the great Cyndi Lauper "Girls just wanna have fun" and that is what the beautiful (really, who does their wardrobe and makeup?) and hilarious cast of "Ocean's 8" bring to the screen. Unfortunately for me, that's all that they bring-a "fun heist movie". It may lack that edge of your seat suspense I was looking for and the whole 'revenge plot' was just 'meh' and uninspired for me but its more than able stellar cast make up for it.   

Debbie Ocean (Sandra Bullock) is the younger sister of the legendary con-man himself Danny Ocean (George Clooney) who makes a cameo in the movie in a framed photograph and of course as a name on a tombstone. We don't really know if he's dead. 

Debbie is just let out of prison on parole, she leaves dressed in a stunning gown (more on that later in the movie) and with only $45.00 to her name but she somehow manages to go in a high end department store and exit with a whole bag of expensive make up and get a room in a luxury hotel. I'd love to get to do that but I'd probably end up in jail.  

She doesn't waste time and gets her old crime partner Lou, an androgynous Cate Blanchett (whom I love and who for me is the best thing in the movie) to bring in a new team of mistress criminals (because master criminals is just too preconceived Hey! Girls can be criminals too!) to pull off the most glamorous heist in history. 

Debbie has been planning to rob the Metropolitan Museum of Art's annual gala (so posh, its pronounced Gaahh-la) and so long it will henceforth be known as simply the 'Met Gala'. 

Well, not really any piece in the museum but a legendary Cartier necklace, the Toussaint which is about $150 million worth of diamonds. Because cash is nice but diamonds are a girl's best friend after all. Now all they have to do is to get the diamonds on the neck of a certain Hollywood "It" girl, Daphne Kluger (Anne Hathaway) and in order to do that, they hire Rose Weil, (Helena Bonham Carter) an 80's has been fashion designer drowning in debt with the IRS. She's my second favorite thing about the movie, Carter's kooky and seemingly meek character is on point.  

We then have of course the 'gathering of thieves sequence' (which is always a favorite in a way, you do have to have your "Merry Men" again, with the one-sided terminologies!) Mindy Kaling is Amita, a jeweler who just wants to get out of being constantly pressured by her mom to get married. Sarah Paulson is Tammy a suburban mom and profiteer. I would have liked to have seen more of her and of her story on screen. Probably because I am a mom myself and I was hoping for her to raise the flag for us moms, you know. 

Rapper, Awkwafina (Nora Lum Ying) is Constance, your go to watch wrangler AKA thief while Rihanna plays hacker Nine Ball, nope, not Eight Ball but Nine Ball. 

As the fourth movie in the franchise it has that same Ocean's brand of sleight of hand, deception on top of deception sequence that you either believe the whole way through or just go, "wait a minute-is that even possible?" -then comes the best part is when everything and I mean everything is revealed because nothing is ever what it seems in an Ocean's movie right? 

"Ocean's 8" goes up to second gear but fails to go full throttle; it lacks the edge of your seat excitement which makes for an effective heist movie. It doesn't bring that drop jaw 'delighted surprise' it once did.


If you're a fan of the Ocean's type of plot and twist though, then you shouldn't miss this, especially since it is it's stellar cast that carries the film. Its your girls night out movie to enjoy and laugh at because of the comedy and to 'oohh' and 'ahhh' at all the pretty clothes but that doesn't mean guys won't enjoy it too! Because they will. It has great cast chemistry, celebrity cameos and that good old Oceans brand of a fun caper movie. 

Then of course there's that montage that shows how everyone of the team is shown enjoying their hard earned money. What I want to know is, how do they explain that to the IRS? 6/10. 

Movie Review: Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

"Jurassic Park" has always had a special place in my heart, being amazed by the gigantic creatures during the dawn of what was cutting edge special effects and being terrified by them will always be an awe I will never forget. 

 As a kid, that scene where in  the poor guy runs in the rain to take a dump despite there being a T-Rex and the lines: "If you got to go, you got to go" ~and eventually getting eaten by the T-Rex as he is taking a dump will always stick in my head. 

Fast forward to me becoming an adult and three more Jurassic movies and we now have Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. 

Following the events of Jurassic World, the dinosaurs that have been left alone on the island are now in danger as a volcano on the verge of erupting threatens their existence. (Why build an amusement park on an island that has a volcano on it? Even if it was dormant before it still puts your investment at risk right?) Just something that I thought about, don't mind me. 

Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) now a dinosaur-rights activist and founder of the Dinosaur Protection Group (she's dealing with a lot of guilt) is working on the clock to save the dinosaurs before they are wiped off from the face of the Earth (again). She gets her chance when she is contacted by Benjamin Lockwood, the former partner of John Hammond as they work together to bring the endangered dinosaurs to a sanctuary where they will be safe. Claire enlists the help of Velociraptor whisperer Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) ~ (lots of welcome sexual tension and complicated history there as well) to come along and rescue Blue, the brave and loyal raptor from the previous film. 

With new comers, tattooed badass paleoveterinarian (its a thing) Daniella Pineda as Dr. Zia Rodriguez and the hilarious Justice Smith as systems analyst and ultimate T-Rex fan Franklin Webb the team is complete and as they set out to rescue the dinosaurs, you might guess where the rest of the story goes: get in, rescue mission while a volcano explodes and get out but that's where director JA Bayona gets you as events quickly escalate and our dino lovers find themselves needing some rescuing themselves. 

You know how it is, human greed and the need to play God (all over again) drive the plot of "Fallen Kingdom" - you may be okay with where the story is headed or you may hate it  but you cannot deny those amazing and thrilling sequences from director JA Bayona, there are no crass jump scares here as he plays on the scenes with a tasteful horror suspense style that will surely leave an impression on a new generation of kids. 

You have dinosaurs trying to eat humans, dinosaurs fighting each other (check, check) but you also have dinos with lots of personality who endears themselves to the audience, yes, we have the loyal Blue but it is the hard headed Stiggy the Stygimoloch who really steals the show! (Stiggy plushie please!) So, yes, your emotions get played on too and I already shed a tear or two in an earlier scene!  

We must also commend the performance of newcomer Isabella Sermon, who plays Maisie Lockwood, the granddaughter of Benjamin Lockwood and possibly the future of the Jurassic Park franchise (queue John Williams score).  

A hard headed Stiggy the Stygimoloch and director JA Bayona are the real heroes of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. 

Despite being movie #5 in the franchise, "Fallen Kingdom" offers new and exciting sequences which will bring you to the edge of your seat. The story may not be for everyone but I did enjoy the surprise twists which had me let out an audible gasp. Director JA Bayona's horror expertise brings up the fear level and kids will definitely have something to think about as they hide under the covers tonight. The subtle horror elements were a treat; I particularly liked the use of light, shadow and even electricty to intensify scenes and bring out emotions in others. Yes, there was a tear in that smoke and lava fading away sequence. 


Jurassic World: "Fallen Kingdom" brings what we loved about the past Jurassic films-like running from dinosaurs in a shut down park and ups the ante by including...say an erupting volcano in the mix and its pretty much consistent throughout. Just so you know what you're in for. (7/10). 

So..where were we?

In case you have been wondering, I- (Ica) have not really been writing of late. Its been almost three months, I can't even remember the last time I sat in front of some form of device (mobile or desktop) to actually write. Well, needless to say something life changing has happened to me, in case you missed it, Paul and I had a baby! 

So yes, all those cliche lines of what your mom and dad used to say about having a baby-happened, is actually still happening to us. Its been a roller coaster of emotions these past few months. For one thing, I became hypertensive when I reached my seventh month of pregnancy. My OB had me take a leave from work, take a butt load of medicines and essentially rest until I gave birth. I had to monitor my blood pressure,which would reach an alarming 180/110 and I wouldn't feel a thing! Which is kind of scary when you think about it. 

I hated being alone at home, while Paul left for work in the evening. For the last few weeks leading to giving birth, I would literally be alone in the house and I hated it. It's funny because I had a relatively easy time up until I reached my third trimester, when I hit a BP reading of 140 and it wouldn't come down anymore and I ended up in the hospital, to make things worse it happened on the week of my birthday. So now that my relatively "easy" pregnancy was non existent, I was left to a miserable rest of my pregnancy, which was essentially the whole month of July.

Because I was hypertensive my OB wanted to have me induced for labor, which is what happened, on August 4, we went to the hospital and as luck would have it, I didn't have a particularly easy delivery either. I went through labor and my God! It's as painful as they say it is, dysmenorrhea times 1000! I honestly don't know why anyone would want to go through that again, hats off to moms with children (emphasis on the "ren"). 

Honestly it was really scary, it was like an episode of a medical drama, when it was time to push, the baby wouldn't go down, I was looking at a monitor to my left and I could see my blood pressure had shot to 170/110 and when I looked at the fetal monitor at my right, I could see that the baby was going into fetal distress, it was honestly, one of the scariest moments of my life. My OB then decided to push through with an emergency Caesarean Section. While they were getting Paul's signature for the procedure, I was honestly in denial as everything was happening but like I said, it was like an episode of a medical drama but instead of being the audience who was at the edge of their seat, I was the helpless patient lying on the OR table. 

I remember not feeling anything (because of the anesthesia of course) but I could feel the tugging, like my skin was being pulled in both directions, then I heard the OB saying that it was "cord coil" (umbilical cord wrapped around the baby's neck) which was why he wouldn't go down. 

I saw my son as they brought him to the baby area, I could hear the pediatrician and other nurses working on him. I heard them counting his fingers and toes and being the paranoid mom I was just waiting to hear 'four' or 'six' but thank God they were all five. 

I remember saying a genuine thanks to my OB before I went I to a weird wake-sleep state. Just a few hours later I woke up shaking violently in the recovery room. When I called the nurse she said it was just the effect of the anesthesia. While my arms were shaking violently, my legs felt like tree trunks, they were so heavy and I couldn't lift them. 

Now it was baby out at 9:26PM, by around 2:00AM I was already on Facebook chatting with my in laws. After a while I was brought to the hospital room where Paul, my mom and sister were waiting. In the morning our son Luke Stephen was brought in the room and life has not been the same since.

Luke will be two months in a few days (I know! Where did the time go?!) 

I've told Paul that "pregnant Ica" was different from "regular Ica" and now I guess "Mommy Ica" is different from the Ica that I was. I still don't how to reconcile them both into just "one Ica" but I guess time will have to play a role in that. 

Right now I'm in this weird state of wanting to get back to my old routine, work, movies, events, the blog but as I said things will never be the same again now that we have a baby in the picture. It's less than a month before my maternity leave ends and I can't imagine leaving Luke, right now just thinking about it brings me to tears. 

So going back to the question "Where were we?" -actually I'm not really sure, as I am typing this on my iPad, Luke is breast feeding (don't ask how, but it is possible) I'll definitely work hard to get back to the old Ica but I'll definitely work harder towards the new Ica and hopefully that version of me is better and stronger, we'll definitely need it.