Utada's "This is the One" [Album] (2009)

Utada Hikaru or Utada for short is the biggest artist in Japan and is now hoping to make it big in the U.S. (Japanese 'Britney Spears'? MTV.Com.)

The Songs:

"Come Back to Me"- A girl has cheated on her boyfriend and now she wants to tell him that she is sorry and wants to come back to him. Well written but when I first started hearing this song I thought I had put in an old school R&B CD by mistake. Then again as a hole this is one of my favorite on the album and if I where her guy after this song I would come back or at lest try hear her out.

I recommend this song :)

"Me Muero"- While one woman's boyfriend is off on a trip she is hangin' out at home reading old e-mail and is feeling suicidal because she is broad out of the her mind and misses her lover. I had to "google" Me Muero, which at first I thought was a drink of some kind but it means "I die" in Spanish ("Me Muero,"www.wikipedia.org. [Yes I know that Wiki is not the best place to look things up but this is a blog not a term paper, okay? jk].) I have to admit this is one of the oddest love song I have hard and the using suicide as a theme in a pop song bugs me.

I do not recommend this song :(

"Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence-FYI"- The speaker in the song is telling a close friend that she wants so hook up with him on Christmas (I guess from the tile). This song goes back to her Japanese song which was nice but this is a far cry from "Simple and Clean." It is not the must suggestive song on the album (that would be "Dirty Desire.")

But I have no doubt that this song is in fact about sex, not that is a bad thing but it's pre-marital which I do take issue with. I believe that when two people have sex as Pope John Paul II teaches, that with their bodies they are re-newing vows that dispute best wishes if out side of marrige end up being a lie with the body (Theology of the Body for Beginners, Christopher West.) So with that said regardless of how well the song was made or how much I like the artist, as a Catholic blogger I can not support this song.

I do not recommend this song :(

"Apple and Cinnamon"- A break-up song about a close couple that has "fallen out of love." This is my favorite song on the album, I love the lyrics and it's really catchy.

I highly recommend this song ^_^

"Taking My Money Back"- Another break-up song about a girl that is moving out of her boyfriend's place but finds this hard because they had really good sex together. Um...may...I can't support this song ether because it is about co-habitation (well I guess not anymore...) Then the song does talk about how she was being used and how she wants her heart back...So I'm a little split on this song.



I am unsure about this song ???

"This One (Crying Like A Child)"- After a break-up a woman is trying to tell her old boyfriend that she love him and even wants to marry him. Ring...ring... Rihanna just called, she said she wanted her sound back. (jk but I don't like that Utada is going all R&B when I was just fine with her old stuff) Jokes aside this is a pretty good love song not as good as her old stuff but better then what playing on the radio, that not saying much.

I recommend this song :)

"Automatic Part II"- Yes there is an "Automatic" that came before this one that is in Japanese about how a young girl feels happy when she see her boyfriend. The song is cute and funny but not on this album. So moving on, the song on this album is about Utada and how something is "automatic" but don't ask me what, the song is really busy and hard to follow. I like one part when she talks about myspace but the rest of the song got on my nerves, it's repeats too much.

I do not recommed this song :(

"Dirty Desire"- A song about lust and how a girl wants to have a one-night stand with guy that she met a week ago and who is already taken. Where do I start...can I say that I like U2's plan old "Desire" better and that I liked this song lest on this album. One because it's about lust which I believe is bad because God made us for so much more then to being used and abused. Two musically this song is awful and makes nail on a chock board sound like opera music in comparison.

I really do not recommend this song :( :(

"Poppin' "- I think that this song is making fun of the stars in Hollywood that are full of it and forget normal things like panties when going to the clubs. This is the funniest song the on the album. The lyrics are not the worst out their but are little bit suggestive. This song also song too much like the Pussycat Doll's "Bottle Pop" but that could just be me.

I do not recommend this song :(

"On and on"- A fun dance song about how Utada wants to be her self and wants to be grown up with out saying "sorry" for it. One of the line is, "Honeys, if you're gay, burn it up like a gay parade/Honeys, if you're straight, take it all the way." but other then taking about orientation their is nothing else about sex. The song talks about being intoxicated but expect for then this song is pretty clean and I think is could be fun to dance too.

I am unsure about this song ???

The Bonus Songs:

"Simple and Clean"- A love song about how a girl does not want to break up with her boyfriend who thinks that thinks are getting too serious. This is the first song that I have hear by Utada and I have been a fan ever since. "Simple and Clean" the theme song for the English version of the video game "Kingdom Hearts." I love this song but after hearing the whole album it almost make me want to cry because from this I know she can make great stuff but this time she just seemed to copy what is popular in the States.

I highly recommed this song ^_^

"Sanctuary (Opening) and Sanctuary (Ending)"- "Opening" was the theme song the English version of "Kingdom Hearts II" about how a person can be a save haven. "Ending" is playing over the credits of the game.

I highly recommed this song ^_^

In the end I still really like Utada but this album was not one of her better ones but I think that will one make it in the US.

Blood: The Last Vampire [Anime] (2000)

Soon a new live action called Blood: the Last Vamprie will be coming out on July 12 in the U.S.. But this review is for not for the live action movie but the animated one that was made in 2ooo. Now that we have that out of the way, Blood is about a girl vamprie, Saya that works for the U.S. government to hunt down other vampries. The movie takes place on a U.S. amry in Japan during the 1950's, sometime between WWII and Vietnam. The movie is in both English and Japanese because Saya is from another country working for the U.S. (presumably) but at times speaks Japanese with people that live there.

Now, I should put out a warning that if the only vampire movie that you have seen is Twilight, Blood may be a shocking because....well...err...how do I put this...it's got a lot of blood in it. If you are under the age of 17, skip this movie till you are older even though it does not have a rating, because there is a lot of vampires fighting other vampires and people, which gets bloody fast. With that said, if you like vampire movies you are in for a treat, the movie is well animated and the movie has a lot of action that keeps it moving. I really like vampire movies ever since I saw Lost Boys about 3 years ago and I have been an anime fan since I was five, so it was cool to have them both together in one. But if you do not watch anime alot I would still suggest this film to you if you are willing to read subtitles, but most of the movie is in English (part of why there is no dub on the DVD.) One of the things I liked about the movie was that not much is explained, so Saya is a very mysterious character. We are left wondering about her but are given some clues to who she is in the end of the movie.

I would give this movie five of five stars, for being a fantastic vampire film, and a glorious example of anime. Part of why this is, is that Mamoru Ooshi (Ghost In the Shell) and Production I.G. (End of Evangelion/Tokyo Godfathers) created it.

Wanted (2008)

Wanted is an action movie about a normal guy that gets recruited into the "fraternity"a secret society with the motto "kill one to save a thousand." From the get go when I heard about the movie from the trailers, "kill one to save a thousand" unnerved me because I believe that all life is holy, but my family found the movie at rental store and we watched the movie. Oh why did I not listen to my gut and skip this one?



The movie has some really cool scenes but you could count them on one hand and the rest of the movie is really dark, cruel,, bloodly, and convoluted. There are times where it seems like maybe, just maybe the movie is going to pull off a good point or at least have better acting scenes than what was shown in the trailers, but never pays off. This movie is very violent and doesn't really do much to show that violence is wrong...which at least to me is a problem, a very big problem. Many times the plot seems to change it's mind on whether the fraternity is good or bad and in the end, still doesn't have it's mind made up. It was weird because one thing that I kept thinking about, watching this movie, was better movies that I wanted to see like "The Matrix" and "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider." I give this movie one out of five stars because the trailers for the movie are way better than the movie.

Fireproof (2008)

Fireproof is a film about Caleb, a fireman who is having a really hard time in his marriage and is at the edge of divorce. Just as Caleb is about to agree to divorce his wife, his dad steps in and gives him a book called The Love Dare to help him to learn how to love as God loves and hopefully save his marriage. The film starts a little slow, with dialogue that has much to be desired, but becomes more real when we see Caleb and his wife fight for the first time. The film was not made on a large Hollywood budget, at times things may seem cheaply done, but the overall message of the film is priceless. The movie does a good job of not fixing the couples marriage too quickly but showing that loving as Christ is difficult. I thought that the running theme of the hard work that Caleb puts in his job and the struggle of the love dare worked well. This guy has some room to talk about hardship when he knows what it is like to pull people out of fires.



In the film Caleb has a lot of friends that work with him in the firehouse that we see him interact with in some funny way. But I sometimes felt like the time taken out for the funny moments were not related to the story of the film. That is not to say that I feel that humor shouldn't have been used but that it should have been more interrelated to the plot. The comedy does help to give us a break in a deeply serious film that deals with some hard stuff to face like divorce.



Another issue I had with the film was that while in many parts of the film it is hinted at that he has problems with porn and anger, aside from The Love Dare, he does not seek professional help. Now, I do not think that they need to spend a lot of time showing Caleb get outside help, but at least they could try hinting at it. But, I did like the way it symbolically showed Caleb overcome his struggles. The best part of the movie is the way that we see Caleb learn to love with what Pope John Paul II called disinterested tenderness, which is when one does acts of kindness performed with out an ulterior motive, to show that they truly love their beloved (The Battle for Purity, Christopher West.)

While the makers of fireproof did not have a lot of money, they where able to pull off a story worth telling that has a message is uncommion in movies today. Four out of Five starts for the over all message of the film.

Quatum of Solace 007 (2008)

Quantum of Solace picks up right after the last James Bond movie. Bond is planing to take revenge on the man that killed the woman he fall in love with in the last movie, but M does not want him to just act out of pain and lose site of his mission. There are a lot of cool chase scenes that keep things moving but this film at times can be thoughtful. The movies lacks the gadget hummer of the earlier films. But has some dry funny moments that do not interferer with the more slam tone of the film.

One of the things that I was worried about in this film was not so much to car chasing but the skirt chasing. I know that Bond is a spy so it would be hard to see him in a lasting relationship. But one of my big issues with the 007 movies is that Bond seem to sleep with almost every last woman good or bad who is not Miss Moneypenny or M. But in this film with Bond being heart-broken he does not bed-hop as much as in other films. Bond seems to have grown more a heart over the years in how he deals with woman. In Quantum Bond does work with a woman in pain that he relates to and respects in a rather unselfish way.

I like the intro with the new song "Another way to die" sang by Alicia Keys and Jake White (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hM5UJvnbbuY to view on YouTube) but "Live and Let Die" is still my favorite Bond song. The movie is at times hard to follow but it is some what easy to get what is basically going on. This is not a film for children with it having violence, some language, and a one night-stand. I would give this film 4 out of 5 stars.

Movie Review of Sunday School Musical (2008)

Sunday School Musical was inspired by High School Musical. The movie is about two Protestant Sunday school choirs that compete in a regional choir contest to go to state. One choir is vary gifted and the other, well...not so much. In the contest the best two choirs go to state but after a the third choir is a no show do to all its members get sick from egg-salad, the good choir and the choir that is in need of a lot of work go to state. The first choir feels that they will win but when the head of the choir has to movie after his mom losses her job, he ends up in moving to the school where the revile choir goes. As time pass he becomes friends with some of the members of the choir and after a detention that he is made to serve cleaning up the choir room he starts to help the choir learn how to dance and sing with feeling. But just as he is fitting in with the new choir he learns from one of is old friends that he church he went to is in need of $10,000 dollars or the church will be closed, so he feels stuck in the middle of the two choirs.

The film mixes rap, classic choir music, R and B, and gospel. Wile at time the plot is predictable the story for the most part is told well. The movie does have a message but is not overly "prichie" about it. Unlike some teen musicals this film seems to deal more with real hardship instead of "Will my friends still like me after I go out for the musical, despite the fact that if they do not they are all hypocrites because they sing and dance at the drop of a hat even off stage?" My favorite part of this movie was the ending which I do not want to give away but broke the mold of normal contest movies. The movie is not rated but has no objective content.