Last movie I have seen by Belen Delgado "Amy" (2015)

I was not a big fan of Amy but of course I could recognize her talented voice and I wanted to know more about her life. I never understood why she was a drug-addict and how come people who loved her let her die like that. Well , after having seen today's documentary in the cinema about her life, I understood many things that were unclear to me. The documentary is real since it's Amy, herself, talking (real interviews and videos); her best friends, her mum, her ex-husband, her father etc. I did not realise how much is about her life in her own lyrics. The conclusion I have drawn after watching the documentary is that she was a young victim of her own life's issues with bulimia, depression, drugs, unexpected fame, the harassment of the paparazzi and meeting the love of her life, Blake, that would lead her to her death. Some people tried to take advantage of her fame ,  among those, her father , as you can see in the film, he started filming her life on St Lucia's island where she was trying to rest and recover (this can be seen in the film). This film has to be a difficult one to watch by her family , friends and biggest fans. It was difficult to watch for me, too, i cried in 2 scenes of the film, one of them was when I saw her innocence when the idol of her teens age , Tony Bennett announce her grammy award. It was so genuine.



Another beautiful moment of the movie I want to share with you , when she sang with Tony Bennett:



We all knew the sad end, it was a kind of chronicle of a death foretold. You could either love her or hate her but one thing is undeniable: She had an special gift that will never be forgotten: Her voice.

Humble review by Belén Delgado " Unfriended" (2015)

I did not have huge expectations about this movie but i wanted to see it since it was about the impact cyberbullying ( or at least, that's what I thought!) and this is something very close to my daily work. I have to say that it is a pity that with such powerful topic they did not use it in a clever way. Rotten Tomatoes has given this film a 62%. I'd give it a 40%, spite all i was entertained but if you ask me if I'd recommend it to anyone..uhm : NO. Let me tell you a bit more:
What is shown it´s a mixture between fiction and reality but it does have , unfortunately parts that are real. Teens can be very cruel and use social media sites and/or apps to harass other teens to lead them to suicidal thoughts, like the movie shows. It´s scary how quick a video and/or photo can become viral. In only a matter of minutes, insults and abusive comments can be posted online with all the consequences that this can have on people's lives. To sum up, this film is about a dead spirit that comes back via social media (Facebook) to take revenge on the the teens that made her commit suicide due to a video that was posted online on Youtube. Not sure who decided to make the scenes of the killings so tastelessly violent.. it could have been done much more elegantly and the moral of the story could have been remained. For those who have kids that will be teenagers once, make sure they are all aware of how to combat and report cyberbullying since the big tech companies are all well aware of it and have processes in place to take action quickly against the cyberbullies. No to cyberbulling!

International Jameson Festival, 2015, Dublin by Belen Delgado (Cinderella , meeting Kenneth Branagh and "Gente de Bien")

One of the things I love about living in Dublin is its cultural life. I'm a big fan of the International Jameson Festival and I do my best to go every year to a couple of movies. It is a great opportunity to meet famous actors or directors and to listen from them about the film you have just seen in a premiere. I would have never had an opportunity like this if I'd have stayed in my city back in the South of Spain.

This year I have seen 2 films: Cinderella (the premiere in Savoy) and a Colombia-French movie "Gente de bien".

I have admired the director of Cinderella (2015), Kenneth Branagh since college when I used to watch his movies from Shakespeare ( Henry V, Otthelo  & Hamlet) and I couldn't believe that he was actually coming to the festival to present the premiere of his last movie as a director: Cinderella. He introduced the film at the very beginning and then at the end there was a Questions and Answers session. We were lucky to be in the 4th row in the Savoy cinema . I could see him perfectly. He is such a great way and good speaker, i could be listening to him all day. You can see that he is really passionate about his job. Cinderella is done with such a respect and elegancy , it was beautifully directed. Kate Blanchet plays the excellent role of Cinderella's mean step mother. There are a few scenes that seem theatrical due to the Kenneth Branagh's touch. The film brought me back to my childhood where I used to love to read tales and also my dad and grandpa used to read those to me before going to bed. I was smiling throughout the film, loved the humour touch of the mice talking in their own language, the colours, the beautiful costumes (in the ball). Even Kenneth said that his favourite part of the film was the one from the Ball. I felt as part of the audience of an American program called "Insides the Actors Studio" that I used to watch via cable during my college times. See below a few photos and videos of the premiere. I truly recommend the film, I voted with a 4-star rating during the festival!

Last Thursday we went to see the French-Colombia movie: Gente de Bien (2014) at the Light House Cinema, one of my favourite cinemas in Dublin, by the way. It was a very short film about the huge gap difference between classes in Colombia. The protagonist is a 10-year old boy that goes with his poor, low-class father who works as a carpenter for a high-class family. It's a realistic drama set in Bogota ( Colombia). If you belong to the low-poor class, it is very hard to change your situation and a very different reality stays in front of you. This little kid is born into that reality and can see what the high class have, he still decides to go back to his father's poor place and live with their dog in very poor conditions. My husband and I ended up crying in the end. It is a movie that won't become a blockbuster, it won't be seen by many but by those who see it, you will be touched, specially if you have been to Colombia and you know that is true. According to my Colombian husband, he said that it's a movie for European, for people who live in Colombia it would be boring to watch, it's something they live with and you get used to that gap, you can rescue all the poor people and everyone gets on with their lives.

Humble review by Belén Delgado " Fifty Shades of Grey" ( Feb 14, 2015)

I have to admit that i have not read the books and it´s not the type of literature that I usually go for but I heard a lot about 50 Shades of Grey (I even received the book in pdf format from a friend that loved the books) that I was intrigued to see the film. I wanted to see it, too to be able to have my own opinion about it, specially after having received such bad criticism from the public and the media. I have a blog where I write about cinema so I could not make an exception with this movie that everyone is talking about. It seemed the perfect plan for a 14th of February: A torrid love story with a sexy billionaire based on a bestseller, specially being read by women, so why not going and seeing it?

Well, I knew what i was going to see was not going to be excellent acting and that the the plot was based on a best-seller erotic romance trilogy. I do not like being influenced by others who hate a movie. I like to have my own opinion about things, in general. So if you ask me what I think about it, well, the Irish male protagonist is attractive, yes, not my type but attractive, so not bad there, however, his acting was really bad and I´m not sure if that was the intention of the film  but it turned out to be a "comedy" with some of the quotes from the film. The audience laughed several times (including us..), so again, not sure if that was the intention. Some of the lines I remember now are " I do not make love, i fuck hard, really hard" , If a guy says that to me in the real life, i would have laughed in his face, the same i did in the cinema , so not sure if that would actually turn me on or off lol. Anyway, my point is that the movie entertained me, i laughed and i enjoyed some of the aesthetic scenes between the too (both of them kissing in the piano with the great view of the skyscrapers from the apartment). The female protagonist, Dakota Johnson  (Melanie´s Griffith´s daughter) plays her role much better than his male, counterpart , Jamie Dornan , however none of them blew me away with their acting.

The audience in the cinema was all couples and group of women that were giggling most of the time, beer was sold , which it´s the first time i have seen , the ads prior to the movie were about condoms, in the end it was the perfect setting to see an erotic movie mainly done to please the female audience that wanted to have a good time. I did not see anyone walking out the cinema and believe me, i have seen it with other films. To me, even though the topics of sadism and masochism are handled , it´s done with a great deal of respect, not to hurt anyone´s feelings, in the end it´s a love story and she agreed to what it was being done to her and when she didn´t like it, she walked away. In the end, the film and book is all fiction and you are entitled to think and have your own fantasies in a story in a book or movie. I totally disagree with the critics that have talked about abuse being shown in the film. On a separate note, I was thinking all the time, if the Spanish director, Pedro Almodovar .would have directed this movie it would have been much tougher and real. However, this version is a light one, there are cheese romantic scenes. Even some scenes that could have been much more difficult to watch. If there is still anyone out there that thinks that this film is about hard sex in the screen.. well , it´s not.. there is some nudity shown but very light.

See link of an interview with the author and the protagonists:

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1946193/?ref_=tt_cl_t2

Last but not least, for those who may criticize me because I have seen this movie , I have to say that I do not care much, I usually like going to see movies that are talked about to be able to write about them, so I won´t change that. I have to say that I hope i have made it clear that it was not the movie of my life but i was entertained and I´m glad I went to see it. If you ask me if I would recommend it, well if you have the same expectations than I had , go and see it and make your own judgement. But please see it in the original version, i do not even want to think how it sounds in Spanish.

A humble short review of : Birdman (2014)

I had high expectations of this film, i knew it had several nominations for the Oscars and although I'm not a big fan of Michael Keaton, i knew it was going to be good and definitely different from other American movies since it was also directed by a Mexican director, Alejandro Gonzalez I., so i knew it was going to have a different touch. Well, I did not know it was going to be as different as it definitely is, it's not a movie for everyone. In a way, there are many similarities with Michael Keaton's life due to his role of Batman and the impact it had in his career. Keaton's role in this movie is by far the best I have seen of him but to me, the star of the movie is actor Ed Norton, his role is superb. 10 out of 10! The photograph and takes of the film are different and it's heavily based on the dialogue, which remained me of the old good movies. It's also highly scored in pages such as rotten tomatoes with over 90% .  The movie is full of metaphors , some of them I'm still trying to understand myself. I love the end. I'm not going to tell you what it is. No worries

A movie that you cannot miss, humble review by Belén Delgado : Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015)

In a single word: Wow!!! . What a great film!! British do understand what secret agents movies need to be! It's a UK film to see it in the big screen and if possible in IMAX format, the effects in the different scenes are just fab! Everyone looked very happy while watching and this is a good sign (I usually look around me in the cinema when I'm enjoying a movie to see how other people react). I'm a big fan of Colin Firth myself, I have not seen a movie from him that I have not enjoyed so far, so I knew he would not disappoint me. His elegance, great diction and great acting makes him the perfect secret spy. Young British actor, Taron Egerton, plays also very well his role of being a street kid that is chosen to is do a training to become a true Kingsman spy. The movie can be a bit violent at times but due to the effects and the way the photography is done, it's actually aesthetic. One of the highlights for me was the scene inside the church. We were open-mouthed.. but in the end, movies are fiction, aren't they? ( If you are very catholic, do not take it personal)
I think it was very original, the idea that one day people can be controlled via a free simcard to use internet and then all of them would be connected and would become violent. And of course, the rich would survive out of that because they would not fall for a free simcard. In the end it's all a criticism about today's society where the rich control the world and people like us, would go and get the free internet simcard in a matter of seconds!!! Note: I love the ending!

If you would like to see a new version of a James bond movie with a modern twist and great effects, go!! WE loved it! For me , it's a 10!

Movie Recommendation by Belén Delgado: Wild (2015)

Like every year, I like to see movies that are nominated for the Oscars to be able to make my own nominations based on what I liked. Well, I´m not surprised that actress Laura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon has been nominated for her protagonist role in this movie. She is so natural and spontaneous that one can easily relate to her story and to what she is going through. To me , this is her best performance to-date. Cheryl,Resse, does what many people would like to do, leave your life behind for a short period of time to embark in a trip to be able to think and evaluate what changes need to take place in your life. She is a very brave woman who decides to go on her own to hike on the Pacific Long trail after losing her beloved mother and after her husband left her due to her addiction to drugs and uncountable infidelities. The way the story is told in a narrative technique , going back and forth to the past and present and it seems as if you were reading a book, many times. It´s a beautiful story told with a breathtaking scenery. After watching the movie you feel like going hiking! Straight after I started looking for the mountains to hike in Ireland! I´m not going to tell you more so that you can go and see the movie. I´d scored it with  a 9 out of 10. Class movie! I do hope Reese wins the oscar!

Humble review by Belén Delgado of: "The Theory of Everything" ( 2014)

I had very high expectations of this movie, also after seeing the very high scores in the cinema web page "Rotten Tomatoes" with 81% from top critics and 84% score from the audience. In my view, it deserves a 10. British actor Eddie Redmayne plays brilliantly the physical disability that Stephen has had since he was diagnosed with  amyotrophic lateral sclerosis at age 21. Eddie really deserves an Oscar. The movie portrays an image of Stephen as a funny, intelligent and inspiring man who wants to live and won´t stop until he finds the theory of everything no matter what. Eddie and actress Felicity Jones have a lot of chemistry on the screen. They make very believable their role as husband and wife in the film. The movie is based on Stephen wife´s (Jane) second reviewed autobiography and it´s told in a very respectful and elegant way. I could really relate to the protagonist´s lives and even though there were some scenes where I had to swallow my tears, I really enjoyed to get to know more about Stephen´s life. Did you know that he had 2 daughters and a son that were conceived while he was already sick? It´s crazy what true love can do. As an anecdote, it seems that Stephen is not willing to change the robotic voice that was provided with the machine that he communicates with. This voice has even an American accent and does not match his Oxford origins at all. As even told by actress Felicity Jones in a few interviews, she prepared for 4 months to get to know better the real protagonists of the story and she describe Jane as a woman with a very strong determination and you can see that in the film. What a woman! And Stephen, hats off to him, he has not had an easy life
spite of that he has never stopped fighting. In addition, his great mind and strength has kept him alive and he has even been able to share his ideas with the rest of the world thanks to modern technology.

Let me finish with one of the quotes that I really like from Stephen:

"However difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at."

Below a photo of the real Stephen and Jane and the actor Eddie and Felicity.

Here the link to the trailer, If you are interested in knowing more about Stephen´s dramatic life, do not miss it!! It´s really worth it!

http://youtu.be/LUayjO_KgsQ

First Movie I have seen in 2015: "Exodus" by Ridley Scott

Those who know me are aware that Christian Bale is one of my favorite actors since I saw him for the very first time in his interpretation of the "Empire of the Sun" when he was only a kid. Well, the main reason why I wanted to see "Exodus" was because of him (yeah, otherwise I would not have gone to see see such a long movie when I have so much to study..). He did not disappoint me, he plays very well his role of Moses. Even though the movie has some biblical historic errors in it, we enjoyed it. I´m not surprised that the movie was censored in some countries since they show the Catholic God as a bit evil, the kid playing God is actually a bit scary. In addition, some of the scenes are very gore showing the Catholic God as a merciless God of destruction and death. They do not describe a very good image of the Egyptians, either. See an article about this: http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/egypt-biblical-epic-exodus-banned-errors-27862379 . Surprisingly , Rotten tomatoes scores for this film are very low, they do not even reach the 50%. Ok I agree that some of the guys playing the Egyptians with such heavy fake tan were not great but the effects and the main battles, specially for those who are brave enough to see this movie in 3D, are very well done with the usage of today´s technology.

I actually thought that it was going to be too long for me as it lasts more than 2 hours but time flew fast and I was quite comfortable with the duration it had. Good cinematographic start of the year, next one on my list " The theory of everything". I definitely want to see more movies this year, let´s see how it goes!

My score is a 65%.

Quick summary of our year, note for ourselves - 2014

Let's sum up:

I have written only 21 posts in my blog this year, still not bad taking into account how busy I have been. For me it's very important to write since I want to remember as many details about my life , as possible. I want to leave behind me some legacy so that my family and friends can always go back and read my good memories. I'm not going to say that 2014 has been the perfect year, it has not been. There are always good and tough times but I only like writing about the good times because I do want to forget about the tough ones . Besides,  I always try to find the positive side out of anything that happens in my life, every event it's  a learning experience for me, which also makes me stronger and wiser.

Let's start with the summary:

How many films we have seen this year in the Cinema:

• 26 (4 less than last year and not many in comparison with 2011 where we saw 42 movies!). My favorite ones: Magic in the Moonlight, Mood Indigo, Gone Girl, Budapest Hotel, The Fault in our Stars, Big Eyes and Wolf of Wall Street.

Musicals and Theater :

•  3  Musicals ( Singing in the Rain, Dirty Dancing &and The Wizard of Oz). My favorite being "Singing in the Rain". I also went with my manager to see " My ideal husband" from Oscar Wilde.

Trips:

7 for me and 4 for Andres. Out of my 6 trips, 3 were due to business and for Andres 1 of them.

Concerts:

One Republic (Loved it! True Artists!), The Coronas ( We see them every year!), Lady Gaga (We went with Juan and Juan Diego).

In general I'd say that has been a very busy year studying the master, my leadership program in my company ( Green House) and working long hours. Overall , it has been a good year.

 
Something I have done for the first time in 2014:

We started our year with our first trip to the Emirates. We have taken the decision of buying a house (big decision !) ; We also waited for hours in a long queue to see our favorite Irish band to have their cd signed ( we realized that we are very old to do this.. but it was worth it! We even have a selfie with them). I also took part for the first time in a mini Marathon ( Flora's Women Marathon). I also went to a shooting ground as a team activity for the first time, I also realized that it is not for me, I'm more than a peaceful person lol. I also organized my first charity event selling doughnuts in the National college of Ireland, dressed as a bunny. It was all a Success! My mum also gave us a present a Thermomix and I have our Xmas party in the Aviva Stadium. Currently I'm leading a team of 20 people with 13 different nationalities and we cover 16 different languages. I also took part in my first Gay parade representing Facebook. We also won the Halloween competition due to our costumes for the " Adam's Family".  Our cat Pepe has already reached 100 fans in his Facebook Page!
 Ah! And my father got a park named after him, he will always be present not only for us but for younger generations that go to play in the park. Unfortunately, I still have very good friends that live in different parts around the world and not here, but thanks to the internet we continue to be connected.

Even my cat Pepe got a cd signed by the Coronas!!! Yes, Andres told them a story about our "sick son" that loved them and could not go with us. Of course, in the end, I had to tell the truth and explain that my "son" is actually a cat.

Loved ones that are not with us anymore:

Our dearest friend Ursula, I still can't believe that I won't see her anymore, we are very grateful for everything she did for us while we were living in Germany and she will always be in our hearts. Best wishes to heaven , if there is one, I'm sure you are there due to your kindness.

My auntie , Berty also passed away this year, I can't believe it either, it's so difficult to assimilate death of your loved ones when you live abroad. I still feel that I'll see her in Madrid in one of our trips.

Mention at least 3 highlights of your year:

• We helped our friends Juan & Juan Diego to have them settled in Dublin, they moved to our place in February 2014 and stayed with us for 6 months until the became fully independent (he,he).

• I took part in a Mini-Marathon for charity (Yeah, o.k. I walked all the way..) and I raised money throughout the year, not only for that but also for other charity causes that my company support.
•  Taking my sister, nieces and brother in law to the theater in Dublin. I was very glad to have them visiting us for the first time. Our Xmas has not been so lonely this time . Thanks for the visit!

Mention at least 2 things that I have stopped doing:

• Cooking. Is it my fault? No, I do not think so.. It's just that food is delicious at Facebook.. so I can't compete with the Urban picnic meals and when I'm not at work , I just don't feel like cooking. 
• I used to go out and travel much more than now. Now I even spend my holidays either studying or resting. Does this mean that I'm growing old? Gee!

Resolutions for 2015:

• Get finally the keys of our place, I can't wait to do the first check-in there.
• Finish our Master Degree and have our social lives back (lol).
• Continue growing professionally.
• Get fitter and not to eat so much sugar ( Will I stop drinking coke? Uhm.. don't think so)
• Go to more music concerts than this year. Music is very important for me.
• Continue learning new things and doing things for the first time.
• Do a trip with my mum since this year I haven't had time and it's something that I like to do every year. 
• Don't be so workaholic.. ( Not so sure about this one..)

Most importantly, Andres and I continue to love and respect each other, no matter the obstacles that we can find in our way. As I always say, marriage is about teamwork and we are a great team!

Last movies I have seen in 2014 and the last Musical " The Wizard of Oz"

I have not had a lot of time this year to write about the movies we have seen and most likely I may have missed a few behind:

The Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) : 

I usually enjoy superheroes movies but this was not the movie of my life. I have already forgotten the details of it.. , which means that it's a forgettable movie..

Horrible Bosses (2):

I really enjoyed Horrible Bosses (1), but the second part was not very good. Not even sure if I would give it a pass mark. Not worth spending your time watching it.

Big Eyes (2014):

This is the last movie we have seen this year and what a great way of ending it. Beautiful but sad true story about the female painter Megan Keane. Her husband took credit for her work for 10 years. I love her paintings of kids with big eyes where he wanted to portrayed their soul through the eyes. I'm very glad that we went to see it since i have discovered a new artist that I like. Excellent actor Christoph Walz, plays very well the role of Megan's husband.

I truly recommend this film if you have the chance to see it.

Looking forward to what 2015 has to offer!

The Wizard of Oz, the musical ( National Concert Hall, Dublin, 27.12.2014):

Very lively performance that brought me back to my childhood. The main actors played very well and sang  beautifully. I was singing along "Over the Rainbow"with Dorothy all the time while the band played.  It was a great experience that I could share with my niece , nephew, my sister, Eva , my husband and my brother-in-law. They even had a real dog on the stage, so cute!! And the bad witch was even scary for us!! At the very end we were lucky enough to take a selfie with the actors.

One of those memories that will last for me, even though my husband fall asleep lol.