I Love You Philip Morris

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I knew nothing about this  movie other than the fact that Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor were cast in it. That is the full extent of my knowledge about this movie but since it stars Jim Carrey, I took a copy of this film from a friend today morning. It’s a delightfully acted and well scripted and fast paced film in which both Carrey & McGregor shines. Jim Carrey has always been a huge favourite of mine and I think this should win him even more fans.

I Love You Philip Morris is based on the real life events of ex-cop, conman, impostor and multiple prison escapee Steven Russell, played by Carrey. Russell’s childhood is marred when he is told that he is infact adopted and he tried to find his biological mother as he grows up but is rejected. He is married to the religious & upright Debbie (Leslie Mann) and is a dotting father to his little daughter. But he is infact gay and a car crash & near death situation makes him decide to live his own life, as that of a gay man. He finds a boyfriend and moves to Florida and showers his new lover with expensive gifts and lives a lavish lifestyle, soon fueled by the money he makes by conning. He gets caught and is  sent to prison.

Over there he meets and falls in love with the shy and gentle Philip Morris (Ewan McGregor) and after sharing letters for a while, Steven manages to get himself transferred to the same cell as Philip. They soon become lovers and have s torrid love affair. Once Steven is released he gets Philip out early by forging documents, faking voices on the phone, and maintaining a series of inspired bluffs including pretending to be a lawyer. He then makes a life with Philip, constructing a massive, fraudulent career in both law and finance so that they can live together in luxury as a super-rich gay couple. However he is caught while bluffing his way through the post of a company’s CFO and making huge amounts of cash on false profits. He is caught again and this time Philip leaves him as he is tired of the lies and shame.

Steven will go through any length to see Philip, escaping from prison a few times like pretending to be a doctor and painting his clothes, impersonating a lawyer and forging a judge’s signature on release forms. His love for Philip is the desire that fuels him and his biggest ingenious plan is faking his own death by pretending to have AIDS  and then meets Philip in prison pretending to be his lawyer. Until finally they are both caught and put in separate prisons. Philip is released in 2006 but Steven is given a life sentence and is still behind bars. The ending of the movie shows a laughing Jim Carrey running away from guards trying to make yet another escape – his persistence is amazing & incredible.

You may, like me, be put off by the gay sex scenes. I can’t imagine these two actors kissing and stimulating sex with another man while actually being straight but that’s professionalism for ya. It is a great movie with some tremendous acting skills shown. 9 outta 10!

August 1st Day Out

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So much was expected out of today from me but it ended up not being upto what I had hoped at all. First of all I hadn’t been out in a while and enjoyed a long afternoon in the city. So I thought I needed to get out of the apartment today this weekend. I wasn’t able to  go out yesterday as I was broke and waiting for my salary to hit my account. Also I hadn’t yet received the reimbursement amount that I was to get out of my travel & food cost of the Bangalore trip from the company. So yeah I was broke. I so wish that I was able to go out yesterday.

There was a Tweetup happening in Coffee Cube, a cafe in Convent Junction, Ernakulam. Binny asked me to join up as I really wanted to get a chance to copy the entire 4 seasons of Battlestar Galactica from him. He said that he would bring his external hard drive, so I should get my laptop and I could copy the files from him. So I agreed and even though the meet up was to start at 10 am (really? on a frigging Sunday morning?), I thought that I would join him at the cafe a little after 11am. So I did, an ATM visit and auto ride later.

This is my first visit to Coffee Cube and indeed I have rarely been to the whole Convent Junction area in the last few years. I usually head over to Padma / Shenoys or to Marine Drive for my needs. So, I got there and the place is packed; in this smallish room for a cafe, there are about 25 people all squashed in. Binny was seated towards the middle and waived me over and I grabbed a chair. There were about 20 people seated in two rows facing each other on one end and a few in the middle sitting around a table. Binny handed me his external hard disk while I removed my laptop from it’s bag and set it up on a table. I copied the entire BSG series and a couple of movies as well. I sat there while the files copied and watched the people chatting. I’m not very comfortable in large groups where I only know 1 person and so I didn’t even stop to have a coffee. The files that I wanted being copied, I copied over a few episodes of Stargate SG1 for him and then left.

I wanted to go to Lens & Frames and get a new pair of spectacles as mine is broken at the stem (I’m managing to keep it in place but it keeps coming off); however they were closed. I could have sworn that they open on Sundays. Oh well, I should get some coffee anyways yeah? So I went over to Barista Cafe in Bay Pride Mall – but they were closed today! I think they are going out of business; if anyone reading this from Cochin knows, please let me know. Barely having any breakfast I opted to go to the Food Court in the Mall and ordered a fresh mango juice and a chicken croissant. Both were good; the mango juice was fresh as they advertised and the croissant was hot & soft.

Spending some time there with laptop and watching the people sit, eat, drink and chat, I realize one thing – kids are noisy and they make a lot of fuss. They also run around and it’s distracting while you are trying to enjoy your juice. I spent some time milling about until 1pm and then went to Velocity to get some lunch and vodka – but wait, oh shit! I forgot that today was the 1st of August and hence bars are closed. Today is a dry day and I forgot. Great! Let’s just have some lunch and since Chiyang is near by I thought I’ll go there. I haven’t been to that hotel in ages and as I ate my noodles and chilly pork I remembered why! The noodles and pork was covered in thick oil and I felt a little sick after eating it. I couldn’t finish my plate but was still hungry so ordered some ice cream that would also clear my mouth and throat of that oily feeling. A wasted day where nothing went right except for the series and movies. So why not head back home and relax while watching it on my lappy?