Captain Phillips (film critique ) By: Cesar Reyes Torres

Captain Phillips (film) comes off as more of a documentary than a regular action movie based on real events. The Director (Paul Greengrass) chose to shoot the the entire movie using handheld cinematography, with the intention of giving the film a real life live action feel to the movie. But instead it made me dizzy and gave me a headache and gave me temporary motion sickness. After the film was over, many in the audience complained of the same affect because of the film. The camera is constantly shaking ALOT. So viewers beware if you easily get dizzy. Tom Hanks portrays Captain Phillips, but he is the only mainstream actor in the movie. Every other actor in the movie are all low key actors/extras. I didn't really take away anything from the film. It was all based on actual events, and the best acting happens at the end, and you get to see very raw and real emotion out of people. Everything prior to that just feels like a guy who got kidnapped and is reacting to being kidnapped. There is no in depth storyline, there is no character development . Over all it was an ok movie, but I probably wish I would have waited for it on Red Box or Netflix .

Gravity (film critique) By Cesar Reyes Torres

If you think Gravitys just about some Astronaut (Sandra Bullock) floating up in Space, then your thinking exactly what I thought before I saw the movie. And we were both WRONG!! This film was about a lot more. It was about what it means to be human. It was about not giving up when we have every reason to give up. It was about the beauty of this tiny planet we call home. Sandra Bullock did an amazing job, and she made you wanna cheer for her the whole movie. George Clooney was as cool as he always is and played an amazing supporting role in the film. I saw the movie in 3D, and to me it was worth it, but if you see it as a regular movie I still think you will enjoy it. This is probably the best movie out right now. Go see Gravity...

Jazzmize Walsh Investigation. LBPD Crime Stories

This the most jacked up betrayal I have ever heard of... The following is straight from the Long Beach Police Dep. News Feed... On a July 25, 2013 a woman was murdered while going to grab her 3 year old sons diaper bag....

Jazzmize Walsh Investigation

On Thursday, July 25, 2013, at approximately 6:20 a.m., Long Beach Police responded to a shots fired call in the 500 block of Walnut Avenue.  When officers arrived, they discovered Jazzmine, who had sustained multiple gunshot wounds to the upper body, lying in the courtyard of an apartment complex.  Long Beach Fire Department paramedics responded and pronounced her deceased at the scene.

The preliminary investigation indicated that Jazzmine had arrived at the home of relatives to drop off her 3-year-old son.  She had walked back out of the residence and it was during that time that she was shot. 

Through further investigation, detectives learned that Jazzmine had been the victim of a crime in Los Angeles earlier that morning when someone unknown, pulled up to her in a vehicle while she was seated on a bus bench, and pointed a gun at her.  No shots were fired and the suspect fled the location.  The L.A.P.D. concluded their report, and took Jazzmine and her child to a police station where she could safely wait for a ride home. A 16-year-old female friend went to the police station to pick-up Jazzmine and her son.  After arriving in Long Beach about one hour later, Jazzmine was shot and killed in front of her grandparents’ home after she had gone back out to the car the 16-year-old was driving to retrieve her son’s diaper bag.

Long Beach Police homicide detectives learned that 30-year-old Jason Haggerty of Los Angeles, had conspired with the 16-year-old female friend to pick-up Jazzmine and take her to her grandparents’ house, where he was lying in wait to commit the murder. Through the course of their investigation, detectives learned that Haggerty was facing a probation violation that he blamed on Jazzmine, and this was the motive for the murder. It was determined that Haggerty and the female juvenile were friends of Jazzmine.

On Friday, September 6, Jason Haggerty, who was already in-custody on an unrelated matter, was transferred to L.B.P.D. custody and booked.  The 16-year-old was also taken into custody on Friday, September 6, 2013, at her home in Los Angeles. 

On Tuesday, September 10, 2013, the case were presented to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, who filed the following charges against both Jason Haggerty, and the 16-year-old female who is not being named due to her age:

-       Murder

-       Murder while lying in wait

-       Use of a firearm during murder

In addition, Haggerty is also facing the charge of:

-       Premeditated attempted murder

Haggerty has an extensive criminal history, which includes assaults, property crimes, narcotics violations, and fraud.  The female juvenile’s case, a resident of Los Angeles, was filed directly with the LA County District Attorney’s Office as an adult.

 

Who Am I? By Cesar Reyes Torres

      In life people will judge you, marginalize you, and downright think very little of you sometimes. Many people do this for many different reasons but the most common one is to simply hold some leverage over you and be able to look down on you and downgrade their opinion of you. If you show sentiment people can downgrade you as being weak and downgrade your strengths. Express emotion and people will downgrade you as unstable, or even go as far as to say that you need therapy. Unless you’re able to fuck every girl you see every other week, your manhood comes into question and you’re downgraded as a faggot. If a woman pursues a guy she’s downgraded as desperate.  If you are at peace with the station that you have found in life you can be labeled a coward, for lacking the courage to take on bigger challenges. If you take on bigger challenges people can call you ungrateful of what you have, and dismiss you as a greedy person. I can go on, but the overall point is that people will label and downgrade you. It’s not a matter of you letting them or not letting them, it’s a matter of whether or not you wear the label that they throw in front of you.

      Know who you are in the eyes of God and nobody will EVER EVER be able to downgrade you to anything less than what God created. You are the most beautiful of Gods creations. God provides the Sun and the rest of the stars, the ocean and the rain, the food that we grow and the flowers that bloom, but far more beautiful than any of those creations is the one that you see in the mirror.

      To say that God loves you is commonly heard and said. And although this is true, it is by no means an invitation or motivation to say to yourself or those around you, “Well I don’t give a shit what you think about me, or anybody thinks about me, because God loves me and that’s all that matters.” Yes, God does love you. But love cannot be used as a tool or privilege to marginalize or downgrade anybody’s thoughts. Because then you are doing the very thing that you didn’t want people doing to you.

 

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres “ 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

      It is in the realization that God loves you, and that he has never created anything as beautiful as you, will never duplicate you, will never forget you, will never abandon you, will never love you less, will never sideline you, will never downgrade you, that you will find purpose and perspective in life . And it is in that purpose and perspective that you will find confidence, Joy, and compassion for others. And it is in that confidence, Joy, and compassion that you will find strength. And it is in that strength that any negative labels that others may want to pin on you will not stick to you as far as you are concerned. And while any and all opinions of you can be respected as much as all of God’s creatures should be respected, nobody knows you as clearly and perfectly as God does, he knows your past in detail, as well as your future, he knows your past going back generations as well as your future, through the moments you take your last breath on earth. And it is in knowing this truth that nobody will ever make you feel less than what you know you are. And when you ask yourself that  question, "Who am I?" you will be able to answer your self, who you truly are. God most beautiful creation.

 

 

Blue Jasmine (film critique). By Cesar Reyes Torres

Blue Jasmine is more of a quirky film than a comedy. It portrays the wealthy in this country for what they truely are. When you strip away there mansions, jewelry and all of there toys, what you are left with is sad empty people. Cate Blanchet's character really embodies everything the wealthy and powerful value. Sally Hawkins who plays her sister in the movie portrays a simple woman from the Bay Area with everyday real world problems. But despite not having been exposed to the level of pomp and wealth that her sister (Cate Blanchet) has, she still comes out with with the ability to carry her self with her head held high and with most of her dignity intact. This movie was a fun quirky movie to watch. I would not go as far as to call it a funny comedy, but I would call it a fun movie that was worth money. 

Materialism in life. By Cesar Reyes Torres

              You know its funny the lessons you learn, and how God chooses to teach them to you. How he puts things in your life to not only learn but think about for years, at the end of which it all comes down to one single thing that he wanted you to realise. This business card represents 8 years of my life. For four years I struggled and worked and struggled to be a new accounts representative. I wanted my own desk, and my own space. Then out of nowhere, from one short dark time in life that seemed eternal, God simply gave me everything I asked for and more. I had my own office, a desk and a company blackberry, and these material things represented something for me. It represented success, trust, and stability. And even though I worked for four years to get to where I am at, from one day to another I simply handed all of it back to the people who gave it to me. I’m transferring to a different department in the company that I work for, and I don’t need any of it anymore. Some people can look at me and think that I’m reading too much into it, but I don’t expect many people to understand. The lessons that God teaches are meant for you, not your friends, or family, just you. His way of teaching things will never lead you astray; he may not provide quick answers as quickly as today’s society’s timetable commands all questions to be answered in. But the lessons he teaches you, are everlasting ones that will test not only your patience, resolve and strength, but ultimately your faith, and lessons that you will not be able to unlearn and that will come in handy when evil tries to lead you astray. 

“In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.  These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy,  for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your soul”-1 Peter 1:6-9

         

          To me being able to easily let go of those material things, says that they never really meant much to begin with. They are simply material things that are there, which is not to say that they were not useful. But as useful as a hammer is, it is still only just a hammer that can be destroyed. But your faith can be unbreakable, impenetrable; it can be the light that guides you through the darkest alleys, the fruit from where you eat and feel full and complete, and the only place where you can peacefully rest.

           

          To say that material things don’t mean much is a lesson that some people could easily tell me, “Well I could have told you that…” But why would you, and who really takes the time to teach you life lessons, aside from possibly your parents only when you are young and in need of basic guidance. But what happens when we are grown adults and basic guidance is no longer enough. It is in each of us a responsibility to seek out our holly father, and to learn the lessons of the day. For we are all God’s children and as his children we are all students in a lifelong class, so pay attention because there will be a test at some point in time. It is only through him that our faith will grow, and that our lives will be

enriched in ways that we may or may not see immediately. It is only through his teachings that our faith will be tested and be given the wisdom  to overcome anything. That continues to be my belief and part of the foundation of my faith.