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Showing posts with label movies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label movies. Show all posts
Together with the Les Miserables hype, my latest man-crush is Hugh Jackman. And one movie I’ve always wanted to watch ever since I saw its trailer way back 2006, is The Prestige. I’m not sure why it took me so long to finally watch it, but the film is utterly genius. Of course, it’s directed by Christopher Nolan (think Inception and the latest Batman franchise), so at the very start I know it will not disappoint.
The movie’s main theme is obsession, and how far one would go, how much one is willing to sacrifice for one’s goals, dreams or in this case, the art of magic’s sake.
Much like The Dark Knight Rises where I got scared nearing the climax, I actually looked up the ending of Prestige in wikipedia because I’m too scared not to know. Hehe But it’s really good. I think if I see it in HBO, I’ll probably watch it again, and relive the good parts.
On donating blood
Last Thursday, I found out that I can't (or may never) donate blood. Not that I have a tattoo, or an infectious disease, sure I passed all that. But when the nurse was taking turns tapping and pinching my arms a couple of times trying to find the vein; reminds me of my APE last year when all of the present nurses/attendants tried the injections on me searching for that "mahiyaing ugat". Alas, the nurse said that I can't donate blood as the needle will be too thick for my thin and elusive veins... And thus the roles we can never be due to things we can't control. Where one can't be a stewardess because of height limits. Or a beauty pageant contestant. Or a policeman. Where one can't be a blood donor due to thin veins.
No more secrets
It was supposedly a really good week. I started the week right, two dinners with two of “my persons” in two awesome places, and a lunch with a good old officemate before the week ended. There’s nothing I could have really asked for, the week would have ended and I'll still be happy.
But alas, I had my first break in a streak of goods, something happened between Friday lunch out and my time off.
It’s best not to get too close with your secrets. It’s best not to let them define you, because once they got out of your limits, there’s no turning back.
The world turned and changed, and it was sad.
The third week of January had been very good and quite fulfilling.
I finally was able to watch Life of Pi and found it quite a good adaptation (similar to how Perks of Being a Wallflower fare with the book). I wasn't bored in the film unlike in the novel, which I stretched reading for a couple of months. After watching the movie, I reread the ending, the one where Pi reveals the second story, this time the one without the animals. I didn't realized it the first time but the second story was very morbid and animalistic. I understood better the need for the story with the tiger after I reread the ending. It's just sad that the movie's ending didn't give that idea.
"I suppose in the end, the whole of life becomes an act of letting go, but what always hurts the most is not taking a moment to say goodbye." - Life of Pi
“It is true that those we meet can change us, sometimes so profoundly that we are not the same afterwards, even unto our names.” - Yann Martel, Life of Pi
This week, I found another evidence that 2013 will be a great year. We're going to HK-Macau this March! My sister will present a paper in a university conference in HK and since I wanted to go to Disneyland, I immediately tagged along. What with almost just one month left to save for the trip. Hehe
Simple joys for the week include year planning with Jey (a little late since he was postponing it deliberately) and date and reunions with old friends from high school and college.
Also, I finished 1Q84! After more than a month long.
"It's just that you're about to do something out of the ordinary. And after you do something like that, the everyday look of things might seem to change a little. Things may look different to you than they did before. But don't let appearances fool you. There's always only one reality." - 1Q84
It's indeed helpful to be steered back to reality, especially when some crazy (maybe fun, but still crazy) things happen. Think Inception too.
And to cap off a good week, my sisters and I will be watching Les Miserables! I'll see you, Hugh Jackman! =)
At first I wanted to watch all the Cinemalaya entries this year, but having read the entries' synopsis, I found that not all have sparked interest in me. So I succumbed to watching just three from this year's list; I would have watched more, but busy schedule and picky budget prevented me so.
So here's the quite limited three Cinemalaya 2012 films I got to watch:
So here's the quite limited three Cinemalaya 2012 films I got to watch:
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| THE ANIMALS: Set in an affluent, upper middle class village in the suburbs, “The Animals” chronicles a day in the life of Jake, Trina, and Alex, who go through the musings that every kid in high school has to deal with. All Jake wants to do is have a good time, Alex just wants to fit in, and Trina simply wants more. A very vivid picture is painted of life in high school after the final bell rings, as well as a different side of the Philippines, and what is happening to its privileged children. |
The fact that the filmmaker had recently graduated from film school showed impatience on driving the point home. Everything's there that we expect in a youth-oriented film for the rich kids: drugs, sex, alcohol and betrayal. With plusses on different pictures of the current society. With that, the film's message is accurate although a little overbearing. For me, the film showed a lot of elements that it failed to summarize the message wholly to give it more impact.
I particularly liked Dawn Balagot's portrayal as Trina, she looks natural and charming.
The final scene was nice, it lingered.
Probably i would have traded this film in order to watch Mylene Dizon's Aparisyon if my schedule permitted.
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| INTOY SYOKOY: Intoy has had the hots for Doray since they were kids in Kalye Marino, Cavite City, formerly the American Naval Base in Sangley Point. Both marginalized as the long-lasting effect of American abandonment of the said base, Intoy has become Kalye Marino’s best “tahong” caretaker-with-no-angst-about-poverty, while Doray a cheap prostitute-with-no-guilt, tending to her siblings’ needs. Intoy strives to have his own cages of “tahong” so he can have Doray, not for just a night of quickie sex, but forever. |
I was really sorry I missed the first thirty minutes.
I found the love story of a tahong driver (JM de Guzman) and a cheap prostitute (LJ Reyes) portrayed very sweet and endearing. It was innocent, and lovely and the two lead actors really played it well.
I didn't liked the last scene, and the decisions that came with it. But Lem Lorca, the director did the last scene beautifully that the love was seen more as innocent and true than it is stupid. (But I still don't buy the ending, though it was portrayed really well.)
Just so I will see the film's entirety, I won't hesitate to watch it again if I have the chance.
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| ANG NAWAWALA: Gibson Bonifacio stopped speaking when he was a child. Now twenty years old, he returns home to Manila from his studies abroad, his first visit in three years. He finds his family trying to keep it together, his mother still hurting from a tragic loss in the past. Against the backdrop of the vibrant local music scene, his childhood best friend tries to reconnect with him, while he unexpectedly finds a chance at a first, real romantic relationship. Amidst the holidays, Gibson reconsiders and redefines his relationships with his family, his friends, and with himself. |
It's a coming-of-age story for a boy who decided not to talk since he saw the tragic death of his twin. The movie was good in a lot of ways, with really awesome music. There are a lot of scenes that could just effectively be captured in music videos. It's as if you could lie in the clouds and feel like flying. That's what the music of Ang Nawawala offers. And opens doors to a music genre that is least appreciated nowadays.
But I think it's overly long. I wished they had cut a lot of scenes, not all parts were needed and sometimes it's just repetitive.
Images and synopsis from cinemalaya.org
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| I guess when you're young, you just believe there'll be many people with whom you'll connect with. Later in life, you realize it only happens a few times. - Celine |
I didn't think it was possible that I would love Before Sunset way more than I loved its predecessor, Before Sunrise; but I did, and I was beyond captured.
Before Sunrise is about two strangers who meet on a train one summer day when they decided to spend one day in Vienna together; Before Sunset occurred nine years later.
The experience was like reading a great book. You know how they say that movies always fall short when one read its novel contemporary, but these, these movies take the best of both experience with plusses even: Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke-plattered.
We get to watch for one hour and a half these two characters only, the things they learn about each other, things in life we already know. To action-biased moviegoers, this might seem like a bore, but to those who prioritizes dialogues and character development (as I said, just like in books) in films, then this sure deserves the shot.
I loved both films, but I like the second one better because the characters were matured now, they weren't anymore blinded by the pretense of young exciting love. And I love how beautifully depicted their friendship in the second film, even if in fact they only met for a day nine years back.
It's definitely one of the movies I will never delete in my drive.
And it'll have a third installment! Next year! Exactly nine years after the second one. How cool is that?!
There’s a fine connection between superhero movies and locally produced action films, I believe. The latter juggles the typical elements of an underdog protagonist, a bombshell of a female lead, a climax from, it seems a 1960s Bollywood movie, and a confrontation with the enemy that lasts for like – just tick the trigger for chrissake. Not to mention the irresponsibly late police figures in the end.
It’s a classic Pinoy action film, and when it comes to superhero movies; the drift seem obvious every time: same elements and factors, with different super powers and a tight-colored costume. Whatever happened to variety huh?
But the latest installment of a comic flick, the X-Men First Class is most certainly not one of those.
THE PLOT
Eeeeeee! Welcome back to meeeee!
I’m not sure if the overly E’s are for excitement or self-irritation.
I’m thinking the latter, but I think I’m being hard on myself again.
So I was MIA. For a month.
And I swear if it hadn’t been for a particular thing, I won’t even be back here.
Not that I’ve never done it before. In fact, I am so so used of stopping, writing.
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| I reached the HOLE. |
So this is March's version of --
WHERE I'M AT WHEN I'M NOT HERE
or torn between doing what needs to be done and the short-lived but oh-so fun things
That's how it turned out, one thing I do when struck with the (and this used to be occasional) usual bouts of laziness is watching movies. The 2-hour (most of the time this includes pee and snack time) getaway is undoubtedly my favorite pastime ever (note to self: blogging/writing didn't even came close, I actually have a love-hate relationship with that one).
So with a bucket of Hershey’s Chocolate Ice Cream and lots and lots of chips, I was off to Wonderland with:
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LIMITLESS
If you’re given a drug that would allow you to use the full 100% capacity of your brain (I’ve read that we can only use around 20% of it) with minimal side effects every day without stopping, because once you stop, you die; I know the last part’s scary but if the drug supply is limitless, just think about the endless possibilities of a fully-functioning brain.
It’s interesting really: everything you’ve read, learned, heard or saw is stored somewhere inside just waiting to be picked up. It’ll be like reading a dictionary and the next day, you’re a walking thesaurus. It also helps one to multitask a LOT of things and focus in each one smoothly.
Just thinking of the things I can do if I have that drug:
- I could pass actuarial exams all in one take, with approximately 7 days of review in each.
- I could finish my work before lunchtime.
- I could write blog posts everyday and make sense.
- I could try the stock market and get rich.
- Or frequent a casino with state-of-the-mind poker techniques and still get rich.
Ow, Life!
And I found my own Brad Pitt! I actually don’t get why women go gaga over BP and men go hands-off with this male Aphrodite; I think he’s too jaw-y.
But anyway, as I said, I found my own and it’s Bradley Cooper! I know I liked him on Valentines Day but this movie sells him so well. And he can really act too!
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JULIE & JULIA
Right now is definitely not my best time to hear a successful true story on blogging. Most of the time, this writing project I spoiled myself with feels like I’m shooting hoops aimlessly, everywhere. Sometimes, even going back to the primary (and overly optimistic) reasons for this doesn’t help.
I just know that I needed to do this blogging/writing thing, once and for all. To keep my nagging self of what if’s in the future.
THAT is my most honest reason for this.
Just what Julie Powell did in the movie, and look at her, she had her happy ending.
Anyone? Anybody out there? Hello???
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TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE
It’s amazing how the supporting casts of the high-school-themed film Mean Girls are everywhere now, think Amanda Seyfried and Rachel McAdams in Time Traveler’s Wife. Where is LiLo? I kind of miss her, despite all the nasty drama, she did made a number of feel-good films.
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THE TOURIST
I know Johnny Depp had been the sexiest man for quite a long time but what's with all the either drunk/lost/rugged/freak roles he always seem to portray?
I'd love to see him as a typical working man next time; I think he's had his share of too many crazy roles.
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AND THE 275-DOLLAR ORDEAL
The first part of my 15 Movies series I think is quite safe, because those five movies are in all due respect endearing in their own way. Witty, funny, comic yet irresistible, those movies are my primary recommendations when someone asked me for good movies to watch, and the usual quick resort when asked of my favorite films.
The second batch might not be as appealing as the first one; they’re certainly not the happy ending kind. But in their own dark twisted manner, they definitely got me. It’s true that the dark part of our lives are the ones that stirs us to reality; and when it comes to films (I’m a huge movie fan, if you don’t know by now), I don’t see why it has to be different.
The second batch might not be as appealing as the first one; they’re certainly not the happy ending kind. But in their own dark twisted manner, they definitely got me. It’s true that the dark part of our lives are the ones that stirs us to reality; and when it comes to films (I’m a huge movie fan, if you don’t know by now), I don’t see why it has to be different.
Here is the two-third of the 15 Films that Moved Me.
Handpicked, with bloody cherries on top. Cheers!
We were watching The Orphan last night in HBO. I was supposed to be studying for my actuarial exam in December, but everyone’s watching and I didn’t want to be such a loser in my corner with reviewers piled in front of me. So I declared last night as another study-holiday. I don’t like horror movies. I am always anticipating the bad things to happen, so I see myself frightened like hell before everybody else get goose bumps. And I keep my eyes half-closed in really terrifying scenes.
In one of the scenes in Orphan, somewhere near the ending, when we thought the worst is already over, Esther (the dwarf freak) came running with a knife in her hand, towards the lead roles. And boy, we all screamed.
Like: Waaahhhh!!!
With matching both hands inches from our ears.
When was the last time you screamed in a movie?
I must admit, we all had a good laugh after that.
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