Movies

Ok, I haven't had the chance to watch Ocean's 13 and Transformers. I think I'll just download the former, and with the latter I hope Direq doesn't forget that we're watching it together. :D

What I was able to watch just recently are:
Cyrano de Bergerac
You Got Served
Evan Almighty (God bless the internet!)

Cyrano de Bergerac

Well this movie was from 1990 with Gerrard Depardieu playing the lead. All I can say is that it's a must see. Depardieu shows why when non-French people hear the words "French actor," his name pops up. Brilliant acting.

You Got Served

I'm contemplating downloading Stomp the Yard now. This movie was just I don't know... lacking a whole lot of stuff, from acting to script, of course nothing on choreo (amazing dance moves!)

It's just annoying how there are instances when the actors look like they forget their lines. The characters are just meh. It offers no new insights whatsoever as well as possibly painting a negative picture to whities and Asians. Call me paranoid but the ethnic differences between the groups and the character attachments are quite evident. And the whole Lil' Kim? WHAT THE HECK? She looked really weird there, and her script was exactly like what it is, a script. There is no trace of reality with what she was saying. Oh and the "father figure" big black guy whatever his name was? Just brushing off celeb security? WTF? Seriously, they should have pushed this character further I mean you can't really see how he's supposed to know everything when all he does at the start of the movie is host the dance contests.

Evan Almighty

Now this is a really really great movie. Of course there already is a suspension of belief about the seriousness of the characters. I mean Wanda Sykes as a congressman's assistant? No way.

The movie plays around a lot with the characters. There's a lot of puns and figurative language going on that contribute to the humor of the movie. Note major corporate sponsorship from General Electric and Idiot's Guide :p

But seriously the story and the direction were excellent. The camera angles show clearly the characters "God" and "Man."

The story this time is God calls Evan Baxter who's campaign slogan is "Change the World" to change the world after Baxter prays to God for the ability to do so. God sets Baxter with Noah's (of Ark fame) job. And from then on the story erupts to include the various themes of the movie.

Following its predecessor Bruce Almighty, Evan Almighty hosts several of the usual explanation to God's nature. The implications on prayer, faith, and fellowship are quite strong. It is shown quite clearly how men of faith are called by God and discriminate against by the populace. It is a clear symbol of how people act when they see things bigger than themselves playing in their lives. It really is a masterfully-written script, you have to see it to understand the nuances of the characters of the movie. And in the end, there is a very beautiful message for all of us, but there's a spoiler alert.






The "Ark" is given by the movie a new meaning. It is termed as an act of random kindness. Despite is literal figure given in the movie, the Ark symbolizes that each person has the power to change the world by helping each other out. Just as the litereal Ark works on a form of contagion (population increase) thus so is the treatment of random acts of kindness.

Some reviews

The Pursuit of Happyness

A very inspiring and well-made script, refined with great casting and acting makes a movie great. People should flock to see this if they want a tear-jerker.

The Banquet

Now this is quite an amazing story. Though I feel the movie was trying hard to become an art film with all the excess scene and symbolic devices shots.

Basically The Banquet revolves around the treacheries/trickeries of the leading lady. It really hearkens the days of vile court officials and poisonous alliances. And even with the politicking there is the recurring idea of love which just makes the movie brilliant. And of course the accurate and exquisite portrayal of the life and times of the Chinese court!!! Excellent!

The crafting of the characters are excellent, from the innocent servant to the haughty empress! Brilliant work! And the ending was exquisite! After that well-delivered speech, her death was just so unexpected and that made for a great coup d' grace ending!

Zhang Zi Yi kinda has this scary smile/look doesn't she? When she smiles with her teeth out...

House of Flying Daggers

Erm... Nothing much to see here. Not much emphasis on the relevance of the House of Flying Daggers... The movie centers on a love triangle, with lots of fighting in between! The knife-throwing scenes are just well um... off. Great fight scenes though! But anyway there are strong themes of love, duty, and fanaticism involves here. Great plot twists but all in all a very weak script makes for a meh movie.

Little Miss Sunshine

I was laughing from the start of this movie. This is sheer genius. The exposition at the dinner table was just golden. After hearing those exchanges you KNOW it's going to be a brilliant movie.

Seriously it's an excellent laugh trip even without reading into the script for deeper subtexts. And the script! Masterfully written! When the father said "good luck" I was already applauding the movie! And the daughter was just exceptional in the stock character of a curious and innocent child. Her exchanges with the Miss America was it? about ice cream really emphasizes how children view consequences and role models. From the start of the film one could already see that the themes of beauty and judgment would be running all through-out the movie. As the father's program is further explained the definitions of winners and losers are in themselves words of brilliant script writers.

The whole "life is a beauty pageant" was a recurring concept throughout the movie. The brother who committed suicide kept saying that he was America's number 1 scholar as a sign that he still clings to his laurels. To the father, winning and losing is the beauty pageant. To the grandfather, the beauty pageant is his family. To the mother...well holding things together I guess but I think I have to watch the movie again to see her tie into this concept. The son explained the whole concept! To the daughter the apparent physical beauty pageant is there.

The scenes of the Little Miss Sunshine Pageant were quite disturbing as those little girls were literally dolled up. The skanky clothing and routines? Or over-rouged and sprayed hair? The clothes? They all stand in contrast to our heroine who goes about the pageant as bluntly as a stone. But that is our culture as the son says. Everything is a fucking beauty pageant. Has our lives been transformed to hold a judgmental image culture? The whole porn star routine, though tagged as inappropriate for the conventional talents and shows, further illustrates the message that everything in life that we do is judged by other. Conventions and traditions are held sacred and those that seek to break the status quo aren't given any dinero for their time. This is quite a serious implication but I do mean, in the context of the story since the girl didn't know what she was doing, that people are being processed and compacted to meet expectations. Beauty pageants are homogenizing each and every single event in our lives.

The ending can bring its viewers to tears because the scenes were just so damn funny. As the family joins in the porn star dancing, they illustrate the defiance they have with those who dare step on people's dreams. And with their display of rather funny choreography they have solidified their positions as family. No judgments, no beauty pageant. To each his own niche in the family on the verge of breaking down.

Spiderman 3 Review

Spiderman 3

All right this is one of the big 3s! (Pirates, Shrek) And after months of anticipation...........................
What a let-down. Sure the action scenes were great. But come on the movie should have been edited or something to trim it down to 2 hours. It saw like a TV series. Will Mary Jane ever pick the man she truly loves, find out during the next episode where [DEUS EX MACHINA] the butler reveals all!!!

or

Previously on Spiderman.
"You were always a disappointment, Harry."
"Avenge ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
(Scene opens. Harry sits on a couch, a therapist has just stepped out to take a leak.)
"Damn daddy issues."

or

(Jazz music. Peter enters with the "changed man look.")
Peter comes out of a shop with a new ensemble and starts doing his disturbing dances.
"You can't sing, you can't dance. What are you even here for?"
(American Idol theme plays.)

OK, seriously. The movie did have its moments. Things just weren't really cohesive. And Raimi's penchant for side comments and shenanigans really doesn't help. Some of them may be important with the character build-up but with 2 frickin movies prior to this I highly doubt if you need that much bullshit/extra scenes to build the characters.

From what I can remember:
1. The waiter at the restaurant where Peter was supposed to propose. It was funny but they could've cut down 2 minutes from there.
2. Harry telling his Butler to get some food. Apparently this signals that the Osbourne family actually has a butler.
3. Mary Jane and Harry dancing to the Twist. Now there might be some symbolic reference to the Twist but the whole thing was just a fun moment. On that note, Mary Jane you skanky whore! And you Parker, moron! Same with the fallen omelet. Fallen friendship. Sad really... Or maybe I'm over-reading.
4. The singing of Mary Jane's replacement. And the "That was handled (something something)" by the directors. The whole Mary Jane losing the role because her voice couldn't reach the back just doesn't make sense. Did everyone get a good look at that theater? I mean some people have loud voices but I doubt if people could sing and have everyone hear without a frickin microphone. Yeesh.

Now on to the characters!

Venom. Erm... As Kester pointed out, the only reason why SpideyVenom was uber strong was because Spiderman already had his own powers. Where did Venom get his powers? Hm...? He was so pissed that he got so strong? Or maybe the symbiote absorbed Peter's powers... (Maybe this one, something I didn't pay attention to while the good doctor was explaining.) Which leads us to...

Doctor... something. :D I'm sorry but with what sort of materials are you able to understand and diagnose the symbiote. It's so Marvel really.

Sandman. WTF was he even doing in the movie?!!?!
"He could learn a thing or two from Gaara"- Bola.
Hahaha good one. Since apparently he was the one who killed Uncle Ben, the script writers just debased the whole "With great power comes great responsibility" scthick that was so essential in the molding of Spiderman's character. Oh speaking of crappy script writing, we move on to the...

Butler. I wonder if Stewey actually possessed the Butler in Spidermans 1 and 2 and then signed a contract that made him miss a Spiderman 3 appearance. Imagine this:

"That's right boys. Fight to the death! While I take all your armaments and wealth to rule the world!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!L33t eleventy-one!!!!!!!!!!!!"

COME ON! SERIOUSLY, the Butler is the sign that the script writers seriously didn't know what they had to do to have the movie progress to the epic friendship pawns the world Naruto psychobabble! I mean they had to wait 2 movies? WHAT? Pathetic writing. Which leads us to...

Harry. I have no idea how many times he flashed the "dumb jock smile" but it sure got the girls' votes. Because I don't think he ever smiled that way in Spiderman 1. Yep daddy issues... When he helped Spiderman it was quite apparent that he was going to die. Why? Love triangle stuff that apparently the script writer didn't want to pursue. Which moves us on to...

Mary Jane. I dunno but she may have been the start of the emo stuff. EMO you say?

Peter. Disturbing. Very disturbing. But very well-performed by Toby Maguire. I just think it was exaggerated. But hey it's Raimi so those little vignettes sorta kinda make sense.

And as we progress through the movie people can (well maybe over-reading) pick up some racist stuff. Notice the impotent cops. Of what skin are they...? Hm... But who knows I may be just over-reading.

The most annoying part of the movie was the whole AMERICA PAWNS EVERYTHING crap. I mean all the whole 911 allusions? Newscaster talking, scene location? AND THE MOST GOLDEN MOMENT.

I don't have a picture... Remember when he was web-slinging around New York and he stops and has a MOMENT with the American Flag as a backdrop. Erm yeah...

MY GOD! That was a very blatant American propaganda scene. But of course I'm just reacting to it because I'm not an American...Damn them why couldn't they have had made the Philippines one of their states way back.

Updates

Life's going on I guess.

Show's over. It went well. I don't really have the right to say I did a good job as there was something that I could've gone over to make the show better. I lack discipline, drive, responsibility. These things I will labor to inculcate in my life. I owe so much to the people who have helped me...

Nonetheless, the shows were really fun. Pictures to be uploaded in Multiply one of these days.

School stuff is starting to pile up again. I'm really really pissed at how my groupmate is so useless. Seriously. Work is piling up... Hay...

*

Music and Lyrics

So yeah, Drew Barrymore and Hugh Grant. The movie is rather plainly laid out. A very simple story, with a very predictable ending, with highly improbable scenarios. There is no critical thinking, just funny moments, witty lines and the charm of the actors to carry the movie. Meh...

The Holiday

Now we're talking! Maraming kilig moments :D The movie lends its concept of love to the viewers. It, through various directional techniques, makes the viewers feel the scene. There is briliance with every location, angle, and word in the movie.

The actors were very well casted. It really is amazing how the story can put in various themes of spontaneity and empowerment! There were so many heart rending scenes as well as the viewers see their lives progress. It is rather improbable that those two children both have cellular phones at their age! Wala lang. But still it is amazing to watch those two women who decide to swap homes and in the end earn new lives. Maybe that is how life is? We must regularly have catharses to realize what we need. Going outside of our spheres of influence will lead us to new experiences and opportunities.

There is a lot more I want to say but I don't have much time, the new episode of Lost is waiting :D Just watch the movie! With a special someone preferably. Kilig moments talaga!

*

These days, I find myself thinking more and more about you. I wonder if I am in for something serious...

Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend

Gigantic rock? Beautiful ring? What you may not know about your best friend is how it began and how it travelled to the stores, on display, to woo each and every woman. After all, a diamond ring is to some circles a penis. But i digress. I just watched Blood Diamond today with Leonard, and I was blown away.

The story is amazing. It brings the audience to another side of the world, to another culture, to another set of politics. Several juxtapositions of Africa and London/developed nations make the movie all the more effective. Also, the numerous Americanized situations in Africa enforce the ignorance of the desire for the diamonds. The scenes are graphic and tastefully directed. Throughout the movie, the idyllic scenery shots belie the horrors of the goings-on in the country. the movie, in itself carries a lot of themes and symbolisms. The cyclical reference to the earth versus the ambitions of a young man, brilliant, just brilliant! The father and son scenes are very well directed so as to wet the viewers' eyes, that being said the script and music couldn't be better. Leonardo di Caprio once again shines in his role. He is cool and practiced, but all of his being unravels when he senses his imminent death. His face changed so much in that scene, it was beautiful. From when he resigned himself to his fate, to his talk with Jennifer Connelly! Golden!

The child army scenes were very effective in telling the viewers the modus operandi of the RUF. Children toting guns is a very scary sight. The movie speaks a lot about desire. The movie itself revolves around three main characters who reluctantly are polarized to each other with each his/her own goals to pursue. And each of those goals are complex, different; all the more to give the characters more character and to profoundly expound their positions in the movie.

The blood diamond, a diamond with a pinkish tint, and in the movie around 100 karats, symbolizes our rare bouts of success. Finding it is extremely hard, with roadblocks along the way, but as Leonardo learns in the movie, one might not have the longevity to use that which he fights to gain. It was an unfortunate fate, but as he resigns himself and says, "i'm where I belong," we can see that the journey has changed his life, his perspectives.

I'd highly recomment you guys to watch this film! It's a bit long though, I'm not sure whether or not they could've removed some scenes but I like it the way it is.

randomness of doom

there are a lot to talk about. rather there was a lot to talk about. there was some topics i wanted to discuss but for some reason i can't remember anymore.damn that back to back sa and eco long tests. brains!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

well since the only thing i can remember right now is wasting my time watching a jacky chan movie, here goes. as most of you know, my dad is a die-hard jacky chan fan. as long as it is jacky chan, we will watch it, as a family. it didn't matter when or where, as long as it's jacky chan, we will watch (yeah couple years back perio week, jacky chan movie.)

well jacky's latest movie rob b hood is a gigantic disappointment. but since it is a pure chinese film i guess i shouldn't be expecting too much. the humor was slapstick, retarded, and just really dumb. there were several inappropriate dialogues, dumb-ass cracks--"i'm from brokeback mountain" WHAT THE HECK?! the direction spoon fed the audience all the way. the acting was ok, well let's just say the characters did as they were told. music, terribly annoying, a permutation of auld lang syne was playing in most of the scenes. the fight scenes were what you would expect for a jacky chan flick, except they really make most of the cool stuff nonchalant now. youtube the fight in their house to understand, great stuff. the story was...off. just a bit off.
in the end i guess if slapstick is your cup of tea, this is for you. but it's jacky chan so yeah...

interesting is the not-so-blatant advertising of pepsi throughout the movie. it's just so random to have the side of an apartment complex painted with a pepsi mural.

in the end, it really is a bundle of laughs, slapstick or otherwise. get a dvd, it just isn't worth the money to watch on the big screen.

the trailers, were the redeeming part of the trip. hm...sounds like doa all over except doa had babes. but here is one of the most brilliant comedy trailers i have ever seen.

throughout history, God had appeared to his chosen few

Abraham
Moses
Joan of Arc

BRUCE (at this point i was pumping my fists into the air!)

and... Evan Baxter. remember the demon tongued anchor? haha i have to watch this movie!

another trailer that got me excited (spiderman is a given) is 23. it sounds really interesting, it's a thriller starring jim carey. yeah! lot's to be excited for. oh and pirates 3 is slated to come out on may!

as we left the theaters i saw a poster of babel. which i meant to blog about early on.

i just saw it last week or so, via dvd from metrowalk. it's a very interesting film. it's like 4 short films packed into one. they are threaded together by relations and deeds. the movie opens with a man selling a rifle to a father and from then on, the events start chaining (or rather unweaving) themselves to the viewers. the scenes are masterfully poignant, the screenplay and photography are brilliant! the music accentuating every scene. the stories of each group of characters are fine in themselves, they represent so much. the themes of miscommunication are visibly seen from the couple's squabbles, the father and his children's upbringing (you killed an american! not only that his sister lets him peep while she takes a bath!), language and culture with regards to the tnt maid and the most heart-rending frustrations of the deaf-mute japanese girl. from my perspective the movie shows a lot of american bias, perhaps to signify the power america has over the world and that each exercise of power america has brings apart another group of people. there are several scenes that really strike me, the japanese girl in the disco with the flashing lights with music turning on and off give us a picture of the color, or lack of color she sees. we see her exhibitionism, her frustrations with her everyday encounters, why is she sex-starved? did she mean to kill herself? the film is beautiful and imaginative. tastefully done and embraces the audience into a world of culture. seriously, the juxtaposition of each scene is a form of art in itself! you guys have to watch this movie!

and after i decided i'd say this the tones of reality hit me. my usual gang of moviegoers has fallen apart. kester has moved to sta ana where he is most inaccessible and well...howell...dear howell...is now in america. we will miss you buddy. thinking about the good times we've been having. i remember our overnights, silly jokes, philosophical discussions (how i miss these). there have been several brilliant times we have had with each other. and now you are embarking on to write your own story in the book of life. we will await your return, your stories and your brokebacking...with maxi... the unholy trifecta might see the light of togetherness again, bring carlo in a balikbayan box! it is as if a portion of my life has been lost, legarda seems meaningless to me now. well first street... hehe. movies, our bonding time. cheese. pingpong. everything. sunset sunrise. we will miss you man! see you when we see you!

mean girls

i saw this movie during my christmas vacation. the first time i saw it, that is. haha it really was a laugh trip! it has a lot of powerful messages for the viewers. it was just so odd with the, i dunno but it seemed exaggerated? well thats america for you. funny funny stuff. the actors/ess were really good. they played their parts perfectly. it takes a lot of discipline to pull of their gags with a straight face. really great stuff!

the themes of teenage sexuality were pretty good. that mother was pretty freaky. walks into daughter boinking "if you need anything like snacks or a condom, just let me know." WHAT THE HE#$?!?!?! and also the other sister learning to dance and flash her breasts on tv. unregulated media consumption. brilliant. just like this movie. oops. :D

the concept of a burn book is very interesting. makes you wonder what other people think of you. its a strange way of looking for testimonials right? :D

all in all, it was a great and funny movie. i'd like to see it again. and laugh at it all over again. the clique thing just gets so done to deth that its funny.