A colleague of mine told me that the novel is worth reading and found out that the movie, too, is worth watching. I read Saab Magalona‘s reaction to it, and just like the others, she was disappointed for not giving judgment to the novel.
I know it had been shown weeks back, but I have never been the kind who watches a movie at the cinema on its exact play dates. (Well, there were instances I did but they were really rare ones.)
I just saw the Hunger Games official trailer and it seems interesting to me. I’m planning on reading the novels as well. But I want to finish the one I’m reading these days: A Game of Thrones, and I’m still stuck to it.
One of these weekends, I will be laying my eyes on this movie. Let’s see if I’m gonna love it or not.
I work in a company owned by a Korean whose clients are in Korea. So we also follow Korean holidays. Since they had their “Chuseok,” or Thanksgiving on September 12th, we didn’t have to go to work. What’s special about Chuseok is that they need three full days off work — the day before, the day when they celebrate it, and the day after — for the journey, the preparations, the celebration, and the relaxation. Hence, a long weekend for us, too!
So we had plenty of time to do lots of things. I listed my things-to-do, which included waking up early, cooking our meals, buying items for the tindahan (which my cousin Ate Neneng did), doing the laundry and ironing my son’s uniforms. As for Monday and Tuesday, it included preparing my son for school.
We watched a total of 7 movies. On Saturday we saw Taken (again! haha! Because I wanted my mom to see it) and I Am Sam. On Sunday, Shutter Island and Blades of Glory. On Monday, Bridget Jones’s Diary and The Lady in the Water. And on Tuesday, just one, Interview with the Vampire. We could’ve watched more but we were extra busier than our usual weekends. It was great though because it meant a productive weekend for us all.
Taken is about a father who quits from his job to have more time for his daughter. Although his wife has made a new family, he still tries to keep his relationship with his daughter tight. However, conflicts arise when his daughter lies about going to Paris and gets kidnapped by unknown men. He tries to find his daughter and get back on the culprits.
The movie I Am Sam triggered my tears to well in my eyes. It is about a guy, though considered ”special” (if you know what I mean), has been able to raise his daughter alone. But as the child grows up, he struggles with emotional and legal issues. Will they be together forever in spite of his deficiency? Or will they be separated because “normal” people think his daughter can have a better life with a different family?
In the film Shutter Island, a man tries to solve a mystery case in a mental institution. He tries to find a woman, who is said to have drowned her own children, who’s been missing in the hospital. He thinks something’s fishy around and tries to unravel the mystery. What he finds out in the end may be hard for him to accept.
In Blades of Glory, two competing figure skaters team up to revive their lost career. It isn’t easy for them because they have been rivals in almost every competition. How can they win and restore the honor that they both lost after fighting in front of many people? Will they even be able to bring back what they’ve lost?
Bridget Jones’s Diary is about a single woman who is on a journey to finding her perfect man. She meets a man whom her parents introduce to her at a party. Their first encounter isn’t that great. She then meets and dates her boss, and thinks he is the one that can finally make her happy. However, things don’t go too well as she finds out something about her boss slash lover. She has to make up her mind and decide who to choose.
Lady in the Water is another fantasy movie that not only kids will enjoy, so do the adults. It’s about a girl named Story who needs to find her way back to where she belongs but has to find all the others who can help her go back safely. The question is, who are those people?
Interview with the Vampire is about a man who has been turned into a vampire and tells his story to a reporter. He tells the reporter about his journey as a vampire for about 200 years. What is he confessing for? That’s what you have to find out in the end.
Weekend has passed, just like how it always does. One day on a weekend passes much more quickly than a day on a weekday. I wonder why…
On Saturday, we got my co-workers’ orders from our supplier. We left the house before lunch and came back home at around 9 in the evening. So we didn’t have time to watch a movie.
After having lunch on Sunday, we started our movie marathon. First, we watched a kiddie movie with the kids, then a hero movie that I didn’t know was not really appropriate for children to see (in which we skipped some parts because of the scenes that only adults should view). Lastly, we watched an inspirational drama that gave us so many different ideas and thoughts about life and the mystery of life.
When I was young, my brother and I would always watch cartoons. Looney Toons, Tiny Toons, Walt Disney, Hannah-Barbera, etc.
One of the cartoons that we loved watching was Yogi Bear. I am pretty sure that 99% of the people who’ll read this, know who Yogi Bear and Booboo are. But for those who don’t, Yogi is a bear who stays in Jellystone Park and steals picnic baskets, with his sidekick Booboo, from the people who visit the park. He often speaks in rhyme and is known for saying “I am smarter than the average bear!”
Yesterday, when we were watching the film, I got a bit disappointed. I thought it would have been better if they made it an animated film instead. I wasn’t happy with Yogi’s voice and the way the actors acted. I also thought the whole movie was lame. Trying too hard to make it entertaining and funny. Well, some scenes are funny though.
I heard about the movie Watchmen before and I heard that it was about heroes. So I expected that it was a hero movie like Batman, Superman, The Flash, Wonderwoman, and the like. The whole idea was good. It shows people that heroes are humans, too. Making a living. Committing mistakes. Getting drowned by their own power and wealth.
However, some scenes — or rather most scenes — suggest that it is, after all, an adult hero movie. The gun shots, the explosions, the fight scenes… All of them are too brutal and violent that may not be appropriate for younger audience. It was my mistake anyway. I shouldn’t have thought it would be similar with Thor, Iron Man, or Batman. I thought they would, at least, have been careful with sensitive scenes.
In the end, I didn’t enjoy it that much. The plot was good though.
Spoiler!
A Beautiful Mind is about a young, brilliant but antisocial mathematician whose intelligence has been recognized by a secret agency and hires him to work as a cryptologist. However, circumstances change when he decides to marry and settle down.
Later on, an incident happens which makes him terrified and watchful about his life. He suddenly becomes scared and says things that people around him doesn’t seem to believe. He is then taken to a mental institution where he is said to have schizophrenia. He struggles to set apart what’s real and what’s not. He uses his mind power and will power to fight the urge to talk with the people he once thought were real.
My thoughts after watching the movie:
The only ones who can help cure mentally ill people are themselves. If they could only learn to distinguish what’s real and what exists only in their heads, they too may live a close-to-normal life.
That our mind can play tricks on us and can totally control us if we are not strong and reasonable enough to analyze things correctly.
That in any situation or condition, our families are the best source of hope and inspiration to get well.
Our life, not just death, is full of mysteries. There are so many things that even the most genius in the world can ever decipher.
Another weekend has passed… Another list of weekend flicks. We watched 2 animated movies, 2 hero movies, 1 dramatic movie taken from a novel, 1 episode of American TV series,and 1 action thriller.
We watched Over The Hedge as requested by Titus, my older son. Then to make Tim dance, we watchedAlvin and The Chipmunks 2. Then we watched Iron Man because I did not know the story and I was told it was essential to know the members of the Avengers first before watching their upcoming movie.
We were kinda busy on Sunday so we started playing Iron Man 2 in the afternoon, followed by Glee Season 2 Episode 1 “Audition” (just to see Sunshine Corazon again) and Taken in the evening.
Taken is epic. I could feel his anger in his every punch, every kick, every hit. Sorry for the bad guys, they picked on the wrong guy. haha!
It shows us how important our families are, whether related by blood or not. Selfish actions can break others' trust. So before you make a decision, before you make a move, make sure no one, not one, will get hurt and suffer from it.
Families are families. They're with you in good times and bad. You meet new people eventually. It's up to you if you stick to your new acquaintances believing they really DO accept you or if you remain loyal to your family who has been there all the way through.
The Time Traveler's Wife is a story that will confuse you, sadden you, amaze you, and keep you thinking even after the movie. We should always value our time and live our lives right as long as we still have time.
I'll just make it simple. Jesus said, "Those who use the sword are destroyed by it."
Shows how friendship may be broken if one was blinded by power. And how losers remain losers if they don't better themselves.
Teamwork isn't about doing well individually. It's more on doing well as a team.. As a group.. Rachel Berry has a problem with it when she meets Sunshine Corazon.
Obey your parents. They know more about life than we do. Disobedience and selfishness may result to unpleasant things -- things you would never think of.
Months back, we watched Step Up 3 and it was purely entertaining! If I would give it an award, I’d give them the “Most Entertaining Movie Of All Time That You Can’t Help But Dance While Watching Them Bust Their Moves” Award.
On Saturday, we saw it again in clear DVD copy followed by the two preceding Step Up movies. What I like about these Step Up movies is that the people behind the movie chose the real BFABs. Unlike most Filipino movie makers, they would have a famous actor or actress to star in a dance movie or a TV series and a double would bust some moves and do stunts that the star couldn’t do.
Let’s take the GMA TV series “Time of My Life” for example. Kris Bernal is NOT a dancer. She can (‘can’ here expresses ability) but she can NOT dance well. Yeah, I DO appreciate the effort, time and energy that she has exerted to execute the acts in a way that people will somehow believe she IS a dancer, but sorry, she is not really BFAB — Born From A Boombox — so I can hardly believe in the story. WynWyn, Yassie and Mayton are just few of those GMA stars who can get Kris’s role and I’m so sure they can do a LOT better. (No offense to all Kris Bernal’s fans.)
Aside from that, why do story writers have to focus AGAIN on the “mother-lost-her-daughter-and-met-her-some-time-in-her-life-but-didn’t-know-because-she-thought-her-daughter-was-dead” kind of plot?? Aren’t we tired yet of the Mara Clara tale? Can’t we just have the Glee type of drama? I mean, just light drama that can get heavy as the story goes on. People don’t need to see super cruel things like switching kids or having an enemy killed to make them cry or agitated.
In Glee, each character gets to have their own chance to be featured in an episode. Each of them shines. Each story can touch our hearts and make us weep. There are rivalries, quarrels, and fights. But none intends to really hurt their rivals. When Time of My Life was first introduced on TV, I thought that was a great idea. It was something different. But then again, to my dismay, it was just — yes — the old “mother-lost-her-daughter-and-met-her-some-time-in-her-life-but-didn’t-know-because-she-thought-her-daughter-was-dead” kind of plot.
AAAAAnnyyway, let’s go back to the purpose of this blogpost. Each character in all the Step Up movies has their own goals, dreams and aspirations. Some are not given opportunities, some are too hesitant to go for their dream, and some are still in search of their real selves. Technically, the cast are really into dancing and proficient in their talents. One example is Harry Shum Jr., “the man with no bones” in Step Up, is Mike Chang in Glee. He has also starred in Stomp The Yard.
My favorite characters here are Moose (Adam Sevani), Camille (Alyson Stoner), and Tyler (Chunning Tatum). Now, why did I get hooked in this film? Let me give you some videos from YouTube where they showcase their talents.
-Step Up-
Final Showcase
-Step Up “The Streets”-
First Dance
Moose’s First Dance
Final Dance
-Step Up 3D-
Robot Rock
Final Battle
2nd Round
Dancing in the Park
And this is the battle in the club that is not included in the movie.
Deleted Battle Scene
How I wish I was BFAB, too! Hahaha! xD
Enjoy~
BONUS CLIPS: Kris Bernal on Time of My Life (the stunts were done by her double, mind you)
This weekend, we only watched three movies — the Korean movie Sad Movie (for the second time ), Thor, and The Rise of the Planet of the Apes. I had this ugali that if I don’t feel like watching a certain movie, I won’t watch it. But I’ve already realized that I’ve been missing a lot of good ones.
When Thor was officially shown in cinemas, I didn’t watch it. I’m pretty choosy about hero movies. But again, I was wrong for not watching it then. It was a great watch.
Thor is arrogant and aggressive. He is about to be crowned as the new king when something happens and his father takes everything away.
This movie tells us not to be arrogant and not to do anything impulsively. Not because we live a better life than others, earn more than others, or have gone to many different places, doesn’t mean we ARE a lot better person than them.
I also fancy Korean movies. One of the several Korean movies that I like is Sad Movie. As the title implies, it is INDEED a sad movie. It tells the stories of four different people — a woman whose boyfriend works as a fireman, her sister who can’t speak and has a burnt face, a bum who is dumped by his girlfriend because, yes, he is a bum, and a child who starts to value his mother when he reads her diary.
I think, the message of this movie is that we should value the people who love us dearly before their time is through.
In The Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Will is formulating a new drug that can cure Alzheimer’s mainly because he wants his dad to get well. To know whether the drug is effective, they have to test it on apes. The effects of the drug on the apes are impressive. It not only rebuilds the cells in their brains but also improves them. Caesar, a chimp, was born in the lab, but is raised by Will in his own home. Caesar shows remarkable behaviors and intelligence that an ordinary primate can’t.
After 5 years, Caesar starts to think what he is exactly and where he is from. He is then taken to (somewhat like a) pound for monkeys when he protected Will’s father from their mean neighbor. He meets the other monkeys and starts his journey to freedom with his own kind.
There are quite a lot of things that this movie wants us to realize — animals don’t need an ALZ-112 or an ALZ-113 to let us know that they, too, have feelings and thoughts; cruelty to animals may urge animals to get back on us; and there are things in life that we have to let go of because they aren’t really destined for us.
So there. If you haven’t seen them, you’d better start now. All of these are worth seeing!
I’ll start posting movies that we watch on weekends. Let me begin with the movies that we saw last weekend. On Saturday, we watched the movie The Illusionist. And on Sunday, we saw Definitely, Maybeand Due Date. I remember watching Passengers, unfortunately, I can’t recall which day we saw it. heehee~
The Illusionist is about a poor boy who seems to have a gift of magic. He falls in love with a princess who, later on, is separated from him. He travels around the world showcasing his special talent until he comes back to his hometown and meets the princess again.
Definitely, Maybe, for all those who have not seen it yet, is a romantic comedy film about a man whose daughter gets an early sex education at school and gets curious about his love and sex life. He tells his story about his college girl friend, his girl friend’s childhood best friend and his new co-worker. The girl tries to guess which one her mother is.
It’s funny and complicated and I even got teary-eyed at the end. Parent-children stories usually touch me so easily.
Due Date, is a pretty silly movie about a man who is flying back home for his first child’s birth. However, things have become complicated because of a strange fellow that he meets at the airport. And because of a certain situation, he gets included on the No-Fly List and leaves him with no choice but to take a cross-country trip by car with this strange guy. He learns so much during the trip but the big question is, will he arrive at the hospital on time — safe and sound?
The Passengers focused on a grief counselor with a group of plane-crash survivors who ended up solving the mysterious disappearance of her clients. It’s got a nice twist in the end.
Watch the trailers:
The Illusionist
Definitely, Maybe
Due Date
The Passengers
Enjoy!!
Sorry guys. I had to edit it because I forgot to add the movies The Illusionist and Passengers. Better late than never. :)
