I'm Beginning to Seriously Consider Watching "The Last Airbender"

Shyamalan better redeem himself with this film...

Pandora is basically a Local Area Network

Finally got a chance to watch the acclaimed film "Avatar" and here are some of my thoughts:

1. Saw it on IMAX 3D and there's only one fitting reaction and I'm going with one of the reactions mentioned in the James Cameron interview in Attack of the Show which goes like this:

"Duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuude..."

*ahem*

I can tell you that you've never seen anything like it before.

2. Pandora is a planet where the biosphere is essentially one big internet: creatures come with their own USB ports, the native population have their own USB/LAN cables attached to their bodies, trees are servers, and their nature deity issues orders through wifi...duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuude...

3. the visuals are awesome; the story -- well -- is familiar. People have made (unkind) comparisons to Dances with Wolves, Pocahontas, and even Fern Gully!

4. There was this one scene where Jake Sully (or Jake Sooli) is making this big speech to rally the Na'vi. In one sentence I caught the phrase "...this is..." and I went "Sparta?" while chuckling to myself.

5. How the hell do Na'vis f*ck? One animator decides to speculate...



6. I want my own flying dragon -- thing -- whatever that was!

7. I didn't want to return the 3D glasses when it was all over. For the money I paid I decided to wear it until the exit, refusing to take it off with my own hands -- I actually leaned over to the usher so he could pluck the glasses off my face.

Heil Landa!

Congratulations to Christophe Waltz, a.k.a. Colonel Hans Landa, for winning the Best Supporting Actor Award at the Golden Globes.

His performance in Inglourious Basterds is alternately disturbing and comedic -- with just a touch of charisma and sadism. All of his scenes are noteworthy but this one's the funniest of them all...



An Oscar is just a breath away...

The Playlist in My Head

Effect of the movies Inglourious Basterds and Paprika:

1. "Meditation Field" by Susumu Hirasawa


2. The "Parade Song" by Susumu Hirasawa



3. "Cat People (Putting out Fire)" by David Bowie. This is that scene in Inglourious Basterds.

Die Hitler! Die!

Watching Inglorious Basterds brought back memories of watching war movies with my brother. He would always tell me to take count of the number of soldiers at the start of the film as they would eventually be whittled down during the course of the story. Needless to say, my subtraction skills were sharpened from watching war movies:

Okay, we have 10 members in the squad...

Now, two got blown to bits by a claymore mine -- 10 minus 2,that's eight...

One bleeds to death from being shot in the thigh, must be the femoral...one less eight makes seven...

Standoff in a base or somewhere...five gets blown by mortar fire. Two remain standing...

The beauty about Inglorious Basterds is that it doesn't make pretensions to draw parallels with current issues, be an allegory of the struggle over good and evil, serve as an indictment or endorsement of any war, or even wax sentimental over the "good old days" (Band of Brothers often did this during the course of that series). It's a swashbuckling adventure. And it delivers.

In the sequence which shows Shosanna (aka Emmanuelle) in the projection room prior to the premiere of "Nation's Pride" (you'll get this if you watched the film), I thought the song playing was familiar - more particularly, the voice, which I was sure I have heard before. I bet Yunamayi that it was David Bowie (unfortunately she didn't call me on my bet). And sure enough, at the end credits -- David Bowie! Cat People!

One question: what happened to the remainder of the Basterds? I counted the the two German speaking Basterds in the pub and the two who went kamikaze in the cinema as casualties; Raines and Utivich survived, so where were the other four? Unless I missed a scene...wait -- I forgot to count them again during the baseball bat scene with Bear Jew and the Nazi officer...crap.

Coming Soon

1. Percy Jackson and The Lightning Thief



2. Inglorious Bastards



3. The Hurt Locker - I think this one already screened, so I might've missed this...but I hope I'm wrong..

Profane Redemption

Matthias Grunewald's "Crucifixion"

Just watched Wanted:Border with Yunamayi and let me just say that it was an amazing experience. The film reallys fits the mold of what a true "indie cinema" experience is. The film does not pander to the audience, purposely forcing the viewers to a higher level of awareness. In short - hindi iniinsulto ng pelikulang ito ang intelihensya ng manonood.

But the film also carries an inherent challenge -- as the audience you need to keep your eyes and ears open and soak in the visual and visceral experience. Viewing Wanted:Border is quite a challenge. The film employs a non-linear narrative and the images would seem to be a bit convoluted at the beginning but it all falls into place toward the end. Take note, you need to keep the small details in mind. This film might need a few more views even for those already initiated in the various conceits of indie cinema.

The film left us both satisfied and perplexed. The taltal thread is the one that got us pondering the film even as we were exiting the cinema. During dinner we'd often catch ourselves lost in thought -- ganun ka-grabe ang epekto ng pelikula sa amin. To speak of more details would be a sacrilege, since one needs to take in the entire movie and come up with their individual take on the movie. Mine is right there in the blog post title as well as in the picture of Christ crucified in all his g(l)ory.

Apart from the complexities, it was a joy to hear people speaking in Ilonggo. Rosanna Roces gives an understated, though very powerful performance. The film has offered us a strange and unsettling view of the human condition, and if in the darkness of human compulsions one can find a strange though disturbing beauty -- and a rather surreal hope for redemption -- then it wouldn't hurt to look, would it?

Pissed

Movietime with cousin Pebi did not go as planned.

I am so f*cking pissed with what happened.

Last night I checked out the scheduled screening of Wanted:Border at clickthecity.com. There I saw that the schedule listed a 1:40 PM, 3:30 PM, and 5:20 PM screening of the film. Knowing that Pebi would be fresh out of her shift (her shift BTW ends at 6 am) at her call center/trading consultancy work, and that she normally spends Thursday morning asleep at home, we agreed on an early afternoon screening since she should be back in Cavite before 4 or 5 PM.

And so we met at the SC around 10 AM. Natawa ako sa kanya kasi yung get-up nya was "yuppieng gala" -- top part was "yuppie" while the lower half was "gala" (shorts and sandals). A quick stop at Maroons turned her into a "UPing gala" (a UP shirt now replaced her blouse). After spending a moment to check out the DVDs at the usual place, we made our way to Robinson's Galleria for lunch.

Of course libre ni Pebi. (Thank you!) Mealtime chitchat was the most meaningful I had in a looong time. Discussion went from movies: Sophia Copolla's Marie Antoinette and the sad fate of M. Night Shyamalan (Pebi expressed admiration for Lady in the Water; I, on the other hand, expressed skepticism on The Last Airbender; we both agreed The Happening sucked); to books: George Orwell's works (Animal Farm, 1984) to Paulo Coelho's I Sat by the River Piedra and Wept (pareho ang reaction namin sa book -- isang malutong na WTF?!)The food at The Old Spaghetti House was also good - the spareribs were soft and tender but needed more sauce and marinade IMO.

Things took a turn for the worse after lunch.

We hurried to the ticket booth around 1:15 PM to get in line for Wanted:Border only to find that Robinson's Movieworld had changed the schedule. There were to be two screenings of THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON at Cinema 8 prior to the screening of Wanted: Border. The earliest we could watch was 5:20 PM and, knowing Pebi's situation, it was impossible for us to watch the movie as a "critical tandem" (naks) if that's the case.

F*ck.

After profuse apologies to Pebi, we decided to watch Paranormal Activity instead. Nilibre ko si Pebi as a token of gratitude for lunch and also for the fact that the sudden change of plans made us watch a movie that we both weren't planning on viewing. Nahiya talaga ako kay Pebi. And I was so irate at what happened that I just had to kick Edward's big-ass face displayed in the Movieworld lobby.

Honestly, that felt good. ha.

Halos walang tao sa cinema when we went in. Aside from Pebi and myself, I counted around 6 more people in the cinema. So much for the hype surrounding this film -- another addition to the "found/recovered footage genre" like The Blairwitch Project, Cloverfield, Rec, Quarantine (based on Rec), and The Hayden Kho Scandal (kidding)

Again, so much for hype. I considered the film as an indictment of the materialistic and self-centered American culture whose only response to the forces of the supernatural was to point a videocamera at it. The scenario presented in the film would unfold quite differently here in our country, where our culture is steeped in lore regarding the supernatural. This would explain why both Pebi and I viewed the film with a degree of incredulity and amusement -- but not horror.

Kung si Pebi pa: "Naku, na-engkanto lang yan. Tawas lang ang katapat nyan..."

but to be fair to the film, a few scenes did make me jump. The most interesting was the one where the woman, while sound asleep, was dragged by her foot from her bed by an invisible presence, and hearing her terrified screams as she was being dragged away from view... now, that was creepy.

And another question kept nagging me: Why don't they just shut the damn door?

And so our tandem shared disappointment instead of an enjoyable film experience. This afternoon just made me realize how much I hated the Twilight series, and now I could hate it with a vengeance. Nang dahil sa New Moon na 'yan nadiskaril ang plano namin ni Pebi, punyeta!


Note: checked the clickthecity website again, and lo and behold! the f*cking schedule has indeed been changed!Isaksak nyo yang p*t********g New Moon na 'yan sa baga nyo!

Movie Time

Just scheduled a movie watching session with cousin Pebi tomorrow. We will be watching the Cinemaone Filmfest 2009 Best Picture "Wanted: Border" at Robinson's Galleria. I'm making up for not watching "Yanggaw" last month...

To-Watch List...

Tomorrow...THIS IS IT!

I Can't Figure This One Out...

The Radiator Lady from David Lynch's "Eraserhead" a.k.a. "Admiral Ackbar's Baby" hehehe



Be at the airport in a few hours. Take care everybody and see you in Bacolod...

Give the Devil His Due

This is the last Cine Europa film I will be watching. I also wanted to watch "Just Another Love Story" but there was a very long queue and the tickets were all out when I was almost at the booth. Muntik na akong maabutan ng tickets pero wala na talaga...nyemas!

The film that I was able to watch was from the Czech Republic and featured the Devil as the protagonist, fairy godmother, and dispenser of justice. The story was made out to be a fairy tale, with all the usual conventions: evil stepmother, various challenges to be hurdled by the protagonist, a love story, etc. but what I found interesting was the role of the Devil as social arbiter and equalizer.

Here the Devil (aka Lucifer XIV) sends his minions to claim sinners. The movie, however, presents this in a positive way as the Devil seems to have a liking for greedy people. Putting this in the context of the film, which was released in the 1980s, this seems like an attempt at social commentary. There are implicit criticisms of the “higher” class (greedy, snobbish), the military (inept, venal), government (ditto), and even war (motivated by greed) in this film, and a sympathetic take on the plight of the working class. The Devil and his minions are portrayed as agents of social justice who punish those in power who use their influence to disenfranchise and abuse their fellowmen. Parang familiar ito ah…

Despite the clunky special effects (pasensyahan niyo na 1980s pa kasi) the film was an enjoyable experience. And, as all fairytales go, the guy got his girl, the poor became rich, and the Devil got his due.

At May Sequel Na!

Just watched [Rec] with Pebi at Edsa Shangri-la Plaza, and it was one hell of a blast.



Just replace "Mierda!" with "Putang-ina, ano yon?!" and you'll have an idea of the reaction of the audience at Cine Europa.

The storyline reminded me of the Left for Dead game. The final "boss" in the movie looked like the Witch in L4D. And the people becoming "infected" and not "zombified" is just what the L4D Infected were. The upcoming sequel to this horror film just might confirm the relationship between the movie and the game...



Manu is back! and so is Jennifer! And was that a Boomer spewing blood? Wait a minute, where the f*ck is Angela? Donde esta, Angela? Donde?!

Die Welle

Just got back from Cine Europa at Edsa Shangri-la Plaza. I watched the German film "Die Welle" or "The Wave"



A charismatic high school teacher introduces a novel project to make his students understand the concept of an autocracy. One week later, one kid gets shot, another blows his brains out, and the teacher goes to jail...

One observation: the "Wave" salute featured in this film is oddly similar to the "Oishi" hand motion as seen in the commercials, had it been done closer to the chin. wala lang...

Bukas, Spanish horror film with Pebi. The nightowl meets the slacker...hehe

"Dyinggel" Factor

I believe I have found a new personal standard for rating films -- the "dyinggel" factor. Movies that make me want to hold the urge to urinate until the almost inevitable moment rank high, while those movies in which I just take a leak at the slightest stirrings of my easily excitable bladder would be lower rated.

So far the films I have seen in the past few weeks have been highly rated by my bladder. In "District 9", I was able to abstain from peeing until the end credits. "Bruno" elicited the same reaction despite having drunk a large-sized iced tea drink. Another factor may have been the fact that the movie had been shortened by (very) apparent edits which eliminated entire scenes. F*king censorship sucks!

And though I very much wanted to bestow the same "non-peeing during the entirety of the film" honor on "Kimi Dora", the iced tea I consumed earlier while watching Bruno finally sounded its clarion call in my nether regions. Good thing it was almost toward the end. Eugene Domingo does a masterful comedic performance, and the movie itself stands as one of the better comedy films of this year -- featuring Miriam Quiambao in a masochistic role, a cockroach killing maid with an indestructible face, Dingdong Dantes acting geeky, a vomit-eating askal, weird-looking special effects, a farmer with incredibly fine skin texture, a hilarious and creative use of rifle laser sights, and the most good-looking catering service ever.

I Survived Twilight

Stilted plot, an oftentimes insipid script, and the dialogue...THE DIALOGUE!
It was a miracle I got through it - no, wait - i absolutely had to skip some parts. The vampires sparkling in the sunlight scene was corny. ew. Liked the baseball scene, though. Peter Facinelli's as white as bondpaper, Jasper has this constipated look stamped on his face (it seems he's fighting back some hunger pangs since he's a new 'vegetarian' but all I can see is bowel obstruction), and the love story is zombified - just working on the barest of logic, and of course...Bella's body odor.

from cracked.com...click the image to enlarge

Rock Me Amadeus!

Just watched Adventureland starring Jesse Eisenberg and *gasp* Kristen Stewart of Twilight notoriety.

I liked the film. I liked Stewart and Eisenberg's acting in this movie. And I LOVED the soundtrack.

I was playing "Name that Tune" throughout the movie and I think I managed to get 4 out of 12 right. The movie featured songs from Lou Reed, JOurney, David Bowie, The Jesus and Mary Chain (interesting choice of "Taste of Cindy") and *gasp* The Outfield! I haven't heard The Outfield since I was in elementary mainly due to my cousins' tapes that were blasting from our old stereo - este - cassette player pala, to be more specific. The post title is the song by Falco which kept playing over and over during the movie, much to the lead character's chagrin. Amadeus! Amadeus! Amadeus! Amadeus! Amadeus! Amadeus! Amadeus! Amadeus! Rock me Amadeus!

Just the right dose of humor, drama and nostalgia. Let's party like it's the 80s!

Dance! Magic Dance! Magic Dance!

David Bowie. Labyrinth. Bow.



You remind me of the babe
What babe? The babe with the power
What power? Power of voodoo
Who do? You do
Do what? Remind me of the babe

I saw my baby, crying hard as babe could cry
What could I do?
My baby's love had gone
And left my baby blue
Nobody knew:

CHORUS

What kind of magic spell to use?
Slime and snails
Or puppy dogs' tails
Thunder or lightning
Then baby said
Dance magic, dance (dance magic, dance)
Dance magic, dance (dance magic, dance)
Put that baby spell on me
Jump magic, jump (jump magic, jump)
Jump magic, jump (jump magic, jump)
Put that magic jump on me
Slap that baby, make him free

I saw my baby, trying hard as babe could try
What could I do?
My baby's fun had gone
And left my baby blue
Nobody knew

CHORUS

Dance magic, dance (dance magic, dance) (x4)
Jump magic, jump (jump magic, jump) (x2)

Put that baby spell on me (ooh)

You remind me of the babe
What babe? The babe with the power
What power? Power of voodoo
Who do? You do
Do what? Remind me of the babe

Dance magic, dance, ooh ooh ooh
Dance magic, dance magic, ooh ooh ooh
Dance magic

What kind of magic spell to use?
Slime and snails
Or puppy dogs' tails
Thunder or lightning
Something frightening

Dance magic, dance
Dance magic, dance
Put that baby spell on me
Jump magic, jump
Jump magic, jump
Put that magic jump on me
Slap that baby make him free
Dance magic, dance (dance magic, dance)
Dance magic, dance (dance magic, dance)
Dance magic, dance (dance magic, dance)
Dance magic, dance (dance magic, dance)
Jump magic, jump (jump magic, jump)
Jump magic, jump
Put that magic jump on me
Slap that baby


Dance magic, dance (dance magic, dance)
Dance magic, dance (dance magic, dance)
Dance magic, dance
Slap that slap that baby make him free
Dance magic, dance (dance magic, dance)

ADHD Porn

That's what Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is.

The Plot: The Autobots - Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, and the others - must rise once again and protect humanity (humanity = Sam Witwicky and his girlfriend) from the threat of the Decepticons (resurrected Megatron, Starscream, a mostly inert Soundwave and - who the f*ck is 'The Fallen'?).

Explosions. Big Machinery. Cool Cars. Aircraft Carriers. Military people walking. Military people talking. Military people walking - in formation. Shootouts. Jet fighters in the sky. Explosions. Explosions. Explosions. Megan Fox in skimpy clothing. Running. Jiggling breasts. Explosions. Explosions. Explosions. A shot of some actor's crotch. Egypt. Petra. Explosions. Explosions. Explosions. Explosions. Optimus dies. Optimus lives. Explosions.

I feel dizzy.

Reaction: I never thought I'd get bored of so much explosions...but I did.

I Have To Watch This...