+view boring mobile edition

Showing posts with label movie review. Show all posts

The Cliché Story, A Fairy Tale. And I Love It! [Notting Hill Movie Review]

Thursday, September 20, 2012 comments powered by disqus



Tale as old as time. Yes, a fairy tale. A cliché story of having the impossible. You can almost expect what will happen in the end. But with witty brit humor, lovable characters and entertaining hollywood storytelling.

Then you will remember the old issue that was Hugh Grant. Caught in a car having sex with a prostitute. The issue was not that he had paid for sex. But the kind of prostitute. Think of the Avenida type 500 pesos hooker. Not the high class escort service for politicians and businessmen. 

Okay, it was an exaggeration. Not the Recto type. It was like the Malate girls. But you get the grip. 

Anyway..

That was the issue headlined by the media. But they never hated him for it. In fact, he got some more movies again after the incident. Thankfully.

It is an old movie, relatively speaking. And I'm not the biggest fan of this kind of story. I want blood or pain, melancholy or any disturbing realities. But after watching Notting Hill, I say let's go back to fairy tale. At least from time to time. Because sometimes, we need to believe in something. No matter how hopeless. Yes, that human spirit! That mushy message.

Well, is it an escapist film? Yes! 

Is it worth your time? Yes!

[Movie Review] Friends with Benefits: Shallow Yet Unpretentious, Cool and Charming

Friday, September 23, 2011 comments powered by disqus


Let us first forget about our critical selves that want deep stories of Oscar worhty movies. Let us, for this time, just enjoy the ride. Those maistream entertainment fare without complicated plots or brain-fucked endings. What we have now is a story that we already know the resolution even before the problem started. But I am not complaining.

Friends with Benefits is shallow yet unpretentious, cool and charming. The first scenes was a bit slow and dragging despite some witty banters. But after that first salvo, everything went as expected. Mila Kunis and Justin Timberlake are beautiful non-couple with mutual understanding of sex and friendship. And it goes well. Or so they thought. Because, again expectedly, it turned out that they have feelings for each other. More than friends, that is. 

     And how can you get more mainstream and cliché than that? Complications and bruised ego, the cute dance number like our 80's Regal Films, the oversimplified solution to heartaches and family problems, etc.

bore me some more... »

Why the Movie Contagion is not Contagious

Tuesday, September 13, 2011 comments powered by disqus


Before we watched it, I was wondering why this movie isn't getting raves. Its director is Steven Soderbergh, the trailer is awesome and lots of big stars! So why not, indeed? But after watching it, I know the reason now. Actually, while watching it.. the first minutes will tell you why. It is flat, impersonal and got no climax or at least a character to root for, to care, or to hate. This is one of those movies of intent. 

Contagion presents a look at what happens when an infectious disease threatens humanity through varied viewpoints from an ensemble cast, including Marion Cotillard, Matt Damon, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, Laurence Fishburne, and Kate Winslet.

We've seen this treatment before and we are not complaining. The disapproval is not in the pudding. But in the main dish.

The movie presented a "big" problem that audience can relate but might not care. This big problem, or the disease that threatens humanity, for me, should be the starting point or a backdraft of a personal struggle and emotional conflicts. But in Contagion, it is not.

bore me some more... »

Captain America Fits This Blog. It's a Bore!

Saturday, July 30, 2011 comments powered by disqus



Captain America perfectly fits this blog. It is a bore! It doesn't help that we watched it not in iMax. Thou in digital 3D. But with or without the fanfare of it (the 3D and the iMax), this movie, to say the least is wanting. We can always understand Transformers or Fast and the Furious for not having strong stories. Because their selling point is its action scenes. And hell yeah! ,they're giving it fully. But with Captain America, you don't even have a decent action sequence. Okay, that's an exaggeration. But it is not satisfactory. There are many action scenes that remind me it is just a movie. It's special effects is too mediocre for a superhero movie. And it lacks imagination. 

bore me some more... »

movie review: transformers

Friday, July 8, 2011 comments powered by disqus


I haven't watched the movie. I guess I'm not one of the core market this movie is cathering to. I can discuss some other time stories that I prefer to see. But who wants to know? haha :) Anyway, going back.. My two good friends saw it and have some things to say about the film. With their permission, I am posting their reviews.

     First is from Ninjaman, our head writer in many of the TV shows the past years. This is from his blog "Songs of the Salamander":
 
   With Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Michael Bay shows us that he doesn't really need a story, character development, or any of those things a person usually looks for (consciously or unconsciously) in a movie after his twelfth birthday. All Michael Bay seems to need are lots of robots beating the living shit out of each other, some hokey teen drama, and a smattering of that AMURIKA, FUCK YEAH! attitude. I didn't appreciate the teen drama since I never cared about Sam Witwicky anyway, not even in the Generation 1 cartoons. I didn't appreciate the America worship for obvious reasons. But I did appreciate the robots. Because Transformers have always been about the robots and their ridiculous war.

bore me some more... »

blog comments powered by Disqus
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...