There are three movies in the line up and they are in the gay side of life.
Latter Days
Shelter
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas
The third one, it is not gay really but I deem it gay. Lol. S
Sorry I'm pretty distracted this past few days. Blame As the World Turns. I try to make it up as soon as possible this week. Thanks for reading!
Till the next post.
Saturday 18 December 2010
Thursday 9 December 2010
(Almost) Amazing
"Be honest and unmerciful" says rock icon Lester Bangs (Patrick Seymour Hoffman) to William Miller (Patrick Fugit) in the movie Almost Famous (2000). To be honest, I am not the most honest person in my life but this movie struck me and I saw how honesty and passion are the perfect ingredients for living life.
To this date, I have never researched on a movie that I am writing about. I am only concerned of what a movie says to me--more on a reflective stuff-- and I didn't care how the critics say, much more, rate a certain movie. However, this movie made me push for a little more so a hit on RottenTomatoes and read some movie reviews about Almost Famous. I found out that it got 88% rating in rotten tomatoes and got quite nice reviews from movie critics. I will not talk about them here because they get so technical there.
The movie features rock n' roll and I am the number one discriminatory person against those kind of music mostly because I just don't like that kind of music. Just plainly that-- no reason at all. Then suddenly came this movie (which I watched out of boredom) saying that music chooses the person and I was like, "Rock n' roll didn't choose me." The music that chose me is the music behind Little Mermaid, Lion King and Rent which made me look up to "La Vie Boheme" as the musical perfection. I found within me a personification of William's mother who's thinks that those kind of music is a bad influence. The movie made me realize I am in no position to judge a person with his choice of music as a basis after all, I am in no position to judge at all.
You see, I am not a kind of person you'll see jumping up and down and banging my head wildly in a crowd in front of a rock stage. I also disgust those people who almost line their eye at least a quarter of an inch thick and wearing their bangs all over their face and eventually slit their wrists. I am the kind of person listening to There's A Fine, Fine Line and Journey to the Past and act out the emotion of the song through dancing and theatrical gestures (So my brother is frequently annoyed when I burst out singing a song amidst household chores). Almost Famous made me realize that as much as I think those people on a almost pandemonic rock concert are crazy, I am as much as a lunatic.
But the movie is more than musical discriminatory. It is also about growing up and having a perspective in life. We can see the total transformation of William from a misfit boy to a mature person who understands the realities of life and the existence of true love. Kate Hudson's character saw the difference between a die-hard fanatic infatuation to true love. Lester saw the values of friendship. And among other, each character makes the movie work through making subtle but strong impact to us audience.
This movie opened my eyes to the diversity of culture; more specifically, seeing as music as an extension of poetry and another portal for fillings. Music chooses people as a wand chooses the wizard. Great Movie, Must see!
PS
Sorry for making this post late. I am so hooked up with gay flicks and As The World Turns. I'll finish the two articles I'm lagging.
To this date, I have never researched on a movie that I am writing about. I am only concerned of what a movie says to me--more on a reflective stuff-- and I didn't care how the critics say, much more, rate a certain movie. However, this movie made me push for a little more so a hit on RottenTomatoes and read some movie reviews about Almost Famous. I found out that it got 88% rating in rotten tomatoes and got quite nice reviews from movie critics. I will not talk about them here because they get so technical there.
The movie features rock n' roll and I am the number one discriminatory person against those kind of music mostly because I just don't like that kind of music. Just plainly that-- no reason at all. Then suddenly came this movie (which I watched out of boredom) saying that music chooses the person and I was like, "Rock n' roll didn't choose me." The music that chose me is the music behind Little Mermaid, Lion King and Rent which made me look up to "La Vie Boheme" as the musical perfection. I found within me a personification of William's mother who's thinks that those kind of music is a bad influence. The movie made me realize I am in no position to judge a person with his choice of music as a basis after all, I am in no position to judge at all.
You see, I am not a kind of person you'll see jumping up and down and banging my head wildly in a crowd in front of a rock stage. I also disgust those people who almost line their eye at least a quarter of an inch thick and wearing their bangs all over their face and eventually slit their wrists. I am the kind of person listening to There's A Fine, Fine Line and Journey to the Past and act out the emotion of the song through dancing and theatrical gestures (So my brother is frequently annoyed when I burst out singing a song amidst household chores). Almost Famous made me realize that as much as I think those people on a almost pandemonic rock concert are crazy, I am as much as a lunatic.
But the movie is more than musical discriminatory. It is also about growing up and having a perspective in life. We can see the total transformation of William from a misfit boy to a mature person who understands the realities of life and the existence of true love. Kate Hudson's character saw the difference between a die-hard fanatic infatuation to true love. Lester saw the values of friendship. And among other, each character makes the movie work through making subtle but strong impact to us audience.
This movie opened my eyes to the diversity of culture; more specifically, seeing as music as an extension of poetry and another portal for fillings. Music chooses people as a wand chooses the wizard. Great Movie, Must see!
PS
Sorry for making this post late. I am so hooked up with gay flicks and As The World Turns. I'll finish the two articles I'm lagging.
Tuesday 7 December 2010
Salve, No Salve Evita
Last night, I waslearning to cook Menudo and as I cook I found myself singing Don't Cry For Me Argentina. Well the latest Glee Episode reminded me of this beautiful song (though I still think that Lea Michelle and Chris Colfer murdered the song, I still love Glee though) and as I cook I think of writing about the film adaptation of the musical Evita (1996). As of this writing, I'm listening to the song and also my favorite High, Flying, Adored.
With Madonna casted for the title role and Antonio Banderas as Che the narrator/critique, the movie is performed where everything is sung except for a few lines. I first watched this movie when I was in third year high school, utterly bored in a hot weekend, and found the copy on my father's DVD collection (I still wonder why my father have this copy. I never bothered to ask) . Madonna is simply amazing in the movie as she believingly portrays Eva Peron. However, what interests me in this movie is Banderas' character.
Che is a random person in the story line. He appears out of nowhere. In fact, he's everywhere and he narrates the "slutty" past, critics every move and sometimes acts as the conscience of Eva Duarte. Che puts me in a position if I could admire Evita being the woman of the masses-- the descamisados-- or see her as somebody who nurtures her own personal agenda while hiding to the cloak of being the saint-like. (Sounds familiar? If not, watch the show on TV5, 6:30 Pm on weekdays.). The presence of Antonio Banderas's character makes it hard to empathize fully with Evita Peron. It makes me wonder if Evita is just another victim of the well-established social class in Argentina or she is a conniving social climber very hungry of power.
Evita works in a way that it puts me in a position seeing every facet of Evita Peron. Moreover, Madonna is great and because I'm gay, the word great is underrated to describe Madonna to me. Here are my favorite scenes from the movie:
I love the sarcasm in this song:
This movie is great. highly recommended.
With Madonna casted for the title role and Antonio Banderas as Che the narrator/critique, the movie is performed where everything is sung except for a few lines. I first watched this movie when I was in third year high school, utterly bored in a hot weekend, and found the copy on my father's DVD collection (I still wonder why my father have this copy. I never bothered to ask) . Madonna is simply amazing in the movie as she believingly portrays Eva Peron. However, what interests me in this movie is Banderas' character.
Che is a random person in the story line. He appears out of nowhere. In fact, he's everywhere and he narrates the "slutty" past, critics every move and sometimes acts as the conscience of Eva Duarte. Che puts me in a position if I could admire Evita being the woman of the masses-- the descamisados-- or see her as somebody who nurtures her own personal agenda while hiding to the cloak of being the saint-like. (Sounds familiar? If not, watch the show on TV5, 6:30 Pm on weekdays.). The presence of Antonio Banderas's character makes it hard to empathize fully with Evita Peron. It makes me wonder if Evita is just another victim of the well-established social class in Argentina or she is a conniving social climber very hungry of power.
Evita works in a way that it puts me in a position seeing every facet of Evita Peron. Moreover, Madonna is great and because I'm gay, the word great is underrated to describe Madonna to me. Here are my favorite scenes from the movie:
I love the sarcasm in this song:
This movie is great. highly recommended.
Saturday 4 December 2010
Anne Frank and a Concrete Evil
So I found myself few days ago searching Anne Frank on YouTube our of boredom and I came across this full movie (uploaded in 17 parts) entitled Anne Frank: The Whole Story (thanks romanov1918 for uploading). It is not actually a movie, it is a mini-TV series based on the book Anne Frank:The Biography by Melissa Muller (There is supposed to be an umlaut in u but I don't know how to do it) and it stars Hannah Taylor Gordon as Anne and Ben Kingsley who won a Screen Actor's Guild Award for portraying Otto Frank, Anne's father. The movie made me put faces on the stories I have read about the Frank's. What is nice about the movie is that it extends the story to the days where Ann spent some days in the concentration camps until the day she died in Bergen-Belsen. Anne Frank's story is about hope amidst the evils of humanity.
I talked about supernatural evils on my last post but what is more scary is the tangible evils that a person could afflict. This evil is infectious and it can spread very fast that is why the Frank's were driven to hiding. The persecution of the Jews-- if not the most-- is one of the scariest moments in the history were thousands of innocent people were killed because of the stupid reason that they belong to the inferior race. It is stupid to cleanse the supposed to be master "Aryan Race" and Hilter is damned incarnate evil to afflict that ideology. The Holocaust was not just about driving Jews from their homes but actually killing them for inhumane methodology such as starving, gas chambers and shooting random Jews for leisure. It is so sad that hope that is abundant in Anne's personality was sucked out of her piece per piece until she looks to heaven defeated at the last scene.
On the lighter side, there is the character of Miep Gies (Lili Taylor), the one who sneaked the Frank Family in the attic above their office. The Frank depends on Miep and three others for their food and supplies and most importantly their secret . Lili Taylor's role has not many lines in the story but the sense of her trustworth is always expelled in the atmosphere every time she is in a frame. It is warming to have Miep Gies's character to buffer the darkness all throughout the movie. No wonder the real Miep Gies was blessed by long life (She died January 2010). Her persona is the ultimate epitome of a friend, that is, of trust.
It is so sad for me to watch this great film because of seeing how people could do great evils. It is just like Lord Voldemort and Muggles, just more concrete and indeed scarier. This movie leaves me in a position to wonder what if I'll lose hope with life. I hope that everything that is happening to me right now will not suck out the hope inside me. I think we just need to remind ourselves that Anne endured the worst thing.
Friday 3 December 2010
Going Back and the Evils Around
I have abandoned this site so a few months ago because I felt like a failure and, thus, started a new movie blog with a strict sense of order than this 4-movies-a week blogging. However, I am also a failure with that blog and found myself in the struggle between writing only the movie blogs following the format on my other blog and writing things about any movies I watched. So I decided to do both and write in this blog about any movies I watch while waiting to download the movies I am supposed to watch. (Damn internet connection: leeching its way that torrent downloads only get max download rate of about 9kbps). And here I am, getting back on this blog clean-slate and without any promises. Just writing for the sake of keeping my sanity intact amidst household chores and boredom.
Returning to my old ways of writing blog, I am coming back now to tackle the 2005 horror flick The Exorcism of Emily Rose. This film was first screened when I was in second year high school, but I first saw this in my senior year because of my friend, Oliver, keeps talking how scary this movie was. After too much hesitation, I rented out a copy and watched it bravely alone, in front of my desktop and just hearing the snores of my apneic father from the other room. After about 90 minutes of shock, I soon find myself sleeping with a Bible placed on my chest and wrapped around my arms. Yes, I was sooo scared that time that I easily sought the company of my church-mates and have me prayed over so I can get a good night sleep after almost a week walking to class like a walking zombie (Luckily Plants vs. Zombies is not yet around by that time or else I'll be having rotten tomatoes and eggplant bullets all over my uniform).
With Jennifer Carpenter portraying the lead role Emily, the main plot is set on a court room where a ambition-propelled lawyer Erin Bruner (Laura Linney) defends, although reluctantly at first, Father Richard Moore (Tom Wilkinson) who performed the exorcism rights and is now charged of negligence resulting to Emily's death. The whole trial changed the perspective of the seemingly religiously apathetic Bruner when she feels some supernatural presence at nights. Meanwhile Father Moore goes on the witness's stand to tell the story of Emily and of the demonic possession. It was revealed that Emily was possessed by 6 demons including Lucifer himself. Here is the clip of last exorcism of Emily Rose before she died.
I recently watched this movie for the third time last Halloween, 3AM the same time when Emily was last exorcised. I was watching it with my little brother and my cousins who are so scared that they can't sleep after the movies. I told them that the movie is actually based on the true story of Anneliese Michel and they started freaking out making my brother pray every night before going to sleep.
The movie works darkly and you can sense the darkness creeping all over you when you watch this film. Three years have passed, and back then I was actively involved in church activities and right now I grew into someone like Erin Bruner, apathetic towards religion. Maybe because I know my evolution very well or I am annoyed with my grandfather's fanaticism towards Eliseo Soriano, but I just don't care with my religion anymore. However, I still have my faith in God and I know for a fact that He exists and so as the demons. The fear I felt when I first saw this movie, I think, is a proof already. We might believe in very different things and we could see Emily's story in different perspective, one thing is apparent though: Evil is always around lurking and trying to break our lives.
Returning to my old ways of writing blog, I am coming back now to tackle the 2005 horror flick The Exorcism of Emily Rose. This film was first screened when I was in second year high school, but I first saw this in my senior year because of my friend, Oliver, keeps talking how scary this movie was. After too much hesitation, I rented out a copy and watched it bravely alone, in front of my desktop and just hearing the snores of my apneic father from the other room. After about 90 minutes of shock, I soon find myself sleeping with a Bible placed on my chest and wrapped around my arms. Yes, I was sooo scared that time that I easily sought the company of my church-mates and have me prayed over so I can get a good night sleep after almost a week walking to class like a walking zombie (Luckily Plants vs. Zombies is not yet around by that time or else I'll be having rotten tomatoes and eggplant bullets all over my uniform).
I recently watched this movie for the third time last Halloween, 3AM the same time when Emily was last exorcised. I was watching it with my little brother and my cousins who are so scared that they can't sleep after the movies. I told them that the movie is actually based on the true story of Anneliese Michel and they started freaking out making my brother pray every night before going to sleep.
The movie works darkly and you can sense the darkness creeping all over you when you watch this film. Three years have passed, and back then I was actively involved in church activities and right now I grew into someone like Erin Bruner, apathetic towards religion. Maybe because I know my evolution very well or I am annoyed with my grandfather's fanaticism towards Eliseo Soriano, but I just don't care with my religion anymore. However, I still have my faith in God and I know for a fact that He exists and so as the demons. The fear I felt when I first saw this movie, I think, is a proof already. We might believe in very different things and we could see Emily's story in different perspective, one thing is apparent though: Evil is always around lurking and trying to break our lives.
Monday 26 July 2010
Week Number 2! Yehey!
Yes! We are now in the second week and I am having an allergy! GOD! I am itching everywhere and I dunno where it came from. Well I guess there would be this expensive meeting with the doctor later. I regret to inform you that I am one movie article behind. I know it is a bad manifestation but please bear with it because I am out of town right now. I am having difficulties accessing the internet nowadays, so puh-leasssssse, without me and stay there.
I hope that you are still there reading and waiting for my movie lists and articles. I really want this blog to be a huge success, well basically, attain a certain level of readership. Please leave some comments so that you could help me improving this blog. My writing skills are still of a beginner's and I would really appreciate any help you could give in order for me to develop these.
And yes, I have now my movie list for the second week and they are:
Spy Next Door (2010) starring Jackie Chan
A-Team (2010) starring Bradley Cooper, Liam Neeson, and Jessica Biel
Paranormal Activity (2009)
and,
Cinco (2010)
So stay tuned for the articles of the said movies plus the lagging article for Pretty Woman (1990) starring Richard Gere and the ever dashing Julia Roberts.
I hope that you are still there reading and waiting for my movie lists and articles. I really want this blog to be a huge success, well basically, attain a certain level of readership. Please leave some comments so that you could help me improving this blog. My writing skills are still of a beginner's and I would really appreciate any help you could give in order for me to develop these.
And yes, I have now my movie list for the second week and they are:
Spy Next Door (2010) starring Jackie Chan
A-Team (2010) starring Bradley Cooper, Liam Neeson, and Jessica Biel
Paranormal Activity (2009)
and,
Cinco (2010)
So stay tuned for the articles of the said movies plus the lagging article for Pretty Woman (1990) starring Richard Gere and the ever dashing Julia Roberts.
Saturday 24 July 2010
Cheesy Plot Can Still Make an Everlasting Love
Week Number 1 (still) and Movie Number 3: The Notebook (2004). (Yes, it is based on the novel of Mr. Nicholas Sparks of the same title.)
The only bad thing about this movie is that it is one of those country-boy-meets-city-girl movie he making the plot very predictable. You know that in the end, Noah and Allie will be united despite their differences and the parent hindrance. Although they have twisted the timeline (making it non-linear because the story is told on a flashback), they made their greatest flaw by giving a very obvious hint that the two oldies are in fact the lovers in the story as written in the notebook when the nurse "gave" the name of the old girl. Nevertheless, watching the movie makes a well spent two hours for the audience.
Of course, the timeless plot template of well-refined-girl-fell-in-love-with-the-bad-boy is always cherished especially by the girls (and I am gay, thus, I count as "girl"). The movie makes it you remember that day when you first fell in love no matter if it was only a puppy love. Noah was a man of few words and it makes him simplay hot and it makes you want him (or not him, maybe someone like him. Talk about Derek Ramsay). And naturally, you would want to act like the spoiled Allie who wants to be with her beau most of the time and start to make fights with him which both of you would reconcile in sweet caressing hugs and maybe a prolonged kiss. Romantic it is for the girls but I think the guys have some difficulties appreciating this movie because an obvious appreciation would have them appear to be at least effeminate.
With Alzheimer's Disease being the major blockade of their supposedly continuing love story, the movie saved itself from the major fires because of this trick. We are sure that Noah, as steadfast to his love for Allie, reads the notebook to her so often in order for her to fulfill her promise to "return" every time the story is retold. And we are glad that she "returns" everytime he reads the story to her; however tragically that it only last for five minutes at most. Also, the recurring symbolism of the mansion highlights two main "roads" of the story line: First, the mansion's renewal manifests the hope that Allie would come back to him once the mansion is finsihed, and last, its transformation from old to new can be juxtaposed with the implied resurrection of their love after their physical death. Therefore, the movie, although it has the cheesiest plot template, have depth and unique visual palatability. It makes us still believe that there are wonderful things in our life amidst the pain and trials that we are burdened.
Ryan Gosling has already proven to be one of the greatest actors of this era. His hotness and the believability of his acting is a very good choice for the movie. For this movie, he won the Teen Choice Awards for a breakout performance of a male and an actor for a drama flick-- a true evidence that the movie hs a lot of teenage fans (what would we expect?). Also, Rachel McAdams has used her innate Queen Bee she also used for Mean Girls (2004) in order to portray successfully the spoiled, rich kid nature of Allie. Combining the innate talents of this actors, they made one of the classic kiss flicks in the entire history which catapulted them into series of dating sessions after the movie screening. Indeed, they make a wonderful couple and it contributed so much to the success of the movie.
One thing that we can learn about The Notebook is that love endures forever. However cheesy that line is, it gives us hope and it encourages us to engage in a loving relationship. In our times now, true love maybe hard to find and girls would have the difficulties now to find a bad-boy sawmill worker but the movie assures us that love is always there hoping to be found in the right place and time.
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