A book and a Broadway musical by the same name, Wicked took the perspective of the Wicked Witch of the West. The same author of Wicked took another fairy tale and churned out another book, asking how the stepsister of Cinderella felt during the whole glass slipper incident. Within the sci-fi genre, there's always a crazed scientist, loosely based on Dr. Frankenstein and probably a throwback to another form of egotistical madness brought on by the desire to rule the world. Mad scientists are a great form of entertainment of course. They have their robes, usually white, their dorky sidekicks (Igors), high tech laboratories thrown together from what seems to be wires and switches, and usually found in isolated locations. And the laugh. Mad scientists must be able to laugh; insane laughter goes with mad scientist (fill in your own SAT question here)....
Josh Whedon, the creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, has created his own mad scientist and shares what an evil guy to be wants out life. Do they not bleed? Do they not love girls from afar while doing laundry? Do they not enjoy a large service of froyo? During the writer's strike late last year till the early part of 2008, Mr. Whedon and a few of his acting friends put up an internet movie in three acts. Make it a three part movie musical. Dr. Horrible's Sing-along Blog is a downloadable dark comedy, noir romance; boy meets girl, boy wants to be evil genius, boy loses girl to nemesis superhero, will the boy get girl back and win membership into evil league? Watch and find out! See Dr Doogie Howser sing!
Showing posts with label Movies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Movies. Show all posts
Monday, July 21, 2008
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Bad rap
It's a relatively early Sunday morning, there's a full length animated Ironman movie on Star Movies. After sipping a cup of hot tea, I realized the central story had Ironman fighting the hordes of some resurrected bad spirit, a chinese mandarin whose last descendent, Li Mei, is the paramour of Tony Stark. As I watched the fight between Ironman and stone warriors reminiscent of the Qing Dynasty warriors discovered in Xian, I thought that it must be some kind of coincidence that the upcoming Mummy movie (the third installment starring Brendan Fraser et al) is also centered around a resurrected "Dragon Emperor" and his stone warriors come to life, whose only ambition lies in world conquest! Using my movie esp, I foresee scenes where all the stone warriors are shot and beaten to mortar and dust in the action flick, just as they are blown up by Ironman's laser beams. Methinks this is not so subtle China bashing from the entertainment sector during a potentially controversial Beijing Olympic year.
Monday, June 23, 2008
Movie trailers
After work today, I went to Glorietta to watch a movie. Perusing the shows on offer, I decided on Get Smart with Steve Carrell, it was about to start in 10 minutes, while Made of Honor had just started. I wasn't into catching The Hulk, even with Ed Norton. After I get my ticket, and buy a chocolate shake at Dairy Queen, I enter the darkened theater, and search out an empty chair. I can hear the trailer playing, but it's only when I'm ensconced in my seat that I realize it's the X-Files movie trailer. Hmmm. Dana's hair sure is long and Mulder looks older. Storywise, it looks confusing. The guy from Mrs. Brown has blood coming from his eyes! A lot of frozen ground. Still confusing. Ooo Mulder is about to kiss Dana! Got to see the movie if only for that.
Huh, Star Wars? I didn't know they had another episode to show... wait a sec, it's all animated. And weird. Yoda looks ok. Hey, Jabba! What is this story all about... Obi wan, Christopher Lee? Ah Clone Wars. I see. Nope, not watching it. Looks like a badly animated Saturday cartoon.
Dark Knight. My oh my. It's sad, and a tad creepy to watch Heath Ledger in white face. Why does Michael Caine have to take on such minimal roles like Alfred? He's got two Oscars and he's playing Alfred. Sheesh.
Baz Luhrmann's Australia. Nicole looks good in it, no dancing or singing though.
Huh, Star Wars? I didn't know they had another episode to show... wait a sec, it's all animated. And weird. Yoda looks ok. Hey, Jabba! What is this story all about... Obi wan, Christopher Lee? Ah Clone Wars. I see. Nope, not watching it. Looks like a badly animated Saturday cartoon.
Dark Knight. My oh my. It's sad, and a tad creepy to watch Heath Ledger in white face. Why does Michael Caine have to take on such minimal roles like Alfred? He's got two Oscars and he's playing Alfred. Sheesh.
Baz Luhrmann's Australia. Nicole looks good in it, no dancing or singing though.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Cyd Charisse, RIP
I grew up watching MGM musicals like they were candy. Loved them so much, and they were the perfect escape from the heat, the dust, the tropical storms. And they all seemed so exotic to me, a child living in Martial Law controlled Manila. My mom hooked me onto the musicals through Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire, and with the advent of Betamax, we'd go through the shows and the shows about the shows (That's Entertainment 1 and 2, and I'm not talking about that local variety show). The bubble gum love stories, the poufy hairdo's, Ester William's synchronized swimming numbers, and of course the great dancing of both Kelly and Astaire. While Astaire had Rogers on his arm for several movies, Kelly was a soloist, who paired up with some lovely partners, but none was ever as leggy or sizzling as Cyd Charisse. I loved Cyd Charisse. Loved her in the dream sequence in Singing in the Rain. Who cares if Debbie Reynolds won Gene in the end? I wanted the brunette hot mama in the sparkly red cocktail dress with a slit up to her neck to win the wayward boy who was gonna dance. And even if she didn't have a single speaking line, you knew they were the ones meant to be, except she was eventually stolen away by her coin tossing gangster boyfriend.
Another great Charisse movie is The Bandwagon, where she was Astaire's partner (they also worked on Silk Stockings, a musical remake of Ninotchka, with Greta Garbo in the original Slavic role). Bandwagon's famous solo dance piece of Astaire has him dancing on the ceiling and walls, the set designers created a revolving room for the action. But my favorite duet with Astaire and Charisse is a simple moment where they take a horse drawn carriage through Central Park, she's wearing this simple and gorgeous white dress, and they dance their pas de duex through the gardens. I can see her skirt swinging in the air as I write this, with Astaire languidly (for he was never one to look like he exerted himself much) leading the way back to the carriage and into the night. (She was in the movie version of Brigadoon with Kelly, but her accent was sort of difficult to take. Great costumes though!)
She was quite tall unlike the other ballerina turned actress, Leslie Caron. I suspect Cyd couldn't wear heels much when dancing with Astaire or Kelly otherwise it would have looked odd. Her voice was dubbed in most of the musicals, but who cared if she wasn't really singing, it was her dancing that made her a star. I remember my mom telling me that Cyd Charisse had the best legs of any movie star, the story goes that she had them insured for a million dollars, a massive fortune in those days.
Both Astaire and Kelly are dancing up in heaven, and Cyd has gone up to join them, forever embedded in my childhood memories as the woman in red and white, smoking the long cigarette, or twirling through the twilight.
Another great Charisse movie is The Bandwagon, where she was Astaire's partner (they also worked on Silk Stockings, a musical remake of Ninotchka, with Greta Garbo in the original Slavic role). Bandwagon's famous solo dance piece of Astaire has him dancing on the ceiling and walls, the set designers created a revolving room for the action. But my favorite duet with Astaire and Charisse is a simple moment where they take a horse drawn carriage through Central Park, she's wearing this simple and gorgeous white dress, and they dance their pas de duex through the gardens. I can see her skirt swinging in the air as I write this, with Astaire languidly (for he was never one to look like he exerted himself much) leading the way back to the carriage and into the night. (She was in the movie version of Brigadoon with Kelly, but her accent was sort of difficult to take. Great costumes though!)
She was quite tall unlike the other ballerina turned actress, Leslie Caron. I suspect Cyd couldn't wear heels much when dancing with Astaire or Kelly otherwise it would have looked odd. Her voice was dubbed in most of the musicals, but who cared if she wasn't really singing, it was her dancing that made her a star. I remember my mom telling me that Cyd Charisse had the best legs of any movie star, the story goes that she had them insured for a million dollars, a massive fortune in those days.
Both Astaire and Kelly are dancing up in heaven, and Cyd has gone up to join them, forever embedded in my childhood memories as the woman in red and white, smoking the long cigarette, or twirling through the twilight.
Sunday, June 01, 2008
Xfiles
I'm probably late in coming to this realization: a new Xfiles movie!!! I knew there was one being made, but I didn't realize it was going to be released so soon, July 25, 2008! I'm so thrilled, that it's now my summer movie goal for the year. I think there's still time to get the new puppy used to a new name... Dana.
Thursday, May 08, 2008
Stark sparks (spoilers)
At the start of his one week trip and before we left for Mindanao, R and I went to Mall of Asia to watch Ironman and the first set of the World Pyro Olympics. As I had never read an Ironman comic before, the story was quite novel, but reminiscent of many a Marvel comic. There's the genius hero with not a few characteristic failings (inability to show his feelings for the girl, loss of parental guidance - do all action heros have to be orphans?, incapacity to see the bad guy when he's right in front of them), lots of action sequences like flying, fast cars, fight scenes, bad guys who won't die, Oscar-winning actresses who have to take a job because better scripts aren't readily available. Robert Downey Jr. is the not as sensitive as he should be hero, who seems to be the pinnacle of capital greed, until life jolts him into realizing what money can't buy (except he still can't tell the girl how he feels, merely parries it into how much she means to him in a very vague, non-committal kind of way, plus would you mind getting killed for me and my attempt to save the world?). Gwyneth plays the girl friday with a freudian name, and another oscar winner, Jeff Bridges, shares shiney head space with the not so subtle typecast Middle Eastern villain. Bald men should boycott all Marvel comic movies. Lex Luther, and now two villains in this movie. Evil geniuses or just needy of Rogaine?
Ironman, aka Tony Sparks, is less broody than Batman/Bruce Wayne, although both are uberbillionaires with playboy reps. Mr. Downey plays the facetious title character with some feyness thrown in, and tight body shirts to show off the pecs and the glowing nuclear heart. Again, as a newbie to Ironman, does the character have to start its engines looking like Chaplin about to waddle? Or is that just a reminder that Downey played Chaplin?
Overall, the story wasn't as emotionally enthralling as the Spiderman or X-men series. Perhaps the writing needs to up the emo quotient the next time around.
As for the World Pyro, I really enjoyed the German team's spectacle, with its symmetry that succeeded without boring the audience, a textural approach to the display, and drama! Sadly the Chinese show, which opened the night, was nice, but had no punch. Wouldn't it have been nice to see an Olympics ring display? Or am I too literal minded?
Ironman, aka Tony Sparks, is less broody than Batman/Bruce Wayne, although both are uberbillionaires with playboy reps. Mr. Downey plays the facetious title character with some feyness thrown in, and tight body shirts to show off the pecs and the glowing nuclear heart. Again, as a newbie to Ironman, does the character have to start its engines looking like Chaplin about to waddle? Or is that just a reminder that Downey played Chaplin?
Overall, the story wasn't as emotionally enthralling as the Spiderman or X-men series. Perhaps the writing needs to up the emo quotient the next time around.
As for the World Pyro, I really enjoyed the German team's spectacle, with its symmetry that succeeded without boring the audience, a textural approach to the display, and drama! Sadly the Chinese show, which opened the night, was nice, but had no punch. Wouldn't it have been nice to see an Olympics ring display? Or am I too literal minded?
Monday, January 28, 2008
Cinematic pregnancy
My weekend plan was to watch movies. Before the weekend began, however, I made my way to the underbelly of Makati that is Makati Cinema Square to find myself stuff to watch. Oscar nominations out last week must have spurred the availability of art films in the market, and probably one good thing about the blackmarket movie scene is available copies of hard to find films. I picked up the sort-of documentary about Bob Dylan, the two Casey Affleck films that came out late last year (Assassination of Jesse James, Gone Baby Gone), The Counterfeiters (the new film nominated for a Best Foreign Film Oscar, about a Nazi counterfeiting scheme involving the Jewish inmates in a concentration camp), Ma Vie en Rose (the biopic of Edith Piaf), Atonement, and three movies about pregnancy.
The first two are of American make. I had planned to catch Juno while in the US, but I changed my mind the last night I was in LA. The film is receiving great buzz, comparisons to last year's sleeper Little Miss Sunshine, and has now received Oscar nominations. I remember reading that the marketing of the film was quite home-grown, Juno's bedroom set was taken on a tour of America in a special transport bus. Wherever the movie opened, the set was taken to give people a chance to see the actual design. Her hamburger phone became more than a curio. And striped socks sold out.
Since Juno is about teenage pregnancy, but a comedic take on it, you realize she's not going to be one of the 1.2 million cases of abortion reported recently by the US Health Dept. I don't think all abortion clinics look as depressed as the one shown in the movie, I sure hope they aren't. But the movie isn't about public health issues, it's barely about the downside of teenage pregnancy. It's more about this quirky child with an ability to find love. It's a fairy tale dressed in urban teen clothes.
Waitress, with Felicity star Keri Russell, is the adult version, with the same fairy tale like glow to it, except in this case, the heroine hates her life, hates her husband, doesn't want to have the baby, and ends up having an affair with her doctor. At first what made me want to see the movie was the fact it was all about pies. Keri plays a woman who is meant to become a champion pie maker, win the big prize for her pies, escapes from her miserable life by imagining the kinds of pies she will make and comes up with great titles for them. But she is thwarted by her life, and can't seem to say the right thing because she's a coward. It takes the birth of her baby, and the help of a friend, which gives her the courage and the financial wherewithal to make the fresh start. Perhaps the mature tone of the film allows for more discussion about wanting babies (or not), the pains, the aches, the medical concerns (although that's secondary to her infatuation with her doctor), and, in two sequences, why you may not want to have a child. As the anonymous suffering mom tells Keri "they never tell you about the pain after you give birth" while her child continues to bedevil her. Reminded me of an award winning commercial where a man is made painfully aware by his kids why he should have used a condom. Ah, hindsight.
The third film I found is the Romanian film 4 months, 3 weeks, and 2 days. This also came out in 2007, and won several accolades for the portrayal of two women's lives in one day while struggling through the last hiccups of the Ceausescu regime. The music (or in some cases lack of it), the grit and grime in most of the scenes, the pallor of the actors' faces, and the underlying knowledge that it probably won't turn out for the best kept me focused on the film. This was not an easy movie to watch, not because of brutality or violence. There was a lot of anxiety throughout the film, and it resonates with you. You wonder if it's the difference in languages that makes you twitch a lot while watching the film, or if you should look away.
Three movies, three women, three babies.
The first two are of American make. I had planned to catch Juno while in the US, but I changed my mind the last night I was in LA. The film is receiving great buzz, comparisons to last year's sleeper Little Miss Sunshine, and has now received Oscar nominations. I remember reading that the marketing of the film was quite home-grown, Juno's bedroom set was taken on a tour of America in a special transport bus. Wherever the movie opened, the set was taken to give people a chance to see the actual design. Her hamburger phone became more than a curio. And striped socks sold out.
Since Juno is about teenage pregnancy, but a comedic take on it, you realize she's not going to be one of the 1.2 million cases of abortion reported recently by the US Health Dept. I don't think all abortion clinics look as depressed as the one shown in the movie, I sure hope they aren't. But the movie isn't about public health issues, it's barely about the downside of teenage pregnancy. It's more about this quirky child with an ability to find love. It's a fairy tale dressed in urban teen clothes.
Waitress, with Felicity star Keri Russell, is the adult version, with the same fairy tale like glow to it, except in this case, the heroine hates her life, hates her husband, doesn't want to have the baby, and ends up having an affair with her doctor. At first what made me want to see the movie was the fact it was all about pies. Keri plays a woman who is meant to become a champion pie maker, win the big prize for her pies, escapes from her miserable life by imagining the kinds of pies she will make and comes up with great titles for them. But she is thwarted by her life, and can't seem to say the right thing because she's a coward. It takes the birth of her baby, and the help of a friend, which gives her the courage and the financial wherewithal to make the fresh start. Perhaps the mature tone of the film allows for more discussion about wanting babies (or not), the pains, the aches, the medical concerns (although that's secondary to her infatuation with her doctor), and, in two sequences, why you may not want to have a child. As the anonymous suffering mom tells Keri "they never tell you about the pain after you give birth" while her child continues to bedevil her. Reminded me of an award winning commercial where a man is made painfully aware by his kids why he should have used a condom. Ah, hindsight.
The third film I found is the Romanian film 4 months, 3 weeks, and 2 days. This also came out in 2007, and won several accolades for the portrayal of two women's lives in one day while struggling through the last hiccups of the Ceausescu regime. The music (or in some cases lack of it), the grit and grime in most of the scenes, the pallor of the actors' faces, and the underlying knowledge that it probably won't turn out for the best kept me focused on the film. This was not an easy movie to watch, not because of brutality or violence. There was a lot of anxiety throughout the film, and it resonates with you. You wonder if it's the difference in languages that makes you twitch a lot while watching the film, or if you should look away.
Three movies, three women, three babies.
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Movies in California
Visiting Southern California during the writer's strike, I felt a bit disengaged from watching anything on the telly. I did catch the last episodes of a few programs, only to feel a bit "lost", will there be a season catch up? I missed out on catching Lost's new season, will they ever leave the island? will they return to the island? Why is Matthew Fox wearing a bush on his face? Poor Dominic Monaghan, down in the depths...
And with the non-stop travel hither and thither, add to that three storms lashing the northern california coast, I didn't catch as many movies as I promised I would. What did I see? Let me recount the reels:
- Finally saw The Kingdom and Mr. Brooks, rentals that my family up north chose, not to mention a movie about another possible explanation for Arthur, unfortunately the title eludes me; it had Colin Firth though so that's all good. I did enjoy watching the Kingdom, even with the ambiguity worked into the plot. There isn't a resolution, no bad men are really caught. Granted the FBI guys were cast as heroes, but you wonder, would they have made any difference in a real life situation?
As for Mr. Brooks, a sympathetic look into the life of a serial killer? Because you do wonder about those folks who seem to have it all, but maybe in the dark, they turn into werewolves. And their spawn are just as venal.
- There will be blood. I've written before of my groupie status for DDL, so I won't go into it here. He was fantastic, and was rarely out of frame; kudos to the performances of Paul Dano as the creepy preacher Ely, and the quiet intensity of the child actor who plays JW. The overall story was missing something, as R and I dissected it after the show, we were just getting into one subplot when it would dissipate and we'd have to follow another. Was the disjunction a plot trick? Or are we too used to focusing on one major path, forgetting that a man's life is a collective of actions that lead towards a culminating disaster? If you catch the film look out for the blazing derrick scene, and the bowling alley scenes. He is done.
- Into the Wild, Balls of Fury, Jane Austen Book Club, and the Nanny Diaries. Grateful for a bump up to business class, I settled into watching movies; it was a series of choices that made me look closely at my consumption, fall asleep, and twitch with annoyance over certain feminine traits. I loved Into the Wild, and Emile Hirsch has gravitated from playing the boy who dates a porn star to an emaciated philosopher living off the land. It is a tragic film, but I took away two lines from it: "Forgiveness is love" (and in light of a recent situation in my own life, I feel like I've been shown a great deal of love) and "Happiness is only real when it's shared" - how true, and how sad that he had to realize it too late. I hope the spirit of Alexander Supertramp finds peace knowing he might help a person or two to gain truth through less things. It made me want to get rid of a lot of material goods in my own life (one of my 2008 plans in any case).
The rest of the movies were barely negligible; best not to spend even the price of a fake dibidi for them.
And with the non-stop travel hither and thither, add to that three storms lashing the northern california coast, I didn't catch as many movies as I promised I would. What did I see? Let me recount the reels:
- Finally saw The Kingdom and Mr. Brooks, rentals that my family up north chose, not to mention a movie about another possible explanation for Arthur, unfortunately the title eludes me; it had Colin Firth though so that's all good. I did enjoy watching the Kingdom, even with the ambiguity worked into the plot. There isn't a resolution, no bad men are really caught. Granted the FBI guys were cast as heroes, but you wonder, would they have made any difference in a real life situation?
As for Mr. Brooks, a sympathetic look into the life of a serial killer? Because you do wonder about those folks who seem to have it all, but maybe in the dark, they turn into werewolves. And their spawn are just as venal.
- There will be blood. I've written before of my groupie status for DDL, so I won't go into it here. He was fantastic, and was rarely out of frame; kudos to the performances of Paul Dano as the creepy preacher Ely, and the quiet intensity of the child actor who plays JW. The overall story was missing something, as R and I dissected it after the show, we were just getting into one subplot when it would dissipate and we'd have to follow another. Was the disjunction a plot trick? Or are we too used to focusing on one major path, forgetting that a man's life is a collective of actions that lead towards a culminating disaster? If you catch the film look out for the blazing derrick scene, and the bowling alley scenes. He is done.
- Into the Wild, Balls of Fury, Jane Austen Book Club, and the Nanny Diaries. Grateful for a bump up to business class, I settled into watching movies; it was a series of choices that made me look closely at my consumption, fall asleep, and twitch with annoyance over certain feminine traits. I loved Into the Wild, and Emile Hirsch has gravitated from playing the boy who dates a porn star to an emaciated philosopher living off the land. It is a tragic film, but I took away two lines from it: "Forgiveness is love" (and in light of a recent situation in my own life, I feel like I've been shown a great deal of love) and "Happiness is only real when it's shared" - how true, and how sad that he had to realize it too late. I hope the spirit of Alexander Supertramp finds peace knowing he might help a person or two to gain truth through less things. It made me want to get rid of a lot of material goods in my own life (one of my 2008 plans in any case).
The rest of the movies were barely negligible; best not to spend even the price of a fake dibidi for them.
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Cinexcitement
Movie trivia quiz - What's the connection between The Golden Compass and Elizabeth (whose sequel The Golden Age is now showing in Manila)?
While you wrack your trivia brain cells on that, here are my reasons for being thrilled with the upcoming movie season and with an upcoming trip:
- having just watched Viggo Mortensen in Eastern Promises (with two fellow Viggo-philes at that), I'm hoping he'll finally get noticed for his acting. Yes, he plays his typical laconic self, but there's understated humor interspersed with all the violence and degradation, and we 3 groupies all agreed that when this dvd comes out, we are going to be using the freeze frame option on our dvd players a lot!!!
- Daniel Day Lewis is back in a new film since Gangs of New York (has it really been 5 years since that movie came out?). "There will be Blood" is the Paul Anderson directed piece based on Upton Sinclair's "Oil!", reviews online are positive, the movie's already getting award's buzz, but I'm there just for DDL. The man can do no wrong, at least not on screen. Guilty pleasure is watching him run around in Last of the Mohicans; my favorite scene is his dialogue with Madeleine Stowe's character watching the stars. He's got this craggy profile that makes my knees go into jellylike spasms, wugawugawuga.
And as I will be in the land of Lala soon, I am so looking forward to movies! fresh out of the box! oscar worthy! Cineplexes here I come! Sweeney Todd with Johnny Depp! No Country for Old Men with Bardem! Diving Bell and the Butterfly! ! ! !
(Answer to the trivia: Daniel Craig. He stars in Golden Compass, and had a teensy role in the first Elizabeth with Cate Blanchett as John Blanchard, the assassin. Thanks to Jessica Zafra's blog entry for pointing out the reference to his scene, dark, hooded, walking through the mist for her royal blood.)
While you wrack your trivia brain cells on that, here are my reasons for being thrilled with the upcoming movie season and with an upcoming trip:
- having just watched Viggo Mortensen in Eastern Promises (with two fellow Viggo-philes at that), I'm hoping he'll finally get noticed for his acting. Yes, he plays his typical laconic self, but there's understated humor interspersed with all the violence and degradation, and we 3 groupies all agreed that when this dvd comes out, we are going to be using the freeze frame option on our dvd players a lot!!!
- Daniel Day Lewis is back in a new film since Gangs of New York (has it really been 5 years since that movie came out?). "There will be Blood" is the Paul Anderson directed piece based on Upton Sinclair's "Oil!", reviews online are positive, the movie's already getting award's buzz, but I'm there just for DDL. The man can do no wrong, at least not on screen. Guilty pleasure is watching him run around in Last of the Mohicans; my favorite scene is his dialogue with Madeleine Stowe's character watching the stars. He's got this craggy profile that makes my knees go into jellylike spasms, wugawugawuga.
And as I will be in the land of Lala soon, I am so looking forward to movies! fresh out of the box! oscar worthy! Cineplexes here I come! Sweeney Todd with Johnny Depp! No Country for Old Men with Bardem! Diving Bell and the Butterfly! ! ! !
(Answer to the trivia: Daniel Craig. He stars in Golden Compass, and had a teensy role in the first Elizabeth with Cate Blanchett as John Blanchard, the assassin. Thanks to Jessica Zafra's blog entry for pointing out the reference to his scene, dark, hooded, walking through the mist for her royal blood.)
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Filling up my time
Based on my "planner" (er, the sticky note on my computer), I have nothing scheduled for this weekend. A friend who just came back from a long stay in the US has invited me to come over to see her expanding tummy (she's 5 months pregnant), and my cousin just moved to a new condo so I have to drop off a housewarming gift sometime this weekend. However, so many other interesting things are taking place as well, so thanks to the blogging community for posting stuff to titillate my fancy. Here are some ideas for the weekend if you're not travelling:
1. CineEuropa 10. Starts today till the end of the month, at the Shangri-la Plaza Mall in Edsa. Catch noteworthy european films, classics like Ingmar Bergman's Fanny and Alexander, Oscar winners Kolya and Lives of Others (I am definitely making a beeline for the latter; the former is a sweet sappy feel good movie though, I'd love to see it again). I only caught one of the films from the recent Spanish Film Festival; hope to spend a bit more time checking out the options from the EU.
2. Food Festival at the Sofitel (formerly Philippine Plaza). Oct 21 and 22. Am curious but not dying to go to this one. Check out Margauxlicious' blog to learn all the details.
3. Japanese gift wrapping workshop at Sinag Arts Center, Oct 19 to 21. I'm the worst gift wrapper on the planet. My sister usually handles all the wrapping for me since I cannot give gifts that look like it went through a shredder; even when I plunk them in a gift bag with paper fillings, they look so pedestrian. The Japanese are known for their aesthetic eye, and have avenues filled with paper products to appeal to a gift receiver's heart. So I'm hoping this will be useful. I'm only attending the Sunday morning session, but if I gain some mastery in a couple of hours, I may extend till the afternoon session.
1. CineEuropa 10. Starts today till the end of the month, at the Shangri-la Plaza Mall in Edsa. Catch noteworthy european films, classics like Ingmar Bergman's Fanny and Alexander, Oscar winners Kolya and Lives of Others (I am definitely making a beeline for the latter; the former is a sweet sappy feel good movie though, I'd love to see it again). I only caught one of the films from the recent Spanish Film Festival; hope to spend a bit more time checking out the options from the EU.
2. Food Festival at the Sofitel (formerly Philippine Plaza). Oct 21 and 22. Am curious but not dying to go to this one. Check out Margauxlicious' blog to learn all the details.
3. Japanese gift wrapping workshop at Sinag Arts Center, Oct 19 to 21. I'm the worst gift wrapper on the planet. My sister usually handles all the wrapping for me since I cannot give gifts that look like it went through a shredder; even when I plunk them in a gift bag with paper fillings, they look so pedestrian. The Japanese are known for their aesthetic eye, and have avenues filled with paper products to appeal to a gift receiver's heart. So I'm hoping this will be useful. I'm only attending the Sunday morning session, but if I gain some mastery in a couple of hours, I may extend till the afternoon session.
Friday, August 24, 2007
Amnesia or Alien Invasion?
I've recently caught two action movies, which is such a big change from my usual video fare. While one was better than the other, I still feel the genre is not value for money for my viewing pleasure. Action flicks don't excite me, which is odd given that they're packed with special effects and enough adrenaline rush tactics to raise one's excitement. But most of the time, I leave the theater bored.
In INVASION, a remake of the 1950s science fiction book and movie Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Nicole Kidman is the heroine out to save the world from alien invaders, represented by a gooey substance that creates facsimile of a person by tossing the soul out the mental window. Since I became a Daniel Craig fan (post-Casino Royale), I had to choose between watching a film with one actor I like and an actress I don't like. Cannot for the life of me understand why she continues to get major roles for acting that's as cold as a witch's tit. In Invasion, her relationship with DC is barely beyond platonic. Here's the review from Slate:
"She's aided by ... Dr. Ben Driscoll (Daniel Craig), a kind, hunky doctor whom Carol likes only as a friend (more evidence that she must have been body-snatched already: What flesh-and-blood earthling isn't attracted to Daniel Craig?)."
As NK and DC are also working in tandem on the movie remakes of the Philip Pullman series (the books were good, looking forward to the cinematic version), I'll have to suffer her acting for 3 more films.
With a modicum of interest in the last (one hopes) Bourne movie, the Bourne Ultimatum, I was reeled in by the good reviews and strong word of mouth. I had seen bits of the first chapter, and saw most of the 2nd, hoping that, like any good film, I wouldn't have to know all the details of the first and second to understand the third. And given the relative limited dialogue in any action film, the complexities of the relationships and the reason for his quest were not that hard to pick up. He does gain the information he seeks, retribution is attained, and there's hope at the end that perhaps a fourth film will be made. But I hope not. (Spoilers) What will he do now that he knows his real name? Go back to the Midwest and raise soybeans? Will we have to watch the Bourne Harvest? Meet the Bournes? Re-Bourne? Will he run away to save Nikki from her CIA black-op avengers who won't rest until all those who oppose them are dead? And doesn't it get a wee bit implausible that a man can turn a policecar turtle several times, get smashed on all sides and still walk away with barely a limp, nary a bloody bruise?
Over the next few weeks my next cinematic forays may include Hairspray, No reservations (although the reviews have been barely positive), and I hope we get Stardust; loved the Neil Gaiman book on which the movie is based. I can only hope it's half as good.
In INVASION, a remake of the 1950s science fiction book and movie Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Nicole Kidman is the heroine out to save the world from alien invaders, represented by a gooey substance that creates facsimile of a person by tossing the soul out the mental window. Since I became a Daniel Craig fan (post-Casino Royale), I had to choose between watching a film with one actor I like and an actress I don't like. Cannot for the life of me understand why she continues to get major roles for acting that's as cold as a witch's tit. In Invasion, her relationship with DC is barely beyond platonic. Here's the review from Slate:
"She's aided by ... Dr. Ben Driscoll (Daniel Craig), a kind, hunky doctor whom Carol likes only as a friend (more evidence that she must have been body-snatched already: What flesh-and-blood earthling isn't attracted to Daniel Craig?)."
As NK and DC are also working in tandem on the movie remakes of the Philip Pullman series (the books were good, looking forward to the cinematic version), I'll have to suffer her acting for 3 more films.
With a modicum of interest in the last (one hopes) Bourne movie, the Bourne Ultimatum, I was reeled in by the good reviews and strong word of mouth. I had seen bits of the first chapter, and saw most of the 2nd, hoping that, like any good film, I wouldn't have to know all the details of the first and second to understand the third. And given the relative limited dialogue in any action film, the complexities of the relationships and the reason for his quest were not that hard to pick up. He does gain the information he seeks, retribution is attained, and there's hope at the end that perhaps a fourth film will be made. But I hope not. (Spoilers) What will he do now that he knows his real name? Go back to the Midwest and raise soybeans? Will we have to watch the Bourne Harvest? Meet the Bournes? Re-Bourne? Will he run away to save Nikki from her CIA black-op avengers who won't rest until all those who oppose them are dead? And doesn't it get a wee bit implausible that a man can turn a policecar turtle several times, get smashed on all sides and still walk away with barely a limp, nary a bloody bruise?
Over the next few weeks my next cinematic forays may include Hairspray, No reservations (although the reviews have been barely positive), and I hope we get Stardust; loved the Neil Gaiman book on which the movie is based. I can only hope it's half as good.
Monday, April 30, 2007
Tragic fairy tales
Last Friday night, a bunch of boys and I went to watch a fairy tale. After the movie, we walked out and they all moaned in some form or another "I thought we were going to see a kid's story!" "That was so depressing!" "I need chocolate!" Ok, that last one was me.
(Hopefully, if you're reading this, you'll have seen Pan's Labyrinth. If you haven't, skip or expect spoilers.)
The movie deals with a young girl, Ophelia. living through the early days of Franco's Spain. She and her pregnant mother set off to meet with Captain Vidal, her mother's second husband, who is tracking anti-government rebels. The Captain has set up camp with the government troops in a remote mountainous area, taking over an abandoned mill, surrounded by thick forests where the rebels have found safety. The Captain is the embodiment of psychopathic evil, cold, inhumane, the "wicked witch" character. The mother barely registers, she's weakened by her pregnancy, but also can't stand up for herself or her daughter in the face of the Captain. A stronger female character is Mercedes, the housekeeper at the mill, who secretly helps the rebels, one of whom is very important to her. She hums the lullaby/theme song of the movie, an elegy to Ophelia in the end.
Twisted into the human world, lies a fantasy/fairy world, settled into the forest and within the maze where a faun and his fairy friends live. An interesting linguistic question that came up was why did the title translate into Pan's Labyrinth? We had to remind the guy asking that Pan is a faun, half man, half beast (usually goat, ram or horse). The faun in the movie was the link to Ofelia's fairy tale world, where she is told that she carries the soul of a long, lost princess. She must fulfill 3 tasks in order to return to her real parents. The faun "smells of earth" "is the mountains, the trees, the earth" (quotes from the movie), and he holds fort at the last portal where the Princess' essence can still return to her lost kingdom. He appears and disappears bearing tools for Ofelia to use during her tasks, a magical book, magical stones to retrieve a golden key from a disgusting immense toad, a chalk to use when she needs to find a door, and a mandrake root. He dictates when she needs to get her tasks done, but also turns against her when she disobeys him.
The guys I watched the film with weren't all that keen on the film, probably because they never read the old fairy tales, including the medieval versions of the Grimm and Andersen fairy tales. They were expecting a kid's story, or a Disney tale, not a full blown violent life and death story. They weren't expecting the tragic end. It was a disturbing film for them because they were prepared for light hearted adventure and had to deal with murder, cruelty, abandonment, sorrow. I was saddened but had been ready to enjoy the story. I enjoy the dark fairy tales, where we encounter suffering, hardship, sacrifice for some greater good or for the quest of a greater glory. These are the stories we've been reading for centuries.
(Hopefully, if you're reading this, you'll have seen Pan's Labyrinth. If you haven't, skip or expect spoilers.)
The movie deals with a young girl, Ophelia. living through the early days of Franco's Spain. She and her pregnant mother set off to meet with Captain Vidal, her mother's second husband, who is tracking anti-government rebels. The Captain has set up camp with the government troops in a remote mountainous area, taking over an abandoned mill, surrounded by thick forests where the rebels have found safety. The Captain is the embodiment of psychopathic evil, cold, inhumane, the "wicked witch" character. The mother barely registers, she's weakened by her pregnancy, but also can't stand up for herself or her daughter in the face of the Captain. A stronger female character is Mercedes, the housekeeper at the mill, who secretly helps the rebels, one of whom is very important to her. She hums the lullaby/theme song of the movie, an elegy to Ophelia in the end.
Twisted into the human world, lies a fantasy/fairy world, settled into the forest and within the maze where a faun and his fairy friends live. An interesting linguistic question that came up was why did the title translate into Pan's Labyrinth? We had to remind the guy asking that Pan is a faun, half man, half beast (usually goat, ram or horse). The faun in the movie was the link to Ofelia's fairy tale world, where she is told that she carries the soul of a long, lost princess. She must fulfill 3 tasks in order to return to her real parents. The faun "smells of earth" "is the mountains, the trees, the earth" (quotes from the movie), and he holds fort at the last portal where the Princess' essence can still return to her lost kingdom. He appears and disappears bearing tools for Ofelia to use during her tasks, a magical book, magical stones to retrieve a golden key from a disgusting immense toad, a chalk to use when she needs to find a door, and a mandrake root. He dictates when she needs to get her tasks done, but also turns against her when she disobeys him.
The guys I watched the film with weren't all that keen on the film, probably because they never read the old fairy tales, including the medieval versions of the Grimm and Andersen fairy tales. They were expecting a kid's story, or a Disney tale, not a full blown violent life and death story. They weren't expecting the tragic end. It was a disturbing film for them because they were prepared for light hearted adventure and had to deal with murder, cruelty, abandonment, sorrow. I was saddened but had been ready to enjoy the story. I enjoy the dark fairy tales, where we encounter suffering, hardship, sacrifice for some greater good or for the quest of a greater glory. These are the stories we've been reading for centuries.
Monday, October 23, 2006
Chinese Hamlet
I dragged my cousin out for a movie yesterday afternoon. While she may have planned on watching Demi's husband battling his way through coast guard training, I was more inclined to see the recent Chinese film, so we ended up at the Banquet. Freezing inside the cinema, the movie didn't warm us up much. Zhang Ziyi doesn't seem to be ready to play a role that is too "mature" for her, and with little opportunity to show off her martial arts/ballet kinetics. The Empress/Gertrude isn't meant to be an ingenue, and the essence of her passion with both Wu Luan/Hamlet contradicts her submission to the Uncle-cum usurper Emperor/Claudius role. I preferred her antipathy towards Qing/Ophelia as they battle their way into the young prince's affection.
At least the role of the prince, who is seen as an emotional, soulful sort who likes to have his hair washed more than he massacres his enemies, seems more akin to the pansy Hamlet of yore. He doesn't do a good job saving himself, but does a better job creating havoc in other people's lives, especially Qing. The perfect foil to him is the ultra-macho Governor Yin, brother of Qing, who saves Wu Luan from another assasination in the middle of the film. They all fall in the end, and the twist (although it's not completely clear what the end means) is that the Empress, too, falls to the sword. Who was it? Ghost of her late first husband? Or simply her going insane?
And what of all the tears? Does one really need to see every sniffle, red eye, stuffed up nose to know that the character is undergoing emotional distress? Are Asian actors' eyes too small that they must leak fluid?
I had thought this film was going to be another collaboration with Zhang and Chow Yun Fat, who might have given the role of Claudius some sex appeal. I just kept thinking how they vamped up the production value in one of the television mini-series and that it wasn't much fun to watch on the big screen. Ho hum, 2 out of 5 and not worth paying P160.00.
At least the role of the prince, who is seen as an emotional, soulful sort who likes to have his hair washed more than he massacres his enemies, seems more akin to the pansy Hamlet of yore. He doesn't do a good job saving himself, but does a better job creating havoc in other people's lives, especially Qing. The perfect foil to him is the ultra-macho Governor Yin, brother of Qing, who saves Wu Luan from another assasination in the middle of the film. They all fall in the end, and the twist (although it's not completely clear what the end means) is that the Empress, too, falls to the sword. Who was it? Ghost of her late first husband? Or simply her going insane?
And what of all the tears? Does one really need to see every sniffle, red eye, stuffed up nose to know that the character is undergoing emotional distress? Are Asian actors' eyes too small that they must leak fluid?
I had thought this film was going to be another collaboration with Zhang and Chow Yun Fat, who might have given the role of Claudius some sex appeal. I just kept thinking how they vamped up the production value in one of the television mini-series and that it wasn't much fun to watch on the big screen. Ho hum, 2 out of 5 and not worth paying P160.00.
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