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Saturday, May 07, 2005
My guess is that Jose Javier Reyes was torn between making a socially relevant story and a typical teeny-bopper romance that in the end, he just decided to do both in one movie. And it didn't help tht he was rushed by the network/producers before the fans of the Hero-Sandara love team lost energy, so he wasn't really able to link the 2 themes he decided to tackle. Yup, the movie had many loose ends that weren't tied up, and you just know that it's not because they're planning on making a sequel.
In a way, I hate the producers for rushing art, but then I can also understand their point. You should strike the iron while it's hot, and knowing that Sandara was leaving SCQ Reload to be replaced by another actress, they predicted that if they'd shown a Hero-Sandara movie even a few weeks later, they wouldn't have made as much profit. Sometimes it just sucks how real life circumstances get in the way of would've-been brilliant things. But anyway, despite all that, the movie was fine.
I think it was also because the plot had so much potential, that's why it was hard to narrow down. A Korean studying in the Philippines who falls in love with a typical Filipino guy--and I say typical because he wants to go abroad. It would've been perfect, except the girl's parents don't want her marrying a most-probably money-grubbing Pinoy.
To tell you the truth, when I first heard about the plot, I thought the ending would be that because Daisy (Sandara Park) likes the Philippines so much because Ryan (Hero Angeles) is Filipino, Ryan remembers how to appreciate his homeland and their love ends up conquering racial and cultural  differences. I guess in a way, they did conquer such things, but I really should've known better than to actually think that a recent movie would give out any semblance of nationalism.
This is why I think production was rushed, because despite the film having bits and pieces of information showing the "situation" of how everyone wants to leave the Philippines, that issue was not resolved in the end. Ryan never wavered from his position of wanting to become a nurse to go abroad. None of Daisy's dormmates said they didn't care what the nationality of their boyfriends were. And it was never mentioned whether Joross' character eventually did go to Japan or stay here because this was where Roxanne's character was. So yet again, I ask the question (as it's so common in local films), why open up these topics when there aren't any resolutions?
Cinematography was wonderful, though. I really liked how they actually showed the characters composing and sending text messages, especially the part where Roderick Paulate's character goes into the boys' room to scold them and Ryan's cellphone beeps while he's talking--it's just so realistic.
What wasn't realistic was how they could go from one place in Alabang to another in Manila, all in the same hour. And I guess a lot of movies are like that, I just didn't like how they didn't even try to promote a plausible date route while they were at it. Unlike some Hollywood movies where you can actually trace on the map where the characters go, well, I guess tourism was just another aspect too broad to have been included.
I absolutely loved how the montage at the end was done. No annoying "1 Year Later" epilogues, and text narrations of what happened to the characters (i.e. Can't Hardly Wait, Legally Blonde, etc.), just pictures and relevant objects, which, if you think about it, really are enough.
It's really too bad that there wasn't enough time to improve on this as I have a feeling this'll be the last Hero-Sandy movie with the plot of 'Korean in the Philippines falling in love with a local'. I mean, despite it's being such a fun plot to build on, it does get sickening after a while, especially when it's true potential isn't realized.
Posted at 10:49 pm by miriyammqx
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Tuesday, May 03, 2005
DVD Review: Love Actually
Okay, just a little explanation as this is the first entry in this blog of its kind.
When I say DVD Review, I don't really mean that I'm reviewing the DVD--it's contents, special features, etc. I may mention it at one point or another, but really, what I mean is that the movie I'm reviewing isn't playing in theaters anymore, but that I just recently saw it, on DVD.
Okay, so with that out of the way, here now is my review for
Love Actually
I guess if you're the kind of person who likes Notting Hill and Bridget Jones' Diary then you're also the kind of person who'd like this film. But I didn't like Notting Hill all that much and I hated Bridget Jones to the last detail, so I guess it's not surprising that I did not like this film at all.
I get why it's popular. It's got an all-star cast. Practically every famous British actor is in this film. And, it's about love. But, much like its fictitious rock star character's Christmas song that went no.1 in the charts, the only reason why this was a hit was because it's about a popular topic, with popular people involved. And, okay, the message was able to tie up all the stories together, which is good because that's usually what's difficult with those kinds of stories--involving many stories in one film, but then, the message wasn't really all that hard to think about, and if you don't mind my saying, it seemed a bit like, well, stating the obvious.
"Love actually is all around." Yeah, did it really have to take 2 hours to tell the audience that?
Another thing that I think was over the top was how some characters were related to each other while the others were not. I honestly think that despite being able to cut back on the budget for building sets as you can put several characters in just one location, there really was no point in having the Prime Minister be the brother of a wife with a two-timing husband who's also the boss of a dreamy girl with a mentally ill brother. It's not as if the mentally ill brother contributed to how the Prime Minister and his secretary got together. So, why the need for the characters to be related? Maybe it would've been more convincing if none of the characters knew each other, then it's really all around, and not just involving a certain group of people. But I guess they did need those relationships to be able to switch from one scene to another without having to cut too much.
Now, the film did have some redeeming moments. I loved the line, "Worse than the agony of being in love?" and having it said by a kid just made it more convincing--even kids know that falling in love is an agony. And the whole speech at the beginning, about how seeing that love is everywhere, from looking at the Arrivals in the airport. But then, I can't help but think that the 'Arrivals' is only one part of the airport, and the Departures part is a whole different story, that just cannot be ignored.
Anyway, another good thing was that it was not so pro-America, like most films (even if that's predictable as it's a British production). But I didn't like either how they portrayed American girls (at the part with Colin in the bar). I mean, sure, maybe some girls are that skanky, but come on. What Colin said to the cab driver just made it worse; "Take me to any bar." As if any bar in America would have those kinds of girls. I'm not a feminist or anything, but I do hate it when women are portrayed as such tramps.
I don't know, maybe it's because I'm a girl and that's why this next opinion may be considered biased, but honestly, sometimes men should just stop attempting to write romances. Because somehow, they always make it out to be this crude thing.
The only remotely interesting story I found was the one of Colin Firth's character and the Portugese girl. But even that, I found some stuff that I think if changed, could've made the story work better. Like, Jamie (Firth) didn't need to have a girlfriend who was cheating on him at the beginning. I mean, if he's a writer, then he shouldn't need any conflict in life to bring him to live alone in a rest house on the country side. And he needn't have left his family at Christmas to go to the girl to propose marriage. I mean, if he was flying to get to his family in England anyway, then he could've made a detour at the airport, and went to Portugal first instead. And then, after the girl says "Yes," they still go to his family in England, with him bringing a date this time. The family still would've been shocked, and there wouldn't be any kids shouting "I hate Uncle Jamie." Now, wouldn't that have been so much happier?
What really bugs me about this films is that despite its theme being "love", my favorite subject, there were no new realizations, observations, tidbits of information, about the topic. Except that, it's everywhere, and no one gets away from it. But with all the other movies, books, poems, songs, artworks and a bunch of other things about it, I thought that would've been obvious enough.
I just don't get why people would prefer this film over something like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind or Meet Joe Black or Before Sunset. I mean, I get why. I just don't understand why things have to be that way. Why is it that the stuff that become mainstream are always the ones that are cliche and commercialized, and not the genuinely good ones? And I know, everyone's entitled to their own opinion and blah, blah, it just, it bugs me how when I say I like something people don't normally like, people think I have bad taste. Because they think they've got good ones because more people agree with them.
This is probably what I hate most about mainstream. Majority wins, but that doesn't always mean they're right. Especially when it comes to opinions where there's no right or wrong. People should form their own opinions, not just follow the majority.
Posted at 11:24 pm by miriyammqx
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Monday, April 18, 2005
Who said I didn't watch action flicks? Oh, right. I did. :P But this was the first Thai film I've had an opportunity to watch so I thought, why not take it? Plus, my friend was real convincing when she asked me to go with her. I admit I was a little reluctant to watch it because, as I said, I don't normally watch action movies. But then this was about martial arts, not guns and explosions. And sure, to me, boxing is also boring as hell, but this was Thai Boxing. Anyway, I'm glad I watched it anyway because I actually liked it. Enough, to make me think that maybe I'm not giving action films enough credit.
Okay, the plot was reasonably cliche. Some guy steals the head of a sacred Buddha statue (called Ong-Bak) this superstitious/religious little village in Thailand owned, so their most able-bodied man, Ting (Tony Jaa) went to Bangkok to get it back, and to do so he had to undergo a series of boxing matches--first, to get his cousin's (who's lived in the city for some time) help in finding the address of the guy who stole it, and next, to actually get back the head, which happened to be in the possession of a mob-type boss who smuggled Buddha statues to make money.
Admittedly, some parts were fairly predictable. But then, it didn't have a love story at all, and that was a surprise. Or at least it was to me. I kept looking for traces or hints of romance between the protagonist and the girl, as there still was a girl who was also essential to the story (and she was real cute too), but there was none. So, despite my being partial to love stories, it was sort of a relief that this movie didn't have one as a side story. For once, I was able to encounter a story wherein the motivation for the hero was not the heroine. Actually, just the girl's "heroine" status is already questionable.
Anyway, it was good that the story concentrated on just one thing, instead of having a bunch of side stories. There were no tediously long backgrounds about the characters, no irritating problems on the side, and yet the characters were all firmly established, and in the end, there were no loose ends. Okay, maybe one--they never said what happened to Muay (the girl) afterwards, but like I said, she wasn't that much of a main character anyway, and even from the start you already knew that she was pretty independent, that you would know that any extra scene for her sake was something the movie could do without, and did.
Something else I shouldn't fail to mention is how obvious it was that this movie was made for an international market. The scene with the tuk-tuk (tricycle-type vehicle that was in that James Bond/Credit Card commercial) was such publicity for Bangkok City. And having the fight scenes in different settings, was such a set-up to show the different places in Thailand. It was really cool to have a fight scene in a cave though. That's something I've never seen before. I am kind of questioning the plausibility (?) of the whole black market and boxing thing--it just seems too exagerrated to actually exist in the real world. But I guess it was pretty good on film, and isn't that what matters anyway?
On a final note, the production, story, cast, etc. were nowhere near those of Hero's (Jet Li), Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon's (Chow Yun Fat), or Jackie Chan's movies (although the fact that they didn't use digital effects and were pretty old school about all stunts, etc. was really cool), but it was definitely enough to make an impression (and I do mean a good one) for the Thai film industry, and I'm hoping that with that as a start, it would be safe to say that there's another Asian country we'd have nice movies to import from.
I guess there are times when it's good not to be so patriotic. You get to know more about the world.
The last reason, by the way, why I like this film, is because I haven't seen a movie in ages (the last I watched was Hitch, and I saw that on the first week it was playing), so just getting to be in a movie theater again felt so great.
Posted at 01:40 am by miriyammqx
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Sunday, February 27, 2005
Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events
What? I liked it. Loved it even. And nevermind that it was sad. The resolution at the end was good enough. Besides, how else would you be able to show just how talented the Baudelaire kids are in their being an inventor, a reader and a biter (?) if you don't put them in life or death situations wherein they have to work with minimal resources? I was planning on staying away from this thing altogether, but now I'm glad I didn't. I might even borrow the books from my friend.
Nothing but praises for all the actors and actresses. Jim Carrey really annoyed me and scared me at the same time. And Meryl Streep was just hilarious. The kids were great too. Liam Aiken was way cute, and I think it's his best role to date. Even Jude Law, who was really just a silhouette, did very good in narrating the story. I really liked the last lines he would say before a new scene/story starts--"two words" or "two things" or two anything. I like word play like that.
The effects were fantastic as well. The part with the storm tearing down the house, and when the leeches were eating their way through the boat, plus the scene where Klaus was at the tower and his head blocked out the light at first, and that's when he realized what the big lens at the window was for. Also, the scene at the end wherein the children walked inside their house and saw the place as if nothing had changed, and then it slowly morphed into its present state--burned to the ground.
It was so creative that the girl is the inventor--as in the one who tinkles with machines, and that the guy is the reader, instead of the other way around like it is in most stories. And the scenes with the books coming out of the shelves were also my favorite. That effect was way cool.
Everything was great. The places they went to, Violet's costume, hairstyle, and those wicked awesome spyglasses. Maybe it's just me, but I really love mysteries and stuff like that. Especially characters like that--smart characters, all useful even in the weirdest and most 'unfortunate' of situations.
I even liked the drama part at the end where the children read the letter from their parents; "Always remember that no matter where you are, as long as you're together with your family, you're home," it had said (from what I remember at least). Although it seems too sentimental, it was the perfect motivation for the Baudelaires to never lose hope. And as simple as the film's quotable quote may be, I really think it's enough, to leave a helpful lasting thought (or give something to think about) to the people who give up too easily--"There's always something."
It's better than the usual "Never give up," and "Follow your heart," lines. I could always follow those lines up with the question "Why?" But this one, well, it's actually an answer to the 'why' question. And even if you can follow it up with the question "What?" you can always say that the answer to that really depends on the situation you're in, and so you say a general word like "something" so as it will apply to everything.
I think this might even go to my list of favorite movies.
Posted at 04:04 am by miriyammqx
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Maybe it's just me but the movie was a little too reminiscent of The Matrix, The Devil's Advocate and even Chain Reaction. Or it could just be because Keanu Reeves' face hardly changes expression, no matter what role you put him in.  Lucky for him, he gets cast in movies with good plots, that his stoicism doesn't matter too much, and even kind of fits his character eventually, like in this one.
The story was good. And no, I'm not a fan of heresies, but it's interesting to find out what other people think about the odd stuff that goes on around us, and what scenarios they come up with using their imagination. The special effects were amazing. The part where Constantine trapped a demon in a mirror--that was really cool. But the scene was kinda ruined because of the wrong Filipino accent of the dialogue. I think it would've been way scarier if the girl had said something in Latin (as it's an old old language) or something totally nonsensical. Even if she was supposed to be Filipino, she was still possessed. And as a Filipino, it's kind of insulting when I think that in the film, that's the language demons speak. Then again, knowing our people, I guess it's not that unbelievable. Hehehe. Just kidding.
Anyways, the Keanu Reeves - Rachel Weisz tandem, although it's been done, still worked well, despite the lack of a kissing scene. I actually thought it was nice that they didn't concentrate on the love story much--it would've ruined the atmosphere I guess, although I can't help but think that it sort of conveys the message that there are times, problematic situations, which although it's a matter of stopping the devil's son from crossing over to Earth, it could still be resolved, even without romantic love between the two people who can resolve it.
A nice surprise (at least it was for me, as I really like the actor who plays him) was the role of Chaz (Shia Lebouf). I never expected Constantine to have a sidekick. It wasn't in the previews, and well, he just struck me as the type to always want to work alone (like 'The Slayer' in Buffy). And although he does, as Chaz really mostly just drove him around, it was good that in the latter part of the film, they showed that Chaz has learned enough from him to be able to give him the right amount of leverage he needed in order to succeed.
All in all, the film was fine. Not really deserving all the hype and publicity it's got, but it's not a complete waste of your time either. It's actually so neutral, I can't think of any more good nor bad comments about it. But I would like to mention that the last scene, where Constantine began to chew gum, well, that was really funny. And it sends a good message too; STOP SMOKING! Smokers go to hell (Hehe, just kidding!). :P
Posted at 02:48 am by miriyammqx
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