Category: movies

the hunger games (film)

I have read the trilogy before (please don’t read the last two links if you haven’t read the books), so to refresh your memory about the first installment:

Katniss Everdeen lives in poverty in District 12 in the country of Panem, which was once North America. During a dark era in Panem’s history, all thirteen districts rebelled against the Capitol, Panem’s seat of power. District 13 was obliterated, and the 12 other districts were subdued. To remind the districts of the Capitol’s might, the Hunger Games is conducted every year. Every year, two tributes from each district – a boy and a girl – is sent to an undisclosed area to fight to the death.

That year, Katniss’s young sister’s name is called, and she steps forward to take her place. Thrown into the arena with her is Peeta, a baker’s boy, who has once done her a kindness.

Would it be strange if I told you that I wished the film was longer? This film adaptation was able to give us a complete sense of the weariness and poverty in District 12 and the grandeur and greed of the Capitol without being too heavy-handed in the dialogues, but failed to make us care for the supporting characters in the bloody competition. Plus points for the shaky camera work, the close-ups, and the haunting hum of the soundtrack (the camera following the doomed children, the focus on Katniss as she scrubs herself for the Reaping, the silence as Effie Trinket unfolds a paper with a crisp and final note – all beautiful and perfect); minus points for not even introducing us to the other contestants. I couldn’t even remember their names. They might as well not have names. “I will get you Person Number One! Bob something-or-other!”

I understand that this is an introductory story, but one scene where they could have done this in an economical manner was during the Tribute Parade. I plant a palm on my face for this missed opportunity. Introduce the tributes per District, talk a little about the Tributes and what they are wearing and what the costumes mean, and move on to the next. End scene! Was that so hard? It will take up time and perhaps cost more money (but then the costumes are already there, why not focus the cameras on them a bit?) but it will make us care. When a cannon booms through the speakers it will make us sit up and wonder who has died this time,  instead of just leaving us fidgeting impatiently on our seats.

Read more.

We watched two Metro Manila Film Festival entries this year.

Manila Kingpin: The Asiong Salonga Story – The film’s trailer was exciting enough to quicken the pulse and generate interest, but I couldn’t say the same about the film, which was occassionally dry and dragging and awkward, and not helped at all by Jorge Estregan’s wooden performance. There are production errors, editing hiccups, (see this hilarious review on Radikalchick’s site) but it’s not all bad: Asiong is beautifully photographed and beautifully scored, sound quality is laudable, and you can see the amount of time and the level of craft and art it took to frame every frame.

And it’s great to see our action stars on the big screen again! Nakaka-miss.

Shake, Rattle, and Roll 13 – Couldn’t even remember which SRR I last saw in full, but I think this is worth watching. I loved the cast performance in “Tamawo”, but the episode could use more gore, more dreadful atmosphere, more rain, more menacing monsters, and better build-up. “Parola” is a strong story, probably the most psychologically complex story I’ve seen in SRR, but could use better special effects. “Rain, Rain, Go Away” could use a better title! But seriously the last episode, which deals with Ondoy, is horrific even without the supernatural elements. And it has moments of real comedy (it has the Eugene Domingo, after all, and the episode is directed by Chris Martinez) that do not destroy the horror. Now that’s something.

3 Idiots

Raju, Farhan, and Rancho are three engineering students sharing a room at the Imperial College of Engineering. Farhan’s passion is in wildlife photography, but he is taking engineering because it’s what his father dictates. Raju prays every morning, buckling under the immense pressure of topping his class, finding a job, and earning money to lift his family from poverty. Rancho is a free-spirited young man who teaches his two friends his own views about education, but his approach is seen as disruptive and idiotic by the college dean and the rest of the school.

Some sequences are a bit heavy-handed on the melodrama, but it’s an engrossing watch despite its length (2 hours 44 minutes). Funny and touching. Well-written, well-acted and well-produced. And it’s a darn good story.

Tucker and Dale vs. Evil

Tucker and Dale are two young men living in the country, fishing, buying pickled eggs at the gasoline station, and fixing up a vacation home near the woods. They don’t mean anyone any harm really. Too bad a group of judgmental college kids mistake them for a pair of hillbilly psycho killers.

That little summary should be enough to make you see the movie! Over-the-top and ridiculous of course, but hilarious.

round-up

What’s up, world?

Ma Maison

Newly opened Japanese fusion restaurant in Greenbelt 2. So new the server given to us was nervous and disoriented (didn’t read our orders back to us after taking them, took a long time understanding what we were ordering, brought the wrong food to our table). I was getting really pissed until management decided to give us a new server. The second server was too eager but at least was competent. (But still too eager. Ma Maison should control their people.)

Sorry for the lack of food photos. I recommend their Tonkatsu, but it’s their desserts that are the real winners. We had the Green Tea Mochi (Mochi ball filled with green tea ice cream) and Green Tea Brazo de Mercedes.

Paranormal Activity 3

Caught this at Gateway. There was some Coke event outside the mall that caused horrible traffic, but J wanted us to catch the film on time (I was there early, and I called to tell him that I can have the tickets I’ve bought bumped down to a later time, a call that promptly drained his phone battery), so he parked his car and ran across Gateway, hassled some guy so he can call me, didn’t get an answer (I was buying food!), ran around some more, and finally caught me at the foodcourt carrying burgers from Wendy’s. True love. I felt bad for him; he had to stress himself out trying to catch a film that would stress himself out.

I still vote the first film as the most effective in the trilogy. Most effective in the sense that it bugged me for several nights. And also in the sense that among the three, camera use in the first film was the most organic. Still not perfect, but the most organic. In the third film the presence of the camera POV just didn’t make sense most of the time. Why would you film yourself editing a film? Why wouldn’t you drop your camera after seeing someone you love suspended in midair (and possibly dead)? There were nice tricks, except that after screaming in the cinema you’d go get dessert and then forget all about it.

Last Shot

Had my last cervical cancer shot. Now I’m completely protected! And can now live without fear of further injections!

Junot Diaz in Makati/Dinner with a friend

Arrived at Greenbelt too late to catch the Q & A, and was too poor to buy a book to be signed. (I have a beloved copy of Oscar Wao sitting on my bookshelf in Bulacan.) FFFFUUUUU –

The lovely Lizzy, on the other hand, got there in time, had a book, and even managed to bring Junot Diaz some kutsinta and kapeng barako. I envy your life, Lizzy! She has a lovely post about it here.

On writing about the Dominican experience: “I write about the Dominican experience because America doesn’t need my help.” Being Dominican is at the very center of his being a writer and he sees no benefit in ignoring it. When asked if he could’ve written Oscar Wao had he and his family not left the Dominican Republic, he says, jokingly, “There’s no way to tell. Let me run a beta test life and see how things turn out.”

But Junot Diaz wasn’t really the reason I went to Greenbelt. Really! I found out he’d be there at around 11 in the morning, and by then I was in the office and it was too late to make plans. But I was chatting with Eula about grabbing dinner and that was the plan we were able to make. Pizza and pasta at CPK, rants about life and stress and unhappiness, and how, at 25, we’re still so unsure. If my nine-year-old self saw the 25-year-old me she’d be horrified. “Why are you fat? And how come you don’t own a condo unit yet?” The nine-year-old self who didn’t care about her hair and wanted so bad to be a successful, published novelist by the time she was 18.

She’s a fucking idiot.

Twenty-five is a strange age. You feel young and old at the same time.

Silver Monthsary

Went to S & R on our silver monthsary. (Term “silver monthsary” trademarked by Jaykie.) That place was huuuuge. They even have a decent mini-food court. But we only really went there to buy unhealthy things (Ruffles, Ben & Jerry’s, a dozen cans of Dr. Pepper). Junk food celebration! Huwag tularan, kids. Eat carrot sticks.

Komikon

Do you know that we drove for an hour and a half today just to get to Ortigas from UP Diliman? Fuck this shit. Missed Komikon. And here I was planning to horde indie comic books this time so I can read them and review them! Damn.

Well, anyway. Date at The Podium. J felt guilty for not being able to take me to Komikon (not your fault, silly boy!) so he bought me these:

J really didn’t have to apologize, or buy me anything, but it’s a sin to turn down books.

Wise Man’s Fear

A well-conceived world populated with well-written characters. Bravo, Rothfuss. Where’s Book Number 3?

So that’s it, world. How are you guys? What’d I miss? :)

the birthday weekend, in bullets

  • J bought me Stephen King’s Full Dark, No Stars on Oct. 29 and I finished reading it two days later. Do I even have to mention that this is an absolute page-turner? What a fantastic volume of stories. Full Dark is peopled with characters caught in tragic circumstances (rape and assault, a terminal illness, murder) that stretch them to their limits. Their tragedies lead to the discovery of the Other Self – either the darker self that leads to more ruination, or the stronger self that helps them survive. I think King is strongest when writing the short novel. With full novels he tends to meander; with short stories he tends to resort to cheap B-movie horror tricks. Take any King novel or short story collection and you’ll know which parts/stories you can remove without feeling shortchanged. I can’t remove any of the stories from Full Dark. Not one of them.
  • I went with J’s family to Holy Cross. Weather was nice and we had a lovely walk.
  • Horror movie marathon with J’s sisters and brother-in-law. Here’s our feast: chicken wings with blue cheese dip, bread and cheese, various sausages, apple cheesecake, coconut cupcakes with chocolate frosting.
  • Pumpkin mousse tart! Made by J’s sister, V. I could eat this every day.
  • Watched Dawn of the Dead, Trick r Treat, The Crazies, and Kababalaghan aka The Return of Magandang Gabi Bayan and Nostalgia. (My childhood!)
  • Went home to Bulacan! Caldereta, kare-kare, menudo, adobo, yema, pastillas, Oreo cheesecake (from my sister and her boyfriend), leche flan. My father and J finished a bottle of Johnny Walker (Black) at 2 in the afternoon (J was coerced). J ended up napping most of the time. He said he liked the wind there.
  • We watched Rec 2, which we hated with a passion.
  • All too soon we had to leave. We stopped by SM North Edsa and tried two restaurants. One is Hapadog, the Japanese hotdog place. We were amused by their Japanese soda, which you had to open by pressing down on the bottle opening to push down the marble holding the soda back why does it have to be this complicated, Japan?
  • They have good food! I had Californippon, california maki in hotdog form, hehe.
  • Jaykie had Hapadog.
  • Lychee iced tea, so good.
  • Then we went to Gong Cha, where I was unknowingly rechristened.
  • After the weekend, got my copies of Metro Serye! Thanks Mookie!

weekend movies

I should make my weekends more productive (especially writing-wise) but hey, movies!

Hello Stranger

Two Thai nationals meet during a trip in South Korea. One is a big fan of Korean teledramas, while the other does not see the appeal of watching cliched plots and crying as if “someone back home just died”. An unfortunate event involving alcohol and a missed tourist bus ride brings them together, and they are forced to tour Seoul while refusing to know each other’s names. Funny and touching. Mocks and embraces Korean culture. Just a bit too long for my romantic attention span.

Horrible Bosses

I enjoyed this film, okay, simply because I love all the actors involved in the project, but I don’t think it’s dark comedy. It’s not dark enough. It’s just silly. Nothing is  of great consequence. They even ended with a blooper reel.

Next

A small-time magician has the power to look into the future – but only two minutes ahead. My siblings really liked this, and I heard it’s based on a Philip K. Dick short story, but I watched it waiting for the awesomeness to begin but I was just bored.

Pulse (remake)

I saw the Japanese version years ago, and I don’t remember it being this simple and straightforward. I remember the Japanese version giving me a headache. A good one. Dread from disorientation. The remake’s entertaining enough, but it doesn’t stay with you.

Friends with Benefits

Surprisingly delightful with lots of bright moments, but still copied the rom-com tropes it was trying to subvert.

what happened on sunday

  • Received a text message from my parents saying that they’re okay, and that the flood water’s starting to recede. Tried calling them but failed to reach them. I think they turned off their phones on Saturday to save power (and probably turned them off again?) since they still don’t have electricity. At least I got word from them after more than 24 hours. Thanks to everyone who expressed their concern and offered their prayers and good thoughts. :)
  • Met up with two of my siblings (my brother was in UPLB) and my cousin and J. Lunch at Friday’s in Trinoma, coffee at Seattle’s Best. We also saw The Change-Up.

  • Body switch comedy, like a mini-Here Comes The Bride. (Bongga sa comparison!) Toilet humor galore and formulaic but enjoyable enough for a lazy Sunday.
  • Still a bit blue but life goes on. It’s Monday now.