It’s ironic that just as when I’ve been vocal about my being swamped with work, my cinema attendance significantly improved. I don’t want to dig if it is purely coincidental or not, but I guess it was mainly due to one’s initial reaction that the best thing to do after an exhausting week is to either pig out or snore or see a movie (not necessarily in cinemas) or a little bit of everything. Anyway, not all movies deserve to be seen on a bigger screen. Sometimes, they just happen to be around just when you needed them. Without qualifying much for the other movies that I’ve seen but never blogged about (especially Inception), I guess that in this batch of “just-because-they-were-on”, only the Legends of the Guardians and Scott Pilgrim are worth to be seen on the bigger screen.

Despicable Me, despite the predictable story line, is guaranteed to give you laughs.

On the other hand, Cats & Dogs 2 is guaranteed to make you sleep. Apparently, I’ve dozed off for the first time inside the cinema. I just want to think that probably I badly needed a nap. Maybe, if we’ve seen Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps I could have been wide awake.

The following weekend was better when we watched Legends of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole. Thanks to princessM for the heads up. It is an interesting movie giving us a chance to peek in the world of the owls. However, I have an initial disbelief when I saw them rolling their eyes because in theory, the owls cannot roll theirs since they are fixed in the eye sockets. To see what is behind them, they have the amazing ability to rotate their head 270 degrees and almost upside down. But for the sake of visual efficiency (especially in cartooning and 3D), there’s just too much to invest on eye movements to communicate to the viewers.

The filming of Eat Pray Love made me consider getting that book which I’ve been seeing at the best seller section for a long time. I don’t know why but there’s something nagging me that I do not really need to read that seems to be self-help book. Do not get me wrong, I can be really, really anything from the Twilight madness to Superfreakonomics to The Black Swan (which I haven’t finished until now). Anyway, I bought it, the one with the (new) Julia Roberts cover eating gelato beside the nuns. While the eating part in Italy, ashram experience in India and Bali (Indonesia) views were best seen in the movie than just being imagined, and that Julia Roberts, James Franco, Javier Bardem (wow, for the mixtape memories) graced the screen, the book is still much, much better. The novel itself is absolutely inspiring (though in real life, I think that a person doesn’t really need to travel in different countries just to find his or her balance; the eating, praying, and loving can actually happen with the same effect within the Philippines or other place alone), but there are missing links in the adaptation (especially the random mention of the Filipino accountant whom Liz met in India, haha).

On the other hand, I’ve really looked forward to seeing Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. Aside from that I am a Michael Cera fan since Juno going to Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, I was too curious to see an original, funny and smart movie in a video game cum hipster style.  And my expectations were surpassed. I must warn you, though, that it is not for everyone. It is either you will like it or hate it. Personally, I liked it so much. A postmodern epic movie!

As a side note, I don’t know what it took me so long but it was just lately that I noticed that there are always a couple of subtitles (Arabic and French) in the UAE cinema screens and that instead of popcorn, I like more the corn with salt, butter, cheese, chili, pepper, garlic, and lemon (yes, altogether).

(Photo source). I’ve watched Alice in Wonderland in 3D, not expecting much about the film even if it’s directed by Tim Burton.

Johnny Depp as Mad Hatter, Mia Wisakowska (she looks much like Gwyneth Partlow) as Alice, Anne Hathaway as the White Queen, and Helena Bonham Carter as the Red Queen were all effective in their roles. Although the film is visually stunning, I just felt that it lacked the right amount of thrill. It came to a point that whenever the scenes were slowing down, I kept reminding myself to just be entertained by the visuals, fancy dresses and make-ups, and few entertaining scenes (my most fave was when the very tiny Alice was put inside the tea pot). Personally, I think that the appearance of the Red Queen made the scenes came into life. Maybe it’s because of her bulky head and the humour she graced whenever she spoke.

When I went out of the cinema, I never had an aftershock or hang over of the film. I wonder what happened to the magical fantasy touch that it’s supposed to give to the audience.

I loved the movie Alvin and the Chipmunks and I already lost count as to how many times I watched it in DVD. Last Christmas, I watched it again after Santa Baby and Paris Je T’aime. That was actually a sort of a warm up for its sequel, Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel, that I watched on New Year’s day.

The storyline is predictable and very simple yet entertaining. In the sequel, the chipmunks (Alvin, Theodore and Simon) were sent to school. Some scenes reminded me of Stuart Little. What’s interesting here is the introduction of female chipmunks, which I didn’t know exactly why they are called chipettes. As I was researching on its etymology, it says that they are a fictional group of anthropomorphic chipmunk singers that first appeared on the cartoon series Alvin and the Chipmunks in 1983. In this and related materials, they served as female featured characters in their own right.

I noticed that the chipettes are more appealing on screen. Maybe it is because you can play with their movements and clothing more (take note of their Single Ladies number).

While among the chipmunks, Alvin seems to be the star, Britanny is the lead chipette. Incidentally, they are crushing on each other. This movie didn’t get much nice reviews but it is outshining the other entries in the cinemas. Personally, the movie reviews insignificantly affect me when I am watching. Appreciation varies. If you will ask me, I enjoyed seeing it (and laughing out). Or maybe because I had a mind and heart of a gradeschool while in the cinema (escaping from reality that my wisdom tooth ached like hell that time and the movie cured it for a while). That I took the soda topper toy (see photo).

By the way, Charice Pempengco had a guest appearance here (as the rival of chipmunks).

Have you seen Avatar?

We watched it last Friday and I still cannot get over my amazement. The storyline may not be too outstanding but the effects were dazzling. My jaws dropped. Seriously.

Worth the wait. Pressure ‘to sa mga susunod na pelikula. James Cameron has set another standard in making a well-blended film. In a way, you would wish it would not end until the fifth hour because it is overwhelming and engaging.

Must see film. On the big screen. And if possible, see it in 3D. Worth all the cents.

In case you don’t know or if you forgot, I’m a Twilight fanatic. Last year, before the prequel debuted on the big screen, I’ve written a number of posts about the book. Anyway, I became a little tamed with New Moon and I only got to blog about the first teaser. Otherwise, this site probably has turned into a New Moon blog . Haha.

Sadly, UAE got a few days late playdate and that starts today. So I had to bear the agony of not looking into any spoiler (reviews, comments through social networking sites, etc.). Anyway, the waiting’s over. But before that, did you know that I had a checklist before watching New Moon? Heehee. Forgive me, I’m really like that whenever I’m dead serious about something whether it’s work-related or not. Are you ready to know what’s on the list? Sige lang, feel free to laugh out loud.

• Re-watch Twilight DVD. Ensure that I still memorized the lines.
• Read (i.e. memorize) the e-book of New Moon. (I already brought home the books when I vacationed last September). Just to let you know, New Moon is my least favorite among the 4 books. But the film adaptation looks much more promising than Twilight the movie.
• Watch Taylor Lautner’s (Jacob Black) old films. I saw Cheaper by the Dozen 2 during the weekend. Did you know that he played there as an 8th grade student? His facial features didn’t change a lot. Who would have thought that that totoy would be a charming wolf?
• Prepare my Twilight Saga shoes. It’s a sort of mismatch shoes because the covers of the 4 books are handpainted on it. Click here to see.

PS. You might be wondering how I’d be able to watch this on a Thursday daytime. Incidentally, the universe paved the way for me. Heehee. Today marks the start of my 10-day “weekend”. In our sector, we will not return to work until 6 December (while the other sectors only got 2 days holiday). Thanks to EID and UAE National Day celebrations.

The Dark Knight was the last film I’ve seen inside a cinema. Thanks to Eid, I was able to find the kick to catch up with movies. The first three films I catched online and the rest were from the file of long outstanding sees.

My Sassy Girl: I’ve been intending to watch this 6 years ago. Passed the ages and the film is still funny and cute. And theme song is beginning to sound like one of the good classics. Minus the enactment of the crazy scripts by the pretty main actress, it was a nice film. I just can’t imagine if a guy willing to be punched everyday still exists. The love letters in a capsule planted near down the tree is a clever idea. I should have done something like that when I was still in college. I absolutely loved the ending. How’s that meeting “someone from your future’? Watch here.

Windstruck: I didn’t know this film exists. I decided to see this because it’s told that its ending is related to Sassy Girl (SG). Of course, that can’t be a sequel since SG came first (both films have the same main actress, she’s pretty!). Windstruck could have been better than SG if not for the ghost-like windy return of the guy. Oh well, that serves the title. That line, “I won’t tell you Sorry unless that’s your name” is really hilarious. Watch here.

A Very Special Love: I enjoyed watching this. Actually saw this twice. If you’re not a sucker of Tagalog flicks, you’d still appreciate this. Reasonable stuff, light drama, funny antics. It’s better that this became Sarah Geronimo’s launching flick instead of doing the remake of Sharon Cuneta’s Dear Heart. The role did suit her. This might be the same old tune, but it’s ever awesome to watch masungit and cool tandem. I hope that works in real life. Full movie here.

Knocked Up: Hillarious. It must have felt the end of the world if you’re knocked up that way. Well, life is random and you never know who you’re going to end up with. Also, you could have a bad start to good, or a fairy tale beginning and hell in the end.

Facing the Giants: Days before my flight last January, a good friend suggested that I buy a DVD of this. I didn’t pay much attention. After almost 10 months, I’ve taken the recommendation randomly and I now declare that this is one of the nicest films I’ve ever seen in my entire life (or entire existence – that’s the way Edward Cullen says it). If you haven’t seen this yet, you MUST. Please. It’s going to change a lot in you.

Sex and The City: Uhum, not my cup of tea. Or maybe because I was not a follower of the series. I enjoyed the fashion sense and glamorous characterization though. You can’t have it all. But I think you can, depending on how you define “all”. I uploaded some of my fave songs from the soundtrack. Listen here.

The Last Kiss: It’s interesting to see almost perfect life and how people in that almost perfect situation got bored and were thirsty for a little adventure. It’s very difficult when that another color of fun is just around the corner. Almost made me understand why a guy who already has the perfect girl in his life can still cheat. Again, just almost understand. It’s tempting to have fun and be silly at times, but people should know where they really belong.

The Bucket List: It’s awakening to see how two dying (and stranger to each one) people spent their remaining months together. I cried near to the ending. I’m done last month with my Bucket list when I did a tag. But after seeing this film, I’m making another one. And it’s counting and the more that I realized that life is too short. Live your life meaningfully.

What are the movies you’ve seen lately? What about your all-time favorites? Any must-sees that you’d like to recommend?

(Pix source)

(Photo source ) I catched Wall-E over the weekend when I was so tired and so sleepy. I expected that I’d doze off, but no. I finished the film with much interest and surprise. If you are the type who likes too much conversations in a film, this may not be the one for you. This one is a showcase of movements, colorful animation and 1960s music in between: resulting to a great film. The originality of the story is definitely a saving grace.

The first 30 minutes of the film shows Wall-E with his cockroach bestfriend.  The surviving robotical unit was tasked to sort out the Earth’s junks. Imagine a robot deciding for himself what is trash among the trashes and filing it up into cubes. There was a diamond ring he disposed over the ring’s box, which made my mind screamed, “Wall-E, save the ring!”. Heehee. Anyway, what’s interesting was that he got the wits to save a budding plant, with so tiny leaves, and replanted it in a junk boots. How do you program a robot to know what’s useful and not?  Another realization is that cockroach will always be there, speaking of survival of the fittest.

Then, Wall-E met Eve, an ET. The robot guy falls in love with her, without her realizing what is love. I think that’s the way it should be.  Generally robots (and ETs?) have no feelings. In the junkyard, Wall-E keeps a TV which he plays on occasionally a 1960s Hello, Dolly scenes. Wherein holding hands is the means to express love. The adventure follows.

I don’t mean any spoilers here. I highly recommend this movie because I like the concept and the originality of the story: ecological awareness imparted, uhum but I was afraid to see that in the near future Earth would be comprised of all obese people (!), and of course, the power of love. I think the nicest part here was when the ‘power of holding hands’ worked for the non-humans  (that applies the academic side of electricity). I’m not mushy, but I think this is one of nicest love stories ever told. If you happened to have catched it, let me know if you actually agree with me.  Here’s a preview: