I originally intended this post to be written in Filipino because I never write in English—I’m terrible at it, grammar and all. But then halfway thru, while searching for images to paste in this otherwise text-heavy entry, I chanced upon other blogs and realized that hey, their grammar is not perfect (I spot some errors here and there) but they still write in English anyway. So screw self-esteem issues, I’m going to write in English more often from now on.
Anyway, I just wanted to distract myself from some personal shit (I can’t find the right word so I’m just gonna use shit as how most Filipinos use “ano” or “chuva” or “chever”), so I decided to list down the films I watched for the past months. I used to write about films in another blog, but that site was discovered by some colleague in the newspaper I work for, so I deleted it. Then I started this blog to supposedly do the same shit, but the past year had been to busy for me to be able to update this with, you know, more coherent stuff.
This list is kinda long, and I’m pretty sure I forgot to write down a couple of titles so I’d probably just write about them next time when I remember. And nope, the films are not arranged in any particular order.
1. 21 Jumpstreet
Best part is definitely Johnny Depp’s cameo.
2. How To Train Your Dragon
I don’t know anyone who did not like this film. It’s heartwarming and funny, and it’s not cheesy at all.
3. Rurouni Kenshin
I did not follow Samurai X religiously when it was shown in ABS-CBN nearly a decade ago, but I enjoyed this movie nonetheless. I know a couple of people who are huge fans of the anime, and while talking to them about the film, it did not feel as if they were able to appreciate something I did not just because I know nothing about the anime story.
4. Labs Kita Okey Ka Lang?
I liked Jolina as a kid. I was one of those kids who got artista-covered notebooks, and I perfectly remember that I had two Jolina notebooks in Grade 2—one for Science, one for Filipino. Just by watching the trailer (or was it an edited preview for the Cinema One screening?), I was able to memorize Budjoy’s line about being “so stupid to make the biggest mistake of falling in love with [her] best friend.”
5. Step Up Revolution
Believe it or not, I watched this in the movie house, thanks to a friend’s MTRCB card. I don’t exactly remember why I was not impressed with this movie, despite the supposedly progressive premise. Nope, not even an “in fairness” moment I usually get after watching an expectedly shallow romantic film yet seeing some sort of radical (read: leftist) message in it. I guess I was too indifferent to over-read this one, or maybe the sexually provocative dancing cancelled all tibak points out? Anyway, kebs.
6. Perks of Being a Wallflower
A friend told me he could very much relate to the main character in the book this movie was based on. I was intrigued so I read the book—imagine my face after reading the last chapter jusko. And since the topic was a bit too sensitive to talk about even between two close friends, I never bothered asking him about it again. Few months later, he asked me if I watched this movie already, and I told him yes. He asked me if I liked it, I said, “keri lang.” Then I asked him what he thought about it, and he commented about Emma Watson’s perfect face. Keri.
7. The Dark Knight Rises
I don’t have any strong opinion on Christopher Nolan’s Batman franchise—not even on The Dark Knight. This film was long, exciting to some extent, and I did not expect that Marion Cotillard would be the guy…er, girl? And am I right that this film had some references to the Occupy Wall Street campaign? Meh, I really don’t remember. I like Nolan though, and Memento is still one of my favorite films.
8. Lady Vengeance
Surprisingly quirky for a dark film. Bet!
9. A Lot Like Love
Cheesy, I know, but I loved the scene where they hugged under the moonlight naked with Aqualung’s Brighter Than Sunshine as background music. Ang arte arte arte! Hahaha.
10. Just Go With It
Not a fan of Adam Sandler. Don’t remember what got me to watch this. This is not bad though—not something I would watch again, but I don’t abhor it.
11. Happythankyoumoreplease
This, for me, is one of those films that will not change your life, will not make you question your beliefs, will not leave your mouth in “O” shape a few seconds after the credits start rolling—but it will not waste your time either. Fun laman-tiyan, but not buffet material.
12. 50/50
I cried. Because Joseph Gordon Levitt almost died. Choz! Watched this because of JGL. Cried because it’s sad being sick and realizing that there’s still a handful of people who would miss you. The film feels sincere—no pretensions of being groundbreaking or anything. It is what it is, and bald JGL is hot. Another choz!
13. Suckseed
The first half of the film was okay, until the girl admitted that he also likes the guy and everything just went, uh, which subplot do you really want to focus on?! I don’t know anything about the Thai rock scene, and somehow this film is like a mini-pamphlet that introduces their famous rock bands.
14. Eurotrip
We were drinking when a friend asked who Kristin Kreuk was. I told her about Smallville and shit, and she still did not know who she was until someone said, “‘Yung sa Eurotrip.” I didn’t know what Eurotrip was, sorry, and a few months later, during one of those lull moments online and I was thinking of a film to watch, I remembered that conversation. Gained nothing new after watching it, but at least I can now say that I have watched Kristin Kreuk’s five-fucking-minute appearance on it.
15. Wristcutters
It’s not quirky and colorful, yet it’s cute and it made me smile. Also, I found out that that main lady here (whose name I’m too lazy to Google) is the sister of Warpaint’s bassist Jen Lindberg. Wait, I’m not too sure about this trivia (still too lazy to Google) but I’m pretty sure that Lindberg has some movie star sister whose last name is not Lindberg.
16. Zombadings
Fell in love with Kirby Zamora after watching this haha. This one’s enjoyable, but I did not like the idea that being gay is considered some sort of sumpa or sakit or whatever. I think the writers are pretty aware of this, as the characters themselves talk about the “political incorrectness” of their jokes.
17. Temptation Island
I haven’t watched the more recent version yet. But this one, tangina nakakatawa. It’s campy, and following the “rule” of camp, the film seems to be unaware of how funny it really is.
18. This Is England
I know two people who are big fans of this film. They don’t know each other, but I trust their taste in cultural shit, so when I found out how they loved this film, I rode the two-people bandwagon and watched this as well. This is one of those films where you just can’t press stop when the credits start to roll up—not because you’re interested in who done which production task…you just can’t press the space bar because you’re frozen like you just had eye contact with Medusa.
19. The Amazing Spiderman
Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield have chemistry. And just a side story: I was at this dinner with people I barely know, so I barely talked and was just focused on what we were eating. Then one guy said, “I miss watching movies. I love movies.” Then another girl replied, “Oh. My. God. I love moviiiiieeees! Oh my god, as in talagang movie buff talaga akoooo!” Of course I got excited, finally something to talk about with these strangers. Then the girl continued, “What’s the last movie you watched? Oh my god, mine’s Amazing Spiderman!” And they started talking about “loving action films” like Battleship and 2012 and shit. I’m so elitist I was disappointed. Guess I really am a hipster hahaha.
20. Hunger Games
Watched this for free because of some friend’s free pass. Best part was when Rue died and Katniss did that salute and the people in Rue’s district went berserk in rage against their shitty system. I think I was teary-eyed during that part, shet.
21. The Avengers
Watched this when it was long gone in the cinemas. Not on the big screen, just on my laptop. Typical superhero shit. Sorry I’m really not into this type of films. I just watch them because they’re there, and I like passing my time by watching movies.
22. X-Men First Class
Out of all the superhero films, the X-men franchise is probably the one I like the most. When I was a kid, my mom rented a VCD of an earlier X-Men film, and because we live in the province with no cable connection and no movie house in any part of town, I always watch mom’s rented movies more than once—even when I don’t understand the dialogues because it’s really hard to understand English when it’s spoken really fast and no one in real life uses English to speak to me. And why am I talking about English now? Shemay.
23. The Hobbit
It’s long, but I liked it. I liked how it looked, and I totally loved how Kili looked—ampogi ni koya. I haven’t read the book, but I am inclined to agree with some colleagues who are big Tolkien fans, but think that one movie could be enough for this prequel.
24. I Doobi Doobi Doo
Hala, I don’t remember what I felt after watching this. I don’t remember if I liked it or not. I know that I was bothered with Eugene and Ogie’s love scene, and that I liked their remake of the song Paano. Maybe it’s been too long since I watched it, or maybe it’s just unremarkable for me. The trailer’s nice though.
25. Sosy Problems
I get that it’s supposed to be satirical, that there might be some promise in having rich kids do what proletarians usually do when they fight against their oppressors. But really, after watching this I was like, “naglolokahan ba tayo?!” There’s a girl whose dad was a corrupt lawmaker yet it’s portrayed as if the worst part of that conflict is her family losing all their property. Then the main conflict is about four “old rich” ladies rallying against this “new rich” lady so jologs she wants an exclusive clubhouse to be a pangmasa mall. And at the end of the film, each character had their own montage, with Tim Yap (I think) narrating what each girl learned after all they’ve been through blah blah. Stress. Jusko day, paano pa kaya ang Sisterakas?
26. Silver Linings Playbook
Bet ko ‘to. I was impressed more with Bradley Cooper than I was with JLaw.
27. Argo
Another bet! It’s gripping. I watched this in the office, and once done, I immediately told my colleagues they should watch it too. The US wins in the film of course but meh, form-wise this is a masterpiece.
28. Zero Dark Thirty
It’s long. Slightly made me hate the imperialists a little bit more. I have no sense of history whatsoever so I didn’t know that the car they allowed to enter their camp had bombs in it. That tension-filled scene was the best part for me, more than the actual raid. And Jessica Chastain was good, I think she should have gotten the Oscar—not that I have a problem with JLaw winning it, but meh, bahala na sila. Choz.
29. Beasts of the Southern Wild
Gusto ko ‘to. If I weren’t too busy hating the whole dyaryo thing when I watched this, I would have written something longer about it. One of the films I’m willing to spend time over-thinking about. Will probably watch it again some other dull time, when everything’s more peaceful both outside and inside me—naks.
30. Hope Springs
Cast pa lang, ulam na. This is fun. My idea of a fun movie. Hehehe.
31. Ruby Sparks
Liked the story. Fine, was impressed by Zoe Kazan’s performance. Was equally shocked though, when I learned that she also wrote the script. It’s quirky—also fits to my type of a “fun” movie.
32. Martha Marcy Mae Marlene
How I found about this movie: googled Josh Radnor’s films, read about Liberal Arts, right clicked Elizabeth Olsen’s name, read about her critically-acclaimed performance in this movie. So I watched this movie, and appreciated her performance, and wondered if cults do really exist, and realized that depressed and lonely people will be easily lured into joining one. I don’t think I would join though—I guess I’m still sane enough to be creeped out when only one man fathers all children in a community.
33. The Reunion
The movie looked rush. I spotted some editing booboos, like writing the wrong title for a song (if I remember it right, the movie’s split in parts and each part is introduced with a remake of an Eheads song). The script is not even funny, like dialog funny—slapstick funny, pwede pa. The story’s like some sloppy reboot of Paz Marquez Benitez’ Dead Stars. Jessy Mendiola does not know how to act. Actually all of them acted weird, too stiff. I watched this in the big screen and felt cheated (good thing it was free again hehe). Were the scriptwriters even proud of this? Kaloka.
34. Searching for Sugar Man
Love love love the soundtrack. I thank this film for introducing me to Rodriguez. I thank my friend who recommended this to me by writing the title in a table napkin one time when we were drinking.
35. Good Will Hunting
When Meralco turned off our electric meter (is that what/how you call it?) because we weren’t able to pay our bills for three months, this was the last movie I watched with the remaining battery in my laptop. I was not inspired because I suck at math. And I don’t like studying, and I don’t know what to do with my life—it’s like I’m the Ben Affleck of this film, but the movie is about Matt Damon, so I’m just on the sideline waiting for him to succeed. Hay.
36. Safety Not Guaranteed
I think I saw this film on a list of films that people may not have watched in 2012. Too lazy to google for and link that list, sorry. This film is like, paano ba—sabog? The premise is sabog, the kuwento is sabog, the characters are sabog. And the ending was sabog. But it didn’t feel sabog. I could say that I was slightly affected when the “time machine” started moving and working like it’s the real shit—escape, finally! Sana ganoon din kabilis tumakas sa tunay na buhay.
sure. wait. what? 