Chuck and Larry

A quarter passed six in last evening, I arrived in this mall after approximately 10 minutes of cantering from the office. Good thing the atmosphere outside wasn't too humid to incite my sweat glands to work, else I'd be one sweaty fella on the run. Apparently I was 15 minutes late and my best friend, Sib, has been there waiting and gallivanting along the mall corridors. We did not have much time to waste as we planned to watch Chuck and Larry then. Time slot: 7:20 PM.

Good riddance, we still had time to grab some food as Sib was terribly famished. But before our gastronomic gratification, we went to the movie house ticket booth, asked for two tickets on the 7:20 slot, reserved good seats, then paid 300. With no much time to perform Elimination Method through the limited choices of food places available, we just opted to eat again at this diner-like place. We dined, that is, despite our time constraint, as we had less than half an hour to devour each repasts. Good riddance again, service was fast and the crew was very accommodating. I got Smoked Salmon and Gruyere Cheese Omelette with an extra serving of wheat bread on the side (yeah, I was starving alright, hehe). Sib ordered Grilled Chicken Tortilla Wrap (gosh, I actually liked hers, though the omelette was too persuasive to be shrugged off from my attention - I'm a sucker for eggs you know - no punning intended please =p). We emptied our plates... (Alright, only mine. Sib wasn't able to finish her food. Ergo, I got to take the leftovers. Haha! Talking about being a glutton.)... just in time to get the bill, pay, and head off to the cinema. Lucky us, we arrived a couple of minutes earlier before show time.

Inside the Movie House

The dark room was sparsely filled with viewers - I think there were less than 30 people inside. The "flashlight" lady helped us locate our seats - very comfy seats by the way, with cushioning support on the head. Sib and I were situated within the "best seats area". Unfortunately, the "best seats" qualifier was voided too early during the show due to some overacting XX-chromosomed viewers at my back who kept on splattering their annoying "oh no!", "no way!", "aaawwww", "oh my gosh".... Well, I just quelled the thought and enjoyed the rest of the flick.

The Movie

Apparently, the movie would superficially qualify to be comical in theme. Well, yes it was. A lot of times I went laughing, giggling or simply savoring the gay and not so gay punch lines of the casts. There were some eyebrow-raising scenes though, which gave me the instinctive I-don't-agree face, especially those relating to gay issues and the sex-crazed, promiscuous perception imposed on the queers - my default perception that is. At hindsight, I just let everything pass. Besides, it's a comic film.

Looking outside the box, the story was not mainly rooted on gay inspiration (though a lot of good insights regarding queers were shown) but on the idea of friendship. I won't tell much about it as I don't want to spoil anticipating viewers.

As a whole, the movie's worthy of good laughs and some good inspiration.

Live Free or Die Hard

John McClane never fails to entertain me with his death-defying and superficially executed stunts in this fourth serving of the Die Hard series. This time, John's into plotting the mastermind of a hacking scheme that wreaks havoc to the American denizens.

Generally, I am not a fan of hard action-packed films, but Die Hard is an exception to it. I like how Bruce Willis portrays the role of gutsy and easy-going McClane. Not to mention, I am an admirer of Bruce Willis. (^_^)

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

National Treasure: Book of Secrets

A rarity of it's kind, last night I was fortunate to turn on the TV and check out a few channels while eating my evening repast. Whimsically pressing the remote control and changing cable feeds, I suddenly bumped into the ET show and saw what I would call a mere surprise to me - Nicholas Cage and his co-stars were shooting the sequel of National Treasure.

A sequel? I didn't know that! I've appreciated and enjoyed National Treasure when I saw it in the big screen. I even watched it several times since then in DVD. Such type of flicks are some of the many I like watching in the same way I enjoyed Indiana Jones and The Mummy.

I am hoping National Treasure: Book of Secrets, which will be released December of this year, will carry on the fun, thrills and mysteries in the same degree of or even surpassing its prequel.

(Photo courtesy of Wikipedia)

(Don't!) Super Size Me

One of my colleagues told me to see this documentary about fast food eating, which was released three or four years ago in the US. The title was Super Size Me: A Film of Epic Portions by Morgan Spurlock, the director and at the same time the "test specimen" of the documentary.

Super Size Me's an experiment regarding eating fast food and if the people can actually eat fast food alone without jeopardizing health, in its different facets e.g. mental, bodily, psychological, sexual. Morgan underwent a month-long McDonald's diet, eating McDonald's food all day and night, no exception (That's so taste fatiguing! I myself can't imagine eating similar foods with fairly the same taste in a row of days. And it's fast food! Gross...). Ultimately, the film delivers a message that fast food eating is not healthy at all (Err... that's a no-brainer!) and can cause drastic if not life-threatening diseases to the organic human body.

If you're fond of gorging McDonald's and any fast food for that matter, and it seems to be addictive to you, you better see this film. Though the experiment is extreme ('cause people don't really eat fast food "all the time", though a lot eat fast food "more often" than they should), I'm pretty sure you'd get a good insight and somewhat an "inspiration" to slow down your eating and focus on what you take in down your gut. As the adage goes, "Moderation is the key".

Note: Photo above is taken from the Super Size Website.

Jack Sparrow's a bit lame... and so was everybody else!

As I have told in my May 24 post, my friends and I were to watch Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End yesterday. And so we did... But before that, we had short repasts from Wendy's.

my college friend's Bacon Cheeseburger

my bestfriend's classic burger

and mine too (that doesn't look appetizing to me)

(My bad, I ordered the wrong item (ludicrous me!). I should had gotten a Chicken Breast Fillet Sandwich instead... drool...)

As soon as we got in the movie house, the film was all set in a tad of 5 minutes. Then it rolled in....

Placement-wise, we were not fortunate to have the best seats. We were on the third row from the screen. Ergo, my field of vision was so engrossed by the projection (After the movie, I was a bit queasy and my migraine attacked).

After almost three butt-sticking hours, the movie was through... And what did I get? A headache! Harhar! Well, aside from that mishap, I barely appreciated and enjoyed the film. It was partially dragging to me despite its quick pacing of events. I think what bothered me a lot in the movie were the number of sub-plots that did quite build-up a main story plot. I did not feel that there was a main goal in this Pirates sequel. A lot of "mini-chapters" (and so there were "mini-climaces") of each significant character were shown yet they were not able to support each other well enough to develop a main plot (and so I felt there wasn't a main climax) - something that a movie-goer like me would want to see. It was a bit perplexing to me what was the "real" main goal of the story as a lot of personal motives transpired but most were not complementary to each other as each motive meant betrayal and selfishness (I surmise it's because of the nature of being pirates).

All in all, the movie wasn't very pleasing to me. Despite it's long run, I felt no significant achievement in the story and there was little character development. Below are some more comments:
1. Chow Yun-Fat's character was a waste. He died soon in the duration of the movie and didn't build an impact to the story.
2. Cutler Beckett's "pre-death" scene was so corny. His being a villain was not well emphasized in this last serving of the trilogy. And so was his death - a pitiful death from his blown ship.
3. What were the strangulations in the first scene for? I did not seem to connect those in the storyline... [Sigh]
4. Calypso's accent was a mess. I think I needed a hearing aid then just to understand all her vocal nuances! (Or was it just the fault of the cinema acoustics?)

I am not totally disappointed, only a tad and a half though... Hehe. I still enjoyed Jack Sparrow's corny but still funny antics; And his eldritch solutions to seem-to-be-already-answered problems.

Given this, I am still tentative about this movie so I am giving it also a tentative rating (Hahaha!). My perception of the movie may have been affected by my headache and not so good mood then in the cinema. Perhaps if I'll get to watch it again, I'll have a better look at the scenes and consequently a better judgment (That is, if I'd really want to see it again.. Hahaha!). For now, that's all that I can say. c",)
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To meet Jack Sparrow for the last time

Wee! I got my ticket for the screening of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End last evening. I, my bestfriend, and one of my male college friends are going to watch it tomorrow at Shangri-La Cinema (just to avoid the crowd filling the ubiquitous SM cinemas). It'll be a 2-hour-and-40-minute movie so it better be worth watching. I bet my best friend is excited to see it.

See you soon Jack Sparrow!

The wake of my watching Spider-Man 3

It's been a while, maybe almost a year, since my last movie screening. I can barely picture in my vivid recollection what it was (maybe it was Enteng Kabisote last December when I watched it with my family). This late afternoon, my best friend and I had a movie date. I asked her to join me see Spiderman 3 at The Podium.

- First time in The Podium Cinema -
It was my first time at the high-end cinema mall. The room was quite smaller than that of Shangri-La's. The ambiance was cozy and fit for watching movie with less people to be concerned about.

- The CGs -
The computer graphics was great for the intensely speedy highflying action fight scenes. Bodily details were still scrupulously rendered to mimic real-life figures. Except for minor glitch of some smudgy and clay-like appearances, especially during the conflict scene between Harry and Peter in the first part of the film, all in all the CGs was almost impeccable.

- What matters most -
Well, the computer graphics are not a concern to me; The characters roles and actors are not to be bothered; I am never... really, as far as I can recall, very scrutinizing as to nitpick all aspects of a movie. What the movie has to offer best to me is what I can pick up from its entirety. By and large, the learnings of the movie would infect me the most.

Spider-Man 3, I would say, affected me much, not due to its sci-fi glitz, but because of its humanity. This portion of the trilogy, I'd say, is the most emotional and heartfelt one. Surprisingly, for the most conflicts in the movie, the corporal ones are not the meaningful ones. The simple human battles each significant character shown are the ones who have reached my attentive mind. It's flabbergasting to comprehend that such action-filled fiction would have quality of morals and life lessons.

Spider-Man movies are always surprising to me. I am not a fan of such type of film, but this sequel, Spider-Man 3, I would consider, is one of my favorites. The movie has so much values to offer, but all has a common denominator, the theme of the story, and that is our ability to make choices.

I have always been a firm believer of the mantra "Life's made up of choices". Though I have not been religiously practicing it for some capricious reasons, I do not defy it. There is not pretty much to say about it. As simple as it is, it speaks for what it wants to aver. Whatever we do in life, it is a choice. Be it influenced by other people, by emotions of hatred or joy, still... at the end of day, the final decision is still in you.

Lately I've been slack on what I do. I have been acting impulsively and selfishly. I have come to a point of doubts and suspicions that have tainted my once unadulterated beliefs. I know that all of those that I've done and said, be them driven by whims, are my decisions. I may have decided loosely on them, still, they've the ones I've chosen. Watching Spider-Man 3 lets me recall to pull back myself to where I have more than once been - to not be driven by disturbed emotional urges. So Spidey, I owe this one to you. Thanks, and you rock!!!

(Spider-Man 3, its names, places and all characters are copyright © to Columbia Pictures Entertainment and Marvel Comics.)
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