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Saturday, January 18, 2003
Wednesday, January 15, 2003
Tuesday, January 14, 2003
 Warning. Spoilers. I just saw The Two Towers for the third time today. Yes, obsessed is the word. My family and I had lunch with old friends Tito Dennis Javellana and his eldest son Andoni, who will be flying back to the States tonight. I didn’t have to head for work just yet, so I dragged Andoni with me to G4 to watch The Two Towers with me on the big screen because he’d only seen it on DVD. We made it just in time for the beginning and I love the opening sequence with a passion, when Gandalf falls with the Balrog and starts striking him with a sword and they fall and they fall and then you see a body of water beneath them and bang! How the hell did they do that whole sequence? The shots, the editing, the sound, it was like Rialto in Enchanted Kingdom! No, it was better! God, what else was good? I should’ve taken down notes. Ah! The horses were beautiful! The travel montages with aerial shots were beautiful! And the makeup of the orcs was so disgusting and sick that it was so cool! I really love this movie, and seeing Peter Jackson throwing a spear at the orcs and his little children (who were also the cute little hobbit children in the first movie) hiding in the cave was amusing. Of course, it was a fiesta ng mga gwapo with Legolas, Aragorn and Faramir being their macho selves. And Gimli, well, his character is just so funny, and I liked the fact that this movie showed that he and Legolas were already good friends. Too bad they didn’t really show the growth of that friendship in the first movie. Oh, but let’s not forget Smeagol! My God, Smeagol was so real in this movie, it was hard to believe that actor Andy Serkis was just covered with CG the whole time! That was acting! It was, right? And that whole psychotic sequence where he’s talking to himself and trying to shoo away his Mr. Hyde side was so good, your mood shifts from funny to sad in a second when he starts to cry. I cried in different parts of the movie, but I wasn’t sure if I was crying because the scenes were sad or because the cinematography was so beautiful. That scene where Smigol’s talking to himself, the editing was so psychotic, I felt so sorry for him. And when the king was being dressed with armor, oh my God, the white light coming from behind with soldiers walking by once in a while, it was so sad. And lastly, Frodo ready to cut Sam’s throat with his sword when Sam says, “It’s me. Your Sam.” That’s love!!! And then the audience starts to giggle. Yeah, yeah, they look gay, but what can they do? They love each other! If you were put in that position, you’d cry like Samwise The Gay, too! Ok, let’s talk about love. Love is Aragorn and Arwen. Yes, that is obvious. But love is also Frodo and Sam! Love is also Legolas, Gimli and Aragorn! Love is Elron and Arwen, Theoden and Rohan, and the Ents for the Earth! Love is Frodo trusting people, 4 of them whom he had just met, and risking his life to destroy the One Ring to save Middle Earth. Love is Sam who chose never to leave Frodo’s side, even when he’s being screamed at or threatened with a sword. Love is two little hobbits clinging to hope with dear life, holding on to the belief that there is “good in the world and that it’s worth fighting for.” Ok, I sound crazy. But really, truly, I wish people woudn’t laugh. It’s like the soldiers in Band of Brothers or Saving Private Ryan. If you were in their shoes, let’s see you keep yourself from crying in fear, from crying in pain, from crying for your Mama. *** >Before this news gets old... The Manila Film Fest had some pretty cool movies. Spirit Warriors 2 and Agimat turned out to be really entertaining. The effects were good and the pacing wasn’t that bad. There were still a lot of inconsistencies in the sripts, though, things that could’ve been corrected. But all in all, they both delivered, even if the acting was nothing great. Jaime Fabregas was in both movies. How weird. Oh, and Spirit Warriors 2 was way better than the first movie. Yey! Lastikman was so bad that it was funny. Vic Sotto and Donita Rose looked awful together, but what the hell! There were also all these little PSAs that popped up once in a while. No to pirated CDs, don’t believe everything the media says, shucks, I can’t remember the others were. But please, the scene where he’s a chair and Donita sits on him and when she leaves, this bump suddenly grows out from the chair...gross! The best was Dekada ’70! Wow, what a movie! Although I had some problems with the editing (the prom scene wasn’t cut to music, and, as usual, some scenes could’ve been shortened.) and the different wigs of the children, the cinematography and the acting were wonderful. Not perfect, but wonderful nonetheless. I’ve more respect for Piolo Pascual and Marvin Agustin. Pascual doesn’t know how to smoke, though, but he can really act. Christopher de Leon hardly had to speak to show that he was trying to keep himself from breaking down. He was the man of the family and he had to live up to what that meant. The same with Vilma Santos. She talked more, but there were many scenes where she didn’t have to speak and your eyes would start to well up just looking at her. De Leon and Santos both deserved to win for Best Actor and Best Actress, but no. Those awards had to go to Eddie Garcia and Ara Mina, which brings me to my last MFF movie. Mano Po. Crap. Honestly, if I were Chinese, I’d be insulted by Mano Po. First 10 minutes into the movie and I was already dying to walk out. Cogie Domingo’s Chinese accent was horrible! Hey, a movie’s opening could make it or break it! Sure, sure, Mano Po has many good messages about the relationship between the Chinese and the Filipinos, but the portrayal of the way the Chinese lived didn’t seem right. I think that more research should’ve been done, that there should’ve been more care for the details. If you grew up speaking Mandarin, would your Mandarin be slower than your Tagalog? Things like that. Call it nitpicking, but really, details like that shouldn’t be overlooked. And what was with the crazy nonlinear treatment and the inconsistent documentary video of the half brother? You know what really sucked about this movie? It had a big budget and a good cast, but everything was just left to bahala na. So many things could’ve been corrected, but they weren’t. They could’ve gotten real Chinese actors, but they didn’t, not even for extras. They just got Chinese people, not actors. The Mandarin of the actors could’ve been better, but it seems that the language lessons were rushed. And the music could’ve been better, but it was horrible, HORRIBLE! And whenever someone cried, this awful piano piece would come in. And lastly, the ending montage showing famous Chinese Filipinos...where did that come from? Yeah, I get the fucking message, but there was nothing leading to that montage. Nothing! What, they thought that the voice over of Maricel Soriano or Ara Mina or whoever the fuck was talking would do the trick? Because man, you couldn’t even tell who was talking. All these stupid inner monologues with no order, no organization. Argh! What a waste. And this is Mother Lily’s legacy? Dang, I enjoyed Spirit Warriors 2 more than this.
Monday, January 13, 2003
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