misstinapie

Image courtesy of my sister   We've seen it in Shang and now more prominent in Megamall. It seems like they're jumping on the bandwagon of Film Festivals and being very accessible it's not surprising that lines are exaggeratedly long, plus, it's Korean. Pinoys love anything Korean does. I was able to watch 5/7 films, 4 of them after office hours, 1 today. I was really entertained. Arranged below are the movies I was able to enjoy these last 4 days (Saturday doesn't count, we didn't come) and a really quick review. Hwayi: A Monster Boy Synopsis We follow the life of Hwayi (Yeo Jin-goo) who was abducted and later on raised by a gang of ruthless criminals led by Seok-tae (Kim Yun-seok). We also see Yeong-joo (Ji-Eun Lim) a girl in chains who also took part in raising him, serving as his only known mother. Now in high school, Hwayi was put into his first assignment, a client who hired them to finish a couple that halts a construction b...

Rating: ★★ Category: Movies Genre: Kids & Family I never heard of this movie until the three of us (me and my sisters) was inside the movie house. The whole time I was sitting there I had a conversation in my head that wanted to kick myself for not even trying out the two other more popular movies currently on in spite of one having a bad review (Airbender) and the other greeted with a small number of audience (Salt). How can I not be? Seeing Fraser with his beer belly and badly made CGI animals who react with old school facial expressions, it's like seeing an imitation of violent cartoons who did nothing in an entire episode other than to hit each other with the stupidest of things. Good heavens they spared us having ACME explosives. On top of that they also recycled too many scenes that it's ridiculously obvious that they are either in short of budget or just subliminally telling us to do the 3 Rs. And due to that a sane movie goer might miss a few good lines that somehow...

Rating: ★ Category: Movies Genre: Mystery & Suspense I rarely watch slasher films and call me a sissy if you want but this is exactly the type that would not make me wish for a fastforward button. It isn't scary at all nor was it as gory as I wanted. You can see how much they are trying hard to convince you that the story is so worth it but even I can formulate what they did up to their 'twist'. Some actors are even boring to watch. And if anyone even tries to make a part two, puhlease. I'm hoping they start with changing the actor line-up first. Maybe it will up their act no matter how mediocre the story they'd come up next. Image from: http://www.cultreviews.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/my-bloody-val-dvdart.jpg

Rating: ★★ Category: Movies Genre: Action & Adventure My first impression was, looks like Battle Royale, sounds like Battle Royale. BR 2 anyway, only this time they aren't students but assassins. After that part, the survival of the fittest theme I am sure we are tired of already. Early this month I even saw something like that too, only I didn't catch the title. Then there is also DOA and a hundred other titles. Blood bath check, huge explosions check, morally challenged assasin check, and wait is that Boone (Ian Somerhalder)? Not a strong recommend but you ought to check this just once. Maybe you'll get something from it. I didn't. Not that much anyway

Rating: ★★★ Category: Movies Genre: Horror What the hell Jack Nicholson stop scaring me! And that sound effect, argh!! I am shivering in fright already! I can't even stop punching the pause button whenever I'm on the verge of giving up on watching, (which I did multiple times. I even stalled by watching a few Flashforwards on the side just to keep my breathing to a level) and what a relief it was when it was over. And if you don't get scared at how maniacal Nicholson did his act here I don't know who else you need to be. In my own judgement the story alone isn't really that grand anymore because there are so many dozens of the type but this has got to be much more realistic on how normal people usually behave in signs of danger. Normally we just run right? It isn't like most movies who have bad guys live no matter how many times you stab them with a knife, or a normal housewife suddenly being able to tackle them in the first place. And how it ended, loved it. Yo...

Rating: ★ Category: Movies Genre: Romantic Comedy Another book turned movie failure. I loved the books because the author made it so that women who read it can relate to how weird our thoughts are and how it runs in so many directions at a given situation yet here I am contemplating on how is it that Luke Brandon, the lead guy looks so frail contrary to his book description, how Tarky is waaaay more handsome than Luke and Alicia didn't look like what I thought of Alicia like the rest in the whole cast!! I can forgive they fast forward to some stuff but actually changing the whole setup?? This is just so wrong! Luke isn't supposed to be in Successful Saving, Becky should and neither should Alicia be in a different magazine and is a...a...model??? I did read that they have merged two books into one but this is just so way out of what I expected. I hope you are happy now whoever script writer you are. You just ruined my day.

Rating: ★★★★★ Category: Movies Genre: Animation [Uhm. Spoiler alert?] What I think in this movie is summed up by this statement: 'If you haven't seen it, watch it'. I remember quite well that Up was a blockbuster alongside huge movies and I can clearly see why. It has everything, and I mean everything that makes everyone of us would appreciate. The characters are adorable, and the scenes invoke feelings without trying too much, I even cried when Ellie died! Outrageous are some ideas (well, obviously the one with the balloon thing is one) but it's so forgiveable you won't think any less of Up as a whole. And for me it is devoid of something that is annoying. At some films I get so pissed off with the kids either being a brat or just plain foolish whilst, here, even Russell is a character to be loved (But it's a talking dog!!!). Aww. All I need to do now is to add it to my list of favorites. And I would love to see it again.

Rating: ★★★ Category: Movies Genre: Mystery & Suspense I wasn’t (again) supposed to watch this if it weren’t for the listing of the nearest mall from our house that had Star Trek for just a week. It’s either they think it’s not worth having it on their cinemas or they think X-Men Origins was any better (I think they had it for around 3 weeks. They are so biased). I was going to watch it anyway but my dream of seeing Zachary Quinto play Mr. Spock was something I’ve been talking about for weeks already. So everyone must realize how disappointed I was of not being able to see it on the big screen. The only reason I wanted to watch this after they’ve spoiled the prequel/sequel of one of my favourite books of all time (Da Vinci Code) was because of seeing CERN, the inside of the Vatican and most especially the high-tech archives mentioned in the book. I was disappointed how quick they’ve shown CERN (they even shown LHC which have been published on numerous photos on magazines a...

Rating: ★★★★ Category: Movies Genre: Mystery & Suspense I was wrong with what I expected here twice. Once was when I thought that this must be another inspirational flick about some sort of sickness the rest of us aren't aware of (e.g. Lorenzo's Oil, A Beautiful Mind). A few minutes later, when the focus was on the couple played by Alba and Christensen, I thought I was tricked of watching a love story. Then much later, I found out I just hit jackpot. What they did with the movie was really, in my opinion unexpected. I didn't know that they would swerve to that 'conspiracy' direction and when they did, it was subtle and it was enough to have my senses wake up and say 'Woow'. There wasn't too much drama incorporated though, but it was the plot that got me all grinning when it was all revealed. But to those paying attention, obviously you'd get hints at some parts which was conspicously arranged so you'd never guess till later. With this...

Rating: ★★ Category: Movies Genre: Kids & Family After losing to *RPS with one of my long time girlfriends on what to watch, we ended with this one (I was really vying for Taken, my officemate said it was a bit violent and you know how I am with that lately) over a bucket of popcorn. In the end I would have made it 3 stars just for the simplicity of it, like ok fine, it still does in a way looked like a movie, if it weren’t for the effects on the bullets (which they have the nerve to even make close ups of, imagine it even when seen on IMAX). I thought we already have the technology for that (Superman) yet this one made it all cheap and pitiful. Obvioulsy, this one did’nt really looked challenging in terms of acting, I can’t even figure out who the target audience was, because the kid aliens weren’t really something that would make the kids in real life talk for hours of (and their parents who were probably regretting the spent time) . She, Anna Sophia was even annoying me...

Rating: ★★★ Category: Other Let me get this straight first. I am a fan of Lost. I'm not a huge fan (i'm neither 200 pounds nor I scour the entire web just to get the latest updates) but I am a fan. I can talk hours and hours about theories and how I loved the entire series from the acting, to the lines and to the plot. And I love Abrams for that so I tried to take a look at Fringe. I heard it from another former officemate of mine who I've converted to be a Lostie who wants to check it out but left before I (accidentally) found the schedule on a local channel. I told this too to a friend of mine (another Lostie) and he said there are a lot of bad reviews from Lost fans and he surmises they just don't want Abrams to be occupied with another venture. I on the other hand, was, after watching an episode, partly convinced. Partly because I don't see the dynamic acting as I've witnessed in Lost even in the first time I've seen it. I even remembered how I ga...

Rating: ★★★ Category: Movies Genre: Other 3 Stars may sound bad (please do not compare my reviews from different movies, that would be unfair. My ratings are solely for one movie at a time and not a competition amongst them, probably for comparing remakes, though I’m not really sure yet) but I can’t really feel some sort of connection with this one, probably because of my high expectations when I saw this busted (not exactly or I couldn’t have watched it) copy in Video City (yes, I find myself fortunate to find titles that looks enticing and unheard of by my common friends which is a huge plus) about a collector, yeap, you guessed it right, someone like myself (but not that extreme). I forgot how much I got it but I’m fine I haven’t spent so much on it. Jonathan (Elijah Wood) collects everything and anything that marks a certain memory. Part of his collection are a sandwich, his grandma’s false teeth and on the film collected dirt from the river bank that is also a grave of the...