Category Archives: Movies

My escape from reality.

The Last Scene of Paul Walker

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The first Fast and the Furious movie is one of the movies that I could watch over and over again. The movie always excites me. It’s maybe because seeing racing cars give me adrenalin. And cool cars + racing = huge amount of adrenalin.

I like the movie because of three things: good story, cool cars, and Paul Walker (#nohomo). It is one of my favorite action movie. It’s not a super cop action movie with untouchable super rich villain. Actually, there’s no real villain in the movie. Not the Asian character. It’s just a story of a cop with a mission that ends up choosing between his mission/the law and friendship. The obstacle they have to overcome is not bad characters but the situation they were in; such as will he put Dominic’s (Vin Diesel) group in jail? How will he tell the group that he’s a cop now that he consider them friends or family? How will he tell it to Dominic? How will he tell it to his girlfriend and still accept him? And what will he choose: his job or his friendship?

I’ve been a Paul Walker fan even before this movie came out. He did some cool movies in the 90s including The Skulls James Van Der Beekin which he co-starred with the Dawson’s Creek actor Joshua Jackson. He’s also included in the fantasy movie Pleasantville with Spiderman star Tobey Maguire and Reese Witherspoon. And one of my favorite teen movies is Varsity Blues, which he also co-starred with another Dawson’s Creek star James Van Der Beek.

I also liked Paul Walker’s movie Eight Below which is about his dogs that he left in the ice and returned to rescue. I love dogs and this movie made my eyes teary.

Eight Below - Paul Walker

On the last part of the Fast and the Furious where he was racing with Dominic (Vin Diesel) and racing pass the coming train, the scene became blurred as an effects,  adding tense to the scene. We know who crashed in that scene but while watching it, I recalled what happened to Paul Walker and watching that blurred scene was like watching the last moment of Paul Walker; inside his car before he crashed.

When the news about his accident breakout, I was surprised. And I knew that another good, decent actor has gone.

I admired him more when I knew that he raised funds for the victims of typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines. I also discovered that he runs programs that help and feed people around the world. So he’s not just like any other nonsense Hollywood star who loves nothing but money and themselves (cough, *kanye west*). This guy is as cool as his characters in his movies.

Another bit of information: do you know that there is a rumor about his death linking to Illuminati? Well, that’s another story.

It’s the End of the World (As We Know It)

Movies, Thoughts, , , , , , ,

Let’s just say that the Mayan prediction is true, that the end of the world is on Friday. Do you have a list of things you want to do before Psy hits that 1 billion views on YouTube? Here is my list.

If money doesn’t matter

  1. Drive a Lamborghini and a Ferrari.
  2. Drive a Harley Davidson and a Kawasaki Ninja.
  3. I’ll buy a Gibson Les Paul 60’s, Marshall 70 watts, and jam with my friends.
  4. Eat chocolates.
  5. Visit museums and historical places.
  6. Roam around with my Harley Davidson.
  7. Skydive.
  8. Fly a jetfighter.
  9. Spend days on a nice hotel in front of the sea.
  10. Make a trip to the moon.
  11. Wear my favorite attire.
  12. Read the bible.

On a more reality side (e.i. broke side)

  1. Jam with my friends.
  2. Visit my friends and families.
  3. Roam around with my bike.
  4. Visit museums and local historical places.
  5. Spend a night on top of the mountain, viewing the entire city under the starry night.
  6. Listen to all my favorite songs saved on my mp3 player.
  7. Play songs with my acoustic guitar.
  8. Read the Bible.
  9. Jog.
  10. Shower in the rain.
  11. Eat chocolates.
  12. Wear something comfortable; that is, shorts and shirt.

My bucket list might be boring but I’m not a materialistic and food person. My enjoyment is on nature and music. After December 21, this End of the World list will be a bucket list. Let me know yours.

By the way, here is one of my favorite songs from REM. It’s The End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)

Almost Famous

What Do You Love About Music?

Movies, Music, , , , ,

Almost FamousFor movie fans, they would easily recognize the title. It is a line from one of my favorite movies Almost Famous. This movie has everything I like; good music, rock, the 70s, girls, writing, and of course, the movie itself. Billy Crudup did a great job on being a rock star here.

The movie will take you to the cool, laid-back 70s. It tells a great story about a kid writer (William) who was given an assignment by Rolling Stone magazine to write a story of a promising band Still Waters. While watching this movie, I can’t help but envy the characters of Russell (Billy Crudup), the band’s guitarist, and William (Patrick Fugit), the kid writer. Russell is everything I wanted to be: cool, guitarist of a rock band. On the other hand, if music wouldn’t work out, a rock n’ roll writer would also satisfy my soul. I can imagine how cool it is to go to the tour with the band and write everything about it. You also get to watch their gigs for free and you get to hang out with the band: instant fame!

Almost Famous

But aside from the movie’s settings and characters, it also has a cool story. It tells a story of a band struggling for fame, a story of lovers, friendship, and family.

There are also unforgettable words of wisdom from Russell: “I’m a golden god!”, “I’m on drugs!”, and the question William asked to Russell, “What do you like about music?”

If I’m going to answer the question, I would say that music is the expression of my soul. Music creates a place where I can call home. Whenever I play music, it is the time that I become myself; no inhibitions, no lies, no fear, no time. It’s just me and the music. Playing music is like my own Nirvana.

Almost Famous

Who Really Gives Me The “Click”

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ClickI just watched Adam Sandler’s Click last night. Adam Sandler never failed to make me laugh. I started following his movies when I watched Happy Gilmore. He has his own style of comedy which has never been seen in the Hollywood (because no one ever dared).

Click is one of my favorite Adam Sandler movies. It is one of the few movies that make you laugh and cry at the same time. It has a really good moral value which is prioritizing family.

Time goes by so fast. With the blink of an eye, children become adults, and adults die. If you’ll let your career get in between you and your family, you’ll miss a huge part in their life, and you’ll become stranger to them. You may achieve your dream and reap all the hard work you had done, but by the time that you retire and ready to get back on your family, it may be too late to catch up and get back on their life.

And of course, if you don’t have time for your family, you may not only miss their lives, it could also destroy your relationship with them.

This is why I want to spend my life with my family. I want to be with my children my whole life, watch them while they grow and be part of their life.

One of the most precious thing that you could give to other people, not only your family, is your time. Even if you are paid with a high price for your time by your company, isn’t your family worth it to be given time for free? Time passed can never be gained back. This is why time is gold; precious. We must spend it wisely.

Okay, Enough of this emotional intro. I must admit that the real reason I like this movie is the ever-hot Kate Beckinsale. She’s the one who really gives me the ‘click’ here.

Kate Beckinsale

Cry of an Indie Film Maker

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lilia cuntapayI just read an article by Antoinette Jadaone on today’s Philippine Star’s Supreme section. She is an indie film writer and director. Her article is about her recent indie film, Six Degrees of Separation from Lilia Cuntapay, not being treated well by the local public in spite of being received well by the foreign critics and even received awards. After been applauded by the foreign watchers, she decided to show the movie commercially. And this how the article goes.

The article is about the hardship of creating a movie and promoting it. She stated how they beg for theaters to show their film and friends to watch the movie. The movie didn’t turn out well on profit term.

Here is my thought. You don’t create an indie film and expect it to be well received by the mass. It may receive applauds and awards, but the judgment of ordinary movie goers is different. The ones who praised the said movie were, I suppose, movie critics, who are professional and paid to watch and judge movies. They choose movies that are well crafted, not only entertaining. But the mass chooses movies that entertain because they choose with their budget. We pay to watch movies, not paid to watch movies.

High costs and low wages means tight budget. Because of this, we must carefully choose where to burn our hard-earned money. We choose to pay for entertainment where we can escape from our problems, politics, or just from reality.

Don’t get me wrong, I like indie films. Sometimes, I even like them better than commercial movies. Indie films don’t have star actors and special effects to show, just a story to tell. And it’s good enough for me. Unlike commercial movies that show actors that can’t act with silly (and stupid) stories. I actually have the movie review on Yanggaw, an indie film, saved on my draft waiting to be post sometime. I love the movie.

I guess that the local audiences are not ready for such movies yet. They rather watch dumb movies and teleseryes. I’m not an expert but if you want people to watch your movie, spend on promotion and a good trailer. People wouldn’t know that your product exists if they had not seen it. That’s reason why billions are spent for promotion and advertisement. I know this is not a revelation. But promoting it on Facebook and Twitter is not enough. And we can’t blame the theaters. It’s just business. Why they have to lend a place for couple of bucks if they can use it and earn millions?

But if I’m going to own theaters or mall with theaters, I will lend one for indie movies because I’m a big fan of art, especially of starting artists be it a band, painter, director, writer, whatever.

For Antoinette, you are young and I’m sure you will create several good movies in the future and time will come that your name will be big in which your name will be enough reason to watch your movies.

 

Don’t You Forget About Us

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On our way home, I was listening to my mp3s and one of my favorite song from one of my favorite movie played: Don’t You Forget About Me performed by the Simple Minds. The song is so cool as well as the movie. I’m still having goosebumps whenever I hear the song. It still sounds fresh even though it was released 27 years ago. This is one of the anthem of the 80’s and became immortal.

The movie The Breakfast Club is a teen movie in the 80’s. It is a John Hughes film which stars Emilio Estevez, Anthony Michael Hall, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald and Ally Sheedy. The movie’s story happened within one day when the lead characters met the serve their detention that started on Saturday morning (7am) and stayed for 8 hours.

The story evolved in how they dealt with each other. Although they’re not totally stranger from each other, but they have their own peers; Andrew (Emilio Estevez) is a school athlete, Allison (Ally Sheedy) is a basket case, Claire (Molly Ringwald) is a pricess, John (Judd Nelson) is a criminal, and Brian (Anthony Michael Hall) is a brain. You can imagine how totally different personalities will mix inside detention within 8 hours.

This movie is full of entertainment and moral values. This makes you look back and reminisce how good are teen movies in the 80’s compare to teen movies of today where you can hear nothing but f*ck and sh*t and see nothing but naked teen agers.

I will never forget the song and the movie. They are both classic and marvelous.

I’ll Be Back

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I love watching movies. And recently, I just discovered the word “fan boy”. And I realized I’m a fan boy. I’m a Terminator movie fan. I’d watched all of the sequels. But I think the best would be the part 2. It became a huge hit at the time when it was released. It was the reason why I followed the sequels.The story was great and very unique. The movie was created by James Cameron. I think He is one of the best movie directors of all time. His creations include Titanic, Abyss, True Lies and the recent Avatar. All became a hit. And the Terminator has become one of the classics.

The movie’s story and plot is very cool. A robot send from the future to terminate the leader of the human resistance, John Connor. At the part 1, the terminator’s mission was to terminate Sarah Connor, John’s mother, before he was born. And so on, as the story goes. Arnold Schwarzenegger did a brilliant act being the terminator. I think no one will do it as good as ‘Ahnuld’. The movie has mixed genre too. It has sci fi, action, funny lines, and a touching part too, and moral lesson, where the robot learned to became human. Christian Bale did a great portrayal too as John Connor. I like the Terminator Salvation too. Where it opened a lot of questions and visualized a lot of imaginations; what the Terminator future looks like, who Kyle Reese is, and how the robot terminator evolved. I’m excited how will they create the next Terminator movie. And who could forget the coolest movie lines of all?; “hasta la vista, baby!” and “I’ll be back!”.