Love, Rosie: Movie Review

Good book-to-movie adaptations are very hard to find. There are films that turn out even better than the books. There are ones that slaughter the original material, but most of the movies are little more than good companions to the paper version. If you want to experience a really good one and you came across Love, Rosie, I’d tell you to keep looking.

Ang Buod:

Rosie (played by Lily Collins) and Alex (played by Sam Claflin) are the best of friends. Their childhood homes being right across each other only helped this uniquely intimate boy-girl friendship. Yun nga lang, puberty happened at with the added element of malisya, nagsimulang magbago ang dynamics ng kanilang pagkakaibigan. Dagdagan mo pa ng alcohol, freak accidents, an early pregnancy, at maraming bad timing, lalong naging magulo ang lahat. This movie follows their friendship-romance throughout the years.

Ang Maganda:

The movie had scenes that looked good. Even scenes with hard lighting and night scenes were beautifully lit and constructed.

Ang Pangit:

Every thing else. This is the type of movie that you just forget. The writing did not stand out. The acting did not turn the script into something more. This was just another Rom-Com sa mundo ng mga Rom-Com.

The amount of plot elements, twists and turns. Even if I didn’t know that this was based on a book before seeing it, I probably would still be able to deduce that it was dahil lang sa dami ng mga nangyari. Ang masama pa roon ay the storytelling, the screenplay, didn’t help at all.

Ang Paghuhusga:

This is a movie that is based on a book that makes you feel like you’re still reading a book. Now, I just have to emphasize that I’m not averse to books or reading. In fact, I find reading one of the best things to do in life. Pero watching a film and reading a book are two totally different experiences. Filmmakers should be fully aware of that and make adjustments accordingly.

Rating:

Hintayin niyo na lang sa TV!

God’s Not Dead: Movie Review

I always root for Christian movies and these past decade, we’ve seen quite a few remarkable ones. When I saw the trailer for this movie, it got me even more interested. I was in the main character’s shoes once in my life kaya I wanted to see how they would handle the situation.

I discussed all my thoughts about the movie in my video review below, but if you want a shorter version, here it is.

The people behind this film wasted a golden opportunity to tackle a very tricky situation. The atheist-theist debate has always existed and it’s not easy to talk about. Polarizing ang topic na ito kaya kailangan ng additional na sensitivity at pag-iingat sa pagsulat at pagpresent ng kung ano man ang message na gusto nilang ipahayag. I don’t think they did that.

Instead of the movie we were promised in which both sides argue fairly, we get a cautionary tale for people who don’t believe in God. They showcased the atheists as greedy, evil, and mean people who believe the way they do because something bad happened to them. It was not a fair portrayal and for that, I want to apologize on behalf of Christendom. I am not looking forward to doing damage control for this film for the remainder of my life.

Sisterakas: Movie Review

Bakit ngayon ko lang sinulat ang review na ito?

I want to say that it’s because I didn’t see the movie til today, but I would be lying.

I saw this movie last year with my grandmother and my sisters. I didn’t write a review dahil I didn’t think it’s worth my time. I know I’m at risk of fans hating me and freely expressing that hate through posting comments, pero eh ano naman ngayon, di ba? Nakikibasa lang naman sila. Blog ko to, opinion ko ang may karapatan sa screen time. Beh!

Simulan na natin.

Ten Things I Hate About the Twilight Series (Part 1)

Before I lash out and unleash almost 5 years of pent up negativity towards this series, I have to say a few things first.

1. This is not an open attack to people who like love Twilight. Some of the people I genuinely love and respect belong to this demographic and my feelings toward them did not change one bit when I found out that they liked it.

2. I am NOT better than Stephenie Meyer. I know that I’m a nobody without a published novel and I have a close to nil chance to earn as much money as she did with this hit. However, as the owner of this tiny page in the world wide web, I am still entitled to my own opinion. So, even though I risk being bashed in the comments section of this post, keber ko naman. Hehehe…

3. I think I know what I’m talking about. I read all four books and watched all five movies. I never liked people who “hate” something just to sound cool. So, in order to build an honest opinion about something, I have to KNOW. I really gave this series a shot pero wala talaga e.

I will try to write this in English so as not to be too emotional about it. Masyado kasing emosyonal ang Filipino language at naaapektuhan ang puso ko. Baka mamaya madala ako. Oh, and just to make things clear, di ito naka-rank. So, here we go…

The Lucky One: Movie Review

I know medyo late na dahil this movie has been off the screen for months now, but hey! You can’t blame me for waiting for the DVD release bago ko mapanood. As much as I want to turn watching movies and writing about it into my full-time job, I can’t. I have an 8-hour job that leaves me with just about 4-6 waking hours away from work each day.

*sigh* But, enough about me. Let’s dive into the movie.

Nicholas Sparks novels are my guilty pleasure. Kasi may tamang dose ng self-loathing akong nadarama every time I finish one of his books. He has this formula pagdating sa pagsulat na paulit-ulit-ulit lang sa mga libro niya. Parang nag-iiba lang yung pangalan, pero halos pareho din yung plot. Naiinis yung poser na critic sa loob ko, pero yung girlaloo naman, pumaparty.

 

I read the novel before I saw the movie. And even if I wasn’t as excited about it as I was with The Notebook, A Walk To Remember, or Dear John, I thought it was okay. Kaya nga lang, dahil I read it around the time when they first released the movie poster, Na-associate ko na agad yung characters sa mga artistang gaganap. I didn’t think it would affect my reading adversely dahil nag-enjoy naman akong imaginin na si Channing Tatum si John sa Dear John before, pero mabilis kong pinagsisihan na ipares ang mukha ni Zac Efron kay Sgt. Logan Thibault. This brings me to the first thing I didn’t like about the movie.

Snow White and the Huntsman: Movie Review

I can sum up everything that’s good about this movie in one quick phrase.

CHARLIZE THERON!

That’s it. Nothing else. Oh, her costumes were good too, but that still counts under her.

Here’s a list of some of the problems I had with this movie:

1. KRISTEN STEWART

I have to admit that I’m a little biased against Kristen Stewart before I start to talk about the movie itself. I’m not trying to be hipster or anything. In fact, with all the “cool” people hating on her, I feel like liking her would be a more hipster thing to do. LOL.

She’s an actress with a very limited arsenal. When she’s in her element, she can be really good, but she needs to be in a role tailor-made for her. The Runaways, Adventureland, and Yellow Handkerchief were a perfect fit for her simply because the role let her be a broken, emotionless young woman who’s lost in this world and generally indifferent to anything. Give her those emotionally expressive roles and she turns bland.

That’s why I didn’t expect her to do a great job playing Snow White.

I wasn’t disappointed.

I’m in awe of how Kristen’s bad acting turned an iconic character into the most boring creatures on earth! OY VEY!

One of the most important scenes in the movie was that of Snow rallying the people into standing up against the evil queen and Kristen had the same blah demeanor as always. Come on, girl! You’re supposed to coax them out of their scared holes to run bravely into possible death! And you give us the I-don’t-want-to-lose-you-Jacob face?! It wasn’t convinced AT ALL.

2. CHRIS HEMSWORTH as the Narrator

Yup! I get it. He’s a testosterone packed demi-god with abs of steel. He was also really good at being a drunk good-for-nothing bum turned hero. Let him do his thing and droves of women will line up in theaters. But please don’t let him do the narration!

The movie starts off with Chris’ too deep and too distorted voice telling us something about Snow that you wouldn’t really understand. Didn’t they catch that in the editing room?

3. The LOVE TRIANGLE

Why does Kristen Stewart need two leading men?!

Why do beasts have to fall all over her? He had a vampire and a werewolf in Twilight. Now it’s dwarfs, drunken guys, and a bridge troll!

SPOILER ALERT (scroll down a little if you’re still intending to watch the movie with everything I said before):

That coronation scene with the huntsman and Snow making eye contact, what does THAT mean?! How can you turn a tale that’s all about true love into a gray area?

That was what Snow White and Prince Charming was all about?! True love conquers all! And now you give us a Snow who woke up after two boys kissed her? BTW, there was NO explanation or any clues as to why that zombie woke up!

I’m all for leaving something for the viewer’s imagination, but this isn’t a good use of that technique.

I have to stop right here. My blood’s pumping and I’ve used too many exclamation marks in this blog.

Here’s my recommendation about the movie.

IF YOU WANT TO WATCH IT,

YOU CAN LOVE IT OR HATE IT,

JUST DON’T LET YOUR KIDS SEE IT.

Dark Shadows: Movie Review

The Tim Burton-Johnny Depp partnership brought me some of my favorite movies like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Alice in Wonderland. That’s why I was really rooting for this movie.

It started out just fine. Syempre madilim ang kuha, mapuputi ang mga tao, at andoon si Helena Bonham Carter (who is absolutely one of the greatest actresses pagdating sa character roles). Kaya kahit hesitant ako dahil di ako mahilig sa horror-ish at vampire movies, I agreed to watch this movie.

Yun nga lang… I didn’t know that I was up for a MAJOR disappointment.

In Time: Movie Review

“Pointless.”

Yan ang masasabi ko sa pelikulang ito. Nakakapanghinayang lang dahil ang ganda sanang ideya ng buong premise nito. I wanted it to be a revolt against commercialism and making the rich richer, at ganun nga siya sa simula. Pero pagkatapos ng masalimuot at bonggang build up ay, wala na. Pffft. Naging Koko Krunch.

Ang Kwento:

Si Will Salas (Justin Timberlake) ay nasa isang mundo kung saan pagtuntong mo ng 25 years old ay di na magbabago ang hitsura mo. At mula sa oras na iyon ay masisimula nang mag-countdown ang high tech na orasan sa braso mo. Magkakaroon ka ng libreng isang taon. Pero kung gusto mo ng dagdag pa doon, kailangan mo nang pagtrabahuan. Oras ang pinambabayad sa lahat ng gastusin. Oras rin ang sinusweldo ng mga nagtatrabaho.

SPOILER ALERT: Kung gusto mo munang panoorin yung pelikula bago mo malaman ang buong kwento, huminto ka muna dito. Bumalik ka nalang pag nakabuo ka na ng sarili mong opinyon tungkol dito.