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so here’s the run down on my avatar experience. i really had the intention of watching it. but after 4 failed attempts with 3 trips to the mall, my expectation has ballooned to the unreasonable. this better be really worth it.

i finally had a reservation for 3 made for the next day’s mid-afternoon screening. this was with me thinking that not too many people will be watching anyway, but still just to be sure. i was wrong. when we got to the theatre an hour early, there is no longer a seat to be had for the next two screenings. and then my brother decided to do a no show. with one extra ticket on hand, i frantically called up friends who could fill in. hey, the seat is not that cheap. but everyone seemed to have plans. a free imax ticket is not enough to lure them away from their schedules.

this is just my second 3D experience. The first being about 30 years ago with jaws 3D. I remember playing with the old 3D glasses as a kid. that may be part of the reason why i was bent on watching this movie. i don’t have TV, so i really had no idea that avatar in 3D is a much promoted and anticipated movie. though, i checked the ratings online and they are promising. but then again, the frustration of having to go to the mall and being greeted with an “all screenings – sold out” sign made me expect the spectacular.

the story is not that great, but the plot holes are forgivable. the twists are quite predictable, but their delivery is believable. it was a good thing james cameron decided not to bank on big name stars for the casts. although most of them are known actors, you don’t see them trying too hard to sell the movie to save their names. giovanni ribisi, as always, did a splendid job. while sigourney weaver had her moments. am i the only one who noticed that her avatar is a lot better actress than her?

and now for the visual experience. It has a refreshing approach to special effects. after several cgi-driven movies that were released this year, this is indeed a visual treat. sans the 3D effect, the director’s technical ingenuity will still stand out. the 3D effect, though, is what made avatar a spectacular film. i almost expected feeling the leaves on my skin as they fall. i like the concept behind how the na’vis were made to look – a reference to our primate ancestors in an advanced evolution. every inch of pandora is breathtaking. i can’t help but laud the director’s keen attention to details.

i watched avatar with unreasonable expectations. i wanted it to be extraordinary. i wanted all the effort i put into watching it to be worth it. sure, there’s nothing new with the story. nothing exceptional with the characters. the movie isn’t cashing in on those things, anyway. it is all about james cameron’s imagination and his ability to translate them on the big screen. in 3D.

so my verdict... this is one heck of a cinematic experience. and i would have gone all through that trouble again for this kind of entertainment.

a non-critic's top 10 worst movies of '09

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gi joe: the rise of cobra

i wept for joseph gordon-levitt in this movie. he gave such a moronic performance. the stunts are far from being spectacular. and the story? what story?

fast & furious 4

this movie went beyond annoying. i could hardly understand the dialogue through vin diesel’s mumbling. the rest of the casts might as well be made of cut-outs. and the insipid stunts made me feel bad for my cousin who paid for the movie.

two lovers

i fell asleep halfway through the movie and woke up not feeling at a loss with the story. the synopsis could very well be written in less than 100 words.

ghost of girlfriends past

i felt utterly stupid when i stepped out of the cinema. and what romantic comedy could ever have that same effect on me? so i say, watching this movie was priceless.

the proposal

ryan reynolds is unbelievably cute. and that’s all there is to say about this movie.

he’s just not that into you

it was a good read. it was one of the greatest episodes in sex and the city. but it was an epic fail on screen. i refused to believe that smart & independent women can be that desperate. clueless, maybe. but not utterly desperate. especially for justine long. eeewww!

horsemen

it kinda bummed me out failing to catch this on the big screen. but after watching it via streaming, it made me realize how lucky i was to have saved Php150. zhang ziyi looked more like a retard than a menacing psycho killer.

the unborn

i never thought a horror movie can make me laugh so hard.

time traveller’s wife

i heard the book is good. but the movie is an assault to one’s logic.

transformers: revenge of the fallen

a cgi-driven, climax-riddled and plot-less movie. sure i did not pay to watch an academy nominated movie, but heck give me some credit. i know that a guy who was stun-gunned twice shouldn’t be miraculously up and about as if nothing happened.

emotional exercise

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and so she asks me what she can do. everything is becoming more complicated as it was the last time they were together. lines are getting more blurry and emotions much deeper. but who am i to give her the answer that she needs? how long has it been since i last asked the same question? how long has it been since i last looked at the possibility of love?

and so i am thinking of what to tell her. i could tell her that it has always been her choice. whatever she is feeling is what she allows herself to feel. i don’t believe in fate. fate is for the feeble-minded. or i could tell her not to ponder too much on how to define what they have. to just enjoy each time they spend together. not to put such a chase on life-long happiness.

and so right now it got me thinking. have i made too much effort not to be so desperate for love and companionship that i have forgotten how to let go of myself? have i been so jaded that i see happiness as an antithesis of love? have i been suffering from chronic loneliness for too long that i have been quite comfortable with it?

and so in the end there are more questions that i want to ask than answers that i am willing to give. i the end, i am just as confused as she is. with what i believe in. with what i want right now. and with where i want to be tomorrow.

500 days of summer

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i have been tom hansen once. there was a time when i believed that loneliness is underrated. i have met my own summer whom i enjoyed the same bizzaro crap with. he drove me to catatonia. he made me mess up at work. but he inspired me to become passionate with my writing again.

i have been summer once, too. there was a time when i was too jaded to believe in love. i refused to define what i had with this guy other than friendship. although i love spending time with him, but to me that’s just that. and the guilt of not being able to give what he expected from me drove me away.

these may be my primary reason for declaring 500 days of summer as the best movie i’ve seen this year. however, i know that the movie’s non-linear story telling makes it personal to a lot of people. tom’s eagerness to impress summer makes him real. summer’s cynicism about love is something that we all go through. we all can be either summer or tom at some point in our lives.

the deepness of the subject can still be felt despite the lightness on how the story unfolds. you could just hear everybody’s heart break when summer told tom that he just woke up one morning realizing what she was never sure of with him. it could have been less too melodramatic if it the director decided to take a different approach on that scene.

500 days of summer is a realistic but hopeful take on love.

2012

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i watched 2012 expecting not to really enjoy it. what do you expect from another disaster movie? i doubt if it has anything new to offer. i’ve seen a lot of facebook friends liking it, though. so i decided to give it a try.

i was not wrong in thinking that it has nothing new to offer. it has the same formula as all other disaster movies. i kinda expected every twist. it is riddled with plot holes. take for example how airforce one got to china. remember that countries were physically displaced, how the heck did airforce one reach china without even rerouting at least once. and then i wondered how dr. satnam managed to get a cellphone signal amidst this catastrophic event.

of course, all the movie’s nuisances were there with a cinematic license. and what’s surprising is i enjoyed the movie. i admired it for its special effects and efforts to make it as entertaining as possible. or maybe because i sat too close to the screen and all those disastrous happenings are too in my face to even care about how silly some of the scenes are.

never let me go

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reading never let me go by kazuo ishiguro was a heartbreaking experience. i knew that it was a good novel, i’ve seen in time’s and bbc’s top 100 lists. but i never expected it to be as great. ishiguro managed to provoke questions of morality despite the simplicity of the novel’s narrative.

the story is being related by kath. it’s about her memories of hailsham and her relationship with the people from that boarding school. it is particularly about her special relationship with ruth and tommy. but as you read along, you will realize that never let me go is more than a story of friendship and love.

kath recalls that in hailsham the students were told and not told of their destiny. ishiguro almost did the same with his readers. the truth about the students of hailsham was clearly stated as early as the first part of the book. they are clones. they exist for medical reasons alone.

slowly you will feel your heart break as tommy and kath learned of the things that were kept from them. you will weep for the injustice of raising them as humans and yet regarding them as mere creatures. and your heart will break even more as you realize how they were cheated of their free will by the very people who have given them their souls; by the very people who have encouraged them to acknowledge emotions that we believe to be ours alone. in the end, you will be left battling with your own morality.

never let me go’s restrained narration of a complex tragedy is like reading a less heady kafka with a sci- fi twist.

gi joe

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gi joe is a complete waste of joseph gordon-levitt. the guy is a good actor, but for some reason he looked like a moron in the movie. what was he thinking? he could have at least delivered a believable performance as rex. not even sienna miller is worth watching in this movie. to think that she’s one of uk’s greatest contribution to hollywood. now, don’t get me started with marlon wayans. he should have retired after requiem for a dream. and i wouldn’t even dare talk about channing tatum.

there is nothing new to see in gi joe except for the invisible suit. the stunts are just a rehash of what you’ve seen in the matrix and transformers. even the concept is old, heroes saving the day and ending up with the love of their lives by their side. there’s not one good twist worth mentioning in the movie. the plot is very predictable.


this is the reason why i don’t like watching action movies with too much hype. there’s really nothing to expect but that, hype.