First post in about a month!
Since I have nothing to do for the better part of almost everyday, I’ve been watching a lot of fucking DVDs for the last week and a half. I have gone through Fast Food Nation, Blood Diamond, Little Miss Sunshine, The Pursuit of Happyness, The Good Shepherd, Flags of our Fathers, Letters from Iwo Jima, World Trade Center, and Babel.
I totally loved Flags of our Fathers and its great story. I am not sure if it is just a fictional account of the flag planting at Mt. Suribachi, though (uhm, they really did plant a flag on top of the mountain, I’m just not sure if the story/ controversy shown in the film actually happened in real life). But nevermind if it’s real or not, takte ang galing talaga! I especially felt the plight of “Chief” Ira Hayes, the Indian. He’d rather have the chance to have his friends (3 of the 6 other flag raisers died) back than be called a hero and be paraded around the country as a marketing ploy to gain support for the war. Rene Gagnon, a survivor along with Chief, was total fucking prick, man. But who could blame him, one minute you’re dodging gunfire from the crazy Japs and the next you’re being paraded all over America as a war hero. The last of the 3 survivors, John “Doc” Bradley, seemed to be the most sane (sp?) of them. He kept his emotions in check during the tour, eventhough deep inside he also kind of shared the same sentiments as Chief. And in the end he said it best, “The only heroes are the ones who didn't come back” or something to that effect. The acting was also great! I didn’t even recognize Ryan Philippe and Paul Walker until the end credits started rolling, and even then I had to go back and look at the film again! The acting was that fucking great, seamless pare.
And then I had to go watch Letters from Iwo Jima, which ruined everything. Bilib na ako kay Clint Eastwood sana eh, Flags of our Father totally blew me away. And then after (and even during) watching Letters from Iwo Jima, I was like, “uh, hindi ba napanood ko na ito?” Sure, it was from the Japanese’s standpoint, but it’s just the same friggin’ story.
World Trade Center is crap. And the balding, moustache wielding image of Nicholas Cage is just disturbing. Babel is okay, I guess, but the formula is tired already (21 Grams anyone?). Little Miss Sunshine was good, but it wasn’t what I expected considering all the great reviews about it. Fast Food Nation was funny, but overall it blows. Nothing like the impact the book has, or maybe it is just better suited for reading rather than for watching on the screen. I think it tried to not be overly preachy, and in the end it wasn’t preachy at all. But isn’t that what Eric Schlosser wanted? -- to show the epidemic that is fast food? I was just left dumbfounded in the end, “’yun na ‘yun?” Yes, it did expose some of the harsh realities of the fast food industry, but where’s the compelling proposition that would make me want to take a stand against it? And casting Avril Lavigne as an activist was just ridiculous. I think Avril really is a vegetarian in real life (???), but it was totally unnatural (and hilarious to an extent) seeing her trying to free and save cattle from being made into burger patties. But the surprise was, the lead from Maria, Full of Grace was also in the cast! Wala lang, first time I saw an actor from the movies we watched in EuroFilm in an American movie, hehe. The Good Shepherd is okay, of course medyo bias, De Niro fan ‘to eh, hehe. But has anyone noticed that Matt Damon doesn’t seem to age? What is he, 28 forever? LOL. Blood Diamond was remarkable. Now that’s how you get a point across without being preachy. And does Djimon Hounsou (sp?) really talk that way? ‘cause if he does not, pucha bow down talaga ako, galing! Another plus is Leonardo DiCaprio’s Danny Archer character, pucha ang galing din nagpakadeliver. Biruin mo naging South African si DiCaprio! Hanep!
The Pursuit of Happyness was amazing, real touching. Sure, it was dragging in some parts, but the ending more than makes up for those few parts. It is the kind of movie where you find yourself feverishly pulling for the lead, and Will Smith made sure that you will pull for Chris Gardner. Takte, I can’t pick out a single scene from the movie that’s my favorite, because there are a lot of them! One was when Gardner was shooting hoops with his son up on the rooftop. First, he was telling his son how he’ll never be a pro player, and after seeing the discouraged look in his son’s eyes, he changes his tone and tells his son, “Don’t ever let anyone tell you what you can’t do. Not even me.” or parang ganun. Another one was when they spent the night in a train station’s bathroom. You could just see the fear in Gardner’s eyes. Fear not of being evicted by the janitor or someone, but fear for his son’s future. And I just lost it when Gardner was accepted to be a stock broker near the end, and he didn’t know what to do, hindi mapakali, totally captivating. Will Smith is totally underrated as an actor, just great delivery from him.
300 na lang ang bago kong DVD na natitira na hindi ko pa napapanood. Any new titles worth watching and buying, anyone?
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Speaking of Avril Lavigne, anyone explain please. How can someone go from Keep Holding On to Girlfriend in just a couple of months. WTF? And she’s doing choreographed dance moves now, ehe. The so called Britney slayer (Rolling Stone 2003) has just become Britney herself. Oh, the irony of it all.