minamimusings

I'm not new to liking movies that are usually deemed critically-unappealing. After all, what matters to me is I enjoyed myself, cheesy plotlines, flat dialogue, bad acting and all, so I rarely ever listen to "critics" (which, by the way, in this age of the internet, almost everyone is.) And I only read reviews if I think they'll be positive, will agree with me or will entertain me so much that I don't care if they don't agree with me. LOL. Saying that, don't blame me for liking Red, and for actually looking forward to its sequel. Okay, so it's like an older-people, make-action-stars-out-of-non-action-stars version of The Expendables, but I _love_ it, see? The first movie was funny and I loved the original cast, and I think it's quirky, even if parts of this second one seemed so contrived and forced -- Catherine Zeta, I'm looking at you. You, too, StormShadow. WTH are you doing in this movie?! The action could survive without all the mart...

We caught a screening of Dredd last weekend after rave reviews from friends. Ronald particularly warned that it was very bloody. Coming from watching Resident Evil: Retribution and Expendables, blood shouldn't be a problem. Now, I'm not usually a big fan of action movies, but I'd go watch it (and spend a ticket on it), if it stars actors I like. In Dredd's case, I found out it was Karl Urban (Eomer from LOTR, and McCoy from Star Trek). Dredd is set in a post-apocalyptic world where people called Judges preserve order by being all of police, jury, and executioner. Lead character Judge Dredd is asked by the Chief Judge to assess female rookie Judge Anderson. For her first assignment, she chooses to respond to a homicide in Peach Trees, a mega-city that also serves as headquarters for criminal Ma-Ma, who traps them and tries to have them killed. (Gotta give the girl props for unknowingly picking the short straw on bad guys.) Naturally, I don't have to te...

I'm not a big fan of the horror genre, and I never really played the video game, which doesn't explain why I have seen the last four Resident Evil movies. I blame peer pressure. (Okay, I admit I saw the previous one, Resident Evil: Afterlife, because of Ali Larter of Heroes and Wentworth Miller of Prison Break.) Yesterday's impromptu viewing of Retribution was due to the husband... and because I didn't want to watch the new John Lloyd-Bea Alonzo movie, "The Mistress". Retribution picked up where Afterlife ended, and fortunately started with a bit more of a flashback to get us up to snuff on what happened in the latter. Milla Jovovich's Alice narrated. I was grateful for this mainly because I remember Afterlife didn't give much of a backstory, so all those Alices in the beginning of that movie confused me. Anyway, short plot synopsis: Alice wakes up prisoner in an Umbrella facility where she's interrogated-slash-tortured by possessed Jill Vale...

I know I should have tacked this on to the previous post, but I'm just so happy they finally released it, I thought it deserved its own entry. :P Here's a video of the 5-minute extended sneak peek.

Johnny Depp. As a vampire. That is all.

Remember I mentioned they were releasing TWO Snow White-centered films this year? Well, I just watched one, the movie that has Julia Roberts playing the wicked queen. Okay, first of all, I know I said how I'm highly anticipating the other one that stars Kristen Stewart. But it doesn't mean that I wasn't eager to watch this one, too. I love Julia. I also generally fancy fairy tales. And I am aware how different Mirror, Mirror will be, especially in terms of story. In addition, Armie Hammer's in it and he makes for great eye candy. Yum. So you see, I tried really hard to not think about my biases and be objective. Anyway, here goes... The movie was dark. No, I don't mean that figuratively. I'm not sure if it was just me, but the movie could have stood a little more brightness. Like, if I was watching it on my laptop, I would have pressed F2's sun icon to full capacity. There were all these bold, happy colors on the set and on the costumes (THE COSTUMES! <3...

Snow White, of all the Disney princesses, is my least favorite. She annoys me for some reason. Her inate fragility, that irritating way she sings, her godawful song that goes "Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah" (choo! Bless you! I just added that in.) I watched Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs once and never did again. Which is why, for the life of me, I have NO IDEA why this particular princess seems to be the focal point of recent media. She's actually the lead character in the TV series Once Upon a Time and has not one, but TWO movies coming out this year: Mirror, Mirror this month and Snow White and the Huntsman in June.   The great thing about her reemergence into popular fiction is that the screenwriters of these shows have reworked Snow White. Gave her guts. Turned her into a 21st century woman of fantasy's Middle Ages. Less damsel-in-so-much-distress and more call-me-damsel-in-distress-and-I'll-forcefeed-you-this-poison-apple. I think it's awesome! ('Coz I swear if...

You may sue me. I am a Robert Pattinson fan. As such, I decided to woman up and accept that his status as current "Hollywood IT Guy" will inevitably pair him with various actresses and he might never star in a film with Kristen Stewart again. (I'm guilty of still not having watched Remember Me though. BUT I *DID* sponsor tickets. So I *DID* contribute to sales! There!) Anyway, that's why I looked forward to Water for Elephants. Weeeelll, also because I like Reese Witherspoon and Christoph Waltz is my new idol villain. I like it. I partially read the book before watching, so I went in the theater with an idea of how the story would be like. (Yes, and I skipped to the end! Guilty.) The backdrop of the movie was the 1930s, when traveling circuses were popular in the U.S. The set production was beautiful. The costumes, the lighting, makeup. It was a wonderful representation of the time period. I have no clue as to how accurate it was, but I definitely felt the fantasy of ...

I did actually go through quite a few movies since my last movie entry. I'll try to catch up. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides I loved the first three films so much (both Paul and I favor the second more), that it was just obvious we'd be so in for this. Who wants to miss out on Johnny Depp as the incomparable Jack... I mean, CAPTAIN Jack Sparrow, yeah? And as always he brings it brilliantly. Everyone, in fact, was actually quite amazing. I did think there were some pitfalls. One of the things I adored about the first three films was the dialogue, those snappy comebacks and witty one-liners that even made the lowliest of the supporting characters pop. In Tides, Jack had them, yes, but they were sparsely present. I was laughing and then stopping and then laughing... and I was just expecting it to be more consistent? And the story... I felt like it took them SO LONG to get to the fountain, that when they did, it was deflating. The entire time, I wanted them to just ...

I should be aware of the pitfalls: It's ANOTHER Three Musketeers film. It's in 3D... which, by itself, should say how overrated it's going to be. It's by Paul Anderson. It stars Milla Jovovich. You watch the trailer and Logan Lerman, who plays D'artagnan, does a Leo from Man in the Iron Mask in that he is un-accented among the bevy of beautifully-accented actors. But, I will be watching this for him. Matthew Macfadyen will be playing Athos in this movie. In fact, he narrates most of the trailer. Because Matthew seems to be choosy with his film projects, I've rarely gotten to see him onscreen. The last time was in Robin Hood with Russell Crowe and he was barely there. His other major film, Frost/Nixon , was probably too serious and too obscure a part of American history for non-Americans that they didn't think to show it here. Death at a Funeral was a British production. Incendiary , I think, went straight to DVD. So, I'm glad that I'll get to see ...

Noticed lately how a lot of people seem to be conflicted over Sucker Punch. My two cents... It is visually stunning. The special effects are great, the action scenes are almost flawless. It's complete fantasy. I remember thinking that some of the scenes reminded me of japanese anime or games. There was that aura thingie that surrounded Baby Doll during the fight with the huge samurai that just screamed "Rurouni Kenshin" (particularly his "Ama kakeru ryu no hirameki"... I just really wanted to say that.) Then Rocket's slow motion move while they were on the train felt like something out of Final Fantasy. I seem to recall seeing the exact same move in one of the FMVs. Storywise, I guess it was ok? The plot was simple enough, but I think the movie worked because it wasn't too convoluted. Basically, a girl, to escape the tragic events that have unfolded in her life, escapes into her mind and deals with her real life demons in fantasy. So instead of us watchi...

  One of the first things my husband said when the movie started was, "Jho should really watch this." Rango is the story of a lizard. Well, he's a chameleon, but the point is, he's a lizard. Incidentally, my sister hates lizards. I could probably go on and on sharing anecdotes about all the times she freaked out regarding anything lizard-related--I think our uncle is to be blamed for the trauma--but we'd be diverging too much from what this post is supposed to be about, which is the movie. Anyway, so, Rango is the story of a lizard. Set like a Mexican Western. And voiced by the incomparable Johnny Depp. I heard it was number one in the U.S. Also, our theater was full when we watched. Who KNEW that even looking nothing like himself, and as a scaly, icky, uncool reptile no less, people would STILL flock to watch Johnny. That's real stardom right there folks. I certainly didn't think I'd watch it. Even if it IS Johnny. Going back to my history of judging ...

Never heard of it? Here's a brief history of how we got this movie... My husband, Paul, and I, one day decided that we should collect disaster movies. And not just any disaster movie. We would collect "End of the World" [insert ominous BGM here] movies. So we made a list of the popular ones we've watched so far and bought their original DVDs. While we were in Astrovision, Paul saw these "other" titles, which, very obviously, went straight to DVD. I said, well, why not? It wouldn't be a collection if we were choosy, right? So we bought them. Then last night, I said, "Baby, let's watch one." Ho boy. Did I regret saying that. --- I should have known things would just go downhill when we popped the movie into the DVD player and were treated with trailers of movies like, "Alien VS. Hunter" (a movie that was like Aliens VS. Predator) and "Monster" (a weird mashup of Cloverfield and Godzilla). Needless to say, Paul couldn'...

I know. It's horribly unoriginal. Can't they make another movie? Have they run out of ideas? Why didn't they make this for straight-to-DVD? Blah blah blah. But, c'mon. It's Puss! Tell me there are people there who can't resist him, especially when he makes those eyes... Can you resist that, huh? Can you???  And he'll be pulling those eye charms on us in 3D! I hope they make them pop! I swear I'll swoon! Seeing Puss makes me remember Fufu. So I ask that we take off our hats and boots (keep your clothes on though... only cats can pull off the nekkid-thing... let's not get arrested for indecent exposure.) and use  this time to remember all the lost little kitties. In particular, I'd like to honor my sister's very own version of Puss... just not in boots. Doesn't he just look like a live version of Puss??? He was such a huge big-ball-of-fluff, terribly soft and docile. I'm assuming this explains how he just went with the nasty people who ...

The things you succumb to because of Twitter. I found out about this from Targrod, a Huff (lol, like David Hasslehuff... *coughcouldn'tresistcough* moving on...) and fellow PHP'er. The challenge is to watch and then document 500 films you've watched since accepting the challenge. More details can be found if you click on the image above. Admittedly, I'm not a major film buff. I'm actually selective with the movies I watch. But, that changed with the presence of my husband, Paul. Where I used to skip meals because of my reading--telling my mom, "I eat books."--he apparently would eat movies. I think if you tell him that if he could have one channel his entire life, he would choose HBO. (Or, *shudders* CinemaOne.) When we stayed in the condo and I decided not to apply for cable TV, we would buy DVDs almost everyday. Plus, our friends have developed a Saturday night habit of hanging out every week to watch a last full show at Greenbelt 3. (If you've ever ...

Was up this morning to watch the 83rd Academy Awards. There were several draws to it for me this year, despite them being unable to get any of the Twilight trio to guest. One was James Franco and Anne Hathaway hosting. Another was that I've watched four out of the ten films nominated, and am looking forward to seeing three more. (We get some of the films later here.) Lastly, Colin Firth! <3 Also, Jesse Eisenberg and Andrew Garfield and Armie Hammer... I am happy that most of my favorites to win, won. But then again, Colin Firth and Natalie Portman were such shoo-ins for Best Actor and Actress, it was bordering on boring. LOL. The fight really was in the Best Picture category, except, apparently, that was a lock for The King's Speech, too. At one point, I thought maybe The Social Network or Inception would at least have a chance? I guess not. Personally, I was rooting for Inception. The Social Network was brilliant, of course. The screenplay was just a beautiful batter of wor...

... was 93 minutes of INTENSE. Going in, I had a vague recollection of what it was about, having only seen the trailer the week before. I knew it starred James Franco and it and he were both nominated for Oscars. (Though, Franco has a lot of competition with Colin Firth this year.) I knew it was about an adventurer, Aron Ralston, who got stuck in the middle of practically nowhere because of a boulder that crushed his hand. And those 127 hours? The amount of time he spends struggling... with his fate, with his emotions, with his decisions, with the choice to live or die. Crudely, I can compare what he experienced with the five stages of grief: Denial. (You've GOT to be kidding me. Did this just happen?!) Anger. (WTF! STUPID ROCK!) Bargaining. (*chip chip chip* *grunt* *lasso rock and try pulling*) Depression. (*records on camera* Hi Mom, Dad. I might not make it. Just so you know, I love you.) And later on, Acceptance. You would think that to spend almost 2 hours in a cinema watchin...

They're going to make a How to Train Your Dragon 2 ! XD Excited mainly because of this guy... Cutest dragon ever.

There's something you should know about me. When I watch movies or read books, I usually do so to be entertained. If I like it, I'll rave about it to my friends with all the cliche comments: "It's awesome." "Good." "Great." "Mind-boggling." I usually don't deviate from those superlatives. But when I highly dislike something, that's when I get specific. And really, considering my personality, it's rare for me to find something I don't like. I try to keep an open mind. I repeat, "I try ". In essence, that's how I write my commentaries on something. (I won't call them reviews, here, exactly. Okay, maybe for a teeny bit they are.) If you don't like my opinions, I'd just like to remind that yes, they are just opinions. You're welcome to make some yourself. You don't have to base them on what I think. I think that with most things in life, not just with me, that should also apply, yes? (Must...

I remember back in the day when I used to watch Batman with Adam West and Burt Ward. If I switched on the TV too early or too late, The Green Hornet would be on. It didn't have the same draw for me as Batman did. I found that the characters were more serious, compared to the Dynamic Duo, who had their campy moments. I was too young to even know who Bruce Lee was, but sometimes I would tune in just to pass the time. When I saw the trailer for this year's Green Hornet, I wasn't very impressed. It's a bad habit of mine, judging movies by their trailers. I've been proven wrong numerous times, namely by Pixar movies. While this wasn't a Pixar movie, when my friends scheduled it for our regular Saturday night outing, I shrugged and thought, "Well, why not?" I ask myself again: Well, why not? Because I could have saved my forehead from all the facepalming I did for the movie's first 50 minutes. No wait, let me rephrase that, since I'm not sure how lon...