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Posts Tagged ‘I’ve’

These are the best movies I’ve seen:

•    2001: A Space Odyssey,
•    Koyaanisqatsi,
•    The Third Man,
•    Casablanca,
•   Fog of War,
•    La Strada,
•    The Draughtsman’s Contract,
•    City Lights, and
•    Blade Runner

2001: A Space Odyssey

I first saw 2001 when I was 15. I went to see it for the special effects, but after seeing it, I knew that I had missed something important. I went back to see it again, maybe 20 times, read the book 3 or 4 times, and even wrote a high school essay on it. I eventually decided that I understood it. Years later, I saw more in it that I didn’t see earlier, so now I am not so sure that I really understand it. It changed my whole view of the world. It made me want to be a movie maker.

Koyaanisqatsi

I first saw Koyaanisqatsi when my brother showed me a videotape he had rented. It wasn’t until many years later that I saw it in a theatre. I saw it three times on the big screen, once at a live performance of the score by Philip Glass. The movie seemed to me to be completely abstract, yet it held my fascination every time I watch it. It does have a “story” and a “message”, but I’m not sure you can really put them into words.

The Third Man and Casablanca

I find that both of these movies have somewhat sad endings, in that the protagonists don’t get what they really wanted. Even so, they survive and maybe grow as people. I just wrote a blog where I talked about my fascination with this kind of plot. http://dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/blog/?p=170

I’d heard of both of these movies many years before I watched either of them. I never saw either on the big screen. I find both movies affect strongly at an emotional level.

I noticed that Roger Ebert has an image from The Third Man on his Twitter page. He also uses the Third Man Theme for his TV show.

Fog of War

Fog of War is an extended interview with Robert S. McNamara, who was the US Secretary of Defence during the Vietnam War. Sometimes it could be a horror movie, and other times a philosophical discussion. I never saw it on the big screen.

La Strada

Federico Fellini’ La Strata is the only movie of his that I really like. I saw it first in a movie appreciation course. It is about a brute of a man and the woman that travels with him. The end is both sad and surprising. This is another movie that I never saw on the big screen.

The Draughtsman’s Contract

I wanted to see this after seeing the review on Siskel and Ebert, but I didn’t see it for many years after. The first time I saw it was in a theatre. The woman I took to see it did not like it, and she asked me to apologize to her for taking her. I’ve seen it several times since and it grew on me. It is a sort of mystery, but one that isn’t really solved. I think it is that uncertainty that draws me to the movie. The director has crammed this movie full of many little details. I am sure there is still much more to see in this movie than I have so far.

City Lights

I saw this the first time in the mid 1970s when they rereleased several of Charlie Chaplin’s movies. It didn’t stick in my mind at the time, but years later I watched a documentary about Chaplin which showed out cuts from the movie. I think nearly an hour was devoted to City Lights. It was after that experience that the movie began to touch me emotionally. The last scene means so much more once you understand how the characters reached that point.

Blade Runner

I didn’t appreciate this movie until I began to talk to other people about it. Blade Runner asks what does it mean to be human. The movie uses hints at the nature of the hero to ask this question. These hints have fuelled many a long discussion. It is something of an intellectual and philosophical puzzle to be solved.

Reflecting on these thoughts, I see that most of these movies appeal to my intellect. They ask questions that get me thinking.

Apollo (Pol) and Irene were the best, sweetest couple around, but fate had them drift apart. When Pol stumbled upon her again, he was surprised that Irene could not remember him; she then explains that she had amnesia. Pol is now bent to make Irene fall in love with him again. From the simple synopsis the movie presents via its trailers, this movie had many of my friends guessing that this is a rip-off of (the Adam Sandler & Drew Barrymore movie) “50 First Dates” or the more cerebral (Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet film) “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”. No. This is not a rip-off of those movies. Sure, it may have some aspects of this movie here and that movie there, but not enough to constitute a blatant rip-off like some Tagalog mainstream films do. This is actually not much of a surprise because this movie was directed by Cathy Garcia-Molina. And I have watched quite a number of his movies to say that this is one of those rare Tagalog mainstream directors who exercise quite a degree of originality, and such a large dose of respectable quality in her movies; the kind that is capable of commercial success and an excellence that ensures her film’s timelessness. “Mabenta sa Masa; pero hinde Baduy”

The script is smartly written; rich with clever lines and dynamite wit. This is the better comedy than what other local comedies claim as funny. The two main characters have the habit of throwing pa-cute, pa-sweet, funny little lines which are charming enough that you’d wanna memorize one or two of those little lines they have. These are the moments that I consider as intentionally corny; yet ticklingly charming.

The film shines as a romantic movie. Molina has perfected the genre that she uniformly does, but then again, she has perfected this even long before this movie (Maybe Molina has to experiment in action or sci-fi. On second thought, no she doesn’t; I love her for what she already does). Just the mere idea that Molina’s skill in creating romantic movies is already in such a godlike degree, is enough for anybody to just trust this movie and leave all skepticism.

Just as the movie wants you to fall in love with both characters, I found myself fixated and in love with Toni Gonzaga too. I am not usually a fan of Toni Gonzaga, her TV game show charisma is ignorable to me. But her onscreen acting presence in this movie drives me back to adoring her. Not only is she damn cute with those chinky funny eyes and cute bunny smile, her character’s personality complements that as well, with a fun-lovingness and childlike giddiness. Speaking of things that are really nice to watch, Beatriz Saw was also fun to watch, she has that “the main girl’s friend” chemistry perfectly executed; and she’s also such a a hottie. (yum!)

John Lloyd Cruz is also great as the main character. He is the quintessential male bida; the kind of everyman that every guy can easily identify with because he is so human, so honest, so true, and so candid. Unlike other typical male protagonists in mainstream tagalong cinema, he is the only one who does real acting and never seems to consciously or ridiculously make an effort to make “pa-cute” antics. Whenever he does indeed try to do pa-cute antics, he does it IN CHARACTER—and UNTO THE OTHER CHARACTER he’s addressing; he does not do it to the audience in a sort of toothpaste commercial sort of way.

The chemistry between John Lloyd and Toni blend perfectly. Both characters have a very playful and witty sense of humor that makes for a great dramatic, comedic, and romantic interplay between the two.

And then there’s the other characters. Usually, when mainstream tagalog movies put in a group of good-looking male supporting characters acting as barkada in their movies they tend to be either pa-cute or corny. In this movie, Molina throws in a barkada that actually acts like a barkada; they goof off, they’re ridiculous, and they act like they really care for their buddy. Where these chick-magnet clowns are usually annoying in other movies or in TV, this time, the supporting actors actually act like a typical barkada; perhaps it is again Molina’s directorial eye that keeps his actors flawlessly act IN CHARACTER.

The movie is near perfect; but I must confess that it kinda took me down at the near end of the movie when the characters react to a supposed problem, when there should not be any problem at all anyway. It’s as if the character took the most ignorable thing and create a problem out of that; it was an obvious ploy just to make a tension at the near end, to give way to the obligatory climax. Ultimately, though, it is not such a big deal because this little issue is still arguable anyway. Another thing that (well not exactly bothered) bothered me was how John Lloyd’s character (Apollo) was able to pay for all the elaborate “romantic stuff” that he does in the movie. Is this guy Bruce Wayne, or what? But again, these are all minor things that does do much to shake the film’s near flawlessness.

This movie is very much worth full price. A perfect date movie at the tail end of November. If romantic movies is your cup of tea, this movie is a definite must-see. MY AMNESIA GIRL is hands down, the most romantic movie I’ve seen this year. And that’s counting the international movies.