Late Nights & Early Mornings. #3

Hi all!

This is the part where I tell you all kinds of excuses of why I have not been active the past weeks. Also, this is also the part where I promise you that I will never bail out on you guys again, that I will never let anything become a hindrance between our blogger-reader relationship, that I will become more committed to this blog. After all, I call myself a blogger. Writing should be my thread. Right?

However, I am not going to do that as I find no real reason for my absence, aside from procrastination and not knowing what to actually write about. Of course, that is inexcusable. So there is no way I am going to be all mushy and such on here.

Anyway, today is the 17th of April, exactly 2:04am. And yes, you’re correct. This post is yet another installment to my growing list of blog posts that are not brightly titled, as I am too dumb (and/or lazy) to think of appropriate titles. What pushed me to write today, actually, is the book that I have finished reading last week. It’s called Sarah’s Key and it was written by Tatiana de Rosnay, published last 2007.

The book was perfectly decent, if I may be bold. It was not the absolute thrilling type, but at the same time, it was not boring to read. The story contained just enough excitement for the reader to keep on reading, not unless it’s the genre the reader was really looking for. The story, as it was built up around historical facts, was also educational. I was never the one who really read every single chapter of my history book back in high school, so knowing all these facts about the Holocaust in Paris really moved me, as well as inspired me to write on here. What’s cooler about it was how history was incorporated into a handful of smart and twisting creativity. Indeed, a job well done!

An hour ago, I have seen the film adaptation of this novel and, I must say, my expectations were not really met. I want to think that it’s only because I expected too much from it, but then I think not. As I read some reviews of the film on Rotten Tomatoes (Sarah’s Key’s page), I figured that it was not just me who had noticed plot problems in the film. Since I have read the book before I watched the film, I knew beforehand what was going to happen. What took me aback was the fact that they actually took out and/or edited a lot of parts of the novel that I believe were very vital parts of the story. They may not entirely be considered as the “back bone” of the story, and this editing of the story line has been a very active part of the film-making industry, I still firmly believe that with their strategy, they took away the vividness and the strength of the film.

With all that said, I give to you the final judgment of RT on the film.

That bar (or Tomatometer) actually made me believe that 73% was a good rating. Until I saw the movie…and the note under the 73%. 6.4 out of 10. Not a bad movie, because it went beyond 5; which I think was because of Kristin Scott Thomas and Mélusine Mayance’s very good acting.

So, are you interested to see the movie? My blog post’s intention was NOT to discourage you to ever see the film. It was just my opinion. Anyway, if you here, here goes the link of the movie’s free online streaming. I hope you find it more interesting than I did. :)

Breaking Dawn Part 1

 

Because of too much boredom, my family and I decided to go out, watch a movie and have some bonding together. And as you all know, it’s The Twilight Saga season so most movie houses only have one movie to show: Breaking Dawn Part 1.

But before I give you my two cents regarding the flick, well actually five since I have a lot to tell so prepare yourselves, let me just tell you that none of us, except my youngest brother, was a fan of the series. Call me whatever but I was one of those people who got irritated over The Twilight Saga for being that popular, considering that it has a sparkling vampire, an expressionless girl, and a too sexy werewolf for lead characters. I was one of those who never really got interested about the series no matter how much the fans raved about them. All the information that the rough plots fed me lead to one groundless assumption – the Twilight series‘ main idea is how important it is for Bella Swan to have a boyfriend. And for my big, round head, it sucked bigtime and it made me some sort of a hater. I couldn’t even comprehend why on earth Stephanie Meyer decided to make her vampires sparkly. It was the gayest thing ever to happen to vampire history. And I bet, if Count Dracula knew about it, he’d be ashamed of his entire being. Everyime I think about it, I’d be like, Come on Edward! Save the glitters for the fairies! And to top it all off, I’m a Harry Potter fan, so you know how the “Tumblr Meme War” went.

Anyway, to prepare myself for the movie, I put all my criticisms padlocked in one of the rooms in my head. I knew it would ruin the experience so I decided to come the cinema fresh and clean: not a hater nor a fanatic.

So…to the movie review:

Let’s start off with what you guys want to know, okay?

The Wedding – it was adorable. Every women wore pretty dresses and most men looked like debonaires with their tuxedos. Bella walked down the aisle with her father and she was very nervous that she actually looked like she was having diarrhea and that she needed a restroom break quickly. The kiss-the-bride scene was…thrice longer than the usual kisses in real life weddings, as well as those in movies or TV shows, so yeah, it was weird. There was actually this one whole turn of the camera wherein all you could see was them kissing, sans all the guests from the crowd. But as a reader, I assume it meant something like their eternal love for each other because they kissed like no one was there, as if it was already the end of their fight, and that their love for each other would remain even if everything else in the world would perish. (too much interpretation, eh? Lol)

The Fashion (Wedding) – you might have heard or read this somewhere but yeah, Kristen used two wedding dresses for the movie. One for her dream, and second for the actual wedding. In her dream, she wore a tube, white gown, and even though it was not entirely shown, I still like to think that it looked better than the second one. Her shoes was white, it must be 4 inches high, and it had some bling (it’s the same one she used for the real wedding). Her hair was tied partially, meaning the latter half of it was still loose, perhaps covering her back. She was walking alone and there were red rose petals falling on the ground as she walked. Everyone, including Edward, was clad in white and ivory formal clothes. It was the most beautiful wedding scenario I have ever seen…it was perfect. Sadly, it was just her dream.

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So for the real wedding, she wore a long sleeved gown with a long trail. Her back was exposed a little since it was designed fashionably with lace and her hair was tied in a messy bun. There was no dress code so compared to the previous, the guests collectively looked unorganized and not so pretty.

Add-on: Jacob and Bella had a moment during the reception and I didn’t really like it. For me it was a bit too much. You should see it and tell me what you think.

The Honeymoon – just like Bella, I also thought they’d spend their honeymoon at Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. Well they still stayed in Brazil, but in another island across Rio. The house was unbelievably posh yet I couldn’t imagine myself staying there for more than a week. It seemed boring. So you may ask, how was their first night? It didn’t contain much action. So yeah, I don’t think it’s something parents should be worried about. But you know what? I was a bit flabbergasted when Bella asked for it. I mean…she was the girl, right? And that she knew what the hell would happen if she becomes pregnant before turning into a vampire? Damn, now I think whatever happened in the movie was mostly her fault.

The Aftermath – okay, based on the trailer we all saw, we know Bella’s going to get pregnant. And like magic, she did. But you have to watch it to know why and how her body deteriorated because of her pregnancy. So there, as her baby bump grew, her body got worn out. One of my favorite things in this film was the way they made Kristen look from beautiful to ugly. The way it was done was very believable. Her baby bump, her bruises, her skin color. She really looked like a dying person who was in dire need of euthanasia, honestly.

The End – of course it was a cliff hanger! I wanted to shout “boo” at the top of my lungs because I did not want it to end yet. Just when everything’s getting exciting, that’s when they decided to cut the movie. Now we all have to wait for next year. =__=

Visual effects – cool and very artistic, I think. Everything was believable except from the werewolves and the way the vampires ran and jumped.

Musical ScoringBruno Mars sang the movie’s theme song and I like it! I’m big on rhyming words and Bruno’s song lacked rhyming but I like it anyway. Anyway, I actually felt like the songs ate a lot of the movie’s time. I would prefer the dialogues than musical scoring. But I think their soundtrack was interesting though. I might pore over Google later on to give some of those songs a listen.

Realization – based on this part of the movie that I saw, my first assumption (see second paragraph) was proved wrong. Stephanie Meyer wrote about true love, and this love didn’t just revolve around Bella and Edward’s relationship. And it’s because you could also see Jacob’s love for Bella, unconditional yet unrequited. Both guys would go to the ends of the earth for Bella’s love and…somehow you could say that yeah, that’s true love. There’s also this love for the family that the movie showcased, care of the Cullens. I wanted to include there the Blacks but…you have to see the movie why I didn’t. But for the Blacks, sans Jacob, they showcased the love for the greater good as well as for their whole clan. So there, I’m definitely going to wait for Breaking Dawn Part 2. I might even see the first three parts of the movie franchise…

The Verdict – generally, the movie was good. Less actions and less dialogue, actually. But what made it good was the acting. I admired how the actors spoke with their eyes, with their gestures. It’s actually something the actors should pride themselves in since I believe not everyone can pull it off.

However, the story of Breaking Dawn Part 1 pretty much lacked in substance since it revolved mostly around Bella Swan’s pregnancy. Although I think it’s meant to be like that since Meyer never really wrote two books for Breaking Dawn, so they just cut the fourth book of the series into two divisions, something I would like to call The Chase and The Climax. Again, I’m not a Twilight fan so that means I have never read the books and I have no idea what will be their resolution and ending.

It was actually my first time to like Kristen Stewart, you know. I never believed in her acting skills until I saw the movie. Her skin was glowing, her legs were slender and her hair was perfect. Although I feel kinda bad for her that in the movie she was able to talk well but in real life she cannot. I’ve seen some of her interviews and she usually talked without much lip movement, making her words sound slurry and a bit jibberish; and that my friends, is one of my pet peeves since it’s just plain dumb.

Robert Pattinson, hmm… I don’t know what a lot of girls see in you but in their eyes you’re very attractive. And can you please explain why your pale makeup don’t cover the second half of your neck and chest? That’s absurd. A two-toned, sparkling vampire. And that scene where you kept on pumping Bella’s chest inside the Cullens’ manor while Jacob was outside having his moment? You looked hilariously strange, I just can’t help but notice you there!

Taylor Lautner. Tell me, where did you buy those abs? I’d like to buy some for my brothers as Christmas gifts, if you don’t mind. But whatever, it actually upset me that you didn’t get much screentime, though we all know that Breaking Dawn is generally about Bella and Edward’s union & their fight for their love. You did well though. I never expected Jacob Black to become an ally of the vampires for the sake of Bella and her child. But still…you and your abs should have more and more screentime this coming BD Part 2!

안녕하세요!

Google Translate, my buddy, told me that it’s “Hello!” in Korean. :)

Last night, I thought of something that might bring my blog into life. Something that actually force the rocks of my brain and have a little fire ignited all right.

So here it is, The Korean Pop Wave.

I thought of doing so because of my brother who is ever so obsessed with this genre est. 2009. Korean music is indeed very entertaining but I find his obsession circling beyond that. He even watches variety shows that are in Korean!

He is not the only one though.

I had classmates who actually express themselves the way Koreans do. The people I met in Tumblr consider Kpop Music as their picker-upper during their break up nights and it’s crazy weird.

Not that I do not like Kpop, I do. I have some groups that I listen to but my fascination with them is limited with their music and looks. I do not even know most of their names and consider that one as a chore.

So two days ago I decided to try listening to some of these “idol groups” that I might have overlooked because of i.e. one of their member’s very high-pitched voice or how much they looked stupid singing English phrases that they seems ignorant about.

Now my plan’s this: I will be downloading songs from a certain group and appreciate. Create another blog entry (perhaps after 3 days of downloading) about this group and the ones that will follow. Hence, a review. :)

I know I have a lack of follow-through but I hope I can make this project a success. :)

Captain America: The First Avenger

Captain America: The First Avenger panel from ...

Image via Wikipedia

If I am to rate Captain America: The First Avenger in a scale of 1-10, with 10 as the highest, I’d give it a 6. The movie was good but not enough to make me scream (though I squealed once.) The animation was quite poor in most parts of the movie, especially that scene in the mountains where they were going after Red Skull‘s accomplice.

Chris Evans, in my opinion, played the role of Steve Rogers/Captain America a little bit more better than good. He’s quite encouraging and touching as a superhero. I haven’t seen previous Captain America movies that’s why I can’t do any comparisons yet. I am not also very well familiar with all these comic book heroes that is why I have this question in my mind: what if Captain America and The Human Torch (Fantastic 4) must be in the same movie, how is Marvel going to do that since the same actor did both roles?

I think it is much better to be simply classified as a popcorn movie, though it is much better than most of its kind. It’s not artsy; doesn’t have any profound meaning, but not preposterous. The movie though is character driven since the cast really helped this movie to become something different than other superhero movies which just showcased bunches of stunts.

As David Edwards of the Daily Mirror would put it:

It’s not as cool as Iron Man, doesn’t have the brains of The Dark Knight or the looks of Thor, but it’s got enough Ka-pow! to make you relish the inevitable sequel. Job done.

The Roommate

2,000 Colleges. 8million Roommates. Which one will you get?

I saw this movie just recently and I find it terrible. Not really a good watch.

It’s a movie directed by Christian E. Christiansen, starring Leighton Meester (Gossip Girl), Minka Kelly (Friday Night Lights) and Aly Michalka (Hellcats.) Set in the University of Los Angeles, Sara (Kelly) meets her roommate, Rebecca (Meester) who was nice, sweet and willing to share everything with her. Until her friend Tracy (Michalka) first tasted Rebecca’s insanity, sge got convinced that something is really wrong with her. Sara eventually finds out Rebecca has an obsession with her, an obsession that quickly turned violent.

Okay, so…wow. This movie is bad. The writing is terrible and the acting is not much better than terrible. If you took any kid in school sat them down and told them to write a scary horror movie that is set on a university/college campus this is pretty much what they would come up with exactly. It is very predictable and you can see the attacks coming a mile away. Basically without ruining any of it I can say this is a girl who is obviously stuck with a roommate in college who she does not know but the chick turns out to be completely insane and tries to take over and keeps attacking and scaring her to death, almost literally to death. The movie is so stupid you will laugh at different places but it is not meant to be at all funny so this is just a terrible movie.

And wait, Minka Kelly and Leighton Meester look alike! But what’s up with Minka’s chin, really?