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2. I barely update anymore. I'm more active on tumblr (but even then, not so much).

Horor comedy is always a tough sell, but it's one of my favorite genres. Shaun of the Dead set the bar for zombie comedies, but Zombieland holds its own. Holds it own extremely well. I watched the film not knowing anything about it, and I think it's more fun this way so I'm not giving a synopsis.

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Lastly, Zombieland is feel-good movie at heart. It's fun, it's gross, and it's great to watch with friends.

For those who've already seen it: additional rules.

Last Friday Jaime and I watched The Hurt Locker. I understand that it hasn't gotten much local coverage. But on LJ the hype has been pretty intense, so I was excited to see it.

In war torn Iraq, an elite Army bomb squad unit loses its team leader to an improvised explosive device. They get a new team leader soon enough, a brash Staff Sergeant who, while really good at his job, appears to have some sort of death wish.

The film isn't strictly a story, in that it has no clear-cut setup, climax, or denoument. As Jaime said, it's more like a dramatized documentary. Unlike a documentary however, the film jumps right into the action. No one explains IEDs or specialists or anything, and the audience is left to rely on context clues to figure out what's happening. But rather than being confusing, it imparts a feeling of urgency.

The Hurt Locker doesn't shy away from the violence and confusion that war brings. Nor does it glorify war. It simply depicts a month in the life of a US Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) unit -- and all the tension and uncertainty such a job brings. Apart from some iffy soldier protocol, it seems quite realistic. While the bombs are always in the forefront of the story, they never outshine the characters. The actors really stepped into their roles. (Also, the shots are very pretty.)

A word of caution: true to the documentary style, all cameras are handheld, and things are often shaky. So if you're astigmatic like me, expect to get a little dizzy.

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Caught the last full show of Jennifer's Body with Set and my sister tonight.

Set's right, it lacks something. (And it's not just because of all the damn cuts the MTRCB made.)

I read that it was supposed to be a satire about relationships between best friends, and female empowerment, but I didn't get that message. (Teeth, another horror-comedy flick, does a much better job.)

There are some funny lines, like "Cheese and fries!" (Jesus Christ, get it?), and Adam Brody's bit on indie bands having a hard time making it big. Through The Trees as a running gag is funny. Needy's prom dress in itself is one big punchline. But I thought there would be more horror. Nearly all the good stuff is in the trailer.

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Anyway, I liked it. But given the movie's hype, I expected more.

No picspam because I'm tired and I have a tooth extraction tomorrow. *groan*

Last Friday Faith, Jaime, and I watched (500) Days of Summer. I had come from a literally sleepless night and was halfway to zombieland, but I am so glad our plans pushed through because I loved watching the film. Also, it seems that the entire UST FMS is in need of a break. I saw all the years of med students (excepting clerks, because they either hard at work or dead to the world). Going into the cinema I met Dino, Nikko, and Rina. Exiting the movie I saw first years and second years. Only two more exams to go and then we can relax! Boy meets girl. Boy falls in love. Girl doesn't. (500) Days is tagged a romantic comedy, but it doesn't feel like it. It's got most of the cliches (even honest-to-goodness cartoon birds), but it's not maddeningly predictable or plastic. It's an honest love story story about love, far more entertaining than the usual romcom fare. It's as much a date movie as a barkada movie.

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Also, there is an excellent use of Wolfmother. :D Actually the entire soundtrack is adorable: zip, 47MB.

Thanks to Mia's headsup, I watched Spring Awakening with Set, Faith, and Archie. We got orchestra center seats, which gave us a good view of the stage. I didn't know about Spring Awakening, other than it was a coming-of-age musical. Judging from people's love of the Broadway production, I don't think the local act did it justice. Although the singing acts were good, the choreography was not. The steps were far from polished, and to put it bluntly, Melchior can't dance. Spring Awakening tackles such heavy issues as abortion, rape, child abuse, and suicide, but glosses over them so that the characters' individual tragedies become trivial.

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All in all, the musical was forgettable.

Ooh-- camh0ring!

I cut my hair short again. :p

This won't deter us from watching the upcoming productions of Avenue Q, Sweeney Todd, and Spelling Bee though!

Yesterday Jaime and I watched District 9. Set was supposed to come along but she was unconscious. All I knew was that there were aliens and it touched on apartheid. That's all I needed to know! I loved the mock documentary style and found-footage style. The aliens blend right in with the live-action shots. There's lots of firefights and explosions for action buffs and plenty of gross-outs for the gore buffs, but there's also some solid drama to back up the special effects. There are no happy endings here. One of the main characters makes a rather abrupt change of heart near the end of the movie, but perhaps it was part of his accelerating metamorphosis. Jaime and I were also wondering about the pseudo-science behind the DNA-fusing "fluid" that fuels the alien ships, but whatever, chalk it up to movie magic. I watched it solely for entertainment, but there is some serious discussion going on about the not-so-subtle racist undertones in the film.

Last Friday my sister and I watched Up in 3D. It was the second time for me; the first time being with Jaime and Set, who are my current mubidate regulars.

It's just as fun and uplifting the second time around. The opening sequence still pulls on your heartstrings. (It's more for adults than for kids, but it also gives parents a chance to explain the meaning of death to their children.) Russell's sense of wonder is still delightful. He's open to EVERYONE and he finds joy in EVERYTHING. The cantankerous Mr. Fredricksen is nonetheless endearing. You can't help but feel for the guy because he's still grieving and you know he feels he wasn't able to give the love of his life the adventure he promised.

It's odd seeing elderly men be surprisingly agile, crawling around planes in flight, but given that the film is in its nature fantastical (floating houses, talking dogs, colorful giant dodo birds), it's not really surprising. There's a bit of women in refrigerators going on, but somehow I don't begrudge the writers for it. Up is very much a boy's adventure though, and I agree: I would very much like to see a Pixar movie featuring a female lead.

A word about Trinoma's 3D cinema: best if you sit closer than usual to the screen. The 3D jumps out better, and the screen is brighter. The 3D glasses tend to make everything darker.

Last Friday my family and I watched The Time Traveler's Wife. I'd read the book last year, a gift from Mary and Julie, and I really enjoyed it. Unfortunately, the novel does not translate well onscreen.

The film tries to incorporate the most important parts of the book, which are quite a few. The result is a choppy mishmash of sequences that leaves those unfamiliar with the story confused. There is a lot going on and yet the movie feels too long. Both my parents fell asleep several times, and my dad once started snoring very loudly, much to my chagrin and amusement.

The main characters are not developed well, making it hard to sympathize with them. I didn't really care about their relationship, I just wanted to see the next time Henry disappeared and left his companions bewildered.

I found G.I. Joe more entertaining.

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One thing though: movie!Gomez > book!Gomez.

ETA: Time Traveler's Wife TV series anyone?

Last Friday was amaaaazing. The Medicine 2 exam went by like WHOOSH and though I made a lot of mistakes, whatever, that module is OVER AND DONE WITH.

And then some of us students had a huge lunch at Gerry's Grill where we ate all the food in like 30 minutes and spent the next hour camh0ring. I have Instax pictures but no scanner yet so the picspam will have to wait. We parted ways and then some us ended up at Red Mango, where Kim treated us to frozen yogurt. (This is why we love Kim.) She left early, I presume for this; 2 daters went to get someone's glasses fixed; and Sam and Marco went home.

I hung out to wait for Mia, and together we bought some books from Powerbooks. I picked up Yvette Tan's Waking the Dead and Other Horror Stories, which I've been hearing a lot of buzz about. It's not as horrific as I hoped, but I'm enjoying it. And I'm loving Andrew Drilon's illustrations. Powerbooks is currently having a sale, so I got Waking the Dead at 5% off and a couple of other books up to 80% off.

Mia and I also had merienda at Five Cows -- although it was more like a second lunch for me!

We watched G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, because Orphan was no longer showing (sadface). The rumors were true: it is so lolsy! Mia fell asleep a bit in the middle, but barring obvious plot holes such as why anyone would be allowed anywhere near a mission pitting him against his scorned lover when their connection could severely compromise his judgment, those looking for some mindless action and a lot of fun stunts shouldn't be disappointed.

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