Revenge of the Fallen

Critics hated it. I loved it.

1. While watching, I couldn't help but think: "How much MONEY did they actually put into this movie?" - I would have to guess the number of (expensive) CG shots trumped that of Revolutions and Phantom Menace.

2. Andaming robot. Not needing to develop a back story for the characters, Michael Bay went all out using as much robots as he can without choking the audience. (Although, I hated the two gremlin-like twin robots he used - too much personality, I say - if that's even possible for movie robots.)

3. The story/plot was okay. They did need 2.5 hours to finish it though. But with all the eye candy, who cares if it was a tad too long?

4. Anyone notice Michael Bay's self-promotion with the Bad Boys II poster? And oh yeah, he used the same ecstacy/reefer drugged up funny scene with the Witwicky mom.

5. Shia Le Bouf was good. Megan Fox was good. Turturro was good. Although Duhamel and Gibson, felt like they were playing bit parts.

6. Congratulations, Michael Bay. You managed to make Megan Fox even more hotter.

7. The Decepticons went terminator-style and upped the ante with the robots-in-disguise thing. I'm still not sure on whether this was a good idea or not.

8. Revenge of the Fallen. Yep, better than the first.

4 DREIs

1 - DREIs: "Avoid Like The Plague" Why did we watch this in the first place? (i.e. Bangkok Dangerous, The Hottie and the Nottie, Scorpion King 2, etc..)
2 - DREIs: "Shite" No need to see this movie unless you have absolutely nothing else to do. Movies with high expectations but falls short on almost everything. (i.e. Righteous Kill, Max Payne, The Island, etc..)
3 - DREIs: "Okay" Good movies that could have been better. Usually gets half good reviews, and the other half so-so. The experience will also depend also on who is watching. (i.e. Clone Wars Animated, Fast and the Furious, The Devil Wears Prada, etc..)
4 - DREIs: "Great" Almost all facets of the movie were masterfully done. Great in almost all aspects. (i.e. 300, Dark Knight, Transformers, Slumdog Millionaire, etc..)
5 - DREIs: "Revolutionary" It will change the entire concept of filmmaking and how films are made from this point on. It will serve as the new gauge for movies of the same genre. (i.e. The Matrix, LOTR, The Godfather, etc..)

Noong Wala Pang Tint si PLU...

...pano ka nga naman makakatulog ng maliwanag...

Movie Reviews

Recently Seen:

Ip Man - I was hoping for something along the lines of an epic like Hero or even something just as entertaining as probably Fearless. Those standards proved to be way too high. Waaay too high. Ip Man = Fail.
2 DREIs

Fast and Furious (Old Model New Parts) - Yes, it is an upgrade over the monumentally bad Tokyo Drift. But really, not much else.
3 DREIs

The 13th Warrior - I saw this first in the theater (1999? 2000?). Recently got an AVI copy. Liked it before, still like it now. Probably the best movie adaption of the Beowulf saga.
3.5 DREIs

The Invisible - It is predicated in this movie that people that are near death can walk around the world "invisibly." As expected, not a whole lot went on; and just too many holes in the plot.
2.5 DREIs

The Horsemen - Starring Dennis Quaid and Zhang Zhiyi. Whodunnit Cops and Serial Killers. It seems that they used as much movie cliches as they can. Aside from bad acting and sciptwriting, it was just too easy to figure out.
1 DREI

X-Men Origins: Wolverine - I saw the "unfinished" copy first, and then the final cut. I have to admit I liked almost everything about it, everything was relatively good - plot . But this is where Dark Knight sticks it to almost every other superhero movie - compared to the Joker, Sabretooth was just... forgettable.
3.5 DREIs

Punisher: War Zone - I saw one or two scenes with flashes of brilliance, but see Dark Knight reference above: Jigsaw = also forgettable.
2.5 DREIs

Dead or Alive - Surprisingly entertaining. I liked the fight scenes and the slowmo volleyball game. And besides, this movie had Holly Valance mostly half naked! Nuff said.
3.5 DREIs

The Spirit - Frank Miller is thought of as a god in the comic book industry. But even deity sometimes does stupid mortal things. Like making movies like these for example. Shot almost entirely in the same manner as Sin City, just infinitely more boring.
2.5 DREIs



1 - DREIs: "Avoid Like The Plague" Why did we watch this in the first place? (i.e. Bangkok Dangerous, The Hottie and the Nottie, Scorpion King 2, etc..)
2 - DREIs: "Shite" No need to see this movie unless you have absolutely nothing else to do. Movies with high expectations but falls short on almost everything. (i.e. Righteous Kill, Max Payne, The Island, etc..)
3 - DREIs: "Okay" Good movies that could have been better. Usually gets half good reviews, and the other half so-so. The experience will also depend also on who is watching. (i.e. Clone Wars Animated, Fast and the Furious, The Devil Wears Prada, etc..)
4 - DREIs: "Great" Almost all facets of the movie were masterfully done. Great in almost all aspects. (i.e. 300, Dark Knight, Transformers, Slumdog Millionaire, etc..)
5 - DREIs: "Revolutionary" It will change the entire concept of filmmaking and how films are made from this point on. It will serve as the new gauge for movies of the same genre. (i.e. The Matrix, LOTR, The Godfather, etc..)

Terminator Salvation

1. McG delivered. Action-freakin-packed. When someone asks you: "What is an action movie?" You say: "This is."

2. Chel and Drei were right though: not much in terms of the story itself - but the action more than made up for it.

3. Christian Bale was amazing. It is hard for anyone to play John Connor and he did a good job of doing it. Method acting paid off, I guess... (and yep, I heard his 15-minute internet audio cursefest on this set... on a side note, continuous cursing is hard to sustain over a two or even three minute period, Bale was relentless for that entire time... THAT is something.)

4. Sam Worthington (Marcus) will probably have a Hugh Jackman-like career from now on.

5. (Semi-Spoiler Alert) The Arnold Schwaenenzggreenegegegr CGI should NOT have been there. It distracted you from the entire action sequence. I was thinking, if you can't put in the "real" Arnold, then DON'T put him in. (on another side note, the movie industry has made great strides in terms of computer animation and graphics for the past couple of years... but this goes to show you how we are still so far off in terms of people CG realism on closeups.)

6. (Major Spoiler Alert) I was really hoping they were going to finish the story. But instead, even after blowing up Skynet's main base, John Connor said something like - "Skynet's Global Network still remains strong, but the fight isn't over..."

7. I can't help but think of parralels between the Matrix and the Terminator mythology. The machines in the Matrix (sentinels, etc..) are way way way way harder to beat than Terminators (even if Skynet had nuclear capability). I'm just sayin.

8. Overall, good action flick. Monumentally better than the last one. However, I just had some issues with the CG and the ending.

3.5 DREIs

1 - DREIs: "Avoid Like The Plague" Why did we watch this in the first place? (i.e. Bangkok Dangerous, The Hottie and the Nottie, Scorpion King 2, etc..)

2 - DREIs: "Shite" No need to see this movie unless you have absolutely nothing else to do. Movies with high expectations but falls short on almost everything. (i.e. Righteous Kill, Max Payne, The Island, etc..)

3 - DREIs: "Okay" Good movies that could have been better. Usually gets half good reviews, and the other half so-so. The experience will also depend also on who is watching. (i.e. Clone Wars Animated, Fast and the Furious, The Devil Wears Prada, etc..)

4 - DREIs: "Great" Almost all facets of the movie were masterfully done. Great in almost all aspects. (i.e. 300, Dark Knight, Transformers, Slumdog Millionaire, etc..)

5 - DREIs: "Revolutionary" It will change the entire concept of filmmaking and how films are made from this point on. It will serve as the new gauge for movies of the same genre. (i.e. The Matrix, LOTR, The Godfather, etc..)

Angels and Demons

1. The Da Vinci Code may have been a bigger box office and bestseller hit; but cinematically, Angels and Demons proved to be just above it in several levels.

2. More action, better paced, better acting (Obi-Wan did a fantastic job.)

3. Much like other book-to-movie adaptations, the book was more engaging. Although the movie itself, did not disappoint.

4. Just like The Da Vinci Code, I read the book before I saw the movie. I particularly liked the representation of the God Particle (anti-matter) and how Ron Howard integrated the use of the Hadron Collider to create it.

5. MINOR SPOILER ALERT: The thing that was missing though, and this was a huge part of the story in the book, was the Camerlengo's relationship to the deceased Pope. This was what I thought, what Dan Brown wrote as the match that started the whole fire.

6. I love wide-angle shots in a movie. It is sort of a like a gauge on how grand the scale of production is. And this movie had lots of it.

7. Replay Value: definitely worth buying an original DVD box set for. We got the original The Da Vince Code Limited Edition Box Set with Cryptex for the first movie. What box-set bells and whistles will they think of this time? Limited Edition Anti-Matter perhaps?

3.5 DREIs


1 - DREIs: "Avoid Like The Plague" Why did we watch this in the first place? (i.e. Bangkok Dangerous, The Hottie and the Nottie, Scorpion King 2, etc..)
2 - DREIs: "Shite" No need to see this movie unless you have absolutely nothing else to do. Movies with high expectations but falls short on almost everything. (i.e. Righteous Kill, Max Payne, The Island, etc..)
3 - DREIs: "Okay" Good movies that could have been better. Usually gets half good reviews, and the other half so-so. The experience will also depend also on who is watching. (i.e. Clone Wars Animated, Fast and the Furious, The Devil Wears Prada, etc..)
4 - DREIs: "Great" Almost all facets of the movie were masterfully done. Great in almost all aspects. (i.e. 300, Dark Knight, Transformers, Slumdog Millionaire, etc..)
5 - DREIs: "Revolutionary" It will change the entire concept of filmmaking and how films are made from this point on. It will serve as the new gauge for movies of the same genre. (i.e. The Matrix, LOTR, The Godfather, etc..)

To Boldy Go Where A Few Has Gone Before: Star Trek Zero

Warning! Spoilers!

First, let me establish that I am a trekker. Not the all-out geek who knows all the sciences and can speak fluent Klingon, but I have always appreciated the TV shows and the movies. Particularly, Star Trek: The Next Generation (Picard, Riker, Data, Troi, Worf, La Forge, Crusher, etc..). I used to watch that show every week (Voyager and Deep Space Nine did not have the same intellectual appeal as TNG).

So with that in mind, I went to this movie with no expectations at all. I was thinking this is just sort of a run-of-the-mill prequel to the Star Trek Movies, and that the producers and writers just wanted to establish the history between Spock and Kirk. I was mistaken. This might very well be the best Star Trek movie ever made - everything was extremely well done. With my affinity for TNG - it is hard for me to say that. However, I was overwhelmed by how much thought was put into the plot and the scale that was placed in this production.

A few notes: James Kirk - great acting by Chris Pine, he portrayed the brash, young, Kirk masterfully and with great writing, his persona almost transcended the screen. Spock - one of the things I looked out for was if he remotely reminded me of Sylar, this movie will fail. Zachary Quinto made an extremely believable Vulcan and not once did Sylar cross my mind. Leonard Nimoy was here as well - for a good part of the movie.

There were a few references to Star Wars I noticed like: Luke Skywalker's adventure in Hoth and Qui-Gonn Jinn's "there's always a bigger fish" theory. I don't know, maybe its just me.

They now have the freedom to rewrite Star Trek's entire history (or historical events for that matter, characters did not change) because of the alternate reality they have created from Spock and Nero travelling to the past.

Overall, an entirely entertaining movie. Action-packed. Well-thought of plot. Sci-fi on a grand scale. Great acting and writing. Hopefully, they start bringing in TNG's mythology to the next movies.

4 out 5 DREIs

1 - Drei: "Avoid Like The Plague" Why did we watch this in the first place? (i.e. Bangkok Dangerous, The Hottie and the Nottie, Scorpion King 2, etc..)

2 - Dreis: "Shite" No need to see these movies unless you have absolutely nothing else to do. Movies with high expectations but falls short on almost everything. (i.e. Righteous Kill, Max Payne, The Island, etc..)

3 - Dreis: "Okay" Good movies that could have been better. Usually gets half good reviews, and the other half so-so. The experience will also depend also on who is watching. (i.e. Clone Wars Animated, Fast and the Furious, The Devil Wears Prada, etc..)

4 - Dreis: "Great" Almost all facets of the movie were masterfully done. Great in almost all aspects. (i.e. 300, Dark Knight, Transformers, Slumdog Millionaire, etc..)

5 - Dreis: "Revolutionary" It will change the entire concept of filmmaking and how films are made from this point on. It will serve as the new gauge for movies of the same genre. (i.e. The Matrix, LOTR, The Godfather, etc..)

Movie Rating System

It occurred to me that when I look back at all my movie reviews, it would be helpful to me if I establish a rating system to easily categorize and distinguish motion pictures from movies that I can watch over and over again, to movies that merit buying an original DVD for, to movies that I should avoid like the plague.
The next question is: What rating scale would I use and what would be the factors that constitute each scale level? Rottentomatoes uses its own Tomatometer on a 0% to 100% scale from its approved critics; similarly, IMDB uses a 10.0-star scale to show its average user rating for a movie. Since, this blog is nowhere near the magnitude and scale of those sites, it seems logical to have a rating system designed for a smaller purpose. Besides, this blog is for my personal use anyway. To that effect, a 5 scale rating would suffice. And instead of tomatoes or stars, I thought I'd be true to this blog's namesake and give it a 5-scale Drei rating.


1 - Drei: "Avoid Like The Plague" Why did we watch this in the first place? (i.e. Bangkok Dangerous, The Hottie and the Nottie, Scorpion King 2, etc..)


2 - Dreis: "Shite" No need to see these movies unless you have absolutely nothing else to do. Movies with high expectations but falls short on almost everything. (i.e. Righteous Kill, Max Payne, The Island, etc..)


3 - Dreis: "Okay" Good movies that could have been better. Usually gets half good reviews, and the other half so-so. The experience will also depend also on who is watching. (i.e. Clone Wars Animated, Fast and the Furious, The Devil Wears Prada, etc..)


4 - Dreis: "Great" Almost all facets of the movie were masterfully done. Great in almost all aspects. (i.e. 300, Dark Knight, Transformers, Slumdog Millionaire, etc..)


5 - Dreis: "Revolutionary" It will change the entire concept of filmmaking and how films are made from this point on. It will serve as the new gauge for movies of the same genre. (i.e. The Matrix, LOTR, The Godfather, etc..)

And So It Ends...

Miami's season ended with a 91-78 Game 7 loss to the heavily favored Atlanta Hawks. I'm not entirely dissapointed with the whole season, but I really was hoping for at least second round outing. Miami almost got what it wanted in the regular season - they almost got home court advantage in the first round finishing with the 5th seed and eventually losing in seven to the 4th seeded Hawks. Overall, it was a relatively "good" season to start after the awful 15-67 W-L record last year.

With hindsight, here are my thoughts for this season:

1. Michael Beasley? He's good and he'll be better. He definitely will be a cornerstone of this franchise. I can see him as a consistent 20-10 player 2 to 3 years from now.

2. Dwyane Wade - There has been a lot of talk about whether D-Wade will be staying after his contract expires. People are saying he'll take a look at the roster and that there is no one there absolutely worth staying for for competing for a championship. Again, there have been no indications that he is considering leaving - but you never know. I think with the impending cap space and with Chalmers, and Beasley, and Spo - he's got lots of reasons to stay although the lure of a better roster somewhere else will still be on his mind. And the entire Heat Nation. But dang, the entire Heat Staff (and Wade) should be taking care of his body - it seems that at every season's end - he's nursing something bad. Definitely not a good sign for him.

3. The Trade - I didn't agree with it then, and I still don't agree with it now. If we had Marion instead of Jermaine, we'd be preparing for the the Cavs.

4. Jermaine O'Neal - exactly what he turned out to be - old and hobbled. Not exactly what we hoped for. Sayang. It means that we will be paying his contract next season instead of say - Carlos Boozer's.

5. Erik Spoelstra - he was in the midst of COY talk, and that's huge for a rookie coach. From 15-67 to 43-40 wasn't just about D-Wade's health - it was also about Spo's coaching. Go Pinoy!

6. Mario Chalmers -Like B-Easy, he'll get better. I expect him to work in the offseason with his shooting. His defense is spectacular - he tied the Heat franchise record for most steals in a game (9), and he has shown a propensity for hitting big shots as well. But, right now, it's just hard to see him as a starting PG for a championship caliber team. Hopefully, when I said "he'll get better" it means better in every basketball catgeory.

7. The Bench - Daequan Cook and James Jones, Joel Anthony and Jamaal Magloire. Looking at purely offensive and defensive awareness, this could be the bench for being competitive. However, with how the season ended, you'd think that there still is something missing. And there is - consistency - specially on offense. If Cook and Jones aren't hitting their shots, it makes it that much harder for Miami to win a game, any game for that matter.

8. 2010 - The year of the free agents. We can hope right? Ultimate scenario - Wade and Bron; 2nd Ultimate scenario - Wade and Bosh; Somewhat realistic scenario - Wade and Stoudamire; Nightmare Scenario - Wade walks. I think we'll end somewhere in between realistic and nightmare.

I Watched The Watchmen

I read the book. I liked the book. Then I learned that it was going to be made into a movie. This was the first time that I couldn't imagine how something could possibly be made into a movie. I mean I was just dumbfounded. "Unfilmable" is what some fans called it. It just wasn't made for the big screen. Even Alan Moore initially didn't want to be part of this. And rightly so, the storytelling of the comic just seemed impossible to tell without going beyond at least 10 hours (the movie was 2 hours and 40 minutes).
A lot was ultimately left out - the news snippets of each hero that provided the background, nothing to note about Rorschach's shrink who almost went crazy in the novel, and no Black Freighter back story. Even the ending was changed entirely- no octopus! Also, Dr. Manhattan's anytime and all time power was not efficiently explained in the movie.
However, I was amazed at Snyder's vision. I didn't think it could have been done. But he did. The film worked perfectly - the scenes were timed right, the action sequences were violent and always appeared to hit real hard. I didn't realize they made this movie so violent and so disturbing. And that was definitely part of its appeal. Two-thumbs up for the movie originally called unfilmable by the novel's die-hard fans.


Heartbreak Kid

The Final Set: 3.7.09

1. Thanks to Jas for the VIP tickets! The creative mind from MTV behind all billboards, posters, and ads for the event.
2. Awesome concert, just plain awesome.
3. Ely Buendia did NOT die.
4. There was, of course, the obligatory FrancisM tribute. It was said that Francis Magalona was supposed to rap his part in Super Proxy - Ely Buendia did the whole thing instead. I admit I had goosebumps though, when the eraserheads played one chorus from Kaleidoscope World and Raimund Marasigan held up the "Man From Manila" sign. Rest in Peace, Francis.
5. I was pretty fuckin' pissed off that we missed the first three songs because of the traffic around MOA. I would have sang my heart out at "Waiting For The Bus" - one of my all-time eraserheads favorite.
6. It occurred to me that a concert this huge, VIP seats are imperative. Imagine all the 9s and 10s around (a few 11s and 12s as well) and you get to rub elbows with a few well-known people.
7. The acoustic set was a nice touch - probably to get Ely Buendia some rest. We couldn't help but feel terrified everytime he paused and hanged his head down during the whole concert, in our minds we were thinking: "No! Not again!"
8. After the third and final set - Raimund Marasigan urged to the crowd to call his bandmates to play a few more songs. This was after probably half of the crowd exited already. They sang three more songs.
9. The last three songs (not part of the setlist) was the highlight of the day. They made mistakes and everything - it felt like this wasn't really part of the rehearsed show and that it was just a genuine jamming from former bandmates giving one last thanks to their fans.
10. You know when you exit a showing of a new movie and cameras are there to get the reaction of the crowd? Well there was a camera at the VIP exit and it turned to me while I was exiting. I did the devil rock sign and said "Go heads." I was secretly hoping that that will be showed at the DVD. But it occurred to me that I pointed at my tattoos as well - thereby ending any hope if it being included. Tattoos are often mistaken for a gang sign and MTV probably does not want to be affiliated with such. Bummer.
11. Just an amazing night, only knock on it was the traffic, the "jogging," the Prado-dead-battery-alternate-reality, and Mae Dei wasn't there. Still, easily one of the highlights to start the year.

Photos from Michelle Hidalgo