Harry Potter and Voldemort's final face-off

...is up this 15th of July.


Yay!

Thanks to ChinkyChinky for the info!


Feeling: mellow
All ears to: Criminal Minds on TV
Curled up in bed with: Angela's Ashes Frank McCourt

Perfume: A Movie Review

I first heard of "Perfume: The Story of a Murderer" as a book. In fact, I grabbed it the instant I saw it sitting on its shelf in Powerbooks. But like most of the books I hoarded in the last few years, it has remained untouched and unread.

Fast forward to 2011 and a friend gave me a copy of the movie. Yesterday, I found the time to insert it in my daily TV series marathon. And I'm glad I did.

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, based on the novel by Patrick Süskind, relates the story of Jean-Baptiste Grenouille. Jean-Baptiste was orphaned at a young age and proved to be a peculiar child - he rarely spoke and was gifted with an extraordinary sense of smell. Every smell around him is heightened because of this "gift"; and it is through this gift that he found that thing that will change his life: perfume. And as he apprentices with a once-renowned perfumer, he becomes obsessed with preserving the most intoxicating scent he ever encountered: the scent of a beautiful, young woman.

The movie was done beautifully. The cinematography captured the emotion perfectly - dark, very dark with bursts of color for scenes depicting self-discovery and festivities. And the acting was nothing if not amazing! Ben Whishaw, who portrayed Grenouille, was a complete unknown to me but he sure made a fan out of me after the movie. Even with big names like Dustin Hoffman and Alan Rickman in the cast, Whishaw still shone as the true star of the movie.

When the movie wrapped up, though, I admit that I was left baffled. At first, I didn't quite get what the town scene was supposed to mean. Though the scene made me cry. Then I eventually got it - or at least had my own interpretation. I don't really understand what Patrick Süskind wanted to convey when he wrote the book, but here's my own take: "Power is nothing if you don't find someone who'll love you. And that perhaps forgiveness is the most powerful thing in this world."

Grenouille had the most amazing perfume in his hands, one that had the power to bring the most powerful men on their knees, yet he was not happy. Seeing the townspeople ravaging one another, all he could do was think back to that first beautiful woman he saw and killed. He thinks of the possibility that perhaps she and him could have had a chance had he not murdered her. And when his last victim's father forgave him, that's when he realized how futile all the murders were. And he decided to bring himself back to his place of birth and surrender to pure ravage and die.

But maybe that's just me. How about you? Have you seen the movie? Did you like it? Thoughts.


Feeling: mellow
All ears to: Happy Ending Avril Lavigne
Curled up in bed with: Angela's Ashes Frank McCourt

He's coming to the big screen. WHEE!

Lots of things to blog about but I just HAVE to repost this. Taken from Olai:

Oh yes! Oh yes! Oh yes!!! Astro Boy's going to the big screen! Set to come out on October 2009, the movie will be produced by Imagi Studios and will be in 3D. I'm not sure though if that will work well with me. I'd eternally prefer this:

over how the movie will look like:

But with top-billed actors voicing the film (Nicolas Cage, Kristen Bell, Donald Sutherland, Nathan Lane, Bill Nighy, Eugene Levy, Matt Lucas and Freddie Highmore), Astro Boy just might turn out to be one highly-anticipated movie. And the trailer's also looking good. Check it out:

More details in the movie's official site.

Whee! Astro Boy!!! (Sorry, just had to squeeze that in.)

Feeling: happy
All ears to: Miss Saigon Soundtrack London Cast
Curled up in bed with: The Kitchen God's Wife Amy Tan

Movie in triplicate

(A post...FINALLY.)

Got home last night at around 11 pm and I'm now groggy as hell at 6 am, trying to get myself in work mode (yeshie, guilty as charged: am posting this while at work *ibil grin*). But it's all good, because yesterday was such a happy day spent with a good friend, trippin' at the mall. What was supposed to be a trip to have my ears pierced and our feet (or backs) massaged ended up being a movie marathon at Glorietta 4.

We started the after-shift date with James Bond. I've never been a big Bond film fan - fan of Bond actors, yes (Sean Connery and Pierce Brosnan, anyone?), but not Bond films. I've never really seen a single Bond film so I cannot explain the aversion, save for maybe because it's just too, uh, manly for me. The "new love interest every movie" doesn't mesh well with me either. So when my friend asked (cajoled?) me to give Quantum of Solace a chance, I was really iffy. But spending for tickets for this Marc Forster-directed film was worth it. Contrary to my prejudice, this Bond film actually had a story to tell. And Forster was wonderful in that he injected a lot of pretty and amazing juxtapositions into the movie. The chase scene right after the movie's OBB was especially remarkable -- I loved how Forster smoothly transitioned Palio di Siena from being a background to a foreground. There were at least two more scenes of the same style, demonstrating the director's mastery of this seat-grasping style. Other things worked to the film's advantage: it was action packed, it still had its share of pretty women fawning over Bond, etc. And oh yeah, Daniel Craig's bluest of blue eyes sure can make a woman glued to her movie seat.

Next up on our movie list was Sex Drive, but not before we had dinner at Wendy's -- a dinner that was both nice and cozy as we got to talk and talk and talk and eat delicious burgers while talking. Sean Anders' Sex Drive (apparently, there was a Tagalog Sex Drive film directed by Robert Quebral) pleased my movie companion as he says he loves watching films where the 'loser' guy end up being cool. As for me, I enjoyed the film: it was good for a couple of afternoon laughs and momentary kilig. Josh Zuckerman, who played the starring role, looks like your typical coming-of-age star; and James Marsden, who played the "tough but apparently secretly gay" older brother, was enough eye candy for the film. I loved how they made Clark Duke, who is not your typical "come hither, I'm hot" guy, the one character that always gets the girl. Seth Green was also just plain lovable. Sex Drive was a little on the predictable side, being a mish-mash of everything American Pie, Road Trip, and Harold and Kumar, but it was still a nice to movie to watch when all you want is to just sit back and have fun.

Speaking of fun, my friend and I had loads more of that as we trooped our way into Time Zone. Karen realized that she misses the arcade. She still loses in linked hoops game and rounds of air hockey but she doesn't care -- she's having too much fun to care. Even with her friend constantly teasing her and calling her a wuss, Karen still remains happily flushed from all the playing.

The night was capped with a dose of Madagascar 2: Escape to Africa, where my friend suddenly felt all tired and apologetically dozed off towards the end of the film. I, on the other hand, laughed my way throughout the movie. There were "aaw" moments as well -- my heart melted when Melman told Moto Moto (the name's so sexy, you gotta say it twice...lol) to treat Gloria like a queen and to bring her flowers ("Tulips are her favorite flowers," Melman dramatically declares) everyday. There were also moments when the movie lagged and I felt like dozing off myself but overall, it was as funny as the first one. Gotta love those penguins!

When the third movie we watched ended, I had no choice but to let go of my friend...lol -- I was still in the mood to watch Burn After Reading but I knew I'd be heartless if I force him to sit through another movie when he can barely keep his eyes open.

The day was uber tiring. But it was fun. I liked that I got to meet his high school best friend, whom we bumped into at the movie ticket line. I liked that we can still sit down for dinner and have honest-to-goodness conversations. And I liked that, at this point, I still am pretty much happy just spending time with my friend...

This is all for me now. Heads up: Baguio post, coming soon.

Ciao!


Feeling: sleepy but uber happy
All ears to: Broken Secondhand Serenade (plus the office noise, agents taking calls)
Curled up in bed with: The Female Eunuch Germaine Greer and The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty Anne Rice

Lesson learned

In an attempt to escape from my reality, I watched 27 Dresses the other day. James Marsden's character said something that struck me:

"I think you deserve more than what you settle for... I think you deserve to be taken care of."

Someday soon, that one person I truly deserve will come walking into my life.

(P.S. I do believe in karma. I'm leaving it all to faith...baby.)

Feeling: pensive

All ears to: Almost Lover A Fine Frenzy

Curled up in bed with: Haunted Chuck Palahniuk and New Moon Stephenie Meyer