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Archive for the ‘Movie Titles’ Category

Hunger Games Trilogy

12 Jan

Hunger Games Trilogy from hungergamestrilogy.net

The best thing about reading the Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is that I started after she wrote the trilogy. That means I can anticipate that each book ending is a prelude to something bigger, better and worth the anticipation. This is not to add the fact that the Hunger Games Trailer came out several months ago…

And that Taylor Swift is singing one of the tracks from the movie…

And ironically, I’m not really fan of either.
I’m a fan of good books and well, my brother and his girlfriend love me too much they gave me the trilogy for Christmas. So here goes a very brief review.

The Hunger Games - to follow

Catching Fire – to follow

Mockingjay - to follow

The Hunger Games Movie
I’ve watched the movie about three times since I first saw it on premier last March and I’ve come to realize that the movie wasn’t as good as when I first saw it in the theaters. I mean it has lost its appeal while I was watching it on DVD.

The movie was as close to the book as you could imagine but in many ways it has started to show the simultaneous events and effects of the Hunger Games to the other districts that are not to be mentioned until the second book. I cannot imagine how the second and third movie will play out on screen, that being the case, perhaps more flashbacks? I’m not sure.

I also didn’t like the spectacle on “The Girl on Fire” because it really came out short of what it was supposed to be. The fuzz didn’t give justice to what was really shown. Jennifer Lawrence, however, was perfect for the role. Josh Hutcherson was not bad either. I didn’t like the way he first revealed his interest in Katniss on that interview. It lacked that air of honesty he has. Hutcherson was able to show the confidence and his way with the crowd, but not that tad bit on honesty. Liam Hemsworth as Gale, is wonderful. But well, in the movie, at least… he talks. In the book, you’ll have the impression, he’s mute. I can’t wait to see more of him in the next installment.

Everything else, however, was so beautiful, and close to the book. I am close to saying to not read the book after watching the movie because it’s almost exactly the same. Of course, the book says more though.

IMDB says that Catching Fire is to be shown in November 22 2013 while
Mockingjay Parts 1 and 2 is in November 21, 2014 and November 20, 2015 respectively.

 
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I am Number Four

23 Aug

One of my beloved cousins explicitly told me how good the movie, “I am Number Four” was.  The movie made her want to buy the book.  It was the word “book” that caught my attention.  She described the movie as a romantic film meshed with Alien stuff, and left me to myself for reading and comment.

A few days later, a colleague told me that it wasn’t so bad and summed the movie into these: “It’s a love story.”  He knows I’m not a fan of romance films.  It didn’t deter me because the bookstores I’ve gone to has an “out of stock” note on the book.

When finally I found myself holding a copy, I knew I was soon going to write a review.

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The Spiderwick Chronicles: Movie

01 Feb

From http://meetinthelobby.com/15-box-office-losers-of-2008.html

The Spiderwick Chronicles is one of the many book series out there that made it to the big screen. It’s been years now since Gaea and I first watched it but we recently bought a DVD and together, we enjoyed the film yet again.

It was the sort of experience that made me think she would love it more if she’s reading the books. As it turns out, I am done with all of them and she’s stuck with the Field Guide (first of the 5 series). These reviews will come in pretty late but I presume there are other book lovers out there who are scouting and well, can find these reviews as useful as my other reviews.

The Movie
From curragh-labs.orgSpiderwick Chronicles, the movie, is about the Grace Family’s adventure, which started when they moved into the Spiderwick Estate. The house formerly belonged to their grandmother’s sister, Lucinda who was believed to have gone loony and had to stay in an institute.

The adjustment was hard on all, specially for Jared, who still wished he was in the city with his father. His behavior seemed to have always made him the IT in all games – always the person to blame when something goes wrong. Mallory blamed him when her medal got missing upon their arrival, he got blamed for poking holes onto the wall and for breaking it to reveal a shaft. Incidentally, he was the one who discovered Arthur Spiderwick’s secret room as well as the Field Guide. It was upon opening the book that the story generally started.

The book made Jared curious and believe that there are other beings in our world. This included the brownie who is the source of all the mishaps happening in the house, as well as the seeing stone that allowed him to see all the magical creatures around the world. Events brought him face to face with Hogsqueal (a hobgoblin who said he was the last of his kind), whom he saved as he was saving Simon from the goblins and in return, gave him the gift of sight. The goblins however, was in the servitude of Mulgarath – a monstrous ogre who wants to possess the Field Guide so he can be lord of all the magical creatures.

From thecia.com.au

The Grace family moved the story into finding measures to stop Mulgarath. That looked like the logical and most practical thing to do. Mulgarath will stop at nothing and will kill everything on its path to get the field guide. It sounded impossible but they had to try. It was at this struggle that they discovered the importance of family and that their strongest ally was their faith in each other.

From ezlinuxadmin.comTaking advantage of Mulgarath’s fatal flow – his need for the Field Guide and the knowledge Lucinda and Arthur Spiderwick shared to Jared, the Grace Family defeated Mulgarath in the end.

I loved the movie. It has brought me into working on this review and has brought me into the magical world Black and DiTerlizzi created. Unfortunately, the movie had a lot of negative feedback and I can’t help but ask, did people simply lose their idea of make-believe? Or were they expecting something extravagant because they knew that production cost was pretty high? I’m not sure.

What I know is that I didn’t have that much expectations on the film, because for one, it was my first time to hear about it. I can confirm however, that I would be disappointed if I watched the movie after I’ve read the books. There was more to it than what I’ve seen and that shall bring me to writing about the books.

Click here to read more on The Spiderwick Chronicles: Book Series.

 
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Movie: Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief

13 Feb

I was beyond dismay after watching the film, I was in silent hill – where the cries were too much to handle, as if killing you.

I have been looking forward to watching the film because I loved the book and to my surprise, it was not at all like the book.  It’s a bad adaptation of the book mixed with a bit of wit, humor and major commercialism.

Image from www.pitchengine.com

The movie Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief was about Percy’s discovery of the Half-Blood Camp, his attempt to retrieve his mother and his attempt to save Olympus.

The movie begins with scenes establishing Percy’s affiliation with water.  He feels really comfortable with water and is able to hold his breath longer than most people his age.  It also presents how close he is to Grover and how he seemed to be a smart-ass who’s not really smart.

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Pablo Neruda and Patch Adams

10 Jan

Soneto XVII

No te amo como si fueras rosa de sal, topacio
o flecha de claveles que propagan el fuego:
te amo como se aman ciertas cosas oscuras,
secretamente, entre la sombra y el alma.
Te amo como la planta que no florece y lleva
dentro de sí, escondida, la luz de aquellas flores,
y gracias a tu amor vive oscuro en mi cuerpo
el apretado aroma que ascendió de la tierra.
Te amo sin saber cómo, ni cuándo, ni de dónde,
te amo directamente sin problemas ni orgullo:
así te amo porque no sé amar de otra manera,
sino así de este modo en que no soy ni eres,
tan cerca que tu mano sobre mi pecho es mía,
tan cerca que se cierran tus ojos con mi sueño.

- Cien sonetos de amor, Pablo Neruda -

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Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Movie)

16 Jul

Privileged to watch the advance screening of the movie, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (sponsored by RX 93.1), I was one of the HP fans disappointed of how the movie turned out.

I feel like the movie was less-budgetted because the Great Hall didn’t look too great and it seems that Hogwarts became a lot smaller than how it should have been.  There was also lesser emphasis on the other characters mentioned in the book and what was highlighted instead was the “lives” of Harry, Ron and Hermione as students, particularly, their relationships.

Harry, after getting over Cho, has focused his attention on Ginny (who has always had a crush on him).  Ron, on the other hand, after a short-lived relationship with Lavender, finally ended with Hermione (at least it was implied in the film).

In terms of faculty, the movie depicted that Horace Slughorn has resumed his old post as Potions Master while Snape finally got his chance to be the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.  It was in this unlikely situation that Dumbledore has decided to give Harry some lessons – which comprises of revisits of Dumbledore’s memories through the Pensieve.  These memories were very important as it holds the key to defeat Voldermort.

I believe that the movie presented three crucial memories.  The book, however, has an awfully larger number of memories than that.  These memories were all related to Tom Riddle as a young lad (offered to enter Hogwarts) and a student who was part of Slughorn’s Club (modified and true memory).

On the side, Draco seems to have become paler throughout the film and it was because he was tasked an important mission by Voldermort himself.  One so important, that his mother, Narcissa, came to Snape for assistance and bond the promise through an “Unbreakable Vow”.

The half-blood prince was the owner of the Potions book Harry used on his “unexpected Potions classes”.  He was supposed to drop it if not for McGonagall’s advise to take it in order to pursue an Auror as a career in the future.  Slughorn was okay with Exceeds Expectation in Potions to admit students (something Snape wasn’t comfortable in doing).

If I wasn’t such a HP addict, I would have said the movie can stand on its own.  The script made  it as “real” as possible, not too superficial.  I was expecting a lot more action since Voldermort has revealed himself in the fifth book and the Deatheaters (and the Order of the Phoenix) should have had more presence now, but that wasn’t the case.  The movie focused on the “essence” of how to defeat Voldermort – through love, trust and friendship.

I think the movie is worth a snippet, but one has to expect a lot from the last movie (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows) as it should tie all of the knots together.

Watch out for my book review of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince!  I’m in the process of re-reading them and posting specifics for those who are not as familiar.

 
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