the reasons why this has got to be the best romance movie I have ever watched:reason #: the video-call scenes / long-distance relationship realities I personally liked this very, very much. It adds a nice little touch to the realism, as well as relevancy and relatability, to the movie, especially with the video screen on portrait-mode, their faces so close to the screen in an unflattering straight angle, and the occasional, especially, the occasional twirling around to show the other person the scenery behind them. Why I know that this happens in real life?... Yeah, well my dad, who lives in another country apart from us, does that a lot. (Oh, he'll be glad to hear that last line because he's a self-proclaimed James Reid look-alike.) reason #: character imperfections/ realism Characters aren't always perfect, that's true enough. However, it is often a case in movies that everything just seems to work out great and dandy for the main characters. If this movie would have done that then both Joanne and Gio would've ended up together in a place where they both have successful careers. If this movie would have done that then Joanne would've gotten her dream job at London. If this movie would have done that then Gio would've been fine doing just freelance work and surviving off of his parents' money without a scratch. reason #: pacing of events My mom commented that the events of the movie went quickly as the characters' 3-5 year relationship was jam-packed into 1h40mins. But to be honest, I didn't even realise that the events went quickly until she pointed it out. Positively, however, realising that only made me appreciate the pacing and transitioning of events even more. There were minimal to no filler scenes. Every moment held a contribution to the plot which made the movie gripping and one where you wouldn't want to leave your seat for even just a second. The plot was clean, simple and, elegant yet straight-to-the-point. If there were plot holes (to which I noticed none of), they were too minuscule to notice. reason #: the hidden subtleties of the storyline and character development During the last third of the movie, after Joanne returns to Manila and her career skyrockets towards her goals, we also see her confidence boost exponentially as she starts to gain personal fulfilment again after an unsuccessful stint in London. With this, we also see her lose some of her dependency on Gio, which he later on notes as her 'not being as clingy anymore'. Now, here comes the genius part, and to notice it, you'd have to pay close attention to Nadine's actions, facial, expressions, and mannerisms before and after the club scene when Joanne was celebrating her new job title with her co-workers and she and Gio get into a fight over video call. Got that? Okay, now check this out:
Mama mia! Did you notice that character development? It was brilliant, I tell you. reason #: the ending / career vs. love In the end, Gio returns to the Philippines and leaves behind his blossoming career in London because he chose to be with Joanne. For those who of you who've noticed, this is a rehash of the rising action when Joanne left her work in Manila to be with Gio in London. However, the tone in these two scenes differ greatly. The first scene where Joanne leaves her career in Manila, there was an air of excitement for starting a over and a new life with Gio. But on the second scene, when Gio left his career in London, there was an air of tense uncertainty and regret for starting over coming not from Gio, but mostly from Joanne. Based on the ending scenarios, even if it had not been said verbally, you could tell that Joanne is not happy with Gio's decision to go back to Manila which brings me to this point... . . . Their relationship was doomed if neither one of them agreed to become the underdog and compromise. Love is all about compromise. Period. . . . Think of it like this: Joanne had no career luck in London where Gio's career luck was. If they'd stayed apart and prioritised their careers, they would've eventually stayed apart for good. If they wanted to be together, still, eventually, one has to let go of their current career-- and James did that. And I think that's selflessly beautiful. (P.S. On a realistic note though, since James had worked in London for quite a while and on prolific projects nonetheless, I think he'd have less of a hard time finding another suitable job for himself in Manila. So really, everybody wins, still, and it's a happy ending :P) afterthoughts... Romance dramas were never really my thing. The only way to get me to watch a romance drama movie or show is to drag me and force me to watch it; this was no exception. I don't watch them because a) I've never been in love so I can't relate, b) I can't comprehend and nor am I willing to accept 'love' as the answer to the characters' often stupid and impractical decisions, c) I often feel like the characters are inflating 'the power of love' way too out of proportion, it can't be that powerful, and d) have I mentioned yet that I've never been in love so I can't relate to anything the characters are feeling, at all?
However, I am so glad that I got dragged to the cinema to watch this movie because it was truly wonderful. It was simple and yet it was able to perfectly capture the realistic struggles of career vs love and long-distance relationships that I could somehow relate to because I have noticed it from the people around me. I am at awe.
0 Comments
Welcome to another uninformative movie review where there are (most definitely, without a shadow of a doubt) going to be spoilers. So get ready for this ride on this invisible space ship and leggo... What else can I say? At this point you've probably heard numerous praise for the movie and... they were right! The movie was brilliant, greatly enjoyable and meme-tastic. I actually watched it twice on the cinema. It's now one of my favourite Marvel cinematic universe films, for sure but one thing perplexes me: How old is Chadswick Boseman again? So you're telling me that this guy is 40 years old? In this shot too, which was filmed just about 2 years ago? What? (Technology is getting too advanced these days, trust No One ;) don't you have anything useful to say? Okay, okay, amazement aside, I actually have some thoughts regarding Michael B. Jordan's character, Erik Killmonger-- whose most heinous crime are not the causes of the scars all over his body, but the sight of them that did this to a fan. First of all, even though he is the villain and sure, he did some hateful stuff but he's a pitiful villain. His dad died when he was really young. His family, uncle (T'challa's father), basically abandoned him despite being aware of his existence. And, he was denied access to his own country (Wakanda). But then again, where's the drama and what would the story be like if none of those misfortunate events happened, right? Secondly, the manner of his death irked me. Instead of "turning over a new leaf" or "dying vengefully", as is often the fate of many villains in superhero stories, he died consciously by his choice-- and the hero did not forcefully save him. It irked me. And, his death was melancholically peaceful. By the end, he had come to terms with himself and his past-- an admirable thing which makes him a lovable villain-- but then he dies. It's anticlimactic. It's disappointing. But, I think that cinematically and from a writing point-of-view, it was the best ending for the story. After the first time I watched the movie, I had serious questions regarding Wakanda's economical and geographical specifications, namely:
I may not have any answers for those questions but I liked this video by Film Theory which cleared out some of my doubts about the realistic state of the Wakandan economy. I've been wanting to catch-up on both the Marvel and the DC cinematic universes for a while... a long while now. Before watching the movie, there was one thing (person) that I thought of: Bucky Barnes. I had no idea who he was other than the fact that he is the Winter Soldier and Tumblr's favourite broody superhero(?) For one thing, though, Tumblr LOVES shipping him and Captain America together. And so with all that mentioned, I watched the movie expectantly because Captain America is my second favourite Marvel hero after Iron Man. In terms of ratings, I would rate the movie an 7.5/10. The story was easy to follow. I believe that the ending laid out a smooth transition into the next movies in the Marvel cinematic universe. And, most importantly, I liked the fact that the characters actually got scratched, bled, and became greasy due which SHOULD be the case considering the action that they get into. (I'm looking at you, Superman and female lead from the 3rd Transformers movie whose white dress and blowout hair remained as perfect as ever despite everything that happens.) However, I have been asking one thing ever since watching the movie... is that all there was to Bucky Barnes? Seriously, after getting hyped by Tumblr about this hero who looked like he just jumped out of an MCR video, he appeared in like, 4 scenes in the movie. To add, his only lines (excluding the ones in Captain America's flashback) could be summarised to "I remember him", a few grunts, and a few groans. Seriously?
Despite my disappointment, I do kind-of get Bucky's lack of exposure in the movie though. Instead of the movie being about the Winter Soldier, it was instead just an introduction for a future problem (the corruption inside S.H.I.E,L.D caused by Hydra) and a chance for later character development(?) for Captain America through Bucky? I have no idea. I honestly haven't watched most of the movies that succeeded this one. Overall, as I said, it was a pretty good movie. Other than that, I have nothing else to say, so, byeee! . . . . . P.S. If you've noticed, this review had not been quite like the previous ones I did. Well, the truth is that, I thought about this area of my blog again and having thought that since I don't really have a large following yet nor credibility for doing reviews, it may be useless and too time-consuming to do reviews in the style that many others are already doing. And so, I thought that instead of trying to do what everybody else has already been doing, I'll just do a little bit of a commentary-style review where I lend readers some of my personal thoughts regarding the movie I just watched. Having said that, sometimes reviews could be as short as this one but that's okay because I decided that I'd only write about the points about each movie that particularly grabbed my attention, no matter how silly they are. As with the rest of the blog, I don't really know how this direction is going to take me from here but I hope that you enjoy my content, nonetheless. Thank you for reading! QUICK STATS: The general mood I felt after watching the movie was... disappointment. It tackled a very controversial topic, which is suicide. Any cheesiness made in the beginning of the movie could be forgiven by Toni's character's dark humour-- which was something I greatly enjoyed. However, it was by how the story progressed, and how it ultimately ended (cheesiness galore), that the story had great potential but was unsuccessfully delivered.
Finally, there's a thought that I simply could not get over. Toni's ghost distracts suicidal people, about to jump from the Jones Bridge, in an attempt to foil their plans and make them rethink their actions. What if the person gets so distracted by her that he/she ultimately falls to his/her death? Better yet, while trying to 'save' her, the person falls into the water anyways, and dies?
Anybody else wonder how many people who have seen Toni's ghost die because of her? |
Disclaimer:
Please be aware that the views expressed in these reviews are strictly subjective, and were my honest thoughts about the movie. Therefore, any constructive criticism or nicely-stated debating comments are welcomed but bashing of anyone else's views, whether mine or a fellow commenter will not be tolerated. Archives
April 2018
Categories
All
|