Tales and Trails: 5/22/11

Last week I watched Thor and Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides by myself to give me the ultimate enjoyment of the film. I watched the first full show of both films, in that case, the cinemas would still be empty and I can sit comfortably and watch the films in peace - no people laughing unnecessarily. Also, I wanted to be the first few people to watch POC.

Honestly, I got bored with Thor. It is a good film, not great in any way. I didn't felt the thrill of the mystery in the film. You know exactly where it was going from the very beginning. Obviously when you have two princes up for the crown, one will inherit the throne while the other gets jealous and will set-up the other brother. Then the father dies which leave the evil brother to rule and then you have Thor and other messed up family films. I've seen so many films running around in this plot. And besides, the film was set up in what? three days? And there were peculiar events. For example, how did that government officer survived a blow like that? And how come, he readily accepted Thor and his friends in Earth with no questions? I mean really, that never happens, not in other films or in the real world.

But of course, there were things notable from the film. Like ... ... ... I'm thinking ... the acting? hmm, no, not really. Oh yeah, I have one, the humor! It wasn't really funny but at least there were times when I was laughing. OK I'll stop talking about Thor or people will hate me.

So, Pirates of the Caribbean was great not as great as the first one but you anything that has Capt. Jack Sparrow in it is awesome. I did felt that the punch lines from Capt. Sparrow were lacking and Penelope Cruz' overflowing boobs is really a distraction - doesn't help that she was pregnant. Anyhow, I think that POC did a good job.

But really, the point of this blog is me talking about good films. I found out recently that my sister didn't like Blue Valentine and it totally crushed me. I felt that the film was great! It was beyond what I expected and its plot was really different, the photography of the film was great and the acting, don't get me started with Ryan Gosling's crying. And she also watched Never Let Me Go and she didn't like it either. Which led me to conclude that she couldn't appreciate good films. Sorry, but really, she prefers Transformers. Not that I don't like Transformers, it's a popcorn flick and its really a different category in my mind.

The fact that I actually didn't like Thor as much as I would have wanted got me thinking. What do I really like about movies? Obviously the plot is one, which is probably the reason why I love foreign films such as Thai, Korean, Indian and English because I can see diversity and they have very different story lines and approaches. I see something that I'm not usually used to. Unlike Filipino films that are almost very predictable just by watching the trailer, I see something different, something where police aren't always late, where the bad guys aren't really bad guys or something.

Another thing is the photography of the film. Magic is created when the movie was done with a brilliant cinematographer and a director. The acting is also another. Even the greatest plot could be a trash if the actors couldn't bring the story and characters to life.

Anyway, I'm just talking about good films and with that, here are some films that I would want to see and hopefully, will not bring me down during the first half of 2011.

1. The Hangover 2