Hi Guys!  I've been missing in action for several weeks now. I ran out of vacation leaves so I don't have travel post for the past three months. I just make the most out of my weekends hanging inside the cinemas and it seems like the months of July and August are packed with must-watch films. Here are some of them:

1.) Transformers: Age of Extinction, from the fourth installment of the Tranformers series, who wouldn't miss the autobots especially Bumblebee and Optimus Prime. They've battled against the man-made transformer Galvatron, who was later revealed as Megatron in disguise. 

2.) And since I'm a KathNiel fan, I won't allow myself to miss She's Dating the Gangster, a Cathy Garcia-Molina film. Kathryn Bernardo and Daniel Padilla pulled off the roles Athena and Kenji. It is a story from Wattpad about two teenagers who hated each other at first, pretended as a couple to make the ex-girlfriend of the guy jealous, but fell in love seriously in the end. All their cheesy scenes literally brought hysteria inside the cinema! 

3.) Then there is another version of Hercules starring Dwayne Johnson, this time the legendary half-god half-human doesn't fight alone. His five friends, who were great warriors as well joined him in his battles. They trained the army of Thrace as requested by King Cotys and they were rewarded with gold. They were forced to battle with the same army in the end. 

4.)  One of my favorites, Guardians of The Galaxy, also came with positive reviews. The combination of  Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper made a perfect ensemble. The story is about Peter Quill a.k.a StarLord who stole a very powerful orb from planet Morag, the supervillain Ronan wanted to get it to destroy other planets. There were lots of funny scenes in the movie and who would have thought that Dave 'Batista' Bautista, a WWE fighter can pass as an actor. 'I am Groot!' became a favorite line from this movie.
I also love the 80's music incorporated in this movie, those are Peter's favorite songs played on his walkman, a gift from her mom when he was young, before he was abducted on Earth by aliens.

5.) Scarlett Johansson is L-O-V-E! She's so pretty that's why I really wanted to watch her film, Lucy. Gladly, I wasn't disappointed with her movie because of its amazingly unique concept. Her character as Lucy began when she became a drug mule to a Korean drug lord. The bag of a drug called CPH4 hidden inside her abdomen accidentally broke and the substance was released inside her body. On the other  hand, Professor Norman is researching about the theory that humans only use 10% of its cerebral capacity. Because of the CPH4 inside her system, Lucy was able to reach up to 100% of her brain capacity. Her physical and mental abilities became so exceptional, she can control other people's mind, can travel back in time, can teleport and many more.

6.) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles a.k.a TMNT was the only movie I've witnessed in 3D this year because it's free. Company perks are blessings indeed! Say hello to Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, and Raphael as they return on big screen with Megan Fox. These humanoid turtles discreetly protects New York City from Foot Clan, a gang that brings terror into the city.

7.) Just yesterday, I've watched Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Inferno, film adaptation of the popular samurai manga.
This is the film I definitely wouldn't miss and my ever favorite. It is the sequel to Rurouni Kenshin released in the Philippines last 2013 which is also a great one. The film is in Japanese language, only with English subtitles. Amazingly, the language is not a hindrance to its blockbuster success as Filipinos really embraced this movie and loves every character most especially Kenshin and Kaoru. The actors Takeru Satoh, Emi Takei and Munetaka Aoki even visited the Philippines last August 6 and 7 for their red carpet premiere. By the way, Takeru Satoh is so damn hot! I'm actually excited for the next sequel Rurouni Kenshin: The Legend Ends which will be shown by September, also this year.

FYI.. I wouldn't make my movie watching hassle-free without the use of my e-Plus tap to pay card from SM Cinema. :)

Escape Plan
Atmosphere Entertainment
Emmett/Furla Films

Rating: ★★★★★



Who won't be excited to experience an action-thriller movie tandem between Sly (Sylvester Stallone) and Arnie (Arnold Schwarzenegger)? The last time we have seen them was in The Expendables 2. In their latest movie Escape Plan, Stallone plays the character of Ray Breslin, a genius man whose job is to ensure that world's highly-secured prisons are really inescapable by pretending to be a prisoner himself and finding his way out of it. In his multimillion assignment on a top-secret prison, he met Rottmayer, played by Schwarzenegger, his fellow inmate who will aid in his escape.

The movie premiered here in the Philippines last October 9, 2013 and will be released in the U.S. on October 18, 2013.

 

World War Z
Paramount Pictures


Rating: ★★★★★

When I first heard about this movie, i thought it was an action film that would bore me and just because it was Brad Pitt in the lead role so I must watch. Before we head to the cinema, I've been reading a lot of tweets and FB posts that it is such a good film so those convinced me to watch. At the very start of the movie, the character of Brad Pitt as Gerry Lane was shown as a family man, with wife and two kids, both girls. He was so handsome with his long blonde hair and clear blue eyes. Then came the zombie outbreak... yes.., at the beginning of the movie it was already full of suspense and thrill. Those who were bitten by zombies will become one as well in a matter of 8 seconds. Gerry's journey began when he needs to find a cure to the pandemic and discovered that a 'camouflage' was the answer. He found out that the zombies only feed on healthy human bodies and ignore people with deadly disease. In the end, a vaccine with deadly but curable pathogens were developed and was injected to the people and to the troops that are battling against the mass of zombies.

Although there were lots of zombie apocalypse movies out there, I still find this one enjoyable and thrilling because it has a different story. Plus factor is that Gerry Lane is such an ideal husband and father, who will do everything for the sake of his family.

IRON MAN 3  - IMAX 3D
(Marvel Studios)

Rating: ★★★★






Watching movies... one of my favorite stress-reliever. I can say that watching movies is a hobby. I could've saved a lot of money if i prefer to stay at home instead of watching movies. But who cares?! I'll never get tired of going to the cinemas because this keeps me relaxed and happy, with all the stress that I'm getting from work. I know that it is a routine that every Saturdays, if I don't have other appointments, me and 'the boyfie' will watch together, he enjoys it a lot too. Although it is a 'routine', we ensure that every film we watch has its own distinctive plot so it'll never bore the two of us. Because there's numerous movies in a year, sometimes, I forget what exactly happened in a movie if I have to make a flashback. Since I have this blog, I've decided to create my own movie review portion. This is not to critize or spoil any film or anyone, I just want to list down all the movies I've watched and their highlights.

The first on the list will be Iron Man 3. I'll be doing a review based on the perspective of a young woman who hasn't watched the prequels, Iron Man and Iron Man 2. Surprisingly, yes, I haven't watched them both!! (Tao nga ba??! Hehe) .. Indeed, Iron Man is an international phenomenon, an American superhero film based on Marvel Comics.

Robert Downey Jr., is one of the hottest man in his age, playing the lead role as of course as Tony Stark/Iron Man. Tony Stark is best described as 'The Mechanic', genius inventor, billionaire, playboy and a superhero when in his Iron Man suit. The story started showing  that Tony has been obsessed in creating multiple Iron Man suits and Pepper, his girlfriend, portrayed by the ever beautiful Gwyneth Paltrow, was fed up with it. She wants more time with Tony, and it's like a love triangle between her, Tony, and the suits. Another conflict starts with a flashback of 1999 when a crippled scientist Aldrich Killian wants Tony's backing in his founded company AIM (Advanced Idea Mechanics). Tony, obviously avoiding Aldrich,  let him wait for long hours without showing up. At the present day, Aldrich has became rich and develops Extremis virus, it can heal wounds, regenerate body parts affected by crippling injuries, produce extreme heat and breathe fire. He infused it to several soldiers but it has a flaw that the person might explode if not metabolized properly. To cover up the imperfection, he made believe the people that the explosions were attacks made by terrorists. He destroyed Tony's mansion, and JARVIS, Iron Man's Artificial Intelligence brought wounded Tony to a rural area many miles away, and the people believed him to be dead. He met a 10-year-old boy Harley, whom he became his sidekick in investigating local explosions.

Aldrich has kidnapped Pepper and injected her with Extremis. He has also attacked the President, aboard Air Force One.Tony to the rescue, came to save Pepper, while James, his bestfriend, the 'Iron Patriot', came to rescue the President. Tony summons all his suits, controlled by JARVIS, to help him with the battle. Before he can save her girlfriend, Pepper fell from 200 ft., he thought she was dead.  He had a one on one fight with Aldrich. Because of the Extremis, Pepper had survived the fall and at the end of the day, she, with her superhuman strength, was the one who saved Tony and killed Aldrich. After all the chaos, Tony instructed JARVIS to destroy all the suits in order to devote more of his time to Pepper. Pepper through surgery had removed the Extremis from her body. Tony had decided to remove his arc chest reactor and threw it to the sea. He believed he can be Iron Man even without the suit. In the post-credits scene, the words, "Tony Stark will return" appeared on the screen.

In my opinion, I was able to catch up with the story given the fact that I wasn't able to watch the prequels. All the scenes are amazing and the special effects are perfect especially if you'll get to watch it on IMAX 3D. With the crystal clear images, I even saw Gwyneth Paltrow's pores, but indeed, she is so beautiful in her corporate attire. I like her abs too, showcased when she was wearing a sports bra while kidnapped. For the first time, It was also nice to have Tony Stark teaming up with a kid, Harley. Their conversations put a comic relief in the movie. I believe this movie will have another sequel, so I'll just wait for this one. Two thumbs up for this movie!! :)