White Out

Buy the book, skip the movie. Unless you're a Kate Beckinsale devotee then watch it for the sole purpose of seeing her in action.

...better yet, spend your hard earned $$ on a nice dinner date, or an original copy of Underworld instead. ;-)

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Kimmy Dora

I saw Kimmy Dora with a friend of mine yesterday and I must say that I didn't think it was possible for the shallowest of plots to actually spawn a very funny and entertaining film. Kudos to Eugene Domingo for raising the bar in comedic acting. She did a great job playing twins Kimmy and Dora (her performing prowess made the existence of the identical sisters with two distinct characters delightfully believable).

Her big name guests were just as entertaining, though all obviously took "support role" positions and still ultimately paled in comparison to Eugene when her brand of comedy came to play. It was also apparent (throughout the film) how much fun the whole production team had while shooting the movie. It generated genuine laughter from us in the audience that it quickly ceased to matter that the story was too shallow or clichéd, even.

Domingo, along with the rest of the cast (e.g., Henry Sy, Jaime Zobel de Ayala, Manny Pangilinan... hehehe) successfully ushered the film to a comical conclusion. Kimmy Dora was fun to watch, easy on the eyes and easier still to laugh at (not meant as an insult!)

Watch it with or without buttered popcorn, when not in an intellectual mood, and when running dangerously low on stuff to laugh (or smile) about.

=)

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District 9

Initially I thought the film was going to be another "Aliens" installation, where non-human life forms set off to carry out the annihilation of poor earth's inhabitants. I was expecting the typical end-all war against the self-destructive mankind (read: The day the earth stood still). But it was a surprisingly different approach to alien existence in relation to life on this planet.

More importantly, there were no mega-heroic Hollywood eye candies (e.g., Will Smith, Keanu Reeves, John Travolta, Johnny Depp...) to distract from the main focuses of the film: the evident earth inhabitant entitlement called segregation (a.k.a. discrimination) and how it knows no boundaries, subtle shades of South Africa and its history, the apartheid...

Director Neill Blomkamp and his team did an intelligent job piecing this film together -- from casting to storytelling to treatment -- invoking a daringly different and seamless art form. It was raw but brilliant. An unexpected yet welcome experience, all creative aspects considered...and enjoyed.

A tub of buttered popcorn was the icing on this already delicious and freshly baked cake. That should be more than enough good reasons to see it and zero reasons to complain. Right? ;-)

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