derpinsel.com - pixels, stories and texts by angela solis

Tokyo Godfathers, Garfield

Tokyo Godfathers (2003)
Noong nalaman kong si Satoshi Kon (Perfect Blue, Paranoia Agent) ang nagdirect nitong anime na ito, naisip kong baka isa rin itong psychological thriller tulad ng nabanggit kong pelikula. Kaya lang parang napaka-wholesome naman ng title nito para maging suspense ang tema ng pelikula, kaya hiniram ko ito kanina. Ang kuwento ay tungkol sa tatlong pagala-galang hapon (isang drag queen, isang teenage delinquent at isang manginginom) na nakapulot ng isang sanggol sa basurahan. Ang kabuuan ng kuwento ay tungkol sa nakakatawang pakikipagsapalaran nila sa paghahanap ng tunay na nanay ng bata.

Paborito ko talagang pelikulang anime eh Metropolis, pero napabilib ako ng Tokyo Godfathers. Maganda ang pagkakahabi ng kuwento at ang relasyon ng mga tauhan sa pelikula. Kung tutuusin hindi naman komplikado ang buong kuwento pero dahil sa ganda ang animation at ng structure ng buong plot eh mapapabilib ka talaga. Bagay din sa tauhan ang boses ng nag-dub sa kanila, parang totoong-toong sila yung nagsasalita. Kung manonood kayo ng anime movie, isa ito sa mga irerekomenda ko. Rating: 5 out of 5 More »

Adaptation, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

I just realized that these two films that I watched today were both written by Charlie Kaufman. I don’t mind, really. I actually fell in love with these two movies.

Adaptation (2002)
When I first saw this film a few months ago, I asked myself, “how come I haven’t heard of this one?”. So, well, I concluded that once I lived on a mountain. Anyway, this movie’s all about a screenwriter named Charlie Kaufman (Nicolas Cage) who was struggling to write a movie adaptation of a book The Orchid Thief, which was written by Susan Orleans (Meryl Streep). What happened was at the end of the movie, he wrote about himself and not about the book. And yes, the movie’s kind of all about the screenwriter of the said film.

Once you get to the end of the whole film, it’ll just sink in. I don’t know why, but the first part of the movie, which was a monologue by Cage, really caught me. It’s just a voice over, but it’s something. And I haven’t seen Cage looked fat and messed up. For me it’s just simple. A movie that cannot be described is just… wonderful. It leaves me speechless and thinking. Rating: 5 out of 5.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
I finally watched one of the most talked-about love story flick! The story’s about Joel (Jim Carrey) who discovered that his ex-girlfriend, Clementine (Kate Winslet) erased her memory that involves him. So he decided to go to the clinic where Clementine has her memory (of him) erased. But as the procedure goes, he realized that he is still in love with Clementine. The movie also stars Kirsten Dunst and Elijah Wood, who both, well. I don’t know. I don’t like their characters, but I’ll deal with that one later.

The movie wasn’t that GRAND. There’s some technical, sci-fi stuff involved in the flick but it’s not the fairy tale love story that we usually see in other films. It was presented in a paradoxical manner, simple yet complicated. One thing that I noticed was that the characters and their lines are recognizable in real life. The movie is something that people can relate to. It’s amazing.

Dunst’s character was pretty transparent early in the story. Wood sucks in this film. Kind of disappointing, but the movie itself is not. It didn’t make me cry or laugh. I just sat there for the whole 1 hour and 45 minutes and like Adaptation, it made me speechless. Good film. Rating: 5 out of 5

White Chicks, Lady Killers, Stepford Wives

White Chicks (2004)
I finally managed to get a hold of this film, which I was planning to borrow since last week. I’ve seen the trailer of this film, and I thought this one is up for some laughs. White Chicks stars the Wayans brothers and performed as cops who always screw up and unexpectedly found themselves disguising as two rich, party-lover females, both are heirs of a hotel joint. Does the characters sound familiar?

I was just looking for some good laugh, and I thought that this film might give it to me. People might think that the movie contains racism, but it does not. The film was quite dragging, although I found three specific scenes really funny: the undercovers’ verbal face-off with the V sisters, the B.F. scene and the “Thousand Miles” scene. Apart from that, I wasn’t amused at all.

It’s not the Wayans’ acting, it’s the script. Two cops that went on undercover isn’t catchy anymore, plus the situations and jokes were pretty common. It’s not that enough. Rating: 2 out of 5 More »

Kare Kano

Kareshi Kanojo No Jijou (1998)
Noon ko pa naririnig itong anime series na ito kaya naman noong nagkaroon ako ng pagkakataon noong bakasyon eh binili ko ang 26-episode series ng Kare Kano. Alam ko na ang background story nito at gusto kong malaman kung maganda nga ba ito tulad ng sabi ng iba. Sa totoo lang ay sa sobrang tuwa ko habang nalalaman ko ang kabuuang kuwento ay tinapos ko ang tatlong disc simula kaninang hapon.

Ang Kareshi Kanojo No Jijiou, o Kare Kano for short, o His or Her Circumstances sa wikang Ingles, ay isang anime series tungkol sa dalawang freshmen high school student na sina Yukino Miyasawa at Souichiro Arima. Pareho silang nangunguna sa klase pero pareho rin silang may dual identity. Si Yukino ay obsessed na matalo si Souichiro sa klase dahil gusto niyang siya ang centre of attention, samantalang si Souichiro ay kailangang panatilihing maging malinis at perpekto ang kanyang reputasyon dahil na rin sa kanyang madilim na nakaraan. Hindi naglaon ay naging magkasintahan sila at ang kabuuan ng series ay tungkol sa kanilang dalawa, sa kanilang pag-aaral, ang kanilang mga pamilya at kaibigan at lahat na ng puwede mong isiping nangyayari sa buhay ng isang normal na teenager. More »

Love Actually

Love Actually (2003)
Tell me that watching this movie is intended for Christmas. Or Valentines. Or maybe both occasions. But, the point here is that love is always around everyday of the year. This is what I think this movie wants to tell the viewers. Love Actually was shown last year and has one of the best cast (Hugh Grant, Colin Firth, Keira Knightly, Alan Rickman, Emma Thompson). And yes, the British accent’s ever present, that I am sure of.

The movie is all about, well… Love. The large cast shows that there are different stories in one film, it’s all about love at first sight, love lost, love found, love that slipped away, baby love, puppy love, fatherly love, love in front of the camera, you name it, and the movie has it. Each stories were simple and easy to relate to. Anyway, onto technical stuff. At first the scenes were pretty confusing. We don’t know whose story’s whom, who belongs to this scene and whose not. But as the story progressed, I got used to the sudden change of scenes and characters and somehow I saw the connection between all the characters in the film. Kind of neat, but it’s good.

This is a feel-good film. It’ll make you laugh and cry at the same time. The message, like what I just said earlier, is direct to the point: Love is definitely everywhere. Rating: 4.5 out of 5

A Little Christmas Love

Nagpunta ang lahat ng mga ika-4 na baitang estudyante ng Constable Edward Finney School sa Maples Personal Care Home, mga tatlong minuto ang layo sa bahay namin. Kakantahan kasi ng mga nasabing bata ang mga matatanda sa nursing home. Dahil wala kaming pasok ng tatay ko at dahil kakanta ang kapatid ko, pinanood namin ang pagtatanghal ng mga nasabing bata.

Ito ang unang pagkakataong nakapasok ako sa isang home for the aged. Maayos naman ang nasabing lugar, pero gaya ng inaasahan, marami rin akong nakitang mga matatandang inihabilin ng kanilang mga anak sa mga nars at caregiver. Nakakalungkot isiping dahil sa mabilis na takbo ng buhay ngayon ay hindi na magawang alagaan ng mga pamilya ang kanilang tumatandang mga magulang.

Dumating kami sa nasabing lugar mga bandang alas-diyes ng umaga, eksakto lang para sa pagtatanghal ng mga bata. More »

The Five People You Meet In Heaven

At last, I found some time to finish this book . My copy is a small, hard-bound one that I bought last April. I also sent a copy to Ronnie, well, not really in time for his birthday, but the book was supposed to be a birthday gift to him. He said he liked it, and my curiosity grew; but I decided to wait after my exam is over. Early this morning (around 1:00) I started reading it and finished it around 2:30.

Anyway, I was curious about this book because of the following reasons: It was written by Mitch Albom and we all know that Tuesdays with Morrie is one inspiring book (not to mention it’s one hell of a tearjerker). I want to know if this book is as good as Tuesdays… and if I will learn something from this one. Of course I am expecting that I will cry from this book, so I had my tissue box beside me. I also heard that this book mentions something about the Philippines. Well, it is true. And a little spoiler for you: one of the five people that Eddie met in heaven was a young Filipino girl wearing baro (top), saya (skirt) and bakya (wooden/clog slippers). The girl was speaking in Filipino and in English. Neat, huh? More »

Phonebooth, 40 Days and 40 Nights

First off, I checked the reviews of these two films at IMDB, and I was a little surprised when I found out that I had the exact opposite reactions compared to the ones at the movie database. Well, not that I really liked the last film, but it made me laugh for awhile, while the first one made me go to the washroom for four times. Oh well.

Phonebooth (2002)
When I first heard of this movie in 2002, I thought that this movie is unique. Well, I do not know if it’s the lack of budget, but think about this: it’s pretty rare to see a film with only having 1-4 sets and scenes, and the whole film was focused on the phonebooth. Isn’t that creative? Anyway, this movie stars Colin Farrell as Stu Shepard, a publicist who was framed up for a murder of some guy right in the middle of the street and was kept hostage inside the booth at the same time. He received a phone call inside the booth after talking to his girlfriend, Pam (Katie Holmes). It turns out that Farrell was having an illicit relationship with Holmes (she didn’t know he’s married) and everything is screwed up right in the middle of the street. Watch out to this film for it rained ‘f*** you’s’ throughout the whole film. More »

Intolerable Cruelty, Shrek 2

Intolerable Cruelty (2003)
This movie caught my attention a a few months back. I haven’t heard of this movie, which is weird, since it stars George Clooney and Catherine Zeta-Jones. So after waking up late this afternoon, I decided to check this one out. The story is about Miles (Clooney), a well-sought divorce lawyer and Marilyn (Zeta-Jones), a beautiful woman who happens to be the soon-to-be-ex-wife of Mile’s client. It turns out that Marylin planned to marry her two-timer, old and rich husband so that she can file a divorce and get all the settlements. However, Miles won the case, and so it is revenge for Marilyn.

It’s a romantic comedy with a twist. There was one scene on the film when I though the movie was over, but it was just a turning point between the two characters. Clooney also has a sidekick attorney named Wrigley (Paul Adelstein) who seems to know everything what was happening between Miles and Marilyn. The screenplay was great, the transition of the scenes from the first part was kind of confusing, but it turned out that those scenes where just foreshadowing upcoming events. It’s not the mushy comedy that we usually see on the silver screen, it’ll make you laugh and feel the “aaawww” factor at the same time. Rating: 3 out of 5 More »

Cruisin’

Yesterday, I asked a couple of friends if they have a copy of Cruisin’. To those who are not familiar with this one, it’s actually a 2-disk album that contains love songs from the 1970s-1980s. These compilations (madami yata ito) are available at your local bumbay or suki in palengkes. I am sure that they have these in Greenhills and Quiapo, but then again, I don’t go there, so…

I have a copy of the Verses 1, 2, 5 and 6. asked some people if they have a copy of the album because I am planning to just download the songs via Limewire. One high school barkada of mine borrowed the Verse 1 CD (has the ocean pic on the cover) because she want to listen to the song Suddenly It’s Magic by Vesta Williams. Unfortunately, she lost the disk 1 of the compilation, which contains most of the familiar songs that we usually hear in 96.3 WROCK and 94.7 Mellow Touch. I think Vanya has the copy of the album, so I am still waiting for her reply.

Sa tingin ninyo, ang mga Pilipino talaga mahilig sa mga lumang awitin? I mean, until now, I haven’t found a radio station here that plays Always (Atlantic Starr) or any other love songs from the 80’s era, while in the Philippines, there are radio station that only plays these kind of songs. Talaga bang lovestruck ang mga Pinoy? Hmmm.

Listening to these kind of love songs remind me of my sleepless nights in Diliman. Listening to Allison Krause singing Now That I Found You is better than hearing JoJo (some 13-y.o. kid who looks like Lindsay Lohan) every two hours. Bwah.