Avatar, the MMFF 2009 movies I watched, and other stuff
Before I start I just wanna say I had fun having brunch with one of my good friends, Marga K.Manlapig. I met Marga aka Midge through Father Didoy last 2006 when thinkdiocese.org was still existing. Now, the official website of the Diocese of Paranaque is http://dop.ph. We're not "webmasters"/administrators or contributors there anymore (I'm more active here in the Vicariate), but our friendship has grown stronger. Marga aka Midge, is Father Jeff's older sister. He was supposed to come, but he was too sleepy. 
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Some facts from the Wikipedia:
Avatar is a 2009 American science fiction film written and directed by James Cameron, and starring Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaa, Sigourney Weaver and Stephen Lang. The film is set in the year 2154 on Pandora, a fictional Earth-like moon in a distant planetary system. Humans are engaged in mining Pandora's reserves of a precious mineral, while the Na'vi — the sapient and sentient race of humanoids indigenous to the moon — resist the colonists' expansion, which threatens the continued existence of the Na'vi and the Pandoran ecosystem. The film's title refers to the remotely controlled, genetically engineered human-Na'vi bodies used by the film's human characters to interact with the natives. Avatar had been in development since 1994 by Cameron, who wrote a 114-page scriptment for the film.
Filming was supposed to take place after the completion of Titanic, and the film would have been released in 1999, but according to Cameron, "technology needed to catch up" with his vision of the film. In early 2006, Cameron developed the script, the language, and the culture of Pandora.
He has stated that if Avatar is successful, two sequels to the film are planned.
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Interesting. In the first installment, the earthlings are the invaders.
One of my sisters-in-Christ said that the earthlings don't even care for the earth so it's the same BS, just in a different planet.
The movie was fifteen years in the making...blood, sweat, tears...plus a great team effort. It was worth the wait and everything else. The end product was a work of art.
Although I'll always remember Sam Worthington best in Terminator Salvation, he wasn't bad here. Of course, Sigourney Weaver and Zoe Saldaña were superb too.
This is James Cameron's best work so far(some say he plagiarised this, but let's not go there).
BTW, if you haven't seen this film or have no idea what this is all about, I must say that this has nothing to do with the Last Air Bender (there's another version of the movie showing next year) or the Japanese manga.
By the way, the "alien" dialect is the constructed language of the Na’vi, the sapient humanoid indigenous inhabitants of the fictional moon Pandora in the 2009 film Avatar. It was created by Paul Frommer, a professor at the Marshall School of Business with a doctorate in linguistics. Na’vi was designed to fit James Cameron's intention for the film and to be pronounceable by the actors, but to not closely resemble any single human language. As of 2009, Na’vi has a continuously growing vocabulary of about a thousand words, but understanding of its grammar is limited to the language's creator.
THE METRO MANILA FILM FESTIVAL
MOVIES I WATCHED
MOVIES I WATCHED
1. MANO PO 6
母愛
Directed by Joel Lamangan
Written by Roy Iglesias
Produced by Roselle Monteverde-Teo
Starring Sharon Cuneta
Zsa Zsa Padilla
Christopher De Leon
Kris Aquino
Zoren Legaspi
Boots Anson-Roa
Ciara Sotto
Heart Evangelista
Nicole Uysiuseng
John Manalo
Dennis Trillo
Niña Jose
Ryan Eigenmann
Glaiza de Castro
JC De Vera
Eda Nolan
and
Felix Roco
Music by Von de Guzman
- My favorite lines weren't the ones Sharon uttered. It was Ciarra Sotto's (Carol, the eldest daughter) lines that wrenched my heart.
- Speaking of "Heart" :-P, Ms. Love Marie Payawal Ongpauco more popularly known as Heart Evangelista(Stephanie, the brat) proved that she is indeed bankable and a very good actor. She was even better than the Mega Star herself. If she were nominated as best actress, I'm sorry...even if the Mega Star's acting was of high caliber, for she was great indeed, Heart was even much, much better.
- I had a favorite Sharon scene. It was when she, Melinda, slapped Olive(ZsaZsa) then eventually boxed her. I'm sorry, Lord (and ZsaZsa), but I enjoyed that.
- Dennis Trillo is a revelation here. He definitely is more than a pretty face.
- Boots Anson Roa is Boots Anson Roa. A Classic.
It would have been a perfect film except for the sing-song lines of some of the bit players.
(After the movie the three of us ate at Tempura, ATC)
2. ANG PANDAY
Directed by Rico Gutierrez
Mac Alejandre
Produced by Annette Gozon-Abrogar
Jose Mari Abacan
Marlon Bautista
Screenplay by R.J. Nuevas
Story by Carlo J. Caparas
R.J. Nuevas
Starring Ramon "Bong" Revilla
Phillip Salvador
Iza Calzado
Music by Von de Guzman
This movie deserves its best picture award. The special effects and the sound engineering was great. OK, the legions/the minions barely move when they are supposed to be clapping or roaring or causing a commotion (present tense screenplay lingo), instead they are motionless, but other than that, Ang Panday is world class!
3. NOBODY...NOBODY BUT JUAN
If not for ate Carol, I would not have been interested in watching this film, even if I love Dolphy and most of his films. Thankfully, I do not regret watching this with mom and RJ. It has a good message and the story, though old, had good twists...the only flaw I guess is the fact that the eldest daughter was supposed to be born in 1945 or something, but she looked too young to be 64 and her child was less than ten years old, so it was impossible for her to give birth to him. If he were a teenager or something, I would just think she married late. Ronnie Quizon, one of Dolphy's children (full brother to Eric and Epi), noticed it too. (Hmmm, let me check the Guiness Book of World Records---OK, someone gave birth at 59, so it is possible...plus we have all those beauty products and procedures nowadays...plus some are just really gifted and look younger than their age).
I love the acting (except the slapstick). Even the co-producer, Joe Aldeguer, was admirable.
4. I LOVE YOU, GOODBYE
Director: Laurice Guillen
Production company: Star Cinema
Screenplay: Laurice Guillen, Mark Meily, Karen Ramos, Vanessa R. Valdez
- I love Angelica Panganiban since she was a little girl. She's really a great actress. I was really impressed when she played the lead in Santa Santita. She's so good that I believe she can forgo all those sexy scenes and she could still be bankable.
- The story weaving was good, but there was a scene there that reminded me of Luis Manzano in "In My Life". LOL. Did he have to say goodbye that way? (Who? Watch it so you'd know)
- Of course, Laurice Guillen is laudable, as ever.
- Kim Chiu was impressive here too. This young lady has a bright future ahead of her.
- Derek Ramsay's eyes are very expressive and they were enough to get the message across. He did his job well!
- Gabby Concepcion, who was Kim Chiu's dad in this movie, of course, was good, except during the part when he was declaring his love to Angelica's role, Lizelle, then he wrapped his arm around her neck...it looked like he was about to throttle her neck or something. I think it ruined the supposed to be a very loving scene. Plus, I think it would have been more meaningful if he did the scene in Tagalog. Hehehe! Anyways, he's so handsome and so nice to look at that I guess some people overlooked it. Gabby Concepcion is definitely an eye candy! ;-)
People say it's overrated. Maybe they just expected more from it, but it's OK. There were just some parts that were unnecessary, that's all.
Kudos to the cast and crew!
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