The Most-of-time movie for me is...

My mom and I are huge fans of the Manila Film Fest films but I've just got to say that last year's entries weren't even worth.. well.. to be entries in that Film Fest. The MFF's standards have declined and it's such a hug pity.

There was this one movie that my mom and I watched. We heard that Caesar Montano won the Best Actor award for it, so, being self-dubbed movie critics, we watched.

The film was called Ligalig which means "to shake" in english. My mom and I had no idea that this film was actually a horror film. We were scared, yes, but not in the same sense as the objective of the movie. We were frightened by the sexually explicit content that present in every scene, the lack of a story-line, the pathetic attempt of the camera work to convey a sense of fear (because most of the time, the camera would have shaking and "disturbed" shots that was kind of cool at first but then lost its appeal after some time, because it was used in almost every scene so it just left you dizzy and frustrated), and the bad acting. Right in the middle of the film, I was so tempted to walk out because I couldn't understand anything. The story line, as well as having a lack of complex plotting- which should be the case since this movie was supposed to be a psychological horror film- was extremely vague. I wasn't drawn in by the film and found myself, most of the time, thinking about something else other than the film.

It's not a very good film. I couldn't believe that Cesar Montano really won an award for that. It just goes to show where Philippine Media is going these days. Just to add, I found out at the end of the movie, during the rolling of the credits- yes, I stayed the whole time and I regretted it so much... my mom made us stay because she didn't want to waste the ticket- that this film was extremely low budget. It tried so hard to bo one of those low-budget but really good indie films but it just didn't make it. His wife played leading lady and his brother played as the protagonist while he played the villain.

It was honestly a waste of time and money. Don't watch it.

Favorite Movie

To be honest, I don't think I have a favorite movie... I have a bazzilion favorite movies! But if I had to choose an ultimate favorite, I would go with a Disney movie and say Sleeping Beauty. Yes, Walt Disney's Sleeping Beauty.

I know you, I walked with you once upon a dream...

I first watched Sleeping Beauty when I was four years old. I didn't really understand it then but the movie became a quick favorite because of the silliness of the three fairies and the super entertaining "magic scenes" (i.e the party preparation scene in their cottage in the woods). After watching it recently though, I discovered much more about the film. It did not only have that for-children quality, but because of the complexity of all of the characters (Prince Philllip was the typical coming of age son who did not want the responsibility of running his father's kingdom, Princess Aurora who played the typically innocent girl who, because of her ignorance and the over-bearing protection of the fairies, is lured by Melificent to touch the deadly spindle, the fairies who dealt with "friendship" issues because Merryweather thought that Fiona was just too bossy, Melificent who just can't get over the past), the richness of the animation (I really loved the quality of the old Disney movies beacuse they had a richness in color and the drawings looked more real than the new Disney movies today), the consistency of the mise-en-scene and the editing, the clear screenplay and finally the sophistication of the musical score, I was able to appreciate it all the more.

For me, the old Disney movies would always be the best. They have the magic to bring out the child in everyone.