Jay Lagare

Did quite a lot last sunday: went to the dry cleaner, had a hair cut, had lunch at Piadina, watched the cat show/contest sponsored by the Philippine United Society of Ailurophiles (PUSA), and watched The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (now that’s a long title).

It’s a pretty cool movie. It has shades of the Wizard of Oz and the Lord of The Rings. It’s not quite Oz but it does evoke that feeling of wonder and awe back when you were still not as jaded or pragmatic. Nor is it quite LOTR as the plot is much more simplistic (e.g. very few would think Aslan clever for his sacrifice trick).

Towards the end, there was a quite violent battle between the forces of good and evil. I guess that would be another influence of Tolkien on Lewis and the LOTR movie on the director. But it is not anywhere near LOTR’s battles. I actually hope the battles of both movies are as gritty as Braveheart but I guess nobody else would want an R rating for this movie.

Overall, I think the movie is primarily for children or children at heart. But then, most of us are to a certain degree, aren’t we? ;)

Rating: 4/5

Final exams were just done and I was looking for something to spend my time on. Enter King Kong. I decided to watch it because apparently people feel it is good: tons of cinemas were showing it (in Eastwood it was showing in ALL cinemas). Much more than any movie in recent memory. I went into the cinema with pretty high expectations.

I wasn’t disappointed.

The movie started off a bit slow: The background is set and the characters and their relationships built up. Then they stumble upon a mysterious island and it was non-stop action from there all the way to the ending in New York. You have to see the action scenes: from the dinosaur stampede, to the monster rumble, to the insect attack, to the city rampage, and finally to the battle up at the top of the Empire State Building.

It would seem like the movie got a lot of ideas from other movies. But remember that the original King Kong was where lot of other movies got ideas from in the first place.

And the acting is not bad either. Naomi Watts was gorgeous in a breathless 30s actress kind of way. Adrien Brody did well as the unexpected hero. He’s supposed to be Watts’ love interest but there seem to be more chemistry between her and the ape. Andy Serkis as the big ape himself almost outdid his Gollum. The only one who seem out of place is that comedy guy from Shallow Hal, but that’s because I saw that movie (as well as a few others). Otherwise he probably would have seemed great to me.

A classic in the making? Looks like that to me ;)

Rating: 4/5

Pi is about a psychotic mathematician (aren’t they all?) trying to develop a formula for making sense of and predicting the stock market. As he struggles against the problem, he is hindered by painful pyschotic attacks but which seems to lead him closer to the answer. As the solution comes within grasp, he realizes that it’s not just him who wants it.

Through great movie-making, Pi successfully draws you into the pyschotic world of the lead character for a pretty immersive move watching experience, i.e. you will almost feel psychotic too :)) As a bonus, it has a lot of interesting math information (some are inaccurate but still interesting nevertheless). Not for the casual viewer but if you’re a serious buff, it could be for you.

Rating: 3/5