Movie Monday: #WALANG FOREVER

Happy New Year! I'm back and Movie Monday is also back to feature one of the Metro Manila Film Festival entries this year 2015, #WALANG FOREVER.

Image from Wikipedia

Movie Monday: Love, Rosie

It's been quite long since my last Movie Monday feature when the truth is I've been watching a lot of movies lately. Now it's back, I'm definitely posting a new one today and I have a new feature icon.

Well, for today's post, Movie Monday features (drum roll please) Love, Rosie. Last January, I posted my book review on Cecilia Ahern's Love, Rosie and I mentioned how I was rooting to watch that movie. However, I haven't seen it immediately when it hit the theaters. It sucks that no one wanted to watch it with me.  Anyway, I still got to watch it later. I mean 1 month later. Thanks to the ever updated g2g.fm. 

Movie Monday: Stardust

Late last month, I posted a review of Neil Gaiman's book Stardust. It was an assigned book read of the month by a bookish community Read Philippines. After reading the book, I immediately downloaded the movie from Isohunt, my torrent best friend.

PLOT:

The English village of Wall lies near a stone wall that is the border with the magical kingdom of Stormhold. A guard is constantly posted at a break in the wall to prevent anyone from crossing. At the beginning of the story, Dunstan Thorn crosses over the wall and into the Wall Market. There, he meets an enslaved princess named Una, who offers him a glass snowdrop in exchange for a kiss. Nine months later, the Wall Guard delivers a baby to Dunstan, saying his name is Tristan.

Movie Monday: Reviewing God’s Not Dead

Aside from being such a booknerd, I'm also a self-confessed movie junkie so I thought, I'll finally make my movie reviews a blog feature. Well, I've posted movie reviews here already before but this time, I solemnly swear I'll never go hiatus again... To formally launch my Movie Monday, my review today is (drum roll please)... God's Not Dead.

Photo from DVD Release Dates

PLOT:

 

Josh Wheaton (Shane Harper), a Christian college student, enrolls in a philosophy class taught by Professor Jeffrey Radisson (Kevin Sorbo), an atheist, who demands that his students sign a declaration that "God is dead" to get a passing grade. Josh is the only student in the class who refuses to sign and is then required by Radisson to debate the topic with him, with the class members deciding who wins.

Radisson gives Josh 20 minutes at the end of the first three lecture sessions to argue that God exists. In the first two debates, Radisson has counter arguments for all of Josh's points. Josh's girlfriend Kara (Cassidy Gifford) breaks up with him, fearing that standing up to Radisson will jeopardize their academic future. Ultimately, it comes down to the third and final debate between Radisson and Josh, who again both make compelling points. Josh then halts his line of debate to pose a question to Radisson: "Why do you hate God?" After Josh repeats the question twice more, Radisson explodes in rage, confirming he hates God for his mother's death that left him alone despite his prayers. Josh then casually asks 

Radisson how he can hate someone that doesn't exist. In the end, Martin (Paul Kwo), a foreign exchange student whose father had encouraged him not to convert to Christianity, stands up and says "God's not dead." Almost the entire class follows Martin's lead, causing Radisson to leave the room in defeat.

Against the backdrop of the debates, a series of peripherally related subplots develop. Radisson dates Mina (Cory Oliver), a Christian whom he often belittles in front of his fellow atheist colleagues. Her brother Mark (Dean Cain), a successful businessman and atheist, refuses to visit their mother, who suffers from dementia. Mark's girlfriend, Amy (Trisha LaFache), is a left-wing blogger who writes articles critical of Duck Dynasty. When she is diagnosed with cancer, Mark dumps her. A Muslim student named Ayisha (Hadeel Sittu) secretly converts to Christianity and is disowned by her family when they find out.

After the final debate, Josh invites Martin to attend the Newsboys concert that is in town. Radisson reads a letter from his late mother, and is moved to reconcile with Mina. Amy confronts the Newsboys in their dressing room, only to admit that she wants to get to know God. While on his way to find Mina, Radisson is struck by a car and fatally injured. Reverend Dave (David A. R. White) finds him and guides him in becoming a Christian as he dies. Mark at last visits his mother, only to taunt her; she responds that all of his financial success was given to him by Satan.

As the film ends, the Newsboys play a video clip of Willie Robertson congratulating Josh. The Newsboys then play their song "God's Not Dead", dedicating it to Josh.

~~~Plot from Wikipedia~~~

Reviewing The Fault in Our Stars

I know it’s a bit late to post a review for TFIOS but I’m still having a hang-over from the movie which is really, really not like most of the book-to-movie adaptation where series of things are cut-off and changed. The movie is just like the book. It’s what I actually visualized when I read John Green’s The Fault in our Stars last year.  Well, I didn’t know who would play the roles but Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort did the job really great. I can’t imagine anyone else play the role apart from them after the success of this movie.

Photo from IBTimes

I watched the movie on its first day in the cinemas. It was already out in Cebu at June 5. I was actually looking forward to watch Maleficent that night but upon seeing TFIOS on the cinema schedule, I changed my mind in an instant and I forced my office mates to come along. My office mate are not bookworms like me so when I told them that the story is awesome and tear-jerking, they were having second thoughts since they were thinking that I might spoil them and that maybe the movie is not that nice since I kind of have a different taste on some things and they were thinking that I’m more of a sci-fi and superhero movie/book addict than a tear-jerking teenage love story.

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire Premiere Night

"So you would think that at this moment, I would be in utter despair. Here’s what’s strange. The main thing I feel is a sense of relief. That I can give up this game. That the question of whether I can succeed in this venture has been answered, even if that answer is a resounding no. That if desperate times call for desperate measures, then I am free to act as desperately as I wish." --Suzzanne Collins, Catching Fire—

I have to say now that I’m now a certified Collins Fan. I have watched and loved the first movie and now totally hooked with the trilogy after watching Catching Fire last night. The movie was action packed that I can already imagine how more amazing it is in the book. (BTW, haven’t read them all yet) Of course, just like the other book series turned movie (i.e. Harry Potter, LOTR, Twilight), the book of course contains everything the movies can’t show.