Clearly, I can’t take my own pictures to save my life.
At last, the end is near...
SPOILERS AHEAD!!!
As a big fan of the entire Harry Potter series, I really, really liked the seventh instalment. It felt like a big departure from the formula utilized in the previous books, and despite the seemingly aimless pace of the first quarter or so of the book, it managed to wrap itself up to an exciting crescendo.
It’s not so difficult to imagine that I went into the theatre with one of my movie buddies, Faiye, with rather high expectations. The movie was obviously not going to throw me too many curveballs, having been adapted from the book and all, but I wanted to see how they turned the storyline that played out purely in my imagination into a visual spectacle.
So far, I don’t think I have any major issues with the film. In fact, if anything, I’m very pleased with how the movie turned out, and couldn’t even write a single negative thing about it except how unattractive I find Ginny Weasley, which shouldn’t really be a point of discussion as far as the merits of the film go.
The story follows the book fairly closely: instead of going on their seventh and final year, Harry and his friends, Ron and Hermione, travel in search of the remaining Horcruxes that keep Voldemort alive no matter how many times you would try to kill him. Only in destroying all his Horcruxes would it be possible to bring about Voldemort’s final defeat.
Many twists and turns happen throughout the course of the film, and I don’t feel the inclination to go all over them again, as I already reviewed the book before, so I’d like to just dwell on the comparisons one can make between the film and the book, and I don’t mean minute changes, like for example, having Hedwig get killed outside of her cage, or Harry neglecting to use Polyjuice at key points in their travels, and even making it a plot point in the films.
Ultimately, I think what makes the film work is that it recognizes its limitations as a medium, and as such, keeps things very action-packed even during the seemingly aimless wandering going on in the story as they fruitlessly try to figure out how to find the other Horcruxes. It’s also a bit amusing to realize that Kreacher had to be shoehorned into the storyline because he was overlooked during the fifth movie. I really liked Kreacher’s character, albeit I certainly can’t help but feel for Dobby after what happened to him at the end of this film, which was where they cut things off.
Overall, even if my comments on the film are sparse, I genuinely liked it. Emma Watson and Daniel Radcliffe making out was pretty hot, too. Definitely a great film, and something I’d love to watch again and again, albeit Part 2 couldn’t come sooner.
Fun Evaluation: A+
Critical Evaluation: A+
.:Film Review: My Amnesia Girl:.
Para kang exact change. Wala nang kulang sa buhay ko.
My Amnesia Girl
Hindi ako giniginaw. Kinikilig lang.
I have to say, I keep on getting impressed by John Lloyd Cruz every single time I watch one of his movies. The man just has a natural kind of charisma that leaps out to you from the screen. Everything he says and does comes so naturally, that no matter what he’s doing, it doesn’t feel like acting at all. Every single aspect of it feels so real and so genuine, and that’s what allows you to fall into the storyline and accept everything about it, hook, line, and sinker.
This film follows the story of Irene and Apollo (Aileen Apolo, are you suing them for this? Just kidding.), played by Toni Gonzaga and John Lloyd Cruz respectively. They meet at a speed dating event where Irene is one of the organizers, and Apollo decides to just bow out of the speed dating and chat her up.
It didn’t take long before some of the cheesiest lines you’d ever hear were quickly rattled off by the instantaneously lovestruck couple. I don’t think I’d need to quote any of them, because I’ve given a few of my examples at the start of this review as is. Since Hao is like one of my only two friends willing to watch Tagalog films with me, I ended up watching this with her. Let me just say that the pickup lines were hilarious, even though some of them were already overused, and the film using Nicole Hyala’s song was both the best and worst thing about the cheesy lines.
This was, from top to bottom, a date movie. It’s really awesome watching this with a special someone, albeit unfortunately, that wasn’t the case for me. It was great how believable it seemed for Irene and Apollo to hit it off so early on in the film, and everything about their relationship felt just so... plausible. And it’s certainly better than it sounds. I guess that’s why it tugs at your hearstrings that after the first montage of sweet scenes, Apollo just ups and leaves Irene at the altar. From there, the movie gets more and more interesting.
After some time, they meet again, and this time, Irene has a bad case of amnesia, not remembering anything about her erstwhile relationship at all. Except it was all an act, and in one of the most brilliant plays of the “love is sweeter the second time around” trope, Apollo, despite resistance from Irene for his betrayal, falls in love all over again.
Things come to a head when Irene owns up to the ruse, but it’s handled very maturely here: it’s obvious they still both want each other, and finally make an effort to patch things up, until the plot twist happens, and Apollo meets an accident and ends up with genuine amnesia.
Ah, sweet love. The film was a really good one, and played on my expectations of a 50 First Dates ripoff, only to become something far better and downright heartwarming. I think Toni and John Lloyd have wonderful chemistry, and the supporting cast behind them works very well with the lead stars. Everything just fell into place, and I couldn’t help but get goosebumps as the film unfolded itself.
This film is just... wow. A masterpiece, in my book. I guess it’s not quite perfect because of the predictable plot twist at the end, but on a technical level, it was certainly better than “Paano Na Kaya,” although I have to say that I just like Kimerald more, so I’m hopelessly biased, despite the higher score I might be giving this film.
Fun Evaluation: A
Technical Evaluation: A
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