The Thin Line

Happiness and Change

"I read this study where they followed people who won the lottery, and people who had become paraplegic, right. You'd think that... you know, one extreme is gonna make you... euphoric, and the other suicidal. But the study shows that after about 6 months, as soon as people got used to their new situation, they were more or less the same.

"Like if they were basically an optimistic, jovial person, they're now an optimistic, jovial person, in a wheel chair. If they're a petty miserable asshole, ok, they're a petty miserable asshole with a new Cadillac, a house and a boat."

- Jesse (Ethan Hawke) in Before Sunset

The Controversial "Golden Compass"

My only thought is: Is there a market for animal armor like the one on the polar bears in the film?

FILM: Superman Returns

Remember your first time watching Superman I with Christopher Reeve as the Man of Steel?

I saw it in the early 80's as a little kid. It's a 70's movie of course, but it was shown over and over through the years. Together with my family, I first saw it the local theaters in my place of birth, Tarlac City (then just a town).

It was magical to see Clark Kent throw a crystal into the icy waters of the North Pole, and then later see him finally don his blue and red costume and fly towards the screen with the classic Superman theme playing. Yes, turning back time to save Lois Lane was a bit of a stretch, but it never ruined the film for me (not when I last saw it a few months ago and certainly not when I was 7 years old).

Maybe it's his power to break free from gravity. It's because I'm morbidly afraid of heights. Knowing how to fly, I think, would solve it. But there's a lot more wish fulfillment that we can relate to our favorite superheroes.

"Superman Returns" doesn't have the same magic. It's because I've already seen it all and it's just difficult to be in awe with a modern myth that i've seen over and over my entire life through comic books and cartoons -- not to mention the completely forgetable Superman III and IV (II wasn't that bad). Of course, I think Brian Singer's take on the legend was nicely done if you just think of it as a film.

Some fleeting notes:

- It might be inevitable that people will compare Superman falling into the earth with his arms outstretched to Jesus Christ dying on the cross. I can probably safely assume it was done on purpose as a savior metaphor. It's similar to this touching scene in Sam Raimi's Spiderman II where the people on the train he saved carry and pass on an unconscious web-slinger and laid him gently down on the train floor.)

- I love the scene where he hovers over the earth listening to the world.

FILM: Batman Begins/Fantastic Four

Ok, I liked both films for different reasons. Critics had high praise for Batman Begins to the point of proclaiming it as the best Batman movie ever (it probably is). I'm not sure about the part of Bruce Wayne training with Ra's Al Gul as being faithful to the comic book (though I've read a lot of Batman comics back in college). I liked the villain though. The great thing about this movie is that while watching it I'm never distracted with the great gadgets or the cool costume (which all naturally fell into place out of necessity). There are no over-choreographed fight scenes either.

I'm only vaguely familiar with the Fantastic Four. I know Reed was a scientist and their mutations/powers are based on their personalities, i.e. the hothead daredevil becomes The Human Torch while his often shy and reserved sister becomes the Invisible Girl, the brawn of the group becomes The Thing, and finally the genius who stretches (pun intended) the limits of his science becomes the ultra-flexible Mr. Fantastic.

I love comic book movies and as far as I'm concerned, they didn't mess up with these latest ones. Long live DC and Marvel. :)

I wish they'd make a movie out of Neil Gaiman's "Sandman".

FILM: "Before Sunset"

I think this movie is excellent for both the romantic and the jaded.

I remember last year when I saw a review of the indie film "Before Sunset". I actually got confused for a moment and mistook the article to pertain to the original film, "Before Sunrise" (I thought it was a review of the older film on DVD). Close, but wrong time of day.

The sequel is set nine years later -- and the interesting thing is that it really is about that long since the first movie came out. For me, the sequel was a must-see, as the original movie was a bit open-ended. But I enjoyed "Sunset" even more.

One thing you’ll notice is how the characters changed over nine years. In "Sunrise", Celine (Julie Delpy) was the romantic and idealistic type and Jesse (Ethan Hawke) was a bit like the cocky American guy stereotype. Almost a decade later, Celine is now this cynical environmental/human rights activist and Jesse -– who by now is a best-selling author –- seemed more laid back and beaten down by life. It helps that the actors actually play people who are more or less their age.

The original film had this certain rawness in it. The plot is simple: two strangers in their early 20’s meet on a cross-country train in Europe and find that they had "chemistry" between them. They decide to spend a day together in Europe. Even with their "connection", there seemed to be this awkwardness between them -- their youth and inexperience showing. The day ended in Vienna, they spend the night at a park, and before... uhm... sunrise (well actually, it seemed more like some time during early sunrise) the two separated, deliberately not exchanging phone numbers, promising to meet again in Vienna six months later.

In "Sunset", Jesse's best-selling book is based on that one day spent with Celine. His book ends at the same ambiguous note as the earlier film. Did they meet in Vienna after six months or not? You find out later that they never did, but flash-forward to the present and here they are again finally. On their second meeting, they now have only a few hours before Jesse flies back to the US (as supposed to almost a whole day spent getting to know each other in the previous film).

So now the two begin a leisurely stroll through Paris (as well as memory lane). The film happens in real time. To paraphrase Jesse, it's sort of like growing old -- everything seems more immediate and you get to appreciate the moment a lot more.

. . .

Why didn’t they exchange phone numbers? Jesse was asking the same question at one point. Celine offered that they were young and they probably thought that they would feel the same way about many other people in the future, when in reality you can only feel that sort of connection a few times in your life. "And then you screw it up," Jesse replies.

A while ago, I was talking to someone about the movie. We both agreed that Jesse and Celine got back together for good. Then my friend asked sort of rhetorically – Well that means Jesse leaves his family, right? I remember laughing. Well I guess so. My friend laughed with me. But really, it’s a movie, and it’s easy to trivialize the rest of reality while holding on to the romanticism of the moment.

I actually believe there is one person out there who just happens to be the perfect match for you. In fact, it’s easy for me to believe this. It’s almost like religious faith -- believing in the existence of God with or without philosophical abstraction.

I think that having a perfect match isn’t the issue. The tricky part is in believing that you’ll actually FIND that one person.

I sort of run into hurdles of the more pedestrian (but necessary) things in life: responsibility and initiative. As one old cliché goes, love is a decision. You don’t necessarily wait to accidentally meet your ideal and than magically have a series off events that will draw you to each other. Or at least, things do not happen passively. You make it happen.

This kind of argument tends to fall apart eventually. How many relationships do most people go through anyway? If I remember correctly, when Jesse met Celine on the train in “Sunrise”, he was alone on the train only because his girlfriend broke up with him and he simply decided to go about the European tour alone.

You fail to make it happen. You fail to make things work. The truth defaults to the fact that no matter how hard you try, a doomed affair is a doomed affair. How do you know if it really is a no-win deal? I think more often than not, you woudn’t really know. You discern, you make a decision to stick it out or call it quits.

Years ago, it used to be so simple. I would find a cute and kind-hearted girl with a gorgeous smile, and is able to play Beethoven’s Romance No. 2 concerto on the violin. I’d go as far as reuniting heaven and hell to win her heart. Without much complaining about each other's inadequacies, we live happily ever after -- until either or both of us die by stray bullets, a natural calamity, heart disease, or the ravages of old age.

I’m kidding about the violin of course.

Revenge of the Sith, I Saw

Revenge of the Sith, I saw (Notice, did you?).

Merely ok, the movie was.

Entire predictable, it was also.

As bad as the first two episodes, the acting was.

The best, episodes four to five are still.