First post for 2009

In a few days month number one of 2009 draws to a close. And as I expected, I'm back in Cebu and not blogging. Perhaps there's something in Cagayan de Oro that makes me want to blog.

Anyhow, I've seen several movies already (not necessarily released this year): Burn After Reading (2008), City of Ember (2008), Eagle Eye (2008), Millions (2006), Seven Pounds (2008), and Slumdog Millionaire (2008). Here are my thoughts about these movies.

Burn After Reading - There were some funny moments, but it was just not my brand of comedy. Most of the time I wasn't laughing at all.

City of Ember - It was the company's October movie night pick last year, but unfortunately it opened in Cebu in December that resulted into the cancellation of the movie night for that month. I like sci-fi so maybe this is the reason why I liked this movie. It reminded me of Wall-E, only this time the people chose to wait it out underground instead of outerspace.

Eagle Eye - This received many bad reviews, but it's a good thriller actually. The super-duper-computer looked stupid, laughable even, though.

Millions - This came from the makers of Slumdog Millionaire. But it was the more feel-good of the two films and involved saints and an overflow of Scottish accents.

Seven Pounds - The only thing that this movie had it going was Will Smith. Without him (except if maybe replaced with Tom Hanks, the other most likeable actor) this movie had nothing worth watching. The story was intriguing but the movie itself was boring and slow.


Slumdog Millionaire - This came from the makers of 2006's Millions. Supposedly what I saw was the real India or at least the real Mumbai (skyscrapers surrounded by slums) and its people's stories distilled into a single story of one Who Wants To Be A Millionaire contestant. I have the feeling that the same story is true here in the Philippines. This movie pretty much explained why game shows are the number one shows here in the Philippines, and to a lesser extent why poorly-made fantasy series are hits to the masses.

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It seems that the current (fourth) season of Prison Break will be its last. The remaining episodes of the series will be aired in the US, Friday nights starting April 17. Apparently most Americans go to the movies or somewhere other than their homes on Fridays, so the networks dump their soon-to-be-axed shows or those on which they don't have much confidence in that day. Oh well, the big twist this season was pretty much over the top, and somehow it felt like the show was asking for its own death sentence. And Fox gave it that.