Silent Sigh

It's the day before Christmas, and i'm still not feeling the Christmas spirit. So what else is new?

I've lost the Christmas spirit years ago. Christmas is for kids, and that was the last time i felt the Christmas spirit--- back when I was still a kid. As i grew up, the holidays became boring, everything became routine. The season became a blur along with all the other days of the year, nothing differentiates it from the others. Typical. Conventional. Trite.

This year marks the first time I'm not spending Christmas eve at home. I don't know why my family's making such a big deal out of it. If I went on with residency training years ago, this would have happened earlier. It was inevitable, it just got delayed. It's something that they are aware of, knowing the line of work that I'm in. So why the sudden outpouring of emotions, like this was something unexpected? Some of them are even shedding a few tears, for crying out loud. I can never understand how some people get so attached to others, how their distance from their loved ones can easily break them down. But I guess that's just me. I was never the dependent nor the sentimental type. As for Christmas--- to me, it's just like most days of the year. Nothing makes it special. That's probably why i'll never understand how they're feeling right now. I don't understand why Christmas is meant for families. I don't understand why we should give presents, as if those presents can adequately translate to material possessions the love and care that we have for one another. I've stopped giving presents to everyone i know a couple of years ago. I just didn't get the whole point. I just buy gifts for those people that I'm sure to receive gifts from. I'm not being selfish, I just do that to avoid the shame of receiving a gift and then not having something to give back in return. If i want to buy a gift for someone, I'll buy it at the spur of the moment. Spontaneous and genuine. That way, it would be a direct manifestation of my feelings at that point in time. I don't want to use a holiday as an excuse to buy anyone presents, let alone a holiday that I can't really get into. It just feels so unnatural and unreal. A lot of people are using the Christmas season as an excuse to do good, to change their habits for the better, to wear a mask temporarily to hide who they really are. Do we really need a specific day each year just to become our ideal selves? Why can't we do that all year round? That's why to me, Christmas feels so commercialized and manufactured. It just seems so fake. If people really changed for the better and not go back to their old habits at the end of the season, then I would be thankful for Christmas, no matter how detached I am from it. But as long as people keep going back to their old habits, then i'll forever be a cynic.

But I guess as long as the season offers us a glimpse of what we could become, then I guess there's still hope, even for a cynical person like me. So I still say Merry Christmas to all... for whatever that's still worth.

Avatar Rocks!

Truth be told, I was half expecting to hate Avatar. I didn't really want to watch it, and I found all those trailers dull. I used to think highly of James Cameron as a Director. But then he directed Titanic, which is arguably the most overrated piece of mush ever created. I don't go for love stories, so stripped of all that mush, I saw that movie for what it really was--- an overly extended mess, which used several devices to manipulate the emotions of those easily swayed in order to hide its numerous flaws. Most fell for that film's tricks, but not me. I just couldn't wait for that gigantic ship to sink and kill all those overly dramatic people.

Now after all these years, James Cameron has finally released his follow up film. And yeah, since it seems to be the only interesting film in cinemas these days, all that hype got the best of me. I just erased all memories of Titanic from my memory and thought of Aliens... True Lies... Terminator. Plus, it's a sci-fi film, and it's also in 3D. If the storyline sucks, then at least the special effects would be mind blowing. And it WAS mind blowing. James Cameron and company have successfully created a new world, one that has so much details and nuances, that any viewer would be immersed into this world. i would admit that the storyline seems to be a mishmash of previous films, but they have injected several new materials to keep the story fresh. And about those battle scenes? James Cameron is definitely back at what he does best, so those sequences appeared natural, unlike those numerous sequences in his previous film where every single scene seemed forced. This is a film that should definitely be seen in an IMAX theater to fully appreciate it. To say that the film is a visual orgasm would be an understatement. Now I'm definitely looking forward to Battle Angel.

The Movie Critic is Back!

The new Twilight movie has earned a gazillion dollars already. I guess it was inevitable that I was bound to watch it, no matter how much I hated all the fanfare surrounding the shitty franchise. It certainly boggles the mind. Can't audiences nowadays invest in something with a little more... substance? Or at least in something that made a little bit more sense? Glimmering vampires. Half naked wolf boys. Teenage girls and seemingly mature women swooning over them. Yeesh. You can say that i just felt the need to write a scathing review. So here it goes.

The Twilight Saga: New Moon

I thought the first movie was a load of crap, so i'll try to be as objective as possible.

To be fair, it doesn't suck as much as the first film. For one thing, because of the bigger budget allotted for special effects, it no longer looks like a B movie. It's just a mystery why they couldn't add a few thousand dollars more to make those wolves less cartoony. As for the plot? It's still something only teenage girls would appreciate. A lot of scenes are obviously made to make the tween audience shriek and swoon. This is fan service at its finest. A lot of those scenes are obviously aimed at brainless teenage girls and closet queens. I mean, look at the wolf boy previously known as shark boy. Did he really need to take his shirt off just to bandage a small wound?! And that's just one of the numerous shirtless scenes, i actually lost count. Jesus, this movie has absolutely no qualms when it comes to exploiting a minor just to please its man hungry audience.

The best part? i guess it would have to be the scene wherein the Volturi were beating the shit out of that Edward guy. Only it would've been so much better if they managed to kill him off. Kill off that Bella chick too while they're in the process. Only then will we be spared from all this nauseatingly brainless mush.

...

So in order to get rid of all that barf inducing Twilight aftertaste left in my mouth, I had to watch another movie. Preferably something gory. Which brings us to...

Ninja Assassin

Yup, it's another brainless action movie. Don't expect anything as innovative as The Matrix from the Wachowski brothers this time around. There's a semblance of a thin plot interspersed between the action scenes, but that's about it. No symbolisms and metaphors, just tons of blood and gore. I've seen a lot of better action movies and nothing in this movie makes it stand out, but hey, I'm not complaining. The action scenes were good enough. All those Ninjas onscreen actually made the action sequences more interesting. Ninjas are fun to watch after all. And all the blood and guts splattered onscreen made those scenes extra appetizing. But most of all, it was good enough to get rid of the bitter taste of New Moon that was still left in my mouth.

That alone makes it an above average film in my book.