Darla!

Category: movies

  • Catching Fire + An Abundance of Katherines

    The thing about getting to watch a movie on its first showing day is that you also get the pleasure of saying (or shouting, if you prefer) “What do you mean you haven’t seen Catching Fire? That movie is rad!” So, I have been pulling my hardest try to see every good movie on its premiere. It’s been that way since, like, two years ago or so.

    And of course I did that too for Catching Fire. Not only it was predicted to be a succesful movie, being the sequel to The Hunger Games that it is, but the whole series is also a special series for me. The Hunger Games was the first movie I watched together with A (we weren’t technically on a date back then, since we saw the movie together with other friends and we hadn’t confessed our feelings for each other, so-). It was actually me who dragged him into watching it and later into liking the trilogy. It’s super special.

    Catching Fire premiered in my country one day before the actual worldwide premiere schedule. People on Twitter were questioning it but I just grabbed a newspaper and there it was: Catching Fire was on. Luckily, I got two tickets for the afternoon show. A showed up a little late, but I didn’t miss any part of it.
    Boy was the movie almost exactly like what I had imagined it would be! It’s the perk of watching the first movie before reading the whole trilogy. I read the trilogy with the movie in mind; Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss, Josh Hutcherson as Peeta. That way, when I read Catching Fire, I could get a clear image on how the movie would be and then it all came true. Just like magic.
    And speaking of magic… (If you’re friends with me on Goodreads, you might have seen that I have stated this there) John Green is hands down the Albus Dumbledore in young adult fiction writing. That man is like wizard with his way of writing. I just finished An Abundance of Katherines and it left me with yet another John Green-gasm. Well, it’s still not as good as Looking for Alaska, but it is… significant.

    I think it’s the thing about John Green’s books; they’re significant. I’ve read a critic about them somewhere, saying that John Green has this boring plot in each of his book: a wallflower-kind-of boy and a girl with a there’s-no-other-girl-like-her personality whom said boy falls in love with. I agree with that, but we can’t put aside the fact that each of them is so significant that everytime you finish one book, you crave for another. Or so I feel.

    And now that I’ve read five out of six John Green’s books, I should probably hunt the last one. Also since Mockingjay willl not be released until next year, I think I’ll just sit here excitedly waiting for The Hobbit (13 Dec) and series 3 of Sherlock (which will air on the New Year’s Day! Finally!)

  • Minions!

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    This was the fourth movie I watched in these past three weeks. Summer sure is a hard time for a college student like me. There are so many good movies that I want to watch but I have to keep it on my budget limit. Why can’t they be released periodically, like, one good movie each month in the whole year? Ugh, Hollywood!

    Anyway, Despicable Me 2 is super hilarious. I’ve read many good reviews of this movie and I agree with most of them. It actually has a cliche plot and storyline that I could guess who the bad guy was since, like, halfway through the movie. Besides, it doesn’t have a sad part; unlike the first one and any other children’s movie.

    However, these flaws are put aside by none other than the Minions! Yes. I think it will be safe to say that Despicable Me 2 would be nothing without them. Take them away, and the movie is dead. 90% of the laughters in the theater was caused by them (“Bottom! Hahahahahah…”). I hope they could do it better if they are going to make Despicable Me 3. Since there will be Minions Movie, if Despicable Me 3 doesn’t have a good stodyline, I don’t think people will be interested.

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    Oh and by the way, have you watched this mini movie?

  • Now You See Me

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    This movie was super entertaining. I’ve always loved crime stories since I was a kid, and this one is just brilliant. You should see it.

    I’m not writing a review for this one, but I tell you this: This movie tells you why Mark Ruffalo is always angry and why he becomes Hulk.

    Also, Dave Franco is cute.

  • A Few Thoughts on Man of Steel

    Last week was the very first time that I watched a 3D movie, can you believe it? It was so unconvenient, given the fact that I’m a full time eyeglasses wearer now, so I had to wear two pairs of them at the same time. My poor nose had quite a hard time.

    Man of Steel was… kinda boring. After being invaded by Marvel superheroes these past years, I found Man of Steel lacking of fresh humour. Did I even let out a single laughter? I don’t remember. The Batman trilogy still had some jokes that could crack me up, though not as many as those in Marvel superheroes movies. I don’t know if you guys agree, but this lack of jokes made me feel disappointed.

    The 3D effects at the first half an hour of the movie were pretty good. But in the middle of the movie, it seemed like they forgot to add the effects. Again, it made me feel disappointed. Luckily, the ticket price for the 3D version was the same as the regular one, so I didn’t complain too much. Haha…

    Aside of those flaws, I still think that the storyline is good. I like this one better than Superman Returns (though I like the humour in Superman Returns better). It also makes more sense; Lois Lane knows that Clark Kent is Superman. I’d always thought that among all the damsels in distress in other superhero stories, Lois Lane was the dumbest one for not realizing that Clark Kent was Superman. Spiderman wears a mask, so it is understandable that Mary-Jane doesn’t know that he’s actually Peter Parker. But Superman is just a non-eyeglasses version of Clark Kent and Lois Lane didn’t know that. What?

    I’ll definitely watch the next installment of this new Superman franchise. I heard that Man of Steel is the first movie to introduce the DC Universe and that there is going to be a Justice League movie, but without Christian Bale. We’ll see if it’s going to be any good, just like The Avengers.

  • 5 Jahre Leben


    Hello there, dear Daradise readers! I’ve abandoned this blog for more than 10 days. I really hope you don’t mind me being so moody in blogging lately. I’m not busy or anything, but I’m just not in the mood to sit down in front of my laptop to write. So sorry…

    Anyway, A and I got the chance to attend this year’s German Cinema Film Festival in Blitzmegaplex Paris van Java on Saturday. We got two tickets for a film entitled 5 Jahre Leben (or 5 Years). It’s a movie about an innocent man who is mistakenly jailed for terrorism. He is abused for five years in Guantanamo Bay and forced to confess to a crime that he never did. He’s finally released due to the lack of evidence.

    It was all fun and I enjoyed the movie, until a scene in which the prisoner is forced to kill a lizard that has been his (kind of) pet in his cell. I cried like a baby and A had to comfort me. It’s one of my weaknesses: I always cry whenever animals are killed in movies (guess what happened when I watched Life of Pi?).

    5 Jahre Leben was the second movie that we watched this week. Last Thursday, we went to see Man of Steel 3D in Ciwalk together with the people from A’s work. But I will talk about the new Superman later because I have to be a timekeeper and scorer in the Scrabble competition in AECS. See you!