Movierama 2016

I pretty much spent my holidays watching tons of downloaded movies. I miss cable TV since we do not have one yet because our house is new and we’re still in the process of getting utility services installed. I just love movie marathons, I learn a lot from watching movies aside from it keeps me entertained.

Let me start with the John Green ones since I read some of his novels.

Paper Towns (2015)

Main Characters:

• Quentin "Q" Jacobsen (Nat Wolff)
• Margo Roth Spiegelman (Cara Delevingne)
• Marcus "Radar” Lincoln (Justice Smith) - one of Q’s best friends
• Ben Starling (Austin Abrams) - another one of Q’s closest friends 
• Lacey Pemberton (Halston Sage) - Margo’s friend
• Angela (Jaz Sinclair) - Radar’s girlfriend

Margo moved to Q’s neighbourhood when they were still kids and the two became best of friends all throughout their childhood lives. Things changed when they became teenagers, Margo started ignoring Q and hooked up with a guy named Jase. Margo turned different as well, rebellious, non-conformist and became friends with the meanies. Amidst Margo’s indifference towards him, his secret admiration for her remained.

One night whilst Q is fast asleep Margo climbed up his bedroom window to ask if she could borrow his car. Never did Q expect that Margo will ever speak to him again since they became teens, so, as if spellbound by Margo he agreed to go with her. Q realised that Margo is up to 'get even' against her ex-boyfriend Jase for sleeping with her friend Becca by taking a picture of Jase whilst running naked, covered Lacy’s (one of her friends as well) car with cling wrap, spray painted the letter ‘M’ and left a note that their friendship is over. Q expected a start of something different after their adventure together. Margo mentioned the word ‘Paper Towns’ during one of their conversations as well and she said things would change between her and Q etc. but she was gone the next day and was never seen afterwards. Rumours kept circulating about Margo's whereabouts since her disappearance.

Q is aware Margo is fond of leaving clues every time she’s off to somewhere except for clues because you have to decipher it yourself. He later on found that Margo might be in a town called Agloe, NY which is a paper town, a fictional town that mapmakers use as a copyright trap.

Q’s friends Radar and Ben persuaded him to go after/find Margo no matter how pressed for time they were (due to the prom) because he loves her. Radar tagged his girlfriend Angela along, Lacey also joined them, so she could tell Margo how wrong she was since she was puzzled why Margo ended their friendship.

The gang was on the road for 20+ hours. Q did not find Margo at this farm house yet with all his gumption decided to stay and still look for her. He told his friends to go home since they should be back on time for the prom. Q whilst at the souvenir shop saw Margo walked by and ran after her. She was surprised to see Q in Agloe, they talked and he then realised that Margo will be Margo, the free spirited, non-conformist girl who thinks that the world is her comfort zone. Q thanked Margo and claimed that their adventure that night was one the best times of his life before he heads off to college. Q took the bus home and went back to his little family, his friends Radar and Ben. And then they graduated, Radar gave Q and Ben each one of his parents’ collection, a black santa claus little figurine.

It was a nice flick about friendship, love and life. That, we should enjoy life for as much as we could because there are chapters in life you can never go back to. Life is not just for living, add a little adventure to it. I personally would love to go somewhere far on a road trip, just for kicks. 

On the other hand, I kind of like Margo’s character, she’s bohemian, free spirited girl who’s not afraid to explore and be her. She’s not scared to face the unknown. I hope the world produces more of her kind, someone who’s not afraid to come out of her comfort zone.

Paper Towns is a flick I recommend to those who will be leaving high school soon or those graduating from College, find something life changing before you start a new chapter in your life because who knows that ‘something’ might change you perspective about life forever.

The Fault In Our Stars 2014

"Pain demands to be felt"

I read the book myself and I honestly thought it was tragic and sad but nevertheless I still watched the movie just to see the characters in human form. I was surprised to see Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort (Divergent) played the role of lovers Hazel and Augustus in this flick ‘cuz they were siblings in Divergent lol. Anyways, they were good actors though.

Main Characters:

• Hazel Grace Lancaster (Shailene Woodley) - has terminal thyroid cancer
• Augustus Waters (Ansel Elgort) - lost a leg from bone cancer, Hazel’s love interest
• Peter Van Houten (Willem Dafoe) - writer of An Imperial Affliction
• Isaac (Nat Wolff) - Augustus’ friend, became blind due to cancer as well.

Hazel’s mother thought she was depressed because she’s been reading the same book over and over thus sends her to this Cancer patients support group. She has terminal thyroid cancer which already spread to her lungs thus she brings her oxygen tank with her wherever she goes.

Hazel met Augustus Waters who lost a leg when he was younger due to bone cancer and has been cancer free. The two became lovers and at one point Hazel shared to Gus (Augustus) this book called An Imperial Affliction, a novel about a cancer-stricken girl named Anna, reminiscent of Hazel's ordeal. Gus liked it except for the abrupt ending, their frustrations were mutual though. Gus, curious how the story will end, sent the author, Peter Van Houten an email. Hazel and Gus went all the way to Amsterdam to meet him yet they were distraught to learn what an asshole Peter was. Whilst still in Amsterdam, Gus told Hazel that his cancer came back and is terminal. It was a short eight days, Gus passed on.

During his funeral Peter had a moment to talk to Hazel no matter how pissed off Hazel was at him. He said the book is about his daughter, handed this letter to Hazel which she refused to read thinking it was from Peter. Hazel learned from Isaac the letter was from Gus. She read and smiled.

It was a sad ending because Gus died but at least they found each other and spent their forever within the numbered days like what Hazel said. John Green loves unconventional endings I guess.

Alright, let me shift from drama to a heart racing one.

San Andreas (2015

Main Characters:

• Ray (Dwayne Johnson) - Blake’s Dad, LAFD search-and-rescue helicopter pilot
• Emma (Carla Gugino) - Blake’s Mom
• Blake (Alexandra Daddario) 
• Ben (Hugo Johnstone-Burt) - engineering student from England, Blake’s love interest
• Ollie (Art Parkinson) - Ben’s little brother
• Daniel Riddick (Ioan Gruffudd) - Emma’s new boyfriend
• Dr. Lawrence Hayes (Paul Giamatti) - a Caltech seismologist

Blake’s parents are in the middle of a divorce. She lost her sister to drowning thus grew her parents apart. Ray, her dad, is supposed to go with her for a trip to San Francisco but work got in the way so she went with Daniel instead, her mom’s new boyfriend.

In San Francisco, Daniel tagged Blake along to his office. She met brothers Ben and Ollie, British siblings from England. Ben, an applicant at Daniel’s office, was accompanied by his younger brother Ollie and they’re supposed to tour San Francisco afterwards. Ben spilled his coffee and Blake let him borrow her hanky. She learned that he’s there for a job interview. Ollie then butt in and asked for Blake’s number on his brother’s behalf. She left her number in Ollie’s little tourist guide book in case they need help touring the city.

Meanwhile, Dr. Lawrence Hayes,  a Caltech seismologist found that the San Andreas fault is moving and a magnitude 9 earthquake is happening anytime soon. The quake hit sooner than expected whilst Emma is having lunch at a hotel with Daniel’s sister. She was one of the casualties although not badly wounded that she still managed to jump towards Ray’s helicopter. They went to search for their daughter Blake in San Francisco aboard the search and rescue helicopter. Blake was left behind by the way by Daniel as soon as he got the chance when they got trapped at the building’s parking lot. She was later on saved by Ben and Ollie when the brothers overheard Daniel told the police that a woman was trapped at the parking lot.

Blake called her parents from an already turned ramshackle shop’s phone and told them she’s with Ben and Ollie. Ray and Emma joined forces to rescue their daughter. Ray safely landed their helicopter since it’s out of fuel in Bakersfield, CA then continued their search on a motor boat. Amidst the rubble and tsunami, they found Blake at this collapsing building whilst on a motor boat. Blake almost died but her parents found her along with brothers Ben and Ollie. Ray resuscitated Blake, she survived.

It was one hell of a movie really from start to finish. I enjoyed it because it kept me jumpy and awake. Well, except for the casualties, I was awed by the special effects of course, it was reminiscent of the movie 2012, kinda like dooms day.

If you love suspense then go ahead and rent a copy if you haven’t seen this movie yet since it was on theatres last year.

And the last, my fave.

Almost Famous (2000)

Main Characters:

• Penny Lane (Kate Hudson) - Lady Goodman a.k.a Penny Lane, Original founder of Band Aids
• Russell Hammond (Billy Krudrup) - guitarist, Stillwater
• William Miller (Patrick Fugit) - aspiring 15 year old rock music journalist
• Elaine Miller (Frances McDormand) - William’s mother
• Anita Miller (Zooey Deschanel) - William’s sister
• Lester Bangs (Philip Seymour Hoffman) - rock journalist from Cream Magazine. Became William’s mentor

I’ve seen this movie a few times but it’s still one of the coolest ones ever for rock music fans like me.

William Miller grew up with an English college professor mother Elaine, who was kind of control freak and wants him to become a Lawyer, and Anita, her sister who loves Simon and Garfunkel which his mom claims to be writing songs about whilst on dope. His sister Anita and mother never got along. Later on Anita flew out of state to become a stewardess and left her most precious LPs to William, she whispered someday you will be cool.

William submitted articles to Lester Bangs, a renowned journalist of Cream Magazine. He liked his articles and thought William was a smart kid. Lester gave him an assignment, to write an article about Black Sabbath and he’ll get $35 which he happily accepted. He went to the Black Sabbath concert but was not allowed (even if he claimed to be a journalist from Cream magazine) at the back stage because he doesn’t have any pass. He was told to join the ladies a.k.a groupies but still no good until the band Stillwater turned up. The band manager cussed William after he introduced himself as a journalist (because the band was dissed by Rolling Stones at one point), he was allowed in after he said that the bands music was incendiary. They called him ‘the enemy’ though. Russell Hammond, the guitarist liked William especially when he realised that he knows Penny Lane, who claims to be a band aid and not a groupie. Penny and Russell seemed to already have this ‘thing’ for each other.

His one time stint as a free lance journalist became serious when Rolling Stone’s Editor Ben Fong-Torres offered him to write an article for them for a grand. William picked the band he’s with, Stillwater. William eventually joined the band during their tour, from one state to another, missed his exams, lost his virginity, was exposed to the rock and roll lifestyle, drugs and became close to Penny and the band. He learned that Penny is in love with Russell, but Russell has a girlfriend named Leslie and that, Penny is just his girlfriend while on tour. William never liked the idea because Penny is real and she doesn’t deserve to be treated like that.

The band left Penny on her birthday, the manager said they cannot accommodate her on the plane anymore. William felt terribly sorry for Penny and divulged that they traded her for a case of beer and fifty bucks.

William failed to attend his high school graduation, finally showed up at the Rolling Stone office, to their shock, they found out that William is just a kid. Still, Ben was amazed with his writing prowess. However, the band denied 90% of what he wrote and claimed they were pure fabrication since he’s just a fan. Russell however, in the end, called the magazine to refute what he originally said thus William’s story was published. Stillwater made it on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine and the story was called Stillwater runs deep.

I love this flick and let me also mention that it bagged 2001 Grammy Award for Best Compilation Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media. Roger Ebert , best film of the year, 9th best film of the 2000s, two Golden Globes: Best Picture and Kate Hudson won Best Supporting Actress as per Wiki.