In-Flight Movies (Atlanta February 2013)

Watching movies is a very rare occurrence in my Makati-bound life.  The last movie I saw this year was The Hobbit and before that, I don't even remember anymore...  When you're a working parent, it's seems like a waste of time to sit and stare at a screen for 2+ hours when that time could be spent on more beneficial things like doing laundry or grocery shopping or playing with the kiddo.

But when you're stuck to a chair with nothing else to do, like on a plane, then watching a lot of movies makes sense.=)  I definitely took advantage of the flights to and from Atlanta to see the following.

I loved this movie even though I saw it on a small, low-def screen.  I think it would be phenomenal on the big screen.  Excellent storytelling and beautiful cinematography.  I know some people who find some sections boring but to me, it was engaging all throughout.  Maybe it's partly due to the fact that I have not read the book so I was just watching the events unfold vs. waiting for the next big scene.

Before the US awards season, I did not know anything about this movie.  Jennifer Lawrence won an Oscar for it and Bradley Cooper was nominated as well so I thought it must have its merits.  I think the main draw was the troubled characters, how they got together, and how they worked on a common goal that led them towards getting better.  Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper brought out characters unlike anything they've done before (X-Men and The Hunger Games/The Hangover).  The novelty of the actors in these roles also made me pay closer attention.

I read the book a few months back and I think the movie adaptation holds its own.  The screenplay was also written by the author, Stephen Chbosky so they have the same overall feel - melancholic, depressing at times but generally hopeful.  I liked this movie.  In the darkness and amidst sleeping passengers, I let myself cry over many scenes.  And it felt good.

Ok, comedy time! I was surprised to see Charice in this movie and it was a significant role, too.  She plays the student of Kevin James' character.  Kevin James plays a slacking biology teacher who decides to become an MMA fighter in order to raise money for the school's music and arts programs which were being cut due to budget.  He enlists the help of an ex-fighter Niko (very funny) to train him.  He started with small competitions and then got the chance at the the big leagues.  In the process, he also rediscovers his passion for teaching and gets Salma Hayek's character to go on a date with him.

Hotel Transylvania was a circus.  It's the story of a father, Dracula, who's trying to protect his daughter from the scary humans by keeping her inside his monsters only hotel forever, if he gets his way.  But to keep a promise, he let her venture out into the 'human village' on her 118th birthday, an experience that proved to her humans are not friendly towards monsters.  Then a wandering human checks into Hotel Transylvania and the riot begins.  I slept through parts of this movie because I got tired and also because there was too much going on all the time that I just tuned out.  But I rewound and saw the parts I missed and finished the whole thing.  It was ok.

I love movies about small towns because the quirky characters stand out more in the simplicity of the setting.  This movie is about a butter-carving competition and the life stories of the unlikely contestants.  Jennifer Garner's character joins the contest for the first time when her husband who has been champion for 15 years was asked to step down and give others a chance.  Garner plays the uptight, scheming character very well.  Her biggest competition is a foster child who recently discovered her talent in butter carving.  Spoiler: Jennifer loses to the child, accuses her of cheating, and loses again in a rematch.  The child told her something that made her realize butter carving is not all she has.

I watched this movie based on the very short description of the plot.  Frank, excellently portrayed by Frank Langella, is starting to forget things and is struggling to take care of himself.  His worried son decides to give him a robot to keep him company and do his errands for him.  Frank is a retired burglar and when he discovered the robot was not programmed to distinguish right from wrong, he decides to teach the robot the tricks of the trade.  They planned and pulled off a burglary.  The victims accused him of the crime but they were never able to prove his involvement.  Frank had to erase the robot's memory so they do not use it against him, a decision that tore him because the robot has proven to be a loyal companion.  In the last scene, Frank with his  wife and 2 children had a picnic before leaving him at a senior home.  He gave his son a note about something buried under the robot's garden.

The Words is a story within a story.  Clayton (Dennis Quaid) is an author who wrote about Rory (Bradley Cooper) a struggling writer who found a novel inside a briefcase bought from an antique store.  He copies the whole novel into his laptop, driven by the need to have those words come from him.  His wife reads the novel, thinks he wrote it an encouraged him to submit it to a publisher.  And it did get published.  He becomes a celebrated author, won awards and went on pretending that he really wrote the book.  Until one day, he encounters an old man who tells him a story about somebody stealing his work, a product of pain from the loss of a child and distance from his wife.  Rory realizes he was the author, and now he has to decide whether to publicly correct his mistake or continue with the charade.  I really liked this movie.  You can feel Rory's dilemma, between wanting to make things right or letting things be.