The first was “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button“. This is a beautifully made film. It is so good that I don’t think I can ever describe and capture the true beauty of this film. Everything about this film- the makeup, the editing, the acting, the pacing, the visuals, et cetera is a work of art.

There’s something that films can rarely make me do, and that’s crying. Two films I can only remember that actually made me cry a lot were “The Lion King” and “Wall-E” (“The Lion King” probably doesn’t count because that was in first grade). Now, I can proudly add Benjamin Button to the list of films that jerked my tears, because it did, in fact, made me cry like a little baby. I even bawled in the beginning of the film when I saw Benjamin as a seven year old. Just seeing the image of a child (he was born “old” and ages in reverse) who’s unable to walk or even stand up, because he had a 70 year old something weak and shriveled up body was already emotional for me. I was immediately drawn in to Brad Pitt’s character, and I was convinced that he was an actual child, and not of an elderly man despite his appearance.

Benjamin is physically getting younger and everyone body else around him is growing older, thus making the conclusion of the film to be inevitable. My brother (yes, the guy who didn’t like my Christmas gift) said it was one of the movie’s major flaws, but I beg to differ. Knowing the outcome of the film sure as hell doesn’t spoil shit. It is not the meat of the story, it is how the story evolves is what makes it so captivating.

I would also like to point out the digital effects used in the film; it is so advanced and well made that it doesn’t look like the work of CGI. I mean really it’s flawless. The transformation that Brad Pitt (Benjamin) undergoes through roughly every stage of his life is breathtaking.

The film also offers healthy doses of comedic relief…lightning. That’s all I’m going to say haha.

The ending of Benjamin Button was deeply moving and riveting. It made me wonder about the cruelty of time and nature, and how nothing ever lasts.

The next film I watched was “Slumdog Millionaire“. Before watching this, I read a synopsis of said film and it really didn’t get my attention at all. From what I can tell, it was about a dude who was a contestant on India’s own “Who Wants to be A Millionaire” and he was getting all the answers right and shit. Wow boring! This plot is lame! I was not planning to see this movie, at all, until other people had recommended it to me afterwards.

So I went to see the movie the other day, and boy was I wrong.

Everything about this movie is memorizing and the structure of the story was handled with sheer meticulousness.

I really liked the way modern India was depicted. It revealed the cold harsh reality of child exploitation, greed and violence. And thorough out the film, we see the nation develop into an economic power country. The visuals were vibrant and flourishing; it captured the mountains of garbage and waste, it captured the fast moving trains, it captured the ridged roofs of shanty towns, and other parts of the country where tourists rarely gets to see.

Even the subtitles caught my attention. It was colorful and it popped out in random places, I loved it!

I’ve never seen a movie quite like Slumdog before. The very ending of the film threw me off, but in a good way, kind of like, “What-what the hell are they doing?…Oh ok that’s kind of neat.”

I highly recommend both Slumdog and Benjamin Button, they are both at the top of my list as best movies for 2008.

You know what I don’t recommend? “Seven Pounds“. Hly shit that was the third movie I watched yesterday, and I absolutely hated it.

Since this film failed at being awesome (or even “average”), I will make this snappy and write a list of why it sucked hard:

- There were a lot of flashbacks in this film where you can’t tell if it’s a flashback or not, thus throwing a lot of people off.

- The relationship between Ben Thomas and Emily Posa (Rosario Dawson) is extremely premature that their love for each other did not seem genuine, and it would’ve been considered psychotic and idiotic if it were to happen in real life.

- It’s boring. Ben Thomas (Will Smith) is constantly stalking and harassing people, you don’t know why he’s doing it, and most importantly, you don’t really care to know.

- His motives behind his peculiar actions are finally revealed in the end, and once you find out, it’s like, “That’s it? This is what I’ve been waiting for?”

- The focal point of the story is that Ben is trying to help people. Though he doesn’t seem to connect with the people he tries to help (except Emily), and his actions to “help” others seem impulsive and contrived, and it doesn’t come from the heart.

- This is supposed to be a tear-jerker movie, but I didn’t shed a single tear, in fact, I did the opposite, I laughed.

- Hint: Jellyfish made me laugh.

In other words, don’t see this movie. Check out “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” and “Slumdog Millionaire”, you won’t be sorry!

I hated it.  I really didn’t like any of the performances either.  And I guess it’s cool that MTV used Paramount studios to create like, movie-like scenes and meshed them with some of the performances, but what totally sucks is that none of the performers really took advantage of that.

Yeah, you have stuff blowing up, and there’s Pink breaking mirrors and windows, which is typical of her to break shit, but seriously, where’s the wow factor in that? They were all boring as hell.

Also, the awards took place literally at like a small venue, and the capacity of the room (yes, ROOM) could probably hold a little over a hundred.  Or even less. You know, that explains a lot though, I was checking out the prices of the tickets to the VMAs a while ago and all of them cost at least a thousand bucks.  The cheapest ones usually cost around hundred.

But anyway, I’ve watched every VMAs ever since I was a little youngster, and every VMAs was always held at some large, extravagant amphitheater, so to bring the VMAs into a small, cheap space for the first time makes me feel claustrophobic and not as privileged.

And the host—Russell Brand—isn’t that funny, at least not in the awards show.  He talked about the Jonas Brothers the most, and the fact that all three of them have purity rings.  None of the jokes referring to the “Jo Bros” wasn’t even close to funny, but Brand wouldn’t give it a rest.

To conclude, VMAs is the worst VMAs of all time.  It definitely did not measure up to their previous awards show.  It was at the lowest of low.  It was the suckiest of sucked.  Host sucked. Setting sucked.  Performances all sucked. I want my three hours back.

So here, I present to you my topnotch list of outrageously good looking Eurasian/Hapa men:

5. Dennis Oh (actor/model)

This guy has enough hotness to liquefy a 50-ton block of ice and a football field of Frostys the snowman. His smile is remarkably innocent yet peculiarly hypnotic that getting rejection from women is probably unheard of to Dennis. Also, his immaculate features and good bone structures render him immune to failure and ugly chicks.

4. Troy (model)

If Elvis Presley were to morph into a scrawny Asian guy, he would probably look like Troy. Troy has a very mysterious, odd and edgy appearance that I once thought was originated from another dimension, a majestic fantasyland most likely known as Eurashotnessia. From looking at his photos, I get this huge vibe that he performs really weird and abnormal and kinky shit in bed…I mean after all he is from another world.

3. Justin Nozuka (musician)

RichL and I are total fans of Justin. Only difference is that she’s of fan of his music, and I’m a fan of his hotness. He has one of the best convincing puppy dog eyes and he seems to radiate a sense of heart, refined innocence, and slight geekiness, which are some of the traits that I find to be oddly charming in the opposite sex.

2. Daniel Henney (actor/model)

I once watched a documentary about his mother visiting him in Korea, and despite the palpable hotness he emitted through my computer screen, it turns out that he actually has a personality and is a genuine momma’s boy. The poor baby was literally crying a flood when his mom had to leave to the airport. And to top it all off, he has a role in the film X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Whoa!

1. Daniel Cloud Campos (dancer)

He is a talented b-boy/dancer (hence being a former backup dancer for Madonna) and could possibly kick your ass with a single windmill whip of high-energetic-metabolic-double-standard-roundhouse-kick to the throat. He has a keen eye for art and possesses his own unique style—most of which are manic, anorexic looking cartoon characters that are probably related to the aliens from the movie Space Jam. There’s fast-paced movement and life that is projected throughout his work, and that’s what makes it so appealing. Overall, Cloud is much more than an emblem of hotness, and that’s why he gets the number one spot on my legit list.

I got the chance to watch The Strangers today and there was really not much reaction after watching it. If I had to give a grading for the film, it’d be somewhere along the lines of a D.

There were a few scenes that left chills at the back of my neck (ie the way that the film was shot suggested that the masked figures could have been anywhere), but it did not make up for the awful and utterly predictable overall story.

Personally, an excellent (but rare) modern day horror film would not rely on people or random objects bursting out of dark corners, unexpected loud thumps and other things that would drive the audience to jump in surprise and fear. Any horror movie can do that.

The Strangers is the epitome of “jump out” scares. One or two times is okay, I can take that, but to have that reoccur over and over and over again is just distracting. There was not one single moment where I was relaxed during the film, since there was always a silent moment and then a sudden BWWAAAAHK!!! Following by piercing screams of Liv Tyler. Let’s just say I was less concerned with the movie, and more concerned about not looking like a pussy.

And finally, another reason why this film gets a D grade is because the protagonists repeats the mistakes that victims in generic horror movies always make. Basically, they’re retarded and fail at my list of what NOT to do in a horror movie (future post).

All in all, it’s an alright movie. The plot is pretty much straightforward, no twists, no turns…go figure.