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I love watching movies but ever since I entered law school, I can count in my two hands how many movies that I was able to watch on the big screen. That's how bad law school can ruin your social life! No movies, no dates (scratches head on this one...lolz!), no good dinners (kailangan magtipid para sa sangkatutak na photocopies ng cases, reviewers, at libro, sama mo pa ang pang-gas na ka-mahal-mahal!), no parties (kaya nga kinacareer namin ang pag-thro-throw ng parties sa school, ke birthday o holiday pa man yan, so long as there is a reason to throw a party, we throw one! Even if there is a policy against it. Keber!). In short, no gimmicks! Not that I am a gimmickera or anything but I do enjoy going out once in a while. But law school turned that once in a while into once in a blue moon!

I digress...going back to movie watching...

Whenever I have the chance to sit back, relax and watch a movie, I make the most of it. And making most of it means having a DVD/VCD marathon of at least three films in one sitting. There was even a time I went on DVD-shopping craze at The Ruins in B.F. that I spent close to around 700+ bucks just on old films that I didn't get to watch when they were shown in the cinemas. Four days later, I was already done watching all of them. All 12 of them! Much as I would like to say that my eyes got sore from watching too much, it didn't. But I got sleepy in between movies though. ^_^

Last Sunday, I made the most of the time I had, which was very little considering that I still had a test on Tuesday. Comprehensive Political Law Review exam to be exact with comprehensive (just to highlight the point of the exam being all encompassing) meaning the WHOLE 1987 Philippine Constitution. But since I had with me the Pre-week BarOps reviewer and the case doctrines of compiled by Cayo (FYI: who was voted as Mr. Law School some 2 years ago), and not to forget my "amazing" (I honestly don't know why my college friends and now my law school friends find my reading skills amazing particularly when I read like they do...hmmm...May be its the speed?) reading skills and gift of retention (My mom said I inherited her skill, is it a skill?, of pagiging matandain), I felt confident that I could breeze through it (and I did, bow) that I went ahead with my plan and borrowed a DVD (they had a limited selection of DVD's at this branch) and 2 VCD's from Video City at SM Sucat.

For those of you who know where I live, you're probably saying, "ang layo naman ng hiniraman mo" or "sus! dumayo pa siya, meron namang walking distance from her place". Now, before you call me eng-eng, cause I know that would be coming somewhere in there, lemme explain why I chose to borrow there. For starters and for those who still don't know, my brother works a marketing manager at SM Sucat (and yes, he already has the SM jingle as a ringtone in his phone...Here at SM, we got it all for you!). This spells convenience with a capital C as he can be the one to borrow and return all the DVD's and VCD's that I would like to see. Now, you CAN'T call me eng-eng for borrowing there!

With his work being near and commuting would cost more than one liter of gas, Kuya (I call him that cause its role reversal for us since he's the one working and I'm the one still in school, but not for long, I hope! Since I only have one semester to go! Yippieee!) gets to bring the car (yeah! I commute to and from school as its more expensive to bring a car to Makati in terms of gas cause its flat rate parking in Rockwell) except on occasions that my parents need for something or that I have exams, which I'm done with after taking my last exam for the semester last night! Hooray! Anyway, that particular Sunday, I had to bring him to work since Mom needed the car on hand for doing the groceries. Since I was already there, I decided to check out the Video City store and borrow if I find something to my fancy. And I did find something to my fancy. Not only the display rack but also behind the counter! *lolz!* Its not that he is handsome or anything, I'd give him cute, that caught my fancy. Its the way he easily switched between colloquial Filipino and straight English, complete with accent, that did! I was looking pretty shabby that morning since I slept at 2 am coming from a nightout with my highschool friends hence my "social defense mechanism" was up, my weapon of choice being my "English tongue." He didn't cower or buckle but instead he parried with me much to my delight! We even agreed on the point that Orlando Bloom was such a disappoint after playing the role of Legolas. He laughed out loud when I told him that I didn't like Orlando in Troy for the reason that Eric Bana died all because he couldn't contain his horniness for Helen! He pointed out that may be all his films afterwards were for atonement for lack of character in Troy, referring to the movie that was playing on their screen, Kingdom of Heaven which also has Orlando in it. We continued to banter even if there were customers coming in and all until I had to leave with my "borrowings" that made me think we were flirting with one another...Were we? Probably! Too bad, I didn't get his name! Now, you can call me eng-eng!

Of the three that I borrowed, I first watched the romantic comedy The Wedding Date that starred Debra Messing (Grace of Will & Grace) and Dermot Mulroney (The best friend in My Best Friend's Wedding).

It's Pretty Woman in reverse with just more croutons to thicken the plot. Instead of the man looking for woman to pretend to be his date, its the woman who looks for and tracks down a date. Kat, played by Messing, is flying home to attend her sister's wedding. It would have been a happy affair, which weddings are, if only her ex-fiance, who dumped her without so much as an explanation as to why, wasn't the groom's best man. So in order avoid the all the questions and the pitying looks she was sure that were going to thrown her way, she lets her fingers do the walking on the Time Magazine's human interest stories entitled, The Confessions of a Professional Male Escort to find the perfect date. She finds this so called perfect date in the person of Nick, who is played by Mulroney. Nick's services cost her $6000, inclusive of an all expense paid trip to London where the wedding would be held, and of course, don't forget her heart! After all, it really wouldn't be a romantic comedy would it if Nick didn't get to win her heart?!

Of the all the lines exchanged in the movie, the one I like the most is Nick's line that went along like this, "Every woman has the lovelife she wants." to which Kat retorted, "Are you saying that I am single because I want to be single?" that Nick replied with, "Yes. Until you want to let of go of your singlehood-ness, than you got what you want." Despite the funny backdrop of their conversation; they were in Kat's bathroom with Kat sitting on the closed toilet seat while Nick was drying himself after stepping out of the shower, I found their conversation heavy and serious for I found myself asking and mulling over Kat's question. Am I single because I want to be single?

In all honesty, I value my independence very much. I like the thought that I don't have to answer to anyone (well, except my parents that is) regarding my whereabouts, my activities, who I am with and all those things that are entailed in coupledom. I value the freedom to do as I please with my time and my money. I don't have to worry and make time for day-sary, week-sary, month-sary, anniversaries and what have you's that couples celebrate and make a big fuss of. And best of all, I am glad to be spared of all the heartache of misunderstanding, jealousy, and break-up's. But then again, being just me, myself and I can be lonely at times, especially when February comes along or just anyday that is couple infested that anywhere you turn, you see couples around you being mushy and lovey-dovey. Hmmm...may be I should get myself one those blinders that horses wear so that I wont see them anymore. Whatchathink?

The second movie I watched was a Chinese (not sure if it's a Hongkong, Taiwan or Mainland) movie (obvious naman sa poster sa baba di ba). The Chinese female lead is Zhi Yi who has recently sent Hollywood a buzz and would also be starring in the film adaptation of the Memoirs of a Geisha opposite Michelle Yeoh of the Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon fame. I'm sure the male lead is also crowd drawer in all the Mandarin speaking countries in Asia but alas, for all his fame, his name escapes me right now (probably because I cant pronounce it).

2046 takes places in Hongkong where Mr. Chow is a "gambling refugee" from Singapore who is making ends met by writing raunchy articles for, I suppose, an equally raunchy newspaper during the height of Hongkong's civil unrest. He writes a futuristic story, I guess during his free time, about a time-train that goes back to the past, the year 2046 where the every passenger, including Mr.Chow, tries to recapture a lost love, when in fact he is living in the latter half of the 60's. Sans the jumble of flashbacks and fast forwards, the movie reveals Mr. Chow's brushes with the emotional enigma that is called love and the lessons he has learned from such encounters. What is interesting in this movie is that it used the loop technique of going back to where it started to put an end to the same. Mr. Chow's character in his novel gets off the train with the realization that lost love IS lost love.

Last, but not the least is The Uninvited, a Korean horror psycho-drama about beliefs, repressed memories, lies, denials and of course the supernatural.

The cover's description wasn't really kidding when it said that it was psycho. There wasn't much drama, but there were a lot of psychosis for sure. So much that at the end of the movie, I had this duh look on my face with my mind wondering what really happened. I have bits and pieces of movie's story in my head but because of the way the story was unraveled in the movie, it makes me doubt whether or not I got the right interpretation of what happened. And for this, I would have to say that they did a great job. I'm not a fan of horror movies because I easily get scared of the effects but this one didn't scar me, it made me think. And there is nothing more I enjoy than a movie that inspires MENTAL masturbation. =P