Wanted is really fun and I had a great time watching it, but it’s not “the most amazing fucking movie” or “the best movie ever” or any other version of insanely exaggerated hypey hype. It is, like The Matrix, a wonderful example of how films have developed a very video game oriented mentality, in terms of actions (IMHO) and is likewise a perfect example of style completely shanking the fark out of substance.

If Wanted were personified, it would leave any party with every hot chick/guy in tow, it’s that cool. The action is amazingly amazing and they do things with cars like I’ve never seen before (outside of perhaps a VG); it’s eye popping and applause inducing.

All this in spite of the incredibly predictable “plot” and characters who are so formulaic, most of them don’t even get to change their clothes over the course of the movie. It literally took me about 25 minutes to map out the course of events and any “twists”, paper thinny it is. Now, you definitely should go see it if you like a good time, just be nice and don’t hold anything against it.

The Incredible Hulk was a helluva lot better than I expected too. Even though I adore Edward Norton, I just didn’t think I’d get much out of it. Liv Tyler was so much better than I was anticipating and I really, really liked her performance quite a bit. William Hurt makes a perfect stereotypical comic/anime/manga general guy too (his overall talent notwithstanding of course)! It’s like he was just waiting to grow into that look and does so very effectively.

The Hulk himself remained a tough CGI act to swallow for the most part, but a lot of this was made up for thanks to the really cool, very expressive face they gave him. His eyes were sufficiently tragic. I also liked that although the abomination managed to rip through all his clothes during transformation, he was able to abominate himself a bony codpiece to hide whatever remnants there might have been of his man-bits.

Other Hulky highlights include “don’t make me hungry… you would like me when I’m… hungry” and Lou Ferrigno taking pizza bribes (and damn he’s still huuuge!). Stan Lee ellicited guffaws as well and the purple stretchy pants. Ha!

The FantAsia Festival 2008 site is live, the schedule is a go, and all I have to say, as usual, is yay!

We’ll be making the annual trek on 7/16 and are staying through to the very end this year. We chose this particular week very carefully based on the schedule we received last week and I cannot be happier with the movies we’ll get to see. As sad as I am about missing Comic Con, I can’t be all that bummed with alternatives such as:

Seeing Ryuhei Kitamura’s long awaited adaptation of Clive Barker’s Midnight Meat Train and I’m just giddy about it because Kitamura will be there to present the film! Whee! I love his movies so. Much.

Also on the schedule is The Echo, which I talked about a little ways back because I’ve been super impatient to see this film. Good news upon good news too because director Yam Laranas will be in attendance to host the screening!

I’m also particularly psyched to see Akanbo shôjo - the tagline alone makes this Yûdai Yamaguchi (of Meatball Machine cred) a must see: “15 year old girl vs. 15 year old baby” - laaa! I just really, really, really, hope we can get to Montreal in time for this 5:25pm screening >__<

Repo! The Genetic Opera is another movie I’ve been anticipating for a while now too so we’ve plans to catch that and hopefully the new Pang Bros. film. The inimitable Uwe Boll’s war picture Tunnel Rats is also hitting the screens this week (I just can’t even imagine how this one will turn out…)but I don’t know if we can swing it since it’s up against Kitamura’s film.

I do know without a doubt that excitement abounds this July!

DreadCentral has a super early review of Hellboy II so go check it out!

I cannot wait to see this film.

While I’m admittedly buying into the hype like a proper fangirl, after all I’ve heard and read about it I just can’t imagine I’ll be displeased much. The trailers blaze across the screen (big and wittle) all dazzling and dark and as far as I’m concerned, the world really needs more dark fanatasy in its life, especially when it’s courtesy of Del Toro and Mignola.

Check out what Bob Kurtzman sent us!

A kickin’ bust of Andrew Divoff’s character from his movie The Rage. It’s disgustingly shiny and quite life sized. The material it’s made of really cool and lightweight and it freaks people out so score!

Bonjour Montreal!

Yep, Comic Con 2008 is a huge bust thanks to the cost of oil, checked luggage, carry on luggage, and the SDCC hotel debacle to boot.

I was pretty damn hyped up to go to Comic Con again since the last time we went was ‘06, but this wacky Husband-shaped birdie kept pining for FantAsia Festival and eventually I started to really ponder how much of a bummer it would be to miss the fest. That coupled with the whole “we don’t have assloads of money” situation and well, there you have a decision maker folks.

Besides, we’ve been going to FF every year since 2001 (excepting of course the year it was cancelled when the A/C died in the old theatre, sad!), even if only for a weekend and it’s truly a tradition now. One day we’ll go for the whole damn shebang, one day.

But this year, we’ll be going for 5 days and I can smile about that.

We’ll be catching some spiffy films (I cannot divulge any schedule info. so please don’t ask and besides, the schedule will be up this week!) and although missing Comic Con is stinky, I love that summer is here and so are daydreams about FantAsia: the Concordia University, hanging with all the Montreal peoples we usually only see once a year, the festival banner over the street, the amazing program and poster art (they always have the most beautiful art to promote the festival), getting snarky about the quality of US soy lattes vs. Canadian soy lattes, the stinky cow smells just over the border, being a doof and having the border people stamp my passport (what, so I like stamps in my passport, they’re like stickers, kind of, sort of…), saying over and over that we must get poutine but never getting around to it, having to switch my seat at least a half dozen times because there’s always at least one really tall person who winds up in the seat in front of me, crying just a little when I see all the films we’ll miss because we can’t stay for 3 weeks, and on and on.

Le sigh.

Yahoo groups enable! The geneology is thus:

Santiago/Bayyatin Ullocan and his wife, Alimanay/Kattanis, had 7 offspring:
1) Dumay
>Married to Bartolome/Bantol Gambican
>Community name: Inan Bacolong
2) Lapey
>Married to Galgala
>Community name: Inan Kamulo
3) Emilia/Kalog-idan
> Married to Raymundo Galas
> Community name: Inan Benny
4) Maximo/Magsimo
> Married somebody from Bila,Bauko
5) Padalla
> Married to Bagiw Balantin
> Community name: Aman Bactadan

Here is where my earliest beginnings began (my sister aka Labanet, is named Patricia after our grandfather, me, aka Angnay, was named after a Beatles song, go fig…)
6) Patricio
> Married to Juana Gayagay (go allapo!)
> Aman George/Gayagay
7) Ignacia/Depya
> Maried to Claro/Lalo Gomeyac
> Community name: Inan Lucian

And here is a most recent pic of my most dearest, most special allapo at home in Sagada.

I miss her TOOONNNNNSSSSSS and she looks so beautiful. I love that she still wears whatever the heck she wants, hand me downs or not! Mum thinks the sweater used to be my sister’s ;p

And just an aside, no one will tell me why we were taught “allapo” instead of lola… I remember being in Sagada (last time was 1995, so long ago!) and everyone going “lola this” and “lola that” and I’m odd enough as it is, being odder with my “allapo this” and “allapo that”. Curious indeed…

Stan Winston has died after several years struggling with cancer, he was 62.

Been hearing about The Echo little by little over the past few months and I really would like to see it as soon as I can.

It’s a remake of a Filipino horror short called Sigawкомпютри втора употреба (can’t seem to track that one down either, pooh) and the beautiful catch is the original writer/director Yam Laranas also handled the directing creds on the remake. This leads me to imagine that the transition to feature length English adaptation has been carefully guided; Twitch has a review of the film from it’s showing at Cannes and things sound pretty spiffy to me.

I hope this makes the rounds at more fests and gets a real push behind it from Vertigo Ent. thus giving myself and plenty of others the opportunity to see it, especially because it’s a Filipino film (I never did get updated on another past Pinoy horror flick, Ang Pamana, sadly…) and we just need to see more of them out there!

UPDATE: Looks like The Echo will be at my favorite film festival, FantAsia, in July.

And we’re not going this year (the first time in 5 years we’ll be missing Montreal)! Wahhh! Help me pray to the Gods that I can rustle even a day or two off and some funds to make even a teensy FantAsia excursion >___<

So we got all geeklike last night and went to my sister’s to watch the season finale of Lost, which delivered many wonderful and terrible things as was expected. Sis made nachos and pizza rolls and we brought along junk food of the donuty sort and basically ate like piggies until 9… Lily-munster was ever so awake and ready to laugh and play and boy is it easy to make her smile! She seems to be looking less Filipino as she grows up and I keep seeing more and more shades of Nate and his fam in her sweet little chubba face… I can’t wait to see her grow up more! And the little munsta is cutting teef already!

Anyway - back to Lost because I have been turning it all over and over in my head since last night and despite the 2 hour finale running time, there didn’t seem to be enough information to sate me til next season, although bones a’plenty were tossed at us slavering devotees to be sure. It’s the time travel and bamph’ing (heh, sis says “what’s bamph’ing?”) that are getting at me and of course, the insane amount of double agentry/subterfuging that is keeping my mindcogs running at a constant turn.

Moments of amazement/wonder/spoileryness:
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We saw this really kickin’ movie called Otis at the Boston Underground Film Fest a couple months back and since meeting the director Tony Krantz at the fest, DreadCentral has been parterning with the filmmakers to bring fans exclusive content to promote the film including this nifty set of SFX photos complete with audio commentary.

We just got our review copy in the mail so I’m super psyched to watch it again - I love that the disc is printed to look like a disco ball. Otis is a totally out of whack black horror comedy that’s a lot of fun and unlike most films I’ve seen in a long while, it deserves a greater than festival-crowd sized audience so I hope you’ll keep your eyes peeled for the DVD when it hits retail June 10th.

Better yet, why not preorder a copy and save yourself the trouble of going out to pick it up?