My Favorite Movies

This is an e-mail reply posted to our High School newsgroup.

===

Here's mine (with my explanations too - indi mag pa perde kay Zara):

TOP 10 ENGLISH MOVIES - or more (ang mga trilogies daan times 5 este 3 gali hehe):

1. The Godfather Trilogy (1972, 1974, 1990) - (in You Got Mail,1998), Tom Hanks was telling Meg Ryan that ALL men know The Godfather and it is like a "bible" for us, men. He was quoting Vito Corleone in his e-mails with Meg... "Keep your friends close but keep your enemies closer.(although this is Sun Tzu's)" ... "I will make him an offer he can not refuse." ... "He is sleeping with the fishes..." The Godfathers I and II won Best Pictures.

2. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (2001, 2002, 2003) - In college, me and my brods were dreaming of someday be scholars of J.R.R. Tolkien but of course it will never materialize. Then we heard in 1998 or 1999 that New Line Cinema was making a film and Peter Jackson's eyed to direct and Elijah Wood will play Frodo. We're so excited but it took us two years to see that movie. but the wait paid off well. The Lord of the Rings' (The Return of the King, 2003) final installment won 11 Oscars including Best Picture.

Trivia: Stuart Townsend (Queen of the Damned, 2002) was initially picked to play Aragorn but producers thought him to be so clean and boyish. Also, they auditioned male models six-feet and above, long-haired and good-looking to play as elves. I have more of these tacked somewhere. I'll share with you some other time.

My action figure collection lacks Boromir and Gandalf to complete the members of The Fellowship of the Ring, 2001. Pam, basi gusto mo ko regalohan da hehe? Boromir died in the the first part so wala na siya gin market sa The Two Towers, 2002 syempre. so i am very sure a Boromir action figure costs a treasure. Paging, Atty. Omay. hehe. Sorry, Lara. hehe

Ey, there was The Lord of the Rings full-animation released in 1978. At first they started dapat with human characters pero indi kaya. so gin obra nila animation. i have a CD of that. asta lang siya Two Towers. the whole movie, i mean.

3. Star Wars Series

Star Wars IV: A New Hope (1977) - this film actually was nominated and won 6 times sa Oscars but did not win Best Picture.
Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Star Wars VI: Return of the Jedi (1983)
Star Wars I: The Phantom Menace (1999)
Star Wars II: Attack of the Clones (2002)
Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith (2005)

No need to explain. Syado ka damo. Hehe. But did you know that Anakin's father was a Filipino. We were made to believe by George Lucas that he was born without a father, daw Immaculate Conception. Anakin used his mother's family name (Skywalker) but his father's family name was Moako. So he is supposed to be Anakin Moako. :-P

4. Braveheart (1995) - Best Picture. William Wallace was a legend in Scotland. But accordingly, the real Braveheart was Robert The Bruce. Also, according to tales, over kill ang pag torture kay William Wallace. It was not that graphic in this Mel Gibson film (like Apocalypto, 2006, The Passion of the Christ, 2004), indi pa siya guro amo to ka hubog sang gin obra ya ni nga movie, but it was reflected in the film that he was emboweled, his body was pulled into stretches, before he was beheaded and his body mutilated and hanged in the "four corners" of England.

5. Gladiator (2000). I am never a great fan of Russel Crowe but I think he is a versatile actor. And yes, Zara, "... commander of the armies of the north, general of the Felix Legions, loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius.." "Are you not entertained? Are you not entertained?"

6. 300 (2006) - sin-o nga ilonggo ang indi manamian sini nga movie? indi bala, bord??? In The Last Samurai (2003), Nathan Algren (Tom Cruise) was telling Katsumoto (Ken Watanabe) the story of The Battle of Thermopylae to encourage the Samurais (note: Samurai is the man, katana is the sword. daw pareho lang na sang pagpronounce sang Butuan City. It's "butwan" NOT butu-an. because butwan is the city, butu-an is the man, gets? hehe) to fight the combined American and Japanese Imperial Army which outnumbered them. During the attack, Katsumoto asked Nathan, "What happened to the 300 men?". Nathan answered, "They all died." :-P

7. Transformers (2007) - wala ko gina kopya ang movie fabes ni Zara ha. :-) in 1984 and 1986 they released full-length animations. Animations or cartoons may be tedious work pero mas madali obrahon kun pano magtransform ang mga auto sa robots, di ba? When it was announced that there is a Transformer movie to be released in 2007, i was in awe. I know that special effects these days will do the trick but how will they clean this. When it was released.. "Baby, comeback.." :-)

8. Life is Beautiful (1997) - An Italian film titled "La Vita e bella". This was nominated Best Picture and Best Foreign Language Film in the 1998 Oscars but won only the latter. If you haven't seen this movie, watch it... You'll cry.

9. Forrest Gump (1994) - another Best Picture movie. "Life is like a box of chocolates. You'll never know what you're gonna get." and "I am not a smart man but I know what love is."

10. The Dead Poets Society (1989) - "Yawp" ... "Carpe diem, sieze the day!" ... "Oh, Captain, my captain.." ... very touching. heart-warming. My Fraternity sponsored this movie at the UP Film Center. Twice sya gin pa-gwa in that afternoon. One at around 3pm and the next at around 6pm. I was helping the ticket booth and also assisting our ushers and the security in the entrance gate. every after duty, i watched the movie. meaning i saw that movie twice in that day. twice i cried.

Additionals:

1. The Sound of Music (1965)
2. Gone with the Wind (1939)
3. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)... read this blog for the review: http://mytriplex.blogspot.com/2004/07/mr-smith-goes-to-washington-1939.html
4. Platoon (1986)
5. Pearl Harbor (2001)
6. When Harry Met Sally (19890
7. The Lion King (1994)
8. The Killing Fields (1984)
9. Chariots of Fire (1981) - Best Picture. The theme song/music warms my soul everytime I hear it.
10. Finding Nemo (2003)

Show me yours.. :-)