Revenge Rollercoaster

Upon opening Netflix, the number 1 film that day was this American Teen flick entitled "Do Revenge."

The summary caught my attention and began to watch it. As the title states, this film is about a teen girl who wants to exact revenge on her ex-boyfriend who wronged her. She does this with the help of an unlikely partner.

As the film started, it felt like it was a straightforward story. But as it progressed further, the film felt like riding a rollercoaster of ups and downs and twists and turns. Although parts of the film were cliches, the way they did the narrative was so clever. As the film neared its conclusion, it was clear that it had a couple more surprises.

This film harks back to a lot of angsty teen dark comedies from the 80s and 90s. Watching it had the same vibes as "Heathers" and "Jawbreaker." Even Nora's character transformation reminded me of Judy Greer's wonderful performance as Fern, and later, Vylette.

The ending also harked back to "Cruel Intentions," also from the late 90s. There's also a scene that's reminiscent of "Thelma and Louise." So yes, "Do Revenge" is like a compendium of the best of teen comedies - dark or otherwise.

Boy, what a ride this film was. And I wouldn't mind watching it again.

Senior moment

After waiting patiently for weeks, today is the day!

Rebel Wilson's new Neflix film has finally dropped!

I've been excited to watch "Senior Year" since they showed the trailer. It has all the elements of a feel-good high school comedy. There are elements of 80s, 90s and 00s films, made contemporary due to the changes in technology and the way high school kids act nowadays.

Without spoiling the film, there's one part that made me smirk - the dance number which felt like an homage to "Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion." And there's one part that put a big smile on my face. A cameo appearance from a rom-com legend!

Rebel Wilson was a hoot, of course. Watching her in this film made me forgive her for that major faux pas that was "Isn't it Romantic." Harhar!

This film will definitely be my go-to film from now on.

Me & EU

The past days, I've been playing flims on Netflix while working. Call it multi-tasking, but it's fun to turn your head to a nice film as a breaker from reading emails and doing layouts.

Yesterday and today, the movies that were playing were oldies but goodies. They were comedies from the mid-2000s, and they were very fun and feel-good films.

Aside from those factors, there was also a thread that connected these 2 films. They were both set in EU countries.

The first, "The Prince & Me" from 2004. This is about a Danish Prince who studies in Wisconsin to try and find "wild college girls from Wisconsin." But what he found was love. (More cheese, please!)

Bonus: this stars one of my all-time fave actresses - Julia Stiles! More on her later!

The second, "Wild Child" from 2008. Basically, it's the story of an American Girl who's exiled to a British boarding school, and this is where she learns more about herself.

Watching these 2 films, it makes me smile when I think about how uncomplicated yet compelling movies are back then.

Now, I have to look for more films of the same genre during the same time frame. Methinks that EU streak must continue.

Getting Wiig-gy with it

Kristen Wiig is so hilarious!

From her sketches in SNL to her films like "Bridesmaids." "Zoolander," and "Whip it," she always makes me laugh so hard.

Among my Kristen Wiig sketches on repeat is this SNL sketch entitled: "Liza tries to turn off a lamp."

I've seen this so many times and still laugh at all the same places.

That's the hallmark of true comedy.

Feel the Thunder!

Yesterday, with a few hours free before going back to doing school stuff, I decided to check out Netflix for a film to watch.

Honestly, my aim was to look for that old film "13 going on 30." Excerpts of it have been popping on youtube and it made me want to see it again.

Alas, it wasn't on Netflix.

But there was a new film which looked like it was a force to reckon with. And it wasn't just a force, it was...

A superhero slapstick comedy with an Oscar winner and an Oscar nominee? Yes, please!

And needless to say, this film didn't disappoint.

It was a Thunder Force to reckon with.

Miss on a Monday

There are films that you can watch over and over again and still laugh at the same parts.

Lots of them, actually.

An example is the all-time fave of both Mark and myself - "The Devil Wears Prada."

Another is my all-time fave - "Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion."

Another is the beauty-queen parody film - "Miss Congeniality."

Suddenly, I had the urge to watch one of my favourite scenes from this film today. I say "one of" because there were so many.

But this is one of the more underrated clips from that film:

"First step: Pizza. Second step: Flaming Batons!"

Still gets me. Everytime. 

Comedy is King!

This is so nice of Google.

They paid tribute to the birthday of the country's King of Comedy by putting him on today's masthead!

Yup, Dolphy deserves no less.

Shady Ladies

When "Golden Girls" was on air back in the 80s, I was supposed to be quite young to understand the "old lady" humour. But strangely, I did get it, and would often guffaw-out-loud at the jokes of Blanche, Dorothy, Rose and Sofia.

It's been almost 30 years since the series ended, but every time Golden Girls snippets appear on youtube, I'd still watch it and would still laugh at. Just like this wonderful collection of shade from the Fierce Four.



Hmmm... makes me wonder if the series is on Netflix. This is a show that's worth binge-watching!

Cool!

It's rare that I watch TV.

But I discovered a show that looks like it's going to make me watch TV more often.

"The Cool Kids" is a comedy series about 4 friends who live in a retirement home. And all the hilarity that comes with it.

Aside from the great script, I'm drawn to it because of David Alan Grier (of "In Living Color") and Leslie Jordan.

Growing old has never been this cool.

Join the club

Here's proof that a good chick flick knows no age.



Four of my favorite actresses, all at their prime, in a very promising and funny film.

Sign me up this book club now!

Goodness Will and Grace-ious!

Seeing a real, moving trailer makes everything even more excitingly real!



Let's get this sitcom on the screen, stat!

For you I Will (and Grace)

So, the rumors are true!

Can't wait to have this awesome foursome back on TV! (And Mark and I will have something new to binge-watch.)

Something fresh

Most of my friends know that most often, I get to watch movies and TV shows in one place.

In the plane.

My "catch-up" time is usually 35,000 feet above sea level. And this is the only time that I settle on a chair and watch old and new movies, as well as shows.

During my 22 hour flight from MNL to ATL last July, I discovered so many good TV shows. In fact, I binge-watched them while flying over the Atlantic.

One of the shows I discovered and enjoyed is "Fresh off the boat."



It's a comedy-satire about an Asian-American family in a US suburb. Particularly, a Chinese-American family. And it pokes fun at the Chinese traits that we all know and laugh at. And this resonates with me particularly because I've seen families in HKG do the same thing.

Let me look for a DVD of this. It's something fresh that I won't mind watching again.

Get dressed

Because my MNL to ATL flight was a total of 22 hours, you can just imagine the amount of inflight films I devoured.  Fortunately, the plane had an awesome selection of entertainment options.

In the plethora of films available, I discovered this fashionable gem:

"The Dressmaker" is a period film set in Australia. Having no knowledge of the film, I also had no expectations. But by the time the credits rolled, I was just in awe!

The film was superb. The acting, flawless. And the ending was so unexpected, it blew my socks off.

I'm going to look for a DVD of this and ask my students to watch it.

Unbreakable break

One of the things we were able to do during this Tokyo trip was to binge-watch. And the series that kept us glued to the screen was this gem of a sitcom that Mark introduced me to.

This was the first time I heard about "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt." But after seeing one episode, I was so taken by it that I had to watch it again and again and again. Next thing you know, we finished one season.

Everything about it is hilarious. The plot, the acting, the characters and the script - they all play on each other wonderfully. And with Tina Fey on the helm (and in some episodes), it's no wonder why it's this good.

Yes, please

Last year, we were able to avoid the MMFF by watching "The Hobbit" on IMAX. This year, we watched the last installment of "The Hobbit" a few days after it was shown, so there was no excuse.

After looking at our options, we chose the film "English only, please." It had good reviews and a slew of awards, so it was worth a look-see.

The reviews and awards turned out to be well-deserved. "English only, please" is a well-acted, nicely written, and wittily humorous film. The dialogues were sharp, the pop culture references were well placed, and the flow was paced just right.

It was a very pleasing film indeed.

Mary laughter

While getting ready to go out, or while winding down from a whole day out, we'd watch "Frasier" on Mark's computer. He showed me one of his favorite episodes entitled "There's something about Dr. Mary," and it was Hilarious!

Gosh, I think we watched it twice and laughed over and over again. The character of Mary, or "oh, call me Dr. Mary, you know Latifah is not a real queen, right?"is so funny with her witty barbs and retorts.



They should've made Mary a recurring character. She's a barrel of laughs.

Other Women on the verge

If a chick-flick met a bro-buddy-movie, then got together with a caper film and a slapstick comedy, their love child would definitely be "The Other Woman."



I don't know if they'll show this in Manila, but if they do, I'm definitely catching it.

Fifteen minutes of funny!

Forget your 15 minutes of fame. This is much, much more worthwhile:



I don't think I've laughed so much in my life.

When Holly met Bolly

Since I'm in a Bollywood mood, I remembered a film that I used to watch a lot of when I was still living in HKG. (I had a DVD of it at home.) 

It's entitled "The Guru" and featured Heather Graham and Jimi Mistry. And the Indian song and Grease mash-up has got to be one of my favorite scenes in the entire film.



I can feel an LSS coming on.