MOVIES AND ME

I love movies. I love watching them. Sometimes alone, and sometimes with company, specially if the film is so action-packed you sit at the edge of your seat. I love watching them in moviehouses, infront of a huge TV screen and on my laptop.

I even love most of the celebrities that movies spawn. And so naturally, I am avid reader of celebrity magazines although I have this strong affinity with People magazine, even if I also don't pass up the chance to read Premiere, US and Entertainment Weekly, if I get my hands on them. Vanity Fair's annual showiz issue is also something I always watch out for. Online, I always read CNN. For Philippine showbusiness information (information daw o), I always read Ricky F. Lo. I also read Butch Francisco sometimes. And of course, Dolly Anne Carvajal.

I'm your true-blue middle class movie fan, I think.

Over the weekend, my Bebe and I hope to cross over to Manama (Bahrain) so we can catch "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" and whatever else/new releases that are still showing at the Al Seef Mall cinemaplex. I heard that "Ratatouille" is excellent. CNN/Rotten Tomatoes list it as the top highly-praised movie of the first half of 2007. Ditto for "Hairspray!" CNN's film reviewer gushes over John Travolta's Edna Turnblad, and Nikki Blonsky as her daughter Tracy. I know "Simpsons The Movie" might be on but I am not particularly inclined to watch it. I hope we can also catch "Ocean's 13" and "Spiderman 3". Otherwise, it's back to pirated copies which Kris Aquino would certainly not like.

But what to do, what to do? In these parts, if you can't cross to Manama or get pirated copies, you can always buy from amazondotcom. It has its risks however. Some titles never get past the Ministry of Information censors or are targetted by Customs personnel for their own use/gain.

My taste in films can be described as eclectic, although I tend to watch more romantic comedies (think Julia Roberts and Sandra Bullock). Action-packed movies also do it for me. Dramas/tearjerkers or horror/mystery films also appeal to me but only when I'm in the mood for listening intently to dialogue, for brooding and for getting scared. At other times, I hanker for the classics. Otherwise, I love my movies light. Or uplifting.

I would love to get my hands on so-called indie movies, specially Filipino indies since I have been reading a lot how excellent they are that they now appear to be the saving grace of a moribund movie industry in the Philippines.

I have also started collecting DVDs of movies I love. Funny thing is, without so much time to be watching movies, I have copies of movies I still have to watch and their DVDs are just collecting dust.

Good thing DVDs are now forever. I'm going to watch them in my retirement.