A Pinoy @ The Movies: American Assassin

Since the cinemas are about an hour's ride from where I live, I just had to make sure I was efficient with my time in the mall. I studied the screening hours of the movies that day, and watched two: American Made and American Assassin. (The ticketing ladies already recognize me; I'm their patron who watches more than one movie in a day.)

American Assassin is like the kindergarten's version of SALT. It had vengeance, a nuclear threat, and rigorous hand-to-hand combat training, but without the Angelina Jolie's killer action scenes. 

In the movie SALT, there's an endearment to Angelina Jolie's character. She was both a victim and a 'good guy'. Of course, more than anything, she was very gorgeous! (I have seen her in person, by the way. And my jaw dropped, too!)

Here in American Assassin, Dylan O'Brien's character was just a heartbroken guy, who joined the CIA because he wanted revenge for his girlfriend's death. 

Although I like the movie's multiple European locations, such as Ibiza, Istanbul, and Rome, because I felt like a tourist watching it, the film looked like it was just a walk-through on how bad guys organize a terror plot and how good guys respond to it. 

Dylan O'Brien looked like all aspiring actors in Los Angeles, and Michael Keaton's character as his trainer could have been played by a dozen other guys, too. But what surprised me though was Taylor Kitsch showing up as Ghost, a rogue agent who peddled weapons-grade uranium and double-crossed them in the end.

If you haven't seen Taylor in John Carter, he was the earthling who teleported between Earth and Mars half-naked. Here, in American Assassin, I initially didn't recognize them until he spoke in that husky "ock ohem ocktei wies Barsoom" voice. That movie, John Carter, had one amazing theme song, by the way.

Perhaps, I shouldn't be asking too much from this film. After all, I watched two films that day with one being worth the sitting. Okay, two were worth the sitting. But I only recommend Tom Cruise's American Made. Ha-ha-ha!

Now, when is the next movie day? Or rather, movies day? :-)

A Pinoy @ The Movies: American Made

Although I am somewhat hesitant to spend two hours these days watching a Tom Cruise movie, I was thankful this one was worth the sitting.

The last time I saw a Tom Cruise movie, it was a comedy, The Mummy. Yes, it was supposed to be fantasy thingy, but it turned out to be a comedy of sorts.

I have seen Tom Cruise in person. It was sometime in 2009 when he went to Seoul to promote his movie, Valkyrie, a movie where his character died. 

He was having the Valkyrie premiere in the mall where I was getting some goodies to bring home to the Philippines as my flight was a day away. I never intended to squeeze myself with the thousands of his screaming Korean fans that night. But since I knew the mall's floor plan very well, I just positioned myself at the cinema floor next to an elevator. I figured, he would be going up the cinema level using the lift because it was freezing outside. I only sat on a bench nearby and observed the security personnel's movements. I guess I should have been a spy myself. Ha-ha-ha! Because when I noticed them looking jumpy, I stood up and stayed near the barricade. And I was right! 

A few moments later, Tom Cruise got out of the elevator along with his not-so-friendly-looking bodyguards, and he started shaking hands and having selfies with his fans. A Hollywood superstar was just an arm's length from where I stood and I could have shaken his right hand, but I did not. I didn't want to share the millions of viruses and bacteria in his hands after touching other people's. Ha-ha-ha! So I just took his photo, and left the chaos to get my grocery downstairs. I knew my priorities.

Another movie where he died was Collateral.

We can add another one, American Made.

American Made is a true story of Barry Seal, who was a commercial pilot before he got bored flying the usual routes. The story on how he ended up working for both the CIA and the Medellin Cartel is even more fascinating because it is a true story. 

I didn't know he was involved in that Iran-Contra affair that shook the White House! And I was even amazed he personally knew the legendary Pablo Escobar! And Tom Cruise spoke Spanish!

You'll like this film, too, not because Tom Cruise was sort of Jerry Maguire-ish smiling character, but because it was well made and very informative, especially on how CIA, the Medellin Cartel, and the rebels made this man very rich, so rich that he had to bury suitcases of cash in his backyard!

So, if you have time this week, you better catch Tom before the Medellin Cartel does. :-)

PS. Watch out for the last scene where his wife ends up working at KFC but wearing a thick diamond bracelet.

A Pinoy @ The Movies: La La Land

This is a movie about every aspiring actor's Hollywood dream. Maybe that's why it connected with a lot of Hollywood people. And it's a song and dance, too!

Emma Stone's character Mia is an aspiring actress just like Reneé Zellweger's character Roxy Hart in Chicago. But unlike Roxy Hart, Mia didn't have to kill anybody; she just had to fall in love with Ryan Gosling's Sebastian, a pianist also struggling to find real work in Los Angeles, or LA, short, thus LA-LA in the title, or perhaps, it's the la-la-la singing when one is in love.

The story line is pretty neat and simple: struggling boy meets struggling girl, both try to figure out how to achieve their dreams, both succeed, and they live happily ever after. Or did they?

As the most scenes were shot in Los Angeles, it reminded me of my LA visit where my fellow movie buff, Roselyn, toured me around. We had fun pretending to be struggling actors ourselves while we were driving around Hollywood, where she lives. 

La La Land is a very 'easy' movie to watch, no heavy thinking required like Chicago, as its songs were fun and life as actor seemed easy. Mia could actually get by in an expensive city by working as a barista! Hmm. That gives me an idea. Ha-ha-ha!

The last song-and-dance film that won the Oscar Best Picture was Chicago in 2002, where Catherin Zeta-Jones won best supporting actress.

Will La La Land win best picture, too? Let's sing and dance to that!