Fine, fine. I know that Inception, Salt and Chloe might not be showing in your local cinemas anymore. Pero sayang kasi. Pinanood ko so might as well say something about them. Haha.

First of all, I would like to strongly discourage you from seeing three movies within a span of less than 14 days. I saw Inception on a Sunday, Salt the following Sunday, and Chloe a few days after. Nakakasawa pala pag madalas ka manood ng sine. Parang nakakamanhid.

When I saw Chloe, it was the first time in my life that I didn’t feel excited about inhaling a movie house’s popcorn-odorized air, sinking comfortably into one of its cushioned chairs and feasting my eyes on the half-hour trailers. Bukod kasi sa napanood ko na lahat nang trailers, parang masyado na ‘kong naging familiar sa panonood ng sine. Indeed, familiarity breeds contempt. I know I might be over-reacting, hahaha.

Anyway.

Among the three, I find Salt the most entertaining. Everything I look for in an action movie is there: thrilling stunts, an edge-of-your-seat story and a main character you can’t take your eyes off. Angelina Jolie is just plain astonishing as an actress.

This film is about Evelyn Salt (Angelina), an American spy who turns out to be a Russian spy, and then sells out the Russians because they sold her out in the first place. Sounds typical of a spy movie, yes, but Angelina in action will make you forget that. I just don’t like the ending which effectively turns Salt into a fugitive vigilante.

Salt isn’t as complex as Inception, and this is mainly the reason why I would say that it is higher in entertainment value.

Inception’s strength is its mindboggling, well-crafted story that isn’t just about the action—which Salt unfortunately is. Some of my friends who’ve seen the movie ahead of me warned that it’s confusing. So I initially felt intimidated and worried that I might have to repeat the movie for me to get it. But believe me true believers, Inception isn’t as complex as Kung Pow (Leo’s favorite? Haha) so don’t worry about not getting it in case you haven’t seen it. My advice is that you just don’t talk to your neighbor the first 30 minutes of the film and you’re surely going to understand it. That was just exactly what I did. For 30 minutes my movie buddies didn’t hear a word from me. Haha!

Maybe this is Inception’s down side. Because you really want to understand the concepts, the film demands strictly uninterrupted attention. This movie is not for those who are unwilling to think a lot and absorb a lot the first minutes of a movie. Should you miss a split-second, I’m sorry pero matulog ka na lang and dream your own story.

My friend Lovely is one of those who had the misfortune of being ignored by me during the first 30 minutes of Inception. After the movie, she was very enthusiastic not because I ignored her but because of the story’s relevance to her field of study, psychology.

In Inception Dom Cobb (Leonardo Di Caprio) is a “thief” who extracts information from the subconscious mind of his victims while they dream. To gain a new lease in life, he must complete one last mission. However, his own subconscious is his own worst enemy as projections of his deceased wife Mal (Marion Cotillard) inflicts him with guilt, trauma and villainy.

Genuine talents collide in Inception. Fantastic cast and direction!

Inception is rich, intense and packed with superb actors who ALL deserve Oscar nominations for their performance here. Let’s thank Christopher Nolan for this wonderful treat! Our hearts overflow with gratitude, Mr. Nolan; you’re one of the best storytellers out there! xoxo, Jade.

The only noticeably repulsive thing I noticed in Inception is the dialogues’ employment of profane language. If I remember correctly, it happened twice.

Now let’s talk about ho-hum Chloe. My only reason for wanting to see this movie is Julianne Moore—fine actress, never disappoints me. And my only reason for actually seeing this movie was that Ate Maida Pulido’s generosity allowed me to. Hahaha!

In this movie, Catherine (Julianne Moore) suspects that her husband David (Qui-Gon Jinn) is messing around with other girls. So she hires Chloe (Amanda Seyfried) the call girl to try to seduce her husband and see if he gives in. The plot is promising and I must say that the dense musical score and dramatic direction were effective enough to hook viewers to the story. But the film takes on a weird twist as Chloe becomes attracted to—marimba roll, please—CATHERINE! And do you think Catherine doesn’t notice? She does and surprise of all surprises, she’s attracted to her, too!

Chloe meets Catherine. Let the weirdness commence!

Help me out, Aristotle. I just can’t get it. Sorry, but the story fails to make me believe and accept that jealous, overprotective wife is suddenly a lesbian. Instead of building up tension, the plot discredits and sabotages itself in abruptly introducing an unbelievable (and hilarious! Haha) story direction.

The movie ends with an epilogue that doesn’t even help in redeeming its main characters. Kainis!

Speaking of redemption, I hope I have redeemed my gusto for going to movie houses. You’ll find out on my next post.

Meanwhile, I’d love to compare notes with you. What do you think about the movies I talked about today?

Inception Sunday with Patrick, Rencel, Genelle, Berna, Sarah and Lovely.

You won’t wanna know what we’re trying to pull off here.

Salt Sunday with Athan.
 (Photographer passer-by successfully applying the rule of thirds, haha)

Jade

Jade is naturally horrified by Mathematics in the same degree that activities which require stamina, agility and athleticism ruins his day. But far from being a couch potato, he bought a brand new Ab Rocket (for an amazingly discounted price) which he plans to use while watching TV and DVDs—activities with which, for him, either society’s moral ascent or descent can be pretty much discerned. He co-hosts a web-radio show on The Edge, and recently went back to school studying Film.

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