My Top 5 Songs of the Week (03/16 - 03/22)

Okay, so...

I'm officially out of school and that means I'll have more time to write stuff to post and NO MORE JOURNALISM CLASS.

Just kidding, of course. I'm so bummed it's over.

My Top 5 Songs of the Week (03/08 - 03/15) | MUSIC

The past week was a pretty hectic one, with me having to prepare for finals and all that jazz, but I’ve managed to save some time for music here and there. The past week also saw me in the mood for a lot of Dad’s music.

Bear in mind that you won’t be seeing too many more “recent” songs on this list, as I took a little trip back in time and got lost in some old-but-gold(en) eras.

My Top 5 Songs of the Week | MUSIC

(Hi, guys! I know it’s been a while since my last post – I’ve been both too busy and too lazy to write, but I’ll try my best to keep posting over the remainder of the year.)

Music is one of my five fiery passions. It’s up there right next to writing, football, video games, and fantasy & sci-fi movies. I listen to a lot of it, and I grew up especially around a lot of it.

I grew up in a mostly musical family. My mom used to be a choir singer back in the day and my dad’s a bit of an 80’s-music aficionado. My tito (or “uncle” for everyone else who isn’t Filipino) plays a mean guitar, too. I grew up around a lot of different types of music, particularly around a lot of 90’s alternative, and exposure to all different sorts of music over the years (thanks to a certain video game) has led me to broaden my palate to what it is today.

"Starship Troopers" (1997) | DEEP-FRIED GOODNESS

Think of Ender's Game, but with blood, boobs, and blood.

Welcome to a segment I like to call Deep-Fried Goodness. In this segment, I mostly just ramble on about old movies I like, or have made some lasting impression on me in one way or another. Today's subject is, well... Starship Troopers!

Growing up, I was exposed to a lot of my Dad's stuff. I was introduced to Star Wars at the age of 3, and to Jurassic Park not long after. Lord of the Rings followed shortly after, and I was very pleasantly acquainted with The Scorpion King not too long after that. In time, I was eventually introduced to Starship Troopers.

I know what you're thinking. What kind of parent would let a child watch Starship Troopers?!

To be clear, I didn't watch the movie in its entirety - just most of the epic battle sequences.

Most especially this one.

I was around 7 or 8 at the time, and I found the whole Battle of Klendathu sequence to be both really freaking awesome and pants-sh*ttingly terrifying at the same time. By then, the most violence I'd been exposed to was Half-Life 2. Seeing someone get sawed in half by an Arachnid was simultaneously the coolest and the grossest thing I had ever seen in my life.

Unfortunately that was the only thing I remembered about that movie, and a lot of the details about that battle scene became memories I kept in the back of my head right next to the other (somewhat more) forgettable aspects of my childhood...

Right next to this game.

Starship Troopers would never cross my mind for another 11 or so years, until I saw my littlest brother mercilessly slaughtering them on Garry’s Mod.

And I actually don't regret watching it at all.

Directed by Paul Verhoeven and released in 1997, Starship Troopers was a hellishly brutal sci-fi war movie starring Casper van Dien, Dina Meyer, Denise Richards, and... Neil Patrick Harris?

No, really.

The movie's supporting cast consisted of Michael Ironside, Jake Busey, Seth Gilliam, and Mr. Krabs himself, Clancy Brown.

Starship Troopers revolves around the adventures of a young soldier named Johnny Rico, who joins the Terran Mobile Infantry at the objection of his parents. It's really nicely paced, as well as riddled with political satire that plays on the United States' militaristic world view. It's an action movie that provokes thought, surprisingly, and brings to the table an equally thought-provoking message: "War makes fascists of us all."

As for the more literary aspects of the film, to be perfectly honest, Starship Troopers isn't exactly well-written with regards to character dialogue, but more than makes up for its sappy writing with really nice characterization, albeit very minimalistic. While these characters can sometimes be as flat as a board, they're still really fun to watch, and the character dynamic makes for some really interesting and memorable exchanges between characters.

In fact, these a**holes killed off more of my favorite characters in 2-and-a-half hours than Game of Thrones has in 4 seasons.

The action sequences (as I had mentioned earlier) are, for lack of an adequate term, fan-freaking-tastic. Normally, one wouldn't expect gore-fests to have a proper sense of tension, or at least feel as if one side is actually fighting for something, but, hot damn, does Paul Verhoeven mix it and mix it well. I don't know how he did it, but Verhoeven genuinely made me feel as if humanity was both truly at risk and driving themselves towards their own doom. 

And, besides; there are fewer things in life more satisfying than seeing a Tanker bug explode.

It's like a chitinous, squirming burrito.

Starship Troopers is an... acquired taste, per se. It's not for the faint of heart. It's not for those looking for a deep movie experience, so to speak. For folks like me, it's hard to not like Starship Troopers. It's charming in its own visceral and barbaric way. It's a gory, action-packed bloodbath that is, truthfully, fun to watch. So, for anyone interested in sci-fi cult classics, this is a must-see.

"Interstellar" | MOVIE REVIEW

I have a soft spot for Christopher Nolan flicks, and I have an even softer spot for space flicks, so, the moment I heard about a little Christopher Nolan project by the name of Interstellar, I knew I just HAD to see this movie. Why? Because I had a gut feeling that this movie was gonna be great.

It's science.

Basic genetics, man. They teach you this stuff in 7th grade.

I mean, you have Christopher Nolan at the helm, and you have both him and Jonathan behind the proverbial typewriter, Hans Zimmer manning the orchestra, and Matthew Mc-freaking-Conaughey as lead actor. It's also a sci-fi movie. About space travel. Everyone knows how much I freaking love space movies. I was already throwing money at this movie as soon as I saw the first couple of frames in the trailer.

Like I said, I knew this movie was gonna be good, but I didn't know it was gonna be my-friend-messaging-me-in-the-middle-of-the-night-just-to-tell-me-how-awesome-it-was good.

I kid you not.

I had more than enough reasons to see this movie, and, by some miraculous stroke of luck, I had enough money to afford a ticket.

I don't regret spending a cent on this movie, because it was worth it.

The film's premise was straightforward: the human race is dying, and we need to leave Earth in order to ensure our continuity as a species. So, Matthew McConaughey is tasked to pilot a spaceship in search of a habitable planet. Everything's all really well written from the plot to the characters to the dialogue. The movie plays on all the right sentiments and reaches into parts of my subconscious I didn't even know existed. The movie makes you think. The movie makes you contemplate your very existence.

As with any *great* movie, it's difficult to get into the nitty-gritty of things without giving away any major spoilers, but I will say that the film's plot and execution alone already make it a worthy contender for the title of the "Best Film of 2014".

The movie's also got beautiful visuals to boot. The CGI is absolutely spot-on, and the spaceship shots are all angled perfectly, and nothing ever looked out of place or like it shouldn't be there. The art direction was great and the overall feel was consistent.

Now, I have two favorite things about the movie: one, the characters, and, two, the sound. I think I'll talk about the sound, first.

Interstellar is one of those movies that never stops making passionate love to your ears. Unlike a pushy SO, however, it actually GIVES you a great reason to actually stay and keep letting it make love to your ears. The score is absolutely stellar. It's Hans Zimmer's way of reminding the world why he's so great at what he does. It's bombastic, it's overflowing with grandeur, it's downright bloody amazing. And all the other sound elements are brilliant, as well (especially when you don't hear anything apart from the shaking of the spaceship). While it was difficult to understand Matt Damon (yes, Matt Damon) and Michael Caine in some parts, everything else in the sound was absolute class.

And the characters were even better.

There was just so much dynamic and chemistry between Matthew McConaughey and, well, just about everyone else in the movie. The bonds between characters were tangible and never left me unsatisfied as a viewer. I ended up loving just about all of them (and hated some with a passion). I loved how I was able to feel the emotions Matthew McConaughey was feeling.

And it’s the characters in this movie that make you feel many things.

Especially these.

Now I’m not gonna go into too much detail about how emotional this movie made me, but all I will say is that it’s been a while since I’ve seen a movie that’s made my cry harder than Click.

Interstellar also happens to be one of those movies that leaves very little to gripe about (except – potentially - the science, to some extent, but, let’s be real here, who the hell watches these movies for the science?), and you’re left marveling at the sheer scope and brilliance of this movie. My only complaint about this movie would be that some lines were almost unintelligible at times, but that’s really just about it.

Overall, if you’re gonna spend 230 bucks at a movie theater hoping to get a lot out of it after, Interstellar is the movie for you. It’s everything we’ve come to expect from a Christopher Nolan movie: deep, engaging, a slow boil, well-balanced, thought-provoking, interesting, and filled to the brim with the unexpected. In my book, this movie could very easily go down as the best film of 2014, and only faces actual competition from Gone Girl (which I shall get to soon) and, potentially, the next installment in the cool-to-hate Hobbit trilogy.

In other words, Interstellar blows 22 Jump Street and X-Men: DoFP right out of the water.

The face I was making throughout the movie.

PROS: Too many to list

CONS: Some lines are difficult to hear and/or understand (at times, and very seldom), could be paced too slowly for casual moviegoers

OVERALL: 10 out of 10 (absolutely amazing!)

Let's throw in an extra cat for good measure.

PHOTO CREDITS:

http://www.interstellar2014-movie.com/gallery/Interstellar%20Movie%20Images/58/
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(C) Rafael Alfonso Duran, 2014
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED