Movie Marathon

My friends - Melody and Lovella - had our movie break last Saturday (July 18). We had an early start at 9am, quite earlier than the usual Saturday, at least for me (I'd prefer my good ol' pillows, or my cuddly bear "Butterscotch", or my candy-colored lucky cow "Taffy" on any other Saturday). But that Saturday was supposed to be special. In fact, Melody was super excited, as early as the Friday night before.

We took the cab to Mall of Asia (MOA) for our first movie stop - an IMAX 'experience' of Harry Potter Book 6. It's the ladies' first time, so cut us some slack :) When we got there, MOA was still half-asleep with only a few visitors here and there. We crossed our fingers and hoped that somehow we'll end up in the cinema area in time. The place was huge, and well...confusing. Not the wow-this-is-interesting-as-a-labyrinth kind of confusing. But the oh-no-get-me-to-my-destination-please type. Thanks to Lovella who somehow remembered the area where the cinema should be.

We had a real quick breakfast at Country Style. Then lined up for the movie. The "3D googles" were handed out, and here comes (drumroll) IMAX....

The judgment: The Harry Potter IMAX hype is an overrated hype. It lasted supposedly for 30 minutes, but felt like a really short glimpse for me. We obviously didn't expect it to be full-length, but for the price, we expected a little more. For example, the choice of scenes for the 3D effect was, I believe, rubbish. What is so interesting with the title and introduction, the bridge catastrophe, the tidying of a messy room for these to be in 3D? There are definitely other scenes in the movie which I believe are more deserving of the extra bucks for the 3D. Unbelievably frustrating, in my humble opinion. We've seen better 3D films in theaters abroad. Well...probably, we expected Filipino cinemas to be at par, and we were disappointed.

The comic teeny bopper romances and emotional roller coasters saved the day as we laughed through the remaining non-3D scenes. And then cried through the death of the most beloved and greatest wizard. Aaaaw, I paid 400 pesos to cry.

Then, when all of it was over, we had our group lunch of tuna, squid and all sorts of seafood. After filling up, we had a really short stroll through the vast mall -- "really short" because the crowd and the "order" of boutiques inside the mall were really nauseating and we hated the pandemonium instantly, and --- the so-called "stroll" because we had no choice but to be lost, to find our way through the exit.

Finally, we found our way out. We took the bus ride to good 'ol Glorietta. Some things really fare higher because the familiarity is equated to good memories.

The "second" movie stop was only supposed to be a "backup", a postponed "Plan B". Really dependent on the outcome of the IMAX experience. So Plan B was "Ice Age" (the movie was postponed because of Lovella's more important health check last week - i.e., we spent the weekend at the hospital plus two more days after that).

I used my free movie ticket, one of the four tickets won from a Labor Day promo when Melody, Lovella, and I (same set of movie pals huh) watched our last movie - Wolverine (thank goodness that Ice Age is not 'Guaranteed Seats' so it's covered by my free ticket). The movie seemed more fun, mainly because the expectations are not that high, and we were just there to feel good about ourselves, and hopefully recover from the Harry Potter IMAX disappointment (haha). And good it indeed was. Pure-hearted goodness of friendship. Not to be missed are the tango routine between acorn-crazy Scrat and his love interest, and the "Alone Again" MTV of the sorry and lonely acorn. Crazy, I know, but I loved it that these had more film time than in the previous installments. The dinosaurs were also drawn in a cute and healthy way (red and chubby), not at all scary, monstrous and terrifying as they usually are.

All in all, the movie marathon was a good break for all three of us after a really testy and tough week. One thing I learned is to lower one's expectations a little to better appreciate life with all its limitations.

Well, till next the movie marathon dears. Ciao!