Reel Thursday: Insidious Chapter 2 (2013)

Insidious: Chapter 2 was just released in cinemas here in the Philippines last September 18, 2013. I was so excited to watch this because I really liked the first movie. Last Sunday, when my friend and I were bored and I was waiting for the rain to stop so that I can go home, we both decided to watch the movie. It was still raining though, but it didn't stop us from watching this. She also liked the first movie, and we both agreed that it was much better than the popular horror movie in the Philippines, "The Conjuring," even though it was both directed by James Wan. 

The story of this second movie starts from the part where the first movie ended. I will not say much about the movie so as not to spoil it, but I must say that the story was well-written, although I cannot applaud the screenplay much. The mystery was fine, and it kept me guessing until almost the end, but I'm afraid that some people might not follow the movie easily because of the transitions. Other than that, I believe that this horror film is quite good. I even love its cinematography. It had some flashbacks to the past during Josh's childhood, and I found the young Elise and young Lorraine to be charming, probably because of the fashion style that they presented.

Elise's apprentices, Specs and Tucker, bring comedy to this horror film. In the first movie, they were a bit low profile, but in this movie, they really have a lot of (important?) roles, and because of that, they brought laughter in spite of the scary scenes.

The final scene of the movie implies another story that could be made into a film again (perhaps Insidious: Chapter 3), but this time with another family. Although, Specs, Tucker, and Elise, might still be present (as the last scene suggests) in the next film, if ever there will still be one.

Like I said before, I really like this film sequel as much as the original film. It gave me enough scares and yet it still has an original plot. I suggest that you watch the first film before watching this because it is important to be familiar with what happened in the first one. Also, the first movie is awesome so you should still watch it.

K-Mondays: Master's Sun (K-drama)

Romantic comedy veterans, So Ji Sub and Gong Hyo Jin stars in the latest Hong Sisters' Rom-Com K-drama, Master's Sun. The Korean title for Master's Sun is  주군의 태양, which is sort of a play on the name of the lead characters, Joo Joong Won (So Ji Sub) and Tae Gong Shil (Gong Hyo Jin). Just by the main stars and the writer of this new drama series, it really gained much attention from viewers like me. To be honest, I always look forward to the Hong Sisters' new K-dramas and that's why I won't let this new one pass. It's only a bonus that So Ji Sub and Gong Hyo Jin are the stars for this much awaited drama.

I've only watched the first episode of Master's Sun, and I can say that it could be promising. I won't judge yet if it could be better or worst from then on (because of my experience with Big), but I'll definitely continue this drama. Without further ado, here goes the first episode of "Master's Sun."

Okay, now. Sorry for the scary screen shots. I just want to show how this K-drama is a Horror, Romantic-Comedy. Much like the movie I reviewed about some time ago, Chilling Romance, it's a Rom-Com with a hint of Horror, which is a mix of my favorite genres. I usually watch Horror movies with friends or family but since this is a K-drama, I'd want to watch it alone first because I always want to watch K-dramas alone first for some reason before I make others watch it with me.

The ghost above beside Tae Gong Shil (Gong Hyo Jin) is actually a ghost of a grandmother who's seeking help from her. Tae Gong Shil, after a life or death accident, survived but as a consequence, she's now suffering from becoming aware of ghosts around her. As if seeing them is not scary enough, they also approach her and ask her for favors that they couldn't do when they (the ghosts) were still alive.

The main leads, Gong Shil and Joong Won, met in the most "horror-like" way. It was raining at night, and Gong Shil was looking to hitch a ride. Then came this man, Joong Won, with his car and driver. They ended up taking her in the car, despite Joong Won protesting.

They stopped at a rest-stop because it seems that something (a ghost) was bothering Gong Shil. And then the most amazing thing happened to Gong Shil when she touched Joong Won. The ghosts that kept bothering her went away.

A new, supporting character was introduced, and that is Seo In Guk as Kang Woo. He's a new tenant in the same residence building as Gong Shil.

The mystery goes on, because it seems like Kang Woo has some hidden agenda that is related to Joong Won's company.

This love story is Gong Shil's "project" for this episode. I expect that in each episode there would be something like this where Gong Shil will be helping a lost soul and helping it to move on. The story of the dead girl is quite touching because when they got married when she's still alive, she immediately broke up with the guy and never faced him again. The reason for that was because she's terminally ill, and will die soon, and she doesn't want to be a burden for the guy who's chasing his dreams. The guy didn't know about it until when the girl met Gong Shil, and asked her for a favor which is to help her send the message to the guy. It was creepy at first yet still heartbreaking.

By the end of the first episode, Gong Shil seems to have found out about the "ghost" of Joong Won's past, and Joong Won ends up confronting her. However, Gong Shil was too tired of all the ghosts asking favors from her and ends up in Joong Won's arms.

Like I said before, the first episode was quite promising, and there's no reason to stop watching. My concern is just the horror part, because there are some really surprising scenes that makes me jump. Nevertheless, it's a fresh idea for a Rom-Com, and I hope that the writers will continue to shape the plot well.

Reel Thursday: The Conjuring.

Everyone, and I tell you, everyone in the Philippines with access to social media (and some of those who doesn't really have access but has friends/family who has one) is familiar with The Conjuring. Even if you didn't know what that movie was about until you've read about it on Twitter or Facebook, you'll be able to know and end up watching it. 

Taken from Wiki.

My friends and I planned to watch it last weekend, but it got cancelled because everyone was busy. And so I went to another friend's place and kidnapped her to watch The Conjuring on cinema. When we arrived at Robinson's Manila, we found out that the movie was still not released and I was devastated because it was a huge effort just to get to that mall since it was raining. We accepted the fact and just roamed around the mall and my friend instead bought a t-shirt for herself. We decided to go home and just to add to the fact that we didn't get to watch the movie, it was raining hard outside and we didn't have the money for a taxi and so we walked a long sidewalk. On that sidewalk, there were vendors who sell a lot of stuff, mainly (SSHHHHHH) pirated dvds. And because we were desperate to watch the movie, we bought the dvd along with the "Bakit Hindi Ka Crush ng Crush Mo" one because my friend was easily persuaded by the vendor. Before actually watching the movie, we did many stuff because of the rain, along with our other friends. Since it was raining, we went to drink coffee at Starbucks just until the rain stopped so we can go back to my friend's condo unit. Afterwards, we went to eat dinner (and it was still raining) at a shawarma place. I actually brought the shisha/hookah that I bought from Dubai for my friends so we wanted to test it out and after having dinner, we bought drinks to go with our shisha.

Just imagine our state when we watched The Conjuring. We were a bit drunk and tipsy because of the alcohol + shisha combination yet we managed to be awake while watching The Conjuring at 1am. We actually got sober just by watching the movie because we really wanted to concentrate on watching that movie everyone's talking about. We watched it, and actually finished the movie at like 3:30am. If you've already watched the movie, you'll be creeped out because we're watching the worst scene at like 3:07am. Well, that's just our imagination running though. It was fun having finally watched The Conjuring, at night, drunk and tipsy, with friends, but I believe that we were all disappointed by the movie.

We have expected it to be really good, and it was, but not that good to be rated that high. We all thought the same thing after watching the movie, that it was overrated. Maybe it was just because we expected a lot from it because of the praises that we ended up becoming disappointed. The thing is, I love horror movies and one thing I like about horror movies is some has an open end. The Conjuring has an open end, being a true story and all, but there are just some things that needs closure for an open end to become effective. Also, the scary parts were indeed scary, but it was all given in the trailers so I didn't get to appreciate it more. Nonetheless, I want to watch it again to know if its not just the alcohol judging the movie and to also look for some good parts of the movie.