My Grandmother from Leyte came over to the City for an appointment with her physician, so naturally, since there isn’t really a lot to do in the house, my dad prepared a DVD for the viewing pleasure of my Granny. It was “Gone with the Wind”. I heard about the movie a lot of times before, usually on award shows. So, I gave it a shot. Before the film began, my grandmother told me that the last time she saw the film was way before she met my Granddad. So I was thinking black and white, well, because Casablanca was (which I swear is one of my classic favorites next to Wizard of Oz). So the movie started. I remembered, it was last year that my dad made me watch “Fiddler on the roof”. I forgot but the movie started after lunch and perhaps ended an hour before dinner. 4 hours! Well, understandable, FotR is a classic and if we try to remember, so was “the Sound of Music” which I think is about 3 hours long. Gone with the Wind, Fiddler…, Wizards of Oz, Sound of Music, Casablanca and I guess most of the films from the 1920’s to late 1970’s had no end credits, in fact, their credits were shown in the beginning. Of course, there weren’t really a lot of people to thank, unlike those of today.
So yeah, the film was probably close to 4 hours long. My Grandmother even slept in the couch so I had to stop the DVD and watch again later that evening. Superb story. It revolved around the American Civil War. One can always read the synopsis of the film anywhere on the web, but actually watching the movie was overwhelming. Scarlett O’Hara. I’ve heard of that name on innumerable lines from other movies, it was then that I actually came across the real Scarlett. The movie in general was about life in the midst of a war and how a seemingly rich spoiled brat could turn into someone independent and feisty on difficult instances.
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So, after my brother’s innumerable request to watch Tron with him (although he has already seen it), I finally agreed to do so. It was perhaps early this year that the trailer of Tron:Legacy was released. My brother was streaming the video on Youtube when my dad noticed. Dad instantly told Billy that the 2011 film might possibly be a sequel to the 1982 flick. Trust me, when you talk about sci-fi flicks, the best person to turn to is my dad. I think this whole mania of his is rooted from Lucas’ ingenious trilogy and Isaac Asimov’s best-sellers. So without question, Tron was downloaded.
To be honest, I wasn’t really enticed upon seeing Tron:Legacy’s trailer except that the film is indeed the perfect pick for the ultimate IMAX 3D experience. Other than that, it seemed ok. BUT things started to change the moment I saw Tron (1982). Just like Star Wars 3-6, Tron was basically a movie during the advent of the infamous Blue screen films. So, coming from a generation where blue screens are (although still very important) “a thing of the past”, it’s very understandable if one might think that the effects of the old movie was crappy. I mean, I have to be brutally honest, the effects were crappy! But I guess that’s the whole point. Film making and cinema has grown. Take it from me, if you’ve seen Clash of the Titans (2010) then you’d probably be rolling on the floor laughing the moment you see the original version. But I guess that’s the whole beauty of it. I guess the best person who showed the growth of cinema to the world is George Lucas (Star Wars). He filmed the last 3 episodes first because there was no technology at that time that could make his visualizations of the millions of clone soldiers, galactic battles and wars, Gungan soldiers, podracing, etc… come to life. And now with the birth of 3D and IMAX, we have, yet again, entered into another era of cinema.
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I was talking with ALG the other day about the 2009 independent film, “Where the Wild Things Are”. I told him how much I love the indie film, intrigued, he requested that we watch the movie together. Turned out he didn’t have the same fascination of the film as I did. He then said “Ganahan jd kas tanang salida nga imung makit-an sa?” I answered, “Di man tanan, D JD KU GANAHAG UNGO2”.
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