racial discrimination, friendship ties, and inhumane abbatoirs

boredom struck the family at some point yesterday and as the usual thing goes, we spent QUALITY time (and yes, i said that no doubt) together watching dvds which papa brought home the day before.

fortunately, he bought something that might be given attention by the less-aged family members (including me, my sisters and my brother). with our HUGE disapproval, papa usually patronizes films with similar storylines, settings, and conclusions. the only element that varies (malamang) is the cast.
READ: ACTION FLICKS

and how he surprised us that night with his pasalubong dvds (CRASH and HOSTEL).
***yes, say it, they're pirated. both films are foreign anyway. :-P***

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With my persistence, we watched CRASH first. (I was intrigued by this film; some of my colleagues criticized Brokeback a lot during our film talks and fought for this film's Oscar win.)
i was actually a Brokeback (Mountain, by Ang Lee) fan before, and when I say before, it was relatively some days before the anticipated Oscars night.

And then CRASH won.

I hesitated in treating Brokeback as this year's BEST after that and looked forward into actually watching CRASH.

Yes, I can say this now, CRASH made me LOSE my bias over BROKEBACK. The film's flawless, I think, and yet the storyline saw no boundaries as it infinitely showcased the present-day continuous augmentation of worldwide discrimination.

(PLOT: Several stories interweave during two days in Los Angeles involving a collection of inter-related characters, a black police detective with a drugged out mother and a thieving younger brother, two car thieves who are constantly theorizing on society and race, the distracted district attorney and his irritated and pampered wife, a racist veteran cop (caring for a sick father at home) who disgusts his more idealistic younger partner, a successful black Hollywood director and his wife who must deal with racist cop, a Persian-immigrant father who buys a gun to protect his shop, a Hispanic locksmith and his young daughter who is afraid of bullets, and more. )

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Few hours later, I decided to watch a VCD copy of THE SISTERHOOD OF TRAVELING PANTS after eating clams for lunch. My mom and ate went to the mall to buy pearls (?), leaving papa, my little sleepy brother, and myself at home.

I anticipated my views on this film as I pictured it as a typical teen flick, the ones which usually revolve on teenage school, family, and social life. (I hesitated on watching it actually, for this reason.)

Yeah, it revolved on teenage life alright, but moreover, it focused on highlighting the dilemmas of modern-day teeners.

The film surely caught my attention; and damn, I admit it was the first teenybopper who got me teary-eyed. Haha.. :-) I also had a taste of new actors on this film; some of them I saw just for the first time, and at some point I adored America Ferrera (spelling check here), the girl who played chubby Carmen. Each story of the four major characters were emotionally-driven, though some would say the setting also adds up to the formula.

(PLOT: The movie is based on the young adult book, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, by Anne Brashares. As four best friends spend their first summer apart from one another, they share a magical pair of jeans. Despite being of various shapes and sizes, each one of them fits perfectly into the pants. To keep in touch they pass these pants to each other as well as the adventures they are going through while apart.)

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As the day ended, Lheng (my sister), mom, and I decided to watch HOSTEL. (Papa stood outside, drinking beer, having no guts AT ALL to watch the film as my ate scrapped out some spoilers. :-))

I cant control myself and compare it to SAW. HOSTEL is a thrilling movie nonetheless. Kudos to that creepy background music, effective screen props, and visual masterpieces that actually made the film work. (almost, i guess.)

Still, I kept on thinking that it lacked creativity on its storyboard. I guess the film lacked more thrilling twists. Some aspects are even left unexplained (especially the true reason of the mass slaughtering). These things I enjoyed best in SAW.

The only edge of HOSTEL over SAW, i guess, is the inclusion of more visual violence. An advice, commit the sin of gluttony first before watching it. :-)

(PLOT: While backpacking through Europe, college students Paxton (Jay Hernandez) and Josh (Derek Richardson) seek the ultimate vacation through sex, drugs and unforgettable experiences. When a friendly stranger informs the two of a hostel in Bratislava that offers the most beautiful and promiscuous women in all of Europe, Paxton and Derek trek with their new Icelandic friend Oli (Eythor Gudjonsson) to find the hostel that sounds too good to be true. When arriving to Bratislava, the trio found that the hostel was everything and more of what they expected. The events that follow are sure to deliver the unforgettable vacation that the two were looking for. Mystery, suspense and fear direct this film to its bloody ending. )

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Well, I called it a night after watching the simulcast of the launch of PINOY BIG BROTHER TEEN EDITION. You bet, the personalities are as colorful as the previous editions. I'm getting chills just imagining how they'll be able to survive.