Menthol-Guy

Surprisingly, nothing got lost

I’m the guy in maroon. Larger versions are here and here.

I’ve had much of Drew’s Katipunan again (I ordered Absinthe and it’s convincingly authentic at some point, but of course it’s illegal so it should be fake) last Friday night. But since we conformed to the rituals of drinking coffee to get sober, nothing got lost (compared to our past April boozefest when I lost my wallet and one lost her cellphone).

Kudos to the people who went there for Billycoy’s birthday celebration! My mentholated link-love goes to Rens, Jhed, Poyt, Bleue, Xienahgirl (at last she showed up! YEY), L.A. (the fairy gay-mother) and Aaron! (Hopefully I haven’t forgotten anyone).

Gone, at last

I checked the web yesterday and searched for the schedule of Cinemax Asia since I was left distraught and disappointed with leaving the movie unfinished just for some lame reason of urgent text messages from my former HS classmates. I felt good when Cinemax somehow gave me another chance of watching both ends of the film - scheduled a while ago at 11 AM. Since two alarm clocks are proved to be futile for my profound way of catching the z’s, I decided to sleep early and wake up before eleven (totally relying on my body clock).

And it’s not what I thought it would happen.

I’m pertaining to the film itself. The movie follows Alex (Shaun Evans) and Sophie (Amelia Warner) on a road trip around the outbacks of Australia. They have both agreed to meet in Australia, but before they do so, Alex has met Taylor (Scott Mechlowich: you guys might know him as “Scott/Scotty” in Eurotrip) - willing to drive him around and be his tour guide. The movie introduced the two boys as they met in a fun atmosphere, which gradually becomes gloomier and full of menace as we find out about Taylor’s dark side.

Two thumbs up for the cinematography and everything. The picturesque landscapes of the outback, the polaroid pictures (I now crave for a Polaroid camera, sheesh) and everything in the film.

Scott Mechlowicz as Taylor

Another good thing is that they sort-of revealed Taylor’s misdemeanor in an abrupt way - slowly and day by day. It practically diminished the suspense a bit, but then it was effective for me. I just don’t know how I found out that Taylor has this ulterior motive as he befriends Alex - well of course the movie is admittedly not original since I’ve heard similar movie plots like this.

I also liked some fragments of the film. Especially the rainfall that happened when Alex was peering over Taylor and Sophie while buying some food on some gasoline station. And the shots they make are more or less original, really. And their setting - deep in the Australian desert - somehow adds the suspense for what might happen in the film since it limits the capabilities of the characters. Like, they can’t just go home without catching a bus ride. And the leaping antelopes. It’s just good it made me think of going to Australia (LOL) with my Dad.

But the ending is a disaster. It’s for the insensitive and the not-so-precocious. It’s something very obvious, very predictable. I knew from the start that it (I’m trying my very best not to spoil everything) will happen. And it violently did. I shouldn’t have craved for the ending since it was generally how the viewers (particularly ME) might envision the ending of the movie.

Sophie (Amelia Warner) and Alex (Scott Evans)

The movie should have ended the film with how Sophie went home or what happened to her friend and all those unanswered questions. They should have - at least - filled the void. But it’s good, nonetheless. Not really a waste of time watching. I enjoyed the scenes A LOT more than I usually do towards other films (its cinematography is more or less the same with my all-time favorite movie “Brick” by Rian Johnson).