Result to the Alternative

Unfortunate fool. Addressed to me, of course.

Much to my excitement and failed preparation, I commanded my sister and cousin to Greenbelt at around 5:30 to buy tickets for El Orfanato showing at 9:30 as part of the Instituto Cervantes Pelicula showcase. I thought that was enough preparation already; and with a couple of more expensive and mainstream movies shown for this week, I was pretty confident that there would be three seats at least waiting for El Orfanato. This was where I slipped.

Waiting patiently in a long queue I was more excited for my cousin and sister for this International movie experience. They are mainstream leisure watchers and picking El Orfanato wouldn't be something that they'd do, but they were pretty optimistic about the plot that I gave them. If there's one thing that we don't shy away from, it's horror movies in any culture and in any language (with subtitles of course).

But I remembered last Thursday night my officemate was a bit relieved that El Orfanato had sold out tickets. She was supposed to watch it with friends , but she doesn't really like horror movies that much. I figured that it must have a good reception here. It's a famed 2007 Spanish movie after all. So I felt I just had to do some last minute preparation in the hope that I wouldn't be forced to use it. I asked my sister, just in case that El Orfanato is sold out, to pick out the possible alternative. She and my cousin bellowed "TROPIC THUNDER" and then my turn came up.

Much to my dismay El Orfanato was already sold out. A 9:30 pm , 65 bucks, Spanish movie is already sold out. I was in complete shock. My sister glanced at my petrified and distraught attitude and took over purchasing the tickets. My cousin pulled me from the line and tried to console me. She said that Tropic Thunder is a good choice. It's a Ben Stiller film with Jack Black and Robert Downey. I nearly screamed when I said "I know that, but I want El Orfanato. My freaking mistake! I should've reserved tickets online. Stupid me!" I realized when we reached at Glorietta that I was cursing myself the whole time.

By the time we were having dinner at Cafe Bola, I fully accepted my fate. I would just result to DVD just like the alternative I was talking about on my previous post. I drowned my sorrows on Bangus mousse and the regular meatball sandwich as the scene was flocked by celebrities. Michelle Madrigal was there, Jessica Zafra, Carlene Aguilar and Charmel (I have no idea who Charmel is, but my cousin told me she's a part of the Deal or No Deal Girls) . I forced myself not to ask for a picture with Jessica Zafra. I know she wouldn't like it at all. She was just having dinner with two friends, eating Bangus mousse pate and most probably will watch El Orfanato, if she hasn't seen it yet, which I have every reason to doubt due to her movie-buff persona.

After dinner and another round of toasted bread for the remaining Bangus Mousse, we went to Coffee Bean for some dessert and killed time.

Going to the theater, I wasn't expecting much from Tropic Thunder. I figured it's another Ben Stiller brand of comedy just more Star Studded than usual. I was right. The movie's strength was building comedy out of it's pointlessness. I laughed at some slapstick parts mostly care of Jack Black and his heroine-diva character. Ben Stiller delivered his usual and Robert Downey Jr. is a convincing for a confused Australian who turned into African American. I tell you the plot is crazy and insane, which accounts for the fun part. It's not that deep either. It's not supposed to make sense, and the plot could easily be done by a person who has watched too many Tito Vic and Joey movies.

The story being that there are diva actors making a highly budgeted movie of Tropic Thunder based from a fake Vietnam veteran's book. They are being funded by the money hungry producer, Les, and the actors are Jack Black, Robert Downey, Ben Stiller and two others who couldn't really get along. They make it hard for the inferior Director, played by the British Steve Coogan, to meet deadlines and present a good output. Les, played by the prosthetic infused Tom Cruise, scolded the director (in a slapstick way), to manage his actors. The Director out of desperation turned to the Writer of the book, with the help of the Explosives expert, to stage an on the spot shooting method where they would just install hidden cameras in a secluded location, give the directions to the actors, and shoot from somewhere afar. Their aim is to make real for the actors as much as possible.

Upon reaching location, the five actors were oriented by the director of the new shooting method. No more harnesses, no more crew, just explosives and making it look real. The actors, being just trained actors, were hesitant and wimpy at first, but later on found themselves in a real life plot against Vietnamese Guerillas who are not part of the whole cast and crew. They accidentally stumbled against Heroine smugglers after all.

Most of the strength of the movie comes from slapstick jokes, lines and the whole comedic effect that infused a bald and dancing Tom Cruise, the usual Ben Stiller, the Surprising African-American Robert Downey and a Diva-like blondie, Jack Black. This movie has a license not to make sense at all. Some jokes are disgusting. Some are slaptick, but I wouldn't be surprised if you utter a hearty laugh every now and then.

At the end of the movie, I realized that maybe these actors were just bored at some point in their lives and wanted to enjoy themselves. Maybe some acts were even pro-bono, but who cares? In this movie, no one has to really care about the details. In the end, it looked like they were just actors having fun and making complete fools out of themselves.

So those were my alternatives, to just result to the DVD version and to watch Tropic Thunder against the much anticipated El Orfanato. But it's damn hard to shift movie moods though, from one serious horror to a senseless slapstick comedy. Might as well maximize my choices even if it's an alternative.