[ greyweed ] -- and the bored shall inherit the earth...

During my training with the company I now work for, we had an activity called a Team Building that had a dangerous resemblance to the reality show Amazing Race. It is “dangerous” by my standards because on the day it was held, the sky was generous enough to provide with us puddles that speckled the entire Ortigas area. And did I mention “Ortigas?” That means the Pasig-Mandaluyong area and that also means that puddles were huge and were lodged on the sidewalks. Good grief!
And thankfully, after running around from place to place -from the Discovery Center to Seattle’s Best (Megamall) to Caltex to Whistle Stop (Shang-ri la) and to other places God knows where I can’t remember- our team won. And so we were given our prize: one SM movies pass each.
Holy crap. I almost had an asthma attack, spent for a cab and literally got drenched and all we get is a movie pass?
Oh well, I just let that pass. It was fun anyway, I tried to fool myself.

Two weeks ago, specifically Thursday last week, I went to Megamall to buy two book, Ermita by F. Sionil Jose and A B N K K B S N P L A ko by Bob Ong, as rewards to myself for sticking up to my work and for raising my standards for what level of pain is still bearable. Because not only have I grown in my endurance to pain, I’ve also become a little bit of a masochist. So there.





Underworld
Kate Beckinsale
Scott Speedman


As I was about to go home, I remembered that I still had that damn movie pass in my bag and it has been a while since I last saw a film. The last films I saw were The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and Finding Nemo, and it felt like it were such a long time ago. So when I got to the cinema area, I didn’t want to watch Sharon and Aga in another one of their “feel good” movies, so I looked to the left and saw Underworld, and to the right I saw American Wedding. So it was Kate Beckinsale vs Jason Biggs.
Kate, of course.

Underworld delves into the dark mythos revolving around the centuries-old battle between Vampires and Werwolves. The film is set in the present and supposedly in America; but the buildings and the cobblestone streets, and the apparent absence of trash-filled alleys made the atmosphere decidedly French than American.
In this reality, the werewolves (called Lykan) are the morlocks scrounging around underground. On the other hand, the vampires are of nobility, lounging in a manor drinking blood from wine glasses like champagne; finding slaughter un-dignifying. Not Selene (Kate Beckinsale). Having hunted and killed Liken for the years to avenge the death of her family’s massacre in their hands, she prowls the city armed with nothing but a pair of magnums and her instincts.
While stalking one night, she notices a group of Lykan following a human, Michael Corvin (Scott Speedman). She follows for a closer look only to find out that she has to save the human from the werewolves. But before she succeeds in doing so, he is bitten by Lucian, a werewolf believed to be long dead. She brings Michael to her mansion while she tries to find out what the Lykan wanted with a human. Kraven, the vampire coven’s officer in charge, disapproves of this.
As we would later find out, according to history books, Kraven killed the werewolf ruler Lucian during the Great War; a war waged during the time when Lykans served as daytime servants for the Coven. Marriages across species were severely prohibited because of a prophecy, and Lucian crossed the line by marrying the coven ruler’s daughter Sophia. Viktor, the ruler, had his own daughter executed and Lucian tortured.
And that’s what started the war.
The prophecy (that twins of the Corvinus blood line would be born - half-Lykan, half-Vampire but more powerful than both – would end the war and once again unite the two species) is discovered by Selene, but finds herself smitten by Michael.
As it turns out, Lucian is alive and is seeking for the prophecy to come true by binding a working alliance with Viktor. WHAT A SCAM!
This film features all the blood, gore and violence of Saving Private Ryan, Tomb Raider and The General’s Daughter combined, but with all the sincerest morbid details to last you a lifetime. And I simply loved it.
Unfortunately, it seriously references the Matrix for the costumes; yep all that tight leather, and the black trench coats and dark glasses that licks you all over with both gothic and punk rock fashion statements. And not to mention all the gun-slinging you’ll ever need.
But with all the juicy details the story has to offer –from the historical reference to the very sudden injection of the love angle-, it feels like an overextended mini-series episode. One more bad comment, the werewolves looked more like bad impressions of the Tikbalang in Avalon Comics’ STONE.
But still, this is pure eye-candy! Imagine all the gory scenes, the heart-stopping action, a healthy dose of twists and turns in the story, and Kate Beckinsale! Oh JOY!







The Rundown
The Rock
Sean William Scott
Rosario Dawson
Christopher Walken


I have always been a bad decision-maker, and this bothered me to no end. Just this Wednesday, I went to Megamall to watch another film, which I find is one of my brain’s way of relaxing and allowing all the creative juices to flow out (not necessarily to be used). So once again I find myself standing in the middle of two movie theaters. In front of me was Freaky Friday (something I had been planning to watch since I saw the trailer when I watched The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen), and behind me was The Rundown (I’ve read of great reviews about it).
Jamie Lee Curtis vs The Rock. Here we go again…
And just like that I bought a ticket for The Rundown.

The Rundown features Beck (The Rock, and I wouldn’t bother finding out his real name, sorry) as an aspiring restaurateur, something I find so bloody unlikely, who friggin’ hate guns. But he is tied to a not very nice disposition as he explained, “I grew up in a rough neighborhood, and one thing led to another, then I just found myself in the wrong room with the wrong type of people.” And one of those wrong people is Walker, the Don-of-the-Mafia type of big man who gives Beck assignments usually given to a paid hitman, only Beck wouldn’t kill. As a last job before Walker gives Beck his freedom, he has to fly to the Amazon and look for Travis (Sean William Scott), Walker’s son, and bring him back.
Beck endures a biplane ride with a noisy Irish pilot to get to Brazil. He walks up to a fortress, home to Hatcher (Christopher Walken), pays $10,000 to search the forests to find Travis and bring him home.
He walks into a bar where he meets Rosario Dawson who has a very ingenious life; bartender by day, rebel by night. He picks up Travis in that bar, not willingly, mind you. But Hatcher has a change in plan because apparently Travis stumbles upon the map to get the Gato (the Devil’s Cat, a legendary gold statue).
A chase follows though the forest.
This film cracked me up, between Beck’s “options A&B routine” and Travis’ “lighting & thunder” stunts, there seems to be no end to the laugh, but not enough to get me hyperventilating.