Bright colorful costumes, old film cameras and props, old photos of well known stars from the industry of Philippine cinema, numerous trophies and a lot more can be seen at Mowelfund Museum. On our way, we got a bit lost finding the museum because it was in a subdivision area I think, we had to ask directions from people who lived there. Upon arriving at the museum some of my classmates were there already and of course our professor. Waited an hour before getting inside because we still have to wait for the others to arrive. We were there, 8 in the morning so we still have time to drink coffee or rest for a while. By the way there's a store in the waiting area where you can buy chips or even a meal just in case you get hungry.

The above picture was taken from google, just to show you what it looks like from outside of the gate. My first ever visit, I was with my friends and classmates we were accompanied by our cinema professor. We were acknowledge by the presence of Ms. Boots Anson Roa who happens to be the president of the said museum. Starstruck, I could not stop myself from taking a lot of pictures sadly it wasn't my camera that I'm using. At her age she is still beautiful, still has that glow. Well maybe because she's an actress and all but still I couldn't help myself but to stare. She was kind and smiling all the time. As we all know Boots Anson Roa is an award winning actress, a columnist, an editor not to mention a UP college professor. She is well respected in her field, a really admirable person. Before we went inside she introduced her self and the purpose of the museum and why the museum was built she also shared her experiences and a little about herself.

Inside, the first room was a theater and the smell was, well somewhat old and not pleasing to the nose. The museum is 40 years after all. Another room was full of factual posters with pictures about the history of cinema there are also old news papers in closed in a glass. I remember reading one about how they shot the scene where there are ships in the ocean and they were firing at each other, to be able to shoot that they made small ships so they can execute the scene. From the look of the picture it seems real it was colored in black and white since it is an old film. Next is the 2nd floor, we took the stairs which is by the way really cute. They have the names of the showbiz stars printed in every steps so while we are going up we can see them step by step. I think my favorite part is the room where the equipments that are used in a set and props used by actors are displayed. We were able to take pictures with them and the best part for me is that I can touch them, I can look closely and feel the weight of each object. The film reel is very heavy or is it just the old film reel, because I have no idea if the film reel of today is as heavy as that of the film reel of the museum. And yes the old camera was there also of course, too bad I didn't know how to operate it. I wanted to take the clapper home for souvenir. (just kidding) Left photo was from google.

Just thought of giving a quick review about this. Just my opinion.

Is it me or is this film not that scary at all? I mean besides that it is based on a true story, I don't find it scary. There were  notable horror films such as Paranormal Activity just the first one though, the following series were kinda corny and The Hunting in Connecticut or Exorcism of Emily Rose, still gives me the chills just by typing it.  

The first time I saw the trailer, I was closing my eyes and minimizing the volume of my speaker. Because the trailer was so good, I really thought it was scary the minute I saw the trailer I was having second thoughts watching the film. Exorcism films are not for me. Those films I mentioned above really guarantees sleepless nights I'm sure! Well maybe for me. lol.

What bugs me? The doll! The creepy looking doll. It was shown in the trailers and posters of the film and yet it has nothing to do with the story. It was shown in the first part of the film but just that. I thought the story will revolved around the doll but no. It didn't. By the way to those who haven't watched it yet, the doll belongs to the Warrens they kept it in their house along with the other stuffs they believed to be possessed.

Another is the "warning" poster that has been circulating the social media that says, the movie goers have to consult a priest after watching the film. 

Great! Now I'm never going to see this movie ever! But I still did. A storm came and classes were suspended for a week and I thought I'd give it a try if it's too scary I'd back out no second thoughts. But I got through with it, and the feeling is, well disappointed. It wasn't scary people were overacting about it. It's the sound effects, I jolted several times because of it.

This movie introduced me to the genre of noir films, although Body Heat is considered to be a neo-noir film. I got a better understanding of the genre after watching this film. A modern and updated kind of noir film. Well, according to wikipedia, neo-noir is a style we often see in modern motion pictures and other forms that prominently utilize elements of film noir, but with updated themes, content, style, visual elements or media that were absent in films noir of the 1940s and 1950s. Ok, so the 1940s and 1950s noir films are in low-key, gloomy grays or black and white visual style, with heavy fogs and then of course with a femme fatale. Often, the story is develop with a cynical male character who later on, will meet a beautiful and seductive femme fatale who would use her feminine wiles to manipulate him.
Below are the pictures that makes a film a noir film.

Well, compared to the noir films of the 1940s and the 1950s, Body Heat, in my opinion is lighter than the old film of the genre in terms of visual elements. The black and white color of the old film adds the heavy feel into the movie, and the heavy fogs that are used in the 1940s makes it gloomy and mysterious anything you can to describe what a real noir film. Body Heat being a neo-noir film with the updated style and visual elements, made the film much lighter than the pictures you see above.
I don't think it made the movie less of a noir film, the Body Heat has every bit of what the genre has That is the femme fatale which is the dangerous woman, the antihero which is the male character, heavy and gloomy atmosphere and the plot of the story which is associated with murder cases, crime fictions etc.

                                                          "Born into a world of highs and lows"


So this movie was shown in our cinema class but unfortunately I wasn't there. I was really curious, because my classmates were all talking about it and saying that I have to watch it, and it was good and has sex in it. Yes! They really did say that and oh yea! We have to make an essay about it. So I figured, I had to watched it at home by myself with a bag of chips and a big glass of iced tea and some ice cream that is already half empty, I might add.
Ok! On to the film. It's a plus for me that Ewan McGregor was in it. I'm a fan! Although I've only seen two of his movies,Tim Burton's Big Fish and Star Wars prequel it was enough for me to admire him with the talent that he has. Each character, every role, he delivers it with finesse. At the beginning of the film I saw Renton (Ewan McGregor) running and then thought oh this is gonna be a good one.

So the film is based on a book, Trainspotting is a 1993 novel by Scottish writer Irvine Welsh and soon after it was published, was adapted for the stage.It is about drug addiction, it shows the pleasure of drug-taking both for itself and for the joy of escaping for a time with the kinds of life the characters are likely to have without it. The story focuses on Renton, his journey of taking in drugs and how he tries to distance himself to his peers to stop himself from taking the drug. The production. First off a round of applause for the actors, they were superb with their characters. Robert Carlyle as Begbie did a great job acting as a violent sociopath, and of course Ewan for his watershed performance as a heroin addict. The editing is good, especially the part where he went into the toilet. I don't know if he really did went into it or not but it is really disgusting! Anyway, the scene where the baby died is really disturbing. It's one of the negative effects of what a drug can do to your life, they take away your loved ones. I think the climax of the movie is when Renton was house arrested, suffering from heroin withdrawal in his parents house where he started to hallucinate. The part that he saw he baby crawling on the ceiling towards him really freaked me out. It flashbacked on him on how awful and tragic it was that it happened. His personal ghosts of addiction were coming back to haunt him. 

On our first day of cinema class our professor made his introduction about the subject and discussed about films. He made us watched this documentary about Hollywood styles, which I think are t.v episodes when I searched about it on google. Well known directors and filmmakers such as Martin Scorsese, Sydney Pollack, Joseph Mankiewicz and Steven Spielberg where in this documentary film. Each shared their own favorite films and how they connect to their work. There are also discussions about how different directors achieve different effects with the available materials.The documentary was I think an hour long, which contains 13 episodes and each episodes in the series takes a look at the several styles Hollywood has gone through years. It features a rich collection of clips along with comments by actors, directors and other industry experts. It was hosted by John Lithgow who was an American actor and an author. This particular episode examines what makes a film a Hollywood film.  

In a classical Hollywood film, the story is dominant. The filmmakers rely on  narrative and visual elements to effectively tell their story. The audience were involved with the story and also they make sure you where with the characters, you connect with the character to the point that you wouldn't even notice the set design, the angles or the editing or any of the craft that created the whole film. Americans back then like stories more than anything else, so business people gathered some of the best storytellers to help them develop a style of story telling that is unimaginable.