Must Date The Playboy (2015): Movie Review

Synopsis: Nerdy friend is forced to date a guy beyond her league because her best friend begged her to. (๑ˊ▵ॢˋ̥๑)

Commentary: Must Date The Playboy is a Filipino Wattpad story by notjustarandomgirl and the movie adaptation came out not too long ago. I heard that the movie and book are completely different. I haven’t read the book, but it is very popular. Anyways, the story starts off with Tori (Kim Chiu), an aspiring baker who falls in love with a guy on a chatroom, by the way, she does not know how he looks like. He asks her out on a date, and suddenly Tori’s computer breaks down. Since the chatroom was anonymous, she never found out his name or the city he lives in. The mysterious guy becomes her EMPOY which stands for eighteen, male, Philippines, only, you. It sounds quite cheesy, trust me, it is. Anyways, her friend Nathan sketches EMPOY, keep in mind that Tori does not know how her EMPOY looks like. How does Nathan know how he looks like? He hasn’t met EMPOY either! Then the movie jumps eight years into the future and Tori is still thinking about EMPOY after all this time. She could have moved on, but there was something special about him that made her wait. If I were her, I would have moved on with my life. Her best friend Chloe is a model and she is dating the notorious playboy Zach (Xian Lim). Chloe likes her relationship with Zach and believes he will change is playboy ways. Chloe has hope in her relationship that is until she catches Zach dancing with another girl. Chloe becomes furious at Zach and breaks up with him. Tori immediately hates him for hurting her friend. Then there’s another times skip. Chloe has returned from America with her new boyfriend Greg. Chloe, Greg, Nathan, and Tori go to a club and guess who happens to be there? That’s right, Zach is there. Zach tries to explain himself to Chloe, but Chloe and gang ignore his attempts. Chloe feels bothered by Zach and decides to make Tori date Zach in order to avoid him. And so, Tori begins to date the playboy.

The movie is very cheesy!! But, I did find it very cute. I liked how both Tori and Zach had the same mindset going into the relationship. Zach only agreed to date Tori in order to get closer to Tori while Tori wanted to do help Chloe. I found it really cute how Tori made Zach court her instead of immediately dating. The two of them seemed like complete polar opposites at first, but they aren’t so different. Zach falls for Tori, and he does change his ways! Zach and Tori do experience some troubles in their relationship, but they overcome it in the end! I really didn’t like Chloe. I thought she was a bad friend because she only thought about her interests and forced Tori into a relationship even though Tori was really hesitant and unsure about it. She was a bit villainous during one part, but she does redeem herself. The ending did end on a happy note and it was predictable! Though the movie was extremely cheesy, I did find it fun to watch! (✿˘艸˘✿)

Final Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Holiday (2006):Movie Review

I’ve just watched an incredible movie. It’s called The Holiday (2006), a light-hearted, Christmas themed, romantic comedy about two women who have bad luck with relationships, but they learn to love. There are two protagonists, Iris Simpkins (Kate Winselt) a woman who has been in love with her ex-boyfriend Jasper Bloom for the longest time, and Amanda Woods (Cameron Diaz) a woman who discovered that her boyfriend has cheated on her with his secretary. Both women experience heartbreak and decide that they need to take a holiday to get away from their problems and find peace. Amanda lives in Los Angeles and decides to take a vacation to the United Kingdom. On a website, she finds Iris’ home on display and contacts her immediately. Iris decides to have a home swap for the holidays with Amanda, and each woman begins her journey to a foreign land. The movie alternates between both women and their experience in their vacation. Iris enjoys the life of luxury while staying at Amanda’s home. She befriends Amanda’s next-door neighbor, Arthur Abbot, and her love interest Miles (Jack Black). Amanda finds Iris’ home to be lonely until she meets Graham (Jude Law), who happens to be Iris’ brother. This movie had me quite entertained. I loved both perspectives and seeing how much each women was learning to love again and changing the lives of others around them. I really loved Iris, she was so cute and helpful, and such a blessing to Arthur and Miles. Graham was very adorable too! At first, I thought that he was a playboy when he kept receiving phone calls from Sophia and Olivia, until it is revealed that he is a widower and those girls are his daughters. My favorite part had to be when Iris finally got over Jasper and realized that she could finally move on and be happy herself. Iris was very inspiring and very relatable. My favorite quote of the movie was when she told Miles, “And then, there’s another kind of love: the cruelest kind. The one that almost kills its victims. It’s called unrequited love. Of that I am an expert. Most love stories are about people who fall in love with each other. But what about the rest of us? What about our stories, those of us who fall in love alone? We are the victims of the one sided affair. We are the cursed of the loved ones. We are the unloved ones, the walking wounded.”Another part I enjoyed was seeing Amanda cry for the first time and her realizing that she loved Graham. I am so glad that I watched this film. It was festive, funny, enjoyable, and sad at some parts. I would really recommend this movie for the holidays! Go watch it with your friends or your family, or yourself. It will make you feel happy and better about yourself. I have to say that it’s one of my favorites so far, and I am beyond satisfied. It was exactly what I needed. I loved the characters, the plot was great, and the soundtrack is amazing!

Final Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Movie Review: Rusalochka

I watched Rusalochka (1976) a couple days ago, it’s the Russian adaptation. The Little Mermaid, the story, is one of my favorite tales of a tragic princess. As much as I love the Disney adaptation, I wanted to watch a movie adaptation closer to the book and that’s how I found Rusalochka.

I thought it was a beautiful adaptation. Viktoriya Novikova portrayed the little mermaid perfectly, I really felt that she was spot on. I really love how the director expanded the movie such as the little mermaid receiving help and guidance from her friend Sulpitius while she was on human. I liked how the the witch took the little mermaid’s hair color instead of her voice, I was not expecting that. The little mermaid was given a certain number of days to make the prince fall in love with her. If she failed her task, she would die. If someone gave up his life for her, then she would never die and live eternally. Fate was not in the little mermaid’s favor when she agreed to the witch’s deal. Once she became human, the prince was already falling for the princess who rescued him. In this version, the little mermaid did not have to kill the prince after he marries the princess. She chooses to die and has no regrets of her short life on land. Sulptius, on the other hand, tries to demonstrate to the prince that it was the little mermaid who rescued him instead of the princess. He battles the prince and dies in order to let the little mermaid live eternally like a dream. In the end, the prince realizes how foolish he was of not realizing that the little mermaid rescue him. He tries finding her all over the kingdom and he watches her disappear into the air.

I did cry at the end of the movie because the movie ended tragically. I really appreciated it. It was such a fun movie and I would definitely watch again. By the way, this movie is on YouTube, in case you are interested of watching the film.

My rating for this movie is a 5 out of 5. 🙂

Year of the Fish (2007): Movie Review

I’ve waited years to see Year of the Fish ever since I saw the movie trailer on YouTube a couple years back. All these years, I have searched and searched for the movie and I almost lost all hope, until I found out that it was added to Netflix. The movie is based on the Chinese version of Cinderella (Ye Xian). The movie is shot in rotoscope animation, though some people may have a problem with the animation, I thought it made the film unique and charming. The protagonist Ye Xian is a Chinese immigrant who arrives in Chinatown in New York. Believing that she is going to work in a hair salon, she feels confident about saving money for her sick father in China. The owner of the so called hair salon is Madam Su, her father’s cousin, who actually runs a private massage parlor that satisfies men’s needs. Innocent Ye Xian signs a contract with Madam Su in order to pay off her debts since her boss paid for her trip to America. As long as Ye Xian did what she is told, her boss provided her shelter and work. Ye Xian does not realize that she would have to perform sexual acts on the male customers as part of her job. Ye Xian is unable to do the tasks that Madam Su demands of her, therefore, Madam Su punishes Ye Xian severely by making her do all the housework chores. Ye Xian constantly cries because her life is miserable, but proves herself to be a hard worker when it comes to doing her job, although she is constantly mistreated by Madam Su and her rival Hong Ji. There’s also Johnny Pan, a musician who tries to find his own happiness in Chinatown and has problems with his cheating girlfriend. Fate brings Ye Xian and Johnny together when they encounter each other in the streets of Chinatown. Most people already know how Cinderella ends, so I won’t spoil the movie too much. This film was dark, for example, the fairy godmother is a blind witch named Auntie Yaga who many fear, but she shows her kindness to Ye Xian. Secondly, I loved Johnny Pan. I loved the fact that he was not a prince nor a rich musician because it would have made the film cheesy. Johnny is a honest hardworking man who also has his share of bad luck in the city. I definitely recommend this film because it was not your typical Cinderella story. I really loved it and I really enjoyed the soundtrack. I would watch this movie again and it is now one of my favorites. My rating for Year of the Fish is a five out of five. 😀