PADDYLAST INC.

So there’s this site that I’ve been a member of since 2007 and they just launched their Movie Club for which I registered and they have this Movie Challenge which I’m really into right now so most of my coming film reviews will now be shorten as I’ll just be copy-pasting my posted reviews from there. 🙂 I think it’d be fun since it would last for a year – it’d be my some sort of pet project this year aside from my little project of reading certain number of books / e-book titles this year.

If you’re curious about the Pinoy Exchange Movie Challenge, this is how it works

via Pinoy Exchange

• Eligibility: Open to all registered PinoyExchange members regardless of join date.
  Members must sign-up to the PEx Movie Club to be able to participate.
• How to Join: Participants must be able to watch movies and write a five-sentence review for each movie.
  Participants are free to write movie reviews of any genre and year, and set their own targets.
• Movie Format: All current and old full-length movies, both foreign and local, are accepted.
  Mainstream, indie, non-English, short films are also accepted.
  Participant can provide a link to the trailer/synopsis and official film photos for unfamiliar films.
• Entry Submission: Participants must post their entries in the main challenge thread with all the mandatory details in the prescribed format in order to be valid.
  Participants must follow the format posted in the challenge thread.
• Invalid Entries/Disqualification: Strictly NO PLAGIARISM allowed.
  Participants who committed plagiarism will be disqualified.
  Guidelines against plagiarism will be posted and entries will be checked for verification.
  ONLY ONE MOVIE REVIEW PER DAY WILL BE VALID.
• Pins: Pins will be manually awarded to those who achieved milestones and who completed the 2014 Movie Challenge.
  Pins will be manually awarded on a weekly basis by the organizers upon verification of reviews.
• Leaderboard: The Leaderboard thread will serve as a reference for the status of all the challenge participants.
  All standings, pin updates, awarding of prizes will be posted there.
• Verification: Participants must post the links of their completed reviews in the Leaderboard for checking.
  Other questions, disputes and concerns should be raised and resolved in the Leaderboard thread as well.
• Prizes: Prizes and exclusive pins will be awarded to the top finishers of the movie challenge in the leaderboard, to be announced by the organizers at the end of the challenge.
• Challenge Period: The 2014 Movie Challenge will end on December 31, 2014.

2014 MOVIE CHALLENGE FORMAT:

Participants are encouraged to list down the details of the movie by the following format:

• 1/50 or 1/100
• Movie Title:
• Year:
• Genre: (see options below)
• Rating: (out of 10)
• Poster/Image: (optional)
• Review: (five-sentence review minimum)

MOVIE GENRES

• Action
• Adventure
• Animation
• Comedy
• Documentary
• Drama
• Fantasy
• Horror
• Musical
• Romance
• Sci-Fi
• Thriller

I. THE BASIC MOVIE CHALLENGE:

Participants must finish at least fifty (50) different movies and must be able to write a five-sentence review (minimum) for each movie.
Movies should be unique and must fall only in on category. If a movie can fall in more than one category, participant must only choose one. Movies in multiple categories are not allowed.
Participants must watch (20) different movies in the following categories:

• four (4) movies nominated in the Academy (2014 and older)
• four (4) non-English movies (foreign language films, local indie)
• four (4) movies released in 2014
• four (4) movies released before 2000
• four (4) animated films

II. THE LEVEL-UP MOVIE CHALLENGE:

• 100 Movies
• A-Z Movies
• Movie of the Month
• The 30-Day Movie Challenge (Optional)

A. THE LEVEL-UP MOVIE CHALLENGE: 100 MOVIES

Participants must finish 100 different movies and must be able to write a five-sentence review (minimum) for each movie.
Movies should be unique and must fall only in on category. If a movie can fall in more than one category, participant must only choose one. Movies in multiple categories are not allowed.
Participants must watch (20) different movies in the following categories:

• four (4) movies nominated in the Academy (2014 and older)
• four (4) non-English movies (foreign language films, local indie)
• four (4) movies released in 2014
• four (4) movies released before 2000
• four (4) animated films

B. THE LEVEL-UP MOVIE CHALLENGE: A-Z, # MOVIES

• Participants must finish 27 different movies and must be able to write a five-sentence review (minimum) for each movie with titles beginning from letters “A” – “Z”, and a number “#”.
• Movie titles can be reviewed in no particular order.
• Articles “A”, “An”, and “The” are ignored when identifying movie titles.

C. THE LEVEL-UP MOVIE CHALLENGE: MOVIE OF THE MONTH

Participants must finish 10 different movies and must be able to write a five-sentence review (minimum) for each movie from the identified Movies of the Month:

• March: Captain America: The Winter Soldier
• April: The Amazing Spider-Man 2
• May: Maleficent / X-Men: Days of Future Past
• June: Edge of Tomorrow / How to Tame your Dragon 2
• July: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
• August: Guardians of the Galaxy
• September: The Maze Runner
• October: Paranormal Activity 5
• November: Interstellar / The Hunger Games: Mockingjay
• December: The Hobbit: There and Back Again / MMFF

CHALLENGE MILESTONES:

Participants who were able to finish movies and write a five-sentence review (minimum) for each movie will receive these pins:

• Movie Challenger Pin (2014) – 10 Movie Reviews
• I Reviewed 20 Movies Pin (2014) – 20 Movie Reviews
• I Reviewed 30 Movies Pin (2014) – 30 Movie Reviews
• Basic Movie Challenge Pin (2014) – 50 Movie Reviews
• I Reviewed 70 Movies Pin (2014) – 70 Movie Reviews
• I Reviewed 80 Movies Pin (2014) – 80 Movie Reviews
• 2014 Movie Challenge Complete Pin – 100 Movie Reviews

III. THE 30-DAY MOVIE CHALLENGE: (OPTIONAL)

Participants must finish 30 different movies and must be able to write a five-sentence review (minimum) for each movie from the identified category.
The posts must be accomplished in chronological order.
Accomplishing it in 30 non-consecutive days is accepted.
One post per review per day only is allowed.
Participants must watch (30) movies in the following categories:

• Day 01 – The best movie you saw during the last year
• Day 02 – The last movie you watched
• Day 03 – Your favorite action/adventure movie
• Day 04 – Your favorite horror movie
• Day 05 – Your favorite drama movie
• Day 06 – Your favorite comedy movie
• Day 07 – Your favorite animated movie
• Day 08 – A movie of your favorite actor
• Day 09 – A movie of your favorite actress
• Day 10 – A movie of your favorite director

• Day 11 – Your favorite classic movie
• Day 12 – Your favorite documentary
• Day 13 – Your favorite movie from your childhood
• Day 14 – Your favorite quote from any movie
• Day 15 – Your favorite character from any movie
• Day 16 – Your favorite movie based on a book/comic
• Day 17 – The most overrated movie
• Day 18 – The most underrated movie
• Day 19 – A movie you wish more people would see
• Day 20 – A movie that you relate to most

• Day 21 – A movie you hate
• Day 22 – A movie with the best soundtrack
• Day 23 – A movie that disappointed you the most
• Day 24 – A movie that you used to love but now hate
• Day 25 – A movie that no one would expect you to love
• Day 26 – A movie that is a guilty pleasure
• Day 27 – A movie that changed your opinion about something
• Day 28 – A movie you wished you’d seen in theaters
• Day 29 – A movie you’ve seen countless times
• Day 30 – Your favorite movie of all time

PRIZES:

• 1st – DQ GC/Movie Passes, Movie Merchandise Set
• 2nd – Movie Merchandise Set
• 3rd – Movie Merchandise Set
• 4th – Movie Merchandise Set
• 5th – Movie Merchandise Set

LEADERBOARD:

• The top finishers of the 2014 Movie Challenge will be recognized in the Leaderboard thread.
• Prizes and exclusive pins will be awarded to the top finishers of the movie challenge in the leaderboard, to be announced by the organizers at the end of the challenge.

NOTES ON PLAGIARISM:

• Strictly no plagiarism allowed. Plagiarism is the wrongful use of another author’s “language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions,” and the representation of them as one’s own original work.
• If it is proven that a participant has posted content that does not have proper citation or has not followed known rules on citing sources, said participant will be subject to the rules of the user agreement and his pins will be removed from his profile.
• The organizers and PinoyExchange will not be held responsible once a participant has committed plagiarism.

HONOR CODE

This signifies that upon joining the challenge:

• I will abide to submit my own work and give proper attributions to sources used, if any.
• I will use one PEx user account only, and will not use alternicks during the challenge.

 source: www.pinoyexchange.com

please do join, it’s fun!

p.s

I am doing the 30 Days Movie Challenge now.

my handle there is, well… paddylast!

The Flight of the Maidens follows three young women’s journey into womanhood. It chronicles the lives of three country girls in a post-World War II era as they embarked on college, with each getting scholarships at a university. There’s Hetty Fallowes, who has a mind of her own and is trying to find the courage to get off her loving but tactless mother. Una Vane, the level-headed daughter of a salon  owner, is romantically linked with the milk delivery boy, Ray, and Liesellote Klein, who is part of the Kindertransport burdened by a tragic past caused by the war. Together, the three somehow discovered some sort of solace with one another as they experienced life outside their realm for the first time.

“…The Maidens” is nowhere near the likes of Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants or Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women of some sort. There was more life in it and intelligence in how author Jane Gardam told their story. There was a strong narrative for each girl that collectively felt similar as they went through life.

Much of the pages were focused on Hetty, whose character reminds me so much of the young Jane Austen or, in a modern world, the ambitious young Elizabeth Taylor. There was depth in her understanding and the way she dealt with each situation—a heavily realistic approach that lends a great deal of scope to what young girls her age really feel.

While Una, despite her cool head and independence, still has the idealism of a young girl, She’s not perfect, and she knows it, so she’s trying to manage and deal with her mother, her beau, and her entry to Cambridge. I am very happy that by the end of it, the ever-so-charming Ray was “presumably” her first and last.

Liesellote, on the other hand, was barely having a life as she was still trying to move on from the fact that her family died during the holocaust. I love the fact that Gardam isn’t pretentious at all with her characters. There was a sense of realness in them and a tangible vibe that captured the spirit of their journey.

I’ve only wished that the angle about Rupert (the man that Hetty fell in love with in the latter part of the book) was thoroughly explained and perhaps prolonged at some point. It wouldn’t hurt Hetty’s character, I guess, or maybe I’m just being romantic, that’s all.

Overall, the novel was a great, sympathetic, and humorous narrative that soars high enough to engulf the reader’s elusive attention, thus providing enough steam to power up the flight of the maidens.

Ratings: 2 out of 5 stars