(Partial) Memories Of An 80's Childhood part three

Signing on

The eighties have been said to be an era for local Philippine movies. I could still remember that there are only a handful of foreign movies being shown here, and most of the time Filipino movies dominate the box office. What I remember best about the movies popular in the era is what some calls the "fan movies" You know, movies with predominantly campy aesthetic, demographically catering to young audiences, always starring popular young actors and actresses of the time, formulaic in terms of plot and storylines, and most especially, with a production number before the closing credits. Today everytime I watch them I realized, did I really enjoyed them? Now I find all the singing, all the dancing, all of the theatrics at the end very annoying, very irrelevant, and very cheesy. Oh well, I guess that I'll just be thankful that it became obsolete when the 90's set it.

When I was a kid, and when we were still living then in the outskirts of Makati (it wasn't declared a city then), everytime we go out to watch a movie the usual place would be Makati Cinema Square along Pasong Tamo. It occupied the, hmm, let me think... Okay, my guess that is was the third floor of Plaza Fair;the other movie house which we often go is Spring Cinema. If you (yes you, the reader or visitor) are from Pasay City you would know what I am talking about. What we frequently watch is the kind that I had described above. My most favorite, and perhaps the only ones that I would want to watch, are movies of Tito, Vic and Joey.

Now on foreign films. Remember "The Never Ending Story"? How about "Flight of the Navigator"? Man, if you did, then we're on the same league. I enjoyed them as a kid. Too bad I never had a chance to see "Santa Claus the Movie" and "Pippi Longstocking". Kids my age then were not allowed to watch actions films as they are deemed too graphically violent for our (once) young, innocent eyes. But nevermind, I was not a fan of such films; once I hit adolescence did I only manage to watch and grew to love them. Hey, guess you'll learn with age, eh?
(to be continued, again)

Signing off