Watched three interesting movies on HBO last night:

Rise of the Guardians, which I saw on the big screen in Legazpi City some time back and which I consider to be my favorite feature-length animation film because of its delightful bridging between the past and the present.

After Earth, which, despite its having received flak for being a Jaden Smith vanity movie, is well-made, highly imaginative, well-performed, and has credible special effects. As a matter of fact, it is, to me, the second best Shyamalan (after Sixth Sense). As in his other films, of course, there seems to be a repeated and father-image-interfacing-with-son-image pattern: a gap between the two (geographic in After Earth and astral in Sixth Sense).

Captain Phillips, based on a true story on sea piracy starring Tom Hanks, which is a riveting work despite its apparently low-budget look. (I know that it cost a lot, that it was VERY difficult to light and to shoot, and that only a passionate director could have elicited such superb acting from the entire cast.)