movie review: the constant gardener

better late than never. specially requested by the best girlfriend in the world...

ralph fiennes, a diplomat, meets and falls in love with rachel weisz, a human rights activist. their seeminly perfect relationship is crumbled when her snooping around about drug-testing on african children gets her killed. he sets out to find the truth out only to put himself in the middle of a dangerous conspiracy.

this remarkable film was directed by the dude who made the outstanding city of god, and ingeniously a love story, a drama, and a thriller whipped up together with a lil wee bit of documentary flavor. the great colors, the fantastic shots, and the fine switching of tones make better the simple yet gripping storyline. ralph fiennes did really well. the scene where he is tending a plant in his house and his friend tells him his wife had died, the reaction on his face, awesome. rachel weisz was just as magnificent, proving that her acting skill isnt limited (after seeing her last in constantine). that look in her eyes when she offered herself to a guy to get the papers she needed was classic.

i like it. it... moved me. it's a great movie with a great message and it gets that message across, depends on the type of person you are whether that message is gently absorbed into your skin and glows from within or you feel it slapped hard onto your face like a wet slipper (to me it was like a button was pressed and a new feature was turned on). however there is a tiny part of me that itches negatively about it (maybe because my companion had already seen it with someone else before me?). oh well...

the good: it inspires and makes you realize how you take so many things for granted.
the bad: eventhough i fully understand their purpose, the repeating videos were sorta annoying.
the ugly: the slums and the golf course separated only a railroad track. depressing. consider ourselves lucky.
the verdict: 9.5 (out of 10)

let us all hope (and do our part as well) for a world without weeds...

movie reviews: thesis & all about my mother

it's the spanish film festival in greenbelt one. ive seen four and these are the two that i liked. the other two, i say: skip it. one more film and ive got a chance to win a trip to spain. madre de dios!

tesis (thesis)

while doing a thesis on audiovisual violence, a girl (who looks more like a woman) finds a snuff film that sends her and her eccentric friend into a suspense-filled investigation.

utterly brilliant. with zero knowledge of the existence of this movie, i nary had the slightest thought that this was a thriller. i was expecting something drama-ish like 8mm since they have resembling plots but just like that scene where a dude was getting candles and a hand suddenly shoots out from the darkness in a most unexpected timing, i was extremely surprised by the direction this film went. thanks for taking me there, amenabar!

the great shots, the rising tension, the effective frights, and a cool movie geek in the form of chema, i must give this superb film a sky-high recommendation (as if i were somebody, huh?) especially to my fellow horror fans out there. you'll not be disappointed. take my word. it scared the crap out of the maiden. gonna buy it on dvd.

next!


todo sobre mi madre (all about my mother)

a single mom loses her son in an accident and goes off to find the boy's gay father to tell him about their son and meets penelope cruz who is a pregnant nun. the father? the same gay dude.

wonderful and definitely not boring. manuela, the mother, was very... well, motherly. i think this is the only film that is heavily gay but not offensive or disgusting. even the gay guy who screwed manuela and penelope cruz look so gay but in an okay way. you'd probably cry a bit in some parts if you watch this but then suddenly this agrado creature appears and makes you laugh yourself up. the movie maiden and i saw before this was so boring, we both fell asleep in the theaters but this woke us up and got our unwavering attention.

way better than any of the drama series local television has puked out. those hollowheaded "writers" oughta watch this and learn from it. a simple and unloud yet awesome storyline, characters as alive as my fartmeister neighbor, and cinematography to feast your eyes on.

bravo.

coming soon

i shall blog again, oh yes, i shall blog again...

shortie

off to manila tomorrow for my first day of work at gma 7 on tuesday. godspeed to me.

movie review: dr. strangelove

(or how i learned to stop worrying and love the bomb)

in this stanley kubrick black comedy masterpiece, a u.s. general goes insane and orders an aerial attack on russia. the president and his men gather in the pentagon war room to prevent a nuclear crisis. and a b-52 bomber crew will stop at nothin to accomplish their mission.

as serious as the plot may sound, this movie is darn hilarious. but unlike all-out comedies, the gags and jokes arent forced down your throat to get a laugh. they are really part of the narrative flow that you'd find yourself tickled by (unlike most pinoy comedy flicks that contain unnecessary out-of-story scenes that the writer heard as anecdotes from drinkin buddies). the dialogue is impeccable and realistically funny, with perfect delivery from the actors, such as the phone conversations between the american president and the russian premiere, without hearing the latter's voice. most of the sequences are plain talk and limited only to three locations (an office, the pentagon war room, and inside a b-52) but the story progresses splendidly.

i believe that it is, however, the actors that carry this wonderful film. this is the most colorful black and white film ive ever seen, due to their amazing talents. peter sellers plays three roles in the film (the dull captain mandrake, the gayish president muffley and the eccentric dr. strangelove) and he plays them all very well. he's really a great comedian with perfect timing and blend of physical and verbal comedy. but my favorite is general buck turgidson, portrayed magnificently by george scott, the one tasked to face the president and explain everything to him. his lines were awesome and he never fell out of character, always loud and obnoxious, a true anti-communist general, very much convincing and highly amusing.

i never really saw this movie as sexual as many critics said (it began with a coitus-like scene of a plane refueling another and ended with an mulit-orgasmic display of exploding bombs). what i saw was a remarkable fun film and its unique humor, unforgettable characters, and memorable scenes. absolutely brilliant. definitely another one of my favorites.

insert

the last two films i watched werent worth full reviews but i guess i'll squeeze in a couple of quickies:

(1) taking lives, starring angelina jolie and ethan hawke. one word: awholelotacrap. even with all that gore, i was limp. well, except for angelina jolie's sex scene, which was kinda lame but a spectacle nonetheless. this movie was trying to be the next big serial kill thriller flick like se7en, but ended up being around -1.

(2) orgazmo, a movie from the makers of south park, about the porn industry. it was funny. not hilarious. just funny. the kind of funny that will not make everyone laugh. i think this one is best viewed after a few beers.

soon: stanley kubrick's dr. strangelove.

that's about it for today. ciao.

movie review: gummo

kids was a great movie, ken park wasnt. and both had realistic sex. both were written by a fella named harmony korine, and gummo is his directorial debut. honestly, i still cant figure out if i liked or didnt like the movie. hmmm...

it's about a small town named xenia, ohio where people do abnormal activities as if they were normal. kids kill stray cats and sell them for glue to sniff on. a boy goes around wearing rabbit ears. girls put tape on their nipples and peel them off again. a mother shampoos her son while he eats spaghetti and milk in the tub. these and a bunch of other stuff you wouldnt normally see in town movies are told in a non-linear fashion, using different cameras, but with noticeably fine editing. the scenes (which are kinda like short films that could stand alone by themselves) are cut and spliced together almost perfectly, putting into mind that each scene is totally different from the others in many factors.

however, the praises end there. overall, the movie doesnt have a coherent storyline and i didnt know what everything meant collectively. when i finished watching the movie, i was like, "so what?". korine should have focused on the character of solomon. he's one of the cat killers, he's the boy in the tub, and in one nice scene, he tapes together spoons and forks and uses them as weights and pumps iron in front of a mirror to madonna's "like a prayer". but many scenes werent as good as this and kept me wondering why they were there.

i believe that a film should be good as a whole. so i guess gummo is a bad movie. harmony korine oughta stick to writing and let the good directors do their job.

movie review: eraserhead

this is david lynch's first feature film and is about the nightmare of a life of a man named henry which takes an even more crooked turn when a freak-ass ugly baby is thrown into the picture, care of his girlfriend mary.

mulholland drive was the first (and only other) david lynch movie ive ever watched and, because of it was weird and messed-up, it instantly became one of my favorites. eraserhead is the latest addition to that list. this movie is sheer madness. mr. lynch took a simple little plot, ate it and puked out a dark disturbing dream-like flick with chunks of strange symbolism. each scene bears the director's surreal style, almost as if he is unable to depict an event the way it would happen in real life. there's the man in the planet, the sperm-like mini-monsters, the lady in the radiator, and other illogical things that are left for the audience to theorize the meanings. the imagery is obscure and detaching, but the message is quite clear.

a memorable scene in the movie is the first time the lady in the radiator appears. she dances (?) on a stage while sperm creatures fall from above. with a smile she smashes a few of them. there could be many explanations for this but i think that she (she has wrinkly bloated cheeks) represents a woman's egg and the sperm creatures are actually sperm. in another scene, she sings "in heaven, everything is fine", maybe telling henry to do something to take control of his life, which is suicide? i honestly am not sure if i am correct but whether i am or not doesnt matter. the movie speaks for itself.

in a way, i believe, the mutant baby symbolizes the whole movie. it was meant to be like that and it's up to you to love it or hate it. i, of course, loved it.

sync or swim

goddarnit... ive been trying to watch david lynch's film eraserhead the whole day with windows media player working totally against me. the movie freezes, making the audio and video out of sync and me irritated to the balls. fortunately, after scouring the internet for answers ive obtained a temporary subsitute media player that solves everything, for the meantime. so later ill finally get to watch eraserhead (sans fuck ups) and an acclaimed but little-known art flick entitled gummo. and, if mr. sandman is late, i might check out my lil sister's hitch dvd since maiden didnt want to watch it in the theaters. reviews soon.

anyways, i wanna have this dvd player which is "so cool it's frozen!".

why bother

the wheel of life is turning real slow right now. i am not bored, i know that it will kick back to top gear pretty soon, im just questioning the apparent slowdown of waiting for those events. i wish i could grab hold of the remote control of time and fast forward to april already.

anyways, watched a couple of old movies yesterday (old like last year) and no use typing in a long review for each. i'll just do a quickie for both in this one paragraph and move on. first, seed of chucky: funny. they totally turned around from the horror of child's play and made this one a comedy. with blood and gore. although i do miss the suspense, this movie is still a good one. second, garfield: not funny. period. hated every part of it except jennifer love hewitt. momma. i so so love my maiden.

damn, i really really wanna see sin city. i just know it's as good as the reviews say it is and i cant wait to put my review on top of that growing pile of praises and positivity. but since it's my unfortunate destiny to exist in this country, i would have to wait things out as always. (spongebob squarepants the movie was shown last year in most of the world, but here, none of us will get to see it in theaters till first week of april. {there are ways to see it in advance but i dont do that to things i really dig}) why cant they just release movies here simultaneous with the u.s.?! they've done it before with matrix and others, why not do it all the time? why is the philippinies depriving me of my right to a cineaste lifestyle?! why?!?

if they do show movies here at the same time with the rest of the world and charge double for the tickets, id go. happiness has no price.

rumors/news: not sure which is which yet but thomas hayden church (sideways) has been cast as the next villain in spider-man 3. sam raimi's still got his lips zipped with a lock on who'll be spidey's nemesis in the third movie but guesses are flying about, with sandman leading the pack, since mr. church resembles the character. i still wish it'll be venom and if they show that spider-man 3 here the same time with the u.s. and charge triple, i would go.

round and about. over and out.

i link, therefore i am

here are some links to the many interesting/entertaining/weird/fun sites ive come across cruising the internet. more soon, or when ive thought of a good title for this.

superman pics
well, not pictures of our kryptonian hero, but bird's eye view shots of his ship's crash landing on kent farm upon his return to earth. here's hoping bryan singer doesnt blow this one.

the brick testament
maybe if i got these when i was kid id be more religious...

garfield
all the comic strips since 1979. i miss the cartoon with orson and the gang. my favorite character was wade, the cowardly duck weating a lifesaver that has a tiny version of his head on it and imitates his expressions.

hanpanda
i could always count on the japanese to come up with things nobody else can. these stuffed toys are cute and creepy at the same time.

wolfenstein 5k
the teeny weenie javascript version of the first-person shooter game that my maiden said was scary.

shoot that girl
um, just watch this amazing little flash video.

if any of these link dont work, it aint my fault. they were fine when i viewed them.

movie review: casshern

long years of war has laid waste a nation and a geneticist has discovered a way to counteract the suffering: "neo-cells" that regenerate human body parts. the experiments take time until an unexpected force intervenes, creating "neo-sapiens" out to destroy mankind. the geneticist's son, tetsuya, who died in the war, is revived and uses his powers to stop the neo-sapien menace.

eversince i saw its supercool mind-imploding trailer (despite having no sound) last year, i have been itching to watch this movie. japanese films always have a unique grandiose quality in them, and casshern is more than enough proof of that. this fantastic film is heavy in cgi put to good use. i felt like i was watching a 2-hour long video game fmv, waiting to take control of the main hero. it starts off slow, setting the stage, introducing the characters, yet never gets boring (however, this part could put off anyone who is not used to or totally unfamiliar of this style of storytelling). the visuals are stunning, and im not just talking about the cgi. the way the scenes were shot and presented, the flow, the editing, truly exceptional. there are quite a few sequences where characters are talking but we only hear their voices over a different scene, not showing any of them. it's nothing new but how it was utilized here was perfection of that method. the scenes with luna are enchanting, she had that anime-type of face and on two separate instances, my two companions commented that she looked like she was computer-generated (she resembles final fantasy x's yuna).

this isnt an all-out action flick, but when the action arrives, it hits and leaves a bruise. in anime, when a character performs a special move, streaks appear in the background. here, anime is made real, as tetsuya runs, fights, strikes and streaks appear behind him. he single-handedly obliterates an army of robots and duels with the neo-sapiens, wearing his cool white armor with a faceguard that comes out and retracts at will. each scene shows the cool things you can do with cgi with the right vision. pinoy movies that boast of "internationally-competent" special effects dont even come close to one seamless frame of casshern's.

i love war movies but i hate wars. nobody really wins. and that's what the core of this movie teaches us: that we are all here not just to exist, but to co-exist. living is not enough, life should be shared. the movie ends with tetsuya, luna, and the others transported to another planet to start anew. damn i wish i could do that.

make mine marvel

finally watched blade trinity and thank goodness i didnt buy the dvd. after reading heaps of negative reviews, id have to agree with each and every one of them that it is by far the worst of the three blade films (first one being the best of course).

the effects were crap, the soundtrack was awful, hell, the script sucked shoes right from the start. well, wesley snipes was still great, but not as impressive as before. his kick-punch action sequences were tiresome, except for the one where he threw his "glaive" from bottom of the stairway, killing off the vampires in his path, then jumps to the top and catches his weapon back. even the hyped-up jessica biel, trying to be the next ass-kickin hot mama (like jessica alba and jennifer garner) didnt work for me. okay, she is pretty and sexy wielding that cool compound bow of hers, but there's a certain spunk the aforementioned ladies have which she lacks. the film's only saving grace is that mofo ryan reynolds. damn funny, even when he's getting beat up by vampires (go back to wrestling, triple h!). but the worsest worst part of this farce is dracula. they call him drake here (hey! that was my freakin idea!) and he's supposed to be this ancient powerful being whom the vampires awakened to aid their cause. cool idea, except drake here looks like a darn stripclub bouncer who doesnt look cool at all. a total desecration. as hannibal king said, "fuck me sideways."

moving on...

in an attempt to get myself back on track with comic books, ive been reading a few of the recent releases, focusing more on miniseries. ive read dc's identity crisis, and ive just finished marvel's 5-part detective "noir" miniseries madrox, starring the multiple man, with wolfsbane, strong guy, and a cameo by bishop. one of my favorite b-list characters, jamie madrox is a mutant born with the ability to produce clones of himself on impact (i.e. a slap or a punch). last time i heard he was already dead but it was revealed that it was actually a duplicate who died. anyways, in the new madrox miniseries, jamie has put up a detective agency, making full use of his powers. one of his dupes returns with a bloody stab wound and dies just when he was re-absorbed. the real jamie (or is he) sets off to find who killed his dupe.

quite a great read. there's not much action, but it's gripping and funny. plotwise, fine but nothing special. although i didnt guess it (i deliberately did not make any guesses) the ending wasnt much of a surprise. what worked was the character of jamie madrox which was made more human. his feelings, his thoughts, how he interacted with the other characters, very human, showcasing what it could be like if all of this was real. it's a bit sad though that the people behind this miniseries said that this was a one-time deal. i had hoped for more of madrox. but who knows...?

over and out.

putanesca

movie review: lemony snicket's a series of unfortunate events

here, jim carrey is count olaf, the eccentric scheming uncle of the three baudelaire children (the inventor violet, the bookworm klaus, and the biter sunny) who lost their parents in a house fire, leaving them a huge sum of moolah. count olaf wants the moolah for himself and does everything he could to ruin the orphans' lives, in a dark peculiar movie that, had i not seen the credits, id swear was directed by tim burton.

whenever i am in makati and have time to kill, i always pay a visit to powerbooks to do some skimming. i first stumbled upon the lemony snicket books there sometime last year and i was only able to read the synopses on the back covers, which were more like warnings that they werent happy books. the movie started off in the same vein, that it wasnt about a giggly little elf in the forest and that you can choose to leave the theater if you want to see that one. of course, i chose to stay and watch lemony snicket's with my lovely companion.

anyways, the movie is darn good. i liked it primarily because the sets, the shots, the costumes, the overall tone of the movie had a goth feel to it. it doesnt make itself cute (well, except for the baby), the jokes arent over-the-top funny, and people really die and stay dead. totally not your average sugarcoated kiddie movie. jim carrey, eventhough not that all-out, did great as count olaf, and like id always say about him, once you watch him portray a character, you'd find it hard to think of another actor who can fit that role. he practically steals every scene he's in (which is a joke in itself because he's playing the role of a bad actor who thinks he's the best there is). the kids, although virtually uknown to me, did pretty well. violet pulled off a believable young macgyver tying her hair whenever she had an idea. klaus i think was a bit underused but the close-up shots of books sliding out of the shelves was neat. but i enjoyed watching sunny the biting baby most of all. her "acting" was splendid. the quick scene where she was helping pull the strap back into the car was a brilliant moment.

the "putanesca." "what did you call me?" scene made me laugh real hard. im not sure if it had the same effect on other people, but simple, subtle, almost nonsense gags like that never fail tickle me.

my maiden said the movie made you wish it would never end and she was right. it never bores you. i found myself anxiously anticipating what would happen next, conflict after conflict, putting the kids in trouble, with no magic powers to use or superheroes to save them, relying merely on their wits and a little bit of luck. and when the film ends, you still carry that anticipation of knowing what the future holds for the baudelaire kids. a sequel perhaps?