Prime Video: Review of THE IDEA OF YOU: Victims of Virality

May 9, 2024

Art gallery owner Solène (Anne Hathaway) just turned 40 years old. She is divorced from her husband Daniel (Reid Scott), and they are co-raising their teenage daughter Izzy (Ella Rubin). One day, while she was chaperoning Izzy and her friends at Coachella, Solène inadvertently entered the trailer of 24 year-old teen idol Hayes Campbell (Nicholas Galitzine), member of the world-famous boy band, August Moon, and had a quick chat with him.

With that brief initial encounter, she made quite an impression on Hayes, and he even dedicated a song to her during the show. After a few days, Hayes paid Solène a surprise visit at her art gallery and wound up at her house to eat sandwiches. Solène was initially concerned about their 14-year age gap, but she eventually agreed to accept his invitation to be with him in their New York and European gigs while Izzy was in summer camp.

This film about a viral May-December affair was co-written and directed by Michael Showalter, based on a novel by author Robinne Lee published in 2017.  While there had been several films tackling a story of older women having affairs with younger men, this one is set during this current time when social media held sway, and public opinion and bashing do have significant effects on real-life relationships and decisions. 

Anne Hathaway joins the long list of A-list actresses who have romanced a much-younger man onscreen, from Anne Bancroft ("The Graduate") in 1967 to Julianne Moore ("May December") in 2023. The smashing look Hathaway had here as Solene, there was no question why Hayes was smitten at first sight. Her beauty attracted him, her personality made him stay, 14-year age gap and tabloid paparazzi notwithstanding. 

29-year old Nicholas Galitzine is on a hot streak as romantic leading man, after musical film "Cinderella" (2021), military drama "Purple Hearts" (2022), and boys love romp "Red, White and Royal Blue" (2023). He can really sing, so he could pull off the boy band scenes, and that was really his voice in the theme song. This film was more Anne Hathaway's show, but by the third act, Galitzine also made his mark as an actor, not only a heartthrob. 7/10. 

 

Review of KINGDOM OF THE PLANET OF THE APES: Rebuilding the Rivalry

May 8, 2024

Many generations after the events of the first three films, the great Caesar was only a name in oral legends among apes.  One day, three young chimps -- Noa (Owen Teague), Soona (Lydia Peckham) and Anaya (Travis Jeffery) -- risked life and limb to steal eagle eggs from nests as required in their tribe customs. However, before the ceremony the next morning, their settlement was invaded and destroyed by another tribe of bigger apes. 

Noa, who was able to survive and avoid capture, rode out into the forest to look for his tribemates. He encountered Raka (Peter Macon), a wise old orangutan, the last survivor of a tribe that preserved Caesar's legacy. A female human whom they named Nova (Freya Allan) also went along with them. While crossing a bridge over a violent river, they encounter brutal apes who served their King -- Proximus Caesar (Kevin Durand). 

As this story happened supposedly centuries after Caesar, writer Josh Friedman and director Wes Ball had to rebuild a whole new world of civilized apes and savage humans. The first act took its time to introduce us to a tribe of chimpanzees that had a special relationship with eagles, represented by Noa, the central character of these new stories. The second act brought us to the world beyond Noa's ken just as he was discovering it himself.

While the computer-generated, motion-capture imagery of the chimps and apes were as impressive as before, the first two acts took quite a bit of time to tell its story and introduces its new characters. However, by the third act when Noa and Nova (who called herself Mae) were in the seaside kingdom of Proximus Caesar, that was only then that the main point of this reboot-sequel (and its own sequels to come, if ever) was fully revealed   

The explosive wet and wild action set pieces of Act 3 set-up a renewed man vs. ape rivalry that started the whole franchise off in the original 1968 film. In setting this conflict up, I had questions aplenty about the timelines of the story. How could the events of Act 3 be logically possible if it actually happened 300 years after Caesar? Was there a time warp? Was there a time travel? I guess we'll see those answers in the sequel. 7/10

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It was strange how the way Mae et al talked, looked and dressed, as if no time had passed by since the present, much less 3 centuries into the future. The technology the humans had looked like they're from our time now, yet they are functioning without a hitch after 300 years? How long had that armory built into that seaside cliff been abandoned all these centuries? Hence I was thinking that a time event must have happened. 

300 years of multiple human generations staying a secret from the apes is asking for a massive suspension of disbelief. Can humans remain under conditions requiring utmost discipline and loyalty for 300 years -- and actually cooperate? Are there William H. Macy's out there in cahoots with apes, yet keeping the existence of similar humans a secret for several generations without spilling any hints?

I liked the Ape part of the story where Noa had a rich and meaningful journey of discovery, not only about himself, but also about other Apes and their shared history. It's the Man part of the story I didn't like, and I also don't like where it seems to be leading, especially after seeing Mae's behavior in her interactions with Noa. In the coming face-off between Ape and Man (as surely coming up in the sequel), I'd actually side with the Apes!

Vivamax: Mini-Reviews of RED FLAG, LATE BLOOMER and LADY GUARD

 May 6, 2024

RED FLAG

Director: Lakambini Morales

Writers: John Carlo Pacala, Lakambini Morales

Headwriter: John Carlo Pacala

Gina (Micaella Raz) was a sales agent in the used car business.  Red (Mon Mendoza) was the new guy on the job. Despite all the rumors about Red being a womanizer from her best friend on the job Lance (Mhack Morales), Gina still fell for Red's "irresistible" masculine charms. However one night, Gina herself witnessed Red romancing their big boss, Ms. Mara (Joana David) who promised him a promotion when he gave in to her advances. 

This is another one of those overused Vivamax tropes where the story is set in a specific workplace and the characters use sex with customers to land multiple sales and with the boss to get themselves a promotion. This plot was centered on the used car sales business, just as "Showroom" (2022) was for the condominium sales business. Mon Mendoza was terribly miscast as Red because there was nothing charming about him and how he portrayed this character. 2/10.

LATE BLOOMER

Director: Rodante Y. Pajemna, Jr.

Headwriter: JC Pacala

Writer: Nigel Santos

Therese (Robb Guinto) and Maddie (Erika Balagtas) were best friends and partners in their advertising firm. Maddie thought her OFW boyfriend Arthur (Mikhael Padual) was rusty and lacked practice in bed. Meanwhile, Robb was diagnosed with MDS (myelodysplastic syndrome), and decided to reopen her sex life with guys like Luigi (Jasper Torres), Aries (Ardy Raymundo) and her ex Jimmy (Mark Coplador), but was still not finding enough satisfaction. 

Therese was such a disappointing role for Robb Guinto as it did not fit her classy image at all. It would have been better if she and Erika Balagtas traded places because Maddie's strong character was better fit for Guinto's magnetic screen presence.  The writing was nothing to crow about, but at least there was effort exerted on research as it dealt with a disease entity called MDS which I did not know about, so this made me look it up on Google learn more about it. 2/10.

LADY GUARD

Director: Bobby Bonifacio, Jr.

Head Writer: John Carlo Pacala

Writers: Steve Sanchez, Matt Teves

Estelle (Angela Morena) was the strict lady guard of a parcel delivery service warehouse. Estelle oriented the new guard Meryl (Irish Tan) the tricks of her trade for earning extra bucks under the table. She blackmailed her plant manager Janus (Anthony Dabao) for his illegal activities with cash and sex.  At night, when their boss (Arrian Labios) was away, Janus allowed outsiders to conduct a Colored Dice gambling game for the employees, from which Estelle also took a cut.

In the tradition of noble occupations besmirched by Vivamax, this time it's the turn of lady security guards.  A very distracting thing about this particular film were those deliberately glaring blobs of light which appear whenever the front of the guard uniforms were in full view, seemingly to hide incriminating names on them. To be consistent, Bonifacio would also use these bright lights to "enhance" the drab warehouse backgrounds of his sex scenes. 3/10.

Netflix: Review of PULA: A Corrupted Coco

May 5, 2024

Daniel Faraon (Coco Martin) worked as a police officer in the town of Pola, Oriental Mindoro, under Chief of Police P/Capt. Raymond P. Anacta (Raymart Santiago). He lived with his wife, school teacher Magda (Julia Montes) and their two young sons. One day, Daniel and Ramona Abella (Jennifer "Ina" Mindanao Cruz) were assigned to investigate a corpse of a young woman found in a grassy area in remote Barangay Bato. 

The deceased was identified to be Patricia (Christine Bermas), the teenage daughter of Canor and Elena Rivera (Allan Paule and Lotlot de Leon). Her parents were very religious folk, regular churchgoers who prayed the rosary every night. However, Patricia would sneak behind her folks' back to meet her boyfriend Jeff (Vince Rillon) for naughty trysts. After Patricia was buried, prime suspect Jeff had already skipped town and gone off to Manila. 

Coco Martin became a huge mainstream star following his long-running TV series "Ang Probinsyano" (2015-2022). Since then, he still goes back to his indie roots with his original mentor director Brillante Mendoza. Their partnership as lead actor and director started with "Masahista" (2005), followed by Cannes-pedigreed films "Serbis" (2008) and "Kinatay" (2009) -- the latter even winning Mendoza the coveted Best Director award in Cannes. 

Their last project together was "Apag" (2022), an unsettling film with a grisly ending where Martin played a very flawed lead character very different from his iconic TV hero persona Cardo Dalisay. This time around, Mendoza upped the ante on corrupting Martin's stellar image some more by casting him as the insidious monster Daniel Faraon, whose pent-up violence exploded full blast berserk when his reprehensible secret was revealed.  

My main beef about this movie was about how supporting actress Christine Bermas was treated in this movie. Yes, she began her career doing Vivamax soft porn movies, making an auspicious debut in "Siklo" (2022). However, she did show promise as an actress even if the projects did not really serve to showcase her talents. When I saw her name in the cast of "Pula," I thought she would finally do a movie without having to bare. 

But alas, her breasts were still exposed unnecessarily in an early playful scene with her boyfriend, and later during her rape scene. However, the worst of the lot was that scene when her remains were shown to her parents. When her face was revealed, the sheet was lifted all the way to expose her two breasts the whole time. How could Lotlot de Leon allow a scene where she had to cry over her dead daughter with her bosoms bare for all to see?! For that matter, how could Jennifer Mindanao Cruz, in the role of a police officer and being the real-life mayor of Pola town, not object to this offensive scene being shot? 

The sickening feeling of exploitation gets even worse when it was revealed by Elena that Patricia was only 15 years old, so the more then that her modesty was preserved during the investigation. A WCPD (Women and Children Protection Desk) officer should have been there to keep the victim, both a female and a child, safe. Her tombstone even stated that she was born July 15, 2006 and died April 11, 2018, making her all of 11 years old. Even if the actress Christine Bermas is already a consenting adult at 23, her character Patricia (at 15 or 11) is still very much a minor, so sensitivity should have been observed in her delicate scenes. 1/10.

 

Review of THE FALL GUY: Fractured and Framed

May 3, 2024

Colt Seavers (Ryan Gosling) was the stunt double for big action star Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson). One day, a stunt where Colt was supposed to fall backwards from a tall height did not go as planned, Colt broke his back.  While he recovered from his injury, Colt disappeared from the filmmaking scene totally, not even say goodbye to his girlfriend Jody Moreno (Emily Blunt), who worked behind the camera on several films he worked in. 

Eighteen months later, Colt found work as a valet for a Mexican restaurant. Producer Gail Meyer (Hannah Waddingham) suddenly called telling him to fly over to Sydney for her latest film project with Tom Ryder.  When Colt declined, Gail revealed that she had offered this new sci-fi epic "Metalstorm" to Jody Moreno to be her directorial debut. With that last detail in mind, Colt quit his menial job and was flying over to Australia in no time. 

Director David Leitch had himself been a stuntman, so this project that celebrated the contribution of stunt workers in films was very close to his heart. He had been a stunt double for stars like Brad Pitt, so he knew the mindset of Colt Seavers better than anyone. From "John Wick" (2014) to "Bullet Train" (2022), stunt work had always been a major aspect of Letich films. In "Fall Guy," the practical stunt work kicked into even higher gear.

Fresh from his Oscar nomination for "Barbie" (2023) and his exhilarating live performance of his song "I'm Just Ken" at the Oscar show, Ryan Gosling continues to ride this crest in his showbiz career with his magnetic portrayal of Colt Seaver in this film. He went all-in in the film's over-the-top action scenes with all the vehicular jumping and brutal fighting. His wry sense of comedy and romantic leading man charisma also served him good stead. 

Emily Blunt is always a reliable actress, and she made sure Jody Moreno also made her action-star presence here, even giving us her karaoke rendition of "Against All Odds."  The musical soundtrack with songs from Kiss to Taylor Swift was exciting and nostalgic, with recognizable soundbites from "Miami Vice" and "The Six Million Dollar Man." The surprise cameos that came at the end upped the good vibes even more. 8/10. 

Review of MEN ARE FROM QC, WOMEN ARE FROM ALABANG: Distance and Determination

May 2, 2024

Aica Villanueva (Heaven Peralejo) lived in Alabang with her mother Lucy (Angela del Rosario) and sister Bea (Lhian Gimeno). As her absentee father Noel (Anjo Yllana) was irresponsible, she was the only breadwinner of her family. Even though she really wanted to be a journalist, she focused on her work as a marketing executive under a very demanding boss Ms. Dina (Giselle Sanchez). She believed that a boyfriend would only interfere with her work. 

Tino Guerra (Marco Gallo) was the scion of a wealthy family based in Quezon City. His father was a very busy architect often working abroad. He lived with his mother Chari (Phoemela Baranda), his elder brother Enzo (Ivan Padilla) and younger sister Tara (Sofie Jewel). Instead of joining his father's firm, he wanted to find direction and prove his worth first, so he took a job as a graphic designer. Fate had it that this was in the same firm as Aica. 

The screenplay written by Kiko Abrillo and Kristine Gabriel was based on a best-selling 2013 book of the same title written by Filipino-Chinese author Stanley Chi. The book was described as a comical spoof on the American best-seller John Gray's "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus" which dealt on the premise that some essential psychological differences exist between men and women that cause them to have relationship problems.  

This film by Gino M. Santos (whose last film was "Sin Island" in 2018) began and progressed as a typical rom-com would. The initial awkward meet-cute at a cafe had to happen before they unexpectedly realize that they will work in the same office. There wasn't much hassle at the start of their relationship, but the meat of the story happens after a two-year jump, when their events in their lives diverge and things start to sour between them.

People who have been in romantic relationships can relate with the issues that crop up between the couple, with their respective points of view. Male viewers will feel Tino's puzzlement at Aica's unhappiness despite everything that he felt like he had given and sacrificed for her. I can only guess that female viewers will identify with Aica's grief and dissatisfaction, given the personal challenges she was also facing at the same time. 

The love team of Heaven Peralejo and Marco Gallo was launched in the TV series "The Rain in Espana" (2023). Since then, they had one film "The Ship Show" (Jason Paul Laxamana, 2023) and one more TV series together "Safe Skies, Archer," also directed by Gino M. Santos. By now, they had developed a potent romantic chemistry between them. The skills of both actors for tearful drama had also been honed very well. 

It may be difficult to imagine that Marco Gallo's first three feature films were actually released on Vivamax: "Gluta" (Darryl Yap, 2021), "Ang Manananggal na Nahahati ang Puso" (Darryl Yap, 2022) and "Kitty K7" (Joy Aquino, 2022). It was always good to see actors who began in Vivamax films, like Gallo, Rose Van Ginkel (as Tino's friend Mia), or Wilbert Ross (as Aica's friend Raf), graduating into more mainstream, less naughty fare. 6/10. 

 

Review of CHALLENGERS: Rival Romeos

May 1, 2024

At a 2019 Challenger event in New Rochelle, tennis champ Art Donaldson (Mike Faist) and his long-estranged friend Patrick Zweig (Josh O'Connor) meet each other at the finals match. Watching them from the front row was Art's wife and coach Tashi Duncan (Zendaya).  At this point, Art was just a US Open short of a career Grand Slam, but he had been on a post-injury slump lately. Tashi thought winning this minor tournament would boost his confidence. 

Back in 2006, when Art and Josh were still teenagers, they won the junior doubles title at the US Open. When they met rising female star Tashi Duncan (Zendaya), both of them got enamored with her. They succeeded to convince her to visit them at their dorm room for some intimate chitchat among other things. However when they asked Tashi for her phone number, she said that she would only give it to the boy who will win his match the next day. 

This dark romance-sports comedy is the first feature film script by Justin Kuritzkes, then only known for his viral 2011 YouTube video called "Potion Seller." The script tackles the relationships between friends and lovers in the competitive world of professional tennis. While the main story would seem to be the love triangle, and there were plenty of steamy hetero sex scenes, but there was a generous gay subtext all over it. 

It was brought to the big screen by celebrated Italian director Luca Guadagnino, whose 2017 film "Call Me By Your Name" was nominated for an Oscar for Best Picture. The gay theme here may not as overt as it was in "Call," but Guadagnino was more than just suggestive about it. The sexual tension was obviously there between the boys, and Guadagnino knew how to build it up and pile it on, even if it made his straight audience squirm. 

Guadagnino shot his tennis scenes with Thai cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom in a unique exciting style, as if the viewer himself was serving and hitting the ball. Coupled with the percolating score by Reznor and Ross, this made for a thrilling viewing experience. The nonlinear telling of the story may be confusing at times, but they served well Guadagnino's intention to reveal details of their story with a sense of surprise.

Zendaya is a true movie star, and she can really command the screen when she's on. It may not always be convincing that her character Tashi had really aged. Mike Faist was clean-cut and earnest as the golden boy Art, while Josh O'Connor (who won an Emmy for playing a detestable young Prince Charles in "The Crown" Season 4) was appropriately scruffy and roguish as the bad egg Patrick, in perfect contrast. 8/10