Vivamax: Review of BELA LUNA: A Writer's Will

January 27, 2023

Bela Castro (Angeli Khang) wrote scripts for movies. She was romantically involved with film director Arnold Santos (Kiko Estrada). Desperate for funding for his next film, Arnold was pressuring Bela to concede to the wishes of producer he was trying to convince. Mr. Dizon (Francis Mata) wanted a lot of sex scenes included in the film to make more money, but Bela did not feel that her story needed those scenes at all. 

Luna (Angeli Khang in a dual role) was a lonely bespectacled school teacher who was trapped in a loveless marriage to contractor Abe (Julio Diaz). She was forced into the arrangement because of a major debt their family owed the older man. One fateful day, Luna just stepped out of the campus when she was taken hostage by a robber Diego (Mark Anthony Fernandez) who was running away from chasing cops. 

This Vivamax movie is most remarkable because it had a complex story concept that intertwined two stories from different but connected worlds, one based in reality and another one only imaginary. It was no surprise that the writer of the screenplay was no less than Mr. Ricky Lee, National Artist for Film and Broadcast Arts. Director Mac Alejandre was able to connect the two stories in a way that was subtle and not immediately predictable. 

Angeli Khang had long been showing promise as an actress in all her past Vivamax starrers. She more than proved her thespic worth in this film, nailing both her characters -- the confident and feisty Bela and the mousy and timid Luna. Her portrayal of Bela was so natural and realistic, especially in that carefree scene with Nicco Manalo as her gay friend Ganny.  It was a very refreshing change from all the victim roles she played before.

The combination of Lee, Alejandre and Khang made a big splash last year with "Silip Sa Apoy," which had generally good reviews (not from me unfortunately). This new film, especially the Bela part with its meta approach seemingly criticizing the very core principle of Vivamax itself, was more interesting for me. Lee's line questioning why every scene had to have sex was so on point, and having Khang herself deliver it was gold. 6/10.  

Review of HELLO UNIVERSE: Choosing Chances

January 26, 2023

Ariel Dasalan (Janno Gibbs) was an inspector in the Destino fertilizer company, while his wife Jennifer (Maui Taylor) worked as a receptionist at the Ohanawave beach resort. They live with his mother Osna (Ube Lola) and daughter Faith (Madelaine Red) in poor living conditions, but their family was happy nevertheless. With his best friend Rocky (Anjo Yllana), Ariel coached a local basketball team, which was not winning their games despite their best efforts.  

Ariel blamed all his misfortune to back when he was a teenager when he missed a crucial basket that could have won the championship game for his team. Up to this day, he believed that his whole life would have been a lot better had he made that basket and won the game. On his birthday, Ariel was very depressed because he thought his family had forgotten the occasion. Suddenly, a mysterious guy named Jessie (Benjie Paras) showed up. 

There had been several movies in the past about wish fulfillment and second chances, like "Big" (1988) and "It's a Wonderful Life" (1946). This new one written and directed by A-list actor Xian Lim is another one in that fantasy genre, with a slapstick comedy approach. Lim's second feature film that he had written and directed looked very different from his debut crime-drama film "Tabon" (2019) which was darker and more serious in theme. 

Lim's plot about Ariel being given a chance to live an alternate reality and deciding which one he wanted was a solid one. He was still in his original mindset in the second reality so it did get a bit tricky when it came to relationships. There, Ariel was already married to Lauren (Sunshine Guimary), however he still loved Jennifer who married to someone else. But Lim did not shy away from Jennifer confronting Ariel about it which was a bold choice.

The very roughshod technical aspects were not really up par to the glossy quality Viva is known for. The opening credits were very crude and garish. The lighting of several scenes was very erratic, especially in the final basketball game. Lim attempts some trick shots in the name of comedy, like the walking scene at the pier, but the editing was not smoothly done. 

Janno Gibb's style of slapstick was very much reminiscent of Dolphy's style, especially with his facial grimacing and line deliveries. Not sure if this style was intentionally copied, but Dolphy's name was mentioned in one scene when Anjo Yllana was copying fighting styles of action stars. Benjie Paras' character was not well-explained. It would have been better if his Jessie had a little back story for us to know what supernatural character he was.

Lim tried all types of comic gimmicks here, hit or miss. Lola Ube's comic timing may be off but she was delightful in that scene with Joe Vargas's Bobby. Mark "Big Mak" Andaya and Darwin "Hap Rice" Tolentino make a good comic tag-team. PBA superstars like Allan Caidic, Jerry Codinera and EJ Feihl made cameo appearances in one game. Lim himself even had an unexpected cameo scene falling in the water which was actually funny. 

If there was any doubt that his viewers did not get the moral lesson of the whole film, Lim appended a short expository epilogue scene before the closing credits. In this scene, Kat "One-Armed Mamba" Tan regaled us with her skills in shooting a basketball and her clean delivery of her inspirational message about being happy with what you have, and not moping about something that cannot be there. 5/10.  

Review of A MAN CALLED OTTO: Calming the Curmudgeon

January 24, 2023

Otto Anderson (Tom Hanks) was an aloof and cantankerous 63-year-old widower who lived in a suburb of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Since he lost his wife and was retired from his job at the steel company, he had become very irritable to all his neighbors. He constantly mourned his dear wife Sonya (Rachel Keller), bittersweet memories of whom he relived in his mind during the times that he would attempt to end his life but never succeeding. 

An over-friendly Mexican family moved in next door, who did not hesitate to knock on Otto's door. The husband Tommy (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo) kept on borrowing tools and other stuff from Otto. The wife Marisol (Mariana Treviño) was pregnant with their third child and frequently requested Otto to help babysit her daughters or teach her how to drive a car. Despite Otto's notorious grumpiness, he would reluctantly agree to help out. 

After poor reviews of his recent performances as Gepetto in the live-action version of Disney's "Pinocchio" and as Col. Tom Parker in "Elvis," Tom Hanks ends 2022 with a winner. His portrayal of the ornery Otto was right up his alley of drama and comedy. The role felt familiar, something Hanks had done before. Perhaps it was because Otto's reminiscences of Sonya called back scenes of another Hank's classic "Forrest Gump" and his beloved Jenny. 

The role of young Otto in the flashback scenes was played by Tom Hanks' 27 year-old son, Truman Hanks. The younger Hanks had been working behind the camera before, but this is his first time on camera, his feature film acting debut. He gave a sensitive, heartfelt performance as young Otto, with believable romantic chemistry with his screen partner Rachel Keller. His young Otto made us understand why old Otto turned out the way he did.

This is an American remake of a 2015 Swedish film nominated for Best Foreign Language Film in the Oscars 2016, Hannes Holm's "A Man Called Ove," adapted from a 2012 Swedish novel of the same title by Fredrik Backman. The original Iranian neighbor Parvane was turned into a Mexican, Marisol. A winsome Mariana Trevino almost single-handedly lifted the spirits this film with her delightful and heartwarming portrayal of this wonderful character. 7/10. 

Review of GIRLFRIEND NA PWEDE NA: Comical and Crucial Choices

January 24, 2023

Jason Inigo "Jiggs" Gatchalian (Gab Lagman) just won the Best Director award at the Cinemasigla indie film festival held at the Cultural Center of the Philippines. Pam delos Reyes (Kim Molina) had been Jiggs' loyal girlfriend since the start of his career. However, on this night of his victory, Jiggs decided to break up with her because he felt that they were not on the same level anymore as they hardly spoke the same language already.

Furious and hurt, Pam cried her heart out to her best friends Gene (Prince Stefan), Belle (Andrea Babierra) and younger sister Tin (Heart Ryan). They decided that the best strategy to get Jiggs jealous was to hire a guy to pretend to be a rich film producer head over heels in love with Pam. After going through a number of candidates, they finally decided to go with street-side coconut vendor Francisco "Isko" Mangahas (Jerald Napoles). 

The conflict of this love story was hardly new. We seen various romcoms before tackle the story of a dumped party desperately trying everything to get their lost love back, only to learn to love themselves more in the process. However, this particular plot asked us to suspend quite a bit of disbelief. Pam choosing someone like Isko in order to get Jiggs jealous totally defied logic. Director Benedict Mique knew it and wisely just glossed over the issue.

Promising leading man Gab Lagman cross over from online jungle of Vivamax into the mainstream big screen. However, despite his movie star good looks, he tended to still be very conscious and tentative in his acting, resulting in a wooden portrayal of Jiggs. Beside the natural comic flair of Kim Molina and Jerald Napoles, poor Lagman did not stand a chance at all to shine. He should definitely be given another film to prove his worth as an actor.

The best reason to watch this film was the easygoing and naughty chemistry between Molina and Napoles, forged from their "Rak of Aegis" days on the PETA stage, to the previous romcoms they've done together, as well as their real-life romance. It was good to see Pam run a successful online business, call her own shots and accept consequences. However, there was really no suspense nor surprise with who Pam will end up with here. 5/10. 

Vivamax: Review of TAG-INIT: Shameless Summer Shenanigans

January 21, 2023

Bosom buddies Paolo (Aerol Carmelo) and Chino (Ali Asistio) rented a beach house in Sto. Tomas town. Paolo's girlfriend Nadine (Yen Durano) was supposed to bring other girls along with her, but her two girl friends both backed out. Feeling sorry that his friend would have no partner, Paolo was willing to "share" Nadine with Chino. The game and liberated Nadine was more than willing to oblige the boys' threesome fantasy.

Reluctantly tagging along with the group was Martin (Clifford Pusing), Chino's 17-year old younger brother. Since he cannot stand his brother and his lusty shenanigans, he would mostly go out on the beach by himself. He caught sight of the mysterious woman who lived next door, Adele (Franki Russell) as she rose out of the sea. From then on, the awe-struck teen became obsessed about his lovely but lonely neighbor. 

Like his first Vivamax sex drama "Secrets" (2022), director Joey Javier also set his second Vivamax sex drama at a seaside beach house. There were several similarities in the treatment of the two films, with beautiful shots of the sea as the picturesque backdrop for the stories he was telling. This seemed to be two separate shorter movies, barely connected only because Chino and Martin happened to be brothers. 

With his disheveled curls and naughty grin, Ali Asistio is getting typecast as a lusty bad boy, pretty much like he was in his first two films "Kara Krus" and "Alapaap" last year. Newcomers Aerol Carmelo and Yen Durano fared better. They were quite natural as actors, giving lively and energetic performances. Durano had no qualms about baring her body playing an uninhibited free soul with no hang-ups, but her Nadine still had empathy and sensibility. 

Franki Russell is no doubt beautiful of face, but her performance had no passion at all. Even her intimate scenes with her young sugar daddy Robbie (Marc Acueza) came across so lifeless. This is already Russell's third Vivamax film after "Pabuya" and "Laruan," and Adele is perhaps her most challenging role. However, it was too bad that even Reyes was not able to motivate a more fully-realized portrayal from her. 

The story of teenage boy who came of age one summer when he fell in love with a beautiful older woman was reminiscent of "Summer of '42" (1971). However, Reyes' version here was dark and joyless. In his Vivamax debut, Clifford Pusing was trapped in a character with limited emotional range and unintentionally funny facial contortions. His very casual delivery of voice-over narration did not sound very good, wasting the dramatic impact of his final words. 3/10. 

Review of THE FABELMANS: Spielberg's Skill with Sentimentality

January 18, 2023

Sammy Fabelman (Gabriel LaBelle) is the only son of Jewish couple computer engineer Burt (Paul Dano) and pianist Mitzi (Michelle Williams). His first movie as a child was Cecil B. DeMille's "The Greatest Show on Earth." Fascinated, Sammy tried to recreate a crash scene from the film with his toy train set and his father's video camera. From then on, Sammy would go on to create various film projects all the way through his teens.

When Burt got a new job, the Fabelmans moved from New Jersey to Arizona together with Burt's best friend and business partner Bennie Loewy (Seth Rogen), whom the kids considered their uncle. Burt's belief that movie-making was nothing more than a hobby annoyed Sammy. Later, Sammy's discovery of sensitive secrets in their household soon caused Sammy to lose interest and drive in film-making. Will he get the passion back?

Director Steven Spielberg long had a talent for making engaging and heartwarming coming-of-age films, most of which have become family favorites. These include "E.T." (1982), "Empire of the Sun" (1987), "Super 9" (2011), "The Adventures of Tintin" (2011), "War Horse" (2011), and "Ready Player One" (2018). "The Fabelmans" was right along that alley, with a script Spielberg wrote himself (with Tony Kushner) based on his own journey as a film-maker. 

Even if this role of Sammy is technically not his first film role, it is certainly 20-year old Gabriel LaBelle's big breakthrough. He just won the Critics Choice Award for Best Young Performer for his sensitive portrayal of a teenager whose artistic passion revealed unseen tension in his family. His veteran supporting actors Michelle Williams, Paul Dano, Seth Rogan, Judd Hirsch (as Uncle Boris) all turn in nuanced performances that all deserve awards attention. 

The best scenes were those of young Sammy creating and screening his masterpieces -- the train robbery, the camping trip, the "Ditch Day" film. We see his passionate directorial process, painstaking camera and film editing work, motivating the acting of his sisters and friends, innovating his own special effects. While the family turmoil and anti-Semitism scenes added uncomfortable melodrama, Spielberg's skill in handling sentimentality remains assured. 7/10. 

Review of PLANE: Crashed and Captured

January 14, 2023

On New Year's Day, commercial flight Trailblazer 119 was flying its 14 passengers on a routine flight from Singapore to Tokyo. The main pilot was Brodie Torrance (Gerard Butler) from Scotland, while his young co-pilot was Samuel Dele (Yoson An) from Hong Kong. The plane ran into unexpected lightning storm which caused critical engine damage. Torrance made the crucial call to execute an emergency landing, which was a success. 

Along with ex-military, now murder convict Gaspare (Mike Colter), Torrance decided to hike out to find a radio for help. He had figured that he had landed the plane in the Jolo group of islands, overrun by armed rebel troops that controlled the area. Not long, these rebels, led by their leader Datu Junmar (Evan Dane Taylor), held all the passengers hostage. Meanwhile, Torrance and Gaspare had to figure out a way to get out of their dangerous predicament. 

Audiences are not expecting an award-winning film here, just an entertaining popcorn flick starring their reliable action star Gerard Butler. After "300" (2007) and the "Fallen" trilogy ("Olympus," "London" and "Angel"), the rest of Butler's later filmography had been peppered by grade B-action flicks from "Machine Gun Preacher" (2011) to "Last Seen Alive" (2022), all of which had the burly Butler as the tough-as-nails hero saving the day. 

A major point of interest of this film for Filipino viewers was the familiar name of the island where the plane crash-landed -- Jolo (albeit pronounced with a Western twang). The Filipino bad guys were all shouting phrases in Tagalog (not Tausug). Even if he was a negative character, I felt it was a missed opportunity to cast a real Filipino actor as Datu Junmar. Evan Dane Taylor may be Fil-Am, but his crooked Tagalog was terribly unintelligible.

Aside from showing a turbulent peace and order situation in the southern Philippines to the international audience, the film practically accused the Philippine government of not only poor emergency responsiveness, but outright cowardice for allegedly refusing to engage with the rebels at all because they kept losing. To further prove the mistrust, the airline actually had to hire American mercenaries to conduct the rescue operation! 4/10. 

Vivamax: Review of NIGHTBIRD: Revisiting Rape Revenge

January 13, 2023

Rachel (Christine Bermas) lived and grew up in Baguio City. She was an anthropologist, very proud of her cultural heritage. She has a black belt in martial arts and used it to protect the rights of indigenous people. She was about to fly to Melbourne to take up her masteral studies for two years. She also wanted to get together with her mother (Yayo Aguila) who had emigrated there years ago, after her father (Lander Vera Perez) met a violent death. 

One night, Rachel joined her girlfriends Sidney (Chloe Jenna) and Hannah (Alexa Ocampo) to meet up with three men from Manila -- Julius (Felix Roco), Dennis (Arron Villaflor), and Vince (Sid Lucero). After dancing in the club, they all went over to the house of an artist pal of theirs Elijah (Mark Anthony Fernandez). When they got there, aside from more booze, drugs also got served. What happened next was not what anybody in that house had planned.  

The build up of Rachel's character was very good. She's an authority in her field, and passionate with her advocacy. She had even tattoos of indigenous design adorning her upper torso. A big deal was made about the return of a stolen headhunters axe back to the Philippines, and Rachel was there to receive it. Vivamax viewers will already suspect at this point that this axe was going to figure prominently in the violence later on.

The entire Act 2 was just so difficult to watch, even for die-hard Vivamax fans. All that beast-like brutality did not really deserve this much screen time. These scenes just went on too long, too painful, too triggering, too maddening. Viewers do not need that much detail of beastial behavior to hate those damned rapists. Villaflor's Dennis and Fernandez's Elijah were just the worst of the lot there, pure evil was just burning in their eyes. 

From "Siklo" to "Relyebo," Christine Bermas had already proved that she was the best actress among the Vivamax bevy of sirens.  Bermas was so convincing as smart and independent Rachel in Act 1, such that it was hard to believe why she allowed herself to get trapped in that dangerous situation at all. There were red flags aplenty since the club. When Hannah was already vomiting like crazy, and Rachel still accepts more booze right after -- really? 

The final scene of axe-wielding Rachel in black walking to her car and the uncertain fate of all but one of the bad guys seems to promise a Part 2. We are game for this sequel to see more of Bermas's fighting skills, however director Law Fajardo should innovate things in order to distinguish his film from being yet another "Angela Markado." We already see one more kill in a mid-credit scene. The sequel should not just be more variations of the same scene. 3/10. 

 

Review of THAT BOY IN THE DARK: Physical and Psychological Plight

January 10, 2023

Young man Knight Daguiles (Joaquin Domagoso) slowly became blind while he was recovering from a bad vehicular accident that required brain surgery. At around the same time, his mother decided to abandon her family and never came back. Knight never forgave his father Anton (Ramon Cristopher) for not exerting enough effort to locate his mother, something that made them drift further apart emotionally.

When Anton had to leave for New York, he left Knight to live with his strict grandfather Carlos (Nanding Josef) and his loyal housekeeper Mamang Ched (Lotlot de Leon). The young man began hearing ghostly crying and screaming at night, which no one believed. One day, he went out of the house against his grandfather's wishes, he was able to speak with his childhood friend Ellie (Aneeza Gutierrez) which made him happy for a change. 

At a mere 1 hour and 4 minutes running time, "That Boy in the Dark" may not seem something worth the ticket price. However, this unassuming indie film was preceded by news of its numerous citations and awards received in film festivals all over the world. Director Adolfo Alix won Best Director at the International Manhattan Film Awards. More impressively, lead star Joaquin Domagoso won Best Actor awards in Toronto, Sweden and Venezuela. 

This was a major acting showcase for up-and-coming actor Joaquin Domagoso, portraying both physical disability (blindness) and psychological baggage (parental abandonment). Despite all the awards he won, Domagoso still has long road ahead to further hone his craft. Kiko Ipapo and Aneeza Gutierrez seem promising, but saddled with poorly-written characters. The veteran actors had cliched stock roles to do, so it felt like they were just dialing it in. 

Director Alix called his twisty film "modest" and that it was. The visual effects of the ghost scenes were quite rudimentary. It had to rely more on the lighting, editing, music and sound effects to create the creepy atmosphere, which were also hit and miss. Continuity of scenes tended to be careless, like when Anton tightly hugged Knight right where his son had major knife wounds, or when Anton's voice in one phone call was obviously not Ramon Cristopher's.

Knight's transition from nightmare to reality was so sudden, as a new character Danos (Kiko Ipapo) was suddenly introduced from out of the blue in the final act.  The alleged sins of Knight's family against Danos's mother was a major plot point, but was so quickly dismissed. The back story about Knight's mother could have been told in better detail as her sudden departure was an important contributor to Knight's disturbed state of mind. 4/10. 

Netflix: Mini-Reviews of THE PALE BLUE EYE, WHITE NOISE and MATILDA (2022)

January 9, 2023

THE PALE BLUE EYE

Director: Scott Cooper

Adapted from the 2003 novel by Louis Bayard

Retired detective Augustus Landor (Christian Bale) was asked by officers of the United States Military Academy at West Point to investigate the death of cadet Leroy Fry. Fry had been found hanged on a tree branch, but his body was further desecrated by the removal of his heart out of his chest cavity while he was already in the morgue. Landor requested another cadet, poet Edgar Allan Poe (Harry Melling), to help with his investigations. 

With Christian Bale leading the cast of this 19th century whodunit, this was an absorbing watch, albeit with several red herrings. Providing support were reliable British character actors like Simon McBurney, Timothy Spall, Toby Jones, and the always brilliant Gillian Anderson as the eccentric Mrs. Julia Marquis. A main point of interest was the inclusion of real life writer Edgar Allan Poe into this fictional tale, and his poetic lines were sublimely delivered by Harry Melling (who started his career as Dudley Dursley in the "Harry Potter" films). 7/10. 

WHITE NOISE

Director: Noah Baumbach

Adapted from the 1985 novel by Don DeLillo

College professor in "Hitler Studies" Jack Gladney (Adam Driver) is married to Babette (Greta Gerwig), his fourth wife, and are raising a blended family with four kids. One day, Babette's daughter Denise saw Babette throw a container of an unknown pill called Dylar and was worried for her. One day, a major train accident with a delivery truck nearby caused chemical waste to be released into the air, resulting in mass panic and evacuations.

This was not a very cohesive movie, with the three acts in three different genres. I liked the satiric first part the best, with Adam Driver's Jack Gladney interacting with his pretentious co-faculty, particularly Don Cheadle's Prof. Murray Suskind, who wanted to create his own course about Elvis. The entire Act 2 felt like slapstick treatment of an environmental disaster. The third act was heavy but weird drama that felt out of sync with everything else. 6/10. 

MATILDA THE MUSICAL (2022)

Director: Matthew Warchus

Adapted from the 2011 theater musical by Matthew Warchus, Dennis Kelly and Tim Minchin, which was adapted from the 1988 novel by Roald Dahl

Genius smart bookworm Matilda (Alisha Weir) was an unwanted child of Mr. and Mrs. Wormwood (Stephen Graham and Andrea Riseborough). One day, the family received a visit from kind teacher Miss Jennifer Honey (Lashanna Lynch) inviting Matilda to come study at Crunchem Hall where she taught. Unfortunately, the headmistress Mrs. Trunchbull believed that kids are all maggots deserving to be thrown into the "chokey".

I have seen this musical performed live on stage locally by Atlantis, but I do not remember it being as dark as this film version. The songs even sounded different, maybe because of the much darker treatment by Warchus than he did for his original stage version.The highlight was definitely Emma Thompson and her amazing transformation into former hammer-throw champion-turned-school administrator Ms. Agatha Trunchbull, one scary, brutish ogre of a woman. 8/10. 

Review of I WANNA DANCE WITH SOMEBODY: Witnessing Whitney

January 9, 2023

Whitney Houston was one of the biggest singing pop stars from the 1980s. Her first two albums "Whitney Houston" (1985) and "Whitney" (1987) both reached Number One on the Billboard album chart. Since her second single from her debut album, "Saving All My Love for You" went to Number One on the Billboard Hot 100 in October 1985, her next six consecutive singles all followed suit, all the way to the fourth single from her second album, "Where Do Broken Hearts Go," peaking at the top in April 1988. 

As with many superstar artists, Whitney's private life was also fair game for the tabloids. Contrary to her wholesome media image, Whitney decided to marry former New Edition member Bobby Brown, who was then also always in the news for cases of battery, drunk driving and drug possession. Their marriage gave them a daughter, Bobbi Kristina, who was born in 1993. However, by 1999, Whitney's good girl reputation took a turn for the worse as she became unprofessional career-wise because of her addiction to illegal drugs.  

This by-the-numbers biopic checked all the boxes about what we already know about Whitney's life. We first meet Whitney (Naomi Ackie) training in singing gospel songs under the strict mentorship of her own mother Cissy (Tamara Tunie). Her singing prowess eventually caught the attention of music producer Clive Davis (Stanley Tucci), who then immediately signed her to Arista Records. She met Bobby Brown (Ashton Sanders) at an awards show and they began dating against public opposition. 

However, there were some details which I did not know about and was surprised to learn from this movie. Whitney apparently had a female best friend Robyn Crawford (Nafessa Williams) even before she became famous, and the two actually had a romantic relationship. Whitney also had a close relationship with her father John Houston (Clarke Peters), who insisted on controlling Whitney's career and finances. He mishandled Whitney's fortune at one point and wanted her to do a world tour to get their company out of the rut.

Naomi Ackie's facial differences from Whitney Houston can sometimes be distracting, but in some scenes, there can be similarities between them which can be so uncanny. Ackie seemed to have been able to capture a lot of Whitney's manner of speaking and mannerisms, as we've seen in videos of her live shows.  The singing voice we hear though is almost all Whitney's herself (95%), so Ackie's lipsynching and impersonating skills were amazingly on point, as they all looked like very realistic singing performances by Whitney herself. 

What I liked about this biopic was how it was practically a jukebox musical about her life, so we can hear almost every hit song she had in her stellar career. There were recreations of her music videos for "How Will I Know", "I Will Always Love You," It's Not Right, But It's Okay," and her historic rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" at the 1992 World Cup. Call me idealistic, but I felt I really did not need to know all those negative details about her life. Her musical legacy alone should be enough to remember her by. 6/10. 

Review of M3GAN: Awesome and Awful AI

January 8, 2023

One snowy winter day, Cady (Violet McGraw) lost both her parents in a terrible vehicular accident. She was sent to live with her aunt Gemma (Allison Williams). Gemma was a robotics expert, very proficient at her job, however, she was not ready to take on the duties of a guardian to a child. To help her take care of Cady, Gemma used a prototype of a mechanical doll with AI that she herself developed, called M3gan (Model 3 Generative Android).

As Cady became very attached to M3gan, she grew even more distant from Gemma, much to her aunt's dismay. However, when Gemma's boss David (Ronnie Chieng) saw how M3gan interacted with Cady, he immediately saw the huge market potential for this AI doll so he wanted Gemma to fast-track its development to get M3gan for wide release. However, Gemma began to observe disturbing behavior from M3gan which would soon turn sinister. 

When you've seen the trailer, you have practically know the whole story already, except for the ending. You can see how M3gan looked like and how she moves like a real girl, even able to dance and do cartwheels. Later on, she would take on extremely protective behavior when it came to Cady. The tech science behind these abilities were a bunch of jargon anyway, so hearing Gemma and her crew "explain" them does not really add much. 

The only actor I knew in the cast was the caustic Asian stand-up comedian Ronny Chieng, mainly because of his comedy shows on Netflix. The centerpiece highlight of the whole film was how they created the illusion of making 13-year old New Zealand dancer and actress Amie Donald into M3gan. Jenna Davis provides M3gan's calm yet chilling voice. Director Gerard Johnstone's camera work and editing choices made this quite entertaining.

Dolls have a subgenre of its own among horror films. The most famous ones are those who have movie series of their own, like Chucky of the "Child's Play" films and Annabelle of the "Conjuring" films. Being imbued with AI, M3gan has her own unique characteristics which distinguish her from these other deadly dolls. For me, the tender scene of M3gan comforting Cady by singing "Titanium" is the one which I will remember this movie by. 7/10. 

Vivamax: Review of PANIBUGHO: Jinxed by Jealousy

January 6, 2023

Sonya (Angela Morena), Ester (Stephanie Raz) and Lea (Micaella Raz) are sisters who lived in Rosario town. Their father Don Fidel Paraiso (Soliman Cruz) had just passed away. However, his land titles have pending cases, so the girls could not yet get their inheritances. Sonya needed money to continue her medical studies. Ester wanted to leave their town right away to go seek her fortune in Manila. Lea was satisfied just to stay in their father's house.

One night, a stranger showed up at their door, wounded with a bullet in his thigh. The girls took pity on the young man Felipe (Kiko Estrada), took him into their home and cared for him.  Ester first showed her interest for Felipe, but he had his eye on Lea. Meanwhile, Sonya had secret trysts with Mako (Benz Sangalang), a soldier going after rebels in their town. Soon, several bad incidents happened in the house, pitting the sisters against each other. 

Vivamax scored an interesting casting coup in this film by casting three real-life sisters -- Angela Morena, Stephanie Raz and Micaella Raz -- as the three Paraiso sisters. Their gentler facial beauty had already given lead roles to Angela ("X-Deal 2," "Tubero") and Micaella ("Bata Pa Si Sabel"). The stronger, sterner facial features of Stephanie makes her more fit for character or antagonist roles, like the aggressive sister Ester, who stood out in this film. 

Kiko Estrada had an auspicious Vivamax debut in "Sitio Diablo" but his next two films ("Us x Her" and "Laruan") were not good. He was given much better role here as Felipe, but his performance was initially marred by that very ugly, very fake-looking beard he had on (which thankfully disappeared later in the film). Benz Sangalang was also electric in "Sitio Diablo," but here, his bad guy Mako was way too over-the-top to be taken seriously.

The most notable technical merit of this Iar Arondaing film was its cinematography (by DP Emmanuel Rei Liwanag), with the sepia filter, unique camera angles and lighting design, that gave the film a generally rich and warm look. The script by Nigel Santos had some revelations about Felipe's character, but these were not exactly unexpected. More care could have been taken in the storytelling of those parts to make the revelations more surprising. 5/10.

Disney Plus: Mini-Reviews of THE MENU, BARBARIAN and FRESH: Disney Does Dark

January 5, 2023

The Disney Plus app is not only filled with all the family-friendly animated classic films that the Walt Disney Company built their name upon. These three films, all with decidedly un-Disney dark themes, were produced by Disney subsidiary, Searchlight Pictures. Searchlight was founded in 1994 as Fox Searchlight Pictures, Inc., as the art-house arm of the 20th Century Fox Studios, so you can still hear their familiar theme music when their logo is shown.

THE MENU

Director: Mike Mylod

Margot Mills (Anya Taylor-Joy) was invited by obsessive foodie Tyler (Nicholas Hoult) to be her substitute date for an exclusive dinner by his idol, celebrity chef Julian Slowik (Ralph Fiennes) set on a private island. Also attending were food critic Lillian (Janet McTeer) and her editor, wealthy couple Richard and Anne (Reed Birney and Judith Light), has-been ham actor George (John Leguizamo) and his PA, and a trio of business partners. 

This had all the ingredients of a murder-mystery, with the isolated location and a gathering of eccentric rich folk. However, this one went totally in another direction when Chef Julian began to describe the concept of his one-of-a-kind menu planned that evening.  Hong Chau gave off creepy vibes in her every scene as the hostess Elsa. Hoult's portrayal of the pretentious know-it-all foodie Tyler was black comic gold. Mylod's scenes of shocking violence provide the additional jolt on top of the sharp social commentary. 7/10.

BARBARIAN

Director: Zach Cregger

Coming into town for a job interview, Tess  (Georgina Campbell) booked a house in a rundown neighborhood of Detroit. Upon arriving at the house, Tess finds out that the place has been double-booked and is already occupied by a young man named Keith (Bill Skarsgaard). Caught with no other choice, Tess decided to stay the night as Keith seemed to be a good guy. In the morning, several red flags indicate that she should not get out of there at once. 

Two young people booking the same AirBnb house was the same scenario as rom-com "Love in the Villa" but this one was in the horror-thriller genre. Tess was very annoying with all the crazy decisions, so this long ordeal of hers was essentially a product of her own bad judgement. Justin Long's character AJ must be one of the most annoying creeps ever, and deserved everything that happened to him. This was just so-so for me, I frankly do not understand the critical acclaim for this. 5/10. 

FRESH

Director: Mimi Cave

Noa (Daisy Edgar-Jones) had always been meeting the wrong guys from the dating app she used. Just by chance at the supermarket, a friendly young reconstructive surgeon named Steve (Sebastian Stan) approached her and asked for her number. After a few dates, Steve invited Noa for an out-of-town trip alone with him. Her best friend Mollie (Jojo T. Gibbs) was against it, but Noa agreed to the trip even without knowing the destination. 

Sebastian Stan's Steve was so charming in Act 1, you will never expect what he had in store for Noa in Act 2. Too good to be true, he certainly got us all fooled, especially with what he planned to do with Noa. The premise of this film was disgusting, hard to swallow, certainly not for the faint at heart. This is especially true in that long scene when Cave actually had Steve skillfully and lovingly preparing the fresh main protein of his unconventional food business. 7/10. 

 

MMFF 2022: Review of MY FATHER, MYSELF: Stinging Secrets

January 3, 2023

When his client and close friend, labor leader Domeng Santos (Alan Paule), died, renowned human rights lawyer Atty. Robert delos Reyes (Jake Cuenca) and his wife Amanda (Dimples Romana) adopted Domeng's young son Matthew as their own. Matthew (Sean de Guzman) grew up to be an excellent student, graduating from law school at the top of his class, and even topping the bar exams. 

After one night of drinking with friends, Robert's own birth daughter Mica (Tiffany Grey) confessed her romantic feelings to Matthew. Matthew told her that he did not want to commit for fear of what others would say about them if their relationship went anywhere beyond being siblings, since the two of them grew up together as such. However, the truth is Matthew actually had his eyes on someone else. 

The last two MMFF entries of veteran director Joel Lamangan all dealt with gay relationships. These were “Rainbow’s Sunset” (2018) and “Isa Pang Bahaghari” (2020), both dealing with men rekindling their gay feelings in old age. For this new project, Lamangan got more daring in depicting gay sexual relations, earning itself an R-18 rating, a first in MMFF history. That rating spelled box-office poison, and this was eventually confirmed.

Since the pandemic, Joel Lamangan's last nine films had all been with Vivamax, with racy titles like "Silab," "Moonlight Butterfly," "Island of Desire." Maybe that was why he got friskier with the sex scenes in this one. Butts and breasts were also gratuitously exposed here, but only in glimpses, which could really have been cut without affecting the run of the story. Lamangan's signature overtly excessive melodrama is still very much there. 

The script was written by Vivamax starlet and writer Quinn Carrillo. After "Biyak," "Tahan," "The Influencer" and "An Affair to Forget," this is her first to get a theatrical release, which is an auspicious career boost for her. Carrillo's main plot about a gay love affair that crossed generations was so twisted, it did have impact. She came up with a lot of confrontation scenes with lines so over-the-top, they can be construed as darkly humorous that way.

Sean de Guzman is Vivamax's biggest male star discovery since he was introduced in Lamangan's "Ang Anak ng Macho Dancer" (2021) where he also played the son of Alan Paule. Aside from baring skin, he had already proven his dramatic acting chops in his recent films like "Relyebo" (2022). De Guzman did not really look or act like the hotshot lawyer Matthew was supposed to me, but he nailed the dramatic parts with restraint. 

Tiffany Grey's Mica was also a lawyer who passed the bar on her first take despite being bored with her reviewing, and, according to her, not smart. However, she never once acted convincingly as a young lawyer. She could have argued more with her father about his favoritism for Matthew at her expense, but did not.  In fact, in practically all her scenes, Mica could not pick up obvious hints, and kept trying to coerce Matthew to have sex with her. 

Dimples Romana's role of a wife who had belatedly confirmed her husband's big secret has been done several times before in movies of this nature. Romana's highlight was a scene where Amanda poured out all her pent-up frustration and anger out on Robert. I would not be surprised if that one line alone where she summarized the whole plot of the movie in one complex sentence was responsible for winning her the Best Supporting Actress award. 

Jake Cuenca had once engaged in daring gay scenes before in Lamangan's "Lihis" (2013), so it was no surprise that he could do the intimate scenes that Lamangan asked him to do here. Apart from the sex scenes, Cuenca went all out in his portrayal of a closeted gay man here even in the small details in his facial expressions and tone of voice. His performance here as the conflicted Robert will certainly remind people of his skills as a dramatic actor. 

The story ultimately revolved around the decisions of the Robert character. This was an examination of the inner tug-of-war waged in the mind of a lifelong closeted married gay guy. The viewer's sensitivity to gender issues will play a role in understanding this film or not -- either identify and be moved with Robert's dilemma, or wonder how Robert would consider to sacrifice everything he had for the sake of what seemed to be misplaced lust. 4/10. 

MMFF 2022: Review of LABYU WITH AN ACCENT: Miscalculated Misogyny

January 1, 2023

Tricia (Jodie Sta. Maria) was a rich girl who lived in Los Angeles with her parents Walter and Linda (Michael de Mesa and Jaclyn Jose). She helped them run their assisted living business. She was about to get married to her boyfriend Matt (Rafael Rossell) and was already finalizing her choice of wedding gown. Then, Tricia caught Matt cavorting with another girl in their bathtub right before their wedding day.

Furious, she went back home to the Philippines to the house of her grandmother (Nova Villa) where she grew up. To cheer Tricia up, neighbor and childhood friend Daisy (Rochelle Pangilinan) invite Tricia to her bachelorette party which was held in a male strip club, where they met one of the strippers Gabo (Coco Martin). The entrepreneurial Gabo invited Tricia to check out their family business of providing the Ultimate Jowa Experience.

Initially this was a light-hearted rom-com romp with an outlandish premise which shifted between warm friendly Manila and cold materialistic Los Angeles. While it was fun to see Cardo Dalisay's posse become Gabo's US-based cousins, the mood eventually became unfunny, dealing with serious topics of prejudiced parents, misrepresentation of wealth, illegally working tourists and snitches who turn them in.  

A big problem of this film is that Coco Martin and Jodie Sta. Maria already looked and felt too old to play Tricia and Gabo. Finding out later that Martin is already 41 and Sta. Maria 40 in real life made things even more cringy -- they ARE too old for this! Seeing Coco doing macho dancer routines (17 years after his indie film debut in "Masahista") looked too desperate. John Estrada is only 49, so playing Coco's father was a head-scratching casting decision.

Gabo was laying on his "charm" on so thick, it felt like harassment already. Did he expect Tricia to love him only after a day tour of Manila together? The main relationship conflict was something in the 50s when women should only be homebound! Just when everything is already "woke," Gabo was still living in the dark ages. Just when women are empowered, Tricia still decides to lower herself just to be with this narrow-minded misogynist. 2/10. 

My Yearend Roundup: The BEST FOREIGN FILMS of 2022 That I Have Seen

December 31, 2022

With the quarantine protocols easing up in 2022, films made their way back into cinemas, although the best business was made by titles which promise a visual spectacle which is best seen on the big screen. 

In November, the QCinema Film Festival was back face-to-face with a treasure trove of international films, several of which were each countries submissions to the Oscar Best International Film categories. 

Like last year, there are is still so much cinematic content available on various international streaming sites like Netflix, HBO Go, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, and MUBI. 

Not included in this countdown were the 2021 films which were only shown here locally in 2022, notably "Spiderman: No Way Home." Also not included here were outstanding films, many of them favored to be nominated for Oscars, but have not been released in the country yet, either in cinemas or on any streaming sites (VPN not necessary). These include "The Fabelmans," "Tar," "Women Talking," "The Whale," "Babylon" and "Aftersun." 

Like last year, I divided my yearend best-of-films list into three: English language and non-English foreign films in this post, and Filipino films in a separate post (LINK). 

ENGLISH LANGUAGE FILMS

25. BLACK ADAM by Jaume Collet-Serra (My Full Review)

24. DC LEAGUE OF SUPER-PETS by Jared Stern (My Full Review)

23. THE BAD GUYS by Pierre Perifel (My Full Review)

22.THE BLACK PHONE by Scott Derrickson (My Full Review)

21. APOLLO 10½: A SPACE AGE CHILDHOOD by Richard Linklater (My Review)

20. HUSTLE by Jeremiah Zagar (My Full Review)

19. THE WONDER by Sebastian Lelio (My Full Review)

18. THIRTEEN LIVES by Ron Howard (My Full Review)

17. SHE SAID by Maria Schrader (My Full Review)

16. TRIANGLE OF SADNESS by Ruben Östlund (My Full Review)

15. PUSS IN BOOTS: THE LAST WISH by Joel Crawford (My Full Review)

14. THE UNBEARABLE WEIGHT OF MASSIVE TALENT by Tom Gormickan (My Full Review)

13. VIOLENT NIGHT by Tommy Wirkola (My Full Review)

12. GLASS ONION: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY by Rian Johnson (My Full Review)

11. THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN by Martin O'Donagh (My Full Review)

10. NOPE by Jordan Peele (My Full Review)

The technical aspects of this alien thriller film was its best draw. The cinematography by the acclaimed Hoyte Van Hoytema ("Interstellar," "Dunkirk," "Tenet") was breathtaking in capturing the vast cloudy skies where the alien hid.  The film editing by Nicolas Monsour ("Us") worked with the music of Michael Abels ("Get Out," "Us") effectively evoked a sense of danger, dread and excitement during the scenes with the alien. 

9. EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE by Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert (My Full Review)

Like they did in "Swiss Army Man" before, Daniels again attempts to take on the meaning of life in their own silly absurdist way. We face several forks everyday in our path of life, and the choices we make decide how our life would turn out. This existentialist concept of the Multiverse, chaotic as it may seem in this film, posits that there exist different versions of you living another version of life. The life you are living now may not be your best life at all. 

8. AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER by James Cameron (My Full Review)

The biggest innovation in this film was the technology for motion capture for underwater scenes, something that has never been done before. Cameron really went all the way in creating a CGI marine biosphere for these Na'vi creatures to interact with water creatures big and small, sacred and mystical. Seeing the callous ways humans invade and destroy such natural beauty and balance sent out a potent pro-environment message.

7. DOCTOR STRANGE AND THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS by Sam Raimi (My Full Review)

Director Sam Raimi returns from a 9-year break from film directing since "Oz the Great and Powerful" (2013) and he comes back strong. He told a complex fantasy story bringing characters into different universes with different versions of themselves in a way that engaged the audience and made sense. His expertise in the horror genre, from films like "The Evil Dead" (1981) and "Drag Me to Hell" (2009), fit right into the dark story. 

6. GUILLERMO DEL TORO'S PINOCCHIO by Guillermo del Toro (My Full Review)

The most memorable aspect of this film is its meticulously-crafted stop motion animation, a product of 15 years of work. It was amazing how it looked so effortless like this was a live action film with all those little body movements, hand gestures and facial expressions. The camera angles, editing, production design, the music and songs of Alexandre Desplat were all very expertly done. This looks like a sure win at the Oscars for Best Animated Feature Film. 

5. BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER by Ryan Coogler (My Full Review)

Director Ryan Coogler's production design, costume design and hair and makeup teams outdid themselves in this sequel as they did not only designed Wakanda, but also Talokan. Namor's underwater kingdom Atlantis was given a decidedly Mesoamerican civilzation, from its architecture, costumes, language and culture. Marvel made this sequel a beautiful tribute to the memory of the late Chadwick Boseman, whose spirit still pervaded the film.

4. BULLET TRAIN by David Leitch (My Full Review)

Director David Leitch brought in the same energy and humor from his previous film "Deadpool 2" (2018) here, with more characters to play around with and more blood to splatter around.  This Tarantino-esque film had so much chaos in it, yet all this was skillfully calculated so precisely. A poisonous snake and number of A-list guest stars making surprise appearances added a lot more fun amidst the mayhem.

3. TOP GUN: MAVERICK by Joseph Kosinski (My Full Review)

The best parts of this film are the breathtakingly-fast and exhilarating flying scenes, all said to be done without the benefit of computer-generated effects. We see Maverick flying an experimental Mach 10 jet, an F-18 Super Hornet and even a F-14 Tomcat (for a nice throwback to the first film). The superb cinematography and editing made it all look like Cruise was actually flying those planes.

2. ELVIS by Baz Luhrman (My Full Review)

This is the first film this year that is a clear contender during the awards season next year, including the Oscars. Aside from imminent acting nominations for Butler and Hanks, Baz Luhrmann's scintillating direction will likely be cited as well, along with technical nods for cinematography, film editing, costume design, hair and make-up, and most especially sound. Its wall of meticulously-edited sounds needs to be heard in a Dolby theater.

1. THE BATMAN (2022) by Matt Reeves (My Full Review)

It has only been two years since millionaire Bruce Wayne began his vigilante mission against crime in Gotham City.  That Halloween, a mystery man calling himself the Riddler began a series of murders of Gotham's Mayor, police commissioner and district attorney, all with a video sent to the news and a card with a riddle addressed to Batman. His next target was to be Bruce Wayne himself.

Director Matt Reeves was able to tell this complex story with multiple characters with engaging skill using cinematically-creative shots with excellent cinematography by Greig Fraser, production design by James Chinlund, and musical score by Michael Giacchino. The 3-hour running time may sound formidable, but this was worth every minute. 

NON-ENGLISH LANGUAGE FILMS

10. CORSAGE by Marie Kreutzer (Austria) (My Full Review)

9. SAINT OMER by Alice Diop (France) (My Full Review)

8. NICE VIEW by Wen Muye (China) (My Full Review)

7. HUNT by Lee Jung-jae (South Korea) (My Full Review)

6. BARDO, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths by Alejandro G. Iñárritu (Mexico) (My Review)

5. TO THE NORTH by Mihai Mincan (Romania) (My Full Review)

The manner Mincan told his story was very intense, suffused with a constant feeling of claustrophobia whether in the darkness below deck or in the maze of containers on deck. This was achieved with all the extreme closeups by cinematographer George Chiper-Lillemark, enhanced by the film editing by Dragos Apetri. The heavy atmosphere of uncertain danger was further achieved with the suspenseful musical score of Marius Leftarache. 

4. RRR by S. S. Rajamouli (India) (My Full Review)

The film was a grand 3-hour-long affair full of over-the-top brutal action sequences that defied the laws of physics, filled with all sorts of complicated stunts and fiery explosions, and even a stampede of computer-generated wild animals.  In true Indian film tradition, there were also colorful musical extravaganzas in the mix, with that joyously defiant Desi Naach dance showdown of our heroes against the snooty British guys as a glorious highlight.

3. DECISION TO LEAVE by Park Chan-wook (South Korea) (My Full Review)

This is Park Chan-wook's first film in five years which makes it a major event for South Korean and international film fans alike. Park's telling of this crime-mystery was very compelling, giving focus on an uncomfortable romance while everything else was left rather cloudy. We appreciate his innovative camera technique to capture the characters and scenery in a most aesthetic, riveting manner, even as it may not be at the level of his previous films. 

2. ATHENA by Romain Gavras (France) (My Full Review)

This film starts with an impressive 10 minute-long tracking shot of a press conference disrupted by a Molotov cocktail, then followed Karim and his men violently clashing with the authorities. Midway, there was another long continuous shot of a bold police operation which ended badly, then followed young officer Jerome (Anthony Bajon) in its aftermath. These complicated tracking shots of choreographed crowd chaos showcased the camera skills of director Romain Gavras and his cinematographer Matias Boucard in their fullest grandeur. 

1. ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT by Edward Berger (Germany) (My Full Review)

Faithful to the spirit of the book, director and co-writer Edward Berger depicted the frontlines as a bleak place of mud and grime, a place of endless uncertainty and danger, where death can happen anytime. The main character Paul was one of those nameless young soldiers whose idealism was broken by the experience of actual battle. There was no impressive displays of heroism or bravery, these men just want to survive and go back home. Yet the winds of fate constantly changed right up to the end of the war. 

The destructive violence and senseless tragedy in the battlefields were caught by the beautiful cinematography of James Friend, especially those magnificent long shots of soldiers marching, running and dying across the desolate landscape. The details of the widespread carnage, with the unique injuries of each dead soldier so meticulously recreated with make-up and prosthetics, were realistic and very difficult to look at. Its strong message about the absurdity, pointlessness and stupidity of war was loud and clear. 

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Here are my yearend roundups for previous years:

My Yearend Roundup 2021 is posted HERE. 

My Yearend Roundup 2020 is posted HERE.

My Yearend Roundup 2019 is posted HERE.

My Yearend Roundup 2018 is posted HERE. 

My Yearend Roundup 2017 is posted HERE. 

My Yearend Roundup 2016 is posted HERE. 

My Yearend Roundup 2015 is posted HERE.

My Yearend Roundup 2014 is posted HERE.

My Yearend Roundup 2013 is posted HERE. 

My Yearend Roundup 2012 is posted HERE.