Vivamax: Review of HUGOT: A Cager's Chronicle

June 30, 2023

Cocoy Basibas (Benz Sangalang) is the star player of the basketball team of Madam (Mickey Ferriols) under Coach (Joko Diaz). He still lived with his disabled father Pido (Julio Diaz) and supportive mother Susan (Isadora). He would have liked to pursue a career in professional basketball. However, his father, who had a traumatic experience on the basketball court in his younger days, would rather that he go work on a ship as a seaman instead. 

This is one of the few Vivamax films where the central character was male. The title "Hugot" referred to a practice in local basketball leagues where a player from another district will be "imported" to play for the home team, and Cocoy was one such "import." Its more popular meaning of "deep emotional angst" can also be applied, because barangay basketball was just the backdrop against which Cocoy's melodramatic life story played out. 

Of course being a Vivamax film, there was a love story in there so that sex scenes can be staged. Cocoy had a rival in his team named Martin (Jiad Arroyo). Cocoy hooked up with Japok (Stephanie Raz) as a half-time pick-me-up, while Martin had a girlfriend Tina (Azi Acosta), who will end up with Cocoy as well. There would be more gratuitous scenes of Cocoy with gangster molls Trixie (Apple Castro) and Gina (Jennifer Georgo). 

There was also a crime angle. To help Cocoy earn extra cash, his teammate Bochok (Mark Anthony Fernandez) recommended him to a foreigner hoodlum Coach Aaron (Peter Georgo) to be a mule delivering drugs to a certain school teacher (Paul Jake Paule). This turned out to be just an episode in Cocoy's life that would not be mentioned again. The big twist in the plot was an unexpected tragedy borne as a result of bruised toxic masculinity.  

Daniel R. Palacio wrote and directed this acting showcase for young actor Benz Sangalang -- going from sports, to action, to drama. So far, he had been settling to be the second lead male character or the token male consort of the lead female character since his Vivamax debut "Secrets" (2022). Sangalang was front and center of the story this time. While he played the dramatic scenes well with restraint, he was still raw on nuance and subtlety. 5/10. 

Review of ANG PANGARAP KONG OSKARS: Arthouse Aswangs

June 29, 2023

For years, film producer Bobby B (Paolo Contis) had been slaving away under his Boss (Jon Santos), owner of the film studio where he worked. However, because of a bad disagreement between them, Bobby decided to quit his job. That night, his old friend Danny M. Zallian "DMZ" (Joross Gamboa) presented Bobby a script he had written, envisioning that it can be made into an artistic film which win them an Oscar award, Bobby's fervent dream.

Upon reading the screenplay, Bobby believed in its great potential. It would be a found footage type of horror film about a film crew that encountered Filipino monsters in the forest. Together with his assistant Odessa (Kate Alejandrino), Bobby impulsively joined DMZ on a ferry boat to Catanduanes to begin filming this movie. When they were there, it dawned on Bobby that he had no budget for special effects and needed to think outside the box.

In 2018, film studio MAVX released an unassuming comedy film entitled "Ang Pangarap Kong Holdap" about three petty crooks and the biggest heist of their career. This film exceeded expectations and became a critical and box-office hit, and eventually even released on Netflix. Paolo Contis and Kate Alejandrino were in the main cast of that film, and now they are both part of this new MAVX release whose similar-sounding title stating a different dream.

Writer-director Jules M. Katanyag's twist of using "real" aswang as indie actors because of financial constraints was a stroke of genius. This was executed as a film within a film. We see DMZ filming the scenes, and later get to watch a rough cut of this film, which had the same scenes we had just seen. The special effects for the manananggal (Faye Lorenzo), kapre (Milo Elmido Jr.) and the Banga were very crude and unconvincing due to budget. 

It was a nice touch that DMZ's script was based on the tales of his grandmother Sina (Erlinda Villalobos). Long Mejia played Pedro, keeper of the legendary jewel that kept the aswang in check, and an advocate for harmony between humans and aswang. As film editor Chanda, J-mee Katanyag should have been given more screen time, because her rough cut was essential to the plot. In fact, more focus on film crew roles would have been educational. 

That the cast and crew of Bobby's film and the folkoric monsters were all played by neophyte actors whose poor acting quality diminished audience impact.  Because of this, many jokes missed their mark, especially one particularly raunchy gag about manananggal's bottom half. Fortunately, despite their flawed characters, the likable Contis and ebullient Gamboa still manage to rally the audience to root for their Oscar aspirations.  6/10. 

Review of INDIANA JONES AND THE DIAL OF DESTINY: Quixotic Quantum Quest

June 25, 2023

In 1944, American archeologist Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford), along with his British colleague Basil Shaw (Toby Jones), infiltrated a German Nazi camp to rescue an ancient artifact. However, Nazi scientist Jurgen Voller (Mads Mikkelsen) revealed that there was actually a more powerful artifact on board called Archimedes's Antikythera, which supposedly can be used to travel through time. Voller already had one half, and still needed to find the other half. 

Fast forward to 1969, Jones had just been served divorce papers and was already being retired from his teaching job at the university. He was approached by Basil's daughter Helena (Phoebe Waller-Bridge). She convinced Jones to join her on the search for the missing half of the Antikythera.  Together with her young ward Teddy (Ethann Isidore), they embarked on a race against Voller and the Nazis who were also looking for it.

This most-anticipated film began with a flashback to World War 2, so Harrison Ford had to be de-aged by special effects. We would be looking at a younger Ford (and Mikkelsen) for an incredible 25 minutes, and this also included a complexly-choreographed fight sequence set on a train in motion. There would also be exhilarating chase scenes on the NYC subway on horseback, as well as a heart-stopping tuktuk chase in the alleys of Tangiers. 

There were several scenes which are reminiscent of the first film, "Raiders of the Lost Ark" (1981). Jones' aversion to snakes was recalled during the scene where a horde of eels attack him on a diving expedition. The classic scene of cutlass vs. gun is redone with whip vs. guns. Of course, Jones's adventure with and a young woman Helena and a younger boy Teddy recalled Jones' team in "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" (1984). 

The treasure hunt scenes inside the ruins of a ancient temple called Dionysus's Ear were the stuff of classic Indiana Jones fans have been waiting for. However after that, it went on to another airborne adventure that will bring them to another surprise dimension altogether. This already went beyond the usual Indiana Jones escapade of practical stunts, crossing over to the realm of fantasy where the laws of physics do not apply anymore. 

However, despite the valiant efforts of the snarky Ford and the vivacious Waller-Bridge to keep the energy levels up, there were moments in this 154 minute saga where the momentum inevitably sagged. The dialogue was not clear in many parts, with some characters eating their words or engaging in archeologic jargon, which will make you wish there were subtitles. The heightened hype prior to watching the film may also make you expect too much -- don't. 

Director James Mangold had given Wolverine a proper send-off with "Logan" (2017). "Dial of Destiny" may not have exactly recaptured the magic that was "Raiders of the Lost Ark," but the final scene certainly had sentimental nostalgia going for it. Plus, it made up for the fiasco thtat was "Crystal Skull" (2008). It feels proper to send the whole franchise off at that point. But with the de-aging tech there to keep Harrison Ford young, who knows? 8/10. 

VivaOne: Review of WORKING BOYS 2: CHOOSE YOUR PAPA: Labored Laughs

June 27, 2023

Biboy (Wilbert Ross), McCoy (Mikoy Morales), Roy (Vitto Marquez) and Max (Andrew Muhlach) were bums who all just failed their job interviews. As they were all coming out of the building, they got involved in a labor riot outside and got thrown into jail. They were released on the word of Tiyo Papi (Bayani Agbayani), who invited them to live with him, his wife Bebet Loggins (Debbie Garcia), and their adopted son Nikki (Nikko Natividad). 

On Pipo's recommendations, they were given a job working for Engineer (Juliana Parizcova Segovia). There they met co-workers Jessica (Angela Morena), Olivia (Lea Jane), Christine (Angelic Guzman) and Diana (Divine Aucina). They earned the ire of a fellow jobseeker BJ (Bob Jbelli), spoiled son of a rich Mamita (Marissa Sanchez),. When Tiyo Papi had a stroke, the boys had to come up with another bright idea to earn money to pay for his hospital bills. 

Writer Rhandy Reyes (who also played a jailbird) and director Paolo O'Hara (who also played a policeman) were well aware that they were not going for any awards here. They were just trying to create a silly, naughty, juvenile Filipino comedy movie, as inspired by the Tito, Vic and Joey original film shown back in 1985. With those very shallow goals to aim for, how badly could they miss? At least, the labor hiring app of theirs was good idea. 

From the beginning intros, everything was already very noisy, as if shouting lines out loud would make them funny. The comedy was mainly a mad mix of slapstick physical humor, with a dash of mild sex comedy. Jokes also involved odd personal quirks, like crybaby Biboy's bad breath, Roy's random spacing out, Jessica's speech impediment or Divine Aucina's distinctive face. These same old gags had been staples of all local comedies even before TVJ.

Of the boys, only Mikoy Morales would seem to be the natural comic, like a young Anjo Yllana. Wilbert Ross has been the resident star of several Vivamax films and series, but his comic style felt really forced. Of the girls, of course Divine Aucina is in a class all by herself. Vivamax babe Angela Morena was actually quite funny, an unexpected surprise. Same is true with Debbie Garcia, who was having fun riding along with Bayani Agbayani's unpredictable humor. 2/10. 

 

Review of NO HARD FEELINGS: Desperate Deal

June 26, 2023

Maddie (Jennfer Lawrence) was an Uber driver who just lost her car which was repossessed to pay for her delinquent property taxes for the house she inherited from her mother. She may also lose the house itself if she cannot pay the full amount she owed the government. Desperate, she went to apply for a job being offered online by a couple looking for a girl who is willing to "date" their son in exchange for a car.

Maddie met Mr. and Mrs. Laird and Allison Becker (Matthew Broderick and Laura Benanti) in their big house on the hill. Their son Percy (Andrew Barth Feldman) is already 19 years old, but had led a very sheltered and pampered life at home. They want Maddie to break Percy out of his shell socially, and initiate him about girls, dating and sex. They want him to be experienced in these things before he goes to Princeton. 

Most of us knew Jennifer Lawrence best in her role as Katniss Everdeen in "The Hunger Games" (2012). However, she was already an Oscar Best Actress nominee before that for "Winter's Bone" (2009). She actually won that Oscar for "Silver Lining's Playbook" (2012) at age 22, the second youngest actress to win Best Actress. She had two more Oscar nominations after that -- "American Hustle" (2013) and "Joy" (2015).

Lawrence had her first ever bed scene with Chris Pratt in "Passengers" (2016) and her first breast exposure in "Red Sparrow" (2018) -- both did not click with critics and audiences. This time around, Lawrence does raunchy R-rated sex comedy -- not only with a bed scene with an actor 10 years younger, but also full frontal nudity in a beach tussle scene (NOT seen in the local release). However, Lawrence's innate likability and acting skills will make audiences root for Maddie. 

This was written and directed by Greg Stupnitsky, previously noted for writing two more sex comedies -- "Bad Teacher" (2011) and "Good Boys" (2019) -- the latter of which was also his directorial  debut. Stupnitsky clearly had a knack for this subgenre, adding in some crazy stunt gags involving cars and commentary about Gen Z and their gadgets. Overall, despite all the naughtiness, it still managed to end with heart, thanks to the goodwill of its lead actress. 7/10.

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Vivamax: Review of TAYUAN: Love from Lust

June 25, 2023

Ella Maglipol (Angeli Khang) was an events organizer. She lived with her transwoman best friend and business partner Mags (Francine Garcia). Because of a bad experience with a previous boyfriend Harold (PJ Rosario), Ella lived her love life following three rules: no second dates, no personal details and no kissing -- so that there would be no expectations. So far, she has not met a man who could satisfy her carnal needs.

One day because of coding, Ella was forced to take a bus to work. Because there were many passengers inside, Ella was pushed forward and she bumped into the conductor Rico Sales (Chester Grecia). Ella was immediately attracted to Rico's manly appearance -- tall, dark, well-built, unconventionally handsome. Feeling a surge of lustful abandon at that moment, even if they were both standing in a crowded bus aisle, Ella pressed her body against his.

Angeli Khang is one of Vivamax's most popular nymphets, and this is her third film this year. Unlike many of her previous roles where she played the victim of lusty men, here Khang played a woman fully in control on her work life, as well as her sex life -- well, until she met Rico. Khang was able to convey how her lust for this guy actually developed into true love, against her own strict rules and her better judgement. 

Chester Grecia makes his Vivamax debut (as well as showbiz in general) here as Rico. With his dusky skin tone and ripped physique, he personified the brusque, brawny, blue collar working man damsels fell for in earthy romance novels. He did look the part of a bus conductor, with his unbuttoned uniform, cap turned to the back and Good Morning towel around his neck. As a neophyte actor though, he still needs more practice in his emotive line delivery. 

Transwoman actress Francine Garcia did very well as Ella's confidante and adviser Mags. Stephanie Raz was again in a rather antagonistic role as Rico's nagging wife Bing. One look at Rash Flores there as Rico's  cousin Nigel, you can immediately guess what he was up to. The script by Michelle Ngu actually had insightful lines in it which would have sounded better with more seasoned actors, or this cast had been motivated better by director Topel Lee. 5/10

Netflix: Review of MISSED CONNECTIONS: Messed-up Mix-ups

June 24, 2023

Mae (Miles Ocampo) was a t-shirt designer with an online business that was not doing that great. One day in the supermarket, she saw a boy wearing a green hoodie and thought he was cute. However, he suddenly disappeared when she was paying at the checkout counter.  She went on the "Missed Connections" app on her phone and as user Gingerhead, she posted a call "Looking for Kuya Green @Shopmart Grocery. "

Later that day, Mae saw a post on the same app entitled "Looking for Grocery Girl" by a guy named Pixelord, the same guy she saw earlier! He described the girl to be wearing a white shirt and carrying a tote bag, and Mae believed that she was her.  She replied and they got into texting each other on the app. He introduced himself as Norman (Kelvin Miranda), and he was just trying out the app for the first time.

The title "Missed Connections" referred to a fictional (?) online app where people post about strangers they encountered that day whom they liked, but just did not have the courage to introduce themselves to. Then, it was a waiting game, hoping against hope that that other person would also be on the app and respond to that random call. Of course, like what happened in the movie, it can be the wrong person who responds.

Orange-haired Mae was a carefree spirit, a hoarder with a messy house. She still had bull sessions with an imaginary version of her ex-boyfriend Mark (JC Santos). Shy, nerdy, with a French-crop hairstyle with straight bangs, Norman is a web designer, gamer and cosplay geek, a stickler for cleanliness and inexperienced with dating girls. Yet, here he was, pursuing a stylish popular hairdresser and influencer, Julia (Chie Filomeno).  

Mae and Norman were clearly a mismatched pair, and their conversations were always awkward. Mae was an obsessed stalker and an online basher, which are never cool, so it was not easy to sympathize with her situation. Miles Ocampo was trying too hard to be cute. Kelvin Miranda was trying too hard to be dorky. Director Jelise Chung tried her best to liven and lighten things up, but it was not easy for her to find that perfect balance. 4/10. 

Netflix: Review of EXTRACTION 2: Creative Camerawork

June 23, 2023

At the end of the first film, black-ops mercenary Tyler Rake (Chris Hemsworth) was shot in the neck and fell into the river in Bangladesh. At the start of this sequel, Rake actually survived the gunshot, was rescued and airlifted to a hospital in Dubai to recover.  When he awoke from this coma, his crewmates Nik (Golshifteh Farahani) and her brother Yaz (Adam Bessa) brought him to an isolated forest cabin in snowy Gmunden, Austria for his retirement. 

One day, a mysterious stranger (Idris Elba) showed up at Rake's cabin with a message from Rake's ex-wife Mia (Olga Kurylenko). Mia's sister Ketevan (Tinatin Dalakishvili) and her headstrong teenage son Sandro (Andro Japaridze) and younger daughter Nina (Miriam and Marta Kovziashvili) were being held captive by her criminal husband Davit Radiani (Tornike Bziava) in his prison cell in Tkachiri, Georgia. Rake's mission was to get them out.

As the title suggested, this film was going to be about how Rake and his team broke into a Georgian prison to extract a woman and her two children out. Of course with a teenager and a child involved, this would not be a smooth mission which would succeed at the first attempt. Soon, Davit's elder brother Zurab (Tornike Gogrichiani) would also get into the action, recalling their father's firm admonition to keep his brother safe. 

The action scenes in this film were heart-pounding, perfectly-choreographed chaos. First, Rake and Ketevan had to fight through throngs of Georgian jailbirds and policemen to get out of the prison, which then led to a brutal car chase on forest dirt roads, followed by a very exciting action sequence set on a moving train, with helicopters raining bullets down on them. It was highly improbable that Rake and posse lived though all this, but of course, they did.

Amidst Rake's intense fights, including one set on a glass overhang of a skyscraper, writer Joe Russo and director Sam Hargrave made sure Hemsworth could show off his dramatic chops. More details were revealed about Rake's previous life as a family man, after he said some lines in the Georgian language. Fatherhood was an important topic in the plot, which made it an appropriate release for the Father's Day weekend. 7/10. 

Review of HYPNOTIC: Construct Control

June 22, 2023

Detective Danny Rourke (Ben Affleck) was in the park, watching his daughter Minnie (Ionie Olivia Nieves) play with pinwheels. All of a sudden, he realized that Minnie was not with him anymore. When Minnie could not be found, the case became sensational news, and also caused his marriage to crumble. Three years later, Rourke was still visiting a therapist on account of the trauma he experienced from this kidnapping. 

One day, Rourke and his partner Nicks (J.D. Pardo) were staking out a bank from an anonymous tip that a robbery attempt will happen. They notice that a certain mysterious well-dressed man had been approaching and talking to random people, and they proceed to do unusual things, ostensibly under obeying his instructions. Rourke gets to the target safety deposit box first and saw his daughter's photo in it. 

Despite the seemingly B-movie vibes of this film at the start, the plot actually turned out to be quite complicated as it unfolded. Writer-director Robert Rodriguez attempted to pull off a thriller-mystery that was heretofore the expertise of Christopher Nolan. There were puzzling high-concept moments that were reminiscent of Nolan's intricate "Inception" or "Tenet" but without the fancy gadgetry and more than one big name star.

I choose not try to nitpick those incredible revelations that were being explained as big secrets were being revealed, in more than one sequence. Rodriguez wanted us to be fascinated about how this talent (or practically a superpower) of hypnotics can literally turn susceptible human beings into blindly-obedient zombies, who see only what the hypnotic wanted them to see and did what the hypnotic ordered them to do -- even shoot others or himself with a gun.

The first big revelation of "the truth" was quite clever, and actually surprised me. Those who can claim that this twist was predictable would only be pulling our legs. It also explained why Ben Affleck's face was practically frozen into one expression. I could still accept that climactic shoot out of the "red-coats" in the desert, as over-the-top as it was. However, mid-credits scene was already pushing it a bit too much. 6/10. 

Review of WILL YOU BE MY EX? - Troubled Twosome

June 22, 2023

Christina "Chris" Roxas (Julia Barreto) was an up and coming theater actress. Joey Martinez (Diego Loyzaga) was an up and coming architect. They have been in a relationship since college, and after graduation, they decided to live in together in the condominium unit given Joey by his rich parents. At first, everything went smoothly. Soon though, secrets were being kept from each other. Not long after, they broke up.

That last sentence was not really a spoiler. The title did already reveal that Chris and Joey would be exes somewhere along the way in this film. However, like all other romance films with this kind of plot, there was still the matter of seeing what issues broke them up and then, follow the film to the very ending (even if it came two hours later) to see whether the two estranged lovers would get back together again. 

Julia Barreto is getting more and more beautiful with her every film. There was not a single bad shot or angle of her face here. She sported these waist-long big curls which not just any girl could pull off. She killed her bohemian-chic outfits, which represented her carefree lifestyle and artistry. She floated like a goddess on the roller skating rink. Chris was a complex girl, and Barreto made her likable, even if you don't fully understand her decisions.

Diego Loyzaga looked good beside Barreto, and they made a good lead romantic pair. In contrast with free-spirited Chris, Joey had a more rigid, conventional personality that prioritized academic excellence and career advancement. Joey had difficult decisions to make as well. He truly loved Chris very much, risky as she was. Then, there the matter of his co-worker Yana (Bea Binene) who was certainly a much safer choice for him.

As Chris's BFF Jonjie, Divine Aucina was more than just comic relief. Mickie Ferriols was warm and welcome as Chris's mom Carmela, in sharp contrast with Phoemela Baranda's cold and snooty Sandy, Joey's mother.  It took a bit too long and melodramatic a route for director Real Florido to tell his story. Even then, there were questionable shortcuts taken towards the end, with some important details either shortened or forgotten. 7/10. 

iWantTFC: Review of I LOVE LIZZY: A Seminarian Settles

June 20, 2023

One day, Jeffrey Espino (Carlo Aquino) traveled to Legazpi City in Albay and stayed in a rustic inn called Balay Elizabeth. The inn was run by Abner (Robert Sena) and the resident tour guide is his niece Lizzy (Barbie Imperial). However, even before his first tour, Jeff already met Elizabeth "Lizzy" Tuazon the night before when he was invited to join a drinking spree there. The biggest drinker of them all was Lizzy. 

Lizzy learned that Jeff was a seminarian, but that did not stop the two from getting to know each other better. They talked about how the difficult issues they went through with their fathers as children drove them to become the people they are now. Despite the awkward circumstances, Jeffrey and Lizzy fell in love with each other. However, her uncle Abner expressed his belief that what they were doing was very wrong.

One interesting detail to be noted in the closing credits of this film was that the story was somehow inspired by a story in the life of this film's supervising and line producer Ellice Tuason (whose name is very similar to Lizzy's full name). However, the story credit was given to another producer, Erwin Blanco, while the screenplay was written by Onay Sales-Camero. The director is RC delos Reyes, whose "Unravel" and "Without You" also came out this year.

Carlo Aquino and Barbie Imperial are both very reliable actors. Because Aquino is known to tackle very intense and difficult roles even in romances, he surely just breezed through the very thin first hour of the film, where he basically toured Legazpi's scenic spots, while Imperial's main acting challenge was to convincingly act very drunk. However, their talents for restrained acting and subtle nuance were tested to the max in the last 30 minutes or so.

Most of the film would probably be forgotten soon after watching. The revelation of what really happened did not rfeel satisfactory because the odd style of writing left a lot of details wanting. Despite this, that very unique situation that unfolded in the final scene at the church would likely make it to the list of the most memorable ending scenes in a local film. While some may find it romantic, it felt very awkward for me, specially with all the staring going on. 5/10. 

Amazon Prime: Review of BABY BOY, BABY GIRL: Strings of Sugar

June 20, 2023

Josie (Kylie Versoza) had always been struggling to keep her online businesses afloat. She also accepted side jobs to make extra money. One night, she accepted a minor gig as a waitress at an event. There she unexpectedly met her ex-boyfriend Seb (Marco Gumabao), who was looking very handsome in a snazzy get-up. She was amazed that in a few years after their breakup, he had gone from being a lowly janitor to a stylish man of the world.

Seb confessed that he was now into sugar dating. He was currently a sugar baby to a sugar mommy, Vivian (Giselle Sanchez), a rich matron who loved buying him lavish gifts and expensive trips. He was in a support group with other sugar babies -- sharing experiences about  their sugar parents and the fancy gifts that they have been receiving. After her first few dates, Josie began to feel that this swinging lifestyle might be the right one for her.

The whole film was like an introduction to sugar dating -- its ups and downs. It clarified its definition, and distinguished it from prostitution -- that it was about making the client feel good by giving him or her time, attention and emotional connection. Whether their partnership will head into the bedroom, the sugar baby was the one in control. Whether there was such a thing as a Sugarlinks app in reality, it would actually not be too far-fetched.

I've read someone describe Kylie Versoza and Marco Gumabao as the Barbie and Ken of Philippine cinema, and that is quite an apt description. These two attractive and fit stars looked very good whatever they were wearing -- be they formals, casuals or swimwear. It was completely realistic that they should be very popular among the well-to-do users of a sugar dating app. They were both given dramatic moments to shine in, and they did very well.

One most memorable scene featured Yayo Aguila as the mother of Seb. His whole life, Seb held a grudge against his mother because she had not been very loving with him while he was growing up. A restrained Aguila delivered a bitter monologue explaining her side to her son, all the while holding in her tears. It may have felt like an odd episode, because it had nothing to do with sugar dating, but director JP Laxamana turned it into a true dramatic highlight. 6/10. 

Review of ELEMENTAL: Formulaic and Flat

June 19, 2023

The world was a place where the elements -- Wind, Land, Water and Fire -- co-existed. Fire elements Bernie and Cinder Lumen established their store in Element City as immigrants. Through the years, Bernie was training their only daughter Ember to take over the store when he retired. While Ember was a natural in sales, she had a very bad temper when dealing with problematic customers. When she threw a tantrum, she literally exploded into flames.

One day, one of her fiery tantrums burst open a water pipe in the basement of the store. While Ember was trying to keep the leak in control by welding the hole with her heat, city water inspector Wade Ripple, a water element, came to investigate. He wrote a report about the store's faulty plumbing which he would file at city hall. Ember realized that the store could face closure with the report, so she chased Wade across town to stop him from submitting it.

Ever since the first "Toy Story" premiered in 1995 all the way to the fourth "Toy Story" in 2019, practically every film produced by Pixar Animation Pictures was a cinematic event. So far, the films released during the pandemic to the present (from "Onward" to "Lightyear") have not been as successful in creating a major impact as their previous films. In fact, "Luca" (2021) and "Turning Red" (2022) were even released direct streaming on Disney+. 

Among the weakest films in the Pixar catalog was "The Good Dinosaur" (2015), which was notoriously called Pixar's first box-office bomb (despite grossing above $300M). The director of that film is Peter Sohn, who is now also the director of this film "Elemental." Sohn based "Elemental" on his own experiences growing up as the son of Korean immigrants in New York City. Viewers would immediately get the metaphoric relation of the elements to race.

The artwork of the classic elements, particularly the central characters of fire and water, were true the Pixar brand of animation. However, the characters were not very "cute" in the way they looked and executed. There were some inconsistencies when it came to the chemical and physical characteristics and behavior of these elements just to suit the needs of the story. The humor was also not that funny enough to dig itself out of its hole. 

There were aspects of cultural pride, filial duty and teen rebellion, but the main story was a very simple love story between two characters who cannot mix by nature -- in this case, water and fire. They faced a difficult challenge together and come out falling in love, but are held back because of family expectations. This is basically the plot of several classic rom-com stories out there. Quite disappointing -- predictable for adults, boring for kids. 5/10. 

Vivamax: Review of HOSTO: Selling Sex and Soul

June 16, 2023

26 year-old Patrick (Vince Rillon) is married to Jenny (Alexa Ocampo), and they have a child with special needs. With the full knowledge consent of his wife and parents (Rey PJ Abellana and Isadora), Patrick also carried on an affair with a middle-aged homosexual man named Daniel (Jay Manalo), who was very generous in extending him financial assistance. Using his connections, Daniel was able to help Patrick to fly to Japan. 

He was accepted in a Japanese school for international students, which he attended every morning. He worked as a salesman in a store in the afternoons. Because of increasing demands from various family members back home -- therapy for his son, medicine for his father, bribes for his brother -- Patrick was forced to accept the invitation of Richard (Ali Asistio), a fellow Filipino in his boarding house, to be a "hosto" like him.

A "hosto" is a male nightclub worker in Japan. In the film, Richard specifically differentiates the status of a "hosto" to be more respectable than that of a regular callboy. The way it was portrayed in the film, a "hosto" is a male GRO or guest relation officer. They sit and drink with guests, usually middle-age matrons, to entertain them. They could also be taken out of the club for extra bedroom services -- essentially still a prostitute.

Patrick's main reason for going to Japan was supposedly to study, but it was never fleshed out what course he was taking or what he planned to do with it after graduation. It was also not realistic that he would go to a Japanese school with no prior Nihongo lessons back home. The way his family was asking him for money, it would seem his priority purpose of going to Japan was to work, not at all to study.  

Vince Rillon proved his consistency in realistically portraying ordinary Juan de la Cruz blue-collar types, this time sporting a distinctive shoulder-length hairstyle with streaks of white. Director Jao Elamparo's best sequence in the movie was a five-minute montage of determined Patrick shuttling around from his classes to one odd job after another, only to realize with exasperation at the end of it that everything he was doing was still not enough.   

The basic story has been told and retold over and over in various films about desperate young women and men sell their bodies for sex for the sake of money.  A new detail here was the offer of a Filipina Japanese citizen, Thea (Angela Morena), offered Patrick a marriage of convenience so he can get work legally and earn higher pay.  There was also a tender scene where Daniel bared his weeping gay heart to a couple of older gay confidantes. 4/10. 

Vivamax: Review of HILOM: Recovery from Rejection

June 15, 2023

Sam (Arron Villaflor) was very excited when he proposed to his long-time girlfriend Amie (Julia Victoria) and she accepted. However, she told him that she had decided to go to Canada to pursue her modeling career as arranged by her Tita Dalisay (Lara Morena). She tried to convince Sam to go with her, but he did not want to leave his mother Tessa (Alma Moreno) behind as she just recently lost her husband. 

Because Sam was so depressed following his abrupt breakup, his friends Kempoy (TJ Valderrama), Bambam (Billy Villeta) and Toto (Kedebom Colim) tried desperately to help him snap out of his gloom. They brought Sam to a beach resort to forget his woes, but he almost immediately got into an argument with a pretty food vlogger named Sammy (Christine Bermas). After that rough start, Sammy decided to help Sam move on.

The sex scenes were just there to serve the Vivamax brand, and to pad the simple basic story to feature length. The effort to stretch this story was so evident from the start. The whole part of Sam and Amie breakup took more than 30 minutes, when it could have easily been just mentioned in a sentence. We even had to hear Kempoy go through the five stages of grief. In the second act, Sammy had to guide Sam through her Lucky 9 tips for moving on.

The acting performance of Julia Victoria as Amie was just so obnoxious. It was better if Victoria's Amie was not even seen at all and instead just be a character to be narrated about. The more we see her, the more we could not understand how a man like Sam would even think of marrying someone like her. In fact, we would rather see them separated than together. Furthermore, side by side with Christine Bermas' radiant Sammy, it was no contest. 3/10.

Review of TRANSFORMERS: RISE OF THE BEASTS: Robots on a Rampage

June 14, 2023 

The Maximals were a race of animal-form robots who possessed the powerful Transwarp Key, an artifact which can open portals anywhere in space and time. An evil, planet-eating giant monster robot called Unicron sent his Terrorcons led by Scourge to attack the Maximal planet and steal the key.  As their leader Apelinq sacrificed himself, the other Maximals used the key to escape to Earth as Unicron literally ate up their home planet. 

On Earth, it was 1994 in Brooklyn, New York City. One night, museum intern Elena Wallace (Dominique Fishback) uncovered half of the Transwarp key inside an ancient bird figurine, which then sent out a signal. Meanwhile desperate ex-soldier Noah Diaz (Anthony Ramos) found himself trying to steal a car. At that moment, Optimus Prime issued a call for the Autobots to roll out,
and the Porsche 911 he was in transformed into a robot called Mirage. 

The Transformers started in 1984 as a toy robot line designed by Japanese anime creator Shoji Kawamori and rebranded for the West by Hasbro. From there, it had evolved to a wide media franchise that went from TV animation, comic books, video games to feature films. The first five Transformers live action films (2007, 2009, 2011, 2014, 2017) were all directed by Michael Bay, each one noisier than the one before. A sixth film, "Bumblebee" (2018), a spin-off directed by Trevor Knight, received more critical acclaim than any of the Bay films. 

This seventh film, directed by Steven Caple, Jr. (as follow-up to his second film "Creed II" in 2018) followed the same basic formula of the previous films. This time, it was the character of Noah Diaz took over where Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf), Cade Jaeger (Mark Wahlberg) and Charlie Watson (Hailee Steinfeld) left off to form a human-robot bond to serve as the film's beating heart. Anthony Ramos (from "Hamilton" and "In the Heights") had the same boy-next-door charm that made Noah a very likable hero audiences will root for.

Some big name actors served to voice the robots -- Peter Dinklage (as the sinister Scourge), Pete Davidson (as the energetic hologram-forming Autobot Mirage), Ron Perlman (as Optimus Primal, head of the Maximals in the form of a great ape) and Academy Award winner Michelle Yeoh (as Airazor, an elegant Maximal in the form of a peregrine falcon). The one constant is Peter Cullen who had been the voice of Optimus Prime since the 1980s cartoons through all the films in the franchise up to the present.

Like previous films, humans Noah and Elena were given equal time as the Autobots to shine and save the Earth from the impending catastrophe, which meant that there would be plenty of physics-defying CG-aided stunts and logic-defying close-calls that were laughably absurd, but they work anyhow in the spirit of this franchise's tendency for everything over-the-top. However, Caple did not try to outdo Michael Bay the action scenes, mixing in the humor and drama elements very well, making this quite an entertaining watch.  7/10.

Review of THE FLASH: Fast, Funny, Fantastic

June 13, 2023

Since he was a young boy, Barry Allen (Ezra Miller) had difficulty moving on from the murder of his mother Nora (Maribel Verdu) and wrongful incarceration of his father Henry (Ron Livingston). When he discovered that, as the Flash, running faster than the speed of light enabled him to travel back in time, he devised a plan to prevent his mother's death. On his way back, he was prematurely thrown out of the vortex and met himself as a teenager. 

Everyone who has seen a time travel film before would already know that changing even one little detail in the past would result in potentially dangerous effects in the future. This one followed basically this same familiar storyline, but in Barry's case, his one simple action in the past actually resulted in consequences so catastrophic such that the fate of the whole planet lay on the line. However, he did not have his super friends to help him anymore. 

We had already seen Ezra Miller as The Flash in the "Justice League" films, where he was funny and charming as the star-struck speedster. However, since 2020-22, a seemingly disturbed Miller was in the news for being involved in various incidents of assault, abuse and burglary.  Fortunately, Miller's real-life mental health issues did not affect his performance in this film. He remained very likable and charismatic in the lead role.

As he had to play dual characters of contrasting demeanor, this was a real acting showcase for lead actor Miller. Even if he can still tend to be childish, present-day Barry was more restrained and mature when compared to the rowdy and animated teenage Barry. Both of them were simultaneously onscreen most of the time, and Miller made their hilarious banter very entertaining to watch. He also nailed the dramatic, tear-jerking parts of the story.

Of course, there was representation in casting. Barry's mother Nora was played by Spanish actress Maribel Verdu, star of "Y Tu Mama Tambien" (2001) and "Pan's Labyrinth" (2006).  Barry's love interest Iris was played by African-American actress Kiersey Clemons. Latina actress Sasha Calle played Kara, the Kryptonian who faced the apocalyptic threat of General Zod (Michael Shannon) revisited from "Man of Steel" (2013) in this altered timeline. 

As expected, director Andrew Muschietti provided DCEU nostalgic fan service galore. From the very start, there were already exciting cameo appearances from other DC superheroes. As this had traveling back in time and changing the time-space continuum, we would actually be seeing multiple versions of these guest heroes, you'll be surprised and thrilled when you see them. The two Batmen (Ben Affleck and Michael Keaton) almost steal the show.  8/10

Vivamax: Review of STAR DANCER: Seducing for Survival

June 2, 2023

Odessa (Denise Esteban) had been accepted as a scholar at a ballet school in Manila. Unfortunately, she had an injury that had her sidelined for a long time while she recovered. The doctor said she could never dance ballet again, and the school let her go. Her roommates at the boarding house Doray (Arah Alonzo) and Kits (Erika Balagtas) invited her to check out their job as sexy dancers at the swanky Lake Side nightclub.

At the club, Odessa immediately caught the eye of Prince (Arron Villaflor), son of the owner Queenie (Geleen Eugenio). He taught her how sexy dancing onstage is the art of seduction and "mini-shocks" to reinvigorate men in the audience from their mundane lives. Odessa quickly became popular among the clients of the club. However, one day, the former star dancer of the club, Giselle (Rose Van Ginkel), suddenly reappeared to reclaim her throne.

As the opening credits were being shown as the story of Odessa's life-changing accident was onscreen, it was surprising to see a number of critically-acclaimed female filmmakers involved in this new Vivamax sizzler. They are: Anna Isabelle Matutina (director of "12 Weeks") for editing, Joy Aquino (director of "Kitty K7" and "Us Again") for cinematography, and Pam Miras (director of "Pascalina" and "Medusae") for writing the script and direction. 

The accident that Odessa had ended her ballet dreams seemed to have caused a foot injury according to the flashback. However later, she described her injury as an ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) tear, which should then be a knee problem. She got kicked out of ballet school for this ACL injury, yet when she was training for her sexy dancing at the club, it was her knees which had a intensive workout with all the twerking she had to do. 

The rather misogynistic story was quite old-hat and commonplace. A girl was forced into the flesh trade for the sake of earning a quick buck. A girl came crawling back to the man she left behind to pursue her dream, but went bust. Two girls had a catfight over a man who seemed to only be good in bed and nothing else. Then came a nebulous  happy ending that came from out of nowhere -- was this supposed to be an emancipating feminist message? 

I cannot begin to guess what pretentious reason director Miras had in mind when she subdivided her film with segment titles of Sergei Eisenstein's "Battleship Potemkin" (1925) -- "Man and Maggots, "Drama on the Deck," "A Dead Man Calls Out," "The Odessa Steps" and "One Against All". Aside from the wheelchair rolling down a flight of stairs referring to the classic scene of a baby carriage rolling down the Odessa Steps, I did not really see any other connection. 4/10. 

Review of SIGLO NG KALINGA: Nurturing Nurses

June 1, 2023

Anna Formantes (Joy Ras) lived in an island community which was now suffering an epidemic of diarrhea and fever. Her father Tomas (Val Ramilo) was one of those taken ill. Because of her good grades, Anna had just been accepted for a scholarship for any course in Manila. She chose to take up nursing. She did very well, graduating at the top of her class and was among the Top 3 of the nursing licensure examination. 

During nursing school, Anna became very close friends with two of her classmates -- Rita Gamez (Bambi Rojas) and Tony Faraon (Tads Obach). Tony made romantic overtures to Anna, but she begged off because she wanted to stay focused on her career goals. Two years after their graduation, the COVID-19 happened and Anna and her friends remained dedicated to their hospital work despite the great risks. 

Nurse, review center operator, businessman and broadcaster Carl Balita had already produced a film before -- "Maestra (An Educator)" in 2017. This time around, Balita decided to tell a story written by Archie del Mundo about Balita's own profession of nursing, timing its release on the 100th anniversary of the Philippine Nurses Association, an organization which was founded by Anastacia Giron-Tupaz in the year 1922. 

The life story of Anna was the main story upon which various side stories about her nurse friends Tony and Rita, her senior nurses like Dean Estancia Cruz (Irma Bustamante) who believed that nurses should go beyond the clinics and take on positions as educators and leaders, and Adela (Mila Delia Llanes), a veteran nurse who had been in practice for 45 years, who did not back down from her duties even during the Covid scourge. 

Some historical flashbacks were also randomly inserted into the narrative. One was about the challenges faced by Anastacia Giron-Tupaz (Ellener Cruz) herself facing a tough investigative panel, and another about the heroic underground practice of nurses during World War 2. These were also some political commentary in that part where a Mayor (Andre Nicdao Canaria) became defensive when Anna tried to have water from his deep well tested.  

The advocacy of this film is clear -- the nursing profession is a noble one, and nurses deserve to be respected, paid proper wages and not denied their rights. These principles are repeatedly drilled into nursing students by their professors and clinical instructors, who quote from Florence Nightingale herself to emphasize their points. Sometimes they could sound too didactic, earnest or idealistic, but the filmmakers were transparent about their motivations.

There were no name stars here, in fact, everyone in the cast was actually a nurse in real life, so we can cut them some slack for their self-conscious acting. Joy Ras had an attractive face and a strong screen presence, and her acting skills were worthy of her lead role. Bambi Rojas made Rita a cheerful character, but she was also given some heavy dramatic moments. The older members of the cast gave their best efforts, but their line delivery can be unnatural.

The effort of director Lemuel Lorca to be inspirational can be awkward. There was a scene where various nurses with high positions were introduced one by one, with a quotable quote from each one. It turned out that these "leaders" were only actors, not the actual personality quoted. I know the final reunion scene at the beach was supposed to be heartwarming, but having everyone else dressed in white had a rather odd, humorously creepy vibe.  6/10.