Vivamax: Review of BJJ: WOMAN ON TOP: Recovering from Rape

September 29, 2023

One night while attending a wild debauched party, Elise (Angela Morena) was drugged with a spiked drink. was carried by a masked man into a bedroom where she was sexually assaulted. When she stumbled out of the room back to the party, the other guests did not believe her. Riza (Alexa Ocampo), the new girlfriend of Elise's ex-boyfriend Marco (Jiad Arroyo), even mocked Elise and led in pouring liquor on her head.

This traumatizing incident would haunt Elise's nightmares for the next five months. One day, she visited a place where she used to spend time with her late father, whose guidance she so desperately missed during this time. Her pensive "moment" was interrupted by the arrival of Ace (Yuki Sakamoto), a young man who asked Elise to help him with the balloons and cake he brought to celebrate the birthday of his late fiancee Diane (Jela Cuenca).  

The acronym "BJJ" in the title surely sent Vivamax fans speculating as to what sexual kink it stood for. The opening sequence focused on the faces of a man and woman on top of each other, grappling while moaning heavily. They looked like they were in the throes of lovemaking, but it was revealed that they were doing wrestling moves in a gym. It turns out that BJJ stood for Brazilian Jiu-jitsu, a martial art for which Ace was a master coach. 

The gist of the story involved Ace helping Elise move on from her PTSD by getting her into BJJ. However, it turned out that Ace himself could not move on from the death of his dearly beloved Diane. The rest of the film would just be padded with multiple sex scenes involving all of the main characters with each other. You'd predict that there would eventually be one wrestling scene that would segue into a sex scene, and yes, that really happened. 

The role of Elise was challenging with her internalized psychological drama and physically-demanding jiu-jitsu scenes. Angela Morena gave it her best efforts, not really her career best performance, but she's still the best among this cast. Neophyte Yuki Sakamoto is not yet ready for the depth of his role as Ace. Cast Jiad Arroyo and you knew what he was going to be up to. As Elise's maid Blessy, Keanna Reeves looked very different from her prime. 

Director Linnet Zurbano's positive message of woman empowerment was there, but there was a problematic delivery, like several other rape-revenge films in the past. Here, Elise seemed to have overcome her trauma when she excelled in BJJ. Yet, after all she had been through, she was still allowed to be fooled by a man again, and even seduced to have consensual sex with him, before she discovered the truth, fought back and won.  3/10

Review of A VERY GOOD GIRL: Vindictive Venom

September 26, 2023

Multimillionaire CEO of Mother Mall, Molly Suzara (Dolly De Leon) wanted very badly to own an ancient wooden figurine, willing to spend top money for it. However, a young woman named Philomena "Philo" Angeles (Kathryn Bernardo) had already beat her to the punch to buy the expensive item. As an annoyed Ms. Suzara hastened to leave the venue, Philo caught her at the door and gave the precious artifact to her as a gift. 

Such was the puzzling yet irresistible opening sequence of Petersen Vargas's latest project "A Very Good Girl." Told from the point of view of Philo, her backstory would go back five years ago, about how a mousy and miserable plain Jane with a sickly mother (Angel Aquino) named Mercedes "Mercy" Novela would evolve into the stylish and sophisticated Philomena Angeles, an angry young woman who had just set her elaborate scheme into action. 

Fresh from her high-profile success abroad with "Triangle of Sadness" (Ruben Östlund, 2022), veteran indie character actress Dolly de Leon is finally playing her very first lead role in a mainstream Filipino movie. De Leon delighted in chewing up the scenery with her flamboyantly bitchy, gleefully hypocritical, and sinisterly power-tripping big boss.  Everything about Mother Molly was exaggerated and larger-than-life, and de Leon lived it up.

Kathryn Bernardo more than matched de Leon's acting passion in her complex character with two distinct personas. While playing Mercy was more within her comfort zone, Bernardo threw all caution to the wind to play seething, scheming Philo, a role against her usual type. When the title was first revealed in the opening credits, the audience actually erupted into applause when heard something they've never heard Bernardo say before. 

For each of Philo's encounters, Vargas switched up his storytelling style to make his stew even richer. With the mall's image model Zab (Chie Filomeno), there was dark comedy. With Molly's right-hand man Charles (Jake Ejercito), there was sexual intrigue. With Molly's personal assistant Gene (Ana Abad Santos), there was family melodrama. With Molly herself, every scene was a showdown of sass, every word dripping with vindictive venom.

Vargas also peppered the film with interesting minor chracters to spice things up further. They elicited strong audience reactions, actually stealing their scenes. They include the comical matron Thea (Kakki Teodoro), the mysterious cripple Rigel (Kaori Oinuma) and the adorable jetset bulldog Noriah. This was quite a roller-coaster ride of a film with an over-the-top camp value, with haute couture dresses and high society production design all the way.  8/10.

Vivamax: Review of LIGAW NA BULAKLAK: Hunk Held Hostage

September 24, 2023

Kevin Pascual (Arron Villaflor) was a popular leading man in the Vivamax-like streaming site called Mabuhay. One night after a shoot in a remote location, Kevin was driving home but lost his way. As it had been raining lately, the dirt road was very water-logged, so the wheels of Kevin's car got stuck in the mud. When he went out of the car to check, Kevin slipped and fell, hitting his head on a rock, and he blacked out. 

A man named Dune (Jeric Raval) saw the unconscious Kevin on the road, and decided to carry him to his house. His daughter Dian (Chloe Jenna) tended to Kevin, giving him herbal teas. His right leg was also injured badly, rendering him unable to walk properly. Dian never left their forest abode, content to be entertained by watching movies from DVDs her father brought home for her from the village.

This film is directed by Jeffrey Hidalgo, the former Smokey Mountain singer turned filmmaker, now on his third Vivamax project, after "Eva" (2021) and "Lampas Langit" (2022). The story is obviously inspired by Stephen King's novel turned film "Misery" (1990). Of course, this was given the usual Vivamax treatment, and the premise about a sexy film actor sure allowed multiple such scenes to be squeezed in without coming off too forced. 

Hidalgo went meta at the start, taking us behind-the-scenes on a sexy film shoot. Here, Kevin had a frequent screen partner name Cassie (Sheila Snow), who was very much into Kevin, who was not into her. We meet Kevin's director (Rember Galera) and his agent (Angeli Bayani in a video call cameo). Too bad these scenes were there only to establish Kevin's job and snobbish personality. It would be interesting to expand this further in a future project. 

There was also a subtle dig on people posting clips of "good bits" of Mabuhay sexy films online prior to the release of the film, ruefully acknowledging that piracy of streamed content is something film company's could not control at the moment. Dian's only source of ecstatic pleasure in her mountain existence was watching DVDs of pirated Mabuhay films. It wasn't clear though how electricity could reach their remote abode.

Sharp viewers will surely notice that Kevin sustained an injury to his head, but in the house, all we see is a leg injury (which would only be cleared up later in the film), but his head wound was never really mentioned again. There was nice info about medicinal plants tsaang gubat, sambong and lagundi for wound healing, but for this therapeutic effect, these leaves are used as local washes and poultice application, not as a tea to be drunk. 

Chloe Jenna, who had been playing second fiddle to all the other Vivamax stars since she debuted in "Eva" (2021), finally gets to play the central female role. Her acting efforts here were largely inconsistent, Kathy Bates she is definitely not at this point. Arron Villaflor was pretty much just coasting along here, acting lazily for the quick paycheck. Sheila Snow is now on her 6th Vivamax film in small roles, but her enthusiasm may get her that lead role soon. 

There were a few moments of deadpan humor in the film care of supporting characters. There were the two policemen (played by Dennis Marasigan and director Hidalgo himself) handling the case who have surnames of famous directors Bernal and Abaya. There was the attention-hound (Raul Morit) who called in about the abandoned car. The funniest bits involved Kevin's uber drama queen mother (Marissa Sanchez) who really poured on the hysterics. 3/10.

Review of SOUND OF FREEDOM: Tracking Traffickers

September 22, 2023

In Tegucigalpa, Honduras, a  financially-strapped man named Roberto (Jose Zuniga) was asked by an attractive woman named Giselle (Yessica Barroto) if he would allow his two children Rocio (Cristal Aparicio) and Miguel (Lucas Avila) to become models. He agreed to drop his two kids off with Giselle in an office in the city for the auditions. However, when Roberto came back to pick them up that evening, all he reached was an empty room.

Tim Ballard (Jim Caviezel) was an agent of Homeland Security assigned to cases of pedophiles and child pornography. Frustrated that they were not actually able to rescue any of the kids being sold in illegal websites, he pretended to be a pedophile himself to get more concrete results. An arrested pedophile named Ernst Oshinsky (Kris Avidisian) fell for his ploy and was able to arrange for Tim to meet up with a trafficked child.

This film tackled the very despicable crime of child trafficking. Not only do these criminals steal children from their parents, but they would then subject these children to unspeakable acts of depraved perversity. Every parent would sympathize with the plight of Roberto, who was of course wracked with guilt for putting his children directly in harm's way. The film was careful about the depiction of child abuse, but these were very disturbing nonetheless.

The main bulk of the film was telling the story of how Tim Ballard went over and beyond the call and scope of duty to rescue one particular victim -- the precious little Rocio. What we saw Ballard do to achieve his objective onscreen, defying all risks to the integrity of his family, his job and personal safety was indeed very impressive, too good to be all true. The cynical in the audience may question how much of this heroism was real-life or cinematic license.

To be completely objective, this was a typical based-on-true-events white-savior rescue drama at best. However, it has currently gained so much buzz owing to its unexpected box-office haul in the US, grossing almost 15x its original budget, certainly one of the most profitable indie films of all time. The reference to Christian faith in the narrative and Caviezel's earnest pay-it-forward appeal during the closing credits had worked in its favor. 7/10.

Review of VIDEO CITY: Rewinding to Recharge

September 21, 2023

Han Pena was a 25-year old film major, whose experiencing personal stress at home that made him listless and distracted in school He could not even come up with a storyline for his upcoming film thesis requirement, which was fast approaching. His mother, critically-acclaimed and fan-beloved film director Anita Laurel Pena, had recently fallen very ill and lost her ability to talk and move, now dependent on her dutiful husband (Soliman Cruz). 

One day, Han had to go to an old internet cafe called Taympers to work. When he curiously pressed the rewind button on a old car-shaped VHS tape rewinder there, Han suddenly found himself in a Video City VHS home video rental store. In his panic, he knocked down a display rack, which annoyed salesgirl Ningning Magtulis (Yassi Pressman). Seeing the date on a newspaper, Han saw that he was in the year 1995.

This rom-com used a time-travel trope in its story. The writer did not bother anymore to explain how or why the time travel happened by pressing the rewinder -- no backstory, it just happened, which may be just as well. Han also did not have a hard time convincing Ningning that he came from the future, as she would actually witness him disappear into thin air when the his visiting time was up, and reappear from out of the blue the next day. 

There was an interesting twist added to the time travel. Starting at 12 hours, Han would have an hour less every time he went back, so he can only do this for 12 days. The usual sci-fi warning that any changes done in the past can significantly change the future was mentioned, yet Han violated this rule at least twice, with seemingly no consequence. The ending was one puzzling game-changing innovation, but there was no more time or need to explain it.

Whether director Raynier Brizuela was able to pull off his time travel gambit well or not, the performances of Ruru Madrid and Yassi Pressman carried the love story through with sincerity and chemistry. Brizuela also shared his love for cinema: Han as a film major, Ningning as an aspiring actress, Han's mom as a film director, the nostalgia of VHS renting and iconic scenes from films like "Bituing Walang Ningning" and "Maging Sino Ka Man." 6/10. 

Review of CONCRETE UTOPIA: Scandalous Survival

September 21, 2023

A major destructive earthquake hit Seoul, and practically all the buildings in the city have collapsed. The only apartment building left standing was Huang Gung, so all the surviving residents of neighboring apartments want to seek shelter in it. With the problem of security and food looming ahead, the residents of Huang Gung met together to organize themselves in the face of this issue -- should they evict outsiders (whom they called "cockroaches") or not? 

When a fire broke out in one of the apartments, a quiet man named Kim Yeong-tak (Lee Byung-hun) took the lead to charge into the burning room to put out the fire. Because of this, the other residents all voted unanimously Yeong-tak to be their leader, giving him the honorific title of Mr. Delegate. Yeong-tak chose a young public servant named Min-sung (Park Seo-joon) as his right-hand, to the dismay of Min-sung's nurse wife Myeong-wah (Park Bo-young). 

The earthquake was of a magnitude deadly enough to level a modern city like Seoul, and the special visual and sound effects certainly delivered the goods in this aspect. The chaotic post-apocalyptic landscape made for an ominous backdrop for the human drama unfolding. There are widely-shot scenes of mass destruction that evoke agoraphobia or acrophobia, as there were several tightly-shot scenes of narrow crawlspaces that provoke claustrophobia. 

The ambiguous questions of ethics and problematic moral decisions of the survivors make this an intensely thought-provoking watch. We identify with Min-sung as he was caught between the fanaticism of Yeong-tak and the compassion of Myeong-wah. We've seen survival movies before, but as written and directed by Uhm Tae-hwa, this film was as much as a sociological study and a crime mystery, as it was a psychological drama and a disaster epic. 

This film was recently named as the entry of South Korea to the race for Best International Film at the next Oscar Awards, which should attract more viewers to go check it out. 7/10. 

Review of EXPEND4BLES: Stratham's Show

September 20, 2023

A terrorist organization headed by arms dealer Suarto Rahmat (Iko Uwais) was smuggling nuclear warheads for a mysterious client code-named Ocelot, who planned to use them to create an "international incident". The Expendables had been conscripted by CIA agent Marsh (Andy Garcia) to stop Rahmat's group from succeeding. 

The Expendables is a film franchise that paid tribute to 80s action film stars and proving that they still had what it takes to fire up excitement on the big screen. The first three films came out in quick succession, the first film in 2010, followed by sequels in 2012 and 2014. It took almost 10 years before this new sequel saw the light.

Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone) and Lee Christmas (Jason Statham) still lead the crew and they command the screen with their skills in action and comedy. Aside from them, only heavy weapons expert Gunner Jensen (Dolph Lundgren) and demoliton expert Toll Road (Randy Couture) remain from the original Expendables team. 

Along with them on this mission were new members: Easy Day (50 Cent), and Galan (Jacob Scipio), the son of Galgo (Antonio Banderas). As Marsh, Andy Garcia took over the role of the CIA operative that the Expendables worked with, who were Mr. Church (Bruce Willis) in the "Expendables 2" and Max Drummer (Harrison Ford) in Expendables 3. 

Along with the macho crew, there will be two female operatives were just as bad-ass when it came to the action scenes. CIA agent Gina (Megan Fox) is Christmas's girlfriend, with whom he had an precariously explosive relationship. Martial arts skills was the forte of Lash (Levy Tran), who got her name from the metal lash she wielded in her fights.

The best thing about this particular outing for me was the casting of two bonafide Southeast Asian action superstars in key roles: Indonesian Iko Uwais (star of "The Raid") as the main antagonist Rahmat, and Thai Tony Jaa (star of "Ong Bak: Muay Thai Warrior"). In particular, Jaa's performance in his knife fight scenes were hair-raising in their intensity. 

It may be disappointing for his fans that Stallone was onscreen for only about 10% of this film. Barney was involved in an incident (with poor quality CGI effects) that would make him a rallying point. When Christmas took over the lead role (as seen in the poster billing), a passing of the baton of team leadership is evident, if ever there is a next film. 5/10. 

Netflix: Review of LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT: Steeped in Serendipity

September 17, 2023

Hadley Sullivan (Haley Lu Richardson) just missed her flight to London by four minutes. She was on her way there to attend and be the bridesmaid at the second wedding of her father Andrew (Rob Delaney) to his fiancee Charlotte (Katrina Nare). She was close to her dad before, but was still bitter about him divorcing her mom. She had to buy a ticket on the next flight, even if the only available seat was in business class. 

Oliver Jones was a British young man who was taking up statistics in an American university. His parents Val (Dexter Fletcher) and Tessa (Sally Phillips) were theater folk obsessed with Shakespeare, and his brother Luther (Tom Taylor) was an eccentric EDM DJ. Oliver was a math nerd and would quote statistics to justify his decisions. When he got to his assigned seat on the plane, the seatbelt was broken. He was upgraded to business class.

"Love at First Sight" was such a generic name for a rom-com, I almost ignored it, thinking the lazy title was an omen for a boring story. Thanks to positive word of mouth, I still checked it out, and good thing I did. The original source material was a 2011 novel by Jennifer E. Smith entitled  "The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight," which made sense in the context of the story, but was admittedly a rather unwieldy title of a movie. 

The director was British filmmaker Vanessa Caswill. Her works prior to this movie had been TV miniseries on BBC, like "Thirteen" (2016), "Gold Digger" (2019) and most notably "Little Women" (2017), where she showed her skills in telling stories about women. In this her feature film debut, she told the quirky love story of Hadley and Oliver quite well, especially when complemented with dry British wit. 

I've seen Haley Lu Richardson before in the dying teen love story "Five Feet Apart" (2019) and she was a very good and natural actress. Ben Hardy, whom we've first seen as Archangel in "X-Men: Apocalypse" (2016), is actually already 32 in real life, but he can still pull off a college boy vibe here, barely. Jameela Jamil played guardian angel of sorts to push the love story forwards, narrating the backstory and numerical facts for each scene. 

However, for me, the most extraordinary character was Oliver's mother Tessa, played by veteran British comedienne Sally Phillips. That scene at Peckham House had elaborate costumes and colorful production design, but the emotional impact was so rich and eloquent.  I went into this film only expecting to be mildly entertained with a sweet but predictable love story, but there I was in tears, as would anyone who was in Ollie's situation. 7/10. 

Vivamax: Review of PATIKIM-TIKIM: Entangled Emotions

September 16, 2023

Emilio "Miyo" Mala (Aerol Carmelo) has been involved with various girlfriends since he was thirteen years old. Now working in the front desk of a hotel and up for a promotion, he thinks it is time for him to get serious and settle down. His last girlfriend April (Chloe Jenna) was a clingy insatiable nymphomaniac. Miyo was tired of their physically-exhausting relationship and decided to break up with her, but she is not giving up on him. 

One day, he met his childhood hometown friend (and ex-girlfriend whom he ghosted) Ivy Bian (Yen Durano) at his hotel, and this rekindled his old crush on her. He now believes that Ivy is the one for him. However, he discovered that Ivy has been having a lesbian relationship for the past three years with his boss Ma'am Bianca Delfino (Apple Dy), the very person who will decide if his promotion to supervisor will be approved or not. 

Yen Durano and Apple Dy were just recently launched in their respective lead starrers where they displayed their promising acting talents aside from their feminine curves -- "Litsoneras" for Durano and "Punit Na Langit" for Dy. Here in "Patikim-tikim," they both shined with their very natural free-flowing performances and good working chemistry with each other and their co-stars, proving that their auspicious debut projects were not flukes. 

Up-and-coming Vivamax stud Aerol Carmelo also showed an entirely new aspect of his acting range from his last two films "Bisyo!" and "Punit na Langit." This young actor actually has a knack for physical comedy, especially in those scenes when Miyo's stamina was already all zapped by his fifth round with the tireless April. He had a convincing romantic chemistry with Durano, and his Miyo looked genuinely lovestruck during their scenes together.

Veteran director Joey Javier Reyes has crafted quite an entertaining romantic comedy in his latest film. However, being a Vivamax project, graphic sex scenes are of course a prominent ingredient, so it is for mature audiences only. This was too bad, because with its complex but well-written story could have been developed to be screened with a PG-13 rating, without any bed scenes. Reyes also added a nice touch breaking through the fourth wall at the end.  6/10. 

Review of THE EQUALIZER 3: Italian Intimidation

September 15, 2023

Retired US Marine - black ops agent Robert McCall (Denzel Washington) has been seriously injured after a bloody mission in Sicily. He was found unconscious in his car by a local police officer Gio Bonucci (Eugenio Mastrandrea). He was brought to Altamonte to be treated by Dr. Enzo Arisio (Remo Girone).  As he was recovering, McCall enjoyed the laidback lifestyle and friendly people in that small coastal village in Southern Italy.

However, Altamonte was being terrorized by gangsters led by the Quaranta brothers (Andrea Dodero and Andrea Scarduzio), who were forcing the residents to leave their homes so their organization can use the town for their criminal operations. Bonucci dared to interfere with the gang's activities, so he and his family were assaulted in their own home. Seeing the suffering of his friends and neighbors, McCall, true to his nature, decided to intervene.

This is the third installment of the only film franchise that Denzel Washington accepted to do. Robert McCall had much empathy for regular people who were being hurt and exploited by powerful bad guys. He would fight for their freedom against their oppressors, which was the premise since the original late 1980s TV series starring Edward Woodward as McCall. Like the first two films, the kills here were still shockingly violent and excruciatingly painful.

The story of this new one is relatively simple, with McCall only fighting against local mobsters disturbing the peace of order in his neighborhood. However, what will set this one apart for the two previous films was the picturesque location in southern coast of Italy. Another distinctive feature of this sequel was that a major part of the dialogue was actually in Italian, which audiences (especially those averse to subtitles) may not like. 

Another remarkable aspect of this film was the guest appearance of child superstar of the aughts, Dakota Fanning. This is a reunion project for Washington and Fanning, who was his co-star in "Man on Fire" (2004), when Fanning, now 29 year old, was only 10 years old. She played CIA agent Emma Collins to whom McCall specifically gave a major tip. She will figure in an 11th hour revelation which will be meaningful to fans of the first two films. 6/10. 

Review of STRAYS: Dirty Digs on a Dog's Devotion

September 14, 2023

Doug (Will Forte) was a lowlife bum and drug addict who mistreated his dog, a Border Terrier. His girlfriend Ashley (Jade Hernandez) named the dog Reggie when she adopted him. When they separated, Doug held on to Reggie to annoy Ashley, and proceeded to abuse the poor dog anyway. Despite all this neglect from his master, Reggie thought Doug really loved him and kept on wanting to play with him, even if Doug didn't really like to.

One day, fed up Doug drove 3 hours out of town to abandon Reggie. Lost and confused, Reggie met a stray Boston Terrier named Bug (Jamie Foxx), who later introduced him to his friends, an Australian Shepherd named Maggie (Isla Fisher) and a therapy Great Dane wearing a cone, named Hunter (Randall Park). As the dogs shared stories, Reggie realized he's been abused all this time and resolved to go home so he can bite Doug's d**k off.

This was basically about the adventures and misadventures of four dogs going on a road trip to look for three landmarks that Reggie remembered cryptically as "a giant hamster wheel without a hamster," "a giant cone" and "the devil in the sky" en route to Doug's house in Oakwood. This actually could have a fun and funny film for dog-lovers of all ages, but that is NOT what writer Dan Perrault and director Josh Greenbaum had in mind.

From the first moment Doug was introduced, we readily see his vulgar habits and hear his foul mouth spew profanities.  When Reggie met Dug, his new street-smart BFF also had a curse word and sexual reference in practically every sentence. This off-color, gross-out and raunchy comedy of the green and brown kind was right up the lane of "The Hangover" and "Bridesmaids" and its ilk, definitely not for kids.

The gags regarding the dogs humping everything including Dolores the Couch (Sofia Vergara), peeing on each other, and the mutiny of the poop at the pound were pretty much par for the course for doggie-style comedy. The involvement of a hawk added a dash of over-the-top excitement. However, the filmmakers went too far beyond the limits of poor taste in that bizarre hallucinogen mushroom-induced episode with the ripped-up stuffed toys. 

Writer Perrault did very well thinking and speaking from a dog's point of view. The talented A-list voice actors all gave their dogs delightful personalities, particularly Ferrell and Foxx. The comedy can be raucous, but there were also some pretty heartwarming moments. In those scenes showing Reggie's pure loyalty and unconditional love for his master, dog-owners will definitely reflect on their own dogs and love them even more. 6/10. 

Review of A HAUNTING IN VENICE: Macabre Murder Mystery

September 10, 2023

In 1957, Hercule Poirot (Kenneth Branagh) had retired from detective work and moved to reside in Venice. One day, best-selling American mystery novel writer Ariadne Oliver (Tina Fey) invited him to go with her to attend a Halloween night party at the palazzo of opera singer Rowena Drake (Kelly Reilly). The house was rumored to be haunted by the spirit of Rowena's daughter Alicia (Rowan Robinson), who had recently committed suicide. 

Poirot came with his ex-policeman bodyguard Vitale (Riccardo Scarmacio). Also at the party were the family doctor Leslie Ferrier (Jamie Dornan) and his precocious young son Leopold (Jude Hill), the housekeeper Olga Seminoff (Camille Cottin), and Alicia's ex-fiance Maxime Gerard (Kyle Allen). The guest of honor was the celebrated medium Madame Reynolds (Michelle Yeoh), who was to conduct a seance to "call" Alicia's soul.

This film is the latest of three film adaptations of Agatha Christie mystery novels directed by Kenneth Branagh, after "Murder on the Orient Express" (2017) and "Death on the Nile" (2022). This new one is based on a relatively lesser-known Christie mystery "Halloween Night" published in 1969.  Branagh again stars as renowned detective Hercule Poirot, his version with a distinctly long and ridiculous handlebar mustache.  

As the title suggested, Branagh told the story of "A Haunting in Venice" with a generous dash of ghostly horror and suspense. There was a lot of jerky and shaky camera movement here, sudden cuts to various odd angles and viewpoints, accompanied by eerie reverberating sound effects, from ominous typing noise, splashing water, and fluttering of wings. Here, the usually pragmatic and skeptical Poirot was having visions of a little girl no one else sees. 

The setup of the murder mystery was trademark Agatha Christie. A disparate group of people gather together, this time to witness a seance. However, an unexpected murder occurred during a violent storm, so everyone had to be locked in the location till morning when the police arrived. At first, there seemed to be no obvious suspect, then later, everyone seemed to be a suspect. To further confuse things, there was even an attempt on Poirot's life.

Branagh was very passionate and credibly intelligent and perceptive as Poirot. However, his co-stars played unlikable characters whom we barely knew or cared out, the same problem with the first two films. The setup before the first murder took so long, even taking time to tell a legend a children's curse or showing kids bobbing for apples. Even then, the final reveal felt like it happened too suddenly, with Poirot figuring things out from out of thin air.  6/10. 

Vivamax: Review of PUNIT NA LANGIT: Carnal Carnival

September 9, 2023

Orphaned cousins Claudia (Tiffany Grey) and Dyosa (Apple Dy) lived together since their parents died. High school graduate Claudia had just accepted to a university in Manila, so she was applying for a scholarship from their mayor. Dyosa had suffered a frontal lobe trauma in her youth which caused her to lose her ability to speak, but she was able to develop a skill in sewing curtains from which they earned their daily bread. 

One day, a travelling fair set up camp in the town proper, and that night, the two girls decided to go pay it a visit. They wanted to ride the ferris wheel but had no cash with them, but the barker there Diego (Aerol Carmelo) let them ride for free because he was attracted to Dyosa. The carnival's manager Rafael (Chester Grecia) took a fancy on Claudia, seduced her with gifts, then offered her a job as his main cashier.

Tiffany Grey had done better dramatic work in her previous films, but her acting was not at its best here as Claudia. It was probably not entirely her fault, but that was maybe the best she could do given the pathetic way her character was written. Claudia was supposedly this smart girl ready to go to college, yet here she was hopelessly naive, so easily swept off her feet by the first smooth-talking guy who paid attention to her. 

This is the first feature film lead role for Apple Dy, and she did make a good first impression here, even stealing attention away from Grey with her graceful moves. Her role of a mute Dyosa is challenging and she portrayed her credibly, even if the medical aspect of this condition may be questionable. If her head trauma was serious enough to cause aphasia, she would likely have other neurologic deficits aside from that. 

Rodante Y. Pajemna Jr. finally wrote and directed his own feature film for the first time after having worked in production and creative services of several Viva and Vivamax projects since 2016. His story and script here were pretty much typical Vivamax fare, from the secret pimping going on behind legit business, down to the incendiary and vindictive ending. It will probably be remembered for showing how "mermaid" Salve (Aria Bench) plied her side hustle. 4/10. 

Netflix: Review of WHAT IF? - Hamstrung Honeymoon

 September 8, 2023

Jose Emilio "Jecs" Cruz (JM De Guzman) was a popular singer-songwriter whose fame was built upon his one single hit song entitled "What If?" He was currently struggling to come up with songs for his next album under big pressure from his manager Will (Chard Ocampo). Meanwhile, he is an active vlogger for his various sponsors to keep himself relevant to his fans. His mother Doris (Ana Abad Santos) kept calling to check up on him. 

Isabella "Billie" Neri (Alessandra da Rossi) had a sad and traumatic childhood which made her very insecure. This was mainly due to her abusive father Enrico (Jett Pangan), who was also a famous musician himself. She was initially the keyboard player for Jecs at his recording studio. However, after working together on several songs, Jecs and Billie become a couple, eventually becoming engaged and getting married. 

De Rossi and de Guzman are indie romance veterans, but the way their love story went south so quickly, their chemistry felt awkward, likely on purpose. The two also wrote music and lyrics for the songs, but frankly their singing did not sound too good. Resort caretakers Gina (Angie Castrence) and Francis (Soliman Cruz) had chemistry as comic relief, but they can also make situations tense up. Ana Abad Santos plays yet another nosy mother role, 4 in a row now. Jett Pangan made a strong impact in his single scene as Billie's toxic dad. 

Director Emmanuel Quindo Palo was also the production designer, and he was able to find just the perfect isolated beach rest house in pristine CamSur, beautifully captured by Albert Banzon. Mike Rivera wrote the rather heavy-handed screenplay from a story he developed with de Rossi. It was uncomfortable to watch the two arguing about their faulty decisions. The story was told in flashbacks within flashbacks, so the editing by Law Fajardo was a key factor in how the marital drama unfolded non-linearly without losing us along the way. 5/10. 

Review of KIDNAP FOR ROMANCE: Synchronous Stockholm Syndrome

September 7, 2023

Elena "Ganda" Alvarado (Cristine Reyes) came from a family of reformed petty thieves. She now uses her martial arts skills as a stuntwoman in movies. Her mother Rosing (Yayo Aguila) was still in the hospital because they could not pay her bills. Her father Mando (Archie Adamos) and brother JJ (Nikko Natividad) were now in prison for stealing. Desperate, Elena sought help from her crime boss godfather Arturo (Jeric Raval).

Godofredo "Fred" Tan (Empoy Marquez) was the grandson of real estate tycoon, Henry Tan (Boboy Garovillo). He was a lazy spoiled brat who would rather drink and party with random girls in nightclubs, rather than spend time on his job at their firm. Sir Henry believed it was time for Fred to settle down with one woman and start his own family already, giving Fred a deadline to find the right girl to marry already, or be disowned.

Cristine Reyes got to display not only her deep dimples and dramatic chops, but also her action-star fight moves, last seen in "Maria" (2019). Empoy Marquez did not look or act any bit like a multi-millionaire Chinoy heir at all, which was another source of visual comedy. However, he can certainly play an annoyingly narcissistic guy like the back of his hand. He also showed his improved dramatic skills, though his cry face was not pretty like Cristine's.

Boboy Garovillo gave a very dignified and moving portrayal of a kind, loving and understanding Chinoy taipan Lolo Henry. Marnie Lapus had been portraying several sensible mom roles in her recent films, but I've never seen her as over-the-top as her theater actress Violet here. Also getting much screen time were TJ Valderrama as Fred's PA Charrie (how did he do that egg-eating scene?) and Kyo Quijano as his impertinent intern Gelo.  

It was already obvious from the poster that Elena was conscripted to kidnap Fred for ransom. However, being a comedy, things do not go exactly as planned. As with other Empoy Marquez films with beautiful leading ladies, the comedy was mainly the usual odd couple routine. Most of the gags were based on how awkward it looked for homely Empoy and pretty Cristine to actually fall in love with each other, this instance being a mutual Stockholm Syndrome. 

Director Victor Villanueva first broke into public consciousness with his darkly irreverent but very hilarious road trip movie "Patay Na Si Hesus" (2016) Most of the jokes in this new film still do fly, thanks mainly to the winsome charms of his cast of actors. Some production design details though were inconsistent with the story, like the very spacious house owned by Elena's family or the lack of anything Chinese in the decor of the Tan family mansion. 6/10. 

Review of THE NUN II: Reinvigorating Relic

September 6, 2023

It was 1956. Cognizant of her experience four years before, Sr. Irene (Taissa Farmiga) was sent by her superiors to Tarascon, France, to investigate the case of a priest who was burned to death in supernatural circumstances, another one of a series of mysterious deaths that was moving westward from Romania. She was sent alone, but a new rebellious nun Sr. Debra (Storm Reid) snuck out of their convent to join Sr. Irene on her quest. 

Meanwhile, Maurice a.k.a. Frenchie (Jonas Bloquet) was now working as a handyman in a boarding school for girls run by Madame Laurent (Suzanne Bertish). He was quite close with one of the students Sophie (Katelyn Rose Downey), and her mother, school teacher Kate (Anna Popplewell). Bullied by her mean classmates, Sophie was locked up inside the old abandoned chapel of the school, where she felt an evil presence.

Eventually, these two characters from the first film "The Nun" (Corin Hardy, 2018) -- Sr. Irene and Frenchie -- would get together in this sequel "The Nun II" (Michael Chavez, 2023) to face a third carryover character -- the dark demonic Valak (Bonnie Aarons) -- for another fight to the end. Sr. Irene's exorcist partner in the first film, Fr. Burke, was missing in action here, declared to already be dead. 

A key plot point in the film was the story of St. Lucy of Syracuse, a Catholic saint whose two eyes had been gouged out when the repeated attempts to burn her to death did not succeed. This saint's grisly life story lent itself very well to be the basis of a horror drama. How St. Lucy's organic relics were connected to Valak was admittedly far-fetched, but it was quite interesting as played out anyhow. 

Of course, there were jump scares galore, which worked, most of the time. Several scenes had Valak's hideous visage morphing in from out of  nowhere. There was an elaborate scene where Sr. Irene was in front of a magazine stand and pages were flipping back and forth in the wind, which was mesmerizing. With a gaggle of screaming girls in peril, the final confrontation with the titular nun was exciting, even if it's puzzling how the fragile Sr. Irene could stand so much violent abuse from the demon and survive. 

This is already the 9th feature film from the so-called "Conjuring Universe" which began 10 years ago. Starting with "The Conjuring" (2013) and its 2 sequels (2016, 2021), this franchise had expanded into "Annabelle" (2014) and its sequels (2017, 2019), "The Curse of La Llorona (2019), and "The Nun" (2018) and this sequel. Stay around for a mid-credits scene that promises to tie "The Nun" into the world of the original movie.  7/10

*****

My Reviews of the other films in "The Conjuring" Universe:

The Conjuring (2013): MY REVIEW

Annabelle (2014): MY REVIEW

The Conjuring 2 (2016): MY REVIEW

Annabelle: Creation (2017): MY REVIEW

The Nun (2018): MY REVIEW

The Curse of La Llorona (2019): MY REVIEW

Annabelle Comes Home (2019): MY REVIEW

Review of MONDAY FIRST SCREENING: Senior Sweetness

September 4, 2023

Since the annulment of her marriage, Prof. Lydia Bercacio (Gina Alajar) had been living alone in her own house with a big garden, with her household helpers, Clark (David Shouder) and Lea (Joy Cerro). Her grand-daughter Sofia (Reign Parani) also stayed in Lydia's house because her mother was always very busy. When Lydia turned 60 years old, regulations dictated that she had to retire from teaching at the university. 

One Monday at the mall, Lydia saw a group of senior citizens lining up to watch a free movie. Her friendly neighbors Deborah (Ruby Ruiz) and Norman (Soliman Cruz) invited her to join them and their group. Later, they were joined by a retired architect, Bobby de Guzman (Ricky Davao) who got the seat beside Lydia in the theater. While the movie was going on, Lydia would constantly be grabbing from Bobby's box of popcorn.

This charming rom-com written and directed by Benedict Mique ("ML", "Momol Nights") tells of a friendship between a couple of senior citizens which eventually develops into love. Ok, the story may not be completely new, and the comedy can be somewhat awkward or corny. However, while the story did dip into some melodramatic twists and turns, Mique and his cast was able to mine something refreshingly wholesome and positive.

Veteran award-winning film actors, Gina Alajar and Ricky Davao were both radiant, raising this film up another level with their winsome sincerity. Their romantic chemistry as Lydia and Bobby felt very real and thrilling, so delightful to watch in their carefree scenes. The references to various classic romantic films fit right in the movie-watching theme. The cinematography or editing may not have been that special, but these two lead performances definitely were. 

Mique did not make it smooth-sailing all the way for the couple, with hurdles set by Lydia's former student and now professorial colleague David (Ian Ignacio) and an 11th hour one by Lydia's daughter Eleanor (Che Ramos). However despite these uncertainties, audiences will likely still root for this cute couple to end up together. Alajar and Davao absolutely hit the mark in that one dramatic scene, for which there surely will be no dry eye in the theater. 

Mique also took the opportunity to address issues concerning the senior citizens. Deborah (Ruby Ruiz) had children want her to watch her grandchildren for them. Norman (Soliman Cruz) was forced to retire at 60, rendering him without any income. There was also the very real fear of sudden unexpected death that loomed over them, especially when they see friends of theirs pass away. The older demographic will surely identify with these real problems. 7/10.  

Vivamax: Review of CALL ME ALMA: Mainly Maternal Melodrama

September 1, 2023

It was December in the year 1999, and there was concern that the world will end after New Year's Eve. Alma (Azi Acosta) was a prostitute who worked in a swanky nightclub called Brown Sugar in Manila's red light district. She had three frequent customers, namely the narcissistic sadistic Tiger Joe (Mon Confiado), the easily excited Kabayo (Josef Elizalde) and the lovestruck student Puppy Dog (Gold Aceron). 

One day, she noticed a middle-aged woman following her around. When Alma confronted her, the woman introduced herself as Sheila (Jaclyn Jose), her mother who had sold her when she was still a baby. Alma did not want anything to do with Sheila, who was exhibiting symptoms of early onset Alzheimer's disease. However, when Sheila asked Alma to go with her to find her father Badong in Bataan, she agreed. 

The main conceit of this Vivamax feature was the name of National Artist Ricky Lee attached to it, for story and screenplay. The story was essentially a melodrama about a mother and daughter, both of whom happened to be prostitutes. Their first meeting was hastily set up, with no apparent need of any proof or anything. Suddenly, the angle of Sheila's beginning dementia was also shoehorned in their second meeting. 

The whole first act about Alma introducing her three customers and her threesome partner Chona (Aiko Garcia) were only there to fill in the Vivamax quota for sex scenes. They did not actually participate in the main story of Alma and Sheila. When they were in Bataan, there were a couple more sex scenes forced in, with the resort heir (Richard Solano) and even the caretaker (Soliman Cruz) getting some action with Alma. 

We have heard these sad stories and lines about sexual abuse and parental abandonment from various films about prostitutes over the years, nothing particularly new or unique. Of course, that Jaclyn Jose was the actress playing Sheila gave the project some measure of prestige and credibility. Azi Acosta certainly held her own in her scenes with Jose, further proving that she had more to offer than her nubile wiles. 5/10.