HARRY POTTER & the HALF-BLOOD PRINCE

‘HALF-BLOOD’ DESERVES FULL PRICE
By Reymundo Salao

Originally, I am not a Harry Potter fanatic; I really was not impressed by the Harry Potter movies initially, and have at many times dismissed the Potter movies as unoriginal and mere recycle of old ideas. It was not until the third movie Prisoner of Azkhaban where I thought the series was not so bad, but it is actually in the fourth movie, Goblet of Fire, when I really became a follower of this film series. No, I have not read the books, I guess I’m just too lazy to go get them, and go “Oh I’ll just wait for the movie, they’re making one anyway” Hahaha Well, I bet that statement would have diehard Potter fans (or as I would call them “Potterheads”) frown. In that same issue, I have noticed that it is really not easy to please these Potterheads. As a result, I have concluded that it really is, in my opinion, good that I have not read the books, otherwise, I could possibly find myself not enjoying these movie adaptations and go on to demand a 10-hour page-by-page movie adaptation of the books.

In this new movie, HARRY POTTER & THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE, the world of the wizards have gradually been falling into dark times, what with the Death Eaters gathering strength by numbers and the fearful return of the Dark Lord Voldemort. These dark forces are gaining momentum and we see how recklessly strong they’ve become when they even cross the line as they destroy a bridge in the world of the normal people (the world of muggles? Am I getting the term right?). Harry Potter digs deep into the memories of one of the teachers and must find out the secrets of the past, in order to stop the Dark Lord’s return.

I really enjoyed the movie because it has become more about the characters rather than the effects and the magic. Our main characters at this point are already at their teens and the storyline is heavily filled with a well-made, comedic teen drama. In this movie we see the main characters deal with the awkwardness, the romance, and the friendships experienced in teen life. The subplot of the romance aspect was very interesting because it was more focused on how clumsy these kids are when dealing with love, rather than focus on the corny and cheesy aspects of romance (like the corny Twilight movie). Unlike the teen dramas Hollywood makes, like those filled with blatant sex, drugs, and product endorsements, the teen flick aspect of H.Potter 6 is refreshingly more innocent and naïve by comparison. It deals with real teen angst, not just some random meaningless garbage that they put in MTV.

On the other hand, while the lighter, comedy part of the story is going on; the darker tones of the movie are in motion as well. The movie interplays with both the lighter aspects and the darker tones of the story in an excellently-executed balance. The sequences where we see the darker events mixes well with the lighter parts of the movie, primarily with the aid of a praiseworthy editing team

The movie really is a bit of everything. You have this fantasy in the magical world aspect which has always been the main theme of all Potter movies, you also have this charming “teen movie” aspect of the movie, there’s also this part of the movie where Potter is on a mission in trying to get one of the professors to reveal a secret, and then there is also this eerie story of darkness, where the forces of evil are gathering, preparing for a revolution, while the character of Draco Malfoy is wandering deeper into his own darkness as he seems to prove to himself that he is no longer a kid.

Speaking of Malfoy, Tom Felton shines in this movie as he shows us the moral and emotional conflict deep inside of him, the main cast, as always, have been brilliant. Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, and Daniel Radcliffe, it is undeniable that over the years of playing these characters, their acting has been unquestionably excellent. Emma Watson was quite effective in creating the emotional impact of how she exhibits her love for Ron, inasmuch as I usually hate corny teen love stories, her acting suckered me into giving a damn what happens to the romantic subplot of the movie.

I should warn some people about this movie. This is actually a movie that feels like it is a fragment of a bigger longer movie, specifically, it is a set-up for a bigger sequel. It may not liked by regular audiences because it does not have enough visual fantasy generally expected from a Harry Potter movie. Although there are moments of awe and magic, it is not as plenty as it is in previous movies. Even the ending of the movie was a quiet one. Despite of the dramatic twists, the ending does not come out with a bang. This is a character-driven movie, if you like that sort of thing, then this movie is something you will adore, but if you’re just there to see some magic without much regard for the characters or the general storyline of the whole series, I think you may walk out of this movie disappointed. As far as I am concerned though, I loved this movie, and I cannot believe that this movie thrilled me as much as I was thrilled with Star Trek. I am really glad this movie washed off the stench in my mouth left by Transformers 2. This really is a movie that deserves the full price of admission. Thumbs up all the way.

Screening Schedules this Week [07-16-09]

ROBINSONS MOVIEWORLD
Harry Potter & the Half Blood Prince
11:30 AM, 2:30 PM, 5:30, 8:30 PM
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
11:15 AM, 2:15 PM, 5:15, 8:15 PM
Villa Estrella
11:15 AM, 1:30 PM, 3:45, 6, 8:15 PM
Harry Potter & the Half Blood Prince
11:00 AM, 2 PM, 5, 8 PM
Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
1:45 PM, 3:55, 6:05, 8:15 PM
Harry Potter & the Half Blood Prince
12 PM, 3 PM

SM CITY CINEMA
Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
12:15 PM, 2, 3:45, 5:30, 7:15, 9 PM
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
12:00 PM, 2:40 PM, 5:20, 8:00 PM
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
1:00 PM, 3:40, 6:20, 9 PM
Harry Potter & the Half Blood Prince
11:05 AM, 1:55 PM, 4:45, 7:35 PM
Harry Potter & the Half Blood Prince
12:30 PM, 3:20, 6:10, 9 PM
Harry Potter & the Half Blood Prince
11:50 AM, 2:40 PM, 5:30, 8:20 PM
Villa Estrella
12:40 PM, 2:20, 4, 5:40, 7:20, 9 PM
Harry Potter & the Half Blood Prince
10:20 AM, 1:10 PM, 4, 6:50 PM


SCHEDULES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT PRIOR NOTICE
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Pick of the Week: HARRY POTTER & the HALF-BLOOD PRINCE

Synopsis: Voldemort is tightening his grip on both the Muggle and wizarding worlds and Hogwarts is no longer the safe haven it once was. Harry suspects that dangers may even lie within the castle, but Dumbledore is more intent upon preparing him for the final battle that he knows is fast approaching. Together they work to find the key to unlock Voldemort's defenses and, to this end, Dumbledore recruits his old friend and colleague, the well-connected and unsuspecting bon vivant Professor Horace Slughorn, whom he believes holds crucial information. Meanwhile, the students are under attack from a very different adversary as teenage hormones rage across the ramparts. Harry finds himself more and more drawn to Ginny, but so is Dean Thomas. And Lavender Brown has decided that Ron is the one for her, only she hadn't counted on Romilda Vane's chocolates! And then there's Hermione, simmering with jealousy but determined not to show her feelings. As romance blossoms, one student remains aloof. He is determined to make his mark, albeit a dark one. Love is in the air, but tragedy lies ahead and Hogwarts may never be the same again.

Karate Kid Remake Update [retitled Kung-Fu Kid]

To all you Karate Kid fans out there may have already heard that there is going to be a remake of the said film, I know many of you are awaiting what this remake is going to look like.

Well here is what we know so far: The Master is going to be played by Jackie Chan, and the kid is going to be played by Jaden Smith (the son of Will Smith & Jada Pinkett-Smith) and the "master" be played by Martial Arts legend Jackie Chan. Directed by Harald Zwart (The Pink Panther 2) and written by Chris Murphy and Steven Conrad (The Pursuit of Happyness). And this Karate Kid remake has been appropriately retitled as KUNG-FU KID. And filming has now begun.

Its synopsis: Jaden Smith plays Dre, a skateboarding video game buff who is forced to move to China after his single mother (Taraji P. Henson) is forced to transfer to the China for work. Of course, unable to speak Chinese, Dre finds it hard to settle in, and gets beat up by the local bully. Jackie Chan plays Mr. Han, a maintenance man who spots Dre’s black-eye and offers to teach him both martial arts and Chinese, so he can defend against the students of Li Quan Ha’s Fighting dragon school of Kung-Fu.

I'm not really having much hopes or even interest for this movie. This looks more like a Disney movie than a Karate Kid remake. wehn the Karate Kid movie hit it big back in the 80's, it was actually more of a teen movie. The part II even had this very cheesy ballad themesong by Peter Cetera that emphasizes the movie's more love story aspect. As much as I hate Twilight, but if this movie wants it to be successful, in my opinion, they should have gotten people from Twilight for this movie. I'm still not gonna be interested in it, but at least it would reflect the charm of the original. But I may be wrong, you know. Teens these days are not as interested in Martial Arts anymore as in the 80's. Re-focusing on the "family entertainment" crowd may also be a wise position, especially with the success of Forbidden Kingdom and Kung-fu Panda still warm on the table.

Handumanan joins Cinemalaya-Netpac competition

Handumanan (Remembrance) will compete for the prestigious Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema (NETPAC) award. The first full-length film of Seymour Barros Sanchez will compete against eight other films that have been previously announced by the screening committee.

The sidebar competition, the first in the Philippines, will be part of the fifth Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival (Cinemalaya Cinco) at the Cultural Center of the Philippines. Handumanan will have its world premiere at the Tanghalang Aurelio Tolentino (CCP Little Theatre) on July 22, Wednesday, 9 p.m.

Handumanan tells the story of three people who seem to have lost hope of their worlds until their fateful encounter in a resort in Negros Oriental.

It stars Asian Television Awards Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress winner Chin Chin Gutierrez, Gawad Urian Best Actor awardee Jason Abalos, and introducing Japanese-Brazilian model Akihiro Sato. Aside from Negros Oriental, the film has had locations in Zambales, Cavite, and Metro Manila.

Chin-Chin stars as Solita or Sol Biglete, a romance novelist who hides under the pseudonym Soledad Miranda. She quits her job and goes back home to Dumaguete after repeatedly shunning the demands of her publisher, played by Dido dela Paz, to write erotic pocketbooks.

Jason, on the other hand, is Alejandro or Lean Tan, a government auditor who wants to be an accomplished writer someday. He finished a course in accountancy upon the wish of his mother, played by Gina Lumauig, but, deep inside him, he has other far more important things in mind.

Akihiro, who acts in his first film after gracing the catwalk of countless fashion shows and appearing in several commercials, is Carlos Silva, a model who is searching for his roots.

After Sol leaves her job for Dumaguete through the help of her colleague and friend (Lexter Tarriela), she finds out about blogging from her niece (Nadie May Orillana) and makes use of this new tool to continue writing. Carlos, who finds his face on the cover of one of Sol's pocketbooks, searches for her on the Internet and gets hooked with her writing, expressing his wish to meet her personally in the process. Meanwhile, Lean is assigned to audit in Dumaguete but his reclusive attitude leads him to Sol, whose romance novels play an unusual role in his life.

The script, which was selected as one of the six finalists to the third Produire au Sud (Producing from the South) workshop during the sixth World Film Festival of Bangkok last year, was co-written by Sanchez and Richard Legaspi. The two were batchmates at Ricky Lee's 14th scriptwriting workshop. The latter is set to direct his own indie film titled Cyclone Loop for Cinema One Originals.

Handumanan is produced by Red Room Productions from a 500,000-peso grant provided by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA). The film will then be shown at the Robinsons Galleria Indie Sine from July 29 to August 4 before touring schools nationwide and other film festivals abroad.

source: pep.ph

Ryan Reynolds is the Green Lantern

After months of speculation fans now know who will play 'Green Lantern' on the big screen. Ryan Reynolds has willed himself the lead role in Warner Bros. adaptation of the DC Comics title according to a breaking story on Variety.

Variety reports that the studio is still working on the budget for the move. As reported earlier today the current estimated budget is over $150 million for the super hero space opera. Reportedly Reynolds was the choice for Warner Bros and director Martin Campbell. Production is expected to begin in January.

Hell NO! Well THAT sucks!
Ryan Reynolds is perfectly fit for Deadpool because his wits and comedic charm match the character's. Unfortunately, his appearance in the role at the Wolverine movie outrageously downplayed the actor & his role. But there still are hopes for a Deadpool movie. Then there's Flash. Just like Deadpool, Reynolds is PERFECT for FLASH. In my opinion He's more fit for the Flash role than the Deadpool one. Fans and people who are familiar with the goings on in the comic-to-movie world know for a fact that Reynolds should be given either of those roles & expect him to shine in them.

But NO, he is not really fit to be The GREEN LANTERN. Not the Hal Jordan Green Lantern. Putting him on this role feels like he is being wasted away on another role that is keeping him AWAY FROM roles perfect for him.
Oh Well, Hollywood Sucks that way

The Taking of Pelham 123 (2009)

Powered by Denzel & Travolta
by Reymundo Salao

New York City subway dispatcher Walter Garber's ordinary day is turned into a day of tense, chaotic panic when armed men have seized control of a subway train, and have threatened to kill its passengers if the city does not pay them 10 million dollars within one hour. The leader of the armed men who calls himself Ryder and Garber go into a intensified psychological interplay as Garber hopes to stop Ryder or at least buy time for the hostages to be free.

This movie, directed by Tony Scott and stars Denzel Washington, John Travolta, John Turturro, and James Gandolfini, is based on the thriller novel by Morton Freedgood (writing under the pseudonym John Godey), and is a remake of the original 1974 film adaptation, which was also remade in 1998 as a TV movie. Before I move on with my review, I would like to let it known that I have not seen the 1974 movie, so my opinion may not take into consideration the ’74 version as a comparison.

What is so great about this movie is the exchange between Travolta and Denzel, the way they play each other, how good these actors are and how well the script makes them go into this conflict of wits and suspenseful drama. The strongest point in this movie is the acting between these two. This is Travolta in his familiar villain mode, the kind of characterization he had in movies like Broken Arrow and Face/Off, probably a more impulsive version of those villains. Denzel, on the other hand, plays the “every man” kind of guy who is quite a vulnerable character, and has his own human flaws, he appears even a bit overweight than usual, probably to make his character come as close to a regular “every man” as can be. James Gandolfini is funny as the mayor, and it was just so refreshing to see John Turturro play a serious role once again (after he embarrassed himself in that Transformers movie). Turturro plays a hostage negotiator who struggles to make the negotiations run smoothly and without some casualty, and also to guide Garber on how to deal with the hostage takers.

The film has the familiar Tony Scott style of stylish cuts and wild cinematography, which annoys many critics, but it is something that I adore. But on this film, there admittedly have been sequences that are completely unnecessary. I hated the needless addition of crash scenes, primarily because it just lessens the dramatic impact of a major car crash after it. By the time you get to that scene, the car crash does not shock you anymore because it comes off as a mere repetition of gratuitously violent scene.

Another thing that bothered me is the direction of the storyline as it nears the end. Things that really bothered me specifically were the decisions of the police in regards to how they engage the hostage-takers, a bit too over-restrained that they appear silly. Especially when you take into consideration how the hostage takers treat their hostages at the near end of the movie. It is in the third-half of the movie that the movie shows its weaker side. But it does not change the fact that this movie has some great acting in it. Overall, “Taking of Pelham 123” is thrilling and tense, not exactly a great movie, but there is a moderately good pay-off of satisfaction.

George Clooney on the Jack Ryan movie reboot?

Various sources including Slashfilm indicated that George Clooney might be interested in taking up the mantle of Jack Ryan, the hero of Tom Clancy novels and films like The Hunt For Red October and Patriot Games. Now there’s confirmation, via Anne Thompson, that Clooney’s name is indeed in the mix. But more important, the Hossein Aimini script that was commissioned last year to reboot the franchise, currently just the Untitled Tom Clancy Project, should arrive shortly, and then Paramount will be able to make a decision about really moving forward.

In December of last year, word came down that Killshot and Jude screenwriter Hossein Amini had been tasked by Paramount with scripting the revival of Jack Ryan’s onscreen persona. As I mentioned the other day, this would be a full reboot, and the idea is to use an original plot rather than an adaptation of one of Clancy’s novels. (Are all the novels optioned/spoken for, and if so how would they be held by anyone but Paramount? Doesn’t really matter, just a curiosity.) Going all-new is both a way to reintroduce the character and avoid the endgame of Clancy’s original plotting for Ryan, who in the novels becomes President of the United States.

I hadn’t thought much about Amini when I wrote on this the other day, but he’s an interesting choice. While his resume has many period pieces (Jude, Shanghai, The Four Feathers) those movies also feature doses of military influence, espionage and heightened tension between characters. I don’t think there’s one of his written films I really like (and in some ways I really dislike Jude) but he’s got a lot of the right ingredients to do something interesting.

On the Clooney note, the fact that Paramount is proceeding with a full reboot suggests that Clooney woulnd’t be the guy. Seems like a reboot would call for a younger lead. Clooney would also require a lot of control over script and director, though perhaps not the legendary Harrison Ford level of control. And, as Thompson points out, Clooney and Clancy aren’t exactly aligned politically.

source: Slashfilm

Animahenasyon 2009 Open for Entries

Animahenasyon 2009 now accepting entries until September 15

The Animation Council of the Philippines, Inc. (ACPI) is calling all budding and professional animators from across the country to participate and submit their animated works to Animahenasyon 2009: 3rd Pinoy Animation Festival, as it formally opens and accepts entries to this year's festival.

Entry forms may be downloaded from the ACPI web site at http://www.animationcouncil.org. The deadline for submission of entries is on September 15, 2009. Animahenasyon 2009 will be held from November 25-28, 2009 at the Gateway Mall Araneta Center.

In an effort to build an audience, awareness and development of original contents, ACPI puts together its flagship project through an annual animation festival called Animahenasyon that showcases original animated works of both aspiring and professional animators in the country through a competition.

The festival is composed of the professional and the student/amateur divisions that will have different running time categories: 1 to 5 minutes; 6 to 20 minutes, 21 to 60 minutes, and the full-animated feature (more than 60 minutes). There are also categories for music video, title sequence, public information, demo reel, and TV series. There will also be animated works in exhibition (full-length, special citation, and past Animahenasyon winners).

Last year's grand prize winner of Animahenasyon is Love and Marriage, a jab at the folly of racial prejudice in marriage, as seen through the eyes of its Chinese-Filipino filmmaker Kenny Lynn Tai. Love and Marriage is a narrative musical cartoon that relates the story of Chinese-Filipino interracial marriage, and a comic take on this long-standing issue in the Chinese society captured in 7.5 minutes. Tai graduated from De La Salle - College of Saint Benilde with a degree in Multimedia Arts, and is now a freelance animator.

This year's Animahenasyon will feature a global animation forum where delegates from the continents of North America, Latin America, Canada, Australia and the Asia-Pacific will come to the country and showcase the latest trends and best practices from their respective countries in the field of animation, game development and the digital creative industry in general.

These foreign representatives will present the current state/condition of their industry and feature sample contents from their country. These delegates will also bring with them a group of people for possible business matching in the Philippines. The global animation forum shall provide a venue for exchange among animators, producers, industry supporters, and possible business opportunities.

Animahenasyon 2009 will also include an investors' forum where business seminars would be held in conjunction with business meetings. The forum will cover content sales and distribution, outsourcing, co-production, financing and even for education partnerships. This assumes a full day, divided into six sessions of 60 minutes each for presentation with an open forum. This component of Animahenasyon shall help set direction for the development of the animation industry.

Also part of Animahenasyon 2009 is the animation master classes/ workshops, and exhibit of works of this year's lifetime achievement awardee Jose Zabala Santos, nephew of renowned artist Nonoy Marcelo.

Animahenasyon serves as a venue for Filipino animators to present their world-class ideas, and opens doors of opportunities for them to meet with and be inspired by the finest names in the industry. It also aims to create greater awareness of the Philippine animation industry and its contributions to the global entertainment business, while tapping locally produced content for promotion in animation markets here and abroad.

ACPI's vision is to make Philippines as the prime provider of animation and content creation services to the global marketplace. On the other hand, ACPI's mission is to be the center of excellence for animation and content creation services through building more efficient and effective collaborative business practices that will elevate the country's economy and culture.

As an organized body, ACPI aims to promote the Filipino talent both locally and internationally. With the cooperation of its members as well as the Philippine government, it is envisioned that the member studios and schools will be considered competitive both creatively and technologically.

ACPI is a non-stock and non-profit organization whose member companies specialize mainly in, but not limited to, 2D, Flash or 3D animation. It aims to promote the animation industry globally with the intention of creating an identity for the Philippines to be considered amongst the preferred countries that service the animation industry.

For more information about Animahenasyon 2009, please call 483-9501, 8172727 local 108 or email the secretariat at animationcouncil@gmail.com, or visit www.animationcouncil.org.

MMFF 09 Movies Announced (Another Round of Awful Movies)

They may deny all they want, but whether you like it or not, there is a great number of us who agree that the Metro Manila Film Festival is either 2 things: 1. A Laughing Stock when it comes to the craft of Cinema; or 2. A Sad Indication that the Mainstream Cinema of this country is still down on the filthiest of toilets.

Controversy, Cheating, Crass Capitalism and just an Awful Line-up of Awful Movies.
Those are things associated with the Metro Manila Film Festival.
This Festival of Movies that make Filipino Cinema awful is still in December, but they have already released a list of the entries:

MANO PO 6: MY MOTHER (Regal Films) with Sharon Cuneta, direction by Joel Lamangan - Why am I not surprised? The 6th movie of a franchise that has utterly no connection with the previous movies aside from the point of just cashing in on the title. This is a franchise that clearly highlights the IGNORANCE & SHEER LACK OF CREATIVITY of Regal Films.

SHAKE, RATTLE & ROLL XI (Regal Films) headed by Ruffa Gutierrez - Otro pa gd ini! This series franchise gradually died after around its part 6, and from that time, it has began to have a reputation of just COPYing other horror movies. Sheer LACK OF ORIGINALITY has been the best description of the Shake Rattle & Roll movies. I can only be sorry it had to be associated by its first 4 or 5 movies.

PANDAY (Imus Productions-GMA Films) with Bong Revilla, direction by Mac Alejandre - Again, our fat Senator THINKS HE LOOKS LIKE BRAD PITT or JASON STATHAM that he NEVER CEASES TO PUSH HIMSELF as an action hero. A Track record of unbearable Corniness of previous Bong Revilla movies made for MMFF is indication enough that this PANDAY movie will be sure as hell STUPID. It's FAT PANDAY who thinks hes a hunk!

As for these other movies, I have low expectations for them, but I honestly cannot really make baseless comments on these movies for now.

NIEVES (Regal Films) with Marian Rivera, direction by Mike Tuviera

JUAN with Dolphy and Willie Revillame, script and direction by Eric Quizon

IKAW NA NGA? (Star Cinema) with Kris Aquino and Eugene Domingo, direction by Wenn Deramas

ANG DARLING KONG ASWANG (M-Zet Productions) with Vic Sotto, direction by Tony Y. Reyes

WAPACMAN (Solar Films) with Manny Paquiao, direction by Topel Lee

Will these other movies prove me wrong on my opinion towards MMFF? It's possible, but NOT LIKELY. The people behind these movies are the same people who made similarly awful movies last year, so my hopes are not really up.

Villa Estrella

VILLA ESTRELLA: WOULD’VE BEEN BETTER IF SERVED WITH SIMPLICITY
By Reymundo Salao

Ana and the boyfriend she doesn’t love spend the night at a resthouse property known as Villa Estrella. And while they were there, she discovers many things about the place. The appearance of ghastly little girl and the strange disappearance of some other visitors who were there that evening. Not only is she faced with these eerie occurrences, but her own repressed memory is starting to unravel itself as well.

VILLA ESTRELLA had a good plot to work on, yet it falters in the execution. (And that ugly fucking poster this movie has, the generic horror movie type of poster) Oftentimes, at the earlier parts of the movie, the musical score just needlessly goes up trying to scare its audiences with cheesy horror-music but fails to do so because there is no build-up, no reason enough to back up the scare yet. One minute into the film, and you start scaring your audiences with shock-sound effects? What do you think your audiences are? Paranoid retards? I hate it when movies like this heavily underestimate its own audiences.

Its premature scare tactics are a liability to the film. The lack of build-up made one of the main monsters of the movie, which is the zombie-like ghost of a little girl, comes off as silly, ridiculous, and funny. Because there was no subtlety in her first appearance, as a consequence, her first appearance looks like a parody, this character becomes a walking joke, extinguishing her scary image.

The film swindles its audiences in a lousy kind of way that it only comes off as bad storytelling. It builds-up this creepy ghost child as its main villain, and then all of the sudden changes its course and completely forgets about that character, not giving her proper explanation or closure. Even if we were to assume that she was being prepped for a sequel, it was still a sloppy confusing exit for her. Then we immediately turn our attention to another villain. It feels like it attempts to look smart by trying to confuse its audiences, but we can clearly see that the story was just badly told, and comes of as stupid instead.

It was also silly to see the main villain at the end come off as something that looks like a villain from Darna or X-men. The storyline did not really need for the main villain to be thickly immersed in prosthetics. A good horror movie, especially with the kind of storyline this movie has, would be great enough if it were executed with simplicity and a little constraint. This is a fine example of a good horror story ruined by additives.

The cast did well. Shaina Magdayao was great as the main protagonist. Maja Salvador, who I found to be alluringly pretty, is excellent as a mysterious girl who also lives in Villa Estrella, Jake Cuenca did also quite well. The rest of the cast from Liza Lorena to the guy who played the comic relief of the movie were really good. The weakest link was Geoff Eigenmann, his acting was not really that bad, but there were scenes where his acting feels so B-movie. There was a scene where I feel like I would like to ask him: Are you dying? …or are you just constipated?

Truly the saving grace of the film is that it has a great storyline. The story is not very original, but at least it does not come off as a copycat (as far as I know of anyway, that's because I have not watched any of the other horror movies lately). In fact, the main storyline is a good one. Sure, it's a recycled storyline but it still holds up. The love triangle sub-plot is quite interesting, and for a mainstream tagalog movie, it is refreshing to find a love triangle that does not easily define which side the audiences root for. Shaina’s character does not come off as a typical protagonist because she was basically cheating on her boyfriend (arguably, of course), that is why Jake’s character is also the one other audiences sympathize with.

It is indeed frustrating to think that this movie could be so much better if only it had more constraint, and a bit more polished direction. If I was to give it a food analogy, this movie is not delicious, but quite edible. And in comparison, Transformers 2 was just all sugar, fatteners, MSG , and chemicals bad for your body. I’d rather spend my money on Villa Estrella.

Bill Nighy joins HARRY POTTER & the DEATHLY HALLOWS

British actor Bill Nighy who is best known for his roles such as Viktor in the Underworld movies, the voice of Davy Jones in the Pirates of the Caribbean sequels, and also memorable roles in Love Actually & Shaun of the Dead, is set to join the cast of HARRY POTTER & THE DEATHLY HALLOWS, where he will probably play the new Minister of Magic Rufus Scrimgeour, who succeeds previous Minister Cornelius Fudge in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

In an interview with the British website, The Independent, Nighy confirmed his recent casting in the "Deathly Hallows" duology. "I don't think I'm allowed to say it but I'm going to be in the next Harry Potter film," he tells us. "I won't say which character, but he's a goodie. I just got the gig." If you don't mind us saying, it's about time, Bill. The rangy actor has been dropping hints for aeons, once complaining that he was "the only British actor who hasn't been in Harry Potter". While he can't announce that he's playing new Minister of Magic Rufus Scrimgeour in the final film, Potter websites like The Leaky Cauldron are reporting that's the role he will be taking.

Production is underway on the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 and Part 2 under the direction of David Yates, based on a screenplay by Steven Kloves.

Transformers Meets the Gobot

Remember that cartoon series in the 1980's The Challenge of the GOBOTS? Yeah, theyre kinda like the Unitop version of Transformers, when actually Gobots came first. Anyway, the fame of Transformers has shrunk the Gobots totally. I think this video is based on actual events. Enjoy! (oh, and Johnny 5 from the movie Short Circuit also makes an appearance)