Photos from the upcoming Conan the Barbarian

In case you didn’t know, a new CONAN THE BARBARIAN movie is being made. It is directed by Marcus Nispel and stars Jason Momoa (from Stargate Atlantis) as the title character Conan. It also features (the Avatar villain) Stephen Lang as the movie’s villain Khalar Zym; Ron Perlman (Hellboy himself) as Conan’s father Corin, and also stars Rose McGowan and Rachel Nichols. Dolph Lundgren had spoken to the producers in November 2009 for an unspecified role. Filming began on March 15, 2010 and concluded on June 5, 2010. The movie is set for a 2011 release, but no specific date has been announced yet.

Personally I am an enormous fan of the first Conan the Barbarian movie which stars Arnold Schwarzenegger and directed by John Milius (I hate the sequel Conan the Destroyer). Conan the Barbarian remains as one of my top 5 favorite films of all time. Because of that, I am pretty much updating on how the new movie would go.

The photos of Momoa that had been released earlier was, for me, very disappointing. I hated the way he looked. He looked too tame. Too “muscular pretty boy”. I was afraid Conan would become this posterboy for something really dumb, silly, and annoying. Conan should be scary. He should look like an animal, or even worse. Beastly with a regal aura. He’s NOT supposed to be a pretty boy.

Well, the recent photos have been redeeming so far. These new photos kinda cured my hopelessness for this project. These photos do look a bit better in the sense of showing a Conan that is more beastly than just some dumb pretty boy. Let’s all just hope that this will be as magnificent as the original.

Jerrold Tarog's Short Film "Faculty" is something YOU SHOULD Check out

At 1 am in the morning, I find myself very rabidly advertising to my facebook friends this short film i have just seen entitled FACULTY by Jerrold Tarog. At 7 minutes long, I have gotten this immense cinematic orgasm not many movies can deliver in the usual full length running time.

YOU have got to see this short film. It says a LOT about the Philippine Educational System and Filipino Society also... This is more of an appeal than a request :)



This movie is directed by Jerrold Tarog and is actually a part of ANC's amBisyon 2010 Film Festival. Here is a very brief interview of Tarog in this video clip...

New Movies this Week

Better late than never; RESIDENT EVIL: AFTERLIFE was released last Friday, but it was not available in 3D. It is only this week that the 3D version of this movie is available. There really is nothing special about this movie; many may even consider it a bad movie; it is pretty much heavy on the B-movie popcorn factor which may upset critics and bore some audiences. But with the 3D technology used, it makes the movie worth watching. After all, many audiences may wanna watch it just for the 3D, may it be a dumb film or not.

What's fresh this week is GOING THE DISTANCE, which is the romantic comedy starring Drew Barrymore and Justin Long. It's story is basically about the ups and downs of a long distance relationship. And then there's BAD SPIRITS which its original international title is UNDER THE MOUNTAIN, it is a 2009 film based on the 1979 novel by New Zealand author Maurice Gee, about a pair of teenage twins travel of Auckland to stay with relatives after the death of their mother. There, they are contacted by a strange man from their past, who reveals to them a great secret hiding beneath the volcanoes of the countryside. Since the movie is released in 2009, a DVD copy of it is already available in various sources. 

On extended screening is SA 'YO LAMANG which is something to watch in case you have not watched it. We have two strong and reliable film reviews that strongly recommend this movie [REVIEW 1, REVIEW 2]. It really is a Pinoy movie to be proud of.

Resident Evil 5 movie is Going to Happen, according to Jovovich

Paul WS Anderson is brilliant, not in the sense of being a film-maker, but in the sense that he ends each and every Resident Evil movie with a cliffhanger, so much so that those who liked the movie would crave for a sequel. I remember As for me, I dont care if it's a dumb, silly, ridiculous, or even a bad ending, there's just something about it that makes you curious how they will continue this on the yet-to-be-made sequel. And yes, Resident Evil 5 is happening...

Milla Jovovich’s movie Resident Evil: Afterlife opened this weekend, and the actress is already gearing up for the series' next installment. "This new Resident Evil  is the first one to ever open at No. 1 worldwide. It’s the biggest movie in the franchise," she told us, while hosting the Mercedes-Benz Tea Party at Lincoln, the new restaurant at Lincoln Center. “So we’re definitely going to make another one,” she said, adding that director Paul W.S. Anderson, her husband, already has some ideas for the fifth Resident Evil  installment, and this time he wants the audience's ideas, too. "We’ve been talking to a lot of fans on Twitter and stuff, so it’s probably going to be one of the first movies where we really talk to fans to see what they want, and what characters they want to see. It's going to be a more interactive process."

SOURCE: nymag.com

Cine Europa in Metro Manila

Those of you who are currently in Metro Manila or planning to go to Manila or Cebu this week, or next week, may wanna check out Cine Europa, which is an annual event that brings excellent films from 17 European countries to the Philippines, and is now getting bigger and better as it turns 13. And here's the best part - ADMISSION IS FREE. Yes, Cine Europa started holding free screenings in the Philippines in 1998.

The festival kicked off on September 9—with public screenings from 10th to 19th at the Cinema 2 of Shang Cineplex in Shangri-La Plaza Mall, Mandaluyong City—the film festival aims to give the Filipinos more than a glimpse of Europe's rich culture through the silver screen. This year's selection of movies, carefully handpicked to cater to the tastes of Pinoys,  covers a wide breadth of emotions—love, laughter, hope, despair, survival, courage, and even steadfastness.

From Manila, Cine Europa will then move to Ayala Center in Cebu, from September 22 to 24, and then to Liceo de Cagayan de Oro, from  September 30 to October 3. Too bad, no Iloilo. [screening sked & list of movies is at the JPEG file here]

SPECIAL SCREENING. And to foster a more vibrant and engaging rapport with Filipino stakeholders in the industry, the Goethe Institut in Manila will hold a special screening of The Laughing Star on September 15 at the Alliance Francaise, Makati City.

The film is a documentary of multi-awarded German film maker Werner Schroeter that tackles Philippine history starting from the Spanish revolution to the Marcos regime. The idea came about after he was invited to the Manila International Film Festival in 1983, and got completed after consultations with the UP Film Center and friends from the Philippine movie industry as well as historical research.

Unfortunately last April 12, Mr. Schroter died. He could no longer fulfill his wish, which is to come back to the Philippines. But his good friend, Austrian Peter Kern, also the producer of Laughing Star, is continuing his legacy.

What's Showing Updates: "Resident Evil: Afterlife" not available in 3D

LATEST UPDATE: I had an unpleasant surprise yesterday. It appears that there is no 3D version of the movie RESIDENT EVIL AFTERLIFE in our theaters here in Iloilo City. I was informed that the distributors did not send a 3D version of the movie here in Iloilo. Also remaining on 3D cinemas this week is Despicable Me. We initially reported that a 3D version of RESIDENT EVIL AFTERLIFE will be replacing DESPICABLE ME in 3D cinemas this week. That report is incorrect now.

On ther other hand, Wednesday, which is the usual Change Picture Day, saw the opening of only one movie; VAMPIRES SUCK. [Pls Check Our Consensus Report on this Movie] Another new movie will open this week, but it will open on Friday (September 10, 2010); that movie is RESIDENT EVIL 4: AFTERLIFE. The Philippine release date for this movie will coincide with its international release date.

A General Consensus: VAMPIRES SUCK is a Waste of Time and Money

As a personal opinion and also part of my sort of critique of it, I think the TWILIGHT series is one of the silliest things to come out of cinema, and I can also see how hilariously dumb this series can be, if ever somebody would make a spoof or parody of it. But that does not mean that all Twilight jokes are funny. If you enjoy watching Twilight jokes that are NOT funny, VAMPIRES SUCK must be the movie for you.

It appears that the whole world agrees that VAMPIRES SUCK is CORNY. Obviously because this movie is directed by the corniest film directors on Earth: the directorial duo of Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer.

Bill Gibron of filmcritic.com says: "This movie, from these no talent writer/directors Friedberg and Seltzer, fails to find anything remotely winning with its hunt and peck sense of humor. While the subject provides ample opportunity for full on spoofing (including the mannered acting work of Twilight throbs Stewart, Pattinson, or Lautner), Friedberg and Seltzer come up short -- incredibly bad movie short. They aim low...and then miss. Vampires Suck should have been the final word on all things Team Edward and Jacob. Instead, it ends up being nothing more than Team Terrible."

John Gholson of Cinematical.com says "Vampires Suck is almost bad enough to make me pity the Twilight film series for being the subject of such limp, toothless mockery"

On Spill.com, Korey Coleman said on his audio review of Vampires Suck that his harsh criticism and self-proclaimed hatred of Friedberg and Seltzer comes from the fact that he believes that their films are lowering the standards of the spoof genre and cinema in general. Korey Coleman then offered $500 to anyone who physically assaults Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer, $1000 if they capture the assault on camera.

There are so many Twilight jokes and parodies on Youtube, funnier than the jokes of Vampires Suck, it's a shame that a film company actually spent money to produce something from the (tested and proven) corniest writer/directors working in Hollywood. In the website Rottentomatoes.com where a consensus of numerous film reviews are posted, Vampires Suck scores a 6% in rating. Probably the lowest rated movie this year so far. So before you go and spend more than a hundred peso for this movie, go ask yourself; are you going to be wasting your money and time for this garbage?

Hobo with a Shotgun is about to come and blast into Cinemas

Many of you in the U.S. areas may have already seen MACHETE. Unfortunately, here in the Philippines, we're still awaiting when the released date would be; that is, if ever it gets released here anyway... Right after MACHETE, another Grindhouse fake trailer has been turned into a full-length movie, and that's HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN.

Hobo with a Shotgun, directed by Jason Eisener, was initially a fake trailer made for an international contest to promote the release of Quentin Tarantino & Robert Rodriguez's double feature Grindhouse. It won the contest, and was screened in Canada as part of the actual release of Grindhouse. Other versions of the Grindhouse movie does not include this trailer. [check out the original H.W.A.S. fake trailer...]



Ever since he won the Grindhouse trailer competition there was talk of a feature version of HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN and now it's finally happening. A feature-length version of Hobo With a Shotgun began principal photograpy in Halifax on April 19, 2010. A teaser trailer (including behind-the-scenes and test footage) was released on April 26, 2010. Dave Brunt, who played the homeless man in the trailer, will play a cop in the film.

Hobo With a Shotgun is the second of Grindhouse's fake trailers to be turned into a feature film, the first being Rodriguez's Machete. It is officially set for release sometime around Spring 2011. [now here's the trailer of the full-length movie...]

Sa 'Yo Lamang

Sa 'Yo Lamang: Powerful, Flawless, and Inevitably Destined to be a Classic
by Reymundo Salao

[THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS. The Spoiler-free Review can be found HERE]

The Alvero family seems to be a simple happy family. Amanda Alvero lives with her children; her eldest daughter Dianne whose successful career has made her act as the breadwinner of the family. Then there's Coby who was influenced to take up the Nursing course because of it being a career that promises financial abundance, James who is a smart achiever in college, and Lisa who is a young teenager in High School.

Their harmony is suddenly disrupted when Franco, their estranged father of the family resurfaces and tries to reunite with the family. Although Amanda and the other children welcome him with open arms, Dianne is still bitter about the fact that he abandoned them years ago. And this poses a tension within the family.

On the other hand, we find out that Dianne's strict rules imposed on her siblings are eventually coming to a head; Coby reveals his angst about Nursing course not actually his choice, and James' desperation towards getting a high grade leads him to resort in cheating. Ironically, Dianne's own personal love life is tarnished with sheer imperfection.

Honsetly, this may be the first movie I have watched in the theaters that I really have no idea what it is about; I have not seen the trailer for this, I have not even read the synopsis for this. I just watched it because I knew that it was directed by Laurice Guillen. And I was indeed in for a cinematically pleasant surprise. I loved this movie very much, and I consider it one of those rare Tagalog Mainstream movies that are extremely excellently well made, with an almost flawless quality. Obviously, movies like this are destined to be classics.

This movie is a solid in the manner of drawing very impressive and powerful performances from its actors and actresses, and is able to achieve a very effective storytelling, so much so that each dialogue is profoundly meaningful, the characters have real depth in their personalities, and the situations are truly challenging. There is an incredible degree of coherence in Laurice Guillen's directing, given the fact that the story introduces numerous characters and still is able to give them abundant character development, even though some of their screen times are only brief.

There is a scene in which Coco Martin's character is talking with somebody who is obviously a fling of his. The dialogue only lasts more or less a minute, but it immediately makes you understand both characters. The "secret daughter" who is also in a scene that lasts not more than maybe three minutes; her scene is brief but her character immediately bonds with the audience. 

I am also glad that this scene is devoid of awkward acting. Many Tagalog movies tend to have that pattern of possessing one, two, or twenty scenes with awkward acting, script, and sequence. The scene at the end when Coco Martin plays a guitar on the deathbed of one of the characters could have easily been one of those, but fortunately, the pacing was so good that the scene was not prolonged, avoiding such awkwardness to exist.

I was impressed that Bea's Dianne characterization was imperfect; she was sort of an asshole herself for fooling around with Diether, a pattern that makes sense if you take into consideration that Dianne is very much similar to her parents. I loved how the scene where her character was screaming her stress off, and was immediately extinguished by the character of Diether goofing around. It's as if Guillen both utilized and parodied this overused sequence in Tagalog dramas. 

This movie bombards you with powerful performances; extremely high powered dramatic performances that just come one after the other. And not in a very exaggerated manner, but with a disciplined good pacing. Even though it is a heavy tear-jerker, it is not much of a tragedy. Sure, one of the characters did die, but this storyline was done with a bittersweet sensibility and it laid a feeling of hope, optimism, and redemption in the end; it closes with a happy ending. 

Excellently and brilliantly weaved together into a dramatic masterpiece, Sa 'Yo Lamang is something that will surely become a Timeless Filipino Classic.