The Quantum of Solace trailer

Just One of the MANY Reasons why Mainstream Philippine Cinema is THE Lousiest

Marian Rivera: Versatile? ...NOT
by Reymundo Salao

Here is one story that shows us why mainstream Philippine Cinema has been in the pits of trash for so long. Philippine Entertainment Portal reports that Marian “Marimar” Rivera is shooting four (4) movies…simultaneously! Wow! Is this chick like a De Niro, a Pacino, or a Freeman, or WHAT!

One movie is “One True Love” which is going to be shown on November 19 …YES, that is just 16 days or a little more than two weeks from now… WOW! Now you know why you should NOT spend your hard earned money on the crappy movies these mainstream production companies make…it’s coz they do not even give it enough time to ensure that it will be a good movie. And guess what, as the report goes, it seems that they’re STILL SHOOTING the damned thing! (that’s coz this news report came out just today, November 3, 2008) I don’t know how long the post-production is going to take? 2 days? It’s like they’re making a high school project here! I don’t think even Spielberg can pull off a skill like that.

Marian is also shooting the 2 Metro Manila Film Festival entries namely “Desperadas 2” (the sequel to the Desperate Housewives RIP-OFF) and “Shake Rattle & Roll X” (which is the tenth of the horror franchise which has gone lousier and lousier ever since it had gone past the 4th movie). Oh and Marian is also having a guest role in another entry entitled “Scaregiver”

Is there something wrong with Marian having lots of sidelines? Nothing really. What we are up against here is not Marian. What we are complaining here is the system. We all know Marian has gone supernova up to stardom with Marimar. And it seems, so predictably of mainstream cinema, that it would do all it can to squeeze in as much cash from their new cash cow, which is the popularity of Marian. Again, there’s nothing wrong with this. But what is actually wrong here is 2 important reasons:
1. that in this process, it will be done at the expense of production quality. Because they want Marian in one too many movies, OF COURSE, the poor actress cannot possibly maximize her acting prowess; and the second reason is:
2. Anti-Piracy nuts taking the side of Philippine Showbiz always claim that Piracy destroys their livelihoods. They point to actors and actresses who have fallen to poverty as examples of their cause. Yet, in their hypocrisy, they do not even see that they, who are at the striking distance, in the front lines of being able to help these actors and actresses are the ones who do the sin of negligence. There are so many actresses out there, many of them far more talented than the ones these big companies parade before the media-zombified masses, yet these companies ignore the talented nobodies who struggle to break into getting attention… and fail. These companies are the first ones who destroy the ARTISTA by replacing them with talentless (ironically called) “talents” who are required not only to look good but also can sing and dance as well, in addition, the companies have a penchant for half-breeds who are so fucking rich in the first place.

So there you go… Just a LITTLE example of how mainstream tagalong cinema continues to be the smelly, lousy frogshit that it is. Want to support Philippine Cinema? Then what you do is BAN yourself from watching movies by Viva, Regal, Seiko, MZet, Imus, Star or GMA Films. Watch Pinoy Indie movies instead.

Nolan's BATMAN will not join The JUSTICE LEAGUE

Nolan's Batman won't join JUSTICE LEAGUE
By Rob M. Worley / mania.com
Source: L.A. Times Hero Complex blog

When Warner Bros. announced plans for a 'Justice League' movie, it drew plenty of consternation from fans. With Batman and Superman just relaunched as stand-along franchises, did it make sense to have different versions of those characters appearing in a separate franchise. When the project began to fall apart, rumor had it that grumbling from Christopher Nolan's camp was a contributing factor.

In an exclusive interview with the L.A. Times, Nolan talks about the prospect of his version Batman finding its way into a superhero crossover, in the same way we're seeing Marvel cross pollinate their movies. Nolan told the Times that the story he's told thus far does not fit into a larger universe.

"I don’t think our Batman, our Gotham, lends itself to that kind of cross-fertilization. It goes back to one of the first things we wrangled with when we first started putting the story together: Is this a world in which comic books already exist? Is this a world in which superheroes already exist?

"If you think of 'Batman Begins' and you think of the philosophy of this character trying to reinvent himself as a symbol, we took the position -- we didn’t address it directly in the film, but we did take the position philosophically -- that superheroes simply don’t exist. If they did, if Bruce knew of Superman or even of comic books, then that’s a completely different decision that he’s making when he puts on a costume in an attempt to become a symbol. It’s a paradox and a conundrum, but what we did is go back to the very original concept and idea of the character. In his first appearances, he invents himself as a totally original creation," Nolan said.

"It would have given a very, very different meaning to what Bruce Wayne was leaving home to do and coming back home to do and putting on the costume for and all the rest. We dealt with on its own terms: What does Batman mean to Bruce Wayne, what is he trying to achieve? He has not been influenced by other superheroes. Of course, you see what we’re able to do with Joker in this film is that he is able to be quite theatrical because we set up Batman as an example of intense theatricality in Gotham. It starts to grow outward from Batman. But the premise we began with is that Batman was creating a wholly original thing."

So, if the 'Justice League' movie ever does get made, and if Nolan has anything to say about it, it'll stay separate from his own bat-franchise.

Ash & the Evil Dead (A Halloween Focus)

He’s faced the Evil Dead… He’s fought the Army of Darkness… He’s…
ASH…
Hail to the King, baby!
By Reymundo Salao

(We already know Freddy, Jason, Chuckie, and even Sadako. But many of us forget this one horror icon who’s actually one of the most kickass characters
It is the dark ages, around 1300 AD; The King who is named Arthur his right-hand wizard’s name is Merlin too) raises his sword to threaten Ash, when all of a sudden a cracking boom stunned the king as the tip of his sword is blown off. The King stops to look at Ash, puzzled with what he’s done. Ash blows off the smoke from his gun and turns to the peasant crowd who just witnessed the amazing incident. The peasants of that land were simpleminded medieval folk; farmers, knights, horsemen, blacksmiths, and carpenters. They were at awe to what this stranger called Ash has to say to them: “Alright, you primitive screwheads; Listen up! See this? THIS is my BOOMSTICK! It’s a 12-gauge double-barreled Remington. S-Mart’s ‘Top-of-the-Line’! You can find this in the sporting goods department. That’s right; this sweet baby was made in Grand Rapid, Michigan. Retail’s for about a hundred-nine, ninety five It’s got a walnut stock, cobalt-blue steel, and a hair-trigger. That’s right, Shop Smart: Shop S-MART…
…YOU GOT THAT?!”
Yes, we’ve seen that scene before, and in case you haven’t, well, then you’ve got three movies to look for: EVIL DEAD (not the Asian movie of the same title), EVIL DEAD 2: DEAD BY DAWN, and EVIL DEAD 3: ARMY OF DARKNESS.

He’s not Macgyver, but he still manages to make a cybernetic hand with only a medieval gauntlet, and then he makes a propeller-armed battle tank out of a broken automobile, all in a matter of days. He’s the hero of the EVIL DEAD trilogy. His name is ASH (Full name: Ashley Williams), and he’s seen death one too many times, been possessed by evil demons more than once, managed to cut his own hand in the process, and fought the army of the dead. Not to mention, he had an affair with some chick in the dark ages. It may be that killer shotgun he carries around, or that kick-ass chainsaw he’s got for a hand, or maybe plainly just his wicked personality that makes him the kind of guy who would take on Superman, no sweat.

It’s no surprise that his existence is the work of real insane genius; he was created by Sam Raimi and Robert Tapert, the now-popular director of the successful Spiderman film franchise. His film has neither got critical acclaim, nor blockbuster prowess, but he remains as one of the most influential fictional characters that ever existed. Mainly because of a cult following that had become an entire nation of cult followers. His ardent fans all over the world are as diehard as any sci-fi/fantasy geek. He’s got more spin-off video games and action figures than Harry Potter or that forgettable hero of The MUMMY. ASH truly embodies the definition of a true CULT HERO.

Evil Origins
The Terror of the EVIL DEAD actually began when Archaeologist Dr. Raymond Knowby and his wife Henrietta traveled to the Castle of Kantar and unearthed the book known as The NECRONOMICON EX MORTIS. Legend has it that it was written by the dark ones. It serves as a passageway to the evil worlds beyond. But in Knowby’s incompetence, he brought it back to his cabin and there, he transcribed and recorded some of its incantations in an audio recorder. It was then when the evil was unleashed to sow terror upon Knowby, which resulted in their massacre.


It was much later when Ash and his friends were drawn into the cabin and there, the evil dead awaited to consume them. But Ash survives…

EVIL DEAD 4?
In regards to 'Evil Dead 4 Sam Raimi says, "There will be an Evil Dead 4, and there will ALSO be an Evil Dead Remake. The remake will be produced by Ghost House pictures, (his company with Robert Tapert) and it will star a new cast and a completely new director. The point of Ghost House is that we want to bring new directors (like Takashi Shimizu of "the Grudge" to Hollywood and give them a chance to make a good horror film."

On WHAT inspired him to allow the remake, Raimi said, "I love the original Dawn of the Dead, and I also really enjoyed the new Dawn of the Dead. I mean, they are both really great horror films. I want to let somebody with a fresh vision bring The Evil Dead to a new generation and a new audience with a different vision..."
Contrary to what Raimi told Mr. D, the remake will be Evil Dead 1 and 2 together, but remade with a higher budget and a new cast and crew. As for EVIL DEAD 4, reports have revealed that this project will push through and ASH’s adventures will continue his adventure fighting the Evil Dead…

A Very Special Love

A VERY SPECIAL LOVE
By Reymundo Salao

I usually avoid watching movies made by big production companies like Viva, Regal, Star Cinema, Seiko, & even GMA films because most of the movies they produce are the kind of movies that destroy Philippine cinema. Most especially sappy love stories that have titles from popular lovesongs; a long tolerated marketing technique in the local film industry that targets to sell a music album side-by-side its movie counterpart. But once in a while, there are a few projects that come off free from the kind of crap that destroy the reputation of local cinema and manages to be a decent movie. I can sometimes sense a good movie from a bad one through its trailers. And A Very Special Love had me curious about it because of its charming simplicity. And I kind of regretted not having watched this when it was released in theaters. I’m glad that it did not take long till the home video of this movie was released.

On paper, the synopsis of the movie is pretty simple; a young corporate prince who runs a big magazine publishing company is pressured to keep up with the success of the rest of the family, and the simple and charming young lady, who happens to be an employee of said company, who has had a crush on him. And the “patweetums” story of how they fell in love. But the film itself shows some interesting insights as to how their love story worked and made sense. Here’s the character of John Lloyd who always visits the grave of her mother who passed away. He longs for the time when her mother was still around and has felt that she was the only one who really loved him. Now comes Sarah’s character who, by a twist of circumstance and fate, shows John her caring, nurturing and loving side. Of course he falls in love with her, and most especially because Sarah’s cheery side soothed John’s temper in a way much similar to the fairy tale Beauty and the Beast.


The film is never perfect though; it has its flaws. At the turn of its second act, at the themesong sequences, the romantic corniness gets a bit sloppily out of hand. I'm talking about the "I told you to be close to me" scene. Those are among the few scenes that come of as corny. The movie quickly redeems when the love story starts to focus on the corporate family subplot, and with its best scene at the magazine relaunching party. Half of the story deals with John’s inner conflict with how he desperately tries to keep up with the corporate family, in which he is a son from a separate mother. John’s acting in this regard can really invite the sympathy and empathy of audiences. Sarah's character's cheerful baduyness comes off as subtle and realistic. Not too cartoonish like the crappy local Betty La Fea series. Sarah’s acting is quite a sunshine to watch. Her charm really carries the movie effortlessly.

Cathy Garcia Molina is the name of this film’s director and has really caught my attention the way she runs a tight ship on this boat. I immediately searched for some of her other movies, but I still have yet to sit down and watch them. A VERY SPECIAL LOVE is a movie that succeeds in a way that it really tells a story with real human characters. Most big production company movies on the romantic comedy genre always seem to play their roles in an intentionally pa-cute manner; synthetic and commercial. Even though its characters can be cartoonish at times, it never deviates from the storyline and never crosses the line of being a bad movie. It tackles the story without delaying on bullshit while it manges to thrown in its jokes that are really funny. The sequences and the twists of the storyline and the development of its characters get weaved together cleverly. When John’s and Sarah’s characters fall in love, it makes sense and does not feel like a forced pairing. Nothing seems to be just an incoherent coincidence in this movie. If I may also add that it was a smart move to make the film free from steamy love scenes, all we get in this cute romantic movie is a slight smack.

The only other shortcoming that the film has that I could think of, is that the film still feels that it did not maximize on its storyline and could have added more subplots or twists to enrich the movie even more. The storyline calls for interesting subject matters, such as the pressure of office romances, one that is between an employee and a boss. Another thing is that the film never gave a concrete closure to the subplot concerning the corporate family. One would think that John would have succeeded in proving his worth to his family by having the magazine he runs reach number one. Instead we see John quietly accepting his defeat. This ending can also be really impressive because we see the script’s discipline of making the twists and turns as realistic as possible. We may interpret it as John’s happy ending lies with finding the person he really loves, and putting the corporate world on the side for a change.

If you dig romantic comedies, A VERY SPECIAL LOVE is really one of those movies that are worth watching or keeping on your movie collection. Now, I’m wondering if Cathy Garcia Molina’s next film is worth the ticket despite the silly trailers…

Yudipuga! Ratner (man)handles CONAN!

EXTREMELY UNPLEASANT NEWS for CONAN the BARBARIAN fans. Although it is not even officially announced yet, or perhaps it still is officially just a rumor, I am cringing in doom knowing that BRETT RATNER, the director responsible for the really lousy RUSH HOUR movies, the forgettable RED DRAGON, and the trilogy-ruining pathetic X-MEN 3, is, as it seems for now at least, set to be the director of the next movie based on CONAN, the Robert E. Howard fictional character, which was also made into a movie CONAN THE BARBARIAN in 1982 by John Milius and was the breakthrough movie of Arnold Schwarzenegger.
SOURCE: AintItCool.com

Personal Opinion, Ratner's style is very commercial and sloppy, and I think if he ever was going to make a Conan movie, what he would do would be more of like the CONAN THE DESTROYER movie which was just awful and eventually closed down the CONAN franchise to an end. To those who are confused about the two movies, CONAN THE DESTROYER was the bad one which had Grace Jones and deleted the Asian friends of Conan from the first movie. While CONAN THE BARBARIAN is the one with James Earl Jones leading a snake cult. If you have not watched CONAN THE BARBARIAN, then your village may need to be raided and pillaged. Also look for its very divine soundtrack by Basil Poledouris.

Max Payne

HERE COMES THE PAYNE!
By Reymundo Salao

MAX PAYNE is a hardboiled police detective who lost his wife and new-born child to homicidal junkies in a murder incident. Constantly scouring for information as to who was really behind his family’s death, he stumbles upon a case that involves crazy witnesses who claim they’ve seen angels, and a new drug which was supposedly developed for the military. When his former partner turns up dead, Max becomes the prime suspect and is not only being hunted down by the police, but also being hunted down by mysterious people who seek to stop him from his investigation.

MAX PAYNE is the movie adaptation of the popular third-person shooter game of the same title. Many people refer to the Max Payne game as a rip-off of everything cool about action movies during the 1990's: from the slow-motion, ballistic ballet style of John Woo’s (specifically based on his signature movies such as "The Killer" and "Hardboiled") and also of other Hongkong movies, to the bullet-time visual style pioneered in “The Matrix” The irony being that this is a movie based on a game which is based on a number of movies. Putting it in a simplified manner is to say that this is a more stylized version of Dirty Harry.

MAX PAYNE would probably not please fans that prefer the movie to have an almost non-stop hardcore action from start to finish. But you will actually realize that the movie did not sell out because they did not do this; instead, the movie takes its time and paces well enough to respect the storyline that it presents. Audiences must be reminded that this is Max Payne: THE MOVIE, and by stating that, one must understand that this movie will not have gunfights every three minutes. Max Payne clears up the distinction between movie & video game. But don’t get me wrong; when the action kicks in, the action proves to be hardcore and ballistically kick ass. And speaking of ballistic, the sound of the movie is superb. The soundtrack and the sound effects stand out most especially in gunfight scenes. I could not tell what exact model of gun Max is carrying, or if such a model does exist, but when it shoots, it makes a beautifully explosive gunblast that I could only describe as a pocket howitzer.


The movie is graced by a plethora of familiar celebrity faces. We find the hot-as-hell delicious vixen goddess Olga Kurylenko in a brief steamy seduction scene (she will be seen next in the new James Bond movie "Quantum of Solace"), then playing her sister Mona Sax is the very alluring Mila Kunis, the constantly familiar Donal Logue as Alex Balder, Beau Bridges and Chris O'Donnell also appear. On the other hand, former rapper Ludacris (who's also seen in other movies) has a role and shows us that his acting talent is barely satisfactory, while singer Nelly Furtado, who also appears, shows us that HER acting talent doesn’t really count as "talent". Mark Wahlberg is swiftly shaking off his prettyboy image with this movie. He's been doing it ever since he did movies like Four Brothers and The Departed, probably chasing after the throne of Jason Statham in the most bad-ass action hero category. And indeed he does so well in this movie, where he effectively plays a guy who seems like he’s always on a warpath. A real sunshine killer.

Director John Moore and his crew did a great job in the movie. The movie is visually exhilarating, and the monochromatic look it has is beautiful, and because of this, it has a sense of noir cop movie feel, the element of Dirty Harry that many cop movies have copied, and the same storyline of vengeance-creates-vigilante reminiscent of Death Wish and a hundred more films. Obviously the storyline of Max Payne is never original. There were even many moments wherein the storytelling falters, but not in a blatant obvious and sloppy manner. Most of the errors and shortcomings of this movie are the type that mostly critics would notice and nitpick. Although I expected the action of the movie to be twice as hardcore violent and as rated-R as it should be, the movie delivers satisfactorily well enough. The movie knows very well that it isn’t perfect, it succeeds in giving audiences an action flick explosive enough and a story interesting enough, only to entertain. Action-lovers and cop movie lovers will most especially love this ass-kicking flick. A single gun-imitating thumb up for this one.


SPOILER: If you're turned-off by the angel scenes in the trailer, well, this isnt Hellblazer Constantine, the angels are just drug-induced hallucinations

Is MARTIN SCORSES & OLIVER STONE REALLY coming to the CINEMANILA FilmFest? ...HINDE

Cinemanila Official Site clears up & debunks the rumors
source: Business World Online
Article by JOHANNA D. POBLETE
click HERE for the full article

While recognition for Lifetime Achievement has been given to visiting celebrity guests in recent years, the rumors that either directors Martin Scorsese or Oliver Stone will attend the festival and receive some kind of citation are still just that, rumors.

Mr. Scorsese has evinced an interest in the Philippines’ film heritage, but will not be coming this year as the Cinemanila organizers, due to a lack of funds, missed the deadline set in June for securing plane tickets for him and his entourage. (There is an ongoing campaign to encourage Mr. Scorsese to visit the Philippines through a petition on martyinmanila.blogspot.com.) Meanwhile, arrangements with Mr. Stone have yet to be made, with the organizers holding out hope that the director, through his W producer Teresa Cheung, will still agree to come to the festival even at this late date.

Someone who will be at the festival to receive his Lifetime Achievement Award is screenwriter Pete Lacaba. Mr. Aguiluz said it was high time that Mr. Lacaba be recognized for his contributions to cinema, noting that India (by virtue of a working relationship fostered between Mr. Lacaba and Indian director Aruna Vasudev, Cinemanila lifetime achievement awardee in 2006) was quicker than the Philippines to do it. "Pete deserves to be a National Artist for cinema, bakit hindi (why not)?... Lahat ng pelikula ni Lino napunta sa Cannes, sinong sumulat? Si Pete Lacaba. (Every Lino Brocka film that went on to Cannes was written by Pete Lacaba)," said Mr. Aguiluz.

As to the persistent demand for foreign celebrity guests, Mr. Aguiluz has this to say: "We’re making an effort guys. We’ve already delivered. We brought Fernando Mireilles, we brought Quentin Tarantino. Our budget hasn’t improved, and you want us to bring Cameron Crowe? Then when they come, nobody will help us feed them. Get real, you guys, we’re not Imelda [Marcos], we’re just a bunch of guys trying to run the festival.

"From the beginning, we’ve declared that our stars are the films, you have to accept that, appreciate that. We’ve just delivered the movies that hire our stars. We never said we’re here to bring Tom Cruise, we’ve never packaged it like that... the priority is always the program, the films, and there should be nothing wrong with that."