Tag: reviews

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Casablanca

Casablanca is one of those classic movies everybody loves. It is essentially about a love triangle. Rick was living a perhaps discontented but relatively peaceful life running a bar in Casablanca. That tranquility was shattered when Ilsa, a women he hoped to never see again, walked in his bar along with her husband Viktor. They need a way to get away from the Nazis and Rick has the means to make that happen. Torn between conflicting emotions he must make a decision. In the end, he makes a decision that reveals his true nature. It is no happy ending. But that’s fine since it’s how things go in real life anyway.

Rating: 5/5

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Tribu

I went to CCP with my sis to watch the screening of Tribu, an entry to the Cinemalaya film festival. She was the Production Manager for the film so she had to be there. I, on the other hand, wanted to see her work as well as maybe rub shoulders with the artsy fartsy filmmaking crowd.

Tribu is about Tondo and its street gang culture. Interestingly, the gang culture as portrayed in the film seem to have mirrored US gang culture with rap and hip-hop occupying a big part. This is, according to my sister, actually the reality. In fact, the production team really tried to portray Tondo as accurately as possible. Though I felt that some dialog seem contrived, I suppose it is to establish the fact that the characters have dreams… dreams that are being shattered by poverty and gang violence. Of course, it could have been done more implicitly and less explicitly. Quite a problem with many films. But overall, it is relatively good.

After the screening, I walked around the lobby taking a few photos. It’s just a month since I took a break from playing with my DSLR and man do my photos tonight suck (more than the usual)! I need to go do more shoots.

UPDATE: Tribu won Best Film, Best Actor (Ensemble) and Best Sound. Congratulations sis!

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Children Of Men

Children Of Men is set in a gray dystopian London of the future. Mankind is on the verge of extinction because of no children being born for previous eighteen years. The world is in chaos as desperation and gloom set in. Theo (Clive Owen) was contacted by Julian (Julianne Moore) to help her with a mission. The initially reluctant Theo eventually was convinced. What happens next is a frantic run while being chased by those who would stop the mission. During the whole thing, Theo doesn’t go around dispatching his enemies left and right but he’s as heroic as any, more so even. Some claim this movie is the new Blade Runner. I’m not quite sure about that but it is nonetheless a good sci-fi/action movie.

Rating: 4/5

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Transformers

Transformers is the movie version of the Transformers animated TV series. Like the TV series, it is about the battle between two opposing groups of ‘bots: The goodie goodie Autobots and the evil Decepticons. I’ve never been a fan of the TV series. So I’m sure I wasn’t able to completely appreciate this movie version. Still, I liked it well enough especially since the ‘bots were much more intricate and complex than their TV series version and the action much more frenetic. Yes, it is first and foremost an action movie and it provided a lot of action kicks. You can’t help but be thrilled as the ‘bots transformed, ducked, spun, and pummeled, and shot at each other. This was especially true during the climactic battle in the middle of the city. Buildings and rampaging ‘bots: always a great combination. And human military forces weren’t so bad either. Aside from the action, there was a little bit of comedy, romance, and drama thrown in for good measure. Good movie. Now can somebody please make something like this for Robotech?

Rating: 4/5

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Heroes

I’ve been marathon watching Heroes. It was much more interesting than I expected. It’s basically about otherwise normal people manifesting powers. It’s a recurring theme used in stories like X-Men. But this one focuses on the ordinary lives of the characters as they interleave with the main plot line. One thing I really liked: The heroes don’t wear fancy hero costumes. Why would anyone want to wear colorful, tight-fitting clothes anyway?

At the rate I’m going, I should be done by the middle of next week. Looking forward to it.

Rating: 4/5

UPDATE: I’ve finally completed it. What can I say? The season ender was majorly anti-climactic. What a bummer!