LibreViews

Child's play Review by Vives Anunciacion Inquirer Libre September 24, 2007 Directed by George Ratliff Exclusive at Ayala Cinemas Remember the original The Omen? Not the remake last year. That movie (which wasn’t really scary back in 1976 but then so was the remake) was first to show how a creepy mop-top kid can make a movie creepy. Or was it the 1956 classic The Bad Seed? That had a girl in pigtails. Anyway, Joshua has strong references to horror movies of old (hence, the mop-top). Joshua isn’t a horror movie though. It’s possibly psychological, but damn if it’s thriller; although it does offer a thing or two for post-movie discussions. It’s a little suspenseful. That’s it. Joshua (Jacob Kogan) couldn’t care less the day his new baby sister Lily arrives at their upscale Upper Manhattan condo. Each day that passes something bizarre happens (in case you miss the days, there’s a day counter onscreen). One day baby Lily starts crying and doesn’t stop. On another the dog mysteriously di...

Pride chickens Review by Vives Anunciacion Inquirer Libre, September 19, 2007 Directed by Dennis Dugan Here’s a “gay” movie for straight people minus the homophobic guilt. I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry is the everyday man’s attempt to understand what gay people in the West have been fighting for for many years. Best friends Larry (Kevin James) and Chuck (Adam Sandler) are typical Brooklyn firefighters who do very manly stuff everyday. Chuck is the playboy ladies man while recently widowed Larry raises his two kids by himself. An insurance loophole prevents Larry from transferring his dead wife’s benefits to his children, so he asks Chuck to pretend to be his gay domestic partner so he can still apply for the benefits. Enter a very nosy anti-fraud investigator Fitzer (Steve Buscemi) who’s dying to prosecute the two as soon as he proves the partnership is a fake. Larry and Chuck then hire lawyer Alex (Jessica Biel) to help them prove their gayness to the City, except Chuck has the...

The subversive Review by Vives Anunciacion Inquirer Libre September 12, 2007 Directed by Neil Jordan Starring Jodie Foster, Terrence Howard R13/ 119 minutes Warner Brothers/ Silver Pictures She was 12 years old when she portrayed a prostitute in Martin Scorsese’s classic Taxi Driver. She won her first Oscar as a rape victim in The Accused. Jodie Foster is known to take on strong roles, even as she traded barbs in Inside Man , between Clive Owen and Denzel Washington. A French director once compared her to God’s perfect acting machine. So what is she doing in The Brave One ? She becomes an action star. Foster plays radio commentator Erica Bain who spends her off-time recording everyday sounds of New York City and then makes romantic observations of the city’s decay in her show called Street Walk. While walking her dog in Central Park one night, Erica and her fiancé David (Naveen Andrews) are violently mugged. She wakes up after three weeks in a coma only to find out David dead. Erica...

Russian Cooler Review by Vives Anunciacion Inquirer Libre September 7, 2007 Directed by Timur Bekmambetov Based on the novels by Sergei Lukyanenko and Vladimir Vasiliev R13/ 132minutes Fox Searchlight/ Channel One Dubbed in English Can the forces of darkness prevail over the forces of light? Can Russian filmmakers make a horror fantasy movie as gritty and stylized as Hollywood can make them? Can you say Timur Bekmambetov faster than you can say Wachowski Brothers? Day Watch (Dnevnoy Dozor) is the second part of the Russian mega-hit horror-fantasy series ala The Matrix and Underworld beginning with Night Watch (Nochnoy Dozor). In the series, the supernatural forces of the world known as the Others are divided between light and darkness, and an ancient truce guards the balance between the two. To preserve the truce, the Light Others conduct the Night Watch while the Dark Others conduct the Day Watch so neither side tips the balance. An inquisition set up by both sides punishes those w...