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Wow, heavy Review by Vives Anunciacion Inquirer Libre July 25, 2008 Review in Filipino and English Directed by Christopher Nolan Based on characters created by Bob Kane and Jerry Robinson Starring Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart It’s a thoroughly well-crafted, well-written, thought-provoking Hollywood blockbuster. Pero andaming issues. It’s still a superhero movie. In fact it presents quite a number of themes, mostly moral ambiguities and duality of characters, na siniksik nang maigi at ipinagkasya in two and a half hours. Sabi nga ni Joker, why so serious? Spoilers beware. In Christopher Nolan’s sequel to the critically-acclaimed 2005 mega hit Batman Begins , Batman (Christian Bale) unofficially joins forces with the police, led by by Lt. Gordon (Gary Oldman) and District Attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) in cracking down Gotham’s criminals, to the point when hundreds of them are indicted in court en masse. The crackdown seems to be working, until a strange creature com...

Kung ‘kay tabatchoy Review by Vives Anunciacion Inquirer Libre June 13, 2008 review in Filipino Directed by Mark Osborne, John Stevenson Featuring the voices of Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, Lucy Liu, Jackie Chan Galit ako sa mga tamad. Sa mga panahon ngayon, bawal ang katamaran. Pero sa mga panahon ding ganito nakakatulog ang kaunting aliw. Si Po (boses ni Nacho Libre Jack Black) ay isang matabang panda na parang Juan Tamad - maghapong nangangarap maging pinakamahusay na Kung Fu fighter sa buong China, mas mahusay pa kaysa sa Furious Five na kaniyang iniidolo. Kahit na sa gitna ng pagwe-waiter niya sa maliit na noodle restaurant nila ng kaniyang ama, nangangarap pa rin siya. Kaya nang marinig niya ang announcement na pipiliin na ni Shaolin Master Oogway (Randall Duk Kim) ang Dragon Warrior na magiging tagapagtanggol ng Valley of Peace, agad binitawan ni Po ang mga hawak na bowl at kumaripas patungong templo. Doon nag-e-exhibition ng martial arts ang mga estudyante ni Mas...

Prince charming Review by Vives Anunciacion Inquirer Libre June 5, 2008 Review in Filipino and English Directed by Andrew Adamson Based on the book by C.S. Lewis Starring Ben Barnes, Wiliam Moseley, Anna Popplewell, Georgie Henley, Skandar Keynes Kamukha ni Prince Caspian si Albert Martinez. Yung bagets version. Yun yung una kong napansin sa The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. Yung next ko na napansin, nagmamature na yung mga kids ng Narnia, may halo nang teen love story eh. Pangalawa ang Prince Caspian sa The Chronicles of Narnia series of books and films, matapos ang The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, last seen in 2005. Sa chapter two ng Narnia series, an assassination plot will force Prince Caspian (played by Brit actor Ben Barnes) to hide from his scheming uncle Miraz (played by Sergio Castellitto) who has declared himself king of Telmarine and taken the throne para sa sarili niya. Mapapadpad si Caspian sa kagubatan ng Narnia kung saan nagtatago ang mga magical creatures, ...

Happiness is a warm gun Review by Vives Anunciacion Inquirer Libre March 5, 2008 Directed by Julie Taymor Featuring music by the Beatles Starring Evan Rachel Wood, Jim Sturgess Usually, songs for movie musicals are written around the same time the movie is made, but in Across the Universe the songs have existed before the story was written. It’s not a musical about the Beatles, there’s just a lot of Beatles songs along with the simple story. So it’s not surprising if you find yourself singing along with the songs inside the theater. The entire movie is a series of music videos strung together by a thin narrative called a love story between Brit dock worker Jude (Jim Sturgess, who was probably cast in the role because he sounded like Paul McCartney) who goes to the States in search of his dad, but ends up falling for high school senior sweetheart Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood, who actually sounds good.) Pretty soon the movie is populated by persons with names taken from Beatles songs. Narrativ...

Fire and brimstone Review by Vives Anunciacion Inquirer Libre February 21, 2008 Written and Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson Based on Upton Sinclair’s novel “Oil!” Starring Daniel Day-Lewis Nominated for 8 Oscars As the title promises, there will be blood. There is a pervasive sense that something scary or terrible is about to happen in the movie, even if nothing ghostly ever does. It’s not a horror movie, but it can get so creepy it’s close to being one. There is something scary in P. T. Anderson’s latest work, and it’s the creature called Daniel Plainview who is a monster of a human if there is one, a soulless brute of anger spewed from the depths of evil. In Daniel Plainview’s own terms he is an oil man, a self-made prototype American businessman who literally broke back and bones picking for silver in rocks before drilling for crude oil in the deserts of California in the early 1900s. For the first 11 minutes of the movie, not a word is spoken, only the sound of Daniel’s pick and a...

Brothers in Arts Review by Vives Anunciacion Inquirer Libre December 14 2007 Directed by Ben Affleck Based on the novel by Dennis Lehane Starring Casey Affleck In Ben Affleck’s world, people matter. Families matter. That’s why in his directorial debut Gone Baby Gone, establishing locations and beauty shots of lower Boston don’t matter (they’re in the movie, but they’re not emphasized). It’s quite noticeable that people are always talking in Gone Baby Gone, many times in close-ups, because that’s what matters – people communicating, interacting and dealing with each other. And because family is important, Ben hired his brother, Casey, to star in his show. The movie deals with the kidnapping of four year old Amanda McCready and the search and investigation that followed her disappearance. Ben’s younger brother Casey Affleck plays Patrick Kenzie, the private investigator hired by Amanda’s aunt Bea (Amy Madigan) to investigate the case, despite the best efforts of the police, led by Capt. ...

Reviews by Vives Anunciacion Inquirer Libre Nov 30, 2007 (The first paragraph was edited out from the print version due to lack of space) I’m not sure if these films are still out in local cinemas, masyadong maraming pwedeng panoorin – mag-monkey, monkey na lang kung ano ang uunahin. I have yet to see the John Lloyd-Bea starrer One More Chance, but I figure it will stay in theaters for two or more weeks. Palabas na rin ang Pasukob nina Rufa Mae at AiAi at ang The Kingdom. Para dun sa mga napanood ko, first there’s Superbad which should be in its third week or so of successful run, if it’s still out. Now I’m wondering why it took me too long to see it. Superbad, Directed by Greg Mottola Similar to American Pie pero mas mahusay ang pagkakasulat at kung minsa’y nakakabaliw sa kalokohan, mas marumi ang bibig nito patungkol sa kalibugan pero hindi kabastusan ang punto ng dialogue. Tatlong magbe-bestfriend na nerdy-nerdy students have arranged their way into attending one of the last parties...