LibreViews

Review by Vives Anunciacion Once on this Island Musical Directed by Bart Guingona Written by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens Featuring Raki Vega, May Bayot, Jett Pangan, Menchu Lauchenco-Yulo Choreography by Denisa Reyes Lighting by John Batalla Musical Direction by Rony Fortich Actors’ Actors Inc. / Silang Onstage at the CP Romulo Auditorium, RCBC Towers Feb 3, 4 and 5 at 8pm The first time it was magical; the second was sheer joy. Actors’ Actors Inc. hits the high notes again in the third staging of the wildly successful musical Once on this Island. This time it’s pure fun. Ti Moune (Raki Vega) is a peasant orphan in the care of adoptive parents Tonton Julian (Bodjie Pascua) and Mama Euralie (May Bayot). Her simple life is turned upside down one day when she discovers young Beauxhomme aristocrat Daniel (Gian Magdangal) in a car crash. The gods of Earth, Water, Love and Death lay a wager on whether Love or Death would determine Ti Moune’s life. Believing the island’s gods have answe...

Review by Vives Anunciacion Inquirer Libre The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe Directed by Andrew Adamson Written by Ann Peacock, Andrew Adamson Based on the book by C.S. Lewis Starring Tilda Swinton, Georgie Henley, Skandar Keynes, William Moseley, Anna Popplewell GP/ 140 mintes Walt Disney Pictures/ Walden Media Lion kings and closets and queens rule in this magical children’s tale about an enchanted kingdom hidden behind the doors of a wardrobe. C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe gets a triumphant big-screen adaptation from the magicians of Shrek and The Lord of the Rings. For more than a hundred years, everything is frozen cold in the magical world of Narnia by the icy touch of the white witch, Jadis (Tilda Swinton), who declares herself the queen of Narnia. Always winter, never Christmas, as the inhabitants would say. The great lion Aslan, rightful ruler and creator of Narnia, gathers his army for the fight against white witch, but he needs...

Double review by Vives Anunciacion (unpublished) Two stories about relationships and broken heels and the unusual ways people deal with challenges called the family. In Her Shoes Directed by Curtis Hanson Written by Susannah Grant Based on the novel by Jennifer Weiner Starring Cameron Diaz, Toni Colette, Shirley MacLaine PG13/ 130 minutes 20th Century Fox/ Scott Free Pictures It’s Imelda’s favorite movie, she’s seen it 3500 times! Okay, maybe not. At nearly two and a half hours, In Her Shoes manages to be an engaging resolution story between two characteristically differing sisters who simply can’t live without each other. Rose Feller (Toni Colette) and Maggie Feller (Cameron Diaz) are sisters on the opposite sides of the spectrum. The first is a workaholic lawyer secretly having an affair with here boss, while the latter is the typical blonde party girl who can barely read her letters. The only thing common between the two is their shoe size, but it’s Rose who collects shoes as an emo...

Review by Vives Anunciacion December 14, 2005 Inquirer Libre (English version) King Kong Directed by Peter Jackson Written by Fran Walsh, Peter Jackson, Philippa Boyens Based on the story by Merian Cooper and Edgar Wallace Starring Naomi Watts, Adrien Brody, Jack Black, Andy Serkis PG 13/ 187minutes Universal Pictures/ Wingnut Films “And now, ladies and gentlemen, before I tell you any more, I'm going to show you the greatest thing your eyes have ever beheld.” – Carl Denham It's said that originals are always the best. But the remake is better this time around. Visceral, visually amazing and surprisingly heartbreaking, King Kong 2005 may very well be the mother of all monster movies. Based on the 1933 original by Merian Cooper and Ernest Schoedsack, King Kong tells the story of a gigantic beast forcibly taken from its island kingdom and made into a Broadway attraction in 1933 New York. Jack Black plays obsessed filmmaker-producer Carl Denham, who tricks his crew to shoot an ad...

Review by Vives Anunciacion Inquirer Libre Joyeux Noël/ Merry Christmas Written and Directed by Christian Carion Starring Benno Fürmann, Diane Kruger, Guillaume Canet PG 13/ 115 minutes Nord-Ouest / Senator Film/ Artemis/ TF1 English Subtitles “War is over, if you want it” - Happy Xmas (War is Over), John Lennon It was known as the Christmas Truce of 1914, a few months into World War 1, when hundreds of French, Scottish and Belgian soldiers left their posts and peacefully mingled with their German opponents on Christmas Day in the northern borders of Flanders, France. Joyeux Noël (Merry Christmas) revisits that miraculous moment 90 years ago when goodwill was shared among the weary souls of men. Tenor Nikolaus Sprink (German actor Benno Fürmann) leaves the opera behind when he is drafted to serve the German army. His wife and fellow opera singer Anna Sörensen (played by German-born Diane Kruger, from Troy) abuses her aristocratic title in order to save Sprink from being sent to the tr...

Review by Vives Anunciacion Inquirer Libre The Exorcism of Emily Rose Directed by Scott Derrickson Written by Paul Harris Boardman, Scott Derrickson Starring Laura Linney, Tom Wilkinson, Jennifer Carpenter R13 / 119 minutes Columbia pictures/ Screen Gems A rose by any name it’s not – either it’s a supernatural court drama or a trial by horror. The Exorcism of Emily Rose is an intelligently interpreted battle between the realm of the supernatural and the rule of human law. Based on the story of Annelise Michel (the real Emily Rose) of Germany in the 1970s, The Exorcism of Emily Rose focuses on the trial of Father Moore (Tom Wilkinson) who is accused of negligent homicide after performing exorcism on the young girl Emily Rose (Jennifer Carpenter). Laura Linney plays Father Moore’s ambitious defense lawyer Erin Bruner who turns the trial upside down when she presents elements of the exorcism itself as evidence supporting the priest. Director Scott Derrickson fuses horror and court drama i...

Review by Vives Anunciacion Inquirer Libre 16 November 2005 page 6 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Directed by Mike Newell Written by Steven Kloves Based on the novel by J.K. Rowling Starring Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Ralph Fiennes GP / 147 minutes Warner Brothers Pictures Opens Nov 16 Dark times haunt Harry Potter at Hogwarts this year as he battles fiery dragons, terrible Death Eaters and… puppy love? Horror and hormones abound in the fourth incantation of the Potter series, the most elaborate so far. Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) is buffeted by nightmares about the dark Lord Voldemort on the night he joins Hermione (Emma Watson), Ron (Rupert Grint) and the rest of the Weasleys before their trip to the Quidditch World Cup. Even before the event would reach its climax, Death Eaters appear and terrify the campsite, presumably in search of something or someone in the crowd. Harry survives the attack and gets a glimpse of the perpetrators, which he reports to the author...