Manila Kingpin: The Untold Story of Asiong Salonga : Movie Rant

I’m a sucker for movies that contain actors who’ve been in the industry when I was a little kid or earlier, so it should not come as a surprise that I loved this movie. 

I was worried at first that it wouldn’t be a good movie because it stars a politician, and well, I’ve not much confidence in them. I was glad to be proven wrong. Still, the reason I loved the movie so much is the group of other actors they cast. Jeorge Estregan was great, but the real bait for we were every one of his antagonists. I don’t think I need to mention any of them, they were great before, and they were still great now. Those are the actors who are worthy of the name.

Production-wise, I thought it was a good idea to shoot it in B&W. Everything felt as if it was made in the early days, and quite frankly, I think that’s the reason why the movie worked so well. Old movies, like old songs, can still kick butt, and to form a new movie from that skeleton, throw in actors who actually act, and use a timeless story of good and bad, and you’ve got a pretty good movie. But I will admit, I couldn’t help check to see if they missed anything and used props from our time, and when I saw an Emperador Brandy bottle, I kept wondering if that was in the correct time or not.

There was something that felt off through-out the whole movie. Their continuity and sequencing felt a little odd, like there was something wrong or something new, but I couldn’t quite place it. Their scenes felt like they were cut so immediately and then pieced together, yet nothing was missing. It almost felt like I was watching a movie trailer that played the duration of a whole movie, and told a complete story.

Anything negative about the movie was quickly subdued by the feeling of happiness though. It was like when you like a movie so much  just don’t care if it sucked or not, in the end you still like it; well, that’s how it was for me. Good thing it was actually pretty good so I don’t feel guilty.

Definitely worth a watch, especially if you miss the old days when you don’t cringe in front of the screen because of the really obvious ‘acting’. 

Segunda Mano: Movie Rant

I had not originally planned on watching this movie because although I like the Kris Aquino+horror movie combo, I felt that the movie might disappoint me. Unfortunately, I had to watch and I was right about the disappointment. 

I got into the cinema, and the showing was continuous so I went in immediately. A quarter of the movie had already passed when I sat in, and after about twenty minutes of watching, I already had a hunch about the ending. Sadly, I was completely right. For most people it may be a good thing, but I had wanted the movie to change my views about it, but it couldn’t.

There was not much I liked in it. In fact, this may be harsh but, the only moment where I had a huge smile on my face was when the cinema was showing the Avengers trailer set to show this year. 

I was completely baffled, because both Kris Aquino and Dingdong Dantes have a good acting repertoire, and yet even their acting seemed to be off in this movie. Kris Aquino’s acting was somewhat too much of an act. And Dingdong Dantes’ is the main reason why I immediately knew what would happen.

The movie, in a nutshell, brought to the audience too many clues. It was giving too much that the only probable bait for the audience is the “shock” factor. That however, did not work on me as well. It may be because I had watched a lot, though not much, horror movies, or it was just too predictable for me that I knew when and where anything would would show up. The acting was exaggerated and was too giving, the script even more so. If they had leveled down a notch on the clues, it might have worked. But it accumulated in a negative way that I was sure of my suspicions about what the end would seem like by the third quarter of the movie. I even knew that Dingdong would show up as a ghost at the end. It was like they had to force another way to shock the audience. And there was just too much redundancy in the movie, that there came a point when I just had to sigh with defeat and discouragement.

I would not recommend this to other people, and I’d probably just tell them to watch at their own risk. 

Let Me In: Movie Rant

Let Me In is a story of two children, one a troubled and bullied boy, and the other a mysterious girl who turned out to be an immortal vampire. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let_Me_In_(film)]

Quite frankly, I watched this movie with so much anticipation because of all the positive remarks I heard about it. Well, I was happy to learn that they were right.

Watching horror love stories is always weird for me because no matter how generic love stories are, each story always has a different element, and not all is ever the same. Movies, especially ones with boy-meets-girl love stories are easy to stereotype. But despite the weakness in the ‘romance’ part, I loved this movie for almost all the other elements. Probably the only thing I hated from this movie was the occasional fail in the script. There were lines that were just not clever. The movie was also a little slow, but I didn’t mind much and constantly forget the feeling of boredom because there were points in the movie where the scenes would just jump up at you. Suffice to say, the bits of elements that I saw were flawed weren’t enough to completely make me sashay away from the movie.

Moving on, I loved how they used song lyrics to their advantage. Their clever use of songs was very comical, and it gave a light feel to certain parts of the otherwise dark movie. There was also the constant feeling of mystery in the characters thru the help of the lighting and angles. Probably my favorite part is that they never once showed the boy’s mother’s face, and that the girl’s “father” was almost always shown with his face in shadows. These two characters gave me a heavy feeling, as if there was a dark secret they were keeping. It also was symbolic to me of how twisted their lives are, all the while living on alternate kinds of worlds.

Scenes like the car crash, where they picked to show the inside of the car instead of showing it roll around from outside, was for me a clever choice. I liked it because it felt like you were inside the car, and it was one difference of the film from the usual film norms that I found amusing. I’m also a fan of blood in films, and the fact that they didn’t hold back in giving the audience much blood made me happy while watching.

I couldn’t help but laugh, though, at the thought that despite how nice the vampire girl is and how sincere she may be, there’s also the possibility that befriending the boy is just a ploy to get a replacement for her “father”. By the end, I couldn’t help but feel like everything was a con, like the little girl is nothing but another evil, blood-sucking beldam, out to get boys to fall for her and make them her pawns. Then again, for a horror film, such hidden evil is a plus.

I also love Chloe Moretz, even before watching the movie. Her face always amuses me because you never really know what age she is until you see her body. And her acting’s not half bad. The same can be said about her movie partner.

The creepiness of the whole movie was, for me, never intensely amplified nor taken a level lower. It stayed, and it was good enough to instill in you that crawling feeling, and leave you feeling just the right edge, right until the end.

Kisapmata: Movie Rant

Kisapmata is a 1981 film directed by Mike De Leon [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kisapmata - BEWARE OF SPOILERS], that tackles issues of incest, Filipino traditions, marriage, and domestic abuse. It’s a drama film with a little twist of suspense and horror that left me with a queasy feeling in my stomach, and more respect for old Filipino films.

I loved Kisapmata for reasons I don’t usually have. I’m usually a hater of movies with dark lighting, unless I know that it’s a horror movie, and that at some point some creature with blood on their face is gonna come out to the screen. I also usually dislike watching Filipino movies, because Pinoy movies nowadays tend to give a shallow view of life. I do however have an affinity and respect to old movies. Especially because old movies consist of truly creative ideas, and the actors are really talented actors, and are not in the industry for their faces, but for their acting skills. And I was not wrong in thinking that this movie would have that element. The actors were great and effective. For me, there is no better way for being an effective actor than to stay in the minds and hearts of the viewers. When you shout at the screen out of extreme frustration over a character, then that character’s actor has done his/her job correctly.

That said, this movie, for me, would probably not have worked had Vic Silayan not been cast. His portrayal of an ex-cop, over-protective, and commanding father did the trick. Until now, I actually get wary of people who look like him, in the fear that they too will have a gun under their belt, and will have no second thoughts about raping any woman. His character was made very real that it was scary, especially since one could see men like him wandering around and it gave a sense of danger and fear.

The same thought arises in me when I thought about old films and old music; that they are full of raw and pure talent. This was no exception. That the actors were great were not enough. I love the fact that one look at the whole family, and people would already know something is amiss. I usually dislike movies tackling incest or domestic violence because it irritates me, no matter how much I know that it’s a very hard situation to be in, that people in those situations let themselves be victims. The loss of security and trust, most at the hands of the very people who are supposed to be one’s pillars, gives me the feeling of rawness and it’s very hard to take in.

For me, however, it was fortunate that I was not sympathetic of the characters. Granted, each of them left their mark, but I think that it was a good thing that I did not attach myself to any of their characters, because in that way it was not a hard process for me when they died. It would have been terrible to see them die without justice, help, and even a little fight, if I had attached myself to them.

Production-wise, it was fantastic. I kept in mind that this was an old movie, and negative comparisons to today’s technology is just plain foolish. It was even commendable how they used what little they had to such effectiveness. The scenes involved mostly just the house, and the haunting feeling of being stuck inside such a defective home actually helped in keeping the audience in the dark. Also, speaking of darkness, the amazing use of lighting and symbolism was incredible. Like I said, I’m not much for movies without much lighting, but this one just worked. Also, the way the actors immersed themselves in the characters and the way everything in the production embodied the darkness of the character’s personality defects worked like magic. Even if you see it for yourself, the use of such a normal-looking place which housed such a dark secret will also probably give you the creeps. It was magnified even by the fact that almost every other location other than that house was cheerful and jolly.

I didn’t understand much of the pacing though. It had a weird effect on me, I think. I couldn’t tell if the movie was going too fast or too slow. But for me, it actually just showed how twisted the movie was, since it was even able to impair my ability to properly access such a small matter.

All in all, I was entertained and I felt like I was devastated because it was all very raw and real. And it may be weird, but that for me was the icing on the cake. I mean come on, if it left me feeling all happy like a Disney movie, then I am not in the right mind. I would definitely want people to watch it, although I can’t say that I can do so soon, since the creepy feeling of seeing a murderous, suicidal, and incestuous father still lingers. Not that I’m complaining though.