Movies.

Oh, there was a time that an aspiring film major valued my opinions when I was active in Livejournal, and there was this other time I was actively conversing with film critics over at the defunct Indiefilipino.com.

Links:

• Over at my Multiply video archive (where I spend most of my post-work mornings uploading from YouTube) aside from the music videos -from Piaf to J Mascis-, there’s a split-in-three feature on Ingmar Bergman, who just recently died. I’ll say it anyway: beautiful black and white photography. Dang. Must brush up on what I still remember, and should watch, of Bergman.

• A 10 minute short film of one of my favorite directors, Krzysztof Kieslowski, is up there, too. Would help if there were subtitles, since it appears to be a talkie.

• Noel Vera lists his 100 Best Filipino Films. Would love to see more Gerardo de Leon films. Oh, and I think I need another Vera book, since I’m re-reading way too much from his Critic After Dark book.

• And in movies of recent times, cable has been showing Judd Apatow’s hit 40 Year-Old Virgin (which is a fabulous comedy to note), and I’ve re-rediscovered Miranda July’s via a short films she wrote (Multiply link). Apatow is increasingly becoming a critic’s fave, and his recent Knocked Up has had favorable reviews. On the other hand, I haven’t heard much form July, but there is an eager anticipation from her followers what her next feature will be after the wonderful Me and You and Everyone We Know, a movie I’m tempted to just force people to see nowadays.

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But Rain, why is there so little interest in Cinemanila? Or even the recent Cinemalaya?

See, there’s the work schedule, my proximity to these places (OK, Cubao -where Cinemanila is being held- isn’t really far from the office), and other things I can’t seem to pinpoint. Cinemalaya features can be seen on TV (Channel 5) anyway, and the only Cinemanila movie I was keen on watching, I missed: Anton Corbijn’s Ian Curtis biopic Control. Was I regretful? Well, not as sorry as I was missing the Emilie Simone gig.

And there’s the Tarantino visiting the Philippines thing, which I get, but not interested in. I read somewhere that he hasn’t even changed his shirt since arriving from Japan. Yowza.

Related Posts

• July 23, 2007 -- This July Weekend: Hybrid DSLR, Smart Bro Woes, and Digital Tour’s Last Episode (3)
• July 18, 2007 -- REVIEW: Transformers aka Lord of the Allspark (3)
• June 20, 2007 -- Been Away Long, I Know: Some Updates (3)
• March 17, 2007 -- This Week In Review: From Another Site Re-Deisgn to ATHF (4)
• January 22, 2007 -- Piracy NOW is teh suck/CSS, not the stylesheet (2)

Was with old college friend, visual artist and Komikera (a collective of comic artists) Lea Lim to watch a Cynthia Alexander gig at Conspiracy Garden Cafe in QC. The day before, I was surprisingly all-giddy about using my M42 lenses again on the 350D DSLR, which I’ve rarely done anyway. My Canon 50mm f1.8 is neat and all, but I wanted to check what the manual focus, vintage Helios-44M 58mm f2 can do, wide-open, in a bar-performance setup.

Sample photo posted above. Not bad. Oh, and Jay Javier just promised me he’d be giving me his Haoda Focus screen, since he doesn’t need one on his Pentax K10D. Good times.

READ: Canon EOS 350D with Helios-44-2 2/58

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Smart Bro is up at home again, just today, after several irate calls taken in by their tech support from me. See, a few days ago, I couldn’t power on the computer. Turns out my 350gig hard-disk enclosure setup wouldn’t either, and the cheap AVR led was struggling. Lugged the CPU aboard a Cubao-bound bus, dropped myself off at West Ave -a lot more convenient than Gilmore- and confirmed my hunch: the motherboard got fried. And just when the technician started the PC with the new motherboard, another discovery unleashed: my LAN card is dead, too. So there’s another delay to get a DVD writer and/or a separate video card.

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Studio 23’s Digital Tour just aired their last episode a few hours ago. I try to watch the show when I can, though I must admit the urge is mainly powered by gawking at Iya Yotoko host (who, I believe, is the wife of an RFilipinas member I haven’t met). Most memorable moment from the show? When PinoyTechBlog was featured, and one my articles was the one displayed on the segment.

No more local tech-only shows, AFAIK. Net 25’s Convergence? You must be kidding, and out of your mind.

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Geek link of the day:

Get this: a large van of three guys and a video camera cruising random streets for girls to pick up, with the promise of money if they decide to tag along. Familiar? Yes, but this time, its called the Math Bus, when the girls do number crunching instead of going on all fours and… Watch MATH BUS! (via Fleshbot)

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• March 17, 2007 -- This Week In Review: From Another Site Re-Deisgn to ATHF (4)
• December 12, 2006 -- INQ7 NEWS: Pinoy Flickr ‘addicts’ hold exhibit in Manila (0)
• June 23, 2006 -- Sweltering in Shanghai (0)
• February 14, 2006 -- Lost in Shanghai (2)

Now, permit me to nitpick:

Second generation robots fan

My brothers, both half-a-decade older than me, were nostalgic over local TV stations re-airing Voltes V and Daimos around the mid-to-late 80s. I, though also a fan of both shows, was more into Bioman, Voltron, and of course, THE Transformers.

I religiously watched the original cartoon series in grade school. Ironhide was a favorite, for a reason I now forget; Gestalt teams (Autobots who combine to form a much larger robot: Constructicons, Protectobots, etc.) were a much anticipated show feature; Skyfire’s Decepticon-to-Autobot story was cheesy drama that got to me; Omega Supreme’s immense presence radiated through the TV screen; and my heart thumped enthusiastically years later when fate had me watch the animated movie, along with the standard-issue hair-band guitar score.

Now that I’m pushing thirty, I still go nostalgic over stuff like this. I readily put out my hard earned RMB when I saw a complete First Generation Transformers DVD set in Shanghai about a year ago. Honestly though, the rush was second only to my finding the Aeon Flux animated series. Sexy beats robot-cool anytime.

Expecting the worst

When news came out that Michael Bay was directing a live-action adaptation of Transformers, and with him not being a fan of the series, and him being, well, Michael Bay, I had the same response as most of the movie community: we should all expect the worst. When image leaks of the robots came out, and it was found out that Bumblebee wasn’t a VW Beetle, and Megatron looked like an arty steel park sculpture, I knew sacrilege was too kind a word. But when Peter McCullen was confirmed to be the voice of Optimus Prime (after a ridiculous audition process), and that Prime still looked credible intact and inspired from the original character, I was slowly giving in to the anticipation. This can’t be any worse than that Aeon Flux movie (I ceased watching that poor excuse for a film after the first 15 minutes).

The anti-awesomeness of it all

Yes, considering most factors, this wasn’t a bad movie after all. The action scenes were stylishly and tastefully done, the robots -though a far, and confusing departure from the animated series, and were clumsily introduced, and underdeveloped to have solid-enough characters- were all mecha-excellent, from a simple gesture, such as Prime posing in battle-mode before dueling with Megatron, or the first time Starscream transformed. Sorry, I’m still torn whether I should like Bumblebee, since he does seem like a forced, stereotypical cinematic device (the handicapped Autobot, the human-guardian robot).

But I’m glad Optimus Prime IS still patriotic-hero Optimus Prime, the unmistakable blue-red truck Autobot leader. Fans of the animated series are all too familiar with the majestic aura he exudes, but the movie failed in developing that properly. Must he always tell Spike, I mean Sam, that when they get the Allspark, to implant it in his heart to save mankind?

And that’s my main issue with the movie: mankind. Sure, the robots rule every scene they’re in, but otherwise, we get uninspired storylines of one high-school misfit crushing on random hot girl, a hacker group with unimpressive eccentricities, an ultra-macho US Armed Forces going all-out to save the world, and a tired Roswell-alien type discovery that the government kept for decades: all of that was front and center, while the Autobot-Decepticon feud felt like a sub-plot.

Hamming up the troops

This Transformers film as US propaganda? There’s the all-cars-should-be-all-American-General-Motors-cars, the obvious corporate product placements (eBay, Apple computers, etc.) and there’s the incessant involvement of the mighty US Armed Forces generously smothered over this blockbuster. Alright, this is a Hollywood product, we should all expect as much, but then, I wouldn’t even think much of this angle at all, if this WAS primarily a story of awesome vehicle-transforming alien robots in the first place.

Lord of the Allspark

The Allspark vs. the Energon cubes? The Allspark radiation-power to give random gadgets robot-trasnforming capabilities has a minute spark of imagination to it, but the animated series’ harvesting, collecting of energon cubes from earth to bring to home-planet Cybertron seemed to be a more convincing -in the traditional sci-fi sense, I guess- plot.

So, preferring the ring-of-Lord-of-the-Rings inspired Allspark -looking like a box of painted-on foam during the last half-hour of the movie- over Energon cubes, might have something to do with the Earth’s drastic dry-out of its natural resources? Or maybe they wanted to leave out the topic of diminishing oil reserves (and the US’s role in the suspected promotion and exploitation of it)?

For argument’s sake, I just hope this was a bad decision made during the series-to-film adaptation.

Robots are funny here; humans are lame

Autobots trying to hide their gargantuan selves from being discovered around a house: funny. Not LOL-funny, but funny nonetheless. Humans in the supposedly comedic parts (the used-car salesman, the unsuspecting hacker, the wasting of John Turturro) fall hard and flat. The army-man having that unfortunate call to an Indian call center dude pushing for a credit card promo instead of just letting him through an urgent call to the Pentagon? Clever, but I saw that in the trailer already.

All that said, this is probably the only Michael Bay film I’d ever consider viewing a second time. Though, like a teenager on constant fast-forward to the dirty parts of a porno, I think I’ll be best of isolating the robot scenes from anything else.

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Before you leave this page, ask yourself this: if Optimus Prime said that they learned the human language via the Internet, then how can Megatron speak the language right after thawing out from his frozen state?

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Read a Pinoycentric interview of Floro Dery, a Pinoy character creator for the Transformers animated movie here.

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UPDATE: Transformers was shown at the bus on the way home, and I had this odd feeling that this was some form of deja vu, but not because I’ve seen the movie before. Later on, I had the quick realization that 1/3 of Bay’s Transformers is following the current trend made popular by the Fast and the Furious movie series: you have your seedy-past-babe, run-ins with the law, even some of the photography in the car chase scenes.

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• August 12, 2007 -- I Like Movies, Too, or Yes, A Non-Photography Post (0)
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• June 20, 2007 -- Been Away Long, I Know: Some Updates (3)
• March 17, 2007 -- This Week In Review: From Another Site Re-Deisgn to ATHF (4)
• January 22, 2007 -- Piracy NOW is teh suck/CSS, not the stylesheet (2)

• Legendary local rock joint Club Dredd is back, and its a 3-minute walk from the office, second floor of Gweilo’s Eastwood. Was never at the original, nor the relocated Club Dredd. But, come to think of it, free gigs are always happening here in Eastwood City anyway, I’d probably only go on nights with a good band line-up.

• Caught Cameron Crowe’s grunge-rock tribute movie Singles on HBO the other day, and I swear, I was wishing I could see the same movie half an hour before it aired on TV. A very personal review here.

• Chinese food ‘made from cardboard’. Ugh. Pork baozi was my favorite morning street snack back in Shanghai. Almost the same size as Kowloon House siopao, filled with ginger-y pork bola-bola style, soaking in hot broth inside the bun, and for the equivalent of 6 pesos each.

• Taiwanese Filmmaker Edward Yang Dead at 59. I have a DVD of Yi Yi, purchased it blindly, and have not regretted going through the somber, melancholic pace of this Chinese modern masterpiece. Must watch again.

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• May 15, 2007 -- Regret of the Year (0)

• The online life is now 50% Multiply, 30% Flickr, 10% for this blog, and the last 10% for everything else, including browsing through my Bloglines subscriptions, and ToyKameraPilipinas/RFilipinas. Makes less and less sense to keep this site, pay for the domain and hosting, etc., but lets just consider this a phase; phases could go on pretty long, though.

• Pre-photography, I did have a collective of good friends I hung out with from the office. Last Friday, I shunned all other event/gig/group photo-ops, and decided to take part in a surprise birthday party for ex-officemate Maya. Photos here.

• Bookmark: The 30-Second Bunnies Theatre Library… in which a troupe of bunnies parodies a collection of movies by re-enacting them in 30 seconds, more or less.

• The French Film Festival isn’t screening the Edith Piaf biopic, La Môme, though it was a teaser poster on their website a few weeks back. Phooey. This year’s Eiga Sai looks a lot more promising.

• The 6th Philippine Toys, Hobbies and Collectibles Convention has just concluded, and my PSICOM (Thanks Bing and co.!) sposnored entry and coverage was pretty well spent. Photos of the first day can be found here.

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Okkervil River’s For Real

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Clearly, one of the awesomest suphero fanvideo ever uploaded to the Internets:

And its sequel!

Via Boingboing

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Via Shanghaiist: Yes, this Shanghai-centric site is still in my rss reader subscription list. For any Chinese film fan/entertainment afficionado, you just have to read the article published by CCTV online on “Uniqueness of 10 hot female stars in China“. Here’s a sample:

Huang Shengyi has a horse face, and big nose. When she smiles, she is fatally attractive.

Zhou Xun is almost perfect. If you are critical, her only shortcoming is that her mouth looks like an old lady’s.

Go through the slideshow and see what they think of their own megastars Gong Li and Zhang Ziyi. Ha!

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Having just seen Guillermo del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth, currently screening in Manila theaters, however, provides me a different, but agreeable, perspective: screw the convenience of genre labelling. Frankly, an impressive film like this doesn’t deserve to be piled along with sequel upon sequel of folklore-sized drivel.

The plot of the film revolves around the young Ofelia, who goes with her pregnant mother to the Spanish countryside where the brutal Captain Vidal, her mother’s new husband, and father of her unborn sibling, resides. Near the old house lies an ancient labyrinth, where a fairy leads Ofelia to meet the faun, who assigns her tasks to undertake, to prove that she is actually beyond mortal, being the long lost princess of the underworld kingdom.

What’s initially striking is the impeccable imagery delivered at every night scene, and at every creature hovering (fairies), and creepily walking (the faun, the nightmarish Pale Man), largely unsanitized, un-Disneyfied versions of what is familiar to most audiences. The film then delivers a fair balance of a cold, heartless, and ultra-violent side of war -where the military actively pursues the revolutionaries at the mountains, and persecutes those who are not equal their social strata- and Ofelia’s indistinct view of her reality and fantasy.

Laid out open, the film provides wonderful acting from everyone, most notably with the very effective Ivana Baquero (Ofelia), and Y Tu Mama Tambien’s Maribel Verdú (as Mercedes, housekeeper and rebel informant). Moreoever, Del Toro, as clicheic as it sounds, proves to be a force for Hollywood to reckon with, since someone with this much imagination and creativity is something they can’t easily deal with. I have yet to sink my teeth into his previous works (Blade II, Hellboy), but just based on Labyrinth, I’m putting in a peg for another current South American director to actively watch out for (the other being Fernando Meirelles, of The Constant Gardener and Cidade de Deus; Not Cuaron? Not Innaritu? I file them under promising, sorry).

Pan’s Labyrinth is easily beyond the tag of adult fairytale, since it is essentially a neatly plotted, fictional/conventional documentation of the atrocities of war and its unfortunate victims, whose heroine just happens to also frolic in an otherworld, not exactly happier, and not exactly more hopeful, than the supposedly real one.

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• July 13, 2007 -- LOTD: Club Dredd is Back, Crowe’s Singles Review, etc. (0)
• June 20, 2007 -- Been Away Long, I Know: Some Updates (3)

For those who missed the mid-90s, here are the official music videos from the band’s Becoming X record:

Spin Spin Sugar

Alternate versions:
The more club-sounding Armand’s Dark Garage Edit
The live version
Post Becoming X period live version

Post-Modern Sleaze

6 Underground

Tesko Suicide

BONUS

Low Place Like Home, Live

The Sneaker Pimps’ existence since the first record has got a bit of flak, as there’s a loud clamor to bring back singer Kelli Dayton (aka Kelly Ali), frontwoman for the band’s Becoming X period, and who has since done collaborations with the likes of Marc Almond (Soft Cell), and Bootsy Collins (watch the Kylie-esque song Play With Bootsy here, and dance-a-bit-why-dont-ya). Chris Corner, the band’s founder, main songwriter, and current lead, sings just fine, and so far, the songs from the band’s second effort, Splinter, are great, but I’d take the side of those who miss the charm, the sex appeal, the feminine brute of the Becoming X songs.

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In related music video news, our local cable TV subscriber now provides MTV Asia, and I jumped a bit since I can watch music videos again the old-fashioned way, since MTV Philippines ceased to do broadcast on free UHF TV. Then, after tuning in for a few hours, I came up with this conclusion: this is crap, I’m going back to YouTube. Even though I’m slightly amused by that Lily Allen song.

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NOTE: This is a tongue-in-cheek video of a puppet doing non-wholesome stuff. Not to be taken seriously.

Link to video of Nine Inch Nails original, performed live

Link to video of a fantastic Johnny Cash of the song (MUST-SEE)

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