KADIN (Adolf Alix Jr.)

A simple yet touching movie. Kadin is an entry to the cinemalaya 2007 by Adolf Alix Jr. and it won best cinematography in the said film festival.

Kadin is entirely shot at the beautiful place of Batanes, the movie evolves on the dilemma of an Ivatan boy named Peping and his sister Lita, who wakes up to find out that their goat "gima" is missing. His family makes a living out of the milk provided by gima and his father would arrive, who leaves the responsibility in taking care of gimma to peping, so he needs to find the goat before its too late.

The cinematography is so great that it really makes you go "wow" at the beautiful sceneries of the place, and i think that the cinematography is not overwhelmed, i think it just justifies the mood that the director wants to build.
It is a slow movie but its not boring, i think that the director wants the viewer to feel that living in that rural area is kinda boring.

i love the innocence of the story, if you would think, the story is so simple but it really touches the heart of the viewers because you would really feel how peping love gimma so much that he really travels a long way just to find the goat.

Over-all kadin for me is a wonderful work for it portrays beautiful sceneries of the Philippines and the values that filipinos have

THE GARDENER OF EDEN (James Broughton)

James Broughton as a "poet, and an avant-garde film maker" (Gary Morris) make a nice idea of telling a poem by means of filming it and he is the father of west coast experimental film.

The Gardener of Eden is an experimental film made by James Broughton, it is a poetry in video which is shot at Sri Lanka, and it was shot by James Singer

The film shows different sceneries of Sri Lanka while someone is narrating it, (try to watch it at UBU.com)

Its a poetry in video that shows god keeping an eye for the many things he created and see the many changes in it

The sceneries of Sri Lanka is a good place to shoot this kind of work for it really makes you feel your in paradise, but the music makes my head aches because of the screeching sound and the camera isn't stable, but i think that the director have reasons for it, i think that the camera was moved that way for us to feel dizzy, because the director want us to feel like we were God, a single divinity to watch billions of things of his creation.

I like how James Broughton narrates the poem, he just simply narrate it, as a poem-writer myself i think thats the most important thing in writing poems, make the people feel what your saying

TRANSFORMERS (Micheal Bay)

Transformers is a well-known cartoon and comic series that started in 1984 and now it's brought to life by a well-known director Micheal Bay (which directs hit movies like Armageddon, The Rock, Pearl Harbor, Bad Boys, and Bad Boys II). The story (movie) was written by John Rogers, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman. and Screen play by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman. 

The movie opens with the voice of Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen) narrating the story of the "Cube", "All-spark" and how Megatron betrayed them, and the movie focuses on the quest for the "cube" and the battle of Autobots and Decepticons for the cube to rule the whole universe.

With state-of-the art special effects, the movie really gets the audiences applause and "wows", the robots really blends with the humans naturally, the humor have a kick eventhough that the movie has a lot of war scenes that keeps the audiences thrilled.

The thing i love in transformers is that the scene is very natural, i mean the blending of robots and humans are great it makes me feel that those giant robots really exist in this world.

Transformers really hit the heart of the audiences because Micheal Bay really guided his actors and actresses even the animation staff well. If you want high-quality action-packed film, Transformers is a must see movie for you

TRIBU (Jim Libiran)

Sex, Drugs and Violence, thats what rules in downtown tondo, search for power, and claiming their own territories, thats what gangs or tribes set in mind, to be known as the best.

Tribu by Jim Libiran is set on downtown tondo, a place where drug dealers,snatchers,hold-uppers and alikes are scattered. a miserable place full of violence. a place were GANGS or TRIBES set to battle for supremacy.

The film shows the typical gangster life, but some of the scenes in this movie is not somewhat realistic, I live in tondo, i even saw some gang wars, and how Jim Libiran shows the gangwar makes me say "Hindi naman ganun yun eh!".
like the scene where the two gangs meet and just point guns and their weapons. in reality when a gang went to the so-called territory of the opponent, no questions asked, you'll just hear the shot of guns and scream for help.

But the rest is really true, like the "sarap o hirap" thing when joining a gang, the drug dilemma and the likes.

But i love the acting of the actors, it's so natural, and they didn't follow the original script, they made they're own script and freestyle rap. and the story really based on the reality - how tondo life really is

To sum-up tribu really deserves the 2 titles it gathered at the cinemalaya 2007

BANLIEUE 13 (Pierre Morel)

The story is about a place named Borough 13 (District 13), a Parisian slum, a place overrun with violence and drugs. And because of the overflowing havoc and violence, the authorities decided to abandoned the place leaving the residents without proper education, security and proper utilities. A resident named Leito (David Belle) wants some change, so he waged an one-man war against a big drug lord named Taha (Bibi Naceri), with revenge in mind, Taha kidnapped Leito's sister, Lola (Dany Verissimo). With the help of an tough undercover cop named Damien (Cyril Raffaelli), Leito will try to rescue her sister and bring back the peace and order to his hometown, Borough 13.

What i love in this movie is the use of "parkour" (recreational activity of French origin, the aim of which is to move from point A to point B as efficiently and quickly as possible, using principally the abilities of the human body -Wikepedia). Its entertaining and amazing to watch actors like David and Cyril swings from one place to another with grace and precision. The movie is action-packed thats why it's not boring.

Banlieue 13 is really an entertaining movie but there are this some superhuman inconsistencies in the story ( i dont want to spoil because that scene is where something would happen =P). But despite its story inconsistencies the movie is a really fun to watch.

1408 (Mikael Håfström)

Based on the short story of Stephen King, the movie directed by Mikael Håfström which stars John Cusack and Samuel L. Jackson.

The movie focuses on Mike Enslin (John Cusack) as he search for the most scariest and most haunted places on earth, and a postcard invitation that tells him to stay in Dolphin Hotel but not in the room #1408. But due to his curiosity, Mike find a way just for Mr. Geral Oldin (Samuel L. Jackson) to give the key to the room despite of the warning that he gave him. Mike suceeded in getting the room's key and when he stayed in the room 1408, Mike find his self trapped in the room and haunted by his darkest fears.

I commend John Cusack for portraying his role very well and to Samuel L. Jackson for eventhough he has a limited appearance in the movie he really made a wonderful act.

But now as i talk generally about the wole movie, I dont like the scenes where there are ghost and then they look like a hologram pictures, and when they disappear there's this some kind of a techno sound which makes me ask "is that a ghost or a hologram?". and there are so many scenes thats edited, because in the story, Enslin's dilemma already started the moment he see's the door of the room for the door's room is crooked, but in the movie Enslin already spent some time in the room before the nightmare happens. A lot of editing that makes the story weak and more vague.

I think that the movie would be much better if they retain the original story, and use the appropriate special effects.

N [eOn] (Dave McKean)

This movie is the winner of the clermont-ferrand film festival's digital competition last 2002, this is directed and written by Dave McKean (which directed Mirror mask and a conceptual artist of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and the Harry Potter and the Goblet of fire). Its about a man wandering his hometown while being haunted by his past. It stars Eileen Daly as the Ghost, Eamonn Collinge as the man and narrated by John Cale

My professor was right when he said that this film is really a good example of a film with great cinematography, the computer generated images (CGIs) are very great, it was balanced, because as we know too much of it would make the work look like a sci-fi or a fantasy film. But what i like most is how the story was narrated. I commend John Cale for such a wonderful narration, he really set the mood of the film. I love how Dave McKean narrates the story, he didn't give it all at the first part, he makes the audience think, because at first i thought that it was a man who is afraid of settling down, for he talked about his childhood friends settling down, he makes me crave for the meaning of his work. Dave McKean blended the elements well, from the story to the cinematoraphy and even the background music fits the film well.

I didn't watch all the entries for the digital competion, but i think that this movie really deserves to be the winner. There's nothing more i can say but im hands down.

TROIS COULEURS: ROUGE ( Krzysztof Kieślowski)

A wondeful farewell film for the trilogy made by Krzysztof Kieślowski. Trois couleurs: Rouge is the last film made by Krzysztof Kieślowski after he announced his retirement. I've watched this movie in our film aesthetics class though its bad that i haven't watched the whole trilogy.

the story is about coincidents and how a platonic friendship bloomed between a ramp model Valentine Dussaut (Irene Jacob) and a retired judge, Joseph Kern (Jean-Louis Trintignant) after Valentine bumped Joseph's dog rita. Their relationship became stronger when Valentine caught Joseph listening to his neighbors' phone calls and the later sharing of personal experiences. But a parallel story follows Valentine's neighbor, Auguste, a law student, having some coincidental same story with Joseph.

I really love the natural acting of Irene. but i really love how Krzysztof Kieślowski cast them, like the role of the judge, he made a perfect choice by choosing Jean-Louis Trintignant to play the role.

Its really amazing when the "magic" of the movie was revealed. the shots were carefully shooted, the placement of things are perfectly placed, a perfect example of "Mise en scène". This movie is a perfect example in how to determine a great director.

Over-all, the movie is great, how i wish to watch the full trilogy.

KILLER'S KISS (Stanley Kubrick)

Killer's kiss is Stanley Kubrick's 2nd film, it is directed, written, edited and produced by Stanley Kubrick alone. Kubrick borrowed $40,000 from his uncle to make this film (film trivia).

I've downloaded this movie from the internet and watched it in my PC, the story is about Davy Gordon ( played by Jamie Smith) a boxer saving Gloria Price (Irene Kane) a dancer of a club from the club owner who has a crush on her, Vincent Rapallo (Frank Silvera). 

I love how Irene Kane plays the role of the dancer, she is very convincing it that part, how she flirt with Frank Silvera (on the scene where she's begging for Vincent not to kill her), but what i most like is the fight scene between Davy Gordon and Vincent Rapallo in the mannequin factory, i commend Frank Silvera for showing a great acting ability during these scene. I love the look of insanity and the will to survive between these characters. But what i really love is how Stanley Kubrick come out with a great movie with such little budget. He shooted great camera anglesto think he is using hand-held camera.

But there are some "bloopers" in this film like in the fight scene, Vincent Rapallo hits Davy Gordon many times with the axe but Davy Gordon have no wounds.

This film is a great example for the directors that budget is not a great factor in making a great film. With just talent and eye for the camera, even a low-budget film can make it big

BATTLE ROYALE (Kinji Fukasaku)

Almost broken, high unemployment rate and violence is very scarce, kids are boycotting their class and physically abusing their teachers, the government has approved the battle royale act. which states that a randomly selected class would be chosen to participate the game, a game of life and death with the prize of your own life.

Battle Royale is about the story of 42 students sent in a deserted island with little foods and 1 weapon. The students have 3 days to kill each other until 1 survives or they all gonna die.

This movie shows total violence. and i admire japanese in producing a movie like these. but as i watch this film nothing is special in this film (and i dont know how did it win the most popular movie awards given by the japanese academy)
there are so many mistakes in this movie. first is the bag given by the army to the students, it's so small for a crossbow to fit in it. and when Yuka Nakagawa is poisoned, her face lands in the bowl of poisoned spaghetti. A little later as the girls begin shooting each other, her face is now out of the bowl, and on the table instead. Little informations like these would affect the impact of the violence of the movie.

If you're the type who watch POSO (shame of the indonesians) and enjoys it, this movie woul;d surely fit your taste

127 HOURS (Danny Boyle)

127 hours is based on a true story of a mountaineer named Aron Ralston. The story is about the incident that happened to Aron on May 2003 when, while exploring a canyon in Utah specifically named Blue Canyon John, He incidentally fell into a crevice with his right hand trapped by a boulder. He was forced to amputate himself with a dull knife (listen to his advice about buying swiss knives on the film.) to free himself.

The film started with Aron Ralston (James Franco) headed out for an adventure on Blue Canyon John. On his way he met 2 beautiful hikers, Kristi (Kate Mara) and Megan (Amber Tamlyn). Shared few crazy moments, chit chat a bit, formed a blooming (supposedly) love team then he is on his way.

At the Blue Canyon John he met an accident by stepping in a loose boulder that left his right hand trapped under a boulder.

Basically the film is about Aron's fight for survival.

At first i was really doubtful about how the director, Danny Boyle (Slumdog Milliionaire), will tackle a "would-be-boring" film since basically it would only focus on the main character trapped on a canyon.

He answered my doubts with a slap on my "will-this-be-boring face" with 5 major points. Get James Franco play the role, Beautiful cinematography, Incredible Audio and Video Editing, Amazing Scriptwriting, Great Directing.

James Franco did an amazing job on the film (though i barely noticed him as Harry of Spiderman). He perfectly explores the mental states of Ralston while he is trapped. He nailed this performance and made the audience wants Aron Ralston to come out alive. (Is the Academy Awards nomination isn't enough? :) )

Beautiful Cinematography, the beauty of the canyon was perfectly shot. Im mesmerized by the beauty of the canyon that i momentarily forgot that there's a person who's trying to get out alive.

Incredible Audio and Video Editing. Though there's a part where the audio and video isn't synchronized (i dont know if its on the cinema or the film itself), the audio and video editing was great. It doesn't give us the "locked-frame" syndrome which is used by most film when the treatment is that the main character is documenting whats happening around. I also love how they use the split screens. The choice of music is good (i found myself laughing at the irony of the Lovely Day song as Aron working out on a pulley, it's not a lovely day for him :)) ).

Amazing Scriptwriting. I love how Simon Beaufoy and Danny Boyle wrote the script without being "over the edge". less talk, less mistakes . :)

Great Directing. Danny Boyle does it again. Even from the alleys of Bombay to the Canyon of Utah, Danny Boyle's genius hitted the marks perfectly. i love the way he broke the boring parts by adding some hallucinations and clips.

But overall what i love most about the film is the "Human Element". Aron Ralston was portrayed not as the "Hard-Rock Hero" he wanted to be but the desperate man who offered his right arm just to be alive.

I would also want to tackle the amputation scene. I really love how the multiple camera worked (to think that according to trivias, it was took at first take). If you're not a fan of gruesome scenes then you should take your eyes off the screen (like my GF did hahah).

nonetheless i score this film a 9 out of 10 rating. :) 127 hours is a must-see movie. srsly

NOTE: IM NOT A PROFESSIONAL MOVIE CRITIC :)