1. Sineng Pambansa National Film Competition.

At last, the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) lives up to its name as a national film development body with the announcement of the 23 finalists of the first National Film Competition. For the first time, a film competition is conducted on a national level to seek and develop work from filmmakers within and – more importantly – outside Metro Manila. Thirteen full-length Feature, seven Documentaries, and three new Animation projects shall see development this year and hopefully all of them become finished products in the near future.

2. The National Film Archive

We Flips are so addicted to cinema it’s a wonder why it took us this long to archive the many films in our more-than-100-year-old industry.

By the end of February, proponents mostly from the Society of Filipino Archivists for Film (SoFiA) shall have established the country’s first National Film Archive as a respository of film and film-related documents in Cubao, Quezon City. Treasures such as films from the LVN studios and Fernando Poe Jr’s FPJ Films collection – many of them celluloid rotting in old film canisters – shall be permanently housed there. Sofia is also working with the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia to restore LVN’s first film, Giliw Ko, directed by Carlos Vander Tolosa in 1939 (source).

However, a food for thought: many countries survive without a film industry – let alone a national film archive. I wonder what the Archive is actually an archive of. Without a doubt this is a positive development in the local industry. My question sits on the essence of what the archive is storing.

Is it a repository of culture? Or of cultural identity? Or of cultural commentary? My issue is not about the archive itself but what it is archiving. My view is that so long as cinema is diminished as a form of entertainment (hey tax, how are you?), Enteng ng Ina Mo shall stand in the same room, figuratively speaking, as Oro Plata Mata and Himala. Do they deserve to be archived together? Why not. Do we deserve more films like Enteng ng Ina Mo? Well.

3. The Hobbit, Prometheus and other Hollywood excitement

Even as the US economy shrinks, Hollywood will stay on the safe side of production by making even more remakes, re-imaginations, adaptations and ‘Quels’ (pre- se- or even side-quels). Of the 200 or so titles to come out in the US this year, a good number of titles have familiar or established brands. While I hope that many of these titles get released in Manila, I feel that we should be spared from some of them.

Sundance month January sees the return of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast in theaters but in 3D format. Also in January is the fourth installment of Underworld in Underworld: Awakening.

In February there’s Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace in 3D, and the reboot in Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance. Also in this month is an interesting action-romance-comedy in the Rheese Whiterspoon-Chris Pine-Tom Hardy triangle This Means War. Let’s see if that’s not a statement against rom-coms.

March is one of the busiest months with the animation Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax, out-of-planet John Carter, period thriller based on Edgar Allan Poe’s poem Raven, the movie remake of the 80s hit TV show 21 Jump Street, one of the many different takes on Snow White called Mirror, Mirror starring Julia Roberts as the Evil Queen, the hyped adaptation of The Hunger Games, and finally, Wrath of the Titans – a spin off of the 2010 remake of the 1981 original that featured Ray Harryhausen monsters. Whew.

April, officially the start of US summer season – Dorothy of Oz (a musical animation based of course on The Wizard of Oz); American Reunion (which hopefully does not show a preserved apple pie); the 3D rerelease of the most successful film of all time Titanic; The Three Stooges; and Scary Movie 5.

May – Marvel comic’s biggest film to date, The Avengers opens this month. Next are Dark Shadows (based on the 1960s horror soap opera), What To Expect When You’re Expecting based on the bestselling series of pregnancy guides; Hysteria starry Maggie Gyllenhaal, based on the story of the invention of the vibrator; and more aliens in Men In Black III.

June – Rock of Ages (the movie musical based on the hit broadway musical of the same name); Snow White and the Huntsman; Madagascar 3; Ridley Scott’s the highly-anticipated Alien prequel Prometheus; Bryan Singer’s comeback in Jack the Giant Killer based on the fairy tale; Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Killer based on the popular novel by Seth Grahame-Smith; Pixar’s latest animation Brave; and another Chaning Tatum starrer, G.I. Joe: Retaliation.

July is bat month with The Amazing Spider Man; Ice Age 3: Continental Drift; The Dark Knight Rises; and hopefully the last of the series Step Up 4.

August – Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days, made-in-Manila The Bourne Legacy, the remake of the Schwarzenegger sci-fi actioner Total Recall this time starring Colin Farrel; and The Expendables 2.

September – the rerelease of Finding Nemo, in 3D; Resident Evil: Retribution; and Dredd (starring Karl Urban as the latest incarnation of Judge Dredd.)

October kicks off the Oscar season with The Wachowski’s adaptation of sci-fi wonder Cloud Atlas; Liam Neeson returns in Taken 2; Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3D; Paranormal Activity 4; Oscar-bait The Gangster Squad; Halloween 3D; and indie drama Of Men and Mavericks.

November – period actioner Red Dawn; the upteenth James Bond, Skyfall; the ultimate The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part II; The Silver lInings Playbook based on the comic of the same title; Keanu Reeves returns to the screen in 47 Ronin; and Alfonso Cuaron’s sci-fi thiller Gravity.

December, the most important month, is a downer locally because of the schedule interruption by MMF. Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln may not be released here till February of 2013, so will Tom Hooper’s screen adaptation of the musical Les Miserables; there’s a good chance that the Brad Pitt starrer World War Z may come out a week before MMFF and then return in January, although that is a better schedule for Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, just like how MI4 did in 2011. Finally, Oscar hopefulls Kill Bin Laden and The Great Gatsby starring Leo DiCaprio will open in the US in December but won’t reach local theaters till at least Oscar week.

For more titles and their trailers, hit this.

4. The Bourne Legacy is made in Manila.

As of this writing, actors Jeremy renner, Rachel Weiss and Edward Norton are all filming scenes in Metro Manila. It is said that more than 20mins of the film is set in Manila, which, for the first time in its film-location history, is not standing in for another city. Yup, Bourne Legacy will show the world how Manila and the Philippines really look like these days. Opens in August.

5. CineMARAMI

Cinemalaya, CinemaOne Originals and CineManila are all reaping the rewards of a bigger audience as they become more popular. I just hope filmmakers can make more risks than make arthouse versions of MMFF or MMK. As we say it: the more the many-er.

6. The Death of MMFF

Wait, this is wishful thinking. Definitely won’t happen in 2012. This festival is doing Filipinos more harm – culturally, intellectually – than all the boxoffice it can make. If you want to see Filipino films, there’s #5. Not interested? There’s #1. Prefer the classics? #2.

Since 2009, the two-week Festival has surged 45% in nationwide boxoffice earnings from PhP437M (US$9.9M ) at 44:1 to PhP636.8M (US$14.47M) in 2011 (Average ticket is around P130). That bodes well for the local industry IN GENERAL which is struggling to compete against Hollywood marketing. Despite the overall financial success, however, the festival is far from being a true champion of local cinema. The Festival has this peculiar selection process that whittles entries down to particular genres, supposedly to make the festival attractive to the broadest audience possible. There are only permutations of these five: drama, comedy, fantasy, horror or action. Previous attempts to stray from these categories (animation in Urduja and RPG Metanoia) resulted to relative financial failure.

No extensive study has yet been done to profile MMFF and its audience (non that I’m aware of at least, ping me if you know of any).

5. Let the Korean Tsunami drown the world.

South Korea is the new Japan. The Elantra is the most famous sedan in the US. The United Nations’ Secretary General (Ban Ki-Moon) is South Korean. This Asian wave may have started from Taiwanese soaps and boy bands years ago, but the Koreans  are now taking over the world.

First it was Korean soaps. Endless Love, Lovers in Paris, Full House, Jewel in the Palace. And then, K-Pop. The hip-hop/R&B/electronic disco inspired phenom popular among Asian teens is spreading across the Pacific, despite the language barrier.

Remember Star Circle Quest product Sandara Park? She got the better deal from Karma. She’s now one-fourth of Korean pop supergroup 2NE1 (pronounced either Twenty-one or To Anyone, both are correct), MTV Iggy’s Best New Band in the World and due to debut in the US this year.

I say we can learn from our Korean friends in taking our world-class performers to the world stage. If not from SuperJunior, there’s 2PM, Beast, Girls Generation and Wonder Girls. After all, Charice didn’t get her break in Ellen until after she appeared in a Korean show. Filipinos, Fighting/Hwaiting!

4. More Azkal friendlies.

Admittedly, we’re decades away from levelling competitively against powerhouses like Spain or UK or Argentina. It wasn’t the friendly against LA Galaxy but the game between third-tier CF Internacional de Madrid and the all-purely-Filipino UFL champion Phil Air Force Phoenix that stressed this point.

For the national team to level up to even Asian championship standards, the Azkals – our best team – need to hone their skills against stronger clubs with longer years of experience. We literally are just starting, and there’s only one national team. Hopefully we can hold an Asian Cup trophy within 10 years.

Next match is against Incheon Citizen FC on the 21st. Go Azkals!

3. Impeachment = No dramas! 

‘Nuff said!

2. Total ban on fireworks on New Year’s Eve.

Provided the world does not end on December 21, I look forward to a smog-free January 1, 2013. How about designating one – only one – fireworks display centre per city like the ones on Ayala Avenue in Makati or Luneta in Manila?

The powders and residue are bad enough for the air and our lungs, the noise traumatise pets and the trash accumulated the day after are in the tons. After Typhoons Ondoy and Sendong, didn’t we al say we should take care of the environment more? I don’t think we’re taking the warnings seriously. Also, aren’t fireworks covered in the Clean Air Act?

1. It’s More Fun In The Philippines.

The Department of Tourism’s new slogan is so catchy, it received so many permutations within 24 hours of posting. Permutations to  confirm, deny, make fun of and repeat this online. All I can say is, IT JUST IS!

>>DISCLAIMER: I do not own all the photographs, posters and logos posted here, except section #4 Azkals and #2 New Years Eve which I personally took. Credit and copyright belong to the owners of the photos and logos appearing in sections #1-3, #5-12.<<

Basically these are what I had to say about Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows and Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwreked (these are what I posted on Rottentomatoes):

SHERLOCK HOLMES: A GAME OF SHADOWS

The addition of Moriarty as Holmes’ arch-nemesis is what makes this a good bit of entertainment. At least this time Holmes is more understandable phonetically, er, speaking. Dynamics between Holmes and Watson make the tedium tolerable. And the last bit of game between Moriarty and Holmes made up for the entire first half. Looks great tho, the design is beautiful.

ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS: CHIPWRECKED

Found this more appealing (relatively speaking) than the 2nd Chipmunk movie. Theodore is absolutely cute. Movie is absolutely for little kids only. That much it deserves. Music is absolutely annoying. I never hated a song (Party Rock Theme) so much in my life, and it was played endlessly. I wanted to slash my wrists. The good news? There are far worse fare than this.

Happy New Year!

I’ll be updating the site soon.

Review ni Vives Anunciacion

Inquirer Libre

The Green Hornet

Directed by Michel Gondry

Isa sa favorite toys ko nung bata ako ay yung Superman action figure ko na nilalaro ko kahit sa opisina ng mommy ko after school. Di malayo sa eksena ng batang anak ng media mogul sa The Green Hornet, except doon naging superhero si Britt Reid at ako hindi. Teka, dapat pala hindi si Seth Rogen ang bida.

First time sa big screen ang former radio show The Green Hornet, na sumikat noong 1960s sa telebisyon kung saan nakilala si Bruce Lee bilang sidekick na si Kato. Pilipino pa ang karakter niya noon imbes na Hapon, palibhasa’y katatapos lang ng World War II at hindi pwedeng ipakita ng Hollywood na inaalila ng mga Amerikano ang mga Asyano. Maliban sa atin, kasi tatanggapin naman natin ang kahit na anong Stateside, diba? Bahala kayo.

Cut to, ang komedyanteng si Seth Rogen ang bagong Britt Reid, ang iresponsable, pariwara at playboy na anak ng isang Los Angeles media mogul (Tom Wilkinson). Nang biglang mamatay si rich daddy, hindi alam ni Britt ang gagawin sa minanang newspaper The Daily Sentinel, pati kung paano magtimpla ng masarap na kape. Diyan papasok si Kato (Jay Chou) ang multi-talented martial-arts, weapons specialist and barista. This time Intsik si Kato, from Shanghai.

Para hindi siya makonsensiya kung gaano kawalang-silbi ang kaniyang buhay, magpapanggap si Britt bilang kriminal na may layuning ubusin ang ibang kriminal gamit ang pera ni dead daddy, ang pahayagang Sentinel at siyempre ang skills ni Kato. Katulong nila ang magandang matalinong secretary na si Lenore (Cameron Diaz).

Siyempre, merong criminal mastermind (si Chudnofski, played by Academy Award nominee Christoph Waltz) na hahadlang sa paglalaro ni rich boy.

Maingay, maaksyon at higit sa lahat mahirit ang pelikula – yung tipong madaldal na hirit ng isang maangas na rich boy na akala mo siya na ang pinaka sa lahat. Yan ang karakter ni Seth Rogen. At iyan ang problema ng pelikula na entertaining na sana panoorin.

I’m a big fan of the director, Michel Gondry na siyang dumirehe ng cult-classic love story Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. And judging from what I saw in The Green Hornet, entertaining action comedy romp naman ang resulta ng paghahaluhalo ng mga elements ng original TV series, mga 1980s buddy cop comedies at kaunting comic book elements kasama na ang mga intentional continuity errors. Look closely at the split-screen effect of one scene at pag-iisipan niyo kung paano nila ginawa ang eksenang iyon.

Ok naman sana lahat, in fact, nakaw eksena ang Taiwanese superstar Jay Chou, na pinaglaanan ng kwento para ma-emphasize ang partnership ng Green Hornet at ni Kato at hindi siya sidekick lang. One-fourth of the time it’s funny.

Problema lang talaga ay si Seth Rogen, na una’y hindi magaling na aktor para gawing charming ang nakaiiritang spoiled brat niyang karakter, ikalawa’y hindi siya mukhang rich spoiled brat at lalu na hindi siya mukhang rich spoiled brat na nagkaroon ng malasakit at naging isang street hero. Madaldal lang siya. Hindi naman siya pwedeng palitan, isa siya sa producers ng pelikula.

Next time, pwedeng pelikula muna ni Kato?

Rebyu ni Vives Anunciacion

Inquirer Libre January 20, 2011

Hereafter

Directed by Clint Eastwood

Some dialogue in French, with English subtitles

Si Tatang talaga, gusto pala gumawa ng French film. Yun lang parang kinulang ang vibes. Di bale, marami naman siyang nagawang magandang pelikula, pwede na itong itago sa ilalim ng koleksyon.

Madalas ang mga bida ng mga pelikula ni Tatang Clint ay iyong may strength of character – malalakas ang dating – yun tipong maaalala mo kahit na tapos na yung pelikula, gaya ng mga characters nina Hillary Swank sa Million Dollar Baby, o ni Sean Penn sa Mystic River o kaya ni Angelina Jolie sa Changeling. Ganun din siya bilang aktor at director sa Unforgiven at Gran Torino.

Walang ganito sa Hereafter, ang pelikulang pagninilay ni Clint Eastwood kung paano naaapektuhan ang buhay ng mga buhay kapag may namamatay.

Isang broadcast journalist ang French actress na si Cécile De France na magkakaroon ng out-of-body experience matapos maging biktima ng tsunami sa Bali, ang twins na Frankie at George McLaren ang magkapatid na Jason at Marcus paghihiwalayin ng isang aksidente, at si Matt Damon naman ang psychic na George Lonegan na kumakausap sa ispirito ng mga patay upang tulungan ang mga buhay. Dapat gets niyo na kung ano silbi ni Lonegan kina Marie at sa kalahati ng twins.

Tulad ng isang French film, madaldalin ang pelikula at ang idinadaldal ay mga karaniwang isyu ng buhay – career, pera, love life, kahirapan – pero ang tutoong subtext ay kung paano kakayanin ng mga buhay (or in the case of the French journalist, nabuhay pagkatapos mamatay) ang pagkawala ng mga pinakamamahal nila.

In this sense tagumpay si Tatang sa kaniyang attempt gumawa ng isang multi-character French film na relationship-based ang kwento at walang melodramatic dynamics na typical sa Hollywood. Pero pwera roon, wala na. Hindi memorable ang characters, wala yung typical strong character ng mga pelikula ni Eastwood. Pati yung climax na magkikita na silang tatlo parang walang epek.

At kung pagninilay ito tungkol sa kabilang buhay, para ka lang nagnilay kung dadaan ka muna ng bakery bago umuwi habang naghihintay sa pagdating ng tren ng MRT. Pagdating ng tren, ang iisipin mo na ay sana huwag kang madukutan.

Ok lang Tatang, idol pa rin kita bilang director.

Review by Vives Anunciacion

Gulliver’s Travels

Directed by Rob Letterman

This idea went a little too far. May lightning strike those who propose a sequel.

I don’t have anything against modernized adaptations (or ‘interpretations’) per se, except the really nasty ones like this. Honestly I’d be more lenient if the title didn’t bear resemblance to the main character of the original – something like She’s A Man instead of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night which is what it was based from, or 10 Things I Hate About You which was actually The Taming of the Shrew, but told in 1999.  And that West Side Story is Romeo and Juliet.

In contrast, Jack Black’s production (he is executive producer) is simply idiotic, the same idiotic idea as that proposal to make a comedic Green Lantern starring Jack Black, long before Ryan Reynolds came into the picture.

Jack Black plays Lemuel Gulliver (same name as the main character in the classic literary piece), a lowly mailman for a publishing house who gets assigned to write a travel piece about the mysterious Bermuda Triangle so he can make a good impression on the travel editor he has a crush on.

He goes, gets swept away by a storm into the teeny tiny island kingdom that is Liliput  (or Liliputia, it’s inconsistent.) He pretends to be someone he is not, blah blah blah and in the end, the moral of the story is, to get the girl you want, be honest. Which is totally not what Jonathan Swift’s satire is about, but should be okay had the film been REALLY FUNNY but it is NOT.

Supposedly, Travels to Several Remote Nations of the World written in 1726 was Swift’s rebuttal to the optimistic view of human nature in Robinson’s Crusoe written by Daniel Defoe in 1719. The original Gulliver’s Travels was a parody to the (then) emerging literary format of travelogue and the granddaddy of novels.

At this point, the film techniques in Hollywood are almost beyond reproach, so to that I can say that the effects in Gulliver’s Travels The Movie are pretty good, considering. One thing the movie got correctly that is similar to the books: his fate is reversed when he becomes the Liliputian in the land of giants (Brobdingnag). Toilet humour, green jokes, and endless referrals to Fox franchises Star Wars, X-Men and Avatar will remind people that this movie is about selling toys to kids who are 30 years old who talk with the vocabulary of a college fratman.

And if I may do so bluntly suggest to parents to send their kids to the library and force them to read the books in print and not download them into the Kindle.

Here’s to a great year, 2011!

We already know how integral music and sound are in a film but I seem to have developed this liking for original compositions. You see, I’m not a musical person – I don’t play any instruments much less compose pieces. The nearest to it that I do is attaching and editing musical scores – network or original – to the corporate videos I edit or direct. I seem to have a good ear for it.

Blame John Williams. Star Wars Episode IV and E.T. – the first two movies I saw as a child repeating in my head over and over half because of the fantastic visuals and the other half by John Williams’ memorable music. If I had been musically gifted as a child, I would have ended becoming a composer, I swear.

Of course I’d love soundtracks too – John Highes’ teen movies, David Foster’s For Just A Moment in St. Elmo’s Fire, The Goonies ‘R’ Good Enough by Cyndi Lauper – I grew up on them as well.

Scores are scores and they’re there to serve the emotional aspect of the storytelling of the film – so a lot of times, portions of the score aren’t exactly as enjoyable as themes or pieces that are standalone like songs. Now that I’ve developed a taste for it, it becomes clear that the better the score, the less noticeably memorable it should be. Quite unlike John William’s trademark scores like Vader’s March or Superman’s Theme where they function separately like standalone songs that sometimes interfere with the scene just because they’re more recognisable than the scene unfolding on the screen.

There are so many good ones these days, including former performers James Newton Howard, Beck and recently Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross for David Fincher’s The Social Network.

The section is called Movements, as a play on the word movements that represent the visual element of film as well as the musical term which is “a self-contained part, or section, of a musical composition or form. While individual movements from a composition are sometimes performed separately, the performance of a complete work requires all the movements to be performed in succession (Wikipedia)”.

I’ll be posting stuff once in a while specific pieces which I like. But I won’t even attempt to explain how these are used in their specific scenes – that’s the composer’s job. I’m no music expert, nor do i play music. I’ll just post stuff that I enjoy and then I’ll try to pick out why I liked them in the scene.

Here goes.

http://player.vimeo.com/video/16062780?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0

Proposition 19 – The New Leaf from ISHOTHIM on Vimeo.

The Social Network
Directed by David Fincher

This much I’m sure of: The Social Network is the year’s best picture, beyond the shadow of a doubt.

Based on the novel The Accidental Billionaire by Ben Mezrich, The Social Network is a fictionalized drama of what happened when internet megasite Facebook was born. It is not a two-hour advertisement of the site. It is not a movie about nerds trying to hack a supercomputer to save the world, it’s more like courtroom tennis match set in Harvard, and the grand prize is the addiction of 500 million internet users worldwide.

Set in the halls of Harvard University in 2003, The Social Network tells how Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) and best friend Eduardo Saverin (the next Spider Man, Andrew Garfield) started Facebook, how others claimed the idea was stolen from them, and how Napster founder Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake) weaved himself into Zuckerberg’s life that led to Saverin’s being booted from Facebook. Plus or minus everything that happened in between, depending on who is telling the story.

Pencilled to perfection by A Few Good Men and The West Wing writer Aaron Sorkin and glorified onscreen by career-defining performances from Eisenberg, Garfield, and yes, even Timberlake, The Social Network establishes David Fincher in the pantheon of the masters of the medium. Understated, subtle and refined, TSN slaps you hard on the face not once, but three times.

First with the opening scene that throws away the rulebooks on how a film traditionally should open. It shows two persons talking in a bar for 9 minutes. Simple and quiet, it manages to accomplish what an opening scene should do without even trying. Fincher delivers his first lecture in masterclass filmmaking.

Come early and get a seat during the trailers: the film starts as soon as the Columbia logo appears.

The second slap happens three-fourths into the film – by then all the truths and counter-truths and the manipulation have been exposed that Saverin, defeated, dumbfounded by what Zuckerberg has done to him, could only say, “I was your only friend.” So disgusted was I at Zuckerberg at this point that I wanted to erase all of my social networking accounts.

The third slap comes at the final scene (now famously referred to as the Citizen Kane ending.) As simple and understated as the opening scene, the final scene encapsulates the enigma of the entire film: is everyone a victim, or does everyone deserve it?

Cinema is the most unique of the arts in the sense that it combines different forms (literary, visual design/ photography, performance, music) into a unified entity. The Social Network is such an example of a singular vision that expertly synthesizes all its elements, as close to perfection as a film can get.

Maybe it is true that this film defines the attitudes of a generation – that generation of middle class which grew up with cellphones and internet connection obsessed with individuality. Yet by exclusion, the film also defines those who are out of the loop – that those who cannot ride the digital age will, just as Zuckerberg tells Saverin in the film, get left behind.

Truly, the revolution will not be televised.