The Avengers

A spectacle filled with crowd-pleasing action 
and playful wit and humor. A must watch!

Director: Joss Whedon

Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Jeremy Renner, Samuel L. Jackson, and Tom Hiddleston

Release Date: April 25, 2012 (Philippines)

What can I say, all that geekiness and comicbook charm was achieved by The Avengers. It is now officialy my most favorite superhero film (Sorry X-Men: First Class). 

The Avengers is composed of the billionaire Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), the scientist Dr. Bruce Banner/The Incredible Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), the demigod Thor (Chris Hemsworth), World War II supersoldier Steve Rogers/Captain America (Cris Evans), and spies Hawkeye/Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner) and Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson). They were re-grouped by Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), director of international peace keeping agency S.H.I.E.L.D, to save the world from the alien invading forces of Loki (Tom Hiddleston) who unfortunately gained possession of the cube-like Tesseract.

The film has a common superhero story of aliens invading Earth and there's a lot happening, but still the film felt refreshing and exciting. The film tapped into the conflicts and relationships of each character, like a regular messy therapy session with a shrink, only with superhero attendees. Marvel's The Avengers is packed with action from start to finish but did not fail to make us laugh as well. Iron Man's arrogant sense of humor were a given, but The Hulk was a revelation! He kept the audience laughing with his subtle comical moments, one with Thor, another with Creepy cool Loki. The characters of Hawk Eye and Black Widow were promoted to hero status and made a great debut. Ruffalo gave the The Hulk a character boost, and I must say, the uses to which The Hulk is put throughout this movie was unforeseen but certainly a pleasant surprise; it made him look stronger and catapulted him into the front ranks of the Marvel Universe's superheroes.

Surely it was no simple feat, so kudos to Joss Whedon for brilliantly executing this intelligent and witty story with a burdensome superhero all-star ensemble. Most of the heroes in this 2 hour and 23 minute movie are very well-known, but none are short changed. Although obviously, and naturally so, crowd favorites Ironman, Captain America and Thor got more screentime in the movie. In spite of that, Whedon showcased well all the heroes, gave each character enough story then he weaved all the superhuman stories together and made it work. Whedon clearly has a deep understanding, and love, of the source material. The effects are top-notch and all the actors were great. Even the supporting Agent Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders, who was not trying to make us laugh like she does in How I Met Your Mother) and Agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg). The chemistry is all that good.

One minor problem: It's not a prerequisite to watch the previous films, but for the benefit of first-time viewers they could've picked up more the movie's character and plot development element, maybe summing up the events that led to the encounter. 

The film's climactic battle is breathtaking, delivering its every promise. The Avengers is a spectacle filled with crowd-pleasing action and playful wit and humor. This is one of the best superhero film ever made and I am not exaggerating. The seven year wait and the films that led to assembling The Avengers were all worth it. Kids and adults, fans and non fans, will love the movie. This is a must watch. 

If you stick around for the post credit sequence, as with any Marvel film, you'll get a hint of what's coming. And the next villain is Thanos!

The Hunger Games

The film captured enough the spirit 

of the novel regardless. 

Director: Gary Ross

Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth

Release Date: March 23, 2012 (USA)

(Based from the novel written by Suzanne Collins)

It's Survivor meets Big Brother meets Gladiator.

The story is set in a glum future, in the dictatorial nation of Panem composed of 12 hard up districts and its seat of government, the Capitol. Each year, as punishment for their rebellion, a boy and a girl aged 12 to 18 from each district gets chosen by lottery to participate in The Hunger Games. This barbaric televised game will show the 24 Tributes fight to the death in an outdoor arena. Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) volunteers to take her younger sister's place as District 12's representative. With her male counterpart Peeta Melark (Josh Hutcherson), Katniss competes against bigger and stronger Tributes and would radically change the game that displeased the President.

Lawrence was on the money as Katniss, emitting a charm that can stir a crowd. But, minus the mindless racist casting comments she's been getting, adorable Amandla Stenberg won my heart over playing smallest and youngest tribute, Rue. She showed her underaged loveliness and her relatable acting as Katniss' ally. The story was filled with colorful characters (no pun intended Rue), although mostly poorly developed - a perrenial issue for an adaptation from book to film. Take for example Gale (Liam Hemsworth), who was merely in the sidelines.

Gary Ross did a good job at making all those battle scenes less brutal though, hence PG-13. Visually, and I also mean the Tim Burton-ish costumes defining the wealthy from the poor, it is an awesome film. And I must say that the musical score complemented the scenes perfectly, stimulating that air of suspense and hope.

The film captured enough the spirit of the novel regardless, and for that it deserves the box-office success it got. But I expect even more exciting things to happen in the next installments of this trilogy.

Naturally, the novel would offer more depth to the story. There's just so much more that can be packed into books!

 

Wrath of the Titans

Disney's animated Hercules 
is a better story.

Director: Jonathan Liebesman

Starring: Sam Worthington, Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, and Rosamund Pike

Release Date: March 30, 2012 (USA)

Now, who thought it was a good idea to make a sequel of 2010's re-make Clash of the Titans? 

I didn't. But the producers thought otherwise. Despite the fact that the bland first movie was not well received, it raked in profit anyway, although measly, and the rest of the world loves shitty 3D, so they made a post-converted 3D sequel, Wrath of the Titans. 

Set ten years after, the Kraken slayer Perseus (Sam Worthington) leaves his fisherman life and his 10 year old son Helius behind and travel to the heart of Tartarus to rescue his father Zeus (Liam Neeson) as Hades (Ralph Fiennes) and Ares (Edgar Ramirez) drain his godhood to revive the lethal Titan king Kronos. 

The good points. First that unsteady cam technique, usually disorienting, worked for this ancient Greek story. You'd get a genuine sense of delicious danger, urgency and pure grit throughout: Perseus getting dirt under his fingernails and all over his body, then those gaping wounds rendered by mystical creatures (i.e. the Chimera in the beginning of the flick) make the demigod son of Zeus appear fragile. Secondly, Worthington was allowed to keep his aussie accent which felt natural. Thirdly, with the gargantuan molten lava hands of the film's ultimate villain Kronos alone, the CGI is a success! Finally you have Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes reprising their roles as Zeus and Hades respectively with their outstanding talent fees, er, acting.

All said, Wrath of the Titans still is not a particularly good film. The love interest subplot is weak. Do these major franchise action films have a problem with relationships? Andromeda (Rosamund Pike) is never shown to be close to Perseus. Him falling for Andromeda is based on nothing more than the fact that she is the flick's only available female, then who knows she'd be killed off like Gemma Arterton's Io in the first film. And character development is almost non-existent, but it should be the director's fault. The movie is directed by Jonathan Liebesman who's responsible for the unoriginal and easily forgettable Battle: Los Angeles, a sci-fi thriller straight out of Black Hawk Down but with Aliens.

The movie is an impressive display of computer graphics and strong fight sequences. But Disney's animated Hercules is a better story. LOL.

Super 8

Exciting til the end, 
feels like watching ET 
only scarier like Jurassic Park. 

Director: J.J. Abrams

Producer: Steven Spielberg

Starring: Joel Courtney, Elle Fanning, Kyle Chandler, Ron Eldard, Riley Griffiths, Gabriel Basso, Zach Mills, Ryan Lee

Release Date: June 10, 2011 (USA)

Sure, there is an alien in the movie, a kleptomaniacal one I must say, but it really is a story of kids and their relationships.

The movie is set in 1979, basing on a newscast referencing the Three Mile Island accident, and a bunch of kids in small town Lillian, Ohio is making a monster movie in the Super 8 format (that’s an old movie format that you can’t watch right away, it needs to be viewed on a projector after it was developed). The main kid, Joe Lamb (newcomer Joel Courtney), has his mother get killed in a steel mill accident involving the father of Alice Dainard (Elle Fanning), the cute white trash girl. The fathers, Kyle Chandler as deputy sheriff Jackson Lamb and Ron Eldard as scary Louis Dainard, hate each other and both have estranged relationships with their children.

Alice gets pulled in to do their film, and chubby child director Charles (newcomer Riley Griffiths) rounds up the gang to do shooting at the train tracks late at night. They accidentally film a train crash instead. What emerges from the train wreck is out of this world, I mean literaly. Bizarre things start to happen and the kids try to solve the mystery like Sooby Doo. A battle ensues involving machine guns and tanks, that impossibly fires repeatedly because they're manual loader tanks (YOU GEEK! I know...) and not powered by Prof. X.

Much of Super 8's poster has been dedicated to two prominent names in film: J.J. Abrams and Steven Spielberg. Were they just banking on these names to make a fortune and make up for its likely senselessness? I didn't think so.

Like any other, the film has issues, yes. Like those tanks; and the Air Force freight train that ridiculously ran at that impracticable speed! No wonder it got derailed. And that the monster is racist because it didn't abduct anyone other than caucasian. Of course it's a collage of different amazing movies, according to sour critics, but it has its own original tone to it, according to me. Their point was: a group of kids in their early teens (Stand by Me), they pursue the mystery that haunts their town (Goonies, or Scooby Doo if twas TV), and they get into trouble with the military dealing with an alien (E.T.). Abrams has pieced together all those with a storytelling technique that is his own, and that's genius and original. He is like a student of poetry, you study the works of the standards like William Shakespeare and Edgar Allan Poe and Pablo Neruda, and you take from that and make a style that is your own.

The acting was superb! What do you expect, J.J. Abrams is good at casting. Except for Elle Fanning, the kids had little or no prior experience at acting but they were authentic. Joel Courtney especially was very good in his role. Like kids often do in their part of the world, they swear, they are bitchy to one another, fight over girls then get over it.

It's a movie for kids that appeals to adults too. There are problems to the film, but that and the cranky comments about Super 8 still doesn't take away from the feel-good glory of the film. I sat back and enjoyed the Spielbergian nostalgia that it brought. I felt like a kid again.

Praybeyt Benjamin

WARNING: Not recommended for hardcore movie critics. 

This is not the type of film that must be taken seriously. 

Director: Wenn V. Deramas

Starring: Vice Ganda, Jimmy Santos, Eddie Garcia, Derek Ramsay, Nikki Valdez, Kean Cipriano, DJ Durano, Vandolph Quizon, Carlos Agassi, Dennis Padilla

Release Date:  October 26, 2011

Isa itong komedya tungkol sa isang bakla na nagkunwaring lalaki upang gampanan ang pagiging sundalo. Like La Pacita Assorted Biscuits na kadalasang hinahanda sa mga lamay, Praybeyt Benjamin is an assortment. It's a mix of Mulan (yung chekwang cartoon character), Private Benjamin (Goldie Hawn), Mary Poppins, and a Maricel Soriano or Roderick Paulate comedy.

Vice Ganda plays Benjamin "Benjie" Santos VIII.  Ang mga Benjamin ng Santos clan ay traditionally nagiging mga sundalo, matipuno, lalaking-lalaki.

KAPOW!

Suntok ang inabot ni Benjie ng malaman ni lolo (Eddie Garcia) na binabae pala ang apo nya. Ayun, itinakwil ang buong pamilya niya. When a terrorist group took the entire country hostage, napilitan ang army mag-recruit. Nagpalista si Benjie para akuin ang posisyon ng tumatandang ama (Jimmy Santos), at dahil na rin gusto nyang sagipin ang lolo niya who was taken hostage by the terrorists. Sa camp, na-inlab siya kay Brandon (Derek Ramsay), at tuluyan nang nagladlad ng tunay na katauhan. Naging lider din sa camp si Benjie ng isang maliit na grupo ng mga losers turned national heroes, sa tulong na rin ng kanyang kabaklaan at mga gadget ng scientist na tatay.

"Ay kabayo!"

"Brownout?" tanong ni kapatid.

"Hindi, sunrise."

Sarcasm and competent support actors, 'yan ang kargang bala ng pelikulang 'to. Si Jimmy Santos bilang ama ni Benjie, si Abby Bautista na gumanap na batang kapatid ay ilan lang sa mga tumatak sa ating lahat.

"Pag bakla, salot agad?"

"Hindi ba pwedeng malas muna?" sambit ng batang matabil.

May mga bentang scenes din, tulad nung pagkikita nina Benjie at ang kanyang pamilya for the first time mula ng mag-training siya sa pagsusundalo. Ang setting: merong glass window sa pagitan ng dalawang kwarto -- nasa magkabilang silid si Benjie at kanyang pamilya; nag-emote sina Benjie at mga magulang nito through the glass; damang-dama mong nasasaktan sila sa partition na namamagitan sa kanila; nag-iyakan, pilit nilang maging kontento na lamang na hanggang hawak sa malamig na salamin na lang ang magagawa nila... At nang biglang nagbukas ng pintuan sa side ang kapatid na babae ni Benjie.

Mapapamura ka habang tumatawa. T@%* i*a! May pintuan pala!

The 1 hour and 50mins Praybeyt Benjamin had good moments, but it lacked focus. The story was all over the place, ang script ay hindi ganun kalalim. But it worked OK dahil sa delivery ng actors. There were hopeless antics, but Vice Ganda made it look promising. Let's face it, kung hindi si Vice Ganda ang bida, malamang flop ang movie. Nobody could deliver those lines like he did. May cameo pang lumabas sa dulo na mage-gets lang if you’ve seen the film it was referring to.

Masarap talagang manood kung sinasabayan ka din ng crowd sa emosyon mo -- anlulutong ng halakhak ng mga kasabayan kong nanood sa sinehan. Sumakit ang ulo at tyan ko sa kakatawa sa pelikulang ito. At mukhang hindi lang ako, because Praybeyt Benjamin is now the Highest Grossing Filipino Film of all time, and is also the first Filipino movie that reached Php300 million mark.

X-Men: First Class

Even with its flaws, X-Men: First Class is a valuable 

boot up of the comicbook legacy that is the X-Men.

Director: Matthew Vaughn

Starring: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Kevin Bacon, Rose Byrne, Jennifer Lawrence, January Jones, Nicholas Hoult

Release Date: June 3, 2011

This prequel was a big gamble for Marvel. It's dangerous business to redo a well-known franchise such as the X-Men, presenting it contrary to conventional comic-book-inspired flicks -- with new actors, a different backdrop; less special effects, more dramatics. Risky, but Marvel should be proud of the decision, because it's worth it.

Eleven years ago, the X-Men film series was launched. I hated how Cyclops' character was played down in the trilogy, and was eventually killed, but I realize it's all Hollywood business. Because James Marsden puzzlingly decided to ditch the movie franchise in favor of a mediocre part in Superman Returns, produced by a competitor studio (but also directed by Bryan Singer), without a doubt 20th Century Fox and Marvel Pictures was not at all pleased with the actor who played Cyclops. So they prematurely killed the character to get back at him, to wipe out any future movie contracts with him to portray Cyclops. But that wasn't really my point. With the X-Men actors' starmeter rankings soaring along with their talent fees, 20th Century Fox couldn't afford to have Hugh Jackman and Halle Berry in another film together. So they decided to hit replay -- enter X-Men: First Class.

The first half lazily unwrapped the lives of Erik Lehnsherr (who will be Magneto) and Charles Xavier (Professor X), the dull intro counterbalanced by stellar performances of the lead actors James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender as the younger counterparts of Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen's characters. While the young Erik is in a Nazi concentration camp unconsciously demonstrating his magnetic abilities, fortunate Charles Xavier meets little Mystique, a blue-skinned shape-shifter, at home. Then it swings to the early 60s, with Erik hunting a German genetic scientist turned topnotch evildoer apparently seeking revenge for his Nazi torture many years ago. Prof. X, on the other hand, finally becomes an Oxford professor.

McAvoy is convincing as a telepath, projecting the extraordinary sensitivity that the role demanded. And he could well qualify as a stud with his brainy pick up line. "Heterochromia is in reference to your eyes, which I have to say are stunning. One green, one blue. It's a mutation. It's a very groovy mutation..." Fassbender wisely portrayed a younger and emotionally complex Magneto, brimming with rage. The rest of the cast were passable; Kevin Bacon as the resident baddie Sebastian Shaw couldn't be more stiff, he could use some lessons from Jack Sparrow, maybe teach him how to be an effective mischief with a drunken gait.

The story develops to Professor X recruiting a group of teenagers with mutant abilities to battle for the U.S. government -- Banshee, Havok, Angel, Darwin. They would later battle against larger-than-life nasty, Sebastian Shaw. The movie also explains how Hank McCoy transforms to Beast, Mystique's love interest. Director Matthew Vaughn bribed us with a remarkable warfare, in operatic proportions. Magneto dangling from the Blackbird lifting a submarine was epic. You'd twitch at Professor X stretching his abilities to telepathically communicate with Magneto.

X-Men: First Class nicely fused real life events and fictitious mutant heroes, from Poland during World War II to the middle of the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.

I still couldn't understand why Havok instead of Cyclops made it to the First Class, which if I do the math, with Prof. X and Magneto young as they are in the film, would make him older than (big) brother Scott a.k.a. Cyclops. (I guess, James Marsden and Fox still isn't in good terms.) Anyway, it's no secret most people in Hollywood are far more interested in making money than being faithful to the source material. At least some fans will be satisfied to see Nightcrawler's red daddy, Azazel!

Even with its flaws, X-Men: First Class is a valuable boot up of the comicbook legacy that is the X-Men.

The dreaded first blog post.

Watching movies is my stimuli. I have a masochistic desire to let flicks provoke my interest, enthusiasm, or excitement. I get inspired by the real and fictional events that's projected onto the screen.

Then I'd always have something to say later.

Now, I've grown tired of keeping my precious thoughts to myself. I've become lonely at discussing solo my magnificent impressions. I've realized the bizarreness of examining and disputing the screenwriter and director's work then talking to myself about it.

Hence, this movie review blog!