Disqus - Latest Comments for rans_85

Re: A Guide To Eiga Sai 2009 @ ClickTheCity.com Movies

rans_85 — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 01:49:41 -0000

1. It is ineffective because you let a queue longer than what's admissible, and let them wait anyway. There were times when the available tickets to be issued were 200 and the line went as long as a visible 1000 heads and I was the 101st, ok Im exaggerating, and you let the length be anyway. Why don’t you post a bark, something like: Queue at your own risk, only 100 tickets to be issued.

2. It is ineffective because you don’t let chance watchers inside even if the screening is already started and somebody from inside vouches for the availability of seats yet. That young guy who didn’t let us in despite our desperate pleas and despite a friend from inside telling him, there are still many seats available, and yet still poised and firm in his resolve to let us wait still, without offering a valid explanation why, that young guy whose face I still remember… I want to subject him to a torture a la Kinatay, I swear to God!

3. It is ineffective because your theater is small and film lovers like me and you and the rest who go for freebies like FFF tickets are big. Hehehehe

4. It is ineffective because your supply is less than the demand. Teka parang pareho lang to ng number 3. Hehehe

5. It is ineffective because I was only able to watch 2 films in the last FFF because of the ineffectiveness of management. FYI, I was raring to watch them all, nauubusan lang parati ako ng ticket.

6. It is ineffective because I left home early to queue for Serbis only to find the line long, therefore I did not make it to the cutoff (I was third off the last ticket). And so I stayed on the line, now I was among the first ones on it, for the next screening Independencia, and imagine I had to wait 2.5 hrs still to get the free ticket I a was queuing for. Imagine the patience I had to go through, the ordeal of standing up and sitting down and standing up again to kill time only to find that the movie I was delegating my patience for, Independecia, was half-baked exercise of artsy-ness of a filmmaker who was unhinged on how to pull his ambitions off… it’s very ineffective!

7. It is ineffective because you don’t distribute along with the free tickets free alcohol to ward off A(N1H1) virus. Hehehe

8. It is ineffective because… wait, I have to be sure first that you are not banning me from Shangrila cinemas, before I continue these rants.

Re: Movies Opening This Week @ ClickTheCity.com Movies

rans_85 — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 03:34:12 -0000

Im looking forward to Sugar and The Great Buck Howard. Was able to see Two Lovers. It's not bad, it's above average that's for sure, but it's not great either. It doesn't have the exclamation points and stresses of Hollywood fare (good thing!) and it's not hard to see why it qualified in the Cannes Film Festival best picture competition last year against our very own Serbis. Serbis is a lot better than it, hands down.

I'm real curious about I Love You, Man, Coraline and Duplicity. Not aware if they've been shown here yet. With the economy down and the tickets up there in the states, you must be overwhelming with moolah to be updated with so many new films, agm! Oh, the luxury of being rich! :)

Re: Empty Sacrifice @ ClickTheCity.com Movies

rans_85 — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 22:55:13 -0000

You're generous Phil on Pasang Krus, because I would give it .5/5 myself. That's the burden of your profession, you get to review films that you hate reviewing because they are so damn bad, like Pasang Krus!

Re: Slumdog Millionaire Opens in April @ ClickTheCity.com Movies

rans_85 — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 04:19:40 -0000

though i don't agree that slumdog is overrated or overhyped (come on, it is a hype well-earned (well-earned is the operative word here) by a small movie which happens to have summoned majority's consensus, from both critics and regular viewers) , i agree with 75% of what you said, jeppoyy.

Re: Slumdog Millionaire Opens in April @ ClickTheCity.com Movies

rans_85 — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 06:08:46 -0000

my perception on this is coming from the fact that slumdog just broke free from obscurity and won nod from both critics and regular moviegoers alike. it is also starred in by unknown actors. the only name personality from it is the director who is not really that popular as eastwood, spielberg, lucas and the likes. so im really curious what makes slumdog an overrated film.

Re: Slumdog Millionaire Opens in April @ ClickTheCity.com Movies

rans_85 — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 04:30:00 -0000

of course we all know what's the meaning of "overrated." maybe you can elaborate why it is overrated? come on, i know you can do better than just generalize your opinions. take this, i liked slumdog too just like you but i don't think it is overrated. so there might be something in the movie that makes you think slumdog is overrated. is it the story? is it the opening credits? is it the actor? come on, tell us, luis1204. i bet we could have a very nice discussion about it and may be we can learn something from you about slumdog that is still unknown to everybody. really, i can listen.

Re: Slumdog Millionaire Opens in April @ ClickTheCity.com Movies

rans_85 — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 22:26:09 -0000

at least you like it and... you insist it's overrated? parang may di consistent hahaha.

anyways, honestly, im real curious why it is overrated for you. in what way it is overrated? let's discuss deeper. do away with your superficial dismissive style a la "get over it" one-liners. hehehe let's get down to the grassroots why it is overrated, and if you're right i will believe you, promise! hehehe

Re: Slumdog Millionaire Opens in April @ ClickTheCity.com Movies

rans_85 — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 07:25:43 -0000

overrated in what way, luis1204? if you are to be believed, slumdog's stretch is so wide. it started obscure and ended up overrated?

Re: Slumdog Millionaire Opens in April @ ClickTheCity.com Movies

rans_85 — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 00:45:59 -0000

I can't wait to see Agm_71 and Philbert slugging it out for the love and hate of this movie. Seems I'm on Agm_71's side on this.

Re: The Unscary @ ClickTheCity.com Movies

rans_85 — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 05:00:36 -0000

G_repear, how did you know? Me? I didn't! And thanks God for that spare! =))

Re: Blood Simple @ ClickTheCity.com Movies

rans_85 — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 01:49:51 -0000

Blitz, even documentaries are "contrived;" as long a the subject is aware he is being filmed, it is "contrived." Just that Taken is contrived in so obvious way you need to switch off your brain just to go along peacefully. But... but, that doesn't deter me from understanding its champions because it's a populist film. A popcorn film is indeed easy to like and would probably be appreciated by equally populist reviewer, but for a discerning critic (that is in general and not referring Phil particularly), its emptiness and contrivances shouldn't go unnoticed.

Re: The Unscary @ ClickTheCity.com Movies

rans_85 — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 23:08:35 -0000

hahahha. napatawa naman ako sa comment na to. TGR, i liked your humor. di ko na panonoorin ko at baka madamay pa ang pitaka ko sa kapangitan nito. hahaha TGR, hope you post more, and with that kind of dry humor, you are most welcome.

Re: Blood Simple @ ClickTheCity.com Movies

rans_85 — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 23:53:58 -0000

This film is popcorn, it is as popcorn as it can get. Bloated and empty. Entertaining to some degree but empty. If you want to watch this film, just let your eyes in to the cinema but leave your brain at the door because if you handcarry your brain with you to the cinema, like I did, you will come out of the theater releasing farts successively. I agree with every point of agm_71, the very evident coincedences protuding like obvious sore stetches, the ever-presence of Neeson at the right place and right time, the 96-hour timeline, etc, etc. Even for a popcorn film, it is a failure.

I don't want to discuss this movie, and this kind of movies. It is not worth my time, money and energy. And this is a 4/5 star, huh?!

Re: Suburban Glamour @ ClickTheCity.com Movies

rans_85 — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 02:54:26 -0000

Actually I don't want to post my comment here because Phil left me with nothing to further say. He's articulated my thoughts on the film. O-ha! For all his misses lately, when Phil hits it, it is with aplomb. And for that, you can take me home Phil, I'm all yours, all night! lol!

Re: Blood Simple @ ClickTheCity.com Movies

rans_85 — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 04:54:52 -0000

Dude Pepper, from your reply to Agm, it seems to me that the contested "coincidences" act out as platform to and takeoff point of the narrative. I particularly liked this one: "if they weren't the ones spotted by abductors, then there wouldn't be a story right?" Very valid observation. The more that I need to see Taken. hehe

Re: Blood Simple @ ClickTheCity.com Movies

rans_85 — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 03:56:32 -0000

Though I agree that there are coincidences in movies, I disagree that movies are always full of coincidences. Most of the time, movies are coincidentally structured but they, the filmmakers, don’t need to show the “coincidentality” in-you-face. Contrary to that, coincidence should be camouflaged or even better hidden like hadhad and alipunga because it is a narrative device and not a badge of honor for display. Because of time limitations (most movies are only about 2 hrs long), narrative structuring resorts to “coincidence” as a device to pack the cause-and-effect events into a two-hour productions. If coincidence is very evident to the viewers then there must be wrong with the script, unless coincidence takes precedence in the story. The filmmaker I can think of off the top of my head who incorporates coincidences in the story is Tom Tykwer (evident even in his latest Hollywood outing The International) and the late Krzysztof Kieslowski. In Kiewslowski’s celebrated Dekalog, a character from one episode crosses over to another episode. Maybe the best example of coincidence rooted in the story is Kiewslowski’s Double Life of Veronique where two Veronicas so identical to each other live two places away, one in Poland and the other in Paris. Each action of one is wired, or seemingly so, to the other’s – talking of coincidences!

With Slumdog Millionaire, coincidence is also rooted in the story since it is a dramatization of life’s curious predetermination and predestination. If you look at it from our end, the viewers, it would feel pretty coincidental that the questions asked of Jamal have always something to do with the important plot points of his life. But then it is not about coincidences as it is about dramatization of “what is written.” As a gambler of life’s games, the only times we are sure of our bet is when we know it from experience. As students taking exam, the only times we are sure of our answers are when we studied our lessons. If we see Slumdog from that perspective, then it ceases to be a mere showcase of coincidences.

That said, I haven’t seen Taken yet. lol

Re: The Price of Independence @ ClickTheCity.com Movies

rans_85 — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 07:36:34 -0000

My big problem with Padyak is it doesn’t live up to its brilliant promise but given that a 1.5/5 rating from Phil is again not only questionable but also snobbish and disrespectful of the filmmaker’s vision, I am tempted to ask if given a chance would Phil be able to pull off a film this promising?

Padyak feels episodic even to the very last 30 mins of its 2.5 hours screen time, this very final stretch of any movie usually “reserved” to harvesting and payoffs. In Padyak, it has still the episode of Manolo (Baron Geisler) (a psychological case after being dumped by his girlfriend and failing the bar two times over resulting in pressure and chronic (?) insomia) to mount when it should have spent “reaping” its own narrative rewards and sorting out loose threads. When Manolo first appears and starts to act oddly you take a deep breath and wonder what this new episode will be about, and you feel you are starting all over again and you take a peek at your wristwatch and see its almost two hours and, pucha, the film before you is still establishing, planting, and you ask, “is this the last episode?”

That is my biggest obstacle with Padyak, it lets you ride in the pedicab along a straight main path, then it detours to a long cut, instead of a short one, and returns to the main path again and turns again around the corner for another long cut. This goes on several times that you feel it is episodic just for the heck of it which is not the case, I mean the heck part, because while it goes about devoting some precious minutes to the episodic sequences on Manolo, Helga, Baste, Minda and Charie you feel Aloy Adlawan, the director and the writer, is carefully setting up the stage at the same time for his “kill” (or overkill?) later on, at the climax perhaps? The concept is actually brilliant, we have to give it to Aloy. It is a concept-driven piece that is actually original, it doesn’t just aim to connect different characters but targets higher. You tend to think if all that happened after a point in the movie, some 20 minutes into the film, were just post modernist philosophizing of the director. This could be valid assertion because earlier on after Helga’s death we keep on hearing her inner thoughts, this time assuming a godlike standpoint. She sees Noel’s privacy like an omnipresent voyeur and deliciously and judiciously annotates it, “in fairness, di naman pala mabaho ang singit niya.. Hay naku Noel, kung alam mo lang… pinagmamasdan kita ngayon…. bawat kibot mo, bawat bayo mo..” See! Even Noel’s father who is already dead is providing the voice over, rationalizing everything that he sees of his son and his wife! (If somebody is trying to find manifestation of a good and effective use of voice over and internal monologue, Padyak could be one of them. For other samples, don’t ask me!) You see, the movie is a dead men’s point of view, Noel’s father’s, Helga’s, and, yeah, could be Noel’s too. One time you see his lifeless body flat on the street, after jumping off a building. But then we still see him “correcting” the unhappy endings of some episodes after. He helps delay the arrival of Charie’s father so that when he steps home, Charie’s birthday surprise for him is already set. He helps Evelyn and Ronnie escape from Minda just in time. He helps Manolo forget his problems and thus Manolo was able to sleep peacefully while riding the pedicab.

So which is which? Is Noel a silent witness to these bad-ended episodes that he opted to correct them when he can? Or these “corrections” just a suggestion of alternative endings to doomed stories like Noel’s? Is Noel’ penchant for alternate ending a self-impose psychological daydream so that he too can break free from his miserable life and thus make a happy ending to his own life story?

Whatever! Padyak poses such hard questions deserving of a post modernist critical thought. So, is it a brilliant concept executed wrongly? I think it is. But for all its missteps in execution, it is a veritable thinking piece that does not deserve the disrespectful 1.5/5 rating.

Re: Prestige Gloss @ ClickTheCity.com Movies

rans_85 — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 22:25:09 -0000

The last phase, dudette devilwearspink? You mean the phrase 'so it looks really good'? I believe Phil didn't mean Chris and Roger look good but The Reader, thus the 'it', looks good. :)

Re: Prestige Gloss @ ClickTheCity.com Movies

rans_85 — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 22:16:05 -0000

Dude G_Reaper, Extras is taken as singular form here being a title itself, and not plural, so a singular verb "ruins" is more apt. Grammar issues? They are superficial things. Let's go back to the topic instead :)

Re: Changed For The Better @ ClickTheCity.com Movies

rans_85 — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 05:43:11 -0000

grabe ka naman dude february. kita mo naman kung panong walang nasabi ang best friend mong si phil sa mga arguments ko sa kanya. kung frustrated critic ako e di ano pa si phil. hehehe joke joke.

Re: Valentine Follies @ ClickTheCity.com Movies

rans_85 — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 05:17:29 -0000

you sure claudine and angel locsin can really act? no they can't act! angel aquino is not just a beauty, she too can act.

Re: Changed For The Better @ ClickTheCity.com Movies

rans_85 — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 00:45:32 -0000

hehehe. Sikat pala ako rito. Kakaaliw naman. At sa movie pa na di naman worth 3.5. hehehe

Anyway, here are the notesof Jessica Zafra for You Changed My Life. This makes more sense than the whole of Philbert's review and 3.5 rating! Huh!

http://jessicarulestheunive...

Notes on You Changed My Life, directed by Cathy Garcia Molina, starring John Lloyd Cruz and Sarah Geronimo.

1. The sound is Manila jeepney quality. Apparently the sound was recorded, edited and mixed on a karaoke machine.

2. The top-grossing Filipino movie of 2007 (outside the Metro filmfest): Star Cinema’s One More Chance directed by Cathy Garcia-Molina and starring John Lloyd Cruz.

The top-grossing Filipino movie of 2008: Star Cinema’s A Very Special Love directed by Cathy Garcia-Molina and starring John Lloyd Cruz.

The top-grossing Filipino movie of 2009 (by our indicator: full house on a Friday night): Star Cinema’s You Changed My Life directed by Cathy Garcia-Molina and starring John Lloyd Cruz.

At least 50 percent of these movies consist of close-ups of John Lloyd Cruz.

3. Sarah Geronimo seems pleasant enough so we don’t understand why she’s made to wear Davy Crockett’s hat. At first it was sitting up and begging for peanuts. Later it looked like the raccoon had died.

4. Rayver Cruz is very white and has Angelina Jolie lips.

5. It’s a sequel so if you didn’t watch A Very Special Love you won’t be able to follow the plot. I’m kidding.

6. John’s character runs a publishing company called Flippage. One syllable less and I would’ve sued.

7. Somebody says “I love you” every 45 seconds. We get it, they love each other.

8. Wow, full coverage of a children’s party. In olden times men had to do battle for the love of a woman. Now they just have to do the statue dance.

9. Movie starring John Lloyd Cruz means paracetamol product placement means all his movies must show someone with a headache. Why don’t you just give tablets away at the entrance? No pizza this time, though.

10. Upon seeing the bridesmaid’s dress we were seized with an uncontrollable urge to eat sapin-sapin.

11. What might tear them apart: he can’t drive her to work and drive her home to Marikina every day because he’s running a company in Laguna. Honey, if you want to see your boyfriend every single day, you should date the unemployed.

12. Mandatory humiliation in final scene: Star Cinema’s winning formula.

Re: Changed For The Better @ ClickTheCity.com Movies

rans_85 — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 08:21:13 -0000

Anyways, since you seemed to be too riled up already, I'd better stop now. It is not my objective to get you incensed. I just want a productive arguments on things that I feel strongly about. Anyways, I've already said my points. Let's call it a night.

Keep up!

Re: Changed For The Better @ ClickTheCity.com Movies

rans_85 — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 07:58:43 -0000

Phil, my stand is clear. You accuse me of belittling you, which is not the truth, and I counter you are the one who belittles here... you belittle Lamangan. And this isn't unfounded, what with your bold declaration not original of Vera "I didn’t like any of Lamangan films."

You asked me what Lamangan films I liked and I obliged, only if you feature them On Our Shelves. So what's the fuss about it? Yes, you don't owe me anything but I don't owe anything too. It is you who made bold declaration that you don't like any Lamangan film, so the floor is yours to prove them.

Im just too willing to counterpoint you once give out your supports of that bold declaration.

Otherwise, we don't talk of anyone owing anything anyone.

Hope this is clear.

Re: Changed For The Better @ ClickTheCity.com Movies

rans_85 — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 07:42:24 -0000

Actually dude ironcell_102, that's the point of debate, arguing and counter-arguing. It's a clash of opposing arguments to bring clarity out of clouded reasoning. Anyways, I reiterate that no matter how different our opinions are, the guy has my appreciation, so far. :)