EXAGGERATING REALITY

MOVIE REVIEW 

-

HITCHCOCK 

by:

G.P. MANALO

Starring:

Anthony Hopkins

Helen Mirren

Scarlett Johansson 

65% of the population may know who (or atleast familiar of )Alfred Hitchcock is, but the question to those 65% is that do they really know the person fully, the way he thinks or do things. With this new film based on the events on how he made his riskiest move in his career? does this offer any details on his persona? 

Hitchcock - Tells how the famous and well known director, Alfred Hitchcock made the riskiest project of his career which is probably the most controversial and game changing movie of all time, Psycho. In making of this project, behind the scenes he have many troubles in his family, close friends and studio executives.

I have not always been a big fan of Alfred Hitchcock but that does not mean i hate the guy, I really appreciate his work even if I watched only two of his works (which is Psycho and Vertigo). But I wasn't very much familiar with Alfred Hitchcock himself, This movie on the other hand I can't really say if this movie really did show the humanity of Alfred Hitchcock, completely. I can't really say that this movie offers anything for people who is very unfamiliar with Alfred Hitchcock's works since it's not really a straight-up biopic that you may be expecting as how the Social Network focuses on how Facebook is made and how the people that  are close to Zuckerberg are affected by it. Like the Social Network, Hitchcock is more on the things he went through this risk and how it affects the people around him as well. That being said, was the movie good on it's own? Even if I am unfamiliar with the man himself or his works that much, the movie on it's own is just good and enjoyable.

It must be difficult for the writers to replicate Hitchcock's persona, because as I've heard is that he was a rather complicated, unusual and sophisticated person, In this movie the way they wrote off Hitchcock having his own sanity where he sees Norman Bates around telling him what to do or giving him ideas of what's going on is more of an odd yet somewhat intriguing choice to do for the writers. Again, I'm very unsure of things if they are making it "accurate"even if some of the things that did happen here did happen in real life like the fact that Alfred Hitchcock ordered every bookstore to take out every copy of Psycho so that anyone won't know the surprises of the movie, or how Paramount rejects his idea of making this movie and ends up financing it himself. But beyond the fact that this is a behind the scenes drama of the making of Psycho it's actually also a romantic drama between Alfred Hitchcock and his wife Alma Reville, to be honest i didn't see that part of the movie is one of those things that caught me off guard and I was actually interested in watching these two develop their relationship and also seeing those moments that i mentioned earlier after hearing many controversies about the movie. But it felt pretty weird to see these relationship and the Psycho thing to be in the background. that being said, it was more Alma's side of the story of how she is going through with his relationship and how she wants to have a stamp of her name at something. At first I thought that as the movie progresses, all these things happening the film doesn't really know where it wants to go, there wasn't a really good direction to it, things happen and they barely explored some stories and characters here and there. Some of the stories worked out on it's own, some weren't really clear.

The meat of the movie is definitely the cast, the cast made this movie to a performance piece and they are all uncannily cast and formed (with make-up), Anthony Hopkins and Helen Mirren carried this movie as Alfred Hitchcock and Alma Reville, delivering charm and cleverness in the movie. Anthony Hopkins was a joy to see as Hitchcock right from the beginning when he greeted the audience, how the make-up was constructed made him (almost) look like the man himself. But to be fair the supporting cast like Scarlett Johansson (Who is having a good year and uncannily cast to be as Janet Leigh), Jessica Biel ( for the little scenes she was in, she was pretty good), Danny Houston, Toni Collette and James D'Arcy (Also uncannily cast as Anthony Perkins) that being said, all of them were able to deliver their A-game.

In the end, Hitchcock is not really for the new but for those who have known the man and his works before, there are bits here and there that will make a Hitchcock fan happy, long time fans of Alfred Hitchcock may find this movie entertaining as the cast deliver their A-game. But I wouldn't really recommend you see this because you may think that this is a bio-pic of Alfred Hitchcock or something that will help you familiarize with the man himself. Getting that away, Stories of Hitchcock and Alma stabilizing their relationship and Hitchcock making Psycho shines on it's own but other stories are left off flat and weren't explored very well. The movie to me was pretty good, it's not the Oscar movie that i was expecting nor is it a bad movie as well.

THE GOOD:

+THE CAST

+THE PERFORMANCES

+SOME STORIES WERE WELL TOLD

THE BAD:

-SOME THINGS AREN'T DEVELOPED OR EXPLORED VERY WELL

MY RATING:

NOT BAD! - 3.5/5 

THE NEW TWILIGHT?

MOVIE REVIEW

WARM BODIES

By:

G.P. MANALO

Starring:

Nicholas Hoult

Teresa Palmer

John Malkovhich 

ever since a sparkling Vampire and a bitchy "werewolf" got paired to an even bitchier human girl, It seems that it is a fad now to have classic monsters to be paired with teenage girls. With that kind of money Twilight gets for every movie, most studios wouldn't say no when money can talk, With Warm Bodies on the other hand; Over the past years there's been a lot of news about Warm Bodies and the initial reaction is obviously a lot of f-bombs and videos linking to various clips of people shouting "NO".  I was pretty much doing both at that time. But hearing that a good director is behind the project I was a bit optimistic about it. Now that we have the movie out in theaters... Is it the NEW TWILIGHT everyone is talking about at first?

Warm Bodies - Is based on a young-adult novel with the same name by Isaac Marion and it takes place years after the Zombie Apocalypse began, It follows a very unusual Zombie (who is meanwhile called "R") who has no memory of his past, he is different from the other zombies as he proves it to a human girl that he is attracted to named, Julie. But as he interacts with this girl further, he finds himself slowly transforming into his human self. But then complications happened between them with her father and a large group of Bonies (Decayed, Skeleton Zombies).

In other words Love is the cure... It sounds silly... But it's actually told well, well enough to get me interested.

Like I said, I wasn’t very happy to hear about Warm bodies at first, especially when I have not read the book of the movie that it is based on, I was half blind going into this movie (since they sorta’ explained the plot in the trailers) I was expecting this movie to be "shitty", to keep that in a G-Rating I had no high expectations for Warm Bodies when i read the synopsis and saw the first photos but when the trailer came out I thought that it may not be shit-fest it may be. Is it really not the shit fest i was hoping it to be at first? (Surprisingly) Not really? Is it the greatest movie? No, not really but I had to say that i actually enjoyed this movie and I actually liked it. I know it's weird for me to say it, but i actually like it, in fact i can see both a man and a woman enjoy this movie (And I was in a theater full of couples).

Right of the bat, Is it like Twilight? Not at all it is far away from having it deserve such a title Sure the way i summarized the plot made the movie sound cheesy and sound like Twilight, but they were actually self-aware of how it is like a Twilight-Ish formula, The flaw of Twilight is that it takes itself way too seriously, up to the point that it ends up as a very badly drawn out, (in a bad way) soap opera type of film. This on the other hand is self-aware of the concept that it is silly but the movie actually made it work as these characters give their charm as they ham the camera. Warm Bodies stands alone as a movie than being called a Twilight rip-off. Director, Jonathan Levine knows how to balance the seriousness and the wackness (if you are familiar with his works you may get the reference) of his movies go, like his recent work 50/50. 50/50 had a very good balance of comedy and drama; it shows in this movie as well. But it wasn't much of a depressing drama like 50/50. And also it does not look cheap like Twilight did (seriously that movie looks like it can be for TV).This movie has more depth than i was expecting it to be in the rom-com side of the movie. You should stop thinking about the fact that this is a Twilight rip-off because it’s not. 

The comparison out of the way, the movie on its own; Going back to the comedy aspect of this movie, the writing for the comedy is not as forced as I was expecting it to be. You can get good laughs out of this movie, especially in the first half of the movie. The jokes are genuine and not forced at all, the movie felt like the movie got in a different way when it comes to it being a zombie film as the film progresses. The jokes were in the movie at the right time, and I like it when comedy movies go that way.  This being a (horror-) romantic-comedy and all, I find the romance… Cute I think that’s a good description for it. The chemistry between Nicholas Hoult’s character and Teresa Palmer’s character is enjoyable and interesting (surprisingly interesting) to watch, more enjoyable and interesting than a sparkling vampire and a human bitch making out in 5 movies. I thought both actors worked really well together on-screen. I thought Rob Coddry as the Bro-Zombie was pretty funny than the rest of the cast, for the scenes he was in. But I did have very few problems with this movie it being under-developed things here and there, The Bonies felt like an obvious plot device than an actual threat in the second half and John Malkovhich is in the movie in very few scenes, for a great comedic actor like him It felt like he was very under-used, but for the scenes he was in he was still pretty good.

In the end, Warm Bodies is a very enjoyable movie. It’s a 2013-released movie where I would highly recommend you see this movie immediately, It’s a very good date movie that I’m pretty sure you and your date will enjoy together this Valentine’s day (or maybe any day in February). Director Jonathan Levine and the rest of the cast were able to deliver a well-handled film as the writer(s) and the director of the film took the genre in a different direction. I had a very good time watching this movie, It is funny,  I found myself laughing (not out loud, but it is surprising that I did laugh and chuckled at some point), the romance is cute and interesting to watch, and I also forgot to say that the soundtrack was very well put together as well.  I liked this movie very much though it still had some of its problems. Again, I would highly recommend you see this movie (not alone, because it felt weird to be alone in a movie like this).

THE GOOD:

+WELL BALANCED TONES

+GOOD PERFORMANCES

+SURPRISINGLY FUNNY

THE BAD:

-UNDER DEVELOPED THINGS HERE AND THERE

MY RATING:

WIN! - 4/5

DISBELIEF

MOVIE REVIEW 

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GANGSTER SQUAD

By:

G.P. MANALO

Starring:

Josh Brolin

Ryan Gosling 

Sean Penn

Gangster Squad, seems to be one of those movies that historically happened but turned into Action Movies type. It can go through for better or for worse or maybe it could be in the middle of it, did it follow the road those kind of movie went through? Let's dive in to Gangster Squad.

Gangster Squad - In 1949,The Chief of the LAPD, Chief Parker (Nick Nolte) enlists Sgt. John O' Mara (Josh Brolin) to create a secret squad of underground cops to take down the biggest mob boss of Los Angeles Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn) as he rise from power over the city of angels.

I was very excited to see Gangster Squad, from the start I thought it has a pretty good (scratch that: great) ensemble cast. But the excitement pretty much got into halt when they had to delay the release date 4 months later because they had to cut out one scene that happens to be a Theater Shooting so that it will not offend those people in the "Aurora Theater Shooting Tragedy". Getting that out of the way, was the wait worth it? Yeah, My expectations but exceed and eluded at the same time. But in fairness I did enjoy the movie.

The reason why I said that my expectations were eluded because of the fact that there were things that I don't expect where it would go on different directions. The movie looked like it will be that popcorn action type movie but then it takes to different roads, it didn't know what it wants to be. The movie tries to be a drama, at some point it's this over-the-top action flick and forcibly try to put some humanity to the characters in a bad way. To go into detail with three of the statements, The movie was  a well put together in the first half but the second half was a mess. The movie tried it's best to develop these characters with some sort of humanity, which I don't mind sometimes as long as it is relevant to the storytelling but here at some point it was told well but at some point wasn't and it felt forced, and it mostly revolve around Giovanni Ribisi's part. Sometimes the drama will be off-ly developed as the movie progresses, when people got killed off there wasn't really much depth to give a shit about that one character who died. Also Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling's romance I didn't buy but I did buy Brolin's relationship with his wife more (despite the fact on how cliche it is). The tones got mixed in with actual history and over-the-top really poorly. Those were a few things that bothered me about this movie.

But were there any good things to pick up from this movie? actually, yes. Despite my complaints I was still able to enjoy the film. It was definitely a good popcorn flick. Every action scene is entertaining even if it does discount the fact that this is somewhat a real life story, there were a lot of action scenes that really stuck out to me as I got out of the theater. What I also like is how well written some characters are, especially the gangster squad itself as they have this good enough on-screen camaraderie. The writing for this movie was both clever and sometimes flat, When I first saw Sean Penn in the trailer doing his "menacing" monologue (making all the  "boom", "bam" sounds in that monologue) It took me away a little bit when I was watching the trailer, here you got some lines like that both worked and fell flat. The performances I thought was very good in this movie, despite the fact that some characters weren't really developed very well. Not to go into detail with this huge cast, Josh Brolin continues to impress me with this new young Tommy Lee Jones image, Ryan Gosling was also great there were a few scenes coming from him that is memorable and he was also great in this movie (he had that Drive vibe, I think that's his new image now). Sean Penn, earlier I did say about my first impression about Sean Penn as Mickey Cohen was not very good, It looks to be that he'd be a little too over the top but when I watched the film I thought that he wasn't bad, his over the top performance worked out pretty well pulling as he shapes up to be this badass and threatening villain in the movie. Emma Stone, was barely developed and ends up having a rushed romance with Ryan Gosling (that I really couldn't buy). The Gangster Squad themselves, Anthony Mackie and Michael Peña, Giovanni Ribisi and Robert Patrick were good as well and some of them did deliver an entertaining enough performance. 

In the end, Gangster Squad was not that bad and not that good, But in all fairness it was a very entertaining movie as it captures both the dark and glamorous side of Los Angeles in the late 40s and director Ruben Fleischer and the cast were able to deliver an entertaining action movie. It still has flaws in the writing and pacing department because of the second half (which was pretty messy) they could've worked it all out. Going back to that theater scene I thought they disguised that scene very well, I couldn't really pick point which scene it was going to come in. In this movie, I liked it for those small good bits. I would recommend you see this movie If you want to see a very good popcorn flick, but it's not necessarily something It's not necessarily something to get out of your way to watch, It could be a good rental i suppose.

THE GOOD:

+THE PERFORMANCES

+CAPTURED THE FEEL OF 

+ENTERTAINING ACTION

+SOME OF THE WRITING WORKED

THE BAD: 

-THE FILM DOESN'T KNOW WHAT IT WANTS TO BE

-SOME OF THE WRITING DIDN'T WORKED OUT

MY RATING:

NOT THAT BAD, NOT THAT GOOD! - 3/5

RAW EMOTIONS

MOVIE REVIEW - Les Misérables

By: 

G.P. MANALO

Starring:

Hugh Jackman

Anne Hathaway

Russell Crowe

There were many versions of Les Miserables over the past few decades But the most famous and what people call the definitive version of Les Miserables is the Musical version. But then hollywood were able to get their hands on this property and promised a movie-ized version of the highly-acclaimed broadway musical. Many were excited, Many feared that it would be horrendous. But with a huge cast of talented people came on board with a very talented director, many have changed their minds, and many continues to anticipate this film. And now we finally have it, gracing our silver screens.

This is based on a book that is later adapted to a play/musical that is very highly (I mean highly) acclaimed by critics and audience alike over the past few decades. It is centered around; Jean Valjean a criminal who was able to break parole after serving many years in prison to do so, as he escapes he wishes to turn his life around as he runs away from his past life. Years later, he meets this woman and vows to take care of his daughter for her. But his past continues to follow his trails as Javert returns to hunt him down. 

I have always been familiar with the musical since i was very young since my music teacher would show us various musical works like Sound of Music, Wizard of Oz and Les Miserables. That being said, I have been anticipating on Les Misérables ever since i have heard that the musical is being adapted into a film. When I first saw the trailer of Anne Hathaway's interpretation of the classic "I Dreamed A Dream" just blew me away and made me shed a manly tear. But to be perfectly honest, I was not a very big fan of musicals. Probably because I don't see a lot of musicals in the theater (because they are very expensive), But I still love some musicals (besides some works from Andrew-Lloyd Webber), I thoroughly enjoy them. But the main reason why that i was anticipating on this movie (even if I am not a big fan of musicals) is because of utter curiosity and seeing this as a very ambitious film from the start because of the director, the actors and the fact that the actors give out a really raw performance like how actors in musicals do (had to say it again, that trailer pretty much made this movie look like a musical with an epic scale). Now that i have watched it, I definitely enjoyed this movie; I thought that this is a beautiful and engaging film. That's saying a lot for a guy like me, who is not a very big fan of musicals/movies like this. 

Of all the musical-turned-to-movies that i have seen in the past this is probably different out of all them. It had that cinematic feel to it, but it never loses its musical feel. By musical feel i mean by how the actors are filmed when they are singing and acting, (director) Tom Hooper does these close-up facial shots a lot in his past movies and it fits very well in a movie like this and what made it work with it is how the director let's these people sing live on set than lip-syncing (in their pre-recorded voices), though there were many shots that are very distracting. You can see it on their face, you can hear it from their voices that they are really singing naturally, every emotion they give out has a huge amount of effectiveness to you like how real musical actors give out in a live musical. Usually in adaptations, there’d be changes. Re-watching the concert of Les Miserables a month before seeing this film, I can tell in this movie that they changed a lot of the lyrics; they cut a few lines of the songs that is necessary, at some songs it works but in some songs it felt rushed a little bit and also they cut out a few songs. They also added a new song which is “Suddenly” I thought that the song was added in the movie very well, it was added in the right time and it really illustrated the tender and kind side of Jean Valjean very well. The performances in this movie were just incredible to see in the big screen with surround sound (200 pesos well spent). Do keep in mind though, this is not your everyday musical, since (say) 99% of the dialogue in this movie are being sung, word by word (and if not it’d be a second of vocal break) usually there’d be a huge gap of spoken dialogue and it’d be a set-up to another song. But here it felt like the movie never stopped for a break and when they do it's a 15-second break. Also to keep in mind is that this is a rather lengthy film with a huge cast of characters to develop (almost 3 hours, this movie is). At some point the movie flew by faster than you thought and then it would drastically slow down up to the point that the last half felt very rushed with its development. If I would have a complaint about this movie it would be that.

Speaking of performances, the performances are a really big deal in this movie. Each and every one of the actors gave their all in this movie through singing and acting (though one actor can only handle 1 out of the 2 things I mentioned and I will go to that later on). Tom Hooper knows how to direct actors very well up to the point that the actors deliver such an effective performance (Again, taking an example from the King’s Speech). Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway were the ones who really stood out to me in the entire film and yet this is probably their best performance yet. Hugh Jackman as Jean Valjean is a joy to see this character brought to life again in the silver screen. I’ve always thought that he is a very good stage performer and actor over the past years, when I heard that he is playing Jean Valjean, it was a very big surprise to me hearing the news that he is casted as that character. Anne Hathaway was definitely the one that stood out in the singing department, because when you hear her sing “I Dreamed a Dream”… Wow….  I’m no Simon Cowell to judge someone’s singing, because I’m not very good at judging singers and music in general. But going back, Anne Hathaway brought a very strong presence as she sings in this movie, the amount of emotion she brought in both her acting and singing performance is just incredible to watch. Russell Crowe is probably the mixed bag of the movie, Acting-wise he is very good as usual but Singing-Wise… Eh…. Russell Crowe’s singing is like the first time watching a movie in 3D, it takes some time to adjust until you get used to it and starts to look (in this case, sound) good for you. He was fine in the movie, he delivered a good enough singing performance in a few songs. Then again it could’ve been worst for the guy like Pierce Brosnan in Mama Mia. I’m not really going to go into detail with the others since this is a huge cast. I thought Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter were able to deliver hilarious and entertaining performances every time they are on-screen. Samantha Barks, this movie is definitely her breakthrough performance (even if she is the same character from the concert version), she also delivered a powerful performance as well,  Aaron Tveit, Eddie Redmayne and Amanda Seyfried are great as well and in the end. In the end the cast delivered powerful performances from start to finish.

In conclusion, i enjoyed this movie very much this movie is the definitive movie-musical experience to me, Its a musical with epic proportions, It is enjoyable it is entertaining, and it is very well done. Director Tom Hooper and the cast did a tremendous job delivering this movie, each and every one of the cast delivered such a powerful performance that you may leave the theater with your eyes bawled because of how attached to these very engaging characters, the writing and the way they envisioned the movie through the visuals (again) really felt like a broadway musical that has come to life in the big screen, the set pieces are immaculate to look at. The writing made you believe that these people are at their lowest low, you root for the heroes, laugh at the comedic timing, and brood for the villain. The movie did feel rushed, the movie did dragged but still Les Miserables is a great film nonetheless. Not only does it deserve your money but also your standing ovation (which the audience in the theater I was in surprisingly did). Fans of the musical will definitely love this movie, If you don't like musicals at all this movie may or may not change your mind about them.

THE GOOD:

+FANTASTIC DELIVERY IN SONGS

+ A MUSICAL EXPERIENCE

+ INCREDIBLE PERFORMANCES

+GOOD CHANGES

THE BAD:

-PACING IS ALL OVER THE PLACE AT SOME POINT
-DISTRACTING CAMERA WORK
-

MY RATING:

4.5/5 – SO CLOSE! (FOR THE WIN!)

Photos by:
CinemaBlend.com

A FEAST FOR THE EYES

MOVIE REVIEW - LIFE OF PI (3D)

By:

G.P. Manalo

Starring:

Saruj Sharma

Irffan Khan

Life Of Pi –Is based on a highly-acclaimed book with the same name about a Young man­ named, Pi travels to North America with his family to build a new life there but along the way they got caught by a huge storm that results to a shipwreck having, Pi the only one who survived the crash and a tiger named, Richard Parker. And from there on he found himself building a friendship with this tiger as they go on their journey of survival together.

I have heard a lot about the book, Life of Pi over the years, it being acclaimed as a brilliant book, so brilliant that it is un-filmable. And probably earlier last year they showed the trailer, the visuals looked fantastic, it caught my eye immediately but as I look back on stories about the book I was very curious on how will the story turn out as it is told in the movie. That being said, the movie did exceed all of my expectations, I definitely thought that this movie is Amazing.

I did not read the book unfortunately; everything is very new to me despite the fact that I have heard a lot of praise about the book for the past years, there were many surprises to me for the fact that it is a very preachy film (not in a bad way, I don’t mind the movie to be preachy at some point, just not too much) and also a very dark film for a G-rated film (MTRCB strikes again). Going to the subject of this being preachy is the fact that this movie is built up on religion, facts like maintaining your faith in God, believing in something, and pretty much questioning faith. As the movie begin, they introduce the religious side of the character from the get-go and it was the main focus of the flashback of his earlier life then it did dragged the movie from there but as the film go on you realize that the religion is a big deal throughout the film, the move delivering these messages and Pi being marooned with this tiger is the most interesting part of the film. Visually, the movie is a feast for the eyes, they were just- Stunning. The visuals worked out very well with the 3D, and when I say the visuals work well with the 3D it really did, things are literally popping out of the screen. It is probably the best 3D movie I have seen this year (and the year just begun, can you believe that?). The Visuals in this movie is very out of this word because I was told that all of the animals in this film are CGI animals (Mind-blowing, Isn't it?) . But they look like they aren’t, the attention to detail is spot on and they are so animated very well you believe they are real. Then again seeing real animals drown or get eaten realistically will be too much. And lastly to get all visuals out of the way, at some point the movie would be shot in this reflection-esque type like the water would reflect the sky or something like that. I thought those were also great to see in the movie, Ever since Skyfall i started to notice very good cinematography and I don't usually judge cinematography. In the end, the shots in this movie is beautiful to watch on the big screen.

That being said, this movie was very well directed by Ang Lee. Ang lee knows how to develop characters, work on visuals and friendships that doesn’t feel forced or cheesy at all (Disregarding Hulk 2003). That being said I love how they illustrated Pi and Richard Parker’s friendship in this movie. Because it would’ve went on a cheesy Hollywood-ized type of animal/human friendship but it didn’t it was executed very well. The film really took a long time to develop these characters but in the end you started to care for these characters as they try to survive. But what made it all work is because of first timer Saruj Sharma's performance, his performance is why the execution worked out very well. In the end you believed that these two are very good friends in the end, you believed in their territorial battles, you believe that the tiger and his surroundings are real, and that's saying a lot for a first-timer. I also thought the delivery of Irffan Khan’s emotions are effective (to be honest I almost cried at his speech as he conclude his story), props to him and again to Ang Lee for very good direction visually and in terms of execution at the acting department.

In the end, Ang Lee delivered yet another great piece of filmmaking (again disregarding Hulk 2003) from visuals to acting. This movie may be a “feast for the eyes” but it is a very interesting piece of craft by the one and only Ang Lee. I have to admit it did drag at some point of the film, but if you are a little patient with the movie you might enjoy some scenes for what it is. It is not necessarily a perfect movie, but enough to be so. It is probably the most unique movie I have seen so far. I would recommend it to you, If you are very annoyed by preachy types of movies this may or may not work out very well for you, It may be an extensive sermon but it is a sermon that we need to hear. The movie is well acted, well executed, visually stunning I’d recommend you see it in theaters in 3D when you can because if you don’t you are definitely missing out, It is definitely a cinematic experience you can't miss.

THE GOOD:

+ VISUALLY STUNNING

+ WELL ACTED

+EXECUTION

THE BAD:

-IT DRAGGED AT SOME POINT

MY RATING:

FOR THE WIN 

4.5/5

SO HAVE YOU SEEN LIFE OF PI? DO YOU AGREE OR DISAGREE WITH ME?WHAT DO YOU THINK OF IT COMMENT BELOW AND LET ME KNOW!

MY TOP 10 BEST MOVIES OF 2012 (NOW WITH VIDEO)

It has come to this, My Top 10 BEST MOVIES of 2012! Unfortunately It may not be the best list as anyone else because the great movies  like Silver Linings Playbook, Life of Pi, Lincoln, Les Miserables, Zero Dark Thirty and Django Unchained probably because they are going to be released very late in the country I live in (Some in January and some comes out 2-3 months after) but now I need to put this out there now since we are reaching the end of the year and there weren't any great movies that I have seen recently to put here in this list. But before we go to the list itself we go through the forgotten, the honorable mentions, the movies that couldn't be in the list because of it got... well... Outmatched... Another thing, like i said in my Worst of 2012 list, You and I may or may not agree to something. I might sound like a douche, I respect your opinion but this is my list after all and lastly I will have a tribute video soon, I'm working on it and I will update this post soon.

 HONORABLE MENTIONS

 Rise of The Guardians 

Rise of the Guardians; is a uniquely visualized animated movies (besides #8), It has great characters that are very well thought out (though I still doubt Jack Frost's design to appeal to women), an engaging enough story that really touches on  your childhood a lot (that sounded wrong). But unfortunately it got beaten by no.10 and I would've loved this movie to be in no.10 at least.

Dredd

2012 has many surprises and Dredd is one of them when it comes to Comic Book Movies (and other genres in general), It is a prime example of an enjoyable action movie with a simple linear plot and badass action (and characters).

End Of Watch
(UNFORTUNATELY NOT IN THE VIDEO)

End of Watch is very underrated to be honest, This is a modern buddy cop movie that makes the movie atleast look good for the genre and also (somewhat) re-defines the found fooage genre, it was entertaining, surprisingly intense and well told.

Chronicle

Chronicle was something that re-defined the found footage genre, the found footage genre that would come out in theaters are either about ghosts that can't even be seen until the last second of the film or aliens on the moon. The genre is getting tiring but Chronicle somewhat re-defined the genre along with End of Watch this year. Chronicle was something new to grace the screen for the genre and it told a story of a whiny kid (who has been through a lot) that becomes an asshole because of the power he gained than George Lucas' Anakin (who is very similar to Dane Dehaan's character but badly told). I thought this could have been no.10 but the spot got beaten by it. In the end this was still able to get an honorable mention from me and that's good enough. 

10. Cloud Atlas and Rurouni Kenshin Samurai X (A Tie)

Cloud Atlas was something to think about putting in this list to be honest, Cloud Atlas is unique enough to be in the no.10 spot, The movie has some flaws but In the end the movie still stood out giving a message and i was very entertained by some segments, I was still confused by some parts (especially the further future segment because of the dialogue) but I believe i got enough. Overall I thought it was a challenging yet fantastic movie (And yet that is the title of the review)  but Rurouni Kenshin is as good as this and I can't choose so i made it a tie.

RUROUNI KENSHIN - SAMURAI X

It's been years I've been waiting for a faithful adaptation to an anime for long years and we finally have it and it came out as not just the best adaptation to an anime but also an exciting and interesting take on an Anime classic. But I do wish this is in the top 10 list (trust me the reason why this list took long for me to write because of switching this and Cloud Atlas in the spot).

9. Cabin In The Woods

Cabin In The Woods, Is one of the biggest surprises i had this year. A Horror movie that takes it's extremes in making fun of the horror cliches and genres (almost) seriously (more serious than the Scary Movie films). It was executed very well and it ends up being my favorite horror movies of the year.

8. Wreck-It Ralph

Speaking of making fun of a specific genre we move on to Wreck It Ralph a movie that is also another surprise due to the fact that it features retro videogames in this Toy Story type of storytelling. It's well made from animation to writing and I thought that it was very entertaining and enjoyable.

7.  Skyfall

Skyfall, This movie literally goes back to basics and it is very welcoming to have James Bond back in a more personal story. It has great performances from Daniel Craig and Judi Dench as always but this time they have a villain in this modern Bond movie that actually stood out as probably one of the greatest Bond villains of an extensive series.

6. Looper

Looper is one of those movies that literally came out of nowhere. I was happy to go in this movie blind and end up enjoying the film without knowing what is going to happen next. It has great performances from Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis (who is surprisingly good) and a kid who is not annoying at all (a damn good actor for his age). It is probably one of the best time-travel movies we ever have in modern cinema so far...

5. The Avengers

People will be pissed for me putting this movie in the number 5 spot but this is how high the movie can get. This year we had a great year of Superhero Movies (Fuck, Ghost Rider) and The Avengers was the epitome of Superhero Team movies. It was entertaining and nerdgasmic from start to finish and it was definitely something to watch again and again on the big screen.

4. Argo

Ludicrous is the best word to describe the even based on this movie and this movie alone, because that's the best way to describe it. It's mind blowing to know that this event did actually happened in real life using this crazy plan and I thought the filmmakers executed it very well in this movie. It is intense and entertaining at the same time with great performances from Ben Affleck, Alan Arkin, John Goodman and many more. Ben Affleck shows that he can make great movies and be a great actor at the same time.

 3. Moonrise Kingdom

I know it's a big surprise that an unknown movie like this will be in my Number 3 spot, here is why it deserves to be in this spot. This movie is what i call ballsy but also very unique for a children's film (in fact I don't even know If i should even be calling this a children's film) and you rarely see that in children films nowadays.

2. The Dark Knight Rises

The Dark Knight Rises continues  to show how effective Nolan's version of Batman's world is and by this movie I thought that it illustrated the effectiveness well enough despite some little plot flaws here and there. It is still the best ending to an epic trilogy and it definitely deserves  to be in the Number 2 spot of the list.

1. The Perks of Being A Wallflower

The Perks of Being A Wallflower shows that in a movie adaptation the movie can actually be better than the source material (People might disagree on this). I thought that it is worthy to be in the no.3 spot because of how unique of an adaptation it is with really great performances from Ezra Miller, Logan Lerman and Emma Watson as they made me feel welcomed in this group of people and the world itself. This is easily the best movie i've seen this year.

And that was my list of the best Movies of 2012, Like i said with might disagree on things here but i will respect your opinion leaving that part away now. 2012 was a very good year for movies, there were more ups than downs this year and there are many surprises as well. to all my readers, I thank you very much for giving me a good start for this blog, I look forward for more fantastic years with you guys and girls. Thanks Again! 

So What Is Your Top 10 BEST MOVIES of 2012? Talk about it down below and let me know (please I sound lonely in this blog).

FISTS AND SWORD FIGHTS GALORE

MOVIE REVIEW - RUROUNI KENSHIN: SAMURAI X

By:
G.P. MANALO

Starring:

Takeru Sato

Emi Takei

Teruyuki Kagawa

Rurouni Kenshin: Samurai X - Tells the story of a wanderer named, Himura Kenshin who was once called Hitkori Battosai (Battosai - The Man Killer), a feared warrior of the war. He meanwhile realized that he had enough of killing and moves on to wandering the lands, walking away from  the men who wants to destroy him. But one day as he go through this small village, he runs into a woman named Kaoru who recognized him and he meanwhile found himself endangering her and the people around him when many found out about him as he gain new friends by his side and encounter old enemies.

Rurouni Kenshin is probably one of the most anticipated movies for me this year. Hence I finally watched it, Despite the fact that it was only exclusive to SM Cinemas i was still able to go out of my way and watch this movie and I have to say this movie exceeded all of my expectations. A little brief history about me and Samurai X, When i was a young kid i remember having 4 VHS tapes of old animes I think i can remember having Samurai X, Pokemon (1st Gen), Dragonball Z, and Voltes V. But Samurai X was probably the most forgettable one in my childhood. But years later (With a bit of an older perspective about anime) I was able to catch the Tagalog dubbed episodes in HeroTV and I was very interested and entertained by it and when i first heard last year that they are making this movie, I was very hyped about it (and surprisingly 90% of the population of Filipino anime fans did too) but i digress. Seeing the first trailer I fear that this movie will be very.... Convoluted. That is always my expectation going into some old cartoon/anime adaptation (some didn't but still ended up being horrendous). In the trailer they showed 4-5 different villains and this is in the span of many episode storylines. Did that happen? Not really, the movie felt linear to the fact that i was able to catch up with all the things going on in this movie.

This movie has some tones here and there that were uniquely handled, Like most (maybe not the most) of the movies the reason why we see some dead or classic 70s, 80s, or 90s movies is because they thought it 's a good idea to bring them back in a REALISTIC,DARK and GRITTY tone while the other tone reminds me a lot of that old school Samurai Cinema. Both were handled surprisingly well as I'd like it to be.The Samurai X anime is famous for it's intense sword fights, despite the fact that sometimes it is a little anti-climactic (at some point of the anime) because of how overpowered the protagonist is but here there was one anti-climactic scene by the end of the movie. The action in this movie is well choreographed, Every fight scene is intense and beautiful (like how my friend described it). The choreography (thankfully) retires from one slash exploding group of men (like in the anime) moves and goes through naturally choreographed sword fights. The action of this movie is intense as it is very well-shot it is not that shitty shaky-cam stunt that you would see in action movies nowadays. Sweeping shots of Kenshin going through an army of warriors, Swords (and a minigun) pointing at you, Japanese Landscape, were just amazing to look at. 

In the writing/directing department I do wish I speak Japanese (fully) to appreciate the writing of this movie but this movie was Subbed in English and by the dialogue that i did read was not bad, sounded cheesy at some point (Hopefully it doesn't in Japanese) but solid writing. The director and writer definitely felt like they are familiar with the source material, They were very loyal to it and they were able to deliver a very well-adapted anime. And the last thing to talk about is the acting, Like i said I do wish I speak/understand Japanese fully to judge this department but the acting in this movie are either in the scale of natural, solid or over the top (In a good way). I can say that everyone did a good job bringing the characters to life in this live action movie. Sato sporting the charm of Kenshin is fun to watch along with Emi Takei's Kaoru. Also fun to watch, Teruyuki Sagawa. I can tell that he had so much fun playing the role of  a flamboyant and ruthless businessman, Takeda and to me he is pretty much the one who stood out in this film. But last but not the least (my favorite character in the anime) Sagara Sanosuke being played by Munteka Aoki is also fun to watch as he brings out a performance of an overly-confident and prideful warrior who carries a big-ass sword.

In the end, Rurouni Kenshin is a miracle to anime fans (er... Otakus), It's well adapted, The filmmakers were able to deliver a well crafted anime adaptation to such a beloved series. The movie may be long (it being a 2 1/2 hours long yet almost close to being 3 hours long) but with all of the entertaining action  you will find yourself not looking at your glow in the dark watch and enjoying the scenes on the screen. This is probably the best anime adaptation to date. Somethings may have been anti-climatically rushed at some point of the movie that was the only gripe i have. The movie does look like it is open for a sequel and if so... Hopefully it is either as good or better than this one. Fans will be very pleased with this movie, while non-fans might find this as a very interesting piece of filmmaking.

THE GOOD:

+WELL SHOT AND CHOREOGRAPHED ACTION

+CINEMATOGRAPHY

+THE BEST ANIME ADAPTATION WE HAVE SO FAR

+GOOD PERFORMANCES

THE BAD:

-ANTI CLIMACTIC EXITS (AT SOME POINT)

-RUSHED PARTS

MY RATING:

4.9/5 - SO CLOSE! (FOR THE WIN!)

DID YOU ALSO WATCH THIS MOVIE? WHAT DO YOU THINK OF IT, COMMENT BELOW! LET ME KNOW!

TOP 10 WORST MOVIES OF 2012

Every Year you can't really expect a good movie, There has to be that kind of movie that pretty much tips the scale of good and bad movies of the year. This is my list of The bad, the Worst, The Terrible, The Shittiest, The Horrible movies of the year 2012. Fair warning, You might think that you like this movie in the list but it is MY list of Bad movies of 2012 in my opinion (not to be sounding like a dick or anything). 

10. The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2

I know I praised some of the things of this movie but that was just very few pros of the movie but alas the cons still outweighs the pros. Sure it was entertaining... For the most part but it was still a movie that never tried to at least have good direction (even if they had good directors working on this movie)  or at least exert a little more effort to deliver a good movie but instead it was people standing around just waiting for something to happened (and when it did happen it was actually a pretty entertaining fight scene).

9. Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance

As much as I hate this movie for having Nic Cage spewing out terrible dialogue and delivery (same to the cast). I still enjoyed the action scenes and the CGI of this movie, that being said that's not saying much now is it? It was still a bad Comic Book Movie (The only bad comic book movie of the year). 

8. Underworld Awakening

This movie shouldn't be done in the first place, the second one felt like everything ended now and you don't know what's next. The rise of the Lycans movie wasn't bad as i expected it to be but this one was just really bad filler. It was boring for the most part, The action was very bland and at some point it looks silly and incomplete. 

7. The Lucky One

Call me heartless or a person who doesn't understand love but this movie is just the same cliche and cheesy movie over and over again, When I got in this movie, I literally predicted everything the movie will give me, details like the setting and the progression of this movie. I appreciate the first 2 Nicholas Sparks movies like A Walk to Remember and The Notebook but the more movies it keeps pushing through the theaters, the less interest i have left for movies like this (and novels). Atleast The Vow is somewhat different...

6. Paranormal Activity 4

This movie is literally what I like to call a cash-grab, the sole purpose of this movie is to get this movie made and get it out there just for money because the past 3 movies are actually a big hit. The first movie I thought was something done for one movie (because you don't want it to end up like The Balir Witch Project who ends up having a DVD released sequel). But it proved me wrong the second one I enjoyed and the third one is pretty solid and it should end there... BUT NO! There has to be a fuckin' 4th one! This one is just boring and the same shit all over again with more strings to pull off the jumpscares.

5. Silent Hill Revelations 3D

I enjoyed the first Silent Hill film, I thought it was close to being a good videogame adaptation but it wasn't good enough to claim the title. But this on the other hand is an example of how Video Games movies are done nowadays and it is just having a story that doesn't make a whole lot of sense, Characters that are from the Videogames crammed in there for no reason at all but to live up to the title of this movie. and bad 3D (the 3D is so horrible and I can't even tell what the hell was going on in the dark parts of the movie).

4. Taken 2

Taken 2, Is yet another cash grab movie we have in this list. Man, I would be happy about this movie being atleast a good action movie but it didn't try, I had my hopes up but the movie brought it down flat to the ground. It was a rather bland, senseless movie that i think is another good rental (too bad I didn't give that rating). I would've enjoyed this for the action alone but I couldn't tell what's going on with so many jump cuts. 

3. Resident Evil: Retribution

*sigh* only one movie left, If you read my review you know how angry I was with this movie (having the Resident Evil game franchise close to my heart). This movie is another senseless, badly acted, poorly told movie with some good enough action scenes here and there (despite the fact that they keep ripping off the Matrix) but really this movie is so bad that I thought i wasted a lot of money on this.

2. The Three Stooges

The Three Stooges, from the start hearing news about it (hell they even got this in my school's news journal at some point) I was never on-board with it and when i saw the trailer having it in "modern-day" (having the ******* Jersey Shoe cast in there) Is exactly why I'm afraid that this movie will turn out to be bad than i imagined it to be. And it ends up exactly what I'm expecting a terrible and unfunny movie. The kind of comedy the Three Stooges works for it's time and I did laughed my ass off watching the old reels but having it in modern day setting took out the magic (like HFR 3D to the Hobbit). I felt like i wasted an hour and a half of my life sitting through this unfunny movie that they call a  comedy. 

1.Piranha 3DD

Yes everyone knew this was coming, Piranha 3DD is such a terrible movie, so terrible it's number one in my list of the Worst Movies of 2012. This is just an insult to cinema, I don't care if the "director" of this movie is self-aware that this is a bad movie and he will make a bad movie, that is not an excuse to put this piece of shit out there. I can appreciate seeing naked women but I ain't paying big bucks to see it in the cinema and in bad 3D. Call me all you want for not liking that part of the movie but this is just a horribly made film.

And that was my list of the worst movies of 2012, I will have my Top 10 best of 2012 list by the end of January (Unfortunately) I still have to see a few movies (that happens to be getting released in January) that I would see If it is worthy to be in the list but so far... What do you think are the worst movies of 2012? Comment below let me know! (Please I sound lonely in this blog)