TALK BACK AND YOU'RE DEAD (2014) #TBYD

Alabang Town Center

Cinema 4

Talk Back And You're Dead is the first installment of the Talk Back Trilogy of Alesana Marie originally published in WATTPAD, but can now be bought at any of the National Bookstore or Power Books Branches Nationwide.

It revolves around childhood sweethearts Timmy and Sammy, their friends, family and other people close to them.

Although it is also a movie about school gangsters, it is very, very different from SHE'S DATING A GANGSTER. For me, this story is very reminiscent of the kind of movies Sharon Cuneta and Gabby Concepcion did during their teenage years, most especially the ones produced by Viva Films, but different.

The helicopters, the large estates, rich feuding families, fixed marriages, etc.

The movie version is written by Keiko Aquino and directed by Andoy Ranay(Trophy Wife). I think I am getting fond of this team. People still found flaws, but hey. Even SALT, INDEPENDENCE DAY and all those blockbuster hits have flaws, so I say, "So what?!?"

Nadine Lustre and James Reid are proving to be very bankable stars. Yes, people can't help but compare them to KathNiel, but JaDine has their own followers.

I guess if I were to compare them, I would say that KathNiel is the more sanitised team(forgive me for using the word sanitised a lot) because JaDine utter expletives like it was the most natural thing in the world. Still, both couples are very, very wholesome.

Going back to #TBYD, I must say that I enjoyed the scenery, the dialogues and the chemistry of each characters with one another. There were a few scenes that were confusing to us, like how TOP, in his blond form, was allowed to attend the party where the engagement of Samantha and Jared was announced(spoiler), among others.

I later learned that several scenes were cut. How many?

Anyways, it does not matter. The whole team did great. The senior citizens, with some exceptions of course, were like saying, "What am I doing here?" The teens and the young at heart were enjoying almost every minute. I can't wait for the sequel. Would it be shown next year?

Would Yassi Pressman as Audrey and AJ Muhlach as Lee have more exposure or will their characters just fade away? Will Joseph Marco as Jared have another love interest?

Would Candy as Selene and Christopher as Crisostomo have funnier parts with their new baby/toddler?

Maybe I should read the trilogy. I already am starting to read Never Talk Back to a Gangster...it's not as wholesome as I thought it would be, but I'm enjoying it. Some of the questions above were already answered, but it would be interesting to find out if the answers in the book would be the same with the movie or not. ;-)

Songs from the movie can be found below, along with the trailer and press-con.