I am NOT a critic. I'm merely an observer. (Books, movies, plays, musicals etc.)

( source ) Directed by Robert Z. Leonard Produced by Arthur Hornblow, Jr. Written by Samuel and Bella Spewack Guy Bolton Based on Grand Hotel by  Vicki Baum Starring Ginger Rogers Lana Turner Walter Pidgeon Van Johnson Music by Johnny Green Cinematography Robert H. Planck Edited by Robert Kern Distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Release dates October 4, 1945 © MGM 1945 Except for Walter Pidgeon, I have admired all the lead stars of this film since I was small. When we were living in Monterey, Ca. in the US of A, reruns and old movies were parts of my television viewership, besides Sesame Street and the Electric Company, that is.   I guess I was more familiar with Lana Turner and Ginger Rogers than anybody who equalled their caliber in the early 1970s. I would also pretend to sing and dance with Van Johnson and some others who are not in this film like Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra et al. I guess I was already in my late 20s(...

The Soundtrack This version is nice.  It's not great, but I sort of liked it.  The familiar songs and the new ones were OK, but how do I complain without sounding like a racist? I simply can't because anything I say about this would make me sound like one.   I love Quevenzhane Wallis.  She is a natural.  It's not the issue here.  Little Orphan Annie was a red head and all the nationalities that played Little Orphan Annie on stage were "recognized" because of the red hair wig the actors wore.    Of course, it would have been silly if they put a red hair wig on top of Quevenzhane because she was about ten or eleven years old. If she were a teenager, that would be another story altogether.  They just gave her mop-like tresses, similar to the black and white drawings of Annie's hair before her comic strip became technicolor. Still... See. Anything I would say would make me sound like a racist.  FYI.  I am brown-sk...

"Into the Woods poster" by Source. Licensed under Fair use via Wikipedia Stage Play/Musical   (NY Times review By FRANK RICH Published: November 6, 1987) Darker and more sensual SYNOPSIS Into the Woods is a modern twist on the beloved Brothers Grimm fairy tales in a musical format that follows the classic tales of Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk, and Rapunzel-all tied together by an original story involving a baker and his wife, their wish to begin a family and their interaction with the witch who has put a curse on them- imdb PLOT CHANGES  (Tamed for kids, but still has A LOT of innuendos)  Dominick Mayer's film review   When I was a teenager, I used to confuse the story of INTO THE WOODS with Hansel and Gretel's LOST IN THE WOODS .  It took a while for me to realize that these were two different musicals/plays.  INTO THE WOODS is about the rude awakening of the fairy tale characters as they discover th...

Charismatic British aristocrat and part-time shady art dealer Charlie Mortdecai ( Johnny Depp ) suffers from a constant lack of funds to support his lush lifestyle, so when Alistair Maitland ( Ewan McGregor ), a college friend and officer in MI5, asks him to find a stolen Goya painting, he accepts. But Charlie's not the only one with designs on the painting; an American heiress and a revolutionary want it too, for the artwork is rumored to contain the code to a bank account filled with Nazi gold.- WWW Director: David Koepp Running time: 107 minutes Adapted from: The Mortdecai Trilogy Music composed by: Geoff Zanelli , Mark Ronson Written by:  Starring: Johnny Depp  as Charlie Mortdecai Gwyneth Paltrow  as Johanna Mortdecai Ewan McGregor  as Inspector Martland Olivia Munn  as Georgina Krampf Paul Bettany  as Jock Strapp Jeff Goldblum  as Milton Krampf Junix Inocian as Fang Fat the Chinese Mafia Lord/Businessman/Gambler from Hong Ko...

Directors Club Cinema 3  SM City BF Parañaque The trailer that I was not able to see Blackhat is another one of those films that we opted to watch without knowing what to expect, except that it was a security cracker film and it starred Chris Hemsworth.  We never saw any trailer and we weren't able to read press releases too.   I guess it's better that way.  You start with a blank slate and no one's opinion would make you jaded regarding that film.   Chris Hemsworth doesn't appear until sometime that you may wonder if you, entered the right cinema or not so w hen Wang Leehom ,    the Asian-American singer who plays Chen Dawai, appeared, he was sort of the saving grace of the first part of the film.  It is believed that singers are better actors because they don't only memorize their lines, they internalize and they understand each word or phrase to be more effective than others so that they could be who they are portraying a...

The best chapter was the 2nd one, but this one was pretty exciting too The final chapter of TAKEN has put me at the edge of my seat from start to finish, even if I liked the second installment best. Father-daughter movies really pulls some heartstrings even if it's an action flick, so the trilogy really wrenched my heart. There were scenes that would make you wonder why Bryan Mills decided to do this and that, but you would realize that it's what made him human.  He is not perfect. He is not God.  Even it the script was not flawless, the story-weaving was still well thought of...well-researched. I don't think I could say anything more except for what I always say when a movie leaves a deep imprint in my heart: Kudos to the entire cast and crew! 

The "feeling" sexy Richard Benson and the awesomely beautiful Gabrielle Simpson I'm including this picture because Bill Holden reminds me of someone here.(Gosh, he was a 46 year- old(45 during filming) man playing a 43 year-old playboy...he looks older than his age) Audrey Hepburn is a classic beauty Hotshot Hollywood screenwriter Richard Benson (William Holden) is in trouble. He sold a script idea to decadent producer Alexander Meyerheim (Noel Coward), but has wasted all the time he had to finish the screenplay by traipsing around Paris. With just a couple of days left before the deadline, Benson gets a new assistant named Gabrielle Simpson (Audrey Hepburn), who helps him put together a love story by acting out all the possible scenarios. But life eventually beginning to imitate art.- WWW Initial release: April 8, 1964 Director: Richard Quine Running time: 110 minutes Written By: Julien Duvivier , Henri Jeanson Paris When it Sizzles is NOT...

#BonifacioAngUnangPangulo #BuhayinAngRebolusyon #MMFF2014 Andres Bonifacio: Myths, trivia, execution FULL LIST: Winners, MMFF 2014 awards night Whether this is the real story or not, this movie deserves the honor for being the BEST PICTURE.  The story is beautifully weaved and even if there are debates about the events and about the great grand father of my friends, it is very believable.   If this is going to be the only  basis of our history, I would not question it at all.  It is very, very convincing.    The script and the acting are very superb.  It is a true team effort.  The problem is, there are a lot of versions written by different historians that would disprove this, but then again, that was what the curator(Eddie Garcia) was trying to convey to the students.   Most of the history books got it wrong, according to him . I wanted to enjoy the movie so I set aside everything I learned from history.  I like h...