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

( source ) Catherine (Gwyneth Paltrow) is a 27-year-old grieving after the loss of her father (Anthony Hopkins), a genius mathematician whose mind gradually deteriorated from mental illness. With her sister, Claire (Hope Davis), urging Catherine to leave their family home, and an ambitious student (Jake Gyllen haal) searching through her father's notes, Catherine struggles to keep her composure and her sanity in this drama adapted from the stage play by David Auburn. -WWW Initial release :  30 September 2005 ( USA ) Director :  John Madden Story by :  David Auburn   (This was presented first in the year 2000(May- Off Broadway- New Brunswick, New Jersey/ October-Great White Way or Broadway).  It won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award for Best Play) Nominations :  Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture – Drama 2006 · Gwyneth Paltrow/ Golden Lion 2005 · John Madden/ Grand Jury Prize 2005 · J...

  Never in my wildest dreams did I "see this coming".  If it were up to me, I would've watched Sandara Park's ONE STEP  or Katie Holmes' TOUCHED WITH FIRE , but instead,  I found myself watching this previously X-Rated film called BLISS  with my parents at EVIA Lifestyle Mall's Vista Cinema DOLBY Atmos Theatre and I was very impressed.  The theme is disturbing indeed, but what made it lighter was the treatment and the close to seamless acting of Audie Gemora and Michael De Mesa.  I watched this film like I was watching a tennis match so the scenes did not confuse me.  Thankfully, I didn't make a mistake which scenes were real or just inside Jane's head. While we were watching we were reminded of  Gaslight ,  Misery (which was mentioned in the film) and Satoshi Kon's  Millennium Actress (I wrote about this before, but I couldn't find it) and  Perfect Blue . When I checked online, I learned that it was indeed patte...

sha This is NOT The Devil Wears Prada's franchise.  I do not even think this is loosely based on it, but because of the request of the Star for All Seasons to have something similar to the premise of the best seller turned blockbuster hit, STAR CINEMA was able to produce a wonderful story that has all the elements of a romantic-comedy and a heart-wrenching drama filled with lessons, morals, love, humanity and so much more.  Vilma Santos, Angel Locsin and Xian Lim are three of my favorite actors. Add to that Bb. Joyce Bernal directing the film, I told myself, I have to watch this! So I did.  I wanted to watch this on day one, but I had to wait a while because we were all very busy.  Finally, the day came and I must say that every second counted.  The truth is, there were scenes that reminded me more of   BEAUTY AND THE BEAST , except that this was not about a romantic love story between the Vivian and Jaica, but it was and still is a lov...

From imdb This movie is loosely based on the life story of former Senator Ping Lacson who is now the rehabilitation czar of the places that were slaughtered by Super Typhoon Yolanda aka Haiyan. 10,000 HOURS is an action-packed thinkers movie.  When I watched this movie, I set aside the fact  that it was based on the former senator's plight and treated it as a pure work of fiction.  Still, with a few hitches, it was as real as real could be.  The scenes in Amsterdam brought me to the edge of my seat.  It was if I was a real bystander or perhaps, a stalker, watching everything while it is happening. Probably because of the familiar places, et cetera . Yes, it was not perfect, but it deserved its best picture award compared to the other movies that are playing in this year's MMFF. Robin Padilla is not just an action star, but is also a very good actor.  He is very convincing as the young looking Senator Gabriel Alcaraz whose q...

Deplorable...Despicable...Disturbing Reviews On the Job: Cannes Review by Neil Young With ‘On The Job’, Erik Matti delivers an instant classic On the Job: It's "bitter" in the Philippines Erik Matti  is a very versatile director and one of the best writers this country has produced. ON THE JOB(OTJ), for me anyway, is his best so far, as a writer and director. If you're looking for a film review, go ahead and click the links above.  I think everything has been said already.  After all, this film has received a lot of accolades already.  Some say that except for that "extra" love scene(I don't know which one), the one shown in the Philippines is a tamer version. Until I watch the one viewed in the Cannes Festival, I really wouldn't know. All I know is that when I watched the film, I was very, very impressed with everyone . There's one thing, among others, my parents and I noticed.  For a PMA graduate with a law degree who is a...

Calling this a review would be a misnomer. This entry is more of what I felt when I was watching the film and afterward. Baler used to be a part of Quezon Province (of course it wasn't called  Quezon then, but the Province of Tayabas) where my dad of Armenian, Spanish, Japanese and Indian ancestry, hails from. Aurora now is another province. Nevertheless, because of its history and linkage of the people the two provinces were named after, it will forever be a "part" of Quezon. Having seen the posters last year, I became very interested in watching the film. I wondered why Anne Curtis was chosen as Feliza and Jericho was cast as Celso. Anne Curtis looked more mestiza than Jericho,  et cetera, et cetera . According to  film_angel , "The main purpose was to highlight the innate kindness and hospitality of the Baler folks. The filmmakers erred when they veered away from that objective." Even so, the movie achieved dramatic effect and Ro...