I Wanna Watch A Movie (J-Review Special)

Starting December 25 until the first few weeks of January every year, all cinemas in the Philippines are required to show nothing but all-Filipino movies, entries for the annual Metro Manila Filmfest-Philippines.

 For the first 17 years of my life, I haven't watched a single filmfest entry  in theaters unless they get to be aired on cable. It was only January of this year was I able to watch my first filmfest movie, Shake Rattle & Roll 9.


For this year, the current line-up of entries are watchable, unlike in past years that there's only a few films worth watching. I haven't watch any of these movies yet but here's my initial reviews on each of these films:

1. Ang Tanging Ina Ninyo Lahat-The sequel of the 1st Tanging Ina movie and a follow-up to the spin-off television series. I'm not sure how the 2nd movie would be able to give fans the lowdown of what happened after the events  following Ina marrying John Estrada's character and the absence of several key caharacters (Juan, Fortia, Sixtus, etc). But given the premise that Ina became president of our country, for sure it'd be able to produce a lot of laughs as well as give emphasis to the importance of family.

2. Iskul Bukol: 20 Years After-This TVJ starrer takes places after the events of the original 1980's situational comedy, "Iskul Bukol", when the Escalera brothers were reunited 20 years later. Most of the original cast remained intact. Wala pa ako  mundo when it was still on air but knowing the trio that's Tito, Vic and Joey, I'm sure that this film would be able to generate the same kind of response that made their sitcom a hit.

3. Baler-There wasn't any Philippine period film that was able to at least match the quality and success accomplised by the 1998 filmfest entry, Jose Rizal. But based from the good reviews Baler has been getting (including members of the historical community), this is one period movie I'm sure going to watch. One lowdown I guess would be the character of Jerico Rosales. He's too "kayumanggi" to be a Spaniard but he could still pass as a "mestizo" soldier from any of Spain's former colonies (but the date was set around 1898, and Spain by that time had already lost most of its colonies).

4. One Night Only-good news: This movie received an award for Best Original Story, thanks to director Jose Javier Reyes, who's also a well-known screenwriter who was able to produce a remarkable number of screenplays adapted into film and television. The bad new: The story may be promising, this movie may also possess the same kind of tendency that Reyes' other non-romantic comedies have, they start off good but gets confusing in the middle until becoming totally lost in the end. I've watched his two recent films, Kutob and Matakot Ka sa Karma, and my impresson was "what?". Alam ko na may nais sabihin si Reyes sa mga pelikula niyang thrillers at sex comedies, pero siguro naman puwede niyang hindi masyadong palituhin ang mga manonood. He could go beyond the tried-and-tested formula, but he should at least maintain the interests of viewers.

5. Desperadas 2-Every one knows that Desperadas is inspired from the US series "Desperate Housewives", hence the title but people should give this film a chance since the story is far different from the series.

6. Shake Rattle and Roll 10-This is the tenth installment of the popular horror trilogy franchise. They usually follow a certain format: "Shake" is a mellowed, sometimes comedic and safe episode, kumabaga "patikim" pa lang. "Rattle" is medium-done and tender, just the right fright but almost ends on a good yet risky note. "Roll" is where the fun begins and ends, and the film finish with everyone spooked up! My New Year's wish is for a MMFF with only one entry coming from Regal Films instead of a whole army of films produced by Regal tycooness, Lily Monteverde (Why do people call her 'Mother' anyway?)

7. Magkaibigan-Any MMFF is never complete without seeing a movie starred by longtime movie vets, and this year is no different. Magkaibigan is a movie produced in dedication to the late actor, Rudy Fernandez, whose best buds, Jinggoy Estrada and Christopher De Leon, share the title roles of best friends. People guessed it right when they know that this movie is going to garner at least one of the top plum awards, the Best Actor Award. I have nothing against the actors nor the movie which I guess is pretty good, but I wish that the filmfest won't always be dominated by oldtimers.

8. Dayo-The first fully animated film entry since "Animasia" and "Ibong Adarna" (was this movie a filmfest entry, please do correct me). Unlike other films, this movie took 2 years to make. Based from the behind-the-scenes footage, i like the cast of voice talents (no feeling dubbers), a good mixture of child innocence to professional theater actors to good-timed comedians. No feeling dubbers whatsoever. As long as they are able to do jsutice to the characters given to them I'm fine with it. But when there comes a time for another Pinoy animated film sometime in the future, they ought to also cast people who have take voice acting a profession. This one is what I'm really dying to watch.


My top 3 picks for movies I'll most likely going to watch would be:

1. Dayo (Because I support Philippine animation)
2. Baler (Because I'm a History Buff)
3. Tanging Ina Ninyo Lahat (Because I've already watched the first movie and the TV series. The sequel would complete my happiness).