Hope Springs

LEAD CAST:  Meryl Streep, Tommy Lee Jones, Steve Carell, Elizabeth Shue DIRECTOR:  David Frankel  SCREENWRITER:  Vanessa Taylor   PRODUCER:  Todd Black, Guymon Casady  EDITOR:  Steven Weisberg  MUSICAL DIRECTOR: Theodoro Shapiro  GENRE: Drama RUNNING TIME: 100 minutes  CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Florian Ballhaus  LOCATION:  USA  DISTRIBUTOR:  Columbia Pictures

Technical Assessment:  4

Moral Assessment:  4

CINEMA rating:  V18 

Every morning, Kay (Meryl Streep) makes breakfast for her husband Arnold (Tommy Lee Jones)—a strip of bacon, an egg, coffee.  Every morning, Arnold eats his breakfast with his face buried in  a newspaper.  Then he goes off to work.  Every night after a quiet dinner, Kay washes the dishes while Arnold falls asleep watching TV golf.  She wakes him up, they go to bed—in separate bedrooms.  Once she primps up and visits him in his bedroom in a clumsy attempt at marital closeness, but he deflects her touches, saying he doesn’t feel well.  Kay knows that something is missing, sorely missing, in their 31-year-old marriage.  Not just the children, laughter, or fights, but something that used to hold their marriage together: intimacy.

Tired of getting impersonal anniversary gifts from Arnold—like a heater, a cable TV subscription, and other unromantic items for the house—Kay signs up for an Intensive Couples Counseling week with celebrity marriage counselor Dr. Bernie Feld (Steve Carell) in Great Hope Springs, Maine.  She pays $4,000 out of her own savings and buys round trip plane tickets for two.  Scoffing at the idea as a waste of money, the penny-pinching Arnold quips “Cancel it!” but Kay, resolute and hoping against hope—is going, with or without Arnold.

Hope Springs is NOT a comedy.  It is basically a two-actor drama, and a compelling one though with a hint of the comic—no mean thanks to the directorial skills of David Frankel, the same guy who helmed The Devil Wears Prada.  The perfect pairing of Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones provides the spine of the movie.   Streep is, of course, an actress nonpareil, and here, again, she virtually becomes the character she reprises.  Lee Jones on the other hand outperforms himself as he gives life to a character so untypical of his other roles.

The theme of Hope Springs, which Vanessa Taylor’s script masterfully developed without reducing the film into soft porn, is marital intimacy, or the near death of it, and how it is revived through therapy evoking long gone memories of satisfying union.  The heart of the story is the counseling done behind closed doors with the therapist delving into the sexual history of the dying marriage.  Carell rightfully projects a no-nonsense, no holds barred therapist here, stimulating and facilitating interaction between the estranged couple.  What is spoken and spoken about in the therapist’s clinic, and what is done by the couple inside the bedroom upon his instructions, are serious stuff that serves more to instruct than to entertain.  While Hope Springs attempts to include light moments (sometimes bordering on the naughty) in order to appeal to a wider audience, and MTRCB rates it R-13, CINEMA staunchly puts its foot down and gives it a Strictly for Adults rating, for its theme and graphic sexual content.

Couples married “too long” may relate to Kay and Arnold’s situation, and vicariously learn from the counseling they go through, thus CINEMA suggests you catch the movie, which is a statement upholding marriage.  Its message is loud and unequivocal as delivered in Dr. Feld’s website where he tells people who want to save their marriage, “It's not too late for anyone who truly wants it and is willing to try.”  The very title Hope Springs is more than the name of a town in Maine, USA; it is also an echo of the saying “Hope springs eternal in the human breast.”

Guni-guni

Cast: Lovi Poe, Jaime Fabregas, Gina Alajar, Julia Clarete, Neil Ryan Sese, Empress, Benjamin Alves; Director: Tara Illenberger.  Screenplay: Tara Illenberger;  Running Time:110 minutes; Location: Manila; Genre: Horror.

Technical Assessment:  2.5

Moral Assessment:  3

CINEMA Rating:  For Viewers 14 years old and above

Si Mylene (Lovi Poe) ay nag-aaral ng medisina at nakatira sa isang boarding house na pagmamay-ari ni Tatay Nanding (Jaime Fabregas) na mayroong sakit na kalimot. Sa boarding house ay sinasabing maraming multong nagpaparamdam at nagpapakita. Ito ay pinapatotohanan ng kaibigan niyang si Joana (Empress) at nobyong si Paolo (Benjamin Alves) na may nakikitang multo sa anyo ng isang bata. Lingid sa kanilang kaalaman, sa boarding house ay maraming nakabaong  lihim na magsisimulang mahukay nang ang nagmumulto ay magalit at maghiganti dahil sa kasalanang nagawa ni Mylene.  Kasabay nito ay ang unti-unting pagka-bunyag ng pinakatatagong lihim ni Mylene patungkol sa kanyang di-nakilalang kakambal.

Hindi malinaw ang daloy ng kwento ng Guni-Guni.  Marami itong butas at katanungan na hanggang sa huli ay hindi nasagot.  Kalat at sabog-sabog ang kuwento na kung saan-saan lumilihis at hindi makapagdulot ng paliwanag.  Animo’y binuo ito sa mga  pinagtagpi-tagping elemento mula sa iba’t-ibang nakalipas na pelikula—isa na sa mga elementong ito ay ang paulit-ulit na pagpapakita ng mga manyikang watak-watak.  Oo nga’t tumatayong  mga simbulo ito ng isang mahalagang bahagi ng istorya, ngunit lumabis naman ang paggamit dito ng pelikula kaya’t nababawasan ang “kilabot effect” nito sa kabuuan ng palabas.  Nasayang ang kahusayan ng mga artistang nagsiganap. May mga ilang eksenang katakutan na nakaka-aliw ngunit ang karamihan ay pawang kakatwa. Ang ilang special effects ay masagwa ang pagkakagawa. May mangilan-ngilan ding gulat ang pelikula na nararapat sa pelikulang horror pero ang lahat ng ito ay sayang sa kabuuang kaguluhan ng kwento.

Bagama’t talamak sa “gimmick” ang Guni-guni, hindi nito natabunan ang pahatid sa isip ng kuwento.  Sa kabila ng kakulangang teknikal ng pelikula ay may malinaw naman itong mensahe ukol sa pagpapahalaga sa buhay ng isang tao magmula pa sa sinapupunan. Sinasabi ng pelikula na hindi dapat ang tao ang nagdedesisyon patungkol sa buhay at kamatayan. Kapag ito ay nangyari, may mga kaluluwang hindi matatahimik at magdudulot ito ng kapahamakan.  Sa kasasagsagan ng mga debate ngayon ukol sa RH Bill at sa gitna ng maraming batikos ng Simbahang Katoliko ukol sa paninidigan nito laban dito ay narito ang isang pelikulang gigising sa ating guni-guni na nagsasabing hindi kailanman magiging tama ang pagpatay sa ano pa mang dahilan at maging sa ano pa mang pamamaraan.  Ang buhay ay buhay at dapat itong ipagsanggalang at pangalagaan—dapat ipagpasa-Diyos kung sino ang dapat na mabuhay o mamatay. May ilang maseselang eksena nga lang sa pelikula kaya minarapat ng CINEMA na ito ay maaari lamang mapanood na mga may gulang 14 pataas.

The Campaign

CAST:  Zach Galifianakis, Will Ferrell, Jason Sudeikis, Katherine LaNasa, Dylan McDermott, John Lithgow, Dan Aykroyd, Brian Cox. SCREENPLAY: Chris Henchy, Shawn Harwell STORY:  Adam McKay, Chris Henchy, Shawn Harwell MUSIC: Theodore Shapiro  PRODUCER: Jay Roach, Adam mckay, Will Ferrell  CINEMATOGRAPHY: Jim Denault EDITING:  Craig Alpert Studio, Gary Sanchez Productions, Everyman Pictures DISTRIBUTOR Warner Bros. Pictures RUNNING TIME: 85 minutes LOCATION: United States LANGUAGE: English

Technical:  3

Moral:  2.5

CINEMA rating:  V18

Incumbent Cam Brady (Will Ferrell) is running as North Carolina congressman for the nth time.  With his formula “America, Jesus, Freedom”, he is confident he will win, not only because he is actually running unopposed, but also because he is determined to squash would be opponents the dirty way.  But he is exposed when he picks up the phone and leaves an amorous and obscene message to his mistress, unaware he has dialed a wrong number.  The number is that of an ultra-pious Christian family, then having dinner with the children when his XXX-rated message is recorded in the answering machine.  The parents, of course, are horrified, and a scandal is born.  Brady’s campaign manager (Jason Sudeikis) tries to straighten things up but billionaire business honchos who decide the fate of politicians behind the scene, the Moch Brothers (Dan Aykroyd and John Lithgow) withdraw their support of Brady and back another candidate, Marty Huggins (Zach Galifianakis), the wimpy director of the local tourist center.

The Campaign is dyed-in-the-wool satire, mimicking real life’s electoral processes.  Director Jay Roach does a snappy, never-a-ho-hum-moment critique of America’s political scenario, propped and spiced by the all-too-familiar fare: the image-bashing videos, mudslinging, cut-and-dried speeches, babies to hug and kiss, tyrannical campaign managers, power brokers, the pet dogs, the works.  Roach so exaggerates the obvious that some viewers will probably cringe at the unexpectedly vulgar footages—but, just like in love and war, all is fair in the spoof kingdom, especially when the target of the darts is politicians.  The sets, wardrobe, music, cinematography, and the minimal CGI (the punch landing on the baby’s face can’t be real!) all combine to create a movie that will leave the adult audience hooting and cackling the whole time.  Special mention goes to the two leads, Galifianakis and Ferrell, doing parts quite a distance from their usual roles.

If there’s one worthwhile thing about spoofs, it’s their educational value.  Like The Campaign, which is a sharp satire about elections in a country supposed to be a world power.  Movies like this do not educate you outright, but they tease and tickle, prick and prod, until the responsive viewer takes a long hard look at the truths they veil in hyperbole and laughter.  Beneath the comedy mask worn by The Campaign, is the face—the face covered with grime, blood and maggots—of politics.  Coming out of the theater, a youth, not yet of voting age, asks his elder companion, “How can the world be a better place when those who want to have the power to change it play dirty themselves?”  Well, my boy, that is politics.

Total Recall

Cast:Colin Farrell, Kate Beckinsale, Jessica Biel, Bryan Cranston, John Cho, Bill Nighy; Direction:  Len Wiseman; Story:  based from Philip K. Dick’s “We Can Remember It For You Wholesale”; Screenplay:Kurt Wimmer, Mark Bomback; Cinematography:Paul Cameron; Editing:Christian Wagner; Music:HrryGregson-William; Producers:Neal H. Mortiz, Toby Jaffe; Genre: Sci-Fi Action; Running Time:118 minutes;   Location:  United Federation of Britain / Colony; Distributor: Columbia Pictures

Technical:  3

Moral:  3

CINEMA Rating:  V14

 After the 3^rd World War by the end of the 21^st century, there are only two liveable territories on earth: the upscale cosmopolitan center of politics and economics in the United Federation of Britain (UFB) and the cramped Chinatown-like Colony, believed to be the former Australia. The Colony factory worker who at the UFB must travel to the other side of the world via the “Fall”, a gravity transport at the core of the Earth.  One of the factory workers Douglas Quaid (Colin Farrell) has been having recurrent nightmares of him escaping with another woman and being caught by the robot soldiers of the UFB.  He does not tell his wife Lori (Kate Beckinsale) but constantly vents how humdrum his life is turning out to be. He decides to visit Rekall, a company that can implant memories to a person to allow him to live out his fantasies, only the chosen memory should not be in anyway true to the person. Douglas chooses a spy adventure and undergoes a routine test. He fails the test and the entire Rekall is attacked by the SWAT team. Surprisingly, Douglas counter-attacks when he is about to get arrested. He returns home and confesses to Lori what just transpired. When Lori starts attacking him, he realizes he has been living a fantasy life where false memories were implanted to him to erase his true identity as Carl Hausser. As he dodges attempts on his life, he meets Melina (Jessica Biel), the girl in his dreams and his real lover. He attempts to put together pieces of his real life and rejoins Melina’s cause to fight the oppression of the UFB chancellor.

Total Recall is a remake of the Schwarzenegger 1990 movie, although the producers claim it is more of an adaptation of Philip Dick’s short story. Its CGIs and visual effects are impressive and keep the audience glued to the screen. The action sequences are equally captivating. Colin, Beckinsale and Biel have an intrinsically authentic chemistry and rapport.  Their encounters and scenes together or individually are moments to watch for. Total Recall succeeds as an action-packed film but sadly story-wise it falls short. The high-pack chases are over extended that there was really little time to develop the characters and the narrative. (This is quite puzzling since the basic plot has already been laid out both in the short story and the 1990 film.) The filmmakers paid too much attention to the “wow” factors like effects, high impact action sequences and production design and left a more basic component lacking—the storyline.

Sacrifice for the welfare of the underprivileged, fighting for a cause and standing up to oppression—these are some of the socio-political issues that the film addresses. Oppression may succeed for some time, but it is human nature to protect not just the self but life itself.

But more than these, there is an in-your-face message against government’s population control solutions—kill someone less important so that the chosen few can live. The method that the UFB chose was blunt and brutal and can easily be condemned by an ordinary viewer. But analysing what is taking place in our own nation today—this is the same step that the authorities forcing to enact certain laws and bills that are clearly against life are doing. Although they are targeting the unborn and attacking women’s fertility in the guise of a better economics, health and other benefits, the steps being imposed are anti-life, attacks the weak and disadvantaged.

The movie can be a springboard for various socio-political discussions but because it really focuses more on hard core action, you’d have to fish long to get to the better messages it has.  This is better for older audiences with strong caution to parents.