Fantastica: the Princess, the Prince, and the Perya

DIRECTOR:   BARRY GONZALES

LEAD CAST:  VICE GANDA, DINGDONG DANTES, RICHARD GUTIERREZ, JACKLYN JOSE, BELA PADILLA  

SCREENWRITER: ENRICO SANTOS, DAISY CAYANAN, JONATHAN ALBANO

PRODUCER:  VIC DEL ROSARIO JR., OLIVIA LAMASAN

EDITOR:  JOYCE BERNAL, NOAH TONGA

MUSICAL DIRECTOR:   EMERSON TEXON

GENRE: FANTASY COMEDY

CINEMATOGRAPHER:  ANNE MONZON  

DISTRIBUTOR: STAR CINEMA, VIVA FILMS

LOCATION:  PHILIPPINES

RUNNING TIME:   115 MINUTES

Technical assessment: 2.5

Moral assessment:  2.5

CINEMA rating:  V14

MTRCB rating:  PG

Sa kabila ng madalas nilang di pagkakaunawan, buhay na buhay pa rin ang negosyong perya (na “Perya Wurtzbach” ang tawag) ng mag-inang Belat (Vice Ganda) at Aling Fec (Jacklyn Jose); umaani ito ng maraming “ palakhak”—pinagsamang palakpak at halakhak.  Pero merong lagusan ang perya sa daigdig ng Fantastica na magsasara dahil sa isang sumpa.   Para magbukas ulit ang lagusan at magpatuloy ang ugnayan sa pagitan ng mundo ng Fantastica at mundo ng tao, kakailanganin ang sampung libong “palakhak”.  Magtutulungan si Belat at si Prince Pryce (Richard Gutierrez) upang mabuksan ulit ang lagusan at pabalikin ang sigla ng perya.

Komedyang nakaugat sa pantasiya ang Fantastica: the Princess, the Prince, and the Perya, at dahil sa ang bida dito ay si Ganda, alam na marahil ninyo na tulad ng peryang tampok sa pelikula, ninais lamang nitong umani ng palakpak at halakhak mula sa mga manonood.  Hindi makapalakpak ang CINEMA sa natunghayan nitong napakababang uri ng komedya, sa gasgas na banghay (plot), sa dayalogong paikot-ikot na parang tsobibong nasira ang preno.  At ang kuwento, pantasiya na nga, pasikut-sikot pa, kaya lalong napalabo ng palabok ni Ganda. Sablay din ang casting: ang mga batikang aktor na Dantes at Gutierrez ay hindi bagay sa kanilang mga papel—hindi nakakatawa, bagkus ay katawa-tawa ang kinalabasan nila. Isang bagay lang ang nakita naming nakakatawa: ang boses ng lalaki na namumutawi sa bawa’t pagbuka ng bibig ng marikit na si Bella Padilla. Subali’t kahit na ulanin pa siguro ang Fantastica  ng mga pintas ng mga kritiko, kapag pumapalakpak ang manunuod, ang huling halakhak ay sa mga gumawa ng pelikula dahil sa tubong-nilugaw na papasok sa kanilang mga bulsa.

Ganito na nga ang nangyari: sa simula pa lang ng MFF, nanguna na ang Fantastica sa takilya.  Nang manood nito ang CINEMA sa ika-anim na araw, puno pa rin ang sinehan, at humahagalpak ng tawa ang maraming manunuod sa mga kabaklaan ni Ganda.  Paano mo ipapaliwanag sa mga musmos ang mga pantasiya ng isang bakla na ipinagdidiinan ng pelikula?  Bagama’t ginustong itampok ng pelikula ang kahalagahan ng pamilya at pag-aaruga ng hindi mo kadugo, hindi ito lumutang dahil nasapawan ito ng walang humpay at walang saysay na pagpapatawa at kabastusan.  (Marami namang mga bakla ang matalino, hindi bastos, pino kung kumilos, at maganda ang ugali—bakit hindi gumawa ng mga pelikula tungkol sa kanila?)  Paalala lang po ng CINEMA—kung limitado ang badyet ninyo, makabubuti pa sigurong ibili na lamang ng mga makabuluhang babasahin para sa mga bata iyon kaysa lustayin sa dalawang oras na halakhakan at kapalpakang dulot ng Fantastica.—TRT 

     

Aquaman

DIRECTOR: James Wan

LEAD CAST: Jason Momoa, Amber Heard, Patrick Wilson, Dolph Lundgren, Yahya Abdul-MateenII, Willem Dafoe & Nicole Kidman

SCREENWRITER: David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick

PRODUCER: Peter Safran & Rob Cowan

EDITOR: Kirk Morri

MUSICAL DIRECTOR: Rupert Gregson-Williams

GENRE: Fantasy/Sci-Fi

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Don Burgess

DISTRIBUTOR: Warner Bros Pictures

LOCATION: USA

RUNNING TIME: 143 mins.

Technical assessment: 4

Moral assessment: 3.5

CINEMA rating:  V14

One stormy night, lighthouse keeper Tom Curry (Temuera Morrison) finds on the beach the unconscious Atlanna (Nicole Kidman), queen of Atlantis.  He nurses her back to health, and love blooms between them, producing an inter-species son, Arthur.  Soon Atlantean warriors storm the lighthouse to claim bac­­­­­­­k their queen to fulfill her part in an arranged marriage.  Knowing they won’t stop until she returns to Atlantis, Atlanna leaves Tom and the baby Arthur but entrusts the training of Arthur to her loyal adviser Nuidis Vulko (Willem Defoe).  Though an heir to the underwater throne, the grown up Arthur (Jason Momoa) would rather go on with his happy life on the surface, but circumstances compel him to rise and save the people of the land and sea from the machinations of his half-brother, now Atlantis’ king, Orm. 

High on production design and visual effects from great CGI, Aquaman is one of those movies you would want to see “the making of”.  Director Wan wanted more than anything else to create an underwater superhero world that could match if not outdo other superworlds.  When wedding inventiveness with whimsy entertains, why bother about science?  Just put cynicism on hold and enjoy this origin story.  Imagine a giant octopus playing the drums—one for each tentacle!  Picture humongous crabs and deadly lobster claws, sharks and gigantic seahorses at war in heavy military armor and you’d wonder, Where the heck do the Atlanteans get all that metal?  Atlanteans are also conveniently amphibian—can walk for hours in the desert without fainting from thirst, and can talk underwater without exhaling bubbles.  Balancing these inventive fantasyscapes is the family drama that highlights performances and characterization.   

The appeal of Aquaman lies in the very human qualities of its characters.  Underneath the unbridled spectacle that’s almost cartoony in its ridiculousness are beings who feel and care and cry and fight and love and envy as humans do—whether they are earth mammals or underwater creatures.  It only proves the universality of family and forgiveness as values that preserve man’s existence.  The movie flies a flag for non-violence, showing how the deadliest of clashes can be resolved peacefully through dialogue.  There is no room for vengeance here—only kindness.—TRT  

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Deadpool 2

DIRECTOR: David Leitch  LEAD CAST: Ryan Reynolds, Josh Brolin, Stefan Kapicic (voice), Zazie Beetz, Julian Dennison  SCREENWRITERS: Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, Ryan Reynolds  PRODUCERS: Simon Kinberg, Ryan Reynolds, Lauren Shuler Donner  EDITORS: Craig Alpert, Elísabet Ronaldsdóttir, Dirk Westervelt  MUSICAL DIRECTOR: Tyler Bates  GENRE: Fantasy/Science Fiction  CINEMATOGRAPHER: Jonathan Sela  DISTRIBUTOR: Warner Bros.  LOCATION: British Columbia, Canada  RUNNING TIME: 119 minutes 

Technical assessment: 4 

Moral assessment: 2.5 

CINEMA rating: V18 

MTRCB rating: R16 

The guy who played Thanos in The Avengers is back, but this time, he’s not Thanos but grief-stricken Cable (Josh Brolin) who returns from the future to exterminate young Russel (Julian Dennison). The boy it turns out is to become the ruthless Firefist who will kill Cable’s family and many others. But mercenary assassin turned superhero with a foul-mouth and sick humor Wade aka Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) saves the boy. He assembles X-Force, with Colossus (voiced by Stefan Kapicic), Domino (Zazie Beetz), and Negasonic Teenage Warhead (Brianna Hildebrand) to stop Russel from becoming the annihilator.  

Deadpool 2 gathers several Marvel superheroes, including the X-Men, with Wade pejoratively referred to as an X-Men trainee. He flunks the training of course, because he defies discipline. And with his penchant for “breaking the fourth wall”, Wade again talks directly to the audience as he lampoons Marvel and DC superheroes, and even Disney. He ridicules Frozen, Yentl, RoboCop, Avengers, X-Men and many more. People who are not familiar with these movies may get lost and find the plot nonsensical. Wade basks in his craziness and the rest patiently allows him to do so. What aids it all is good timing. Ryan Reynolds as Wade is crass with the stoic Colossus who by the way is CGI, but on screen together, they elicit so much laughter. The tempo is as eccentrically unpredictable as the twisted humor of the movie. Russel’s hands look genuinely on fire and burning like steel. The Juggernaut is a bit grotesque, it looks like a cracked steel egg that is more hilarious than foreboding. The fight scenes, albeit computer generated, are interspersed with Wade’s sick humor that they are not at all boring. And the soundtrack is as absurdly appropriate. 

The movie is so entertaining (not extraordinary but definitely not the usual run-of-the-mill fantasy comedy)  that it saddens us that we can’t recommend it for kids. There’s excessive use of cuss words, sexual innuendoes, decapitation, and everything violent. The bizarre comedy has become so delectable that we feel there are not enough cues to help young audiences decipher the movie’s key message. And that message, buried deep under a multitude of dissonance, is actually beautiful and sublime: there’s a good side to every person. Evil is not genetic, it is not a malignant deformity that we are born with. Sure, some have a predisposition to violence and mad temper. But such behavior doesn’t automatically make us mass murderers and annihilators. Wade’s life is a testament to that: he is a rogue assassin and mercenary turned superhero. Good news is, we as humans can help curb the bad in our neighbor, and help cultivate the good in them. Like salt of the earth. (ME) 
PS:  CINEMA notes one subtle message so important it opens and closes Deadpool 2: we need family, we need to belong.  Family (or the tragic loss of it) serves as motivation for the story arc: as Wade’s fiancée Vanessa gives up her IUD (intra uterine device) as a gift to Wade, the pair decide to start a family but Vanessa is killed in an attack; Cable is out to hunt down his family’s murderer; the orphans, deprived of family, are exploited in the mutant re-education center where Domino, herself orphaned, was raised; 14-year-old Russell, who almost becomes a killer, cannot trust anybody as his surrogate family in the orphanage abuses him.  In the end, Wade himself says it loud and clear: we need family, we need to belong.