Friday, August 25, 2006

Review of "A Date With Jao Mapa": There is a light that never goes out

Photo Courtesy of azntv.com

For many, many years, the usual Filipino comedy consists of a streetwise hero,a bumbling sidekick, lots of slapstick, and a production number on a Batangas beach at the end. For decades, audiences were forced to swallow this animal crap in the name of profit. For many years it was this way; hundreds and hundreds of cliché comedy movies, all of them the same; talk about clockwork orange torture. Now, if there ever was a choice between 10 full length movies by any Filipino director and the dark comedy "A date with Jao Mapa" to take with me on a deserted island, I will choose the latter short film by maverick director Quark Henares; at least Henares delivers a fresh new vision unseen in any other old Filipino comedy movie before.

The story of "A Date" may be old by Hollywood standards, but it is high time that Filipinos come up with their own version; it stars Jao Mapa and Marnie Arcilla who play the two leads, taking the audience into a wild indie caterpillar ride of life, love, and obsession. The visuals and mediums used to tell the short story are relatively new to Filipino comedy and create interest. Marnie Arcilla glitters on screen, proving that she still has certain charm even after that cheesy kids show AngTV. The dialogue is quirky though but daring and Director Quark proves his richly streetwise vision through this film, which is courageous and never afraid to turn the story around.

"A Date With Jao Mapa" may be mediocre by well-known Hollywood standards, but in the Philippines it does not only stand on it's own but soars over all the stupid clichéd comedy musicals the country has been producing all these years. The hope of intelligence in this movie is truly a light that will never go off; it will always convey the message that not all comedies are beach-singing at the end of it.

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Review of "Now & Forever: Linlang": Best of the lot but still soap operatic

Photo Courtesy of filipinoexpress.com
First, the good: Nothing is what it seems.

The latest season of "Now & Forever" proves this saying true as the writers of this story cleverly applies the element of deception to effectiveness. "Linlang" stars Diana Zubiri, Polo Ravales, Chynna Ortaleza, and a cast of others who, in my opinion, are giving the best performances of their lives so far in their career. The exception to this is Ms. Lorna Tolentino who was not given a chance to shine because of the short role she was given, and Alessandra de Rossi who is clearly overacting her angry scenes.

A supernatural-inspired story theme kicks off as the rest of the story is kept interesting because of the hidden roles and interests of the characters as instances weave their stories together. Surprisingly, each character has a valid driving force; unlike in other shows wherein the characters whose interests seemed to have spurted out of nowhere.

Now, the bad news, folks: COnsidering all good things, this is still soap opera. Yes, the scheming villains are all here, the cliché Soap Opera movements are here, and the story are still mostly clichés woven together. The storytelling talents of the writers are wasted on an afternoon soap. Now, only if they can employ their clever twist-techniques to all their shows...

Friday, August 11, 2006

Review of "I Luv NY": Leave the Mark/Jennylyn story arc entirely on the cutting room floor

Photo Courtesy of Philstar.com

Another TV program gets a hit-and-miss treatment in the soap opera "I Luv NY", a supposed-to-be bubbly soap opera destroyed by executive interests. ILNY is a feel-good love story about Filipino couples and their trials on the other side of the world; particularly New York City. There are two story arcs: the Marvin Agustin-Jolina Magdangal story for older audiences and the Mark Herras-Jennylyn Mercado story for the teenybopper audience; unfortunately, the two stories are very different and gives opposing effects on the whole show.

The Marvin-Jolina love story mainly focused on the two leads' enjoyable changes and exchanges in the city that never sleeps. Jolina's innocence and playfulness worked well with Marvin's serious character-type and most of the time almost pleasurable to watch. Enter the colorful characters played by Isabel Oli (who, admittedly, develops a better acting performance than in her previous work), Arnel Ignacio (who mimics a Cherie Gil-type antagonist to effective perfection), and others for more crazy plot turns.

Regrettably, the worst part of the whole series is the story that focused on Mark and Jennylyn. The story was ultimately uninteresting from the beginning, and the cement-block acting of Mark and the false drama of Jennylyn just made their screen time even worse. The entrance of unseasoned support characters (with the exception of Carmi Martin and Tirso Cruz III ) does no improvement. This devolution, this giant step backwards can be traced to network executives' financial interests; what should have ended early with a perfect ending story was extended (reminiscent of the "Encantadia" brouhaha) because the show was a hit and raking in the money.

ILNY should have lined itself along Asian dramas such as "A Harvard Love Story", "Attic Cat", and "Lovers in Paris", if not for the terrible turn of the Mark/Jennylyn story arc. Cut off the stinky Mark-Jennylyn story out of the show and you have a perfect Asian drama right there.

Friday, August 04, 2006

Review of "Majika":Most shallow show on TV---congratulations

Photo Courtesy of iGMA.tv

GMA is a multi-awarded station, and I have another title to add to their long list list: Most shallow show on Philippine TV. I always thought that nothing can sink lower than the titanic production of Mars Ravelo's "Darna" the soap opera, but I was proved wrong with the release of "Majika", the network's most seizure-inducing, second childhood-generating soap opera ever.

And just what is this "Majika" all about? It's about spell slinging lady magicians in skimpy and colorful costumes battling it out in a badly-dressed fantasy set. Obviously, it was created with children in mind and it stars "Darna" herself Angel Locsin with Dennis Trillo, supported by Katrina Halili, Eddie Garcia, Jean Garcia, and Carmina Villaroel among others.

I have serious reasons to call this one shallow; there are absolutely no redeeming factors to save this one from damnation. The costumes and set design are absolutely meaningless and are so colorful it might induce seizures; the story is stereotypically soap operatic that each moment is a passing of never-ending clichés of love and mistaken identity; the premise is obviously a ripoff of various Disney films and Harry Potter---the show might actually trigger retardation because of its dumbed-down plot line.

What makes the show pathetic is that in order to save their sinking ratings (the rival show is slowly creeping up on the ratings game), they made the ladies' costumes a lot shorter in order to show more skin and attract the older, hot-blooded male audience. However, even the combined forces of Ms. Halili's fantastic body and the supple skin of Ms. Locsin cannot save this disaster of a TV show.

And what do passengers do when the ship is sinking? Jump ship before it takes the whole network down with it.