Love wins at the expense of a decent ending - ***

A Second Chance is a sequel to the 2007 Star Cinema romantic drama, One More Chance.  With a smaller production team, the movie gets the same writing tandem along with the same director to continue on the same rhythm and quality that made One More Chance a success.

The story picks up where the last film left of and this one starts with a wedding.  After getting married, the beloved couple Basha and Popoy embark on a life as husband and wife  with big dreams and purpose.  But life did not go the way they had planned it,  Popoy was not successful in his venture and Basha failed at being pregnant.  And this movie is about how all these occurrences affect their relationship that begs the question; ' Is love enough?'.

One thing that is good about the story is that the conflicts are real and not melodramatized.  It presents the intricacies and real challenges of a life of a husband and wife.  Another thing is that it does not resort to a 'third party affair' kind of conflict that would've made this film so much of a cliche, thus strengthening what Basha and Popoy feel for each other. 

So the couple went into business from which Basha had to take a leave from in order for her to have a baby, which leaves Popoy to manage the business alone.  Because of a particular negligence the business went down with a total debt of 60 Million pesos.  Because of this they had to close and declare bankruptcy.   This is a big problem, a problem that can not be solved by love alone..  I can not go into much detail, but what really is vague to me is how all the problems have been solved.  And this is why I could not even give this movie a 4 star rating. 

Too many plots make the story long - ***

Mockingjay Part 2 completes the four-part Hunger Games series.  It is the second part that is based on the third book of Suzanne Collins, part one of which was released exactly a year ago.

Katniss survives the attack of the brain-washed Peeta and decided  to assassinate President Snow because of what he had done to her good friend.   While the full fledged attack on the Capitol went under way, politics sidetracked her plan and was assigned to be with a propaganda team whom she had to trick to be able complete her personal mission.  There was a power grab right on the transition government and Katniss had to come back to district 12, a move that eventually reunited him with Peeta to become a couple and then a family.

Because nothing much happened in part 1, and its ending only served to set up the sequel, the whole series could have been just presented in three parts rather than four by cutting up the last installment.  There were too many plots that did not really present much use nor serve any purpose.  There was the political plot, the love triangle, the social commentary on propaganda and the message against war and everything just took up some time to add on some more scenes to make the movie interesting. 

As a whole, I like the design in this film.  The costumes of the people from the Capitol, and the way they make each district distinct from one another.   In this last installment the scenes look pretty grim and there wasn't  much of the capitol people to see.  But then as the districts unite so does their overall look and design.  It is also good to note how they had managed to finish the movie with some scenes left that Philip Seymour Hoffman failed to do because of his untimely death.  This was his last film. 

A weak version of what its trailer had set it out to be - **1/2

Spectre is an organization that had appeared in Diamonds Are Forever and is also the twenty-fourth James Bond film.  It is Sam Mendes' second James Bond movie following Skyfall and is also co-produced by Daniel Craig himself.  With a total budget of USD 250 million, and gross sales marked at USD 310 million as of November 11, 2015 the film is one of the most expensive James Bond movie ever made.

The story picks up from where Skyfall left off, acting on a mission upon the unofficial order of the former M, James Bond finds himself in Mexico killing an assassin whose death led him to discover an organization called Spectre that had been somehow responsible for James Bond's past challenges.  Behind this caper, the 00 organization where James Bond belongs as 007 is also being challenged.  It's existence is being threatened by a new head with a different kind of 'philosophy' and is coincidentally a member of the Spectre organization.

I was really intrigued when I saw the trailer of this movie. I thought there was a major bombshell to be revealed.   Though the revelation did not quite match the amount of excitement that I felt, what the trailer did not tell me is how spectacular the opening scene was in Mexico.  The music set the mood and the scenes played along with the rhythm, it seems like everything was choreographed up to the part where he lands on a sofa after falling from a collapsing building.  Then the helicopter scene looked really expensive and well shot. I was not breathing the whole time. But the excitement ends there.  I was struggling to stay awake the rest of the time.

The story is weak and uninteresting and the action scenes did not quite make up for its inadequacy.  It tries to tie up this film with the old James Bond films by way of highlighting the organization Spectre through whom James can affiliate most of his miseries.  And the reason behind this should be the films biggest mystery, but when that was revealed everything just became so shallow.  Most of all I find it funny when villains try to set up traps for the heroes.  In this case an old building was set up to explode to kill just two people.  This was supposed to be a climactic scene but it just feels too contrived that it felt anti climactic. 

Campy exacts revenge - ****

Shot  entirely in Australia in 2014, the movie comes highly acclaimed by the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television with several nominations including best film, best director, best actress and best supporting actress.  With one of the great contemporary actresses playing as mother to Kate Winslet, Judy Davis provides much of the acting spine in this film with Kate getting along in repartee.

The story is set in a fictitious town in Australia called Dungatar.  When Tilly was ten years old, she was banished from the town at the wake of a suspected murder of a boy.  The movie starts in 1951 when Tilly comes back to learn the truth behind the incident and to take care of her ailing mom.  She uses her talent in designing and making dresses to learn the truth and to exact revenge on her town that did her wrong.

To me there are two parts to this film, the love story part and the revenge part.  It was pretty amusing the first half, with a mix of mystery and drama and some campy-ness to provide some giggles.  The story is really a mix of drama and comedy underneath a very serious theme of  deception and revenge.  The story is really based on a book of the same tittle, the film tries its best to be loyal to the story but the movie's limitation did not translate well in transcending from first half to second half.

The strength of this film lies in its honesty at presenting the ugly side of human nature.  It did not sway in the direction of common expectations and tried to honestly present the story as it really is based on the book.  The acting tandem of Kate Winslet and Judy Davis as mother and daughter is the anchor by which all the other intentions of the movie is tied to.