A sensory spectacle - ****1/2

Teasers of this movie intrigued me, not knowing what it was about and wondering why the movie is even offered in 3D imax format.  Then I was even more intrigued when I found out what the story is about and wondered how a simple story like this could be made interesting. There was really nothing else to do to satisfy my curiosity but to watch it in the imax theatre and that made all the difference.

The movie is a dramatization of the life of Philippe Petit leading up to  his famous high wire walk across the the towers of the World Trade Center.  It mentions how his career started in France and how a failed first public performance led him to aspire for more meaningful performances in the future.  His desire led him to cross the towers of Notre Dame and finally the towers of the World Trade Center.

Back in 1974 the World Trade Center was still being built and is nearing completion.  The challenge for Philippe and his team of accomplices is how to set up the wire without getting caught..  They executed their plan with much delay and as history would mention, the walk was a success.

This movie succeeds on a lot of different levels.  It succeeds at telling the story through clever editing and inventive points of view.  It succeeds at taking the viewers through a journey from Philippe's childhood up to the titular walk.  It succeeds at engaging the viewers in a sensory trip as well through visuals and sounds.  It takes you up with him on his walk, step upon every step up on the wire where it feels more like you were in the sky than on top across two buildings.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt has outdone himself , mastering his french and his tight walk training under Mr. Petit himself. He interprets a nicer version of what history considers an almost maniacal Philippe Petit.  And though he definitely sets the pace being the narrator of the movie and the lead of the story, he is well supported by Ben Kinglsey, Charlotte Le Bon, Clement Sibomy and James Badge Dale.

Though up front this movie seems like a modern retelling of a true story that happened in 1974, what really strikes me in the end prior to closing credits is that this may also be a tribute to once  was the grandeur that is the World Trade Center and then you are saddened that it is no longer there.  Watch this film on 3D imax and get the feeling of being up the there, realistically and totally edge of the seat thrilling. 

Spielberg story-telling at its best - ****

With the working title 'St. James Place', writer Matt Chairman pitched his material to Steven Spielberg who accepted the project as producer and director.   In May 2014, Tom Hanks and Mark Rylance was cast as the two leads.  With some revisions from the Coen brothers, filming began in September.

This movie whose story is based on actual events during the cold war is about an insurance lawyer James Donovan (Tom Hanks) who was tasked to defend a Russian spy, Rudolf Abel (Mark Rylance).  Found guilty on three accounts, Abel was sentenced to 30 years in prison with the thought that someday he may be used as a bargaining chip with Russia.  That 'someday' did not take long when an American pilot is caught flying on Soviet airspace taking shots of industrial sites.  Donovan was again tapped to negotiate the exchange, and so he went to East Berlin and got caught up in cold war's absurd political situation.

You know a movie would be good when two very credible artists connive to make a film.  Both Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg have gained god-like Hollywood status to be able to choose projects that they find worthy.  And truly this story is worth telling.  So I am watching the movie and here I see someone I don't know playing a Russian spy and thought they really casted him well.  Mark Rylance portrayal is spot on.  He gets into his character and remained consistent up to the end.  Then I saw Alan Alda and thought, 'wow this
must be some important piece of material'.  It was just a formidable ensemble of actors led of course by no less then Mr.Tom Hanks himself, whose portrayal of James Donovan is witty, sensitive and serious all at the same time.

But what is truly amazing about this movie is the way the story is told.  It is just one event after another and you just get caught up in the story, but it lulls a bit, though I am guessing that has something to do with the way the spy negotiations were going.  Also, using tools like parallelisms and symbol isms to relay an intrinsic messages that may make you think that this is Spielberg's most important work after Schindler's List but of course there were others that came after as well. 

Poorly written with flawed characters - *1/2

I saw the trailer for this film last week and made a mental note that I will watch it when it comes out.  It  looked fun in a 'BIRDCAGE' kind of way but sadly this movie did not take that route.

Wendy (Jennilyn Mercado) is an adopted daughter of two gay parents (Gardo Versoza and Dominic Ochoa).  She was on her way to the airport to take a flight that will bring her to New York to visit her biological father when she met Sean (Sam Milby) by accident, literally a vehicular accident.  Unbeknownst to both that they will be seating beside each other on the plane going to New York, they learned to like each other during the trip.  Unfortunately because of some domestic problems, her biological father can not accommodate for her stay in New York and so Sean offered to let her stay at his apartment.  They got to know each other more and fell in love.  They agreed to marry when they get back to the Philippines and this is when the real conflict starts.  Sean's family is very rich and does not think highly of Wendy's.  His parents suspect that she is in it for the money and so they insisted on a prenuptial agreement that irked the side of Wendy's, giving way to more conflict.

This was really funny at first, I was the loudest one in the theater to laugh, but then things start to fall apart when they get to New York.  The biological father can not even provide a hotel room for her daughter when he was even the one responsible for her being there. Gay parents who take pride in their family but accepts bribes.  Straight parents who belittle their would-be in-laws because of their financial status but totally ignoring the fact that the in-laws are both guys.  A totally gay character stays in the closet for no apparent reason. A traditional woman of values, agrees to stay with a guy she just met.  And a rich guy who has the compassion to help the needy does not even have the conviction to fight for his own life.  Almost all the characters here are flawed on a certain level.

This was well shot though, scenes from New York and scenes pretending to be in New York look really consistent that you must be able to know how local productions deal with economic constraints and logistics to pull off scenes that weren't really shot in places that they claim to be.  This may be the cooperation between cinematographer and production design.

This movie's strength could have been the funny characters in it. I always enjoy the repartee between Gardo's character and Sean's mother played by Jaclyn Jose. But the attempt to add some more dimension into the characters or to avoid being predictable created flawed characters that destroys the characters' credibility.

An incredible story of human determination and scientific success - ****

Based on a science fiction novel by Andy Weir, the film made an effective transition to film through the direction of  Ridley Scott and screenplay  by Drew Goddard.  Scott's vision about human compassion serves as fuel that moves the story bedded upon a sensitively written script.

Ares III is a manned mission to Mars, it is  six-man mission led by a woman commander Melissa Lewis (Jessica Chastain). While on a routine exploration, the mission is aborted because of a sand storm that threatens to destroy their space ship.  While escaping, astronaut/botanist Mark Watney (Matt Damon) is hit by a debris that throws him off and thus fails to escape.  Presumed dead he is left behind by his team. The story moves forward as he finds a way to survive with existing supplies and finding a way to communicate with Earth.

The story is set in an ideal world where women can become commanders of space exploration missions and nations like China offer help to rescue just one man. It created characters that contrast the grim situation that Mark Watney finds himself in and pursues the idea that with the help of science and human determination man can overcome overwhelming odds.  It tells us to prioritize problems based on importance and urgency and inspires us to pursue knowledge that might come in handy in times of catastrophes.

Mostly shot in a big sound stage in Budapest with exterior shots of Mars taken from a desert in Jordan, the movie presents credible visuals that gives you a sense of reality to each scene.  The duration of more than 2 hours running time does not feel exhaustive because of entertaining characters and the portrayal of Matt Damon whose character is really the spine from which all the other characters are attached to.

A clever manipulation by the masterful hands of Chito Rono - ****

Originally intended for a totally different set of cast, this film only started shooting in July of this year when Kris Aquino finally agreed to do the film. With all the big name stars and the kind of idiosyncrasies that go with the process of producing a film it is amazing how the director managed to come up with such an insightful take on the lives of mistresses.

This movie , loosely based but mostly just inspired by the book of Julie Yap-Daza, follow the relationship of 5 friends drawn together by a common predicament, that of being mistresses of high profile men. Georgia (Kris Aquino) and Chloe (Claudine Barretto), represent two opposing sides, that I can only describe as either assertive or permissive. 

One of the strengths of this film is the script.  Cleverly written lines and thought provoking sentences put you into the shoes of the mistresses and the real wives. But the biggest strength of this film is the masterful work of Chito Rono.  This year's work is definitely better than his last work which was Feng Shui 2 and proves to be a good picker upper.  Putting together all the elements of film, script, movie and lighting and not to mention motivating actors I can only attribute this film's success to his sensitive and conscientious management.

Coming back to Star Cinema after two years, this is to me Claudine's most daring performance.  She shines here as the aggressive advertising hotshot.  Pilar Pilapil delivers an important monologue about wives.  And Kris Aquino redefined the concept of underacting.  Iza's Stella provides wake-upper that changes the game for these ladies.  Kim's Ina is the conscience while Cheena's Charley is the strength.

Though the material seemed daring as it seems to glamorize the scandalous lives of mistresses, what is ultimately, not wrong, but to me a little disappointing about this film is the direction it decided to take in the end.   Because what really happened is, it showed you the ups and downs of being a mistress, but then it decided for the audience what is good and took the moral scapegoat. 

A movie in search of its own purpose - **

Ironically, the casting for this movie went through some revisions before finalizing on Robert De Niro and Anne Hathaway.  For something as bland as this story, the film requires very good actors to pull it off.

Bill Whittaker ,a 70 year old retiree looking for some purpose, grabbed the chance to work for an e-commerce company whose CEO, Jules Ostin unknowingly agreed to the idea of a senior internship program to promote a  'forward' thinking corporate image.  He got the job to be her assistant and eventually became her friend as well as earning  the admiration of his colleagues.

This film is a lite drama , lite comedy that does not take any particular shape.  Being lite, I guess means that it does not present much of a conflict to keep the drama at a certain level nor does it try to be too vivacious so as not to step into comedic territory.  And so the film really does not do anything special, thus making it sort of  boring.

The two good actors that I admire are the leads of this movie, but their talent can only do so much when their characters are limited by the story.  Robert's Bill is someone who seems to be going no where while Anne's Jules does not seem to come from anywhere.  It was just nice to see them both,  Anne is just perfect for this role and Robert's added wrinkles magnifies every facial expression.

A no nonsense retelling of the 1996 Mt. Everest Disaster - ***1/2

Shot in 2013 and subsequently released in 2015, this film directed by Icelandic director Baltasar Kormakur does not pull out to anything but telling the story.  Though there is absolutely nothing wrong with a less stylish method of telling a story, this film decided to keep it as real as possible because it is really based on actual events.

By 1996, coming up to the peak of Mt. Everest has become a business that caters to amateur mountain climbers.  This movie is about that particular expedition in 1996 when there were actually 4 expeditions happening at the same time.  Too many mountaineers and the blizzard that happened on that day in May summarized the disaster that befell the mountaineers who never came back.

Movie starts of really well with some well photographed scenes of Nepal and Mt. Everest.  Then you are given a clinical description of the hazards of  being in high altitudes after realizing how many actors are involved in this film.  It becomes a little overwhelming. Then the story really unfolds and you totally know what is going to happen and you are just waiting for shit to hit the fan so to speak.  But then somehow due to the film's lack of flair and drama you become a little uninterested and detached, then disaster really comes to the story then it becomes a little difficult to watch and you are just there wishing for the ordeal to be over.

This film boasts of a strong ensemble cast led by Jason Clarke whose character is the strength that fuels the story.  Adding color and some vibrancy to this movie are the presence of  Josh Brolin and Jake Gyllenhaal.  And not to mention the contributions of  Emily Watson, Keira Knightly and Robin Wright providing the much needed drama and human touch to this almost documentary style of a movie.

Though this movie does present itself as is, there are some relevant messages that can come up after watching this movie.  Mostly I think it is about how much we are willing to go to fulfill our own dreams may it be to have a successful business or climbing the highest mountain.