Paradise bombings

BIG NIGHT (Jordan Herrera, Jaycee Parker)

“Punta kang Big Night namin ha.”

All we thought we’re in for Baby Angelo, since my friend guaranteed me she checked the schedule beforehand. Regrettably, the lady in the ticket station said Baby Angelo’s out of the theaters already. “Don’t you have any other IndieSine films?” I asked.

We clearly have no idea about the movie, but we gave it a try. It’s indie, after all.

The first scene itself is raw. It says prostitution all over the screen. It’s blatant and unforgiving in its depictions. It knows no boundaries, no discretions: it’s simply flawless in all its indie glamour. I have to say it’s the best movie I’ve watched with sex and prostitution as its theme.

What even enchants me to like the movie is its vulgarity, its honesty in showing the truth about prostitution, the poverty that struck the masses, STDs, sexuality. It’s a desperate viewpoint of life inside Paraiso ni Adan, the stage of the prostitutes where they strip and dance teasingly, where they make love (which they termed as “toro“) onstage–which only happens during “Big Nights”. One of the prostitutes applied the day the Big Night will be held, and for her application she was asked to strip totally (as in totally! in front of Jordan Herrera, the boss of the night club) and I almost fanned myself. They do that in real life? What makes them even think of doing it like it’s the most natural thing to do? They have their own reasons.

The prostitute mentioned, monikered as Wella the Virgin, voluntarily filled out the application form for the Paradise, tagging along her proud mother during the day. When asked if she was virgin, she straightforwardly said no and her mother snickered all along, saying it was Wella’s father who destroyed her virginity.

It was the bitter truth,

I say. Brilliant, just brilliant.

RATING: 9/10

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The International (Clive Owen, Naomi Watts)

It’s meh. It’s not the typical spine-chilling Clive Owen movie, and I think Naomi Watts messed up in this movie. Except the part where she was hit by a car–it was awesome. It’s the manifestation of my hatred for her acting.

_{There goes Naomi Watts.}

Well, I must say the movie is weak. The casting, the plot–though it was pictured inside the divinity of the Guggenheim Museum of Arts–is just loose for a thriller. The twist can’t be even felt in the film. So I’d like to end this rough review before it even gets rougher since I’m a Clive Owen fan.

RATING: 5/10

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Valkyrie (Tom Cruise)

Tom Cruise? I thought he’s old enough to make films. I mean, he’s so Top Gun and all. This movie kicked my ass, though, with the suspense that I had to cut it during the crucial moment (that is, when Tom Cruise implemented Operation Valkyrie and the entire Nazi Germany knew Hitler’s dead). For history geeks, it’s such a nice thing to at least imagine. Hitler dying after some lazy bomb planted during a war briefing? Absurd, but it can be plausible during the time–or at least, in the movie.

Before watching the movie, you should bear in mind NOT to know that this is a true story. It would spoil everything! Knowing that it is a true story beforehand would tell you that Hitler couldn’t die in such an explosion–hence the suspense’s impact can decrease–since, historically, Hitler committed suicide. Good thing nobody told me it was based from a true story. It was one out of nine attempts to dethrone Hitler, kill Hitler, or destroy Nazi Germany.

This movie is the bomb.

RATING: 10/10

June 30, 2009 at 6:58 pm, filed under Films. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.