Music Is Miley's Second Language

posted on Friday July 3, 2009 in Movies

While the Disney Channel series “Hannah Montana” has always had music, Walt Disney Pictures’ film transformation “Hannah Montana The Movie” takes the music to another level. As the character Miley Stewart (Miley Cyrus) travel from Los Angeles to Tennessee, the audience discovers how deeply the family’s lives are rooted in music.

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Personal Connections

by Philbert Ortiz Dy

posted on Thursday July 2, 2009 in Movie Reviews

The main titles of Dose proclaim it to be “a personal film by Senedy Que.” I do not know exactly what that means, or the implications of such a statement laid on a film with such sensitive subject matter, but it does feel somewhat accurate. Because what ultimately makes this film stand out is its ability to let you in, to so rigorously allow you to get to know the main character of the story. Dose has flaws, but your personal connection with the movie might allow you to ignore them.

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Nearing Extinction

by Philbert Ortiz Dy

posted on Thursday July 2, 2009 in Movie Reviews

It’s always a little suspect when any franchise enters a third installment. A cursory look at film history will show you that a good third film is a tremendously rare occurrence, what few examples there are coming from franchises with an overarching storyline. Generally speaking, third movies are the ones where they’ve run out of ideas, written themselves into corners stemming from the idea of actually concluding the previous installments. And so, Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs runs into that very problem, offering no problems left for their characters to overcome, before whisking them away to a completely different world just so that they have something to do. While fun at times, and certainly an easy distraction for children, this middling animated entry feels largely unnecessary.

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The Queen Becomes Mom In The Iciest Event Of The Year

posted on Thursday July 2, 2009 in Movies

Queen Latifah finds herself anew on a risky journey from sub zero temperature to the sizzling heat of the dino world in the in the latest family movie “Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs.”

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Garbage

by Philbert Ortiz Dy

posted on Wednesday July 1, 2009 in Movie Reviews

Pitik Bulag doesn’t beat around the bush. It opens up with a sex scene, followed by a macho dancer scene, followed by a lesbian scene, none of which have much to with what actually happens in the story. It is this kind of cynical filmmaking that defies criticism, movies so shoddily made, so devoid of any artistic merit that it doesn’t deserve the usual amount of thought that goes into a proper review. All it deserves is disdain; a reflection of the despair one feels that movies like this actually get made. Pitik Bulag is garbage, plain and simple.

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Getting Somewhere

by Philbert Ortiz Dy

posted on Wednesday July 1, 2009 in Movie Reviews

Villa Estrella is caught between two worlds. On one hand, there’s a decent story here, one with a couple of satisfying twists and decent characterization. On the other hand, there’s a studio that has its own goals and a steady, long-running formula for achieving them. Taken together, the result is a film that’s pretty good by its own right, but one that could’ve been a lot tighter and better cast. Villa Estrella is an effective little horror movie, but it’s not as good as it could’ve been.

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Movies Opening This Week

posted on Wednesday July 1, 2009 in Movie Releases

Check out the movies opening this week! Villa Estrella

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A Buck-Load Of Journey In 'Ice Age 3'

posted on Wednesday July 1, 2009 in Movies

The Ice Age universe introduces a new adventure-loving character named Buck (voiced by Simon Pegg, “Star Trek”) – a swashbuckling, slightly crazed one-eyed weasel who accidentally fell into the gargantuan dino world in “Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs.”

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Heaven-Sent Baby Turns Evil

posted on Wednesday July 1, 2009 in Movies

It’s cute. It’s adorable. And it will eat you up! Get ready for this little bundle of terror as the new horror flick It's Alive brings in the scares on July 8. Based on Larry Cohen’s original and successful cult classic from 1974, but more horrifying than the original, It's Alive takes us on a journey where we explore the terrifying consequences of a young woman’s actions.

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A Guide To Eiga Sai 2009

by Philbert Ortiz Dy

posted on Tuesday June 30, 2009 in Movies

The Japan Foundation Manila brings back Eiga Sai to Shangri-La Plaza from July 2 to July 12. This year’s selection is a lot more modest, but the quality ratio is actually up as they deliver eight dynamite films that showcase a wide variety of recent Japanese cinema. Take a look at this selection and see what grabs your fancy:

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