A simple movie with an extraordinary strength. It is a tiny film, unexcessively made, but at its core, it has the unwavering potential to strike the most substantial citadel of humanity - the heart. The Girl In The Cafe is a beautiful film, and the simplicity to its tale brings an unlikely heartache for the need to love and be loved, one of the sole reasons why we are existing today. Richard Curtis (writer of Love Actually, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill) gives us a very well written script, which was a bit unusual from his former romantic comedy toil, and David Yates (the recent helmer of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix film) picks the solid script and transformed it into a magnificent journey to the heart of lonely souls and to the face of the troubled world. The Girl In The Cafe is a must-watch film for all people who knew about poverty, about crisis, terrorism, famine, AIDS, death toll, instable economies, war - which all brings down to one definite cause, which is the fight for humanity.

Lawrence Montague (played superbly by Bill Nighy) is probably the loneliest 57-year old person on Earth. He's got wealth, has a superb job in the world of politics, works for the Chancellor of Exchequer in United Kingdom. And yet, his soul is lost. His social life is nonexistent. But everything is going to change when he enters into a cafe and met a mysterious, considerably younger girl named Gina (in which Kelly McDonald brilliantly portrayed). It's a bit far-fetched but they started going out together, due to some fact that they had been sitting directly across each other in the cafe table. He was a shy, nervous and incredulously reluctant civil worker while she was a plain woman who's got nothing in life to lose, who's got no adventures to go through. As the G8 Conference will be held in Iceland, specifically Reykjavik, he invites her to go with him to accompany him in the said worldwide meeting. There, the real trouble went in. She became a threat to Lawrence. She's a woman with strong opinions, who has something to say, and even in front of the Committee heads, she couldn't hold her tongue and utter what she believed that was important to be said. Lawrence felt his career was compromised, and he wanted to let go of Gina. But will he ever let go of her when his heart was already rooted in her own existence? It's a story made out of simplicity but the message it brings is breathtaking. Richard Curtis's contribution to Make Poverty A History makes this movie a worth watch. The characters he made were all sentimentally real and even though how hard you try to think that it's a bit ridiculous for such kind of relationship to exist, well, it does exist. It gives us all a lesson to be true to one's own self. Gina's speech during the dinner was a very intelligent insight to what was happening on our world today and why people are too cowardly to act on making such changes. In our conflicted world filled with poverty, AIDS, famine, war - change must not be inflicted right away. It's not just possible. It must start with our own selves and therefore making it less impossible. How amazing for the creators to blend love story and politics in one film that could directly touch human hearts. And Gina's confession about why she was held in prison - actually made me move back a bit and hold a tear that was falling.
The cast was nothing short of amazing. Bill Nighy, completely polar from his role in Underworld and Love Actually, could prove that superb is an understatement in his case. I believe he is one of the best British actors working today, and that he just grabs all the limelight in this movie. Kelly McDonald as Gina was heartachingly true as though she was really the character she portrayed. No wonder she bagged the Emmy Award for Best Supportin Actress for this one. And The Girl in the Cafe also grabbed the Emmy for Best Movie Made for Television and Best Writing for a Movie Made for Television.
Before, I was a bit too harsh on Warner Brother's decision to have picked David Yates as the director for the 5th Harry Potter film. But now, having seen this film, made me want to go up there and support David Yates for all his worth. I can see now why they've chosen Yates as the helmer because he's a terrific director, and he brings a powerful emotional core to this film, which is also very crucial to the very emotional 5th Potter book. He is indeed a director with great things to look forward to.
It took a lot of bravery for a character like Gina to speak in front of the Prime Minister and asked him if what he was saying were all true. She asked: "How many people will have to die out of poverty when we are all here dining in luxury and wealth? How many children will have to suffer while I take and eat all sides of my plate?"
Watch the film. Believe in every aspect of it. Although love couldn't change what's wrong in the world, but it's a start.

Rating: A

The Jets - a group composed of full-blooded white Americans. The Sharks - made up of Puerto Rican immigrants living in New York city ghetto. These two gangs are at war, and the streets are never safe at all when the both are present. One Polish-American immigrant, a pacifist from the Jets, found himself in love with a Puerto Rican named Maria, sister of the Shark's gang leader, Bernardo. Yes, it's forbidden love. Seems familiar? Shakespearean origin perhaps? Well this is West Side Story, and its plot felt as though it made a Romeo and Juliet out of the New York streets. Having been critically-appraised way back in 1961, and taking home 10 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Cinematography, Best Musical Score, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Supporting Actress, it's a bit low-key to say that West Side Story doesn't appeal so much to modern day movie fanatics. I admit, I wasn't all too swept-my-feet-away with this film but I believe this film is a good one. It's a great musical film and it entertains with it's breathtaking choreography and respectable musical score. It has many melodramatic moments, some a bit corny for modern era viewers but it's downright inevitable for the audience to swept by its dance sequences. Even the first scene, the finger-snapping sequence, was great fun to watch and it's all old-school kind of enjoyment. There are stirring moments too, especially when the character of the Puerto Rican Anita, Bernardo's wife, went inside Doc's candy store filled with Jets' gang, and was insulted, harassed and almost gang-raped - and spat her wrath and shouted that Maria is dead, abandoning her promise to convey the message to Tony, Maria's lover. That scene alone screams discrimination, racism and most of all, the lack of respect for women. For what I believe, as the film started to roll, it came out as a snappy musical, an athletic piece of film, not overly grandiose but credible enough to make modern day Footloose's hide with jealousy. And when it continued to go into the pace, it becomes a love story, a melodramatic kind of forbidden love story where two people wanted to be together yet never destined to be together - and lastly, the tragedy ensues.
So the dancing was remarkable, and Bernstein's musical score is a towering achievement especially the unforgettable ballad "Somewhere" - West Side Story snags a specific spot of musical-making history. It's a landmark, just like the few classic musicals which all made it to the top. Absolutely, its cinematography, music and choreography deserved so much respect, but the thing is, I was only a bit disappointed by the drama. The dialogues were too common to mark something in history. The acting were too drowned by the film's plot, and if only they had made it much stronger, then it would have made a very powerful film for the ages. Only two performances here which are crown-worthy and they come from Anita's Rita Moreno and Bernardo's George Chakiris, who both won Oscar Best Supporting performances. West Side Story didn't win any major acting prize, and it's unquestionable, because even Richard Beymer portraying his character Tony wasn't so compelling, although he's what every leading man is made of. Natalie Wood as Maria was acceptable but too overriden by her talents of dancing, leaving the real drama behind.
This is a good film. A classic that is respect-worthy, but West Side Story would have been more powerful if the drama would have been more well-realised. Anyway, as what I said, a terrific cracking musical. It remains as one of the greatest achievement in musical motion picture history.

Rating: A-

Holy Mary Mother of Jesus! The final Eragon poster was just released this day and I was able to dig it out! Whew! Coolness. I actually hate to say this but I am looking forward to watch this film - even though I hate Lord-of-the-Rings or Harry-Potter wannabes. I have read Eragon and it was good stuff. Dragons, magic, evil kings, warlords, wizards and super-boy hero. Epic masterpiece huh? Well, let's just witness this December 15th, and check out if it does justice to the hype. (Or is it a hype? I think I'm the only one in school who ever read this book. hahha! Just let me know though.) I'm jealous of the writer of Eragon too.. Christopher Paolini's still 17 years old and he already has a book published, not to meantion three books, a trilogy.. huhuhu..silly me. Anyway, I will be also looking forward for the trailer and judge it's worth to be watched soon. I know some of the actors in the film but I didn't know the name of the actor who played Eragon himself (my moviejerk-radar seems pretty low this time catching signals), the boy in front, looking smug and so arrogant when the character I've read in the book was a loner kind of boy, brave but humble. Sounds like the normy-kind of epic hero - Potter anyone? And his sword looks like a reinvention of Frodo's shining sword! Sue him, Peter Jackson! If you think Eragon is the name of the dragon, you're wrong. And you actually think that Eragon SOUNDS like a name of a dragon. It's a name of a boy. Little known fact: Saphira is the name of the Dragon and it's a she.
Big question though, why do the characters in a movie poster, especially epic fantasy posters, look directly at us? I mean, can't they be more dramatic than that?

Let's all stand and applause for this ravishing, completely addicting, soul-satisfying medical drama, Grey's Anatomy, for not just being great - but actually for making me want to go back watching television again. Honestly, I not such a type of TV-guy, and sometimes detest some TV series for being so clumsy, mushy and drop-down unentertaining. But, just when I thought that Grey's would be another medical-hospital drama again (ER anyone?), it proved my severe psycho-analysis horribly wrong again. I will say this once and for all, GREY'S ANATOMY ROCKS! And there's no other TV series today that would make me just sit in front of the TV for like hours and hours, watching the whole DVD thing instead of waiting every Thursday night to sit down and have some throwback fun (well, of course, I admit, Desperate Housewives is entertaining too, you know). What's so great in Grey's was that it's so unexpectedly fresh, even though you know it's another hospital drama, blending in some amazing humor (in which you really laugh your heart out), interesting plot lines (including very surreal, but very believable patient cases like tumors and stuff), and wonderfully written dialogues. It's not your ordinary soap opera. It's a series, and it felt like a very, very long movie in that case. And I just love it, and I can't stop watching it and it would really make me go nuts if I won't see finish Season 2 right away.
Grey's Anatomy is such a big smash in international cable television, conquering TV ratings like royalty. It's a bonafide TV blockbuster. It follows five newly graduated medicine M.D.s, and were hired as surgical interns only to compete with each other in the famous Seattle Grace Hospital. The I'm-a-model-who-paved-my-way-to-med-school Isobel "Izzie" Stevens, to the lovestruck syph-boy George O'Malley, then the very professional, close-minded Christina Yang, the horrible jerky a-hole Alex Karev, and finally the famous, competitive and superbly intelligent but easily weakens when it's heart that speaks, Meredith Grey. They're newbies, who doesn't get any much sleep, afraid to have people die under their care, fail on surgical tests, and try to act like "Hey, this is not an E.R. spin-off!". There's also another thing which makes this series so delicious, it's the actors in it and the characters they play. Ellen Pompeo as Meredith Grey is just plainly great. She gives a delightful balance between being a strong person and at the same time a knee-shaker. Sandra Oh as Christina Yang is the most talented actor in this series. God knows why. You'll also find yourself, like me, watching out for her scenes. She's Asian, and I'm just so proud. No wonder she grabbed that Golden Globe supporting nod. Katherine Heigl playing Izzie Steven is undeniably cool. Watch out for that scene where her lingerie ad came out in the magazine and everyone are just too dumbstruck to notice that the new intern was a former Bethany Whisper model. T. R. Knight is just so pathetic as George O'Malley, who has a big thing on Meredith, and just too stubborn to say anything, which makes him more interesting to look at, more funnier at the thought. Lastly, Alex Karev, the medical bully, played by Justin Chambers, was really hateful but sometimes sweet that you can't predict at all. Sounds cocky, really. Patrick Dempsey was equaly awesome as Dr. Derek Shepherd. The quirku dialogues help everything out, especially with Chandra Wilson as the termed "Nazi" Dr. Bailey, and Isaiah Washington as Dr. Burke. With an ethnically diverse cast, you can't just help but watching really.
OK, what I felt really good about this series was that it was able to blend so many fantastic elements that most series lack. It's a medical drama alright, and the brilliant stuff here was that it was able to blend such a witty kind of humor, and a splendid tangled love story. It also gives thrills, especially during operations. Before, I hate the scenario of hospitals and surgical rooms, but after Grey's, I do somehow like the atmosphere of it. The anxiety on the air, the balance between life and death. Grey's Anatomy has indeed made us realise audience that hospitals, within it's own walls, they witness different stories of different lives that we could relate to our own. And hospitals are not just the like the place where sick people try to find cure, but also about people who finds the true meaning of life amidst the threat of death, mortality and the dangers of surgery. In which these people finds strength, courage, bravery and willpower to do anything they can to save human lives, and to give them an every ounce of chance that life is indeed worth living whatever may be the reasons. Also, one could not really expect that love also blossoms within the confines of surgery rooms, MIR scanning rooms and hospital beds. Beyond the talkings of surgeons while operating a patient, the stolen glances, the silent whispers and casual chatting, lies a wonderful story of the struggle of love, life and the impact of death. We somehow become engaged in such amusing love webs, and the stories of the patients. We somehow tend to empathize Meredith Grey for her battle for survival in the nasty clutches of the surgical wars, her Mom's Alzheimer's capacities, her battle for staying rational, and most of all her battle with her heart with her boss Dr. Shepherd AKA Mr McDreamy. We also want to pat a hand against Christina Yang, who's just so closed-minded that she often seizes all in her brain without saying a word anything at all about her personal life. We also wanted to be there beside George O'Malley, convincing to not stay as martyr as he could be and just utter what he really feels. And also to Izzie Stevens, who's so filled with amazing dialogues, the funny ones along with Sandra Oh, and we just laugh with her, withstanding her cuteness. And lastly, we just want to stand in front of Karev telling him to shut up and stop being a jerk. We laugh at their stories, we sympathize their hardships, we smile with their dialogues, and sometimes in the different stories of the patients, we really get involved and cry if we want to.
It's about being professional and trying to deal with their own personal lives. It's about trying to understand every way before acting really and trying to solve everything out even though you know the chances are not that great. It's battle of the heart and mind, Grey's Anatomy is the perfect habitat for everyone who's living their lives in the way they believed it to be.
Oh, by the way, Grey's Anatomy boast a very fine soundtrack. A bit hippy, pop-rock classy-kind of style that really draw breaths every time music starts. I just do believe it has one of the best TV soundtrack today. Kudos to everyone in Grey's. VERDICT: The best series currently running today. (Haha, Grey's Anatomy is the only series I've been watching like mad, so sorry for other series in which I haven't watched yet.) Also! The season finale is just as stupefying as it could be!

Rating: A+

Haley Joel Osment, the golden wonder-boy, the youngest actor ever to be nominated in Best Actor category in Academy Awards history, now faces several cases, including drug-possession, illegal possession of a firearm, and was even charged with murder of an 11-year old child named Saturn. Locate all resources, I'm not blaffing. I mean, for Christ's sake, was Osment pulling a Macaulay Culkin stunt? And worse, with murder? When I look back, after seeing him in The Sixth Sense, I knew that there was some real talent for this kid, and now, he's wasting it. If I would be in my his place, celebrating the fact that he's Hollywood's wonder boy, I would never, ever, destroy that statuette. C'mon let's be real, if he's really doing it, I think he's the stupidest person on Earth. Yeah, after all, what talent is for when you've got brains the size of a pea. God, I just wish this wouldn't happen to Dakota Fanning. I think she's the next best thing of Hollywood right now.

Alright, we already know that Philip Pullman's glorious lit trilogy, His Dark Materials, will be adapted into three movies. Or shall I say, I'm the only one who knows that yet. Well, for those haven't - His Dark Materials will be helmed by New Line Cinema and to be crafted by none other than Peter Weitz, the genius behind About A Boy and American Pie, will direct the trilogy. He's writing it also, which gives a definite calibre for the films. Now, Northern Lights (title in UK version) or The Golden Compass (in US), will be shot starting this September 4 in United Kingdom and was planned to release it next year, November 2007. Will this mark a new promising fantasy film for New Line Cinema? After all, the company hasn't been investing $150 million since the first Lord of the Rings movie. So, speaking briefly, a new sure-fire blockbuster fantasy epic is coming our way. Yeah, I've read the book Northern Lights, and I've finished the second one, and now starting to read the last part of the trilogy (the thickest of them all), and I shall say, bloody hell, the book was so damn good I could barely get my hands off 'em. It's one of the best lits I've read so far. Perfect epic adventure. Imagine combining some Potter and Lord of the Rings elements. Let's see how tough that could get.
In connection thereof, I am quite pleased to announce that my most favourite actress in recent history, the honorable Mrs Nicole Kidman-Urban (recently wed country singer, Aussie-bud, Keith Urban), signed the contract to star as the villanous and glamorous Mrs Marisa Coulter. There was some hotstuff that Philip Pullman himself admitted that he based Mrs Coulter's character from Nicole Kidman's role in To Die For, which is just excellent.
Talking about the lead role, the courageous, intelligent and gutsy girl from Oxford, Lyra Belacqua, Dakota Blue Richards, a recently discovered talent, will fit in the shoes under the limelight. Judging from her name, I could say it's all specacular-spectacular.
Meanwhile, Eva Green, who just finished playing the upcoming new Bond temptress, Vesper Lynd, has also signed to star in The Golden Compass as the queen of the qitches, Serafina Pekkala, the brunette-haired, green-eyed witch. By the way, I just love her work in The Dreamers. Sounds a promising career for her, as if she was just born to play the role herself.


Now the most promising of all, I once heard some buzz that Paul Bettany will play Lord Asriel in the film, one of my most favorite character in the series, a ruthless and mysterious adventurer of the North. But now, a more serious buzz came out. It's official, the new James Bond, Daniel Wroughton Craig will play the role of Lord Asriel. Now that's just awesome. Craig himself felt proud to be in the series and according to him, it will be a different breath of fresh air, starring in a fantasy movie, in which he hasn't done before.
Now I couldn't be more excited than now, and I just hope they would do this well. I just settle my fingers on Paul Weitz, whom I believe is a good director. Say, November 2007 will mark a new event, eh? Although Potter's not over yet, there would be something else for us young adults again. I mean, c'mon, who digs Narnia nowadays? Kindergartens? Narnia's sequel, Prince Caspian will hit theaters Christmas 2007, and His Dark Material would be earlier, and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix will be a lot earlier around July 13, 2007. Phoenix and Dark Materials would be my stuff. Just telling the makers of Narnia to not feed us with childish bubblegum fantasy anymore.

I rarely do this kind of stuff, writing a review for a Filipino movie. The last time I remembered being in a theater, watching a Filipino film was way back when Feng Shui was still at its box-office peak and the Imelda, the brilliant documentary, immersed itself in international distinctions. Now, I thought about the hype, and I bloody well did consider it as a hype, as I could always hear people talking about it at school. It's not that I don't want to watch Filipino movies, of course, there had been quite a few outstanding Filipino movies that I personally love - real classic Pinoy filmmaking. It's just that most Filipino movies nowadays lack the true calibre of a solid film, lack the real essence of movie-making, and just profusely bombarded Philippine cinema with rubbish films, teenage love story garbage, purely sickening comedies which are not really funny and over-the-top action films that are so predictable that even before something's happening, you already know what's coming - and that's just way too sick. Star Cinema is the only one trying in the movie business to make good movies, and it's only picture-business that launches movies one at the time, and never losing that seasonal balance.
Now, Sukob is a Star Cinema film, we all know that - and right well said, it's a Filipino film. What I really felt thankful was that it was another break after a long drought of heavily boring Filipino movies. Just like Feng Shui, a former box-office champ, Sukob is a horror/drama film that tackles about a curse. After all, Feng Shui also talked about a curse, about a certain "bagua" and now Sukob is all about cursed weddings. Now what's next, cursed cellphones perhaps? Or cursed studies? We don't know. But all I know for now is that I enjoyed watching Sukob, a rarity when it comes to watching Filipino movies. Chito Roño proves to be masterful at his craft. He pretty knows the material very well, and he handles every scene, may it be drama or horror, with artistic confidence and unique vision. Sukob is an often seat-gripping thriller, just like Feng Shui, with a plot so full of mystery, just like Feng Shui again, developing in a pace most horror-mystery movies evolve.
I won't give out details here but I would like to give out some few chips to smoothen this out. Kris Aquino's character, Sandy, realizes that her wedding is cursed but she doesn't know why or who's giving the curse to her. Now it's her job to unravel the mystery as she does encounter the horrible-looking ghastly apparition of a dead flower-girl, who utterly looks like a reincartion of The Ring's Samara Morgan, but only a bit much little in size. Heck, why do Asian horror films love putting girls with long black hairs, sporting a figure wearing a white ensemble? I mean, it's all over Asian movies! But anyway, I'll just stop spoiling here because you know the reasons, more details, less entertainment.
I like the plot, it's interesting. It never bores, just like Feng Shui, and it has scary moments, I admit. I absolutely appreciate Ms Claudine Barretto's performance, and she earns so much respect for her work in this film. She stunning, and she did an awesome job portraying a traumatized wife, whose newly wed husband just died due to the curse. Oops, I spoiled it again. Her talents are indeed infinite. And to Ms Kris Aquino, well, as I've seen her both in Feng Shui and this one, I could say that her acting is so similar that you couldn't tell any difference. She's acceptable but as an audience, I could feel that she lacks that ability as what Ms Barretto gave out albeit solidly.
Radically speaking, I hate the ending. It's a Chito Roño film alright, and honestly, he's trying to pull out an M. Night Shyamalan twist here, as what he successfully did in Feng Shui, but sadly he failed in Sukob. I mean, what the bloody hell did he do in the ending of Sukob man?! I think he just messed it up alright, not really trying to impose a definite connection to the whole plot was developing. The film has indeed its weak points, and the conclusion was an absolute one. I think in Feng Shui, the job was done better. But still, the story of Sukob was a terrific one, a kind of mystery that you wanted to solve for your own self, and Roño indeed knows how to set mood in such a kind of film.
Well, Sukob is not a bad Filipino film. It's engaging and surely a kind of film that would give you heebie-jeebies on a boring Friday night. Part three then perhaps? What now, cursed PC?

Rating: B

I hate myself for saying this but Lady in the Water is the most disappointing movie in all M. Night Shyamalan's filmography list. I love M. Night Shyamalan's works, and I believe he's one of the best directors working today in the Tinseltown, who strives for uniqueness and singularity of works. Once you see a movie, you could really tell it's a Shyamalan craft, with the weirdness, twists and all that jazz. I'm a great fan of his films, and The Sixth Sense was one of my most favorite movies of all time, brandishing three outstanding actors, Bruce Willis, Toni Colette and the boy-wonder, Haley Joel Osment. His later works were personal faves too, like Signs and The Village, which I think were very good movies and wonderfully embellished unlike most common people perceive. To others, they may be bad films, but to me, Signs and The Village boasts a one-of-a-kind M. Night Shyamalan trademark all over it. I could still remember when I was in senior high school that I was the only one liking these films, stuck in the middle of my classmates who all despised the films. I argued with them, and what's done is done. Anyway, since I'm so over-selling Mr Shyamalan here, this would be the first time I would say that his work is a disappointment. OK, some people MIGHT like and appreciate the film, and go daydreaming with its fairy-tale-ish elements, but for me, The Lady in the Water drowned itself in the depths of its own absurdity. The movie moves like a book, a mystery (Shyamalan's trademark) novel that slithers with a unique plot, and then when you have expected something really awesome as a climax, when the end comes, it just go off into the air like a burst of tiny splashes left unnoticed. Maybe Shyamalan wanted to touch more on the children's imagination this time and actually leaving his own marginal terrority of scaring villagers, drawing crop circles, and putting kids who "sees dead people", and embarks upon a journey that is so unlikely, so silly and so un-Shyamalan. He indeed writes, directs and produce, but I could say his writing, directing and producing effort are not so worth it when everything comes clean above the table. We are presented with a plot, with a fairy tale plot that would somehow entertain children while in bed with the goal of putting them to sleep and scaring the hell out of their faces, but it the end, even for childish matters, younger audience would find it a bit aloof to watch.It wanted to be a horror film and it also mix different elements that would define a dark fairy tale, but the film came out as undecided as Shyamalan's flagging storytelling this time.I believe it's M. Night's decision to fly from his own nest and spread his own wings, but in here, he tried opening his wings but then, as sad tales tell, he had fallen and mistaken himself to be a good flyer. If not for the maginificent performances by Bryce Dallas Howard and Paul Giamatti, this would all fall to pieces. It's not really a bad, bad movie. As what I said, some might like it. The problem is that, it just didn't appeal to me at all. Who could say nymphs, horrible wolves and tree monsters are entertaining after all? Even M. Night's appearance in acting doesn't seem to be much of a help. Just watch this film, forget what I said, and judge for yourself.

Rating: C

One of the best films ever released this year! If I were to fastforward time and chip out the Top 10 Bests of 2006, Hard Candy will undoubtedly make it up to my carefully-deliberated list. This seat-gripping psychological drama/thriller will turn your guts upside down, will make your brain swirl and would definitely start a fiery debate and intensify the word-of-mouth phenomenon. Hard Candy should deserve a wide-range of audience, of course having been successful at Sundance and Tribeca Film Festivals and having won the Audience Film Award, and should be released far and wide to let people be engaged and be flabbergasted by this such hell of a film. Brilliantly written, solidly portrayed and persistently convincing, Hard Candy boasts a unique and terrific story that only takes place in a single day filled with brain-smashing events, with two major characters that would really stick to your mind and never leave that void, until you're completely done. Its dialogues are brutally raw, its cinematography is ruthlessly taken, almost humiliating in our part, seeing all those things falling into place and we are just left there, gaping with our minds travelling to a place called insanity. It could cause some trauma, to some people perhaps, and it does serve as a warning to all. It's a dialogue-driven film, and if you're expecting wham-bam actions, you're not in for a treat because this is a kind of film that would knock your brains out not by the high-flying actions but more on terrifying you with words and dialogues.

I WOULD NOT SPOIL THE FILM HERE, as Hard Candy is indeed a film that should not be spoiled lest it goes under-appreciated, less enjoyed and absolutely disappointing. The subject matter that was undertaken in this film is very delicate, and could even make people shy away from the screens. If you're two mature enough to face this fact, then watch this film. If you think you're still not ready for psychological gore (a term in which I use for blood-curdling moments in the film that hasn't got to do with blood at all, but will numb your brain and paralyze the senses), then do not watch the film. So far, it's the most disturbing movie I've seen this year, and to reason out, it does not only tackle all mature issues, but also, more terryfying to know that it has got to do with a child. A 14-year old girl with a 40 year old brain. She's too intelligent for her age, too mature, too socially oriented and too radical to be normal. This film will serve not as a warning to all girl being hunted by paedophiles, but indeed a warning to all paedophiles who hunt young girls with innocent angelic faces. Watch out, it's not as easy as you think it might be. A controversial film would not really rouse attention when characters are not perfectly portrayed, and when I say perfect, it's flawless. Ellen Page (that girl who played Shadowcat in the latest X-Men: The Last Stand) defined infinite perfection. She's 17 years old when she accepted this job, portraying a role which was 3 years younger yet stayed as convincing as she could be. For Christ's sake, slap some awards to this girl. She deserves every single second, every single minute in this film and she really withstand all those delicate scenes, especially when the camera remained so close-up to her face. She gives that definite calibre that critics would surely kneel in front of her. Hard Candy did her something majestic just like what The Professional did to Natalie Portman back in the days of glory. Ellen Page has this eerie cinematic charm that could be compared to Natalie Portman and Demi Moore. She boasts a young, refined talent that is so rare these days, almost extinct for real actresses in her age. Also, kudos to Patrick Wilson for portraying Jeff, the photographer who - OK, I won't utter any longer as my job is to just praise and worship, not spoil the film. Cunningly acted, Patrick Wilson did an astounding effort for even just accepting this role, and for playing this role. He has already proved his talent way back in the A-List Majesty Angels in America, and I believe he had improved his list of talent-oriented films when he did Hard Candy. I'd say it's a difficult job writhing in that table and screaming like a diseased pig. Oh, watch out too for Sandra Oh. Her cameo might be short, but still effective as hell.Hard Candy earns that respect that most movies severely lacks when they're released for the audience to watch. Being a controversial film, it attracts audience and aims for bigger box-office gross. But apart from that, what Hard Candy really gives out to people as legacy is the one experience that we rarely get these days. One kind of film that would make you bite your nails, scream inside your mind and will put a nasty traumatic kind of feeling in you, which only justifies that this film is indeed done its purpose. It's an effective, mind-bending psychological thriller.

Rating: A+

Before the politically conscious and satirically hilarious Team America: World Police, the makers Trey Parker and Matt Stone already came up with the same politically conscious film, but only in 2D foul-mouthed cartoonized characters instead of puppets in strings. South Park came out with a film, a movie, a big break after conquering TV with such over-the-top hilarity in Comedy Central. I tell you, South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut is way too funny that most cartoon movies these days! In fact, it's the funniest, slickest, most kitschy, throat-gagging, raunchiest, and the most ruthless and outrageous cartoon comedy ever made in film history! Whew - how's that? It's funny as hell!If you think these characters looked like the children from your kindergarten coloring books, well, think twice. They're as foul-mouthed, as rude and straightforwardly vulgar as Eminem when he's drunk or something like that sort, writing and singing his own crap. Of course, this is the only cartoon I could recall in recent memory in which it was bitch-slapped with an R-rating by the MPAA - so tell me, how on Earth could a cartoon movie get as brutal as that! But behind those nasty jokes and almost rubbish silliness, it's quite enjoyable and a kind of movie that would give your sure-fire stomach-cramps syndrome. I maybe over-selling this stuff, but hey, who escapes a film that would utterly assure you with pure comic fun? So if you're a kind of person who doesn't like fart jokes, who abhorrs rude, crude racial jokes, who hates sexual and homophobic jokes and is easily offended by the green-toilet-kind of humor, then you should apparently shy away from this film, rush back to your local video store and blame the attendant for recommending this movie - or shall I say, blame me for saying that this movie really rocks! Haha! I don't even watch South Park in TV, and I once heard that it was banned from airing due to polluting the innocent minds of our generation's children, the future of this world. But upon watching this film, one could really forget about the world and just sit back on the couch, munch some popcorns and laugh uncontrollably like a lunatic. It's a very American movie, and it exposes highly-offensive racial issues, which I think was good enough to let America face the harsh fact about what they were doing to their own people. In fact, South Park is more politically and socially correct that most movies these days. It tries to include humor and deliver an astounding message beneath the crude jokes. From the cute but horribly foul-mouthed main characters, to the the impossibly racist mothers, to the evil Saddam Hussein, everything is plotted out like a big oddball of spoof bravura. Well of course, all you could really remember at the end of the film was this bunch of immature kids with filthy mouths, fucked-up thoughts and the initiative to save the world from evil denomation with the use of their oh-so-innocent minds. This bunch of kids who sing, "Shut your f%$^&g mouth, Uncle F%$#@r..." as nursery rhymes. Don't blame me. All fingers point to these ruthless makers: Trey Parker and Matt Stone.Watch it. Judge from it. Hate it, then leave it. Like it, then gotta love it, or even learn from it.

Rating: A-

Well, in my own assessment, as far as I have gathered some of 2006 movie posters, here is the ultimate one that would make up to my favorite list. Man, this poster is cool, breathtakingly-designed, and will surely line itself up to next year's MovieJerk Best Poster award (as if it would get something from me...). It's from Clint Eastwood's upcoming war film, Flags of Our Fathers, the one film I believe to make it out to Oscars, mentioning that Paul Haggis (writer of the Oscar-winning Best Pictures Crash and Million Dollar Baby) is doing the screenplay. I just saw the trailer, and it's Eastwood on the loose again this Oscar season. I like its fierceness behind its simplicity, its majestic imagery... it really portrays the brave souls that carried the flag up on the hill somewhere in Japan. An iconic figure of the war that has already etched in the parchments of history.


For anyone out there who's still in haze about my movie reviews, here are the specific ratings I give to films and their relative counterparts. Don't worry, all of these are just part of the crap that I do, in other words, these are just figments of my imagination. World peace. c".)v

A+ > Bloody brilliant! Top-notch! Instant classic!

A > Awesome. This is what dreams are made of.

A- > Amazing film. Gotta love this.

B+ > Must-watch! Pure entertainment.

B > Good film, still worth the watch.

B- > Er... do I have to check this out?

C > Can we have rotten tomatoes here?

D > What garbage. Movie sucks dude!

F > The horror... worse than your nightmare. Biggest loser on Earth.


Cheerio! Carpe omnius!

The plot is totally ridiculous. But if you're the one kind of person who had not coughed out any laugh while watching this movie, you might have been the boringest jerk in the world.
This is Shakespeare's story, based on his play, The Twelfth Night, and first-time director seemed to have pulled out some of his literature book pages and transformed it into a modernised plot of high school silliness. She's The Man is impossibly unlaughable, hilarious at most times, and definitely, one of the best B movies that recently came out this year. And another thing, Amanda Bynes makes this more worthwile than watching any other annoying teenage movies this 2006.
What was actually awesome was that no matter how revolutionary Shakespeare's work could be, no matter what epic it brought to the pages, the creators of this film just threw out the whole rule-book out the window and never took the plot very seriously, which make this comedy more comedic. Naturally, they followed the story. In Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, the lady Viola arrives in a place called Illyria, surviving a shipwreck in which she believed her twin brother, Sebastian, had drowned, and that she decided to pretend as her brother to survive in world of Illyria, a place that's a bit treacherous for women. Now, she goes to work with Orsino, a Duke, who asks her to press his suits for Olivia. But Olivia had no "thing" for the duke; she's in love with Viola, who's pretending to be a man. So that's the whole confusion. I'm not realy sure of the story because I haven't read it personally and I just read this whole summary somewhere else in this ruddy Web world.
OK, in Fickman's She's The Man, it's utterly the same tangled web of love-confusion. Amanda Bynes played as Viola, who's the soccer star of the girls' soccer team in Cornwall High. Since the girls' team was dropped due to unexpected circumstances, she follows what she believe in and took advantage of her brother Sebastian's absence while he went away to London to play music. Now, disguised as a boy, she will prove herself that she could be in the boys' team in Illyria and give out what she's got. She falls with Duke Orsino, the Illyria soccer team captain, who actually made a deal with Sebastian, who is really Viola, to make him go out with Olivia, who's in love with Sebastian, who is really Viola. It's confusing, I know. Just watch the film and you will know what the hell I am blubbering about here (laughs!).
Amanda Bynes is terrific. She's really a talented performer and her work in She's The Man is a job of a true commedienne. She's so funny! As I could remember her in Nickelodeon's All That, she's the same boisterous and hilarious girl. It's impossible not to adore her talent to make people laugh. She could really handle the difficult scenes where she doesn't have to cough many times to alter his girly voice into a boyish one. She could quickly adapt to comic timings, like the fake grimaces and to the oh-my-god-I-forgot-I'm-a-girl situations. For even, she pulled out a great one when the soccer ball hit her crotch without feeling anything at all and hollers: "For the love of God, it burns!" with so much fakeness and cute pretense. Although Bynes DOES NOT look like a real boy, she could pull out her own nasty boyishness. Her poise, her movements are extraordinary. The role was so sunny that only a Bynes could do a stunt like it.
All the characters are all appreciated. Channing Tatum plays Duke Orsino in a good way, giving an emotional touch to masculinity. Sometimes boys need someone to talk to, you know. Laura Ramsey is cute as Olivia. The Headmaster, played by David Cross, was pretty funny! There's no other Headmaster who does gardening, cleaning glass windows and even serving the cafeteria anywhere in the world! Oh, another one. Amanda Bynes proves to be spectacular when her role as Sebastian is a hit to most beautiful women and utters, "Hey, foxy mama..". Also to the scenes where her mum told her to eat and chew like she has a secret, and forced in explaining what were tampons doing in her boot. Well, she did both, in a funny boyish way.
Finally, She's The Man combined two "S's" that I love in this world: Soccer and Shakespeare. Aside from that, the real reason why I like this film is that it's not another teen movie. It's a teen comedy that ducks out of the usual gag stuff. It strives to be original, fresh and basically most of all, it's effortlessly funny. But after all what's being said, it all comes down to Amanda Bynes herself. As what Shakepeare wrote, "Some are born with greatness. Some achieve greatness, and some has greatness thrust upon their selves."
Amanda Bynes is no wonder great. I mean, "Word, G-Money."
Rating: B+

+--+ The MovieJerk will scuttle away for just a while +--+
...will resume posting after a break
>>Midterms Exam Week<<
bloody hell, indeed.

REVIEWS COMING SOON...

She's The Man, South Park: The Movie, Hard Candy, The Lady in the Water, Sukob and Book Review, His Dark Materials Book 2: The Subtle Knife

Visit the Official MovieJerk blogsite:

http://themoviejerk.blogspot.com

Carpe Diem! :)