Independesyang Walang Katulad!

"Ikaw ay magiging hari sa kahariang hindi sayo."

Russovoir has been waiting for original films like El Presidente. We have such a rich culture that every Filipino, rich or poor, in good health or sickly, near and far, native and immigrant alike should know with a proper and timeless medium. We should not advance in methods that are still foreign that which rudimentary in result because it's as good as garbage, plain and frank. But Russovoir is getting out of topic, let's go back. El Presidente gave an adrenaline unique of and through Filipino processes. The last time I felt genuine excitement wherein there is knowledge to be gained, experience to encounter, pure charisma of a Filipino classic was Dekada '70 (2002). Any entry introduced after that year, if not apathy, has slowly lost its appeal because sequel after sequel, they don't realize - and the dreadful titles they give them - is like a domino effect: if the sequel fails for a flimsy storyline, the classic likely loses its nostalgic value.

Russovoir has to be honest, the film was too much, too long. Two hours and a half. Quite ambitious for a straightforward movie title: El Presidente: General Emilio Aguinaldo Story and the First Philippine Republic. There aren't too many characters to introduce, aren't too many issues to be broached; it doesn't have to be so detailed on the first hour and a half, initially impressed by its historical accuracy, then wanes, drags, noticeably wrapping up pretty fast in the last thirty minutes because of scenes unnecessary to the film's main focus.

The film could have been shortened. That is all.

Let us go to the characters, Russovoir is in love with them. Casting was, off the bat, near perfect. E.R. Ejercito as Emilio Aguinaldo was a shoe in, Cesar Montano as Andres Bonifacio was a spot on; every character, main, supporting, or just a walk-on gave the film a face of authenticity. Had Mark Miely, the director, been rash, in light of who are trendy in the industry, we could have watched, excruciatingly, Derek Ramsey as Bonifacio. Why not, right? He fits the bill: good-looking and brawny. But Miely values the integrity of the film that which Ramsey has lost from his roles of carnal value than classic. There were actors also that had been stuck in recent (almost years ago) roles where we look at them as they were before. Reputation is quite everything. Previously soaked in cinematic purpose that mere their names are old water when wring, Bayani Agbayani, Epi Quizon, and Hari ng Sablay (2005) Bearwin Miely just cannot be taken seriously. Flowing, receptive rapport short-circuited; shocked but not charred.

Then there is Baron Fredrick von Geisler (above), creating a character comparably detestable, and suspiciously encroaching to Lavinia in Sarah, Ang Munting Prinsesa (1995),  Selina (Princess Punzalan) in Mula Sa Puso (1997), to name a few. Geisler was no more than the disheveled, timid, fondly romantic teenager in classic films Nagbibinata (1998) and personal favorite Anak (2000). At least that's how Russovoir remembers of him. He reinvented himself for the role of a ruthless Spaniard, unforgettable and notable in personage. Ian Veneracion, Wendell Ramos, Will Devaughn, and especially Felix Roco (below), became distinctly promising from their performances.

"Bahala na ang Diyos sa amin."

We just need improvement in our CGI (computer-generated imagery) department - still not convincing - by which international intervention would not kill anyone, certainly not even hurt Filipino pride. We have resources (actors), a handful creative writers and directors (plot), all we have to do is aged (filming) them in a way that what comes out the public faucet (cinema) is a piquant, familiar to call one's own, respected, preferred, the convener to those whose veins run the persevering Filipino blood, San Miguel beer (film).

METRO MANILA FILM FAST 2012

Welcome. You are here because you made a choice. I do not wish to put words in your mouth by saying you prefer quality films, original and brilliant plots. Instead, whatever reason, or maybe even you agree with what I said - whatever works - you are well aware of the unsightly condition that has become a nuisance of the MMFF (Metro Manila Film Festival). I do not wish to discuss further as it will only bring acidity in my words where in many instances, tirades I'm not particularly proud of and accustomed to. I piqued myself that happiness, and happiness alone is what keeps me optimistic about life, its victories and failures, dreams, both crushed and still hopeful.

Quality films channel, primarily but not solely, happiness in me. Temporary, yes, but at least it's recognized and does exist. Leave it to the experts, people who went to school for performing arts (debatable but cognitive) and film making, leave it to Hollywood.

On December 25 until next year, 8th of January, the cinemas will be flooded, unappealing poster after poster of the seven (7) official - more like off-ful - entries of the annual festival. I do not wish to enumerate them, so before I lose you altogether, here are the Top 15 films that were either set aside to give way for the ghastly event, or are independent films whereby its distribution is confined within US territory (it's almost always budget; I do not blame the country). In perfect order, get your Torrent ready to upload or stream, we begin.

15. Cosmopolis (2012)

Status: Promising, Golden Palm nominee

Star: Robert Pattinson, Jay Baruchel

Synopsis:

Billionaire Eric Packer (Pattinson) just wanted to have a haircut at his favorite hair salon when suddenly he doesn't think his life is worth shaving for. Shot entirely in a stretch limousine, a bad hair day is putting it lightly.

14. Playing for Keeps (2012)

Status: Promising

Star: Gerard Butler, Catherine Zeta-Jones

Synopsis:

He is truly a big fish in a small pond when he decided to teach his son's soccer team for a change of perspective. He was doing just fine until the soccer moms eventually find out who he was before.

13. Bachelorette (2012)

Status: Promising

Star: Isla Fisher, Rebel Wilson

Synopsis:

A female equivalent of The Hangover (2009), the "fat friend" Becky Archer (Wilson) got engaged. Her three best friends try their best to throw the best bachelorette party for her even it kills them that they're the ones slim yet they're still single.

RELATED REVIEW: Pitch Perfect (2012)    

Status: Watched, Russovoir Recommended

Star: Anna Kendrick, Rebel Wilson

Synopsis:

Premiered last October 10, The Bellas, a club for the vocally gifted, is a broken record to the collegiate competition of A Capella every year. Club president Aubrey Posen (Anna Camp) spites new club member and aspiring DJ Beca Mitchell (Kendrick) for changing accustomed song routines; she on the other hand, is made of titanium.

12. The Tall Man (2012)

Status: Watched

Star: Jessica Biel

Synopsis:

Abduction of children has been the final plague of the impoverished town of Cold Rock. Julia Denning (Biel) is the beloved nurse of an absentee husband that which his duties are now entrusted to her. A socioeconomic thriller, is a good deed still a good deed if you're the only one can see it?

11. Chasing Mavericks (2012)

Status: Promising

Star: Gerard Butler, Johnny Weston

Synopsis:

The true story of American surfer Jay Moriarity, internationally revered by fellow surfers for riding the Mavericks, the sink-or-swim destination point for aspiring big wave surfers of the world. Moriarity wanted to ride it like a fish needs water; all he needs now is a trainer as thirsty.

10. Deadfall (2012)

Status: Watched, Russovoir Recommended

Star: Eric Bana, Olivia Wilde

Synopsis: 

Premiered last December 5, this edge-of-your-seat suspense will have your brain juice spilling in different directions. Two fugitives are on the run in the middle of the freezing forest, seeking refuge for the impending blizzard. When baby sister found her future, can she let go of her past?

 

9. The Words (2012)

Status: Promising

Star: Bradley Cooper, Zoe Saldana

Synopsis:

Writer Rory Jansen (Cooper) finally gets his name on the cover on every window display at every frequented bookstore in town. A walking question mark, his book: a bestseller or a freeloader?

8. Premium Rush (2012)

Status: Promising, 75% on Rotten Tomatoes

Star: Joseph-Gordon Levitt, Jamie Chung

Synopsis:

No, this isn't the newspaper boy behind schedule. This is about the persistent chase of bike messenger Wilee (Gordon-Levitt) for he holds an envelope with contents signed, sealed, and delivered to a conspirator. Whether to save a life or save lives, it's how fast he pedals his mountain bike decides.


RELATED REVIEW: Looper (2012)

Status: Watched, Russovoir Recommended
Stars: Bruce Willis, Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Synopsis:    

Premiered last October 17, a looper is a futuristic term for a hitman, paid instead to kill someone from the future. Joe is as good as anybody else when it comes to killing strangers, but when he meets himself thirty years older, fire has never meant all at once of its possible context.

7. Safety Not Guaranteed (2012)

Status: Promising, Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award

Star: Jake Johnson, Aubrey Plaza

Synopsis:
There is an ad on the newspaper one morning that thought to be just for laughs, an effective stimulant. But not for one magazine company. They took it so seriously, they answered the ad with their pens and notepads tucked in, now uncomfortably as the seat belt secures no safety to one's man claim of a time machine experiment.

6. Anna Karenina (2012)

Status: Promising, Top 10 Greatest Novels

Star: Keira Knightley Aaron Johnson

Synopsis:

Written by Russian writer Leo Tolstoy for which implies shot in the picturesque Moscow, Anna Karenina (Knightley) is the epitome of a love game where betrayal, infidelity, innocence, disappointment, insecurity, and seduction are the six bullets shot almost rashly, it's pathetic.

5. Ruby Sparks (2012)

Status: Promising, 79% on Rotten Tomatoes

Star: Paul Dano, Zoe Kazan

Synopsis:

She was the product of her imagination. Determined to publish another best seller, penciled words look more permanent than the indecisive thoughts in Calvin Weir-Fields' (Dano) head. Ink has never looked boring when he finally wrote a promising book about a girl, and it somehow came to life.

4. The Sessions (2012)

Status: Promising, 2012 Sundance Breakout Film

Star: John Hawkes, Helen Hunt

Synopsis:

Getting laid becomes his priority for 38-year old Mark O'Brien (Hawkes) is incurably bed-ridden. Just bed-ridden. Thirty-eight years of virginity will soon be "cured" when boldly he goes calling a sex surrogate, paid to give pleasure to the disabled.

3. End of Watch (2012)

Status: Watched, 85% on Rotten Tomatoes

Star: Michael Peña, Jake Gyllenhaal

Synopsis:

Brian Taylor (Gyllenhaal), a police officer in South Central Los Angeles, notorious for drug cartels and savagery, fancies bringing a camcorder to amuse himself, and partner Mike Zavala (Peña); an unassuming method to arrest the public of the heroic missions they readily cock their guns for.

2. Silver Linings Playbook (2012)

Status: Multi-awarded, 90% on Rotten Tomatoes

Star: Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence

Synopsis:
Based on the book by American writer Matthew Quick, in relationships, there's always going to be rain on your parade, calm waters turn agitated, and Pat Solitano (Cooper) is the eye of his own gathering storm. As if another storm is heading his way but in counter orbit, Tiffany (Lawrence) might have luckily parted a sunshine he eventually saw on her.


RELATED REVIEW: House At the End of the Street (2012)

Status: Watched
Star: Max Theriot, Jennifer Lawrence

Synopsis:
Premiered last December 5, the prying neighbors paid their two cents too many of a particular house where a massacre had happened, as if a dark attic filled with fear took away the good chi. Detour she went to the notorious house where she finds love with Ryan (Theriot); he survived. Darker the attic becomes.



Finally, the top 1 film you should go see because I personally think it's quality more than civic duty. I am proud of what I become, where I come from, how my morals and values from experience and preference are shaped, and it's through them that I know what I'm truly proud of, not because I have to but because I want to. The country has been flooded with pathetic low-quality films over the last couple of years that it's refreshing to see one that interests the wiser minds.

1. El Presidente: 
General Emilio Aguinaldo and the First Republic (2012)
Status: Promising
Star: Cesar Montano, E.R. Ejercito

Synopsis:
Said to be a biographical epic of the life and perpetual influence of Philippines' first President, Emilio Aguinaldo. The knitting of the first Philippine Flag, the composition of the National Anthem, and the seething for freedom; there's a war brewing, and they're coming in hot.

There you go. Now the Top 14 quality films you will miss out because of the MMFF onslaught. There are also films that were moved next year, 2013, for the same reason: Les Miserables, Life of Pi, and Hitchcock.

  

A meager mention, really.

Let us welcome 2013 with patient excitement and a continued passion for quality films of which define the true exercise of art in film making. There are so much in store for us next year; to name them all will only strain the anticipation - I'm biting my lips! To me, wherever life takes me, quality films are what I'm looking forward to.
 

  

A Crisp Sound of a Blockbuster Hit.

Justin Timberlake has a voice modulation that was established in and for the music industry. His recent involvement in the movie industry is a hay stalk in a diamond stack; he neither shines or adds weight to the lot. Friends with Benefits (2011), In Time (2011), these films could've been played by anyone. It has come to Russovoir's knowledge talent comes second best - Hollywood, too, is dirty politics.

Maybe Russovoir lost his keen eye of how acting should be, or maybe the industry is his playground to make films of rather unconvincing performances. Having said that, and looking at upcoming films Justin has signed up for next year, he's not removing the pacifier anytime soon. It's no use ranting - the bridge to the greener side has not been built - all we can do as audience of the manipulative puppet show is to choose between a standing ovation or a tumbleweed silence.

Trouble With the Curve was a re-curve-ry by its compelling plot and Clint Eastwood and Amy Adams. Adams is that actress, possibly resulted from upbringing (raised in Colorado), who is not afraid to get her hands dirty. "Hands dirty" meaning a spectrum of roles vastly different from each other; the "cleaner" the role, not as challenging.

"For a lawyer, you know so much about baseball."

While Clint Eastwood is an icon by default, this is Russovoir's first film of his. It goes with age and maturity, perhaps, to appeal with Eastwood's films. With a reputation to uphold, it is no surprise the film is a million dollar baby, among others of Eastwood's filmography.

There are no words, at least the technicalities of baseball, that Russovoir can, or must say to contribute a positive and credible review on the film. A home run and a strike were jargons that came to Russovoir's knowledge, not from experience, but from earlier films, TV series even (Hey Arnold!) that broached on it. You can probably tell how Russovoir has a working knowledge on every sport. So the trouble with the curve in baseball was yet another information learned.

A strike in baseball technicalities, where then does Russovoir stand a home run for an effective review? What he does best, of course: psychology of the film. The relationship of a father and a daughter is powerfully expressed that for a minute, Russovoir didn't see it as Trouble With the Curve but Trouble With Fatherly Love. A daughter, a child, heck everyone, crucially during adolescent years, wants to feel wanted, to be accepted. Now the trouble begins when it's not given, a child will grow up with a gap to fill, a longing where he/she will spend the rest of his/her - half, if he/she is lucky - life proving to everyone his/her worth. Although in one's perspective that's thoughtful, to the ones doing it, it's a constant battle of purpose.

"I said, I'll think about it."

Understand what Russovoir is talking about in Trouble With the Curve. One doesn't need to be a baseball fan - Moneyball (2011) was taken differently and still loved it - to enjoy the film. It's for everyone who has a father, estranged fathers for intensity. The rest will follow, what particularly is the curve and why is it such a menace.  

I do believe in the Guardians! I do! I do!

The child in Russovoir felt like crying, and sure enough he didn't have enough innocence to do so. It didn't have that untainted, childlike idealism. Russovoir, however, always has an open mind when it comes to the curiosity of a plot, always carrying a shaker to put inside every film with a pinch of salt. The number of films Russovoir has watched, to equate, has come so far to still just a sachet.

"Let us keep [them] believing." is DreamWorks', and every seasonal film there is, particularly Christmas, especially the animated, constant reminder, a harmless imposition of the unreal, surreal, and the once truly felt gullible thrill. Now, Russovoir must be talking outside himself here because, he admits Rise of the Guardians did able the child in him frolic around the darkened room. Right, that must be it; it explains why Russovoir was so absorbed that even though there was absence of innocence, there was something - yes, he believes there was really something - that disabled boredom and derision.

"We'll always be here, in your heart."

The story, was in fact, and Russovoir owes a high five to himself, surprisingly well-written. There were back stories that seem unavailable growing up; a reasonable perspective that seemed information unrealized for which Russovoir took by a handful because he's got nothing to lose on a film primarily for children.

The brilliance of this film can only been felt by whose mind, frankly one's personality that precedes them, kept and has been nurturing the child inside, preserves imagination and maybe, just for an hour or two, tidy oneself of depravity, experience, and mundanity in a small corner of the brain to make room for what is the refreshing story of the legendary guardians of hope, happiness, and Christmas spirit.