The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

cast: some British folk

The good: weird British humor
The bad: pointless
The Brits are famous for having some of the weirdest and at times dryest humor around. And it's of n0 wonder that many of their films characterize that distinct national penchant. H2G2 continues that fine English tradition whilst carrying a surprisingly (and quite awkwardly) heavy baggage of philosophical banter.

Earth is about to be demolished in favor of building a sort-of interstellar highway. We find out later that the order came haphazardly from the new galaxy president - a flamboyant, ego-centric, weirdo who signed the order thinking it was for an autograph. Ford Prefect, an alien stranded in the planet sees a chance to finally get out of the planet when the demolition ships arrive. He brings along Arthur Dent, an 'earthman' who saved his life when he unknowingly tried to shake hands with a rampaging car.

They journey across the galaxy with the aforementioned galactic president along with a female earthling who, as the film progresses, cheesily becomes Arthur's love interest. There's also a depressed robot with a big head. Too bad he's (or it) not used too often or too effectively in the film.

I'm not sure of the origin of the film but what the film is is an all-too brave and slightly offensive spoof of philosophy and contemporary history and society. Everything is fair game and that includes making fun of George Bush (not unusual, though), some random poet, and most controversial of all, God and religion. And for someone like me who's really into that lifestyle, the film leaves a very bitter taste - something the otherwise generally unoffensive humor cannot wash out.

As the team travels the stars and explores different planets, the film forgets its points and its plots and seems to just be content of unraveling a very pointless climax. In a way, the film does accomplish what it set out to do, that is to poke fun at everything it seems to hate. Unfortunate, because a philosophy and controversy-free galactic comedy would have been more effective. (2/5)

Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner

The good: fantastic graphics
The bad: over in a jiffy
Zone is the sequel to the mildly-successful Zone of the Enders and was released about two years ago. You won't notice the original release date though because Zone boasts some of the best graphics in any PS2 game, 2nd generation or not.

Little in the way of gameplay has changed. You still use dash, charge, and short and long-range weapons whilst juggling the use of the various sub-weapons. You still pilot Jehuty (the robot whose cockpit is situated in a very disconcerting position). The only real change seems to be the new graphics style, favoring more of an anime-flavored cel-shaded scheme than the good but bland standard 3-d of the original. And with explosions so good, its hard to believe that the game is over two years old.

Picking up where the original game left off, Zone will satisfy you in its story, gameplay, and presentation elements. However, those wanting a deep and long-lasting game should be wary of the game's 6-7 hour playtime. (3/5)

Ang Lagusan (The Tunnel)

cast: Cris Villanueva, Gina Pareño, Alfred Vargas
The good: heavy-handed religious theme
The bad: that no one will probably see this film
Winning several awards and distinctions in international film festivals, Ang Lagusan is a locally-produced and directed indie film which just happens to be the best Filipino film I've seen for a long while.

Joel (Cris Villanueva) wakes up in a cargo ship with only a few items in his possession. Curiously, a sheet of paper leads him into an address were a quack doctor (and later an abortionist), named Ason (Gina Pareño) resides. Joel doesn't remember who he is or the shanty town where he is now, but Ason tells him that she is his mother. She also tells him about his supposed father and brother. There's a lot of backstory, and they're all crucial to the understanding of the film.

About half-way through the film, when all the major characters are introduced, the mood changes and Joel becomes more and more desperate about finding out who he really is (he doesn't buy the stories of Ason). Religious references are inserted and the viewer finally gets a clue as to what's happening.

Shot in what seems to be a standard video camera with little lighting effect, the film evokes a strong and real feel which sets the tone for the whole film. The effect is something akin to the film 28 Days Later, but with much subtler lighting work. Sadly, most moviegoers spoiled by fancy cinematography might get turned off by the style here and leave the theatre before the story even gets underway.

Going back to the story, the film reaches a satisfying climax with a tremendous Catholic message. Abortion, sex, drugs, all are depicted and all are beautifully crafted into the storyline. And all these comes with an overall convincing acting performance (Gina Pareño stands out the most but Cris Villanueva is perfect as Joel).

Jose Rizal, Crying Ladies...the list is short for Filipino films which I adored, luckilly Ang Lagusan comes along and delivers a breath of fresh air to our rotting film industry. (5/5)

Perfect Blue

The good: full on intrigue
The bad: more questions than answers
Mima is one-third of a semi-popular pop idol group called Cham. However, tired of her craft and encouraged by her agency to try her hand at acting, she prematurely leaves the group. Atleast one fan doesn't take this news lightly, and what happens next becomes a rollercoaster ride of suspense, mystery, and murder.

Being at its heart an animated suspense/mystery, Perfect Blue weaves an ambitious and unorthodox story which could have been easily made into live action. In fact, unlike other animated films like Grave of the Fireflies, the story seems more appropriate in non-animated form. Regardless, the animation does bode well in presenting the almost incomprehensible plot right through the very end. Mima struggles against a known stalker who operates a website presenting itself as Mima's own diary. Furthermore, a series of murders involving the different people who comes into contact with her occurs. To add to the confusion, 'real' scenes are interspersed with footage from the crime/drama TV show that she's in - and the drama seems to mimic what's been happening to her. There are more characters, all of whom seem to be involved one way or the other, even Mima herself starts to think she's crazy

The plot, however, is both the movie's greatest strength and greatest weakness. It's superbly interesting and would keep you entranced (or bewildered) for the whole duration, but the illusion and deceit, appearing and disappearing, used by the director as style also means that by the end of the film, you'd either given up on following the tale or even if you were able to follow it, you'd be disappointed with the lack of clear answers.

Some people like cliff-hangers, I prefer a dramatic close. (3/5)

Batman Begins

cast: Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Liam Neeson

The good: fantastic in its entirety
The bad: Ken Watanabe is underused
More a story of Bruce Wayne than it is of Batman, Batman Begins is a triumphant example of how to revive a franchise, of how to make a comic-book film, and of plainly, how to make a great film.

The movie begins with a young Bruce Wayne playing in the garden and accidentally falling through a well. He's trapped there for a while but soon gets rescued by his dad, but not before Bruce is traumatized by the bats living there. His dad tells him the concept of fear, a theme which is much prevalent throughout the story. Later on while watching a play, Bruce gets frightened by the on-stage acrobatics which he interprets as bats (they were wearing black).

Unfortunately, his dad and his mom gets killed by a mugger just as they were about to walk home (nevermind why they went out the back entrance). Alone and further traumatized, Bruce sets out to Asia where though a series of events, he gets trained in the delicate arts of Ninjutsu by a group calling itself the League of Shadows. Bruce breaks away from the group though due to ideological differences. He returns to Gotham City and becomes Batman.

With a super-script and masterful directing, I can say that Begins is not only the best Batman film, not only the best comic-book film, but more importantly, one of the best movies I've ever seen. Dishing out far more story than most dramas, with incredibly tight dialogue coupled with a superb ensemble of acting performances, the film moves out of being a summer blockbuster and becomes almost an art film.

Christian Bale plays the role of Bruce and Batman remarkably, highlighting a human glow not seen in previous films. He is supported by Liam Neeson, Katie Holmes, Michal Caine, Morgan Freeman, Ken Watanabe and many others, all of whom portray their characters with a convincingly real human touch and aplomb.

The world is also much more real moving away from the cartoony and exagerratedly dark ambience of the previous films, replacing them with a much more believable world with more believable characters.

Action and lavish production-values also takes a backseat to the more careful and inteliggently orchestrated battles, and more appealing costumes and devices. Everything just got improved.

At its heart, Begins is a fantastic retelling of Batman. Its no longer just an action-flick, Batman became Bruce Wayne once more. (5/5)

Cold Winter

The good: overall very interesting plot
The bad: floaty character controls; imprecise aiming
A secret society called the 'Wings of the World' plans to save the earth by, uhm, unleashing a barrage of nuclear missilies upon it. Apparently, the group believes that the world cannot take another World War, so in order for men to fear the concept of war and nuclear power, they'll have to get a bitter taste of it.

Insert Andrew Sterling, a disavowed MI6 agent hoping to make a quick buck by becoming a mercenary. You start the game in a Chinese prison, but you soon escape through the help of another female agent. We soon learn that the two go way back and the back story keeps the story fresh and interesting. Pretty soon you'll be travelling the world killing bad guys with the usual assortment of guns and grenades. You can only carry two guns at a time but switching between the two weapons takes too long and will often penalize you in the heat of battle.

A neat idea is the ability to create items and weapons by combining different materials scattered throughout the levels. By combining a wire cutter and a wire, for example, you'll be able to craft a lockpick. There are about a dozen combinations which I think is too few. It would have been better if players were allowed to use their imagination in combining items instead of being limited to pre-set mixes. Idea for the sequel, I suppose.

Battles are fun but has a lot of nasty problems. For one, enemies rarely patrol out in the open, giving you few chances to strategize. Instead, enemies come out in droves in set sections of the levels. Another problem are the explosive weapons like grenades and fire bombs. Grenades have such a limited killing radius that its not worth it to use them at all while the other bombs takes too long to explode that enemies have ample time to get out of the area. And they do, since the AI is quite crafty (nice). The biggest flaw, however, is the character control. Not the button layout itself but how the charecter seems to be skidding in ice all the time. It makes maneuvering quite tricky since the character won't stop immediately when you want him to. Also, the game's aiming is just as tricky and with no sensitivity adjustment.

The game still isn't bad even with all these problems. The story is really engaging despite its anti-climactic ending. But, the game itself is just frightfully average. (3/5)

Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory

The good: its fun to sneak around
The bad: much too short and easy
The Splinter Cell series has always played second-fiddle to the Metal Gear Solid series. Blame it on the franchise's refusal to grow up, its incomprehensible narratives, and its trial-and-error playstyle. Chaos tries to correct this mistakes but ends up just making more of the same.

For one thing though the plot actually makes sense now. No more fancy twists and turns with hard-to-remember names, this time Sam Fisher gets involved in a massive conspiracy involving the U.S., China, the two Koreas, and Japan. The story is engaging and told through much-improved (but still unremarkable) FMVs. The in-game dialogue serves as a much better medium for advancing the story with occasionally humurous banter and good voice acting.

Gameplay-wise, Chaos is basically the same as its predecessors with just a few tiny improvements to speak of. You can now choose to either kill or incapacitate foes when you've gotten hold of them, and new moves like dangling from a pipe and breaking an enemy's neck have been added. But, like previous games in the series, you'll rarely find use for these moves since sneaking up on enemies or even just plain running to them and delivering a punch to their faces is so much easier to do. Speaking of easy, this game is surprisinglly just that, breaking the challenging mold set by its previous installments.

Chaos is still a very playable game especially if you're a fan of stealth-action games in general. However, the too-short and too-easy quest and the game's stubborn refusal to undergo surgery might leave a bitter aftertaste. (4/5)

Rise of the Kasai

The good: story's nice
The bad: combat is a mess
Sequel to a little-known PS2 game from a while back, Rise of the Kasai is an action-adventure title with a unique combat system. The main feature of the game is a right analog stick targeting system. By targeting enemies, in which more than one at a time is possible, you highlight them with corresponding face buttons like x, circle, or square. Theoretically, this system should make combat fun and strategic, but it just makes battles boring and messy. So what prides itself as a methodical battle system turns out to be just a button-mashing affair. With this, you'll rarely want to get into fights since enemies are numerous and usually takes long to kill. There are several weapons and combos for all four playable characters but the combos are hard to perform consistently and the weapons fail to make any sort of fulfilling impact when they contact enemies.

The stealth sections of the game are more fun, even if they're basically just waiting for enemies to look the other way. One big downfall in these sections is the lack of a manual camera control. You can't pan or rotate the camera so there's no way of knowing what's around corners and blind spots. Instead, you have to rely on "look-out" posts using you're spirit guide to peek around the environs. The concept is nice but you'll get tired of it quickly.

However, the story is quite good and told remarkably well through a series of hand-drawn, artistic cinemas which complement well the good voice acting. Its too bad that you'll have to play the game to witness the story. (2/5)

Pooh's Heffalump Movie

The good: well...the heffalump is cute
The bad: this is really just for kids
Okay, I know, I shouldn't really be watching these kinds of films, but I had no other choice since the only other films were Say that you Love me, Premonition and Shutter. I didn't like another Pinoy love film, and I didn't want to see anything that would prevent me a good night's sleep (I'm lacking in sleep as it is now).

Anyway, its obvious who the target audience is for this film, only that I don't think the producers are aware of the liking of the next generation. They don't really make films like this anymore. Kids don't like singing and prancing around anymore, they want fancy computer-generated graphics and wise-cracking characters.

But for mothers who'd like to impart a few good lessons to their kids whilst keeping them from cyring, Heffalump is the perfect remedy. Telling the story of Roo (the little kangaroo), whose desire to grow into an adult immediately lands him outside the safe confines of the 100 Acre Wood, Heffalump is a worry-free, and violence-free film suitable for anyone under the age of 6. (2/5)

Xenosaga: Episode 2

The good: collosal storyline
The bad: ridiculous amounts of cinemas
The first Xenosaga was a uber-ambitious RPG epic set in a alternate universe future where humankind is besieged by an alien-jelly hybrid race called the Gnosis. It was to be the first episode in a planned series of 6 or 7 episodes which also include the PS1 RPG hit Xenogears. Xeno 2 succeeds in continuing the truly collosal tale of the franchise but fails in almost every other aspect.

The first thing you'll notice are the brand new character designs. Gone are the anime-inspired characters with disproportionate body shapes replaced with a slightly more realistic yet still anime-inspired Shion, KOS-MOS and the whole gang. This is a great move by the developers since they fit more in the huge undertaking that is the story of this game.

However, all the other 'improvements' or changes are not as great a move as the graphics change. First off, battles are fun and strategic requiring players to chain combos and moves while switching between the 7 available characters to exploit enemy weaknesses. But regular battles takes too long to finish because enemies have huge HP counts not to mention that your attacks are like hits from a baby. Also, you rarely encounter enemies since the dungeon maps weren't designed to fit in a lot of on-screen enemies. Xeno 3 should drop on-screen enemies in favor of a more traditional and effective system of random battles.

The character development is also whack featuring useless skills and abilities. You really only need the healing skills for everybody since magic is pathetically weak against enemies even when its supposed to be their weakness. The robot battles are also much toned down in terms of actual game time and system-wise. You no longer equip weapons and you no longer get to switch between mechs and characters, instead there are certain points in the game where you have to fight on mechs and on foot. Very sad.

Xeno 3 is one short RPG taking regular players probably only 20-25 hours of playtime. The story is still the main attraction, as is the overly long but fun cinemas, but anyone not interested in the story shouldn't really bother. (3/5)

Mr. and Mrs. Smith

cast: Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie

The good: doesn't let up
The bad: that is until the late middle parts
Brad and Angelina rumors aside, their movie should get just the same amount of attention with its highly-engaging humor, high dose of coolness, and overall feeling of polish.

Brad plays John Smith, a construction engineer to his wife, but a highly-skilled and lethal assassin in reality. Angelina plays Jane Smith, a computer businesswoman to her husband, but in reality, she's just as skilled and lethal a assassin as the partner.

I was pleasantly surprised by how well-made this film turned out to be. I was half-expecting a disaster seeing that the film just seemed to be an excuse to capitalize on the Brad-Angelina ticket. The film quickly holds on to you and doesn't really let go until the very end. It just loosens its grip on you towards the late middle parts when the film uses up all its tricks and becomes just a mindless action-fest. Its a good thing that the gun fights are explosive even though they don't really make sense.

Good fun for the whole 'barkada'. (4/5)

A Lot Like Love

cast: Ashton Kutcher, Amanda Peet

The good: that one scene near the end during the wedding
The bad: everything wrong about American culture
Two strangers have sex on a plane lavatory and from there, well, you shouldn't really bother.

Such is the story between Oliver (Ashton), and Emily (Amanda). Both are disgruntled individuals who have such bad luck, it seems, with love. Of course, in American terms love means sex. Sad to say.

From a moral standpoint, the film shows everything that is wrong with popular American (or even western) culture - pre-marital or casual sex, divorce etc. - and from a quality standpoint, well, it won't even pass the supposedly ridiculously easy Philippine NEAT exams. Shame.

I have so much beef with this film that its hard to even write about them. Ashton Kutcher films tend to be on the bad side, but this once goes way overboard. (1/5)

Are We There Yet?

The good: consistently funny
The bad: somewhat drab and lacking
Ice Cube graces the big screen once again and proves that he can actually be NOT irritating if he tried. He plays Nick, a semi-rich bachelor who sets his eyes on a beautiful divorcee with two kids. The problem is, the kids don't want anyone near their mom and they're gonna keep it that way no matter what.

Mostly a kid-friendly, on the road affair, the film is quite funny in a physical comedy way with things getting destroyed (Cube's brand-new Navigator gets the receiving end of children abuse) and people getting hurt, and by people I mean Ice Cube. Nick tries to get the two kids into Vancouver where their mom is in a company party so that he can have some points on the good side of the mother. The kids tries everything at every turn to make life miserable for Nick which includes a metal detector screw-up at the airport and a runaway at the train. The two sides eventually kiss up and the message is really simple and perfect for kids.

The problem lies in the fact that most people will watch this film hoping for semi-adult humor because of Ice Cube, and what they'll get instead is a family comedy. (2/5)

Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga

The good: strategic combat
The bad: where's the rest of the story?
If you're familiar with the Matrix films, then Devil Saga's convoluted but very interesting plot will be right up your alley. If your an RPG fan hankering for more random combat, then this game was made just for you.

The game is set in the Junkyard, a seemingly very small world with only 5 towns and 1 soaring tower in the middle. The 5 towns are controlled by 5 different tribes, all of which are at war with each other. You see, in this world the tribes have to conquer the opposing tribes in order to ascend to 'Nirvana' - heaven if you will. But one day, a young woman with black hair and black eyes (everyone else have different colored hair and eyes) appears in a capsule and turns everyone into demons. Sera, the girl, doesn't remember anything only that she will save everyone. All this is so reminiscent of the Matrix saga that somebody is probably making legal accusations right now. Trust me, the more you progress in the story, the more scaringly similar it becomes to that film.

But story inspirations aside, Devil Saga is a very competitive RPG which is actually a nice break from recent big-name RPG dissapointments (Suiko 4, Xeno 2). The game is mostly a dungeon-hack, albeit on really well-designed dungeons with clever puzzles and interesting enemies. What I like the most is the character development system which gives you complete freedom on how to develop your 5 characters. Its too bad that you don't get to assign stat points yourselves after every level up (you only get to assign points to the main character). Its a strange decision which limits strategizing.

There's lots of unique elements to the game chief of which is the ability to devour enemies when their in a weak state which gives you bonus Atma - basically skill points needed to learn new spells and tricks. Combat also employs a weakness system where you get to act more if you hit the enemy with his weak attribute (hitting an ice monster with a fire spell). Enemies can also employ this tactic so be careful. All this really makes battles more than just hitting the x button requiring you to srategize what skills to equip and in what pattern to use skills and spells.

Devil Saga has become a favorite of mine, now I want the rest of the story. The sequel can't come soon enough. (4/5)

Constantine

The good: interesting demon vs. angel world
The bad: shoot...shoot...shoot...yawn
Loosely based on the movie of the same name, Constantine shares most of the central characters, scenes and events from the flick, with alterations of varying levels. The result is a typically average movie tie-in, which while better than most, is certainly nothing more than a underdeveloped cash-in.

Production values are actually quite nice considering the lack of hype or interest for the title. You'll be treated to nicely rendered FMVs which progress the story while featuring a Keanu Reeves sound-alike, which if you can believe it, acts worse than the original. Most of the scenes and events on the game would be familiar to those who watches the admittedly highly-enjoyable film, but most of the scenes are altered to give more life to the story. Its too bad that the developers chose to limit themselves when it came to exploring the world of Constantine, which is really the film and the game's main draw. The completely different ending sparks hopes for a sequel, though.

At its core, the title is a pretty standard shooter with holy guns, holy shotguns and other holy weapons with some easy puzzles thrown in for good measure. Its nothing terrible but its been done countless times before. The game's only innovation is a world-travelling spell were you can go to hell and back (just like in the flick) to solve puzzles and advance through the game. The graphics in the hell levels are nightmarish though giving me bad doses of headache with its purely red color pallete.

If you're a fan of the movie and would want to delve more into the world of Constantine, then better invest in the comic books, the game just doesn't offer anything than would keep your interest for too long. (2/5)

Coach Carter

cast: Samuel L. Jackson

The good: poignant messages
The bad: a touch too long
Based on the real-life story of a coach who locked down the gym when his basketball players failed to maintain an agreed upon GPA of 2.3, Coach Carter takes a touching and profound philosophy of life, success, and education and delivers it in a manner easily understood by the people it was clearly meant for - distressed students.

Samuel L. Jackson proves once again that he was born to play as any macho gusto character that they can come up with, bringing to the film a distinctive acting flair that few actors can possibly hope. His character is indeed the life and blood of the film, taking a loser of a team and turning the team and its players into not only champions but real men. And the good thing is, melodrama is thankfully kept in check.

Its somewhat surprising that this film is an MTV Films production, considering the usual audience of that network. It might even seem that this film is a hypocritical offering by a company more known for its liberal thinking and teenager-appealing content (sex, drugs, booze) than of traditional values and lifestyle. But if this is a change of heart for the network, then I'm all for it.

Coach Carter is a triumph for what it is - a film designed to elevate a striking and sadly diminishing message to a plane where audiences can appreciate it. Its nothing remotely awards-quality, but the message (at least most of it) is what counts in this film. Basketball movie? Nah. More like a religious convention, and that's a good thing. (4/5)

Sin City

cast: see below

The good: engaging story arcs
The bad: no central plot
Those of you who have played Max Payne knows its gritty film-noir storyline and dry dialogue. Sin City, a collective directoral effort by Frank Miller (creator of the comic book), Robert Rodriguez (Once Upon a Time in Mexico), and Quentin Tarantino (Kill Bill), takes the classic film-noir style popularized by that game for this young generation and sprinkles it with an unmistakably comic book facade.

Starring a powerhouse cast of some of the most recognizable names in Hollywood including Bruce Willils, Mickey Rourke, Clive Owen, Elijah Wood, Josh Hartnett, Jessica Alba, Benicio Del Toro, Jaime King, Michael Clarke Duncan and many more, Sin City delivers a tale of 3 interlocking storylines, which although never really converges into a big picture, feels cohesive in its own strange way. This is probably because the directoral effort is flawless scene by scene - constantly entertaining with a blend of action, dialogue, and interesting (if a bit underdeveloped) characters.

Set in Basin City, a crime city of sorts, where cops, mobs, and gangs of...uhm...women of the night co-exist in an unsteady truce, the film is coated with a visual style reminiscent of the last year's crappy Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow but with less background detail in favor of a seedy, drab, and dark setting (which works wonders on the film's intended feel). Much of the film, as such, is either in black and white or in other black palette, using colors only sparingly to highlight material (like blood).

The story is still the main attraction even with the moody gloss and noteworthy ensemble of stars. My only complaint is that there's no real conclusion nor any sense of direction, the story just happens and that's that. And while I'm not a big fan of scantily-clad ladies and amorality, mature enough people shouldn't be detered from having a good time in the theatre watching this film. (4/5)

*Fun fact: if you're wondering who the big, muscular character is, then its Mickey Rourke whom you may have last seen in Once Upon a Time in Mexico.