Pinoy Movie Club: drama

Showing posts with label drama. Show all posts

Story is set in Beijing China, starts off with a young lady Miao Miao (played by Ni Ni) getting off an expensive car and enters another car with Jiang LiangLiang (played by Feng Shaofeng) who's driving. She asks him to drive off with her with the expensive car trailing them eventually Liangliang was able to elude the other car. With this, Miao Miao then hops off Liangliang's car into a taxi without bothering giving each others names.

As luck would have it, both were to meet again in one advertising shoot as Liangliang is a copy director on set while Miao Miao is a commercial model. They had a connection and immediately they are in a relationship. In such a short time thereafter, they lived together already. This was a bad move as Liangliang found out how jealous and controlling Miao Miao really is. She made a living hell out of Liangliang that they are constantly fighting already. Miao Miao constantly nags him about his constantly meeting or talking with his ex girlfriend and his spending long hours with his workmates. In the end, Liangliang felt he is constricted by their relationship.

This is not your typical romantic and sweet love story but instead its a love and hate kind of relationship. Of one woman's love that encroaches on a man's life and of how a man's efforts dealing with such kind of a woman. The film is head on drama and you will really feel how controlling Miao Miao is to Liangliang. We liked how the story was laid out, from the very beginning, of how they met, the sweet moments leading to their relationship.

then relationship went south from there. Miao Miao turned to be a nightmare for Liangliang. We thought this was just a passing story and that somehow it would lead them to change and maybe just maybe they will live happily ever after. This wasn't the case and their love have spiralled so much that love really did tore them apart. However the ending of the story confused us as to how did it really end.

The writer intentionally left us hanging as everything went on reverse without the actors acknowledging they went back to where they all started.

Overall the movie is a fatal attraction kind of love on the side of Miao Miao and we thought this was going to lead into a suspense thriller. This was still a love story of sorts in a weird kind of way.

If you are into romantic comedies, this is not the movie for you. If you like heavy dram kind of love ,then watch this and not expect a happy ending that you might expect. Being positive people that we are, we believed that they had a happy ending, going back to the emotions where they all started, but this was presented as to the way we expect it to be.

Currently being shown in YouTube, simply click on the thumbnail below.

Love has limits? - Love Will Tear Us Apart (2013)

On the day of their 5th year wedding anniversary, Nick Dunne (played by Ben Affleck) finds his wife missing. Amy (played by Rosamund Pike) was a popular writer of children's books so it was natural that her being missing was being played up tempo by the press.

Police meanwhile goes wary of Nick as there were a lot of evidence showing that he may have killed Amy. Without a body, it was difficult for the Police to arrest Nick. Amy was very much alive and she created a story that would lead to Nick to killing her. So it was just a plot for Amy to get revenge on Nick who had a mistress for a year and a half.

Her plan was coming along fine when suddenly Amy got robbed and she's left penniless. She had to seek help from a friend to lie low. During this time, she managed to watch Nick who went on national television, being interviewed and asking Amy to come back and that he still loved her. Nick's message got to Amy and she changes her plans. In order for her to stage a comeback, she devises a plan that she was kidnapped and somehow escaped.

She went back to Nick but Nick saw to her plans. Amy eventually told the truth to Nick and he can't do anything about it. He wanted to leave Amy but he couldn't. Now he reluctantly stays with Amy with their child on the way.

First off, we liked how the story was written. Yes its a bit slow in pacing but it was critical in telling of the story. When she went missing early part of the film, we were wondering, what happened. There were bits and pieces telling us, did he kill her? Was he a good husband? Was she kidnapped? Then there was a mistress and some scenes of him being out of control. Pushing us telling us he has the reason to kill her. Then Amy pops up very much alive. What the hell?

Now we are trying to go into Amy's head, how did she arrived to this? How can a quiet wife able to orchestrate such a grand scheme? Who is now the victim? Each side has his and her story to tell. Throw in some media and lawyers in the mix, its a powder keg of humongous proportions. When Amy concocts the return plan, she killed, murdered a person to have that great comeback situation. Now we are afraid of her, Nick was afraid of her.

We now see her as the manipulative sociopath but wait, her return did wonders for Nick and his sister. Nick was exonerated of the non-existent crime, his business with her sister got famous, all their financial troubles are gone as they are now famous, and the Police can't touch her now. As Nick's lawyer aptly put it, "you should thank her".

This movie went past the theaters quick and did not get much attention to us when it was played, hell we admit, we didn't watch it. It was on Netflix so we got to watch it. Honestly we are wary if we see Ben Affleck on top billing. He is like a young Kevin Costner who broods on screen and not much facial expression. Acting is monotonous and we fall asleep when he delivers a long monologue on screen (we like him as that assassin in The Accountant - the only movie we liked with him in the title role). Maybe he would be like Costner who finally broke out of his mold when he got older. Many years to go for Affleck, we can wait.

Rosamund Pike suffers the same fate as Affleck. But her delivery here is good for her character. We would like to see her emotionless, and a woman with focus. There were some bits of her that should show her as the underdog and hurting, she passed them decently. We equated with her suffering of a wife seeing her husband with a younger mistress. Then calmly transforms herself as the revengeful one. Cold and heartless, we love how she manipulated her husband in the end.

We love more the story here rather than the actors and we got goosebumps near the end, when Nick wants to leave Amy. She simply brushed it off with "its what you call marriage" and he can't possibly leave her. Ohhhh that hit us with a cold blow to the head.

If you want a mind blowing story in a film, got to watch Gone Girl. We said its a movie with a slow pace but you have to think quick before it loses you.

Netflix guys. Netflix.

Lost and found - Gone Girl (2014)

Even before the advent of reality TV, we have Truman Burbank who started it all, almost. Jim Carrey stars as Truman and is the star of that hit TV reality show, the Truman Show. The only thing is, he doesn't know about it.

Ever since birth he was adopted by a company. He was the winner among other babies who were considered for the honor. It was him who arrived on cue. Ever since he was born, his life was already under the scrutiny of 5,000 cameras 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

He grew up in a place they called Seahaven and all residents except him, are actors. Everyday is almost the same except that some plots or events happen under the guidance of the show's director Christof (played by Ed Harris). The director manipulates story lines everyday to make Truman's day exciting.

Controlling as it may seem, Christof couldn't expect Truman's reactions to the flow of the story. When they tried to pair Truman with Meryl (played by Laura Linney), he fell for another co-student Sylvia (played by Natascha McElhone) whom Christof removed from the set afterwards.

Sylvia then advocated for "Free Truman" and admonishes Christof in a TV show for holding Truman prisoner for which he denies. Truman can leave any time he says, but he believes the world he gives to Truman is a safe haven for him. The true world is harsh and he merely protects Truman in Seahaven.

There are no perfect things nor a perfect world so, things go wrong in Seahaven and Truman notices it more. Like a spotlight falls from the sky, his car radio accidentally getting the radio instructions among the actors, and people doing the same routine as much as circling his block many times over everyday. When he does notices such things, the show then tries to explain to him (not directly of course) why they happen.

In one of those weird moments, he found a homeless man who resembled his dad, whom he lost at sea when he was still a boy. It was later known that the actor who played his dad, snuck back in the set but before Truman could talk to him, he was taken away by the other actors.

Truman at this point was aware of suspicious things around him and he tries to be spontaneous. This time he wanted to get out of Seahaven but all his efforts are being thwarted. He wanted to take a bus, only to have the driver destroying the engine. He wanted to take a plane but all flights are booked and the earliest flight out is at least a month. He tried driving out of Seahaven he almost succeeded however a Nuclear plant had an acccident they had to close the road. All these frustrated Truman.

When the show's production crew noticed that Truman went back to his regular routine, it was then that Truman pulled off the unexpected and he tried to run away again. They looked for Truman but the they couldn't find him, until Christof thought of him running away via a sailboat. They never thought of him sailing over water knowing the Truman had fear of the water. To persuade him to sail back, they introduced a storm with high waves. Hoping to instill fear in Truman, enough to make him turn around and "be safe".

However Truman decided to sail on amidst the strong winds and the high waves. He almost died in that storm and Christof, upon seeing his persistence, stopped the storm. Truman then continued on his journey until his boat reached the edge of the stage. He found a walkway along the edge and went up to a stage door. He found an exit and before he tried opening it, Christof talked to him over a PA system. He tried reasoning to him, trying to convince him to stay. Truman listened to him but still he eventually opened the door and exited Seahaven.

One of Jim Carrey's acting greats without him trying to be funny. He really pulled a good one playing the character of Truman and we liked him here. The whole movie was about him so we don't get to see much of the other actors shine. They have to make do with the short time they have on film but some do stand out.

We find two actors who really shined were that of Nastascha McElhone playing Sylvia and Noah Emmerich who plays his best buddy Marlon. McElhone had a short and few moments on screen but it was enough as she established already her concern for Truman. Emmerich meanwhile is the production staff's lackey, the go to guy when they want to check on Truman and have him toe the line in some scenes.

Other characters who had bit roles and are great is Truman's mom, Holland Taylor and Paul Giamatti as the show's control room director.

Laura Linney had a huge screentime here however we only liked her in one scene. We can't blame her though as we felt that the script was to blame for her portrayal as the wife of Truman. We liked the way she advertises a product placement. The rest of the time, the script just made her an eye candy. She really is pretty.

Ed Harris was emotionless here, maybe as characterized by the script. His best moment here was near the end when he tried to convince Truman not to leave Seahaven. The rest of the time he was onscreen, he was just cruising along. A great actor doing some easy dialogues, they should really have given something heavy for him to swing at.

Currently showing on Netflix so watch Jim Carrey in one of his best acting so far next to that sleeper Yes Man.

What else is on? - The Truman Show (1998)

K-9 or spoken as canine is heart warming (?) story about a dog. No the story isn't just about a dog but his relationship with his human.

The movie starts off with Michael Dooley (played by James Belushi) on a stake out when he decided to use another car's cellphone to call his girlfriend. This ruse prevented his death when assassins in a helicopter pumped his car with bullets. He reported the same to his supervising officer and requests to replace the car that was totaled. His Lieutenant told him he can have a new car if he brings in a partner for which Dooley rejects. Just to comply he accepted to accept a police dog to be his partner. Thinking that a dog will not be much of a hassle for him to go after his bad guy.

Then came his police partner dog, Jerry Lee (played by a german shepherd). If you think Dooley is a hard case, Jerry too is one. Both had misunderstanding early on and both had to make compromises mostly on the part of Dooley.

A lot of things happen then Tracy (played by Mel Harris), Dooley's girlfriend was kidnapped by Lyman (played by Kevin Tighe) the villain in this movie. He is suggesting to Dooley to cool down for one night to let Lyman's drug shipment pass without his intervention. Being a nutcase, he storms into Lyman's party and draws out his gun to the shock of the latter's guests. Police was called in and Dooley was arrested. He explained to his supervising officer that what he did was just a ploy so that Lyman would think he would be in jail and not be able to intercept his drug shipment. His Lieutenant didn't buy his story and he was really arrested this time around. On the way to the station, Dooley with the help of Jerry, was able to commandeer the police car he was in and proceeds straight to one of Lyman's henchmen. He was able to intercept the drugs and went to Lyman's meeting place so that he can arrange for a swap for Tracy. While in the act of swapping, a firefight started between the two and Lyman tried to escape. Jerry tried to pursue him but he was shot by Lyman. Seeing that Jerry was shot, Dooley tries to shoot Lyman but instead he was shot by his drug associates. Seeing that Lyman is dead, Dooley brings Jerry to a hospital and after a few discussions, the doctor (not a veterinarian) reluctantly agreed to operate on a dog.

Jerry survives the operation and Dooley treated him to a vacation in Vegas taking along his girlfriend Tracy and a female poodle, presumably Jerry's date.

Now the movie is a typical 1989 feel good movie. It also was the time when competing or rival film companies would make similar films, pitting their movies at the box office. K-9 has to fight against Turner and Hooch (starring Tom Hanks with a big dog as well). A tall order to push Tom Hanks in theaters but James Belushi is no push over either.

James Belushi is know for his comedies and in this movie he lowers down his antics to be in a semi action buddy cop movie. His role here has a weak character development in the beginning that we can't really relate to him why he doesn't want a partner. If there was one, then we might have missed it, it wasn't that prominent to begin with. It might have been in the script that we see his stereotyped was having an inferiority complex against a dog who bosses him around and the dog always getting the upper hand. Or maybe this is the comedy part, the dog always winning.

Although with a faulty script, it has a simple plot that you can fast forward the film and go right at 3/4 of this and still you won't miss a beat. What we liked though in the movie are two things 1) the scenes between Dooley and Jerry butting their heads against each other only to become close friends in the end. This was done nicely and we can see both of them melding into each other and 2) Dooley's crying in the Emergency Room when Jerry was taken into the operating room. At first you think why is he crying over a dog? After he spews out some dialogues, we find that he has considered Jerry not as a dog but a partner. We have seen how they developed their relationship and seeing him cry made us want to cry as well.

If you like dogs, and James Belushi, then you can watch this film. If you are here to see some police action, steer away from this movie. Currently being shown in Netflix and to see a glimpse of this, click on the trailer below.

Who let the dog out? K-9 (1989)

A Korean drama thriller that focuses on a crisis negotiator from the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency. Starring Son Ye-jin as Ha Chae-yoon the police negotiator and Hyun Bin as Min Tae-gu, the terrorist.

Story starts off with Chae-yoon negotiating for the release of two hostages when things got out of hand. This lead to the death of the hostages which devastated Chae-yoon so much that she submitted her resignation thereafter. While waiting for the request to process, she's been called in by the Police Commissioner to handle another hostage negotiation situation. Initially she wasn't briefed about this and was immediately tasked to talk to the terrorist Tae-gu. The latter earlier kidnapped two Koreans in Thailand and is holding them captive. Tae-gu was now spilling a conspiracy with Chae-yoon, about illegal arms deals, money laundering schemes and acts of bribery. Some officials tried to silence both until Tae-gu's lair was breached by the Korean special forces sent to Thailand that resulted to the bomb explosion killing everyone inside it.

Chae-yoon thought that Tae-gu and the hostages were dead however her great sense of observation suggests that Tae-gu wasn't in Thailand when the breach happened, in fact he was in Korea. This was later verified by pictures taken at the airport showing Tae-gu arriving days ahead of the negotiations. During this time Tae-gu went after the people who was responsible for the death of his sister. She was one of the hostages killed earlier in the film. Chae-yoon now knows why Tae-gu asked for her to start the negotiations. In the end, Tae-gu was killed by a team of soldiers and the conspiracy almost died with him until Chae-yoon revealed this to a proper court.

So what do we think of this movie? Many say its a good movie but somehow we had a hard time agreeing. The story is so muddled that we had a hard time following, understanding and believing some scenes in the movie. It's like a television series of 16 episodes then shrunk into one movie 114 minutes long. It should have been a fast and quick paced movie however everything is so slow.. you can stand up and go to the kitchen, prepare a snack and come back and you can still catch up with the story line. There were a lot of filler scenes we believe could have been cut to make it interesting.

First off, the lead Son Ye-jin's character of Ha Chae-yoon was supposed to be trained abroad to be a negotiator yet we always see her emotional and in most of the time crying. How can a a police negotiator send a trainee abroad and come back emotional? If she keeps on crying, how come she passed the training and given the authority to negotiate? When the hostages were killed while she was inside the premises, is this Korea's rule of engagement? Use the negotiator to distract the criminals to give enough time for the breaching team to enter? This disregard for the hostage's lives are a big question for us and she didn't even filed a report that this should never have happened unless Chae-yoon justifies it. Her character did handle the negotiations and it was all the terrorist Tae-gu getting the upperhand always. Hyun bin as terrorist was passable in performance as Min Tae-gu. Minus the outbursts in some scenes doesn't make sense, he was a lovable guy actually. Even if the other characters paint him as a terrorist, we somehow felt that he couldn't hurt the innocents. He showed us that the character had at least good moral values in spite of the kidnapping and the killing he made in the film.

All the other characters we just standing or scowling or shouting that I was now getting confused with their performances. I must admit it was distracting to see a lot of people just standing and watching as this drama unfolds. Might as well they should be sitting beside me. As we said the story line was muddled, actually its so simple. Lead gets confused in the beginning, resigns then gets back in active duty, to find out out that the terrorist is in fact was just asking for justice, and that the true bad guys were the higher ups or officers of the lead. Simple right? When you bring in another police member doing his own investigating and given a lot of screen time, a lot of officers giving a lot of screen time again just ordering to kill Tae-gu so that the conspiracy dies with him, that confused us or we felt the movie dragged. Maybe the plot is great, but I don't blame the actors for giving us this kind of a feeling. Its the story telling that made this movie unappealing for us. We do hope someone will do a reboot of this film as we like watching these kind of story plots. Maybe this should pattern the suspense and plot twists of The Negotiator starring Kevin Spacey and Samuel L Jackson. Maybe just maybe we can have a great film.

Currently showing in YouTube so you can watch the whole movie at the link given below.

Who will win? - The Negotiation (2018)

In one of Britain's turmoils, faced with Hitler's advancing armies, this is the time what we they can call its Darkest Hour. A war drama film set in May 1940, it stars Gary Oldman portraying Winston Churchill in his early days of being Prime Minister.

When in May 1940, the British government was deemed to weak to fight off the advances of the German army, its then Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain was asked to resign, most feel that the successor should have been Lord Halifax, but the latter did not have the same sentiment. He felt that its Winston Churchill's time to be the Prime Minister.

Churchill has been disliked by many for his daring opinions and beliefs thus earned him a poor reputation in diplomacy. While everyone was clamoring for a peace treaty negotiations with Germany, Churchill opted none of it. While the German forces are advancing, British forces are trapped in Dunkirk, he called upon a daring rescue attempt involving small civilian boats. He neither had the big ships needed to launch such a rescue. He tried seeking help from the United States however the latter was in a state of neutrality with Germany and was not much help. He had to devise another plan to save the trapped soldiers in Dunkirk.

Under pressure from political parties, he almost succumbed to the idea of peace negotiations with Germany but he had a change of heart after talking to the masses. He took a train to parliament and on his way there, he had a chance to hear what the British people thought of their dire situation. This renewed stance against Germany echoed in the halls of Parliament and using the English language, have sent Britain into battle.

Gary Oldman as Winston Churchill was a great choice for this role and its not easy character to fill we might add. Churchill had an endearing personality and something you have to get used to before liking the guy. He is direct to the point and frank that sometimes you see it as arrogance. Gary Oldman is a charming guy so pulling off this role was no easy feat and we liked the way he properly portrayed the famous Prime Minister. Based on a true story of Churchill's rise to fame, we somehow can't help that this is likewise his story from the eyes of his secretary Elizabeth Layton (played by Lily James). She was in on almost every scene possible as she was with Churchill of the time.

As he was eloquent in the language and great in public speaking, he needed his secretary to type down his thoughts. Thus the movie likewise revolved around her, of how she was enamored by his speeches, from his dictation, to his delivery, although she knew of them beforehand, she would still be awed by his speeches. We can't help but see Churchill through the eyes of Elizabeth Layton and we also get to love this character albeit with great character flaws.

Churchill was needed during this Darkest Hour of Britain so much so that when the war ended he lost in the next general election. As of this writing, this movie is currently being shown on Netflix.

Shining Bright on our Darkest Hour (2017)

When your son is kidnapped, what would you do? Usually if you are a rich guy, you simply pay off the kidnappers and be done with it. But in this movie by Mel Gibson he did the unthinkable.

When millionaire Tom Mullen's (played by Mel Gibson) was kidnapped during a science fair, they were contacted by the kidnappers to pay up USD2,000,000 for the boy. FBI stepped in and helped in the payment of the ransom to have the boy released. During the hand off, something went wrong and the deal didn't push through.

The kidnappers arranged for another drop but then Tom had another idea. Instead of handing over the money, he decided to go on live television and made the money as a bounty on the heads of the kidnappers. This move was unknown to his wife Kate (played by Rene Russo) and much to the frustration of the FBI who was against this idea. His move might antagonize the kidnappers and harm the kid. This turn of events irked the kidnappers and sent over a bloodied shirt of their Sean. Tom angered by this show, he increased the bounty to USD4,000,000.

Noting the escalation of the bounty and the non payment by Tom, the kidnappers are now arguing with each other. Their precious money is now gone and they are afraid people will be after them because of the reward money. A couple of them tries to flee but the leader, NYPD Detective Jimmy Shaker (played by Gary Sinise) shot at them, cutting off loose ends, while he called the New York Police for assistance.

With the kidnappers dead, Shaker becomes a hero for finding the boy. Tom and Kate went over the place and got their son back. Everything was going well then Shaker got the shakes. His reward was scheduled days away and he was afraid he would be found out as the leader of the kidnappers and persuaded Tom to give him the reward money right away. While his cheque was being prepared, Tom's son heard their conversation and froze after hearing his voice. This made Tom realize Shaker's character and proceeds to give him a faulty cheque. Shaker noticed the fake signature and proceeds to kidnap Tom so they can go to the bank for his money. Shaker also demanded Tom to have ready his private jet for his getaway. Tom fakes a call to his pilot but he really called the FBI secretly telling them of his situation.

The police then converge on both outside the bank and shots were fired hitting the police, the Tom and Shaker were now grappling for the latter's gun. Tom eventually won the gun and aimed it towards Shaker. He didn't fire upon him however Shaker pulled another gun but was shot by the FBI then he was arrested.

Mel Gibson and Rene Russo are great as doting loving parents here. Distraught by kidnapping, they showed how vulnerable they were. Very much different personas they exude as lovers in Lethal Weapon, another movie that they were paired together. Gary Sinise is to watch for here in this movie. I love his performance here more than the two and he doesn't disappoint.

A kidnapping movie with a twist, Ransom is something a must watch for me as a thriller movie. Story telling wasn't boring, drama as it is, it kept me interested even though I hate drama movies. Currently showing on Netflix, something worthwhile to watch during the time of Mel Gibson's famous days.

Turning the Tables - Ransom (1996)

With both Anthony Hopkins and Jonathan Pryce in a movie, what could go wrong? When we saw the poster plastered on Netflix, I knew this would be a great movie. I fervently prayed that all the rest like directorial touch, the writing, the screenplay, cinematography would not fail these two great actors. If this was an action film, maybe I can forgive the storyline and all the rest and just rely on the stunts. Theirs was a dramatic film and I bore easily with these kind of genre if not properly handled well by production people.

Gladly they pull it off with style. This movie now is the best movie this writer has watched for my entire lifetime. I have not been a religious of lot lately and I had thoughts going over the content when I decided to watch this film. I relied on both actors to bring home the story to my heart and again, I do hope it won't bore me with the details. Bore me it did not.

The movie I thought would be carried by these two great actors, but I was wrong. The story in itself was the home run and the two simply were just the messengers. The continuity of the scenes were superb and I was not confused with the back stories that pop up more often during the first part of the film. When drama movies give you lull time in the story to afford your mind wander or heaven forbid let you fall asleep, this one affords none of that. When you think there's a lull, the scenes are important to the story, of how it affected our hero in Cardinal Bergolglio (played by Jonathan Pryce), who later on became Pope Francis.

To give you the synopsis, the movie is a biopic about Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, a priest raised in Argentina. Its based on a true story of sorts based on history and speeches he and Cardinal Ratzinger aka Pope Benedict XVI (played by Anthony Hopkins). These two had opposing views on religion, financial and politics and there was a gap in between them that the movie bridged to create a story of what those conversations between might have been.

Early in the film, Cardinal Bergoglio got engaged and was about to go into marriage details when suddenly he passed by a church and had a chance to talk to a priest. That conversation he took as a sign for priesthood so he broke off his engagement and pursued his vocation. Argentina at that time was rocked with political turmoil and the movie mentioned his fight with the government was very much different with what others did, so this made him look like he sided with the oppressive regime, branding him as a traitor for those who opposed the government. This stigma hounded him for many years thus he continued paying the price of penance by doing service to the masses. Even when he was made a Bishop, he did not live like one, he refused the lifestyle of a Bishop and went on with his chores humbly. Consider it as his penance he mentioned in the movie. When he became a cardinal, he became a worthy rival with Cardinal Ratzinger for Papal position for which he lost. He didn't desire the position for which other Cardinals push him for, so when he went back to Argentina, he asked for an early retirement. After getting no response from the Pope, he proceeded to the Vatican to appeal for his letter, only to be called upon by the Pope himself. Upon his arrival, a series of talks ensued that made the movie grand as we call it. The battle of wits and words are so monumental in this stage, that we were enamored with the two opposing views. In the end, Pope Benedict XVI renounced the papal throne and went on with this retirement. The movie then showed Cardinal Bergoglio winning the seat unanimously and went on to be Pope Francis who wanted nothing of tradition and immediately went in front of the catholic religion with humble robes, not much of the fanfare his previous popes had undergone.

Religious films are not page turners they say but this one really stuck with this writer in the gut. There were a lot of scenes worthy of mentioning, the scene wherein Pope Benedict on the time he heard the voice of God since his early priesthood days until he became Pope and somehow lost that voice, until he heard it again telling him about Cardinal Bergoglio. We also liked the scene wherein Cardinal Bergoglio shared a mass with his Father Jalics (whom was incarcerated by the Argentine government and was tortured ) whom he reconciled with. Cardinal Bergoglio for years felt that his efforts to save him wasn't enough and he was hounded by this fact. During said mass, both hugged in tears and Cardinal Bergoglio was forgiven by Father Jalics, a very strong scene indeed. We were touched by this gesture of Father Jalics. There was a scene midway about Cardinal Bergoglio extolling how Germany and Argentina would be great teams in the finals of the world cup, and Pope Benedict didn't know much about football, in the ending credits, it showed both men watching the two teams battle it off in the finals. It was great to see Cardinal Bergoglio (now Pope Francis) rooting for Argentina, complete with the team's banner and shouting. During this time, Pope Benedict (now called Cardinal Ratzinger after his renouncement) realized the game's excitement, proceeded with their play of wit and words and with additional jovial banter against each other.

Clearly the movie was wonderfully made that I forgot about the two great actors and focused more on the story. This was a great movie and we hope future movies can be made like this. Your eyes get filled with wonderful scenes of Argentina and the Vatican, and your mind filled up as well about how these two view about their religion. They may not have evangelized the catholic religion in the film but surely their actions and words here would have done so easily.

Currently being in Netflix and we STRONGLY suggest you watch this one.

A grand movie of religious proportions - The Two Popes (2019)

During the 1990s when you see Michael Douglas on the poster you immediately would want to watch that movie. We don't know how but somehow this dashing actor, even when he looks the same in most of his movies, can pull off that character and make it unique for that movie. When he was in the American President, we loved him as the president. He played Gordon Gecko in Wall Street, we loved him as that shrewd and greedy businessman, and in other roles in Fatal Attraction, Basic Instinct and Falling Down to name a few.

Now he comes here as Ed Leland, a hotshot lawyer that doubles as a spy for the US Government and we now love him as the spy. We may not see him put out some spy shit here but hell, we believed him to be so in this movie.

Paired with Douglas is Melanie Griffith playing Linda Voss. A half German half Irish girl who grew up in New York City. She became the translator cum secretary then lover to our Ed Leland. In a stroke of luck, she volunteers to be a spy inside Germany as she is qualified she says like a German butchers wife. She was to gather intelligence for a secret weapon Germany was creating against the Allied forces during World War II. She was inserted as a cook but her dishes went array and their mission is almost scrubbed when suddenly she was hired as a nanny for a much higher ranking officer, Franz-Otto Dietrich (played by Liam Neeson). Here she was able to get the information she needed and that helped in the war against Germany.

The movie is well made, the story line was solid, the back stories were short and sweet, the side stories about her cousins and the betrayal of her friend Margrete Von Eberstein (played by Joely Richardson) were good enough to add some spice to the movie. There are dull moments in the film, each lull in the story telling are important thus keeps you glued to the screen.

To be honest, we were never a fan of Melanie Griffith but somehow in this one, we were. The movie was tailored fit for a heroine and we were glad she pulled off a great performance. We recommend that you watch this film if you get a chance as this is a great spy romance thriller drama of a movie. Sadly its not on Netflix at the time of this writing, but we are confident this is shown on Amazon Prime.

Women Bravery in Shining Through (1992)

Walter Mitty is a Negatives Custodian at Life Magazine and he tends to do his work as boring as it everyday. He tries to make his life meaningful and exciting by day dreaming. He does this unknowingly that he "zones" out. He simply stands there point blank, so some of his workmates make fun of him.

He regularly daydreams to make up for uninteresting work and personal life and that sometimes it takes much of his time already. His life took another turn for the exciting (in real life) when their top photographer sends him the 25th film negative that is the consequential of life. The problem is, he can't find it when it was sent to him.

When his boss asks him for it, he delays answering as he would like to find it for himself. This search for the negative, gave him courage to finally get out of his comfort zone and tried to look for it by asking the photographer himself, Sean O'Connell (played by Sean Penn). Sean is constantly moving based on his assignments and its up to Walter (played by Ben Stiller) to find him.

His search for Sean took him over oceans, over volcanoes, over mountains battling horny argentinians for a bike, holding off sharks, or simply keeping quiet because of the mountain cats. Very much an exciting life comparable to his daydreams. Each hurdle he overcomes, took him away each time from his daydreaming. Making him take control of his life more each time.

The title of the film is the Secret Life of Walter Mitty as this pertains to his daydreaming. With that slowly fading, the movie shows the growing confidence in Walter to handle his own in real life.

Ben Stiller is the director of this film and we liked how he did this in total. The picturesque volcano, the storm in the ocean was great, the skateboarding in Iceland was breath taking and the 25th film negative was surprisingly heartwarming. We love his acting here also as he takes on a dramatic role in this film. Kristin Wiig here as his love interest, she did pull off something here. Two comedians in a dramatic film? Highly unlikely a production can pull off such a revolt, but this? Surely its one for the revolution.

The addition of Sean Penn was a top notch. His brief role here truly brought the house down. A truly great performer. Hands down we liked him here.

In conclusion, don't judge the film by the trailer. The movie is a gem and some critics might have other opinions about it, but we really would push one to you. I can maybe rank this film just a few notches below that of Forrest Gump.

The Not So Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013)

Synopsis

A dog named Bailey gets adopted by a young boy named Ethan. Both somehow created a bond so strong that it spanned decades and a few dog reincarnations later. In the end the Bailey (reincarnated for the last time in the movie) gets to reunite with the old Ethan. Both went happy ever after.

If you are a pet lover, then this movie is for you. It showed both perspectives of the boy and his dog, but primarily its the dog doing most of the talking. A beautiful story of bonding and love between owner and pet, every time Bailey reincarnates, the movie shows a different experience with his new owners. Good or bad, he learns from each owner, all the while builds his character on his way back to his original owner, Ethan.

Reuniting simply with his human wasn't enough though. Bailey must make Ethan know that he is Bailey in another dog breed. This film somehow may lost some credibility with most of its critics. How on earth would a dog tell his human he was the same dog he got as a boy? For us here in PMC, we don't care about logic as we focused more on the story by itself, of how emotions ran high and our anticipation of how will Ethan know its still his dog Boss Dog namedy Bailey?

Some critics down this film as a cheap tearjerker of a movie as every time the dog dies, you cry. When Ethan realizes its Bailey you cry. Cheap shots they say, but for us, its a simple story told effectively and touches our very soul, thus we cry. And we need to feel human from time to time.

Great performance by Dennis Quaid here as the adult Ethan. We truly connected with him here much to our delight. The flow of the film was adequate, enough to tell a good story from the young Ethan to his new owners, then to Dennis Quaid. The film blossomed with Quaid and lent a great touch to the ending that we simply adore.

Call me emotional but this film really rocks in this department. Most of the critics may say this was their worst film choices, but this a winner in our books. Each time the dog dies which might have left some them feeling bad actually was essential to create a story. Consider it as a phase and necessary to build a story line of how life actually would look like to a dog, showing us Bailey's journey to find his purpose, a dog's purpose.

Who Let the Boss Dog Out - A Dogs Purpose (2017)

It was just like yesterday that I watched first this great film. Watching it again after 18 years always fascinates me. Seldom you find movies with two big name stars in them, and this one had our favorite Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson. Both well respected names in the movie industry.

Now Jack here plays Edward Cole, a rich hospital owner who develops cancer and gets in the same room with Morgan Freeman playing Carter, as a aging car mechanic. Both guys have cancer and they stayed in the room long enough to become friends. One day Carter was scribbling something and Cole got wind of the paper. It was Carter's bucket list.

A bucket list is a person's to do list before he or she "kicks the bucket" or die. Since both of our leads have weeks or months to live, they want to do all of those in the list as soon as possible. Good thing Cole is rich so both men got to travel places around the world to perform the ones in their joint bucket list.

Their list is a mix of detailed things to do like, driving a muscle car and sky diving. Some items were a bit complex and vague that they them selves have a hard time thinking of how to accomplish them. These difficult tasks proved to be most meaningful to them when they did them.

The journey started out first as trivial and filled with adventure, then turned emotional when the two really got to know each other very well in the process. The items on the list that we love are the following;

"kiss the most beautiful girl in the world"

"help a total stranger for the good"

"see something majestic"

Their friendship grew so strong that both were at each others throats and comes to the aid of another when in need. Even in death did not stop them from achieving their bucket list, with help from another friend.

To be technical about the film, which you can google yourself, the movie deals in 5 stages when dealing with death. Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and Acceptance. All these were presented by both lead characters and maybe some of the supporting as well.

A film about death that's presented nicely and not in a gloomy manner. The film does paint an alternative picture of how to handle the delicate subject matter. A great under rated film, and a must watch if you ask this writer.

Currently its shown on Netflix, so you don't need to search far and wide just to watch this awesome film. Glad that Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman didn't disappoint, in fact both shined in this movie.

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Sorry but i can't be more detailed as to how they managed to perform the three things I mentioned here. I leave it up to you watch the film and enjoy it as much as I did when I watched it.

The Bucket List (2007)

Math transcends over life and really it does with this movie. For a Filipino, we may not easily feel what dark colored people felt much less women had to undergo through during the 1960s. All we know are we have read about them or have seen movies about the struggles they have to go through and succeed at the end. This movie is like that, it sets you up with who they are, where they are, and when they try to improve their lives, life simply would like to throw them back from which they came.

The movie is about three extra ordinary ladies with great passion for success and used their mathematical prowess in the process. Why wouldn't they showcase their number crunching skills when they are working in NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration). This is the perfect environment for which they can shine. Of how the color of their skin dictates where they should be, and being women, they are regarded as second class citizens in their own country. Talk about the tumultuous 60s. Nowadays equality is the game but weren't so back then.

Recently NASA recognized these women in their contributions to the space program of the United States of America and this movie pushes that envelope still.

The movie in itself was great even though this writer hates dramas, but this one was an exception. Direction and editing was superb, story was clear, scenes were fluid, the message was clearly shown to us viewers. Clearly these women are remarkable in what they did and I felt the movie personifies their ambitions, struggles and accomplishment. What a great way to reward these wonderful individuals to the pursuit of mankind into greatness.

If you haven't watched this movie, we do suggest you should. Never mind the boring talks, but you won't notice it as story telling is great in this movie, you will never know the movie is already near end.

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Math Does Not Discriminate in "Hidden Figures"

In the era of "Bad" movies, like Bad Santa, Bad Grampa and Bad boys, Bad Moms isn't that bad. Really? Of course not, we all love our moms so they won't be that bad.. Really... LOL

Now going into the film, it features Mila Kunis as a mom of two kids in a dysfunctional marriage who tries to be the best mom yet. All moms would like to be the best thus this movie relates to most people in its intended genre. In her journey to be the best mom, we see her going from one mishap to another. These instances reach to a point that she thinks of herself as a bad mom and simply gives up. Not literally of course, she didn't ditch her kids but instead she tries to do things which she had deprived herself of doing. This move is what makes the movie an entertaining one.

Joined by two other moms, they lead an adventure into the unknown world of being bad moms, with the help of red wine of course. The bad triumvirate then challenges the best mom norms in the Parent Teacher Association (PTA) lead by Cristina Applegate whom we found to be quite a character in the movie.

A film about badness actually is a great movie. Acting by the main characters are so good, you will forget some flaws here and there and focus on the more important stuff. That moms maybe bad to some viewers, but never they were negligent of their kids here. Everyone shined here lead by Mila Kunis herself who was exceptional. Minus the red wine, minus the make out sessions, the lesson herein was clear. That mom's are a hard working bunch and they need some TLC as well.

A surprise hit movie for me, we highly recommend watching this thing until the end credits. Hit us an email at info.katooga@gmail.com if you like the end credits showing.

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Being Good - Bad Moms

Reviewing a movie shown since 1999 would be a confusing one for you our readers. Yes, Bicentennial Man was shown 1999 and for most you, you might not have been born yet. Although this maybe the case, it still noteworthy to resurrect the same. With the advent of Netflix, this movie was resurrected from whence it was kept. It made us realize that we need drum up interest for this wonderful movie by Isaac Asimov.

The cast is headed by Andrew (A name given to the lead character who's a robot by its first master). Played by the legendary actor Robin Williams, although known as a comedian, he brought to light Andrew's character to humanly heights. No mean feat to impersonate a robot who wants to be a human.

During the early part of the film we are shown his "robotic" faults, maybe there's something wrong with his programming or severed neuron wires, he was showing human traits. These baffled his owner Sir Richard Martin (played by Sam Neill) and one of these instances was Andrew carving out a wooden toy for Litte Miss, Martin's daughter. A robot can replicate a toy to a T provided that a template is provided. In Andrew's case there was no template, it was from sheer memory that he was able to create one. Making him regard Andrew as human and he finally "taught" how to be one.

In this film, it came to a point where "freedom" was discussed. We are so used to be free that we don't know what it is to be one until the film elaborated how to have one's freedom. Of what responsibilities that entail to maintain such freedom.

After freedom, Andrew learned the value of mortality. He realized that humans eventually wither and die. He saw his love ones age and eventually were no longer with him. It then propelled him to search for immortality for humans. With his AI getting smarter, he partnered with an engineer and proceeded to create himself as a human. In the process has helped the humans to prolong life and eradicate some of the body's frailties.

Its a bummer when your AI brain got smarter and smarter, he develops emotions and love. Yes a robot with feelings, yet when he tries to express this, the humans took this trait lightly. One such case is when he met Little Miss' grand daughter Portia. He got into euphoria when he is with her, and went in a jealous fit when Portia was engaged. All this while, his programming was still in robotic state. Portia meanwhile has feelings for Andrew as well but couldn't commit to him because he is still a "robot". Even with technological advancements made to upgrade Andrew's body, he was still stymied by his programming.

What Sir Richard Martin teaching him to be human, its was still short of success. It was Portia who finally completed his AI training. Andrew understood how irrational humans are and finally went over the hill and had "human" thinking. Of course with the help of technology, Andrew had human feeling skin and was able to feel how a kiss would feel and eventually able to have sex.

Like in all happy endings, Portia fell in love with Andrew, however society still would not grant them the sanctity of marriage. He was still regarded as a robot and robots don't age and die. As his love for Portia is great, he proceeded to prolong her life as he possibly can. With the realization brought about by the world leaders and with Portia's prodding, he understood that humans would eventually "die". He then did the unthinkable. When most people would value the immortality he possess, he made modifications to his body to degrade and eventually "die".

The last parts of the film truly is a game changer for the viewer. We have seen his struggles with his quest to be human yet we as humans don't value it as much as he is. This is what made this film strong and watchable in my viewpoint. The film invokes a lot of ideas to its viewers and gives us another perspectives on our lives as well.

I do hope that this review sits well with you and watch the film. I was not paid by Netflix nor I endorse them outright. I am only pushing for the film and I hope you can get a copy of it.

Pinoy Movie Club