Doomed Messages in "The Messenger"

There are those whose job is to deliver news of the death of enlisted soldiers to their next of kin (NOK) - and I don't pity them.

In "The Messenger", war vet Will Montgomery (Ben Foster) is suddenly assigned to perform such duty just a few months shy from completing his tour of duty. And he is under the direct stewardship of Captain Tony Stone (Woody Harrelson) who is morose and detached from any emotional ties. But try as he might, Will feels compelled to do more than what he is ordered to do. As a child, he was exposed to a drunk driver - his father! As an adult, he feels the need to reach out!

And little did I realize that part of this duty involves the procedural do's & don't's that hardly make sense: you cannot show emotion, you cannot touch the next-of-kin; no physical contact; no pats or condoling embraces; stuff that segregates humanity from the rest of the animal kingdom.

Ben Foster finally acquires gravitas. He was initially tentative but grew into the character of Will Montgomery. In this movie, Foster joins the big leagues of real actors. So does Woody Harrelson snagged a supporting actor nomination for his multi-layered Tony Stone. His moment comes after Will relates an anecdote of why he didn't deserve to be called a hero (a gritty account of how he escaped death while a comrade was blown to pieces).

Soundbites from Harrelson's character: "We had R&R with Filipino hookers - and we were on-call!" Ouch!

"I look best when I brood," Ben postures.

Grey Gardens - Drew Barrymore and Jessica Lange Scorch in Fact-Based Drama

The aristocratic Beales have fallen on hard times, and their fortunes have turned around from being Park Avenue debutants to eccentrics living in squalor. They live at their rundown estate in Long Island. Though this may seem like a regular story in this age of recession, Edie (Drew Barrymore) and Edie (JessicaLange) Beale are no ordinary citizens. They are first cousin and aunt of American royalty Jackie Onassis Kennedy. As their fortunes dwindled, they withdraw from New York society, taking shelter at their East Hampton summer home, "Grey Gardens." As their wealth and contact with the outside world fizzled, so did their grasp on reality. They were reintroduced to the world when international tabloids learned of a health department raid on their home, and Jackie O swooped in to save her relatives.

Drew Barrymore makes the performance of her lifetime and Jessica Lange is stunning. I know I have the documentary somewhere - The Beales of Grey Gardens, so I'm gonna watch this too. I loved the musical numbers that featured duets by Jessica Lange and Broadway star (and Emmy nominee) Malcolm Gets (he portrayed Gould, Edie's musical boytoy).

Lange already won her Emmy for Best Actress in a Miniseries or Movie, while Drew got her Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild (SAG) for the same category. Well deserved recognitions.

Younger Edie eternally covers her hair with a veil. She suffers from alopecia.

Broadway star Malcolm Gets.

The beautiful set of the Broadway play "The Story of My Life" starring Malcolm Gets. Just wanted to share this.

Old Dogs Never Say Die

Dan (Robin Williams) is shaken upon learning that he fathered twins from former lover Vicki (Kelly Preston). Moreover, he must take care of them while Vicki serves a prison sentence (she trespassed)! Along with the ride is his bestfriend and business partner Charlie (the pudgy yet adorable John Travolta) who's in the middle of a lucrative deal that would turn their business global and take them to Tokyo. Amidst these predicaments are silly expectations of romance, babysitting disasters, and errr... closing the car trunk on a hand model's hand (the hilarious Rita Wilson)!

There's not a lot of pleasure to be had in this Walt Becker movie - in fact, "Old Dogs" feels, well, "old" - like you've seen it before and you're just going for the ride, but it sure beats paying P160 to agonize while watching Pinoy indie movies (I've had the misfortune to watch 3 bad ones - "Puntod", "Chub Chaser", "Fidel" for January alone - and there's 1 more week to complete this list!) Shivers!

John Travolta - back when his name was synonymous with "Perfect" - which became a title for his movie with Jamie Lee Curtis!

Dax Shepard is child-safety engineer (sans the degree) in "Old Dogs"!

Megafault is Catastrophic

I found this on my shelf and 2 things immediately struck me: 1. the recent death of 32 year old screen darling Brittany Murphy; 2. the catastrophic aftermath of a fatal earthquake in poverty-stricken Haiti. Though the movie is a major turkey and offered no educational insight into the disaster (everything is elementary science), it made me painfully aware of how fragile our Earth is.

Spoilers here! But Eriq Lasalle's heroism seemed avoidable. And I was wondering what exactly Murphy's character (she was a seismologist) did to help, other than point out into maps. I was half wishing that the earth would swallow all the bad and pretentious indie filmmakers so I didn't have to pay P160 every time they come out with films on commercial screens. It will absolutely save me thousands of pesos for the year 2010.

She sang for us in "Happy Feet"; she cried in "8 Mile"; she giggled in "Clueless". May she rest in peace.

Justin Hartley cools down.

Justin was born to be super; he played Aquaman then the villainy Green Arrow in "Smallville". Wasn't the Green Arrow a good guy in the comic world?

Legion - Rewriting Faith

Sometimes, even the most engrossing movies crumble when their basic premise is as preposterous as rewriting faith.

In "Legion", the Almighty God that we know has lost His faith on humanity. The first time this happened, He sent the floods. This time around, He sent angels and turned them executioners. Though the narrative made effective use of mood and the you-and-me-against-the-world syndrome (a group of strangers are trapped at a diner in the middle of the desert, fending for themselves against monsters), all of this is hobbled by the aforementioned pseudo-religious predicament that even involves a "child that will save the Earth" (who sent the child if God did not? - and who was the child supposed to be, the Second Christ?).

Paul Bettany (the rebellious Archangel Michael) makes for a believable angel-turned-human-turned-action star. His fight with Archangel Gabriel was edge-of-your-seat fun! But I left the theater deeply disturbed, "God lost His faith?" They must refer to another entity because the God that I know has boundless mercy, kindness and compassion. And if He wills to end humanity as we know it, why send ineffective zombies?

Paul Bettany turns wingless.

Angel Michael taking a dip.

Lucas Black learns to fight back.

Fidel - Chronicles of a Fallen Man

For the first 45 minutes, we were subjected to an endless barrage of question-and-answer - "Did he kill the Arab?"; ""I killed him!" This sentiment was irritatingly repeated ad nauseam until I was almost tempted to throw my Coca Cola at the silver screen. Almost everyone in the movie was given his 10-minute spotlight to grieve for Fidel (Lance Raymundo) - the saint who couldn't swat a fly but who bludgeoned an Arab (Jon Hall) to death. Every written character contributed to an annoyingly amateurish work that once again underscored why the digital wave isn't such a good thing.

Of course we already know 10 minutes into the movie that Fidel was raped, but whatever urgency that this brings to the narrative is diluted by the over-the-hill performances and too many scenes that didn't deserve to be mounted on screen. As the movie comes to an end, what was meant as an explosive scene - where Von Arroyo goes ballistic from out of the blue - only highlighted the glaring hilarious excesses of a storyteller who's tentative of where his story was headed!

Heto pa: The morons (who represented the government) mouthed diplomatic jargons - and i was reduced to fits of laughter. Honey, the international community does NOT care about Filipinos in Dubai death row. CNN pa?

And if you haven't noticed, Fidel actually killed his Arab employer to avenge his "deflowering" - not as a means of self defense! He acted on impulse way after the alleged crime of "rape" was committed. In fact, he was already released from his "bondage" when he suddenly attacked his employer! THAT, my dear, is not just manslaughter but MURDER!

In Fidel's case, there is the intent to do injury, the willful disregard for life; a state of mind referred to as malice aforethought!

Fidel deserves to rot in jail because he placed the law into his own hands! The death of the Arab didn't happen during Fidel's struggle to defend himself!

Hay naku!

Wasted effort!

Singing himself to sleep - in prison.

Tooth Fairy Revisited

Dwayne Johnson loves to make fun of himself. Just imagine a strapping 6'3" muscular hulk wearing pink tights with fluffy feathery wings and ruffled blouse - the image readily begs humor.

In "Tooth Fairy", Johnson succeeds in entertaining an audience that doesn't expect much from what's on view at the big screen. But his self deprecating humor transcends, and we are rewarded with an escapist's night at the movies. I half expected to hate it (just like "Chipmunks"), but its winsome set of characters eventually cast their spell on me: Julie Andrews, the much missed Ashley Judd, the hilarious Billy Crystal, et.al.

"Let me contemplate in peace," says Dwayne.

Chase Ellison as the EMO son Randy. Chase is a veteran of a lot of TV shows ("7th Heaven", "Boomtown", "The Young and the Restless", "Deadwood" and some movies like Julia Roberts' "Fireflies in the Garden").

Ryan Sheckler plays Dwayne's "hockey rival" wonderboy Mick Donnelly. In real life, Sheckler is a champion skater - with sports merchandise named after him to boot!