A Message from Mr. Crisaldo Pablo - Director of Quicktrip - and my apologies

I received a message allegedly coming from director Crisaldo Pablo, director of the movie Quicktrip (see his comment from the review). In the spirit of equality, i allowed the message to be posted. Heck I even allowed the verbal diarrhea coming from those anonymous troglodytes!

Mr. Pablo, you can bet that i do not need comforting, but I am glad you admitted the debacle that happened on the first day screening of Quicktrip at the Robinsons Galleria last Wednesday. Everything that I pointed out was not a product of my imagination. You can put yourself in my shoes. Pay to watch a movie, then get those technical foul ups that my friend and I experienced. How can one go home without feeling shortchanged?

Strobing, intermittent sound, visuals that turn into blank blue screens, scenes that don't end and jumps to the beginning of the film, pixelated images - and thats just the technical stuff, which should NOT be my concern since I was there to actually concentrate on the narrative. Paying viewers are supposed to sit back and relax. Not to get confused why everything before them is so bad! As to the story, Click the City said it all. I was supposed to let it go although I earlier planned to write my thoughts in here.

The only thing i said about it was that it was a "DISASTER". Click the City used the same word - and MORE! He called it terrible! Yet, I get 2 commenters. And from the recesses of their idiocy, one of them joyously hoped that MY PARENTS BE MURDERED for having me? Just because I found your movie a disaster? You can bet on your ass that I am not gonna take it sitting down. I shall let my parents live for I believe they raised a fairly smart person - moi of course. That should pretty much explain your statement on why "parang gigil na gigil ka sa akin". I can only surmise that those people are your supporters. Talk about blind patronage. Kayo na nga ang nagkamali last wednesday - yet you don't expect people to huff and puff? Having said that, I think it is best that they be put in their proper place by putting things in their proper perspective: on how Quicktrip fared in the scheme of its genre.

This is what I think about you, and I don't care whether you agree or not: Duda/Doubt was indeed a good debut for you. It heralded the birth of a visual artist that is prodigious with fielding colour-rich canvasses on screen. The story was refreshing coz it tackled (during that time) homosexual taboos that are otherwise only discussed in hushed environment. But the succeeding films were not to my liking. I actually believed you had your redemption in Moreno. I liked that film. But Metlogs came, and Quicktrip came.

I am glad that Ricky Lee liked the film, and a host of other stellar names, including that director from Sarungbanggi which had horrible technicals but I LOVED nevertheless. I am glad that most of the people who spoke with you - including the grandest of critics! - liked Quicktrip! I did not! It is comforting to know that those aforementioned people have a taste way different from mine. To be honest about it, I don't really care. I care about what I pay to watch. The least that a paying viewer would expect from the movie that she paid to watch is that THE MOVIE WOULD AT LEAST FINISH SCREENING! That! At the very least!

Now as to your supporters - proud members of Anonymous International - I wish them "good taste" and not rely on blind patronage! They SHOULD LEARN from you who is gracious in accepting criticism. If I have hurt you in any way, I apologize, but you can thank those 2 thankless idiots for wishing MURDER on my parents, just because I called your movie "a disaster". Had they not gone too far, it would not have inspired the "review" below. And I do stand by what I wrote, hook, line and sinker! If you know those 2 anonymous commenters, they deserve the hugs that you offered. Such dedication.

Thank you for commenting. And thank you for being gracious with the criticism. I wish you another gem like "Moreno" on your next cinema outing.

Babylon A.D. - Better Left To Its Ancient Roots

I have been itchin' to watch the new Matheiu Kassovitz movie ever since I saw the trailer. Kassovitz is quite a French hottie who directed the neo-noir masterpiece "La Haine" (Hatred), a black and white cinematic essay on delinquency and violence in a French city. Kassovitz also starred in the sumptuous rom-com, Oscar-nominated "Amelie" where Kassovitz played Amelie's yummy OOD, as Kyle (one of my BFF) succinctly puts it. (OOD = object of desire) He has since directed the disappointing Hollywood thriller, "Gothika" where he was rumored to be fighting with his lead actress, Halle Berry.

So, it goes: Kyle made me a deal. If I accompany him to watch his bading flick at Robinson's Galleria, Crisaldo Pablo's Quicktrip (which was a disaster in all sense of the word), he shall accompany me to watch Kassovitz's Babylon A.D. Besides, bading flicks always seem to produce salivatory eyecandies with little substance - so we went! It was a fair deal.

I like Kassovitz. He has always churned out cerebral films - although he could do with a little more humor in his directorial pieces. And it's been awhile since I was able to watch a high-adrenaline, futuristic sci-fi adventure in the vein of the Terminator series.

SPOILER ALERT!

In a capsule, Vin Diesel plays Toorup who was tasked to safely "deliver" a special girl Aurora (Melanie Thierry, who reminds me of Uma Thurman) from Mongolia to America. The mission is risky. Toorup is a castaway vigilante who cannot enter the U.S., but as sci-fi flicks like this go, there is always a way to attain the impossible. What makes Aurora special? For starters, she started to speak at the age of 2. I did too and it didn't make me anything special. I can speak French. Oi oi oi! Merci! LOL. However, Aurora did her "yeses" in 19 languages! Moreover, there were things she could predict! And finally, she had an immaculate concepcion! And we're talking "twins"!

Now, bad bad girl Charlotte Rampling who plays the High Priestess has planned to secure these babies for the emergence of a super religion of sorts that will eventually dominate the civilized world! The new messiah multiplied by two! Imagine that! If this all seems too tall a story, it is! The characters were badly written. Read: they were boring, and I just couldn't empathize with their plight! I love Michelle Yeoh, who plays Sister Rebecca, who is tasked to take care of uber-Virgin Mary-wannabe Aurora, but the situations they were in didn't move me to sit back and enjoy! In fact, I was fidgeting on my seat! Whatever happened to my beloved Kassovitz? That's what he gets for standing me up at out dinner cruise along the Seine! Hahahaha!

With a narrative that inspires a lot of questions over questions, Babylon A.D. inspired me to bury the concept of this ancient mesopotamian city located in Babil, Iraq! It's better left undisturbed - for good! How was the big big man Mark Sinclair Vincent aka Vin Diesel? Let's just say I won't miss him for now.

Maybe when the latest incarnation of the film "The Fast and the Furious 4" opens June 2009, he shall do better? I probably wouldn't notice. My eyes will be fixed on the scrumptuous Paul Walker whom I have missed for ages! Kay Andrea del Rosario na lang si Vin! Paul is mine!


Touch my errrr... muscles.