Lame "high" By Noel Vera I couldn't believe some of the reviews Mike Mitchell's "Sky High" has been getting--and from reputable periodicals, too: "family ...
Rock bottom Noel Vera Bruce Hunt's "The Cave" pretty much proves that the wellspring of more original ideas is close to running dry in mainstream Hollywood. ...
Double, double, toil and trouble Noel Vera Terry Gilliam's "The Brother's Grimm" received poor notices from such reviewers as Manohla Dargis of the New York...
Time out Noel Vera The official line is that Peter Hyams' "A Sound of Thunder," his Hollywood adaptation of the short story by famed writer Ray Bradbury, is a...
Portrait of the Anguished as a Filipino Noel Vera I first encountered Lav Diaz's rather unique sensibility in Joey Gosengfiao and Lily Monteverde's Good...
Two from Cine Europa '05 Noel Vera Cedric Klapisch's "L'Auberge espagnole" (The Spanish Apartment, 2002) focuses on a communal apartment in Barcelona being...
Heart of darkness Noel Vera Alfred Hitchcock's "Notorious" (1946) is the earliest film I can think of that equated espionage and infidelity: both require...
Death and the mother Noel Vera Instituto Cervantes' "Pelikula IV" kicks off this end of September at Greenbelt Cinema 1 with not just Spanish but a variety of...
The man of a thousand movies Noel Vera A thousand may be an exaggeration--but not too much. The title of his 1990 autobiography says it all: " How I Made a...
A story of violence Noel Vera In "A History of Violence," David Cronenberg's loose adaptation of John Wagner's graphic novel, Tom Stall (Viggo Mortensen) is...
Cine in Manila Noel Vera Cinemanila 2005--finally, held in what should be its proper venue, the city of Manila--is showing a choice selection of international ...
A short review of "Critic After Dark: A Review of Philippine Cinema:" "There isn't exactly a surplus of literature on the output of Southeast Asia's most...
Look, ma, all hands! Noel Vera Not exactly true: Steve Box and Nick Park's "Wallace and Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit" features a few CGI fog effects...
From "Bacharach in Bangkok" <http://www.philstar.com/philstar/lifestyle200510240501.htm> Penman by Butch Dalisay Philippine Star 10/24/05 The only book I...
Family planning Noel Vera You might say Robert Rodriguez's "The Adventures of Shark Boy and Lava Girl in 3-D" is really a family affair: his brother and sister...
Ten treasures Noel Vera Sometimes you don't want what's easily available by the dozens at your local video chain, or in the nearest multiplex; sometimes you ...
Dutt's Entertainment: ten immortal Indian musicals When most people think of Indian movies, they think of "Bollywood," of men and women in colorful costumes,...
Forgotten masterpiece Noel Vera Akira Kurosawa's 1951 film "The Idiot," his adaptation of Dostoevsky's novel, is pretty much forgotten now, or is rarely ...
I Yam What I Yam By Noel Vera Max and Dave Fleischer took E.C. Segar's popular cartoon character "Popeye the Sailor" and ran away with it, creating a series of...
Gobble, gobble Cuaron introduced a bit of jazz to his film, and it was a breath of fresh air and sophistication; Newell mainly relies on John William's usual...
Little girl lost Noel Vera "Domino" is crap, that's more or less a given--it's directed by Tony Scott, after all--the real question is, how badly does it reek?...
Passable Noel Vera Ben Younger's latest movie "Prime" is like a younger version of one of Woody Allen's romantic comedies, which isn't as bad as you'd think,...
Matters little Noel Vera It's been whispered in the halls: Disney has not been looking too healthy recently. Michael Eisner has been bumped off as the ...
Ida Lupino: hard, fast, and beautiful Noel Vera Ida Lupino was a Hollywood anomaly, a woman who wasn't just a lovely or talented actress, but a filmmaker with...
Smog Noel Vera It's not as if John Carpenter's "The Fog" was a classic, or the best work Carpenter ever did. The movie turned on the premise that a fog ...
Monkey see, monkey do Noel Vera You could imagine Peter Jackson as a nine-year-old, boy seeing Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack's 1933 "King Kong" for...
Unfortunately I've never seen Tony Perez's Sa North Diversion Road onstage, but it's easy to see why this is a perennial theater favorite, constantly being...
A creditable "Chronicle" Noel Vera C.S. Lewis' "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," first of seven tales about the land of Narnia, finally gets the...
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