Also available are Ishmael Bernal's "Relasyon" (An Affair, 1982; one of his best), Lino Brocka's "Macho Dancer" (1988; not one of his best-- but second-best...
Oil's well that ends well Noel Vera Steve Gaghan's "Syriana," based on the memoirs of Robert Baer (a former CIA case officer who worked in the Middle East), is...
Little boy blue Noel Vera "Capote"--about Truman Capote's five-year quest to write a book on the killing of a Kansas family, the friendship he develops with...
Doing the right thing Noel Vera "16 Blocks," Richard Donner's unpromisingly titled new action flick (it sounds like a movie about bricklayers) is, in effect,...
From David Kehr's blog: http://davekehr.com/?p=73 I've seen it happen in Manila; what was once a thriving industry churning out over a hundred and fifty films...
Doggie style Noel Vera The 1959 "Shaggy Dog," about a boy cursed with an ancient spell that would change him back and forth from the shape of a sheepdog, was ...
Ultraidiotic Noel Vera Kurt Wimmer's "Ultraviolet" (you keep wanting to insert an 'n' in the title) is about as stripped-down, no-nonsense as it gets, which ...
Four films Noel Vera Four films, by ascending levels of quality: Paul Haggis' "Crash" has half a dozen characters ramming into each other, and instead of them...
Rant Noel Vera I like the theory that operas actually need their relatively melodramatic plots. It's the nature of the medium to heighten emotions, and nothing...
My article on Philippine horror films at monstersandcritics.com: http://tinyurl.com/omtmr (Apparently you have to be patient; it takes time to download the ...
In the mode for love By Noel Vera Critics seem to feel that Wong Kar Wai's latest film "2046" (2004) is inferior to his previous "In the Mood for Love," made...
Middling lucky By Noel Vera In Wayne Kramer's "The Cooler" (a 2003 movie for some reason being released in Manila only now) the eponymous character not only...
Sri Lankan rights group fears ban on film about incest: http://www.aletteroffire.info/common/news.htm The protest letter I sent in response: It should be noted...
Horribly funny Noel Vera What with very real horrors readily visible in news broadcasts (from Iraq, for one), escapist horror seems the order of the day in the...
Foreskin Noel Vera "Europa Europa" makes for a fascinating parable despite the fact that- -or perhaps especially because--much of the story is true. Salomon ...
Some thoughts on Miyazaki's latest film: http://journals.aol.com/noelbotevera/MyJournal/entries/1040 Excerpt: Hayao Miyazaki's version of Diana Wynne Jones'...
There's got to be a mozzarella Noel Vera What with the release of Wolfgang Petersen's very visible "Poseidon" (2006), about a ship capsized by what they call a...
Mission inedible Noel Vera Hello, Tom. Your two previous big-screen missions as IMF operative Ethan Hunt have been quite successful. Your first, directed by...
So dumb the crap of Brown Noel Vera It would be tempting to consider "The Da Vinci Code" a kind of corrective to "The Passion of the Christ," the kind of movie...
Geek tragedy Noel Vera Dennis Dugan's "The Benchwarmers"--oh hell, who are we kidding? This is garbage, the people who made this know it's garbage, the ...
Two French classics and a lovely Filipino film Noel Vera The 2006 French Film Festival opens with a platter of recent Gallic offerings and a few classics, but...
Smooth operator By Noel Vera Spike Lee's "Inside Man" isn't the work of an outsider, the kind of iconoclast filmmaker that Spike used to declare himself to be...
An American hilarity Noel Vera Courtney Solomon's "An American Haunting" right off takes a high spot on my list of the five most awful pictures this year, even...
The Last "Prairie" Show Noel Vera Robert Altman's "A Prairie Home Companion" (2006) is flat-out wonderful, and he could do worse than end his career on this ...
Little boy blue Noel Vera With "Superman Returns" Bryan Singer--who I've always thought more clever than talented--pretty much remakes the 1978 movie with ...
Is it safe? Noel Vera Bill Condon's "Kinsey" (2004) at first sight was your standard- issue, well-made, intelligently tasteful biopic, in a year that teemed...
Shellfish buffet Noel Vera My dear Mr. Verbinski; Greetings from the captain of the "Black Pearl," and congratulations on your commercial success. It has been...
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