Kawts Kamote: February 2012

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Film Notes: February 2012

Django (Sergio Corbucci, 1966) 5/5. I liked this more than The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, which I loved. I don't know if this was the prototype for Rodriguez' El Mariachi, it felt like that, I love how Django was in the end. Spaghetti Western yumyum.

A Trip to the Moon (Georges Méliès, 1902) [2011 Technicolor restoration of the hand-painted color print] - 5/5. seeing this film again in color is like seeing it for the first time. It's a lot clearer restoration too. Looks like this was made to be in color. Those colors highlights Melies' talent not just a film maker but as an illusionist too.

The Call of Cthulhu (Andrew Leman, 2005) 5/5. the mid-20's silent film style worked. Good thing it has few lines to read and a lot of great visual to see. Even though it consists of flashbacks to flashbacks, it's still not confusing. Great musical score too.

The Whisperer in Darkness (Sean Branney, 2011) 4/5. Branney's Leman's partner since the first HP Lovecraft Historical Society film, but here, he's the one now calling the shots. Though it was dealt good in the visuals, the feel for the 30's talkies was not sustained in the end, but is greatly felt in the chase scene on the near end. That lead actor is good.

Extract (Mike Judge, 2009) 4/5. This is the Mike Judge of Office Space doing a sex comedy that is sexy even without sex (all thanks to Mila Kunis and Kristen Wiig) and funny as hell.

Love in a Puff (Ho-cheung Pang, 2010) 5/5.

Bona (Lino Brocka, 1980) 5/5. for some reasons, Brocka's camera here reminds me of those of Von Trier (on handheld parts) and Haneke(longtakes). it's the camera that dictates its feel to me. Nora Aunor on minimal dialogue and all emotions: fantastic. That last scene where you could not hear any dramatic musical score but the sound of Philip Salvador screaming in pain: priceless.

Fullmetal Alchemist: Sacred Star of Milos (Kazuya Murata, 2011) 4/5. Not really bad for his debut as director, showed promise, hopefully the guy would take the path Kei-ichi Hara made after doing franchises. The weakest film of the franchise is still great. Conqueror of Shamballa still holds the throne. L'Arc~en~Ciel's songs are always welcome.
It's been great that there's less focus on the Elric Brothers here. Also that concept of the great city was awesome.

Life Without Principle (Johnnie To, 2011) 5/5 - it was a great surprise, a style which I haven't seen on other films that I saw of To. To's take on the global financial crisis and how it affected lives of everyone: from business men to ordinary people.

Class Picture (Gym Lumbera|Timmy Harn, 2011) 5/5. Super 8 film, there's more of Lumbera here. Its a nice idea to have a class picture taken on the seaside.

Hugo (Martin Scorsese, 2011) 2/5. Well, I can't get serious on all of it since it was a fictionalized Melies there. I wonder what the book might have been? Is it the same as the film? Anyways, Scorsese knew Melies' story a lot so I think no one could pull off this story than he is, I just expected more but I guess, I should not anymore. I'm getting tired of Scorsese's recent works.

Friday, February 10, 2012

Semi-updates...

February 10, wala pa rin akong napapanuod na pelikula, medyo marami-raming nangyari sa buhay buhay.

Black Rock Shooter

Most of the time, anime ang pinapanuod ko. Maganda yung Black Rock Shooter, may promise, kahit simple yung plot. Maganda yung story telling.
Yung style na ginamit parang yung sa Sucker Punch, mas maganda lang siya kesa dun sa pelikula ni Snyder. Yung battle sequences nag-rereflect ng inner battles ng characters. Superb yung animation, medyo fused traditional at computer-generated, dahil siguro sa limited budget, pero nagamit nila sa advantage ng series yung kakulangan nun.