When Sequels/Remakes Are Not Enough, You Gotta Breed Them!

I was supposed to finish a review but heck! This is more fun!
Note: Photos may take time to upload so please be patient...
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The League of ExtraViolent Gentlemen
There's no way out!

The most gruesome training ever!

He shouldn't have put the mask at all!

Killing is just a hobby! Wait till he gets serious with it!

I repeat, bring IT on!

Stuart wants another family! This time, he wants sisters!

There are lessons to be learned from Hellboy...

Two dirty jobs for a girl! But someone has to do it!

You've met your match, Samara!

The murder of Se7en!

A horror of epic proportions!

It's time to hit the stage!

Whoa! There's really something about Mary!

Which finger? Ouch!

Very clever, indeed!

What happens when your mom becomes Jason?!

What's hidden in those 8mm tapes, Eminem?

Place your bets!

Will magic work this time?

and
Lastly,

Be touched... Be hurt... Be very afraid...

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Source: Worth 1000

RP Movie Release Dates Updates (Sept.-Nov. 2005)

Rocketboy, see the highlighted movie! ;-)
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Sept. 21-27
• Dark Water
• Perfect Catch
• Land of the Dead
• Constant Gardener

Sept. 28 – Oct. 4
• The Transporter 2
• A History of Violence
• Perfect Man
• Dubai

Oct. 5-11
• Into the Blue
• The Man (Samuel L. Jackson)
• Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride
• Undiscovered (Released by Viva)
• The 40-Year Old Virgin

Oct. 12-18
• Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo
• Lord of War (Nicolas Cage)
• Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit (Animation)
• Ispiritista (Vic Sotto)

Oct. 19-25
• Doom (US Simultaneous Release – Oct. 21)
• Underclass Man
• The Adventures of Shark Boy and Lava Girl

Oct. 26 – Nov. 01
• The Legend of Zorro
• Sukob (Kris Aquino)

Nov. 2-8
• New World (Collin Farrel)
• Four Brothers (Mark Wahlberg)
• Waiting (Justin Long, Ryan Reynolds)

Nov. 9-15
• Flight Plan
• Beautiful Boxer
• Prime (Meryl Streep, Uma Thurman)

Nov. 16-22
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
• An Unfinished Life (Jennifer Lopez, Robert Redford)

Note: Play dates are subject to change
Related Post: RP's Movie Release Dates (Aug.24 - Dec. 25)

Red Eye

In the 80's, Wes Craven is very much synonymous to Freddie Krueger. In the 90's, although he made another version of Nightmare, the new generation knew him as the man behind the Scream franchise. In 1999, he took the drama department via Music of the Heart. I like the film but I wasn't very much fond of it. Maybe because Mr. Holland already got to me! :-) Also, I believe that he didn't make much of an impact in the said genre. This time around, he takes on the pyschological thriller genre under Red Eye.

Red Eye is about LisaReisert (Rachel McAdams) who would be going home to Miami after attending the funeral of her grandmother in a different state. She hates flying but it was a good thing that he met Jackson Ripner (Cillian Murphy - Batman Begins; 28 Days Later) moments before take off. He was charming and quite an interesting guy. A guy that seemed so perfect to take away her sadness only that their meeting was premeditated. What he wants from her was to do what he asked for or else, her father would be killed. During the flight, Lisa struggled with the thoughts of saving her and her father's life and doing what is right.

As a thriller, Red Eye is entertaining enough. It had a few cheap thrills that would make you glued to you seats at the very end. Wes Craven have seemed to have crafted the genre so well that he already knows where to hold the audience's excitement. However, as always with his suspense-filled movies, he overlooks the writing. There was a lot missing in it. During the time when Jackson divulge his motives, there wasn't enough tension between the characters that would permeate onto the audience. The danger wasn't felt as imminent. Because you don't know Lisa and her father that well, the audience failed to relate to them or root for their lives the way we did in Panic Room. Besides, her father looked like a gangster that, in the end, you'd think that he might be involve in the whole thing after all. (You could never tell. Twisted is how Scream ended, right?) Aside from that, you don't know anything much about the would-be victims to even care at all about their lives.

Don't get me wrong. Rachel and Cillian seemed to have done the best thing they could with a poorly-written script. But they could only do so much.

As a director, Wes Craven couldn't seemed to get away from his type of antagonists. Jackson seemed to be a Freddie Krueger-reincarnate. He exudes the creepiness and eerieness of the said character. Not to mention that he doesn't die that easily! I am not saying that it is bad but the verdict would still depend on how the audience would take it. I'd say, though, if Robert Englund decides to retire as Freddie, Cillian is a perfect candidate! Even if he looks way better than Robert!

My recommendation, see Red Eye for some entertainment. It won't hurt. It isn't even a waste of time and money. But don't expect much out of it. At the end of it all, it is all about cheap thrills that would get hold hold of you for an hour and a half!

Fever Pitch aka The Perfect Catch

I don't know if 2005's Fever Pitch is a remake (or adaptation) of 1997's Fever Pitch. But they sure both have the same plot. I haven't seen the latter but it starred Colin Firth (Bridget Jones's Diary; Hope Springs; Love, Actually) who was an obssessive baseball fan who met the love of his life. Only that he didn't know if he could balance both his love for baseball and his woman.

In the Farrelly Brother's Fever Pitch, Drew Barrymore plays Lindsay Meeks who is a workaholic and spends most of her time at work. She has been longing for a relationship and is looking for "the one". However, all she meets are guys from her own circle - hardworking as she is and could be temperamental. Then she meets Ben Wrightman (Jimmy Fallon) and his kid, i.e. his students who toured around her office. He brought them in her office just to show them that Geometry (or Math) is not a worthless subject. There are actual people who made a career out of it!

On their way of Lindsay's office, one of Ben's students teased him that she was way out of his league and that he couldn't ask her out. So to strenghten his ego, he did ask her. However, it was only days after that Lindsay agreed on a date after she had laid all her apprehensions.

Their first date wasn't at all perfect. She spent all night puking and tied to her bed. But Ben was "the" perfect gentleman who had spent all his night taking care of her and her mess. Since then, they started going out often till they realized how much chemistry they have for each other. Not only that, his family and friends adore him!

"What's the catch?" Lindsay's friends would asked. "How come a perfect guy that he is is still single?" What is the secret that's keeping him away from a marriage vow? Well, out on a beautiful day date, Ben finally said "I'm a baseball fanatic!" Thinking it wasn't such a big deal, Lindsay thought it was okay. But Ben reiterated, "I am obssessed with baseball!" Still, Lindsay didn't think it was that bad till she had to rearrange her schedule to accommodate him and their baseball dates.

The movie may have baseball written all over it but it is mainly about relationships. It started out as "cute" the way romantic comedies are - the "kilig" moments, the fun dates, the sweet words. But as most relationships do, first sweet dates and lovey-doveys end and reality sets in. How far would one go for a relationship is the ultimate question of this movie. And it isn't a quest for a relationship that is not there yet but how would you be able to sustain it? It is a question of committment, making compromises, and knowing what matters most to one' s life.

See Fever Pitch and ask the same question, "How far can you give up something that you care about to accommodate the love of your life?"

Fever Pitch aka The Perfect Catch opens in RP theaters on Sept. 21.

On Video: Pa-Siyam (RP 2004)

Pa-Siyam came out a few months after the highly-successful Pinoy horror flick Feng-Shui. Of course, good publicities for the film were left and right. I had my doubts because it was from Regal Films. Regal Films and horror are words that truly don't jive with one another. Most Regal horror films are highly commercialized that stories are being overlooked. True enough, when the movie came out in theaters, it turned out that the good publicities were all hype!

When I went to the video stores, Pa-Siyam was available. I wasn't really too keen on watching it but I told myself, what the heck? Let's see what is it all about. I wasn't expecting anything good. I wanted to know how the movie truly sucked!

Pa-Siyam is about five siblings who came back to their hometown to bury their mother. The reason for her death was still unknown to them. After the burial, the family held the traditional 9-day novena (pa-siyam). From then on, a series of weird events happened to them. Until finally, they were able to uncovered the truth behind her death.

The moment I put the disc in, I started flipping the remote control - fast forwarding the film when there were no dialogues spoken. Actually, you really wouldn't miss a thing because, for a so-called horror film, it dragged a lot! There wasn't even any scenes that would make you crawl out of your skin. So, for a horror film, this movie sucked big time!

HOWEVER

For the movie to work, one should not take it as a horror flick but rather a psychological thriller/drama kind of movie. The strange events weren't scary but rather weird. So the weirdness of it all wouldn't get one scared but rather seek answers. Besides, there is nothing scary about your own dead mother trying to make her presence felt among her children. A dead relative isn't the best one to use as a horror creature.

Because it is oh-so-slow, you have to sit right through it till you get the answers. In that respect, it is already a psychological ride ala A Tale of Two Sisters. And I suggest that you stay put because you might never know, you may get the suprise twist of your life! But of course, it really isn't that twisted but commendable enough to pull you through and rip your heart out in the end! Trust me, if you were one of the siblings, you might think of killing yourself afterwards!

Pa-Siyam has the distinction of using the being "the first horror movie to be shot using high-definition digital tape with original live audio on the soundtrack". For that, it is really commendable! From that start of the film, it would really make you get the weird feeling. The use of green color for the entire film was great! Plus, music soundtrack was eerie! It would make you feel like bawl yourself to death while credits are going on. But the story surely needed some more polishing.

My recommendation, try Pa-Siyam. Just do as I tell you and you won't get disappointed.

Quick Rundown

I have seen a few movies on videos but I haven't made any reviews on them. So I thought that I'd make a quick rundown of reviews on the movies I think are worth the look!

"Not typical" are the two words that would describe A Lot Like Love. It isn't the usual romantic comedies or those saccharine-sweet love stories where audience get to feel either a tingling sensation all over their body or choke to death with their usual sappiness.

Emily (Amanda Peet) and Oliver (Ashton Kutcher) met on a flight to New York. On the airplane, they had their very first "encounter". From that day on, they knew that was instant chemistry between them. Despite not being an "artist" that Emily seems to like, Oliver is witty and charming. In New York, they met, dated, and parted. Four years past and circumtances allowed them to meet once more. On their date, it's both obvious to them (and to the audience!) that they are good together only that Oliver had to leave for another state the following day. Past forward to a few more years and there they are again, together. The moment when they realized that they belong together was the time they would learn that their current situations wouldn't allow them to.

A Lot Like Love, apart from the great performances of the actors, has a very well-written script. It isn't teeny-bopper cute or neither trying too hard to be romantic. It is perfectly engaging with characters that are so human and dealing with realistic situations. Sure, there are cliched moments but you'd get over them.


Finally, a Ben Stiller type of movie without Ben Stiller in it!

Simon Green (Kutcher) was about to meet his future in-laws on their 25th Wedding Anniversary. Only that his girlfriend, Theresa (Zoe Zaldana), didn't tell them that he is white! Thinking that the color won't matter to her parents, Theresa didn't bother to tell them at all. However, it did matter to her father, Percy Jones (Bernie Mac). The tension between Percy and Simon started to widen when Simon tried lying to him just so he (Percy) would get to like him more. However, instead of Simon losing Theresa, both of them lost their partners because of their battles.

Yes, this movie is very Meet the Parents more than an adaptation (or remake) of Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. Despite that, it has its moments. For one thing, as I've mentioned earlier, it has no Ben Stiller in it! Besides, even though his and Kutcher's characters seemed the same (as the guy who screws things up in his fiancee's home), Kutcher was better and quite acceptable. Isn't Ben quite old enough to be brought home to someone's parents or the one who is still looking for love (Along Came Polly)?

This movie somehow touches on the issue of race without being too preachy. It was funny and endearing at the same time. Thanks for Kutcher! We can give Stiller a break with these kind of movies. Hehehe...


Daisy Gamble (Barbra Streisand) asked pyschiatrist, Dr. Charbot, to help her with her nicotine addiction. She wants him to do a hypnosis on her and make a suggestion that she should slowly quit smoking. However, during regression, Dr. Charbot discovered that Daisy was Melinda Tentrees in her past life. Thinking that she might just making it up, he continued the sessions with her. Smitten with Melinda, he soon discovered that she truly lived during the days she said she had lived. But what he didn't expect was falling in love with her (Melinda). To complicate things more, Daisy had fallen in love with him. Only that she didn't know that he was in love with Melinda who happened to be her in her past life that she didn't know had existed.

On a Clear Day You See Forever may not have become a hit like other Streisand films, but for me it is! It is one truly enjoyable film that I would take over Funny Girl! The emotions were clear and the picture was vibrant and colorful. The songs and dialogues were equally great, too!

There are these lines that blew me over while watching the film:

Melinda: Is love so blind that I didn't see that he was already hurting me?
Dr. Chabot: No. Love isn't blind. It is just not trusting is too tiring...

True, isn't it?