Different Milk

Sean Penn is the actor you like to see working in a complicated film which requires challenging roles. He did it again in his new movie from Gus Van Sant, about the life of Harvey Milk, the first ever openly gay that holds public office as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.

His win as Best Actor in the recently concluded Screen Actors Guild (over The Wrestler’s Mickey Rourke) proves that this guy is so talented. His effiminate actions in the movie is so natural, and carefree. James Franco appears in the movie as his lover. A different kind of James Franco, someone who is daring. If you are into serious movie, leaning into political (gay rights mostly) issues, then Milk is the movie for you.

Missing my long sleeves

Everytime I go the gym in a mall along EDSA-Mandaluyong, I cannot help but grin with envy everytime I see someone wearing long sleeves and tie. I used to wear the same outfint daily until my employer requires all employees to be in a uniform from Monday to Friday. Goodbye, long sleeves.

Right now, these polos are kept in my closet and is used only during special occassions like dinner with friends, malling, and church.

Video of the Week: Panic at the Disco “Northern Downpour”

Land Down Under: Am I watching a soft porn?

It is a known fact that Star Cinema is the house that produces tearjerker movies with Mills and Boon storyline. It was again evident in their latest offering, Love Me Again (Land Down Under).

While watching the scenery of Bukidnon, it reminds you of the Marlboro commercials minus the snow. You see a lot of horses (very masculine), pineapples (very feminine), and smorgasbord of suggestive objects for the big S. Minus the “ligaw” angle running around the entire movie, it is a subdued porn flick. Watch Piolo’s eyes intently, and what he really wants is to sleep with Angel, who in her own terms, is the classic demure/conservative lass but longs for lust.

They just can’t do it in Bukidnon, so they have to leave and look for a better place. What better way than the sexually suggestive “Land Down Under”? Australian outback. Put some wheat grass all over, dilapidated farm house, and all you have is a perfect place to do it. I don’t remember anything memorable from the movie except the love scene, which increases my suspicion that I am actually watching a soft porn!

Here are the sexually suggestive objects on why it might be a soft porn:

1. Horses – self explanatory. Piolo riding it is like a stud ala Marlboro Man. Angel riding it is like a White Castle commercial.

2. Pineapples – in Tagalog “pinya” which happens to be a title of 90s soft porn Patikim ng Pinya.

3. Land Down Under – another name for Australia, the great outback. When you refer to the human anatomy, land down under has a whole new bastos definition.

4. Peeping Tom – remember the scene where Angel has to pee in the outback but was cut short because she saw two kangaroo? Everybody in the audience becomes helpless voyeurs.

5. Full tank tops – did you notice all of Angel’s clothes while she is in Land Down Under? The cleavage is the center of attraction. Little is left to our imagination. For Piolo’s, his shirts should be sleeveless, to enhance his biceps/triceps.

And the promotional photo (pictured above) can really be mistaken for a soft porn. But the title says it all–”Love Me Again.” Geez, promiscuity.

Video of the Week: Miguel Escueta “Blue Monday”

Leap of wrestling

When you watch Darren Aronofsky’s “The Wrestler,” you got this I-hope-it-won’t-happen-to-me sensation. The story is about an aging wrestler, trying to survive and fight the challenges of life. And because he is at the dawn of his career, he tries his best to stay in the wrestling club, and manage to keep both ends meet.

 

There are two women figuring at the center of his life: a has-been prostitute, and his daughter. Both women has opposing views of him. The prostitute believes in his spirit to overcome the reality of his state, whilst, he is trying to connect with his daughter whom he has a rocky relationship after abandoning her. After a heart attack, he mellowed down from wrestling and tries to see his life from another angle. Normally, it is the feeling of “I should see my loved ones because I don’t I might die anytime soon.” Mr Rourke has this feeling after the heart operation. But after a while, and watching wrestling from an audience point of view, is very much different from his vantage point when he is the one doing it inside the ring.

 

At the last part of the story, the itch to be inside the ring prevails even if he was warned of his heart condition. It is a human spirit to think of the moment, and do what you like, and not consider the repercussions of our actions. Maybe the initial feeling of satisfaction generated from doing so is greater than the aftermath of its side effects after much has been done.

 

I love how the director ends his movie, Mickey Rourke jumping to his opponent but suddenly the curtain turns black as if the ending is left to the audience to make in their minds. Either he beats his opponent and retire for good, or he died from heart attack. Whichever it is, the movie scores perfectly. One of the good movies of 2008.

 

Mr Rourke deserves the Actor Trophy from Golden Globes. I also commend great acting from a “different” Marisa Tomei.

Video of the Week: Benny Benassi “California Dreamin’ 2004 Remix”

It’s not about time, it’s about moments.

David Fincher’s “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” is like watching Maalaala Mo Kaya in full three hours. Melodramatic, crying for emotions, unrequited love. Surefire formula–universal theme–for audience to relate.

I don’t have to do a synopsis because everybody knows. This must be one of Brad Pitt’s better movie (I still like him in Fight Club). Cate Blanchet is regal as ever, beautifully rendered as Benjamin Button’s love interest. But I have to opine that who steals the movie in terms of acting, is Mr Button’s foster mother, Faune Chambers. The film tells us that it’s not how we are born, what is the essential thing in life is how we live it, the memories, the experiences, travails, ups and downs. Because at the end of the day, when we are in the twilight of our life, these memories keep us hanging in our deathbed.

P.S.

Okay, Benjamin Button was born in reverse. But will there be a movie in the future, but this time though, instead of just the physiological features in reverse, the person is equipped with world history of the future which makes him/her sort of like a prescient. For example, this human is born toda, complete with a body of an 80 years old, but aside from that, also has the memory of what will happen 80 years from now. If that’s the case, he will know what world events will happen in the next 30, 40, or 50 years from now. That way, we can change the course of the moment to avoid certain curcimstances in the future. This was discussed in the movie also during the scene where Cate Blanchet met an accident in Paris. There was a “if only” narrative done by Brad Pitt.

There is another book which has the same theme as The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. It is The Time Traveller’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger, which is fortunately now adapted into a movie. It stars Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams.

Malacanang announces 2009 holidays

For corporate slaves who lok forward to long holidays for their much-needed break from the rat race, here are the official and special non-working holidays for the year 2009 in the Philippines:

Under Proclamation no. 1699, the following were declared holidays:

Maundy Thursday (April 9)

Good Friday (April 10)

Araw ng Kagitingan (April 6) 

Labor Day (May 1) 

Independence Day (June 12) 

National Heroes Day (August 31) 

Bonifacio Day (November 30)

Rizal Day (December 30) 

Special working holidays include:  Ninoy Aquino Day (August 21), All Saints Day (November 1) and New Year’s Eve (December 31). November 2 and December 24 were also added as special non-working days.

The “wrestler” becomes Whiplash in Iron Man 2

Mickey Rourke has been getting good projects in 2008. And 2009 will be another good year for him. He made–sort of–a comeback with The Wrestler, one of 2008’s best films.  He will be seen next in The Informers.

And here’s the news: he will be in Iron Man 2 as a Russian named Ivan who will become Whiplash—a man with deadly coils. Iron Man 2 is slated to be open on May 2010.