Watching movies in theaters is still the best

Last May 2, we wrote about a resurgence of live movie watching in theaters after which we received a lot of e-mails from people agreeing with the observation. Today, the practice continues albeit with less success income-wise due to competition from worldwide blockbusters like The Avengers. During this period, we watched The Mommy Returns, Every Breath You Take, 21 Jump Street, American Pie Reunion and Dark Shadows.

On the local front, all we can say and we’ve said this before, thank heavens for a Mother Lily Monteverde whose love for Filipino movies makes her go out on a limb to keep the industry alive. The Mommy Returns pays tribute to The Mummy Returns (the Brendan Fraser film wherein a mummy wakes up and terrorizes his enemies), although it has nothing in common with the US film except that it was shown in Manila in May 2001, and Mother’s feng shui could have been at work. With big-name brands like Pokwang, Gabby Concepcion and Ruffa Gutierrez, with Joel Lamangan at the helm, Mommy Returns has a dead Pokwang coming back to earth as a ghost to frighten Ruffa out of the family.

Meanwhile, we have been among those hoping the best for Star Cinema’s Every Breath U Take (Piolo Pascual and Angelica Panganiban), that its results help ease whatever pain Piolo must be going through silently. Latest word is positive. A good person like Piolo and a good film deserve its dues. The film is a delightful package that utilizes Angelica’s comic flair to the hilt, and offers Piolo more opportunity to do comedy and action apart from the drama and romance component. Ryan Bang in his introductory role is a riot. And director Mae Cruz as usual overdoes herself in every picture she helms.

We find ourselves once again praying earnestly that another Star Cinema film Born to Love You scheduled for release on May 30 makes it at the box office. After all, it is the first time for Star Power champion Angeline Quinto to appear in the movies, first for lead actor Coco Martin to do a romance film, first movie for veteran teleserye director Jerome Pobocan, but then again, there might be some secret in bringing these first-timers together.  

It was summer 1999 when four small-town Michigan boys began a quest to lose their virginity. In the comedy American Pie: Reunion, 13 years after graduating high school, they return as adults for a high-school reunion, to reminisce about and be inspired by their hormonal past, to learn the best lesson of all — that time and distance can’t break the bonds of friendship. Even without having watched the original film series in 1999, we enjoyed the 2012 version with an R-rating courtesy of a ludicrously funny half-naked scene involving a drunk girl.

Showing at the same time was 21 Jump Street, an American police TV comedy series aired from 1987 to 1991 and released as a film adaptation recently.The series focused on youthful-looking undercover police officers investigating crimes in high schools, and other teenage venues. The series provided a spark to Johnny Depp’s nascent acting career, garnering him national recognition as a teen idol.

Depp in 2012, however, has the world at his feet. Dark Shadows, his eighth collaboration with director Tim Burton, had a full house. The film has a magnificent cast of Michelle Pfeiffer, Helena Bonham Carter, Eva Green and Jackie Earle Haley, who, to us, deserves a Best Supporting nomination. The movie centers on playboy Barnabas Collins (Depp) who broke the heart of a witch (Green) back in 1752, that she casts a spell on Depp, turns him into a vampire and buries him alive in a metal casket. In 1972, Depp is inadvertently rescued by diggers and goes through culture shock walking around town looking like a weird reincarnation of Michael Jackson.  

Soon, the plot becomes weirder and weirder until everyone gets into the act including a young Collins girl who confesses to being a werewolf. From here on, allegiances are changed and we will not reveal how it ends. Suffice it to say that as plot, we think it sucks. But as fun and play, it is great, and we love it! And no one can beat Depp in whatever he does.

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