A Knight in Shining Wonder

WONDER WOMAN

Patty Jenkins, 2017

Superman saves the Metropolis. Batman saves Gotham. Wonder Woman saves the world.

I am not exactly a fan of superhero movies, although I've seen quite a lot already. I don't read comic books either. Nevertheless, I was thrilled to see Wonder Woman.

Created by William Moulton Man-Whore... oops, I mean, Marston, Wonder Woman was based on his wife (Elizabeth Holloway) and his mistress (Olive Byrne). Marston and his playthings, I mean, his women lived together as a threesome.

Anyway, Jenkins' Wonder Woman is said to be a refreshing take on superhero movies. Finally, here's a superhero movie about a super strong woman with supernatural powers. Super! In such a superior way, our female superhero (otherwise known as Diana Prince a.k.a. Princess of Themyscira) superbly fights the super bad guys because that's what superheroes do, right?

Gal Gadot shines as Wonder Woman. Basically, Wonder Woman is Xena: the Warrior Princess on steroids. Allegedly molded out of clay by her mother, Queen Hippolyta (Connie Nielsen), Diana grows up in a land that only exists in my sapphic dreams — the all-women island of Themyscira. A world so heavenly... until men ransacked and destroyed it. Thanks, but no thanks, Steve Trevor! (Why must men ruin everything? Such vermin!)

An American spy for the British intelligence, Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) crashes his plane into the island of Themyscira. Princess Diana fishes him out of the water, saving him just like Miho (Devon Aoki) saved Dwight (Clive Owen) in Sin City. Afterwards, the bad guys transcend into Themyscira, hunting Steve and eventually clashing with the Amazons.

Driven to save the world from Ares a.k.a. the god of war, Diana leaves Themyscira for our self-destructive planet called Earth. Accompanying Steve in London, Diana learns the ugly truth about Earth, which is currently under the wrath of World War I. Diana must help Steve in stopping General Ludendorff (Danny Huston) and Isabel Maru a.k.a. Dr. Poison (Elena Anaya) from spreading a chemical weapon. At the same time, Diana learns the truth about herself.

Cinematography: All That Heaven Allows

ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWS (1955)
Director: Douglas Sirk
Cinematographer: Russell Metty

One of the most beautifully shot films, I believe, is Douglas Sirk's All That Heaven Allows. Starring Jane Wyman and gay icon Rock Hudson, this romantic drama has an upper-class widow (Miss Wyman) and a younger nurseryman (Hudson) falling in love with each other.

Rainer Werner Fassbinder remade All That Heaven Allows as Ali: Fear Eats the Soul, while Todd Haynes paid homage to Sirk's masterpiece via Far from Heaven.

The film that put Sirk on the Hollywood map, All That Heaven Allows is armed with well-written screenplay and notable performances (especially by Miss Wyman). But the thing that made this a standout classic is Russell Metty's cinematography, which heavily inspired Edward Lachman's work in Far from Heaven.

Top 13 Favorite Title Sequences

Title sequence is that part of a movie (or TV show) wherein the title and key cast and production members are listed, often incorporating creative visuals and compelling music. Most title sequences aim to set the mood of a film. Some title sequences come before or after a prologue, while some serve as the prologue itself, giving you a glimpse of what the film is about.

It may include a simple series of drawings (e.g., The Spirit of the Beehive), live action (Lord of War), animation (Pink Panther, Catch Me If You Can, etc.), a montage (e.g., Persona), or a combination of live action and animation (e.g., Juno). Sometimes, a simple Jack-o'-lantern on the corner and some creepy music will do (case in point: Halloween). Some movies choose not to have a title sequence at all and just display the title without music (e.g., Citizen Kane).

Title sequences have evolved over the course of cinema's history. From the deep South ambiance of Gone with the Wind to the iconic James Bond title sequences to the multilingual title sequence of Enter the Void, most title sequences have been effective in immediately grabbing the viewer's attention.

An Appointment with One's Dirty Mind

FREAK

Ryan Staake, 2014

Human sexuality has always been a selling point in any medium --- may it be television, cinema, music, literature. Sex sells. Admit it or not, majority of the human race are racy creatures. Filmmaker Ryan Staake knows this. That's why he came up with a naughty music video for Freak, a collaboration between Steve Aoki and a bunch of other millennial DJs.

Made with clever camera shots and skillfull editing, Freak features six characters in scenes that are seemingly sexual in nature. It is sexual innuendo in moving images. The characters are the Wallpaper Woman (Lara D. Wolf), the Scrubbing Girl (Grace Marie McGookey), the Trampoline Woman (Ashley Blankenship), the TV Man (Gus Renaud), the Gym Man (Paul Fears), and the Cereal Man (Samuel Shurtleff).

I suggest watching the video first before reading my commentary.

Fave Movie Posters: The Yakuza

If The Godfather is to mafia, The Yakuza is to, well, yakuza. The '70s saw the rebirth of gangster movies. (Thanks, Corleone.) Among the best ones included Sydney Pollack's The Yakuza. This Robert Mitchum-starrer tells a lifelong friendship between two men, Harry Kilmer (Mitchum) and Ken Tanaka (Ken Takakura). Both men love the same woman (Keiko Kishi), but circumstances turned hate into honor.

Caging Libertine

BOXING HELENA

Jennifer Chambers Lynch, 1993

Nick: You're everything to me.

Helena: You're nothing to me.

Boxing Helena is what happens when Fatal Attraction makes love with Misery. After seeing the greatest f*ck of his life once again, brilliant surgeon Dr. Nick Cavanaugh (Julian Sands) decides to leave everything behind: his career, his girlfriend, his sanity, his everything – all just to be with Helena (a stunning Sherilyn Fenn), the woman of his wet dreams. Helena is everything to Nick, just as much as Nick is nothing to Helena.

To be closer to Helena, Nick moves in to the house he inherited from his recently deceased mother. And so he feeds his obsession by stalking Helena from his car, from the tree, from every corner of his timid existence.

Nick later invites Helena to his house party, to which Helena obliges. After leaving her purse, Helena is forced to go back to Nick's house. A terrible accident would later leave Helena at the hands of Nick's mercy (and obsession), making her a captive in Nick's mansion.

Boxing Helena is very much like Helena the character. Helena is essentially a libertine and a drifter, the kind so aloof no one can ever have her for themselves. Such personality is what attracted Nick to Helena. He knows he can't have her, so he wants her that bad. (Even though they only had a one-night stand.)

Venus de Milo, mother, and Helena – these three women would play a vital role to Nick's manhood.

Fave Movie Posters: The Getaway

One of the hottest Hollywood couples back in the day, Steve McQueen and Ali MacGraw used to be what Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are today. At the height of their real-life romance, McQueen and MacGraw starred in Sam Peckinpah's The Getaway, a 1972 heist film about a couple on the run from the bad dudes.

I Am a Woman, Watch Me Make a Movie

Eve has definitely come a long way since she was allegedly taken out of Adam's rib. She has long stepped out of his shadow, standing up for herself and speaking her mind. Eve doesn't need many Twitter followers or a thousand of Facebook likes just to prove her worth. She knows she's worth it.

Cinema has given the female species an opportunity to express themselves; and the opportunity isn't wasted. Although filmmaking is mostly a man's world, women have become the captain of their own cinematic ship.

In celebration of being a woman, I listed down some of my favorite films directed by women. (In alphabetical order.)

A Failed Promise

CAROL
Todd Haynes, 2015

Rare is it in life when we have an instant attraction with a stranger. No such thing as love at first sight, just "like at first sight," which eventually leads to something deeper. That's exactly what happens in Todd Haynes' latest film, Carol.

Haynes' homage to old America (the 1950s in Far from Heaven and the 1930s in HBO's Mildred Pierce) continues in Carol.

Two women at a different point in their lives cross path, become friends, and have an affair in 1950s New York. Carol Aird (Cate Blanchett) is going through a rough patch with her soon-to-be-ex-husband (Kyle Chandler). Meanwhile, Therese Belivet (Patricia Rooney Mara) is a young woman with a brighter future: a marriage proposal from a clingy pseudo-boyfriend and a potential career in photography. Carol is a housewife. Therese is a shopgirl. Two women cloistered by society's sexist box.

We see most of the film from Therese's point of view. She's a young woman who initially evaded taking risks, avoiding taking photos of people because she has some affinity issues. And then she meets Carol. Therese finally opens up her heart for the very first time. And she's now taking photos of people, of Carol to be exact. (So she has Carol to thank for that.)

Lez Do It: The Best Lesbian Music Videos I've Seen

Ain't love such a lovely feeling? So lovely, like women. Love and women are basically synonymous with each other; they are both beautiful, fascinating, sweet, moody, and unpredictable. Love and women are a many-splendored thing, but most of all they can make you go insane.

When two females fall in love with each other, it's like a super-gay-lactic explosion of milk and honey, a pretty rainbow you can't take your eyes off. Ever since Blue is the Warmest Color was released... ever since Ellen Page came out... and ever since same-sex marriage was legalized in the US, lesbian and bisexual women are starting to be seen and recognized and, maybe, accepted. Heck, even Philippine TV had its very first lesbian-themed show.

Fave Movie Moments: V for Vendetta

"It seems strange that my life should end in such a terrible place, but for three years I had roses and apologized to no one."

My most fave part in V for Vendetta is the Valerie moment. The film deals with struggle for freedom in a totalitarian system, a government that objects "the different and the subversive."

Imprisoned, Evey (Natalie Portman) finds refuge in a series of letters "given" to her by "next-cell neighbor" Valerie (Natasha Wightman), an actress who was incarcerated for being homosexual.

Fave Movie Posters: The Silence of the Lambs

One of the iconic and most creative movie posters of all time, The Silence of the Lambs' poster is a portrait of Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster), whose mouth is concealed by a moth. A significant element in both the novel and the film, the moth is a Death's-head Hawkmoth — the kind that is known for the skull-like image on its thorax.

Fave Movie Moments: A Patch of Blue

Blinded by her abusive mom (Shelley Winters) at the age of five, Selina D'Arcey (Elizabeth Hartman in her film debut) is off to meet her only friend, Gordon Ralfe (Sidney Poitier). She traverses the streets full of darkness and strangers, a fragile lady thrown into the world of blind noise and danger.

Moving Movie Monologues

Ah. Monologues. Most actors probably crave them monologues. It's that one significant moment that can make or break an actor's performance. A good monologue is either wonderfully written or beautifully acted. Perhaps both.

There is an overwhelming profusion of soliloquy ever since cinema bid adieu to the silent era — but only few captivated yours truly. Here are some of them. (In chronological order.)

Charles Chaplin as A Jewish Barber
The Great Dictator, 1940

We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery we need humanity. More than cleverness we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost.

After being mistaken for Adenoid Hynkel aka the great dictator, A Jewish Barber was compelled to give a speech in front of "his people." (Here's the speech's transcript.)

In this touching speech, the silent film icon laid bare both the good and bad side of humanity. A universal statement of the human existence, this monologue has the power to edify one's mind and soul.

(The speech's "Inception remix" is just... wow!)

Natalie Wood as Maria
West Side Story, 1961

All of you! You all killed him. And my brother. And Riff. Not with bullets and guns. With hate! Well, l can kill too, because now l have hate!

After her lover dies because of the street war between the Jets and the Sharks, Maria berates all those involved in the senseless fight. Maria's monologue defines the very idea of war: hate.

What would happen if the world is consumed with hate? World war!

Fave Movie Moments: The Godfather: Part II

The Godfather: Part II has many memorable scenes in it. Among those is young Vito Corleone's first day in New York's Ellis Island. The boy barely said a word because he had a traumatic experience back home (Corleone, Sicily) and because he can't speak English yet.

Cinematography: Mad Max: Fury Road

MAD MAX: FURY ROAD (2015)
Director: George Miller
Cinematographer: John Seale

Honestly speaking, I never expected Mad Max: Fury Road (aka MMFR) to be that good. I was expecting an "average Hollywood movie." You know, the kind that heavily relies on its stars' bankability, disregarding the quality of its plot and cinematography. (MMFR is a Hollywood-Australian production.)

She May Be the Fate I Can't Escape

L-R: Jennifer Tilly in Bound, Nicole Kidman in To Die For, and Faye Dunaway in Chinatown.

"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned," as the saying goes. In short, never mess with a woman — especially a femme fatale — unless you want some serious trouble.

According to Wikipedia, "a femme fatale (/ˌfæm fəˈtɑːl/ or /ˌfɛm fəˈtɑːl/; French: [fam fatal]) is a stock character of a mysterious and seductive woman whose charms ensnare her lovers, often leading them into compromising, dangerous, and deadly situations. She is an archetype of literature and art."

Just like Delilah, Catherine Tramell, and Mrs. Robinson, these enigmatic ladies cast their wicked spell on men (and, for some on the list, women), making them as vulnerable as a newborn baby.

Seductive. Mysterious. Dangerous. Behold some of my fave femme fatales.

(In chronological order.)

Phyllis Dietrichson, Double Indemnity
Played by Barbara Stanwyck

To score some huge money, insurance salesman Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray) conspires with Phyllis Dietrichson. Having a bad wig day, Phyllis gives Walter an indecent proposal, so indecent it involves Phyllis' husband being dead. (Oh, and about that wig. I thought I was watching George Washington in drag.)

Evelyn Mulwray, Chinatown
Played by Faye Dunaway

She's very reminiscent of those femme fatales in film noir. A tragic character, Evelyn Mulwray is seemingly stoic until her disturbing secret is finally revealed during the iconic "sister daughter scene." Evelyn's vulnerability is what makes her a femme fatale. Evelyn's defenses down, suave P.I. Jake Gittes (Jack Nicholson) does every deadly thing just to save her. Miss Dunaway's performance is one of the film's remarkable moments.

Hollywood's Gift of Remakes

Fueled by repetitive remakes, Hollywood now gives us The Gift. No, it's not that movie wherein Katie Holmes bares it all. This one is a blatant remake of Caché, Michael Haneke's 2005 film about a man's vengeful past.

Made ten years after Haneke's film, The Gift borrows quite a lot of plot elements from Caché: the videotapes are now a series of gifts, the Paris neighborhood turns into a Los Angeles suburb, Daniel Auteuil is now Jason Bateman (they kinda look alike though), Maurice Bénichou is now Joel Edgerton, and Juliette Binoche is now Rebecca Hall.

Trapped Cinema

"As long as we know we're trapped, we still have a chance to escape."

– Sara Grant, Neva

What do you do when you are trapped inside an enclosed space? Cry? Cry some more? Cry for help? Cry until your eyes are dry? Stare into nothingness? Call mom? Perhaps you'll just laugh it all off.

Paranoia can really set in during immurement. Cinema has been able to show us the brutality of being trapped — letting us experience claustrophobia, making us question our own freedom.

Without further blah blah blah, I listed down some of my fave films that trap us inside their trapped plot.

An Epic ROFL-Fest

INSIDIOUS: CHAPTER 3
Leigh Whannell, 2015


"Hahahahaha!" is what resonated inside the movie theater as our fellow moviegoers watch Insidious: Chapter 3. The profusion of laughter is courtesy of the audience, not the supernatural villain in the film.

"You smell funky. And I think I'm gonna need some neck brace."

- Quinn

Insidious: Chapter 3 is a prequel to the first two movies. It follows the story of a teenager named Quinn Brenner (Stefanie Scott), an aspiring theater actress dealing with the death of her mother, whom she wishes to talk to via psychic Elise Rainier (Lin Shaye). The rest of the film deals with Quinn's possession after her what-the-f*ck-inducing accident.