The Streamline Podcast: Episode 007 Star Wars and MMFF 2015

The gang’s back to discuss their thoughts on Star Wars and the films of MMFF 2015 namely Honor Thy Father, My Bebe Love, All You Need Is Pag-ibig and Walang Forever.

Episode flow points:

Star Wars

• Thoughts on Force Awakens
• How it compares to the old films
• The burning questions left by Force Awakens answered by Mon our resident Star Wars fan.
• What we want to see in the next movies

 

MMFF 2015

• Thoughts on Walang Forever and All You Need Is Pag-ibig
• Thoughts on My Bebe Love
  • The pros and cons of the movie
• Thoughts on Honor Thy Father
  • Elements that set it apart from the other MMFF movies
  • Some JLC fanboying/girling
  • Frustrations in Erik Matti films
  • Possible sequel or tie-in with On The Job

For our written coverage of MMFF:

• Thoughts on All You Need Is Pag-ibig and Walang Forever
• Thoughts on Honor Thy Father and My Bebe Love

 

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And all the music used in the episode was from Lee Rosevere. You can find his other works here.

Thoughts On…Honor Thy Father and My Bebe Love

For the second installment of our MMFF 2015 coverage, we watched two films that were often compared in social media, Honor Thy Father and My Bebe Love.

I’ll try to share my thoughts without spoiling the movies but, yeah, read at your own risk of getting spoiled.

HONOR THY FATHER

Honor Thy Father tells the story of Edgar (John Lloyd Cruz) trying to save his family from people who were duped to invest in his father-in-laws ponzi scheme.

• Continues On The Job’s individual hero fighting against systemic issues theme
  • So many interesting visual cues throughout the film that highlighted its themes of “survival of the fittest” (i.e.  kids fighting for fried chicken, people jumping from a bridge to get stray money, etc.) and social stratification (i.e. Edgar watching a dog eat the scraps that he gave, Hummer vs. old truck, etc.)
  • “Tutusukin mo rin ba mga mata nila Papa?” SOOOO GOOD
• It’s as depressing as On The Job
  • I felt the movie could have been soooooo much better if Kaye was given some form of redemption rather than being used as a plot device.
• Yeshua’s an interesting interpretation of God’s name to use.
• Interesting how all the other father figures aside from Edgar are either dead or incompetent
• JOHN LLOYD CRUZ WAS DESTINED FOR INDIE MOVIES. STAR CINEMA Y U NO LET JOHN LLOYD ACT IN INDIE MOVIES????
• After watching all the shit JLC had to do in this movie, I think he’s now the only actor who has the right to use the “Panoorin niyo po ang [pelikulang Y] ibang [actor X] ang makikita ninyo sa pelikulang ito” cliche promo
  • As much as I enjoyed Jericho’s performance in #Walang Forever, JLC should have won that Best Actor award. The guy displayed a wider acting range, and not to mention, LUMUSONG SIYA SA IMBURNAL. At partida, NANG WALANG ABS.
• List of JLC’s Breadowns In Movies Ranked:
  1. A Second Chance’s “Can you love a failure” breakdown (painful for an egotistic man to get emasculated by his strong-willed wife)
  2. Honor Thy Father ending breakdown (a breakdown of a man trying to fight his futility)
  3. One More Chance’s “You had me at my best” breakdown (probably taught millions of male Filipino teenagers that it’s okay to cry [as long as it’s in the name of love])
  4. The Mistress’s “Ibang lalake kasama mo” breakdown (Had a good mix of anger and frustration)
  5. It Takes A Man And A Woman breakdown (had that feeling of a boy trying to look for emotional refuge when no one was available)
• I would have loved some more backstory on Yayo Aguila’s family. It was interesting how an upper-class family was duped into a ponzi scheme
• Masterful sound design in the bank scene.

 

MY BEBE LOVE

It’s a straight-up romcom about two couples (Vic-Ai-Ai and Maine-Alden). Nothing much to say besides that.

• It’s not as bad as what the people in the internet say it is (I’m not even sure if they even watched it)
  • Based on the reaction of the crowd, there’s still a market for this kind of comedy movie
  • I can see an occasion when I’d be happy enough to watch this movie.
• It was way longer than I expected (was expecting around 1hr 30mins a standard for romcoms, but this movie stretched to almost two full hours)
• Why was Ai-Ai angry throughout the movie????
• My Bebe Love is a movie about shoutouts
  • What’s cringeworthy in the film was blatant advertisement of brands. I do believe they earned so much from Kalye Serye (the no-commercial Tamang Panahon event) that they need not to have this much sponsors on-screen. I mean, I’ve watched Enteng Kabisote movies way back when and they didn’t have this much sponsors.
  • Here’s the list of all the sponsors we counted (22):
    1. Ber Brand Adult Plus
    2. Google (Google Search, Maps, YouTube)
    3. O+
    4. San Miguel (Pale Pilsen and Light)
    5. Glutamax
    6. Phoenix
    7. Ayala Country Club
    8. Sir George’s Bindo’s Best Print Shop
    9. Tide
    10. Goldilocks
    11. McDonald’s
    12. Talk N Text
    13. Solmux
    14. Kuse
    15. PLDT Home
    16. B Hotel
    17. Gumatay Hardware
    18. Coke
    19. Rebsico
    20. The brand that Vic and Alden wore throughout the film
    21. One Esplanade
    22. Posh Nails
  • Cameos by Eat Bulaga and other artistas
    • Lilia Cuntapay
    • Jose Manalo
    • Paolo Ballesteros
    • Ryan Yllana
    • Ryzza Mae Dizon
    • Pauleen Luna
    • Mikael Daez
    • Aegis
    • Wally Bayola (as Lola Nidora)
• What is the definition of a family movie nowadays? This movie overtly talked about impotence and sex. Of course they used euphemisms, but still overt nonetheless.
• I understand the development of Vic and Ai-Ai’s relationship; Maine and Alden’s, not so much
  • Justified na ba dahil love at first sight?
  • Maine and Alden could have been more effective if their characters were written better (plus pa sana sa #AlDubNation)
• With his silent off-screen persona, I can totally see Vic Sotto as a jigsaw puzzle type of guy
• Just echoing what Maine on twitter said: “bakit ako?”
  • Objectively speaking, I love her work on Kalye Serye and in her commercials but you can clearly see that she still needs more experience in playing a scripted character. Do I blame her? No, not at all.
  • Do I blame MMFF for giving her the Best Supporting Actress award compared to heavyweights who were more efficient in their respective movies such as Kim Molina and Nova Villa, definitely yes.
  • Don’t hate on Maine, she did what she could using her yet-honed movie talent and a so-so script. Hate on MMFF for pushing her to that pedestal of Best Supporting Actress. Kahit siya di niya nga alam kung bakit. She can win Best Support Actress or Best Actress in two or three years time, but winning it immediately with less than a year’s experience? MMFF, that’s overextending stuff.

 

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Watch out for our full discussion on MMFF 2015 in our upcoming podcast!

Thoughts On…Walang Forever and All You Need Is Pag-Ibig

So my first foray into MMFF 2015 involved two Tonette Jadaone-associated romcoms. All You Need Is Pag-ibig was written and directed by Jadaone while she was credited for an additional screenplay writer role for Walang Forever.

This write-up isn’t strictly a film review. Think of this as an organized version of my thoughts and musings while I was watching each show. Instead of livetweeting everything, I thought to just put them here.

 

#Walang Forever

After the success of last year’s English Only, Please, director Dan Villegas teamed up with Jennylyn Mercado for another off-beat romcom with Jericho Rosales as the new male lead. Jennylyn plays Mia Nolasco, a successful screenwriter having a hard time getting inspiration for her newest movie. Jericho plays as Ethan, Mia’s ex who suddenly returns.

• Jennylyn’s proving herself to be the queen of Filipino romcoms. She has effortless chemistry with the leading men they pair her with
• I can’t picture JM De Guzman in the role of Ethan. It felt like it was tailored for Jericho Rosales
• Jerald Napoles stealing scenes again just like in English Only, Please. Give this guy his own indie comedy movie!
• Weird story beats, a sudden dive in the last fifteen minutes of the film
  • There was a questionable decision at the end that didn’t make sense for me. Para lang magka-confrontation scene?
• Mia Nolasco’s films ranked:
  1. The Liza Dino – Sid Lucero one (highly efficient acting from Sid Lucero. Did not waste any time to display his acting chops)
  2. The last film at the end of the movie (it’s spoilery if I divulge but these non-drama artists were able to carry this heavy scene)
  3. The Melai Cantiveros – Jason Francisco one (props for using Labidabs)
  4. The Sofia Andres – Julian Estrada one (showed some chemistry)
  5. The one with Michelle Vito (sorry, I’m not familiar with the guy)
  6. Khalil Ramos – Jane Oineza one (lacked chemistry, looked like a toothpaste commercial)
  7. and The Payong One (sorry! not familiar with both talents)
  8. SPECIAL MENTION: That “Ikaw Na, Beh” poster at the movie company office
• Tonette Jadaone/Dan Villegas cast shoutouts: Jerald Napoles, Cai Cortez, Quark Henares, Pepe Herrera, Sofia Andres, Nico Antonio

 

ALL YOU NEED IS PAG-IBIG

Written and directed by Antoinette Jadaone, All You Need Is Pag-Ibig is a Love Actually-esque romantic movie that tries to show the different kinds of love present in the world through the lives of some interconnected people.

• Tonette Jadaone is the J.J. Abrams of the Philippines when it comes to fitting talents with characters. Amazing how these talents were able to show a different side of their acting ability (i.e. Lilia Cuntapay as the lead in Six Degrees, Angelica Panganiban as a likable lead and JM De Guzman’s return to form in That Thing Called Tadhana)
  • Kris Aquino in this movie is the Kris Aquino we expect and dream her to be in real life–a bitter, alcoholic monster
    • Jadaone was able to make me like Kris Aquino!
    • PLEASE MAKE ANOTHER MONSTER KRIS AQUINO MOVIE PLEASE??
• With that haircut, not sure if Jodi Santamaria or Tuesday Vargas
  • The Ian-Jodie storyline’s funnier if you replace Jodi with Tuesday Vargas
• There were too many stories in this film to fit two hours.
  • So much so that the flow of the movie was uneven. More time was given for the rising action that there was little time to properly tie everything up
  • Storylines ranked:
    1. Nova Villa – Ronaldo Valdez (this kind of story and love isn’t explored enough in local cinema)
    2. Ian-Jodie (standard romcom plot but the progression and use of romantic gestures were evenly paced)
    3. Kris Aquino (remove Derek Ramsey, that just didn’t make any sense at all. Just Kris Aquino being mean and bitter is the stuff dreams are made of)
    4. Pokwang (this  had potential. Medyo cop out ang settle for tita love after having the other characters chase for who they loved)
    5. Maricar-Derek (What happened? Why was Maricar so chill with the break up?)
    6. Kim-Xian (could have been more relevant with the choices you have and all pero I don’t get why Kim got punished for following Xian’s suggestion of faking everything)
    7. Bimby-Kim (Mame lang na may pelikula si Bimby, also lacked development)
• That singalong to Rizal Underground’s “Bilanggo” inside the car scene of Jodi and Ian was PERFECT. Complete with air karaoke, air guitar and awkward daddy dance moves.
• I really felt that the original script was the Jodi-Ian storyline. Their relationship was the anchor for all the other relationships after all. I’d like to think that they had to revise the script since Kris Aquino still didn’t have a MMFF movie and they needed to KimXi to add the token love team into a Star Cinema movie.
• So much exposition/general proclamations about love. I guess that’s just how Filipinos really discuss love
• Tonetteism: Destination of the movie: Coron
• Biggest drop in performance: Derek Ramsey. From Best Actor of MMFF 2014 to talking naked piece of meat (subject for objectification lang)
  • Pro-tip: The Best Actor-worthy performance is in another movie. You won’t see it here.
• Tonetteism: female characters in pain or seeking acceptance (i.e. Lilia Cuntapay in Six Degrees, Toni Gonzaga in You’re My Boss, Angelica Panganiban in That Thing Called Tadhana, etc.)
• Tonetteism: using animations to illustrate central theme of the movie (i.e. relationship tree in Six Degrees, the arrow and the heart thing in That Thing Called Tadhana and now this one)
• When did they finish shooting this? I saw red Starbucks cups already.
• The animated scene didn’t do it for me. I thought they had another one at the end of the story to tie things up
• It deeply saddened me when people in the cinema laughed at Nova Villa’s embarrassing scene. Yes, you can laugh at it because it was a classic case of miscommunication in marriage (we also had the same thing in A Second Chance). But if you think about it, it’s sad to see an elderly woman go to extreme lengths just so she could still feel wanted by her husband. Neglect at that age is a serious matter.
• Tonette Jadaone/Dan Villegas cast shoutouts: Derek Ramsey, Pepe Herrera
  

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Watch out for our thoughts on Honor Thy Father and other MMFF films in the coming week. IF Honor Thy Father survives the weekend.