Pop Auteur

Last month, my brother and I went to SM Megamall for Ozine Fest Anime Figure Special 2014. I already heard this event few months ago, but I had no plans to go there back then. A few days later, my brother asked me to go. At that time, I had no idea on what Christmas-slash-Birthday gift am I going to buy for him. So, I agree. It was almost 9:15 AM when we arrived at the back entrance of the mall. I noticed that a lot of people were also waiting for the entrance door to open. Some of them were regular shoppers, others were looking forward to the event (obvious to their anime-inspired outfits). After 50 minutes, we went inside. We went straight to the Mega Trade Hall, and fell on this very... ... very ... ... very ... ... very ... ... long ...  ... unorganized line. We waited for 5 hours in the line. FIVE HOURS! Good thing we met two friends (or couple... or siblings... sorry, I have a mind of a goldfish) in ...

Boyhood ( Richard Linklater, USA, 2014) SYNOPSIS: Filmed over 12 years with the same cast, Richard Linklater's Boyhood is a groundbreaking story of growing up as seen through the eyes of a child named Mason (Ellar Coltrane), who literally grows up on screen before our eyes. Starring Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette as Mason's parents and newcomer Lorelei Linklater as his sister Samantha, Boyhood charts the rocky terrain of childhood like no other film has before and is both a nostalgic time capsule of the recent past and an ode to growing up and parenting. ( SOURCE: Metacritic ) WRITER: Richard Linklater STARS: Ellar Coltrane , Patricia Arquette , Ethan Hawke RATING: 4/5 The Aswang Phenomenon ( Jordan Clark, Canada, 2011) SYNOPSIS: What would happen if a country of 97 million people were taught at a young age that the boogie man was real. In the Philippines for the last 400 years, the 'aswang' has been used as propoganda and social control b...

Man with Movie Camera ( Dziga Vertov, Soviet Union, 1929 ) SYNOPSIS: A man travels around a city with a camera slung over his shoulder, documenting urban life with dazzling invention. (SOURCE: IMDB ) WRITER: Dziga Vertov STARS: Mikhail Kaufman RATING: 5/5       Lucy ( Luc Besson, USA, 2014 ) SYNOPSIS: From La Femme Nikita and The Professional to The Fifth Element, writer/director Luc Besson has created some of the toughest, most memorable female action heroes in cinematic history. Now, Besson directs Scarlett Johansson in Lucy, an action-thriller that tracks a woman accidentally caught in a dark deal who turns the tables on her captors and transforms into a merciless warrior evolved beyond human logic. (SOURCE: Rotten Tomatoes ) WRITER: Luc Besson STARS: Scarlett Johansson , Morgan Freeman , Min-sik Choi RATING: 3.5/5   Only Lovers Left Alive ( Jim Jarmusch , UK/Germany, 2013) SYNOPSIS: Set against the romantic desolation of D...

I always wanted to make my own mixtape since the first time I tuned in to Ellies's Wicked Wednesday Mixtape on Jam 88.3. However, at that time, I didn't have any resources like internet connection and of course, songs. Right now, EWWM was already canceled on air because of the radio reformat, but you can listen to her mixtapes on her Tumblr site. My first mixtape supposed to be about the weekend. However, because of the local film festivals that I attended this November, I decided that I should make a mixtape from my favorite movie soundtracks. I was supposed to include some songs from Pulp Fiction, Billy Eliot, Rakenrol, and August: Osage County; but I realized that 11 songs are a lot for me. I'll make another movie mixtape next year. For now, I hope you enjoy this mixtape. Don't forget to leave a comment if you have any suggestions. Click  this link  to listen. The cover for this month's mixtape is the still from the movie, La ...

Esoterika: Maynila (Elwood Perez, Philippines, 2014) SYNOPSIS: Drawing from his personal adventures, film director, Elwood Perez veers away from standard-issue plot conventions in this paradoxically moral tale of a young man en route to becoming a creative artist. (SOURCE: Cinema Crush ) WRITER: Elwood Perez , Jessica Zafra STARS: Ronnie Liang, Vince Tañada, Federico Olbes RATING: 3/5 Violator (Dodo Dayao, Philippines, 2014) SYNOPSIS: Manila is caught in the worst typhoon in its history, and the world feels like it’s coming to an end. And when 5 men find themselves stranded inside a local police station, a mysterious prisoner is brought in, and the men discover that he may or may not be the devil. (SOURCE: Rappler ) WRITER: Dodo Dayao STARS: Joel Lamangan, Victor Neri, RK Bagatsing, Anthony Falcon, Timothy Mabalot, Andy Bais RATING: 5/5 Red (Jay Abello, Philippines, 2014) SYNOPSIS: After a drug bust goes terribly wrong,a local fixer named Red becomes th...