Author: Wanggo Gallaga

MOVIE REVIEW: Highlighting the real-world fears at the heart of South Korean suspense thriller ‘Target’

Terrifying and brutal, South Korean suspense/thriller ‘Target’ is at its most scary when it’s focused on how vulnerable we are once our private information is no longer private. There’s an ingenious way by which director Park Hee-kon manages to highlight how interconnected the whole world has become through the internet. It opens with SMS exchanges over shots of the city, showing the constant contact people have with strangers for a variety of things. In this movie, the highlight is on the buying and selling of second-hand goods.

Soo-hyun (Shin Hae-sun) is at a difficult time in her life. She’s being harassed by her boss and she’s balancing an architectural project while moving to a new place simultaneously. When a washing machine she buys second-hand through an online market ends up being defective, she takes her anger out on the seller and informs all his other potential customers to not buy anything from the scammer. A heated exchange on text with the said buyer sends Soo-hyun into a scary, crazy world of internet violence.

The scammer is no ordinary scammer, and he tracks down Soo-hyun’s information and begins to terrorize her. First, he sends food delivery to her doorstep repeatedly from various restaurants. Then from these frustrating and time-consuming pranks, it gets more sinister and insidious as time goes by. The helplessness of Soo-hyun is on full display here and the inability of the police to trace down and track this sort of criminals is also put into the spotlight.

‘Target’ is actual thin on story. A lot of what happens in the film is just to showcase the relentless barrage of the scammer on Soo-hyun’s world. He threatens her work, her sanity, and even her own physical safety. At the beginning, we see her strong and fighting back but as the terror increases in size, frequency, and scope, we even see her whittle down to a broken mess. This is where Shin Hae-sun shines. In Korean dramas like ‘Mr. Queen’ and ‘See You in my 19th Life,’ we’ve seen her tackle complex roles with ease. She has excellent comedic timing and can carry off improbably characterizations so well. To see her play a character working in primordial emotional states – fear and anger – is a different thing altogether. She is so committed to each scene and each moment that is enhances the fear factor of the dramatic situation.

Rounding out the narrative is that of the police detective (Kim Sung-kyung of ‘Moving’ and ‘Reply 1988’) who feels powerless in being unable to help Soo-hyun. The number of cases that are on his lap and lack of resources bears down on him. He wants to do things by the book but as he sees the growing danger that Soo-hyun is in, you can see how it affects him by the increase in violence he takes on suspects and the like.

Everything here is interconnected and by doing so, the film really highlights are interdependence on each other. It is filled with, “If only this character did this…” or “if that character did not do that…” and it escalates all because of it. The film reminds us about how much we live on our phones and on the internet and the full range of dangers that could happen if ever this information goes to the wrong hands.

On the onset, just knowing your name, phone number, and address can already present a lot of problems, but as the film shows, so much more is available for abuse with a person who is a little more skilled in the areas of cyber security. The situations that are present in the film are based on actual police cases and when all of these are placed within the confines of one movie, it can be a little over-the-top and unrealistic (but it does create a very enjoyable yet terrifying time in the cinema). It’s even brough into the extreme as murder is added along for the ride.

Unlike other South Korean crime and suspense/thriller films that I’ve seen, ‘Target’ takes a more Hollywood approach to the story. It manages to navigate the story breaking down all of Soo-hyun’s strength, bringing her to her most fragile, and then reclaiming that strength back to attempt to fight back. It’s a very commercial approach to the movie and marks the filmmaker’s own judgment on people such as the scammer in his film. By doing so, the film loses a bit of its own teeth but it’s frightening, nonetheless.

This will be a great date movie with friends or a partner. The tension would be a great bonding experience and there were even some emphatic screams and shouts in the cinema when I saw it. It’s a great conversation starter and will really make you think twice about your cyber security.

My Rating:

Target is now showing. Get your screening times and tickets here.

October 18, 2023
MOVIE REVIEW: All that glitters is black gold: a review of ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’

Epic in scale and scope, ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ is another sweeping story from legendary director Martin Scorsese that highlights the relationship of crime and American history. Much like his earlier masterworks like ‘Gangs of New York,’ ‘The Irishman,’ ‘Casino,’ ‘Goodfellas,’ ‘’The Irishman,’ and the like, ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ is a study of the inner worlds of the people who’ve turned crime into their lifeblood. Based on the nonfiction book of the same name by David Grann, Scorsese takes his time to build a world at the turn of the century in America when the Native American tribe of Osage found oil in their lands and made them extremely wealthy overnight. It changed the landscape of that part of America, but it also brought in the white people who did everything they could to take that money for themselves.

At 206 minutes, Scorsese takes his time to introduce us into a world that we never get to see on cinema – a world where Native Americans were rich and powerful, wearing expensive clothes and jewelry while being served by white people – by putting into film, he cements this actual occurrence in history into an image we can carry with us after seeing the movie. By taking this narrative and putting it on the big screen, he highlights how in the 1920s, the white people were envious at the richness and power of the Native Americans. He introduces us to Ernest Burkhart (played by Leonardo DiCaprio), a war veteran, who seems like he is never the smartest man in the room. He returns home to the ranch of his uncle, William King Hale (Robert De Niro), who takes him in and helps him get a job as a driver.

Within the first hour of the movie, Scorsese drills into us this universe. On one hand, the Osage people are wealthy but due to government policy, they need guardians to access their wealth and stigma and discrimination just hovers over the boundaries. William King Hale sells himself as a friend of the Osage people, but he likes to set up his men to marry the Osage women with the hopes of becoming a part of the will so that they can take the land if anything happens to their wives. It just so happens, Osage people are dying left and right and oftentimes, with no investigation.

And in the middle of all of this, Ernest falls in love with one of his regular clients, Mollie (Lily Gladstone). Mollie, with her sisters and aging mother, owns a huge property with a lot of oil and is one of Hale’s targets to acquire that land. He leverages Ernest’s and Mollie’s feelings to get his hands on the property and this is the crux of the film.

On one hand, this movie is exposing the lengths by which the white people have come to take what belongs to the Osage people and how it was protected by members of the government as it became a battle of the whites versus the Native Americans. On the other hand, it is also a cruel and brutal love story between a dumb, impressionable white man and his Native American wife, whom he doesn’t really realise he’s hurting in a huge, huge way.

Scorsese uses the film’s epic running time to really lay the groundwork to show the complex relationship between his three lead characters: DiCaprio, De Niro, and Gladstone. The push and pull of these characters against one another is what makes this movie so powerful because in the backdrop of it all is the metaphor of America’s history left bare for us to criticise and challenge.

This is immense work from DiCaprio and De Niro. They are in fine form and working the multiple layers of their characters with ease. Gladstone is also luminescent. Mollie is silent but strong and oftentimes her character is still, taking it all in, and in later scenes, feels very strongly as tragedy hits her again and again. She stands on her own with her two Oscar winning co-stars and will probably deservedly earn an Oscar nomination herself.

Unfortunately, Scorsese finds more interest in telling the story through the eyes of Ernest and leaves Mollie as the least developed character amongst the three. By choosing Ernest as the film’s point-of-view, he highlights the witless and unconscious act of destruction of the lives of the Osage people and makes this the point of the story. If it were Mollie’s movie, it would highlight the struggle against that destruction.

But I feel that Scorsese is out here to judge and criticize. He does not romanticize or glorify Hale or Burkhart’s actions. They are as reprehensible as they appear to be on the film. Scorsese doesn’t shy away from that. By doing so, he questions the idea of America’s greatness by amplifying the narrative of how this greatness was built on the robbing of the land and culture of the Native Americans.As a director, Scorsese has done a wide range of incredible films from ‘Age of Innocence,’ to his love letter to cinema in ‘Hugo,’ to his meditations on religion and faith in movies like ‘Silence’ and ‘The Passion of Christ.’ But it’s his films that delve into the dark soul of America like ‘Gangs of New York,’ ‘The Wolf of Wall Street,’ ‘The Irishman,’ ‘Casino,’ and even ‘The Departed’ that I feel is also an area of expertise on his part. The way by which he chronicles those lives and times and explores the factors that made America the way that it is. ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ joins that pantheon of films and will be one of his many, many accomplishments when one decides to look at his filmography.

My Rating:

Killers of the Flower Moon is now showing. Get your screening times and tickets here.

October 18, 2023
MOVIE REVIEW: The Crazy World of Movie Making: a review of ‘Cobweb’

The crazy and quirky ‘Cobweb’ is a movie within a movie, a period black comedy about the movie of the same title as it is being reshot by its director Kim Yeol (played by Song Kang-ho of ‘Parasite’ and ‘Snowpiercer’ fame). Kim Yeol is a director known for his “trashy dramas” and who is driven to redo the ending of his film to turn it into a masterpiece. Known as an apprentice to great filmmaker, Director Shin, critics and other industry insiders feel that Director Shin wrote the screenplay of Kim Yeol’s debut feature, which is why it is so good, and this has plagued Kim Yeol’s career ever since. Even on his continued insistence that his debut film was written by him, his works after his debut has been less than stellar. Plagued by dreams, he has returned to the studio and called back his cast and crew to re-shoot a few scenes.

Except Kim Yeol’s producer doesn’t want him to reshoot the film. Set in South Korea in the 70s, they would need to submit the script to the censorship board for approval (to ensure there wasn’t any anti-government rhetoric in the story) while many of his actors are also busy with other projects, most notably the starlet Han Yu-rim (played with delicious fervor by Krystal Jung). But after the niece of the producer, Shin Mi-do (played by a surprisingly plucky Jeon Yeo-been of ‘Vincenzo’) reads the new script and takes it upon herself to push through with the reshoots, ‘Cobweb’ then takes a turn to the crazy world of filmmaking.

Alternating between the movie that is being shot – the multi-genre and almost campy black and white suspense drama ‘Cobweb’ – and the making of that movie, the film becomes a hilarious presentation of the crazy world of filmmaking. It’s a satire about the industry poking fun at the crazy antics on the set that includes everything from the intrigue between actors, the means of playing circles around the censors, the battle between producers and actors and producers and directors, and everything that Mi-do and Yeol must do to keep the cameras rolling. Everything including locking everyone in the studio.

While the movie being shot is very old school in tone and feel. It plays out like a campy old movie with exaggerated acting and overly dramatic music and set ups, it becomes an interesting counterpoint to the lives of the people within the studios and it becomes a showcase of the intricate web of personalities that intersect in the making of a movie.

The literal spider and cobwebs in the film come in much later in the movie and in the most unconventional and hilarious way. It comes completely left and center and becomes the final punchline to a very long and crazy joke about the world of making movies. What does come out is that no matter how crazy the world of it gets, the movie keeps going, they never stop. The passion of making movies, of making a name for yourself, of putting out a work is really highlighted in this film. It’s as if Kim Yeol is the spider making a cobweb and everybody else is just trapped in the weave, unable to get out.

Or maybe the spider is moviemaking and even Kim Yeol is stuck in the spider’s web as more truths about his past and his relationship with Director Shin is revealed in a fiery moment that is absolutely awe-inspiring (it shows off an incredible one-shot take involving fire). Director Kim Jae-woon first shows us how the scene is done and then shows us the finished shot within the film itself and ‘Cobwebs’ just lays out this incredible movie-making moment for us to marvel at.

With great performances across the board, most especially from Krystal Jung and Jeon Yeo-been, ‘Cobweb’ is a madcap comedy about the joys and craziness that it takes to making movies. It is definitely a love letter to the medium but also an exploration and rumination of what an artist fears the most – grappling with the ideas of their own capacities and talents. ‘Cobweb’ isn’t particularly deep or profound on the onset, but it is very, very enjoyable.

My Rating:

Cobweb is now showing. Get your screening times and tickets here.

October 5, 2023
MOVIE REVIEW: Kathryn Bernardo delivers a true superstar turn in the cynical and campy ‘A Very Good Girl’

There is a very pivotal scene that happens very early in ‘A Very Good Girl’ that tells us we are in the presence of a superstar: Kathryn Bernardo, as her character Philo, has just insinuated herself into the world of the ultra-rich shopping mall matriarch Mother Molly (played by Dolly De Leon) and after days, maybe even weeks, of playing suck up and kiss ass, she finally comes home and begins to take out her makeup. Throughout the long intro that established the world and the campy tone of the film, both Barnardo and De Leon are bedecked in expensive clothes and heavy makeup and have spent last ten or so minutes showing off to each other, Bernardo as Philo starts to wipe her face clean, and we begin to see that this is a character with so many layers. The campiness is stripped away only to reveal a very real anger that drives the narrative of ‘A Very Good Girl’ hurtling forward. It’s an anger that Bernardo wears and hides beneath Philo’s sweet and endearing exterior. What makes it even more impressive is that Bernardo then brings this anger and takes it with her as she returns into the world of camp.

If ‘Hello, Love, Goodbye’ did not already prove Kathryn Bernardo has all the trappings of an excellent actress, then ‘A Very Good Girl’ will remove all question of it. If there’s anything director Petersen Vargas does well is to take the bonkers script of Marianne Dominque Mancol, Jonathan Albano, and Daniel Saniana and use it to showcase all of Kathyn Bernardo’s strengths. This is her movie through and through and it’s a great way to announce the full range of Bernardo’s abilities.

The movie, in of itself, is a demanding movie for all its campy craziness. It asks of us to care and invest in Philo, as she thrusts headfirst into the dangerous game of revenge. Vargas and the writers are not averse to taking their lead character into the dark corners of Philo’s psyche – a place that Bernardo handles very well – but by doing so, our protagonist starts to skirt the same lines that her target, the deliciously evil Mother Molly, also operates in. ‘A Very Good Girl’ works within that framework that if you fight fire with fire, you can burn everything down during the battle.

At the onset of the movie, it goes straight into the heat of it all. Without any introductions, Philo is already making her moves to get into Mother Molly’s good graces. The film takes no time to let us into that world. We hit the ground running. As Philo engages in psychological warfare against Mother Molly and everyone around her, we only then start to discover who she really is and why she’s on a warpath.

This is where the movie needs to reel it in. Early on, it enters a flashback that takes a little too long (it felt like ten or twelve minutes, and it could have been shorten to just the necessary story beats and left to a solid five minutes) and it is these flashbacks that kill the pacing of the film and tries to justify the mayhem that will ensue. At every turn, the film tries to differentiate Philo and Mother Molly (Mother Molly is evil while Philo is just driven to this) but the film also takes a lot of enjoyment when Philo begins to break Mother Molly’s world apart.

The first set up includes many scene-stealing moments from Chie Filomeno, who does a hilarious parody of every rich socialite, influencer and builds some really strong laugh out loud moments that can serve as the peak of the comic tone of the film. As the film progresses, it gets darker and darker. The laughs are fewer and far between each other as Vargas starts to twist things. He creates a moment of humanity for Mother Molly – these moments are when Dolly De Leon really shines, when she finds these soft, vulnerable moments for the evil character she is portraying – and then he plays into the conflicted state of Philo’s head. Is she pushing through with her revenge or has Mother Molly become a mother figure?

This is what I enjoyed most about ‘A Very Good Girl’ and it is by how it didn’t go to where I thought it would. From the beginning I was fighting everything about it because it wasn’t going the way I thought it should – it’s a Star Cinema movie and it has Kathryn Bernardo and it’s a revenge story, why isn’t it going this way? Why is it going this way? – and it was when I finally let go and let the movie be what it was that I started to really enjoy it.

The film settles itself in a strange place that is camp but also satire. It plays off of our exaggerated ideas about the rich (they were gowns and jewelry at home, the way by which they look down on people) while emphasizing how distorted and broken our justice system is that people with money always get away with everything (a hilarious scene involving a neck brace brought out one of loudest laughs in the movie) and all through-out, at the center of it, is a character who has had enough and is taking matters into her own hands and… by every turn, seems to be losing.

‘A Very Good Girl’ is a difficult film to take because it looks like a crazy, campy Star Cinema movie but it really is a jaded and cynical look at the very real and very crazy world we live in today. Surprisingly, the film manages to end with hope, an optimistic turn that isn’t implausible in a Filipino movie (it manages to find its Star Cinema-ness by the end) and it works but it also works if it fully embraced the darkness that had overtaken the film halfway through.

This movie was such a joy for me to watch because it was not what I was expecting (and I loved that), even if it ended the way I think a Star Cinema movie would end. The film was crazy and irreverent, and I thought it could have even pushed it more. But where it went is already a step forward. And at the very center of it all, ‘A Very Good Girl’ is so enjoyable because of Kathryn Bernardo’s commitment to the character and the genre. This is a superstar turn.

My Rating:

A Very Good Girl is now showing. Get your screening times and tickets here.

Homestream images from ABS-CBN Film Productions Inc. (Star Cinema)

October 2, 2023
MOVIE REVIEW: Certified Legend: a review of the concert movie ‘IU Concert: The Golden Hour’

On her 14th anniversary since her debut, IU performed at the Seoul Olympic Stadium, and is the first South Korean female artist to headline the gigantic venue. In the 14 years since her debut, IU has built a career unlike any other and it is hard to find any artist – Asian and Western – that could rival her cultural and commercial impact in the same way that IU has in South Korea and the rest of the world. And this legacy can be seen in the concert movie ‘IU Concert: The Golden Hour.’

If you were unable to make it to the 2-day affair in September 2022 (like many of us fans) or are interested in finding out more about the the South Korean superstar’s music, the movie is a breathtaking presentation of her charisma, her range, her talent, her impact, and her power. The two-and-a-half concert is short compared to IU’s usual performances. She’s known for an extensive encore performance and even a post-encore performance and she can sometimes sing for 4 hours at every stop. But due to COVID-restrictions and the venue limitations, she jokingly and very candidly kept mentioning that she had to shorten her spiels and try to move things quickly along or else “they’d close the curtain on me,”

With over 40,000 people in attendance on each day, the movie makes sure to capture IU in angles that shows her tiny frame facing the massive audience before her. It presents the scale of these shows and when it switches to her face, not in any one moment do you see fear or trepidation. The concert marks not just her 14th year in the industry but also the year she turned 30 and she strides across that stage with all the confidence in the world. Just that image alone is such an amazing thing to see. And we all know that if it weren’t for COVID-restrictions, they could have filled that stadium to its full capacity (both shows were reportedly sold out within less than a day).

And what a show it was! The 25 songs she sang ran through a lot from her discography but is just barely scratching the surface, usually just choosing one song from a range of EPs and albums she’s released since she was 16. She opened the concert with ‘Eight,’ her 2020 hit song with Suga while suspended in the air on a crane. She sang the first verse in acapella before the band joined her and it was a flex like no other. That voice is maintained throughout the whole show, while rapping in ‘Palette,’ singing ‘Strawberry Moon’ while on a hot air balloon as it sails across the crowds on the second and third row, going all her pop glory in with the one-two punch of ‘Hold My Hand’ and ‘Blueming’ and even singing her biggest hit ‘Good Day’ at merely the half mark of her show.

The first two parts shows IU at full control of her pop star persona. She learned a few steps to dance along with in the second act’s closer ‘Lilac’ and she even adds a touch of the sentimental as she shares that she is “graduating’ two of her popular songs: ‘Palette’ and ‘Good Day.’ According to her, it would not work for her, moving forward, to sing those songs again in a live performance. Now that she’s 30, her approach to the world and to making shows have to change as well.

If the first two acts show her pop star persona, Act 3 and her first set of songs of her encore shows her as a vocal diva, singing ballad after ballad, complete with an orchestra. An hour and half into her show and singing the vocally demanding ‘Good Day’ just prior did not deter her from a salvo of songs that show off her vocal range and her much-lauded technique. Never once does her quiver and the audio mix is such that you can hear her every breath, letting us know she’s singing live all-throughout.

When she returns for her first encore, she’s dressed in a long gown, complete with crown and she even pushes further by singing ‘Love Poem’ and my favourite song from her whole discography ‘My Sea.’ By the end of this all, IU has completely shed the young woman who rose through South Korea’s entertainment industry and by the end of ‘My Sea,’ she is the mature legend in full control of her persona.

And if that wasn’t enough, after what was over two hours, she again returns and this time it’s at her most relaxed – a red flannel shirt and baggy jeans and she sings the bouncy, infectious ‘Ah Puh,’ and then the charming songs ‘Heart’ and ‘Drama’ before finishing with the aptly titled song ‘Epilogue.’

As concert films go, ‘IU Concert: The Golden Hour’ is a showcase of what has made IU such a fixture on K-pop – it’s the intersection of her charisma; her musicality that crosses over various musical genres; her authenticity as pop star; and her incredible vocal skills that allows her to sing these incredibly demanding songs without fail – and the movie captures all of this. Through its editing and how it arranges it shots, it manages to show the full scale of this concert and how IU, who is at the center of all it, is in full control of her audience, of her instrument, and her legacy.

As a fan, this is a concert movie I can watch over and over again. And if you are curious about her, this is the perfect way to get to know her.

My Rating:

October 2, 2023
REVIEW: A Change of Tune: a review of GMG Production’s ‘Hamilton’ in Solaire from a musical theater snob
Before I start this review, let me first confess: I am a snob and was completely against watching ‘Hamilton.’ My parents raised me on musical theater, and I grew up listening to the songs written by Stephen Sondheim, Kander and Ebb, Maury Yeston, Stephen Schwartz, and Rodgers & Hammerstein. These are just some of the greats and I’ve added a few more later on. And when it comes to music, rap and hip-hop was never really my thing. So, when I heard that ‘Hamilton’ was a rap-sung musical, it hurt my elitist, snobbish sensibilities. And the fact that it’s about American history bothered me even more: “What does that have to do about us?”

I was such an idiot.

Hamilton Manila Gala Night © Zeus Martinez

I got to see the show at the Theater in Solaire, and while I was preparing to hate it, after the second song, I was grasping the arm of my friend who was sitting beside me and exclaiming how good the show was. And it just started.

To my absolute surprise, and against all my snobbish and elitist expectations, I was blown away by the musicality of the show and how universal the story felt despite it being specific to the history of the United States. ‘Hamilton’ creator Lin-Manuel Miranda conceptualized a show that is steeped in American history (though further reading shows some artistic liberties were taking to tell a more cohesive, more dramatic story) but told in a way that spoke about issues now and applicable to any experience.

Hamilton Manila Gala Night © Zeus Martinez

More than anything, seated at the back of the orchestra, my failing eyesight meant that I couldn’t see any of the actor’s faces. Instead, I relied on their movements, costume, and their singing and I have to say that it was completely comprehensible to me what was going on that stage. The play is completely sung/rapped through with very little (if any) dialogue to carry the story, so you really have to listen. But it has a beat and a rhythm that is so infused with modern sensibilities that it is fairly easy to follow, and the performances were so clear and enunciated so well that you heard everything.

Jason Arrow and Australian Hamilton Cast | Credit: Daniel Boud

And what a cast they have for this show. Each one was singing better than the other, infusing every note and syllable with emotion and energy. On one hand, you have Jason Arrow as Alexander Hamilton, rallying everyone’s attention in every scene but then you have the gorgeous voice of DeAundre’ Woods as Aaron Burr that steals each scene after (his ‘Wait for It’ is something to marvel). David Park’s dual role of Marquis de Lafayette in Act One and Thomas Jefferson in Act Two are so different in tone, energy, and even accent, I thought it was a different actor until it was pointed out by my friend. But the real scene stealers were Brent Hill as King George and Darnell Abrahams as George Washington. Abrahams’ ‘One Last Time’ was so powerful it almost turned into some gospel moment with Abrahams’ incredible voice that I almost lost myself.

Hamilton London

But as the show unfolded, it was the story of the Schuyler sisters that really sold the whole show for me. The one-two punch of Akina Edmonds and Rachel Ann Go as Angelica Schuyler and Eliza Schuyler-Hamilton are the true stars of this show. While Hamilton and Burr have one moment of warmth in the song ‘Dear Theodosia,’ the Schuyler sisters’ every song is filled with their longing and passion. The boys get to talk about politics and ambitions, but the women have to sing about their desires as something that is only secondary in this day and age of men. Edmonds and Go fuel that energy and when Rachel Ann Go sings her powerhouse number ‘Burn,’ she literally burns the house down.

The show is about Alexander Hamilton, one of the founding fathers of America and his participation in the building of the country as it declares its independence from Britain but it is also about the original American dream – about how immigrants fled to the United States to start anew and to build themselves up from nothing but their hardwork and their dreams. Hamilton wore his politics on his sleeves, and he was brash and arrogant but he had a mission and he pushed through and achieved great things despite all the barriers that came his way, many of which were people who were jealous of his determination to see things through. On the road to his legacy, he fell in love with his wife but put her and his family second to the nation that he was building. His undoing was his own human frailty, but the musical makes a case that his personal failings to his family should not overshadow the work he had accomplished in putting his country together.

The musical works in broad strokes. Intentions are stated through a song, a love story can be played out in a fantastic number, and the war is fought and won just within Act One. There’s rarely any time for nuance or intimacy. The play hits every important story point in a big number that is just so fitting for a story of this magnitude, and it works so well.

Hamilton Australia | Credit: Daniel Boud

Even the use of rap and hip-hop helps bridge the past with present day issues – the fact that Hamilton is “an immigrant” (newly arrived into the US from a small Caribbean island rather than being born in the USA) yet worked his way to the top; the class divide; the dirty business of politics; the messiness of love and marriage; and most importantly, taking a stand in political issues and not just waiting things out – the modern sensibilities of the play grounds the musical so that while everything is set and told within the context of American History, as Lin-Manuel Miranda wanted it to feel, it talks about the world we know now.

By choosing a multiracial cast to perform the parts of these white men and women from history opens up that history to anyone who believes in the same ideals. We might not be Americans, but the struggle between political lines are similar and the most important take away here is to take a stand, stop sitting on the fences, and as the song goes: “to take your shot.”

Hamilton Manila Gala Night © Zeus Martinez

GMG Productions’ ‘Hamilton’ was an absolute thrill for me. It changed this musical snob’s mind. Not only did my perspective on the show changed (how could I have been so resistant, I loved the music of ‘Moana’ and ‘Encanto,’ why would I think any differently?) but I have been introduced to a show that is fully engaging, wonderfully staged, and very well performed. This is such a terrific cast that I didn’t go and listen to the original cast recording right away (despite how badly I wanted to revisit the songs). I knew for a fact that the Philippine touring cast was going to be better than the original cast recording.

I finally listened to it today to write this review and I was right. The cast performing in Solaire right now is way better than what’s on music streaming sites.

My Rating:

Explore more about Hamilton Manila:
Homestream images courtesy of Zeus Martinez and GMG Productions.
September 27, 2023
REVIEW: ‘The Continental: From the World of John Wick’ is as hard-hitting and engaging as the films it originates from

Set to expound on the world of the immensely popular film franchise ‘John Wick,’ ‘The Continental: From the World of John Wick’ is a 3-part mini-series that details the origin story of Winston Scott (played by Ian McShane in the films) and Charon (played by Lance Reddick in the movies). Set in the 1970s, it’s a view of the complex underworld of New York torn and broken by the Vietnam war and punctuated by the wild excess of drugs and disco and the rising anger of the anti-establishment as punk finds its voice. Developed for streaming by Greg Coolidge, Kirk Ward, and Shawn Simmons, they present New York as if it was a retro dystopian hellhole. Saturated colors give it an old-school feel while every street corner is filled with trash, graffiti, and violence.

This is not the slick and glossy world as presented in the films. This is a dark look into the past and the cast of characters that inhabit here are haunted by their own demons that come crashing down together when the world of the high table is turned upside-down by one robbery in the hotel called The Continental.

The Continental Season 1

Winston Scott (played by Colin Woodell) is a charming, quick on his feet grifter, who finds himself taken by force while on a job in London and brought to New York where his brother, Frankie (Ben Robson) has stolen something of great worth from Cormac, the manager of The Continental. Played by Mel Gibson, Cormac is an arrogant, evil force. He’s manipulative and regards himself highly and while he had taken both Winston and Frankie when they were but orphans living in the street and raised them, he has also raised them to be criminals like he is.

THE CONTINENTAL: FROM THE WORLD OF JOHN WICK — “Night 1” — Pictured: Mel Gibson as Cormac — (Photo by: Katalin Vermes/Starz Entertainment)

Though he’s estranged from his brother, Winston must now find Frankie and try to protect him from the consequences of his actions because Cormac is out for blood. What he stole is not just important to Cormac, it is important to the mysterious High Table as well, the powers that be in the world of John Wick that run the machinations that makes the world move.

What I enjoyed about the three episode mini-series is that ‘The Continental: From the World of John Wick’ is focused less on the inhabitants of the hotel – the assassins like John Wick – and instead on the people on the fringes of this underworld. Gun runners, cops, war veterans, street urchins, and all other kinds of people in the fringes who are trying to make do in this broken world that’s presented to us.

From martial arts trained brother and sister duo of Miles (Hubert Point-Du Jour) and Lou (Jessica Allain) to the investigator KD (Mishel Prada) and her detective lover (Jeremy Bobb), to Frankie’s dangerous Vietnamese soldier wife, Yen (Nhung Kate) – the world of this series is populated by people who are not as successful as the people of the High Table but just as dangerous.

Each story is of characters finding purpose when everything around them is falling apart and society is not out to make things any easier. They are forced into a life of crime and violence and danger while, in the hotel, there are assassins who are trading the comforts of home in gold coins. Amidst all of this, Winston is out to learn the truth about his family (as do a lot of the other characters in the show) and how everything points to breaking down the establishment that is causing all the trouble in the first place.

THE CONTINENTAL: FROM THE WORLD OF JOHN WICK — “Night 1” — Pictured: Ayomide Adegun as Charon — (Photo by: Katalin Vermes/Starz Entertainment)

‘The Continental: From the World of John Wick’ is hard-hitting and relentless. Each episode is the length of a movie (anywhere from 88 minutes to 90+ minutes an episode) and it has its share of quiet, introspective moments from the characters as well as very elaborate fight sequences that is befitting of a show that is adapted from the world of the ‘John Wick’ movies. The fights involve guns and martial arts. There are huge explosions as there are graphic displays of violence involving swords and knives and pick axes. Some of these fight scenes last 20 minutes (reminiscent of the final movie in the ‘John Wick’ franchise) but what keeps it from being too self-indulgent is that these epic fight scenes are moving towards the culmination of a specific character arc. They emphasize the grit and determination of these characters to get exactly the revenge they are seeking against Cormac, The Continental, and the world that it represents.

The Continental Season 1

I’m familiar with Woodell from his work in ‘The Originals’ and it’s great to see him oozing with charm and gravitas. He’s a surprisingly strong and solid lead that is carrying this show forward. Holding their own, Prada, Allain, and Point-Du Jour are also quite arresting in their moments making the show quite easy to watch. The difficulty here is seeing Mel Gibson back in full force.

The Continental Season 1

There’s nothing particularly special or interesting in his portrayal of the evil, one-dimensional monster that is Cormac. The writers give him a medley of delicious lines and antics to play with – a religious man who is okay with praying for victory against his opponents as one example – and Gibson throws these lines out without any charm. It’s as if he’s expecting people to hate him and he is leanign into the image that his off-camera persona has become to fuel the role. There is no nuance to this character because it’s exactly what he has been painted in the media to be – aggressive and hostile, angry, misogynistic, and racist. If this portrayal was meant to capitalize on his off-screen persona, it feels manipulative and unsavory. They could have gotten anyone else, and it would have been better. Luckily for Gibson, he gets to perform beside Ayomide Adegun, who plays the younger Charon. Adegun is full of charm and manages to keep his character unpredictable and interesting that he practically steals every scene from Gibson.

The long running time per episode gives each episode a weight and an importance that helps push the show into prestige territory. It feels big even though the whole thing happens in only very few locations. The fight scenes are huge, but the stakes are very personal. The show manages to feel big and be impressive while not really being about anything huge or world changing, and this is a testament to how well done it is. It’s interesting to look at, it makes you wonder why it has made the aesthetic choices that it has – like why depict 70s New York as a world that’s worse than Christopher Nolan’s Gotham City – and keeps the interesting on-going and then it ends before it outstays its welcome.

Other than Gibson, my only real complaint is the excessive use of popular music of the era that creates a wall of noise that can sometimes overpower a scene. I suppose it is to help root the world in that timeline, but I feel that it was done excessively and served as a distraction rather than an amplification.

But other than that, ‘The Continental: From the World of John Wick’ is a worthwhile watch if you’re looking for something violent and tough and just a little bit familiar.

My Rating:

‘The Continental: From the World of John Wick’ is now streaming on Prime Video, watch it here!

September 22, 2023
MOVIE REVIEW: Dystopia, from the eyes of the Everyman: a review of ‘Concrete Utopia’

Headlined by Korean superstars Lee Byung-hun (‘Squid Game,’ ‘Mr. Sunshine’), Park Seo Jun (‘Itaewon Class,’ ‘Dream’), and Park Bo-Young (‘Strong Girl Bongsoon’), the dystopian science fiction film ‘Concrete Utopia’ is a hard-look at civilization at the cold-hard grip of a disaster. It is a 129-minute relentless character study of the human race on survival mode. It is unafraid to get scary, poignant, and surprisingly funny.

Without warning, a massive earthquake ravages the city of Seoul and, in the most fantastical way, only one apartment building has remained untouched after the devastation. This touch of magic elevates the film into the level of a dark fable or a cautionary tale. At the start, the residents of the apartment building has taken in outsiders looking for shelter but as thieving and violence begins to erupt, the residents decide to take control of the space and kick everyone else out. A governing body is then formed and a system is enacted to keep the peace and to ensure the resident’s survival.

We see this through three perspectives: Lee Byung-hun’s Yeong-tak, who becomes the defacto leader when he shows decisive decision-making skills when a fire erupts early on, Park Seo Jun’s Min-sung, a civil servant who feels overwhelmed by the current state of the world, and his wife Myeong-hwa, played by Park Bo-young, who is a nurse and who is desperately clinging on to her humanity as the world gets fiercer and meaner.

Lee Byung-hun is delivering a magnificent performance of an ordinary man who is thrust with so much power. We can literally see his character change as he starts to enjoy the power and adoration he gets from the leadership position he now holds. Lee shows off his magnificent range here and is able to convey his character’s darkest corners with physically transforming on screen when his character starts to get drunk with power.

On the flip-side, Park Bo Young serves as the moral compass of the film. She is witness to the discrimination and bullying that is happening within the system and as much as she wants to fight against it, she’s also feeling alone in a world that has become worse during survival mode.

But while Lee and Park are doing excellent portrayals of these typical characters in such events, it’s Park Seo Jun’s Min-sung that is the most textured and refreshing to see. We’ve seen Park Seo Jun from common and brusque as he was in ‘Midnight Runners’ and ‘Fight for My Way’ and we’ve also seen him in refined and elegant and powerful like in ‘What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim?’ and ‘She Was Beautiful.’ Min-sung is a whole new character for Park, who invokes a sense of the everyman in Min-sung. He is unambitious and unassuming. He wants to be just below the radar and while he is determined to protect his family – Myeong-Hwa – he also doesn’t want to rock the boat too much. It’s a layered performance that isn’t as flashy as Lee Byung-hun but it helps truly sell the film’s premise of a world succumbing to darkness and how people just give in to stay alive.

Boasting of fantastic special effects scenes of the destruction of Seoul, director Um Tae-hwa adeptly balances the larger, more spectacular aspects of his story with the more tender, most intimate moments of the narrative. He easily switches from comic – sometimes even campy – to the deadly serious as the story unfolds and it keeps the movie interesting. After the initial eviction of the non-residents, a scene that is immensely tension-filled and riveting, the film then cuts to a portion much like a corny, AVP that shows life in the apartment building. It’s funny but also scary, when you feel the contrast between the images and the tone of the moment. It’s aspects such a these that keeps the film from falling completely within Western mainstream Hollywood disaster films.

It’s also incredible to see Park Seo Jun, the superstar of so many top Kdramas and movies, play someone so passive, so easily corrupted. He is torn between the seductive pull of Yeong-tak’s credo of survival and the love of his kind-hearted wife Myeong-hwa. Min-sung then becomes the fulcrum by which the film has the most to say.

‘Concrete Utopia’ hits all the necessary narrative beats to stay enjoyable and riveting throughout its rather dark and disturbing look at humanity but it also manages to say what it has to say about our human capacity for caring for others. It’s not subtle at all but it’s well-executed that it’s worth every penny.

My Rating:

Concrete Utopia is now showing in sneak previews at your favorite cinemas on September 11 and 12, one week before the regular release on September 20. Get your tickets and screening times here.

September 12, 2023
MOVIE REVIEW: Much better than the first, ‘The Nun II’ has some genuine scares and a more discernable story to follow

It has been around 5 years since ‘The Nun’ has scared its way to a 365-million box office payday and, while reviewing my critique of that movie, and realising how much I disliked the first movie, I’m quite surprised at how much better ‘The Nun II’ is in comparison to its predecessor.

‘The Nun II’ has a more grounded story as it takes its time to build characters that we can invest in so that when the demon nun Valak returns, there are people we can empathize with and genuinely root for. While the film, set in the 50s and just a few years after the events of the first move, it still has a contemporary feel that can affect the reality of the world that is created but at least the film is not as ridiculous as the first.

In this movie Valak has returned and by possessing a body, it has begun a killing spree across Europe. Sister Irene (Taissa Farmiga) is sent on a mission to find Valak and stop her (as she had done in the first movie) and this time she is joined by an American novitiate Sister Debra (Storm Reid). While the two sisters are giving chase, Valak is now haunting a girl’s boarding school in France where Maurice (Jonas Bloquet), called “Frenchie” in the last movie, is now working. Here, he has taken to a young student Sophie (Katelyn Rose Downey) and her mom, Anna Popplewell. It seems that Valak is looking for something and it might just be in the boarding school.

Again, ‘The Nun II’ offers nothing new to the genre. It is another case of demon possession and the typical battle between good and evil, as represented by the church (Sister Irene) and the devil (represented by the demon Valak). There is no representational aspect to the horrors of this movie, as directed by Michael Chaves and written by Ian Goldberg, Richard Naing, and Akela Cooper.

But at the very least, there’s a bit more story now as the film tries to connect what Valak is after to Sister Irene’s past, which honestly comes off as unrealistically fortuitous. It’s such a mainstream connection, a deus ex machina (pun intended), that works around the singular hero trope and complete with mystical relic. There’s no mystery or wonder to these spiritual artefacts and are instead just used as simply as tools or weapons against the demon. It’s this Western treatment of spiritualism that takes away from the magic and thrill out of the supernatural.

But while the film now has a heart – from the relationships between Maurice, Sophie, and her mother and even from the friendship formed between Sister Irene and Sister Debra – which grounds the plot and gives the horror a place of actual fear; director Michael Chaves has some very interesting directorial set ups that gives actual cinematic fright for the audiences.

Taking advantage of Valak’s appearance, and using the black shade of the nun’s habit, he allows the camera to linger in darkness where Valak may just suddenly appear. He does some pretty fun and cool scary sequences that is sometimes predicated by Marco Beltrami’s aggressive score. There are some genuine scares here as well as a few enjoyable jump scares that makes ‘The Nun II’ quite a ride. While I was having trouble connecting to the film, I was enjoying the thrill of tension and suspense that was created by the filmmaking. While the movie ended and I felt nothing new or surprising when it finished, I felt that it was still a good time in the cinema. A good movie to watch with friends.

My Rating:

The Nun II is now showing. Check the screening times and buy your tickets here.

September 11, 2023
REVIEW: Getting Lost with NCT 127: a review of the first episode of ‘NCT 127: The Lost Boys’

On August 30, Disney+ will release the 4-part limited series ‘NCT 127: The Lost Boys.’ It is a docu-series that will allow the 9 members of the very popular Kpop idol group NCT 127 to reflect on their success since their debut in 2016 and ruminate on how their “lost childhood.” It promises to get intimate, and personal with each member as they speak about what it was like growing up under the spotlight, surrounded by the press and the fans, and growing up as successful idols since they blasted into the music scene.

Each episode will focus on two or three members and in the first episode, we are introduced to the band. We get to hear the 9 members talk about themselves as a group, what NCT stands for and what it really means (the answer is just as vague but interesting to hear from their own mouths), and then it segues straight into two of the hardest working members of NCT (and maybe even Kpop), Mark Lee and Haechan.

After all, these two members are not just singing and dancing with NCT 127 but with NCT Dream as well. They are learning the songs, harmonies, choreography, and lore of two different idol groups, both of which are very successful. Recognising that and starting with them was a pretty good move on the part of the filmmakers as they would have a larger appeal since their fan base might be a lot bigger and they can start at a place of tension – how Mark and Haechan are exhausted and might be feeling lost.

The show takes a very creative and artistic way of visualizing the narrations of the members. Instead of just simple talking heads or a basic interview style, ‘NCT 127: The Lost Boys’ uses an almost theatrical approach to this autobiographical documentary. In the show, they call it “performance art.” For Mark, he recreates his childhood with actors playing his younger self, his teenage self, while Mark plays his present day self. Other members can play other characters in Mark’s narration of his thoughts and memories.

For Haechan, they take the approach of therapists couch, or even a hypnotist allowing Haechan to question his own choices and to reflect upon the conditions of his youth that brought him to where he is now as a member of NCT 127.

As someone not familiar with NCT 127 (I am familiar with NCT Dream, though, so Mark Lee and Haechan opening the first episode was an accessible experience for me), the show has yet to sell to me the group. I was invested in the first episode because I am familiar with the two idols from their membership in another group. But getting a feel of the group as a whole, it wasn’t bringing me in yet.

It feels as if the show is tailor-made for the existing fans of NCT 127. Just more content that allows the fans to feel closer to their idols. Maybe as the next three episodes unfold, getting to know the other members might help a non-fan like me to see what NCT 127 is all about and what makes them special from all the other groups that are out there today.

It’s an interesting approach, though, to take: allowing the members to discuss their lost childhood. It opens up and implies what is lost when becoming an idol. Sure, these young men are dressed in designer clothes, are famous, and followed wherever they go. They get to sing and dance for a living, which is something they probably wanted to do (for Haechan, that was something that was passed down from his musician parents) but it comes at a great cost.

By using the creative execution of their stories, though, it can distract from the human element of sadness and maybe regret that can surface in recollections such as these. The fact that the process requires acting, costumes, and choreography can distance you from the actual heart of the message. It turns their stories into entertainment rather than a true meditation on the cost of fame.

Ending the episode with a performance from one of their hit songs may also be another way of catching the attention of non-fans and bringing them into the fandom, or just another way to satisfy the fans’ need for more content to watch and enjoy.

‘NCT 127: The Lost Boys’ is a glossy, refined docu-series that feels set to bring new people into the world of the idol group while giving longtime fans a deeper look into the inner worlds of the idols. It will strengthen that bond that is already there, but it won’t humanize them as much as the show envisions. It continues to prop them up as superstars and entertainers. Their humanity gets lost in the production values and creativity.

My Rating:

‘NCT 127: The Lost Boys’ is now streaming on Disney+. Watch it here.

August 30, 2023