Black Friday. Ugh.

I had a pretty crappy Black Friday this year. Black Friday is the big sale a lot of stores have after Thanksgiving. They release their ads during the week listing the products that are on sale. I usually get what I want, but not this year. After standing in line outside Circuit City at 4 in the morning with my brother and his girlfriend for hours, we were finally let inside. My brother and I wanted a 500 gb external hard drive that was on sale for 90 bucks. We got in line for the register only to find out that the hard drive wasn't on sale and the other hard drive on sale was out of stock. I didn't even get any sleep because I got home from Thanksgiving dinner late and was planning to go to Circuit City early. I think I'll skip it next year.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Have fun, get stuffed, and drive safe. I know I will!

Ouija Review

Title: Ouija (International title: Seance)

Release Date: 2007

Genre: Horror

Director: Topel Lee

Cast: Judy Ann Santos, Jolina Magdangal, Iza Calzado

Synopsis: IMDb

Trying to capitalize on the success of Japanese horror movies, Ouija blatantly rips off scenes from The Ring and The Grudge (i.e. fingers coming out of a woman's hair, jerky movement by the ghost). It was so distracting that I ended up just comparing the films the whole time. This really only applies to people who've seen the aforementioned movies. If not, the movie provides some decent scares. Although, there was this one scene that had me scratching my head. The ghost walks toward a frightened Judy Ann and gets on the floor to do some...yoga. Was that supposed to be scary? The one scene that actually made me jump out of my seat involved the maid, played by Pearla Bautista. It scared the crap out of me!

I thought the main actors did a good job of portraying their roles as sisters. It wasn't the best, but their family issues were presented convincingly and some character development was evident.

It wasn't very original (the copied scenes sure don't help), but Ouija had a decent story and some good acting. Even though it's not in the same league as Sigaw, it's worth at least a rental.

Pet Peeve: Taglish

Noun: Taglish

1. Informal mixture of Tagalog and English used in the Philippines.

I grabbed this definition off of wordwebonline.com. It's not exactly accurate. It's heard anywhere English is used. My parents use it with their kids or relatives whose first language is English (like me) to help them understand what they're saying, but I also see them use it with people who are well versed in Tagalog. I think it's a lazy thing to do. I know there are many English words that can't be translated, but I hear it used for the most simplest phrases. There are some Tagalog words that I never hear. When was the last time you heard someone say "Pasensya na po"? It's always "Sorry po". 

I cringe every time I hear Taglish in movies or on TFC. Since celebrities are influential, I think the writers should keep Taglish to a minimum to help discourage its use. I guess the reason why it's frustrating for me is because I'm interested in learning how to speak Tagalog. I'm afraid that Tagalog will eventually disappear.

Sigaw review

Title: Sigaw (English title: The Echo)

Release Date: 2004

Genre: Horror

Director: Yam Laranas

Cast: Richard Gutierrez, Angel Locsin, Iza Calzado, Jomari Yllana, Ella Guevara

Synopsis: IMDb

I actually watched this with my mom. She slept through most of it. For a horror movie, that says a lot. Although it had its moments, it wasn't keeping me up at night. Don't get me wrong, I do think it's a good movie.

This movie is obviously influenced by the Asian horror movies of girls with long black hair. I thought the story was well-written, but you'll probably figure out the mystery before the movie actually reveals it to you. Some of the scenes that took place out of the apartment building (e.g. the movie theater) felt like they were out of place, but it wasn't too distracting.

The real stars of the movie were the setting and the score. The apartment building was just downright creepy. The dirty walls, dimly lit hallways, and a vertigo-inducing stairwell helped enchance the haunted atmosphere. The score did a good job in building up tension for those scary moments without sounding cheesey.

Iza Calzado gave a great and believable performance as the abused wife, Anna. You can see the fear in her eyes as she freezes up around her husband. I thought Jomari Yllana gave a great performance as well, but there was one thing that bothered me. He didn't have the right look for the part. He would be perfect for those romantic comedies, but I would've preferred someone a lot more scary and intimidating as Bert.

Richard Gutierrez's performance as Marvin was decent, but there were some scenes I thought were awkward. Am I the only one who thought some of his reactions to scary moments were strange? In one scene, he steps out of his apartment and the door slams behind him. You would expect him to turn around blindingly fast with fear in his eyes, but it's confusion on his face instead as he slowly turns around to face his door. In another scene where he notices something on his ceiling, Gutierrez's eyes dart back and forth from his book to the ceiling while he shivers in bed. Pretty cheesey.

Even though it wasn't as terrifying as I hoped, a spooky setting and score, a great performance by Iza Calzado, and a well-written story are reasons enough to watch Sigaw. I'm looking forward to the U.S. remake also directed by Yam Laranas with Iza Calzado reprising her role as Anna.

Hello!

I'm new to blogging, but I decided to give this a shot. This blog is basically just a place for me to post my thoughts on Filipino cinema and television. I don't live in the Philippines, so most of the movie reviews will be for dvd releases. The first reviews will most likely be of Jose Rizal (1998), Sigaw (2004), Big Time (2005), and Blackout (2007). It might be awhile till my next post because I still need to get my hands on the dvds. See you then!