Movie Review: Your Place or Mine

Your Place or Mine watches like an anime series localised for our consumption.  To be specific, it's a reverse-harem, where the protagonist seems to be surrounded by good-looking guys all out to woo her affection.  I like harem animes, and I have been wondering what it would be like to have the genders reversed.  I got my wish and I'm not too sure how well i like it.

But first off, let me get this off my chest: What is the deal with Bret Jackson's colouration?  I know it's not a good idea to judge a person by the colour of their skin, but his tanning-bed skin tone is really, really distracting.  It doesn't help that his features are quite caucasian, and his eye and hair colour makes him look more brown than is rightly normal.  Everybody else looked pretty much okay so either the camera hates him or he really should stay away from the tanning salon.

Ehem.  With that out of the way, let us proceed!

This is a story of a rich girl (Haley Saavedra, played by Andi Eigenmann) who, like every other rich girl in Viva-verse, is determined to spend her youth drinking and screwing around while pretending to be studying in some video-genic university.  She meets and falls into bed (while thoroughly inubriated) with rich boy (Russell Sandoval, played by tanning-bed dude Bret Jackson) who seems to think the world is his oyster (and will throw a punch or two at the first sign of opposition, too much time spent watching pro-wrestling, my friend).

You get a controlling mother who seems determined to make her daughter unhappy (Jackie Lou Blanco) by setting her up in an arranged marriage, who, despite a few plot twists still seems to make decisions based on how much grief she'll cause her daughter.  Whose idea of motherhood is telling Haley that she cannot teach her how to cook because, asking her daughter rhetorically, "does she look like the type who knows how to cook".

Yaya to the rescue.

After an hour of watching these selfish and self-centered characters run around causing themselves unnecessary grief, I was left so devoid of sympathy that even the arrival of Teddy Bear Jr. Andre Paras as your typical anime childhood friend (with all the plus points that entails) still failed to elicit any sort of the expected sympathetic response from me.

So to cap this off, I'll just write down a few more of my observations:

• Haley likes walking out and/or running so she'll get chased.  She walks out on her boyfriend, she walks out of meetings (repeatedly), out of bed, etc.  She did this like five or six times
• So much product placement.  The movie went through as many food outlets, complete with external shots, as the number of times Haley walked on out people
• Almost every character here is a selfish prick.  Family members moreso.  With brothers like those, who needs a better set of villains
• What's the deal with that lecturing lawyer or doctor or shrink, extolling the virtues of a pragmatic marriage?
• Haley seem so determined to make herself unhappy!

Ultimately, even by anime standards, the plot is overly contrived, made worse by the fact that the characters elicit so little sympathy, you would've cheered them on in their misery.  I think I am not the target audience for the story or the movie, but I did not set out to spend 190 pesos just to hate the thing I'm watching. Try harder please, Viva.  And Russell, stop supporting the tanning lotion industry, you could actually act decently and might have a future in the industry and I'll probably have to watch a few more of your movies, just hopefully with a more normal skin tone.

Verdict: 1.5/5  Skip it.

TL;DR:
+ Production values seem to be decent, though outdoor locations seems to all be within Quezon City
+ Bret Jackson shows promise
- Contrived plot
- Poor pacing
- Some gaps within the story (how did Haley and Seth become chums all of a sudden)
---- The characters, ugh!

Details:
Title: Your Place or Mine
Genre: Reverse-harem Teen Drama, Wattpad
Release Date: April 29, 2015
Notable Actors: Andi Eigenmann, Andre Paras, Jackie Lou Blanco

Anime Review: Saekano: How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend/Heroine

Here's another surprise series that took my heart and flew away with it (in no less than 12 episodes + 1 fanservice ep).  Saekano: How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend (Saekano in short), is a harem anime series of the meta sort, requiring a bit of level up before being able to really get into the series.

As it is, I feel like I'm missing 20% of the in-jokes mentioned, and there seem to be a lot of things lost in translation (culturally specific stuff).  But despite that, the only thing I can say about this series is that IT IS TOO DAMN SHORT.

Personally, I do feel that this series is a cross between  Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai (or Haganai) and The World God Only Knows.  Both are harem type animes, and both are well worth your time watching.  In Saekano, you get the generic high school protagonist who is the love interest of just about every interesting girl out there, who joins/forms a club/blog that eventually helps the group/circle develop their relationship/infatuation with the main guy.

The anime is quite self-aware, often mocking it's own use of over-used tropes, breaking the fourth wall (well, maybe 3.5) several times.  I liked these breaks, and the story, simple as it is, moves along as the main focus is always about character interaction and development.

The first half of the series is pretty devoid of fanservice (upskirts, pantyshots, strategically placed/misplaced camera angles), but the latter third is rife with it.  The 13th episode (or episode 00) is pretty much a fanservice episode and, while I'm not complaining, I'd like to consider myself (slightly) above such antics (right).

The art and animation is top notch, reminding me of the Monogatari series with its use of different coloured lines, but without the overly stylised (and distracting) stuffing, though they did have their share of head-tilts.

If you like harem anime, bump this up your queue (if you haven't seen the series yet, that is, it's in a lot of must watch lists, near the top 5 usually).  I've half a mind to rewatch it since it is really too short.

Verdict: 5/5 Must Watch Immediately!

Details:
Title: Saekano: How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend/Heroine
Genre: Harem Anime, Slice of Life
Date Aired: January 8, 2015 – March 26, 2015
Number of Episodes: 13

Anime Review: Yowamushi Pedal / Ping Pong the Animation

I've never been a big fan of sports anime; the excessively dragging pace seen in some of the more popular ones (Slam Dunk, for example) made watching some of the portions a chore.  I've recently watched two sports anime series whose approach to storytelling are quite polar opposites of each other.

Yowamushi Pedal, all 62 episodes of it, is done in the traditional 'long form' sports anime format, where you see minutes of actual events stretch into several episodes worth of screen time.  The art is conventional anime Shōnen (anime aimed for kids), with gorgeously rendered, cel-shaded bicycles (which is what this sports anime is all about) which blend seamlessly with some of the more traditionally drawn anime parts.

Ping Pong the Animation is a whole different beast: it is only 11 episodes long, with art that is a jarring mix of real world 'rotoscoped' art and strangely drawn animation reminiscent of some of the in-between animation shown in those old MTV animation sections.  The art and animation works and works better the more you get into the series. The story is short and succinct, with editing and excellent pacing working hand in hand in getting the story across in just 11 episodes.

Both anime succeeded in getting their story across, despite differing so much in their approach.  They hooked me in with their respective sports of choice, and despite having the barest knowledge and enthusiasm for either cycling or ping-pong, I felt like getting on a bicycle and playing ping pong while riding.

Yowamushi Pedal is a master of stretching out the moment, of building tension and releasing.  You get to know each and every character, whether hero or baddie, see and understand their motivations, and even go as far as rooting for the villain, for they are, all of them, on the same path towards excelling not just against the competition, but against their innermost fears and shortcomings.

Read that last statement as mere stuff, but in the end, Yowamushi is one damn good series and despite watching all 62 episodes, it left me wanting more.

Ping Pong the Animation, despite being only 11 episodes long, covers the same journey as Yowamushi Pedal -- it tells the tale of two friends and their road towards the Inter-High, or the Japanese version of the National competition between high school students.  The pacing here was not rushed, despite the small number of episodes.  Storytelling was cleverly done with flashbacks and fast forwards used unobtrusively, and you never feel confused with what's going on.  Though the art can take quite some getting used to -- it's almost like Van Gogh being animated into playing Ping Pong.

Lastly, the opening and ending music for both series are also quite good, it's like cherry on top of an already excellent sundae.

Verdict:

Both series are worth watching, even if you do not fancy sports anime as a sub-genre.  I rate them both 5/5

Details:
Series: Yowamushi Pedal
Genre: Sports Anime, Shonen
Date Shown: October 7, 2013 – July 1, 2014 (1st Season), October 6, 2014 – March 30, 2015 (Grande Road)
Number of Episodes: 38+24

Series: Ping Pong the Animation
Genre: Sports Anime, Seinen
Date Shown: April 11, 2014 – June 20, 2014
Number of Episodes: 11

Movie Review: You're My Boss

I literally found out about this movie last night, before then, I had no inkling that there was yet another entry to the (much abused) Boss Romance sub-Genre.  While I wouldn't call You're My Boss a terrible movie, this paint-by-the-numbers flick is just as generic and as unimaginative as its title.

So what is there to tell?  There's an over-compensatingly strong female boss (Toni Gonzaga) and an unsophisticated yet charming boy-next-door type (Coco Martin) who is full of heart.  Things happen and they end up swapping roles, falling for each other in the process.  The girl has emotional baggage aplenty and the guy... has his charming smile and... more charming smiles.  I really do think Coco Martin's idea of acting is just to smile his way through everything -- Happy? Smile! Pissed off? Evil smile!  In pain? Grimacing Smile!

I never really liked Toni Gonzaga, but I have to admit that she's come a long way from when I first saw her act.  While she's not the prettiest actress out there, she has presence and that certain sense of...star power!  Unlike her previous attempts, she doesn't come out as over-acting in any of her scenes; though her outfits and her heels (as noted by the girlfriend) and her bags (as noted by the both of us) can be quite..scene stealing.

Coco Martin... well... I've never been a fan and his performance here only reaffirms my belief that Mr. Martin seems to believe that he can smile his way through anything. Oh, he strips several times too, if that's your thing, then this might be your reason to spend your money on this movie.

As for chemistry.... dead as last night's burger.  I don't know, Toni and Coco are both charming left to themselves, but together... it really leaves much to be desired.  The movie bulldozes its way through several scenes, trying to establish the lead actor's reasons for being attracted to each other.  Taken on its own, they do have background and baggage enough to have a foundation for liking and loving one another but I just don't... feel the feels! 

Actually, after washing the dishes, I was thinking what is it about the movie that makes it a disappointment for me, it's not the individual effort displayed by the leads, and the production value is there, for most parts.  Technically, there are some flaws (particularly the dubbing on Freddie Webb's lines, I'm not sure if that's really his voice or whether they used someone else as a stand in, perhaps Mr. Voice-over).

Plot and story-wise, it was pretty okay, a stretch, but definitely within the realm of possibility (and office romance is an ever present occupational hazard for most-all of us).  The characters, from their respective starting points and towards the end of the movie, evolved because of their experiences, so no complaints there either.

Perhaps it's just the sheer predictability, the safer-course take-no-risk attitude that rendered a potentially new take in this tired sub-genre, that disappointed me.  It's like the studio though, hey, why not put an in-demand actor with an in-demand actress and see how it goes, either way, the fandom of both popular actors will probably recoup the cost to justify the effort.

So, in conclusion, and as proof that there's a connection between Toni Gonzaga and Dune (take that +Eugene Lozada ) let me paraphrase a quotation found in that body of work: a clear and safe choice ever leads towards stagnation

Verdict: 2.5/5 Watch it if the cinemas showing Furious 7 is full.

TL;DR:
+ Toni Gonzaga performed admirably well here
+/- Coco Martin's 'acting' vs his natural charm
-- Unimaginative plot, even less inspired execution
+ A few funny situations, emphasis on 'a few'

- Not much by way of risk or innovation
+ Batanes is quite charming, though not as photogenic as Pinatubo in Crazy Beautiful You

Details:
Genre: Boss Romance, "Comedy"
Release Date: April 4, 2015
Running Time: Longer than it felt
Notable Stars: Coco Martin, Toni Gonzaga
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4489160/

Movie Review: Run All Night

Run All Night is a very manly movie.  It oozes maleness that, if you were a girl, you'd probably be sporting stubbles by the time you're through.  It reminds me of old Hong Kong movies, with maleness and machismo being wielded as deadly weapon.

Despite that, it's not particularly testosterone-laden.  Yes, you can be manly without the chest-beating, or the one-liners designed to taunt your opponent into doing something stupid.  This distinguishes Run All Night from, say, Taken, or your typical Steven Seagal movie -- this movie, in its very core, is  about what it's like to be a father, or how not to be one.

Run All Night is star-studded; nevermind the fact that I only really know Liam Neeson and Ed Harris -- Ed Harris is star power enough (for me) to fill a five part movie about cooking sushi properly with your left hand tied behind your back with a silk necktie.  Add action-grandpa Liam Neeson and you'd get the next ultimate versus movie this side of Stallone and Swarzenegger (or Stiller and De Niro).

What I love the most about this movie (aside from its proper notions of manliness and fatherhood), is the fact that Liam Neeson doesn't do his usual Taken act -- the unstoppable force of nature that kicks down every door and shoots up every villain in his sight, though he does shoot and kill a lot of people here (enough to add to that old Liam Neeson infographic), it was never done in a casual, zip up your fly manner.  You can feel each kill costing him.

I'm glad we ended up watching this movie, I was ready to give it the skip, especially since it hasn't been a year since I've seen the last Taken.  This movie is as gritty as your typical Ed Harris movie without being overly depressing, although, I have to admit, I felt my eyes itch from some strange atmospheric effect causing tears to flow down (a bit), but there's a death scene at the end that was just oozing manliness that I couldn't help myself.  It's just like how manly Japanese guys would cry in anime, when their comrades would do something paricularly brave (like pedaling to exhaustion and not finishing the race so his team mates could push ahead and win).  That sort of manliness.

Verdict: 4/5 Well worth watching!

TL;DR:
+ Liam Neeson, toning down his action-grandpa act
+ Ed Harris
+ Straighforward movie, none of your twists and turns
+ Serious without being overly dramatic, or stressful


Details:
Movie Release Date: 3/18/2015
Seen at: Fisher Mall Cinemas
Notable Stars: Liam Neeson, Ed Harris
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2199571/

Book Review: Tigerman by Nick Harkaway

Tigerman places a superhero in a realistic, modern-day setting, albeit in a fictitious island called Mancreu.  It explores the complex relationship the man behind the mask has with his superhero persona, his environment and the people around him.  Less emphasis was placed on the superpowers (of which there really isn't none, aside from athleticism and combat awareness, no megabillionbuckaroos here); the story focuses on the protagonist's journey from a sergeant of the British Army to Tigerman (not tiger man, mind).

Mancreu, an former British colony, can be attributed to any number of real-world analogue, except in this case, Mancreu is about to be devoured by a cloud of toxic stuff.  This places it in a legal limbo that allows Tigerman to come to being.  It actually makes sense and gives the story a setting that is more grounded in realpolitik; at least, more so than Gotham ever was (to my casual reader's eye at least).

While Mancreu is built in such a way that it becomes a character in the book (albeit a non-speaking one), the core of the book deals with Lester Ferris' (the said British Sergeant) relationship with his side-kick/young friend (aptly named Boy, or the Boy in certain cases) -- this relationship explores, in great personal detail, what Batman's relationship with Robin would possibly be like: father-son, teacher-mentor, pedophile-love interest.

The novel is very, very personal, in the sense that it puts you deep inside Ferris' head.  It's very, very tight-first person storytelling here and it took me ages to read through this novel because I couldn't read beyond a chapter at a time.  There's nothing wince-worthy here, nor was the story-telling particularly bandwidth intensive.  It was just told in a manner that requires me to take a day long breather after every session.

I wouldn't call Tigerman a particularly fast-paced novel, it's pretty much like a month at the beach -- slow going, almost idyllic, with moments of intense activity.  But it's a very interesting read -- the core idea is one that appeals to the (casual) comic book fan in me and treats the thesis with the gravitas it deserves, without taking itself too seriously.

Verdict 4/5 Good read, solid piece of work.

TL;DR:
+ Very well written, the central idea is solid, so is the storytelling
+ Great characters, you really get inside the protagonist's head, with all that implies
+ The setting, Mancreu, comes alive.  It almost makes me want to go visit. Almost
- Pace is a bit slow, not exactly a book that you pick up and won't put down.


Details:
Author: Nick Harkaway
Genre: Superhero, Political/Real-world Fiction
Book Length: 352 Pages (Hardcover Version)
Read on: Ebook Version
Published: July 29, 2014
Amazon Link:  http://www.amazon.com/Tigerman-A-novel-Nick-Harkaway/dp/0385352417

Movie Review: Crazy Beautiful You

Crazy Beautiful You is a teeny-bopper movie.   This statement is not to inflame, nor to denigrate the film, it is a romantic story between two young people who aim to start a relationship despite their respective situations.  It is a feel good movie, beautifully shot, with beautiful people, a bleak yet photogenic set of locations, and with a simple yet inoffensive script about love and family that's sure to entertain.

Taken in that context, there's little to criticise about this movie.  While I'm not a hardcore fan, I've enjoyed the Daniel Padilla and Kathryn Bernado 'love-team' back from their TV tele-serye days.  Daniel usually plays the bad-boy and Kathryn the goody-two-shoe;  their roles are reversed this time around, and it works!

Daniel seems more comfortable playing a happy person, which Kathryn can play a boy and she'll still be good at it.  The chemistry is there, and the director milks it for all its worth, with long, drawn out shots of the two doing their thing.  GF said there were kilig moments a-plenty.  I admit nothing.

While the movie is plenty good, there are some niggles I'd like to point out (none of which can be considered deal-breakers but I am splitting hairs here).  You get your requisite product placement shots (ABS CBN Mobile, a long-ass sequence involving KFC, and maybe a Condora ad-let).  You get about four disruptive transitions (music stopping abruptly, scene changing just as suddenly) and Inigo Pascual's character.

Inigo plays the perfect second fiddle here, and (requisite cover-your-ass disclaimer) while there is no accounting for taste, he simply does not match up to Daniel's character or looks or situation -- he's a straw man built just to be toppled down, probably one of the story's weakest points (aside from an exposition between Kathryn and her mother, full of feels but not enough storytelling).

In the end, you watch this movie because of Daniel and Kathryn -- you see them growing more mature with their role, and you can see glimpses of what they can become.  Daniel is the winner here, being charming without being shallow, sensitive without being too weepy.  Kathryn is, well, her usual excellent self, though she does this by supporting Daniel in subtle ways.

The support case is decent, but entirely forgettable. Lorna Tolentino (playing Kathryn's mom) had the biggest support role, though it's a shame to see an actress of her caliber play a bit part.  Gabby Concepcion plays your typical well-heeled politico (he plays Daniel's dad) with even less screen time (or consequence) than Ms. T.  Oh, Annaliza (Andrea Brilliantes) is here, marking her first step into maidenhood (but only with a tiny amount of screen time).  And, well, there's also Inigo but yeah :P

Who should watch this?  If you like Daniel+Kathryn, then it's a given.  If you enjoy feel-good local movies, yep, this one should be on your to watch list.  Or if you just like watching beautiful people and places, then you'd have that aplenty.

Verdict: Highly Recommended (4/5)

TL;DR:
++ Kathryn Bernardo and Daniel Padilla
+ Daniel Padilla levelling up his acting skills
+ Beautiful shots
+ Kilig Momments
- Inigo Pascual
+/- Supporting cast pretty much negligible
+/- Simple, Inoffensive story
- Requisite tear-jerking scenes

Details:
Movie Release Date: 2/25/2015
Seen at: Eastwood Citywalk 2 Cinemas
Notable Stars: Daniel Padilla, Kathryn Bernardo