Scud at the Movies: Part VI

Bolt. I highly recommend this delightful Disney movie about an American white shepherd, named Bolt, who travels across America to find his owner. This movie has a great opening fight sequence and the rest of the 80-minute-or-so running time doesn't disappoint. It a lot of heart and laugh-out-loud funny scenes are aplenty.

The Duchess. Keira Knightley stars as Georgiana, the great-great-great-great-aunt of Princess Diana, who is trapped in a loveless marriage to William Cavendish (Ralph Fiennes). This is a film about her search for happiness and love. The plot is not something I have not seen before and feels like the story is a figment of a writer's imagination. It is salvaged though by the performances of Knightley and Fiennes. Watch out for the quick girl-on-girl scene between Knightley and Hayley Atwell. For a few seconds I thought the film was going to blow me away with a Mulholland-Drive-like twist. Haha.

Concerto. This is an official entry to this year's Cinemalaya set during the latter part of World War II where a Filipino family establishes a bond with Japanese soldiers in the Davao mountains. This is a wonderful film although not as great as the 2008 Cinemalaya triumvirate - Jay, 100, Boses - but much better than the horrendous My Fake American Accent. Too bad it couldn't find an audienvr. There were only like 8 other people in the theatre when I watched this at the Galeria. Bummer.

Dahil Mahal na Mahal Kita. Caught this at Cinema One a few weeks back. The movie is about a college party girl Mela (Claudine Barretto) who falls in love with the college student council president Miguel (Rico Tan). What caught my attention was the first third of the movie. It was hilarious and Mela kind of remind me of someone. Hehe. The last 2/3 of the movie stuck to the typical Filipino plot - the lovers have a falling out but still ends up together..

Max Payne. This is a movie starring Mark Wahlberg in the title role who is seeking the killer of his wife and son. The movie is beautifully shot and has that graphic novel look similar to 300. Sadly, that's the only good thing about the movie.

Porco Rosso. Since I was first introduced to two of Miyazaki's greatest movies, Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke, I always have high expectations when I am about to watch his other firms. None of them immensely impressed me. Porco Rosso is no exception. This movie is about a man-pig name Porco Rosso (Crimson Pig) who fought against flying pirates, for his pride, for his lover, and for his fortune.

Burn After Reading. The latest film from the Coen Brothers about two gym fitness employees (Brad Pitt and Frances McDormand) who find a CD which they think contains top secret government information and their attempt to profit from their discovery. The film is sometimes hilarious but as a whole it didn't quite work for me. It was even a bit confusing. For a production that stars three Oscar winners (McDormand, George Clooney, Tilda Swinton) and 2 Oscars nominees (Brad Pitt, John Malkovich) I was expecting a better film.