Cinco

♣♣♣♣/♣♣♣♣♣

Cuatro for the effort. There is a scene after the credits which serves as some sort of epilogue for the last episode, and sets the scene for the first episode. If you come in late you could start the movie with any episode since the fifth one actually serves as a prologue to the first, although the stories are not that directly related.

BRASO is relatively short, obviously just a filler. It manages to establish a creepy atmosphere thanks to the morgue setting, but this is quickly lost a few minutes into the episode. There really is nothing scary about a poorly animated face/crotch-grabbing zombie arm terrorizing teenagers while Hawak Kamay is playing in the background. And you do not play with dead bodies, that is just plain wrong.

Inception

♣♣♣♣♣/♣♣♣♣♣

This is just the right kind of mindfvck good enough to redeem a Saturday night after seeing a disappointing comedy. The special effects are superb and you do not have to leave your brain at the door! The mind enjoys as much as the eyes do. It is a complete package! More movies like this please!

The thing is, you have to think to enjoy this movie. There are special effects, yes, but halfway through it you would probably just walk out frustrated if your eyes do all the work. It would just seem like a series of disjointed action scenes that do not make any sense. On the contrary, you cannot just ruminate and spoil the fun. The director just would not let you. Christopher Nolan is both graphic and profound when it comes to film making, makes me want to see Memento. Jessica Zafra has a point, it seems like he swallowed a Philosophy textbook and turned it into a unique cinematic experience.

Hating Kapatid

♣♣♣/♣♣♣♣♣

Is this a movie or a string of product placements put together onscreen for easy profit? Product placements are okay as long as done with subtlety. You would not cover the brand of your Belo facial cleanser tube in real life with tissue, would you? But does the camera really need to zoom in on the brand name as if it had its own billing? Showing it being used by the characters without calling too much attention to it would suffice. Same thing with the Cebuana Lhuillier promo ad, and Sarah really had to mention the name. It is funny at first, but to be bombarded with it all throughout the movie? Come on.

Saving grace: Vice Ganda, the confrontation scene, and Luis Manzano. No doubt that the set of actors involved could all act, but the story and characterization are just lacking. These consequently drag their performance down. Materials like this are better off as sitcoms where there would be more avenue for character and plot development in the long run. That way the dull moments would be understandable and the characters' antics would not seem annoyingly redundant.

Equus (Repertory Philippines)

♣♣♣♣/♣♣♣♣♣

Seventeen year old boy blinds six horses, sings commercial jingles, and shrieks in a high pitched voice. Equus is not a glitzy song and dance production on stage. In fact it is a play with a lot of talk, mostly very long monologues from the psychiatrist, combined with spontaneous chatter from a deranged teenager. This, along with a glimpse on the darker side of the human psyche, makes this play as gripping and disturbing as it is.

The nudity involved does not come as a surprise, and is not at all staged in an indecent manner. It must be pretty hard for the stage actors involved to strip down onstage as part of a live performance. For that, kudos to Marco Mañalac and Pheona Baranda for mustering the courage to do such a stunt. The professionalism displayed very much deserved the applause.