Quaere Verum

I've been looking forward to seeing this movie for quite a while now, last night I finally got my chance. It was entertaining and action-packed, but to be honest I felt a bit underwhelmed by it. Robert Downey Jr. , as in the first movie, made a very convincing Tony Stark, no doubt aided by the fact that Downey in real life possesses quite a lot of the traits that the fictional Tony Stark does, particularly a history of alcohol abuse and a certain respect and notoriety among the press and in their respective industries. The rest of the cast was pretty much standard fare, though Don Cheadle's portrayal of James "Rhodey" Rhodes/War Machine seemed quite lackluster and insubstantial, relying more on action scenes and computer-generated gee-wizardry to capture the interest of the audience. The close friendship between Stark and Rhodes as well as Rhodes' bad-ass personality as portrayed in the comics was barely evident, with Cheadle merely being a man in a armored suit, ...

Yesterday I got to see the movie everyone has been talking about, Ron Howard's film adaptation of the Dan Brown bestseller, The Da Vinci Code . I watched it at Theater Mall in Greenhills, since it was the closest theater that was actually showing it. Apparently SM and Ever Gotesco, the two malls closest to where I live opted not to show it, no doubt because of the controversies hounding the film since day one. It's not even shown in Manila , the Philippine capital itself, due to an ordinance (actually, it was just a resolution) enacted by the city council. Even the Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita got into the picture, calling the film "blasphemous". Such a disappointment. Like I keep repeating over and over, the movie, and the book it was based on, is just a work of fiction . Somehow I can't really understand why it has gotten so many people riled up. I guess it's because of the immense popularity of the book and the hype that has been surrounding the mo...

Doom the movie is based on the video game of the same name which established first person shooters (FPS) as one of the dominant genres of the computer gaming industry. The latest version of the Doom video game is Doom 3 , and it raised the bar in computer graphics to a whole new level, with never before seen use of lighting and shadows in a video game to create incredibly realistic images. Of course gameplay is another story altogether (see previous post here ). Doom 3 is an action packed, suspense filled shooter that will have you on the edge of your seat for the duration of the game as you nervously await where the next monster will appear from. As for its story and plotlines, it hardly has any. It was basically written to appeal to the senses via eye candy graphics and eerily realistic directional sound. Not to mention the fact that it taps into your violent tendencies and subconscious fears as you obliterate zombies and monsters trying to kill you as you grope in the dark (lite...

Several days ago, I found myself browsing the rows and rows of DVDs at Astrovision in SM North Edsa when I chanced upon a copy of Star Trek: First Contact (ST:FC). What's a self respecting trekkie to do? What would any trekkie do for that matter? Well, needless to say I bought it, another DVD to add to my already sizeable collection of Star Trek series and movies. ST:FC, originally released in 1996, is the eighth Star Trek movie and the first to revolve solely on the characters of Star Trek: The Next Generation . This also has to be my favorite movie in the entire series. In it, the crew of the Enterprise-E led by Captain Jean-Luc Picard thwart the attempts of a malevolent cybernetic alien race known as the Borg from going back in time and preventing a key moment in human history - Zefram Cochrane 's historical first warp flight. This event was a turning point in human history, and led to first contact with the Vulcans . This meeting of two races ushered in a new age of...

Its been more than ten years since I last saw this movie. I finally got around to getting it on DVD. Seeing it again made me remember how much I liked it the first time I saw it. Forrest Gump has to be my favorite feel good movie of all time. The movie came out in 1994, and is loosely based on a novel written by Winston Groom in 1985. It starred Tom Hanks and was directed by Robert Zemeckis, who is also known for his directorial work in the Back to the Future trilogy. The movie garnered six Academy Awards, noteworthy of which were the Best Picture and Best Director awards. It is a little known fact that Groom's book had a sequel named Gump and Co. , but he refused to sell the film rights to Paramount, and as such, it has never been made into a movie. It may be just as well. Forrest Gump the movie differs significantly from the book in characterization, historical background, plot lines, and various small details, despite sharing similarities in the overall story. The movie i...

Movies based on comic book superheroes seem to be the "in" thing nowadays, and Fantastic Four is the latest movie of the genre to be shown on the big screen. Unless you've been living under a rock, or for some reason you've never been into comic book superheroes, the premise of the movie is pretty much identical to that in the comic books. During an experimental space mission, four astronauts, scientist Reed Richards, ex-girlfriend Sue Storm, and pilots Johnny Storm and Ben Grimm are exposed to cosmic radiation. The exposure changes their DNA and gives them superhuman powers: Reed, the ability to stretch his body, Sue, the ability to become invisible and to project force fields, Johnny, the ability to generate intense heat and turn into a being of flame, and Ben, superhuman strength and a rock like exterior which makes him invulnerable. These powers only manifest themselves after they returned to earth, and part of the story tackles not only with how they deal with t...