Before I start talking about Maggie, take a look at that poster that was used for the Philippine release. It looks like Arnie is gonna mow down some zombies ala Terminator. This is definitely not the case.
The aim of the (good) zombie movie is to reveal something about the human condition. Maggie one ups this and frames the story as a human drama. Arnold Schwarzenegger is a dad facing the imminent zombification of his daughter Maggie. We see the repercussions of this process and how it affects Maggie, her family and friends.
This descent into the realm of the living dead is treated with a modicum of grace. It doesn't try to sensationalize the concept, nor does it try to overly pull on your heartstrings - although heartstrings will definitely be pulled. It serves as a fresh take on the zombie genre that one wonders why it hasn't been done like this before.
This descent into the realm of the living dead is treated with a modicum of grace. It doesn't try to sensationalize the concept, nor does it try to overly pull on your heartstrings - although heartstrings will definitely be pulled. It serves as a fresh take on the zombie genre that one wonders why it hasn't been done like this before.
It is a bit slow paced, and the dreary atmosphere alternately helps and doesn't help, but in a movie about losing humanity, Maggie has lots of it. It's also Schwarzenegger's finest performance to date.
Taking place between chapters 699 and 700 of the manga series, The Last: Naruto the Movie is probably the franchise's most canon movie outing ever. While it tells the story of the end of the world an digs deep into the vast mythology of Naruto's ninja world, at its heart the story is about how Naruto and his longtime admirer/friend Hinata got hooked up. It's basically a ninja How I Met Your Mother.
Fans of the pairing may rejoice at the amount of screentime the two characters get, but other fans may be left wanting. Fans of the Sasuke/Sakura pairing, on one hand, may be left a little disappointed as Sasuke is reduced to nothing but a cameo. (The recent Gaiden manga series may help rectify this and clarify a few more things regarding the timeskip between chapters 699 and 700.) The rest of the supporting characters get a little screentime, but otherwise they are relegated to the background. This is Naruto and Hinata's movie.
The Last is best viewed after having seen the anime or manga (the anime is slightly more recommended because of some anime only scenes between Naruto and Hinata that Studio Pierrot inserted for character development's sake.) The Last can be viewed as a culmination of all that character tension and buildup for 700 chapters/who knows how many anime episodes.
Masashi Kishimoto wrote the story for The Last, and as with the other feature he was heavily involved in (Road to Ninja, my most favorite Naruto animated feature,) this is a very personal story which emphasizes character development over the filler action we've been used to seeing in other Naruto movies. The thing is, it is best viewed after having invested your time heavily in the series or manga. Newcomers might find the movie confusing (or overly simplistic) otherwise.
Para sa Hopeless Romantic (For Hopeless Romantics) is nothing special in the greater scheme of things, but it serves as JaDine's most capable vehicle yet. Gone are the over the top anime-ish stylings of Diary ng Panget or Talk Back and You're Dead, instead we see a bitter Nadine Lustre still hurting after a disastrous high school romance. She pours out her angst in a story within a story (titled Bag and Folder, which is probably the worst title for anything ever) where SPOILER ALERT the two leads don't have a happy ending.
But like many other cookie cutter romances, Para sa Hopeless Romantic returns to the kilig status quo by the end of the movie - which, for fans of the love teams in the film, is not an entirely bad thing. For outsiders like some of us, it makes the entire ordeal skippable. While we see the leads fall in love, the character development ends up shallow. The problem with kilig moments is that they are only worth that kilig moment. It really doesn't add a lot to how the romance is built up.
It is refreshing to see James Reid playing something other than the character types seen in his previous JaDine movies. It is kind of weird seeing many of the actors in the film with bronzer or whatever kind of tanning makeup they had. I guess it's because it's a summer movie. And even in 2015, the stern old maid teacher stereotype still exists. Oh well.
If you're a JaDine fan, you're in luck; this is probably their best vehicle yet. If not, then you really should watch something else.
The last time a director returned to a franchise after many, many years, the results were not as impressive as I had hoped. *coughGeorgeLucascough*
So when I learned that George Miller was going back to Mad Max after thirty years, I was a bit skeptical. Thank goodness I was dead wrong - Mad Max Fury Road is the epitome of action spectacle, and one of the finest action movies in the past fifteen years. It's a bitchslap to all the action directors of today and a tutorial of sorts on how to make an engaging, exciting piece of cinema without selling your soul to CGI and what I call action induced ennui.
The film succeeds thanks to its well choreographed stunts, its insane attention to detail and its seamless meld of practical and computer generated effects. It also helps by having two strong leads in the form of Tom Hardy's Max Rockatansky and Charlize Theron's Imperator Furiosa.
The film is rounded out by an absolutely kickass soundtrack (FLAMETHROWER GUITAR HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO) a well written, suspenseful script and otherwise technically proficient filmmaking.
Mad Max movies are twisted metal fairy tales, and they let us see this post apocalyptic landscape through Max's eyes, almost as if it is saying that if we were living in this world, we'd go bonkers too. I'd personally want to be the Flamethrower Guitarist. I'm calling dibs on that now.
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