Oggs Cruz

Review: Chris Martinez's I DO BIDOO BIDOO Is A Musical Crafted For Erstwhile Pleasures
Chris Martinez's I Do Bidoo Bidoo is a film whose acclaim is more a product of sentiment than cinematic merit. Its plot is characterized by clichés. Its charm is but a product of nostalgia and novelty. It contents itself in... More »
By Oggs Cruz   
  

Review: Emmanuel Palo's A MOMENT IN TIME Tells A Story Not Worth Telling
Emmanuel Palo's A Moment in Time is an exercise in barefaced mediocrity. There is absolutely nothing in the film that exhibits any effort from the filmmakers to be anything other than fodder. Like an overgrown child who is unable to free... More »
By Oggs Cruz   
  

Review: Sherad Sanchez's JUNGLE LOVE Is An Erotic Ride To The Pleasurable Unknown
At first glance, Sherad Sanchez's Jungle Love seems needlessly indulgent. Rebelling against traditional concepts of what is deemed to be acceptable and tasteful in cinema, the film is littered with exposed flesh, dark, wrinkled, blonzed or tattooed, interacting with each... More »
By Oggs Cruz   
  

Review: Mark Meily's EL PRESIDENTE Is A Historical Annoyance
A lot has already been said and written about the historical inaccuracies of Mark Meily's El Presidente, how the glamour project dastardly re-portrayed historical figures to suit enlarged egos and their enlarged pockets. Andres Bonifacio (played with a notable lack... More »
By Oggs Cruz   
  

Review: Armando Lao's AD IGNORANTIAM is Too Much a Chore to be Pertinent
Armando Lao's Ad Ignorantiam can be divided into three unequal parts. The first part, tediously shot real time, details one afternoon in a busy city intersection where a hapless victim (Ina Feleo) of purse snatching, and her friend (Kimmy Maclang)... More »
By Oggs Cruz   
  

Review: Brillante Mendoza's THY WOMB Is A Fascinating Look Into Nature, Culture And Humanity
Thy Womb opens with a woman giving birth. Shaleha (Nora Aunor), a midwife, accompanied by her husband Bangas-an (Bembol Roco), assists the soon-to-be-mother in delivering her child. Shaleha then routinely requests for the baby's umbilical cord. She brings the keepsake... More »
By Oggs Cruz   
  

CinemaOne Review: Maribel Legarda's MELODRAMA NEGRA is as entertaining as it is artificial
Like Loy Arcenas, Maribel Legarda has several years' worth of theater experience to guide her first foray into filmmaking. Unlike Arcenas, whose first film is from an original screenplay by Rody Vera, Legarda chose to adapt for the screen... More »
By Oggs Cruz   
  

CinemaOne Review: Emmanuel dela Cruz's SLUMBER PARTY is Pleasurable Yet Disconcerting
Emmanuel dela Cruz's Slumber Party is a film of undeniable charms. It revels in color. It delights in diversity. It sustains with mainstreamed queer wit, the type that makes use of self-referential humor for much of the laughter earned. The... More »
By Oggs Cruz   
  

Cinemanila 2012 Review: Gym Lumbera's TAGLISH, Alienating and Hypnotic
In response to a query as to when he felt his feature film was already finished, director Gym Lumbera replied with a statement of disarming practicality. Floodwaters have damaged the prints of Tagalog, prompting Lumbera to use them as... More »
By Oggs Cruz   
  

CinemaOne Review: Ato Bautista's PALITAN, Where Souls Have a Price Tag
Ato Bautista's Palitan (roughly translated as Exchange) opens with a business transaction. Ramiro (Mon Confiado, who gives a performance that carries the film from start to finish), the shrewd owner of an electronics shop, is convincing a client to buy... More »
By Oggs Cruz   
  

CinemaOne Review: Arnel Mardoquio's ANG PAGLALAKBAY NG BITUIN SA GABING MADILIM Sums up War Within a Very Human Context
Arnel Mardoquio's Ang Paglalakbay ng Bituin sa Gabing Madilim (roughly translated as: A Star's Journey into the Dark Night) is essentially L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz had it been set in present-day Mindanao and draped in reality... More »
By Oggs Cruz   
  

Review: Erik Matti's RIGODON Tackles A Sensational Subject With Careful Realism
Erik Matti's Rigodon, unlike the many infidelity films that have plagued local theaters in the Philippines, eschews glamour for grit. Its sex scenes do not have the luscious lighting or the saccharine scoring of the various romantic sequences of its... More »
By Oggs Cruz   
  

Review: Nuel Naval's A SECRET AFFAIR
Nuel Naval's A Secret Affair makes a lot of noise and drama about nothing. The story revolves around acts of infidelity committed by Anton (Derek Ramsey) against his fiancée Raffy (Anne Curtis) with Sam (Andi Eigenmann), Raffy's friend and sorority... More »
By Oggs Cruz   
  

Review: Erik Matti's TIKTIK: THE ASWANG CHRONICLES
The first thing one would notice in Tiktik: The Aswang Chronicles is how incredibly gorgeous the computer-generated visuals are, at least compared to other Filipino productions. Opening with a shot of apologetic soon-to-be-father Makoy (Dingdong Dantes) cramped inside a... More »
By Oggs Cruz   
  

Review: Wenn Deramas' THIS GUY'S IN LOVE WITH U MARE!
There is this one particular scene in Wenn Deramas' This Guy's in Love with U Mare! That sums up the film's curious and confused take on gender politics. Lester (Vice Ganda) and Gemma (Toni Gonzaga) arrive at a comedy club.... More »
By Oggs Cruz   
  

Review: Joyce Bernal's OF ALL THE THINGS
Of All the Things has director Joyce Bernal reunite with Aga Muhlach and Regine Velasquez, who, once upon a time, graced her films like Dahil May Isang Ikaw (Because There's Just You, 1999) and Pangako... Ikaw Lang (Promise... Just... More »
By Oggs Cruz   
  

Review: Rico Maria Ilarde's PRIDYIDER (THE FRIDGE)

The first few scenes of Rico Maria Ilarde's Pridyider immediately reveal a particular milieu that is far removed from the real and the mundane. Tina Benitez (Andi Eigenmann) is first seen aboard a flight back to the Philippines. She is... More »
By Oggs Cruz   
  

Review: Olivia Lamasan's THE MISTRESS
The Mistress has a plot that feels taken straight out of one of those cheap trashy novels, the ones with tacky covers promising sleazy escapism with impossible love stories set in unbelievable milieus that enunciate pulpy passions. It is... More »
By Oggs Cruz   
  

TIFF 2012 Review: BWAKAW, Delightfully Unhurried Yet Meaningful Entertainment
Jun Lana started his career in film writing screenplays for directors Marilou Diaz-Abaya and Maryo J. de los Reyes, among others. In the several years where the country was starving for quality films, he penned films like Diaz-Abaya's Sa... More »
By Oggs Cruz   
  

Review: GIVE UP TOMORROW Shatters the Official Truth
It should have ended when the Philippines' Supreme Court denied the several Motions for Reconsideration filed by the men who have earlier been convicted for the rape and murder of the Chiong sisters and sentenced to death. It was supposed... More »
By Oggs Cruz   
  
 
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Hollywood Beat: Notes On Cutting The Cord And NBC's Genre Programs

I cut the cable cord last year, but I'm not always happy about it. I had to wait a year before seeing Season 2 of Game of Thrones, for example, and will have to wait to see Season 3 until next year. I only have to wait to see Mad... More »

Twitchvision: Talking STAR TREK: INTO DARKNESS, MUD and THE ICEMAN

Another Twitchvision chat with Scott Laurie, this time me gushing about J.J.'s latest Star Trek film, which I unabashedly loved.Also talked about he fabbo Mud, and the less fabbo The Iceman, both with Michael Shannon doing his thing.Video embedded below.Update: Was asked to come in today and pick a few... More »

Learning from the Masters of Cinema: Henri-Georges Clouzot's THE MURDERER LIVES AT 21

While Henri-Georges Clouzot is best remembered for many of his later films, including The Wages of Fear and Diabolique, the French filmmaker's 1942 debut has gone largely unseen by Western audiences until now. The Murderer Lives at 21 (L'Assassin Habite au 21), based on the novel by Belgian author Stanislas-Andre... More »

China Beat: What did China See in IRON MAN 3?

Much has already been written, both on these pages and many others, about the landmark Hollywood-China co-production that is Marvel and DMG Entertainment's Iron Man 3. The film, directed by Shane Black, is the third solo outing for Robert Downey Jr's Tony Stark, and has proved a phenomenal success around... More »

FEAR & LOATHING AT CANNES, PART 2: I'M IN LOVE WITH EVERYBODY'S GIRL

CHAPTER 4: THE PHILOSOPHY OF ANNA KARINA AND BUTT PLUGSI'm sitting outside at a small Café that my editor told me to meet him at. I'm a 10 minute walk from the Marche Du Film convention hall and I'm still waiting for my editor to arrive so he take guide... More »
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