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The Best Music Videos of 2011
It’s the time of year again when indulgence in list-making is tolerated and forgiven, especially when it comes to music. In light of 2011’s abundance of gifts to offer, it is only proper that music...
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2011: A Year in Album Covers
Guiding you through some of the most memorable pieces of album artwork from this year’s music releases: (1) Comix (2) Women (3) Water (4) Colors (5) Abstract (6) Architecture (7) Gray (8) Skull (9)...
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What will make Ilda think?*
Will this make Ilda think? On New Year’s Eve, a six-paragraph piece of trash appeared on a Web site called Get Real Philippines. Written by Ilda, “Filipino films: they don’t make us think” is intended...
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The Top 20 Songs of 2011
Pop music is my drug, and the more I withdraw from it the more I suffer. No matter how many folk or dubstep or black metal albums I listen to, a song full of irresistible hooks will always turn me into...
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The Top 50 Albums of 2011
Truth: it was the year when I listened to too many albums. I checked my notebook and realized that I listened to five new albums every week in 2011. I couldn’t help it. I needed things to occupy my...
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Suntok sa Buwan (Bianca Catbagan and Jose Antonio de Rivera, 2012)
Directed by Bianca Catbagan and Jose Antonio de Rivera Cast: Joem Bascon, Daniel Fernando, Nonie Buencamino Less than thirty minutes through the film, the narrative of Suntok sa Buwan has already been...
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Balang Araw (Archie Dimaculangan, Cheska Ramos, Jose Antonio de Rivera, 2012)
Directed by Archie Dimaculangan, Cheska Ramos, and Jose Antonio de Rivera Cast: Aleera Montalla, Jao Mapa, Shielbert Manuel. Alex Vincent Medina One of these days you might find yourself watching...
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Walking with Spiders: A Night with The National
In one of Boxer’s rapturous moments, Matt Berninger takes a walk in the clouds and sweeps them away, narrating a story purportedly inspired by a low-key neighborhood in New York City. He sings in...
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Film Log #1
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO (David Fincher, 2011) This is the Fincher of Benjamin Button—epicurean, long-winded, and predictable—armed with such skill in creating a deceitful sweep that bores as...
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The Amazing Sounds of Orgy: Toe in Manila
“I sat in the dark and thought: There’s no big apocalypse. Just an endless procession of little ones,” Neil Gaiman writes in Signal to Noise. What do we call them then—those will-o’-the-wisps resting...
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Now My Heart is Full: My Top 20 Songs by Morrissey
Artwork by Megan Diño Some people tend to overlook the fact that Morrissey has actually released more successful singles as a solo artist than as the vocalist of The Smiths. Fans will always remember...
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Captive (Brillante Mendoza, 2012)
Directed by Brillante Mendoza Written by Brillante Mendoza, Patrick Bancarel, Boots Agbayani Pastor, and Arlyn dela Cruz Cast: Isabelle Huppert, Kathy Mulville, Mark Zanetta, Maria Isabel Lopez,...
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Aswang (Peque Gallaga and Lore Reyes, 1992)
Directed by Peque Gallaga and Lore Reyes Written by Pen Medina and Jerry Lopez Sineneng Cast: Alma Moreno. Manilyn Reynes, Aiza Seguerra At the onset of Peque Gallaga and Lore Reyes’s genre-defining...
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Pickpocket (Robert Bresson, 1959)
Written and directed by Robert Bresson Cast: Martin LaSalle, Marika Green, Jean Pelegri “The film is not a thriller,” a note at the beginning of Pickpocket tells. “Using image and sound, the filmmaker...
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MNL 143 (Emerson Reyes, 2012)
Written by Emerson Reyes and Ade Perillo Directed by Emerson Reyes Cast: Allan Paule, Joy Viado, Gardo Versoza, Che Ramos The best thing about MNL 143 is that Emerson Reyes is able to finish it....
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Cinemalaya 2012 (Part 1)
POSAS (Lawrence Fajardo, 2012) Posas feels like a reprise of Amok, from the chaotic spectacle of violence to the harsher realities borne out of its multi-character plots, except that the former’s...
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Cinemalaya 2012 (Part 2)
ANG NAWAWALA (Marie Jamora, 2012) When all this clamor surrounding Ang Nawawala dies down, it would be interesting to ponder on ideas that will broaden the horizon of the movie, as opposed to those...
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Cinemalaya 2012 (Part 3)
APARISYON (Vincent Sandoval, 2012) There is something suspicious about Sister Lourdes the moment she steps into the monastery. You know, the way nuns tend to be: extremely pleasant on the outside but...
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Marilou Diaz-Abaya: IMPRESSIONS
Director Marilou Diaz-Abaya and Cesar Montano on the set of ”Jose Rizal” In almost every field of interest between arts and science there seems to be a pressing need to represent women. It’s a kind of...
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