Movie of the Week | The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Dir: Peter Jackson (2013). USA, New Zealand. Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Richard Armitage. MTRCB PG.
There is no shortage of YA film adaptations this year, it seems. Along with Hunger Games and Ender’s Game comes a new installment of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings prequel and you can be sure that it will satisfy your I’m-too-lazy-to-read-the-book musings. The Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson, who also directed the movie adaptation of The Lovely Bones, takes Pinoy moviegoers to another adventure starring Tolkien’s many versions of dwendes. In The Desolation of Smaug, Martin Freeman reprises his role as Bilbo Baggins who continues his journey to redeem the Lonely Mountain along with the great wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellen) and dwarf leader Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage). To do this they need to fight a dragon named Smaug, played by BBC’s Sherlock Holmes Benedict Cumberbatch.
PERFECT FOR: Harry Potter fans who missed the old Dumbledore and Ed Sheeran who wish to hear the OST he did for the movie.
Afternoon Delight
Dir: Jill Soloway (2013). USA. Kathryn Hahn, Juno Temple, Josh Radnor, Jane Lynch. MTRCB R-16.
Let’s admit it, motherhood (and parenthood in general) changes everything from the size of your pants to your brain’s mechanism. It’s probably what inspired long-time TV producer Jill Soloway to write and direct Afternoon Delight. The comedy-drama flick features The Millers‘ Kathryn Hahn as Rachel, a mother and a frustrated wife to Jeff, played by How I Met Your Mother’s Josh Radnor. In an attempt to find some new “inspiration” for her marriage, Rachel visits a strip club and meets McKenna, a private dancer played by Juno Temple. She adopts McKenna as a live-in nanny which soon sends rumors flying in the rich, suburban community she lives in. This 2013 Sundance Film Festival entry brought Soloway a Best Director Award.
PERFECT FOR: The modern mom bored with the same old Maya-Sir Chief kilig moments and looking for something more saucy to watch.
The Ouija Experiment
Dir: Israel Luna (2011). USA. Justin Armstrong, Dave Clark, Miranda Martinez. MTRCB R-13.
Remember your elementary school days when you and your friends used to draw letters and numbers on a piece of yellow paper and use coins or plastic cups to summon bad spirits in the classroom? Yeah, that was an awesome, albeit super stupid now that you think about it, way to pass time when you’re tired of playing Chinese Garters. Let’s just hope you’re not what inspired Israel Luna to write The Ouija Experiment. The film centers on five teenagers and their Ouija board games. Hoping to capture a viral video moment, the teens captures their Ouija sessions on a video camera and the result is a documentary-vlog type of film that would definitely make the hairs on your body raise. The Ouija Experiment show exclusively at SM Cinemas.
PERFECT FOR: Those kids who used to mercilessly scare me as a kid when playing spirit of the coin and local director Topel Lee because he just might be inspired to make a sequel to the Juday-Jolina starrer he made in 2007.
Still Showing | Hunger Games: Catching Fire
Dir: Francis Lawrence (2013). USA. Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth. MTRCB PG.
Suzanne Collin’s bestselling book that supposedly inspired Twilight writer Stephanie Meyer is still showing in all cinemas this week. Catching Fire stars Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen and Josh Hutcherson as Peeta Melark as two pretend lovebirds who steps back to the arena for the Quarter Quell. Fresh from their 74th Hunger Games victory, the two leave District 12 once again to fight past victors and survive President Snow’s trap by igniting a revolution in Panem.
WHO SHOULD WATCH: Twihards who haven’t read the Hunger Games trilogy yet (may they be converted just in time for the third and fourth movie installments: yes there will be a fourth.
Ender’s Game
Dir: Gavin Hood (2013). USA. AsaButterfield, Harrison Ford, HaileeSteinfield. MTRCB PG.
The Hunger Games high-tech version continues to wow CGI fans on its second week. Ender’s Game stars Asa Butterfield as Andrew “Ender” Wiggin, a genius kid who’s bound to save the Earth through some tough tech fighting. Set in 2086, Ender is sent into space and trained with the help of Col. Graff (Harrison Ford) to become a Battle School cadet. He enters into a simulation game that could potentially save humans from the hands of the Formics, an alien race that invaded the Earth 70 years ago. Based on Orson Scott Card’s 1985 military science fiction novel, Ender’s Game is something you should definitely not miss out this year.
WHO SHOULD WATCH: Harrison Ford’s elderly fans because this is probably the closest they can get to a new Han Solo or Indiana Jones inspired action movie.
Hours
Dir: Eric Heisserer (2013). USA. Paul Walker, Genesis Rodriguez, Nick Gomez. MTRCB PG.
We heard Paul Walker’s last The Fast and The Furious movie would still be completed in due time. While you wait, you might want to see one of his last films, Hours, which is still open in cinemas this week. Paul Walker plays Nolan Hayes who is about to be a father with his wife Abigail, played by Genesis Rodriguez, during the wrath of Hurricane Katrina. As Abigail goes into labor, the hurricane hits the hospital they were in, forcing them to evacuate. Nolan was tasked to wait for an ambulance with his newborn baby in a ventilator and gets trapped in the hospital in rising flood.
WHO SHOULD WATCH: That guy who stole (or reportedly “found”) a Yolanda volunteer’s smartphone in Villamore Airbase some weeks ago.
Delivery Man
Dir: Ken Scott (2013). USA. Vince Vaughn, Chris Pratt, CobieSmulders. MTRCB PG.
DreamWorks’ Delivery Man is still showing in all Manila cinemas and stars Vince Vaughn as David Wozniak. About 20 years ago, David donated anonymously to a fertility clinic and managed to father 533 children. Now, 142 of his biological children are filing a lawsuit to find out who he is. He then tries to get to know each of them with the help of his friend Brett, played by Parks and Recreation’s Chris Pratt, and his girlfriend Emma played by How I Met Your Mother‘s Cobie Smulders.
WHO SHOULD WATCH: Weight and fitness junkies who wish to see Chris Pratt in all his +60 lbs. glory before he shed all those flabs for a Marvel movie coming soon.
