Dreamers, achievers and Ka-Barbers. Five short films made up
my first QCinema experience. Majority of the reviews will be in English but I
also used some Filipino words to further express my thoughts. This won’t be in
chronological order.
SENIOR (Jed Medrano): 2.5/5
The first scene made me remember Islands. I have to give
this some credit for being realistic, at least in the first half. I dealt with
a lot of senior citizens in my previous work and I can assure you that they are
like these characters. Most of them are friendly to their fellow senior. They
tend to ask irritating questions and they take advantage of their age. (“Buena
mano”, “birthday ko ngayon”, “sige na. nakakapagod pumila eh”) Well, helping
the elderly is a good Filipino trait. The biggest problem of the film is that
the second half is unnecessary. It could’ve ended in a sweet note by letting
them watch Nora Aunor’s films, but no! It has to be melodramatic! Someone must
have a fatal sickness and the other one must know it! The last shot is so ridiculous.
A misplaced ID in the comfort room doesn’t stay in the comfort room. Kitang-kita
yung ID sa may salamin pero wala man lang nagsabi sa guard? Okay sana kung
nahulog nalang sa lapag pero hindi eh. Pwede ring may pumulot at iniwan sa
sobrang obvious na pagkakaayos pero di Malabo pa rin eh. That end brought my
ratings down big time.
TILA (Rob Jara): 3.5/5
And that, kids, is how I did not met your mother. I liked
this film a lot until I read the synopsis. Damn, that was a huge spoiler! The
flooded room looked good but it had a lot of flaws. Engineering student siya
pero di niya alam paano ayusin tong kwarto niya. Kahit itaas lang ng five inches
yung sampayan at kurtina, wala. I also don’t know if they’re trying to prove a
point in Paolo O’Hara’s cameo. However, the leads looked cute together, the
film was short (o sobrang haba lang siguro ng iba), cinematography was good and
it made me want to eat some Lucky Me Supreme Bulalo.
BONIFACIO (Grace Simbulan): 2.5/5
It’s an okay Maalaala mo Kaya episode that you will forget
the next day. So melodramatic to a fault but Lito Pimentel was good. Eto yung tipong
naabutan mo lang sa TV pero tinatamad kang abutin yung remote kaya nanood ka
nalang at medyo natripan mo siya kahit sobrang obvious na sobrang haba at
sobrang OA ng mga eksena. Sumobra lang talaga. They should make a spin-off for
the kid sitting behind the father’s chair in the school because that girl is so
kaawa-awa. Kaya nga “find your height” ang usong seating arrangement sa
elementary schools eh. Wait, eto yung bully sa Blue Bustamante ah!
SA NGALAN NI ULTIMATE WARRIOR
(Miko Livelo): 2.5/5
The biggest reason why I watched QCX was because of Blue
Bustamante. I loved that movie so much I can’t miss this spin-off. It’s hard
for me to say it but I’m very disappointed with this. I’m a WWE fan when I was
a kid and I still watch Royal Rumble and WrestleMania yearly. We threw each
other in our beds, broke some bones (seryoso, masakit ma-Walls of Jericho) and
did tons of wrestling moves and poses. The kids in here felt like they have no
idea about WWF, WWE or even the UFC. All they did were fake punching, cuddling
and fake alliances. Hindi costumes at never-ending stories ang dahilan bat
pumatok sa mga bagets ang WWE. It’s the idea of idolizing superheroes. We have no
Avengers before but we had Rey Mysterio, the Degeneration X and even the
weakling Hurricane. This film focuses on the death joke of Ultimate Warrior
without realizing that it can touch way bigger stories than that. Dennis
Padilla’s speech is so long, so redundant and so Marcelo Santos III. Despite
this film’s drawbacks, it still has that fun and nostalgic element in Blue. It
made me remember the day when I knew that Eddie Guerrero died, and that’s one
of the most painful news I’ve heard (sunod sa pagkamatay ni Michael Jackson at pag-friendzone
sakin ng isang girlaloo). I still remember him every time I hear Three Doors
Down’s “Here Without You”. At least, the film got the gist that we should not
remember their death but engrave the memories they gave to us. Kulit din ng
cameo nila Bayaw.
ANG NANAY NI JUSTIN BARBER
(Victor Villanueva): 4.5/5
Dapat ganito ang ginagawa ni Wenn Deramas, di yung shitty
films niya na “nagrereflect” daw sa buhay ng mga Pilipino. To be fair, the film
has a lot of flaws and it could’ve been better (like seeing Barber being boo’d
in public), but I took it as a timely and surprisingly entertaining satire.
Kahit masama sa kalooban natin, sobrang daming singer-kuno ang kumikita ngayon.
Ika nga Giselle Sanchez, “Kung kaya ni Anne Curtis, kaya rin ni Justin.” I like
how it focused on a failed nepotism career because a successful nepotism career
won’t be funny. I understand if you hate the film because they gave some heart
into Mrs. Barbers. Just like you, I also hate people like her but I think that what
she heard from Justin’s #1 fan is enough. Konsensya niya nalang yan. It’s like
a tragedy in the making because her son won’t be famous anyway… unless he
becomes a puppet of ABS because they can make anyone shine and have a sold-out
concert in Araneta Coliseum. Tamang uto lang para sa mga uto-uto. Lastly, the
film is constantly funny, perfect on delivering its punch lines and it made
some memorable jokes like the PGT contestant-like tarpaulin, the Walang Tulugan
guesting, the bongga bongga longga longga Barber’s Longanisa and this motherloving
ugly but catchy song.
Overall: Barber's and Tila made my hundred pesos worth it but the others were okay. I give this a 7-11 TASTY BURGER 3/5!
Click the photo below to see the QCinema sched:
You can follow me @ https://twitter.com/emiLegendary | http://erevs.wordpress.com | http://emzreviews.tumblr.com or add me on FB @ https://www.facebook.com/emilegendary
if you enjoy the review. Thanks for reading! J
