Movies: Solar Pictures bring Citizen Jake in cinemas nationwide starting May 23

The long wait is over. CITIZEN JAKE will finally be screening in Philippine cinemas nationwide beginning May 23, 2018. This was confirmed by director Mike de Leon himself after several meetings with Solar Pictures in the past few weeks. 

On the Facebook page of CITIZEN JAKE, director Mike appeals to the public for support: “My film may be fiction, but it is based on truths we ignore at our own risk. It should be seen by its audience in its original version, without cuts and without compromise. The film is not perfect, far from it, but it is a good honest film that is seeking an audience that I am convinced is out there. May you allow me to ask for your support?”

Coincidentally, BAYANING THIRD WORLD, the last film directed by Mike was also distributed theatrically by Solar 18  years  ago.  “We  are  so  excited to  be  working  again with  veteran director  Mike  de  Leon,”  says  Mr.  Wilson Tieng, President and CEO of Solar Entertainment. “The unconventional storytelling of CITIZEN JAKE is something we would like to offer the audience. The story is also relevant today and we hope this will drive moviegoers to watch this starting May 23.”

Movies: "Zoom" Crosses Barriers In Realities And Art

From the crazy mind of Pedro Morelli, written for the screen byMatt Hansen, and produced by Niv Fichman, these three creative geniuses collaborated to create the distinct universes of ZOOM. Hansen explains that “originally, the film was similar to INCEPTION in that it started with one reality point and went further into one’s consciousness. This changed when I suggested that we do the film Escher staircase style where we would have different worlds affecting one another. Conceptually, this idea sounded really cool, but we soon realized that realistically the idea was fairly complicated. We then decided cut the film down to three stories, which led us to create ZOOM.”

Emma - The Cartoonist 

Emma works in a factory that makes love dolls. But when she looks in the mirror, Emma tends to compare herself to the dolls and becomes dissatisfied with her own flawed body. And so, she decides to invest her savings in breast implant surgery. The surgery endows Emma with enormous breasts, just like the dolls. But she has a hard time getting used to their presence and begins to feel like a stranger in her own body. Emma questions her decision and ultimately tries to get the implants removed. Unfortunately, she doesn't have enough money left for the surgical reversal.

“The thing about Emma is that a lot of people know a girl like this,” says writer Matt Hansen. “She’s nerdy but not in a pejorative kind of way. She’s caught up in this society of perfect appearances, but unable to see her own inner beauty.” Emma’s inner beauty captivated producer Niv Fichman as well. “Emma is someone who I would love to meet,” says Fichman.“She’s a secret artist, she draws really well. I feel sorry for her because she has this problem where she is not as confident as she looks and wants to be augmented. But this unrealistic image of beauty is something society has imposed on all of us and that is one of the main themes of the film.”

In her free time, Emma likes to draw cartoons and creates a comic book about the life of a filmmaker named Edward.

Edward The Filmmaker

Edward is designed by Emma to be the perfect man. Charming, handsome and sexy, he is a successful action film director. Immersed in a world of fame, fortune and vanity, he craves to be recognized for his artistic sensibility. Edward's problems begin when his penis dramatically shrinks overnight - the result of a derisive practical joke by his creator Emma, who holds his destiny in her hands. This sudden and senseless mutation leaves Edward in despair.

The character of Edward is far too familiar to those in the film industry. “Edward’s a caricature of a variety of directors in movies that both Niv and I have come across over the years, in that he’s a commercial guy who is trying to make something meaningful or arty,” says Hansen. “He’s a parody of that type of filmmaker, the process of making a film as well as having various people influencing the work, for better or worse.”

Edward's latest project is a movie about a successful Brazilian fashion model who strives to be a novelist.

Michelle The Novelist

Michelle is a Brazilian fashion model living in Toronto. She dreams of becoming a novelist despite the discouragement of her manager (and boyfriend) Dale. But when Michelle shows an incomplete manuscript to a respected publisher, he thinks it has great potential and encourages her to complete it. In order to concentrate on finishing the book, Michelle escapes to Brazil so she can focus exclusively on her work.

Michelle’s character was created around the concept that one should not judge a book by its cover. “Michelle is that kind of girl who people think is just beautiful,” says Hansen. “She has all these advantages in life: she goes to the front of the line; she can get what average people can’t and she sees the benefits and disadvantages to that---one of them being that she is not taken seriously as a writer because she’s only seen as beautiful.”

Throughout her story, Michelle is writing a book about Emma, an insecure woman who works in a factory that makes love dolls. 

And this closes the circle between the three realities of ZOOM.

ZOOM hits cinemas on August 3. 

Movie News: "The Girl King" Reigns in new Film

If you  have been following the blog, you probably know what a big history buff I am. (It was my favorite subject in High School, besides from English) and while I take pride in knowing many of the most interesting and intriguing stories ever told. There are of course, some which don't make their way to history books or the classroom. Which is why, I love that even when I'm already out of school, I still get to learn amazing stories from books and movies and of those is of Queen Kristina of Sweden.

In the 17th century, Queen Kristina at age 18 was crowned the king of Sweden, but was also regarded as the queen. Her sexuality and brilliance considered her as the “queen” of the contemporary LGBT members. During her time, she was accepted and respected by her constituents.

During her coronation, at age 18, Kristina pronounced her intention to end thirty years of war between Catholics and Protestants and to educate her subjects. Her quest for knowledge drew her to the philosopher, René Descartes and the French Ambassador, Pierre Hector Chanut, and became life-long friends.

The movie, “The Girl King”, which is directed by Mika Kaurismaki, is a true-to-life story of Queen Kristina of Sweden. Back in 1933, the first film version, “Queen Christina”, starred the popular and “mysterious” Greta Garbo. It was critically acclaimed and was a box-office hit.

Hollywood insiders knew Garbo’s sexual preference. The gossip mill lingered that she was a lesbian. But none was openly revealed regarding her private life. She remained in demand and was the highest paid actress during her time, until her self-imposed retirement.

The latest movie version, “The Girl King”, portrays Queen Kristina (played by Malin Buska) as an enigmatic young woman, beloved by her father, rejected by her mother and raised in a conservative Lutheran court.  Falling deeply in love with her lady in waiting, the stunning Ebba Sparre (played by Sarah Gadon), she is left confused and wanting. She is torn between reason and passion, between the ancient and modern worlds, and the brilliance of her educated and curious mind and the pressures in an empire determined to uphold tradition.

Queen Kristina was a revolutionary free thinker, a connoisseur of art and sciences, a precursor of the feminist movement and a strong visionary as a politician. She was truly a “new” European way ahead of her generation. But at the same time, she was a confused, restless, eccentric, and isolated young woman.

“The Girl King” opens on the 1st of June of this year, with an MTRCB rating of R-16 without cuts. It is an exclusive film release of Solar Pictures. For more details about #TheGirlKing, visit @solarpicturesPH on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

Movie Review: TRUMBO

Lately, I seem to surrounded by a lot of 1950's American Socio-Political themes; from the Coen brother's comedic satire "Hail, Caesar!" to the time-traveling-off-to-save-JFK, Stephen King science fiction "11.23.63", to the brilliant biographical "TRUMBO" 

I just saw "Trumbo" recently and I must say that I definitely got more than I bargained for. You see, I was expecting a compelling biopic with powerful performances and I got exactly that, the bonus was that we (Paul and I) found ourselves laughing at the well delivered wittily lines. I also found myself (just-me) tearing up (yes, the crybaby is at it, again) from some surprising heart breaking scenes. 

Academy Award Nominee for Best Actor, Bryan Cranston is Dalton Trumbo, the highest paid screenwriter in Hollywood (hence, the world), yet in the 1950's America is gripped with a fear of the red-faced terror-Communism. 

To satisfy, anti-Communist witch hunters in Congress, the HUAC or House of Un-American Activities Committee investigated hundreds of Americans, suspected of being Communist sympathizers. 

The investigation also made its way to Hollywood, putting the spotlight on Trumbo, along with nine other colleagues, they would later be known as "The Hollywood Ten" who refused to answer questions when they were called in Congress, denying the committee's right to ask them about their political beliefs and denouncing these hearings as a violation of their human rights. 

From these hearings would come "The Blacklist" a list of actors, directors, producers and screenwriters who could not find work just because they were associated or just suspected of being Communist supporters. Faced with an impending loss of livelihood and with a family to support Trumbo is forced to do the one thing he only knows how-to write. 

Trumbo wrote screenplays under false names, selling them to Colleagues who could work. He eventually wrote for less popular studios and continued writing in any name, other than his. 

Nothing can stop a true genius as two of Trumbo's screenplays, written under other names won an Oscar, now the Blacklist is coming to an end but without its share of survivors and victims. 

Bryan Cranston is a force to  be reckoned with in his role, he captures the strong and eccentric Trumbo and even owning his strange work habit of writing in a bathtub. Yes, soaking in a tub, complete with a make-shift table, complete with a glass of whisky and a cigarette in hand.  

Cranston is surround by an equally strong cast, with Helen Mirren playing Hedda Hopper, a former actress turned columnist who supported the Hollywood Blacklist, going as much as to personally making sure that Trumbo and his ilk, never get to work again. As usual, Mirren is a delicious menace, appearing onscreen with a wide variety of hats and always looking out for her best interest. 

I always love seeing John Goodman on screen, he is like everyone's lovable uncle. In the film, Goodman is Frank King of the King Brothers Production, who employs Trumbo (under different names of course) to write for them. 

8.5 out of 10, "TRUMBO" is the story of a writer who was silenced because of his beliefs and yet he was still able to find his voice and do the one thing all of his detractors worked hard to make sure he couldn't -work. Hollywood is an interesting place, made up of different people with different beliefs and in the 1950's they were persecuted because of it.  We have come a long way since then but it is stories like Trumbo's which should serve as a reminder that we should never go along those dark ways again.

"TRUMBO" is now showing in Cinemas and is distributed by Solar Pictures. 

Movie News: TRUMBO in Cinemas March 16

While everyone was raving about Leonardo Di Caprio's performance as Hugh Glass in the award-winning "The REVENANT" which subsequently won Di Caprio his long awaited Oscar win for Best Actor. A moment, which has been the subject of countless memes and which the whole internet has been waiting for. 

Yet, among the worthy Best Actor Nominations is one performance that is worth seeing on the big screen and this is none other than from Bryan Cranston, who is well known for his critically acclaimed role in the TV Series "Breaking Bad".  You can hear him in "Kung Fu Panda 3" as Po's long lost father 'Li'. 

Cranston's Oscar Nominated role for Best Actor comes from playing Dalton Trumbo, who in the 1940's was one of the highest paid screenwriters in the world. Trumbo penned movie classics, including the Oscar-nominated "Kitty Folyle" and "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo". 

Yet Trumbo's success comes in a difficult time in America, when the threat of a new Wolrd War is threatening over the horizon, as the relations between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. deteriorated and the fear of the “Red Menace” reached unprecedented heights. A group called the House of Un-American Activities otherwise known as H.U.A.C., investigated thousands of Americans suspected of being communist sympathizers. Nobody was spared, when teachers, military contractors, civil servants, journalists, and others lost their jobs, their reputations, and even their families as suspicion and paranoia swept the nation. And Hollywood land and its denizens suffered from its claws and pangs.

In the late 1940s, the HUAC paid special attention to Hollywood, aimed at rooting out communists in the film industry. The Blacklist became a dreaded document when scores of prominent actors, directors, producers and screenwriters were publicly berated about their association with an array of organizations deemed to be “un-American”. Threatened with the loss of their livelihoods, many witnesses gave evidences against friends and colleagues. Ten of those called the “Hollywood Ten” refused to testify and answer any questions, denying the committee’s right to ask them about their political beliefs and denouncing the hearings as a violation of their civil rights. All ten were sentenced to prison for contempt of Congress. The best known among them was Dalton Trumbo.

“Trumbo was still known as a communist, but people don’t realize that he was actually a patriot. He was a communist in the late 30s and early 40s, when that meant you were pro-labor and anti-Jim Crow, and you fought for civil rights for African-Americans,” says screenwriter John McNamara. “It had nothing to do with Russia and everything to do with how an already great country could improve itself”.

Trumbo’s story really breaks down to human rights as U.S. citizens are denied to free speech and assembly. Trumbo and the other blacklisters were not only denied those rights – but persecuted without having committed any crimes. He was a true patriot – he loved his country. But the system failed him. His story is still relevant today, as the world in which we are living has many people facing too much intrusion from their government.