Movies: Spielberg Takes You To An Inside Look At “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom”

Universal Pictures has shared “A Look Inside Featurette” for Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, with no less than original Jurassic Park director Steven Spielberg introducing the video.  He is later joined by Jurassic World director Colin Trevorrow and Fallen Kingdom helmer, J.A. Bayona.

Check out the featurette below and watch Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom in Philippine cinemas June 6, 2018.

YouTube: https://youtu.be/MGQ8xY5fxqA 

Stars Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard return alongside executive producers Steven Spielberg and Colin Trevorrow for Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment’s Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. Pratt and Howard are joined by co-stars James Cromwell, Ted Levine, Justice Smith, Geraldine Chaplin, Daniella Pineda, Toby Jones, Rafe Spall, while BD Wong and Jeff Goldblum reprise their roles.

Movies: Steven Spielberg Set To Take On “Blackhawk”

The revered filmmaker brings his creative powers to his first movie in the DC universe

Burbank, CA – April 17, 2018 – On the heels of their successful collaboration on “Ready Player One,” Steven Spielberg and Amblin Entertainment are again teaming with Warner Bros. Pictures to produce the action adventure “Blackhawk,” with an eye to Spielberg directing the film. Based on the classic DC property, the project will mark the filmmaker’s first feature centered around characters from DC. The announcement was made today by Toby Emmerich, Chairman, Warner Bros. Pictures Group.

In making the announcement, Emmerich stated, “We are so proud to be the studio behind Steven Spielberg’s latest hit, and are thrilled to be working with him again on this new action adventure. We can’t wait to see what new ground he will break in introducing ‘Blackhawk’ to movie audiences worldwide.”

The screenplay for “Blackhawk” is being written by David Koepp, who has collaborated with Spielberg as a screenwriter on the blockbusters “Jurassic Park,” “The Lost World: Jurassic Park,” “War of the Worlds” and “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.” Spielberg will produce the film together with Kristie Macosko Krieger, under the Amblin Entertainment banner, while Sue Kroll will executive produce, under her Kroll & Co. Entertainment shingle.

Spielberg noted, “It was wonderful working with the team at Warner Bros. to bring ‘Ready Player One’ to the screen. They bring a blend of passion and professionalism to everything they do and have a tremendous history in this genre. I am excited to reunite with them on ‘Blackhawk.’”

Spielberg’s next two films are the fifth installment of the Indiana Jones franchise and “West Side Story.”

“Blackhawk” will be distributed in the Philippines by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.

Movie Review: Ready Player One

Here's another "FYI before the movie review". I've already read the book by Ernest Cline, to which the movie is based on (long before I saw the movie) and I just loved it! I still consider it as one of the best books that I've read recently. So yes there will be book to movie comparisons (sorry, can't help it) but let me just say this off the bat-the movie is so much better than the book! 

Steven Spielberg works his movie magic in this pop-culture filled adventure, even fixing some things from  the book, which I didn't really like. There are some parts of the book which won't exactly translate well on the big screen and Spielberg made sure to fix that for a more exciting time in the cinema. I love how Spielberg brought back that good old movie feel of having a hilarious (bungling) antagonist (don't leave your password lying around!). 

I realized how much I missed the good old movies with the "funny bad guy" because -you don't have to give all the bad guys a dark back story. They can simply just be a conflict in the story and if they were silly and funny at the same time-well then so much the better and Ben Mendelsohn as Nolan Sorrento definitely delivers on that account. 

What's interesting about "Ready Player One" is that it is also a social commentary, as much as it is a love letter to pop culture and an all around exciting cinema experience.   

It's a social commentary as it reflects how we tend to escape from the real world; in the movie its through the virtual world of the Oasis (more on that later) right now - its through social media, games and basically what the world wide web has to offer. All we have to do is to look at kids nowadays who are glued on to their mobile devices and suddenly a future of adults trapped in a virtual world doesn't seem so far away. 

I may not be the most physically fit person but I would like my son to grow up running and playing outside and using his imagination to play and discover life and not live it from behind a screen, that's for sure. 

The movie serves as a homage to pop culture and while this meant staying indoors playing video games, watching movies, TV series and reading books (which are basically my hobbies) the story still revolves around appreciating what is real, the real world and real friends.  

The year is 2045, and the OASIS, a virtual reality software is where everybody goes to for...basically everything...work, play...you name it (in the book, this is where the kids go for school).It should also be mentioned that a large part of humanity live in slum areas and the OASIS is a pretty good way to escape from the depressing reality of life. The premise that you can be anybody in the Oasis through Avatars has everyone rushing to satisfy their deepest desires. Of course, there is also earning money by killing off other avatars and grabbing their items and gold coins for your own. You can go on quests and adventures, you either succeed and become a stronger avatar with a higher level or you are killed off and all your hard earned gold and items are gone (you basically lose your sh*t, when that happens). 

Things shake up when James Halliday, the founder of the OASIS passes away and leaves  "Anorak's Quest" (Anorak is Halliday's avatar) in his will. A game which has countless of avatars searching for "Easter eggs" left by Halliday in the OASIS. The winner of the game will gain full control of the OASIS and basically become really, really, really rich. 

Many have joined in the game to find Anorak's Easter eggs, from hopeful avatars to obsessed "gunters" (egg hunters) forming clans to help each other out and of course there is IOI (Innovative Online Industries) a company which manufacturers equipment for the OASIS and who seek to control the virtual reality software as well (talk about monopoly). IOI is led by Nolan Sorrento, who with his army of debt-indentured players *you see, those equipment are really expensive and when you buy them on credit, you tend to find yourself drowning in debt and before you know it, you are working it off in an almost slave like existence, yup, another social commentary right there*  and a room filled with Halliday scholars will stop at nothing to win the game. 

Wade Watts AKA Parzival (Tye Sheridan) is your ordinary boy next trailer living in the slums and poverty of "the Stacks" in Colulmbus Ohio. He's been constantly researching the life of Halliday and hopes to winning the game in order to leave "the stacks" and everything that it represents. 

After Wade ingeniously solves the first challenge in Anorak's quest he becomes the most famous avatar in the OASIS, everyone wants to be his friend and IOI wants to recruit him. He has no idea that aside from his new found fame, he is suddenly in grave peril. Its up  to his knowledge of Halliday trivia and help from his real friends (should he be able to determine them) to stay alive both in the OASIS and in the real world. 

I'm not sure if movie goers will get it but much of the 80's reference in the film is because Halliday grew up in the 80's and his love for the video games that he played, the TV shows and movies he watched were from that time period. Hence the many references in the movie. For a big pop-culture buff like me, it was a treat to get to point out characters and items you know in the film. I can still hear the cheers and shouts from the audience when a certain "character" flew across the screen to save the day. Multiple viewings definitely needed!. 

A love letter to geeks everywhere, Steven Spielberg creates movie magic with Ernest Cline's ode to pop culture "Ready Player One". Fixing problems from the original source material, Spielberg creates an unforgettable nostalgic experience, where the audience themselves becomes immersed in the most thrilling pop-culture egg hunt ever.

9.5/10 Best seen in IMAX 3D, "Ready Player One" acknowledges the movies, books, games and songs that we love but also teaches us that there's nothing like living in the real world-because its the only one we've got.

*The reason why I didn't give it a perfect 10 is because I wasn't happy about the setting of the last scene, would have preferred it outdoors, you know, just to make a point*. 

Movies: Steven Spielberg Celebrates Press Freedom With “The Post”

Variety raves that Steven Spielberg's The Post, “Pulses ahead like a detective yarn for news junkies, one that crackles with present-day parallels.”

USA Today declares, “The Post is an inspirational reminder of the importance of a free press while unabashedly making journalism look like the most awesome job ever.”

And Rolling Stone praises, “Spielberg's tense, terrific new drama, with Streep and Hanks at their finest, celebrates the passionate bond between a free press and every thinking human being.”
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Movies: Streep-Hanks-Spielberg Team-Up “The Post” Gets First Trailer

Universal Pictures has just released the first official trailer for the The Post, the first film collaboration between cinema giants Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg.

Watch the trailer at:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/uipmoviesph/videos/1764594256948300/
YouTube: https://youtu.be/VgNWZSAVDgc

Steven Spielberg directs Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks in The Post, a thrilling drama about the unlikely partnership between The Washington Post’s Katharine Graham (Streep), the first female publisher of a major American newspaper, and editor Ben Bradlee (Hanks), as they race to catch up with The New York Times to expose a massive cover-up of government secrets that spanned three decades and four U.S. Presidents. The two must overcome their differences as they risk their careers – and their very freedom – to help bring long-buried truths to light.

The Post marks the first time Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg have collaborated on a project. In addition to directing, Spielberg produces along with Amy Pascal and Kristie Macosko Krieger. The script was written by Liz Hannah and Josh Singer, and the film features an acclaimed ensemble cast including Alison Brie, Carrie Coon, David Cross, Bruce Greenwood, Tracy Letts, Bob Odenkirk, Sarah Paulson, Jesse Plemons, Matthew Rhys, Michael Stuhlbarg, Bradley Whitford and Zach Woods.

In Philippine cinemas January 2018, The Post is distributed in the Philippines by United International Picture

Movies: MEET THE OTHER GIANTS IN DISNEY'S “THE BFG”

Not all giants in Disney's “The BFG” are friendly. Based on the beloved book by Roald Dahl, the film tells the imaginative story of a young girl named Sophie and the Giant who introduces her to the wonders and perils of Giant Country. But Sophie’s presence in Giant Country has attracted the unwanted attention of nine fearsome giants – the brothers of the BFG himself -- who have become increasingly more bothersome.

The cannybull and murderful motley group of mythical beasts who roam the earth gobbling up human beans provided all kinds of opportunities for invention, creativity and frightening fun for Steven Spielberg, his actors and his creative team.

Of all the evil giants who inhabit Giant Country, the BFG’s nine brothers are the worst. Substantially larger in size, they treat the BFG with cruelty and disdain, but in typical Roald Dahl fashion, they are also there to make us laugh. Dahl was somewhat of a giant in real life himself, standing 6-feet, 6-inches-tall.

Fleshlumpeater, who is played by the multi-talented actor, comedian and musical artist Jemaine Clement (“The Flight of the Conchords”), is 52-feet-tall with a big ego and a very small head. While he is the leader of the pack, the alpha male, in truth he is just a bully and a coward and not the brightest of the bunch. “My character is just a pile of muscles,” says Clement. “The BFG describes him as a cannibal, which is pretty accurate as he finds humans – especially children – delicious.”

Actor and comedian Bill Hader (“Trainwreck,” “Inside Out”) is Bloodbottler, the real brains of the pack. He is 43-feet-tall with a big beard and can always be found at Fleshlumpeater’s side telling him what to do. “In reality, Bloodbottler wants nothing to do with any of the other giants…he just wants to be left alone,” says Hader. “He does not like the BFG and he has created his own set of rules that the BFG is somehow breaking by just being himself.”

British actor Adam Godley (“Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”) is Manhugger, the thin and slowest moving giant. He does the least of anyone and thinks only of himself. At 39-feet-tall, Gizzardgulper is the shortest of the nine giants. As played by Chris Gibbs (TV’s “Reign”), he is also the peacekeeper of the group and idolizes Fleshlumpeater. Bonecruncher is played by Michael David Adamthwaite (“Final Destination 5”) and is the youngest of the group and a troublemaker who often puts the others in danger.

Meatdripper, who is played by Canadian actor Paul Moniz de Sa (TV’s “The Flash”), is the jokester of the group and loves to go hunting for children. Jonathan Holmes (TV’s “Descendants”) plays Childchewer, Meatdripper’s best friend. He is the best looking of the group, and as a result, is always concerned with his appearance. Icelandic actor Ólafur Ólafsson (“The Last Witch Hunter”) is Maidmasher, who is the most stylish of the group. While masculine in his demeanor and appearance, 

he is also very in touch with his feminine side.

Finally, Butcherboy, who is played by Daniel Bacon (“The Day the Earth Stood Still”), walks with a limp, the result of a fight with Meatdripper which left him partially paralyzed. He would love to someday be top dog but knows it will never happen, and he has a chip on his shoulder as a result.

Opening across the Philippines on Aug. 10, “The BFG” is distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures through Columbia Pictures. Like us on Facebook, WaltDisneyStudiosPH; follow us on Twitter, @disney_phil; follow us on Instagram, @disney.ph and use the hashtag #TheBFGPH.

Movies: NEW COMER RUBY BARNHILL WALKS TALL WITH “THE BFG”

The central heartbeat of Disney and Amblin Entertainment's new fantasy adventure “The BFG” is the relationship between the Big Friendly Giant and young girl, Sophie.

Director Steven Spielberg has selected newcomer Ruby Barnhill to play Sophie, the curious and compassionate young orphan who is whisked out of her bed and taken to Giant Country.

The character of Sophie, who was named after author Roald Dahl’s first granddaughter, can't be pushed around. “She is one of the strongest female characters I think I have ever had in one of my films,” says Spielberg. “She gives so much hope and encouragement to the BFG.”

For six months the filmmakers looked at thousands of girls varying in age and experience, but when the director saw 9-year old Barnhill, a school girl from Knutsford in Cheshire, England, her audition stopped him dead in his tracks. “There was just something about her,” Spielberg says. “She is fascinating and incredibly talented, and just perfect for this role.”

The filmmakers set up a meeting between Barnhill and Mark Rylance (who plays the titular role) where they spent an hour and a half improvising, and they knew they had found their Sophie. “They immediately hit it off and have amazing chemistry together,” executive producer Kathleen Kennedy says. “They would play table tennis and basketball between shots, and were basically inseparable.”

According to Barnhill, “I did about five auditions in London and Berlin where I pretended to be Sophie, so it was just so incredible when I heard I got the part. I could hardly breathe.”

The young actress was drawn to the relationship between her character and the big friendly giant. She explains, “The BFG has had his heart broken, and he’s actually quite sad most of the time. And obviously his brothers are horrible to him and they bully him around all the time and call him a runt. Sophie is lonely and alone in the world just like the BFG…they are actually both orphans in a sense.”

“Ruby is a very imaginative young woman and just a complete natural actress,” says Rylance. “I learned from her really, as you do from all the young people. Her ability to take very complicated technical notes from Steven and make them natural is just miraculous, just remarkable.”

And the feeling was mutual. “Working with Mark was really lovely. He’s always got a smile on his face and he’s kind to me all of the time,” Barnhill says. “And, I think we have quite a good relationship, almost like Sophie and the BFG.”

“Ruby is fantastic,” adds Kennedy, “But that's always been one of Steven’s gifts: his ability to cast children and to recognize those qualities that audiences will find captivating.”

The director creates an atmosphere of safety, comfort and security for the child. He explains, “I don't talk to them like I'm the principal of their school, or a strict parent, we just basically engage in conversation. We just talk, not about the work at hand, but about how they are feeling or what they are doing at that time. It makes them feel like they are someplace very familiar. And that is the best way to get truth and authenticity from a child actor.”

Opening across the Philippines on Aug. 10, “The BFG” is distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures through Columbia Pictures. Like us on Facebook, WaltDisneyStudiosPH; follow us on Twitter, @disney_phil; follow us on Instagram, @disney.ph and use the hashtag #TheBFGPH.

Movies + Books: ROALD DAHL'S BELOVED BOOK “THE BFG” COMES TO LIFE

Disney and Amblin Entertainment, in association with Walden Media, present the fantasy adventure film “The BFG,” the first-ever motion picture adaptation of Roald Dahl’s resonant tale of childhood, the magic of dreams and the extraordinary friendship between a young girl and a big friendly giant.

Roald Dahl’s seminal tale of the friendship between a young girl and a mysterious giant seemed perfectly aligned with director Steven Spielberg's own body of work, and while it may have seemed destined that Sophie and the BFG would one day find their way into Spielberg’s care, it would be decades following the book’s publication before the journey would actually begin.

Dahl’s “The BFG” was first published in 1982, the same year Spielberg’s own story about an unusual and transformative friendship, “E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial,” captured the hearts and imaginations of children and adults alike. The British author is one of the world’s most creative, mischievous and successful storytellers, someone who understands the inner lives of children and has a knack for creating characters that kids could relate to and storylines which kept them involved.

His ability to combine the fantastical with the frightening and place children as the heroes of his innovative stories, and adults as the villains, is unrivaled in the literary world. While Dahl’s stories recognize that life can be difficult and sometimes scary, that there is good with the bad, he never patronizes his readers.

Producer Frank Marshall (“Jurassic World”) says, “Dahl’s stories are not just happy-go-lucky fantasies. There’s a lot of humor to them, but there’s also a little bit of a dark side. He walks on the edge. They’re a little scary, and I think that’s what appeals to people.”

Spielberg agrees, saying, “It was very brave of him to introduce that combination of darkness and light, which was so much Walt Disney’s original signature in a lot of his earlier works like ‘Dumbo,’ ‘Fantasia,’ ‘Snow White’ and ‘Cinderella.’ Being able to be scary and redemptive at the same time, and teach a lesson, an enduring lesson, to everyone—it was a wonderful thing for Dahl to have done, and it was one of the things that attracted me to want to direct this Dahl book.”

“The BFG” is the story of the two lonely souls who, in finding one another, create their own home in the world, which is a consistent thread in Spielberg’s rich body of work. “Steven has always gravitated towards stories about families, which is one of the reasons his films have resonated with so many people,” says executive producer Kathleen Kennedy (“Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” the “Indiana Jones” films).

Spielberg has been a fan of Dahl’s for years, and in fact had read the book to his own children when they were younger. “It’s a story about friendship, it’s a story about loyalty and protecting your friends and it’s a story that shows that even a little girl can help a big giant solve his biggest problems,” he says.

Dahl created stories to tell his children and grandchildren, but was always hesitant to write any of them down, something with which the director could relate. “When I told my kids stories that they were especially fond of, they would beg me to make a movie about it,” Spielberg says. “Fortunately Dahl did eventually agree to share his stories with the world, and we’re all the better because of it.”

“The BFG” is enormously popular around the world, and to date has been published in 41 languages. It was also Dahl’s own favorite of all his stories. While the author passed away in 1990 at the age of 74, the producers forged a relationship with his widow and had many conversations about how important the book was to Dahl and whether or not a movie was even realistic. “We talked a lot about whether it would be better as animation or live action, because at the time, none of the technology that we were talking about using even existed,” explains Kennedy.

The filmmakers began to focus on translating the scope of the book onto the big screen, which was a technological challenge that sparked the director’s imagination. On its surface, the logistical puzzle presented by the story is barely evident. But “The BFG” required something much more than new worlds synthesized in the computer. This special story about the friendship between two very different characters, one small, the other very big, one real, one fantastical, would inspire the creation of an entirely new way of fusing the elements of fantasy and reality.

Opening across the Philippines on Aug. 10, “The BFG” is distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures through Columbia Pictures. Like us on Facebook, WaltDisneyStudiosPH; follow us on Twitter, @disney_phil; follow us on Instagram, @disney.ph and use the hashtag #TheBFGPH.

Movie News: “THE BFG” – FIRST DISNEY FILM TO BE DIRECTED BY STEVEN SPIELBERG

Disney and Amblin Entertainment, in association with Walden Media, present the fantasy adventure film “The BFG,” the first-ever motion picture adaptation of Roald Dahl’s resonant tale of childhood, the magic of dreams and the extraordinary friendship between a young girl and a big friendly giant.

Directed by three-time Academy Award® winner Steven Spielberg, the film reunites the director with his Oscar-nominated collaborator on “E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial,” Melissa Mathison, who adapted the childrens author’s timeless adventure for the big screen.

The film stars Oscar® winner Mark Rylance as the Big Friendly Giant; newcomer Ruby Barnhill as Sophie, the orphan who befriends him and is swept into a world of rampaging giants; Penelope Wilton as the Queen; Jemaine Clement as Fleshlumpeater, the most fearsome giant from Giant Country; Rebecca Hall as Mary, the Queen’s handmaid; Rafe Spall as Mr. Tibbs, the Queen’s butler; and Bill Hader as Bloodbottler, another unruly giant from Giant Country.

“The BFG” marked somewhat of a departure for Steven Spielberg. He explains, “I've been very blessed to have had all kinds of beautiful experiences telling stories. I'm hesitant to emphasize one story over the other because they have all had tremendous value to me. But I think the number of historical movies that I've been making—films like ‘Lincoln,’ ‘Bridge of Spies’ and then going further back to films like ‘Amistad’ and ‘Schindler’s List’—have kept me fettered to the accuracy of telling a historical story.”

“So being able to escape into the world of dreams and imaginations has been a dream in itself,” he continues. “That makes ‘The BFG’ special, because it was my escape into what I think I kind of do best, which is just let my imagination run away with itself.”

According to Spielberg, he was raised on Grimm fairytales and they were very dark and very frightening with no redeeming social value, whatsoever. “They were almost object lessons for kids, but Dahl and Disney both subscribed to the precepts of children's folklore and embraced the darkness, because what is a fairytale without a dark center?” he says. “Without that dark center, where is the redemption, and how do you bring all of us out from the bowels of a nightmare into the most beautiful, enchanting dream we'd ever seen?”

The fact that Dahl chose a young girl as his protagonist in “The BFG” was something the director appreciated as well. Sophie is a strong girl who does not take no for an answer and is not intimidated by someone who is six-times bigger than her, and the character is similar to strong females who are at the center of many Walt Disney films.

“Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” has always been Spielberg’s favorite Disney film. “I saw it in a movie theater during its ninth revival when I was only seven or eight years old and it really stuck with me. I can still remember being so frightened and terrified, but at the same time, so satisfied with that amazing ending.”

Roald Dahl and Walt Disney actually met in April of 1943 to discuss a number of projects, one of which was “The Gremlins,” one of Dahl’s first stories. The film was eventually shelved, but was later released as a book by Disney and Random House with all proceeds going to the Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund. The book did go on however, to serve as inspiration for the 1984 film “Gremlins,” which, coincidentally, was produced by Spielberg.

The filmmakers were all in agreement that “The BFG” felt like a hybrid between a classic Disney film and a movie from Amblin Entertainment (the production company Spielberg, Kennedy and Marshall founded in 1981), so they were thrilled when the studio green lit the film in the spring of 2015, making “The BFG” the first Walt Disney film to be directed by Steven Spielberg.

Opening across the Philippines on Aug. 10, “The BFG” is distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures through Columbia Pictures. Like us on Facebook, WaltDisneyStudiosPH; follow us on Twitter, @disney_phil; follow us on Instagram, @disney.ph and use the hashtag #TheBFGPH.

Movie News: FANTASY ADVENTURE “THE BFG” LAUNCHES NEW TRAILER, POSTER

Things I'm excited about in the film: Roald Dahl + Steven Spielberg + Mark Rylance! 

I think I might go ahead and read the book! 

Disney's big-screen adaptation of Roald Dahl’s beloved classic “The BFG” has just been launched a new poster and trailer, which may be viewed here at http://youtu.be/y1fZg0hhBX8.

Opening in the Philippines on Aug. 10, Disney’s “The BFG” tells the imaginative story of a young girl and the Giant who introduces her to the wonders and perils of Giant Country.

Disney and Amblin Entertainment, in association with Walden Media, present the fantasy adventure film “The BFG,” the first-ever motion picture adaptation of Roald Dahl’s resonant tale of childhood, the magic of dreams and the extraordinary friendship between a young girl and a big friendly giant.

Directed by three-time Academy Award® winner Steven Spielberg, the film reunites the director with his Oscar-nominated collaborator on “E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial,” Melissa Mathison, who adapted the childrens author’s timeless adventure for the big screen.

The film stars three-time Tony Award®, two-time Olivier Award and Oscar® winner Mark Rylance as the Big Friendly Giant; newcomer Ruby Barnhill as Sophie, the orphan who befriends him and is swept into a world of rampaging giants; Penelope Wilton as the Queen; Jemaine Clement as Fleshlumpeater, the most fearsome giant from Giant Country; Rebecca Hall as Mary, the Queen’s handmaid; Rafe Spall as Mr. Tibbs, the Queen’s butler; and Bill Hader as Bloodbottler, another unruly giant from Giant Country.

“The BFG” is distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures through Columbia Pictures. Follow the official social media accounts of Disney in the Philippines, namely, (FB) WaltDisneyStudiosPH, (Twitter) @disneystudiosph and (Instagram) @waltdisneystudiosph.

BRIDGE OF SPIES Review: Tom Hanks & Steven Spielberg team up for this Cold War thriller

I've always LOVED History and even if I no longer get to sit in a classroom and listen to my teachers; I still get to enjoy movies based on beautiful stories that weren't in our History books and with a master director such as Spielberg on the helm and Award Winning actor Tom Hanks in the lead you cannot go wrong.

A few months ago we saw The Man From U.N.C.L.E. which is a more colorful and lighter take on the Cold War along with the insanely handsome spies who skillfully dance from one side of the Berlin Wall to the next.

Bridge Of Spies is a more textbook accurate (as it is based on actual events) movie of the bleak and desolate conditions of the Cold War, the 'you-get-showered-with-a-rain-of-bullets- if you cross the wall kind of brutal reality. Where 'spies' are old men caught unawares in their underwear and without their false teeth.

While Uncle was a movie to entertain. Bridge of Spies is a movie to educate and to inspire.

Tom Hanks delivers another (as expected) impressive performance as Brooklyn Insurance Lawyer James Donovan who is given the task of defending alleged Russian spy Rudolph Adler who is played by actor Mark Rylance.

In a surprise twist, Uncle Sam finds himself planning a classic prisoner-exchange (between Adler and Powers) when their very own U2 pilot Gary Powers is shot out of the sky while doing a reconnaissance mission and the man to do the job-none other civilian than James Donovan. Now Donovan is doing a dangerous tango from one side of the Iron Curtain to the next as he tries to appease not just one but three governments and tries to bring home not one but two Americans.   

Rylance was a surprise crowd favorite and stole the show with his stoic and nonchalant attitude (perhaps a requirement for spies?) were both endearing and subtly funny, you would end up rooting for him.   

It takes a while for the actual juicy part of the story (the tense negotiations) to take place but the scenes leading up to it are all relevant and are not boring or dragging at all. I really enjoyed the flight and escape sequence which was very detailed and intense.