tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-126902662024-03-18T09:41:30.461-04:00Critic After DarkNoel Verahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05904212081036547668noreply@blogger.comBlogger119813tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12690266.post-45793631745585677352024-03-18T09:39:00.001-04:002024-03-18T09:40:58.316-04:00Gaano Kita Kamahal (Mario O'Hara, 1981)<p><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4Bh4xmH2F4RwhSJvHsWbfL4IRLFtA-rrOy81u3roClzK8dUsgQRpNzjIWwxDziPJ6U9SQ9Ha3EALLp_n16RjXrdN-pud-J0EcIel1_BOVgELQkFubL_ScaQtFo1InDbIoJNALjnGiemk6GdVwq-kqCtylaWGCS2ucsAPEaCp7vaxH6-gVB5KO/s2514/1710766789002.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1885" data-original-width="2514" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4Bh4xmH2F4RwhSJvHsWbfL4IRLFtA-rrOy81u3roClzK8dUsgQRpNzjIWwxDziPJ6U9SQ9Ha3EALLp_n16RjXrdN-pud-J0EcIel1_BOVgELQkFubL_ScaQtFo1InDbIoJNALjnGiemk6GdVwq-kqCtylaWGCS2ucsAPEaCp7vaxH6-gVB5KO/w400-h300/1710766789002.jpg" width="400" /></a></b></div><p></p><p><b>Eternity and a day</b></p><p>Coming off the commercial and critical success of <i><b><a href="https://criticafterdark.blogspot.com/2014/05/kastilyong-buhangin-castle-of-sand.html">Kastilyong Buhangin</a></b></i> (<i>Castle of Sand</i>, 1980), Nora Aunor, Lito Lapid, and Mario O'Hara put their heads together once more to present <i><b><a href="https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0445386/">Gaano Kita Kamahal</a></b></i> (<i>How Much I Love You</i>, 1981), a more ambitious more lavish production.</p><p><span></span></p><a name='more'></a>Mely Tagasa and Mario O'Hara's script for <i>Kastilyong</i> told their story in fairy-tale terms-- Nora and Lito's Laura and Oscar growing up as childhood playmates, Laura tormented by her ogre foster-father, brave Oscar defending her and paying a heavy price. The die was cast long before they knew anything: Oscar was Laura's friend-- brother, almost-- before falling in love with him; Oscar grew up not under his mother's care but in the prison system-- when released he walks about with a convict's mentality (strike back when struck; stick to your friends no matter what; fight hard play rough die young). Laura, blessed by Oscar's sacrifice, knew better-- she had the talent and drive to succeed at a singing career. They were fated to follow their respective trajectories, she an uninterrupted ascent him a downward spiral. <p></p><p>In <i>Gaano</i> (script by Daniel Martin, Greg Tadeo, Jerry O'Hara, Mario O'Hara) the tone is set by the film's opening image, of a man in ballerina drag dancing a clumsy pas de duh while Melissa Manchester croons "Through the Eyes of Love" on the soundtrack-- the dissonance between romantic ballad and graceless slapstick at once funny ugly somehow poignant. We meet the lovers as strong independent-minded adults pursuing separate if parallel careers: Lito as swordmaster Hector, Nora as songstress Pilar. Presumably they met in a show and fell in love; presumably Hector with his strong, rugged physique felt the need to expend surplus energy not just on Pilar but on any statuesque beauty who happens to walk past-- in this case singer Lucy Alba (Geraldine), daughter of veteran director Bernardo Alba (Mario Escudero), who happens to be Hector's mentor. When Lucy gets pregnant, Hector is stuck.</p><p>Obvious why <i>Kastilyong</i> was such a box office smash-- nothing hits harder than a pair of starcrossed lovers (ask Shakespeare), especially when you've followed them from childhood. Asked to repeat <i>Kastilyong</i>'s winning recipe O'Hara fiddles with the formula, and the result is more complicated with a hidden agenda-- to pay tribute to Filipino vaudeville. </p><p>You see that agenda everywhere: the ballads, the dance numbers, the comedy skits. Senor Alba has big plans for Hector to star in his latest film production (vaudeville is dying, has been dying for years, and the jackpot is an offer to make a movie of what you've been performing all this time onstage). Alba playfully challenges Hector to a duel wherein the former easily disarms the latter, the director reminding Hector that he taught him everything he knows. When Hector defies Lucy's demands to marry her, he should have known better-- or does when Senor Alba sets the record straight (I can make or break you). The result is grotesque comedy with O'Hara planting the camera before the chapel altar, turning it into an impromptu stage where priest blesses the couple's union, well-wishers shake hands, and the camera once in a while freezes on Hector's face to show what he thinks of the farce. </p><p>Offered a bit of sugar and you can take or leave it depending on how you feel at the moment; prohibited from ever having sugar for the rest of your life and you develop a craving, as if to crystal meth-- now Hector can't stay away from Pilar, who doesn't for a moment encourage him but can't help being responsive. Early on O'Hara showed us the lovers' normal interaction (long takes of the two bickering); once the rampart of matrimony rises between them the interactions suddenly become wordless, bitterly exchanged glances and gestures, and what starts out as a funny sketch darkens into a deeply felt passion play. </p><p>Nora is best known for her roles as dusky provinciana either being threatened by a tyrannical employer or abusive husband or drunken Japanese officer; not as well known but should be are her films as reluctant <b><a href="https://criticafterdark.blogspot.com/2014/07/caridad-from-fe-esperanza-caridad.html">adulterer</a></b>, who falls into a love affair not entirely of her own volition, pulled into it by feelings she can't express in words (but can, eloquently, with her eyes). One remembers that moment in <i>Kastilyong Buhangin</i> when Oscar pulls at Laura's hand and the audience swoons; there's similar moment in <i>Gaano</i> where Hector seizes Pilar-- Nora looks surprised, not just by Hector's gesture but by her own feelings on the matter. O'Hara does capture lightning in a bottle a second time, at least in this moment, a gift if you like to Nora's fans.</p><p>And sometimes it's not the script, sometimes it's the details enhancing the drama. O'Hara began with a sarcastic interpretation of "Through the Eyes of Love" (we meet a pair of not exactly graceful lovers), along the way quotes lines from Alan Jay Lerner's "I've Grown Accustomed to (His) Face" (which Pilar sings with rueful affection while O'Hara inserts shots of Hector in bed with Lucy), and so on. O'Hara is operating in full-on musical mode, the numbers commenting, sometimes cynically, on the story. When we reach the eponymous song's onscreen performance we're primed to soar as Nora negotiates the ladder of consonants and vowels (<i>Mag. Pa. Kai. Lan. Man!</i>) that is the song's key term (roughly put: forevermore). </p><p>Or not. Nora and Lito as adulterers? Lito as an unrepentant asshole? Where's the mix of action and song numbers? And what's this vaudeville shit? Audience and critics alike expected a <i>Kastilyong 2</i> and got a more adult, more clear-eyed melodrama where both lovers do wrong and <i>know</i> they're doing wrong (in <i>Kastilyong</i> you get the sense it's the alcohol and anxiety of living in the world outside prison) but can't help themselves anyway (the film recalls the startling conclusion to Mike Nichols' <i>The Graduate </i>only here Dustin Hoffman can kick ass and Katherine Ross can actually act and sing). Most of the film is wall to wall song numbers with a sprinkling of action (the play-fencing between Hector and Senor Abla; an outdoor brawl-- shot handheld with only one cut mid-sequence-- where Hector defends his father)-- dry slog for Lito Lapid fight fans until the closing minutes. The film was savaged by critics and bombed at the boxoffice. </p><p>Which is a pity; thanks to the success of <i>Kastilyong</i>, O'Hara managed to put together a dream team of talents: production designer Benjie de Guzman, who conceived the massively elaborately kitschy sets evoking the age of vaudeville (the musical numbers coming across as George Cukor with a trace-- just a trace-- of deadpan Ken Russell); cinematographer Conrado Baltazar, who gave the film a brooding melancholic grandeur; and Efren Jarlego-- of the Jarlego family of film editors-- who did the understated but precise cutting. Producer Peter Gan has a taste for risky fare-- he produced O'Hara's action noir <i><b><a href="https://criticafterdark.blogspot.com/2009/12/three-by-nora-merika-gil-portes.html">Condemned</a></b></i> and gloriously understated drama <i><a href="https://criticafterdark.blogspot.com/2021/04/the-court-of-public-opinion-mario.html"><b>Bakit Bugkhaw ang Langit?</b></a></i> (<i>Why is the Sky Blue?</i>) and one was a hit (the action noir) and at least two failed to perform financially (the drama and this action-musical). Bitter consolation I'm guessing that his work is much admired, by a precious few. </p><p>Flaws? O'Hara inserts one too many melodramatic incidents (a jar of flung acid, an improbably timed car accident) while trying to maneuver his chess pieces to their inevitable conclusion, a confrontation between Hector and his mentor, Senor Alba. That, and perhaps the ambition of reaching too far, presenting something newer more different for the audience. </p><p>I remember in an interview O'Hara citing Michael Curtiz's <i>The Adventures of Robin Hood</i> as a formative childhood experience and I can see that wide-eyed child at work here, shooting the intricate swordplay in long takes, taking care to show the footwork (almost always a neglected aspect in action sequences) and how balance is always a swordsman's concern. I wondered at the choreography-- how did Lito Lapid manage to teach his adversary fencing, and how did the older Mario Escudero keep up? Turns out Escudero was the fencing master-- he taught Fernando Poe Jr. how to use the sword-- and Lito Lapid the pupil, having an infernal time keeping up. Art imitates life, and so on.</p><p>Critics flinched at the prospect of a cheesy swordfight and Lapid fans were presumably disappointed he didn't get to use his fists, but this is O'Hara again and without shame expressing his love for yet another dying art-- the fight takes place on a stage littered with stage props, loose curtains, fallen light fixtures, continues backstage and up (of course) to the balcony. with a finale straight out of Hitchcock. Critics may have flinched and audiences failed to follow, but I had the time of my life, fashion trends in action and filmmaking be damned. Highly recommended. </p><p>(<i>Thanks to Jojo De Vera for support and valuable information</i>)</p><p><i>First published in </i><b><a href="https://www.bworldonline.com/arts-and-leisure/2024/03/15/581828/eternity-and-a-day/">Businessworld</a></b><i> 3.15.24</i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6kvfXooSiXn8uzVOdfwFnjdL5aDGdUFDCWDTok0Y7s6HL35OpqadmItHd7fMab2oyIzAKKcIlB60CWG-Kt5gVW5N4uHTRM2vVpPWIr70BkcZDfwWfMSVLP_I19vxyc8OoMyfxBNQL8EC8dDiAOLVTd3TrJHXNvUYZeCuEPOtTvfoD3E2X-rIX/s3840/1710767237411.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2880" data-original-width="3840" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6kvfXooSiXn8uzVOdfwFnjdL5aDGdUFDCWDTok0Y7s6HL35OpqadmItHd7fMab2oyIzAKKcIlB60CWG-Kt5gVW5N4uHTRM2vVpPWIr70BkcZDfwWfMSVLP_I19vxyc8OoMyfxBNQL8EC8dDiAOLVTd3TrJHXNvUYZeCuEPOtTvfoD3E2X-rIX/w400-h300/1710767237411.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><b><a href="http://www.bigomagazine.com/theshop/books/NVcritic.html">Critic After Dark: a Review of Philippine Cinema</a></b></div>Noel Verahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05904212081036547668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12690266.post-27906637475717449622024-03-06T15:54:00.005-05:002024-03-08T16:22:45.692-05:00Dune: Part Two (Denis Villeneuve, 2024) <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglfEvGvV_5ZNlWtcrzj1xlB5gy0_QfGDKg9CkaTUz3sD3SnGx2Vdjs1MOEzRJXL-kTlNpLp0Mk1Q8NxHYHmTZm-NfiFDl8n8qpEe2A_B_bM7nUBLXnUhKeuvr7Ur7BuufdZCLTU9ZCNe0PuNmCsPEKEOZ-Vp4Os_VuUi_TaTzCk4v1pRafE01s/s500/MV5BZWE1MDU3ZmMtZWY3Yy00MDBlLWFkMDMtMmIwNTZkNWUyZWU0XkEyXkFqcGdeQWFybm8@._V1_QL75_UX500_CR0,0,500,281_.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="281" data-original-width="500" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglfEvGvV_5ZNlWtcrzj1xlB5gy0_QfGDKg9CkaTUz3sD3SnGx2Vdjs1MOEzRJXL-kTlNpLp0Mk1Q8NxHYHmTZm-NfiFDl8n8qpEe2A_B_bM7nUBLXnUhKeuvr7Ur7BuufdZCLTU9ZCNe0PuNmCsPEKEOZ-Vp4Os_VuUi_TaTzCk4v1pRafE01s/w400-h225/MV5BZWE1MDU3ZmMtZWY3Yy00MDBlLWFkMDMtMmIwNTZkNWUyZWU0XkEyXkFqcGdeQWFybm8@._V1_QL75_UX500_CR0,0,500,281_.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p><b>Done again</b></p><p>(<i>Warning: details of both '84, '21, '24 films and '65 book discussed in freewheelingly explicit detail</i>)</p><p>Denis Villeneuve finishing his two-part <b><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15239678/">adaptation</a></b> of Frank Herbert's classic science fiction novel and you want to ask: was it worth the wait? Was it worth the hype? Was it worth sitting through the first movie?</p><span><a name='more'></a></span><p>Pretty much said all I needed to say <a href="https://criticafterdark.blogspot.com/2021/10/dune-denis-villeneuve-2021-david-lynch.html"><b>in my first article</b></a> save to confirm yes Villeneuve will continue his holier than thou ultrarespectful approach to the Herbert books, enshrining them in crystal atop marble pedestals. </p><p>And yes some additional fiddling was done to bring the books in line with our more politically correct times: the bombing of Arrakeen calls to mind the Palestinian attack on the Israelis and later the Israeli shelling of Gaza (never mind that it's the Fremen committing both acts, the visual metaphor is established and your brain isn't fast enough to recognize important differences). Zendaya's Chani has been jiggered to take on a more significant and active role, as the human face reacting to Paul Muad'Dib's (Timothee Chalamet's) ascension from cute boyfriend to early messiahood and as a voice speaking out for indigenous communities. </p><p>Careful distinction made between the more fanatical Southern Fremen (who have been indoctrinated by the Bene Gesserit) and the more skeptical Northern* folk-- a bit like distinguishing between 'bad' Palestinians and 'good' Palestinians. Every so often we have Paul remembering a nightmare he had of jihad (a word never once uttered on film), of billions dying because he starts a holy war; he follows a figure-- is it his sister Alya (who tasted of The Water of Life while still in her womb?), or some cast member freshly wandered off a Terence Malick set?</p><p>*(<i>You'd think the North being geographically closer and easier to penetrate the Bene Gesserit would do better-- but apparently Southerners are more receptive to this kind of faith seeding. Secular north vs religious south-- yet another hamfisted attempt at relevance</i>)</p><p>I've noted that Lynch's adaptation doesn't put things so baldly, and one can interpret the Atreides' victory two ways: as an unqualified success, so successful that science becomes magic and rain comes to Dune for the first time; or as Paul's slide into fanaticism and fascism, his sister Alya poised orgiastically with bloodied knife in one hand, his soldiers assembled like the stormtroopers in <i>Triumph of the Will</i>, and rain falling on Dune for the first time, a miracle to sanction his holy war. </p><p>In this version Chani's expression is all too clear and we're being prepared for the darker passages of <i>Dune Messiah</i> when things really go sideways. Not sure Villeneuve was right to telegraph the events of <i>Messiah</i> so loudly in <i>Part Two</i>-- if he believed in Herbert he should trust Herbert's instinct to make the doomsaying less strident and more like background noise, ultimately rising up in volume to take over in the last installment. </p><p>Note that the Harkonnens continue to inspire yawns. Stellan Skarsgard's Baron looks more lost than loathsome (admittedly he was like that in the book's final chapters) and Austin Butler as the much-hyped Feyd-Rautha comes disappointingly across like Sting on quaaludes, or a more chill Jared Leto.</p><p>Zendaya gives the film's best performance as Paul's love interest-- if there are any human stakes involved in this picture (god knows how precious little there actually is) they can be found written on her wary later loving later bewildered later embittered face. Javier Bardem plays the Anthony Quinn role of loud and entertaining savage in this big screen version of <i>Lawrence of Arabia</i> (Zendaya could be this movie's Omar Sharif). Timothee Chalamet may be the credited hero and especially in <i>Part One</i>, when he's clearly outmatched by all the forces arrayed against, he makes for a persuasively hapless victim; in <i>Part Two</i> where he's asked to play dangerous fanatical messiah he comes off as dangerous as Spongebob Squarepants. **</p><p>**(<i>And the animated series actually pay tribute to Herbert's creatures, in the episode where Spongebob and his friend Sandy deal with an Alaskan Bull Worm</i>)</p><p>Overall the movie... feels like a Denis Villeneuve movie. Take a famous franchise (<i><b><a href="https://criticafterdark.blogspot.com/2017/10/blade-runner-vs-blade-runner-2049.html">Blade Runner</a></b></i> or <i><b><a href="https://criticafterdark.blogspot.com/2017/02/arrival-denis-villeneuve.html">2001</a></b></i> anyone?), pluck out all that's unique and eccentric, update it closer to what's acceptable in these politically correct times, grind thoroughly till matte black featureless. Music either droned or loudly banged by Hans Zimmer (as opposed to Toto's rock-opera score back in '84). Hand to hand combat photographed too close in to see clearly-- I'm guessing Chalamet failed to keep up with training and Villeneuve had to cover with jerky footage and frenetic editing. </p><p>The climax feels anticlimactic-- no silly downpour of course but no dramatic equivalent either, just the vague promise of a part 3. Will I be there a third time? I guess, though more reluctant than ever-- Villenueve's projects are about as inspiring as a sandbox and not as much fun; give me a beach blanket and umbrella and a good book and maybe I won't feel like I wasted time (once managed to finish <i>One Hundred Years of Solitude </i>that way). Meanwhile I don't have my hopes up. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQA6IcFYBzt0czHygZBp1CvHaxXiaPtCmLOkkgaBBdcNxQxsHWPv_8miny0HI2bccNs4yYSm8uR2cMNfXqS03wEZyyXfjcL322RpsamoIgcs0eM3ViOS2ovOOHy4V4qodV5oZX5xFR4rV_9LOA-pnr4fClyNV1Tg9SjmyCYQ6m9DyltWtTRCU6/s1200/xbDCf6FqdCYVvPWuvUDCJD-1200-80.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="1200" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQA6IcFYBzt0czHygZBp1CvHaxXiaPtCmLOkkgaBBdcNxQxsHWPv_8miny0HI2bccNs4yYSm8uR2cMNfXqS03wEZyyXfjcL322RpsamoIgcs0eM3ViOS2ovOOHy4V4qodV5oZX5xFR4rV_9LOA-pnr4fClyNV1Tg9SjmyCYQ6m9DyltWtTRCU6/w400-h225/xbDCf6FqdCYVvPWuvUDCJD-1200-80.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><b><a href="http://www.bigomagazine.com/theshop/books/NVcritic.html">Critic After Dark: a Review of Philippine Cinema</a></b></div>Noel Verahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05904212081036547668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12690266.post-66433757186052048372024-03-05T03:10:00.000-05:002024-03-05T11:29:35.734-05:00Madame Web (SJ Clarkson, 2024)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI1kFhLbHJfsC2JfNU0wfrEPIZpxFh2nHOgUbDBuSMn_xWf867psuhrP3oayLHNcsb3F_MAmG_Ygt_lbL8Q-E2XEZPWXYSVocoqlq29CJO-bky9xc6porTSF-JXAyX372WcWc5JnMf9FS2XyIPtNLHuA5XfNcDBJDLi66P1hX2lgN_HJ-S64Xt/s1200/Madame-Web_Dakota-Johnson-ezgif.com-webp-to-jpg-converter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="1200" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI1kFhLbHJfsC2JfNU0wfrEPIZpxFh2nHOgUbDBuSMn_xWf867psuhrP3oayLHNcsb3F_MAmG_Ygt_lbL8Q-E2XEZPWXYSVocoqlq29CJO-bky9xc6porTSF-JXAyX372WcWc5JnMf9FS2XyIPtNLHuA5XfNcDBJDLi66P1hX2lgN_HJ-S64Xt/w400-h225/Madame-Web_Dakota-Johnson-ezgif.com-webp-to-jpg-converter.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b style="text-align: left;"><br /></b></div><b>Thread softly</b><div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><b style="text-align: left;"><i><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11057302/">Madame Web</a></i> </b><span style="text-align: left;">is </span>mostly awful but not as bad as y'all say. </div><span><a name='more'></a></span><p>Yes it's confusing-- throws too many characters at you too quickly to easily assimilate. Yes it has a fairly complex premise that needs a more deliberate pace and visual clarity. Yes the frenetically handheld visual style adds confusion on top of confusion and makes everything worse.</p><p>Yes a prep school complete with uniforms, turn-of-the-century architecture, and wrought iron fencing would not likely be facing a major New York avenue shaded by an elevated rail. Yes there's such a thing as <i>too</i> many Pepsi commercials (which I can forgive if they were funny but the movie keeps sneaking them in as if we wouldn't notice). No if I knew three sullen kids were so important I'd sit in the same room as they and watch them, not run off to this library or that South American country trusting them to not move. </p><p>And nowhere in the movie or any number of recent horrors have I seen a more terrifying sequence than Dakota Johnson (as veteran paramedic and out-of-her-depth protagonist Cassie Webb) behind the wheels of a moving vehicle. She looks everywhere except the road, reaches back to slams a taxi's speaking hole shut, conducts extended conversations with her passengers while glaring at them from her front seat. Actors can emote facing forward every bit as well as they can facing back; why act in a way that frightens the audience for your safety?</p><p>Ms. Clarkson may glide her camera a tad too much in the name of style and cut too often for the sake of clarity but when it comes to narrative and emotional beats she shows some ability. Johnson's Cassie is fairly well sketched, a social klutz made that way because (presumably) she had no parent to help develop her interaction skills; the three girls (played by Sydney Sweeney, Isabela Merced, Celeste O'Connor respectively) that Cassie has taken under wing have charisma and charm-- O'Connor in particular stands out as prospective rebel-in-training-- but given the reception and box-office inspired so far they may want to keep this particular title out of their respective resumes. </p><p>A few mildly surprising plot twists, a few flashbacks into Cassie's past, a few action sequences showing Cassie growing into her role as all-around superhero precog (term from the Philip K. Dick <b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Minority_Report">short story</a></b>) and mother hen figure, and O'Connor, Sweeney, and Merced developing rapport with each other and Johnson. It's actually not bad, a girl-power, lets-pull-together inspirational where you've got such low expectations going in you just might feel better-than-expected stepping out. </p><p>Might have helped if Clarkson had the visual snap crackle and pop to bring the chase sequences to life (for a well-shot crisply staged-and-edited example involving a prescient quarry, check out Spielberg's <i>Minority Report</i>). Might help if bad guy Ezekiel (Tahar Rahim) were given juicier lines and a more compelling motive for stealing the super-spider-- some funny repartee between him and Johnson might have helped carry the picture to the finish line-- but we got what we got and that's all we're gonna get. Is it just my imagination or is Marvel actually putting out <i>better</i> less formulaic work on its way to total collapse?</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWaqSKkIB_pmR7AzgJmzAKWOFbUJYhIU0IixbJgnzi0VI_PK_6SXj0FEWXoBrdkdn5KLjWOSm9qbmB-_6LaHrG3oGlyvJA7E4IYI0P60oiUR6rN07oeZESG9ao-GK4q89wZXRNqc58GP9vOR5hF_HAB7A2unYo-xqvgw7jW045_-PpNQWraqkN/s2560/GettyImages-1432889804-ezgif.com-webp-to-jpg-converter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1440" data-original-width="2560" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWaqSKkIB_pmR7AzgJmzAKWOFbUJYhIU0IixbJgnzi0VI_PK_6SXj0FEWXoBrdkdn5KLjWOSm9qbmB-_6LaHrG3oGlyvJA7E4IYI0P60oiUR6rN07oeZESG9ao-GK4q89wZXRNqc58GP9vOR5hF_HAB7A2unYo-xqvgw7jW045_-PpNQWraqkN/w400-h225/GettyImages-1432889804-ezgif.com-webp-to-jpg-converter.jpg" width="400" /></a></div></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><b><a href="http://www.bigomagazine.com/theshop/books/NVcritic.html">Critic After Dark: a Review of Philippine Cinema</a></b></div>Noel Verahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05904212081036547668noreply@blogger.com0