T500FC, 395th: Three… Extremes [Sam Gang Yi] (Fruit Chan, Takashi Miike, Chan-wook Park, 2004)

One of the celebrated Asian films in the past decade with three segments that boasts awesome directors from three different countries: Fruit Chan, Park Chan-wook, and Takashi Miike. Three Extremes is not your ordinary film since it follows the area of extreme or brutal horror that feasted on mainstream cinema during the turn of the century, and this time the Eastern counterparts provide the stories. Its concept came from the 2002 film, Three, a much weaker approach to the horror genre.

T500FC, 396th: 29 February [2 Wol 29 Il] (Jong-hun Jung, 2006)

A bleak horror idea from the Koreans, 29 February is a supposed scare fest that happens in the heart of a tollbooth. I am not sure on how they created a resolution that includes the date, the twenty-ninth of February plus a tollbooth, God only knows the oblique idea coming from its creators and having this film the supposed breakout film of the director, Jong-hun Jung.

T500FC, 397th: Wapakman (Topel Lee, 2009)

It was not that that bad. Amidst the term provided by a few friends who saw this film in the theatres a few years ago, as they were claiming that it was the worst movie they’ve ever seen, I may say that it is probably watchable for a few points. Though we were all aware that this film was just created for the fact that Manny Pacquiao wants to create a movie, just because, we may also have to accept that the film’s potential was greatly addressed to the fans and their respective families.

T500FC, 398th: The King Of Comedy (Martin Scorsese, 1982)

This film is a wonderful and underrated Martin Scorsese film shown decades ago, about the happy and sad life of stand-up comics during the seventies and the early eighties. Loved by critics and ignored by the viewing public, despite an all-star crew and an awesome director, it ventures into a life of a stand-up wannabe who just wanted to make a name in Hollywood.

T500FC, 399th: Mr. Deeds Goes To Town (Frank Capra, 1936)

I know sometimes it is just plain wrong to compare remakes and originals of films. There’d be debates since one film caters to a certain period of time only. Take this movie for instance, Adam Sandler made a successful retelling of the story, sticking with a few points in the film, such as the occupation of Mr. Deeds, and gave a different approach, a style owned by Sandler, clearly shown in the early stages of his filmography.

T500FC, 400th: Vox Populi (Dennis Marasigan, 2010)

Vox Populi is defined as voice of the people. Even if this film didn’t go on a big scale, it clearly examines a small sample of what we usually have in the Philippines during elections. And even if the film is not as exhilarating as the other political films that world cinema has provided, it is such a breakthrough to talk of the sensitive especially in what have been in our midst in the past few decades.

The 500 Film Challenge Summary 1/5.

I’ve decided to summarize the first batch of the films I’ve seen so far for the 500 film challenge. This post doesn’t carry anything; I am just anal with things so I’ve done such. But in case you are willing to check out what I’ve seen so far, and if you are kind of lazy to backtrack per page, then expand this entry and take a glimpse of the first 100 films I’ve seen so far.

T500FC, 401st: Ang Panggagahasa Kay Fe [The Rapture Of Fe] (Alvin Yapan, 2009)

You have to forgive me if I am just new with the local independent movie scene. I’ve heard about this from people in my movie group and I was just so interested with the movie that they were talking about. I never bothered to ask though on what the film is all about. As the title suggests, it feels like it pertains to a little bit of drama and a rape scene reminiscent of a Brillante Mendoza movie. And boy, I was surprised when I eventually found out on what the movie is all about.

T500FC, 402nd: Spoorloos [The Vanishing] (George Sluizer, 1988)

If you happen to be familiar with Harry Potter, you are probably aware of the following saying, “It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.” Albus said those words to Harry, informing him on the basic principle of choice. This movie greatly takes on the idea of choice to the point where the climax of the film gives the protagonist a great decision in his life. Spoorloos might not be an earth-shattering kind of film but its approach on the suspense genre greatly defined its change much more that it intelligently tells the audience that you should be curious while watching the film.

T500FC, 403rd: Regal Shocker The Movie (Jose Javier Reyes, 1989)

This is a local film that followed the footsteps of the Shake, Rattle, and Roll franchise. It was probably a trial for Regal Films to create such type of movie, where three short segments are engulfed in a single movie. This is also the time when local films are starting to get big again, hence being this movie copying an original but did it live up to its title? The three shorts in this film are Pangako, Karambola, and Aparador.

T500FC, 404th: Shock Corridor (Samuel Fuller, 1963)

The subject matter of psychological imbalance is always a good subject for films. Much more if you have a group of mentally unstable people clamped in a small facility that is managed by individuals that might also lose it in case the will power is low like Terry Gilliam’s 12 Monkeys. Shock Corridor proves one thing that the crazy world will remain crazy and despite it being fun as a movie, you’d still feel the darkness behind one’s frail mind.

T500FC, 405th: No Blood, No Surrender (Rudy Dominguez, 1986)

Sometimes whenever I say that we should pursue positive cinema in all aspects, meaning there must be something good in a film despite all the negative reviews and critiques behind it, it might backfire in one instance or another. There is a great difference if the film is that bad that becomes good and there is a film where it is completely bad that you are still wondering why it is still existing in the planet. The only defense in this, probably, is for historical reasons.

T500FC, 406th: 2 Ou 3 Choses Que Je Sais D’elle [2 Or 3 Things I Know About Her] (Jean-Luc Godard, 1967)

This film gives two things to the viewer, a radical aspect of one’s ideas and a sense of nationalism minus the consumerism provided by the advertisers. That was what Jean-Luc Godard tried to express when he created this film; where it was just created to express one’s ideas and it doesn’t matter if it has no definite story behind on what the movie was saying; it was just a form of media where he wanted to pass the boundaries of traditional storytelling.

T500FC, 407th: Karnal (Marilou Diaz-Abaya, 1983)

Apparently this film won a lot of awards during its heyday. It includes the 1983 MMFF, FAP, FAMAS, and GAWAD URIAN. This was also the time when Marilou Diaz-Abaya created waves during the second coming of the local film industry, giving us Brutal and Moral before this movie was shown to the people. And it gives us another crazy but awesome Vic Silayan and his take on being a father, reminiscent of his role in Mike De Leon’s Kisapmata.

T500FC, 408th: Super Inday And The Golden Bibe (Michael Tuviera, 2010)

The recent Metro Manila Film Festival witnessed the remake of Super Inday, the one where Maricel Soriano originally starred in. It created a little bit of stir during the awards night when Marian Rivera, the person who plays the female lead in this movie, got the nod for the Best Actress category, as they were saying that Jennylyn Mercado was robbed of the said award. I’m sure year after year, the judges would just want to keep it safe, that is why Rivera got the award, though not as much as awesome as the original, this one is still okay.