Be True - Part I

I decided to turn this blog into a very personal one. I ripped off one of Empire's episode title to do so. But don't fear, this will still be relevant to movies--but my short movies (What a narcissistic bastard!). I'm not accomplished enough to actually dignify this post, but you gotta think big to be big right? Then you can go big or go home. Anyway, putting this to context, I always love creating stories and in each story that I wrote, there's a sliver of my personal self inserted in it. For this first part of the big 'Marcel-Tell-All', let me take you back to 2013, to my first ambitious short film, titled Cops/Thieves (read it as Cops and Thieves rather than Cops or Thieves). Yes, the slash is just for show. It's my first film cut me some slack.




Despite the shortcomings that are clearly visible in this film, I am still very proud of this baby. The story came from a very rough idea my friend (who is now studying film in England!) and I had, although whenever I told her this, she recalled nothing of sorts but I remember vividly that we talked about this idea. It came from us making two separate horror films that were set in our school which allegedly was built on a cemetery complex (a complete bullshit by the way, once you're old enough you realized it). Our school was really scary at night though. I made a movie titled The Classroom and she made one called 100 Ghost Stories (I still remember her phenomenal camerawork and premise). We sort of brainstormed more ideas, and then I came up with the idea of making a real slasher based on the card game cops and thieves (or police and killers who cares). We talked about it but never took it seriously. I loved sharing ideas with her because we kind of speaking in the same frequency and we ended up co-directing a play together, which I am also still proud to be a part of. She now specializes in sound department or art directing, my memory is stupid about this, but I know whichever is it, she's doing better than I do. Her latest film, which was short but superbly meaningful, won an award at a festival film. She being in any film school is already better than me, stuck in nowhere city with no foreseeable future in sight.

I revisited the cops and thieves idea after enrolling in college. I didn't know how the third act should be though, like who the killer is and why is he/she doing it-stuff, until several days before shooting. What I want to discuss here is not that big twist at the end though. It's more like how the film represented a certain moment in my life (ew, who do you think you are bitch). When I revisited this movie, I always see a pretty high amount of angst in it. This trait in the film might be attributed to the fact that I loathe going here to Japan for university. It shows a lot in this film through the atmosphere of the film, the violence, the mood, the colors. The one I draw upon from myself the most was the basic human action and reaction on the leading girl's character, which put her in a new situation with a new person she's not comfortable with. That's basically me in Japan, being reluctant to do anything, to learn anything.

The violence in the film was born not out of my masochistic/sadistic potential, fortunately. I was developing another angst-filled script just before this and was planning to do it Inarritu-style with the film being a very long tracking shot (this was 2012-2013, way before Birdman, btw). That script was titled 407, a room--much like the one in Cops/Thieves--which became a very haunted place for the main character. This main character is put in the same situation as Ella's character: new place, new people. 407 was the base for Cops/Thieves so there are many things in common. The main character in 407, found all the new people he met commit suicide in his room, only to find out he's the one who has killed himself at the end, not those people. The suicides were 'creatively' done, in some ways similar to the killings in Cops/Thieves. One hanged himself with some hangers, one poisoned herself by drinking soap and bleach, one jumped from the window, and the other one slashed her wrists with a scissor or a kitchen knife. I loved the idea of killing with hangers that I actually 'tried' whether it could work logically (I don't want to go into details but I can safely say it was not an attempt at suicide). You get the idea, 407 is the embryo for Cops/Thieves. 


I like that this film represented a certain moment in my life. Like it was when I really really was in love with Cliff Martinez's music from most of his work. The entirety of the score in this film are all Martinez's music, from the soundtrack of the modern classic Drive to modern cult Spring Breakers. Even for the trailer I used one of his tracks for The Company You Keep. I feel that his music really fit the mood of the movie. I couldn't find a suitable moment, or a moment that deserved to be scored with his master track from Only God Forgives but I'm pretty content with the way it turned out. It was also when I was really really addicted to Metric. I still find them awesome but I don't listen to them religiously like I used to. Fun fact, instead of using 'Raw Sugar' for the ending, I wanted to use 'Synthetica' which is the other side of the pole from the former. 'Synthetica' has this energy that I wanted to show for my leading character but 'Raw Sugar', suggested by one of my DoPs, is the sensible choice to end the movie. When I'm successful, I'm gonna license all these songs so it could be legit used in the movie. I still get copyright infringement from YouTube, you know.


Next up:
Bridge of Spies review
also to come Part II of this Tell-All

Fighting Harder

I decided to have a very exciting day yesterday. Woke up and spontaneously planned to see Creed. I caught the bus right on time, caught the train right on time, and went to the movie right on time (literally when I sat down, the film started!). Didn't waste any time at all yesterday. Creed is the first spinoff from the Rocky franchise and it stars Michael B. Jordan and Rocky Balboa himself, Sylvester Stallone and directed by Ryan Coogler of Fruitvale Station fame. Honestly, I only watched the first Rocky film so I'm not actually the right person to talk about Rocky franchise in detail like Rocky's turtle or even Rocky's secret match with Apollo Creed. But bro, the movie is too awesome.

The spotlight is now on Apollo Creed's illegitimate son, Adonis Creed. Apollo Creed was Rocky's rival-turned-friend who was killed in a brutal boxing match against a Russian boxer, Ivan Drago. Adonis had a boxer's blood in him and he's called to the ring by destiny. However, he opted to use his mother's last name and not the famous Creed surname. He tried to find a trainer and found it in his father's friend, Rocky Balboa. With Rocky, he trained and paved his own way as a great boxer and making his own legacy.

The movie is phenomenal. It's an amazing feat to have a great reboot like this especially in the year when so many franchises tried to reignite their spark. Plot-wise, it is inspiring and mature. The cast is great. Michael B. Jordan is super committed to the role. Tessa Thompson delivered a complex character like it was nothing, and she has a killer track titled Grip which everyone should give a listen. And Sylvester Stallone in a form we haven't seen for a long time. In this film Rocky is vulnerable and he presented it just right, while still being the tough guy Rocky is. Directed greatly by Ryan Coogler who I think is just too damn good for Black Panther. Be very afraid Alfonso Cuaron, Ryan Coogler and his DoP Maryse Alberti presented us with an unbelievable tracking shot of a fucking boxing match! A boxing match! Without any cuts! Soundtrack and score by Ludwig Goransson are very much on point. It's hard to believe this is the work of a guy who did Zooey Deschanel's New Girl. The score is hands-down the best of the year for me. It has a very distinguishable quality and it improved an already 100% film to 120%. Definitely one of 2015's best and I hope to see more of this film in the awards' season. Creed: 4/4


Check out these stand out tracks in both soundtrack and score: Waiting for My Moment, Lord Knows/Fighting Harder, Grip, You're a Creed and Creed Suite. Either these gonna be the tracks that will motivate you or be in your workout playlist (it's the former for me, cos what is workout?)

Twenty Sixteen

Happy New Year! I was away for Christmas holidays in Seoul. Walked around. Ate a lot. Saw a lot. Veni Vidi Manducavi(?). I ended my moviegoing year with Justin Kurzel's stylish adap of Macbeth starring Michael Fassbender which is basically the extremely hard level of English listening exam: Scottish accent combined with Shakespearian vocab. I understand the gist of every sentence (or paragraph) but if I were to recite one perfectly, I'll give up. Then I started this year with an unfinished Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation while on a 1 hour flight and went on a successive viewings of Sicario and Sherlock's Christmas Special (more on that later!). So, as the annual ritual (rhyming point!), every year must be opened with a preview of what's to come. 2015 was big but 2016 has films to match 2015. You know the drill: bold titles mean must-watches and unmarked means negotiable. I just copied and pasted that last sentence, because plagiarizing your own work is totally acceptable.

JANUARY
- The Hateful Eight with Samuel L. Jackson and director Quentin Tarantino
- The Finest Hours with Chris Pine and director Craig Gillespie
- Kung Fu Panda 3 with Jack Black (voice) and director Jennifer Yuh Nelson
- Jane Got A Gun with Natalie Portman and director Gavin O'Connor

FEBRUARY
- Hail Caesar! with George Clooney and directors The Coen Brothers
- Pride and Prejudice and Zombies with Lily James and director Burr Steers
- Deadpool with Ryan Reynolds and director Tim Miller
- Zoolander No. 2 with actor director Ben Stiller
- Eddie the Eagle with Taron Egerton and director Dexter Fletcher
- Triple 9 with Aaron Paul and director John Hillcoat

MARCH
- Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice with Ben Affleck and director Zack Snyder
- London Has Fallen with Gerard Butler and director Babak Najafi
- Allegiant with Shailene Woodley and director Robert Schwentke
- Midnight Special with Michael Shannon and director Jeff Nichols
- Whiskey Tango Foxtrot with Tina Fey and directors Glenn Ficarra and John Requa
- The Brothers Grimsby with Sacha Baron Cohen and director Louis Letterier

APRIL
- The Huntsman: Winter's War with Charlize Theron and director Cedric Nicolas-Troyan
- The Jungle Book with Neel Sethi and director Jon Favreau
- Collide with Felicity Jones and director Eran Creevy
- Before I Wake with Kate Bosworth and director Mike Flanagan
- Demolition with Jake Gyllenhaal and director Jean Marc Vallee

MAY
- Captain America: Civil War with Chris Evans and director Russo Brothers
- X-Men: Apocalypse with Michael Fassbender and director Bryan Singer
- Neighbors 2 with Seth Rogen and director Nicholas Stoller
- Alice Through The Looking Glass with Johnny Depp and director James Bobin
- Money Monster with George Clooney and director Jodie Foster
- The Nice Guys with Ryan Gosling and director Shane Black
- The Free State of Jones with Matthew McConaughey and director Gary Ross
- Snowden with Joseph Gordon-Levitt and director Oliver Stone

JUNE
- Independence Day: Resurgence with Jeff Goldblum and director Roland Emmerich
- Finding Dory with Ellen DeGeneres (voice) and director Andrew Stanton
- The Conjuring: Enfield Poltergeist with Patrick Wilson and director James Wan
- Now You See Me 2 with Jesse Eisenberg and director John M. Chu
- Warcraft with Travis Fimmel and director Duncan Jones
- Central Intelligence with Dwayne Johnson and director Rawson Thurber
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows with Megan Fox and director Dave Green

JULY
- The Legend of Tarzan with Margot Robbie and director David Yates
- The BFG with Mark Rylance and director Steven Spielberg
- The Purge 3 with Frank Grillo and director James DeMonaco
- Star Trek Beyond with Chris Pine and director Justin Lin
- Bourne 5 with Matt Damon and director Paul Greengrass
- Ghostbusters with Kristen Wiig and director Paul Feig
- La La Land with Ryan Gosling and director Damien Chazelle
- Genius with Colin Firth and director Michael Grandage

AUGUST
- Suicide Squad with Will Smith and director David Ayer
- Ben Hur with Jack Huston and director Timur Bekmambetov
- Sausage Party with Seth Rogen and directors Conrad Vernon and Greg Tiernan
- Spectral with James Badge Dale and director Nic Mathieu
- Arms and the Dudes with Jonah Hill and director Todd Phillips

SEPTEMBER
- The Magnificent Seven with Chris Pratt and director Antoine Fuqua
- Sully with Tom Hanks and director Clint Eastwood
- Deepwater Horizon with Mark Wahlberg and director Peter Berg

OCTOBER
- Inferno with Tom Hanks and director Ron Howard
- The Girl on the Train with Emily Blunt and director Tate Taylor
- Jack Reacher: Never Go Back with Tom Cruise and director Edward Zwick
- Gambit with Channing Tatum and Lea Seydoux
- The Accountant with Ben Affleck and director Gavin O'Connor

NOVEMBER
- Doctor Strange with Benedict Cumberbatch and director Scott Derrickson
- Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them with Eddie Redmayne and director David Yates
- The Great Wall with Matt Damon and director Zhang Yimou
- Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk with Garrett Hedlund and director Ang Lee
- Moana with Dwayne Johnson (voice) and director Ron Clements

DECEMBER
- Passengers with Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence, director Morten Tyldum
- Rogue One: A Star Wars Story with Felicity Jones and director Gareth Edwards
- Assassin's Creed with Michael Fassbender and director Justin Kurzel
- Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children with Eva Green and director Tim Burton


There are currently undated films like Denis Villenueve's scifi Story of Your Life and Martin Scorsese's Silence. But it is shaping to be another solid year for movies. Like every other year there are unnecessary remakes like Ben Hur or The Magnificent Seven but their cast is solid so I'm actually excited for both. The blockbusters are crazy exciting. Also new films from Scorsese and Eastwood pretty much made the year strong. Jodie Foster's Money Monster is looking good too. Here are my top 10 anticipated films for next year!

10. Passengers - Chris Pratt x Jennifer Lawrence!
9. The BFG - Spielberg!
8. Fantastic Beasts - still not sold but magic
7. Bourne 5 - Damon is backk
6. Assassin's Creed - still got that Macbeth hype
5. X-Men Apocalypse - just gettin that Fassy-love and Olivia Munn
4. The Legend of Tarzan - I loved the trailer too much
3. Suicide Squad - Margot Robbie!
2. Civil War - looks great
1. Batman v Superman - looks awesome

NYResolution: I want to write more posts here. 2015 was a new low for posts number since 2012. I have five drafts and all were unfinished because a) I got bored b) I postponed it too long it lost it relevance. And also Imma do more work. But still watch a lot of movies.

Just Letting It In

So, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens is here guys! You can now browse the Internet in peace and you can stop pretending you need all those Star Wars-tie in products to buy, because you don't. You watched the movie, and the only thing logical thing to do is watch it once again. Recently before opening day, I wondered whether the movie would match the crazy hype. If it doesn't what would happen with the spin-offs and the sequels? But at least we can go watch it in peace because one of Hollywood trustiest directors JJ Abrams is on the helm. For me, he has never made a bad movie in his career. He even starts straight from the highly under-appreciated Mission: Impossible III. He was handpicked by Tom Cruise for goodness sake. The movie stars old favorites Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, and Mark Hamill as well as new generation of heroes and villains Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Adam Driver and Domnhall Gleeson. Probably mild spoilers will follow.

The story is about a new threat in the galaxy led by the organization First Order which was very much inspired by the Empire. The First Order seeks a map to the now vanished Luke Skywalker which was obtained by The Resistance's best pilot, Poe Dameron. This map eventually brings new faces and old, Rey, Finn, BB8, Chewie and Han Solo together on board of the junk Millennium Falcon. They need to face the First Order and the villain Kylo Ren in order to stop the new bigger, badder Death Star called Starkiller Base from destroying the planets.

The movie is amazing. In terms of filmmaking, it is the best modern blockbuster I've ever seen. This and Mad Max: Fury Road is this year's best blockbuster films. Starting from the use of film, not digital, it has a very nostalgic look that is very fresh but also serves as a good continuity for the original trilogy. The creature designs, location shooting and set designs are very vital to this film because it is perfect. It improves upon the original trilogy and probably serves as a big middle finger to the blue-screen extravaganza of the prequel trilogy. Note to self: seeing this movie after a prequel trilogy marathon is a bad idea. JJ Abrams directed this film masterfully, he would get the respect he didn't get when he directed the Star Trek films. I'd probably prefer him to direct Episode IX rather than Colin Trevorrow. Rian Johnson is a safe choice though for VIII. What I like from JJ Abrams is that he seemed to learn from his tenure in Star Trek, he relied to much on nostalgia on that one (featuring the original Spock twice is too much) but here he kept the nostalgia to the minimum that it doesn't feel like the filmmakers are wiping the original's ass or being too meta like in Jurassic World. This one feels natural.

The cast is great! I was so scared that the newcomers would ruin the film but Daisy Ridley and John Boyega fit in nicely. Daisy Ridley is a scene stealer in her major breakout role as Rey. She could be vulnerable but also powerful, it's so good. Oscar Isaac is cool in his role, he's probably programmed to be the 'new' Han Solo-type character for this trilogy. I still need more convincing on this Kylo Ren character, in my opinion he doesn't belong in the Darth Vader-great category, but definitely better than all the prequel villains combined, especially that stupid General Grievous. Oh, there are also three stars from The Raid films making very brief appearances in this film. It's so good. Overall, this movie has the same beats with the original Star Wars back in 1977. The stakes are not that high yet, and the story is pretty basic. But it's the characters that draw us in the movie and make us love the series. We just need to get to Luke fast. And we can all agree that the Starkiller Base is pretty garbage right? It took more effort to destroy the Death Star honestly. Also, what's up with R2D2? Anyway, the movie is worth at least 90% of the hype. There's space action. Lightsaber battles. Family drama. Nostalgia. Many Force action. Cool effects. Great majestic music by the legendary John Williams! (Check out Rey's Theme!) It's a satisfying adventure that leaves you wanting more. Bring on Episode VIII! Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens: rated 3.5/4.


In all seriousness, do you guys really want the spinoff films? Because I don't. Am I the only fan who doesn't like the idea of spinoff films? You die-hard fans say that less is more but wants the spinoff films? Those spinoff films belong at Netflix or an HBO special. It should serve as a companion piece to the main events. But we'll see the first trailer for Rogue One and let's see where that goes.


Next; probably Creed. or more Star Wars.

Trailers Galore

2015 is ending. So 2016 movies are invading us with trailers. Like they chose the same week to release all that. But which one caught your attention the most? Which one made you cringe? Which one is just bad? These orders are based solely on my reaction to the trailer and the movie presented in the trailer.

8. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows

I just remember the first one being a lot of harmless fun. And Megan Fox still being hot. It's a popcorn movie. I don't even care if they have Adult Mutant Wrestler Rhino in this movie. I don't even care about this movie. I just hope it's the same amount of popcorn fun.

7. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

I'm a huge fan of the Harry Potter films. But as of right now, this film seems like a cashgrab for me. Even for author J.K. Rowling whose inability to move on from her beloved franchise has tarnished the goodwill of the legacy. Why is it set in New York again? I probably am going to see this on opening day but still, why doesn't anyone learn from The Hobbit films?

6. Star Trek Beyond

It's more probably the tone of the trailer that makes it weird. The trailer sells it as Guardians of the Galaxy-type film, while the visuals is basically the two previous Star Trek films. Given all the promises, I was hoping they were going with the exploration theme rather than JJ Abrams' action-oriented films. But the rebooted timeline films are among my favorites (I've never watched the old ones except for The Wrath of Khan), so fingers crossed.

5. Independence Day: Resurgence

I actually didn't want this movie to happen because the original film is so badass it doesn't need a sequel. But this trailer is pretty okay. It sucks that Will Smith couldn't/didn't want to return. He returned for the mediocre sequels to Men in Black, why not this one? Everyone's coming back. (I read somewhere that his character died while 'testing' the alien tech, that's a crappy way to write off someone). Anyway, I'm actually psyched. I hope Liam Hemsworth doesn't ruin the film.

4. X-Men: Apocalypse

It's a solid trailer, but it didn't have the same awesomeness like the first Days of Future Past trailer, which makes me less excited, but still very excited for this film. I just wished we could see more Olivia Munn though. The trailer is normal but I'm actually really hyped for the film.

3. The BFG

I'm very much so-so with the idea of a big friendly giant. I didn't have a childhood with the character but the movie looks amazingly gorgeous from the trailer. It's Steven Spielberg and his full team with legendary composer John Williams, editor Michael Kahn, cinematographer Janusz Kaminski, producers Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall and screenplay written by the late Melissa Mathison. It's so promising. Big Spielberg fan here.

2. The Legend of Tarzan

The poster for this film was hideous and this could be another Warner Bros misfire. But the trailer is crazy good. The music and visuals are on point. The cast is great--Christoph Waltz, Sam L Jackson, Djimon Hounsou and YESS, Margot Robbie! After Battleship I need more convincing from Alexander Skaarsgard but this movie looks rad. I hope it's not a flop.

1. Captain America: Civil War

This trailer is awesome. I don't really care about the heroes clashing scene with Black Panther, Hawkeye and all the B-grade Avengers but that last shot with Iron Man vs. Bucky and Cap is life. They could sell that as a 10 second trailer and would still get 30 million hits on YouTube.


Also looking good for 2016: The Huntsman Winter's War with Charlize Theron (yes!), Emily Blunt (yes yes!), and Jessica Chastain (YAASSS!) Whiskey Tango Foxtrot with Tina Fey and Margot Robbie (YEAAAH!) and Now You See Me 2 despite Isla Fisher being a no-show but Lizzy Caplan's in it now (YESS!). And you know we're all excited for all the big movies of next year. Yeah you two red cape and black cape. And also you, merc.