When I first watched this film, it was some 8 years ago and The Matrix had yet to be released. So, in my mind, this was the coolest thing ever: a gorgeous Italian assassin comes to the UK to kill someone only to find that the person who hired her can't afford her fee, and thus he hires a gang of hoodlums to kill her off. Of course, she survives, kills off most everyone else, and gets her fee. Dressed in black and wearing a leather jacket, Maria (played by Kendra Torgan, who has practically disappeared from the film industry) was an angel of death in this low budget action flick, shot mostly in one location: the hotel room where she's killing time till the financier arrives in town.

The film was shown on Cinemax the other night, and recognizing some shots in the middle, I was instantly glued to the screen, trying to figure out WHY I had once liked this piece of trashy low-budget schlock. The answer: a female Italian assassin dressed in black and killing everyone was just too cool to NOT like.

Everything else is lousy. Fight scenes are slow, editing is bad. Cinematography is poor, making the one primary set seem poorer than it is. And dialogue? What dialogue? The Italian assassin is learning english, and only speaks her native tongue. So the dialogue is left for the hired thugs who fall like leaves in autumn. Of course this WAS a film from 1998, so, maybe you can forgive them that?

My final verdict: stuff which you thought was cool in your youth fades upon closer inspection. 68/100. Matrix na lang!




UPDATE:
Rotten Tomatoes' Killing Time reviews page. Loads of fun.

After a long hiatus on DVD watching, I finally got to finish season 3 of Charmed (the lovely boxed pirate version from China, given to me in exchange for making music for a student's thesis), and now am ready for season 4.

Season 3 in a nutshell is where Phoebe (Alyssa Milano) falls in love with the demonlord Cole/Balthazar (Julian McMahon), and amidst a neverending cycle of betrayals and reunitings, Prue (Shannen Doherty) and Piper (Holly Marie Combs) are fatally wounded by the clolsing of the season-ender (directed by Doherty).

Finally, after the rather bland, vapid coming-of-age stories of seasons 1 and 2, there is an attempt at creating more depth and drama with the Cole-Phoebe love-hate relationship and its effects on the evil-fighting Halliwell household. Plus, like the dark emperor in Star Wars, we get a glimpse at the mysterious Source who is responsible for most all of the attacks on the Charmed Ones. And there are lots of new baddies. Though they are still mostly trounced within every 40-minute timeframe.

A little more depth in this series is nice. Although, looking for angst and gritty action in Charmed is like looking for 200-peso slippers in a Diesel store. You're in the wrong place for it. So let me end by giving this season 3 stars, where the first 2 seasons were merely 1-star affairs.

I picked this book up at the Fully Booked sale recently for only P50, and thought: "It's from Baldacci, it must be exciting!" After all, my favorite Baldacci thriller TOTAL CONTROL was an absolutely breathtaking plot extravaganza. Well, sorry. It's not exciting at all.

Turns out it's a Christmas holiday feelgood short novel, meant to be read by sentimental fogeys who like characters that have no shades of gray in their personalities.

Summary: A tired, burned out war correspondent decides to take a train ride to get to LA, but along the way, reunites with the only ex-girlfriend that ever mattered-- the one who got away. Meanwhile a famous film director is onboard to study for his next film, and someone's stealing the passenger's belongings, and a snowstorm cuts the train ride in its tracks. But don't worry! The war correspondent will save everyone, only to realize that he's been selfish all these years and that's why the ex left him. But once again, not to worry, because they reunite and finally get on with their lives.

Sappy dialogue, unbelievably amiable Amtrak characters, cardboard personalities, and a premise that screams: "romantic comedy starring Jennifer Aniston and Hugh Jackman."

The saddest part of the book? I actually finished it in order to tell you it sucks so badly, that watching MTV for a full 3 hours is a more entertaining alternative.

If you've heard of Bjork, that weird elvish Icelandic woman who sings epic songs set to sweeping electronica, then The Sugarcubes is the band she started out with as a teenager. Which is why it's such a fun group to listen to. They remind me of the B-52's because they have Bjork singing melodies and their male singer shouting out lyrics as if it were poetry. The rest of the band is pretty much as boring as wallpaper, but their sound overall is a youthful new-wave/pop which reeks of late 80s rebellion, teenage angst, and anti-commercialism.

This live concert DVD gives you about 15 live songs from performances in 1989, interspersed with weird and pretentious interviews of band members (either they're all taking too much drugs or they each believe their interview qualifies as performance art). The sound is a wonderful chaotic mess, and it's so much fun to see how they used to perform in their heyday before the group split up. Party the Icelandic way, baby!

GRADE: 90
BOUGHT AT: MRT Edsa-Shaw Station. P70.

So, two luminaries in the hip hop and DJ world decide to throw a bunch of gigs centered around this concept: spinning nothing but 45 records (in layman's terms = singles). They dig through their crates of records and unearth everything from funk classics to breakdance tunes to promo jingles for TV shows and outdated products. Then they gather several other DJs who can do the same, and they put on a party.

This DVD captures the last performance of the legendary FREEZE set by DJ SHADOW and CUT CHEMIST plus highlights from the supporting DJs: MARVSKI (boring), NU-MARK (powerful funk!) and Z-TRIP (entertaining energetic and frisky!).

Freeze is a record spotter's paradise, but an audio lover's hell. The records that DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist spin are fantastic testaments to what can be done with even the crummiest of commercial jingles... i.e. a hip hop beat behind anything makes it cool (almost). Unfortunately, the audio output of the DVD is less than stellar. It seems that most of the audio is recorded straight from handheld videocams instead of from the mixing board. Thus, the creativity shown by these two turntable geniuses is undermined by the pitiful sound output. How very sad. I so wanted this one to rock my world. Instead, I felt like I was watching clips on youtube.

GRADE: 80

BOUGHT AT: MRT Edsa-Shaw Station. P70.

For anyone who follows these things closely (there are only about 5 of us probably), Nestea released a line of iced tea products recently with the "ICE" tag. Which means the drink comes "with extra cooling action" as it says on the label. Similar to Sprite Ice, this baby feels like liquid Halls candy.

To be fair, this is yet another sweet iced tea variant (which tastes less of green tea and more of lemon), but the kicker is the ICE factor. Cools the throat like anything. Which is desperately needed in this Metro Manila summer of 93 degrees F (34-35 degrees celsius). Lovely soothing and sweet, for those long jeepney rides which feel like you're baking in a tin oven.

GRADE: 93

BOUGHT AT: Mercury Drug, Edsa cor. Aurora, Cubao. P15.50

Prince has always fascinated me. How can someone who looks so awfully unbathed come up with such ass-shakingly funky pop music? After reading numerous interviews with people who've worked with him, it turns out the guy knows every instrument inside out, and can tell his session musicians exactly what he wants to hear.

This live concert DVD is testimony to that. Recorded in 2003 in front of a screaming live audience made up mostly of members of his NPG Music Club (Prince fan club which charges annual fees in exchange for exclusive song material on the web, and discounts on concert tickets, etc.), Live at the Aladdin showcases Prince at his best. His live band features funk pioneer Maceo Parker on sax, jazzmaster Eric Leeds on sax, and the always-energetic Sheila E. on percussions.

The musical arrangements are breathtaking, the funk unstoppable, and the playing -- well, if you can forgive an overzealous Prince guitar solo or two--- extraordinary. The material ranges from 70's funk (a la George Clinton and the P-Funk All-Stars) to psychedelic rock (a la Jimi Hendrix) to "traditional" 80s-era Prince tunes, and his more recent R&B outputs.

This stuff is thankfully so far removed from his Purple Rain days, he sounds like a different artist-- someone who's been listening to all his old jazz and funk records to find new inspiration.

GRADE: 97.5

BOUGHT AT: Hidalgo street, Quiapo. P50.

From the director who gave us Erin Brockovich, Traffic, and Ocean's Eleven, comes this slow, minimalist, artsy film about 3 people in anonymous-smalltown, USA, and how their boring, tiresome lives and ragged dreams are bulldozed into oblivion by multiple jobs, tiny paychecks and humdrum everyday existence.

Having experienced a little bit of this type of life in the States, I can honestly say: it's a bit too real to be comfy. Escapist entertainment this is not. But if you watch with an open mind, you notice how tiny changes in their everyday lives inexorably lead to an act of blind rage and murder. Employing non-actors from the location the film was shot in, Soderbergh is able to take a snapshot of a dreary industrial town through the lives of these 3 characters. The actors even got a say on what their lines would be. Think Reality TV.

You HAVE to be in the mood for this. Otherwise it will be overly tedious... or you'll fall asleep. A lot of shots establishing the dreariness of the location could've been cut short. A lot of dialogue could've been shortened. Still. It was passable. Very unassuming. I've seen better though.

GRADE: 75.

BONUS TRIVIA: This was one of the films shot on HD, released on only 32 theaters in the States, and then on DVD 3 days after, which angered a lot of movie theaters over there who decided to boycott. Not that this has anything to do with your (non)enjoyment of the film.


BOUGHT AT: Sanko Dry goods Market, Marikina. P60.

So, it’s holy week, and I’ve barely recovered from the submission of grades 2 days ago. And what do I do now that I have all this time? Start downloading new music to listen to.

A link on mp3passion.net leads me to the jazz page where I stumble upon an exotic sounding name: Aziza Mustafa Zadeh. I love world music. Especially when done by people with exotic names. So I download a track or two, to find this wild, technically brilliant and spiritually vibrant solo pianist who SINGS on top of her playing. And it has a middle eastern flavor to it, which mixes in with obvious classical training. Think of whirling dervishes and Turkish music and Bill Evans. Fantastic. Wild. Exotic.

Quick research highlights from Wikipedia: she was born in Baku, Azerbaijan but now lives in Germany. Her father was one of the founders of an entire school of hybridized fusion of jazz and Mugam — a traditional improvisational music style in Azerbaijan– which Aziza has improved upon and continues to champion.

Find her music, get it, and allow yourself to be transported into another world.

GRADE: 99.5