As planned, Saturday afternoon and evening were spent at the mall. Which means a bit of shopping and, afterwards, catching a run of Captain Barbell.

The movie stars Philippine action star Bong Revilla as the title character, with actor-singer Ogie Alcasid as his alter-ego Enteng. The love interest of both superhero and man was played by Regine Velasquez.

Captain Barbell was short, light and absolutely pointless. Too many villains crammed into, what, a measly 90 minutes? Too many emotional ties and sub-plots forged that were explored too briefly, in a shallow approach at that.

The acting was horrible and contrived, except for the brief but memorable performances of villains Freezy (Ruffa Mae Quinto), Lagablab (Albert Martinez) and Dagampatay (Jeffrey Quizon).

Jeffrey’s torment as the mentally incapacitated, rejected vagrant who found solace in his rat (daga in Filipino, hence his name is short for “dead rat”) friends was particularly heartbreaking. Ruffa Mae’s villainess had too much of Uma Thurman’s Poison Ivy (Batman and Robin, but she is ever so sexy and amusing.

Albert’s Lagablab, who turns out to be the title character’s father in an abused Star Wars twist, was severely underused.

It would have been much better if the entire movie’s driving plot was the conflict between father/villain and son/hero, to create that balance of action and emotion required in a great fantasy film (think The Fifth Element, The Lord of the Rings trilogy and, of course, the Star Wars series).

The December 27th awards night of The 29th Metro Manila Film Festival was telecast live by RPN-9 and, as of this writing, the honors have already been announced and handed out.

The winners of the most-watched categories were the following:
Best Supporting Actor: Victor Neri, Filipinas
Best Supporting Actress: Hilda Koronel, Crying Ladies
Best Actor: Eric Quizon, Crying Ladies
Best Actress: Maricel Soriano, Filipinas
Third Best Picture: Filipinas
Second Best Picture: Mano Po 2: My Home
Best Picture: Crying Ladies

All I have to say about the results is that they are delightfully refreshing, a welcome breather from all those years of big “family dramas” sweeping the MMFF awards.

Not many people, I believe, placed their bets on Crying Ladies as the winner. The debate was always between Filipinas and Mano Po 2: My Home, two heavy dramas on families struggling for happiness and honor, which are too similar for comfort – having the same screenwriter, notwithstanding. Thus, the winner turned out to be a (blackish) comedy.

A very Merry and Blessed Christmas.

This goes out to everyone reading this, whether or not you celebrate this holiday in your part of the world.

The coolest present I received this year is a musical album, from the coolest uncle in the world.

It was a tape of Voyage: The Essential World Beat Collection, which features hits by New Age artists such as Enya, Enigma, Kitaro and many others.

Following the first few rotations, my favorites of the bunch are Matsuri by Kitaro and Hong Ding Love Song by Middle Kingdom with Noel Quinlan. Nothing beats Oriental grandeur combined with heavy techno spice.

Uncle is definitely a music demi-god, or perhaps the Patron Saint of New Age rhythms.