By Anna Valmero and Marjorie Gorospe
INQUIRER.net

IT has been said, companionship is best appreciated in old age.

After experiencing all the highs and lows of life, those who are chronologically advanced seek to be with people. This was the least of their concern when they were young, when they seemed to have time for everything.

This is the recurring theme in a recent play, called “Hiblang Abo,” a production of Gantimpala Theater Foundation under director Tony Espejo.

We recently went to view the play at the Luneta open auditorium.

Hiblang Abo talks about the lives of four men in a home.

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By Agence France-Presse

LOS ANGELES — Robert Downey Jr. has signed a deal with Marvel Studios to return to the screen as superhero “Iron Man” in two sequels to the hit film released last April, Hollywood media reported Wednesday.

Downey, 43, will make “Iron Man 2″ for planned released in 2010, and Marvel envisions a third Iron Man film by 2012, according to Variety.

In between the two, Downey also agreed to play Iron Man, alias Tony Stark, in an Avengers movie, together with Marvel comics characters Captain America, Thor and the Incredible Hulk.

That film is scheduled for the movie houses in 2011.

“Iron Man” was a surprise hit in 2008, pulling in $318 million in North American theaters, beating out the fourth “Indiana Jones” movie.

Downey is currently filming in the lead role of “Sherlock Holmes,” directed by Guy Ritchie, singer Madonna’s estranged husband.

Downey also found success in the Hollywood war-movie satire “Tropic Thunder” earlier this year.

The successes marked the return to Hollywood heights by an comic actor whose career slumped due to a series of drug-related problems after his initial Oscar-nominated triumph playing the title role in 1992’s “Chaplin.”

Starring Kevin Costner, Madeline Caroll, Dennis Hopper, Kelsey Grammer
Directed by Joshua Stern
Distributed by Touchstone Pictures

By Clarence Yu

KEVIN Costner’s latest drama-comedy starrer, Swing Vote, is a timely film for a primer on the US electoral process. Released in North America in August this year, the movie focuses on a trailer-living, divorced, single father, all-around loser and drunk bum (Bud Johnson) played by Costner.

As it happens, during the US election that transpires in the movie between the two presidential candidates, played by Dennis Hopper and Kelsey Grammer respectively as the Democrat challenger and the incumbent Republican President, the whole fate of the race boils down to the vote of one man, Johnson, due to a voting machine performance error that did not able to record his vote.

The rest of the film focuses on the intricacies and dynamics of US politics. Both candidates try to pander to Johnson, and in a comedic turn of events, both candidates end up reversing their positions on traditional Republican and Democrat policies. Republicans suddenly become pro-choice on abortion, and Democrats, pro-life

It’s quite an entertaining movie, but Costner’s stardom, having faded exponentially since 1996’s Waterworld, perhaps contributed to the film’s lackluster success at the US box office.

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By Marjorie Gorospe
INQUIRER.net

MAKATI City, Philippines — Siblings Peter and Jeff Hutchens visited the Philippines to share their six-part documentary “Somewhere in China,” which is airing on National Geographic channel.

“Somewhere is China” is a documentary of the Hutchens brothers’ trips in remarkable places in China like Xinjiang province, Kashgar and its muslim population, among others.

This documentary reveals the diverse culture of Chinese community different to the monolithic notion about them.

The brothers said it was a big challenge for them to be in front of the camera since they mainly work behind the scene — Jeff as a photographer and Peter a filmmaker.

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By Anna Valmero
INQUIRER.net

MARY Shelley’s Frankenstein meets… Annie?! This combination would be more suited for a Scary Movie sequel or an episode of the Twilight Zone, but it seemed perfectly normal in Malaria, a land dominated by evil scientists who also owned hunchback slaves called “Igors.”

One such Igor, the switch thrower of Dr. Glickenstein, is a scientist of his own, inventing Brain, a hardly intelligent brain in a jar and Scamper, an immortal but psychotic rabbit.

When Dr. Glickenstein accidentally dies from a failed experiment, Igor takes over the lab and pursues his dream to join the annual Evil Science Fair contest by creating Eva, a female monster who thinks the Fair is an audition for the play “Annie.” Having learned of Igor’s invention, Dr. Schadenfreude steals Eva to win the contest and finally, overthrow King Malbert.

The plots and revolving themes in the story — stepping on others to get ahead, deceit, brainwashing and essentially, doing evil to achieve goals — make it a film for adults.

Another disturbing thing is the continuous suicide attempts of Scamper. When I watched the film, I sat along with several kids in the row whom I noticed laughed less than the adults accompanying them. I wonder if they laughed at Eva’s diva attitude when she thought a paparazzi car is following her carriage.

As a 20-year-old moviegoer, I cannot say I did not enjoy the film. While admiring the 3D animation, I laughed along with the one-liners and the antics of the Mayor, Brain, Scamper and the invisible announcer. The film is loaded with good symbolisms to tackle its multi-faceted theme of whether to do good or evil.

The film is a reminder that despite the competition to get ahead, being good is never a hindrance to achieving dreams. The Malaria caste system in which hunchbacks are made servants show that any physical deformity should not be the yardstick to measuring people. It reflects how our society often overlooks a person’s good heart or intelligence, which is more beautiful than a symmetrical face and bloated ego.

Brain’s obsession with his name (mistakenly writing it as “Brian” on his jar) is a representation of how we can be so concerned about labels and forget who we really are as individuals. Another that like good-natured Eva, we have our own “evil bones” and the potential to be evil, but it is up to us to rise beyond that and do good.

The film is made for the young ones with lessons for the young once as well.