JR's Movie Reviews - DIE BEAUTIFUL

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DIE BEAUTIFUL

JR's Rating:  (10 out of 10, Masterpiece)

"Ang Pinaka-kahanga-hangang Kabaklaan sa Pelikulang Pilipino"

Dark comedy stylized with very colorful setpieces and astounding make-up making an effective yet beautiful movie. Walang tatalong pelikulang drama at komedya ngayong taon sa pelikulang ito. Ang Die Beautiful ay kauna-unahan sa aking panonood ng pelikulang Pilipino na gumamit ng stylized at napakalakas na pagsasalaysay ng buhay ng mga bakla o transgenders. Ang pagganap nina Paolo Ballesteros at Christian Bables bilang mga ganap na babae ay tunay na kahahanga sapagkat kuhang-kuha nila ang pananamit, pagsasalita at pagkilos ng mga ito. Bagamat halo-halo ang pagkakasunod ng mga pangyayari, ito'y madaling intindihin, ang siyang buhay ni Tricia mula kabataan hanggang kamatayan. Sa unang kalahati ng pelikula ay kayo'y makakaramdam na katuwaan ngunit sa patapos na kalahati ay mararamdaman ang kapighatian para sa punong karakter. Kapansin-pansin ang pag-iba ng mood ng tayo'y maharap sa pinakamasakit na pangyayari kay Tricia, ang magahasa ng kanyang hinahangaang atleta. Kung tutuusin, ay hindi lamang komedya itong pelikula ngunit drama na rin. Sa galing ng kwento at pagkagawa ng pelikulang ito ay malamang pumapangalawa ito sa Sunday Beauty Queen bilang MMFF Best Picture. Ngayon ay nagamit ni Paolo Ballesteros ang kanyang talento sa pagmamake-up sa isang masterpiece na pelikula. Isa ito sa mga bagong paborito kong pelikulang Pilipino. #QualityOverQuantity (Note: Ang pelikula ay para lamang sa matatanda dahilan na rin sa mga sensitibong tema na may halong sexual at mga kabastusang pananalita.)
#DieBeautiful #2016Movies #MovieReviews #JRMovieReviews

Image Reference: Official Die Beautiful Facebook Page

>>> https://www.facebook.com/diebeautiful/

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^JR Late Night Posts - JR Late Night Reviews: Movies

Time Published: 08 January 2017 (9:00 PM)

JR's Movie Reviews - VINCE AND KATH AND JAMES

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VINCE AND KATH AND JAMES

JR's Rating: 8️⃣ (8.5 out of 10, Awesome)

"Akin Ka, Sa'yo Ako: Ang Katangahang Di Pinalalagpas"

"Hi Kath! Kakapalan ko na mukha ko, hehe. Sana mapansin mo ako. I'm Var, crush kita. One of these days alam kong mapapansin mo din ako." Ilan lamang yan sa mga paunang katagang magdadala ng kilig sa pelikulang ito. Sawa na tayo sa "romantic comedy formula" na siyang lagi nalang nating nakikita sa pelikulang Pilipino lalo na tuwing MMFF ngunit ang Vince and Kath and James ay nagamit ito ng akma na kailangang pagbigyan ng pagkakataong panoorin dahil sa tuwa, kilig at pagkabaliw na hatid nito sa mga manonood. Manhid lang ang hindi kikiligin at matutuwa sa kwentong pag-ibig nina Vince and Kath na namuo ang pagmamahalan sa dapat sana'y pagkakatuluyan nina Kath and James. Sa unang eksena pa lamang ramdam na natin ang katorpehan ni Vince, habang ramdam niya ang pakiramdam ng "hey crush" kay Kath ay nagpapakatanga itong maging tagapagkonekta nina Kath at James. Manhid rin lang ang mga taong hindi makakaramdam sa lungkot na madarama ni Vince ng magkakilala at magsimulang sumusuyo si James kay Kath. Paborito ko sa pelikula ung eksenang pagnood nina Vince and Kath sa pelikulang Got To Believe nina Rico Yan at Claudine Barretto kung saan nagsasampolan sina Vince and Kath sa pagkakasaulo ng mga linya. May isang parte nung pelikula na nahulog ang aking puso, iyon ay ang pagtataboy ng ina ni Vince sa kanya habang sila'y ni Kath sana ay kakain sa sisigan na pagmamay-ari ng ikalawang asawa ng kanyang ina. Maraming mga memorable scenes sa pelikula ngunit ilan lamang yan sa aking mga bibigyang atensyon. Napakaganda ng source material nitong pelikula at napakagaling nitong naisapelikula. Hindi man siya kasinggaling ng mga past romantic comedies ng MMFF (katulad ng "English Only, Please" na aking binigyan ng 10 dati) ay hindi pa rin naman dapat palagpasin ang kakiligan at kabaliwan na hatid ng Star Cinema sa pelikulang Vince and Kath and James na epektibong gumamit ng modern college love story. May mga ilang eksena kung saan mahahalata mo kaso ang mga hindi pagkatugma ng lip-sync sa mga linya na sinasabi ng mga actor ngunit hindi naman ito nakakasira sa pagkakatuloy ng pelikula. Ang ganda ng pelikula ay nasa mga lugar na ginamit nito sa kanilang mga eksena. Napaka-effective ang paggamit ng stylized version ng college sa pagpresenta ng mga eksena sa pelikula. Bukod dito, breakout star si Joshua Garcia, na siyang kapansin pansin ang magaling na pagarte sa pelikula. Sa pagpili ng MMFF sa pelikulang ito na maging entry, tayo'y nabibigyang repleksyon sa ilang mga issues na kinahaharap ng bawat Pilipino, 1) paglimita ng trabaho ng kababaihan sa opisina lamang, 2) pagkakaroon ng mga malalaking utang na loob na siya na lamang nagpapaikot sa buhay natin, at 3) ang pagpapabaya sa mga naunang anak kapag nagkaroon na ng pangalawang pamilya. Sana'y matuloy pa rin ang kwento nina Vince at Kath gamit ang orihinal na textserye na marami pang kwentong maaaring gawan ng pelikula.
#VinceAndKathAndJames #2016Movies #MovieReviews #JRMovieReviews

Image Reference: Agimat: Sining at Kulturang Pinoy

>>> http://agimat.net/vince-kath-james/

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^JR Late Night Posts - JR Late Night Reviews: Movies

Time Published: 08 January 2017 (9:00 PM)

JR Late Night Blogs: Music Videos of the Year 2016

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2016 has been a great year for music spanning a greater variety of songs and music videos being engaged to the average listener. For this year, we have five entries coming from only one artist, three entries coming from an electronic artist with another artist featured to do the lyrics, one coming from another electronic artist with a duet featured to do the song, and one coming from an all-female group. Music videos which are deemed aesthetically beautiful, unique, innovative, cool and catchy were the ones chosen by JR in a list he personally ranked based on his preference. YouTube views, Billboard Hot 100 rankings and social media attention were partially a basis of selection but was not totally the basis of ranking. In order to qualify as a 2016 music video, the video should have been uploaded on YouTube within the time frame 01 January 2016 to 31 December 2016 or if it has been released outside the time frame, the music incorporated in the music video should have earned a spot in the year-end Billboard Hot 100 charts for 2016 (note, however, that music videos listed in last year's list were not already taken into consideration even though they are listed in the 2016 year-end Billboard Hot 100). Songs which doesn't have a music video though doesn't have a chance to be on the list. (Sorry Drake, "One Dance" and "Too Good" automatically gets disqualified)

 "Closer" by The Chainsmokers is JR's selection as this year's Music Video of the Year. "Closer" is an instant hit and classic of the year, a personal favorite even (having 767 plays in my iTunes). It's tune is equally complemented by its modernistic lyrics reflecting a romance reignited (as presented in their music video). Truly an ambitious masterpiece by The Chainsmokers after numerous hits that fail to bank in the weekly Billboard Hot 100's top spot. This year is Justin Bieber's, Rihanna's, and Selena Gomez's year each earning two entries in this year's list. "Work" almost even made the cut but this year was indeed a magnificent year for music where it really was a hard one for JR to even select, rank and complete. Only Justin Bieber and Calvin Harris manages to remain in this year's list after being listed last year for "What Do You Mean" at #4  and "Sorry" at #5 (for Justin Bieber) and last year's #1, "How Deep Is Your Love" (for Calvin Harris). Justin Bieber still retains the crown for having the Most Entries of All Time in JR's Music Videos of the Year list (extending his lead to 11 entries from 2010-2016). Rihanna and Katy Perry both rank second having 7 entries each (with Rihanna managing to get two entries this year). JR unveils the Music Videos of 2016 list.

Summary of the List:
1    |    2    |    3    |    4    |    5    |    6    |    7    |    8    |    9    |    10
Intro    |    Methodology    |    Honorable Mentions    |    Records    |    Data Sources    |    Photo Credits

JR's MUSIC VIDEOS OF THE YEAR - 2016 METHODOLOGY:

1. For a music and its corresponding music video to qualify in the list, it must be deemed by JR as aesthetically beautiful, unique amongst all videos released within the year, very innovative in terms of its presentation of music video, and it has that "cool" and "catchy" factor upon watching and listening to it. 
2. Songs which doesn't have their corresponding music video (which includes lyric videos) are disqualified in the selection process. This disqualifies "One Dance" and "Too Good" by Drake as both have no music videos upon their release.
3. In order to qualify as a 2016 music video, the music videos in the list must have been released worldwide on YouTube between 01 January 2016 to 31 December 2016 and must be available in the Philippines for viewing. No local entries, however, are qualified.
4. In cases, however, of music videos released outside the time frame specified, the music included in the music video must be listed in the year-end Billboard Hot 100 of 2016 (despite it not being a music video for this particular year). Music videos that were already listed in last year's list are not anymore qualified to be in this year's list regardless if it had been listed in this year's year-end Billboard Hot 100.
5. To make the selection of entries easier, only music videos (which includes lyric videos) with more than 100,000,000 views are qualified to be in the list.
6. An artist can have a maximum of five entries within a year excluding, however, entries that may feature them but have another artist as its distinguished main artist.
7. All YouTube views in the list were as of end of the year - 31 December 2016. All numbers have been rounded up to the nearest thousands (to accommodate possible view increase within the hour of statistics recording). 

JR'S Music Videos of the Year - 2016

Rank	Music Videos of the Year	Main Artist	Video Release
1	Closer	The Chainsmokers	July 29, 2016
2	Cold Water	Major Lazer	September 14, 2016
3	Into You	Ariana Grande	May 23, 2016
4	Kill Em With Kindness	Selena Gomez	June 06, 2016
5	This Is What You Came For	Calvin Harris	June 16, 2016
6	Let Me Love You	DJ Snake	November 29, 2016
7	Needed Me	Rihanna	April 20, 2016
8	We Don't Talk Anymore	Charlie Puth	August 02, 2016
9	Work From Home	Fifth Harmony	February 26, 2016
10	Treat You Better	Shawn Mendes	July 12, 2016

Get back to previous JR Late Night Blogs' Music Videos of the Year lists:

Music of 2015  |  Music of 2013  |  Music of 2012  |  Music of 2011  |  Music of 2010

#1

CLOSER  (The Chainsmokers ft. Halsey)

Weekly Billboard Hot 100 Peak:  Year-End Billboard Hot 100 Rank:	#1 #10	Current YouTube Views:  JR's iTunes Play Count:	967,476,000 (Lyric) 111,476,000 (M/V) 767 Plays
Video Release Date:	29 July 2016	Song Genre:	House
YouTube Channel:	>>> https://www.youtube.com/user/ChainsmokersVEVO
Music Video Source:	>>> Lyric Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PT2_F-1esPk >>> Music Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zGcUoRlhmw

"I know it breaks your heart, moved to the city in a broke-down car
And four years, no calls, now you're looking pretty in a hotel bar"

I'll be cheating with this one because both videos really deserve credit in this year's list. It's actually a first for the list even to credit both videos in a single Music Videos of the Year list. The lyric video would definitely be my favorite showing two couples enjoying a sun soaked environment expressing their affection evidenced by their photos taken using an instant camera. While the lyrics are shown through an acetate-film-like manner (which by the way is commendable), you can't help but feel the intensity of affection expressed by the couples acting behind the projected words. As evidenced though by its real music video, we see both Andrew Taggart and Halsey having such a very sexual and physical love before a presumed break-up (and ultimately getting back as how I presumed by the end of the video). While the music video shows us a never getting over that physical bond after a broke-up, the song uses an upbeat tempo complemented by strong-felt lyrics that becomes catchy and likeable to the listener. #TrulyAnEarworm for the past year as this was my most played song on iTunes with 727 plays (collectively from my iPhone 4S, iPhone SE and iPad mini). An ambitious song by Chainsmokers after numerous hits that failed to hit Billboard's #1 that would ultimately bag its top spot for 12 weeks from the weeks of 03 September 2016 to 19 November 2016 (ranked as #10 in Billboard's Year-End charts). Nothing beats Closer this 2016, an instant classic and definitely a hit. 

This is the debut entry of both The Chainsmokers and Halsey in JR's Music Videos of the Year list.