Movie Review: The Luscious and Delicate Carol

If you were a lesbian and you looked like Cate Blanchett and had her gravitas, it won't be difficult to attract other women your way.

Yun lang, if you lived in the 1950s, it would be a bit difficult. I finally watched the movie Carol over the Holy Week and I felt bad that it was snubbed by the Oscars for Best Picture.

It's a gorgeous movie! The fashion, the houses, the cars - it's always like that in a Todd Haynes! Everything is gorgeous, including Cate Blanchett!

I was actually watching her character, and I realized, OMG, that's me, that's how audacious I sometimes approach boys I like. I used to be very shy and indirect, but as you age and you gain more experience and confidence, you become bold - and that department store scene where Cate meets Rooney for the first time, shows how supremely confident Cate's character is, in her flirting powers!

One beef lang that I have with this movie is that these lesbians are hot!! I guess we're so used to the stereotype of lesbians looking like Charice and Aiza Seguerra, who won't really qualify as hot based on Cosmopolitan standards.

Rooney Mara is one actress who downplays her beauty when she's walking the red carpet, always opting for that "crazy" look, but when she's in movies, she looks so radiant and innocent and beguiling!

It's impossible not to fall in love with her in this movie because she's so sweet, and fragile and confused, you just want to hold her and comfort her and well, mentor her.

The lesbians will love this movie because there is a sex scene and the last Oscar-nominated movie that went all out in girl-to-girl action was in Black Swan.

See, heterosexual Hollywood A-list directors are human too and they have these girl-to-girl sex fantasies which they can include in their movies because they are such great writers and directors - so they can get away with it!

Putting that aside, I loved Sarah Paulson here. This woman should get a meaty role soon and get herself Oscar-nominated. She deserves it! I discovered her in the American Horror Story series and she's here as well!

One thing though is that this lesbian movie has a nice ending! Buti pa sila, sa Brokeback Mountain, napakatragic! Bakit pag gay man's movie, kelangan talaga may mamatay. Pero sa lesbians, happy ending. Kainis!

A Lesbian and a Transgender: Front and Center in the 2016 Oscar Awards Season

The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) have released their nominations today and I'm really glad that they embraced two small movies which are very close to the heart of the LGBT community.

These SAG nominations should help these actors garner the more prestigious Oscar nominations - and with an Oscar nomination - these movies get the whole world talking about them and their unique stories.

I feel it's time people talk about the lives of gays and lesbians and transgenders. For these characters to take centerstage and to actually carry a film is a big step since 2005's Brokeback Mountain.

The last lesbian role I could think of that won the Oscar Best Actress was Charlize Theron in Monster. Cate Blanchett should be a shoo-in in the same category for the movie Carol, a girl-on-girl tale set in the 50s and well Cate and Rooney Mara, nominated for Best Supporting Actress don't really look like the stereotypical tibo we are used to. But this movie is set in the 1950s, so it's quite understandable.

Actors playing gay roles have won and been nominated many many times in the past. It's been one of the more sure ways to snag a nomination - if you do the role properly. William Hurt won the Oscar Best Actor for Kiss of the Spiderwoman and Dustin Hoffman dressed up as a woman in Tootsie and got a well-deserved nomination.

Well, the SAG nominated last year's Oscar winner Eddy Redmayne for Best Actor for The Danish Girl. New ingenue Alicia Vikander also got a Best Supporting Actress nomination.

So a transgender and a lesbian will be two of the talking points for the 2016 Oscar awards season. I really hope The Danish Girl and Carol make it to the Best Picture nominees.

Knowing how many gay people there are working in the Hollywood movie industry, I hope they rank either of the 2 as their number one choice, so it gives these two LGBT-themed movies more chances for a Best Picture nomination.

Movie Review: The Ravishing Cate Blanchett in Blue Jasmine

Although Cate Blanchett's character in Woody Allen's Blue Jasmine is heading towards a downward spiral, I couldn't help but gush at how regal and tall and beautiful Cate was in the movie (even though she had a lot of breakdown scenes!) and how sleek and sophisticated her character's fashion sense was.  If I were a woman, that is exactly how I would dress up - understated but very elegant and sophisticated- but of course, I would have to have Cate's really slim and tall physique to pull it off!

What I like about this Allen creation is that unlike most movie heroines, she is as flawed like the rest of us and even though she tries her best to regain her footing after her free fall from the top, it is precisely those faults that hinder her from coming dangerously close to a full blown nervous breakdown.

While I was watching the movie, I told myself that this could have been easily a Forbes Park wife of a corrupt government official, who finds herself losing everything after her husband gets caught!  It actually reminded me of Napoles sans the glamour and beauty of Blanchett's A-star wattage - but the gist of the story remains.  These are bad people who did bad things to ordinary people - people who just looked away when the stealing was happening!

This is also the most Filipino-like movie made by Woody Allen!  The concept of family and the constant battle between the have and have-nots made me really wonder why a movie like this has not yet been made for local consumption! Iza Calzado or Angel Aquino could easily essay the role since it really has to be a classy lady on a free fall.  I was actually thinking of Hilda Koronel in her younger days.  She would've been perfect for this role.  Less histrionics, that steely resolve not to show one's wounds even though one is hurting so much.

I also loved the fact that Sally Hawkins, Louis C.K and Andrew Dice Clay were given meaty roles in this movie, even though their roles were smaller.  Andrew Dice Clay can act!  Unbelievable!! Even Louis C.K. had to play a cad here and I think he did a good job in it!!

A Bio Pic on the Owner of Banyan Tree - My Favorite TV Show This Week

A biopic on the owner of the luxury resort Banyan Tree is my favorite show this week.

Here are my ten favorite shows this week -

#1 Bio - Ho Kwon Ping - Tycoons of Asia - may-ari ng Banyan Tree

#2 Diva - Hot in Cleveland - ginawa siyang babysitter - Melanie Griffith guested

#3 Solar Channel - David Letterman - Cate Blanchett in Woody Allen movie

#4 Solar Channel - The Talk - inaway si Oprah

#5  PBO - Claudia Zobel Story

#6  Diva - Hot in Cleveland - Elka's lawyer hot

#7  HBO - True Blood - nahulog si Ryan Kwanten

#8 HBO - Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid

#9 Diva - Hot in Cleveland - Susan Lucci nahulugan

#10-  Diva - SVU - 13 year old nagrape ng bata