"Medyo magulo ang kwento, but it's well-made."
- Mike de Leon, director
- Mike de Leon, director
- Doy del Mundo, screenplay writer
- Kat Rodriguez, banker & biased friend
(who may have seen only 3 Filipino movies in her life)
Mario Bautista | People’s Journal
JAMIE Wilson is better known as the younger brother of Monique
Wilson, but he is now establishing his own career in theater and
film.
He won the Aliw best actor award for his bravura performance as the
Emcee in “Cabaret” and he is sure to be nominated for his first film
performance as the syndicate boss’ son who fakes his own kidnapping to get money from his own father in “Big Time”, directed by Mario Cornejo. How did he get involved in “Big Time”?
“Director Mario Cornejo asked a friend if I’d be interested to read
his script and I did,” he says. “Pagkabasa ko, wow, it’s so good, so
I said, I’ll do this. My dad (the late Johnny Wilson) never allowed
us to watch his past films because he played villain roles. I’m glad
I just did my first movie.”
Rianne Hill Soriano | YEHEY! Contributors
Starring: Michael de Mesa, Jamie Wilson, Winston Elizalde, Nor Domingo, Joanne Miller
Directed by: Mario Cornejo
Big Time hits it really big during its press screening at Podium last Jan. 16, 2005. The excited crowd composed of press people, artists, staff, cast and friends of Big Time and Arkeofilms started pouring in by 7:00 p. m. for a dose of non-slapstick absurdity and comedy.
This Cinemalaya film is about two petty crooks trying to hit it big time. And their misadventures reflect a fast-paced story backed up with an effective pop-culture treatment from the two young filmmakers Mario Cornejo and Monster Jimenez. Its edgy, ‘Tarantinoesque’ camerawork, stylistically action-packed, comedic, and at some point cynical scenes, witty dialogues and creative story keep a sincerely effective tale of well-established proportion. The entire film seems to reflect the kind of lifestyle and background of the two filmmakers who come from considerably well-off families. But unlike the trying hard to be artsy-fartsy films of some filmmakers who have some money to spend, this film reaches a certain appeal for the critics, the artists, the film buffs and even the mainstream audience. It delivers big time as it breaks from the overused action-comedy formula.
Bayani San Diego Jr. | Inquirer
Editor’s Note: Published on page A2-3 of the January 23, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
IN SPITE OF A MINUSCULE BUDGET, INDIE filmmakers Mario Cornejo and Monster Jimenez “supersized” their debut, “Big Time,” with wry humor and a barrage of pop culture references (take note of the Choc Nut poster).
The ultra-hip, frenetic filmmaking style paid off-big time. After winning Best Screenplay and Best Sound in the Cinemalaya film festival, it merited an A from the Cinema Evaluation Board.
Jimenez’s Arkeofilms is distributing “Big Time,” opening on Jan. 25 at select SM Cinemas.
In a joint e-mail to Inquirer Entertainment, Cornejo and Jimenez made it clear that they do everything together. “We wrote the movie, did all the pre-prod, shooting and post-production side-by-side and consulted one another on all creative issues. We functioned much like the Coen brothers … the delineation between producer and director is almost arbitrary.”
It was in this spirit, they explained, that they “answered the questions together.”
Ces Rodriguez | Sunday Inquirer Magazine
(Philippine Daily Inquirer Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) WINSTON Elizalde is such a made-up name, its hard to take the guy attached to it seriously at all.
In fact, it was a lot easier to address him as Danny, the character he plays in the Cinemalaya independent movie, Big Time, due for commercial release in its original digital format in selected SM cinemas on Jan. 25.
But the actor, best known for Seiko oeuvres like Itlog, movies that, he admits, embarrass him only pag may pimple yung pwet ko (when I have pimples on my ass), doesnt really mind. After all, the role of Danny just might fasttrack him into the big time.
Nestor U. Torre | Inquirer
“BIG TIME,” ONE of our favorite 2005 Cinemalaya alternative filmfest entries, is finally going mainstream starting Jan. 25. We’re quite sure that the digital movie will click with local viewers, particularly teenagers and young adults.
The film is about two smalltime crooks trying to hit it big. However, their carefully-planned kidnapping goes terribly wrong-with hilarious results!
Lead roles are played by Jamie Wilson, Winston Elizalde, Nor Domingo, Michael de Mesa and Joanne Miller.
Mario Bautista | Malaya Newspaper
THE past year will best be remembered as the year that saw the rise of digital films. There were three festivals of digital works: Cinemalaya at the CCP and ABS-CBN’s Cinema One in July, and the Cinemanila filmfest in October. Since they were all shown in public moviehouses, we make no distinction between them and mainstream releases. Honestly, we believe that there are better realized digital films than films made in the usual 35mm.
Here’s the list of local films released in 2005.
Tessa Jasminez | Variety Magazine
MANILA — Filipino filmmakers may have finally found what it takes to save their local film industry — digital technology.
The local industry was hard hit by the Asian financial crisis, from which it never fully recovered. Producers and directors coped with the forbidding peso to dollar exchange rate by simply producing less.
Movie production slowed down to about 30 films in the past several years — a far cry from the industry’s heyday when it churned out 150 to 200 films per year. Many actors dropped out of the scene, while others migrated to TV.
Dennis Ladaw | Manila Times
THEY look more like yuppies than indie filmmakers, who tend to appear bohemian in look and character. In contrast, Mario Cornejo and Coreen “Monster” Jimenez aren’t starving, struggling artists but they can make a good, edgy film that could do Quentin Tarantino proud.
The two wrote the script themselves. It tells the unfortunate yet humorous tale of a group of not too smart people dreaming of making it big—from two petty thieves moving on to be kidnappers to an air-headed teenager aspiring to be a star.
The film’s dark, irreverent humor left audiences impressed. Here at last was a Tagalog movie that doesn’t oversell a joke or rely on slapstick. The lines come fast and quick and nobody mugs at the punch line. The cast, headed by Jaime Wilson, has perfect timing. Only in Big Time will you hear remarks about the heftiness of a megastar called “Shawie,” obviously named after the real megastar Sharon Cuneta. And what other film has Manila Mayor Lito Atienza doing a walk-on at his very own Luneta Park, only to have his wallet snatched by the lead actor?
“Many of the jokes in the film are actually the jokes everyone laughs about. The Shawie jokes, for instance. Everyone else talks about it but somehow, there seems to be an unwritten rule that you can’t do Shawie jokes on film, at least in mainstream films.”
Mario Bautista | Manila Bulletin
As a filmmaker, Peque Gallaga’s works are so varied. His first film, “Oro Plata Mata” is an epic war movie. He also tried fantasy in “Once Upon a Time” and “Magic Temple,” sex in “Scorpio Nights,” historical drama in “Virgin Forest,” horror in “Shake, Rattle and Roll,” action in “Kid, Huwag Kang Susuko” and “Gangland.” The last really good film he did is that paean to young romance, “Baby Love.”
He now tries comedy in Unitel’s “Pinoy Blonde,” something he tried before in “Bad Bananas sa Puting Tabing.” Sad to say, it didn’t make us laugh and we found it tedious like his boring versions of “Panday” with Bong Revilla and “Darna” with Anjanette Abayari. We heard this was made for young intelligent audiences but how come the leads here are two stupid fools who don’t get our sympathy at all? When we watched this in an SM mall, there were just five of us inside the theatre and their target young intelligent audience is nowhere to be found. The fact remains that the greater majority of our young people still prefer to watch formulaic romances like “Let the Love Begin,” this year’s box-office champ so far. We’re really amazed why Unitel’s Tony Gloria dared to make this kind of movie that surely caters to a very limited market.
Rina Jimenez-David | Philippine Daily Inquirer
THERE are many reasons why the movie industry is dying, and I’m convinced heavy-handed censoring is one of them. It isn’t just the film artists’ freedom of expression and right to the integrity of their work that matter here, but also, to put it bluntly, customer satisfaction. Moviegoers have the right to see the movie its makers intended them to see, and which they had counted on seeing. Why should censors stand between them and the creators, imposing their own standards and morals on everybody else? It’s utter contempt for the audience, that’s what it is!
I remember my agitation when I went to watch “Sin City” at a mall theater. The movie was riddled with so many cuts the soundtrack was reduced to a herky-jerky background effect. What made it all the more annoying was that “Sin City” had already been rated “For Adults Only,” so the cuts only meant the censors or the craven distributor didn’t have enough trust or respect for an adult audience’s sensibilities or maturity. We resolved to go out and look for a DVD just so we could see “Sin City,” an innovative and challenging work, I might add, in its integral version.
And that’s one reason people may be choosing to stay away from theaters these days. Why risk disappointment and annoyance at the hands of ham-handed censors when you can watch the movie in full on DVD, in the privacy of your home? It’s not all the pirates’ fault, you know.
* * * Continue reading »