Ewan McGregor in GQ Japan

GQ Japan's December 2008 issue grooms actor Ewan McGregor as “The Detective,” a camera-wielding sleuth with a strong predisposition for tailored suits, fedoras, and spying. Squinting with both hands on his camera, McGregor hits the mark by channeling the rabid intensity of a zealous paparazzo.

In his upcoming film, The Men Who Stare at Goats (a Grant Heslov-directed comedy based on Jon Ronson's book of the same title), the 37-year-old actor is Bob Wilton, a foolhardy reporter who accidentally finds himself pursuing the scoop of his life: a clandestine US military unit who can make themselves invisible at will, pass through walls, and slay goats just by looking at them. Say what?

More jaw-dropping is the fact that Ronson's book is categorized as non-fiction.

Now that's a stunner.

Jon Ronson's book, The Men Who Stare at Goats

Hugh Dancy and Catalina Sandino Moreno for Gap

Hugh Dancy: “Make up your own philosophy”

Swedish lensman Mikael Jansson shot Gap’s fall 2008 ad campaign with actor Joseph Fiennes, Englishman Hugh Dancy, and Academy Award nominee Catalina Sandino Moreno as his subjects.

This year’s theme is “Create Your Own Gap” and each picture is accompanied by a fill-in-the-blank tagline. Actor Hugh Dancy, philosopher Jonathan Dancy's son, wrote “Make up your own philosophy”; Joseph Fiennes, a staunch philanthropist involved with several charities, jotted down “Craft your own calling,” while Colombian actress Catalina Sandino Moreno scribbled “Invent your own rules.”

Sandino Moreno has two new films slated for release next year: Steven Soderbergh's The Argentine and Guerrilla. Both are biopics of Che Guevara—Marxist revolutionary, military strategist, and guerrilla leader.

When Sandino Moreno wrote “Invent your own rules,” she wasn’t kidding at all.

Colombian actress Catalina Sandino Moreno

Cinema One Originals Film Festival 2008

Yanggaw dominated the 2008 Cinema One Originals Film Festival, winning the Audience Choice Award, Best Director (Richard Somes), Best Actor (Ronnie Lazaro), Best Supporting Actor (Joel Torre), Best Supporting Actress (Tetchie Agbayani), Best Editing (Borgy Torre), and Best Sound (Joey Santos and Eduardo Velasquez).

Alon, a brooding love story shot in Zambales, won three awards. It took home Best Actor (Mark Gil tied with Lazaro), Best Actress (Charee Pineda), and Best Musical Score (Leujim Martinez).

Kolorete (a period drama written by Sherad Sanchez) was left pecking at scraps; it won Best Production Design (Wilfredo Calderon).

Sanchez, nevertheless, had the last laugh. Although his film, Imburnal—a cinematic tour de force set in Matina Aplaya, Davao—didn’t exceed the number of awards won by Yanggaw, it took home the festival’s most coveted prize: Best Picture. It also won Best Screenplay (for Sanchez) and Best Cinematography (John Torres, Joel Geolamen, Mark Limbaga).

This year’s nominees—Yanggaw, Imburnal, Alon, Kolorete, Dose, MotorCYCLE, and UPCAT—surpassed last year's entries in terms of scope and quality.
Grace Alfonso of U.P., Lito Zulueta of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, filmmaker Brillante Mendoza (Serbis), actress Eugene Domingo, and director Jeffrey Jeturian (Kubrador) are this year's jury.

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Cinema One Originals will be screening at Robinsons Galleria
from December 3-16, 2008

Burn After Reading (2008)

What happens when an alcoholic CIA analyst collides with two blondes from Washington DC? Mayhem ensues, the unthinkable happens, and everything spins in a grizzly, riotous uproar.

In Burn After Reading, Frances McDormand plays Linda Litzke, a ditzy woman obsessed with vanity and cosmetic surgery. When a friend comes across a mysterious CD containing vital CIA information, Linda suggests he “put a note in the ladies’ locker room.”

“Put up a note?” Chad (Brad Pitt) asks incredulously. “ ‘Hello, did anybody lose her secret CIA shit?’ I don’t think so.”

Pitt’s Chad Feldheimer provides the perfect foil to McDormand’s Linda Litzke. Manic and combustible, Pitt brings the house down with his harried, frenzied style of acting.

With Pitt lighting up every scene, Burn After Reading starts off well. However, the film tries too hard to be funny that it eventually chokes, falling flat on the floor gasping for air.

It didn't take long before I realize that the joke's on me. Feeling shortchanged, I initially thought of approaching the ticket booth and asking for a refund.

DVD: Imoral (2008)

Adolfo Alix's Imoral was made available in DVD four months after it debuted in Cinemalaya. Although the disc's speedy release is greatly appreciated, its noticeable bungle in the features department is a big letdown.

No subtitles, no theatrical trailers, no scene selection.

Surprisingly, an extensive gallery of the cast and a nice video of the film's theme song were included. Sang by actor Arnold Reyes, "Kung Ako Ba S'ya" makes this DVD, somehow, worth it.

Romy and Michele's High School Reunion (1997)

Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion has something polished, muted high school flicks like Heathers can only dream of: blunt, straight up humor.

“We don't care if you like us ’cause we don't like you! You’re a bad person with an ugly heart, and we don’t give a flying fuck what you think!”

That’s Romy (Mira Sorvino) by the way.

“I hope your babies look like monkeys!”

Now that’s Michele (Lisa Kudrow), acting all bitter.

Here’s more for posterity's sake. Gobble up.

ROMY: Swear to God, sometimes I wish I was a lesbian.

MICHELE: Do you want to try to see if we are?
ROMY: What? Yeah right, Michelle. Just the idea of having sex with another woman creeps me out. But if we're still single at 30, ask me again.
MICHELE: Okay.

MICHELE: I'm the Mary and you're the Rhoda!
ROMY: You’re the Rhoda, you're the Jewish one!

ROMY: You have absolutely no proof that you're cuter!
MICHELE: Oh, proof. You want proof? Okay, fine. Who lost their virginity first?
ROMY: Oh big wow, with your cousin Barry! I wouldn't brag about it!

Television: Survivor Gabon

THERE SHE IS! That's Gillian (extreme right)

All’s not well in Eden.

Shot in Gabon, Africa, Survivor’s 17th installment is bogged down by daft contestants who just won’t let up.

Gillian, a 61-year-old retired nurse from sun-drenched California, takes the cake for simply being her sunny, helpful self. Eager to prove her worth, she scoops elephant droppings from the jungle, then urges her tribemates at Fang to consume the grainy muck for sustenance.

While Fang is heavily populated by inept, indecisive players, Kota’s synergy as a group is admirable. Ace, 27, calls the shots around camp, while Charlie, 29, stays under the radar, letting Ace take all the blame.

Charlie wastes no time in hooking up with Marcus, Kota's resident dreamboat, then recruits Corinne and Jacquie for their “onion” union. With his boy next door veneer and good persuasion skills, Charlie it seems, was born to play “Survivor.” The one thing distracting him is his growing affection for Marcus. “Ever since I saw him on the mat and he picked me, I just felt this connection in his deep blue beautiful eyes,” he reveals.

Here’s hoping he keeps his eyes fixed on the million dollars. With Marcus strutting in his peripheral 24/7, that’s easier said than done.

BOY TALK: Charlie (right) with Marcus

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"Survivor: Gabon" airs on Q every Saturday @ 5.30pm

Cassandra’s Dream (2007)

Ewan McGregor is Ian, an ambitious go-getter keen on doing business in California; Colin Farrell is Terry, Ian’s younger brother. When both find themselves in a situation in which money is their only ticket out, they get their hands dirty and take matters into their own hands. Burdened by shame, Terry cracks under pressure. “I want to turn myself in,” he mumbles

Ian almost falls off their boat. “What?!”

“We broke God’s law.”

“God?!” Ian cries incredulously. “What god?! You idiot!"

It’s good to know that Woody Allen hasn’t lost his flair for writing. Many say his glory days are over, that Cassandra’s Dream is part of his filmography’s long line of misfires and flops.

Maybe, maybe not.

Hope flies high with Allen’s new film, Vicky Cristina Barcelona. It’s good that he shot Barcelona in sunny Oviedo; Match Point notwithstanding, London wasn’t particularly helpful to his career.

James McAvoy in Mean