IS there hope for our planet? The protagonists of Scott Derrickson?s sci-fi adventure, ?The Day the Earth Stood Still,? and Ronaldo Bertubin?s gay-themed rom-com, ?Lovebirds,? give contrasting answers:
In Bertubin?s rom-com, conservative mother, Amelia Cabislay (Boots Anson-Roa), describes promiscuous gay men as the bane of the human race, who would bring about the destruction of the planet. She and her husband, Marcelino (Tommy Abuel), are relieved when their secretive bachelor son, Almario (Joseph Ison), announces that he?s found the perfect partner in a chatroom on the Internet.
Amelia is understandably ecstatic at the prospect of meeting her future daughter-in-law, who?s decided to fly to the Philippines from Spain. Imagine Amelia?s horror when she finally meets Alexis?who happens to be a man (Andrew Alexis Fernandez)!
Bertubin?s movie isn?t perfect (for instance, Amelia is later seen in a cringe-worthy scene, in which she gives her much-anticipated blessing to the couple), but it breaks the tedium of watching gay-oriented productions that tackle nothing but gratuitous sex and nudity to whet their filmmakers? sexual fantasies.
In contrast, ?Lovebirds? is witty and (mostly) wholesome in tone and theme?and features moving, award-worthy performances from Roa, who?s hilarious when she delivers some of her lines in distorted English, and the pitch-perfect Abuel, as well as endearing portrayals from the adorable Fernandez, Ison and their friends.
The film introduces viewers to the other, less-steamy aspects of the so-called alternative lifestyle, and shows that gay men can be just as monogamous as their heterosexual counterparts.
We congratulated Boots and told her that her performance was, to borrow Amelia?s line, ?a blessing in the skies.? She gamely answered: ?Thanks God, I am truly gratitude!?
Derrickson?s disappointing remake of Robert Wise?s 1951 science-fiction classic is also hilarious?but the humor you derive from this slick cinematic reworking is mostly unintentional: Klaatu (Keanu Reeves) is an extraterrestrial being who gets his human form from a mountaineer during a blizzard in India?s Karakoram Mountains in 1928. He?s on a mission to save the planet from its biggest enemy: Man himself!
Flash-forward to 2008: Scientists detect a humongous unidentified flying object found in Jupiter?s orbit. Problem is, it?s expected to hit Earth in 78 minutes?and there?s no time to evacuate anyone!
So, astrobiologist Helen Benson (Jennifer Connelly) and other brilliant scientists are whisked off to a military base to trouble-shoot the impending collision. When the mysterious glowing object finally arrives, it lands in the middle of New York?s Central Park?and out comes Klaatu, who chooses to communicate with Helen. He tells her that he?s a friend of the Earth, but not of its inhabitants, whom he describes to have ?destructible nature.?
It?s now up to Helen to convince him that humans can change?otherwise, Klaatu and the mysterious object will initiate a series of catastrophic events that will decimate everything in their path to give the abused planet another chance at life?sans its human inhabitants!
Connelly lends emotional gravitas to the slam-bang action onscreen, and ?The Pursuit of Happyness?? Jaden Smith (as her belligerent stepson) is winsome and empathetic. What about Keanu? As always, there?s that undeniable screen presence going for him, but his performance is, to say the least, robotic, which is what?s required for his character.
Klaatu tells Helen: ?Nothing ever truly dies. The universe wastes nothing?it just transforms.? Very provocative words, indeed. But, much of their meaning is diluted after the movie?s initially engaging special effects lose their novelty?because, well, we?ve already seen them before in spectacular potboilers like ?War of the Worlds,? ?I Am Legend? and ?The Happening?!
The treatment of the man-versus-himself scenario is too simplistic to appreciate. In this case, spectacle trumps substance?but, what?s left for viewers to gawk at when the movie loses its ability to dazzle?
