JessicaRulestheUniverse.com

But we already knew that, when she screamed at the drugstore clerk in Magnolia with her mouth in a perfect rectangle shape.

Here she cries on command and delivers her monologues for a buck. Walang buwelo! The shocking part: People don’t know who she is. Hey Elmo, take a hard look at a real redhead!

From Vanity Fair. Thanks to Ricky for the alert.

Denmark has produced some of the most important filmmakers in the history of cinema, from Carl Theodor Dreyer to the instigators of Dogme 95 and after. Starting tomorrow you can see the work of recent Danish filmmakers at the Danish Film Festival in Shang Mall.

If you have not seen The Hunt, we recommend you start there. Mads Mikkelsen (TV’s Hannibal) plays a kindergarten employee who is accused of sexually abusing a child. The charge goes viral in the small town, and even after he is cleared of the charge, he has to defend himself against the same friends he used to go hunting with. Mikkelsen won the Best Actor prize at Cannes for his amazing, empathic portrayal. Also, the movie is set during the Xmas season, which makes for great counter programming.

Then you can watch Mikkelsen again in A Royal Affair, a costume drama where he is cast as friend and physician to the unstable King Christian VII. The physician and Queen Caroline Mathilda use their influence over the king to make Denmark a centre of enlightened thought, enraging the aristocracy. Alicia Vikander, who is in every other movie this year, plays the queen.

"The Man Who Dreams Only of Surfing" starring Chris Hemsworth from Bruce Weber on Vimeo.

Thanks to Juan for the alert. After this last weekend, we have decided to hole up in the house until the holiday madness passes. This will make us stir-crazy, so everyday we will walk to the mall and back. Walking is good for thinking, and we do need to eat and do chores. But we will not waste another hour sitting in traffic, unless we’re in a car with our favorite interesting people. And beverages.

No Bruce, ignore the primate, look here.

Get out of the shot, human, this is my close-up.

Let me go! Let me go!

Finally he’s gone. Lunch break!

Today’s reason for leaving the house: to watch In the Heart of the Sea. It’s supposed to be about the actual event that inspired Moby Dick, so we expect sober Melville.

Update: Skip the movie and watch Monty Python’s lifeboat sketch instead. The screenplay is dull, the direction is unimaginative, and while Chris Hemsworth can do larger-than-life, we suspect he can’t do life-size.

Moira Lang and Juana Change

When we recorded this podcast last Thursday, A Second Chance starring Bea Alonzo and John Lloyd Cruz was already the top-grossing Filipino movie of 2015. Is it everything it’s cranked up to be? How does it stack up against the much-loved first movie, One More Chance?

The cast of this podcast:

Mae Paner a.k.a. Juana Change, activist and author of the bestselling Kwentaxi, her conversations with taxi drivers ranging from the heartwarming to the bizarre. Her latest Juana Change video Laglagan Na was directed by Brilliant Mendoza and has gotten more than 3 million views on Facebook. The next Juana Change video will be directed by Lav Diaz. No word on the running time.

Moira Lang a.k.a. Raymond Lee, screenwriter of Anak, Tanging Yaman, Milan, Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros, Zombadings and producer of Maxi, Zombadings and Norte, Hangganan Ng Kasaysayan. Moira is currently writing a screenplay she is not at liberty to discuss, after which she will start working on Zombadings 2: Game of Trans. Investors, line up here.

Jessica Zafra a.k.a. Jessicarulestheuniverse, accidental honorary executive producer of Norte, who has seen the movies that got nominated for the Best Foreign Film Oscar the year Norte had a shot and still thinks Norte should’ve been in the shortlist. Ida, the eventual winner—blah. Wild Tales—hysterically funny, but not the best. Leviathan—a Russian movie that feels Filipino, and should be shown in a double-bill with Norte, a Filipino film that feels Russian. (Afterwards, a suicide watch.)

Recorded at Cibo with a very good microphone.

Movie rating: Three thumbs down, and three double-espressos to stay awake.

Listen to the podcast.

This is how out of touch we are with pop culture: We saw that A Second Chance had opened in theatres, cried, “Nikolaj Coster-Waldau!” and made plans to see it. When we got to the cinema we guessed by the long queues and excited viewers that it was not the Danish cop drama directed by Susanne Bier.

As everyone knows, A Second Chance is the sequel to the blockbuster romantic drama One More Chance, which makes it One More One More Chance. Though technically, “one more chance” is already “a second chance”. Still, A Second Chance is a savvy choice for title because it leaves room for an infinite number of sequels.

To make up for not seeing A Second Chance the minute it opened, we will watch it tomorrow and then do a podcast with guests Juana Change and Moira Lang.