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Hail, Caesar! is not one of the Coen Brothers’ masterworks, nor does it aspire to be. It’s a light and jaunty romp somewhere between Raising Arizona and O Brother, Where Art Thou? Like O Brother, Where Art Thou?, it alludes to Sullivan’s Travels, Preston Sturges’s brilliant comedy about filmmakers, their intentions and pretensions.

Josh Brolin stars as a “fixer” at Capitol Studios whose current duties include helping a cowboy western star (Alden Ehrenreich) transition to dramatic actor, covering up the unwanted pregnancy of an Esther Williams-like bathing beauty (a very funny Scarlett Johansson), pacifying two powerful gossip columnists both played by Tilda Swinton, and retrieving a kidnapped star (George Clooney) whose absence is holding up production of a Biblical epic called Hail, Caesar! In the course of 24 hours he crosses paths with an effete director (Ralph Fiennes is a great comic actor), a star of musicals (Is Channing Tatum our Gene Kelly? In any case, everyone is just happy to see him), and in a hilarious scene, the representatives of four major religions vetting the screenplay of the Biblical epic.

Hail, Caesar! pays tribute to the alchemy of cinema, to the way a hokey story full of cheesy lines delivered by ham actors is mysteriously transformed into an emotional truth. This is why we go to the movies.

Hail, Caesar! is now showing at Power Plant Rockwell.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice opens in a world where soulless villains from outer space have sucked out all the color, forcing the citizens to live in browns and grays. Nope, it’s just Zack Snyder’s usual palette. What is his problem with color? Does the lack of color signify seriousness, or is it a reaction to the bright primary colors, so much like the comic books, of DC’s competitor? We revisit Metropolis two years after the mass destruction at the end of Man of Steel. Humanity’s love affair with Superman is going sour. He’s being blamed for the destruction of the city. Politicians are bothered by the way he can just do whatever he wants, acting independently of all human authority. Tech billionaire Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg, horrendously miscast, turning in the worst performance of his career) plans to use all these to his advantage. And in Gotham City, Bruce Wayne/Batman is seething.

How many times have we seen Bruce Wayne’s parents gunned down in that alley? By now we ourselves should be putting on costumes and going out at night to fight criminals. Employing one of his favorite tricks, slooow motion, Snyder stages the murder of the Waynes and repeats the scenes throughout the movie in order to plant a certain name in our heads. It’s not entirely his fault, half of it is bad writing. (The Carmina and Mike Doctrine: If you see David Goyer’s name in the credits, prepare yourself.) Bruce/Batman is furious at Superman for leveling the Wayne Building in the process of saving Metropolis from General Zod. Given how much collateral damage Batman himself incurs when he’s saving the world, it looks like professional jealousy. The only way Batman’s rage could be justified is if Robin died in the collapse of the Wayne Building, and we don’t see this happening.

Read our review at InterAksyon.

We like visiting Cubao because our parents used to take us there when we were children. During the holidays we would stand on the street outside COD Department Store (gone) to gawk at the animatronic Xmas display, and in the weeks before school opened in June we would go to Marikina Shoe Expo in search of school shoes.

In high school when I learned to cut class, my friends and I would watch movies at those standalone cinemas on Aurora Boulevard (Coronet, Remar, Diamond, gone) or at Ali Mall (which is still there).

Last Saturday we visited a cat cafe in Cubao called Bengal Brew. All the cats there are Bengals, which have beautiful coats like ocelots, leopards and other felines in the wild. Admission is Php400, which includes your choice of pastry (the sans rival and chocolate dome are okay) and coffee.

Afterwards we had lunch at Bellini’s (broccoli soup, osso buco, orange cake) and checked out the stores. The last time we were at Cubao X it seemed a little dispirited: so many shops boarded up, not much to look at besides the vintage store that is so crammed with stuff you can barely walk in. I am pleased to report that Cubao X looks spiffy again, with newish cafes and interesting stores selling all manner of stuff.

There was a pop-up bazaar featuring handmade toys and accessories.

At one shop we found this vintage flamingo brooch. We love this stuff.

We were snoozing through Batman v Superman when Jason Momoa appeared, waking us up for 30 seconds. Even as an email attachment.

Me, Francine, Bubbles

Why stop at one day? Take the whole week!

The recent announcement that Oscar Isaac and Alex Garland would be working together on Annihilation, based on the work of Jeff VanderMeer, reminded us of our favorite scene in Ex Machina.

Have you read VanderMeer? Should we?