INDIE FILM: BIG TIME by ArkeoFilms: OPENS JANUARY 25 LOLZ

[Flame alchemist]

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Still a product of Cinemalaya (the one maximo came from) another independent film to be distributed nationally.

BIG TIME
http://www.arkeofilms.com/bigtime/index.htm
check trailer and other realted info on this site

Danny (Winston Elizalde) and Jonas (Nor Domingo) are two petty crooks who dream of moving into the big scene. When their carefully-planned kidnapping goes askew,
Danny and Jonas find themselves in a tangle neither of them can handle.

Big Time is the non-linear story of two small-time criminals, a wannabe actress, the son of a crime lord, and the kidnapping that brings all of them together
for what should be the ticket to their dreams.

In this crazy world, everybody wants to go big time

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ok, for youy guys who were so homophobic(and some are just judgmental bastards) about MAximo, here's a film fit for the "MTV" generation, a little bit of gangsta and riddled with modern pinoy pop culture references.
The screenplay is very tight and very entertaining, this is a film that should've had the tagline "NOT A TYPICAL PINOY FILM" than Pinoy Blonde.

too sleepy...post later...

[Flame alchemist]

glowering reviews!

REVIEWS
"Medyo magulo ang kwento, but it's well-made."
-Mike de Leon, director


"Ok naman."
- Doy del Mundo, screenplay writer


"It's the best Pinoy movie I've ever seen!"
-Kat Rodriguez, banker & biased friend
(who may have seen only 3 Filipino movies in her life)

[vanceloma]

definitely another Indie Production worth watching!!!

the movie is very funny!

[vanceloma]

Januray 25 daw ang opening[br]Date Posted: January 09, 2006, 06:58:03 PM_________________________________________________l agi

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http://www.arkeofilms.com/bigtime/index.htm

Young directors go ‘Big Time’
Manila Times
Dennis Ladaw
October 19, 2005

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.”

As Cornejo notes, viewers get to miss out on great comedy when the writer is forced to remain reverent to certain people or institutions. Both Cornejo and Jimenez opted to be disrespectful and came up with an original, hilarious comedy.

He thought of writing Big Time when Fil-American actor Ernie Reyes Jr. flew into town to look for some scripts he could produce and star in. In Big Time, Reyes would have played the lecherous son of a crime lord. Cornejo tried to finish Big Time, but he had no access to Reyes and the star returned to the United States. Jaime Wilson eventually inherited the role Reyes would have played.

Then he learned about Cinemalaya and broached Jimenez on the script he was writing. Jimenez owns a production company called Arkeo. She was also producing an entry for the short film category, Joel Ruiz’s Mansyon.

After college, Cornejo began a career as an assistant director for TV commercials. He worked under Manolo Abaya, spouse of Marilou Diaz-Abaya. He said he learned much from Abaya and he paid tribute to him in Big Time by naming the villain after him (Don Manolo played by Michael de Mesa). Cornejo went on to be a TV director for shows like Nginig.

Coreen Jimenez, on the other hand, was hired as a writer for the defunct Manila Chronicle under the late entertainment editor Manny Pichel and was managing editor of the glossy magazine Agenda. She then worked as an assistant for the legendary director Mike de Leon, particularly in Bayaning Third World. (De Leon hired and fired her several times, she recalled)

Jimenez and Cornejo collaborated on the script of Big Time. To keep away from distractions, they drove off to a family rest house in Tarlac to live in recluse and finish the draft. “Sometimes we felt the script we were writing wasn’t funny at all. We’d ask ourselves, ‘Will the audience laugh at this?’ Thankfully, when the movie was screened, people said it was the most commercial entry of the Cinemalaya,” he said.

Joining the festival turned out to be a rewarding experience for the three directors. Ruiz, co-producer of Big Time (he also played a drug dealer in the movie) won the top prize in the short film category. The reviews of Big Time were positive and the movie compared favorably to Peque Gallaga’s astonishingly similar Pinoy Blonde. The latter had commenced its commercial run in the same week. In fact critics like Noel Vera and Mario Bautista noted that Big Time was everything Pinoy Blonde aspired to be. Big Time hit the bull’s eye while Pinoy Blonde, despite its pedigree and star-studded cast, flopped.

Beating a stalwart like Gallaga in his own game is a major accomplishment for this trio of newcomers, who all turned 30 this year. Yet they refuse to get swayed by the comparisons being made. “People said Pinoy Blonde has a lot of good stuff in it and I’m looking forward to seeing it when it comes out on DVD,” Cornejo remarked.

At this point, the three have received offers from major companies to release Big Time in theaters. Yet they may eventually release the film through Arkeo before Christmas. Cornejo has also been offered a directing job by Star Cinema. He and his two pals are also planning an even darker comedy for Arkeo. “It won’t be the same kind of comedy. The material is disturbing but if we do it right, it could turn out to be very romantic,” he said.

[pahid]

mao ni katong ningdaug sa contest?

[pnoize]

Met the Mario Cornejo and Monster Jimenez in one of my trips to Manila through film critic Alexis Tioseco. They did tell me that they wanted this movie to be shown on the big screen, and here it is! and based on the discussion of mailing lists this is indeed a film to watch!

[vanceloma]

to add to the braveness of the producer of this film, their screening it without the backing of a major studio...

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[img width=761 height=366]http://www.arkeofilms.com/bigtime/images/header.gif[/img]

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[img width=650 height=892]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v371/endless7/Manolothehenchmen.jpg[/img]
Big Bows:
The Reaction

Big Time was undeniably one of the big hits of the Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival, along with films like Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros and Pepot Artista. Big Time went on to win Best Screenplay and Best Sound Design. Its irreverent humor and in-your-face style proved to be irresistible to both critics and audiences. A cult following of the film developed.

This “hip, whip-smart crime caper”, says Gibbs Cadiz of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, “attains a level of cool rare for a local film in its refusal to take itself seriously.” Mario Bautista says, “it has a very riveting narrative line and the violent ending is more Tarantinoesque than Pinoy Blonde”. “So very Filipino,” Rina Jimenez-David said. Blogs (internet web journals) left and right praised, trashed, quoted the film.

The Cinema Evaluation Board gave Big Time an A rating, only the 3rd film to receive such in 2005. They called it “slick, smart, suave and smooth” and “visually imaginative and innovative”.