Review Night has room for improvement - STAR BYTES By Butch Francisco

Movie critics of the present generation should consider themselves lucky in the sense that there are a lot of newspapers today where they can have their film reviews published. In the ’70s, there were only three major dailies and not every paper had room for movie critiques. But today, aside from the print medium, there are also TV shows that air film reviews.

If I got my facts correct, the first television program that featured movie reviews was The Morning Show in 1976. Aired on Channel 4, The Morning Show was a magazine program hosted by Ariel Ureta. One of its segments was devoted to film reviews that were written by Mario Hernando. Hernando, however, did not get to appear in the show. He only wrote the reviews and it was Ariel Ureta who delivered these before the camera.

In 1980, literature professor and film critic Isagani Cruz was a given a show on Channel 13 called Friday Night at the Movies. In this program, Dr. Cruz discussed serious issues concerning the local film industry and – in one portion – was allowed to review movies that were then currently showing in downtown theaters. Friday Night at the Movies, unfortunately, was a short-lived TV show. Before it could even mark its first anniversary on television, it was already off the air. (By then, the show’s timeslot had been moved to a Monday night and the program’s title – logically-had been changed to Monday Night at the Movies.)

In 1982, Mario Bautista was invited to join Armida Siguion Reyna and Behn Cervantes as a regular host of Let’s Talk Movies on Channel 9. Eventually, Bautista was also given his own film review segment in this program.

After the EDSA revolution in 1986, Inday Badiday and Gene Palomo put up Movie Patrol on Channel 7. Included in this showbiz-oriented program was a movie review segment that was assigned to the late Charlie Arceo.

Problems with advertisers, unfortunately, forced its producers to change the show’s format and title in 1987. The result was Movie Magazine with Nap Gutierrez and Cristy Fermin as anchorpersons. Tapped to do the movie review segment was Mario Hernando. Hernando outlived everyone in the program (he stayed on even after the show had been changed to Channel S with Dolly Ann Carvajal, Jun Nardo and Eugene Asis) and holds the distinction of having stayed longest on the air as a film reviewer on Philippine television.

In mid-1988, Korina Sanchez called me up and asked me to do the film review segment in Magandang Umaga Po on ABS-CBN. That time, I didn’t think I was ready to do television so I quoted a really stiff talent fee for myself. Korina didn’t bite. It turned out that my asking price was even higher than her salary as host and executive producer combined. The next thing I knew, Gino Dormiendo was already doing the film review for this morning show. But Dormiendo turned out to be a good choice. He was fearless and didn’t mince words in his reviews of mostly local films.

Three years later, I wasn’t able to say no to television anymore. Mario Hernando was leaving for the States on a USIS grant. Inday Badiday called me up personally and asked me to pinch-hit for Hernando. Since that stint was only for three months, I said yes and did the film review portion of Movie Magazine from August to November of 1991.

The following year, I did Showbiz Lingo for ABS-CBN and three years later, in March 1995, I was back to reviewing films on television – in the Butch Review segment of Cristy Perminute. I could have stayed longer in this show, except that I had to leave for the United States in 1998.

Since I got back from the US more than two years ago, I don’t think there was any TV show that featured film reviews. Well, I remember they used to have a review segment in Alas Singko Y Medya, but I think they focused only on foreign films.

Today, I’m glad that Cinema 1 on Channel 22 has put up Review Night. Anchored by Ryan Agoncillo and Pia Guanio (she with the smiling eyes), Review Night features reviews of currently showing films – plus movie soundtracks.

Ryan and Pia, however, do not do the reviews themselves. To play it safe, they ask film critics from different dailies to praise or pounce on both local and foreign films. (No, they haven’t invited me yet. . . sniff, sniff – and I know this isn’t possible because I come from a rival station.) So far, the reviews from their guest critics have been credible, honest and fearless. Last Thursday, for instance, the show had the Philippine Star’s Kap Maceda Aguila and he mercilessly tore to pieces the soundtrack of a local film.

And then there was a review of the 1995 movie Sa Ngalan ng Pag-ibig – with Lorna Tolentino, Christopher de Leon and Alma Concepcion. Now, I don’t understand why a six-year old film had to be reviewed again. For video purposes? But why not choose newer video releases – unlike Sa Ngalan ng Pag-ibig which had been on the shelf for quite a long time now?

I was also hoping that Review Night would devote a lot more time to films that are showing in Metro Manila theaters. When I was doing my Butch Review for ABS-CBN, I had to review three films in less than five minutes because my portion was only a segment in the show. But Review Night has the luxury of time (30 minutes – with hardly any commercial) to dissect every aspect of each film they’re reviewing. I also wish they’d get two or three more reviewers to talk about a particular film so that those watching the show may get different views and opinions.

Review Night still has a lot of room for improvement at this point. But I do believe that it is already a good enough guide for local moviegoers and would surely help the movie-going public choose films that are worth their time, effort and hard-earned money.