Friday 29 December 2017

REGINE VELASQUEZ 'REGINE 3.0' ALBUM NOW A PLATINUM/ PREPARES FOR VALENTINE CONCERT, 'PA-MORE'







AFTER THE CHRISTMAS holidays, Valentine's Day will come next and this early, Regine Velasquez is announcing her special Valentine concert titled "Pa-MORE". MORE stands for Martin Nievera, Ogie Alcasid, Regine herself and Erik Santos. It will be staged at MOA Arena on February 10 and you can get your tickets now.
Regine has reason to be thankful for the passing year as it's been a great one for her. Her long running Saturday show, "Sarap Diva", continues to rate well. Her two-night 30th anniversary held last October at the MOA Arena, "Regine 3.0", was an enormous succerss.
Her 40th anniversary album, also titled "Regine 3.0", quickly reached platinum status in just six weeks and the Platinum award was handed to her by Viva Records exec MG Mozo in "Sarap Diva" recently.
We'd like to thank Viva for sending us a copy of the album, which is really a collector's item as it's actually 3 CD's in one with ten songs each. The first record is "Renditions" with revivals like "Tadhana", "Bakit Ako Mahihiya", "If You Go Away". The second album is "Rise" with songs like "Higher", "Walang Hanggang Ikaw" and "Say Goodbye". The third album is "Reflections" with past hits like "Dadalhin", "On the Wings of Love" and "Kung Maibabalik Ko Lang".
"Thank you sa aking Viva family," says Asia's Songbird. "Pinaghirapan nating gawin ito. Salamat sa mga nakasama ko, sa lahat ng arrangers who made new areglos for my songs, at sa lahat ng bumili ng album ko."
For next year, Regine fans will be glad to know that a new movie for her is in the works. And here's hoping it will really bring out the best in her as an actress.

Read more @ Showbiz Portal

WHY IS THE MOVIE OF DEREK RAMSAY-JENNYLYN MERCADO TITLED 'ALL OF YO





PEOPLE ASK us: "Bakit po 'All of You' ang title ng movie nina Derek Ramsay at Jennylyn Mercado?" This means to say na marami talagang hindi naka-gets sa point ng movie. It's titled "All of You" because, as the film concretely underlines, when you love a person, you just don't love the qualities that you like, you have to love him or her totally, all of him or her.
That's why in the Discovery Weekend, where we're a regular volunteer, we always stress to the couples who want to get married that LOVE is a DECISION. When you decide to love someone, you can't just pick the good qualities that you like and tell yourself that for the bad qualities, you'll make him your project so he can change for the better.
If that's your attitude, then your marriage or relationship will be an uphill battle as you're acting like a psychologist or a social worker. He's had a whole lifetime before he met you, how do you think he'd change his ways just for you?  Don't kid yourself. The only time you can change a man is when he's still in his diapers.
The movie "All of You" is not your usual romcom. It's a serious look on how relationships can develop, deteriorate and be redeemed. The ending is not the usual "madrama" reconciliation between the lead characters after they had a big conflict. It's very quiet. Almost no dialogue. It asks you to read the behavior of the characters. Kung hindi mo masakyan yun, it's not the movie's fault kung nasanay ka sa manipulated, engineered happy endings.


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WHY MOTHER LILY MONTEVERDE OF REGAL IS THE BIG WINNER IN THE MMFF FOR HER HORROR ENTRY, 'HAUNTED FOREST'






MOTHER LILY MONTEVERDE of Regal Entertainment is the big winner in the current filmfest. Her entry, "Haunted Forest", is reportedly now occupying the third slot in the list of topgrossers, proof that you can never go wrong when you are the only horror entry in the festival. It quickly showed its strength at the box office on its opening day on Christmas Day and attendance continues to go up since then.
In terms of return on investment, she'll be the one who'd make the biggest profit because "Haunted Forest" has a relatively smaller budget compared to those of "Gandarapido" and "Panday" that spent so much on their big name stars and their special effects. In contrast, "Haunted Forest" has only four relatively unknown stars of Star Magic as the leads: Jane Oineza, Jameson Blake, Maris Racal and Jon Lucas. All of them also have no proven box office clout.
Another plus factor is that the movie works as a horror flick as viewers are really screaming their hearts during each screening. The feedback in social media is generally positive, with viewers recommending it for their friends to watch it also. Its director, former indie filmmaker Ian Lorenos, failed to make it last year with his "Mano Po 7" entry but this time, he's really back with a vengeance at the tills. We won't be surprised if Regal would now give him more projects to direct in 2018 now that he has proven that he has a good box office touch.
We also won't be surprised if more theaters would be added to the current list of cinemas now showing "Haunted Forest". Congratulations to Regal, Mother Lily Monteverde and daughter Roselle, and Direk Ian! And don't leave the theatre right away after the end credits are flashed as there is a short preview of what will happen next.
It seems that the creature (played by Anthony Falcon) was not really killed but is seen cruising down a river on a bamboo raft. So don't be surprised if this "Haunted" thing will turn into a franchise. After "Haunted Mansion and Forest", we'll next have "Haunted River" and probably, "Haunted Mountain", "Haunted Village" and "Haunted Filmfest" (with the bitter indie filmmakers of last year haunting the screening committee who brought back mainstream films this year.)

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ATOM ARAULLO, BROADCASTER HEARTTHROB, HOSTS OWN SHOW 'ADULTING' ON GMA'S ONLINE CHANNEL ON YOUTUBE





ATOM ARAULLO (for Alfonso Tomas) left ABS-CBN and just did two eye-opening docus for GMA-7, "Philippine Seas" that shows the current state our seas from Luzon to Visayas and Mindanao, and "Silang Kinalimutan" about Rohingya refugees from Myanmar living in a camp in Bangladesh. Atom has also finished shooting his first movie, "Citizen Jake", for Mike de Leon, where he plays the title role. It's not known yet as to when the film will be shown in theaters. And at GMA, he's allowed to do endorsements so watch out for his TV commercial soon.
Now, he's hosting a new online show on GMA's online channel on Youtube, "Adulting". This is part of a three-in-one show. The other shows are "#Goals" hosted by teen star Gabbi Garcia and "Fact or Fake" hosted by broadcaster Joseph Morong.
In "Adulting", he aims to help millennials as they face the challenges of entering the world of grownups. This is very timely for him since, for the first time, he recently left his parents' home at 35 and now live on his own. "I did because of the horrendous traffic situation," he says. "I now live nearer to my place of work. It's a big challenge as I'm starting from scratch. Natutuhan ko kung paano maglaba, maglinis, mag-budget. Magtataka siguro yung iba, hello, Atom, ngayon mo lang natututuhan yan, ilang taon ka na ba? It's true, late na nga ako, so young people should really prepare for it. We can also about finding a job, how to move up the corporate ladder, how to improve their careers and their relationships. You see, adulting never ends and we seldom get direct help how about to handle these things. I feel a lot of young people can relate with all these very relevant issues and topics."
Will he be giving tips about sex? "I know it's such a taboo, but we have to talk about it to enlighten young people, but without malice. We'll ask kung naranasan na ba nilang ma-friendzone, ma-seenzone, ma-kuyazone? The digital landscape is a growing battlefield we have to make sure we're contributing something positive to human knowledge. We won't claim to have all the answers but with the help of social media, we will encourage people to give us all their feedback, thanks to the highly interactive nature of the digital platform."
"GMA One Online Exclusives with Adulting, #Goals and Fact or Fake" will start airing on New Year 2018, 5 PM at GMA-7's official youtube account. Don't miss it!

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dedma walking predicted to win lots of awards but won only best float and best supporting actor for edgar allan guzman who actually plays a lead role



LAST YEAR, it was "Die Beautiful" that told the story of two gays who happen to be the best of friends. This year, the movie about gays, friendship and death that you should not miss is "Dedma Walking", the impressive directorial debut of Julius Alfonso, former assistant director to the likes of Chito Rono and Joel Lamangan who seems to have truly learned a lot from his mentors when it comes to engaging storytelling.
Based on a Palanca Award-winning script by Eric Cabahug, whose portrait is seen in a wake scene and who cooks up some witty lines and situations, the movie is actually a con film and it's a real crowdpleaser. It's a lot of fun for all sorts of viewers and the first comedy we've seen for quite a while that really succeeds in making us LOL (laugh out loud) several times. The story is about John (Joross Gamboa), a rich closeted young executive whose mom is a former beauty queen, and his close friendship with Mark (Edgar Allan Guzman), a more openly gay theatre actor who performs in drag.
John learns that like his mom who died of the big C, his own days are also numbered. To find out how family and friends truly regard him, he asks Mark to help him stage his fake death and the subsequent wake. At first, Mark won't tolerate his ideas but John convinces him in a well executed montage showing how they plan to stage the fake death, also the wake with its closed casket and the cremation that follows.
John and Mark breaks a lot of rules and this leads to a chain of events that propel the plot forward and which you wouldn't want to miss. As a con man, John attends his own wake disguised as a balikbayan transgender who is mute. Complications occur when John's sister, Ate Mary (Dimples Romana), return home during the wake.
The film is primarily a comedy, but has valid layers of drama about friendship and family relationships in it, particularly when one character discovers that the friend he trusts so much has somehow betrayed him. The confrontation scene where the erring party is branded as "ahas" is surely well acted, also quite touching and heartfelt at the same time.
In caper films like this that involves people deceiving other people, the characters have to be lovable rulebreakers for the viewer to side with them. The key is the inclusion of humor as their act of deception is played out. This makes you somehow root for them, anxious to see if they could successfully carry out their schemes and get away with it.
The film's kind of humor is anything goes, ranging from pa-cultured effect with black and white film clips of an arty French movie starring Eugene Domingo probing into the mysteries of life and love (which actually means you don't have to take the film too seriously), to pandering to gay viewers with scenes showing scantily clad young men, to unexpected wisecracks like when John asks his goodlooking doctor (Bobby Andrews): "Kailan naman kaya kita matitikman?"
It also makes fun of Pinoy gays' obsession with beauty queens. There's a scene showing former beauty queens parade before John and Mark while they are sighing in awe as they see past title holders like Evangeline Pascual and Desiree Verdadero. But this sequence is topped by Carmi Martin's riotous appearance as the chief rival of John's mom (Bing Pimentel) in past pageants.
Carmi and her assistants telling John "Condolence" is very funny, but it seems the joke is lost on the audience who obviously doesn't know that the word always comes with an S in the end. There's also a twist in the ending that we didn't see coming.  We initially felt quite uncomfortable with this unforeseen contrivance, but we have to concede that its sense of irony really made the movie cloyingly bittersweet.
Of course, the movie will not work without the endearing performances of Joross and Edgar Allan. They have played a lot of gay roles before on film and TV but in, hindsight, those projects now seem to be mere rehearsals that trained them well for this one. They have great comic chemistry on screen and Joross is splendid, but it's Edgar Allan who shines more brightly simply because he has the more flashy, more flamboyant role, making him run away with the lion's share of laughs. As a drag queen, he also figures in some well staged song and dance production numbers, giving him an edge, exposure wise.
The movie also boasts of the presence of so many guest stars. Aside from Uge, there's Piolo Pascual,  Direk Joel Lamangan (what a riotous cameo), Carmi Martin, Iza Calzado, Gerald Anderson, Vin Abrenica, Wendell Ramos, Angelu de Leon, Marco Alcaraz, Sue Ramirez, Ricky Rivero, Matt Evans, among others. Don't leave the theatre right away as some of them appear in the end credits which also feature some hilarious bloopers.


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