Filipina actress Dolly de Leon has been nominated for “Best Supporting Actress, Motion Picture” at the Golden Globes 2023 for her role as toilet manager Abigail in “Triangle of Sadness“.
De Leon is competing against Angela Bassett (“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”), Kerry Condon (“The Banshees of Inisherin”) , Jamie Lee Curtis (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”), and Carey Mulligan (“She Said”) .
“Triangle of Sadness” is likewise nominated in the “Best Picture – Musical/Comedy” category alongside “Babylon”, “The Banshees of Inisherin”, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”, “Glass Onion A Knives Out Mystery”, and “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.”
The Golden Globe nominations came only hours after De Leon won Best Supporting Performance at Los Angeles Film Critics Awards 2022. She is also nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the Satellite Awards.
Triangle of Sadness is still playing in 11 cinemas in Metro Manila:
1. Ayala Malls the 30th 2. Ayala Vertis 3. Bonifacio High Central 4. Fisher Mall Q.C 5. Gateway 6. Glorietta 7. Greenbelt 8. Trinoma 9. Power Plant Makati 10. Greenhills 11. Cinema ’76
Triangle of Sadnesswill also have a limited run in Cinematheque Centres of the Film Development Council of the Philippines in Manila, Iloilo, Davao, Bacolod City (Negros Centre), and Nabunturan, Davao de Oro:
In Variety’s year-ender story, “The Best Films of 2022,” resident film critic Owen Gleiberman described I Wanna Dance with Somebody as “the kind of lavish impassioned all-stops-out pop-music biopic you either give in to or you don’t — and if you do, you may find yourself getting so emotional, baby.”
Gleiberman continues, “As Whitney Houston, Naomi Ackie is far from the singer’s physical double, yet she nails the hard part: channeling her incandescence. She shows you the freedom that made Houston tick and the self-doubt that ate away at her, until she fell from the mountaintop she’d scaled.”
The film’s director, Kasi Lemmons, is also cited for creating “a portrait of Houston’s dilemmas and demons that’s bracingly authentic, from the drugs to the family backstabbing to the love relationship with Robin Crawford (Nafessa Williams) that a homophobic society made her feel compelled to repress, from the attacks she weathered for her music being “not Black enough” to the self-destructive refuge she sought in her relationship with the sexy scurrilous lightweight Bobby Brown (Ashton Sanders). As Clive Davis, Stanley Tucci captures the Arista mogul’s bone-dry dictator-mensch savoir faire.”
The citation concludes with the ravishing acclaim — “Whitney gets dragged down by forces both in and outside her. Yet through it all, her voice, her songs, her artistry of faith shines like a rapturous light.”
I Wanna Dance with Somebody opens exclusively in cinemas across the Philippines on Sunday, January 08, 2023.
About I Wanna Dance With Somebody
I Wanna Dance with Somebody is a powerful and triumphant celebration of the incomparable Whitney Houston. Directed by Kasi Lemmons, written by Academy Award® nominee Anthony McCarten, produced by legendary music executive Clive Davis and starring BAFTA Award® winner Naomi Ackie, the film is a no-holds-barred portrait of the complex and multifaceted woman behind The Voice. From New Jersey choir girl to one of the best-selling and most awarded recording artists of all time, audiences are taken on an inspirational, poignant—and so emotional—journey through Houston’s trailblazing life and career, with show-stopping performances and a soundtrack of the icon’s most beloved hits as you’ve never heard them before. Don’t you wanna dance?
Directed by Kasi Lemmons, written by Anthony McCarten, produced by Anthony McCarten, Pat Houston, Clive Davis, Larry Mestel, Denis O’Sullivan, Jeff Kalligheri, Matt Jackson, Molly Smith, Trent Luckinbill, Thad Luckinbill, Matt Salloway, Christina Papagjika.
The film stars Naomi Ackie, Stanley Tucci, Ashton Sanders, Tamara Tunie, Nafessa Williams and Clarke Peters.
I Wanna Dance With Somebody is distributed in the Philippines by Columbia Pictures, local office of Sony Pictures Releasing International. Connect with the hashtag #IWannaDanceMovie
This December, get pulled back into the immersive world of Pandora which has just become more expansive in the upcoming film Avatar: The Way of Water.
James Cameron’s sequel to his record-breaking blockbuster is hitting Philippine cinemas this December 14. As the trailer reveals, we’ll get to see Jake Sully and Neytiri as they raise their family in Pandora, but when a new threat looms close, their tribe must once again band together to protect their precious home.
Before the film arrives in cinemas this week, we’ve rounded up some interesting facts about the movie that you might want to know about! Check them out below:
1. It took thirteen years for the second film to come out, but with three more sequels in tow.
The first Avatar film came out in December 2009, so it took about 13 years for its follow-up to arrive in cinemas. But while it took that long, fans of the first movie are also promised three more sequels, with each sequel releasing every two years, expanding the franchise into a five-part film series.
However, director Cameron also noted that they might cut off this five-part film franchise into a trilogy if the sequel underperforms. “The market could be telling us we’re done in three months, or we might be semi-done, meaning: ‘OK, let’s complete the story within movie three, and not go on endlessly,’ if it’s just not profitable,” Cameron told TOTAL FILM.
Photo: Avatar: The Way of Water trailer
2. A new clan and a human kid in Pandora.
Two interesting details have been unveiled about The Way of Water. One is that there will be a new clan to be introduced, the Metkayina Clan who are reef-dwellers and are distinguishable with their slightly different skin colors.
Photo: Avatar: The Way of Water trailer
Another interesting detail is that there’s a human child running around Pandora alongside the Na’vi. In an interview between Empire Magazine and Cameron, it was revealed that the boy’s name is Spider, a human orphan that Jake and Neytiri had taken in to join their family.
3. Familiar faces and new characters.
The sequel has brought back many of the lead cast, such as Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, and Stephen Lang. Also joining them are new members of the cast such as Cliff Curtis who plays Metkayina’s leader Tonowari; Kate Winslet as Tonowari’s wife Ronal; Michelle Yeoh as Dr. Karina Mogue; Edie Falco as General Frances Ardmore; Jemain Clement as Dr. Ian Garvin; and Brendan Cowell as Mick Scoresby.
Meanwhile, the young cast includes Jack Champion as Spider, Jamie Flatters as Neteyam, Britain Dalton as Lo’ak, Trinity Bliss as Tukterey, Bailey Bass as Tsireya, and Filip Geljo as Aonung.
Photo: Avatar: The Way of Water trailer
4. Stephen Lang Sigourney Weaver have returned.
Those who can clearly remember the first film might have some questions about Stephen Lang and Sigourney Weaver’s return since they were supposed to be dead by the end of Avatar. Lang explains the return of his character, now inside an Avatar, and how the film addresses his resurrection.
“He’s a genetically-engineered autonomous avatar,” Lang told Empire Magazine. “He has been downloaded with the mind, the emotions, and even more interestingly, possibly the spirit of Quaritch. Now, that’s all pretty esoteric stuff. He comes with a full memory bank up until the time he actually undergoes the DNA transfer. So there are certain things that he doesn’t have any memory of at all. He has no memory of his death.”
Photo: Avatar: The Way of Water trailer
Meanwhile, Weaver who played Dr. Grace Augustine in the first film is back as Jake and Neytiri’s adopted teenage daughter Kiri, who was born of Grace’s Avatar and has a continued connection with her.
“There’s definitely a transfer of the curiosity and the love of nature,” Weaver told Screen Rant. “Grace much prefers to be in Avatar form and be out in the forest and studying things, and I think Kiri has a different way of expressing all that. She is just one with nature. And where that comes from, I’m not sure. But it’s very much in the script, and luckily in the movie, you will get to see her try to make more of a connection with Grace.”
5. The cast had to train in free diving, and Kate Winslet lasted the longest underwater.
It has been revealed that while filming The Way of Water, the cast had to perform inside giant water tanks frequently to make the underwater scenes appear more realistic on the big screen. As director Cameron told The New York Times, they hired the world’s best breath-hold specialists to help the cast learn how to “free dive” and stay underwater during takes.
And the cast delivered. Kate Winslet, particularly, held her breath for seven minutes underwater, beating Tom Cruise’s six-minute breath-hold stunt when filming Mission: Impossible– Rogue Nation.
Avatar: The Way of Wateropens in cinemas nationwide this Wednesday, December 14. Book your seats in advance and buy your tickets here.
Directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic (collaborators on Teen Titans Go!, Teen Titans Go! To the Movies) from a screenplay by Matthew Fogel (The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part, Minions: The Rise of Gru), the film stars Chris Pratt as Mario, Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach, Charlie Day as Luigi, Jack Black as Bowser, Keegan-Michael Key as Toad, Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong, Fred Armisen as Cranky Kong, Kevin Michael Richardson as Kamek and Sebastian Maniscalco as Spike.
The film is produced by Illumination founder and CEO Chris Meledandri and by Shigeru Miyamoto for Nintendo. The film is co-produced by Universal Pictures and Nintendo and released worldwide by Universal Pictures.
Footage and stills are now available from the star-studded World Premiere of 20th Century Studios’ ”Avatar: The Way of Water” held in London’s Leicester Square earlier this evening. Attendees included cast members Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Kate Winslet, Joel David Moore, Jamie Flatters, Trinity Jo-Li Bliss, Jack Champion,Brendan Cowell,Bailey Bass,director/producer/writer/editor James Cameron and producer Jon Landau. The film opens in Philippine cinemas on Wednesday, December 14, best seen in 3D, 4D, and IMAX formats. Tickets are now on sale. Check showtimes available here.
Set more than a decade after the events of the first film, “Avatar: The Way of Water” begins to tell the story of the Sully family (Jake, Neytiri, and their kids), the trouble that follows them, the lengths they go to keep each other safe, the battles they fight to stay alive, and the tragedies they endure.
Directed by James Cameron and produced by Cameron and Jon Landau, the Lightstorm Entertainment Production stars Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang and Kate Winslet. Screenplay by James Cameron & Rick Jaffa & Amanda Silver. Story by James Cameron & Rick Jaffa & Amanda Silver & Josh Friedman & Shane Salerno. David Valdes and Richard Baneham serve as the film’s executive producers.
This Christmas, Filipino films are put front and center once more in cinemas with the latest entries of the Metro Manila Film Festival!
Comprised of eight films, this year’s MMFF entries were picked based on artistic excellence, commercial appeal, Filipino cultural values, and global appeal, with different genres ranging from comedy to horror to romance. Check out the eight MMFF movies that will arrive in cinemas nationwide starting December 25.
Directed by Mikhail Red Starring Nadine Lustre, Louise Delos Reyes, McCoy De Leon, and Jeffrey Hidalgo.
This upcoming horror movie follows the story of Lyra whose job is to review online content to make sure that the most graphic and disturbing content will be deleted from online platforms. While Lyra seems unfazed by the videos she sees every day, she secretly hides a deep trauma donning an apathetic face while doing her job.
Directed by Cathy Garcia-Molina Starring Vice Ganda and Ivana Alawi
This upcoming comedy movie tells the story of two exes whose paths crossed once again, but when they get involved in a crime, the duo must find a way out of their dilemma together.
Directed by Coco Martin Starring Coco Martin and Jodi Sta. Maria
Trisha, who had spent two decades in the US, comes home to the Philippines to try to move on from a recent breakup. Here, she stumbles upon a quirky boyfriend-for-hire business and signs a contract to spend a few days with a charming guy named Gibo, who promises to help heal her heart.
Directed by Joel Lamangan Starring Dimples Romana, Sean de Guzman, Jake Cuenca, and Tiffany Grey
A lawyer takes in the son of his former client after surviving a massacre. Soon, the complicated relationships between the family members would lead to the revelation of shocking secrets and harbored feelings.
Absolutely quiet and still, ‘Plan 75’ is a chilling look into a dystopian world where Japan has found a startling way to handle its growing elderly population: a government program that offers assisted suicide to all citizens aged 75 and above. The program itself, the titular Plan 75, offers a cash handout for the volunteers to do with as they please and are assisted all the way through cremation services to make everything easy and tidy. By all means, this film falls under the realm of science fiction but first-time feature film director Chie Hayakawa is not interested in the macro view of this imagined bleak future. Instead, she focuses her camera on three characters: at its center is Michi (played by the arresting Chieko Baisho), a 78-year-old woman with no family, who is struggling to keep her independence in a society that sees no value in someone of her age; Himoru Okabe (played by Hayato Isomura), a sales agent for Plan 75, who truly believes in the cause until he meets an estranged aged family member who signs up for the program; and rounding out the cast is Maria (played by Stefanie Arianne), a Filipina caregiver, who is working in Japan to pay for her daughter’s expensive life-saving surgery, who accepts work from Plan 75.
As a film, ‘Plan 75’ is a character study. The film’s central premise pushes these three characters towards their own crisis of faith and in the process, we watch as this world normalizes death and the discarding of anything that is no longer deemed as valuable. Hayakawa, who co-wrote the screenplay with Jason Gray, covers this deterioration of society with almost no fanfare, as if this was ordinary and normal and it’s a chilling reminder of how bureaucracy and keeping the status quo seems more important on a larger scale for civilizations than the slow degradation of our humanity.
Photo courtesy of TBA Studios
‘Plan 75’ poses its questions and arguments through Michi, Himoru, and Maria. The film is never loud with its objections or statements. We are invested in Michi’s desire to remain “useful,” At 78, she’s struggling to find work to support herself as all her friends are succumbing to old age. Without a family, she is completely on her own and society is pushing her towards volunteering for Plan 75 as there are no opportunities available for her to keep on living.
This is all done without drama, without highlighting the emotions involved. It’s a quiet film that basks in the silences of heavy thought and meditation. Even when Himoru wavers from his own convictions and takes a more personal approach to assisting his uncle with his plans, the film never judges him nor pities him. It is what it is. When Maria discovers, through her work in the Plan 75 facility, what happens to the things left behind by the seniors who have passed on, the film never underlines the sadness or the horror of the insights that are gleaned from this.
Photo courtesy of TBA Studios
What the film manages to do is show us how society and the world is slowly just accepting these questionable changes happening around us. How, in the name of efficiency and the common good, we are allowing people to be left behind and pushed away in favour of those who can contribute more. There’s a hierarchy that is proposed in this film that mirrors what’s happening in real life and ‘Plan 75’ manages to highlight the impact this can have on the people intrinsically linked to it.
Photo courtesy of TBA Studios
This is not an easy film to watch but it is an important one. It skillfully manages to ask important questions over a hypothetical situation and by putting front and center Michi, an elderly woman with no family, no one to vouch for her or fight for her and defend her, the film asks us to make a decision about her. While Hayakawa manages a burst of hope, a moment of urgency at the film’s third act, it still leaves the final verdict to us. Are we as powerless as Maria, victims of our own circumstances or will we have a crisis of conviction such as Himoru, or will we have the strength to stand up against the forces that dictate our worth?
This is not an easy film to watch but you have to watch it.
My Rating:
.
— Plan 75opens in cinemas nationwide on December 7. Buy your tickets here.
An adventure of epic proportions. Check out the payoff poster for Paramount Pictures’ “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” and get ready to see it in cinemas across the Philippines March 29, 2023.
A charming thief and a band of unlikely adventurers undertake an epic heist to retrieve a lost relic, but things go dangerously awry when they run afoul of the wrong people. Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves brings the rich world and playful spirit of the legendary roleplaying game to the big screen in a hilarious and action-packed adventure.
Paramount Pictures Presents In Association with eOne A Jonathan Goldstein & John Francis Daley Film
Directed by Jonathan Goldstein & John Francis Daley, screenplay by Jonathan Goldstein & John Francis Daley and Michael Gilio. Story by Chris McKay & Michael Gilio
Based on HASBRO’S DUNGEONS & DRAGONS
Produced by Jeremy Latcham, p.g.a., Brian Goldner, Nick Meyer; the Executive Producers are Denis L. Stewart, Jonathan Goldstein, John Francis Daley, Chris Pine, Zev Foreman, Greg Mooradian
The film stars Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, Regé-Jean Page, Justice Smith, Sophia Lillis, Chloe Coleman, Daisy Head and Hugh Grant.
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is distributed in the Philippines by Paramount Pictures through Columbia Pictures. Connect with #DnDMovie and tag @paramountpicsph
Photo & Video Credit: “Paramount Pictures International”
The iconic adventurer Indiana Jonesreturns in the upcoming movie Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny! Lucasfilm has recently dropped the trailer for the fifth installment of the famous movie franchise. Check out the trailer for the new film below:
Indiana Jones has become one of the timeless movie icons thanks to the famous trilogy of films from the ’80s, namely, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. In 2008, the franchise was further expanded with Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, to be followed by the upcoming The Dial of Destiny.
In this new film, Harrison Ford is back as the iconic archaeologist and adventurer. While the official synopsis for the movie has yet to be revealed, the trailer hints at looking back on Indy’s past, with action sequences featuring a de-aged Ford.
Directed by James Mangold, the film also stars Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Antonio Banderas, John Rhys-Davies, Shaunette Renee Wilson, Thomas Kretschmann, Toby Jones, Boyd Holbrook, Oliver Richters, Ethann Isidore, and Mads Mikkelsen.
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is set for a US release on June 30, 2023.
The first Latinx-led superhero film from a major studio, “Blue Beetle” follows Jamie Reyes, a teenager who is gifted superhuman strength, speed, and armor when an alien scarab beetle attaches itself to him.
The film is directed by Angel Manuel Soto, written by Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer. “Cobra Kai” star Xolo Maridueña is set to play the titular superhero, while Susan Sarandon (“Feud”) is cast as the film’s main villain, Victoria Kord. Joining the cast are “Hocus Pocus 2” star Belissa Escodobo as Jamie’s sister Miagros Reyes, Brazilian star Bruna Marquezine as Jamie’s love interest Penny, George Lopez as Jamie’s uncle Rudy and Raoul Max Trujillo (Mayans M.C.) as Carapax the Indestructible Man.
Join the conversation online and use the hashtag #BlueBeetle
