Ayala Malls Manila Bay sets a wave of new openings to service more patrons with the best lifestyle essentials including storage, fashion, food, and leisure.
Soon completing the mall experience is the opening of Landmark Supermarket and Department Store. The first branch in the bay area, Landmark, is set to open in Ayala Malls Manila Bay in 2023 and shoppers can expect a four-story haven that houses various grocery items and affordable home, clothing, and kitchen finds—all in one place.
One Storage, a storage unit facility, is now open at B1 Transport Terminal of Ayala Malls Manila Bay! Featuring world-class storage units typically seen abroad, the system has 24/7 storage access, top-notch security, and free insurance. What’s more, new customers can enjoy free rental for two months when they apply for a unit on or before December 31, 2022.
Food Wanderer by the Philippine Amusement and Entertainment Corporation recently opened doors to give guests unforgettable multi-sensory immersive experiences. Designed as the country’s biggest food art display museum, it previews Filipino heritage through gastronomic delights.
There’s a lot more to look forward to at the biggest Ayala Mall yet! Opening in Ayala Malls Manila Bay by the end of 2022 is Uniqlo, the go-to Japanese global apparel retailer for quality everyday clothing. Fans of the brand now have more access to LifeWear items that support their everyday needs and lifestyle.
Capping off the travel and staycation experience is the multi-awarded Seda hotel, also rising by 2023. Set to rise beside Ayala Malls Manila Bay in Paranaque along Diosdado Macapagal Avenue, guests can book relaxing staycations with its state-of-the-art amenities and exceptional hospitality, as well as discover Ayala Malls’ largest shopping mall to date.
Stay tuned for more information when you visit Ayala Malls Manila Bay on Instagram @ayalamalls.manilabay and Facebook at /ayalamallsmanilabay.
New World Makati Hotel’s buffet restaurant, Café 1228, reopens on Mondays to Thursdays for dinner starting October, officially offering all-you-can-eat breakfast, lunch and dinner on all days of the week. Diners get 50% off at only PHP1,500 (from PHP3,000) on weekdays and PHP1,700 (from PHP3,400) on weekends for lunch and dinner when they sign up for free to the hotel’s Club Epicure loyalty program. A 5+1 offer is also offered for group reservations. Daily breakfast is at PHP1,200. Prices are nett.
Weekday Lunch and Dinner
Now open daily serving weekday lunch and dinner, Café 1228 features an array of grilled meats, fresh seafood, decadent desserts, and much more, starting with the popular carving station – with barbecue beef brisket or rump, sausages, chicken and pork spareribs. Must-have buffet favorites include a fresh seafood section cooked a la minute and topped with a variety of sauces, and a Japanese station with seven kinds of sushi, miso soup, as well as fish and vegetable tempura. Adding more Asian selections are the five dim sum dishes paired well with a choice of steamed noodles, a combination of Filipino and Southeast Asian items, a Western station with European and Mediterranean cuisine, the charcuterie and cheese section, and the fresh salad bar. For desserts, a crepe station offers three ice cream flavors and one sorbet, as well as an assortment of fillings and toppings, while treats such as halo-halo, cheesecakes, pies, cookies, and fresh fruits complete the pastry selections.
Weekend Lunch and Dinner
Succulent roasted ribeye, hand-tossed pizzas and freshly made pasta dishes, salmon and tuna sashimi, as well as crunchy shrimp tempura, are among the highlights during weekends. These and more complement the already enticing lineup of buffet selections offered on weekdays. Best-selling items are always on rotation, as well as new, can’t-be-missed options, to keep the restaurant’s offerings always fresh, seasonal, and something to look forward to.
Daily Breakfast
Café 1228 likewise opens its doors to walk-ins and reservations for its breakfast buffet, with a curated mix of international and local staples such as bacon, chicken and pork sausages, hashbrowns, and baked beans, to name a few, as well as forest ham at the carving station paired with grilled vegetables. Omelettes or egg dishes made a la minute also go well with the protein selections, as well as Filipino favorites beef tapa, chicken tocino, daing nab angus, traditional pork adobo, pancit canton, and of course, garlic fried rice.
Essential Japanese breakfast items are also offered daily such as miso soup, grilled salmon or white fish in teriyaki sauce, tamago with teriyaki sauce and bonito flakes, grilled shimeji, shiitake and button mushrooms, as well as Japanese steamed rice. Other Asian dishes are beef and chicken noodles soup as well as congee with a variety of toppings such as pork, chicken and fish.
An array of charcuterie and cheeses including shaved Parma ham, coppa ham, salami Milano and bresaola, as well as brie, cheddar, Emmental, Manchego and blue cheese are also available, which go nicely with the various nuts, fresh and dried fruits, freshly-baked breads, jams and spreads.
As a special promo, diners get 50% off at only PHP1,500 (from PHP3,000) on weekdays and PHP1,700 (from PHP3,400) on weekends for lunch and dinner when they sign up for free to the hotel’s Club Epicure loyalty program or present their BDO or RCBC Bankard credit card. A 5+1 offer is also offered for group reservations. Daily breakfast is at PHP1,200. Prices are nett. For online reservations, guests can book via: https://bit.ly/NWCafe1228Reservation. To inquire, they can call +63288116888 ext. 3679, e-mail fbreservations.manila@newworldhotels.com, or send a mobile message on Viber or Whatsapp via +639178884194. More news and promos are available on the hotel’s official Facebook and Instagram accounts as well as on the website https://manila.newworldhotels.com/en/.
Everything scary about director Parker Finn’s ‘Smile’ is in excess: the camera work, the musical score, and sound design, the jump scares, the slow-burn exposition. Considering this is Finn’s directorial debut, he shows a lot of promise in his understanding of how to frame a sequence and how to create tension and to elicit dread and fear but what he now needs to learn is restraint.
‘Smile’ is about a psychiatrist, Dr. Rose Cotter, who meets a patient suffering from a paranoid delusion about a sinister entity that plays tricks on her mind and threatens her with her own death. During their first session, Rose witnesses the patient kill herself, and what she diagnosed as a paranoid delusion turns out to be very true and now this being is haunting her. In the midst of determining what’s real and what’s fantasy, Rose begins to unravel and her own past traumas return.
Photo courtesy of Paramount Pictures
The film is long, running at almost two hours, and while there’s a lot of story to cover – Rose’s past traumas and how it has affected her present-day life, how the hauntings of this entity are affecting her relationships, the formulaic story point of her uncovering the history of this malevolent spirit – it still could have been shorter if the director, who also wrote the screenplay, didn’t draw out all the scary moments of the film.
Oftentimes, the point has been made but instead of moving further into the story, he’ll add another scary moment, as if he’s trying to reach a quota. It’s relentless and it gets exhausting at some point as it starts to feel repetitive.
Photo courtesy of Paramount Pictures
And it’s a shame because there’s a lot of good filmmaking involved in ‘Smile.’ There’s a really good use of extreme close-ups on the face of Sosie Bacon, who plays Rose, and we get a very intimate view of her character’s unraveling. It creates a sense of claustrophobia, where, as the audience, you want the medium shot or a long shot just so that you can see the extent of the danger that she’s in. There’s a good interplay of silence and sudden loud noises, of a vibrant musical score that really amps up the tension of the scenes. If these elements were used sparingly, it would have a stronger effect on the movie as it paces us along with the narrative.
Photo courtesy of Paramount Pictures
Instead, as it keeps coming over and over again, we stop focusing on the story and just psych ourselves up for another scary moment.
Interestingly enough, the film uses trauma and mental health as the fulcrum by which the whole story operates on. While a lot of psychological thrillers or even psychological horror films used mental health as a reason for the death and destruction, in ‘Smile’ it becomes both a weapon and, maybe, a path to salvation. Discussions about mental health are always welcomed, especially when it’s done correctly, but to use it in this horror film, and in such a blatant way, somehow reduces the supernatural aspect of the film by quite a bit.
Photo courtesy of Paramount Pictures
What makes the supernatural so scary is how mysterious and unscientific it is and can be, and by framing this creature’s motives and processes through mental health makes it feel less believable and more made up than it already is.
There are a lot of good things in the film – use of close-ups, use of crazy camera angles to show the growing deterioration of Rose’s mental health, excellent mix of quiet moments and loud scoring and sound design to amplify a mood – but all these individual elements don’t really add up to a strong horror film. It’s fun to watch with friends for a laugh but it’s not going to stay with you like other horror movies.
Ryan Reynolds officially announced the return of Hugh Jackman as Wolverine in his upcoming film Deadpool 3.
In a video, Reynolds made a simple announcement video– one in stark contrast to Deadpool‘s outrageous plots and sequences– where the actor teased his first film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And as Jackman walks by behind the actor, Reynolds asks him if he’d want to play Wolverine one more time. Watch the rest of their interaction below:
Further details on the plot of the film are still under wraps, because as Reynolds jokingly said about writing the film: “I have nothing.” But fans are sure to get yet another wild ride with Deadpool and Wolverine being in the same film together in an MCU film.
Directed by Shawn Levy, Deadpool 3 is set for a US release in theaters on September 6, 2024. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to get the latest news on film, TV, and more updates around the city!
Cinema One is serving up must-watch Filipino blockbusters and horror films to spook up your Halloween month, so sit back and watch from the comfort of your homes!
From comedy to action to thriller, here are ten films to check out this October on Cinema One channel:
Based on the comic book by Carlo J. Caparas, it revolves around the blacksmith Flavio Batungbakal who needs to save humanity and fight the evil that is his nemesis, Lizardo.
Starring Jake Cuenca, Maja Salvador, Shaina Magdayao, Geoff Eigenmann October 5
A girl gets brought on a trip by her ex-boyfriend in hopes of reconciliation. They end up spending the night at an old family resort that’s about to be renovated. But the resort has a hidden bloody past, and restless spirits out of vengeance soon threaten their lives.
The adult twin daughters of an aging business mogul find themselves haunted by a terrifying ghost. The two dig into their family’s past, and they travel to South Korea to try and find a way to appease the angry spirit.
A community that relies on the powers of a faith healer is torn apart as the healing brings them a terrible curse that threatens to cause everyone great harm.
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For more Cinema One movies this October and for daily schedules of Cinema One, click here. Subscribe to Cinema One’s Youtube Channel (Bit.Ly/Cinemaoneonyoutube) for free full movies!
[Note: Channel schedules and movie lineup are subject to change without prior notice]
“Ticket to Paradise” is Directed by Ol Parker, George Clooney and Julia Roberts have reunited on-screen as David and Georgia, a divorced couple who seemingly only agree on one thing: their love for their daughter Lily (Dever). So, when Lily meets and falls in love with a seaweed farmer named Gede (Bouttier) on her graduation trip to Bali and tells her parents that she’s going to marry him, there’s only one thing they can do: team up to stop her from making the same mistake they made all those years ago.
Kaitlyn Dever & Maxime Bouttier
With the audience eager for a romcom rebirth, here are 5 reasons why Ticket to Paradise is this year’s cinematic romcom date movie for the family.
· George and Julia’s warring couple would make one yearn for second chances. Clooney says. “In all the years since he and Georgia divorced, the fire is still there for him, but he’s convinced that Georgia has moved on and that he needs to make peace with that. She has a new boyfriend and a new life without him, and he doesn’t want to risk the hurt of being shut down or making things more complicated than they already are, and more than anything, he doesn’t want to compromise his relationship with his daughter Lily.”
George Clooney & Kaitlyn Dever
· George and Julia’s parenting mission is boundless, flying miles and miles while forgetting for a moment they are exes to team up for their daughter’s happiness. “We’re in a space in the world right now where people want to see something funny and comforting. “The unexpected thing about this movie is that there are various relationships within the family and emotions within the family that audiences will find themselves being moved by,” shares producer Bevan.
· The scenery, set in Bali (but filmed in Australia due to the pandemic), makes us want to pack our bags for a beach getaway. Bouttier hopes it will serve as a reminder to tourists about the beauty of Balinese culture. “It’s a very lighthearted script, something we’ve been needing in the world,” Bouttier says. “Ever since COVID hit, Bali’s tourism has faded to a complete halt. Even now, Bali is still struggling to get tourism back, so a movie like this that’s set in Bali in a romcom format will hopefully invite the world back into Bali.”
Julia Roberts & Kaitlyn Dever
· You’d love the movie’s take on giving the global audience a glimpse of Balinese culture. “It was extremely important to us that we got not only the Balinese characters absolutely right, but the Balinese background, local culture and rituals absolutely right,” producer Tim Bevan says.
· Casting Indonesian actor Maxime Bouttier for the role of Gede is on-point. Bouttier, in his Hollywood movie debut appreciated that the character was both open-minded and culturally connected to his customs. “Gede works as a seaweed farmer because he knows that it’s a give-and-take deal with nature, and I feel that’s a very Balinese way of life,” Bouttier says.
Kaitlyn Dever & Maxime Bouttier
Ticket To Paradise is from Universal Pictures International that will open nationwide in local cinemas on October 5.
I am M.A.D. (Making A Difference)’saward-winning MAD Talks(Making A Difference Talks) is more than just a forum. It is a caravan of rich and inspirational stories that gathers youth groups all over the country to celebrate the Filipino culture of bayanihan or volunteerism. Its vision: To propagate stories of volunteerism and selflessness to encourage more people to become volunteers themselves and start making a difference.
In a nutshell, the MAD Talks solicits, shares, and showcases volunteer stories from and to its target audience (who are mostly youth and young adults) through various channels of storytelling such as live events, online, and shortfilms. With its tagline “Nagmahal. Nasaktan. Nagvolunteer”, it aims to inspire more people to venture into volunteerism and make it a lifestyle. Led by stories of individuals, it helps people find their life purpose through “nagmahal”, have the perseverance to pursue their passions with “nasaktan”, and use their God-given abilities to make a difference in “nagvolunteer”.
MAD Talks solicits stories from its own volunteers believing that the life-changing experiences they had in the camps are emotionally powerful. It aims to share stories of love, pain, and selflessness in the hope of inspiring more people to live a life of volunteerism. Moreover, it showcases the works of passion of the volunteers through different channels catering to different audiences.
From the more than 48 MAD Talks Events organized with the help of different partners, over 5000 estimated participants who are mostly youth and young adults have already experienced and celebrated the beauty of volunteerism through storytelling. Ivan Jed Rosal from the University of San Jose Recoletos in Cebu City, after attending MAD Talks in Cebu last May 3, 2015, was brimming with inspiration and optimism that after just one month, he has organized his own MAD Camp in Olanggo Island together with his friends.
Aside from the 12 MADthologies featured at x.rappler, stories about volunteerism and the group, I am M.A.D. has since been published in newspapers, magazines, and online sites. The organization has also been featured in various TV shows, and its volunteers are invited for interviews in different radio stations. These efforts have generated an estimated media mileage of Php 162 million as of August 2022.
Since intensifying efforts to share stories of volunteerism, I am M.A.D. witnessed a growth in volunteer sign ups and a boost in its existing volunteers’ level of participation. Before, we had difficulty in getting volunteers. Today, our problem is the lack of camps for the volunteers to participate. And we believe this is because of how we communicated our volunteer stories to the public.
For instance, Gliza Vienna Harina who formerly worked in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia as a nurse, read a MADthology online. This encouraged her to be an I am MAD volunteer. She attended her first camp in Guimaras last June 10-12, 2017. Now, Gliza has written her own MADthology and even became one of the speakers at the MAD Talk in Cavite last July 8, 2017. This is how MAD Talks empower people to share their stories after being inspired by the project.
MAD Talks is more than inviting people to volunteer in I am MAD. Its long term vision is to see individuals volunteering even outside the organization; MAD Talks is a platform for them to realize the value of this rich Filipino culture which is volunteerism.
From its opening scene, Don’t Worry Darling is already telling you something is wrong with this picture. And it’s a happy moment: the film begins with a wild, drunken revelry between three couples in what seems to be an image of the ideal 60s American life. They are drinking, dancing, teasing each other. They are young and beautiful and seemingly madly in love with their respective partners. In fact, our leads Alice and Jack (Florence Pugh and Harry Styles) can’t seem to get enough of each other, kissing and having sex at every opportunity. But something is off and Alice is beginning to take notice.
The filmmaking, with Olivia Wilde in the director’s chair, is visceral and luscious – from its cinematography, blocking, choice of musical score, and the performances of the majority of the cast – and gives you a building momentum of dread. Something is very wrong in this picture-perfect representation of the American dream. Every so often, there’s an earthquake and the women react almost by reflex in ensuring their drinks stay stable and nothing falls to the floor. The men leave for work in an almost synchronised exit in their shiny Cadillacs or whatever fancy car model they have in that era. The musical score of John Powell is intricate as it is eerie. Its haunting melodies are created by vocals and even rhythmic breaths, sometimes a drone sound of fuzzed bass or a sudden explosion of violent strings. It’s intrusive. It punctures the visuals and it really gets you going. Oftentimes, the score is designed so that you think it’s diegetic, that it is part of the scene and then you realise it isn’t and it adds to the atmosphere.
Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
Wilde does an amazing job at instilling a sense of dread and danger in every moment of ‘Don’t Worry Darling,’ subverting the whole idea of the ideal 60s concept of Americana – the white picket fences, suburbia, the glamorous 60s – but Wilde ends up showing how hollow it really was; that it is nothing more than a frightening veneer covering up something dark and twisted and horrible.
Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
The narrative unfolds like a slow-burn horror film, with moments of genuine weirdness that remind you something is amiss. From the get-go, you know this film is centered around the issues of women. This time frame positions women as the support system of the men as they go through their daily work. We know this is sexist, that this world is sexist, and just like Alice, we start to question the very fabric of this world’s reality. What is this Victory Project that the men are working on? Who is Frank (played by Chris Pine), this charming figure who leads this community and everyone seems to be so enamored with? What will happen to this couple as Alice becomes more and more certain something is wrong as Jack seems to be climbing the ladder to success?
Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
The feminist themes are apparent. The film explores and dramatizes the idea of control, of gaslighting, and questioning the role of women in a marriage and in society. It can feel heavy-handed as the film is centered mainly through Alice’s point-of-view and this is all that she sees but it’s interwoven so intricately into the entire concept of the movie that I don’t mind it. These are issues that are still relevant to this very day and age.
Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
Florence Pugh channels her character from ‘Midsommar’ and then takes it to a different level in ‘Don’t Worry Darling.’ She’s a wonderful anchor for this movie as she can make this sense of paranoia into something so palpable and it makes her reactions so believable. In a way, she plays off so well with Olivia Wilde, who plays an exuberant neighbour, someone who is completely sold into this world; and also with Gemma Chan, who plays the wife of Frank, who contrasts the two women through stillness and silence. These three women show off a range of layers in various ways that it’s great to see them work. It layers the movie wonderfully by showing off a dynamic range of women characters.
Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
And for the men, it’s Chris Pine who steals the show. As mentioned above, he’s magnetic and charming, maintaining a hint of the sinister behind an easy smile while expertly delivering stirring monologues that, when you really think about it, says nothing specific or substantial at all. This adds to the mystery that the film is working towards.
Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
And the big reveal is my only real gripe in ‘Don’t Worry Darling.’ Once uncovered, there’s an element of it not being equivalent to the build-up that happened. It’s a bit mundane, maybe even a little cliche. The big revelation is not as clever as it could have been. The experience that you get through only to find out that it’s that is a bit of a letdown for me. There’s so much creativity and imagination in the first hour and a half that the ending feels like they ran out of steam.
But it’s a tiny gripe since the overall experience of watching this film is so good that I can forgive the banality of its ending.
HBO Max finally revealed the official teaser for The Last of Us, the TV adaptation of the popular video game franchise of the same name. The trailer gives us a glimpse of actors Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey– both have starred in the HBO hit series Game of Thrones— as they play the roles of Joel and Ellie respectively.
Watch the teaser trailer for The Last of Us below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBRRDpQ0yc0
The Last of Us takes place 20 years after modern civilization has been destroyed, and zombie-like creatures prowl its ruins.the story follows Joel, a hardened survivor who is hired to smuggle the 14-year-old Ellie out of an oppressive quarantine zone. The journey which takes them across the US will prove perilous and heartbreaking, as they depend on one another for survival.
The series also stars Gabriel Luna, Merle Dandridge, and Anna Torv. It is written for TV by Craig Mazin of Chernobyl and Neil Druckman of The Last of Us and Uncharted video games.
The series is set for release on HBO and HBO Max sometime in 2023. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to get the latest news on film, TV, and more updates around the city!
MAKE a way and move to the beat as the Cultural Center of the Philippines presents Pulso Pilipinas II: Alay Nina Alice at Agnes as the second part of the CCP Dance Series (LIVE!) 2022, happening on September 30 at 8:00 PM (Gala Night), October 1, 2022 at 3:00 PM and 8:00 PM, and October 2, 2022 at 3:00 PM at the CCP Main Theater.
This time, it will showcase jewels in the Filipino dance repertoire in a mixed program proudly presenting the selected classic iconic works of our two living National Artists for Dance – Alice Reyes and Agnes Locsin. This production will feature Agnes Locsin’s “Igorot”, “Moriones” and “Elias at Salome”, as well as Alice Reyes’ “Carmina Burana”.
Alice Reyes is recognized to have developed a distinctly Filipino modern dance idiom. She is one of the pillars of Philippine Dance as her works and contributions were key in the development of the art in the country. She became the first in the Philippines to introduce Modern Dance and professionalize dance as a career. Reyes started workshops and dance recitals in the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) forming the CCP Dance Workshop together with Eddie Elejar. With the professionalization of dance in the country, the group became a resident company known as the CCP Dance Company producing many dancers, teachers and choreographers. They were a flagship company that represented Philippine arts and culture. Audiences were taken by the choreographic works brought and remarked how Reyes’ choreographic works are powerful expressions of our country’s unique history and cultural heritage.
Reyes was declared a National Artist for Dance by President Benigno S. Aquino III through Proclamation No. 807 and was conferred at the Malacañang Palace on April 14, 2016. She is now the artistic consultant to the newly formed Alice Reyes Dance Philippines (ARDP) mentoring and nurturing the current generation of artists and young choreographers.
Recognized as the pioneer of neo-ethnic style of dance, Agnes Locsin is a force in Philippine dance, and her contribution spans beyond the genius choreography she has produced. A former Artistic Director and chief choreographer, Locsin is all at once a teacher, mentor, storyteller, and trailblazer. Drawing inspiration from Philippine tribal dances, practices, beliefs, and stories, Locsin reworked and reinterpreted these into the framework of existing classical ballet and modern dance techniques, resulting in a unique dance form suited for the Filipino’s physical frame, temperament, and culture. Some of her most notable works include Igorot, Bagobo, Babaylan, Taong Talangka, Encantada, Elias, and La Revolucion Filipina, which have been performed around the Philippines and the world.
Locsin was recently declared National Artist for Dance by President Rodrigo Duterte through Proclamation No. 1390 and was conferred at the Malacañang Palace on June 10, 2022.
Please contact the CCP Box Office at 8832-3704, the CCP Production Management Services Division at 8832-2314, the CCP Arts Education Department at 8832-1125 loc. 1605, or visit www.culturalcenter.gov.ph for more information and ticket inquiries.
