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Saturday, April 22, 2017
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Movie Review: Can’t Help Falling In Love
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Movie Review by Atty. Ferdinand S. Topacio
ABS-CBN Films (2017)
Starring: Kathryn Bernardo, Daniel Padilla, Matteo Guidicelli, Cherry Pie Picache, Lito Pimentel, Lotlot De Leon, Dennis Padilla, Kristel Fulgar
Written by Carmi Raymundo and Kristine Gabriel
Directed by Mae Cruz-Alviar
CAN’T HELP FALLING ASLEEP…
The plot is totally so-so, as in middling, and as in “same old, same old”. Kathryn Bernardo plays Gabriela, a young woman of simple stock betrothed to Matteo Guidicelli’s character Jason, a young, wealthy Filipino lawyer reviewing for the New York bar. During a mass wedding officiated by the mayor of an undefined town, where Gabriela was part of the wedding entourage of a friend, Daniel Padilla’s Dos (short for Jose Ibarra Gonzales), who is the mayor’s friend, sees Gabriela (called Gab for short) and is instantly attracted. In the ensuing party for her newlywed friend, Dos and Gabriela providentially meet again. After having one too many drinks with the mayor’s clique, Dos and Gabriela, in a drunken moment of madness, sign a wedding contract partly in jest.
The movie then goes on fast forward. Jason and Gabriela, through internet audio-video link, finalize plans for their wedding. In preparation, Gab is required by the wedding planner to produce a “CENOMAR” or “Certificate of No Marriage”. In complying, Gab is aghast to find out that what she thought was a sham marriage, was in fact registered by one of the mayor’s staffer.
Never mind that in real life, that “marriage" would have been void from the start due to lack of a marriage license. This is a Filipino movie after all, where a healthy dose of suspension of disbelief is in order. To Gab, the marriage to Dos being legal, it had to be annulled if the wedding to Jason is to push through. Panic-stricken, she turns to Dos for help. At first reluctant and displaying that devil-may-care attitude that Daniel Padilla does so well (being the only thing he does well), Dos’ heart melts as he sees Gab looking so desperate. They consult a caricature of a lawyer, who gives them the grounds for annulment. They try each one out one by one: impotence on the part of Dos, insanity on the part of Gab, lesbianism again on the part of Gab: each one is scripted farcically and leads to some mayhem. In the end, the only recourse left is to look for a witness to say that the marriage was never intended to be real, which proves difficult because the mayor and all those present in the mock wedding have died in a car crash shortly after. All except one. It is the search for that sole witness that leads to the movie’s catharsis.
As intimated above, the movie is trite, banal and formulaic, with writing so stilted it was more likely to provoke smiles than sympathy in the dramatic scenes. The story arc is such a continuous déjà vu that anyone who had any familiarity with Filipino films can see a plot twist coming a mile away. It is a disappointing throwback to simplistic rom-coms that I thought films like “Always Be My Maybe” and “English Only Please” have irretrievably left behind. This movie is nothing but an episode of “Maala-Ala Mo Kaya” stretched to feature proportions, which appears to be all that its director strove to achieve.
It was not all bad, of course. The movie is gorgeously photographed, and the musical scoring is spot-on, always complementary, never over-powering, consistently thematic. Bernardo is also a gem, her simple morena loveliness illuminating the screen; verily, to use a cliché, the camera loves her. She has also improved by leaps and bounds in acting since I last saw her in “Pagpag” in 2013 (although her fans will surely bash me for saying that her archrival Nadine Lustre can still act circles around her). The way she subtly yet deftly conveys her ambivalence about her impending marriage through taut non-verbal expressions is the movie’s highlight. Truly, the kid can become a really good actress if she puts her mind to it. Without doubt, this is Kathryn’s movie.
Sadly, her partner Daniel has not kept pace. Still displaying all the acting mannerisms at the start of his career, Padilla cannot internalize any character. He is still Daniel Padilla playing Daniel Padilla. While such style may be good for another movie or two, if he fails to improve his acting skills, he will find himself overtaken by his contemporaries like Inigo Pascual, who has inherited much of his daddy’s acting chops; or even James Reid, who shows vast thespic improvement in every picture he makes. Daniel must remember that James Dean is an icon not only because of bad boy good looks, but Dean demonstrated he could act up a storm since his first starring role in “East Of Eden” (1955).
The supporting cast also failed to support. Almost all of them, veterans though they may be, look like they were sleepwalking through the movie. And poor, hapless Matteo, a competent actor, was nothing but a plot device, spending more time with Bernardo on a computer screen than in person. A notable exception is newbie Kristel Fulgar, who made every minute of her small role count.
It is movies such as this one that are partly the reason why the Philippine film industry is in the doldrums. Pandering strictly to hardcore KathNiel fans -- which is admittedly a lucrative business decision – it famously insults the average viewer’s intelligence by not even trying to transcend its target audience.
In the final analysis, unless you are a rabid KathNiel follower, “Can’t Help Falling In Love” can’t help but make you fall asleep. Only a double helping of espresso, and Bernardo’s occasional flashes of acting brilliance, made it endurable for me. Elvis must be turning in his grave.
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Friday, April 21, 2017
Disappointingly Giving in to the Challenge
For the past years, EP has made public declarations of his love for Pretty Talent (PT), who has reciprocated his love and devotion. While PT is honing her acting skills, EP is concentrating his talent in other genres. As both are always together, for EP to manage to sneak out and do something interesting, seems unthinkable. However, EP has CF to make sure everything will succeed.
While the group has been resting in the same dressing room, Attractive Discovery (AD) entered and immediately, CF stood up and left the room. Only EP and AD remained in the room. When passers-by noticed that CF was standing in front of the door, the reply was curt, which was EP was talking to someone privately.
After a few significant minutes, AD stepped out of the room, smiling, but her hair was a bit messed up. That was the cue for CF to return into the room. EP, meanwhile, played as though nothing happened during the time, which covered their break and was enough for them not to be noticed that they were inconspicuously absent. As boys will be boys, the smile was enough for CF to pick up what could have happened during those moments.
AD happens to be quite mature and as a newcomer, might have been tempted by EP to be friendly to him. Of course, his actions are risky because if PT finds out that he is fooling around, she might just move on without him. After all, at the rate her career is going, PT has much potential to become another important talent of the network. As for EP, if he cannot stop his ways, then, he should be very careful, as no secret could remain one for a long time.
‘Dishonesty is all about the small acts we can take and then think, 'No, this not real cheating.' So if you think that the main mechanism is rationalization, then what you come up with, and that's what we find, is that we're basically trying to balance feeling good about ourselves.’ –- Dan Ariely
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Repost: Lee Min Ho to Start Military Service Next Month
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Source: www.news.abs-cbn.com
Korean superstar Lee Min Ho, best known to Filipino fans for his role as Gu Jun Pyo in the hit series "Boys Over Flowers," will start his mandatory military service next month, his talent agency said.
The Korean Herald received a statement from MYM Entertainment that read: "Lee Min Ho's enlistment date was confirmed today. He will begin service on May 12 at Gangnam-gu office as a public service officer. He'll spend his time preparing for the service until May."
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His management further added that Lee has been assigned to a non-combat position due to an injury sustained in a 2006 car accident with actor Jung Il-woo.
Military service is mandatory for every South Korean man between the age of 18 and 35. They are required to perform two years' military service, with the rationale being the continued threat from North Korea.
Aside from "Boys Over Flowers," Lee is also known in the Philippines for the action drama series "City Hunter." He has been in the country a number of times, most recently as an endorser of a local clothing brand.
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