JOHN LLOYD AND BEA CHANNELS THAT THING CALLED TADHANA

Fans roared and cheered their hearts out as they saw John Lloyd Cruz and Bea Alonzo perform live script reading of ‘That Thing Called Tadhana’. Fans were treated a very nice Valentine's gift to see the two actors together again on an event as they sorely miss the pairing of "Popoy and Basha".

It was a welcome surprise to the  moviegoers at Ayala Tower One in Makati as Lloydie and Bea appeared together marking the first public appearance of John Lloyd after temporarily leaving showbiz to start a family after a 2-year hiatus. The location was where their 2007 film “One More Chance” was screened to kickoff Art Fair Philippines’ “10 Days of Art.”

Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAiwf13JoQQ&t=4s

PARASITE MAKES HISTORY AT 2020 OSCARS

It was a historic turn at the 2020 Academy Awards as South Korean foreign language film "Parasite" etched itself as one for the books in the history of the Oscars. It rewrote the books at the annual most prestigious movie award-giving body as it became the first non-English film ever to win the top prize at the Academy beating out front-runners 1917 and Once Upon A Time in Hollywood.

Coming into the night with 6 nominations, the critically-acclaimed film ended up winning 4 awards, 3 of which are major categories Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay and Best Director wherein Bong Joon-Ho surprised directing heavyweights Quentin Tarantino, Sam Mendes and Martin Scorcesse. The film also added the Best International Feature Film plum to round its great success at this year's ceremony.

FAST & FURIOUS 9 GIVES A BANGING TRAILER

Fast & Furious 9 (or simply F9 or F9: The Fast Saga) releases a banging new trailer today much to the delight of fans. The entire followers and loyal fans of the FF franchise has reason to celebrate with the new trailer. And by the way it looks, this is another step towards a great film. The rest of the squad are back with  Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, Jordana Brewster and Nathalie Emmanuel returning on their roles from the last film.

Helen Mirren also makes a return together with antagonist Charlize Theron. Notably absent are  Jason Statham  and Dwayne Johnson who somehow stirred the pot with the franchise with the release of Hobbs and Shaw which some fans view as The Rock's attempt to rest away the franchise from the hands of Diesel. Also a welcome addition is John Cena who is playing Vin Diesel's brother in the film. It seems this new flick will focus on more family dynamics this time around.

The action sequences in the trailer were again mind-blowing and is guaranteed to keep fans gushing over. With car chases again and airplanes flying, bridges collapsing, the trailer just showed enough to have us all hyped up. But the most welcome surprise is the welcome return of the character Han played by actor Sun Kang who was seemingly killed by Jason Statham's (Deckard Shaw) character before. This is an intriguing development but one that fans are eagerly awaiting - me included. FF9 is set for a May 22, 2020 release in the US.

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUK2kdPsBws&t=2s

BAD BOYS FOR LIFE WINS BOX-OFFICE

Bad Boys for Life takes flight with a hefty $68.1 million debut over the Martin Luther King weekend at the US delivered the second largest MLK four-day performance ever as well as the studio's largest R-rated opening ever for Sony. The film is the third in the trilogy of the "Bad Boys" franchise which reunites Will Smith and Martin Lawrence in the lead roles.

It took 17 long years before this 3rd installment was done and it was all worth the wait. The original "Bad Boys" film was released also a long 25 years ago back in 1995. While the strong box-office showing of the film is a great news, what is more compelling is how well it is being received by audiences with an "A" CinemaScore and 97% audience rating on RottenTomatoes.

BLACK WIDOW DROPS SECOND TRAILER

The MCU is off to a great start for the year 2020 and they started this year with a second trailer for their upcoming Black Widow movie starring Scarlett Johansson. Set after the events of "Captain America: Civil War" and before "Avengers: Infinity War", this standalone movie will explore the background story of Natasha Romanova (aka Black Widow) and will showcase what happened in Budapest.

The newest and longer trailer made the netizens notice and are eagerly awaiting for what will unfold in this newest entry to the Marvel franchise. There are more scenes to this trailer including a better picture of the film's antagonist "Taskmaster" and the other Black Widow in the comics Yelena Blova played by Florence Pugh. Judging by this trailer, I think this film is gonna be big this 2020.

MIRACLE IN CELL NO. 7 TOPS MMFF 2019

And we finally get the numbers confirmation for the box-office gross of "Miracle on Cell No.7" and we are pleasantly happy with it. The Metro Manila Film Festival entry has grossed P475 million as of January 15, producer Viva Films announced on its social media channels. This is almost 50% of the total MMFF gross of P955 million. 

The news was a great achievement for this Aga Muhlach film which finally ends the festival box-office reign of Vice Ganda after many editions. Although the rest of the total gross for the Top 4 are not expressly announced, several news and entertainment sources peg “The Mall, the Merrier" of Vice Ganda to be on 2nd with Coco Martin's “3pol Trobol: Huli Ka Balbon!” at 3rd and “Mission Unstapabol: The Don Identity" of Vic Sotto at 4th.

The news was also a vindication for this Nuel Naval helmed masterpiece that is an adaptation of a Korean film of same name as it was surprisingly shut out in the MMFF awards late last year with Aga failing to nab the Best Actor and Xia Vigor failing to land the Best Child Performance. Even director Nuel Naval was shockingly missed out as he was not even nominated. With this, a big congratulations to the entire cast and crew that worked their hearts out in giving such a wonderful tearjerker and heartfelt movie.

TOP 10 SNUBS AND SURPRISES OF OSCARS 2020

The 2020 Academy Awards announced their nominations a few days ago and there are several shocks and surprises that made the internet headlines.

1. No Female Directors Nominated

Just like the Golden Globes, there is no female directors nominated for the Best Director plum. In a year where a lot of women directors excelled, it came a surprise to not see at least one of them get a nod. The obvious oversight here is Greta Gerwig who made a gem in the modern retelling of Little Women. The saving grace is that the film is nominated for the Best Picture award. Other notables to miss the cut are Jennifer Kent (The Nightingale), Lulu Wang (The Farewell), Kasi Lemmons (Harriett) and Lorene Scafaria (Hustlers).

2. Joker Grabs 11 Nominations

I know Joker is a shoo-in for some categories in the upcoming Academy Awards but what is a bit of a surprise is that it led all movies with 11 nominations topping expected favorites 1917, The Irishman and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood with 10 apiece.

3. Jennifer Lopez Left Out of Best Actress Race

Lopez continues to search for her first Oscar nomination after she missed the cut of nominees in the Best Supporting Actress category. It came to a shock as Lopez together with Laura Dern (“Marriage Story”) and Margot Robbie (“Bombshell”) have been front-runners for the said category.

4. The Farewell Was Shut Out

The Farewell did not only miss out on a Best Director nod for Lulu Wang but also missed out on any nomination on any category at the upcoming Oscars. The glaring omission aside from Wang is that of Awkwafina whose performance on the film was well received from the past year.

5. Swift and Knowles Both Snubbed

It seems the Acedemy Awards was about to get great publicity as coming into the day of nominations, both Taylor Swift and Beyonce Knowles songs for "Cats" and "The Lion King" have both been nominated in other award giving bodies. Although Swift's omission did not come as a surprise specially how critically panned "Cats" is, we are still in shock Beyonce was missed out.

6. No Acting Nominations for Parasite

Although Parasite grabbed a total of 6 nods including Best Picture, Best Director for Bong Joon Ho and Best Original Screenplay, it was so notable that none of its actors were given any nominations. It seems the Academy still finds it difficult to acknowledge acting talents from foreign language flicks.

7. Frozen II Missed Best Animated Feature Nod

In a twist of surprising events, Disney's Frozen II failed to grab a nomination for the Best Animated Feature Film. Although I personally think that it does not have a strong chance of winning, a non-nomination however came as a big shock. 

8. No Love for Taron Egerton

Despite winning the Golden Globe for best actor in a musical or comedy, Taron Egerton will not be in contention for the leading actor Oscar which was indeed a snub. His great portrayal in Rocketman at least merits him to get a nomination not necessarily a win.

9. Avengers: Endgame Only Scores a Best Visual Effects Nod

With the box-office success of Avengers: Endgame, it was not to be a surprise to have it on some of the technical list of nominees. Instead, it only landed one nomination for Best Visual Effects missing out on nominations on both Sound Editing and Sound Mixing of which it was thought to be shoo-ins.

10. Sandler Misses Cut

Another notable exclusion in the Best Actor nomination is Adam Sandler. His stellar performance in Uncut Gems was one of the surprise snubs of the upcoming Academy Awards.

WONDER WOMAN 1984 TRAILER WOWS

In 2020, DC is turning up the heat in the cinemas and with Wonder Woman 1984, they are sure to challenge the box-office dominance next year. And the well-loved heroine released the trailer to the sequel to the well received Wonder Woman film.

Gal Gadot reprises her role as Diana/Wonder Woman in this sequel and with what we saw in the trailer, this looks promising. The greatest surprise is seeing Chris Pine's character Steve Trevor back much to the delight of his fans. Also joining the cast is Kristen Wiig as Barbara Ann Minerva / Cheetah although we have not seen her in that full Cheetah character costume. And did I mention one scene on the trailer with Wonder Woman swinging through a series of lightnings was just superb. I can't wait to see the film this 2020.

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfM7_JLk-84

NO TIME TO DIE RELEASES TRAILER

The upcoming James Bond film "No Time To Die" released a trailer and fans gushed over the internet. While it will be a seemingly fitting ending to Daniel Craig's turn as the titular 007 agent, we are sure excited on this upcoming film if we are gonna be basing on the trailer alone.

The trailer shows us Bond who has left active service and is enjoying a simple life in Jamaica. But his peaceful life may have been short-lived as his friend from CIA turns up asking for help. The mission to rescue a kidnapped scientist turns out to be far more treacherous than expected, leading Bond onto the trail of a mysterious villain armed with dangerous new technology.

 Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, Ben Whishaw, Rory Kinnear, Jeffrey Wright, Léa Seydoux, and Christoph Waltz reprise their roles from previous films, with Rami Malek, Lashana Lynch, and Ana de Armas joining the cast. Judging from the trailer alone we can definitely be sure this one's gonna be action packed and thrilling.

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIhNsAtPbPI

2018 TOP FILIPINO MOVIE ACTORS

2018 is a record year for Philippine cinema and several actors lorded over the cinemas and made box-office and critical success.

1. Daniel Padilla

Last Year: 1

Maintaining his reign at the top this year is Daniel Padilla. With the record breaking success of "The Hows of Us", he and partner Kathryn Bernardo solidified their claim as one of the box-office draws in Philippine cinema. 

2. James Reid

Last Year: N/A

James returns to the big screen in 2018 with a compelling lover story drama "Never Not Love You". The more matured tone was enough to put a different edge to the growing portfolio of James in terms of films. He co-stars with real-life partner Nadine Lustre in this flick.

3. Tony Labrusca

Last Year: N/A

Glorious was indeed a buzz maker in the prior year and the controversial theme of the movie together with the intense scenes, record-breaking trailer and wonderful acting made Tony one of the hottest new actors of this generation. He also co-starred with Eddie Garcia in the drama ML which showed more of his intense acting chops.

4. Carlo Aquino

Last Year: N/A

The reunion movie of Carlo and Angelica created a lot of buzz with fans and followers of the two stars. Their film "Exes Baggage" made good money from 2018 and also received praises from critics and audiences alike.

5. JC Santos

Last Year: 10

"Mr. & Mrs. Cruz" and "The Day After Valentine's" continued to show how great an actor JC Santos is. The moderate success of this two low-budget films also shows that he indeed has a solid following among fans.

6. Paulo Avelino

Last Year: 6

It was another solid year for Paulo with him being part of Asintado series in ABS-CBN but he also did well in the big screen with 2 in 2018 - "Kasal" and the Gregorio Del Pilar biopic "Goyo: Ang Batang Heneral.

7. Vice Ganda

Last Year: 8

Vice continues his reign at the MMFF box-office battle and with his most recent film "Fantastica", he once more succeeded in giving laughter during Christmas season.

8. Aga Muhlach

Last Year: N/A

Aga successfully returned to the world of Philippine cinema in 2018 with the Paul Soriano helmed "First Love" starring opposite Bea Alonzo. 

9. Joshua Garcia
Last Year: 9

One of the younger stars in this group of great actors, Joshua Garcia has made sure that his star keep shining in the past year. He starred in "I Love You Hater" with on-screen partner Julia Barretto and made his fans "kilig" once more.

10. Enrique Gil

Last Year: 2

Handsome and hot are few words to describe Enrique Gil and he backs it up with great projects both on TV and movies. Although he did not star in any major film project in 2018, he remains to be one of most searched Filipino actors of today.

11. Edward Barber

Last Year: N/A

The other half of the newest love team between Maymay Entrata, Edward also successfully transitioned to the movies. This British-Filipino actor starred in 3 films last year ending the year with the Vice Ganda box-office comedy "Fantastica".

12. Jameson Blake

Last Year: N/A

Hashtags have produced great actors in TV and movies both mainstream and indie and Jameson Blake is one of them. He also starred in 3 independent movies on 2018 with the most notable one as "Ang Babaeng Allergic sa Wi-Fi" opposite Sue Ramirez.

13. JC De Vera

Last Year: N/A

Actor-model JC was one busy man in 2018. With TV appearances, modeling gigs and all he was still able to be in 3 films last year. his best turn came with the comedy "Ang Dalawang Mrs. Reyes", playing a gay husband to the character portrayed by Angelica Panganiban and who later on was revealed to have relationship with the character played by Joross Gamboa. 

14. Xian Lim

Last Year: N/A

The Kim-Xi tandem still has a ton of follwing but 2018 marked a year of fresh roles for Xian. He starred in 3 movies which do not feature their love team from the sexy drama "Sin Island", the indie "Corpus Delicti" and the endearing "Miss Granny". He also voiced Paddington Bear in the Philippine version of the Hollywood film Paddington 2.

15. Eddie Garcia

Last Year: N/A

Starring in 3 crticially acclaimed films in 2018 made Eddie Garcia the oldest yet one of the best from the past year. His versatility was shown in flawless manner as he portrays 3 different roles last year - a gay man in love in "Rainbow's Sunset", in his dramatic turn in "Hintayan ng Langit" and the dark drama "ML".

16. Dingdong Dantes

Last Year: 15

Dingdong Dantes starred in two films last year - the drama "Sid & Aya" and box-office MMFF entry "Fantastica" with Richard Gutierrez and Vice Ganda.

17. Derek Ramsay

Last Year: N/A

2 films in 2018 made for a good year for Derek. His drama "Kasal" proved how solid an actor he is and his other movie "The Girl in the Orange Dress" is more of a support role to Jericho Rosales and Jessy Mendiola but still works.

18. Jericho Rosales

Last Year: 13

Echo as he is more famously known ended the year on a high note in the theaters as he starred in the MMFF entry "The Girl in the Orange Dress" opposite Jessy Mendiola.

19. Gerald Anderson

Last Year: 7

His rom-com with Pia Wurtzbach made moderate success in 2018 and showed that he is still one of the few actors that have a solid following despite not having too many projects.

20. Marco Gumabao

Last Year: N/A

Kapamilya actor Marco Gumabao was one busy guy in 2018. He starred in 3 movies with the horror "Aurora" opposite Anne Curtis as his best commercial success in the past year.

Here are the rest of the actors that made headlines in 2018.

2018 TOP FILIPINO MOVIE ACTRESSES

These crop of ladies made their brilliance felt in the world of Philippine cinema for the year of 2018.

1. Kathryn Bernardo

Last Year: 2

With the box-office juggernaut of her film with Daniel Padilla "The Hows of Us", she certainly deserve the top spot in last year's hottest movie actresses in the Philippines. Aside from this she also appeared in the film "Three Words to Forever".

2. Sarah Geronimo

Last Year: 3

Just mesmerizing. Sarah Geronimo's believable portrayal in the "Miss Granny" adaptation made fans and critics applaud her work even more. And despite this not being a rom-com wherein she usually is strong at, she has shown that with a great script and story, she can still make one film successful.

3. Bea Alonzo

Last Year: N/A

Bea starred in two films in 2018 and both received critical and commercial success further solidifying Bea's spot as one of the great actresses of her generation. She made us love once more with "Kasal and "First Love".

4. Nadine Lustre

Last Year: N/A

Nadine made a winning return in the movie front for 2018. She starred opposite her real-life partner James Reid in the drama-love story "Never Not Love You" with her performance praised by critics and fans alike.

5. Angelica Panganiban

Last Year: N/A

Further putting a stranglehold in the comedy royalty status of Philippine cinema, Angelica started the year making us laugh with her film "Ang Dalawang Mrs. Reyes" with Judy Ann Santos. She also made social media and netizens wild with her reunion with former love interest Carlo Aquino in the tearjerker "Exes Baggage." 

6. Bela Padilla

Last Year: 6

Bela continues to make it big in both the film and TV side of things. In 2018, she starred in 3 films - "Fantastica", "The Day After Valentines" and "Meet Me in St. Gallen". She has proven to be one of the best rom-com actresses of this era.

7. Liza Soberano

Last Year: 1

Arguably the prettiest face of Philippine cinema of this generation, she continued to lord over social media platform and TV among other media. And though she did not have any new film from last year, she remains as one of the most searched actresses from last year.

8. Anne Curtis

Last Year: N/A

Anne Curtis sure is one busy lady in 2018. She starred in 3 successful films in the past year and above all of that she showed her versatility to her fans as her 3 films are from 3 different genres. "Sid & Aya" is a love story/drama, "Buy Bust" makes her dive into action and "Aurora" proved she also has chops in horror.

9. Judy Ann Santos

Last Year: N/A

Pinay royatly Judy Ann Santos may have her films not as often as before but she still packs the cinemas with her every release and this year's comedy "Ang Dalawang Mrs. Reyes" has once again reminded us that the actress can also make us giggle.

10. Maymay Entrata

Last Year: N/A

Fast rising star Maymay continues to make waves in the social media. Her two comedic turns (Fantastica and Da One That Ghost Away) in 2018 added to her continuous rise to the top solidifying her claim as one of the hottest new finds from the past year.

11. Angel Aquino

Last Year: N/A

"Glorious" alone did the trick for Angel Aquino. Often regarded as a highly underrated actress of the Philippines, she has proven that she is one of the best actresses there is.

12. Julia Barretto

Last Year: 10

Julia starred opposite her on-screen partner Joshua Garcia in the light drama/comedy/love story "I Love You Hater". 

13. Sue Ramirez

Last Year: N/A

Sue has successfully jumped her way into the big screen. And although she focused more on indies or low-budget flicks, she still showed us that she belong in this list. Her "Ang Babaeng Allergic sa Wifi" was a critical success in 2018.

14. Jessy Mendiola

Last Year: N/A

Jessy Mendiola ended the year on a good note starring opposite Jericho Rosales in the MMFF entry "The Girl in the Orange Dress".

15. Kisses Delavin

Last Year: N/A

18 year-old Kisses made steady transition to the film world after her PBB days. She had a minor role in the Vice Ganda comedy "Fantastica" after being one of the stars in the critically applauded film "Walwal".

16. Maja Salvador

Last Year: N/A

Maja has shown versatility in all fronts and with a strong showing in the small screen she also tried a bit in the big screen landing a role in the film "To Love Some Buddy".

17. Toni Gonzaga

Last Year: 9

Toni's star continues to shine in the past year. She made the MMFF with her film "Mary, Marry Me.

18. Pia Wurtzbach

Last Year: N/A

2015 Miss Universe Pia followed up her comedic turn from the 2017 MMFF film Gandarrapido: The Revenger Squad with the rom-com "My Perfect You" opposite Gerald Anderson.

19. Alex Gonzaga

Last Year: N/A

Toni's younger sister co-starred with her in the MMFF flick "Mary, Marry Me" which saw moderate success in 2018. Aside from this she starred in 2 smaller flicks "Nakalimutan Ko na Kalimutan Ka" and "Everbody Loves Baby Wendy".

20. Yassi Pressman

Last Year: N/A

Yassi is now a certified regular in the small screen with "Ang Probinsyano" and "ASAP" and she made herself busy as well in the big screen starring in 3 indie and low-budget films from 2018 most notably, "Para Sa Broken Hearted".

Here are the rest of the top actresses in 2018.