'Kung gusto mo, sa 'yo na siya'

Author: Mario E. Bautista
Column: Freehand

IS Valerie Concepcion fighting with Isabel Oli over cager Dondon Hontiveros? "No, we're not. "

Someone says Valerie and Dondon have been dating for two years and even her mom approves of him.

"It's true my mom likes him kasi he's really very nice," she says. "I really enjoy his company and I'm glad that my family likes him also. "

Just like her, Dondon is a single parent. "May anak din siya pero hindi rin siya kasal dun sa mother so legally, he's free. "

So they already have a commitment to each other? "None. Ayokong pangunahan at hindi rin ako ang type na mangungulit. As of now, we just enjoy each other's company. I don't want to force anything, baka ma-jinx lang. "

But how come Dondon is also being linked to Isabel Oli? It's said he even followed Isabel when she had a vacation in Boracay and she and Isabel are now fighting over the cager? "Close kaming tatlo as friends. Barkada kami. Dondon and Isabel are both from Cebu and they go to the same church. Si Isabel naman, nakasama ko noon sa isang soap when I was still with GMA-7 kaya friend ko rin talaga siya. "

So Dondon is not wooing Isabel as reported? "As far as I know, hindi totoo 'yun. After that Boracay thing came out, tumawag sa'kin si Isabel at humihingi ng pasensiya. Sabi ko naman, okay lang 'yun. Alam nyo naman sa showbiz, lahat, ginagawan ng intriga, di ba? Pero niloko ko pa nga siya. Sabi ko, kung gusto mo talaga siya, sa iyo na siya. Tapos nagtawanan kami. "

Valerie has a new leading man, Will Devaughn, in "Precious Heart Romances Present Bud Brothers". "We appear in the episode based on the novel 'Once in a Lifetime'. Si Will is Monty, yung babaero sa barkada nila who loves to explore and is always out of town. I play Isabel, cousin ng girlfriend niya who's asked by her parents to do something para paghiwalayin sila ni Will. Dahil dito, lagi kaming nag-aaway ni Will, but in the end, ako pala at si Will ang mai-in love sa isa't isa. "
DIRECTOR NOT AFRAID OF SHARON, AI-AI

DIRECTOR Joel Lamangan is grinning from ear to ear. "Fuchsia", the first offering of Sine Direk-APT Entertainment, won best picture in the musical or comedy category in the recent Golden Screen Awards and its main stars, Gloria Romero and Eddie Garcia, won as best musical or comedy actress and actor respectively.

"Magandang buena mano," he says.

Isn't he scared that his new movie, "Heavenly Touch," faces tough competition at the box office with the Sharon Cuneta-Ai Ai de las Alas comedy "BFF"? "Magkaiba naman ang market nila. 'Yung mahilig sa comedy, di sa kanila. Those who go for sex-drama, watch sila ng 'Heavenly Touch' at hindi sila mabibigo. "

"Heavenly Touch" is about masseurs. Didn't he feel daunted that Dante Mendoza has done a similar film before, "Masahista", than even won awards abroad? "Ano bang hindi? Siyempre, inisip ko talaga how to make this one different. Unang-una, sa kanila, walang nangyari dun sa masahista. Natapos ang movie, ganun pa rin ang buhay niya. And the great part of the film, set lang dun sa session niya sa loob ng massage parlor. Dito sa 'Heavenly Touch', I made sure na after this, dapat, tigilan na ang mga pelikula tungkol sa masseurs. So sa ending nito, nagrebelde ang mga masahista at pinatay 'yung cruel owner ng parlor who exploits them so much, si Jeffrey Santos. Tapos, 'yung manager ng parlor na lover ni Jeffrey, pinakitang pinapatay na ang lahat ng ilaw sa loob nila to show na ending na yun ng massage parlor nila. The masseurs naman, Paolo Serrano and Joash Balejado, they get the chance to live a new life in the province. O malayong-malayo 'yan dun sa una, ha?"

HOLISTIC APPROACH

YDA Henares of the GMA Artist Center believes in doing a holistic approach in developing their about 100 talents. "We believe that an artist should be trained not only in terms of acting or singing skills but, for them to reach their full potential, we should also help them develop their personality, attitude and character. "

She is assisted by Lou Gopez, head of talent development division, and Arsi Baltazar, talent management head. They offer summer public workshops that include intensive training on film and TV production, acting, dancing and singing workshops under the country's best speakers, trainers and facilitators. Workshops are ongoing until its culminating activity in July.

The GMAAC talents enrolled now in the Basic Acting Workshop are Steph Prescott, Ysa Villar, Princess Violago, Dex Quindoza, Gino Dela Pena, Jace Flores, Patani, Kaye Alipio, Joy Velasco, Nikki Dacullo, Rita Iringan, and Ram Revilla. In the Advance Acting Workshop, participants are Mark Herras, Rainier Castillo, Aljur Abrenica, Kris Bernal, Paolo Avelino, Victor Aliwalas, Mike Tan, Dion Ignacio, Prince Estefan, Felix Roco, Dominic Roco, Ryza Cenon, Jewel Mische, Jackie Rice, Isabela De Leon, Rich Asuncion, Isabel Oli, Nadine Samonte, Arci Munoz, Chariz Solomon, Steph Henares, Vaness del Moral and Kevin Santos. The worshops are being held at the newly-opened Talent Development Hall at the recently-inaugurated GMA Annex building, now the place GMAAC talent development center calls its very own.

What sets the GMA summer workshops from the rest is that it also gives the students a chance to feel and be treated like stars. The culminating activity will be the students' very own concert production and premiere night. The productions will compete in the annual Sindie Festival held by GMAAC for every culminating summer event. GMAAC has also struck a deal with the John Robert Powers for courses on Personality Development for all its artists all year-round. Tie-ups with L'Oreal, Shu Uemura, Lancome, Maybelline, Mary Pauline Salons and G-Bantolino Salons also aim to help out the workshop students and talents. . The Campus Crusade of the Philippines also gives seminars and follow-up counseling services to the artists. Anthony Pangilinan has opened the lines of communications via the disturber@yahoo. com web dialogue for those who have special concerns. Financial management seminars are open both to the artists and their families and managers are also available. It is through this holistic approach that GMAAC aims to achieve the most effective and most unique way to develop their talents.
MOVIE REVIEW: T2

DIRECTOR Chito Roño's first two horror flicks, "Feng Shui" (2004) and "Sukob" (2007) are both blockbusters and they're both about ghosts. His latest, "T2", is different. The trailer itself shows child star Mika de la Cruz proclaiming that it's about "Mga engkanto!" It opens with a teenage boy looking for his lost goat in the fields when he sees an anachronous huge airplane landing right in front of him.

The movie then focuses on Claire (Maricel Soriano),a volunteer worker for a non-governmental organization taking care of orphaned kids. She's having problems with her husband Jeremy (Derek Ramsay,) who's obviously younger than her who's asking for a trial separation. To forget her problems, she volunteers to take a young boy to his adoptive family in Samar. On her way back home, a nun asks her to take a girl, Angeli (Mika), to a relative in Manila. The girl behaves strangely, apparently scared of something. A series of strange and scary incidents happen to Claire and Angeli, culminating in their both being taken to the parallel world of the engkantos.

"T2" is not really a horror film so those who expect to be scared out of their wits will be disappointed as it does not have the jolting boo moments of "Feng Shui" and "Sukob". What Rono succeeds in accomplishing here is establishing a genuinely creepy atmosphere filled with much anticipation and dread as to where the story is really leading to and what would happen to Maricel and Mika.

We tried to go along with the mysterious and eerie goings-on expecting something really nerve-wracking, but it turns out that the long preparation is like a wick that is so lengthy but when it finally explodes, it gives out a whimper instead of an explosive bang. Honestly, the pay off after the lingering moments of expectation is not worth the long wait. In its climax, "T2" becomes a heavy drama about mothers searching for their long lost child, particularly in the case of the mysterious old woman (Tetchie Agbayani) who goes with Maricel and Mika to the engkanto lair.

Our feeling while watching the film's concluding scenes was: "Ano ba yun? Naging heavy drama. " The movie also suffers from the over-explanation that the script supplies to clarify who Mika really is, complete with flashback scenes of her engkanto mom turning into a gnarled piece of wood. The ending shows the characters emoting galore then Tetchie turns out to have something in her pockets that can destroy the engkanto world and she suddenly spreads it all around. Whatever that destructive element is that scares all the engkantos, there was no preparation for it whatsoever.

Even the way Maricel's problem with her husband was resolved turns out to be much ado about nothing. Jeremy realizes he still loves her very much and asks for a reconciliation. Ho-hum. In fairness to Maricel and Mika, they're both effective in their respective roles as the harrassed humans. Eric Fructuoso also gives good support as Maricel's ill fated driver. But the scene stealer here is Malaysian actress Carmen Soo as the queen of the engkantos. Her dominant screen presence is perfect for the role. She delivers all her lines in Tagalog but it's obvious someone else dubbed for her. John Lloyd Cruz does a cameo and is made to wear a ludicrous wig that rivals that of Nora Aunor's obnoxious hairpiece in "Sidhi". As for the special effects used in the film, it's uneven. Some are good but mostly, the CGI work is sloppy.

Source: People's Journal