Vhong: 'Di ko kayang tularan si Dolphy

Author: People's Journal

Vhong Navarro admits he personally requested Star Cinema to get Valerie Concepcion as his leading lady in "Supah Papalicious", but this is not because he wants to court her. "It's common knowledge naman na may girlfriend ako ngayon," he says, referring to Desiree del Valle who attended the premiere night of his last movie with his two kids, Frederic Vhong and Isaiah Vhong, in tow. "Kinuha ko lang si Valerie kasi she's new to ABS-CBN. Fresh na fresh pa siya kaya magiging fresh din ang tambalan namin. Also, she's perfect for the role, that of a single mother, and everyone knows may anak na siya, di ba? It turns out, napakagaling niyang artista kaya hindi ako nagsisi at all na siya ang nirekomenda kong maging kapareha ko. "

He says Dolphy is his idol. Is this the reason why he's also linked to many women and has two sons, both first borns? "Hindi ko yata makakayang tularan si Tito Dolphy sa parteng 'yun. May 18 anak daw siya and these days, mahirap ang ganun karami. Hindi ko makakaya. Ang gusto kong tularan sa kanya, 'yung pagiging professional niya, very caring sa mga katrabaho at iginagalang ng lahat. Actually, gustung-gusto kong gawin ang isang old movie niya, 'Facifica Falayfay', na sobrang hit in its time. Palagay ko, it will be an ideal gay role for me. Dito nga sa 'Supah Papalicious', I play three other roles and two of them are women. "

In the story, Valerie wants to meet his family and so he dons various disguises to be able to see his to her some of his relatives, all also played by him: a black guy named Apple like Apl de Ap of Black Eyed Peas, a matron named Ate Barbara and a wrinkled grandma.

"This is my most difficult movie so far as I have to have different prostethic make up for each of these characters. Bawat isa, four hours bago mailagay and two hours naman ang pagtatanggal. Mahirap, dumidikit sa balat at nagkaka-rashes ako. But it's worth it, habang pinapanood namin ang mga eksena ko, lahat kami, tawa nang tawa. "

After "Supah Papalicious", Vhong will next be paired with Toni Gonzaga in "Amnesia Girl" (which must be like Adam Sandler's "50 First Kisses" where Drew Barrymore had amnesia). But Dingdong Dantes and Marian Rivera also have a project with GMA Films entitled "Amnesia", a thriller.

BELO LAUNCHES NEW MAG
DR. Vicki Belo, doctor to the stars, had a grand launch for her Belo's Skin Magazine with Claudine Barretto and for the opening of the new clinic of the Belo Medical Group at the 3rd floor of Trinoma Mall.

The park and garden at the 4th floor of Trinoma was transformed into a fabulous party place heralding in the coming of summer. Joyce Jimenez, Dingdong Dantes and Mariel Rodriguez were the first celebs to arrive, with Dr. Vicki's boyfriend, Dr. Hayden Kho, hosting the affair. Hayden definitely now has his own showbiz career. After his stint in "MariMar", he's now in a TV series to be shown in Singapore no less.

Skin Magazine features the celebrity endorsers of Belo giving testimonials about how the treatments they get from Dr. Vicki continue to enhance their good looks.
The mag has never before seen photos of Lorna Tolentino, Christopher de Leon, Zsa Zsa Padilla, Richard Gomez, Albert Martinez, Anne Curtis, Lucy Torres, Katrina Halili, John Lloyd Cruz, Sam Milby, Piolo Pascual, Ara Mina, Joyce Jimenez, Ai Ai de las Alas, Christian Vasquez, Bianca Gonzales, Eula Valdez, John Estrada, Paolo Contis, Will Devaughn, and many others.

"I'm so proud of our new magazine that highlights the many beauty breakthroughs we have pioneered in for the past 18 years," says Dr. Vicki, a specialist in thermage, firm plus, eyelid and nose surgery, carbosytherapy, mesotherapy, pan-G, botox, breast augmentation and laser hair removal. "I'm also proud of our new Trinoma clinic, after our clinics in Podium and Rustan's Makati, that makes us more accessible to people from various places who want to avail of our services. "
With its expansion to the malls, the Belo clinic is the first ambulatory surgical center outside the hospitals, certified by the DOH. For inquiries about the magazine and their clinics, call Belo help desk at 844-2939 or visit their website at www. belomed. com or email infor@belomed. com.

Q-11 PAYS TRIBUTE TO WOMEN
Q-11 pays tribute to women this March with "Women's Month Campaign. " Known as the premiere channel specially designed for women, Q-11 launched its month-long campaign with a series of TV plugs featuring its top female personalities and their respective advocacies. In doing so, Q-11 seeks not just to celebrate women's month but to empower and inspire its viewers by creating an image of a Filipina as an extraordinarily selfless woman.

Apart from being television personalities, a number of Q-11's female hosts still opt to do more to the betterment of others, like multi-awarded Jessica Soho (Reunions) who's an active advocate of responsible broadcast journalism, Rhea Santos (News on Q/Women's Desk) who's involved in the "Get Caught Reading
, and Miriam Quiambao (The Beat) who extends her time in supporting the AGAPE Foundation, an organization that provides self-mastery workshops for public school teachers.

For several years now, Carmina Villarroel (Day Off) has been supporting the Philippine Orthopedic Hosp. Pia Guanio (Ang Pinaka) is active in fighting for animal rights by supporting PAWS. Lucy Torres (The Sweet Life) is an active supporter of the Philippine National Red Cross and Project Brave Kids that helps indigent children with cancer while Lani Mercado (Moms) does her own share in preserving the environment by promoting garbage segregation, tree planting and coastal clean ups. Aside from her restaurant business and hosting job, chef Rosebud Benitez ( Ka-Toque ) is also involved in advocating national pride through the Yabang Pinoy organization and Kythe, an organization that sponsors pediatric cancer care. Catch more of these "Women for Others" only on Q-11.

10,000 BC: DULL LOOK AT THE PAST
HOLLYWOOD has always been fond of movies set in prehistoric times. One such memorable film of our teen years was "One Million Years B. C. " (1966) with its poster featuring the very sexy Racquel Welch. This was a hit so they came up with "Prehistoric Women" the next year. Then there was "Quest for Fire" with Rae Dawn Chong, also "Caveman" with Ringo Starr. Even the comics was fascinated with pre-historic times as seen in "The Flintstones" that became a hit cartoon TV show and later, a movie that even had a sequel. Other cartoon films set in prehistoric times are "Ice Age" and "Land Before Time", that are both successful that they spawned sequels.

We now have "10,000 BC," directed by Roland Emmerich of "Independence Day" and "Day After Tomorrow". It opens with Omar Shariff as voice over narrator telling us ominously about D'Leh (Steven Strait of "Sky High", "The Covenant") and the girl with blue eyes, Evolet (Camilla Bell of "When a Stranger Calls"). They are a couple gifted with perfect teeth and predicted to free their mountain tribe, where the prevailing hairstyle is dreadlocks, from the oppression of "four-legged demons" (villainous slave traders on horses) and lead them to a better future. They're in love with one another but their love is unfulfilled because D'Leh is considered an outcast after his coward of a father earlier abandoned him and their tribe.

A gang of foreign armed men attack their village and abduct some of their people, including Evolet who becomes the object of lust of a slave trader, so D'Leh vows to search for her and rescue her. Three other men help him track down the kidnappers and their victims. These are the elder Tictic (Cliff Curtis), his rival Ka Ren (Mo Zinal) and the teenage boy, Baku (Nathaniel Baring). They have to cross snowy mountains, tropical forests, and a vast expanse of desert in their journey.

D'Leh falls into a big hole and gets to save a saber-tooth tiger who gets trapped there. Later on, the tiger protects him from harm when a tribe of black people gang up on him and his companions. For being able to communicate with the tiger, the black people consider him their prophesied savior, their chosen one.

They join forces and their journey brings them to a river where huge colorful sailboats take the captives to a big city ruled by priests and their powerful god-like leader called the Almighty, somewhat like the setting of a previous Emmerich movie, "Stargate". The captives will be used as slaves in building pyramids. In his attempt to rescue his damsel in distress, D'Leh manages to politicize all the slaves and convinces them to revolt against their oppressors. With the help of some seeds, he also succeeds in transforming his people from being hunters to being farmers in an agricultural community.

The main problem with the movie is that we've just seen its concept and storyline in "Apocalypto" and "Pathfinder" starring Karl Urban, that are definitely more exciting to watch than this one, especially "Apocalypto" that is expertly directed by Mel Gibson and has an awesomely thrilling chase sequence.

In comparison, "10,000 BC" is so dull and lacking in energy, especially in the middle part that really drags and makes you pray for more tolerance.

We don't expect well written characters and an epic love story in this kind of movie, but they could have very well just set it in a parallel universe so that we'd be asking less questions, like why do some tribes speak modern day English and others don't. The movie also takes itself too seriously, like the presence of that wise old crone in D'Leh's tribe who, through some kind of mystical mumbo-jumbo connection, also goes through all the situations that D'Leh experiences and even becomes the reason for the resurrection of a character who already died.

In all fairness, the computer-generated animals (especially the mammoths) and the pyramids look spectacular on screen, with the varied landscapes shot by the camera with splendid visual sweep. But alas, these are not enough to make an action-adventure movie that will sustain our interest.

Email at mmhannah143@yahoo. com

Source: People's Journal