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The drama has received mixed reviews from viewers and critics alike. One of the main strengths of the drama is its portrayal of the main character's journey towards self-acceptance and self-confidence. The drama highlights the importance of inner beauty and self-love, and encourages viewers to embrace their imperfections.

Another strong point of the drama is its talented cast, including Moon Ga-young, Cha Eun-woo, and Hwang In-yeop. They delivered excellent performances, and their chemistry was palpable.

However, some viewers criticized the drama for its portrayal of unrealistic beauty standards and promoting the idea that makeup can solve all of a person's problems. The drama has also been accused of romanticizing toxic behavior, particularly in the relationship between Lim Ju-kyung and Lee Su-ho (played by Cha Eun-woo).

Overall, "True Beauty" is an enjoyable drama that offers a powerful message of self-love and acceptance. However, it is important to approach the drama with a critical eye and recognize its limitations in portraying a realistic representation of beauty and relationships.

Dear David adalah sebuah kisah misteri yang populer di internet, yang bermula dari kicauan Twitter seorang penulis bernama Adam Ellis. Ellis mengaku bahwa ia dihantui oleh roh seorang anak laki-laki bernama David yang datang membunuhnya dalam mimpi-mimpinya dan akhirnya merasuki rumahnya.

Video-video yang dibuat oleh Adam Ellis tentang kisah Dear David menjadi sangat populer di internet karena alur ceritanya yang menarik dan misterius. Ellis secara teratur memposting foto dan video tentang apa yang terjadi di gudang dan apa yang ia alami dalam mimpi-mimpinya. Ia juga bukti menunjukkan-bukti visual tentang aktivitas paranormal yang ia alami, seperti bayangan dan suara aneh di rumahnya.

Banyak orang yang merasa terpesona dengan kisah Dear David karena alur ceritanya yang menarik dan menggugah rasa penasaran. Namun, beberapa orang juga meragukan kebenaran kisah ini dan merasa bahwa ini hanyalah upaya pemasaran atau hoaks. Meskipun begitu, tak dapat dipungkiri bahwa kisah Dear David telah menarik perhatian banyak orang dan menjadi bahan diskusi populer di media sosial.

Secara keseluruhan, Dear David adalah sebuah kisah misteri yang menarik dan menggugah rasa penasaran banyak orang. Video-video tentang kisah ini menampilkan bukti-bukti visual yang menakutkan dan membuat penonton bertanya-tanya apakah kisah ini benar-benar terjadi atau hanya sekedar fiksi.

February 19, 2023

Edmar (VR Relosa) was the lazy, good-for-nothing son of hardworking market vendor Aling Loleng (Rubi Rubi). One day, while investigating a water leak, he saw and peeked into a makeshift enclosure and saw a pretty young woman taking a bath inside. In the following days, he stalked her to find out her name was Karisma (Manang Medina) and that she was living with an older man Vicencio (Julio Diaz) with whom she had intimate relations. 

Aling Loleng and the other vendors in the market were facing eviction after being scammed by their agent who never remitted their rent to the owner. However, instead of helping his mother out, the more Edmar pursued his risky obsession with Karisma. Their relationship progressed to a consensual sexual one, even as Vicencio already amended his will to leave everything to the adopted daughter he lusted after and loved.

VR Relosa's Edmar was one sexually-preoccupied dude who must have had more than five scenes of pleasuring himself either in an erotic fantasy world of his own or while peeping into an unsuspecting woman's private room. It was either that or he was having sex with Karisma or with his mother's manicurist Divine (Pow Pai). The rest of the time, he was just being a lazy useless lout, not really doing anything promising for a debut. 

Manang Medina does not have a particularly memorable or star-quality screen name.  She was either taking a bath or engaging in a sexual act, no substantial acting moment to shine in throughout the film. Come to think of it, that final moment of hers sitting in the car of Atty. Acosta (Arnold Reyes) was more promising than everything else she did before that point. Sky Alvarez as the promiscuous market vendor Betbet even made a stronger impression

Whether Relosa or Medina can reach the level of Sean Guzman or Angeli Khang in the Vivamax stable still remains to be seen. But hopefully they can be given more substantial material than the thin dreadful story told here, their debut feature. A proficient performance of character actress Rubi Rubi as Edmar's patient mother and an estafa case to justify the extra time beyond the unstimulating sex scenes are not enough. 2/10. 

February 19, 2023

Some time after the death of his long-suffering wife Charo (Cherry Pie Picache), Don Valentin Esposo (John Arcilla) invited all ten of his mistresses to his palatial mansion. Aside from celebrating his birthday, he also wanted to bid them farewell and announce his upcoming marriage to the new woman in his life. His head housekeeper Lilith (Eugene Domingo) and her platoon of maids have been tasked to keep everyone pampered and happy. 

They were: the first one Magenta (Carmi Martin), the pawnshop owner Babet (Pokwang), the beauty doctor Helga (Agot Isidro), her former assistant Diva (Kris Bernal), the fortune teller Aura (Arci Munoz), the online meme celebrity Because (Adrianna So), the perpetual beauty contestant Sparkle (Kate Alejandrino), the K-drama fan Moon Young (Sharlene San Pedro), the mysterious Lady G (Christian Bables), and the latest one Coco (Iana Bernardez).

However when the grand party that night abruptly ended because of a sudden death that looked like murder, everyone in the house is considered a suspect. 

Writer-director Jun Lana was inspired by Agatha Christie when concocting this comedic murder-mystery. Many of Dame Agatha's classic elements were there -- a gathering of people in a fancy remote location, all of whom all have an axe to grind with the person who gets murdered, making all of them possible suspects as the perpetrator of the crime. However, I thought that he might have bitten off more than he could chew for this one.

When I got news about this latest Jun Lana project, I had just seen an Italian movie called "Seven Women and a Murder" (Alessandro Genovesi, 2022) on Netflix, which in itself was based on a French movie called "8 Women" (Fran�ois Ozon, 2002). Basically the same scenario, eight women gathered in one big house when the patriarch was found murdered, and the women try to figure out among themselves who the killer was.

Lana had the boldness to go further and set the number of disgruntled mistresses at an ambitious ten. This meant that he would have to give each one a good backstory to make them viable as suspects. He was not able to, he had no time. Aside from Magenta, Babet, Helga and Lady G, none of the other mistresses even mattered at all. Lilith and her murder-mystery-fan maid Chiclet (Donna Cariaga) had more significance. 

Lana was also unable to have all the mistresses engage among themselves equally. Mostly, one mistress would only engage in catty arguments specifically with one other rival mistress -- Magenta vs. Babet, Helga vs. Diva, Because vs. Sparkle. Lady G always played it dark, cool and nonchalant. Aura's wacky weirdness was simply all over the place. The youngest ones, Moon Young and Coco would always stick together, but are drowned out in all the hubbub. 

I wished the actual execution of the crime could have been developed more carefully and logically. Can one person actually do all of those things by herself? Instead, we had to sit through several useless minutes of the mistresses bitching among themselves and screaming over expensive gifts. In contrast with the rest of the film, the final act became far too serious with a rather self-serving and self-exculpating message.

This film held the distinction of the being the first Filipino original movie produced by Amazon Prime Video. With all the hype, I guess expectations can run too high, and hence may disappoint discriminating murder-mystery fans. However, easily the best aspect of this film would have to be the visual spectacle created by the lavish, colorful, and  outlandish haute couture of the mistresses designed by costume designer Jaylo Conanan. 5/10. 

February 18, 2023

This film was not exactly a straight-up biopic about Ninoy Aquino as you may be expecting. Yes, we are told about and shown scenes recounting the important events in his life story. However, as conceived and executed by writer-director Vincent Tanada, these events served as the framework upon which stories of common people of the present time who were inspired by Ninoy Aquino's life and words are weaved in and told. 

Based on Tanada's first stage musical in 2009, "Ako si Ninoy" the film told its stories through original songs (lyrics by Tanada and music by Pipo Cifra) interspersed in the narrative. Like in Tanada's previous film "Katips" and his other musicals, the centerpiece song was a beautiful love song with a complex vocal arrangement. In this case, of course, this song was led by Ninoy and Cory, later to be joined several other characters who were also in love.

The film opened grimly with a recreation of that famous grainy video of Ninoy Aquino (Juan Karlos) being escorted out of the plane by soldiers and shot to death on the tarmac, as witnessed by "Crying Lady" Rebecca Quijano (Sarah Javier). From there, Aquino himself narrated his own life story, from his birth, to his journalist stint in the Korean War, his courtship of Cory, his prodigious political career, his days as political prisoner and in exile in Boston. 

Making cameos in these historical flashback scenes were: Jim Paredes as Benigno Aquino, Sr., Lovely Rivero as Aurora Aquino, Azenith Briones as Mrs. Kalaw, who encouraged Ninoy to pursue his dream to be a journalist. Tanada's own son Peter Parker Tanada played 10-year old Vince Tanada who got lost in the crowd during Ninoy's massive funeral parade -- a little anecdote that Tanada's father would often tell during family reunions. 

Intersecting with these historical flashbacks were stories set in the present day about regular people. At first, these characters were introduced as as individual people, but later we will see how their lives were somehow interconnected. It was odd how they were being enumerated in a specific order, and not based on their relationships as one would logically do. However, this mystery would all be cleared out before the final frame.   

Noli (Johnrey Rivas) was an OFW working in Saudi to support his wife Ivy (Vean Olmedo) and son Osborne (Brae Luke Quirante). Ms. Nunez (Nicole Laurel Asensio) was a dedicated school teacher who supported students' rights. Oscar (JM Yosures) was a fearless news reporter who made a daring expose of a politician's corruption. Yosef (Joaquin Domagoso) was a popular teen actor who wanted to go back to school. 

Andeng (Adelle Ibarrientos) was a labor leader who led a strike to protest unjust retrenchment. Quentin (Mario Mortel) was an activist who rallied along with farmers seeking justice. Dr. Ungria (Jomar Bautista) was a compassionate physician who stood up for his patients' rights. Ingrid (Cassy Legaspi, in her film debut) was a student troubled with a big problem. War veteran Nanding (Bodjie Pascua) was a US Citizen who longed for home. 

Making cameos in these modern day stories were: Tuesday Vargas as Yosef's demanding manager Miss Sugar, Donita Nose as her nosy assistant Tanya, Carla Lim as an annoying aspiring actress Jessa, Brylle Mondejar as Mang Simeon whose cause Andeng was fighting for, and Pinky Amador as Dean Esmeralda Argos, a thinly-veiled caricature of a certain well-coiffed advocate for the true, the good and the beautiful.  

The film may have its cheesy moments or overly sentimental melodrama, but the point of this film was to inspire its audience that Ninoy Aquino was not an unreachable hero. His heroism can be achieved by being the best of ourselves in whatever we do in our daily lives. Juan Karlos did not only play Ninoy Aquino here, but also various people we meet in our neighborhood everyday, like a cab driver, janitor, photographer and many more.

In the trailer, we already hear the strains of Juan Karlos's big breakthough 2018 hit song "Buwan" in the musical score. In this film, one of the highlights was a full-on, powerful rendition of "Buwan," in a deliberately deeper and darker version, sung hyper-dramatically by Juan Karlos himself as the desperate, helpless Ninoy Aquino detained in prison, where he was forcibly separated from his greatest love, Cory. 

Vince Tanada's directorial vision and technique carries over from his stage work to his films. Bad wigs and rough CG effects aside, Tanada knew how to speak to the younger audience, how to tickle their sense of humor, how to pull at heart strings, how to elicit "kilig." Juan Karlos knew the importance of this role to his filmography, and gave this performance his all.  Nicole Asensio, Joaquin Domagoso and Adelle Ibarrientos gave the most notable supporting turns. 

Aside from the inevitable mention of Martial Law and that one classic joke about the Japanese man talking about the president who "robs" you, Tanada kept political matters only at surface level. There were no actually no deep dives into dirty details of the Aquino v. Marcos rivalry here. Even so, one's opinion on this film's merits would still depend on where one sat on the political fence that divides this country even to this day, 40 years after Ninoy's assassination. 

February 16, 2023

Charlie (Brendan Fraser) was a morbidly obese middle-aged homosexual man who lived alone, still mourning the death of his partner Alan. He taught online college-level writing courses, but kept his webcam off so his students could not see what he looked like. Despite his massive body frame, impaired mobility, high blood pressure and impending congestive heart failure, Charlie still could not control his eating binges on chicken or pizza.

Liz (Hong Chau) was a nurse who visited frequently to check up on Charlie. She was Charlie's only real friend and cared for him genuinely. Dropping in occasionally was Thomas (Ty Simpkins), a young man who introduced himself as a missionary of the New Life Church, who expressed a desire to save Charlie from hell. Charlie wanted to reconnect with Ellie (Sadie Sink), his rude and rebellious teenage daughter by his ex-wife Mary (Samantha Morton). 

This dark and depressing film by Darren Aronofsky was about the final days of a physically and emotionally trapped man. The screenplay was written by Samuel D. Hunter adapted from his own 2012 play. One can feel the theatrical origin and pace of the storytelling. There were welcome touches of humor once in a while, but the overall mood was heavy and sad. Delving into religious hypocrisy and LGBT discrimination, this film is definitely not for everybody. 

Hong Chau's Liz was a no-nonsense, frank but loyal friend. Her performance may not be so flashy, but her performance was nevertheless gritty and hit hard, hence rewarded with an Oscar nomination. Sadie Sink, fresh from her breakthrough in "Stranger Things" Season 4, had a strong impact as the very angry and very broken Ellie. Samantha Morton may only have one scene, but Mary's moment with Charlie was bittersweet and touching. 

However, the best reason for most people to watch this film is really to see the screen comeback of much-missed Brendan Fraser. His performance as Charlie had consistently been topping the Oscar predictions list for Best Actor from the start of the awards race last year, and now he's actually poised to win it. If at first it may have just been a sentimental vote, actually watching Fraser's performance confirmed that he IS the worthiest winner.

Fraser had been covered in a heavy, unwieldy, grotesquely deformed fat suit here, making this a most physically-exhausting role to play. However, this role was also as much a psychologically-harrowing and emotionally-taxing one as well. Yet beyond Charlie's checkered past and lonely existence, Fraser still managed to project a likable nature that shone through on his kind face. As Charlie knew his end neared, Fraser made us weep along with him. 8/10. 

February 15, 2023

Axel (David Licauco) worked as a DJ in a club. Ria (Shaira Diaz) worked as a call center agent for a medical services company. The two met in college, quickly became sweethearts and decided to live together against the wishes of their families. The first two years had been smooth sailing and happy. However lately, they had been getting into arguments for being remiss with assigned chores and bills to be paid.

Despite reminders from his best friend Chester (Mark Rivera), Axel still willfully entertained these girls, like the pretty, carefree Jiana (Cassie Banks), who throw themselves at him in the bar. Aside from her BFFs Howie (Luis Hontiveros) and Clara (Dindi Pajares), Ria's concerned manager Jacob (JB Saliba) also went out of his way to hear Ria her personal frustrations, which were negatively interfering with her performance at work. 

Like the generic title, the story did not really have anything innovative about it. Axel and Ria were just another one of those young adult couples in local romance dramas who go through a very rough patch in their relationships. There was nothing particularly memorable about these two people -- their adulting problems, their relationship issues, or even the bold compromise solution they agreed on -- these had been all done before in other local films.

There are parts in the continuity of the storytelling that did not seem too logical. In one scene they seemed to be making up already, then the very next scene they were at each other's throat again. This was especially evident in the climax and ending, which did not seem to flow smoothly from the scene immediately before it. Not sure if it was a problem with Lawrence Nicodemus's screenplay or RC delos Reyes's direction. 

I had seen David Licauco and Shaira Diaz in their first film together -- "Because I Love You" (Joel Lamangan, 2019). Even back then, the two had a good chemistry with each other and were convincing as a couple. That first film was a romcom with wacky characters (he was a billionaire playboy and she's a fireman). That winsome quality also reflected in this more dramatic love story, with more realistic characters which end up at odds with each other. Their sensitive performances elevated the overall quality the film. 6/10.