Made Me Cry Twice: CHANCES ARE, YOU AND I in Theaters Today!

The night was indeed stellar at the SM Megamall Cinemas because of the red carpet premiere of CHANCES ARE, YOU AND I which stars hunky Kelvin Miranda and the angelic Kira Balinger. We had the chance to talk to the stars a few weeks back, but this time, I'd like to concentrate more on the actual movie which we got to see last night May 28, 2024.

It's about two strangers who had the same fate, finding their lives intertwined at very interesting points. The hospitals wouldn't be just providing care, but a launch pad for realizations and grounds for what seem to be "opposite personalities" at first, then became that tiny flame that would ignite care, an adventure, special friendships, and love.

Do not at any instance downplay this movie to be just a cute chick flick. Kelvin has been recently awarded the Most Prolific Dramatic Actor Award at the Jinseo Arigato Film Festival in Nagoya, Japan. Kira on the other hand had several scenes to pull heartstrings, which is surprising to see for a neophyte lead in this film. They didn't even had to force themselves, it felt quite natural because you will bear witness with their love story.

If there's anything to add that should be noted amazing in this film is Kelvin and Gian Magdangal's confrontation scene. Tart Carlos also had her moment with Kira Balinger when she had to admit all her faults, it was personal and heartbreaking. Jinho Bae whom people might expect to only blurt out Hangul in most of the scenes in Korea, will be your breath of fresh air. His comedic timing is impressive and as he revealed, he was personally surprised about having 80 percent of his adlibs being put in scenes when he was quite sure it should have been cut by the director. You'll love him for that!

I think I cried twice, and you might have to bring a few sheets of fascial tissues for that. You can now see CHANCES ARE, YOU AND I on theaters starting today! Bring your friends, significant others and family because you'll love how they executed it. 

Photography is A+, plan and go, or flip a coin if you need to decide. This is produced by Pocket Media Productions, Inc. and Happy Infinite Productions. They will have Regal Films distribute this to 130 (I heard) cinemas nationwide!

Get Obsessed with "The Influencer" on VIVAMAX

In this day and age, you’ve probably seen an influencer strut their stuff on social media channels. It’s a shortcut to stardom for some, while others use it for other things.

Yexel is an influencer, one that has a dysfunctional family, living quite a fake life. He goes out with friends, some to spend the night with. But in one of these parties, he meets Nina... one that would change his life.

Yexel becomes a kid in a candy store initially. When he’s with her, he takes on Nina like a ravaging hungry testosterone filled maniac who doesn’t want to be far from her... that's til she mentions how she wants to become more serious, but Yexel obviously wasn’t into that.

Unbeknownst to Yexel, Nina has her own secrets. Yes, the film will be really packed with lots of scenes that VIVAMAX is known for (almost half of the scenes will be like that). It’ll get really really overboard once Nina starts taking out her real personality and all hell breaks loose.

This script is interestingly written, at the helm of Quinn Carillo I'd liken her style to be of Quentin Tarantino, she doesn't mind how much shock factor her story is and it's something that you'll look forward with her work. Albeit this is the first time Direk Louie Ignacio is tackling this genre, it was well executed and done realistically, researched well.

You will be a little exhausted at the end of this movie, feel how they'll be trying to connect what's happening in some of the darkest sides of the influencers they got these stories from; because Direk Louie says, this is something that they wanted to show, something so real that they wouldn't be defending much on the story line of "The Influencer" which comes out on August 12th.

We've seen Sean De Guzman in his other projects, but this by far will impress you even more. Cloe Barreto sits even crazier, when you think she's done that in her past films, this will put her in an even higher form. You'll take her as the woman who's going to be seriously insane, and it'll be a good thing.

You can download VIVAMAX on the App Store, Google Play or the Huawei App Store too. They have subscription plans that you can save a lot from if you get the longer subscription time. See how you too can become OBSESSED with it and other shows on the platform. This is produced by 3:16 Media Network, Mentorque Productions and is exclusively shown on the VIVAMAX app.

Not for the faint of heart, not for kids either!

VIVAMAX: "TAHAN" When Things Take A Dark Turn

We went in the cinema of Gateway Mall for the screening of the film TAHAN, a movie which will be shown solely on streaming platform VIVAMAX. Cloe Barreto plays the role of Elise, a woman who was forced to work in the high end escort industry; she started at a very young age. To provide for herself and her Mother, she had to seek clients for pay to do all their wishes. She falls prey to different kinds of folks, some kind, some abusive, which puts her in the brink of losing hope.

Her relationships are all complicated, but it pays the bill. Although in a rut, she does several encounters to feel she's the dominant one, being served as she doesn't have that on normal days. She also got into vices, so she could forget about what’s happening. She also gets involved with a guy (a former high school fling) played by JC Santos (also multi awarded actor). He represents her way out, her wishing to change ways, but all fails as she gets sold and forced by her Mom; depicted by 2016 Cannes Film Festival Best Actress Ms. Jaclyn Jose. The film also stars Mercedes Cabral, Karl Medina, EJ Salamante, AJ Oteyza and Jet Delgado. Quinn Carillo wrote this film, but also stars in it as the protagonist's best friend. 

 

Talented writer and actress Quinn Carillo who slayed the script!

Cloe Barreto plays Elise

 

AJ Oteyza, Quinn Carillo plays interesting characters

JC Santos plays Cloe's high school sweetheart. What will become of him when things go south?

Not to patronize her, but Quinn really put the needed shocking twists in the script of this film. Although it delved on content appealing to men, Director Bobby Bonifacio, Jr. made risky creative interpretation to make Quinn's script come alive. It felt like a long dream sequence, one that takes all the things she probably feared the most to happen on screen. If you think about it, this movie is matriarchal in nature, on how their relationships and dynamics work... until things take a dark, dark turn.

All in all, this is a showcase of talented actors. Cloe Barreto has really leveled up her acting chops straight from her other projects like "Silab". Aside from that, JC Santos presents a different persona who still has to tell their story. They were high school sweethearts who lost touch. This may also open up a lot of possibilities, a prequel, another installment, which can be possible since the story asks for it. As expected, Madame Jaclyn Jose proved why she's world class. She's very generous, and let Cloe shine when she needs to in the film. I'd be really surprised if this didn't snatch an award from different festivals which they plan to do soon. Here's some videos I made of the presscon which happened after the screening:

You can watch this movie solely on the VIVAMAX app, you can download it off web.vivamax.net, Google Play or the App Store. Payment is a monthly subscription which you can do on the website, or various digital wallets. It can also be accessed in countries like UAE (Dubai), Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar or elsewhere in Europe where available. You can also download it on East and Southeast Asian countries, New Zealand, Australia, the US and Canada. Having this be accessed worldwide, it's already doing the deed of introducing Filipino films worldwide. Congratulations to the cast and production of TAHAN and I'm glad plans for another film from the same production will be in the works soon.

 This film is sick, and I LOVE IT!