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The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio - Movie Review and Free SHowing

The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio (2005) stars Julianne Moore as the indefatigable mother of 10 and witty writer Evelyn Ryan. 



I got to learn about the Prize Winner of Defiance Ohio (2002) on one of my frequent trips to the second-hand bookstore. I love reading about women who made it through the odds and survived as winners. And Evelyn Ryan was such a compelling character—humorous and practical, tough but smiling, gentle but with a steely determination to keep ends meeting despite the struggles of raising 10 kids, living with an alcoholic husband, and bouts with poverty and despair. Yes, she was a real life wonder woman who met adversities with her pen, notebook, boxes upon boxes of product wrappers, and the gift of crafting humorous and witty lines in “25 words or less.”

Synopsis

Hers was a story of a mother looking for ways to augment her husband's already insufficient income by joining the jingle-writing craze, that hit America after World War II and went through until the early 1960s, when games of luck, or sweepstakes, took the place of this unique competition. What a writer Evelyn was because her winnings, ranging from $1 cash prize she won from poetry writing contests to thousand-dollar cash prize, grocery shopping sprees, and free travel, all did well for her family and came just in time to save them from impending trouble.

Free Film Showing. Enjoy Watching Here!










Movie Review

The film adaptation was equally touching, as was the memoir of Ryan's daughter, Teri. The film stars on of the best actresses of her generation, four-time Oscar nominee Julianne Moore, with a strong supporting characters led by Woody Harrelson and Laura Dern.

Roger Ebert, of the Chicago Sun-Times, said that Moore's role “is like the small-town cousin of Cathy, the Connecticut housewife she played in Far from Heaven (2003). Cathy was trapped in a sterile marriage, and a world where men made all the decisions and women were locked in supporting roles. Judging by the body count around her dinner table in Ohio, Evelyn Ryan's marriage is not sterile, but it is a trap.”

Furthermore, Egbert applauded the film for avoiding “obvious sentiment and predictable emotion and shows this woman somehow holding it together year after year, entering goofy contests that for her family mean life and death.”

Meanwhile, Chris Kaltenbach of Baltimore Sun was not as enthusiastic as Egbert, commenting that “Anderson sees her subject as little more than a game-show contestant. One suspects the real Evelyn Ryan deserved far better.”

Bill Muller of Arizona Republic however was ecstatic when he said that the film showcased both Moore's and Harrelson's acting best, saying, “Rarely do you have a movie in which both lead actors give Oscar-worthy performances, but Defiance, Ohio is one.”

Carrey Rickey of Philadelphia Inquirer noted that one thing that “distinguishes Anderson's work is her obvious empathy with all of her characters, including Kelly Ryan, whom she does not demonize,” while Wesley Morris of Boston Globe critiqued that the film's story has nothing that much, “it the characterization of a family's life is vivid and rich.”

All in all, movie aggregator Rotten Tomato rated The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio with 57% approval rating.

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George Clooney's Compelling Performance in The Descendants Honored at 69th Golden Globes

George Clooney scoops his second Golden Globe Award this year for his role as the Honolulu-based lawyer who is confronted with the challenge of her wife who fell for comatose in the comedy-drama, The Descendants.

Clooney won Best Actor in Drama.
Clooney's performance was praised by critics and the film itself received excellent reviews. Clooney has earlier won Best Supporting Actor for Syriana.





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Meryl Streep Wins the Golden Globe for Iron Lady



For the 26th time, Golden Globe perennial favorite Meryl Streep has scooped the trophy. This year, she was honored for her role as Britain's first and only female prime minister, Margaret Thatcher in the biopic, Iron Lady. 


During it's release, critics were all-praises for Streep's compelling performance. Early reviews have praised Streep's portrayal.


Meryl Streep, 69th Golden Globe Awards Best Actress for
Drama, The Iron Lady.
The Times Kevin Maher said: "Streep has found the woman within the caricature." David Gritten at The Telegraph wrote; "Awards should be coming Streep's way; yet her brilliance rather overshadows the film itself." Meanwhile, Xan Brooks of The Guardian praised Streep's performance as "astonishing and all but flawless".Critic Baz Bamigboye of the Daily Mail wrote: "Only an actress of Streep's stature could possibly capture Thatcher's essence and bring it to the screen. It's a performance of towering proportions that sets a new benchmark for acting," while Richard Corliss of Time wrote that Meryl Streep's performance one of the Top 10 Movie Performances of 2011.


Streep holds the record of being the actor with the most Golden Globe wins.  

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My House in Umbria (2003) tells us that every person we meet leaves a lasting imprint in our lives.


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Luise Rainer, Biography: Awards


Luise Rainer was the first actress to win back-to-back Academy Awards.

Luise Rainer, photographed her with her Oscar.
Notice that she wore no make-up, her hair isn't
coiffured, and she was wearing a rather shabby
dress. VERY RAINER!
Luise Rainer made a record-setting win after scooping the Academy Award for Best Actress twice in a row. An article in Internet Movie Database best depicts Rainer's performance as well as her successive wins for two of the best films of the 1930's, The Great Ziegfeld (1936) and The Good Earth (1937). 

As Anna Held, Ziegfeld's common-law wife, Rainer excelled in the musical numbers, but it is for her telephone scene that she is most remembered for. The Great Ziegfeld was a big hit and went on to win the Academy Award as Best Picture of 1936. Rainer received her first of two successive Best Actress Oscars for playing Held.

Luise Rainer as Anna Held in The Great Ziegfeld (1936).

The Great Ziegfeld movie poster.

Anna Held opposite the love of her love, the great Florenz
Ziegfeld (played by William Powell).

The award was highly controversial at the time as she was a relative unknown and it was only her first nomination, but also because her role was so short and relatively minor that it better qualified for a supporting nomination. (While 1936 was the first year that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences honored supporting players, her studio, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, listed her as a lead player, then got out its block vote for her.) Compounding the controversy was the fact that Rainer beat out such better known and more respected actresses as Carole Lombard (her sole Oscar nomination) in My Man Godfrey (1936), previous Best Actress winner Norma Shearer (her fifth nomination) in Romeo and Juliet (1936), and Irene Dunne (her second of five unsuccessful nominations) in Theodora Goes Wild (1936).

Some of the bitchery was directed towards Louis B. Mayer, whom non-M.G.M. Academy members resented for his ability to manipulate Academy votes. Other critics of her first Oscar win claimed it was the result of voters being unduly impressed with the great budget ($2 million) of "The Great Ziegfeld" rather than great acting.

Most observers agree that Rainer won her Oscar as the result of her moving and poignant performance in just one, single scene in the picture, the famous telephone scene in which the broken-hearted Held congratulates Ziegfeld over the telephone on his upcoming marriage to Billie Burke while trying to retain her composure and her dignity. During the scene, the camera is entirely focused on Rainer, and she delivers a tour-de-force performance. Seventy years later, it remains one of the most famous scenes in movie history. With another actress playing Held, the scene could have been mawkish, but Rainer brought the pathos of the scene out and onto film.

She based her interpretation of the scene on Jean Cocteau's play "La Voix Humaine." "Cocteau's play is just a telephone conversation about a woman who has lost her beloved to another woman," Rainer remembered.

'That is the comparison. As it fit into the Ziegfeld story, that's how I wrote it. It's a daily happening, not just in Cocteau.'”


Luise Rainer as the illiterate Chinese farmer O-Lan in
The Good Earth (1937) another Oscar winning role.

Of her performance, she said in an interview 60 years after the film's release, Rainer was dismissive of performance. “I was never proud of anything," she said. "I just did it like everything else. To do a film - let me explain to you - it's like having a baby. You labor, you labor, you labor, and then you have it. And then it grows up and it grows away from you. But to be proud of giving birth to a baby? Proud? No, every cow can do that."

Come the awards night, Luise Rainer did not attend the ceremony, so once Mayer learned that she had won best actress, he immediately summoned MGM publicist Howard Strickling to fetch her. She made a commotion when she arrived so master of ceremonies George Jessel mistakenly announced her win, which should have been done by Bette Davis.

Of her second Oscar-winning role, Rainer described the performance as something that she worked “inside out.”

“It's not for me, putting on a face, or putting on makeup, or making masquerade. It has to come from inside out. I knew what I wanted to do and he let me do it," she said. The win made Rainer the first two-time Oscar winner in an acting category and the first to win consecutive acting awards.

Rainer summed up her Oscar wins as the “worst” possible thing to happen on her career. In a 1938 interview, Rainer exclaimed that being awarded twice made her "work all the harder now to prove the Academy was right." The critic James Agate admired Rainer's performance in The Good Earth and described it as "an exquisite rendering", however she was criticised in reviews by Picturegoer. Max Breen was among those critics indignant that Greta Garbo's performance in Camille had been overlooked in favor of Rainer.

After 1938, Rainer had totally totally shown no interest for Hollywood. Her 1943 performance in Hostages was her last, until she made a little comeback in 1997.

But despite the short span of her career, Rainer made an imprint in the cinematic history of Hollywood. In the league of Garbo and Deana Durbin, she was one of the very few people to turn its back to an industry that a lot of people turn their whole life to. She was iconic for portraying—and fighting to play—unglamorous but meaty roles, and her achievement as a back-to-back Oscar winner is something not every actress is given the honor to savor.

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Under the Tuscan Sun (2003) teaches us to embrace every blessing that life may give.


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Luise Rainer, Biography: Hollywood Filmography

Throughout Rainer's career as a Hollywood leading leading, she only appeared in 9 films, 8 of which she played as a contract star in MGM. In 1997, she made a short-lived comeback via The Gambler.





















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Luise Rainer, Biography: She Turns 102 and Still a Sprite, Grand Dame


Luise Rainer, who turns 102 this Jan. 2, remains the oldest living Oscar winner and one of the last surviving Hollywood greats of the 1930s. 

Luise Rainer, Hollywood's one and only Viennese Teardrop.
This coming Jan. 12, Luise Rainer will celebrate her 102nd birthday. She reaches another milestone in her life as the oldest surviving Academy Award winner and one of the last surviving actress from Hollywood's golden age.

In what was considered as the most popular
telephone scene in the world, Rainer delivers
a tour de force performance as stage star Anna
Held, in The Great Ziegfeld (1936), a role that
earned her her first Oscar for best actress.
Although she is mostly unknown today among movie watchers, she will be forever remembered as the first actress ever to win back-to-back Academy Awards for Best Actress. Dubbed as the Viennese Teardrop, Rainer's Hollywood career was short and she only made eight films along the duration. Nevertheless, she left an image of a headstrong woman who refused to kneel on the studio system. She turned her back on a promising career but that very act made her legendary and unforgotten to this day.

When she signed a contract with MGM, she was poised to become the next queen of the lot, at par with the studio's leading ladies, Greta Garbo and Norma Shearer. But that didn't work out well with her. Instead of choosing predictable vehicles that could have cast her on glamorous roles, she picked characters of deeper personality that made impact with the audience.

Solidifying her stature as one of Hollywood's more
 critically acclaimed actresses of her era, she played
as the peasant O-Lan in another Oscar-worthy
 performance in The Good Earth (1937).
Rainer was not the usual actress of her era. She was in league with Hepburn and Garbo, who both displayed personalities that defied Hollywood convention. While Garbo shunned publicity and Hepburn hated convention, Rainer displayed both, which is one reason why she punctually exited Hollywood even before it got rid of her.

At the start of her career, Rainer made it known that she never liked stardom or facing the press people for interview.

"Stars are not important, only what they do as a part of their work is important. Artists need quiet in which to grow. It seems Hollywood does not like to give them this quiet. Stardom is bad because Hollywood makes too much of it, there is too much 'bowing down' before stars. Stardom is weight pressing down over the head — and one must grow upward or not at all,” she said.

Learn more about Luise Ranier, Hollywood's Viennese Teardrop and The Elisabeth Bergner of Light Comedy, in a biography I wrote for her two years ago.

Or, enjoy her interview with Scotsman in time for her 100th birthday.


A tribute to Ms. Rainer 


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2011 MMFF Box-Office Results (2 Weeks)


Enteng ng Ina Mo, run-away hit.

Here is the accumulated gross earnings of MMFF entries from Dec. 25, 2011 until Jan. 7, 2012, with the Vic Sotto-Ai-Ai delas Alas starrer Enteng ng Ina Mo as the run-away winner, passing the elusive P200-million mark at P237.88 million. Kris Aquino's prayer was granted as Segunda Mano grabbed the number 2 spot, with P126.63 million in box-office earnings. The third slot was occupied by Bong Revilla-Marian Rivera starrer Ang Panday 2, P105.6 million.


1. Enteng ng Ina Mo - P237.88 million
2. Segunda Mano - P126.63 million
3. Panday 2 - P105.6 million
4. My Househusband, Ikaw Na! - P62.1 million
5. Shake, Rattle & Roll 13 - P55.48 million
6. Manila Kingpin: The Untold Story of Asiong Salonga - P38.44 million
7. Yesterday Today Tomorrow - P10.68 million


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Sukob - Movie Review and Free Showing

Sukob, the highest-grossing horror movie of the Philippine cinema, stars Horror Queen Kris Aquino and Optimum Star Claudine Barretto. 



Sukob is another Kris Aquino vehicle that made her stood out in a genre where she gives her best. Meanwhile, this is Claudine Barretto's first- and so far her only- foray in horror. When both stars met on screen, what came out as a horrific horror movie, considered by many as one of the best horror films to grace the cinema. Add the directing prowess of seasoned and award winning Chito Rono and you'll have a movie that's worth watching again and again. 

The film showcases the Filipino belief that no siblings should get married on the same year. 

Synopsis




Sandy (Kris Aquino), an overseas worker, comes home to wed Dale (Wendell Ramos). Unexpected things happen prior and after her wedding. Her secondary sponsors, and later on, her friends and relatives disappear one by one. More mysterious things happen when Sandy sees her wedding photos. The people who disappeared were headless on the photos. Joya (Maja Salvador), Sandy's psychic cousin, tells her she is cursed by the Sukob. Sandy is puzzled because no one in the family died or married, until she finds out that she has a half-sister, Diana (Claudine Barretto). They seek the help of a shaman, who tells them that one must sacrifice to put the curse to a stop. 

Stay put and get yourself ready for a horror-rific movie adventure with Sukob! Enjoy the free showing! 













Movie Review

"Unlike most local pictures of the same genre Sukob succeeds as a horror, suspense thriller," praised the CBCP World. "Right from the beginning, ambience starts to build up with the extensive panning of old abandoned houses. 

"Visuals with well chosen details, some flashed quickly on screen, as well as effective sound effects including sudden jolts and booms, keep the viewers on edge.  The ingenious interweaving of the stories of two women in similar circumstances keeps the moviegoers' interest. "

Nevertheless, "the sudden switching from one locale to another" at the start of the film was  "confusing to the spectator who has not gotten a 'handle' to the story."

The use of symbols and other devices in the film was exquisitely done, while the cast, did their best  performances. 

"Editing is tight," continued CBCP Words, with all-praises given to "Chito Roño for his creativity as director and writer."

Foreign viewers also lauded sukob. 

One vacationer from New York said Sukob interests him a lot because it has "those sudden scary moments that make you jump out of your seat. 

"I am not Filipino but that plays no role in being able to like this movie. I watched this with my girlfriend (who is Filipina) and we both loved it. Both Kris Aquino & Claudine Barretto did a nice job. A must see movie for any Horror fan," he continues. 

Another foreign viewer noted: "Most of the horror is atmospheric--the director gets a lot of mileage out of a creepy little flower girl and some swirling leaves--and overall the story is more poignant than gory. There's a set of dichotomies at play throughout the movie, which I thought was interesting: it's a palimpsest of urbanity and wealth on top of a humbler, darker existence."

Cast

Kris Aquino as Sandy
Claudine Barretto as Diana
Wendell Ramos as Dale
Boots Anson-Roa as Tessie
Ronaldo Valdez as Fred
Bernard Palanca as Brian
Liza Lorena as Gilda
Maja Salvador as Joya
Raquel Villavicencio as Belen
Jhong Hilario as Erning
Maureen Mauricio as Paula
Glaiza de Castro as Grace
Cris Daluz as Dante
Neil Ryan Sese as Michael
Ku Aquino as Mang Cesar


Box-Office Performance

Sukob grossed a whooping P186 million, making it the highest-grossing Filipino film until the John Lloyd Cruz-Sarah Geronimo-starrer You Changed My Life (2009). It remains the highest-grossing Filipino horror film. 

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Catch Me I'm In Love - Movie Review and Free Showing

Catch Me, I'm In Love stars Gerald Anderson and Sarah Geronimo.




Catch me I'm in Love is the first team up of Pop Princess and Box-Office Queen Sarah Geronimo and heartthrob Gerald Anderson. It was the first movie release of Star Cinema for the year 2011. A smash box-office hit, it grossed more than P120 million. 


Movie Trailer




Plot


Roan (Sarah Geronimo), a vibrant lady with high hopes for love is tasked to accompany the Erick (Gerald Anderson), the son of the president on an immersion trip to the countryside. Both came from two different worlds, both having two different way of thinking, and both personalities came to fight with one another, only to find attraction and fall in love in the end. 


Free Showing Here:




Movie Review


Movie was critically positive for most of the reviews. Philippine Entertainment Portal writer Rica Tomines critiqued that the plot was predictable, fast-paced, and lacks the heavy drama and complicated twists, something unusually for a Tagalog film. But she was all praises for the characters. "Sarah effortlessly conveys the emotions of a girl who falls in love for the first time, and she falls real hard," she said. "Gerald, on the other hand, was convincing as the guy who falls for the girl way out of his league, and stays true to his feelings."


Meanwhile, Relnard Raquedan critiqued: :"Sarah Geronimo has definitely mastered the art of the Filipina romantic. In Catch Me... I'm In Love, she effortlessly pulls off the 'I've never had a boyfriend ever, but I'm willing to wait it out' schtick."


Of the plot and storyline, he said, "There's really nothing in the story that most viewers have not seen before in a rom-com-- except that there's a sever lack of humor in this movie. Also, romantic sparks are thinly spread in the movie that will disappoint a lot of the viewers."


Nevertheless, the cheesy lines are enough to keep you giggling and swooning while enjoying this rom-com offering.  

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Tyron Perez - Movies

Throughout his career, Tyron Perez appeared in three films, mostly indies, where he was cast in bold and daring roles. 

Malikmata (2003)
Twilight Dancers (2006)
Pipo: Ang Batang Pro (2009)


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Tyron Perez - TV Shows

Before joing Starstruck, Tyron Perez's first TV appearance was at German Moreno's Master Showman: Walang Tulugan. His last was in Maalaala Mo Kaya. 

Perez' first TV appearance was in Master Showman's Walang Tulugan.

Starstruck (2003)

Kung Mamahalin Mo Lang Ako (2005)

Kung Mahawi Man ang Ulap (2005)
Bakekang (2006)

Lupin (2007)

Midnight DJ (2008)

Momay (2010)

Perez appeared in three MMK episodes: Larawan and Marriage
Contract (both 2010) and Baunan, shortly before his death (2011).

Your Song Presents: Andi (2010)

Imortal (2010-2011)

Mula sa Puso (2011)

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Tyron Perez - Biography


Tyron, who died Dec. 29, 2011, is another tragic show business figure.

Tyron Perez may have dreamed of heading the news line. Throughout his career, he never received much press coverage more than he did on his grim death December 29, 2011. Yesterday, Jan. 5, he was finally laid to rest, with the thought that the promising actor must have finally achieved eternal peace.


Early Life

Born Sept. 14, 1985 in Concepcion, Tarlac, Tyron was born Jojo Perez to a family that subsists in farming. He grew up a farmer's son and spent his childhood in the fields with his six siblings. At the start of his career, Tyron would recall that he and his father rose with the sun.

In one of the stories wrote about him, There, on top of the carabao, he dreams to be in showbiz. He imagined himself acting with Kris Aquino, his crush and idol. Until he was in high school (at the Benigno Aquino National High School), he and his dad would milk their carabaos early mornings and sell the milk. Sometimes, they would sleep in the middle of the rice fields when we had to water the seedlings (nagpapatubig ng palay)."

Showbiz Career

Tyron was initially enrolled at the Bulacan State University, where he was a freshman in his Fine Arts studies before he quit to join show business. Before joining GMA-7's reality star search, Starstruck, Perez was a mainstay in German Moreno's late-night show, Master Showman Presents Walang Tulugan, where he was a member of MSP Teenstars, a teen group with a regular weekly performance.

In 2003, he joined the pilot season of Starstruck, an all-talent competition where the winners were given showbiz breakthrough. Aside from Perez, other contenders who are now popular celebrities include Cristine Reyes, Jennelyn Mercado, Mark Herras, and Katrina Halili.

Perez was eliminated on the sixth of the competition, but under the management of Douglas Quijano, he was given several television projects by GMA-7. He was cast mostly in supporting roles on several television series, including Carlo J. Caparas' Bakekang (2006) and Lupin (2007).

Meanwhile, he made three films throughout his career, although independent movies, where he was cast in bold and daring roles. They were Malikmata (2003), Twilight Dancers (2006), his most controversial, and Pipo (2009).

On the death of Quijano, Perez's already stand-still career dipped until he transferred to ABS-CBN in 2010, where he emerged as one of the promising actors of the station. With the help of director Jerry Lopez-Sineneng, Perez signed with the station's talent arm, Star Magic.

His first assignment as a Kapamilya was to portray the role of Gary, Glydel Mercado's spoiled son in Elena Patron's Momay (2010). He was later cast in Imortal (2010) and Mula sa Puso (2011), and became a regular performer in the long-running anthology Maalaala Mo Kaya.

Death

Perez was found dead inside his car in Valenzuela City, on Dec. 29, 2011 and investigations revealed that he committed suicide. His remains were buried at Jaica Cemetery in Concepcion, Tarlac on Jan. 5, 2012. Tyron was married to Liv Espino,a flight attendant.  

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