Limelight

Review by Lindsey Bahr / The Associated Press It’s not until the climax of The Man From U.N.C.L.E., a colorful, Cold War-era spy thriller, that its main failing becomes clear: The plot doesn’t matter.

Twelve films from nine countries, including an Academy Award winner and two short comedies by one of Japan’s finest filmmakers, will be screened for free at the Ninth International Silent Film Festival in Manila, to be held at Shangri-La Plaza’s Shang Cineplex in Mandaluyong City from August 27 to 30.

By Mark Kennedy / The Associated Press New York—Jose Llana got his first professional acting gig by trying on his dream role: professional actor. The talented Filipino-American singer and performer was 19 when he skipped class to attend an Equity audition for the 1996 Broadway revival of The King and I, despite not owning a union card. Llana waited until a fellow actor didn’t show up for his time slot. “I looked around …

By Teresa Cerojano / The Associated Press The Filipino-American co-director of the box-office hit Inside Out says it’s a dream come true for him to be sharing with Filipinos the animated film he helped create.

Review by Jocelyn Noveck / The Associated Press I’ll admit it: About an hour into Fantastic Four, the inexplicably plodding and dreary new attempt to adapt the beloved Marvel story, I started thinking about Ethan Hunt from Mission: Impossible.

After 39 years, 180 productions, numerous artists and countless possibilities, Dulaang Unibersidad ng Pilipinas (Dulaang UP or DUP) is all set to begin its 40th season with the theme “20/20 Vision: Clarity. Originality. Perspective.” With Dexter M. Santos as the theater company’s new artistic director, this season’s line-up puts premium on strengthening the DUP brand and continuing its legacy. The …

Review by Jocelyn Noveck / The Associated Press There’s some interesting talk in the cleverly satisfying script of Mission: Impossible—Rogue Nation about the element of luck. As in: How much is luck a factor in the success of Ethan Hunt and his Impossible Missions Force (IMF) cohorts? After all, in the last movie they merely saved us from a nuclear holocaust. Was it talent, …

Review by Alvin I. Dacanay There’s a scene in Red Turnip Theater’s elegant, intellectually engaging production of Moisés Kaufman’s 33 Variations that highlights one of its central themes. In it, the main character, musicologist Katherine Brandt (Shamaine Centenera-Buencamino), discusses transfiguration—not of Christ, she quickly clarifies—as transforming something ordinary into something extraordinary, as improving a banal work and making it sublime. In …

Days after it was announced that she will hold a concert in Manila early next year, Madonna says she thinks artists deep into their careers should stop if they don’t have anything more to say. 

Review by Todd McCarthy / The Hollywood Reporter Based on an earlier teen fave novel by The Fault in Our Stars author John Green, Paper Towns is a mild coming-of-ager about dawning awareness and life lessons learned among a small group of Florida high school seniors. Part mystery story, part road movie and part pre-prom graduation romp, the film is most …