Thursday, May 13, 2010

Issue 20: May 12, 2010


Here Comes Tom Rodriguez
(in ABS-CBN International’s Starry Starry Store’s “Here Comes The Bride”)

By Bradford Adkins, Manila Mail Community Editor

TO-BE SEEN IN THE CITY

I love writing about this guy’s story because he is from here. And because he is just like most of us with almost nothing but talent, ambition and burning desire to fulfill our own dreams. He used borrowed funds (to purchase hotel and airfare) from his sister to follow his dreams, wearing a size smaller shoes that looked great for the auditions, but hurts his feet tremendously (this he confided to this columnist during the audition breaks). He literally walked his way to the nearest hamburger joint (for dinner, alone) to his hotel the night before the Bay-Area’s grueling auditions. He was using his brother’s cellphone (he can’t afford his own) to communicate back home then. Discovered from last year’s CA Great America Theme Park’s ‘One Kapamilya, Go’ auditions, Tom Rodriguez (the former Tom Mott, who flew for the auditions all the way from AZ on the same day he was supposed to sign a government contract to be with the Navy Seals) shares comedic limelight with Angelica Panganiban and Eugene Domingo as they go for big laughs in “Here Comes the Bride”. Starry Starry Store brings this soul-swapping comedy riot for summer to 7 U.S. cities starting May 21st.

US-raised Tom Mott's (now known in the Philippine showbiz as Tom Rodriguez) road to stardom is now being paved as his very first movie, "Here Comes The Bride" will be shown here in the US (it opened in Manila on May 12th) starting on May 21st. He is now being co-managed by Super Power Agent, Boy Abunda (who sold most of his properties to help friend Kris Aquino fund the campaign of now leading Presidential candidate, Noynoy Aquino).

Knights of Columbus Saint Francis Chapter Officers (L-R) Steve Banez, Ruben Sy, Bradley M. Roxas and Eddie Santamaria.

Happy couple last Mother's Day was Gary and Love Fallorina who welcomed first and only child, Rodolfo Allesandro 'Sandro' Fallorina (born March 18, 2010 around 7:58 am at 7 pounds, 9 ounces, 21 inches), after 10 years of waiting.

Riding high on the recent box-office success of the Sam Milby-Anne Curtis light romantic comedy, Babe, I Love You, ABS-CBN International’s Starry Starry Store goes full throttle with the laughs via the hilarious new film, Here Comes the Bride, a joint summer offering from Star Cinema, Octoarts and Quantum Films. The film will screen in San Francisco , Milpitas , Vallejo , San Diego , Los Angeles-Buena Park, Los Angeles-Chino and New Jersey-Bergenfield.

Belated Happy Birthday (May 9th) to Dino Enriquez, right, of San Ramon, shown here with wife, Mitos.

Anna Francesca Villanueva Noriega will be graduating on May 29, 2010 from San Jose State University with a Bachelor of Science Degree, Major in Kinesiology. Anna graduated from Moreau Catholic High School (Hayward) in 2005 and Holy Spirit School (Fremont) in 2001. Anna is the daughter of Rosanna & Sonny Noriega.

Here Comes the Bride is Tom Rodriguez’s very first movie (he shared with me the information that he is now being co-managed by Super Agent, Boy Abunda together with the mega-giant of a station that is ABS-CBN) and it also stars the versatile and sexy Angelica Panganiban and the eternally wacky Eugene Domingo. Angelica has already scored a winner this year in the U.S. with the mature drama I Love You, Goodbye back in January. Eugene proved she can carry a movie by playing the title role in Kimmy Dora: Kambal Sa Kiyeme which was a major hit in the Philippines last year. Joining them in this new film is a very able supporting cast with Tuesday Vargas, Cherry Pie Picache, Jaime Fabregas, John Lapus, Kim Atienza and a host of unknown good-looking creatures in skimpy clothing.

San Francisco Socialites, Sylvia Ford (right) and Glenda Kennedy, among others, dined with the Fallorina couple (Gary & Love) when they introduced to family and friends their one and only child, Sandro Fallorina, last Mother's Day at the Hilton in Burlingame, CA.

The plot is delightfully original and incredible, merrily mixing cultural superstitions and pseudoscience to generate humorous situations of the metaphysical kind. Gentleman Harold (Tom) and the virginal Stefanie (Angelica) are set to have a romantic beach wedding. They did not factor in that their wedding day coincides with a solar eclipse. As their guests - which include their spinster godmother Precy (Eugene), the ring-bearer’s harassed nanny Medelyn (Tuesday), the bored groom’s grandfather Bien (Jaime) and flamboyant make-up artist Toffee (John) – head for the wedding site, they pass a high magnetic field spot. Showing shades of the Bermuda Triangle mystery on ground, a freak accident occurs where everyone loses consciousness. The result? An absolutely chaotic soul exchange that threatens to mess up the lives of the entire bridal entourage forever! Will the wedding ever push through for Harold and Stefanie?

Alma Bernabe-Roxas (left) and Bradley M. Roxas attended the Knights of Columbus Saint Francis and San Jose Chapters Testimonial Dinner at Moose Lodge Daly City last Saturday, May 8, 2010.

“It’s a pandemonium of a movie but it’s a lot of fun,” laughed Kerwin Du, ABS-CBN International’s head of theatricals. “That’s the kind of mood that we want to create this summer – we want to bring in a barrel of laughter, have families go to the theater, enjoy watching a Filipino film and have a real good time.”



Written and directed by award-winning producer-screenwriter-book author-director Chris Martinez (who penned Caregiver and Sukob), Here Comes the Bride will be shown in the following cities:

May 21-27

SAN FRANCISCO
UA Stonestown Twin
501 Buckingham Way
San Francisco, CA 94132

MILPITAS
Century Great Mall
1010 Great Mall Drive
Milpitas, CA 95035

VALLEJO
Century Vallejo
109 Plaza Drive
Vallejo, CA 94591

SAN DIEGO
UA Horton Plaza
475 Horton Plaza
San Diego, CA 92101

LOS ANGELES-BUENA PARK
Krikorian Premier Theatres
8290 La Palma Avenue
Buena Park, CA 90620

LOS ANGELES-CHINO
Cinemark Movies
5546 Philadelphia Street
Chino, CA 91710

May 21-June 3

NEW JERSEY-BERGENFIELD
Clearview Bergenfield Cinemas
58 South Washington Avenue
Bergenfield, NJ 07621

For more information, please visit www.abs-cbnglobalmovies.com. Catch the trailer also at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwOuNsclEpI

SEEN IN THE CITY
“Babe, I Love You” – Extended!
Yes, Jocelyn, your wish was finally granted (she missed the last day showing of this movie at the Milpitas’ Great Mall Theaters last week for all remaining runs were sold-out). Due to insistent public demand, ABS-CBN International’s Starry Starry Store added one more city to the already successful U.S. theatrical run of Star Cinema’s Babe, I Love You. Beginning Friday, May 7th, the Sam Milby-Anne Curtis romantic comedy will also be shown in Vallejo , California .
This certified box-office hit in the Philippines has already made over 95 million pesos in the Philippines in five weeks. Here in the U.S. , it made a well-received theater run in San Francisco and San Diego , California , Las Vegas , Nevada , Seattle , Washington , Los Angeles-Cerritos, California , Honolulu , Hawaii , New Jersey-Bergenfield, Milpitas , California and Chicago , Illinois .
The schedule for the last leg of Babe, I Love You is as follows:

May 7-13
VALLEJO
Century Vallejo
109 Plaza Drive
Vallejo, CA 94591

It is also currently showing in New Jersey-Bergenfield up to May 13th .

NEW JERSEY-BERGENFIELD
Clearview Bergenfield Cinemas
58 South Washington Avenue
Bergenfield, NJ 07621
www.MovieTickets.com

For more information, please visit www.abs-cbnglobalmovies.com.

“Heart 2 Heart” A Journey of Love Music to Remember
Meet and Greet on May 25, 2010 at Embassy Suites, South San Francisco, CA. For VIP tickets please call: 415-806-5896, 415-205-0114. Catch this exciting ensemble in SAN FRANCISCO on MAY 29 (SATURDAY) at 7:30PM at the Nob Hill Masonic Center.

PERSONAL NOTES

Congratulations to happy couple, Gary and Love Fallorina who held a ‘Mother’s Day’ dinner party last Sunday night at the Hilton SFO in Burlingame, CA in celebration for the birth of their first child, Rodolfo Allesandro Fallorina (‘Sandro’ for short, born March 18th, 2010). The venue’s long table was peppered with this town’s socialites, which included Sandro’s beauteous grandma, Liberty Ilagan, Sylvia Ford, Glenda Kennedy, among others.

Belated Happy Birthday to San Ramon’s Dino Enriquez, (husband of my very best BFF in the whole wide world, Mitos Cunanan) who celebrated with family and friends last Sunday night.