January 11, 2016 – CINEMA BRAVO

January 11, 2016January 11, 2016 Cinema Bravo Movie

Saoirse Ronan plays Irish immigrant in ‘Brooklyn’

The profoundly moving story of “Brooklyn” about a young Irish immigrant played by who has already won her Best Actress awards for her deeply moving performance in the movie in recently concluded British Independent Film Awards, Boston Online Film Critics Association, Detroit Film Critics Society, Hollywood Film Awards, New York Film Critics Circle, Santa Barbara International Film Festival and the Washington DC Area Film Critics Association will soon open exclusively in Ayala Malls Cinemas starting January 27.

“Brooklyn,” a frontrunner at the upcoming major film awards such as the Golden Globes and Oscars follows the love and coming-of-age story of story of Eilis Lacey (Ronan), An Irish immigrant must choose between two men, two countries and two destinies in a story of departures, longing and slow-simmering romance, tracing the unexpected journey of a young girl becoming a woman in America. Through the film’s contemporary lens, the story reels back to the refined rhythms of the 1950s as a post-WWII wave of newcomers was arriving on U.S. shores in search of prosperity.

Saoirse Ronan as "Eilis" in BROOKLYN. Photo by Kerry Brown. © 2015 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation All Rights Reserved — Saoirse Ronan as “Eilis” in BROOKLYN. Photo by Kerry Brown. © 2015 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation All Rights Reserved

Eilis has lived her whole life in tiny Enniscorthy, Ireland – where everyone knows everyone else’s business and then some — when she is swept away to America, thanks to her sister, who wants to see her flourish. She arrives into the diverse tumult of Brooklyn already homesick, feeling like an exile. But as Eilis dexterously learns to adapt to life as a New Yorker, she meets a funny, sweet, charismatic suitor determined to win her devotion. Just as she seems on the verge of beginning a new life, a family tragedy brings her back to Ireland where she is pulled back into the life she left behind … and a decision that could affect her future forever.

Caught between two different calls to her heart, Eilis confronts one of the most breathtakingly difficult dilemmas of our fluid modern world: figuring out how to merge where you have come from with where you dream of going.

“Brooklyn” director John Crowley, best known for the BAFTA-winning drama “Boy A,” seems to have immediate insight into the material –since he, too, is an Irishman living outside Ireland, in his case having left his birthplace for England. To Crowley, “Brooklyn” also evinces a modern conception of love. “It’s a story that says love is complicated,” he muses, “and that the heart isn’t necessarily loyal to just one person; it can perhaps, unlike a head, conceive of loving two people simultaneously. Eilis’ choice between two men is also a choice for what kind of life she wants to lead. It costs her a lot emotionally, yet the only way for her in life is to keep moving forward. Love in this story is a very real force that can potentially be destructive or liberating depending on which way it bounces.”

Ronan says she felt an immediate, almost uncanny, affinity for Eilis as soon as she read the script. “Nick Hornby (screenwriter) isn’t from Ireland, yet he managed to completely capture the spirit of the country. The writing was so beautiful, and so beautifully subtle,” she comments. “It felt close to my heart because it was about my people. It was the journey that my parents went on back in the ‘80s; they moved to New York and went through all these same things, even though it was a different era. The biggest hurdle anyone goes through in life is leaving the security of your family and your friends behind for something new.”

“Brooklyn” opens exclusively in Ayala Malls Cinemas nationwide on January 27, 2016. Log on to www.sureseats.com for advanced ticket purchase and schedule.

January 11, 2016January 11, 2016 Cinema Bravo Movie

‘The 5th Wave’ sets emotional story within alien invasion

Up-and-coming director J Blakeson, whose first film was the thriller “The Disappearance of Alice Creed,” a film festival and critical favorite, takes the helm of Columbia Pictures new post-apocalyptic thriller “The 5th Wave,” based on the bestselling first novel in author Rick Yancey’s planned trilogy.

In the film, four waves of increasingly deadly attacks have left most of Earth decimated. Against a backdrop of fear and distrust, Cassie (Chloe Grace Moretz) is on the run, desperately trying to save her younger brother. As she prepares for the inevitable and lethal 5th wave, Cassie teams up with a young man who may become her final hope – if she can only trust him.

“I wanted to make this movie because it allows us to create this big concept with scope – like an alien invasion – and use it to tell a story about the emotions and problems of everyday life in a more interesting way,” director J Blakeson says. “It was very important to me that this film was not about how terrible the world is, but how beautiful the world is and how you want to hold on to that beauty. My pitch was for Cassie to have hope and endurance; we keep the tone emotional, colorful, and cinematic, rather than have it be grungy and depressing.”

For Blakeson, directing “The 5th Wave” was something of a return to his roots. “When I was younger, I watched a lot of movies and read a lot of books involving teenage characters. They were transitional books that opened up literature to me,” he recalls. “There’s something about the way teenagers feel everything so intensely. Their emotions are on the surface and it really feels like the world’s coming to an end every day. The thing about this movie is that in Cassie’s life, the world really is coming to an end.”

At the heart of the story are the questions anyone faces as they make the transition to adulthood – not least of which is who can I trust? “In the movie, just like in real life, you can’t tell if someone is good or bad just by looking at them,” observes Blakeson. “Often in movies, the bad guy looks one way and the good guy looks another way, and it’s easy to tell them apart; in this movie, everybody looks the same. Cassie learns if you lose your trust in other people, it can take you down a dark path – humanity is about trusting each other and needing each other. ‘Trust no one’ if you want to survive, but you’ve got to learn to trust people if you’re going to win the war.”

Moretz adds, “Cassie is really affected by the whole ‘trust no one’ idea – everyone could potentially be a threat. She wants to think she can trust people, but every time she does, something flips on its head. She realizes she is always let down when she begins to trust someone, and so she ends up just trusting herself.”

Opening across the Philippines on January 20, 2016, “The 5th Wave” is distributed by Columbia Pictures, local office of Sony Pictures Releasing International.

January 11, 2016January 11, 2016 Cinema Bravo Video

WATCH: Real soldiers relate Benghazi action thriller ’13 Hours’

Paramount Pictures has shared a new featurette for “13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi” titled 13 Hours: The Men Who Lived It and may be viewed below.

Directed by Michael Bay, the action-thriller depicts the assault of the United States embassy in Benghazi, Libya in 2012 that led to the death of four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens.

As the subtitle suggests, the film will center on the six soldiers who responded to the attack and engaged the enemy in an attempt to defend the Americans stationed at the embassy. As the titular soldiers, the film stars John Krasinski along with James Badge Dale, Max Martini, Pablo Schreiber and David Denman.

The featurette includes several of the former elite military members the film depicts adding some context as to who they are and how they ended up fighting to defend the compound in Libya.

The screenplay was penned by The Strain author/writer Chuck Hogan based on the non-fiction book by Michtell Zuckoff.

“13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi” opens across the Philippines on January 27, 2016 and is distributed by United International Pictures through Columbia Pictures.