Cinema Bravo Movie

‘Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk’ breaks new ground in cinema experience

TriStar Pictures presents “Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk,” the groundbreaking, cinematic event from three-time Oscar®-winning director Ang Lee.

With Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, Ang Lee redefines what is possible in filmmaking and storytelling with the goal of further engaging the audience in an advanced cinematic experience. Joined by two-time Oscar®-winning cinematographer John Toll, Lee employs state-of-the-art cameras to shoot in native 3D, high resolution and a history-making frame rate that seemed impossible until now. He creates a new way for audiences to experience drama, presenting the heightened sensations that young soldiers feel on the battlefield and the home front.

Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, based on the acclaimed bestselling novel by Ben Fountain, is told from the point of view of 19-year-old private Billy Lynn (newcomer Joe Alwyn) who, along with his fellow soldiers in Bravo Squad, becomes a hero after a harrowing Iraq battle and is brought home temporarily for a victory tour. Through flashbacks, culminating at the spectacular halftime show of the Thanksgiving Day football game, the film reveals what really happened to the squad – contrasting the realities of the war with America’s perceptions.

“Since Life of Pi, I discovered that in making a 3D movie [we need to be] adding not only dimension, but a higher resolution that comes along with a much higher frame rate than we are used to having. The whole experience is not just about extravaganza, not just about action—but actually about drama as well. The way we look at things, the way we want the audience to engage in a movie I think is more personal. It’s much more grand. I think the future is really exciting.”

In his first major motion picture, Joe Alwyn plays Billy Lynn. Also starring are Kristen Stewart, Chris Tucker, Garrett Hedlund, Makenzie Leigh, with Vin Diesel, and Steve Martin.

Produced by Marc Platt, Ang Lee, Rhodri Thomas, and Stephen Cornwell, and executive produced by Brian Bell, Jeff Robinov, Guo Guangchang, and Ben Waisbren. Jean-Christophe Castelli wrote the screenplay, based on the novel by Ben Fountain. Director of Photography is John Toll, ASC. Production designer is Mark Friedberg. Editor is Tim Squyres, ACE. Mychael Danna and Jeff Danna did the music for the film. Costume designer is Joseph G. Aulisi. The running time is 1 hour and 52 minutes.

Opening across the Philippines on November 9, 2016, “Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk” is distributed by Columbia Pictures, local office of Sony Pictures Releasing International.

Cinema Bravo Movie

Upcoming actor hunts down Tom Cruise in ‘Jack Reacher: Never Go Back’

Fast-rising actor Patrick Heusinger (TV’s Casual, Girlfriends Guide to Divorce) stars as the fearsome villain in stars opposite Tom Cruise and Cobie Smulders in Paramount Pictures’ new action-packed thriller “Jack Reacher: Never Go Back.”

The film is based upon author Lee Child’s 18th novel in the best-selling Jack Reacher series that has seen 100 million books sold worldwide. In the film, years after resigning command of an elite military police unit, the nomadic, righter-of-wrongs Reacher (Cruise) is drawn back into the life he left behind when his friend and successor, Major Susan Turner (Smulders) is framed for espionage. Reacher will stop at nothing to prove her innocence and to expose the real perpetrators behind the killings of his former soldiers.

After escaping police custody, Reacher and Turner are doggedly pursued by the mysterious and nameless heavy known only as The Hunter, played by Patrick Heusinger.

“We wanted someone as tough and scary as Reacher,” screenwriter Marshall Herskovitz explains. “I love seeing Reacher take down four guys, but here’s a character who is just as unstoppable. It’s fun to play with the audience’s expectations about how these fights will end up.”

“Patrick is a great looking guy, who’s physically capable of mixing it up with Tom,” director Ed Zwick explains. “He’s also a classically trained actor, which is great when an actor brings that to a villain role.”

Zwick continues, “The Hunter has a really similar skill set to Reacher, but he’s a little younger, so that creates an interesting dynamic. Instead of being driven by a sense of justice, The Hunter has a sick fascination with eliminating his competition. He wants to prove himself by taking down the legendary Jack Reacher.”

Heusinger recalls his first days on set. “The second I arrived, Tom made sure anything that I needed was available, training of any kind, be it physical, dietary, weapons or driving. He’s a living, breathing action movie library.”

Patrick Heusinger is a graduate of Juilliard, and known in film for his roles in Frances Ha and Sweet Land, winner of the Audience Award at the Hamptons International Film Festival and Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature. Other feature credits include Tie a Yellow Ribbon, The Nanny Diaries and the award-winning short, Willowbrook.

In television, Heusinger last co-starred on Jason Reitman’s Casual for Hulu and on Marti Noxon’s series, Girlfriend’s Guide to Divorce, Bravo’s first scripted series.

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Award-winning film ‘Sakaling Hindi Makarating’ to have nationwide release in February

Audience-favorite and acclaimed Filipino indie film “Sakaling Hindi Makarating” will have a nationwide release on February 1, 2017.

“Sakaling Hindi Makarating” (In Case They Don’t Arrive) tells the story of a young woman named Cielo (Alessandra De Rossi) who is devastated when her boyfriend of 11 years breaks off their engagement two months before their wedding. After receiving a series of hand-illustrated postcards, she takes on a journey across the Philippines to look for the anonymous writer.

Hailed by critics as one of the best local films of recent years, “Sakaling Hindi Makarating” bagged a total of seven awards at this year’s CineFilipino Film Festival where it was an official full-length feature finalist:

  • 2nd Best Picture,
  • Best Actor for Pepe Herrera,
  • Best Director for Ice Idanan,
  • Best Cinematography for Ice Idanan,
  • Best Musical Score for Mon Espia,
  • Best Sound for Raffy Magsaysay, and
  • Best Editing for Hannah Espia.

“I’m just excited to share the story with the rest of the Philippines,” director Ice Idanan told Cinema Bravo. “And I’m thankful that Unitel Productions is very supportive with this distribution. Sana magustuhan ng mga Pilipino yung film. [I hope Filipinos get to like the film.]”

“Initially, we make films because it’s our passion. This is what we love to do. But once we’ve made the film, all we want is for more people to be able to see it,” added Melai Entuna, one of the producers. “We are excited to share with you the story that we have always wanted to tell. We never gave up no matter how difficult it was making this film so we really hope you believe that this is also worth watching.”

The film is written by Idanan and Petersen Vargas (writer-director of Cinemalaya winner “Lisyun Qng Geografia”), and produced by Entuna, Patrick Ostrea, Anina Rubio, and Idanan.