Netflix shows this June

The latest newsletter lists the new and returning shows on Netflix. We're already halfway through 2022 and as they say, "We're just going to the exciting part."

Headlining the Korean adaptation of Money Heist, Money Heist: Joint Economic Area comes to stream on June 24 with Park Hae-soo and more. The Umbrella Academy: Season 3 is also one of the returning shows on June 22 and they're meeting the Sparrows; Peaky Blinders also come back for Season 6.

June 22 - The Umbrella Academy Season 3

Here are more movies and series that are about to come to Netflix: Hustle starring Adam Sandler, Queen Latifah, Ben Foster and Robert Duvall; Cafe Minamdang starring Seo In-guk and Oh Yeon-seo, Spiderhead starring Chris Hemsworth and Miles Teller; The Man from Toronto starring Kevin Hart and Woody Harrelson; Man Vs Bee starring Rowan Atkinson; Niña Niño: Book 2 starring Maja Salvador and Noel Comia Jr.; and The World Between Us starring Alden Richards and Jasmine Curtis-Smith.

June 17 - The World Between Us

Check out the full schedule here.

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Netflix unveils trailer for THE GRAY MAN

Ryan Gosling loads a bullet to Chris Evans in the first trailer of The Gray Man, streaming exclusively on Netflix this July 22. Directed by Joe & Anthony Russo.

The Gray Man is CIA operative Court Gentry (Ryan Gosling), aka, Sierra Six. Plucked from a federal penitentiary and recruited by his handler, Donald Fitzroy (Billy Bob Thornton), Gentry was once a highly skilled, Agency-sanctioned merchant of death. But now the tables have turned and Six is the target, hunted across the globe by Lloyd Hansen (Chris Evans), a former cohort at the CIA, who will stop at nothing to take him out. Agent Dani Miranda (Ana de Armas) has his back. He’ll need it. Watch the trailer here:

Ryan Gosling is The Gray Man and Chris Evans is his psychopathic adversary in the Netflix/AGBO-produced thriller directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, starring Ana de Armas, with Regé-Jean Page, Billy Bob Thornton, Jessica Henwick, Dhanush, Wagner Moura and Alfre Woodard. Based on the novel The Gray Man by Mark Greaney, the screenplay is by Joe Russo, Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely. The producers are Joe Roth, Jeffery Kirschenbaum, Joe Russo, Anthony Russo, Mike Larocca and Chris Castaldi. Executive producers are Patrick Newall, Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely, Jake Aust, Angela Russo-Otstot, Geoff Haley, Zack Roth, and Palak Patel.

Also released this day is the key art and character posters for the movie. More first-look images here.

 

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Musica FEUROPA: Going Strong On Its 13th Year

Far Eastern University's MUSICA FEUROPA, returns on its 13th year with the European Union (EU) in the Philippines as its partner, to make its mark in the choral scene.

Each participating choir will perform two songs: one in any Filipino language, and one song written in an official EU language by someone from an EU member nation.

Starting with four choirs in 2009, the participants of the choral festival rose to an all-time high of thirty-one choirs from all over the Philippines, with some of them going on to win in competitions outside the country.

Musica FEUROPA became one of the definitive choral competitions in the country.

Musica FEUROPA has moved to an online setup since last year due to the pandemic. Utilizing the power of technology to stage the choral festival and present the participating choirs’ music, allowing audiences from around the country and the world to hear their harmony, and letting the choirs build their legacy.

The participating choirs will perform virtually, proving that beautiful music can still be made amidst the distance and restrictions in place.

Five choirs are participating in Musica FEUROPA 13, namely:

• Salinlahi Serenata Singers (Bulihan National High School, Silang, Cavite) – Aristeo Butial, Conductor.
• CapSU Main Chorale (Capiz State University – Main, Roxas City, Capiz) – Vivian Apuang, Conductor.
• FCU Chorale (Filamer Christian University, Roxas City, Capiz) – Agnes June Limac, Conductor.
• DLSMHSI SaringHimig and Himig Scientia (De La Salle Medical and Health Sciences Institute, Dasmariñas, Cavite) – Steve Collado, Conductor.
• RTU Himig Rizalia (Rizal Technological University, Boni Ave., Mandaluyong City) – Renier Aguilar, Conductor

The participants will be critiqued by the following esteemed Filipino choral conductors and clinicians, namely Mr. Mark Anthony Carpio, Dr. Ed Manguiat, Mr. Ramon Lijauco, Jr., Ms. Anna Tabita Abelda-Piquero, and Mr. Jonathan Velasco.

Musica FEUROPA 13 will stream starting at 2:30 PM on May 28, 2022 on its official Facebook page: Musica F E U R O P A | Facebook.

Follow Musica FEUROPA on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. For inquiries, email info@musicfeuropa.com

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A weekend of kite-flying at Amiya Raya

I've spent my birthday a different way this year. This time, I wanted to try the outdoors and go back to my childhood by reliving the memories of kite flying. Kite flying bring back a lot of memories of learning to create one, running freely to the open fields, and successfully launching it up in the sky and witness its majestic glory above you.

Photo courtesy of Amiya Raya

Community Creators Inc. has invited guests and homeowners to their kite flying weekend last May 22 at the Amiya Raya in San Mateo, Rizal. The place was the perfect spot to enjoy kite flying and it was a perfect family bonding activity. The clear skies and perfect wind, adding a spectacular view of the Metro Manila skyline match the relaxing topography at the top. Aside from kite flying, the Kite Association of the Philippines made it more fun by exhibiting their traditional and modern kites and taught the participants how to make one.

To make it more exciting, Amiya Raya has given special prizes to those who were able to launch first and to the last kite flying in the sky. Who knew this could be a sport right?

Ms. Camille, Marketing of Amiya Raya with Mr. Orly Ongkingco of Kite Association of the Philippines with the winners of the kite flying festival.

After the event, Mr. Orly Ongkingco, founder of the Kite Association of the Philippines and Deputy Director of the ASEAN Kite Association, shared to us a brief history of the kite flying tradition and his mission to keep it alive. Inspired of strengthening the bond of the family and paving the way for children to enjoy the outdoors again through this activity made him push to explore other cultures and even participate in Asian Air Safari's Weekend of Everything that Flies, which also carries the Philippine Hot Air Balloon Festival. He shared that kites are different from many countries but the values of passing it from generation to generation has been the same. He encourages everyone, especially millennials and Gen Z's to take a look back on the fun at the outdoors and experience nature and be more sociable through kite flying.

Photo by Amiya Raya

Amiya Raya has a lot more in-store for us the whole year so check out their Facebook page for upcoming exciting activities at the top for the whole family. 

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Thor Love and Thunder official trailer and poster revealed

Today, Marvel Studios released the trailer of the 4th movie about Thor in Thor: Love and Thunder.

Korg (Taika Waititi) narrates how Thor (Chris Hemsworth) pulled himself to get on track as the god who saves until an encounter with the new Thor, Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) arrives in the scene. The trailer also revealed Gorr (Christian Bale) the god killer who, both of them, will encounter as the newest bad guy. Watch the trailer below.

Coming in the adventure with the Guardians of the Galaxy: Mantis, Drax, Rocket, Nebula and Star-Lord, and July 8 is very very soon. The date of release will be more exciting as Chris Hemsworth fans would be watching out for this special scene and praying it will be uncensored.

Also take a look at the movie's official poster, shiny Thor, Jane and Valkyrie were the main characters and Gorr in the background with his evil grin.

Thor: Love and Thunder is produced by Marvel Studios and distributed in the Philippines by Walt Disney Pictures International.

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Top Gun: Maverick movie review

The much-awaited sequel Top Gun: Maverick is worth the wait after 36 years. It's brings excitement, thrills with new aerobatic stunts and injected an emotional angle in the movie.

Tom Cruise's Maverick returns to the Top Gun to teach a new breed of pilots for a mission. Being a legend that he is, there are still issues that need to be resolved and disbeliefs to be addressed. One of which is meeting again his Goose's son Rooster (Miles Teller) who's been hiding grudges against him. With the new crew he's forming, there may be lots of misunderstanding and trust should be earned.

It connects many elements from the original movie, wherein he's reconnected with his long time girlfriend (Jennifer Connelly) and Iceman (Val Kilmer) who is surprisingly included in this movie despite having a throat cancer. Also hooray for gender equality. Phoenix joins the force as the only female pilot and she gets first strike on the mission. It would be a very proud moment for her and I think she gets higher roles than the others.

Monica Barbaro as Phoenix

Following that this movie has NO CGIs, capturing the images and stunts is surreal. Tom Cruise has got to what he has got to do.

Top Gun Maverick opens in PH theaters this May 25, from Paramount Pictures.

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Tom Cruise talks about creating the sequel to Top Gun

Thirty-six years after portraying Pete “Maverick” Mitchell in Top Gun, Tom Cruise returns to the iconic role that catapulted him to global superstardom, with the long-awaited sequel, Paramount Pictures’ Top Gun: Maverick (in Philippine cinemas May 25).

“I’d thought about a sequel to Top Gun for all these years,” says Cruise. “People had asked for a sequel for decades. Decades. And the thing I said to the studio from the beginning was: ‘If I’m ever going to entertain this, we’re shooting everything practically. I’m in that F/A-18, period. So, we’re going to have to develop camera rigs. There’s going to be wind tunnels and engineering. It’s going to take a long, long time for me to figure it out.’ For years, people had said, ‘Can’t you shoot [the movie] with CGI?’ And I always said, ‘No. That’s not the experience.’ I said, ‘I need to find the right story. And we’re going to need the right team. This movie is like trying to hit a bullet with a bullet. I’m not playing.’”

On the original movie, although Cruise was filmed in the cockpit of an F-14 Tomcat, his castmates weren’t so successful in their endeavors. “We had other actors up there, flying,” says legendary producer Jerry Bruckheimer. “Tom was the only one we had usable flight footage for. We had tons of footage of the other actors in the air with their eyes rolling back in their heads. This time, thanks to Tom, all the actors on Top Gun: Maverick became accustomed to the fundamentals and mechanics of flight and G-forces, because of all the training they did months in advance. Unlike the first film, our actors are actually in the cockpits of the F/A-18s in flight, acting and speaking their lines of dialogue.”

Cruise says there is a “majesty and beauty” in flying an airplane. “It’s both using and defying nature,” he says. “And playing Maverick again, at a different stage of his life, has been an incredible experience for me. Maverick is still Maverick. He still wants to fly Mach 2 with his hair on fire. But you see the transition that Maverick undergoes. The pressure of him losing his best friend, the responsibility he feels about that and how he has carried that with him. This film is about family and it’s about friendship and it’s about sacrifice. It’s about redemption and the cost of mistakes.”

And that emotion hasn’t just been up on screen, but behind the scenes, on a journey that has taken the makers of Top Gun: Maverick both back in time and forward, into new frontiers in filmmaking. “What we have achieved with the aerial sequences is genuinely something that people will never have seen before,” says Cruise. “We’ve trained actors to be able to fly and perform in real F/A-18s. And, to do that, we took the greatest fighter pilots in the world [from the U.S. Navy] and we taught them about movies – the pilot and the actor had to work as a team. This is the sophistication of the aerial sequences. No one’s ever done this, ever.”

It’s not just pride that Cruise feels, though. Top Gun: Maverick isn’t just a movie – it’s a destination. A culmination of everything he has learned in his 40 years in this business (Cruise’s debut, Endless Love, was released on July 17, 1981), this is a story he’s been building towards. A love letter to aviation, for sure. But a love letter to movies too.

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