John Lloyd Cruz, Angel Locsin's "Unofficially Different" love story

After having been paired with other stars, John Lloyd Cruz and Angel Locsin get into an "unofficially different" love story in Star Cinema’s Valentine offering.

Directed by Cathy Garcia-Molina, "Unofficially Yours" is the story of two people from opposite sides of love. The guy, played by John Lloyd, believes in commitment and permanence while the girl, played by Angel Locsin, believes otherwise.

"It’s a different kind of love story," said Direk Cathy who is noted for directing feel-good movies.

"This is the first time we are tackling this kind of story in a movie. It’s braver than usual. It’s kind of edgy compared to our previous romance-comedy movies. That’s why it took a while before we were given the green light to start with it. The concept had been there for quite a number of years. This has a new theme and I believe the timing is just right. Even the title is very appropriate."

This marks the first time that John Lloyd and Angel are working in a movie after they did the TV series "Imortal."

"Since Imortal was kind of heavy stuff, Angel and I thought of doing a romance comedy, something light, a far cry from what we did in the TV series. This is not just a fun movie."

For her part, Angel said she got to know the other side of John Lloyd when they were doing Unofficially Yours. "John Lloyd here is funny, charming, he made an effort to make adjustments so that his portrayal would be funny," said Angel

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JM De Guzman won the best actor award at the indie section of the 2011 Metro Manila Film Festival for the movie "Pinta Kasi" which was produced by Gov. Imee Marcos. It took quite a while before the movie was finished. We learned it was started some four years ago and it showed a more robust-looking JM. Now he’s slim and fit.

JM plays Tikboy, a small town gang leader who is the uncrowned king of the island called Isla Pulo. Tikboy is an honest cop’s son, who rebels against the uselessness of being honest that rewards dishonesty—equating principles with poverty, he decided to get rich and powerful by using any means.

Crossing paths with Tikboy is DJ (played by John Wayne Sace), a boy between two worlds: He is between childhood and adulthood and just out of the province but not a city dweller. He has a passion for painting. He uses the island and its people as his canvass and fights to protect the island from internal and external forces that threaten to destroy it.

"Pinta Kasi" also stars Erich Gonzales, Alcris Galura, and William Martinez. It is directed by Lee Meily.

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The crowd let out a big roar when Kapuso hunk Dingdong Dantes came onstage at the launch of the new Empower Deo Cologne from Bench held Saturday at the SM Mall of Asia.

Dingdong did a short dance number after a group of male models paraded onstage to the delight of the crowd, who went delirious when Dingdong removed his jacket to display his fine chiseled body. The Kapuso star was very pleased with the good reception from the audience.

Dingdong said it was last year when they thought of the concept for Empower Deo Cologne. "We were thinking of coming out with a new scent after Desire (his first perfume from Bench). We thought of something of the same line na musky, deep pero ito yung pambuong araw kaya we thought na release it as a deo cologne," said the lead actor of the forthcoming GMA series "My Beloved" which was launched last night at the GMA studio.

What was his reaction to the loud cheer from the audience when he appeared?

"Nagpapasalamat po ako sa Bench. Siguro po ganoon talaga pag napaghandaan ng matagal. Gaya nang sinabi, more than a year halos ang preparation so in a way nai-plug na namin ito ng maayos na magkakaroon ng ganitong klaseng product and I am grateful for the wonderful attendance dito sa MOA," he added.

"The concept of Empower Deo Cologne is to give you confidence and courage to face your fears and challenges. Para kasi sa akin, yung bagong show namin ‘yung My Beloved medyo may malaking requirement para sa akin na mag-exert ng effort to look my best. Naging motivation ko rin iyon. Tamang-tama, kasabay ng launch nito at ng My Beloved."