Diamond Star’s awaited comeback film hits theaters today

Maricel Soriano makes her movie comeback in Star Cinema and Viva Films’ comedy “Momzillas” where the Diamond Star locks horns with award-winning actress Eugene Domingo in this Wenn Deramas movie that is sure to tickle your funny bones.

The two comedy veterans play warring mothers in this comedy caper that also features Andi Eigenmann, Billy Crawford, Candy Pangilinan, Joey Paras, Mel Martinez and introduces Charles Yulo. “Momzillas” is a funny and witty story of two families and two mothers (Maricel and Eugene) who will do everything just to beat each other.

This is the second time that Maricel and Eugene are working in a movie. They previously worked in the drama “Bahay Kubo,” a filmfest entry years back where both of them garnered acting awards. They now dabble in comedy and with Direk Wenn at the helm, it is predicted to make a strong showing at the box-office.

We believe that “Momzillas” will be an entertaining movie, just like the other movies done by Direk Wenn. It’s no wonder that he is a top choice as a director of comedy movies since most of his projects make money because that was the reason they were made in the first place – to entertain the public. And with Maricel and Eugene joining forces in “Momzillas” we expect no less than a monster hit. Direk Wenn considers himself as the Chaning Carlos of the new generation. If you don’t know Chaning Carlos, he just happens to be Maricel’s favorite director who gave her hits like “Inday Bote” and “Inday, Inday sa Balitaw.”

Maricel expressed confidence that they have a winner in “Momzillas” but her only worry is if it rains today. She is hoping that many of her fans will offer eggs to Santa Clara so that the rains would not spoil her comeback movie.

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Stage actor Joey Paras won the Best Supporting Actor award at the Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival last July for his portrayal of an internet scammer in Jason Paul Laxamana’s “Babagwa” (Spider’s Web), one of the more popular entries in the nine-year-old indie filmfest.

He did not expect to win that night, so he was happy to snatch a victory for “Babagwa” where he thought of deglamorizing himself for the role. “I was the one who thought of making myself look dirty with my hair unkempt and seeming unwashed,” Joey said in the recent presscon of the much-talked about indie film.

Doing an indie film was nothing new for this stage actor whose first foray into Cinemalaya was the comedy “Last Supper Number 3” where he played the title role opposite JM De Guzman. His performance garnered for him several acting nominations, including one from the Golden Screen Awards, among others. Though he did not win, the nominations were enough to inspire him to excel even more as an actor.

“I consider winning an award as an added blessing. I am happy that I won but I didn’t want my winning to affect my outlook towards my career. All I want is to have more work so that I could earn my keep,” said Joey. “If a good role comes along, I’d definitely accept it.”

He admits wanting more acting jobs since that would put food on the table. “Gusto kong kumita para mabuhay. Kung yayaman ako kapag sumikat ako, I will embrace that. I consider myself fortunate because Direk Wenn was brave enough to gamble by giving me a launching movie (Bekikang) although I must admit I am nervous for having been given such opportunity to have my solo movie,” he said.

He admits feeling the pressure now, especially after he won an award and with a launching film opening next month. He kidded that he is having a festival with two of his films being shown today. Opening today in theaters nationwide are “Babagwa” and the comedy “Momzillas” so he is even competing with himself. Joey is asking the public to watch both films.

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The highly-anticipated Cine Filipino Film Festival will have its gala week starting today, showcasing eight full-length films and 10 short films. Angel Aquino, Jasmine Curtis and Nora Aunor are some of the stars that joined this cinematic festivity.

The film festival is spearheaded by PLDT-Smart Foundation, MediaQuest, Studio 5, and Unitel Entertainment with Newport Cinemas of Resorts World Manila, Lucky Chinatown Mall and Gateway Cineplex as partner venues.

The Newport Cinemas at Resorts World will be hosting the Gala Night of participating films starting tonight with “Puti,” starring Ian Veneracion and TV5’s primetime princess Jasmine Curtis and helmed by Mike Alcarazen. This will be followed by Ron Bryant’s “Bingoleras,” a comedy of errors starring Eula Valdez and Mercedes Cabral.

On Sept.19, Tuesday Vargas gets her first lead in the romantic cross-cultural comedy “Ang Turkey Man ay Pabo Rin” directed by Randolph Longjas. This will be followed by Cebuana filmmaker Janice Perez’s “The Muses” starring Janelle Jamer and rock goddess Kitchie Nadal.

Nora Aunor and Angel Aquino are expected to grace the Sept. 20 Gala Night. The family drama “Ang Kuwento ni Mabuti” by Mes De Guzman features Nora in the title role while Angel plays Pilar, the woman Anita pines for in Sigrid Bernardo’s “Ang Huling Cha Cha ni Anita.”

Filmmaking siblings Sari and Kiri Dalena commemorate the 41st anniversary of Martial Law declaration with the premiere of the docu-drama “Guerilla is a Poet” which is based on the life of activist Jose Maria Sison. Capping the evening on Sept. 21 is Ato Bautista’s coming-of-age love story “Mga Alaala ng Tag-ulan” starring sexy performer Mocha Uson and Artista Academy alumnus Akihiro Blanco.

The feature films, which are competing for awards including Audience Choice and Best Acting Ensemble, will also be shown at Shang Cineplex of Shangri-la Plaza Mall on Sept. 21-22. The ten short films will be shown at various venues from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.