Deadpool & Wolverine

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Successful in his attempt to resurrect the people he loves through Cable’s time travel device, Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) claims that he is now happy with his life even though he is shy to admit that he sometimes feels empty as though his existence had no meaning. His perspective drastically changes when he is abducted by TVA agents at the behest of Paradox (Matthew Macfadyen), a rogue agent supervising Earth-10006 and aiming to expedite its destruction through the use of an illegal Time Ripper that can euthanize entire timelines. Upon knowing that his timeline is dying soon because of the death of its anchor being, who happens to be Logan, Deadpool steals Paradox’s tempad to find a suitable Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) as a replacement, bringing him to one who is considered a loser in his own world. When things go awry back at the TVA, the duo gets pruned and sent to the Void where they come face to face with a tyrannical telekinetic maniac named Cassandra Nova (Emma Corrin).

The Blind Assassin

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The posthumous publication of a scathing novel entitled The Blind Assassin shakes up the reputation of several residents of Fort Ticonderoga, the country hometown of author Laura Chase who drives a car off a bridge to her death. Even years later, the controversial content of her book still haunts the real-life figures it allegedly alludes to. One of them is her sister Iris Chase Griffen, wife of nouveau riche Richard E. Griffen, particularly concerned considering his political ambitions. Decades later as she nears her death, Iris begins to write her very own autobiography hoping that it would clarify things and reach her estranged granddaughter Sabrina, who has been used as a pawn together with her deceased daughter Aimee by her sister-in-law Winifred Griffen Prior, who blames her for the death of her brother and his political aspirations. As the old woman awaits her life’s end on her deathbed, she reveals some long-concealed family secrets.

The Woman Who Had Two Navels

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Brothers Pepe and Tony Monson grow up in Hong Kong despite being full-blooded Filipinos, the reason for which is their father’s exile brought about by his days of being a rebel in the Philippines during the second World War. Tony opts for a life of religious seclusion as a priest in a convent atop a hill while Pepe ends up being a veterinarian for horses. One day, Filipina socialite Connie Escobar knocks at their door and tells Pepe a cock-and-bull story of having been wed that day in Manila and flying off to Hong Kong to run away from her groom. She also has two navels, so she claims. Later that day, the bewildered doctor also gets a visit from Connie’s mother, Concha Vidal, yet another socialite who rebuts her daughter’s narration and says that she has been married for quite some time now and that her husband is also in Hong Kong looking for her.

Lady in the Lake

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Baltimore, 1966. Housewife extraordinaire Maddie Schwartz has been married to her husband Milton for almost two decades now, believing she is perfectly happy with her life raising their teenage son Seth. When Milton takes home an ex-fling of hers from high school to dinner at their house, it sparks an epiphany within her as to how unhappy her life has been. She moves out of the house and they file for divorce. She then finds a small room in a shady neighborhood and fakes a house robbery to get insurance money, which she uses to move to yet another shady neighborhood. She meets policeman Ferdie in the process and he becomes her habitual lover. But what Maddie really desires is a career in journalism. Armed with wit and a dream, she shoehorns herself into a low-paying job at the local paper. Not taken seriously by everyone, she gets a big break when she finds not one but two murdered bodies, one of them getting the moniker Lady in the Lake.

The Great Gatsby

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World War veteran Nick Carraway segues into the sale of bonds to make a living and ends up settling at New York’s West Egg neighborhood, where he finds himself residing in a house right next to a mysterious millionaire’s estate. The owner, a certain Jay Gatsby, throws lavish parties all year round and Nick bears witness to the plethora of cars and guests who come for such occasions. One of such guests is Jordan Baker, an amateur golfer who flirts back and forth with Nick. Their first meeting happens at Gatsby’s residence, after he is finally invited by his neighbor, apparently as a ploy to use him as a bridge to his second cousin Daisy, a socialite flapper married to white supremacist Tom Buchanan who has a mistress of his own. Party after party, secrets begin to surface as well as hidden relationships that will definitely cause chaos and scandal should they be revealed.

VIRGIN LABFEST 19: Set B - Bingit

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SENTENARYO - Lolo Dencio (Ekis Gimenez) has reached a milestone in life as he celebrates his 100th birthday. His mistress-turned-wife Tonette (Gold Soon) welcomes his eldest grandson Joel (Chunchi Cabasaan) and eldest daughter Carmen (Madeleine Nicolas) for a mini celebration. All of them have a hidden agenda, though, being fully aware of a new law providing a 100,000-peso cash incentive to new centenarians. As they quarrel over who should be getting a bigger share of the money, they almost fail to notice that the old man has seemingly passed away in his sleep, putting the cash they are wildly anticipating in jeopardy.

Slapstick is the best term to describe SENTENARYO, from the sound effects to the physical comedy involved, all that was missing was a laugh track. The interesting thing is how it actually came across as funny watching it live. Perhaps it has something to do with the communal reaction in the theater, although those actors deserve a big kudos for pulling this off which, I believe, was a big gamble considering how this style of comedy has been more or less passé for quite some time now. I enjoyed it, and based on the audience reaction I’m sure they did, too. Let’s see if it makes it to the Revisited set next year.

VIRGIN LABFEST 19: Set A - Dilema

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VENGEANCE OF THE GODS - Ifan (Jel Tarun) is a lawyer on a mission to convince a superstitious old man to testify against the owner of the company he is working for that is guilty for polluting the town’s sources of water. Despite his child being one of the victims and almost succumbing to death, Manong Odie (Jonathan Tadioan) won’t hear any of it because aside from the belief that what happened to his kid was a case of paranormal possession, he also doesn’t want to bite the hands that feed him. What follows is a long discussion of what really happened, seen from both the perspective of science and religion.

The philosophical entry. One of these always ends up at the Virgin Labfest and this is where your ears have to work overtime because the essence of the narrative is all in the dialogue. While overtly religious and superstitious people annoy the heck out of me, somehow I am getting closer to a conclusion that despite the advances in knowledge made available to society as it progresses, there will always be those who will choose to rely on faith as a way of coping with life. Perhaps nothing is wrong with that, until it overlaps with a non-believer’s beliefs that are grounded on law and science. This play had me thinking profoundly. Amen.

Dubliners

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A recently deceased priest’s indiscretion is discussed by people at his wake. Two boys skipping classes meet a middle-aged man who teaches them a thing or two about life. A staunch supporter of the Irish Revival gets her daughter involved as an accompanist at a badly-planned concert. An alcoholic falls down the stairs at a bar in drunken stupor; his family suggests a religious retreat. A failed writer gets a visit from his friend who has succeeded in the field in London. A young woman contemplates on what life would be if she ran away with a sailor. These are some of the many stories found in James Joyce’s Dubliners, which has been hailed as a milestone in Irish literary history at a time when the country was in the midst of a fierce quest for a distinct identity stoked by nationalism.

A Quiet Place: Day One

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Samira (Lupita Nyong’o), a poet, is dying of cancer. She chooses to deal with the challenges of her condition through wit and sarcasm, keeping a notebook handy to record her thoughts. Reuben (Alex Wolff), a care worker at the hospice, takes the patients on a trip to the city to watch a marionette show, which Samira reluctantly agrees to in exchange for a promise of pizza. The promise is no longer fulfilled as they all find themselves amidst an alien invasion, with dead bodies piling up everywhere. The extraterrestrials are very sensitive to sound, and so silence is key to survival. They shelter along with other survivors at the theater. When helicopters announce that people are being evacuated to the islands, everybody heads to the port but many are fatally ambushed along the way. Samira runs into a distressed Eric (Joseph Quinn), a British law student suffering from severe anxiety attacks. Will they survive?

Gone Girl

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Nick and Amy Dunne are both laid off from their jobs in New York City and are forced to move back to his hometown in Missouri where they trade their fast-paced life in the Big Apple for a slower flow of existence in the Midwest. Nick’s mom is sick with cancer and his dad is always causing trouble at the care home. To make matters worse, Amy’s parents are forced by circumstance to borrow from the trust fund they have given their daughter, which happens to be the couple’s last money. Coming back home one day from the bar he is managing with his twin sister Margo, Nick finds his front door wide open and his living room in disarray. Amy is missing, and the angle the police are exploring is that of kidnapping. However, as more evidence and testimonies come to fore, Nick slowly figures as the main suspect in what could be his wife’s murder.