Marlo Mortel

Marlo Mortel has two top 10 hits in My OPM Top 10 countdown.  One of them went all the way to #1.

2016 - Mananatili (with Janella Salvador) (#6)

2019 - Habang Ako'y Mag-isa (#1)*1 week

International Music Top 10 Countdown: March 29, 2019

Mumford and Sons top my international top 10 charts for the second time, as 42 moves up to the top spot this week.

Here are my ten favorite songs from international artists this week -

#1 42
     Mumford and Sons         (#2)* 1 week

#2 Hey Look Ma! I Made It! 
     Panic! at the Disco          (#3)

#3 Lucky Strike
     Troye Sivan                     (#6)

#4 Rules
     6LACK                           (#4)

#5 Love is Here to Stay 
     Tony Bennett / Diana Krall   (#5)

#6 Up All Night
     Beck                                (#7)

#7 4 U With Love        
     Giorgio Moroder            (#8)

#8 Genesis
     Dua Lipa                          (#9)

#9 It Hears You
     Marco Beltrami               (NEW)

#10 Plot Twist                
       Sigrid                             (NEW)


   

Mumford and Sons

Mumford and Sons has won the prestigious Grammy Album of the Year for Babel.  They have four top ten hits in My International Top 10 countdown.  Two of them went all the way to #1.

2015 - Sigh No More (#2)

2016 - Winter Winds (#1)

2017 - Roll Away Your Stone (#1)*1 week

2019 - 42 (#1)*1 week

Movie Review: 45 Years - How A Quiet Movie can be quite Earthshaking

I should really speed up my movie watching.

This movie, 45 Years, was released in 2015 - and the reason it's in my movie vault is that Charlotte Rampling got a well-deserved Oscar Best Actress nomination for this role - and she won Best Actress in Berlin as well - which is the snootiest of all the festivals - in my opinion.

And, I think the movie is even better than Spotlight - which won Oscar Best Picture that year.

Or maybe because I am old-er - and I like slow, plodding movies where all the tension is felt and not seen - where the cracks are not clear but can be sensed.

One of the audience members commented that "How could you not know that you were not the love of your life of your husband if you've been married that long?"

Well, I have seen it happen in real life and it can happen to anyone.

One of Mama's friends did not know her husband was already married, She only learned about it when she inquired about claiming her share of her husband's SSS benefits.

She learned her husband was already married - before they were married.

Magulo ba? You have to understand - there was no CENOMAR before. The CENOMAR is just a recent requirement. So men (and women) before can lie about their previous marriages.

So yes, your husband of so many years can pretend to love you but not really love you as the love of his or her life.

Which in a way, throws everything out of the loop in Charlotte Rampling's life in the movie.

She plays the wife. And she is devastatingly wonderful in this movie.

That is probably one of the greatest pains one will ever feel, that in all the years you've been together, you were not really the person your husband (or wife) is in love with.

It was a marriage for companionship and not really true passionate love.

And after 45 years, what else can an older person do about it?

Movie Review: Brutal and Calculating Terrorist Scenes in 'Hotel Mumbai'

Just a month after the Christchurch mosque massacre, it's a bit difficult to watch the movie Hotel Mumbai because it makes you see how brutal these terrorist attacks really are and how mindless and futile the cause they are supposedly fighting for.

What works for this movie is the way the director executed the scenes showing you how chilling these attacks really are and there is virtually no mercy for anyone who crosses the paths of these killers.

The movie focused only on three locations - the central train station, the cafe, and the Taj Mahal Hotel but in reality, they attacked 12 different locations almost simultaneously.

The characters in the movie are composites of different real people and they have been obviously created to make the most impact - and they do!

The killers are very young, indoctrinated and brainwashed to believe that the ordinary citizens of Mumbai are the enemy.

The attacks were swift and there was no advanced warning. Once they got inside the hotel, they just shot everybody in sight and moved methodically from the lobby to each floor - knocking on each door and killing everyone inside.

Dev Patel and Armi Hammer, both A-listers in Hollywood create a story of the people suddenly finding themselves in hell and being just ordinary civilians, the key was for them to stay alive until professional help comes.

And I think help came too late. I am just surprised that a city as important as Mumbai has no SWAT team or Special Forces team or an anti-terrorist team that can handle these situations.

If there was one, it would've saved more lives.

But that's hindsight for you.

Going out of the theater, I began to appreciate the strict opening of bags that we have here in all public places. At least that way, anyone bringing an automatic rifle can be flagged down and people inside can be warned - even a few precious seconds can save lives.

OPM Top 10 Countdown: March 22, 2019

Juan Karlos Labajo's 'Buwan' tops my OPM top 10 countdown this week.

Here are my ten favorite OPM songs for the week ending March 22, 2019 -

#1 Buwan - Juan Karlos Labajo (#3) * 1 week

#2 Down For Me - Julie San Jose / Fern (#4)

#3 Fake Love - Kyline Alcantara (#5)

#4 Habang Ako'y Mag-Isa - Marlo Mortel (#6)

#5 DMD - Midnasty vs. Airspoke (#9)

#6 Kahit Ayaw Mo Na - This Band (#10)

#7 We're in this Together - Catriona Grey (NEW)

#8 Hagkan - Brisom (NEW)

#9 Curtain Call - Janine Vela (NEW)

#10 Clueless - Sam Mangubat (NEW)

International Music Top 10 Countdown: March 22, 2019

Jazz pianist Brian Culbertson tops my International Music Top 10 countdown this week.

Here are my ten favorite songs by international artists for the week ending March 22, 2019 -

#1 Brian Culbertson - You're Magic * (1 week) (#3)

#2 42 - Mumford and Sons (#4)

#3 Hey Look Ma I made it - Panic! at the Disco (NEW)

#4 Rules - 6LACK (NEW)

#5 Love is Here to Stay - Tony Bennett / Diana Krall (NEW)

#6 Lucky Strike - Troye Sivan (NEW)

#7 Up All Night - Beck (NEW)

#8 4 U With Love - Giorgio Moroder (NEW)

#9 Dua Lipa - Genesis (NEW)

#10 Barbie - P!nk (NEW)