Hold your horses, pop culture
EVERYTHING seems to be moving at a frenetic pace now that the year is wrapping up and everyone is busy with weddings, Christmas parties or just basically trying to make it home safe through the traffic.
Pop culture just seems to keep in step this season. If you’re a fan, there’s an added challenge to keep up and show up.
Today, Ed Norton’s “Motherless Brooklyn” opens. He acts, directs, co-produces and writes the screenplay of this film based on the novel by Jonathan Lethem. It’s a neonoir detective film, with the main character, Lionel Essrog, who has
Tourette’s syndrome, investigating the murder of his friend and mentor Frank Minna (Bruce Willis).
Norton changes the setting of the film to the 1950’s and he digs through all the different parts of New York to solve his case. The movie has an amazing cast: Alec Baldwin, Willem Dafoe, Bobby Cannavale, Leslie Mann and rising star Gugu Mbatha-Raw. Look for Wynton Marsalis and Thom Yorke on the soundtrack.
Tonight, the legendary Irish band, which has been around over four decades, will be playing for a much-awaited concert at the Philippine Arena in Bulacan. Everyone who has been jealous seeing everyone else’s footage from the Singapore and Tokyo shows can now have their chance — though I know some people who are watching for a second time. U2 shows are almost always political and make some sort of statement. In a show I caught in 2018, they used the song “Staring at the Sun” to reveal the sad and heart breaking rise of racist and white supremacist groups in the United States and segueing into a powerful message with none other than “Pride ( In the Name of Love).” What will Bono say this time? Tomorrow, Netflix is bringing in Henry Cavill (Superman) and Lauren Hissrich — lead actor and showrunner for their new series, “The Witcher.” They will be hosting a fan event and a screening of the first episode at the Ayala Malls Manila Bsy in the afternoon.
Next, if you follow Trese comics — which is now a Netflix property as well — the creators Budjette Tan and Kajo Baldisimo (both now based outside Manila) will be in town for a Trese postcard event at Secret HQ in Poblacion, Makati. Secret HQ has a selection of comic titles and hopefully they’ll have copies of the books that keep getting sold out at Komikon.
Then of course, you’ll have to take a deep breath and get ready for “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” and the Metro Manila Film Festival. By the way, if you are looking for tickets for “Star Wars,” which opens next Friday, December 20, they are already available.
If this ever gets too much, there’s always books and streaming. Just have some pandesal,kesongputi and tsokolate and you’re all set.