IN THE not-so-distant past, TV viewers were forced to wait a week for the next installment of their favorite shows, parceled out by networks in half-hour or hour-long increments.

THIS FILIPINO remake of the beloved 2013 Korean hit by Lee Hwan-kyung is just what we need for Christmas. Of course, it’s mostly fantasy, with its cuddly convicts improbably getting along in their still livable cells — a distant alternative reality from the usual hellish scenes in most Philippine penitentiaries where sweaty, scabies-ridden bodies pile on top of each other, and violence is the norm. The prison setting resonates as we have an inordinate number of low budget movies set in prisons, to judge from the daily morning lineup on a major network’s free movie channel. We’ve had at least four presidents who were in prison at some point in their lives. Here is a very different kind of prison from what the movies usually bring us. Escapist entertainment, indeed, but then we all need a break.

3POL TROBOL: Huli Ka Balbon is an action-comedy film and the second feature from Rodel Nacianceno or more popularly known as Coco Martin.

THE iconic Victoria Harbor will take center stage again when Hong Kong ushers in 2020 with an enhanced edition of one of the world’s largest light and music shows — A Symphony of Lights. A live satellite feed of the entire 10-minute show, a kaleidoscope of lighting effects that will highlight Hong Kong’s skyline, will be provided to media organizations worldwide so that the international audience can share the festivities.

FINALLY, the last installment of this third trilogy that George Lucas a long time ago in an era that feels far far away once cobbled together, from Flash Gordon serials, The Adventures of Robin Hood, World War 2 fighter plane footage (particularly The Dam Busters) and, most of all, Kurosawa’s The Hidden Fortress (with a brief callback to Yojimbo). The capstone to his grand edifice of a fantasy* franchise if you like.

AT ANY TIME, not just during the Christmas season when Filipino audiences expect to be entertained, Culion would be a daring enterprise. First it is a period piece, and Filipinos notoriously lack a sense of history, whether ours or the world’s. The events portrayed span 1937 to 1941, which is why the prominence given to the obviously anachronistic Hollywood type sign in cast white concrete letters, spelling out “Culion” and its government insignia, on the side of a mountain, is perplexing. That sign was probably circa 2006 when Culion had its centenary. After so much effort devoted by the production design guys to attempting period authenticity, what with the kerosene lamps and the nearly uniform women cast members’ attire of earth-toned baro at camisa, couldn’t they have erased the damn thing through CGI?

VIC SOTTO teams up once again with some of his Eat Bulaga! co-hosts and director Michael Tuviera (who directed the 2018 Metro Manila Film Festival entry Jack, Em, Popoy: The Puliscredibles) for another action comedy — Mission Unstapabol: The Don Identity .

I MISSED the first few minutes of The Mall, The Merrier, the first team-up of noontime show hosts and actors Vice Ganda and Anne Curtis-Smith. After sitting through it for two hours, I wish I had missed a larger part of it.

THIS YEAR’s Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) only has one romance (in contrast, 2018 had three: Girl in the Orange Dress, Mary Marry Me, and One Great Love) and it’s not really that much about romance but more about how art imitates life and how people would try to escape their realities and rewrite their lives if they could.

SO LONG, farewell, and auf wiedersehen to 2019. We’ve come up with a list of where you can kiss this year goodbye, from the city’s most plush, most pumping places — and even right at home.

IT IS A PLACE where heritage and culture stand proud, enriched but not diluted by the traditions of immigrants. Some of its denizens roam the world, exploring foreign cultures; others stick close to home; neither invites scorn. An island of confident identity in a fractured and contentious world, it celebrates cosmopolitan curiosity and deep-rooted traditions, local custom and diverse origins. It is a big tent — quite literally.

IN LATE AUGUST, when Popeyes was selling about 1,000 sandwiches per store per day, it didn’t seem like there were more than three words — “fried chicken sandwich” — in America’s culinary lexicon.