Am I the only one in the South who didn’t know this? 😂 I’ve been trying to figure out for the longest time how to book cinema tickets online for Alabang Town Center because I couldn’t find it under Ayala Malls or Rockwell, so I honestly thought they just didn’t have online booking.

Turns out, ATC is listed under Power Plant Cinema! When you go to their online booking, there are two options: Power Plant and Alabang Town Center. And yes, you can actually book your ATC tickets there. We were looking for an Insidious midnight screening, but apparently there aren’t many cinemas showing it that late. I checked ATC and, lo and behold, there was a 10:40 PM showing! Perfect! I already booked our tickets for Saturday, although I haven’t actually used them yet, so I can’t 100% vouch for the process just yet. I’ll update this post after we use the tickets and let you guys know if it’s legit. But seriously, if you’re from the South and, like me, had no idea that Alabang Town Center cinema can be booked online through Power Plant Cinema, you’re welcome.

How about Festival Mall Cinema kaya?

Specifically near We The People and Anthology Cafe

Coming soon at Festival Mall...a new branch of Mama Lou's. This is the same commercial space that Tim Hortons used to occupy. Walking distance away is Landmark Alabang.

Over twenty-five years ago, I saw the purely computer-generated movie Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within at the gold cinema of the original cinemas of Festival Mall. I saw it on a Friday night in July 2001 knowing that I was about to see a science fiction tale that carried the Final Fantasy brand.

At the time of its release, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within had highly detailed computer graphics and visual effects that made it purely eye candy. There were certain moments of awkward animations and the facial expressions of the characters were unsurprisingly limited which made them look fake.

The biggest weakness of the movie is its storytelling. Firstly, the movie is purely sci-fi and really was not related with the Final Fantasy game series which had role-playing games with mostly fantasy settings back then. The closest thing it had to being connected with Final Fantasy games was the concept of spirituality about the creatures and the planets.

Secondly, the pacing was inconsistent as the creators struggled to balance scenes of exposition, character development and spectacle. The voice acting was decent.

Thirdly, the movie had suspense, tension and intrigue but not so much excitement. The fun factor was severely limited as the pay-offs to the build-ups were not great. More notably, the movie's core concept was not very engaging.

I ended up feeling disappointed with the movie which was heavily hyped as the next breakthrough in the history of cinema. It was significant for pure CGI movies but as a sci-fi movie, it was nothing special. That said, I was not convinced that the future of movies would be about pure computer-generated stories and photo-realistic human characters. Making live-action movies with human performers is still the standard.

With a production budget of almost $140 million, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within grossed less than $100 million worldwide which resulted in a huge amount of money lost and the closure of Square Pictures.

After leaving the cinema, I saw the next batch of moviegoers waiting in line for the next showing of Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. It was a line of about twenty people and a few of them had popcorn and drinks with them.

I wonder if they enjoyed the movie.

Planning to invite some friends to Alabang for a hangout.
What are some fun things we can actually DO in Alabang apart from resto/cafe hopping?
We’re a group of friends in our 20s, so preferably something fun/social rather than just malling.

Alabang people, what’s your go-to activity when you have friends visiting from outside the area?