Author: Wanggo Gallaga

Movie Review: American Terror in ‘Warfare’

There’s something visceral and authentic about ‘Warfare,’ the film written and directed by Alex Garland and Ray Mendoza, Mendoza being one of the US Navy SEALs who had experienced first-hand the events that transpire in the movie. The film reenacts the conflict in Ramadi, Iraq in 2006 by two Navy SEAL platoons as they faced heavy fire from the locals who wanted them out of their land. On one hand, it is a battle of survival, showing the tactical strategies and the battle instincts of American soldiers in times of conflict and it is thrilling to see how a platoon managed to get out despite being surrounded by a whole city of hostiles. But as a non-American, the film ends up becoming a cautionary tale of the horrors of war and imperialism. It plays off as an anti-war film when you can see, without filters, the damage that wars cause both on human lives and ways of living.

The plot is simple: a platoon of Navy SEALs sneaks in under the cover of night into a two-story house in Ramadi. They take the families living there into one room and force them to cooperate as they use the house as a watchtower over the central plaza. The film remains quite obtuse about why they are there and what exactly they are doing.

Later on, they are discovered, and as the city begins to quiet down, locals start to arrive, surround them, and begin their attack on the soldiers. As two members are wounded and need to evacuate, they come across heavy fire and suffer heavier injuries and losses and urgently need to get to safety.

The film’s script is based solely on the testimonies of the soldiers present in the house and with Mendoza as co-screenwriter and co-director, he was able to recreate the events as it was shared by everyone involved. The drama and tension of being caught in that moment are laid bare for all to see. The effects of shell-shock, seeing and hearing your companion scream in pain as his legs are torn to the bone, surrounded by the sounds of gunfire are devastating. It’s a compelling cinematic approach that brings us as close as possible to the heart of an armed conflict. It’s brutal, chaotic, and unforgiving. It would be thrilling if it weren’t based on real events.

What’s interesting about this depiction is how there’s so little context that’s in the film. It wasn’t until after the movie ended that I researched the conflict and discovered it depicted a rescue attempt in the wake of the Second Battle of Ramadi. Apparently, Ramadi was the capital of the insurgent forces of the Islamic State of Iraq during the American occupation. None of this context was made clear in the film and, so what I saw, as a non-American, was a bunch of American soldiers traipsing around in lands that were not their own (after all, it’s been argued that the American occupation of Iraq was motivated by faulty intelligence and questions about the legality of that war have been expressed) and causing chaos to everyone around them.

Mendoza and Garland take every opportunity to try and make each character recognizable – easily done by casting some very prominent young actors in these roles including Will Poulter, Kit Connor, Charles Melton, Joseph Quinn, Cosmo Jarvis, and D’Pharaoh Woon-a-Tai – giving them close-ups and calling them out by name. The directors humanize these people so that when the bullets start falling and people start to get hurt, we feel strong enough to care. It’s a complex emotion, for me, knowing that the filmmaking is making me empathize with these people, who in my understanding, are not where they are supposed to be and are bringing the danger to their own selves.

But that’s the thing about war: it’s fought by soldiers who are just following orders. Absent from the film are the people whose decisions it was that put this conflict into action in the first place. The ones who get hurt or die, whose houses are shot at by guns and tanks, they are the ones at the frontlines and dying but on whose say so?

This is how ‘Warfare’ becomes an anti-war movie for me because there’s a lingering shot at the end of the film, when the soldiers finally retreat and are evacuated and all we see are the empty streets of Ramadi with all the debris on the streets, the house from the house shot at by tanks, and the locals stepping out to assess the damage.

It’s the final shot of this film, which omits crucial context, poses a profound question: who was terrorizing whom?

My Rating:

Warfare is now showing in cinemas. Check showtimes and buy your tickets here.

April 25, 2025
Movie Review: A Hell of a Night: A Review of ‘Sinners’

There’s something epic about Ryan Coogler’s ‘Sinners,’ even though the entire story unfolds over just 24 hours in a single community in the Mississippi Delta in 1932. There’s a bigness to the way Coogler sets each scene and introduces to us each character that while the film may feel contained, the themes and the imagery goes way beyond the story’s premise of twin brothers who come back from Chicago to open a juke joint for the black community of their hometown. There is an exploration here of race, of freedom, of history, and of resistance. While the trailer may lead us to think this is a period vampire movie with two Michael B. Jordans (playing the aforementioned twins) but this is a Ryan Coogler movie. It’s a lot more layered than this.

The film begins with a flashforward, a shot of the finale, with Sammie arriving at the church where his father is a pastor, bloodied and dirty and carrying a broken guitar. His father takes him in the congregation and pleads for him to leave his life of sin: of alcohol, of sex, and of blues music. We then shift to the day before, when Sammie sees his cousins, Smoke and Stack (Jordan in a dual role), who have returned from Chicago to open a juke joint in a former sawmill owned by a racist white man.

Photo Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures

In one day, the twins recruits the members of their joint, which include musicians like Sammie and Delta Slim (Delroy Lindo), local Chinese merchants Grace and Bo (Lu Jun Li and Yao, respectively) for supplies, Cornbread (Omar Benson Miller) to act as bouncer, and Smoke’s estranged wife Annie (Wunmi Mosaku), who is also versed in the occult and knowledgeable in the supernatural.

Photo Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures

In one day, the twins recruits the members of their joint, which include musicians like Sammie and Delta Slim (Delroy Lindo), local Chinese merchants Grace and Bo (Lu Jun Li and Yao, respectively) for supplies, Cornbread (Omar Benson Miller) to act as bouncer, and Smoke’s estranged wife Annie (Wunmi Mosaku), who is also versed in the occult and knowledgeable in the supernatural.

Photo Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures

While the juke joint brings in the community to eat, drink, and sing and dance to the blues and jazz, a young woman from Smoke and Stack’s past joins the revelries, Mary (Hailee Steinfeld). With both brothers dealing with the strained relationships of their past, Mary and Annie, and Sammie trying to catch the attention of Pearline (Jayme Lawson), a married singer, trouble begins to brew as a vampire circles the sawmill, hoping to get an invite into the premises.

Photo Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures

You wouldn’t think, during the first hour, that this is a vampire movie. Except for a brief scene introducing the Irish vampire Remnick (Jack O’Connell), the first hour of the film is dead-set on building this vast world and its histories. Smoke and Stack are out in town bringing the people they need to make the juke joint work, and each encounter offers a world of stories that adds layers and depth to this film. Set during the era of the Ku Klux Klan, Prohibition, and blatant, racially charged oppression, ‘Sinners’ carves out a space of what freedom looks like for an oppressed people. And for the cotton-picking farmers of the Mississippi Delta, it’s drinking, dancing, and singing along to some good ol’ country blues that can set a spirit free.

Photo Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures

The symptoms of oppression hang heavy throughout the film but never overpower it, so it never feels preachy. Instead, it creates layers and textures such as the presence of the Chinese merchants, which is historically accurate, and the very colorful history of Steinfeld’s Mary, who also shares the same sort of roots her character has.

Photo Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures

By the time the vampires come and make their attack, the film has turned this fiction into something tangible and real; the stakes are high and true, and while the film can lean a bit too close to camp, there’s a gravitas to the whole proceeding that keeps it grounded and its footing secure.

Photo Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures

Michael B. Jordan is excellent in the dual role of the twins, showing two sides of the same coin: the serious Smoke and the more carefree Stack. He’s a great anchor for the film’s hopes and dreams with an excellent counterpoint by Miles Caton’s Sammie whose own hopes and dreams are filled with idealism as compared to the cynicism of the twins. Delroy Lindo is always a joy to watch but the ones who steal the show here are Steinfeld and Mosaku. Both women have done their assignment and slide into any of their scenes and take the spotlight. Both women steal their scenes (hard to do with Jordan, Lindo, and Caton’s incredible singing) but Steinfeld and Mosaku are completely synched to Coogler’s vision that they make their screentime shimmer with energy.

Photo Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures

Coogler uses the film’s mysticism to create extraordinary moments into the film which elevates his vampire movie into an allegory of black oppression and their unyielding desire for freedom. The success of the juke joint invaded by a white vampire is not just coincidental. The symbolism is just one of many that subtly makes ‘Sinners’ more than your usual popcorn fare.

Photo Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures

The gorgeous music of Ludwig Goransson and the crisp, powerful cinematography of Autumn Durald Arkapaw completes the set for this incredibly enjoyable film, especially if seen on IMAX.

And don’t forget to stay until the very end, as there is a mid-credit and end credit scene for full effect.

My Rating:

Sinners is now showing in cinemas. Check showtimes and buy your tickets here.

April 23, 2025
Movie Review: Struggling With Two Genres, ‘The Amateur’ Is a Movie Without a Solid Identity

There’s something about the trailer of ‘The Amateur’ that leads us to expect something that’s thrilling and action-packed; like a glossier cousin of the Bourne franchise. The premise of a genius CIA cryptographer who goes rogue to find the killers of his wife, Sarah (Rachel Brosnahan), on a quest for vengeance gives us ‘John Wick’ vibes but with gadgets and technology. So, it’s kind of jarring to sit in the theater and watch as the film takes an interesting approach by focusing the drama on whether protagonist Charlie Heller (Rami Malek) can bring it upon himself to kill. All the exciting gadget-centered traps seen in the trailer are not really what’s on the spotlight but whether a brilliant and rational computer geek can become a cold-blooded killer.

At the start, the film takes pains to show us how much Charlie is rather insulated from the world. He lives in a beautiful, lavish cottage filled with lush greenery, which tells us he doesn’t live in the city but away from it. His wife, Sarah, travels a lot and is always inviting him to come along but he doesn’t. Always finds an excuse, work-related mostly, it seems. As a CIA codebreaker, Charlie is sent some top-secret files from an anonymous informant that implicates his boss in something politically disastrous but this is pushed aside when he is told that his wife has been killed in a violent event that led to her being taken hostage and then killed.

Image Source: 20th Century Studios

Consumed by her loss, Charlie uses the secret files to blackmail his bosses to give him field training so that he can chase after his wife’s killers and take vengeance. But his bosses at the CIA are not happy that he has the files and that they are being blackmailed and are also attempting to take him out of the equation.

Image Source: 20th Century Studios

So, Charlie must get what he needs from the CIA before they take him out while chasing after some cold-blooded killers who are way more experienced than he is.

On paper, it sounds exciting. I bet the book that it’s based on, the 1981 novel by Robert Littell with the same name, is probably exciting. The book being released in 1981, it’s probably a lot more low-fi than this version which uses hi-tech traps for Charlie to exact his vengeance, as guns are not his specialty. As his trainer (Laurence Fishburne) tells him at some point, he uses these elaborate set-ups because he’s afraid to get his hands dirty, which makes an interesting thesis.

Image Source: 20th Century Studios

Rather than focusing on how Charlie sets up and pulls off his traps, the film takes several digressions to show visions of Sarah intruding into his daily life and memories of her. The film spends a whole hour preparing Charlie to go after his wife’s killers. Throughout this first half, it shows us how brilliant Charlie is but also how pulling a trigger is harder than it looks. Then the next half has his trying to execute his plans and him dealing with the repercussions of his actions. Director James Hawes and screenwriter Ken Nolan and Gary Spinelli give Charlie as much time to unfurl at a club after he makes his first kill.

It’s these scenes, which paints Charlie as a complex person growing into his new vigilante persona, that slows down the whole film. The dramatic, character-driven parts are not in synch with the aspects of the film that falls under the spy action-thriller tone. It’s not as cohesive as, let’s say, ‘Collateral’ or the dense and cerebral film ‘Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.’

Image Source: 20th Century Studios PH FB Page

Malek is a ball of nerves as Charlie. He has the same affectations as his character in ‘Mr. Robot’ but he’s allowed to be human here as Charlie is not a sociopath (or is his character in Mr. Robot on the spectrum?). He handles the dramatic parts well and how his character subtly builds his confidence after every strike. The changes are subtle but clear. The ones who steal the show though are Laurence Fishburne’s Henderson and Jon Bernthal’s small role as a spy in the CIA who Charlie has admiration for. As Henderson, Fishburne exudes an “I’ve-seen-it-all” attitude and carries himself with such an air of confidence that it makes Henderson so scary while he’s being warm and nurturing to Charlie. It’s an interesting role that Fishburne knows exactly how to elevate. Bernthal, on the other hand, has two or three scenes but he has a screen presence that fits his role so well and creates a wonderful counterpoint for Charlie. His appearance on the latter half of the film leaves such a great impact as we see Charlie facing off with the person, he admires the most.

While polished and well-crafted, ‘The Amateur’ is a different movie than what it appears to be. As a spy thriller, it short-cuts the things we want to see. As a character-study of a man who is reconciling turning into a vigilante, it does not go deep enough to have anything clear to say about the moral quandary of taking justice into your own hands. It has the makings of a sequel and hopefully, they’ll fine tune the general tone and figure out its identity.

My Rating:

The Amateur is now showing in cinemas! Catch it on the big screen—check showtimes and get your tickets here!

April 15, 2025
Disney+ Streaming News: ‘Hyper Knife’ Cast Breaks Down Their Characters at Exclusive Press Conference

With the release of the first two episodes of Disney+’s new streaming medical thriller ‘Hyper Knife’ the world gets to see a different side to Korean superstar Park Eun-bin. She has wowed audiences with her earnest and textured performance in the popular hit K-Drama ‘Extraordinary Attorney Woo’ and a look at her filmography shows that she has played challenging yet more grounded characters. Now, in this gripping suspense series, she has shed all the goodness that we’ve come to know of her from ‘Extraordinary Attorney Woo’ or ‘The King’s Affection’ as she tackles the sociopathic genius underground doctor Jung Se-Ok.

Like every press conference, the actors and the director take turns coming on stage to pose for the cameras. It’s charming to see actor Yoon Chang-young, who plays Seo Young-joo in the series, look so awkward and nervous despite having debuted as far back as 2013 and having starred in the hit zombie series ‘All of Us Are Dead.’ In comparison to his older co-stars, Park Eun-bin, Park Byung-Eun, and the legendary Sul Kyung-gul, Yoon Chang-young looks so young and naive despite his rather impressive resume as he started as a child actor like Park Eun Bin.

Alongside with director Kim Jung-Hyun, the cast went down to really talk about how different this show is going to be. “It’s a very strange story,’ says Kim, “There’s something off about each of the characters. You won’t normally get to meet characters like these in a K-Drama. It’s almost like a fairy tale but bloody.’ We know this from just the first two episodes alone. Seeing Park Eun-bin play a rather blood thirsty character is such a surprise. She describes her character as a “prodigy and a genius neurosurgeon who has an obsession. She is uncontrollable.” The real Park Eun-bin is bright and cheerful, a complete opposite of her character Jung Se-Ok and Park is quick to add: “I can’t ask you to root for her, but I hope you can enjoy the show.” She emphasizes that there are people like this and that hopefully viewers will find them an interesting watch on television.

Playing opposite of Park Eun-bin is Sul Kyung-Gu, who plays her former mentor who disgraces her and removes her medical license forcing her to go underground. On his character, he says “Choi Deok-hee is like a person who is isolated on an island. He is lonely but he doesn’t let anyone near him. He is self-centered and clumsy, and he has no one to admire except for Jung Se-Ok. But he can also be petty. Very petty.” Sul continues to explain that the two leads are dark reflection of each other, practically mirror images and he hopes that the connection between the two will make the audience excited to tune in every week.

It’s this darkness that attracted Park Eun-bin to the role. She narrates how she got the script while shooting ‘Castaway Diva’ and she was hooked on just reading the logline on the first page. She shares that “no one believes me when I say that I am so safe in my choices.I only take roles that I know I can deliver well but this role is a real challenge for me.” She reiterates her earlier message saying she doesn’t want anyone to “understand her character.” She talks about the genre called picaresque, which she says “is a genre where the protagonist is not a hero. He’s a bad person and that’s what we are doing in this show.”

Sul talks about how he didn’t have to work hard in learning how to look like a competent doctor. “There are stand-ins for the procedures and close-ups on the hands,” he admits but is quick to add that “there are no stand-ins for Park Eun-bin.” He says that she’s so small that they couldn’t find a doctor to play her parts so Park Eun Bin had to train and learn how to do all the operations in the show so she could perform it on camera.

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For a cast that are working with each other for the first time, there’s a lot of love and affection that is thrown around here. Despite the dark nature of the show, the chemistry is going to be off the charts if the first two episodes and the press conference are any indication.

Don’t miss out on this gripping new thriller! Watch Hyper Knife now on Disney+ and witness Park Eun-bin and Sul Kyung-gu’s electrifying face-off.

March 28, 2025
Movie Review — Hollow and Superficial, ‘Snow White’ Feels Undeserving of Rachel Zegler’s Star Power

From her film debut in Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story to her bravura performance in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Rachel Zegler has the talent and screen presence to be a bona fide superstar. The young actress has range, spunk, and the vocal chops to deliver a classic Sondheim and Bernstein song splendidly. I have such respect for her that I find her underutilized in the overly busy live-action remake of Snow White. The movie is riddled with sentiments that have been played out in other films before and is overloaded with CGI that, at times, doesn’t look quite finished. For someone of Zegler’s talent, this feels beneath her—except when she sings one of the songs by Pasek and Paul.

All the narrative beats from the classic Disney cartoon are in this movie, but they have been expanded to include Snow White’s relationship with her parents and how she got her name in the first place. Her parents raised her to be a leader and to treat people with kindness, and it’s this upbringing that allows her stepmother to take over when Snow White’s father fails to return home after an investigation in the southern parts of their kingdom.

Rachel Zegler as Snow White in DISNEY’s live-action SNOW WHITE. Photo courtesy of Disney. © 2024 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Snow White is then left to do chores, and she and the rest of the kingdom gradually forget she even exists (as expressed in one of the expository songs). The Evil Queen allows her to live as long as the magical mirror proclaims her to be the fairest of them all, but the moment Snow White awakens to the world’s harsh realities, the mirror finally declares her as the fairest. This prompts the Evil Queen to attempt to take her life.

Gal Gadot as Evil Queen in Disney’s live-action SNOW WHITE. Photo by Giles Keyte. © 2024 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

One of the more clever additions here is the idea that Snow White isn’t considered beautiful until she has woken up to the realities of the world. It’s an interesting contemporary reimagining of the story: that beauty is a concept that goes deeper than the skin. It should play well with the film’s push for a more politically-charged retelling of the story but director Marc Webb and screenwriter Erin Cressida Wilson can’t make this kingdom feel bigger than the tiny little town in the film’s opening. This world feels so small and spends more time trying to capture nostalgia rather than to amplify its new themes. It takes the most shallow and contrived examples of corruption and shows them at such a small scale that the urgency the film tries to push doesn’t seem quite true or authentic.

Rachel Zegler as Snow White in DISNEY’s live-action SNOW WHITE. Photo courtesy of Disney. © 2024 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

What makes it even harder to sink into is the balance of the magical elements. There’s a mystical wood right beside Snow White’s castle with the seven dwarves who mine for gems that would make the Evil Queen turn feral, but never do we see her greedy schemes ever come near the dwarves or their bounty. So, when the dwarves agree to help Snow White, it feels unjustified.

(L-R) Gal Gadot as Evil Queen and Rachel Zegler as Snow White in Disney’s live-action SNOW WHITE. Photo by Giles Keyte. © 2024 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Zegler, as Snow White, is fierce and a powerhouse. There’s a humanity in her that makes the character work, though she struggles when performing alongside a fully CGI-created cast. She fares much better when sharing scenes with other live actors—or even, for some reason, CGI-Dopey. Gal Gadot, as the Evil Queen, is giving it her all. What I find unfortunate is that she doesn’t bring anything interesting to the portrayal of the Queen. It’s such a literal performance that it feels uninspired. I’m surprised that she sings quite well. Andrew Burnap plays Jonathan, a bandit who fights in the name of the true king and is the new love interest for Snow White. It’s a fluffy character that’s written to be charming and to bring him (and by association Snow White) closer to the people, which would be fine if the film interrogated and explored the weakness of monarchial system. But it doesn’t. It still presents the fact that princesses and kings are okay despite all this talk about “being for the people.” There’s a disconnect to the socially charged themes and in the setting never questioning the viability of a system that passes down authority by bloodline or marriage. It’s not ideal. Look at what happened with the Evil Queen.

(L-R) Jonathan (Andrew Burnap) and Snow White (Rachel Zegler) in Disney’s live-action SNOW WHITE. Photo by Giles Keyte. © 2024 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

In an attempt to infuse the film with politically charged plots, the film ended up showing how superficial it was in its adoption of these new themes. And when you consider the reimagining of Snow White’s loss of her kingdom, the live-action remake of ‘Cinderella’ by Kenneth Branagh does it much better. It’s practically the same circumstances but done with more heart and a scale befitting the story. In ‘Snow White,’ everything is super-sized but it doesn’t take the time to match it in scale and so it feels hollow and empty.

(L-R): Gal Gadot as the Evil Queen and Rachel Zegler as Snow White in Disney’s live-action SNOW WHITE. Photo courtesy of Disney. © 2024 Disney Enterprises Inc. All Rights Reserved.

With the shoddy CGI – those dwarves are not enjoyable to watch at all – and the plot not giving us anything new, Zegler is working overtime in making the film worth watching. She is singing every song and trying to make every scene mean something more and while she’s doing great, everything around her is just falling short. Zegler deserves a better movie than this and the original cartoon should have just been left alone.

My Rating:

Snow White is now showing in cinemas! Ready for the magic? Catch it on the big screen—check showtimes and get your tickets here!

March 26, 2025
Disney+ Streaming Review — Park Eun-bin Excites with a Darker Character in Disney+ Thriller ‘Hyper Knife’

After her award-winning performance in ‘Extraordinary Attorney Woo,’ Park Eun-bin has able to showcase her commitment to character and her vast range as an actress. In the new Disney+ series ‘Hyper Knife,’ she goes head-to-head with another incredible Korean talent, the film actor Sul Kyung-gu of movies like ‘Memoirs of a Murderer,’ the wildly fun ‘Kill Boksoon,’ and ‘The Moon’ with Exo member D.O. Park and Sul face off as former mentor and former student, two genius neurosurgeons whose past has forced them to a bloody path as they reconnect again at the start of the series.

Seeing the first two episodes, ‘Hype Knife’ is a dark tale where there are no heroes; or at least at the start. Park Eun-bin’s Jeong Seok and Sul Kyung-gu’s Choi Deok-Hee are people whose genius pushes them to a level of sociopathy. While the older Deok-Hee seems more capable of acting like an empathic human being among others, the younger Jeong Seok is impatient, impetuous, and self-absorbed. Both think they are better than everyone, but Jeong Seok is not afraid to verbalize it.

At the start of the series, Jeong Seok has already fallen from grace, removed from an operating room while finishing her surgery by Choi Deok-Hee, the two have a spat and her medical license is removed. The show opens with her doing an illegal, underground brain surgery on a gangster boss at an abandoned temple in the mountains. Deok-Hee, simultaneously, is conducting his own operation at a hospital but something’s off. Jeong Seok is at home in this rough environment. The make-shift operating room doesn’t disturb her at all. We’ve come to realise she loves the job; she loves being a surgeon. She’d do anything to continue to operate. The police are after her as a video of an extremely difficult procedure comes to light and as they bring the video to Choi Deok-Hee for confirmation, he knows the only person who could do it is Jeong Seok. He now tries to find her for his own purposes.

To say their meeting is explosive is an understatement. He needs something from her, but she wants him to suffer for what he did to her and with that, the game begins.

Park Eun-bin and Sul Kyung-gu are playing shades and textures of what appears to be the same character. One is a younger version, full of life, and a massive ego that refuses to bow down to anyone else’s authority. The other is just as arrogant but is tempered by age and wisdom and what appears to be a need to maintain a certain respectability. But they are both ruthless and brilliant and seeing them come head-to-head is going to be quite exiting.

It’s extremely exciting for me to see Park Eun-bin throw herself at a character like Jeong Seok. The role is feisty and completely amoral. She is unburdened by any sense of authority or social mores thus she’s a complete wildcard. What makes this character exciting for Park Eun-bin to play is how it contrasts so much with her small, petite frame and youthful beauty. But her eyes are dead except when she is hatching a plan or when she’s about to operate. Just by looking at her you think she can’t hurt a fly and then she does, and even more so. It’s so unexpected that if the show keeps utilizing this disconnect, it can make for some really great moments for the show.

Creating a moral center for the show is Jeong Seok’s assistant, Seo Young-joo (Yoon Chang Young). Yoon Chang Young is a great counterpoint for Jeong Seok and their rapport and banter is pretty interesting. I can’t wait to discover how she and he are connected and how his character will either bring her back from the dark side or if he will be sucked into her darkness. If the show manages to stay dark and gritty and pulls no punches, this is a show that can be as engaging as ‘Gangnam B-Side.’ With the talent involved, this has all the potential to be a fun and exciting show to invest in.

My Rating:

Don’t miss out on this gripping new thriller! Watch Hyper Knife now on Disney+ and witness Park Eun-bin and Sul Kyung-gu’s electrifying face-off.

March 20, 2025
Movie Review — ‘Novocaine’ and the Trouble with the Trend of Extreme Comedic Violence

There’s a good amount of charm in the movie ‘Novocaine’ that helps soften the moral gray area that the film comfortably resides in. Directed by Dan Berk and Robert Olsen and written by Lars Jacobson, ‘Novocaine’ finds an everyman character with the condition to not feel any pain and turn him into a raging vigilante in hot pursuit of love. The film takes much joy in the way that it attacks and brutally damages the protagonist’s body and injects humor by showing how it doesn’t hurt him at all. When the lead reacts in kind, the bad guys feel it at full force. The film revels in the handing out of punishment and while it can be funny, 110 minutes of it can be a bit daunting.

The lead character in question, Nathan Caine (Jack Quaid of ‘The Boys’ and ‘Companion’) has a rare congenital condition that stops him from feeling pain. His whole life revolves around this condition, preventing him from solid foods and timing his excretory functions. It has kept him isolated and constantly cautious. But a new co-worker, Sherry (Amber Midthunder of ‘Prey’) catches his eye and she’s intrigued by his quiet and mysterious demeanor. Inspired to change things up by a client at the bank, Nathan takes Sherry’s offer for a date, and they hit it off that there’s a significant change in Nathan the very next morning. He’s about to ask her out again when a bank robbery occurs at their place of work and Sherry is taken as a hostage. With the cops disabled from the bank robber’s firepower, Nathan takes it upon himself to chase after them and to secure Sherry’s safety while the police are after them, thinking that Nathan might be an accomplice.

Amber Midthunder as “Sherry” and Jack Quaid as “Nate” in Novocaine from Paramount Pictures.

The film is extremely careful to portray Nathan as a good person so that when he starts to fight back, we feel justified in his actions. Especially since the film is dead set in making every battle as brutal and gruesome as ever. As seen on the trailer, Nathan puts his hands in a deep fryer, hot enough to turn his hand to mush. Trust the directors to do a close-up and to edit it quickly to Nathan’s face who is completely unaffected by what should be searing pain. On the other hand, the film ensures that everyone he fights, they are awful and evil and beyond redemption so that when they get their comeuppance, you can be rest assured that only the bad guys feel pain.

Jack Quaid as “Nate” in Novocaine from Paramount Pictures.

It feels like a trend that’s popping up these days where movies are being more and more emboldened to do the worst, they can on whoever they judge is deserving of these intense and extreme cases of violence. From abusive men in films like ‘Blink Twice’ and ‘Companion’ and then films like ‘Monkey Man’ and ‘Boy Kills World’ where the violence is directed to fascists and dictators. ‘Novocaine’ follows on the same trope wherein we are expected to be more forgiving because the bad people are getting “what they deserve” even if it’s not what is regarded as justice by our laws. These films are creating a justification for vigilante justice because we are all becoming more and more aware that the law and law enforcement isn’t doing what it is supposed to do.

Jacob Batalon as “Roscoe” in Novocaine from Paramount Pictures.

Through comedy, the film can take the most grotesque of fight scenes – it happened several times when someone got hurt in such a clever, unexpected way that I and everybody else in the cinema groaned really loud in empathy – and make it palatable because it’s happening to “the right people,” which in the politics in the film are criminals and nazis and fascists. And the film highlights Nathan’s priority which is the safety of a woman he just had one date with rather than the money that was stolen, which he gives away to people who need it. While admirable, it’s not his money to give.

Jack Quaid as “Nate” in Novocaine from Paramount Pictures.

And as romantic as it seems – the everyday man becoming a hero for the right girl – it supersedes rule of law and practicality. While the movie is fun and charming, I’m a little taken aback by the statements it makes about the world: a sudden romance is worth killing for and that is perfectly okay to be brutal to people who we deem deserve it. It’s a very thin line. Yes, it’s escapism. It’s a fantasy. But when enough films and series reinforce this fantasy, when do start thinking that it is right? And would I have this much worry if the film wasn’t so charming?

My Rating:

Novocaine is now showing in cinemas—ready to feel the thrill? Check showtimes and grab tickets here.

March 14, 2025
Movie Review — A Perfect Allegory: A Review of ‘Flow’

After seeing ‘Flow,’ it became very, very clear to me why it won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature over the intelligent and heart-warming ‘Inside Out 2’ and the surprisingly charming ‘Wild Robot.’ The two latter films, while very well-made and will undoubtedly be classics, they do not have the sense of wonder and magic that ‘Flow’ has. The two mainstream animated features are very accommodating, and its narratives are written to ensure that everyone understands what it is they are trying to say. Not ‘Flow.’ The Academy Award winning movie gives us a sort of post-apocalyptic adventure with animals and not a single bit of dialogue. Nothing is explained and every scene, every image is given to us like a metaphor but without any indication of what they had intended it to be a symbol for.

In a way, ‘Flow’ acts as an allegory, but an allegory to what? They left that to us.

‘Flow’ is the story of a dark gray cat who is out in the woods. He lives in an empty house with cat sculptures set up in the lawn. No sign of the owner. Suddenly, out of the blue, a great flood strikes and submerges every bit of land under water. The cat finds a boat with a capybara and the two sail towards distant towers that jut out of the water. Along the way they meet other animals – a lemur, dogs, a secretarybird, and an odd-looking whale – and they journey towards the towers and try to survive as the water level keeps rising and there’s no land at all in sight but the towers.

Images from Flow Movie

Throughout the film’s runtime, the animals relatively behave like animals, and they don’t talk at all. So, it’s all about behaviour. The way a dog would react to a cat or to a lemur. The way the capybara seems to be friendly with almost every other animal as you can see from various posts on social media about the relative chill quality of the capybara. There are some actions that lean towards human-like, but they are so infrequent that it doesn’t break the spell.

So, while these animals have very little control over what’s happening, the film finds a way to create a thematic structure that gives us a story that we can hold on to and that carries from the story’s beginning to its end. It does this completely with vibrant imagery that we can make for ourselves what we feel this movie is a symbol of. The great flood that puts our characters in danger in the first place can be connected to a biblical flood, but you could also talk about climate change. The animal composition and how they got on that boat together could be a metaphor and it can be interpreted in so many ways.

In terms of profundity, it would be cheating but it’s not because it can also survive as just a story about a few animals trying to survive a fantastical flood. It doesn’t have to get any deeper than that. ‘Flow’ is just so excellently thought out and so wonderfully animated that it becomes second-nature for us to instill into it meaning.

Images from Flow Movie

There is no explanation for the flood or for any of the things that happen in the movie – and there are unexplainable – and while it makes us ask questions, it also adds a sense of wonder and mystery to the whole narrative that elevates it into something magical, mythical. Even the way they decided to imagine the whale brings us to a different world entirely. It’s not afraid to be not grounded in anything real but the fact that the animals, our main characters, are just animals and not some anthropomorphic metaphor for humans makes ‘Flow’ such an interesting work.

Images from Flow Movie

Everyone in the cinema that I was watching it in were reacting to every little thing. Some of the children seated behind me was filling out all the details out loud. They couldn’t help themselves. It’s such a magical story and how it was told that it made me want the film to last forever. Again, I am so happy that it won Best Animated Feature at the Oscars and that it is showing in the cinemas. Watch it in the biggest screen you can. It’s magical.

My Rating:

Flow is now showing in cinemas. Check showtimes and buy your tickets here.

March 10, 2025
Theater Review – ‘Niyebe: Isang Experimental Na Musikal’ Finds Its Footing with the Strength of Its Two Leads

Dudz Terana’s and Vince Lim’s musical adaptation of Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s short story, ‘The Trail of Your Blood in the Snow’ called ‘Niyebe: Isang Experimental Na Musikal’ is running until March 27 at the FEU Center for the Arts Studio. Dubbed as an “experimental musical,” the play is a wonderful showcase for the blossoming talent of the Far Eastern University Theater Guild (FTG) and their incredible range of singers who masterfully bring to life the beautiful songs of the play.

Taking much from the source material, ‘Niyebe: Isang Musikal’ tells the story of the Colombian couple, Billy and Nena, who fall in love, get married, and in their honeymoon, travel to Spain and then to Paris where a tragedy befalls them.

Nena suffers a cut from a thorn of a rose and, very much like the magical realism of Latin American literature, the wound never heals, and Nena is taken to a hospital in Paris where Billy is left outside to wait for news as the visitation hours in the hospital are only once a week. Alone, in Paris, Billy suffers alone while waiting for news of his ailing wife.

As a short story, it’s an easy read, but in a play, Terana (who wrote the book and the lyrics and directed this staging) expands the world to fully detail the couple’s childhood, which include the Colombian conflict in 1964. The play is experimental as the story is told in a non-linear manner. Even with a narrator, the narrative jumps from their childhood to Billy waiting for news in the streets of Paris, jumping again to when Billy and Nena are falling in love while in school and so on and so forth. It goes beyond just a storytelling effect when, in one scene, the younger versions of Nena and Billy have conversations with the older versions of themselves: a four-way conversation between what is essentially just two people. It’s moment like this, in the play, when the brilliance of the material’s theatricality really captures the audience’s interest.

The music, in of itself, is wonderful and melodic. The play is almost completely sung through, with a few parts for dialogue. Luckily, the whole cast are excellent singers – not just the three leads – but an exciting ensemble who enter and exit as various individuals within the story all building a fully-fleshed out world while providing set changes, bringing in and out of props, and creating the clamor needed for certain scenes. There’s a lot of good happening here.

On the other hand, while everyone are such good singers, there’s a need to sharpen their movement quality. A number of them need to learn to finish their extensions, while some need to pin down their timing. Some need to put intention and story behind every movement. There’s quite a number of dancing here, excellent choreography by Carlon Matobato, but some understand the intention while others are just doing steps. And while a lot of them are fully committed to their roles, the fact that the characters and the milieu is Colombian and the themes are in the realm of the existential, there are times when the performers sometimes does not quite capture the nuance of the moment. But this is an issue of maturity. What they can process from their own experience is enough to capture the moment. It’s going to be very interesting to see them grow more as artists when they gain more experience and a larger worldview.

But what really grounds the work and makes it incredibly enjoyable is the power and charisma of its two leads – Dave Bambang and Kesiah Aritao as Billy and Nena, respectively – who are not just magnetic performers but incredibly talented singers. As they navigate the demands of their songs, they infuse with a lot of passion and emotions that the play feels connected by the bond they create for their characters. You might get lost with the non-linear narrative storytelling, but Bambang and Aritao anchors it in their love story. These two have such a strong presence that it keeps you rooted and can stop the play from falling out of orbit.

There’s a roughness to the FTG’s production of ‘Niyebe: Isang Experimental Na Musikal’ that also gives it its charm but what the show really showcases are the gorgeous songs of this musical and the powerful voices of the FEU Theater Guild.

My Rating:

Niyebe: Isang Experimental Na Musikal will run until March 27, 2025 at FEU Center for the Arts(FCA) Studio, Ground Floor, Engineering Bldg., FEU Manila. Get your tickets at here.

March 10, 2025
Disney+ Streaming Review — From the Ashes: A Review of the First Two Episodes of ‘Daredevil: Born Again’

The new Daredevil series begins with a gorgeous, grounded coverage of the city bursting with busy-ness and life. A montage of the characters we’ve come to know from the 3-season Netflix series it follows – Matt Murdock, Foggy Nelson, and Karen Page – showing us that they’ve returned to working together and, for the first time, it seems our titular character Matt Murdock looks happy. The shots bring out the flavor and textures of New York; that of ordinary people, outside the usual hustle-and-bustle of the MCU. This is meant to bring us closer to real people and real lives. Probably a way to remind us that Murdock is unlike Tony Stark or Thor. He’s a lawyer, first, as well as a superpowered costume vigilante. His battle against injustice is at two fronts.

But when a battle ensues with someone from his past, Murdock is forced to don the mask and fight crime as Daredevil. People are hurt, tragedy strikes, and Murdock is pushed over the edge. As he later states in the pilot episode, “A line was crossed…”—and from that moment, the show takes an unexpected turn.

The prologue’s promise of a continuation of the series storylines is an illusion. ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ is exactly that: a rebirth. That tragedy changes Matt Murdock and the story continues a year after that monumental event, and he has not been Daredevil of that period of time. He starts a new firm and surrounds himself with new people, including an investigator, Cherry, who is aware of his former identity. Murdock is more cynical now, a bit jaded. So much so that his partner tries to set him up with someone new, a doctor, Dr. Heather Glenn.

(L-R) Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll) and Daredevil/Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) in Marvel Television’s DAREDEVIL: BORN AGAIN, exclusively on Disney+. Photo by Giovanni Rufino. © 2024 MARVEL.

Things are looking different, quieter and peaceful until Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin, runs for Mayor. And Murdock struggles whether he would return to his vigilante ways or has Wilson Fisk really turned a new leaf? Matt Murdock doesn’t think so. And the nine-episode season tells us, at some point, he will find a reason to put the mask on again.

There’s still a darkness to the series, with showrunner Dario Scardapane at the helm, but off the bat the cinematography is already a bit brighter, even during the dark. The flash of humor is a very Marvel + Disney thing and doesn’t hold the same bite that it did in the old Netflix series. The show is trying its best to hold on to its foundations – the old show – but also trying to present it in a new way. There’s a bit more CGI than I’m comfortable with; especially because it’s not clean and can get very distracting. There’s even a fight scene in episode one that is reminiscent to the famous first season fight scene of ‘Daredevil,’ the one shot that was a tribute to ‘Oldboy.’ Unfortunately, the fight scene in ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ doesn’t have that same energy and is muddled by weird choreography and blocking and some unflattering CGI movements that makes it feel manufactured. It doesn’t have that grit and power that the originals have.

(L-R) Daredevil/Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) and Wilson Fisk / Kingpin (Vincent D’Onofrio) in Marvel Television’s DAREDEVIL: BORN AGAIN exclusively on Disney+. Photo courtesy of Marvel Television. © 2025 MARVEL. All Rights Reserved.

But once you’ve shaken that initial feeling of having to compare the two (because let’s face it, the Netflix Daredevil series is so loved) and acclimate to the Disney-fied version of ‘Daredevil: Born Again,’ there’s quite a lot to enjoy from the new show. Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio are always a joy playing these two characters and with the premise of ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ there’s an unsteady truce between them. It gives opportunities to meet and talk and their acting prowess just makes the screen sizzle with energy. From the first two episodes, we can feel the push and pull inside Murdock and Fisk, the way they are trying to hold on to a change they have committed to; but we can see them breaking. We can see the cracks. It’s wonderful and I can’t wait to see it unfold over the season.

(L-R): Wilson Fisk/Kingpin (Vincent D’Onofrio) and Vanessa Fisk (Ayelet Zurer) in Marvel Television’s DAREDEVIL: BORN AGAIN, exclusively on Disney+. Photo by Giovanni Rufino. © 2025 MARVEL.

Ayelet Zurer returns as Vanessa Fisk, Wilson Fisk’s wife, who has taken over his crime business while the Kingpin was recovering from a gunshot to the face (as implied in the last episode of ‘Hawkeye’ and possibly in ‘Echo,’ which I have not seen). Zurer had always made Vanessa such an interesting character and it’s nice to see her add a new layer to the role. Margarita Levieva plays Dr. Heather Glenn, who serves as an interesting romantic interest for the Daredevil, but we’ll get to see her flex her acting chops as her story seems to intersect into the rest of the plot beyond just as a love interest by the second episode. As previewed in press materials and on social media, the White Tiger will make an appearance by the second episode while the Punisher is nowhere yet to be seen.

Daredevil/Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) in in Marvel Television’s DAREDEVIL: BORN AGAIN exclusively on Disney+. Photo courtesy of Marvel Television. © 2024 MARVEL.

Shot during 2023, there’s a lot of subtexts within the show’s premise that is mirroring America after its most recent election. The Kingpin running for office and the way the show tries to explore and navigate the social aspect of such a move directly articulates a lot of present-day feelings. The fact that the show began filming before the election will shield it from any political notions, though it could still reflect the current U.S. president’s first term. But the groundedness I mentioned at the beginning of this review makes ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ more than just a superhero TV show. The fact that Matt Murdock is struggling whether he will be more effective as a lawyer or as a vigilante in a political and social landscape in the show that is very similar to that in real life – it makes it something even more interesting to watch.

We’ve been waiting for this! Despite a few fumbles, it’s looking good. ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ is looking really good.

My Rating:

Daredevil: Born Again is now streaming on Disney+.

March 7, 2025