Get ready for Miles Morales’ return in the new Spider-Man movie! Check out the latest trailer for “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, and fans can now catch a glimpse of the action-packed adventure in the newly released trailer. The highly anticipated sequel swings into cinemas on May 31.
About Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Miles Morales returns for the next chapter of the Oscar®-winning Spider-Verse saga, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. After reuniting with Gwen Stacy, Brooklyn’s full-time, friendly neighborhood Spider-Man is catapulted across the Multiverse, where he encounters a team of Spider-People charged with protecting its very existence. But when the heroes clash on how to handle a new threat, Miles finds himself pitted against the other Spiders and must redefine what it means to be a hero so he can save the people he loves most.
Directed by Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, and Justin K. Thompson, the film boasts a screenplay by Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, and David Callaham, based on the Marvel comic books.
Produced by Avi Arad, Amy Pascal, Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, Christina Steinberg.
The star-studded cast includes Shameik Moore and Hailee Steinfeld, Jake Johnson, Issa Rae, Daniel Kaluuya, Jason Schwartzman, Brian Tyree Henry, Luna Lauren Velez, Greta Lee, Rachel Dratch, Jorma Taccone, Shea Whigham and Oscar Isaac.
Don’t miss Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, distributed by Columbia Pictures, the local office of Sony Pictures Releasing International. Join the conversation using the hashtag #SpiderVerse
DC fans, brace yourselves for a new superhero to grace the big screen! Warner Bros. Pictures has just released the official trailer for “Blue Beetle,” featuring Xolo Maridueña (“Cobra Kai”) as the titular character. The much-anticipated superhero film will hit Philippine cinemas exclusively starting August 16.
From Warner Bros. Pictures comes the feature film “Blue Beetle,” marking the DC Super Hero’s first time on the big screen. The film, directed by Angel Manuel Soto, stars Xolo Maridueña in the title role as well as his alter ego, Jaime Reyes.
From Ordinary Life to Extraordinary Destiny
Recent college grad Jaime Reyes returns home full of aspirations for his future, only to find that home is not quite as he left it. As he searches to find his purpose in the world, fate intervenes when Jaime unexpectedly finds himself in possession of an ancient relic of alien biotechnology: the Scarab. When the Scarab suddenly chooses Jaime to be its symbiotic host, he is bestowed with an incredible suit of armor capable of extraordinary and unpredictable powers, forever changing his destiny as he becomes the Super Hero BLUE BEETLE.
A Star-studded Cast
The film features an ensemble cast, including Maridueña (“Cobra Kai”) are Adriana Barraza (“Rambo: Last Blood,” “Thor”), Damían Alcázar (“Narcos,” “Narcos: Mexico”), Elpidia Carrillo (“Mayans M.C.,” the “Predator” films), Bruna Marquezine (“Maldivas,” “God Save the King”), Raoul Max Trujillo (the “Sicario” films, “Mayans M.C.”), with Oscar winner Susan Sarandon (“Monarch,” “Dead Man Walking”), and George Lopez (the “Rio and “Smurf” franchises). The film also stars Belissa Escobedo (“American Horror Stories,” “Hocus Pocus 2”) and Harvey Guillén (“What We Do in the Shadows”).
A Hero’s Journey Begins
Soto (“Charm City Kings,” “The Farm”) directs from a screenplay by Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer (“Miss Bala”) and based on DC characters, “Blue Beetle” is produced by John Rickard and Zev Foreman, with Walter Hamada, Galen Vaisman, and Garrett Grant serving as executive producers. Get ready to embark on an extraordinary adventure with Jaime Reyes as he discovers his true purpose and embraces his destiny as the Blue Beetle.
Mark your calendars and catch “Blue Beetle” in Philippine cinemas starting August 16, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Discovery company. Join the conversation online and use the hashtag #BlueBeetle to share your excitement for this thrilling new superhero film!
In cinemas starting August 16, “Blue Beetle” is distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Discovery company.” Join the conversation online and use the hashtag #BlueBeetle
As someone who used to play the popular tabletop role playing game back in the 80s and 90s (and reintroduced to the world and made popular again by ‘Stranger Things’), seeing the trailer of Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves tickled my childhood fantasies. In the trailer, I saw creatures I’ve fought in the game like The Displacer Beast and the Gelatinous Cube. It’s all geekdom and nerd-lore but that’s the realm by which ‘Dungeon & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves’ is trying to strike a chord with. And by all means, it works.
There’s an almost improvisational structure to the narrative of the film, which reminds me of how it’s like to actually play the game. Rather than laying down and establishing all the moving parts early on, we discover side quests that are needed to beat the big boss of the film. There are even three stories told within the main story – again, very reminiscent of the actual tabletop role playing game – but you don’t have to have played the game to enjoy this movie. The characters, most especially the duo of Chris Pine and Michelle Rodriguez, is actually enough to carry the movie through.
‘Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves’ is a fantasy action heist movie with Chris Pine and Michelle Rodriguez as Edgin and Holga, partners in both petty crime and raising Edgin’s daughter Kira (Chloe Coleman). When one job goes horribly wrong, Edgin and Holga find themselves in prison and take on a quest to get free and find Kira. The first part is easy but the second part, means they’d have to go against a former ally Forge Fitzwilliam (played by Hugh Grant, who is obviously having a blast) and their former client Sofina (Daisy Head), who happens to be a powerful wizard.
So the narrative shifts from a simple rescue mission to a complicated caper that includes mystical items to break through a very powerful kingdom. Along the way they gather the sorcerer Simon (Justice Smith, a shape-shifting druid (Sophia Lillis), and the Paladin Xenk (Rege-Jean Page).
It’s a team caper film with a lot of moving parts and each segment is hinged upon the special skills of one of the main characters or a magical item that happens to be in their arsenal. It’s not particularly clever plot-wise, in fact, there’s very little friction or true struggle in the film. You get this feeling that they’ll figure it out regardless of what obstacle gets in their way. ‘Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves’ is lightweight and easy in tone and mood and that’s actually its charm.
‘Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves’ is not out to put you through a ringer. Instead, it’s out to give you a good time and enjoy a hassle-free adventure. It’s generous in its gags and jokes and plenty of battle sequences. It’s a by-the-numbers adventure film where the stakes aren’t that high but the enjoyment level is still quite high.
And surprisingly, it manages two very touching scenes, both involving Pine, Rodriguez, and Coleman, which serve as the heart of the film. For all its lightweight charm and its incessant use of one-shot techniques and CGI effects to showcase the full extent of a shapeshifting druid’s abilities, the film surprises you with tender moments full of heart. The dynamic and relationship that the film manages to establish between Edgin, Holga, and Kira surprises us with a strongly beating heart at the center of this movie.
More than anything, it’s just nice to see a totally different world in the cinema that’s not superhero related nor some reboot of some old tv show or movie. It’s a completely new set of characters and adventure and while it is set in a familiar world – familiar to those who know the world of Dungeons & Dragons, most specifically the Forgotten Realms campaign setting – it still feels new and refreshing.
The beloved character Carl from the Pixar movie Up is set to return to the big screen in the upcoming Pixar short, Carl’s Date.
In the animated movie Up, Pixar delivered some of the most iconic and heartwarming scenes through the characters of Carl and Ellie. The childhood friends who shared the dream of finding Paradise Falls grew up, fell in love with each other, and got married. But when Ellie passed, Carl decided to pursue their forgotten dream once more, leading to the adventures he had shared with the Junior Wilderness Explorer Russell and the talking dog Dug in the 2009 film.
Now, the upcoming short finds Carl as he reluctantly agrees to go on a date with a lady friend—but admittedly with no idea how dating works these days. Having pre-date jitters, Dug steps in to help, offering some tips for making friends. Although Dug’s idea of making friends is how he does it as a dog.
Check out the poster for Carl’s Date below:
Photo: Disney
Written and directed by Emmy Award winner Bob Peterson, this new short film will debut on the big screen together with their upcoming feature film Elemental, which will roll out in US theaters starting June 16.
The trailer for the upcoming movie Asteroid City has been released, giving us a glimpse of Wes Anderson’s sci-fi flick and the director’s unique style in bringing together captivating colors in his movies. Watch the trailer for Asteroid City below:
Taking place in the fictional American desert town circa 1955, the movie revolves around the Junior Stargazer/Space Cadet convention where the organizers, students, and parents across the country who are taking part in the convention are suddenly dragged into the center of world-changing events.
The film has a star-studded cast that includes Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks, Margot Robbie, and Hong Chau. Completing the lineup are Jeffrey Wright, Tilda Swinton, Willem Dafoe, Maya Hawke, Steve Carell, Bryan Cranston, Ed Norton, Adrien Brody, Liev Schreiber, Hope Davis, Stephen Park, Rupert Friend, Matt Dillon, Tony Revolori, Jake Ryan, Grace Edwards, Aristou Meehan, Sophia Lillis, Ethan Lee, Jeff Goldblum, and Rita Wilson.
Asteroid City is coming to US cinemas this June 16.
Nintendo’s mustached hero Mario, along with the rest of the characters from the Super Mario Bros. that have been captivating gamers and fans for decades jump out of the game for The Super Mario Bros. Movie that will finally open in Philippine cinemas on April 19.
For the first time, iconic global entertainment brands Illumination and Nintendo join forces to create “The Super Mario Bros. Movie”, a new cinematic adventure starring pop culture’s most prominent plumber of the past four decades. Based on the world of Nintendo’s Super Mario games, the film invites audiences into a vibrant, thrilling new universe unlike any created before in an action-packed cinematic comedy event.
In “The Super Mario Bros. Movie”, while working underground to fix a water main, Brooklyn plumbers Mario (Chris Pratt, Jurassic World and The LEGO Movie franchises) and brother Luigi (Charlie Day, Horrible Bosses) are transported down a mysterious pipe and wander into a magical new world. But when the brothers are separated, Mario embarks on an epic quest to find Luigi. With the assistance of a Mushroom Kingdom resident Toad (Keegan-Michael Key, The Lion King) and some training from the strong-willed ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy, The Queen’s Gambit), Mario taps into his own power.
Directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic, “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” features an extraordinary comedic cast, including Jack Black (Jumanji films) as Bowser, Seth Rogen (The Fabelmans) as Donkey Kong, Fred Armisen (Saturday Night Live) as Cranky Kong, Kevin Michael Richardson (Family Guy) as Kamek and Sebastian Maniscalco (Green Book) as Spike, plus a special voice appearance by Charles Martinet, who has voiced the characters of Mario and Luigi in the Super Mario games for more than 30 years.
Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of the Super Mario games and producer of The Super Mario Bros. Movie, explains that the Super Mario world connects with so many people across the globe because it has continued to evolve since its conception. “Since I was a child, I longed to become a manga artist, and until around the time that I entered high school, my dream was to become one,” Miyamoto says. “Around then, I was imagining the characters I drew myself appearing in my own manga. Although the rail shifted to the game instead of manga, I believe that if my first game was not fun enough, the characters which appear in it would not have remained in everyone’s memories. Fortunately, the character which appeared in Donkey Kong, the very first game I developed, was remembered and recognized by many people, and allowed me to produce many series of games after that. For the people who play the game, the character was recognized as an alter ego of themselves which moves around on the TV screen. And Mario evolved along with the evolvement of digital technology. As I continuously produced a game of Mario whenever a new technology came out, Mario became a very unique character which is totally one of a kind.”
From Universal Pictures International, “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” starts playing in local cinemas nationwide on April 19.
Exciting news for Disney and Pixar fans – the new original feature film Elemental is coming to theaters this June! Today, the full trailer has been revealed, featuring a lively world filled with living elements. Watch the trailer for Elemental below:
The movie takes us to Element City, a spectacular world where the elements of air, earth, water, and fire live and work together. Ember, a fiery woman who always lived close to her home in Firetown, meets the empathetic water guy Wade and sets out to discover the bigger world outside her comfort zone. Other interesting characters include Clod, a street-smart Earth kid who is always around Ember and Gale, an air element with a big personality.
Photos courtesy of Disney
Elemental is directed by Peter Sohn with a screenplay by John Hoberg & Kat Likkel and Brenda Hsueh with story by Sohn, Hoberg & Likkel and Hsueh. The film’s voice cast includes Leah Lewis, Mamoudou Athie, Ronnie del Carmen, Shila Ommi, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Catherine O’Hara, Mason Wertheimer, and Joe Pera.
On top of the feature film, the much-awaited Pixar short Carl’s Date will also premiere alongside the movie. It will follow the beloved old man from Up as he reluctantly agrees to go on a date. Elemental is set for a US release in US cinemas on June 16.
“It was just something I hadn’t done – a genre I’ve never really touched at all. Scary movies put me off my sleep,” says the Academy Award®-winning actor with a laugh. “I’m incredibly superstitious. Moving in circles like this where you’re examining situations that the characters face… It’s not necessarily a comfortable place for me. Certainly, there were a lot of unusual things happening around us, but you keep your balance and see them as coincidence, otherwise you’re going to drive yourself a little bit insane.”
Lucky for Crowe, there were plenty of things to keep him busy throughout the making of The Pope’s Exorcist.
In order to understand his character and what made him tick, Crowe dove into research, amassing all the material he could about the late Father Gabriele Amorth, the real-life Pope’s exorcist who was able to chronicle his stories in the best-selling memoirs on which the film is based. Crowe travelled to Rome, where he spent a week meeting people from the Vatican who knew the Pope’s exorcist. For all of the rumors of the secretive Church, Crowe says, “I have to say that the Church was very open. We were given some extreme privileges by those in charge at the Vatican.”
Director Julius Avery says that on that trip to Rome, he and Crowe saw firsthand how fondly Father Amorth is remembered, admired, and loved – which Crowe wanted to honor in his portrayal. Of course, the film is not a documentary, and some elements would have poetic license, but within that, “he never went against his real character. It remained grounded and real. That’s why I feel his performance is so wonderful; because he was able to embody the spirit of Father Amorth.”
In his research, Crowe uncovered a man who could make a perfect lead for a mystery thriller – the ultimate insider with the trust of one of the oldest and most powerful organizations on the planet… but also a person of strong convictions and an unflinching thirst for the truth. Crowe says that Amorth’s colleagues and friends from the Vatican told him that the exorcist “never had any disagreements with anybody and always followed the line of the church,” while at the same time, the actor notes, “Father Amorth said some very controversial things in his time. He made some very strong statements, at various points in time, about his beliefs – which weren’t always 100% in line with the Church.”
“He had a certain, particular irreverent take on things that I tried to bring into the film,” Crowe continues. “He’s an individual, not a cookie cutter man of the cloth. He rides a Lambretta motor scooter!”
About The Pope’s Exorcist
Inspired by the actual files of Father Gabriele Amorth, Chief Exorcist of the Vatican (Academy Award®-winner Russell Crowe), The Pope’s Exorcist follows Amorth as he investigates a young boy’s terrifying possession and ends up uncovering a centuries-old conspiracy the Vatican has desperately tried to keep hidden.
The film is directed by Julius Avery, screenplay by Michael Petroni and Evan Spiliotopoulos, screen story by Michael Petroni and R. Dean McCreary & Chester Hastings, based on the books “An Exorcist Tells His Story” and “An Exorcist: More Stories” by Fr. Gabriele Amorth.
The cast is led by Russell Crowe, Daniel Zovatto, Alex Essoe and Franco Nero.
In cinemas starting April 19, The Pope’s Exorcist is distributed in the Philippines by Columbia Pictures, local office of Sony Pictures Releasing International. Connect with the hashtag #ThePopesExorcist
From award-winning director Ben Affleck and starring Matt Damon, “AIR” reveals the unbelievable game-changing partnership between a then-rookie Michael Jordan and Nike’s fledgling basketball division, which revolutionized the world of sports and contemporary culture with the Air Jordan brand.
“AIR” also stars Ben Affleck, Jason Bateman, Chris Messina, Marlon Wayans, with Chris Tucker and Viola Davis in a moving story that follows the career-defining gamble of an unconventional team with everything on the line, the uncompromising vision of a mother who knows the worth of her son’s immense talent, and the basketball phenom who would become the greatest of all time.
Affleck directed from a screenplay by Alex Convery. “AIR” is produced by Peter Guber, Jason Michael Berman, David Ellison, Jeff Robinov, Madison Ainley, Damon and Affleck.
In Philippine cinemas April 19, “AIR” is distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Discovery company.
Join the conversation online and use the hashtag #AIRMovie
By this point, I have forgotten most of the plot of the ‘John Wick’ series. Coming into John Wick: Chapter 4, all I knew was that I wanted to see the polished, hard-hitting action choreography we have been given in the first three installments. It’s the brand that has grown from this slick action, neo-noir franchise made popular by Keanu Reeves’ titular character, the assassin John Wick. Within the first ten minutes of the film, all I needed to remember was laid out before me and I knew who John Wick was out to kill and sat back and was ready for the ride.
What I wasn’t ready for were the figurative parallelisms that ‘John Wick: Chapter 4’ took to my own life as a man in my mid-forties who is looking to take things easier as I pass middle age. Down to its most basic, John Wick is the story of a master assassin who is literally killing everyone off so he can get out of the system and retire peacefully from that world. But the trouble that began, way back in the first installment of the series, has made him a liability (and has reminded the organization he used to work for how good he is at his job). It’s a man who just wants out but they won’t let him. Now how does a man in his mid-forties relate to this story? The connection there is in how this world is so hard-wired to ensure that you can never get out of the system. Not without ruffling a few feathers, or in the case of John Wick, killing a boatload of men and then some.
The world of John Wick and the organization he’s after, the High Table, has expanded that we get to see the history of John Wick come into play – old friends have come to give him refuge (to their own detriment) while other people from his past are brought in to bring John Wick down – and all of a sudden this world with all its cool martial arts and gun choreography takes human form. Sides are created and the High Table, represented by Bill Skarsgard as the Marquis, becomes an inhumane representation of the system that will not give John Wick what he wants. For the High Table, there is no mercy. The rules are sacred and John Wick must be destroyed at all costs.
And what cost! ‘John Wick: Chapter 4’ is not without its extensive body count. Fantastic fight scenes from multiple locations around the world bloat up the film to a running time of close to three hours but it can truly boast some of the most exciting and thrilling action sequences in cinema today. The only thing that dampens the polished groove of the film is that one of the best fight scenes ever, the one in Japan, happens in the first hour of the film – with the exquisite Donnie Yen, the ever-reliable Hiroyuki Sanada, and the refreshing and arresting Rina Sawayama, in her debut film role – and while the other action pieces that follow are still great, it’s pales in comparison from this first battle. It’s what makes the three hour running time feel exhausting. The best has already come early.
Luckily, Donnie Yen, as a blind assassin, creates a lot of nuance and texture for Keanu Reeves’ John Wick to play off of. Yen doesn’t only have the physicality for all the action stunts required from him in a film like this, but he also has the charisma and the gravitas to add a profound depth to the film by being the antithesis of John Wick. While Wick is holding on to a memory of a loved one who had passed, a wish to be free so he can live a life his own, Yen’s Caine is trapped in life with a daughter whose safety hangs in the balance. It’s why the retired Caine is back in the game and going toe-to-toe with an old friend.
So, sure, ‘John Wick: Chapter 4’ is maybe 30 minutes or even an hour too long. Too many fight scenes (though do we really care? Because they were all quite amazing displays of filmmaking and stunt work) can feel indulgent as this is presented as the final installment of a very profitable series but they don’t rest on their laurels and still provide such an interesting heart at the center of it: the price of our freedom. The ultimate cost that we must pay for being part of this system that only sees us for our utility and not our humanity.
Once the metaphor was so clear to me, I was cheering for John Wick because, like him, I wanted to be free of this unceasing struggle with the system. I should be able to go when I want to. The hundreds of bodies that he had to punch, kick, stab, and shoot to be free were just metaphors of every fiery hoop we go through before we realise we are just cogs in a machine. Maybe I’m seeing more than what is really there. But I understood John Wick’s tiredness. It was time to go but they would not let him go.
So, he made a big mess just to get out and left us with a great big movie to say farewell with and I’m all the happier for it.
My Rating:
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— John Wick: Chapter 4is now showing in cinemas nationwide. Book your seats in advance and buy your tickets here.
