Category: Movies

10 Filipino Horror Movies to Watch This Halloween

The spooky season is here once again, and we all know that Halloween must not pass without getting ourselves some of that fear-induced adrenaline rush! So if you’re on the lookout for movies to get you spooked this month, then look no further. On this list, we’ve rounded up some of the most popular Pinoy horror movies that you might want to watch this Halloween!

Aurora

Aurora from director Yam Laranas tells the story of the islander Leana and her younger sister Rita. When a fatal shipwreck happens on the rocky shores of their island, the siblings try to look for missing bodies, until the dead comes looking for shelter instead. Watch Aurora on Netflix.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5tlmpF_Fco&t

Eerie

Directed by Mikhail Red, Eerie follows a guidance counselor at a Catholic school for girls, who slowly unravels the mystery behind a student’s death through the help of a spirit. Watch Eerie on Netflix.

Nightshift

Another Yam Laranas film, Nightshift is about a young woman whose first day working at the morgue turns into a nightmare, when the dead bodies start to show signs of resurrection. Watch Nightshift on YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrnVV-cVrq0&t

Seklusyon

From director Erik Matti comes Seklusyon, a horror flick that revolves around a group of aspiring priests who are sent to a remote convent to live in seclusion. Soon, a child who can perform miracles arrives, but is her power really from God or something else?

Bliss

Jerrold Tarog’s Bliss is a psychological horror starring Iza Calzado. It follows the aging actress Jane who tries to direct her first film, but an accident during filming cripples her. As she stays home, surrounded by people whom she thinks might harm her, Jane’s sanity begins to crumble. Watch Bliss on Netflix.

Clarita

Based on real events, Roderick Cabrido’s Clarita is about the story of demonic possession that took place in the 1950s. After being apprehended by the police, a woman named Clarita soon showed signs of being attacked by an invisible attacker. Soon, the police call on a priest to exorcise her. Watch Clarita on Apple TV.

Feng Shui

Chito S. Roño’s 2004 film Feng Shui has truly become a Pinoy horror classic. It tells the story of a woman who brings home an antique bagua, which seems to bring her family good luck. But with every stroke of luck she receives, someone close to her dies. Watch Feng Shui on Netflix.

Sukob

Another Chito S. Roño classic, Sukob follows two couples who unknowingly commit the superstitious sukob, where one marries within the same year when an immediate relative died. Soon, the curse takes over their lives, killing the people around them one by one. Watch Sukob on Apple TV.

Kuwaresma

Erik Matti’s Kuwaresma features a dysfunctional family unit at the core of its horrors. A young man returns home to his strict father and submissive mother after the death of his twin sister. Soon, the ghost of his twin seems to haunt their home. Watch Kuwaresma on Netflix.

Banal

Peter Abanna’s Banal tells the story of a group of teenagers who decided to trek a sacred mountain during their summer break, but they are welcomed by a sinister force prowling the woods.

ALSO READ
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8 Disturbing Horror & Thriller Movies to Skip This Halloween

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October 12, 2022
Only One Will Survive in “Halloween Ends” Opens Exclusively at Ayala Malls Cinemas on October 12

“Halloween Ends” brings back Jamie Lee Curtis in her iconic role as Laurie Strode as she faces off for the last time against the embodiment of evil, Michael Myers, in an unprecedented confrontation never before seen on-screen. Over more than four decades, the Halloween franchise and Jamie Lee Curtis’s character Laurie Strode have reshaped and redefined the horror genre forever. The record-breaking relaunch of the franchise that began with 2018’s Halloween and continued with 2021’s Halloween Kills now reaches its jaw-dropping conclusion with a film that is unlike any Halloween film.

In this unexpected final chapter, set four years after the events of last year’s Halloween Kills, Laurie is living with her granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak) and is finishing writing her memoir. Michael Myers hasn’t been seen since. Laurie, after allowing the specter of Michael to determine and drive her reality for decades, has decided to liberate herself from fear and rage and embrace life. But when a young man, Corey Cunningham (Rohan Campbell; The Hardy Boys, Virgin River), is accused of killing a boy he was babysitting, it ignites a cascade of violence and terror that will force Laurie to finally confront the evil she can’t control, once and for all.

“This story begins with a babysitter and a child on Halloween night that goes terribly wrong,” Curtis says. The opening sequence is a sly inversion of the premise of the 1978 film, where a babysitter, not a child, is a killer’s target. “That sequence is so crazy intense, beautifully shot and visually put together that, just on its own, I think it could have been an Oscar®-nominated short film,” Curtis says.

Only one of them survives this fight to the death., So as Curtis and James Jude Courtney, who plays Michael Myers (aka The Shape) prepared for their final scene, their history together, both as characters and actors, the weight of the moment became overwhelming. “When Jamie and I had our big finale, I pulled her aside and asked her to walk me through the beats,” Courtney says. “As she did, both of us just started going deep into this emotional place together. Then we had tears coming down our cheeks. This was what was happening between the characters, but it’s also what was happening to us while we acted it.”

It’s particularly meaningful that Laurie Strode has become a symbol of female strength, resilience and endurance worldwide, and that the success of this character and these films have helped pave the way for a new generation of strong, layered female film characters, not just in the horror genre, but industry wide. “The legacy of Laurie Strode is directly attributed to the late Debra Hill, (co-writer of the original “Halloween”),” Curtis says. “The gentle soul of Laurie and that fierce warrior spirit are the legacy of Debra. As a feminist, she’d be very proud of how women are represented, how Laurie has evolved as a character—with the deep emotionality, incredible bravery and physical prowess she demonstrates in this trilogy. I know that she’d be incredibly proud of her contributions, which are forever.”

Watch “Halloween Ends” exclusively at Ayala Malls Cinemas starting October 12 – Glorietta 4, Greenbelt 3, Alabang Town Center, Market Market, TriNoma, Ayala Malls Manila Bay, U.P. Town Center, Ayala Malls The 30th, Fairview Terraces, Bonifacio High Street, Ayala Malls Vertis North, Ayala Malls Circuit, Ayala Malls Cloverleaf, Ayala Malls Feliz in Metro Manila; and Marquee in Pampanga, Harbor Point in Subic Bay, Ayala Malls Solenad in Laguna, Centrio Mall in Cagayan de Oro, Ayala Center Cebu, Ayala Malls Legazpi, Ayala Malls Capitol Central in Bacolod.

October 8, 2022
Music Superstar Shawn Mendes Lends Voice to “Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile”

Trailer Courtesy of Columbia Pictures

Based on the best-selling book series by Bernard Waber, Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile is a live-action / CGI musical comedy that brings this beloved character to a new, global audience.

Mendes describes Lyle as a character driven by love. “He just wants to have a family, a home, and feel connected to people,” says Mendes, “and love is the reason I sing, too – I sing when I feel comfortable, when I feel accepted. I relate to him a lot.”

Photos Courtesy of Columbia Pictures

“Hearing your own voice come out of an animated character is such a weird experience,” Mendes continues. “It can be a bit of an out-of-body experience to hear your voice coming out of a crocodile, he adds, but what he wasn’t expecting was how much the animators would capture of Mendes himself. “While I was singing in the studio, the animators were filming my facial expressions, and then animating Lyle to make similar facial expressions that I was making.”

The film features original songs performed by Shawn Mendes, Javier Bardem, and Constance Wu, written by the songwriting team behind The Greatest Showman, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul.

For Mendes, singing the work of Pasek and Paul brought to the fore the way that gifted songwriters can make the songs of a musical work a dual purpose, building on each other as part of a cohesive whole and also providing a discrete, joyful experience. “When you watch one of their movies or shows, you’re digesting the entire thing at once, and you may not realize just how smart they are,” says Mendes. “You don’t realize how complex and how beautiful these songs are, how lyrically astonishing they are, and how much effort they put into them. But when you’re in the recording studio, going through the songs, it’s an eye-opening experience,” he concludes.

Photos Courtesy of Columbia Pictures

About Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile

When the Primm family (Constance Wu, Scoot McNairy, Winslow Fegley) moves to New York City, their young son Josh struggles to adapt to his new school and new friends. All of that changes when he discovers Lyle – a singing crocodile (Shawn Mendes) who loves baths, caviar and great music-living in the attic of his new home. The two become fast friends, but when Lyle’s existence is threatened by evil neighbor Mr. Grumps (Brett Gelman), the Primm’s must band together with Lyle’s charismatic owner, Hector P. Valenti (Javier Bardem), to show the world that family can come from the most unexpected places and there’s nothing wrong with a big singing crocodile with an even bigger personality.

Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile will feature original songs performed by Shawn Mendes and written by the songwriting team behind The Greatest Showman, Benj Pasek & Justin Paul. Joining Pasek and Paul in writing original songs for the film are Ari Afsar, Emily Gardner Xu Hall, Mark Sonnenblick, and Joriah Kwamé. Directed and produced by Will Speck and Josh Gordon, the screenplay is by Will Davies.

In cinemas across the Philippines starting October 12, Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile is distributed by Columbia Pictures, local office of Sony Pictures Releasing International. Connect with the hashtag #LyleLyleCrocodile

October 7, 2022
WATCH NOW: “SLUMBERLAND” Official Trailer Debut Starring Jason Momoa, Chris O’Dowd, Kyle Chandler and Marlow Barkley

About SLUMBERLAND:

Slumberland takes audiences to a magical new place, a dreamworld where precocious Nemo (Marlow Barkley) and her eccentric companion Flip (Jason Momoa) embark on the adventure of a lifetime. After her father Peter (Kyle Chandler) is unexpectedly lost at sea, young Nemo’s idyllic Pacific Northwest existence is completely upended when she is sent to live in the city with her well-meaning but deeply awkward uncle Phillip (Chris O’Dowd). Her new school and new routine are challenging by day but at night, a secret map to the fantastical world of Slumberland connects Nemo to Flip, a rough-around-the-edges but lovable outlaw who quickly becomes her partner and guide. She and Flip soon find themselves on an incredible journey traversing dreams and fleeing nightmares, where Nemo begins to hope that she will be reunited with her father once again.

Slumberland is directed by Francis Lawrence (I Am Legend, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire & Mockingjay), written by David Guion and Michael Handelman (Night at the Museum; Secret of the Tomb) and produced by Peter Chernin, Jenno Topping, David Ready, and Francis Lawrence. The film also stars Weruche Opia, India De Beaufort, and Humberly Gonzalez.

October 7, 2022
For its 21st edition, PELÍCULA Spanish Film Festival Runs at the Shang For The First Time

From October 5 to 16, 2022, the 21st edition of PELÍCULA-Spanish Film Festival will return to in-person screenings. After two years of having a virtual festival, PELÍCULA will screen more than twenty movies in three venues of Metro-Manila –Edsa Shangri-La Plaza, Cine Adarna at UP Diliman, and Instituto Cervantes Intramuros branch.

Since its creation in 2002 by Instituto Cervantes de Manila, PELíCULA has been an annual attraction in Philippine theatres. After the Covid-19 crisis, which forced cinemas to close worldwide and caused audiences of PELíCULA to migrate online, the festival returns to the big screen, on a first-come, first-served free admission basis. Furthermore, as well as in-person screenings in Metro Manila, the Festival will also host online screenings for the Philippines, Malaysia and Australia.

PELÍCULA Spanish Film Festival is showcasing 13 movies at Red Carpet at the Shang kicking off with El buen patron. It’s a 2021 comedy directed by award-winning screenwriter and filmmaker Fernando León de Aranoa and starring Oscar winner Javier Bardem. It’s about an owner of an industrial scales manufacturing business who tries to get his company an award in excellence while resolving problems with his workers at the same time.

Other comedy movies in the lineup include El test, a 2022 Dani de la Orden flick about a broke couple who have to decide whether to get €100,000 now or €1,000,000 10 years later, and Con quién viajas, a dialogue-heavy road film full of comical situations and thrills and tension. It’s directed by Martín Cuervo and released in 2021.

More feel-good films are screening at the festival. La boda de Rosa is a 2020 romcom film by Icíar Bollaín that portrays a burnt-out woman in her mid-40s who sets out to start anew by marrying herself. Sentimental is a 2020 Cesc Gay film about two couples who explore the secrets of keeping the fire alive in long-term relationships. Rendir los machos, a 2021 David Pantaleón film, tells the story of two brothers who are forced to move their cattle across the wild and hand them over to their greatest rival to receive the inheritance from their father.

The festival also screens documentaries like the 2022 Laura Hojman film A las mujeres de España; María Lejárragathat tells the story María Lejárraga, writer and pioneer of feminism in Spain during the 1920s; and thrillers like La hija, Manuel Martín Cuenca’s 2021 movie about a pregnant teenager from a juvenile detention who agreed to give her baby to a couple desperate to have a child.

It also features dramas such as Maixabel, a 2021 Icíar Bollaín production based on a true story of a widow who met one of her husband’s assassins in prison after breaking ties with the Spanish separatist group ETA, and El olvido que seremos, a 2020 Colombian film by Fernando Trueba about an author recounting his life with his father who fought against oppression and social inequality and killed by Colombian paramilitaries.

PELÍCULA is also promoting Latin American films such as the Panamanian romcom Algo azul(Mariel García Spooner, 2021) on a hotel employee who steals an expensive wedding dress; and Competencia oficial, a 2021 Spanish-Argentinean comedy directed by Gastón Duprat and Mariano Cohn, and led by Penélope Cruz, Antonio Banderas,and Oscar Martínez. It’s about a wealthy businessman who wants to produce a brilliant art film.

To celebrate its 21st edition, PELÍCULA is going to screen a celebrated classic Spanish film, the Cannes winner Muerte de un ciclista(Juan Antonio Bardem, 1953), which is a social realist Spanish drama about an adulterous pair of lovers whose lives are about to turn around after hitting a cyclist.

As part of its longtime tradition, the festival is encouraging moviegoers to vote for their favorite entry. The film with the most votes will receive the Audience Choice Award and will be screened again on PELÍCULA’s closing night. All the movies are in Spanish or their original language with English subtitles. Catch one of the most beloved cultural events in the country, don’t miss the PELÍCULA Spanish Film Festival for the first time at the Red Carpet in Shangri-La Plaza starting October 5!

PELíCULA 2022 is a project of Instituto Cervantes in Manila and Sydney, the Embassies of Spain in the Philippines and Australia, and the AECID, in collaboration with the Film Development Council of the Philippines, Shangri-La Plaza, Instituto Etxepare, Filmoteca Vasca, the Embassy of Colombia in the Philippines, the Embassy of Panama in the Philippines, the UP Film Institute, the University of the Philippines, Intramuros Administration, Vibal Foundation, Philippine Transmarine Carriers, Acciona, Rustan’s, Arthaland, La Pícara, and Emperador.

All the screenings are FREE entrance. All the movies are in Spanish (or their original language) with English subtitles.

For updates on the Festival, please visit the website of the Festival (https://pelikula.org), or the Facebook pages of Instituto Cervantes de Manila (www.facebook.com/InstitutoCervantesManila) and Shangri-La Plaza www.facebook.com/shangrilaplazaofficial.

October 6, 2022
Unravel the conspiracy with all-star cast led by Christian Bale, Margot Robbie, John David Washington in “Amsterdam”

Are you ready for a star-studded adventure that takes you to the wonderful city of Amsterdam? Starting this October 6, join Academy Award® winner Christian Bale (“Burt”), two-time Oscar® nominee Margot Robbie (“Valerie”), and John David Washington (“Harold”) in a story filled with friendship, comedy, and conspiracy with the theatrical release of 20th Century Studios’ “Amsterdam.”

(L-R): Anya Taylor-Joy as Libby, Rami Malek as Tom, Christian Bale as Burt, Robert De Niro as Gil, and Margot Robbie as Valerie in 20th Century Studios’ AMSTERDAM. Photo by Merie Weismiller Wallace; SMPSP. © 2022 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.

Written and directed by five-time Oscar® nominee David O. Russell, “Amsterdam” is an original crime epic set in the 1930s featuring three close friends who find themselves at the center of one of American history’s most shocking secret plots. A richly intricate tale that weaves historical fact with fiction, “Amsterdam” makes for a timely, cinematic experience.

(L-R): Michael Shannon as Henry Norcross, Mike Myers as Paul Canterbury, Christian Bale as Burt Berendsen, Chris Rock as Milton King, and Robert De Niro as General Gil Dillenbeck in 20th Century Studios’ AMSTERDAM. Photo by Merie Weismiller Wallace; SMPSP. © 2022 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.

Also in the all-star cast are Anya Taylor-Joy, Zoe Saldana, Taylor Swift, Michael Shannon, Mike Myers, Timothy Olyphant, Alessandro Nivola, Andrea Riseborough, Chris Rock, Matthias Schoenaerts with Oscar winner Rami Malek and two-time Academy Award winner Robert De Niro.

“Amsterdam” will be shown in theaters nationwide–showtimes and other information can be found here. Join the conversations online by using #AmsterdamPH and following 20 th Century Studios Philippines on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube for updates.

October 6, 2022
MOVIE REVIEW: The Surprising Non-Western Position of ‘Ticket to Paradise’

‘Ticket to Paradise’ has all the narrative beats, tone, and vibe reminiscent of an early 2000s rom-com, an area with which one of the lead stars, Julia Roberts, is a master of. In fact, if this was made in the 90s, Julia Roberts would have played the daughter and not the mom and it would completely make sense. But it’s now 2022 and Julia Roberts is now playing the mom and there’s a sort of full circle that’s happening here. ‘Ticket to Paradise,’ afterall, is a classic family, generational romantic comedy about divorced parents who fly to Bali to sabotage their daughter’s wedding.

The first thirty or forty minutes of the film was a little difficult for me to get into: we know very little about the characters except that Julia Robert’s Georgia Cotton and George Clooney’s David Cotton are divorced and hate each other. They even choose to live in different parts of America just to ensure they don’t accidentally bump into each other but still do for their daughter Lily, played by Kaitlyn Dever. After her graduation from law school, Lily and her best friend Wren (played by Billie Lourd) take a trip to Bali and 37 days later, Georgia and David are rushing to Bali to stop Lily from marrying a man she met on the island.

Photo: Universal Pictures

Within the first ten minutes, the premise of the story as written above plays out and while Georgia and David’s relationship is firmly established, we know very little about Lily. We are immediately positioned, as the audience, to think that Georgia and David’s calls for a truce just to work together to sabotage their daughter’s wedding is cute or funny. Naturally, my instincts are also against the wedding because my natural inclination is to believe another white, western girl falls in love with a Balinese man (though Maxime Bouttier, who plays Gede, is very charming) and drops her privileged life for an exotic adventure in Asia. It also doesn’t help that the constant bickering of Georgia and David highlights toxic masculine behaviour – interrupting Georgia as she speaks, claiming ownership of ideas that Georgia just mentions, etc – that despite all of Clooney’s charms, it really irks me that his character is the typical toxic man.

Photo: Universal Pictures

Everything about the premise of the first thirty minutes just speaks of Western, imperialist attitudes that had me resisting the movie from the get-go. I didn’t like David nor did I have a good impression of Lily and I was so scared that they were going to make Bali feel exotic and fetishize it; turn the culture and their customs into a joke.

But the moment the movie is in full swing, as Georgia and David begin to put their plans of sabotaging the wedding into action, I started to notice something quite surprising and refreshing. The way ‘Ticket to Paradise’ frames the Balinese culture was done with so much love and respect. Never did they make a joke out of anything that represented Balinese. In fact, as the narrative unfolds, it positions the Balinese culture as sort of superior to western ideals as represented by both Georgia and David. The concept of the tight-knit Asian family is put in full display which perfectly contrasts the lack of communication between David, Georgia, and Lily. Lily’s own decision to live in Bali stems from a need to harmonize with herself and she can do this in the island with Gede and it reflects back on David and Georgia’s own failures in their relationship, which is saddled with the pressures of western ideas of success.

Photo: Universal Pictures

There’s even a subtle touch of the use of the Balinese language. Every time Georgia and David are in a scene and people speak in Indonesian, there are no subtitles. There’s only one scene where this happens but it is used narratively to underline David’s mistake. Another scene involves Gede and his parents having a discussion about the wedding but there are no Americans in the scene and what they talk about, once again, shows off the beautiful family relationship of this Balinese family.

Photo: Universal Pictures

Never in the movie do I feel that there is a joke being made at the expense of the Asians. In fact, the movie subversively puts forward the notion that Georgia and David are the villains of the film despite its tone and genre. The bait and switch occurs because Georgia and David are played by Julia Roberts and George Clooney, both huge global superstars. Of course, coming in you’d think they were the heroes of the story. That mere fact is why I was resisting the film at the start but the moment the true nature of the movie was revealed, I began to enjoy it.

It’s a classic family romantic comedy with a lot of important things to say – about marriage and parenting and life – and it surprised me at how it positions the Balinese culture as something ideal, if not more ideal, than those of western values.

My Rating:

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Ticket to Paradise is now showing in cinemas nationwide. Buy your tickets here.

October 6, 2022
MOVIE REVIEW: ‘The Woman King’ and how it reimagines Africa’s past for a new global cinematic audience

As a person who grew up in the 80s and 90s watching Hollywood movies, there’s something magical and powerful about watching a film set in Africa, whose lead characters are African women, who command so much respect and admiration. Growing up, my idea of Africa had been shaped by the news and by Hollywood and it wasn’t until ‘Black Panther’ that I began to allow myself to think of Africa in a different light. The fact that it took producers Maria Bello, Cathy Schulman, and Viola Davis five years to get the movie greenlit by a major studio and only after the success of the MCU movie changed the way Hollywood would tell stories about Africa in a mainstream setting.

The story, about a general of an elite army of women warriors, is based on true accounts. The Agojie served as the inspiration for the women warriors the Dora Milaje of ‘Black Panther’ and were the elite forces of the king of the kingdom of Dahomey, which really existed for around 300 years. The fictional general, Nanisca (played by Viola Davis) must train a new generation of Agojie warriors while observing how the war between African kingdoms was fueled by the slave trade brought in by the Europeans. As Nanisca discusses geopolitics with her king, King Ghezo (a real-life figure and played with great charisma by John Boyega), Nawi (a new recruit and played with great depth and power by Thuso Mbedu) learns the ways of the Agojie.

Photo: Columbia Pictures

If anything, ‘The Woman King’ is a straight-up epic action film, which many critics have likened to films like ‘Gladiator’ or ‘The Last of the Mohicans’ except with black women. There is ample time spent to establish the setting of this story – West Africa in 1823 – and impressing upon us the complex relationships between Nanisca and King Ghezo and Nanisca and the Agojie, most notably her closest friend Amenza (played by Sheila Atim). Nawi befriends her other new recruits as well as the veteran warrior Izogie (played by a scene-stealing Lashana Lynch) as they prepare for war with the Oyo Empire, who has been capturing the Dahomey people to sell as slaves to the Europeans.

Photo: Columbia Pictures

There’s a good mix of story, action sequences, and just a general feast of the visual imagery of a prosperous African kingdom and a band of highly respected and feared warrior women. Honestly, I’ve never seen anything like it before on the big screen and I was just sitting in my seat in the movie theater transfixed to the screen and enjoying every minute of it.

The film never strays away from the issues of women – sexual assault, oppression, forced marriages – and it’s great to see the women fight back in such a ruthless and brutal manner that was so befitting of its time period. Director Gina Prince-Bythewood, who had directed ‘Old Guard,’ does an amazing job at balancing both the emotional elements of the story (that Davis, Mbedu, and Lynch have moments that can really pull at the heartstrings even if this is an action film through and through) and does splendid coverage of the battle sequences. You see the power and the speed of the movements. It’s beautiful in its ferocity.

Photo: Columbia Pictures

What it also manages to put into perspective is how the Europeans and the Americans have pit the African nations against each other by trading guns and wealth in exchange for African lives in the form of slaves. While there are historical inaccuracies depicted in the film regarding King Ghezo’s thoughts about slavery, what the film positions is that what has happened in the past was a travesty with unimaginable consequences. It resonates even until the present day as we see the sort of racial discrimination that is still happening in the US and for the mere fact that depictions of Africans like it has in the films ‘Black Panther’ and ‘The Woman King’ are very few and far between (and if there are, not as commercially available).

Photo: Columbia Pictures

Representation matters because what we see in the cinema (or on the news) really becomes our only window to imagine what the rest of the world would look like or feel like. Without films like this, we’d always think of Africa as a struggling continent that needs “the white man’s help” even though history has told us that the west came and turned the continent over its head for its resources. While ‘Black Panther’ can help us imagine what an Africa undisturbed by Western imperialism could look like, ‘The Woman King’ can help us imagine what Africa may have been like before France colonized the Dahomey kingdom in 1863.

There are no white saviours in this story. And while this is a story about slavery, it’s not finding entertainment in the victimization of the African people but celebrating their fight against it. This is Africa – and African women – put front and center and if this is the trend of the kind of movies we will have moving forward then I’m so excited to see what other films we will get to see after this.

My Rating:

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The Woman King is now showing in cinemas nationwide. Buy your tickets here.

October 6, 2022
Tickets now on sale for Marvel Studios’ “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”

Marvel fans, are you ready to journey to Wakanda once again? Fans can now secure their seats and book their tickets in advance to Marvel Studios’ “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.” Tickets to the much-awaited sequel are now available at Philippine cinemas.

Letitia Wright as Shuri in Marvel Studios’ Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2022 MARVEL.

Return to the kingdom of Wakanda where Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett), Shuri (Letitia Wright), M’Baku (Winston Duke), Okoye (Danai Gurira), and the Dora Milaje (including Florence Kasumba), fight to protect their nation from intervening world powers in the wake of King T’Challa’s death.

A scene from Marvel Studios’ Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2022 MARVEL.

As Wakandans strive to embrace their next chapter, the heroes must band together with the help of War Dog Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o) and Everett Ross (Martin Freeman) to forge a new path for the kingdom. The film will introduce Tenoch Huerta as Namor, the king of a hidden undersea nation, and also stars Dominique Thorne, Michaela Coel, Mabel Cadena, and Alex Livanalli.

Marvel Studios’ “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” is directed by Ryan Coogler and produced by Kevin Feige and Nate Moore. The film opens on November 9, 2022 in cinemas nationwide. Follow Marvel Studios Philippines on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube for the latest news and promos. Join the conversations online using #WakandaForeverPH.

October 5, 2022
Fans Can Get Their Tickets Now for “Black Adam”

For details, go to the official ticketing site at http://blackadammovie.com.ph

About “Black Adam”

From New Line Cinema, Dwayne Johnson stars in the action adventure “Black Adam.” The first-ever feature film to explore the story of the DC Super Hero comes to the big screen under the direction of Jaume Collet-Serra (“Jungle Cruise”).

Nearly 5,000 years after he was bestowed with the almighty powers of the ancient gods—and imprisoned just as quickly—Black Adam (Dwayne Johnson) is freed from his earthly tomb, ready to unleash his unique form of justice on the modern world.

Johnson stars alongside Aldis Hodge (“City on a Hill,” “One Night in Miami”) as Hawkman, Noah Centineo (“To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before”) as Atom Smasher, Sarah Shahi (“Sex/Life,” “Rush Hour 3”) as Adrianna, Marwan Kenzari (“Murder on the Orient Express,” “The Mummy”) as Ishmael, Quintessa Swindell (“Voyagers,” “Trinkets”) as Cyclone, Bodhi Sabongui (“A Million Little Things”) as Amon, and Pierce Brosnan (the “Mamma Mia!” and James Bond franchises) as Dr. Fate.

In Philippine cinemas October 19, “Black Adam” is distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures. Join the conversation online and use the hashtag #BlackAdam

October 4, 2022