Robert Eggers, director of the Sundance hit The Witch, engaged with his audience in an insightful forum that happened on Reddit yesterday. The thread—titled “I’m Robert Eggers, writer/director of THE WITCH – AMA!“—generated approximately a hundred questions, most of which were about horror, witchcraft, and of course, Black Phillip. Eggers responded to these
Author: Armando Dela Cruz
Genre apologist. Coffee enthusiast. All-around good guy.
Stephen King’s ‘It’ gets an R-rated film iteration; filming begins this year
A new film adaptation of Stephen King’s horror novel It is happening after all, and fans might be getting the R-rated iteration we rightfully deserve. News comes from an article on Collider which reports that the project has now been green-lit, the production being slated sometime this year. There had been plans
Critics’ Consensus: Lav Diaz’s ‘Hele Sa Hiwagang Hapis’
Lav Diaz’s A Lullaby to the Sorrowful Mystery (Fil. title: Hele Sa Hiwagang Hapis) premiered at the 2016 Berlinale this week to an intriguing mix of reviews. Critics seem irked by the film’s length—clocking in at approximately eight hours—a fact that jumps out of every online appraisal of Diaz’s latest
The ‘Deadpool’ Effect: Fox says ‘Wolverine 3’ will be Rated R
Fox is making sure that Wolverine 3 will get an R-rating—reports per Comic Book Source. An ironic turn of events, in that the character whose mouth they literally shut close is the one that’s giving them a run for their money. And as Ryan Reynolds so charmingly revealed—it’s the B.S. free
This Week In Trailers: ‘Equals’, ‘River’, ‘Ang Tulay ng San Sebastian’
This week in trailers: Nicholas Hoult and Kristen Stewart discreetly screwing in teen dystopia Equals; Tom Hiddleston’s naked sun-bathing in Ben Wheatley’s latest High-Rise; and Kevin Bacon fights off medieval ghouls in Greg McLean’s The Darkness. Alvin Yapan’s new film starring Joem Bascon and Sandino Martin Ang Tulay ng San Sebastian has also
Trailer debut: Lav Diaz’s ‘Hele Sa Hiwagang Hapis’
New Lav, good friends. The new Lav Diaz film titled Hele Sa Hiwagang Hapis has just premiered an international trailer online. There isn’t much to pick up in the way of story from the eighty-eight second trailer, but we know the film is centered around the search for the body of Andres Bonifacio. The
kogonada releases terrific video essay “Godard in Fragments”
If you’re not a fan of video essayist kogonada or video essays in general, this is the day to rethink life. Criterion Collection’s go-to essayist has just released their new collaboration titled “Godard in Frames”, and there’s enough Anna Karina in it to move you to tears. The video essay
‘X-Men: Apocalypse’, ‘Jason Bourne’, and more: Watch every super bowl movie trailer this year!
The folks here at Film Police Reviews are Filipinos and therefore have only a faint idea about football. So, why is the “big game” a significant event for us cinephiles, still? One thing: trailers. Well, most of ‘em are “teasers”, and that we are this year. Through thirty-forty five second
This Week In Trailers: ‘Elle’, ‘Green Room’, ‘Always Be My Maybe’, and more!
Isabelle Huppert in a Paul Verhoven film, Don Cheadle playing on O.G. jazz musician, and Robert Egger’s The Witch being destabilizingly terrifying up to the final bits of its promotion. Here’s a roundup of trailers you might have missed this week. [divider]This Week In Trailers[/divider] Green Room A24 has teased
Everything About Her
Women” and “power” rarely form a sentence that doesn’t draw prejudice. Yet, in Joyce Bernal’s latest Everything About Her, these two words become the foundation of a rather unconventional statement. The film opens with a montage of Vilma Santos’ magnate delivering a speech that’s stereotypical of women in power—irascible, frigid,
Power Mac Center presents series of film workshops in ‘Cinemansanas’
Mobile filmmaking is on a slow, assured rise: Sean S. Baker’s transgender drama Tangerine—shot entirely on iPhone—is currently making waves in the film festival circuit. Television’s “Modern Family”, on a thirty-minute episode called “Lost Connection”, utilized the iPhone’s industry-standard camera to tell the story of the Dunphys. Carly Rae Jepsen’s music video for “Run
‘Bonifacio: Ang Unang Pangulo’, ‘Heneral Luna’ make their online premieres on Cinetropa
The Philippines is seeing a drastic shift in media consumption. There is now a deluge of online streaming platforms that provide their users the luxury of watching films whenever and wherever their users please. Whether or not the country is ready for such bandwidth-intensive services–I’m looking at you, damned I.S.P.s!
‘Heneral Luna’ breaks DVD sales records, and why that’s a big deal
Heneral Luna breaking sales records should surprise no one. Great films deserve great reception. At least that’s how it should be. About a month in its home video release, [inlinetweet prefix=”#HeneralLunaDVD: ” tweeter=”@FilmPoliceRevs” suffix=””]the historical drama just broke yet another sales record[/inlinetweet]—per Magnavision. Around seven thousand DVD copies have been sold since
17 student films to be shown at the 12th annual P.O.V. (Piling Obrang Vidyo)
U.P. Cinema’s interschool video competition [inlinetweet prefix=”” tweeter=”@FilmPolceRevs” suffix=”@UPCinema”]P.O.V. (Piling Obrang Vidyo) is happening on January 31st at the U.P. Cine Adarna Theater[/inlinetweet], University of the Philippines — Diliman, Quezon City. To those uninitiated here’s a bit of info on the twelve year-old annual event: Piling Obrang Vidyo is geared towards the
Criminal Activities
There’s enough pomp, violence, and foul-mouthed thugs in Jackie Earle Healey’s Criminal Activities to do some classic Tarantino good. The film however views like a mere Pulp Fiction pastiche, doggedly dropping f-bombs and delivering obnoxiously acerbic lectures to its in the throes protagonists. But irreverence is what’s most characteristic about
Jun Lana’s free screenwriting lab CinePanulat rolls out this February
Attention, filmmakers—and aspiring screenwriters! [inlinetweet prefix=”” tweeter=”@FilmPolceRevs” suffix=”#CinePanulat2016″]Jun Lana’s free screenwriting workshop CinePanulat is back[/inlinetweet] this February. Why this should set your butts ablaze, I really don’t have to explain anymore. To the uninitiated though, here’s some context: Lana’s filmography spans a number of acclaimed films. His production outfit The IdeaFirst Company,
Lumayo Ka Nga Sa Akin
The definition of the word ‘satire’ has evolved from being a legitimate genre of literature to a now undervalued niche category in our Thought Catalog-driven world. At one point, the word meant “calling somebody an asshole.” That is, if Urban Dictionary is to be trusted. Bob Ong is a good
Trailer for ’10 Cloverfield Lane’, as expected, came out of nowhere
Internet broke with the release of a trailer for a mysterious science fiction film called 10 Cloverfield Lane. The film is directed by Dan Trachtenberg from a screenplay co-written by Matthew Stuecken, Josh Campbell, and Whiplash-director Damien Chazelle. Now producer J.J. Abrams, secretive as ever, is being coy about it,
Netflix Philippines is live! Here’s 10 titles you must watch
Here’s the thing: I can’t, in good faith, say that Filipinos are ready for film and television streaming. Not completely, anyway. The reason? You guessed it–slow internet. While the arrival of Netflix to the Philippines is welcome news, there’s still no way of knowing when the sharks will take bait,
The final trailer for ‘The Witch’ is here + Philippine release?
[inlinetweet prefix=”” tweeter=”@FilmPoliceRevs” suffix=”#theWitchMovie”]A24 just released a final trailer for Robert Eggers’ The Witch, obviously saving their best for last.[/inlinetweet] If you’ve seen a bare second of the previously released teaser-trailer, you can’t say you aren’t curious about the Sundance hit. This last one is every thing that a trailer is supposed to
‘Free the State of Jones’ trailer premiere: McConaughey rebels against the confederacy
When you put Matthew McConaughey in a film about American freedom, he’s bound to be pretty much the film’s most valuable commodity. Lines like “Last time I checked, the gun don’t care who’s pullin’ the trigger” are almost always put on rain check until someone like him along. It’s less
Trailer for Ben Wheatley’s ‘High Rise’ is here, and hot damn is it beautiful.
Ben Wheatley’s latest looks gorgeous. A Field Of England is one of my favorite films of recent, so you’d imagine my enthusiasm when the [inlinetweet prefix=”The ” tweeter=”@FilmPoliceRevs” suffix=”#HighRiseMovie”]trailer for Wheatley’s new film High Rise, starring Tom Hiddleston and Elisabeth Moss, premiered online[/inlinetweet]. Spoiler: I flipped! Based on the J.G. Ballard
Throwing up in Balenciaga bags (ft. Vilma Santos in ‘Everything About Her’ trailer)
There it goes. Star Cinema is pulling a Devil Wears Prada to us. It sounds like an excuse to showcase all the camp Ate Vi harbors inside her, and it’s an excuse we’re gladly taking. The trailer for the Vilma Santos-starring dramedy Everything About Her just debuted online. Directed by Joyce Bernal, the film finds Santos playing an
The Year In Horror: 16 best horror films of 2015
2015’s horror highlights is comprised of mostly obscure indies that no one seems to appreciate. Take for example Ted Geoghegan’s We Are Still Here, a deceptively complex ghost story which pivots around an old couple. It’s a genre treasure trove which I imagine cultists and academics will look back to
Haunted Mansion
Betrayal underlies the conflict in most of Jun Lana’s films. Whether it’s prejudice or acts of sheer deceit—one woman is berated by her own people, another shred into halves by her own nation—the hurt of betrayal in his films rams the atmosphere. Perci Intalan’s debut feature Dementia, whose screenplay is co-written by
