Last time we shared you the official trailer for the upcoming action-thriller Tandem. Directed by King Palisoc, the film casts JM De Guzman (That Thing Called Tadhana) and Nico Antonio (M. Mother’s Maiden Name) as brothers who frequent the metro’s busy streets for easy game. Their robberies eventually drive them to the
Author: Armando Dela Cruz
Genre apologist. Coffee enthusiast. All-around good guy.
The Gallows
Let me begin by saying that, despite it being chockablock of streak after streak of uninspired features, I maintain my belief on The Found-Footage Horror. There is no experience like one’s first encounter with The Blair Witch Project, considered (rather reflexively) the first found-footage horror film. In the space of
Chain Mail
The premise of Chain Mail, the new film from Viva Films Adolf Alix Jr., is problematic: a cursed chain e-mail is being looped around, terrorizing a group of teenagers who think they know better by ignoring it. From the outset—given how social media is becoming imprinted on our daily lives and
First Look at Charlie Hunnam as ‘King Arthur’
Fans of Sons of Anarchy had a major hormone explosion when Charlie Hunnam top-billed Guilermo Del Toro’s Pacific Rim, in its own right a worthwhile kid-in-a-sandbox epic. Today, we bring you an EW first look at Hunnam’s current project: Guy Ritchie’s loose iteration of King Arthur (Full title: Knights of the Roundtable: King Arthur). The gist is that
Cure
The serial killer in Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s 1997 film Cure does not fit the description cinematic representations typically associate his likes. Mr. Mamiya (Masato Hagiwara) is encased in a fragile frame, scrawny, and is almost always flushed in daze. If it isn’t for the film’s first scene—a white-collar working man burgeons
The world is cruel in new ‘Attack on Titan’ trailer
The anticipation for the upcoming film transational of the bestselling manga Attack on Titan is too close to the sun. Created by Hajime Isayama, the dark fantasy epic is set in a dystopian future where the world is overrun by flesh-eating giants. You know, nothing too mind-wearing by Japanese standards (a fact further
Leonardo DiCaprio in Alejandro Iñárritu’s hard-hitting ‘The Revenant’ trailer
The Revenant—not to be confused with Kerry Prior’s 2009 horror/dark comedy—is the latest from Birdman-director Alejandro González Iñárritu. The film is centered on the life of Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio) as he charges for survival through the 19th century American wilderness. If Jennifer Lawrence and David O. Russell are regrouping onto a
Trailer for David O. Russell’s latest ‘Joy’ premieres online
If you are still reeling from the Lawrence-Cooper fiasco that is last year’s Serena, watch David O. Russell (Silver Linings Playbook) walk in with the trailer for his latest collaboration with Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper Joy. (If this is a dance party, it is most certainly valid to imagine the trio
Gabriel Fernandez’s ‘Mana’ wins best feature film in Madrid IFF
Remember Mana? That overlooked aswang film from February last year? Well, it competed in the recently concluded Madrid International Film Festival and bagged two awards—best actress (Cherie Gil, under the foreign language category) and best feature film. The film competed with a handful of feature films including Jody Lee Lipes’ doc Ballet 422. Mana (Eng.
Gut
Tom (Jason Vail) lives a routine for a life. Every day he wakes up, jogs, then meets his wife and daughter for breakfast. His days are filled mainly with office tasks, exhaustedly carrying on with a spent relationship with his childhood best friend Dan (Nicolas Wilder) who works in a cubicle next
Acclaimed horror indie ‘They Look Like People’ premieres trailer online
Fantasia is kicking off this week in Montreal. To those uninitiated, it is where genre films big and small are highlighted and screened—from much-anticipated curiosities such as Noel Marshall’s re-release of Roar and Cary Murnion and Jonathan Milott’s zombie film Cooties, to more serious fares such as Herzog-disciple Trevor Juras’ The Interior and Hammad Khan’s
Trevor Juras releases teaser for his eco-horror ‘The Interior’
Trevor Juras’ debut feature The Interior is premiering at this year’s Fantasia next week. If the trailer below is any indication, there is a hopeful chance that a distributor will pick it up for digital release (along with a few Sharknados and Zombeavers I’m certain). Juras is the director of The Lamp (2013), the breakthrough
Marcin Koszalka’s ‘The Red Spider’ trailer
In case you haven’t heard it already, Jun Lana’s “Anino sa Likod ng Buwan“ and Dodo Dayao’s “Violator” are competing at this year’s Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in Czech Republic. This has us all-ears to the festival’s goings-on, and have found this trailer of Polish director Marcin Koszałka’s first try
Jill Singson Urdaneta’s ‘Partee’ trailer is here!
Jill Singson Urdaneta has just released the trailer for his debut film “Partee.” The new film pivots around three principal characters—those played by Felix Roco, Kiko Matos and Angele Cortez—and from the looks of the trailer the film finds the three in what looks like an intoxicating jam. The story
Must-Reads of the Week: June 28 – July 4
It’s the weekend. You finally have a few extra hours to spare. Let’s catch you up on articles and film writings that are worth your while. *** Ardelle Costuna from Pacifiqa takes a side trip to the three remaining theaters in Recto, Manila. Back in the day, Manila was where you could
Piolo Pascual, John Lloyd Cruz to star in Lav Diaz epic
(From Marissa D. Soriano: “TEN17P is currently producing and shooting a Lav Diaz film. This film brings together 2 of the country’s biggest actors, Piolo Pascual and John Lloyd Cruz.“) This just in: Piolo Pascual and John Lloyd Cruz headline an epic written and directed by Lav Diaz called Hele
Poltergeist
In the whole, the original “Poltergeist” film is about suburban chaos—an almost-palpable, truly American dread that has the film’s creators, Spielberg and Hooper, jump in on a cutesy little feud on who’s-who to stake claim on a nice minute of Joe Dante glory. (I’m on team Spielberg, just to set things
An Kubo sa Kawayanan
The new film from Alvin Yapan is introduced as a “small film with big ambitions.” Twice I have heard of this:the first time from his actress Agot Asidro presenting his 2013 film Mga Anino ng Kahapon; and again from him last night at the Gala Screening of his WPFF entry An
Trailer for new Alvin Yapan film ‘An Kubo sa Kawayanan’ is here!
The new Alvin Yapan film, An Kubo sa Kawayanan, is an official selection in the Filipino New Cinema section of the upcoming World Premieres Film Festival. Yapan’s previous film—an Agot Isidro-starrer that brazenly touches on schizophrenia and post-Macoy anxieties (Mga Anino ng Kahapon, ’13)—is far too long ago (at least it feels so), and a new story from
Lost River
The most evocative image in Ryan Gosling‘s Lost River is midway its hyper-saturated nightmare, when Billy (Christina Hendricks), to the sick delight of a sizable audience, slices off the skin of her face. She traces the outlines of skin the incision has left, touches the flesh irrevocably exposed, all to an almost grinning composure—like
WATCH: Pedring Lopez’s supernatural horror ‘Binhi’ releases official trailer
The official trailer for Pedring Lopez‘s upcoming horror film Binhi (English title: The Seed) is now online. Lopez, who wrote and directed the film, is the attached director for the SAF film starring Jeorge E.R. Estregan that naturally caused a stir among pundits on social media. The setup is innocuously simple: an expecting young family moves into
WATCH: Official trailer for Brillante Mendoza’s ‘Taklub’
Brillante Ma Mendoza‘s Taklub is an official selection to this year’s Un Certain Regard Section at Cannes. It is no foreign ground for either Mendoza or Nora Aunor: Mendoza’s previous film with Aunor Thy Womb (Filipino title: Sinapupunan, ‘12) has also played in the same festival and section. The 68th Cannes Film Festival will run May
The World Gets Pitch-Slapped in ‘Pitch Perfect 2’
The Barden Bellas are back to pitch slap the world in Universal Pictures’ Pitch Perfect 2, the follow-up to 2012’s runaway global hit about a group of lovable misfits with only one thing in common: the irresistible way they sound when they’re seamlessly mixed together, mashed-up and arranged like never
WATCH: Trailer for King Palisoc’s ‘Tandem’ Lands Online
The trailer for King Palisoc‘s first feature Tandem (a.k.a. The Wolf Tatoo) is now live. The action/thriller casts JM De Guzman and Nico Antonio as brothers who, astride a motorbike, roam the Metro to rob people in the streets. One robbery goes awry, spiraling into a web of crimes that has them struggling to entangle. Here’s the official
New ‘Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice’ Trailer Has Arrived!
Permit my fanboy spontaneity interrupt your reading; something major has surfaced on the internet that has rendered fans to the point of “literally can’t even.” The new trailer for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is here, officially, against the original plan of publishing it Monday, April 20th. The trailer has been
