It is time for essential readings again and let us give you the highlights on cinema for the last week of August. … AV Club’s B.G. Henne writes on the cinematic technique of breaking the fourth wall in a film: Fourth-wall breaking changes in film, as the dramatic experience is
Category: Features
Must-Reads of the Week: August 16 – August 22
Alfred Hitchcock, Audrey Hepburn, Asghar Farhadi and more at this week’s essential reads! … AV Club’s Christopher Curley explores science fiction’s glorious hallways: Science fiction films, especially lower-budget ones, only have a few tools at their disposal to sell the otherworldliness of their future fictions. One is the matte painting,
Must-Reads of the Week: August 9 – August 15
Cinemalaya, Locarno and several tributes on this weeks’ essential reads in World Cinema! … The Guardian’s Ashley Clark looks back about the film ‘Dangerous Minds’ after 20 years from its release: Reviews were generally poor (“stereotypical, predictable and simplified to the point of meaninglessness”, complained the Los Angeles Times; “sentimental and
MUST-READS OF THE WEEK: AUGUST 2 – AUGUST 8
Let us fill your 1st week of August with some essential reads in World Cinema! … No Film School’s Joe Marine illustrates how casting can change a movie: This just shows (two videos shown) how many different interpretations one can have for a particular piece. Not only would different casting
Cinemalaya 2015 screens its best films in retrospect
For the past eleven years, as a cinephile in the Philippines, going to Cinemalaya is like going to Pilgrimage. You get to watch films that rarely make it to the chopping block of mainstream media; films that enrich the mind (in my perspective, at least), inform the public of the existential
Film Police Primer: Cinemalaya 2015
Onward we keep rolling through The Film Festival Season—undoubtedly the most stressful months every Filipino cinephile goes through, chasing a spree of screenings of worthwhile films, some of which if we’re being honest we will probably end up torrenting anyway. READ MORE: Complete screening schedules of Cinemalaya 2015 Cinemalaya, one
I. Am. A. God.: Revisiting Dodo Dayao’s ‘Violator’
As first features go, Eduardo ‘Dodo‘ Dayao’s Violator (’14) is leaned more towards the introduction of a voice rather than the solidifying of a statement. I saw it the first time during its auspicious run at the Cinema One Originals Film Festival last November where it won, rightly, Best Picture; wrote a verbose,
The enduring action hero of Tom Cruise
It’s not that Tom Cruise is post-humanly impervious nor invincible; he, as an actor (billed by Anthony Lane “the Dorian Gray of action movies”), is really just risk-taking and daring. This risque in project choices has pointed him to some of the greatest talents in Hollywood (De Palma, Spielberg, among
Cinemalaya 2015 broadens horizon with Asian Showcase section
Cinemalaya 2015 reels in new, award-winning selections from different parts of the ASEAN region in its INDEPENDENTS: ASIAN SHOWCASE section. Some are winning entries from the NETPAC (Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema), while others have garnered recognition from other film festivals in Asia. READ MORE: Complete screening schedules
Must-Reads of the Week: July 26 – August 1
Now that August has just arrived, it’s time to reveal the essential reads for this week! … The Guardian’s Pamela Hutchinson stand on why a Nosferatu remake is unnecessary: Nosferatu’s influence over cinema is so significant that something as reductive as a remake seems utterly unnecessary. The 1922 film was
Must-reads of the week: July 19 – July 25
It’s Sunday, time to check out this week’s film highlights on World Cinema! … The Guardian’s Ruby Lott-Lavigna points out that cinematic portrayals of lesbians need to be more real: The predatory-conversion trope is simply offensive to lesbian women; at its least-worst, is just a realisation of how difficult it
Hit ’em high with ‘Space Jam 2’
Greeting Earthlings, Space Jam 2 is coming! Sort of. Unquestionably, Space Jam is considered to be one of the best films if you want to revisit your childhood days. Who will ever forget Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig and the whole Looney Tunes gang fought for their freedom against
Must-reads of the week: July 12 – July 18
‘Clueless’, ‘Wild Tales’, Joshua Oppenheimer and more in this week’s film highlights! … Indiewire’s Carlos Aguilar and his 7 reasons on Roy Andersson’s latest film is a philosophical wonder: Candid and irreverent, Andersson’s philosophical contemplations come from mundane situations and daily tragedies. What’s usually humdrum becomes unexpectedly profound under the
The Spoiler Zone: Ant-Man
Abandon all hope ye who enter here, you will get spoiled. We at Film Police Reviews are introducing a new section to our site. Welcome to the (drum roll please) SPOILER ZONE! This is the place where you, our dear readers, can start debating, discussing, arguing, about movies without the
MUST-READS OF THE WEEK: JULY 5 – JULY 11
It’s the first week of July, let us walk you through some of the film highlights this week. … The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw on looking back at Omar Sharif’s as a legend of Old Hollywood: Sharif’s career is that of an extremely intelligent and capable actor who had built up
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
Let’s analyze the new ‘Batman v Superman’ images
Warning: Some spoilers and speculation, based on what I know about this film and what rumors I’ve heard, ahead. Entertainment Weekly has just released new stills from Zack Snyder’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. The images feature some of the interactions between the DC trinity – Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman – and also
Indie Ko Pa Napapanood Eh!
Is indie cinema’s limited reach a matter of distribution or devotion? Right off the bat, I have to be honest with you: I’m coming clean. If you ask me how many indie movie screenings I have been to, you know deliberately, on my own volition, I could just raise one
The Virtue of Naivety: the romantic dramedies of Antoinette Jadaone
Antoinette Jadaone is on the crusade of deciphering love—the great mystery she synonymizes to “katangahan” or naivety, so indulgently she chews in and spits out, and with which she ultimately wins the collective heart of the peoples. When she appears the vindicator of this laughable anomaly, she comes out a noble
What’s Next: 15 Trends in Cinema
As 2015 seeps in to our lives, here are 15 trends inferred from happenings within festivals, on mainstream sensibilities, and to the vast wide world of the internet from the past year. Some of these trends have been building up through the years while others are things that come and
The Year in World Cinema: 20 Best Movies of 2014
2014 is a pretty interesting year for world cinema! We saw numerous low budget and yet intelligent science fiction movies that resonated to both audiences and critics alike; biblical films continue to preach and fail; summer blockbusters tanked and thank God, we have a comic book adaptation as the saving grace!
The Year in Horror: 15+ Best Films of 2014
Time has struck into the annual season of lists, where selectionis spontaneously divorced from apt and valid criterion; where unjust remarks are made; and people deeming one list fallacious, some reducing others as cheaply formatted posts of embedded film trailers. Amid (and despite) all this commotion, it has become my
The stylistic cunning of Magkakabaung
If you are not fond of spoilers but seek a considerably insightful piece on the film, I’d redirect you to Jonell Estillore‘s review here; the interview I conducted with filmmaker Jason Paul Laxamana is a supplement of insight on the backend of things, but contains major spoilers, as are my
Jason Paul Laxamana on his film Magkakabaung, Hanoi, and local cinema
Babagwa (eng title. The Spider’s Lair) is a modest triumph for Jason Paul Laxamana, a marked leap from his debut feature Astro Mayabang. But both films will seem backdrops to his success, documents of the becoming of the maker of Magkakabaung (eng title. The Coffin Maker), the film that finally makes
6 films released this year that are inspired by John Carpenter
I still hold that his latest film The Ward (2010) is not a John Carpenter film; he is not involved in both the script-work and music, which in itself is pretty self-explanatory. I think it as an unthought-of plunge to quickie horror by a legendary director who has made terrific
