Review: 'Compliance' - A Skillfully Made and Harrowing Thriller

"Based on true events," in bold letters Craig Zobel's unnerving picture Compliance  begins. One will find this hard to believe...

MMFF Review: 'One More Try' - Bound to the Ground

Ruel S. Bayani's One More Try  has an interesting premise, but it is bound by its own loudness. Crazy enough, it brought home many award...

MMFF Review: 'El Presidente' - Overwhelming Weight

Follow these two steps carefully. Step 1: Skim through your grade-school to high school history books; and Step 2: Rush to the nearest theat...

MMFF Review: 'Sossy Problems' - Distasteful Indolence

Andoy Ranay's  Sossy Problems (or Sosy Problems , but "sosy" isn't actually the correct spelling, is it?)   is an indolent...

MMFF Review: 'Thy Womb' is a Laudable Ethnographic Drama

Meritorious filmmaker Brillante Ma. Mendoza justify his vehemence in crafting nonetheless powerful tales like Thy Womb , a movie challenged ...

Review: 'Excision' - A Rewarding Fare to the Oddball

"And my mother," greasy-haired Pauline converses with God. "Kill her." Little or no explanation is required on Richard ...

(End of the World) Review: '2012' - Cheese-Ball Apocalypse

Here's why I would have preferred a zombie apocalypse rather than some mumbo-jumbo Mayan prediction: I pick simply retch from flesh-eati...

ICN Review: 'The Entrepreneur' - Entirely Gray

In a nutshell, Giuliano Montaldo's drama The Entrepreneur is as dull as its color palette: gray. If you require  an explanation on how ...

Review: 'The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey' - Bewitching Middle-Earthians

Peter Jackson's second home is at the heart of Middle-Earth where dwarves contrive a plan to vanquish a particular airborne fire-conjuri...

ICN Review: 'Caesar Must Die' - Shakespeare in Prison

Ceasar Must Die  is a very novel version of Shakespeare's "Julius Ceasar"  in which a Roman dictator is rebelled by his conspi...

Review: 'Deadfall', Indeed, Falls Dead

As far as film-noirs go, Deadfall  is underwhelming. Tepid tension, unimposing drama - notwithstanding the stellar cast which include Kate M...

Review: 'Cloud Atlas' - Imposing If Not Too Striking

If you haven't read the book, I guarantee, while you sit still on the theater seats, watching the screen dumbly, a moment in which you w...

Review: 'Rigodon' is Lushly Drawn, Piercingly Affectionate

After his lavishly attractive lark Tiktik: The Aswang Chronicles , director Erik Matti returns, remaining as triumphant, with another featur...

Review: 'Lawless' - Bootlegging Brothers

Violent, bleak and poignant, John Hillcoat's Lawless  works by turns. But when it does, it hits like one of them Tommy guns. Hillcoat...

Review: 'Madaling Araw, Mahabang Gabi' Needs Cohesion

If you think about it, the Philippine Cinema springs new great things, growing to whatever better than it has been before, contrariwise to o...

Review: 'Skyfall' is a Terrific Bond

When James Bond scrapes a hole on a moving train, jumps on it and then fixes the crumples on his suit, I knew I am finally watching a real B...

Review: 'Six Degrees of Separation From Lilia Cuntapay' Fathoms The Merging of Fiction and Fact

The wonders and emotional troubles of being a perennial horror movie extra is on the flesh of Six Degrees of Separation From Lilia Cuntapay ...

Review: 'A Secret Affair' - Inept, Hackneyed and Empty

A Secret Affair  is basically a replica of the commercial sleeper No Other Woman . In that goal the film is triumphant, a trifecta for awful...

REVIEW: 'End Of Watch' - Gripping, Hearty and Refreshing

Credit ought to be given to David Ayer for creating a freshly grim cop movie out of a creaky story that's been told n times in the cinem...

REVIEW: 'The Perks of Being a Wallflower' - Heartfelt and Honest.

"We accept the love we think we deserve." What glory and horror high school may have delivered is in the heart of  The Perks of Be...