Review of JURASSIC WORLD: REBIRTH: Misguided Mutants

July 3, 2025

A giant pharmaceutical company, Parker Genix, is planning to develop a cardiology wonder drug from the DNA of dinosaurs.  Company agent Martin Krebs (Rupert Friend) recruited covert operations expert Zora Bennett (Scarlett Johansson) and paleontologist Dr. Henry Loomis (Jonathan Bailey) to lead an expedition to acquire blood samples from three massive dinosaurs from sea (the Mosasaurus), land (the Titanosaurus) and air (the Quetzalcoatalis). 

To get to the Ile Saint-Hubert in the Atlantic Ocean, they hire the boat and team of Duncan Kincaid (Mahershala Ali). However, before they reached their destination, Duncan's radio picked up a distress call sent by a father Reuben Delgado (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo), when the sailboat carrying him, his daughters Teresa (Luna Blaise) and Isabella (Audrina Miranda), and Teresa's spaced-out boyfriend Xavier (David Iacono), capsized. 

The "Jurassic Park" franchise was born in 1993, when the first film directed by Steven Spielberg was released, enthralling the whole world with its life-like resurrection of three-dimensional dinosaurs on the big screen. Sequels were released in 1997 and 2001. The series was rebooted with another trilogy retitled "Jurassic World," shown in 2015, 2018 and 2022. To be honest, none of the sequels ever matched the magical quality of the original. 

This present film is yet another attempt to revive interest in the franchise. For the screenplay, they brought back David Koepp, who co-wrote the first film along with Michael Crichton. The mood of the story reflected real life issues. Set 32 years after the dinosaurs were revived, public interest about them has already waned, a concern which pushed Dr. Loomis to accept the project. I suspect this revival of interest was also what this reboot wants to achieve. 

We know that people watch these Jurassic Park / World films more for the dinosaurs, not the annoying human characters. You can easily predict who among the humans will survive to the end -- just look at the cast list. Characters played by the lesser-known actors will die first (except the children, of course). As expected, the most evil character will die in the most grisly way (though nothing tops the way Dennis Nedry died in the first film).  

The absolute best action sequence in this new film was the one that featured a gigantic T-Rex chasing Reuben's family as they rode a sturdy rubber emergency raft down a raging river. The scene of a tearful Dr. Loomis during a close encounter with titanosauruses in the cornfield was awe-inspiring, though not as much as awesome as the initial brachiosaurus sighting in the first film. They teased about a velociraptor but it turned out to only be a short cameo. 

In the grounds of the abandoned lab, Zora, Loomis and company were attacked dino-mutants, tragic freaks born out of failed genetic experiments in the past. Seeing these hideous imaginary creatures were not my cup of tea at all. We watch Jurassic Park to see dinosaurs that really existed come to life, not to see ugly deformed monsters, sorry.  I hope future installments of the coming trilogy will not dwell on these mutants anymore. 6/10

Netflix: Review of K-POP DEMON HUNTERS: Shielding with Song

July 1, 2025

Demons have been stealing the souls of poor unsuspecting humans and channeling them to strengthen their leader, Gwi-Ma. A group of three enchanted women came together to hunt and fight these demons. With their gift of song, these women united the souls of the people to created a shield called the Honmoon to protect the human world. Succeeding generations of Hunters used their singing voices to maintain the Honmoon.

The present day Demon Hunters were in the form of K-pop girl group called Huntr/x, namely lead singer Rumi, dancer MIra and rapper Zoey. They were under the tutelage of Celine, a former demon hunter who raised Rumi, whose late mom was also a hunter. One day after their world tour, Rumi lost her voice as mysterious marks were appearing on her skin. Meanwhile, a boy band of demons called Saja Boys were fast gaining in popularity.

Co-writer and co-director Maggie Kang came up with main story, mixing in elements of Korean mythology and K-pop to create her dream culturally-focused animated movie. The principle of demon hunters and the impenetrable Honmoon created by their songs that kept humankind safe were fascinating. Just as interesting was the idea that gaining a bigger fandom was the be-all and end-all solution to the critical problem

K-pop is so ubiquitous nowadays, every song in the film is so catchy. Huntr/x had songs like "How It's Done," "Golden" and "What It Sounds Like." They even had a song Rumi did not like called "Takedown," but it wasn't any less poppy. The Saja Boys were winsomeright off the bat with the irresistibly sing-along-able fiest hit, "Soda Pop." Their second song "Your Idol" could  be a metaphor of how the public can easily be brainwashed by their hypnotically powerful music.

The handsome rendition of Saja leader Jinu and his romantic interactions with Rumi will thrill fans, especially the young female kind.  The Ru-Jinu love team had great chemistry together, as evidenced by their duet "Free." There were also other aspects of Korean life shown here, like relaxing in bath houses, medicinal tonics that can be fake, wacky TV game shows with celebrities, the cute tiger and the cuter bird with the hat. 8/10

 

Review of F1 THE MOVIE: A Racer's Redemption

July 1, 2025

Back in the 1990s, Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt) was considered a promising prodigy in Formula One (or F1) car racing. However, in 1993, he experienced a bad car crash during the Spanish Grand Prix. He  sustained serious back injuries and had to prematurely drop out of the F1 circuit for good. In the years following this accident, Sonny continued a racer-for-hire in minor races as he battled gambling addiction and failed marriages. 

One day, Sonny was approached by his former teammate Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem), who was now the owner of the APXGP F1 Team. Ruben's team had not been doing well in the current season, finishing last in the previous championship. Investors have threatened to withdraw support if APX fails to win any of the remaining GP races that year. Ruben wanted Sonny to drive for his team, together with rookie Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris).

As an actor, Brad Pitt has consistently done well both commercially and critically. He had one Oscar for Acting (Supporting for "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood"), nominated for 3 more.  He is also very active as a film producer in his own production outfit Plan B entertainment, which he owned on his own since 2005. Plan B had won three Oscars for Best Picture ("The Departed," "12 Years a Slave" and "Moonlight"), nominated for eight more.  

F1 is the latest project released by Plan B, and it does not seem farfetched that it will attract Academy Award attention as well. The story is simple and frankly, quite familiar, so may find yourself predicting what will happen next in the strained relationship between Sonny and Joshua, and likely guess a lot of things right. The star power of Brad Pitt was a big factor to make the dramatic redemption story of Sonny Hayes pop out on the big screen, enhanced by awesome production design by Ben Munro and cool costumes by Julian Day. 

Ehren Kruger's screenplay put Sonny and Joshua into all kinds of tight situations and perilous accidents in Grand Prixes in Britain, Belgium, Italy, Las Vegas, Abu Dhabi. Director Joseph Kosinki upped the danger and suspense of these racing scenes with intense cinematography by Claudio MIranda, rapid editing by Stephen Mirrione and heart-pounding music by Hans Zimmer. After this, Kosinki's plan for a sequel featuring Pitt's Sonny and Tom Cruise's Cole from "Days of Thunder" (Tony Scott, 1990) is a certainly a very exciting idea. 8/10

Review of 28 YEARS LATER: Persistence of a Plague

June 24, 2025

28 years after the second outbreak of the Rage Virus, the British Isles remained to the only place in Europe still overrun by the infected. There was an isolated group of survivors living in Lindisfarne island. One day, scavenger Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) brought his 12 year old son Spike (Alfie Williams) across the tidal causeway to the mainland for a coming-of-age ritual of hunting down infecteds, some of whom had mutated into giant Alphas. 

Spike had a different mission in mind -- to find a doctor for his mother Isla (Jodie Comer) who had been mysteriously ill for some time. Upon his successful return to their island with his father, Spike brought his mother to the mainland himself to search for the reclusive survivor Dr. Kelson (Ralph Fiennes) for a possible treatment. Along the way, they encountered a Swedish soldier Erik (Edvin Ryding) and helped a pregnant infected (Celi Crossland) give birth. 

This new sequel comes 18 years after the first sequel "28 Weeks Later" (2007). The first film "28 Days Later" (2002) is now considered a horror classic that revived interest for zombie films in the new millennium. The original creators of this first film -- director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland -- are both back on board to continue the tale they first told. Garland wrote this to be the first film of a new trilogy, with a sequel already set for release by January 2026.

Of course, there were still the blood-splattering scenes of our heroes Jamie and Spike shooting arrows into the heads or hearts of attacking infecteds. We are also introduced to the mutant infecteds called Alphas, physically bigger and supposedly more intelligent variants. In particular, there was one Alpha called Samson (Chi Lewis-Parry) with his imposing size (and appendage), whose kill style was ripping off his victim's head and spine. 

When Spike and Isla finally meet Dr. Kesler, the tone shifted radically to a more sober, contemplative tone. We see the grisly tower of skulls seen in the posters, and learn of its significance. For those wondering what that 2002 flashback prologue about vicar's son Jimmy was all about, the answer would only be revealed at the very end when Spike met grown-up Jimmy (Jack O'Connell), whom I guess we'll see more of in the coming sequels.  7/10

Review of UNCONDITIONAL: Transman Trials

June 22, 2025

Anna (Rhian Ramos) was a professional social media marketing manager. She had already broken up with her toxic boyfriend Mark (Paulo Gumabao), but the guy still kept calling her to ask if she would accept his politician father's offer to work for him. Her best friend Uly (Rico Barrera) invited Anna to go with him to spend a few weeks in beautiful Siargao to get her mind off the negative thoughts which were bothering her. 

Several years ago, Greg (Allen Dizon) brought his mother Dolores (Elizabeth Oropesa) from their hometown in Batangas to Siargao where his elder sister Terry (Lotlot de Leon) had set up a business selling island souvenirs. He worked at the coffee shop of his good friend Liam (Brandon Ramirez) as a barista. One day, when Uly needed to go back to Manila earlier than expected, he dutifully endorsed Anna to Greg's care. 

On the surface, it would seem like this was just another love story set in the backdrop of a picturesque island paradise. However, in that first sequence where we meet Greg, we are immediately shown that he had a couple of big scars located in his chest under his two nipples. We are shown that he was injecting the contents of a medicinal ampule trans-dermally into a fold of skin he had pinched on the inner aspect of his thigh. 

We see his mother suffering from dementia, and she always called him by the name of Regina. So, when we put all these introductory clues together, we come to the conclusion that Greg was actually a transgender man. So this was the big twist of this romance, and director Adolfo Alix Jr. decided to reveal it from the start. This way we can effectively feel his fear and reluctance to declare the feelings of love he had for Anna. 

This is certainly a new acting challenge for Allen Dizon as he is playing a female character who had already transitioned into a male. As Greg, Dizon was mainly acting manly, but he was also able to project Regina's femininity long repressed within him.  While some may prefer a real trans man actor to play Greg, Dizon's restrained performance was brave and admirable, especially in that unprecedented nude gender reveal scene. 

Rhian Ramos's Anna was a woman working out various inner conflicts: tolerating demanding calls from an ex, wondering why this new man kept on keeping away. This portrayal of fluid lover Uly was Rico Barrera's most natural performance recently. Elizabeth Oropesa's Dolores was a mother battling with dementia, whose love for her children still shone through.  Comebacking Brandon Ramirez had an acting moment as Liam opened up to Greg. 7/10

Review of ELIO: Aspiring to be Abducted by Aliens

June 23, 2025

After both his parents passed away, the care of Elio Solis (Yonas Kibreab) was turned over to the guardianship of his aunt Olga (Zoe Saldana). She was an officer in the Air Force, but she had to give up her dreams of being an astronaut when Elio came into her life. Because of this, Elio never connected emotionally with her, try as she might. Elio believed that she lost her chance to achieve her dream because of him, so Olga did not want him in her life. 

In lieu of the loneliness he felt at home and at school (where he was picked on by bullies), Elio turned his attention to outer space. He actually wished he could be abducted by aliens. When an opportunity came up, he left a message for the aliens to come and get him. One day, Elio's wish actually came true, and an alien ship picked him up and brought to a place called Communiverse. They offered Elio to be the ambassador of Earth, and he accepted.

Just like another recent Disney film "Strange World," the story of "Elio" gave the Disney Pixar artists free rein to create their own alien world and creatures. The design of the villain character Lord Grigon (Brad Garrett) looked based on Zurg from the Toy Story films. The most memorable thing about him was that his imposing metallic armor housed a fat worm-like creature with gelatinous limbs, fireproof skin and multi-layered sharp teeth.  

Like many other Disney films before it, this film was also about a headstrong child lead character who took it upon themselves to embark on a big adventure in their lives, even if this went against the wishes of their elders. Elio was given a deeper psychological backstory given that he was adopted by his aunt in an unexpected manner. While this situation gave Elio a feeling of being unwanted, his Aunt Olga's point of view was not fully explored. 

Elio's first alien friend Glordon (Remy Edgerly) had another common problem faced by young people. Being of a gentler, more friendly nature, he did not want to be the war machine that his father Grigon wanted him to be.  Even then, Glordon was ready to accept his fate than face his father's fearsome wrath. It is to Pixar's credit that it dares to push and tackle these emotional issues which real children face, even if the final resolution tended to be too clean.

This film began with the vision of Adrian Molina (co-director and co-writer of "Coco"), but was later turned over to two other directors, Domee Shi (director of "Bao" and "Turning Red") and Madeline Sharafian (director of "Burrow"). The final screenplay was written by Julia Cho (co-writer of "Turning Red"), Mike Jones (co-writer of "Luca") and Mark Hammer. Perhaps this complicated production history would explain why the film can feel rather disjointed. 7/10 

Review of HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON (2025): The Dilemma with Dragons

June 16, 2025

Hiccup (Mason Thames) was the son of Stoick the Vast (Gerard Butler), the heroic chieftain of their Viking village of Berk. Unlike other villages, the big pest problem of Berk did not ordinary bugs. Instead, they are dragons who fly into their fields grabbing their sheep and burning down their homes. Hiccup was told that his mother had died because of a dragon. He grew up wanting to be able to kill dragons. However, he was physically incapable of doing so. 

In 2010, Dreamworks released "How to Train Your Dragon," an animated feature about the friendship between a Viking boy and a Night Fury dragon, based on the 2003 novel and book series of the same title by Cressida Cowell. A commercial and critical success, this film launched its own franchise, including two sequels (2014 and 2019). This year, Dreamworks followed Disney's lead and produced its own live action remake of this modern classic.

The first film was written and directed by Chris Sanders and Will Deblois. Deblois alone wrote and directed this remake. (Meanwhile, Sanders worked on and released the live-action remake of his 2002 animated film "Lilo and Stitch" for Disney.)  Also back from the original films was Gerald Butler. He once voiced the character of Stoick the Vast, an important source of dramatic conflict in the story. Now, we see Butler himself perform on the big screen. 

Having live actors led to more emotional engagement between characters. Scenes of dorky Hiccup (Thames in a winsome performance) and his stern father had a lot more depth, especially in the third act. Astrid (a pretty, badass Nico Parker) was given more screen action, including a scene in a dragon's mouth. Snoutlout (Gabriel Howell) even had a subplot with his father not in the original. A mystic Elder Gothi (Naomi Wirthner) was prominently featured. 

This live action remake followed the animated original loyally -- practically scene for scene and line for line. This new version ran for 125 minutes, while the original ran for only 98 minutes. The major difference that caused this difference in running time was that the human versus dragon action sequences were much more prolonged. All the 3D CGI dragons now look a lot larger, more menacing, less cartoonish-looking than the original animated dragons. 8/10

Review of ONLY WE KNOW: Finding a Fulfilling Friendship

June 14, 2025

Betty (Charo Santos) had been married to her husband William (Al Tantay) for 33 years when they separated 12 years ago. They did not have any children.  Betty dedicated all her time to being a college professor since then. When time came for her to retire from teaching, Betty had more free time to pursue her passion for painting still life, and working on her gardening. Betty's best friends were couple Cora (Shamaine Buencamino) and Bert (Joel Saracho).

Living across the street from Betty's house in the same private village was Ryan (Dingdong Dantes). He is a structural engineer whose life had been dealt with a cruel blow with the sudden death of his wife Sofia (Max Collins). It has now been one year since Sofia passed away, but Ryan is still haunted by her memory. One day, Ryan saw Betty struggling with her heavy shopping bags. He promptly went over to offer her assistance. 

And from there, a fulfilling friendship would develop between these two neighbors, who did not know yet at that time that they were lonely. Based on her past work like "Meet Me in St. Gallen" (2018), "Sid and Aya: Not a Love Story" (2018), "On Vodka, Beers and Regrets" (2020), and "Five Breakups and a Romance" (2023), writer-director Irene Villamor is truly a master of bittersweet romance films.  She weaves her magic again here. 

Ever since the beginning of her career with "Itim" (1976), Ms. Charo Santos possessed that unmistakably radiant screen presence that illuminated any scene that she was in. She can effortlessly draw us to Betty's side and root for her to get through any challenge she faced. Santos was always classy in her portrayal of Betty, no sleazy cougar vibes at all despite Dingdong Dantes being 25 years younger than her.    

Dantes yielded centerstage to Santos for most of the film. But as he was helping Betty, Ryan was being healed as well without him realizing it.  Dantes was given an intense acting moment in that scene when Ryan read Betty's lab results. This sent him reeling on a prolonged anxiety attack haunted by the day of Sofia's death.  Villamor, with Pao Orendain's camera, worked dizzying wonders in that scene, bringing us all inside Ryan's traumatic experience. 

Villamor kept the relationship between Betty and Ryan very subtle. We were kept guessing whether there was indeed a romance brewing between them or not. We all felt like Cora when she first saw Betty and Ryan together -- intrigued by the mystery, yet there was an breathtaking thrill about them. It was sheer directorial skill how Villaflor kept this uncertainty going for the whole final act, and still keep us guessing all the way up to the ending. 9/10

Review of BALLERINA: Fighting as a Female

June 5. 2025

When Eve was still a little girl (Victoria Comte), their house was attacked by a band of assassins attempting to kill her father Javier (David Castaneda). The killers were led by the Chancellor (Gabriel Byrne), who was angry with Javier because he went rogue against their organization. The Chancellor gave Javier a pistol with a single bullet and offered him the choice to shoot himself so his daughter lives, or to shoot him and both of them will die.

12 years later, Eve (Ana de Armas) was training as a ballerina under the Director (Anjelica Huston). The Director was also the head of the Roma Ruska, an underground organization of assassins, and Eve was also training in their deadly trade. Eve was taught by her trainer Nogi (Sharon Duncan-Brewster) to "fight like a girl," meaning to take advantage of her femaleness in order to get the upper hand over her bigger, stronger opponents. 

The title "Ballerina" is preceded by "From the World of John Wick," as it is the fifth film of that franchise. In "John Wick Chapter 3: Parabellum," when Wick first met the Director (also played by Huston),  a ballerina named Rooney was on the stage failing her pirouettes. Rooney was played by Unity Phelan before, but now, she is named Eve and played by de Armas. Scenes of Wick walking down the stairs and being branded at the back in that film were revisited here.

Willowy Ana de Armas may seem like an unlikely assassin of deadly skill. But, as this is the John Wick universe, so we need to suspend our disbelief big time in order to enjoy watching her plow through one horde of pro assassins after another. In the third act, all the residents of an entire town were all after her, and still she prevailed. The way Eve survived being bodily hurled and slammed here, she might as well be made of steel. Her fighting style did not really reflect her ballet training though, not sure why she had to be one. 

Aside from the non-stop bone-crushing fights, fans of the John Wick franchise will enjoy seeing the New York Continental Hotel again, along with its owner Winston Scott (Ian McShane) and concierge Charon (the late Lance Reddick in his final movie appearance). Of course, the highlight was seeing the baba yaga John Wick himself in a fight in the final fiery half-hour, though ever the gentleman, Reeves never stole de Armas's thunder. There are three more John Wick films in production after this, and yes, we are excited about them! 7/10

Review of KARATE KID: LEGENDS: Synergistic Styles

June 1, 2025

Mr. Han (Jackie Chan) ran a big kung fu school in Beijing. One of his best students was his grand-nephew Li (Ben Wang), a young man troubled by memories of his elder brother's death. One day, Li's physician mother Dr. Fong (Ming-Na Wen) brought a reluctant Li to New York City where she had been accepted to work. One of Li's first friends was Mia (Sadie Stanley), daughter of Victor Lipani (Joshua Jackson), a former boxer who now owned a pizza parlor. 

This film continues the story of the "Karate Kid" franchise -- a spin-off sequel. It started with a story which Mr. Miyagi told Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) back in 1986. Apparently, Miyagi's ancestor was a fisherman whose boat got washed away by a storm all the way to China. There, the Han family rescued him, and later taught him the Chinese martial art of kung-fu.  When Miyagi went back to his home in Okinawa, Japan, he developed the fighting techniques further and called it Karate.  

Ralph Macchio was Daniel in the first three films (1984, 1986 and 1989), but not in the 1994 "The Next Karate Kid" (with Hilary Swank) nor the 2010 reboot "The Karate Kid" (with Jaden Smith). In the last film, Jackie Chan played the kung-fu master of bullied boy Dre (played by an 11 year old Jaden Smith) in Beijing. Macchio would return to play Daniel vis-a-vis his old rival Johnny (William Zabka) in the series "Cobra Kai" streaming on Netflix from 2021 to 2025. 

Macchio is now a young-looking 63 year old, and playing Daniel LaRusso remains to be what he is best known for. Chan is still youthfully energetic now at 71 years old, and it had always been a pleasure watching him kung-fu fighting on the big screen. Mr. Han flew to L.A. to request LaRusso to teach his ward Li the Miyagi-style of karate, in order make Li ready to face the upcoming underground fight competition -- Five Borough's Tournament.  

The original story about a boy taught by his mentors to get ready for a big fight was still very much there. Ben Wang's Li was a capable kung-fu fighter who already had a spectacular dragon kick move from the start, but he had to learn new techniques from Han and LaRusso ("two branches, one tree") before he can face his big bully Conor Day (Aramis Knight). Even if the final outcome was obvious, the fight scenes were still very much worth the watch. 6/10. 

Review of LILO AND STITCH (2025): Accepting an Alien

May 23, 2025

The United Galactic Federation had convicted Dr. Jumba Jookiba for his illegal genetic experiments which had resulted in the creation of a violent, indestructible creature whom he called Experiment 626 (Chris Sanders). Sentenced for exile 626 carnapped a red police cruiser that brought him to planet Earth. However, instead of landing in water (which was fatal for him given his high molecular density), his cruiser landed on one island in Hawaii. 

When both their parents passed away one day, teenager Nani (Sydney Elizebeth Agudong) had to forego her plans for going to the university to study marine biology. However, she had her hands full keeping her 6-year old sister Lilo (Maia Kealoha) in control, especially under the watchful eyes of social worker Mrs. Kekoa (Tia Carrere, the original voice of Nani). Motherly next-door neighbor Tutu (Any Hill) and her surfer son David (Kaipo Dudoit) tried their best to help her babysit. 

As the 2002 animated original film told us before, Lilo would adopt Stitch as her ugly pet dog leading to hilarious chaos, and heartwarming sentiment. Despite the unwieldy mixture of alien sci-fi and Hawaiian culture, it won critical acclaim and box-office success.  It famously taught us the Hawaiian concept of "ohana" that meant "family," that meant "nobody gets left behind or forgotten," a line of enduring appeal and impact, much like "Hakuna matata" before it.

Aside from giving David a mother, this reboot gave Nani a backstory out for more dramatic impact. The social worker Cobra Bubbles character had been split into two for this remake -- social worker Mrs. Kekoa and CIA agent Cobra (Courtney Vance). For them to be able to blend in better, the aliens going after 626, Dr. Jumba and bumbling "Earth expert" Agent Pleakley, were made to inhabit human forms of Zach Galifianakis and Billy Magnussen.  Jason Scott Lee, the original voice of David, also has a cameo appearance.

This new 2025 version was again a live-action adaptation, following all the previous ones that Disney had been releasing recently. This one was rather uneven for me. The animatronic character design of Stitch was very cute, but the scenes of him and the aliens was being destructive felt scarier and more dangerous. I understand why they chose to scrap the whole Gantu spacecraft battle in the third act as its too violent for a live action kids film. However, having live actors trumped the animated version when it came to the emotionally-affecting family scenes. 7/10