Review of THE FURIOUS: Trouncing the Traffickers

July 1, 2026

There was a gang of child traffickers responsible for an unexplained series of kidnappings happening in an unspecified city in Southeast Asia. One day, teenage girl Rainy (Yang Enyou), was grabbed by a group of men led by Ho (Brian Le). They stuffed her into a trash bag and hurled her onto the back of a truck. At that moment, her father, a mute Chinese handyman Wang Wei (Xie Miao), saw this happen, and proceeded to chased the truck on foot. 

Journalist Navin (Joe Taslim) was looking for his wife Matia (Jeeja Yanin), a fellow journalist who had disappeared while investigating a child trafficking ring. Pretending to be a potential customer of children, Navin infiltrated the fight club run by a certain Mr. Song (Sahajak Boonthanakit). At the club, Navin met Wang and they initially thought the other was the enemy. Soon, they realized that they were both after the same bad guys and teamed up. 

This action film produced in Hong Kong is an international affair. The director, stuntman and action choreographer Kenji Tanigaki, is from Japan. Xie Miao and Yang Enyou are from China. Joe Taslim and Yayan Ruhian are from Indonesia. Jeeja Yanin and Sahajak Boonthanakit are Thai. Brian Le and Joey Iwanaga are Asian-Americans. While the main language spoken is English, we hear Chinese from Xie and Yang, and even Tagalog from the goons.

From the opening fight scenes featuring Jeeja Yanin, we already expect that the fights are going to be very brutal and ultra-violent. From there, we see various weapons make the like peen-hammers, sledgehammers, hunting knives, arrows, ice picks, pieces of furniture, and even bicycles to cause more intense pain and gory damage. The worst (and most disgusting) injuries for me were actually those caused by human teeth. 

Stories about a father out to rescue his child, or a husband out to rescue his wife, have been frequently told and retold in action films all over the world. Tanigaki and his cinematographer Meteor Cheung deliver violence in ultra doses that can knock us out of breath just watching. The climactic five-way fight scene with Wang, Navin, human tank Ho, suave sadistic Paklung (Iwanaga), and bloodthirsty freak Tak (Yayan) was savage yet spectacular mayhem. 8/10

Netflix: Review of VOICEMAILS FOR ISABELLE: Crossed Communication

June 28, 2026

Jill (Zoey Deutch) worked in the kitchen of celebrity chef Bastien (Nick Offerman) in his popular bakery Flâner in San Francisco. All she did was slice kumquats as topping of his signature tart, and this frustrated her a lot. Her closest confidante was her younger sister Isabelle "Izzy" (Ciara Bravo), who was still living back in Austin with their parents (Gil Bellows and Tanis Dolman), so they communicated via voicemails. Izzy had been afflicted with cystic fibrosis since childhood, until one day she crashed and passed away.

Wes (Nick Robinson) was a hotshot real estate agent based in Austin. One day, his new work phone began receiving Jill's voicemails to Izzy, which she continued to send to her number. Wes eventually became invested in Jill's stories, including her frustrations with men he dated, like co-worker Arthur (Lukas Gage) and podcaster Tyler (Toby Sandeson). He decided to go to San Francisco to meet Jill in person. They hit it off, but Wes never gathered the guts to confess about his phone getting her voicemails for Izzy, until it was too late. 

This rom-com was written and directed by Leah McKendrick, who also appeared onscreen as Breeda, a good friend of Wes and the bride-to-be of Andy (Harry Shum Jr.). This is only the second feature film that she both wrote and directed. The plot followed the typical rom-com formula, although this time, boy already "knew" the girl long before their supposed "meet-cute" at Tyler's live streaming event. Also formulaic was its conflict of an inadvertent deception that was accidentally revealed before the secret could have been proactively confessed. 

However, this one still worked very well mainly because of Zoey Deutsch, who was very likable and relatable as Jill. Audiences can easily identify with her closeness with her family, as well as the discrimination she endured at work. Her bubbly personality that was very infectious for those around her. She was unfiltered when she gave her opinions and spontaneous when she broke into dance when Robyn's "Dancing on My Own" came on. Her chemistry with Nick Robinson's Wes was effortless from their first scene together. 

What Wes did was really a big red flag. Not only was he listening in to private messages meant for another person, he was also using the information to win the affection of the girl sending the message. Fresh-faced Nick Robinson played Wes with the winsome charm of a young Hugh Grant (as he displayed in that spontaneous tour bus guide gig of his). Because of this, we do feel sorry for him and we hope Jill would find it in her heart to forgive him for what he had failed to do. We wish they can get back together in the end.  Will they? 7/10

Review of FIRST LIGHT: A Nun Navigates the Night

June 27, 2026

Elderly Sister Yolanda (Ruby Ruiz) lived and worked in a 400 year-old convent, the main building of which was already in various states of disrepair. Her Mother Superior Angie (Lui Manansala) had assigned young Sister Arlene (Kare Adea) under her mentorship. As the ministry of her congregation was hospital work, she would make daily rounds on Celia, the comatose mother of rich and influential Mrs. Linda dela Cruz (Maricel Soriano).

One day, a Policeman (Apollo Abraham) requested Sister Yolanda to administer the last rites to a young man Angelo (BJ Forez), who had sustained severe injuries in an accident at a major road construction project in their town. After Angelo's death, his father Cesar (Emmanuel Santos) could not get a straight answer about the circumstances of his son's accident and what had transpired at the hospital, much to Sister Yolanda's chagrin.  

This film is the directorial debut of young Fil-Australian filmmaker James Robinson, who also wrote the screenplay. He had actually already won the award for Best Australian Director when this film premiered at the Melbourne International Film Festival in August 2025. Robinson's prior profession as a photographer was evident in the beautiful camera angles, play of light, shadows, smoke, and blocking of the actors, making each scene look like striking postcards. 

Ms. Ruby Ruiz comes up with yet another restrained yet magnetic performance here as her Sister Yolanda eventually realized how naive she had been after all these years she had spent behind the walls of her convent. Diamond Star Maricel Soriano managed to portray her Ms. Linda with enough compassion so as not to come off as an outright villain, even if she was. Kare Adea imbued her Sister Arlene with youthful idealism that made her question her calling.

Soliman Cruz's Fr. Claridad seemed so kind and fatherly, even if he was being so hypocritical and prejudiced. This was the first time I have seen Emmanuel Santos, but his subdued portrayal of bereaved father Cesar connected very strongly with me. BJ Forez only had one scene as the dying Angelo, but his fear was contagious. National Artist for Film Kidlat Tahimik had a remarkable cameo as land caretaker Diwa, a friend of Yolanda's late mother.

The dilapidated condition of the old convent would seem to be a metaphor the instability of the Catholic Church presently. As the film suggested (in a not too subtle way), the Church could cave in to external pressures, either financial or political. This insidious corruption was represented by the stinky rot coming from the forest. Robinson's pace can be glacially slow, but his stylish cinematography makes his auspicious debut effort worth a watch. 7/10

Review of POWER BALLAD: Secret of a Successful Song

 June 27, 2026

American singer Rick Power (Paul Rudd) works as the front man of The Bride and Groove, a wedding band based in Dublin, Ireland. He is married to an Irish woman Rachel (Marcella Plunkett) and they have a teenage daughter Aja (Beth Fallon). At one reception, the newly-married couple requested if they could invite a special guest to sing with the band. He turned out to be Danny Wilson (Nick Jonas), a former boy band member who wanted to go solo.

After the gig, Rick and Danny spent the rest of the night collaborating on songs they were working on while drunk and stoned. Rick shared a very old song he written but could not finish yet, called "How to Write a Song." Back in Los Angeles, Danny was being pressured by his manager Mac (Jack Reynor) to come up with better songs. Upon recommendation of his girlfriend Marcia (Havana Rose Liu), Danny recorded "How to Write a Song."

We know that Paul Rudd is a good actor and played his part well here, from Rick's resignation to the stagnant fate of his singing and songwriting, to the frustration of being victimized by betrayal, doubt and insensitivity even from people close to him. He even got to show off more facets of his performing talent in this film, as he sang those pop songs and played guitar for real here as the vocalist of his band -- he was actually rocking.

In contrast, Nick Jonas was rather limited in his acting range. He was actually quite good in the first half, especially during that night he spent jamming with Rick. However, in the second half back in L.A., Jonas could not deliver convincingly anymore. It was unfortunate that that critical confrontation scene set in Danny's house was awkwardly executed. While this could be a directing issue, but Jonas also could not keep up with Rudd, acting-wise. 

Like the guests at the weddings the band sung in, I was also enjoying the 80s pop hits Rick sang for them -- from "Celebration" to "Maneater." The main song central to the plot "How to Write a Song" was admittedly catchy, but in a nostalgic, throwback retro type of way. Peter McDonald's stole scenes as RIck's clingy and quirky best friend Sandy. Director John Carney did not milk the final scene with as much emotional impact than it had potential for. 6/10

Review of SUPERGIRL (2026): Clark's Cynical Cousin

June 24, 2026

Kara Zor-el (Milly Alcock) was a Kryptonian like her cousin Kal-el a.k.a. Superman (David Corenswet), so she also had superpowers when she was on Earth under its yellow sun . On her 23rd birthday, she decided to spend it on a planet with a red sun, in order that she can get crazy drunk, with only her naughty white dog Krypto beside her. That night in a bar full of rowdy crowd of drunkards, a young teenage girl boldly appeared at the doorway.  

This girl Ruthye (Eve Ridley) had witnessed her whole family perish at the hands of a space criminal named Krem of the Yellow Hills (Matthias Schoenaerts), heartless leader of the  Brigands. She swore to avenge their death by seeking out Krem and kill him with a sword that her father Elias Knoll (Ferdinand Kingsley) had forged. That night, she entered that rowdy bar to request for someone to help her do in her quest. Will Kara step up?

We first saw this Milly Alcock version of Supergirl in a post-credits cameo in "Superman" (2025). She was not the typical charming, well-behaved and heroic Supergirl portrayed by Helen Slater in first "Supergirl' film (1984) or by Melissa Benoist in the TV series "Supergirl" (2015 - 2021). Alcock's Supergirl was unkempt and appeared to have had too much to drink, indicating that this Supergirl will be breaking the usual mold of the character. Seeing Alcock play Supergirl this way can be off-putting at first, but she would eventually win us over. 

A flashback tells about how Kara's parents Zor-El (David Krumholtz) and Alura (Emily Beecham) was responsible for a "bottled" fragment of Krypton to survive after the rest of the planet exploded. Kara was conceived later and grew up to be a teenager before she was sent off to join Kal-el on Earth. This was very different (but easier to understand) than the mind-bending Kryptonian time warp paradox in the comics -- how she was supposed to be older than Kal-el on Krypton, but became younger when she arrived later on Earth. 

Because of this, this new Supergirl turned out bitter and rebellious, very opposite in character to her too-good-to-be-true cousin Kal-El. While Kal-el never knew his real parents nor the explosion of Krypton and grew up with loving Earth parents, this Kara actually knew her real parents and experienced being sent away to Earth apparently against her wishes. This contrast of characters between Kal-El and Kara was very much played up here, with comical effect. Kara's first impression of Superman's costume was a memorable line. 

Eve Ridley's Ruthye Marye Knoll was headstrong and stubborn, which puts her in risky situations that went against Kara's plans, complicating her mission. Like Flip in "Slumberland" (2022) and Garrett in "A Minecraft Movie" (2025), Jason Momoa plays another happy-go-lucky character here as notorious mercenary Lobo, which he again portrayed in what seemed to be an exaggerated version his naturally playful character in real life. It was good to see David Corenswet back as ever-supportive Superman, but he did not participate in any fights here. 

Like most dog-lovers in the audience, I certainly wished there was more of Krypto. He provided much emotional moments as he did laughs, so it was too bad that he was out of action for a major part of the story. The musical soundtrack of unexpected pop hits in the most unlikely scenes was quite fun contrast. The best scene was that when club standards "The Girl from Ipanema" and "Cheek to Cheek" were being sung by a female lounge singer on a stage to accompany one of the chaotic bar fights where Kara was taking on everyone else.  

This is a rated PG film, with some parts of which already flirt with an R rating. The fight scense can be quite violent, but there won't be blood and guts frankly spilled on screen here. There was also a side story about the Brigands gathering girls in different planets with the intention of marrying them off to be raped in order to populate their all-male planet -- a truly uncomfortable idea. While the plot was really rather predictable and Schoenhaerts's villain was bland, Alcock's unique spunky take on the title character still kept this afloat. 6/10

Review of HOME ALONG DA RILES, DA REUNION: The Cosmes in Conflict and Conciliation

June 18, 2026

The children of the late Kevin Cosme (Dolphy) still regularly eat together in their old house along the railroad tracks. Kevin's long-time love Azon (Nova Villa), whom the kids called their Tita Nanay, lived nearby. Her adopted daughter Maybe (Maybelyn dela Cruz) is now a barangay official prepping the residents for an impending demolition of their neighborhood.

Eldest son Bill (Smokey Manaloto), an office worker, is still single. Second son is Bob (Gio Alvarez), a motorcycle driver, married to Lorie (Aurora Halili), and living with his rich mother-in-law Bridge (Ces Quesada). The youngest son is Baldo (Vandolph Quizon), married to Jenny (Jenny Quizon) with sons Vito (Vito Quizon) and Baldolito (Ahmad Aboukowick). Adopted son Estong (Boy2 Quizon) was still inseparable from Baldo, partners in a food stall business. 

The only rose in the Cosme brood is Bing (Claudine Barretto), third in line. Now 45 years old, she surprised her brothers when she announced that she was about to get married to a boyfriend whom she had been keeping a secret for 6 years. Hurt, the brothers tried to foil the engagement when the guy, Baby Boy (Pepe Herrera), finally came to meet them. 

The original TV series "Home Along the Riles" ran on ABS-CBN for more than 20 years, from December 1992 to August 2003. While I do have a general idea about the show and its actors, but somehow, I never really got to see a single full episode of it. I also did not watch the two previous feature films about the series, released in 1993 and 1997. Honestly, I was not sure if this reunion movie directed by Boy2 Quizon will have something for me or not. 

From the beginning, we already see the arc of Nova Villa's Azon for the whole film -- missing her one and only love Kevin. She expressed a couple of times that she's just waiting for him to fetch her, even seeing "him" and hearing him sing "Gaano Kita Kamahal." Her comedy moments had to do with waking up from dreaming about Kevin. They gave her a weird episode of getting a massage in a spa, which would later get raided -- not funny.

Claudine Barretto mainly played the straight guy here. It was her sudden surprise announcement of her coming wedding incited the main conflict of the film. While it was clear why she did not want her brothers to know, it was difficult to explain why she did not confide this with her Tita Nanay -- in fact, they did not even try to make a plausible reason. Her one moment of spontaneity came after the priest asked "You may or may not kiss the bride." 

The interaction of Bing's immature brothers among each other and to Baby Boy was in the vein of typical 90s style of naughty comedy. I do not know how these boys used to quarrel on TV, but the climactic violent argument they had seemed very out of character. Those words said, especially those very hurtful insults coming from Bill, came out so randomly from out of the blue, and were not the type that can easily be forgiven as it happened. 

Also returning is Dang Cruz as Azon's inimitable househelp Roxanne, who stole her scenes with her crazy antics. We also see cameos from Kevin's former officemates like Cita Astals (Ma'am Hillary), Joymee Lim (Linggit) and Sherilyn Reyes (Sheryl), as well as unexpected guest appearances like Gardo Versoza, Zanjoe Marudo, Small Laude, the whole Creamline volleyball team, and most surprisingly, Claudine's ex Mark Anthony Fernandez. 

The chaos of the wedding and the demolition all led to one profound moment of sincere family reconciliation in a church. If you are expecting a certain someone to make an appearance from beyond, you'd be right. The production really set aside budget for that one important special effect that should not be carelessly done. Even if you are not familiar with the Cosme family at all, this final heartwarming moment will make you care about them. 6/10 

Review of TOY STORY 5: Trouble with Technology

June 16, 2026

Bonnie (Scarlet Spears) was feeling lonely because she found it difficult to make friends with the kids in her neighborhood. When Jessie (Joan Cusack) went next door to investigate, she discovered that the other kids were all stuck in their own rooms playing video games on a gadget. Jessie was alarmed when Bonnie's parents (Lori Alan, Jay Hernandez) bought Bonnie her own gadget -- a green tablet with a frog design named Lilypad (Greta Lee). 

Sheriff Jessie had designated Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) to be her deputy. However, this time, she called Woody (Tom Hanks) to ask for his help how to address the Lily problem. In her efforts to protect Bonnie from bad friends, Jessie and her horse Bullseye got transported back to the house of her old owner Emily. There was a new family there with a girl named Blaze (Mykal-Michelle Harris), whom Jessie felt would be a perfect friend for Bonnie. 

The first Toy Story (1995) made history as the first feature-length film to use computer-generated imagery only. It introduced us to Woody and Buzz Lightyear, who were the two favorite toys of Andy. They met Jessie in TS2(1999). As Andy went to college in TS3 (2010), the toys were brought to a daycare, where first they met Bonnie. In TS4 (2019), Bonnie made a toy from a spork she named Forky, while Woody gets reunited with BoPeep (Annie Potts).

After TS3, we all thought that they already had the perfect heartwarming ending. When TS4 came, a lot of us thought that Pixar should not have done this anymore. However, it proved us wrong again by coming with yet another emotional ending. This TS5 again played around with previous themes of old toys being abandoned by their owners as they grew up, but here, it tackled the high incidence of children glued to the screens of gadgets. 

In order to make it possible for Woody, Buzz and Jessie to achieve their elaborate plans, director Andrew Stanton, who co-wrote the screenplay with Kenna Harris, came up with a random side-story of a platoon of high-tech Buzz Lightyear toys marching to Star Command. Blaze also just so happened to own some old abandoned electronic toys (which just so happened to have working AAA batteries) and shelves of doll horses that she collected. 

Jessie was the main toy character of this story, with her own learning arc, and female-empowerment moments to boot. Multiple units of Buzz opened and closed this one, with a climactic action highlight, plus a romantic subplot. Woody was basically a special guest this time, with the recurring joke about his bald spot as his most memorable gag. The rest of Andy's old toys were still fun to watch in the limited screen time they had. We will all recognize how gadgets like Lilypad dominate our time these days. 

The Pixar artwork, with the vibrant colors and innovative designs, was as topnotch as ever, with a special style to depict the girls' whimsical play fantasies. The screenplay was both nostalgic and funny as we expect from this franchise. The jokes (even Smarty Pants' toilet humor) and the aww moments still connected well with both adults and kids in the audience with us. Stanton was still able to squeeze out an emotional ending this time, we can feel the stretch of the story in this one. But overall, I liked this one better than TS4. 8/10

Review of DISCLOSURE DAY: Extraterrestrial Exposé

June 11, 2026

Cybersecurity expert Daniel Kellner (Josh O'Connor) is being hunted down by a covert agency called Wardex, led by Noah Scanlon (Colin Firth). Kellner had stolen a set of files which he had to deliver to Hugo (Colman Domingo), and Wardex wants them back. Wardex had technology which allowed Scanlon to locate and talk to people remotely. Scanlon cannot connect with Daniel, so he instead connected with Daniel's girlfriend Jane (Eve Hewson). 

In the meantime, Kansas City TV weather girl Margaret Fairchild (Emily Blunt) was having breakfast when a cardinal flew into their apartment and stared at her for sometime, until it was shooed away by her boyfriend Jackson (Wyatt Russell). After this, Margaret suddenly had the ability to speak in different foreign languages and to connect emotionally with people she never met. During her weather report on TV, she began talking in a strange clicking sound. 

In his 50 years of making movies, Steven Spielberg has films about his fascination with alien lifeforms, including "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" (1977) and "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" (1982). Spielberg returns to this genre after 20 years, coming up with the story that David Koepp crafted into a screenplay and directing it with his signature engaging storytelling style and cinematic flair, though this one had no children and less heartwarming drama.

The main cast was A-list, among the busiest actors these days. Blunt's Margaret was initially light and comic, but she eventually became the heart of the story. O'Connor was relatively lower key but convincingly committed to his cause. Think what you may of Hugo's intentions, but Domingo played him like a saint. Firth gave Oscar-grade gravitas to the antagonist role. We needed more background on Hugo and Noah to understand their motives more. 

This film was about people who believed that everyone in the world should know that extraterrestrials exist going up against people who wanted to hide the existence of extraterrestrial life on Earth. As Jane used to be a nun, a Catholic perspective was added into the mix, including a verse from Genesis that I had not heard quoted that way before. It presents a thought-provoking dilemma to us in terms of morality and ethics. 

The first two hours had Daniel and Margaret running around Midwest states avoiding Wardex, with car chases and train crashes along the way. All this action built up momentum for a riveting climactic 30 minutes, capped by a wheelchair scene that can polarize the audience if Spielberg was being profound, or melodramatic. However after all that, Spielberg still forgot to tell us where the cardinal came from, its source of power and its selection criteria. 8/10 

Mini-Reviews of OBSESSION and BACKROOMS: Yield to Young YouTubers!

June 9, 2026

In the last two weeks, there had been a couple of horror movies that are making a lot of news. Both of them have been directed by young directors who had their start releasing their original content on YouTube. The first one was written and directed by Curry Barker, 26 years old. The second one was directed by Kane Parsons, 20 years old. What is more remarkable now is that their two low-budget films have now grossed more than $200M worldwide at the box office. 

1. OBSESSSION

Director: Curry Barker

Writer: Curry Barker

Bear (Michael Johnston) worked with his friends Ian (Cooper Tomlinson), Sarah (Megan Lawless) and Nikki (Inde Navarrette) at a music store. He had a big crush on Nikki but was very shy to tell her. Bear saw an item in a crystal shop called "One Wish Willow," a stick that claimed it can fulfill one wish of the person who broke it into two. When he dropped Nikki at her home one night, Bear broke the stick and wished for Nikki to love him more than anyone in the world. Right after, Nikki invited him into her house, then into bed with her. 

Curry Barker only spent $750,000 budget for this film so its multi-million fortunes now is most impressive. Michael Johnston may be too awkward (on purpose?) as Bear, but Inde Navarrette impressed as her poor unhinged Nikki broke us emotionally. Curry's concept of the "One Wish Willow" carried the film through, showing the horrible consequences of causing love to happen by unnatural means. There are scenes of violence here that startle and shock, so fasten your seatbelts as this horror-romcom does not hold back. 8/10

2. BACKROOMS

Director: Kane Parsons

Writer: Will Soodik 

Clark (Chiwetel Ejiofor) owned a furniture store called  Cap'n Clark's Ottoman Empire, which was not doing very well. Aside from this, he was also having issues with alcoholism and his divorce for which he was seeing a therapist Mary Kline (Renate Reinsve). One day while investigating electrical disturbances in his store, he saw a glowing slit in one of the walls of the basement. He fell right through that wall and wound up in a whole new wide space of maze-like corridors, lit up by bright overhead fluorescent lights with odd stuff scattered around.  

It started with a  dizzying 1990 video of a man that was stumbling around a strange maze of brightly-lit corridors which reminded me of the "Blair Witch Project," which really gave me a bad case of vertigo. Fortunately, "Backrooms" was not like this all the way through. To the end, it never really explained what was really going on, but it did try to connect the labyrinthine passageways to human psychology as we forge our way through the unknowns of our lives. Oscar-caliber Ejiofor and Reinsve and the unnerving production design elevated it.  7/10

Review of COLONY: Melding Minds into Monsters

June 2, 2026

One morning at the Doongwoori Building in Seoul, Chains Bio CEO Dr. Kang Woo-cheol (Kim Jeong-tae) gave an exciting presentation about his company's latest work about collective intelligence. After his talk, Kang was confronted by a disgruntled former employee Dr. Suh Young-cheol (Koo Kyo-hwan). During their heated argument, Suh unexpectedly stuck a syringe into Kang's neck and injected a substance which quickly turned Kang into a zombie. 

From there, a zombie epidemic quickly broke out inside the Doongwoori Building which housed a very busy shopping mall. Among those caught in a store were scientists Prof. Kwon Se-Jeong (Gianna Jun) and her ex-husband Prof. Han Kyu-seong (Ko Soo), security guard Choi Hyun-Seok (Ji Chang-wook) and his wheelchair-bound sister Hyun-hee (Kim Shin-rok), and Officer Lee (Lee Joong-ok), a policeman who responded to Suh's bioterrorism threat.  

The best-regarded South Korean zombie movie is "Train to Busan" (2016). Directed by Yeon Sang-ho, and written by Park Joo-suk, this had a touching father-daughter story in the heart of the zombie chaos on a train. Four years later, Yeon wrote and directed "Peninsula" (2020), billed as the sequel to "Train to Busan," this time about a soldier tasked to retrieve a truck of money in zombie-infested South Korea. This was a disappointing follow-up for sure.

This year, Yeon is back again, writing and directing yet another zombie film. This new movie features a new type of "tech-based" zombies. These zombies were described in jargon to be exchanging information by way of organic semi-conductors in slime. The way the zombies were acting in synchrony as if being conducted remotely was an interesting concept, and their eerie choreography was well-executed, especially that mesmerizing "ant mill" scene.

It was great to see Gianna Jin, iconic star of "My Sassy Girl" (2001), back on the big screen again after a 10-year hiatus. Koo Kyo-hwan, star of box-office romance hit "Once We Were Us" (2025), made for an intimidating antagonist. Ji Chang-wook showed off both fighting skills as he plowed through the zombie horde with a kitchen knife, as well as his dramatic chops in his scenes with Kim Shin-rok playing his disabled I.T. sister. 

There were thought-provoking dilemmas presented to create more conflict -- are the zombies patients or as monsters? is the immune perpetrator the villain or the vaccine? That "imperfect communication is the main source of tragedy" makes for a profound basis for drama. While uniting all the minds in the world sounds like an altruistic goal, putting them under the vision and control of one deranged person is obviously not a good idea. 7/10

Review of TAYO SA WAKAS: Darker Depths for DonBelle

 May 25, 2026

Francisco "Cisco" Serrano (Donny Pangilinan) was the eldest but illegitimate son of his rich father Francisco "Kiko" Jacinto (Matthew Mendoza). He worked for the Guinto group of companies, and  was responsible for developing the production house arm dubbed as "G-Spot" for its CEO Mr. G (Epy Quizon). He was involved in creating concepts for their advertising clients, pitching the ad proposal to them, and directing their video shoots. 

Francisca "Cheska" Alegre (Belle Mariano) with her parents (Yayo Aguila and Alan Paule) in a low-income community, where their neighbors could hear their frequent marital quarrels. She was just the newest recruit in G-Spot, under the mentorship of Cisco. The two called each other "Tuks," short for "tukayo," a term used to indicate the similarity of their names. Soon, their close professional relationship soon blossomed into romance. 

"Tayo sa Wakas" is the third feature film of the Donny Pangilinan and Belle Mariano (or "DonBelle") love team after "Love is Color Blind" (John Leo Garcia, 2021) and "An Inconvenient Love" (Petersen Vargas, 2022), both big commercial hits. Like the second film, this new film was once again used the rich boy-poor girl romance-comedy trope, so the formula felt familiar right from the awkward meet-cute at the office pantry. 

The screenplay by Vanessa R. Valdez tackled darker themes than expected here about professional jealousy and toxicity. It was clear from the get-go that their sailing was not going to be smooth, so there was no real suspense in the flashbacks. Aside from DonBelle, the supporting actors were mainly stock BFF tropes. Epy Quizon does well as the compassionate boss. Jaime Fabregas had a strong impact as Don Frank, Cisco's imperious grandfather.   

The chemistry between Pangilinan and Mariano is very strong, which is why we felt bad as Cisco and Cheska drifted apart. Things were going so badly between them, we wanted to see a brave, realistic resolution of their problem. Unfortunately for us, Valdez and director Cathy Garcia-Sampana opted for an annoying cop-out of a climax -- a sudden 11th hour twist that rendered everything after it unnecessarily melodramatic and ultimately unsatisfying. 5/10