Tuesday, September 30, 2025

8番出口 (Exit 8)

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A middle aged Japanese guy referred to as The Lost Man (Kazunari Ninomiya) steps out of the train after witnessing an irate elderly man berate a young mother whose baby won’t stop crying out loud in the car. While heading toward Exit 8, he receives a phone call from his girlfriend who tells him that she is pregnant and is currently at the hospital. Stress causes an asthma attack and he relies heavily on his inhaler as he thinks about whether he is ready to be a father yet. Weak coverage cuts their conversation short and he is challenged by a new dilemma. He has already passed by the same underground walkway twice or thrice but every time he rounds a corner he is brought back to the same area with the same Walking Man (Yamato Kochi) walking the other way as if they were both caught in an Escheresque kind of loop.

Monday, September 29, 2025

The Bodyguard (9 Works Theatrical)

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Superstar Rachel Marron (Christine Allado) is in need of a new bodyguard. Her manager Bill Devaney (John Joven-Uy) approaches veteran security guy Frank Farmer (Matt Blaker), who initially refuses before reluctantly accepting the job. He is then introduced to the glitzy world of showbiz where he spots threats not just against Rachel but to her sister Nicki (Sheena Lee Palad) and son Fletcher (Elian Santos) as well. As her publicist Sy Spector (Tim Yap) ramps up her visibility as a much needed push for her Oscar campaign, Rachel also receives threats via letters from a crazed fan who is obsessed with her, getting close without them noticing and even stealing one of her costumes. It doesn’t help that she feels suffocated by the restrictions placed upon her by her new bodyguard. Given the abundance of time they spend together, sparks begin to fly, but can he really be her protector and lover at the same time?

Wednesday, September 24, 2025

Dear Evan Hansen (GMG Productions)

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Socially awkward Evan Hansen (Sonny Monaghan) writes a letter to himself as proposed by his shrink, a way to lessen his anxiety so he can function normally at school. His mother Heidi (Rebecca McKinnis) is a single mother whose work shifts and night classes mean less time for her son. When Evan prints one of his letters at the library and problem child Connor Murphy (Rhys Hopkins) finds it, thinking it was written to ridicule him, he takes it home and it is found on him after his body is recovered post-suicide. His parents Larry (Hal Fowler) and Cynthia (Helen Anker) interpret the letter as a suicide note addressed to their son’s only friend. Connor’s sister and Evan’s crush Zoe (Zoe Athena) is doubtful, but as the family tries to process their grief over a son and brother they barely knew, Evan is forced to fabricate a web of lies not just to help the family but himself as well.

Tuesday, September 23, 2025

A Big Bold Beautiful Journey

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David (Colin Farrell) rents a car to drive to an out-of-town wedding. The Mechanic (Kevin Kline) and the Cashier (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) are rather strange, asking him weird questions before giving him the key and the GPS. The car gets him to his destination in one piece where he meets Sarah (Margot Robbie), one of many guests. They flirt with one another but he comes across as standoffish, so she sleeps with somebody else. The next day, his GPS starts barking orders as to where he should go and what he should do instead of the normal road directions. He is instructed to stop at a Burger King where he runs into Sarah once again. He discovers that she has rented a similar car with the same GPS from the same company. Hers has broken down, however, so he gives her a lift. As they go on a roadtrip, they encounter random doors en route which allow them to relive some of their core memories.

Monday, September 15, 2025

Magellan

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Portuguese explorer Fernão de Magalhães (Gael García Bernal) is stuck in Melaka with conquistador Afonso de Albuquerque (Roger Alan Koza) but sets his sights on his dream islands of gold. Before heading back home to Lisbon, he purchases local Enrique de Malaca (Amado Arjay Babon) as slave and interpreter for his return journey to Asia. Back in Lisbon he meets his wife Beatriz (Ângela Azevedo) who eventually bears him a son, neither of whom he will meet again when he finally sets sail. Using his knowledge of the location of the spice islands of Moluccas, he manages to convince the monarch of Castille to fund his trip after he falls out of favor with Manuel I of Portugal. The voyage is not without challenges but they finally dock on the island of Limasawa in the Visayas in 1521. There they befriend the locals and convert them to Christianity, but Rajah Humabon (Ronnie Lazaro) has a different idea.

Saturday, September 13, 2025

Walang Aray (PETA)

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Stage superstar Julia (Lance Reblando) uses her powerful voice to tantalize an audience through song, as evidenced by her horde of fans. She is in love with boy-next-door Tenyong (Gio Gahol) but in secret, because her mother Juana (Gold Villar-Lim) has a different plan for her altogether. The widow is eyeing metrosexual ilustrado Miguel (Rendell Sanchez), the most eligible bachelor in their town and son of a wealthy widower, to be her daughter’s husband. When the revolution begins, Tenyong decides to join after his parents are victimized by cruel friar Padre Alfaro (Roi Calilong). While they can’t bear to be apart, the lovers maximize their roles with her serving as his spy as he plans their attack from afar. When push comes to shove and Julia almost falls for the dashing Miguel, she asks for the assistance of her household help Monica (Kiki Baento) and Tenyong’s caretaker Lucas (Carlon Matobato) to find him so he can rescue her from the clutches of arranged marriage.

Friday, September 12, 2025

Pingkian: Isang Musikal (Tanghalang Pilipino)

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Young general Emilio Jacinto (Vic Robinson) is given the nickname Pingkian by his fellow members of the KKK. The term refers to flint or tinder, a type of rock that gives off sparks when rubbed together. The moniker is appropriate considering his role as the brains of the revolution. But battles are not always won. Getting closer to the tailend of their struggle, General Pingkian is shot during an encounter in Majayjay, Laguna. Captured by the authorities, he spends most of his time in captivity engrossed in a fever dream where he meets personalities that hold relevance in his life such as: his mother Josefa (Tex Ordoñez-De Leon); Andres Bonifacio (Paw Castillo); and Dr. Jose Rizal (Kakki Teodoro), among others. He survives execution by pretending to be a KKK member who turned out to be a spy and was executed by them, only for him to die of Malaria a few years later.

Wednesday, September 10, 2025

The Time Traveler's Wife

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Six-year-old Clare is playing alone at the meadow behind her house when a slight rustling of leaves leads her to 36-year-old Henry who is naked behind the bushes. There and then begins an odd friendship between the two who will end up getting married when he is 28 and she is 20. Sorry, how? Henry has a rare genetic condition that sends him involuntarily traveling through time, appearing in his birthday suit each time because only his body can complete the journey, before vanishing into thin air back to his own time as if he was never there. As Clare turns 20, it has been a long wait for the love of her life. For Henry as a 28-year-old, though, he doesn’t really have any idea who she is since it is his older selves who actually met her. As they eventually get married and decide to start a family, their greatest fear is a child who will have to suffer from the very same condition.

Tuesday, September 9, 2025

The Hobbit

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Living his life as a typical hobbit, Bilbo Baggins enjoys multiple meals a day residing in a little hole he calls home. However, this life of tranquil existence is turned upside down with the arrival of a wizard named Gandalf who takes 13 dwarves with him to the hobbit’s humble abode. The proposition is an adventure far in the Mirkwood mountains where the old domain of the dwarves is now occupied by a fire-breathing dragon named Smaug, who has taken hostage not just their ancestral home but also their riches. Thorin Oakenshield, the leader of this band of dwarves is determined to reclaim his ancestors’ throne, but not without Bilbo’s help. His contribution? As a burglar extraordinaire, he is expected to find the dragon’s lair in exchange for a 14th of the wealth they’ll discover there. What Bilbo doesn’t expect to find, though, is a ring that makes its wearer invisible, paving the way for a longer journey far ahead for his nephew Frodo.

Monday, September 8, 2025

The Conjuring: Last Rites

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1964. Paranormal investigators Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine Warren (Vera Farmiga) tackle a case involving a demonic mirror. Heavily pregnant, Lorraine is taunted by the supernatural entity and is rushed to the hospital after having contractions. She eventually gives birth to a stillborn baby almost declared dead by the doctor until her prayer serves as a miracle that revives the child. They name her Judy. Two decades later, Judy (Mia Tomlinson) is now a young woman and takes her boyfriend Tony (Ben Hardy) with her to her father’s birthday party, which ends in a wedding proposal. Meanwhile in Pennsylvania, the Smurls family are now being terrorized by the same mirror from twenty two years ago. The Warrens try to distance themselves given Ed’s hearth condition but are eventually lured in and discover that the demon’s unfinished business doesn’t really have anything to do with the Smurls, but rather with them.

Monday, September 1, 2025

The Roses

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Architect Theo (Benedict Cumberbatch) and chef Ivy (Olivia Colman) first meet as disgruntled employees whose potential for greatness is curtailed by their respective bosses. 10 years later, the Roses are married and have relocated to California where he is busy with his career and she is doing a great job raising their two children. A reversal of fortune occurs when a freak storm serves as a career ending challenge for him after a museum he constructed collapses. The resulting spliced viral video ensures that nobody in the world of architecture will take him seriously ever again. Meanwhile, the same storm strands a reputable food critic at her shabby restaurant which turns her and her cuisine into an overnight sensation. As her career prospers and she becomes the provider of the family, he nurses his bruised ego by being a stay-at-home dad. The dynamics in the household change and the married couple begin to despise one another.

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