KPop Demon Hunter — Movie Review

Rumi (Arden Cho), Mira (May Hong), and Zoey (Ji-young Yoo) are the stars of Huntrix, a wildly popular Korean girl group. Fans around the world adore them. Their songs, style, and energy can easily light up every stage.

But behind all the fame and glamor, the world doesn’t know their biggest secret.

They’re not just pop stars. They’re demon hunters.

For a long time, demons have roamed the Earth. They hide in the shadows and steal souls to feed their king, Gwi-Ma (Byung-hun Lee). Rumi, Mira, and Zoey were born with voices that carry a special power. When they sing, their music fills people with hope and courage. And when people are feeling fulfilled, the energy they give strengthens an ancient force called the Honmoon.

The Honmoon is what protects the world from Gwi-Ma’s evil. The more people believe in Huntrix and feel inspired by their songs, the stronger the Honmoon becomes. If enough hearts are awakened, they can create the Golden Honmoon, a shield so powerful that no darkness can break through it.

Meanwhile, in the demon world, Gwi-Ma is growing restless. His attacks have all failed and Huntrix is stronger than ever. That’s when a clever demon named Jinu (Ahn Hyo-seop) comes up with a new idea. Instead of fighting the group directly, why not destroy their fanbase?

Jinu believes that if people stop listening, the Honmoon will grow weak. Perhaps, it will fade away.

As pressure builds for Huntrix to unlock the Golden Honmoon, Rumi faces a personal struggle. She is hiding a terrible secret to her group.

Rumi is part demon.

Every day, it gets harder to keep the truth from Mira and Zoey. She’s afraid that if they find out, it will break their bond and weaken the group’s power.

Rumi’s fear grows as Gwi-Ma and Jinu draw closer to victory. If she loses her friends’ trust, Huntrix might fall apart. And if they do, the world could fall with them.

28 Years Later — Movie Review

The film is set 28 years after the Rage virus. While the virus has almost completely died out across continental Europe, as most of the infected have perished from starvation, Great Britain remains under indefinite quarantine.

On an island separated from the mainland by a causeway lives Jaime (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), one of the community's most skilled scavengers. He resides with his wife Isla (Jodie Comer), who is battling a mysterious illness, and their 12-year-old son, Spike (Alfie Williams). As part of the community’s coming-of-age ritual, Jaime takes Spike into the forest to teach him the art of survival and scavenging.

During their trip, they encounter different types of infected, from a fat one to a child. But the most terrifying of them all is an Alpha, a rare variant that is faster, stronger, and smarter than the typical infected. These Alphas are nearly impossible to outrun or outfight, making them a threat to be avoided at all costs.

While staying at an abandoned house, Spike spots a fire in the distance. Jaime mentions that it is probably Ian Kelson (Ralph Fiennes), a former survivor who now lives in isolation. According to locals, Kelson has lost his mind, and most people are afraid of him. However, Spike later discovers that Kelson is actually a doctor. With hope building inside him, he wonders if Kelson might be able to help treat his ailing mother.

Everything changes when Spike witnesses his father having an affair. The betrayal shakes him to the core and becomes the turning point of the story.

Spike decides to break the community’s rules to bring Isla to Kelson, risking everything to save her. With infected still roaming the land and the threat of Alphas making every step more perilous, Spike traverses the dangerous land with courage, love, and a bow in hand.

Deep Cover — Movie Review

Deep Cover follows a group of improv comedians who are unexpectedly recruited by a police officer (Sean Bean) to infiltrate a dangerous drug gang.

Leading the team is Kat Boyles (Bryce Dallas Howard). She’s a struggling stand-up comedian who also teaches improv on the side. Joining her is Marlon Swift (Orlando Bloom), an aspiring dramatic actor and one of Kat’s improv students. Completing the trio is Hugh (Nick Mohammed), a socially awkward IT worker who gets pulled into the mission despite his poor improv skill.

At first, everything goes surprisingly well. Using their skills, the trio manages to earn the trust of the drug lord, Fly (Paddy Considine). Their improvisational talents keep their cover believable, and for a moment, it seems like the mission might actually succeed.

But things quickly spiral out of control.

Suspicion starts to build and Fly begins questioning their identities. To make matters worse, the police seem oddly uninformed by the operation, leaving the trio out in the cold with no backup.

Now trapped in a dangerous game and with their lives on the line, the three have no choice but to rely on what they know best: improv.

Lost in Starlight — Movie Review

In the not-so-distant future, humans have achieved what was once only dreamed of: travelling to Mars.

Nan-young’s mother was one of the early astronauts sent to the red planet on a pioneering mission. But something went terribly wrong. Her father, unable to cope with the grief, lost his grip on reality.

Years later, Nan-young (Kim Tae-ri) follows in her mother’s footsteps. Now an astronaut herself, she carries the burden of legacy and longing. Her mission is to continue her mother’s work by cultivating life on Mars using a flower known as Amur Adonis, a symbol of hope and survival in even the harshest environments.

Despite her intelligence and training, Nan-young struggles with grief herself. Flashbacks of her mother paralyze her in crucial moments, raising concerns among her superiors about her mental readiness for such a high-stakes mission. Still, no door is ever truly closed. She may still have a shot if she can gather herself. A short break back in Korea might be just what she needs.

While in Korea, Nan-young meets Jay (Hong Kyung), a former band member who once wrote a song he assumed would never be heard again. One day, Nan-young plays the song, to his surprise. Nan-young reveals it is one of her favorites, a track close to her heart.

As they spend more time together, they begin to help each other face their deepest fears. Nan-young finds comfort and calm in Jay. Jay, on the other hand, finds a new reason to revisit his career as a musician. Their bond becomes healing.

Eventually, everything comes down to a single decision. Nan-young must choose between staying with the person who helped her find herself or returning to the stars to chase the dream that has shaped her entire life.

Mars is dangerous. And it is far, far from Earth. Far from Jay. But it is also her and her mother’s dream.

Can Nan-young leave behind the person she now loves to pursue the dream that defines her?

Only We Know — Movie Review

Only We Know opens with a professor named Betty (Charo Santos-Concio) giving a lecture on existentialism, absurdism, and the play Waiting for Godot.

A few years later, Betty is now retired. She spends her days doing ordinary things like painting, grocery shopping, and cooking for herself. Occasionally, her best friend Cora (Shamaine Buencamino) and Cora’s husband, Bert (Joel Saracho), visits her. During these visits, Cora often tries to set Betty up on dates. Unfortunately, none of them work out. The men she introduces to her are either perverts or too old.

Betty used to be married; his name is William (Al Tantay). No, he’s not dead. He simply left her for someone younger. Despite this, Betty and William remain in contact. Their relationship now feels more like a polite friendship. There’s no drama and you can just sense that there's acceptance on what happened between them.

Across the street from Betty lives Ryan (Dingdong Dantes), a middle-aged man who lost his wife a year ago. He’s still grieving and unwilling to move on. He refuses to date anyone and spends most of his evenings drinking alone. Though they live near each other, Ryan and Betty rarely interact.

That changes one day when Betty asks Ryan to host dinner for the two of them after he helps her with something around the house. Ryan hesitates but agrees. What starts as a simple gesture becomes the beginning of an unexpected and intimate friendship.

As they spend more time together, Betty and Ryan discover that they share more than just proximity. Both carry emotional wounds and unspoken sadness. Through long talks, quiet dinners, and everyday companionship, their bond grows stronger.

Together, they create something undefined. A relationship only they know.

How to Train Your Dragon: Movie Review

If other islands worry about pests like rats or insects, the island of Berk worries about something much bigger: dragons.

Dragons are vicious creatures. They steal sheep for food and destroy homes and crops with their fire. Every attack is a reminder that life in Berk is dangerous and unpredictable.

But Berk is home to the toughest and meanest Vikings. They don’t back down from anything, not even fire-breathing, high-flying dragons. The people of Berk are fearless. When a dragon appears, they fight it, capture it, punch it, or kill it.

Hiccup (Mason Thames) is the son of the Viking chief, Stoick the Vast (Gerard Butler). As the chief's son, everyone expects great things from him. But Hiccup doesn’t fit the Viking mold. He’s thin, weak, clumsy, and far from fearless. He often ruins whatever he touches, much to the disappointment of his father.

His peers don’t see much value in him either. Snotlout (Gabriel Howell), Fishlegs (Julian Dennison), Ruffnut (Bronwyn James), and Tuffnut (Harry Trevaldwyn) each have unique strengths and bravery that makes them useful in battle. Even Astrid (Nico Parker), Hiccup’s crush, is a fierce and skilled warrior. She’s easily the best Viking of their generation.

Still, not everyone has given up on him. Gobber (Nick Frost), Hiccup’s mentor, sees potential in the boy. He believes that maybe Hiccup doesn’t need to be a typical Viking. Maybe he just needs to stop pretending to be someone he’s not and start embracing who he really is: a thinker, a builder, a problem-solver. Someone who sharpens swords, creates strange gadgets, and invents new things.

Then one day, everything changes.

Hiccup encounters a trapped dragon. Not an ordinary dragon, but a Night Fury. Night Furies are known to be incredibly fast, dangerously powerful, and extremely rare. According to Viking law, if you see one, you must kill it on sight.

But Hiccup can’t do it. He raises his knife, then lowers it. Instead of killing the Night Fury, he sets it free.

The dragon, however, can’t fly away. Hiccup soon realizes that the Night Fury’s tail fin is damaged, making flight impossible. Hiccup decides to do something crazy, he builds the dragon a prosthetic tail fin.

Before he can test it, though, he must first do the impossible: earn the dragon’s trust.

As Hiccup spends more time with the dragon he named Toothless, he realizes something that could change everything: dragons might not be the enemy after all. They’re not mindless beasts. In actuality, they’re intelligent and emotional creatures.

This revelation forces Hiccup to question everything his father and his entire community believe. Maybe they’ve been wrong about dragons after all.