All of Us Are Dead: Series Review

In this adaptation of a popular webtoon series, a group of students fight off a horde of vicious zombies.

"All of Us Are Dead" opens hours before the outbreak starts. 

Nam On-jo (Park Jihoo) and Lee Cheong-san (Yoon Chan-Young) are childhood friends studying at the same school in the same class. Despite knowing each for so long, the two bickers a lot. It turns out that Cheong-san is only teasing On-jo because he has a crush on her. Unfortunately, On-jo has already been drawn to the kindhearted Lee Soo-hyuk (Park Solomon). 

Soo-hyuk was not known for his intellect and he was always involved in school brawls back in eighth grade. He currently tries to turn a new leaf by not getting into any more trouble anymore. 

Soo-hyuk always has a crush on the quiet and smart Choi Nam-ra (Cho Yi-Hyun). Her classmates call her "prez" since she’s their class’s president, but none of them really respects her. She doesn't have any friends because her dismissive personality and strong demeanor intimidate the other students.

Anyway, their science teacher is the uncanny Lee Byeong-chan (Kim Byung-chul). Despite being a high school teacher, Byeong-chan is brilliant enough to create a virus that transmutes fear and aggression. The goal of the so-called "Jonas Virus" is to give his son the courage to stand up to bullies. However, after injecting it into him, he suddenly turned into a mindless and bloodthirsty monster.

Teacher Lee realized that the virus needed to be studied further, so he experimented with it on a few lab rats. Until one of his students accidentally got bitten by it. Soon after, the other students and faculty members got infected and began to transform into savage zombies. As the virus starts to spread and develop, Nam On-jo and her classmates find themselves trapped in school with nowhere to go.

Ikaw: Movie Review

Janine Gutierrez and Pepe Herrera paired up to enliven this romantic comedy about two different and unlikely people falling in love.

Dee (Gutierrez) is a successful real-estate agent in Manila. Despite her success in her job, she’s not very successful in her love life. In fact, her last date was a disappointment. She met with this wealthy and handsome guy, but it turns out that he’s insensitive and dismissive of her. Maybe all men are the same and they are all a waste of time. 

Besides, there are far more important things than love, dating, and romance, like her grandmother’s birthday. Ever since her parents died, Lola Dulce (Pilita Corrales) has taken good care of her through their small eatery. So despite the distance, Dee traveled to Albay to be with her.

There she meets Edong (Herrera), Lola Dulce’s coconut supplier. He spends most of his time drinking Tuba with his best friend Manny (Archie Alemania), and managing his coconut farm. However, he’s not like every man Dee meets. He’s kind, warm, sincere, and respectful.

Dee finds herself gradually falling in love with Edong, but they both know that their time together is limited. Her life is in Manila, and with her grandmother’s declining health, she needs to be with her more than ever.

Ghostbusters: Afterlife

Directed by Jason Reitman (son of Ivan Reitman), this sequel to a beloved franchise sees a new breed of young Ghostbusters fight off an old foe to save the world.

The original Ghostbusters disbanded five years after defeating Vigo the Carpathian. 

Ray Stantz (Dan Aykroyd) is a bookstore owner, Peter Venkman (Bill Murray) is a university professor, and Winston Zeddemore (Ernie Hudson) is a successful businessman. The last of the bunch is Egon (Harold Ramis), who moves to a farm in Summerville, Oklahoma, along with all their gear.

Egon believes that their old enemy, Gozer the Gozerian (Olivia Wilde), will return to resume destroying the world. The three didn't believe him, permanently straining their friendships.

Fast forward to 2021. 

Egon died of a heart attack, and his death forced his estranged and impoverished daughter, Callie (Carrie Coon), to move to his farm along with her two children: Phoebe (Mckenna Grace), a science whiz, and Trevor (Finn Wolfhard), a moody teenager infatuated with her workmate Lucky (Celeste O'Connor).

Carrie enrolled her daughter in a summer class where she made new friends like Podcast (Logan Kim) and Mr. Grooberson (Paul Rudd). Both guys are Ghostbusters fans. So when they found out that Phoebe was Egon's granddaughter, they educated her on his life and accomplishments.

Soon enough, Phoebe, Podcast, Lucky, and Trevor inadvertently discovered a Gozerian temple within the mine near their house. Inside it is none other than the evil and powerful Gozer, ready to break free at any time. It is now up to them to keep the villain at bay, especially now that the Ghostbusters are gone.

The Royal Treatment

Netflix’s latest rom-com is about the love that blooms between an outgoing hairdresser and a sheltered prince.

Prince Thomas (Mena Massoud), the prince of Lavania, is in New York on royal business, and he needs a makeover to look presentable in public. So his assistant, Walter (Cameron Rhodes), contacted the city's finest salon, where he hired Izzy (Laura Marano), a hairdresser.

Izzy recently had to use his savings to pay the family-owned salon’s landlord after a fire. Despite these difficulties, she is constantly friendly, helpful, and kind to others. She has a strong sense of justice and passion for children and the community. That's why, when Prince Thomas refused to help one of his maids, she got furious and left.

Prince Thomas pays a visit to the salon and later apologizes for his actions. And to further compensate for his mistakes, he invited her and two of her co-workers, Destiny (Chelsie Preston Crayford) and Lola (Grace Bentley-Tsibuah), to be their hairdressers for his upcoming wedding.

A Hero

This award-winning Iranian film tells the story of a naïve man who finds himself in trouble after doing an act of kindness.

"A Hero" follows the calligrapher Rahim (Amir Jadidi), an inmate serving a prison sentence for failure to pay off an enormous debt. 

While on a 2-day leave, Rahim meets with his brother-in-law, Hossein (Alireza Jahandideh), to discuss with him his plan to pay off his dues. His secret girlfriend, Farkhondeh (Sahar Goldust), incidentally found a purse full of gold, and he intends to sell it to dealers for a large sum of money. But he later found out that even if it sells at a high price, it is not enough to settle his arrears. So, as a gesture of goodwill, he returned the bag to its rightful owner, attracting media attention.

For a while, Rahim experienced an utter lovefest from inmates, officials, and charities. People on the street are treating him as a hero for his selfless act. But the film then introduced us to his creditor and his daughter, Bahram (Mohsen Tanabandeh) and Nazanin (Sarina Farhadi), who didn’t believe even a sliver of Rahim’s good deed.

Soon enough, more and more people turned against Rahim. They started to question his story. The doubts cast upon him eventually ruined his reputation. Almost instantaneously, it got bigger and bigger, inadvertently embroiling his son, Siavash (Saleh Karimai), and sister, Mali (Maryam Shahdaei), in his fight to reclaim his dignity.

House of Gucci

Lady Gaga is the controversial Patrizia Regiani in this family drama about a well-known fashion brand.

In 1970's Milan, Patrizia Reggiani (Lady Gaga) worked for her family's trucking business. Until she met Maurizio Gucci (Adam Driver), a law student, at a party and fell head over heels in love with him. 

Patrizia is well-aware of the Gucci name, as well as the family's wealth and business empire, which is why Maurizio's father, Rodolfo (Jeremy Irons), is so critical to her. Despite this, Patrizia and Maurizio married and gained the trust of the entire Gucci clan, including other key members such as Aldo (Al Pacino) and Paolo (Jared Leto).

One day, Patrizia meets Giuseppina "Pina" Auriemma (Salma Hayek), a psychic, who assures her that she will get everything she wants. These words comforted and motivated her to go to work and use every resource at her disposal to gradually impose herself on the family business. 

As she amassed influence under the Gucci brand, she became obsessed with power and wealth, eventually instigating her own family’s destruction.

The Tragedy of Macbeth

Joel Coen goes solo in this adaptation of one of Shakespeare's most renowned plays.

"The Tragedy of Macbeth" begins with Macbeth (Denzel Washington) and Banquo (Bertie Carvel) meeting three witches (Kathryn Hunter) on the battlefield. The trio have a prophecy for the two. Macbeth will soon be promoted from Thane of Glamis to Cawdor and will eventually become King. Banquo, on the other hand, will soon father a line of kings.

Macbeth was initially skeptical of the witches' claims, as the Thane of Cawdor is currently healthy and strong. But it surprises him to find out that King Duncan orders Ross (Alex Hassell) to behead the Thane of Cawdor for treason and reinvest the title in Macbeth. Bringing the first prophecy to fruition.

Macbeth immediately informs his wife, Lady Macbeth (Frances McDormand), of the prophecy, which prompts her to come up with a plan to assassinate King Duncan (Brendan Gleeson). She tells Macbeth everything about her murderous scheme, which Macbeth follows through on after hesitating at first.

Now that the king is dead, it is time for Macbeth to fulfill the second prophecy. However, there are still certain people who stand in his way, including the King's sons, Malcolm (Harry Melling) and Donalbain (Matt Helm), the Thane of Fife, Macduff (Corey Hawkins), and Banquo, who is also his good friend and confidant.

Photocopier

This award-winning Indonesian drama follows the story of a teenage student who discovers a heinous secret after investigating what happened to her at a party that caused her to lose her scholarship.

Sur (Shenina Syawalita Cinnamon) is a first-year computer student who joins a college theatrical club, headed by Anggun (Dea Panendra). Even though she’s timid and shy, Sur built a strong bond with each and every one of the group members, including the playwright Rama (Giulio Parengkuan) and production designer Tariq (Jerome Kurnia).

After winning the top award in a prestigious competition, the club had a rave party at Rama's place. Sur passed out from being overly intoxicated, and the following morning, he awoke at home with no recollection of what had happened. She then realized she was late for her scholarship report, which was her one and only ticket to pursuing her dream of becoming a website developer.

It was during her presentation that she learned she had been disqualified for a scholarship grant because of her behavior at the party, which had been mysteriously posted on her social media.

Sur believes she is not reckless enough to share such images on the internet. So she asked the assistance of his childhood friend, Amin (Chicco Kurniawan), to figure out what happened. Even though it’s illegal, the two worked together to hack into the phones of every member of the college theatrical club. During their investigation, they discovered that there were even more nefarious things going on besides Sur's case.

The Matrix Resurrections

This action thriller from Lana Wachowski has Keanu Reeves reprise his role as Neo as he returns to the Matrix.

Following the events of "The Matrix Revolution," Neo (Reeves) finds himself as Thomas Anderson again. He has no recollection of his past or destiny. All he knows right now is that he’s an award-winning video game designer who, after "dreaming" about it, turned the original Matrix trilogy into a video game franchise.

One day, a reborn version of Morpheus (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) and a woman named Bugs (Jessica Henwick) found him in the Matrix working for the rogue program Smith (Jonathan Groff). They were able to persuade him that the world in which he was living was a simulation. Upon Neo’s awakening, he spotted Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) in the other pod and he’s transported through the ruins of Zion to a place called Io, headed by Niobe (Jada Pinkett Smith).

Neo expresses his desire to get Trinity out of the Matrix as well, which the people of Io oppose with at first. Breaking Trinity free from the Matrix is an impossible mission because of the one powerful program that currently controls the simulated world – The Analyst (Neil Patrick Harris).

Spider-Man: No Way Home

In Jon Watts' third Spider-Man film, Tom Holland reprises his role as the web-slinging superhero to fight a slew of supervillains to save his universe.

"Spider-Man: No Way Home" picks up where "Spider-Man: Far From Home" left off.

The entire world now knows Spider-Man's (Holland) true identity, and this begins to cause problems in his personal life, as well as in the lives of others. Together with his Aunt May, they moved to a secluded place in order to avoid further attention. Various colleges are refusing to accept his girlfriend, MJ (Zendaya), and best friend, Ned (Jacob Batalon), applications because they are connected to Spider-Man. In addition, his friend, Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau), was being investigated for his ties to him. On the street, people either treat him as a hero or a villain. Everything is a mess.

To stop this madness, he sought assistance from Dr. Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch). After the two heroes teamed up to defend the planet against Thanos, Dr. Strange decided to help Peter. He will cast a spell that will make everyone forget about his identity. However, before Dr. Strange could cast it, Peter's constant tampering corrupted it, disrupting the balance of the universe.

The failed spell also allowed supervillains from other universes to enter his universe. Peter must now team up with Dr. Strange, MJ, and Ned to find a way to fix all of these.

Mother/Android

Mattson Tomlin draws on his personal experiences to create this story about a soon-to-be mother running away from killer robots.

“Mother/Androids” begins with a conversation between two teenagers, Georgia (Chloë Grace Moretz) and her boyfriend Sam. Although they speak calmly like adults, there is a sense of dread in Georgia as she reveals that she is pregnant and Sam is the father.

Later that night, a shrill screech rang out across the city. The noise causes android butlers to malfunction, transforming them into cold-blooded killing machines.

Nine months later, Georgia is days away from giving birth. So the two flee to the forest and are on their way to Boston to board a ship bound for Asia. But before that they must cross a place inhabited by androids called No Man’s Land.

Cry Macho

Clint Eastwood’s 39th film is about an old cowboy tasked to fetch a stubborn young man across the dry and dangerous Mexico.

"Cry Macho" begins with the introduction of Mike Milo (Clint Eastwood), a former rodeo star.

Mike’s stardom changes his life and he owes it all to his former boss, Howard Polk (Dwight Yoakam). One day, Howard drops by to Mike’s house for an unusual request. He wants him to go to Mexico, find his son Rafo (Eduardo Minett) and bring him back to him.

However, it will not be easy. Leta (Fernanda Urrejola), the boy's mother, claims that he has turned to a life of crime participating in cockfights with a rooster named Macho. For a while, Mike thought that Rafo might only get him in trouble. But he's eventually overpowered by his desire to return the young boy to his father.

Mang Jose

Janno Gibbs plays a superhero who charges people for his good deeds in this contemporary Filipino superhero film based on a popular song.

Mang Jose (Janno Gibbs) is an unusual superhero. He’s only the superhero who saves people if they hire him. And his charge is no laughing matter. Consider this: 30,000 pesos for a single fight. 

But that's perfectly reasonable for him. His abilities are energy absorption and redirection, which means he must first take a beating before he can fight back. And it's difficult for him to recover from the pain at his age. That's why his sidekick and accountant Archimedes (Jerald Napoles) always looks out for him. He even built a suit to protect him and optimize his powers.

One day, a young man named Tope (Mikoy Morales) hired Mang Jose to help him save his mother, Tina (Bing Loyzaga). Apparently, superheroes are going missing all over town, and it's all because of the evil and powerful King Ina (Manilyn Reynes), and her minions who brainwashed them. 

Mang Jose is the only remaining superhero. It is now up to him to defeat King Ina and save the day.

The Lost Daughter

Maggie Gyllenhaal's directorial debut is about a college professor reflecting on her past after meeting a young mother.

"The Lost Daughter" follows Leda Caruso (Olivia Colman), a professor on a Greek island vacation. At first look, Leda appears to be any ordinary woman in her forties. She goes for a walk every day, spends her time sitting on the beach, and enjoys talking about her two girls whenever she gets the chance. But when people ask where her daughters are, her face turns pale and words just fail to come out from her mouth.

Leda made questionable choices in the past. And the sight of Nina (Dakota Johnson), a young mother, and her daughter Elena forces her to confront these memories. She sees a lot of herself in Nina. Like her, she is fed up and overwhelmed with the duty of motherhood. The only difference they have is that Nina is constantly surrounded by her family. People who the island's residents believe are dangerous.

One day, Elena got lost on the beach. Leda stepped in and found the girl right away. The family is grateful, however the little girl is still upset and won't stop crying because her doll disappeared. It was eventually revealed that Leda took the doll because it reminded her of a doll she owned. But Leda had no idea that stealing the doll would lead her deep into the family's affair.