Espantaho — Movie Review

Pabling (Emil Sandoval) is dead.

His daughter, Monet (Judy Ann Santos), prepares for the traditional pasiyam, a nine-day mourning ritual meant to honor the dead and guide the soul into the afterlife.

Things take a turn when Pabling’s legal wife, Adele (Chanda Romero), arrives. She comes with her two children, Andie (Janice de Belen) and Roy (Mon Confiado), and they are determined to sell the family’s old ancestral house along with all remaining properties. Their plan will surely evict Monet’s family, including her son Keith (Kian Co), her mother Rosa (Lorna Tolentino), and her partner Jack (JC Santos), who are all currently living in the house.

As the family conflict unravels and intensifies, a mysterious entity which is seemingly tied to a strange painting of a scarecrow starts terrorizing the home.

Five Nights at Freddy's: Movie Review

Emma Tammi's long-awaited movie based on a popular video game series is a plot-heavy snoozefest about facing your biggest regret and becoming an adult.

Mike Schmidt (Josh Hutcherson) was a security guard in a quiet shopping center.

‘Was’ because he was fired shortly after for assaulting a man in front of his child after he mistook him for a kidnapper. A normal person would choose to confront rather than attack a person suspected of being an abductor or a criminal for many reasons. But Mike is livid.

A long time ago, someone kidnapped Mike's younger brother during a family picnic. He's been obsessed with this memory ever since. He’s so obsessed that he can lucidly dream about it and investigate it and talk to the five children who saw it.

Unemployment and past trauma are not his only problems; Mike also has to deal with his sleazy aunt (Mary Stuart Masterson). She has been hounding him for years to relinquish guardianship of his younger sister, Abby (Piper Rubio). Mike knows that she only wants Abby’s monthly support money, and she's just waiting for him to mess up so she can have her. So he tries his best not to mess up.

With his stacking insubordination cases, he’s left with virtually no other choice but to accept a job as a night-shift security guard for a dilapidated and abandoned pizzeria from career counselor Steve Raglan (Matthew Lillard). The pay isn't great, and the hours are worse, but all he has to do is keep trespassers away.

Unbeknownst to Mike, though, the place is not entirely abandoned. The dingy animatronics of the restaurant spring to life at night, and despite their cute and friendly appearance, they are extremely hostile to humans.

The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard: Movie Review

In "The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard," an unlicensed bodyguard teams up with two hitmen to protect the world from an evil businessman. 

Following the events of "The Hitman's Bodyguard," Michael Bryce (Ryan Reynolds) seeks psychiatric treatment for the trauma inflicted by his frenemy, Darius Kincaid (Samuel L. Jackson). His psychiatrist advises him to take a vacation, only for him to cross paths with Darius's wife, Sonia Kincaid (Salma Hayek).

Sonia informs him that Darius has been kidnapped, and he asks specifically for Michael Bryce to save him.

Meanwhile, Interpol agent Bobby O'Neill (Frank Grillo) is on the hunt for a terrorist group led by the Greek business tycoon, Aristotle Papadopoulos (Antonio Banderas). They want to blow up the European power grid and infrastructure because the European Union wants to put more sanctions on Greece.

After rescuing Darius, the three of them become involved in O'Neill's grand scheme. Inadvertently entrusting the fate of the world to two insane hitmen and a sabbatical bodyguard.

Tall Girl 2: Movie Review

Netflix’s pre-Valentine's offering is a simple story of discovering confidence amidst fears and insecurities.

Jodi Kreyman (Ava Michelle) made a big impression at their school's prom with her "stand tall" speech. Now, people are looking up to her a symbol of confidence.

Because of her peers' faith and confidence in her, she decided to audition against the school bully, Kimmy (Clara Wilsey), for the school's production of Bye Bye Birdie. However, after landing the lead role and gaining more recognition and attention, Jodi finds it difficult to silence the negative voice inside her head.

Her increasing anxiety leads to her breakup with boyfriend Jack Dunkleman (Griffin Gluck). It also didn't help that her sister (Sabrina Carpenter) was leaving for Los Angeles, and her parents (Steve Zahn & Angela Kinsey) were continuously pressuring and annoying her. She can't rely on Fareeda (Anjelika Washington), her best friend, because she has her own issues to deal with like her career and Stig (Luke Eisner).

As the voice within her head starts to get louder and louder, will she ever be able to stop it and get through these difficulties?

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 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).

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.

Red Notice

Rawson Marshall Thurber star-studded action film is exactly what you expected it to be, or maybe worse.

Many years ago, Marcus Antonius gave Cleopatra three bejeweled eggs as a wedding gift two thousand years ago to symbolize his love for her. However, as time went by, history eventually forgot these offerings until two of them were discovered by a farmer in 1907, with the third remaining undiscovered.

In the present day, FBI criminal profiler Special Agent John Hartley (Dwayne Johnson) is assigned to assist Interpol agent Urvashi Das (Ritu Arya) in the investigation on one of the eggs displayed at the Museo Nazionale di Castel Sant'Angelo in Rome. They found out that it was fake so Das immediately ordered for a lockdown in the museum. But before the room is sealed shut, Nolan Booth (Ryan Reynolds), an international art thief, manages to flee. 

Hartley and Das eventually apprehended Booth in his home in Bali, and the egg is taken into custody only for another thief named Sarah Black AKA "The Bishop" (Gal Gadot) to take it away and frame Hartley. 

Das confronts Hartley the next day, believing he is the one who stole the egg. As a result, she has him imprisoned in the same cell as Booth in a remote Russian prison. Fueled by their interest to defeat the Bishop, the two must now work together to escape and find the elusive thief.

Sweet Girl

This generic action film stars Jason Momoa as a man seeking vengeance for the death of his wife.

Ray Cooper (Momoa) and his daughter Rachel (Isabela Merced) mourn the death of Ray’s beloved wife, Amanda (Adria Arjona), who succumbs to cancer.

His wife was supposedly in line to receive a life-saving drug before she died. However, BioPrime CEO Simon Keeley yanked the drug from the market indefinitely. Ray savagely calls Simon after learning of this business decision and threatens to kill him if he does not change his mind.

BioPrime's decision was never overturned, and Ray now seeks retribution.

One day, he receives a call from Martin Bennett (Nelson Franklin), a journalist. He claims he has a story that will put powerful people in prison, however, he needs Ray’s story to do so.

Ray reluctantly agrees, but he soon finds himself in more trouble than he anticipated.

The Last Letter From Your Lover

A young journalist, uninterested in romance, becomes obsessed with finding the authors of old love letters in this adaptation of a Jojo Moyes book.

“The Last Letter from Your Lover” follows two different central characters, Ellie Haworth (Felicity Jones) and Jennifer Stirling (Shailene Woodley), struggling to abide by their emotions for the sake of belonging. But as the film progress, not all love stories are the same. There are people that are meant to be together, and there are others that are only meant to fall in love with each other.

Ellie Haworth is a young journalist living in present day London. She is a woman disinterested with romance until she discovers a letter from a certain “J” and “Boot” (or “B”). With the help of the archivist, Rory (Nabhaan Rizwan), they tracked down the star-crossed lovers leading them to a woman named Jennifer Stirling.

Back in mid-1960s, Mrs. Stirling is a wealthy socialite who got herself into an illicit affair with the journalist Anthony O’Hare (Callum Turner). Besides spending time together while Mrs. Stirling’s frosty husband is away, the two exchange love letters. But even though they loved each other, she was afraid to run away with him. Then one day, Mrs. Stirling was caught in a car accident giving her partial amnesia.

Blood Red Sky

In this German thriller, an ill mother reveals her horrible secret to protect her child against terrorists who hijacked their transatlantic aircraft.

Not long after Nadja (Peri Baumeister), a widow suffering from leukemia boarded the Transatlantic Aircraft 473 with her son, Elias (Carl Anton Koch), a group of men seized control of the plane forcing everyone to remain still until a ransom was paid.

However, when the terrorist group starts to get violent towards her son and the distraught passengers, Nadja is left with no choice but to unleash her supernatural secret.

Wild Little Love

He was a poor boy. She was a rich girl. Can love blossoms between them?

Teen stars Andrea Brillantes and Seth Fedelin leave their marks as the up and coming loveteam to look out for.

“Wild Little Love” follows the story of Sam (Andrea Brillantes), a wild child from a prestigious academy. Despite her popularity and beauty, she is a renown prankster and bully.

One day, her father, Luis (Alfred Vargas), decided to discipline his daughter by sending her to a public school. The deal is simple. She only needs to stay for a year there. And if she shows signs of humility, she can go back to her old life.

However, it won’t be easy. Not for a certified rich girl like her.

Good for her that the poor yet hard working ladies man, Jake (Seth Fedelin), is there to help her adjust to the new world.

It is a classic rich girl meets poor boy affair. And like any great love stories, their love is forbidden as their world cannot meet.

Steal

Bona Fajardo’s formulaic and quirky caper follows a trio of brave Filipinas in an impossible mission to steal cash from a dangerous crime lord.

Three Filipinas bond over their dilemmas and needs to earn cash in the city of Kitakyushu in Fukuoka, Japan.

Hiyasmin Macaraig (Meg Imperial) is saving for the kidney transplant of his father. So she works on different odd jobs, after the restaurant she works in decided to close.

Cynthia Mae Valdes or CM (Ella Cruz) provides for her jobless live-in partner and their kid. She is an English tutor coming to Japan, but she now works as a bartender.

Mitch Sarmiento (Jennifer Lee) is a bright student from Kitakyushu. However, she developed an addiction to Pachinko due to the stress of studying. She is now trying to pay back the hundreds of Yen she owes to the loan shark, Ayumi.

After helping a woman named Platinum (Nathalie Hart) fight off her abusive but rich husband, the three girls decided to join her intention for revenge.

The plan is to steal a bag full of cash inside a billiards place. At first, they are hesitant. Going against a notorious crime lord could potentially kill them.

But their determination for freedom and for family weighs more than fear of death or capture.

Yes Day

Miguel Arteta’s latest Netflix film is a family comedy about a mom and dad who decided to say yes to their kids’ wildest requests.

Saying yes to everything is the theme of Carlos and Allison's relationship. That is why their lives are always fun and exciting.

But when the two married and got three kids, everything changed.

Katie, Nando, and Ellie are as adventurous as they were back in the days. However, as parents, they feel like they need to say ‘no’ to protect their innocent little children. They don’t want to be mean; it is their weird way of saying that they love them. It’s called parenting, by the way.

But It turns out the kids are taking the whole ‘no’ thing negatively.  In a parent-teacher conference, Katie’s teacher reads her haiku about a prisoner in a birdcage. Whereas Nando’s teacher presented a film montage portraying Allison as a controlling dictator. 

Things are quickly going out-of-hand, and they don’t know what to do about it.

So one school employee, who is a father of six, shares his solution – ‘Yes Day’. It means that they will say ‘yes’ to every request their children ask within 24 hours. It is the perfect fix to their problem, one fun day everyone will enjoy. That will show them, right? 

Below Zero

Lluís Quílez has Javier Gutiérrez stuck in the middle of nowhere with a group of prisoners in this thriller from Netflix.

Police officer Martin (Javier Gutiérrez) got transferred to a new precinct. His assignment will be to transport a group of criminals through a cold Winter night.

Joining him is Montesinos (Isak Férriz). Unlike Martin, who likes and respects rules. Montesinos is an unruly cop who seems to enjoy butting heads with the prisoners.

Driving through the snow-filled road, Montesinos decided to take a shortcut. Not knowing that a man (Karra Elejalde), with deadly intent, awaits their arrival there.

It turns out that the man wants one of the prisoners. So he sabotages the vehicle, shooting down Montesinos in the process. 

Martin is now all alone, stuck in a van in the middle of nowhere. Outside is a guy who wants to kill them. Behind his truck is a group of criminals looking to escape. 

Martin must find a way to get help before it is too late.

Outside the Wire

An android Anthony Mackie enlists the help of Damson Idris to save the world in this action-pack feature.

Lt. Thomas Harp (Idris) is a drone pilot punished for killing 2 Marines by disobeying direct orders. In his defense, he saved the 38 others by firing a missile at a suspected enemy launcher. His ability to "think outside the box" captured the attention of the strict and feared Capt. Leo (Mackie).

Captain Leo is an android slash super-soldier disguised as a normal human officer. He's on a mission to deliver vaccines to a refugee camp. But this assignment is a cover-up to a much bigger task. He plans to stop Victor Koval (Pilou Asbæk), a Russian terrorist, gain control of a network of nuclear missiles. And the inexperience Lt. Harp is the one he enlisted to be his partner.

Leo and Harp must now traverse the battle-damaged country to recover some nuclear codes. As they head deep into the mission. Harp begins to question the legitimacy of their task and who is the real enemy.

Finding Agnes

Marla Ancheta's debut film is a unique drama about two people looking to move on and to know their late mother.

For an entrepreneur like Virgilio "Brix" Romero (Jelson Bay), everything is all about profit. A lot of money means he can live life without worry. And who could blame him? He learned to live on his own. His mother, Agnes (Sandy Andolong), abandoned him at such an early age with no explanation, no letters. She just disappeared.

But after twenty-five years, she returned to explain her decision. Brix was surprised, of course, yet unsentimental. He has a lot of questions running in his mind, but he's in the middle of a business meeting. And business comes first. Agnes would suddenly pass away the next day due to a stroke, robbing Brix of the chance to reconnect to his mother.

In her last will, Agnes only wished for a few things. One, she wants to be cremated and buried in her beloved bed and breakfast café in Marrakesh, Morocco. Two, Brix will have and run the business. Three, her adoptive daughter, Cathy Duvera (Sue Ramirez), will have all of her personal belongings. And lastly, she wants Brix and Cathy to return a mother and child figurine to Regina Castor (Dexter Doria). 

Brix immediately traveled to the estranged land to fulfill his mother's requests. He got acquainted with Cathy, and together they they bicker and share stories of Agnes. In the end, they still went on a journey to know their mother more.

Marla Ancheta's debut film "Finding Agnes" is quite simple. It follows two lost people looking to move on but minus the melodrama. Expect no heavy scenes and tear-jerking confrontations. It just lets the viewers enjoy the emotional journey of Brix and his realizations about humility and respect towards the people that surround him. It's a sublime story of reform guided by a mother's everlasting love.

Despite it's heartwarming premise, "Finding Agnes" is not a perfect film. Jelson Bay looks awkward as a dramatic actor, and there is also a disconnection between the film's story and the way of telling that story. The film wants to explore the relationship between Brix and Agnes but, Ancheta settles on lengthy conversations between Brix and Cathy that most of the time ends in a laughable and shallow clashing of thoughts.

There is a lot of quiet and awkward moments in "Finding Agnes". Whether that is intentional or not, it ruined the overall mood of the film. Nevertheless, Ancheta's film has a certain charm in it that makes it work, and it's all thanks to Sue Ramirez, who proves to be quite a star. Unfortunately, that is not enough to make the film at least memorable.

1.5/5