Quezon ('25 Jerrold Tarog): Spells things out a little too much for me, but it's otherwise a really entertaining dissection of a very flawed man.

No Other Choice ('25 Park Chan-wook): Painfully funny. A really smart dissection of the cutthroat nature of Capitalism.

Stuff I wrote on Letterboxd about the Cinemalaya films letterboxd.com/philbertdy/t...

Paglilitis ('25 Cheska Marfori): Mostly a bummer, on several levels.

Here's the first chunk of my reviews for this year's Cinemalaya. www.spot.ph/entertainmen...

Republika ng Pipolipinas ('25 Renei Dimla): A touch overlong, but I'd still die for President Cora.

Bloom Where You are Planted ('25 Noni Abao): A great, truly moving documentary. Fully expect that the MTRCB is going to give it an X.

Raging ('25 Ryan Machado): Easy to acknowledge its considerable merits. I wish it pushed further.

Open Endings ('25 Nigel Santos): Slowly fills a sapphic powder keg, then eventually lights a match.

Cinemartyrs ('25 Sari Dalena): Not convinced that fully worked, but you have to appreciate the absolutely bonkers attempt.

Child No 82 ('25 Tim Rone Villanueva): The plot doesn't really work moment to moment, but it's fun.

Padamlagan ('25 Jenn Romano): Very well composed, though it felt slight.

Warla ('25 Kevin Z. Alambra): Its best bits reminded me of Eduardo Roy Jr. Wish it had more structure, though.

Habang Nilalamon ng Hydra ang Kasaysayan ('25 Dustin Celestino): An interesting reckoning, even if it gets painfully literal at times.

The Smashing Machine ('25 Benny Safdie): A strong, very human portrait of the totally insane world of professional fighting.

Selda Tres ('25 GB Sampedro): Kind of insane? Could have a been a serious examination of the deficiencies of the Philippine legal system, but ends up being a comedy that's so much about a crush that goes nowhere.

Minamahal: 100 Bulaklak Para Kay Luna ('25 Jason Paul Laxamana): It's mostly a nothing burger. I think there might be something to this Ashtine Olviga, though.

Altar Boy ('21 Serville Poblete): Sweet enough by the end. There's a lot of it we've seen before, though.

Jeongbu ('25 Topel Lee): Gets kind of interesting in the last stretch, but it's far too late by then. Suffers from trying too hard to hide an obvious twist.

Madawag and Landas Pantungong Pag-Asa ('25 Joel Lamangan): Means well, I suppose, but it doesn't add up to anything.

Some thoughts on Paul Thomas Anderson's tremendous "One Battle After Another" boxd.it/ba4dSB

One Battle After Another ('25 Paul Thomas Anderson): Gigantic. Anderson reminds us that he's one of the best to ever do it.

Some thoughts on 'Kontrabida Academy' boxd.it/b5VJmj

Wrote a little something about the remastered Honor Thy Father: boxd.it/b5opBd

Honor Thy Father Remastered ('25 Erik Matti): An already great film made even greater.

My review of 'Magellan' for Spot www.spot.ph/entertainmen...

Some thoughts on '100 Awit Para Kay Stella' boxd.it/oRIi

100 Awit Para Kay Stella ('25 Jason Paul Laxamana): For a movie ostensibly about growth, there isn't a lot of growth exhibited.

I have written up something about my absurd experience attending the premiere of John Shaw: Nuclear Winter boxd.it/b1cLy1

This is apparently opening this week? A full AI slop action movie www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzzz...

Some Nights I Feel Like Walking ('24 Petersen Vargas): Yeah that's pretty fucking impressive.

Mudrasta: Ang Beking Ina ('25 Julius Ruslin Alfonso): Putting aside how not great it is that someone convicted of graft is starring in a movie, this still sucks pretty bad.

Food Delivery: Fresh from the West Philippine Sea ('25 Baby Ruth Villarama): Lots of great footage that makes what might feel like a distant issue very, very real.

Wild Boys ('25 Carlos Morales): Unwatchable.

Meg & Ryan ('25 Cathy Camarillo): Had me actively booing at the screen.

Freakier Friday ('25 Nisha Ganatra): Mainly an unserious lark, but it's effectively sweet at the right moments.

An excerpt from my piece about the making of 'Quezon' in the latest issue of Rolling Stone Philippines rollingstonephilippines.com/the-rolling-...

Weapons ('25 Zach Cregger): Is several different kinds of movie, all of them pretty well done.

I think if I ever find myself having to explain what semiotics is, I'm just going to show people a bunch of wrestling entrances.

Materialists ('25 Celine Song): Unfortunately has to suffer under the crushing weight of being compared to her previous film. It's nice, but not achingly transcendent.

Wrote something about James Gunn's Superman: boxd.it/agAg6Z

Jurassic World: Rebirth ('25 Gareth Edwards): The longer this franchise goes, the less any of this makes sense.

Some words about Antoinette Jadaone's 'Sunshine' boxd.it/ab296F

Sunshine ('24 Antoinette Jadaone): Yes.

F1 ('25 Joseph Kosinski): Hilariously, it's kind of just a remake of Top Gun: Maverick, but with race cars. This is not a bad thing, though.

Only We Know ('25 Irene Villamor): An oddly tender existentialist drama. Would've liked this to go a step further, but it's beautiful all in all.

Cheat Day ('25 Jose Javier Reyes): WTF?

Any new law addressing the MTRCB should be about limiting its powers, not expanding them. It is a mistake that the board exists as all.

Karate Kid Legends ('25 Jonathan Entwistle): Strains quite a bit to bring its elements together. Ben Wang is good, though.

Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning ('25 Christopher McQuarrie): AI villain still doesn't work. Tom Cruise is still nuts, though.