Joker
THE FILM follows clown-for-hire Arthur Fleck who struggles to find his way in Gotham’s fractured society. Fleck aspires to be a stand-up comic but things are not working out. One bad decision leads to a chain reaction in this story on Batman’s arch nemesis. Directed by Todd Phillips, the film stars Joaquin Phoenix, Robert De Niro, Zazie Beetz, Frances Conroy, Bill Camp, and Brett Cullen. The Rolling Stone’s Peter Travers writes, “For Phoenix, the challenge is blending Joker’s manic hilarity without shortchanging the clinical depression and Tourette’s-like outbursts that never let up on Arthur’s psyche. How much of the movie is real or in Arthur’s head is up to each viewer. You may laugh with and at this transfixing character, but you can’t laugh him off.” This Joker has earned a “fresh” score of 73% on the Rotten Tomatoes review aggregate site.
MTRCB Rating: R-16
Abominable
YI AND her two friends embark on a journey to reunite a magical Yeti with his family before a wealthy financier and some zoologists capture the beast for themselves. Directed by Jill Culton and Todd Wilderman, this animated film features the voices of Sarah Paulson, Albert Tsai, and Chloe Bennet. The Wall Street Journal’s Joe Morgenstern writes, “Original storytelling isn’t the production’s strong suit. Neither is narrative clarity; the journey across China becomes a choppy, repetitive chase. The beauty of the film lies in its vivid colors and tumbling images of rural vastness, riparian grace, streams populated by legions of koi, resplendent Yellow Mountains and giant blueberries that explode like party balloons. It’s all much too much, and more than sufficient to make Abominable memorable.” Abominable has earned a “fresh” score of 81% on the Rotten Tomatoes review aggregate site.
MTRCB Rating: G
Warning: Do Not Play
A STRUGGLING film director risks her life digging into an urban legend about a film shot by a ghost. Written and directed by Jin-won Kim, it stars Ye-ji Seo, Seon-kyu Jin, and Bo-ra Kim. Review site Seongyong’s Private Place has this to say of the film: “If you are familiar with many recent South Korean horror films, you will probably not that surprised by what is presented during the climactic sequence, but you will not be disappointed at least. Sure, there are several predictable moments to jolt you, but the overall result is as tense and scary as expected, and then you will get amused by what follows after that.”
MTRCB Rating: R-13
Edward
EDWARD is stuck in a public hospital taking care of his ill father and waiting for assistance from his older half-brother. While there, he treats the hospital as a playground unaware of his source of liberation. This 2019 Cinemalaya entry (it won a Special Jury Prize, Best Production Design, and Best Supporting Actress Award for Ella Cruz) is directed by Toph Nazareno, it stars Louise Abuel, Dido dela Paz, and Ella Cruz. BusinessWorld’s Menchu Aquino Sarmiento wrote: “From these depths, Edward achieves the magnitude of Greek tragedy and (Steven) Spielbergian transcendency.”
MTRCB Rating: R-13
Ang Henerasyong Sumuko sa Love
THE FILM centers on a group of friends who are the living stereotypes of young adults today when it comes to career, relationships, and life goals. Directed by Jason Paul Laxamana, it stars Tony Labrusca, Jane Oineza, and Jerome Ponce.
MTRCB Rating: PG
