Martyred
By Noel Vera
Video Review
Martyrs
Directed by Pascal Laugier
(Warning: plot and narrative twists discussed in explicit detail)
PASCAL LAUGIER’s 2008 horror film Martyrs deserves respect for taking...
A game for both brains and brawn
VIDEO GAME REVIEW
Yakuza Kiwami
PlayStation 4
By Alexander O. Cuaycong and Anthony L. Cuaycong
EVEN FOR THOSE familiar with the Yakuza franchise, Yakuza Kiwami can come as a...
Ignition
By Noel Vera
Television
Twin Peaks
Premiere Part 1-8
July 9, 1:30 p.m.
(WARNING story to be discussed in detail -- though how comprehensible the details may be is...
A fantastically fun title
By Alexander O. Cuaycong
and Anthony L. Cuaycong
Videogame Review
Prey
PlayStation 4
IN 2006, Human Head Studios released Prey, a run-and-gun shooter, for the PC and XBox...
Better Call Saul Season 2: Jimmy tries to think inside the box, kicks through...
The Binge
Jessica Zafra
ONE OF THE THINGS we loved about Breaking Bad was its sheer nerdiness. By nerdiness I mean a laser-focused expertise that manifests...
Know when to hold ’em, know when to fold ’em
By Alexander O. Cuaycong and Anthony L. Cuaycong
THERE are a slew of popular free-to-play online card games currently out to tickle the fancy of...
Drive
By Noel Vera
JAFAR PANAHI’S Taxi would be remarkable just for existing — it’s the third feature the filmmaker has done since the Iranian government...
Joan Baez returns to peace theme in first album in decade
NEW YORK — Folk legend Joan Baez last week announced her first album in a decade, a collection of covers that returns to her...
A flawed masterpiece
By Alexander O. Cuaycong
THERE’S SOMETHING to be said about StarCraft. This real-time strategy game was released by Blizzard in March 1998 to critical acclaim,...
Empire, Sleepy Hollow, Midsomer and more now out on video
THE COMPLETE first season of the hit Fox TV drama series Empire is now available on Blu-ray and DVD. Set within the world of...
The payoff is nothing short of sensational
HAPPY BIRTHDAYS is nothing if not peculiar off the bat. And it wears its strangeness proudly, assured of its capacity to unveil a masterpiece from an empty canvas by handing you the brush. As a truly sweeping god game from the mind of Harvest Moon creator Yasuhiro Wada, it melds its ambition with seemingly simple presentations; the visuals are colorful, if childlike, and accompanied by soothing keyboard acoustics, but its demands are such that a 20-minute tutorial is required for you to get going, and much longer after to experience comfort and confidence in what you’re doing. Once you get the hang of it, however, the payoff is nothing short of sensational.
YA novelist Jennifer Niven makes fans cry
By Camille Anne M. Arcilla
WHEN YOUNG ADULT novelist Jennifer Niven went to the Philippines, she cried as much as her Filipino fans did when...