Movie Review: Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania

 

2023 heralds the beginning of a new phase for the Marvel Cinematic Universe - with Phase 5 officially beginning with the release of the first Marvel Studios film of the year in "Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania". Much like its size-changing protagonists and heroes, a lot of hype and expectation has been riding on this sequel to 2015's Ant-Man and its 2018 sequel Ant-Man and The Wasp - because it not only continues the story of Scott Lang and the Pym family, but also marks the introduction of the villain who literally is the big bad threat of The Multiverse Saga in Kang The Conqueror!

Thanks to the folks at SM Cinemas as well as Walt Disney Studios PH, Marvel Philippines, and Stratworks, I was able to catch the special advance screening of Quantumania on IMAX - and on Valentine's Day no less! You can check out the highlights and coverage on the video below just before we jump into the review! 

Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania IMAX Premiere on Valentine’s Day! (Feb. 14, 2023)

Now that the film's out in cinemas, here's my review for Quantumania! SPOILER ALERT so read at your own risk!

Movie Review: Knock At The Cabin

 

It's been years since I've seen an M. Night Shyamalan movie in the big screen, and an even longer time since I enjoyed one of his presentations. Majority of his films have focused on the supernatural, unknown, and bizarre - things that remind you of Stephen King stories or even tales from the Twilight Zone, and that is the filmmakers and actor's strength when he sets his mind to a project and executes it flawlessly.

I'm happy to say the director is back to form with his latest outing in "Knock At The Cabin" - an apocalyptic psychological horror film that is based on the 2018 novel "The Cabin at the End of the World" that was written by Paul G. Tremblay. Featuring a pretty good set of talents that includes pro-wrestler turned actor Dave Bautista and former Harry Potter series star Rupert Grint, the movie focuses on a group of strangers who gather together and take hostage a family of three vacationing in a remote cabin in the woods. There they are given a choice to make the ultimate sacrifice between the three of them to avert the apocalypse or doom the entire world if they choose not to.

The Last Of Us Pilot Episode Review: A Near Flawless Translation

 

Poster courtesy of HBO

Making live-action adaptations of video game properties can be a tricky experience. Sometimes translating what comes from an interactive medium and bringing it either to the big or small screens will require some necessary tweaking and changes in order to make things fit that specific medium or format, and often times it can lead to output that is either half-baked or far detached from the source material itself.

I'm happy to say that HBO's The Last Of Us is neither of that, and it is a new flawless translation of the source material that is FAR BETTER than anyone could have expected from a TV show based on one of the most riveting and emotional video games to ever come out in the past decade,

Thanks to HBO Asia I was able to catch the very first episode of this live-action series adaptation of Naughty Dog and PlayStation's hit survival adventure franchise, and by far I can honestly say from the get go that it's a MUST WATCH - anyone who has played the games or is just starting out with this story needs to get on the bandwagon and enjoy what will undeniably be one of 2023's best shows to come to television. As someone who has been a fan and has played both the 2013 game and its 2020 sequel, everything was very faithful to the games and a whole lot more. Find out why after the jump with my review, and naturally here's your SPOILER WARNING if you want to catch this story with a fresh outlook.