‘Hold Me Close’ squanders its potential to explore the intersection of fate and personal choice, leaving audiences with surface-level concepts and underdeveloped characters.

‘The Kingdom’ never provides a satisfying answer to what the Philippines would be like if it was uncolonized. What we end up here is a film that inspires the imagination, but would rather settle for a world that is a mere reflection of our own.

2024's Pandayang Lino Brocka delves into this year's theme, "Lupang Sinira," shedding light on the struggles of marginalized communities. From workers to fisherfolk, the finalists — spanning narratives, documentaries, experimental, and animated shorts highlight various sectors' socioeconomic challenges and injustices.

‘Espantaho’ showcases a realistic terror that is ever-present in Philippine cinema: the melodramatic dread of familial complications. Though, that ends up being the scariest part of the film even when pit against a supernatural entity. 

Puso pa rin ng teatro ang tumitibok sa ‘Isang Himala.’ Sa kabila ng mga pagbabagong matapang nitong sinuong, nananatiling maingat, makatwiran, at makabuluhan ang muli nitong paglalathala ng kwento ng Cupang.

 ‘And the Breadwinner Is…’ is the typical family drama that Filipinos love. It has plenty of moments that will break your heart and build you back up.

‘Green Bones’ reminds us to never lose hope, even in the face of uncertainty, to strive to be good people, and to ultimately live a good life whenever we can.

‘Strange Frequencies: Taiwan Killer Hospital’ offers a new perspective to cater to the field of horror films with clever characterization tactics and technical modernization.

‘Uninvited’ delivers a high-stakes journey of vengeance, powered by stellar performances but falls short of fully exploring the complexities of its subject matter.

Arjo Atayde’s haunted, steely stoicism is an adequate anchor to hold ‘Topakk’ on. There are plenty of fist-pumping viscera to be found, but the film’s lack of grasp on its chaos hurts it more often than not.

‘My Future You’ plays with space and time but the love between its characters is no more than the cute moments in the film. The film is an entry to the 50th Metro Manila Film Festival.

‘The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim’ goes under the same pitfalls as the other prequels: insufficient characterization, reappearance of popular figures that serve little purpose, and overreliance on spectacle over character.

‘The Lion King’ prequel shows Mufasa’s rise to power. It successfully pays tribute to its precursor film and is unhindered by the live-action remake Disney trend fatigue.

Firmly planted in the lives of three Mumbai nurses in the lower-income part of the city, ‘All We Imagine as Light’ gently claims its place as one of the century’s most romantic films asserting that third world romances are worthy of the big screen.

‘Shahid’ is docu-fiction in feeble form, one that unfortunately limits itself to the prosaic presentations of symbols and signs, and so the film ends rather unfinished and unmoving, on a pulpit on its own. 

‘Room in a Crowd’ utilizes what is essentially a collective scattering of fragmented thoughts and musings to deliver an incredibly ethereal experience.

‘Lost Sabungeros’ suggests through interviews with insider whistleblowers that the criminal mastermind behind the violent disappearances within the e-sabong industry is the notorious gambling tycoon, Charlie “Atong” Ang.

Khavn’s new film, ‘Makamisa: Phantasm of Revenge,’ about the fragments of Jose Rizal’s work, is shot on expired film. It’s an acknowledgment of the faded, collective memory that plagues pre-war Filipino film history.

‘Gladiator II’ serves its purpose by harkening back to what made the first film resonate, with a story fueled by familiar tropes of vengeance, redemption, and an expected underdog narrative.

 Across genres ranging from heartfelt drama to biting satire, the longing for acceptance, and the weight of class struggles, these local shorts continue to prove that QCinema is a lighthouse for talent and razor-sharp reflections of the national condition.