acid reflects reviews

Remastering Mattel’s Cinematic He-Maniverse

June 3, 2026
After the massive critical and boxoffice success of Barbie in 2023, Mattel is determined to turn more of its billions in toy money into real boxoffice gold. Masters of the Universe is the first presentation under Mattel Studios, and demmit, it’s another winner.

At the heart of this universe is a fusion of fun, action-oriented fantasy and comedy just like the 1980s cartoon . It embraces camp and celebrates nostalgia just as it speaks the language of today.

Several factors were at work here to make this version more satisfying than the 1987 Golan-Globus production featuring Dolph Lundgren.

First, a character-driven story from actor-writer Chris Butler that acknowledges the source material is an irreverent children’s cartoon made to sell action figures. Next, director Travis Knight (of the Academy-nominated Kubo and the Two Strings) keeps the movie highly watchable by peppering it with self-awareness and colorful goofiness. As Prince Adam and He-Man, Nicholas Galitzine pivots from mushy to muscular. He comfortably carries the film, though tbf the script demands little dramatic weight. Visually, the world-building of Eternia looked like it was a cross between Avatar, Dungeons & Dragons and a little bit of Rey-era Star Wars. Did the film hit all the marketing points aimed at the target young boys demographic? It sure feels like it.
Jared Leto stars as ‘Skeletor’ in MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE.
Camila Mendes stars as ‘Teela’ in MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE.
Alison Brie stars as ‘Evil-Lyn’ in MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE.
Sam C Wilson stars as Trap Jaw in MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE.
Day in and day out, Adam Glenn (Galitzine) thinks about nothing else but to find his missing sword so that he can return to his magical world, Eternia. That’s what he tells his roommate (Christian Vunipola), that’s his preoccupation at work in Human Resources, that’s what he tells his dates. A world where magic happens, talking animals and brave warriors. However, his HR manager, Suzie (Sasheer Zamata), dismisses it as an unhealthy, nerdy fixation, while others simply think he’s crazy.

an anonymous text tips him off: someone found his sword. It sits inside a comic book store, gripped by the statue of Vikor (a nod to the origins of He-Man.) The physically clumsy Adam snatches it and flees, only for police to arrest him at his home the next day. Poor Adam just wants to go home. While physical comedy may not be Galitzine’s strongest suit, the role successfully utilizes his ability to play a clumsy, gentle giant.

En route to the police station, a giant Beast Man (voiced by Gary Martin) wreaks havoc on the freeway, hunting for the sword still in Adam’s possession. Teela (Camila Mendes) springs from nowhere to rescue Adam, whisking him away to Eternia. There, Teela explains that the planet has deteriorated in his absence. The evil Skeletor (Jared Leto) has devastated the world, and he now covets the Sword of Power to rule their side of the universe.

Teela takes Adam to an underground city, where he is reunited with the warriors of the royal palace who naturally don’t recognize him. He also runs into a drunken Duncan (Idris Elba), the former Man-At-Arms general who trained Adam during his childhood.

Unfortunately, Skeletor’s minions, led by a scene-stealing Trap Jaw (Sam C. Wilson), track them down. The ensuing escape forces Adam to wield the sword and utter the magical phrase, transforming him into the warrior hero He-Man. The sequence mirrors an anime “magical girl” transformation, complete with blinding light, body morphing, and costume assembly, all punctuated by a POV shot of Adam admiring his new, glorious abs. Suddenly, he possesses fantastic fighting coordination and total invulnerability to guns and swords.

A few more action set pieces through Eternia’s rainbow-colored forest as well as in Skeletor’s lair Snake Mountain, Adam is subdued after an emotional reunion with this father Randor, the former King of Eternia (James Purefoy.) Skeletor takes the sword of power, but it won’t work for him uness he takes it to Castle Grayskull, says Evil-Lyn (hamming it way up Alison Brie). Luckily, Leto understood the assignment, and gave us the insult-spewing goofy Skeletor minus the squeaky voice.

Thanks to his HR training, Adam rouses the rest of the captives and heroes to escape the dungeons, and the heroes finally make a last effort to stop Skeletor. A rousing battle ensues, set to the rock n’ roll tune of “Eternia” by composer Daniel Pemberton, with electric guitars by the legendary Brian May of Queen. It’s so 1980s and WWE-coded. Speaking of coded, there’s tons of gay-coded double-entendres in the film that are mostly hilarious, parents be advised if your male child starts asking questions.

Two more ladies complete the cast, even though they are barely on screen. Charlotte Riley plays Adam’s mother Queen Marlena, and Morena Baccarin who plays the mysterious Sorceress of Castle Grayskull. The Sorceress guided Adam to his destiny, while Queen Marlena was responsible for hiding Adam on Earth. As fans of the cartoons already know, Marlena was an astronaut from Earth who got marooned in Eternia and eventually married the king.

In the end, we get a rousing, witty, colorful, and cartoonish piece of escapism that gladly, doesn’t bother to take real-world issues into its goofy world. And yes, the message about true power coming from within is welcome, given that the audience includes young, impressionable boys. A muscle-bound superhero speaking against machismo at at time when male supremacy is being preached by podcast bros and looksmaxxers. Didn’t expect any progressive ideas from an Amazon property, but here we are.

Remember, a true master of the universe can definitely make a spectacular comeback. Until we meet Adam and the rest of the gang again. (Which means, stay to the very end of the end credits.)

Masters of the Universe is out in cinemas now June 3rd.

Images and trailer from Columbia Pictures Philippines.

I saw this film in remembrance of my little nephew Jerome who was very fond of this show. It was his favorite. Jerome passed away a long time ago at the age of seven, during the lowest and most challenging times in our family. This one’s for you, Ogie. You absolutely would have enjoyed seeing this. Say hi to everyone up there in Eternia.
Guadagnino’s feverish Queer released in PH

June 2, 2026
My hyperacidity was exacerbated as I watched Daniel Craig down shot after shot of tequila in the first third of Luca Guadagnino’s 2024 romantic gay (gay romantic?) drama, Queer. Also I had a bad meal for dinner just before attending the screening. So maybe it was more of that than just the sight of bottles of liquor being downed.

Local mall chain Ayala Malls Cinemas will exclusively release Queer starting June 10 as its Pride month offering.

Queer premiered at the 2024 Venice Film Fest, and later released on streaming January of 2025. It’s very likely that the target audience has already seen this film one way or the other. The Ayala release is the actual commercial release in the Philippines.

Queer is the melancholic journey of a lonesome middle-aged gay man who discovers deep companionship with a young man who himself has yet to acknowledge his own identity.

The story is laid out in three chapters and an epilogue. It is slow and languid, as the story isn’t plot-driven. At times the chapterstops felt like sour reminders that the film was from its conclusion.

It is the 1950s and US writer William Lee (Craig) spends his hot, humid afternoons and nights downing shots of tequila along a small strip of bars in Mexico City. Occasionally he would interact with a few other US American immigrants in Ship Ahoy, the bar managed by his friend and fellow queer Joe (a plumped-up Jason Schwartzman), Sometimes Lee strolls along the shady street, cruising at one of the bars for a quick, noncommittal encounter.

Until one night when Lee chances upon ex-soldier Eugene Allerton (Drew Starkey) just casually passing by. The slow-mo scene anachronistically tuned to Nirvana’s Come As You Are. Lee is instantly smitten by the archetypal mysterious young man (excuse me sir, your jaw is on the floor). From that time onwards, Lee would seek ways to encounter or chat with Eugene in the streets or in the bars – anything to grab the attention of the lean, tall, and young ex-soldier.
The two eventually reach a certain comfortable friendship, but it is obvious that Lee wants more than just a drinking companion. At times Lee displays some unease whenever Eugene is with Mary (Andra Ursu), making Lee unsure of Eugene’s sexuality. His fixation towards Eugene is like an intense addiction. He’s normal when they’re around each other’s company, but is in some form of withdrawal when they’re not.

Lee convinces Eugene to accompany him down to South America. In truth, Lee’s quest to find a certain hallucinogenic root crop is less about telepathy and more about finding certainty in his life. For most of their travels, Lee is sick and tended by Eugene. At this point Lee’s additction with opiates is revealed. A local doctor recognizes the symptoms, and prescribes Lee a small dose with hesitation.

Deep in the jungles of Ecuador, the duo find off-the-grid healer Doctor Cotter (Leslie Mansfield) who knows about the hallucinogen that Lee is looking for. A few nights later, Cotter reveals to Lee that he has been surrounded by the elusive root crop all along. That night, the quartet (Lee, Eugene, Cotter and her partner) partake of the boiled hallucinogen. As the trippy effects kick in, the universe opens up to Lee but not to Eugene, who declares that he isn’t queer despite everything that has happened to them. Still in the trippy dream, Lee is furious but can’t do anything about it. They do a dance like a theater dance, making awkward poses of their bodies. Later that night after the effects have worn off, Eugene is obviously distant towards Lee, telling him to sleep it off.

The following day before heading back to Mexico, Cotter tells Eugene that a door has already opened, but Eugene is ambiguous. In the jungle, Lee loses Eugene, implying that they have parted ways, never to see each other again.

The last act of Queer is a mixed bag. Two years later, Lee is back in the strip in Mexico and finds Joe still managing Ship Ahoy. Joe tells Lee that he overheard somewhere that just months before, Eugene accompanied a military colonel as a tour guide.

After this is a bizaare poetic sequence in a dollhouse. Lea takes a peek into his past, longing for that life before meeting Eugene. His desire for Eugene has become such a burden that he would be glad to end it (the gun). And yet he still weep about it (the snake in an infinity loop). In the final moments of this dream, Lee, aged and alone in a room, shakes uncontrollably cold on a bed. Even Eugene’s imaginary legs can’t warm Lee’s shaking. It’s quite sad, though reminiscent of the old couple’s last moments in James Cameron’s Titanic.

I’ve never read the sort of autobiographical novel by William S. Borroughs, so I don’t know and can’t compare especially the many metaphorical dream sequences in the film, what was kept and what was left out from the screenplay by Justin Kuritzkes. For a more in-depth discussion of the film’s ending, Time Magazine came up with a fantastic breakdown here.

Despite the gorgeous cinematography by Sayombhu Mukdeeprom and the amazing miniatures by the art department, some shots would look like they passed through generative AI (with all due respect to the artists, I do not wish to insult them this way, it’s just that since the film’s release in 2024, AI “filmmaking” has flooded social media with slop derived from legitimate works that they now look fairly similar). It’s an unfortunate result of all these AI “movie” products.

Craig is fabulous as the queer Lee. He looks comfortable playing a gay character, having performed similar work previously in a London stage adaptation of Angels in America, as well as playing the flamboyant Benoit Blanc in Netflix’s Knives Out series of films. One can feel the stickiness of Lee’s profuse sweating as persistent and intense has his pain and longing for any reciprocation from Eugene. And the love scenes were deftly portrayed.

In contast, Eugene remains a cypher throughout. He is a symbol of the unattainable who never reveals his intentions nor his true self. He denies being gay to the end. Eugene the character feels underwritten, but like I said, I can’t be sure how similar or different he is from the book. Starkey didn’t have much to work on but is sufficient. Just like Lee, one wonders if there was more to Eugene than meets the eye.

Guadagnino seems to like telling these gay romances especially after Call Me By Your Name and the bisexually charged Challengers. But he has since Queer directed the unsatisfying After The Hunt, which also struggled with tedious storytelling. Queer is great when it’s only about Lee, but struggles narratively when trying to figure out who and what Eugene is. There is theatricality from the way scenes are composed to the way actors are framed or blocked. The miniature settings add to the air of artifice. We’re told that the place is in Mexico or Ecuador, but they could very well have been in the back lot of a studio. I’m not sure if Guadagnino was going for the 1950s Hollywood studio aesthetic (he probably was) since the story is set in that era.

Speaking of eras, crazy to think that a typical writer back then can survive drinking his way every night and have some money left for travel for work.

But I do get Lee’s pain. I could feel Lee’s longing and loneliness, as a middle aged person living by himself. And the prospect of passing alone and aged in a small room is almost a reality not just for me but many in this age of living alone.

In the end, it’s a tale that has been told many times over, because many gay men still grow old alone.

Queer is exclusively in Ayala Malls Cinemas June 10th. Images from Ayala Malls Cinemas.
Billie Eilish concert hard, movie soft

May 8, 2026
Can a Gen X reviewer enjoy a Gen Z screening of a Billie Eilish concert?

Everything that would usually annoy a reviewer in a screening happened at this premiere. And yet, I enjoyed the experience overall. Let me explain.

Billie Eilish – Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour (Live in 3D) is a colorful concert movie filmed during the UK and US legs of the musician’s tour last year, featuring songs from the titular album and her previous EPs.

Naturally, the screening was a delight to Eilish’s fans, especially her Gen Z batchmates. I, however, am technically not a fan (and definitely not Gen Z), but I did know several songs of hers prior to seeing the show, which were not Birds of a Feather.

This is not a biopic, nor is it a documentary. Occasionally, the concert is intercut with nonlinear behind-the-scenes footage following Eilish prior to the show, and then some time after.

Constructing-Deconstructing

It begins with a fast time-lapse of the stage’s construction and ends with a time-lapse of its deconstruction. I’m not sure if this is the first time I’ve seen timelapse rendered in 3D, but it does look mesmerizing. The first song is Chihiro, a song about being unseen in a relationship and named after the main character in the Ghibli animation Spirited Away. It’s a smooth set without much fanfare on stage, a good opening for what woud generally describe the entire show.

I can’t make a rundown of the set list. I’m not that familiar with her discography. Suffice it to say that tracks from the album Hit Me Hard and Soft were mostly there. Lunch, Wildflower, Bittersuite, and the powerful The Greatest. The stage, like her instrumentations, is minimal, lit in monocolor per song.

However, songs from outside this album had a stronger impact on me, in terms of mixing up her genres and instrumentations. She explains that hip-hop is one of her main influences. From the midtempo There’s NDA/ Therefore I am, to the surging Happier Than Ever, to the acoustic Your Power, to the electropop Oxytocin. I particularly enjoyed the set on Bad Guy. So did the audience at the screening, who frequently rushed to the orchestra section of the theater to mosh pit at the base of the screen.
GenX in a GenZ cine concert
Eilish fans didn’t hesitate
Of course, there are the show stoppers like the meme-theme What Was I Made For? and her breakout single Ocean Eyes. Those deserved applause, even if it was a film screening of a concert. Eilish has this strong emotional connection with her fans, which she talks about in one segment, how important they are to her. Her music – vibey, moody, most of the time lilting in mezzo-soprano or breathy falsetto – speak of complex, multilayered emotions that Eilish translates through lyric and vocals.

The show ended with her most massive hit, Birds of a Feather, confetti show, and all.

3D or not 3D, Cameron or not Cameron

While the show was envisioned by Eilish from the start, it is a collaboration with blockbuster director James Cameron. Honestly, I don’t know how much James Cameron, the director, contributed to this movie, since he did admit in one scene that it is a Billie show. Cameron is credited as a co-editor of the film; maybe behind-the-scenes footage that humanized Billie in terms of what she thinks about her music or how she dresses (or not dresses) up, and what her fans mean to her, was Cameron’s idea. I’m not sure if showing the film in 3D added to the immersion, certainly seeing Billie up close using tiny hand-held cameras on- and under- stage already provided that immersive cinematic experience. Maybe the 3D helped.

Billie does mention that her brother and frequent collaborator Finneas is missing from the show. Apparently, this is because during the tour, Finneas was busy building up his own career. But he does appear in the concert towards the end, and the siblings perform a couple of songs.

Sit down or Stand up?

What did I find annoying at the screening? For starters, the constant intercut to show audience reaction during the first three songs. It kind of makes sense later on, when Billie is explaining this relationship she intends to keep with her fans. And when some fans are given screen time to share their love of Billie and her songs. But it really was so jarring to me, because in a concert, you don’t pay to watch the audience. But since this is also a film, reaction shots are normal. IT was confusing at the beginning.

Apart from this thing about intercuts to the audience, my screening’s audience danced at what was the orchestra, used their phones, used the flash lights of their phones, and talked loudly even while Billie was talking at her concert or during the documentary intercut portions. Barely heard her speak. As a movie, it was a terrible experience.

The 360º stage isn’t a new thing, either. I have seen a better 360 staging most recently in TWICE’s This Is For concert in Bulacan (north of Manila, Philippines.) But the point of conducting Eilish’s show in 360º has the same philosophy explained by Twice: to move them physically closer to the fans. And that was evidently effective from the many audience reaction shots of the lucky ones in VIP Standing.

Gen Z show

But this GenZ energy to just go and sing along and dance in front of the screen was so refreshing, more than annoying reminded me that it was mainly a concert, the closest thing to an actual concert of an artist who, for many reasons, cannot physically hold a show in this city at this moment. Of course, the fans will sing and dance inside the theater. Of course, the fans will jump, shout, or cry.

At some point, it was no longer a film screening, and the reviewer in me just went with the flow. That was definitely a vibe to experience. A concert featuring Billie Eilish’s soothing vocals was made more intimate by the immersive cinematic presentation.

The movie will get a B-. The concert gets a B. The experience was an A.

Billie Eilish – Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour (Live in 3D is out now exclusively in SM Cinemas (tickets here), presented by Paramount Pictures.

Link and thumbnail courtesy of Paramount Pictures.
Wool and remembrance

May 3, 2026
It’s a marvel that this unassuming film about a flock of sleuthing sheep exudes so much more wisdom and real-world smarts than the trailer suggests. In other words, it’s smarter than it looks.

It is widely accepted that among farm animals, sheep are not the sharpest. That’s why we call people who mindlessly follow, sheep. In this film, sheep almost instantly forget anything (especially those attached to heavy emotions), never remembering them again. Rather than a wolf in sheep’s clothing, it’s sheep in sleuth’s clothing — The Sheep Detectives is pure fluffy charm and cuteness dressed up as Sherlock Holmes. Nothing baaaaad came of from it.

Three Bags Full

Author Leonie Swann’s 2005 novel, Three Bags Full: A Sheep Detective Story (original German title, “Glennkill: Ein Schafskrimi“), receives a Lion King-worthy realistic CGI adaptation featuring Hugh Jackman, Emma Thompson, and a pre-He-Man-bulked Nicholas Galitzine.

In the film, a flock of sheep figuratively butt heads to solve the mystery of their shepherd, George Hardy’s (Hugh Jackman) death. That really is the gist of the story, but, like many wise parables, it is how the sheep do it that makes it magical.
(L to R) Tommy Birchall as the voice of The Winter Lamb and Hugh Jackman as George Hardy in THE SHEEP DETECTIVES, from Amazon MGM Studios. Photo credit: Courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios © 2026 Amazon Content Services LLC. All Rights Reserved.
(L to R) Chris O’Dowd as the voice of Mopple and Julia-Louis Dreyfus as the voice of Lily in THE SHEEP DETECTIVES, from Amazon MGM Studios. Photo credit: Courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios © 2026 Amazon Content Services LLC. All Rights Reserved.
(L to R) Nicholas Braun stars as Officer Tim Derry, Molly Gordon as Rebecca Hampstead, Kobna Holbrook-Smith as Reverend Hillcoate, Hong Chau as Beth Pennock, Conleth Hill as Ham Gilyard and Tosin Cole as Caleb Merrow in THE SHEEP DETECTIVES, from Amazon MGM Studios. Photo credit: Alex Bailey © 2026 Amazon Content Services LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Nicholas Braun stars as Officer Tim Derry and Molly Gordon as Rebecca Hampstead in THE SHEEP DETECTIVES, from Amazon MGM Studios. Photo credit: Courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios © 2026 Amazon Content Services LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Emma Thompson stars as Lydia Harbottle in THE SHEEP DETECTIVES, from Amazon MGM Studios. Photo credit: Courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios © 2026 Amazon Content Services LLC. All Rights Reserved.
In the quiet town of Denbrook, somewhere in England’s rolling pastures, George Hardy lovingly tends to his small flock of sheep for their wool. He also loves sheep. Every sundown, before retiring for the day, George reads a chapter or two of a mystery novel to his loyal sheep. He doesn’t think they understand, but the sheep seem to like it, so George reads to them daily.

Until one morning, when the flock discovers George slumped in front of his wagon, lifeless.

Humans don’t turn into clouds?

The flock is puzzled that their kind herder hasn’t turned into a cloud. They don’t share the same ideas about death as humans. The neighbor, Caleb (Tosin Cole), finds George and calls the town’s lone policeman, Derry (Nicholas Braun), who decides that George passed away naturally.

The smartest of the sheep, Lily (voiced by Julia Louis-Dreyfus), suspects murder. She declares to the rest of the flock that it is up to them to solve the mystery of George’s passing. Using clues they learned from listening to all those mystery novels George read to them, Lily enlists the aid of Mopple (Chris O’Dowd) – the one sheep who does not forget anything- to go about town and investigate.

As it happens, Derry declares to the townsfolk that the coroner has deemed George’s death a poisoning, therefore a murder, and that he is determined to solve the town’s first murder case.

Everyone is a Suspect

Meanwhile, Elliot Matthews (Nicholas Galitzine), a newbie journalist who strayed into town to write about the town’s cultural festival, volunteers to investigate alongside Derry.

The mystery deepens when George’s lawyer, Lydia Harbottle (Emma Thompson), rolls into town to summon his neighbor Caleb, the town butcher (Conleth Hill), the innkeeper (Hong Chau), and his missing adopted daughter Rebecca Hampstead (Molly Gordon) in a reading of his will. With all suspects present, Lily and her gang snoop around for motive and method.

True Crime 101

With clues from George’s novels, Lily and her fluffy friends set out on the cutest mystery investigation ever, if that’s a thing. Rounding up the chorus of voices of this fluffy flock are Bryan Cranston (as Sebastian, the farm’s literal black sheep who often goes by himself separately from the flock,) Brett Goldstein (voicing the twin rams Reggie and Ronnie,) Sir Patrick Stewart (as Sir Richfield, the grand ol’ gentlesheep,) Bella Ramsey (who voices the lambs,) Regina Hall (as the beautiful Cloud,) and Rhys Darby (as the wooly Wool-Eyes.)

The film’s director, Kyle Balda, is no stranger to animated comedy and cuteness, having co-directed the first Minions movie in 2015 and the third Despicable Me movie. Sheep Detectives deftly weaves threads of human behaviour and emotion through the eyes of Lily and Mopple, balancing witty banter with some light wisdom that never feels forced or overemphasized.

Indeed, the film could also work as an introduction to mystery movies and whodunit novels for young audiences, with its logical pacing of clues and inquiries that roll into the next chapter of events. A visual guide to cause and effect, guided by an animal. Rather, a flock of them.

Despite not having an actual young human in the main cast, the film is definitely family-friendly entertainment. I was reminded of past farm animal movies that had the same charm and warmth as this – Babe (1995), and Charlotte’s Web (2006) (both featuring baby pigs).

Wool and Remembrance

The Sheep Detectives’ magic was the way it gently explained that remembering the dead is how we can honor them, and those who have passed continue to live through our memories. It’s simplistic and yet true, I know. As someone who just recently lost a parent and a brother, this message was personal to me.

The Sheep Detectives is a marvel of a film – a fluffy comedy featuring talking animals that also ruminates on accepting death and departures, wrapped in a warm, woolly hug for (ewe and) your family.

The Sheep Detectives is released by Columbia Pictures Philippines. Images and link provided by Columbia Pictures. The Sheep Detectives opens in Philippine cinemas this May 6th.

In light of the film’s themes, I dedicate this review to my mother Fely and my brother Allan, who sadly both passed away last year. They also loved movies like I do. Missing you both.
Trying out new things

April 23, 2026

Hello, acidreflects readers!

So many things have happened to me personally over the last month, my birth month at that. Apart from what has been happening to the world outside, I have been on a roller coaster ride on the inside.

I have started attending an onlline work-related personal improvement course, to relearn how to focus myself on everything from goals to just organizing thought. Like here, now, this piece is a train of thought. As much as I would like to believe that I am detail-oriented, based on years of work, it seems that I am not, contrary to how I believe that I am. So I jumped on this opportunity to reach back to the good old days of schooling and start learning again, professionally (or academically) speaking.

This blog has stagnated so many times already, even though there’s lots of opportunities to post on film, on shows and generally anything. It boils down to time, and I would like to manage it better (thanks to Paragraph 2) but mainly because of Paragraph 1 – which takes up most of my time in front of this laptop screen every day.

I do plan on adding more content, not just new releases. There are tons of old-school B-movie sci-fi classics from the 1950s-1960s that I would like to revisit here in acidreflects. Maybe I can find time for at least one this weekend. Then there’s streaming shows that many of us catch weekly, but I haven’t been writing about those, too. (Although, for TV serials, the online mircoblogging platform Threads is a faster, broader collection of thoughts, reactions, and trivia in real time on any given topic, including streaming shows. Yes, I’m talking about The Pitt. Let’s go for Season 3, Day Shift!)

Lastly, I have started on a creative journey which I hope can spill into an additional revenue stream, apart from being a hobby. I’m talking about stickers and print crafts, using a printer and a cutting machine. My first client is a cake lab owned by a friend here where I live, and it is to supply stickers and cake toppers as additional merch to her line of products. This is what occupies most of my time each day these days.

I hope I can continue growing acidreflects as it still remains the repository of my thoughts. There’s a screening of the Billie Eilish concert next week, watch out for that.

Thanks for taking time to read this. Toolooloo!

Roy/ acidreflects
Acidreflects Merch?? Not yet…

April 7, 2026
Cinema is still around the corner, and I’m planning on coming up with acidreflects merch to support this site.

BUT FIRST, COFFEE.

One can’t start the day properly without having the most important item first – coffee! Even if it’s the end of days.This Coffee Before Comet humorous doodle series is up on my etsy and redbubble stores, which are now available for puchase.

ETSY/ PRINTIFY. These comfy everyday clothing are of top-quality fabric and craftsmanship, so you from Printify so you know they’ll last long. These clothes are available now at my etsy store penpendigital.
Dino Coffee Sport Gray
Dino Coffee White
Dino Coffee White
Dino Coffee Sport Gray
Meteor and Dino Sweater White
Meteor and Dino Sweater Pepper
Meanwhile, home items and knickknacks featuring the same dino design are up on penpen at redbubble.
Throw Pillow
All-Over Tote Bag
In Magnet and Stickers
Postcard
Spiral Notebook
I hope you can check these out!

Thank you!
Dear readers of acidreflects

March 29, 2026

Subscribe to continue reading

Subscribe to get access to the rest of this post and other subscriber-only content.

Type your email…

Already a subscriber?
There and back, again and again

March 23, 2026

Just came from seeing the special anniversary cinema release of The Lord of the Rings The Return of the King Extended Edition here in the Philippines, the culmination of several weeks of releasing the entire trilogy again in cinemas that began last February.

I actualy have the Extended Edition DVDs with the multiple Appendices, so this was a special treat to see the Extended Editions onscreen. I’ve seen the trilogy countless times, but not in a cinema since the original threatrical release back in 2002-2004 (released January here, and not at Christmas time like in the US.)

Looking back, the trilogy still stands as a monumental feat of filmmaking, storytelling and craftsmanship to this day, more than twenty years since. A few notes that come with age, as the technology of visual effects have changed: Gollum would have looked even more realistic and embedded (or blended) within the frame better today than he did then. The speed of the movement of the Army of the Dead as they charged into Gondor could have felt more natural today. Two Two Towers had choppy editing, TBH. But the color grading of ROTK remains magical, especially when the colors start popping out in the end montages, in contrast to the bleakness of Sam and Frodo’s journey across Mordor. And the music – Howard Shore’s magnum opus is just glorious to hear in the cinema.

The series was one of the earliest titles that I reviewed during this long hobby of writing about films.

Back in the day, I wrote my reviews for our tabloid version of the Metro in Filipino, as the primary readership were workers and students about to begin their day. I had to simplify film language and discuss the review into concepts that could easily be digested by ages 10 to 70 in less than ten minutes of travel time. Sometimes I would be fortunate to have an entire page for the review, a few times only a fourth of a page.

For ROTK in particular, a colleague had already submitted an English review for our regular broadsheet, which automatically had to appear in our tabloid. Which meant that I had to write something different not just in language but also in form, to break the duplicity in purpose.

What a journey it has been. And I’m here, still doing the same.
Netflix x BTS Photobooth Pop-Ups for Arirang event

March 19, 2026
In anticipation of the much-awaited comeback of BTS, Netflix is popping up special activations across Metro Manila this March 20-22!

Lean into the hype by visiting the Netflix x BTS Photobooth Pop-Ups designed to bring the boys’ comeback experience to life!

Gather up your community and catch these activations in three key locations:
- Glorietta, Makati – Ground Level
- SM Mall of Asia, Pasay – Level 3
- TRINOMA, Quezon City – Level 4
The activations are open during regular mall hours.

Catch the BTS THE COMEBACK LIVE | ARIRANG Live Event on March 21 (7pm PHT) and the BTS: THE RETURN documentary on March 27. Only on Netflix.

(Note: BTS The Comeback Live | Arirang is a ticketed event to be streamed live on Netflix on March 21.)

(Courtesy of Netflix)

(This is a press release from Netflix.)
The audacity to amaze amaze amaze

March 18, 2026
It’s a very tricky situation, the business of adapting the page to the screen. What to keep, what to take out, should it be literal, should it be revised. The best ones understand the core of the material, but also understand the audio visual medium of cinema. We’ve all heard stories of the struggles to adapt a book to the screen, especially from sci-fi and fantasy titles: David Lynch’s Dune (1984) (heck, Jodorowsky’s Dune), Denis Villeneuve’s Dune (2021), Miramax’s suggestion to Peter Jackson to just make one two-hour Lord of the Rings movie. And then we have Andy Weir’s The Martian, a rare commercial and critical success on page and at the boxoffice. That same screenwriter Drew Goddard understood the assignment and deftly translated Andy Weir’s 2021 laboratorial novel Project Hail Mary for the silver screen, visualized into a spectacle by the directing duo of Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. The result is not only a proper adaptation fit for the IMAX screen, but an audacious work that brings the awe back in space mission cinema last experienced in Gravity (2013.)

To fans of the author and the book who expect a sort of The Martian 2.0 (or even those who preferred not to have another Martian) where the main character conducts a barrage of sci-fi procedural McGyverism in order to disentangle himself from the science-problem-of-the-moment (that made The Martian competence porn The Pitt on Mars) – Hail Mary on screen removes almost all of that. Which I liked. Other fans are free to disagree.

SOME SPOILERS AHEAD to readers of the book and to non-readers alike.

Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling) wakes up in a spaceship not knowing who he is or why he is there. In the course of poking around the ship, Grace experiences flashbacks that tell his journey.

Sometime in the near future, scientists from around the world discover that an alien substance is eating up the sun’s heat, with only thirty years projected before earth is plunged into darkness and all life is extinguished. An international team has been assembled to solve the problem, with the former chief of the European Space Agency Eva Stratt (Sandra Hüller) in charge with absolute authority.

Stratt descends upon a nondescript junior high school to recruit science teacher Grace, on the strength of his background on molecular biology and doctoral research paper on non-water related lifeforms. Grace is one of those cool high school teachers whom the students like – in part due to his deftness to explain science concepts in ways that his “kids” would understand and appreciate. Grace is intruiged by the tiny creatures called astrophages eating up the sun’s heat and decides on the spot to join Stratt’s team, if only slightly reluctant as he confesses no expertise on any scientific field. Stratt begs to disagree, but she has no time for small talk.

Back aboard the spacecraft Hail Mary, Grace remembers how he met his crewmates (Yao, played by Ken Leung, and Ilyukhina, played by Milana Vayntrub) both of whom, sadly, never woke up like he did during the spaceflight. He sends them off in a touching and heartfelt space funeral, even though he (and us, the audience) have barely known them. Gosling sells this scene really well.

The Project (or mission) was to send a three-person scientific team to study a distant star Tau Ceti that was not infected by the mysterious astrophages, and find ways based on this new data to stop the phages from completely eating our own solar system’s sun before it’s too late. But such was the distance between Earth and Tau Ceti that the mission was deemed suicidal (one-way) and only probes (like space drones they have dubbed “beetles”) will travel back to earth with the information that the mission has gathered, hopefully with a solution. It’s a long shot with a slim chance of success (hence, Hail Mary) but uninfected Tau Ceti is the only hope that our scientists have.

Without the pilot Yao and the ship engineer Ilyukhina, Grace is left to continue the mission by himself. However, as soon as Hail Mary arrives at the Tau Ceti system, a nearby object decides to blip itself to fly next to the Hail Mary. Soon the “Blip-A” has attached itself with the Hail Mary with a strange umbilical tunnel to Hail Mary. At the far end of that tunnel, separated only by a layer of glass-like panels, Grace meets a spider-like five-armed rock creature whom he nicknames Rocky (voiced by James Ortiz).

Through a series of tests and interactions, Grace and Rocky develop a system of communication based on sound, but also a way to travel between spaceships, despite the biological differences. Rocky is an excellent engineer from the planet Erid, and they can build almost anything, even though their technology is slightly less sophisticated than human tech. Grace learns that Eridani’s sun is also dying due to the astrophages just like Earth’s, and his planet sent them out to find a solution in Tau Ceti, exactly similar to Project Hail Mary’s mission.

Except that Rocky’s original crew of 23 companions have all died under conditions that Rocky could not understand. With a common goal, the Earthling and the Eridanian develop a buddy friendship to use their knowledge of science to solve the mystery of the astrophages together and find a way to stop the microbes from destroying life in their respective solar systems. The scenes between Grace and Rocky are earnest and genuine. Maybe the production’s decision to use a puppet instead of a CGI creature helped Gosling in relating with Rocky’s character on-cam. Rocky is adorabe as a puppy, annoying as a roommate and hyper active as a child. In many ways the creature serves like a robot sidekick in another space cowboy show. Rocky as a character is like an adorable talking pet robot, and that’s largely due to the book. I would want a Rocky of my own right now, thank you.

The question in this story is not whether they find a cure to the astrophage cosmo-demic. It’s whether the buddy aliens (Grace and Rocky of course) are going to survive long enough to save each of their planets. Cue tissues.

Gosling is no stranger to mission to outer space films, having played US astronaut Neil Armstrong at the height of the cold war in Damien Chazelle’s First Man (2018). So he already has had fake zero-gravity and ‘spaceship piloting” experience. Reading the book, the sarcastic science teacher Rylan Grace did sound like Gosling – the type of unassuming hero hinding under a facade of science nerd that fits Gosling to a T. Plus, his Academy Award pedigree is a reminder that those sad eyes of his can definitely convey depth and emotion.

I wish the movie Stratt was a little colder like the book Stratt, I found the dragon lady act a lot funnier that way. Movie Stratt evoked a weird sexual tension with Grace, which I found a little off. No question that the talented Ms. Hüller (Anatomy of a Fall, The Zone of Interest) can pull it off, so maybe the “warmer” Stratt is a version by the fimmakers.

As I have mentioned, the film removes a large portion of the procedurals in the book, but in several ways show a shorthand visual that reference the source. The entire thing about nitrogen-resistant astrophages in the atmosphere of Venus is gone, but the culture of Taumoebas is shown though shortcutted. Developing the language translation is shortcutted, no base-six counting nor explanations why the Eridians have yet to discover time dilations or relativity. There are a few minor changes too, like giving Rocky a partner back home in Erid (I don’t remember that from the book, so if it was there, my bad.)

The entire astrophage retrieval scene in the atmosphere of Adrian was both visually stunning and palpably thrilling. There was complete silence (of the bated breathing type) in the cinema when that scene ended.
Ryan Gosling stars as Ryland Grace in PROJECT HAIL MARY, from Amazon MGM Studios. Photo credit: Jonathan Olley
Sandra Hüller stars as Eva Stratt and Ryan Gosling as Ryland Grace in PROJECT HAIL MARY, from Amazon MGM Studios. Photo credit: Jonathan Olley © 2026 Amazon Content Services LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Ryan Gosling stars as Ryland Grace and Sandra Hüller as Eva Stratt in PROJECT HAIL MARY, from Amazon MGM Studios. Photo credit: Jonathan Olley © 2026 Amazon Content Services LLC. All Rights Reserved.
(L to R) Milana Vayntrub stars as Olesya Ilyukhina and Ken Leung as Yao in PROJECT HAIL MARY, from Amazon MGM Studios. Photo credit: Courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios © 2026 Amazon Content Services LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Ryan Gosling stars as Ryland Grace in PROJECT HAIL MARY, from Amazon MGM Studios. Photo credit: Jonathan Olley © 2026 Amazon Content Services LLC. All Rights Reserved.
It’s a fantastic adaptation with a major handicap – that beyond its “we’re all in this together to save our planets” message, the film could benefit from a little more depth. No philosophical debate between science and religion like Robert Zemeckis’ Contact (1997) or alien as a christ-like redeemer warning humans against self-destruction in The Day The Earth Stood Still (1951). Maybe I’ve lost some of the symbolisms in the xenonites or Blip-A. Maybe it is just about the amazing journey of two different species together. Just maybe, something not so bleak, for once.

While the book explores a few science ideas that warrant discussion outside the page: thoughts on a shared evolutionary ancestor between Earthlings and Eridians from cosmic panspermia, or Grace’s doctoral thesis that got him the Hail Mary gig in the first place – life that doesn’t require water, H₂0, the film is about My Buddy from Another Planet.That’s not necessarily a bad thing. It’s just not very deep. The main draw to an Andy Weir story is competence porn from a relatable scientist who makes science experiments of varying complexity for survival not only humorous, but accessible. For this story, maybe “fist my bump” in the face of overwhelming odds is the philosophical message, and that is enough. In the process of adapting page to the screen, the filmmakers of PHM seem to have decided to let go of a huge chunk of the science procedurals to make it less hard science, but also give enough time to amp up the emotions. In so doing, the makers removed a large part of what made it an Andy Weir story while making it more resonant. It was a choice, for sure. I liked it, but it’s less Andy Weir. I say it’s a good adaptation, while this may also sound like it’s a bad one.

A minor gripe is the inclusion of gospel music at the credits, which had no place in the book as well as the film. It was as if some religious interest would not let a sci-fi film go without any mention of Jesus. Honestly, it sticks out like a sore thumb even though the music is lively and uplifting. I’m serious.

I would even dare say that Project Hail Mary as a Best Picture contender in next year’s awards season is an understatement. It is too good to simply say that. It excels in enough cinematic elements to push it to the pinnacle of awards contention. Editing, Music, Sound, Visual Effects, Cinematography, Daniel Pemberton’s musical score. and Gosling’s acting. We’ve seen some Best Picture hopefuls with fewer category achievements.

Somehow, Goddard, Lord and Miller have turned a hard science fiction story about saving planets and their inhabitants into a relatable buddy film that simply overflows with optimism and heart, no matter what lifeform or atmosphere. They may have removed some of the experiments, but they also made sure that teacher Ryland Grace is kept, in a package equally amazing whether seen under a microscope or through a petrovascope. Such audacity to amaze, amaze, amaze.

Project Hail Mary is in Philippine cinemas March 18th nationwide, from Columbia Pictures.

Images and link courtesy of Columbia Pictures.

Saw Project Hail Mary on IMAX and it looked great on a very large screen.