No, this isn’t a review we forgot to publish in 2016. Shin Godzilla is back in the news for a reason that will tickle every Godzilla fan in the Philippines. Starting October 14 through 20, Go Asia Entertainment is holding its inaugural Godzilla Film Festival featuring five films from all four eras of the world’s most famous kaiju.

As a taster, here’s our review of Shin Godzilla, one of the five films available for the blockbuster week.

The government versus Godzilla

Directed by Neon Genesis Evangelion‘s Hideaki Anno, Shin Godzilla is a completely different beast compared to the other movies in the kaiju’s oeuvre. Rather than building towards a titanic confrontation against Godzilla, 2016’s caper focuses on the ineptitude of the government responding to the crisis. Ultimately, it’s supposed to be a critique against Japan’s response to 3/11, a series of disasters on March 2011 that includes an earthquake, a tsunami, and a nuclear meltdown. But ten years since its premiere, Shin Godzilla remains an important film for today’s political climate.

Now, despite how critically well-received the film was, Shin Godzilla is polarizing because of how slow the plot moves. Godzilla isn’t always terrorizing Japan in this film. Instead, the beast stops, giving the government much-needed time to respond to the crisis. But, oh boy, the Japanese government keeps getting bogged down with seeking approvals from higher ups, scrambling for the proper department to solve an issue, and just general inaction.

Given how some governments today act, this tenuous back-and-forth, as slow as it is, makes for an interesting comedy for their ineptitude but also a source of hope for those who just want to get things down. Played by Hiroki Hasegawa, Rando Yaguchi is a deputy chief cabinet secretary, tasked with finding an alternative solution for the Godzilla problem outside of the government’s normal responses.

A new hope

The best character arc in Shin Godzilla is Rando’s team learning to properly address Godzilla. Instead of rushing towards military action, his team studies the beast and learns its biology, allowing for a solution that won’t involve dropping a nuclear bomb on Japan. Though it’s still wishful thinking at this point, it’s optimistic to imagine that governments can support non-traditional solutions, especially when faced with a crisis.

It feels natural to root for them. It feels natural to see them win against all odds.

A different take on the legendary beast

But let’s not forget about Godzilla itself. In Shin Godzilla, the titular beast feels more frightening than most iterations. And this includes Hollywood’s version, bolstered as it is with CGI.

It’s not just the advancement of technology. Godzilla here is visceral and uncanny. Though you have the traditional dorsal fins and the ginormous tail, Anno’s Godzilla is striking because of its lack of eyelids. Godzilla’s piercing stare feels like it belongs in an anime, but, when rendered in a realistic space, it’s frightening.

Additionally, Godzilla seems like it has less free will than other depictions. The kaiju’s rampage is unabated with nary a hint of its motivations, except for the few moments it defends itself. The monster is just a unstoppable force of nature. And that’s what makes Godzilla more terrifying in this depiction.

Should you catch Shin Godzilla and the other Godzilla films?

There are only a few things that hasn’t been said about 2016’s Shin Godzilla. If you’re already a fan of the kaiju, regardless of era, the film is a must-watch. It’s different but therein lies its value. It’s not just a disaster movie or a kaiju vs. kaiju adventure. It has something to say about society.

Shin Godzilla is showing now as part of the first Godzilla Film Festival in the Philippines. For as low as PhP 275, fans can catch the 2016 film, Mothra vs Godzilla (1964), Godzilla vs Biollante (1989), Godzilla 2000: Millennium (1999), and Godzilla: Final Wars (2004). The festival runs from October 14 through 20.

And if that’s not enough, Godzilla Minus Zero premieres next month as a follow-up to 2023’s award-winning Godzilla Minus One.

When Linkin Park understandably went on an immediate hiatus in 2017 following the tragic death of its frontman Chester Bennington, it felt to millions of fans as though an important part of their lives had been taken away.

For the longest time, the one thing the rock band did exceptionally well was to put into their songs all the untold, unexpressed feelings, emotions, and thoughts of several generations.

That deep resonance made the music stick. When 2017 happened, many felt that connection was gone for good.

Linkin Park: Unshatter magnifies what handling grief looks like from the inside out. It starts with the band members themselves and radiates outward to the community that carried them.

It goes without saying that grief has no single roadmap. And for band co-founder and co-lead vocalist Mike Shinoda, moving forward began with a simple and almost accidental question put out into the open: “What if Linkin Park didn’t have to end?”

Starting again

The documentary-concert film opens with a cinematic rush: a sweeping shot of the Allianz Parque (now Nubank Parque) in São Paulo, Brazil, where Linkin Park is set to perform as part of their From Zero World Tour.

A quick montage follows, capturing the concert day feel as it commences. Viewers get thrown straight onto the stage as “Somewhere I Belong” ignites the crowd.

Then, the mood then shifts abruptly, pulling everyone backward to late 2022 inside Shinoda’s studio.

Here, alongside original members Joe Hahn and Dave “Phoenix” Farrell, the cinematic scale melts away into an unscripted, intimate creative slate. This is where the true documentary tone takes over.

If you have been preoccupied with everyday undertakings, Unshatter acts as an essential catch-up material for the behind-the-scenes evolution that transpired from 2022 to 2024.

It delivers a wealth of candid footage rarely seen outside of close circles, offering fans a fresh perspective right in the eye of the storm. It’s been billed as such, and it does not disappoint.

Part of what makes it grounded and emotionally connecting is the chronological storytelling. As with starting again, you don’t know what is about to happen yet.

The progression, which includes moving from Shinoda’s private quarters to EastWest Studios, the rehearsals and promotional photoshoot, and everything in between, takes you to the build-up and makes every step feel real before the 2024 breakthrough.

Raw, visceral, honest

You can feel the complete absence of a script in these early studio sessions. Shinoda spent the latter half of the previous decade performing on his own, and speaks candidly about how exhausting it was to constantly look backward or perform for “tributes.”

There was no sudden lightbulb moment either. Three veterans simply chose to gather and think things through with a level of organic randomness.

This mirrors how processing grief unfolds in the real world. For Shinoda, much like how he would later describe new new vocalist Emily Armstrong’s voice and personality, the core approach was about being raw, visceral, and honest.

All three knew grief was there. It had been enveloping them all these years and they thought moving away from what defined their lives would do good.

At some point, survival meant acknowledging reality first and then carrying on from there.

Triple lenses

The documentary’s narrative spine relies on three distinct lenses: the OG holdovers, the new members and the uniqueness of Brad Delson’s dynamic with this new iteration.

After the opening third of the film heavily focuses on the OG trio, the arrival of Armstrong and Brittain in the middle act expands the horizon.

Brittain, particularly, initially stepped in as a guitarist to complement Shinoda’s structural ideas. He bares his lifelong fandom on camera, and even offers a striking thought which Shinoda mentions towards the end: that the music industry and the world in general is simply better with Linkin Park in it.

Much like newcomers finding their footing in a sports franchise, Emily and Colin quickly worked together often to hasten the integration process.

Later, Delson is introduced as someone initially reluctant to the thought of restarting Linkin Park. Such resistance was acknowledged though he warms up to the idea and rejoins the fold in the latter stages.

His role changes to an anchor, as if a coaching consultant helping run a franchise at the highest level without necessarily being on the sidelines every single night.

Shinoda was open about the tension this could have caused, weighing whether a non-touring lead guitarist might disrupt the momentum and progress of the comeback build-up.

Yet the film consistently highlights how mature, open, and thoughtful those internal conversations were.

Delson’s eventual return made Colin slide into the drummer role. The transition was handled with surprising economy on screen, much like the brief, respectful nod given to former drummer Rob Bourdon’s departure.

Emily rises From Zero

Armstrong shares the middle act with Brittain, but her journey demands its own lens. And the documentary captures this duality of carrying the inherent weight of stepping into the shoes left by an icon and her energetic personality in the studio as she dances, vocalizes, and throws her soul into the process.

Much has been chronicled about Armstrong’s electrifying voice and the shoes she has had to fill, but the documentary chose to present her entry in a more natural manner.

Rather than being angled towards succession, the documentary spends a huge chunk showing her fit with her new bandmates. There is also a side to it where she is driven to prove herself coming from Dead Sara as a relative “unknown” before the 2024 surprise comeback.

A particular solemn moment captures this stripped down feel, as with the movie in general, even further: Emily singing a radically different rendition of “Heavy Is The Crown” with Shinoda playing the piano.

It’s far different from the high energy final version that has been out for years now, showing the fragile baby steps the band took.

Mike asking Emily at one point if she is open to touring also forces you to reflect on how differently the comeback could have unfolded.

This lens tackles the setlist realities. Songs from One More Light were basically untouchable. The meticulous work required to adjust keys and match Armstrong’s skill set were also shown.

Unshatter is the band’s kintsugi

One neat inclusion features blink-182’s Mark Hoppus, listening to a freshly completed mix of “Unshatter.” Having an industry contemporary validate in real-time that something special has clicked adds massive weight to the proceedings.

You can visibly see how genuinely flattered Shinoda gets when Hoppus tells him he got goosebumps.

The moment acts as the emotional bridge to the film’s ultimate metaphor, as expounded on by Delson towards the end: Linkin Park’s comeback is the band’s kintsugi.

This is, of course, the Japanese pottery tradition of putting broken pieces back together using a gold filling.

Though “Unshatter” wasn’t officially released until 2025, it served as the blueprint for the secret work Linkin Park poured years into.

In one of its most artfully executed transition moments, the film cuts right at the chorus of “The Emptiness Machine” from the high-stakes, breathless tension of their 2024 comeback launch event at Warner Studios, throwing viewers right back into the roaring Allianz Parque.

This was preceded of course by one of the final resonant glimpses of unsuspecting long-time fans transported to Warner Studios in anticipation of what was then only billed as a private gathering.

Proper documentary-concert film

Linkin Park: Unshatter strikes a wonderful balance between candid moments and electrifying concert sequence.

The live performance scenes were woven in seamlessly. Cinematography looked sharp: quick cuts, drone shots, sheer fan emotion. Towards the end, Hahn has his own immersive on-stage camera angles of his teammates.

Yet it never stretches too thin. You wouldn’t want to watch just a live concert. Make no mistake, in a large screen format and with accompanying cinematic audio, the energy just reverberates harder.

The film ends with the aftermath of the live performance of “Bleed it Out” as fireworks erupt across the stadium sky, before it fades into a final line to cap the comeback journey.

An old archival clip of Chester and Mike performing “Esaul”, the earlier version of “A Place For My Head” with lyrics still different also plays as a final touch.

That clip encapsulates the beginnings of one of the century’s most successful rock bands. Decades after, a restart happened.

It was about moving forward, acknowledging grief, but realizing you can make something beautiful while carrying that history with you. The only way to “unshatter” was to be raw, visceral, and honest about what’s going on.

DreamWorks Animation’s Forgotten Island has definitely become a big screen hit, debuting with a 100% Rotten Tomatoes score and being well received particularly by a large Filipino fanbase.

And behind the movie is DreamWorks Animation’s partnership with tech giant, Lenovo. The collaboration is helping power the former’s production slate, including the studio’s animated feature inspired by Filipino culture, mythology, and experiences.

In 2025, DreamWorks expanded its relationship with Lenovo by naming the company its preferred compute services, workstation, and solutions provider.

Such partnership brings together Lenovo workstations, high-performance infrastructure, data center technology, and services to support the demanding needs of modern animation production.

It is a collaboration that builds on years of work between the two companies. DreamWorks has used Lenovo workstations as part of workflows across the studio.

Lenovo infrastructure has also supported the large-scale computing requirements involved in creating animated worlds and characters.

Still in cinemas, Forgotten Island follows lifelong best friends Jo and Raissa, voiced by Grammy and Academy Award winner H.E.R. and Filipino actress Liza Soberano.

As the two prepare to take different paths after high school, they unexpectedly find themselves transported to Nakali, a fantastical island populated by magical and mythological creatures rooted in stories from their Filipino families.

The film is written and directed by Academy Award nominee Joel Crawford and Januel Mercado and produced by Academy Award nominee Mark Swift, the filmmaking team behind Puss in Boots: The Last Wish.

Its voice cast also includes Dave Franco, Jenny Slate, Manny Jacinto, Dolly de Leon, Jo Koy, Ronny Chieng, and Lea Salonga.