What Movies or Shows Have You Seen Recently?

[westendboy]

I will try to do four but with the first two there are hardly anything more an armchair critic-bloke like me, an unpaid one of course, can add to the discourse. Yet, it’d be criminal if I don’t say anything.

Deadpool & Wolverine (2024) is going to earn gazillion dollars no matter what crap anybody slings at it. I had a blast catching the trainspotting elements but not the missus next to me who dozed off a couple of times, which usually happens to me and not her. Haha now I can laugh at her but I do know the reason why.

To enjoy the movie to the fullest, you have to know your comic book and movie pop culture, you have to know Fox’s X-Men movies well and heck, you even have to know corporate lore like how Disney bought up Fox and the roller-coaster ride they had with the Marvel characters. Deadpool, giving himself the title of Marvel Jesus, had to resurrect the entire Marvel IP and for a huge degree Deadpool truly earned his self-proclaimed title.

Like the first sequel, this latest one is again fueled by Vanessa who ends her relationship with Wade. He gets recruited by Mr Paradox (a cool Mathew Macfadyen spouting the Queen’s English which totally made me forget his amazing turn in HBO’s Succession) to get a Wolverine from a different timeline to anchor the timeline Wade is in because that timeline is collapsing (then what happens to that timeline with the missing Wolverine? Seriously, nobody really cares). Don’t worry if you don’t get it because this is just some tomfoolery hocus pocus of an excuse to get the superhero tag team going. The chemistry between them is bonkers and hilarious. Imagine pairing the mercenary with The Mouth and Logan who is drinking his past away. We also get a cool villain in Cassandra Nova, twin sister of Professor X, who can get inside anyone’s head, literally.

The major theme here is resurrection and you get to to see the metaphorical meaning with forgotten superheroes who no longer bring in the dough for the studios (one was stuck in development hell forever) and also the literal meaning. The movie doesn’t even forget the iconic artefacts, buildings and objects that symbolise the glorious bygone years of superhero lore.

The movie is very clever, perhaps a little too clever and it is too busy throwing everything, including the kitchen sink, at you. It can feel like an overkill at times and doesn’t know when to stop, but yet you can feel Ryan Reynolds is on a roll here and his energetic wisecracking won’t take a break.

That said, the movie is rambunctious, with a crazy life of its own and exudes a vibe that it has no rules except to lay down new ones. It is fun to watch this with a huge cinema audience with roaring laughter punctuating every few minutes. Don’t wait for streaming is my advice. (3.5/5)

Twisters (2024), I saw in 4DX and holy cow, the experience elevated the movie to a whole different tier. I have experienced 4DX with Incredibles 2 (2018) and Suzume (2022), both were fun but a little mild. So I went into this thinking it will be the same and even invited my mother-in-law along. Thank goodness she didn’t take me up on my offer. She would have been thrown up into the air! This was a superb cinematic experience and I had no idea the seat can gyrate so much. If you have a chance go for this!

Unlike Aliens (1986) is to Alien (1979), Twisters doesn’t come close to Jan de Bont’s adrenaline rush of a movie Twister (1996). But still it essentially heralds the summer blockbuster season and it does it with gusto, wind and fury.

With just a tad of fan service, Lee Isaac Chung who plies his trade with dramas, gives the movie a grounded-ness. Granted the science is iffy (a chemical that can tame tornadoes), but Daisy Edgar-Jones’ Kate and Glen Powell’s Tyler made the science so compelling that you will swallow every technobabble like it’s candy.

The CGI is top-notched, the human characters are just about believable and the story is just about compelling. I am glad the indispensable Hollywood kiss is taken out, so the story loses the romantic angle but wisely focuses on Kate’s journey of conquering her demons.

Watch out for a meta scene of people floundering in a theatre thinking it is a safe haven. They literally had the big screen sucked out from before their eyes. Turns out the cinema is not a safe place away from natural disasters. Oh… I love the soundtrack too. (3.5/5)

Warriors Two (1978) only came on my radar when Sammo Hung announced he will be here for a masterclass and the movie will be one of a few screened. I went in knowing nothing and was so amazed with how it expounded on Wing Chun martial arts.

The story and plot is a dime in a dozen: A bank cashier discovers a plot to kill the mayor. His attempt to warn the mayor is foiled, and he almost gets killed, but a mumbling Shaolin disciple rescues him and takes him to his master to teach him a formidable form of kung fu.

Directed by Sammo Hung, he takes on a secondary role here and every time he appears the comedy will take over. I can’t say enough nice things about the kungfu action. When one thinks of Wing Chun, one will no doubt think of Donnie Yen’s Ip Man movies. Warriors Two also focuses on the art of Wing Chun but it gives you a masterclass session about its history and how it has changed through the years. I love watching all the training montages and the action choreography is stellar. The camera is pulled back for you to ogle at all the mayhem but every move is depicted with clarity. Watch this for everything about Wing Chun that was never mentioned in the Ip Man movies. Wing Chun is not just about a flurry of punches and fighting wooden standees. (3.5/5)

I thought I have seen every Zhang Yi-mou movie so I was surprised one skipped my radar, One Second (2020).

The story centers on an ex-con and young woman bound together by parallel pursuits of an enigmatic film reel, one of the countless propagandistic news reels that were transported across the countryside during that time for the entertainment and political edification of rural villagers. The man, recently escaped from a Cultural Revolution prison farm, has reason to believe the reel contains a glimpse — lasting just a single second — of his beloved, deceased daughter. The girl carries her own desperate motives stemming from personal loss and a hoped-for glimmer of redemption.

If ever there is a Chinese version of Cinema Paradiso (1988), this is it. The scenes of the villagers coming together to salvage a damaged film reel is nothing short of miraculous and to watch them finally being able to see the film on a big screen with sub-par equipment is a thing of beauty. It reminded me of a simpler time when I was asked by my primary school teacher to write about what I want to do when I grow up. Everybody wrote the usual stuff like doctors, police officers, lawyers, a couple of teachers and I wrote about wanting to work in a cinema particularly in the projection booth just so I can watch movies all day long.

The movie also taught me the value of one second. To see the father watch that one second scene with his daughter on screen over and over again just so it becomes a feature length film is deeply moving.

When the movie centers on the magic of cinema, the film feels like a masterpiece. When it delves on the sub-plot of the girl it gets tedious and bloated. Still, this is a wonderful tribute to cinema. (3.5/5)

[westendboy]

Boy do I have some good movies to recommend this week. It’s fun to write about crappy stuff, but with the good ones I always wonder if I have done enough for people to seek them out. I will just do my part and leave the rest to you. As usual, my taste in shows and movies can be quite different from the usual crowd, so decide for yourself. The first one…

Maharaja (2024) was a recommendation by a friend. The text message came at 12.27am so that meant he had just finished the movie and he immediately thought of me. How could I not check this out on Netflix? The next evening I pressed “play” and didn’t move from my seat for 2h 30min, my mind working over-time trying to put all the events in chronological order only to some degree of success. This is a Tamil revenge action-thriller with some investigative procedural element and some God level storytelling. The sub-genre is something I coined eons ago – mindfuck.

The story is simple – A barber named Maharaja (Vijay Sethupathi) seeks vengeance after his home is burglarized, cryptically telling police his “Lakshmi” is stolen. His quest to recover the elusive “Lakshmi” unfolds. I will let you find out what or who Lakshmi is. It will be more fun if you don’t find out before watching the movie.

The plot is the mindfuck part. You see, this isn’t just a simple piece of storytelling, it is a cerebral exercise in plotting. Writer-director Nithilan Saminathan has crafted a superb brain exercise and yet never forgets the power of storytelling with a cast of vivid characters in all sorts of tussle with fate. He challenges the audience by moving critical plot events around the timeline and he has the utmost respect for the audience because he doesn’t give you signposts that something you are watching is a flashback and tells you how it fits into the chronology.

Movies like that can easily become too clever for its own good, but to Saminathan’s credit he knows how to keep the audience in a stranglehold, with an uncanny ability to release its grip in a moment of levity and then sends you to the high heavens with a jaw-dropping revelation. The ending packs a wallop and it’s deeply satisfying and Saminathan can’t help but ends it with the metaphorical moment that brings out all the feels.

Maharaja isn’t perfect. There are some plot-holes and wild coincidences, but I didn’t mind it. The next day I unpacked the movie with Choo and two other guys who saw it and it was a helluva fun, but at one point Choo was getting sick of listening to me quip: “how did Maharaja know the car is at the pub?” I think she is going to divorce me if I bring it up again.

We actually saw this twice, the second time was about catching the details in all the key moments so we could fill in the gaps. I myself watched it a third time to answer my nagging question about the car at the pub. It sounds like a lot of hard work but I can’t tell you how much fun it was to unpack the whole movie. After the second viewing I could even pick out gems like how when Maharaja was interrogated a few times about the theft of Lakshmi he always drinks a tumbler of water before he dictates the sequence of events. The sentence structures and the words are always the same, a tell-tale sign that he is lying and reciting from a pre-prepared script. I read that in a criminology book.

Mindfuck movies are few and the good ones even fewer. Sometimes you won’t even get good one in a year. We are lucky this year we get a great one. Clear your schedule, gather some friends for a watch party and get ready one helluva discussion after that. (4/5)

From one crazy barber to another one, but thankfully this next one is on the other end of the spectrum.

Day Off (本日公休) (2023) was screened at the Chinese Film Festival. By the time I zeroed my sights on it, the tickets were all snapped up. So I had to pick up the blu-ray for a watch and what a bittersweet movie it was. I didn’t know my heart can swell with so much love for a profession as nondescript as a small town barber.

80s sex siren Lu Hsiao-fen plays 40-year-old A-Rui who has been running a barbershop in a small town. One day, she receives a phone call from the family of an old client who moved away, asking if she would be willing to travel to give the bedridden old man a haircut.

I love watching A-Rui in action, her scissors floats just above the customer’s head, the music of “snip snip” permeates the air and a light conversation ensues. It reminded so much of a time where visiting the barber was a fun time because I could read comics while waiting for my turn. There was never a rush to get my hair cut quickly unlike now when barbers can purportedly cut your hair for not more than 10 minutes. The movie celebrates a time when human connection is forged through something so plain as getting a haircut.

A-Rui is the resident barber and you get the feeling she knows every person who sits in her chair, and she has seen each person’s head going from a full crop of hair to a balding one or to a mop of gray hair through the years. It almost feels like she is cutting the years away from the customers and herself. There is a sense of familiarity as the customers get their haircut and it feels like home.

The movie was coasting along on a bed of nostalgia and then it hits the scene where she has to give a bedridden old customer a haircut in another town. I lost it here. A lump appeared in my throat, my lips quivered and then I didn’t bother to hold back anymore.

I think it is noble to hold on to the old ways and the movie ends on a bittersweet note in that she will never change and will continue to do it the old school way till she can’t anymore. I love the theme song and I will include it here. The movie is quietly stately and in the end it sneaks up on you to give you a bear hug. (3.5/5)

洪佩瑜 @_hungpeiyu 《同款》Official Music Video（電影【本日公休】主題曲）

The next two I caught at the cinema.

Successor (抓娃娃) (2024) is a big box-office hit in China and it is still raking in the dollars there. I would think its subject matter, intensively nurturing a child so that he will become successful in the future, is lost to the Western world. But here in Asia, including Japan and Korea, it is practically a way of life. I shouldn’t complain because this is why I have a never ending string of jobs.

Ma Chenggang (Shen Teng) and Chunlan (Ma Li), who have “no oil in their soup and no money in their pockets”, ride a donkey to work and on the outside they are the epitome of working class poor. Their son Ma Jiye is the only hope who can change their fate.

The father and mother are of course rich to the sky heavens, but thinking their super rich status will encumber their only child’s character and intellectual growth, they decide to move into a ramshackle house and bring up their child the hard way.

I love the cockamamie scheme and it is actually mocking parents who go through the extremes to shuffle their children to tuition classes and extracurricular activities with super coaches. Ma and Chunlan spare no expense with an underground bunker of educators and CCTV monitoring their child’s every action. Above, the child is surrounded by security personnel who never lets him go out of sight. Doesn’t that remind you of The Truman Show (1998), Successor doesn’t disguise the inspiration and puts its own spin on a satire about overbearing parents who mistake sending their kids to endless classes as love.

The first two acts are hilarious. I laughed like I was on drugs and it is very clever in the way it pokes Asian parents’ behaviour without stepping on toes. Where it falters is with the last act. It just doesn’t hit anywhere emotional so the central message rings a little hollow, and suddenly the jokes miss their marks and the lyricism which was already starting to become wafer-thin becomes pronounced. (3.5/5)

Alien: Romulus (2024), it starts off a little slow but that’s understandable because you need a little context before you send a group of millennials into the gladiator rink. You get the leader, the reluctant one, the wise-cracker, the pregnant one, the Asian looking one and so on. Your everyday plethora of characters ready to be slaughtered are all present. The only thing you know is who will be the last one standing and you can try guessing which annoying character gets killed first.

Uruguayan director and co-writer Fede Alvarez brought his bag of tricks to the Alien universe without all the mumbo-jambo philosophy. This is a straight up brute-powered survival sci-fi thriller and I am going to declare this is one of the best movies of the year of any genre.

I enjoyed seeing all the callbacks to Alien (1979) and Aliens (1986) – the way the tunnels open, the sound of pulse rifle, certain lines of dialogue, a character from Alien and so on. The visuals are spectacular and we can also see the different birthing stages of the xenomorph which was cool. Alvarez knows when to pay homage and when to give us something new and by that I mean the “how to get away from the sonafobitches” mechanics. Boy, were some of them heart-park-in-mouth action sequences.

The heart of the movie is the relationship between Rain (Cailee Spaeny) and Andy (David Jonsson) and it carries the movie to the ending. Spaeny plays the last woman standing convincingly and Jonsson plays the android sibling who imbues more humanity than humans. Contrary to what they say, in space they can hear you scream. (4/5)

[westendboy]

I have seen a lot of movies and TV shows since my last post. Watching is easy, finding the time and energy to write is hard. I will just do 4: 2 of which I saw at the theatres and 2 at home.

Speak No Evil (2024) is about a family who gets invited to spend a whole weekend in a lonely home in the countryside, but as the weekend progresses, they’ll soon realize that the family who invited them has a dark side.

This is cautionary tale 101 – never trust strangers no matter what. I have yet to see the 2022 Danish original which I read is more intense and raw, so I can’t compare. But as it is, James Watkins’ film opted for a more slow burn approach, gradually escalating the stress an innocent family is put under.

The thing is this: half an hour in, the missus and I already knew the deep shite the family will be going through. The signs are all there: the micro-aggressions, the questionable parenting, the shifty motivations. If it were me, I would be leaving the first chance I get, but Ben and Louise and their daughter Ciara look like they want to see the looming accident up close and personal. In short, it took its time getting to that final realisation. By then the catharsis has dissipated for us. What was left was the frustration building within us for a family who chooses not to heed the warning signs. There were no cinema patrons near us so at one point I was going “ f&$k the rabbit!” and my wife chorused the same sentiment too and added “damn useless man!” which sent a cold shiver down my spine. The cinema was basically our funhouse!

The movie reminded me of Michael Haneke’s Funny Games (1997) which is a perverted home invasion thriller. Funny Games managed to do lot more than Speak No Evil including indicting the audiences as accomplices. But I take nothing away from James McAvoy’s superb unhinged performance. This might as well be called The James McAvoy Show. I also read what was the ending iof the Danish original and let’s just say this ending will never be in Hollywood’s playbook. The ending in Speak No Evil is still a shocker but it can’t hold a candle next to the original which I believe will make you come out of the theatre feeling utterly gobsmacked and hopeless. (3.5/5)

Wonderland (2024) is a locally made film that ticks many of the emotional and culture-specific boxes, and brings on all the feels without being condescending. In my opinion, this is one of the best locally made films in recent memory.

Wonderland is a family drama about how a “white lie” spirals into a full-blown deception that brings two men together in an unlikely friendship. To pay for his daughter Eileen’s education abroad, Loke sells his family home and moves into a tiny one bedroom rental. There, he meets Tan, his neighbour who helps him write his letters to Eileen, and read her letters to him. Meanwhile, Tan finds comfort in Loke’s dedication to his daughter, as he yearns for a reconciliation with his estranged daughter. Then tragedy strikes…

I like how the movie begins – Loke (a superb Mark Lee) sitting on a bench with an amusement and all its gaiety in the background. Loke holds not a smidgen of expression in total juxtaposition with everything around him. My interest was immediately piqued and I was in rapt attention as I gradually discovered who Loke is. I have seen Mark Lee in numerous comedic roles but never in anything as serious as the main role in Wonderland and I must confess this is one of the finest performances I have enjoyed this year and I say this with respect to everything I have seen from all over the world. Peter Yu is Mark Lee’s equal and both of them elevated each other, never eclipsing one another. Their friendship resonated with me because it is exactly how older men with a long trail of emotional baggage become friends.

The attention to details is quite something to behold. You will see things that will immediately transport you to Singapore in the late 70s and the early 80s. Even the scenery is carefully shot with gorgeous lighting which will make you reminisce the good ole days of the 80s. Is there a better time than the 80s when the world hasn’t been “corrupted” by the internet? The story is defiantly very Chinese and every Chinese will understand the behaviour depicted. We just don’t say everything in our heart preferring to mask it with simplistic sentences like “have you eaten?”

The conceit of the story takes a while to materialise and to spin the lie out of proportion involved a whole village. I found it heartwarming and when it hit the final twist I was already in tears likewise with many patrons on my right, all except the one sitting on my left who remained dry-eyed throughout. I told her she might need to see a doctor the next day. (3.5/5)

Dogfight (1991) is a gem of a movie. It’s so confined and small, but it punches way above its weight. Long after it’s done, I am still thinking of the two characters and writing their next chapter.

In 1963, the night before 18 year-old “Birdlace” Eddie and his friends are shipped to Vietnam. They play a dirty game called ‘Dogfight’: all of them will seek a woman for a party and whoever finds the most ugly one wins a prize. Eddie finds the lonesome pacifist Rose working in a coffee shop. He is hesitant at first but Rose is so enthusiastic and the game is afoot.

The game is cruel, hateful and downright misogynistic, but Nancy Savoca steered the story to unexpected and meaningful territory. I am convinced in the hands of a male director, the movie would be a very different movie, but in Savoca’s sensitive hands the story examines male machismo, patriotism and gender roles. River Phoenix is always amazing to watch as he struggles with conformity and being human. Lili Taylor is a superb casting choice. Her vulnerability shines through and you can feel she is just one setback from giving up on the humankind. Yet her core of steel is admirable, believing that everyone is capable of being good. I know the main argument here is that Rose would never forgive Eddie which makes the story illogical. I am of the mind one needs to be an idealist to appreciate the movie and isn’t it heartwarming to believe someone like Rose existed in the world – quick to be angry at injustice but also quick to forgive. (4/5)

Gate of Hell (1953) has been on must-see list and I finally acquired the Criterion disc. It is the winner of Academy Awards for best foreign language film and best costume design, well-deserving of both awards.

In 1159, during an attempted coup, one of the court’s ladies in waiting disguises herself as the lord’s wife, and a loyal samurai conveys her from the city. This diversion allows the royal family to escape. After the coup fails, the samurai asks his lord to let him marry the woman as his reward. The lord grants the request and then discovers she is already married to one of the ruling family’s lieges. The samurai clings to his desire, importuning her to leave her husband, then challenging the husband to release her. Although the husband stays calm and she stays faithful, the samurai remains intemperate and stubborn, with tragic consequences.

This is a story about fierce loyalties, unrequited desires and swinging between these two ends of the emotional spectrum. The story unfolds slowly, adding layers upon layers upon the characters until the inevitable. The samurai is one stubborn blockhead and doesn’t the sanctity of marriage means anything, but in his eyes he is perfectly justified in getting the woman as his prize. The film is also an early triumph of colour cinematography in Japan. If you want to understand how deep a hole obsession can put you in, this is a helluva cautionary tale. (4/5)

[westendboy]

Just 4 from a couple of dozens we have seen recently and the first is a concert film.

This year marks the 40th anniversary of Stop Making Sense (1984), a Talking Heads concert film by Jonathan Demme. I was never a huge fan of their music but all that changed when I saw American Utopia (2020), with Spike Lee documenting David Byrne’s Broadway show. It was then I realised that Talking Heads’ music needed to be experienced visually rather than just sonically. With American Utopia, it was with a 68-year-young Byrne. I have always wondered what he was like with his band during his heyday. Then one night, a website that I fervently followed blasted out a news that they have secured limited quantities of the 40th anniversary edition of Stop Making Sense remastered in 4K UHD and Dolby Atmos and I just clicked “buy” immediately. Let’s just say after watching this I now understand why this is revered as the greatest rock concert film of all time and I absolutely concurred.

Jonathan Demme (Silence of the Lambs) and cinematographer Jordan Cronenweth (Blade Runner) documented three nights of Talking Heads’ performances at Hollywood’s Pantages Theater, a band at the peak of their popularity. It starts off in a fashion that cannot be any simpler – a handheld camera captures Byrne’s white sneakers as he walks onto the stage. The camera pulls back to reveal Byrne clad in a grey suit and he Is carrying a guitar and a boom box. “Hi,” he announces, “I’ve got a tape I want to play.” He presses the play button and a beat from a drum machine reverberates in the air, Byrne then launches into Psycho Killer that just grabs you and doesn’t let go. As the song progresses, the drum machine spits out scattershot beats that cause Byrne to stagger and trip in theatrical manner across the stage. The opening number essentially sets the tone for the show to come – unrelenting, unhinged and unpredictable.

With each song an additional band member will join the stage while stagehands in black roll in pieces of new equipment on stage. It was really strange but beguiling to behold like getting a behind the scenes view of how a show is built stage by stage till it is ready. The music is utterly danceable and infectious, and it is so obvious that everyone is having so much fun. This is the most kinetic concert I have ever seen and at one stage Byrne was practically running around the stage.

It is often a mistake to think Talking Heads is all about charismatic presence of David Byrne. He is the main substance, but every member brings forth a unique ingredient and the film exemplifies this. I had so much fun watching this and it makes me feel so deliriously happy to see all the talent on stage. When the film ended, I replayed Psycho Killer again. Oh man… what would I have sacrificed just to get inside a time machine to go back to 1983 to experience the concert among the audience. (5/5)

Summer Palace (颐和园) (2006) is banned in China which means it needs to be seen. The story is about a girl named Yu Hong who leaves her home village and starts university in Beijing, where she develops a consuming and compulsive relationship with another student Zhou Wei. The student riots from 1989 then ensue and take a toll on their lives.

The government of China wants this film eradicated from the face of the planet or least from the consciousness of its citizens that it doesn’t even exist in Douban, China’s equivalent of IMDb. When someone tells me a movie or a song or a book is banned, I have to get a hold of it to find out why it’s banned. It is easy to know why – the sex, the full frontal nudity, although I think this isn’t the main reason. It is how it addresses the Tiananmen incident that ultimately seals its fate because it is always a taboo subject matter in China.

But the sex… holy cow! I turned to Choo at one point and said: “these young people practically never study and just have sex the whole day. I think I mix with the wrong company during my Uni days because I only studied.” This is something I don’t see in a made in China movie and that said I can understand this new found feeling of freedom when these young people escaped from a repressed lifestyle. It must have been a confusing time for the youths at that time.

Summer Palace is long and repetitive at some spots and I didn’t think the political aspect integrated well into the story, but the acting is daring and the direction is incisive. It has oodles of mood and ambience, and sex, definitely sex, sex on grass patches, sex in cramped spaces, sex in a toilet… (3.5/5)

Next up is a masterful detective procedural TV series, River (2015).

I don’t know what’s up with me back in 2015 that this excellent TV show would elude me. Good thing it came up on my socials feed and the ending of of the first episode sent me on a tailspin and I was all in.

The story concerns hardened, yet psychologically vulnerable, Swedish-born police detective John River who struggles to deal with having witnessed the murder of his detective partner. He must come to terms with the loss whilst investigating her murder, helped (and sometimes hindered) by what he calls ‘manifests’ – the ghosts of both victims and criminals, including the shade of his partner.

This one ticks all the boxes of my definition of a great show: it has something to say; it brings something new to the medium; it has great acting, editing, lighting, cinematography and the other aesthetics; it has great writing and directing; it vibes with something to say about the human condition; and lastly it has that elusive X factor that invites next day’s conversations at the office canteen and if you aren’t in those conversations you will feel like an outcast.

I enjoyed watching all the flawed characters and each episode will peel new layers from them. Stellan Skarsgård and Nicola Walker are stupendous in their roles with the uncanny ability to communicate so much with just a look. The show is testament that sometimes you can elevate a cliche police procedural to a whole new level with a few clever tweaks. I was just coasting along with the first episode not thinking it will be anything great and then right at the end of the first episode my jaw dropped. Yes, it’s gimmicky but it is also very clever, and from that moment onwards I was all in. Then it hits the penultimate scene in the final episode and I was a goner. If I had been holding back tears, this was the point I let it all go. It’s the single most beautiful and the saddest scene I have seen in all my years of watching TV shows. This is one of those shows that is perfect and you don’t need a S2 because I doubt anything can top it. I want to say a lot more but I think this is enough words for the discerning person to check it out. (4.5/5)

Lastly, something we caught at the cinema. Holy cow! What an insane movie this was!

The Substance (2024), I couldn’t tear my eyes away. It’s a fevered dream, a sharp critique on modern society’s preoccupation with the female beauty standards and it is a helluva cautionary tale.

The story concerns a fading celebrity played by Demi Moore who decides to use a black-market drug, a cell-replicating substance that temporarily creates a younger, better version of herself played by Margaret Qualley. This is practically a ten-car-pile-up accident waiting to happen. Doesn’t take a genius to know that but I can understand why Demi Moore’s Elisabeth wants to play with fire because society isn’t kind to female celebrities past their sell-by date.

I love writer-director Coralie Fargeat’s previous effort Revenge (2017) which gave the rape-revenge genre a brand new coat of paint. With The Substance, Fargeat has outdone herself and maybe even tastelessly depending on your predilection. I love the Cronenberg vibes but with Cronenberg the wild aesthetics can sometimes overwhelm the narrative. The Substancedoesn’t fall into the same trap, remaining in sharp stiletto focus on the theme and what it wants to scream in your face.

The movie would have failed big time if the performances by the two leads are not 100% committed. Both Moore and Qualley gave their all, including denuding themselves and also looking like disgusted messes through extreme makeup.

Perhaps the last act feels like an overkill but I must say I had such a hoot watching all the mayhem. In a year of movies, how many of them you can say push the envelope? The Substancedoes this so many times. (4.5/5)

I will stop here because I ran out of words. I actually saw The Wild Robot last night which I thought is amazing. Mark my words, this is going to win Best Animation Oscar.

[westendboy]

Just 2 I saw at the theatres and 2 at home…

I saw Kung Fu Panda 4 at home a few weeks ago. It is one of those by-the-numbers animated movies that screamed CASHGRAB in full caps in your face. It was 94 minutes I couldn’t get back. Then there are other animated movies like The Wild Robot (2024) that just enboldens you with new lenses to see the world with. Not a smidgen of it spells cashgrab and every frame oozes with love and passion. This one comes straight from the heart and I think it is the best animated movie in a long long while and one of the best movies I have seen this year.

In a world immersed in technological wonders, Roz, an endearing helper robot, finds itself in a precarious situation after crash-landing on a remote, untamed island. Programmed to assist anyone in need, Roz embarks on an unexpected journey through the dense wilderness, only to stumble upon a mysterious egg. As the island’s curious animals gaze at the metallic newcomer with bewilderment and mockery, Roz realises that survival in this unfamiliar territory demands more than just its programmed skills. Now filled with uncertainty, Roz must evolve and learn the ways of the wild. Of course, forging alliances could help. But time is not on its side; Roz must reach its full potential before winter. With reality blurring the line between technology and life, what if the wild robot discovered what it means to be a human?

I didn’t write the above synopsis. There is this guy (Nick Riganas) who regularly writes movie synopsis and post them on IMDb. His prose is so engaging it makes you want to check out the movie or stay away from it. So allow me to quote what he wrote.

The Wild Robot hits me in the feels. Thematically, it’s nothing you have never seen before – empathy, the strength of a community and the power of human connection. It is how the themes are packaged and presented that gives the film resonance and authority. I mentioned human connection but that is forged through an unlikely relationship between a robot who wants to serve its client and animals who see him as an outcast. How they eventually managed to communicate is so simple and yet so believable. I was watching a tapestry of human experiences personified through a robot and all sorts of animals without any schmaltz.

Visually, this is stunning from first frame to the last. I am convinced if you just randomly freeze-frame any scene it could serve as a movie poster. The voice-acting is incredible and the storytelling is way up there. Come Oscar time I am betting all my assets on this animated movie and deservedly so. (5/5)

Vettaiyan (2024) has two monumental thespian actors holding fort and that’s enough reason to check out the movie. The movie doesn’t disappoint – SP Athiyan (Ranjinikanth) an encounter specialist is known to eliminate criminals and believes it could set an example for other criminals. By that I mean the dude is the law and the executioner two-in-one package. He comes under radar of Judge Sathyadev (Amitabh Bachchan) who feels encounter justice is not the only solution and many fake encounters have killed innocent people. Meanwhile, Saranya, a school teacher exposes a drug racket and gets promoted to a school in Chennai but within few months she is found raped and murdered on the school terrace. Athiyan tries to get involved in her case but isn’t allowed until the Chennai police are left helpless and the criminals are in for a world of pain when Athiyan becomes in charge.

This is a movie of two distinct halves. Everything seems to be wrapped up with a nice bow in the first half, but knowing Bollywood narratives I know I will be in for a wild ride in the second half. Betrayal and double-crosses ensue, and Athiyan doesn’t have it easy and rams through scumbags like white on rice. Sadly, the two actors shared the screen only for a few meaningful times and the heavy lifting is mainly handled by Ranjinikanth who at 74 has his action spectacles relegated to speed-ramps and slow-motion.

This is a crowd-pleaser with a social message shoehorned in. It coasts along on the star power and the twists and turns feel perfunctory. I like how it opens a can of worms in that cram schools can be a source of scams in a society so focused on education. Sadly, the movie only skims the surface, preferring to let Ranjinikanth do his thing but I have to admit I had a hoot seeing him put scumbags to the ground with one stroke of his arm and had an inkling he would floor Ip Man in one stroke.

“Police are not hunters; they are protectors” – that about sums it up and this one put a smile on my face but it could have been an important movie. (3.5/5)

Movie-wise I knew the above two are what I want to say something about, but when it comes to movies or shows that I have seen at home it kept changing. This is all because I got lazy and lost the impetus to say something after I had seen them. So I am picking two recent movies we saw in the comfort of my home theatre.

Suzhou River (2000) was a recommendation by a movie lover friend. At 80+ minutes it went by like a whimsical dream.

The river Suzhou that flows through Shanghai is a reservoir of filth, chaos and poverty, but also a meeting place for memories and secrets. Lou Ye, who spent his youth on the banks of the Suzhou, shows the river as a Chinese Styx, in which forgotten stories and mysteries come together. Mardar, a motorcycle courier in his mid-twenties, rides all over the city with all kinds of packages for his clients. He knows every inch and is successful thanks to the fact that he never asks questions. One day he is asked by a shady alcohol smuggler to deliver his sixteen-year-old daughter, Moudan, to her aunt. Mardar and Moudan grow fond of each other. But their tender happiness is disrupted when Moudan thinks that Mardar has kidnapped her for a ransom. She is so disappointed in him that she jumps off the bridge into the Suzhou River. Mardar is now suspected of murder. When a couple of years later he comes out of jail, he meets the dancer Meimei, an alter-ego of Moudan, and becomes fascinated by her.

There is an undeniable Wong Kar-Wai vibe to this and philosophical whimsies peppered the story that felt like it was made off the cuff. That said, it is a very coherent piece of gonzo filmmaking. I practically wore a smile for the whole movie that has murder, kidnapping, motorcycles and a mermaid. Love this. (4/5)

The Animal Kingdom (2023) is about a world hit by a wave of mutations that are gradually transforming some humans into animals. François does everything he can to save his wife, who is affected by this mysterious condition. As some of the creatures disappear into a nearby forest, he embarks with Émile, their 16-year-old son, on a quest that will change their lives forever.

This movie has layers, metaphorical ones. It isn’t difficult to see the human animals as diseased folks and the movie examines how we deal with a health crisis. Do we lock up the diseased and throw away the key or do we help them? With the latter where is the point we stop, is it when our loved ones lose all human attributes or when they start to harm you?

Technically, this is a wonder. The blend between the real world, the makeup and the CGI is perfect. At its core this is a coming-of-age tale with elements of horror, scifi and fantasy thrown into what should have been a potent concoction. However, I felt the movie bit off more than it could chew and I didn’t feel it was developed to god levels. It is a shame because the premise is original and I can feel the aspiration in every scene, but there was too much to handle in a runtime of over two hours which I also felt the time wasn’t well-used. Still, if you chance upon the movie you should definitely give it a watch and after what I had said this is still a piece of brilliant filmmaking, much better than a lot of the garbage out there. (3.5/5)

[westendboy]

Let’s go… Some quickie musings on some movies and shows we have seen.

Gladiator II (2024), I wanted to love but I only managed to like from a distance. The story and emotional beats at times feel like a facsimile of the original and breaks little new ground. Same revenge plot with the dude’s wife killed, same gladiator owner but this time with some sinister political aspirations, same tyrannical emperor but this time we get two nut cases and same coliseum mayhem but this time we get crazy monkeys, a rampaging rhinoceros and sharks, sharks! That cannot be historically accurate with a coliseum transforming into a giant salt-water tank.

That aside, this is very entertaining to watch and almost 3 hours whizzed by. I am guessing most who had gone to the cinema to catch this will have a déjà vu feeling – the battles, the Roman politics, the gladiator fights, the impossible odds in the coliseum, the revenge angle and wanton bloodshed. The wheel just wasn’t being reinvented much, plus in my humble opinion, Paul Mescal can’t fill Russell Crowe’s shoes, Pedro Pascal sleepwalks with his character and we have double the crazy with the emperors. What ultimately saved it for me is Denzel Washington’s slimy portrayal of Macrinus. Washington practically stole every scene he appeared in. Best temper your expectations if you are catching this. (3.5/5)

Meiyazhagan (2024) is testament you can make a movie about anything and in this case, nothing. By that I mean the premise is about something trivial like you going to a reunion gathering of sorts and someone talks to you so animatedly but never introduces himself, thinking that you know who he is. You don’t want to be rude and feel confident that you will eventually remember who he is. As the night wears on you realise you have no idea who he is.

How’s that for a premise for a 3-hour movie? And I am going to tell you it is a surprisingly good movie with an important message at the end. Sure, at 3 hours it does get repetitive but the chemistry between Karthi and Arvind Swamy is what sold it for me. The former is one positive person with incandescent sunshine radiating from his entire being and the latter is still in a world of hurt which festered in him when he was forced to leave the town as a young man. The build-up to the final revelation was quite something. In the end the name wasn’t as important as what he did for the other. It goes to show that we must always be kind no matter the circumstances. Reaping any rewards isn’t as important as the act of kindness itself because you will never know the impact it has on others. Sometimes you can never fathom what you did till years later. I had such a great time with this movie and it’s a good reminder of what kind of person we should all aspire to be. (4/5)

The Taste of Things (2023) is about cooking and loving as an art. Right from the opening scene which goes on for more than 30 minutes I was captivated like you have suddenly gained access to a Michelin starred kitchen and see artists at work. There’s no conversation going on in the country kitchen between the two cooks and their two young assistants beyond throwaway lines like “bring me the vegetables”. Yet so much of their characters is established through their intricate actions rather than they talking about themselves. The invisible camera glides through the entire kitchen like an angel marveling at human beings creating art.

This is the story of Eugenie (Juliette Binoche), an esteemed cook, and Dodin (Benoît Magimel), the fine gourmet chef she has been working for over the last 20 years. The details of their relationship will emerge eventually like a gradual explosion of tastes. It’s a love story between adults who don’t play games anymore. They know what they want – he wants to marry her, but she doesn’t want to affect the fine balance of their work relationship. They do engage in sensuous sex, as I said they are adults and they make love like how they cook five-course gourmet dinners. I love their love story and there will come a time when Dodin cooks for her and her alone which is so beautiful. Don’t see this on an empty stomach. (4.5/5)

Twilight of the Warriors: Walled in (2024) came highly recommended by a couple of friends earlier this year and I finally picked up the blu-ray. This is quite an assault on the senses with an incredible dystopian set-design and an orgasmic martial arts fight-fest.

Realism isn’t on the cards and it features a grandstanding pulp-ish screenplay for an essentially us-against-them story. The star to me is the set-design showcasing the much fabled Kowloon Walled City which has its own set of laws. The action is epically spectacular and massive fun to watch. There is always that brotherhood bravura but it wears its sentimentalism on its sleeves. This one will give your home theatre a good work-out. (3.5/5)

Kill (2024) is a Hindi bloody action thriller and it’s formula is The Raid on a train to Mumbai. Choo usually hates movies like this but she enjoys this so much that she was cheering on the hero as he bashes the next goon till his head becomes mashed potatoes.

There is a sense of economy in how it establishes the characters and just enough is done for us to know who we should root for and the stakes are palpable. When the action starts it’s 2 men against 40 scumbags on a moving train and pretty soon it becomes one-man against an army of hoodlums. The action choreography is solid and the cinematography in the tight space is impressive. This is a massive crowd-pleaser if you are an action junkie. Logically, it doesn’t make sense like why doesn’t the train driver stop the train when the mayhem begins. Who cares when the action is so relentless and this inventive. The damn movie title isn’t even subtle. The train’s destination is the 40 scumbags’ funerals. I have seen movie deaths thousands of time but I have yet to see one that involves a can of Zippo lighter fluid. If you like The Raid, board this train! (3.5/5)

The Penguin (2024) is the story Oz Cobb (Colin Farrell) in The Batman (2022) and I must say it is best show DCU has come out with all these years. If you take a step back you won’t see this as a show based on a comic book character, you will see a couple of brilliant character studies. Yes, it’s two, the other being Sofia Falcone (Cristin Milioti). Prior to this, I had no idea who is the character and the actress. Now I, and possibly the world, know both.

Spoilers will abound from here on out. If you have an intention to see this, please stop reading.

I followed this show religiously every week on Monday when it drops he latest episode. I can’t remember the last time I do this, preferring to just binge all the episodes but there is nothing so tangible as we wait patiently for each episode to drop, have a spirited discourse the moment it ends and count the minutes till the next episode drops.

This is so well-written and Batman doesn’t even need to do a cameo to bring up the viewership. Colin Farrell acted up the Ying Yang underneath all the blubber of makeup. He plays the sociopathic character with so many fine strokes that he comes alive in a compelling manner. I find myself hating him, pitying him, my emotions see-sawing through all the paces. He craves power and above all else he wants his mother’s approval and love, so much so that he can kill his brothers without any remorse. Yet, through his relationship with Vic, his sidekick, you are feeling Oz has redeeming qualities.

Then there is Sofia Falcone. Holy moly! Her character and the way Milioti portrays her is one for the ages. Hers is a no-nonsense, fully nuanced and layered, female character. This is the blueprint of how female badass characters should be written. After this, I am sure tonnes of projects will be knocking on her door.

The formula for The Penguin is Sopranos + Yojimbo + Godfather. Character motivations are painted in nuanced strokes and right up at the end it goes beyond a showdown between Cobb and Sofia to a death scene that completely caught me by surprise. Choo was crying “noooo…” and I was going “oh my god”, yet at the back of my mind it was a death that made every sense because it announces to us who Cobb really is – a villain. This is not an anti-hero show. My mind was swirling with the why and it made sense in the huge scheme of things. Cobb is a user of people, a master manipulator. He doesn’t deserve our pity. The joke was on me if I had sympathised with him throughout the show. His portrayal of the Penguin is up there with Heath Ledger’s Joker.

The ending also teases a possible S2 with Catwoman’s name being mentioned and the undeniable Batman signal floating in the night sky. Even if S2 doesn’t happen and I am scared lightning doesn’t hit the same spot twice, this is as perfect a show about a comic book villain can ever get. (5/5)

[desray]

@westendboy

The Penguin (2024) is the story Oz Cobb (Colin Farrell) in The Batman (2022) and I must say it is best show DCU has come out with all these years. If you take a step back you won’t see this as a show based on a comic book character, you will see a couple of brilliant character studies. Yes, it’s two, the other being Sofia Falcone (Cristin Milioti). Prior to this, I had no idea who is the character and the actress. Now I, and possibly the world, know both.

Spoilers will abound from here on out. If you have an intention to see this, please stop reading.

I followed this show religiously every week on Monday when it drops he latest episode. I can’t remember the last time I do this, preferring to just binge all the episodes but there is nothing so tangible as we wait patiently for each episode to drop, have a spirited discourse the moment it ends and count the minutes till the next episode drops.

This is so well-written and Batman doesn’t even need to do a cameo to bring up the viewership. Colin Farrell acted up the Ying Yang underneath all the blubber of makeup. He plays the sociopathic character with so many fine strokes that he comes alive in a compelling manner. I find myself hating him, pitying him, my emotions see-sawing through all the paces. He craves power and above all else he wants his mother’s approval and love, so much so that he can kill his brothers without any remorse. Yet, through his relationship with Vic, his sidekick, you are feeling Oz has redeeming qualities.

Then there is Sofia Falcone. Holy moly! Her character and the way Milioti portrays her is one for the ages. Hers is a no-nonsense, fully nuanced and layered, female character. This is the blueprint of how female badass characters should be written. After this, I am sure tonnes of projects will be knocking on her door.

The formula for The Penguin is Sopranos + Yojimbo + Godfather. Character motivations are painted in nuanced strokes and right up at the end it goes beyond a showdown between Cobb and Sofia to a death scene that completely caught me by surprise. Choo was crying “noooo…” and I was going “oh my god”, yet at the back of my mind it was a death that made every sense because it announces to us who Cobb really is – a villain. This is not an anti-hero show. My mind was swirling with the why and it made sense in the huge scheme of things. Cobb is a user of people, a master manipulator. He doesn’t deserve our pity. The joke was on me if I had sympathised with him throughout the show. His portrayal of the Penguin is up there with Heath Ledger’s Joker.

The ending also teases a possible S2 with Catwoman’s name being mentioned and the undeniable Batman signal floating in the night sky. Even if S2 doesn’t happen and I am scared lightning doesn’t hit the same spot twice, this is as perfect a show about a comic book villain can ever get. (5/5)

I adore this series…!!!

[desray]

@westendboy

What ultimately saved it for me is Denzel Washington’s slimy portrayal of Macrinus. Washington practically stole every scene he appeared in. Best temper your expectations if you are catching this. (3.5/5)

I beg to differ…I personally think he is miscast. A great actor but I have seen better performance from the man.

[rock123]

Paris Has Fallen | Official Trailer | Hulu

Super shiok ! just finished last 4 episodes after so long period of break.
Super kan cheong man and the sub just pound and pound
Awesome recommended !

Hint the villain was a good and familiar one☺️

[westendboy]

This will be my final musing on movies watched until next year. Being the holidays we really got it on and saw many movies and shows, but I will just choose 6 to say something about.

We caught two movies at the Singapore Film Festival. The first one was Lou Ye’s An Unfinished Film (2024), a meditation on what it means to be “unfinished”.

A film crew unearths a computer hard drive that contains an unfinished film that they had made ten years ago which was essentially the first act of a movie, but abandoned because of a lack of funds. They watch with their senses transfixed, kinda like how we are amused when we see old home movies of ourselves. “My God, look how young we were.” Then they have a bright idea – why don’t we tell the next act of the characters’ stories ten years later. So In January 2020, the film crew reunites near Wuhan to resume the shooting of a film halted ten years earlier, only to face the unexpected challenges as cities are placed under lockdown.

This is a very unusual and organic film and it morphs into different genres with a life of its own. It is amusing at first and has a docu-realist vibe. A conversation between the director and the main actor where the former tries to convince him to return to play the main part again is especially realistic. The actor says time has changed and he is married with a kid and making a film that most probably be banned and thereby not lucrative is not attractive to him. So there is a strong sense of time in the movie. There is also a strong sense of place when the movie was halted when Wuhan goes on a sudden lockdown; we all remember that right? The movie becomes a different beast from this point onwards. Suddenly, “invisible” people from behind the camera become the principals of the movie. The movie then documents the chaotic state of affairs in Wuhan and I don’t think the world are privy to a lot of the scenes shown here. There is one that haunts me till now – a forlorn voice reverberates in the night, the actor wakes up with a jolt and captures the scene of a girl walking behind an ambulance on his handphone. She cries out “mother, don’t go. Stay here with me.” My heart broke into a thousand pieces. The movie also shows how fragile life can be and how the indelible human spirit always finds a way in moments of darkness.

This is not a popcorn-munching easy-to-watch movie but it is an essential one. Perhaps leaving it unfinished is a metaphor for how our lives were all halted during the pandemic. It is also a celebration of the fighting spirit of human beings. (4/5)

I Saw the TV Glow (2024) is an odd one. I read that it’s a horror movie and the cryptic movie title sold it for me.

In 1996, Owen (Ian Foreman) is a withdrawn middle-school kid dealing with his mother, Brenda (Danielle Deadwyler) and mean father, Frank (Fred Durst). Owen is drawn to ninth grader Maddy (Brigette Lundy-Paine), who’s obsessed with the television show, “The Pink Opaque,” a teen fantasy series about two psychically connected girls who battle monsters, working their way to meet Mr. Melancholy. Maddy shares the show with Owen, who becomes a fan, trying to sneak looks at the series whenever he can. As the years pass, Owen (Justice Smith) and Maddy bond over their shared love for “The Pink Opaque,” responding to the depth of its unreality and depiction of friendships. One day, Maddy disappears after stating her intent to run away, leaving Owen to carry on with his humdrum life, silently dealing with his anxieties and desires. When she returns to his world as an adult, Owen is confronted with her version of reality, unsure about his own mind as he deals with the banality of life.

The synopsis is clear but the plot isn’t. Many scenes feel pregnant with meaning but the story lacks purpose. Characters feel like enigmas but I never felt a compulsion to want to know and understand them. Later, I saw an interview with the director who said the story and characters are allegories of trans-sexuality and all the stigma and difficulties that come with the struggle with sexual identity. Oh man… I didn’t see any of that until I saw the interview. If I had to find all that out after watching a movie it means the movie has failed for me. In the end, other than some arresting visuals, the movie felt flat and hollow. That’s just me, but not to the girl who was talking to her Caucasian guy friend outside the toilet after the movie. “I really felt the characters like they were speaking to me. I love the story too.” That’s all I caught as I walked away. I didn’t think it was BS; I think movies and stories work differently for different people, but I can’t forget the bewildered look on the guy’s face. I feel him. (3/5)

These next 4 I saw at home…

Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Chime (2024) is 45 minutes of unease and looming doom. Yes, you saw that right, it’s runtime is just 45 minutes, lean, mean and killer.

It starts with a scene of a culinary teacher teaching a class, but his delivery is impassioned even if his instructions are crystal clear to all his students. But one male student is clearly out of it. The instructor goes to him but the student says cryptically whether he hears it too. A scream or a chime, that bounces in his head. Soon the knife in his hand goes somewhere it ain’t supposed to go.

This one creeped me out and how Kurosawa achieves that is masterclass. There are no music cues to announce scary scenes, just clinical look at a scene to demonstrate that anyone and anything can be creepy and scary. The teacher’s wife is obsessed with recycling and their son spends too much time in his room, all this sound so trivial but I studied the characters like they all have a propensity for evil and violence. Violence can explode from a simple scene where the last thing on your mind is a bout of sudden violence, which makes it all the more scarier. The entire movie is built on a mystery but yet Korusawa is defiant in wanting to explain the source of the sound. The ending isn’t even conclusive but I never felt for one second that this was a waste of time. The whole thing feels like a pilot for a longer movie or a TV series and when it ended I swear I heard an odd noise in my head. Love this! (4/5)

Perfect Days (2023) was sitting underneath a pile of to-be-watch blu-rays until it pop up in a chat group. That piqued my interest and in it went and I can only say this was such a Zen watching experience.

Hirayama (Koji Yakusho) lives alone in Tokyo and cleans toilets for a living. He has a routine, seemingly dull, uneventful and insular life. Yet he is happy and content, living a simple, undemanding, uncluttered, analogue existence. His balanced demeanor seems unshakable.

Win Wenders have crafted a movie of simplicity and yet has profound meaning. I watched with my senses fully enamoured by a man’s routine whose purpose is cleaning toilets till they are spotless. It brought to my mind what a church friend once said to me years ago that if one is faithful in doing the smallest task to the best of his/her ability he/she will be able to do the big things in life. The movie is never boring and can easily hold you in a calm rapture. It features a cleverly curated soundtrack that includes Lou Reed on tape because that’s how he loves his music. We get snippets of his past through his dreams and meetings with person in his past. It is also funny especially with the other characters who interact with him in the narrative. The movie builds an emotional power all around you and you will hardly see it coming. Love this! (4/5)

Marcel the Shell with Shoes on (2021), I swear I watch a silly smile plastered on my face throughout and when it ended I felt like I was given a warm hug by a friend.

Marcel is an adorable, 1-inch-tall shell who ekes out a colorful existence with his grandmother, Connie, and their pet lint, Alan. Once part of a sprawling community of shells, they now live alone as the sole survivors of a mysterious tragedy. However, when a documentary filmmaker discovers them, the short film he posts online brings Marcel millions of passionate fans, as well as unprecedented dangers and a new hope of finding his long-lost family.

Marcel the Shell has an interesting back story. The character was created out of boredom at a wedding by Jenny Slate and director Dean Fleischer Camp. The one-inch tall shell took YouTube by storm, earning millions of fans of all ages around the globe, leading to two online shorts and a New York Times bestselling book.

Interestingly, I didn’t catch on to the Marcel phenomenon till this movie and what a movie this is. The stop-motion animation melds seamlessly with all the live-action and after a while I didn’t even notice the stop-motion animation anymore. Marcel became a fascinating character with its immense perseverance and profound kindness. The movie taught me to see the world with child-like eyes and to see wonder in everything. The themes of love, family, grief and loss are brilliantly handled and it is so hilarious. I find it so inspiring and it was movie I didn’t know I needed so much. (4.5/5)

Rebooting (2023) is a Japanese mini-series recommended by a friend. Another friend in the chat group checked that the Douban score is a staggering 9.4! That’s practically a score that screams “stop whatever the heck you are watching and watch this!” If you don’t already know Douban is China’s equivalent of IMDb and the site is full of brutally honest reviews. With a score of more than 9.0 you can be sure it will be good in that it has resonated with the multitude. This series is also #4 on Douban’s all time best Japanese series list. So one night, with nothing interesting on the current TV front, I pressed play and we guffawed like children at the time travel antics.

A mundane woman is about to get a do-over with her banal life. Asami Kondo (a roll at Sakura Andô), age 33, is single, lives with her parents, and works at the local city hall. One night, after hanging out with her best friends, she meets with an accident and dies. She goes to a room suffused with white except for a spectacled pencil-pusher man manning an enquiry desk. She soon learns from him that she has two choices – either become an anteater or reboot her life again. No prize in guessing what she chooses to do. To be reborn as a human she has to accumulate karma points and so begins Asami’s first cycle where she retains all of her memory of her past life as she relives her life.

The mechanics of time travel or more specially timeline manipulation is rather simple. The writer isn’t out to reinvent the time travel wheel and prefers to use it as a tool to examine what it means to be a good person and what would you change to improve your chances to be reincarnated as a human.

Asami doesn’t go out there to buy up sure win lottery tickets and blue chip stocks because these won’t improve her karma. She uses her second chance at life to make sure her friends are happy and all her loved ones are safe. I find it noble and her getting into hilarious situations trying to do good is the stuff of great storytelling. I love the concept of being able to reboot your life and it made me reflect on pivotal moments in my life that have shaped me. It was the time travel concept that got me first. The second aspect that grabbed me is the relationship between the girls. They way they finish each other sentences and the way they interact with their entire being is just priceless. The boisterous dialogue feels so natural and spontaneous. It made me believe they are bosom friends. How I wish I have friends like these.

This being a Japanese show you do not see Asami doing things to satisfy her selfish desires. It almost feels like the storyteller is teaching you the way all of us should behave. I especially love the episode where Asami is a TV producer and she works so hard to make sure everything goes smoothly. There is this scene where Asami is stuck at work but she knows if she doesn’t go to the train station to help her ex-teacher he will be in trouble. So she comes up with some super power to rearrange all the events for the day just so she can go help that teacher. That is a task that is not easy to do. I know because just a few days ago I was tasked with arranging make-up classes with 5 students on separate days and it gave me a headache. Once done, my boss said why didn’t I move this and that to save 2 days and she proceeded to do it for me. An hour later she told me it was done and she saved me two trips. So this episode was especially an eye-opener to me.

At 10 episodes, the show moves briskly but what I didn’t count on was all the twists and turns and those last minute tick tock suspense. All that aside, this is all heart.

However, there are some stuff that didn’t sit well with me especially with the final plotline. If I were in Asami’s shoes I wouldn’t have try to solve the last problem that way. I don’t know… maybe it won’t bother you but I was scratching my head. You can see I am being intentionally vague here.

All in all, this is a great watch – entertaining and meaningful. Most of the time these two aspects are mutually exclusive, but not here. You will be laughing, crying and mentally noting down to do stuff. I am sure it will make you think of your old friends. This is on Netflix. (4/5)

[westendboy]

My Favourite Albums, Movies and TV Shows of 2024

I will just put this here. Season greetings everyone.

[westendboy]

Just 3 this week and they are all great.

Conclave’s dialogue sizzles like sirloin steaks on a hot grill. Superbly acted by a solid ensemble of actors and an actress, it gives you an inside look into one of the most guarded arcane process in the world – choosing the next pope. It’s absorbing, sometimes funny and twisty as hell. My goodness, the Cardinals are just like greedy and unscrupulous politicians when it comes to election time.

Cardinal Lawrence (a superb Ralph Fiennes) is tasked with running this covert process after the unexpected death of the beloved Pope. Once the Catholic Church’s most powerful leaders, all 118 of them, have gathered from around the world, they are locked together in the Vatican halls. Then Lawrence uncovers a trail of deep secrets left in the dead Pope’s wake – secrets which could shake the foundations of the Church.

I was kept spellbound throughout the movie, drinking in all the details because it is not every day you get to wander along the hallowed halls and power corridors of the Vatican Church and see the Cardinals engaged in the olden practice of voting for the next pope since the beginning of the Catholic Church.

The movie respects the audiences’ intelligence to make the judgement of who will be the best choice as the Pope with all the evidence and facts lay out. Our surrogate is Lawrence and Fiennes is fascinating to watch as he is constantly torn between conducting an impartial process and letting the destructive evidence fall on the floor for everyone’s scrutiny.

Where the movie jumped the shark, well at least for me, is with the last twist. To most, I would think, the movie does enough for one to accept the last piece of the jigsaw puzzle, but it did not sink down well with me. I don’t know… there are some vocations in the world where wokeness should never expose its ugly head and the Catholic Church is definitely the one that is high up on this list. To me, for the Church to condone this, is to accept this act as a ticking time bomb and it is bound to explode down the line. This audacious choice of an ending made it a 4 for me, or else it would have been a 4.5. (4/5)

Last year I ended my musing on The Wild Robot with an outrageous statement that I would bet my bottom dollar that it will win the Oscar for Best Animated Film. Oh man… I have to eat humble pie now after watching Latvia’s entry in the category Flow. But I count myself blessed that I am graced by two outstanding animated features this year that push the medium to new frontiers and in the case of Flow it is so far off the charts that I don’t see land anymore.

In Flow, the world seems to be coming to an end, teeming with the vestiges of a human presence. Cat is a solitary animal, but as its home is devastated by a great flood, he finds refuge on a boat populated by various species, and will have to team up with them despite their differences. In the lonesome boat sailing through mystical ocean-logged landscapes, they navigate the challenges and dangers of adapting to this new world.

Wordless, but not without the power of language, the animals: a spunky cat, a lethargic capybara, a majestic bird, a feisty dog and a lemur with a serious hoarding habit, survive on a boat. Without any words (not even subtitles) and purely using animal behaviour and cinematic language, the gorgeous looking movie will charm your socks off. None of the animals need to look cute or perform some wisecrack to grab your heart. I doubt anyone will not understand the grunt from the capybara which means “don’t disturb me. I want to sleep” or the energetic barks from the dog which mean “I am bored. Come on let’s play catch”. Such is the magic of the movie and suddenly you would understand in an animated feature characters don’t need to personify human qualities to work. The animals just need to be themselves.

Flow is one of those movies you will want to watch again because you will not be able to catch the significance of every scene. It’s thought-provoking and can easily invite much spirited discussion. Allow me to help you out with some pointing questions: Think about how the feature is bookended with the cat looking at its reflection in the beginning and with all the animals looking at their reflection at the end. Think about what happen to the bird (I swear this part is full of Miyazaki vibes).

The animation feels very fluid and many times the camera work is reminiscent of you running alongside the cat, putting you right in the flow of feeling every instance of dread and danger. There is something of a dystopian message about how human beings have messed up earth, but Flow’s fable-like narrative refuses to go down that obvious road so things are only hinted at.

Thematically, this soars. Let a bunch of animals teach you about strength in numbers, the power of community, bravery, renewal and conflict resolution. I can’t wait to pick up the 4K UHD disc but I always feel the first time you should experience the movie in a full house theatre. Nothing will beat that feeling. (5/5)

Hidden under tonnes of “loud” shows all vying for your attention is a bonafide gem. This was a recommendation by a friend and even he was surprised it is available in Netflix. This J-drama is voted #1 on Douban (China’s equivalent of IMDb) list of top 20 best J-dramas of all time and you can trust this list 100% because the Chinese netizens’ reviews can be the most brutal ones you will ever read.

Unnatural (2018) is a crime drama centered around experienced pathologists at UDI Lab (Unnatural Death Investigation). It follows the lives of the employees as they try to make sense of the cause of death and what exactly happened. It follows a traditional case-by-case approach, with each episode delving a little into its overarching plot. The drama stars veterans Satomi Ishihara, Iura Arata and Kubota Masataka amongst others. It’s also a crime/mystery drama with forensic science as a main theme.

I have been watching a lot of K-dramas and this 10-episode J-drama was a breath of fresh air. The average runtime for the episodes is not more than 45 minutes so they don’t over-stay their welcome. Each episode is devoted to a crime with a body hailing from an unnatural death and an over-arching plot involving a serial killer runs through all the episodes. I didn’t find it episodic at all. The cases are all interesting and no one case is the same as the previous, each is able to throw light on the fragility of man and how each person is capable to be the worst and the best of himself. Some of the story premises hit the jugular, for example, imagine you are a pathologist getting ready to perform an autopsy with all the important people looking at you. You then open the body bag and see your fiancée, what will you do? This one hit me hard and I had to choke back a lump in my throat, while my wifey’s tears rolled down.

Unlike many K-dramas with a thousand and one sub-plots running all over the shop, this J-drama hardly holds any fats, every scene is there for a good reason. At 45 minutes each, the story runs fast and yet knows how to slow down to paint the characters in cool hues, with each of them having a back story which feeds their character motivations. The team of UDI is practically an ensemble of Avengers and they bring down criminals not with guns and tasers, but with forensic science and meticulous work, that’s their super power. The show is also superbly well researched and I was kept spellbound with all the science.

We were sad to see this one end and can’t wait to see more of this team of UDI. Will there be a S2? I hope and pray so, but the writer needs to do an outstanding job to top this season. (4.5/5)

[westendboy]

The weather has been so cool and dreary that I seized the chance to watch some horror movies in my stash. You can’t buy atmosphere like that. I will just mention two of them.

The above is a sweet photo of the couple (Kelly Reilly and Michael Fassbender) before everything goes to hell. The movie is Eden Lake (2008) and it starts off in bright sunlight and with romance in the air. Then it slowly goes off the rails when they are harassed by a group of feral teenagers on BMX bikes.

For me, good horror doesn’t rely on CGI and its launching pad should be from a place of societal fears and hard-as-nails realism. This one scared the bejesus out of me with its unrelenting, hard-edged grit. I had no idea that the movie starred Kelly Reilly of Yellowstone fame and boy can she act. I literally believed she was going through every harrowing experience. Then there is also Fassbender and I sure wouldn’t want to be in his shoes.

It was also very frustrating to watch because given the same situation I would have high-tailed out of there. Fu$k pride! I would have apologised and left the place. Being alive and kicking is better than being in a world of pain. I have been dealing with teenagers all my adult working life (and I still am) and sometimes there are those really nasty ones you can’t reason with no matter how hard you try. One look at this crazy bunch I know the couple would in for a world of anger and frustration but yet they persist on their high horse. That said, they don’t deserve what is coming for them.

This is one helluva rollercoaster ride and it had me punching the air in victory when some of the scumbags get their just dessert, but the ending… holy cow! You would hardly see this in a Hollywood movie. The downbeat ending is absolutely earned to the max. I sank down into the sofa and after a brief silence Choo asked me for something light and bright. I think both of us would have had a heart attack if I had followed it up with another white-knuckled horror flick. (4/5)

Yes, that’s a pic of a scene from The Hitcher (2007), a remake of the 1986 starring Rutger Hauer. I couldn’t get my hands on the original and so this will have to do for now. I know the riff-raff about the remake and how pointless it was when compared to the original, but I can’t comment on that… yet. I just found out the original movie is on YouTube and will probably cue that one up this weekend.

The story is simple: a couple from college get caught in a dangerous game of cat and mouse with a psychopathic hitchhiker and the police after witnessing a murder and being framed. This is another cautionary tale and the life lesson here is “never pick up strangers”, especially when they are wearing a trenchcoat.

I thought it was a fun movie and doesn’t require an ounce of brain juice (sometimes you need movies like this). There is quite a bit of gore including tearing a body into half, but overall the movie feels very by-the-numbers. I find it difficult to empathise with the two protagonists who are terrorised by the psychopath unlike the couple in Eden Lake, so much so that they feel more like body #1 and #2 rather than hero #1 and #2. For some reason they also annoy the hell out of me. So with that goes the catharsis and the celebratory note when they one-up the villain. I also find the choice of showing some scenes of ultra-violence off-screen goes against the grain of the movie. I mean if you are going to show a body explode in a shotgun blast and a body torn into half, why refrained from showing how a poor family and a whole police department get slaughtered?

Sean Bean does a decent job but his role only requires him to look menacing. His character lacks a psychological subtext to make you want to know him albeit from a distance. He seems like a man running from a dark past and has a death wish. But he just didn’t get under my skin and I basically watch the whole movie at arm’s length. It isn’t a bad way to spend a cold and rainy night, but I just wish for something with a bit more depth, blood and entrails. (3/5)

[westendboy]

I have so much reading in front of me that I have neglected, so this will be a quick post filled with many brushstrokes. Hopefully I will get you curious to check out some stuff and also to stay away from an iffy one.

I wrote a long and comprehensive review for Paatal Lok S1 (2020) but won’t be attempting another one for S2. It’s not because it isn’t good, in fact it’s better than what I thought it will be. It seems lightning can indeed strike the same spot twice.

An influential political leader from Nagaland is murdered brutally in Delhi in the middle of a vital Nagaland Business Summit. Imran Ansari (Ishwak Singh), now an IPS officer, is tasked with the investigation. Concurrently, Hathiram Chaudhary (Jaideep Ahlawat), who is still languishing in the Jamuna Paar Police Station, is investigating the disappearance of a lowly drug courier. Soon, the two ex-colleagues realise their cases are linked and it takes them to Nagaland, where nobody trusts them and the local SP (Tillotama Shome) is more hindrance than help. Navigating the complexities of politics, insurgency, narcotics, and family, Hathiram must get to the truth before this paatal lok sucks him in.

I have seen countless of Hindi and Tamil movies and shows, but this marks the first time it takes me to NE India to a state called Nagaland. S1 is media-political heavy, while S2 is more socio-political, wading deep into the murky depths of dark politics. Not for a second was I lost in the mire of dirty politics, which is told with crystal clarity. The story is always focused on Hathiram who is our surrogate through this crazy world. He is the “invisible” man and always gives the impression he is a pushover, but his being is propelled by an innate desire to find the answers to the mystery and find justice for disenfranchised.

Nagaland as the setting is quite an eye-opener. To see indigenous people living there and their cultural practices is like given privy to something the world hasn’t seen. To me, the setting is a character in itself.

Every element of storytelling is in top form – the acting, the cinematography, the plot, the characterisation, everything feels like it had gone through a pressure cooker, cooked to perfection.

When S2 ended, I was in a daze, the good kind that only masterclass storytelling can do. The ending was so satisfying and the process of reaching that destination was a scrumptious buffet of cool storytelling. I was convinced this is the first great show of this year. Sadly, I think the western side of the world will never know about this. Trust me, get your hands on both seasons, clear your schedule and get ready to be surprised. (4.5/5)

My wifey and I are huge Hirokazu Koreeda fans and would watch anything by him. Asura is him trying his hand at the long form of a TV show.

Set in 1979, this drama follows the story of four sisters whose conflicts and secrets begin to unravel when their elderly father becomes involved with a mistress. Miyazawa Rie plays Tsunako, the eldest sister who makes her living as an ikebana (flower arrangement) instructor after losing her husband. Ono Machiko portrays Makiko, the second sister who is a full-time housewife living with her salaryman husband and children. Aoi Yu plays Takiko, the third sister who works as a librarian and is awkward in romance, while Hirose Suzu takes on the role of Sakiko, the youngest sister who works as a café waitress and lives with an aspiring boxer.

The constant theme of Koreeda is family. He is always fascinated by what will happen to the family unit when it is tested by a problem. 4 sisters getting wind of their aging father’s affair is sure to send ripples throughout the family.

The show has a superb sense of place and time. 1979 has never looked so cool and I love watching the interactions between the 4 sisters. They can get jealous and argue till the cows come home, but when it comes to trouble in the family they will rally together. All of them are fleshed out so well, each with a back story and their acting is marvellous to behold.

Where the show falters for me are the payoff or the lack-there-of and how the pace isn’t well-managed with characters repeating beats. I am afraid I felt the runtime and didn’t feel compelled to finish the show fast, preferring to come back to it when we had nothing worthy to watch. That said, I didn’t regret watching this and anything by Koreeda is always a treat. (3.5/5)

I wanted to watch The Day of the Jackal since last year but the show is on Peacock which I don’t have. Then a week ago it appeared on HBO Max and I stopped everything we were watching and dived into this.

I was a huge fan of the novel and even the 1973 movie and yes I also watched Hollywood’s remake The Jackal (1997) which was made for simpletons. Thankfully, the TV series that fall into the trap and uses the long form well.

Eddie Redmayne is perfectly cast as The Jackal. Feline in his movement, he weaves in and out of crowds like he is an invisible man with an expertise to die for. He is entirely convincing with his meticulous planning and execution. It reaches a point Choo and I were rooting for him to succeed which means the show has sold the idea.

Where it feels weak and this is probably just me is how the chaser is a Black woman probably necessary to be woke in these present times we live in. That said, Lashana Lynch does a superb job as an operative who has The Jackal in her sights and she is willing to break the rules to neutralise him.

If the show is focused on both of them it’s an adrenaline pumping show, where it falters is with The Jackal’s wife Nuria. Yes, the world’s best assassin has a family. This has to be any assassin’s piped dream and its mistake #1 for him. I will let you see what transpires with regard to this element of the plot on your own. That aside, this is a helluva entertaining and you are going to see your allegiance to everything moral waver like a flag in the wind. The moment it ended, Choo asked me when is S2 up. I had to tell her it’s probably still on the writing table. You should see the disappointment on her face. (4/5)

A couple of weeks ago, AppleTV was free for a weekend. I only had time to dive into the latest season of Slow Horses and this, Presumed Innocent.

I was a big fan of the novel and also saw the Harrison Ford led movie. Since Choo loves legal dramas we dived in and didn’t come up for air until it was over.

David E. Kelley has done a fine job adaptating the story into the long form with a side plot focusing on the wife. I will keep this short – this is gripping and masterfully made thriller that rewards the old faithfuls and also gives a fevered rush to those who aren’t familiar with the story of a man vehemently attesting his innocence with the jaws of justice clamping around him like a vice. The twists and turns are well-earned, the pacing is electric, the cast performances are superb all round and the twist in the ending I didn’t see coming, yes even for someone who had read the novel and saw the movie. The news is Kelley is doing a S2 which I kind of know the direction it will take. Here’s to hoping it will surprise me again. (4/5)

Blink Twice, well you can blink ten times but the movie still won’t work, at least for me.

This is Zoë Kravitz’s baby and she even went behind the camera for this. The story takes too long to get to the main conceit and by the time it reaches there I didn’t care anymore. I can totally see the Get Out vibe but it comes at it at such an oblique angle that it doesn’t land with any impact. If this had been in Alfred Hitchcock’s hands it will be a very different movie.

A good storyteller will able to sell the conceit and you will believe it for 2 hours. Kravitz didn’t sell it to me and the whole thing feels like hogwash. But don’t take my word for it, maybe it will work for you. (2/5)

[westendboy]

The Oscars are around the corner so I tried to catch as many of the Best Picture nominees as I could. We saw 3 on top of the others we have already seen.

The Brutalist is a helluva full meal, not only because it’s a 3.5-hour magnum opus (complete with an overture and an intermission) but every aspect of filmmaking is up the Ying Yang. It is complex, dense and impossible to be pigeonholed. It is most definitely about the arduousness of immigration, class disparity, architecture, capitalism, trauma and even filmmaking itself.

Of course it is a little pretentious, but the film is so ambitious that you can see through the pretension. From the fluid and organic cinematography to the superb acting to the grandeur of every scene, every aspect of filmmaking seems to be embracing the great American historical novel. But with such ambition also comes a distancing effect. I did find myself not being totally immersed in the proceedings, preferring to marvel at the marvellous aspects of the film. Though Adrien Brody put on a career best performance, I find myself at arm’s length with his character and not being to feel sympathetic to his plight.

To me, this is an Emperor’s New Clothes movie. You are going to get a whole lot of critics singing praises about it like it’s the cure to Covid. It is a superbly made film no doubt, but it is one that I can never watch again. And what the hell happened to Guy Pearce’s Harrison character? Aaarrggghhh… I hate it when I have a nagging question bombarding my head. (4/5)

A Real Pain follows mismatched cousins David (Jesse Eisenberg) and Benji (Kieran Culkin) as they reunite for a tour through Poland to honor their beloved grandmother, but their adventure takes a dark turn when the odd couple’s old tensions resurface against the backdrop of their family history.

It is an odd couple road movie, a formula that has been used many times, but with the right storytelling it can smell like a bed of roses which it does here. Eisenberg brought out his A game – his screenplay is funny and poignant, his acting is resonant and his directing is impeccable. Of course, his casting choice is a match made in heaven. Kieran Culkin is a force of nature – he can literally lit up a room and in a spontaneous moment can lay a shite on everything.

I thought the script wisely steps over cliches typical in opposing family members narratives. The funny moments support the heart wrenching ones and vice-versa. This should win the Oscar for screenplay. And who can forget the final frame with the title card of “A Real Pain” appearing for the first time and suddenly you realised you can read the title in two ways. I am still haunted by Benji’s mien – should I lean towards pity or step back away from it? (4.5/5)

A Complete Unknown is a right proper music biopic of an enigmatic music icon, Bob Dylan. Forget about walking out of the cinema thinking you will know Dylan’s thought process as he writes the seminal folk songs or even know what motivates him. This is not that movie. The answers to these questions about the man is blowing’ in the wind.

Prior to watching this I suggested to Choo to watch Don’t Look Back (1967), a documentary covering Dylan’s tour of England in 1965 and so we did. This here is a right proper window into the man’s talents and bad behaviour. I think Dylan was so nonchalant he didn’t bother to check the film before it was printed. Like all great artistes who seemed to live on a plane higher than all of us commoners, Dylan was so disrespectful and condescending towards journalist and his band mates. This here is a right proper a55.

James Mangold’s A Complete Unknown is set in the influential New York City music scene of the early 1960s. It follows 19-year-old Minnesota musician Bob Dylan’s meteoric rise as a folk singer to concert halls and the top of the charts as his songs and his mystique become a worldwide sensation that culminates in his groundbreaking electric rock-and-roll performance at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965.

I thought Timothee Chalamet did an incredible job portraying the enigmatic Bob Dylan and he even does his own singing in Dylan’s distinctive style that hits it out of the park. Chalamet does a superb job, creating the distant, aloof and self-absorbing nature of the music icon while exuding a charisma that is undeniable. Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez is also a class act. She is so good in her singing she can quit acting. Edward Norton also turns in a noteworthy performance of a man stilted in tradition and not able being able to embrace the new.

The sense of place and time is impeccable, and the biopic is testament that you don’t have to tell a story about a music icon by laying bare his personal demons. I don’t think I came away from the movie knowing more about the man, but to be awash by his powerful words and simple chords is a gift in itself. (4/5)

[westendboy]

Some quick musings on some movies we have seen and I thought I try something different… I will give a heads up to some shows we are currently following.

Mickey 17 (2025), we caught at the cinema. Ever since Memories of Murder, I made a decision to watch anything Bong Joon Ho makes. Adapted from the novel Mickey7 by Edward Ashton, this stars Robert Pattinson as an “expendable” – a disposable crew member on a space mission, selected for dangerous tasks because he can be reprinted if his body dies with his memories largely intact. With the 17th regeneration, though, things go very wrong because the previous version hasn’t expired yet.

Let’s face it – Bong’s Hollywood output are just not of the high standards of his Korean ones. However the early images and trailer of Mickey 17 seemed to suggest he might break the duck with this. To this movie buff, the movie is a lot of fun but it doesn’t reach anywhere top tier.

It starts off well and from the get-go Robert Pattinson has the uncanny ability to bring you alongside him, empathising with his plight as he goes through his latest iteration in a dangerous spot. His naivety and innocence shine like a halo. Pattinson plays two versions of himself with deft delineation you won’t be lost who is who, but it also helps when their personalities are so different. Herein lies one of the issues I have with the story – I get why for the sake of storytelling you would want all the iterations to retain their memory but why would their personalities be so different?

All of Bong’s movies are clever social critiques wrapped in black humour satires and clever genre-mixing. Mickey 17 addresses the ethical issues that come with human printing and how technology in the future is weaponised against the poor and downtrodden. All that is good but the way it is handled here feels heavy-handed and at over two hours it bite off more than it can chew.

The villainy comes in the form of the megalomaniacal couple of Mark Ruffalo’s Kenneth Marshall and Toni Collette’s Ylfa. Marshall especially comes across as an amalgamation of Elon Musk and Trump. Ylfa has heavy shades of power women who see lower people as pawns for their agendas. Both characters grate on my nerves after a while. The campiness was so thick that their tomfoolery and buffoonery weaken the storyline.

All that said, you have to admire Bong’s ambition and visually this looks incredible. For me, the movie does make me question society’s place in determining who is disposable. Sadly, I doubt the moment I post this musing my mind will continue to linger on the social issues. (3.5/5)

Don’t be fooled by the derogatory title of My Old Ass (2024), this one is all heart. The story and plot is really simple, but the execution is pure bliss.

A mushroom trip brings free-spirited Elliott (Maisy Stella) face-to-face with her 39-year-old self (Aubrey Plaza). But when Elliott’s “old ass” delivers warnings to her younger self, Elliott realizes she has to rethink everything about her family, life and love.

The script cleverly side-steps the cliche situations like why won’t the older self tell the younger self how to get rich and all the other usual pot-holes. It’s a coming-of-age story with oodles of the 3 H’s: humour, hope and heart, yet it feels authentic and honest. It is breezy to watch, making you let down your guard because of the cool premise and vividly drawn characters. I’m sure you won’t see the emotional gut punch coming in the last act. Make sure you are holding a piece of tissue in your hand at this point but you know me, I just let the tears make tiny rivers on my face. The emotional third act is well-earned, tender and heartfelt.

It might feel like a “small” movie, but when I think back it didn’t feel that way. Writer-director Megan Park has a sure hand on the story and she understands adolescent desires and all the wee bit struggles adolescents go through which always feel like Defcon-one problems for them. The search for identity, questions about love, family and the future loom large for young people on the cusp of new changes. The story could easily try to do too much, but Park has a firm hand and addresses a few salient touchstones – if you know the future, do you teach your younger self how to navigate the emotional minefield? Or is life an accumulation of mistakes and it’s about you learning from them and be molded from the lessons? Perhaps it is just about reassuring your younger self that you are going to be okay and never to stop asking questions about life. (4/5)

You know how Netflix introduces new stuff to you when you open the app, so one evening it was showing a scene from a Taiwanese dramedy series called I am Married… But (童话故事下集) and my wife laughed her head off. The scene depicts a wife who couldn’t sleep because of her husband’s snoring. Oh boy… the scene just rang too close to home, but anything that can make Choo laugh without a care in the world I have to press “play”.

This is a depiction of a modern marriage from a female perspective. I thought writer-director Nyssa Li does a solid job distilling the joys and pitfalls of a modern marriage. Many of the scenes resonated with me and it’s so funny laughing at the antics on this side of the screen which are reminiscent of a time not too long ago. I thought it was keenly observant of what couples go through especially when they are not yet capable of getting a place of their own and have to live with the in-laws. Being a Taiwanese dramedy, do expect some campiness but I must say it never overwhelms the drama. The chemistry between the two leads also sells the show.

Not every episode is stellar though. I thought some problems are solved in the usual cliche ways which offer no surprises and for this reviewer, I abhor baby jokes, especially those about making babies. That’s my numero uno bugbear. However, the final episode manages to surprise me with a poignant message about how to make marriages work and the emotional closure is beautiful. (3.5/5)

One of my all-time favourite movies is Soulmate (七月与安生) (2016). I remember coming out of the cinema feeling stunned and quickly a discussion with Choo ensued and it didn’t end till we reached home. Both actresses were amazing in their roles and were pitted against each other at the Golden Horse Film Festival and both rightfully received the Best Actress award, an unprecedented feat in the history of the award festival. Come 2025 and I found out that there is a Korean remake. The original movie is already perfect in its own right but I searched out the Korean movie for a watch out of curiosity. Surprise, surprise this doesn’t suck at all.

This is a coming-of-age story where two friends first meet at 11 years old and spend the course of 14 years remaining close and sharing experiences in both friendship and romance. It is a very fateful remake but it changes one thing which I thought makes the story stronger – it makes the two girls the central focus and shifts the focus away from the boy who drives them apart.

The two leads are perfectly cast and their chemistry is palpable. I like the cultural change but I already know how the movie will end and it’s never going to better the original. Nothing can change the magic of how the original ended which will beg 3 different readings. This Korean remake is excellent but it will never be able to put a shade on the original. If you have a chance do seek out the 2016 Chinese movie for a watch and I promise you will not regret it. This is my amateurish review of that movie. (3.5/5)

And now for some quick ones of TV shows we are currently following and also just gave up.

HBO’s The Pitt is about the daily lives of healthcare professionals in a Pittsburgh hospital as they juggle personal crises, workplace politics, and the emotional toll of treating critically ill patients, revealing the resilience required in their noble calling. Every episode is one hour in the A&E department and the entire season is a 16-hour tour of the crazy emergency department. It’s all very realistic but after 5 episodes we got bored and no A&E, no matter which part of the world you are in, is not a fun place to be in

HBO’s Industry is already in its 3rd season but we binged S1 in a jiffy. It’s about young bankers and traders make their way in the financial world in the aftermath of the 2008 collapse. This show has no sympathetic characters, everyone is on various notches on the loathsome scale and they take turns to be the worst. Drugs, sex and money are the ingredients. It is full of tension and nail-biting suspense to see them ring in the latest client or get bamboozled. Expect no kindness on the trading floor. It told me that I should have studied finance in the university instead of Math. We went on to S2 but Choo got exhausted by it because it is more of the same thing. So I am watching this on my own.

Prime’s Reacher S3 is a lotta fun. It improves on S2 because there are fewer characters to concentrate on and just to see Reacher infiltrate a gun running gang and see him play Yojimbo on the scumbags is so fun. The guy kills bad guys like he is swapping mosquitoes without his moral compass wavering. This is one of those shows you need to put your brain on the floor as you watch it because if you don’t you will start to wonder how come the bad guys are so dumb that they don’t see the mountain of a dude is the stool pigeon.

Netflix’s The Hot Spot is a recommendation by a friend. It’s about Endo Kiyomi, a single mother near Mt. Fuji, who works at a business hotel. One day, she meets an alien. Unlike a pure-hearted girl seeking justice, her life experiences lead her to ask the alien to solve minor work or personal issues. We binged 3 episodes through and laughed our heads off. The humour is so dry and delivery so dead-pan, and the jokes land like an earthquake. You can see this as the anti-thesis of a superhero movie, but the dude with superpowers and the people who know of his talents are not enamoured to try to save the world. I think if Godzilla appears the dude will just hide in the onsen. The people who know of his powers will ask him to solve mundane problems like putting screen protectors on handphones because of his ultra-focus superpower and that’s just one of many “small” jobs he does, but to the people he is amazing. There is also this visual joke that I love a lot – in numerous scenes you will see the majestic Mount Fuji in the background but nobody cares because they probably see it every day. I do find it cumbersome to watch this once a week when a new episode drops. You should just binge this when all the episodes are down.

Less said about Hulu’s Paradise the better. Trust me, go in to this one blind and the reveal at the end of ep1 will floor you. We are 3 episodes in and so far it is very intriguing – a murder mystery, evil government types and every character cannot be trusted. This is created by Dan Fogelman, who did the massively popular This Is Us , but over here he is working on a different register.

Every Monday evening is HBO’s The White Lotus night. We love this show and by this current 3rd season it already has a grammar. It is a menagerie of first world behaviour of the worst kind. We guffaw at hypocrites getting their comeuppance, rub our fingers in glee at greedy people getting what’s coming for them and spout F-bombs at detestable and pretentious behaviour, all in the name of fun. Shifting the story to an Asian culture has opened lots of possibilities and the music soundtrack is awesome. The icing on the cake is seeing Lisa of Blackpink who puts in a sweet performance. It won’t win her any acting awards but she won’t be complaining of the expansion of her repertoire. Can’t wait to see how this ends, it will probably be bloody judging from the opening of the first episode.

Netflix’s When Life Gives You Tangerines is currently at 4 episodes but based on just these episodes I have a feeling I am watching something magical. By that I mean it made me think about my parents as teenagers meandering through this thing call life and their love story. I don’t think any show or movie has even done that for me. It’s probably too early to adorn it with a wall of words but I will say a bit more to hopefully entice some readers to check it out.

This is a drama that tells the adventure-filled life of the rebellious Ae-soon (Lee Ji-eun) and Gwan-sik (Park Bo-gum), both born in Jeju in the 1950s. I love the look of Jeju in the 50s to the 60s, so idyllic but also no stranger to vile human behaviour. To watch how Ae-soon navigate her life with so much feistiness is a joy. IU, as she is affectionately known, turns in a career-defining performance. I said the exact same thing when she was in My Mister and Hotel Del Luna, and I meant it every time. How does she pull off this feat? This is a helluva fierce performance and behind her portrayal you see legions of women who were treated like second class citizens cheering her on. In Gwan-sik you witness the blueprint of how men should protect their lovers by standing up to injustice. Both of their performances are so powerful and fierce that you won’t even question the logic of their relationship.

The first 2 episodes didn’t grab me. Like most Kdramas they felt overstuffed. Then it happened – the tears started streaming and yet I couldn’t control myself from laughing like a nutcase. Forget about watching Tom Cruise run in Mission Impossible, you damn well need to see IU run in the driving rain while wearing a long tight skirt, she runs for her love who is already in an ocean liner. Will he hear her? Heck! Can he even see her? I will let you find out for yourself but I will say this – if this scene doesn’t move you to the heavens, you are too jaded and have lost touch with life. After this scene I started to see what this is about – it’s a love letter to the past and all things that will make you, you. Can’t wait for the rest of the episodes to drop.

When Severance ends, I will also be getting a month of AppleTV to watch that, PachinkoS2, Silo S2, Disclaimer and others.

That’s it. Thanks for reading. It means a lot to me.