The Drama (2026) ☆☆☆(3/4): This is one *nasty* movie

Posted on September 14, 2026 by kaist455

Norwegian filmmaker Kristoffer Borgli’s latest film “The Drama” is quite sour and nasty to say the least. While it starts like your average romantic comedy, the movie soon turns out to be an absurd and vicious black comedy drenched in unabashed misanthropy. In fact, you may also be offended a lot by how brashly it uses a very, very, very sensitive certain American social issue as the ground for a number of deliberately unpleasant comic moments, and please don’t say that I did not warn you in advance.

The story begins with a rather awkward Meet Cute moment between a young American woman named Emma Harwood (Zendaya) and a British lad named Charlie Thompson (Robert Pattinson). While Emma is a literary editor, Charlie is a museum curator, and he tries a rather pathetic attempt to get closer to her when he happens to notice and then become smitten with her at a cafe. Although his little deception is soon exposed during their following first date, Charlie and Emma find themselves more attracted to each other, and then they prepare for the upcoming wedding some time later.

At first, everything seems to be going fairly well for their upcoming wedding. As they are more reminded of how much they are still attracted to each other, Charlie sincerely tries to write a flawless speech to express his love toward Emma, and it looks like he is going to deliver something really good enough to touch not only her but also their guests.

Of course, there subsequently comes a very unexpected problem for Charlie and Emma. As they have a casual conversation with Charlie’s best male friend Mike (Mamoudou Athie, who is unfortunately stuck in a very thankless supporting role) and his wife Rachel (Alana Haim, who does not have much to do here just like Athie), they are demanded to reveal to each other the worst thing they ever did in their respective lives. They could simply say no, but, mainly because 1) Mike and Rachel already did that first and 2) they happen to be quite drunk, they casually reveal what they respectively have not told each other.

While what Charlie reveals is merely trivial, what Emma reveals is so serious that it instantly ruins the mood among them and their two friends. I will not go into details here, but I can tell you instead that her shocking revelation subsequently throws Charlie into a lot of confusion and conflict. Regardless of whether he really loves Emma as much as he says, he cannot help but become more fixated on that serious fact in her past, and this surely frustrates and exasperates her a lot.

Cooly observing Charlie and Emma’s increasingly strained relationship from the distance, the movie has a lot of twisted fun with Charlie’s pathetic pettiness. Despite being fairly sophisticated as reflected by his profession, he only finds himself still struggling to process and then accept that exposed past of his future wife, and this inevitably leads to a series of very unwise (and stupid) choices which consequently make their situation all the worse than before.

Borgli is no stranger at all to such a morbidly absurd comedy like that. His second feature film “Sick of Myself” (2022) is occasionally quite uncomfortable as illustrating how far its incorrigibly narcissistic heroine is willing to go for more attention, and his next film “Dream Scenario” (2023), which is incidentally his first English language film, often touches on our nerve as a wry comic allegory on the volatile aspects of online popularity.

In case of “The Drama”, it is decidedly as misanthropic as several notable works of Michael Haneke and many other clinically disagreeable European films about dark and unpleasant human behaviors, and I observed that with repulsion as well as fascination. The main characters are mostly broad caricatures I did not care that much about, and most of them are pretty disagreeable at times, but I was also sort of amused by how far the movie can go as pushing the story and characters toward the inevitable finale. 

Reflecting more on what I observed during my viewing, I think the movie sometimes goes too far to justify its vicious satire. Technically, anything can be a subject for comedy, but what I vaguely mentioned at the beginning of the review can be regarded as something too dark and serious to be used for humor and satire. Moreover, considering the racial and gender background of Emma, Borgli’s screenplay should have handled that subject with more sensitivity and thoughtfulness in my inconsequential opinion, and it also fails to flesh her out more along the story as mostly focusing more on Charlie’s petty and thoughtless behaviors.  

Fortunately, the commendable efforts from the two lead performers compensate for the weak aspects of the movie. Despite her under-written part, Zendaya demonstrates again that she is a charismatic actress with undeniable potential and talent, and it is a shame that she has not yet found a film which can make her really shine at the center. On the opposite, Robert Pattinson, who incidentally appeared in Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” (2026) like his co-star and will appear along with her in the upcoming Dune movie by Denis Villneuve, unhesitatingly throws himself into the sheer pettiness of character, and he surely reminds us again that he is one of the most interesting movie actors at present. 

In conclusion, “The Drama” is definitely not something you can casually watch for casual entertainment, but you may observe its many unpleasant sides with some fascination and admiration if you appreciated Borgli’s two previous films mentioned above. I still feel rather ambivalent about whether it is as successful as intended, but I conclude that it is interesting enough to recommend, and you may later tell me what you think and feel about it.

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Oasis: Don’t Look Back in Anger (2026) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): Oasis back in action

Posted on September 14, 2026 by kaist455

Documentary film “Oasis: Don’t Look Back in Anger”, which was released in South Korean theaters shortly after being premiered at the Venice International Film Festival, is a powerful experience you should not miss even if you are not so familiar with its main subject (FULL DISCLOSURE: I am one of such persons). Closely following the 2025 comeback tour of English rock band Oasis, the documentary mostly stays focused on the two contrasting figures at its center, and it is often touching to observe how their eventual reconciliation led to something very special for not only themselves but also many others out there.

They are Liam and Noel Gallagher, the two brothers who founded Oasis in their hometown Manchester, UK in 1991. The beginning of their band was pretty humble to say the least, but, thanks to their considerable talent, it did not take much time for Oasis to become one of the most popular rock bands in not only UK but also many countries around the world, and the early part of the documentary shows how popular their band really was during the 1990s.

However, due to their undeniable personality difference, Liam and Noel also constantly clashed with each other, and the increasingly tense conflicts between them certainly affected their band in one way or another. In the end, their collaboration was suddenly aborted in the middle of their another tour in 2009, and that seemed to be the irreversible end of one of the most successful British rock bands in the history.

During next 15 years, Liam and Noel never tried to approach to each other in public or private, but both of them subsequently changed their mind. Regardless of how angry or bitter they were about each other, they somehow agreed to put their old band back in action, and that accordingly led them to the preparation for the worldwide tour in 2025.

Of course, working together again after many years of estrangement and resentment were not so easy for both Noel and Liam, and we get some uneasy amusement as observing how they and several other musicians including their old friend/colleague Paul “Bonehead” Arthurs did their rehearsals. While he begins the rehearsal first along with his colleagues, Noel is still not so sure about whether Liam will eventually come, because he knows too well how capricious Liam can be. Fortunately, Liam later arrives at the spot, but the remaining tension and awkwardness between him and Noel is palpable to us even though they tactfully maintain some distance between them throughout their rehearsal.

Nevertheless, they and their colleagues gradually work together more and more, and the documentary sometimes juxtaposes this compelling process with the interview recordings of Liam and Noel. While being quite frank about their personality difference, both of them often become reflective about their life and career, and there is real human poignancy from how they get closer to each other bit by bit via their common artistic passion.

Needless to say, the documentary also pays attention to how their comeback excited millions of their fans around the world, who certainly contributed a lot to the huge success of the 2025 tour of Oasis. Noel, Liam, and their band members were enthusiastically greeted by their fans right from the first day of their tour, and this surely galvanized them more as they did one concert after another around the world.    

While the documentary surely shows a lot of enthralled audiences during the concerts, it becomes more interesting when it listens to a number of various Oasis fans around the world. To each of them, those very popular songs from Oasis mean a lot for their respective personal reasons, and they all have each own interesting story to tell. I was amused a bit as observing a Brazilian lady eagerly introducing a pet dog named after one of the band members, and I was also touched as listening to a South Korean “haenyeo” talking about how she got a lot of emotional comfort and support from those Oasis songs.

And it is also moving to watch how Liam and Noel became all the closer to each other during the tour of their band. As recognizing and accepting more of their many differences, they came to work together more harmoniously than before, and that accordingly brought more affection and respect from both sides. When we later see them doing an interview together, the mood between them feels quite more casual and relaxed compared to their strained first steps toward reconciliation, and their restored relationship becomes all the more evident to us when they show more appreciation and support to each other around the final concert of their tour.

Overall, “Oasis: Don’t Look Back in Anger” is one of the best music documentaries of this year, and directors Will Lovelace and Dylan Southern, who previously directed “Shut Up and Play the Hits” (2012) and “Meet Me in the Bathroom” (2022), did a stellar job of presenting their main subject on the basis of what was planned by co-producer/writer Steven Knight. Although the condition of a small screening room where I watched the documentary along with a few audiences including my boyfriend yesterday was not exactly ideal, I soon got interested and then excited within less than 30 minutes, and I also began to consider checking on several albums from Oasis later. This says a lot about how effective the documentary was to me, doesn’t it?

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Gill (2024) ☆☆☆(3/4): The boy who can breathe in water

Posted on September 14, 2026 by kaist455

South Korean independent animation feature film “Gill”, which finally came to local movie theaters after being premiered at the Bucheon International Animation Festival two years ago, impressed me a lot for its distinctive mood and style. Based on the 2011 novel of the same name by Gu Byeong-mo, the film presents an odd but compelling fantasy drama, and the result holds our attention to the end even though the story falters a bit during its last act.

The center of the story is a boy who is later named “Gon” (voiced by Jung Hae-in), and the opening part establishes how he somehow acquired an extraordinary ability. When his widower father attempted to drown himself and Gon in a big lake not long after killing someone, Gon managed to survive after becoming able to breathe in water via the sudden generation of a pair of gills on his neck, and then he was later rescued by an old man who has earned his meager living via collecting junks from those abandoned ships and boats on the lake.

The old man lives with his young grandson Kang-ha (voiced by Kang Ha-neul), who has stayed with his grandfather since he was abandoned by his mother several years ago. Although he does not welcome Gon that much at the beginning, Kang-ha soon becomes like a big older brother to Gon as he and his grandfather come to take care of Gon, and he is actually the one who came to think of that new name for him.

As both Kang-ha and his grandfather try to protect Gon from the outside world as much as possible, we observe a rather complicated relationship developed between Kang-ha and Gon during next several years. While quite fascinated with how different Gon is from others due to not only gills but also the shiny scales on his back, Kang-ha is alternatively protective and abusive to Gon, and he also commits some real cruel things to Gon just for putting more distance between them – until there later comes a point where Gon must leave Kang-ha and the old man. 

Their story is presented in a series of flashbacks intercut with a subplot associated with a young woman named Hae-ryoo (voiced by Lee Chung-ah), who happened to be rescued by Gon in the middle of one desperate night of hers. Quite baffled by her unbelievable encounter with Gon, she subsequently tries to locate whoever may know Gon, and that is how she eventually meets older Kang-ha, who, after becoming wiser and more thoughtful than before, is ready to tell everything without hiding or exaggerating anything at all about his very complex past with Gon.

As going back and forth between two individual storylines, the film sometimes loses its narrative focus, and we often observe the story and characters from the distance instead of getting more engaged, but the film compensates for its weak aspects via its distinctive mood and style. Although Gu’s novel is set in contemporary South Korea, the modern background of the film is an amusingly eclectic mix of Korean and European elements, and its cell animation texture often evokes several notable animation films of Studio Ghibli. These deliberate choices in terms of mood and style certainly feel a bit weird even to South Korean audiences like me, but it somehow works well with the fantasy elements in the story besides intriguing us more along the story.

And we are served with a series of fantastic visual moments whenever the story goes further with Gon’s special abilities. As becoming more aware of how different he is from others including Kang-ha and his grandfather, Gon feels more loneliness as your typical outsider, and he naturally comes to feel more freedom whenever he dives into the lake, though he remains stuck with Kang-ha no matter how harsh Kang-ha is to him.

While frequently admiring the commendable visual qualities of the film, I also found its story and characters a bit too flat and superficial. While several substantial supporting characters in the story besides Kang-ha’s grandfather are more or less than mere plot elements, the story also does not delve that deep into that love and hate relationship between Kang-ha and Gon before eventually throwing a couple of melodramatic plot turns during the last act.

Furthermore, the dialogues and narrations in the film are a little stiff and strained at times, and this often undermines the fairly good efforts from its several notable voice cast members from Jung Hae-in, Kang Ha-neul, Lee Chung-ah, Yoo Jae-myung, and Kim Sun-young. Jung, who recently appeared as a substantial supporting character in “I, the Executioner” (2024), and Kang did a solid job of embodying the contrasting personalities of their characters, and Lee brings some extra warmth and sensitivity to the story as her supposedly functional character comes to show more of her own thoughts and feelings along the story.  

In conclusion, “Gill”, directed by Ahn Jae-huun, is another interesting work to be added to the growing list of South Korean animation films during last several years. Although their levels of achievement are not so even in my humble opinion, they all show considerable potential in each own way nonetheless, and “Gill” surely demonstrates more of how far South Korean animation may go in the future. In short, this is one of the better recent results from South Korean animation, and I assure you that you will not easily forget it after it is over.

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Days of Being Wild (1990) ☆☆☆(3/4): A self-absorbed lad’s languid descent

Posted on September 12, 2026 by kaist455

Wong Kar-Wai’s 1990 film “Days of Being Wild”, whose 4K remastered version was released in South Korean theaters a few days ago, remains a distant but interesting experience for me. Mainly revolving around one handsome but hopelessly self-absorbed lad who is nothing but annoyance for others around him, the movie is not so pleasant to watch to say the least, but it also occasionally shows Wong’s considerable talent and potential which would give us several better films such as “In the Mood for Love” (2000).

At the beginning, the movie, which is set in Hong Kong, 1960, shows how its hero, Yuddy (Leslie Cheung), actively pursues attention and affection from a young woman named Su Lizhen (Maggie Cheung). As constantly dropping by her shabby workplace day by day, he tells her that they are destined to fall in love with each other, and she does not believe his words at first, but, what do you know, she eventually opens her heart to him due to his persistence.

This surely looks like the beginning of a genuine romance, but the movie soon shows how Lizhen’s relationship with Yuddy leads her to a lot of misery and bitterness. When she begins to consider being more serious about their relationship, Yuddy starts to distance himself from her just because he does not want to settle at all. This certainly breaks her heart, but she still cannot get over him – even after Yuddy quickly moves onto some other woman without any hesitation.

When she attempts to see Yuddy again, Lizhen encounters a young policeman who happens to be doing his routine patrol in Yuddy’s neighborhood. Although remaining as officiously detached as possible, the young policeman sincerely feels sorry for her, and that leads to the most poignant moment in the film. Although it is apparent that they feel something being developed between them, neither of them are willing to get closer to each other despite that, and we are more saddened to observe how the romantic possibility between them is eventually extinguished.

Meanwhile, the movie continues to observe more of how crass Yuddy is in many aspects. In case of his new girlfriend, Leung Fung-ying/Mimi (Carina Lau), she seems to have no illusion about Yuddy from the beginning, but, not so surprisingly, she also comes to want more from Yuddy just like his previous girlfriend, and Yuddy naturally becomes quite ready to get off from her at any time. This surely exasperates her a lot, and this leads to a dramatic confrontation between Mimi and Lizhen later in the story. Just like Lizhen, Mimi cannot help but become bitter and morose about her current status, and she is not even consoled that much by Yuddy’s friend Zeb (Jacky Cheung), who has been genuinely attracted to her for a while but only finds himself very frustrated to see her heart still yearning for Yuddy.

In case of Yuddy’s foster mother Rebecca (Rebecca Pan), who was once a fairly successful prostitute, she knows and understands her son better than anyone, but they frequently cannot help but pull or push each other. Even though being quite resentful about her, Yuddy still has to depend a lot on his foster mother because he is basically nothing but a bum, and this makes him cling more to finding and then meeting his biological mother someday.

While the story becomes moodier and seedier during its last act, the movie continues to dole out small but impressive moments tinged with indelible mood and style. We remain distant to its disagreeable hero to the end, but Wong and his cinematographer Christopher Doyle serve us a series of brief but poetic moments to remember, and you will not mind the rather redundant final scene at all even though you may also wonder whether this is really necessary. To be frank with you, I am still not sure about how this scene is connected with the rest of the story, but it is certainly nice to see Tony Leung Chiu-wai doing what can be regarded as a test run for his unforgettable performance in “In the Mood for Love”.

As the melancholic center of the movie, Leslie Cheung, who incidentally passed away in 2003, is flawless in his superficial character’s self-pity and narcissism. While his character is definitely an unpleasant cad, Cheung makes Yuddy as an engaging case study to observe from the distance at least, and he is particularly good whenever his character lets himself drenched in his own romantic narcissism – such as when he dances to music alone by himself while wearing only underwear (By the way, this was hilariously parodied in South Korean independent film “Lucky Chan-sil” (2019)).

Several other cast members in the film hold each own place well. Maggie Cheung, Carina Lau, and Rebecca Pan are terrific in their respective key scenes in the film, and Pan is especially good when we observe more of the complicated relationship between her character and Yuddy. Andy Lau and Jacky Cheung are also solid as the two substantial male supporting characters in the story, and Lau is an effective counterpoint to Maggie Cheung as they convey to us the subtle romantic tension between their characters.

In conclusion, “Days of Being Wild”, which incidentally came after Wong’s first feature film “As Tears Go By” (1988), does not impress me as much as “Chungking Express” or “In the Mood for Love”, but it is still interesting to observe how Wong was honing and refine his own artistic touches at that time. I merely admire it instead of embracing it, but it was nice to revisit it along with many audiences at a local theater anyway.

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My Penguin Friend (2024) ☆☆☆(3/4): This penguin steals the show anyway

Posted on September 11, 2026 by kaist455

2024 film “My Penguin Friend”, which is currently available on Netflix in South Korea, is a sentimental but undeniably earnest presentation of one fascinating real-life story. While I have no idea on how much it actually fictionalizes its real-life story, the movie mostly works thanks to several heartfelt moments to touch us, and you will certainly come to like its titular animal character more around the end of the movie. 

The early part of the film establishes how a middle-aged Brazilian fisherman named João Pereira de Souza (Jean Reno) encountered a male penguin later nicknamed “Dindim”. Dindim swam from a remote beach area in Patagonia, Argentina along with many other penguins during their another migration season, but he happened to be covered with oil from a spill at one point, and that was how he got drifted away to a little Brazilian island where João has lived for many years. 

Once he rescues this penguin, João takes him to his little shabby house he has lived with his wife Maria (Adriana Barraza), and he carefully washes the penguin for removing oil. Once he gets a bit more recovered, Dindim becomes more active than before to João’s delight, and he comes to pay more attention to Dindim as days go by.

It is apparent to us that Dindim somehow enlivens the melancholic heart of João, who has been very depressed for many years since he and his wife tragically lost their young son. Thanks to Dindim, he comes to interact more with not only his wife but also many others in the village, and Dindim soon becomes quite popular among the villagers.

When there eventually comes the time when Dindim must swim back to Patagonia, João is naturally saddened by Dindim’s expected departure, but then something unbelievable happens. Dindim returns to João in the next year, and their unlikely bond soon draws a lot of attention around the world thanks to the Internet. 

Meanwhile, the movie also pays some attention to several wildlife researchers observing those penguins in Patagonia. They become interested in Dindim for being quite friendly to them, and they are certainly surprised when they come across Dindim and João’s story on the Internet. Once they get the confirmation on Dindim’s identity, they become more fascinated with him than before, but then there comes an unexpected complication later in the story.

The movie becomes a little contrived around that narrative point, but it thankfully avoids being too sappy or corny as sticking to Dindim’s viewpoint. As cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle’s camera skillfully emphasizes whatever Dindim sees and experiences, we get more engaged in Dindim’s several adventures along the story (Of course, no animal was harmed during the production of the film), and I must say that a bunch of penguins who play Dindim in the film are very convincing together on the whole. I don’t know how much CGI is actually incorporated into their scenes, the result looks and feels fairly vivid and realistic, and that is one of the main reasons why the movie works.

Above all, we come to like Dindim more than expected. Whenever I see those movies or documentaries about human-animal relationship, I am always remined of what W.G. Sebald once said (“Men and animals regard each other across a gulf of mutual incomprehension.”), and I kept wondering about what Dindim actually felt about his human “friend”. Nevertheless, I must admit that this interesting penguin steals the show anyway while also making his growing relationship with João feel genuinely touching and sweet.

While not overshadowing Dindim at all, Jean Reno, a French and Spanish actor who has been one of the most reliable troupers for many years, steadily holds the ground as required. Like the movie itself, he does not try too hard in conveying to us how his character gradually comes out of his moody shell thanks to his unlikely friend, and he is particularly poignant when João patiently and desperately waits for Dindim’s return later in the story.

Like Reno, several other main cast members in the film thoughtfully step back for Dindim. Adriana Barraza, who has also been a dependable veteran performer for many years since her unforgettable Oscar-nominated supporting turn in Alejandro González Iñárritu’s “Babel” (2006), brings some warmth and sensitivity to her rather thankless part, and she and Reno are believable with the sense of a long history between their characters. In case of Ravel Cabral, Rocío Hernández, Nicolás Francella, Alexia Moyano, and Thalma de Freitas, they are mostly limited by their under-written supporting roles, but they dutifully fill their respective spots as much as possible at least.  

Overall, “My Penguin Friend”, directed by David Shurmann, occasionally amused and touched me even though I already had a pretty good idea on what I would get from it. It is indeed sentimental to the core, but it is packed with enough charm and sincerity to hold our attention, and you will certainly not forget its titular animal character.

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Mayday (2026) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): A very predictable genre exercise with some amusement

Posted on September 6, 2026 by kaist455

“Mayday”, which was released on Apple TV+ a few days ago, is a very predictable genre exercise with a bit of amusement. As an action comedy film mainly driven by two very different personalities at the center of the story, it works to some degree mainly thanks to the good chemistry between its two good lead performers, but it also somehow does not generate enough fun and excitement, and that is a little disappointing for me.

The movie begins with the introduction of Troy “Assassin” Kelly (Ryan Reynolds), a top-notch US Navy pilot who is as cocky as Tom Cruise in “Top Gun” (1986) and is as wisecracking as that obnoxious anti-superhero figure played Reynolds during last several years. It is 1987, and the Cold War between US and the Soviet Union is being over, but there is still some tension remaining between these two powerful nations as shown from the opening scene, and Kelly is soon assigned to a top-secret reconnaissance operation to be held over the Russian territory.

Along with some humorless US Air Force pilot, Kelly gets on a Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, and things seem to be going fairly well as they enter the Russian territory and then get their mission accomplished, but, alas, their aircraft gets suddenly attacked. While he manages to survive alone, Kelly subsequently becomes unconscious, and then he finds himself in a forest cabin belonging to a rather stoic local recluse named Nikolai Ustinov (Kenneth Branagh).

While surely knowing well who Kelly is, Ustinov is actually very happy to have Kelly inside his cabin. Although he once worked for KGB, Ustinov has been quite disillusioned about the totalitarian system he served without any question for years, and he also turns out to be a big fan of US and its various culture products including, yes, “Top Gun”. Naturally, he is eager to get to know more about Kelly, but escape and survival are certainly the top priority for Kelly, and we soon see these two very different guys clashing a lot with each other to our little amusement.

In the end, Kelly comes to recognize that he must depend on Ustinov more for his survival and escape – especially after it turns out that KGB is already looking for Kelly in the surrounding area. Needless to say, Ustinov is willing to help Kelly because Kelly may help him get out of the Soviet Union along with his estranged daughter currently residing in Moscow.

As these two very different main characters gradually form their rather uneasy alliance along their increasingly risky journey across the Russian territory, the movie cheerfully goes back and forth between comedy and action. Things sometimes become a bit tense as Kelly and Ustinov evade their opponents in one way or another, and the movie serves us several competent action scenes including the one unfolded inside a running train. At the same time, it also tries a lot of comedy here and there, and there is an absurd sequence where Kelly and Ustinov break into a certain big house and then come across a very unexpected circumstance before getting what they want.

However, these and other individual moments in the film do not gel well together on the whole, and the screenplay by directors/writers/co-producers John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, who previously gave us “Game Night” (2018) and “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” (2023), is often too predictable in its plot progress. Yes, Kelly and Ustinov keep clashing with each other as before, and we are not so surprised when they disappoint each other a lot later in the story. Yes, they come to bond with each other more as eventually sticking together more for their respective goals, and you can easily guess in advance when Kelly will finally reveal a certain little personal information of his to Ustinov.

Above all, the movie is also a bit too deficient in terms of personality. It is clear that it wants to do a little fun retro genre game based on not only “Top Gun” but also those countless buddy action comedy flicks ranging from “48 Hrs.” (1982) to “Red Heat” (1988), but the result often too flat and generic, and it also feels quite superficial in case of characterization. While Kelly remains another example of the same schtick Reynolds did again and again in “Deadpool” (2016) and some other notable flicks such as “Free Guy” (2021), Ustinov is mainly defined by his unflappable low-key attitude which mostly functions as a mere counterpoint to Reynold’s increasingly tiresome schtick, and the movie also does not go that deep into Ustinov’s rather complicated personal relationship with his daughter (Maria Bakalova is criminally under-utilized just like several other supporting performers in the film including David Morse and Clark Johnson).

Nevertheless, I must appreciate how Reynolds often clicks well with his co-star from the beginning to the end. Kenneth Branagh, who willingly dials down himself to a considerable degree, demonstrates here that he can do physical action scenes as well as, say, Liam Neeson, and I enjoyed his several moments of deadpan humor, which complement fairly well his co-star’s brash wisecracking.

Overall, “Mayday” turns out to be not as bad or boring as I feared after watching its trailer a few months ago, but it did not amuse me as much as “Game Night”, whose many hilarious moments have grown on me since I watched it in 2018 (Who can possibly forget that brief but undeniably hilarious scene featuring a jet engine, which is accompanied with the amiably priceless comic timing of Rachel McAdams?). Although I did not feel like wasting my 2 hours, it could be more exciting and hilarious in my humble opinion, and I will just let you decide whether you will spend spare time on this passable piece of entertainment.

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Don’t Say Good Luck (2026) ☆☆☆(3/4): Her life becomes a little more complicated

Posted on September 6, 2026 by kaist455

Netflix film “Don’t Say Good Luck”, which was released in last month, is a modest but earnest coming-of-age drama film to cherish. While it is inherently melodramatic from the beginning, the movie deftly strikes the right balance between humor and tear via its small but sincere moments, and it is also anchored fairly well by the commendable lead performance at its center.

Sunny Sandler, who is the second daughter of, yes, Adam Sandler (He also participated in the production of the film, by the way), plays Sophie Birenbaum, a quiet but spirited high school girl ready to join the upcoming school production of “Waitress the Musical” along with her best friend Carolyn (Scarlett Estevez). She initially does not expect much during the audition, but, what do you know, she is eventually chosen as the lead actress by the director of the school play, and she is certainly excited about that.

However, there comes a sudden unexpected change for her family around that point. Her mother Elizabeth (Melanie Lynskey), who was quite ill due to cancer some time ago, goes to a local clinic for getting the result of her recent medical examination, and then she and her husband Ted (Max Greenfield), who has run a local deli along with his wife for years, receive a bad news. Her cancer has unfortunately returned, and they are told that the situation may become much worse for her this time.

Needless to say, Elizabeth and Ted are reluctant to deliver this bad news directly to their three children at first, but they eventually decide to tell everything to their children. While her two younger brothers are not old enough to understand how things can be grim for their mother, Sophie naturally becomes quite concerned about her mother’s health, but her mother wholeheartedly encourages her artistic passion as usual, and Sophie continues to prepare for the show along with her fellow cast members under their director’s no-nonsense supervision.

Now the movie feels like your average tearjerker, but the movie thankfully does not try too hard even when the story becomes a bit melodramatic. When Elizabeth’s medical condition gets worse as expected, her parents come for more support besides taking care of her children along with Ted, but we come to sense that she and her parents have not gotten along with each other that well. She and her mother soon clash a lot with each other about how to handle her current situation, and Sophie certainly sees and hears a lot from them while mostly keeping her own feelings to herself.

Needless to say, this comes to affect her preparation for the school play in one way or another, but, again, the movie does not push its story and characters too hard. As frequently encouraged by both her mother and the director, Sophie gradually finds more confidence and passion for playing the titular role of “Waitress the Musical”, and she also comes across the possibility of romance via her hunky co-star, who seems willing to go for more than practicing kissing with her.

In the end, there come a couple of typical tear-jerking moments during the last act, but the screenplay by Laura Harkin, director Juila Hart, and her husband/producer Jordan Horowitz steadily rolls the story and characters with enough sensitivity and human depth. As the movie doles out one small character moment after another, we get to know and care more about Sophie and several other supporting characters surrounding her, and I particularly like when one of Sophie’s fellow cast members, who seemed rather displeased when she was cast in a supporting role instead of Sophie’s part in the school play, shows more generosity and thoughtfulness to Sophie than expected.

And Sandler’s likable lead performance fills the screen with a considerable amount of charm and spirit. While I only came to pay more attention to her after watching her appearing along with his father in “Happy Gilmore 2” (2025), I can tell you at least that Sandler is a promising actress with enough talent and presence, and it will be interesting to see whether she will eventually have her own distinctive acting career just like her father has for many years.

Around Sandler, Hart assembles a bunch of various performers, each of whom have each own moment to shine. Melanie Lynskie, a veteran actress who has seldom disappointed us for more than 30 years since she rose to prominence along with Kate Winslet via Peter Jackson’s unforgettable 1994 adolescent drama film “Heavenly Creatures” (Folks, I think this deserves more attention than that very famous fantasy adventure trilogy of his!), deftly avoids any cliché expected from her character, and she and Sandler effortlessly click well with each other as ably suggesting the long personal history between their characters. While Max Greenfield has several small touching moments with Lynskey, Bebe Neuwirth and Steve Buscemi are effective in their brief but crucial appearance as Elizabeth’s flawed but well-meaning parents, and several other main cast members including Jack Champion, Stephanie Beatriz, Scarlett Estevez, and Jon Lovitz are also well-cast in their respective supporting parts.

In conclusion, “Don’t Say Good Luck” is one of the better Netflix products of this year besides being another solid work from Hart, who gave us several notable movies such as “Fast Color” (2018) and “I’m Your Woman” (2020). Although it is relatively less impressive than those two previous films of hers, the movie is a fairly engaging mix of comedy and drama, so I recommend you to give it a chance someday.

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Freefall: A Reckoning for Boeing (2026) ☆☆☆(3/4): The story still continues…

Posted on September 6, 2026 by kaist455

It is difficult not to get angry as watching Netfilx documentary film “Freefall: A Reckoning for Boeing”, which was released in last month. As a sequel to the 2022 Netflix documentary “Downfall: The Cast Against Boeing”, the documentary may not surprise you that much if you already watched the previous documentary, but you will soon get quite infuriated as observing how one of the most prominent corporations in US virtually got away with its serious industrial/ethical violations.

During its first half, the documentary gives us a summary on how the Boeing Company has gone down in terms of ethics and quality during last two decades. As already shown from its 2022 predecessor, the company reached for more advance and innovation with its newly appointed CEO Jim McNerney in 2005, but this only came to deteriorate the standards and principles in the company instead. As an ambitious business executive who was influenced a lot by Jack Welch in General Electric, McNerney went all the way for maximizing sale and profit, and he and other Boeing executives were surely ready to minimize the cost in development and manufacture by any means necessary. Although they had any professional knowledge at all from the start, they thought they could spend far less time and money on safety and quality management, and this certainly alarmed many Boeing managers and employees.

However, McNerney and the Boeing executives did not listen as being single-mindedly focused on getting more profit for them as well as Boeing. After hastily presenting a new airplane model called Boeing 737 MAX in 2014, the company busily manufactured airplanes as much as ordered, and several Boeing employees willingly talk about how chaotic and problematic the manufacture process was. For example, just for cutting the cost more, many different parts of those airplanes were made here and there around the world instead of being wholly and thoroughly manufactured in Seatle, Washington, and the company even built a new factory in North Carolina later just for having less union problems.

Needless to say, some of those concerned Boeing employees were willing to step forward for expressing their genuine professional concerns more, but the company still did not listen at all while frequently oppressing them in one way or another. In case of late John Barnett, who worked as one of the Quality Managers in the company, he was frequently bullied and gaslighted by many of his superiors just because he kept reporting on numerous safety problems, and his consequent plight was continued even after he subsequently left the company. As he raised more concern as a whistleblower, he was more cornered and harassed by Boeing and its lawyers, and that was probably the main reason behind his tragic death in 2024.

Meanwhile, what worried Barnett and many other Boeing employees for years eventually led to two big airline disasters. Not long after Lion Air Flight 610 crashed in late 2018, Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crashed in early 2019, and all of the passengers died in both of these two devastating incidents. Incidentally, both of these two airplanes were Boeing 737 MAX, and they were not even that old considering their respective manufacture dates.

It goes without saying that this certainly cornered Boeing and its executives a lot as the families of the victims of these two crash incidents demanded justice and accountability. However, both the US Justice Department and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) did not do as much as expected. Although its public reputation was considerably damaged, Boeing and its executives were not punished at all, while only promising more measures on safety and manufacture within three years in exchange for not being legally charged for their serious violations.

With its new CEO David Calhoun, Boeing seemed to go through considerable reform, but, not so surprisingly, it just kept going for more profit as usual while oppressing anyone raising safety concern inside the company a lot more than before. As a consequence, the systemic problems inside the company only got worse, and that was why several other Boeing employees besides Barnett came forward in public. Although they were all aware of the considerable risk of being a whistleblower, they could not possibly look away from what they had seen in the company, and they were all the more motivated by Barnett’s sudden death (The documentary made it quite clear to us that he did kill himself mainly because of the stress and pressure resulted from his legal struggle with Boeing).

The documentary also focuses on some of those unfortunate people who lost their loved ones due to the aforementioned airplane crash incidents. As often interacting with a number of Boeing whistleblowers, they kept urging the US Justice Department and FAA to do much more for preventing any more disaster from Boeing airplanes, but their sincere requests were mostly ignored, and there is a bitter irony in how the systemic problems inside Boeing drew a lot of public attention again a few years ago.

Overall, “Freefall: A Reckoning for Boeing” is a solid sequel documentary to its 2022 predecessor, and director/co-producer Rory Kennedy, who directed the 2022 documentary and is also known for making several notable documentaries including “Last Days in Vietnam” (2014), handles her main subject with considerable respect and care. Sadly, nothing much is done about the systemic problems inside Boeing even at this point while those executives responsible for that are still untouched with all the money they unethically earned, and I will not be surprised at all if there comes another documentary to follow this ongoing story of corruption and injustice.

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Sua’s Home (2026) ☆☆☆(3/4): Reaching for home and family

Posted on September 5, 2026 by kaist455

South Korean independent film “Sua’s Home” dryly but closely observes one adolescent girl’s desperate struggle for stability and affection. Although she is not wholly sympathetic, we come to have some understanding on her struggle at least, and the movie engages us more as bringing more human complexity to its story and characters.

At first, the movie establishes how things have been not so good for Yeong-seon (Choi Myung-bin), a 15-year-old girl who has recently been in an orphanage due to some financial trouble of her currently absent foster parents. While quite feeling miserable about her current circumstance, she keeps sticking to playing tennis as before, and that is how she gets a part-time position as the training partner of Su-a (Moon Seung-ah), who is one of her schoolmates and has trained under the strict guidance of her father Seong-woo (Kim Tae-hoon). We come to learn later that Seong-woo was once a promising professional tennis player, and it is quite apparent that he is very determined to fulfill his unaccomplished goals via his daughter.

While playing tennis with Su-a, Yeong-seon naturally gets closer not only to Su-a but also her parents. When Yeong-seon later gets herself into a little trouble, Su-a’s mother Ji-yeong (Yoo Da-in) willingly steps forward for Yeong-seon, and she even lets Yeong-seon stay in her affluent family house, which looks as slick and posh as that big house in Bong Joon-ho’s Oscar-winning film “Parasite” (2019). Both Seong-woo and Su-a do not have much problem with this, and, once she packs her suitcase and then moves into the house, Yeong-seon feels more like being another family member in the house.

Needless to say, things become gradually tense as Yeong-seon’s growing desire for home and family clashes with the deep personal troubles behind Su-a and her parents. No matter how much she tries, Su-a is reminded again and again that she is still not good enough to get more affection and approval from her father, and she naturally becomes jealous and resentful as Yeong-seon often impresses her father during their training sessions. In case of Yeong-seon, she surely knows that she must ingratiate herself more with both Seong-woo and Ji-yeong just for staying longer in their house, and her active approach to them is soon noticed by Su-a.

Su-a consequently becomes very mean and cruel to Yeong-seon, but we also get to know more about how miserable she has been due to both of her parents. While her father, who still cannot get over what he could have achieved in the past, keeps pushing her without much consideration, her mother remains passive about this matter as silently nursing her own anxiety and discontent behind her back, and Su-a cannot help but become more agitated by Yeong-seon’s presence in the house.

The screenplay by director/writer Yun Sim-kyoung, who incidentally makes a feature film debut here, gets more interesting as delving more into the complex human conflicts among its four principal characters. The social gap between Yeong-seon and the other three main characters is certainly the most crucial element in the story, and that is particularly evident when Su-a and her parents go outside for attending the birthday party for the daughter of an old colleague of Su-a’s father but simply leave Yeong-seon alone in their house. Naturally, Yeong-seon later comes to show some defiance in front of them and others, but this only causes more conflict among her, Su-a, and her parents.

Around that narrative point, the story is heading toward the inevitable moment when Yeong-seon is reminded more of the inherent distance between her and the three other main characters in the story, but we remain engaged as before mainly thanks to Yun’s competent handling of story and characters. Although it may look a bit too symbolic at first, tennis gradually becomes an effective metaphor to reflect Yeong-seon’s constant struggle along the story, and that is the main reason why the last scene of the film is quietly poignant with a little but precious glimpse of hope.

The movie depends a lot on the impressive lead performance by Choi Myung-bin. Although the movie does not tell or show much about her character’s background, Choi did a splendid job of embodying her character from the beginning to the end, and her compelling presence generates constant dramatic tension along the story. Although Yeong-seon is not so likable to say the least, she comes to us as a complicated human figure to observe and understand thanks to Choi’s stellar acting, and she surely deserves to be mentioned as one of the breakthrough performers of this year in South Korean cinema.

Around Choi, the other three main cast members are equally solid in each own way. While Moon Seung-ah holds her own place well during her several key scenes with Choi, Kim Tae-hoon and Yoo Da-in ably fill their respective supporting roles without overshadowing Choi and Moon at all, and Yoo, who was terrific in “Re-Encounter” (2010) and “I Don’t Fire Myself” (2020), is particularly good when her character copes with conflicting feelings on Yeong-seon later in the story.

In conclusion, “Sua’s Home”, whose original Korean title is incidentally “The Girl Who Is Carrying a Suitcase”, is another notable South Korean independent drama film of this year. Yun surely demonstrates considerable potential here as another promising new South Korean filmmaker to watch, and it will be interesting to see what may come next from her.

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Obsession (2025) ☆☆☆(3/4): He should have been careful for what he wished for…

Posted on September 5, 2026 by kaist455

“Obsession” is a little nasty horror film which will surely remind you of that old saying: “Be careful what you wish for, you might just get it”. This time, the pathetic loser hero of the movie definitely regrets a lot in the end after getting what he is supposed to wish for, and the movie has some dark fun with how he unwisely lets himself slide into more madness and despair.

During the opening scene, we get to know a bit about Bear (Michael Johnston), a shy lad who works as a music store employee. During last several years, Bear has been carrying a torch for his co-worker and friend Nikki (Inde Navarrette), but he still hesitates to open his heart to her just because of 1) his serious lack of confidence and 2) his constant concern over the possibility of being rejected by her.

And then something rather odd happens to Bear during one evening when he is about to join Nikki and two other colleagues of theirs for their routine participation in the game night at a local bar. He drops by a shop for buying something for Nikki, but then he ends up buying a novelty item called “One Wish Willow” instead. Not long after his another attempt to approach closer to Nikki is miserably failed, he snaps “One Wish Willow” without much expectation as simply wishing for Nikki loving him more than anyone else in the world, and then, what do you know, Nikki suddenly and inexplicably pays a lot more attention to him than before.

Bear initially has no problem with at all that because his longtime wish is finally fulfilled, but it does not take much time for him to realize that he made a very, very, very serious mistake. While getting closer and closer to Bear, Nikki also becomes quite obsessed with having him around her all the time, and she also begins to show a series of disturbing behaviors to his confusion and horror. She is now eager to please him to the extreme, and that includes giving him something, shall we say, quite disagreeable as a lunch meal.

Although his situation becomes increasingly nightmarish, Bear only finds himself stuck more with Nikki. While it turns out that there is virtually no way out for him except a certain grim option, he still feels attracted to Nikki despite a lot of troubles caused by her, and we get some dark amusement from how this pathetic lad desperately tries to believe that everything is fine and all right for him and Nikki. Their friends/colleagues naturally become more alarmed and concerned as observing more insanity and disturbance from Nikki, but Bear still refuses to tell them anything at all – even after Nikki shocks everyone around her with another very disturbing behavior at one point in the middle of the story.

As Bear goes down and down with Nikki along the story, director/writer Curry Barker, who also serves as the editor of his film, frequently keeps us on the edge as deftly delivering several effective moments of shock and awe. The movie is filled with the moody sense of doom from the beginning, so we come to have a pretty good idea on where it is heading, but then it strikes us really hard as Nikki’s unpredictable madness goes much further than expected. Eventually, there comes an inevitable point where Bear has no choice but to face the dire consequences of his unwise wish, and there comes more nasty fun from what ultimately happens between him and Nikki around that point.

Everything in the story depends a lot on the two lead performers of the movie, who are quite believable even when the morbid horror drama between their characters becomes very dark and intense. Besides looking as meek and miserable as required, Michael Johnston steadily holds the ground, and we come to care about whatever may happen next even though we often observe his rather unlikable character’s plight from the distance. You may feel a bit sorry for Bear, but we also become more aware of how he had it coming from the beginning, and that is the main reason why we can enjoy the wry sense of humor behind all those vicious scenes in the film.

On the opposite, Inde Navarrette gives what should be regarded as one of the best breakthrough performances of this year. Although we never get to know that much about her character, she instantly holds our attention right from her very first scene in the film, and we can see why Bear remains emotionally attached to Nikki even when things become very gloomy for both of them later in the story. Furthermore, Navarrett deftly handles a number of tricky big scenes where she must swing back and forth between extreme points without any sign of overacting at all, and that makes her character as terrifyingly unpredictable as Kathy Bates’ psychotic heroine in “Misery” (1990).

In case of a few other main cast members around Navarrette and Johnston, they are mostly limited by their functional roles. As Nikki and Bear’s co-workers/friends, Cooper Tomlinson and Megan Lawless dutifully fill their respective spots, and you may notice a brief supporting turn from Andy Richter, who simply comes and then goes while looking totally plain and serious in his aged appearance.

On the whole, “Obsession” is a seemingly modest but undeniably solid genre film, and Barker, who previously made a feature film debut with “Milk & Serial” (2024), demonstrates here that he is another promising filmmaker to watch. Although its production budget is less than one million dollars, the movie does not look shabby or sloppy at all, and, considering its enormous critical/commercial success at present, it will surely lead him to more chances for his considerable talent in the future. As a matter of fact, he is already working on his next film at this point, and I think I can have some expectation on that.

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