Ne Zha (2019) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): The story of a demon boy

Posted on February 24, 2026 by kaist455

2019 Chinese animation film “Ne Zha” works best when it cheerfully bounces with a vibrant sense of fun and energy during its first half. I found its mischievous little demonic hero rather endearing even though he sometimes reminds me of that satanic kid in “The Omen” (1976). I also cared about his conflict along the story while occasionally amused by a series of goofy comic moments from a number of colorful characters around him. However, the film later becomes quite bombastic with a lot of busy actions, and that is when my level of interest was considerably decreased to my mild disappointment.

The story, which is loosely based on the 16th-century novel “Investiture of the Gods” by Xu Zhonglin (I have never read or heard of this old Chinese piece of literature, by the way), is your typical hero origin story. At the beginning, a very powerful supernatural object called the chaos pearl divided into two contrasting objects by the Primeval Lord of Heaven, and Taiyi Zhenren (voiced by Zhang Jiaming), one of the disciples under the command of the Primeval Lord of Heaven, is ordered to handle these two objects. While the Demon Orb is destined to be destroyed after 3 years, the Spirit Pearl is supposed to be reincarnated as the son of a brave and noble lord named Li Jing (voiced by Chen Hao) and his wife Lady Lin (voiced by Lü Qi), but, alas, the Demon Orb comes to take the position instead due to Shen Gongbao (voiced by Yang Wei), a nefarious colleague of Taiyi who has some other plan behind his back.

Nonetheless, despite knowing well the inherent demonic sides of their son, Lord Li and his wife try their best for raising him with love and care, though their son, Ne Zha (voiced by Lü Yanting), grows up to be your average little terror to them and many others in their peaceful town. Many people in the village have naturally hated and feared him a lot (Raise your hand if you are now reminded of a certain famous episode from classic American TV drama series “The Twilight Zone”), and he is certainly willing to give them a lot of hell just for fun and amusement.

In the end, Taiyi enters the picture again as a master willing to guide Ne Zha toward good as training him in a little special world inside a roll of painting, which one can enter only via Taiyi’s magic brush. Needless to say, Ne Zha quickly improves enough to impress his master, but to his master’s frustration, he remains unruly and naughty as before.

Because he has been told that he is destined to fight against those monsters and demons out there, Ne Zha is quite eager to prove himself, and there soon comes an opportunity. After some heroic (and very destructive) actions of his, he is again disliked by the town people due to a little misunderstanding, and that makes him all the sulkier than before.

At least, he comes across someone who can be a good friend to him. That person in question is Ao Bing (voiced by Han Mo), and Ne Zha is delighted to have someone as powerful as him, but, not so surprisingly, it soon turns out that Ao Bing has been destined to be his opponent. Shen, who has been incidentally Ao Bing’s master, and Ao Bing’s mighty dragon father have been plotting against the Primeval Lord of Heaven, and Ao Bing, who was incarnated from the Spirit Pearl, is certainly going to be the main tool of their evil plan.

Around the point where Ne Zha and Ao Bing eventually fight with each other as expected, we are surely served with a lot of loud crashes and bangs, and you can clearly see that a lot of effort and production budget was spent on this big climactic part. When his true self is finally unleashed, Ne Zha becomes a young adult just like Ao Bing, but this older self of his is rather humorless in my trivial opinion, and we come to have less fun than before despite a lot of actions and spectacles unfolded across the screen.

The more cheerful and humorous parts of the film engaged me to some degree. Yes, many of the supporting characters in the film are more or less than comic elements mostly for frequent silly physical gags throughout the story, but that is fairly acceptable in the animation background of the film, and I will not deny that I was particularly amused by an action sequence which does not even hesitate to use a fart joke at one point. In addition, the overall quality of the digital animation in the film is on a par with the average level of Hollywood blockbuster animation films, and it can be regarded as a notable forward step by the Chinese animation film industry.

As a matter of fact, the film was quite a commercial success not only in China and but also the rest of the world. It actually earned much more than its production budget (around 22 million dollars), and this impressive result eventually led to the production of its recent sequel, which incidentally earned more than 2 billion dollars around the world while also becoming the highest-grossing film of last year.     

In conclusion, “Ne Zha” is no more than a test drive for its hero as well as its director/writer Jiaozi and his crew. I watched it just for preparing a bit before watching its recent sequel, and it often felt to me more like homework than entertainment, but it shows some potential and personality from time to time at least. I will watch the sequel sooner or later, and I hope that it shows some improvement compared to its predecessor.

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Arco (2025) ☆☆☆(3/4): When a boy from the future meets a girl in the past

Posted on February 22, 2026 by kaist455

Animation feature film “Arco”, which was nominated for Best Animation Film Oscar in last month, is often quite engaging for its lovely cell animation style to remember. Although it is rather thin in terms of story and characters, this notable flaw is mostly compensated by a number of strong visual moments in the film, and its short running time (89 minutes) will quickly pass as you enjoy its vivid mood and gorgeous details. 

The opening part of the film is set in a world of distant future where people dwell on high towers due to some massive global climate disruption which happened many years ago. It is 2932, and time travel is not only possible but also quite accessible, but Arco (voiced by Oscar Tresanini), a 10-year-old boy living with his parents and older sister, is very frustrated because he is still not allowed to do time travel due to the strict age limit on time travel.

In the end, Arco decides to do something very risky. When his parents and older sister are sleeping inside their little residence, he steals his older sister’s cape for time travel, and then he boldly attempts to fly up in the sky for his time travel. While he manages to fly in the end, he soon finds himself in a perilous situation way over his head, and that is how he tumbles into a certain time point in the past.

Meanwhile, we also get to know Iris (voiced by Margot Ringard Oldra), a young girl living in some suburban neighborhood during that time point. It is 2075, and Iris’ daily life is filled with a lot of futuristic details including robots and holograms, and we also observe how her world is riddled with the devastating catastrophes caused by the ongoing global climate disruption.

Because her parents are often absent due to their busy work, Iris cannot help but feel lonely at her home even though she is often assisted by a robot whose main job is taking care of her infant younger brother. When she sneaks out of her school on one day, she spots something falling from the sky, and that is how she comes upon the unconscious body of Arco. Instinctively sensing that he needs some help, she takes him to her house, and Arco is certainly quite perplexed when he regains his consciousness later.

Nevertheless, it does not take much time for Arco and Iris to befriend each other. Without any doubt, she accepts and then believes him when he tells her where he is actually from, and she sincerely wants to help him as much as possible. He happened to lose a little precious object crucial for his time travel, but there may be some other option to activate his cape, and we later get an amusing scene where Iris sets up a possible condition for Arco’s time travel outside her family house.

In the meantime, the plot thickens a bit via several supporting characters in the story. That robot in Iris’ house suddenly has a serious malfunction as trying to process the existence of Arco, and that leads to some unwelcome attention from the outside world. In case of a neighborhood boy clearly interested in getting closer to Iris, he soon comes to notice Arco in her house, but he does not suspect much when she introduces Arco as a cousin to him later.

And there are also three dudes who are quite serious about tracking down Arco but often look as goofy as the Three Stooges. The story always loses its focus whenever it depicts another silly moment from these bumbling guys, so there is not much tension in the story when they seem to be going after Arco and Iris later in the story.

During the last act, the screenplay by director Ugo Bienvenu and his co-writer/co-producer Félix de Givry stumbles a bit and then loses some of its narrative momentum, but the film continues to hold our attention as doling out nice visual moments as before. Often reminiscent of those classic animation films of Hayao Miyazaki, the cell animation style of the film is pleasant and wonderful to watch on the whole, and you will often savor small and big details vividly presented on the screen.

I must point out that the main characters in the film are more or less than plot elements to roll, but the story sometimes provides genuine emotional moments along the story. While the developing friendship between Iris and Arco is illustrated with unadorned sweetness, there is an unexpectedly moving moment when Iris’ robot does much more than what it is programmed to do later in the story, and you will also be touched by the little poignancy shown from its predictable but effective ending.    

In conclusion, “Arco” is worthwhile to watch mainly for its wonderful animation style and mood, and Bienvenu, who previously made several short animations films before making a feature film debut here, demonstrates that he is another new promising animation filmmaker to watch. According to the IMDB trivia, he really tried hard along with de Givry for financing this little personal project of theirs before eventually getting fully financed thanks to their co-producer Natalie Portman, and now he certainly becomes more prominent than before thanks to his recent Oscar nomination. In my humble opinion, it will be interesting to see what he will do next after this commendable career breakthrough, and I will surely have some expectation on that.

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Sisu: Road to Revenge (2025) ☆☆☆(3/4): This time, it’s personal

Posted on February 21, 2026 by kaist455

Jalmari Helander’s new film “Sisu: Road to Revenge”, the sequel to his previous film “Sisu”, is a simple but very intense action movie which is actually quite amusing from time to time. Again, our taciturn hero is going to show us what a single-minded tough guy he really is (“Sisu” is Finnish concept and cultural virtue representing extraordinary determination, courage, and grit in the face of extreme adversity, by the way), and the movie alternatively excites and amuses us via a series of well-made action sequences peppered with a bit of naughty deadpan humor.    

The story is set around the border area between Finland and the Soviet Union in 1946. Not long after World War II was over, Finland ceded the territory of Karelia to the Soviet Union as a part of their peace treaty, but this does not stop Aatami Korpi (Jorma Tommila) at all, a former Finnish Army commando who became quite legendary for his sheer bravery and perseverance during his country’s war with the Soviet Union. His wife and children, who happened to reside in Karelia during that time, are sadly dead now, and their family house is currently abandoned, but he is going to go there just for disassembling the house and then re-assembling it somewhere else in Finland. 

While passing the border turns out to be quite easy, a big problem soon comes to Korpi. Shortly after the news about Korpi crossing the border is delivered to the Soviet Army, his old opponent, Yeagor Draganov (Stephen Lang), is released from a Siberian prison for an immediate special mission for him. He is instructed to capture Korpi by any means necessary, and, as a man responsible for Korpi’s personal tragedy, he is certainly quite ready for being back in action.

Once its story setting is established, the movie immediately goes all the way for action, and what follows next is a well-executed variation of George Miller’s Mad Max movies. As driving his big truck along a remote road with a pet dog on the passenger’s seat, Korpi comes across one obstacle after another thanks to Draganov and those Soviet soldiers under his command, and he surely shows them that he is definitely not someone they can mess with from the beginning. No matter how much they attempt to attack him in one way or another, he always manages to not only survive but also throw some brutal counterattacks upon them, and he even surprises Draganov more than once.

 Just like the predecessor, the movie does not hesitate to go over the top during some of its most intense moments, and that is where it shows some wry black humor. In case of one particular action scene involved with a couple of fighter planes swooping over Korpi’s truck, its digital special effects look a bit too cheap and artificial in my humble opinion, but they are mixed fairly well into the busy actions unfolded onto the screen, and we come to go gladly along with that as having some good laughs from a number of exaggerated moments of action.

During its second half, the movie shifts itself onto a different action mode, but there is still plenty of stuffs to thrill and then amuse you. I particularly like a moment when Korpi must walk barefoot across the floor strewn with shards of glass without making any noise at all for his safety, and you will surely wince a lot while also appreciating a dark sense of humor inside this moment. 

Although he does not say that much to the end of the movie, Jorma Tommlia, who previously collaborated with Helander in several films besides “Sisu”, fills his archetype role with a lot of intensity and focus, and his committed physical performance carries the movie to the end without any misstep. Even when his character does not seem to signify anything to us, we can somehow sense more of what has constantly been driving his character, and Tommlia also does a good job of conveying to us a bit of humanity inside his character. All Korpi wants to do is honoring the memories of his dead family on his terms, and he is quite determined to accomplish this personal mission of his, no matter how much he must fight with his numerous opponents along his solitary quest.        

On the opposite, Stephen Lang, who recently played another big bad dude in James Cameron’s “Avatar: Fire and Ash” (2025), complements Tommlia’s stoic acting with his deliberately broad but equally strong acting. While surely having a lot of fun with showing off how villainous his character is, Lang also embodies well his character’s steely determination and ruthlessness, and he often brings extra charge to the movie whenever that is necessary. Thanks to Lang, Draganov comes to us as a truly menacing opponent for Korpi, and the movie surely does not disappoint us at all when these two tough dudes finally have a duel of fate during the finale (Is this a spoiler, folks?).

On the whole, “Sisu: Road to Revenge” is a solid sequel packed with enough fun and excitement. After he drew my attention for the first time with his first feature film “Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale” (2010), Helander disappointed me a bit with his next film “Big Game” (2014), but he eventually bounced from that mildly low point with “Sisu”, and now he demonstrates more of his considerable talent as a good action movie director here in this movie. At present, he is working on the prequel to Ted Kotcheff’s “First Blood” (1982), and I must confess that I do not have much expectation on that upcoming film for understandable reasons (Seriously, do we really need that?), but it will probably not be that boring at least considering what he impressively achieved in “Sisu: Road to Revenge”.

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Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale (2025) ☆☆☆(3/4): Things change, so they change

Posted on February 20, 2026 by kaist455

I must confess that I observed British TV drama series “Downton Abbey” as frequently going back and forth between amusement and annoyance from the beginning to the end. This is basically your average British upstairs/downstairs class drama, and I could not help but notice how lofty and messy its main characters are, but I was also amused and touched by how they turn out to be more flexible and adaptable than they seem at first.

Even after its six seasons, the series was followed by two feature films which are more or less than encores for its faithful fans, and now there comes “Downtown Abbey: The Grand Finale”, which is supposed to be the real last chapter for the main characters of the series. Considering another big social upheaval to come into their world sooner or later, I am not so sure whether this is indeed the end, but the movie works as a solid send-off to satisfy its target audiences at least. 

The story, which is set in 1930, begins with Lord Crawley (Hugh Benneville) and his several family members and some of his employees enjoying a stage performance in London. Needless to say, he and his family members watch the performance from a better spot while his employers enjoy the show from a less expensive one, but we cannot help but notice how narrow the class gap between these groups is as they casually enjoy the performance along with many other audiences in the same theater.

However, this good time does not last that long. While Lord Crawley stays at his family house in London along with his family members, Harold (Paul Giamatti), the brother of his American wife Cora (Elizabeth McGovern), arrives, and he has a really bad news for the Crawley family. He somehow lost most of his and his sister’s considerable fortune due to some lousy investment, and it seems that a business associate of his, who incidentally comes along with him, can help solve this serious trouble. 

Meanwhile, the Crawley family come to have another trouble to deal with. Mary (Michelle Dockery), the eldest daughter of Lord Crawley, suddenly comes to draw a lot of public attention due to her recent divorce with her second husband, and many members of her high society are not amused to say the least. At one point, she is blatantly asked to leave by the hostess of a big party she attends along with her family members, and her parents are certainly exasperated as watching their dear daughter being ostracized in not only London but also their neighborhood.

Meanwhile, we also see how things are going fairly well in the downstairs area in the Crawley manor. After Mr. Carson (Jim Carter) retired, his position is taken by Mr. Carter (Michael Fox), and Mr. Carter and Mrs. Carson (Phyllis Logan), who is still the housekeeper even after marrying Mr. Carson, steadily maintain the status quo along with Mrs. Carter (Sophie McShera), who is now about to succeed Mrs. Mason (Lesley Nicol) as the new cook of the manor.

Nevertheless, the ongoing social change in the British society is also coming into these and other employees’ world. Thanks to Mrs. Wilton (Isobel Grey), who is the mother of Mary’s deceased first husband and is still very close to the Crawley family, Mrs. Mason and Mr. Carson join a local committee supervising an annual fair, and they certainly help Mrs. Wilton a lot when she has to deal with a certain disagreeable member of the local committee.

As deftly shuffling these several storylines, the screenplay by Julian Fellows, who has steadily handled the script for the TV drama series as well as the two previous films, adds something which can be regarded as a cherry on the top. Guy Dexter (Dominic West), a famous movie star who once stayed at the Crawley manor for shooting his movie there, later comes along with Noël Coward (Arty Froushan), and he is also accompanied by Mr. Barrow (Robert James-Collier), who once worked in the Crawley manor but is now Dexter’s personal assistant while being very, very, very close to Dexter behind their back.

Dexter and Coward surely give some big help Mary and her family later in the story, and what follows next is the poignant final act where the Crawley family come to accept more of how much they must change themselves for keeping their dear manor and its long history as long as possible. While Lord Crawley and his dear wife become more willing to change the inevitable changes to come into what may be the last chapter of their life, Mary becomes all the more confident as being in the full charge of her family’s manor and estate, and her younger sister Edith (Laura Carmichael) and Mr. Branson (Allen Leach), the husband of her deceased youngest sister, are certainly ready to give Mary more support than ever.

 As they did in the TV drama series and the following two movies, the main cast members effortlessly slip into their respective roles as letting the guest performers of the movie steal the show from time to time. Paul Giamatti is dependable as usual, Simon Russell Beale, Arty Froushan, Alessandro Nivola, and Joely Richardson are also effective in their substantial guest appearances.

On the whole, “Downton Abbey: the Grand Finale” is clearly another shot at attracting the fans of the TV drama series, but it is equipped well with the same wit and fun observed from the TV drama series and the two preceding feature films. To be frank with you, I am now curious about how these interesting people of Downton Abbey will be changed much more by another big war and the following social change during the late 20th century, and I will not mind if Fellows thinks that is interesting enough for creating the sequel TV series.

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The Sound of Music (1965) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): Still catchy anyway…

Posted on February 20, 2026 by kaist455

Robert Wise’s 1965 film “The Sound of Music” is a likable Hollywood classic musical movie filled with a number of catchy musical moments which will never leave you alone. Although it does not reach to the level of great musical films such as Wise’s other famous musical movie “West Side Story” (1961), it has enough charm and spirit to support its rather long running time (172 minutes) at least, and you can gladly go along with that even though being occasionally distracted by those many syrupy aspects in the dire need of a spoonful of medicine for the sugar to go down.   

The movie, which is based on the 1959 Broadway musical by Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II, Howard Lindsay, and Russel Crouse, is basically not so far from another Rodgers & Hammerstein musical adaptation “The King and I” (1956) despite their vast background differences. A pretty heroine enters an alien environment dominated by a rather stern hero, but her charm (and singing) brings brightens up his world a lot, and, yes, they surely fall in love with each other along the story.

That likable singing lady in “The Sound of Music” is Maria (Julie Andrews), a young woman who has tried to be a nun in the abbey in Salzburg, Austria in 1938. As shown from the opening musical scene whose countless variations you may encounter on the Internet in these days, she is your typical irrepressible free spirit, and that is why Mother Abbess (Peggy Wood) decides to do something about that. After discussing (and singing) with some other nuns, she sends Maria to the manor of Captain von Trapp (Christopher Plummer), a wealthy widower who needs any governess who can handle his 7 children right now.

Needless to say, the first encounter between Maria and the von Trapp family is not exactly pleasant. While the captain is your average stern taskmaster who is often cold and distant to his children, his children have each own issues besides some penchant for mischief, but Maria is not daunted by this at all as spending her first day in the von Trapp manor.

Many of you surely know what follows next. It does not take much for Maria to charm and then brighten up the von Trapp children when the captain happens to be absent for a while, and she also teaches them how to sing. Although they did not know much about singing at the beginning, the von Trapp children quickly learn how to sing under Maria’s cheerful encouragement, and, what do you know, they come to sing well enough to perform in front of a lot of audiences later in the story.

Of course, the captain is not so amused to say the least at first. However, once he sees how much his children are brightened up by Maria and singing, he soon finds himself showing his heart (and singing) to Maria and his dear children, and, yes, he also comes to regard Maria with more affection even though he is expected to marry Baroness Elsa von Schraeder (Eleanor Parker), an equally wealthy socialite who does not welcome Maria much as observing how much the captain is smitten with Maria but turns out to a mere narrative roadblock just like those Nazi scumbags during the last act of the story (You all surely remember the captain furiously ripping off a Nazi flag, right?).

As the adapted screenplay by Ernest Lehman faithfully follows the narrative of the original Broadway musical, the movie presents a series of good musical moments decorated with those catchy songs such as “My Favorite Things” and, yes, “Do-re-mi”, that (in)famous song which can cheer you up or make your skin crawl a lot for the same reason. Since I watched the movie for the first time around the 1990s, these songs have never wholly left my mind for better or worse, and that says a lot about how enduring the original Broadway musical and its movie adaptation have been for more than 60 years. Personally, I like that funny song performed by a bunch of nuns around the beginning of the story, and I found myself happily nodding along its tune and lyrics again when I watched the movie yesterday.

Above all, the movie is constantly buoyed by the undeniable singing talent and charming presence of Julie Andrews, who deservedly received another Oscar nomination not long after her Oscar-winning performance in “Mary Poppins” (1964). Just like Babra Streisand in “Funny Girl” (1968), she makes us willingly forgive all those artificial aspects of the film whenever she sings (We never get to know that much about her character besides her spirit and personality, for example), and it is certainly difficult to be grouchy about all those sweet and cheerful musical scenes of hers.    

In case of several other main cast members in the film, they are more or less than the background details surrounding Andrews. Although he has always been remembered for this movie despite a number of memorable performances including his Oscar-winning supporting turn in “Beginners” (2011), Christopher Plummer is merely required to complement his co-star with his singing dubbed by Bill Lee, and I must point out that their eventual romantic moment is rather flat and perfunctory with the most forgettable song in the soundtrack. Peggy Wood, who received a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination mainly for her gentle musical scene later in the film, Eleanor Parker, and Richard Haydn dutifully fill their respective spots around the story, and those young performers playing the von Trapp children hold each own place fairly well whenever they sing together along with Andrews. 

On the whole, “The Sound of Music” is still an enjoyable piece of entertainment and it deservedly won several Oscars including the ones for Best Picture and Director. Although I must admit that I occasionally rolled my eyes for being a little too sweet and sentimental for me, we can all agree that it represents the glorious era of classic Hollywood musical films during the 1960s along with “West Side Story”, “Mary Poppins”, and “My Fair Lady” (1964), and it will certainly not go away as long as cinema remains alive and well.

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The Voice of Hind Rajab (2025) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): A devastating docudrama to reckon with

Posted on February 19, 2026 by kaist455

Kaouther Ben Hania’s latest movie “The Voice of Hind Rajab”, which won the Grand Jury Prize at the Venice International Film Festival and then received a Best International Film Oscar nomination in last month, is a devastating docudrama to reckon with. Based on a truly heartbreaking real-life incident during the ongoing war in Gaza, Palestine, the movie is often quite difficult to watch for good reasons, but your eyes will be held by the considerable emotional power felt from the screen, and this will definitely make you reflect more on the Gaza war and all those atrocities and tragedies inside that.

The setting of the film is pretty simple. During its opening part, we are introduced to several volunteers of the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) including Rana Hassan Faqih (Saja Kilani) and Omar A. Alqam (Motaz Malhees), and we get some glimpses on how these dedicated volunteers go through another busy and demanding day at their modest call center located in the West Bank area of Palestine on January 29st, 2024. Their main job is sending ambulances to those injured Palestinian civilians in Gaza as quickly as possible, but, of course, that is not an easy job at all mainly due to the aggressive military tactics of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) across the area. 

Not long after being quite devastated by what just happened to a frantic woman who called for help on the phone, Alqam receives an urgent request from a guy currently staying in Germany, who is very concerned about the safety of his several family members including a 6-year-old girl named Hind Rajab. As they tried to leave Gaza by their car, Rajab and her several family members got stuck somewhere in the area, and it does not take much time for Alqam and his several colleagues to realize how grave the situation is. When he subsequently attempts to contact Rajab and her family members on the phone, it turns out that everyone except Rajab was already killed by those Israeli soldiers in the area, and she is desperately calling for help as being helplessly stuck among the dead bodies of her family in that car.

Needless to say, not only Alqam and Rana but also their supervisor Mahdi M. Aljamal (Amer Hlehel) try really hard for the rescue of this unfortunate young girl, but, not so surprisingly, they are reminded again of how often they and their colleagues are helpless and frustrated due to being frequently limited by all those rules and regulations day by day. For example, they must secure a safe route for their ambulance, but this process in question often takes a lot of time, and, above all, there are not many ambulances and paramedics available to them.

Furthermore, there are also those IDF soldiers in the area, who do not hesitate to target their ambulances and paramedics at all. At one point later in the story, the movie shows the photographs of a bunch of recently deceased paramedics, which are as sad and devastating as those numerous photographs of the unfortunate callers Alqam and his colleagues could not save. 

Firmly sticking to Alqam and his colleagues throughout the story, the movie shows some admirable restraint in how it conveys to us the harrowing horror of Rajab’s increasingly grim circumstance. As the handheld camera of cinematographer Juan Sarmiento G. steadily focuses on their emotional responses to Rajab’s desperate call, we come to sense more of whatever she experienced during that horrible time, and we become all the more devastated as there come more horror and despair along the story.

The movie actually uses the excerpts of the recordings of the real phone conversations between Rajab and PRCS. Yes, her voice appearing in the film really belongs to Rajab herself, and this may make you question on the ethics of Ben Hania’s storytelling approach. Is this in fact no more than a blatantly sensational exploitation in the name of art and politics? Or, is this really a bold and powerful storytelling approach for delivering its undeniably angry and urgent political messages to us? 

Based on what I observed from the movie, I can only tell you that it succeeds as much as Ben Hania intended. It is quite clear from the beginning that she deeply cares about Hind Rajab as well as what happened to her, and she also strikes the right balance between fiction and reality. It seems to me that the drama among Alqam and several other main characters around him is dramatized to some degree, but they come to us ordinary decent people simply trying to do their frequently demanding job, and the main cast members of the film are believable in their natural acting as their characters go through a lot of emotional upheavals along the story.     

In conclusion, “The Voice of Hind Rajab” is a modest but utterly unforgettable movie, and Ben Hania further solidifies her advancing filmmaker career. Although I did not like enough her second feature film “The Man Who Sold His Skin” (2020), which also received a Best International Film Oscar nomination, I admired the interesting mix of fiction and reality in her Oscar-nominated documentary “Four Daughters” (2023), and now she goes further with this very intense piece of work. Yes, you may still wonder whether she should have taken more time for having more insight and perspective, but you cannot deny that she really felt the need to make and then show it to us right now, and she accomplishes her challenging mission with those indelible moments of human despair and devastation which will linger on your mind for a while.

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The Smashing Machine (2025) ☆☆☆(3/4): A mildly unconventional sports drama from Benny Safdie

Posted on February 18, 2026 by kaist455

Benny Safdie’s new film “The Smashing Machine” is mildly unconventional as often being deliberately subdued and anti-climactic in terms of narrative. This can be considerably frustrating to you at times, but it is somehow held together by the admirably committed efforts from its lead actor, who flexes a surprising amount of acting muscle here in this movie.

Dwayne Johnson, who often looks quite different here thanks to the recently Oscar-nominated makeups by Kazu Hiro, Glen Griffin and Bjoern Rehbein, plays Mark Kerr, a real-life American Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighter who was very famous during the 1990-2000s. The opening part shows Kerr having one of his career moments in 1997, but then we see how things have been rather messy in his life and career. Just for staying more in his field, he has frequently depended on painkillers, and his resulting addiction brings another strain on his troubled relationship with his girlfriend Dawn Staples (Emily Blunt), who tries her best but always ends up being not so supportive to her boyfriend.

And things get only worse for Kerr when he later goes to Tokyo for an international competition he is going to participate with the assistant of his close friend/colleague Mark Coleman (Ryan Bader). During his first round, Kerr’s physical condition happens to be not very ideal because of another heavy dose of painkiller, and this eventually leads to a humiliating moment of defeat, though he saves his face to some degree thanks to a little violation of his opponent during the match.

Not long after this painful time of defeat, Kerr arrives at a certain inevitable point familiar to any addict who has ever hit the bottom and then had a real moment of recognition. With some sincere support from Coleman, Kerr comes to admit that he does have a serious problem to face and then deal with, and that is the beginning of his first step toward sobriety, though this is not so easy for him as he comes to clash more and more with Dawn.

In the end, Dawn decides to leave Kerr, and Kerr comes to focus on more sobriety as well as preparing for comeback. He sets his eyes on winning the champion title at the same competition in Tokyo in 2000, and we see him diligently going through a series of training sessions under Bas Rutten, an ex-MMA fighter who is incidentally played by himself in the movie.

Meanwhile, Coleman also begins to go back in action. As showing much better match results than expected, he is also going to participate in that Tokyo competition in question, but both he and Kerr keep supporting each other as usual, even though being well aware of the growing possibility of confronting each other in the big final match.     

However, the screenplay by Safdie, who also edited the film besides serving as one of its co-producers, curiously does not attempt to build much dramatic tension on this. As a matter of fact, several key match scenes in the film are presented in a rather perfunctory fashion instead of generating more intensity to grab our attention, and we often find ourselves observing the story and character from the distance as merely following a series of comments from the sportscasters in the movie.

This may disappoint you if you expect something as intense or propulsive as what Safdie and his older brother Josh Safdie achieved in “Good Time” (2017) and “Uncut Gems” (2019), but the movie still works as an engaging character study supported by those small but genuine emotional moments observed from Kerr and several other characters around him. Johnson, who also participated in the production of the film, really pushes himself much more than ever as immersing himself deep into the role virtually tailor-made for him considering his professional wrestling career, and he and Ryan Bader, who is also undeniably perfect for his role due to his real-life professional MMA career, are constantly believable during several key scenes between them. Right from their first scene, you can clearly sense the deep and strong sense of friendship and comradeship between their characters, and you may wish that the movie would focus more on their characters’ enduring relationship.

In contrast, the movie sadly stumbles whenever it tries to depict Kerr and Dawn’s increasingly problematic relationship. Regrettably stuck in a very thankless supporting role, Emily Blunt is seriously wasted on the whole, and the movie fails to give us any clear understanding on the apparently toxic aspects of her character’s relationship with Kerr, which only brings out the worse sides of theirs despite their supposedly sincere efforts.

In conclusion, “The Smashing Machine”, which incidentally won the Silver Lion award for Best Director when it was premiered at the Venice International Film Festival in last year, is one or two steps down from what Safdie impressively achieved along with his older brother in their previous films, but it is not wholly without entertainment mainly thanks to his competent direction and his lead actor’s diligent acting. I do not know whether he will work with his older brother again, but he demonstrates here that he can go his way fairly well just like his older brother recently did in “Marty Supreme” (2025) in the same year, and it will be interesting to see how their respective filmmaker careers will diverge or converge during next several years.

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Diane Warren: Relentless (2024) ☆☆☆(3/4): Still Relentless as ever

Posted on February 18, 2026 by kaist455

Documentary film “Diane Warren: Relentless” looks over the life and career of Diane Warren, one of the most famous songwriters in our time. As a talented female artist who has gone her way for more than 40 years, she surely has a lot to tell even though she is not so willing to delve into many of her personal matters, and the documentary did a solid job of presenting its human subject with enough care and respect.

After showing Warren starting another workday of hers, the documentary lets her and her several close friends and family members talk about her rather unhappy childhood. While there was a considerable gap between her and her two much older sisters in their family home located in a suburban area of LA, her mother was not exactly a loving one in contrast to her father, who tried to help young Warren as much as possible despite his frequent frustration with her.

As Warren frankly admits in front of the camera, she was quite a troublemaker who was even stuck in a juvenile hall for a while, but she gradually came to pursue her emerging passion toward songwriting, and her father gladly supported her aspiration just for making her stay away from any big trouble. Fortunately, he could introduce her to several local record company producers, and she soon began to show more talent and potential as steadily teaching herself more on what could make a good hit song.   

Of course, Warren had to struggle a lot during next several years, but then she quickly rose as a new talent in the town thanks to her several hit songs during the 1980s including “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now”, which garnered her first Oscar nomination as used in “Mannequin” (1987). When she later came to realize that she had been stuck in a very unfair contract with her publishing company at that time, she willingly went all the way for gaining her professional independence, and that was how she came to found her own publishing company, where she have been quite free to pursue her artistic passion and inspiration during next several decades.

Warren generously lets director Bess Kargman and her documentary crew into her little private office, which has been strewn with a lot of stuffs including those countless demo recordings of her old and new songs. Just because she prefers to have her own constant work environment (It is suggested that she is on autistic spectrum just like some of talented musicians, by the way), she has actually never had her office get cleaned for many years, and you may be amused a bit when the camera focuses on some glaringly shabby aspects of her office.    

While she does not show much of her creative process, she openly talks about her edgy and persistent personality. As many people who have known her point out, she is always driven by getting things done in her own way, and Cher fondly remembers when Warren tried to persuade her to record one of the latest songs written by Warren. She was not so impressed by Warren’s demo recording (Her singing is rather lousy as shown to us at one point in the documentary, though I must point out that she sings better than I ever can at least), but, once she was eventually persuaded thanks to Warren’s persistence, and she quickly came to see that Warren was right about her song from the very beginning.

And Warren kept creating and producing more and more hit songs during next several years. Thanks to “Because You Loved Me” in “Up Close & Personal” (1996), she received a Grammy award as well as the second Oscar nomination, and then she garnered next three Oscar nominations for “How Do I Live” from “Con Air” (1997), “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” from “Armageddon” (1998), and “Music of My Heart” from “Music of the Heart” (1999). In case of “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing”, it is quite good enough to have occupied a place somewhere in my mind, and that was also the saving grace of that atrociously brainless science fiction action film directed by Michael Bay (Well, what do you expect?).

Since that point, Warren amassed no less than 11 Best Song Oscar nominations to add, but, unlike Grammy or Emmy, winning an Oscar has remained a lifetime goal she still has not achieved yet even at this point. In case of “Til It Happens to You” from documentary “The Hunting Ground”, this exceptional song was inspired by her personal pain and trauma from an incident of sexual abuse during her early years, and it surely meant a lot to her when Lady Gaga, who was sexually abused early in her career, performed the song along with a group of various sexual abuse survivors on the stage during the Academy Awards ceremony in early 2016. While this was undeniably one of the most memorable moments during the ceremony, the award sadly went to “Writing’s on the Wall” from “Spectre” (2015) in the end, which was not a very good James Bond movie theme song to say the least (“Who Can You Trust?” from “The Spy” (2015), which incidentally came out in the very same year, could actually have worked as a better one in my inconsequential opinion).

Anyway, despite her big disappointment at that night, Warren kept going nonetheless. Since she subsequently got nominated again for “Stand Up for Something” from “Marshall” (2017), she received one nomination after another during next 8 years, and she eventually received an Honorary Oscar in 2022 for her impressive career achievement which is still being continued even at this point.  

In fact, “Diane Warren: Relentless” recently received a Best Song Oscar nomination for “Dear Me”, which is introduced later in the documentary as one of Warren’s latest songs. Considering two much more prominent nominees, “I Lied to You” from “Sinners” (2025) and “Golden” from “KPOP Demon Hunters” (2025), the chance is almost zero for Warren to say the least, but I will certainly applaud if she finally comes upon the stage in the next month.

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Top Secret! (1984) ☆☆☆(3/4): A silly but hilariously free-wheeling parody

Posted on February 18, 2026 by kaist455

Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, and Jerry Zucker’s 1984 film “Top Secret!”, which recently happens to be available on Netflix in South Korea along with a bunch of notable American films from the 1980s, remains as a fairly funny comedy movie. Just like the directors’ previous film “Airplane!” (1980), some of its jokes and gags are rather dated at present, but the movie still provides to us plenty of laughs, and it also distinguishes itself with a rare comic turn by its leading actor.

Val Kilmer, who sadly passed away early in last year, plays Nick Rivers, a popular American rock and roll star musician recently invited to some big international culture festival to be held in East Germany. Although he is warned in advance that he should behave well before arriving in East Berlin, he does not seem that interested in showing good behaviors to his East German hosts, and that naturally leads to a series of small and big comic moments including his impromptu music performance in front of many other guests.

Needless to say, Rivers soon gets himself into a very, very, very serious situation. When he happens to come across a young local woman named Hillary Flammond (Lucy Gutteridge), he is simply interested in having some good time with this pretty young lady, but it turns out that she is being chased by the local police, and that certainly causes a bigger trouble than Rivers expected. He later happens to come across a sinister top secret military plan ready to be executed by the East Germany government within a few days, and he and Hilary, who is revealed to be the daughter of a brilliant scientist forced to work on this plan, must stop this evil plan in addition to rescuing her father.

The story itself is quite simple on the whole, but that is more than enough as the comic ground for a heap of various gags and laughs to be unleashed by the directors, who wrote the screenplay with Martyn Burke. Yes, the audiences at present may not understand a number of dated jokes such as the letter burned by a certain supporting character at the end of one brief scene early in the movie, but, fortunately, there are a lot of stuffs still quite funny. I am always tickled by that train station scene which is packed with hilarious visual gags to notice and enjoy, and I also appreciate the considerable efforts put into the scene unfolded inside a little bookstore (The performers and the crew actually shot the entire scene in backward, by the way).

During the second half, the movie becomes all the more outrageous with more gags and jokes besides some deliberately blatant anachronistic touches. While those East German villains in the story look more like your average Nazi bad guys, there are even a bunch of French Resistance members led by someone from Hillary’s old past, which is incidentally a humorous parody of “The Blue Lagoon” (1980).

In case of Rivers, he gives several musical moments along the story, which are definitely reminiscent of those famous songs written by Elvis Presley and those old musical movies of his. Playing his character as straight as possible, Kilmer willingly hurls himself into these cheerfully silly musical moments, and he also demonstrates his considerable singing ability which would be utilized more later in “The Doors” (1991). Now I remember one comment I came across a long time ago: “If you still think Val Kilmer is a very serious actor even after watching this movie, you really have a serious problem in your sense of humor.”

The rest of the cast members also stick to playing straight to the end while never looking self-conscious at all. Lucy Gutteridge is suitably earnest even during her silliest moments in the film including a brief funny scene where her character’s certain body part shows her literally glowing love toward Rivers, and I enjoy the wry imitation of James Mason by Christopher Villiers, who is also absolutely serious as the leader of those French Resistance members in the story. While Peter Cushing, Michael Gough, and Warren Clarke have their own little comic moments as slyly providing faux gravitas to the film, Omar Sharif does not hesitate to look very silly during one particular key scene early in the story, which reminds us again that playing straight is usually the best way to get more laughs from us.

Compared to the considerable commercial success of “Airplane!”, “Top Secret!” was relatively less successful despite being as funny and inspired as the former. However, Abrahams and Zucker Brothers, who have also been known as “ZAZ”, moved on with several other notable comedy films including “The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!” (1988) and “Hot Shots!” (1991). Unfortunately, these fairly amusing comedy films were subsequently followed by numerous similar but lesser comedy films such as “Scary Movie” (2000) and “Epic Movie” (2007), many of which frustratingly did not know well how to play music, let alone how to play notes. These cheap imitators simply made fun of popular movies instead of really lampooning all those rote genre conventions and cliches just like their seniors, and that is the main reason why they were quite forgettable from the very beginning.  

In conclusion, “Top Secret” can be disregarded as a mere mixed bag of gags, but it is too good to be overshadowed by “Airplane!” in my humble opinion. No, it has not risen in its status like “Planes, Trains, and Automobiles” (1987) or “Groundhog Day” (1993) during last four decades, but its cheerfully free-wheeling parody remains funny as ever, so I urge you to check it out if you enjoyed “Airplane!” or “The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!”.

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Queen of Chess (2026) ☆☆☆(3/4): The story of a trail-blazing female chess player

Posted on February 17, 2026 by kaist455

Netflix documentary film “Queen of Chess”, which was released on last Friday, follows the remarkable story of Judit Polgár, a Hungarian female chess grandmaster who was an exceptional trailblazer during her prime. Despite numerous obstacles including sexism, she really tried hard for reaching her ultimate goal, and her dramatic life story is compelling enough to compensate for the rather conventional aspects of the documentary.

The early part of the documentary focuses on Polgár’s humble background, and she and her father and two older sisters willingly talk about their struggling early years in Hungary in the 1980s. Just because he believed that a genius is created from a lot of effort and focus besides natural talent, Polgár’s father looked for something to develop his three daughters’ potential, and he eventually chose chess mainly because it is, well, cheap. During next several years, he steadily encouraged them to study and practice chess a lot everyday, and, fortunately, all of them turned out to have considerable interest and potential.

Although she was only 5 around the time when she began to play chess just like her two older sisters, Polgár quickly began to show much more talent than expected. Around the time when she became 13, she was virtually invincible as winning one local tournament after another, and her father was certainly willing to lead her to those international tournaments outside Hungary.

However, his little personal family project was not so welcomed by the Hungarian government, which blocked him and his exceptional daughters in one way or another although the Cold War was being over around that time. In the end, as more people heard and then talked about Polgár and her older sisters’ promising prospect as exciting new chess players, the Hungarian government subsequently stepped back, and then they were allowed to compete at an international tournament held in Greece.

And Polgár and her older sisters did not disappoint their father and supporters at all. Once the tournament was started, they swiftly rose up and up as going through one round after another, and they eventually came to have the final match with the Russian team, which had incidentally stayed on the top of the field for many years. To the surprise of everyone around them, they won the match in the end, and they soon found themselves quite welcomed by everyone in their country.

Nevertheless, Polgár and her father were not satisfied at all, because she really wanted to be the best chess player in the world. So far, she had played only against female chess players at the tournaments, and she was willing to push her more as playing against male chess players such as Garry Kasparov, a formidable Russian chess grandmaster who had been the World Chess Champion for many years.

However, Polgár soon faced a lot of sexism from not only Kasparov but also many other male chess players she encountered, and the documentary makes a good point on how often her field has been not that inclusive just because chess has been regarded as, uh, boys’ game. We see Bobby Fischer, a chess grandmaster as legendary as Kasparov, openly disregarding female chess players during one archival interview clip, and Kasparov, who is incidentally one of several chess grandmasters interviewed for the documentary, was no better than that as shown from one of his old interview clips.

At least, Kasparov did not refuse Polgár’s challenge at all, and the documentary presents well their respective game strategies unfolded on the chess board between them. As not only Polgár and Kasparov but also several chess grandmasters eagerly illustrate what happened during Polgár and Kasparov’s first match, you will sense more how intense their match was at that time, even though you do not know much about playing chess like me.

While she was sadly defeated by Kasparov in the end, Polgár was not so pleased about a little but significant act of violation committed by Kasparov. When she pointed out this not long after their match, it surely caused a lot of stirs in public, and she was reminded again of how misogynistic Kasparov and many other male chess players could be. He is later asked about whether he really broke one of the golden rules of chess, but, not so surprisingly, he is not so willing to admit his error even at this point.

As keeping going as usual despite that, Polgár became an independent adult woman willing to go her own away after many years of her father’s guidance and support, and she married a young veterinarian who not only loves her but also understands her passion toward chess. Once she finally earned some respect from Kasparov after another intense match between them, she was more welcomed by many other chess grandmasters around her, and she even got a small but important life lesson from her seemingly unbeatable opponent.

Overall, “Queen of Chess”, directed by Rory Kennedy, feels a bit too plain compared to its extraordinary human subject, but it is certainly something you cannot miss if you enjoyed recent Netflix miniseries “The Queen’s Gambit”. Both of them show that girls can indeed do anything, and they will surely inspire any bright young girl out there.

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