Is This Thing On? (2025) ☆☆☆(3/4): A comic way to deal with his middle-life crisis

Posted on May 6, 2026 by kaist455

Bradley Cooper’s 2025 film “Is This Thing On?”, which is currently available on Disney+ in South Korea, is an engaging mix of drama and comedy. While it looks relatively modest compared to his two previous directorial works “A Star Is Born” (2018) and “Maestro” (2023), the movie is still worthwhile to watch for its small but intimate moments, and it also shows us a more serious side of its lead actor’s talent.

Will Arnett, who also served as the co-producer and co-writer of the film, plays Alex Novak, a plain ordinary guy who has been going through a period of mid-life crisis due to a domestic issue between him and his wife Tess (Laura Dern). They have been married for 20 years, but they recently agreed to end their marriage, and now he lives alone in an apartment in the nearby city while Tess continues to live with their two young sons in their suburban home.

However, we cannot help but observe how they are still emotionally connected with each other, when they go together to an evening meeting for them and their several friends. While their recent separation is not a secret to their friends at all, Alex and Tess simply enjoy themselves along with their friends, and we come to sense more of their remaining emotional bond as they talk and walk together for a while after the evening meeting.

Anyway, after sending his wife off at a train station, Alex wanders around the city a bit, and then he comes across a little comedy club. He enters the comedy club mainly because he needs to drink a bit, but then he is required to volunteer to do stand-up comedy because he does not have any money for paying the entrance fee right now. 

Needless to say, Alex is quite awkward when he has to go up to the stage later, but, what do you know, he comes to show some potential once he talks about his life and his crumbling marriage in a self-deprecating manner. After receiving a considerable amount of positive reactions from his audience, he is requested to do more standup comedy in the next time, and he finds himself gradually becoming more interested in standup comedy as preparing his comic materials mostly based on his current status of life.

  While this does not suddenly turn himself into a new promising comedian to watch, Alex gets improved bit by bit as doing his shtick during one evening after another. As cinematographer Matthew Libatique’s handheld camera closely hovers around him, we observe how he becomes more confident and relaxed as throwing some effective punchlines for good laughs – and how he feels somehow liberating as opening himself more and more in front of others.

And this little change in his life begins to affect his current relationship with his wife. As becoming more honest and straightforward than usual, Alex comes to admit that he still loves Tess, and it turns out that Tess also has regretted their decision to divorce. While their kids as well as their parents do not have much problem with that, both Tess and Alex begin to have doubts about their initial decision as being reminded more of what still remains between them, and it seems that they can actually restore their relationship via this unexpectedly recharged affection between them.   

Of course, there eventually comes a moment when Tess happens to discover what her husband has been doing behind his back, but the movie handles this supposedly predictable moment with more sensitivity and thoughtfulness than expected. As the camera lingers on her face for a while, the movie deftly conveys her complex feelings to us in addition to vividly capturing the humorous aspects of the situation between her and her husband, and we come to care about her own mid-life crisis as much as Alex’s.

It surely helps that Cooper draws good performances from his two main performers. Arnett, who has been mainly known for his showy comic performances including his Emmy-nominated supporting turn in American TV comedy series “Arrested Development”, surprises us as deftly dialing down his usual comic persona for his unexpectedly nuanced acting here in this film, and he is particularly good when his character struggles to articulate his feelings during several key scenes in the movie. On the opposite, Laura Dern, who has been one of the most dependable actresses in our time during last 40 years, brings enough human warmth and personality to her three-dimensional role, and she is certainly her co-star’s equal acting match as their characters push or pull each other along the story. 

Cooper also assembles a number of various performers to notice. Several performers playing stand-up comedian characters in the film are believable with their authentic details, and Amy Sedaris brings some extra humor as the emcee of the comedy club. Andra Day, Sean Hayes, Christine Ebersole, and Ciarán Hinds are also solid in their respective supporting parts, and Cooper steals the show at times as the goofy actor husband of Day’s character. 

On the whole, “Is This Thing On?” looks like a minor work compared to Cooper’s two previous films, but it still holds our attention via its good storytelling and the enjoyable efforts from its main cast members. It does not surpass my expectation, but it did its job as well as intended with enough humor and sensitivity, and I appreciate that with some applause.

Posted in Movies | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere (2025) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): Springsteen at a turning point

Posted on May 5, 2026 by kaist455

Scott Cooper’s 2025 film “Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere” is a typical biography drama film which merely doles out those familiar conventions and clichés of its genre. While there are some nice moments of somber sensitivity during its first half, the movie eventually becomes another superficial tale of artistic/personal struggle, and that is a big letdown – especially considering the legendary status of its real-life musician hero.

That figure in question is Bruce Springsteen. I must confess that I do not know much about his life and career beyond his several notable songs including “Born in the U.S.A.” and that Oscar-winning song for “Philadelphia” (1993), so I began to watch the film with some expectation, but I only ended up being rather dissatisfied without getting to know more about his life or artistry.

The story begins with the end of Springsteen’s the River Tour in 1981, which was concurrently started along with the release of his album “The River”. While quite exhausted to say the least, Springsteen, played by Jeremy Allen White of American TV drama series “The Bear”, now has to prepare for his next album to be released sooner or later besides recharging himself to some degree, and his loyal manager/record producer Jon Landau (Jeremy Strong) assures that he can take his time as much as he wants.

After going back to his hometown in New Jersey, Springsteen spends some time alone by himself in a big house purchased in advance, and it becomes more apparent to us that something has been troubling him for a while. His mind cannot help but get haunted by the old child memories associated with his abusive father, but he does not know what to do about that, while also having no clear idea on the overall artistic direction on his next album.

Nevertheless, Springsteen’s artistic impulse gradually returns as he casually spends his own time day by day. Accidentally inspired by the works of Flannery O’Connor as well as Terrence Malick’s 1973 film “Badlands”, he begins to compose one particular song for a start, and then there soon come several other songs to be included in the album.

And he also has some ideas on how to prepare for the upcoming recording sessions, and that is the most interesting part of the film. Using a rather cheap recording device, Springsteen makes a demo cassette tape containing his several new songs to be improved in one way or another during the recording session, and he is particularly attentive to how one of these songs should sound in the final recording.

What follows next is a series of amusing struggles for Springsteen and several others including Landau as they try to find any possible way to make the song sound exactly as he wants. His recording engineers go through one trial after another trial without much satisfaction for a while, but then, to our little amusement, they eventually come upon an unlikely method for getting their mission accomplished in the end.

Meanwhile, things become a bit messier for Springsteen’s personal life. His father, who is incidentally still alive just like his mother, goes through another troubling time, and that makes Springsteen more reluctant to face his own personal demons. He has been in a close relationship with a young single mother named Faye Romano (Odessa Young), but he chooses to focus more on his music instead of getting closer to Faye and her young daughter, and that certainly frustrates her a lot.

It goes without saying that Springsteen eventually manages to pull himself together a bit while making and then releasing his next album on his own terms, but the screenplay by Copper, which is based on Warren Zanes’s 2023 book “Deliver Me from Nowhere” and some elements from Springsteen’s 2016 autobiography book “Born to Run”, often spells out its hero’s issues too blatantly. For example, after listening to Springsteen’s demo tape, Landau muses a lot on that in front of his wife later, but this supposedly personal moment between them feels more like an obligatory moment of exposition just for us instead. In addition, the subplot between Springsteen and his girlfriend also feels quite trite and perfunctory at times – especially when they have a little honest conversation on how much he has disappointed her.

In case of White, who has recently been expanding the range of his acting in movies as shown from Sean Durkin’s “The Iron Claw” (2023), he is fairly solid in his diligent embodiment of Springsteen’s spirit and personality despite being often stuck with subpar dialogues just like most of the other cast members including Jeremy Strong, Paul Walter Hauser, Stephen Graham, Odessa Young, Gaby Hoffmann, and Marc Maron. Looking less intense compared to his recent Oscar-nominated supporting turn in Ali Abbasi’s “The Apprentice” (2024), Strong imbues his character with genuine loyalty and dedication, and Graham, who has emerged as one of the most dependable character actors during last several years just like Strong, somehow overcomes his thankless part.

Overall, “Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere” is not a total failure thanks to the admirable efforts from White and several other main cast members, but it still feels deficient and hollow on the whole in addition to being less satisfying compared to Cooper’s several better films such as “Crazy Heart” (2009), which incidentally garnered a belated Oscar for Jeff Bridges. To be frank with you, Thom Zimny’s recent documentary film “Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band” (2024) is relatively more interesting and insightful than this, and maybe you should check that out instead.

Posted in Movies | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Howard (2018) ☆☆☆(3/4): On the life and career of a legendary Disney lyricist

Posted on May 5, 2026 by kaist455

2018 documentary film “Howard”, which is currently available on Disney+, looks into the life and career of Howard Ashman (1950 ~ 1991), a legendary American lyricist who played a crucial part in the success of several Disney animation films such as “The Little Mermaid” (1989). Although it is a shame that he died too early when he was beginning to have his biggest career success, many of his significant achievements have been cherished for many years since his death, and the documentary did a respectful job on presenting the overview on his life and career.

After opening with an archival footage clip Ashman working in the middle of the recording session for the songs for “Beauty and the Beast” (1991) in 1990, the documentary presents his early years in Baltimore, Maryland during the 1950-60s. Even when he was young, Ashman showed considerable artistic interest and talent, and then he actively pursued his growing artistic aspiration during his subsequent college years. Around that time, he was already quite aware of his homosexuality, and we hear about how he and his first partner Stewart White shared a lot of their common hope and dream as frequently participating together in many different artistic activities.

In the end, just like many other young artists in theater field, Ashman and White eventually moved to New York City in the late 1970s, though they had to begin from the very bottom for starting their career there. Mainly because there was no particular connection or figure to help them, they decided to found their own little independent theater company together, and that was how Ashman met his frequent collaborator Alan Menken.

As showing more potential as a lyricist, Ashman eventually tried on his first musical, which is incidentally based on Kurt Vonnegut Jr.s novel “God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater”. After receiving a little indirect blessing from Vonnegut himself, Ashman and his colleagues were all the more motivated, and the result was their first critical success, though it unfortunately became a commercial failure when their production was subsequently moved to Broadway.

Nevertheless, Ashman moved onto his second musical project, which was based on Roger Corman’s low-budget 1960 black comedy film “The Little Shop of Horrors”. Although many people around him were not sure about whether that could be possible, Ashman went all the way along with Menken as his composer, and, what do you know, the result was one of the most enduring works in the Broadway history. In fact, the original production of the musical was so successful that it was later adapted into the equally famous 1986 musical film of the same name, which incidentally garnered the first Best Song Oscar nomination for Ashman and Menken.

After this point, Ashman attempted to work along with Marvin Hamlisch on the next musical project, but the following production process frustrated him a lot from the beginning to the end, and he was all the more daunted by the negative reviews which came right after the opening night on Broadway. Fortunately, he was soon approached by Jeffrey Katzenberg, who was working in Disney at that time and happened to need a good lyricist to give some input to his ambitious Disney animation project. Ashman was quite excited by working for Disney, but Disney was going through the lowest moment in its history around that time, and he was quite surprised by how its animation department had been nearly abandoned for a while.

Nevertheless, he enthusiastically approached to that animation project in question, which turned out to be, yes, “The Little Mermaid”. After bringing in Menken as his composer again, Ashman closely collaborated with Disney animators for more creative feedbacks, and some of these animators gladly tell us how much Ashman influenced their production in one way or another. Besides providing all those lovely songs with Menken, he firmly stuck to his artistic integrity to the end, and that was how one of those key songs in the film, “Part of Your World”, avoided getting deleted despite Katzenberg’s insistence.

However, when “The Little Mermaid” eventually opened a new era for Disney animation and then Ashman received his first Best Song Oscar along with Menken, Ashman was already dying after receiving HIV/AIDS positive diagnosis some time ago. He and his second partner Bill Lauch, who became very close to him not long after Ashman and White got separated in 1983, were naturally quite devastated, but they initially could not tell this sad fact to many of others around them. In fact, Menken came to learn about that only a few days after he and Ashman received that Oscar, and then a small number of figures including Katzenberg also came to learn about that.

Ashman was understandably quite concerned about whether Disney would fire him because of his terminal illness, but Katzenberg and many others in Disney stood by him to the end with a lot of help and support. Besides quickly moving onto “Beauty and the Beast”, he also worked on several songs for “Aladdin” (1992), and he became all the more passionate and diligent than before, though he eventually passed away several months before “Beauty and the Beast” was released. 

In conclusion, “Howard”, directed by Don Hahn (He was the producer of “Beauty and the Beast” and several other subsequent Disney animation films, by the way), is a fairly engaging documentary which also works as a sincere tribute to Ashman’s short but distinguished life and career. While mainly driven by the archival footage clips and photographs and the excerpts from the audio interview recordings, Ashman’s artistry and humanity vividly come to us and then move us a lot on the whole, and the overall result is certainly recommendable especially if you love and admire not only the aforementioned Disney animation films but also their excellent songs from Ashman. Yes, we can only imagine how much he could have achieved more if it had not been for his unfortunate terminal illness, but his legacy will certainly live on just like it did during last 35 years.

Posted in Movies | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Nutcrackers (2024) ☆☆☆(3/4): Stuck with his sister’s orphaned children

Posted on May 5, 2026 by kaist455

David Gordon Green’s 2024 film “Nutcrackers”, which is currently available on Disney+ in South Korea, was an interesting experience for me. At first, I winced more than once along with its hero as observing how he struggles to handle those four children in his custody, but then I found myself gradually caring more about them as well as him, and I certainly cheered for all of them around the end of the story, even though I knew well from the very beginning that I would get that predictable outcome in the end. 

Ben Stiller plays Mike Maxwell, a successful real estate businessman who came from Chicago to some rural town in Ohio for taking care of an important personal business of his. His sister, who was incidentally a promising young ballet dancer a long time ago, and her husband lived there along with their four children, but now they are dead due to an unfortunate accident, and Max must take care of his sister’s four children for a while before any good foster parent candidate comes.

The main source of humor during the early part of the film comes from how these four children look rather unruly to say the least. They freely and happily grew up under their parents in their family farm, and Max is aghast at how messy their family place is in many aspects, while being also quite annoyed by their frequently willful behaviors.

Nevertheless, Max tries to do what should be done for them right now, though his mind is often occupied with some big business deal he must handle as soon as possible. Because there is not any suitable foster parent for them yet, he agrees to be their temporary guardian, and he also manages to have them take care of the currently messy status of their house, though that is just the beginning of many other things he must do for them.

It is not much of a spoiler to tell you that Max eventually comes to like his sister’s children more than expected. As getting to know more about how they lived along with their dear parents, he understands and then cares about them a lot, so he comes to pay more attention to finding a suitable foster parent for them. In fact, there is actually a wealthy couple who may be interested in raising all of them together, though we instantly sense that this couple is not so ideal for them considering the children’s rather wild attitude.   

And there is also a little subplot involved with Gretchen Rice (Linda Cardellini), a local social service worker who genuinely cares about the children of Max’s sister. Although their first meeting is a bit awkward mainly due to his callous attitude, Gretchen subsequently appreciates how much Max comes to care about his sister’s children, and we also gradually sense some romantic vibe developed between them.

Leisurely moving from one narrative point to another, the screenplay by Leland Douglas often shines in a number of small moments to give us some glimpse into its main characters’ humanity. When he visits a certain foster candidate at one point later in the story, Max cannot help but notice how pretentious this candidate is, but he quietly keeps his thoughts to himself as a sensible man – even when what he suspects soon turns out to be true. While they look irrepressible in their spirit, his sister’s children really need someone to lean on, and the movie subtly conveys that to us via their little personal moments instead of spelling that out too loud.

In the end, the story arrives at the finale where its main characters become more honest about their feelings via one small public performance inspired by a certain famous classic work by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. While the finale feels a bit clichéd at first, the movie eventually surprises us as taking an unexpected turn, and then we are touched by the following moment of healing and reconciliation.

As the main center of the story, Ben Stiller, who has recently demonstrated more of the serious side of his talent as shown from his Emmy-nominated directorial works in acclaimed Apple+ TV series “Severance”, dials down his usual comic persona a bit, and it is engaging to observe how his low-key performance fills out his character with human details to observe. At first, Max is not a particularly likable dude, but then we come to understand and accept him more as observing more of his inner decency, and Stiller also clicks well with Linda Cardellini during their several key scenes in the film.

Around Stiller, the four main young performers of the film, Homer Janson, Ulysses Janson, Arlo Janson, and Atlas Janson, hold each own place well as ably imbuing their respective roles with enough spirit and personality. It certainly helps that they are actually real-life siblings and the movie was shot in their real family farm thanks to their mother (She was a film school classmate of Green, by the way), and I was not so surprised to learn later that they have a certain particular set of skills necessary for the finale.

In conclusion, “Nutcrackers” is a little but enjoyable mix of drama and comedy, and it is certainly better than Gordon’s recent commercial horror films such as “Halloween” (2018) and “The Exorcist: Believer” (2023). Whenever we think he is no longer a wonderful filmmaker who gave us “George Washington” (2000) and “Undertow” (2004), Gordon always surprises us with his little project, and “Nutcrackers” is certainly one of such cases.

Posted in Movies | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Nightbitch (2024) ☆☆(2/4): She’d rather become a dog

Posted on May 5, 2026 by kaist455

Marielle Heller’s 2024 film “Nightbitch”, which is currently available on Disney+ in South Korea, is an uneven genre mix which seems to be often confused about how it is about. While it is clearly intended to be a suburban mix between satire and fantasy, the result feels jumbled and disjointed in terms of mood and narrative, and it is a shame that its lead actress tries really hard for making it work as much as possible.

At first, the movie shows us how things have been quite frustrating for its heroine, who is simply named “Mother” in the end credits. Before her two-year-old son was born, she was a very promising artist, but she chose to focus on raising her son instead once she became pregnant, and now she wonders whether she made a big mistake from the very beginning. Every day is a constant struggle for her as she tries to take care of her son, but her husband is virtually absent due to his frequently busy job, and he does not seem to appreciate much of her efforts whenever he is at their home. 

The satiric aspects of the story work best as observing how much its heroine feels still frustrated even when she is with several other mothers in her suburban neighborhood. Many of these mothers look mostly fine and well while also being happy and content with their children, and this makes her feel all the more inferior about herself. She really wants to let out her feelings and thoughts churning inside her mind, but she only comes to deliver occasional internal monologues to herself and us instead.

In the meantime, something weird begins to happen on her body. At first, her body shows a rather abnormal growth of hair, and that is just the beginning of several other odd changes on not only her body but also her mind. While being often driven by a sudden bout of primal urge, she comes to have a much more sensitive sense of smell, and she becomes more aware of those barking dogs outside the house whenever she tries to sleep at night.

Eventually, she comes to sense that she is being transformed into something like… a dog. Quite flabbergasted about this truly preposterous case of body horror, she naturally tries to understand and process it, and that is how she becomes interested in checking out all those myths about women turned into animals. Is this simply a delusion propelled by all the accumulating anxiety and stress inside her? Or…

There are several disturbing moments including when its heroine is shocked to find a lot of dead animals in front of her house, but the movie somehow remains to be merely ridiculous instead of becoming unnerving or amusing instead. When its heroine finally reaches the logical outcome of her transformation process, this moment is supposed to be dramatically liberating, but it simply feels silly and outrageous without adding that much to the story and characters.

Heller’s screenplay is based on the novel of the same name by Rachel Yoder, and I was a bit alarmed when I came across a certain literature term while getting some information on Yoder’s novel. It seems that the novel depends a lot on magic realism, and, as some of you know well, magic realism is something quite tricky to be translated onto the screen. Many preposterous moments in the movie may be fairly believable in the novel, but these moments are just plainly weird instead of drawing us more into the story and characters.

Above all, we never get to know that much about its heroine, who remains more or less than a symbolic figure representing all the struggling mothers out there. While the movie provides a bit of her personal and professional background, the flashback scenes involved with her and her mother are mostly superficial, and the same thing can be said about a scene involved with her former professional colleagues, whose sole function is reminding more of how much she gave up just for becoming a mother.

The overall result becomes all the more frustrating because there are actually a few effective moments around its last act. When its heroine eventually opens herself more to those fellow mothers of hers, she and they come to share each own anxiety and frustration from motherhood, and this actually helps her reflect more on what she really wants to do about her life.

However, Heller’s screenplay frequently swings from one extreme end to another without any moderation, and so does its lead actress’ performance. Since her Oscar-nominated breakthrough turn in “Junebug” (2005), Amy Adams has been steadily engaging throughout her career, but the movie is unfortunately one of her few missteps. She surely shows some professional commitment as her character is driven to several extreme moments, but her admirable efforts are limited by her thin character more than once, and she is also not supported well by several notable supporting performers including Scoot McNairy, who are sadly wasted in their under-developed roles.

On the whole, “Nightbitch” is a big disappointment in addition to being two or three steps down from the considerable achievement of Heller’s several previous films such as “Can You Every Forgive Me?” (2018). I appreciate it to some degree as an exploration on motherhood via female perspective, but there are several other films which did the job much better in comparison, and I would rather recommend them instead.

Posted in Movies | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

The Territory (2022) ☆☆☆(3/4): Their territory to defend in Amazon

Posted on May 4, 2026 by kaist455

2022 documentary film “The Territory”, which is currently available on Disney+ in South Korea, focuses on the defiant struggle of a bunch of indigenous tribe people living in one Amazon rainforest area of Brazil. While it occasionally shows the viewpoint of their main opponents, it is clear that the documentary puts more emphasis on those indigenous tribe people and their rights to defend their territory, and it is often infuriating for us to see how more injustice was thrown upon them in one way or another.

At first, we are introduced to the two central figures of the documentary: Bitaté Uru-eu-wau-wau and Neidinha Bandeira. The former is a 19-year-old member of the Uru-eu-wau-wau tribe, and the documentary gives a brief piece of information on this obscure indigenous tribe who has been resided in the Amazon rainforest area for many centuries. It was only after 1980 that the tribe made a direct contact with the world outside, but this change unfortunately led to the death of many tribe members caused by those infectious diseases from the outside world, and only around 200 tribe members remained around the late 2010s.

Nevertheless, Bitaté and many other tribe members including Ari Uru-eu-wau-wau stood their ground in their territory, even though it has been steady encroached here and there by numerous settlers and farmers eager to turn the rainforest area into farms and ranches since the 1980s. No matter how much they tried to defend their territory, the farmers and settlers kept destroying its rainforest step by step, and things got all the worse when Jair Bolsonaro became the new president of Brazil in late 2018. He and his government tacitly encouraged the farmers and settlers to destroy more of the rainforest, and Bitaté and his tribe members became a lot more frustrated than before.

At least, they could get some help from the outside mainly thanks to Bandeira, a passionate local activist who has been very close to the tribe for many years. In fact, she has been pretty much like another mother for Bitaté, and we see them often closely working together for their common cause. While being fully aware of how she is not welcomed much by many of those local people, Bandeira does not flinch at all for what she really believes in, and her daughter accepts that well even though she is often concerned about safety as much as her mother.

Meanwhile, the documentary also pays attention to several settlers and farmers on the opposite position, who had no problem at all with showing their belief and the considerable damage they often cause in the rainforest. At one point, we see two settlers casually set small fire at one spot in the rainforest, and we soon see the sheer ecological horror resulted from that. Everything around the spot is burned to the ground, and it is all the more chilling when you consider how many unknown plants and animals, which could actually be very valuable for the humanity, might be destroyed there forever.

And we also come to reflect more on how much the Amazon rainforest has been important for all the living organisms on the Earth for several million years at least. We all know well that it is regarded as the “lung” of the Earth mainly because it has produced a substantial amount of oxygen every year, and that is why it must be preserved for not only the humanity but also all other animal and plant species around the world (Yes, plants also need oxygen as much as we and other animals).

However, to our exasperation, this ecological importance seems to be the last thing to be considered for those farmers and settlers. They regard the Amazon rainforest as their own American Wild West to be conquered and then civilized, and they regard Bitaté and his tribe people as a mere nuisance to get rid of as soon as possible, while having no idea on how they may also be thrown away by the rich and powerful in the end. As backed by the Brazilian government much more than before, these incorrigible people cornered Bitaté and his tribe more and more, and then there came a tragic incident involved with one of the key tribe members.

The situation became all the more despairing for Bitaté and his tribe because of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020. Their community was devastated as consequently losing around 5% of its population, but they kept trying to stand their ground nonetheless, and they eventually established a de facto police apparatus for protecting their territory more than before. Using not only drones but also digital video cameras, they recorded and reported more of their defiant stand against the unjust system, and this actually drew more attention from the media and public in the end. After that, the settlers and farmers had to step back a bit due to their bad public image, but, as reflected by one infuriating scene shown in the middle of the end credits, they were stopped at all, and the documentary informs us a bit on how much the Amazon rainforest was destroyed under President Bolsonaro and his government.

In conclusion, “The Territory”, which was included in the shortlist for Best Documentary Oscar in 2022, feels immensely urgent right from the beginning, and director/co-producer/co-cinematographer Alex Pritz, who deservedly won Exceptional Merit In Documentary Filmmaking for the documentary along with his producers including Darren Aronofsky in 2023, did a competent job of presenting his main human subjects with considerable care and respect. While it could show and tell more in my humble opinion, it accomplishes its mission fairly well within its rather short running time (86 minutes), and its many angry moments will linger on your mind for a while after it is over.

Posted in Movies | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Caught Stealing (2025) ☆☆☆(3/4): He’s in a trouble way over his head…

Posted on May 4, 2026 by kaist455

Darren Aronofsky’s 2025 film “Caught Stealing”, which is currently available on Netflix in South Korea, is a cheerfully absurd and intense comic noir thriller. As its flawed hero desperately struggling to survive under a situation way over his head, the movie deftly throws a lot of twists and turns into the plot along with a bunch of various colorful figures to enjoy, and you will gladly go along with that even as observing his accumulating plight from the distance.

Austin Butler, a promising young actor who has steadily advanced since his Oscar-nominated breakthrough turn in “Elvis” (2022), plays Henry “Hank” Thompson, who was once a promising young baseball player but now works as a bartender in the Brooklyn neighborhood of New York City, 1998. When he returns to his apartment from another working time at his bar, Hank comes across his British friend Russ Miner (Matt Smith), and Russ happens to need Hank right now. Due to some personal reason, Russ must go back to his home in London as soon as possible, and he asks Hank to take care of his cat instead of him for a while at least.

Hank accepts this seemingly simple request from his friend without much hesitation, but this soon leads to a big trouble for him. On the very next day, a couple of suspicious Russian guys come, and they seriously injure Hank just because they think he has something to hide as a close friend/neighbor of Russ. Needless to say, Hank is quite baffled about what is going on around him, but then he belatedly comes to realize that Russ gave him something else besides the cat at that time, and now he is cornered by many other shady figures in addition to those two Russian thugs.

Now this is a familiar setup for your average noir thriller, but there are also a lot of comic absurdity as our rather hapless hero hurriedly bounces from one narrative point to another. For example, we are amused a lot by when Hank is interrogated by a local detective assigned to his case, and the movie also shows some naughty sense of humor when he subsequently discovers a certain important little object at one point in the middle of the story.

Nevertheless, the movie never overlooks what is being at stake for Hank, who becomes more scared and desperate as things get not only more absurd but also more intense. Many of his opponents are not definitely someone he can mess with, but there are not many people around him who can actually help him. In case of his nurse girlfriend, she sincerely cares and worries about him, but she does not easily tolerate his incorrigible behaviors at all, as shown from one particular scene between them.

I must point out that it is often frustrating for us to see Hank making his situation worse in one way or another along the story, but we also get to know how troubled he has been since a devastating incident which ruined his professional athletic career forever. Still feeling a lot of regret and guilt inside him, he also cannot help but think of what he could have become if it had not been for that incident – especially whenever he hears more about the ongoing MLB (Major League Baseball) season.

The screenplay by Charles Huston, which is based on his 2004 novel of the same name, has a lot of rich character details observed from those various figures revolving around Hank in the story. While Hank’s nurse friend functions as the only consolation in his miserable status of life, his rather dopey boss provides some comic relief, and we also get a series of darkly amusing moments from many of Hank’s opponents, who are all deadly serious but also look rather funny at times.

In the end, the movie eventually culminates to a climactic sequence where a lot of things happen here and there, but we never feel like getting confused thanks to the skillful efforts from Aronofsky and his crew including his frequent cinematographer Matthew Libatique, who did a commendable job of imbuing the screen with a palpable sense of time and location. While there are some expected moments of payback, there are also a number of small and big surprises to enjoy, and I particularly appreciate the big irony observed from the end of this electrifying sequence.

Butler is compelling as his character gradually faces his personal demons and then somehow finds his inner strength along the story, and he is also surrounded by a group of talented performers who have each own moment to shine. While Zoë Kravitz brings some warm sensitivity to her several key scenes with Butler, Matt Smith delightfully chews every moment of his appearance as required, and Regina King is also effective as the aforementioned detective character. As some of the main villains in the story, Liev Schreiber, Vincent D’Onofrio, and Benito Martínez Ocasio, who is also known as “Bad Bunny”, go all the way for their respective juicy scenes, and I also like the brief appearances of Griffin Dunne, Carol Kane, D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Tenoch Huerta, and a certain Oscar-winning actress to be revealed later in the film. In case of the cat which plays Russ’ cat, it effortlessly steals the show whenever it is on the screen, and you may care more about its safety than anything else in the film.

On the whole, “Caught Stealing” is relatively less ambitious compared to many of Aronofsky’s notable films such as “Requiem for a Dream” (2000) or “Black Swan” (2010), but it is more interesting than his previous film “The Whale” (2022), which somehow garnered a Best Actor Oscar for Brendan Fraser despite its middling result. In short, this is one of the more enjoyable films from last year, and I assure you that you will not be disappointed if you look for any competent genre piece.

Posted in Movies | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Hello, My Name Is Doris (2015) ☆☆☆(3/4): Her very late coming-of-age story

Posted on May 4, 2026 by kaist455

To be frank with you, I am a rather socially awkward person, but even I shake my head as observing the heroine of Michael Showalter’s 2015 film “Hello, My Name Is Doris”. Besides being quite socially awkward, she is also seriously delusional at times in her clumsy quest for love, but the movie somehow does not lose its empathy and understanding on her at all – even as she makes several big wrong choices along the story.  

At the beginning, we see how things have recently been difficult for the titular character played by Sally Fields. For many years, Doris Miller has lived with his ailing mother in their house, but now her mother passed away, and she does not know what to do about the rest of her life. While she has steadily earned her living as an accountant in some company located in New York City, there are not many people in her daily social life, and her house has been full of many different stuffs she and her mother kept for many years. Her brother suggests that she should sell the house and then make a new start for herself, but she is not willing to do that even after meeting a therapist recommended by him.

And then there comes an unexpected change at her workplace. A younger guy named John Fremont is introduced to Doris and her co-workers as a new employee to work with, and, what do you know, Doris is surprised to find herself quite smitten with him right from their first encounter. Even though she is much older than this dude, she believes that she can win his heart somehow, and we get amused a bit as she has occasional moments of delusion associated with her crush on him.

Now this sounds rather disturbing, but the screenplay by Showalter and his co-writer Laura Terruso, which is based on Terruso’s short film of the same name, did a good job of balancing its story and heroine between humor and gravitas. We laugh as she attempts to get closer to John via her fake Facebook account thanks to a little help from the granddaughter of a close friend of hers, but then we come to care more about her as getting to know more about how static and frustrating her life has been for many years. She has surely longed for some changes in her life, but she does not know well how to bring real changes into her life as a woman rather hopelessly stuck in a rather unhealthy mindset, and there is a poignant moment when she is reminded more of her old personal issues later in the story.

Meanwhile, it becomes quite apparent to us that John is not very serious about Doris even after Doris manages to befriend him a bit more. While he is nice and friendly to her when she approaches to him at a concert of his favorite band, he simply regards her as a co-worker to socialize with, and Doris is certainly devastated when he later turns out to be in a romantic relationship with some young woman at present.   

Nevertheless, the movie avoids making John look obtuse or superficial at all as paying some attention to his sincerity and kindness. Besides remaining genuinely cordial to Doris, he is really serious about his relationship with that young lady, and we naturally wince when Doris subsequently makes an unwise impulsive choice which considerably affects John and his girlfriend’s relationship.

And we also get to know about several figures surrounding Doris. While he may be selfish to some degree, Doris’ brother sincerely cares about his sister’s welfare, and so do Doris’ close friend, who simply regards Doris’ romantic pursuit as a part of her belated personal growth. There eventually comes a point when Doris lets her down a lot, but then she willingly becomes someone to lean on for Doris nonetheless because, well, that is what a true friend should do.

Needless to say, Field’s colorfully likable performance is crucial in making the film work. While never overlooking how silly and absurd her character is, Field illustrates her character’s personality and humanity with a lot of care and sensitivity, and she also embodies well the bountiful spirit hidden behind her character’s introverted appearance. Once she feels more comfortable with expressing herself and her feelings, Doris makes some big forward steps for herself as shown from a hilarious scene involved with John’s favorite band, and we come to root for her character more than before.

Showalter also assembles a bunch of good performers to support Field’s solid performance. As the object of her character’s desire, Max Greenfield holds his own place well next to Field, and he is particularly good when his character and Doris come to have a little honest conversation around the end of the story. Beth Behrs, Tyne Daly, Stephen Root, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Isabella Acres, Elizabeth Reaser, and Peter Gallagher are also well-cast in their respective supporting parts, and you may be also delighted by the appearance of Natasha Lyonne and Kumail Nanjiani, who would become more familiar to us after this film.

In conclusion, “Hello, My Name Is Doris” is a small but amiable comedy film which also works as the belated coming-of-age drama of its oddball heroine. As a guy who made a fair share of mistakes as struggling to interact with others around me during last four decades, I understood and then empathized more with Doris during my viewing, and I was eventually touched as observing a significant sign of improvement from her. That change is a bit late for her, but it is never too late for any of us to change and then grow up a little as long as we are still alive, isn’t it?

Posted in Movies | Tagged , | Leave a comment

A Big Bold Beautiful Journey (2025) ☆☆(2/4): A big bland boring journey

Posted on May 3, 2026 by kaist455

Kogonada’s 2025 film “A Big Bold Beautiful Journey”, which is currently available on Netflix and several other streaming services in South Korea, is surprisingly flat and tepid despite a lot of talented figures assembled together for it. While it is intended as a calm and somber reflection on the messy aspects of love and life, it unfortunately feels bland and hollow at times because of its deficient storytelling, and its occasionally distracting artificial aspects make us more aware of its many flaws in terms of storytelling.

At the beginning, we are introduced to David (Colin Farrell), a currently single guy who is about to go to the wedding of a friend of his. Unfortunately, his car happens to get its wheel clamped due to his illegal parking, so he has no choice but to go to a rental service company which is simply named “Car Rental Company”. He meets two employees there, and these two employees, played by Kevin Kline and Phoebe Waller-Bridge, ask rather odd questions before eventually renting him an old car equipped with a special GPS (Global Positioning System) voiced by Jodie Turner-Smith.

In the middle of the wedding, David is introduced a woman named Sarah (Margot Robbie). As talking a bit with each other, David and Sarah come to see how much they are different from each other, and that seems to be the end of their brief encounter, but, what do you know, they subsequently meet each other again at a Burger King restaurant. As they talk more with each other, they are reminded more and more of their considerable personality difference, but then they find that both of them rented a car from the same rental service company, and Sarah later gets into David’s car because her car happens to have some inexplicable malfunction.

This is surely a typical case of Meet Cute, but what follows next is pretty contrived to say the least. As suggested by that weird GPS of David’s car, he and Sarah take a route leading them to one magical spot after another, and each of these magical spots on this route makes them face their respective pasts in one way or another. In case of one of these magical spots, they come into an old high school memory of David associated with one stage performance of a certain classic Broadway musical, and David is certainly embarrassed a lot because that was when he was painfully rejected by his first love. In case of some other magical spot associated with Sarah’s past, she and David see how she missed the chance to see her mother for the last time right before her mother’s death, and it is clear to us that she still feels guilty about that.

As getting to know more about each other along the story, Sarah and David naturally become a bit closer to each other, but they come to learn more about how messy and flawed they have been. Due to each own reason, both of them often cannot help but walk away from any possibility of serious romantic relationship, and they hesitate to approach closer to each other as reflecting more on how often they have ruined their respective chances for love and happiness.

Around that narrative point, we are supposed to care more about their relationship development, but the screenplay by writer/co-producer Seth Reiss fails to bring enough substance to its story and characters. Its plot is so trite and predictable to the core that we become more distant to whatever is going between its two main characters, and, to make matters worse, its two characters remain to be more or less than plot elements to be rolled along its predetermined narrative course. I guess David and Sarah being guided (or manipulated) by that strange GPS throughout the story is a humorously self-conscious touch, but that becomes less amusing as the screenplay lackadaisically moves from one narrative point to another along with its two main characters.

Furthermore, the movie is all the more dissatisfying due to the serious lack of chemistry between its two lead performers on the screen. Colin Farrell, who has steadily established himself as one of the most interesting actors in our time as shown from his previous collaboration with Kogonada in “After Yang” (2021), and Margot Robbie, who can be quite funny and engaging as shown from her several notable performances including her Oscar-nominated turn in “I, Tonya” (2017), are dependable performers equipped with each own presence and talent, but they somehow fail to generate enough romantic spark between their characters to our bafflement.

At least, Robbie manages to bring some genuine pluck into her role, and Farrell also acquits himself fairly well just like he previously did in “Ballad of a Small Player” (2025), another very disappointing movie of his in last year. In fact, he ably handles a little musical moment in the middle of the film, and that may take you back to how believable he was as a popular country singer in “Crazy Heart” (2009) many years ago.

Overall, “A Big Bold Beautiful Journey” is not as wonderful as its very title suggests, and it is sadly a big letdown after the considerable critical success of Kogonada’s first two films. When I saw “Columbus” in late 2017, I was quite mesmerized by how effortlessly it sets the tone and then develops the story and characters with considerable emotional effects, and I was further impressed by how Kogonada advanced more with his next film “After Yang”. At this point, he already made the next film which was incidentally premiered at the Sundance Film Festival early in this year, and I can only hope that his next film will not bore and disappoint me like this regrettable dud did.

Posted in Movies | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Swapped (2026) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): Visually wonderful but ultimately flawed

Posted on May 2, 2026 by kaist455
A whimsical animated bird with green feathers flying in the air, carrying a small, furry creature on its back, surrounded by a colorful nature backdrop.

Netflix animation film “Swapped”, which was released on this Friday, works whenever it pays attention to its wondrous fantasy background. Packed here and there with vivid and colorful details to notice, the film is certainly a nice eye candy for the audiences, and it is a shame that the film is not so engaging in terms of story and character. Sure, its message on empathy, understanding, and solidarity is quite important to us considering how our world has been driven toward more apathy, ignorance, and disconnection these days, but, sadly, this important message is not delivered well to us mainly because of its rather rote storytelling.

At the beginning, the movie establishes its fantasy background mainly via Ollie (voiced by Michael B. Jordan), who is a little rodent creature called “Pookoo”. When he was very young, he and many other Pookoos including his parents peacefully lived together in their natural habitat as harvesting their main source of food day by day, but then they were thrown out of their habitat by a bunch of big birds called “Javan” not long after Ollie’s accidental encounter with a little young Javan. Now they are hiding under the ground because Javans occupy their habitat, and things become all the more desperate for them as they are almost running out of their food.

Nevertheless, Ollie, who has always been bold and curious, keeps trying to find any possible way to help his tribe. On one day, he happens to discover how to chase away Javans, but, alas, he tumbles down into a hole in the ground when one Javan tries to attack him, and then he comes upon a strange magical pod, which somehow transforms him into a Javan.

A cute animated character with a round diving mask surrounded by colorful aquatic plants and fish with large eyes.

Needless to say, Ollie is quite confused about his unexpected transformation, and the situation becomes more complicated when a Javan named Ivy (voiced by Juno Temple) gets involved with him later. Thanks to a bit of help from a big fish named Boogle (voiced by Tracy Morgan), Ollie finds another magical pod which can revert him to his original appearance, but, unfortunately, Ivy touches that magical pod first, and then she gets transformed into a Pookoo.

What follows next is the unlikely friendship between Ollie and Ivy, who come to have more understanding on each other’s clan via their respective transformation. They certainly do not like each other much at first, but they soon come to depend on each other for surviving together, and that leads to the gradual bonding between them. While Ivy helps Ollie learn how to fly, Ollie teaches Ivy how to depend on her newly acquired sense of smell, and then they are joined by Boogle, who also wants that magical pod for his own personal reason.

Of course, there are several obstacles in front of these three main characters. For example, there are a bunch of wolves hungry for anything edible for them, and then there is a very steep waterfall which turns out to be much riskier than expected. However, all these and other obstacles turn out to be relatively less challenging compared to the ultimate opponent for Ollie and Ivy.

Around that point, the story becomes all the more predictable to our disappointment. Yes, it turns out that there is a hidden connection between Ollie and Ivy, and you could easily guess that from the very beginning even if I did not tell you anything. Yes, Ivy and Ollie eventually overcome their bias against each other, and they and their respective clans work together for saving many other creatures in their area. Yes, Ollie and Ivy definitely save the day as fighting against that fearsome opponent, and we certainly get an important lesson from that.

A colorful animated scene featuring a small, cheerful animal character next to a vibrant, friendly bird with leafy features, set in a lush, forested background.

Compared to this clichéd plot, the visual style and imagination are too good in my inconsequential opinion. For instance, many of the animal creatures in the film look like being generated from trees or grasses, and I particularly like those gigantic creatures which are sort of hybrid between mammoth and forest. This may sound rather outrageous to you, but these fantastic creatures are so vividly illustrated on the screen that I am reminded of what Gabriel García Márquez once said: “If you say that there are elephants flying in the sky, people are not going to believe you. But if you say that there are four hundred and twenty-five elephants in the sky, people will probably believe you.”

The voice cast members of the film are solid on the whole. Michael B. Jordan, who recently won a well-deserved Oscar for his frequent collaborator Ryan Coogler’s latest film “Sinners” (2025), deftly balances his character between humor and drama, and he is complemented well by Juno Temple, who did a good job of bringing some plucky spirit to her role. In case of several other notable voice cast members, Cedric the Entertainer, Justina Machado, and Tracy Morgan are effective in their respective supporting parts, and Morgan, who has mainly known for his Emmy-nominated turn in American TV comedy series “30 Rocks”, surprises you as his supposedly goofy character comes to show some unexpected seriousness later in the story.

On the whole, “Swapped”, which is directed by Nathan Creno (He was the co-director of Disney animation film “Tangled” (2010), by the way), is rather dissatisfying mainly due to its weak narrative and thin characterization, and it is less distinctive even compared to several recent Netflix animation films such as “Nimona” (2023), “Orion and the Dark” (2024), and “In Your Dreams” (2025). At least, it is a fairly competent Netflix product, so you may enjoy it to some degree, but then your mind will quickly move onto another latest stuff to watch from Netflix.

A young child and a colorful creature sitting on a rocky ledge, gazing at a vibrant sunset with purple and orange hues over misty mountains.

Posted in Movies | Tagged , , | Leave a comment