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

Posted on September 11, 2026 by kaist455

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Posted on September 6, 2026 by kaist455

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Posted on September 6, 2026 by kaist455

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Posted on September 6, 2026 by kaist455

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Posted on September 5, 2026 by kaist455

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Posted on September 5, 2026 by kaist455

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Waitress the Musical (2023) ☆☆☆(3/4): A funny and likable stage musical to enjoy

Posted on September 4, 2026 by kaist455

“Waitress the Musical”, which is the full presentation of the 2015 stage musical of the same name by Sara Bareilles and Jessie Nelson, is a pleasant experience packed with enough spirit and charm. Besides having a number of funny songs to remember, the movie is supported well by the game efforts from its cast members, and it also fluidly bounces from one moment to another without being too stagy at all during its rather long running time (144 minutes).

The reason why the movie interested me from the beginning is that Bareilles and Nelson’s stage musical is based on the 2007 film “Waitress”, which was directed and written by Adrienne Shelly (Some of you probably remember her tragic early death which happened not long before her movie came out, by the way). Although it has been almost 20 years since I watched the 2007 film, I still remember well how charming and likable it was, and I am glad to report to you that the stage musical version, whose 2016 Broadway production was quite successful as garnering several Tony nominations (It had no chance of winning at all at all mainly thanks to a certain mega-hit musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda), equally works with its own fun and charm.

Anyway, the movie was filmed during the 2021 Broadway production where Bareilles played the lead character, Jenna, instead of Jessie Mueller in the 2016 Broadway Production, and directors Brett Sullivan and Diane Paulus did a competent job of transferring the stage performance to the screen. While Paulus deftly handles the stage production itself, Sullivan and his crew flawlessly capture small and big moments on the stage, and the result is often vivid and engaging even when we are aware of the inherent stagy aspects of the film.

Like Shelly’s 2007 film, the stage musical mainly revolves around a sudden issue coming upon its heroine, who is a plain waitress working in a little diner in some small rural town. Because of what happened between her and her husband Joe (Joe Tippett) some time ago, Jenna reluctantly does a pregnancy test, and, what do you know, she gets a positive test result, and her pregnancy is soon confirmed when she visits a local clinic later.

However, Jenna does not tell anything to her husband, who is an abusive loser who does not care about anyone except himself. While not so sure about what to do about her ongoing pregnancy, she focuses on making her delicious special pies at the diner, and we often get amused as she sings about how to make her latest special pies.

And one of these special pies of hers leads Jenna to an unexpected affair between her and Dr. Pomatter (Drew Gehling), her new gynecologist. Right from when he tastes a bit of a pie given from her, he feels quite attracted to her, and she also finds herself drawn to him, but there is one serious problem. Just like her, he is married, and that makes both of them hesitate to get closer to her at first, but, of course, they come to follow what their hearts want in the end.

This is certainly a messy situation for our heroine, but the mood remains mostly light and cheerful thanks to the songs written by Bareilles herself. Right from the opening song “What’s Inside”, we get engaged in what may be served next along with Jenna’s special pies, and many of the songs in the stage musical are delightful as mixed with the right amount of amusement and poignancy. We are quite touched as watching Jenna singing “What Baking Can Do”, and then we are tickled by “Club Knocked Up”, which is brief but hilarious as she encounters several pregnant ladies at the clinic.

While it is mainly set in Jenna’s diner, the stage musical smoothly shuffles its several sets along the story, and the movie sometimes gets us closer to the performers and the sets. Thanks to editors Marko Keser, David Tregoning, and Sarah Broshar, the result does not feel limited or stuffy at all, and we accordingly get more immersed in what is going on the stage.

And we come to appreciate more of the spirited musical performances from the main cast members led by Bareilles. As Bareilles ably holds the center with her charming presence, Drew Gehling and Joe Tippett are effective as the two different men in Jenna’s life, and several other cast members including Charity Angél Dawson, Caitlin Houlahan, Dakin Matthews, Eric Anderson, and Christopher Fitzgerald have each own moment to shine along the story. While Dawson and Houlahan are often very sweet and funny as Jenna’s two contrasting friends/co-workers, Matthews and Anderson provide a bit of salty fun as required, and Fitzgerald, who was Tony-nominated for his performance in the 2016 Broadway production, instantly steals the show with his showstopper number “Never Ever Getting Rid of Me”. Yes, the song and his supporting character may feel rather creepy at first for a good reason (Just look at the very title of the song, folks), but Fitzgerald brashly goes all the way for more sincerity and hilarity, and you can eventually sense his character’s genuine affection toward Houlahan’s character.

In conclusion, “Waitress the Musical” is a solid experience thanks to not only its enjoyable music and songs but also how it skillfully presents the stage performance on the screen. Although it did not knock me down, it charmed and then entertained me enough on the whole, and now I want to revisit the 2007 film sooner or later. That says a lot about how effective the movie is, isn’t it?

Sidenote: The movie is dedicated to not only Shelly but also Nick Cordero, who played Joe in the 2016 Broadway production and unfortunately died in 2021 because of COVID-19-related complications.

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Power Ballad (2026) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): Their little conflict on a song

Posted on September 3, 2026 by kaist455

John Carney’s latest film “Power Ballad” does not disappoint you in case of music. Its original song is fairly good enough to leave some impression on you, and its two performers are convincing and effective during their musical performance scenes. However, the story could delve deeper into their little conflict on that song, and I was disappointed with how that is resolved in a rather contrived way in the end.

Paul Rudd plays Rick Power, a small-time American musician/songwriter who has lived in Dublin, Ireland for many years since he married there. There was a time when he dreamed big about his musician career, but, alas, he remains struggling while not going anywhere, and the opening scene shows him and his fellow band members doing another usual gig of theirs at a wedding party.

Nevertheless, Rick still hopes for any chance for breakthrough as trying to write more songs, and, what do you know, there comes an unexpected chance. When he and his fellow band members go to a manor outside Dublin for a wedding party to be held there, they happen to come across a former boy band member named Danny Wilson (Nick Jonas). Although he is relatively less prominent now, Danny is still capable of holding the guests’ attention when he is on the stage in front of Rick and his fellow band members, and he surely gives a good time for everyone with his impromptu musical performance.

After the party is over, Rick encounters Danny again, and they soon find themselves spending some time together as two fellow musicians. As they talk and drink more in Danny’s big room, they come to work a bit on one of the old songs written by Rick, and we observe how they gradually improve it. As they modify the song here and there, they cannot help but become more enthusiastic, and the movie did a skillful job of presenting their work process with considerable spontaneity.

In the end, Danny shows some gratitude to Rick as giving him a nice gift, and then they part their ways, but, of course, that is not the end of their story. After returning to LA, Danny keeps trying to write his own songs as before, but then he tries what he and Rick worked on that day, and, surprise, this comes to boost his musical career a lot more than expected. However, he presents it as a song written by himself without recognizing Rick’s contribution at all, and Rick is certainly not so pleased when he learns about the huge success of the song several moments later.

Unfortunately, it seems that there is really nothing Rick can do about this problem for now. He does not have any hard evidence showing that he actually made most of the song, so he cannot possibly win if he ever tries to sue Danny and a recording company representing him. Eventually, he tries to contact Danny for himself, but, not so surprisingly, Danny is advised not to interact with Rick at any chance.

Now this looks like a typical story, but Carney’s screenplay adds some fresh changes on that. While he turns out to have a very personal reason to be angry about how Danny used his song for boosting his career, Rick cannot help but show more pettiness and resentment in front of others around him, and this surely affects his relationship with his supportive wife and their adolescent daughter. At the same time, he becomes more aware of how Danny contributes to the success of the song to a considerable degree, and that is reflected well by his brief dream scene in the middle of the story.

In case of Danny, it is undeniable that he was not honest about the song from the beginning, but he feels guilty when he comes to learn that Rick wants to talk with him, though he gladly enjoys his ongoing career rejuvenation. Eventually, there comes a moment of confrontation between them during the last act, but the movie hesitates to push their conflict further, and this moment consequently gets fizzled before being followed by the perfunctory ending.

Anyway, the movie works to some degree because of its two solid lead performers. Rudd, who has been one of the dependable performers working in Hollywood since I happened to see him playing a supporting character in “The Cider House Rules” (1999), balances his performance well between humor and pathos, and he also competently handles several musical scenes in the film. On the opposite, Nick Jonas, who was a member of the pop rock band Jonas Brothers, certainly slips inside his musician character without much difficulty, and he and Rudd are effortless in their interactions during the aforementioned scene early in the story.

In contrast, several supporting cast members in the film are mostly stuck in their thankless roles. While Peter McDonald brings some humor as Rick’s loyal colleague, Marcella Plunkett and Beth Fallon, who play Rick’s wife and daughter, are limited by their under-developed characters, and Jack Reynor does not have much to do here compared to his scene-stealing supporting turn in Carney’s previous film “Sing Street” (2016).

Overall, “Power Ballad” is two or three steps down from what Carney wonderfully achieved in “Once” (2007) and “Sing Street”. Yes, its original song is pretty nice in addition to being effectively utilized on the screen more than once, but it could be more memorable if the movie were as good as that, and that is a shame in my trivial opinion.

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In the Grey (2026) ☆☆(2/4): Guy Ritchie on autopilot

Posted on September 2, 2026 by kaist455

Guy Ritchie’s latest film “In the Grey” did not surprise or excite me at all. Like many of his notable films such as “The Gentleman” (2019) or “The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare” (2024), the movie attempts to generate some fun and excitement via juggling a bunch of archetypes along the story, but the result is so perfunctory that I became less and less interested in whatever was going on the screen.

The movie mainly revolves around a bunch of specialists led by a lawyer named Rachel Wild (Elza Gonzalez). Their expertise is recovering debts from their rich and powerful clients who often have shady deals with wealthy but questionable figures around the world, and their latest client is a big asset management firm in New York City. The firm, mostly represented by a hearty banker played by Rosamund Pike, must recover no less than a billion-dollar debt from a dude named Manny Salazar (Carlos Bardem, who is incidentally the elder brother of, yes, Javier Bardem), who already killed some other specialist hired by the firm at the beginning of the story.

Because of her personal connection with that murdered specialist, Wild becomes more determined to get her latest job done, but she remains calm and methodical along with her trustworthy employees including Sid (Henry Cavill) and Bronco (Jake Gyllenhaal). Under her cool command, they embark on cornering Salazar and his men in one way or another, and it does not take much time for Salazar to see that he is in a big trouble.

Nevertheless, Salazar is still a formidable opponent for Wild and her team. Wild is going to meet Salazar on some remote island which is virtually his own private island, and her team must prepare carefully on how everything is ready for her at the time of her arrival on the island – and how they are going to take her away from the island once the deal with Salazar is done. Besides checking a lot on where Wild is going to meet Salazar, they also plan several different extraction routes just in case, and they thoroughly check on their main plan and some backup plans before Wild eventually arrives.

This is supposed to be fun to watch, but Ritchie’s screenplay merely throws a series of exposition moments one by one without building enough narrative momentum to draw our attention. Besides, there is not much suspense or thrill as almost everything is smoothly prepared step by step without much problem, so we simply observe the work progress of Wild and her team from distance instead of being really engaged or intrigued.

Above all, the movie often fails to imbue its main characters with enough life and personality to interest us. Most of them are your average bland stock characters who can be defined and then described within less than a minute, and there is not much character development from that as the movie simply regards them as plot elements to move from one narrative point to another. We never get to know that much about them except their particular set of skills, and this makes their work process more insipid and tedious.

In case of the action scenes in the film, they are mostly competent without bangs and crashes, but we come to sense that Ritchie and the movie are on autopilot without much enthusiasm. While there are some expected setbacks, they do not lead to much tension at all, and a few supposedly dramatic moments later in the story feel rather hollow as our interest in the story and characters are dwindling as usual.

While observing how the movie tries to be lean and economical in its narrative and characterization, I could often not help but wonder whether Ritchie tries to emulate Steven Soderbergh’s recent genre films such as “Black Bag” (2025). Unfortunately, he seems to overlook how Soderbergh’s genre films work as subtly and dexterously showing some style and personality to hold onto, and “In the Grey” has none of them in my humble opinion. There are a bit of casual humor as its main characters throw some mildly amusing one-liners, but that does not compensate much for the serious lack of style and personality in the film.

Anyway, the main cast members of the film try as much as possible for carrying the film to the end. While Eiza Gonzalez brings some pluck and spirit to her rather thankless part, Henry Cavill and Jake Gyllenhaal manage to generate a bit of interest as two close partners who have worked and known each other for a long time. Cavill, who previously appeared in “The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare” with Gonzalez, is amusingly unflappable as required, and Gyllenhaal, who has been trying a number of different genre stuffs ranging from “Spider-Man: Far From Home” (2019) to “Road House” (2024) during last several years, sometimes demonstrates a bit of his underrated comic skills while mostly looking very serious throughout the film.

In conclusion, “In the Grey” is a bland genre film which is even less enjoyable than “The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare”. I did not like that movie enough for recommendation, but I enjoyed its several fun moments at least, and I must say that “In the Grey” does not have anything on par with those entertaining moments. To be frank with you, I am already ready for moving onto any better stuff, and I sincerely recommend you to watch some of Ritchie’s better films such as “Wrath of Man” (2021).

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The Journey to Gyeong-ju (2025) ☆☆☆(3/4): There bumpy family trip for revenge

Posted on September 1, 2026 by kaist455

South Korean film “The Journey to Gyeong-ju” is a mixed bag which actually works better than expected. Although it often feels rather uneven as frequently bumping back and forth between comedy and drama along the story, the movie is somehow held together by the game efforts from its several main cast members, and we come to care more about their characters’ desperation while having some good laughs at times.

At the beginning, the movie looks like your average dysfunctional family comedy on the surface. Ok-sil (Lee Jung-eun) and her three daughters, Jang-joo (Kong Hyo-jin), Yeong-joo (Park So-dam), and Dong-joo (Lee Yeon), are going to an old tour city named Gyeong-ju, and they are supposed to have a time of healing for their minds there, though they cannot help but clash with each other as going to Gyeong-ju by their shabby old vehicle as colorful as that vehicle in “Little Miss Sunshine” (2006).

However, it soon turns out that they have other plan behind their back. Several years ago, Ok-sil’s youngest daughter Gyeong-joo (Hwang Hyeon-jeong) was brutally beaten and then murdered by some horrible dude, but he subsequently received a rather light sentence to the anger and frustration of Ok-sil and her other family members including her husband, who eventually died not long after his daughter’s killer was sent to prison. Now, this horrible guy, Sang-hyeon (Byun Yo-han), is on parole, and Ok-sil’s and her other daughters are not going to let him enjoy his freedom.

What they planned looks pretty simple at first. A female friend of Ok-sil and her two sons who have a certain particular set of skills already kidnapped Sang-hyeon while Ok-sil and her daughters were going to Gyeongju, and this is supposed to give Ok-sil and her daughters a fairly good alibi. Not long after they arrived in Gyeong-joo, Sang-hyeon’s unconscious body is handed to them, and now they are going to execute their big personal revenge upon him at a certain remote spot prepared for them.

Needless to say, things do not go that well for Ok-sil and her daughters in one way or another, and the movie accordingly serves us one absurd comic moment after another as they struggle to accomplish their goal. While those people hired by them turn out to be rather sloppy, Ok-sil and her daughters are no better than them at all, and they are certainly thrown into panic and frustration as their plan frequently goes wrong despite their desperate efforts.

And they also come to clash more with each other as facing each own pain and sadness from Gyeong-joo’s tragic death. While Ok-sil cannot help but become more haunted by the memories of her dead daughter, her surviving daughters turn out to have each own issues to handle besides trying to move on with their respective lives, and things get more complicated when it turns out that not all of them are really willing to go all the way with their mother.

Meanwhile, the plot thickens a bit more as the situation becomes more serious for not only Ok-sil and her daughters but also several others around them. Shortly after Sang-hyeon was gone without any trace, a couple of detectives assigned to this cast instantly sense something fishy about his sudden disappearance, and they soon come to look for Ok-sil and her daughters. In addition, Sang-hyeon turns out to be quite a vile and nasty guy to say the least, and he surely brings more troubles for everyone associated with this ongoing circumstance.

I am not so sure about whether the finale works as effectively as intended, but the screenplay by director/writer Kim Mi-jo, who previously made a feature film debut in little but unforgettable #MeToo drama movie “Gull” (2020), manages to juggle many different genre elements to the end. Although things surely become all the more serious for everyone later in the story, the movie steadily maintains its sense of black humor as well as its narrative momentum, and we become more engaged in what is being at stake for Ok-sil and her daughters.

Above all, the ensemble performance among the four principal cast members of the film keeps things rolling even when the movie stumbles a bit. As Lee Jung-eun deftly balances her character between comedy and melodrama without any misstep, Gong Hyo-jin, Park so-dam, who incidentally appeared along with Lee in Bong Joon-ho’s Oscar-winning film “Parasite” (2019), and Lee Yeon have each own moments to shine along the story, and these four wonderful actresses always click well with each other thanks to the effortless comic timing among them. Kim also assembles a number of good performers around them, and Byun Yo-han, Hwang Hyeon-Jeong, Kim Young-sung, Nam Gwon-a, Kim Jung-young, and Kim Hak-sun dutifully fill their respective spots around the story.

Overall, “The Journey to Gyeong-ju” is an occasionally incoherent but fairly enjoyable movie whose strong elements compensate enough for several notable weak aspects, and Kim made a mostly successful transition to mainstream here in her second feature film. Although it is less satisfying compared to “Gull”, the movie confirms that she is a competent filmmaker who can go on, and I will certainly keep following her promising filmmaker career.

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