Category Archives: Movies

A Star Is Born (2018) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): It’s old-fashioned indeed – but it still works

Posted on October 9, 2018 by kaist455

“A Star Is Born” is your typical old-fashioned show business melodrama which is quite familiar to the bone. A successful male star entertainer comes across an unknown girl with talent and potential, and then they fall in love each other … Continue reading →

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Mandy (2018) ☆☆☆(3/4): A crazy, violent exercise in style and mood

Posted on October 8, 2018 by kaist455

Before watching “Mandy”, you should know what you are going to get from it. As a crazy, violent exercise in style and mood, the movie intends to strike you hard by any means necessary and some of you may not … Continue reading →

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Leave No Trace (2018) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): Father and daughter in the wood

Posted on October 8, 2018 by kaist455

Understated but undeniably powerful, “Leave No Trace” drew my attention right from its very first moment and then engaged me more through its intimate depiction of the strong relationship between its two main characters. As closely living with each other … Continue reading →

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Eighth Grade (2018) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): Before high school

Posted on October 8, 2018 by kaist455

I like movies making me emphasize with people different from me, and “Eighth Grade” is one of such good films. Although its teenage heroine’s tumultuous emotional journey feels rather alien to me because my adolescent years were less eventful in … Continue reading →

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Three Identical Strangers (2018) ☆☆☆(3/4): Far stranger than fiction

Posted on October 7, 2018 by kaist455

Documentary film “Three Identical Strangers” starts with an incredible real-life story and then reveals a far more unbelievable thing which remains shrouded in questions even at present. I will try not to reveal too much here in this review, but, … Continue reading →

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Jane Fonda in Five Acts (2018) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): Being Jane

Posted on October 7, 2018 by kaist455

HBO documentary film “Jane Fonda in Five Acts” is a compelling examination of the life and carrier of Jane Fonda, a famous movie star who has also been an outspoken activist for many years. As she frankly recounts about her … Continue reading →

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Zama (2017) ☆☆☆(3/4): Waiting for his transfer

Posted on October 7, 2018 by kaist455

“Zama”, which was Argentina’s official submission for Best Foreign Language Film Oscar in last year, is an odd, unconventional period drama which will probably frustrate you for good reasons. As leisurely observing its hero’s seemingly endless predicament and ennui, the … Continue reading →

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Private Life (2018) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): A funny, sensitive human comedy about infertility

Posted on October 6, 2018 by kaist455

“Private Life”, which was released on Netflix this Friday, is alternatively amusing and touching in its intimate and humorous depiction of an ordinary couple struggling with their infertility problem for a long time. While generating lots of small good laughs … Continue reading →

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Hold the Dark (2018) ☆☆1/2 (2.5/4): A cold, brutal genre exercise in Alaska

Posted on October 6, 2018 by kaist455

I feel ambivalent about “Hold the Dark”, a cold, brutal genre exercise which is admirable in technical aspects but too distant to engage me on the emotional level. While I was entertained by its atmosphere and performance to some degrees, … Continue reading →

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Christopher Robin (2018) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): Robin meets his old toy animal friends again

Posted on October 3, 2018 by kaist455

“Christopher Robin”, a live-action film inspired by Walt Disney’s beloved animation film franchise which is based on A. A. Milne and E. H. Shepard’s book “Winnie-the-Pooh”, frequently clashes with my fond memories of Winnie the Pooh, who has been known … Continue reading →

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