Category Archives: Movies

The Counselor (2013) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4) : A descent into the hell a la Cormac McCarthy

Posted on November 15, 2013 by kaist455

 Around four years ago, I was temporarily banished from my lab after another disastrous academic failure of mine. So disappointed with myself, I retreated into the campus library, and I read several books I previously bought but had never touched, … Continue reading →

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Farewell, My Queen (2012) ☆☆☆(3/4): Her last few days in the palace

Posted on November 15, 2013 by kaist455

The storm is coming, but they have no idea on what will happen to them and their world. It is July 14th, 1789, and everything looks fine just like any other day to the people in the royal palace of … Continue reading →

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All Is Lost (2013) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4) : Our Man and the Sea

Posted on November 10, 2013 by kaist455

Nearly stripped of every expected convention, “All Is Lost” is so pure and simple that it does not look like an interesting movie at first. There is no back story or flashback for its lone hero, and its reticent aging … Continue reading →

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Steel Cold Winter (2013) ☆☆☆(3/4) : A dark, bloody winter romance in the countryside

Posted on November 8, 2013 by kaist455

South Korean film “Steel Cold Winter”, which is released as “A Girl” at South Korean theaters in this weekend, is dripping with the moody atmosphere which will draw you to its dark secret hidden behind one mysterious girl and the … Continue reading →

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Mr. Nobody (2009) ☆☆(2/4) : I’m sorry, but which timeline is he talking about?

Posted on November 3, 2013 by kaist455

 “Mr. Nobody” juggles its balls with all the ambition it has, but I could not hold on to that. As going back and forth between its five or six parallel timelines, it eventually loses its ground and then gets lost … Continue reading →

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Like Someone in Love (2012) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4) : Like Someone in Lies

Posted on November 2, 2013 by kaist455

After delighting us with “Certified Copy”(2010), Abbas Kiarostami enjoys himself again in his latest film “Like Someone in Love”. While it looks like a plain, exemplary Japanese film made with the local actors and crew on the surface, his own … Continue reading →

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The Purge (2013) ☆☆(2/4) : A suburban night of legalized killings

Posted on November 2, 2013 by kaist455

“The Purge” starts with an outrageous but intriguing premise: what if the society temporarily allows killings as a way of ventilating the social anger/resentment pressed inside its individuals? I can think of at least five or six implausible aspects of … Continue reading →

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Thor: the Dark World (2013) ☆☆(2/4) : To be continued…

Posted on November 1, 2013 by kaist455

 I usually think reviewing movie trailers is pretty ludicrous, but I seriously doubt that my review on “Thor: the Dark World”, the sequel to “Thor”(2011) and also one of the latest entries in the Marvel Comics mega-franchise, would be inappropriate … Continue reading →

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Halloween (1978) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4) : “It *was* the boogeyman.”

Posted on October 30, 2013 by kaist455

“More than once during the movie I looked around just to make sure that no one weird was sitting behind me.”  – from Gene Siskel’s 1978 review on “Halloween” When I watched John Carpenter’s “Halloween” for the first time in … Continue reading →

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The Gatekeepers (2012) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4) : Their secret jobs and their serious concerns

Posted on October 25, 2013 by kaist455

The interviewees of Oscar-nominated documentary “The Gatekeepers” have fascinating stories to tell. They worked behind the scenes as the soldiers of a long, messy conflict still continuing at this point, and they are quite willing to talk about those turbulent … Continue reading →

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