Flamin’ Hot (2023) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): Not hot enough in my humble opinion

Posted on June 19, 2023 by kaist455

“Flamin’ Hot”, which was released in Disney+ a few days ago in South Korea, is unfortunately not hot enough for us. While it is supposed to be a colorfully spicy and interesting story behind Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, the movie is rather plain and superficial in terms of story and characters, and, unlike its famous main subject itself, it does not make you to grab and savor it again.

The story, which spans the period between the 1960s and the 1990s in US, mainly revolves around Richard Montañez (Jesse Garcia), the eldest son of a poor Mexican immigrant in California. Although he did not even go to high school, Richard is a smart guy determined to make any kind of success, but he is still unemployed despite his persistent job searching, and that does not make him look that good to his disapproving father or his dear wife.

At one point, Montañez considers going back to his old criminal way for supporting his family, but then there comes an unexpected chance via one of his old friends who works at a local factory belonging to Frito-Lay. Thanks to that friend of his, Montañez gets employed as a janitor at that factory, but he is not merely content with this meager job at all. He is eager to know more about how the production system of the factory works day by day, and he soon becomes quite interested in the whole production process of various snacks including, yes, Cheetos.

And he happens to have the right guy to teach him almost everything. There is a seasoned black engineer who has been stuck in his job for many years despite his considerable knowledge and experience, and Montañez does not hesitate to approach to this black engineer even though he is not welcomed that much from the beginning. Once he enjoys a Mexican sauce brought by Montañez, Clarence C. Baker (Dennis Haysbert, who seems to be channeling someone who is somewhere between Clark Peters and Morgan Freeman) agrees to show and teach Montañez everything, and Montañez eagerly absorb lots of skills and knowledge from Baker during next several years.

Meanwhile, things get pretty hard for everyone in the factory after 1980. Besides the growing economic problems of poor working-class people like Montañez and his family, Frito-Lay comes to face a serious business problem as the sales of most of their prominent products are going down quarter by quarter, and Roger Enrico (Tony Shalhoub with a very smooth wig on his head), the CEO of Frito-Lay, is not so amused by this. Knowing well that his company really needs any kind of breakthrough to save itself from its current economic depression, he even attempts a sort of motivation speech for his numerous employees.

After learning that his big boss is looking for any good idea for energizing the company, Montañez begins to look for anything interesting enough to pitch to Enrico, and, what do you know, he soon comes to realize that the answer has been much closer to him than expect. After watching one of his two young sons enjoying the spicy flavor of Mexican street corn, he quickly discerns the considerable market potential of spicy snacks, and he and his family subsequently embark on concocting a special spicy flavor for the snacks of Frito-Lay during next several weeks.

Once they eventually find the right combination between spiciness and tastefulness, all Montañez has to do next is contacting with his big boss, and that turns out to be much easier than expected because Enrico is really serious about getting any good idea for his company business. Although he is rather reluctant at first, Enrico decides to take a shot with Montañez’s new flavor, and it does not take much time for him to put more faith on Montañez, though those executives working under him are not so enthusiastic in contrast.

Around that narrative point, the screenplay by Linda Yvette and Chávez Lewis Colick, which is mostly based on Montañez’s book “a Burrito and a Cookie: From Janitor to Executive”, adds more dramatic elements into the story, but the result is just flat and predictable without bringing much depth or insight to its hero and his cultural/ethnic background. In case of a subplot involved with Montañez’s personal conflict with his father, it is so clichéd to the bone that the eventual moment of resolution between them feels rather contrived instead of touching or poignant.

The movie is at least buoyed by the engaging presence of its several main cast members. While Jesse Garcia’s diligent efforts often prevent his character from becoming an ethnic caricature figure, Annie Gonzalez complements him well as Montañez’s no-nonsense wife, and Dennis Haysbert and Tony Shalhoub manage to dig up some human nuances from their functional supporting roles even though their appearance sometimes looks rather strained due to their glaringly artificial hairstyle.

“Flamin’ Hot” is the first feature film directed by Eva Longoria, who has been mainly known as one of the lead actresses of TV comedy series “Desperate Housewives” but has also steadily built up her own filmmaking career as directing the episodes of several notable TV drama and comedy series during last several years. As far as I can see from the final result, she is a competent filmmaker, and I can only hope that she will keep advancing more in her filmmaking career in the future.

By the way, as it slyly recognizes more than once to us, the movie is a heavily fictionalized version of the real-life story of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, and that did not bother me much during my viewing, and I cannot help but think of that famous line from John Ford’s classic film “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance” (1962): “ When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.” In my trivial opinion, the movie is not tasty enough to be enjoyed as a fiction, and I doubt whether it will be remembered long enough to become a legend.

Posted in Movies | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

The Biggest Little Farm (2018) ☆☆☆(3/4): They bought a farm…

Posted on June 18, 2023 by kaist455

Documentary film “The Biggest Little Farm”, which happens to be released in South Korean theaters in this week, is a vivid and intimate chronicle of one ordinary couple who took a considerable risk with one big barren farm for their little shared dream. While this surely often feels like your average feel-good nature documentary, it also recognizes all those difficulties and hardships of running and managing a farm every year, and we certainly come to cheer for that couple more as observing how they dealt with one obstacle after another during their first several years at the farm.

How director/co-writer/co-producer/co-cinematographer John Chester and his wife Molly started their little farm project was sort of fateful. As a culinary expert, Molly had hoped to have a little diverse farm which can supply a various number of fresh food ingredients for her cooking, and John was certainly supportive about that, but their shared dream seemed to be out of their reach mainly because they did not know that much about farming in addition to not having enough money for buying any decent farm out there.

And then there came an unexpected change in their life which motivated them much more than before. In 2010, John and Molly came to adopt a dog which could have been euthanized instead, and they were certainly delighted about that, but, to the annoyance of many neighbors of theirs, this dog barked too much whenever they were absent in their little apartment. Eventually, they had no choice but to move to somewhere, and that was when they became more serious about following their shared dream. First, they became more active about anyone to finance their little farm project, and they also looked for any suitable rural place for that.

Fortunately, John and Molly soon succeeded in getting the financial support from an investor really interested in their farm project, and then they purchased an abandoned farm near Moorpark in neighboring Ventura County, California. Although the farm looked pretty dire to say the least in many aspects, John and Molly were willing to try their luck on bringing life back to this dry and stark area, and they even hired an eccentric consultant named Alan York. York was quite serious about restoring the ecosystem of the farm area, and John and Molly and several other hired workers willingly followed York’s ambitious plan even though they were not wholly certain about whether the nature environment of the farm would really be restored in the end.

What follows next is a series of ups and downs for John and Molly and others in the farm. We see them working on the bio-friendly production of compost via worms and bacteria, and then we see them pack the land with various kinds of animals and plants besides several common livestock animals and orchard trees. According to York’s view, the whole restoration of the ecosystem in the farm is crucial for its nature environment as well as its productivity, and Molly was certainly delighted to fill the orchard area of the farm with many different fruit trees (She even nicknamed it “Fruit Basket”, by the way).

However, though they were already told that it would be very hard for them and others in the farm during next several years, John and Molly frequently found themselves quite frustrated and exasperated with many different problems. While their strategy on compost fairly worked well, they subsequently faced several fest problems in the orchard area. While they had a considerable financial success from their little egg farm, they constantly had to protect those chickens at the egg farm from those meddling wild coyotes out there. In addition, they also had to deal with several unexpected nature disasters including a record-breaking drought.

Nevertheless, John and Molly did not give up at all as trying to handle one impending matter after another, and their small and big struggles eventually led to some valuable lessons and experiences about nature. For example, they came to learn how the fully restored ecosystem can actually take care of many of their problems in the farm, and even those supposedly annoying coyotes later became rather useful once their attention was diverted from those chickens to something else in the farm. When another big nature disaster came in 2017, they were certainly worried a lot, but they were relatively more assured because they knew about their land a lot more than before.

As a professional wildlife cinematographer, Chester surely knows how to capture the vivid beauty of the nature environment of the farm on his camera, and he and the other four cinematographers of the documentary certainly did a commendable job here. Although their result occasionally feels a little too slick and smooth, it is difficult for us not to be warmed and touched by those lovely moments of nature shown in the documentary, and the documentary also recognizes some harsh facts in the daily life at John and Molly’s farm. As dedicating themselves to the farm during several years, they came to care a lot about many livestock animals in their farm, but John phlegmatically reflects at one point that these livestock animals of theirs are simply allowed to live until they are not useful anymore for him and his wife.

Overall, “The Biggest Little Farm” may occasionally be a bit too mild and soft for you, but it never overlooks all those strenuous efforts behind John and Molly’s special farm at least, and it will certainly make you muse more on the importance of preserving and maintaining nature environment. After all, we all really need to live more harmoniously with nature these days, don’t we?

Sidenote: Short documentary film “The Biggest Little Farm: The Return” (2022), which is the little epilogue to the documentary, is currently available on Disney+.

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

Crown Heights (2017) ☆☆☆(3/4): A harrowing real-life drama of legal injustice

Posted on June 18, 2023 by kaist455

“Crown Heights”, which is currently available on Amazon Prime, presents a harrowing drama based on one infuriating real-life case of legal injustice. Alternating between one wrongfully incarcerated man and his best friend willing to help him as much as possible for many years, the movie often strikes us hard as calmly depicting their respective struggles, and that is more than enough for its several notable narrative flaws.

At first, the movie depicts how everything suddenly turned upside down for Colin Warner (Lakeith Stanfield) on one day of 1980. At that time, he was an 18-year-old West Indian immigrant lad who had struggled to get a better life in the Crown Heights neighborhood of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, but then he was unexpectedly arrested by two cops just because he happened to be marked as the prime suspect of a recent murder case in his neighborhood. Although he had some criminal record, he was not associated with the victim of the case at all, but the cops and the prosecutor were already ready to get him charged for the case, and that was the beginning of his long and grueling plight.

During the first half of the film, we see how things get worse and worse for Warner despite the sincere efforts from his sympathetic lawyer and his best friend Carl “KC” King (Nnamdi Asomugha), who instantly comes to help Warner once he hears that his best friend is in jail. While the prosecutor only has several questionable witnesses without any concrete evidence against Warner, the man who really killed the victim is subsequently arrested and then put on the trial along with Warner, but the jury eventually conclude that both Warner and this guy are guilty as charged, and the judge presiding over the case decides to punish Warner more even though showing his reservation on the case.

Warner is subsequently sent to a maximum-security prison outside New York City, and he surely struggles a lot as trying to adjust himself to his grim circumstance. Although he does not want to get himself into any kind of trouble, he soon gets punished by not only those guards but also some of his fellow prisoners, and he does not even get paroled 15 years later just because he still insists that he was wrongfully accused.

In the meantime, King keeps trying his best for his friend. He often raises the money for assisting Warner’s appeal to the court, and he also delves more into the details of the case, but he gets frustrated again and again as the system is not particularly willing to help him or Warner. Nevertheless, along with Warner’s devoted girlfriend Antoinette (Natalie Paul), King continues to provide emotional support to Warner even when Warner is at the bottom of his despair and frustration, though his increasing devotion to his best friend consequently causes some strain in his relationship with his wife. She is understandably not so pleased about how her husband often pays more attention to his best friend than their family matters, and that eventually leads to more estrangement between them.

Later in the story, there comes a good chance via a lawyer named William Robedee (Bill Camp), who happens to hire King as his process server. After hearing about Warner’s case from King, Robedee agrees to look into the case, and he and King soon find how sloppy the conviction process on Warner really was. All they will have to do is locating and then persuading several unreliable witnesses who testified at the court at that time, though that turns out to be a bit more difficult than expected.

Slowly but steadily rolling its story and characters to the expected resolution, the screenplay by writer/director Matt Ruskin, which is based on a podcast episode of “This is American Life”, wisely does not overplay many exasperating aspects of Warner’s story. Although the movie feels a bit too dragged during its second half, its earnest but engaging narrative keeps holding our attention, and we come to care more about Warner’s extending plight while also reminded that there are lots of unfortunate people like Warner out there.

Above all, the movie is supported well by the strong performances from its two main cast members. Lakeith Stanfield, who would be a lot more prominent thanks to his scene-stealing supporting turn in TV sitcom series “Atlanta” and the following Oscar nomination via “Judas and the Black Messiah” (2021), did a solid job of embodying his character’s longtime desperation and frustration, and Nnamdi Asomugha, who also participated in the production of the film, is reliable as quietly conveying to us his character’s diligent devotion to Warner’s case.

I must point out that several substantial supporting characters in the story are rather underdeveloped in comparison. At least, Natalie Paul and Bill Camp, who became more recognizable thanks to his Emmy-nominated supporting turn in acclaimed HBO TV miniseries “The Night Of”, bring some life and personality to their respective roles, and Brian Tyler Henry, an ever-dependable actor who was incidentally appeared along with Stanfield in “Atlanta”, leaves a considerable impression on us despite his very brief appearance in the movie.

Although it has been more than 5 years since it was released in 2017, “Crown Heights” is still worthwhile to watch for not only its competent direction and good performances but also its serious social issues which remain quite relevant in the American society even at present. Yes, justice was eventually delivered to Warner, but the system which irreversibly ruined his life is still quite flawed as before, and the movie certainly does not let us forget that at all.

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

Asteroid City (2023) ☆☆☆(3/4): Usual and more dolls to play for Wes Anderson

Posted on June 17, 2023 by kaist455

Wes Anderson’s latest film “Asteroid City” impresses us mainly because of how many notable performers he has in his pockets at present as various human dolls to play. As usual, the movie is highly stylized in terms of mood and details while also filled with lots of Anderson’s own whimsical sense of deadpan humor, and he and his cast and crew members are clearly having a fun with that, though the movie may feel a little too dry and offbeat for you.

In the beginning, the artificial aspects of the film are directly emphasized to us via a TV host played by Bryan Cranston, and he flatly presents a televised theatrical production of a famous play written by a fictional playwright played by Edward Norton. Almost every detail of this televised theatrical production is enumerated at first, but the movie soon comes to widen its background much more as delving further into the story and characters of that fictional play, and cinematographer Robert Yeoman’s camera smoothly establishes the widened main background as precisely panning from one point to another.

The main story is set in a little remote desert town called, yes, Asteroid City. Although its population is less than 100, it has been known well for not only its big meteor crater but also a big government facility associated with space research, and the town and its residents and visitors are about to have its own special day of commemoration.

On that day, several prodigious adolescents will be recognized for their little but distinguished scientific works. When a war photographer named Augie Steenbeck (Jason Schwartzman) comes along with his four kids, it looks like they simply drop by the town due to some mechanic problem of their car, but it turns out later that his adolescent son is one of those bright kids to be awarded, though both he and his son are mostly phlegmatic about this upcoming moment of commendation as your typical Wes Anderson movie characters.

Meanwhile, a group of many other characters arrive in the town for each own reason. When a famous Hollywood actress named Midge Campbell (Scarlett Johansson) arrives along with her adolescent daughter, she certainly draws some attention, but the main reason of her unexpected visit is her daughter who will be awarded along with Augie’s son and other two kids. Later in the story, a bunch of elementary school kids arrive under the guidance of their young female teacher, and she is not so pleased when one of her students commits a little act of transgression thanks to a bunch of cowboy musicians who happen to stay in the town for a while.

They and many other main characters stay in the local motel, and its manager, played by Steve Carell, often cheerfully presents what his motel can provide to its guests. For example, there are a series of different vending machines which look as colorful as you can expect from a Wes Anderson film, and one of them is so preposterous that we are reminded more of the artificial qualities of the movie.

Anyway, things get a little more interesting when everyone in the story gathers at the center of the meteor crater as scheduled. Something not so far from Steven Spielberg’s “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” (1977) suddenly happens right in front of their eyes, and the town is quickly quarantined by General Grif Gibson (Jeffrey Wright) as ordered by the US president and his government.

Even at that point, the film maintains its detached attitude as before, and that is more accentuated by the formal narrative structure of the main story. Consisting of the three acts and the epilogue, the main story is sometimes intercut with the background tales involved with the original theatrical production of that fictional play, and the screenplay by Anderson and his co-writer Roman Coppola willingly adds additional narrative layers on the main story for more complexity and amusement. I do not think their attempt is wholly successful as jamming a bit too many materials into the rather short running time (105 minutes), but the movie is still a pleasure to watch for numerous distinctive artistic touches from Anderson, and he also utilizes well several old songs, which are fairly mixed well with the score by Alexandre Desplat.

Above all, it is difficult not to be entertained by the presence of all those performers assembled here for the film. Besides several notable performers mentioned above, we have Tilda Swinton, Adrien Brody, Liev Schreiber, Hope Davis, Stephen Park, Rupert Friend, Maya Hawke, Matt Dillon, Hong Chau, Willem Dafoe, Margot Robbie, Tony Revolori, Jeff Goldblum, Rita Wilson, Bob Balaban, and Tom Hanks, and I must say that Hanks’ understated comic performance here in this film is much better than his recent awkward acting in “Elvis” (2022) and “A Man Called Otto” (2022).

Being rather self-repetitive at times, “Asteroid City” is not that satisfying compared to Anderson’s recent works such as “The Grand Hotel Budapest” (2015) or “The French Dispatch” (2021), but I still appreciate Anderson’s deft handling of style and mood as well as his impressive big cast. Yes, I wish he shared more artistic fun and excitement of his cinematic dollhouse play with us here, but it is interesting enough at least, and I certainly recommend you to check it out if you enjoyed his previous films.

Posted in Movies | Tagged , | 1 Comment

The Summer (2023) ☆☆☆(3/4): After that summer romance of theirs

Posted on June 17, 2023 by kaist455

South Korean queer animation film “The Summer” gives us a simple but bittersweet presentation of one summer romance and its aftermath. As tenderly and sensitively observing the start, development, and end of romantic relationship between its two different lead characters, the movie often gives us some lovely visual moments to enjoy and appreciate, and it is all the more precious to me and other moviegoers in South Korea, considering how we rarely come across something like that.

The story is mainly unfolded via the viewpoint of Lee-kyeong (voiced by Yoon Ah-young), and the early part of the film shows us how she came to befriend Soo-i (voiced by Song Ha-rim) during their last high school year. On one hot and bright summer day, Lee-kyeong happens to be struck by a ball Soo-i tries to catch during her soccer practice on the school playground. After promptly apologizing to Lee-kyeong, Soo-i shows a bit more consideration to Lee-kyeong during next several days, and Lee-kyeong soon finds herself quite attracted to Soo-i, though she understandably hesitates to show her growing feelings toward this confident girl.

Anyway, these two young girls come to spend more time together, and it gradually becomes apparent that Soo-i has also been attracted to Lee-kyeong. Eventually, they recognize the mutual feeling between them in private, and they cannot help but delighted and excited as they fall more in love with each other, though they also must hide their homosexual relationship from others around them. Both of them know too well how much they can be ridiculed or ostracized if their relationship gets ever exposed to others, and, despite her confident attitude, Soo-i is particularly sensitive about showing affection outside.

It looks like they will be happier with more freedom after their subsequent graduation, but their situation becomes more complicated. Both of them go to Seoul, but Lee-kyeong gets enrolled in a college for more study while Soo-i chooses to prepare herself for becoming a car mechanic after her hope of becoming a soccer player is unfortunately dashed in the end. Although both of them try to spend time with each other as much as possible, the gap between them comes to grow day by day – even after Lee-kyeong moves into Soo-i’s new residence.

In addition, their personality difference becomes all the more evident to both of them. While Soo-i is not that social to say the least, Lee-kyeong is often eager to meet others like them, and she even comes to work as a part-time employee at a small lesbian bar just because she wants to hang around with other lesbians. Usually busier than Lee-kyeong, Soo-i is not so much interested in hanging around with Lee-kyeong’s new friends, and there is a very awkward moment between Soo-i and others when she casually tells others at one point that she does not study in college unlike Lee-yeong.

Meanwhile, frustrated more and more with her communication problem with Soo-i, Lee-kyeong finds her eyes drawn toward one of the frequent customers of that lesbian bar. When she comes across this young lady at some other place, this young lady seems interested in getting closer to Lee-kyeong at first, but her attitude is quickly changed later when Lee-kyeong talks a bit about her current relationship with Soo-i.

Around that narrative point, we clearly see where the story is heading as noticing more nuance in Lee-kyeong’s seemingly phlegmatic narration. What inevitably follows next is depicted with genuine emotions to engage us to the end, and the finale is poignant as Lee-kyeong comes to reflect more on how much her life is shaped by that summer romance with Soo-i – and how much her mind is still haunted by that.

Under director Han Ji-won’s competent direction, the film is an earnest visual pleasure mainly thanks to its good cell animation. While it is evidently influenced by the style and mood of recent Japanese animation films such as “Suzume” (2022), it still distinguishes itself enough via small and big local details to cherish, and the resulting mix is fairly enjoyable for on the whole. Like superhero stories, romance stories usually fit much better to animation in my humble opinion because animation allows more artistic freedom in not only action but also emotion, and several intimate scenes in the film certainly exemplify that well. Although their characters are basically more or less than archetypes, Yoon Ah-young and Song Ha-rim are wonderful in their good voice acting as effortlessly generating enough romantic chemistry between their characters, and that is another reason why the movie works well on the emotional level.

Overall, “The Summer” is rather modest within its short running time (61 minutes), but it is surely another interesting South Korean animation film of this year after “Mother Land” (2022). While “Mother Land” distinguishes itself as one of a very few stop-motion animation films in South Korea during last several decades, the sensitive and charming queer romance of “The Summer” adds another new fresh air of diversity to South Korean animation film, and I sincerely hope that the critical success of these two animation films may lead to more good stuffs for me and others in South Korea.

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

Extraction 2 (2023) ☆☆☆(3/4): Another risky extraction job for him

Posted on June 17, 2023 by kaist455

Netflix film “Extraction 2”, which was released yesterday, does exactly what it is expected to do as the sequel to “Extraction” (2020). Yes, the story and characters usually stand back for its intense and relentless serving of various actions, and I became rather distant to that at times, but I think you may be satisfied if you just want to admire and enjoy its top-notch action scenes.

As briefly implied by the last shot of “Extraction”, Tyler Rake (Chris Hemsworth), a former Australian SAS operator who later worked as a mercenary not long after losing his dear little son, manages to survive despite his serious physical injuries, and the early part of the film takes some time as he goes through a recuperation process in Dubai. Once he is almost recovered, he moves to a remote place in Austria, and it looks like he will just have a plain normal life there with his several pet animals.

Of course, Rake soon finds himself approached by a mysterious figure played by Idris Elba, who brings some welcoming sense of humor during his brief appearance in the film. There is another risky extraction task which absolutely requires Rake’s particular set of skills, and Rake cannot say no because it is requested by his estranged ex-wife. It turns out that his ex-wife has a younger sister who has been married to a notorious Georgian criminal for several years, and Rake is asked to extract his ex-wife’s sister and her two kids from a certain Georgian prison where they have been incarcerated with her nasty criminal husband.

Having been forced to be stuck with her cruel husband by his powerful local criminal organization, Ketevan (Tinatin Dalakishvili) is certainly worried about his ongoing toxic influence on her two kids, and she really wants to get out of the prison along with them as soon as possible – especially after her husband is going to serve another 10 years in the prison. Her brother-in-law Zurab (Tornike Gogrichiani), who is incidentally the leader of that local criminal organization, is surely not so amused by his younger brother’s extended imprisonment, and we accordingly see how brutal and ruthless he can be at one point.

While knowing well that he is going to mess with very dangerous people, Rake embarks on preparing himself within a short period time, and you will be amazed by how quickly he is back in element. At first, he seems to be in the need of more physical therapy, but, what do you know, we soon see him swiftly throwing a hatchet at a tree without much difficulty, and then he goes to Georgia along with several other mercenaries including Nik Kahn (Golshifteh Farahani), a longtime professional partner of his who is surely ready to assist him as before.

What follows next is an impressive extended action sequence which fluidly and seamlessly bounces from one spot to another during more than 20 minutes. As the cinematographer Greg Baldi’s camera smoothly moves around our hero and several other characters, the movie skillfully and impactfully immerses us into the violently chaotic situation surrounding them, and director Sam Hargrave, who worked as a stunt performer before making his directorial debut with “Extraction”, and his crew never get us lost despite lots of bangs and crashes here and there on the screen. Like recent notable action films such as “The Raid: Redemption” (2012) or “John Wick” (2014), the movie seldom flinches from violence and blood, and I must tell you that there are a number of striking moments of remorseless violence which will certainly make you wince more than once.

However, the movie is rather weak in terms of story and characters just like its predecessor. A subplot involved with Ketevan’s adolescent son’s conflict between his uncle and his mother is predictable to say the least while only functioning as a convenient plot device for another big action sequence to come along the story. While the screenplay by co-producer Joe Rosso tries to bring some depth to its hero later in the film, Rake remains to be your average bitter tough guy who does not say or express much, and I doubt whether he will be remembered as much as Jason Bourne or John Wick.

Anyway, Chris Hemsworth, who has been showing that he can do much more than playing Thor in Marvel Cinematic Universe flicks, carries the film as much as required, and several other main cast members of the film hold each own place well around him. As Rake’s dependable partner, Golshifteh Farahani willingly throws herself into lots of actions as demanded, and Adam Bessa is also solid as another colleague of Rake. While she is limited by her thankless supporting role, Tinatin Dalakishvili manages to distinguish herself a bit as her character goes through lots of actions along with Rake at one point in the middle of the first action sequence in the movie, and Tornike Gogrichiani exudes enough menace as the main villain of the film.

On the whole, “Extraction 2” achieves as much as its predecessor, so I gave it 3 stars for that despite some reservation. Sure, I appreciate the considerable efforts and skills behind the screen to some degree, but I have to say that it is relatively less impressive than what I recently saw from “John Wick: Chapter 4” (2023), which handled its hardcore action scenes with much more style and gusto. Considering what is shown at the end of the film, I guess there will be another sequel to follow, and I sincerely wish that the next sequel has more style besides having enough substance.

Posted in Movies | Tagged , | Leave a comment

The Flash (2023) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): Flashy but superficial

Posted on June 15, 2023 by kaist455

“The Flash”, the latest product from DC Extended Universe (DCEU), turns out to be saddled with several other problems besides its very problematic lead actor, who has been quite notorious for what he allegedly committed outside the screen. Even if you can put aside all those alleged crimes and misdemeanors of this actor for a while, the movie is still a glaringly bloated and superficial fan service despite some inspired moments, and it will not add up much to whatever DCEU will try next after the extensive recent reboot of its many different intellectual properties.

During the opening scene, we see how Barry Allen / The Flash (Ezra Miller) has been pretty much like the lapdog of Bruce Wayne / Batmen (Ben Affleck) just like Tom Holland’s Spider-Man was to Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man in recent Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) flicks. Just because several other members of Justice League happen to be unavailable, Barry has to assist Wayne in Gotham City on one day even though he is late for his work, and we accordingly get the first major action sequence of the film. Incidentally, this sequence looks and feels so phony with lots of mediocre CGI pasted on the screen that we do not brace for ourselves that much – even when a bunch of babies are falling down from the top of a crumbling building along with a poor unfortunate nurse and one therapy dog.

Anyway, as he is back on his usual daily routine after saving the day again, Barry becomes frustrated again as reminded that there is still not any chance of release for his incarcerated father. It is clear that his father is wrongfully accused of the murder of Barry’s mother, but his father’s alibi is not proven yet despite some generous help from Wayne, and Barry’s subsequent encounter with an old friend of his makes him feel more bitter about his personal loss as well as his father’s misery.

And then there comes what may look like a possible solution to Barry when he speeds up himself much more than before. When he is consequently running beyond the speed of light, he enters a spectacularly peculiar zone of time and space where he can go back to the past as much as he wants, and he naturally wonders whether he can actually change the course of that traumatic incident which has defined his life for many years, though Wayne wisely reminds Barry that he should stop considering that tempting possibility.

Of course, Barry eventually tries his luck on time traveling, and all he has to do is making sure that his mother buys a can of tomato at a local supermarket not long before the day of that traumatic incident. However, not so surprisingly, things somehow go pretty wrong once he succeeds in changing the following history, and he suddenly finds himself thrown into a resulting alternative universe quite different from his in many ways. For example, this alternative universe does not have most of Justice League members, and the movie has some naughty fun via several wry references on well-known Hollywood films including “Back to the Future” (1985), which does not have Michael J. Fox in this alternative universe but has the other actor initially chosen for that film instead.

Moreover, Barry also comes across his alternative universe version, who has had a much better childhood time but becomes your typical college slacker instead. As frequently alternating between Barry and his alternative version along the story, Ezra Miller embodies well the strained relationship between these two roles, but, like me, some of you will be more uncomfortable about dealing with more than one Miller on the screen, and you may cringe at some of broad comic scenes which will probably remind you more of all those disturbing allegations against this actor.

When the Earth is later threatened by the arrival of General Zod (Michael Shannon, who simply seems to be content with getting his paycheck here) and his cronies from Planet Krypton, Barry and his alter ego must find any possible way to save the Earth and the humanity from the impending total destruction, and, fortunately, they can get some help from Wayne in this alternative universe. Michael Keaton, who is about to have the 72nd birthday in this year, is surely glad to play Batman again despite his age (After all, if Harrison Ford can still play Indiana Jones, why not?), and it is certainly nice to hear Danny Elfman’s classic theme for Tim Burton’s “Batman” (1989) on the soundtrack, though composer Benjamin Wallfisch quotes it a little too many times throughout the film.

Thanks to Wayne, Barry and his alter ago come to a certain figure who has been imprisoned for years somewhere in Siberia, though that figure turns out to be quite different from what they expected. As already shown from the trailer of the movie, that figure in question is a young Kryptonian woman named Kara Zor-El (Sasha Calle), and she is not so eager to save the Earth and the humanity for a good reason. Because her character’s development is quickly pushed aside when the movie is drenched in lots of crashes and bangs during its expected big climactic part, Calle is merely stuck in her thankless functional role just like a few other substantial supporting actresses in the film, and that is a big letdown to say the least.

Around this big climactic part, the movie reaches for more and more while also sucking lots of the intellectual properties associated with DCEU, and that is where I got more disinterested instead of becoming really entertained. While the movie remains rather schizophrenic in its mix of comedy and drama, the following narrative resolution is too convenient as not carrying much dramatic weight compared to the ending of “Spider-Man: No Way Home” (2021), and I only came to muse more on how much Holland’s Spider-Man in that film sacrificed while really coming to learn a painful lesson from his unwise attempt to change the timeline of his universe.

On the whole, “The Flash”, directed by Andy Muschietti. is merely passable while dutifully cleaning up whatever was done by DCEU during last several years. As a seasoned moviegoer who has been pretty tired of superhero flicks these days, I do not expect much from what may come next from DCEU, and I can only hope that I will be a bit more entertained in next time.

Posted in Movies | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Elemental (2023) ☆☆☆(3/4): An elemental romance of fire and water

Posted on June 15, 2023 by kaist455

Latest Pixar Animation Studios film “Elemental” is an elemental but engaging romance story with enough fun and charming stuffs to enjoy. I wish the film had some more time to explore more of the mood and details of its amusing fantasy world, but it still distinguishes itself to some degree in terms of story and characters, and the result is fairly entertaining on the whole despite being several steps below recent better offerings from Pixar Animation Studios such as “Soul” (2020).

The main background of the story is Elemental City, a big fantasy city whose population consists of the anthropological versions of four different elements of nature: Water, Earth, Air, and Fire. The opening scene shows a young Fire couple arriving at the city as two new immigrants, and the following sequence shows how they have settled in a neighborhood for Fire people during next several years as raising their dear daughter Ember (voiced by Leah Lewis).

Ember’s parents have run a little convenient store which shows some notable Indian cultural influence, and her father has expected her to run this store instead of him someday, though she is not that good at being behind the counter due to her occasional, yes, fiery temper. Nevertheless, she tries to meet her parents’ expectation because she knows well how much her parents have worked hard for giving her a better life, so she tries her best as much as possible anyway.

When her father later allows her to handle the day for a big discount alone, Amber initially thought she is ready for that, but, of course, things soon get out of control for her during the first few minutes of the opening hour. To make matters worse, the old building which has been the place for their home and store comes to have an unexpected plumbing problem, though water is certainly the last thing her and her family and other Fire people need.

As she hurriedly attempts to fix this problem in the basement of the building, Amber happens to encounter a young Water guy named Wade (voiced by Mamoudou Athie), who is literally swept into the basement via its leaky water pipe. This is surely your average awkward Meet Cute moment, but Wade happens to be a city inspector, so he feels obliged to report a number of serious problems besides that leakage problem to his bureau as soon as possible. As he quickly goes back to his bureau for that, Amber naturally follows after him because getting her parents’ shop shut down is the last thing she wants, and, what do you know, she soon finds herself being outside her familiar neighborhood.

During this sequence, the film bounces here and there along with its two very different main characters, and we come to admire more of numerous colorful details of Elemental City. We see a bunch of Air, Water, and Earth people besides some Fire people, and then we observe how these four groups of citizens live along with each other as harmoniously as, say, those animal characters in Oscar-winning animation film “Zootopia” (2016).

Although Wade eventually submits his report despite some interference from Amber, Wade eventually comes to feel sorry for her situation, so he subsequently tries to help her as much as he can. It later turns out that leakage problem is caused by a little crack in the local levee, and it seems that all they will have to do is fixing this crack enough to get the agreement from Wade’s boss.

Meanwhile, as spending more time together, Amber and Wade start to feel some mutual feelings between them, though they still hesitate to touch each other for good reasons. After all, Amber’s parents do not like Water people for understandable reasons, and Amber also becomes quite conflicted when she gets an unexpected opportunity for her artistic talent via Wade’s affluent family, who wholeheartedly welcome her when Wade later takes her to a little evening family meeting of theirs.

If you have seen many other romantic comedy films about supposedly mismatched pairs, you will surely know how the story will end from the beginning, but the film continues to hold our attention via enough style and substance. Besides steadily providing one wonderful visual moment after another (I especially like the underwater sequence involved with a certain special flower), the film also works as a fable version of immigrant story, and that aspect is frequently accentuated by Thomas Newman’s score, which freely peppers the soundtrack with several different Asian touches.

Most of the voice cast members are relatively unknown to many of us, but they are all solid as having a fun with their respective roles. While Leah Lewis, who was the lead actress of Netflix film “The Half of It” (2020), brings lots of spirit and charm into her character, Mamoudou Athie, who has steadily shown more potential since I noticed him in other Netflix film “Uncorked” (2020), flexibly balances his character between comedy and drama, and their good chemistry is one of several reasons why the movie works despite often being generic and conventional. In case of several other substantial voice cast members in the film, Ronnie del Carmen and Shila Ommi are effective as Amber’s parents, and Wendi McLendon-Covey and Catherine O’Hara provide some good laughs via their respective colorful supporting characters.

“Elemental” is directed by Peter Sohn, who previously made “The Good Dinosaur” (2015). Compared to that rather flawed Pixar Animation Studios film, “Elemental” is certainly a better work with some sincerity and creativity to be appreciated, and, though it does not reach to the greatness of “Wall-E” (2008) or “Inside Out” (2015), I will watch it again instead of enduring “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” (2023) again. Yes, the folks of Pixar Animation Studios could do better, but the film shows that they still can entertain us even at the most element level.

Sidenote: The movie preceded by short animation film “Carl’s Date”, a little comic tale involved with the old hero of “Up” (2009).

Posted in Movies | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Eyes Wide Shut (1999) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): A comedy of foreplay

Posted on June 13, 2023 by kaist455

Stanley Kubrick’s last film “Eyes Wide Shut” is one naughty comedy of foreplay. Along the story, its plain ordinary hero is tempted by a series of tantalizing possibilities of sexual pleasure and transgression popping up here and there around him, but he always remains to stay in line somehow to our little amusement. Later in the story, these seductive opportunities are just gone beyond his reach, and he is quite baffled as wondering what exactly happened around him, while also coming to doubt his relationship with his wife who has her own sexual desire and discontent.

The opening part, which is memorably accompanied with Dmitri Shostakovich’s Waltz No. 2 from “Suite for Variety Stage Orchestra”, is more or less than a prelude to what Dr. William Bill Harford (Tom Cruise) and his wife Alice (Nicole Kidman) will go through during next few days of the Christmas season. Dr. Harford is a successful doctor residing in the West Central Park neighborhood of New York City along with his wife and their little daughter, and they happen to be invited to a big party held in the residence of one of his wealthy patients. Once they dress themselves up for the party, we soon see them greeted by Victor Ziegler (Sydney Pollack) and his wife, and the mood feels fairly good as they begin to enjoy the party together.

However, there comes a moment of seduction for both Dr. Harford and his wife when they happen to be separated for a while. While watching her husband casually talking with two young ladies, Alice is approached by some suave Hungarian gentlemen, and she finds herself slyly flirting with this dude as they courteously dance together during next several minutes – until she flatly reminds him again that she is married. Meanwhile, sandwiched by those two young ladies, Dr. Harford also receives a little naughty sexual suggestion just like his wife does from that Hungarian guy, but then, what a coincidence, the mood is interrupted by a sudden little emergency where he is needed right now.

On the next day, everything seems to be back to normal for Dr. Harford and his wife, but the mood becomes quite awkward at the following night when they become a little more honest to each other after smoking marijuana a bit in their bedroom. As talking about what happened at the party, they come to see more of how they do not know or understand each other that much, and the situation eventually becomes quite tense when Alice reveals how much she was once tempted to throw away everything just for one night of sexual pleasure with a total stranger.

Again, a little moment of pure coincidence comes right after that, and this begins Dr. Harford’s long night’s journey not so far from Leopold Bloom’s long day’s journey in James Joyce’s great novel “Ulysses”. Just like Bloom is often conscious of his wife Molly’s infidelity throughout his long journey in Dublin, Ireland, Dr. Harford cannot help but think about his wife’s possible infidelity as bouncing from one spot to another in Manhattan, and his current vulnerable state of mind becomes quite susceptible to a string of seductive opportunities coming along his way. For example, when he visits the residence of one of his patients who has just died, he tries to console the patient’s daughter as a good doctor, but, what do you know, she turns out to be quite emotionally vulnerable just like him, and he certainly feels tempted to cross the line along with her.

The situation takes a weird turn later when Dr. Harford drops by a nightclub where his old medical school friend, who now works as a freelancing pianist, currently works. This friend of his tells a bit about a rather strange private meeting held among some wealthy people, and Dr. Harford becomes quite willing to sneak into that clandestine meeting just because, well, he is intrigued and excited about whatever he will experience there.

What follows next is a spooky example of that old saying: “Be careful of what you wish – you might get it”. Once he is fully prepared thanks to a bit of help from some shady owner of a local costume shop, Dr. Harford subsequently goes inside that secret meeting which happens to be held in some big manor outside New York City, but, of course, his heedless attempt soon gets exposed with the big possibility of a dire consequence for him.

This sensational part drew lots of attention due to its forthright presentation of sex and nudity, and Warner Brothers Company, which handled the theatrical release of the film at that time, received lots of criticism for digitally altering several shots of nudity just for getting an R rating. As far as I can see, everything in this part feels as cold and detached as you can expect from a Kubrick film, and we simply come to observe this part from the distance just like Dr. Harford, who, again, simply lets himself tempted while still not daring to cross the line as before.

And things actually get more interesting and amusing during the second half of the film. Once he manages to save himself due to another lucky coincidence, Dr. Harford tries to process and understand what happened during the previous night, but his following attempt only leads him to more bafflement and surprise. For instance, his accidental encounter with one young prostitute turns out to be quite riskier than expected for a good reason, and that shady costume shop owner is revealed to be not entirely honest to him from the beginning. Above all, he is totally blocked from getting to know anything more about that secret meeting, and that makes him quite helpless and confused to say the least.

When it looks like Alice had her own sexual adventure in a subconscious way during the previous night, we naturally come to question Dr. Harford’s supposedly solid viewpoint. As a matter of fact, his dramatic nocturnal drama is so full of coincidences and accidental opportunities that it often feels like driven by some dream logic, and this dreamy aspect is further accentuated by the frequent placing of colorful Christmas season lightings on the screen.

I guess we are not supposed to expect any kind of realism from the beginning because the movie is based on Arthur Schnitzler’s 1926 novella “Traumnovelle”, whose title means “Dream Novel” in German. Besides, Kubrick chose to shot most of his film in England as he did in “The Shining” (1980) and “Full Metal Jacket” (1987), and New York City in the film surely looks artificial at times even though Kubrick and his crew members including cinematographer Larry Smith try their best to recreate those NYC streets on the screen.

Because Kubrick happened to pass away shortly before submitting his final cut to the Warner Brothers Company, we are not entirely sure about whether what we have now was exactly what Kubrick really intended, but the movie still distinguishes itself enough while often showing his distinctive touches. As usual, every shot in the film is carefully and precisely composed for his overall artistic vision, and it also shows some wry sense of black humor – especially as Dr. Harford is seduced in one way or another along the story.

Tom Cruise, who had to spend more than one year in England along with Nicole Kidman for the shooting of the film, is rather flat in his neutral performance, but he is effective as a plain canvass for several other main cast members, and the movie has lots of naughty fun with how his usual confident screen persona is shaken or threatened here and there. While Kidman is particularly terrific during her several big scenes with Cruise, a number of other notable performers including Sydney Pollack, Todd Field, Marie Richardson, Rade Šerbedžija, Vinessa Shaw, and Alan Cumming also have each own fun around Cruise, and Pollack ably exudes his character’s avuncular insidiousness during a certain key scene with Cruise around the end of the film.

In conclusion, “Eyes Wide Shut” is one or two steps from the greatness of Kubrick’s best works such as “2001: A Space Odyssey” (1968), but it is still quite a fascinating psychological drama about seduction and transgression. It is not wholly without flaws, and the ending feels rather contrived in my humble opinion, but now I am musing a bit more on the last line of the film. Well, who could have guessed that would be the very last word of Kubrick’s long and illustrious filmmaking career?

Posted in Movies | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Magnolia (1999) ☆☆☆☆(4/4): One Day in the Valley

Posted on June 12, 2023 by kaist455

Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Magnolia” still knocks me down although it has been almost 25 years since it came out in 1999. Masterfully and electrifyingly juggling many different narratives unfolded in the San Fernando Valley, California during one particularly eventful day, this ambitious cinematic symphony boldly attempts to give us a vivid and palpable human tapestry of misery, resentment, compassion, and forgiveness, and this will overpower you and then touch you a lot for many good reasons. To be frank with you, it is often amazing to see how everything in this epic piece of work mostly remains under full control even when the movie seems to be pushing itself too far with all those broad dramatic strokes – and how it somehow pulls off a truly elevating moment of catharsis and consolation for everyone in the story in the end.

Like many other similar films ranging from Robert Altman’s “Short Cuts” (1993) to Paul Haggis’ “Crash” (2004), the movie focuses on a number of various characters who happen to be in a complex web of connection and relationship of which only we and the movie are fully aware. As each of their stories interconnects or resonates in one way or another, we naturally come to muse more on coincidence and inevitability in our life, and the movie even presents several odd cases of coincidence at the very beginning. In case of a very bizarre incident somehow between suicide and manslaughter, we are initially amused by how everything came to click together precisely in this horrific but absurd tragicomedy, but then, as observing its devastating aftermath, we cannot help but wonder: Is this just a mere coincidence or actually a macabre joke of fate?

The central story element holding every main character in the story is a fictional popular TV quiz show, and the first act of the film details their respective connections with that TV quiz show. We meet the longtime host of the TV quiz show, and then we come to gather how things have been messy in both of his professional and private life. We meet a dying man who is the producer of the TV quiz show, and then we get to know how two family members of his have been tormented in each own way. We meet a smart little kid who has been the rising star of the TV quiz show, and then we observe the bitter parallels between this deeply unhappy boy and one pathetic loser who was once not so different from him many years ago. In addition, we also meet a good-hearted but lonely police officer who has been longing for love and connection for some time, and then we watch him tentatively approaching to a very troubled young woman after their accidental encounter.

As the movie briskly shuffles among its numerous main characters, we come to notice how miserable many of them are as desperately struggling with each own guilt or torment. For instance, after learning that he has only a few months to live due to his terminal illness, Jimmy Gator (Philip Baker Hall), the aging host of the TV quiz show, attempts to have any kind of reconciliation with his estranged daughter, but Claudia (Melora Walters), who is incidentally the aforementioned troubled young woman, is still angry and resentful due to his sexual abuse in the past. His unexpected visit only comes to make her quite furious and hysterical, while his wife Rose (Melinda Dillan) wonders more about what really happened between them.

In case of Earl Partridge (Jason Robards), another guilt-ridden dying figure involved with the TV quiz show, time is virtually running out for him second by second as he is on his deathbed. While his wife Linda (Julianne Moore) is coping with her growing guilt about neglecting her older husband for years, Earl really wants to see his only son he abandoned a long time ago, and his caring nurse Phil (Philip Seymour Hoffman) is quite willing to help as much as he can. However, locating and then contacting with Earl’s son turns out to be rather difficult, even though he has been pretty well-known in the area under his changed name.

Right from his very first scene, Earl’s son, Frank T.J. Mackey (Tom Cruise), shows us what an ironic case study he is. As a sleazy but charismatic motivation speaker who “educates” his male clients on how to “seduce and conquer” women, he proudly embodies every toxic male influence from his father even though he still hates his father, and we are simultaneously fascinated and repelled by every misogynistic aspect of his, which incidentally feels all the more glaring at present thanks to the #MeToo era. After all, we all have seen many cases of how the abused become abusers later as starting another cycle of abuse, haven’t we?

For that kid star of the TV quiz show, Stanley Spector (Jeremy Blackman), parental abuse is a serious present matter to him right now. Constantly pushed by not only his greedy father but also several others around him, he is expected to give a right answer everytime at the TV quiz show, but he is now more tired and confused than ever as feeling more misery and loneliness than before. Stanley’s situation comes to function as a sort of mirror image to Donnie Smith (William H. Macy), who still clings onto his glory days at the TV quiz show in the past although that does not mean anything at all now. Donnie has a painfully sad scene when he clumsily confesses his longtime crush on the bartender of his frequent bar, and that is followed by the recurring quote of the movie: “We might be through with the past, but the past ain’t through with us.”

How the movie gradually builds up the level of emotional intensity around these and other main characters during the middle of the story is utterly spellbinding. While the fluidly dynamic camera work by cinematographer Robert Elswit immerses us more into the ongoing individual dramas of the main characters, the efficient editing by Dylan Tichenor never gets us lost despite its busy shuffling of characters, and the movie eventually culminates to the powerful dramatic point where many of its main characters go through each own excruciating emotional meltdown.

Not long after that point, the movie throws a relatively subdued sequence where its main characters sing Aimee Mann’s “Wise Up” one by one. This initially looks like an overkill, but it is another sublime moment showing how Anderson skillfully conducts every main character of his story under his confident artistic control, and we come to feel for them more than before.

Furthermore, a diverse array of performers in the film effectively gel together as Anderson’s dependable orchestra members. While Tom Cruise, who was deservedly Oscar-nominated for his fearless performance here in this film, is surely the most prominent cast member in the bunch, he is also smoothly mixed into the ensemble, and so are other notable cast members including Julianne Moore, Philip Seymour Hoffman, William H. Macy, Philip Baker Hall, and John C. Reilly, whose cop character, along with Hoffman’s nurse character, slowly emerges as the voice of kindness and compassion along the story.

In case of that famous climactic moment which I will not discuss here in details, it feels so unexpected that you may find it quite jarring compared to what has been realistically built up to that point. Nevertheless, I think this moment works as an apt resolution after the overwhelmingly aching presentation of human pain and guilt during more than 2 hours. After all, every part of the story desperately and harrowingly cries for any kind of absolution or closure, and such an unbelievably biblical happening like that is probably the only possible way to ventilate and resolve everything in the story, just like that odd ending of Anderson’s subsequent film “There Will Be Blood” (2007) seems to be the only logical narrative exit for its relentless story and lead character.

It is really astonishing that “Magnolia” was only Anderson’s third feature film after “Hard Eight” (1996) and “Boogie Nights” (1997). With these two previous films, Anderson quickly established himself as a new exciting talent to watch, and then, as we all know, he has risen much further as becoming one of the most interesting filmmakers of our time after “Magnolia”, which is still one of his best works to date. He was only 29 at that time, but the movie is not only quite youthful and energetic in style but also remarkably matured and insightful in substance, and you may come to have more understanding and compassion on others around you after watching it.

By the way, “Magnolia” is one of a few precious movies which really sensitized me in many aspects. Like “Short Cuts” or “Crash”, the movie really made me feel something strong, and I am still grateful to it for providing a valuable emotional breakthrough for me in not only assessing movies but also empathizing with other people around me. Yes, as a guy who has a mild case of autism spectrum, I am not usually that good at interacting with people, but I learned a bit about people via “Magnolia”, and the compassionate message behind its story and characters reminds me that I still has to learn more.

Posted in Movies | Tagged , , | Leave a comment