A House of Dynamite (2025) ☆☆☆1/2 (3.5/4): Nobody can possibly be prepared for this

Posted on October 10, 2025 by kaist455

Kathryn Bigelow’s new film “A House of Dynamite”, which is being shown in South Korean theaters before being released on Netflix two weeks later, is quite tense and disturbing to say the least. Closely and vividly following how its many different characters respond to an unthinkable crisis for which nobody can possibly be prepared, the movie makes a very chilling point on its fearful main subject without any compromise, and the overall result is both riveting and thought-provoking from the beginning to the end.

Consisting of the three chapters, the movie begins with a sudden unexpected emergency for US. When everyone is going through another usual day at a military base in Alaska, an unidentified Intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is suddenly detected in the air, and everyone is quite baffled at first. So far, they have not received any warning or notice about this happening, and the mood becomes more tense once it becomes quite apparent that this unidentified ICBM is heading toward somewhere in US.

Needless to say, this happening has already been reported to the White House Situation Room, and that is followed by an emergency zoom meeting among a number of top-ranking military generals and government officials. While it is quite possible that the missile was launched by one of those enemy countries such as Russia or China, they have no idea on why this is happening, let alone how they should respond right now. When it turns out that the missile is going to strike one of the big major cities in US, they naturally become all the more pressured than before, and time keeps running out for them second by second as before.

In the end, everything depends on the final decision from the US president, but he is also as confused and conflicted as many others serving under him. As some of those top-ranking generals suggest, he may have to authorize an immediate retaliation via those nuclear missiles ready to be launched at any second, but he is also well aware of how tricky the ongoing situation is for his government and country. First, they still do not know anything about which country is really behind this shocking attack, so he must be really careful about the scale of the retaliation, but there is not much time for him and others around him right now, while it only becomes clearer to everyone that he is stuck between two very impossible choices with no possible way out.

Occasionally filling its main characters with some little human details to observe, the movie keeps focusing on how they struggle to do their best for avoiding the worst outcome of their rapidly developing crisis. As some of them bitterly admit, no one has ever imagined such a circumstance like this before, and their reactions and responses may remind you of the chaos and confusion in the US government and its country right after the 9/11 incident in 2001.

And the situation only gets grimmer despite their frantic efforts for getting their situation under control. Their defense system unfortunately fails to stop the incoming missile, and it becomes quite undeniable that their country cannot possibly avoid an unprecedented scale of disaster. Once notified about this, the people at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) instantly follow their protocol as expected, but they are also woefully unprepared just like others, and that adds more confusion and chaos to the ongoing circumstance.

Gradually fleshing out the narrative via its multiple viewpoints, the screenplay by writer/co-producer Noah Oppenheim completes its big sobering picture step by step, and Bigelow, who is no stranger to tension and pressure at all as shown from her Oscar-winning film “The Hurt Locker” (2008), and her crew members including cinematographer Barry Ackroyd and editor Kirk Baxter did a splendid job of generating more suspense and verisimilitude along the story. As Ackroyd’s handheld camera steadily focuses on the amounting suspense and pressure on everyone in the story, Baxter’s taut and efficient editing never allows us to get lost and confused amid the multiple plot lines in the film, and the score by Volker Bertelmann adds extra tension to the screen at times.

Furthermore, Bigelow assembles a bunch of talented performers who can instantly fill their respective roles with detail and nuance. A number of more notable performers such as Rebecca Ferguson, Jares Harris, Tracy Letts, Anthony Ramos, Gabriel Basso, Greta Lee, Jason Clarke, Gbenga Akinnagbe, Renée Elise Goldsberry, and Kaitlyn Dever will surely draw some attention from us right from the start, but they all come to function as the plain but crucial parts of the ensemble in one way or another, and Iris Elba, who incidentally played the British Prime minister in recent Amazon Prime movie “Heads of State” (2025) a few months ago, eventually takes the center as the US president while the story is approaching to its inevitable arrival point.

In conclusion, “A House of Dynamite” is an effective thriller film which can unnerve and then chill us a lot as sharply and devastatingly reminding us of how our world is still stuck inside what can be regarded as, yes, a house of dynamite which can be detonated at any chance even at this point. After watching how even fairly competent professionals and politicians can quickly become quite helplessly confused and pressured under such as a grim and terrifying circumstance like that, you will have a lot of understandable concern considering how our global world has been very unstable and volatile thanks to those evil or incompetent politicians during last several years, and I can only tell you that you are not alone at all.

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Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc (2025) ☆☆☆(3/4): A middle chapter packed with enough style and action

Posted on October 9, 2025 by kaist455

I must confess that I am not a main target audience of Japanese animation feature film “Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc”, which happened to be released in South Korean theaters in last month. In fact, right before watching the film itself, I only knew that it is the direct sequel to the first season of the anime television series “Chainsaw Man”, which is based on Tatsuki Fujimoto’s popular manga series of the same name.

Although I do not think I wholly understand everything presented during the rather short running time (100 minutes), the film still engaged me nonetheless thanks to its colorfully vibrant mix of style and action. Sure, it took some time for me to absorb and then process the background information of the main characters of the story, and I must point out that the movie seems to spin its wheels at times during the first half. However, there come a series of spectacularly electrifying action sequences to behold during the second half, and that is more than enough to compensate for several notable shortcomings including its rather thin characterization.

The center of the story is a 16-year-old boy named Denji (voiced by Kikunosuke Toya), who has worked as one of the demon hunters under the special branch of the National Police Agency in Japan. As revealed later in the story, Denji is actually a hybrid entity between human and demon, and his heads and limbs can be transformed into chainsaws whenever he has to confront those demonic entities out there.

Anyway, the story begins not long after the end of the first season of the TV series (Please don’t ask me anything, because I have not watched that yet). Denji’s witch supervisor Makima (voiced by Tomori Kusunoki) decides to separate Denji from his demon partner Power (voiced by Fairouz Ai) for a while because Power needs to decrease her power fueled by an excessive amount of blood right now, and Denji is not so amused about being assigned to a shark demon named Beam (voiced by Natsuki Hanae) because, well, his new partner is too eager to accompany and assist him all the time.

When Makima also seems very interested in getting closer to Denji despite officially being his supervisor, Denji cannot possibly say no because he has been smitten with her for some time. During his movie marathon date with Makima, Denji is surprised to discover that his demon heart can actually feel something, and that certainly makes him feel a little better about his peculiar existence at present.

However, he also finds himself quite attracted to a pretty young girl suddenly coming into his life. Her name is Reze (voiced by Reina Ueda), and it seems that she is really interested in getting to know him right from their first encounter at her little workplace. While still liking Makima as before, Denji also cannot help but drawn more to Reze, and we later get a silly but intimate scene where they happen to spend their little private time at the swimming pool of a nearby high school. As a boy who has never had a normal life throughout his whole lifetime, Denji finds some solace and comfort from Reze, and it seems Reze is quite ready to respond more to his growing affection toward her.

Meanwhile, the story also focuses on whatever is going on between that special branch for demon hunting and those powerful and dangerous demons out there. Aki Hayakawa (voiced by Shogo Sakata), who is another close colleague of Denji besides Power and is as gruff and stoic as Keanu Reeves’ character in “Constantine” (2005), happens to be assigned with an entity named Angel Devil (voiced by Maaya Uchida), and they do not get along that well with each other right from the start. Despite her considerable power and ability, Angel Devil is usually aloof and uncooperative without much care or attention, and this certainly exasperates Aki more than once.

These two main plots eventually converge upon the climactic part driven by heaps of chaotic action unfolded across the screen, and that is where the film pulls all the stops simply for captivating and then exhilarating us. I especially like a certain lethal female figure with a deliberately grotesque head which will instantly remind you of “Alien” (1979), and the movie does not disappoint its main target audiences at all once its hero finally reveals his freakish qualities hidden behind his boyish appearance. Some of you may think the finale is a bit too excessive, but the resulting excess of style and action gives us a number of stupefying moments of visual and sound to remember, and I admire how flexible the animation style of the film is during this part. Like Oscar-winning animation film “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” (2018), it is quite willing to embrace its busy and chaotic energy to the end, and it also shows some little poignancy as arriving at the ending which expectedly opens the door for the upcoming season of the TV series (Please stay until its end credits is over, by the way).

On the whole, “Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc”, directed by Tatsuya Yoshihara, will require you to have some background knowledge before watching it, but it is another entertaining animation film of this year besides Netflix animation film “KPop Demon Hunters” (2025), which is also incidentally about demons and some mighty hunters coming after them. I wish it took more time for more depth to engage us in terms of story and characters, but I was constantly impressed by its stylish mood and striking visual moments from throughout its running time, and that is enough for recommendation in my inconsequential opinion.

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People and Meat (2025) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): Three naughty old people

Posted on October 9, 2025 by kaist455

South Korean film “People and Meat” works best whenever it is buoyed by the solid chemistry among its three main cast members. These old but wonderful performers embody their respective roles so well that it is disappointing that the movie does not trust them enough while only resorting to blatant melodrama and cheap plot contrivance in the end.

The early part of the film illustrates how its three main characters come across each other on one day. Hyeong-joon (Park Geun-hyung) and Woo-sik (Jang Yong) are two old and poor senior citizens who have earned their meager solitary living via collecting and then selling paper trashes, and they happen to clash with each other due to their territory conflict before they are eventually stopped by Hwa-jin (Ye Soo-jung), an old lady who has supported herself and her only grandson via selling vegetables on street for years.

Anyway, Hyeong-joon later suggests that Woo-sik should have a cup of coffee along with him at his house, and Woo-sik reluctantly agrees. As talking more with each other, these two old dudes decide to have a little lunch together, and then they consider having a bowl of meat and radish soup, though neither of them knows anything about how to cook that. While Woo-sik is a lifelong bachelor, Hyeong-joon only remembers how nice it was to taste a bowl of meat and radish soup cooked by his currently diseased wife. In the end, they seek some help from Hwa-jin, who surely shows them how to cook meat and radish soup well.

After having a nice meal together in Hyeong-joon’s house, Woo-sik suggests that they should go to a meat restaurant. Needless to say, all of them do not have enough money to pay for what they are going to eat at a local meat restaurant, but Woo-sik turns out to have one naughty idea. Once they finish eating meat, they are all going to sneak out of the meat restaurant while no one is paying attention to them, and, what do you know, this turns out to be much easier than Hyeong-joon and Hwa-jin worried at first.

The mood surely becomes a bit more cheerful as these three old people commit their little crime here and there in the city. Needless to say, they never visit the same meat restaurant twice, and they always select very successful targets for feeling less guilty about their criminal activity. While still concerned about getting caught at any chance, Hyeong-joon and Hwa-jin cannot help but feel more alive than before, and that is why they cannot often say no whenever Woo-sik suggests another criminal dinner of theirs.

However, they are still reminded of how things are usually sad and depressing for them and many other old people around their age. At one point, Hyeong-joon goes to an old friend of his after receiving a call from him, and it soon turns out that this friend of his, who has also lived alone by himself just like Hyeong-joon, is preparing to die after feeling so miserable and frustrated with his declining life condition. At the following funeral of this poor old dude, Hyeong-joon and his two friends come to reflect more on how things have been hard and difficult for them mainly due to their ongoing aging, and the movie later becomes quite sentimental as they come to talk more about their respective pasts in the middle of their latest criminal dinner.

Around that narrative point, the screenplay by Lim Na-moo begins to falter more than once as clumsily swinging back and forth between comedy and melodrama. While it is not much of a spoiler to tell you that its three old main characters eventually get caught later in the story, the movie throws unnecessary melodrama after this inevitable moment, and it also feels quite heavy-handed and indecisive when it attempts to make some points on the prejudice against many aging people out there. Yes, its three old main characters deserve some understanding and sympathy just like thousands of marginalized old people in the South Korean society, but the movie makes too much excuse on their undeniably criminal activity in my humble opinion.

In addition, the story also stumbles a lot in case of a subplot involved with Hwa-jin’s grandson. At first, he looks like your average ungrateful kid, but then his attitude toward his grandmother becomes quite different for no apparent reason after the aforementioned melodramatic moment, and we never get to know much about what this lad really thinks and feels about his grandmother even at the end of the story.

At least, the three main cast members of the movie diligently carry the story and their characters to the end. While Park Geun-hyung, who recently gave a good supporting performance in “Picnic” (2023), steadily holds the ground as required, Jang Yong and Ye Soo-jung bring some life and personality to their respective characters, and Ye, who was unforgettable in “An Old Lady” (2019), demonstrates again that she is indeed one of the best senior actresses working in South Korean cinema at present.

On the whole, “People and Meat”, which was somehow shown at the Tribeca Festival early in this year, is not satisfying enough for recommendation, but it is enjoyable to some degree thanks to its three main cast members, and I must point out that It is much better than director Yang Jong-hyeon’s previous film “Kill Me” (2009), which was incidentally one of the worst films I watched during 2009. I would rather recommend “Picnic” and “An Old Lady” instead, but, considering the active reactions from an old couple sitting behind me, the movie may appeal a lot to its target audiences, and I would love to know how my aging parents will respond to it.

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Maru (2024) ☆☆☆(3/4): Circle, Circle, Circle…

Posted on October 9, 2025 by kaist455

I still remember when I visited the contemporary art section in the Art Institute of Chicago during one day of April 2010. I must confess that most of those exhibited artworks were a bit too plain and simple to my eyes, and I wondered whether they were profoundly simple or simply profound, though it goes without saying that they were all valued pieces of art.

That interesting experience of mine always comes to my mind whenever I watch any good film about the creation or evaluation of art, and Japanese comedy film “Maru” is one of the recent cases. As leisurely rolling its absurd story promise, the movie has some dry fun with its artist hero’s quirky creative struggles along the story, and I enjoyed that enough even though I struggled to grasp what and how it is about at first. 

At first, we are introduced to a young struggling artist named Sawada (Tsuyoshi Domoto), who has been virtually exploited by some prominent male artist along with several other young artists. Without teaching or helping them at all, that artist dude simply uses the labor of Sawada and the other employees for the production of more artworks from his studio, and, not so surprisingly, he takes all the credits for these manufactured artworks.     

While some of his colleagues naturally express some discontent and exasperation about this impertinent labor exploitation, Sawada does not seem to mind at all. When he happens to get his right arm injured due to a little bicycle accident, he is promptly fired, but he is not so angry or miserable about that, and then he gets employed as a part-time worker in a local convenience store because, well, he needs to earn his meager living as usual.

Sawada lives alone in a small shabby apartment, and we observe how he languidly goes through one day after another when he is not working. Paying attention to his little pet animal from time to time, he mumbles several supposedly meaningful excerpts from some Buddhist books, and that is sometimes disrupted by the sudden loud noises caused by whoever is living right next to his little apartment.

Because his financial status is still difficult despite working at that convenient store, Sawada often sells a number of trivial stuffs inside his apartment, but then he comes to try something different. On one day, he happens to have sort of artistic inspiration via a very tiny happening, and, what do you know, he soon begins to draw a number of very simple paintings, all of which just have only one big black circle drawn on white paper (The title of the movie means “circle” in Japanese, by the way). When he sells these paintings under his name, he does not expect a lot, but, surprise, they are regarded as the profound pieces of (don’t laugh) minimalist Buddhist art once they draw the attention of some prominent art dealer.

As the value of him and his paintings is subsequently skyrocketing in both Japan and the whole global world, Sawada is naturally perplexed. While he does not mind doing whatever his dealer suggests, he still does not know what is exactly happening to him and his life, let alone what really motivated him to draw those very simple paintings. 

While its hero wanders with more doubt and confusion, the movie provides a series of amusing moments to tickle you in one way or another. At one point, Sawada finally befriends his noisy neighbor who is also a struggling artist just like he once was, and his neighbor certainly envies how Sawada attains his ongoing success so easily and quickly. At one point, they have a lunch together in a local restaurant, and it is rather hilarious to see how Sawada’s new friend cannot help but express his petty envy and inferiority complex as Sawada simply listens to him without saying that much.

In his rather passively docile attitude, Sawada usually looks rather distant to us, but we gradually understand and then empathize with his growing artistic struggle, even when we cannot help but amused by his constant bafflement. However, when he finally comes to realize why those simple drawings of his feel so special to many others, the movie becomes a bit more serious along with its hero than before, and what follows next, which incidentally evokes the action painting of Jackson Pollock, makes me realize one really important thing about art. Regardless of whether it is simple or complex or whatever, art is always based on human emotion and spirit, and that is the main reason why those numerous instant artworks by artificial intelligence feel instantly phony and vulgar to many of us. In my humble opinion, there always should be the human agony and ecstasy of creation to be communicated between creators and us (Is this the ultimate purpose of art, isn’t it?), and artificial intelligence will probably never be able to reach to that point unless it truly understands and then experiences our everlasting matters of heart.

On the whole, “Maru”, which is directed/written by Naoko Ogigami, requires a bit of patient at first, but it will gradually intrigue and amuse you while also leading you to some musing on art and creation. In short, this is another solid work from Ogigami after “Riverside Mukolitta” (2021) and “Ripples” (2023), and I will certainly look forward to whatever will come next from this interesting Japanese filmmaker.

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Tron: Ares (2025) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): Spectacular to watch but rather superficial to feel

Posted on October 8, 2025 by kaist455

“Tron: Ares” is definitely one of the most spectacular eye candies of this year – and that is all. Right from the beginning, the movie dazzles and overpowers us with a series of terrific visual moments worthwhile to watch in big screening room, and I often admired its technical qualities even as observing the story and characters from the distance without much interest or care. Yes, I understand well that both of its predecessors, “Tron” (1982) and “Tron: Legacy” (2010), are also basically superficial eye candies, but the movie does not go further than either of them in terms of style and idea, and that is a bit too disappointing to be compensated by those epic visual moments in the film.

In my trivial opinion, its main inherent flaw is that the movie does not try anything fresh and different compared to its 1982 predecessor. Sure, the 1982 film looks quite dated at present, but you can also sense the adventurous spirit of the people who made it with real care and enthusiasm, and that is why it has occupied its own distinctive place in the movie special effects history. In case of “Tron: Legacy”, this redundant sequel is also inherently flawed in terms of story and characters just like the 1982 film, but it has some sense of fun and amusement mainly thanks to the presence of Jeff Bridges, who rendered a bit of personality to both of these two films as simply enjoying himself in the middle of their digital fantasy world.

The story of the movie is set in 15 years after what happened at the end of “Tron Legacy”, and the opening part hurriedly summarizes what happened to a big digital technology company founded by Bridges’ character. Once it was taken by Eve Kim (Greta Lee) and her younger sister, the company rose further as remaining on the top of its field, but it also had to compete a lot with its main opponent company, which is incidentally run by the grandson of late David Warner’s character in the 1982 film. Both Eve and her main competitor have been trying to bring those digital entities into the human world, but there is a serious setback because those digital entities somehow cannot last that long in the human world.

Before dying due to her unfortunate terminal illness, Eve’s sister believed that there is actually a solution hidden somewhere inside the old digital archive belonging to Bridges’ character. When the movie shows Eve visiting her sister’s little private place located somewhere in Alaska, you may become a little nostalgic if, like me, you are old enough to remember those big floppy disks whose storage limit was only around 2 megabytes.

Anyway, the solution turns out to be a short but crucial computer code, and Eve promptly goes back to LA with that computer code hidden in her little memory stick, but, of course, there soon comes the interference from Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters), the aforementioned grandson of Warner’s characters. He promptly brings the artificial intelligence (AI) security program of the main server of his company into the human world, and Ares (Jared Leto) and several other AI programs are certainly ready to do anything under Julian’s order.

However, around the point when Eve is eventually captured and then transferred into the main server of Dillinger’s company, things get a bit complicated. As experiencing more of the human world, Ares comes to have a sort of glitch which can only be interpreted as curiosity and confusion, so he decides to save Eve at the last minute, and both Dillinger and Ares’ deputy figure, Athena (Jodie Turner-Smith), are not so amused to say the least.

As the situation surrounding Eve and Ares becomes much more serious than before, the film expectedly throws a number of big action sequences, and they are often quite impressive for their top-notch qualities. Thanks to Oscar-nominated cinematographer Jeff Cronenweth and editor Tyler Nelson, these action sequences and the other key scenes feel slick and smooth with many striking visual moments to behold, and the movie often lets itself driven by the aggressively propulsive electronic score by Nine Inch Nails, whose two main members incidentally make a brief cameo appearance later in the film just like Daft Punk did in “Tron: Legacy”.

However, the movie remains thin and hollow in terms of story and character, and many of its main cast members are simply required to fill their respective spots in the film. While it is really nice to him being far more subdued compared to many of his embarrassingly distracting over-the-top performances such as Razzie-winning supporting turn in “House of Gucci” (2021), Jared Leto, who also serves as one of the producers of the film, sometimes seems to be not so committed to his role, and his relatively bland lead performance is frequently overshadowed by several other main cast members. While Greta Lee, who has steadily advanced since her breakthrough performance in Oscar-nominated film “Past Lives” (2023), manages to inject a bit of human warmth to the story despite the lack of chemistry between her and her co-star, Evan Peters willingly chews every moment of his in the film as the main villain of the story, Jodie Turner-Smith did a good job of generating some single-minded intensity to hold our attention. Sadly, Gillian Anderson, who plays Julian’s disapproving mother, simply comes and goes as demanded by her thankless supporting role, while Bridges has another good time again during his expected brief appearance later in the movie.

On the whole, “Tron: Ares”, directed by Joachim Rønning, is not as boring as I worried at first, but it does not surpass either of its two predecessors despite the considerable technical efforts presented on the screen. I am sort of glad that I watched it at a big local IMAX theater, and its strong visual moments may linger on my mind for a while at least, but, folks, this is more or less than what I experienced before with more interest and satisfaction.

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The Lost Bus (2025) ☆☆☆(3/4): It works whenever it is on fire

Posted on October 8, 2025 by kaist455

Paul Greengrass’ latest film “The Lost Bus”, which was released on Apple TV+ on last Friday, works whenever it is on fire. Based on one real-life story associated with the 2018 Camp Fire in California, the movie is as clichéd as you can expect from your average disaster survival drama film, but many scenes of fire in the film are filled with considerable intensity and verisimilitude, and that is more than enough for compensating for its several weak points.

At first, the movie mainly revolves around Kevin McKay (Matthew McConaughey), a school bus driver working in Paradise, California. The early part of the film establishes how messy McKay’s life has been, and things seem to be getting only worse for him on that particular day of November 2018. While he becomes more distant from the only child from his failed marriage, he cannot earn enough money for him to support his child and his ailing mother, and his school bus also needs to be repaired as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, the movie shows how the fire was started and then developed at a spot not far from Paradise early in the morning. Although it is spotted and then reported during its early stage, the fire is quickly spread around the surrounding regions due to the extremely dry weather and the strong wind at that time, and those firemen of California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE), led by Ray Martinez (Yul Vazquez), soon begin to realize that they are facing what will be one of the biggest wildfire disasters in the Californian history.

As the fire is being spread toward Paradise, the evacuation is ordered upon the citizens of Paradise, and the whole city is consequently thrown into a lot of chaos and panic. Although he certainly worries about the safety of his family, McKay cannot say no when his dispatcher hurriedly requests him to take a bunch of elementary school students to a safer place right now, and he soon arrives at that elementary school. Under the calm guidance of a teacher named Mary Ludwig (America Ferrera), all the remaining kids in that elementary school quickly get on the bus, and it seems that they are safe at least for now.

However, of course, it does not take much time for both McKay and Ludwig to realize how dangerous the situation is for them and those kids in the bus as well as many others out there. As the fire keeps getting spread over the surrounding regions of the city, the sky becomes quite dark and fiery to say the least, but many of the roads in the city are already saturated with vehicles, while time keeps running out no matter how much McKay tries here and there for getting his job done as soon as possible.

Alternating between McKay and Ludwig’s increasingly desperate situation and the strenuous efforts of the firemen of CAL FIRE against the Camp Fire, the movie, which is based on Lizzie Johnson’s nonfiction book “Paradise: One Town’s Struggle to Survive an American Wildfire”, keeps things rolling even though its road is strewn with one cliché after another. As they stick together more for themselves as well as those school kids in the bus, McKay and Ludwig come to show a bit of themselves to each other, and we naturally get an expected scene where they come to talk about their respective lives when all seems to be lost for them and the school kids at one point later in the story. In case of the scenes involved with Martinez and his people of CAL FIRE, we surely get a series of typical moments as they get frustrated again and again along the story, and the movie does not pull much punch on a certain big local energy company which could have responded more quickly to the disaster from the very beginning. 

In the end, everything eventually culminates to the point where McKay and everyone else in the bus must face the grave and immense possibility of danger and death, and Greengrass, who wrote the screenplay with co-producer Brad Ingelsby, and his crew members including cinematographer Pål Ulvik Rokseth did a heck of job of putting us right into the middle of the peril experienced by McKay and the others in the bus. Although I am sure that those fire scenes in the film depend on a considerable amount of CGI, they look quite vivid and scary on the screen, and it is a shame that I and many others can only see the movie via the streaming service at present (The movie was briefly released in American theaters in last month, by the way).

In case of the two notable performers of the film, they ably handle the clichéd aspects of their characters as diligently carrying the movie to the end. Matthew McConaughey, who has curiously been less active during last several years, demonstrates that he has not lost any of his talent and charisma yet, and America Ferrera has several moments to shine as steadily holding her spot beside McConaughey. Yul Vazquez and Ashlie Atkinson are effective in their small but crucial supporting parts, and those child performers in the film are also convincing in their natural acting.  

In conclusion, “The Lost Bus” may burn a bit too much of clichés and conventions for starting its engine, but it ably drives along its fiery plot course under the skillful direction of Greengrass, who previously directed several very intense drama films such as “United 93” (2006) and “Captain Phillips” (2013). I still think it could be improved more with less clichés, but it engaged me enough during viewing, so I will not complain for now.

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Steve (2025) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): One particularly difficult day for teachers and boys

Posted on October 6, 2025 by kaist455

 Netflix film “Steve”, which was released on the streaming service a few days ago after having a limited theatrical release in UK and US a few weeks ago, follows one particularly difficult day for the teachers and boys at one shabby boarding school. While the teachers try really hard to get things under control, the boys keep struggling with each own emotional issues in one way or another, and both of these groups are alternatively exasperated and frustrated all the time without making much connection between them.

The main background of the story, which is mainly set on one day of 1996, is one seriously under-funded boarding school for boys with societal and behavioral difficulties, and the movie opens with its deeply caring headteacher Steve (Cillian Murphy) beginning another busy day at the school. Right before arriving in the school, he spots one of the boys smoking a piece of marijuana, but he does not scold or punish this boy at all mainly because he sincerely understands how problematic this boy’s life has been.

Incidentally, it happens to be the day when the school is visited by a TV reporter and her crew, so Steve and his staff members are quite nervous to say the least. While they are willing to present themselves and their school and students as honestly as possible, they also care a lot about the public image of the school because, after all, the school has been supported by some private foundation as well as a bit of government funding. 

However, as this TV reporter and her crew do their job here and there inside the school, things do not go as well as Steve and his staff members hoped at first. Besides those unruly behaviors of his deeply troubled students, Steve and many of his staff members turn to have each own issues behind their weary appearances, and they cannot help but tell a lot about that when they are respectively interviewed in front of the camera.

And then things get only worse and worse for them. When Steve and a few staff members later have a meeting with the two people associated with the aforementioned private foundation, they are notified that the school will be closed after no less than six months, and this surely exasperates them a lot even though there is really nothing they can do about that. In addition, their students continue to clash with each other as usual just because they cannot help but annoy each other, and this certainly drains Steve and his staff more and more as the day goes by. 

Nevertheless, Steve and his staff members keep trying their best even though the time is running out for them as well as the students. Steve especially cares a lot about the aforementioned boy, and we get to know more about his seriously troubled status, but there is not much progress for this boy even after another session of his with a patient counselor. 

At least, the boy is not stupid at all, and we get a rather amusing moment when the school is later visited by a prominent politician who simply visits there for improving his public image a bit. When he makes some pretentious speech in front of several staff members and students as well as the camera of the TV crew, it does not take much time for everyone else to see through his bullsh*t, and you may chuckle a bit when the boy gives a very honest and straightforward respond to the politician’s speech.

After building up a considerable amount of realism on the screen during its first half, the movie unfortunately begins to falter as getting more melodramatic along with its several main characters during the second half. While his school is cornered much more than before, Steve cannot help but become more unnerved and rattled than before, and Cillian Murphy, who also participated in the production of the film as one of its co-producers, did a splendid job of conveying to us his character’s accumulating weariness and frustration. As Steve struggles more and more along the story, we come to see more of a decent man quite exhausted as always trying to do the right things for his boys, and you may be relieved to see later in the story that he has someone to lean one in his private life at least. 

However, the screenplay by Max Porter, which is based on his 2023 novella “Shy”, does not develop enough Steve and several other main characters in the story. Although director Tim Mielants, who previously collaborated with Murphy in “Small Things Like These” (2024), and cinematographer Robrecht Heyvaert did a commendable job of establishing the vividly realistic atmosphere around the main characters in the film on the screen, Porter’s screenplay often stumbles in fleshing them out more along the story, and that is the main reason why several main cast members besides Murphy feel rather under-utilized in comparison. For instance, Tracey Ullman and Emily Watson are simply required to fill their respective spots around Murphy, while Jay Lycurgo manages to bring some human nuance to his rather thankless supporting role.

On the whole, “Steve” is two or three steps from what Mielants and Murphy powerfully achieved in “Small Things Like These”, an overlooked gem I wholeheartedly recommend you to check out as soon as possible. Although it did not engage me enough during my viewing, the movie has some good elements to admire at least, so I let you decide whether you will check it out or not.

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The Godfather (1972) ☆☆☆☆(4/4): A masterpiece you can’t possibly refuse

Posted on October 5, 2025 by kaist455

Francis Ford Coppola’s 1972 film “The Godfather”, which happened to be re-released in selected South Korean theaters several weeks ago, is a masterpiece you cannot possibly refuse. As compellingly illustrating the transfer of a criminal power from one generation to the other generation, the movie immerses us into the world of various criminal figures, and it somehow makes us sympathize with some of these dangerous figures even we are well aware of what they have done for their “business”.

The opening part of the film, which is set on one day of 1945, is a masterful case of how to introduce and then establish numerous characters within a short time. As many of his guests are enjoying the wedding party of his daughter outside during one sunny afternoon, Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando), the aging boss and patriarch of the Corleone family in New York City, is meeting some of his guests in the dark private room of his big house, and the first scene shows him quietly listening to the request to a father who wants the revenge for his unfortunate daughter. While sharply pointing out how this man has distanced himself from his family, Vito benevolently accepts his request as having this man accept his “friendship”, and the movie pulls out a bit of surprise when Vito requests something very important to this man later in the story.  

Meanwhile, many different characters are introduced to us one by one at the party outside, but we are not so confused at all mainly because they are broad but colorful archetypes played by various performers with distinctive presence. Just look at Salvatore Tessio (Abe Vigoda), Peter Clemenza (Richard Castellano), and Luca Brasi (Lenny Montana), three key figures in the Corleone family. The movie does not show or tell a lot about who they are, but their appearances instantly draw our attention right from the start, and that certainly helps as the plot subsequently thickens with more characters and incidents to come along the way.

And we are also introduced to Vito’s three sons: Sonny (James Caan), Fredo (John Cazale), and Michael (Al Pacino). While Sonny is your average hot-tempered gangster who is usually held in check by Vito and Vito’s adopted son/consigliere Tom Hagen (Robert Duvall), Fredo does not have much right stuff for their family business, and Michael, who is incidentally their father’s favorite, prefers to stay out of their family business as much as possible, though he comes to the weeding party with his girlfriend Kay (Diane Keaton) as required.   

 Ironically, Michael only ends up getting involved with the family business much more than he probably ever imagined, because, after all, he also follows the one important code among his family members – the family comes first above all else. When his father as well the family are seriously threatened, he actively comes forward for providing the solution, and that fatefully leads to the beginning of his descent into crime.

 While also juggling many other crucial plot elements, the screenplay by Coppola and his co-writer Mario Puzo, which is based on the novel of the same name by Puzo, takes time for us to observe how Michael eventually succeeds his father as Vito is ready to walk away from his powerful position. When everything is set for Michael to start a series of events to catapult him onto the top of his criminal world, the movie deftly delivers a climatic sequence to remember, and it is still electrifying to observe how the movie swiftly and smoothly resolves everything in the story before its haunting last shot comes.   

Furthermore, the movie also works as a rich character drama as focusing more on the relationship between Vito and Michael. When they have a private conversation at one point around the last act, Vito shows a bit of sorrow and sympathy as showing his concern on the future of Michael and their family (“I never wanted this for you.”), but he also shrewdly predicts what will happen next once he is gone, and Michael simply listens, while never revealing anything except his deep affection and loyalty toward his father.

Although the movie is actually more about Michael than Vito, Marlon Brando, who won his second Oscar for the movie, delivers an iconic performance to be remembered. As my late mentor Roger Ebert pointed out in his 1972 review, Brando’s performance is basically a “skillful throwaway”, but Brando also brings interesting nuances and details to his character besides a subtle sense of authority and sensibility and that cute little cat, and we somehow come to have some respect for the power and influence of this old but shrewd criminal who has probably done a lot of evil throughout his life. On the opposite, Al Pacino, who just started his movie acting career as showing considerable promise in “The Panic in Needle Park” (1971) at that time, gradually takes the center with his equally indelible low-key performance, and he is particularly effective when his character has a brief moment of conflict and hesitation right before his first act of killing. 

The movie is filled with many wonderful performers to behold. Besides Abe Vigoda, Richard Castellano, and Lenny Montana, a bunch of other character actors ranging from Sterling Hayden to John Marley ably fill their respective spots as required, and John Cazale, James Caan, and Robert Duvall have each own moment to shine. Although the movie is prominently male-dominant, Talia Shire and Diane Keaton hold their small spots as the small but substantial female characters of the film, and Keaton is particularly heartbreaking when her character comes to see what Michael has become around the end of the story.

In conclusion, “The Godfather” is a great film which is also a definite high point for Coppola and many of his cast and crew members including cinematographer Gordon Willis, whose moody cinematographer here in this film surely shows here why he has been often called “the Prince of Darkness”. Although it has been more than 50 years since it came out, the movie can still captivate and mesmerize us from the beginning to the end, and you will admire more of how it confidently and effortlessly takes us into the world of its criminal characters without much objection from us.

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The Wedding Banquet (2025) ☆☆☆(3/4): An exemplary remake to enjoy

Posted on October 4, 2025 by kaist455

“The Wedding Banquet”, the remake of Ang Lee’s 1993 film of the same name, is an exemplary remake to enjoy. While it understandably adds some big changes to the story and characters, the movie also has a fair share of humor and poignancy just like the original version, and the overall result is actually less redundant than expected.

The story, which is set in Seattle, Washington, mainly revolves around two very different homosexual couples. Angela (Kelly Marie Tran) and Lee (Lily Gladstone) have lived together for years, and they have tried to have a baby via in vitro fertilization (IVF), but Lee recently fails to get pregnant again after her second trial. Unfortunately, they do not have enough money for the third trial at present, and they naturally begin to wonder whether both of them really wanted to have a baby from the beginning.

The other couple in the story is Min (Han Gi-chan) and Chris (Bowen Yang), who have incidentally lived in the garage of Lee’s house and have also been Angela and Lee’s best friends for a long time. The opening scene of the film shows these two couples attending a ceremony for many sexual minority people in Seatle, and Angela’s mother May (Joan Chen) gladly attends this ceremony even though, as revealed later in the story, it took some time for her to accept that Angela is lesbian.

Some time later, Min suddenly faces a serious family problem. As a young South Korean studying in US, he needs to get his student visa extended at present, but his wealthy grandmother Ja-young (Youn Yuh-jung) begins to stop supporting his stay in US, mainly because she and her husband have expected Min to return to South Korea and then join their family business for years. Although he has not revealed yet to his grandmother that he is gay, Min seriously considers marrying Chris, but then Chris hesitates to go further with their relationship.

And then there comes a seemingly good idea to Min not long after he and Chris come to learn about Angela and Lee’s ongoing problem. When Min suggests to Angela that she should marry him and then help him get a green card in exchange for the money for the third IVF trial for her and Lee, Chris as well as Angela and Lee instantly reject this rather outrageous idea, but then Angela and Lee start to wonder whether this can actually a nice solution for not only them but also their two best friends.

It initially seems that all Angela and Min will have to do is simply registering themselves as a legally married couple at the city hall without a wedding ceremony or anything else, but then things soon get quite complicated after Min notifies to his grandmother that he is going to marry Angela. Ja-young unexpectedly decides to come to Seattle for paying a visit to Min and Angela, and Min and Angela as well as Chris and Lee must try to hide their homosexuality as much as possible in front of Min’s grandmother.

Around this narrative point, the screenplay by director Andrew Ahn and his co-writer/co-producer James Schamus, who wrote the screenplay for the 1993 film along with Ang Lee and Neil Peng, takes a little different route compared to the 1993 film. Because homosexuality has become a lot more acceptable at present, the movie does not have the same dramatic/comic tension in the 1993 film, so it focuses more on the internal issues of its four main characters. Although they are quite open about their homosexuality, Angela, Lee, Chris, and Min find themselves and their relationships getting tested more than expected at first, and this alternatively exasperates and frustrates them as Angela and Min’s fake wedding is approaching.

Nevertheless, the movie steadily maintains its lightweight mood as balancing itself well between humor and poignancy. There is an amusing moment involved with how Chris and Min try to make Lee’s house and their place look as straight as possible along with Lee and Angela, and then we get all the more amused when Ja-young, who is your typical no-nonsense old lady, begins to sense something fishy about her grandson’s sudden decision to marry. When Angela’s mother later gets involved with their situation, Angela is not so amused to say the least due to an old personal wound of hers, and that eventually leads to a brief but aching moment between her and her mother.

Although the story trudges a bit as the circumstance becomes all the more serious and complicated for everyone in the story, the movie remains supported well by the well-rounded ensemble performance from its main cast members. Bowen Yang, who has been mainly known for his Emmy-nominated works in “Saturday Night Live” and also appeared in Ahn’s previous film “Fire Island” (2022), demonstrates the more serious side of his acting talent here in this film, and he and South Korean actor Han Gi-chan are believable during several key scenes between them in the movie. On the opposite, Kelly Marie Tran, who has been mainly known for her unjustly maligned supporting turn in Rian Johnson’s “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” (2017), and Lily Gladstone, who has advanced further since her recent Oscar-nominated turn in Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon” (2023), are also equally wonderful as the other half of the story, and the special mention goes to Joan Chen and Youn Yuh-jung, the two legendary grand dames of Asian Cinema who surely bring a lot of class and grace to their characters as well as the film.

Since I watched “Spa Night” (2016) and then met Ahn at the Jeonju International Film Festival in 2016, I was impressed by how he went further with “Driveways” (2019) and “Fire Island” during next several years, and I think “The Wedding Banquet” will be another substantial stepping stone in his promising filmmaker career just like the 1993 film was in Lee’s career. The movie delighted me for many reasons in addition to entertaining me enough for recommendation, and I hope that I may be able to show it to my parents someday for helping them accept more of my homosexuality. Yes, they still want to marry some nice girl soon even after I came out of my closet in late 2016, and my mother tried another heterosexual matchmaking again a few days ago. Will they really change their mind if they ever watch this film, I wonder?

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Your Letter (2025) ☆☆☆(3/4): Searching for his letters

Posted on October 4, 2025 by kaist455

South Korean animation feature film “Your Letter” is a simple but engaging coming-of-age drama about friendship and solidarity. Often reminiscent of the mood and style of Japanese animation films, the movie has several lovely visual moments to remember, and that is more than enough to compensate for a number of shortcomings including the occasionally sappy aspects of the story.

The opening part of the film mainly revolves around how a female adolescent named So-ri (voiced by Lee Su-hyun) begins her first day at her new school. After suffering a serious case of bullying at her previous school in Seoul, So-ri moves to a rural town where her grandmother lives, and she cannot help but feel awkward about her new school environment while still reeling from that traumatic experience of hers caused by the bullying by some cruel classmate of hers. She was bullied just because she stood by one of her classmates as a friend when that classmate was bullied by the same bully, and, because that classmate also eventually left their school just like her, she often wonders whether she really did the right thing.

At least, most of her new classmates look pretty nice and friendly to So-ri, though there is still a considerable gap between them and her. Several days pass by, but none of her new classmates is particularly close to her yet, and that makes So-ri feel all the lonelier while missing that classmate of hers more than before. In fact, she actually wrote a letter to that classmate for checking whether that classmate is fine, but that classmate has not answered yet to her frustration.

On one day, So-ri comes across something unexpected. She discovered a numbered letter hidden inside her class desk, and that is how she comes to learn about a student named Ho-yeon (voiced by Min Seung-woo), who wrote that letter in question. As one hidden letter leads her to another hidden letter, Ho-yeon shows and tells her a lot about the school and her teachers and classmates, and So-ri feels like having the first real friend in her new school even though she has not met Ho-yeon yet.

Meanwhile, as looking for more letters written by Ho-yeon, So-ri befriends two certain figures in the school. One is a middle-aged female school employee, and she turns out to be a nice and pleasant lady with a cute chubby cat even though she is called a “witch” by many students in the school. The other one is a boy named Dong-soon (Kim Min-joo), whom So-ri encounters at a special private place for Ho-yeon in the middle of a forest right next to the school.

Needless to say, Dong-soon knows Ho-yeon well, and the occasional flashback scenes show how these two boys befriended each other during the previous year. When Dong-soon was cruelly bullied by a mean classmate of his on one day, Ho-yeon kindly gave him some emotional support, and they instantly became close friends after that, but then Ho-yeon was suddenly gone due to some personal reason.

Discerning how much Dong-soon feels hurt by Ho-yeon’s sudden departure, So-ri persuades Dong-soon to join her search for Ho-yeon’s hidden letters, and Dong-soon agrees to do that despite his initial reluctance. Although there are some unexpected obstacles including that mean bully of Dong-soon, Dong-soon and So-ri continue to look for more letters from Ho-yeon, and they are more reminded of what a good friend Ho-yeon is to both of them.

Around the last act, the story, which is based on the South Korean online graphic novel of the same name by Cho Hyeon-a, stumbles more than once due blatant melodramatic moments and some glaring plot contrivance, but its earnest handling of story and characters continues to hold our attention as before. There is a poignant moment when So-ri comes to have an unexpected moment of solace and solidarity later in the story, and we get some surprise around the end of the story when the actual motive behind Ho-yeon’s letters is revealed at last.

Above all, the film is constantly filled with beautiful visual moments to entertain our eyes. Yes, its cell animation style, which is incidentally supplemented by a bit of digital animation from time to time, instantly evokes the textures of many different Japanese animation films ranging from those charming works of Studio Ghibli to several recent works of Makoto Shinkai, but director Kim Yong-hwan and his crew members did their study and homework fairly well on the whole, and the overall result is mostly competent despite some notable weak aspects (For example, the main voice performers of the film sound a bit too old at times despite their diligent efforts).

In conclusion, the overall achievement of “Your Letter” is rather modest, but it shows considerable potential in South Korean animation film just like several recent notable South Korean animation films such as “Exorcism Chronicles: The Beginning” (2024) and “Mr. Robot” (2025). Although I did not like these two animation films enough for recommendation, both of them demonstrated at least that South Korean animation films can actually do better than what I and many other South Korean audiences usually expect, and “Your Letter” confirms that to us via its engaging qualities. Considering how the animation films of this year have been rather unimpressive except a few exceptions including “KPop Demon Hunters” (2025), “Your Letter” deserves some attention in my inconsequential opinion, and I assure you that you will be impressed and entertained enough.

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