Heavy Trip (2018) ☆☆☆(3/4): A rural Finnish heavy metal band’s first gig

Posted on May 4, 2019 by kaist455

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Finnish comedy film “Heavy Trip” made me cheer for guys from whom I would rather distance myself as much as I can. As a neurotic nerdy guy still cringing at the traumatizing memories of attending a Nine Inch Nails concert, I usually avoid any type of loud rock music, and I certainly do not have any particular interest in heavy metal music, but I came to like those silly but endearing heavy metal band members in the film while also appreciating its numerous quirky and funny moments.

At the beginning, the movie shows us the rather pathetic status of a young country lad named Turo (Johannes Holopainen) and the other three members of his heavy metal band: Lotvonen (Samuli Jaskio), Jynkky (Antti Heikkinen), and Pasi (Max Ovaska). While these young guys have devoted themselves to music for years, their life and career have been going nowhere without any original music from them, and they are still stuck in the basement right below a local reindeer slaughterhouse belonging to Lotvonen’s father, who is mostly quite cheerful despite his occupational hazard.

In addition, they are frequently ridiculed for their unconventional appearance. Mainly Due to his long hairdo and black leather outfit, local young men frequently throw homophobic slurs at Turo, and he is not regarded well by the police officer of the town, who happens to be the father of a girl for whom he has carried a torch. It seems Miia (Minka Kuustonen) also likes Turo, but Jouni (Ville Tiihonen), a brash and popular local musician, is already prepared to win her heart, and he certainly does not welcome any interference from Turo.

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And then there comes an unexpected change into the daily life of Turo and his band members. Some Norwegian guy happens to drop by the reindeer slaughterhouse for buying some venison on one day, and he turns out to be associated with a renowned heavy metal festival. Although their encounter with this guy is not very pleasant due to a hilariously bloody moment reminiscent of “Carrie” (1976), he leaves with a demo cassette tape containing their first original song performance besides giving them his calling card, and Turo and his band members are excited about the possibility of performing at that heavy metal festival.

Once this news is spread around their village not long after Turo tells it to Miia, Turo and his band members find themselves becoming a lot more popular in the village than before. Everyone is excited as having lots of expectation on Turo and his band members, and Turo naturally becomes quite nervous for good reasons. He and his band members have actually never performed in public before, and, above all, there is still no confirmation from that Norwegian guy.

Nevertheless, Turo and his band members cannot help but feel happy to see how things look a lot better to them than before. At one point, they decide to make a promotional photograph for their band, and we subsequently get a good laugh from how they shoot the photograph via a speed camera installed outside their village. While Turo becomes more confident about approaching to Miia, Pasi, who is incidentally the nerdiest member of the bunch, comes to take a bolder stance on their heavy metal music, and he also comes to think of a kinky band name which I will not write down here.

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While taking several predictable narrative turns as expected, the movie keeps bouncing along the story with its broad but lovable characters, and directors/co-writers Juuso Laatio and Jukka Vidgren, who wrote the screenplay along with Aleksi Puranen and Jari Olavi Rantala, continue to provide us plenty of small and big laughs. We surely come to see Turo and its band members trying their first public performance in front of many local people, and we are not so surprised by how that eventually ends, but this moment is handled well enough to draw chuckles from us at least. In case of a certain supporting character whome Turo comes to befriend at a local mental hospital, we can clearly see from the beginning that he will play an important part in the story, but then the movie surprises us when that moment arrives after an unexpected plot turn later in the story.

And things become more lunatic and hysterical during the last 30 minutes of the film. I will not go into details for not spoiling your fun, but I can tell you instead that I was caught off guard several times as admiring the filmmakers’ willingness to put everything except kitchen sink into the increasingly insane circumstance surrounding Turo and his band members. Still maintaining its offbeat sense of deadpan humor, the movie smoothly glides into the climactic part unfolded in that heavy metal festival (is this a spoiler?), and I must confess that, despite my lack of enthusiasm on heavy metal music, I came to go along with the loud but jolly musical spirit felt from the screen.

On the whole, “Heavy Trip” is an odd but sweet and hilarious comedy film, and I enjoyed its humor and spirit as occasionally reminded of Rob Reiner’s classic comedy film “This Is the Spinal Tap” (1984), In my inconsequential opinion, the metal band members of “Heavy Trip” are no more talented than the Spinal Tap, but I came to like them more than expected as smiling at their earnest passion from time to time. Yes, I still do not like heavy metal music much, but the movie was a pretty entertaining ride for me, and that is more than enough for recommendation.

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Destroyer (2018) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): A gritty crime drama starring Nicole Kidman

Posted on May 3, 2019 by kaist455

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“Destroyer” is a gritty crime drama film with a few interesting spins on its familiar genre conventions. While this is surely another gloomy movie revolving around one tough but troubled cop, it tries to do something different via its female lead character, and I appreciate that to some degree even though the result is rather disappointing despite the commendable efforts from its fearless lead performer.

Nicole Kidman, who effectively dials down her usual glamorous impression and looks quite more ungainly and haggard here in this film, plays Erin Bell, a seasoned LAPD detective who becomes very agitated when one of her old cases in the past resurfaces to haunt her again. Around 16 years ago, she did an undercover mission along with her former partner Chris (Sebastian Stan), and something quite bad happened to them when they got themselves involved more with a group of bank robbers led by a guy named Silas (Toby Kebbell), who disappeared shortly after that incident. When Erin comes to her police station, there is a package for her, and it contains a certain small object which clearly signifies to her that Silas has returned to be back in his criminal activity after a long period of absence.

Erin decides to take care of this matter alone without telling much to others including her current partner, and the first half of the movie focuses on how she tries to track down her old opponent step by step. When she confronts a very sick ex-con who was once one of Silas’ gang members, she is quite determined to extract any useful information from him, and she eventually finds herself doing a rather unsavory thing as requested by him. When she visits a sleazy lawyer associated with Silas, their meeting is not very pleasant to say the least, and she does not hesitate to coerce him by any means necessary for getting what she wants from him.

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In the meantime, the movie also pays some attention to Erin’s messy personal life. While it is evident from the beginning that she has a drinking problem, she has been estranged from her ex-husband Ethan (Scoot McNairy) and their daughter Shelby (Jade Pettyjohn), and Shelby is not so pleased when her mother interferes with what is going on between her and her current boyfriend. It is quite apparent to Erin that her daughter’s boyfriend is your typical bad boy, but Shelby does not seem to mind that much, and she is also quite frank about her old anger and resentment toward her mother – especially when they are supposed to have a sincere private meeting at one point.

And we get to know more about Erin’s relationship with Chris, who was the only one she could trust and lean on as operating amid Silas and other dangerous criminals. When the situation became more serious as Silas and his gang members were about to execute their big criminal plan, Erin and Chris naturally became more cautious than before, but then Erin came to have a certain idea about how they would handle the ongoing situation, and Chris agreed to go along with that despite the considerable potential danger they were bound to face in one way or another.

As busily going back and forth between its two narrative lines, the movie tries to engage us more, but the screenplay by Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi, who also participated in the production of the film, often falters in terms of plot and characters. While it is interesting to observe its variations of genre elements via a female perspective, the depiction of Erin and other substantial characters in the story is usually too flat and bland to interest us, and we come to observe its story and characters from the distance without much care – even when the mood becomes more intense as required during the second half of the movie.

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Anyway, Kidman admirably carries the film with her committed acting, which is the main reason why the movie works from time to time. While never stepping away from her edgy character’s unlikable aspects, she conveys well to us whatever is churning behind her character’s weary façade, and she is particularly good when Erin is driven further by her increasingly obsessive search for her old opponent. Even though she could just let others handle the case instead, Erin is determined to go all the way for getting things done in her own way, and Kidman did a fine job of embodying her character’s dogged stubbornness.

In contrast, the other notable cast members of the film are relatively under-utilized mainly due to their underdeveloped characters. While Sebastian Stan, Scoot McNairy, Tatiana Maslany, and Toby Kebbell are mostly stuck with their thankless one-dimensional roles, Bradley Whitford manages to leave some impression during his brief appearance, and Jade Pettyjohn holds her own place well during her several scenes with Kidman. She is especially wonderful when her character comes to have a real honest conversation with Erin later in the story, and I think we can have some expectation on her burgeoning acting career.

“Destroyer” is directed by Karyn Kusama, who once had a big breakthrough with her first feature film “Girlfight” (2000) and subsequently made “Æon Flux” (2005), “Jennifer’s Body” (2009), and “The Invitation” (2015). Although I am not satisfied enough to recommend, the movie is not a total waste of time at least thanks to Kusama’s competent direction, and I can only hope that she will soon move onto better things to come.

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Knock Down the House (2019) ☆☆☆(3/4): Female candidates against the Establishment

Posted on May 2, 2019 by kaist455

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Netflix documentary film “Knock Down the House”, which received the US Documentary Audience Award when it was shown at the Sundance Film Festival early in this year, introduces to us four different American women who decided to stand against the Establishment after being angry and frustrated with what has been going on in their society during recent years. Although feeling rather flat and unbalanced as often focusing more on the most prominent one in the bunch, the documentary still works as a vivid, intimate glimpse into the ongoing political change inside the American society, and it has some genuinely touching moments to remember.

At first, we meet Alexander Ocasio-Cortez, a young waitress living in New York City. After recommended to a progressive Democratic grass root group by her brother as one of numerous potential candidates for the upcoming midterm US Congress and Senate elections in 2018, she decided to run for the US Congress, but the situation did not look particularly good for many reasons. Because her NYC neighborhood has always supported the Democratic Party, all she had to do was winning the primary election, but her opponent John Crowley, who has occupied his US Congress seat for no less than 14 years, is one of the most powerful figures in the Democratic Party, and he certainly had a lot more resources and supports than her from the very beginning.

Nevertheless, she is not someone easily daunted by such a disadvantage like that, and the documentary shows us how she and her small campaign team prepared for the election step by step. As diligently going here and there around her neighborhood, she and her campaign team succeeded in obtaining no less than 10,000 signatures from her neighborhood residents, and they also tried to draw more attention from the public via social media tools. Eventually, she came to register herself as a candidate in April 2018, but Crowley and his campaign team still did not give much attention, and there is an absurd moment showing a local meeting for the debate between her and a female city council member who came there instead of Crowley.

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After handling that moment with considerable grace and confidence, she came to draw a lot more attention and support than before, and she impressed local voters more during her subsequent TV debate with her opponent, but it still seemed her opponent had a better odd for win. As the election day approached, she could not help but show her doubt and nervousness in front of her camera, and she was certainly agitated a lot on the election day.

In the meantime, director/co-writer Rachel Lears also looks into the campaigns of three other female Democratic grass root candidates. In a rural region of West Virginia, we meet Paula Jean Swearingen, and we get to know how she came to run for the US Senate as becoming more aware of many of her neighbors suffering due to the local coal industry. In St. Louis, Missouri, we meet Cori Bush, and we get to know how she became more politically active after Mike Brown’s tragic death and the following demonstration in 2014 and then decided to run for the US Congress. In Las Vegas, Nevada, we meet Amy Vilela, and we get to know how she became more passionate about social/political change after her dear daughter’s unfair death and then came to run for the US Senate.

Although I must point out that the parts showing these three different female candidates are frequently eclipsed by the one showing Ocasio-Cortez mainly due to her current prominent political position, these parts are still fairly engaging at least, and we come to admire Bush, Swearingen, and Vilela as much as Ocasio-Cortez. All of these four ladies are frank and straightforward about themselves while not receiving any donation from those big corporations, and they are certainly refreshing compared to their opponents. At one point, we see them being along with many other grass root Democratic candidates, and this uplifting sight will probably make you more optimistic about the American society, which has been quite problematic especially since that horrible rise of Donald J. Trump in 2016.

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As arriving at its expected narrative point, the documentary stumbles a bit during its last 20 minutes, but it still provides us a number of fine emotional moments to linger on our mind. It is surely bitter to see Bush, Swearingen, and Vilela losing their elections in the end, but they tried as much as they could at least, and we get a poignant scene where one of Vilela’s key campaign members makes an impromptu speech which is more than a perfunctory pep talk.

In case of Ocasio-Cortez, it looked like she would also lose like many of her fellow Democratic grass root candidates, but, as many of you already know, she unexpectedly won the primary election. At the end of the documentary, she and her partner go to Washington D.C., and she gives us a plain but undeniably powerful speech on how her dead father would be proud of her.

Although it is not entirely without weak points and it could focus more on its other human subjects besides Ocasio-Cortez, “Knock Down the House” did its job as much as intended on the whole, and you will be moved by the earnest political passion of these extraordinary ladies in the documentary. As shown from them and many others, there are still some hope and optimism left in the American society even though it seems to be sinking down to the bottom, and I am willing to wish all of them good luck.

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High Life (2018) ☆☆☆(3/4): A challenging SF film from Claire Denis

Posted on May 1, 2019 by kaist455

highlife01  Claire Denis’ new movie “High Life” is a challenging experience which will certainly confound many of you for good reasons. I must confess that I am still wondering whether I really understand everything in the film, but I sort of enjoyed how boldly and fascinatingly the movie challenged me from the beginning to the end, and I came to admire Denis’s distinctive singular vision to some degree even though I observed its story and characters from the distance from time to time.

The movie mainly revolves around a guy named Monte (Robert Pattinson), who was once a criminal prisoner with no particular chance of release in the future but then came to participate in some important but risky space mission along with a bunch of other criminal prisoners under similar situations. Via a spaceship which looks more like a plain rectangular container but can travel at the rate nearly approaching to the light speed, they were sent together to a certain black hole outside the solar system, and they were supposed to do a crucial energy experiment on that black hole after their long space journey which would take more than 10 years at least.

However, things do not look good at all when we see Monte at the beginning of the movie. While the spaceship arrived at its destination, the other crew members of the spaceship were dead, and the only living human in the spaceship besides him is a young female baby of whom he has taken care alone for a while. He tries as much as he can while also concentrating on the maintenance of the spaceship, but, like any other baby around her age, the baby frequently demands his attention, and this will definitely remind you of how difficult it is to bring up a baby alone.

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As Monte continues to go through his daily routine, his mind often goes back to a number of past moments including a few glimpses into his rough time before his imprisonment, and there is also a brief expository scene which tells us a bit about the background of the mission. It was clear from the start that Monte and his fellow spaceship crew members were expendable, and they might not be able to return to the Earth, but they agreed to participate in the space mission anyway because, well, it was at least a bit better than being imprisoned for the rest of their life.

During the middle part of the film, a series of flashback scenes show what happened among Monte and other spaceship crew members. Under the strict supervision of Dibs (Juliette Binoche), a former doctor who was incarcerated for her heinous crime, Monte and his fellow spaceship crew members were additionally subjected to an experiment on sexual reproduction in space, and we often see Dibs collecting semen from other male spaceship crew members except Monte, who chose celibacy as much as he could while intensely focusing on the mission.

Maybe because of his evident resilience and determination, Dibs became more interested in Monte, and there eventually comes a morbid and disturbing moment showing how she managed to extract semen from him and then impregnate one of the female crew members in the spaceship. While this is surely quite uncomfortable to watch to say the least, the movie steadily maintains its detached attitude without looking gratuitous at least, and we come to feel alternatively repulsed and fascinated as observing how far Dibs is willing to go for her very twisted purpose.

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Under Denis’ confident direction, the movie seldom loses its focus even though it keeps hopping from one scene to another in its non-chronological narrative, and she and her crew members including cinematographer Yorick Le Saux did a superb job of generating some sense of awe and mystery to the screen. While several key scenes involved with the black hole may be less awesome compared to what is shown in Christopher Nolan’s “Interstellar” (2014), they are presented with enough skill and style nonetheless, and they made me more absorbed in the movie even while I was not so sure about where the movie was heading.

The main cast members of the movie fill their respective roles as much as required, and some of them leave considerable impression on us. Quite more understated than his electrifying turn in “Good Time” (2017). Robert Pattinson diligently carries the movie with his solid lead performance, and he surely confirms to us again that he is a talented actor a lot more interesting than we thought at first. While Juliette Binoche, who previously collaborated with Denis in “Let the Sunshine In” (2017), is fearless especially when she hurls herself into a sensational scene where her character zealously takes care of her sexual need, Mia Goth and Jessie Ross are fine as other substantial female characters in the movie, and André Benjamin is equally effective as a supporting character reminiscent of Bruce Dern’s lead character in Douglas Trumbull’s “Silent Running” (1972).

In conclusion, “High Life” is definitely not something you can casually watch for fun and entertainment, and I am less enthusiastic about it compared to many other critics, but it is still another interesting work from Denis, who has steadily impressed me and others since her first feature film “Chocolat” (1988). You will be disappointed if you expect something like “Interstellar” or “The Martian” (2015), but it will reward you with indelible mood and visual if you are well aware in advance of what it intends to do as a cerebral arthouse SF movie, so I recommend you to give it a chance someday.

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Arctic (2018) ☆☆☆(3/4): His desperate Arctic journey for survival

Posted on April 29, 2019 by kaist455

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During its first act, “Arctic” impressed me a lot with vividly cold and harsh moments of desperation and solitude which actually made me curious about how they were made, and that is why it is a shame that the movie becomes relatively less interesting as eventually being turned into something more conventional. Although I was distracted by that flaw and other ones in the film to some degree during my viewing, the movie is still fairly watchable at least mainly thanks to its strong lead performance, and the overall result is a solid survival drama somewhere between “All Is Lost” (2013) and “The Revenant” (2015).

The first act of the movie mainly focuses on the grim, monotonous daily routine of its hero played by Mads Mikkelsen. Although nothing much about him is told or shown to us, the movie lets us slowly gather the small and big details on how its hero has endured his current situation since his plane crashed on a remote spot somewhere in the Arctic Circle some time ago. While his plane has functioned as a shelter to shield him from the extremely cold and harsh weather outside, he has subsisted upon the fishes he often catches with fishing lines, and he also routinely maps his surroundings in addition to running a distress beacon with a dynamo.

It looks like he will survive for several more days as waiting for any chance of rescue, but he is clearly exhausted by his continuing isolation and desperation, and there is also the constant possibility of danger around him. At one point, he finds that some of his fishes are stolen, and then he notices a big animal footprint on the snowy ground. which was probably left by a polar bear he subsequently spots from the distance.

Although mostly consisting of a series of wordless moments, the first act of the movie steadily holds our attention via the charismatic presence of Mikkelsen, who is no stranger to stoic suffering and endurance as shown from “The Hunt” (2012) and “The Salvation” (2014). While looking physically believable as demanded, Mikkelsen ably embodies his character’s steely resilience, and we come to observe his character’s increasingly despairing struggle with more interest and care.

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And then the screenplay by director Joe Penna and his co-writer/editor Ryan Morrison thrusts its hero into a new situation during the next act. While our hero is going through his usual daily routine on one day, he notices a helicopter approaching toward him, so he tries to attract the attention of whoever is in that helicopter, but, alas, there suddenly comes a snow storm, which causes that helicopter to crash on the ground. When he subsequently comes to the crash site, he finds that one of two people in the helicopter already died while the other one, who is a young woman, is barely conscious as severely injured.

After the snow storm is over, he extracts that young woman from the helicopter and then takes her to his shelter, but it gradually turns out that her injury needs a lot more than emergency treatment. No matter how much he tries to make her get better during next several days, her condition gets worsened day by day, and, after checking the map again, he comes to decide to take a long, perilous journey for saving her, though that is probably going to demand him to do a lot more than dragging her body across the Arctic plain.

What follows next is a number of grueling moments which are sometimes tough to watch. In case of a long sequence involved with an unexpected obstacle our hero comes across later in the movie, it will make you cringe at times for good reasons, and there are also several scenes which will induce chilliness inside you with palpably cold ambience felt from the screen. Cinematographer Tómas Örn Tómasson did a stunning job of giving us wide and crisp shots of Arctic landscape shots, and the overwhelmingly icy sense of desolation and solitude surrounding our hero is further accentuated by the moody atmospheric score of Joseph Trapanese.

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As the movie comes to falter during its last act, I came to be more aware of a number of weak spots in the film. There are a few contrived plot turns which do not work as well as intended, and I think the movie could give some more human depth to the relationship between our hero and that young woman, who sometimes feels to me like a mere plot tool instead of another substantial human part in the story. Above all, the movie tries a little too hard to generate dramatic effects during its finale, and I must say that I could help but become impatient while watching this part.

Nevertheless, the movie still works as Mikkelsen diligently carries almost everything throughout its running time. Since he drew my attention for the first time via his villain performance in “Casino Royale” (2006), he has always been an interesting actor to watch, and his undeniable talent is evident from how he effortlessly expresses his character’s complex feelings and thoughts as firmly sticking to his reticent appearance.

Although I still feel some dissatisfaction, I recommend “Arctic” mainly for another commendable turn from Mikkelsen as well as the its impeccable Arctic atmosphere. It is not entirely without weak spots, but it did its job well on the whole at least, and you will not certainly be disappointed if you are simply looking for a well-made survival drama.

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The Kid Who Would Be King (2019) ☆☆☆(3/4): Their little Arthurian adventure

Posted on April 28, 2019 by kaist455

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“The Kid Who Would Be King” is a little fantasy adventure movie willingly and unabashedly going for unadulterated fun and excitement. Although it is rather familiar and predictable as a modern variation of the Arthurian legend, the movie lively and humorously gallops from one expected narrative point to another along with its young main characters, and I found myself frequently amused during my viewing even though the cranky part of my mind went back to “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” (1975) from time to time.

After the prologue animation sequence presenting the Arthurian legend as expected, we meet a 12-year-old boy named Alexander “Alex” Elliot (Louis Ashbourne Serkis), who is going through some difficulties as beginning the new term at his school. While he has felt very unhappy about his father’s longtime absence, Alex and his best friend Bedders (Dean Chaumoo) have been frequently bullied by two other students named Lance (Tom Taylor) and Kaye (Rhianna Dorris), but he does not tell anything about that to his concerned mother, even after he comes to a have a big schoolyard fight with Lance on one day when he sees Lance and Keye bullying Bedders.

When he later happens to be chased by Lance and Kaye, Alex sneaks into a local construction site, and then he comes to discover a mysterious sword there. Of course, that sword turns out to be none other than that famous one which once belonged to King Arthur, and it does not take much time for Alex to realize how serious the situation is. King Arthur’s evil half-sister Morgana (Rebecca Ferguson), who has been held below the ground for several thousand years, is quite determined to get the sword and then take over England as the world has been quite gloomy and unstable during last several decades, and Alex is soon visited by one of her zombie minions.

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Fortunately, there also comes a good guardian for Alex, and he is an old wizard named Merlin (Angus Imrie), who actually looks quite young due to aging backward like “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (2008). Although it takes some time for him to adjust himself to the modern world, Merlin quickly approaches to Alex and Bedders, and that leads to a series of silly but amusing moments including Alex and Bedders’ private meeting with Merlin at a fast food shop which happens to sell everything Merlin needs for recharging his magical power.

Anyway, after Merlin tells them that they need more allies for fighting against Morgana, Alex and Bedders come to recruit two unlikely allies: Lance and Kaye. They do not believe Alex and Bedders’ words at first, but then they soon find themselves chased by Morgana’s zombie minions just like Alex and Bedders, and they subsequently come to join Alex and Bedders’s journey to a certain place which may lead them to Morgana’s underground lair.

Balanced well between comedy and drama, the screenplay by director/writer Joe Cornish steadily doles out nice individual moments as rolling its young main characters along its conventional but engaging plot. While often humorously recognizing the silly aspects of its story, it is also serious enough about how its young main characters overcome their respective weaknesses and stick together in front of the enormous evil, and it accordingly delivers some nice messages on the importance of friendship and solidarity, which will resonate well with young audiences in my inconsequential opinion.

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The movie also delivers several competent action sequences as required, and it does not disappoint us when it eventually arrives at the climatic part unfolded during a certain planetary happening. Although this part looks a lot more modest compared to “Avengers: Endgame” (2019), it is handled with more spirit and creativity, and I particularly like how a bunch of vehicles are cleverly used against those zombie soldiers at one point.

The main cast members of the movie are solid on the whole. While Louis Ashbourne Serkis, who is the son of Andy Serkis, holds the center with his earnest performance, Dean Cahumoo complements Serkis well with his many small funny moments, and Tom Taylor and Rhianna Dorris are equally effective in their respective roles. Thanks to the effortless rapport among these young performers, the movie seldom loses its spirited sense of fun and excitement, and they are also supported well by the other main cast members including Rebecca Ferguson, Denise Gough, Genevieve O’Reilly, Patrick Stewart, and Angus Imrie, who surely has a lot of fun with his colorful supporting role.

“The Kid Who Would Be King” is the second feature film directed by Cornish, who previously made a debut with “Attack the Block” (2011). Compared to that small but entertaining SF action thriller film which has gained a cult status during last several years, the movie is a little less satisfying due to several flaws including the uneven plot progress during its third act, but it is still an enjoyable movie packed with enough good things to be appreciated, and Cornish confirms here that he is indeed a major talent to watch. Things look quite uncertain for his filmmaking career at present because the movie miserably failed at the US box office despite lots of positive responses from critics, but I sincerely hope that there will soon be another chance for him, though I am now feeling an urge to revisit “Monty Python and the Holy Grail”.

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The Wind (2018) ☆☆☆(3/4): A windy and creepy western horror film

Posted on April 26, 2019 by kaist455

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“The Wind” is a windy and creepy mix of two different genres. Set in a typical western movie background, the movie attempts a disturbing supernatural horror drama mainly revolving around its increasingly unstable heroine, and it often captivates us with its palpable mood and tension on the screen as the circumstance becomes more insidious and unnerving for its heroine. Although its overall achievement is rather modest on the whole, the movie did its job better than I expected at first, and it is one of more interesting genre pieces of this year in my inconsequential opinion.

At the beginning, the movie slowly lets us gather a gloomy situation surrounding Lizzy Macklin (Caitlin Gerard), a young married woman living alone with her husband Isaac (Ashley Zuckerman) in some remote wilderness area of the 19th century American frontier. During the opening scene, we see her quite devastated by the sudden death of their only neighbor’s wife, and she soon finds herself left alone after her husband leaves along with their only neighbor, who understandably decides to move to somewhere else as grieving over his wife’s death. While not bothered much by her husband’s temporary absence during next several days, she tries to keep going on as usual, but, as reflected by a series of flashback scenes, her mind cannot help but haunted by the memories of that dead woman, and she comes to feel agitated as more acutely aware of her isolated environment than before.

And then weird things begin to happen around her. At one point, she encounters a couple of aggressive wolves while doing her routine chores outside, and that incident is followed by a number of other weird and disturbing things. As the wind keeps howling outside as usual, she becomes a lot more nervous than before, and it seems quite possible to her that there is something sinister lurking somewhere in the wilderness.

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In the meantime, we get to know more about her relationship with that dead woman. When Emma (Goldani Telles) and her husband came to settle at a spot not so far from their place, Lizzy and Isaac were glad to have a neighbor around them, and the mood was cordial when they subsequently invited Emma and her husband to their place, but Lizzy sensed something odd about Emma right from when they met each other for the first time. As she and Emma come to spend more time together, it looks like they will be friendlier to each other than before, but there later comes a brief but crucial moment when Lizzy notices Emma being a little too nice to Isaac.

Because the movie mostly sticks to Lizzy’s rather unreliable viewpoint, we come to question more what is shown to us via her viewpoint. Did Isaac actually have an affair with Emma? Are those strange happenings around Lizzy just mere reflections of her disturbed state of mind? Or, is there really some malevolent force preying on her outside, as suggested by a certain small guidebook whose contents Emma zealously memorized?

Steadily maintaining the ambiguity surrounding Lizzy’s situation, the movie gradually dials up the level of tension, and we accordingly get a number of spooky moments as things become more confusing and terrifying for her. When a stranger suddenly comes later in the story, that figure in question surely looks suspicious to say the least, and I like how the movie deftly toys with our suspicion before eventually pulling out an intense moment of shock and surprise as expected.

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In addition, the movie is commendable in technical aspects thanks to the skillful direction of director Emma Tammi. Although this is her first feature film, it is apparent that she is a good filmmaker who knows how to interest and engage us, and her crew members did a fine job of establishing authentic period atmosphere well on the screen. As cinematographer Lyn Moncrief often impresses us with strikingly bleak landscape shots, we are frequently unnerved by the constant sound of wind on the soundtrack, and the resulting sense of dread is further amplified by the nervous score by Ben Lovett.

As the center of the movie, Caitlin Gerard is thoroughly convincing in her character’s gradual descent into terror and madness. Even as we come to watch her character from the distance, Gerard firmly holds our attention without any misstep, and her terrific performance is one of the main reasons why the inevitable finale of the movie works with chilling dramatic effects. In case of a few other performers surrounding her, Goldani Telles holds her own place well during her several scenes with Gerard, and Ashley Zuckerman is also effective as doing more than what is required by his rather thankless role.

In conclusion, “The Wind” is fairly successful in terms of mood, storytelling, and performance. Besides being a solid case of genre hybrid, the movie is also interesting to watch for its distinctive female perspective, and Tammi and her writer Teresa Sutherland deserve to be praised for their achievement. Considering that how much this little movie refreshed me not long after I endured those bloated CGI spectacles of “Avengers: Endgame” (2019), it is a shame that the movie did not get much attention when it was released in US early in this month, and I think you should give a chance to this overlooked piece of work someday.

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Avengers: Endgame (2019) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): This is the end (for now)

Posted on April 25, 2019 by kaist455

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My mind often went stray as I was watching “Avengers: Endgame” at last night. While it is undeniably a big, ambitious finale for what has been steadily developed via more than 20 films during last 11 years, the movie still feels to me like an indistinctive mixed bag which is as safe and predictable as its predecessors including “The Avengers” (2012), and I came out of the screening room without much excitement or satisfaction while my mind quickly moved onto other movies to watch.

The movie begins at the point not long after what happened in “Avengers: Infinity War” (2018). After the half of the population of the entire universe was wiped out by a powerful alien villain named Thanos (Josh Brolin), the remaining Avengers members including Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans) try to capture Thanos and then fix the situation, but it looks like there is nothing they can do even after Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) enters the picture as your average deus ex machina, and things continue to look glum and depressing for everyone on the Earth during next 5 years.

However, as Dr. Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) saw shortly before being wiped out along with many others in “Avengers: Infinity War”, there is actually a small chance for reversal. Through Scott Lang/Ant-Man (Paul Rudd), Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) come to learn of a possible way to restore the universe, and she and Rogers gather several other remaining Avengers besides Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), who is not so eager at first but eventually comes to join his colleagues once he happens to discover how to help them technically.

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As its superhero characters try to get along and work well with each other during its first half hour, the movie lightens up the mood from time to time, and the audiences around me reacted well to a series of humorous moments during this part. While Thor (Chris Hemsworth) often functions as the source of silly laughs due to his current condition which is not that ideal to say the least, Bruce Banner/Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) also gives us a few nice chuckles as being in a sort of equilibrium between his two very different sides, and Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper) surely provides a number of wisecracks as usual.

I will not describe in details how our superhero characters hurl themselves into their very risky operation, but I can tell you instead that the movie will give you many different familiar things as busily handling its multiple plot lines, and you will have lots of fun with that if you a big fan of the films of Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). While I was amused a bit when a number of certain types of SF/fantasy films were mentioned together at one point, I also enjoyed some of crucial moments during this part, and my biggest laugh came from when Rogers comes to do something he probably never imagined before (Hint: it is only uttering two certain words).

However, the movie often loses its narrative pacing during this part as busily hopping among its multiple plot lines across time and space. Although it is relatively more focused compared to “Avengers: Infinity War”, it sometimes seems to be more interested in looking back at its predecessors and other MCU films for its target audiences than advancing its plot and characters forward, and that frequently made me impatient during my viewing.

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Above all, the movie did not surprise me much during its climax sequence, which is merely filled with lots of CGI actions and MCU characters. This part is handled well under the competent direction of directors Anthony and Joe Russo, but it is still without much sense of awe and wonder, and I could clearly sense that the directors only try to impress us in terms of scale and quantity. As a result, I came to feel more weariness as watching the following epilogue part, which is as long as the ending of “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” (2003) but is not entirely without poignancy at least.

The main cast members of the film fill their individual spots as required, and Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans. Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Paul Rudd, Don Cheadle, Scarlett Johansson, Brie Larson, Karen Gillan, Bradley Cooper, Jeremy Renner, and Josh Brolin comfortably inhabit their respective characters as before. While Downey and Evans did a good job of holding the center of the film together, Hemsworth, Ruffalo, Rudd, and Cooper dutifully provide humor and laughs, and Brolin, Renner, and Cheadle are also effective in their more serious supporting roles. In case of Gillan, Larson, and Johansson, they are unfortunately stuck with their thankless roles, and Larson is particularly wasted compared to her feisty performance in “Captain Marvel” (2019), while Gillan and Johansson manage to overcome their disadvantage to some degree.

Although it is a bit better than its predecessors, “Avengers: Endgame” did not engage me enough while not trying anything particular new or different, so I cannot recommend it, but, considering what I sensed from the audiences around me at last night, it will surely enjoy its big commercial success around the world during next several weeks as also opening the door for more MCU movies in the future. I only hope they will be more refreshing and imaginative than this huge product which does not take much risk while just staying inside the boundaries of its franchise.

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Homecoming (2019) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): A superlative concert film by Beyoncé

Posted on April 22, 2019 by kaist455

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First, let me confess to you that I have underestimated Beyoncé for a rather silly reason. While I have not paid much attention to many of her songs, I only watched her in a few films including “Dreamgirls” (2006) and “Cadillac Records” (2008), and, in my humble opinion, she was not exactly the best thing in those films (Remember how Jennifer Hudson stole the show from her in “Dreamgirls” and then got away with that?). Probably because of that, I have regarded her without much interest, and I did not even check that iconic music video of hers when it came out it in 2016.

When I watched the trailer of Beyoncé’s concert film “Homecoming” last Tuesday, I did not have much expectation, but then I read a couple of enthusiastic positive reviews including the one written by Peter Sobczynski of rogerebert.com, so I decided to give the film a chance, and, what do you know, it is fantastic enough to change my opinion on her completely. While it goes without saying that she is a star performer to behold, the movie is pretty awesome for vividly presenting a spectacular showcase of her talent and personality along with a tremendous amount of style and substance to be savored, and it is definitely something you should not miss.

As many of you know, the main subject of the film is Beyoncé’s performance at the 2018 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, and it captures our attention right from the beginning as showing her glorious entrance to the stage. Accompanied with a bunch of dancers and musicians on a big pyramidal bench, she makes quite a striking expression of her racial/cultural identity in front of thousands of excited audiences, and that is more than enough for us to have some expectation on what will come next.

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And she surely does not disappoint us at all as dazzling us with a series of superb moments of music and dance. Although many of her songs are not that familiar to me, I was very impressed by how she skillfully delivers her songs with lots of spirit and energy, and I was also enthralled by the palpably rapturous vibes generated by her and those dancers and musicians behind her, who are clearly doing their best while vigorously throwing themselves into the performance just like her.

Never boring us throughout its 137-running time, the movie keeps going on and on with these and other terrific moments including the brief appearance of Jay-Z, Solange, Kelly Rowland, and Michelle Williams. Whenever I thought it could not possibly get better than what I had just watched, the movie surprised me with more things to behold, and Beyoncé, who also co-directed the film, and the crew members of the film did a magnificent job of presenting her performance with considerable verisimilitude. While the cameras of cinematographer Mark Ritchie dexterously capture big and small moments to be appreciated, the editing by Alexander Hammer, Andrew Morrow, Nia Imani, and Julian Klincewicz is busy but precise and efficient without causing any confusion, and the overall result is often exuberant and galvanizing to say the least.

And there are also archival footage clips which give us some glimpses into Beyoncé’s long, arduous preparation process for the concert. Although she was not exactly in an ideal condition for the concert not long after giving birth to her twins in 2017, she decided to push herself hard for what would be one of the defining moments in her long artistic career, and the movie shows us how she diligently prepared many different things along with numerous people including dancers, musicians, choreographers, and technicians.

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As watching Beyoncé and others preparing and practicing a lot for the concert, I was reminded again of how difficult it is to do a big concert in front of audiences. Anything could go wrong at any point during the concert, and she certainly felt enormous pressure as the first black female artist to headline the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.

Nevertheless, once the showtime begins, she effortlessly radiates her star quality on the stage while also making her own cultural statement as she previously did through her 2016 music video. As reflected by several interesting moments involved with female empowerment, she boldly expresses her feminist belief in front of her audiences, and we are surely confirmed that she is a true artist in the total control of her artistry and public image. Around the end of the movie, I came to admire her far more than before, while sincerely hoping for a good film fully utilizing her undeniable talent (Remember when she received a Razzie nomination for “Obsessed” (2009)?).

On the whole, “Homecoming”, which was released on Netflix last Wednesday, is a supreme concert film which deserves to be mentioned along with other recent notable concert films such as “Shine a Light” (2008). Although I am a guy who usually hates going to a big, loud music concert (I still cringe whenever I happen to reminisce about when I attended a Nine Inch Nails concert without earplugs, by the way), I came to envy those people watching the Beyoncé’s performance at the 2018 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, and that certainly says a lot about how effectively the movie worked on me. I am glad that it becomes widely available for many of us thanks to Netflix, but, to be frank with you, I cannot help but wonder now how wonderful it will be to watch it at big movie theater.

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Someone Great (2019) ☆☆☆(3/4): Three young ladies’ eventful day

Posted on April 21, 2019 by kaist455

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Netflix film “Someone Great”, which was released a few days ago, is a modestly enjoyable comedy film about one eventful day of three young ladies in New York City. While it is predictable and conventional in many aspects, the movie is at least equipped with enough comic spirit thanks to the occasional moments of sharp wit and humor, and it is also constantly buoyed by the engaging performances from its three main cast members.

At the beginning, the movie shows how things recently become sad and daunting for Jenny (Gina Rodriguez), a young music journalist who has been in a relationship with a guy named Nate (Lakeith Stanfield) for last 9 years but then happens to break up with him when a big change comes into her life. She finally gets hired by Rolling Stone as she hoped, but that means she will soon move to San Francisco, and she and Nate come to argue over that matter before eventually deciding to end their relationship.

When her two friends Blair (Brittany Snow) and Erin (DeWanda Wise) hear about her break-up with Nate, they instantly ready themselves for supporting and cheering up their friend, and they and Jenny happen to come across a good opportunity for having a big fun together. A popular but exclusive music concert is going to be held at some spot in the city during the upcoming evening, and all they need is someone who can give them three VIP tickets for that music concert right now.

Of course, their quest for those music concert tickets turns out to be longer than expected, and the screenplay by director/writer Jennifer Kaytin Robinson cheerfully bounces from one funny moment to another. For instance, there is a silly scene where Jenny and her two friends have to deal with a trio of dopey rich teenagers who may give them the tickets, and then there later comes a humorous scene in which Jenny and Erin drop by a ravishing place belonging to a flamboyant marijuana dealer played by, surprise, RuPaul Charles.

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Meanwhile, Jenny cannot help but think of how everything looked fine between her and Nate during last 9 years. Not long after she suddenly found herself dumped by a guy who was her boyfriend at that time, she happened to encounter Nate by coincidence, and something immediately clicked between them right from the start. As shown from the following series of flashback scenes, they sincerely loved each other, and it seemed nothing would come between them, but she also vividly remembers how their relationship became strained even before their eventual break-up.

In addition, the movie also pays some attention to the respective private matters of Blair and Erin. While she seems all right with her kind and fastidious boyfriend Will (Alex Moffat), Blair gradually comes to feel the growing discontent inside her, and then she finds herself doing something she never imagined when she happens to have a little private time with Jenny’s ex-boyfriend Matt (Peter Vack), with whom she once had a very intimate moment a few years ago. In case of Erin, she loves her girlfriend Leah (Rebecca Naomi Jones), but she hesitates when Leah suggests that they should be more serious about their relationship, and she is not so eager to meet Leah’s friends for a brunch.

Although it is occasionally a bit too contrived, Robinson’s screenplay smoothly handles its story and characters as balancing itself well between comedy and drama, and cinematographer Autumn Eakin constantly saturates the screen with colorful lights for accentuating the stylized mood surrounding the main characters of the film. Around the narrative point where Jenny and her two friends eventually go to that musical concert, the movie goes further with more spirit and excitement, and the cameo appearance by Questlove and Jessie Reyez surely adds some authenticity to this part.

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Above all, the movie is supported well by its three main cast members. While Gina Rodriguez, who has been mainly known for TV series “Jane the Virgin”, is instantly likable right from her very first scene in the film, her co-performers Brittany Snow and DeWanda Wise steadily hold their own spots around Rodriguez with their contrasting personalities, and the comic chemistry among these wonderful actresses are simply infectious – especially when their characters happen to sing together at a local convenient store.

In case of the other performers in the movie, some of them did a little more than filling their small spots. While Lakieth Stanfield, who has been always interesting to watch since his breakthrough supporting role in “Short Term 12” (2013), brings considerable warmth and sensitivity to his scenes with Rodriguez, Alex Moffat, Peter Vack, and Rebecca Naomi Jones are also fine in their respective supporting roles, and Rosario Dawson has a little juicy fun during her brief appearance early in the film.

On the whole, “Someone Great” is pretty predictable while also not as uproarious as other recent female comedy films such as “Bridesmaids” (2011) or “Girls Trip” (2017), but it serves us enough amount of laughs as maintaining its good-hearted attitude, and it is one of more entertaining offerings from Netflix during this year in my inconsequential opinion. Sure, this is a familiar stuff, but it is a competent one at least, and you will probably have a fairly good time with it.

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