Superman (2025) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): Superman in a cheery reboot

Posted on July 10, 2025 by kaist455

“Superman”, what is supposed to be the first product from whatever has been planned by DC Universe (DCU) during last several years, is a bit welcoming for being, well, cheery. After that ponderously serious period mainly represented by “Man of Steel” (2013), its titular hero is finally moved back into a much lighter territory, and I enjoyed that to some degree while also noticing how clunky it is as an individual product.

The main flaw of the film is that it just puts us into the middle of what feels more like a sequel instead of being the first chapter. Considering nearly all of us are familiar with the origin story of its titular hero, I guess director/writer/co-producer James Gunn decided to skip that part for plot convenience, but his screenplay unfortunately does not spend much time on building up the story and characters while trying to throw a lot of different plot elements into the mix, and the overall result feels often too uneven and scattershot to hold our attention.

At least, Gunn has a suitable actor to fill the titular role. Although Christopher Reeve was not particularly colorful or charismatic, he was perfectly cast as Superman / Clark Kent in the 1978 film because of his plain but natural wholesome presence, and this awesomely perfect match has not been surpassed at all by any of those subsequent Superman movies during the last two decades. David Corenswet, who previously appeared in “Pearl” (2022) and “Twisters” (2024), also does not reach that much to Reeve’s iconic status, but he ably fills his part with enough charm and spirit, and he also shows a bit of good comic timing as Kent.

In addition, Corenswet clicks fairly well with his co-star. As Kent’s fellow Daily Planet reporter Lois Lane, Rachel Brosnahan, who has been mainly known for her Emmy-winning performance in American TV comedy series “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”, deftly balances her character between humor and drama, and her best scene in the film comes from when she has an impromptu interview with Superman at one point early in the story. While there have been some private emotions between them, Lane the journalist comes first as she throws some hard questions to her interviewee, who has recently gotten himself involved with a foreign national crisis outside US.

Not so surprisingly, this international issue is also involved with Superman’s arch-nemesis Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult), who is a prominent billionaire business as arrogant and narcissistic as, say, Elon Musk. Just because Superman has been respected and admired for many of his heroic deeds, Luthor is quite determined to destroy not only Superman but also everything represented by Superman, and, as shown from the early part of the story, he seems very, very, very close to his ultimate goal.

Needless to say, our caped hero soon finds himself needing a lot more than the emotional support from Lane and his adoptive human parents, and that comes from the three members of a “metahuman” group named the “Justice Gang”: Guy Gardner / Green Lanter (Nathan Fillion), Michael Holt / Mister Terrific (Edi Gathegi), and Kendra Saunders / Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced). The first encounter between them and Superman is not exactly pleasant, but you can easily guess from the very beginning that the gang will be more cooperative to Superman later in the story, and that is the main reason why their presence feels rather perfunctory at times despite the game efforts from Fillion, Gathegi, and Merced.

There are also more plot elements to be thrown into the story, and the movie often looks like losing its way as struggling to juggle a lot of things along the narrative. Besides several scenes unfolded inside Luthor’s own private prison space, we get a subplot involved with Luthor’s online influencer girlfriend, and there is also a more serious drama where Superman comes to have a lot of doubt on who he is as well as the meaning of his existence on the Earth. In addition, there is a cute superdog named Krypto, which usually causes much trouble to Superman’s annoyance.   

Anyway, the movie expectedly throws a lot of action onto the screen during the last act, and that is where my level of interest got all the more decreased. The special effects in the film are mostly competent, but they do not look particularly impactful or spectacle without much sense of wonder and imagination, and that makes me appreciate more of those old-fashioned special effects in the 1978 film, which always somehow feel real and wonderful despite the considerable passage of time.

Nevertheless, I must say that there are several good things to remember in the film besides Corenswet and Brosnahan’s solid acting. As the main villain of the story, Nicholas Hoult is quite intense whenever he is required to chew every line of his, and Sara Sampaio holds her own small place well as Luthor’s girlfriend. While Skyler Gisondo, Wendel Pierce, who plays the editor-in-chief of the Daily Planet, and Christopher McDonald are simply required to fill their respective supporting parts, Pruitt Taylor Vince and Neva Howell manage to bring a bit of human touch to the story as Superman’s adoptive human parents, and Vince, who has been one of ever-dependable character actors working in Hollywood for more than 35 years, is poignant when his character has a private conversation scene with Superman at one point later in the film.

In conclusion, “Superman” attempts to bring some fun and excitement, and it succeeds in some parts while also opening the door for whatever may come next, but I only come to have some reservation instead of feeling much enthusiasm. This is probably because of my growing fatigue on its genre during last 20 years, and I can only wish that there will soon come DCU products to interest and entertain me more.

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Superman (1978) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): You will still believe that he can fly

Posted on July 8, 2025 by kaist455

The greatness of Richard Donner’s 1978 film “Superman” lies in a rare quality which has been seldom equaled during last five decades. Masterfully balancing itself between earnest gravitas and a witty sense of humor, the movie not only entertains us a lot but also makes us care about the story and characters – even when it is wryly recognizing the inherent silliness in terms of story and character.

As revisiting the film during this evening, I marveled again about how effortlessly it moves back and forth between comedy and drama while never losing any of its unadulterated sense of fun. The first act of the film, which is the origin story of its titular hero, is quite serious to say the least, but then the rest of the film exuberantly takes off from that, and then these two very different parts flawlessly complement each other as engaging us more along the story.

Superman, who often disguises himself as a meek urban newspaper reporter named Clark Kent, is played by Christopher Reeve, who has all the right qualities for playing his famous role. While I must point out that he is not exactly a colorful or charismatic actor, Reeve is equipped with plainly wholesome boyish qualities inarguably perfect for his role, and he also does a good job of making his character’s disguise look fairly believable. Yes, all Superman does for being Clark Kent is simply changing his clothes and then wearing glasses, but, as shown from a brief but funny moment at one point in the middle of the story, Reeve adds some subtle acting touches for making this a bit more convincing at least during our viewing.

The movie spends nearly a third of its running time (145 minutes) on building up the background of its lead character, but this part seldom bores us as patiently following his well-known origin story. The opening sequence, which is unfolded on his doomed home planet, is still magnificent with enough sense of awe and wonder, though Marlon Brando, who plays Superman’s father, seems contented with merely lending his immense presence despite getting paid a lot for that (He also did like that in Francis Ford Coppola’s “Apocalypse Now” (1979), by the way). The following segment, which is about Superman’s relationship with his adoptive parents on the Earth, is somber but poignant as eventually becoming the humble heart of the story, and it is also compelling to observe how these two contrasting segments resonate with each other a lot around the finale.

Once Superman is ready to introduce himself to the people of the Earth around the middle act of the story, the movie embarks on its tricky dance among a lot of stuffs including fantasy, adventure, and romance. While it is surely fun to see how Superman often defies the laws of physics via his almost unlimited superpower, the movie always remains grounded in its fairly realistic modern world and that is actually not so far from what Christopher Nolan achieved in his Batman trilogy. Sure, Superman and Batman are different from each other as much as yang and yin, but both Nolan and Donner handle their respective superhero characters as seriously and realistically as possible – even though they also often recognize how silly their respective superhero characters feel at times.

Around the narrative point where Superman makes his first big public appearance, we are more immersed into the world inhabited by him and many other main characters including Lois Lane (Margot Kidder), a plucky young woman who is also one of Kent’s fellow journalists in the Daily Planet. Right from the first encounter at their workplace, Superman comes to like Lane a lot, but Lane becomes more attracted to Superman after being dramatically rescued by him, and this certainly leads to a amusingly complicated circumstance between them – especially when Superman makes a big important choice as Kent rather than Superman later in the story. Kidder and Reeve instantly click well with each other from the beginning, and Kidder is also commendable for bringing an ample amount of brash spirit to her strong female character. Seriously, how often do we actually come across a genuinely strong female character in superhero flicks these days?

Needless to say, any superhero film can only be as good as its main villain, and the film has Lex Luthor (Gene Hackman), who is Superman’s arch-nemesis and also about to commit the “crime of the century” as your average supervillain. While his sardonic performance mostly leans more on comedy here, Hackman, who sadly passsed away early in this year, is still deliciously diabolical, and Ned Beatty and Valerie Perrine provide some extra humor as Luthor’s henchman and secretary. These three talented performers give some of the most amusing moments in the film, and they remind me again of how sour and cheerless many of those villain characters merely are in recent superhero movies. 

Around the expected climax part which provides a lot of action and spectacle as expected, we are thoroughly engaged in what is being at the stake for Superman thanks to the first-rate efforts from Donner and his crew members including cinematographer Geoffrey Unsworth, who sadly passed away not long before the movie was released in 1978, editor Stuart Baird. Yes, some of the special effects in the film may look a bit dated, but they look and feel a lot more realistic than the CGIs of many recent Hollywood blockbuster films, and the sense of fun and excitement is all the more amplified by the Oscar-nominated score by John Williams (How the hell this another great score of his could lose to Giorgio Moroder’s tacky electronic score for Alan Parker’s “Midnight Express” (1978)?) 

Despite the considerable passage of time, “Superman” firmly remains on the top of its genre territory along with a few equally great superhero films such as “The Dark Knight” (2008), and the rather dwindling qualities of many of the subsequent Superman films such as Zack Snyder’s “Man of Steel” (2013) only remind us more of how special and precious it really is in many ways. In my inconsequential opinion, there never was or will be anything like it, and I can only hope that it may actually inspire something really good someday.

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KPop Demon Hunters (2025) ☆☆☆(3/4): A ridiculously fun K-POP fantasy animation

Posted on July 7, 2025 by kaist455

First, I must confess that animation feature film “KPOP Demon Hunters”, which was released on Netflix a few weeks ago, willingly goes into a musical territory not so familiar to me to say the least. Yes, despite being a South Korean dude, I have not paid much attention to K-POP like I showed no particular interest to hip-hop during my adolescent years (Full Disclosure: I was quite a tight-ass autistic kid during that time), but the film turns out to be both enjoyable and accessible to my little surprise, and I am especially grateful to it for presenting what can be regarded as the inner animal inside myself.

The story is basically a mix between superhero origin story and show business melodrama. At the beginning, we are introduced to a very popular female K-Pop trio group who are actually the latest generation of the time-honored singer warriors fighting against the demons of the underworld, and the opening sequence shows their latest battle which happens right before the last concert of another world tour of theirs.

Besides fighting against those demons eager to suck and then deliver human souls to their mighty master, the ultimate task of Rumi (voiced by Arden Cho), Zoey (voiced by Ji-young Yoo), and Mira (voiced by May Hong) is fortifying and then sealing the spiritual portal to the underworld once for all, and it looks like they are almost close to getting their mission accomplished. Once Rumi writes another powerful song to be spread around millions of fans out there, the portal will be sealed forever at last, and then they may be able to concentrate on their music business more than before.

Of course, the master of those demons in the underworld is not so amused about this impending prospect, and one of those demons comes with a special plan for not only thwarting their opponents but also getting much more human souls than before. That demon in question is a former human singer named Jinu (voiced by Ahn Hyo-seop), and he is going to introduce himself and four other singings demons as, surprise, a new hot male K-Pop group to compete against their opponents.

Jinu’s devious plan turns out to be quite successful right from the beginning. After all, he and his fellow singing demons sing and dance pretty well on the whole, and, most of all, their sexual appeal is literally irresistible, as frankly and broadly recognized by their opponents when these two opposing groups happen to encounter each other.

Needless to say, Rumi becomes quite pressured about writing something to stop the growing popularity of Jinu and his fellow demon singers, but then there are two big issues for her. First, she was actually born as a hybrid between demon and human, and she has been hiding this serious truth even to her two comrades mainly because of their mentor’s firm advice. Second, she and Jinu find themselves more attracted to each other despite the ongoing hostility between their respective groups, and it does not take much time for him to realize her true nature.

Around this narrative point, you can easily guess what will happen next in the story. The film does not go further than whatever you may expect, but it compensates for its rather predictable story and characters with a lot of style and personality to be savored. While Rumi and her two comrades are more or less than stereotypes to say the least, they are also depicted with a considerable amount of charm and spirit, and that is the main reason we come to root for them more along the story. In case of how it illustrates Seoul and its many different citizens, I must say that the film is not exactly realistic or authentic in terms of mood and details, but I must also recognize that directors Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans, who also wrote the screenplay with Danya Jimenez and Hannah McMechan, did their homework on Seoul fairly well (I was especially tickled by the scene involved with a Korean medicine clinic, by the way).

In addition, the soundtrack of the film is pretty effective as far as I observed during my viewing. Besides functioning well as a part of the story, the original songs in the film are good enough to be recognized then embraced by those countless K-Pop fans out there, and they are also accompanied with a lot of style to engage and then excite us. The overall result is clearly influenced a lot by Oscar-winning animation film “Spider-man: Into the Spider-verse” (2018) and its 2023 sequel (Yes, it is produced by Sony Pictures Animation), but this is still distinctive enough with a lot of local and cultural touches to be appreciated and cherished, and some of my favorite moments come from Jinu’s adorably freakish pet demon tiger, which can be regarded as not only Korea’s answer to Cheshire Cat but also the animal illustration of myself on a rare smiling mode.

In conclusion, “KPOP Demon Hunters” is a delightful surprise during this summer season, and it is a shame that the film went to Netflix instead of getting shown in movie theaters (I would love to observe how enthusiastically its target audiences would respond to its many big musical moments). Anyway, it looks like the opening chapter for whatever may follow next, so there may come a sequel someday. Considering a lot of positive responses from both critics and audiences, that seems quite possible now, and I guess we can have some expectation on that.

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Heads of State (2025) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): Cena and Elba on the run

Posted on July 7, 2025 by kaist455

“Heads of State”, which was released on Amazon Prime in last week, works best whenever it focuses on its preposterous story premise for comedy. While it sometimes becomes a bit too serious and intense whenever it is on action mode, the movie compensates for this weak aspect to some degree via the game efforts from the main cast members, and you may gladly go along with that if you simply want to kill your spare time.

At first, we are introduced to the two vastly contrasting politicians at the top of their field. Although he was formerly a popular Hollywood action movie star not so far from Sylvester Stallone or Arnold Schwarzenegger, Will Derringer (John Cena) is now the President of the United States, and he has been fairly popular even though he looks as crass and superficial as Donald J. Trump. In case of Sam Clarke (Idris Elba), he is current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and, as a serious politician who is also a British Army veteran, he does not welcome Derringer much when Derringer drops by London before they attend the NATO summit conference to be held in Trieste, Italy later.

After the unexpected argument between them unfolded right in front of many journalists, these two politicians come to dislike them more than before, but they eventually agree to show the public that the “special relationship” between the countries represented by them remains intact despite their embarrassing clash in front of the press. Clarke gets on the Air Force One along with Derringer for going to Trieste together, and everything seems to be under control for both of them at least for a while.

However, there soon comes a very big trouble. As shown from the opening action sequence set in the middle of that famous tomato fight festival in Buñol, Spain, there is a serious national security threat against US and its allies from a ruthlessly vengeful Russian terrorist leader and his cronies, and they swiftly attack the Air Force One when it is flying to Trieste. Right before the airplane crashes to somewhere in the western region of Belarus (Please don’t ask me how that is possible), Derringer and Clarke manage to escape, and they soon must find any possible way to cross the border between Belarus and Poland and then go to Trieste.

It goes without saying that Clarke and Derringer are a mismatched duo from the beginning, and the movie generates some good laughs from how they are woefully unprepared for this emergency of theirs in one way or another. While Derringer does not have any particular set of skills for their survival, Clarke actually does not have any combat experience during his time in the British Army, so they end up depending on the kindness of a stranger when they need to cross the border without getting noticed or caught at all.

And things become all the more serious for them after that narrative point. That terrorist leader is still searching for Derringer and Clarke for having his personal revenge on them, and Clarke and Derringer fortunately get some help from an MI6 agent named Noel Bisset (Priyanka Chopra Jonas), who was incidentally once quite close to Clarke before he became a politician. They and Bisset subsequently embark on their journey to Trieste, and, as going through more dangers on their way, they become more determined to survive and then arrive at that NATO summit conference in time.

While it unfortunately loses its balance between action and comedy later in the story, the movie retains its sense of fun to some degree. Yes, our two heroes surely come to learn how to get along well with each other despite being quite different from each other, and it is often amusing to watch how they push and pull each other throughout the story. While John Cena, who has shown more comic potential during last several years, ably balances his character between silliness and amiability, Idris Elba, who previously appeared along with Cena in “The Suicide Squad” (2021) and also participated in the production of the film along with Cena, is an effective straight foil to his co-star, and the best moments in the film depend a lot on their solid comic chemistry.

The main weak aspect of the film is the relatively bland supporting characters surrounding its two main characters. Priyanka Chopra Jonas, who previously appeared in “The White Tiger” (2021), brings some pluck and spirit to her character, but she is only required to accompany Cena and Elba when she is doing some action across the screen. In case of several other notable performers including Stephen Root, Carla Gugino, Jack Quaid, and Paddy Considine, they are also limited by their thankless roles, but Considine generates a considerable sense of menace and intensity as the main villain of the story while Quaid delightfully chews every second of his brief but humorous appearance.

On the whole, “Heads of State”, directed by Ilya Naishuller, is not good enough for recommendation, but it is mostly watchable for some entertaining moments generated between its two lead performers who could be allowed to go further for more laugh and amusement for us. To be frank with you, I recommend another recent Amazon Prime film “Deep Cover” (2025) instead mainly because it is funnier and more entertaining in comparison, but “Heads of State” did not bore me at least, and I will not stop you at all from watching it.

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Central Intelligence (2016) ☆☆☆(3/4): His old schoolmate returns…

Posted on July 7, 2025 by kaist455

“Central Intelligence” is unabashedly silly and outrageous, but it is also quite hilarious at times for pushing its comic premise as much as it can. While this is basically a mismatched duo comedy reminiscent of many other comedy films such as “The In-Laws” (1979), it works mainly thanks to the undeniable comic chemistry between its two contrasting lead performers, and it is often fun to see how they are having a ball here.

Kevin Hart plays Calvin “Golden Jet” Joyner, a meek accountant who was once the most popular dude in his high school but now feels like going nowhere in his current status. While he has a fairly good job and a loving wife, he is not so pleased when somebody else is promoted instead of him, and then his wife suggests that they should have a therapy session due to the growing estrangement between them.

That is why Calvin is all the more reluctant to attend the upcoming high school, but then someone unexpectedly approaches to him via Facebook. That figure in question is a guy named Bob Calton (Dwayne Johnson), and Calvin does not recognize him at first, but Bob was formerly Robbie Weirdicht, whom Calvin kindly helped a bit in the middle of one of his most humiliating moments in their high school. Although he was quite socially awkward and unpopular besides being quite obese during that time, Bob is now a hulking muscular guy, and it looks like he is quite changed from who he once was.

Anyway, Calvin and Bob have a fairly good drinking evening together, and Bob eventually stays at Calvin’s house for one night, but, of course, there soon comes a big problem for Calvin on the very next morning. It turns out that Bob has actually worked for CIA, and he also has been on the run due to some serious problem involved with national security, which is more or less than your average MacGuffin. Needless to say, Calvin tries to stay out of his friend’s problem as much as possible, but, what do you now, he only ends up getting more involved with his friend instead. They are soon chased by a bunch of CIA agents led by Agent Pamela Harris (Amy Ryan), and they must also find whoever is trying to frame Bob. 

Once its comic setting is established, the movie steadily throws one absurd moment after another besides providing a lot of obligatory action scenes. We get a fair share of chuckles from a hilarious action scene unfolded at Calvin’s workplace, and then we are also tickled a lot by when Calvin must handle his increasingly insane circumstance while not revealing anything in front of his wife. In case of several action scenes in the film, they are handled well under the competent direction of director/co-writer Rawson Marshall Thurber, and they also never become too intense for the comic momentum along the story.

In addition, the movie sometimes shows its sweet sides as Bob comes to show more sincerity to Calvin even though Calvin is often not so certain about whether he can really trust Bob or not. Despite his changed appearance, Bob is still that awkward bullied kid who does not forget Cavin’s compassion and kindness at that time, and that is the main reason why Calvin decides to help Bob more despite more troubles in front of them. As a matter of fact, thanks to his crazy action adventure with Bob, Calvin cannot help but feel more alive than before, and it can be said that Bob is actually helping him just like he helped Bob at that time.

Around the last act, the movie begins to lose some of its comic momentum to some degree as things get more serious for our two heroes as expected, but the effortless comic interactions between Hart and his co-star still carry the film as before. Dialing down his usual rambunctious comic persona a bit, Hart is believable as a plain guy sensibly trying to deal with the sheer absurdity surrounding him, and that surely makes his several comic key scenes in the film all the more amusing to us. On the opposite, Dwayne Johnson, who is no stranger to comedy as well as action, effectively complements his co-star with irrepressible sincerity and jolliness, and he also does not hesitate to go further for more silliness later in the story.

The movie places several good performers here and there around Hart and Johnson, and they mostly play straight for our extra laugh. While Amy Ryan a no-nonsense agent who turns out to be more persistent than expected, Danielle Nicolet has her own moment as Calvin’s genuinely concerned wife, and Aaron Paul is also solid as Bob’s ill-fated ex-partner. In case of Jason Bateman, Melissa McCarthy, and Kumail Nanjiani, they do not disappoint us at all as reminding us again of their considerable comic talent, and Bateman, who can be quite smarmy if that is required, is particularly good when his character cruelly ridicules both Calvin and Bob at one point in the middle of the story.

Although it has been almost 10 years since it came out in 2016 (I somehow missed it around that time, by the way), “Central Intelligence” is often very funny as balancing itself well between humor and action along with its engaging lead performers, and I will not deny that I laughed more than once even though I often clearly saw through where and how it would amuse me. As many of you know, some good comedy films can remain funny and entertaining even after going through a considerable passage of time, and this is one of those nice cases to cherish in my trivial opinion.

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Noise (2025) ☆☆☆(3/4): A noisy and spooky apartment building

Posted on July 5, 2025 by kaist455

South Korean film “Noise” is a little disturbing horror flick about one noisy and spooky apartment building. If you are familiar with many other South Korean apartment horror movies such as “Possessed” (2009), you will know what you are going to get here, and the movie will not disappoint you at all as providing a fair amount of good moments of horror and dread.

After the disturbing opening scene, we are introduced to Joo-yeong (Lee Sun-bin), a young female factory worker with hearing impairment who has lived apart from her younger sister Joo-hee (Han Su-a) for a while due to a personal reason. She and Joo-hee lived together in one old apartment building, but they clashed with each other as Joo-hee became quite neurotic about the noises she often heard from somewhere in the apartment building, and Joo-yeong eventually decided to leave the apartment alone for avoiding more conflict with her younger sister.

On one day, Joo-yeong is notified that her younger sister suddenly disappeared without any trace, so she immediately goes to their apartment, and she is more baffled as there is no evident reason for her younger sister’s disappearance. Although it is clear that Joo-hee kept getting annoyed by those noises as before, she was also preparing for her older sister’s upcoming birthday right before her disappearance, and Joo-yeong becomes all the more determined to find any clue to her younger sister’s whereabouts.

However, most of the neighbors in the apartment building are not so friendly to say the least for understandable reasons. Many of them want their apartment building to be demolished and then reconstructed as soon as possible for their economic benefit, and these people are certainly ready to suppress the disappearance of Joo-yeong’s younger sister as much as they can, just because it may seriously jeopardize the approaching chance for the reconstruction.

Not so surprisingly, it is soon revealed to Joo-yeong that her younger sister’s disappearance may be a mere tip of whatever is going on inside the apartment building. While their apartment actually turns out to have a disturbing past, there is also a very disturbed man living in the apartment right below theirs, and he becomes more and more threatening to Joo-yeong as he complains more than once about the noises supposedly heard from Joo-yeong and her younger sister’s apartment.

While quite scared and flabbergasted about his increasingly menacing complains, Joo-yeong also begins to hear strange sounds just like her younger sister did. These sounds seem to come from the apartment right above theirs, but then she is told later that that apartment has actually been empty during last several months. As she gets more nervous day by day, she also comes to have a series of nightmares, and that makes her become more aware of the possibility of some malevolent presence lurking somewhere inside the apartment building.

Around that narrative point, you will probably have some good idea about whatever is happening around our heroine – especially when she eventually decides to check out a certain dark (and stinking) place right under the apartment building later in the story. I like one brief moment which is basically a variation of a certain well-known genre cliché (No, it is not a cat this time, by the way), and I also appreciate how the movie utilizes its heroine’s disability for more terror and suspense in a way not so far from “Wait Until Dark” (1967).

During the last act, the movie falters a bit as throwing its heroine into more horror and panic as required, but it is still held well together thanks to its palpably spooky atmosphere surrounding the story and characters. While the apartment building in the film looks more ominous with its shadowy corners, the supporting characters in the film contribute more dramatic tension to the story as required, and there are a couple of surprises for us as our heroine discovers a bit more about some of these characters.

The movie surely depends a lot on the presence and talent of its lead actress, and Lee Sun-bin gives a strong performance to carry the film to the end. Even when the movie falters a bit during its last act, Lee’s good efforts continue to our attention, and we come to care more about her character’s risky journey into fear and darkness as dreading more for the worst. In case of several substantial supporting performers in the film, Han Su-a, Kim Min-seok, Jeon Ik-ryung, and Baek Joo-hee are also well-cast in their respective roles, and they effectively support Lee in one way or another along the story.

On the whole, “Noise”, which is incidentally the first feature film of director Kim Soo-jin, is a modest but fairly solid horror movie, and it certainly scared and entertained me and several other audiences around me enough at last night. As I walked out of the screening room along with them, some of them joked that they were afraid of going back to their apartments, and I could not help but amused by that as reflecting a bit on my current solitary life in a new apartment building. Yes, I have sometimes heard the noises from the apartment above mine during last several months, but these noises are not that loud at least, and I guess I should be thankful that they are not insidious at all.

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Army of Shadows (1969) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): A gloomy World War II resistance drama

Posted on July 5, 2025 by kaist455

Jean-Pierre Melville’s 1969 film “Army of Shadows”, which was released in South Korean theaters on this Wednesday, is a cold and gloomy World War II drama about the perilous struggles of a bunch of French Resistance members in the middle of the wartime. While most of them believe in their righteous cause, there are always the possibilities of danger and death around them, and the movie stays focused on their grim human condition without any unnecessary sentimentality.

The movie, which is mainly set in France between 1942~1943, begins with the introduction of Philippe Gerbier (Lino Ventura), a civil engineer who has been the leader of a French Resistance cell but is now being sent to a prison after his recent arrest. As stuck with several other prisoners in one big cell, he patiently waits for any possibility for escape, and then there comes an unexpected opportunity later, and he manages to escape in the end.

Once Gerbier returns to his group, we get to know more about several other members working under him. Most of them were mere civilians before the war, and this aspect is evident when they are going to handle someone who betrayed one of them. Under Gerbier’s order, they seem ready to eliminate that traitor in question at first, but they turn out to be quite clumsy in accomplishing this questionable task, and that leads to a very uncomfortable moment which feels all the more disturbing because of the coldly objective attitude of the film to what eventually occurs among them.

The movie often conveys to us how dangerously Gerbier and his comrades operate in the midst a lot of uncertainty and ambiguity. While their opponents including those Nazi German soldiers and Gestapo officers remain firm and ruthless as before, there is not much help coming from the Allied Forces in UK, and the liberation of their country still seems beyond their reach no matter how much they struggle in corners and shadows. Furthermore, they must keep themselves in secret as much as possible, and there is an ironic scene where two close brothers do not reveal anything to each other without knowing at all that they actually work in the same Resistance group.

The movie is based on the novel of the same name by Joseph Kessel, which is partially inspired by Kessel’s own resistance experience. Melville, who adapted the novel, also had a fair share of resistance experience during the wartime, and that is the main reason why the movie sharply and coolly observes the story and characters with no pretension at all. Yes, Gerbier and his several comrades are courageous people indeed, but they often find themselves entering those gray moral areas as their belief is tested a lot in one way or another, and that is particularly evident from when Gerbier faces an impending matter of life and death later in the film. He certainly wants to stick to his belief to the end, but, ironically, his following brief moment of weakness comes to save him at the last minute, and he bitterly muses a bit on that later.

Meanwhile, the movie keeps holding our attention via several suspenseful sequences to remember including the one where several Resistance members attempt to save an incarcerated member of theirs. As they manage to avoid the suspicion of the German soldiers for infiltrating into the prison step by step, the movie deftly dials up the level of tension step by step under the surface, and the resulting tense mood surrounding the Resistance members is accentuated further by the absence of music.

The movie also provides some little bright moments at times. When Gerbier and a senior member of his Resistance group come to London via a very tricky route, they come to have a short moment of respite, but they are also often reminded of how the war is being continued as before, and they eventually return to France for joining their comrades. One of their comrades is a woman named Mathilde (Simone Signoret), who turns out to be quite brave and resourceful and then becomes Gerbier’s right-hand figure, though she also has her own vulnerability just like her comrades.

Ably tunning their performance to the overall moody tone of the film, the cast members of the film are all excellent in their respective parts. While Lino Ventura steadily holds the ground as required, Paul Meurisse, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Claude Mann, Paul Crauchet, and Christian Barbier have each own moment to remember. As the sole substantial female character in the story, Signoret does much more than holding her own place among her male co-stars, and her best moment in the film comes from when her character confronts the inevitability of her impossible circumstance around the end of the story.

On the whole, “Army of Shadows”, which was incidentally not introduced to American audiences before 2006 mainly because it unfairly received the harsh political criticisms from many French movie critics when it was released in France in 1969 (They thought it was the glorification of Charles de Gaulle, by the way), is one of the best films from Melville, and it clearly shows his own distinctive touches to be appreciated. Just like his notable crime drama films such as “Bob le flambeur” (1956), “Le Samouraï” (1967), and “Le Cercle Rouge” (1970), the movie is shrouded in a dark and bitter mix of suspense and pessimism, and those Resistance members in the story actually do not look that different from those lonely or desperate criminal heroes of his crime drama films. Although this is not a comfortable experience at all, you will soon be engaged in its bleak but undeniable compelling drama once you go along with its patient storytelling, and you will be chilled more when it finally arrives at its stark epilogue.

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Sasquatch Sunset (2024) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): One year of a Sasquatch clan

Posted on July 4, 2025 by kaist455

“Sasquatch Sunset” is an oddly interesting film which may frustrate you at times for good reasons. Steadily following one year of a small Sasquatch clan inhabiting somewhere in the wilderness of Northern California, the movie simply observes their behaviors and feelings, and it adamantly pushes its challenging story setting as much as it can, though it eventually stumbles more than once due to its rather thin narrative.

At first, we are introduced to the four members of that Sasquatch clan one by one, and we get some sense of hierarchy from them. The group is mostly dominated by the one who can be regarded as “Alpha Male” (Nathan Zellner, who incidentally co-directed, co-produced, and co-edited along with his brother David Zellner), and we soon see him having sex with the only female member of the clan, while the other two members including her child are watching this from the distance.

After that, we observe how these four Sasquatches go through another day in their forest. They often look for anything to eat, and there is a little amusing moment when the other male adult member of the clan, played by Jesse Eisenberg, has to give up what he just found to Alpha Male before trying to grasp the concept of counting.

Needless to say, there is always the possibility of danger around them in the wilderness as reflected by the occasional shots of various wild animals also inhabiting in the forest. At one point, they discover some plant berries to eat, but then Alpha Male discovers something else which turns out to be quite intoxicating. As a consequence, he ends up showing more of what a lousy leader he is, and this leads to a series of humorous moments including the one involved with a poisonous mushroom.

What eventually occurs after that narrative point makes the film feel a bit more serious than before. I will not go in detail here for not spoiling anything, but I can tell you instead that the Sasquatches come to show genuine emotions and this makes us more curious about what they are actually feeling or thinking. Although they are one or two steps below us in terms of evolution, they seem to be capable of showing some sincere consideration, and we come to observe them with more curiosity as well as more amusement.

As the story rolls along several seasonal changes, we come to sense more of a certain biological change from the female member of the clan, who is played by Riley Keough. She understandably becomes more sensitive about her current condition, and the male members around her including her child respect that to some degree, but the situation becomes quite desperate as winter is coming to the forest later.

Meanwhile, the screenplay by David Zellner has its main characters experience a few accident encounters with the world outside their habitat. At one point in the middle of the story, they happen to come across a paved road leading to somewhere outside the forest, and their surprise and bafflement are accentuated further by the unconventional score by the Octopus Project. In case of one particular scene accompanied with an unexpected musical moment, we become more conscious of the rather inexplicable absence of human beings in the film, and that impression is more emphasized around the end of the story.

As coming to lose some of its narrative momentum during its last act, and the movie seems to be at a loss just like its main characters, but you will admire the considerable efforts put on and behind the screen. The directors and their crew members including cinematographer Michael Gioulakis, who previously worked in “It Follows” (2014) and “Us” (2019), did a commendable job of establishing the vivid outdoor atmosphere on the screen, and the Sasquatches in the film look fairly convincing even though we are sometimes clearly see that they are just the performers wearing the costumes and a lot of makeup.

Nevertheless, the four performers of the film somehow bring enough personality and feeling to their respective roles, though I must confess that it took some time for me to distinguish one from another due to their very, very, very hairy appearance. Keough, who has been one of the most dependable actresses in American independent cinema since “American Honey” (2016), deftly and subtly builds up her character along the story, and her resulting good performance ably carries several key scenes in the movie. On the opposite, Eisenberg, who also participated in the production of the film along with Keough, willingly throws himself into an equally challenging task while not overshadowing his co-star at all, and Nathan Zellner and Christophe Zajac-Denek are also effective in their respective supporting parts.

Overall, “Sasquatch Sunset” is not good enough to compensate for its several weak aspects, but it is not entirely without interest, and I admire not only the efforts of its cast members but also the competent direction of David and Nathan Zellner, who previously worked together on “Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter” (2014) and “Damsel” (2018). The directors are already working on their next film at present, and I sincerely hope that I will be more entertained and satisfied.

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Jurassic World Rebirth (2025) ☆☆(2/4): Or regurgitation, shall we say

Posted on July 3, 2025 by kaist455

“Jurassic World Rebirth” should be titled “Jurassic World Regurgitation” instead in my trivial opinion. While it is supposed to try to do some new stuffs, it only serves us the same old kinds of terror and action without bringing anything particularly fresh to its declining franchise, and I only ended up feeling more bored and exhausted when I left the screening room at last night.

At least, the movie indirectly recognizes how much we have been accustomed to watching big CGI dinosaurs on the screen since “Jurassic Park” (1993). After what happened in “Jurassic World Dominion” (2022), those dinosaurs become mundane things for the human civilization, and then, due to several issues including climate and disease, they eventually inhabit the remote tropical areas of the Equator region only.

One of those remote tropical areas is a small island near South American continent, and it turns out that some big pharmaceutical company wants to extract a fresh biological sample from three certain dinosaurs for developing a drug to cure human heart diseases once for all. Zora Bennett (Scarlett Johansson), a covert operation expert, is hired for this highly dangerous mission, and we soon meet several other team members including her old colleague Duncan Kincaid (Mahershala Ali) and Dr. Henry Loomis (Jonathan Bailey), a young paleontologist who will willingly assist and help Bennett and her team.

Of course, things do not go that well for them right from when they arrive at that island in question. The island turns out to be much more dangerous because it actually has an abandoned secret facility involved with developing new kinds of dinosaurs, and there is also a serious matter involved with an American family who happens to be sailing around the island.

Even though their plan is jeopardized to some degree due to rescuing that American family from an imminent danger, Bennett and her team keep trying to get their job done as soon as possible in the island, but the situation keeps becoming more perilous. They get separated from that American family as trying to deal with another dinosaur attack, and that is just the beginning of more troubles to come for them.

As the main characters try to survive their increasingly risky circumstance, the movie naturally throws some dinosaurs into the story as expected, but many of their scenes are less scary or awe-inspiring even compared to the three previous Jurassic World flicks. While there is a lovely moment where we are allowed to appreciate the view of a bunch of gigantic dinosaurs for a while as Alexandre Desplat’s score expectedly quotes the theme from “Jurassic Park” by John Williams, many dinosaur scenes feel utterly plain and mundane while mostly existing for scaring us, and this is particularly evident in case of an action sequence involved with T-Rex.

Above all, the new dinosaurs introduced in the film look merely ugly and hideous. Sure, they are supposed to be the freaks of genetic engineering, but they do not look particularly memorable on the whole. In case of a certain big dinosaur appearing later in the story, it looks so unimaginatively dreadful that you may laugh a bit instead of being amazed or excited at all.

In addition, the screenplay by David Koepp, who wrote the screenplay for “Jurassic Park” and its 1997 sequel, does not provide much human element to engage us. While Bennett and Kincaid have a few private moments to show a bit of their inner life, they remain as thin archetypes just like the other main characters including that American family. The subplot involved with the rather strained relationship between the father of that family and his elder daughter’s goofy boyfriend is quite predictable to say the least, and the same thing can be said about the one involved with a cute little dinosaur, which apparently exists only for merchandising.

The main cast members did try their best with their respective generic roles. Although this is not the first time when she played a covert operation expert (Remember all those Avengers flicks?), Scarlett Johansson dutifully holds the center as required, and Mahershala Ali, who is also too good for the movie just like his co-star, provides a bit of extra gravity to the story as required. In case of several other notable cast members, they do not have much to do from the start, but Rupert Friend is suitably sleezy as an employee of that pharmaceutical company, and Jonathan Bailey, who recently became more notable thanks to his supporting role in “Wicked” (2024) and will soon return in its following sequel in this year, manages to bring some humor and enthusiasm to his nerdy but handsome character (In addition, he also gladly participated in the recording of Desplat’s score as one of the session musicians, by the way).

In conclusion, “Jurassic Park Rebirth” is disappointing in many aspects even though director Gareth Edwards, who surely knows how to present big CGI creatures as shown from “Monsters” (2010) and “Godzilla” (2014), try his best with his crew members including Oscar-nominated cinematographer John Mathieson. If you simply want to see more of the same stuffs, you will be probably more entertained than I was, but, folks, don’t we deserve better than this cynical and pointless commercial product?

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Crash (2004) ☆☆☆(3/4): Crashes among racial stereotypes in LA

Posted on July 1, 2025 by kaist455

I must confess that I had a rather complicated history with Paul Haggis’ 2004 film “Crash”. When it won several Oscars including the one for Best Picture right before getting released in South Korean theaters in early 2006, I was disappointed because I rooted for “Brokeback Mountain” (2005) or “Munich” (2005). When I finally watched the movie a few weeks later, I was quite annoyed with the early part of the film as becoming more convinced that the Academy voters indeed made a wrong choice, but, what do you know, my heart was knocked down more than once by the rest of the film, and I came to have some understanding on why my late mentor/friend Roger Ebert picked it as the best film of 2005.

Even though I still believe that “Brokeback Mountain” or “Munich” should have won the Best Picture Oscar instead, I also think “Crash” is not exactly the worst Best Picture Oscar winners during last 25 years (That dishonor should go to “Green Book” (2018), by the way), but, as revisiting it again at last night, I could not help but reminded of how much I and the world have changed since it came out 20 years ago. There was some hope and optimism with Barack Obama entered the White House a few years later, but then there came that Donald J. Trump, whose sheer cruelty and stupidity have exposed and then fueled the truly ugly sides of American racism. Considering what has happened during last 10 years thank to that bastard and his equally racist cronies, the main message of “Crash”, which is basically “Can we just get along well with each other?”, seems quite naïve to me at times now.

Nonetheless, the movie still works in terms of story and characters. Once it quickly establishes various stereotype characters during its first act, the screenplay written by Haggis and his co-writer Bobby Moresco catches us off guard more than once via unexpected dramatic moments, and we come to regard its many main characters with more complicated feelings. Yes, some of them are quite unpleasant to say the least, and that is one of the main reasons why I became so annoyed during my first viewing, but then I came to have some understanding and empathy on them even though I still did not like them much.

Like “Short Cuts” (1993) and “Magnolia” (1999), the movie draws our interest as juggling a bunch of many different characters who turn out to be connected with each other in one way or another as they are going through another day in LA. After the brief prologue scene involved with two detectives who happened to have a car accident right before arriving at a crime scene, the movie moves onto an unfortunate incident between a couple of young black man and a certain white couple, and then we see how that incident indirectly causes a very disturbing happening between a couple of patrolling cops and one black couple.

These and many other characters in the film frequently show each own racism as clashing a lot with each other during its first act, and I must say that this part still gets on my nerve as before. In my humble opinion, the movie tries a little hard on making the point on how we are often not so free from prejudice and bigotry in each own way, and this makes the film look like a mere educational film for school kids at times.

However, its supposedly broad main characters turn out to be a bit more complex than expected as the movie keeps rolling them along its interconnected narratives. For example, one of those two patrolling cops is apparently your average racist, but then there comes a surprisingly powerful emotional moment as he comes across someone who does not want to see him again at all. In case of the other cop, who is your typical rookie cop, he does not approve much of his partner’s racist behavior, but then there comes a tragic moment of irony later in the film, which always reminds me of what John Huston’s character says in “Chinatown” (1974): “You see, Mr. Gittes, most people never have to face the fact that at the right time and the right place, they’re capable of ANYTHING.”

One of the most poignant moments in the film come from the subplot involved with a Latino locksmith. While he may look like your average Latino thug on the surface, he actually turns out to be a caring family man genuinely concerned about his little daughter’s welfare in their rather tough neighborhood, and their little private conversation scene is all the more touching, considering how it leads to another powerful moment later in the story.

Around the last act, the movie loses some of its narrative momentum, but it is still supported well by its strong ensemble performance from its numerous cast members, which is incidentally the best thing in the film. While Don Cheadle humbly holds the center as a detective who must make some hard choice for his problematic family, Sandra Bullock, Brendan Fraser, Jennifer Esposito, Terrence Howard, William Fichtner, Shaun Toub, Loretta Devine, Michael Peña, Ludacris, Ryan Phillippe, and Larenz Tate have each own moment to shine, and Matt Dillon and Thandiwe Newton are particularly excellent in their respective parts. I still remember when I was quite overwhelmed by the painfully human reaction of Newton’s character to Dillon’s character during that dramatic moment, and this actually sensitized me to a considerable degree as a movie reviewer. Yes, Dillon’s character did the right thing for saving her during that scene, but he does not feel redeemed at all as reflected by a brief moment of his later in the film, and I think he will remember more of her pain and anger.

Overall, “Crash” does not age that well compared to its main Oscar competitor, but I think it is still a good film whose several strong elements compensate enough for a number of weak ones including its rather condescending presentation of its Asian characters. I initially gave it 3.5 stars out of four as a young moviegoer, but now I give it 3 stars as a seasoned one with more experience and knowledge, and I will let you decide your opinion on this rather flawed but engaging movie.

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