Still Walking (2008) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): The distance among them

Posted on May 23, 2025 by kaist455

Hirokazu Kore-eda’s 2008 film “Still Walking”, which was re-released in South Korean theaters a few days ago, still shines in its tranquil family drama which comes to show more human complexity than it seems at first. While its gentle mood and attitude certainly evoke the works of Yasujirō Ozu, the movie also closely and soberingly observes the growing distance among the family members in the story, and the overall result is often bittersweet for a number of precious human moments to be appreciated.

The story, which is set in some seaside town, mainly revolves around one plain family meeting. 10 years ago, Kyohei (Yoshio Harada) and Toshiko (Kirin Kiki) lost their eldest son due to an unfortunate incident, and they are going to commemorate their dear son’s death along with their two other kids. Their daughter Chinami (You) has already come along with her husband and their two kids, and the movie opens with Chinami and Toshiko busily preparing some dishes in the kitchen of an old house belonging to Toshiko and her husband.

We subsequently see Ryota (Hiroshi Abe) coming along with his wife Yukari (Yui Natsukawa) and her little son from the previous marriage. Knowing well that his stern father does not approve much of his recent marriage just because he is your average old-fashioned guy, Ryota cannot help but feel awkward and uncomfortable even before arriving at his parents’ house, though his wife does not worry that much in contrast to her husband. 

Anyway, the mood becomes a bit brighter as everyone gathers inside the house, though we come to sense more of the tension between Ryota and his father. His father wanted him to become a doctor just like him and his eldest son, but Ryota chose to go for some other occupation instead of following his father’s expectation. As his father does not talk that much to him even under the cordial atmosphere surrounding them and the other family members, Ryota is reminded more of the distance between him and his parents, and that becomes more evident when he later reminds his father that his father does not correctly remember a certain amusing incident in their past.

Meanwhile, the movie gradually immerses us into the sweltering ambiance of summer days. While mostly hanging around the main characters inside the house, the movie occasionally provides some crisp outdoor shots, and I particularly like one particular shot simply showing the whole town from the distance. Observing a train passing by the town, I could not help but think of a similar moment around the end of Ozu’s great film “Tokyo Story” (1953).

Just like “Tokyo Story”, the movie slowly reveals the complex human feelings beneath the supposedly mild interactions among the family members in the story. Yes, Ryota surely has some resentment toward his father, but he still cares about both his father and mother’s welfare, though his professional career is not exactly fine at present. Yes, Chinami and her husband often pay more attention to whether they and their kids will move into her parents’ house someday, but she is sincere in her casual kitchen conversation with her mother. Yes, Kyohei and Toshiko have not been pleased with how their surviving kids are living their respective lives, but they still care about them nonetheless, though they cannot help but wonder how their eldest son would live if he had not died at that time.

While sharply observing the human flaws of the family members in the story, the movie also handles their quiet emotional moments with compassion and understanding. Around the time of the sunset, the family is visited by a young man who was rescued by Kyohei and Toshiko’s eldest son at that time, and this leads to one of the most memorable moments in the film. As the mood becomes a bit more awkward between that lad and the family, this lad looks more pathetic to Kyohei and Toshiko, and this makes them all the more resentful about their eldest son’s death. When Toshiko and Ryota happen to have a brief private conversation in the following evening, Toshiko phlegmatically reveals more of her bitter feeling, and that moment is both edgy and sorrowful for a good reason.

In the end, the family members in the story have another failure to connect despite the remaining affection and care among them, and then the movie adds a poignant finishing touch via the following epilogue scene. Again, the movie simply observes without particularly emphasizing anything at all, but we sense more the underlying emotions beneath the screen, and then we reflect more on those small human moments observed from the main characters along the story.

The main cast members in the film are solid in their well-rounded ensemble performance. While Hiroshi Abe, You, and Kirin Kiki are surely more familiar to you if you have diligently followed Kore-eda’s career during last 25 years, several other main cast members including Yui Natsukawa and Yoshio Harada have each own moment to shine, and you will also appreciate Kore-eda’s skillful handling of his child performers, whose unadorned natural performance surely adds some cheeriness to the movie.

On the whole, “Still Walking” is still one of the best works from Kore-eda, who has seldom disappointed us since his exceptional first feature film “Maborosi” (1995). While soothed and touched by the film again today, I also saw a lot of myself and my family from its family characters, and I am reminded again that I should try more to connect more with them at least even though we are still walking apart with the growing gaps and issues between them day by day. That may not be possible even at the end of their life, but I still must keep trying, right?

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Last Bullet (2025) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): The last chapter with some improvement

Posted on May 23, 2025 by kaist455

French Netflix film “Last Bullet”, which was released early in this month, shows welcoming improvement compared to its two predecessors. While it attempts to bring some extra depth to the story and characters, the movie also provides several well-made fast and furious actions scenes as expected, and it manages to reach its finish line fairly well.

The movie begins at the point around the finale of “Last Bullet 2” (2022). Its tough guy hero Lino (Alban Lenoir) was arrested by the Spanish police after making a lot of trouble around the border line between Spain and France as shown in the previous film, but he is eventually handed to a certain powerful but corrupt figure in the French police, who is already quite willing to cover up anything to incriminate him. While this figure leaves Lino alone, he and his men swiftly execute their cover-up, and Lino certainly feels bitter and helpless because he cannot do anything about that at all.

However, of course, there soon comes a small but possible opportunity via Areski (Nicolas Duvauchelle), who was the main villain of “Lost Bullet” (2020). After his dirty deeds including the murder of his direct boss were exposed, Areski quickly left France and then has been hiding somewhere in Germany for a while, but now he becomes the last one to be eliminated, because he is the only potential witness who can testify on the ongoing corruption of that powerful figure in question. When he finds that his mortal enemy has returned to France, Lino is not so pleased to say the least, but he and Julia (Stéfi Celma), a female cop who is also his ex-girlfriend, must protect Areski because Areski is their only chance to bring down their powerful opponent.

Once the story sets the ground during its first half, the movie goes all the way for more action and thrill. There is a busy physical action sequence where Lino and two other figures fight each other inside a moving tram, and you may be amused a little by a little humorous touch preceding their fight. In case of several vehicle action sequences, several modified vehicles are provided by a female mechanic introduced to Lino by Julia, and the movie effectively utilizes these vehicles during its action scenes. Yes, not only these vehicles but also countless cars are often smashed a lot throughout the film, and you may actually worry more about these cars than the human figures in the film.

Meanwhile, as being less hurried than its predecessors in comparison, the movie generates a little bit of gravitas as Lino and Julia struggle to do the right thing. It becomes more apparent that there is not anyone except themselves they can depend on, but they become all the more determined to beat their powerful opponent than before, and that is why they put aside their hate toward Areski at least for a while. One of the weak aspects of the movie is that it does not delve that much into how Areski and Lino feel about their respective relationships with Areski’s ex-wife, but I guess that would slow down the story to a considerable degree.

The story eventually culminates to the climactic sequence where lots of crashes and bangs happen on the screen. Although the result is relatively modest compared to whatever we saw from those Fast and Furious flicks, director/co-writer Guillaume Pierret, who directed and co-wrote the previous two films, and his crew members deftly handle this sequence enough to generate a substantial amount of thrill and momentum, and we gladly go along with a number of preposterous but enjoyable moments of vehicle actions including the ones involved with a yellow tow truck which is equipped with a certain special device on its back.

Nevertheless, the movie is still deficient in case of characterization. Lino sometimes looks like a tempestuous dude who does not think much about his actions and the following consequences, and it is rather relieving to see that he shows some restraint and consideration later in the film. In addition, several other main characters including Areski and Julia remain as flat archetype figures to be wielded in one way or another along the story, and those bland villain characters in the story remind me again of how much the effectiveness of action films depends on good villain characters.

Anyway, the main cast members of the film do as much as possible for filling their respective spots. Alban Lenoir demonstrates more potential as a future action movie star, and I can easily imagine him playing (or fighting) against Jason Statham someday. While Nicolas Duvauchelle provides some tension to the story as required, Stéfi Celma and Pascale Arbillot dutifully slip into their familiar roles, and the special mention goes to Julie Tedesco, who manages to imbue her supporting character with humor and personality.

In conclusion, “Last Bullet” is the mildly successful last chapter for its trilogy, and it is certainly the best one in the bunch. Maybe you should watch the previous two movies for some more understanding of its story and characters, but, in my inconsequential opinion, that may not be that necessary because 1) all of these three movies are pretty much same as being mainly about action rather than story and character and 2) Netflix thankfully provides a brief summary of the previous two films before the movie begins. Should I have watched the summary instead of watching the previous two films and then saved a few precious hours? You tell me, folks.

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Lost Bullet 2 (2022) ☆☆(2/4): A bit more warm-up – with some bangs and crashes

Posted on May 22, 2025 by kaist455

French Netflix film “Lost Bullet 2”, the sequel to “Lost Bullet” (2020), wants to drive further than its predecessor, but it ends up doing a bit more warm-up with some bangs and crashes while mostly sticking to its previously establishes plot formula. Again, its tough guy hero gets himself into a big trouble, and, yes, we are accordingly served with a lot of action as before while he tries to reach his goal by any means necessary.

The opening part of the film begins from the point around where the story of “Lost Bullet” ends. After managing to clear his name in the end, Lino (Alban Lenoir) becomes determined about the revenge for the death of someone who was like a brother to him, but the situation becomes more complicated for him and others around him. While one of the two dirty cops responsible for Lino’s previous plight ran away, the other one, Marco (Sébastien Lalanne), goes into a witness protection program in exchange for his testimony against some bigger dirty cop, but Julia (Stéfi Celma) and her direct boss Moss (Pascale Arbillot) choose to hide this from Lino.

Meanwhile, Lino focuses on finding that corrupt cop who ran away, but, no matter how much he tries, it only becomes clear to him and others that his target remains beyond their reach at least for now. As advised by Julia, Lino comes to work more for their special police squad, and, what do you know, he eventually becomes one of the top members of the squad one year later, in addition to being married to the wife of that corrupt cop. 

Of course, this relatively stable life of his does not last that long thanks to those powerful dirty cops Julia and Moss have tried to arrest in the meantime. For getting rid of Marco as soon as possible, they decide to use Lino because he is still angry about Marco did, and Lino soon finds himself led to a certain remote spot where Marco has been hiding for a while.

After belatedly realizing that Julia and Moss lied to him, Lino is not so pleased to say the least. Despite his remaining anger, he chooses to bring Marco to the headquarters of his squad, but, not so surprisingly, those powerful dirty cops are already ready to take away their target, and Lino naturally comes to clash with not only them but also several colleagues of his including Julia, who is ordered to stop Lino by any means necessary for retrieving Marco. 

What follows next is pretty predictable. First, there is a long and intense physical action sequence where Lino fights against a bunch of cops and policemen as he previously did in “Lost Bullet”. Second, we get several vehicle action sequences as he furiously drives his modified vehicle recently equipped with a certain special device, and we accordingly see lots of police cars getting crashed and damaged.

Because he already did sort of test run in the previous film, director/co-writer Guillaume Pierret, who also wrote the screenplay along with his lead actor, is surely ready to go for more action and thrill. The action scenes in the film are mostly slick and competent under his skillful direction, and you will particularly enjoy how that certain device of Lino’s modified vehicle is utilized later in the story. Although lots of things happen hurriedly along the story, the movie is usually clear about where it is heading along with its hero, and you may overlook a bunch of plot contrivance strewn along its narrative course at least for a while.

However, just like its predecessor, the movie is still superficial and mediocre in terms of narrative and characterization. While it tries to bring a bit of gravitas via the complicated relationship between Lino and Juila, that is soon put aside as it pays more attention to all those clashes and bangs on the screen, and the same thing can be said about Lino’s rather ironic marital relationship, which, considering the very last scene of the film, may be explored further in the next sequel. The villains in the story surely look threatening with all those firearms and vehicles ready to be used against Lino, but they remain as bland and uninteresting figures to be eliminated sooner or later, and the movie also fails to flesh out several other substantial supporting figures including Marco, who simply functions as a mere wild card in the growing conflict between Lino and Marco.

At least, Alban Lenoir and his fellow returning cast members fill their respective parts without much difficulty. Besides believable in his character’s steely determination, Lenoir looks more natural here while demonstrating more potential as an action movie lead performer. Again, Stéfi Celma and Julia Pascale Arbillot are stuck with their thankless supporting roles, but they smoothly slip into their characters without much difficulty. Sébastien Lalanne and Diego Martín, who plays another crucial supporting character in the story, manage to leave some impression despite their under-developed parts, and Martín is effective when his character comes to take some considerable risk for Lino later in the story.    

Overall, “Lost Bullet 2” does not surpass its predecessor much, but it leaves some expectation as it is immediately followed by the next sequel, which was incidentally released on Netflix a few weeks ago. Now I watched “Last Bullet” and “Last Bullet 2”, so I guess I have done my homework, and I sincerely hope that I will be more entertained in case of that next sequel in question.

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Lost Bullet (2020) ☆☆(2/4): A warm-up before the next sequels

Posted on May 21, 2025 by kaist455

French Netflix film “Lost Bullet” is so typical and predictable in many aspects that you can easily guess everything even before watching it. First, we have a criminal hero who is pretty good in his profession, and you surely know that he will get himself into a big trouble sooner or later. Second, the movie is mostly about how he desperately tries to clear his name after getting framed for a murder he did not commit, and you definitely know that you will get several big action scenes. Third, he is a man with a particular set of skills, and you will certainly sense that his skills will eventually come handy

The movie opens with how Lino (Alban Lenoir) gets caught by the police. Along with a younger guy who has been like a little brother to him, he attempts to rob a shop with his modified vehicle in the middle of one night, but it turns out that his modified vehicle is a bit too fast and furious for getting their job done. While his partner luckily escapes at the last minute, Lino is less fortunate, and he soon ends up being incarcerated in a prison.

However, there later comes an unexpected opportunity for him. A detective named Charas (Ramzy Bedia) visits Lino on one day, and he has an offer Lino cannot easily refuse. Knowing well how skilled Lino is as a mechanic/driver, Charas wants to recruit Lino as an unofficial staff member of his drug raid team, and Lino eventually accepts Charas’ offer mainly because he wants to get out of the prison as soon as possible.

And he does not disappoint Charas at all during next several months. Thanks to those patrol cars modified by Lino, Charas and his men have swiftly caught almost every drug delivery vehicle in their area, no matter how fast those drug delivery vehicle can go. Quite impressed by how much Lino has helped him and his fellow cops, Charas decides to give Lino some little help besides giving Lino an earlier parole than expected, and Lino certainly appreciates this act of generosity from Charas.

However, of course, things soon go quite wrong for Lino. Charas takes Lino to a certain shady garage where Lino’s partner is currently working, but it is soon revealed that Lino’s partner has been involved with some dangerous people he should not mess with. Not so surprisingly, one of these dangerous figures turns out to be one of the cops for whom Lino has worked, and this corrupt cop is already willing to cover up his dirty deeds by any means necessary.

Thanks to this corrupt cop, Lino soon finds himself on the run from the police, who immediately search for him right after he gets framed for a murder. The only person on whom he may depend is a female cop named Julia (Stéfi Celma), but she does not believe his words much even though they have been close to each other for a while.

Coming to see that he has to depend only on himself, Lino becomes more determined to clear his name, and that leads to a couple of big action sequences unfolded along the story. There is an intense physical action sequence where he must fight against a bunch of cops for his escape, and the movie does not disappoint us when Lino comes to demonstrate more of his professional skill later in the story.

However, the movie is frequently bland and superficial in terms of storytelling, and that is the main reason why we merely follow its plot without much care. For example, its hero is just a run-of-the-mill criminal hero whose stoic toughness is not so far from those countless action movie heroes played by Jason Statham, and the movie also fails to flesh out several substantial supporting characters in the story more. For example, it does not delve that much into his cop girlfriend’s conflict over the ongoing situation, and it is unfortunate that Alban Lenoir, who can be a French answer to Statham if he ever gets a really good action flick to support him better, and Stéfi Celma do not have much chemistry between them during their few key scenes in the film.

Anyway, the movie surely shifts its gear to a full-throttle mode during the last act, which is incidentally involved with a certain vehicle containing a crucial evidence to incriminate that corrupt cop (You can instantly guess what it is from the very title of the film, by the way). Although it may look rather modest compared to many Hollywood action blockbuster films out there, director Guillaume Pierret, who wrote the screenplay along with Lenoir and their co-writer Kamel Guemra, handles the climatic sequence with enough skill and competence, and the overall result compensates for the flawed aspects of the film to some degree.

On the whole, “Lost Bullet” is often underwhelming as just functioning as a little warm-up process for the next two sequels to follow. I simply checked it out for watching its two sequels later, and, despite keeping my expectation as low as possible, the movie did not engage me enough without leaving much impression in the end. No, I have no objection against those rather simple action movies you can casually watch on Sunday afternoon, but the movie is too rote and mediocre to make me care about whatever is happening on the screen. It is not boring at all, but its memory is already being vaporized inside my mind, and I am quite ready to move onto its two sequels while hoping that they will be more entertaining in comparison.

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Final Destination Bloodlines (2025) ☆☆☆(3/4): It runs in the family…

Posted on May 20, 2025 by kaist455

“Final Destination Bloodlines”, the latest sequel of the Final Destination series, is actually better than expected. Just like its several predecessors including “Final Destination” (2000), the movie surely and firmly sticks to its diabolical rule on how to eliminate its main characters one by one along the story, but it did the job pretty well while also showing some morbid sense of fun, and you may gladly go along with its naughty thrill.

Just like “Final Destination”, the movie starts with a spectacularly striking disaster sequence which turns out to be, yes, a very bad dream. For some unknown reason, the young heroine of the story keeps having this bad dream at every night, and she comes to sense that this bad dream is somehow connected to some old hidden past of her family. She naturally asks about that to her older family members later, but, not so surprisingly, they are not so willing to talk about that for understandable reasons.

Of course, she becomes more determined to get to the bottom of her strange situation, and that leads her to a certain family member who willingly tells her about a horrible secret beneath their family. That horrible disaster shown in the dream could have happened to this family member and many others in 1968, but they all survived because this family member had a premonition via her bad dream in the previous night. However, almost all of them and their descendants eventually got killed one by one during next 47 years, and now our heroine and her family are marked by some malevolent presence which can be regarded as Death itself.

Needless to say, our heroine’s family do not believe her much at first, but it does not take much time for them to realize that they are indeed in a very, very, very serious trouble. As getting more and more aware of their doomed status, they naturally try to search for any possible option for survival, but they are only reminded again and again of how helpless they are in front of their approaching doom, and Death continues to execute its ruthless and devious plan step by step as usual.

Now this sounds rather grim and solemn, but the movie alternatively jolts and amuses us as skillfully toying with our dread and expectation. For example, there is a gradually suspenseful sequence which deliberately shows many different stuffs potentially lethal, and we accordingly brace ourselves more while trying to guess which one will trigger the expected payoff moment in the end. As shown a bit during its trailer, the movie does not disappoint us at all when somebody eventually gets killed in quite a gruesome fashion.

While watching this and several other nasty moments of death, I wondered why Death does not eliminate its predestined targets in simpler ways with less pain and cruelty. I guess Death, which is exact and eventual just like tax, is not so pleased with anyone sidestepping the fate and is accordingly quite determined to punish the target as painfully, horribly, and playfully as possible. This may explain why each incident of death in the film always occurs due to an elaborate series of seemingly inconsequential happenings not so far from those Rube Goldberg machines (I particularly enjoyed how a small coin plays a crucial part more than once in the film, by the way).

Meanwhile, the screenplay by Guy Busick and Lori Evans Taylor, which was developed from the story written by them and co-producer Jon Watts, brings a bit of human depth to its main characters. They are inherently more or less than mere targets to be eliminated along the story, but the movie pays some attention to their dread and desperation, and we come to root for them to some degree even though we all know too well that they are doomed from the very beginning.

During the last act, the movie expectedly accelerates the plot a lot more than before, and you will be entertained by how it pulls all the stops for more gruesome fun and thrill. There is an outrageously horrifying sequence involved with a certain big medical device suddenly going haywire, and you may even chuckle a bit when there comes the inevitable final blow in the end. In case of the climactic sequence unfolded in a certain remote place which looks more like a death trap even though it is supposed to be a shelter, the movie goes all the way for its fiendish spectacles, and then you will be satisfied with how neatly it delivers the ending.

The main cast members of the film are well-cast on the whole. While Kaitlyn Santa Juana diligently carries the movie as its heroine, she is also supported well by several other main cast members including Teo Briones, Richard Harmon, Rya Kihlstedt, and Gabrielle Rose, and the special mention goes to Tony Todd, who has played a recurring character throughout the series and sadly died several months ago. Looking more fragile and gaunter here than before, Todd is apparently well aware of his impending death just like his character, and that brings a substantial amount of poignancy to his brief but memorable appearance in the film.

In conclusion, “Final Destination Bloodlines” is fairly engaging and thrilling as occasionally showing some surprising human depth, and directors Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein deserve to be commended for their competent direction. Considering that the movie has already been quite successful in the box office, there will probably be another Final Destination flick sooner or later, but I will not complain as long as it will be as enjoyable as this unexpectedly entertaining sequel.

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Lilo & Stitch (2002) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): Her alien pet

Posted on May 19, 2025 by kaist455

I somehow missed a chance to watch Disney animation feature film “Lilo & Stitch” when it came out in 2002, and now I deeply regret that after finally watching it at last night. While it looks rather modest in terms of story and character, it is undeniably inspired and charming in many aspects, and it also happens to be quite special as one of the last cell animation feature films from Disney during the 2000s. 

The opening part quickly establishes one of its two lead characters, who is a creature created by a loony alien scientist who gets arrested and then incarcerated for his creation by the Galactic Federation. This creature looks small and rather cute, but it can be quite destructive and dangerous as genetically engineered by its creator, and the leader of the Galactic Federation eventually decides to incarcerate it just like its creator. 

However, the creature manages to escape at the last minute, and then it flies away to the Earth after stealing a small spaceship. By coincidence, the spaceship falls onto one of the main islands of Hawaii, and that is how it later encounters Lilo Pelekai (voiced by Daveigh Chase), a little local girl who has lived with her older sister Nani (voiced by Tia Carrere) since their parents’ unfortunate death. Although it looks rather weird, Lilo instantly comes to like the creature when they come across each other at a local animal shelter, and he is soon called “Stitch” while continuing to hide his true nature and identity from Lilo and Nani.

As Stitch and Lilo begin to befriend each other more along the story, we get to know more about how things have been rather bad for Lilo and Nani. Nani is supposed to take care of Lilo as her only close family member at present, but she is not so good at balancing herself between her work and numerous domestic matters including the ones involved with her occasionally unruly younger sister. This certainly does not certainly look that good to their visiting social worker, who incidentally looks more like a character from “Men in Black” (1997).

While Stitch surely turns out to be quite problematic for both Lilo and Nani due to its edgy nature, it gradually gets accustomed to being a new family member of theirs. As often emphasized throughout the story, Nina and Lilo openly and flexibly accept Stitch as regarding it as another member of the “ohana” (It is a Hawaiian term meaning “family”, by the way), and Stitch finds itself slowly softened by their warm and gentle sincerity. As a matter of fact, it even gladly does the impersonation of a certain favorite pop singer of Lilo and Nani at one point, and that is certainly one of the funniest moments in the film (I also like when it gleefully imitates Godzilla, by the way).

Meanwhile, that alien scientist and a meek official of the Galactic Federation arrive in Hawaii for retrieving Stitch as soon as possible without being noticed by the Earthlings, and they surely come to function as a comic relief while clumsily disguising themselves as visiting tourists. One of the main jokes in the film is that the Earth has been protected as the preservation area of a certain pest species, and you will surely roll your eyes if you dislike that species as much as I do.

While things become more serious and frantic during its last act, the movie somehow strikes a right balance between its contrasting story materials, and it also distinguishes itself a lot as a well-made cell animation film. While its overall mood is as warm and colorful as you can expect from its main background, it also shines in small and big details thanks to its excellent application of watercolor style, and the overall result surely reminds us again of what we sadly lost since Disney Studios eventually abandoned cell animation after “The Princess and the Frog” (2009). 

The film was also a breakthrough for the careers of directors/writers Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois, who deservedly received an Oscar nomination for the film and then respectively went further with several good animation films during the next 22 years. After they subsequently made another Oscar-nominated animation film “How to Train Your Dragon” (2010) together, DeBlois made its two equally successful sequels, and Sanders, who incidentally provided the voice of Snitch, recently impressed us again with his Oscar-nominated animation film “The Wild Robot” (2024), which is one of the best films I saw during last year.      

The voice cast members of the film are well-cast in their respective parts. Daveigh Chase imbues her occasionally wild but ultimately lovable character with a lot of pluck and spirit, and Tia Carrere complements Chase’s plucky voice acting well during their several key scenes in the film. In case of several notable supporting voice performers, David Ogden Stiers, who was previously the voice of one of the supporting characters in Disney animation film “Beauty and the Beast” (1991), and Kevin McDonald are constantly hilarious as a mismatched alien duo, and Ving Rhames also provides some deadpan humor as the aforementioned social worker.

On the whole, “Lilo & Stitch” is one of the best offerings from Disney Studios during the 2000s, and it makes me more wonder whether its upcoming live action film version is really necessary. As I said many times before, live action can rarely surpass animation for many reasons, but I sincerely hope that the people behind the live action film version kept in their mind what makes the animation version so special.

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Final Destination (2000) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): Destined to die horribly

Posted on May 18, 2025 by kaist455

To be frank with you, I have somehow avoided watching “Final Destination” and its several sequels during last 25 years. Even when the movie came out in 2000, the movie did not interest me much because it looked like another typical teen slasher horror flick to kill its adolescent characters horribly in one way or another, and then I became less and less interested as its sequels predictably followed since that.

However, as “Final Destination Bloodlines” (2025), the latest entry in the franchise, received a surprising amount of good responses from both critics and audiences, I eventually decided to check out “Final Destination” today, and I duly report to you that it is a fairly watchable horror film even after 25 years. Yes, this is still your average teen slasher horror film (My late mentor/friend Roger Ebert often called such movies “Dead Teenager Movies”, by the way), but it has some nice nasty fun to be appreciated in addition to being relatively more skillful and entertaining than, say, “Friday the 13th” (1980) and its countless sequels.

Right from the very beginning, the movie fills the screen with a lot of ominous signs, so we are already quite ready for something horrible to happen when Alex Browning (Devon Sawa) is about to go to Paris along with his schoolmates and teachers for their senior trip. While everyone is quite excited as they all arrive at the airport, Alex cannot help but feel nervous, and, what do you know, the movie subsequently delivers one of its most effective moments when he gets asleep briefly not long before the departure time of the airplane

Quite shocked and awed by what he experienced so vividly during that brief sleep of his, Alex soon causes a commotion inside the airplane, and he and several other students and one of their teachers ends up remaining in the airport. Needless to say, some of his schoolmates are not so pleased about Alex’s action, but then, surprise, the airplane is suddenly exploded in the air shortly after its takeoff.

While everyone around him is relieved to avoid this devastating disaster which incidentally killed everyone on the airplane, Alex becomes more nervous as gradually sensing something bound to happen sooner or later. It seems that he and several other survivors are still destined to get killed, and he becomes more convinced when one of his fellow survivors suddenly dies due to a horrible accident not long after he receives a sort of sign by sheer coincidence.

What follows next is a series of gruesome scenes where the main characters get horribly killed one by one by due to some malevolent presence which can be regarded as Death itself. While we surely have a very typical scene where one main character suddenly gets hit by a big vehicle appearing out of nowhere, we are also served with a couple of suspenseful sequences which deserve to be compared with those Rube Goldberg machines. It seems that Death is not so pleased to see Alex and the other survivors evade its deadly touch, and it looks like Death has some fun elaborate plans for killing Alex and the other survivors as horribly and inventively as possible (My personal favorite one is the one involved with a certain leaky mug, if you ask me).

Of course, as they come to feel more of the approaching touch of Death, Alex and several remaining survivors desperately try to find any possible way to escape from their hopelessly doomed status. As they become more urgent day by day, they also come to reflect on life, fate, and existence at times, and that surely brings a bit of substance to the story and characters.

Not so surprisingly, the screenplay by director James Wong and his two co-writers Glen Morgan and Jeffrey Reddick becomes rather contrived just for giving its main characters a possibly good chance for survival during the last act, but it keeps things rolling till its expected climax at least. While there is not much surprise there if you are a seasoned moviegoer like me, you will enjoy how the movie tries a lot of things for its grand finale, and you may also chuckle a bit when its ending fatefully opens the door for those sequels to come.

Although Alex and the main characters are more or less than bland archetypes (You may be amused a little by their respective surnames if you are a knowledgeable genre fan, though), the main cast members bring some gravitas to the film via their earnest performance. Devon Sawa, whom I have always remembered for his goofy comic performance in “Idle Hands” (1999), dutifully holds the center as required, and Ali Larter has a little poignant moment as a girl who was already quite unhappy even before she gets doomed along with Alex and their several schoolmates. In case of Kerr Smith, Kristen Cloke, Chad Donella, Amanda Detmer, and Sean William Scott, they manage to leave some impression despite their thankless supporting parts, and Tony Todd, a wonderful character actor who has been known mainly for his unforgettable performance in “Candyman” (1992) and sadly passed away in last year, adds a substantial touch of class to the movie despite his brief appearance in the middle of the film.

Overall, “Final Destination” is a rather passable genre film, but it has its own special place in the teen slasher horror flick territory just like “Friday the 13th” and “Scream” (1996). To be frank with you, I am not so willing to check out those four sequels which came before “Final Destination Bloodlines”, but I think I have got my homework done enough before watching it, and now I am ready to leap forward to that new sequel.

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What Does That Nature Say to You (2025) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): With her girlfriend’s family

Posted on May 18, 2025 by kaist455

Hong Sang-soo’s new film “What Does That Nature Say to You” has usual stuffs we can expect from him, but it somehow did not engage me much on the whole. While it gets some laugh from how petty its hero can be, the movie fails to generate enough comic momentum to hold my attention, and I also found myself often distracted by its unnecessary visual approach.

At first, we are introduced to Dong-hwa (Ha Seong-wuk) and his girlfriend Jun-hee (Kang So-yi). They have just arrived at the house belonging to Jun-hee’s parents by his car, and the movie lingers around them for a while before they eventually meet Jun-hee’s father. After wholeheartedly welcomed by his girlfriend’s father, Dong-hwa comes to spend some time with him, and they drink and smoke a bit together just like many other male characters in Hong’s movies.

Meanwhile, Jun-hee goes inside the house and then talks a bit with her sister, and we get some more information about Dong-hwa. While he is an aspiring young poet, he has earned his living via some menial job, and he does not particularly want to get any financial help from his father even though his father is quite a rich and influential figure.

While Jun-hee’s parents prepare the dinner for everyone during next several hours, Dong-hwa, Jun-hee, and her sister have a little lunch together outside and then go to a nearby temple just because, well, they have nothing else to do. As they simply look around here and there in the temple and its surrounding area, Jun-hee and her sister come to talk more about her boyfriend, and we also observe how petty Dong-hwa can be just because of his deep sense of inferiority.

All these and other moments in the film could be more interesting to observe, but Hong deliberately shot his movie in low resolution, and this odd visual approach was quite distracting to me during my viewing. For example, the background often looks rather dim and blurry, and this frequently disrupts our attention when we are supposed to focus more on whatever is going on among the main characters in the story. In my humble opinion, it would be less problematic if Hong had shot the movie in black and white film just like he did in some of his recent films including “The Novelist’s Film” (2022) and “Walk Up” (2022), which are all rather crude in terms of visual quality but are covered to some degree by that distinctive quality of black and white film.  

Around its second half, the movie becomes a little more interesting as Dong-hwa and his girlfriend have a big dinner in her parents’ house. As everyone at the table enjoys the chickens cooked by Jun-hee’s mother, more drinks are exchanged among everyone at the table, and the mood becomes livelier than before. I do not know whether the performers actually drank together in front of the camera just like many performers in Hong’s films allegedly did, but I can tell you that their interactions over the dinner table are spontaneously realistic. As they talk more and more, you will surely come to feel more like sitting along with them at the table. 

Of course, just like those petty heroes of many of Hong’s previous films such as “Hahaha” (2010) and “The Day He Arrives” (2011), Dong-hwa cannot help but become petty as he drinks more and more. Just because his girlfriend’s sister previously talked a bit about his supposedly strained relationship with his affluent father, he becomes quite emotional, and this certainly embarrasses everyone else at the table. Fortunately for him, Jun-hee and her father handle him as tactfully as possible, and that certainly prevents more embarrassment for all of them.

What follows next is a couple of unexpected moments of reflection. As becoming less drunken several hours later, Dong-hwa is naturally quite ashamed of his pettiness, and that leads to a little solitary nocturnal walk outside the house. In case of Jun-hee’s father, he spends some time with his wife inside his little private spot outside the house, and the mood becomes tender and playful between them as they muse on a number of things including Dong-hwa’s embarrassing act of pettiness.      

Although Hong’s screenplay does not give much detail and personality to its main characters, his main performers are good enough to bring some personality to their respective parts. While Ha Seong-guk is effective whenever he conveys to us a sense of inferiority behind his character’s seemingly passive attitude, Kang So-yi and Park Mi-so often brighten up the film with their youthful presence, and Kwon Hae-hyo and Cho Yun-hee are solid in their good supporting performance. As a matter of fact, Kwon, who has been one of Hong’s frequent performers during last several years, and Cho steal the show with the effortless chemistry between them, and their characters actually seem closer to Hong’s heart than the other main characters in the film.

In conclusion, “What Does That Nature Say to You” is interesting at times, but I still think it could work better if Hong stuck to his usually plain visual approach instead of making it look and feel a bit too crude on the screen. Now I am reminded of what late critic Gene Siskel often asked: “Is this movie more interesting than a documentary about the same actors having lunch?” I do not know whether the latter would be more interesting in case of “What Does That Nature Say to You”, but I am sure that it would look visually better at least.

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Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning (2025) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): It delivers ponderously

Posted on May 17, 2025 by kaist455

“Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning”, which is a direct follow-up to “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” (2023), does not disappoint you in case of action despite being weaker than its recent predecessors. Yes, again, it will thrill and excite you with several spectacular action scenes to behold, but it is also rather solemn and ponderous as getting a bit too serious at times, and that unfortunately dissipates its enduring sense of fun to some degree.

The mood is quite grim right from the beginning. After what happened at the end of the previous film, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) has been hiding from everyone during next several months, and things have been getting quite worse for everyone on the Earth thanks to the growing power and influence of his mighty AI opponent. It is about to take the control of all the nuclear missiles around the world and then will bring the almost total destruction to the human civilization, and, of course, Hunt and his team seem to be the only chance for the humanity.

Around the time when a desperate message from the President of the United Sates is directly delivered to Hunt (Don’t ask me how the hell that is possible), he seems to be fully ready for what might be his final mission. Thanks to Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) and Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames), he gets a chance to beat that evil AI, but, not so surprisingly, his mission seems to be quite impossible in many aspects. For example, how can they possibly locate a certain sunken Russian submarine which has something crucial for his mission? And how can they also handle several other matters including another dangerous opponent eager to take control of that AI? 

As usual, Hunt firmly believes in himself and others around him because, well, he must do for any possibility of getting his mission accomplished, but he also comes to face some consequences of his frequently risky actions in the past. Sure, he has saved the world more than once for more than 30 years, but he has also been recklessly daring for getting his missions accomplished in the end, and there are several figures who were influenced by his actions in the past in one way or another and remind him of that hard truth along the story.  

The screenplay by director/co-producer Christopher McQuarrie and Erik Jendresen accordingly becomes more serious, and that is what holds the movie a bit too much when it wants to go up so high or so low. Yes, there has always been some gravitas on what is being at stake for Hunt and his colleagues throughout the series, but the series has been always about fun and thrill above all else, and being serious about the story and characters is the last thing the series needs – especially when it has become less fresh along with its aging lead actor these days. 

After spinning its wheels to some degree during its first act, the movie fortunately gets some of its good old groove back during the next two acts to our relief. While there is an intense physical action scene unfolded inside a little cabin located in a remote island near Alaska, we also get a rather quiet but undeniably suspenseful underwater sequence associated with the aforementioned Russian submarine, and everything in the story eventually culminates to a climax sequence which busily juggles a lot of things including another extremely daring moment of realistic action you can expect from its lead actor.

Cruise, who is soon going to have the 63rd birthday, surely throws himself into a lot of action from the beginning to the end. Looking much fitter and healthier than me despite being more than 20 years older than me, he demonstrates again that he is still an engaging action movie star both fearless and peerless, and his several action scenes in the film will certainly make you curious about how much he actually put himself into these risky moments. In my humble opinion, he should slow down a bit considering his current age, but I will not deny that he is still capable of impressing me and other audiences as he has diligently done since his first Mission Impossible movie in 1996.

Many of the other cast members in the film simply fill their respective spots as required, and that is particularly evident from several returning cast members, who are relatively less fun compared to their previous appearances in the series. While Simon Pegg and Ving Rhames are dependable as before, Hayley Atwell and Pom Klementieff have some good moments to shine, but these wonderful performers are not often allowed to bring more personality to the movie as it hurriedly runs from one narrative point to another. In case of a heap of notable performers including Henry Czerny, Esai Morales, Holt McCallany, Janet McTeer, Nick Offerman, Hannah Waddingham, Greg Tarzan Davis, Rolf Saxon, Katy O’Brian, Tramell Tillman, Mark Gatiss, Charles Parnell, Shea Whigham, and Angela Bassett, they simply come and go as demanded by their thankless parts, but Bassett manages to overcome as ably filling her character with a lot of dignity and authority.

In conclusion, “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” is not good enough to meet the expectation built up by the previous film. Its huge production budget, which is estimated to be 400 million dollars at most, is not wasted at all, and I was not bored much during its 169-minute running time, but now I wonder whether the series needs to get recharged as much as it was boosted in “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol” (2011). Perhaps, Cruise should pay more attention to this impending matter besides his age and physical condition, and you may agree with me after watching the movie.

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Idiot Girls and School Ghost: School Anniversary (2024) ☆☆☆(3/4): A cheerful (and spooky) high school horror comedy film 

Posted on May 17, 2025 by kaist455

I could not help but get tickled more than once while watching South Korean film “Idiot Girls and School Ghost: School Anniversary”, which is as ridiculously funny as its rather long title suggests. Clearly influenced by not only “Whispering Corridors” (1998) but also a number of meta horror films such as “Scream” (1996), the movie has a cheerful fun with its familiar genre conventions and clichés, and the result is one of the funniest South Korean films of last year. 

After the prologue which will amuse you a lot if you are familiar with those countless found footage horror films out there, the movie introduces three senior high school students: Ji-yeon (Kim Do-yeon), Eun-byul (Eunseo), and Hyun-jung (Kang Shin-hee). Ji-yeon aspires to be a filmmaker someday, so she tries to make a little movie of her own, and Eun-byul is her lead actress while Hyun-jung serves as their cinematographer.

However, their prospects are not exactly bright right now. They all want to go to any good college for achieving their respective dreams, but, alas, their recent test score result is not that good to say the least. As their teachers point out how underachieving they are, the girls come to worry more about the upcoming college entrance exam, which is a hefty and stressful obstacle for any senior high school student out there in South Korea.

On one day, Ji-yeon comes across a mysterious video tape while spending another evening alone in the broadcasting department of the school. This video tape contains a video clip shot in the school on the evening of its anniversary day in 1998, and this video clip shows three senior student girls doing something quite risky just for getting the perfect score on the college entrance exam. After they summoned a ghost living somewhere in the school, they had to play a hide and seek game with this ghost, and this game had to be continued till dawn.

At first, this video clip simply looks like a well-made joke to Ji-yeon, but, what do you know, she soon finds herself frequently haunted by that ghost in question. After doing some research in the school library, she locates one of those three girls, who willingly tells more about the ghost and the game to be played. She and her two friends fortunately won at that time, but, considering how the ghost will severely punish its challengers if they lose, it looks like nobody has succeeded during last 26 years. 

Because the ghost is going to haunt her at least for one year, Ji-yeon decides to handle this serious matter for herself, and her two friends subsequently get involved in her situation. They do not initially believe her words much at first, so they casually watch that video clip, and, yes, they also find themselves targeted by the ghost.

While the circumstance becomes much more serious for the girls, the movie sticks to its lightweight tone as steadily throwing numerous comic moments, and it becomes more humorous as the girls become all the more active about dealing with their big problem. Often conscious of those genre rules and conventions just like the main characters of those Scream flicks, they are ready to fight against the ghost with their camera to record everything, and they even recruit a quirky junior student who knows a lot about spirit and religion.

The second half of the movie is about how they fight against their opponent on the evening of the school anniversary, and that is when the movie becomes more humorous. While often feeling as spooky as required, it comes to show more sense of humor as the girls go through a series of perils inside the school, and it even parodies that famous moment in “Whispering Corridors”. When the story and characters eventually arrive at the climax as expected, the mood becomes all the more amusing as the movie deftly balances itself between horror and comedy, and we come to root for the girls more than before.

It certainly helps that the four main cast members of the film have good comic chemistry among them. As their characters bounce from one narrative point to another with more amusement for us, they ably fill their respective characters with enough spirit and personality, and they are all solid in each own comic moments to be savored. Although I must confess that I am not so familiar with any of them, Kim Do-yeon, Eunseo. and Kang Shin-hee show here that they are promising actresses to watch, and I hope I will enjoy more of their talent in the future. In case of Jeong Ha-dam, she finally gets a chance to do comedy and gladly demonstrates another side of her considerable talent, and she effortlessly steals every minute of hers in the film. 

On the whole, “Idiot Girls and School Ghost: School Anniversary” is entertaining for its cheerful wit and humor to be savored, and director/writer Kim Min-ha, who has already moved onto her next feature film, shows that she is another talented filmmaker to watch. To be frank with you, I belatedly watched the movie only after I was requested to watch and then evaluate it and several other South Korean independent films for an upcoming local film award ceremony, and I must tell you that I found myself quite delighted after enduring several other nominees which disappointed me in one way or another during this week. In short, this is a small gem to be appreciated by anyone who enjoyed “Whispering Corridors”, and you will not be disappointed once you go along with its vibrantly free-wheeling comic spirit.

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