The Life of Chuck (2024) ☆☆☆(3/4): He contains multitudes…

Posted on November 27, 2025 by kaist455

Mike Flanagan’s latest film “The Life of Chuck”, which won the People’s Choice Award when it was shown at the Toronto International Film Festival in last year, interested me for what it is about and then touched me for how it is about. Based on the short story of the same name by Stephen King, the movie three different stories all connected with the life of its titular figure, and its main pleasure comes from how we gradually behold its big picture about the dark and bright sides of life bit by bit. 

The first act, which is actually “Act Three”, feels like one of those surreal episodes from American classic TV series “The Twilight Zone”. When one plain school teacher seems to be going through another ordinary day at his workplace as trying to teach his students a bit on a certain famous poem written by Walt Whitman, the human society suddenly begins to fall apart step by step via a series of inexplicable catastrophes, and he certainly feels quite perplexed just like many others around him, though he still tries to go on as usual.

As his daily life gets collapsed in one way or another without any possibility for recovery, the teacher cannot help but notice a certain odd thing. When he saw an advertisement associated with a guy named Charles “Chuck” Krantz (Tom Hiddleston) for the first time, he does not take that seriously, but, what do you know, he keeps noticing several other advertisements associated with Krantz. It looks like this figure is someone very important in his neighborhood, but the teacher has no idea on who the hell is – and neither do several others encountered by him along the story.

Meanwhile, the teacher comes to consider meeting his ex-wife again before whatever may happen in the end. Although there was some bitterness between them before their divorce, they have been relatively friendly to each other after their divorce, and she and the teacher later come to have a long philosophical conversation on how transient the existence of the humanity actually is compared to the history of the universe.

Now this sounds rather boring to you, but Flanagan knows how to write and present a good conversation scene on the screen. Several long conversation scenes in the film never feel ponderous at all thanks to Flanagan’s solid writing, and, above all, they are fluidly unfolded on the screen without being too preachy. When the teacher talks to his ex-wife about what Carl Sagan said in that famous science TV program of his many years ago, the movie gets a bit too symbolic in my humble opinion, but this key moment is filled with genuine emotions thanks to Flanagan’s competent handling of mood and performance, and then it comes to function as the emotional ground for what will happen around the end of the first act.

After we eventually come to learn about who the hell Krantz is, the movie moves onto its middle act of the film, which is presented as “Act Two”. We meet Krantz again, and he goes through another ordinary working day of his without much spirit, but then he comes upon something which comes to stir up an old hidden memory somewhere inside his mind. Even though he has no idea on what that old memory of his exactly is, he soon finds himself showing an active response, and that leads to a very, very, very special moment for not only him and two total strangers but also a bunch of people around them.

You surely notice that my description is rather vague. I simply want you to watch this wonderful scene for yourself without knowing anything in advance, and I assure you that you will be reminded of how many of us sometimes come across a chance to sense how beautiful life can be even though it mostly sucks for us before we eventually arrive at our miserable final destination. Yes, joy and happiness cannot last that long, but isn’t it really nice to savor them at least for a while?  

Around its last act, which is presented as “Act One”, the movie does not seem to have much surprise for us as slowly heading to its eventual finale, but it becomes more poignant than expected. There is another wonderful scene which will surely resonate with the aforementioned scene in the middle act, and we are not disappointed at all when the movie finally adds a sublime finishing touch to what has been carefully building up to that point.

The main cast members did a commendable job of filling their archetype roles. While Tom Hiddleston’s earnest performance is connected well with the three different young actors playing his character’s younger versions, several other notable performers in the film including Chiwetel Ejiofor, Karen Gillan, Mark Hamill, Carl Lumbly, and Mia Sara are also effective in their respective roles. The dry narration by Nick Offerman is enjoyable with several wry moments of deadpan humor, and some of you may be delighted for the brief appearance by Heather Langenkamp, who was the heroine of Wes Craven’s classic horror film “A Nightmare on Elm Street” (1984).  

 In conclusion, “The Life of Chuck” is another entertaining feature film from Flanagan, who previously gave us a series of well-made genre products “Oculus” (2013), “Gerald’s Game” (2017), and “Doctor Sleep” (2019). He demonstrates here the more sensitive sides of his talent, and it will be interesting to see what this competent director will do next after this modest but likable drama movie. After watching it, I came to reflect more on how my life has been going, and I may look back at its highlights more as time goes by.

Posted in Movies | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Zootopia 2 (2025) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): More animals, more worlds (and I like it more)

Posted on November 26, 2025 by kaist455

Disney animation feature film “Zootopia 2” has more animals and worlds to present, and I like it more. While it will still take some time for you to accept its rather shaky background premise, the film fills its animal fantasy world with an ample amount of humor and details to savor and appreciate, and you will soon enjoy another bumpy adventure of the contrasting duo at the center of the story.

They are a rabbit cop named Judy Hopps (voiced by Jennifer Goodwin) and a red fox named Nick Wilde (voiced by Jason Batesman), and the opening part gives us a quick summary on how they saved their animal city and then began to work together in the police department of the city at the end of the previous film. Now they are eager to be assigned to another big case for proving themselves again, but their direct superior Chief Bogo (voiced by Idris Elba) is not so willing to allow that, so they come to cross the line a bit when their team is about to investigate a certain smuggling case. Not so surprisingly, their following reckless action causes a lot of headaches for their boss, and they are later instructed to attend a therapy course for problematic partnership.

Although they do not feel anything particularly wrong about their partnership at first, Judy and Nick soon find themselves conflicting with each other on something involved with that smuggling case. After noticing something fishy in the case, Judy is quite ready to delve more into that, and Nick, who is relatively more laid-back than his partner, is not particularly interested, but, what do you know, he soon gets involved in Judy’s unofficial investigation more, because, well, Judy is his partner after all. 

It is not much of a spoiler to tell you that our two cop characters will discover that their case is much more serious than they expected at first. I will not go into details here, but I can tell you instead that Nick and Judy later find themselves targeted by a certain powerful animal family associated with the foundation of Zootopia. Not so surprisingly, this family turns out to have something important to cover up as much and long as possible, and Judy and Nick must find a way to save and then vindicate themselves.    

Luckily for them, Nick and Judy get two unlikely allies later in the story. One is Nibbles Maplestick (voiced by Fortune Feimster), a very eager beaver who is incidentally a podcast host and also can lead them to a certain hidden figure who may give some more information to help their ongoing investigation. The other one is Gary De’Snake (voiced by Ke Huy Quan), a pit viper who turns out to have a poignant personal motive behind his initially sneaky appearance.

As Judy and Nick bounce from one narrative point to another, the film expands further what has been established well in its Oscar-winning predecessor, and the result is often quite delightful to say the least. While there are a number of familiar places and figures shown in the previous film, there are also several different new regions and characters to watch and enjoy for their colorful visual qualities, and the film steadily engages us as deftly mixing old and new things together along the story. As a Hollywood blockbuster animation film, it surely serves us with a lot of action, but it does not lose any sense of fun and wonder at all even during its well-made action scenes, and you will also frequently be amused by small and big humorous details to observe. My personal favorite is a brief but undeniably hilarious homage to a certain film by Stanley Kubrick, and I must tell you that I had a really good chuckle even though I knew about that in advance.  

While Jennifer Goodwin brings a lot of pluck and spirit to her character, Jason Batesman slyly demonstrates again that he is born to play a fox as much as, say, George Clooney in Wes Anderon’s Oscar-nominated animation film “Fantastic Mr. Fox” (2009), and the success of the film surely depends a lot on their undeniable comic chemistry. Besides effortlessly clicking well with each other as before, Batesman and Goodwin also ably balance their characters’ relationship drama between comedy and drama, and we come to care more about what is being at stake for Judy and Nick even while being tickled a lot by their comic conflicts along the story.        

The film is also filled with a lot of colorful supporting voice cast members to be noticed here and there. While Key Huy Quan and Fortune Feimster are the most prominent ones in the bunch, Andy Shamberg, Patrick Warburton, Quinta Brunson, and Danny Trejo are also effective in their respective supporting roles, and David Strathairn, who has always a reliable character actor during last 45 years since his modest film acting debut in 1980, shows here that he can chew his scenes if that is really required. In case of a number of notable voice cast members from the previous film, Idris Elba, Shakira, Nate Torrence, Bonnie Hunt, and Jenny Slate easily slip into their respective parts, and Maurice LaMarche, a veteran voice actor who has been known well for his considerable contribution to a heap of animation films and TV series, has a little juicy fun again with his aging crime boss character.

Overall, “Zootopia 2”, which is directed by Jared Bush and Byron Howard, is more entertaining than its predecessor. To be frank with you, I was not that enthusiastic at first mainly because I mildly enjoyed its predecessor and then wrote a casual 3-star review, but the film surprises me with more excitement and imagination, and now I can assure you that it is one of the best animation films of this year.

Posted in Movies | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Train Dreams (2025) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): The life of a haunted man

Posted on November 25, 2025 by kaist455

Netflix film “Train Dreams”, which unfortunately did not get a chance for theatrical release in South Korea before eventually being released on Netflix on last Friday, is a mesmerizing work of poetic atmosphere and details to be appreciated. Clearly influenced a lot by those meditative works of Terrence Malick such as “The Tree of Life” (2011), the movie engages and then touches us with its sublime visual qualities, and it is certainly something worthwhile to be experienced in my inconsequential opinion.

The movie mainly revolves around the life of a man named Robert Grainer (Joel Edgerton), who became an orphan not long after he was born around the 1880s and then was sent to a rural town in Idaho. He had to work for earning his living even when he was just a young boy, and the narration by Will Patton phlegmatically tells us how aimless his life has been for next several years before he happens to encounter a young woman named Gladys Olding (Felicity Jones). Although their first meeting was rather awkward at first, it does not take much time for both of them to get attracted to each other, and they become married in the end.

Of course, after they settle at a spot outside the town and build a little cabin for them and their little daughter, Grainer certainly has to work more and harder for supporting not only himself but also his dear family. At one point early in the story, he joins a bunch of guys working on the construction of a new railroad, and he comes to befriend some of them, but then he witnesses one Chinese worker killed by several white dudes for no apparent reason. Even though he actually tried to stop that, Grainer cannot help but feel guilty about that, and he subsequently finds himself often haunted by what seems to be the ghost of that dead Chinese worker.

Anyway, Grainer later works as a logger instead, but death seems to follow him steadily as he fears. While he and his co-workers are certainly well aware of the constant risks surrounding their work environment, there are always fatal accidents here and there. In case of one supposedly God-fearing dude, death comes upon him in quite an unexpected way, and there is a little morbid sense of humor from how the camera calmly observes this shocking incident from the distance.

At least, his wife and their little daughter have remained as the light of his life for Grainer. He always feels happy whenever he returns to his cabin where Gladys and their little daughter are waiting for him, and the movie often conveys his little joy and happiness with his family to us via a series of lyrical moments to remember. As cinematographer Adolpho Veloso vividly captures intimate human moments as well as natural beauty on his camera, we get more immersed into Grainer’s humble but happy life, and his inner peace is often accentuated by the simple but effective score by Bryce Dessner.

Not so surprisingly, as Patton’s narration announces to us in advance, Grainer’s happiness does not last that long. Just like the main characters of Malick’s great film “Days of Heaven” (1978), Grainer suddenly loses his little private heaven due to a happening totally beyond his control when he is about to pursue a more stable life along with his family. Quite devastated to say the least, he goes through a lot of emotional upheaval as he struggles to recover during next several years, and he naturally comes to have a lot of questions on his life and its meaning.

Firmly maintaining its tranquil attitude, the movie, which is based on the novella of the same name by Denis Johnson, seems to be simply rolling its hero along its somber narrative on the surface, but the adapted screenplay by director Clint Bentley and his co-writer Greg Kwedar comes to show much more sensitivity and thoughtfulness in the end. While a number of various characters just come and go around Grainer throughout the story, many of them leave some indelible human impression to reflect on, and there is a particularly haunting moment early in the film when Grainer comes to have a little talk with a much older worker. This old man turns out to be a bit more perceptive than he seems at first, and his scenes with Grainer resonate with when Grainer meets some other older dude later in the story.

Bentley, who previously directed “Jockey” (2021) and recently co-produced and co-wrote Kwedar’s Oscar-nominated film “Sing Sing” (2023), also drew stellar natural performances from his cast members. Joel Edgerton, who is no stranger to playing taciturn but sensitive tough guys as shown from Jeff Nichols’ Oscar-nominated film “Loving” (2016), effortlessly slips into his character right from the very first scene of his in the movie, and the result is another terrific performance to be added to his admirable movie acting career. Even though he does not signify much on the whole, Edgerton’s nuanced acting always speaks volumes to us on whatever his character feels or thinks, and that is one of the main reasons why the movie keeps us engaged to the end.

Around Edgerton, several other main cast members have each own moment to shine. While Felicity Jones brings some precious warmth to her several scenes with Edgerton, William H. Macy reminds us again of how he has always been dependable during last several decades, and Kerry Condon, who has been more notable thanks to her Oscar-nominated supporting turn in Martin McDonagh’s “The Banshees of Inisherin” (2022), is also wonderful during her brief but crucial appearance later in the film.

On the whole, “Train Dreams” is surely one of those arthouse movies which will require you some patience from the beginning, but it is quite a rewarding experience thanks to its superb mood, storytelling, and performance. Although it is a shame that I watched it at my home instead of movie theater, I can say at least that it is definitely one of the highlights of this year, and I think you should really check it out as soon as possible.

Posted in Movies | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Gattaca (1997) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): In a genetically brave new world

Posted on November 23, 2025 by kaist455

Andrew Niccol’s 1997 film “Gattaca”, which happens to be re-released in selected theaters in South Korea a few days ago, still throws interesting questions for us. Even after more than 25 years after it came out, the movie remains to be a thought-provoking science fiction drama packed with fascinating ideas and details to observe, and it also touches us a lot as making some powerful points on how human spirit cannot be limited by technology.

During its opening part, the movie succinctly establishes a dystopian society where eugenical discrimination becomes quite common thanks to advanced genetic technologies. Many people come to prefer having their babies genetically modified for removing any inferior traits in advance, and many of those naturally conceived persons are socially discriminated in one way or another just because of being genetically inferior, while all those genetically modified individuals come to have much more chance and privilege in contrast.

Vincent Freeman (Ethan Hawke) is one of those naturally conceived persons, and he has been well aware of how he is different even during his childhood years. Regretting the result of their good-willed choice on Vincent, his parents decided to have their second son Anton (Loren Dean) genetically modified in advance, and Vincent could not help but become more and more conscious of the genetic difference between him and his younger brother.  

Nevertheless, this did not prevent Vincent from dreaming of becoming an astronaut someday. Although that seemed impossible due to the social discrimination on his genetic condition, Vincent later came to have a bit of conviction when he happened to surpass his younger brother for the first time in their little swimming competition, and that eventually propelled him to try much more for his dream than before.

Several years after he left his family and then tried to find any possible way for getting employed in a spaceflight conglomerate named Gattaca Aerospace Corporation (As some of you know, its name consists of the four letters which respectively represent those four nucleobases of DNA: guanine (G), adenine (A), thymine (T), and cytosine(C)), Vincent comes across a good chance via an illegal broker, who introduces to him to a lad named Jerome Morrow (Jude Law). While he was once a promising professional swimmer with an almost flawlessly modified genetic background, Jerome is now wheelchair-bound due to his permanent spinal injury, and he is willing to rent his superior genetic identity to Vincent as living with Vincent for a while.

Thanks to what Jerome provides to him day by day, Vincent manages to get employed in Gattaca, and, thanks to his longtime preparations and efforts, it does not take much time for him to become one of the most promising figures in the company, though he must always be extremely careful about any possibility of getting exposed. As shown from the opening scene, he must clean and shave himself a lot early in the morning, and that is just a mere small part of his daily disguise in the company.      

And then things become very problematic for Vincent. One week before the beginning of another space mission which he may eventually join, one of the supervisors is violently murdered. Unfortunately, a tiny debris from his body is subsequently collected during the following police search, and he must be all the more careful in maintaining his genetic disguise – even when he comes to open his heart a bit to Irene Cassini (Uma Thurman), one of the fellow employees in his department who becomes quite attracted to him.

While closely following its hero’s increasingly desperate plight, the movie also takes some time in bringing more details to its distinctive futuristic world. The production design by Jan Roelf and Nancy Nye, which deservedly received an Oscar nomination, often impresses us with its slick and austere retro-futuristic style, and the resulting clinical mood surrounding the main characters is often accentuated by their similar attires and hairstyles. As watching Vincent and other Gattaca employees coming into the company one by one, my mind could not help but reminded of the lyrics from Malvina Reynolds’ 1962 song “Little Boxes”: “And they’re all made out of ticky tacky / And they all look just the same”. 

Within this dry and detached world, the movie finds some precious heart to engage us more. Around the last act, Vincent and Jerome come to stick together a lot more than expected, and Jerome’s own little drama along the story gives extra poignancy to the movie. In addition, Vincent’s passion and determination moves not only Irene but also a few others around him, and I particularly like a brief but crucial scene where Vincent receives some unexpected support from one of these figures. No matter how rigid a system is in classification and discrimination, humans always reach for any loophole and can actually succeed as driven by sheer belief and determination, and so now I wonder – is it possible that Vincent’s society has actually allowed and tolerated Vincent and many others strong-willed enough to cross the line, mainly for getting the brightest and strongest ones from their “genetically inferior” class?     

While his diligent performance steadily carries the movie to the end, Ethan Hawke, who has been one of the most interesting actors working in Hollywood for many years, is surrounded by a bunch of various performers to notice. Uma Thurman brings some little warmth to her several key scenes with Hawke, and she is especially good when her character makes an important choice later in the story without revealing anything. Alan Arkin, Ernest Borgnine, Gore Vidal, Loren Dean, Xander Berkeley, Elias Koteas, Blair Underwood, and Tony Shalhoub are well-cast in their respective supporting roles, and the special mention goes to Jude Law, who gives the best performance in the film as an arrogantly bitter man who comes to appreciate and care about the sincere aspiration of his accomplice.

On the whole, “Gattaca” is a superlative genre film whose ideas are quite relevant even at present. During last several decades, our society has had a lot of advance and development in biological science, and the world of “Gattaca” surely feels much closer to us than before. Will that brave new world eventually come to us? I have no idea for now, but I can only hope that human spirit will ultimately prevail as the movie hopes.

Posted in Movies | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Wicked: For Good (2025) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): A bit more serious now…

Posted on November 20, 2025 by kaist455

“Wicked: For Good” surely attempts to defy gravity more than its predecessor, but it does not fly that high in my humble opinion. There are several lovely musical moments fueled by the undeniable presence and talent of its two main cast members, but the movie did not engage me enough as predictably going along its yellow brick road, and that is a bit of shame.  

As many of you know well, the movie is the second half of the adaptation of famous Broadway musical “Wicked”, and its story begins at the point not so long after the grand finale of “Wicked” (2024). When she comes to learn that the Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Jeff Goldblum) is no more than a wily huckster, Elphaba Thropp (Cynthia Erivo), a young misfit lady born with green skin, is instantly labeled as the public enemy of Oz by him and his devious associate Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh). As she keeps defying against them with her magic power, she is widely known as, yes, the Wicked Witch of the West, and her false infamy only grows more and more around Oz despite her good-willed efforts.

As watching her best friend’s ongoing plight from the distance, Glinda Upland (Ariana Grande), who is now known as Glinda the Good as having the wizard and Madame Morrible behind her back, certainly feels hurt in her heart in addition to being quite conflicted about what she should do. While spreading a lot of good will and optimism around Oz as she has always wanted, she is well aware of how different her public image is from who she actually is, and that makes her all the determined to resolve the conflict between Elphaba and the wizard.

Not so surprisingly, things get messier despite the sincere attempts of these two young ladies on the opposite ends. There is a tragic subplot involved Elphaba’s disabled younger sister and a certain figure who will be one of the main characters in L. Frank Baum’s novel “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz”. There are also more intrigues involved with the wizard and Madame Morrible, and the consequences of their sneaky deeds will remind you of how our world has been negatively affected by fake news. 

Once it begins to overlap with “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” and its 1939 movie adaptation, the story unfortunately stumbles more than once due to a lot of plot contrivance. While not showing a lot of that little girl from Kansas and her three accidental friends, the movie keeps focusing on the dynamic relationship drama between Elphaba and Glinda, but their drama is often limited by the pre-determined ending of their story, and we do not get much surprise on the whole. For instance, you will not be surprised a lot about the identity of Elphaba’s biological father if you are familiar with the law of character economy, and I must tell you that, though I did not know much about the Broadway musical version or Gregory Maguire’s 1995 novel “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West”, I could easily guess the answer even before arriving at the end of “Wicked”.

 Even though I became more dissatisfied with the movie during my viewing, I admire its top-notch technical qualities. The production design by Nathan Crowley and Lee Sandales, who previously won an Oscar together for “Wicked”, is filled with wonderfully colorful details to enjoy, and the same thing can be said about the costumes by Paul Tazewell, who also won an Oscar for “Wicked” and will definitely get Oscar-nominated along with Crowley and Sandales early in the next year.

The soundtrack of the film is fairly enjoyable, though I have to report to you that there is not anything to surpass “Defying Gravity” and some other catchy songs in “Wicked”. These less impressive songs are fortunately compensated by the effective score by Stephen Schwartz, who wrote the original songs in the Broadway musical version, and John Powell, and Powell, who had some old fun in “How to Train Your Dragon” (2025) in this year, did a splendid job of mixing old and new stuffs together in addition to ably providing extra excitement to several action scenes in the film.  

Schwartz also provides the two new songs for the movie, and they are skillfully performed by Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, respectively. Although “No Place Like Home” is rather forgettable, Erivo handles this song with enough sensitivity, and then she has her own grand moment with “No Good Deed”. In case of “The Girl in the Bubble”. Grande brings some genuine poignancy, and she and Erivo always click well together even when they are not supported enough by the weakening narrative of their movie.

Compared to Grande and Erivo, the rest of the main cast members are mostly under-utilized. While Jeff Goldblum has a little nice musical moment in the middle of the film, Michelle Yeoh and Jonathan Bailey do not have much to do this time, and Colman Domingo is totally wasted as being simply demanded to provide a brief voice performance during only one scene.    

In conclusion, “Wicked: For Good” is one or two steps from the expectation built by its predecessor, but its target audiences will not probably mind this at all, while gladly appreciating the efforts of director Jon M. Chu, who also directed “Wicked”, and his cast and crew. I was not bored at least, but I was also not excited or energized after the movie was finally over, and that is all I can say for now.

Posted in Movies | Tagged , | Leave a comment

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): The beginning of an ambitious trilogy

Posted on November 19, 2025 by kaist455

Revisiting Peter Jackson’s 2001 film “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings”, which was recently re-released in selected South Korean theaters, felt like a task to me at first. After all, more than 20 years have passed since it came out, there have been a lot of fantasy films after the enormous success of its trilogy besides the considerable advance of special effects. In fact, I was a bit afraid that the movie would look rather dated to me now.  

I am happy to report to you that the movie remains quite engaging and exciting as before. Although it inherently feels incomplete as the opening chapter of its trilogy, the movie immerses us into its memorable fantasy world full of mood and details to be appreciated in addition to providing a lot of spectacular action to behold. Above all, it also makes us care about several main characters at the center of the story.

One of them is Frodo Baggins (Elijah Wood), a young hobbit living in a small country area called Shire. As many of you know, hobbits, which are often called “halflings” for their small appearance, are one of the tribes in the Middle Earth, and the early part of the movie pays some attention to their folksy country life in Shire as everyone has been quite excited about the 111th birthday part of Frodo’s uncle Bilbo (Ian Holm).

It turns out that Bilbo has a secret plan behind his back. He is going to leave behind almost everything around the end of his birthday party, and his old wizard friend Gandalf the Grey (Ian McKellen) makes sure that Bilbo really leaves one particular thing to Frodo. On the surface, it looks like a simple magic ring which can make its wearer invisible, but, as Gandalf eventually confirms to Frodo later, the ring turns out to be a very powerful object once belonging to a certain evil figure in Mordor. Although he was supposed to be vanquished many years ago, this evil figure has been on the rise again, and he is certainly looking for that ring for regaining his absolute power over the Middle Earth.

 After coming to learn more about the ring from Gandalf, Frodo accepts a potentially dangerous task. While Gandalf is absent for a while, he must take the ring to a region belonging one of the leaders of the elves in the Middle Earth, and he is subsequently joined by three young fellow hobbits: Samwise Gamgee (Sean Astin, Peregrin Took (Billy Boyd), and Meriadoc Brandybuck (Dominic Monaghan).

While these four hobbits go through a series of dangerous moments along the story, the movie delves more into the Middle Earth, and cinematographer Andrew Lesnie, who won an Oscar for this movie (The movie also won the awards for Best Score, Best Special Effects, and Best Makeup in addition to being nominated for several other categories including Best Director and Best Picture, by the way), did a splendid job of filling the screen with more awe and wonder. Besides effectively utilizing the vast landscapes of the various wild locations in New Zealand, Jackson and his crew vividly present the fantasy world based on the rich imagination of J.R.R. Tolkien, and the result still looks awesome at times on big screen. While the sequence unfolded in a town belonging to the men in the Middle Earth is drenched in a sense of danger and anxiety along with some muddy qualities, the scenes involved with the world of the elves look as gracefully ethereal as required, and the part unfolded inside one huge cavernous space will often overwhelm you with its darkly epic scope. 

After more than 20 years, some of the special effects in the film surely look a bit dated at present, but its technical aspects remain admirable as they were at that time. Jackson and his crew skillfully mix digital and practical special effects throughout the movie, and their main performers look and feel fairly convincing even though they are surrounded by a lot of digital special effects on the screen – particularly when Frodo and his several companions confront a mighty demonic entity living inside that huge cavernous space.

In the meantime, the screenplay by Jackson and his co-writers Fran Walsh Philippa Boyens, which flexibly adapted Tolkien’s novel, stays focused on the drama of its main characters. Although most of them are more or less than archetypes, they are imbued with each own personality at least, and the main cast members of the movie ably embody their respective roles. While Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Billy Boyd, and Dominic Monaghan are solid as the four different hobbits at the center of the story, Ian McKellen has a lot of fun with his wizard character, and he deservedly received an Oscar nomination for that. In case of several other main cast members, Viggo Mortensen, John Rhys-Davies, Orlando Bloom, Hugo Weaving, Liv Tyler, Ian Holm, Sean Bean, and Christopher Lee fill their respective spots with each own presence, and Cate Blanchett is particularly good during her brief but mesmerizing appearance later in the story.

In conclusion, “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings” holds fairly well its own place well in the movie history even at this point. Along with “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” (2001), it opened the door for more fantasy movies to come during next 24 years, and its milestone status remains same as before without being surpassed at all. Although it looks relatively less awesome to me and others now due to the passage of time, I admire it a lot despite that, and I am willing to follow its epic journey again.

Posted in Movies | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Being Eddie (2025) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): Safely being Murphy

Posted on November 17, 2025 by kaist455

Netflix documentary film “Being Eddie”, which was released on last Wednesday, will not impress you that much, especially if you are familiar with all those safe celebrity documentaries during last several years. Although its titular figure seems quite ready to present a lot of himself in front of the camera, the documentary only mildly mentions and then praises his career achievements from the beginning to the end, and it eventually becomes another passable documentary product from Netflix.

The main human subject of the documentary is none other than Eddie Murphy, a legendary black American comedian who swiftly rose to his immense fame in the early 1980s. Despite being over 60 at present, he still looks like a mischievous but spirited kid to observe, and you can clearly see that he has not lost any of his star quality yet even though he is going through the later chapters of his life and career at present. 

 At first, he frankly talks about how he grew up and then came to have big ambition for his life and career. Even before he became 18, he was quite determined to become very famous and popular someday, and he was fortunate enough to get an unlikely opportunity for that. Not long after he started his stand-up comedian career in New York City in the early 1980s, he got selected as a new cast member of “Saturday Night Live”, and, what do you know, everyone came to pay more attention to him after his first season.

When he subsequently appeared along with Nick Nolte in “48 Hrs.” (1982), he wonderfully nailed down every juicy comic moment allowed to him. As many of you remember well, Murphy was quite funny and charismatic in one particular scene set in a bar full of white people, and that was pretty much like the big announcement of a new big talent to watch.

After the commercial success of “48 Hrs.”, Murphy appeared in a number of equally successful films to boost his movie acting career further. Although “Trading Places” (1983) was intended for Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor at first, Murphy eventually took the role due to a little unfortunate drug accident upon Pryor, and his another good comic performance solidified his movie star status in Hollywood. In the very next year, he appeared in “Beverly Hills Cop” (1984), and its considerable box office success confirmed again that he was indeed the next black American star on the rise.

As he frankly admitted in front of the camera, Murphy was certainly excited and dazzled by his enormous career success, but the documentary does not go that deep into whatever he went through during that peak period of his career and life. According to him, he has seldom tried on drug or alcohol unlike many of his contemporary comedians, and he reminiscences a bit about when he refused to try a bit of cocaine along with two certain famous comedians.

 In the meantime, Murphy tried to keep focusing on his stand-up comedy as before. However, despite the expected huge success from his stand-up comedy performances, he soon found himself less inclined toward stand-up comedy around the late 1980s just because he ran out of materials to write and then perform, and he does not feel any regret about that.

In my humble opinion, he feels some real regret on a series of disastrous films such as “Harlem Nights” (1989), which was incidentally also directed by him. He talks a bit about how it was fun to work along with Pryor and several other legendary black American comedians, but he and the documentary do not go into details here on how spectacularly that movie failed (The movie garnered his first Raspberry Award, by the way). As a matter of fact, he seems more ashamed of “Vampire in Brooklyn” (1995), where he played its vampire hero who is going to bite the neck of his co-star Angela Bassett.

After that low point, Murphy bounced back via several successful family comedy films such “The Nutty Professor” (1996) and “Dr. Dolittle” (1997), and he also gave wonderful voice performances in acclaimed animations films such as “Mulan” (1998) and “Shreck” (2001). When he eventually demonstrated more of his acting skill in “Dreamgirls” (2006), there was a lot of talk about his possibility of winning a Best Supporting Actor Oscar, but then his very next film “Norbit” (2007), which was incidentally regarded as one of the worst comedy movies ever in his career. That infamous turkey ruined his Oscar campaign to some degree, and he certainly looked quite disappointed when his name was not called out at the Academy Awards ceremony. 

Nevertheless, Murphy kept going as usual while having some ups and downs in his career as usual. Around the end of the 2010s, he surprised us with another splendid performance “Dolemite Is My Name” (2019), and then he made a successful guest appearance in “Saturday Night Live”, which earned him an Emmy award later. Later in the documentary, we see the archival footage clips showing Murphy enthusiastically preparing along with the cast and crew members of “Saturday Night Live”, and he is certainly happy to be joined by several notable junior black American comedians who have certainly revered him for years.

On the whole, “Being Eddie”, directed by Angus Hall, gives us a fairly jolly time along with Murphy, but, despite having many notable interviewees besides Murphy, it still feels merely mild and superficial without presenting anything particularly new about him. He is surely one of the most important and interesting American comedians at present, but he simply entertains us a bit without revealing any truly reveling stuff to interest us, and, folks, that is all as far as I can see.

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

In Your Dreams (2025) ☆☆☆(3/4): Their little dreamy adventure

Posted on November 16, 2025 by kaist455

Netflix animation feature film “In Your Dreams”, which was released on last Friday, overcomes its conventional aspect via its sincere handling of story and characters. Although the overall result is still not exactly fresh, the story is fairly entertaining in addition to giving some important life lessons to its target audiences, and I appreciated that even though it does not exceed my expectation.

At the beginning, the story establishes how things have been problematic for an adolescent girl named Stevie (voiced by Jolie Hoang-Rappaport). Besides not getting along with that well with her younger brother Elliot (voiced by Elisa Janssen), she has been quite concerned about the growing strain between her parents, who once loved each other a lot but have been rather estranged from each other during last several years. While the father still tries to pursue his musician career, the mother has worked as a teacher for supporting her family, and now she considers moving to a city for a better job.

On one day, Stevie and Elliot come across an old mysterious book when they are looking for anything suitable for his book report. The book is about a mysterious entity called the “Sandman”, and it says that this entity in question will make any dream come true. While Stevie does not believe the content of the book at all, she and Elliot happen to read an incantation in the book together, and, what do you know, they later find themselves having the same dream in which they have a bit of adventure along with Elliot’s animated bed.

Once she discerns what is happening to them, Stevie becomes quite determined to meet and then make a wish to the Sandman, but, of course, there is a huge obstacle to overcome. Whenever they try to reach to where the Sandman lives, they are always blocked by a powerful entity representing nightmares, which always makes them wake up in one way or another.

As Stevie tries to find any possible way to pass through this supposedly invincible opponent, the movie also pays some attention to what is happening in her and her younger brother’s daily life. When their mother subsequently goes to that city for her job interview, Stevie becomes more concerned about whatever may happen next, even though her father keeps trying to maintain the status quo for her and Elliot. There is a brief but poignant moment when her father clumsily attempts to explain to her on the ongoing conflict between him and his wife, and that only makes her all the more anxious.

In the meantime, Stevie finds unexpected support from her younger brother. Once they come to see that their connection in their shared dream is more important than expected, they come to stick together for their common goal, and we are also amused a bit from time to time by a number of humorous moments from Elliot’s little lost doll.

Around the narrative point where Stevie and Elliot finally meet the Sandman, they surely come to learn that making a wish can be quite tricky to say the least. You will not be surprised that much if you are familiar with all those fairy stories about making a wish, but the film handles this conventional part with enough humor and style at least.

The screenplay by director/co-writer Alex Woo, who worked in a number of notable Pixar animation films such as “Ratatouille” (2007) and “Wall-E” (2008) before making a feature debut here, and Erick Benson did a fairly competent job of building the emotional drama between its two different lead characters. While she has been frequently annoyed by her younger brother, Stevie comes to accept that Elliot has indeed been a crucial part of her imperfect but precious family life, and it is touching to see how she comes to reconnect with him later in the story. In case of their parents, their little personal moments along the story are handled with thoughtful sensitivity, and that is one of the main reasons why the expected dramatic climax works.

The voice performers are solid in their respective roles. While Jolie Hoang-Rappaport and Elias Janssen effectively complement each other, Simu Liu and Christin Milioti generate some gravitas around the fringe of the story as Stevie and Elliot’s parents. Several other voice cast members including Omid Dialili, Gia Carides, SungWon Cho, and Craig Robinson are also well-cast in their substantial supporting parts, and Robinson effortlessly steals the show as Elliot’s little lost doll during several key dream scenes.

In conclusion, “In Your Dreams” is recommendable for its competent animation style and engaging storytelling, but I must tell you that it would look like a relatively subpar product if this year were not another particularly weak year for animation films. While there have been several hugely successful animation films such as “KPop Demon Hunters” (2025) and “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Infinity Castle” (2025), they did not make me that enthusiastic compared to a number of recent better animation films such as “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” (2023), “Robot Dreams” (2023), and “Flow” (2024), and even Pixar Animation Studios becomes rather underwhelming as recently shown from “Elio” (2025). Although I recommend “In Your Dreams” because I was entertained enough during my viewing, I also have to remind you that there are many better choices out there, and I think you will be more entertained by any of those animation films mentioned above.

Posted in Movies | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Ballard of a Small Player (2025) ☆☆(2/4): Farrell sweats a lot here…

Posted on November 16, 2025 by kaist455

Edward Berger’s latest film “Ballard of a Small Player”, which was released on Netflix a few weeks ago, is one of the most well-made bad films of this year. While there are several top-notch technical aspects to admire to some degree, the movie itself is quite flat and insipid in terms of story and characters, and it is also really depressing to observe how the movie wastes the diligent efforts of its undeniably talented lead performer.

The story follows the plight of Brendan Reilly (Colin Farrell), an Irish gambler who has presented himself as a high-roller named “Lord Doyle” around those expensive casinos and hotels in Macau, China. He has recently been stuck in a very problematic financial situation due to his ongoing streak of bad luck, and now he is even on the verge of getting kicked out of his current staying place as he has failed to pay those amounting bills for a while.

Nevertheless, Reilly still tries to believe that things will get much better for him once he gets a chance for reversing his current status of luck, and the early part of the film shows his several pathetic attempts around those local casinos. Not so surprisingly, he only finds himself tumbling to a much worse financial status, and then he is notified that he must pay back a considerable amount of money he stole before running away to Asia.  

Meanwhile, Reilly encounters a local female credit broker named Dao-Ming (Fala Chen), who initially seems interested in making a deal with him but then comes to have some second thought on that. Not long after one shocking incident which devastates her a lot, Reilly comes to have a little private time with her outside the city, and, as believing that she has run out of her own luck, she sincerely advises him that he should quit gambling before it is too late for him.

Of course, Reilly only ends up tumbling more along the downward spiral of his gambling addiction and then getting cornered in more than one way. Later in the story, it looks like he is finally reaching to the bottom of his pathetic human condition, but then there comes an unexpected help, and that leads him to some relaxed time for self-reflection.

As its hero goes down and down, the movie drenches itself into the night life around the casinos and hotels of Macau, and cinematographer James Friends, who won an Oscar for Berger’s previous film “All Quiet on the Western Front” (2022), did a splendid job of filling the screen with a lot of nocturnal lights and shadows. As a result, Macau in the film sometimes looks like a colorfully seductive but dangerous zone which always beckons our pitiful hero to try his luck more and more, and the overblown score by Volker Bertelmann, who also won an Oscar for “All Quiet on the Western Front”, often makes a blatant point on that.

And Colin Farell, who has now been matured into one of the most dependable movie actors of our time, is fairly effective in his character’s gradual implosion along the story. While his frequent sweaty appearance may feel like an overkill at times, Farell brings some emotional intensity to the screen, and his diligent efforts compensate for the clichéd aspects of the story from time to time. 

However, the screenplay by Rowan Joffé (He is the son of Roland Joffé, by the way), which is based on Lawrence Osborne’s 2014 novel “The Ballard of a Small Player” (Osborne also incidentally participated in the production of the film as one of its executive producers), often fails to flesh out its hero and several other crucial characters in the story. Monotonously rolling its hero from one expected narrative point to another, Joffé’s screenplay does not bring much human depth or quality to its hero, and we come to observe his plight from the distance without much care or attention. Yes, there eventually comes a point where he tries his luck a lot more than before, but we remain distant to whatever is being at stake for him, and that is the main reason why a certain plot turn around the end of the story does not have much dramatic impact for us.

Furthermore, those several substantial supporting characters are too broad or bland on the whole, and the movie seriously wastes its supporting performers as much as Farrell. While she brings a bit of warmth to the film, Fala Chen is unfortunately limited by her thin supporting role, and she and Farell sadly do not generate enough chemistry to overcome the predictable relationship development between their characters. While Tilda Swinton does not have much to do except having a little fun with Farrell during the end credits, Deanie Ip and Alex Jennings are simply fill their small respective spots as required, and Anthony Wong, whom you may remember for his memorable supporting turn in “Internal Affairs” (2002), made a brief but impressive appearance later in the film.

In conclusion, “Ballard of a Small Player” is quite dissatisfying for many bad reasons, and it is surely two or three steps down from Berger’s recent Oscar-winning film “Conclave” (2024), which I incidentally liked much more than “All Quiet on the Western Front”. He and his crew and cast members cerainly took a big chance here just like the hero of the movie, but their efforts unfortunately result in a rather boring mess, and, considering their undeniable skill and talent, I am sure that they will soon move onto something better than this thoroughly forgettable dud.

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

Come See Me in the Good Light (2025) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): After a terminal diagnosis

Posted on November 16, 2025 by kaist455

Documentary film “Come See Me in the Good Light”, which was released on Apple TV+ a few days ago, is about one loving couple coping with the impending end of their long relationship due to a terminal illness. As following how they actively try to live together as long as possible during several years, the documentary often touches us with a number of sincere and intimate moments observed from this interesting couple, and it surely earns some tears in the end as handling their powerful love story with a lot of care and respect. 

The couple in question are poet/activist Andrea Gibson and their spouse Megan Falley, and the documentary opens with this couple working a bit on Gibson’s latest poem. As a fellow poet of theirs who is also her spouse’s editor, Falley often functions as the whetstone for Gibson’s creative process, and we are amused a bit as watching how they pull and push each other over some little details on Gibson’s latest work. As Gibson admits later, Falley is usually right in her objective assessment on her spouse’s works, and Gibson respects that even though they cannot help but feel hurt in their ego at times.

Anyway, the documentary soon goes straight into that big problem in Gibson and Falley’s daily life. In 2021, Gibson was diagnosed with malignant ovarian cancer, and they subsequently went through one surgery and two periods of chemotherapy during next several years. Alas, their cancer returned not long after that, and it is already metastasized around many parts of their body. In other words, they came to have only a few years to live even under the best condition, and that was certainly a devastating news for not only them and Falley but also many of their close friends and colleagues.

Nevertheless, Gibson and their spouse decided to try more for extending Gibson’s remaining life as long as possible. Besides paying more attention to the physical condition of their body, Gibson also tried one new therapy after another, and Falley, who was almost close to leaving Gibson for some other personal issue between them before Gibson’s terminal illness, was ready to stand by her spouse to the end. Knowing well that they did not have much time between them, Gibson and Falley came to spend more time together in their little residence in Colorado, and there is a genuinely joyful scene where they come to have a little fun dinner talk with an invited friend of theirs. 

Both Falley and Gibson are quite frank about themselves in front of the camera, and they certainly talk a lot about their respective pasts. Although they did not know much about sexual minority people during their childhood and adolescent period, Gibson became more aware that they were different from many other girls around them, and then they became interested in poetry. Although they did not know much about poetry at first, they were eventually drawn to slam poetry, and the following creative activities of theirs helped them a lot in becoming more certain and confident about their sexual identity.

As Gibson became quite prominent as an artist of slam poetry during next several years, they got romantically involved with one person after another, and then there came Falley. As they spent more time together as fellow poets, Gibson found themselves more attracted to Falley, and Falley was rather surprised mainly because she was not so confident about her body. Thanks to her following romance with Gibson, she came to have much more self-esteem than before, and she and Gibson eventually came to live together.

While often conscious of the camera observing them, Gibson and Falley do not hesitate to show more of their personal feelings and thoughts on how their relationship can be ended at any point. Whenever they are about to check the latest medical examination result on Gibson’s body, both Gibson and Falley cannot help but become quite nervous, but that makes them appreciate more of another day to live together for them. They are certainly willing to try anything for more time for them, but then they confront a serious dilemma because the latest therapy for Gibson may seriously affect their ability to speak, and both they and their spouse become conflicted about whether they can actually take this considerable risk or not. 

As going up and down along with Falley and Gibson over its free-flowing narrative, the documentary effortlessly alternates between humor and sadness, and everything in the narrative eventually culminates to when Gibson tries what turns out to be the last slam poetry performance in their life (They sadly died several months after the documentary was premiered at the Sundance Film Festival early in this year, by the way). Although their body is becoming more fragile day by day, Gibson try their best nonetheless, and we see how much their presentation of their several works moves their audiences as well as Falley.        

Overall, “Come See Me in the Good Light”, which deservedly received the Festival Favorite Award at the Sundance Film Festival, is one of the better documentaries of this year, and director/co-producer Ryan White, who previously made a number of acclaimed documentaries including “Ask Dr. Ruth” (2019) and “Good Night Oppy” (2022), did a commendable job of bringing a lot of intimacy and sensitivity to his documentary. In my inconsequential opinion, this is one of the best documentaries of this year, and I sincerely recommend you to check it out as soon as possible.

Posted in Movies | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment