Tag Archives: Mystery

Heart Blackened (2017) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): Flawed but not without entertainment

Posted on November 4, 2017 by kaist455

South Korean film “Heart Blackened” starts as a typical courtroom mystery tale but then later becomes something more serious than expected. As its plot often trudges around a number of predictable narrative turns, I frequently felt impatient during my viewing, … Continue reading →

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Wind River (2017) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): A bleak, chilly procedural on the wilds of Wyoming

Posted on September 17, 2017 by kaist455

While often quite stark in its gloomy tone, “Wind River” is a compelling procedural which gradually grabs our attention via its vivid atmosphere and deft storytelling. As it slowly builds up its story and characters, we become absorbed into its … Continue reading →

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The Sense of an Ending (2017) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): How he remembers – and what really happened

Posted on August 13, 2017 by kaist455

“The Sense of an Ending” curiously feels lukewarm and distant. Although this is a technically well-made drama film equipped with a handful of good performances, the movie simply moves from one narrative point to another while not generating enough emotional … Continue reading →

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The Unknown Girl (2016) ☆☆☆(3/4): Who was that girl?

Posted on May 11, 2017 by kaist455

In their new film “The Unknown Girl”, the Dardenne brothers tries a more conventional plot than usual while maintaining their typical dry realistic approach, but this mix is not entirely successful on the whole. While we get the vivid, authentic … Continue reading →

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Missing Woman (2016) ☆☆☆(3/4): Her babysitter is missing…

Posted on December 1, 2016 by kaist455

South Korean film “Missing Woman” begins as a seemingly conventional mystery thriller and then reveals darker elements which later turn the story into a sort of social horror tale which is often frighteningly realistic to me and other South Korean … Continue reading →

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The Queen of Crime (2016) ☆☆☆(3/4): Here comes Detective Mom

Posted on September 14, 2016 by kaist455

As a mystery thriller, South Korean film “The Queen of Crime” is pretty simple on the whole, but it is equipped with a brash, colorful heroine to remember. She may not be very smart as the detective character of the … Continue reading →

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The Nice Guys (2016) ☆☆☆(3/4): Two ‘nice’ buddies in LA

Posted on July 9, 2016 by kaist455

Surprise is always a key factor in comedy, and “The Nice Guys” has enough surprises to bring out good chuckles from me. While it has several weak points which bothered me even during my viewing, it is witty and cheerful … Continue reading →

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The Wailing (2016) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): Driven into insidious chaos

Posted on May 16, 2016 by kaist455

The deviously overwhelming chaos in South Korean film “The Wailing” disturbed and frightened me. The movie lured me as setting the ground under its unnerving mood, and then it grabbed me tight as going wild with its genre elements, and … Continue reading →

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Phantom Detective (2016) ☆☆☆(3/4): An offbeat noir from South Korea

Posted on May 8, 2016 by kaist455

South Korean film “Phantom Detective” is an amusing mixed bag stuffed with different genre elements which do not seem to fit together at first but somehow work on the whole in its offbeat concoction. After all, not many movies have … Continue reading →

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Zootopia (2016) ☆☆☆(3/4) : A rookie bunny officer’s first case

Posted on February 21, 2016 by kaist455

While it is somehow released earlier outside US, new Disney digital animation feature film “Zootopia” is better than I expected. It is colorful and spunky with its amusing variation of buddy cop movie conventions, and there are enough funny, exciting … Continue reading →

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