review
Winter in Sokcho
Nice little melancholic coming-of-age story dealing with various degrees of self-identity issues, but a bit too on the nose with the criticism of South Korea's cosmetic surgery industry.
2024
10 entries tagged 2024
review
Cloud
The premise of a guy attempting to find freedom through capitalism and hustle his way into wealth as an alternative to the hopelessness felt by the iceberg generation in Japan's stalling economy, yet only to be cornered into inevitable violence is in itself fine, even if not particularly original, but the practical execution is embarrassing for a director of this standing.
review
Juror #2
Overly borrows from 12 Angry Men and never reaches the heights or ambiguity of Anatomy of a Fall.
review
Heretic
Let's feature Hugh Grant as a charming, manipulative villain in a film that deconstructs religion. Slowly make the main characters question their core beliefs and sanity as they spiral downwards into the web of a reasonably intelligent narcissist hellbent on control of young women but too self obsessed to see the flaws in his actions---slowly giving himself away.
review
Gladiator II
Entertaining if bloated Hollywood romp that manages to subvert enough of the tropes of the original to not make it feel like it's too much of a complete retelling, even if Ridley Scott is constantly shoving pieces of the original in our faces to the point I feel Russell Crowe should've been properly credited as lead actor.
review
The Substance
A fun, satirical metaphor on the consequences of dealing with male-dictated beauty standards in media, ageism and self-worth determined by vapid objectification.
review
Civil War
Essentially a Last of Us-style zombie roadmovie, a genre that is already practically one layer of abstraction away from what this film explores, Civil War is a provocative film, but ultimately too shallow.