Author: Wanggo Gallaga

Humanizing an Icon: a review of ‘SUGA: Road to D-Day’

While I am more familiar with the music of BTS, I know just enough about each members personalities and the stories about who they are to know that the documentary ‘SUGA: Road to D-Day’ is a rare treat: a peek into the mind and heart of Suga, one of the more low-key members of the Korean supergroup. It’s an intimate and personal look into his process in the making of his album called D-Day through his alias Agust D.

While the documentary is really focused on the poetics: the work the artist has to go through in order to create – and in this case, it’s the time off from BTS that Suga got to do to work on finding inspiration to finish the songs on his album – and follows him through his travels to the US, Japan and back home in South Korea; there’s a whole lot more subtle textures that comes out from this movie.

For sure, we can be amazed by the sheer variety and star power of the people that Suga calls his friends – from Halsey, to DJ Steve Aoki, to Korean pop superstar IU, and even legendary Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto – but it’s good to also focus on how warm and friendly they are to each other and despite Suga’s fame as a member of BTS, there’s no posturing on his part nor does he ever carry himself in an arrogant manner. There’s a groundedness in him that carries through and is even subverted into that of a fanboy when he comes to meet Sakamoto, whom he considers one of his idols and was instrumental into becoming a songwriter.

The documentary is also sectioned off with song numbers. Suga sings songs from the new album with a live band (and some from his previous mixtapes), as well as candid interviews (the idol is actually “barefaced” or isn’t wearing makeup for half the documentary and it really shows us a totally different side of him), and while all of this is really there to help promote the release of the album and the upcoming tour, it is also one of the many pre-recorded content made to keep fans hooked in while BTS is in hiatus.

But despite its very commercial agenda, there is a sincerity that surrounds Suga in the way with which he ruminates over such topics as success and where one takes their creativity when they’ve reached the heights of where a person like Suga has gone. This is not a relatable subject. After all, how many people can compare themselves with the sort of success the young rapper has achieved over the past years? But there’s an earnestness in the way Suga presents himself and in the way the documentary unfolds that dismantles the myth and presents to us an artist trying to put together an album at an interesting crossroad in his life.

At this point in their career, BTS has broken records and captured the hearts of millions and millions of people around the world. They have nothing that they need to prove to anyone at this point but it is so encouraging to see in this documentary how hard Suga works in crafting this album and how tied this project is to his identity outside of the superstar idol group that has made him famous. It is so heartening to know that even successful people feel lost and that, as seen in one scene in the documentary, that it’s okay to just let loose and let go and have fun with it.

As a documentary, it is what we expect from a Disney+ produced and released documentary about a member of BTS, who is working on an album. It’s light. The stakes aren’t that high. It makes you feel good after watching it and if you’re a fan of the group, it’ll just endear them to you more and if you’re just curious about them, then it will help sink the hooks deeper in. But looking deeper, it’s really just an artist allowing himself to be vulnerable for an hour and twenty minutes while he’s at the height of his career and is trying to do something new and different and that’s what art is about.

My Rating:

Watch SUGA: Road to D-DAY on Disney+.

May 16, 2023
All That Glitter Isn’t Gold: a review of the first three episodes of Prime Video’s ‘Citadel’

I was extremely excited when I read the press release about the new spy show ‘Citadel’ over at Prime Video. Produced by the Russo Brothers (who helmed ‘Captain America: Civil War’ and ‘Avengers: End Game’), it’s a spy show with a complicated backstory that will unfold in two timelines and starring Richard Madden and Priyanka Chopra Jonas. The press release talked about how the show will spin off to different shows about the same world of spies but set in different countries like India, Spain, and Mexico. On paper, it looked amazing but the first three episodes of the six episode first season left me a little concerned.

Without a doubt, ‘Citadel’ is expensive. There is a glossiness to the camerawork and the special effects used to enhance the explosive action sequence shows you they mean to create a spectacle. In each of the first three episodes, there are huge set pieces and fight scenes and a lot of CGI work that shows you that they had no limit to how much they can spend (it is reported that they spent 300 million on this show alone). So it looks great.

It also helps that Richard Madden and Priyanka Chopra Jonas look amazing. From his work in the limited series ‘Bodyguard’ and ‘Game of Thrones,’ we know Madden can do action and he can exude an aura of a leading man. I’m not familiar with Chopra Jonas’ work but she looks great and believable going toe to toe with all the bad guys. There’s the usual banter and cheesy one-liners that comes with all these espionage shows and it feels more like James Bond than it does Jason Bourne. It’s more campy than it is serious about what it’s about.

It looks great but it goes so quickly into the plot that it leaves very little time for actual world building and making this story come alive. ‘Citadel’ is marketed as science fiction, set in a world where the spy organization Citadel was founded outside of any government to stop “evil” without care of government jurisdiction. It is an organization with unlimited funds and state-of-the-art technology, and it has been keeping the world in check for almost a hundred years but at the beginning of the first episode, we discover that Citadel has been attacked and wiped out by an evil organization called Manticore.

Enter Madden and Chopra Jonas: they are two Citadel operatives whose memories were wiped and were thought dead by Manticore. Before the memory wipe, they worked together and teased at having a sort of relationship but after the wipe, they lead ordinary lives unaware of their past until the last vestiges of Citadel have come back to make a last-ditch attack against their foe.

All of this happens in the first episode that runs less than fifty minutes. Each episode is less than an hour and tries to cover as much of the narrative as it can while serving us big fight scenes and meaningful looks from Madden and Chopra Jonas. There isn’t any real time to really figure out who Kyle Conroy (Madden) really is or who Nadia (Chopra Jonas) is as spies. We know they are tough. We know they can do whatever comes their way. But we don’t actually ever really get to know who they are and the little things that make a character interesting. Even after three episodes, it’s all just in service to the plot, which has to keep going because the first season only has 6 episodes.

I’ve watched all the way until the halfway point and I still don’t feel invested in Kyle or Nadia as characters yet.

It’s such a shame because Madden is such an interesting actor and he has all the charm and physicality for a character like this but he feels completely underutilized. While Stanley Tucci is having fun playing a one-dimensional character who gets to act all tough and say a lot of clever one-liners that don’t really hit their mark because the world isn’t set in stone yet.

It feels so generic to say that Citadel worked to stop evil. What is evil? How is it defined? Is it terrorism? Fascism? Is it corporate in nature? It’s so vague and even childish to just blatantly call it such. And why do they have so much money and power and even after Citadel fell (as you will see in the first 15 minutes of the pilot) how come they still have all the resources available to them? It’s these sorts of details that allows me to not take ‘Citadel’ too seriously and just watch it as a lightweight show.

Hopefully it gets better in the final three episodes. It looks great but all that glossiness and shine won’t amount to much if I don’t believe in this world or in its characters or what it is trying to say.

My Rating:

Watch Citadel on Prime Video.

May 15, 2023
MOVIE REVIEW: ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’ and the beauty of the found family amidst the chaos

It’s incredible how director and screenwriter James Gunn has managed to turn a relatively unfamiliar group like The Guardians of the Galaxy into a blockbuster franchise for the Marvel Cinematic Universe but he outdoes himself by delivering a third installment that is filled with so much heart amidst the chaotic mood of the narrative that all three ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ movies have become a testimony that comic book movies can be genuinely profound and explore authentic human truths while having a lot of crazy fun in the process. In ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,’ Gunn manages to deliver a satisfying arc for all his main characters while also introducing some new faces.

(L-R): Chris Pratt as Peter Quill/Star-Lord, Dave Bautista as Drax, Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper), Zoe Saldana as Gamora, Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel), Karen Gillan as Nebula, and Pom Klementieff as Mantis in Marvel Studios’ Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2023 MARVEL.

‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’ underlines how each of the characters of this story are all broken and lost in relation to their idea of home. Banding together for support and safety and strength, the members of the Guardians of the Galaxy – Peter Quill, Nebula, Mantis, Drax, Rocket, Groot, and in the first two films Gamora – became a perfect example of the found family. Even the nature of the actual sibling relationship between Peter and Mantis (as explained in the Disney+ special ‘The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special’) and Nebula and Gamora becomes an interesting texture that becomes part of this tapestry of what the third film is all about.

(L-R): Will Poulter as Adam Warlock in Marvel Studios’ Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Photo by Jessica Miglio. © 2022 MARVEL.

Because when the Guardians end up battling Adam Warlock (Will Poulter) in Knowhere, Rocket is hurt badly and they discover they can’t heal him because of some sophisticated technology that is inside him that is preventing him from getting medical help. In order to save their friend, they must travel to find Rocket’s creator, The High Evolutionary.

(L-R): Miriam Shor as Recorder Vim, Chukwudi Iwuji as The High Evolutionary, and Nico Santos as Recorder Theel in Marvel Studios’ Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Photo by Jessica Miglio. © 2023 MARVEL.

At its core, ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’ is not some mission to save the universe. No, it’s a very simple and intimate story about a group of friends facing insurmountable odds to save one of their own from dying. What they end up discovering is that Rocket’s past, the one he has been keeping secret for the past two ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ movies and even in ‘The Avengers’ movies, is a dark history of pain and suffering at the hands of a megalomaniac known as The High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji), a powerful being who is determined to create a new species and society that would be a true utopia and he’s willing to commit genocide to ensure he gets it right.

Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper) in Marvel Studios’ Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2023 MARVEL.

With Rocket’s life hanging in the balance, every member is pushed to their utmost limits and this is where Gunn’s trademark genius comes into play. While the characters are stressed out and tense, they lash out at each other to highly comedic effect and while we are laughing, we are also seeing these characters unravel and show their true humanity (even if they are aliens). Chris Pratt’s Peter Quill is obsessed over Gamora desperately holding on to every vestige of his family that he can while Nebula, played brilliantly by Karen Gillan, is lashing out as we see the full force of her friendship with Rocket (that was explored during ‘Avengers: End Game’). Pom Klementieff is having a blast working out Mantis’ very wide spectrum of emotions. She’s frustrated that no one listens to her but manages to find time to play pranks on Drax or kicking butt when a fight ensues.

Lylla (voiced by Linda Cardellini) in Marvel Studios’ Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2023 MARVEL.

But the actors who really steal their scenes are Zoe Saldana, Chukwudi Iwuji, and Linda Cardellini. Saldana, who gets to play a different Gamora, which means she gets to really play as the outsider. In fact, she’s more like Nebula in ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1.’ That must have been fun for her. Chukwudi Iwuji was instructed to not play to any humanity in The High Evolutionary and creates a fantastic villain that is touted as one of the most vile by the internet. He manages to find degrees of madness within his character and creates great performances that never feel one-note. Cardellini does the voice acting for Layla, an otter who was one of Rocket’s early friends. The warmth and sweetness in her delivery of lines just completes the picture of Rocket’s past and is so instrumental to the climax of the film.

(L-R): Zoe Saldana as Gamora, Chris Pratt as Peter Quill/Star-Lord, Pom Klementieff as Mantis, Karen Gillan as Nebula, and Dave Bautista as Drax in Marvel Studios’ Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2022 MARVEL.

It’s quite amazing how amidst gorgeous space sequences that include the Guardians jumping out into space while wearing different coloured space suits, or a wonderfully choreographed fight scene in a corridor filled with bad guys, James Gunn deftly delivers incredible visuals, while cementing the importance of family. Throughout the film, the members of the Guardians of the Galaxy are getting on each other’s nerves. It makes no sense that they work so well together considering all of their very distinct personalities but they do because what Gunn and his cast manages to do is show how much these characters love each other and need each other.

(L-R): Pom Klementieff as Mantis, Dave Bautista as Drax, Chris Pratt as Peter Quill/Star-Lord, and Karen Gillan as Nebula in Marvel Studios’ Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Photo by Jessica Miglio. © 2023 MARVEL.

So much so, that when the narrative begins to push each character to their conclusions – whatever they may be – there’s this feeling that it is inevitable for each of them. Scenes and moments from all their appearances in the MCU seem to push them to this particular end and what it highlights most of all is how important it is for each of us to find a place that we can call home.

Sean Gunn as Kraglin in Marvel Studios’ Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2023 MARVEL.

Everyone gets a turn, a completed character arc, even characters like Kraglin (Sean Gunn) and Cosmo (Maria Bakalova) and new characters like Adam Warlock. No matter how big the film looks and feels, it still manages to feel intimate and personal because we are dealing with the deepest desires of our main characters: which is to find and protect their home.

Without another MCU movie to set up, by being its own film, ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’ is a fitting finale for these characters. There are still stories that can be told but even if the actors choose not to return, we can be very, very happy with how this story ended. And find great joy in watching all three volumes (and the holiday special) all over again for how wonderfully complete this whole set of films are.

My Rating:

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is now showing in cinemas nationwide. Buy your tickets here

May 8, 2023
MOVIE REVIEW: It’s All About the Money: a review of ‘Air’

For all the great filmmaking in Ben Affleck-directed ‘Air’ – from the exquisite tight shots and the deep dive into the zeitgeist of the 80s, as well as fantastic performances by Viola Davis and Chris Messina – there is something that is completely empty in the film that dramatizes probably one of the greatest sports deal in history. The movie is about the deal that partners up Nike with the basketball legend Michael Jordan. The 112-minute film is really just a pitch that a talent scout in the sports brand attempts to make with a very promising rookie back in 1984. The film benefits from everyone knowing the legacy of the legendary basketball player – even someone like me who is not familiar with basketball, even I know who Michael Jordan is – and are all aware of how much the sneaker industry makes a year.

Basically, we all come in knowing this is going to be a happy ending. So all the film has to do is to create the stakes and try to make it all fun to watch. Affleck goes full-on with his depiction of the 80s – the fashion, the production design, even the picture quality has that saturated 80s look – and it helps create that world. We are so steeped into it.

The story follows Matt Damon, who plays Sonny Vaccaro, who has to help Nike find an athlete to endorse their show, or they’ll have to close down their basketball division and focus just on their running shoes. In 1984, Nike was not the powerhouse that it was then and was only third to Adidas and Converse. They don’t have prime picks and Sonny must make magic or the whole division gets shut down.

Instead of spending their small budget on three mid-level players, Sonny insists on spending the whole budget on just one player: a rookie called Michael Jordan. And this is where the film fails to truly capture the imagination of the audience and proves that the film might be nothing more than an expensive, star-studded Nike commercial: the story, with a screenplay by Alex Convery, only creates one scene that shows us that Vaccaro has found THE player to endorse.

After watching one short clip from one of his games, Vaccaro is sure that Michael Jordan is going to be the greatest player ever. We know it. We saw it happen and it’s truly the stuff of legend. But the film relies on this and leaves the rest to our stock knowledge.

Sonny then spends the rest of the movie convincing everyone at Nike to put everything on this one rookie and then, later on, spends the second half convincing Jordan’s mother (played by a fantastic Viola Davis) that they should sign up with Nike. That’s it. That’s the whole movie – it’s a movie about a pitch, and a successful one at that – and while the movie tries to show us the stakes that was at play and the risk that so many people took – expressed beautifully in a scene between Damon’s Sonny Vaccaro and his co-worker Rob Strasser played by Jason Bateman – at the end of the day it’s a movie about a big million-dollar company making even more millions.

There is an attempt to put the importance in Michael Jordan’s legacy – that the deal Deloris Jordan, Michael Jordan’s mother, insists upon giving her son a huge amount of benefits that was unheard of at that period of time – but this doesn’t ring true because never once the film take the time to show us what a great player he is. We know it. The film knows we know it but by not giving any screen time to Jordan on the court everything becomes hearsay. Millions and millions of dollars and the jobs of so many people are at stake because this athlete is supposed to be worth it, and they never bother to show us this.

In fact, they never even show us Michael Jordan’s face. They get an actor, Damian Delano Young, to play the young Michael Jordan but they never show his face, shooting always at an off angle favoring Davis or Damon, and never letting him speak. If this story is about his greatness as an athlete, if the push was to show us that the skill and the promise of this young basketball player was enough to cause this much trouble, how come we never get to see him play or see his face?

No, what is given emphasis here is the money: how much were they willing to risk, and how much they were going to make. There’s no real character development here – Sonny Vaccaro, Rob Strasser, Deloris Jordan – they are exactly the same people when this movie started but they just ended up much richer. At the end of the film, they put down some facts about how much Air Jordans, the shoe that is at the center of the film, sold that year and the years to follow and how much Michael Jordan makes every year because of this deal – and it’s a lot – and, sure, it talks about how Deloris Jordan has opened up charities and gives back.

But it is a whole lot to do about money. They put so much emphasis on the possible loss of the basketball division but also mention that the company was already making so much in running shoes. They weren’t going to go bankrupt at all.

Yes, great performances – Viola Davis, Chris Messina, and even a wonderful cameo turn by Marlon Wayans – and some snappy dialogue and great camera work (though the music is so intrusive and overselling the 80s vibe way too much) but at the end of the day, it feels like a commercial or a product placement.

My Rating:

—
Air is now showing in cinemas nationwide. Buy your tickets here

Photo Credit: “Warner Bros. Pictures”

April 27, 2023
MOVIE REVIEW: ‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie’ is at its best when it’s not being grounded

I remember, back in the 80s, when my parents gave my siblings and I our first Nintendo gaming console. At the time, we only had one cartridge and that was the original Super Mario Bros. game. I wasn’t good at it but I kept trying anyway. My brothers were getting further and further into the game and I was stuck in the earlier levels, still making mistakes but still playing and giving it a shot. It’s that feeling that directors Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic, with scriptwriter Matthew Fogel, wanted to portray in their animated feature film ‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie.’ There are a lot of references to the various kingdoms and worlds of the game and a lot of references to the puzzles and moves that you do in all the games. And as someone who still plays Mario Kart until now, the reference to that was enjoyable to see as well.

It’s these connections to the games that makes ‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie’ enjoyable to watch. The game is loved by so many generations that when there is a clever use of any call back to the games, it’s very much appreciated. The whole idea of the game in itself – two New York City plumbers saving a princess from a fire breathing turtle (who looks like a dragon to me) – is so out of the box that I wish it stayed that way throughout the whole movie.

(from left) Mario (Chris Pratt) and Luigi (Charlie Day) in Nintendo and Illumination’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie, directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic.

In fact, as enjoyable as seeing all the game references in the movie played out in cinematic form, they even upped the ante with their portrayal of Bowser, the aforementioned fire breathing turtle. Voiced impeccably by Jack Black, Bowser’s character is so surprising to me and so left of center that I was cracking up any time he was on screen. The menacing villain who is taking down kingdom after kingdom is really just a lovesick tyrant who just wants to rule the kingdoms with Princess Peach. It’s surprising and it’s hilarious as it creates character textures for which Jack Black can make full use of his versatility.

(from left) Luigi (Charlie Day) and Bowser (Jack Black) in Nintendo and Illumination’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie, directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic.

And because that film can delve into this level of craziness that I found the overall film to feel disjointed and uneven. Because while I’m having so much fun watching Bowser and even Donkey Kong, I don’t feel as excited watching Mario, Luigi, and Princess Peach. Donkey Kong and Bowser seem fit into this crazy, fun, and irreverent world but our three leads feel like they belong in a different movie. Worse, they feel like they belong in a live action film.

Donkey Kong (Seth Rogen) in Nintendo and Illumination’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie, directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic.

‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie’ serves as an origin story for the two Italian American brothers. So their story begins in Brooklyn and they have all the foundations of a typical hero’s story. They are looked down upon by their former boss and by their father. There is a real-world angst here that doesn’t quite fit with the craziness. It’s a little too serious for what is about to happen in the rest of the movie (and doesn’t really serve the plot in any way).

When Mario and Luigi (voiced by Chris Pratt and Charlie Day, respectively) find themselves transported to the mushroom kingdom, the brothers are separated and Mario, the more courageous and unrelenting brother, must find Luigi, the more cowardly and insecure brother, who happens to find himself transported into Bowser’s land. It’s a nice twist that instead of Princess Peach (voiced by Anna Taylor-Joy) being the damsel in distress, she teams up with Mario to stop Bowser, save the mushroom kingdom, and save Luigi.

(from left) Mario (Chris Pratt) and Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy) in Nintendo and Illumination’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie, directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic.

Except there is nothing in the story that would make Princess Peach accept any help from Mario, who by all means is a stranger to their lands. And, in efforts to be progressive and feminist, they wrote Princess Peach as being very formidable. She is, afterall, a player character in later versions of the game. But by making her very capable, they removed any sense of humanity in her. She is perfect in every way. She has no character arc or growth, and worse, she’s so capable that you could do the whole movie without Mario and she could still save the mushroom kingdom on her own.

Luigi (Charlie Day) in Nintendo and Illumination’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie, directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic.

This is the disjointedness of the film. Everything related to the lead characters is flat, predictable, and too serious for a film that has mushrooms, when eaten, gives you special abilities. This film has turtles that you can step on and kick their shells to explosive effect. It’s as irreverent as they come. The groundedness that they put on Mario’s character and in the portrayal of Peach didn’t serve them well. In fact, they are the least enjoyable aspect of the film.

(from left) Donkey Kong (Seth Rogen), Mario (Chris Pratt), Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy) and Cranky Kong (Fred Armisen) in Nintendo and Illumination’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie, directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic.

I was expecting to not like this movie. The trailer alone didn’t excite me but seeing it on screen and watching the hilarious antics of Jack Black as Bowser and even Seth Rogen’s portrayal of Donkey Kong made the movie for me. There were stunts that resembled the games I’ve played that put a smile on my face. There were some animated textures that were incredible to see in 3D. For a family film, it’s quite violent but it’s loud and funny and visually stunning that the kids will enjoy it and the child inside every grown up who has played Super Mario Bros will get tingling somewhere inside.

I just wish they forgo the groundedness in the future sequels (because there will be) and just go all out.

My Rating:

The Super Mario Bros. Movie is now showing in cinemas nationwide. Buy your tickets here.

April 19, 2023
MOVIE REVIEW: Secrets, Lies, Confessions, and Revelations: a review about ‘About Us But Not About Us’

There is a confidence in director and screenwriter Jun Lana’s ‘About Us But Not About Us’ that permeates through the whole film’s concept. I’ve heard people describe it as an exercise in “minimalist filmmaking,” of which they also state that it is done excellently. And while I agree that the film shows great craftsmanship in all aspects – direction, acting, cinematography, editing, sound and music – I have to disagree that it’s minimalist in nature. Sure, the whole movie is set in one location and primarily played out by two people having a conversation over lunch: it’s as minimalist as it can get for a full-length feature. But by going down to the bare minimum – a story of two people having a conversation – the film becomes maximalist in terms of the little details in both performance by the actors and how the plot unfolds through the dialogue.

Romnick Sarmenta plays Eric, a teacher, who joins his student for lunch at a restaurant, played by Elijah Canlas. In the midst of the pandemic (the story seems set at the easing of an ECQ and there’s hardly anyone in the restaurant), everything looks innocent enough though something just isn’t right. While Eric seems like a caring older brother or maybe even paternal towards the student but should he be? Isn’t there some boundary that’s being crossed here?

And throughout their conversation, all of this and so much more is unraveled. Yes, Eric is a 40-year old gay university instructor and was Lance’s teacher at some point. Their friendship was the cause of some disturbance at school and may or may not have had an effect on why Eric’s boyfriend for seventeen years, Marcus, may have killed himself.

This conversation and where it leads (and it goes into some dark and twisted turns) becomes a playground for both Sarmenta and Canlas to do some brilliant acting work. And, despite ‘About Us But Not About Us’ being a two-man piece, it’s really a three character movie because Marcus is such an important character in this narrative. They talk about him so much that his specter is present in their conversation. It’s so present that there are two scenes wherein Sarmenta and Canlas both take on the role of Marcus as the other recounts an encounter with him. What is most amazing about these two flashback scenes is how both Sarmenta and Canlas evoke the same character but with shades of how Eric and Lance see Marcus. There’s so much range here and so much precision. Sarmenta’s Eric is well-intentioned. He believes he is a good person and, in the process of this conversation, is brought down to his most vulnerable and fragile and his inner desires are starting to surface but Sarmenta holds it in and just keeps it right behind the eyes for us to see. Canlas, on the other hand, has to work with subtext all throughout because his Lance is not all that he seems to be.

This is when the film becomes maximalist because that camera is moving so diligently trying to capture all the little gestures and looks that shift and flow as the story unfolds. After every new revelation is brought to the surface, Eric or Lance adjust, their facial expressions betrays a sudden realisation or an opportunity for an attack – this movie is about the little details and how it makes these things fill up a movie theater screen with context – and you realise that this isn’t a friendly conversation. It’s a battleground.

Lana and company manage to tackle so many different large themes – the power dynamics between students and teachers, the relationship troubles within queer couples, the secret lives of young queer men, and the power of eloquence and the written word – but encapsulates it all within one conversation in one restaurant. He takes a small, private, intimate moment and turns it into a cinematic feast as he accentuates the smallest details and enlarges its scope through the camera. It’s a magnificent feat.

It’s an engaging 90 minutes, a thriller done completely in one conversation. Each revelation done through dialogue and its ramifications are felt by how fully the characters react to the discoveries. In a cinematic landscape that is plagued by too many big budget blockbusters, it’s so refreshing to see something so intimate and so personal turned enormous through the medium of film.

My Rating:

April 19, 2023
REVIEW: Lightweight and lots of fun, ‘Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves’ is quite enjoyable

As someone who used to play the popular tabletop role playing game back in the 80s and 90s (and reintroduced to the world and made popular again by ‘Stranger Things’), seeing the trailer of Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves tickled my childhood fantasies. In the trailer, I saw creatures I’ve fought in the game like The Displacer Beast and the Gelatinous Cube. It’s all geekdom and nerd-lore but that’s the realm by which ‘Dungeon & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves’ is trying to strike a chord with. And by all means, it works.

There’s an almost improvisational structure to the narrative of the film, which reminds me of how it’s like to actually play the game. Rather than laying down and establishing all the moving parts early on, we discover side quests that are needed to beat the big boss of the film. There are even three stories told within the main story – again, very reminiscent of the actual tabletop role playing game – but you don’t have to have played the game to enjoy this movie. The characters, most especially the duo of Chris Pine and Michelle Rodriguez, is actually enough to carry the movie through.

‘Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves’ is a fantasy action heist movie with Chris Pine and Michelle Rodriguez as Edgin and Holga, partners in both petty crime and raising Edgin’s daughter Kira (Chloe Coleman). When one job goes horribly wrong, Edgin and Holga find themselves in prison and take on a quest to get free and find Kira. The first part is easy but the second part, means they’d have to go against a former ally Forge Fitzwilliam (played by Hugh Grant, who is obviously having a blast) and their former client Sofina (Daisy Head), who happens to be a powerful wizard.

So the narrative shifts from a simple rescue mission to a complicated caper that includes mystical items to break through a very powerful kingdom. Along the way they gather the sorcerer Simon (Justice Smith, a shape-shifting druid (Sophia Lillis), and the Paladin Xenk (Rege-Jean Page).

It’s a team caper film with a lot of moving parts and each segment is hinged upon the special skills of one of the main characters or a magical item that happens to be in their arsenal. It’s not particularly clever plot-wise, in fact, there’s very little friction or true struggle in the film. You get this feeling that they’ll figure it out regardless of what obstacle gets in their way. ‘Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves’ is lightweight and easy in tone and mood and that’s actually its charm.

‘Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves’ is not out to put you through a ringer. Instead, it’s out to give you a good time and enjoy a hassle-free adventure. It’s generous in its gags and jokes and plenty of battle sequences. It’s a by-the-numbers adventure film where the stakes aren’t that high but the enjoyment level is still quite high.

And surprisingly, it manages two very touching scenes, both involving Pine, Rodriguez, and Coleman, which serve as the heart of the film. For all its lightweight charm and its incessant use of one-shot techniques and CGI effects to showcase the full extent of a shapeshifting druid’s abilities, the film surprises you with tender moments full of heart. The dynamic and relationship that the film manages to establish between Edgin, Holga, and Kira surprises us with a strongly beating heart at the center of this movie.

More than anything, it’s just nice to see a totally different world in the cinema that’s not superhero related nor some reboot of some old tv show or movie. It’s a completely new set of characters and adventure and while it is set in a familiar world – familiar to those who know the world of Dungeons & Dragons, most specifically the Forgotten Realms campaign setting – it still feels new and refreshing.

My Rating:

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Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is now showing in cinemas nationwide. Buy your tickets here

March 31, 2023
REVIEW: The Surprising Metaphor Behind ‘John Wick: Chapter 4’

By this point, I have forgotten most of the plot of the ‘John Wick’ series. Coming into John Wick: Chapter 4, all I knew was that I wanted to see the polished, hard-hitting action choreography we have been given in the first three installments. It’s the brand that has grown from this slick action, neo-noir franchise made popular by Keanu Reeves’ titular character, the assassin John Wick. Within the first ten minutes of the film, all I needed to remember was laid out before me and I knew who John Wick was out to kill and sat back and was ready for the ride.

What I wasn’t ready for were the figurative parallelisms that ‘John Wick: Chapter 4’ took to my own life as a man in my mid-forties who is looking to take things easier as I pass middle age. Down to its most basic, John Wick is the story of a master assassin who is literally killing everyone off so he can get out of the system and retire peacefully from that world. But the trouble that began, way back in the first installment of the series, has made him a liability (and has reminded the organization he used to work for how good he is at his job). It’s a man who just wants out but they won’t let him. Now how does a man in his mid-forties relate to this story? The connection there is in how this world is so hard-wired to ensure that you can never get out of the system. Not without ruffling a few feathers, or in the case of John Wick, killing a boatload of men and then some.

The world of John Wick and the organization he’s after, the High Table, has expanded that we get to see the history of John Wick come into play – old friends have come to give him refuge (to their own detriment) while other people from his past are brought in to bring John Wick down – and all of a sudden this world with all its cool martial arts and gun choreography takes human form. Sides are created and the High Table, represented by Bill Skarsgard as the Marquis, becomes an inhumane representation of the system that will not give John Wick what he wants. For the High Table, there is no mercy. The rules are sacred and John Wick must be destroyed at all costs.

And what cost! ‘John Wick: Chapter 4’ is not without its extensive body count. Fantastic fight scenes from multiple locations around the world bloat up the film to a running time of close to three hours but it can truly boast some of the most exciting and thrilling action sequences in cinema today. The only thing that dampens the polished groove of the film is that one of the best fight scenes ever, the one in Japan, happens in the first hour of the film – with the exquisite Donnie Yen, the ever-reliable Hiroyuki Sanada, and the refreshing and arresting Rina Sawayama, in her debut film role – and while the other action pieces that follow are still great, it’s pales in comparison from this first battle. It’s what makes the three hour running time feel exhausting. The best has already come early.

Luckily, Donnie Yen, as a blind assassin, creates a lot of nuance and texture for Keanu Reeves’ John Wick to play off of. Yen doesn’t only have the physicality for all the action stunts required from him in a film like this, but he also has the charisma and the gravitas to add a profound depth to the film by being the antithesis of John Wick. While Wick is holding on to a memory of a loved one who had passed, a wish to be free so he can live a life his own, Yen’s Caine is trapped in life with a daughter whose safety hangs in the balance. It’s why the retired Caine is back in the game and going toe-to-toe with an old friend.

So, sure, ‘John Wick: Chapter 4’ is maybe 30 minutes or even an hour too long. Too many fight scenes (though do we really care? Because they were all quite amazing displays of filmmaking and stunt work) can feel indulgent as this is presented as the final installment of a very profitable series but they don’t rest on their laurels and still provide such an interesting heart at the center of it: the price of our freedom. The ultimate cost that we must pay for being part of this system that only sees us for our utility and not our humanity.

Once the metaphor was so clear to me, I was cheering for John Wick because, like him, I wanted to be free of this unceasing struggle with the system. I should be able to go when I want to. The hundreds of bodies that he had to punch, kick, stab, and shoot to be free were just metaphors of every fiery hoop we go through before we realise we are just cogs in a machine. Maybe I’m seeing more than what is really there. But I understood John Wick’s tiredness. It was time to go but they would not let him go.

So, he made a big mess just to get out and left us with a great big movie to say farewell with and I’m all the happier for it.

My Rating:

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John Wick: Chapter 4 is now showing in cinemas nationwide. Book your seats in advance and buy your tickets here.

March 27, 2023
REVIEW: Action and gore coupled with family drama, ‘Kill Boksoon’ has it all

The film opens with a campy scene of a Yakuza member waking up on a bridge construction site beside train tracks and a woman in a nurse’s outfit is waiting for him. The woman is Gil Boksoon, a lethal assassin and the Yakuza member is her target. There is a tongue-in-cheek bit of dialogue that takes its time but helps give us the feel and tone of this movie – it’s fun, irreverent, and hard-hitting. The action sequence that follows is exciting and thrilling, especially when it takes the camera angle from across the train tracks and as a train passes by, the fight scene appears like a slideshow, captured in between the train windows. We see Gil Boksoon’s competence and the Yakuza member’s skill and it’s a fantastic watch. It prepares us for what is to come.

Because while the movie is about a lethal assassin, who may be past her prime, she is also a single mother of a teenage girl and she has to juggle both in order to live. There’s a line in the movie Kill Boksoon that really summarizes this incredible film: “Killing people is easier than raising a kid.” It’s the whole foundation of this movie and betrays the sheer duality of this story. On one hand, it’s a slick, glossy action and suspense movie about an assassin but it is also, on equal measure, an interesting family drama about a mother and her teenage daughter who cannot connect with each other because of the secrets that they keep.

Photo: Netflix

At the center of all of this is Gil Boksoon, played by Jeon Do-yeon. Jeon Do-yeon is magnificent in the role. You can see it in her eyes and her gait: she loves being good at her job, she loves being admired by other assassins. It’s the exact opposite of how she is when her daughter is around. She’s insecure, unsure of herself. The contrast is so striking but very believable.

Jeon Do-yeon manages a balancing act of the two tonal shifts of the movie; at one end, it’s a campy assassin movie, with hard-hitting fight choreography and lots of blood and gore but at the same time, it is a family drama. Interestingly enough, there is nothing corny about Kill Boksoon – her relationships with the people around her are practical; she’s not a humble, quiet killer; she enjoys her work and she knows what she is doing is bad as we hear in one of her killer lines as she says, “We know we are going to hell. That’s why we don’t pray.” – and it is in that acceptance, that the movie winks and nods to the audience that tells us to not take it too seriously and that we can still root for her if we want to. She is human and she has fully accepted her choices in life, as horrible as those choices may be.

Photo: Netflix

There is a world here not unlike John Wick and it doesn’t go too deep that it overshadows the heart and soul of the film but it is real enough to make the world not feel so empty or fabricated. That balance allows the movie to play out in two completely different tones – the action thriller and the family drama – both working hand-in-hand to enhance and amplify the other. It is Boksoon’s insecurity about being a mother that is highlighted in comparison to how great she is as a killer, that comparison in inextricably linked, but it is in her learnings from being a mother that she finds herself able to navigate the messy world of her underworld profession, which turns difficult as she reaches the end of her contract.

Photo: Netflix

There is masterful direction here by Byun Sung-hyun, who is unafraid to do jump cuts into the next scene or shift to flashbacks, and other jarring editing techniques and camera angles just to not engage in the peripherals – just like its main character, this movie means business. But despite its technical flourishes, the movie never strays too far from its beating heart.

Coupled with an amazing ensemble backing Jeon Do-yeon, including a standout Koo Gyo-hwan, another assassin with a personal relation to Gil Boksoon, and Kim Si-a, who plays the teenage daughter, Jae-young, ‘Kill Boksoon’ is a really engaging movie that surprised in every turn. It never lingers in the sentimentality and goes straight for the jugular.

My Rating:

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Kill Boksoon starts streaming on Netflix this March 31.

March 27, 2023
REVIEW: The stakes are raised in the first two episodes of ‘The Glory’ part two

In the first part of The Glory, we saw Moon Dong-eun carefully lay out the foundations of her grand machinations to take vengeance on the bullies who made her teenage years a living hell. Relentless in her pursuit for revenge, Dong-eun is almost a completely cold-blooded machine with only tiny sparks of humanity on display when dealing with her accomplice, Mrs. Kang (a wonderful Yeom Hye-ran), and a young doctor who has fallen for her, Joo Yeo-jeong (Lee Do Hyun). By the end of episode 8, the trap is set and one of the bullies has gone missing, Kim Gun-woo, while the husband of the mastermind of the bullies, Park Yeon-jin has begun to suspect their child is not his and his wife is not the person she had led him to believe.

The show, already intense as it is, gets even more heated in the first two episodes of its latest season. With Gun-woo missing, the bullies are starting to fall apart and turn against each other and this forces Yeon-jin to bare her fangs and fight back.

Part One of ‘The Glory’ was enjoyable because we saw Dong-eun (Song Hye-kyo) weave a tangled web that put her former tormentors into a tailspin. The show gave us a chance to revel in her vengeance. The campy, one-dimensional brutality of their bullying earns the psychological terror she puts the bullies in and we derive joy from it, despite how it could possibly destroy Moon Dong-eun’s soul forever.

Photo: The Glory Part Two trailer

But now that the pressure is on, Yeon-jin is fighting back and what was a one-sided battle has now become a head-on battle. And Yeo-jin is not without her means. While Dong-eun has had 18 years to prepare, at the heart of it all is a tortured soul. She’s still, inherently a good person seeking safety. Yeo-jin is pure evil and her opening salvo on episode 9 is directed at my personal favourite character, Mrs. Kang.

All of a sudden, Dong-eun’s plan is not as foolproof as we were led to believe.

At the same time, Yeon-jin’s husband, Ha Do Yeong (Jung Sung-il) is not some simple puppet. He’s still a variable who may or may not go against his scheming wife. And the bully Jeon Jae-jun (played by the brilliant Park Sung-hoon) has plans of his own to take Park Yeon-jin’s daughter as his own.

Photo: The Glory Part Two trailer

With all these variables coming into play, episode 9 and 10 of ‘The Glory’ has raised the stakes and taken out the fun of taking revenge and made the battle very real and very dangerous for Dong-eun. The advantage of surprise is no longer there. It’s her against all her bullies and while her first strike has been decisive and brutal; it seems that the retaliation will just be as severe.

What makes ‘The Glory’ so enjoyable was how we got to see these untouchable bullies suffer at the hands of the person they tormented. Now that it has evened out the playing field, it’s no longer a guilty pleasure. The show has managed to shift our desires from wanting to see Dong-eun’s comeuppance to just making sure she survives. This bait and switch, made possible by cutting the season in half and taking a 2-month break, is an interesting use of the medium to build momentum and to help the show gain its full stride.

Photo: The Glory Part Two trailer

Now, more than ever, her humanity is at stake and the show is now poised to reach a profundity that wasn’t available to it at the beginning. This is a promise made by the character of Mrs. Kang because Joo Yeo-jeong is very happy to be an accomplice to Dong-eun’s plan. His own dark backstory, as revealed in episode 10, has made him poised to be an even more frightening aspect of this story.

As ‘The Glory’ returns to streaming with part two, we will all await with bated breath how this story will end.

My Rating:

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The Glory Part Two starts streaming on Netflix this March 10.

March 6, 2023