Tag: movie review

Movie Review: Lacking Restraint, ‘Untold’ Also Gives Us No One to Root For

It is sometimes useful to withhold information in a film’s story to create a sense of mystery; that would get the audience invested into the narrative and capture their attention. The big reveal would create the “Aha!’ moment in the film’s third act that can create an emotional response that can make cinema fun. From the title alone, the horror film directed by Derick Cabrido and written by Enrico Santos ‘Untold’ attempts to use this structure but ends up undermining its film’s relatability making it a difficult watch. After all, ‘Untold’ is a horror film and by withholding important information at the first act of the film, it becomes harder for us to invest in the protagonist Vivian Vera, played by Jodi Sta. Maria.

The movie is about a reporter, Vivian Vera, who is being haunted by her past. Her latest scoops have not been doing as well as a landmark reportage she did in previous years about a massacre that happened at a real estate development property. That story put three people in jail, three of the culprits and the guard that let them in the property to kill the informal settlers whose homes were being vacated for the project. But now the guard has been set free, and Vivian is seeing the ghosts of the victims, and they are terrorizing her.

There are several things that aren’t working well in this film, the most significant one is the structural issue I stated above. As we enter the film, Vivian is the star reporter of the news program Untold and she’s unpleasant to work with, she comes off as two-faced to her boss and to the people around her, and she seems more concerned about her career than anything else. It’s a tough person to like, even when played by Jodi Sta Maria. Her character’s vulnerable side is her relationship with her mother (Gloria Diaz). The film, though, never takes a moment to really cement their dynamic. The nuances and textures of their relationship, much like the big mystery about why Vivian is being haunted, is left as a big exposition scene at the third act. This means that throughout the first two acts, Vivian is a character that we do not like and so it is hard for us to care about her and the fact that these spirits are haunting her.

Source: Untold Movie FB Page

For a horror film to succeed, we need to be able to care about the safety of the protagonist or at least someone good but this film has a huge absence of innocents. Almost everyone has a dark side or secret. Even the most innocent of the characters, Juan Karlos’ Jasper Torres, who works with Vivian and has an intense crush on her. He is the closest to good with have in the film but when you realize that he is blind to Vivian’s dark side that he would support her even after he discovers who she is do we see that he can’t be all that good. Without someone to root for, the hauntings become less scary.

And this is where it also fails. They say, “less is more” and ‘Untold’ could have used a bit more of this adage because the film is just chock-full of these scary moments. Vivian is constantly entering into a trance and being grabbed and groped and choked by these spirits, but she also ends up alive after every attack. No actual physical harm comes to her. After a certain point, they stop being scary because there’s no real apparent danger. The more we see – and we see the make-up, the special effects, and we get used to loud sound design that comes with everything haunting – we become desensitized and at some point, the people behind me at the cinema just started laughing.The film has a lot to say about not taking everything we see on media at face value. It asks us to interrogate what we see, ask questions, verify information and challenges everyone in that field to hold on to their integrity. It is quick to punish those that have stepped out of line but offers no counterpoint or comparison, so it comes off cynical and jaded. It’s not an easy watch. Even in films like these, we still need someone to root for.

My Rating:

Untold is now showing in cinemas! Check showtimes and buy your tickets here.

May 4, 2025
Movie Review: Revolutionary in Vision, ‘Thunderbolts’ Is a Great Underdog Story

I love a good underdog story. Everything about ‘Thunderbolts*’ is geared towards entering the psyche of those who feel lost and empty and left behind. It’s a superhero movie, for sure, in the very superhero world of the Marvel Cinematic Universe but each character, many whom we have seen before, are experiencing burn out or aimlessness. Each of the protagonists of the film have done horrible things and they cannot escape their past. It is said many times in the trailer that “they are not heroes” but as the trailer also suggests, they are the only ones left to stop the MCU’s next impeding danger.

In post-Avengers world, Yelena (Florence Pugh), John Walker (Wyatt Russell), Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), and Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko) find themselves out hunting each other as a trap laid out by their former employer Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus). It is supposed to be Yelena’s last job as she’s lost her heart for it, for everything. But the ensuing standoff finds the mercenaries joining together to get out alive all the while trying to discover the mystery behind Bob (Lewis Pullman), who happened to be at the vault that Valentina was trying to destroy along with the mercenaries.

John Walker (Wyatt Russell), Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) and Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian (David Harbour) in Marvel Studios’ THUNDERBOLTS*. Photo by Chuck Zlotnick. © 2025 MARVEL.

On the trail is Bucky Barnes AKA the Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan) as he is trying to navigate politics as an elected congressman but seems better suited to the life of a hero. Joining them is the Red Guardian (David Harbour) and the new ragtag team must find it within themselves to be the heroes America is lacking to fend off the super powerful new entity known as The Void.

Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) in Marvel Studios’ THUNDERBOLTS*. Photo by Chuck Zlotnick. © 2025 MARVEL.

It’s quite clever how director Jake Schreier and screenwriters Eric Pearson and Joanna Calo manage to execute a character study while filling all the time with funny moments and intense action sequences. While this is without a doubt Yelena’s movie, almost each other character finds a moment to realize that there’s something missing in their lives. Walker is still trying to live with the shame of being a failed Captain America. Bucky is not suited for politics and is trying too hard to still do good in the only way he knows how. The Red Guardian is still pining for the glory days when his name and his identity meant something and this all ties up so well with The Void, an ominous super-powered being who threatens to engulf the world in darkness.

(L-R) Director Jake Schreier and Wyatt Russel on ther set of Marvel Studios’ THUNDERBOLTS*. Photo by Chuck Zlotnick. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2025 MARVEL.

As funny as the movie is, it’s quite refreshing to see a superhero film deal with burn out and existential questions, especially coming from characters who have a history of violence and murder. Through their interactions with each other and, the eventual joining of forces to become a team, ‘Thunderbolts’ ends up becoming a hopeful belief in second chances and of finding redemption by leaning on others, even when you don’t believe in yourself.

Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), Bob (Lewis Pullman), John Walker (Wyatt Russell), Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian (David Harbour), Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) and Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan)in Marvel Studios’ THUNDERBOLTS*. Photo by Chuck Zlotnick. © 2025 MARVEL.

It’s the magic of Florence Pugh, who manages to make Yelena’s existential crisis fit so perfectly into a superhero movie. We’ve seen her in films like ‘Midsommar’ and ‘Little Women’ so we know her range and talent and she manage to show it off again by playing it authentically in this film but not laying it on too heavy that it moves away from the tone of the film. She makes it real but keeps it comic-book appropriate. Wyatt Russell does the same with the scenes he gets to play with but the other real star here is Lewis Pullman, who manages to make the mysterious Bob so fascinating to watch as we discover the full history of his character.

(L-R): John Walker (Wyatt Russell), Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) and Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian (David Harbour) in Marvel Studios’ THUNDERBOLTS*. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2025 MARVEL.

There’s a lot of action and superhero fight sequences to keep the film fun, fast, and exciting but it’s how it handles its ending that feels very revolutionary. I don’t want to spoil anything but the way the film finds its solution – for a team that only “punch and shoots” – is sort of powerful that I almost cried. It’s so refreshing that the solution isn’t what we think it’s going to be and it’s so right for the themes that are at play in the film.‘Thunderbolts’ is a return to form. A big superhero movie that isn’t afraid to be revolutionary and say some really big things about mental health and redemption. It has a wonderful score by Son Lux and a great cast. I hope this is a bigger hit than it is set up to be because I want more superhero movies like this.

My Rating:

Experience the 5-star brilliance of Thunderbolts*, a superhero epic that redefines redemption! Check showtimes and buy your tickets here.

April 30, 2025
Movie Review: American Terror in ‘Warfare’

There’s something visceral and authentic about ‘Warfare,’ the film written and directed by Alex Garland and Ray Mendoza, Mendoza being one of the US Navy SEALs who had experienced first-hand the events that transpire in the movie. The film reenacts the conflict in Ramadi, Iraq in 2006 by two Navy SEAL platoons as they faced heavy fire from the locals who wanted them out of their land. On one hand, it is a battle of survival, showing the tactical strategies and the battle instincts of American soldiers in times of conflict and it is thrilling to see how a platoon managed to get out despite being surrounded by a whole city of hostiles. But as a non-American, the film ends up becoming a cautionary tale of the horrors of war and imperialism. It plays off as an anti-war film when you can see, without filters, the damage that wars cause both on human lives and ways of living.

The plot is simple: a platoon of Navy SEALs sneaks in under the cover of night into a two-story house in Ramadi. They take the families living there into one room and force them to cooperate as they use the house as a watchtower over the central plaza. The film remains quite obtuse about why they are there and what exactly they are doing.

Later on, they are discovered, and as the city begins to quiet down, locals start to arrive, surround them, and begin their attack on the soldiers. As two members are wounded and need to evacuate, they come across heavy fire and suffer heavier injuries and losses and urgently need to get to safety.

The film’s script is based solely on the testimonies of the soldiers present in the house and with Mendoza as co-screenwriter and co-director, he was able to recreate the events as it was shared by everyone involved. The drama and tension of being caught in that moment are laid bare for all to see. The effects of shell-shock, seeing and hearing your companion scream in pain as his legs are torn to the bone, surrounded by the sounds of gunfire are devastating. It’s a compelling cinematic approach that brings us as close as possible to the heart of an armed conflict. It’s brutal, chaotic, and unforgiving. It would be thrilling if it weren’t based on real events.

What’s interesting about this depiction is how there’s so little context that’s in the film. It wasn’t until after the movie ended that I researched the conflict and discovered it depicted a rescue attempt in the wake of the Second Battle of Ramadi. Apparently, Ramadi was the capital of the insurgent forces of the Islamic State of Iraq during the American occupation. None of this context was made clear in the film and, so what I saw, as a non-American, was a bunch of American soldiers traipsing around in lands that were not their own (after all, it’s been argued that the American occupation of Iraq was motivated by faulty intelligence and questions about the legality of that war have been expressed) and causing chaos to everyone around them.

Mendoza and Garland take every opportunity to try and make each character recognizable – easily done by casting some very prominent young actors in these roles including Will Poulter, Kit Connor, Charles Melton, Joseph Quinn, Cosmo Jarvis, and D’Pharaoh Woon-a-Tai – giving them close-ups and calling them out by name. The directors humanize these people so that when the bullets start falling and people start to get hurt, we feel strong enough to care. It’s a complex emotion, for me, knowing that the filmmaking is making me empathize with these people, who in my understanding, are not where they are supposed to be and are bringing the danger to their own selves.

But that’s the thing about war: it’s fought by soldiers who are just following orders. Absent from the film are the people whose decisions it was that put this conflict into action in the first place. The ones who get hurt or die, whose houses are shot at by guns and tanks, they are the ones at the frontlines and dying but on whose say so?

This is how ‘Warfare’ becomes an anti-war movie for me because there’s a lingering shot at the end of the film, when the soldiers finally retreat and are evacuated and all we see are the empty streets of Ramadi with all the debris on the streets, the house from the house shot at by tanks, and the locals stepping out to assess the damage.

It’s the final shot of this film, which omits crucial context, poses a profound question: who was terrorizing whom?

My Rating:

Warfare is now showing in cinemas. Check showtimes and buy your tickets here.

April 25, 2025
Movie Review: A Hell of a Night: A Review of ‘Sinners’

There’s something epic about Ryan Coogler’s ‘Sinners,’ even though the entire story unfolds over just 24 hours in a single community in the Mississippi Delta in 1932. There’s a bigness to the way Coogler sets each scene and introduces to us each character that while the film may feel contained, the themes and the imagery goes way beyond the story’s premise of twin brothers who come back from Chicago to open a juke joint for the black community of their hometown. There is an exploration here of race, of freedom, of history, and of resistance. While the trailer may lead us to think this is a period vampire movie with two Michael B. Jordans (playing the aforementioned twins) but this is a Ryan Coogler movie. It’s a lot more layered than this.

The film begins with a flashforward, a shot of the finale, with Sammie arriving at the church where his father is a pastor, bloodied and dirty and carrying a broken guitar. His father takes him in the congregation and pleads for him to leave his life of sin: of alcohol, of sex, and of blues music. We then shift to the day before, when Sammie sees his cousins, Smoke and Stack (Jordan in a dual role), who have returned from Chicago to open a juke joint in a former sawmill owned by a racist white man.

Photo Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures

In one day, the twins recruits the members of their joint, which include musicians like Sammie and Delta Slim (Delroy Lindo), local Chinese merchants Grace and Bo (Lu Jun Li and Yao, respectively) for supplies, Cornbread (Omar Benson Miller) to act as bouncer, and Smoke’s estranged wife Annie (Wunmi Mosaku), who is also versed in the occult and knowledgeable in the supernatural.

Photo Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures

In one day, the twins recruits the members of their joint, which include musicians like Sammie and Delta Slim (Delroy Lindo), local Chinese merchants Grace and Bo (Lu Jun Li and Yao, respectively) for supplies, Cornbread (Omar Benson Miller) to act as bouncer, and Smoke’s estranged wife Annie (Wunmi Mosaku), who is also versed in the occult and knowledgeable in the supernatural.

Photo Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures

While the juke joint brings in the community to eat, drink, and sing and dance to the blues and jazz, a young woman from Smoke and Stack’s past joins the revelries, Mary (Hailee Steinfeld). With both brothers dealing with the strained relationships of their past, Mary and Annie, and Sammie trying to catch the attention of Pearline (Jayme Lawson), a married singer, trouble begins to brew as a vampire circles the sawmill, hoping to get an invite into the premises.

Photo Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures

You wouldn’t think, during the first hour, that this is a vampire movie. Except for a brief scene introducing the Irish vampire Remnick (Jack O’Connell), the first hour of the film is dead-set on building this vast world and its histories. Smoke and Stack are out in town bringing the people they need to make the juke joint work, and each encounter offers a world of stories that adds layers and depth to this film. Set during the era of the Ku Klux Klan, Prohibition, and blatant, racially charged oppression, ‘Sinners’ carves out a space of what freedom looks like for an oppressed people. And for the cotton-picking farmers of the Mississippi Delta, it’s drinking, dancing, and singing along to some good ol’ country blues that can set a spirit free.

Photo Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures

The symptoms of oppression hang heavy throughout the film but never overpower it, so it never feels preachy. Instead, it creates layers and textures such as the presence of the Chinese merchants, which is historically accurate, and the very colorful history of Steinfeld’s Mary, who also shares the same sort of roots her character has.

Photo Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures

By the time the vampires come and make their attack, the film has turned this fiction into something tangible and real; the stakes are high and true, and while the film can lean a bit too close to camp, there’s a gravitas to the whole proceeding that keeps it grounded and its footing secure.

Photo Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures

Michael B. Jordan is excellent in the dual role of the twins, showing two sides of the same coin: the serious Smoke and the more carefree Stack. He’s a great anchor for the film’s hopes and dreams with an excellent counterpoint by Miles Caton’s Sammie whose own hopes and dreams are filled with idealism as compared to the cynicism of the twins. Delroy Lindo is always a joy to watch but the ones who steal the show here are Steinfeld and Mosaku. Both women have done their assignment and slide into any of their scenes and take the spotlight. Both women steal their scenes (hard to do with Jordan, Lindo, and Caton’s incredible singing) but Steinfeld and Mosaku are completely synched to Coogler’s vision that they make their screentime shimmer with energy.

Photo Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures

Coogler uses the film’s mysticism to create extraordinary moments into the film which elevates his vampire movie into an allegory of black oppression and their unyielding desire for freedom. The success of the juke joint invaded by a white vampire is not just coincidental. The symbolism is just one of many that subtly makes ‘Sinners’ more than your usual popcorn fare.

Photo Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures

The gorgeous music of Ludwig Goransson and the crisp, powerful cinematography of Autumn Durald Arkapaw completes the set for this incredibly enjoyable film, especially if seen on IMAX.

And don’t forget to stay until the very end, as there is a mid-credit and end credit scene for full effect.

My Rating:

Sinners is now showing in cinemas. Check showtimes and buy your tickets here.

April 23, 2025
Movie Review: Struggling With Two Genres, ‘The Amateur’ Is a Movie Without a Solid Identity

There’s something about the trailer of ‘The Amateur’ that leads us to expect something that’s thrilling and action-packed; like a glossier cousin of the Bourne franchise. The premise of a genius CIA cryptographer who goes rogue to find the killers of his wife, Sarah (Rachel Brosnahan), on a quest for vengeance gives us ‘John Wick’ vibes but with gadgets and technology. So, it’s kind of jarring to sit in the theater and watch as the film takes an interesting approach by focusing the drama on whether protagonist Charlie Heller (Rami Malek) can bring it upon himself to kill. All the exciting gadget-centered traps seen in the trailer are not really what’s on the spotlight but whether a brilliant and rational computer geek can become a cold-blooded killer.

At the start, the film takes pains to show us how much Charlie is rather insulated from the world. He lives in a beautiful, lavish cottage filled with lush greenery, which tells us he doesn’t live in the city but away from it. His wife, Sarah, travels a lot and is always inviting him to come along but he doesn’t. Always finds an excuse, work-related mostly, it seems. As a CIA codebreaker, Charlie is sent some top-secret files from an anonymous informant that implicates his boss in something politically disastrous but this is pushed aside when he is told that his wife has been killed in a violent event that led to her being taken hostage and then killed.

Image Source: 20th Century Studios

Consumed by her loss, Charlie uses the secret files to blackmail his bosses to give him field training so that he can chase after his wife’s killers and take vengeance. But his bosses at the CIA are not happy that he has the files and that they are being blackmailed and are also attempting to take him out of the equation.

Image Source: 20th Century Studios

So, Charlie must get what he needs from the CIA before they take him out while chasing after some cold-blooded killers who are way more experienced than he is.

On paper, it sounds exciting. I bet the book that it’s based on, the 1981 novel by Robert Littell with the same name, is probably exciting. The book being released in 1981, it’s probably a lot more low-fi than this version which uses hi-tech traps for Charlie to exact his vengeance, as guns are not his specialty. As his trainer (Laurence Fishburne) tells him at some point, he uses these elaborate set-ups because he’s afraid to get his hands dirty, which makes an interesting thesis.

Image Source: 20th Century Studios

Rather than focusing on how Charlie sets up and pulls off his traps, the film takes several digressions to show visions of Sarah intruding into his daily life and memories of her. The film spends a whole hour preparing Charlie to go after his wife’s killers. Throughout this first half, it shows us how brilliant Charlie is but also how pulling a trigger is harder than it looks. Then the next half has his trying to execute his plans and him dealing with the repercussions of his actions. Director James Hawes and screenwriter Ken Nolan and Gary Spinelli give Charlie as much time to unfurl at a club after he makes his first kill.

It’s these scenes, which paints Charlie as a complex person growing into his new vigilante persona, that slows down the whole film. The dramatic, character-driven parts are not in synch with the aspects of the film that falls under the spy action-thriller tone. It’s not as cohesive as, let’s say, ‘Collateral’ or the dense and cerebral film ‘Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.’

Image Source: 20th Century Studios PH FB Page

Malek is a ball of nerves as Charlie. He has the same affectations as his character in ‘Mr. Robot’ but he’s allowed to be human here as Charlie is not a sociopath (or is his character in Mr. Robot on the spectrum?). He handles the dramatic parts well and how his character subtly builds his confidence after every strike. The changes are subtle but clear. The ones who steal the show though are Laurence Fishburne’s Henderson and Jon Bernthal’s small role as a spy in the CIA who Charlie has admiration for. As Henderson, Fishburne exudes an “I’ve-seen-it-all” attitude and carries himself with such an air of confidence that it makes Henderson so scary while he’s being warm and nurturing to Charlie. It’s an interesting role that Fishburne knows exactly how to elevate. Bernthal, on the other hand, has two or three scenes but he has a screen presence that fits his role so well and creates a wonderful counterpoint for Charlie. His appearance on the latter half of the film leaves such a great impact as we see Charlie facing off with the person, he admires the most.

While polished and well-crafted, ‘The Amateur’ is a different movie than what it appears to be. As a spy thriller, it short-cuts the things we want to see. As a character-study of a man who is reconciling turning into a vigilante, it does not go deep enough to have anything clear to say about the moral quandary of taking justice into your own hands. It has the makings of a sequel and hopefully, they’ll fine tune the general tone and figure out its identity.

My Rating:

The Amateur is now showing in cinemas! Catch it on the big screen—check showtimes and get your tickets here!

April 15, 2025
Movie Review — Hollow and Superficial, ‘Snow White’ Feels Undeserving of Rachel Zegler’s Star Power

From her film debut in Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story to her bravura performance in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Rachel Zegler has the talent and screen presence to be a bona fide superstar. The young actress has range, spunk, and the vocal chops to deliver a classic Sondheim and Bernstein song splendidly. I have such respect for her that I find her underutilized in the overly busy live-action remake of Snow White. The movie is riddled with sentiments that have been played out in other films before and is overloaded with CGI that, at times, doesn’t look quite finished. For someone of Zegler’s talent, this feels beneath her—except when she sings one of the songs by Pasek and Paul.

All the narrative beats from the classic Disney cartoon are in this movie, but they have been expanded to include Snow White’s relationship with her parents and how she got her name in the first place. Her parents raised her to be a leader and to treat people with kindness, and it’s this upbringing that allows her stepmother to take over when Snow White’s father fails to return home after an investigation in the southern parts of their kingdom.

Rachel Zegler as Snow White in DISNEY’s live-action SNOW WHITE. Photo courtesy of Disney. © 2024 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Snow White is then left to do chores, and she and the rest of the kingdom gradually forget she even exists (as expressed in one of the expository songs). The Evil Queen allows her to live as long as the magical mirror proclaims her to be the fairest of them all, but the moment Snow White awakens to the world’s harsh realities, the mirror finally declares her as the fairest. This prompts the Evil Queen to attempt to take her life.

Gal Gadot as Evil Queen in Disney’s live-action SNOW WHITE. Photo by Giles Keyte. © 2024 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

One of the more clever additions here is the idea that Snow White isn’t considered beautiful until she has woken up to the realities of the world. It’s an interesting contemporary reimagining of the story: that beauty is a concept that goes deeper than the skin. It should play well with the film’s push for a more politically-charged retelling of the story but director Marc Webb and screenwriter Erin Cressida Wilson can’t make this kingdom feel bigger than the tiny little town in the film’s opening. This world feels so small and spends more time trying to capture nostalgia rather than to amplify its new themes. It takes the most shallow and contrived examples of corruption and shows them at such a small scale that the urgency the film tries to push doesn’t seem quite true or authentic.

Rachel Zegler as Snow White in DISNEY’s live-action SNOW WHITE. Photo courtesy of Disney. © 2024 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

What makes it even harder to sink into is the balance of the magical elements. There’s a mystical wood right beside Snow White’s castle with the seven dwarves who mine for gems that would make the Evil Queen turn feral, but never do we see her greedy schemes ever come near the dwarves or their bounty. So, when the dwarves agree to help Snow White, it feels unjustified.

(L-R) Gal Gadot as Evil Queen and Rachel Zegler as Snow White in Disney’s live-action SNOW WHITE. Photo by Giles Keyte. © 2024 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Zegler, as Snow White, is fierce and a powerhouse. There’s a humanity in her that makes the character work, though she struggles when performing alongside a fully CGI-created cast. She fares much better when sharing scenes with other live actors—or even, for some reason, CGI-Dopey. Gal Gadot, as the Evil Queen, is giving it her all. What I find unfortunate is that she doesn’t bring anything interesting to the portrayal of the Queen. It’s such a literal performance that it feels uninspired. I’m surprised that she sings quite well. Andrew Burnap plays Jonathan, a bandit who fights in the name of the true king and is the new love interest for Snow White. It’s a fluffy character that’s written to be charming and to bring him (and by association Snow White) closer to the people, which would be fine if the film interrogated and explored the weakness of monarchial system. But it doesn’t. It still presents the fact that princesses and kings are okay despite all this talk about “being for the people.” There’s a disconnect to the socially charged themes and in the setting never questioning the viability of a system that passes down authority by bloodline or marriage. It’s not ideal. Look at what happened with the Evil Queen.

(L-R) Jonathan (Andrew Burnap) and Snow White (Rachel Zegler) in Disney’s live-action SNOW WHITE. Photo by Giles Keyte. © 2024 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

In an attempt to infuse the film with politically charged plots, the film ended up showing how superficial it was in its adoption of these new themes. And when you consider the reimagining of Snow White’s loss of her kingdom, the live-action remake of ‘Cinderella’ by Kenneth Branagh does it much better. It’s practically the same circumstances but done with more heart and a scale befitting the story. In ‘Snow White,’ everything is super-sized but it doesn’t take the time to match it in scale and so it feels hollow and empty.

(L-R): Gal Gadot as the Evil Queen and Rachel Zegler as Snow White in Disney’s live-action SNOW WHITE. Photo courtesy of Disney. © 2024 Disney Enterprises Inc. All Rights Reserved.

With the shoddy CGI – those dwarves are not enjoyable to watch at all – and the plot not giving us anything new, Zegler is working overtime in making the film worth watching. She is singing every song and trying to make every scene mean something more and while she’s doing great, everything around her is just falling short. Zegler deserves a better movie than this and the original cartoon should have just been left alone.

My Rating:

Snow White is now showing in cinemas! Ready for the magic? Catch it on the big screen—check showtimes and get your tickets here!

March 26, 2025
Movie Review — ‘Novocaine’ and the Trouble with the Trend of Extreme Comedic Violence

There’s a good amount of charm in the movie ‘Novocaine’ that helps soften the moral gray area that the film comfortably resides in. Directed by Dan Berk and Robert Olsen and written by Lars Jacobson, ‘Novocaine’ finds an everyman character with the condition to not feel any pain and turn him into a raging vigilante in hot pursuit of love. The film takes much joy in the way that it attacks and brutally damages the protagonist’s body and injects humor by showing how it doesn’t hurt him at all. When the lead reacts in kind, the bad guys feel it at full force. The film revels in the handing out of punishment and while it can be funny, 110 minutes of it can be a bit daunting.

The lead character in question, Nathan Caine (Jack Quaid of ‘The Boys’ and ‘Companion’) has a rare congenital condition that stops him from feeling pain. His whole life revolves around this condition, preventing him from solid foods and timing his excretory functions. It has kept him isolated and constantly cautious. But a new co-worker, Sherry (Amber Midthunder of ‘Prey’) catches his eye and she’s intrigued by his quiet and mysterious demeanor. Inspired to change things up by a client at the bank, Nathan takes Sherry’s offer for a date, and they hit it off that there’s a significant change in Nathan the very next morning. He’s about to ask her out again when a bank robbery occurs at their place of work and Sherry is taken as a hostage. With the cops disabled from the bank robber’s firepower, Nathan takes it upon himself to chase after them and to secure Sherry’s safety while the police are after them, thinking that Nathan might be an accomplice.

Amber Midthunder as “Sherry” and Jack Quaid as “Nate” in Novocaine from Paramount Pictures.

The film is extremely careful to portray Nathan as a good person so that when he starts to fight back, we feel justified in his actions. Especially since the film is dead set in making every battle as brutal and gruesome as ever. As seen on the trailer, Nathan puts his hands in a deep fryer, hot enough to turn his hand to mush. Trust the directors to do a close-up and to edit it quickly to Nathan’s face who is completely unaffected by what should be searing pain. On the other hand, the film ensures that everyone he fights, they are awful and evil and beyond redemption so that when they get their comeuppance, you can be rest assured that only the bad guys feel pain.

Jack Quaid as “Nate” in Novocaine from Paramount Pictures.

It feels like a trend that’s popping up these days where movies are being more and more emboldened to do the worst, they can on whoever they judge is deserving of these intense and extreme cases of violence. From abusive men in films like ‘Blink Twice’ and ‘Companion’ and then films like ‘Monkey Man’ and ‘Boy Kills World’ where the violence is directed to fascists and dictators. ‘Novocaine’ follows on the same trope wherein we are expected to be more forgiving because the bad people are getting “what they deserve” even if it’s not what is regarded as justice by our laws. These films are creating a justification for vigilante justice because we are all becoming more and more aware that the law and law enforcement isn’t doing what it is supposed to do.

Jacob Batalon as “Roscoe” in Novocaine from Paramount Pictures.

Through comedy, the film can take the most grotesque of fight scenes – it happened several times when someone got hurt in such a clever, unexpected way that I and everybody else in the cinema groaned really loud in empathy – and make it palatable because it’s happening to “the right people,” which in the politics in the film are criminals and nazis and fascists. And the film highlights Nathan’s priority which is the safety of a woman he just had one date with rather than the money that was stolen, which he gives away to people who need it. While admirable, it’s not his money to give.

Jack Quaid as “Nate” in Novocaine from Paramount Pictures.

And as romantic as it seems – the everyday man becoming a hero for the right girl – it supersedes rule of law and practicality. While the movie is fun and charming, I’m a little taken aback by the statements it makes about the world: a sudden romance is worth killing for and that is perfectly okay to be brutal to people who we deem deserve it. It’s a very thin line. Yes, it’s escapism. It’s a fantasy. But when enough films and series reinforce this fantasy, when do start thinking that it is right? And would I have this much worry if the film wasn’t so charming?

My Rating:

Novocaine is now showing in cinemas—ready to feel the thrill? Check showtimes and grab tickets here.

March 14, 2025
Movie Review — A Perfect Allegory: A Review of ‘Flow’

After seeing ‘Flow,’ it became very, very clear to me why it won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature over the intelligent and heart-warming ‘Inside Out 2’ and the surprisingly charming ‘Wild Robot.’ The two latter films, while very well-made and will undoubtedly be classics, they do not have the sense of wonder and magic that ‘Flow’ has. The two mainstream animated features are very accommodating, and its narratives are written to ensure that everyone understands what it is they are trying to say. Not ‘Flow.’ The Academy Award winning movie gives us a sort of post-apocalyptic adventure with animals and not a single bit of dialogue. Nothing is explained and every scene, every image is given to us like a metaphor but without any indication of what they had intended it to be a symbol for.

In a way, ‘Flow’ acts as an allegory, but an allegory to what? They left that to us.

‘Flow’ is the story of a dark gray cat who is out in the woods. He lives in an empty house with cat sculptures set up in the lawn. No sign of the owner. Suddenly, out of the blue, a great flood strikes and submerges every bit of land under water. The cat finds a boat with a capybara and the two sail towards distant towers that jut out of the water. Along the way they meet other animals – a lemur, dogs, a secretarybird, and an odd-looking whale – and they journey towards the towers and try to survive as the water level keeps rising and there’s no land at all in sight but the towers.

Images from Flow Movie

Throughout the film’s runtime, the animals relatively behave like animals, and they don’t talk at all. So, it’s all about behaviour. The way a dog would react to a cat or to a lemur. The way the capybara seems to be friendly with almost every other animal as you can see from various posts on social media about the relative chill quality of the capybara. There are some actions that lean towards human-like, but they are so infrequent that it doesn’t break the spell.

So, while these animals have very little control over what’s happening, the film finds a way to create a thematic structure that gives us a story that we can hold on to and that carries from the story’s beginning to its end. It does this completely with vibrant imagery that we can make for ourselves what we feel this movie is a symbol of. The great flood that puts our characters in danger in the first place can be connected to a biblical flood, but you could also talk about climate change. The animal composition and how they got on that boat together could be a metaphor and it can be interpreted in so many ways.

In terms of profundity, it would be cheating but it’s not because it can also survive as just a story about a few animals trying to survive a fantastical flood. It doesn’t have to get any deeper than that. ‘Flow’ is just so excellently thought out and so wonderfully animated that it becomes second-nature for us to instill into it meaning.

Images from Flow Movie

There is no explanation for the flood or for any of the things that happen in the movie – and there are unexplainable – and while it makes us ask questions, it also adds a sense of wonder and mystery to the whole narrative that elevates it into something magical, mythical. Even the way they decided to imagine the whale brings us to a different world entirely. It’s not afraid to be not grounded in anything real but the fact that the animals, our main characters, are just animals and not some anthropomorphic metaphor for humans makes ‘Flow’ such an interesting work.

Images from Flow Movie

Everyone in the cinema that I was watching it in were reacting to every little thing. Some of the children seated behind me was filling out all the details out loud. They couldn’t help themselves. It’s such a magical story and how it was told that it made me want the film to last forever. Again, I am so happy that it won Best Animated Feature at the Oscars and that it is showing in the cinemas. Watch it in the biggest screen you can. It’s magical.

My Rating:

Flow is now showing in cinemas. Check showtimes and buy your tickets here.

March 10, 2025
Movie Review — ‘Mickey 17’ Explores the Humanity of What We Deem Expendable

There is a whimsy to Bong Joon-ho’s ‘Mickey 17’ that feels closer to ‘Okja’ than his Academy Award winning masterpiece ‘Parasite.’ While the latter film is funny, it’s way more grounded than ‘Okja’ and it’s ‘Okja’s’ outrageousness that serves as dominant mode of Bong Joon-ho’s latest film. It’s a science fiction black comedy that tackles exploitation and delves into existential themes while exposing the way the ruling class holds dominion over society in an autocratic and fascistic ways. The film is over-the-top and holds true to Bong Joon-ho’s non-traditional, non-Western filmmaking style and aesthetic that the film’s language may be in English and there are recognizable Hollywood stars in the cast; make no mistake, this is not your typical, straight-up Hollywood mainstream big budget sci-fi movie. It’s a film working on its own terms, and it’s so enjoyable when taken that way.

Set on Earth in 2054, Mickey Barnes (Robert Patttinson) and his friend Timo (Steven Yeun) find themselves in big trouble with a loan shark when their business fails. Unable to pay back the loan, they are threatened with death, which prompts the two to join a colony ship to a distant galaxy for the planet Nilfheim. But while the charming Timo easily finds himself a spot, Mickey is unfortunately not a very bright person. He’s actually on the naïve and dumb side. Without any credentials or recommendations, he applies as an expendable to secure his slot. In the future, expendable technology allows people’s memories and personalities uploaded unto a hard drive while their genetic structure is recorded so their bodies can be reprinted and memories uploaded should they die. As an expendable, Mickey is used as an experiment and is tasked with jobs that are surely fatal, but he can continue returning to continue working due to the expendable technology. Despite his lack of self-esteem, his innocence charms Nasha (Naomi Ackie), a security agent on board the ship and they fall in love and become a couple.

Upon the arrival on arctic planet of Nilfheim, Mickey 17 (he is now identified by how many times he’s died) discovers that the planet has a life form and is left for dead when he falls into a crevice covered by snow. He discovers something about the alien species and when he returns to the colony, he is surprised to find Mickey 18 in his bed.

They reprinted him thinking he had perished. In this time, the use of expendable technology is a moral battleground, but it was allowed for use outside of earth on the strictest grounds that no multiples should occur – multiples being several copies of the same being existing at one time – and now Mickey 17 and Mickey 18 are prime examples of multiples. The two must work together and figure out how to exist before they get caught are exterminated permanently.

In its 137-minute run time, ‘Mickey 17’ can feel like different movies all meshed. The first part allows us to understand the inner workings of that world, the colony ship, and who Mickey Barnes is. The second part is on the arrival on Nilfheim and the crisis of the multiples – Mickey 17 and Mickey 18 existing simultaneously – and the fact that Mickey 18 seems to be a tougher, meaner version and can be quite trigger happy. The third movie revolves around Kenneth Marshall (Mark Ruffalo) and his wife Ylfa (Toni Collette), who run the colony ship without regard for ethics or sensitivities. While Bong Joon-ho has stated in an interview with the Korean Times that he had no intention of mirroring or reflecting any real-life people (or politicians) in this movie, there’s something about Ruffalo’s performances that seems reminiscent of the current US president, but Bong insists that the script was finished in 2021 and filming took place from August to December of 2022. Any resemblance to the theatricality and absurdity of Trump is, to Bong’s words, “a projection of our negative experiences” towards the character.

Like all Bong Joon-ho’s work, there is a strong exploration on social class dynamics and an examination on the act of exploitation; and in this case, the way by which the naive and not-so-bright Mickey Barnes would be so amenable to being exploited just to get out of sticky situation. The ramifications of that simple choice to become an expendable is the bulk of this movie but it also humanizes it in the way by which Nasha still sees him as a human being, even when nobody else doesn’t. The film operates like a satire, so the hyper-real world exaggerates the worst of humankind, which makes any moment of growth – whether it be from Mickey 17, Mickey 18, or Nasha – feel even more inspiring. And these moments flare up in a film that is loaded with gruesome, brutal scenes of death (mostly Mickey’s), a fascinating new alien species that is more than meets the eyes, and Ruffalo and Collette’s scenery-chewing performance that is so outrageous it sometimes steals the show entirely.

As enjoyable as it is, ‘Mickey 17’ is not the easiest of films to jump aboard as it meanders and takes it time to really make this world breathe and grow. It takes time to build Mickey Barnes and turn him in and out 17 times before Bong Joon-ho gets the story started. If you can let go of traditional Hollywood mainstream conventions of narrative, that this is going to be such a treat.

My Rating:

Mickey 17 is now showing in cinemas. Check showtimes and buy your tickets here.

March 5, 2025
Movie Review — Epic in Scale and Imagery, ‘The Brutalist’ Is a Wonder of Filmmaking, Though It Can Leave You Cold

From the musical score to the cinematography, director Brady Corbet’s ‘The Brutalist’ is a triumph of epic filmmaking. Running at three hours and thirty-five minutes (with a 15-minute intermission hard-coded into the film), it’s a sweeping story about the immigrant struggle during World War II in America. Writing with Mona Fastvold, Corbet creates a rough sketch of a Hungarian-Jewish man who fled Nazi occupied Germany to suffer the indignities of racism in America despite being an accomplished architect. From the opening overture of Daniel Blumberg’s lush score and then the striking imagery of Lol Crawley’s gorgeous cinematography, Corbet manages to build an immense story of a man’s struggle to build himself up again after losing everything.

In a way, it is both a testament and a condemnation of the American dream in equal measure.

Courtesy of A24

Laszlo Toth (Adrien Brody) arrives in America, having just fled the concentration camp of Buchenwald. He has been separated from his wife and niece. In America, he finds work and shelter with his cousin Attila (Alessandro Nivola) in his furniture shop. They are able to secure a job refurnishing and remodeling the study of the wealthy Harrison Lee Van Buren (Guy Pearce) and turning it into a library.

Courtesy of A24

This is a surprise set up by Van Buren’s son, Harry (Joe Alwyn) but when the elder Van Buren arrives home earlier than expected, the surprise of seeing the remodeled study sends him on a rampage, fires Laszlo and Attila and Harry doesn’t pay the two. This event compounded with others forces Attila to break ties with Laszlo.

Courtesy of A24

Three years down the line, now a junkie and working in construction, Van Buren finds him after discovering who Laszlo really is and having enjoyed the genius of Laszlo’s design of the library, invites him to his home and pays him for the job. The two strike a friendship and Laszlo eventually is tasked to build a memorial building for Van Buren’s mother. Laszlo stays at the guest house in Van Buren’s sprawling mansion and is reunited with his wife, Erszebet (Felicity Jones) and their niece (Raffey Cassidy) through Van Buren’s connections and pull. But Laszlo’s design is met with resistance – from Harry, from the town to the rising cost, and other things – and it becomes clearer and clearer to Laszlo and Erszebet that while America was quick to take in refugees, they were never promised kindness or equality.

Courtesy of A24

Courtesy of A24

Spanning from 1947 to the 1980s, the film takes on an epic scale that centers around Laszlo Thot and his reconciliation of his life and genius after it was all stripped away from him after the Nazi’s sent him fleeing for another land. To add bigness to the story, the film transitions moments with old newsreels about marketing the state of Pennsylvania as a booming state of industry and progress. Juxtaposed with Laszlo’s own hardships and struggles while people like Van Buren just get to do what they want; it creates a disconnect which forms the central theme of the film: that the American dream is nothing more than marketing ploy. Not everyone gets a seat at the table.

Courtesy of A24

Adrien Brody’s Laszlo Thot is a broken man yet, someone who still has a lot of pride. It’s a delicate performance that he manages well. I recognize how good Brody is but there are shades of this brokenness from his performance in ‘The Pianist’ but the pride and the swagger, I’ve seen in his work in ‘Peaky Blinders’ or ‘King Kong,’ and even his obsessive doctor in ‘Splice.’ It’s a great performance but nothing I haven’t seen him do before. Felicity Jones is solid and steadfast but it’s Guy Pearce’s Van Buren that really propels this movie as he becomes representative of all the well-meaning American industrialist with their big dreams and reckless abandon; how quickly they can dismiss the people they help when things don’t go their way. The selfishness and unconscious greed are wrapped up in Pearce’s charming performance that makes it all so human. So that when Van Buren commits the ultimate act of jealousy and show of superiority in the shocking third act: it makes perfect sense despite it coming from absolutely nowhere.

Courtesy of A24

But for all its immensity and grandness – ‘The Brutalist’ is a gorgeous, well-crafted movie – I find that the film leaves me so cold and connecting very strongly with Felicity Jones’ Erszebet when she calls America a “disgusting, awful place.” The way the film rends America’s veneer of polish and shine is a little brutal, pun intended. The building that is at the center of all the conflicts in the second act is never ever given its visual moment in its entirety, like a promise that is never fulfilled. It’s shown in parts but never whole and it feels like a symbolism of what America must be like for the immigrant.

Courtesy of A24

It’s a magnificent movie; I cannot say that enough. I feel that the musical score should win the Oscar as it has already won the BAFTA and if the cinematography won, I wouldn’t mind as well. I also enjoyed that film really carved a 15-minute intermission which allowed us to really take in the whole epic-ness of the film. It’s worth it to see in the big screen.

My Rating:

The Brutalist is now showing in cinemas. Check showtimes and buy your tickets here.

March 5, 2025