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Written by: Gilbert Seah

Parent Category: Articles

Category: Movie Reviews

Published: 18 April 2025

BULLET TRAIN EXPLOSION (Japan 2025) ***
Directed by Shinji Higuchi[

BULLET TRAIN EXPLOSION (Japanese: Shinkansen Daibakuha, lit. 'The Shinkansen's Big Explosion') is a Japanese action thriller film directed by Shinji Higuchi and starring Tsuyoshi Kusanagi, Kanata Hosoda, Non, Takumi Saitoh, Machiko Ono, Jun Kaname and Hana Toyoshima.   The film is a remake of the 1975 film The Bullet Train, the film premieres on Netflix on 23 April 2025

THE BULLET TRAIN is famous for inspiring the disaster movie SPEED, with Keanu Reeves driving a bus.   When the Hayabusa 60 Shinkansen bound for Tokyo is threatened with a bomb that will instantly detonate if it slows below 100 km/h and the bomber demands a ransom of ¥100 billion for the lives of everyone aboard, the train's crew, as well as government authorities, must race against time to find the bomber and defuse the bomb while keeping the train and its passengers safe.

Director Shinji Higuchi[ shoots his film as efficiently as the bullet speed train operates, all of what may be described as formulaic and directing by numbers - all of which is not that bad a thing that time has proven - the formula works.   The pacing is well laid out as expected.  It begins with a description of the efficient bullet train and how it transports passengers for various reasons across the country.   It is only after 10 minutes that news of a bomb is planted on the train and only after an hour that the bomber is identified.  The climax involves saving the passengers.   The film lacks an evil villain, and the bomber’s cause is compromised by her reason for doing the deed.

A big plus in this new disaster movie is the integration of high tech with the story.  Aboard the train, an influencer is asking followers to donate money to pay the ransom in order to save lives on the train.  No other disaster films have integrated social media with disaster movies.

The film, being Japanese also displays Japanese traits.  When the bomber’s identity is made known to the passengers,  the staff apologize to the passengers, as is customary in  Japanese tradition - to be always polite and apologize. But there is always someone on the train who will blame the railway staff for anything.  An argument then arises in one of the film’s key scenes when one irate idiot passenger rudely accuses the staff of not doing their work, only to be rebuked by another passenger.   These little incidents add to the amusement of the disaster movie.

The addition of modern transit technology is also on full display in the film.   Even if one may not be interested in the disaster scenario, there is plenty of tech stuff to gawk at.  The Japanese rail control centre shows how efficient everything is, from the display of train times and possible delays right down to the exact times the trains arrive or reach each station.  The staff is shown to be sufficiently trained and effective at their jobs, not to mention as dedicated as their North American counterparts.

The film also focuses on a select few characters. These include, among others, a veteran rail employee and a rookie, a well-known, familiar female politician, a young daughter and father, among others, all adding a little personal touch to the story.

The expected climax is a bit of a let-down, partly owing to the excellent build-up.

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EGGHEAD & TWINKIE (USA 2022) ***
Directed by Sarah Kambe Holland

EGGHEAD AND TWINKIE, written and directed by Sarah Kambe Holland

plays as a road trip teenage movie about two teens who don’t know much about themselves, life, what they want, or anything else.  The film is a mix of live-action and animation and is breezy and light.  It looks and feels like a film with a limited target audience of LGBTQ+ or teens, but despite the fact, EGGHAD AND TWINKIE has its charm and has moved the hearts of many a moviegoer, earning a solid 95% rating on Rotten Tomatoes at the time of writing this review.

EGGHEAD AND TWINKIE begins with voiceover claiming that these two have been friends for life and have never had an argument.  Of course, they do as depicted at the start when the two meet at a restaurant to sort out their differences.  Twinkie has left Egghead stranded during a road trip.  I would never forgive any person who would do that to me, but apparently Egghead does, as he is in love with her.  And then she comes out to him that she is gay.

The simple premise of the film involves an Asian American teenage girl, Twinkie (Sabrina Jieafa) who after coming out to her adoptive parents, takes off on a road trip to meet her online crush, BD (Ayden Lee) with the help of her nerdy best friend, Egghead (Louis Tomeo).

The two leads, Jieafa and Tomeo deliver charming, goofy and innocent enough performances for the audience to identify with.  The raid trip encounters are eventful enough leading them to try to ditch paying a restaurant bill.  But they pay after finding the money showing them to be liable chacrerts with no bad stuff in their hearts.

Besides the funny stuff. The film hits some high emotional notes with its coming-of-age dramatic moments.  This is a film that would be difficult to dislike

EGGHEAD AND TWINKIE  is available on demand April the 29th in Canada and the US.

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FREWAKA (Ireland 2024) ***½

Directed by Aislinn Clarke

The Irish folk horror film, FREWAKA from Aislinn Clarke (The Devil’s Doorway) follows home care worker Shoo, who is sent to a remote village to care for an agoraphobic woman who fears the neighbours as much as she fears the Na Sídhe — sinister entities who she believes abducted her decades before.  As the two develop a strangely deep connection, Shoo is consumed by the old woman’s paranoia, rituals, and superstitions, eventually confronting the horrors from her past.

FREWAKA is an Irish folk horror movie in the best sense of the word. It is set in a quaint Irish village full of typical Irish folk, inquisitive and unwelcoming to strangers. The story is set in an old house filled with Irish charms like a horseshoe and other paraphernalia. The film is also shot in Irish Gaelic with some English, proving the point that the language, though not dead, often deals with the dead.

FREWAKA, the film title (Irish-language, like much of the dialogue) is shortened from the original “Fréamhacha,” and translates as “roots” — a concept that hard-headed protagonist Siobhan (Clare Monnelly), who prefers to be called Shoo, doesn’t much care for.   Roots could refer to the past of either of the two protagonists.  One is Shoo who is reeling from the death of her mother, who is did not get along with and the other, Peig (Bríd Ní Neachtain), the elderly lady Shoo looks after as a caregiver, her roots for isolation that lay in a disastrous rural wedding, that is shown as the introduction of the film.  Peig believes she was abducted decades ago, a fact that is backed up by newspaper cuttings that the bride had gone missing after the wedding.  The poster of the film has roots emanating from the eyes of a human.

Director Clarke’s film flows smoothly and coherently.  It begins with a wedding.  The action then moves to the present day, where, to the tune of an old Irish ballad, a woman takes her own life.  Her daughter Shoo (Clare Monnelly), is a care worker whose reasons for estrangement from her mother will have an increasing impact on her mental state.  Engaged to her pregnant Ukrainian fiancé Mila (Aleksandra Bystrzhitskaya), Shoo is grateful to cut short clearing her mother’s house to start a live-in job looking after an elderly agoraphobic, Peig, in the remote Irish countryside, leaving Mila to continue the pregnancy alone.

The set decor is admirable, with lots of details involving Irish folk stuff.  The wardrobe like the yobs wearing medieval straw masks are also scary as well as impressive, not to mention the wedding ware.  Director Clarke is also adept at creating a scary atmosphere and period that is present throughout the film.

The two characters are each interesting enough, both having problems of their own,  each searching for isolation but eventually finding a bond owing to their somewhat similar uncomfortable past.  An addition to the story involves the estranged relationship between Shoo and her girlfriend, who has to put up with her anger at her deceased mother.  She cannot undreamt Shoo’s behaviour.

FREWAKA  opens for streaming on Shudder on April 25 in Canada, the U.S. and other countries.  Thesis is one of the better horror flicks on Shudder. It's well worth a watch.

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HAVOC (USA 2025) ***
Directed by Gareth Evans

Tom Hardy (MAD MAX, THE BIKERIDERS), arguably the only action hero actor who can act, is the best thing about the new (actually the film has been set on the shelf in limbo since almost the Pandemic) action film HAVOC.  Director Evans (THE RAID, THE RAID 2) knows the fact and gets serious drama, as can be observed in the film’s initial elaborate voiceover.  The message is on the choices one makes, initially good until …….  Apparently, the film’s protagonist, played by Tom Hardy, a homicide detective, made the wrong choice of being a dirty cop.  He has turned good but stands to lose his family, his friends, and then according to the voiceover, himself.

After a drug deal goes awry, a bruised detective must fight his way through a criminal underworld to rescue a politician's estranged son while untangling his city's dark web of conspiracy and corruption.

Director Evans attempts neo-noir, but the mix does not really work that well.  The film is no half-hand but it faces stiff competition to action and action thrillers out there like THE ACCOUNTANT2, DROP and SINNERS. At least this one can be watched at home on Netflix.  HAVOC opens for streaming on Netflix this week on Friday, April 25th.Trailer: 

ON SWIFT HORSES (USA 2024) ***½

Directed by Daniel Minahan

ON SWIFT HORSES is a slow-burn noir, characterized by the fact that there is a lot of smoking done here by the characters, about a newlywed whose life is upended by the arrival of her wayward brother-in-law.  The noir drama is set in the 1950s when a man and a woman are expected to marry and settle down, and homosexuality is not only frowned upon but treated with hate, anger and violence.   The film is meticulously adapted from Shannon Pufahl’s novel of the same name

The title ON SWIFT HORSES comes from the Bible — specifically, Isaiah 30:16.  The verse says:

“You said, ‘No, we will flee on horses.’
Therefore, you will flee!
You said, ‘We will ride off on swift horses.’
Therefore, your pursuers will be swift!”

This quote is essentially about people trying to escape something, relying on speed and distance rather than confronting what’s happening. In the context of Shannon Pufahl’s novel, which the film is based on, and the film adaptation, the title reflects the emotional and psychological state of the characters. They are all, in different ways, running from their pasts, from expectations, from the limitations placed on them by society in the 1950s.

The "swift horses" evoke both literal escape (like driving through the desert, gambling, or just disappearing) and emotional escape (into secrecy, desire, or fantasy). So the title has this poetic resonance about longing, risk, and flight.

 Muriel (Daisy Edgar-Jones) and Lee (Will Poulter) are the new married couple planning to move from Kansas to start married life in California.  Then Muriel meets Lee’s brother Julius (Jacob Elordi), a charismatic gambler with a secret past.  Their connection is instant, like kindred souls.  Nevertheless, Muriel and Lee follow the American Dream in San Diego while Julius heads out to Las Vegas.  Their paths meet, but the result is far from desirable,

  The film might be hard to take in (though not implying that it is a bad film) for a couple of reasons, the slow burn being one of them.  The characters are not that likable either, as they do not seem to know what they want, and they hurt each other in the process of trying to escape to a better life.  Most of their teams are unattainable, mostly by both fate and their doing, which means that the audiences should be prepared for an unhappy ending.

Performances are top notch all around, especially Elordi, touted to have turned down the role of the new James Bond for the purpose of getting into more diverse roles like this one.  Poulter is outstanding too, playing the role of a ‘good man’ as his wife describes his character in one key scene.  Also added to the film’s please is the noir period atmosphere taken into the story’s setting.   The film was shot by Canada’s Luc Montpellier (Women Talking), whose stunning cinematography captures not only the look of the Eisenhower era (the cookie-cutter houses, the pristine landscapes) but also the fringes of Americana (casinos, race tracks, cruising parks, and gay bars).

ON SWIFT HORSES opens in theatres across Canada, including Toronto April 25th.

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PANGOLIN: KULU’S JOURNEY (UK 2025) ***½

Directed by Pippa Ehrlich

What is more adorable than a pangolin?  The answer is a baby pangolin, a harmless, so vulnerable and helpless creature, that one part just goes out to preserve this wonderful mammal

A pangolin will roll up a ball of its scales when threatened.  These solitary, primarily nocturnal animals are easily recognized by their full armour of scales. A startled pangolin will cover its head with its front legs, exposing its scales to any potential predator. If touched or grabbed, it will roll up completely into a ball, while the sharp scales on the tail can be used to lash out.  Also called scaly anteaters because of their preferred diet, pangolins are the most trafficked mammal in the world, with demand primarily in Asia and in growing amounts in Africa, for their meat and scales. There is also demand in the United States for pangolin products, particularly for their leather to be used in boots, bags, and belts.

Eight species of pangolins are found on two continents. They range from Vulnerable to Critically Endangered.

This wonderful educational Netflix documentary, directed by Pippa Ehrlich, who directed the Academy Award-winning documentary THE OCTOPUS TEACHER, follows a baby pangolin, rescued from poachers as seen at the start of the film.  Apparently director Ehrlich was coerced into making the film after being sent footage of the pangolin.  The male baby pangolin Kulu is handled by Gareth, whose purpose is to guide the pangolin back to the wild and survival.  The story is quite basic.  Unlike most docs, this one does not follow the life of he subject from birth to adulthood.  Instead, it follows a pangolin’s rehabilitation to the point when he is able to survive on his own in the wild.  Kulu was almost sold and slaughtered by poachers when a sting operation rescued him. His handler looks after him till he reaches 6.5 kg, when it is a safe enough weight for him to survive on his own.  But an incident involving an electric fence that almost killed Kuu left him traumatized and mistrusting of Gareth.  It took a while before trust was once again attained.  What is marvellous is to observe the bond between a human and a wild animal, not to mention that this pangolin is 100% cute.  The best scene involves watching the pangolin feasting on termites.

The film’s setting is Joburg.  Joburg is short for Johannesburg, South Africa's biggest city and capital of Gauteng province, which began as a 19th-century gold-mining settlement. Its sprawling Soweto township was once home to Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu.  Mandela’s former residence is now the Mandela House museum. Other Soweto museums that recount the struggle to end segregation include the somber Apartheid Museum and Constitution Hill, a former prison complex. 

The film’s best moments are its simplest, just watching the pangolin move on its hind legs and propelling itself with the aide of its two arms.  Watching it feed on ants and their eggs is also quiet the sight.  In defence, the ants bite the pangolin’s tongue, which must hurt it as well.

PANGOLIN: KULU’S JOURNEY is currently streaming on Netflix.

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THE TROUBLE WITH JESSICA (UK 2023) ***
Directed by Matt Witt

Everyone loves a good London play at west end.   The new British film set in North London plays like a chamber piece except for one segment in which body is moved across North London in a car.  Though one might complain about the film being stagey, staginess can still be entertaining.  After all, people do go and see plays.

The film’s title is likely derived from the classic Alfred Hitchcock 1955 movie THE TROUBLE WITH HARRY, also about having to dispose of a dead body - in that movie, the body is Harry, and this movie, THE TROUBLE WITH JESSICA, is unveiled in chapters entitled:

The Trouble with Friends

The Trouble with Neighbours

The Trouble with the police

The Trouble with Friends

among others…….

Chamber pieces work best as whodunnits, bedroom farce, and comedy.   THE TROUBLE WITH JESSICA can be described as a comedy of errors.

The actors playing the Londoners are English, Scots Welsh and American, no attempts made to hide their basic accents.  No complaints here, as the script can always offer an excuse for the different accents.

The premise is simple enough: Four friends, two married couples and Jessica are having a dinner party.   The host is making clafoutis, which is a running joke throughout the movie.  Jessica is clearly the shit disturber.  She excuses herself during the dinner and hangs herself.  The j=hostess denies to,ove the body as she is about to sell the house and a suicide world brings down the price of the listing.  So, the four have to decide what is the best thing to do, and finally decide to move Jessica’s body to her pace, noticed.  But neighbours, plociw and guilt come in the way,

The characters can hardly be described as likable.  The most dislikable is clearly Jessica, who shows up at dinner creating havoc and flirting with all the husbands.  Jessica has done what she has wanted all her life, which is having sex, getting drunk, and snorting coke, and has just written a best-seller of her life.  Then, she hangs herself at her friend’s dinner party. Her character is obviously written for audiences to hate, and when she is out of the picture after her suicide, the audience can only be too pleased.  The funny part is that Jessica is even more toxic dead than alive.  The actress playing Jessica is half Indian and Swiss, exhibiting the beauty of cross-race marriages.

The script carefully places personalities against each character, while making each one distinct and different.   The clearly most disliked one, actually, none of the characters are actually angels, is the self-proclaimed do-gooder played by Olivia Williams.   She is always morally correct and is never too shy to discuss it.   She is the first to oppose disposing of Jessica’s body.  Her husband cannot stand her because of the fact that he loves her.

THE TROUBLE WITH JESSICA premiered at the ICFF (Italian International Film Festival) last year and opens in theatres  April 25th.   Undemanding and entertaining British fare that is a pleasure to watch!

Trailer: 

UNTIL DAWN (USA 2025) ***

Directed by David F. Sandberg

Horror time loop movies are themselves a genre of their own, films like HAPPY DEATH DAY, THE ENDLESS and TIME LAPSE being the most remembered ones.  The best of the lot happens to be from Sweden and Denmark, called KOKO-DI, KOKO-DA, which should definitely be checked out if this is your favourite horror genre.  A new one opens this week in theatres, entitled UNTIL DAWN, which is based on a video game.  The premise is that the characters must stay alive UNTIL DAWN or they will relive their deaths again and again and again.  How do they know this?  In one of the sessions, a witch (Mariann Hermányi) tells one of the characters the important message.  Yes, this all makes little sense, but what can one expect from a film based on a video game

UNTIL DAWN is not that scary a film, KOKO-DI, KOKO-DA, in contrast, is incredibly scary and also funny in that the campers who are repeatedly slaughtered violently do nothing to try to escape their repeated demise.   In UNTIL DAWN, they try to survive till dawn.  After all, what else can be expected of them to do?  The climax and a short clip of what happens next, maybe prompting a sequel, are nothing out of the expected and rather clichéd.

At the start of the film, the audience sees a group of friends travelling by car to find out the mystery of the disappearance of Clover’s (Ella Rubin) sister, Melanie (Maia Mitchell).  The group is comprised of Clover’s ex, Max (Michale Cimino), friends Nina (Odessa A’zion), Megan (Ji-Young Woo) and Abe (Belmont Call).   The script by Blair Butler and Gary Dauberman makes no great attempt at distinguishing each character, though one can tell the other apart for example, that Megan is Asian and can sense ‘spirits’ while Max and Abe look quite different.  But the cast of relative unknowns delivers solid performances.

The script also does not contain any remarkable twists in the plot nor does director Sandberg (also Swedish like the director of KOKO-DI, KOKO-DA), and director of scary films like ANNABELLE: CREATION and LIGHTS OUT create any originally fresh horror set pieces.  Director Sandberg relies on one too many jump scares, which make many of the audience around me at the promo screening jump out of their seats.  The horror special effects work well, especially the exploding bodies in one sequence of the film.  The horror story also lacks an evil villain, though Dr. Hill (Peter Stormare) manages a few scares.  The creation of the ‘waterwall’ is the film’s most impressive and eerie premise, as well as the characters trying to escape while driving in fog.  Driving in fog, and unable to see clearly through the windshield is one of the common nightmares people have.

UNTIL DAWN should satisfy horror fans with scares, violence and gory scenes, though it can be said that the film is not genuinely hauntingly frightening or eerie.  UNTIL DAWN will be up for stiff competition with the other blockbuster and well-reviewed SINNERS that opened last week.

Trailer: 

Details

Written by: Gilbert Seah

Parent Category: Articles

Category: Movie Reviews

Published: 30 March 2025

FILM REVIEWS:

CALL OF THE VOID (USA 2024) **
Directed by James B. Cox

CALL OF THE VOID is set in the Appalachian Mountain range in the United States.  The recent drama APPALACHIAN DOG, by coincidence, is another film set in the same area.   The Appalachian Mountain range is a bleak and deserted area.  The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, are the mountain range in eastern to northeastern North America. The term "Appalachian" refers to several different regions associated with the mountain range and its surrounding terrain.  CALL OF THE VOID features Appalachian folk songs, which are performed by the cast of the film.  It is doubtful if the film was actually shot there as the credits list the filming locations as Big Bear Lake, Big Bear Valley, San Bernardino National Forest, California, USA.

CALL OF THE VOID stars Caitlin Carver (Chicago Fire, I Tonya, Netflix’s Dear White People), Mina Sundwall (Netflix’s Lost In Space, Jesus Revolution), Christian Antidormi (Starz’s Spartacus, Netflix’s The Lincoln Lawyer), and Ethan Herisse (Nickel Boys, When They See Us). It was written and directed by James B. Cox (Hacked, Grey Matter, based on a short story by Stephen King).

After the tragic death of her brother (not seen on screen), Moray (Caitlin Carver) retreats to a remote mountain cabin to try and escape her work, her family, and her old life.  However, her quiet retreat is quickly diverted by a college band of 4, comprising Lucy (Mina Sundial), Sterling (Richard Ellis). Cole (Christian Amtidormi) and Darryl (Ethan Herisse) move into the unit next door and a suspicious professor is studying a local phenomenon involving a mysterious hum.   She discovers that the Hum is a gateway to something otherworldly, unnameable, and once heard--there is no return. The Hum is a sonic experience that asks the question: How can you escape your own senses?  The hum feels like the ringing one often hears that comes and goes in one’s ears.

The film works best when Moray meets the band and interacts with them.  The members appear weird, and indeed they are.  There seems to be no main leader of the group, which the script should have identified.  The bully of the group is clearly Sterling, and the black member Darryl is the one who not only bullied but also seems out of place and not wanting to be there.  Things take a head when all decide to go hiking with each left on an isolated spot to meditate.

But as things develop, the story also becomes more difficult to follow and the lines between the good and bad members of the band begin to blur.  And the mystery of the old professor presumed dead, by the name of Professor Blackwood (Ted Barton) also comes across as strange, not to mention the monster from the void.

The blend of psychological horror and actual horror comes across as a weird mix in a film that ends up with a muddled ending.

Gravitas Ventures will release CALL OF THE VOID on digital platforms on April 15, 2025.

DEAD MAIL (USA 2024) ***
Directed by Joe DeBoer and Kyle McConagh

When an ominous cry for help on a blood-stained scrap of mail is clocked by the staff of a country post office in the American Midwest, it spurs an investigation that circuitously reveals the sordid story of a struggling synthesizer engineer (Sterling Macer Jr.) and his possessive benefactor (John Fleck). Shrewdly set at the precipice of the digital age — that nebulous twilight between the late 1970s and the early 1980s — this analog-textured thriller borders its central psychodrama within an idiosyncratic community of amateur gumshoes who all keenly contribute to cracking the case.  The most immediately prominent sleuth is Jasper (Tomas Boykin), a diligent mailroom clerk with a knack for rectifying “dead letters,” to use the parlance of the postal service. Aided by his two plucky colleagues (Micki Jackson and Susan Priver) and a Scandinavian hacker (Nick Heyman), this ensues a genre-bending caper.  The lack of blood, gore and violence is compensated by the weird way in which lost items and dead mail can be traced - all of which could be either true or made up.  The ambiguity of the situation is heightened at the end with notes of what has happened to each of the story’s characters - which are too odd to be believed.  The setting and cinematography on scratchy, deliberately scratched and blurred film mark this film above others in the genre.  No big-name stars in this low-budget horror, if one wants to call it that.

DEAD MAIL premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival's Midnight Madness Section and opens for streaming on Shudder on April the 18th, 2025

iHOSTAGE (Amsterdam 2025) ***
Directed by  Bobby Boermans

Full Review to be posted weekend)

Trailer: 

SECRET MALL APARTMENT (USA 2024) ***
Directed by Jeremy Workman

 In 2003, eight Rhode Islanders created a secret apartment inside the busy Providence Place Mall and kept it going for four years, filming everything along the way. Far more than just a wild prank, the secret mall apartment became an incredibly meaningful act for all the participants, at once an act of defiance against local gentrification, a boundary-pushing work of public/private art, and a 750 square foot space that sticks it to the man.

The film tells the true story (which documentary is not?) of eight Rhode Islanders who built and lived in a secret apartment inside a busy local mall from 2003 to 2007.  As implied by this premise, the target audience is limited and those outside the target audience might just watch the doc out of curiosity at best.  The doc is more than aptly made, with details and history, with sufficient research done for that matter.   The doc has garnered rave reviews, including that of critic Peter Keough called the film one of the best documentaries of the year, stating in The Arts Fuse that "the secret apartment also symbolized a Borgesian kind of subversiveness, a meta-mirror of the culture that the artists inhabited and subverted.”  Vogue also included the film as one of the best documentaries of 2024, stating that "the film is both an elaborate archaeological excavation and a creative re-enchantment of urban corporate space.

The doc’s main subject is Michael Townsend, who after the story broke in 2007, several Hollywood production companies approached him about making a film. For nearly 15 years, he and his fellow artists turned down "north of 30 directors" who wanted to make a documentary on the story.  It is therefore not surprising to see that more than half of the doc’s running time is devoted to Townsend and his artwork, which has little to do with the secret mall apartment.  There is a lot of praise for Townsend, who also teaches art and how he selflessly devotes his work and time to the hospital

SECRET MALL APARTMENT premiered at the 2024 SXSW Film Festival, the documentary later screened at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival,  Melbourne International Film Festival,  Vancouver International Film Festival,  Hamptons International Film Festival,  and the closing night film of the Newport Film Outdoor Festival.  The film opens in Toronto at the TIFF Lightbox on April 18th.

Trailer: 

THE WEDDING BANQUET (USA 2025) ***

Directed by Andrew Ahn

Written by director Andrew Ahn and James Schamus (a frequent collaborator with Taiwanese director Ange Lee), the new gay comedy THE WEDDING BANQUET, the title might sound familiar.  The reason is that THE WEDDING BANQUET is a remake of the 1993 gay iconic classic of the same name, which was one of the films that put director Ang Lee on the international map of filmmaking.  The new film has several variations, including a Korean setting.  The gay male couple is Korean and Asian American, while the original features a Taiwanese and an American caucasian. Though this version is not bad for the reason outlined below in the review, nothing beats the original.

The new version has a veteran cast of SNL regulars and favourite, Bowen Yang in the title role.  It also features two Asian heavyweight stars as the grandmother of one of the grooms and the mother of one lesbian.  Joan Chen plays May Chen, introduced at the start of the film wearing a flattering glittery cheongsam, while Academy Award Winner from MINARU Youn Yuh-jung plays one of the groom’s grandmother who stole the Oscar from Glenn Close, who should have won the Oscar after being nominated numerous times.   Youn plays the more subdued relative while Chen is the loud and more outlandish one, and one that supports gay rights and the gay movement.  Her character is not amused that the wedding banquet to be organized is to be for a straight and not a gay couple, one of the film’s best jokes.  Also in the cast is an Academy Award nominee for KILLERS OF A FLOWER MOON, Lily Gladstone, who is playing Lee.

The updated story is a joyful comedy of errors about a chosen family navigating cultural identity, queerness, and family expectations.  Frustrated with his commitment-phobic boyfriend Chris (Bowen Yang) and running out of time, Min (Han Gi-chan) makes a proposal: a green-card marriage with their friend Angela (Kelly Marie Tran) in exchange for her partner Lee's (Gladstone) expensive IVF. Elopement plans are upended, however, when Min's grandmother (Youn) surprises them with an extravagant Korean wedding banquet.

` As expected and implied by the film title, much happens during the wedding banquet and in the ceremony itself.  The story is quite different from Lee’s original and with the fact that that film was released way back in 1993, many would not recall what had happened in the original story.  As such, the new version can be enjoyed as if it is fresh and new.

The film is pleasant and humorous and hits all the right notes being politically and racially correct without being offensive to any race, culture or orientation.  The film contains few laugh-out-loud humour though one cannot complain that it is not amusing enough.  Likeable characters and their likeable relatives who control them all add to the pleasantness. Likeable characters and their likeable relatives who control them all add to the pleasantness.  The film also celebrates the Korean culture, though the cast is varied and not largely Korean. As they say, Asians look mostly alike.

THE WEDDING BANQUET opens in theatres on April 18th.

Trailer:  

Details

Written by: Gilbert Seah

Parent Category: Articles

Category: Movie Reviews

Published: 30 March 2025

FILM REVIEWS:

THE AMATEUR (USA 2025) ****
Directed by James Hawes

Written by Ken Nolan, Gary Spinelli and Robert Littell and directed with efficient technicality, the international hunt for a CIA decoder’s wife’s killers takes him through Europe.

The excellent espionage thriller has the feel of two cinema classics - Francois Truffaut’s THE BRIDE WORE BLACK and Fred Zinneman’s THE DAY OF THE JACKAL.

The premise is simple enough, but the elaborate details make this devilish tale work. A CIA decoder who works way below floor level in the CIA building takes on the 7th-floor CIA executives when he discovers a cover-up.  When his supervisors at the CIA refuse to take action after his wife is killed in a London terrorist attack, a decoder takes matters into his own hands.  All Charlie Heller (Academy Award Winner Rami Malick) wants is to personally confront and kill the terrorists that held his wife, Sarah (Rachel Brosnahan) hostage in London and then killed her.  Heller hunts them down one by one, using more of his brains than brawn.

In Truffaut’s THE BRIDE WORE BLCK, Jeanne Moreau’s childhood sweetheart and groom is accidentally shot dead on the wedding church steps.  Her only purpose in life is then to hunt down and kill each of those responsible for her sweetheart’s death which includes getting herself convinced and out into prison so that she can kill the last of her husband’s killers whois a evict.  In THE AMATEUR, Charlie’s life is meaningless now that his wife Sarah is dead, and he has the same purpose as THE BRIDE WORE BLACK, which is to hunt down each of his wife’s killers.  The hunt feels similar in tone to Zinneman’s THE DAY OF THE JACKAL, in which planning (in the film to assassinate Charles De Gaul) is of the utmost importance in achieving the goal.

The film is called THE AMATEUR because the story protagonist is not a CIA-trained professional. He undergoes CIA training to at least learn how to fight and use a gun, under the supervision of one mean trainer played by Lawrence Fishb

Though THE AMATEUR is not an action film but a suspense thriller, some action set pieces are still present.  As Heller is not a brawny fighting action hero, the action set pieces involve him trying to escape those hunting him down - they being either the CIA agents under the corrupt chef or the wife’s killers themselves.

Rami Malek is also an excellent actor who is able to convey great emotion, especially involving the death of his beloved.  He also possesses an impeccable body physique and shown in one scene where Heller takes his shirt off.  But Heller is all brain, gifted in making explosives handmade as well as outsmarting those after him.  The one scene where he unpicks a room lock using a YouTube video is a case in point.  The one fight scene Heller has is with a female operative, Gretchen, who eventually gets killed fleeing from him and is hit by an oncoming vehicle.

Two fast-paced thrillers open this week.  THE AMATEUR, which opens on Friday the 11th, will face fierce competition to the lighter DROP, which is almost as good as, though not better than, THE AMATEUR.

Trailer: 

AUTOBIOGRAPHY (Indonesia/Singapore/Philippines/France/Qatar/Germany/Poland 2022) ***1/2

Directed by Makbul Mubarak

Eighteen-year-old housekeeper Rakib (Kevin Ardilova) has been living idly in a gloomy rural mansion when Purna, the lord of the house, unexpectedly returns. A retired general, Purna aims at winning the local mayoral election, running a campaign focused on modernization and development, which involves evicting poor farmers in order to build a power plant.  With his father in prison and his brother working abroad, there is a void in Rakib’s life that Purna suddenly promises to fill.  The film is basically a two-handler, one innocent hero and the other a guilty villain, with a solid confrontation at the very end.  Director Mubabrak proves himself an excellent director in his debut feature, his camera both doggedly tagging his characters while accomplishing some magnificent night shots as well.  Through the capsule examinations of these two, one can see the problem balloon into the political and social problems of the country Indonesia, which I have noted as I have close relatives living in Jakarta.  AUTOBIOGRAPHY  is the kind of excellent work that would unlikely receive a commercial release in North America.

AUTOBIOGRAPHY was Indonesia’s 2023 Oscar submission for Best International Feature.  It makes it North American premiere, including Canada, on Film Movement Plus on April 11, 2025.

Trailer: 

CALL OF THE VOID (USA 2024) **
Directed by James B. Cox

CALL OF THE VOID is set in the Appalachian Mountain range in the United States.  The recent drama APPALACHIAN DOG, by coincidence, is another film set in the same area.   The Appalachian Mountain range is a bleak and deserted area.  The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, are the mountain range in eastern to northeastern North America. The term "Appalachian" refers to several different regions associated with the mountain range and its surrounding terrain.  CALL OF THE VOID featured Appalachian folk songs, which are performed by the cast of the film.  It is doubtful if the film was actually shot there as the credits list the filming locations as Big Bear Lake, Big Bear Valley, San Bernardino National Forest, California, USA.

CALL OF THE VOID stars Caitlin Carver (Chicago Fire, I Tonya, Netflix’s Dear White People), Mina Sundwall (Netflix’s Lost In Space, Jesus Revolution), Christian Antidormi (Starz’s Spartacus, Netflix’s The Lincoln Lawyer), and Ethan Herisse (Nickel Boys, When They See Us). It was written and directed by James B. Cox (Hacked, Grey Matter, based on a short story by Stephen King).

After the tragic death of her brother (not seen on screen), Moray (Caitlin Carver) retreats to a remote mountain cabin to try and escape her work, her family, and her old life.  However, her quiet retreat is quickly diverted by a college band of 4, comprising Lucy (Mina Sundial), Sterling (Richard Ellis). Cole (Christian Amtidormi) and Darryl (Ethan Herisse) move into the unit next door and a suspicious professor is studying a local phenomenon involving a mysterious hum.   She discovers that the Hum is a gateway to something otherworldly, unnameable, and once heard--there is no return. The Hum is a sonic experience that asks the question: How can you escape your own senses?  The hum feels like the ringing one often hears that comes and goes in one’s ears.

The film works best when Moray meets the band and interacts with them.  The members appear weird, and indeed they are.  There seems to be no main leader of the group, which the script should have identified.  The bully of the group is clearly Sterling, and the black member Darryl is the one who not only bullied but also seems out of place and not wanting to be there.  Things take a head when all decide to go hiking with each left on an isolated spot to meditate.

But as things develop, the story also becomes more difficult to follow and the lines between the good and bad members of the band begin to blur.  And the mystery of the old professor presumed dead, by the name of Professor Blackwood (Ted Barton) also comes across as strange, not to mention the monster from the void.

The blend of psychological horror and actual horror comes across as a weird mix in a film that ends up with a muddled ending.

Gravitas Ventures will release CALL OF THE VOID on digital platforms on April 15, 2025.

THE DAD QUEST (lo me jo del mundo) (Mexico 2025) *
Directed by Salvador Espinosa

There is nothing really funny or dramatic about this new Spanish Mexican drama comedy, THE DAD QUEST written and directed by Tato Alexander and Mariano Vera and directed by Salvador Espinosa about a father and son (they are actually not related according to DNA tests.  The Spanish title ‘lo me jo del mundo’ translated to ‘the world’s best thing’ in English,

When a father-son duo learns that they may not be biologically related, the two embark on a wild adventure through Mexico to find the truth.

The film begins as a comedy in the first 30 minutes, where the audience is shown how bumbling a father or husband Gallo (Michel Brown) can be.  The trouble is that the character is not funny enough to elicit laughs but ends up annoying to the point of irritation.  An example is when his wife wishes to tell him something important - which is the fact that he might not be Benitos’ (Martino Leonardi) dad.  Gallo is downing sushi while listening to her.  It is difficult for the audience to feel sympathy for a character.  Other bouts of unfunny humour involve him ordering shush again when his son asks for pizza. The sushi thing is the film’s running joke, which might only be funny to the film's writers.

At the one-third mark of the movie, the film turns serious with bad news that Benito is not Gallo’s son.  At this point, the duo takes it upon themselves to find Benito’s biological father.  The many possible candidates take the two on a road trip around Mexico, which is neither amusing, dramatic, or funny.  Or does anything make any sense?  The word to describe all of these event is tedium, resulting in an incredibly boring film in which no one cares about any of the story’s characters.  Does one care who Benito’s father really is or whether Benito will find his true father in the first place?

THE DAD QUEST (lo me jo del mundo) opens for streaming on Netflix this week.

Trailer: 

DROP (USA 2025) ***

Directed by Christoper Landon.

A widowed mother, Violet’s (Meghann Fahy) first date in years takes a terrifying turn when she's bombarded with anonymous threatening messages on her phone during their upscale dinner, leaving her questioning if her charming date, Henry (Brandon Sklenar), is behind the harassment.

DROP has two high-profile producers, Michael Bay and Jason Blum, both of whom have made positive imprints on the film.  Bay is known for his action-packed franc shies like TRANSFORMERS, which deliver fast action set pieces, while Blum delivers horror-type suspense.  Both filmmakers also have films characteristic of implausibility and enjoying DROP requires one to dispense with belief and just enjoy the nonsense. At best, the film can be described as a modern-day Hitchcockian suspense thriller. the Master, known often to combine suspense with his humour,

Director Christopher Landon also comes with high credentials, having directed the PARANORMAL ACTIVITY films and both the horror flicks HAPPY DAET DAY and HAPPY DEATH DAY 2U. after breaking into fame with his award-winning short ONLY CHILD.  The film is penned by Jillian Jacobs and Chris Roach both of whom wrote FANTASY ISLAND and TRUTH OR DARE.

DROP is an efficiently produced suspense nail biter with a combination of action, suspense, humour and some romantic comedy added for good measure.  The filmmakers know that the material is not to be taken seriously and thus deliver a film that works that way.

Most of the actors are relatively unknown or known, Fahy and Sklenar from THE WHITE LOTUS and WESTWORLD TV series, respectively and the basically two set film alluring down production costs.  This allows for some money to be put in for some stunning special effects.

The title is a reference to the AirDrop feature on Apple's iPhone, which allows you to share pictures and videos with other phones within your proximity.

Some of the flaws that work for a more moderate budget included emptying out he restaurant when the windows of the top floor restaurant break.  No other restaurant guests are seen at that point and only the key characters are present.  All the characters appear to be tech-savvy.

The honour comes in various forms that include an over-enthusiastic annoying waiter that has the talent of always appearing at the wrong time.  The nod to the HOME ALONE films is also apparent.  Violet’s son, Toby, looks like Macaulay Culkin but with glasses.   The humour can hardly be called laugh-out loud hilarious, but the humour is definitely an entertaining enough distraction.

The film also has a whodunit element.  As the poster goes: Everyone is a suspect.   The villains are exposed in due time, and the one who is least suspect,

DROP has got mainly positive reviews so far, and it is easy to see why.  DROP is an entertaining thriller comedy with likeable characters that one can root for.  Everyone has also gone on a first date in their lives and so everyone can relate to the two protagonists.

Trailer:  

FROZEN HOT BOYS (Kaeng Hima Deuxd)(Thailand 2025) **
Directed by Tanakit Kittiapithan and Naruebordee Wechakum

From Thailand and shot in Thai, the film follows Jab, a notorious troublemaker from a juvenile detention centre, who unexpectedly finds himself leading a snow sculpture team. Under the guidance of Teacher Chom, a devious teacher with a hidden agenda, Jab and his gang of hot-blooded delinquents embark on a mission to win an international snow sculpting competition in Japan. Despite hailing from Thailand, where snow has never fallen (the terms hot and frozen are also two contradicting words) these underdogs are determined to defy the odds.

This is not the fruit film about a misfit coach inspiring a team of equally misfitted teammates to win a contest or competition. In fact, this premise has formed a genre in itself.  The number of films in the genre is, at present, too numerous to count.  Only the competition seems different - an ice sculpting one.

The film focuses not only on the coach but on one member of the team.  Both of these characters are misfits and they deserve each other.  The film is also as crazy as these two  fits which can be both a good or bad thing. 

The film is not to be taken seriously despite its triumph of the human will over adversity theme.  The film is barely entertaining enough, verging on the point of silliness.  It's a forgettable, guilty fun for those able to sit through the somewhat predictable silliness.

FROZEN HOT BOYS opens for streaming this week on Netflix.

Trailer:

LITTLE, BIG, AND FAR (Austria/USA 2024) ***
Directed by Jim Cohen

Warning:  LITTLE, BIG, AND FAR is an art movie that moves at such a slow pace that it takes great concentration to watch the film’s 2-hour entirety without dozing off. It is best to be in the right mind for some meditative stuff on essentials like the meaning of life.  The film that often feels like a doc is not without its pleasures, but one has to work hard to attain them.

The film follows Karl, who is an Austrian astronomer, professor, and museum consultant, at a crossroads in life and work.  At 70, he finds his jobs are at risk and his physicist wife distancing.  Along with a colleague, Sarah, he also finds himself struggling with environmental crises reshaping their fields. Sarah, who specializes in “citizen-science,” has begun seeing Mateo, a young Ecuadorian astronomer who brings her to an old telescope in New Jersey, the site of an astonishing discovery about the origin of the universe. Karl revisits the Rosetta Mission, which landed a probe on a very distant comet.  His wife, Eleanor, reflects on her attempt to witness a total eclipse in the American South and its unexpected political implications. As the historical touchstones of astronomy, his grandson’s future, and his own role as a dark sky advocate begin to spin above Karl’s head, he finds himself increasingly unmoored. After a conference in Greece, he decides not to return home and heads for a small island in hopes of finding a dark enough sky to reconnect with the stars. Abandoned at a remote mountain trail, he ascends and waits for darkness to fall.

It is hard to feel for Karl, who is set in his ways, but that is hardly the purpose of the film.  One assumes that everyone in the audience will at one time reach their crossroads and thus contemplate their existence.  Astronomy fans should find this film more intriguing than others. 

Director Cohen has a different way of showing the magnificence of a total eclipse.  The event that occurs in Texas is shown on the screen more of the spectators of the event than the eclipse itself.  It is he people’s response to the phenomenon that Cohen deems more intriguing.

LITTLE, BIG AND FAR, which premiered at the New York Film Festival in 2024, opens in theatres on April 11th.

ONE TO ONE: JOHN & YOKO (UK 2024) ***1/2

Directed by Kevin Macdonald

ONE TO ONE: JOHN & YOKO is directed by Kevin Macdonald.  The Scots director is one of the best documentary filmmakers at present with the minor masterpiece TOUCHING THE VOID (2003) and the Academy Award winning documentary ONE DAY IN SEPTEMBER (1999).  His is aided by co-director Sam Rice-Edwards for this doc.

The doc is not a biopic of the couple.  The doc basically follows just two years in the life of the couple, right after John Lennon had broken up from the Beatles.  The world often blames Yoko Ono for the band’s breakup.

The film follows John Lennon and Yoko Ono when they move from the U.K. to a Greenwich Village apartment while also tracing developments in American politics, like the presidency of Richard Nixon and opposition to the United States' involvement in the Vietnam War. It is centered around Lennon and Ono's "One to One" benefit concert for the children at Willowbrook.  The film is centred around concert footage and audio from Lennon and Ono's "One to One" benefit concert held at Madison Square Garden in August 1972 on behalf of children at the Willowbrook institution in Staten Island. 

The documentary shows John and Yoko in 2 important concerts in the United States.  The other is the John Sinclair Freedom Rally.

The John Sinclair Freedom Rally was a protest and concert in response to the imprisonment of John Sinclair for possession of marijuana held on December 10, 1971, in the Crisler Arena at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The event was filmed and released as Ten For Two.  The reason behind the concert was the sentencing of Sinclair, who was given ten years in prison for the possession of two marijuana cigarettes. Shortly after the event, Sinclair was released.  John and Yoko performed at this concert and the doc contains an important segment of John talking to his manager regarding this concert.

The doc also provides info that even Beatles fans might not be aware of.  A few of these include the fact that Yoko was married to an American before John and had a son she is searching for in the doc searching for.  But the audience is reminded of other facts that are well known, such as his concerts that denounce war and promote peace.  The doc also provides Yoko Ono’s point of view on her life, such as how she felt about being the only female among The Beatles.

The doc ends with the birth of the couple’s son, Sean Ono Lennon.  He is the one who oversaw audio mastering for the concert footage seen in the film.

Macdonald’s doc captures the atmosphere, spirit and emotions of John &Yoko’s period in New York City as well as their work and convictions.  One feels totally immersed in the culture while being entertained by the music and performances.  Yoko’s screeching, however, takes a bit of getting used to.   The scenes of abuse at the Willowbrook institution are the most difficult to watch.

Trailer: 

PETS (USA 2023) ***
Directed by Bryce Dallas Howard

PETS is the new Disney documentary that explores the extraordinary relationship between animals and their people around the world.  Highlighting dogs, cats, pigs, goats, and birds of prey, PETS takes us on a lovely journey that celebrates love, loss, and licks along the way.

Directed by Ron Howard’s daughter, Bryce Dallas Howard, this Disney doc is about domesticated animals.  Disney is famous for wildlife documentaries like THE JUNGLE CAT, PENGUINS, BEAR, ELEPHANT  and AFRICAN CATS.  So, a welcome change is anticipated.

The dictionary defines a pet as a domestic or tamed animal kept for companionship or pleasure.  In the Disney documentary of ‘pet’, an interviewee defines the term pet as an animal that has created a bond with a human being.  Though the interviewee is a child, there is much truth in what she says.

PETS is a heart-warming documentary catered for a family audience. It shamelessly pulls at one’s heartstrings, and one should have a box of Kleenex handy.  After all, pets deliver unconditional love but human beings also deliver unconditioned care for their pets.  PETS plays like a documentary anthology with several pet stories strung together but with a loose connecting thread of children being interviewed..  It begins with a dog story followed by a cat story, then with a pig leading to a farm sanctuary, and then an eagle pet, climaxing with the topic of how to deal with a dearly loved pet’s death.  Yes, that box of Kleenex would definitely be handy.

Besides the love and affection provided by pets, the trouble and pain involved are also revealed.  Myself: I own a grand pet, a Rhodesian Ridgeback named Lucy that is now almost 2 years old after getting her at 2 months from a breeder,  The first few months of puppyhood is indeed a nigthmare.  Cleaning the pee and poop all over one’s dwelling is pure torture.   Puppies also bite everything and try to eat everything in sight.  Then there is the jumping on any human.  Still, the dogs have to be socially trained to deal with both humans and other animals.  Dogs are largely featured as they are the most common of all pets, but cats and otters trance animals like miniature pigs are also looked at.

One of the more interesting segments deals with a Spanish owner who rescues a dog while travelling on his kayak.  Initially sea sick, the dog eventually adapts.  He also adopts a cat on the way and then a wife.  

Dealing with the death of a pet is indeed a heart gun-wrenching experience. This last segment deals with both children and adults dealing with a pet’s loss.   Pets live a much shorter life than humans, which is arguably a good or bad thing.  Do Pets meet their owners in heaven?  Children think so,

Director Howard makes the decision to use children to talk about their pets.  The tactic enhances the authenticity and innocence of the love between the animal and human Kingdoms.

launches on Disney+ on April 11, 2025.

Trailer: 

SHADOW OF GOD (Canada 2024) **
Directed by Michale Peterson

Easter sees the Resurrection of Christ, Easter Monday and Good Friday 3 days apart, 3 days between the crucifixion and his resurrection.  The new Canadian horror movie arrives at Easter right in time with the subject of resurrection from the dead.

So, arriving just ahead of Easter is the new exorcism horror movie Shadow of the God, which appears to introduce a new twist in the trailer that just debuted: an elite exorcist, Father Mason Harper (Mark O’Brien) realizes he may be dealing with a holy entity.  Unfortunately, a twist does not necessarily translate to a good thing, SHADOW OF GOD being a prime example.

The film begins with an exorcism in which Father Harper’s fellow Vatican exorcists is killed.  During the exorcism, they try to extract the name of the demon, but without success. Father Harper returns to his childhood home to spend time with his childhood friend while he awaits orders from the Church.  However, this small town holds dark secrets about Mason’s past and the religious organization once run by his father, Angus.  Angus is supposedly dead, but he reappears, resurrected.  Their past resurfaces. Though dead, Angus reappears, forcing a reunion between father and son.  But Angus is different now, and before long, Mason suspects he’s possessed, and he is.  Again, the demon does not identify itself but turns out to be the SHADOW OF GOD, and hence the film’s title.  Thongs go absolutely amok from here - and not in a good way.

The fault lies in both Peterson’s direction and Tim Cairo’s script. The film is unfocused and all over the place.  None of the story’s characters are worthy of the audience’s sympathy.  The story also contains a covet of demon worshippers that appear from nowhere and then are totally destroyed in a minute.  Despite some quite well-executed special effects, the film turns out to be quite boring and unimaginative from start to end.

SHADOW OF GOD is a Canadian film, shot largely in the province of Alberta.  It opens for streaming on the horror streaming service Shudder on April the 11th, 2025.

Trailer: 

Details

Written by: Gilbert Seah

Parent Category: Articles

Category: Movie Reviews

Published: 25 March 2025

Two entertaining and compelling documentaries to watch include CON MUM from Netflix and AUM about a Japanese killer cult.  Two excellent films, MISERICORDIA from France and GRAND TOUR, are Must-Sees!

FILM REVIEWS:

AUM: THE CULT AT THE END OF THE WORLD (USA 2023) ***
Directed by Ben Braun and Chiaki Yanagimoto

The doc begins with the deadly nerve gas attack at several key Tokyo subway systems.  Footage shows police entering the stations while casualties are carried by medics to ambulances. The incident occurred in 1995.

In 1995, the world was horrified when the release of a deadly nerve gas in Tokyo’s crowded subway system killed thirteen people and injured thousands more. But what came next was even more unbelievable: The attack was the work of a doomsday cult. In AUM: THE CULT AT THE END OF THE WORLD, directors Ben Braun and Chiaki Yanagimoto shine a bright light on a dark story that is little known today, even in Japan, tracing the shocking evolution of a spiritual group into a terrorist organization stockpiling weapons of mass destruction from the collapsed Soviet Union. With a wealth of historical footage as well as in-depth interviews with the courageous few who were willing to take on the cult when Japan’s police and mass media were looking the other way, AUM: THE CULT AT THE END OF THE WORLD is a potent reminder of just how dangerous unchecked fanaticism can be. 

The timeline of the events (Warning: Spoilers) that are documented in the doc include:

1983.   A man named Chizuo Matsumoto, who changed his name to Shoko Asahara, founded a spiritual group in Japan for the stated purposes of meditation and yoga and began gathering followers.

1985.   Asahara is covered in Japanese occult magazines "Mu" and "The Twilight Zone" and gains a following among youth at the time.

1987.   The group renames itself Aum Shinrikyo and continues to grow. Shoko Asahara travels to Tibet and arranges to have a picture of himself taken with the Dalai Lama. He publishes books and produces anime claiming that he has supernatural powers.

1989.   Aum purchases land in a remote village near Mount Fuji called Kamikuishiki Village. They begin construction on a large-scale facility meant to house Asahara and live-in followers. The total number of followers has grown to 3,000 by this time.

1989.   A lawyer named Tsutsumi Sakamoto, who has been investigating Aum Shinrikyo on behalf of parents concerned about children who have joined the cult, goes missing along with his wife and their one-year-old son.

1990. Members of Aum Shinrikyo, including Shoko Asahara himself, form a political party and run for twenty-five seats in Japan’s House of Representatives. They pour millions into the campaign but lose in a spectacular way, not winning a single seat. After this loss, some members begin to leave Aum Shinrikyo.

1991. In the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union, Shoko Asahara and some of his followers start a long process of recruiting followers in Russia. In Japan, He appears on Japanese television shows promoting the group. They are increasingly focused on Armageddon and interested in weaponry; in Russia, they begin to purchase weapons, including rifles, a heavy-duty transport helicopter. In Germany and the United States, they acquire industrial chemicals with the intent to create a nerve agent.

1993. Aum Shinrikyo members secretly begin construction on a chemical lab within their facility in Kamikuishiki with the intent to produce Sarin, a deadly nerve agent.

1994. Aum Shinrikyo members release Sarin in Matsumoto City. Seven people are killed and hundreds more are injured in the immediate aftermath of the attack. Matsumoto resident Yoshiyuki Kono is falsely accused of being responsible for the attack.

1994. Individuals (lawyers, journalists and parents) who are sounding alarm bells about Aum Shinrikyo find themselves under attack by the cult. AUM: THE CULT AT THE END OF THE WORLD

January, 1995.   An article in a major Japanese newspaper, the Yomiuri Shimbun reports on Sarinbeing detected in Kamikuishiki groundwater, which happens to be right near Aum's facility. Most people only know Kamikuishiki as an obscure city near Mount Fuji.

March 20, 1995.   Aum Shinrikyo members release Sarin on five subway cars traveling through busy Kasumigaseki Station in Tokyo. Thirteen people die; thousands are injured.

March 22, 1995. The police raid Aum Shinrikyo facilities and find Sarin and weapons.

May 16, 1995.   Shoko Asahara is discovered hiding in a secret chamber at the Kamikuishiki compound.

September, 1995.   The bodies of Tsutsumi Sakamoto, his wife and their son are found using a map provided by a member of Aum Shinrikyo, a map that had initially been sent to police five years earlier.

October, 1995.   Aum Shinrikyo is dissolved.

February, 2004.   Japan’s high court sentences Shoko Asahara to death.

July 2018.   Shoko Asahara is executed along with twelve of his followers. Former Aum spokesman Fumihiro Joyu is not among them; Joyu was released from prison in 1999 and is now leading a new group called Hikari no Wa (The Circle of Light).

The doc follows the timeline closely, thus providing an informative if not educational, account of the deadly cult.  The doc also demonstrates how foolish the masses are in following fanatical, power-hungry, evil people, once again reflected by the Trump supporters at present, who are following and accepting everything the hateful man does.

AUM: THE CULT AT THE END OF THE WORLD is available everywhere You Rent movies on March 28th.

Trailer: 

CON MUM (UK 2025) ***½

Directed by Nick Green

CON MUM is a Netflix original British crime drama.  But the perpetrator in this case is not what would be expected of a criminal.  The con artist is an 85-year-old lady in a wheelchair.  CON MUM is perhaps one of the most intriguing and emotional scams one can come across.  The doc begins by telling the audience that the mum (mother) is a con mum and shows how the alleged son is pulled into her grand scam.

CON MUM has inconsistent (it can hardly be called goofs) subtitles.  ‘Favourite’ is the British spelling, and ‘favorite’  is the American spelling.  The American spelling is used in the subtitles while the short form of mother used is ‘mum’, the British short form while ‘mom’ is the American equivalent.  One can probably surmise that a Brit and American did different parts of the titling.

A few lessons on life can be learnt from the doc.  One is that people do not change.  Dionne (one of the names Con mum uses) has been a con artist from day one, in her youth right up to her old age.  She even admits that she cannot change.   Another lesson that can be observed is the need of humans for love and acceptance.  This is the reason Graham was so easily conned into believing that Dionne was his mother, despite not taking DNA tests or having sufficient proof.  Graham also accepts and cherishes the so-called mother’s maternal love without question or doubt, even to the destruction of his marriage.

The film benefits from footage taken of Graham and Dionne as well as others who have fallen prey to the con.  The victims also speak candidly to the camera.  The doc plays like a detective mystery, even though the culprit is known.  CON MUM is definitely an engaging watch that keeps the audience glued to the story.  While one feels sorry for Graham, one also knows that he is deserving of what he suffered for being so gullible and foolish.  One can consider that the amount of money he has paid is for the unrequited maternal love.

The doc also proves once again how easy one can be scammed, and again, investment and greed come into play.  The other victims of Dionne accepted her proposed investment in the hope of making more money.  The key triggering point is when a scammer asks for money.  Whenever money is to be taken out of one’s account, warning bells should sound right away.  As in the case of Dionne’s victims, they have ignored the warning bells.  One fortunate prey is Graham’s good friend Juan, who fortunately had a limited amount of money to lose.

The well-made documentary also takes the audience globe-trotting from London to Switzerland with posh hotels on display, like the one in London with multiple views of Tower Bridge and the Thames,

The best thing about CON MUM is the huge twist in the ending.  There are actually two of them, the second one a minor but still intriguing one.  These will not be mentioned in the review as the two twists serve to up the ant of the documentary.

CON MUM is available for streaming this week on Netflix.

Trailer: 

DEATH OF A UNCORN (USA 2025) **
Directed by Alex Scharfman

From the American independent company A24, which has been incredibly successful with hits like MOONLIGHT, EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONE and  HEREDITARY, comes a horror comedy DEATH OF A UNICORN.  However, as much as a copa y can have a string of hits, they can come up with a dud as well.  DEATH OF A UNICORN, written nd directed by Alex Scharfma,n is an incredibly stupid dud.

For one thing, horror comedy is not a genre that is easy to work with.  Peter Jackson’s BRAINDEAD (RECUT AND RETITLED DAED ALIVE) is one of the best films in the genre.  DEATH OF A UNICORN is not funny at all; the only comedic antics are the characters in the story who generate zero laugh-out laughs.

Elliot Kintner (Paul Rudd) and his teenage daughter, Ridley (Jenny Ortega,) accidentally hit a unicorn while en route to a crisis management summit with Elliot's boss, Odell Leopold (Richard E. Grant), and his family.  The Leopolds seize the unicorn, and their scientists discover that the creature is endowed with supernaturally curative properties, which the Leopolds seek to exploit. However, as they delve deeper into their research, the unicorn's parents arrive and begin to slaughter one by one those involved in the exploitation of their dead foal.

The premise looks like an all right script for a horror comedy- though a totally predictable one. Predictable it surely is, with hardly any surprises or twists in the plot.  The addition of the daughter and the father's troubled relationship aims at some human aspect to the story.

Another flaw of the film is the unlikable and sad character Elliot Kinter.  His goal in the story is to make a buck with the Leopolds to support his family, totally disregarding the advice and warnings of his daughter.  Elliot is totally spineless and changes his mind while lying to further his goal.  With such a likeable character, it is difficult for the audience to like the film at the same time.  The change in the heart of Elliot only comes too late at the end of the film.

DEATH OF A UNICORN looks like something that can be written by a primary school pupil at that.   The special effects are nothing to write about either.  The audience is led to believe that unicorns exist in the present world, with no explanation why they were not discovered in the first place.  The premise that these mythical creatures cannot die is also too incredible to believe.  Then, there is the question of why they turn on humans like the dinosaurs do in the Jurassic Park movies.  However, the film has garnered a positive rating at the time of this writing of a mere 63% at Rotten Tomatoes.  Audiences do not seem to realize how awful this film is.

For the Leopold Estate and surroundings, the film is partly shot in British Columbia.

DEATH OF A UNCORN premiered at the 2025 South by Southwest on March 8, 2025, and is scheduled to be released in the United States and Canada on March 28, 2025.

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GRAND TOUR (Portugal/Italy/France/Germany/Japan/China 2024) ****

Directed by Miguel Gomes

The story of Edward and Molly is the story of unrequited love, even though the two had met only a handful of times after being engaged for a period of over 7 years.  The idea pokes fun at the institution of marriage, which is always frowned upon and disbelieved in the stories of W. Somerset Maugham.  (The narrative is based on the short story "Mabel" by W. Somerset Maugham, though no mention of it can be found in the credits.)  It is not surprising that the film is based on his work ‘Mabel’, which follows the travels of both Edward and Molly.   Edward is a coward, escaping marriage by running away from place to place while Molly doggedly follows him on, missing him at each corner.

The setting is 1917, colonial Burma. Edward (Gonçalo Waddington), a civil servant for the British Empire, jilts his lovestruck fiancée Molly (Crista Alfaiate) the day she arrives to be married.  He escapes into an unexpected odyssey across Asia, from Singapore to Thailand to Japan and even Vietnam.  She quickly follows suit, amused by his moves.

The film features two subjects, Edward and Molly, given equal screen time.  Both are annoying creatures - Edward the coward and Molly the obsessive finale who giggles as if she is spitting saliva.  The story first unfolds from Edward’s side and then continues with the original timeline from Molly’s story.

The film works as a romance, travelogue and comedy-drama, with the comedy coming across as odd but workably funny.  The director’s style might take some audiences to get used to, and its slow pace can get a bit testy.  This is not a Hollywood-styled romantic comedy, that is for sure, and one must look at Gomes’s style as a welcome thing.

Period scenes were shot in a studio. Present-day scenes were shot live on location without a script.  There is one scene in which Edward takes the train from Bukit Timah station to Thailand through Malaysia.  There is no Bukit Timah railway station in Singapore and there never was.  The only railway station is the one close to the causeway going directly to Johore, Malaysia.  Other than that, the period scenes of the ancient boats and sampans all serve to effectively create an authentic piece of filmmaking.

Also stunning and deserving of mention is the artistic and local Burmese puppetry (show puppetry) that has never been seen on the other side of the world.  The musical selection ranges from Johann Strauss II's "On the Beautiful Blue Danube" (1866) to Charles Trenet's "La Mer" (1946), in a 1959 version by Bobby Darin, to Gabriel Ruiz Galindo's classic "Amor" (1944), are performed by a band of old Chinese jazzmen in the film.  There is also a marvellous segment of a marching band playing in the rain as Edward arrives at a port.

Rendered in stunning black-and-white period visuals interspersed with modern-day documentary footage, Grand Tour–Portugal’s Best International Feature entry to the 97th Academy Awards®.  The film also won its director, Miguel Gomes (TABU and ARABIAN NIGHTS), the Best Director Prize at Cannes in 2024.

GRAND TOUR opens in theatres in Canada starting March 28th, in Toronto at the TIFF Lightbox on April 4th,  and will be available for streaming on MUBI starting April 18th, 2025.

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THE LIFE LIST (USA 2025) **
Directed by Adam Brooks

THE LIFE LIST is written and directed by Adam Brooks and adapted from the novel of the same name by Lori Nelson Spielman.

After the death of her mother, Alex (Sofia Carson) follows a teenage wish list her mother leaves for her to complete. In the process, she revisits her childhood aspirations, endeavouring to achieve her old goals, only to discover that pursuing these lifelong dreams takes her on an unforeseen and surprising journey.

From the beginning, the premise is nothing more than a disguise for a romantic comedy, and at over 2 hours long, it is a too lengthy one at that.  Mildly funny (if you find something like Hawaiian dancing in the bedroom with one’s long erect in front of kids funny), irrelevant and tedious, the film is fortunately a Netflix original, which means that one can take a break from the film.  Alex is disappointed, if not terribly upset for not inheriting her mother’s somatic business.

The film’s message of disposing of fortune and to look instead of what life has to offer, is a bit too obvious for anyone’s taste.

The various actors appear to go through the motions of acting, with no standout performances.

THE LIFE LIST opens on Netflix for streaming Friday, the 28th of March, 2025.

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MISERICORDE (MISERICORDIA) (France 2024) ****
Directed by Alain Giuraudie

Returning to Saint-Martial for his late boss's funeral, Jérémie's stay with widow Martine becomes entangled in a disappearance, a threatening neighbor, and an abbot's shady intentions.

MISERICORDE has the feel of a Claude Chabrol murder film in which the cat-and-mouse tale is mainly the mouse outwitting the cat with the aid of his cohorts.  The film is a prized twisted macabre tale with bouts of unexpected humour from the director of the 2014 gay hit L’CONNU DU LAC (Stranger by the Lake), this one with the fabulous Catherine Frot as a widow. who takes in Jérémie (Félix Kysyl) as a lodger whose sensual presence is immediately and progressively destabilizing to everyone around him.  Martine (Catherine Frot) happens to be the mother of his childhood friend, the brutish Vincent (Jean-Baptiste Durand).

Catherine Frot is always a pleasure to watch, she being one of my personal favourite French actresses.   Newcomer Félix Kysyl is also marvellous as the quietly sexy troublemaker, who has fate both work against and for him, depending on how one looks at it.  The twists of fate and unexpected bouts of humour are what make director Giuraudie's film so entertaining. MISERICORDIA means Mercy in English.

The film demonstrates that actual fake rain need not be used in a scene that involves it.  One scene has the sound of heavy rain, followed by a scene with Jeremie drenched from head to foot.  But there is no rain seen in the background.  Yet, the scene is credible enough for the audience to believe that it rained.

Subtlety in the script also provides additional pleasure in the film.  "We are all entitled to a private life,"says the preist at one point in the film, his homosexuality hidden and never practiced till then.

The duo’s interactions are terse and laden with resentment but clearly erotically charged.  When a fight goes awry, Misericordia swerves into noir territory with absurdist undertones, and an ensuing investigation spirals around a loner neighbour, ineffectual gendarmes, and a nosy country priest — seemingly the only inhabitants in this dewy, mountainous village perpetually bathed in twilight.  No sex scenes but there are two with full penises on display, that are both erotic and hilarious.  MISEROCORDE, extremely well plotted and executed, is a total wicked delight!

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THE PENGUIN LESSONS (UK/Spain 2024) ***½

Directed by Peter Cattaneo

From the director, Peter Cattaneo of THE FULL MONTY, comes arguably the most charming movie at TIFF.  In the spirit of films like TO SIR WITH LOVE and GOODBYE, MR. CHIPS comes this endearing story of an English teacher working in politically dangerous Argentina.  The year is 1976. Tom (Steve Coogan) lands in Buenos Aires to take up a teaching position at a prestigious English boarding school. When a coup d’état shuts down the school, he hops next door to Uruguay to party. A romantic foray leads to a walk along the beach, which leads to the sight of a penguin drenched in oil from a spill. Against his better judgment, Tom rescues the bird, which unlocks its undying loyalty. He's forced to sneak the flightless beast back to Argentina and thus begins a strange and beautiful friendship.  Slow-moving and never rushed, the message of humanity and kindness amidst a cruel world comes across clearly in this crowd-pleaser.

A WORKING MAN (USA 2025) ***
Directed by David Ayer

Action super hero Jason Statham delivers, almost without fail, a solid action picture every year.  He is tough to beat and cannot even beat himself.  Last year, 2024 saw Statham deliver his career-best movie THE BEEKEEPER directed by David Ayer, who also directs Statham’s new film opening this week, A WORKING MAN.  THE BEEKEEPER follows a retired government assassin who sets out for revenge after his kind-hearted landlady falls victim to a phishing scam.

The working man in the film is Levon Cade (Statham), an ex-Royal Marines commando who leads a peaceful life as a construction worker in Chicago.  Levon tries to be as ignite as he can, but fate forces him to come out of hiding.  However, Levon is forced to use his old set of skills to find his boss's (Michael Pena) teenaged daughter, Jenny (Arianna Rivas), who had been kidnapped by human traffickers, and soon uncovers a conspiracy of corruption and government agents' involvement in human trafficking.

The film is based on a novel by Chuck Dixon and written by Sylvester Stallone and director Ayer.  The film contains the melodrama of ROCKY, especially embarrassingly noticeable at the end of the film, a Stallone trademark.  The relationship between Levon and his real daughter, Merry Cade (Isla Gee) could have also been toned down a little.  On the positive side, the film contains an array of solid baddies that propel the audience to wanting more violence inflicted on them.    Among the villains are Jason Flemyng as Wolo and a host of others, but the scene stealer is Max Osinski as the drug-fueled manic Dimi.  The villains actually lift the film up several notches; in fact, they are more interesting than the action set pieces themselves.

The film has an odd history.  Sylvester Stallone originally developed an adaptation of the Chuck Dixon novel Levon's Trade as a television series with Balboa Productions.  The project changed into a film that was up for sale at the 2023 American Film Market. 

The bottom line is that I liked this new Statham actioner more than I should have.  Though not as good as his previous career-best BEEKEEPER, WORKING MAN proves Statham retains the title of the current cinema's last action hero. A WORKING MAN opens in theatres on March 28th, 2025

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Written by: Gilbert Seah

Parent Category: Articles

Category: Movie Reviews

Published: 24 March 2025

ADOLESCENCE (UK 2025) *****

Directed by Philip Barantini

I seldom review streaming or TV series but ADOLESCENCE makes the exception.

It is a 4 episode series, one hour in length each, and it must be said the less known about the events the better.  The preside is as follows, as it does disclose a bit of the plot.

In an English town, the police break down the door of a family home and arrest Jamie Miller, a 13-year-old boy, on suspicion of the murder of a classmate, Katie Leonard. Jamie is held at a police station for questioning and then remanded in custody at a Secure Training Centre. Investigations at Jamie's school, and questioning by a forensic psychologist, reveal that Jamie has been deeply disturbed by school bullying via social media centred on the incel subculture.

ADOLESCENCE was primarily filmed in and around Pontefract, West Yorkshire. Notable locations include Minsthorpe Community College in South Elmsall, used for school scenes, and Production Park in South Kirkby, which served as the set for police station interiors. Additionally, some scenes were filmed in Sheffield.

As the dialogue is typically British working class, a few slang words are used that might not be familiar to non-Brits.  The words, for example slag (slut) and nonse ( a sex offender that involves a child), the second painted on the van of the Millers are examples.

The series also serves two important messages.  The second episode shows how terrible and useless the education system appears to be, with the kids all swearing and mostly uncontrollable.  One bright and tamed kid is the detective's son.  The father loves and brings up his son well, illustrating that the kids' upbringing is foremost a job that is to be untaken by the parent(s).  That is the most important in child rearing.  Another is the example shown by this coloured family.  Blacks set a good example in the story,

The series is notable for its unique filming technique, with each episode shot in a single continuous take, immersing viewers deeply into the narrative.  The one-take works for several reasons.  For one, the continuity of each scene is extremely smooth as the camera follows one character and then the next as the initial one passes the other.  Secondly, the method shows the importance of timing technique, something that is largely missed by the average moviegoer.

Stephen Graham who plays the father, Eddie Miller, also co-wrote the impressive script and executively produced the series.

What makes the series most remarkable is its down-to-earth authenticity.  The impossibility of educating adolescents, the reality of working-class life, and the difficulty of navigating adolescent life are effectively captured on film.  The story offers a different perspective of the crime from the detective, from the psychologist, from the suspect, and from others.  Also, keeping the intricacies of the plot revealed only at the appropriate moment works wonders.

Many have concluded that ADOLESCENCE is the best series ever made.  Well, for one, it is pretty solid.  ADOLESCENCE is arguably the best series to be seen thus far.

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Written by: Gilbert Seah

Parent Category: Articles

Category: Movie Reviews

Published: 18 March 2025

FILM REVIEWS:

825 FOREST ROAD (USA 2024) ***

Directed by Stephen Cognetti

The new Shudder original horror flick 825 FOREST HILL begins with a shaky and confusing start.  It takes a while for the film to get its footing, which occurs once it is made clear to the audience the three main subjects of the story.

The story is told in 3 chapters, called Chuck, Elizabeth and then Maria, who are the names of the three principal characters in the story.   The story unfolds with each of the character’s point of view of what occurs, with more missing information give to the audience as the film progresses.

The film centres on Chuck Wilson starting a new life after a family tragedy when he moves to the town of Ashland Falls with his wife Maria and little sister Elizabeth. But he quickly discovers that the town has a dark secret.  The ghost of Helen Foster has terrorized residents for decades, since her own suicide back in the ‘40s. Finding Helen’s old home is key to ending the hauntings, but the address they have doesn’t match any of the town’s existing streets. When Chuck realizes his family might be in danger of Helen’s wrath, he takes it upon himself to locate 825 Forest Road before it’s too late.

The theory, which is quite the implausible one, requires that everyone believe that burning down the house on 825 Forest Road would destroy the curse and Helen Foster herself.  Trouble is that all the street names have been changed and Chuck tries to locate whee the old  825 Forest Road is now located.   

825 FOREST ROAD contains both strengths and weaknesses.  The strengths include the director’s build-up of events and the scary set-pieces.  Director Cognetti has proven in his previous feature, also with a haunted house theme, the HELL HOUSE LLC franchise, that he can do wonders with the house hallways, and open doors, dolls and creates or shadows that lurk in the shadows of the background.

825 FOREST ROAD, besides being a horror movie, also works as a family drama since there are plenty of family conflicts in the story.  The enmity between the wife and the husband’s sister is one.  The husband has never informed the wife he had a sister but now they all move into the same residence.  When things move around the house, like Maria’s mannequin, she immediately blames Lizzy.  As predictable cliches go, the two females eventually bond to overcome the menace that is present in the house.  The film has a strong female slant with Chuck seen often as an indecisive though supportive person.  It is the females that make the decisions in the story.   Even the menace is due to a mother and her daughter.  The problem of bullying and not addressing the issue as well as mental health leading to suicide are two other current topics addressed in the film.

One complaint is the confusing ending, which matches the confusing opening.

825 FOREST ROAD has been touted as a scary horror film and Shudder managed to pick it up for streaming on April 8th.

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BANGER (France 2025) ***½
Directed by So Me

When cops recruit a has-been DJ (Vincent Cassel) to bust a quirky criminal gang with ties to his rival, he spots a chance to mix his way back to the top with a banger.

The premise looks simple enough, but the story, scripted by So-Me, Elias Belkeddar and Baptiste Fillon is given a huge twist in its setting of club music, drugs and the DJ clubbing experience.  The result is a film that, though flawed, is totally entertaining for being over-the-top aided by the excellent nuanced performances especially of Cesar nominated Best Actor Cassel (READ MY LIPS, MESRIN 2) and a supporting performance of Alexis Malenti (LES MISERABLES) as one of the heavies called Molotov.  Cassel mimics the mannerisms of the typical DJ with all the moves and gestures almost perfectly

The director So Me?  Bertrand Lagros de Langeron, known professionally as So Me, is a French graphic designer, animator, director and music producer. He is the art director for Ed Banger Records and also releases his own tracks on that label.  Hence, the film title, likely used to promote his label.

This film has its origins in a TV series he directed.  In 2021, he directed and wrote one of the six episodes of the Canal+ miniseries, 6 X Confiné.e.s. This is the episode "Scorpex", in which Vincent Cassel plays the main role. Cassel plays a DJ named Scorpex. So Me drew on his personal experience at Ed Banger Records to design this episode.  This episode has been expanded into BANGER.

The DJ experience is captured by So Me with great attention to detail, showing both the dizzy highs and lows of the business.  As in all clubs, drugs come into the picture.  The music and crowd scenes are great, with super re-mixes on display to be heard and even dance with.

The film is touted more as a comedy than an action crime thriller.  Cassel, as DJ Scorpex is no action hero in the film, but his character’s DJ talents or mis-talents are used.  Scorpio does not beat up any bad guys. The lack of action is replaced by suspense set-ups that could have worked better in the film’s climax.  Still, BANGER is a worthy effort that succeeds in areas where So Me knows best.

BANGER is an original Netflix film that is opening for streaming this week.

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THE FRIEND (USA 2024) ***½
Directed by Scott McGehee and David Siegel

Scott McGehee and David Siegel (SUTURE, MONTANA) deliver another wise, insightful character drama, this time on man’s best friend in the form of a Great Dane.  Dog lovers (myself being a big breed owner of a Rhodesian Ridgeback) will love the film as it includes the behaviour of dogs with respect to their owners and differing situations.  Iris (Naomi Watts) has had a long, complex friendship with Walter (Bill  Murray, shown in flashbacks).  Walter is an irresistible charmer, a brilliant author, a lover of many women, and a master at letting down loved ones. When he dies suddenly, Iris is left to deal with all he left behind — three ex-wives with unfinished business, his interrupted literary legacy, and his beloved beast Apollo (Bing).    The film shows how dogs calm down and form companionship with human beings like many doggie movies, and it turns out to be quite a tearjerker.  And the dog steals the show.

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THE MARTIAL ARTIST (USA 2024) **
Directed by Shaz Khan

THE MARTIAL ARTIST is a sprites drama, with MMA as its setting,  The drama deals with the protagonist, having to deal with himself as the biggest obstacle while his family also struggles.

When MMA rising star Ibby “The Prince” Bakran shines in a local fight, the world’s largest promotion company offers him a deal he can’t refuse. Now aligned with the sport’s top developing athletes, Ibby has a clear path to becoming great. Consumed with the limelight and all it has to offer, Ibby burns the candle at both ends and soon his fighting takes its own hit. As his star begins to fade, he points the finger at everyone but himself, becoming withdrawn and pulling away from his family who never wanted him to fight. Desperate to reconnect, his mother reveals the reason for her fear and the long-held truth about his father’s death. With nowhere else to turn, he travels to his homeland to find answers from his estranged grandfather. In the majestic mountains of Pakistan, Ibby works to find what he’s lost; but first, he must face his biggest opponent yet: himself. 

THE MARTIAL ARTIST has similarities with Sylvester Stallone’s Academy Award Winning Best Picture ROCKY.  Both films star, and are written and directed by one person.   Shaz Khan co-wrote with Michael Ross Albert, directs and stars in THE MARTIAL ARTIST.  That is clearly a hard journey and a passionate effort, undoubtedly.  THE MARTIAL ARTIST is a messy and overdone effort, but not for want of trying.  Still, THE MARTIAL ARTIST, at least it can be said, flaws and all, is not a boring watch for the actors who do their utmost best to make the film work.

When Ibby gives some money to a homeless man as he leaves a store, the homeless man returns the money.  “I am only trying to help,” Abby says.  To which the homeless says: “You are  not ready.”  Indeed Abby is not ready as the rest of the film shows,

Though the film is listed as an American countryman origin, the film has more of a Pakistani feel to it.  The main actor is Pakistani and the first big action fight is supposed to take place in the desert mountains, supposedly in Pakistan,  The film is largely in English with no Pakistani spoken.

The film falls into intense melodrama, especially in the family scenes.  Shaz Khan acts as if he is the best actor on the planet.  The flight scenes are violent enough and are exciting enough to distract the film from its flaws.  The actress playing Ibby’s mother is the best of all and she tries her damnest best to make the film work.  Whether the party of Ibby travelling to Pakistan to meet his grandfather works is up to the audience to decide but it makes the film lean more towards drama than action.

THE MARTIAL ARTIST opens in theatres on January 31st.  A Pakistani MMA ROCKY?  That is what the filmmakers hope but hope and expectations are all way below the film’s results.

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PROMISED HEARTS (Niyala) (Indonesia 2025) **
Directed by Anggy Umbara

After Niyala achieves her dream of becoming a doctor, an arranged marriage into a wealthy family suddenly throws her life into total chaos.

The film opens with the main characters as children.  Niyala is first seen as a little Muslim girl with a headdress, a girl with big dreams but with an ailing mother.  Her child sweetheart is Faiq and the two go away from their fishing village to study.  Meanwhile, her father goes into debt and in order to meet the payment, Niyala is forced into an arranged marriage with the lender’s son, Roger.  Niyala dislikes Roger even as a child when he used to pull her hair and bully her,

PROMISED HEARTS is the English title of the Indonesian film called Miyala, which is the name of the story’s protagonist.  The film is based on an Indonesian novel that plays like a perfect soap opera with lots of melodrama.  There is nothing exceptional in the storytelling and the film moves along like a textbook example in filmmaking.

Running at 2 hours, the film is a quite tedious watch as the audience is forced to watch a human sob story unfold on the screen.  The film is so-called beakers at the mother’s dying bed, her last word to Niyala were to follow one’s dreams.  This includes the love between Faiq and Nikyala.

The one plus of the movie is the Indonesian setting.  It is exciting to see the lives of the Indonesians in a typical fishing village.  The film is also shot in Indonesian Malay, which Malaysians are also able to understand.

PROMISED HEARTS is a Netflix original film that opens this week for streaming on Netflix.

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Written by: Gilbert Seah

Parent Category: Articles

Category: Movie Reviews

Published: 18 March 2025

FILM REVIEWS:

THE ALTO KNIGHTS (USA 2025) ****

Directed by Barry Levinson

THE ALTO KNIGHTS is a film by old people with old people as the protagonists.  Robert De Niro has dual roles in the film as two quarrelling gangsters and the film is directed by veteran Barry Levinson (DINER) and written by Nicholas Pileggi, author of GOODFELLAS, both of whom are in their senior years.   But the film is masterly done and a pleasure to watch from the starting frame.   De Niro is 81, Levinson is 82 and Pileggi is 92.

Why is the film called THE ALTO KNIGHTS?  It is not made clear but the name THE ALTO KNIGHTS is the name of the bar that the two gangsters and others meet.  In music ‘alto’ means the higher male pitched voice, often higher than the tenor.  The gangster could be singing a higher tune that needs to be heard.

A power struggle between Vito Genovese and Frank Costello (both played by De Niro), the top bosses of the Mafia, spills into open conflict when Vito orders a hit on Frank.  It all begins when Vito returns to the U.S. for Europe after handing everything in the business to Frank, his childhood and lifelong friend.  The business, crooked as most of it is, booms.  Now, returning, Vito wants to take over where he had left off.  But  Vito gets frustrated as to how things turn out, as orchestrated by Fransk.  Barely surviving, Frank maneuvers to protect himself and his family from Vito while also planning to retire from the Mafia.   Frank just wants to get out.  The other mob leaders do not want Vito to take over as they know he is a wild card.  They prefer to leave things as they are, with Frank in charge.   

The opening frame informs us that the year is 1957.   The first 15 minutes of the film illustrate the meticulous care and effort that goes into creating the period atmosphere of the story.  The vintage cars that are driven on the street, the shop windows and displays, the people’s wardrobe, props, and even the English spoken reflect the period of the piece.  Then the excitement begins.   Frank is shot in the elevator but survives.

The dialogue of the script from the writer of GOODFELLAS is spot on, and hilarious and makes the movie, aided by Robert De Niro who in his 70s can still deliver dialogue and motor-mouth like his younger counterparts like Jesse Eisenberg and Jim Carrey, while keeping appropriate accents.  The dialogue in which Frank talks about roses and horses is simply priceless.  Roses are better than horses and they don’t smell that much.  Also, I have won prizes for cultivating the best rose at a competition. Maybe my wife fixed the winner, but who cares?   The spill on a paranoia conspiracy theory that feeds on itself is also too good a dialogue to be forgotten.  The film thrives on its dialogue more than the action scenes, so more sophisticated audiences can enjoy it better.

De Niro hits the nail for best performance in the dual roles of the two gangsters.  He sports different accents and with the different hair, the audience can distinguish one gangster character from the other.  Debra Messing is all pretty good as Bobbie, the long-suffering wife who loves her husband regardless of what the circumstances are.

THE ALTO KNIGHTS a must-see opens Friday, March 21st.

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APPALACHIAN DOG (USA 2024) ***
Directed by Colin Henning

APPALACHIAN DOG, is a sultry, slow-burn Southern Gothic period drama set in post-war Appalachia, 1946. The story follows a tailor and his seamstress wife as they struggle to navigate a tense reunion after five years apart. Shot on location in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina, the film leverages the stark winter landscape to evoke both cinematic beauty and a haunting desolation.

The Appalachian Mountain range in the United States is a bleak and deserted area.  The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, are the mountain range in eastern to northeastern North America. The term "Appalachian" refers to several different regions associated with the mountain range and its surrounding terrain.

It is this setting that sets the tone for a tense reunion between a husband, Teddy (Colin Henning) – turned unfruitfully idealistic after the war– and his wife, Marion (Georgia Morgan) –armed with courage and knowledge found in the years without him.   Teddy is a tailor and his wife is a seamstress.  But an injury during the war finds him with a shaky hand, one that is unable to sew less, thread a needle and thus unable to make the living he did.  He returns home with glasses, enabling him to read and see while being as blind as a bat before the war. Things have changed.  And very drastically.  Their former relationship lies lost somewhere in the five years that have passed, but they share one common, unspoken interest: to build a future.  Pardon the pun - but the couple is trying to stitch their lives back together,

The film begins with Marion, her hired help Peggy working as help in the sewing and her best friend gathered for dinner as a welcome party for Teddy.  But when Teddy appears, he acts all kind of weird, and things reach an emotional pitch, not to mention that the couple do not kiss or show tenderness when reunited.

In the heart of winter, their life and profession as tailors become complicated by newfound desires, talents, and a broken pair of glasses. Unable to sew, Teddy must pick up other work. Meanwhile, Marion moves back to the familiar feeling of working without her husband –and more than familiar, it may be preferable, too.

Director Colin Henning, who also wrote and stars as Teddy in the film, offers a really slow burn of a movie.  But slow burn does not necessarily translate to ‘boring’, for the film surely isn’t.  But the slow burn allows the film to unfold without any rush and allows the audience to get into the skin of the story’s characters.  One can also see what goes on the inside and read between the lines of dialogue.

The film’s sparse and isolated backdrop adds to the plight of the couple.

APPALACHIAN DOG is a film that is character-driven about how humans undergo and adapt to change.  As shown, some things can be changed, and some cannot.  The same goes for the personalities of Teddy and Marion.  Though written by Henning, the film offers a female point of view instead.

The film opens on demand on 3/21

Trailer: 

INVADER (USA 2024) ***
Directed by Mickey Keating

The film opens with jittery images as the film is shot hand-held camera style.  There is some dodgy person that is squatting in a house.  This person is destructive and damages the floors and walls of the house while sleeping thereafter.  The words inform the audience that in the United States , there is a break in i.e. an invasion every 30 seconds.  The film has the look of THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT and it is obvious that it is that look and authenticity INVADER is aiming for.

Ana (Vero Maynez) is a long way from home, but eager to visit her cousin Camila in the Chicago suburbs. After Ana’s bus gets delayed, she arrives very late and begins to fear the worst when she can’t get a hold of Camila. Accompanied by Carlo (Colin Huerta), one of Camila’s co-workers, Ana decides to venture on foot to search for her cousin, encountering ominous signs, hostile locals, and the punishingly empty expanse of suburban America. When they arrive at Camila’s house, the night spirals into chaos when Ana and Carlo realize the bizarre and jaw-dropping truth. A lean, mean jolt of unsettling home invasion horror from director Mickey Keating and producer Joe Swanberg, INVADER will keep your skin crawling long after the credits roll.

The trouble with hand-held camera used in films like THE BLAIR WITCH PROJET is that the jittery images often gives one a headache besides being terribly annoying,  Myself, I am not a fan.  What is the problem of not using a tripod once in a while?

The best home invasion film is FUNNY GAMES made by Michael Hanake who specializes in creating human individual angst amidst social issues.  HE made FUNNY GAMES in 1997 and a shot-to-shot American remake, the same title FUNNY GAMES in 2007.  Hanake’s films are the best of the sub-genre and are disturbing, scary and unforgettable.  INVADER is ok, given its limited budget and the fact that director Keaton is no match for world-renowned Austrian director Michael Hanake.

INVADER opens in select theatres in the United States February 21st and premieres in Canada on VOD March 25th.

Trailer: 

LITTLE SIBERIA (Finland 2025) ***
Directed by Dome Karukoski

Little Siberia is a Netflix original film based on the hit Finnish noir novel of the same name by Antti Tuomainen.  The film also marks the first Netflix original film from Finland and it is an impressive film.

The film works as a dark thriller, a genre that usually is loved by cineastes  The protagonist is a priest called Joel, who is far from the holy leader one would expect.  Things come to a boil when a meteorite hots the town.

The arrival of a meteorite in a small Finnish town causes chaos and crime in this poignant, chilling and hilarious new thriller from the King of Helsinki Noir A man with dark thoughts on his mind is racing along the remote snowy roads of Hurmevaara in Finland, when there is flash in the sky and something crashes into the car. That something turns out to be a highly valuable meteorite. With euro signs lighting up the eyes of the locals, the unexpected treasure is temporarily placed in a neighbourhood museum, under the watchful eye of a priest named Joel.  But Joel has a lot more on his mind than simply protecting the riches that have apparently rained down from heaven.  His wife has just revealed that she is pregnant. 

The town of Hurmevaara is fictional but the fictional town does look stunning on screen.

Unfortunately, Joel has strong reason to think the baby isn’t his - the reason being that he cannot have a child, unbeknown to his wife.  As Joel tries to fend off repeated and bungled attempts to steal the meteorite, he must also come to terms with his own situation, and discover who the father of the baby really is.

The film is directed and co-written by Dome Karukoski who made a name for himself with his previous success THE GRUMP in 2014.

For Netflix viewers, the culture of Finland, the mores, customs and practices are all on display, all tied into a realistic story about what life is all about.

LITTLE SIBERIA opens for streaming on Netflix Friday, March 21st.

Trailer: 

REVELATIONS (South Korea 2025) ***
Directed by Yeon Sang-ho

Director Yeon Sang-ho, who made his name with the immensely popular Korean film TRAIN TO BUSAN returns with a new entry, REVELATIONS, the title taken from revelations realized by human individuals though it could also come from the Bible’s Book of Revelations.

A pastor, Min-chan (Ryu Jun-yeol) believes that punishing criminals is a divine revelation, and a detective, Yeon-hee (Shih Hyun-been), is in charge of a missing persons case who is haunted by visions of her deceased sibling.  Shin Min-jae plays ex-convict Yang-rae.

The story shifts between the individuals pursuing their own beliefs as director Yeon tackles a more complicated film.  Not only that but the film shifts between the genres of obsession to the point of paranoia and thriller suspense.  Director Yeon builds a good balance, though the end result might disappoint some audiences due to the meticulous build-up of the story.

There are too many coincidences in the climax that director Yeom uses to tie the ends together though the happy ending is satisfactory enough to bring all the three subjects together - the villain, the pastor and the detective.

REVELATIONS is still a compulsive entertaining watch and is currently streaming on Netflix,

Trailer:  

THE TWISTER: CAUGHT IN THE STORM (UK 2025) ***
Directed by Alexandra Lacey

It is graduation day in Joplin, Missouri. As the Class of 2011 collect their diplomas, their hometown is hit by a rare EF-5 tornado. Believing it could be the end of the world, a group of teenagers find themselves in the eye of the storm.

At times, it is more exciting than the fiction TWISTER Hollywood film, CAUGHT IN THE STORM, which is about the Joplin, Missouri tornado.  In the hours of Sunday, May 22, 2011, a large, deadly and devastating EF5 tornado, known most commonly as the Joplin tornado, or Joplin EF5, struck the city of Joplin, Missouri, United States, causing catastrophic damage to it and the surrounding regions.  The tornado devastated a large portion of the city of Joplin, damaging nearly 8,000 buildings, and of those, destroying over 4,000. The damage—which included major facilities like one of Joplin's two hospitals as well as much of its basic infrastructure—amounted to a total of $2.8 billion (equivalent to about $4 billion today), making the Joplin tornado the costliest single tornado in U.S. history.  Overall, the tornado killed 158 people (including eight indirect deaths) and injured some 1,150 others, making it the deadliest tornado of the year of 2011. It ranks as the deadliest tornado in Missouri in addition to being one of the deadliest in the United States, having the highest death.

The doc also talks about Tornado Alley.  Tornado Alley, also known as Tornado Valley, is a loosely defined location of the central United States and, in the 21st century, Canada where tornadoes are most frequent.

The doc personalizes the event by including the voices of several survivors, mainly teens of various upbringings.  One of them is Chad Crilley who flew to Joplin with his mother the day before to observe twisters.  Crilley is already a celebrity.  \Chief Meteorologist Chad Crilley has had weather running in his blood since he was nine years old. When he was in middle school, before becoming a teen, Chad emailed several broadcast meteorologists across Tornado Alley asking if he could shadow them during severe weather season. One meteorologist in Joplin, Missouri, was quick to respond and extend an invitation.  After receiving the invite, Chad’s mother made arrangements and flew with him to Joplin on May 22, 2011, just two hours before the monster EF5 tornado destroyed much of the town. Chad sprang into action, grabbing his phone and recording reports as the storms tore through Joplin and sending the video back to stations in his hometown of San Diego, California. 

Other teens featured in the doc include Cecil,  a gay teen who thought he was left behind in what he thought was the Christian rapture (the second coming) because he was gay.  Others included teen couple Kaylee and Keegan.  Being in the Bible Belt, God comes into playing he much of the dialogue.

Other issues include the existence of a black fungus that was deadly and almost killed Will, a teen featured in the doc- called Miracle Boy.

The doc suffers from trying to humanize the tragedy too much resulting in sappiness reigning for the day.

CAUGHT IN STORM is currently streaming on Netflix.

Details

Written by: Gilbert Seah

Parent Category: Articles

Category: Movie Reviews

Published: 17 March 2025

CANADIAN FILM FEST - 2025

Canadian Film Fest (CFF), the indie-spirited festival dedicated to celebrating Canadian filmmakers, today announced its lineup for the 2025 edition of the festival. Now in its 19th year, CFF continues to champion and support our country’s creatives and homegrown talent, bringing Canadian stories to Canadian audiences. This year, the festival will be showcasing 16 features and 50 shorts. Tickets go on sale March 10 and can be purchased at canfilmfest.ca. CFF returns to Cineplex’s Scotiabank Theatre in Toronto and runs from March 24-29, 2025.

 This year, CFF welcomes films from across Canada, with feature films from British Columbia, Quebec, Ontario, Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. The festival kicks off with Naomi Jaye’s award-winning film Darkest Miriam, an adaptation of Martha Baillie’s novel The Incident Reporter, starring Britt Lower (Severance, Man Seeking Woman) and Tom Mercier (Synonyms, The Animal Kingdom). The film tells the story about a librarian who lives in a fog of grief while working at the Allen Gardens branch of the Toronto Public Libraries. 

 Below are capsule reviews of select films, and screeners provided courtesy of the CFF.

Capsule Reviews of Select Films:

DARKEST MIRIAM (Canada 2024) ***
Directed by Naomi Jaye

Selected as the Opening Night film for the Canadian Film Fest, the quirky DARKEST MIRIAM is set in and around Allen Gardens in downtown Toronto.

Librarian Miriam Gordon (Britt Lower) lives in a fog of grief while working amidst marginalized members of the public who populate the Allen Gardens branch of the Toronto Public Libraries. When a burgeoning love affair with Janko, a younger foreign cab driver (Mercier), coincides with her receiving a series of oddly threatening letters addressed to her, Miriam’s sheltered existence is cracked open.  The story revolves around the many characters who weave in and out of Miriam’s life, her life is as odd as Allen Gardens existing in bustling downtown Toronto.  Director  Jaye uses Allen Gardens well, except the titular dog park is missing.  Though the film occasionally seems aimless, all over the place, the quirkiness of the piece still warrants an audience’s attention.

GOLD BARS: WHO THE F*CK IS UNCLE LUDWIG? (Canada 2024) ***

Directed by Billie Mintz

Montreal lawyer Glenn Joseph Feldman risks his reputation and faces a multi-million dollar defamation lawsuit after accusing his former business partner of living off Nazi Gold stolen from the Holocaust.  But when his concerned daughter Alex reluctantly joins the investigation to help her father, she confronts unreliable evidence and her father’s moral contradictions, uncovering a truth far more personal and complicated than she imagined.  The key question is whether the whole theft of the Nazi gold is true.   It turns out that the doc shows that the investigation is more intriguing than the truth.  The conspiracy theory cooked up by Feldman, the relationship between father and daughter, and the tracing of Ludwig are all interesting enough, though the amount of information provided to the audience can be quite overwhelming and a bit confusing at times.  Still, there is quote bait of humour as implied by the film title, in this doc with many re-enactments.

TO THE MOON (Canada 2024) ***

Directed by Kevin Hartford

Quirkiness is the word of the day for this quirky film from Nova Scotia, which begins with a father and daughter moon dance that is supposed to prevent the moon from moving away from the earth’s orbit.  Closeted single dad Sam (Jacob Sampson) finds his world upended when he meets a handsome stranger.  Meanwhile, his daughter Ella (Phoebe Rex) struggles with the challenges of teenagerhood and their writer’s block-suffering neighbour Claire (Amy Groening) tries to mine this offbeat father/daughter duo for source material. An ensemble comedy about love, choreographed dance, kitchen safety, stranger danger, planetary physics, and the idea that it’s never too late in life to figure out who you really are.   The story has three protagonists and director Hartford gives each around equal screen time.  Though the film tends to be all over the place, there is much humour and as stated, quirkiness that holds one’s interest.

VAMPIRE ZOMBIES … FROM SPACE (Canada 2024) ***½

Directed by Michael Stasko

In the first killing scene in which a farming family’s wife is blasted to death by some beam from a flying saucer after meeting a Dracula-like creature with fangs, the cheesy-looking film looks like a cross among three genres - sci-fi, zombie and vampire.  The setting is in the 50’s and 60’s like what old monster movies look like, with farm trucks driven around with characters wearing   ‘GREAS E’ like clothes.  But this is the purpose of director Stasko who has created a remarkable tribute to old monster movies - making it fun, and entertaining with a few scares added along the way.  From the depths of space, Dracula has devised his most dastardly plan yet; turning the residents of a small American town (though this is totally a Canadian film) into his personal army of vampire zombies!  A motley crew consisting of a grizzled detective, a skeptical rookie cop, ( a tribute to IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT), a chain-smoking greaser, and a determined young woman band together to save the world.  There are a few drags along the way, but the film is still a worthy effort.

Details

Written by: Gilbert Seah

Parent Category: Articles

Category: Movie Reviews

Published: 10 March 2025

FILM REVIEWS:

BLACK  BAG (USA 2025) ****
Directed by Steven Soderbergh

Espionage was a favourite premise in films from the 60s to beyond, fuelled by the ever-popular James Bond 007 action films.  More serious films like THE SPY WHO CAM IN FROM THE COLD, THE IPCRESS FILE as well as a lot of cheapies like the Matt Helm films also entertained moviegoers.  The genre is largely missing these days but up comes an espionage thriller that feels like a chamber piece though the action takes place in and around London with two key scenes taking place at a dinner table.

The film is called black bag as an actual black bag contains tools of the espionage.  A Black bag operation aka a covert burglary, is an espionage technique, referring to the black bag of equipment that a burglar would carry.

The film’s impressive cast includes:

Cate Blanchett as Kathryn St. Jean

Michael Fassbender as George Woodhouse

Marisa Abela as Clarissa Dubose

Tom Burke as Freddie Smalls

Naomie Harris as Dr. Zoe Vaughan

Regé-Jean Page as Col. James Stokes

Pierce Brosnan as Arthur Steiglitz

Gustaf Skarsgård as Meacham

Kae Alexander as Anna Ko

When his wife (Blanchett), intelligence agent Kathryn, is suspected of committing treason, her husband, intelligence agent George Woodhouse (Fassbender) is assigned to investigate her. He faces the ultimate test - faithfulness to his marriage or loyalty to his country.  George is tasked too, of finding the traitor, ins which he does by means of clever parlour games during a dinner in which suspects are forced to attend - and play.  At times, the espionage thriller plays like a murder whodunnit.

Soderbergh alternates between small and big-budget movies. His small-budget PRESENCE, a haunted house ghost story, quote good, opened two months ago. BLACK BAG is a small film but boasts an impressive cast, shot entirely in London. It is brilliantly written and executed, with touches of humour amidst thrills and almost perfectly performed by its apt cast.

Trailer: 

CAN I GET A WITNESS? (Canada 2024) ***
Directed by Ann Marie Fleming

At the beginning of the film, a title indicates that the film is a ‘fable’.   ‘Fable’ is a literary genre defined as a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse, that features animals, legendary creatures, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature that are anthropomorphized, and that illustrates or lead to a particular moral lesson (a "moral"), which may at the end be added explicitly as a concise maxim or saying.  There are no animals, talking or otherwise featured in the film, so what is expected from the film after the complete viewing is a moral to the story.

How much time is enough?  Sandra Oh stars and asks alongside up-and-comers Keira Jang and Joel Oulette in Ann Marie Fleming’s CAN I GET A WITNESS?, a fable set in the near future, when humans are supposed to have solved all the world’s problems, from climate change to poverty to inequality.  But there is just one catch.  Humans have to end life at 50 and teen artists have to document it.  It does not take a genius to figure out the moral of the story.  The story shares similarity to the story of LOGAN’S RUN, in which humans are terminated at the age of 30 believing that they are reincarnated into a better life.  Where Michael Anderson’s LOGAN’S RUN looks futuristic CAN I GET A WITNESS? surprisingly looks like a vintage film.  

The film is set on Kiah's (Jang) first day on the job.  She is supposed to have the government's job of witnessing the culmination of life for individuals approaching or reaching the age of termination.  Without cameras or electronic devices that use chemicals that are currently forbidden, Kiah has to draw the EOL (end-of-life) protocols, her illustrations coming to life through animation that’s sprinkled throughout the film.  The animation appears often, not always from her drawing and whether these serve their purpose or a distraction is arguable.  Her mentor (Oulette) is a young man whose personal history (heart problems as a child losing his mother in the birth process) makes him wise beyond his years. Meanwhile, Kiah’s mother (Oh), is getting her own things in order. 

Canadian Sandra Oh has proven herself in both drama and comedy.  Oh puts on a serious side as the mother of Kiah.  Oh is always great to watch, she has been bypassed for her talent ever so many times.  One wishes for the script to have included more humour for Oh’s character,  For example in Alexander Payne’s 2004 SIDEWAYS, she was snubbed for an Academy Award nomination while Virginia Madsen won one, despite her performance being equal if not better than Madsen’s.

As the subject of the story is the environment and eco-friendliness above all, including human life, the filming also supports the issue.  The film is hot among the lush foliage and waterways of BC’s eco-conscious Powell River.  While shooting,  it is reported that production used real dishes and reusable water bottles, which helped keep over 180,000 items out of the landfill. 

CAN I GET A WITNESS? is intriguing enough though it suffers from a monotonous pacing that assumes the audience will keep getting more and more mesmerized as the story unfolds.

CAN I GET A WITNESS? has made it to this year’s TIFF “Canada’s Top Ten” as well as winning 5 Vancouver Film Critics Circle Awards  CAN I GET A WITNESS? opens March 14 in Toronto (TIFF Lightbox), Vancouver and Montreal!  The film opens throughout the spring in other Canadian cities.

Trailer: 

THE ELECTRIC STATE (USA 2025) **
Directed by Joe and Anthony Russo

THE ELECTRIC STATE is touted as Netflix’s and on record (over $300 million in change), of one of the most expensive films made.

The film is based on The Electric State, a 2018 dystopian science fiction illustrated novel by Swedish artist Simon Stålenhag. Set in an alternate technologically ravaged 1990s, it follows a teenage girl and her robot on a journey to the West Coast of the United States in search of her long-lost brother.  (In 2017, the Russo brothers acquired film rights to the book. They directed and produced this Netflix film of the same title, starring Millie Bobby Brown.)

The widely acclaimed book is told through a series of paragraphs, linked to large artworks. The principal plot line follows Michelle (Brown), a teenage orphan travelling to the West Coast with a robot companion, Skip, to find her long-lost brother. Flashbacks gradually reveal Michelle's past and the reason for her separation, while a secondary plot line follows a federal agent tracking down her brother.

The film pretty much follows the book.  But credibility appears to be in jeopardy in the film with Michelle running around with the bot (now called Kid Cosmo instead of Skip) running around trying to locate her real brother in a journey that is both tedious, hard to believe and impossible to achieve.   In the meantime, there is the end of the world as one knows it with Stanley Tucci playing the main villain Skate, accompanied by his nasty partner and Bot hunter Colonel Marshall (Giancarlo Esposito).  They meet with Keats (Chris Pratt) and Herman (Anthony Mackie).   It is an all-sorry affair with special effects and unexciting action pieces.  The film is not helped by what might be deemed at many points corny or bad dialogue with jokes no one wishes to report.  Chris Pratt is largely wasted in a role, in which he overacts calling him to have feelings for his robot companion.  Most of the humour, that comes from his character falls flat as well.

Instead of animated characters, there are robot characters with many stars credited for the voices.  These include:

Woody Harrelson as Mr. Peanut

Anthony Mackie as Herman

Brian Cox as Popfly

Jenny Slate as Penny Pal

Alan Tudyk as Cosmo

Hank Azaria as Perplexo

Colman Domingo as Wolfe

Oscar and Golden Globe Winner Ke Huy Quan plays Dr. Amherst, the bespectacled doctor the team is searching for.  Nothing is impressive here either.

THE ELECTRIC STATE lacks spark and credibility and a story that will connect the audience to the characters or its events.   The result is a huge mess of special effects and high production costs in a film no one rally cares for.

THE ELECTRIC STATE had its world premiere on February 24, 2025, at Grauman's Egyptian Theatre, in Los Angeles, California, and is scheduled to be released by Netflix on March 14. The film received negative reviews from critics.

Trailer: 

NOVOCAINE (USA 2025) **
Directed by Dan Berk and Robert Olsen

Nathan Caine (Jack Quaid) is a mild-mannered introvert with congenital insensitivity to pain (CIP) working as an assistant manager at a trust credit union in San Diego. His co-worker Sherry Marave (Amber Midthunder) pursues a relationship with him, but Nathan is hesitant due to his condition and inexperience with women. At a bar with Sherry, Nathan meets his middle school bully, who calls him "Novocaine." They get revenge on the bully by tricking him into drinking a shot of hot sauce and then they spend the night together.

The next morning, on Christmas Eve, a gang of robbers dressed up in Santa suits led by Simon Greenly (Ray Nicholson)  rob the bank and take Sherry as a hostage.

The rest has Nathan rescue the girl while experiencing excruciating injuries though not feeling any pain.

The film is based on a medical condition that affects the story’s hero.  The medical condition in which a person feels no pain is called Congenital Insensitivity to Pain (CIP). It is a rare genetic disorder that affects the nervous system, preventing pain signals from being transmitted to the brain. People with CIP do not experience pain from injuries, burns, or other harmful stimuli, which can lead to serious complications since they may not realize when they are injured.

The film has the feel of originality but it is not that original having stolen some ideas from classic thrillers.  Other films with characters with Congenital Insensitivity to Pain include:

1. The Girl Who Knew Too Much (2019) (*aka Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase): Character: Helen Cornin  Plot: While not the main focus, a supporting character in this Nancy Drew mystery has CIP, which plays a role in the unfolding mystery.
2. Piercing (2018) Character: Mia Wasikowska’s character (Jackie)  Plot: A psychological horror-thriller where the protagonist encounters a woman who doesn’t seem to experience and, leads to eerie and violent encounters.

While noting that Jack Quaid is the son of Dennis Quaid (HALF OF HEAVEN, BREAKING AWAY) and Meg Ryan (WHEN HARRY MET SALLY), the film also features Ray Nicholson who is the son of Jack Nicholson who has a small role as Simon.

The similar premise of the hero falling for the girl who works for the villa is not new.  In Alfred Hitchcock’s classic NORTH BY NORTHWEST, Cary Grant falls in love with Eva Marie Saint who is the villain James Mason’s girlfriend.

To capitalize on a hero who feels no pain, the film includes, as expected, scenes of extreme ultra-violence that include one in which Nathan extracts a bullet from his arm using tongs, breaks a finger in order to get off handcuffs, and is bashed hard against wall and barriers while in a fight.  This is the type of over-the-top action sequence that will excite comic fan movie types that pay no heed to subtlety and film craft.

Stealing originality from past successful thrillers, NOVOCAINE appears original but takes cheap shots at entertaining audiences with the result of only impressing 15-year-olds.

NOVOCAINE opens in theatres on Friday, March 14th.

Trailer:

OPUS (USA 2025) ***
Directed by Mark Anthony Green

The meaning of OPUS as in the Cambridge English Dictionary is a piece of music written by a particular musician and given a number relating to the order in which it was published.  The new thriller film OPUS is less about the music of a musician than his comeback after a long absence while having a hidden agenda for what the intended interview he wishes to give to the world.  But the film features original music written by Nile Rodgers and The-Dream.

A writer, Ariel Ecton (Ayo Edebiri) travels to the compound of a pop icon, Alfred Moretti (John Malkovich) who disappeared years ago. surrounded by his cult of sycophants, as well as a group of fellow journalists, she soon discovers his twisted plans for the gathering.

OPUS benefits from the zany, crazed performance from John Malkovich as the musician with a secret mission.  There are similar tones in the thriller BLINK TWICE in which unsuspecting guests are invited to a villa, just as reporters are invited to the musician’s villa, in which things are not what they seem.  “Are you having a good time?” is BLINKnTWICE’s tagline which could also be applied to OPUS as to whether the reporters are having a good time   As in both films, guests mysteriously disappear.

The film is writer/director Mark Anthony Green’s film debut and it is a worthy one, despite a few rough edges.  One thing the film has is that it is a compulsive watch.

The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 27, 2025, and it will be theatrically released by A24 on March 14, 2025.

 Trailer: 

THE WORLD WILL TREMBLE (UK/USA /Bulgaria/Israel 2025) ***½

Directed by Lior Geller

In September 1939, Nazi Germany invaded Poland, annexing its western regions.  The film follows this historical event and is based on a true story, the audience is informed at the beginning of what seems like a serious film. Jews are moved to ghettos before transporting to the east.  The story commenced in Chelmno, Poland in 1942.

The World Will Tremble is the first film to uncover the true story of the first escape from a Nazi death camp—an event that led to the first eyewitness account of the Holocaust. Despite its profound historical significance, this story has remained largely untold.

Between 1941 and 1945, over 300,000 Jews were sent to Chełmno, the first German extermination camp, where they were murdered in gas vans. Only four people survived. Among them were Michael Podchlebnik and Solomon Wiener, who were forced to work as gravediggers, burying victims who had been suffocated by carbon monoxide from the gas vans’ engines.

The magic question that has been asked many times about the Holocaust is why the Jews, the often number their captors never rebelled.  They just suffered and eventually perished.  This film supplies one answer.

“We must stop being afraid if we want to live.” says one prisoner about to rebel.

On the afternoon of January 19, 1942, in the very first Nazi death camp secretly built in Poland, a group of Polish Jewish prisoners attempted the unthinkable.  Held captive as gravediggers, forced to bury the bodies of men, women and children murdered in gas vans, they decide to launch a daring escape. Even after having lost their families, burying them with their own hands, they are determined to flee, not for themselves, but to alert the world of what is happening.  Using a stolen shard of glass, prisoners Solomon Wiener and Michael Podchlebnik tear through a transport truck and bolt into the forest. Fleeing gunfire and pursuing Nazi guards, Solomon and Michael brave a raging river, German soldiers and the Polish police before they become the first men to ever escape from a Nazi death camp, creating the world’s first eyewitness account of the Holocaust. Taking place in real-time and based on a never-before-told harrowing true story, “The World Will Tremble” is a nail-biting triumph of the human spirit, demonstrating that even under the most indescribable of human conditions, man’s determination and will—not only to survive but to tell others—can overcome the most insurmountable of odds.

` As the subject implies. the film is a dead serious and often depressing affair - as observed from the mistreatment of the Jews, the abuse of power, the suffering to the suspenseful escape. Not a comfortable watch, this story that needs tone told is revealed in an equally authentic and depressing tone.

The Germans are all, particularly the higher-ranking ones all portrayed as despicable.  The one that tends out is the smiling commander who lies through his teeth that all will be good if not better for the Jews, while knowing that they will soon be based to death,

An important film concerning the need of humans to fight back, THE WORLD WILL TREMBLE will be released in select theatres on Friday, March 14  

Trailer: