Tenet Review

THINGS THAT WORKED:
-Ludwig Göransson's incredible score. It's like synthwave with talking drums.
-The cold open. Holy shit it's so intense and is everything you hoped a Nolan movie would be.
THINGS THAT DIDN'T WORK. EVERYTHING ELSE:
-The generic villain who's evil. He's also Russian because, of course he is. His motivation and way of thinking is so convoluted and actually makes zero sense.
-The characters. I don't get what they're doing or why they're doing anything except for Elizabeth Debicki's character (honestly a better title for the movie would've been "Schrödinger's Kat". Imagine Inception where the main characters virtually have no backstory and the main guy is just some rando who I guess is literally named The Protagonist (not my words. The movie literally announces this more than once).
-Sound mix. It was probably way worse in theatres but even the digital release version is pretty iffy. Nolan's excuse is that the experience matters more than dialogue. He is wrong. Even with subtitles on, the movie still didn't make much sense. If anything, he intentionally uses loud sound effects and music to mask how bland the dialogue is.
-Time travel. Even after watching and reading all of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, I still couldn't follow the time travel elements in the movie. King Crimson just works. Tenet just doesn't. There's literally a character who introduces the rules to us near the beginning who tells us to not think about it. There's also a scene where someone explains the Grandfather Paradox to the Protagonist (because he somehow hasn't heard of it before) in great detail and then finishes by telling us to also not think about it. This extends to the reversed footage -which, on paper sounds cool and was probably extremely hard to shoot. But it just looks underwhelming and kind of boring after a while.
-Editing/structure. Nolan films love crosscutting scenes to move things along. Dunkirk was really more than what I could endure and Tenet is even less comprehensible than Dunkirk.
-Pacing. For a 2 and a half hour movie, it moves way too fast and never really takes the time to breathe or to properly show you why anything matters or how anything works.
Tenet is the only Nolan movie I dislike. It's a generic action movie that feels like a relic of the 80s with a nonsensical time travelling gimmick and a bloated runtime.

Tenet Review

Raymond Thang November 30, 2020

A generic action movie that feels like a relic of the 80s with a nonsensical time travelling gimmick

The Queen’s Gambit Review

Based on the Walter Tevis novel of the same name, and written and directed by Scott Frank, The Queen's Gambit is one of the strongest mini series that combines the heart-racing highs and lows of what you'd see in a music biopic and the edge-of-your-seat moments of a sports drama. The secret sauce is the patient coming-of-age story it tells over its seven episodes.
Anya Taylor-Joy plays Beth Harmon, an extremely gifted chess prodigy with some terrible substance abuse problems who was orphaned at the age of eight. She and actors Isla Johnston and Annabeth Kelly (who play Harmon as younger Beth and five year old Beth respectively) portray a broken, and obsession fueled person over the span of 14 difficult, traumatic years. Though the subject matter is dark, the writing never reaches the melodramatic camp that it at times might feel close to becoming. Instead, it's a slow and meditative journey about the people Beth meets over the years -how they evolve and grow just as she does and how these relationships flower and dissolve. Just because you're a gifted athlete and celebrity, doesn't mean you know what the hell you're actually doing.
A huge strength of the series is also Frank's attention to detail, from it's crackling dialogue to what he does with the camera. At first glance, the show just seems like a decently produced Netflix drama but as it went on, the shots and how they moved, especially during the many chess battles, are put together like intricate dances between actors and how differently their characters express themselves on and in front of the board, no matter how minor a role they end up playing in the story. It's production design is heavy on the 60s mod which acts as a good contrast to the mundane outdated look of nuclear familial life in the suburbs, the bleak noirness of the city, the high fashion aesthetics of Paris, and the cold and oppressive atmosphere of Soviet Moscow. Every scene, whether it be an intimate moment between two characters in a hotel room or a tense high stakes chess match, is always fascinating to watch and experience. Also the soundtrack features nothing but bangers.
The Queen's Gambit is a masterpiece. Every aspect of it comes together in a very poetic, albeit at times, predictable but cathartic way. It's anchored by a show stopping performance from Anya Taylor-Joy and Scott Franks incredible script and direction. The series is in love with chess and it will make you love it too.

The Queen's Gambit Review

Raymond Thang November 10, 2020

The Queen's Gambit is one of the strongest mini series that combines the heart-racing highs and lows of what you'd see in a music biopic and the edge-of-your-seat moments of a sports drama. The secret sauce is the patient coming-of-age story it tells over its seven episodes.

World of Tomorrow Episode Three: The Absent Destinations of David Prime Review

Don Hertzfeldt’s third entry to his avant-garde time travelling epic World of Tomorrow series is a love story unlike any other. For those familiar with the series up to this point, you’d know that emotions and memories are transferred through different generations of flawed clones and also to their deteriorating back up bodies in the most twisted, existential game of broken telephone ever. Although we follow several versions of Emily and David, they are both essentially two singular continuous immortal consciousnesses. It’s a world that explores extremely complicated hard sci-fi concepts laced with uncomfortable dark humour and profound philosophical epiphanies while maintaining a beautiful message of living in the moment without dwelling on the past’s what-could’ve-beens, a mantra that’s harder said than done and leads to a lot of suffering. As the previous films state, "Live well and live broadly. You are alive and living now. Now is the envy of all of the dead", "We cannot live in the past. We have to let it go". Episode three continues this idea towards a haunting addendum. "Death is not a destination. It is the absence of one." It’s the idea of pushing the envy of Now in your present to the extreme while understanding that “you only appreciate the present when it is past”.
The film follows David, the same David that would display a mindless clone of himself in the modern art museum that many others in this world, including the third generation of Emily, would visit throughout her life and form an obsession over. In episode one, she would go on to start an exhibit of anonymous memories where she falls in love with another clone of David until the day of his seemingly random death. In episode three, Hertzfeldt further adds to these moments, which in turn, sparks the big time/space dimensional assassination paradox that would tickle the fancies of any Nolan fan. It challenges the notion of star-crossed lovers and asks if love is really worth it without any hokey pokey Anne Hathaway monologues. The Absent Destinations of David Prime -a perfect title of there ever was one- also continues the idea of being with yourself. While the previous two episodes were about meeting yourself and loving you as your own best friend, episode three is about killing the version of yourself in order to have another part of you live so that you can pursue the love of others. It’s an epic odyssey inside and out and a brave step forward in sci-fi storytelling crafted by one of the greatest filmmakers of all time who just happens to draw stick figures for a living.
World of Tomorrow Episode Three is yet another masterpiece and a brilliant addition to one of the greatest film series. It’s as hard to follow as you’d expect but feels massively rewarding for those who take the time to try to understand all of its abstract ideas. It’s a series that continues to challenge storytelling conventions like nothing else.

World of Tomorrow Episode Three Review

Raymond Thang October 10, 2020

Wolfwalkers Review

Wolfwalkers is the new Cartoon Saloon film from Tomm Moore and Ross Stewart that caps off the Irish Folklore trilogy along with The Secret of Kells, and the very much beloved Song of the Sea. It has a very different art style and an intentionally rough, sketchy look to it with great uses of edges, curves and drawing outlines to express the distinct varieties of locations (the oppressive, angular, authoritarian town that contrasts with the loose and winding woods where wolves run free). We follow Robyn, a young aspiring hunter who wants to follow in her father's footsteps to rid of the wolves outside of the town, and Mebh, a wild badass wolf girl who's out to track down her mother. It's a story about two different worlds crossing paths with a loving message about understanding and accepting other people and animals, embracing each other's differences, and taking down the repressive, religious patriarchy!
There seems to be a lot of big inspirations from Miyazaki films, Disney animated films like The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and has visual beats that feel like they were ripped from Pan's Labyrinth. Characters have cool astral projecting wolf powers (you'll get it when you see it) and it's used to add a sense of spectacle and urgency especially when you see it rotoscoped in POV with characters running away and dodging gunfire. It's very intense but it's a highly effective way of communicating the idea of being in someone else's shoes. It's one thing to be a human hunting down an animal and it's something entirely different to be the animal being hunted.
Besides the big bad guy played by Simon McBurney (which is kind of a simple and plain villain), I fell in love with the friendship between Mebh and Robyn (played by Eva Whittaker and Honor Kneafsey respectively) as two very different people who are quick to become friends shortly after meeting each other. We understand their circumstances and how the powers that be affect their lives -Mebh having her family hunted and captured, and Robyn and her father (Sean Bean) forced to do their duties under a cruel and crappy government. All this reaches a climax in a gorgeously conceived scene in the city center at a point of no return. This scene in particular is one of the most beautifully animated scenes ever and I was left speechless.
Wolfwalkers is a great time for those who like complicated family movies that tackles some serious subject matter with themes of racism, government oppression, and the effects of colonialism on Indigenous culture and its people. It's Princess Mononoke with Wolf stands. A must watch if any of those words make you happy.

Wolfwalkers Review

Raymond Thang September 18, 2020

David Byrne’s American Utopia Review

David Byrne’s American Utopia is one of the most powerful expressions of joy and hope ever captured on film since 1984's Stop Making Sense, a movie that a lot of people consider to be one of, if not, the best concert film ever made. David Byrne, his band, Spike Lee, and his team has somehow put together a concert film that rivals even that. The stage and art direction is minimal and bare and it's only Byne, the band, and their instruments on stage dressed in grey suits and (mostly) barefoot. It's to have people look at other people and the performers are equally as receptive to the audience as the audience to them. It's a giant party and everyone's invited.
The show starts off simple and slowly adds more and more voices while showing off some simple and easy-to-follow dance choreography performed by Byrne, and dancer/vocalists Chris Giarmo and Tendayi Kuumba. Eventually, the whole band essentially becomes a marching band and it all adds up to one of the sweetest and most uplifting encores. Like the idea of Dada art, the music and performance hold meaning beyond words and it tries to make sense of an often senseless world -a moment on max display in the Talking Heads classic, I Zimbra along with its introduction and performance in the movie. At one point, Byrne mentioned a funny anecdote of writers and journalists asking him if his show had a playback track -because it would be reasonable to assume that since the band is so incredible and precise, it probably can't be done live. He introduces them one by one and, it turns out everything we hear in the show was, in fact, done live. As a musician, that kind of blows my mind.
Ellen Kuras' cinematography kicks into high gear during the show's second half like in the song Blind, the performers bounce and shift due to an invisible force that pushes them back and forth while the camera tilts side to side, making it feel like it's manipulating the stage's centre of gravity while a light casts giant shadows behind the band and makes it appear like everyone's dancing around a giant fire pit. The excitement erupts right after with an explosive rendition of Burning Down the House and it's as if the camera is actually dancing along to the music.
During its final moments, Byrne and Co performs Janelle Monáe's single version of Hell You Talmbout with the film showing the faces, names, family of the black lives that were ended by the police. It's a striking moment with a song that feels just as relevant as it was when it was first released in 2015. As joyous and fun as the concert is, it's also very conscious with moments beforehand of David Byrne encouraging folks to go out and vote and to make a difference in their country and around the world. The Janelle song shouts at the audience and urges us to say the names of those who are no longer physically with us. It sends out a beautiful message and is hands down the most emotional moment in the whole show.
American Utopia is a must watch. It's immediate, conscious, irresistible, and one of the most endearing concert movies I've ever seen in my life.

David Byrne's American Utopia Review

Raymond Thang September 16, 2020

17746ANOTHER_ROUND_3_Photo_By_Henrik_Ohsten_d9369d42-a8d2-ea11-a9c3-0edcbcd33718.jpg — Another Round Review

A beautiful encapsulation of people's downward spiral into alcoholism, Another Round follows Martin, a high school teacher (Mads Mikkelsen) who feels ignored at his workplace and in this family until he breaks bad, so to speak. Getting a bit drunk makes someone feel more confident and lively and so the motivation makes a lot of sense but he takes it to an extreme by drinking before and during his classes and his behaviour then bleeds into his personal life.
The movie maintains a tight balance in tone. At times darkly hilarious and other times deeply tragic and disturbing, it's a movie that works in every aspect from its finely focused script, highly motivated cinematography and editing, and incredible performances from Mikkelsen, Thomas Bo Larsen as one of his friends who plunges into extreme alcohol dependency, and Maria Bonnevie as his wife who's paradoxically just as emotionally distant as she is emotionally invested in a decaying marriage. Every scene feels conflicted with layers upon layers of subtext and different character motivations that culminates in one of the most darkest final scenes in any movie I've ever seen. Another Round is worth your time and it's one of my favourite movies since Vinterberg and Mikkelsen's last collaboration in 2012's The Hunt.

Another Round Review

Raymond Thang September 16, 2020

Disclosure: Trans Lives on Screen Review

Trigger warning for sexual violence, transphobic violence. and transphobic discrimination.
"Disclosure: Trans Lives on Screen" is an amazing and hopeful battle cry from trans and queer folks to trans and queer audiences to continue the fight for better representations of trans characters and people in TV shows, webseries, and movies. It assembles a diverse group of trans and queer scholars and individuals who have worked in the entertainment industry and gives a very detailed account of a lot of the characters that defined motion pictures from past and present and how problematic and complicated they are. It's highly accessible due to its tight editing and incredible panel of diverse and highly knowledgeable interviewees who guides us through the works that impacted them when they were younger and works that hopefully does so now for newer generations in better ways.
It's a movie that asks and answers a lot of tough questions and give personal insights into terrible trans tropes like, trans characters mostly being sex workers, trans women in medical shows dying from cancer from their hormones, cisgender men's violent reactions to being in contact with trans women, and the demonization of trans men in feminist works just to name a few. It's a must watch and simply one of the best movies in Netflix's catalogue and a great jumping off point for people who are interested in learning about trans representation and the big differences of how they see themselves on the screen compared to how non trans people see trans people in the media they consume.
As a non-binary East Asian person, I would've loved to have seen more Asian trans folks be involved in the documentary itself. It focuses exclusively on North American and European media and I feel that it would've been more helpful to explore trans representations in other parts of the world or to provide more specific multi-ethnic perspectives to add to the perspectives that were already in it. This being said, the documentary is still highly effective, diverse, and emotional as it is.

Disclosure: Trans Lives on Screen Review

Raymond Thang September 12, 2020

Mulan 2020 Review

Not too long ago, a live action Mulan was one of my most anticipated movies to ever come out. When the trailers came, I watched them and started crying because I've never seen so many Chinese actors on a major Hollywood movie before and as a Chinese Vietnamese person, that sense of joy and the excitement that came with it was indescribable. After watching it, the heartbreak and sheer disappointment is also just as indescribable...
I really want to see Mulan 2020 as a built-from-the-ground-up adaptation of the older classic Mulan stories but it's clear that it's a haphazard Frankensteined version of the FIRST animated Disney Mulan movie, (yes there was a sequel, and yes, the 1998 film is problematic and also beloved) and a bunch of influences from Captain Marvel, Man of Steel, Rise of Skywalker, and later seasons of Game of Thrones. What worked about the '98 version was that it was an animated musical first and foremost and the story and script was made with that in mind. On paper, a live action wuxia war epic Mulan sounds amazing but in practice, nothing about it worked. Mulan 2020 could've been about a badass, but flawed girl, fighting to protect her family and country, with motifs like reflections signifying the most important moments on her journey, and some cool thematic arcs that had one person protect her father and another person lose his. Mulan 2020 is instead about a ruthless (borderline psychopathic) woman who goes on a killing spree because a bird lady threw a shuriken at her tits. It tries to recreate scenes from the '98 animated musical version by taking out the animated musical part and making every scene expository. For a live action ACTION spectacle, it does very little showing and way too much telling. It's as if, it was written by non Asian people for non Asian people to see. You'd get alcohol poisoning if you took a shot every time someone talks about how they're trying to bring honour to their family. It tells the audience things they already know. Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver who did the rewrites for Mulan 2020 also co-wrote some of the recent Planet of the Apes movies. And I expected better.
I would love to say that I enjoyed the acting in the movie. But that would seem as forced as the love story between Mulan and that one other guy in the movie (I don't remember his name) or anyone's name for that matter -except Mulan, because her name is literally the title of the movie. Donnie Yen was in this movie. He looked really bored and didn't do much of anything. Jet Li was also somehow in this movie as well. Liu Yifei (who's very problematic as a person) was really stiff and dull and was only really good with her physicality and stunts. The stunt work in the movie was generally good from what I can tell -but more on that later. Gong Li was the only actor who was decent in the movie (she's the bird witch lady) but she had a lot of material to work with (even though her character motivation was a complete disaster). It's also super weird and unnatural to have Chinese actors speaking in different Chinese and Chinese-English accents. This problem is similar to how Aladdin is this weird interpretation of exotic Middle Eastern culture through the eyes of White people and, in a lot of ways, Mulan is a weird pastiche of what a non Chinese person would think Chinese culture would be like. According to some Chinese viewers, the accents, costumes, and art direction were all from different parts of China and from different time periods that were centuries or maybe a millennia apart. Mulan's low class village somehow looks very rich and there's not much of a distinction between low and high class culture except for how big the buildings are. I also can't tell where anything is set in geographically speaking and that's a mix of bad green screen, terrible editing, and lack of clear establishing shots.
Since it's an action movie, there's action. It's not good action, though. Or maybe it is? I can't tell because of how miserable it was for me to track what was happening while trying to ignore some of its below average vfx and quick cuts. If you ever wanna see some weird editing and jump cuts, this movie has that for days! It manages to somehow get too much coverage and not enough, and every shot they got had to be used for some reason. Proper editing is motivated and/or invisible. The editing in Mulan (credited to David Coulson) is neither and they had no idea what they were doing. I don't like calling out specific people and that felt gross. But when it's this bad, I have to call it as it is. There are a lot of very obvious shots that were ripped directly from Game of Thrones episodes like "Battle of the Bastards" and "The Iron Throne". Clearly it's a movie for Game of Thrones fans and not for kids or wuxia fans. It's a movie that's inspired by Chinese fantasy martial arts cinema, yet it barely borrows anything from actual Chinese cinema. I would've love to see a normal strong woman fight and defeat a magical witch lady or even two magical girls engaged in a live action equivalent of a shonen anime Qi battle just for the power fantasy aspect of it. Mulan doesn't seem to work up to her powers or abilities at all. In fact, she becomes great because she was born with great super hero powers. SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS, there's no catharsis for anything that Mulan ever does and the one character that would truly pose as a challenge for her is the witch lady. She actually likes Mulan and ends up sacrificing herself, so in the end, you're just literally watching a Jedi fight a normal evil dude with nothing at stake. Mulan doesn't even suffer any physical or emotion wounds from this entire movie. She's literally Rey Palpatine to the point where someone in the movie asks Mulan what her name was and the movie does this dramatic pause and cuts. When your main character is emotionless, with zero flaws, overpowered, literally indestructible, and isn't pushed to their absolute limits by their antagonist(s) or the forces that be, it means that your main character and story are BAD.
Mulan 2020. It's bad. I don't actively seek out and or watch a lot of bad movies but this was a really bad movie. If you're out there and you like Mulan 2020, please tell me why because I really want to know and see where you're coming from. But as things stand for me personally, at this very moment, right after watching it, Mulan 2020 is the worst and most disappointing movie of 2020 and... Possibly the worst movie. Full stop. I think Mulan 2020 is actually the worst movie I've ever seen... I don't want to say that lightly. It's down there with Fant4stic, Fifty Shades of Grey, and X-Men Origins Wolverine, but I wasn't actually excited to see any of those. 2020 Mulan is a monkey's paw nightmare wish come true and it's a movie that actually broke my heart and made me lose a little bit of hope in my life in general.
PS Mulan was partially filmed in Xinjiang. Along with Liu Yifei's remarks on her support of Hong Kong police and her non-response to those criticisms, the boycotts are very much justified. You can watch and enjoy a movie all you want but please consider that in the end, along with supporting a piece of entertainment and the hard working people who worked on it, you're also supporting a corporation that's basically working with a place that puts innocent people in prison camps. These camps brainwash brutalize large and undetermined amounts of people. These are places that believe that they need to imprison people before they commit crimes. They're put in prison camps and are forced to act, think and feel. This is not okay. For a company that seemingly supports diversity and different cultures, filming in Xinjiang completely contradict those values. Disney should be ashamed of themselves. These are all major and valid issues outside of a simple piece of entertainment and needed to be addressed. It's good to see diverse faces on a major Western movie but at the same time, Mulan 2020 should not be praised for its abysmal attempt at making a Chinese movie. It's not one and it's beyond problematic to market and disguised itself as one.

Mulan 2020 Review

Raymond Thang September 7, 2020

I’m Thinking of Ending Things Review

Based on the Iain Reid book of the same name, I’m Thinking of Ending Things is a total mood and is about as insane and cerebral as a Charlie Kaufman film can get. We follow an exhausted couple (Jessie Buckley and Jesse Plemons) on the road to meet the guy’s parents. She’s thinking of ending things and he most likely thinks the same but doesn’t quite know it yet at that point. We eventually meet an almost unrecognizable Toni Collette and David Thewlis as the aforementioned parents and things aren’t quite right.
I love how confident and specific Charlie Kaufman is in his direction as it physically matches the arc of its narrative. It starts off colourful and near the end it’s dark and hostile. Jessie Buckley’s character also ends up wearing a dark blue coat in contrast to her red one in the beginning. The camera and dialogue at times move ahead of the characters and things are just slightly off sync. Someone will speak or be in the middle of an internal monologue just to be interrupted in a way that seems supernatural. This all plays beautifully with the main casts’ unhinged performances with Plemons and Buckley going back between sardonic and cordial. It feels like a condensed and surreal version of Bergman’s Scenes from a Marriage where a relationship is brutally dissected and accelerated through different time periods and versions of themselves. It’s a blunt portrayal of one’s loss of identity when one’s been in a corrosive unit for an indefinite amount of time. You’re sick of them and they’re sick of themselves, and you’re sick of them sick of themselves.
It’s obviously not a movie for everyone and would be a hard skip if you’re not looking for something that’s primarily made up of two unlikable people in a car quoting literature and doing mundane shitty-couple stuff. There are a lot of things that I’m still trying to figure out and it’s a fascinating piece of work indeed by one of the most unique writer/directors.

I'm Thinking of Ending Things Review

Raymond Thang September 4, 2020

Bill and Ted Face the Music Review

On the surface, Face the Music is a goofy, meta sequel to a cult movie series that overall hasn't aged all too well. Under all that is an existential tale of two dudes in their 50s dealing with possible divorces, estranged friendships and family, while the fabric of time, space, and reality start to break down. There's a lot more at stake this time around.
Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter return to their iconic head banging, surfer dude roles and it's clear that these two still share a lot of affection for each other on and off camera. Though the individual characterizations of Bill and Ted's characters are virtually indistinguishable since Bogus Journey, Face the Music addresses and reckon with their inseparable codependency early on in the movie. They go to couple's counselling but they think that that meant they were both going to couple's counselling together with both their wives at the same time and in the same room. They're mad at different versions of themselves at different points in time but never mad at each other no matter what timeline. There's even a beautiful post credits scene that encapsulates their timeless friendship together but that's for you to enjoy.
New standouts include Kristen Schaal as Rufus' daughter who carries on the torch of the late great George Carlin as a guide and as an exposition device for the time travelling shenanigans to come. She's a welcome addition in any project she's in and is a delight to see here. We also have Bill and Ted's daughters Brigette Lundy-Paine and Samara Weaving who go on their own journey to save their dads. They don't really have character arcs of their own unfortunately, but they embody their dads for their current generation and act as support for their dad's arc. I don't really have much to say about them individually since, like their dads in Bogus Journey, and in the franchise as a whole, they're virtually the same character but instead of having two of them per movie, there are now basically four characters who are all just basically Bill/Ted. William Sadler returns as Death and out of everyone in the cast, I think he's the one that's the most fun to watch and the one who's having the most fun with the role. Though Death is generally a very broken character to have in any story, he paradoxically is able to add to the movie's depth, which is something I never thought I'd say about a Bill and Ted movie.
Face the Music is probably the best and most fulfilling of the trilogy. It's as funny and as ridiculous as the other movies in the series but manages to have more heart than the other two. It also manages to develop its characters a bit further more than its predecessor and it has a really beautiful message at the end for music lovers and best friends alike. Bill and Ted Face the Music is a solid watch from start to finish even for those who are new to the series. If this is the last Bill and Ted movie with Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter, it's a most triumphant send off for both of them.

Bill and Ted Face the Music Review

Raymond Thang August 31, 2020

palmsprings.0.jpg — Palm Springs Review

The infinite time loop premise has become a niche sub genre of storytelling that has turned out some really fascinating stuff. Think Edge of Tomorrow/Live Die Repeat, Russian Doll, The Girl Who Leapt through Time, the Happy Death Day series, and of course, Groundhog Day (which is THE movie that writer Andy Siara tried very hard to distant Palm Springs from). All these works feel original and tackled time loops through perspectives and themes and Palm Springs rises up to the challenge of setting a few contrasting characters together with their own different philosophies. Take Andy Samberg's Nyles. He's the one who's trapped in a single day the longest who's settled into the defeatist's mindset. You think it, he's done it. He's submitted to the cosmic forces that be. There's no hope and so why try to fight back? Cristin Milioti's Sarah on the other hand is the audience surrogate. She's not okay with this for the most part and actively fights against living out her worst day over and over again. There's also another entity in this that serves as a great foil and antagonist to both of them and really brings out the existential crisis that they all experience while adding an extra layer to where the movie is heading towards its final act.
Milioti and Samberg are great together. Both are fun to watch on screen and things are even better when they're together. Milioti in particular is the true mvp as she goes through every emotional beat one would go through if they were stuck in a loop and she's convincing every moment of it. Though I would've liked for the movie to spend a bit more time on her pov rather than Samberg's since she's more interesting as a character to me while Samberg serves more as a a glorified exposition machine (who's hiding some important secrets. And I'm not sure if I really bought their relationship together during the movie's short 90 minute runtime. But the movie does bring that up in a meta way and that becomes character arcs for both of them.
Palm Springs is a great time that's light, funny, and philosophical. It's performances are great and so is its message. It's worth your time.

Palm Springs Review

Raymond Thang July 17, 2020

The Old Guard Review

Raymond Thang July 17, 2020

The Old Guard Review

A very standard action movie with a script penned by the author of its source material, The Old Guard is a nice example of how to set up a proper franchise. With great action set pieces, direction, performances, compelling "immortal" characters and interesting questions on mortality and the effects of time on broken people. To paraphrase a line from the movie, it's not what time takes away that affects you the most but what it leaves behind.
With a diverse cast of characters led by an incredibly magnetic performance from Charlize Theron and Kiki Layne at the forefront and punctuated with great stunts, the movie never feels as dulls as it looks. Its Wickian stunt choreography is captured well and competently in mediums and wides with just the right amount of cuts for us to follow and admire the action and the dumb music soundtrack and plot are just cheesy enough to make its two hours feel like the fun parts of the early Resident Evil movies (not something I would've expected to compliment at this point but here I am). The caveat of the latter might not be enough to compliment its more serious existential themes. One minute we have characters questioning the act of killing and the ever lasting effects it has on one's conscience and the next moment, you have that same character gunning down countless nameless grunts to progress the plot to take down the generic evil scientist guy. That, along with the script's clunky dialogue (which features virtually 0% subtext and 100% exposition, mind you) works against the questions that the movie asks during its first two acts by,,, refusing to provide any answers or by simply ignoring them completely.
The Old Guard is a fun action movie with characters who are more empathetic and compelling than your typical action movie. Its action is well put together and that alone makes it a worthwhile investment if you can get over its subpar plot and clunky script. I personally would love to see a continuation to the series with the pieces it sets up for it toward the end.

The Willoughbys Review

The Willoughbys is an animated adaptation of Lois Lowry's book of the same name with animation done by Bron Animation Studios and is directed by Kris Pearn (who've worked on shows like 6Teen, Max & Ruby, Jacob Two-Two, as well as Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2). It follows the adventures of the Willoughby children as they attempt to dispose of their selfish, neglectful parents for a chance at freedom and autonomy. This movie was a very pleasant surprise that came out of no where with very little fanfare.
First and foremost, the animation and direction itself is spectacular and are reminiscent of recent tent-pole animated movies like The Lego Movie, and Into the Spider-Verse. It's made to look like stop-motion and leans heavily in its arts and craft aesthetic like yarn being used as hair, cotton being used as smoke and so on. This mixed with Craig Kellman's distinct character designs and a genuinely great message about adoptive found families makes it nearly impossible to deny The Willoughbys immediately infectious charm. The movie tackles a lot during its hour and a half and at times, it feels like it bites off more than it can chew. Not all characters feel completely fleshed out like Commander Melanoff (Terry Crews), and the Willoughby twins (Seán Cullen). They're important to its eccentric cast of characters and those heavier moments would've really hit more if their roles weren't so heavily reduced. There's also a narrating cat voiced by Ricky Gervais who's just kind of there for some reason. That being said, the other characters like Will Forte's Tim Willoughby, Alessia Cara's Jane Willoughby, and Maya Rudolph's sweet nanny character, Linda, have an organic chemistry and bond between them and it manages to be the heart of the story.
The Willoughbys is full of charm, its animation is gorgeous and inventive, and it also has an important message for families both biological and found. It's a hidden gem that deserves your attention and is an animation nerd's paradise.

The Willoughbys Review

Raymond Thang April 25, 2020

Never Rarely Sometimes Always Review

"Never Rarely Sometimes Always" is a film about a teenage girl (Sidney Flanigan) getting an abortion: the step-by-step process warts and all. It takes place over a few days and since it's such a realistic story, it would be weird to expect any noticeably significant character development in the traditional screenwriting sense by the end of it -it’s there if you're looking for it but the film is more so about the people it follows and it feels effortlessly uninterested in drama for the sake of drama or story for the sake of story. It never loses sight of what it's about. There's a sweet message about realizing what you're going through and being able to process it as well as the overarching message of accepting and seeking help when you need it and the different shades of support one can get or want from different family members.
It's incredible what writer/director Eliza Hittman and her team were able to get out with such a minuscule budget. It's crafted in a pseudo-documentary way with a collaboration from the folks over at Planned Parenthood and a lot of it seemed like a product of guerilla filmmaking. She manages to get an amazing performance out of the two leads Flanigan and Talia Ryder, her onscreen cousin with very little dialogue between the two despite the movie dedicating the majority of its runtime to both of them as they travel from Pennsylvania to New York City. We watch them kill time, eat, sit in waiting rooms and so on. It's a boring watch for some but for me, I wouldn't want it any other way.

Never Rarely Sometimes Always Review

Raymond Thang April 24, 2020

Onward Review (2020)

There's something about the risks that Pixar's "Onward" takes that I'm really drawn to. I'm not attracted to high fantasy settings unless the characters in it are intriguing this one is just that. The premise is this: when two brothers botch a spell to revive their dead father (he's just ends up as a pair of legs) they set out on an adventure to bring his whole body back before the sun sets and he disappears forever. It comes from a very sad place and it's talked about in a very matter-of-fact way -similarly to how Coco explored death. There's a sense of melancholy and longing in these characters as well as a lot of emotional moments that bring them together, knowing that their family really matters to them and the two brothers really need each other in their lives. There're also a lot of bold visual risks that it takes that I can't get into due to spoilers but there's one shot in particular that felt so unconventional and emotional that it brought me to tears (I cry super easily during animated movies but that's besides the point!). The movie is made up of moments like these and it's usually committed to those decisions. Unfortunately, the major decision to keep one of its characters as a pair of legs for the majority of the movie's runtime falls flat for me personally. As much as I like seeing animated body language, not having a face to look at feels like a big misstep and so a lot of the emotional beats surrounding this character just didn't land for me. I'll continue to give Pixar the usual praise for its animation and design and would like to take the time to highlight their work on their environments. Every location tells a story and looks rich in lore and it's one of those movies that animation nerds would absolutely love to be immersed in and admire frame by frame. The voice acting, particularly with Chris Pratt and Tom Holland, has way more depth than I had anticipated. Pratt in particular gives one of his most vulnerable performance I've ever seen and his character ends up being one of Pixar's deepest characters yet. There's also a very good character arc for Holland's character that makes the whole journey as satisfying as it is. There's also a character played by Octavia Spencer and is a treat to watch as well, though I wished she and some of the other minor character got more screen time to them to explore lingering questions some might have after watching it. Onward does a beautiful job of setting up its characters and the adventure. Although the adventure itself feels very much like a been-there-done-that situation, the emotional pay offs are at an all time high. It takes some big swings and hits most of them. I really love that Pixar is willing to take some risks and I think Onward is definitely worth your time.

Onward Review

Raymond Thang March 10, 2020

The Invisible Man Review (2020)

MAJOR TRIGGER WARNING FOR DEPICTIONS OF ABUSIVE RELATIONSHIPS.
I'm not too familiar with the H. G. Wells story or its many adaptations. But The Invisible Man 2020 is one incredible movie. For the most part. It's probably a good thing that Universal abandoned its Dark Universe monsters cinematic universe (or so it seems). Instead of a movie that focuses on building a franchise and setting up 5 other films, this one takes things slow and tells a very small story.
At its core is Elizabeth Moss' transcendent performance as a woman escaping from an abusive relationship and the scars of the aftermath personified by the titular Invisible Man. It's bleak and tense and is phenomenally put together by Leigh Whannell and Moss (who was also given script doctor duties). The movie is scene after scene of none stop tension and fear and it truly doesn't let up until the credits roll. Every pan to an empty corner of a room and every moment of silence build off of a very primal fear of something or someone that may not be there, forcing the viewer to pay close attention to every sound or movement in the shot. It also does a fantastic job at showing and not telling and feels vague enough for people to suspend their disbelief in some minor issues involving security cameras, characters who move from one location to another at an impossibly fast and convenient rate, etc. When the story is this effective and alarming, its smaller flaws can easily be forgiven. But the same could not be said about where the movie ends up going. Minor spoiler: there's a series of twists towards its final moments that, makes you rethink what you've just seen and Leigh Whannell gets off on those twists. However, I think he takes things too far and there wasn't enough proper setup to earn its payoff. Instead, it feels like a twist for the sake of a twist. It makes things borderline nonsensical in my opinion but the message, despite how sloppily it was delivered, is a dark and worthwhile discussion in how the system treats its women.
I really feel that if it had just ended another way and if the last 15 minutes were not what it was, 2020's Invisible Man would've been one of my favourite horror movies ever. But as it is, it's still definitely worth watching if you can handle it and it's legitimately traumatizing and terrifying.

The Invisible Man Review

Raymond Thang March 8, 2020

Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey aka Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)
Review

"Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey ['Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)']" is a sequel and soft reboot to Suicide Squad of the previous DCEU which doesn't include The Joker or the upcoming Batman film and might be a prequel to the upcoming The Suicide Squad which is a reboot to Suicide Squad but this is still a sequel to the original non-rebooted Suicide Squad. But to simplify things, let's just say that "Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey ['Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)']" is just a spin-off to the first Suicide Squad (what a fucking mess). Despite both of its titles, "Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey ['Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)']" isn't a Birds of Prey movie... at all, really. It follows Harley Quinn after she and the Joker (the shitty one) broke up. The once untouchable "Daddy's Little Monster" (ugh) now has a target on her back from everyone she has ever screwed over. On top of that, a girl steals a diamond from Black Mask and she has to get the diamond or whatever -look, it's not the greatest of plots nor is it gonna get nominated for any screenwriting awards (though The Joker did so what do I know?). What it is at the end of the day, is a fun action movie that fleshes out one of DC's biggest missteps for Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie clearly not being one of them). Robbie clearly has a fondness and affinity for the character and source material and her charisma really shows on screen. From her unhinged performance, to its balls-to-the-walls stunts (some of which were handled by Chad Stahelski of John Wick and Captain America: Civil War fame), to Cathy Yan's slick visual style, this Harley Quinn movie has the most unique identity from the bunch and was the most fun I've had with a DC movie since The Dark Knight. But honestly, the DC movies after 2008 aren't movies I would ever want to think about or watch again. As much as I want to say I loved it, there are a lot of issues as a whole that holds it back from being great. As mentioned already, the plot is a big cliche. The villains are kind of bland and are just evil to be evil (with a stand out performance from Ewan McGregor who does a fine rendition of classic Joker who just happens to be wearing a black mask). The protagonists we follow who aren't Harley Quinn feel just as bland and half baked as the villains and also include one standout performance but from Mary Elizabeth Winstead as a decent O-Ren Ishii deconstruction while it lasts. The action set piece towards its final act is also a visual mess and is preceded by some intentional but unfortunate editing choices that feel repetitive and exhausting. These moments lead up to a climax to an action scene but then doubles back by cutting to flashbacks to give emotional context to a scene that had none when you first see it. At least that Police Station scene was so incredible that the context isn't necessary, right?
Pros: Margot Robbie, Ewan McGregor, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, visuals, stunts, police station scene
Cons: villains, side characters, plot, editing, dialogue, whole movie feels like a huge set up to an actual Birds of Prey movie
Just go see it for the Police Station scene. It's so good.

Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey aka Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) Review

Raymond Thang February 23, 2020

1917 Review

Based on a WWI story from writer/director Sam Mendes' grandfather, 1917 tells a story about two British soldiers -played by George MacKay and Dean-Charles Chapman -sent on a mission to deliver a message that warns of an enemy ambush. The mission is brutal and seemingly impossible but countless of lives hang in the balance and time is ticking. We embark on this hellish journey across trenches, no man's land, fields, hills, buildings ruined by decay and war, and so much more during its two hours. As much mayhem and bleakness as there is, there are long stretches of meditation, relief, joy, humour, and beauty. We follow two normal and unassuming young men and they are just normal men who are tasked with a crucial duty. The story is seemingly told through one very long continuous take. There are great recent examples of one shot films like Victoria and Son of Saul. But this one is way bigger in scope. The cinematography is directed by none other than Roger fucking Deakins and his crew. He's a favourite among cinephiles and this is an incredible example of his work and is a huge reason for a lot of people to go see it. But, as Deakins keeps telling everyone over and over again, the job of the camera is to be invisible and at some points, I was completely immersed in the experience and forgot about the camera despite sitting in a theatre around distracting audience members. The movie will and have already gotten a lot of comparisons to Dunkirk and while Dunkirk was characterless, confused chaos (intentionally so), 1917 is the opposite of that. It's a movie that takes its time to flesh out its characters and geography so that you're never confused as to where and what things are. It's a movie that always moves forward no matter the cost and it's a triumph of filmmaking and an unbelievable piece of art.

1917 Review

Raymond Thang December 29, 2019

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Review

It's really hard to talk about the ending of a story that spanned for over four decades without discussing how this piece of work reacts to the ripples of its legacy and how it will influence the future. These movies are sequels that were developed in the shadow of three of cinema's most iconic and well-regarded fantasy films. Star Wars discourse has struggled with people's impossibly high expectations since the lead up to its prequels. People have put this franchise up on an impossibly high pedestal. If there's one thing that Star Wars fans all know for certain, is that it's getting harder and harder to have an opinion on these movies year after year. The conversations are all over the map and have even become dangerous when it comes to representation and "legacy". There are people who love this movie and people who hate it. There's a lot in between too that's worth discussing between fans. There are a lot of Star Wars viewers that have a nostalgic and personal attachment to these movies. I just happen to not be one of them.
I don't like this movie because its plot points and character decisions felt convoluted and out of no where. I hate how it undercuts Episode 8's finest and most revolutionary moments (with Rose Tico being one of its more obvious casualties). Rise of Skywalker is a movie that tries so hard to please so many but, of course, ends up disappointing many more, at least from the circles of conversations I've observed. It's a jumbled mess from a screenwriting and editing perspective. The return of Palpatine and the things surrounding him make very little sense once one starts to examine them. Although Carrie Fisher's send off and the reactions from her cast mates was the emotional peak for me, the material prior to that moment felt awkward and distracting. But of course, it's the most respectful thing they could've done with Leia given the tragic and untimely circumstances. Her big moment, however, was used beautifully to develop Kylo Ren/Ben Solo and culminates in a well paced and meditatively conflicted arc in what has to be one of Star Wars' most polarizing characters. Yes, I am one of those people who adores Kylo Ren from the very beginning and right to the end. The same could not be said for its villains, side characters, the main players (meta star-crossed lovers Poe and Finn) and Mary "Rey" Sue herself, who- despite being the main person leading the story, has been shrouded in mystery even up to Rise of Skywalker's climax. Sadly, she ends up feeling like a byproduct of half-baked ideas with no singular, well-defined vision and a consequence of generic, tropy, battle manga/anime power escalation nonsense that a lot of people have seen over and over again (think Goku or Naruto but with vaguely defined space wizard powers).
In the end, I think Rise of Skywalker is gonna be what a lot of longtime fans expect. I hate watching something that's so nauseatingly familiar. It's not a movie I enjoyed watching nor will be one I will remember until the next one. And I assure you, there will be a next one and the conversations about it will also be intense and cyclical. I don't ever want to talk about Star Wars ever again after this. Let the past die.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Review

Raymond Thang December 28, 2019

portrait_of_a_lady_on_fire-portrait_de_la_jeune_fille_en_feu-publicity_still-h_2019__0.jpg — Portrait of a Lady on Fire Review

Portrait of a Lady on Fire tells a simple story. A woman named Marianne (Noémie Merlant) is commissioned to paint another woman named Héloïse (Adèle Haenel) who has to be married off to a man. She doesn't want to be painted and she doesn't want to marry, so Marianne has to paint her in secret and memorize her features. It's a movie that displays its beauty confidently in its unforgettable visuals and was shot with 8K cameras to capture every possible pigment of colour in every brush stroke, blade of grass, ocean wave, and flicker of flame. Everything is elevated by its calming soundscapes, and layered performances from its two main leads. For a slowly paced drama, its two hours pass at a swift pace. It's a masterpiece and every shot is intoxicating and feels like it has a life of its own. It's a must see for the romantics out there and those looking for a down to earth, quiet, lesbian story featuring what has already become one of cinema's most beloved love stories.

Portrait of a Lady on Fire Review

Raymond Thang December 27, 2019