Review of FLATLINERS (1990 vs. 2017): Afterlife, Arrogance and Amends

October 4, 2017

FLATLINERS (1990)


Five popular young actors of the 1990s starred in the original "Flatliners" film. Nelson Wright (Kiefer Sutherland) was the bold one who had the bright idea of stopping his heart to see the afterlife. He invited his best classmates to revive him from asystole: the reckless class topnotcherDave Labraccio (Kevin Bacon), the libidinous Joe Hurley (William Baldwin), the aloof Rachel Manus (Julia Roberts), and the cautious Randy Steckle (Oliver Platt).

After the euphoria of Wright's revival from one-minute long death and his story of what he saw beyond, all the other students (except the sensible Steckle) outbid each other on how long they wanted to stay dead before they were revived. Little did they expect that waking up from death would bring with it ghosts from sins of their past back to haunt them.

I got the impression that director Joel Schumacher was trying to deliver a message against the arrogance of medical science in interfering with the destiny of a person's life and death. I found it a very fascinating topic because I too was a medical student when I first watched this film. I had seen people arrest and be resuscitated, and was curious what their experience was during those critical minutes when their heart stopped beating.

I wondered why were they still having anatomy dissection class when they were already rotating in the clinics and were supposedly already quite adept with advanced cardiac life support. Stunts like this never crossed my mind when I was a naive first year med student in Anatomy class. I had my doubts about the science of the film back then, especially about the accuracy of the resuscitation scenes that were shown. I saw the logic of using a cooling blanket to extend the window of resuscitation, but I had not seen it used in the local setting.

The post-resuscitation hauntings appeared to be very random, no specific patterns. Two of them dealt with "ghosts" of people who were still alive. Dealing with these guilty thoughts were relatively going to be easier. Two of them were haunted that deaths of people in their past. Dealing with these types of ghosts were obviously going to be more challenging. I felt this horror part of the film felt messy and somewhat cheesy with sentiment. What these past sins have to do with their near-death experience was never elaborated. 6/10.


FLATLINERS (2017)

I am not sure what sparked the idea of reviving "Flatliners" at all. The 1990 film (starring Kiefer Sutherland, Kevin Bacon and Julia Roberts) was not exactly a well-received film when it first came out, earning only middling reviews. The plot remains basically the same -- five medical students willingly undergo "flatlining" (heart arrest) in order to see what was on the other side at the point of death. This new version by Danish director Niels Arden Oplev has some significant differences from the original.

Courtney (Ellen Page) conceptualized this radical experiment to show the status of brain activities at the time of death that causes the visions reported by people who came back from death. Oddly, she picked Sophie (Kiersey Clemons) and Jamie (James Norton) to assist her, two who were not exactly the sharpest tools in the shed. Unlike in the first film when documentation was only done by a video camera, here Courtney monitors the brain via a imaging scan.

In her panic for their being unable to revive Courtney, Sophie paged their topnotch classmate Ray (Diego Luna) for assistance and he delivered. Another classmate Marlo (Nina Dobrev) followed Ray into the fully-functional underground hospital wing built for nuclear emergencies and also witnessed Courtney's successful resuscitation. Afterwards, Courtney was noted to display boundless energy and a prodigious memory, so everyone else wanted their own turn, except Ray. 

As before, the participants also experience horrific visions -- Courtney from her younger sister who died in a car accident, Jamie from an ex-girlfriend he had abandoned, Sophie from a girl she bullied. What I liked about this new version was that Marlo's ghost was actually medical in nature. As doctors we deal with life and death, and we have to admit that we do not always make the correct decisions. The ghost of such a patient who suffers a morbidity, or worse a mortality, is a doctor's most dreaded nightmare.

Another big difference is that one ghosts of these five doctors actually succeed in extracting its revenge on the person who wronged it. Like the first film, the script never really made clear what was causing these hauntings. One of them mentioned the word "demonic" which sounded absurd when considered in the meditative context of the first film, but that was how the doctors' malevolent visions in this new film looked like.

The actors all looked more like senior residents already than interns. At least Page, Luna and Dobrev seemed credible in the execution of the resuscitation scenes. Norton and Clemons never did come across as doctors at all. It was a great idea to have Kiefer Sutherland from the first film come back. He played their training officer Dr. Barry Wolfson in this version. It's a shame they did not have him portray his old character Nelson Wright. That would have been more interesting mentorship. 

There were some confusing details if you listen closely to their medical conversations. Sophie was already an intern, yet she still cannot memorize the 12 cranial nerves -- something any first year med students knew by heart. Well, at least they did not have anatomy dissections anymore, and knew how to use imaging to monitor brain activity and do endotracheal intubation while resuscitating in this reboot. They attempted to discuss sparks in the amygdala at one point after the first flatline attempt succeeded, but too bad that they never mentioned the experimental aspects anymore after that.

The filmmakers really poured on the computer-generated special effects to say that "improved" on the original. However, making this film feel like a "Final Destination" film was not the way to go. I wish they would have gone deeper into the science (fiction) aspect they built up in the first half, but director Oplev instead decided to mine the horror aspect for all its worth in the whole second half. Shallow thrills prevailed over scientific insight and that was truly unfortunate. 4/10. 

My Review of THE LEGO NINJAGO MOVIE: Middling and Messy

October 2, 2017

At first there was "The Lego Movie" (2014) (MY REVIEW), which told us that everything Lego is awesome. Then suddenly this year alone, there were two more Lego films! "The Lego Batman Movie" (MY REVIEW) was released in February, and now, barely six months later, this new one "The Lego Ninjago Movie" hits the screens.

The old owner of a Chinese antique shop tells his young visitor a story about the legendary city of Ninjago. The bustling metropolis was always attacked by a dark Lord named Garmadon who wants to take control over the city. However, he is always foiled by  a group of ninja warriors who possessed the powers of Water, Fire, Earth, Ice, Lightning and Green. 

The secret identity of the Green Ninja was Lloyd Garmadon, the 16-year old son of the evil Lord, who had always been shunned in school because of his father. The other ninjas were his friends Nya, Zane, Jay, Cole and Kai, and their group was under a white bearded Master Wu, the younger brother of Lord Garmadon.

When Lloyd uses a forbidden Ultimate Weapon against Garmadon, it unleashes a real-life cat named Meowthra on Ninjago, which causes so much destruction. This forces Lloyd and the ninjas to face more dangers in order to obtain the so-called Ultimate Ultimate Weapon which was their only hope to defeat Meowthra. En route on their quest, Garmadon joined in the fray, leading to father and son getting to know each other more.

The animation in this installment of the Lego franchise maintains the same frenetic pace of bright images at full blast. The color-coded rendition of the Secret Ninja Force were reminiscent of "Power Rangers" (as with the inclusion of "The Power" in the score). Those mech (fighting robot) battle scenes had a "Transformers" style of close-up action cinematography. The scenes at the Temple of Fragile Foundations reminded me of "Kung Fu Panda" imagery. The inclusion of a live cat interacting with the animated city folk and structures of Ninjago must have been quite a challenge for the team to execute.

Several noted film actors are in the voice cast, although I cannot say that they were particularly distinctive. These were Dave Franco as Lloyd Garmadon, Justin Theroux as Lord Garmadon, Michael Peña as Kai (the Red Ninja of Fire), Olivia Munn as Lloyd's mother Koko, "Fresh of the Boat" couple Randall Park and Constance Wu also voice minor characters, Chen the Cheerleader and Mayor of Ninjago, respectively. Jackie Chan played the elderly man Mr. Liu in the bookend live action scenes, as well as voiced Master Wu.

Compared to the first two Lego movies, this one was not as interesting to watch because the formulaic story of an outsider turning into hero three times around is getting too redundant. The jokes were mostly juvenile, only mildly funny for adults, many even falling flat.  The soundtrack sounded rather generic, except for a radical flute arrangement of GNR's "Welcome to the Jungle" by Master Wu.

The central story about an absentee father and his son was strewn with spoofs of every cliche in that familiar movie plot line. While it is still fun to watch, there is oddly no emotional connection that comes through, and for that the viewing experience flounders. 5/10. 

Review of GIRLS TRIP: Raunchy with Redemption

October 1, 2017

It had been six years since "Bridesmaids" set the bar for raunchy female buddy comedies. This year, there have been two such films for our consideration. The first one "Rough Night" (MY REVIEW) had rough sailing from the critics and the audiences. However, this second one "Girls Trip" had a more positive reaction, not only from critics but also from the box office returns.

There is no wedding in this one for a change, just a long-delayed reunion getaway for a gang of four close college friends who call themselves "The Flossy Posse" who had not seen each other for five years. Flossy is an urban word that means glamorously stylish, and these four ladies are confidently just that. 

The posse's big weekend trip to New Orleans is organized by Ryan Pierce, a successful author of a self-help book about to break into television, who had been invited to deliver the keynote address at the Essence Music Festival. Sasha Franklin is now a celebrity gossip blogger. Lisa Cooper is a divorced single mother and nurse. And then, there is Dina (no last name given), the loudest, wildest, most abrasive, and most unrestrained friend of them all. 

Like all movies in this raunchy category, there are bound to be some embarrassing debauched incidents brought about by some illicit substance. This time around it is an overdose of absinthe that causes the girls to go over-the-top crazy, imagining several outrageous hallucinations, that conclude in a dance showdown and a catfight. This movie also describes a crazy sex tip involving a grapefruit which makes me wince in pain just listening to it being described. Liking these types of jokes are a matter of personal taste.

Casting wise, it was obvious that Queen Latifah (as Sasha) and Jada Pinkett Smith (as Lisa) were much older than Regina Hall (as Ryan) and Tiffany Haddish (as Dina). Nevertheless the four ladies hit it off very realistically as closely-knit BFF girlfriends. The central character of the ensemble went to Hall, and the bulk of the hardcore comedy went to Haddish. The more senior stars Latifah and Smith generously gave Hall and Haddish their ample room to shine. 

Director Malcolm D. Lee's experience with ensemble buddy films, like "The Best Man" (1999), "The Best Man Holiday" (2013) and "Barbershop:The Next Cut" (2016), shows. Being set in a music festival, the musical soundtrack of this film is scorching hot, including live clips of New Edition, Mariah Carey and P. Diddy in concert. 

There is usually a lesson about the grace of true friendship in these films, and there is one in this as well, as you may have predicted. However, in a departure from the frivolous misadventures it churned out one after the other, "Girls Trip" also offers a valuable lesson of empowerment for females in abusive relationships, especially for African American women, but this lesson is not only for them. 7/10. 

Review of BIRTH OF THE DRAGON: Why the White?

September 28, 2017

This film was supposed to be about a young Bruce Lee  and his fight with Shaolin master Wong Jack Man in the mid-1960s. Just like the excellent "Ip Man" and its sequels, I was excited to watch how this Asian martial arts film would play out. Bruce Lee is a martial arts legend, and I would really like to know more about his life before he entered the heady limelight of show business. 

It was 1964. In Henan, China, there was an exhibition fight between Shaolin master Wong Jack Man and his counterpart from the Tai'chi school that ended badly for his opponent. Meanwhile in San Francisco, USA, Bruce Lee was gaining prominence teaching white men kungfu fighting as he also aspired for a career as an actor. One of his white students was Indiana farm boy Steve McKee.

McKee befriended Wong when he arrived in San Francisco to make amends for his grave sin by becoming a dish washer. He got to see the more philosophical view of kungfu espoused by Wong, as opposed to the physical kick-ass kungfu taught by his sifu Lee. The two masters agreed to fight each other only when McKee convinced them that it was the only way to free his Chinese girlfriend Xiulan from the clutches of the Chinatown mob.

It was exciting to see the story build up from the contrasting points of view of Wong and Lee. However, the plot took an unexpected turn when the focus shifted to the problems of Steve McKee. Here we were watching a film supposedly about two of the most important Chinese martial arts personalities of the 1960s, and then it turns out that the focal point of the story would actually be about some fictional white dude and his forbidden romance. Nevertheless, as long as the story was centered on the two masters, I was totally on board. 

I enjoyed listening to the beautifully phrased pearls of wisdom dropping from the lips of Wong Jack Man (as played with serene calm by award-winning actor Xia Yu). He spoke of needing to restore balance in his soul which was displaced when his pride overcame his discipline. His lines were written with eloquence expected from a Master. Xia Yu was also elegant in his smooth and ethereal moves in his fight scenes. He reminded me of Donnie Yen in "Ip Man."

On the other hand, in total contrast, Philip Ng was all brash bravado as Bruce Lee. This actor is already 40 years old in real life (same age as Xia Yu coincidentally), but he still manages to pull off a credible portrayal of the youthful Lee. Odd that Bruce Lee's name is in the title, but the film is clearly not about his good side. In fact, it seemed to be showing him in a rather bad light. Ng is very charismatic, but Lee's characterization is mostly negative, much like the way the bad white sensei was portrayed in "Karate Kid." It felt disrespectful to Lee as an icon of this field.

The controversial character of Steve McKee is portrayed by Billy Magnusson. It was an earnest performance by the actor to be fair. It is just that the character, ostensibly someone for whom the Western audience can identify with, did not feel right as the pivot on which the story turned. His damsel in distress and love interest Xiulan is played by pretty Qu Jingjing. Playing the role of ruthless mob boss Auntie Blossom is Chinese dancer and actress Jin Xing, notable for being one of the first transgender women recognized as female by the government in China.

What Chinese martial arts film does not have a fight scene in a Chinese restaurant? This was the chosen venue of the final series of fights, and this indeed was the best fight sequence of the whole film. It showcased the best of both Wong Jack Man's and Bruce Lee's fighting styles. McKee also figured somehow in this finale, but his participation is almost comic relief, maybe the filmmakers' way of restoring the film to its proper leads.

This film is by George Nolfi in only his second directorial effort since "The Adjustment Bureau (2011) (MY REVIEW). The white incursion in this film was distracting, true. It was not at all that bad as an action film, but still disappointing for those expecting more of Bruce Lee, as the title and poster clearly purports. I felt it would have been more entertaining if he never diverted the focus away from the two real-life iconic kung-fu masters his film was about, especially Bruce Lee. 5/10. 

Review of KINGSMAN: THE GOLDEN CIRCLE: Slapdash Sequel

September 23, 2017

I considered the first Kingsman movie "The Secret Service" (MY REVIEW) to be one of the best films of 2015.  That film had just the right combination of cool action, wry humor, and graphic violence for great entertainment. It introduced us to a rising young star named Taron Egerton who played Eggsy Unwin, a 17 year old bloke who was trained by Kingsman Harry Hart to be a super spy in his organization. 

This sequel takes place a year after the events in the first film. While Eggsy was a having dinner with his girlfriend Princess Tilde of Sweden and her parents, the entire Kingsman organization gets wiped out by a major attack from Poppy Adams, who runs a major covert international illegal drug operations from Cambodia called the Golden Circle. 

Following their "doomsday protocol," Eggsy and fellow survivor Merlin find their way to Kentucky, USA and connect with a parallel spy organization based in a whisky factory there called the Statesman, which had agents named after various types of liquor. Meanwhile, Poppy announced that she held all junkies of the world hostage with a fatal toxin to pressure the US President to legalize drugs. 

While this sequel still had the moments of slick action and British humor which made the first film a lot of fun to watch, I felt that the plotting and writing was not as sharp as the original. I thought it was too early in the series to decimate the Kingsman organization just like that, when we barely knew them yet and would like to see them in more adventures. Now they introduce us to a new set of American agents with different quirks and weapons, as if they could not come up with anything more to tell about the Brit agents. 

Taron Egerton (as cocky and sentimental Eggsy), Mark Strong (as the ever-efficient and ever-loyal Merlin) and ever-reliable Colin Firth (back to life with one eye here as Harry) delivered as expected. Their scenes with their dashing fashion flair and gravity-defying moves are the best in the movie, very distinctly British. 

Their American counterparts played it Western style (complete with John Denver songs in the background). Jeff Bridges role as the big boss Champagne was practically a glorified cameo. Pablo Pascal had visually potent fight scenes as Whiskey with his lasso and whip moves. Channing Tatum had an unexpectedly abbreviated screen time as Tequila, but they felt the need to show a scene of him being frozen in a pod in his underwear. Halle Berry was so plain and mousy as the neglected aide Ginger Ale, I felt sorry for her being cast in that thankless demeaning role.

The introduction of Poppy Adams and her elaborate 50s-inspired theme park headquarters, with its makeover salon, burger grill and robotic guard dogs (Bennie and Jets), took a lot of time to set up. The performance of Julianne Moore as the sweet, sinister and sadistic Poppy felt cartoonishly familiar. Elton John was such a campy actor even if he played himself, but in a hilarious way dressed in his outrageous 70s outfits.

Poppy's grand plot with the toxin-laced drugs was over-the-top but felt very current, with the real-time war on drugs issues lately. The ulterior plot of the fictional US President (played by Bruce Greenwood) to rid society of drug addicts wholesale sounded like it came straight out of the TV news, especially meaningful for Filipino viewers. 

For me, this film should have been rated an R-16 at least, and not R-13. It had graphically violent scenes (a man pushed into a meat-grinder shot from the top view!), sexy scenes (a close-up view of Eggsy's finger entering a girl's fuschia silk panties in order to insert a tracking device which we even follow inside her "vaginal vault"!), as well as many scenes of drugs and alcohol consumption. 

Overall, this film directed and co-written by Martin Vaughn was still an entertaining film to watch, even if it had some pretty messy excesses as symptoms of its "sequelitis". I also had misgivings about the premature demise of the Kingsman group in just the second film in the series. I felt this one would have been better as the last film of the trilogy, before transitioning to a planned separate Statesman franchise. 6/10. 

Review of MESSAGE FROM THE KING: Search for Sister

September 20, 2017

This film had a trailer which practically told you the gist of its story about a man searching for his missing sister. I immediately felt the intensity and intimacy of the film from that simple but compelling trailer. I wanted to know what happened to the sister and how he will find her, or maybe not. The story may be common, but the moody treatment by its Belgian director Fabrice Du Welz looked different and interesting.

From South Africa, Jacob King arrived in LAX planning to stay in Los Angeles for only a week with only $600 in cash and no credit cards. He wanted to look for his younger sister Bianca who sent him a cryptic distress call. From the get go, he discovered that Bianca fallen with the wrong people, mostly drug dealers and sex fiends. He knew then his search may not lead to anything good.

The story was told in a most straightforward manner. The events of Jacob's search were in linear order, with a few flashbacks of Jacob and Bianca's childhood playing in their home country to establish their closeness as siblings. As the search story unfolded though, it was not as simple as I initially thought it would be. 

There were three major bad guys that Bianca got herself involved with. These were the gangster Zico (Lucan Melkonian), the dentist Dr. Paul Wentworth (Luke Evans) and the filmmaker Mike Preston (Alfred Molina). There were also some druggies, like Bianca's slutty roommate Trish (Natalie Martinez) and their slimy dealer Frankie (Tom Felton). I thought the connections among these people were very well-written and plotted. 

At the end though, I I thought the all-important reason behind Bianca's fate in the film was not too clearly explained. There was an SD card among the clues Jacob found among Bianca's things, and we do see the video file in it was all about. However, I could not tell how the contents of that video could have led to what happened to Bianca. The director decided to let us imagine how it happened, instead of showing it to us. 

Chadwick Boseman was very good both in the intense physical and emotional aspects of Jacob King. We already saw him hit the box office big time as King T'challa of Wakanda, the Black Panther, in "Captain America: Civil War" (2016). Before that in 2014, Boseman played real life personalities like Jackie Robinson in "42" and James Brown in "Get On Up". He is also playing Thurgood Marshall, the first African-American Justice of the US Supreme Court, in the upcoming film "Marshall". Things are indeed looking up for this actor's career.

Luke Evans plays it very smooth as Wentworth, even if he had to mouth some pretty silly dentist lines about teeth and personality. Alfred Molina can really milk everything out of even the shallowest characters like Preston, maximizing his every emotional moment to come up with a memorable three-dimensional portrayal. 

Teresa Palmer was deglamorized here to play Kelly, Jacob's next door neighbor who helped him out. Zimbabwean actress Sibongile Mlambo did not have a single line of dialogue as Bianca King, but her exotic vibe beauty made her stand out.

I liked the way the character of Jacob King was developed in the story. Right up to the very last scene, we learn something new about him. The way he used a bicycle chain as a deadly weapon was an original touch. While this was still a B-action revenge film at heart, but it done with artistic vision and flair. 6/10. 

Review of MOTHER!: Struggling for Sense

September 21, 2017

Of all the movies released this year, this film had been the most polarizing, dividing critics who really loved it from those who really hated it. This controversy over this film's quality of course made me more curious to go see it in order to judge it for myself. This is director Darren Aronofsky's seventh film. Like "Requiem for a Dream" and "Black Swan," "Mother!" is also a surreal psychological drama. Like "The Fountain" and "Noah", "Mother!" also had biblical overtones.

The characters have no names. There is a famous middle-aged poet (called Him) and his much younger wife who lived in an isolated house. While the poet struggled to write a new masterpiece, his wife spent the days building up their house from ruins of a previous fire. Even if they loved each other, they did not have any children.

One day, a Man suddenly visited their house and confessed to be a big fan of the poet. Later, a nosy Woman came, whom the Man introduced as his wife. From there, the peaceful life of the poet and his wife was shattered with a series of increasingly bizarre intrusions. While the poet seemingly welcomed all the attention, the whole situation became a living nightmare for his wife.

As the wife was struggling to make sense of all the terrible madness that was going on in her own house, the audience too will be struggling to make sense of all the terrible madness that was going on on that big screen. You can pick up some Aronofsky's biblical inspirations in the jumble of scenes, like Cain and Abel in the first half, or the Paschal sacrifice in the second half (a most disturbing scene!). But some details defy simple explanation, like the yellow calming tonic, the secret room in the basement or the recurrent bloodstain on the rug.

The dynamic cinematography, especially those closeups and those crazy angles, was so "in your face" such that you cannot simply look away. Aronofsky and his "Black Swan" cinematographer Martin Libatique were definitely in the zone as far as the camera was concerned. The visual effects were also well done and kept the images on screen exciting.

Jennifer Lawrence really went through the wringer for this as her character was pushed to the brink of madness especially in that harrowing second half. The onslaught of physical exertion and emotional breakdown for her was relentless, plus she even had to give birth to a child! I could hardly breathe even as I am only watching her. I can only imagine how exhausting shooting this film was for her. 

Javier Bardem's character was such a paradox. He was loving and forgiving, but at the same time, he was so egotistical and narcissistic. For me, his was the most unsettling and potentially offensive character in the whole film. I dread to imagine what sort of symbolic message Aronofsky wants to say about God the Father with this character.

Ed Harris played the Man charismatically, the adoring fan who sought the poet out because of his mortality. Michelle Pfieffer though was downright nasty in her role as the Woman, so meddlesome and pushy, so hateful and hypocritical. Their two sons were played by the two Gleeson brothers, Domhnall playing the angry elder son, and Brian the favored younger son. There was no time to get to know them better as they went in and out of the scene with such shocking suddenness. 

Overall, the film works well to get us all thinking, confused and riled up. You cannot not react. It is not boring. It is supposed to be uncomfortable. It may astound you. It may irritate you. It will incite you to feel something about it - be it positive or negative. People behind the film intimate that this film was about the abuse of Mother Earth. It could be about how husbands can be so selfish in their relationships with wives, or of poets and their muses. For me, it could mean any form of abuse that will eventually head for disaster.  

It is not hard to see why people will either love or loathe this film. It is a piece of modern art which is very open to any interpretation by its various viewers. Mainstream viewers who look for a clearly-told story in the films they watch will not see it here. They will hate this film for wasting their time. However, people who like picking the brains of the director will enjoy the challenge of figuring out what the hell this film meant or was trying to say. 

As the credits roll up, it will be the viewer to decide whether he liked it or not. I personally may not agree with all the director's seemingly atheistic sense of religious allegory. However, as a film, I cannot deny that "Mother!" was a fascinating audacious piece of art cinema. 7/10. 

Review of THE MIMIC: Vocal Vagaries

September 17, 2017

It has been a long time since I had seen a truly creepy Korean ghost movie, and that was "A Tale of Two Sisters" way back 2003. "Train to Busan" (2015) had all those zombies but it was more of an action film, than horror. "The Wailing" (2016) had a malevolent demon, but it was more a gory murder film than ghostly. There are plenty more, but I do not get enough chances to see more of them. 

This latest K-Horror flick "The Mimic" is said to be the latest box-office winner in South Korea, and the first one to notch more than a million tickets sold in four years. I guess it was this proven box-office appeal that led it to be distributed in more Asian, European and American countries. I am always up for these foreign horror flicks especially those stories which employ unique local legends.

A young couple had moved into an isolated old house near the mountains with their daughter and the wife's demented mother. The wife Hee-yeon is still having a hard time dealing with the disappearance of their little boy a year or so ago. Her husband, who ran a dog shelter, Min-ho, tried very hard to keep normalcy in their household. 

One day, a disheveled little girl in a dirty red dress knocked on the door of their house. Hee-yeon decides to take her in but tarried in reporting her to the police. At first mute, the girl eventually called herself the name of their daughter Jun-hee, and actually sounded a lot like her as well, causing Hee-yeon to grow attached to her. Since then though, various familiar voices began to be heard around the house, then people began to disappear. 

The big portion of the film's uncomfortably creepy horror was thanks to the riveting performance of cute 8- year old child actress Shin Rin-ah as the mysterious little girl from the woods. She has an innocent lovable face, so you cannot blame Hee-yeon's impulsive decision to adopt this girl. This must have been a harrowing shoot for this child actress with all those traumatic scenes she had to do -- like getting stuffed into a porcelain jar, or sitting between two dogs holding a shard of mirror glass as protection, etc...

Yum Jung-ah, who played the spooked mother Hee-yeon here, was the same actress who played the spooked stepmother Eun-joo in "A Tale of Two Sisters". She has this thing she does with her eyes and that long black hair that make her perfect for looking scared in these horror flicks. Her Hee-yeon does the most illogical decisions given her circumstances, but then what horror film does not have a lead character who does not do these outrageously stupid decisions?

Park Hyuk-kwon portrays the father Min-ho. He basically plays supportive husband here, nothing much more. Heo Jin is the senior actress who plays Soon-ja, the grandmother with Alzheimer's disease. Her scenes where she was hearing voices of her older siblings were very unsettling. Gil-Hae-yeon played a blind neighborhood psychic who figured out what was wrong with Hee-yeon. I thought she should have used a wig to cover her modern hairstyle which did not fit her character. 

Lee Jun-hyeok (the actor who played Eunuch Jang in K-drama "Love in the Moonlight") was intimidating as the Middle Age Man possessed by the "Tiger of Mt. Jang" and was thus able to mimic voices to haunt people. Those scenes where he was trying to smash out of mirrors and crawling out of caves were the outright scariest scenes in the whole films that kept you at the edge of your seats. I wish they delved more about the Jangsan Tiger legend for the benefit of those unfamiliar with it. 

Overall, this film had all the horror elements done right especially in the sound effects mixing department. The acting of the two lead actresses Shin Rin-ah and Yum Jung-ah also drew us into the dramatic aspects of the story. However, I thought it had many loose ends in its storytelling for me to appreciate it more. I particularly did not like what happened inside the cave in the third act when a previously lost character suddenly came back out from out of nowhere. The unconventional ending may not be to everyone's liking. It did not work too well for me. 6/10.  

Review of LOGAN LUCKY: Heist by Hicks

September 16, 2017

"Logan Lucky" is director Steven Soderbergh's comeback film since he temporarily "retired" from feature films last 2103 with "Side Effects" (MY REVIEW). The frenetic trailer made sure we are reminded us that he was the director of "Oceans 11" (2001) and its two sequels (2004 and 2007). This new film is clearly going to be a fun caper flick like those three were.

Unemployed father Jimmy Logan and his one-armed brother Clyde decide to stage an ambitious heist of the vault in the Charlotte Motor Speedway for much their needed cash. They conscript the services of convicted robber-explosives expert Joe Bang and his techie redneck brothers Fish and Sam for their expertise. However, they somehow have to spring Joe out of the penitentiary first before they can pull off their elaborate plans.

Because of the very rustic American flavor of life in rural West Virginia, this joyride of a film may not be that easy to get into at the start. There were also many characters involved, all with their thick accents, so it be confusing. However, once you get into that groove of Soderberg's style with this one and what he wanted to do, it does become engaging. The execution of the heist proper was tense, though it ended oddly. Surprisingly, the aftermath in Act 3 gives it heart. 

Channing Tatum looks heftier and more mature here as Jimmy Logan. He is an ex-football player, career cut short by a football injury. He is now a down-and-out father who desperately wants keep his close ties with his cute little daughter Sadie (Farrah Mackenzie), even when he was already divorced from her mother Bobbie Jo (Katie Holmes). This family dynamic gives the film its emotional core.

Adam Driver plays his stoic bartender brother Clyde. He lost his arm during his tour of dury as soldier in Iraq, so he currently wears a prosthetic arm. Driver seemed to only have one stern look on his face the whole film. Riley Keough played their accomplice sister Mellie, who was one mean, fast driver despite what her big hair and thick make-up would suggest.

The biggest transformation seen in this film is that by current James Bond himself Daniel Craig. Craig sports a short shock of platinum blonde hair and spouts an outrageously over-the-top accent to create a totally new character previously unseen from him. The trailer hilariously indicates Craig's name with the word "Introducing." How you like Craig's unconventional casting as this redneck bloke will most likely dictate how you like the film as a whole. It's one of those polarizing love-it-or hate-it things.

Bang's deceptively dimwitted brothers were played by up-and-coming second-generation actors Jack Quaid (son of Dennis) and Brian Gleeson (son of Brendan).

There are other minor characters who figure in the story, all played by name actors as well. Katherine Waterston played Sylvia Harrison, Jimmy's classmate back in high school who now runs a volunteer mobile clinic that runs on donations. Country music star Dwight Yoakam played Warden Burns, who would deny anything wrong that happened in his jail. 

An unrecognizable Seth McFarlane played a very annoying businessman named Max Chilblain, a minor comic villain in the story. Sebastian Stan played NASCAR champion Dayton White, a paragon of clean living. In the final act, Oscar-winner Hillary Swank makes a late appearance as Officer Sarah Grayson, who led the investigation of the heist.

The appreciation of this film depends on how you appreciate its redneck humor. There was random Game of Thrones joke thrown in there somewhere that felt out of place. The heist plot was straightforward enough, but Soderbergh and his mysterious new scriptwriter Rebecca Blunt had to stuff the film with all of these small supporting characters with sub-stories which may or may not go anywhere. 

This was not as slick or smooth as the Ocean's capers, but for me, it was still fun to watch unfold. We all like it when a plan comes together, but there were unbelievable scenes which would need you to suspend disbelief or overlook logic to get through them. 7/10. 

Review of AMERICAN MADE: Cruising with the CIA

September 14, 2017

This is one of the rare times I am seeing Tom Cruise with a smile on his face on a movie poster. The last time I remember he was smiling on a movie poster was "Jerry Maguire" and that was way back 1996! Even if I did not exactly know what this movie was about, I thought it would be interesting to see Tom Cruise in a happy, light-hearted role again. 

It was 1978 and Barry Seal was an outstanding pilot for TWA. Agent Monty Schafer convinces Seal to junk his stable job and work for the CIA. From taking overhead recon photos of terrain, Seal took on more dangerous CIA missions, like covert meetings with General Noriega in Panama and supplying arms to the Contras in Nicaragua. 

During these missions, Seal was also conscripted by the Medellin drug cartel composed of Ochoa, Rangel and Escobar to smuggle drugs into the USA. Because of these highly profitable but blatantly illegal activities, cash was literally bursting out of the seams of his house, hangar and banks in Mena, Arkansas. 

It was very good to see Tom Cruise as a hotshot pilot again, long after he took the skies 30 years ago in "Top Gun" (1986). He did his own flying and his own stunts in this new film as well. This was best seen in that hair-raising scene in his small airplane on auto-pilot while flying low over some Louisiana marshes, and Cruise was at the back throwing down packages of drugs leaving the cockpit totally empty.

In fact, it was great to see him in a role where he was totally relaxed and having fun again, unlike his intense grim personas in "Mission: Impossible" and "Jack Reacher". Cruise looked and felt like he was having the time of his life, flashing his famous toothy smile almost the whole 115 minute running time. I am sure Cruise's winning performance here wipes off any bad taste left by his "Mummy" reboot earlier this year.

Willowy Sarah Wright played Seal's wife Lucy Seal, a former fast food waitress. We get a hint of her redneck background when we meet her extremely trashy brother JB (annoyingly played by the pale and freckly Caleb Landry Jones), though she seemed to have outgrown it quite well. Domhnall Gleeson was rather unconvincing as Seal's CIA contact Monty Schafer, but understandable in the light of this film\s humorous attack on the subject.

The story of drug courier/gun-runner Barry Seal was dead serious, but the treatment of the film by director Doug Liman was light and breezy. Liman, whose previous box office hits were "The Bourne Identity" (2002), "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" (2005) and "Edge of Tomorrow" (2014, also with Cruise), has once again proven his ability to tell an entertaining story. 

While it may feel a bit long towards the third act, my attention was held to the end. I found it is quite educational about the controversies during the Reagan years in recent American history. I have heard of Manuel Noriega, Sandanistas and Contras, Lt. Col. Oliver North, the Iran-Contra affair in my youth, but I confess that I did not really much about these foreign issues. Watching this film cleared up a lot of the historical connections of these entities. It sparked my interest to read more about what really went on in these unbelievable (yet true) events depicted in the movie. 8/10. 

Review of THE LAST FACE: Romance Among Refugees

September 13, 2017

The two lead stars are both winners of acting Oscars -- Charlize Theron and Javier Bardem, two of the best actors now who could not seem to go wrong with anything they do. The director also has an Oscar to his name -- Sean Penn. The combination of star power in this film is just so potent it is difficult to resist the temptation to go watch it.

Dr. Wren Petersen is now the head of an aid organization called "Medecins du Monde". The film looks back to 2003, when Wren worked as a physician among the refugees in West Africa which was in the throes of civil war. She met and fell in love with Dr. Miguel Leon, another doctor working in the same war-torn fields. The harrowing nature of their risky career advocacy would take a toll on their relationship. Can their love pull them through? 

I'd like to think that Theron and Bardem did the best with the roles they're given, but even their talents and good will could not pull their film out from being a boring and unengaging 132 minute affair. Disappointingly, the two actors did not have much chemistry with each other, so scenes about their relationship tend to feel forced and tedious. 

To his credit, Bardem did look convincing as a brave and very dedicated doctor. His Dr. Miguel was confident in his surgical skills even in the direst of emergencies, and Bardem acts believably so.  On the other hand, Theron was uncharacteristically awkward, both in her scenes as a sensitive field medic, or in the glamorous charity dinner she was hosting. It was so unlike her.

The film only becomes interesting when the story shifts to the refugees and the violent horrors they experience. These scenes of senseless brutality against the villagers jolted my senses as a medical professional as I try to see myself in the shoes of the medical volunteers (I frankly couldn't). The peak was this intense father-and-son scene just before the second hour which was a terrifying shock to witness. 

The initial scene compared the brutality of their love to that of the wars in Africa itself, which started the film on a rather absurd note. Director Sean Penn was trying hard to make their love story look and feel more important than it was by using various "artistic" camera techniques. He was telling their love story by flashing back and forth different times and places, which only succeeded in making it more confusing. 

You have all the turmoil and suffering of war going on, yet the film focuses on a pair of "white saviors" falling in love. The whole scenario and underlying premise of the film just felt wrong. Even the Oscar pedigrees of its stars and director could not save it. 4/10.