The Witch is back. The good, they have better budget so there's next level esper fight in the last act. You get to see various factions of witches. Shanghai branch and a witch hunter team. Those are exciting new elements. The bad, very convoluted narrative flashback and the first two acts very draggy. This is not exactly a sequel but a Part 1.5. During Part 1, you clearly see Dami had another girl with her during the cliffhanger. This movie explains the origin of that girl. This is strictly meant for fans of the first movie, otherwise you don't get who Dami is. She only appears briefly here. Not as good as the first one but still looking forward to Part 3. Just want to see more of Kim Dami.

Also watch it on cinema if can, Jack Sparrow subtitle is not accurate. When I linked the trailer only to find out GSC is screening locally.

Follow this channel, he always uploads decent reviews and upcoming trailers.

Right now you have the Stuntman turned Film Director fad in Hollywood. Chad Stahelski, David Leitch, and Sam Hargreaves. At least the era of shaky cam and fast cuts closing a chapter.

Also Korean action filmmakers has yet to make their mark in the US market. They can blow up like the 00s Hong Kong invasion of Hollywood.

I think the director of Kong vs Godzilla is making face/off 2. He wants Nic Cage to return but Travolta sadly fall out from Hollywood's grace.

Special Delivery - Transporter meets Baby Driver. Simple premise of skillful heroine taking high risk transportation assignments. Car chase scene ok la nothing groundbreaking but enough thrill. It's more of how heroine reluctantly became guardian of the son of a client. The bonding relationship is watchable. A villain that weaselly evil than your usual ruthless criminal. OK to burn 2 hours.

The Creator - This movie is like a breath of fresh air. When the studio overlords make it a point to drown the market with franchises and mindless sequels, 20th Century somehow decide to take a roll of dice with this. In short it's Last Of Us meets District 9. Great performance with newcomer Madeleine Yuna Voyles and off course the always dependable Allison Janey as a very engaging villain. It won't hurt that you have Gemma Chan and Ken Watanabe in the mix.

It's no secret Gareth Edwards rise in Hollywood pegged on his VFX background. He shot and VFX his debut feature all by himself kinda like Robert Rodriguez in the 90's. Here he did the impossible as the USD 80m production budget looks like a USD 300m end product. Again f*** MCU with their excessive CGI orgy fest. Here the VFX is integral to the storyline and you can see the envelope pushing merits of how they are being used.

This is not by any means a great masterpiece as there are some problems with the script but the performance and spectacle more than makeup over the shortcomings. John David Washington also performed a little better than the boring role in Tenet but still not buying he deserves a slot on the a-listing of actors.

Bottoms - It's the single best comedy I've watched in a long time. On the surface it's 2019 Booksmart but here they just went all in with the raunchy jokes without being too juvenile about it. And more importantly they don't PC the 3rd act with fairy tale ending. In the end just 2 horny girls went about scoring their dream girl with the out of proportion shenanigans. Whether the birdbrain jocks or highly inappropriate adult, it's nonstop laughing rolling on the floor.
PS: Yes it's Sydney from The Bear. It's a shocker to see her here as a one half of the depraved duo.

Killers of the Flower Moon - I like this much more than Oppenheimer. Technically they're not the same genre, as Oscars bait movies concern KOTFM is the superior viewing experience and for sure DeNiro, Leonardo and Lily Gladstone locked for best acting nomination. Don't be alarmed by the screen time cause Scorsese's signature of immaculate editing makes the three and a half hours felt like a normal 2 hours movie. The plot always progressing with new info to suck you in. I was surprised by the amount of humour sprinkle throughout as Leonardo is playing a very effective useful idiot character. While DeNiro went full villain with plenty of charisma. Lily Gladstone has no problem going toe to toe with the 2 accomplished leads, she's the reason that kept you watching. The cameos also enjoyable to watch like Fraser, Plemons and Lithgow. Of course the indigenous Osage community that came alive on screen.

My favourite by far.

This is a very enjoyable interpretation of the gamestonk fiasco. Love how snappy the narration and things always moving. This more in line with Big Shot instead of Wolf of Wall Street. Since the movement came from Reddit, you have a good deal of meme jokes on screen. On top of that, there's no shortage of cameos to keep things entertaining. Paul Dano is all good as well. Good watch.

This is a watchable movie. Just as the title says, it's exactly that but it's freaking intense to see how things unfold. The only let down is how they tie a bow with the ending. I was engaged throughout.

Saltburn - In short, this is a retelling of The Talented Mr. Ripley for present day. The main reason to watch this is to see what crazy scenarios cooked up by Emerald Fennel. Then you have Barry Keoghan committing to the shocking scenes. I can safely say it's not something you'll ever seen before on screen. Then you have Rosamund Pike as the out of touch matriarch figure chewing the scenes. Last but not least, you also get to see the current golden boy of Hollywood, Jacob Elordi aka the new Clark Kent. This will end up a cult film for the Gen-Z.

By accident I watched this at my parent's house, it's on those China-mali TV box. So not sure this is on Prime or Netflix yet. It's watchable and of course with any action movie nowadays, suspend your disbelief for the 3rd act. I like the mystery and keep guessing who is the real villain. Slick action scenes and a psycho hitman that you can't tell he is good or bad. Enjoyable la to me.

Give up HK cinema already, with all the censorship going on doubt they can do justice to nuance storytelling. On top of that, Felix Chong can be a wildly inconsistent film director.

Last year's Palme d'Or winner doesn't disappoint. On the surface it's a whodunit mystery but halfway it became a nail biting court drama that unravels the complexity of a broken marriage. It's not so much about solving the murder but through the trial you are presented with a questionable wife and inconclusive evidence of murder. So the battle is to control narrative to sway public opinion. Very intense trial action. A more grounded Gone Girl-esque movie with amazing performance from Sandra Huller. One of the best film from 2023.

So the granddaddy of all multiverse story. I like how they managed to compress the dense storyline in a pretty engaging narrative. Instead of play by play, they decide jumping back and forth multiple timelines ala Christopher Nolan style. At the heart of it all also a touching love story between Barry Allen and Iris that is core to the resolution of the crisis. Will be on the lookout for part 2. It's enjoyable to me.

This is a very fun movie. Harkening back to old school conman flicks, you have veteran actress Kim Hye Soon gave a very enjoyable foxy lady role that spinning deception and misdirection to redeem herself to her BFF Yum Jung Ah. Highly enjoyable!

While Furiosa not out yet, not too keen on Fall Guy. Monkey Man turns out pretty OK. You can see shades of John Wick and surprise to see Dev Patel actually can do good action sequences. More of Gareth Evans hard hitting choreography instead of the over produced Hollywood variety. It's not gonna reinvent the wheel but excited to see if Patel can parlay to something bigger. Give it a try.

The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare - This is Guy Richie version of Dirty Dozen. Ok watch and just don't expect this is anything new. Just turn off your brain and see some glorified Nazi dying on screen. Bare minimum it's not offensively boring or stupid.

Twilight of the Warriors: Walked In - I was surprised this HK movie is very watchable. It's an adaptation of a Manhua, so you have exaggerated kungfu action set pieces and larger than life characterisations. Soi Cheang did well without making things too cartoonish and effective world building elements. It does gives you the feeling of reading a Manhua.This is way better than the old Dragon Tiger Gate starring Donnie Yen, another Manhua movie. Also you can see the four protagonist basically new actors, perhaps ushering the next wave of HK action stars. Good watch.

This post has been edited by 6so: May 18 2024, 09:45 AM

Civil War - Overall I like it a lot but can understand why people not buying into it. Mainly the trailer suggest it's a wall to wall action war movie but with A24 and Alex Garland branding, you aren't seeing that kind of movie. Ultimately it's a mentorship of a fresh war photographer with US civil war as backdrop. Losing of innocence and the psychology trauma to endure when comes to be in the frontline of a horrific war. You don't get why and how the war started and a very subtle messaging on the importance of journalism prevalence.