Parasite 기생충

For 2 years in a row, the Palme d’Or has gone to two fascinating, socially-relevant, Asian family drama. “Parasite”, like last year’s “Shoplifters”, was an utterly riveting and emotionally-poignant film. It was smartly written and sharply directed by writer/director Bong Joon-ho and can be best described as a black comedic, scathing social satire/family drama. 

The story started out simple enough but it constantly surprises and zigs instead of the expected zags, and the emotional weight crept stealthily just beyond until it hits like a ton of rocks! The third act was not where one would expect the first act to end up. 

All the while, Bong peppered the story with genuine warmth, tightly tense moments and laughs - big laughs; like really big, laugh out loud moments. 

Only perhaps the epilogue was a bit too on the nose but then again, it would not be surprising if even that goes over the general audience. 

The whole cast was fabulous, from the main family to the supporting characters. Not one person felt extraneous or made to perform beyond their capability. 

This film was Jordan Peele’s “Get Out” and “Us” brought to a higher, smarter, tighter level; scathing social commentary that entertained but yet capable of making the audience uncomfortable without appearing overly preachy or didactic. 

The whole tone of the film tethered along this fine wire of drama, comedy and bleak social commentary with an unyielding, constant feeling of unexpectedness and unnerving tension.

Spider-Man: Far From Home

A fun, entertaining, easy-watching film that inevitably felt like a MCU-lite entry. Like the first film, it definitely felt more younger-skewing than the main MCU films, but also at times felt less a superhero film than a teenage, road trip comedy romp. 

The world-threatening and personal, emotional stakes felt low and empty throughout the film, especially since Jake Gyllenhaal’s Mysterio’s introduction to the MCU was such a bungled effort. There was, distractingly, a constant sense that this film failed to live up to its potential given that fans would know what Mysterio is capable of which thus kind of negate the whole purpose of Act One; also by introducing Mysterio as from an - spoiler - alternate universe right after we had the phenomenal “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” but then not exploring that felt like a great big lie and cheat. 

Thankfully Tom Holland and Zendaya are still insanely charismatic and fit their characters to a tee. However, it was a pity that the Holland-Jacob Batalon bromance - a highlight of the first film - got shortchanged this time round. 

Gyllenhaal was wide-eyed, crazed and wasted, and Samuel L Jackson and Cobie Smulders obviously had contractual obligations. 

Stay all the way to the end. The mid- and post-credits were more exciting than the 2 hours before that, and effectively set up the next Spider-Man film and the MCU saga.

The Lion King

This was my third favourite iteration of the beloved, original classic. 

First, of course, is the 1994 original, then the Julie Taylor-directed 1997 musical spectacle, and lastly this 2019 CGI version. 

Technically, the almost-photorealistic, VR/AR and mo-cap technology used here were astounding, but aesthetically, it was highly distracting with its glaring artificiality (for one Pride Rock and the surrounds have absolutely no wind or even a slight breeze?!); emotionally, the near 2-hours film was empty and soul-less, and rode along the goodwill coattails and nostalgic fondness of the original and/or the musical.

There were beautiful still shots interspersed throughout but the obvious directorial choices by Jon Favreau to absolutely minimise showing the animals directly speaking to the camera was annoying, frustrating, distracting and ultimately led to its emotional and dramatic emptiness. 

Narratively, this 2019 film was an amalgamation of the 1994 original and the 1997 musical with some new, original moments (and musical interludes) in this film. The new stuffs mostly worked, especially when it pertained to Pumbaa and Timon, but it also only served to remind how much better the original, traditionally-drawn animation was. 

The less than convincing voice acting by most of the cast, save the indomitable James Earl Jones (reprising his magnificent Musfasa), Chiwetel Ejiofor (adeptly and menacingly taking over from Jeremy Irons), John Oliver (nailed Rowan Atkinson’s hilarious Zazu), Florence Kasumba (scarily terrifying as Shenzi and nowhere as darkly comedic as Whoopi Goldberg), and Billy Eichner and Seth Rogan (Timon and Pumbaa effectively stole their scenes again and effortlessly brought the most laughs), did not help the film at all. 

Musically, the new score by Hans Zimmer was effective but not really memorable; better were the Lebo M’s musical-inspired tracks. 

Elton John’s and Tim Rice’s songs have also been rearranged and it mostly, kind of worked, although - hate to say this - Beyoncé butchered “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” and her new song “Spirit” was out of place both tonally and narratively. Also, the new John and Rice song at the end credits failed to excite. 

This film had so much going for it, especially after Favreau’s success with “The Jungle Book”, but as much as technology has advanced it will still take a lot more years to do perfect a live-action remake of talking, singing and emotionally-resounding animals. 

Now, we dread and await The Little Mermaid and hopefully, James Cameron’s Avatar saga will save the genre. 

Anna

A fun, silly film that was an entertaining jaunt of escapism. At 118 minutes it was perhaps just a tad too long, but writer/director Luc Besson, for all his faults and same-ness throughout the years, knows how to tell a good story. Mix in an interesting narrative structure and the predictability of the unexpected became fun and engaging. Then again, Anna is no Leon, Nikita or The Fifth Element, but at least a step (or two or three) up from Lucy and Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (granted, the latter was campily fun).

But, as with any Besson films, stylistically you know what you are getting. The action sequences are always smoothly choreographed, clearly shot and exudes a sense of possible impossibility which makes it exciting to watch.

Whereas the story almost always certainly take on a secondary role and almost always cliched, overly-dramatic, falsely elevated stakes and misogynistically feminist. And therein lies Besson's genius, he populates his films with great supporting actors to support the usually not-so-well-respected lead actor(s). Just like Gary Oldman in Leon and The Fifth Element, Ethan Hawke and Clive Owen in Valerian and Morgan Freeman in Lucy, here we have Dame Helen Mirren who was almost unrecognisable and yet still acting circles around Sasha Luss and the two boys, Luke Evans and Cillian Murphy.

Mirren, in a role that seemed modelled after a Russian Edna "E" Mode, seemed to be having much fun camping up in her role here.

If Luss is lucky, her career might take off like Milla Jovovich, or it could just bob along like Cara Delevingne's.

Evans and Murphy was good enough in their roles as the love interests, although as pro-feminist as it is to think that for once the men are the pawns, a little deeper thought will just show that men still treat women like objects to be manipulated and the only way that they can be manipulated is when a woman weaponises her sexuality.

Although something could be said for Besson's casting decision of having Mirren, Evans and Murphy play characters not of their nationality, and only having the Russian Luss - our protagonist - remain Russian. Especially in the context of a spy thriller, confused identities and matryoshka dolls.

Given the current climate of prestige television and event series, Besson should seriously consider turning his talents to that medium. With Anna narrative structure, this would play well as a 30 - 50 minutes, 4 - 6 episodes, limited series. It even has a built in seasonal or anthological potential. Think: Russian Dolls or Orphan Black or Henna.

Men in Black: International

This was another bland and uninteresting summer sequel. The only saving grace was the undeniable chemistry between Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson. And even then, director F. Gary Gray failed to capitalise on it, resulting in a supposed action/buddy-comedy that was lacking in both excitement and laughs.  The story, written by Art Marcum and Matt Holloway, was predictable, uninspiring and silly with such minimal stakes for a planet-saving organisation that the possible dire outcome never felt important or threatening. It started promising with the introduction of Thompson's character, but thereafter, the writing just got lazy.

Usually for such summer blockbusters, if they know the script is weak then they would obfuscate the lack of quality with lots of kick-ass action sequences and CGI extravaganzas. But strangely enough, even with the director of The Fate of the Furious, at the helm we had no adrenaline-rushes or awe-struck moments. That one chase-sequence felt unpolished and un-exciting.

Hemsworth and Thompson already proven they had excellent chemistry in Thor: Ragnarok and this entire film should have leaned into it. A buddy-cop comedy with an alien twist. That was what made the first film with Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones so darn good! And the frustrating thing is that we all know Hemsworth can do comedy, see Endgame and Ghostbusters. Not only can he rock a suit, but he can also deliver the laughs. Thompson can then be the straight-lady. Perhaps a reboot rather than a sequel should have been the way for this franchise.

Liam Neeson had the best line, a callback to his own franchise that re-launched his career. but sadly it was the first line of the film and the next 114 minutes after that was forgettable.

Maybe, except when Hemsworth also self-referenced the caped-character that catapulted him to fame.

You know the film is in trouble when the best bits are only two moments when the actors make fun of their own - read: better - shows.

Kumail Nanjiani is a good comedian, but this whole talking/wise-cracking animated side kick trope has always been annoying and brings back undesirable flashbacks to Jar Jar Binks. And here, it is no difference.

Lastly, we need more Emma Thompson. She makes everything that much better just by being in a scene. Gosh, an Emma and Liam MIB would be brilliant!

This was clearly a cash-grab by Sony to keep the MIB IP going, but surely, they could have tried a bit harder and make a good film. It is not like they had bad actors. Maybe just the wrong script and the wrong director for the project.

X-Men: Dark Phoenix

When you go into a film with extremely low expectations, even a terrible film can be acceptable. And, boy, this was a bad film. 

The writing and directing, both by Simon Kinberg, were bad. They were not necessarily the worse ever, but really, it was amateurish. The screenplay was clunky and cringe-worthy, with so many bad lines that any chuckling was more from the eye-rolling hilarity of it all than genuine comic relief.

Then we have Kinberg’s directorial debut. Granted, it was a decent job for a first timer, but he lacked vision and an eye for details. Scenes and narrative moved along with no sense of purpose other than to reach the end; action sequences were messy and hard to follow. Not one scene in the 114 minutes really stood out other than the prologue (sadly, the rest of the film failed to maintain that level of showmanship). 

But at least Kinberg had the decency to keep the film under 2 hours. Then again, it cannot be too difficult when the film itself lacked a clear narrative arc, the supposed climax failed to even ignite and lift-off and all your characters are squarely one-dimensional and uninteresting. 

The one singular problem with this Dark Phoenix was that it had no tie-in with the rest of the franchise; not thematically nor narratively. Its sole reason to exist appeared to be an attempt to reboot the Dark Phoenix saga, rather than maintaining the larger X-Men franchise.
 
Nonetheless, the one good thing to arise (hah!) was how fascinating it was to see and admire how great actors can elevate a mess just through their sheer talent, presence and being. And by that I am referring pointedly to Michael Fassbender and Jessica Chastain, and to a lesser extent in this case James McAvoy (too similar to his Split persona) and Nicholas Hoult (he was brilliant in The Favourite). 

Fassbender and Chastain should have had more scenes together. Their presence was a masterclass in body language and tonal adjustments (not much you can do otherwise with bad writing and an inexperienced director). 

Then, in comparison, you have everybody else, including leading lady Sophie Turner, who existed purely in service of the narrative and nothing else. They were just chess pieces being moved around to advance the story. The difference was stark and at times it felt like two different movies were going on at the same time. 

On one hand, we have this cache of Oscar-caliber actors doing their utmost to lift the script from the doldrums of mediocrity, and on the other hand, were a bunch of whippersnappers still trying to make it in Hollywood. Sorry Tye Sheridan, at least you were better in Ready Player One, whereas Turner was not even close to late-seasons Sansa Stark here, much less original-Phoenix Famke Janssen.

Oh and let us not forget about Jennifer Lawrence. She could not possibly have appeared less interested to still be in this franchise, and it was blatantly clear to the extent that Mystique's arc, so crucial to the story, ended up being such a non-event. Makes one miss the brilliance and potential of X-Men: First Class where it was a Lawrence, Fassbender and McAvoy trifecta.

When will Hollywood ever get Dark Phoenix right? Will they even try again? Obviously it has to start with casting, but even Janssen then could not save a bad (Kinberg) script. 

If Marvel does go for Round Three, hopefully they keep Hans Zimmer on for the music. At least the score was a constant comfort throughout.

Rocketman

Disclaimer: I'm an Elton John fan. Actually flew to NYC to catch his Farewell Yellowbrick Road Farewell World Tour at MSG. He was amazing!

This was a fun film. As a jukebox musical, Rocketman was top-rate. Elton John's songs are iconic and catchy and really helped to hold the story together. It will really translate well to a stage musical. However, as a biopic - and dramatically speaking - it was weak. The emotional beats were absent and the actual narrative too thin.

Dexter Fletcher directed an energetic, if otherwise formulaic, musical film that was clearly an "authorised" depiction of John's public persona. In truth, there was nothing deep nor personal about John that was gleaned from the film.

Nonetheless, the execution was good. The costumes and music were brilliant, and the actors were great. Taron Egerton gave his best performance so far and did bear a close resemblance to John himself; Jamie Bell and Richard Madden were also perfectly cast. It was almost impossible not to tear up when Your Song comes on. But unfortunately, such emotional resonance was rare in this film.

Egerton always had that cheeky, charming quality that effortless exudes out of him, but in this film, he managed to imbue in his portrayal a sense of emotional vulnerability. It is a pity that the script did not support him to further explore John's emotional landscape vis a vis his relationships with his mother and father, his professional partner Bernie Taupin and his one-time lover John Reid. Such a wealth of drama that was not mined.

In particular, John and Taupin's friendship was a major missed opportunity, given Egerton and Bell's great chemistry together. That first act when they first met was possibly the strongest act of the film.

Madden looked great and similarly, he and Edgerton had a palpable chemistry. It was only a pity that his route to villainy was so boring and linear.

Bryce Dallas Howard was unrecognisable as Sheila, and she was actually rather good in her limited role.

Kudos to Julian Day for the fabulous Costume Design. If anything, this might get an Oscar nomination.

And also maybe a Best Song nomination for John for the end credits song (I'm Gonna) Love Again.

This had been an utterly enjoyable 2 hours. The songs used were definitely all recognisable and catchy so even the casual pop-music fan would be drawn into that and appreciate the film for that. However, it would have been more fun if they had gone to Across the Universe or Mamma Mia route and used Elton's songbook and set it against an original narrative. That would have been awesome and provided more dramatic and emotional possibilities.