Suffering of Ninko: Norihiro Niwatsukino

To read this review, go to: http://www.audienceseverywhere.net/new-york-asian-film-festival-2017-japan-southeast-asia-south-korea-sampler/.

8/10

Japanese Girls Never Die: Daigo Matsui

To read this review, go to: http://www.audienceseverywhere.net/new-york-asian-film-festival-2017-japan-southeast-asia-south-korea-sampler/.

4/10

Happiness: SABU

To read this review, go to: http://www.audienceseverywhere.net/new-york-asian-film-festival-2017-japan-southeast-asia-south-korea-sampler/.

7/10

The House of Seven Corpses: Paul Harrison

If you took just the first 15 minutes and the last 10 of Paul Harrison's The House of Seven Corpses, you'd have a damn fine horror film. The premise is wonderful: a film crew shooting a schlocky horror film in a haunted mansion accidentally awaken a zombie who kills them off in ways that re-enact the grisly ends of the original inhabitants. The premise is just the right blend of hokey camp and intriguing high-concept that one can't help but be interested. The cinematography is moody and disorienting in its languidness. The mansion itself is a great set. And some of the performances--especially a world-weary Richard Burton-esque character actor--are inspired. But none of this can save the film from one undeniable fact: the vast majority is boring and not scary. Most of the film doesn't even have a pretense of dread or suspense. It's just empty provocation without any emotional or psychological weight. Here's one film I wish would get a remake--I want somebody to do this story justice.

5/10

The Village of No Return: Yu-Hsun Chen

To read this review, go to: http://www.audienceseverywhere.net/43189-2/.

5/10

The Road to Mandalay: Midi Z

To read this review, go to: http://www.audienceseverywhere.net/43189-2/.

4/10

Mon Mon Mon Monsters: Giddens Ko

To read this review, go to: http://www.audienceseverywhere.net/43189-2/.

7/10

Zombiology: Enjoy Yourself Tonight: Alan Lo

To read this review, go to: http://www.audienceseverywhere.net/43189-2/.

4/10

Mad World: Wong Chun

To read this review, go to: http://www.audienceseverywhere.net/43189-2/.

8/10

Okja: Bong Joon Ho

Bong Joon-ho’s OKJA is the perfectly emblematic of the genre-warping, expectation-thwarting, emotionally devastating cinema so perfected by the South Koreans within the last few decades. The fact that it’s an American co-production financed and distributed by Netflix is a dream come true: this might be yet another important step for South Korean cinema to finally get its dues here in the States. The film is audacious in how it allows the story to dictate its tone, not the other way around. At first, it’s like a Studio Ghibli fantasy between Mija (Ahn Seo-hyun) and the eponymous super-pig. Then it becomes a heist film as she tries to rescue her alongside the Animal Liberation Front. Then it becomes a corporate thriller. And finally, a stark tragedy as they save Okja. And not once does it miss a beat. Simply put, I want more. More American/South Korean co-productions. More Joon-ho films. More films with so much reckless creativity. 

8/10

With Prisoners: Kwok Kuen Wong

To read this review, go to: http://www.audienceseverywhere.net/nyaff-main/.

7/10

KFC: Le Binh Giang

To read this review, go to: http://www.audienceseverywhere.net/nyaff-main/.

1/10

Jane: Cho Hyun-hoon

To read this review, go to: http://www.audienceseverywhere.net/nyaff-main/.

3/10

The Gangster's Daughter: Mei-Juin Chen

To read this review, go to: http://www.audienceseverywhere.net/nyaff-main/.

7/10

Birdshot: Mikhail Red

To read this review, go to: http://www.audienceseverywhere.net/nyaff-main/.

8/10

Bad Genius: Nattawut Poonpiriya

To read this review, go to: http://www.audienceseverywhere.net/nyaff-main/.

9/10

Double Life: Yoshiyuki Kishi

To read this review, go to: http://www.audienceseverywhere.net/nyaff-main/.

3/10

The Big Sick: Michael Showalter

If it took sci-fi epic Denis Villeneuve’s Arrival (2016) to remind us of the importance of empathy this last year, then in 2017 it seems like the job falls to Michael Showalter’s The Big Sick, the most unexpected sleeper hit of the summer. Based on the true story of Silicon Valley star Kumail Nanjiani’s romance with his future wife Emily V. Gordon, the film is a wickedly funny, devastatingly truthful look at prejudice and love’s power to overcome it.

Kumail (who plays himself) starts the film as a struggling stand-up comedian in Chicago who moonlights as an Uber driver. His immigrant Pakistani family are desperate to marry him off to a nice Muslim girl, and almost every night at dinner they have an “unexpected guest” in the form of an eligible young woman who just so happens to have a headshot for Kumail. But things change when he meets Emily (Zoe Kazan) at one of his shows. They hook up and fall in love. But Kumail refuses to tell his family about her, aware that they have already disowned one of their own for marrying an Irish woman. After learning about his duplicities, Emily breaks up with Kumail.

And that should have been the end of their story. But then Kumail gets a phone call in the dead of night: Emily’s very sick. She’s in the hospital and none of her other friends are able to make it there so won’t he please drop by and see if she’s okay? But immediately after arriving, he’s shanghaied by doctors who convince him to sign a series of papers giving them permission to put Emily in a medically-induced coma so they can fight a virulent, life-threatening lung infection. Afterwards, while still in a state of shock, Kumail calls Emily’s parents Beth and Terry (Holly Hunter, Ray Romano) who fly in from North Carolina. The two of them know full well about their rocky romance and are less than thrilled to see him. But when the doctors tell them that their original diagnosis for Emily is wrong and they’ll have to keep her in a coma for several more days while they figure out why her body isn’t reacting to the antibiotics, the awkwardness and contemptuousness between these three desperate strangers breaks down.

From a theological standpoint, it’d be easy to interpret this film as strictly symbolic: people from all walks of life come together into a common family through their love of Christ. Too easy, in fact. I think Showalter is trying to say something more about how we allow arbitrary differences in culture and religion divide us over insignificant things. Everyone seems opposed to Kumail and Emily’s relationship: when his parents find out that he’s marrying a white non-Muslim girl, they do indeed disown him. And though it’s never explicitly stated, it’s obvious that the country-music loving, white-bread Beth and Terry have their reservations about their daughter falling in love with a Muslim. But notice how Showalter introduces these stereotypes only to dismantle them. Beth might be a Southern drawl-speaking daughter of a military family, but she’s the first to defend Kumail when he gets called a member of ISIS at one of his comedy shows. Terry might be a reserved New York City bookworm, but he’s capable of powerful, explosive emotions, particularly concerning his family. And while Kumail’s Muslim family are extremely conservative, theirs is a home of love, laughter, and family with few reservations against adapting to American culture—marriage being the big one.

8/10

Duckweed: Han Han

To read this review, go to: http://www.audienceseverywhere.net/nyaff-mainland-china/.

5/10

Someone to Talk To: Yulin Liu

To read this review, go to: http://www.audienceseverywhere.net/nyaff-mainland-china/.

6/10

Soul on a String: Yang Zhang

To read this review, go to: http://www.audienceseverywhere.net/nyaff-mainland-china/.

6/10

The Taking of Tiger Mountain: Tsui Hark

To read this review, go to: https://www.theyoungfolks.com/film/106156/nyaff-movie-review-the-taking-of-tiger-mountain/.

8/10

Extraordinary Mission: Alan Mak, Anthony Pun

To read this review, go to: http://www.audienceseverywhere.net/nyaff-mainland-china/.

6/10

Blood of Youth: Shu-peng Yang

To read this review, go to: http://www.audienceseverywhere.net/nyaff-mainland-china/.

6/10

Battle of Memories: Leste Chen

To read this review, go to: http://www.audienceseverywhere.net/nyaff-mainland-china/.

4/10

Baby Driver: Edgar Wright

Edgar Wright's Baby Driver is a fascinating throw-back to old school car-chase movies as seen through the rose-tinted glasses of old school Hollywood musicals. But for the life of me, the filmmaker this film reminded me the most of was Jacques Tati: the intricate audio/visual gags, the meticulous in-frame compositions. Yet for all of this, Baby Driver left me the most cold of any of Wright's movies. It's still one of the most delightfully creative and original Hollywood films of the summer, but the plot is too predictable, the characters too one note, and for a "revival" of car chase movies, there aren't actually that many car chases. It's fun, but nowhere near as brilliant as Wright's Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy.

7/10

Despicable Me 3: Pierre Coffin, Kyle Balda

To read this review, go to: https://www.theyoungfolks.com/film/105771/movie-review-despicable-me-3/.

4/10

Abu: Arshad Khan

To read this review, go to: http://www.audienceseverywhere.net/abu/.

3/10

Funeral Parade of Roses: Toshio Matsumoto

To read this review, go to: http://www.audienceseverywhere.net/funeral-parade-of-roses/.

9/10

Despicable Me 2: Pierre Coffin, Chris Renaud

Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud's Despicable Me 2 is mostly harmless, occasionally sweet, and sparingly funny. The best scenes remain the ones where Gru (Steve Carell) is forced to be a big dad to the girls and--in a twist--a potential lover to a badass agent named Lucy (Kristen Wiig). The Minions are much more tolerable this time around, mostly because they aren't emotional audience proxies like in the first film but mere comedic relief. They're still grating, but there are a handful of moments where they're legitimately funny. Of course, everything ends happily with a big dance number. This is a non-Pixar kid's movie, after all.

6/10

Tampopo: Juzo Itami

To read this review, go to: http://theretroset.com/the-man-who-shot-tampopo-food-porn/.

10/10

Cheyenne Autumn: John Ford

Cheyenne Autumn was John Ford's last Western. That is its primary source of infamy in film circles, alongside the fact that it featured his most dignified portrayal of Native Americans, an ethnic group Ford had used as one-dimensional villains for the majority of his career. As a film historian, the film is fascinating. But as a moviegoer, it's woefully underwhelming. It's overlong, overstuffed, overly ambitious, and the best parts involve a ruckus at Dodge City involving James Stewart that's completely superfluous to the story (it was originally cut completely from the original theatrical release). More interesting than it is good, Cheyenne Autumn is a film only diehard fans and historians should trouble themselves with.

6/10

Moscow Never Sleeps: Johnny O'Reilly

To read this review, go to: https://www.theyoungfolks.com/review/105341/movie-review-moscow-never-sleeps/.

7/10

Show People: King Vidor

To read this review, go to: http://theretroset.com/an-afternoon-at-the-silent-clowns-film-series/.

7/10

Sure-Mike!: Fred Guiol

To read this review, go to: http://theretroset.com/an-afternoon-at-the-silent-clowns-film-series/.

Camera Obscura: Aaron B. Koontz

To read this review, go to: https://www.theyoungfolks.com/review/103700/movie-review-camera-obscura/.

6/10

Key Largo: John Huston

To read this review, go to: http://theretroset.com/bogart-and-bacall-a-four-film-retrospective/.

8/10

To Have and Have Not: Howard Hawks

To read this review, go to: http://theretroset.com/bogart-and-bacall-a-four-film-retrospective/.

6/10

The Big Sleep: Howard Hawks

To read this review, go to: theretroset.com/bogart-and-bacall-a-four-film-retrospective/.

6/10

Future ’38: Jamie Greenberg

To read this review, go to: https://www.theyoungfolks.com/review/104524/movie-review-future-38/.

3/10

Taxi!: Roy Del Ruth

Despite its relative importance in establishing the onscreen mythology of James Cagney--the film boasts the famous sequence of Cagney arguing with a Jewish man in Yiddish and the line that would eventually be mis-remembered as "You dirty rat, you killed my brother!"--Roy Del Ruth's Taxi! simply isn't very good. It has little idea what it wants to do with itself, and even less how to go about doing it. It begins with the promise of a gangster/revenge-thriller when an old man is inadvertently murdered by the mob when he refuses to surrender his taxi cab beat. The man's daughter falls in love with a another cab driver with a short temper. And at first we think his natural volatility will lead him to avenge her dad. But no: the film becomes a confused romance about an unstable man and the absurd lengths the daughter will go to to ignore his obviously abusive and destructive behavior.

5/10

Footlight Parade: Lloyd Bacon

[Revisit Review]

Come to Lloyd Bacon's Footlight Parade for the spectacular Busby Berkeley song-and-dance numbers, particularly the climactic triptych of "By a Waterfall," "Honeymoon Hotel," and "Shanghai Lil." But stay for the breathless enthusiasm and momentum of the behind-the-scenes story provided in large part by James Cagney's indefatigable charisma and energy. This is one of the rare Hollywood musicals of the era that's more than just the sum of its musical numbers: it's the embodiment of America's Depression-era can-do spirit.

9/10

The Dunning Man: Michael Clayton

To read this review, go to: http://www.audienceseverywhere.net/the-dunning-man-is-a-rambling-but-charming-atlantic-city-day-trip/.

6/10

Bucking Broadway: John Ford

John Ford’s Bucking Broadway is a fascinating little film. It follows a cowboy named Cheyenne Harry (Harry Carey) who abandons the plains of Wyoming to win back his sweetheart from the hands of a wicked New Yorker who whisked her away to the Big City. The film spends most of its time getting into gear: the cowboy only makes it to the city about 35 minutes into its 53-ish minute runtime. But a lot of the melodrama is quite poignant, particularly the scenes when Cheyenne and his sweetheart’s father react to the news that she’s eloped to New York. There’s also a charming sequence where a “woman of ill repute” pickpockets Cheyenne before secretly returning his money to his pocket after discovering what a nice man he is. A lot of the exterior shooting is quite stilted, particularly a sequence involving breaking in horses which is bizarrely filmed in extreme long shot with the action clustered together into a small dot in the center of the horizon line, obscuring everything from view. But there is one truly great image in the film: a group of cowboys charging down the streets of New York City. Now there’s an image that I, as a lover of film and storytelling, am jealous of.

I would later go on to write about this movie more in-depth at The Retro Set. You can read my coverage here: http://natesminireviews.blogspot.com/2017/07/bucking-broadway-john-ford.html

Smart Money: Alfred E. Green

My, my, but wasn't Alfred E. Green's Smart Money a racy one? Booze, gambling, organized crime? The gangster getting to be a somewhat sympathetic anti-hero who's serenaded with Auld Lang Syne when he finally gets put away in prison at the end? And what's more, James Cagney supposedly miming the act of cunnilingus? Good stuff. Good stuff. It's remarkable how good the chemistry is between James Cagney and the lead, Edward G. Robinson. I can't believe this was the only time the two appeared onscreen together. What a natural combination! The film is pleasant enough--other than the acting, the simple story is what really sells it. If it had had bolder, riskier cinematography, who knows? It might have been as classic a film as Angels with Dirty Faces (1938).

7/10

Letters from Baghdad: Sabine Krayenbühl, Zeva Oelbaum

To read this review, go to: https://www.theyoungfolks.com/review/104116/movie-review-letters-from-baghdad/.

7/10

The Women's Balcony: Emil Ben-Shimon

To read this review, go to: https://www.theyoungfolks.com/review/103924/movie-review-the-womens-balcony/.

7/10

Wonder Woman: Patty Jenkins

Patty Jenkins' Wonder Woman is the breathe of fresh air I've been desperate for for the superhero genre: totally uncynical, unabashedly proud of its comic book roots, un-apologetically proud of its message of hope and love, empowering to all peoples, exciting, and earnestly emotional. Incredibly, it's also not naive. I won't give away the ending, but let's just say that the big reveal concerning Ares smacks a lot of Neil Gaiman's story-arc involving Lucifer in his Sandman series. It admits that people aren't perfect; the world isn't perfect. Humans are flawed, sometimes cruel, sometimes monstrous. But the good in them is worth fighting for and protecting. I also loved how there are only 4-5 actual fight sequences. The film gives itself room to breathe and develop characters. And you know a film is doing something right when you care as much for the ancillary characters like Etta Candy and Steve Trevor's spy team as you do for the protagonists. I think I like this movie more than any of Marvel's superhero movies, with the possible exception of Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014). Here's hoping that this marks the beginning of a new trend, both inside the DC Cinematic Universe and the superhero film genre in general.

8/10

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2: James Gunn

I think all my problems with James Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 can be summarized in the scene where Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) and his father Ego (Kurt Russell) play catch. It's supposed to be one of the emotional high-points of the entire film. It's sweet and endearing. But when it happened, my entire theater burst into laughter. Why? Because by then they had been trained like Pavlov's Dogs to regard any showing of emotion with cynical derision. We were all expecting Rocket Raccoon or Drax or somebody else to pop into the frame and make some ridiculous and/or crude joke about how ridiculous the whole thing was. This film--and to a larger extent, the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe--is positively horrified of taking itself seriously and admitting its comic book roots. So it takes every single opportunity to take every singly drop of piss out of the comic book genre that Christopher Nolan meticulously put into it with his Batman films. It's exhausting. I wasn't able to empathize with the characters because the film couldn't stop giggling at how ridiculous they were. I love ridiculous humor. And I unironically adore how preposterous comic books can be. But this film's abhorrence towards genuine emotion and drama soured it to me. Also, those CGI effects were DREADFUL.

5/10

Zodiac: David Fincher

Guillermo Del Toro once described David Fincher's Zodiac as a "one-sock movie"; a movie where if you're doing the laundry and are holding one sock when it comes on TV, you'll sit down on the couch and watch so attentively until the end that you'll still be holding the sock when the credits start rolling. And I can now confirm that, yes, Zodiac is a "one-sock movie." What a mesmeric film. It starts off as a fascinating police procedural on the Zodiac killer before evolving into a tale of complete obsession as Robert Graysmith (Jake Gyllenhaal) gradually loses his mind trying to solve the unsolved (or is it unsolvable?) case. It's over two-and-a-half hours long, and it feels two-and-a-half hours long, but we don't care. We're so fascinated by it, so interested in what's happening, that we lose ourselves to it.

8/10