Best. Christmas. Ever!

 ‘Best. Christmas. Ever!’

Heather Graham and Brandy play old friends who have a surprise reunion.

Holiday cheer stokes an old source of envy in “Best. Christmas. Ever!,” the latest Netflix holiday film from the director Mary Lambert (“Under the Cherry Moon,” “Pet Sematary”).

Heather Graham stars as Charlotte Sanders, whose pleasantly normal suburban life is interrupted every December when her old frenemy Jackie Jennings (Brandy) sends out a diner-menu-size holiday newsletter boasting of her and her family’s latest accomplishments. When a misunderstanding leads the Sanders family to end up on the Jennings family doorstep just before Christmas, Charlotte is forced to spend the holiday in close quarters with her rival — and she uses that time searching for evidence that Jackie’s seemingly perfect life is all a sham.

At barely 80 minutes (and ending with a musical number from Brandy), “Best. Christmas. Ever!” resembles a television holiday special more than a feature film, and its plot follows the predictable Christmastime themes of love, acceptance, and being thankful for what you’ve got. Jackie’s sizable McMansion abode, where most of the action takes place, exists in the Home Depot ad version of American suburbia: cozy yet indistinguishable, decked out in holly wreaths and reindeer-shaped lights.

Jason Biggs and Matt Cedeño turn in ho-hum performances as Charlotte and Jackie’s husbands, but the focus remains on two women burying the hatchet on old grudges. As one might expect, there’s some Christmas magic involved and, a bit more surprisingly, a hot-air balloon as well.

Director

Mary Lambert

Writers

Todd Calgi Gallicano, Charles Shyer

Stars

Heather Graham, Brandy Norwood, Jason Biggs, Matt Cedeño, Wyatt Hunt

Rating

Not Rated

Running Time

1h 20m

Genres

Comedy, Romance

AQUAMAN AND THE LOST KINGDOM

EVERYTHING WE KNOW ABOUT AQUAMAN AND THE LOST KINGDOM

In 2018, James Wan did the unexpected in delivering an all-around delightful Aquaman. In addition to subverting expectations, Aquaman also delivered at the box office, earning over $1 billion and a place as the top-grossing DC Comics film to date. So it’s no surprise whatsoever that DC Comics and Warner Bros. greenlit a sequel. Here’s everything we know about the DCEU’s Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom‘s Plot

For a while, plot details for this Aquaman sequel were scarce, but we had some thoughts about where Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom could pick up after the very fun first film. In an interview with Total Film, Wan revealed that the story will be largely inspired by the 1960s cult horror film Planet of the Vampires. He also hints at leaning into his horror DNA with the new film.

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom‘s Cast

Naturally, Jason Momoa will reprise his role as Aquaman/Arthur Curry in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. Other cast members returning include Amber Heard as Mera, and Patrick Wilson as Arthur’s half-brother Orm Marius. Yahya Abdul-Matteen II has also confirmed he’s appearing in the sequel as David Kane/Black Manta. In the mid-credit scene, Dr. Stephen Shin (Randall Park) rescued Kane, confirming his survival and teasing his return. Additionally, Nicole Kidman returns as Atlanna, “a fierce leader and mother with the heart of a warrior.” And Dolph Lundgren will reprise his role as King Nereus.

Jani Zhao, Indya Moore, and Vincent Regan have also joined the cast. Zhao will be playing a character named Stingray, whose background is unknown. Stingray is an original character created for the movie. Moore, meanwhile, is set to appear as Karshon. This character comes from the DC comics. According to the report, Karshon first appeared as a villain in 1963’s Green Lantern #24. Karshon began life as a shark but gained intelligence and powers after an encounter with radiation. Finally, Regan will appear as Atlan. Atlan was the ruler who caused Atlantis to sink into the ocean. Aquaman searched for Atlan’s trident in the first film.

Return To Seoul

Freddie (Ji-Min Park), who left Seoul as a baby and grew up in France, spontaneously returns to her birth country on a solo vacation. There, she reluctantly reconnects with her biological family. Over the course of several years, she returns to Seoul and the question of her identity.

Since the 1950s, many children have been adopted internationally from South Korea, especially to the United States. A programme initially started to find parents for orphans of the Korean War, it became a huge operation, with thousands of orphans or children of unwanted pregnancies sent overseas for a better life. Partly based on the testimony of a real-life friend of director Davey Chou, Return To Seoul dramatises the story of one such adoptee: Freddie, played by Ji-Min Park (in an extraordinary acting debut).

Set over the course of nearly a decade’s worth of trips to her birth country, Chou’s elliptical film sees Freddie chaotically grapple with her identity, responding to deep psychological scars with a combination of heavy drinking, sexual openness and — at one point — a spot of arms dealing. Freddie is a fascinating character to behold, especially as the film progresses and the chronological jumps give us a new chapter of her life: she is deeply flawed, difficult to get on with, and has a taste for self-destruction. Being adopted, it seems, has left her with a sense that interpersonal relationships are shallow and weak, not to be trusted. “I could wipe you from my life with a snap of my fingers,” she impetuously tells one hapless boyfriend, in one of her more devastating snubs.

Yet despite the heavy subject matter, it’s rarely sentimental or judgmental. There is a sharp sense of humour running throughout, especially in watching Freddie’s endlessly impulsive decision-making; the opening sequence sees her bring together strangers to eat together at a youth hostel, a scenario that will be extremely stressful for any British people watching.

It’s insightful, too, on the identity crisis that comes with being caught between cultures; one character calls her a “trojan horse”, a phrase that feels loaded with meaning in this context. While the time jumps can sometimes feel frustrating, leaving us to fill in the gaps where less indirect storytelling might have helped, Chou’s direction keeps things mesmeric, stylish and crisp. But it’s Ji-Min’s staggering debut performance that proves the standout of the show: primarily a visual artist, this is her first acting role, and she’s a complete natural, summoning a story with a single face-flicker or dance move. It’s her performance that will leave you feeling wistful and heartbroken by the film’s quiet, soulful end.

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The Super Mario Bros Movie Soars

 The Super Mario Bros. Movie : A weightless adventure

It’s fitting, in a way, that The Super Mario Bros. Movie feels so much like a side-scrolling, 2D video game. Not only are there multiple instances throughout the 92-minute film in which directors Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic literally adopt a side-scrolling perspective, but the film also bounces from one story beat and location to another with the same sense of dimensionless expediency. Penned by Matthew Fogel, The Super Mario Bros. Movie doesn’t want to spend too much time exploring its locations or characters — no matter how beautifully they’re rendered. The film, instead, feels like it’s being operated by a competitive gamer who wants to progress through each level as quickly as they can.

That doesn’t mean The Super Mario Bros. Movie is without its pleasures. Animated by the artists at Illumination (the studio responsible for Despicable Me and Minions), The Super Mario Bros. Movie is a visually sumptuous film from beginning to end. Every frame feels carefully and lovingly polished (Rainbow Road has, perhaps, never looked better). The film’s script, direction, and voice performances, unfortunately, fail to evoke the same level of care and commitment. The resulting film is, like all the most disappointing video games, technically impressive but flavorless and dramatically unengaging.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie wisely introduces its villain, the nefarious Bowser (Jack Black), before its heroes. The film’s opening scene follows Bowser just as he and his army of evil turtles launch an all-out assault on a kingdom of peaceful penguins in order to capture their coveted Super Star. Bowser’s attack rides the line between epic danger and comedy well, but his acquisition of the penguins’ Super Star plays out, like much of The Super Mario Bros. Movie, far too quickly to make much of an impact.

Along the way, Mario and Luigi get separated from each other. The latter ends up a prisoner of Black’s Bowser in the “Dark Lands,” while Pratt’s Mario finds himself stranded in the Mushroom Kingdom, which is ruled by the formidable Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy). Upon learning about Luigi’s situation, Peach lets Mario and his companion, Toad (Keegan-Michael Key), join her on her journey to convince the Mushroom Kingdom’s neighboring Kong army to join them in their crusade to defeat Bowser once and for all. Little does Peach know that Bowser not only wants to conquer the multiverse but also turn Peach into his bride.

Peach, Mario, and Toad’s adventure features a fair number of memorable moments, but The Super Mario Bros. Movie’s lean 92-minute runtime forces it to speed through all of its plot beats at such a breakneck pace that many of them are rendered weightless. That aspect of the film is made worse by its decision to spend a large portion of its first act exploring Mario and Luigi’s unexciting lives in Brooklyn. On paper, that might not seem like a terrible idea, but Mario and Luigi’s origin story ultimately doesn’t add much to The Super Mario Bros. Movie. As a matter of fact, it delays the film from getting to its more exciting fantasy worlds and set pieces and, consequently, forces The Super Mario Bros. Movie to compensate for its New York detour by only speeding even faster through its second and third acts.

The film’s performances are, much like its story, a bit of a mixed bag. While Chris Pratt’s voice isn’t nearly as irritating as some of The Super Mario Bros. Movie’s trailers may have suggested, he still feels miscast throughout the film as Mario. The same goes for Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong and Fred Armisen as Cranky Kong, the crotchety father of Rogen’s himbo gorilla. Rogen brings little to his performance except his usual on-screen persona — rendering Donkey Kong as just yet another one of his stoner characters. Armisen, on the other hand, takes a big vocal swing as Cranky Kong that doesn’t totally connect, which results in a vocal performance that isn’t funny as much as it is purely grating.

Some of the film’s other cast members fare better. Anya Taylor-Joy makes Princess Peach a likable warrior by turning in a fairly committed, if low-key, performance. Charlie Day, conversely, gives a performance as Luigi that rides the line between cartoonish and human well, while Juliet Jelenic steals several scenes as the joyfully nihilistic Lumalee. No one, however, makes quite as lasting of an impression as Black, who brings his usual, over-the-top energy to Bowser, an insecure warlord who can suddenly bust out a pathetic power ballad about his undying love for Peach as easily as he can blast a deadly ray of fire from his mouth.

As rushed as it is, The Super Mario Bros. Movie does make space for several visually stunning and genuinely thrilling action sequences. A Super Smash Bros.-esque arena fight between Pratt’s Mario and Rogen’s Donkey Kong lands particularly well, though, no sequence in the film is quite as gorgeous or engaging as the Mario Kart-inspired race down Rainbow Road that caps off its second act. As much as it is an instance of blatant nostalgia bait, the set piece is so visually engaging and propulsively paced that it’s impossible not to wish that the rest of The Super Mario Bros. Movie had felt as cohesive, fun, and gripping.

There is clearly a lot of love for its source material on display throughout The Super Mario Bros. Movie. The film makes more than a few efforts to pay homage to all the corners of the Mario Bros. video game franchise, but not all of them work as well as others, and even the film’s best scenes are hampered by its frustratingly breathless pace and sporadically effective comedic moments. As is the case with its selection of ‘80s needle drops, which include now overly used tracks like “Holding Out for a Hero” and “Take On Me,” the film is an aesthetically pleasing but unimaginative romp.

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OPPENHEIMER (2023) REVIEW

 OPPENHEIMER (2023) REVIEW

Director Christopher Nolan is an acclaimed film director that many, including myself, have found to be exceptional in the execution of the films that he directs. While he’s been around for quite some time, developing several short films (both released unreleased), several first noticed Nolan’s work as a director in his sophomore film Memento. Released in 2000, Nolan’s Memento was a complex film of dueling narratives story threads, which meet at the end of the film, producing one whole and cohesive narrative storyline. Even if you didn’t have Memento on your “movie radar” or even his third time Insomnia in 2003, many (and I do mean many) recognized Nolan’s directorial work after successful taking the DC superhero “cape crusader” (i.e. Batman) and created the celebrated Dark Knight trilogy (Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, and The Dark Knight Rises). From there, Nolan went on becoming a much-respected director from critics and the public of moviegoers, with his other films like The Prestige, Inception and Interstellar. Nolan’s approach to crafting a feature film is what makes him truly stand out, rooting his pictures with sociological, ethical, and philosophical concepts / ideas, the explanation and constructs of time, and the nature of personal identity and memory. Additionally, Nolan, who usually also writes the screenplay for most of his movies, also weaves very complex narratives, with some nonlinear storytelling and a tendency to emphasis characters (and their cinematic journey) rather than making the feature’s primary focus on its visual effects and other nuances. Such was the case with his latest 2017 film Dunkirk, which took branched out into the realm of WWII, but imbuing the feature with Nolan’s cinematic flourishes, while 2021’s Tenet continued to explore the director’s concept of time (the flow of it and inverted passage of time) in the realm of a sci-fi action thriller. Now, two years after the release of Tenet, director Christopher Nolan and Universal Pictures prepare for another release an explosive bio-pic drama in the release of Oppenheimer, a film to examine the life of J. Robert Oppenheimer and his work on the atomic bomb. Does this movie give a stirring and cinematic insight in the “father of the atom bomb” or is it bloated endeavor that explodes underneath the weight of inherit hype and anticipation?

J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy) has proven himself to be brilliant theoretical physicists, educating himself by other genius minds that have nurtured and challenged his intellect in the realm of quantum mechanics and theory. After expecting a teaching job in Berkeley, Oppenheimer finds himself receiving an unlike invitation to be a part of the American war machine effort, tasked by General Leslie Groves (Matt Damon) to development of an atomic bomb as World War began to take shape in early 1940s. During the next several years, Oppenheimer is given the mission of assemblage, with the formation of a team that will work together with other dysfunctional geniuses, while trying to keep Groves and his military intelligence on an even keel pace with the operation. While Oppenheimer found a match in his wife, Kitty (Emily), and maintained a rocky lover affair in Jean (Florence Pugh), the physicist’s focus remains primarily on the organization of the Trinity Sit, taking scientists and military personnel to New Mexico to build an atomic bomb. Yet, even after the creation of the bomb, Oppenheimer faces scrutiny from various members, including trying to find common ground with Atomic Energy Commission figure, Lewis Strauss (Robert Downey Jr.), as he quickly realizes that his success comes at a price, with those in charge of the nation unwilling to let him to have a way in the bomb’s legacy.

With Nolan at the helm, the famed director approaches Oppenheimer with a sense of integrity and respect for the source material, adapting Bird and Sherwin’s biographical book on the known physicist in a great respect and showing the humanity within him. Perhaps the most interesting aspect (to me, at least) was the simple fact of Nolan presenting the movie in telling of Robert’s life. Like many out there, I did know of Oppenheimer as a well-known theoretical physicist and as the creator behind the atomic bomb, but that was pretty much it. So, seeing his life being told and examined in the feature was definitely a cinematic treat to watch as events unfolded by further exploring his life in both in the public limelight and behind closed doors. Of course, this isn’t the complete “life and times” of J. Robert Oppenheimer’s life being presented in the movie, but certainly highlights the main part of what made him both famous and infamous equally. As to be expected, Nolan makes the character of Oppenheimer the central focus of it all, keeping the film focused on him and those who moved in and out of his life for those primary years that involved the creation of the atom bomb (before, during, and after). What follows is an extensive look into Robert’s career throughout those said years, with Nolan beautifully showing the excitement of innovation, yet also showing the moral consequences on the end of the spectrum. It is for this reason that Oppenheimer excels, with the feature driving a sense of terror and intensity towards every minute of it, which culminates into final preparation in making the atomic bomb a reality within the Trinity Test. With such a different take on such dealings in a biographical film, Nolan makes his first step into that foray and definitely succeeds. Naturally, Nolan’s directorial nuances come into play and height everything towards his style and filmmaking credibility. So, while Oppenheimer could’ve been presented as a well-informed, yet “by the book” biopic drama endeavor, Nolan shapes the feature towards his customary stylish visual flair and theatrical complexity in his first outing in the biographical genre. And it definitely works….in atomic spades.

Overall, Oppenheimer still a film that speaks to Nolan’s signature style, presenting a narrative that’s compelling and bold at the same time, symbolizing a man that ignite the world on its own path of destruction and a director’s heightened skills of cinematic creativeness for masterclass viewing experience.

In the presentation, Oppenheimer is quite the standout and another slam dunk visual presentation for Nolan’s work. While it doesn’t involve time-traveling individuals or mind-bending mechanics of a “dream world”, Nolan’s vision for his film makes a very bold and epic in size and scope. While some of the movie’s events are very personal and intimate in interior rooms and corridors, the movie doesn’t shy away from a expansive setting, with such intricate details of the feature’s timeline (circa 1930-1950s) are quite organic and a sense of realism. Thus, the film’s main players in the “behind the scenes” team, including Ruth De Jong (production design), Claire Kaufman, Olivia Peebles, and Adam Willis (set decorations), Elleen Mirojnick (costume designs), and Jake Cavallo, Samantha Englender, and Anthony D. Parrillo (art direction), should be commended for their efforts in bringing Nolan’s Oppenheimer to life in such a detail and vibrant way. Who should also be praised is film editor Jennifer Lame, who constructs the movie’s intricate timeline of events and handles those moments both beautifully and seamlessly throughout. Also, who should also be praised is the film’s cinematographer (and frequent collaborator with Nolan) Hoyte Van Hoytema, with his usage of camera photograph and dramatic shots / angles and utilizing shadowing / lightening helps deliver some cinematic moments in the film, which helps captivate that high quality of filmmaking that the director has been known for. Plus, as a sidenote, it was also ingenious on Nolan’s part that the movie doesn’t have any usage of CGI effects, which makes several sequences in the movie quite impressive to behold.

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MONSTER 怪物

 Film Review : MONSTER

Koreeda's films will always be anticipated because of his delicate and sensitive portrayal of individuals and their subconscious tendencies. His 2018 feature Shoplifters, a gut-wrenching depiction of a group of chosen family members, earned him the renowned Palme d'Or. Monster is his first Japanese feature since Shoplifters, after dabbling with directing overseas in Korea and France.

Monster is Koreeda's first film for which he did not write the script, but his collaborator Yuji Sakamoto won the award for best screenplay at Cannes. It is also  a tribute to the late Maestro Ryuichi Sakamoto, with some of his famed pieces used to emphasise bittersweet emotions.



The movie introduces itself with a mother, played by Sakura Ando, seeking to understand her son's erratic behaviour. This is further aggravated when her son, Minato, is accused of something unbelievable by the school, leaving audiences baffled and this constant need to comprehend the current situation acts as an impetus to drive the narrative.

While the word "monster" conjures up a grotesque image, the investigation of the monster in this film takes on a non-physical shape as we comprehend the concept of how the child protagonist copes with being estranged from his environment. Despite being an allegorical interpretation, Koreeda is more concerned with studying the concept of truth and whether or not an interpretation told from a single point of view is able to hold up to its legitimacy.



The film follows a triptych structure, supported by an exceptional editing technique and sound direction. You can visually appreciate the amount of thought that went into getting each episode to fit the entire premise. Initially, the first and second acts seem desultory at the expense of providing perspectives of different characters who are intertwined in the lives of the two child protagonists, Minato and Yori. But as the story progresses, more layers are added, giving incredible depth to each and every character.

Koreeda is a master in directing children — his films I Wish, Nobody Knows, Like Father, Like Son are testament —  and Monster is no exception. It has left a deep impression through the performance that he has managed to extract out of the two main protagonists; it is so nuanced and complex, highlighting the unique and often under-appreciated ways in which adolescents perceive the world around them.

Another similarly themed film that comes to mind instantly is Lukas Dhont’s Oscar-nominated feature, Close. Both films are spiritually related and would be an interesting double-bill experience. Audiences are definitely bound to walk out trying to process the ending sequence of Monster alongside the deeply moving score of the film. Monster is undeniably a remarkable addition to Koreeda’s filmography.