Just Your Regular Joe

      Grade: A      From the director of Hero and House of Flying Daggers comes Shadow, a 2018 Chinese wuxia film directed by Zhang Yimou. To achieve victory over a rival kingdom, a general devises an elaborate plan that involves his wife, a lookalike, and two kings.       I've meant to see Shadow for the past two years, but my luck really hasn't been that great as many could tell. But what I've noticed that despite how acclaimed both this film and director are, it's really seemed like it's gone under the reader. This is a massive shame because this is a stunning display of craftsmanship from a director who's clearly seasoned with this genre.        Anyone well versed with Yimou's filmography will know that Shadow is nothing short of visual splendor. While filmed with color in mind, the color scheme mostly utilizes black and white. Characters retain skin tone but really show true wonders when characters bleed out, and...

      Grade: A+      You ever had that film that you remember loving years ago on first viewing, but get worried you inevitably decide to rewatch thinking your initial impressions could be viewed as wearing rose-tinted glasses?      And then you watch it and realize how stupid you were worrying about that in the first place. Yeah, that's Drive for me.     Drive was released in 2011 and was directed by Nicolas Winding Refn. Starring Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston, Christina Hendricks, Ron Pearlman, Oscar Isaac, and Albert Brooks. The film centers on Gosling's unnamed Hollywood stunt driver, who also works as a getaway driver. He finds himself attracted to his neighbor and her young son. When her husband returns home from prison while saddled with debt, the two men take part in a robbery with disastrous repercussions for everyone involved.      I'd remember when the film first came out to a rather polarize...

    Grade: A      I really love dreams. Something that we both equally understand and don't constantly. Something that can feel so real, and yet isn't—a fascinating trip into one's own consciousness that is truly theirs in every sense of the word. The surreal nature of it all can translate beautifully for a visual medium like a film such as Christopher Nolan's Inception back in 2010. But before that film blew people's minds, there was an animated film from 2006 that perfectly capture the beautiful absurdity that is dreaming.     Directed by the late Satoshi Kon, Paprika follows a research psychologist who uses a device that permits therapists to help patients by entering their dreams. When this technology ends up in the wrong hands, the psychologist and her colleagues must spring into action to recover it before being used for nefarious purposes.      Having seen this and Tokyo Godfathers years ago, I truly feel that we have lost a...

    Wow, an update post about that's not about the fact I finally remember that this blog existed? What a shocker!     Though, in all seriousness, it's pretty awesome that I've finally had the time and energy to start making consistent content for this site, and I'm hoping that my readers have been getting a kick out of my material. I just want to say that I've had my lineup for the rest of the reviews for the rest of April figured out and should all be wrapped up once the month is over.     Because in May, I have big plans to dedicate most of my time to the horror genre. It might be my favorite when it comes to sheer versatility that the best filmmakers take advantage of when creating some truly chilling masterworks of films. My goal is to explore horror films of all backgrounds and explore how each film makes its own special stamp on the genre.       It may not be in October where it would be most fitting because of the theme. However,...

     Air Force One is a 1997 action political thriller directed by Wolfgang Peterson and starred Harrison Ford, Gary Oldman,  Glenn Close ,  Wendy Crewson ,  Xander Berkeley ,  William H. Macy ,  Dean Stockwell , and  Paul Guilfoyle . When a group of terrorists hijacks Air Force One, it is up to the president to mount a daring rescue to save everyone by retaking his plane.       I can't remember the last time I've sat down to watch a good old-fashioned 1990s action flick in the same vein as classics like Die Hard and The Matrix. While it may not reach the same highs as those films, Air Force One is still a very well-crafted thrill ride. Just like Die Hard , much of the bulk of the action takes place in one location. This type of premise has, more often than not, is a goldmine for providing good setpieces, as it forces our hero to use everything at his disposal with limited resources and being on the run.    ...

      They'll Love Me When I'm Dead premiered on Netflix back in 2018 and was directed by Morgan Neville. This documentary centered on The Other Side of the Wind's production, the final unrelated film by Orson Welles. With narration provided by Alam Cumming, Neville weaves the tale of Welles's final 15 years and the struggle he endured to get his work off the ground.        As someone who not only loves movies as a visual art form but also finds the behind-the-scenes details fascinating, the subject matter of this documentary is particularly made for me. For any cinephile that throws themselves in the world of western filmmaking, it is particularly impossible to escape even a mention of the name Orson Welles. I could just say he directed Citizen Kane and leave it at that. However, that wouldn't just barely scratch the surface of how much he's impacted the Hollywood landscape.      What makes this documentary so interesting i...

    1995's Mortal Kombat is hardly what I would consider a cinematic masterwork. It's a one big giant kung-fu cheese-fest with a strange story structure and a fair share of hammy performances. But it was fun. Faithful to the source material for the most part and had some fun action.      Compared to Mortal Kombat Annihilation , that film deserves to win an Oscar for best picture.      Mortal Kombat Annihilation achieves a rare feat. A feat that's so rare that it's shared by only one other film. It made me miss Paul W.S. Anderson being on the director's chair. Anderson is a very flawed director, but at the very least, he can be relied on this make his movies look like an actual movie. Annihilation made me wonder if I just stumbled onto a low-budget fan film—no disrespect intended to actual fan films, of course. Nobody would have to pay to watch them in a theater back in 1997—a very cursed year for sequels.     On a technical level, this f...