Almost Buddhist - 戲‧論

★★☆☆☆ You know what, a film like this, full of implications, symbols, reflections, metaphors and stuff, would inevitably need you to be intentionally busy wrapping your head around what it's all about or what it's really trying to say beneath the surface! Unlike the Director's debut ' Get Out ' which I find satisfyingly scary fortunately, 'Us' is a much more pretentiously sophisticated so called psychological thriller that may not be everyone's cup of tea for sure. It brings up things like men's shadows, men in red from sewers coming up to kill, symbol of rabbits and scissors, Hands Across America and potentially a lot more that could really be a headache to someone like me who just wants to turn his mind off and enjoy some thrills or scares in lieu of brainstorming real hard to try to solve a confusing puzzle. Of course you can interpret 'Us' however you want it since there's a lot left unexplained. It could be about politics, ...

★★★☆☆ I'm not a fan of ' John Wick ', but a fan of Keanu Reeves. This guy has got some particular charisma, and he, though his acting has been always so-so, perfectly fits in the character as John Wick who is headstrong and stubborn, disciplined and loyal, serious but funny, cruel but adorable . It's an interesting, invincible character that can only exist in a made-up universe like that where things don't necessarily have to be logical or making any sense. Consider 'John Wick' a cult or a comic-book film, you'll probably be able to enjoy it more. But I just couldn't help but keep wondering lots of hows and whys along the way. I forgot it's John Wick that can never be killed by any weapon anyway. That it's an action film where a sensible story is surely not the priority! It's my bad, not the film, I guess! If not for Reeves, I wouldn't have checked out the film, and also it would've been a film too mundane to be worth a ...

★★★☆☆ The film opens with an intriguing scene where a seemingly battled, exhausted man is digging up trenches on some snow covered land that is supposed to be part of the Arctic as we learn from the title. It seems like he's looking for something underground at first but later as the camera allows us to look at it from high above, we realize that he's in fact digging up to display three big letters: SOS! He has been hoping for some time that someone flying over would notice it and help him out. Now we know that he's a man stranded alone in a place where some would, ironically, go for fun and excitement instead! 'Arctic' is a very quiet film with few dialogues. It would have been, I guess, completely dialogue-free if Mads Mikkelsen's Overgard hadn't run into the woman and the other guy who unfortunately crash their helicopter trying to rescue him. As the other guy dies at the scene, left is Overgard finally making up his mind to want to carry the in...