What’s Up – March 2024

Quick Update on Reality TV Round-Up

The beginning of the year has been pretty crazy. I’m not sure why I expected otherwise as I’m pretty much back into the normal routine of working. With that said, there’s been a lot of delays on the monthly posts which I’m trying to stay on top of but not really getting anything done. While I can’t change a lot of the other posts without it being too bulky, I’ve decided to do the Reality TV Round-Up posts every two months now as I don’t watch as many variety shows or documentaries to have enough to talk about. Its already been the case for the first Reality TV Roundup post this year and it will continue with that.

With that out of the way, let’s get the show on the road with a very late What’s Up for March round-up! And yes, there is no books section because I haven’t really finished anything or started anything new other than cycling through my child’s books and re-reading a lot of them.

MOVIES

• The Bad Guys (2022)
• Joy Ride (2023)
• Nope (2022)
• Meg 2: The Trench (2023)
• Ghostbusters (2016)
• Bring It On: Cheer Or Die (2022)
• Missing (2023)
• Slaxx (2020)
• Tampopo (1985)
• She Said (2022)
• Door Mouse (2022)
• Paranormal Activity (2007)
• Halloween Ends (2022)
• Julie & Julia (rewatch 2009, Review)
• Before Sunrise (1995)
• Wonka (2023)
• Pig (2021)
• Damsel (2024)
• Before Sunset (2004)
• John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023)
• Chef (2014)
• Cobweb (2023)
• Spring (2014)
• Paranormal Activity 2 (2010)

March viewings was primarily dominated by the one month Crave subscription I took for a Movies and Tea viewing. Looking back at March, some of these films feel like a long time away however there were some impressive offerings on Crave with an Awkwafina voice acting fix with The Bad Guys, a slightly awkward but entertaining Joy Ride, an outstanding alien invasion with Nope, a well-executed look at a true story adaptation with She Said, a stylistic offering with Door Mouse, a gripping cyber found footage with Missing, a truffle pig chase road trip with Nicolas Cage in Pig, a great action piece with John Wick: Chapter 4 and a fairly creepy offering with Cobweb and finally catching up with an overnight wandering in Vienna with Before Sunrise. Let’s not forget a musical adventure with Wonka.

Of course, it wasn’t only Crave that had some fun offerings although those titles really did stand out quite a bit. Tampopo was a fun foodie trip into ramen which has definitely become more impressive as I think back to it. Netflix’s new film in March Damsel starring Millie Bobby Brown had some issues but overall was pretty fun as well. However, the surprising find was definitely our first time into Paranormal Activity franchise with the first two films were sufficiently creepy. Those last few have reviews that will come out soon.

TV

• Asia Super Young (Season 1, 2023)
• Gilmore Girls (Season 7 rewatch Review)
• Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life (2017 rewatch)
• Closer To You Season 2 (我的刺猬女孩之念念不忘, 2023)
• Till The End of the Moon (長月燼明, 2023)

Currently watching: Memories Beyond Horizon S2, Run For Time S4, Is It Cake? S3

As my Gilmore Girls rewatch comes to an end in March, I’ve been trying to work in more Youku viewings with the last month of the streaming service subscription and I have to say that I picked two decent TV series to wrap it up. I still have a few more series on my radar from the service that I will probably sub again when the second season of Asia Super Young comes around.

Closer to You Season 2 is a fun series but the change in the female lead does impact the feelings toward it. While she did a great job, the first season definitely had a lot more going for it however for something angled around time travel, it worked for the most part and threw some decent curveballs at the end.

As for Till The End of the Moon, I’ve been a big fan of Leo Luo since last year with Light Chaser Rescue so I’ve been intrigued by his series and he does a great job here, much like Bai Lu which I can understand her popularity. Its a fairly typical fantasy romance drama full of heartache and breakups and tears and it also has kind of a time travel element as well but the chemistry and the execution is really great and it ended up growing on me especially the development of Leo Luo’s character.

GAMES

• Season: A Letter to the Future (demo)

Currently playing: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy

Not a whole lot of gaming in general recently as I make a little bit of progress in the Ace Attorney as I edge to the end but not really finding time to actually finish it. A lot of the same expected in April as work takes over more so not a lot of time for gaming. However, I did get around to checking out a demo sitting in my archive since the last Steam Fest and in true forgetful nature, I can’t remember when that was so its probably been at least a month or two. The game is available already so it was just for fun to see whether its worth adding to my wishlist and its pretty fun as it adds in a biking element and definitely a more relaxing sort of game as the character goes through the story finding elements and taking photos to the story. That’s been my type of game lately.

We’re incredibly late with this one so expect the April What’s Up to be in about a week or so.
I need to catch up with the other monthly segments that hasn’t been done the past month.

Sting (2024)

Sting (2024)

Director (and writer): Kiah Roache-Turner

Cast: Alyla Browne, Ryan Corr, Jermaine Fowler, Nona Hazlehurst, Robyn Nevin, Penelope Mitchell, Danny Kim, Silvia Colloca

After raising an unnervingly talented spider in secret, 12-year-old Charlotte must face the facts about her pet-and fight for her family’s survival-when the once-charming creature rapidly transforms into a giant, flesh-eating monster. – IMDB

Sting is the latest creature feature featuring a fairly underused creature, spiders. Having fairly recently completed the creature feature season on Movies and Tea Podcast and looked at two of these films, the spider world is fairly underused despite having the Arachnophobia remake to look forward to. Directed and written by Wyrmwood director Kiah Roache-Turner, Sting is a more personal journey for the director with both his personal experience as a stepfather and as a person with a fear of spiders making this an interesting territory for him to explore and craft this tale. At the same time, it also sets the story in one location confined inside by a snowstorm.

The film takes place in an apartment complex in Brooklyn spanning over a few days when the creature lands spontaneously into the dollhouse in the grandmother’s home. The story focuses around this family centered around 12-year-old Charlotte (Alyla Browne) living with a newborn baby brother, her mother Heather (Penelope Mitchell) and stepfather Ethan (Ryan Corr). With the building being owned by her grand-aunt (Robyn Nevin) and her fascination to share the vintage things her grandmother Helga (Noni Hazlehurst) owns, she maneuvers the apartment via the vents. The story tries to strike a balance between the struggling family dynamic in Charlotte’s family unit as well as the acceptance of the struggling artist career that Ethan is dealing with which ends up creating a lot of tension aside as the underlying threat, the alien spider ends up growing up under the care of Charlotte. For the most part, the script is fairly well-paced and executed. There are some little bits of the family drama and feel like could be left out for a tighter execution and have more of a focus on the creature feature element however, the film never forgets the core of the film and keeps the creature development as a central plot.

The character dynamics work pretty well also. There are some pretty neat executions and use of the character especially in the starting sequence with grandmother Helga who hears noises around the house and calls the exterminators to end the scene with a well-timed, slightly fourth wall breaking shush towards the audience. Its a nice place to say that Noni Hazlehurst does a charming job with Helga as the aged grandmother who is losing her memory. The same can be said about Alyla Browne who plays as the main young lead as 12 year old Charlotte. Younger roles tend to have the threat of being annoying however Alyla Browne does a great job at maintaining the balance of being a normal 12 year old but also delivering the more emotional elements as she tries to find her sense of belonging in this new family unit. Another wonderful mention does go out to the supporting role as the exterminator Jermaine Fowler who delivers the comedic break in the film that helps tie up where it starts to when the story heads back into the present after it flashes back to how the whole spider situation started in the first place.

The spider design is definitely worth a mention as the director wanted the spider to have a physical presence in the film hence, the spider Sting is a puppet made by 3d printing material and maneuvered by a few puppeteers to make the whole creature move as are the venom spitting capabilities and the webs also implemented physically. There’s something so fantastic about creating a physical creature that makes it all the more believable and it definitely pays off in Sting. The spider scenes are done very well, not only from the element slowly revealing the creature as a whole after its initial size, but also have the growth progress and using the light and shadows to add tension to scenes as it interacts with the cast.

There’s a lot to love about Sting. While the creature feature does try to add in a more personal story element here and at times, it does seem to add more than this film actually needs, there are a lot of other elements that work well from having a great use of the one location concept to building and executing a horrific spider story. To be fair, Sting does have a few minor details that feel like its been inspired by other horror or creature features but in some ways, it does add to the film as a whole. In the world where the eight legged arachnid is not used sufficiently in all its creepy glory, Sting does a great job at rectifying that situation a little.

*Screener provided by Well Go USA*

What’s Up – February 2024

BOOKS

Currently reading: The Book and the Sword

I’m not going to lie, reading really didn’t happen too much in February. While I do want to read The Book and the Sword, the fact that my toddler now requires a different bedtime story time style has limited what I read. Instead, we’re cycling through a lot of the easier children’s books. I’ve read about 10 times of 2 Chinese books per day because he just loves it and then bedtime revolves around a mish mash of other books that I’ve already mentioned before. I’m hoping with less work during my downtime, I will be able to actually pick up a book to read. A part of that will be made easier once I do another more realistic reorganization of my storage space so that I can sort through my books a little easier.

MOVIES

• Lust For A Vampire (1971)
• The Lost City (2022)
• Bitch Ass (2022)
• The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (short 2023)
• The Swan (short 2023)
• The Rat Catcher (short 2023)
• Poison (short 2023)
• The Mummy (1999)
• Wild Card (2015)
• Love and Monsters (2020)
• Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (2022)
• Enola Holmes 2 (2022 rewatch, Review)
• Opera (1987)
• The Tall Man (2012)
• Past Lives (2023)
• Already Tomorrow in Hong Kong (2015 rewatch, Review)

While everyone’s preparing for the Academy Awards and catching up with viewings, I’m surprised to actually review my February list and see that I watched one winner and one nominee with The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Past Lives respectively. Both of which are really great films in their own way. As I truck along with the Oh My Horror Challenge and falling behind with the actual reviews, I’ve seen some pretty great movies this month which is making my first time watches list a little more respectable. All the short films on Netflix directed by Wes Anderson are pretty great. I finally watched the 1999 The Mummy which I’ve actually never seen before and absolutely loved it. Love and Monsters is an underrated film that is also incredible. As for a movie that grew on me more and more as I thought about it, that would be Past Lives.

TV

• Indulgence (染指, 2024)
• Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre (Season 1, 2023)
• Gilmore Girls (Season 3 rewatch Review)
• Gilmore Girls (Season 4 rewatch Review)
• Gilmore Girls (Season 5 rewatch Review)
• The Grand Tour: Sand Job (Season 5, 2024)
• Justice in the Dark (光渊, 2023)
• Gilmore Girls (Season 6 rewatch Review)

Currently binging: Asia Super Young, Memories Beyond Horizon S2, Till The End of the Moon

I honestly don’t even know where to start for TV series. I had a lot of stuff to take care of so of course that meant a significant focus on the Gilmore Girls rewatch. I tried out one of the short dramas Indulgence, which are basically 10 minute episodes each on Youku. The best way to describe it would be best compared to reading trashy romance novels. The production value is not the great, the story has some old-fashioned plot points and the acting is below average for the most part but I can see why some people do enjoy these dramas.

We finished Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre and much like any anthology short film series, it has some that work better than others. I’ve never read any of Junji Ito’s horror manga but if this is even just dipping your toe into his mind, its absolutely wild. Some of these stories really go off the left field and some are pretty unique and others are simply terrifying. Like nightmare-inducing terrifying because I did end up getting nightmares when I first started the series.

Finally, for some shorter episodes, I don’t usually watch The Grand Tour but I did sit down for the latest season/episode The Sand Job which was a lot of fun. I also caught the 8 episode Youku series Justice in the Dark adapted from a novel Silent Reading by Priest. The series ended with so many loose ends but had some a great world building and concept that I ended up buying the novel series since it doesn’t seem like any sequel is in the works.

GAMES

Currently playing: Somerville, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy, I Love Hue

As expected, gaming took a similar hit to books. I actually ended up continuing on I Love Hue which is a relaxing mobile puzzle game where you have to rearrange colors according to the gradient level. Its one that I’ve been playing on and off over the years but still like to go back to every once in a while.

Oh My Horror Challenge Week 4: The Strangers: Prey At Night (2018)

The Strangers: Prey At Night (2018)

Director: Johannes Roberts

Cast: Christina Hendricks, Martin Henderson, Bailee Madison, Lewis Pullman, Damian Maffei, Emma Bellomy, Lea Enslin

A family of four staying at a secluded mobile home park for the night are stalked and then hunted by three masked psychopaths. – IMDB

The sequel of 2008’s The Strangers comes a decade after with 2018’s The Strangers: Prey At Night which takes the initial vacation home setting into an open space mobile home park. While the initial film wasn’t impressive enough for myself to feel this was long-awaited, this sequel does have a few elements that end up being a much more satisfying horror film as a whole.

While certain films benefit and use a single enclosed location really well, its a tough one to use when its based around a home invasion and not some type of discovery or deeper location secret however, The Strangers: Prey At Night increases the scope of the film by opening up the location to a mobile home park which gives it not only multiple mobile homes to explore but common space area and lots of open space to increase that sense of isolation. Adding in the darkness from the night setting, the film is able to create a lot more surprises and unexpected scares from the trio of The Strangers.

While the film is set 10 years after its predecessor, The Strangers are essentially the same as they also are a trio with the same masks: Man in the Mask, Pin-Up Girl and Doll-face. The concept of having killers initially inspired by true events makes it unsettling especially with their masks which also help add to the creepy factor. The first film set up this trio’s purpose which gives them all the more freedom to truly do everything to further extents in the sequel. Prey At Night does take that element to give these characters a lot more than just creeping around but gives them a little more room to play and toy around their victims as they stalk and prey on the family of four that make their stop at this mobile home as an invitation from their family who they soon realize has been murdered. If there were any little issues with this character is the Man in the Mask feeling like a classic slasher which takes a lot of effort to get rid of.

The Strangers: Prey At Night does have a small cast which works to its advantage. The family of four including the mother played by Christina Hendricks eventually does dwindle to an even smaller cast as it switches it focus to the survival of brother Luke (Lewis Pullman) and sister Kinsey (Bailee Madison). There is no doubt that the focus of the survival is on Kinsey as a lot of the chase and escape focuses on her side of the story. Bailee Madison is known for a lot of her child actress roles in my knowledge so its refreshing to see her in this role, even, the characters as a whole don’t really have a lot of depth. However, the film does deliver on the entertaining horror moments that build up in their intensity as the film heads to the finale. The general store and swimming pool scene being one of the more memorable of the film.

Overall, The Strangers: Prey At Night is a better horror film than its predecessor mostly because it manages to be more well-balanced and increases in its intensity. Its not a perfect film by far but it does utilize a lot of its great horror potential to create something that has some great moments and add in a little creepy and unsettling feeling. The acting could be better as a whole but its sufficient to keep it engaging.

*Part of the 2010s Horror pick for Oh My Horror Challenge 2024*

What’s Up – January 2024

Letterboxd Year in Review 2023

Film Logged: 168 (there’s 10 TV series logged in here)
Hours Watched: 485 Hours
Most Watched Actor: Bill Murray
Most Watched Director: Wes Anderson
Top Rated 2023 Films: Hidden Love (TV series), Once Upon a Studio, Sly
Most Watched Week of 2023: 11 Films on Week 45 (Nov 6-12)
Most Watched Day of 2023: Monday
Most Watched Theme: Emotional and captivating fantasy storytelling
Most Watched Nanogenre: Horror, Twist, Death

Honestly, I’m pretty impressed with how Letterboxd has gotten pretty detailed with the other statistics other than the most watched actor and director which, due to Movies and Tea, its usually pretty easy to guess who those two will be and I guessed this year’s with no hesitation.

WHAT’S UP

Books

• Fox Volant of the Snowy Mountain

Currently reading: Boy: Tales of Childhood, The Book and the Sword

I can’t even remember when I started the book but it has to about 3 months to finish Fox Volant of the Snowy Mountain. If you’ve only seen any of the adaptations, I’d say to try to look this book up because it is such a treat. The version I had included two short stories originally published in 1961: Blade-dance of the Two Lovers and White Horse Neighs in the Western Wind which were also pretty fun to read as well. Its not quite as well structured and executed as Fox Volant but Blade-dance had some fun ensemble of characters while White Horse dragged a little but had some interesting twists. I will eventually get the actual review up once I catch up with all the writing that’s fallen behind in 2024.

Movies

• Saltburn (2023 Review)
• Asteroid City (2023)
• Body Parts (1991 Review)
• The Flying Swordsman (2022 Review)
• Puppet Master (1989 Review)
• I Did It My Way (2023 Review)
• Miss Shampoo (2023)
• Prisoners (2013)
• The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013)
• The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 (2014)
• The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 (2015)
• The Neon Demon (2016 Review)
• Enola Holmes (2020 rewatch, Review)
• Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002 rewatch)
• The Strangers: Prey at Night (2018)
• Wolf Pack (狼群, 2022 Review)

I’ve worked really hard to keep up with movie reviews this month and I think it really shows some promise (even though this post is coming out incredibly delayed from usual). January was a great month for movie-watching. Not sure the actual movie quality was really good but I did get around to catching up with the rest of the film series for Hunger Games before it left Netflix and joined the Oh My Horror Challenge so its boosted up the film count and helped explore some interesting horror genres/subgenres.

My recommendations this month aren’t too plentiful but Asteroid City, Prisoners and Wolf Pack from my first time watches are definitely the stand-outs. While Puppet Master, Body Parts and Miss Shampoo had their fun parts, the first two also had some really weird moments that I’m not sure I’m totally behind and the last one is solely because I’m not a fan of the comedy style so some of the jokes really didn’t land well for me and while it was meant to be cringe-y over the top romance, some of it just felt really uncomfortable.

TV

• Dead Ringer (叠影狙击, 2023)
• Mountains and Oceans (你是我眼中的山川和海洋, 2019)
• Closer To You (我的刺猬女孩, 2020)
• Queer Eye (Season 7, 2023 Review)
• Queer Eye (Season 6, 2022 rewatch)
• Queer Eye (Season 8, 2024)
• Gilmore Girls (Season 1 rewatch, Review)
• Gilmore Girls (Season 2 rewatch, Review)

Currently watching: Asia Super Young, Singing With Legends S5, Justice in the Dark, Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre

While TV series kind of took a backseat at the beginning of the month and it was somewhat of a deliberate choice since I wanted to get back to writing movie reviews. The focus this month other than another Gilmore Girls run because its the best overtime companion was the new season Queer Eye and working through some of the Youku subscription which has some fun stuff and more Hong Kong series even if I just watched Dead Ringer which was relatively decent if not a little predictable and some weird acting but ruined it with a very lazy ending and then went through the Sabrina Zhuang series with Mountains and Oceans which I had some mixed feelings about throughout but it had a silent attack on me and caught me off-guard a few times and turned out to be pretty good but not quite as good as Closer To You which probably isn’t as good as a similar time travel series premise like Shining For One Thing but its a lot more fun.

Games

Currently playing: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney

Gaming really took stumble in January which usually happens because I’m just really busy with work. It doesn’t change even if I’m part-time because the workload just diminished in proportion for the most part. I did work through a a little bit more of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney but I’m at the episode 5 which is also the last and hardest one of the game. I’ve always had issues with this episode and with my crappy memory and its been probably the longest stretch between replays for this game, I basically remember the plot but can’t remember how to solve a lot of the stuff so its a new experience overall.

I apologize for the delay for this post but February wrap-up should be coming up relatively on time!
I have a few other posts to catch up on before we get there but I’m working on it!

What have you been watching/reading/playing?

Wolf Pack (狼群, 2022)

Wolf Pack (狼群, 2022)

Director (and writer): Michael Chiang

Cast: Max Zhang, Aarif Lee, Luxia Jiang, Ye Liu, Yi Zhang, Gianluca Zoppa

While seeking answers about his father’s suspicious death, a tactically trained physician infiltrates a mercenary group and soon uncovers a dangerous international conspiracy that could threaten the lives of millions of civilians. – Well Go USA

Wolf Pack is the directorial debut of Singaporean screenwriter-playwright Michael Chiang while also penning the script of this action thriller which follows a young physician that gets caught up in a mercenary group as he tries to learn about his father’s death which gets thrown into an international conspiracy.

When we look at the script of Wolf Pack, its not necessarily the most original idea about mercenaries and international conspiracies, not even how the whole issue pans out. However, what does stand out is the little moments that add together to create a lot of variety and maybe a little unintended comedy to lighten up the mood in an increasingly tense plot. Despite that, the film does keep a steady tone and keeps things focused on a different view of mercenaries and focuses a lot on having good and bad guys in any spectrum whether its political or solely in the mercenary world.

As we follow the main character Ke Tong (Aarif Rahman) and learns more about this mercenary group which he basically got kidnapped into by one of the members called Monster (Luxia Jiang), he realizes that there’s a strong sense of belonging, loyalty and righteousness in this group that extends further than simply making money under the leadership of Lao Diao (Max Zhang). Loyalty and righteousness, good and evil are usually common themes in Chinese films which root from classic Chinese stories and the fact that its implemented here fairly subtly does work well. What doesn’t work as well is the melodramatic bits which is a normal staple in Chinese cinema but loses a little bit of its momentum when not executed well.

Wolf Pack does hit a lot of good elements where it counts. The casting here is pretty solid. Max Zhang has been in the business for a long time starting out as a stunt actor and eventually getting his own films. He has been part of some Hollywood films in minor roles like Pacific Rim Uprising. His wushu training from when he was an athlete lends well to his action sequences. While this film leans heavily on the firearms elements, there were a few close combat moments which was able to show off some of his skills.

The same applies for Luxia Jiang who is also trained in martial arts and wushu. However, her role of Monster has a lot more room to play around as the character brings in a little charisma to the group of men in this mercenary crew. Both Max Zhang and Luxia Jiang deliver pretty decent roles here. The mercenary crew as a whole work well while the other members have less screen time outside of the action scenes, they each do represent their role in the crew well. The cast on the whole is pretty decent especially since this involves an international plot and the English dialogue all lands pretty well.

For fans of mercenary films with lots of shootouts and infiltration, Wolf Pack is a fun choice. Of course, for those less familiar with Chinese films, perhaps there might be a little bit of dramatic moments that might feel more than what the film needs. However, Wolf Pack is a surprisingly satisfying and entertaining action film. While its a little thin on the hand to hand combat which is what Max Zhang and Luxia Jiang is trained in, there’s still enough action to keep this a thrilling film experience.

*Wolf Pack is currently available digitally on Well Go USA*

Oh My Horror Challenge Week 3: The Neon Demon (2016)

The Neon Demon (2016)

Director (and co-writer): Nicolas Winding Refn

Cast: Elle Fanning, Jena Malone, Bella Heathcote, Abbey Lee, Karl Glusman, Keanu Reeves, Christina Hendricks, Desmond Harrington

An aspiring model, Jesse, is new to Los Angeles. However, her beauty and youth, which generate intense fascination and jealousy within the fashion industry, may prove themselves sinister. – IMDB

Its been a long while since I’ve seen a Nicolas Winding Refn film. The first (and last one) being Drive back before I was reviewing movies on this blog. Heading back into his world, the only thing I expected was a neon saturated and visually stunning film from Neon Demon as I headed into this knowing absolutely nothing about what it was about other than I like the poster and really enjoyed Elle Fanning in Sofia Coppola’s Somewhere. The Neon Demon hit the two elements I expected from it and even exceeded my expectations as this film truly is a mesmerizing and stunning visual experience even if I spent most of the film confused with what the end game was going to be with everything going on.

Cinematography is a great place to start when we look at The Neon Demon. Its a film that starts off with one of the darkest but stunning shots with Elle Fanning’s character Jesse lying covered in “blood” motionless on a sofa. The contrast of the colors and the whole set up of the shot is such a mesmerizing way to start the film. As the film moves on, the outfits and the lighting of the film capture the spiral of Jesse as she dives further into the model world and starts diving into her own narcissistic nature. There’s so much art to the how light is used in each shot from flashing lights that amplify the moments between everybody at the start to the mind-boggling scene that defined Jesse’s narcissism on her catwalk, the film is a feast for the eyes.

The narrative of The Neon Demon is almost like a character study of Jesse, a young model who finds herself as others appreciate her natural youthful beauty in the model world and quickly get taken over by her own narcissism. The film takes a little magnifying glass into the world of models and the perception of beauty. While I think its just my lack of depth into this world that stops me from understanding the film more but The Neon Demon’s biggest flaw probably is its plot which takes a lot of interesting moments in Jesse’s life and leaves a lot of space to wonder where its going and what its intentions are. With all that was going on, the biggest mystery was where the whole film was going and how it would end. The ending though, as a whole, is a big shocker which dials up the surreal horror element quite a bit and has probably an equally nauseating scene compared to Raw.

The cast is pretty small here with Elle Fanning being the main focus and she does a fantastic job capturing the aspiring model Jesse. Her expressions and build in confidence and those little movements that define her character are done impressively. However, after watching a bunch of Hunger Games films and Jena Malone, she is one of the shining points in The Neon Demon right from the start when Ruby enters that first scene. Ruby is such a mysterious character and even when the film ends, there are still so many questions about her that are unanswered which normally would be considered a lack of development but somehow it adds to the mystique.

I’ve watched many surreal horrors during my festival covering days pre-pandemic so I’m not completely unfamiliar with how weird it can get. The Neon Demon is probably one of the most visually stunning films I’ve seen in a while and the film has such an unexpected and shocking twisted ending. In general, the final act was odd and crazy in a good way however, there was a good chunk in the middle which just lacked a lot of engagement and took some turns that left this film feeling a little underdeveloped to head into that final act. With that said, The Neon Demon has made me realize the underrated actress that is Jena Malone and I’m going to seek out more of her films this year.

Oh My Horror Challenge Week 2: Puppet Master (1989)

Puppet Master (1989)

Director (and co-writer): David Schmoeller

Cast: Paul Le Mat, William Hickey, Irene Miracle, Jimmie F. Skaggs, Robin Frates, Matt Roe, Kathryn O’Reilly, Mews Small, Barbara Crampton, David Boyd

Psychics find themselves plotted against by a former colleague, who committed suicide after discovering animated, murderous puppets. – IMDB

The Puppet Master film series is one that I’ve only recently heard about and since puppets (and not dolls) are actually fairly slim pickings as I’ve covered a few of the bigger ones, here we are watching the first film released in 1989 which goes on for another fourteen more films with the latest released in 2022. I’m not going to cover all the films consecutively this time around but its definitely peaked an interest to seek out the films gradually.

The film starts in the past as we watch a puppet maker craft his latest creation while his previous creations are animated around him and on the lookout for impending threat for his capability. This past scene acts as the introduction to set up both the story and the location of the present setting. As the group reunites together, the story does have its fun moments but the general plot is fairly predictable. Some of the spooks don’t land too well especially with the dead friend’s body moving around constantly. Even the kills feel more entertaining to watch than horrific especially since the more gruesome deaths are showed off-screen.

While the acting is a little over the top at times, there is some good elements for the character structure. They all have their own unique capabilities that we gradually learn from their actions like Dana, who we see in the opening as a fortune teller telling the fortune to a young Barbara Crampton which is a lovely cameo especially watching it now as she’s been part of many notable horror films in much more prominent roles, but at the hotel does a few more psychic things which give an idea of her abilities. However, the main character in this film is not her but the university professor who can see the future in his dreams.

The strength of The Puppet Master not surprisingly are the puppets. Not only do they expand the “villain” pool since its a group of them killing together but they all have their own abilities that make them distinctive like strength or leeches or knives. Also, their parts are stop-animated which makes it really neat and fun to watch especially since the camera likes to go into their perspective to film to keep the puppets a mystery before they are revealed. While there are definite technology differences which shows the age of the film, the sequences are well-executed. Plus, the puppets themselves have a nice mischievous personality which adds to these characters.

The Puppet Master sets a good foundation for the film. While the plot itself isn’t too exciting and at times, feels little awkward, the introduction of the puppet villains do add to the film a lot. Its not exactly a scary film, but it does hit a lot of the campy 80s horror entertainment elements. While I’m not a fan of horror films adding in the open endings suggesting something else is at work, cliffhangers and such, I was pretty satisfied with how this one chose to end which hopefully is a nice stepping stone to the next film. Fingers crossed.

*Oh My Horror Challenge 2024*

I Did It My Way (潜行, 2023)

I Did It My Way (潜行 ,2023)

Director: Jason Kwan

Cast: Andy Lau, Gordon Lam, Eddie Peng, Yase Liu, Simon Yam, Suet Lam, Kent Cheng, Philip Keung, Hedwig Tam, Kevin Chu, Terrance Lau

As the secretive, complex world of online drug trafficking increasingly targets Hong Kong, the police launch a risky, top-secret sting operation to bring down one of the most notorious drug lords in Asia. – Well Go USA

Hong Kong crime films have been a huge staple of the last two decades of its cinema from drugs to human trafficking to terrorists and more. Infernal Affairs kicked off the undercover phase and really pushed the recognition of these types of crime films into a whole new world. I Did It My Way enters another realm as its police force dives into the dark web and online drug trafficking. The concept is more modern and has more technological elements involved in their operations on a wider globalized scale. With many regular faces taking on the leading roles like Andy Lau, Gordon Lam and Simon Yam in a Jason Kwan film, the film in concept has no issues but in execution, there are some issues

There has been a lot of crime films in Hong Kong from incredibly successful ones in the early 2000s like Infernal Affairs to Cold War in 2012. In recent years, its been a lot more rehashing of familiar ideas and many sequels for Z Storm running through a few more letters. In concept, many of these films work very well especially since the casting is solid even if the characters and plot are familiar. I Did It My Way sets up its stage well in the first stage but quickly loses its pacing in the second act and spirals off into explosions and montage killing by the third act to end in a fairly odd way. In some ways, the film script does give a nod at the use of its older casting by using classy cars and classic Cantonese music as its soundtrack. However, for a few moments, I felt like I was watching Michael Bay film with the generous explosions happening on screen throughout the film. Its not exactly a bad thing except it feels like it was going very far for its purpose (but then maybe it was also to shape the character). While explosions are still acceptable, perhaps the biggest criticism of this film does go to the subplot of the pregnant wife and the death of a baby, granted its computer-animated, that truly felt like it was there to create an unnecessary motivator but wanted to be more of an emotional manipulator.

Looking at this script with the globalized drug trafficking, it is a decent idea which works to a certain extent. There is a little stretch of imagination here needed especially since it uses the dark web as a means of distribution. While there is no way to do this in a non-sped up version for film pacing purposes, it did grasp the global feeling and the threat that it created. Jason Kwan implements a lot of montages to help speed up the film a little from kill montages to drug effect ones. For a crime film, this one does use a decent amount of action and for the actual fighting bits, credit does need to be given to Ka Lok Chin as Action Director that choreographs some pretty neat action moments that adds a lot of tension overall.

While there’s been a general criticism of the use of older actors and actresses in Hong Kong cinema, I’m in the group that believes any actor or actress can act as long as they are capable of doing so and still offer great material. If not, how would there be Time, a spectacular offering by an even older cast than this one. In that sense, everyone in this casting are well able to do that even if the leads are in their fifties and sixties with a few younger cast like Kevin Chu and Terrence Lau. This roster is what made this genre great in the first place so for them, this is definitely familiar territory and well above their capabilities. As these films start to form, we’re really starting to actually see the fantastic work that Gordon Lam and Philip Keung is capable of, two actors that started out in supporting and smaller roles respectively but in the past decade finding themselves picking up more prominent roles and in I Did It My Way, these two characters stood out the most, much like Taiwanese actor Eddie Peng who carried most of the action scenes incredibly well especially one in a wine cellar/store. Having watched Kevin Chu recently in TV series Dead Ringer, this actor does feel like he would have potential for bigger things in time, much like Terrence Lau who was in the Anita Mui biopic as Leslie Cheung and in this one, captures a more mischievous hacker persona.

Overall, I Did It My Way tries to craft an action crime film to the globalized illegal business. While in concept, a lot of these ideas do work, there are some issues throughout from pacing which possibly showed its cards a little too soon but also adding unnecessary plot. However, its strength is in its casting choices and its action. There are some truly strong moments in this film that build up tension very well but its mixed in with some dragging and predictable ones as well.

I Did It My Way opened in theatres January 12th.

**Screener provided by Well Go USA**

The Flying Swordsman (雪山飞狐之塞北宝藏, 2022)

The Flying Swordsman (雪山飞狐之塞北宝藏, 2022)

Director (and co-writer): Qiao Lei

Cast: Huawei Zhao, Ray Lui, Yusi Chen, Shanshan Chunyu, Zihan Chen

After a wicked plot to steal a hidden fortune results in the death of two renowned warriors, the map leading to the treasure’s rumored location inexplicably disappears. But when the map is finally located a decade later, the eight assassins from the original plot re-emerge only to be challenged by a mysterious swordsman. – Well Go USA

Adapted from Jin Yong’s 1959 wuxia novel Fox Volant of the Snowy Mountain, The Flying Swordsman uses the general story and novel framework to craft this retelling with a lot of changes from its source material, changing what was an intricate story spanning over decades and romance, revenge, loyalty and politics to a more common vengeance scheme that feels a bit like Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight, a coincidence considering this also features eight assassins and a little bit of the generous blood spill in certain kills. Being someone who recently finished reading the source material and truly enjoyed its original framework which would actually work really well in an adaptation that stayed true to its intentions, I’m not opposed to changes made for the big screen normally however, in this case, the screenplay takes away a lot of the themes and originality of the story and turns into a straightforward revenge tale that shows its cards way too early especially if you have a general knowledge of the source material and its main characters. I can understand that this does reduce the possibility of having too many elements in a film that could create a convoluted storyline.

Nothing can always be viewed in one way. In many ways, with all the changes, I’d actually prefer to look at this strictly from the point of view of the tale that its telling. Aside from the straightforward storyline, the film does craft its characters to each have their own essence which links to a part of the surprise element of what their special power is which is revealed when the wuxia elements come in. The cast itself is pretty impressive with special appearances as the cause of the whole vengeance setting the stage at the beginning with the battle between Yidao Hu and Renfeng Miao played respectively by Ben Ng and Mark Cheng, which are familiar names in the Hong Kong film and TV. The Hong Kong casting does end there as Ray Lui plays a bigger role as Baisui Tao, one of the assassins who are looking for the treasure who plays opposite to Baoshu (Shanshan Chunyu).

From the angle of the characters, the costume design and aesthetics as well as their different personalities do give each of the eight assassins their own distinctive style to tell them apart even if the film doesn’t have the time to dive deeper into these characters, making them fairly shallow. The main character Gui Yu (Huawei Zhao) is a well-constructed character which has a little bit of backstory in flashbacks and gets caught between the two main leaders of the assassins as his role plays off both sides.

The visuals of the film overall have some decent set pieces. The film has a few settings but mostly focuses on the treasure hunt element that is set on the “snowy” mountain which also has a few traps. These traps break up the assassins so that the main vengeance plot can unravel. As with most China sets, these are done fairly well. If there was any criticism on the visuals, it would be the unpolished CGI effects which does fall apart especially with its group of hyenas that is more comedic to watch than threatening. However, there is some impressive sound design in the film which helps build up the atmosphere especially when its in deep conversation, for example, pulling out actual soundtrack and trading in isolated wind and natural surrounding sounds which help amplify the sense of isolation for this location.

The Flying Swordsman is a very loose adaptation of the source material and could actually be its own wuxia story. If we look at this as what’s offered, overall there are some good choices from character design and costumes, sound and the setting itself. The framework of using flashbacks to help restore some of the past story to add context is commendable as it does give a nod to its source material in structure. The action sequences focus heavily on the effects and some slow motion emphasis rather than fluid choreography. Its not to say that some of these sequences aren’t done well. There are some fun elements with the special powers when its revealed for each of the characters involved. Overall, some good and average elements for the most part make up The Flying Swordsman.

**Screener provided by Well Go USA**