Tom's Reviews

This film is the definition of a wasted opportunity. It's too short, it deals with too many different subject matter while never really meaningfully discussing any of them, and it's direction and cinematography at times are beautiful and at others fall short. This is not a good film, and that's a real shame because it could have been something special. Dot 2 Dot by Amos Why ( Napping Kid ) is a hit or miss film very much like the previous Chinese film I reviewed Tik Tok . It's a film about a woman who moves to Hong Kong to help teach language (I believe it's another form of Chinese although I could be wrong). When she moves there she feels alienated and grows obsessed with solving dot to dot puzzles left behind by a man obsessed with his childhood. That plot actually sounds really interesting, but this isn't really how it plays out; instead the film loosely follows that narrative while introducing other story beats that don't really amount to much. I th...

The Drug King is familiar and this is both a blessing and a problem. It borrows from other films by the likes of Martin Scorsese, and in doing so shows us an insight into a Korean gangster story; but by borrowing from those films it also just shows us yet again another Martin Scorsese story. Let me elaborate. The Drug King by Min-ho Woo ( Inside Men ) is a film about Lee Dom-sam (portrayed excellently by Kang-ho Song, Snowpiercer ) a low-life thug who ends up growing an empire distributing crank to Japan in the 70s. It's your typical from rags to riches to paranoia storyline that we've seen so many times before (Martin Scorsese has copied himself so many times its hard to find a good one these days). If you've seen Wolf of Wall Street or Goodfellas then you've probably seen The Drug King. Story is important (hot take right there). It's the reason, for the most part, we watch a movie, and like watching a murder mystery for the second time, watching the same f...

What did I just watch? No seriously, can anyone tell me who has seen this mess of a film? What did I just watch? I so don't want to review this because I know I'll be overly critical, but I have to get something from this unenjoyable, utterly confusing movie. Right? It'll all be worth it? Right? Okay, here goes. Tik Tok is a Chinese film that I believe is set in Korea. Part of me is reluctant to look it up, because knowing wouldn't solve half of the issues I have with this film. I'll touch briefly on the story here, but know that later I'm going into full spoiler territory. I don't much here for a reason; I'm either trying to entice you to watch something so therefore spoiling it would only ruin it for you, or I'm warning you away from something so you don't really need to know the itty bitty details. But this is a special case. Honestly I don't know why it's rattled me so much. But this isn't my diary, so lets get to it. Tik Tok...

There's something great about watching a good film; there's something even better about watching a feel good film. Our Shining Days is the second diamond-in-the-rough Chinese film I've had the pleasure of watching ( Animal World being the first, read my review here ) and it's a film I can't recommend enough. Frankly I'd just go watch it now, don't even finish this, just go watch it without any foreknowledge and I have a feeling you'll appreciate it later. But if you're here having watched it, or don't care either way, here's the review. Our Shining Days can best be surmised as Chinese Folk School of Rock . If you took a vague version of the plot of School of Rock (Richard Linklater), threw in some good ol' fashioned Chinese Folk music, and a nice helping of Anime appreciation, you have Our Shining Days . This film is what I'd call a feel good film; it has a simple plot, that being a bunch of reject folk music students want to comp...

I haven't seen a film in a long time. For weeks I gave up the usual Netflix binge of strange Korean movies and low budget sci-fi films I've built these reviews around. So, going back into watching films I had to do it right; I had to watch something good. High Society by Hyuk Byun ( The Scarlet Letter ) was precisely that film. High Society is a film about people who let their ambition get the better of them. It's about all I want to say in terms of plot, because this rollercoaster of a film has so many twists and turns that it's best viewed without any prior knowledge. That's certainly how I saw it, having only seen the brief vague trailer that Netflix put out. It's a film that rewards you for your patience, and helps you along with its fast pacing and incredible plot development. Each twist leads to another fantastic moment for our two protagonists, and watching them suffer made me feel some genuine emotions; I felt a pang of pain as they went through some...

I, like I assume many others, came across this film by pure chance, or more accurately midnight IMDB searching. This is a weird, inspirational and often saddening ride through the life of one man, Stephen Groo. This documentary on Groo feels really niche, and yet resonates with me on a deep level. The Insufferable Groo is a complex look into the life of a narcissistic, yet incredibly passionate man who's whole life revolves around making movies. And honestly, I can sympathise. My great passion is to direct, and I've shot some bad films myself. His dedication to his movies, the main focus of this documentary, is incredible. He shoots close to 150 shots a day, working 18 hour days, pushing everyone on his crew to do their best and all for no money. This man is crazy, and the documentary shows it, but often in an entirely endearing, or, if not then, sympathetic way. When I was fifteen/sixteen I wanted to be Groo. Of course I didn't know he existed, but the idea of making 2...

Context is everything when it comes to mockumentaries, and it's often something they seem to get fundamentally wrong. The Beyond is no exception; this boring, uninspired mockumentary prioritises special effects over an engaging narrative and seemingly only uses the mockumentary style to save money. I only love one thing more than a good sci-fi; a low budget one. There's something about the untapped potential in low budget sci-fi movies like Coherence and Circle . Sure their production value is low, but their narratives are often mind bending and intriguing, offering an enjoyable time. The Beyond , while trying to have an intriguing narrative, falls short due to its unimaginably slow pacing and uninteresting plot. The Beyond is about a mysterious "Void" that appears in space all of a sudden. It has claimed the life of one astronaut, and threatens (or so we believe) the lives of everyone else on earth. It is up to some brilliant scientists at Space Agency to figu...

On the one hand I feel genuinely baffled by this Taiwanese comedy horror, and on the other I kinda got what I should have expected. Secrets In The Hot Springs , henceforth referred to as Secrets , is a comedy horror from first time director/writer Kuan-Hui Lin and its sort of weird (I'm going to be saying that a lot). It's a film full of style, laughs and is packed with perhaps just a little too much cheese, with a few shortcomings that make it hard to recommend. I didn't know anything before going into this film; in fact I was under the impression that I was going to hate this film and give it a scathing review. Searching for obscure films on Netflix is becoming easier and easier, and finding the naff looking ones is no longer a chore. And so when I saw Secrets sitting there, with the cheesy Netflix music layered over its confusing sequence of shots used to advertise it to the unsuspecting viewer, I sort of had to watch it. Secrets is one of the most bizarre films I...

For film three of my Korean Week I watched a political thriller, and honestly I was completely baffled by 26 Years (Geun-hyun Cho, Late Spring.) It's such a mixed bag in terms of quality, and often comes across as a botched job. And yet behind all that cosmetic mishap is a truly moving story of a tragedy that occurred 38 years ago (26 in the movies time.) But I'm not sure with how much grace and finesse this film portrays its touching story, and that may be its biggest flaw. 26 Years is about the Gwangju Uprising in 1980. I wasn't familiar with the event until I saw the film, but having researched it after the film its truly saddening to hear. Student protesters were brutally murdered by military troops while protesting, something the film and many critics attribute to the president Chun Doo-hwan. And the first thirty or so minutes of the film is such a devastatingly harrowing experience as it details through animation the suffering of protesters at the time, watching as t...

Film two of my Korean Week (once again, how original) solidifies my appreciation and faith in Korean cinema. Luck-Key (only slightly more original than Korean Week) is a romantic comedy that far surpasses expectations, and, in my opinion, proves that Korea has mastered cinema. I'm not a fan of romantic comedies. I appreciate why people like them, but personally I've never liked the cheesy, overly sentimental, badly written movies that they often are. But Luck-Key manages to go beyond those tropes, and be something unique, while still offering the sentimentality and cheese that people enjoy about these films. The plot is simple, it feels almost western in a way. It wouldn't be out of place to think this could be a film Adam Sandler and Andy Samberg have starred in. Hyung-wook (Hae-jin Yoo, A Taxi Driver) is a hired killer. Jae-sung (Joon Lee, Seoul Station) is a suicidal mess who has no money and is pretty content ending it all. However, just before he does he decides to...

I've decided to watch nothing but Korean films for the next week. I'm dubbing it Korean Week (how original). My first thought was to scour Netflix for Korean films, and I'll be honest, I wasn't expecting to find much. But lo and behold the first film in the list stood out as something worth watching. So I sat down for 2 hours to watch Vanishing Time: The Boy Who Returned (the quality of the title is not indicative of the film.) Vanishing Time, as I'm going to refer to it as from this point forward, is a sci-fi drama film from director Tae-hwa Eom (Ingtoogi). I went into this film with very little expectation and I feel as if this was the right way to go. Knowing nothing about this made the experience that much more pleasurable as Vanishing Time has a pretty weird plot. The plot of Vanishing time feels like it would fare pretty poorly anywhere else. Essentially a bunch of kids venture out into the hills to see a tunnel being demolished. While they're there t...

How do you write a review for a film that has totally and completely flabbergasted you that you're left with a huge grin on your face, but with few words to say. I guess like this. Animal World by director Yan Han (great name) is the most entertaining film I've seen in a while. It's a Chinese blockbuster through and through based on a Japanese manga series, starring the very American Michael Douglas. And I'll be honest, all of those combined is probably what makes this film so great and approachable. The teaser footage shown on Netflix is only a taste of the overall film, and really isn't all that representative. Nevertheless, what is on offer here is great. Zheng Kaisi (Yi Feng Li) is a man down on his luck who gets in way over his head and ends up having to gamble his life in several games of rock paper scissors on a boat ran by Michael Douglas. When the film started my response was "Who comes up with these plots" and by the end of it I had a pretty...

A few years ago a smaller, spottier, more ambitious version of myself thought aloud "I'm going to make a movie entirely in first person!" Then Hardcore Henry came out, crushing my dreams. But, dreams crushed, I saw the movie anyway, and learnt two things. It's an incredible concept, not such a great movie. Director Ilya Naishuller (say that 5 times fast) has done a pretty good job of making Hardcore Henry a 1 hour 40 odd minute film entertaining. And you'd think that a first person, action thriller (supernatural?) sci-fi adventure romp would be entertaining as is. But really it's not. It's intrigue and entertainment are delivered by two separate things. Concept and a bloke called Sharlto Copley. (District 9) Visually, this film is a bit iffy. I don't mean the stunts, explosions, almost game-like cinematography. No, I mean the fact it was shot on two low-resolution GoPros attached to the cameraman's head by a strap. The film often looks out of ...

Bokeh would make an amazing Black Mirror episode; that being said it makes for a horrible, boring movie. It has poor acting, terrible characters, and while its cinematography is incredible, it is a shallow, repetitive film with little to say and what it does say is unsurprising and underwhelming. Bokeh is a film about a couple Jenai (Maika Monroe, It Follows) and Riley (Matt O'Leary, The Lone Ranger) who, while holidaying in Reykjavik, become the only people left on earth. The film follows their time during the weeks following the disappearance of mankind and how they deal with it. It's not original, but regardless it's a fascinating concept, especially when there's a relationship thrown into the mix. But Bokeh fails to live up to its plot, and delivers an underwhelming film. It's hard to talk about a film that's bad, mainly because hating on someone's passion project is tough, but also because when there is so much wrong it becomes difficult to str...

Who Am I is an incredible German film about hackers. It's thrilling, it's fun, and it's clever. And you should all go watch it. Who Am I is a film about Benjamin (Tom Schilling, Woman In Gold) a pizza delivery guy who also happens to be an expert in hacking. He meets enigmatic Max (Elyas M'Barek, The Wave) who lures him into joining his friends in hacking morally dubious organisations. Who Am I is a bit like The Usual Suspects (Bryan Singer, 1995) in that it focuses around an interrogation between Benjamin and the head of an investigation into cyber-crime, Hanne Lindberg (Trine Dyrholm, The Commune). Only Who Am I is better than The Usual Suspects , it's far more subtle, and a lot more thrilling. Who Am I remains tense, exciting and engaging throughout it's runtime. The tension mainly comes from it's incredible script by Jantje Friese (The Silence) and Odar, but is aided by the pounding upbeat techno music by Boys Noize and the fast paced editing du...

My opinion of Automata is sat very firmly on the fence. I'm not comfortable being there, I want to go one way or the other, but I will probably never know whether it's a good or a bad film. Automata stars Antonio Banderas (Puss In Boots) as an insurance agent working for ROC a company that built robots shortly after solar flares wiped out almost the entire population. One of these robots was found altering itself, a big no no as one of the only two rules that govern the robots is that it's not allowed to alter itself. Banderas as Jacq Vaucan has to investigate why it has done so thus leading him on a moderately interesting yet ultimately confusing journey. Automata feels like a rare film. It's probably because films like Automata are few and far between. Automata is a gritty sci-fi noir in the same vain as Blade Runner. It features a dystopian cityfilled with the dancing hologram ladies, huge skyscrapers, and rain. Except where Blade Runner felt it would be a good thi...

Otherlife is not a great film and that's a shame. It is a film with a plot of too great a scale for its own good and it misses the chance to make good of the material they had. This film looks good and I'll give it that; it has some beautiful visuals and creative set choices including a rather horrifying and claustrophobic prison. There are also some clever visual effects such as the moments when characters go in and out of Otherlife and when Otherlife begins to fail. The acting in this film is also pretty good, and it's always nice to hear Australian accents. While there are some questionable performances, the leading lady Jessica De Gouw (The Rezort), who plays Ren, is convincing every step of the way as a troubled and obsessed individual whose goal is to save her brother. A very ambitious goal I may add. But while this film's exterior is shiny and full of style, its interior feels shallow and dull. Otherlife , from director Ben C. Lucas (Wasted On The Young), follo...

I'm in love with Asperger's Are Us . It's a heart-warming and unflinchingly honest documentary with so much passion and love that watching it feels not only educational, but fun and best of all inspirational. Asperger's Are Us is a documentary by Alex Lehmann (Blue Jay) that takes a look at four friends on the Autism Spectrum and the weeks before their final comedy show. They form the Asperger's Are Us comedy troupe, and they're all incredibly funny. Through the documentary we get to see their lives, how they deal with their parents, and each other, and their goals and passions for the future.  Asperger's Are Us excels in every department. It is a beautiful looking documentary with some gorgeous looking B-roll footage of the urban landscapes; the camera, when interviewing the comedy troupe, feels alive as it follows the friends around capturing every little moment in those few weeks. It adds so much more depth than a standard form of interview wit...

The One I Love is a predictable and depressing journey. That's not to say it's bad, not in the slightest, rather it's a hard watch, but a rewarding one at that.  The One I Love is about Ethan (Mark Duplass, Blue Jay) and Sophie (Elisabeth Moss, The Square) a couple who've fallen out of love, and by instruction from their therapist, retreat to a nice home to rekindle what they've lost. On the surface it sounds like a standard romantic fare, but this film is often anything but; it is a complex mystery that offers twists and turns and moments of extreme discomfort. I don't want to say too much about The One I Love, it's just more enjoyable the less you know. But, rest assured this film's main purpose is to make you sad.  The script by Justin Lader (The Discovery) tackles ordinary fears about relationships, and creates both sympathetic yet dis-likable characters. Ethan has cheated on Sophie, but Sophie's actions throughout the film are no better. ...

I'm Here is a short film by Spike Jonze (Her) and while it never left a lasting impression, it's a lovable and interesting short that is sure to entertain and make you smile while you watch it. I'm Here is a film about two robots Sheldon (Andrew Garfield, Silence) and Francesca (Sienna Guillory, High-Rise) who fall in love. The plot really is as simple as that, which is both a blessing and a problem. It doesn't feel as if Spike Jonze had anything to say with this film. On the one hand it's a  beautifully shot and written film about two lovers (who just so happen to also be robots) and on the other it is about two underdeveloped characters living in an undeveloped world. There's a lot to this movie, and none of it really melds well together. Firstly, while the characters' relationship is "cute" and the time they spend together feels romantic and makes you long for such a relationship, as people, they never really develop. Sheldon is a nice guy ...

Circle is an odd film. In regards to its technical aspects it seems somewhat lacking. Its production value appears low, its cinematography isn't perfect, its editing is standard, and its special effects (while few and far between) aren't spectacular. The acting in this movie is sub-par, and the film only lasts an hour and a half leaving not too much time to develop 50 individual characters. AND YET this film is a thrilling and unbelievably enjoyable ride for its entire run time and a film I would willingly watch more than once. Circle is a film about fifty people who find themselves trapped in a mysterious room. They can't move or they face death, they can't touch each other (or death), and every two minutes they must vote for one of them to die (so death). It's not the most original plot, but it lends itself nicely to building tension and some compelling, and not so compelling (they die) arguments. It is not really clear why they're there and it's their...