Isle of Dogs (2018)

I love Wes Anderson's quirky style and evidently so do a lot of big name Hollywood actors, as he has attracted a star-studded voice cast for his second stop-motion feature. The visuals are stunning. Anderson's attention to detail in his fully controlled animated world far surpasses what he is able to do in a live-action environment. The oddity of this world is charmingly hilarious. And Anderson's witty humor is just brilliant. It's not for everyone, but I can't help but smile at how fun this is. The music by Alexandre Desplat is exciting and beautifully features taiko drums.

The big directorial choice Anderson made was to linguistically divide the dogs from the humans. The humans speak Japanese and are not subtitled. We, like the dogs, do not understand them. We rely on interpreters to give translation sometimes. Sometimes, we are just left in the dark. The dogs speak English, or rather their barks are voice-translated in real-time. There is a language disclaimer right in the beginning. I understand the separation he tries to make, putting the audience firmly in the dog world. That being said, I was not crazy about the bilingual foreign exchange student saving the day. A student movement rightfully has its place in the movie, but it doesn't have to be led by a white student. She serves as a convenient means of translation, but Anderson is clever enough to have figured that out. They could've diagrammed their plans, for example.

Like Father, Like Son (2013)

This is another beautiful film from the Japanese master, but I feel like there is something missing. Unlike Still Walking and After the Storm, this movie is missing that moment when the emotion just overwhelms you and you don't quite know why.  That moment is not necessarily at the climax. It sneaks up on you quietly and delicately. That being said, this movie doesn't really have a climax. There is a runaway scene that almost hits a climax, but it doesn't quite get there. There is a scene when emotion finally hits the protagonist, but at that point it's too late. He has been so emotionless for so long that it doesn't make the viewer emotional.

The movie still has Koreeda's characteristic carefully crafted dialogue. He maybe does a little more telling than he typically does, usually letting the visuals speak for themselves.  He's typically a master of show-don't-tell. The movie is a switched-at-birth drama that asks if parents can love a child that is not theirs. The kids are so cute and so good.

Still Walking (2008)

Hirokazu Koreeda has become one of my favorite directors. His movies are moving family dramas. And this one is simply beautiful. He is the heir apparent to an earlier Japanese master, Yasujiro Ozu. His movies are somehow calming and emotional at the same time. The pacing is so deliberate, the camera so still. His dialogue is so delicate. The plot details slowly reveal themselves in carefully crafted dialogue as the characters muse about life. This movie is 24 hours in the lives of the Yokoyama family. They get together every year to commemorate the death of the eldest son, Junpei. Death is a major theme in the movie, but rather than simply highlighting death, Koreeda manages to bring out the pain of life. That's life as it really is. Grief takes many forms. It's a brilliantly heartwarming movie. It's a little difficult to explain what I love so much about Koreeda, but I can't wait to watch the next one.

Ran (1985)

Akira Kurosawa's adaptation of Shakespeare's King Lear is the epitome of the word epic. The scale is just massive. The war scenes feature an enormous number of soldiers, color coded by banner. The battle scenes are stylish, one featuring no sound effects, just music. The music is a fitting combination of east and west, a Mahler-esque score matched with traditional Japanese instruments. The film itself is beautiful. Kurosawa painted out every frame of the storyboard. There is so much care taken in the mise en scene. There are lots of expansive wide mountainous shots, with the small figures barely able to be made out. In epic fashion, the movie is 3 hours long. It is very long, but there is quite a bit of action. The bleak portrait of humanity is extremely chaotic as the title suggests, and yet Kurosawa has such control over the pacing of the plot. The actors, particularly Hidetora, are very expressive, accentuated by makeup. I find it hard to comment on such epic movies but just a few of my thoughts.

John Mulaney: Kid Gorgeous (2018)

I saw John Mulaney perform this set live in Washington DC. The Netflix special is mostly the same, except I don't remember hearing the bit about Leonard Bernstein. In person, I was slightly underwhelmed by the material. It was the second time I had seen John Mulaney, and the first time was fire. John Mulaney is perhaps the most polished of all the stand-ups today. His delivery is non-stop, and exactly the same each iteration, proving how well-rehearsed he is. Rehearsal, of course, is not a bad thing, but perhaps it makes him sound a little less genuine. His performance doesn't have the natural hesitation of normal spoken cadence. He also only has one volume. He yells at the audience for an hour straight. Can a stand-up be too polished?

Night and Day (밤과 낮) (2008)

My first criticism of this movie is that it is way too long at 2.5 hours. It is a series of vignettes, some just mere seconds long, but they really add up. They (mostly?) add to the character development, but there is so much development. The art community in Paris interestingly has a sizable amount of Korean artists, including a North Korean artist. For a movie that takes place in Paris, there are not all that many French people in the movie. France merely provides the backdrop of the art world, including the Musee d'Orsay.

I'd like to just reiterate that Hong Sang-soo is super awkward. He has that Robert Altman zoom and some awkward dialogue and long takes. But life is awkward, isn't it? I stand by my characterization of Hong as Korean Woody Allen. He does the dramedy genre, albeit the comedy is much more subtle and awkward and not really ha-ha funny. But they have the same bougie ambitions. They both have a fascination with adultery and misbehaving men. There are some really charming vignettes, but the ending confused me. I think it's a winding statement on male desire, the fluctuating line between desire and action, and maybe the fleeting nature of desire. What the statement exactly is though is lost on me.

One of Us (2017)

A fascinating look at the Hasidic community in Brooklyn, One of Us follows three ex-members with uniquely harrowing experiences. Ari is a young man who decided to leave the community and we watch him learn about the secular world for the first time as an adult. The phrase "secular world" sounds so absurd to us but it is the proper way to describe the world outside the community. The modern Hasidic community formed as a response to the Holocaust. The community is insular with very strict rules to ensure the perseverance of the Jews. But going back to Ari, he is hilarious. What happened to him is awful, but watching him talk about discovering Wikipedia is precious. Etty's story is heartbreaking. She is fighting a court battle against the whole community for custody of her seven children, seeking solace in Footsteps, an organization that helps ex-members adjust. And the third character is Luzer, an aspiring actor trying to corner the Hasidic market. He is also quite funny. There are a lot of really astounding rules and practices they have. But I find the most astonishing thing to be that the Talmudic schools do not teach enough secular subjects to produce students with any marketable skills. Without any skills, they must rely fully on the community and welfare and have no ability to leave even if they wanted to. Some of them barely even speak English...born in Brooklyn! And somehow the state of New York willfully ignores this. This is of course a huge generalization, but the state is failing this community. And the secular world that these ex-members face out there is a scary one.

Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

This movie does not exist in a vacuum. If you didn't see the previous Marvel films, you're not going to get this one. Even if you did see all the other ones, you might not follow this one. The focus is on the infinity gems, which have made appearances in the previous movies but totally escaped my notice. There are so many characters in this movie who each have a history we are assumed to be familiar with. There are so many things going on; it's almost nonstop action, and it gets repetitive.

There is one thing the movie does very well in the beginning half while juggling the many character introductions. The Marvel movies have each developed a distinct style that this movie manages to retain and mix. Notably, the Guardians of the Galaxy introduction is distinct with the 80s soundtrack and the ridiculous jokes. Amidst all the action there are many jokes, and I think comedy has always been Marvel's strength.

There are a number of deaths, but as this is Marvel, we know that death may not be permanent. So what should be poignant does not always come off as so, because we know they probably don't really mean it. Also, we only got Wakanda a few months ago and already they've ruined black utopia. We can't have nice things...