“Badland Hunters”
Stream it on Netflix.
A commando trying to rescue someone from behind enemy lines is a common enough plotline. But Heo Myung-haeng’s apocalyptic bananas whimsy so wholeheartedly embraces B’s values (fast, furious, funny) that it’s easy to overlook the standard-issue premise. A tough hunter (Dong Lee), his young sidekick (Lee Joon-young), and their special operations buddy (Ahn Ji-hye) set out to rescue their friend (Noh Jeong-i) from the clutches of a mad scientist (Lee). I’m leaving for Hee Jun) created invincible humans to save humanity.
Set three years after the earthquake that devastated Seoul, “Badland Hunters” shares the same dystopian world as last year’s Uhm Tae-hwa’s gruesome fable “Concrete Utopia.” But his two films stand alone, with “Badland Hunters” replacing its predecessor’s biting social criticism with broader humor and pure action. Spaghetti Western by Kim Dong-wook His style of music sets the tone. Once again, Korean films taught American producers and directors how to make effective and entertaining films on low budgets.
“Landscape with an invisible hand”
Stream it on Amazon.
Teenagers Adam (Asante Black) and Chloe (Kylie Rogers) meet at school and fall in love. It’s a pretty standard setup. So they decide to broadcast their love story on a “courtship broadcast” in order to earn money. Yes, not yet.
Except the paying audience is the VuVu, an alien race that claims to own Earth. The Vuvu may be technologically advanced, but they are fascinated by love. This concept is completely alien to a materialistic, fundamentally practical race that treats reproduction the same way they treat food, that is, mechanically.
This setup is enough to set the tone for the entire movie, but it’s just the beginning of Corey Finley’s surreal and entertaining “landscape of the invisible hand.” Set in the mid-2030s, the film centers on the mutually bewildering relationship between defeated Earthlings and Vuvu. The Vuvu are an unlikely master race that someone likens to a “sticky coffee table.” They communicate by flapping two paddle-like objects. limbs. The movie goes through a series of developments that left me gasping with delight, with Tiffany Haddish being particularly good as Adam’s mother, and Josh Hamilton and Michael Gandolfini as Chloe’s no-good father and brother. It was backed up by a great cast including; .
“Restore point”
Available for rent or purchase on most major platforms.
This may just be my own projection, but it makes sense that a movie about free will and whether life and death decisions should be made by the state or by private organizations would be made in a former communist country, the Czech Republic. It means. Set in 2041, this techno-noir centers on lone detective Em (an icy-cool Andrea Mohirova) who tracks down a couple’s murderer. She receives assistance from her murdered husband David (Matej Hadek), who is “restored”, a new technology that restarts people after her death. Actually, how this works is a bit vague. It’s best not to linger.
The main suspect in this case appears to be a terrorist organization called River of Life, which believes that death is a natural endpoint and should not be touched. David worked as a researcher at the Restoration Institute, which oversees the reboot. Director Robert Froze works in moody, dark tones, and the sun never shines here, just as it rains all the time in “Blade Runner.” Towering buildings, gorgeous screens, self-driving cars, and, you know, the resurgence. “Restoration Point” is more interested in ideas than world-building, especially the ethical implications of technological progress. At one point, David tells Em that it is now possible to insert new abilities (labeled “gifts”) into people who have recovered, so they learn how to speak Chinese and play the piano. He says that if you know this, you can come back to life. That sounds great, but keep in mind that historically humans playing God tends not to end well.
“Tim”
Available for rent or purchase on most major platforms.
The rise of the AI-gone-in-the-wild subgenre continues to grow in this British film, in which robotics engineer Abbie (Georgina Campbell of The Barbarian) builds a luxurious smart home and a “technologically integrated home.” Get a new job with perks. “Servant”, commonly known as TIM (Eamonn Farren). The obedient android quickly syncs with the house and asks for the password so it can assist Abby more efficiently. Abby readily agrees, as she works for a company that manufactures her TIM machine and she accepts technology, no matter how invasive. Her husband Paul (Mark Laurie) is less enthusiastic. Naturally, he’ll be proven right (unless you’ve never seen a movie about AI or just blindly trust creepy synthetic humanoids). (counts as a spoiler).
Spencer Brown’s “TIM” doesn’t break any new ground – many viewers will remember last year’s “M3gan,” among others – but it’s a satisfying thriller and a great introduction to increasingly sophisticated devices. doubles as a wake-up call about our reliance on trust. As Abby battles deepfakes, identity theft, and the nightmarish scenario of processing power running amok, many of us can’t help but embrace her innocence and laziness. I shudder at the reality that I would have acted the same way.
If you think anime is the best place to find lighthearted teen romance, you’re right. At least often enough, Mari Okada’s new work casts a dark tone that’s almost existential and undeniably disturbing to the turmoil of adolescence. The film begins with the small town of Mifuse becoming isolated from the rest of the world and from the normal flow of time, which has stopped after an explosion at a local steel factory. Women are forever pregnant. Teenager Masamune (voiced by Junya Enoki) realizes that he will always be 14 years old. Stagnation begins, but Masamune’s classmate Mutsumi (Rena Ueda) takes him to a factory, where he meets a wild girl, Itsumi (Misaki Kuno). Identity is central to the final plot twist.
Okada, who also wrote the screenplay for the film, is primarily concerned with the anxiety that is both amplified and undermined by the inability to move on. “Although it was always winter, I never felt the cold,” Masamune says. The people of Mifuse begin to doubt reality, and even their very existence. Add in references to God and ramifications of reality, and there’s a lot to take in. You can’t pretend to have it all figured out. But “Maboroshi” is strangely gripping in a uniquely anguished, hyper-emotional way, like a song by your favorite goth band with eyeliner on.
