MomoFuzz Reviews

Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

Infinitely Rewatchable Action

[9/10 · 4 April 2020]

After my third viewing of Mad Max: Fury Road, I decided that it's only fair that I give it a written review. I don't often watch a movie multiple times like that. And when I do, I am often disappointed at how the emotions or the spectacles lose their edge a little bit. But with this movie, I still got goosebumps watching those precarious, mad action sequences in the beautiful barren desert landscape.

Every single aspect in Mad Mad: Fury Road is screwed in so tight that the tension never drops from scene 1. The story is simple but compelling with lots of high stakes. The characters are also simple but the nuanced acting, especially from Charlize Theron's Furiosa, keep them from being standard cookie cutter action heroes. These action scenes seem to have been written with each characters' personalities in mind, and that's why they are so memorable.

For example Furiosa is the ingenious one who comes up with plans and coordinates things. I can't imagine Max doing the set pieces that she does. He's the one who fights in close range with raw power, and the scenes for him are truly meant only for him. In this way, the action scenes can illustrate character and advance the narrative, instead of just being cool filler in between plot points. That's how a non-stop guzzoline fueled rampaging with metal music can be sustainable for 2 hours.

This movie might be one of those rare ones that are just infinitely rewatchable. It's like a visual roller coaster. I can come back to it year after year and still expect it to be thrilling and fun. No other spectacle can match the physicality of the actual stunts with actual cars.

High and Low (1963)

Classic for a reason

[8/10 · 2 April 2020]

I got interested in High and Low after hearing that Bong Joon-Ho was inspired by this film when making Parasite. And indeed, this was another great film about capitalism and class disparity. And like all effective critiques, High and Low simply provides a viewpoint and an observation, allowing the audience to find meaning from it. I enjoyed the subtle characterization of Gondo that breathed authenticity to the movie. The class conflict, in seemed, was not only in the main narrative but also within Gondo's mind: Gondo the poor shoe-making apprentice vs. the selfmade capitalist businessman. One noble and empathetic, but the other ruthless and daring.

And here's a hot take: it turns out that an old master is, in fact, a master in his art. Through Kurosawa's directorial eye the movie comes to life like a choreographed stage play, at times supported by subtle but effective camera work. He positions every single actor just perfectly so that every frame outlines the events going on. Even the emotional states and the relationships of the characters are visually communicated through the blocking, and Kurosawa can do this whether there are 2 or 20 people on the screen. I honestly can't think of any other movie that uses the technique so well, if at all.

The actors too, are all great. The characters in High and Low are molded from rather antiquated archetypes, such as the "honorable nobleman" or the "tenderhearted housewife." Sometimes when I see such obvious archetypes I roll my eyes, but the acting brought these characters to life and injected much heart and drama into the story.

The only issue I have with the movie is that somewhere in the middle, it sort of changes its tone. The first part is a tragic chamber drama and the second part is a police procedural noir. And while these chain of events make sense logically, it's like watching two separate movies, and the transition doesn't feel seamless. But this is probably a nitpick as I thoroughly enjoyed both parts anyway.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)

How many spider-people are there?

[8/10 · 31 March 2020]

Spiderman: Into the Spider-verse is one of the best superhero movies I've seen in the decade. This new comic book style animation is extremely charming. The characters are charming. The main character has a great arc that allows us to journey with him and experience the growing pains of becoming a superhero.

While most superhero movies are far too eager to get to the spandex costumes and explosive showdowns as soon as possible, in this movie Miles Morales spends most of his time learning to control his powers. We get to know him as a normal teenage kid and get to identify with him. It makes the final showdown so much more meaningful when it happens at the end.

The one criticism I have of the movie is that I got pretty overwhelmed when all the spin-off spider characters got introduced. I was OK with up to 3, maybe 4 spiders. But I hadn't even heard of characters like Peni Parker or Spider-Ham, and they were kind of distracting in some parts. I didn't like that they took up screen time when I'd rather be looking at Peter B Parker or Miles Morales or even Gwen. But I suppose some hardcore fans would have enjoyed them.

Also, this had the absolute best end credit sequence I had seen in any movie. Definitely keep watching to see some real good art.

The Breadwinner (2017)

More than Mulan

[9/10 · 22 March 2020]

The summary of this movie sounds like Mulan, but The Breadwinner tells a much more powerful and relevant story about a family living in Taliban controlled Kabul. The "Mulan" character, Parvana, is just a small girl. Instead of the Huns, she fights against systematic oppression, unrelenting poverty, and fanatic soldiers who would shoot children down for not abiding by the Sharia law. There are mines in the fields on the way to work. No budding romances, no fun songs to train to, no cathartic final battles of glory. It's just survival day in and day out.

But the strength of an animated film is that even in rather dire scenes, the animators can still illustrate a quiet beauty in those war-torn towns and fields. As Parvana and her family try to keep each other in good humor with make-believe fables, the inner lives of these people can come alive in the fullest, brightest colors.

The family in this story act like a real family, and every other character is just as deep and flawed as real life people anywhere. Some of them are good, some are selfish, but they are all very afraid and unsure of their futures. While the system of their society is shown as evil, very few characters are actually evil. And even for the most distasteful character I kind of felt pity for at the end. I appreciated the nuance and subtlety in the writing.

The Lobster (2015)

A surrealist observation of marriage and love

[8/10 · 22 March 2020]

What a strange, grim movie. Yet it was surprisingly enjoyable. Let's go over the surrealist aspects of the film first: if you're the type of person who wants logical explanations, realistic premises, or any kind of closure in a film, then this is not for you. The Lobster is relentlessly absurd, and it demands a lot more out of its viewers than most other movies.

I love this kind of weirdness. Yes, the themes of this movie could have been explored in a more realistic and comprehensible manner. But we have so many of those already. I'm glad these kinds of movies can also exist.

So is the message of this film about love? Kind of. It's more about the institution of love. We have no federally enforced love laws, but societal pressures can sometimes be just as powerful. Anyone who's been single for a long stretch of time, especially over a certain age, probably knows how weird and absurd people can be about relationships. How people get annoyingly nosy and how they assume things about single people. How desperate some singles can get. The Lobster is about all this garbage our culture puts on us regarding love and marriage. So yes, it's about love, but not at all a romantic movie.

In fact, the bleary performances of the actors brought it down a few points below what I initially wanted to give it. I understand why they were directed like that. The Lobster's dystopia is full of people whose lives completely revolve around staying in these state-mandated relationships. These people are constantly miserable but don't even know it. While this was amusing in the first hour or so, it slowly started to falter as the movie stretched for another hour. I think some more cutting or performance adjusting would've done it good. As the humor faded toward the end, the nightmarish qualities of the movie got a little too real. Too bad "Deadpan horror" doesn't work as well as "deadpan humor."

Knives Out (2019)

Humorous and clever whodunnit

[9/10 · 16 March 2020]

Knives Out was a delightful experience from beginning to end. At first I assumed it would stick to the general conventions of the whodunnit, as the movie started with Agatha Christie style suspect interviews. But from there it diverted slowly into its own modern twists. As the stakes got higher and events kept getting stranger, I became both excited and apprehensive for the story's direction. Could the ending really tie up all these loose threads? How will Marta or Blanc resolve any of this?

Several times I thought I had the answer. And then I realized I hadn't. This movie was really good at that: keeping me in the guessing game until the very end. It had this push and pull with the pacing so that I always felt like I was just one step away from solving the mystery myself, only to get to the final reveal and get blown away. It was just so satisfying.

And the performances were great too. As humorous as Knives Out was, there were also some politically charged scenes. These things can get a bit awkward depending on the performance, but I felt it was handled with great wit and care. It helped that all the characters were written very well. While the Thrombey family were all entitled rich pricks, they each had their own special shade of entitlement that I found very amusing.

There is nothing bad I can say about this movie. All the beats and characters worked for me. Especially the star sleuth, Blanc. I would love to see more of his patient, observant style of detective work in the sequel.

Midsommar (2019)

Gorgeous Slow Burn Horror

[8/10 · 12 March 2020]

Ari Aster may now be one of my favorite directors. His flavor of horror is deeply personal, and therefore absolutely gut wrenching. First in Hereditary, and now in Midsommar, he shows mastery in the mix of both human tragedy and grotesque horror to impart such stomach churning dread in every scene of his film. While some horror movies may be content to show us the demons in underground catacombs or the ghosts in big old mansions, Ari Aster's monsters have a through line directly to the characters' psyche. These characters demand the viewer to step into their mind. Empathy is the key to both these films.

Midsommar is an exploration of that human empathy. How much are people willing to tolerate in order to have that sense of belonging? To be understood by anyone, even if by monsters? Midsommar is a slow film, but it doesn't mean that it isn't fascinating. It gives the film space to explore the layers of manipulation and psychological evolution that our protagonist Dani goes through. It does of course end with a traditional horror-infused bang, but the set pieces weren't my focus by the end. They even felt a bit superfluous. I mostly wanted to know more about this cult and how Dani was dealing with it. I felt like I was one of those anthropologists, conveniently watching and analyzing on the safe side of the screen.

The cinematography and art direction were also just gorgeous. Who thinks to make a horror movie where everything takes place in broad daylight in the idyllic pastures of Sweden? Yet it worked. They nailed all the creepy, ominous moods and tensions. The sound design and editing carried many of these scenes and they were excellent.

Where the Wild Things Are (2009)

Perfectly captures childhood, but not really for children

[7/10 · 25 February 2020]

This movie came out when I was in high school. I watched it in theaters with friends and I remember leaving incredibly confused and disappointed. I probably expected something like a Narnia style adventure and vibrancy. I wanted jungles, oceans, monsters, and exploration. Instead, all I got were some creepy puppets and an insufferable kid.

But 10 years later I decided to give it another chance. Not because I thought it would be any better; I just wanted something funny to watch. However it wasn't all that funny at all. It was surprisingly compelling and bold.

Where The Wild Things Are is not about adventures or wish fulfillment. It's an introspective observation of what childhood is like. There are no heroes or villains, just one kid and his monster friends exploring their emotions and vulnerabilities, and coming to understand how to handle such things. None of the conflicts make real sense or even seem all that important. Most of the time the characters are bickering about "who hit who during a mudfight" or "who's the favorite friend of who". It sounds silly. It is silly. But to the protagonist Max, these are serious issues that the core of his world depends on. The bursts of emotions that arise from these conflicts are true and raw. They are extremely relatable. Everyone had these moments while growing up.

So is this a good movie? Yes. Is it a good kid's movie? No. I think I disliked this movie as a teenager because I was just too close to my own childhood at that point. And childhood, while magical, isn't ever really appreciated by the children themselves. It's the adults who look back and savor the memories, both good and bad.

It Chapter Two (2019)

Just Another Clown

[5/10 · 22 February 2020]

I had high hopes for IT Chapter 2. I was absolutely dazzled by the first movie's aesthetic design and the dynamic performances of the child actors, glued together by what seemed like genuine friendship in real life. Chapter 1 also followed the novel's story pretty closely, with some adjustments in the interest of showtime and visual impact, which I thought worked well while still capturing the essence of the novel.

Sadly, I didn't see any of that in Chapter 2. While the actors were good and Bill Skarsgård once again shined as Pennywise, there were just too many broader flaws that could not be salvaged by performance. Too much time was wasted rehashing what we already understood about the characters. I felt like I was watching a "discarded scenes" compilation from Chapter 1, repeatedly shoved into the Chapter 2 storyline. And because of this the adult characters' arcs suffered as well. Surely in 27 years these people would have experienced new fears, passions, and growth. But they all seemed like echoes of the children trapped in adult bodies, with the exact same personalities and fears. I think the creators tried far too hard to copy the success of Chapter 1, without really understanding why it worked. Although the explosive visuals and cute humor worked with the young main characters in the first movie, these things undermined the sequel. I simply did not find it believable that these grown adults' deepest, darkest fears were things like fortune cookie monsters and old lepers and the like.

The ending was also extremely disappointing. I was looking forward to this because in the novel, the final battle was a dire, existential battle of determination. This one was a rather deflating and stale one. It turned Pennywise the "eater of worlds" into yet another uninspired CGI monster. Seemed like that's where all the extra budget went into, unfortunately.

Snowpiercer (2013)

Creative stuff, but missing the polish

[6/10 · 21 February 2020]

What a weird movie. Snowpiercer sits right on the line between a gritty, oppressive dystopia and a cartoonishly absurd action adventure. It's dressed like a sci-fi, but doesn't even pretend to have any kind of pseudo scientific logic to its setting. The Wilford Train and the insane society in it doesn't care for any "suspension of disbelief" nonsense. It's all a spectacle. That sounds terrible, but I actually kind of enjoyed that aspect. It had such fun set design, cinematography, and costumes that I was drawn in despite its flaws.

This could've been a great blend of surrealism and science fiction in cinema. But for me it failed mostly in the writing and characters. The dialogue was pretty subpar. It didn't have any nuance, but it wasn't realistic either. A lot of exposition dumping and soap box ranting. The characters were all just plot devices at best and never felt like real people. While I was OK with the rest of the movie being weird and illogical, I couldn't connect with such artificial characters. Even the movie's social message lost its acuity because I couldn't get invested in the people it was being communicated through.

It might have been better if it was made entirely in Korean. The Korean characters had more natural dialogue in my opinion (I speak it). Seeing what Bong Joon Ho could do with Parasite, I feel like he can convey more nuanced ideas if left to work on his own.

Parasite (2019)

A movie that stays in your head for weeks and weeks.

[10/10 · 21 February 2020]

I've never seen a movie do all the things that Parasite does and manage to do them so well. It's a comedy, thriller, horror, and heist film rolled into one, meticulously directed and beautifully edited. It remains entertaining while dealing with heavy topics on the nature of class and wealth. While the movie takes some unexpected turns in tone, it never feels disjointed. Most importantly, Bong Joon-Ho has a way of relaying his social criticism in a nuanced manner, so that the theme of wealth disparity doesn't devolve simply into the poor vs. the wealthy narrative we see often in these types of dramas. Rather, he layers multiple shades of gray into the morality of characters, giving them humanity and therefore a stronger verisimilitude to real people in current society. It makes the movie's appeal universal.

After watching the movie I was floored. It was the only thing I could think about for hours afterwards. Even now I keep discovering another layer of interpretation behind a dialogue or scene. And there is a lot to engage with when the film direction is so detailed. Each shot and each line of dialogue is a result of careful storyboarding and writing. Even the background details such as the brick walls and the litter by the Kims' basement are painstakingly styled and arranged by the set designers. And the result, at least in my summation, is a near perfect execution of a great film.