80s Movie Review - After Hours

Director: Martin Scorsese
Genre: Comedy
Runtime: 97 minutes
Year: 1985
Starring: Griffin Dunne, Rosanna Arquette, Verna Bloom, Tommy Chong, Cheech Marin, Teri Garr, John Heard, Catherine O’Hara, Linda Fiorentino, Will Patton, Dick Miller, Bronson Pinchot

Description: Ordinary word processor Paul Hackett (Griffin Dunne) experiences the worst night of his life after he agrees to visit Marcy (Rosanna Arquette), a Soho resident that he met that evening at a coffee shop.

I WATCHED THIS MOVIE FOR MY 2025 MOVIE CHALLENGE.
WEEK 7: A MOVIE FROM 1985
 
Review: Ironclad black comedy, one of Martine Scorsese’s lesser know films. We meet Paul, an office clerk, who rolls from one bizarre adventure into another, when he decides to drive to Soho to visit a girl he just met at a coffee shop.

“After Hours” is a rather atypical Scorsese, in which you are drawn into an alienating and at times even surreal nightmare. Laced with dark humor and a kind of hilarious absurdity, which really makes it a unique mix, especially compared to the rest of Scorsese’s oeuvre.

One crazy character and absurd situation follows another, and the night increasingly degenerates into a nightmare you can’t wake up from. I didn’t know this film before I watched it, but I’m glad I did. I had a good time.

Rating: 3,5/ 5

Movie Review - Minari

Director: Lee Isaac Chung
Genre: Drama
Runtime: 115 minutes
Year: 2021
Starring: Steven Yeung, Yeri Han, Alan S. Kim, Noel Cho, Yuh-Jung Youn, Will Patton

Description: A Korean family starts a farm in 1980s Arkansas.

Review: If there was a film that stole the hearts of many voters during the 2021 film awards season, it was “Minari”. Especially Yuh-Jung Youn, who won the Oscar for best female supporting actor, grabbed everyone with her role as a contrarian grandmother. I was looking forward to this movie so much and it didn’t disappoint.
After years of working on the assembly line to determine the sex of newborn chicks, Jacob has had enough. Without proper consultation with his wife, he take the whole family in tow. And to the place where he bought a piece of land from his savings. The plan: Jacob is going to grow real Asian vegetables for the growing market of immigrants who, like him, have made the move from Korea to America. If he can strike the right sales deals with Asian greengrocers and supermarkets is just part of the pressure on Jacob and his family.
His wife Monica doesn’t like the new residential location in Arkasas at all, son David has a weak physical condition and the mother-in-law Soonja is brought into the house with all its consequences. Director Lee Isaac Chun molded all kinds of personal experiences from his youth into a story about family, hard work and dreams of a better future. And the affection that the director feels for his own former family situation, sometimes against his will, whines through completely.
It is one of those stories that doesn’t seem to have much to say, but that creeps up on you because you start to love the different characters. Even if they have a hard time getting along. Yuh-Jung Youn won her Oscar for playing a smiley old hag who takes pleasure in making fun of her grandson when he has wet the bed. And it’s fantastic. Of course it also helps that the little boy himself, Alan S. Kim is too cute and plays along with the banter. You laugh at Grandma’s antics, but you also sympathize with David’s pain. Ans slowly you also see a bond forming between them.
It wasn’t just Yuh-Jung Youn who was a standout in the race for the awards. Steven Yeun was the first actor of Asian descent to be nominated for the Oscar for best leading actor. Totally deserved. He has the tricky task of playing a dreamer who stoically persists in all adversity. The weight on his shoulders builds and builds, long past you think it’s getting too much for him.
“Minari” has a velvety visual style, with a bright use of color and a beautiful play with in incidence od natural light. And the music completely supports the melancholy, yet hopeful tone. The entire form exudes lighthearted arthouse, in which serious matters are given the proper weight and a laugh alternates with deep seriousness.

Rating: 4,5/ 5

90s Movie Review - Copycat

Director: Jon Amiel
Genre: Thriller/ Drama/ Crime
Runtime: 118 minutes
Year: 1995
Starring: Sigourney Weaver, Holly Hunter, Dermot Mulroney, William McNamara, Harry Connick Jr., John Rothman, J.E. Freeman, Will Patton, Shannon O’Hurley, Bob Greene, Tony Haney, Danny Kovacs, Tahmus Rounds

Description: Agoraphobic psychologist Helen Hudson (Sigourney Weaver) and female detective MJ Monahan (Holly Hunter) must work together to take down a serial killer who copies serial killers from the past.

I WATCHED THIS MOVIE FOR MY 2020 MOVIE CHALLENGE.
WEEK 44: A MOVIE WITH A SERIAL KILLER

Review: There are over four hundred potential serial killers in America, criminal-psychologist Helen Hudson states during her lecture. “Maybe there’s even one in the room right now”. And this turns out to be right, since one is waiting for her in the ladies’ room.
Years later, a number of women in San Francisco are murdered within a short period of time. Each under striking circumstances, but detective MJ Monahan can’t detect a pattern. She asks Helen for help, who is now an agoraphobic who locks herself in her own home. At first, Helen doesn’t seem to keen on helping MJ. But files left at her home make for Helen to join MJ in the investigation.
Helen discovers there is a connection between the murders: they imitate the methods of America’s most illustrious serial killers. With this knowledge they can predict with a high degree of probability the killer’s next steps.
For the time this movie was made, the mid-90s, it has a refreshing take on the detective genre. Since the two leading characters are women and they lead the investigation. Both Sigourney Weaver and Holly Hunter offer us solid performances.
Director Jon Amiel has paid a lot of attention to character building, which is a good move. This way the viewer can empathize with them so much more. Amiel makes frequent use of the suspense. The term ‘less is more’ really goes for “Copycat”. Even in seemingly boring moments, Amiel knows how to raise tension. For example, there is a scene in the film which Helen wants to get her newspaper. The paper is in a corridor, tow meters away from her door. Because of her phobia, Helen doesn’t want to walk out the door. Desperately she grabs a broom and try the newspaper. The threatening music and the angle of the camera turn this scene into an oppressive and exciting moment.
“Copycat” is an exciting, skillfully made thriller. The film does everything it’s supposed to do and does it really well. The only thing I didn’t like, is that the identity of the serial killer is revealed earlier on in the film. It doesn’t take away from the tension though, but I always enjoy a climax with a face reveal.

Rating: 3,5 / 5

10s Movie Review - Halloween

Director: David Gordon Green
Genre: Thriller/ Horror
Runtime: 106 minutes
Year: 2018
Starring: Jamie Lee Curtis, Judy Greer, Will Patton

Description: Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) confronts her long-time foe Michael Myers, the masked figure who has haunted her since she narrowly escaped his killing spree on Halloween night four decades ago.

Review: The term retcon means retroactive continuity. Which means that events in sequels and prequels never happened. With that in mind, “Halloween” is the direct sequel to the 1978 version by John Carpenter. Forgetting that character Laurie Strode had a son in “Halloween H20” and died in “Halloween: Resurrection”.
Laurie Strode is alive and well and completely prepared on another confrontation with the boogey man. Forty years after Michael Myers murdered his sister and four other teenagers with a kitchen knife, the psychopath was send to prison. In the highly secured institute he is staying, he hasn’t said a word since.
Laurie has been traumatized by the events that happened forty Halloweens ago. She saw two marriages fail and her relationship with her daughter and granddaughter is anything but good. Her house is a fort filled with booby traps and Laurie is a well trained sniper. When Michael Myers manages to escape during transportation, Laurie is ready for him.
Director David Gordon Green is obviously a fan of the original, because he has tried to capture the same atmosphere and style. Some scenes reminded me of the other film. And he also manages to minimalize the fake jump scares and he builds up the tension. The highlight of the film is without a doubt Jamie Lee Curtis, who reprises her role s Laurie Strode. But there isn’t enough Laurie in it, what I didn’t expect. The focus is more on the granddaughter, which is something I didn’t really like.
The film has some unnecessary scenes. Like a Halloween party scene, that really belongs in a teen drama film, and a scene with two cops talking about a sandwich.
The final scene is really strong, that was the best moment of the film. I hope they leave it with this, because the “Halloween” ended well this way.

Rating: 3 / 5