Coming soon, 17 May 2026

Seen before a screening of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. It's hard to believe that it was released 26 years ago. Will Hero and House of Flying Daggers return to cinemas too? The early and mid-2000s were a good time for wuxia.

We arrived a bit late and came in during the trailer for Supergirl.

Not sure why I cannot find a non-short version of this one.

Coming soon, 7 April 2026

Seen before a screening of The King's Warden. It was a fine movie. South Korea's version of Oscar bait. The story went from being a comedy with village chief Eom Heung-do as a hapless doofus getting more than he bargained for in hosting an exiled official to something a bit more serious as Yi Hong-wi becomes a man, essentially, and befriends Eom Heung-do. So there's some buddy picture bits here. Things get even darker as the evil, moustache-twirling Han Myŏnghoe steps to the fore.

Plenty of feel-good stuff here with redemption on top.

Lastly, I'll note that The King's Warden was shown in one of AMC's smaller theaters but that it was well-populated. Not SRO but it seemed to be about half full or a little more than that which isn't bad for a Korean-language movie here in Madison on a Tuesday night, to my mind. And I'd bet most were of East Asian descent too.

 

Coming soon, 6 March 2026

Seen before a screening of Train Dreams. I really enjoyed it and felt very sympathetic in the wake of Piper's death towards the central character, Robert Grainier, who struggles after losing his wife and child. The Malickian shots which placed him in natural, non-man-made environments were gorgeous. They gave context for the character - a man at home in the woods, away from his fellow men. But he also seeks the company of a woman and has a child with her so he is no misanthrope Unabomber type fellow.

I'd like to read the book upon which the movie was based now.

Oh no! Andrew Scott!