I had worked too much, until my brain was pudding, so the plan was: watch a fun movie, drink good wine, then sleep for eight or nine days. So I rented Guardians Of The Galaxy, Vol 2. "This will be fun," I thought. If anybody was ready to be forgiving, it was me. I had liked the first one after all...

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Tonight I watched Distance. I've been watching all of Koreeda's movies, and since I hadn't heard anything about this one I have to admit I wasn't expecting something significant, but I was wrong. The film starts out quite loose, in Koreeda's characteristic documentary style, just a bunch of random...

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I'm struggling to sort my thoughts about Still Walking. Turns out I've watched it before. I just can't remember when or how. What it makes me think this time in any case is that it could almost be satire, but it isn't, because it's so honestly human. A satire would simplify motivations, while ever...

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I've been watching the films of Hirokazu Koreeda out of order, and tonight I finally got to Maborosi, his first actual feature. I haven't yet watched any of the documentaries he did before this, but after all the other Koreeda films I've seen and now this especially, I'm more curious to see them,...

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Tonight I went to see Columbus at the Uptown. This was a beautiful, moving film and I loved it. With something like this that rises to the level of art, it's hard to say anything that isn't reductive, and much has already been well-said in reviews I've read, but I will note some random thoughts...

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Tonight I watched Get Out (on bluray): the comedy of discomfort as a horror tale, and so fun. I liked both Daniel Kaluuya and Allison Williams.

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Tonight my subwoofer got a serious workout as I watched Logan on bluray. I am sick of comic book movies (though I have to admit Wonder Woman easily pierced my defences), but I've always liked Hugh Jackman's Wolverine. Unlike most sort-of-safe-for-kids comic book movies, this one is dark and desper...

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I finally got a chance to see Dunkirk, at the Cinerama in downtown Seattle. I missed seeing it in 70mm, but it was still amazing. All the usual ways of showing the struggle and sacrifice of the individuals in this film were avoided entirely (I did not miss the usual portentious narrator or chatter...

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Tonight I went with friends to see Come Drink With Me at the Central Cinema (an event put on by Seven Star Women's Kung Fu). The audience was raucus for the over-the-top action and the female warriors. Aside from that, some of the outdoor scenes were striking in their scale and perspective (th...

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Like Father Like Son is the seventh movie by Hirokazu Koreeda I've seen. Though centering on children (switched at birth), the story focuses more on the emotions of the parents, which lead them — gradually and sometimes tortuously — away from a simple solution. The telling might have been soapy or...

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