Cinema Archives | Page 40 Of 191

Doctor Strange is More than Multiverse of Madness. Thoughts and A Review

Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness takes notes from Wandavision and Loki, and goes further with it.

Spoiler Alert

One terrific thing about having Sam Raimi back to making comic book films is in how those movies are imbued with his viceral style. His passion for whichever property he’s sculpting will forever bear his mark. That’s especially evident with Spider-Man 2, and in Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness, the use of Dutch angles or some other cinematic trick distinguishes which universe the master of mystic arts is in. Seeing this film through the eyes of the monster is another camera technique he loves using.

This MCU product feels more Evil Dead than anything else and I love it since it may even suggest Marvel’s Zombieverse will return. This film marks the second time the heroes have visited this realm. Marvel’s What If (“…Zombies!?”) introduced fans to this danger.

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Judy Lei’s “The World’s Greatest” Evokes Love and Heartache

Lei crafted a well-meaning slice of life tale in her debut, The World’s Greatest. It’ll leave people thinking.

Playing at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival at the Tateuchi Democracy Forum @ JANM May 13, 2022 (Buy Tickets)

Judy Lei is a young filmmaker based out of New York City, and her debut work serves more than one purpose. The World’s Greatest is a powerful story about a Chinese-American family struggling with life. I find the title has two meanings:

Call it Fresh Prince of Bel Air or something else, but I firmly believe this film cautiously and intimately examines that relationship between parent and teen (played by Lei). There’s also getting to understand the mindset in the lead and what she wants to do to achieve that dream. These two ideas combined makes for a compelling tale. I found it’s a very personal and relatable piece.

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The NFB’s Adds 2 New Comic Strip Chronicles and is Presenting at the Montreal Comic Arts Festival!

National Film Board of Canada LOGO

The National Film Board of Canada has humour and serious drama in store with two pieces now in its online Comic Strip Chronicles Collection. This series of shorts looks at the strong connection that exists with comic strips–in its traditional Sunday funnies format–with animation. When considering the latter, it also delves deep into thoughtful experiences too.

More events are planned this weekend. These two particular works will be screened at the Films et Table Ronde Entourant L’univers de la BD event (in French and organised by the NFB) and the Montreal Comic Arts Festival, beginning May 7.

There’s also a terrific retrospective written by Marc St-Pierre on The NFB’s blog to get readers up to speed on what the Animation Studio of the French Program has been up to in the past several years. The article is written in French, and it can be parsed through Google Translate.

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Maika: The Girl From Another Galaxy is More than a Charming Tribute to Spielberg

Maika: The Girl From Another Galaxy is a fun Vietnamese movie that will be very familiar to anyone who knows Steven Spielberg’s work.

Maika The Girl From Another Galaxy

Played at the LAAPFF 2022 at the Directors Guild of America May 7, 2022 12:15 pm (buy tickets)

Update: It’s coming to VOD beginning Sept 6, 2022 courtesty of Well GO USA.

Maika: The Girl From Another Galaxy is a fun Vietnamese movie that will be very familiar to anyone who knows Steven Spielberg’s work. It’s not meant to be thoughtful, but instead has fun with the boy meets alien girl concept. It’s also considered this country’s first family friendly created content that’s playing at specific film festivals before getting a wider release.

The story focuses on how Hung (Phu Truong) is having a rough go at life. He’s lost his mom to cancer and although that was over a year ago, his father doesn’t understand his boy. He tries to make ends meet to support them both. But he’s hardly ever around for the boy. While out on his own, Hung meets Maika (Diep Anh Chu), an alien who needs help. His frenemy, Beo (Tin Tin) and his older brother serves as comedic relief. The former is a chubby tyke who almost steals the movie. He’s clearly having fun playing up that spoiled child role–a stark contrast to who Hung is.

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The Problem is More Than Deep in Dongnan Chen’s Documentary, Singing in the Wilderness

Singing in the Wilderness doesn’t have anthropologists explaining what’s going on. Instead, Chen is letting the moments he’s captured on film speak for itself.

Playing at the LAAPFF 2022 at the Directors Guild of America on May 6, 2022 5:00 pm (buy tickets)

Dongnan Chen‘s Singing in the Wilderness (旷野歌声) is a very sombre look at lives of those still living at Little Well Village in Yunnan Province, China. The Miao Christian Choir found fame when they appeared on national television back around 2003, and this documentary looks at what’s come from it, for better or worse. I see their struggle for self worth and question if embracing a different religion is good for their soul, especially when there’s still individuals still struggling.

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Celebrate Good Times, not Bad with Kodomobanpaku

Kodomobanpaku is a movie that offers a a genuine look at giving kids the space they need to learn, grow up, and be themselves.

Kodomobanpaku When life in Japan gets too stressful, perhaps all anyone can do is the Kodomobanpaku (こどもばんく). This wonderful Japanese drama by Norikazu Oda shows what children can do when life gets them down, and they’re wanting to do something about it. Instead of grieving, they want to escape by being at a fun spring festival. In this film’s case, it marked the start of the online portion of the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival.