100 YEN LOVE (2014)

 

Directed By: Masaharu Take

Written By: Shin Adachi

Cinematography: Hiromitsu Nishimura

Editor: Chieko Suzaki

Cast: Sakura Ando, Hirofumi Arai, Yozaburo Ito, Miyoko Inagawa, Saori, Yuki Okita, Kaito Yoshimura, Shohei Uno 

32-year-old Ichiko lives at home with her parents, passing the days in self-indulgent grunginess. Ichiko's recently divorced younger sister Fumiko has moved back home with her young son. One day, after a particularly heated argument, Ichiko charges out of the house for good. With few employment options to support herself, Ichiko works the night shift at a 100 yen shop (dollar store). On her way home each day she passes a boxing gym where she watches Yuji Kano silently practice, developing a crush on him. The pair starts seeing each other and things change for Ichiko... At last, the bell rings and longtime loser Ichiko's rematch with life begins!

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This is a coming-of-age tale that comes later in life for our lead character. Who simply has not only dropped out of college, but seems to have dropped out of life as all she seems to do is smoke play video games eat badly and take up space rather than actually do anything that helps anyone else or might even help herself.

Once she is thrown out, she has to grow up and little by little she does at first it seems like it’s gonna go easily, but along the way it gets tougher and things never quite work out the way you expect

The film also shows how hard it is to be a woman in society at times. as even a scene of sexual assault in the aftermath isn’t sensationalized it’s dealt with matter fact, but more low-key than anything. This is also a movie about motivation. We watch this characters and it can be infectious for the audience also as a kind of feel good film that is a bit more realistic, and therefore identify.

Throughout the film, she’s disrespected by her coworkers, even by her boyfriend, but as she gains more confidence in herself and learns to take care of herself, she also gains more respect .

The film Isn’t sentimental.

Not going to lie. This is a slow burn of a movie so if you’re looking for something more fast paced and more of a conventional comedy you’ve come to the wrong place. As this film more goes along with kind of a dead pan vibe whereas at times. It’s more comedic and other times it plays more dramatic and even at times it’s even over the top. No it does manage to keep surprising you for the better and more realistic. Though it is awkward throughout. 

That what keeps you going is to watch the main characters journey and her adventures. 

As you wanna see her conqueror and duo, especially as we have witnessed so many loads, she has had to go through just to re-bottom and finally start fighting for herself.

as this is essentially more of a hangout movie and that moves a little more often than those films do and deals with more locations.

This Japanese movie even ended up being remade in China to a much bigger box office. I haven’t seen the remake but just from the trailer. It looks a little more conventional and motivational than this film, which comes across more as an independent comedy drama.

Grade: B- 

PEAKY BLINDERS: THE IMMORTAL MAN (2026)

Directed by: Tom Harper

Written By: Steven Knight

Cinematography: George Steel and Ben Wilson 

Editor: Mack Eckersley 

Cast: Cillian Murphy, Tim Roth, Barry Keoghan, Stephen Graham, Rebecca Feguson, Sophie Rundle, Packy Lee, Jay Lycurgo

During World War II, Tommy Shelby returns to a bombed Birmingham and becomes involved in secret wartime missions based on true events, facing new threats as he reckons with his past and rising national stakes.

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For me, this is the first cillian murphy movie and performance. I’ve seen in which he’s played the lead so while there is more action, it still seems like he’s going with that moody cerebral acting with less dialogue and more everything is told through physicality in his facial expressions and seeming melancholy

It’s dipped into atmosphere and history thst helps shape it and enriches the material that makes it feel deep.  It sure if it’s as satisfying for the audience as it feels more for the creators. Very few characters from the show return which is a bit of a bummer.

If looking more for the gangster aspects of the characters and show or in general. You might be disappointed

All this emotion and dread fits yet gets to be overbearing. As it seems to be more what Cillian Murphy seems to enjoy and be into

with some elements of an underworld story. 

More about the machinations behind the scenes with double crosses and betrayal more at the heart of things. That as slays has a twist at the end. That makes up to how long it took to get there. 

It’s not bad to just expect bigger and better. Rather than settling for the same almost. Only like a shortened season with less of the original cast members. Though some good gust stars to help you forget and it ends the character of Thomas Shelby’s story.

No, I will say this is more made for fans of the show rather than people just coming into the characters. As it doesn’t quite exactly work as a gangster film on its own, especially when it has such a huge history, six seasons of it really.

this seems to be the ultimate series finale that at least part of me could’ve done without as I liked how the show ended for the most part. So in unless they plan on doing the next generation, I believe this might be the end of it all even though they made it seem like there would be a bunch of movies. At least we got six seasons and a movie. Which currently the show COMMUNITY is trying to fulfill that promise

Give the film a chance, but if you’re going to wait around for action, you might be disappointed

Grade: B- 

WOLFS (2024)

 

Written & Directed By: Jon Watts

Cinematography: Larkin Seiple

Editor: Andrew Weisblum

Cast: George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Amy Ryan, Austin Abrams, Richard Kind, Poorna Jagannathan, Zlatko Buric, Sergio Cota Jr. 

Two rival fixers cross paths when they're both called in to help cover up a prominent New York official's misstep. Over one explosive night, they'll have to set aside their petty grievances and their egos to finish the job.

This is George Clooney and Brad Pitt making another buddy comedy together and involving crime. This should have been a slam dunk and while the film Has its Moments. They are far and few in between. 

This is another film that seems like they are having more fun than the audience is watching it. As it tries to be formulaic and offer surprises and slights of hand. That by the end will Make the audience think the film Is smart and has an ace up It’s sleeve. Like the OCEAN’S TRILOGY the stars have been in before, but if that movie is calculus this is math 102.

It doesn’t help that the movie stays small scale

Throughout. Which would be great with lesser stars but keeping it small hinders the film and shows how thin the screenplay is. As we have to not only stay with the characters and their various arguments, but somehow find humor, charm and tension. Which the film doesn’t really Offer.

So it comes off as muddled and not a bad recipe, but like someone followed the recipe and shorted some ingredients and added too much of other ones to make up for it. 

Watching the film also makes one come to understand why these movies aren’t Memorable. You have a big name cast, a big name director Jon Watts (SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME) and yet it feels stale, Small Scale and basic, because while it has locations and action. These films obviously are Made For streaming and they have little if any visual Flair and feel compacted. Director Watts even seems to include an inside joke of a Spider-man eque stunt by a young man for those in the know. Though it also leave you

Wondering was this film an audition for an ocean’s sequel. 

The stature seems shrinked then one would expect. Like making a feature film but with the limits of a television movie. Not to mention the villains are all stereotypical with an added dance sequence. 

This is similar to what the Russo brothers 350 Million movie THE GREY MAN with Ryan Gosling and Chris Evans felt like any other Netflix movie. Other then a basic script, but the directors aren’t Trying to be subtle or visually Brilliant. They are doing just enough to tell the story and do what it takes without any passion or extra Effort. Sort of like assembly room and like weathermen there are Consequences or punishments.

So it just keeps happening. As Apple+ is no better or worse then any other streaming service. Except they are newer and this feel like when the studio DREAMWORKS SKG. Everyone wants to work with them and they have stars at their disposal and seem to green light anything. As long as a big star is attached, but never seem

To bother to read the script or develop them to be better. So that they come off as basic and the only pull is the stars.

George Clooney hasn’t truly starred in a good movie in awhile. Nor has he made a hit but is still

Treated like an A-lister. When he does choose to be in a film.

Leaving the audience to only marvel at Austin Abrams. Who is the only one in the film Who feels alive and like he is trying.

It feels like the film is disrespectful to the audience by going them, but so much and not giving it their all and feeling like just enough is what the audience deserves and should be honored to get. 

As the leads seem more interested in being cool. The filmmaker seems to want to offer some kind of polished grit. That tries to make things more serious, dangerous, dark and action packed. That never comes across other than polished and dark. Nor does the screenplay come off as smart as it thinks nor as cute. 

Grade: C- 

MANODROME (2023)

 

Written & Directed By: John Trengove 

Cinematography: Wyatt Garfield 

Editor: Julie Monroe and Matthew Swanepoel

Cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Adrien Brody, Ethan Suplee, Odessa Young, Lamar Johnson, Philip Ettinger, Sallieu Sesay, Evan Jongigent, Caleb Eberhardt 

Conflicted about his girlfriend's pregnancy, Ralphie's life spirals out of control when he meets a mysterious family of men.

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Manodrome is a film with a cast far too good for the material they’re strapped to. What begins as though it might tackle the incel phenomenon, the so-called male-loneliness epidemic, or even the seductive pull of male-only cults, quickly turns into a character study of a protagonist we’re never truly allowed to know. Instead of insight, we get glimpses, most of them involving Jesse Eisenberg screaming or pumping iron under red-headed territory. so glaring it almost feels like an emotional shortcut. Are we supposed to feel sympathetic simply because he’s a ginger giant now?

The film flirts with psychological depth but never commits. It gestures toward big themes: masculinity vs. femininity, queer repression, emotional stunting in men, but abandons each just as quickly. There are moments where it feels like the film might actually be about a closeted man’s struggle for comfort in his own skin; then it swerves back into gym-bro asceticism. It raises the question of what the film thinks its own subject is: toxic masculinity, queer panic, vulnerability, male bonding, or just the world’s most intense Fitness recruitment video?

Eisenberg’s character seems written as a case study in emotional volatility, desperate for attention, terrified of receiving it, pushing away anyone who offers care, and ultimately betrayed by the one person he lets in. But because the script avoids true psychological exploration, these behaviors drift into abstraction. They happen, but they’re never grounded. We observe him, but we’re not invited to understand him.

Technically, the film is competent sometimes striking. The cinematography aims for a chilly, Lanthimos-adjacent precision, but without the thematic or tonal control to justify the comparison. Scenes play out with an almost clinical frankness, hinting at a sharper, more daring film beneath the surface. 

You can’t help but wonder what Manodrome might have become under the guidance of a director truly adept at blending psychological discomfort with stylistic purpose. Yorgos Lanthimos comes to mind simply because he excels at exactly the things this movie only imitates.

Meanwhile, the supporting cast feels underused. Adrien Brody, who once won an Oscar for throwing himself into the void emotionally, seems here to be collecting an easy paycheck. Eisenberg, a former nominee himself, does admirable work inside a role that ultimately gives him little to explore besides a ringtone so annoying you begin to suspect it’s the film’s real antagonist.

Every twenty minutes the movie seems to reinvent itself, without ever improving. The plot wanders, the tone shifts, and by the end you’re not sure the film knows what it wanted to be in the first place. For all its supposed psychological weight, Manodrome proves surprisingly hollow, a film that demands interpretation but offers little reward for the effort.

these are some of the thoughts I had while watching the film…

It would be brilliant if this whole man cult plan was just a financial scheme to build a members only gym

I don’t know if it’s the movie or how many times we hear it. Jesse Eisenberg’s character has the most annoying ringtone 

In the end, it’s a puzzle that doesn’t feel worth solving. You’re free to skip it; you won’t be missing anyone’s best or even notable work.

Grade: D+

TAPAWINGO (2023)

Directed By: Dylan K. Narang 

Written By: Dylan K. Narang and Brad Demerea

Cinematography: Jarrod Russell

Editor: Rex M. Teese 

Cast: Jon Heder, Jay Pichardo, Kim Matula, Gina Gershon, Sawyer Williams, Amanda Bearse, John Ratzenberger, Billy Zane, Chad Dukes 

An oddball becomes the bodyguard for a misfit teenager and finds himself in the crosshairs of the town’s family of bullies.

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This film plays like a sequel, continuation or feels like it takes place in the same world as the feature film NAOPLEON DYNAMITE. As well as THE SASQUATCH GANG (which felt like a live action Beavis & Butthead inspired film, only with a lot more innocence) which having John heater starring the film only helps fit into that framework

This film is slightly crazy, but still kind of innocent and clean with Ernest characters passing time in a kind of Arrested Development. It all feels

A bit dated and that they are slowly Catching up but still stuck.

Feels like it could’ve been from Greg Garcia, the creator and show-runner of shows like MY NAME IS EARL and RAISING HOPE. Where it feels a little episodic, but comes together in the end, but you watch these characters who seem kind of stuck in a kind of child like innocence, no matter how adults the behavior.

Though unlike those other films and characters. They might be odd and quirky but here at laws the characters feel a bit more lived in a the filmmakers. As well as the actors have a soft spot for them.

With a main character who is living a relatively normal life and then made into a misfit.

Rather than starting off that way. 

Where it feels like it’s not a fantasy, but it feels like a world that has been built and you’re wondering through and you can’t help but be charmed even with a kind of crime tale set in the middle you still can’t really tell what’s gonna happen next, but you can’t wait to see.

It’s a harmless film

Grade: B-