4 Razors

Minari

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Minari
  • IMDb: link

Minari movie reviewMinari gives us a look at the American dream through the eyes of a Korean-American family relocating from California to rural Arkansas where Jacob (Steven Yeun) hopes to make his fortune growing and selling Korean vegetables across the region while he and his wife (Yeri Han) temporarily make due with jobs at a nearby hatchery. Although his wife is far from certain about his plan, or their new double-wide mobile home, the family works to put down roots and begin a new life. And life is what Minari is all about.

The semi-autobiographical film by writer/director Lee Isaac Chung showcases the family’s ups and downs in 1980s Arkansas far from anything or anyone that remind them of home. At times amusing, such as dealing with the couple’s rambunctious son David (Alan S. Kim), at times uncomfortable, such as the couple struggles over Jacob’s priorities putting the farm above the family, and at times heartbreaking, as the family struggles with misfortune, Minari is a well-crafted slice of life from an unique perspective that feels lived-in and real. Chung’s love of the time and place is palpable in every scene of the film as he wistfully peers back through the years for home.

…

MinariRead More »

Minari Read More »

Legacies – Salvatore: The Musical!

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Legacies – Salvatore: The Musical!
  • wiki: link

Legacies - Salvatore: The Musical! television review

Legacies offers its version of a musical episode with “Salvatore: The Musical!” Unlike how several different shows have handled the concept, the characters don’t suddenly burst into song. Instead, all the musical numbers are saved for the second-half of the episode in which the show puts on its first musical. The episode’s events are caused by the release of a Sprite from Malivore, taking the form of the school’s guidance counselor Robin Goodfellow (T.J. Ramini). The monster distracts the students for a time while playing with MG (Quincy Fouse) who keeps discovering the Sprite’s secret only to forget before he can tell anyone else, which provides one of the best running gags of the series. Although Goodfellow’s actions are initially cruel, pushing characters apart and causing conflict and anger, ultimately they are able to bring several characters closer together.

…

Legacies – Salvatore: The Musical!Read More »

Legacies – Salvatore: The Musical! Read More »

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
  • IMDb: link

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom movie reviewAdapted from August Wilson’s play, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom is most notable for the performance of Chadwick Boseman who earns the plum role of Levee, a dissatisfied horn player in Ma Rainey’s (Viola Davis) band. The role was the last of Boseman’s career, who died during postproduction, and it’s one of his best as both of the script’s most memorable scenes center around his character. The film definitely feels like a stage adaptation, even claustrophobic at times, with the band rehearsing in a small room prior to recording a new album.

Colman Domingo, Glynn Turman, and Michael Potts complete the remainder of the band with Jeremy Shamos and Jonny Coyne rounding out the cast as the white producers desperate to get the recordings who Ma continues to fuck with over the course of the film by arriving late, insisting on doing the songs her way, and even including her stuttering nephew (Dusan Brown) on the recordings. As with the play, the film touches on themes of racism, art, power struggle, and the exploitation of black recording artists (the last of which is never more clear than in the film’s final scene).

…

Ma Rainey’s Black BottomRead More »

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom Read More »

Buffy the Vampire Slayer #22

/ / Comics

Buffy the Vampire Slayer #22 comic reviewIn many ways Buffy the Vampire Slayer #22 feels like the calm before the storm as we’re taken around Sunnydale on the eve of pending events. There are several pieces to the latest issue of the rebooted Buffy the Vampire Slayer comic, but the common thread seems to be characters seeming lost or out of place.

We see to characters in astral form seeking answers, both the lost Willow and the former slayer Morgan Palmer (who has taken up with Anya to get revenge against the Watcher’s Council, although she seems less sure of her decision the more time she spends looking in on Buffy and Giles).

…

Buffy the Vampire Slayer #22Read More »

Buffy the Vampire Slayer #22 Read More »

Once and Future #15

/ / Comics

Once and Future #15 comic reviewWhile Duncan and Bridgette travel to Avon in search of answers to what latest craziness Mary has unleashed, Rose gets an unexpected visit from Duncan’s mother who attempts to convince his son’s girlfriend to change sides (at the point of a gun). Once and Future #15 shakes things up a bit by allowing half of the story to be told from Mary’s point of view (although her holding a gun on Rose, and constantly threatening her life, doesn’t do a lot to help with any possible reasonableness of her argument).

Despite her craziness, there is a rationale behind Mary’s actions, and a peek into her childhood does help explain just how she got such a warped sense of the world (and why Lancelot is now walking around in this world). Following Rose standing up to the Green Knight in the last issue, here she shows resolve as well as bravery earning the respect of an enemy.

…

Once and Future #15Read More »

Once and Future #15 Read More »