The Theater

Yonosuke x Shoko forever

Watched on Saturday March 7, 2026.

Watched on Saturday March 7, 2026.

“The difference between a movie and a memory is that movies are always false. In a movie, one scene follows after another. But memories mix truth and lies.” This quote said early in the film (while a soccer match takes place in the background, beautiful scene) sets the stage for what is to come, an ethereal beautiful dream of love, told through film. I finished this mesmerized and came here to simply gush about it. The camera work shows an even more impressive mastery than shown in “Kaili Blues” - Bi Gan expands on his storytelling ability here with a more coherent plot. I saw the potential in Kaili Blues and this sophomore effort shows a lot of growth. That said, their is still a ton of symbolism and beauty in the cinematography and characters, to say nothing about the sound design which blew me away as the soundtrack flowed in and out of the scenes to perfectly set the mood and atmosphere. I watched this after his more recent “Resurrection” and you can see Bi Gan learning about film making and his absolute love for the medium here in this film, which he ramps up to the stage extreme in his next film “Resurrection.” The story is grounded but takes on a few magical interpretations that give a sense of wonder and the magic of filmmaking, these threads then form the basis for Resurrection asking “what if we leaned into that?” Overall an amazing piece of film.

Really fun and interesting take on the time loop genre. Hard to write a lot about the loops without spoiling but this was refreshing. Only criticism would be the epilogue which seemed a bit too long and the movie kept going after it felt like we had reached the ending. Though this second ending did provide some interesting and thoughtful context to what we had just witnessed so I can understand the decision but it lost a bit of the film's momentum.

Madness or genius? I felt like a lot of the symbolism and meaning went over my head and I'll need to read some essays and breakdowns from serious critics to understand it. The film definitely made an impression and I loved every minute, where you couldn't look away that you might miss something happening in the background or the corner of this surrealist art. I loved the visuals and plot, it felt like a Bi Gan film having watched Kaili Blues, where the camera floats in and out like a character itself at times - which is all the more fitting here given the film's relation to the medium of film in general.

Had to read some other reviews to make some sort of sense of the events of this film. Maybe I didn't get the meaning of some of the film but I wholeheartedly agree that this is beautifully shot with some great camera work and cinematography where the camera feels like a character in the film.

Jason Statham plays... Jason Statham. As usual he's a seemingly everyman characters - but with a secret past as some sort of special forces military background - but wait he's also falsely accused. Everything went as expected, and the movie did delivery on it's premise of being a Jason Statham film to watch him fight bad guys and win.

A light-hearted family comedy starring Jackie Chan as an alzheimer's patient. The setup is as you expect, but the script sometimes felt like it was throwing situations at the characters just to cause trouble an dimpeded their progress. A bit too cliche for my tastes but fine for a background predictable family film.

Part of my Johnnie To rewatch, having last watched this almost 20 years ago in college shortly after it was released. Throw Down still holds up and is easily one of my favorite Milkyway/To films. Maybe because this is one of the films outside of the Cops/Gangsters genre for To, he gets to direct frequent collaborator Louis Koo as Bo in an amazing performance, but equally supported by Cherrie Ying's Mona and Aaron Kwok's Tony. The characters all felt so real and full of passion, or rediscovering their passions. Another standout to me was the sound in this film felt more intentional than other To films, where it certainly adds to the atmosphere, but here in Throw Down I was more aware of the sound design and choices for the soundtrack to shift and fit the mood of the scene and characters. The cinematography is again top-notch, as expected from To, showcasing the city in it's best light - and using lights and shadows masterfully here in the scenes to add to the story.

This *really* felt like Baby Assassins, from the writing to the action. I have to think they were at least channeling this 'genre' here with two female leads with a similar dynamic to Chisato & Mahiro, from their personalities to their characters in general. Regardless, this is still a decently fun movie with two 'Baby Ninjas' living in their apartment and getting dragged into an odd job involving a forbidden BL (Boy's Love) with the Shogun's heir. Thies does give a bit of a TV show vibe to the production, which comes through the camera work and fight cinematography which makes sense looking into the crew who all have extensive background in shows like Ultraman and Kamen Rider.

Middle of the road New Year's film as they cheerfully announce during the credits. Having never seen the original TV series this is based on, I didn't have a huge connection to the characters, and the plot does not rely on it at a surface level. Louis Koo is stuck in the past and now must fight against a new set of time travelers that can only arrive 25 years after Koo's initial arrival date? Don't think too much about the time travel paradoxes and just enjoy Koo fighting on hoverboards and motorcycles fighting against the the backdrop of the Qin Emperor and the past.

A movie I see referenced on the internet here and there, and finally checking it out I was surprisingly impressed. The 5 stories have a kinetic 'anime' tinged energy to them, and it is very satisfying seeing how they all fit together and bleed over into each other, even if the overall 'plot' makes little sense. The Bird storyline ending? *Chef's Kiss*

Shows it's age with the goofy plot and wire-fu, but there is something charming seeing a 90s superhero film featuring the all star cast of Mui, Yeoh, and Cheung (plus Anthony Wong as a goofy henchman).

Having watched this maybe 15+ years ago, I was less impressed on a rewatch working my way through Johnnie To's catalog again. More "political intrigue" than stylistic gun action found in other To films, maybe I prefer when To features the cops side of these stories more prominently.

Great performances by Lucy Liu and shining a spotlight on mental health specifically in the first generation and immigrant communities. Since this is based on a true story, it's hard to judge the 'plot' or story arcs as I get emotionally invested in the characters or events to turn out a certain way, but it did portray it very realistically.

Visually striking, I could feel the Milkyway lineage in this film alongside Cheang's own style. However I finished disappointed in this film's convoluted plot after really loving both Limbo and Twilight of the Warriors Walled In. Gordon Lam does a decent job as the crazy fortune teller, but the character motivations to get caught up in this whole mess did not make sense. I was also a bit lost on the feng shui aspects, however my wife who has the cultural context enjoyed the film more, so maybe these elements were a cultural familiarity thing.

A PR film for the Great Wall in Hebei? 1 star script, 1 star lead actor, half-redeemed by a 3 star director and 3 star supporting cast. It tries to be too many themes at once before devolving into a patriotic finale. The "plot" revolves around Sean Zhang searching for a stolen piece of the great wall in his job title as Great Wall Protector, that has a hidden compartment with a ring. That romantic connection to E Jingwen (from Stephen Chow's 2019 'New King of Comedy') is put on the back burner early on to also involve showcasing the struggles of rural towns and preserving history, while also trying to be a comedic heist movie with everyone searching for this missing brick. The production values were surprisingly high, with great camera angles and editing of this mundane script. The camera weaves in crowds, showcases silhouettes in the laundry, pulls back on reflections, POV shots for a split second, drone shots... they seemingly spared no expense to the camera work. Sadly, we don't get the sweeping cinematic shots of the Great Wall itself until the ending montage. Probably not everyone's cup of tea, but it is always interesting to see films showcasing locations outside of the large cities like Beijing and Shanghai.