Teru is a cocky young boxer living together with Ben, an autistic young man who's been like a little brother to him ever since his mother abandoned him. When Teru loses a match against Kitazawa, a serious opponent from Osaka, he has to quit boxing because of a vision injury. Ben, who idolizes Teru and is obsessed with how "Teru can't lose", attempts to walk to Osaka to have a rematch with Kitazawa in place of him. Teru and Aoyama, a boxer who once lost to Teru, end up going on a road trip to Osaka to resolve Ben's obsession. Stopping at various gyms on the way, they realize that Ben's obsessive imitating of Teru might make him a real boxer.
From its visually stunning opening credits, which show women dancing through a forest to musical rhythms that sound almost primal, to its quiet, heartbreaking final frame, Mona Fastvold’s historical rendering of the Shaker religious movement is an experience that will stay with me for a long time.
James Cameron’s The Terminator (1984) marks the beginning of a wonderful two-part arc, brimming with style and substance. The film follows Sarah Connor, a waitress living in Los Angeles. One night, a cybernetic organism (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is sent back in time to kill Sarah. A human resistance fighter (Michael Biehn) is also sent back in time, with the intent of saving Sarah from this deadly foe.
“Reboot” is crass and sometimes incoherent, and has much room to improve, but with investments of time and care, could flower out of the seed of a vision.
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie comes on the heels of its billion-dollar grossing predecessor, and seeks to do absolutely nothing other than repeat its success. In this, the film is eminently effective. If you have seen the previous film, you can expect something extremely similar in this package. That is, a barrage of references to Nintendo intellectual property wrapped in a plot that provides the thinnest layer of emotional payoff for the characters.
This year, in light of the pandemic and the inability to gather with our loved ones, a few of our staff members reviewed their favorite holiday films with the hope of recreating some of the sentimentality that reminds us of home.
At least we got the original cast back, right? Not even that saves it. None of them could bring a sliver of hope to this special. Rather, they bring dread as we witness the light leaving from their eyes.
