tangxj98 Reviews

Drive My Car (2021)

Feel the running water under the rippleless surface

[9/10 · 7 August 2023]

I watched this movie on an international flight and thought I might get a good sleep with its 3-hour length and infamous boringness. But I found myself getting attracted into it and finished the whole movie without stopping other than when the CA served meals. I really enjoyed it. As someone who is quite savvy about Japanese culture, I think I am naturally biased to the silently exquisite and sentimental style of this movie, like many other Japanese movies (but this is the first movie from Hamaguchi). But it is really not that difficult to feel the unspoken love and pain under the ripple-less surface of Kafuku for his wife. He seemed calmed and numbed. But he was no longer able to act when the familiar text of Chekhov, which was always read with unchanged flat and dull tone, stung him all at once on the stage. It was really a touching scene. He found the redemption on the rough and distanced young girl who came to be his new driver. They both did, which, frankly say, was weird enough that I didn't really enjoy the scene they confessed, cried and hugged in the snow. It might be necessary for Kafuku and Misaki, but not necessary to me as an audience. The moment he heard the other side of his wife's story from one of her secret lovers, it has all been completed. At least to me. Anyway, I like this movie and enjoyed it.

Detective Conan: The Bride of Halloween (2022)

Okay movie for Detective Conan

[6/10 · 20 November 2022]

Better than other recent Detective Conan movies. But ... I have to confess that it was very embarrassing feeling to watch Amuro Toru sitting in that over-gorgeous armchair with empty wine bottle and glass when he was quarantined in the glass room. Just so pretentious and distracting. But the biggest problem is the trick itself. One cannot carefully think about how a single terrorist could have put that huge enormous amount of bombing liquid into so many of Halloween lanterns without being noticed, while busy preparing the wedding, despite that only one of her arms can be even raised up. No details of how this trick was implemented make it a super dubious unconvincing story. Maybe it is better than the last one or two movies in the series. But no comparison to the first five movies. Of course as a long-year fan I will watch. But I really want the scriptwriter to think a little bit more.

Top Gun: Maverick (2022)

A great blockbuster in need

[10/10 · 30 June 2022]

I watched it the first weekend in IMAX but didn't get a chance to write my feeling till now. It is a great blockbuster in need, in which we see all the key factors of a traditional blockbuster. Handsome leading male and female roles, intensive fighting scenes (I noticed that everyone sat at the edge of their seats!), right amount of small jokes, and, patriotism. Everyone should be happy about all the diversity we see today (even this movie we see it from the final pilot selection. Good job!). But it is really good to have such a movie whose aesthetic can meet the needs of both the liberals and the conservatives, the young and the old, the men and the women. It is exactly what we need now in the US.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022)

Some nice new ideas and good try

[8/10 · 8 May 2022]

I think overall I like this movie. I enjoyed it last night at IMAX. Seriously we have all watched too many Marvel/DC superhero movies and started getting bored, which I guess why there are so many disappointing reviews here. But I would give credit to a few new ideas. First the music score fighting scene. I think it is fun and a nice try. And original I guess. Also the zombie Strange. And the scarlet witch mimicking the Japanese horror movie the Ring. Nice try. I was wondering whether this movie actually aiming the Mother's Day or the summer horror season. Somewhere in between I guess. Overall, 7/10. Extra 1 for encouraging the novelty.

Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)

A Spider-Man and MJ's Fan-oriented movie

[8/10 · 20 December 2021]

Well. If you have watched all the past Spider-man movies, how could you miss this one? I mean, at the beginning I really hated it about the cheesy "everyone deserves a second chance" scene and an almost forced non-surprising sacrifice of Aunt May. I was like, yeah, that's spider-man (rolling my eyeballs). But having all the three spider-men (awkward spelling) in the same scene has been one of my best moment of Marvel movies. My tears literally start bursting out when I saw Andrew Garfield catching Zendaya. Who WON'T be moved by this scene! And I was silently sitting there till my tears got all my face masks wet. This is a great relief for all the fans and audiences of Spider-Man. I missed Tobey Maguire and Kristen Dunst. I missed Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone. Thank you Tom Holland and Zendaya. That single moment is well worth the ticket.