Saturday, February 27, 2021

Minari

♣♣♣♣/♣♣♣♣♣
 
First generation immigrants Jacob (Steven Yeun) and Monica (Han Ye-Ri) decide to move from California to Arkansas. After years of chick sexing, he invests their savings in a plot of land he intends to turn into a farm growing Korean produce. She is not so comfortable with the idea of relocating to a small town, even more so with the delicate heart condition of their young son David (Alan Kim). Faced with lack of water supply, tornado warnings, and a shift to a more conservative society, their new life is not without its challenges. It is a good thing that her mother Soon-Ja (Youn Yuh-Jung) finally follows them to the US and helps in raising the children. She brings with her some goodies and treats from the homeland, including Minari seeds which she plants in a small plot of land by the creek. The family must try hard to reconcile their traditional Korean upbringing with the conventional values of middle America.

Friday, February 26, 2021

WandaVision: Episode 8


8. Previously On
Salem, 1693. Agatha Harkness is accused by her coven of dabbling in dark magic beyond her control. As they attempt to subdue her for good, she proves to be more powerful than all of them and sashays her way down from the stake. She is curious as to how Wanda has been able to create her own make-believe world from scratch and uses her twins as leverage for a trip down memory lane: her childhood in Sokovia and the death of her parents; joining Hydra’s experiments as a revenge plot; her feeling of isolation and despair after the death of all those close to her. When she tries to retrieve Vision’s body at SWORD’s headquarters, she receives a title deed for a plot of land in Westview, NJ which is when she moves in and spontaneously crafts the town after all the sitcoms she used to watch growing up. A confrontation between the two witches ensues as Agatha takes Wanda’s kids hostage. At the makeshift SWORD base, Hayward watches in awe as Vision's body, now all white, is brought to life by traces of Wanda’s chaos magic.

Saturday, February 20, 2021

I Care a Lot

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Marla Grayson (Rosamund Pike) cares a lot. She cares so much that she actually makes a living out of it. Maneuvering the justice system to award her legal guardianship of the elderly and the retired, she locks them up in nursing homes as she drains them of their wealth and possessions. With the help of her girl Friday and lover Fran (Eiza González), the two are unstoppable, but are about to stumble upon their biggest prospect yet. Jennifer Peterson (Dianne Wiest) is retired, without family, and owns a portfolio of lucrative investments. The pair easily manage to force her into Berkshire Oaks. However, things get complicated when they find out the hard way that Jennifer Peterson is not who she really claims to be, as the duo are caught in the crosshairs of ex-Russian Mafia Roman Lunyov (Peter Dinklage) who will not stop until he gets back what they took from him.

Friday, February 19, 2021

WandaVision: Episode 7


7. Breaking the Fourth Wall
In the aftermath of Halloween, Wanda gets help from Agnes to take care of the twins as she enjoys some me-time. Her control over the hex is starting to crumble as evidenced by the constant glitching of furniture in her house. Vision finds Darcy at the circus of now hex-integrated SWORD agents, frees her from mind control, and gets to catch up with prior events he has no recollection of. Monica and Jimmy rendezvous with some loyal SWORD agents who repurpose a space rover to penetrate the hex but it proves ineffective against Wanda’s powers. Frustrated, Monica runs through the barrier and forces herself into the energy field. As she emerges on the other side, her eyes glow blue and sees the town through a spectrum of multicolored light rays. She confronts Wanda, but Agnes intervenes and ushers her to her house. There, Wanda discovers a sanctum in the basement overrun by tree roots. Eyes glowing purple, Agnes reveals that she is Agatha Harkness and that Wanda is not the only magical girl in town.

Friday, February 12, 2021

WandaVision: Episode 6


6. All-New Halloween Spooktacular!
With Pietro now in the mix, the Maximoffs dress up for Halloween. Vision dons his own costume but uses the Neighborhood Watch as an excuse to further investigate. SWORD acting director Tyler Hayward (Josh Stamberg) wants to attack Westview to take out Wanda. Monica disagrees and is booted out of the operation. She and Jimmy disarm some SWORD agents and go on diguise while Darcy hacks SWORD's server and finds Monica's lab results, warning her that the hex is altering her cell composition. Darcy is left behind as Monica and Jimmy rendezvous with her engineer friend. Vision finds a catatonic Agnes in her car at Ellis Avenue, the border of Wanda's hex. She exclaims that he's an Avenger and that he's dead, but he doesn't remember. He heads to the force field and tries to get out as Hayward waits on the other side. As Vision starts to disintegrate, Billy senses his father's dilemma and prompts Wanda to extend the border of her hex to save him, integrating Darcy and majority of the SWORD agents into it along the way.

Saturday, February 6, 2021

Malcolm & Marie

♣♣♣/♣♣♣♣♣

Writer/Director Malcolm Elliott (John David Washington) is ecstatic over his movie premiere and impatiently awaits the first set of reviews from critics. His anxiety is exacerbated by girlfriend Marie Jones’ (Zendaya) aloof demeanor coming home from the event, with an impending lovers’ quarrel lurking in the horizon. The two spend the night reflecting about his film career, her past struggles with drug addiction, as well as the ever-changing dynamics of their complicated relationship. She is disappointed because he does not thank her in his speech despite her life story being the basis of his now successful cinematic debut. She also has qualms about his decision to sideline her in the casting process, thinking that she would have been the perfect reel embodiment of her real-life story. As they go further into the night and in between makeshift macaroni and cheese dinner servings, the couple evaluate the status of their future as a pair.

Friday, February 5, 2021

WandaVision: Episode 5


5. On a Very Special Episode...
Sleep-deprived after days of their twin babies crying non-stop, Wanda and Vision get help from ever-dependable neighbor Agnes, but Billy and Tommy appear to have everything under control as they age themselves twice to 5 and 10 years old. Vision starts to notice how everything seems strange in Westview and gets intel from an officemate as he temporarily frees him from Wanda’s mind control. As Monica recovers and SWORD attempts to infiltrate the town with another drone, Wanda breaks character, barges out of the energy field, and directly threatens everyone at the perimeter warning them to leave her alone. An earlier footage reveals she broke into SWORD’s headquarters nine days prior to steal Vision’s body. With Vision slowly gaining consciousness outside his sitcom existence, husband and wife argue but are interrupted by the doorbell ringing. Answering the door, Wanda is surprised to see Quicksilver (Evan Peters) standing there giving her a big hug.

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