KPop Demon Hunters (2025)

This may be the most on-the-nose movie title since Snakes on a Plane. I wondered if it would be similarly stupid in a self-aware way. When I saw that it was partly comedic and had a warm reception, I took a chance on it.

Korean pop girl band HUNTR/X, consisting of never-relaxing lead singer Rumi (Arden Cho for speech/Ejae for singing), dour dancer Mira (May Hong/Audrey Nuna), and eager-to-please rapper Zoey (Ji-young Yoo/Rei Ami), has a rare secret reason for performing: Their music and extreme popularity reinforce a mostly invisible barrier to keep out soul-sucking demons. They also use mystical melee weapons to kill demons they meet on the wrong side of the barrier. They are on the verge of fully sealing away Demon Lord Gwi-Ma (Lee Byung-hun) when things start to go wrong. First Rumi's voice keeps cracking in rehearsals. Then a faux-friendly, disguised demon band, the Saja Boys, debuts to steal their fans, and the heroines don't dare fight in public. Then Saja Boys leader Jinu (Ahn Hyo-seop/Andrew Choi) discovers compelling evidence that Rumi had a demon parent, which she hasn't told even Mira and Zoey -- but Jinu doesn't either, because he now feels kinship with Rumi. Their interactions become...complicated....

Slap Shot (1977)

I have never watched an entire hockey game in my life, nor had I watched a movie that concerns hockey principally. I don't recall who recommended this one. But I trusted that it would be easy to follow with even a rudimentary knowledge of the sport. Indeed, the first scene clarifies a few terms that hockey fans probably know well.

Under near-retirement Coach Reggie Dunlop (Paul Newman), the fictitious Charlestown Chiefs are the least successful NHL team. Then the manager (Strother Martin) recruits three young brothers (David Hanson, Steve Carlson, and Jeff Carlson) who look like wimpy dorks but play with a super-bellicose style that garners wins despite frequent penalties. Reggie decides to have the team in general adopt a policy of aggression, which makes them popular with their hometown and pretty much no one else. Only the star player (Michael Ontkean) declines. Can the Chiefs save themselves from dissolution?

Pete's Dragon (2016)

Amid all the hype for How to Train Your Dragon, I thought I'd watch a different live-action remake of a family flick about a boy and his nonverbal, flying, fire-breathing, reptilian secret friend. It's not the most popular Disney remake, but it may be the only one more popular than its predecessor.

When Pete is five years old (and played by Levi Alexander), he loses his parents in a car crash on a woodland road. He wanders and meets a curiously friendly dragon (grunt-voiced by John Kassir) who can turn invisible at will. For the next six years, Pete (now played by Oakes Fegley) lives with Elliot in the woods, healthy but only slightly more civilized than another feral boy from a Disney remake that year. Fellow preteen Natalie (Oona Laurence) discovers Pete, and her lumberjack father Jack (Wes Bentley) and his ranger girlfriend Grace (Bryce Dallas Howard) try to give Pete a more normal life, by adopting him if necessary. They don't readily believe in Elliot, who doesn't take well to separation from Pete. And when Jack's unruly brother Gavin (Karl Urban) and coworkers see the long-rumored dragon of the area, they plan to capture Elliot for some means of profit.

Tár (2022)

I was surprised to discover that this is not based on a true story or, indeed, any preexisting thing. It also is a primarily American production and attaches no importance to the protagonist's nationality. So why pick such an uninformative title that could easily confuse English speakers, especially if presented in a format that doesn't support an accent? That factor may have contributed to me waiting this long to check out the Best Picture nominee.

The story begins with Lydia Tár (Cate Blanchett) at the peak of success as chief conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic, citing Leonard Bernstein as inspiration. Alas, as a major concert approaches, one thing after another goes badly. Tensions rise between her and her wife (Nina Hoss), her secretary (Noémie Merlant), her assistant conductor (Allan Corduner), and pretty much everyone else except her daughter (Mila Bogojevic). On top of that, she develops physical and especially mental issues, including apparent hallucinations.

Touchez pas au grisbi (1954)

I wondered why I found this DVD in the H section of my library. The answer came at the title screen when the British subtitles read, "Honor Among Thieves." (No relation to a recent movie.) To make matters more confusing, it was released in the U.S. as Grisbi but appears on IMDb by its literal translation, Don't Touch the Loot.

Big-time crook Max (Jean Gabin, long after his heyday) has recently stolen gold bars, planning to retire on them. Unfortunately for him, partner in crime Riton (René Dary) has an unfaithful girlfriend (Jeanne Moreau) who lets their secret slip to her other boyfriend, Angelo (Lino Ventura). Angelo's men abduct Riton for ransom, so Max enlists two more partners (Paul Frankeur and Michel Jourdan) to help confront them....

Heat (1995)

Another movie I liked before but couldn't remember well. This one stops streaming on Netflix at the end of June. Only after I started rewatching did I realize the appropriate timing: It features a public clash with authorities in L.A.

The story begins with an armored car heist led by Neil McCauley (Robert De Niro). Alas, one of his partners (Kevin Gage) is a loose cannon, so everyone from the armored car is unnecessarily killed. LAPD Lt. Vincent Hanna (Al Pacino) heads a hunt for the robbers, who face quite enough enmity from fellow crooks already, not least a treacherous money launderer (William Fichtner).

Lost in Starlight (2025)

I don't think I ever saw a South Korean animation of any length before. This new one is presently the most popular on IMDb. I did not know it was Korean when I tuned in; I just thought it looked interesting.

In 2051, Nan-young (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan) has been training for a mission to Mars, but since her mother died there 25 years ago and she keeps getting lost in flashbacks, she is not the space agency's top choice. In the meantime, she literally bumps into Jay (Justin H. Min), an amateur singer-guitarist whose music she digs. Gradually, they fall in love, despite her determination not to form an earthly attachment. He's none too keen on her following her dream either, tho she does inspire him to return to his rock band.

Crazy, Stupid, Love. (2011)

This title had turned me off for a long time, especially with the silly punctuation, which does not appear on the poster. Nonetheless, it still enjoys fairly high ratings after 14 years. I chose it last night because it was the first movie to come up on my Netflix list and promised to be rather different from what else I'd seen lately.

In an unspecified town that might be in California, Cal Weaver (Steve Carell) is taken aback when his wife of 25 years, Emily (Julianne Moore), tells him she committed adultery with coworker David (Kevin Bacon) and wants a divorce. He wallows in self-pity in bars until annoyed lothario Jacob (Ryan Gosling) offers to teach him how to attract women again. Cal becomes a successful player, but he can't stop thinking of Emily.

Mission: Impossible -- The Final Reckoning (2025)

So much for calling it Dead Reckoning Part 2. Just as well. Once again, I watched at the earliest opportunity, only this time, it was to celebrate my birthday.

The movie begins two months after the end of the previous. Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) has acquired a key for apprehending the Entity, but he doesn't know where to use it yet. Murderous Gabriel (Esai Morales), having fallen from the Entity's favor, now hopes to gain everything needed to control the Entity himself. Both had better hurry, because the Entity is gradually seizing all the nuclear missiles in the world, evidently planning to annihilate humans but not itself. The CIA director-turned-U.S. president (Angela Bassett) gives Ethan three days before she launches a preemptive attack on the other nations. To make matters more difficult, the chaos sown by the Entity's expert deep fakes has inspired a considerable pro-apocalyptic movement, and not all its members are overt....

Blue Giant (2023)

This title is better known for a manga series. Indeed, the film adaptation doesn't get its own Wikipedia page; it rates merely a few paragraphs on the manga's page. Nonetheless, it enjoys high ratings on IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes, so I got curious.

At 18, Dai (Yuki Yamada) moves in with long-time friend Shunji (Amane Okayama) in modern Tokyo, hoping to succeed as a largely self-taught saxophonist. He discovers Yukinori (Shotaro Mamiya), a same-age yet mature jazz pianist who started taking lessons at age four. They take to practicing together, and Shunji joins in as a complete tyro of a drummer. Despite Yukinori's misgivings, they perform publicly as a trio called JASS. (Hey, it's Japan, where many adults have never heard jazz.)