Christopher Malmevik

Memoirs of a Geisha Beautifully shot, a moving score, and great acting performances, Memoirs of a Geisha attempts to showcase the role of geisha in pre/during and post WW2 Japan. However, the movie definitely has flaws. I found it strange that the source material was written by a man, and the film was also directed by a man. The screenplay, while written by a woman, is not one of Asian descent. For such an enormous part of Japanese historical culture, I found these choices rather odd. Therefore I was always wondering about authenticity. I later read that I was not wrong. As a westerner, I was unaware until later that Chinese actresses portrayed the main characters, but that didn’t bother me. The acting truly made this movie quite spectacular, when ignoring inaccuracies. I enjoyed this intimate look into the last days of a beautiful and heartbreaking tradition. It is appalling how important youth was exploited, including minors. I wish there had been more of the geisha performances instead of spending so much time watching an impossible love story. The ending concerned me with the choices made by the main character that coincidentally led to an unexpected and rushed happy ending. As I said at the beginning, the movie is gorgeous to look at and listen to. That quality of film making almost made me forget the very long run time. With all that said, I do feel it’s worth the watch, but it’s not a film for the ages.

F1 The summer blockbuster of 2025, F1 has the production values, showcasing great cinematography with the racing sequences and international setting. But let’s not mistake this for a racing movie. This movie is not about F1 racing. It’s about passion, learning from mistakes while taking risks, and also discovering that you need not be alone to do so. Any setting would have done to tell the story and it would have turned out the same. I won’t lie. I wasn’t excited to see this because I’m not a fan of the sport. I’m happy that I’m not because I don’t think that true fans would have appreciated it used as a prop, or as scenery. It just isn’t believable and it is riddled with clichés. But I did like it. Watching the racing was quite exciting and nail biting, yes, but I really connected with the theme of getting knocked down, going on a self discovery and then making a come back. When Brad Pitt describes the zen moment of really flying on the track as he drives, I got chills because I know how to reach that moment in my own life. I know what it’s like to lose that ability, and then come back. I know what it’s like to believe I can do it myself, but I couldn’t. Is this movie perfect? God, no. It was cringeworthy watching Kerry Condon’s character become one dimensional. The whiplash treatment of APX by the board that owns them was so cartoonish in its villainy I thought that there would be mustache twirling. Plus, near the end, there’s a subplot I won’t spoil that was completely irrelevant, but appeared to be headed towards something. And finally, deus ex machina, pun somewhat intended, rears its ugly head. I still would recommend it, though. You’ll find enough, like me, to connect with. But if you’re a hardcore racing fan, I think you’ll pick this apart. That’s why I say again, this is not a movie about F1.

The Life of Chuck Why do we humans do what we do? As a collective of individuals, we are required to think and experience in solitude, building our own universe of knowledge, emotion, interaction and thought. But what if this universe truly has a finite ending? The Life of Chuck is a very existential, and cosmic, film which brings all these ideas together with such style, beauty and truth. The film is told in reverse chronological order, which, after watching, was the only way the story could be told. I, the individual, when meeting someone for the first time, am only exposed to the version of that person at that period in time. I don’t get a biography of what came first. Acknowledging something so simple, the film puts the audience into that position, learning through the storytelling, and not the witnessing, of events that shape Chuck. A touch of science fiction is hinted at in the second half of the film leading to even more fundamental questions about the nature of our own consciousness. I won’t spoil anything, but it does present to the audience a theme so profound that I would be devastated if it happened to me. This is hands down the best film of 2025. It is thought provoking, joyful, sad, inspiring, with a display of unbridled love. Walt Whitman’s poem, Song of Myself, is quoted throughout the film. I can’t possibly think of a better way to speak of the individual, and one’s self definition. Go see the film, and enjoy the universe you’ve created.

Benediction The biographical film about Siegfried Sassoon, Benediction, brings the story of the British WWI poet to the big screen. It’s told with voiceovers of young Siggy, and older (1950s) Siggy, reciting the tortured, emotional words describing a horror unheard of at that point in history. In the last year of the war, Mr. Sassoon decides to make a grand declaration against the way the British government is handling the war. This, of course, doesn’t end well and he’s tossed in a sanatorium until his “mental health defect” is cured. This is when it’s revealed that he is gay. The movie then takes us on a journey through the arts scene in the British interwar period. It’s a slow moving drama, reflecting on the horrors of war, and the perceived ambivalence of those that didn’t go to the front. Also, it’s been only 100 years since it was quite the risk to be true to yourself and love whom you love. The poetry reflects his cynicism and loss after the war that he never quite shakes. I absolutely loved this film. The writer, Noel Coward, a contemporary of Siggy, is mentioned in the film and I could see pieces of his influence in the writing of the witty fast paced dialogue. Jack Lowden’s facial expressions combined with his delivery of the lines was perfection. I recommend this film to anyone who enjoys biographies of writers, or historical films that capture the humanity during intense conflict.

Clown in a Cornfield This movie needed less clowns and more cornfields. The very on-the-nose premise uses a clown metaphor to reflect on small town conservatives that can’t handle change. Teenagers throughout the history of the town tend to get massacred by clowns, and the film puts together a flimsy mystery based on these murders. However, it’s so darn funny I couldn’t help but love it. I’m never going to be able to think about teenagers and grandmas the same way again. The conservative adults are so made to look beyond stupid, it’s cartoonish. But the more liberal open minded teenagers are also made to look stupid with the ignorance of anything outside their own little bubbles. Rotary phone failure anyone? Like normal teen horror movies, we get a group of them slowly get picked off one by one in more and more gruesome ways. Plus, pay attention to some of the character dynamics, and a love scene will appear when least expected, though this viewer saw it coming. One doesn’t usually see that kind of scene in a teen horror dark comedy. I saw this movie with only two other people, whom I didn’t know, in the whole theater, and we were all laughing uproariously. It’s always a good horror slasher movie when gruesome death and dismemberment makes me laugh so hard I snort. Horror fans will love this because it’s just so much fun.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull The fourth installment of the beloved franchise seems to have struck a nerve with fans during its release. I never understood that, as I loved how well it kept the same formula that made the others so good. Death defying stunts, a very us vs them conflict, artifacts that are mythological, and some elements of the supernatural. Let’s address the fridge in the room. The one that got nuked. And launched across the desert with all the stupidity that it deserved. Come on guys. That was terrible, and did nothing to advance the plot. The tank that converted to a sea going vessel falling over 3 waterfalls made such more sense, and was more fun to giggle at. At least we got “nuking the fridge” into our lexicon. I disagree with the poor treatment Shia LaBeouf’s Mutt got. He was obnoxious, argumentative, impulsive, just like his father. And does nobody else remember Short Round? I’m sorry but he annoyed the crap out of me and was one of the reasons I never liked Temple of Doom. Moving on, Cate Blanchett, who can do no wrong, performed well as a Soviet spy in search of knowledge that can then be used to mind control their enemies. She’s also an expert swordswoman. Oh and so is Mutt, how convenient, haha. The sword fight in the jungle was just so much fun to watch. There were so many Easter eggs to the older films. The ark of the covenant is seen in Area 51. Sean Connery’s photo is on Indy’s desk, as was Marcus’s plus his own statue at the university. I liked that they used all of this as nostalgia that any older adventurer would feel. It’s been 20 years since most of the earlier adventures, and I liked how they treated the movie as a “what’s Indy been up to after the war” thing. At the time of this writing, a fifth film has been released, so that changes this as a bookend, but I still really liked it. There aren’t a lot of movies I want to watch over and over, and this one qualifies.

Possessor A psychological thriller, Possessor uses this medium to delve into the subconscious mind of both those who have their minds possessed, and those who do the possessing. The story involves an assassin who executes her targets by mentally possessing an unwitting victim that has been specifically chosen. An implant must be inserted into their brains before our anti-protagonist, Tas, can be inserted. We learn that Tas has a family that she is struggling to either jettison, or reconnect with. The plot gets going when Tas is inserted into a man, Colin, who is to be used to assassinate the founder of a major corporation, and his daughter. However, the man proves to be a bit stronger than anticipated. I’ll stop there with plot revelations, but I wanted to write a bit about the blending of minds. We are all born with only one brain, and yet, in this movie, the thoughts and feelings can suddenly be blended. Both Tas and Colin are suffering from demons that are exploited by the actions taken by the other. Watching the symmetry with how each of them deals with their relationships, is, to play on words, mind blowing. I really loved how much we fell down a rabbit hole. Using a horror medium to bring forth the raw power of the human experience may not be new, but with Possessor, we really got to see dissociation, out of body experiences and the degradation of one’s internal moral code. Sex is also used to parallel the two personalities fighting inside one. Those who have seen the uncut version, certainly saw an eye opening gender bending experience. I definitely recommend this for horror fans, psychology students and those that really want to see human conflict burst forth violently. I loved this.

The Accountant 2 I really enjoyed the first one because it brought those with autism, or those that think differently than what society as normal into an action movie. It wasn’t exactly ideal to have these characters use their gifts for criminal activity, but at least that was explained by the parental upbringing. Moving on to the second one, I was delighted to see more of how the characters with these intense social anxieties interact. The relationship between Chris and Braxton was very well portrayed by both Affleck and Bernthal. In fact, it was great to see more of Braxton in general. I am also a huge fan of the movie showcasing people and how everyone has differences and can’t be put into general boxes. The main plot was very engaging, and wouldn’t have worked without the intriguing characterization. I had great empathy for everyone involved as the mystery unravels. There are still plenty of gun fights, crazy violence, questionable moral choices, and, even better, exploring all facets of those choices. This movie surpassed the first one, in my opinion. Learning more about how the mind works really enhanced what could have been a generic action film.

Iwaju Iwaju is a joint venture between Disney and Kugali Media set in Lagos, Nigeria, in the near future. Fancy technology is shown such as robotics, flying cars, glasses that can stream, record or talk on the phone, and other fun surprises. Even set against this backdrop of technology achievements, the line between haves and have nots is drawn very distinctly. The animated miniseries has very mature themes that include using crime to justify changing one’s station, family neglect, a caste system and the underestimation of children. Tola is a 10 year old girl who is ignored by her very busy father, Tunde. To occupy herself outside of her robotic helpers, and her human servants, she pesters the gardener boy Kole, convincing him to let her do things that her father does not approve of. Kole is working for them because he is trying to make enough money to find a way to help his sick mother. As these things go, getting the money is more difficult than taking on menial labor. This drives the main plot. This was better than I could ever have expected. It was great seeing something set in a different culture, made by those in the culture, and told with great accuracy, outside of the science fiction elements of course. It’s animated, and on Disney, but I do not recommend this for children due to the quite vicious storytelling. Yes, there is a cute lizard, but that’s not enough for young children.

Mickey 17 Mickey 17 is directed by the same award winning director of Parasite, and it shows. This science fiction dark comedy about the expendable nature of clones digs much deeper into themes of class struggle, political corruption, another story on colonization in the name of religion, drug use and mental illness. In the near future, human cloning has been discovered, used in such a way that the clones all think they are the original after memories are downloaded into their brains. Naturally, this was quickly used for criminal reasons, and was therefore banned for many reasons. However, a failed politician, with a flair for over the top behavior and bending the truth (remind you of anybody?) leaves Earth to colonize another planet. He brings along the cloning process, used to regenerate people who die in science experiments, to aid in the journey. This goes dark very quickly. The questions come out: Does each clone have their own soul? Is the soul being artificially duplicated? What happens when 2 clones exist at the same time? All of this is explored as an interesting spin on What Makes Someone Human. I really liked this film. The Americans as evil colonizers trope is played out, but it did aid in setting up the rest of the brilliant storytelling. The over the top performances by pretty much everybody in the cast kept me laughing even when evidencing horrible behavior. In addition, there are some interesting aspects of character development amongst those whose morality is more gray than black or white. Keep an open mind, and look for the story that is being told beneath the surface. That’s where I found it truly satisfying.