Searching

Year:  2018

Director:  Aneesh Chaganty

Screenplay:  Aneesh Chaganty and Sev Ohanian

Starring:  John Cho, Debra Messing, Michelle La, Sara Sohn, Joseph Lee, Steven Michael Eich

Genre:  Thriller

Running Time:  102 minutes

San Jose, California:  David Kim (Cho) desperately searches for his missing 16 year old daughter, Margot (La).

There is very little that you can say about the plot of this film without giving away one of its many twists.  The storyline is, in many ways, a traditional mystery thriller in which a widowed father desperately searches for his missing daughter, following clues, chasing down red herrings, and investigating suspects. However, what is innovative here is that the whole film takes place on computer screens.  David conducts his investigation mostly from his own home, searching through his daughter's social media feeds, Skypeing and WhatsApping potential witnesses and suspects, and finding clues through CCTV footage that he has been sent by the detective investigating the case (Debra Messing).  The film opens with a moving sequence of the family in happier times before David's wife and Margot's mother's death by cancer, depicted through the family's various screens, setting up family accounts on their new computer, videos of birthdays and holidays, online posts and calendar appointments.  Although the film was released two years before Covid, in a way it feels more pertinent in a covid and post-Covid world, now that we are living our lives more online than ever.  John Cho gives a strong performance as the tormented father, who for most of the film is sitting looking directly at the camera (his various screens).  The film mixes traditional detective story elements with modern technology, and at times the many twists and turns of the narrative strain credulity, but it is involving throughout, and the style manages to be more than just a gimmick.  The computer screen subgenre of found footage film is a difficult one to make work, partly because they look dated very quickly, due to how quickly computer technology moves forward.  Searching, however, is well worth the time.  

John Cho in Searching
  

Star Trek Beyond

Year of Release:  2016
Director:  Justin Lin
Screenplay:  Simon Pegg and Doug Jung, based on the television series Star Trek created by Gene Roddenberry
Starring:  Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg, John Cho, Anton Yelchin, Idris Elba, Sofia Boutella
Running Time:  122 minutes
Genre:  Science-fiction, action, adventure

This is the thirteenth film in the Star Trek franchise, and the third in the rebooted series that began with Star Trek (2009) and continued with Star Trek Into Darkness (2013).  In this film the Starship Enterprise is almost three years into it's five year mission and the crew are beginning increasingly fed up with life in deep space.  After docking at a space station, the Enterprise is sent off on a rescue mission into a uncharted nebula.  Unfortunately, it turns out to be a trap, when the ship is attacked by a vast horde of mysterious craft, led by the brutal Krall (Elba) who is looking for an ancient alien artifact on board the Enterprise.

This is a hugely entertaining slice of science-fiction action.  The special effects are spectacular, and the action moves along well, but still leaves room for character moments, and humour.  It's more of an ensemble film than some previous Star Trek efforts, rather than focusing on the Kirk (Pine) and Spock (Quinto) relationship, it broadens the canvas by dividing the main crew up for most of the film, thereby meaning that they all have their own subplots to play out.  Chris Pine is good as the square-jawed hero Kirk, while Zachary Quinto is impressive as Spock and has a nice moment which serves as a tribute to the original Spock, Leonard Nimoy, Karl Urban is fun as the wisecracking McCoy and his fraught relationship with Spock is one of the delights of the film.  Simon Pegg is good as Scotty and is given a much bigger role than Scott usually has (which isn't surprising as Pegg co-wrote the script).  Zoe Saldana and John Cho are underused as Uhura and Sulu, although they still have their moments, and there is a nice glimpse of Sulu's family life.  Anton Yelchin is good as Chekhov (of course Yelchin died tragically just a few weeks before the film opened and it is dedicated to his memory).  Idris Elba steals the show as  the evil Krall, and Sofia Boutella is impressive as kick-ass alien fighter Jaylah.

It manages the difficult task of paying homage and staying true to the spirit of the original series, while still being very much it's own thing, and with this film the new Star Trek series really comes into it's own, and the Enterprise crew really start to work together well.  A treat for Trekkers, but with enough humour and action to appeal to non fans as well.

Sofia Boutella and Simon Pegg boldly go to Star Trek Beyond