Veron The Reviewer

CODA is a comedy-drama film directed by Sian Heder and starring Emilia Jones, Troy Kotsur, Marlee Matlin, Daniel Durant, and Eugenio Derbez. Jones stars as Ruby, a child of deaf adults, or coda, who is the only hearing member of her family. She soon finds herself torn between her commitments to her family's struggling business and her own dreams of being a singer. The premise is simple enough, but what makes it really work is the sheer emotional impact. Sure, all the plot beats are almost entirely predictable, but all the lead actors give utterly committed performances that draw you into the world of the film and keep you invested in all the drama that unfolds throughout the film.  All the characters feel very realistically portrayed, with very human flaws and sympathetic moments. The struggles Ruby has to deal with are rooted in understandable concerns and fears centered around Ruby growing up and developing her own dreams in the face of her family relying greatly on her as the on...

Shadow (2018) is a wuxia film directed by Zhang Yimou, starring real-life couple Deng Chao and Sun Li.  Deng plays Commander Ziyu, a respected military leader in the kingdom of Pei. Pei lost the city of Jingzhou to the kingdom of Yang, led by the fearsome warrior Yang Cang, who also defeated Ziyu in battle. Ziyu now wants a rematch, against the wishes of the King of Pei, so he can restore his wounded pride and retake Jingzhou, with the King being seen as a coward who makes concessions and only wishes to avoid war at all costs. However, it is soon revealed that Ziyu is in fact still recovering from his fight with Yang Cang, and the Ziyu seen at court is in fact his "shadow", a man named Jingzhou (also played by Deng), who looks exactly like the real Ziyu did before his injuries took a toll on him. Jingzhou is a native of the city of Jingzhou and is tasked with finding a way to defeat Yang Cang so as to retake Jingzhou for Pei on the real Ziyu's behalf. Meanwhile, not every...