The film looks at class differences between two families — one well-to-do, and the other n’eer do well. For the Kim family, life is a struggle. They live in a cramped bug-infested basement apartment without many amenities except for a toilet built on kind of a shelf. The father Ki-taek (Song Kang-ho, “Snowpiercer”) has failed in business and has accumulated many debts. His son and daughter Ki-woo (Choi Woo-sik, “Train to Busan”) and Ki-jung (Park So-dam, “Cinderella and Four Knights” TV series) have repeatedly failed college entrance exams. The mother Chung-sook (Hyae-jin Jang, “Adulthood”) along with the two children fold boxes for a delivery company, but cannot even get that right. Not to worry, they leave their windows open when the fumigators come around to get some free extermination and steal free Wi-Fi from the next door coffee shop.

On the other hand, the nouveau riche Park family has all the advantages. Mr. Park (Lee Sun-kyun, “Jo Pil-ho: The Dawning Rage”) is the CEO of a high-tech company and the family lives in a spacious, modernistic home protected by sturdy concrete walls. He has an attractive somewhat fragile wife Yeon-kyo (Jo Yeo-jeong, “The Target”), a teenage daughter Da-hye (Jung Ji-so, “The Tiger”), and a hyper-active young son Da-song (Jung Hyun-jun). Being wealthy and somewhat elitist in their attitude, for Bong, they are ideally suited to be torn apart by ruthless grifters. With the aid of a friend, Ki-woo is hired to be a private tutor for Da-hye. Of course, he has to forge university documents to convince the trusting Mrs. Park of his competence. With that conquest out of the way, the cunning Ki-woo concocts a scheme to secure jobs in the Park household for his entire family.

Convinced that their young son is a budding Picasso, Mrs. Park hires Ki-jung as an art teacher, then falls for invented stories impugning the character of their driver and housekeeper to provide some more employment opportunities for the Kims, this time for the deadbeat dad Ki-taek and his wife Chung-sook. Bong said that “Sometimes with the characters in my films, I look at them cynically, but most of the time I have a lot of compassion for the characters, even with the villains.” This compassion, however, does not seem to extend to the loyal, hardworking household workers, their work scammed out of existence. Without going into detail, the whole escapade backfires in a twist that is over-the-top unsettling even though utterly implausible.

Worthy of a Mack Sennett comedy, a sweet family drama turns into a tumultuous melange of hidden chambers, revenge, bloody violence, a torrential rainstorm, people hiding under beds, and any other mayhem that may come to mind. To be clear, Parasite can be very funny and some of the satire is sharp-edged, yet it is hardly, as one critic described it, “a masterful dissection of social inequality.” When asked what he wanted viewers to get out of the film, Bong said, “I just hope that it gives audiences a lot to think about. It is in parts funny, frightening, and sad, and if it makes viewers feel like sharing a drink and talking over all the ideas they had while watching it, I’ll wish for nothing more.” Enjoy the drink. In a little while, you may have trouble remembering what the film was about.

Parasite screened at the 2019 Vancouver International Film Festival.

Here, Robin (Taron Egerton, “Kingsman: The Golden Circle”) is a spoiled rich kid who appears to be an orphan (just like Batman!) and enjoys spending his time making out at Loxley Manor with his commoner girlfriend Marian (Eve Hewson, “Bridge of Spies”). The name Robin adds additional Batman connotations, but it’s not quite cool enough for this oddball attempt at being hip, so his friends shorten it to Rob. Much better.

Unfortunately, Rob has his make-out session interrupted by a draft order that sends him off to fight in the Crusades, which checks off a familiar narrative starting point that director Otto Bathurst seizes as an opportunity for abundant archery action. Arrows fly in all directions and at whizzing speeds as Rob traverses a crumbling Arabian city where Bathurst stages a frenetic set piece, setting the pace for the movie’s elasticized brand of mayhem.

But Rob soon becomes disillusioned with the war effort after seeing how evil the leaders on his side are and he returns home to Nottingham eager to upset the status quo. He must have stayed up late watching Chris Nolan’s “Dark Knight” trilogy, because he soon sees the benefit in becoming a symbol for the downtrodden, playing the part of a dashing upper-crust citizen by day and adopting an alter ego as a masked vigilante by night.

Aiding him on his journey to overthrow the money-grubbing, well-dressed Sheriff (Ben Mendelsohn, “Ready Player One”) is Friar Tuck (Tim Minchin, “Californication” TV series) and John (Jamie Foxx, “Baby Driver”), an amalgam of Robin Hood characters from the obvious tough guy sidekick to the sagely Muslim mentor that originated in a British TV series and was famously played by Morgan Freeman in Kevin Reynold’s 1991 blockbuster “Prince of Thieves.”

John teaches Rob how to wage war in the streets and stresses the importance of keeping his feelings for Marian at bay in order to protect her. While it’s a tough job, Rob recognizes that someone has to do it and he soon earns the satisfaction of seeing how he’s inspired the dreary Nottingham citizens when they start nailing hoods to walls in his honor. Never mind how the literally penniless townsfolk have come up with the cash to waste on so many specific garments in the name of sticking it to the Sheriff, but it’s certainly a nice gesture.

It also has the intended effect, which means it royally pisses off the Sheriff, although it’s worth noting that this is perhaps the most easily irritated Robin Hood villain to ever grace the screen. While the outlaw’s antagonists are almost always depicted as short-tempered, this Sheriff would probably throw a fit if you so much as made a funny face in his direction. Since Hollywood got its hands on Mendelsohn earlier this decade, he’s played a steady string of humorless jerks, so this role follows suit.

Speaking of suits, the Sheriff’s outfits have a strikingly modern flair, as if Nottingham might have a time-travelling tailor or two in its midst. This is the most enjoyable distraction of Robin Hood, its soupy summation of history and chronology that allows for an unusually modernized telling of the tale. There remains a medieval tinge, but the sets and costumes appear to be cribbed from a variety of different time periods.

Nottingham itself somewhat resembles England during the Industrial Revolution, with soot-covered workers toiling in a mysterious fire-belching mine, crafting imagery that is reminiscent of Bathurst’s previous high-profile directing gig, the first season of BBC series “Peaky Blinders.” The city’s fashion is even more loosely defined, with the Sheriff’s guards wearing full suits of armor, party-goers dressed as though they’re attending the Met Ball, and Marian constantly looking as though she just ended her shift at Hot Topic.

The mix of eras is random enough that it wouldn’t be all too surprising if Rob whipped out a smartphone and started texting heart emojis to Marian. None of this makes any sense, of course, and the movie flippantly excuses the nonsensical approach by inserting some voice-over at the beginning where the narrator specifically mentions that he can’t remember what year the story is set in. It’s clearly still meant to give off vague “olden times” vibes with the presence of horse-drawn carts and scenes of swordplay, but the modern touches have a loudly offbeat quality to them.

They represent an entertaining, if also ridiculous attempt to unearth a new approach to the oft-adapted material. In some ways, the look and style work to separate this version from other relatively recent takes on the familiar story. The raucous action, youthful energy, narrow geographical focus, and heavy use of cheesy CGI of Robin Hood are all an entire world away from the grittier, more adult-skewing epic, “Robin Hood,” that Ridley Scott made in 2010.

This need to reinvent and re-imagine is a common byproduct of the Hollywood machine’s default settings that suggest well-known stories can and should be perpetually retold. In a decade or so, Robin Hood will rise again to emulate what someone thinks are the cool trends of the current year.

For now, though, fans like me can enjoy the latest wackiness that the mythic hero’s cinematic ubiquity has led to. A cynic might be tempted to point out the irony of a character famous for a “rob from the rich to give to the poor” philosophy being regularly resurrected to fill the movie industry’s already overflowing coffers, but cut ol’ Rob some slack this time around. It’s not everyday that you get to be Batman.

The film opens in a supermarket where Osamu Shibata (Lily Franky, “After the Storm”), a middle-aged, part-time construction worker, is seen exchanging strange hand signals with a pre-teenage boy, Shota (Jyo Kairi), who seems to regard what is going on as a family outing. It quickly becomes apparent that this is no ordinary family shopping spree but an exercise in shoplifting, as we watch Shota casually throw items from the shelves into his shopping bag when no one is looking. Justifying their flouting of the law, Osamu says that if the goods are in the store, it means that they do not belong to anyone, and tells Shota that they are stealing the items only as a means of helping the family.

Much later when questioned about stealing by the authorities, sadly he says that shoplifting was the only skill he had to teach the boy. Osamu, as it is gradually revealed, is the head of a household consisting of husband (Franky) and wife Noboyu (Sakura Andô, “Destiny: The Tale of Kamakura”), teenage daughter Aki (Mayu Matsuoka, “Tremble All You Want”), her younger brother Shota (Kairi), and grandma Hatsue (the late Kirin Kiki, “I Wish”), all living in a small, cluttered apartment outside of Tokyo, scattered toys and knick-knacks everywhere, barely providing the family with enough room to eat and sleep.

The family, as it turns out, is one in name only, consisting of those who have been “picked up along the way,” and brought together as a means of mutual support. We discover that it is not only Osamu and Shota that are engaged in dubious activity but the others as well. Noboyu works as an attendant in a laundry and pockets things people leave in their pockets. Aki contributes by working in a porn shop, performing sex acts for men who are hidden from her view, while grandma is a conniver who plays the pachinko slot machines, claims her deceased husband’s pension, and collects money from his son from another marriage.

The family’s lives change drastically when Osamu and Shota find Yuri (Miyu Sasaki), a shivering little girl of four or five alone in the streets, seemingly abandoned. With her protection in mind, Osamu, who renames her Rin, brings the little girl home and discovers bruises on her arms that indicate she has been physically abused. Later, they see a news story on television about a child who is missing and how authorities are conducting an extensive search for her. Justifying their decision to hide the girl from the authorities, Osamu tells the others that it is not kidnapping unless you ask for ransom.

Osamu claims that they fear for her safety if she is returned to an abusive situation, yet he is not above using her as a decoy in markets as he and Shota engage in shoplifting. Through it all, Koreeda does not stand in judgment of his characters but simply observes the trajectory of their life in the tradition of Ozu and Naruse. When he moves into darker territory in the film’s last section, its main focus remains on the humanity of the characters. When Nobuyo disposes of an item that is a painful reminder for Yuri about the family that abused her, she gives her a big hug, explaining that when people love each other, they give them hugs and do not hit them. In an exquisite moment, Yuri places her hand on Nobuyo’s face who lets it remain there for a few minutes.

While Shoplifters contains elements that are painful to watch, what we take with us is Koreeda’s empathy displayed in the beauty of small moments: The joy of trips to the beach, the sexual intimacy between partners that has been long repressed, and the expression on the faces of young children aware, perhaps for the first time, that they are loved.

Overall, the casting of Solo: A Star Wars Story is superb, including Han and extending right down the cast list. While it certainly allows for humor (as Han’s cynical personality calls for nothing less), it’s likely far from the “Guardians of the Galaxy”-type project initial directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller had in mind in the early stages of production. Nevertheless, Howard masterfully weaves together a weighty script, crucial timelines and all the visual flare one might expect with the Millennium Falcon in flight. Still, it doesn’t add to the “Star Wars” canon too extensively, whereas the Battle of Scarif in “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” cleverly teased the anti-imperial sentiment to come, while incorporating the likes of Grand Moff Tarkin (digitally reanimated Peter Cushing), Darth Vader (Spencer Wilding/James Earl Jones), and even the Force.

Revisiting “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” the first “Star Wars” anthology film — with one in the works for Obi-Wan Kenobi? — there are key takeaways that inform the bedrock of George Lucas’ original series. Howard’s Solo: A Star Wars Story certainly has the correct Galaxy vibe, but it functions more as a high-stakes Western film (a confirmed early Lucas influence) than a canonical space opera. Han and his mentor, Tobias Beckett (Woody Harrelson, “War for the Planet of the Apes”), even flash the requisite gunslinging tricks. (Han shot first).

Han’s origin story begins as he and friend/love interest Qi’ra (Emilia Clarke, “Me Before You”) scrounge to get by on the shipbuilding planet of Corellia. They’re essentially indentured servants to the bug-like gang leader Lady Proxima (voiced by Linda Hunt, “NCIS: Los Angeles” TV series). The two attempt to flee the planet using a small sample of stolen hyperfuel (coaxium), but only Han emerges unscathed. Penniless, his only desire is to return to Corellia to retrieve Qi’ra. He enlists in the Imperial Navy as a flight cadet but is ultimately placed into the throes of (trench) warfare.

On the battlefield, he meets Beckett and company, a lawless group of hired hands sent to steal supplies and ultimately coaxium for the ruthless leader of the Crimson Dawn criminal syndicate, Dryden Vos (Paul Bettany, “Avengers: Infinity War”). Han and a new Wookiee pal Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo, “Star Wars: The Last Jedi”) manage to squeeze their way into Beckett’s gang. Han embraces the “criminal” lifestyle, despite others telling him he was born to effect (positive) change. When all else fails and Beckett is forced to embark on a dangerous coaxium-seeking mission for Vos, Han masters his sly rhetoric, flying skills and, ultimately, his unwavering cynicism. Will Han and Beckett manage to siphon coaxium from the mining planet Kessel? (Remember the good ol’ Kessel Run made in 12 parsecs? Yep, that’s the one). Will they also slip past Vos’ overlord, and a group of marauders on their tail? And, better yet, what ship will they adventure in? Something says Lando Calrissian (Donald Glover, “The Martian”) has a thing or two to say about that.

If there’s another component of Solo: A Star Wars Story to praise, it’s the visual effects. Sure, there was an exorbitant budget behind this aesthetic treat, but Howard and cinematographer Bradford Young weave the CGI and narrative together with zeal and precision. Since the movie does not set out to be one of the biblical “episodes,” it essentially had creative license to improvise or widen the extended universe (EU) where needed. There’s one such instance where it does the latter, using a cameo to resurrect a semi-prominent figure from Lucas’ prequel series. Where this plot thread goes, only Lucasfilm knows.

It’s nice to see screenwriters Jonathan and Lawrence Kasdan also leaning on the EU to drive plot lines and funnel some of the animated series’ most promising elements into the cinematic world. What’s more, their script highlights the many influences Lucas used to build his massively successful Galaxy. Outside of the Western, it also includes high-concept, high-fantasy world-building, history (the Empire and the fascists) and bits and pieces of the action-comedy, chase films and coming-of-age tales. This amalgamation of different influences, genres, characters and settings makes “Star Wars” one of the best universes ever brought to the silver screen. It’s no wonder Disney and Lucasfilm have plotted additional installments, and why A-list actors continue to come aboard to fuse their talents with Lucas’ original vision.

To be clear, Solo: A Star Wars Story is not the most awe-inspiring “Star Wars” film ever made, but audiences should (and likely will) embrace it as a visual treat and a bridge to additional anthology films. One incorporating “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” arcs with this film’s characters and ultimately Obi-Wan Kenobi will surely be a film for the ages. Let’s hope Lucasfilm considers this — and quick.

Han Solo once said, “You know, sometimes I amaze even myself.” That sentiment carries over with his latest outing.

Money, of course, but in this case, the answer lies with the film’s surprising corral of relatively bankable talent. In this live-action fiasco, Will Arnett (“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows”) stars as Frank, a bumbling FBI agent who gets partnered with a street-wise Rottweiler named Max (voiced by rapper-turned decent actor Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, “The Fate of the Furious”). If you’re thinking, “Seriously? Now, that’s ludicrous,” you’re not alone. The movie cheekily makes a reference to that very fact (and more). With that self-awareness, it’s obvious it’s not taking itself too seriously. But that, unfortunately, doesn’t translate to amusing, charming or . . . particularly watchable.

With expectations low, Show Dogs continues to impress by aggressively lowering its standards. The Max and Frank dynamic is meant to invoke humorous mismatched buddy-cop franchises such as “48 Hrs.,” “Lethal Weapon,” “Rush Hour” or more fittingly “Turner & Hooch” and “K-9.” Heck, you can almost picture how this film was pitched: A large, chic office where excited filmmakers pace in front of eager studio executives. The writers (in this case Marc Hyman and Max Botkin) probably said something like, “In buddy cop movies, you usually put a white cop and a black cop together and crazy stuff happens. But in our movie, we’re putting a white cop and a black dog cop together. So, we’re doing something incredibly unique — we’re solving a different kind of racism! Our movie shows how humans and animals of differing cultures can work together and achieve world peace!”

Okay, the meeting probably wasn’t that silly or sophisticated.

Anyway, Max and Frank must travel to Las Vegas and find a stolen panda before it’s illegally sold and lost forever. To capture the thief, Max goes undercover to compete in a fictional prestigious dog show contest. Unfortunately, there’s one problem: Max has no grace, elegance or patience to win (sounds a bit like “Miss Congeniality,” doesn’t it?). Okay, he now has four problems. So, Max and Frank enlist the help of a former French dog champion turned pampered Pomeranian, Phillipe (voiced by Stanley Tucci, “Transformers: Age of Extinction”). Randomly, Max attracts a fan club of one, an annoying, desperate and lonely pug named Sprinkles (voiced by Gabriel Iglesias, “Magic Mike XXL”).

Max is so popular at the dog show, in fact, he manages to befriend, alienate and fall in love with a rough collie named Daisy (voiced by Jordin Sparks, “Left Behind”) in a matter of what feels like two minutes. He also gets some attention from a socialite pup named Persephone (voiced by RuPaul, “RuPaul’s Drag Race” TV series). Lucky dog, I guess . . .? Frank, on the other hand, meets his equivalent in Mattie Smith (Natasha Lyonne, “Antibirth”), a dog groomer sent to help the mismatched partners infiltrate the show. Lyonne is a decent enough actress, but the film has no idea how make her do anything interesting. Instead, the filmmakers have viewers asking super-duper thought-provoking questions like: “Is she a friend? A foe? A subtle love interest that isn’t a love interest? Or is she . . . all three in one?” But then again, every character in this movie has similar issues, so I guess the movie really has no issues after all.

But hey, inconsistencies and senselessness is the Hollywood way for kids movies and their old habits to die hard. Studios expect parents to come to theaters with their children, spend their hard-earned money and be satisfied with a weak product. The trailers say, “It has talking animals!,” “They’re super-cute and cuddly!,” “And did we mention . . . they . . . talk!” Selling points like these might have worked in the 80s and 90s, but today’s audiences are smarter than that. Sure, Show Dogs has a place to exist in the world — it’s just not in a movie theater. It needs to be in a much more exclusive place so those without a care can consume it. It’s called Redbox.

Solo: A Star Wars Story stars Alden Ehrenreich, Emilia Clarke, Donald Glover, Woody Harrelson, Paul Bettany, Thandie Newton, Warwick Davis, Clint Howard and Joonas Suotamo.

Official Synopsis:
Board the Millennium Falcon and journey to a galaxy far, far away in Solo: A Star Wars Story, an all-new adventure with the most beloved scoundrel in the galaxy. Through a series of daring escapades deep within a dark and dangerous criminal underworld, Han Solo meets his mighty future copilot Chewbacca and encounters the notorious gambler Lando Calrissian, in a journey that will set the course of one of the Star Wars saga’s most unlikely heroes.

Solo: A Star Wars Story smuggles into UK theaters on May 24, 2018 and US theaters on May 25, 2018.