"Best of What's Around"

"Sometimes it is too damn hot to do anything."

This has been my mantra during these past few weeks of summer classes. It has been either way to hot or humid to really go out to see and do things that I want to do around Seoul. I'm putting a lot off until the autumn when I can actually enjoy being outside for more than a half-hour at a time without having a hallucination of a comfy, air conditioned apartment. That, and the combination of that the Korean teachers (who I want to spend time with as my tour guides of the area) are on summer vacation, makes for rather dull afternoons. So dull sometimes that I end up watching WAY too many movies. (I won't get into how I viewed these though for my own protection.) ^-^

Anyways, I've done a lot of catching up on movies I haven't seen within the past few years (or more), and I think this is as good a time as any to pretend that I am the next Gene Siskel. So, strike up the band, and break out the cue cards: here it is...

My Top Movies That I've Seen This Summer That May Or May Not Be New, But Of Which, Are New To Me. *whew*

(I know some of you will disagree with my opinions, but remember this is MY blog and MY opinions, so hush!).

The Best (In no particular order)

Religulous: This was a funny, but also insightful docu-mocu-mentary presented and directed by Bill Mahr. His basic premise for the film is questioning world religions and ideals whilst poking fun at some of the absurdities and things people tend to believe. (not to mention a funny crack at Scientology). I found it hysterical, but unfortunately very one sided. Mahr's main achievement for me was this: "The irony of religion is that because of its power to divert man to destructive courses, the world could actually come to an end. The plain fact is, religion must die for mankind to live." - a good point in my opinion. However, his failure in the movie is to interview reputable theologians on the meanings behind the ideals he mocks. I don't think he was fair to criticize without finding out the whole story - and then build upon by editing the film to make people look pretty darn stupid.

I Love You Man: The main plot is this: "Friendless Peter Klaven goes on a series of man-dates to find a Best Man for his wedding. But when his insta-bond with his new B.F.F. puts a strain on his relationship with his fiancée, can the trio learn to live happily ever after?" (IMDB). I found this movie only "so-so" funny (sometimes it seemed they were trying to hard), but I could also could relate to the story on how awkward it can be to make male friends. There are many funny one-liners and antics in this film and Jason Segel and Andy Samberg steal the show from the lead of Paul Rudd, but rightly so, as they are just funnier people.

Gran Torino: Most likely, the best movie I have seen all summer. Plot: "Disgruntled Korean War vet Walt Kowalski (Clint Eastwood) sets out to reform his neighbor, a young Hmong teenager, who tried to steal Kowalski's prized possession: his 1972 Gran Torino." This movie was very touching and eye opening, as it shows a weird balance of bigotry, but human decency at the same time. All the Hmong cast members, sans one, had never acted before, but give a wonderful performance. A must see in my opinion.

Valkyrie: Plot: "Based on actual events, a plot to assassinate Hitler is unfurled during the height of WWII". Not the greatest WWII movie, but a pretty suspenseful one that highlights the assassination and secretive coup to overthrow Hitler and make a new Germany before Hitler destroys all that it used to be and stand for. Tom Cruise gives a decent performance, but overall, the film wasn't that great. There are many slow points that are trying to be historically accurate without being entertaining enough.

Defiance: Based on a true story: "Jewish brothers in Nazi-occupied Eastern Europe escape into the Belarussian forests, where they join Russian resistance fighters and endeavor to build a village in order to protect themselves and about 1,000 Jewish non-combatants." A fairly good movie that is suspenseful and exciting at the same time. The acting is well done, and story is well told. It's a good movie and something I would watch again.

The Soloist: "A Los Angeles Journalist, befriends a homeless Julliard trained musician, while looking for a new article for the paper." The acting in this film was superb, as Jaime Foxx and Robert Downey Jr. have excellent interplay. The storyline is slow however, and there are many references that try to make political statements against the Bush Administration that aren't necessary for the story. It does, however, give an eye opening insight to the homeless of L.A. and treatment of the mentally disabled.

17 Again: "About a guy whose life didn't quite turn out how he wanted it to and wishes he could go back to high school and change it. He wakes up one day and is seventeen again and gets the chance to rewrite his life." This is basically the same movie as 13 going on 30, or any of those age reversal movies. Although it was probably a film made for screaming teenage Zac Effron fans, I actually though it was light and humorous in many ways. The acting was pretty bad, the plot was obvious, and the teenage cast was annoyingly stereotypical, but it still was pretty funny. Overall, a good movie to watch if you just want to laugh and feel good.

Bridge To Terabithia: As many of you know the book, I don't feel as though I need to go into the plot. The movie was pretty well done, although the CGI characters were really fake looking. I thought it was tastefully done and made me smile to reminisce about my childhood. The movie didn't stick fully to the book, so there was some disappointment there, but it didn't change my overall feeling towards the film. It pretty much brought my imagination to life and made me yearn to be a kid playing in the woods again.

Dan in Real Life: Plot: "A widower finds out the woman he fell in love with is his brother's girlfriend". I mainly watched this because I remember it was being filmed in Rhode Island when I was living there. I even recall they were shooting a scene not far from the Johnston and Wales University and Dane Cook was around chatting with locals and we were all staring out our office windows hoping that maybe they would film on your street. Anyways, this film was hilarious in my opinion. Dane Cook and Steve Carell are two funny men who know how to entertain you in the most awkward ways. I highly recommend this film both as comedy and as a romance film. It has its cute moments immediately followed up by sprays of hilarity. Also, it's a good movie to watch over and over especially if you are trying to find Rhode Island landmarks in Newport, Jamestown, and Narragansett.

The Bucket List: "Two terminally ill men escape from a cancer ward and head off on a road trip with a wish list of to-dos before they die." This film was all I expected it to be. A very simple and predictable storyline. The acting was good - as you would expect from the two great actors of Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman, but even though you can pretty much know the ending after the first minute into the movie, it still made me feel sympathetic to the characters as it was very touching once you got to understand them and how they were dealing with the lives and deaths in different ways.

Benny and Joon: So, it's an older movie, but I had never seen it - and I'm glad I did. "A mentally ill young woman finds her love in an eccentric man who models himself after Buster Keaton." The story line is pretty simple, but there are so many quirky and funny scenes that I was delighted by - mostly by Johnny Depp's character that imitated Buster Keaton classic scenes. The dialogue is well done, but it's just a good movie with memorable scenes which don't need words.

Public Enemies: Keeping with Johnny Depp, this film is about the later life of the notorious American gangster John Dillinger. The film is well done and makes you feel like you are in the 1930's. If you know the story behind John Dillinger you won't be disappointed as it is very accurate to the details of his later life and death. The only thing that brought this movie down was Christian Bale's role. (I honestly think he's doing way too many films at once, and all his characters are blending together.)

Stranger than Fiction: "An IRS auditor (Will Farrell) suddenly finds himself the subject of narration only he can hear: narration that begins to affect his entire life, from his work, to his love-interest, to his death." A funny film in a weird sort of way, and it also contains a little romance with a woman who is completely the opposite of the by-the-book, uptight character that is Will Farrell. Anyone who knows me, knows I don't like 90% of Farrell's films, but this one I found surprisingly enjoyable (probably because Farrell doesn't play a complete idiot for a change).

An Inconvenient Truth: Al Gore's presentation on climate change, global warming, and the grim future we face if we keep on the same path we are on today. This film is pretty eye opening to some of the facts of Global warming. Granted some of the statistics could probably be slanted in the oppositions favor, but Gore makes a compelling argument that I think everyone must hear. I did feel that Gore tried to put himself on a pedestal as a leader of climate change that no one heeded advice from, when plenty of people had done this before him. He also made himself to be a victim of the 2000 election when he 'lost' to Bush, and throws in some criticisms of the Republican party that are unnecessary for making his arguments on the environment.

Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara: "A film about the former US Secretary of Defense and the various difficult lessons he learned about the nature and conduct of modern war" An interesting documentary hosted by the late McNamara that explains and tries to justify many policies of his creation throughout his career. I applaud him for looking inward to disagree with some of his decisions of the past especially in Vietnam. But overall, I think he makes some decent points, although sometimes the film feels like it is a cheap version of his memoirs and focuses on his accomplishments, rather than showing some of his failures.

The Pianist: "A Polish Jewish musician struggles to survive the destruction of the Warsaw ghetto of World War II." An extremely well done movie starring Adrien Brody. I kept putting myself in his characters shoes, and was held in suspense and yet sad-horror throughout his scenes of suffering. I think this is a must see for anyone who wants to experience a viewpoint of someone living in a Jewish Ghetto rather than all the other WWII Holocaust based movies.

Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism: "Documentary on reported Conservative bias of the Rupert Murdoch-owned Fox News Channel (FNC), which promotes itself as "Fair and Balanced". Material includes interviews with former FNC employees and the inter-office memos they provided." This documentary is pretty much biased against FNC, but rightfully so. The film points out the blatant right-wing agenda of FNC and how journalism has suffered because of the lack of ethical journalism (or lack thereof) that FNC brings to the world. I don't agree with some of their statistics, but I do agree with the anger of FNC's marketing ploys, lack of fact checking, one sided arguments, and use of commentators of journalists just to make their point. My favorite scene was the focus on Bill O'Reilly and his hatred of the son of a 9/11 widow for his views against the Bush Administration and War in Afghanistan. Frankly, I think Bill O'Reilly needs to be taken off the air as soon as humanly possible.

The Worst (In no particular order)

Apocalypse Now (Redux Version): Ok, so some of you are going to yell and scream at me for saying I think this is an awful movie. I get it. You don't think Francis Ford Coppola is capable of making a bad movie - I mean, the man made the Godfather! But still, I hated this film. Here's the plot: "During the on-going Vietnam War, Captain Willard is sent on a dangerous mission into Cambodia to assassinate a renegade Green Beret who has set himself up as a God among a local tribe." First off, this movie is based on the book "Heart of Darkness" which by reading about it, seems much more entertaining than the Vietnam War adapted version. I thought the movie would probably be enjoyed if you were high on shrooms (which actor Sam Bottoms actually was during the time of filming). Overall, I didn't find it entertaining except for one scene (probably the most popular one too) where Robert Duvall's character strikes an NVA stronghold just so he can go surfing, and throws out the "I love the smell of Napalm in the morning!" line. I was completely disappointed in this movie based on its high reviews and Oscar wins. And I really don't recommend the Redux Version as it was over 3 hours long. ZZZZzzzzzz

Watchmen: "In an alternate 1985 where former superheroes exist, the murder of a colleague sends active vigilante Rorschach into his own sprawling investigation, uncovering something that could completely change the course of history as we know it." Maybe it's because I never read the comic book, but I didn't find this movie that entertaining. I had decent special effects, but that was about it. I didn't understand why one of the superhero's (Dr. Manhattan) had such a hard time dealing with his emotions for humanity for such a supreme being that was once human. I think I'm missing out on a lot by not knowing the comic, but overall, I didn't find it that entertaining, and expected a more intricate plot with more action - as it is a comic and superheros. Turns out it was more like a boring crime drama.

Terminator Salvation: "After Skynet has destroyed much of humanity in a nuclear holocaust, a group of survivors led by John Connor struggles to keep the machines from finishing the job." Christian Bale stars in this 4th Terminator flick of which, the only highlight is the special effects. The plot is the same as all the others - destroy the machines, stay alive, blow stuff up. There are just too many holes based on the info given in the first 3 Terminator films. I honestly think they should have stopped after the first 2. Please - don't make a 5th unless you're going to kill off all the characters.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen: Probably one of the worst movies I've seen in a while. The special effects were cool and all, but the story made no sense and was riddled with holes. My favorite 2 mistakes are 1. When the Decepticons go under water to revive Megatron, the navy states that 5 "objects" go under water. If one of the Decepticons was killed in order to bring Megatron back to life, there couldn't have arisen 6 "objects" from the water (that's just simple math), and 2. The main characters go to Washington DC's Air and Space Museum to bring a jet to life as a Transformer, and upon exiting the building are seen among many other planes in the desert. (I never knew there was a desert on the Mall in D.C.)

The Secret: "Interviews with leading authors, philosophers, scientists, with an in-depth discussion of the Law of Attraction. The audience is shown how they can learn and use 'The Secret' in their everyday lives." This is a spiritual guidance documentary about how "The Secret" aka the Law of Attraction with give you what you want. Basically, it says, if you focus on what you want, the universe will give it to you. If you are negative about things, the universe will bring you that as well. My problem with this film is it is just nuts. It's a bunch of loons talking about how you can get anything in the world if you think positively about what you want, ask for it, think about it, and you will receive it. Yet these people are authors, teachers, philosophers, and new world academics. You'd think if this really worked then they'd be making millions and getting everything they ever wished for. Frankly, if I were some of the people in this film, I'd wish (using the Law of Attraction) that my face was better looking for film.


Across the Universe: This film is basically a montage of Beatles music set on an acid trip. Nothing to write home about. I don't recommend watching it at all, rather just listen to the music. It has no real plot, it just follows some characters in an annoying love story throughout the 50's-70's and puts the music in perspective to the time it was written.

Twilight: Based on the popular teen book series, the movie is about a teenage girl falling in love with a vampire. What makes it a weird movie is the vampire is about 100 years old in a twenty year olds body (and still in high school for the bazillionth time). Oh, and he falls in love with a 17 year old girl who smells like a really tasty meal to him. Can we say "creepy cradle robber"?

The Hangover: Ok, so this is a movie that is actually pretty funny, but I've seen it before. It's a really dumb movie that has been repackaged. This explains it better than I do. <--Click it!

Made of Honor: "A guy (Patrick Dempsey) in love with an engaged woman tries to win her over after she asks him to be her maid of honor." I'm mixed on this film. It had some funny moments, and was overall entertaining, but I didn't feel like the guy should have gotten the girl in the end. (You'd have to be an idiot to think it wouldn't happen, so I'm not really ruining anything here). Why do I feel like the guy shouldn't have gotten the girl? Well, 1. He had a strict rule about dating women and was completely against commitment in any form but slept with what seemed like every woman in New York. 2. He was a rich, arrogant, good looking, know it all. 3. He didn't know he loved his best friend until she was taken, and was using her for her company, but not as a potential life-long partner. Basically, these are all the signs of the villain in a love story. Meanwhile, the poor fiancee was a nice guy, simple, foreign, rich too, (but a little too perfect). I just don't think Patrick Dempsey's character was worthy enough for the girl, and I didn't feel bad for him when his love interest fell in love with someone and seemingly broke his heart. Too bad!


Journey to the Center of the Earth: Basically the plot of the book, but unites a uncle and his nephew on a journey to find the nephew's lost father. My issue wasn't the story - it was entertaining and actually quite funny. It was the special effects I didn't enjoy. For this day and age, they were too cartoony and fake. Get with the program, and don't make me feel that every move is a CGI image on a green screen!