Reviews

I won't add any spoilers or summary. I went with a friend, who felt she could not understand the story at all. I was sucked into the movie from the very beginning from the masterful and believable acting. All three characters were so believable. The acting was superb. The movie could have used a little more editing, but I didn't mind watching every scene of the movie. The script, scenery, and acting were so authentic. The longer you watch, the more questions and tension grew until the shocking end. After the movie, it keeps you thinking. I loved this movie. Lot better than blood, guts, and predictable cheap thrillers.

First, the 7-star rating is based on the entertainment value. The movie moved quickly, and the action and special effects were pretty awesome. This is not to say there were some major issues with the movie.

"Dr. Strange and the very Strange Tibetan Monk" may have been the more a propos title. The entire time I was watching Swinton, a question lingered in the back of my mind. "What, a white middle-aged woman is the spiritual and combat master leading the Tibetan monks?!" This was a bit hard to swallow.

Another issue with the movie is the story flow. It was more like watching action series than a movie. I had to either swallow and/or blink hard time the scene changed. The filming seemed to have wrapped up while the editing was in progress.

Not to discourage you from seeing the movie, it is still fun but don't try to understand the complex and very improbably storyline.

Watching this movie felt like a wonderful relief after a long-suffered constipation thanks to Oliver Stone in taking a huge chance, I thought in telling a story that might not be well received by the mass public. In this day and age when the mainstream media is so politically influenced, facts are precious commodities. Until I saw the movie, I was unaware of the extent of the government's encroachment on individual's liberties. Now, the reality is more like the movies. Snowden risked his freedom and career to expose the U.S. government's unconstitutional activities. The cast was great, and the suspense was great. The only thing I really hated about the movie was Shailene Woodley's ill-fitting wig. This is a movie worth seeing.

The Witch can be summed up in one word: sick! The costumes, props, sound affects, and acting looked so authentic in the trailer, so without bothering to read all the good and bad reviews before going, I did the regrettable thing. I bought the tickets. What a big mistake! I genuinely believe this movie was made to propagate satanism. Soon after the movie started, I began to feel uneasy. Hints of incestuous desires, grotesque nudity, morally corrupt young kids, betrayals among parents and kids, hopelessness of faith, the powerless God, kids and parents turning on each other, genocide, child sex, you name it. And you don't even want to know how the movie ends! The story seems to be a confusing mix of Hansel and Gretel, Salem Witch Hunt, and The Shining. I felt like throwing up from the moral filth of the movie. Sick!

An actor with a thousand faces, Myungjun Hwang, and the old master, Minshik Choi, who is one of Director Kwontaek Im's favorite actors, keep you glued to the screen. Aside from the fantastic acting, the dialogue (full of the worst cuss words, like in Quentin Terentino movies), suspenseful action sequences, impressive movie sets, the Chinese twist, fully developed characters, and great English subtitle all work together to break the monotony of what could have been another cookie-cutter stereotypical gangster movie. Though I do not normally cuss, these cuss words were so creative, I could not stop laughing. I am so glad I chose this over Amistad for a relaxing evening.

This movie turned me into a true fan of Josh Brolin. He was totally immersed in his character, and he never for one moment made me think he was acting. The unpredictable plot, masterful acting by Josh Brolin and Samuel L. Jackson, and the perfectly-timed thrilling action scenes totally sucked me into the story. What made the movie more enjoyable was the artful mix of comedy, violence and love story. Although this is an impossible story that can only be found in comic books, Spike Lee almost made me believe it. After watching this remake, I could not bear to watch the original version by Chan Wook Park, which looked so contrived and surreal. As the movie played on, the victim turned out to be the villain and the villain turned out to be the victim. The final climax is in the ending: a shocking irony and a perfect punishment. The moral or the story is, everyone gets his just deserts. I loved it!

Disney made this movie as a promotional film for their theme park, I should have known by the name "Tomorrow Land". Boring. Already 20 - 25 minutes into the movie, and the main plot was not introduced. Casey, the main character, was way too self-assured for a high school girl. George Clooney's character was too cool and too smart. Characters were too exaggerated and they did not connect with the audience. After 2 hours, I still did not understand the plot, but I was sure glad to be getting out of there.

The storyline seemed patched up jumble of National Treasure and ET although there was no alien but a robot from the future. I really kick myself for not seeing Mad Max instead. My son had seen Mad Max and did not want to see it the second time. Walking out of the theater, subconsciously, I was adding up my wasted money for admissions and concession and time. This may be a good movie for kids under 10 years old.

Wowww! I don't know where to start. The movie was so much better than my expectation after reading the IMDb's movie critics' reviews. I feel compelled to disagree with some of the criticisms that this movie tried to be melodramatic, some scenes were unnecessarily too comical, and that it was improbable and unrealistic for a person to go through all such tumultuous events. I like to recommend those critics to read about the 20th century Korean history.

My mother now in her 80's experienced many of the same experiences and some additional events in her lifetime: the Japanese occupation (1910- 1945), her 11 -year old classmates being shipped off by Japanese as wartime prostitutes during WWII (1939-1945), Korean independence (1948), Korean War (1950-1953) during which time she was a refugee in Busan, etc.

Immediately after WWII, after Japan exhausted all of Korea's natural resources, goods and men to fuel their war engines, Korean War broke. Whatever remained standing or fertile were bombed or burned up. After the Korean War, Korea was literally in rubble and ashes. Many families were split up and scattered during the war. The Streets were covered with orphans. Holt Adoption Agency placed many Korean orphans in American homes. These are all accurate.

As an early teen (in early 1960's), I was hearing about many Koreans hiring themselves out to foreign countries to find work as miners, nurses, or soldiers. The movie was also accurate that Germany did not extend the visas of foreigner miners for they were hired to make up for their temporary labor shortage.

I do agree with the critics that some of the acting was a bit raw, but they were soon forgotten as the movie pulled me into the story. I appreciated the funny scenes in the movie, for without them, it would have been too depressing to watch. This is a wonderful, wonderful movie, you must see! It is playing in K-Town at CGV theater. Also good eats in the same shopping mall.

What I really liked about the movie was that this was the first American movie ever to show a glimpse of how truly cruel the Japanese were during WWII. Not to hatch the past or to hold a grudge, but it is important to know the accurate history. I applaud the producers for making this movie. Yet, this seemingly wonderful and moving story of perseverance and triumph did not come through clearly through the somewhat spotty story-telling and raw acting jobs. The characters did not fully develop, and obviously some important portions of the story were left out. Finally, the ending was...what should I say...very uninteresting and flat. Sorry to say, wished it was directed better, Angelina.

Undoubtedly Sony Pictures made up the entire story about North Korea hacking their data network: it was a ploy to hype up interest for this big flop. $5.99 was way too much to pay for this movie. Most of the footage was not good enough to be shown on the screen. Too often, successful movie makers mistake vulgarity as humor and parody as an original story. James Franco made the same mistake, here. His charm was not enough to stop me from fast-forwarding through the movie. I have to give credit though to Franco and Rogan's marketing genius. A parody about Kim Jung Eun, propaganda-like writing on buses , "Do not listen to these ignorant Yankees," the fake hacking at the Sony Studios followed by the last-minute movie release through private theaters and internet certainly peaked my interest enough to flip $5.99 to find what all this hype was about.

After paying $48 for three regular (not even 3D) admissions and $30 at the concession stand, we sat patiently for 2 hours waiting for the story to unfold when the movie suddenly ended. What's going on?!! Did you ever go to a very fancy restaurant that served tinny portions of mediocre food? Well, walking out of this movie sort of felt like that: an overcharge and a big letdown.

The whole movie could have been edited into 15 minutes, but the actors (all except for Jennifer Lawrence and Woody Haroldson, whose acting is unapproachable) intentionally act and speak slowly to stretch the running time of the movie. Mockingjay Part 1 is just a bad trailer for Mockingjay Part 2 to be released probably next year, but after seeing the trailer, I'm not sure whether I want to see the real movie.