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Into the Wild (2007)
Silly, Foolish, and Absolutely Exasperating
Watched this film without any expectations; realised halfway through that it was based on a true story of a man who tried to set out "into the wild" to get away from society etc etc... and trying to "live off the land".
Not sure how this film got to have half a million ratings that lands it with an average of 8.1 stars - this film certain did not work out all that good for me.
While there is no doubt some form of sympathy evoked for McCandless - the things he did after leaving college were sorely stupid, silly, foolish and downright exasperating to watch on film.
Emile Hirsch's performance was OK in this film - can't say he had a lot of room for development as an actor for such a guy who did such foolish things in real life.
The only thing I felt good after watching this film, was when the end credits rolled.
Yes, this is a harsh review, but the 148 mins watching this film was time taken away from my life on witnessing the shenanigans of a foolish person doing stupid things in real-life, which eventually led to his own demise.
K-20: Kaijin nijû mensô den (2008)
Good Actors + Bad plot = Bad Film. Watch only if you have spare cash lying around
I went to this show with a neutral opinion, having not been influenced by any prior knowledge nor reviews from the press or the Internet.
And boy, was I sorely disappointed.
***SPOILERS AHEAD*** While this movie was made with a narrative style used commonly in Japanese anime/manga, such narrative coupled with real actors in a real life setting on film had the awkward consequence of making it ridiculous and absurd at times.
Several instances of comic relief were inserted into this film in attempts to lighten up the mood. To the average Joe, this will result in laughter and happiness oozing out from your ears. To the movie critic, it is ludicrous and lame, as such instances of comic relief severely affected the continuity of the film at times (Note to self: This film will never win any prestigious awards).
The plot contained nothing to shout about; you could anticipate the action and every single twist which has already been done to death in many other films in the same genre. E.g., good guy turns out to be bad guy, bad guy kills good guy, good guy plays possum and turns the table around onto the bad guy in the end.
This film could have easily obtained a mediocre 6 out of 10 points (or 3 out of 5 stars), which however was unfortunately ruined by the screwed up ending. Two things which I've learned from this film:
1) In this world where science governs reality, a helicopter can fly downwards at 90 degrees straight towards the ground, and still be able to pull up and fly away parallel to the earth.
2) A hero always carries doves/pigeons on him BEFORE a fight, TO the fight, so that he can impress ladies after the fight's finished.
In short, watch this ONLY IF you have spare cash lying around your table.
Inu to watashi no 10 no yakusoku (2008)
Cliché and passé, but still meaningful in certain ways
Similar to Quill (2004), this film involves a pet dog, giving the audience a hint of what will come as the ending to this film. Several scenes have been deliberately set up as tear-jerker scenes, very much similar to Quill (2004).
First time viewers...(read more) who have not watched Quill (2004) may find this film touching and emotional. Veteran viewers of films of this particular genre will see it instead as cliché and passé.
While the deliberate tear-jerker elements may somewhat contribute to the downfall of this film (leading to 7 instead of 8 stars), the meaningful moral behind the film with regards to balancing family relationships vs. personal dreams/careers cannot be depicted any better.
The Incredible Hulk (2008)
A typical comic-book superhero film. Only the most die-hard Hulk fans will find this film good...
Another typical comic book superhero movie with the usual omgwtfbbq plot twist as its ending. Putting the CGI special effects aside, this film does not warrant a high rating as a cinematic masterpiece, mainly because of the various scenes that proved...(read more) to be haphazardly stitched together for i) plot and, ii) comic relief.
Plot: The opening credits scene of 2 minutes and 55 seconds undoubtedly served as a quick start for non-Hulk fans to understand the history of the Hulk. This quick start had plenty of room for improvement, as it can be seen as the simplest way out (no dialog, just cut scenes and panning shots of newspaper clips and computer screens).
Comic relief: Multiple scenes which serve no purpose in moving the plot forward, but are meant to inject comic relief, but which still fail terribly in the latter are also present in this film. Scenes including a) cellular biologist Dr. Elizabeth Ross (Liv Tyler) not knowing that her lip gloss and watch cannot be tracked by the US Army, b) taxi scene where Elizabeth Ross shouts at the driver for driving too fast, and c) Banner falling from the helicopter realizes that he hasn't yet transformed into the Hulk, exclaims "Oh sh*t!", and still ends up making a big hole in the ground with a last-minute transformation.
Gong fu guan lan (2008)
Cheap entertainment, silly plot, watch only if you run out of films to watch at your nearby theater
Lot of silly plot holes in the film. First we see him watching his master practice kung-fu, and die in the midst of his practice. That's fine with me. And then at the end of the film, we see him use the kung-fu that he learned just by watching his master when he was still a kid. Is that even possible? I don't think so.
This show is purely for Jay Chou fans, and the film lacks a depth in terms of character development, cinematography styles and unfolding of plot.
Anybody notice that the captain of the basket team (forgot his name) and the idolized player Li Xiao look so similar to each other, to the extent that you'd think they were the one and same person? Long hair, sunshine-boy look, tall and strong. The two of them looked like they came out from a mass production factory designed to churn out products that makes teenage girls scream wild in orgasm. Not that those two actors had anything of value to contribute to the movie as a whole for the movie industry at all.
The jokes were lame and not funny at all.
The scene with regards to the 4 masters of Jay Chou coming back to help him out in the basketball court, degenerated into a pointless plot when they started bashing their opponents ala Royal Rumble style. Worse of all, when the 4 masters won the fight, the crowd began cheering, and the match continued. It was truly a WTF? moment.
At the end of the show, when they win the match, all thanks to Jay Chou's excellent kung fu skills. How he acquired those kung-fu skills is a mystery, because the show somehow shows him acquiring the skills just by observing his master.
And then his long-lost father comes out of the woodwork to acknowledge Jay Chou as his long-lost son seemed just a tad too quick of the director to wrap up the film.
In short, this is a Jay Chou-flick (instead of the usual "chick flick"). Watch it only if Jay Chou is your fan. If you are one of those whose tastes in movies coincide greatly with those in the list of IMDb's top 250 films of all time, then this film is not for you.