Movies Seen Summer 2010

I have watched 160 movies in total from June 25, 2010 to September 30, 2010.

Review of Love Actually

3.5/4

Love Actually is a 2003 British romantic comedy film with an ensemble cast. There has been several movies with a similar kind of deal like Valentine's Day and He's Just Not That Into You. However, the movie that started it all still reigns as the king of romantic comedies for me. I can proudly say that I have seen this movie many times since I was a kid, because it is one of my favorite movies of all time. This must be my fourth or fifth time seeing this movie. Every time I see this film, my heart melts. Now, I know that this review is starting to sound pretty gay. There were so many parts in Love Actually when I got goosebumps. When I watch a movie and get goosebumps, that means that the emotion in the scene was too overwhelming for me. There isn't any other romantic comedy that I can think of that gave me goosebumps. There may have been some, but I have seen so many bad and mediocre romances that I'm starting to get sick of romantic movies. Most romantic movies nowadays are forgettable so-called chick flicks that don't seem to know much about love. Here we have Love Actually, a movie with ten separate but somewhat intertwined stories that each concern a different aspect of love. I don't want to get into much detail, because there are a lot of stories. Most of the actors did very well in their parts and had great chemistry in each storyline. Also, the score and soundtrack are phenomenal. However, this film is not perfect. It suffers some of the same problems with Valentine's Day but not as drastic. There were just too many storylines in Love Actually, and one or two good ones didn't get enough attention. There are three storylines that should've been cut: the one with the two stand-ins for sex scenes, the one with the woman too shy to ask her coworker out, and the one with the guy going to America to get laid. The last one mentioned was only added in to give some humor to the British at the expense of Americans, I think. None of these three storylines were very interesting and had any notable performances. Thankfully, they were all extremely short, but together, they took too much screen time from the great actors and storylines. Also, there was some bad dialogue in this movie, mostly in the beginning and the three not so good storylines I mentioned. Despite these flaws, I gave Love Actually a perfect rating. All film critics have a movie that they hold very dear to their hearts. Love Actually is an excellent romantic comedy and remains to be my favorite romance. In fact, I consider it to be in my top ten favorite movies of all time, and there isn't any other romantic film that comes close to my top ten favorites. There was just so much emotion throughout the movie with the different storylines. I'm even going to admit that I almost cried at the end and teared a little. I really hope that one day there are going to be more romantic movies like Love Actually being made. There have been some other very good ones, but none that can compete to Love Actually in my mind.

Review of 2001: A Space Odyssey

4/4

2001: A Space Odyssey is a 1968 science fiction movie directed by Stanley Kubrick. It has been considered by almost all film critics as a leading contender for the greatest movie of all time. It consistently makes the top ten, at most top twenty, in lists of the greatest films ever. I have heard about this film many times, but I refused to see it for a long time. I have always tried to avoid watching movies made earlier than the 80s, and I still do. However, I am very glad that I took the time to watch this wonderful movie, and I regret that I have not done so before. However, I probably would not have appreciated this film at a younger age, because this movie is not for the simple minded. 2001: A Space Odyssey is a movie that makes us think about who we are as human beings, who we've become and who we might become. Somehow, it manages to do this with minimal dialogue. Now, I get bored easily while watching movies. There are tons of movies that I have sat through, wishing to myself for the movie to end, as well as several that I have turned off out of sheer boredom. As I watched 2001: A Space Odyssey, I kept wondering to myself why I wasn't getting bored. The reason is that this movie is the most beautiful movie I have ever seen in my life. Each sequence has been expertly crafted by Kubrick to inspire awe into the viewer. It is amazing how these images were so well done in the 60s. These images are so well done that I feel that they stand up to the likes of Avatar, the new technical achievement of the 21st century. Ironically, Avatar's director, James Cameron, was inspired to make movies from watching 2001: A Space Odyssey as a kid. Avatar immerses the viewer in a huge, exotic world, while 2001: A Space Odyssey captures the viewer in simple, wondrous images. What makes the images truly powerful is the music. Kubrick's selection of music is fantastic and has made several sequences very memorable. The Blue Danube is forever associated with images of things floating in movies, and Thus Spoke Zarathustra is forever associated with somebody doing something big in movies. The impact that 2001: A Space Odyssey has made in film is tremendous, and you may not even know it. 2001: A Space Odyssey continues to be referenced in many movies and TV shows to this day. Check out the IMDb page for the several hundred movies and TV shows it is referenced in.

Link:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062622/movieconnections

It has inspired many great filmmakers like George Lucas, the creator of Star Wars, as well as Steven Spielberg, director of countless films such as E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and Jurassic Park. It completely changed the way how filmmakers thought about making movies and inspired them to make very creative films. I don't even want to imagine how different films would be without 2001: A Space Odyssey. 2001: A Space Odyssey has greatly influenced the world of film, because the fact of the matter is that 2001: A Space Odyssey is truly a masterpiece.

Review of Valentine's Day

2/4

Valentine's Day is a romantic comedy with an ensemble cast directed by Garry Marshall. First of all, there are a lot of things wrong with this movie. I'm going to start by talking about the movies that did this kind of ensemble love story better. This movie is kind of a ripoff of Love Actually, the movie that started it all. This is what people said about He's Just Not That Into You before it came out. However, He's Just Not That Into You turned out to a alright movie that was actually very original. Valentine's Day, however, shared many similarities to Love Actually and was filled with romantic comedy cliches. I knew what was going to happen to every single one of the characters except two who turned out to be a surprise couple in the end. The movie made a big mistake by trying to cram all these cliche-filled storylines in a movie. To make up for this, the movie was filled with lots of big name stars. There were 21 in total, some more minor than others. All of these actors were very good, but we didn't get to see much of any them. I have to admit it was the star-studded cast that drew me in, but it was the movie's ultimate downfall. Having so many characters and storylines, the movie could not develop either very far. Valentine's Day definitely could've cut several subplots to show us more of the ones we wanted. The biggest example is Taylor Swift and Taylor Lautner's subplot. Literally nothing happened in this subplot. At first, it seemed like Lautner's character was feeling underappreciated, but nothing happened. In fact, Garry Marshall wrote this subplot in the movie just for Swift, but I really wish he didn't to save Taylor some embarrassment. Taylor played an awful character who she couldn't do much with. She was overacting at times and didn't seem believable. I still love her and all, but she really should've skipped out on this gig. Another subplot is with Julia Roberts and Bradley Cooper. The scenes for this one were very brief. Even though the ending to this one was very touching and some of the best parts of the film, it really wasn't necessary. For some reason though, Julia Roberts was paid $500,000 per minute for this film, meaning she got roughly $3 million for about 6 minutes of screen time. Now, that is ridiculous. Swift's last minute subplot and Roberts' top dollar salary are some of the things that make me think that Garry Marshall was just trying to get as many stars as possible in one movie. There were definitely several actors that could've had their screen time reduced. Jessica Alba didn't need to show up in the film after her character walks out on Ashton Kutcher's character. Also, Eric Dane was probably only added to the film, so McSteamy could share the big screen with McDreamy. Garry Marshall has made some of the best romantic comedies ever, but he really messed this one up by mashing all these subplots and characters together only to compliment the number of big name stars. The only reason I was so generous with the rating is that Valentine's Day is a very entertaining film at times. There was plenty of fun moments as well as touching ones. All I can say is that Love Actually is still the king of ensemble love stories, and I really recommend it if you want to see how it is done.

Review of Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story

3.5/4

Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story is a semifictionalized biopic of Bruce Lee. Let me assure you now: there is a lot of fiction in this movie. However, that doesn't stop it from being a good movie. The first hour was more of a romance story between Bruce Lee (Jason Scott Lee) and his eventual wife, Linda Emery (Lauren Holly). Asian/Caucasian couples are basically nonexistent in Hollywood films, especially Asian man and white woman. No matter what, the Asian man cannot get the girl. See any of Jet Li's American movies for a good example. Despite the lack of these kind of couples, Bruce and Linda are one of the most powerful couples I have ever seen in film. What I mean by powerful is I really felt the chemistry between the two. There was so much romance in the first half of this movie. The musical score also really helped convey the emotion in the romantic moments as well as the many inspirational moments in the second half of the movie. Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story has one of the most heard scores, but it is not very well-known. You have probably heard it in many movie trailers and Academy Awards montages. I felt that the rise of success in the second half of this movie was kind of rushed. I wish the movie was longer to elaborate more on Lee's success. Jason Scott Lee had a lot of funny one-liners in this film, and Lauren Holly got in some, too. I also found it very funny that it seemed everywhere Bruce went in his life, he had to get into a fight with people. Most of these fights were totally fictionalized as well as a lot of other stuff. I hated all the demon mumbo jumbo in this movie. In Dragon, Bruce's father apparently sent Bruce to learn kung fu and then sent him to live in the US, because he was afraid of demons. This is completely untrue and kind of insulting. I feel like every American movie with Asians portray all Asians to be devout believers of mystical creatures like demons. To add more insult to injury, Bruce Lee was an atheist. Throughout this movie, Bruce is haunted by images of demons. I hated these hallucinations, because I felt that they really detracted from the movie and portrays Bruce as a strong believer of that kind of stuff. I know that the demons were representing Lee's inner demons and stuff, but it was stupid. However, I have tried to ignore a lot of this when reviewing the film. Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story is a very good semifictionalized, meaning mostly bullshit, movie about Bruce Lee. This movie was very romantic and inspirational at times. Despite being a tale of Lee's life, it is one of the best romance stories I have ever seen. I would definitely recommend it to anybody interested in Bruce Lee, even though it is mostly lies.