May it live long and prosper. I’m not a Trekkie. My mom is and I make fun of her for it, well that is until I watched Star Trek, the latest film, something of a reboot of the franchise, by J.J Abrams. First, I love J.J. Abrams, he takes sci-fi and situates into the realm of reality flawlessly (for the most part) and he never fails in creating emotional attachment between the viewer and the characters. Chris Pine as the new Captain Kirk is smexy and rugged, Zachary Quinto as Spock is awesome, Zoe Saldana as Uhura is gorgeous, John Cho as Sulu is the bomb and everyone Simon Pegg, Karl Urban, Anton Yelchin, Eric Bana…GOLD. J.J as director makes my life worth living. Haha, an overstatement but this movie has restored my faith in the Hollywood blockbuster. (My faith had left completely after seeing the mess that was Wolverine).
Great acting, great direction, great music (though a tad overused), great special effects, great sound design, greats use of lens flares, of all things. Great movie. I’ll write a proper review when I’m not fangirling.
For now here’s a HILARIOUS interview with Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto and an uber Star Trek fan.
This film is beautiful, hilarious and has convinced me that Lee Byung Hun is attractive. I didn’t think a movie could be so many things.
Set in 1930’s Manchuria, this “Kimchi Western”, based on the Italian “spaghetti western” The Good, The Bad, The Ugly, surrounds a treasure map and the various groups and individuals that are out to find it and the supposed treasure. The main focus, of course, is The Good, bounty hunter Park Do Won, The Bad, crazy killer Park Chang Yi and The Weird, petty thief Yoon Tae Goo. Also involved in the chase is the Japanese army, Korean independence fighters and what seems to be roaming Chinese nomads. Read more »
Beyonce acts as something other than a singer (thank god), Nicolas Cage is still trying to be an action hero (but still hasn’t changed his hair) and Madea goes to jail.
Obsessed looks interesting, I really like the lead, Idris Elba, as does my mother, so I’m sure I’ll be seeing this with her. The film is about a businessman who starts getting stalked by a temp worker (Ali Larter) that is infatuated with him. Beyoncé plays his wife, Sharon, and I don’t think she’ll be doing any singing in this film, thankfully. Now, the girl can sing, but she doesn’t need to be a singer in every film she appears in and it’s good that she won’t be a singer in this. I just hope that she will be able to act. The film is somewhat reminiscent of Fatal Attraction as there is a showdown between Sharon and the temp in the film, the difference being that Idris’ character hasn’t actually done anything wrong (maybe). Jerry O’Connell also stars. [High Quality trailer here.]
Knowing, I’m sorry, Know1ng is a film starring Nicolas Cage and Rose Byrne (a great actress who you may have seen in Troy as Achilles’ (Brad Pitt) love interest, Briseis). The film centers around a number code, hidden in a time capsule for 50 years, that seems to predict natural disasters and events that cause a large number of casualties. Nicolas Cage gets his hand on the number code because his son’s school was the one who had buried the time capsule 50 years ago and the son, intrigued, took it home. If you watch the teaser trailer it seems vaguely supernatural, maybe a human that can see into the future, maybe a boy got a vision. If you watch the full trailer, there are, what seem to be, aliens, Nicolas Cage saving babies and random floating objects. Very supernatural. [High Quality trailer here.]
Madea Goes to Jail is another one of Tyler Perry’s stage plays that he’s putting on the big screen. Tyler Perry is one of the best comedic actors because his ad-libbing is golden. I watched a few of his stage plays and his ad-libs are so funny that the rest of the cast is fighting like hell not to laugh. Now, on the big screen I find Tyler Perry’s direction a bit over the top, which is to be expected of someone that goes from directing for the stage and directing on film. On the stage you have to be obvious, everyone in the theatre has to see what you want them to see. In film you can be a lot more subtle. Actually, I went to see Doubt yesterday and Doubt is based on a stage play. The writer of the stage play wrote and directed the film version. Because of this the films direction was very obvious, almost annoyingly so. Back to Madea Goes to Jail it surrounds Madea…going to jail, and a man trying desperately to save a friend of his from prostitution. It will be funny, but it will be touching as well, in true Tyler Perry style. [High Quality trailer here.]
Other Stuff
Escape to Witch Moutain becomes Race to Witch Mountain in a third remake starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. It actually looks good. They didn’t stick to the original idea of kids discovering that they’re aliens, in this remake they are trying to get to their spaceship or something. It’s a good idea to revamp the story because as much as I LOVED the first 2 Escape to Witch Mountain films, there is no reason to make another one with the same plot.
http://www.apple.com/trailers/disney/racetowitchmountain/large.html
Steven Soderbergh directs the near 4 hour epic Che starring one of my favorite actors, Benicio Del Toro. The film centers around Che Guevara’s time in Cuba.
http://www.apple.com/trailers/independent/che/
Good starring Viggo Mortenson tells the story of a man and his Jewish friend caught up in the beginnings of Nazi Germany. Looks really…good. No pun intended.
http://www.apple.com/trailers/independent/good/
Milk tells the story of Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to be elected into a major public office. He was a leader and an inspirational figure but not without his flaws. In 1970’s San Francisco he was a pillar of hope for the gay community and for any minority whose rights were threatened. He was assassinated in 1978 by former city supervisor Dan White, Mayor George Moscone was assassinated as well. Read more »
“Do you know what’s more powerful than guns?…the people”
Word. This movie is a heavy-handed with it’s sorrow and could use with some subtlety but it is a gem and a strong example of mixing history and humanity. Centering around the Gwangju Democratization Movement the film follows four people that are swept up in the terror that militant leader, Chun Doo Hwan, unleashed on protesting students in Gwangju. He sent armed forces to deal with protests but then someone, this person is still unknown, ordered for the use of gunfire against civilians. The people rose against the violent tyranny of the government.
I’m a sucker for movies like these, I love when people are at their most human, fighting for what they believe in, fighting for the basic human need for freedom. The movie doesn’t leave room for wondering, you know exactly what your supposed to feel and there is no room for ambiguity, which isn’t always a good thing. In this movie, however, there are some images and performances that I will never forget. One image is [SPOLIER!!] a young boy, maybe six, is yelling for his dad, after a few moments his dad picks him up and runs away, as he’s running he gets shot, he and the boy fall and for what seems like ages, the young boy is crying for his father to wake up until another man grabs the child and runs away from the gunfire. [SPOILER] Read more »
The recently missing-in-action Ha Ji Won and Uhm Jung Hwa, currently basking in the success of her YG produced album, D.I.S.C.O are set to co-star in the film, Haeundae.
Haeundae is a disctrict in Pusan known for Pusan’s most popular beach. The film is about those devastated by a tsunami that hits Haeundae. Yay for disaster movies! I’m thinking this is going to be something like Day After Tomorrow, Twister,or Armageddon, except with more water and drowning (and less space travel). Though I don’t think their can be anymore water/drowning in this film than in Day After Tomorrow.
Anyway, this movie makes me really nervous because, well, Uhm Jung Hwa, acting distressed? God, please no. I think she’s great in comedy but next to Ha Ji Won-who’s great-she may just look like a fish out of water.
Yesterday Jang Geun Suk was present at the Girls Only premiere of his much anticipated (at least by me) movie Baby and Me.
Jang Geun Suk is such a cutie and I hope in Baby and Me he’ll have more to do than just glare icily (read: blankly) like he did in Hong Gil Dong or have 10 lines like he did in The Longest 24 Months. But since he is the main character in this film I’m sure he’ll do lots and be great (comedy is more his thing, right?)
Hehe, not all babies, just his costar in Baby and Me, Mason Moon.
I love that Jang Geun Suk looks so immeasurably content while the baby–whom he’s holding horribly–looks the exact opposite.
Mason got the role in the film because of his adorable-ness and his giant eyes, as well as his fitting well with Geun Suk.
He really is adorable, but he’s not full Korean, so don’t expect all Korean babies to have giant eyes. Mason is half-Korean, half-Canadian, and currently resides in Korea. He’s been modeling since he was just over 3 months old and he’s become quite the hot topic because he’s just so bleeding adorable.
Looking forward to this movie, if only for the good-looking lead and the adorable little costar.
I Feel Lucky is an upcoming film starring many actors that I very much enjoy watching. Lee Seon Gyeon (Coffee Prince, My Sweet Seoul), Lee Soo Kyeong (Kamyeon, Soulmate, Lawyers of Korea) and Lee Min Ki (Good Day For an Affair, Evasive Inquiry Agency, Dal Ja’s Spring). There’s also Eugene, but I don’t know much about her acting.
Milk
Posted in Movies, NYC, Review, ^_^ with tags Diego Luna, Emile Hirsch, James Franco, Joseph Cross, Josh Brolin, Sean Penn on December 7, 2008 by illdielaughingGreat film.
Milk tells the story of Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to be elected into a major public office. He was a leader and an inspirational figure but not without his flaws. In 1970’s San Francisco he was a pillar of hope for the gay community and for any minority whose rights were threatened. He was assassinated in 1978 by former city supervisor Dan White, Mayor George Moscone was assassinated as well. Read more »
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