I knew that this could be a good film, I had no idea that it would be a great one that I would want to get on Blu-Ray as soon as possible.

Invictus is a 2009 biographical drama film based on Nelson Mandela’s life during the 1995 Rugby World Cup in South Africa. Directed by Clint Eastwood, the film stars Morgan Freeman as South African President Mandela, and Matt Damon as François Pienaar, the South African Rugby team captain.

My favorite part of the film was the opening when Mandela attempts to tackle the country’s largest problems—including crime and unemployment—he attends a game of the Springboks, the country’s rugby union team. Blacks in the stadium were cheering against their home squad, as the Springboks (their history, players and even their colors) represent prejudice and apartheid in their minds. Knowing that South Africa is set to host the 1995 Rugby World Cup in one year’s time, Mandela convinces the South African rugby board to keep the Springbok team, name and colors the same.

He then meets with Springboks captain François Pienaar. Though Mandela never verbalizes his true meaning during their meeting, Pienaar understands the message below the surface: if the Springboks can gain the support of black South Africans and succeed in the upcoming World Cup, the country will be unified and inspired. Mandela also shares with Pienaar that a poem, Invictus, had been inspiring to him during his time in prison, helping him to “stand when all he wanted to do was lie down”.

In my live, I have seen nations unify over sports. I saw the USA cheer an Olympic Ice Hockey team to a gold Medal in 1980. I have also seen a divided Germany win the World Cup back in 1974, and people wishing that their country could be unified. I saw that same spirit in this film. Sports can not solve all of one countries problems but it can unify them, if only for a brief moment.

Grade: A+

Brenda Mazibuko: You’re risking your political capital, you’re risking your future as our leader.
Nelson Mandela: The day I am afraid to do that is the day I am no longer fit to lead.

The next film this week, I saw in 3-D and its title is Alice in Wonderland (2010).

The idea of this film is rather simple, What if a 19 year old Alice returns to Wonderland? As for me it was worth the price of seeing it in 3D at the Say CGV. It was not worth me traveling to Yongsan CGV, to see the film in Imax. So where doe the film go wrong?

As I kept watching this film, I kept waiting for Pink Floyd or Iron Butterfly’s music to appear. The film is a great visual but I kept thinking that this film could be so much better if the audience was taking a very strong peyote sample. The visuals, instead of helping this film, really hurt the film. I saw a lot of pretty pictures but they all felt very empty and, to me. the film really suffered for it.

Now they’re a few things to really love about this film. The voices of Stephen Fry as the Cheshire Cat, Michael Sheen as the White Rabbit and Christopher Lee as the voice of the Jabberwocky. Every time that their characters were on the film, the film seemed to come alive and fully encompassed the 3D goal of this film.

In the end the film is worth one viewing and that is all.

Grade: B-

The Mad Hatter: Have I gone mad?
[Alice checks Hatter's temperature]
Alice Kingsley: I’m afraid so. You’re entirely bonkers. But I’ll tell you a secret. All the best people are.

A few weeks ago I said that there are good and bad weeks for seeing movies here in Korea. Also, once again, this week is not a good one for the movies. This week we have The Fourth Kind, Couples Retreat, The Lovely Bones and maybe Milk

The first film we have this week is “The Fourth Kind”

I have no idea why, who or any reasoning for this film. The film’s trailer states that the story is based on “actual case studies,” but did not specify any cases.The film claims to faithfully portray actual alien abduction events that took place in the year 2000.

All I saw was a huge mess of a film and when it was over, I couldn’t see any reason for anyone to ever see this film.

Please pass on this film.

Grade F

The next film is “Couples Retreat”

As I earlier wrote about this film, “Couples Retreat leaves viewers stranded in an arid, mirthless and humorless comedy. I really tried to laugh at this film. It just wasn’t funny.”

With the stars in the film, I should have really enjoyed it. It was a comedy that I just could not laugh at. There were showing of this film in which on a Saturday night , not one ticket was sold. That should all that one needs to know about this film.

Grade F.

The 3rd film this week is “The Lovely Bones”

As I stated earlier abut this film, “This should have been Peter Jackson return to small movies. Instead we are given a film that is hard to follow and has not done well at the box office. The film is rumored to have cost between 65-100 million $ and after seeing the film, I have no idea where the money went, because it sure did not go into the film.”

Many critics have blamed the failure of this film squarely on Peter Jackson. I went into this film expecting another Heavenly Creatures, instead I get a film that, I had not read the book, but even I could tell that a lot was missing from this film. It just felt like a bad greatest hits album.

Please pass on this film.

Grade F

There is one (maybe) this this week and that is the film Milk

This film has been delayed 3 times already for its’ South Korea run and I have no idea where this film will play. Cine 21 has this film opening on 25th February.

According to the Joongang Ilbo (HT ROK Drop), your take-home might not be as nice as it’s been the last six years:

Expats earning less than 100 million won ($86,133) a year will likely pay more taxes this year than last year because the government is ending a special tax benefit that foreigners had received.

A temporary tax benefit for foreigners enacted in 2004 had enabled foreigners to choose either to have 30 percent of their annual taxable income exempted from taxation or paying tax on only 15 percent of their total annual income including non-taxable income. Either way, most foreigners paid lower taxes than Koreans earning the same income. The revision in the tax act, however, ruled out the 30 percent tax exemption. A rule of thumb is that getting 30 percent of taxable income exempt is a better option for foreigners earning less than approximately 100 million won a year.

An example introduced by the National Tax Service was that of a 38-year-old foreigner who earns 50 million and pays 1.58 million won in taxes when he chooses the 30 percent exemption. If he chose the 15 percent rule, he would have to pay 7.5 million won.

There are some weeks that you really look forward to going to the movies. I really thought that this week was going to be a good one. There were 3 films that all cam out during the Lunar New Year. The 3 films were, The Wolfman (2010), Valentine Day and Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief and sad to say, I did not like any of the 3 but each for different reasons.

The first film up for a review is the one that I was looking forward to the most, The Wolfman is a remake of the 1941 classic horror film of the same name. I have seen the original many times during my childhood. I now think that nits a very basic film, but the film was and still is entertaining. I wish, I could say the same for this film.

The film to me looked very pretty and looked great in a digital theater but it was a very empty film. The film had no real heart, no real anything to cheer for. The original film scared me as a child, this film only made me scratch my head and wonder why they remade a classic film into a huge miss.

When you see how one of the conflicts of this film is resolved, it really made me ask, what CGI drug was the cast taking, because I did not believe any of it. It also appeared to me that Sir Anthony Hopkins either mailed in his role of the script never really let him take the next level in this horrid film.

Please pass on this film.

Grade: D

Film #2: Valentine’s Day is a 2010 American romantic comedy film directed by Garry Marshall.

The plot of this film (Wikipedia)

On an airplane to Los Angeles, Kate Hazeltine (Julia Roberts), a captain in the U.S. Army on a one-day leave, meets Holden (Bradley Cooper) who has recently become single again. In Los Angeles, florist Reed Bennett (Ashton Kutcher) eagerly proposes to his girlfriend Morley (Jessica Alba) who accepts his offer, much to the surprise of Reed’s friend Alphonso (George Lopez) and best friend Julia (Jennifer Garner). Julia, a primary school teacher, has recently fallen in love with Dr. Harrison Copeland (Patrick Dempsey) who might just be hiding his true agenda. Meanwhile one of Julia’s students, Edison (Bryce Robinson), is trying to send flowers to his Valentine, while his babysitter, Grace (Emma Roberts), is planning her first sexual encounter with boyfriend Alex (Carter Jenkins). Meanwhile Edison’s grandparents, Edgar (Hector Elizondo) and Estelle (Shirley MacLaine), are facing the troubles of a long marriage while Grace’s friends, Willy (Taylor Lautner) and Felicia (Taylor Swift) are experiencing the freshness of new love. Shawn Jackson (Eric Dane), a closeted professional football player, is contemplating the end of his career together with his publicist Kara (Jessica Biel) and his agent Paula (Queen Latifah). Kara, a close friend of Julia’s, is organizing her annual ‘I Hate Valentine’s Day’ Party but is starting to become interested in sports reporter Kelvin Briggs (Jamie Foxx) who has been sent out by his producer Susan (Kathy Bates) to cover Valentine’s Day because of a lack of sports news. Paula has recently hired a new receptionist called Liz (Anne Hathaway) who has recently started dating mailroom clerk Jason (Topher Grace). However,what he doesn’t know is that Liz is actually a phone sex operator.

When a large ensemble cast comes together you get 2 results, The first one is a film that seems that its exactly right, for example “Love Actually” Where all of the stories seem to work together. Or, you get a film like this, a film that seemed about 3-4 stories too many and by the end of the film, myself and the rest of the audience was wondering why this film was even made. What I found even more depressing was that they are going to make a sequel to this film and the next holiday will be “New Years Eve”.

To me the film lacked, intelligence, drama, hope and what a love film really needs, love. The major roles were miscast, too many stories and no one really is an anchor for this film. It just fails on every level for me. If this is a date film, then its the sum of all fears for a bad date and there will not be a 2nd one.

Grade: F

Film #3 Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (known as Percy Jackson & the Lightning Thief in the UK and Australia) is a fantasy-adventure film directed by Chris Columbus. This is the first book of the Percy Jackson Series in another attempt to find the next Harry Potter series.

Of all of the 3 films, I saw this week, the Korean audience was really into this film the most. I have no idea if anyone in the audience had head of the books but after the film was over, they were giving me smiles and a few thumbs up for this film.

It was about 2-3 minutes into this film, that I realized that I am not the target audience for this film. I can see teens and young college students really into this film. The film talks about what young love and friends can accomplish together and if they make the other 4 films, then I think that this film will do good in the DVD market due to the films good shots that looked OK in a digital screen.

I really agreed with the Washington Post blip about this film, “the movie suffers by taking itself a little too seriously. It’s not just that it’s a lot less funny than the book. It’s also a lot less fun.” I had not read any of the books but I could even tell that something was missing. Once again we are given a pretty film but alas an empty one that doesn’t deserved to be seen by anyone over the age of 22.

Grade D+

Movie critics are, by definition, folks with strong opinions about movies. As for me, I have hated some films that the majority of the audience has loved and also loved films that audience didn’t turn out for. Once again, I have selected films from Asia, Europe, North and South America.

This list is my top 50 films from 2000-2009.

50. 12:08 East of Bucharest(Romanian)

Back in 2006 I listed this film as #16 on my Best of the year list. I have seen the film a few times since I fist saw it at the Pusan International Film Festival. The film has gotten better each time that I have watched it. It is a simple film with a simple question and by the end of the film, you really don’t have a good answer. I think that you will walk away with seeing a great film.

49. Shutter (2004) (Thailand)

I had head that this was going to be a scary film. After, I saw the film, I had no idea how great of a film this would be. The film had a very simple plot about a wronged ghost now seeking revenge and by the end of the film, I loved it. If you like horror films, then please go and see this version and forget about the 20008 USA remake.

48. Hero (2002) (China)

What I had to do back in 2003 to see this film. Because Miramax Studios had the USA film distribution rights and had delayed the film a few times, I finally resorted to ordering a copy of the film from A Chinese DVD company. After I saw the film, I was so happy that I had ordered it. I was finally able to see the film in the USA I was glad that Miramax did not alter the film. The film is basically one mans path to kill a man that he thinks is evil but by the end he makes a decision that helps to unify China. the film was criticized for being very Pro-Communist Chinese, I hope that you will give the film a chance and please see it if you haven’t already.

47. Elizabethtown

Cameron Crowe is the director of this film and with his films it has been, I loved it (Say Anything, Jerry Maguire and Almost Famous) or hated it (Singles, Vanilla Sky)

The plot of this film had me worried to say the least, It deals with the loss of a father. I lost mine last year and to be honest still trying to deal with it and to be more honest, not doing that good of a job with it. I knew that I had to see the film but I feared what it would bring.

I can honestly say that, to me, this is his best work, as of to date.

The film vindicates what I have been thinking about Orlando Bloom. He can be a strong #2 in a film (Lord of the Rings trilogy and Pirates of the Caribbean) but with the box office failure of “The Kingdom Of Heaven” can he be counted on being the star of the film? He pulled it off with a excellent acting job in this film.

The plot is real simple here, boy genesis design the new brand of shoe but the shoe is recalled and the company that he works for looses 976 million dollars because of this failure. His boss is played by Alec Baldwin, who has a cameo role, and tells Drew Baylor (Orlando Bloom) that what he will have to cut because of the loss. The 1 Billion dollar story is awesome. He then looses his girlfriend, then he decided to go home and kill himself.

While he is attempting to kill himself, his sister calls on his cell phone to inform him that their father had died and that he is needed to go to Elizabethtown, Kentucky to retrieve his father’s body. He tells himself that after he does this he will return home to finish the job.

What I found really funny was when the family was together celebrating his fathers life, it reminded me a lot of my family. Crowe does a good job to show how a family interacts with each other.

The music was awesome and with the last 20 minutes of the film you see Drew start to come to terms with all that has happened to him with Claire’s unusual help. The Wedding sidebar is awesome and is played well with a new love and a passing story told together. You will either get this film or you will not. This is a date movie, but when it comes to the big screen this will be a solo for me. If you have lost somebody close recently then this film will hit home, and at times, too hard.

Many years after this film was released, I still love it and the majority of people still hate it.

46. Zero Day

The film is a 2003 mockumentry about a school shooting much along the lines of the Columbine High School massacre. I remember back in 2003 I was a huge fan of the Dallas Texas Angelika Film Center, they were playing these foreign and “Indy” films that I had heard about and instead of trying to order it via DVD, I could actually go to a movie and actually see it on the big screen.

I had seen the previews for this one for about 2 months before it came to the Angelika, I remember that I had read a preview from Yahoo Movies and I was off to see it. After the film was over , I knew that I had to see it again and I did. I really could not believe someone actually made a film like this and I loved it.

I have a copy of this film on DVD. I have let a few people borrow it and each time they have really been freaked out by it. The end of the film is what was really their biggest complaint. The film gives you, the viewer, a step by step how to do your own “Columbine”. It still freaks me out a little every time I watch it.

45. Kung Fu Panda

I really had no idea if I was going to like this film. As a young boy, I grew up with Bruce Lee and the The Shaw Brothers. I knew that it was going to play at the IMAX and I knew that I had to see it.

I saw a lot of Kung-Fu film growing up in the 70’s and 80’s. I heard that Dreamworks was working on an animated 3D film about a Kung-Fu Panda. I was thinking that this will either be good or this will be a huge disaster. Well, I did not like the film. I loved it.

The film opens up as A Panda (Jack Black) has gone to war to save the innocents and he soon has the “Awesome 5″ join him and they are going to fight an epic battle. There is only one problem, Its all a dream. You then see the panda wake up and go to his father (A Crane) and work in his noodle store. I loved the little joke about ownership and the “noodle dream”

We are then shown Master Oogway (Randall Duk Kim) have a premonition that the Evil warrior Tai Lung (Ian McShane), the former protege of his own protege, Shifu,(Dustin Hoffman) a muskrat, will escape from prison, and return to destroy their valley. Oogway orders a formal ceremony to fulfill a prophecy that of a mighty Dragon Warrior who can defeat him. To everyone, that is obviously one of the Furious Five, a quintet of supremely skilled martial artists trained by Shifu,should be picked. So when Po the Panda is selected the real story begins and I loved it.

It reminded me about all of the Kung-Fu films that I have seen in the past and I knew that they were going to give it a little twist. It was usually the one who you never expected to be the hero to save the day. What I loved what how Master Oogway said good-bye and gave his little advice to Shifu. You can see Shifu has a task but how do you train a panda?

What was funny was when he realized the it was food that could make the Panda become the warrior and it sure sounded stupid, but it works and it was great. Then near the end of the film, you see the final battle between good and evil. It took a lot from the Shaw’s past films. It was a great action scene and it well worth seeing a few times, to see if you really saw all that this part has to offer.

The film works and was a nice tribute to the past Kung-Fu films.

44.Superbad

Now, I thought that I would really not like this film. What a great film this was and especially the 2 DVD Unrated set. I saw a lot of the crazy things that I did as a teen and I really can’t believe that, the names may have changed, but the real story is the same.

The film talk about problems that teens go through and how their friends can either help them or muck it up some more. What you see in this film is 3 teens try and have a fun party and by the time of the end of the film, you might, just realize that you now have a teen classic in your possession.

43. Shaun of the Dead (England)

It is a 2004 British horror comedy directed by Edgar Wright, starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. Pegg plays Shaun, a man attempting to get some kind of focus in his life as he deals with his girlfriend, his mother and stepfather. At the same time he has to cope with an apocalyptic uprising of zombies.

I have, to this day, never been a huge fan of the “Zombie” film. So when I saw the preview at the Angelika, I was really surprised that I was laughing at this film. So when the film opened in the USA, I went and saw it and could not believe how much I loved it. The films tell of a very unusual plot, a love story and a zombie invasion. I really liked how ,in the end, they tied up the film together.

42. Good Bye Lenin! (Germany)

Well, once again I saw this films preview at the Angelika and once again, I went and saw the film and loved it. In a brief prologue, Alex Kerner (Daniel Brühl) recalls how proud he was along with his countrymen when the first German to enter space, came from East Germany.

The rest of the film is set in East Berlin, spanning from October 1989 to just after German unification a year later. Alex lives with his sister, Ariane (Maria Simon), his mother, Christiane (Katrin Sass), and Ariane’s infant daughter, Paula. His father fled to the West in 1978, abandoning the family. In his absence, Christiane has become an ardent idealist and supporter of the ruling Socialist Unity Party of Germany (the Party). When she sees Alex being arrested in an anti-government demonstration, she suffers a near-fatal heart attack and falls into a coma. The police ignore Alexander’s plea to assist his mother, rather releasing him later that evening to go and see her.

The rest of the film is her family setting up a version of East Germany that never really existed, to try and save her. It was a simple film that won some major film awards in Europe back in 2003.

41. Grindhouse

Here are the reasons I gave why I think that this film failed at the box office. I have both of the split up films on Blu-ray and would like the 2 films combined with all of the fake trailers for the ultimate Blu-Ray release.

40. Cars

This was my earlier review of the film, where I broke the film down for those who were not fans of the NASCAR series, which a lot of this film is based on. I now have this film on blu-ray and eagerly await part 2 of this film.

39. United 93

I have always had a question about my life in the US Army and as a police officer, what would you do when you have to face real evil and its wants you dead. I was lucky, I was always able to skate around this without ever having to answer this decision. The people on flight United 93 has the same decision to make and the film deal with their reaction to insanity. They chose to try and save lives and by doing so gave up their own.

This will not be an easy film to watch, if you know anybody who lost anybody on this sad day then please do not see the movie, it will be too painful to remember. If you want to see a very good movie then I highly recommend this film. There are no big name stars in this film and some of the actually US Military and FAA people involved in the decision making of that day play themselves in the film. Near the end of the film, when you know what is going to happen, and the passengers and crew call to say goodbye to their loved ones, It will make you very angry and very sad at the same time.

The film is shot in real-time mode, so you feel as though you are actually there when the decisions are made to close the US airspace and when the US Military is totally caught flatfooted and they send planes up with no weapons and when the words are shouted, “Lets Roll!” I was hoping that maybe, just this one time, the people actually do get to go home to their loves ones, but alas it ends as it did in real time.

After the plane crashes, the film ends and you see written that the film is dedicated to the heroes of United flight 93, I just started to cry and I could not stop for awhile. As I said earlier, this film will be very hard to watch, but it needs to be seen.

This is the one film on this list that I can not watch again. I keep hoping that the film ends differently but when I last saw it, 3 years ago, I was still crying at the ending. So the ending hadn’t changed.

38. Bang Rajan (Thailand)

What you have in this film is a 2000 Thai historical drama film depicting the battles of the Siamese village of Bang Rajan against Burmese invaders in 1767. Oliver Stone loved this film and when it was show in the USA its title was “Oliver tone Presents Bang Rajan”.

In an attempt to simplify an explanation of this movie, “It’s the Thai version of their Alamo”. The film is very violent, very bloody and very good. It looks like there will be a sequel to this film coming out of Thailand in 2010.

37. Monsters Inc.

This film came out back in 2001 with an original idea. What if the monsters that we see in our nightmares are really here so they can prevent an energy crisis back in their world? I remember thinking that the idea of this plot sounded new and that it was done by Pixar, so it might be worth a viewing.

What was shown was a 94 minute film that should not have worked but it did. It made you actually feel sorry for the monsters and by the end they have replaced fear with humor. What I also liked about this film was the story of the little girl “Boo” and her monster protector “Sully”. When she calls this 6″ plus monster “Kitty”, it was just too funny. The film has recently been released in the Blu-Ray format and deserved to be re-watched or seen for the very first time.

36. The Chaser (South Korea)

The plot of the story was actually original. It tells of an ex-police officer, who has become a pimp. He keeps losing his girls and is not sure why. Its a busy night and he sends one of his girls to a nice house with a nice man. The pimp then realizes that he sent another girl to this # and she is now missing also. The cat and mouse game now begins between Eom Joong-ho (The pimp) and Ji Yeong-min,(the serial killer).

I remember seeing this at CGV and I could not believe how much I was into this film. The plots kept twisting and I was never sure what was coming next. For A horror film to become a classic, to me, it must have the “Ah Damn” moment where the audience can not believe what just went down. When this film has it, the Korean audience could not believe what they had just seen and I went, “Hello Classic”. Please get a copy of this film in DVD or VCD and watch it.

35. Memories of Murder (Korean: 살인의 추억 Sarinui Chueok) (South Korea)

When you really start to watch films from a foreign county, you start to have favorite stars and directors from each country. As for South Korea, my favorite actor is Song Kang-ho. My rule is very simple with this actor, if he is in the film, then I see it opening weekend in Korea.

At the start of the film, in October 1986, a young woman is found raped and murdered in a ditch near a field. Soon after, another woman is found raped and murdered in a field. Local detective Park Doo-man(Song Kang-ho), not having dealt with such a serious case before, is overwhelmed; key evidence is improperly collected, the police’s investigative methods are suspect, and their forensic technology is near non-existent.

Detective Seo Tae-yoon is sent from Seoul to assist them; their methods clash and he is unable to convince them they are dealing with a serial killer until his predictions of another murder come true. He realizes that the killer waits until a rainy night, and only kills women wearing red. A female police officer realizes that a local radio station is always requested to play a particular song during the nights the murders are committed.

As a few of my readers know, I am an Ex-Military Police and I have always enjoyed police dramas. As I was watching this film, I kept seeing all of the errors that the police made in this film.

Sad to say but,Korea has a statue of limitations on murder, what that means is that after 15 years of the murder being committed, you can not be charged with the crime, due to the time limit being over. With this film and Voice of A Murderer, both films deal with real world murders committed in South Korea and sad to sat neither one has been solved and the time period is over.

What you see in this film is that the unknown murderer is way smarter than the police are and you really are shown that fact at the very end of this film. I thought that it was a perfect ending to a great film.

34.Love Actually (UK)

Love Actually is a 2003 British romantic comedy film. The screenplay delves into different aspects of love as shown through ten separate stories involving a wide variety of individuals, many of whom are shown to be interlinked as their tales progress. The ensemble cast is composed predominantly of British actors.

The film begins with a voice over from David (Hugh Grant) commenting that whenever he gets gloomy with the state of the world he thinks about the arrivals terminal at Heathrow Airport, and the pure uncomplicated love felt as friends and families welcome their arriving loved ones. David’s voice over also relates that all the known messages left by the people who died on the 9/11 planes were messages of love and not hate. The film then tells the ‘love stories’ of many people:

The film begins five weeks before Christmas and is played out in a week by week countdown until the holiday with an epilogue that takes place one month later.

Each story is linked in some way except for Billy Mack and his manager, who are not friends with any of the characters; however, he appears frequently on characters’ radios and TVs; his music video provides an important plot device for Sam’s pursuit of Joanna. John and Judy work for Tony who is best friends with Colin who works for a catering company that works at the office where Sarah, Karl, Mia, and Harry work and also catered Peter and Juliet’s wedding. Mia is friends with Mark who runs the art gallery where the Christmas office party takes place. Mia also lives next door to Natalie. Mark is in love with Juliet and friends with Peter. The couple are friends with Jamie and Sarah. Harry is married to Karen who is friends with Daniel, and Karen’s brother is David who works with Natalie.

Now, this could be a lot to try and keep up with in one movie, but, to me its now a modern Christmas film, that tries to tell us what love can actually make us do.

33. Rocky Balboa

For those who have seen the previous films, this follows 15 years after part 5. What we are shown is a Rocky, who has lost the one love of his life, Adrian. You see him as an ex-champion who has his own little dinner and loves to tell stories of his past bouts. You see how much he really misses her and how empty he feels without her. You are also shown that his son and he are slowly growing apart and that its hurting him also. You are also introduced to Mason Dixon, the current heavyweight champion, and you see that the fans hate him.

The films story starts with a computer scenario between Rocky and Mason in which Rocky wins and then he gets to hear all of the negative press on him on ESPN and other media outlets. After watching this, Rocky decides that he want to try and to get back into the ring for some small local fights. Masons people hear of this and arrange for an exhibition between him and Rocky to be carried on HBO PPV.

What I liked about this was that the next scene, Where his son is asking him to stop this because it’s really hurting him and that he cannot compare to his father. Rocky then gives the speech of the film and tells his son, to be your own man and don’t worry what others say. It works and then you see him join his father for the training.

Tony then tells Rocky how he can beat Mason and it was just funny how he said it. Then its fight night. Stallone gives you his all and you will believe it. It was great to see him actually carry a film and be very happy with the results. His son is played by Milo Ventimiglia, and you believe that he is sick of always being compared to his father. Once again Burt Young shows why he is a great actor with his dead on role as Paulie (Rocky’s brother-in-law)

This film is best seen with a huge audience that loves boxing, it has been reported that entire theaters have shaken because people are clapping and cheering, as this is a real fight.

32. Curse of the Golden Flower (China)

The Chinese title of the movie is taken from the last line of a Tang dynasty poem attributed to the rebel leader Huang Chao, “On the Chrysanthemum, after failing the Imperial Examination” (不第後賦菊/不第后赋菊) or simply “Chrysanthemum”:

“When autumn comes on Double Ninth Festival, / my flower [the chrysanthemum] will bloom and all others perish. / When the sky-reaching fragrance [of the chrysanthemum] permeates Chang’an, / the whole city will be clothed in golden armor.

As I stated earlier in this review, When you really start to watch films from a foreign county, you start to have favorite stars and directors from each country. As for Hong Kong, my favorite actor is Chow Yun-Fat also, if he is in the film, then I will watch the film.

On the eve of the Chong Yang Festival, golden chrysanthemum flowers fill the Imperial Palace. The Emperor (Chow Yun Fat) returns from his various military campaigns with his second son and general, Prince Jai (Jay Chou). It is hinted in their brief but intense sparring session, that Jai has grown resentful towards his father and his controlling ways. However the Emperor is not afraid to warn the Prince of his past mistakes and that he shouldn’t take anything of the Emperor’s that isn’t given to him. The Emperor’s pretext is to celebrate the holiday with his family, but given the chilled relations between the Emperor and the ailing Empress (Gong Li), this seems disingenuous.

For many years, the Empress and Crown Prince Wan (Liu Ye), her stepson, have had an illicit liaison. Feeling trapped, Prince Wan dreams of escaping the palace with his secret lover Jiang Chan (Li Man), the Imperial Doctor’s daughter. Meanwhile, Prince Jai, the faithful son, grows curious and then worried over the Empress’s health and her abnormal obsession with golden chrysanthemums. Wan agrees but the younger son, Yu seems oblivious to the matter and doesn’t question it further.

This is the opening of this film. It is a very slow pace and you just have the feeling that when all hell will beak loose, it will end very bad for the heroes and anti-heroes in this film. By the end of the film, hell has now visited China and it has decided to stay a while longer.

31. The Lives of Others (German: Das Leben der Anderen) (Germany)

It is a 2006 German drama film, that involves the monitoring of the cultural scene of East Berlin by agents of the Stasi, the GDR’s secret police. This film also won the 2007 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. The film had earlier won seven Deutscher Filmpreis awards – including best film, best director, best screenplay, best actor, and best supporting actor – after having set a new record with 11 nominations.

Like I stated earlier, I do like Police dramas and this one was a great one. The slow thought provoking work that the police officer took to try and capture his prey. What he soon realizes is that he is now being played also and then the real film begins.

The film has a very interesting ending that leaves you very happy that you went and spent time with this film.

30. Reign Over Me

What do you do when every day reminds you of what you have lost and you do not know where to go? Reign Over Me is about two old friends who fell out of touch and are re-united in post-9/11 New York City.

You have the main idea of this film and it will not be an easy film to watch. The film deals with an aftermath of the American 9-11 attacks and its loss on this one man Charlie Fineman. Throughout the film, you see a man who, once had it all, and in a moment of hatred, lost it all. You are watching him try and deal with it by not dealing with it.

Please notice how the music is used and how the Mel Brooks film festival is shown. Please listen to Charlie’s, part when he does remember his family, this becomes the money shot for this film.

29. Sin City

Plot Outline: Sin City is a violent city where the police department is as corrupt as the streets are deadly. In this movie, we follow three stories, the central of which is Marv, a tough-as-nails and nearly impossible to kill street fighter who goes on a rampage of vengeance when a beautiful woman, Goldie (King), he sleeps with for only one night is killed while lying in bed with him. Walk down the right back alley in Sin City and you can find anything.

Certain films need to be seen on the big screen so that you can really see what a film has to offer and this one did not disappoint. With Mickey Rourke’s showing of what Marv could do when he goes to war. With Bruce Willis acting as a man who needs to save one more soul from hell and with Clive Owen showing us as, Dwight, that a man can find true love once again.

Please watch the Directors cut of this movie, it adds about 15 minutes and fills in a few blanks from the film.Also, if you ever get the chance, the Blu-ray version of this film, rocks.

28. The Queen (UK)

The main plot focuses on the differing views in how to deal with the death of Diana. The Royal Family, while on their summer residence at Balmoral Castle, sees her death as a private affair, not to be treated as an official Royal death, in contrast with newly elected Prime Minister Tony Blair and Diana’s ex-husband Prince Charles, who attempt to reflect the public wish for an official expression of grief. Matters are further complicated by the media, royal protocol regarding Diana’s official status, and wider issues about republicanism. The views of Diana’s sons throughout the film are only portrayed through other characters.

Helen Mirren won 29 major awards for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II.

To be honest I never was a huge fan of the late Princess Diana. So when she died in 1997, the world reaction caught me by surprise. What this film is about is the week after the Princess death and to her funeral on the next Saturday and how the Queen and Tony Blair reacted to the public outcry of grief for “The People’s Princess.”

What this film asks is when a very privately public person can morn?

The film gives the real impression that the Queen and the Princess, grew to dislike each other. You also see the Queen being very protective of her 2 grandsons by removing radios, TVs and newspapers so not to upset them. The film does not pull any punches and casts the royals in a not so good light but it does show them trying to understand their country’s grief over Diana.

27. City of God (Portuguese: Cidade de Deus) (Brazil)

The film is a 2002 Brazilian crime drama film , released in its home country in 2002 and worldwide in 2003. It was adapted by Bráulio Mantovani from the 1997 novel of the same name written by Paulo Lins. It depicts the growth of organized crime in the Rio de Janeiro suburb of Cidade de Deus, between the end of the ’60s and the beginning of the ’80s, with the closure of the film depicting the war between the drug dealer Li’l Zé and criminal Knockout Ned. The tagline is “Fight and you’ll never survive….. Run and you’ll never escape.”

Well once again an independent film and once again, the preview at the Angelika, clinched it for me to go see it. Before I went to see the film, I had heard that nit was going to be a very different film. After I saw the film, I knew that they were right. This film isn’t for everyone and should only be seen by those who love violence in their movies. It is a hard brutal film about gang war and it pulled no punches.

26. The Twilight Samurai Tasogare Seibei (たそがれ清兵衛?, literally “Twilight Seibei”) (Japan)

is a 2002 Japanese film directed by Yoji Yamada. Set in mid-19th century Japan, a few years before the Meiji Restoration, it follows the life of Seibei Iguchi (Hiroyuki Sanada), a low-ranking samurai employed as a bureaucrat. Poor, but not destitute, he still manages to lead a content and happy life with his daughters and senile mother. Sadly, through an unfortunate turn of events, the turbulent times conspire against him.

The film is different from many other samurai-themed films in that it concentrates on showing the main character’s everyday struggles, instead of focusing on action-oriented battles.

The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 76th Academy Awards, The Twilight Samurai also won an unprecedented 12 Japanese Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Screenplay back in 2003.

If you are a fan of the TV Show, “Lost” then the star of The Twilight Samurai Hiroyuki Sanada, will be appearing in the 6th and final season of the popular American TV series “Lost.” He will play “Dogen,” an important character that holds the key to the story of the final season, producers said, adding that the part has been especially written for Sanada.

If you are a fan of the Samurai film genre, then please watch this one and completely ignore The Last Samurai.

25. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (simplified Chinese: 卧虎藏龙; traditional Chinese: 臥虎藏龍; pinyin: Wòhǔ Cánglóng) (Taiwan)

The film was directed by Ang Lee and featured an international cast of ethnic Chinese actors, including Chow Yun-Fat, Michelle Yeoh, Zhang Ziyi and Chang Chen. The movie was based on the fourth novel in a pentalogy, known in China as the Crane-Iron Pentalogy, by wuxia novelist Wang Dulu.

This is the one film on this list that I really hated the first time I saw it. Looking back, I really am not sure why, but as for now; I love the fact that the film starts you on a journey and by the end of it, the journey is over and the dream is gone. The unspoken love stories that are shown in this film is what makes it into a great one.

24. The Watchmen

Have you ever seen a film and afterwords, you have no real idea how to explain it to any of your friends? This was my problem with the film after the first showing. I was not a “fanboy” of this series, so I couldn’t openly praise it for being the first true adaption nor could I condemn it for not being like the comic book, since I had not read the book.

The film is basically a murder mystery set under an alternative 1985 reality in which the USA and the USSR are a few steps away from unleashing World War 3.

The film opens with the murder of one of the Watchmen, Edward Blake / The Comedian and you are left to wonder why this happened. The film then really takes off with the introduction of Walter Kovacs / Rorschach . He is also a Watchmen, but unlike the others in this group, Rorschach has continued his one-man battle against crime long after superheroes have become both detested and illegal. Rorschach’s actions and writings display a belief in a moral absolutism and objectivism, where good and evil are clearly defined and evil must be violently punished. He has alienated himself from the rest of society to achieve these aims.

Two things that I really liked about this film was the music and how it was used exactly for the scene. I was laughing when certain songs were being played because of their subtle use in the film and after the film was over, I told the people who saw the film with me, why I was laughing at the music. Another thing I liked about the film was the partnership of Nite Owl II and Rorschach. I saw in the film that they had been partners and I soon realized that the film had captured it quite well and made the film more believable for me. The film was made for me during the scene where Rorschach describes the moment when he stopped being “Kovacs pretending to be Rorschach”, and fully became Rorschach. To me, this was the scene that made a good film into a great one.

23. Waltz with Bashir (Hebrew: ואלס עם באשיר‎ – Vals Im Bashir)(Israel)

This film was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film of the Year. This film reminded me a lot of “Persepolis” but instead of it being told though a woman, this film is told by an Israeli Army veteran who can not remember anything about his time during the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon.

The film shows briefly the aftermath of Sabra and Shatila, and how it haunted the narrator of the film. The military veteran will catch a lot of the little jokes that were shown thought this film. The use of 80’s music through the inanity of the war is what a few people have stated that turned this small film into a great one. The film is in Hebrew so please try and find English Subtitles for it, if you decide to watch this film.

22. Star Trek (2009)

I really went into this film, absolutely, wanting to destroy this film piece by piece. I could not believe that they were going to relaunch one of my all time favorite TV shows and they were not going to include William Shatner (the original James T Kirk) in this new film. I even listed this film as one of my 10 summers, “Do Not See” List. After the film was over, I was so glad that I was wrong about this choice.

Now you must remember one thing, the time line was altered by the Narada. So what we think was Star trek is now another reality of it. Once i saw that I realized that, I was going on one heck of a trip.

I must also now agree that having a prime James Kirk, would have destroyed this film. Please watch the scene where Prime Spock, talks to the younger Kirk, you can see the pain in his eyes knowing that he has seen his old friend die and now he can help the younger one live. Also, the next scene where, we are introduced to Scotty, was a classic with Prime Spock telling Scotty the formula that, Scotty, would later invent.

What was also different was the unwritten love between Uhura and Spock. You could definitively see what Spock’s mother, had been trying to teach him about love.

Leonard Nimoy stated that he actually cried when he saw the scene of Kirk meeting Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy. He remembered his old friend, the original McCoy (DeForest Kelley), Nimoy tells America’s TV Guide magazine, “I started crying – and it (scene) still moves me now. I loved D-Kelley, salt of the earth.

I could break down this film piece by piece but, only you, the reader, can decide, if this film is worth your time and money. on Blu-Ray, its great.

21. Invictus

I knew that this could be a good film, I had no idea that it would be a great one that I would want to get on Blu-Ray as soon as possible.

Invictus is a 2009 biographical drama film based on Nelson Mandela’s life during the 1995 Rugby World Cup in South Africa. Directed by Clint Eastwood, the film stars Morgan Freeman as South African President Mandela, and Matt Damon as François Pienaar, the South African Rugby team captain.

My favorite part of the film was the opening when Mandela attempts to tackle the country’s largest problems—including crime and unemployment—he attends a game of the Springboks, the country’s rugby union team. Blacks in the stadium cheer against their home squad, as the Springboks (their history, players and even their colors) represent prejudice and apartheid in their mind. Knowing that South Africa is set to host the 1995 Rugby World Cup in one year’s time, Mandela convinces the South African rugby board to keep the Springbok team, name and colors the same.

He then meets with Springboks captain François Pienaar. Though Mandela never verbalizes his true meaning during their meeting, Pienaar understands the message below the surface: if the Springboks can gain the support of black South Africans and succeed in the upcoming World Cup, the country will be unified and inspired. Mandela also shares with Pienaar that a poem, Invictus, had been inspiring to him during his time in prison, helping him to “stand when all he wanted to do was lie down”.

In my live I have seen nations unify over sports, I saw the USA cheer an Ice Hockey team to a gold Medal in 1980. I have seen a divided Germany win the Football World Cup back in 1974, and people wishing that their country could be unified. I saw that same spirit in this film. Sports can not solve all of one countries problems but it can unify them, if only for a brief moment. Please see this film when it arrives in Korea in March, 2010.

20.Persepolis (France)

Of all of the missed nominations, I could not believe that this film was not selected Best Foreign Language Film. I must give props to Harry (Ain’t it Cool) for turning me on to this film. I was able to watch it in the original French with English subtitles.

The unusually drawn animation tells us about a poignant coming-of-age story of a precocious and outspoken young Iranian girl that begins during the Islamic Revolution and ends with her leaving Iran forever. This is a great story and I think that all young ladies need to read her book and to watch her movie and see how one little girl became a woman.

19.Walk The Line

Johnny chose Joaquin Phoenix to play him in the film. June Carter Cash reportedly chose Reese Witherspoon for her role in the film. also. This should any debate why these 2 were chosen for the roles.

The film covers his childhood to 1968, when he wed June Carter.

WOW!

I had no idea what to expect from this film and I already knew the story. Being raised in Texas, I was introduced to Cash’s music at an early age and I am still a huge fan of “The Man In Black”

The film starts of with Cash talking to his older brother and in the next scene you see him talking to his same brother as he is dying from an accident. (Joaquin lost his older brother River, when he was young also. Later in the film Cash talks about his brother dying and you can see the real pain in his eyes as he is acting)

The film is basically a love story between Johnny Cash and June Carter. You see how these two, who should have never been together, fall in love and see how June handles Johnny’s huge drug problem. The scene of him singing for the prisoners was awesome and was recorded into one of the finest live albums ever produced. “Johnny Cash At Folsom Prison”

The only complaint that I have is that the film is not long enough. It ends in 1968 and their is so much more to tell of this man. I want another walk the line made.

18. Brotherhood of the Wolf (France)

The film is loosely based on a real-life series of killings that took place in France in the 18th century and on the famous legend around the Beast of Gévaudan.

When I fist saw the preview of this film back in late 2001, I thought that this film was different. It looked very cool and it sure did not look like any French film that I had seen in recent memory. Click here for the plot.

After I watched the film I was not sure what I had just seen. I went and saw it again a few days late and then I realized that if this was the future of French films, that I wanted to see more of them.

17. There Will Be Blood

Have you ever just wanted to ask the Academy Awards, “What in the hell were you thinking”?

A few years ago when, “No Country for Old Men” won the award for Best Picture, I flat out could not believe it. I screamed at my TV in Auckland, NZ, and asked “WTF? Did anyone there see the film that I saw?”

In my Top 25 films of 2007, I had this film at #2. After seeing it on the big screen, I kept wondering, ‘When can I get this film on Blu-Ray?” The film is not a good one, its a great one. Daniel Day-Lewis won the Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role for his role as Daniel Plainview.

The film tells of a time during the early days of the oil boom in the USA. The audience is introduced to Daniel Plainview, as a man who is trying to get his little piece in the world. We then see him make his start in the oil business.

What the films shows us is, a man who will do anything to get it all and when he does; We are shown its true cost, to the ones who love him. And yes, Daniel Plainview’s memorable quote “I drink your milkshake” so worked for me in this film.

16. Let the Right One In (Swedish: Låt den rätte komma in) (Sweeden)

I had not heard of this film until “Harry” from “aintitcool.com” named this film as his #1 film of the year from 2008. I read his logic behind his selection and I knew that i had to go and find me a copy of this film so I could make my own judgment about it. I could not believe that this film got so little publicity and the teen love vampire flick “Twilight” was given all of the praise. This film is what “Twilight” should have been.

This film is in Swedish so please be sure to find English subtitles for it.

The film is about a 13 year old girl who moves into a 1980’s apartment in Sweden and she befriends a boy who is bullied at school. The secret is that the 13 year old girl is a vampire and that a few people have mysteriously disappeared in the area. You start to see the boy fall in love with this girl and when he finally figures it out. It is what made this small film into a great one.

15. Gran Torino

If this is the masters’ coda, then he went out with a classic with Grand Torino.

For the last few years, I have really enjoyed Clint Eastwood’s films. His style lately has reminded me of my favorite Japanese director, Akira Kurosawa. The hidden secrets, the pain of sin that he can not forgive himself for and the struggle for life and death are features in both of their films and are the main points for Eastwood’s new film “Grand Torino”

When the film opens, we are being show an man,disgruntled Korean War vet, Walt Kowalski. We are shown that his wife has died and that he can not deal with his family nor his grand-children. After the funeral, we are introduced to the other main character in this film, a young Hmong teenager, named Thao Vang Lor. What we see is a boy who is lost and is trying to figure out how to become a man.

Walt, for some unknown reason, takes a shine to this boy and tries to teach him how to become a man. I will leave this part of the film unspoiled, let me just say that this was some of the funniest parts of this film.

What I also liked about the film was the voice of reason, Walt’s Preacher, Father Janovich. Walt’s calls him a “27 year old virgin, who think that seminary school has taught him about life and death.” When you see him also start to learn from Walt, it’s another small piece of a film that takes it from a good film and turns it into a great one.

But with every hero we are also introduced to a villain. His cousin, Who as part of Thao’s initiation into his gang makes Thao steal Walt’s prize possession, a 1972 Gran Torino. When the attempt fails Thao, has to work for Walt for a few days and you can slowly see Thao start to respond to “tough love” that all master deal out to their students. What I liked here was that the master did not want to be one and the student had no clue that he was even a student. It should not have worked but, By the grace of Eastwoods’ directing and acting, its well shown and very believable.

The above might be a problem for some of today’s modern audience. They have grown accustomed to a much faster pace of film, a higher body count and people who call themselves actors, who truly are not. If they are looking for this in this film, then they will walk away very upset and then they will have failed to truly see this film.

The films ending was quite a surprise that I will not spoil for you. i was thinking one thing and then he goes and does something that I could not believe that he did it and that he pulled it off on the screen. When the films final credit were rolling, I was sad. I was thinking, “If this is Clint Eastwood’s coda, then we have been taken on a pleasant journey in this film.

14. V For Vendetta

I knew that this film might be hard fro me to review, The majority of reviews out now have claimed that Conservatives (Me) would hate this film for whatever reason.

Well as usual, they are wrong. Not only did I like it, I loved it!

The Rhyme that is said with Fawkes and V goes like this¦ “Remember, remember, the fifth of November, gunpowder treason and plot. I see no reason why the gunpowder treason should ever be forgot. Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, ’twas his intent to blow up the King and the Parliament. Three score barrels of powder below, Poor old England to overthrow: By God’s providence he was catch’d With a dark lantern and burning match. Holloa boys, holloa boys, make the bells ring. Holloa boys, holloa boys, God save the King! Hip hip hoorah! A penny loaf to feed the Pope. A farthing o’ cheese to choke him. A pint of beer to rinse it down. A faggot of sticks to burn him. Burn him in a tub of tar. Burn him like a blazing star. Burn his body from his head. Then we’ll say ol’ Pope is dead. Hip hip hoorah! Hip hip hoorah!”

What really helped this film was the police inspector Finch, who soon becomes the Jimmy Cricket to his government. His belief that Evey, V, The detention camps, the murders of Party leaders is all connected and when the truth hits him he makes this comment.”If our own government was responsible for the deaths of a hundred thousand people… would you really want to know?” When he realizes the truth, the shot helps turn the film into a great one.

For humor, please watch the shot with Deitrich when he interviews the fake Sutler. The comedy sketch was in the taste of “Benny Hill” and I was laughing all the way through it. I also liked the little wink to “Oldboy” You will see it when Evey states that, God is in the rain drops and because she feels the rain, she is alive. Not a live octopus but the message was the same. Near the end when he ask Evey to dance he states, “A revolution without dancing is a revolution not worth having”

The film shows 3 murders that V commits while waiting for the 5th of November. You see that all 3 of these people helped to create V. A rich man who owned the drug company that stopped the plague, a corrupt priest, when these 2 were killed the viewers felt well. It was that last one of the 3 that will get to you.

She was a doctor that had an idea, what if we could create something that would destroy our foes and save England. She uses the undesirables, as test subjects. The whole thing seems a failure but one test subject, located in room V, can no longer remember who he was or where he grew up, the results are all up to him.

On November 5th, a fire happens at this place and she sees the man from room #V, she realizes what she has done. We know this from her diary. At the end of her life she ask V for forgiveness and then she dies due to the poison that V had given her 10 minutes earlier. At the end she realized that it was wrong.

The final part of the film that will hook you is when Finch goes to the former camp and sees the results and then has a vision, a hunch, as he called it. He sees the past and the future and he sees that it is all connected. Evey’s family and brother that were killed by the government’s vendetta. The knowledge that his party killed over 100,000 of its own citizens. He see it all and when he tells what will happen near the 5th of November and it happens step by step, It will pull you into the movie. Please see the film and you might find out that you all will like it but for totally different reasons.

People should not be afraid of their governments, governments should be afraid of their people.

13.300

Plot. In 480 BC, the Persian king Xerxes sends his massive army to conquer Greece. The Greek city of Sparta houses its finest warriors, and 300 of these soldiers are chosen to meet the Persians at Thermopylae, engaging the soldiers in a narrow canyon where they cannot take full advantage of their numbers. The battle is a suicide mission, meant to buy time for the rest of the Greek forces to prepare for the invasion.

However, that doesn’t stop the Spartans from throwing their hearts into the fray, determined to take as many Persians as possible with them.

TONIGHT WE DINE IN HELL!

There really is no way to do this review without any spoilers. If
you want to see the film, then stop here on this review now an read it
after you have seen the film.

Being a history major, I have studied this battle and had always been impressed with the Spartan tactics that were used during this battle. In my humble opinion, the film does justice to the 300 Spartans.

I went and saw the film, for the very first time, at the Yongsan CGV IMAX, with 2 of my friends, who had never seen an IMAX film before. It was hard, while going to the Yongsan Electronic market and having not to watch any shots from 300. The film was playing at most of the pirate DVD sellers in the market. I am happy to say that both of my friends now understand why I love seeing films in IMAX.

The film opens up with a Spartan narrator of the childhood story of Leonidas I, King of Sparta..480 B.C. You are shown how he became King and how this battle was started.
What kept me surprised was all of the visual effects that were in this film and with the films budget being at 60 Million.

One of the scenes from the film that the audience enjoyed was on the first day of the siege Xerxes demanded the Greeks surrender their arms. Leonidas replied (“Come and get them”). The crowd went wild after that quote. What I liked was how they showed the traitor, Ephialtes. They took their time and showed why he felt was right for his reasons for treason.

Another thing that I liked about the film was the way that they showed Xerxes. They told that he believed that he was a God and acted like that in the film. Watch for the scene, near the end of the film, where the God myth is destroyed.

The last thing that I really lied about the film was the narrator,Dilios. His story was changed for this film and I thought that it helped the film, especially at the end of this film.

12.Up (my #1 film from 2009)

To be honest, I really was not expecting much from this film. I knew that it was a Pixar film and that I had liked the small preview of it that I’d seen online. I was thinking that this will be a cute kid’s film that I will never want to see again about a boy an older man and a dog exploring South America. The previews tell you that this will be a light film, when I actually saw it I could not believe the quiet dept that make this small film into an instant classic.

Like I had stated earlier, I really had no hopes for this film. It was going to be a small, light, kids film, that I might like. The film opened up exactly like I thought it would with a goofy boy, wearing explorers goggles, watching his hero on the movie screen and seeing his hero fall from grace and maybe his hero redemption. I kept thinking OK, “So why is this a good film?”

The answer is because what happens next in the movie.

The goody boy meets a crazy girl and they find in each other that they want to both be explorers and that she has already made an adventure book. She has a few pages filled up and she tells him that she will keep the rest of the pages blank until she can go to South America and see a huge waterfall and fill it with stories from her life there. You are also shown that she gives him a grape soda badge and they are both now part of the same club. Then the film takes the step from good film into a great film and what was so awesome, there were no words used so this part will easy play in foreign theaters.

What you are shown for the next 4.5 minutes is that goofy boy, Carl Fredricksen being married to that explorer girl, Ellie. You are silently shown their entire life together and how they both loved each other. You are shown some good times and the bad times, but you are shown one thing, and that is the love that these two people had for each other. Richard Corliss of Time called it “the sweetest, saddest 4½ minutes you’ll ever see on film.”

Director Pete Docter intended for audiences to take a specific point from the film, saying:

“Basically, the message of the film is that the real adventure of life is the relationship we have with other people, and it’s so easy to lose sight of the things we have and the people that are around us until they’re gone. More often than not I don’t really realize how lucky I was to have known someone until they’re either moved or passed away. So if you can kind of wake up a little bit and go, “Wow, I’ve got some really cool stuff around me every day”, then that’s what the movie’s about.”

It was like they made a 3-5 minute version of “The Notebook” and they tell the story without any words, just with love and life that anyone in the audience will be able to follow. When you see that Ellie had died and the love is gone from his eyes, I was realizing that I might be seeing a way better film; than I thought that I was going to see.

Due to those two not being to have any children and that fact that the court has declared him a public disturber and that he must now live in a retirement home. Carl looks at the photo of Ellie and decides to do one last adventure, he makes a big balloon out of thousands of small ones and he takes his house up and with him and they are both going to South America.

Now this part of the film will leave a lot to the imagination of the audience and it will, at times be a stretch to believe but, for whatever reason, this part of the film works as we see Carl go on his adventure and now he has a sidekick a boy by the name of Russell, a Wilderness Explorer stowaway on Carl’s flying house. This part of the film I will leave unspoiled because you will have to see it to believe it.

What I thought was a great idea near the end of the film is when Carl finally finds Ellie old Scrapbook and he looks at it and then he discovers that she added a lot of new pages to it and finds her mementos of her life with Carl after they were married, and a final note from her thanking Carl for her adventure and an encouragement for him to go on an adventure of his own. Invigorated by Ellie’s last wish, the man goes into “HERO” mode to save the day.

I must say that I loved how the film ended and the extra pictures throughout the credits. When you decide to see this film, please get their early and do not leave your seat because if you do, you will miss something. This film is definitely a Blu-Ray ownership.

11. Ratatouille (My #1 film from 2007)

Brad Bird has done it again. As in his previous films The Iron Giant and The Incredibles, this one is a sure sign of a good director becoming a great one before our very eyes.

To be honest, when I first saw the trailer for this film, I did not think too much of it; A rat who likes good food. Ok, a bad take off of “Mickey Mouse”. Then I was able to see a 9 minute preview of this film and I kept thinking, “Pixar, might have something here”. After seeing the film, I know they have something here!

I am not a huge fan of the comedy of Patton Oswalt, but in this role, He pulls it off very nicely and This was the first role of Janeane Garofalo that I have liked her in since CopLand

One of the roles I really enjoyed was the role of the Food Critic, Anton Ego, the role was voiced by Peter O’Toole. Each time that Anton was in the film, it was a legend taking over and I actually believed that he was a food critic, who, could destroy you with one bad review. His review at the end of the film is why very few actors could have played in this role.

The film is simple enough, its about a young man and his rat. You have seen the story before as in Ben or Willard but this one is different. The rat wants to help humans, by being a great cook.

What I really like was the actual story itself. The film was not too long nor was it too short. It had a great flow and a great pace. It was very easy to believe that you are in Paris and that you are just along for the ride. This film is also worthy of a Blu-Ray ownership.

10. Letters From Iwo Jima (My #1 film from 2006)

Letters from Iwo Jima (硫黄島からの手紙, Iō Jima Kara no Tegami?) is a 2006 war film, directed and co-produced by Clint Eastwood, and starring Ken Watanabe and Kazunari Ninomiya. The film portrays the Battle of Iwo Jima from the perspective of the Japanese soldiers and is a companion piece to Eastwood’s Flags of Our Fathers, which depicts the same battle from the American viewpoint.The films spoken language is almost entirely in Japanese.

The island of Iwo Jima stands between the American military force and the home islands of Japan. Therefore the Imperial Japanese Army is desperate to prevent it from falling into American hands and providing a launching point for an invasion of Japan. General Tadamichi Kuribayashi is given command of the forces on the island and sets out to prepare for the imminent attack. General Kuribayashi, however, does not favor the rigid traditional approach recommended by his subordinates, and resentment and resistance fester among his staff. In the lower echelons, a young soldier, Saigo, a poor baker in civilian life, strives with his friends to survive the harsh regime of the Japanese army itself, all the while knowing that a fierce battle looms. When the American invasion begins, both Kuribayashi and Saigo find strength, honor, courage, and horrors beyond imagination. ~ IMDB

The film is based on the non-fiction books “Gyokusai sōshikikan” no etegami (“Picture letters from the Commander in Chief”)by General Tadamichi Kuribayashi (portrayed on screen by Ken Watanabe) and So Sad To Fall In Battle: An Account of War by Kumiko Kakehashi about the Battle of Iwo Jima.

Clint has a simple idea while he was filming “Flags of our Fathers”, What if he made a film about the Battle of Iwo Jima from the viewpoint of the Japanese? He assembled a Japanese cast and shot the film in a few months. CNN’s Tom Charity in his review described Letters from Iwo Jima as “the only American movie of the year I won’t hesitate to call a masterpiece.”

The film basically tells the story of doomed soldiers that have to try and stop the US Military invasion of Iwo Jima.

9. Gladiator (2000)

When I saw the first preview of this film it was to “Kid Rock – Bawitdaba”. I had no idea what I was going to watch but I knew that it looked interesting. This was also the film that introduced me to Russell Crowe. The film starts out with a quote to, “Unleash Hell”. I remember thinking that I was going to see a very interesting film and 10 years later, I still love watching this film about revenge.

8. Battle Royale (Japan)

I had first heard of this film from the http://www.aintitcool.com/ website and I knew that if I could ever get the film on DVD that I would have to watch it. The only problem was that I was living in the USA at the time and nobody was releasing the film on DVD in the USA. So I had to try and order a DVD from Asia.

When “Battle Royale” arrived, I watched it a lot for the next few days. I had never seen anything quite like it. I could not believe that someone had the reason, to make a film like this. At the time of the viewing, the urban legend was, that this film was banned in the USA and would never get a release date in American theaters. (This has since been disproved, because the Japanese right holders want the film to have a wide release in the USA and no film company has stepped forward with that request.) So when I showed my college friends this film, I sold it to them as being a banned in the USA film that you just had to see.

The vast majority of my friends really did not get this film when I show it to them. they could not believe the violence, the insanity, nor the illogical idea of the film. They told me that the wanted a wild film and after they saw “BR” they wanted nothing more to ever do with a wild film ever again.

he prologue title card reads:

“At the dawn of the millennium, the nation collapsed. At fifteen percent unemployment, ten million were out of work. 800,000 students boycotted school. The adults lost confidence, and fearing the youth, eventually passed the Millennium Educational Reform Act—AKA: The BR Act…”

The idea is very simple, The students are informed that they have been selected as participants in Battle Royale, a game created by the Millennial Educational Reform Act (better known as the Battle Royale Act) where the students must kill each other until only one is left. One class from the country per year is selected to participate in the program. If after three days a winner is not declared, the explosive collars attached to each student’s neck will be detonated and they will die.

Then the film really begins. I have to say that if you have not seen this film and violent films upset you, then please pass on this film.

7. Million Dollar Baby

This is the story of a boxing trainer, his elusive past, and his quest for atonement by helping an underdog amateur female boxer achieve her dream of becoming a professional. The film won four Academy Awards, including Best Picture.

I went into this film thinking that it was going to be a female “Rocky” and for the first 2/3’s of the film that is exactly what it was. The the film takes you on a very sharp detour and by the end of the film, I wasn’t exactly sure what I had just seen but I knew that it was a great film. I took me another viewing before I caught all of the information that this film was trying to express.

I love the directing of Clint Eastwood in this film. He tell you a film about hope and joy and then ends it with one mans path to his private hell. it should not have worked, but it did.

6. The Vengeance Trilogy (South Korea)

My earlier review of the trilogy

The Vengeance Trilogy (Korean: 복수 삼부작) are three films, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002), Oldboy (2003), Sympathy for Lady Vengeance (2005), directed by South Korean film director Park Chan-wook, which dealt with the themes of “revenge, violence and salvation”. Originally these three films weren’t the official series, but as spiritual successors, two films (Oldboy & Sympathy for Lady Vengeance) followed the film Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance.

this link is where the Story of the Trilogy started for me.

When I first started college at the University of North Texas in fall 2000, I was introduced to this site. (A’int it Cool) they started to recommend some really small films over the years that I managed to track down. (Twilight Samurai, Battle Royale , The Brotherhood of the Wolves, Ken Park and Tae-Guk-Gi) were all movies that I have watched and now own on DVD because Harry from “Aint it cool.com” told me about them.

So imagine my surprise in early 2003 when I see this review having a Korean film at the top film of the year. I read the review and I decided that I need to get a copy of this film. Then later that year, Oldboy’s review comes out.

I recalled that it was a Japanese Cartoon but I also discovered that, the movie was only very loosely based on the Japanese manga of the same title. Most of the film is original story written by Chan-wook Park, the director. Now, OldBoy was #2 on Harry’s end of year list. I told myself that when I took the job in Korea that I would find these 2 on DVD and see if all of the hype was true or not.

Well fate stepped in; I was able to find OldBoy on VCD, with English Subtitles, fast. Then I waited for a weekend at CGV, when they played Mr. Vengeance and Lady Vengeance back to back. I then bought Mr. Vengeance on DVD and waited until Lady Vengeance arrived on DVD.

All 3 films have one huge common factor, Revenge. All 3 have revenge for a daughter that was taken away. All 3 could be considered a huge chess game with all of the pawns in play and when they are all unleashed the results have been death. All 3 leave you with the fact that after the revenge is complete, what was actually achieved? In all 3 you are left to feel that they will never recover from their acts of vengeance.

Please see all 3 films back to back and after the 6+ hours is over, you will have a good look at Korean films and what their real potential can be.

5. Joyeux Noel France (My #1 film of the year for 2005)

A few years ago, I wrote one of my longest movie reviews for an anti-war film from France called “Joyeux Noel.” The majority of this film takes place between December 24-26 in 1914, during World War I. I thought so much of this film that I named it my #1 best film back in 2005.

I was trying to find a film for Christmas that was different. We have all heard the stories about the child who was born on this day and how he would be the savior of the world. I them remembered this film and how men from both sides of this war remembered him and honored him by instead of killing their fellow man, they tried peace on earth and goodwill towards mankind.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way–in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.

Charles Dickens A Tale of Two Cities

These same words would have worked in 1914 France; it was on the front lines of World War I.

The film is in German, French, Latin and English.

Wow! Is the first word that comes to mind after watching this movie.

If you a military man then this film will hit home early and often. If not a lot of this film will not make sense. Let me try and explain this film to you.

The plot is really simple, it is December 1914 and Scottish, French and German units are stuck in trench warfare. It it becoming closer to Christmas and the men decide instead of war that a truce is declared.

The film was so believable even from the beginning where there are three children talking about how the enemy must be destroyed and killed in 3 different languages (English, French, German). to the end where you see the aftermath of peace, when the world wants war.

The film opens with the children and then 3 different shots of Scotland (where a boy rings the church bells and is happy that war is declared) France, (Where a Senior Officer tells his son, a Junior officer, that the big war that France has wanted with Germany is at hand) and Germany (where an Opera singer is drafted into the German Army).

What I really liked about this film was that It shows all 3 sides and shows their fears and doubts of the war. In the next shot you see a brother have to leave his brother in No Man’s Land ( In WW1 and other later wars which involved trench warfare, the term no man’s land indicated the land between the trenches of the opposing foes. This land belonged to neither side; it was a neutral place on the battlefield.)

The brother feels guilty that he has abandoned his brother to die alone. You then see a Danish female who has figured out how to work the system and get to see her lover, who is stationed on the German front lines, at an Officer party where they are to be the guest singers. He feels guilty that he is safe and that his friends are not. He goes back to the front with his girlfriend in tow. The film makes fun of the officers, please see the Scottish and German jabs at their Top officers.

It all starts simple enough, the Scottish soldiers are celebrating Christmas and they decide to play their bagpipes. The French and German soldiers are stunned but they listen. Then the German soldier who can sing gets up and sings a German Christmas song, while he is singing the Scott’s join in with their bagpipes and help him out. After the song is done, the singer listens to the pipes play Oh Christmas tree. The German then did something that will stop the audiences, he get up and picks up a small Christmas tree while singing carries the tree into the middle of no man’s land. After he is finished the Scottish soldiers erupt in huge clapping, the French soldiers are just stunned but they also show that they have liked it. The German and The Scottish officer then start to talk in broken English and soon the French officer then joins them, they agree to a truce for Christmas.

Then all 3 sides come out of their trenches and meet and talk, It soon becomes midnight and a stretcher bearer, who is also a priest back home, leads a Christmas mass in Latin with all 3 sides participating in the mass. That night it was peace on earth and goodwill towards men, for no one died their that night. The next day, the brother finds the body of his dead brother and is trying to bury it, another truce is declared so that all sides can bury their dead. The scene that got me the most is when the priest went to a German grave and gave it blessing in Latin.

The next day (Boxing Day for the Scots) was observed also, all of the soldiers went into the German trenched because the Germans were going to fire artillery at the Allied side. after the Germans has finished shooting, the Scottish Officer stated that he thought that the British would fire next, so everybody then goes to the Scottish side and waits until the Allied side has finished. On Boxing Day nobody died. Everybody states their goodbyes, the German officer tells the girl and her lover to surrender so that their voices can survive and that they will not be blamed for the truce.

When all 3 sides headquarters learn of the truce, by reading their soldiers mail, Hell in unleashed. The Scottish unit is disbanded and broken up. The Germans are arrested and redeployed by train. The French father yells at his son and calls him a fool who has thrown away a good career. What was the most damning was the Priest supervisors reaction. He tell him that he is being sent back to Scotland and that he has done wrong in God’s eyes. (You must remember one thing here all 3 sides were told by their men of faith that their side was right and that they are on Gods side) (This was used allot in the US Civil War by both sides and is used now in the war against terrorism)

His reply was so correct, I was talking to the masses that day and in his eyes they were all gods children. He was rebuked and as he listened to his supervisor tell the men that they must kill Germans and that they are evil etc etc. He removes his cross and walks away. The Bible teaches us to preach the word to all that will listen not just select people, all who came to listened that night received his holy words.

The film shows very well why all of the Headquarters were scarred of this truth, In war you must make the enemy sound so bad that when you kill him you will give no sadness nor guilt. Something went wrong, these men met and realized besides the language that their really was not much of a difference. They all had families, loved one and all wanted to be anywhere in the world except where they were, at war.

When I was in the US Army, I was taught that the USSR was the enemy and I taught others what the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) taught me at Munich, were the enemy and needed to be killed and to kill all of them. To this day I do not trust neither Russia or the PLO, to be honest I do not know if I ever will. I recall the sermons about God’s Army and how the Russians were killing Christians. Seeing this reminded me of those times.

The ordinary soldier will respect this film, the higher ranking officers will be very afraid of this film. Daniel Bruhl once again shows why he will be a leading actor for years to come. In this film he plays the German officer in charge and if you saw the movie, “Good Bye Lenin” He was the star of that classic also. Overall if you want a good story where insanity is the norm and men learn that truce has too high of a price, then please see this film when you can.

My special Christmas Eve review of this film.

4. The Dark Knight

Well, to be honest, I still am not sure if I have seen this film. As of the writing of this review, I have seen the film about 15 times now via cinema and blu-ray disc and I am still not sure I have seen all that the film has to offer.

When I was a child, I used to collect comic books and I always had one favorite hero, The Batman. I had no idea why I liked him. Maybe it was his dark outfit, maybe it was him trying to save Gotham City from the bad guys. I have no idea to this day why I selected him as my favorite. All of my other childhood friends were into Superman. I like him but to me he was just to good to be true. After awhile, I quit reading the books and moved onto baseball cards.

I forgot all about Batman until I heard about a story called The Dark Knight Returns and rediscovered Batman as a dark hero that the world deserved and have not left the Batman world since.

So who is the man that we call “Batman”? To me he is a Ronin because he has always blamed himself for his parents death as a child. In the new batman film, he looses another one close to him and it looks to make him more of a “Ronin.”

So with all of this in my mind, I went to see my childhood hero, “Batman’s” latest film, The Dark Knight . I had only one thought after I saw it at the IMAX, “My God, They have finally gotten my hero right.”

If you are going to show a hero, you must also show the villain. Batman’s main villain is The Joker and he is shown the way that the Joker was meant to be played by the late, Heath Ledger.

Alfred states the best description of “The Joker” and he makes this comment. “You crossed the line first, sir. You squeezed them, you hammered them to the point of desperation. And in their desperation they turned to a man they didn’t fully understand.” …….”Because some men aren’t looking for anything logical, like money. They can’t be bought, bullied, reasoned or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn.” Mr. Ledger’s acting makes you think that all he wants to do is to watch the world burn while he laughs at the result.

Near the end of the film “The Joker” makes A statement that shows that him and Batman are the same..

The Joker: You just couldn’t let me go could you? This is what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object. You truly are incorruptible aren’t you? You won’t kill me out of some misplaced sense of self-righteousness, and I won’t kill you, because you’re just too much fun. I think you and I are destined to do this forever.

Batman: You’ll be in a padded cell forever.

The Joker: Maybe we can share one. They’ll be doubling up, the rate this city’s inhabitants are losing their minds.

This led to the first major question that I had about the next film. Do they recast the Joker or do they try and find another villain? The Joker was supposed to be in the third film and with the death of Mr. Ledger would you want to even try and make another one? How can you top this battle between good and evil between the Joker and Batman?

I have written words of praise for this film in order to try and convince you to see this film. I honesty do not if the words I have written have done this film any justice. All I can ask is that you take your time and please see this film. It is worth your time and your $.

If We are given a hero that we deserve, as a world. We are not given a hero that we need. I think this is why the film has done so well in the USA. He is what we need as a nation, a dark knight.

3. The Lord of the Rings film trilogy

I remember seeing on television many years ago that some company was going to make a movie about “The Lord of the Rings” series and I went ho-hum and moved on.

I remembered reading the 3 book when I was in High School back in the early 1980’s and the book really did not impress me that mush. So when the first film opened up back in 2001, I did not see it until the 3rd week that it was out. All that I remembered that the books were boring and that if the film was like the book, I wanted no part of it.

After the first weekend, I started to hear many great reviews of the film from critics, whom opinions, that I trusted. I finally went to see the film 2 weeks later and I became a fan of this series. I remember I saw the first film back to back, just to make sure I really saw everything that the film had to offer. I remember waiting for and purchasing all 3 special editions of the films and now eagerly await all 3 to be released in the Blu-Ray format.

What I have found best about this series is to watch all 3 back to back, in their extended version and just to sit back and enjoy the road to becoming a hero.

2. The Notebook

I had seen the preview of this film back in 2004 and I thought that it would be a great date film, so I took this young lady to the movies with me and was hopping for a nice night out. When I heard this part in the beginning of the film, I knew that this was going to be a very different film…..

“I am no one special. Just a common man with common thoughts. I’ve led a common life. There are no monuments dedicated to me and my name will soon be forgotten, but in one respect I’ve succeeded as gloriously as anyone who ever lived. I’ve loved another with all my heart and soul and for me that has always been enough.”

I had once been married and maybe, one day, I will find love again. In this film, I heard the actor speak those simple world and I believed him. He knew love.

The film takes place in the present and back in the 1940 when we are shown a young couple by the name of Noah Calhoun and a 17-year-old heiress named Allie Hamilton. We are shown their summer love and then we are shown her forceful removal away from Noah and then we are shown Noah’s good-bye words to her..

My Dearest Allie. I couldn’t sleep last night because I know that it’s over between us. I’m not bitter anymore, because I know that what we had was real. And if in some distant place in the future we see each other in our new lives, I’ll smile at you with joy and remember how we spent the summer beneath the trees, learning from each other and growing in love. The best love is the kind that awakens the soul and makes us reach for more, that plants a fire in our hearts and brings peace to our minds, and that’s what you’ve given me. That’s what I hope to give to you forever. I love you. I’ll be seeing you. Noah …

The entire female audience in the theater started to cry, my date did and I thought it was because of the film.(Later, I learned that she had recently lost both of her grandparents and she saw their love story in this film.)

It soon became even more clearer when in the present part of the film, it is made evident that the elderly woman is Allie — suffering from dementia, which has stolen her memories — and that Duke is her husband. Allie does not recognize their children and grandchildren, who beg Duke to come home with them. Duke insists on staying with Allie, refusing to abandon her by telling his children this…

“That’s my sweetheart in there. Wherever she is, that’s where my home is.”

Once again, the female audience along with my date lost it. I kept thinking, OK whats next?

Then we are shown 1947 Allie is now engaged to someone that her parents approve of and In 1947, while trying on her wedding dress, Allie spots an article about Noah’s renovation on the Windsor Plantation in a newspaper and faints. She realizes that she still has feeling for this man.

Later we are shown how this couple finally get together but to me the film became legendary when, in the present, Duke asks his fellow patient whom Allie had chosen. She soon realizes the answer herself; young Allie appears at Noah’s doorstep, having left Lon at the hotel and chosen Noah. They embrace in reunion. Duke’s elderly companion suddenly realizes that she herself is Allie. She remembers her past, and that Duke is Noah. They joyfully spend a brief intimate moment together; after originally finding out about her impending illness, she had herself written their story in the notebook with the title and instructions for Noah: “The story of our lives, by Allie Calhoun. Read this to me, and I’ll come back to you.” But soon Allie relapses, losing her memories of Noah yet again. She panics, and has to be sedated by the attending physician. This proves to be too difficult for Noah to watch and he breaks down and when he broke down my date really started to cry.

Watch the deleted scenes on the DVD, it really clarifies “The Notebook”, why Allie wrote it.

Ever since I first watched this film, I have compared all movie love stories to this film. When I saw the film ‘UP”, I compared the 4.5 minute love start as a “Mini Notebook”.

I had no idea, I thought that highly of the film until I rewatched it a few days ago and saw how many films have failed in my eyes because their love story can not compete with this one.

This is also why this review is a few weeks later than most end of the decade list, I had 2 films that I placed above the rest and until a few days ago, I did not have a real cut decision. This film is also about love, but the notebook was between a man and a woman, my #1 film of the decade is love between a father and a son.

So my #1 film of the decade between 2000-and 2009 is……

1. Finding Nemo

It tells the story of the overly protective clownfish Marlin, voiced by Albert Brooks, who along with a regal tang called Dory, voiced by Ellen DeGeneres, searches for his son Nemo, voiced by Alexander Gould. Along the way he learns to take risks and that his son is capable of taking care of himself.

What would a parent do to protect his child and when does the parent realize that the child can make his own rational choices in life? Such is the power of this story about a father and his son who become separated, and must struggle to find their way back to each other. Marlon is a loving but neurotic and overprotective father; Nemo is a frustrated young fish who wants to be independent and see the world, and resents his father for preventing him from doing so.

This film was different, in other past animated classic it has been the mother who is the strength of the film. But, in this one we are shown that the mother has dies and its the father who must try and do the best that he can.

We are shown 2 stories in this film, a father trying to find his lost son and the son trying to find his way back to his father. Along the way both sides pick up allies in their quest and you see how the father tries to survive all of the trials that he must go through just to get to Sydney, Australia to rescue his son. Please see it when you get the chance and hopefully this year the film will be released in Blu-ray.

From Choi at the DICC:

It’s open to everyone who wants to join. Gender, nationality, religion and all other factores do not matter. You can join with friends & family. Hosted by the Daejeon International Community Center.

Event: 2010 New Years Day Event on Feb. 15(Mon)
What: Mixer
Start Time: Monday, February 15 at 1:00pm
End Time: Monday, February 15 at 5:00pm
Where: Expo park, Daejeon

To see more details and RSVP, follow the link below:
http://www.facebook.com/n/?event.php&eid=294049448755&mid=1d8718dG2260ac68G50bb300G7

2010 New Year’s Day with global friends

◇ Time & date : 1 PM ~ 5 PM on Feb. 15(Mon.), 2009
◇ Place : Main stage in front of Ticket place at Expo park
◇ Participants : Anyone who wants to join
◇ Program
Ο Song & dance contest – A total of 20 teams can join and 10 of them will be
given prizes
Ο Jaegi Chagi – A total of 30 person can join and 6 of them(3 male & 3 female)
will be given prizes.
Ο Rope Skipping in group – 10 teams can join and 3 teams will be given prizes.
Each groups need at least 5 foreigners
Ο Application for the contest shall be
◇ Registration(Application form are attached)
Ο By the 8th of February, 2009
Ο By fax(042-223-0790) or e-mail at kdmduduri@yahoo.co.kr
◇ Prize : The total prizes are equivalent to 1,000,000 won
◇ Other activities
- Traditional art crafts(Paid)
- Traditional musical instrument, game and etc
- Sharing Tteok-guk(Rice cake soup)
- And etc
◇ Question, registration and contact
Tel : 223-0789 & Mobile : 018-303-0463
e-mail : kdmduduri@yahoo.co.kr

This is my 5th end of year best films list and once again I am breaking the films down into 5 categories (The best films of the year, the worst films of the year, the surprises of the year, the disappointments of the year and the last is what I like to call my WTF!!! (WTF=Why the Frack was this film made?)

In 2009 we saw a life of love in 4 minutes. We saw grown men go to Las Vegas and get punched by Mike Tyson. We also saw the rebirth of “Star Trek”, the continuation of Harry Potter and we saw an innocent woman stoned to death. We saw a lady rebuild her life with 1920’s jazz and some different Indian Goddess. We also saw a soldier come home after he died to protect his fellow US Marines.

I will include in the reviews when the film will be released in South Korea, if the film hasn’t been released here yet. As always, I saw films from all over the world and there will be a few non-English films on these list.

Now for my choices from number 18 to number 1 for the best films of 2009.

18. Whip It

We are shown a girl from a small town town in Texas who quite doesn’t fit in. She is doing these small town Texas beauty pageants that Bliss Cavendar (Ellen Page) has come to hate. She then finds a new passion that she loves, “Roller Derby”. You then see this shy girl turn into “Babe Ruthless” the new rookie of the Austin Roller Derby League.

What I also liked about the film was the rookie directing of Drew Barrymore. The film never insulted the audience and the pace of the film was never too long at anytime during the film.Please see the film when it plays in SK February, 2010 and I think that you’ll like it.My Review

17. Bakwji or Thirst (South Korean)

The film starts out like any normal film with a priest,Sang-hyun, he is trying to do the Lords work and trying to save some souls along the way. He is given a chance to volunteer for a really unusual project that might help to save more lives but instead it turns him into a vampire, but he is now a priest, who is in love with his friends wife and he wants to nectar on her blood.

What I also liked was first Sang-hyun feels alive and is energized by his insistent bodily desires, but soon he’s afraid to find himself sucking down blood from a former member who, is now in A coma, in the hospital. After attempting to kill himself, by jumping out the window and destroying a car and not his body, he realized that he has the F.I.V and the only cure is by drinking blood.

The film won the Jury Prize at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival. My Review

16-15 City of Life and Death (Chinese: 南京! 南京!; pinyin: Nánjīng! Nánjīng!) John Rabe (Chinese-French-German)

Both of these films deal with The 1937 Nanking Massacre with the Chinese film taking a more complete look at the film while the German one deals with John Rabe’s role in trying to save between 200,000 to 400,000 Chinese from being killed by the Japanese Army.

The “John Rabe” film picked up over seven German Film Awards nominations, including Best Film, Best Director , Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor (for Steve Buscemi, one of the few times that a Lola nomination has been given to a non-German citizen – Buscemi is American). It won for Best Film, Best Actor, Best Production Design and Best Costume Design. Lead actor Ulrich Tukur also won the 2009 Bavarian Film Awards for Best Actor.

14. Mary and Max (Australia)- Mary and Max is a 2009 stopmotion claymation feature film directed and written by Adam Elliot. The voice cast included Toni Collette, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Eric Bana. It won Best Animated Feature Film at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards in November 2009.

The film takes place from 1976 to 1994 and tells the story of the unlikely pen-pal friendship that lasts for 18 years between Mary, a chubby lonely 8-year-old girl who lives in Mount Waverley, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia, and Max, a 44-year-old, severely obese, atheistic Jewish man with Asperger syndrome who lives in New York City. The central focus of the movie is the letters shared between Mary and Max (from the ages of 8 to 26 and 44 to 62, respectively) and the stories behind their life and the lives of people around them.

13. The White Ribbon (German: Das weiße Band) It premiered at the 62nd Cannes Film Festival in May 2009 and won the Palme d’Or. This has been followed by positive reviews and several other major awards, including the 2009 Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film. The film has been selected as Germany’s submission for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 82nd Academy Awards.

According to the director Michael Haneke, the film is about “the origin of every type of terrorism, be it of political or religious nature.” The film haunted me for days after watching it. I felt like I had seen how the Germans could have followed a mad man. The film was shot in Black and White to give the film create a distancing effect. When you watch the film be sure you try and grasp what is actually going on in this small town.

12. Sita Sings the Blues I read a story about this film and how it had taken a life of it own during 2009. I decided to watch it via YouTube and was quite impressed with it. Please watch the film and enjoy ones life story.

11. District 9. Producer Peter Jackson planned to produce a film adaptation based on the Halo video game franchise with first-time director Neill Blomkamp. Due to lack of financing, the Halo adaptation was placed on hold. Jackson and Blomkamp discussed pursuing alternative projects and eventually chose to produce and direct District 9.

I went into watching this film with very info on it. I knew that it had done good business in the USA when it played in Korea back in October 2009. I was not expecting a great film. I saw an unknown actor, Sharlto Copley, take the main role and turn into memorable one. The film is open for a part 2 and I eagerly await it.

10. The Hangover. I was expect a somewhat funny film, I was not expecting it to be as funny as “Blazing Saddle”. The plot follows four friends who travel to Las Vegas for a bachelor party, only to wake up the next morning not remembering a thing and missing the groom, whose wedding is scheduled to occur the next day.

The first few minutes of the film tell you that Doug (Justin Bartha) is about to be married to Tracy (Sasha Barrese). His friends — Phil (Bradley Cooper), Stu (Ed Helms), and soon-to-be brother-in-law Alan (Zach Galifianakis) — take him to Las Vegas for a bachelor party. Tracy’s father (Jeffrey Tambor) lends them his car, a vintage Mercedes convertible, for the trip. The four get a villa at Caesars Palace hotel and casino, then sneak onto the roof and toast to the night ahead. The next morning, the three groomsmen wake up in the suite with no memory of the previous night and soon realize that Doug is missing. Clues abound: the suite is in severe disorder, a tiger is in the bathroom, a baby is in the closet, Stu is missing a tooth and has an ATM receipt for $800, one of the suite’s mattresses is impaled on a statue outside, Phil is wearing a hospital bracelet, and a valet brings them a stolen police cruiser they dropped off the night before.

Then the film really takes off. Sad to say but, here in South Korea, the film went direct to video. Try and watch the unrated version and next year the sequel will be released.

9. The Blind Side. In my country, the USA, I have seen sports films talk about why men or teams are heroes,Miracle, how they handle trouble,We Are Marshall and some even how they handle the death that will soon become them, as in The Pride of the Yankees.

In this film we are shown a young man, Michael Oher (played by Quinton Aaron) has been in foster care with many foster parents. Every time he is sent to a new foster home, he runs off. But he is given a chance in a private school and is noticed by one of the students mothers, Leigh Anne Tuohy. For some reason, she offers to help Michael and the family soon adopts him. You see how a strong mother figure turns the boy into a first round draft choice of the Baltimore Ravens. For her performance, Sandra Bullock won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama.

As of the time of writing this review, the film does not have a Korean release date yet.

8. Up in the Air

I kept reading on other websites that George Clooney had given the acting performance of his life in this film. After seeing this film, I must agree with them.

Mr. Clooney plays Ryan Bingham, a man who makes his living traveling to workplaces around the country and conducting employee layoffs for bosses too cowardly to do it themselves. Walter Kirn stated in the film’s press notes: “Ryan is like a masseur who comes in and sort of rubs your shoulders while rolling your desk chair into the elevator.” Ryan also delivers motivational speeches, using the analogy “What’s In Your Backpack?” to extol the virtues of a life free of relationships with people and things. He relishes the comfort of anonymity during his perpetual travels. Ryan’s personal goal for his life is to achieve 10 million frequent flyer miles. While traveling, he meets another frequent flyer named Alex (Vera Farmiga) and they begin a casual relationship.

Ryan is called back to his company’s offices in Omaha, Nebraska, where he finds out that an ambitious young coworker named Natalie Keener (Anna Kendrick) is pushing a plan to cut costs by having employees stay grounded and conduct layoffs over the Internet.Ryan argues that Natalie knows nothing about the process of firing people, and his boss (Jason Bateman) assigns him to take Natalie with him on his upcoming travels to show her what it’s like.

This is where the film takes you in a direction that you do not expect and made me want to see a part 2 to this film.The subtle dept of Clooney’s acting is what really makes this film. As of the time of this review, there is no release date for this movie is Korea.

7. Fantastic Mr. Fox. The only reason I even watched this film, was because a fellow teacher told me that really wanted to see it and he was talking very good about it. I had the opportunity to watch it and I could not believe how much I liked it. I was expecting a so-so film. Instead I get a stop-motion film, that really worked for me because I did not believe that it was stop-motion.

With George Clooney and Meryl Streep giving us the 2 main voices in this film,I found their humor making this good film into a great one.

6.Taking Chance Taking Chance is a 2009 historical drama based upon the experiences of Lt. Col. Michael Strobl (Kevin Bacon) escorting the body of a Marine, PFC Chance Phelps (posthumously promoted to LCpl), back to his hometown from the Iraq War.

The film was selected for showing at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and, when a film distributor could not be found, the film was purchased by HBO and it premiered on HBO on February 21, 2009. It was nice to see a film about the War in Iraq, that did not pick a side. It tells you about how a soldier died while protecting his unit and it tells you how his body was given a military escort home.

What I liked about this film was how many people, who never knew this young man, grieved for him. Its a story that needs to be seen by all.

5. The Stoning of Soraya M. I had heard of this book back in 1994 but I had forgotten all about it until I heard that they were going to make this into a film.

The plot is simple, Stranded in a remote Iranian village, Freidoune Sahebjam is approached by Zahra, a woman with a harrowing tale to tell about her niece, Soraya, and the bloody circumstances of her death the day before. Her story attempts to expose a huge conspiracy which accused her of cheating on her husband. Her last and only hope for justice lies in the hands of the journalist who must escape with the story – and his life – in order to communicate the violence to the world.

The film tells the true story of one of the victims of stonings in modern Iran. Soraya M.’s husband Ghorban-Ali was an ambitious man, prone to rage with a lust for power. He wanted a way out of his marriage in order to marry a 14 year old girl but did not want to support two families or return Soraya’s dowry. When Soraya began cooking for a friend’s widowed husband, he found his excuse: abetted by village authorities, he accused his wife of adultery. She was taken away, buried up to her waist, and then stoned to death.

The stoning scene will be very hard to watch and its aftermath on the village is worth the time it will take you to watch this film.

4. Star Trek

I really went into this film, absolutely, wanting to destroy this film piece by piece. I could not believe that they were going to relaunch one of my all time favorite TV shows and they were not going to include William Shatner (the original James T Kirk) in this new film. I even listed this film as one of my 10 summers, “Do Not See” List. After the film was over, I was so glad that I was wrong about this
choice.

By the time Spock was stating the series Motto, I was cheering and I could not believe that they had done “Star Trek” correctly.

Now you must remember one thing, the time line was altered by the Narada. So what we think was Star trek is now another reality of it. Once i saw that I realized that, I was going on one heck of a trip.

I must also now agree that having a prime James Kirk, would have destroyed this film. Please watch the scene where Prime Spock, talks to the younger Kirk, you can see the pain in his eyes knowing that he has seen his old friend die and now he can help the younger one live. Also, the next scene where, we are introduced to Scotty, was a classic with Prime Spock telling Scotty the formula that, Scotty, would later invent.

What was also different was the unwritten love between Uhura and Spock. You could definitively see what Spock’s mother, had been trying to teach him about love.

Leonard Nimoy stated that he actually cried when he saw the scene of Kirk meeting Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy. He remembered his old friend, the original McCoy (DeForest Kelley), Nimoy tells America’s TV Guide magazine, “I started crying – and it (scene) still moves me now. I loved D-Kelley, salt of the earth.

I have this film on Blu-Ray and is well worth watching on this format.

3. The Watchmen.

Have you ever seen a film and afterwords, you have no real idea how to explain it to any of your friends? This was my problem with the film after the first showing. I was not a “fanboy” of this series, so I couldn’t openly praise it for being the first true adaption nor could I condemn it for not being like the comic book, since I had not read the book.

What I really liked about this film was the music and how it was used exactly for the scene. I was laughing when certain songs were being played because of their subtle use in the film and after the film was over, I told the people who saw the film with me, why I was laughing at the music.

My advice for this film is this, please remember that the film was set up in an alternative 1985 that did not happen but in this world what you see was reality. A lot of reviews that I had read seem to be stuck on this point and it makes no sense for me. The film is just a movie, no more and no less. Please see it when you can and, if the opportunity comes your way, please see the film in Blu-Ray.

2. Invictus

I knew that this could be a good film, I had no idea that it would be a great one that I would want to get on Blu-Ray as soon as possible.

Invictus is a 2009 biographical drama film based on Nelson Mandela’s life during the 1995 Rugby World Cup in South Africa. Directed by Clint Eastwood, the film stars Morgan Freeman as South African President Mandela, and Matt Damon as François Pienaar, the South African Rugby team captain.

My favorite part of the film was the opening when Mandela attempts to tackle the country’s largest problems—including crime and unemployment—he attends a game of the Springboks, the country’s rugby union team. Blacks in the stadium cheer against their home squad, as the Springboks (their history, players and even their colors) represent prejudice and apartheid in their mind. Knowing that South Africa is set to host the 1995 Rugby World Cup in one year’s time, Mandela convinces the South African rugby board to keep the Springbok team, name and colors the same.

He then meets with Springboks captain François Pienaar. Though Mandela never verbalizes his true meaning during their meeting, Pienaar understands the message below the surface: if the Springboks can gain the support of black South Africans and succeed in the upcoming World Cup, the country will be unified and inspired. Mandela also shares with Pienaar that a poem, Invictus, had been inspiring to him during his time in prison, helping him to “stand when all he wanted to do was lie down”.

In my live I have seen nations unify over sports, I saw the USA cheer an Ice Hockey team to a gold Medal in 1980. I have seen a divided Germany win the World Cup back in 1974, and people wishing that their country could be unified. I saw that same spirit in this film. port can not solve all of one countries problems but it can unify them, for a brief moment. Please see this film when it arrives in Korea in March, 2010.

I had a hard time deciding between the top 2 films. Both of them worked for me and both of them told a great story. In the end, #1 had a short 45 minute scene that was well displayed on Blu-Ray when I saw it. The “Flynnie” for the best film of 2009 goes to…

1.UP

To be honest, I really was not expecting much from this film. I knew that it was a Pixar film and that I had liked the small preview of it that I’d seen online. I was thinking that this will be a cute kid’s film that I will never want to see again about a boy an older man and a dog exploring South America. The previews tell you that this will be a light film, when I actually saw it I could not believe the quiet dept that make this small film into an instant classic.

Like I had stated earlier, I really had no hopes for this film. It was going to be a small, light, kids film, that I might like. The film opened up exactly like I thought it would with a goofy boy, wearing explorers goggles, watching his hero on the movie screen and seeing his hero fall from grace and maybe his hero redemption. I kept thinking OK, “So why is this a good film?”

The answer is because what happens next in the movie.

The goody boy meets a crazy girl and they find in each other that they want to both be explorers and that she has already made an adventure book. She has a few pages filled up and she tells him that she will keep the rest of the pages blank until she can go to South America and see a huge waterfall and fill it with stories from her life there. You are also shown that she gives him a grape soda badge and they are both now part of the same club. Then the film takes the step from good film into a great film and what was so awesome, there were no words used so this part will easy play in foreign theaters.

What you are shown for the next 4.5 minutes is that goofy boy, Carl Fredricksen being married to that explorer girl, Ellie. You are silently shown their entire life together and how they both loved each other. You are shown some good times and the bad times, but you are shown one thing, and that is the love that these two people have for each other. Richard Corliss of Time called it “the sweetest, saddest 4½ minutes you’ll ever see on film.”

Director Pete Docter intended for audiences to take a specific point from the film, saying:

“Basically, the message of the film is that the real adventure of life is the relationship we have with other people, and it’s so easy to lose sight of the things we have and the people that are around us until they’re gone. More often than not I don’t really realize how lucky I was to have known someone until they’re either moved or passed away. So if you can kind of wake up a little bit and go, “Wow, I’ve got some really cool stuff around me every day”, then that’s what the movie’s about.”

It was like they made a 3-5 minute version of “The Notebook” and they tell the story without any words, just with love and life that anyone in the audience will be able to follow. When you see that Ellie had died and the love is gone from his eyes, I was realizing that I might be seeing a way better film; than I thought that I was going to see.

Due to those two not being to have any children and that fact that the court has declared him a public disturber and that he must now live in a retirement home. Carl looks at the photo of Ellie and decides to do 1 last adventure, he makes a big balloon out of thousands of small ones and he takes his house up and with him and they are both going to South America.

Now this part of the film will leave a lot to the imagination of the audience and it will, at times be a stretch to believe but, for whatever reason, this part of the film works as we see Carl go on his adventure and now he has a sidekick a boy by the name of Russell, a Wilderness Explorer stowaway on Carl’s flying house. This part of the film I will leave unspoiled because you will have to see it to believe it.

What I thought was a great idea near the end of the film is when Carl finally finds Ellie old Scrapbook and he looks at it and then he discovers that she added a lot of new pages to it and finds her mementos of her life with Carl after they were married, and a final note from her thanking Carl for her adventure and an encouragement for him to go on an adventure of his own. Invigorated by Ellie’s last wish, the man goes into “HERO” mode to save the day.

If we have the best films of the year then, sad to say, we must have the worst films of the year.

The Worst Films of 2009.

Dishonorable Mention.

After Last Season. This film is so bad that the distributors called up the theaters individually and told them to BURN THE PRINTS. Burn the prints. Why? Because it was cheaper than shipping them back. I was not able to get a copy of this film to watch so that why the film is getting a late addition to the list.

20. Terminator Salvation

Of all of the Summer films that were coming out in 2009, this was the one that I was looking forward to the most. After watching it, I wanted to take a terminator and shoot everyone involved in the making of a huge turd of a film.

As one film critic said:

TERMINATOR SALVATION is about accomplishing 3 things.

1st – John Connor has to meet his dad, Kyle Reese and hand him a photograph of his mommy.

2nd – John Connor must become the leader of the resistance.

3rd – John Connor must get his scar.

I knew about all of this and the previews looked great and when I finally got the chance to see the film, I took it and sat down and watched it. After it was over, could no believe that anybody would think that this is was a worthy turning over of the franchise to Director McG.

I was expecting the same Christian Bale, who as Batman was ready to save the city from a madman. In this film, it’s like Bale shows up, yells at a light person and took his paycheck and went home. I never believed him for once as John Connor.

If you actually try and follow this plot, it goes from a maybe believable idea, to the end where you are left thinking, who made this and why the plot holes never really seem to tell a whole story. It looks and felt like a greatest hits album with no heart of its own.

I could write more about how bad this film is but really, what is the point? The film, at the time of the writing of this review, had been considered a disappointment in the US crowd, while the international market has seemed to like T4. (in Korea alone it has sold over 4 million tickets.)

Please do not even waste the time to download this huge disappointment of a film.

19.Sorority Row. The film is a remake of the 1983 slasher film The House on Sorority Row and it should have never been remade. I found every move telegraphed and with nothing new, all it was was murder porn and not really worth a free viewing.

18. Whiteout

Online critics at Zap2it claim, “The film moves like frozen molasses, letting the audience get out ahead of the narrative developments at every turn.” I could not agree more with this film description. Please do not waste your time on this film.

17. Next Day Air.

Sam Adams of the Los Angeles Times gave the film a negative review citing the fact that the director could not make up his mind, “whether he wants to make a straight-up crime movie or a tongue-in-cheek riff on the genre, and he lacks the wherewithal to do both at once.” He went on to say that the film’s plot had enough holes you could drive a delivery truck through.

16.Gamer

The film stars Gerard Butler as an unwilling participant in an online game in which participants can control human beings as players. I was hoping that the original idea of this film could carry over into the film. Sad to say the idea was the only original part of this recycled hash.

15. All About Steve

Sandra Bullock has had 2 good films this year “The Blind Side” and “The Proposal”. Then this film came out and made me wonder, why anyone associated with this film would ever want to claim it. Jonathan Ross said, “Blink and you’ll miss it… I’d blink if I were you.”

14. Jennifers Body

A huge miscalculation from writer Diablo Cody and Actress Megan Fox. I have no idea if they were going for a soft core-horror lesbian film or a campy horror comedy. Whatever they were going go, never comes across in this film.

13. Imagine That

Well, either Eddie Murphy has a great film or it’s a bad one. With Eddie there seems to be no middle ground. Eddie is trying to go back into family entertainment but if this is it then please go back to bad action films.

12. Taking Woodstock

Taking Woodstock is a 2009 American comedy-drama film about the Woodstock Festival of 1969, directed by Ang Lee. I have no idea why Lee decided to make a Woodstock film without showing anything musically about the 3 day music event. The film just seems to wonder around with no real plot nor idea attached to it.

11. Friday the 13th (2009)

I heard that this was going to be a relaunch of this once classic horror series. in the end all we got was nothing new and killing stupid kids just because the director that it would be awesome. I agree with The New York Post’s Kyle Smith, who felt that the director made no attempt to create a movie beyond blood and guts, and even those attempts were “forgettable”

10.Fame (2009)

Roger Ebert stated, “Why bother to remake ‘Fame’ if you don’t have clue about why the 1980 movie was special? Why take a touching experience and make it into a shallow exercise? Why begin with a R-rated look at plausible kids with real problems and tame it into a PG-rated after-school special? Why cast actors who are sometimes too old and experienced to play seniors, let alone freshmen?”

I was complaining to myself the entire time I sat at the CGV while I was watching this horrid remake of a decent 1980 film.

9. Astro Boy

I knew who Astro Boy was, so when I saw the film, I would not be surprised by it. Sad to say, the film surprised me, due to a simple fact. I was expecting a good film and I did not get one. I could not believe how bad this classic Japanese character was misused by in this horrible film.

8. G.I. Joe 1

Dan Jolin of Empire magazine commented that it was “Bond without the style and Team America without the bellylaughs”. The Daily Telegraph reviewer said, “The taint of cruddiness extends everywhere in this joyless stinker.” James Berardinelli said the characters were “as plastic as the toys that inspired them” and considered Tatum “wooden” and that his character was “more animated in sequences when he is rendered by special effects than when being portrayed by Tatum”.Roger Ebert described that “there is never any clear sense in the action of where anything is in relation to anything else”

What is sad is that they have part 2 to this piece of crap in the works.

7. Fast & Furious

Well it is once time again for the new Hollywood film that shows us fast cars, beautiful women, thumping jams and no plot nor sense of reality, what so ever. If this kind of a films makes you want to go to the movies, then please go see the new film “Fast & Furious”

The film is basically a no brainier action film with CGI added to the cars to make the driving more insane. I saw this film with 4 boys and 2 girls, the boys seemed to get it and the girls hated it. If you want to see action in a film then you will not be disappointed. If you are looking for some real acting or anything resembling a real plot, then please pass on this film at all cost.

6. Paul Blart: Mall Cop

How do you know that a comedy film fails? When you do not laugh anytime during the film. I found the entire plot to be inane and the films best part was when the credits were over and there wouldn’t be anything more to show.

5. Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li

IGN gave the film 1.5 stars out of 5, saying “There’s better staged and more enjoyable brawls between Peter and the Chicken on Family Guy.” The film ranking website Rotten Tomatoes reported that 4% of critics had given the film positive reviews, based upon a sample of 47 and it was ranked 44th in Rotten Tomatoes’s 100 worst reviewed films of the 2000s. the film was bad but what surprised me but their were films that were worse.

4. Dragonball Evolution

Luke Thompson of E! Online referred to the film as a “surreal mess” that would only make sense to fans of the original series. He questioned the use of a Caucasian in the main role and felt Chow Yun-Fat was “overacting like never before”, but did consider it “fun in a train-wreck kind of way” and that while it was never boring it was also never “logical, coherent [or] rational”

A huge mess that I still have no idea why they even made this film. I was very disappointed in Chow Yun-Fat lack of acting in this film.

3. X-Men Origins: Wolverine

If you are truly a fan of the comic book “Wolverine”, I will recommend that you pass on this film. Due to the horrible plot, the inane special effects, the horrid acting, the absolutely uneventful tale that this film has to show. I was cringing at the theater while I was watching this junk. The utter misplacement of “Wade Wilson/Deadpool” in this film, is what finally made me despise what I has just wasted my money on. Please pass on this film at all cost.my review.

2. Antichrist

Antichrist is a 2009 horror film written and directed by Lars von Trier, about a couple who, after the death of their child, retreat to a cabin in the woods where they encounter strange and terrifying occurrences.

I have read many reviews praising this film and I have wondered, are they seeing the same film that I watched. I kept wondering what was the director going for in this film, an artsy horror film or a sad tale of sex hurts. I wasn’t sure and, to me, the film said the exact same thing.

Now their was one really bad film this year and this is the film that I give my “Flynnie” award to…

1. Stoic

I saw the film about jail, rape and death and couldn’t believe that anyone would make a film like this. Will Uwe Boll please for the love of a critics sanity, quit making anymore films. They are not even worth wasting anytime to download.

The 20 most surprising films for 2009.

20. Moon

I really was not expecting much it once I got into this film I was amazed by Sam Rockwell who literally carries this film – mainly because he is basically the only person in the movie. A nice little films that deserves to be seen.

19. Bronson The film follows the life of notorious prisoner Michael Gordon Peterson, who was re-named Charles Bronson by his fight promoter. Its a look at the life of one of England’s worst prisoners. It a hard look at a hard man.

18.Mother (South Korea) The film has been selected as South Korea’s official submission for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 82nd Academy Awards. Kim-Hye-ja won Best Performance by an Actress for the film at the 2009 Asia Pacific Screen Awards. The film has a very simple plot with a mother trying to save her son from being wrongly convicted. The film is definitely worth a DVD rental.

17. The Twilight Saga: New Moon

To be honest, I had absolutely no idea of seeing the 2nd film of the Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series. I then heard that it made about 141 million in the USA during its opening weekend. After I saw the film, I was shocked that I liked it. This film could have been a hue miss but the ladies seem to love this vampire story.

16. Brothers at War A simple documentary in which Jake Rademacher sets out to understand the experience, sacrifice, and motivation of his two brothers serving in Iraq. The film follows Jake’s experiences as he embeds with his brother Isaac in Iraq as well as other U.S. and Iraqi combat units. Rademacher goes along with secret reconnaissance troops on the Syrian border and into sniper “Hide Sites” in the Sunni Triangle. As Rademacher’s brothers return home, the film shows the toll separation and life-threatening work takes on soldiers’ parents, siblings, wives and children.

15. Cloudy With A Chance of Meetballs

In what could have been the death knell for Sony Animation, they come up with this little quirky film about it raining food. The film took a gamble and it worked. please rent it for you and your family.

14. Adventureland What a great coming-of-age film this sleeper ended up being. The marketing of this film killed any good word of mouth and sad, to say, in Korea, its direct to video here.

13.Take Off 국가대표 (Gook-ga-dae-pyo)(South Korean)

A small Korea film that drew 8.44 million tickets sold about a Korean Ski Jumping team. My students seemed to like the film. It it now available for rent with English subtitles.

12. Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel

The film received mostly negative reviews. Review aggregation Rotten Tomatoes reports that 21% of 76 critics have given the film a positive review. The film was set up to fail by the critics and the ticket buying public ignored them. At the time of writing this review the film has grossed world wide about 360 million.

11. Haeundae (South Korean)

This was Korea’s first attempt at a “Disaster Film”. With ticket sales over 10 million ans this film now being the #4 all time Korean film in tickets sold. The film was released straight to DVD in some foreign markets, so you might be able to find a good copy with English Subtitles. When the disaster stats in the film, I thought the director, Yoon Je-kyoon, did a great job showing you that a huge tidal wave was going to strike Busan.

10. Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire

This films deals with rape, incest and AIDS. Then the film really starts to take off. This will be a very hard film to watch, so if what I stated above bother you then please pass on this film. It has won some Golden Globes and, at the time of this writing, a possible candidate for Best Film of the year by the Academy.

9. Red Cliff 2 (China)

Part 2 of the Asian epic about the Battle of Red Cliff. The film was released in the west as a 143 minute 1 part film unlike the 2 part 280 minute film that was released in most of Asia. Please try and see the film in the 280 minute mark.

8. Zombieland

I have really cared tat much for the “Zombie” genera of films that seem to come out every few years. To me this one was different. It actually had an original idea and they ran with it. i am looking forward to part 2 of this series.

7. The Proposal

From a film that looked like it would be a lightweight, the film has grossed over 300 million word wide and helped make 2009 into a great year for Sandra Bullock.

6. Drag me to Hell

With Director Sam Raimi’s return to the Horror film. He once again shows us that a good horror film doesn’t need to be the “Torture porn”. The end shot of the film is its money shot and make a good film into a great one.

5.Coraline

Coraline is a 2009 American stop-motion 3-D horror-fantasy film based on Neil Gaiman’s 2002 novel of the same name. This was a huge gamble with the film being a stop motion film, shot in 3D and with the book being one that no boys would read. I had the chance to see it in 3D and to me, it was better than “Avatar” was in 3D.

4. Hannah Montana: The Movie

The critics had a field day destroying this film. The audiences seemed to love it. I have no idea why this show or, for that fact, Miley Cyrus is popular. All I know is that little girls see her as a hero and they love watching her and her show and they followed her to the movie.

3. Ice Age 3

I was thinking for sure that this film would fail and that would be the end of this series. Then something happened. As the film was being shown in foreign markets, the film was being dubbed into the local language with popular stars voicing the characters. The film has made $690.4 million overseas so far and has been a huge hit.

2. Avatar

I still do not like the film but at the time of writing this review the film has made about 1.7 billion dollars world wide. It has been a huge hit in Korea and is now the #6 all time film in tickets sold.

The next film only cost 15,000 to make and has 3 different endings but it has been called the next “Blair Witch” The Flynnie goes to…

1.Paranormal Activity The film has earned over $100 million at the U.S. box office alone, on a reported budget of $15,000. The films ending can really scare you. It looks like part 2 of this story will be released in October 2010.

Now for the Most Disappointing films of 2009

20.Police Adjective Police, Adjective (Romanian: Poliţist, Adjectiv) is a2009 Romanian drama directed by Corneliu Porumboiu. Back in 2006 he directed 12:08 East of Bucharest (2006). I was hoping that this film was going to be a good as his last one. With this film, I felt as thought I was watching paint dry. The pace of the film was that slow and tedious.

19. The Great Buck Howard

With John Malkovich and Tom Hanks in a film together, I guess I was expecting more that the one trick pony in this film. A huge disappointment for all involved in this film.

18. The Invention of Lying

Well i guess this comedy was supposed to be funny. I didn’t laugh at it. I only grimaced when the jokes fell flat. I am sure glad that I did not pay any $$ to see this clunker.

17. Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience

The Jonas Brothers are the young, hot, hip act next up on the Disney Channel. They were given a 3D concert film and the film was presented in IMAX and then proceeded to lay an egg. It has made about 21 million world wide and the South Park episode making fun of them was better than this film.

16. The Lovely Bones

This should have been Peter Jackson return to small movies. Instead we are given a film that is hard to follow and has not done well at the box office. The film is rumored to have cost between 65-100 million $ and after seeing the film, I have no idea where the money went, because it sure did not go into the film.

15. The Road

Well this is the latest film in, “The end of the world” series. I really saw nothing new in this format and was wondering why critics were praising this film? I really didn’t feel anything for this film. I can see a good film in here but the film just left me flat. I didn’t really hate this film but I did not leave the theater, wanting to tell the world to see it either. If you like this type of film then please see it at the movie theater. If you do not like this type of film, then you might want to pass on this one.

14. Brothers

Brothers is a 2009 American drama-war film starring Tobey Maguire, Jake Gyllenhaal and Natalie Portman. Directed by Jim Sheridan, the film is based on Susanne Bier’s 2004 Danish film Brothers.

Well once again Hollywood has made a War film and once again the US Public has rejected it. I never could believe Tobey as a soldier. Hollywood, try and make a film about a hero. It can not do any worse.

13. Nine

I went and saw this film and left the theater thinking that the film was a huge mess. I saw the grace of a mother (played by Sophia Loren) and how empty the film looked whenever she was not on the screen. Compared to her no one else in the film could act and , in my opinion, that really hurt the film.

12. Knowing

I know that Nicholas Cage has $$ and he needs the work, but he just has to be better than what this film showed. If this is the end of the world, then its not going down FIGHTING, IT WILL BE GOING DOWN WITH A REALLY BAD SCRIPT ATTACHED TO IT.

11. All About SteveOn Film 2010 on 12 January 2010, Jonathan Ross said, “Blink and you’ll miss it… I’d blink if I were you.”I have no idea who green-lite this film but they need ti be fired.

10. A Christmas Carol (2009 film)

Rotten Tomatoes websites general consensus is that “Robert Zemeckis’ 3-D animated take on the Dickens classic tries hard, but its dazzling special effects distract from an array of fine performances from Jim Carrey and Gary Oldman. To me it was a Christmas film with no soul.

9. 2012

For the few who have no idea about why the #2012 is so important in this film this is the answer. The film is inspired by the idea of a global doomsday event coinciding with the end of the Mayan Long Count Calendar’s current cycle on or around December 21, 2012 (the northern hemisphere’s winter solstice).

To me the main problem with this film is that the film tries to tell us that when the world is in trouble that the world will come together to save humanity but instead we are given a story that the uber rich will only save themselves. To me, the film fails here and only after a horrible speech does humanity even try and save the world.

8. The Brothers Bloom

I had heard a few critics that I like, praise this film, I knew that I had to see it. I was so disappointed. This film was given many good reviews. I kept asking myself, “Did we watch the same film?” I found the film so unoriginal, I guessed every plot twist. I found the film to be a huge bore.

7. Orphan

I read that a few critics liked this horror film, so once again I decided to watch it and once again I was hugely disappointed. The film was a bad rip-off of other bad horror films and this one brought nothing new to the table.

6. Land of the Lost (2009)

The film received a surplus of mostly negative reviews. The Wall Street Journal stated that it “isn’t worth the celluloid it’s printed on”, Entertainment Weekly remarked that “it leaves you feeling splattered”, The New York Daily News called it “a high-concept disaster”, Christian Science Monitor labeled it “resolutely uninspired”, The Hollywood Reporter labeled it “lame”, and The Miami Herald commented that “the whole thing feels at least three summers too stale.”

I still have no idea why they took a TV show from my childhood and really screwed it up.

5.Couples Retreat

Couples Retreat leaves viewers stranded in an arid, mirthless and humorless comedy. I really tried to laugh at this film. It just wasn’t funny.

4. Inglourious Basterds

While I was watching the film, I kept thinking, “What if this film would have been set in the present day and instead of the Nazi’s we are given Al-Qaeda or the Taliban?” This would be a very bold move. Instead we are given the same, tired plot, given that the Nazis were the bogeyman back in 1944. Does Hollywood only consider the past evil men and pretend that the present day evil doesn’t exist?

To me this was the main reason why this film failed for me. Since “Pulp Fiction”, I have asked Tarantino to always give me another great film. I do not mind the reusing of old ideas into something new but with this film, we are given a lot of recycled material, but nothing new and instead of a new classic film, I see a 2+ hour adult, anti-Nazi cartoon.My Review

3.Angels and Demons I really had no idea what to think about this film. I remembered all of the talk about the first film, “The Da Vinci Code” and I wanted to get a better idea of the Catholic faith, so I asked a friend of mine, who is catholic ,to see the film with me and to give me his ideas about the film. After we saw the film, we both agreed that, its a “Popcorn action flick” but not that good of one due too many errors thought the film and some really bad story plots and ideas. My review.

2. Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian

I really had some huge hops for this film. The idea of a museum actually coming to life at night, just sounded too weird, but it had a great cast and great story and it worked. Sad to say, the 2nd film, this film, fails on every level.

And now its time for the “Flynne” for the most disappointing film of 2009 and it goes to….

1. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

I so wanted to like this film. I went to a digital screen and saw this film twice on opening day. After the second time, I realized that I did not want to see this film again for the rest of the summer.

The sad thing about this movie that I can actually see a great film in this film. This film badly needs a 20-30 minute edit and a lot of the scenes could used a tighter direction. The main idea must have been, Let’s make more robots and let us add a heck of a lot more explosion and let add a hot evil alien female that wants to kill Sam. It was just too much and all of this bloated shots actually took away the heart of the film and just absolutely ruined the film for me.

Some of the viewers are going to have their own issues with Mudflap and Skids, also known as the twins. Some critics have called these 2 racist and compared these 2 to Star Wars infamous “Jar Jar Binks” I will let you, the viewer, make up your own minds about these 2 robots.

The one thing I loved about this film was the showing of the Military as men of honor who believe in what the robots are doing. Watch for the little scene of Prime and Robert Epps, It is a small scene , but the small joke, I got it.

Now for the last part of this years review when I list 25 films that I had to ask “WTF”

I will list these in order from number one to number 20

1. Pink Panther 2 At the movie theater I saw this film at their was a photo of Peter Sellers playing Inspector Clouseau, as I walked out the theater, I looked at the photo and said “We did you no justice today, this film was horrible. It looks like their will be a #3 and with a new Clouseau, Oh Joy.

2. Halloween 2 (2009).

Well I guess Rob Zombie had to make a sequel to his 2007 Halloween film. If this was his best then he needs to stop and never make another. What a joke this film was.

3. 9 (2009)

I sat backed ad watched this film and realized that the cartoon had no heart. It was an 80+ minute mess of a film that never really comes together, not even when it ends. I found it to be a complete waste of time.

4. The Taking of Pelham 123 (2009)

In a hero film, the audience must decide to be a good person or the cheer for the bad guy and when the film lets you cheer for neither, as this one did, you are left with a mess. At the end of this film, I felt that I had lost my $ and was cheated by an inferior product trying to be the 1974 classic film.

If you have seen the original, then please pass on this film at all cost. If you have not seen the original, then this film, is worth at least one viewing to see weather or not, you will like it. My review

5. Law Abiding Citizen

I found myself cheering for Gerald Butler to kill everyone in this film so it would be over. I never believed him nor Jamie Foxx in this film for a moment. That’s why this film failed me and many others.

6. Miss March James Berardinelli, an online film critic, wrote about the film, saying, “This is bad. Not bad in a way that it might be fun to see when inebriated. Bad in a way from which only death provides immunity. Forget waterboarding – just show Guantanamo detainees Miss March and they’ll say anything.” Tom O’Neil, a critic for the Los Angeles Times, questioned as to whether the film could be the worst of 2009. CNN critic Tom Charity declared the film the worst of 2009. Ouch.

7.Year One The film received negative reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes summarized the consensus as: “Year One is a poorly executed, slapdash comedy in which the talent both in front of and behind the camera never seem to be on the same page. To me the film was a huge mess and a comedy that did nit make me laugh nor did it let me laugh.

8. Fired Up

When the film was released it was screened to very poor reviews and now that its out on DVD, the reviews are still horrible for this film.

9. Public Enemies

Although the film has been praised for its attention to period detail and general accuracy, it takes significant creative license with known facts. This is a reason I hate films like this, I start to count the errors and soon loose interest in the film.

10. Julie and Julia

I never got this film. I found it to be boring and no real idea why the film was made. A lot of people disagree with me on this one. Please rent the film and decide for yourself.

11. Where the Wild Things Are

I remember as a child growing up in West Germany and falling in love reading this book. When I saw the film as an adult, something was missing. What ever magic the book had for me never came across in the film. I was so sad after I saw this film. Once again Hollywood had taken a childhood memory and destroyed it.

12. The Men Who Stare at Goats

I kept telling myself this comedy has to be funny. By the time the film was over I didn’t laugh once and couldn’t understand why people were laughing at this film.

13.The Soloist Reviewers generally praise the performances by Robert Downey Jr. and Jamie Foxx, but comment on the film’s lack of narrative focus in attempting to tell a convincing or engaging story due to the somewhat “uneven” direction by director Joe Wright. I found the film to be a complete bore and never felt sorry any of the people in this film.

14. Saw 6

Why do I even bother to watch these film? All it has become is a bad torture porn joke with no real horror. What worse is that a #7 is on the way. Robert Abele of the Los Angeles Times wrote “But, really, do reformers and victims of callous health insurers really want a guy with a penchant for elaborately constructed death panels of his own to be their advocate? Elsewhere, the usual critiques apply: terrible acting, zero suspense, laughable logic and the promise of another one next year. How can we get this policy canceled?”

15. Dance FlickThe movie’s critical reception was generally negative. It received a 18% on Rotten Tomatoes, giving it a “rotten” score. On Metacritic, it got a 40/100 “mixed or average” score, based on 17 critic reviews. All I saw was a parody of a parody of a really bad parody and in the end that is all that it was. A really bad film with nothing to offer.

16. State of Play

State of Play is a 2009 American political thriller. It is a film adaptation of the critically acclaimed six-part British television serial of the same name, which first aired on BBC One in 2003. The plot of the six-hour serial was condensed to fit a two-hour movie format. To me that’s what killed this film. I kept thinking, a lot sure seems to be missing from this movie. How could a film have so many good actors be this bad?

17. The Box
Market research firm CinemaScore reported that the film receives very negative feedback. The Box received an F, for which CinemaScore President Ed Mintz blamed the film’s ending and was quoted as saying “People really thought this was a stinker”. The film horrible ending with a lack of any plot really hurt this film and made me wonder why anyone would want to cast Cameron Diaz ever again.

18.Amelia

Amelia has received extremely negative critical reviews Echoing the majority view, Martin Morrow’s review on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation was very critical of the film labeling it “a dud,” declaring: “Hilary Swank may look the spitting image of Earhart in those vintage newsreels, but her performance is more insipid than inspiring. Mira Nair directs as if she were piloting an overloaded plane on an endless runway — the film lumbers along interminably, never achieving takeoff…” and “As the film limps to a close, Amelia has accomplished a feat we didn’t think possible: it has made us indifferent to this real-life heroine’s tragic fate.” Most critics decried the inconsistencies and lack of focus in the film; Manohla Dargis of the New York Times wrote, “The actors don’t make a persuasive fit, despite all their long stares and infernal smiling. …the movie is a more effective testament to the triumphs of American dentistry than to Earhart or aviation.”Ric Gillespie, author of Finding Amelia, wrote that “…Swank, under Nair’s direction, accomplishes the amazing feat of making one of the most complex, passionate, ferociously ambitious, and successful women of the 20th century seem shallow, weepy, and rather dull.

The film was just bad and I agree with all of the critics above.

19 bride Wars

Manohla Dargis of the New York Times called the film “dopey if largely painless”. She said that Hathaway’s presence meant “that there’s a little acting in it, along with a few human emotions” Carrie Rickey of the Philadelphia Inquirer wrote, “How bad can a movie be, with Goldilocks Hudson and Cinderella Hathaway? So excruciating that Hudson’s sunshine can’t warm it and Hathaway’s rose redolence can’t mask its stink.”

Longtime BBC Radio Five critic Mark Kermode was notably harsh toward the film, going so far as to say that he would quit film criticism if Bride Wars did not end up in his list of 10 worst films of 2009. At the end of the year he decided that he would keep his job, as the film finished eighth in his list.

If I was to ever want to get married again and my bride turned into the ultimate “Bridezilla” I think that I would leave her and never go back. This film fails on every level.

20.Fighting

Dito Montiel’s film has been advertised as the ‘Rocky of our generation’ Well I love all of the Rocky’s (Except for #5)and this crapola of a film was worse than Rocky 5. I saw no heart, no plot and one really boring film.

Well this is the end of my Best and worst films of 2009. Stand by and in a few weeks I will have the best and worst of 2000-2009. Once again, “I see the crap, so you don’t have to!”

Movie Review: 500 days of Summer.

What if you went after the wrong girl for you, but you thought that she might be the right one for you? If you have tried this before then you might have already seen this film. Not because you have, just because you have already lived through this film.

In this film we are shown 500 days of a girl named “Summer” and a boy named Tom Hansen and we see Tom tries to make love work with a girl, who tells him flat out that you aren’t the one for me. The film ends the way that a doomed loved works out and in the ends it leaves the chance of a sequel to this film but using a different girl all together.

I have read many reviews for this film because this film is on a lot of best of 2009 list. I have been trying to look and see what I could have missed in this film. I have read that this is a great film but, as for me, all I saw was a waste of time for a bad love attempt that never should have gone through. I found all of the actors boring and I kept checking my watch to see when the film would end.

Readers, if you agree with my reviews then please pass on this one. If you really hate my reviews then you might want to see this film when it opens here on 21 January 2010.

Grade D-

Author’s Note: The following is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental. Especially you Jenny Beckman. Bitch.

Movie Review: The Princess and the Frog.

I so wanted to like this film. When I heard that Disney was going back to its’ roots with a 2-D princess tale movie, I was expecting a great cartoon like, “The Lion King”. But, in the end all I saw was a huge disappointment of a film.

The film failed me for a few reasons.

1. The Love Story. With Disney films in the past, they could make you believe that a Beast or a simple dog could find love. With this film, I never believed that the frogs were ever in love. Every time they tried to show the heroes in love, I never believed it. To me the film never could recover from this massive failure.

2. The “PC” message. Disney had been criticized by a few people that they have never had an African-American princess as the main star of one of its films. In this attempt to accomplish that, they took out anything that might offend and in the end they did not offend anyone but everyone. I could see a great film here, but by trying not to anger anybody, the film never takes shape and we are left with a “pc” mess that never lives up to its true potential.

3. The Villain: In this film, the villain is Dr. Facilier (voiced by Keith David), a shady New Orleans gent who dabbles in dark arts. In Disney’s past films, we have been shown truly evil lions, cats or humans who you would never cheer for. In this film, we are given a joke that never made me fear him. I was treating him as a bad joke and the film never worked as a love story or why you should fear this bogeyman.

The one saving grace about this film was the sidekick. A jazz-loving alligator named Louis (Voiced by Michael-Leon Wooley. Every time he was in the film, I wanted the film to be about him and not what the film was supposed to be about, finding ones true love.

In the end, I liked the film for the alligator only. The rest, I could have done without. Please pass on this film when it arrives in South Korea on 21 January, 2010.

Grade. D

[from trailer]
Princess Tiana: Just one kiss?
Prince Naveen: Just one, unless you beg for more.

A great article by The Korean of Ask a Korean came down the wire today. He sums up how the Korean health care system works, what it lacks, and even gives some tips on which kinds of additional health insurance you might want to look at. A substantial post well worth the read.