Reviews

This movie would have been perfectly enjoyable to many more viewers if it had been a non Hollywood film featuring less known actors/actresses.

Seeing Jennifer Lawrence and Christ Pratt on the trailer with all the polish of glistening special effects does tend to shape one's expectations before going in to see the movie.

Unfortunately, the movie straddles the middle, not quite satisfying the high-action, endorphin-driven space odyssey lovers, nor the emotion-driven, heart-wrenching romance lovers. It delivers 70% in each category, sort of like a "fusion" restaurant dish that is neither there nor here.

Again, if expectations were not high going in to see this $110 million Sony Pictures film, it would have been a perfectly cute, nicely executed, charming surprise on late night cable. However, one must admit the storyline/script was weak for such an ambitious film, not giving enough to actors to work with, especially Jennifer Lawrence, whose talents were wasted on this script. Chris Pratt... I have never seen him give a convincing performance, this one included.

P.S. Was anyone else reminded of the bar and bartender in "The Shining" with the bar in this movie??

Being a fan of both Beckingsale and Cusack, this 2001 romantic comedy had a good shot of being liked by me.

Beckingsale has been in many movies since, but I am not sure she has ever been this impossibly irresistible. While the script does take liberties with the character's at-times strange ideas and actions, she has the type of screen presence and burning magnetism that seem to reach out straight to the viewer's senses. The eyes, face, the accent, and that ebullient spirit!

Cusack does what he does best, offering the tiny-bit off-beat, tiny-bit different viewing angle to the character's motives and personality. I am glad Cusack played off Beckingsale, not some pretty boy actor who can't act or bring something special to the chemistry.

Yes, the suspension of disbelief needs to be strong in action for the viewer, but despite sometimes unrealistic actions and silly meanderings, this is one of my favorite romantic comedies of all time, and too bad they don't make them like this anymore..

Firstly, I must object to the cliché of Amanda's lawyer husband playing golf and talking to his golf buddies on the phone as somehow representing what a bad husband he is. Golf is about sportsmanship, dedication, comradery, and overcoming insurmountable odds (it's a darn hard game), not a lazy writer's vehicle to portray a bad husband just because the said writer does not feel like doing real writing.

Secondly, the whole process by which Amanda and Cole fall in love, especially Amanda, is written without credible details or believability. I mean A+B=C, not A straight to C.

However, what saves this movie is the beautiful portrayal and display of the love, which is breath-taking at times and appeals to the primal core of humanity. No matter how it came about or how it may end up, the state of being in love was expressed with eye-searing vividness and effervescent lighting. It's something every human being desperately wants but rarely finds. Even if found, it usually does not last that long.

I suppose the version I watched was the alternate version. The original version's endings sounds too much like a highschooler's first attempt at writing a tear-jerker, not something I would want to sit through.

Something about Bradley Cooper rubs me the wrong way, yet I was still able to enjoy Aloha for what it does offer.

Like for many sci-fi movies, one needs to make a certain leap of faith through not-so-realistic plots and twists in order to appreciate the gems laid within. Stone and McAdams are like left and right pillars holding up the roof of the temple, and they shine in their humanity and vulnerability despite some of the worn-out storyline cliché and abrupt developments. There is still that sparkle in their eyes, and the beauty of their souls shine through despite the script's limitations.

Murray and Baldwin fulfill their roles of caricaturing themselves but offer nothing special, while Danielle Rose Russell shows her future potential as the next Emma Stone or Rachel McAdams, as they share that inimitable sparkle.

One could certainly do much worse watching a Hollywood romantic comedy, though I would still prefer to see Cooper more in movies like Silver Linings Playbook, not Aloha.

I still recall walking out of the theater after T2 with my spine tingling. Only other time that has happened was after the original Matrix, and I suspect many Scifi fans feel similarly about these two classic movies.

I was sorely disappointed after T3 and T4, which were decent popcorn movies but nothing approaching the classics. Genisys is not quite a classic but a far better movie than T3 and T4, and what's bittersweet is how a different casting decision for Reese could have pulled this movie into greatness. This casting decision cost the movie the sorely needed chemistry between Reese and Connor and the much needed desperate intensity.

Arnold did what Arnold does best, which isn't a bad thing. The plot holes...well, this is a scifi movie, isn't it? I would buy a 3-movie bluray director's cut bundle for T1,T2, and Genisys.

It's obvious that this movie is rooted in reality because real-world problems that magically disappear in romantic comedies actually go through real-life type of time frame and difficulty.

This movie will resonate stronger with those who have first-hand experience with long distance relationships, most of which do not work out beautifully. The concept of everlasting "true love" is a hotly debated topic, and this movie does not necessarily confirm or deny it. However, it is easy to see how "true love" can usually only exist if real world did not get in the way, especially the passage of time. Who can stop that?

But as they say, it is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all...

I did not even realize Mariana was Jennifer Lawrence until half way through The Burning Plain. She was younger with different hair color in this movie compared to her her most famous role in the Hunger Games franchise.

After all said and done, after watching The Burning Plain, the only truly lasting impression I have left is the hauntingly disturbing performance by Jennifer Lawrence when she was still in her teens. The movie itself generally was interesting in its use of time shifts and parallel story-telling, as well as the empathetic performance by Kim Basinger.

*Spoiler warning again*

There is a little too much of cookie-cutter resolution, e.g. Theron's predictable and unconvincing "shaping up" by the end. There is also just too much gap between the character played by Jennifer Lawrence and Theron; it doesn't convince as the same person. One could argue life has changed her, but the very core and essence of the person seem different. I am somewhat of a Theron fan especially with these unflattering movies she has been making, but I have become a bigger Lawrence fan after this movie, which is surprising since I thought I was impressed a lot by her turn in The Silver Linings Playbook. The Burning Plains shows off the potential of the actress, which can be seen to lead to wonderful performances like in Silver Linings.

However, having also seen Hunger Games: Mockingjay, which is one of the worst films I have seen, I truly hope Lawrence and her people see the wisdom of letting her develop her true talents and express herself more before being cast into those types of movies. Her X-Men roles really do not help much here, either.

Still, I would recommend people to watch Burning Plain, which "IS" a good movie, on a much higher plane than films like Mockingjay and X- Men anyway. I just wish its ending could have been more consonant with the ominous tone of the movie and that in the future the director does not feel the need to tie up all loose ends.

Korean cinema should stick to what it does best, e.g. disturbingly primal psycho-dramas/horror, dark and witty gangster movies, tear- jerking melodramas, etc. Hollywood-type big action, they should leave it to Hollywood.

Lee playing the lead should be familiar to those who have appreciated his work in "New World" (2013). However, "Big Match" is nowhere even close to being an engrossing movie like "New World." While one can appreciate the physical conditioning and action sequences by Lee, his usual lack of acting subtlety, as well as the completely goofy tone and elementary-school level dialogue render this movie an annoyance, not entertainment. Dumb dialogue and screeching screaming from all the actors involved throughout the whole movie, along with the unfunny "funny" villain just shovel more dirt onto the coffin that is "Big Match."

If interested in Korean cinema, heck just better entertainment, one should look to movies like The Yellow Sea, New World, The Terror Live, A Moment To Remember, My Sassy Girl, Beat, Memories of Murder, Spring summer fall winter.., etc.

The first and last time I watched this movie was 10+ years ago, a very long time, and remember a lingering feeling of quiet exasperation somehow mixed with an odd sense of elation, in a background of fog and disorientation reminiscent of jet lag.

Well, on one foggy late night around 3 or 4 AM, I happened to come across "Lost In Translation" on cable for the second time. There has been more than ten years of "life" that has happened since the first viewing, including things that have gleaned me new appreciation for this film's themes like sleeplessness, soul-searching, loneliness, relationships, and that all-elusive "happiness." This movie is a gift from Bill, Scarlett, and Sofia Coppola to those who have walked the elevations of life, still feeling somewhat dizzy and lost, yet have not lost the courage for what's in store.

When Murray says "I am completely lost" during his phone conversation with his wife, or when Scarlett says "I'm stuck" to Murray, the effect is greater the more one has traveled the path. Some may remember this movie as an extremely sad movie, but the reason this movie can be a gift is due to the fact it is a non-judgmental witness to our lives that silently cheers us on. "Go on. Keep going," it says.

The ambiguous ending may seem like a cop-out to some, but that's exactly how our lives swim in the sea of space and time (Sorry, I just watched "Interstellar"). Scarlett may be "stuck" in her marriage to someone she does not know, but perhaps she will leave him, write a best-seller, meet the man of her dreams. Or not. Maybe her next husband will turn out to be even worse. Maybe she will get together with Bill again, only to find out Magic can't last. People are people, and same or different issues will pop up.

Maybe Bill will find renewed energy, leave his wife, buy that Porsche, and shack up with another, inevitably younger, woman who appreciates him more, to live happily ever. Or not. Maybe that woman will grow lose appreciation for him just as much over time. Maybe it will be even Scarlett. Or..more likely, Bill will grin and bear, carry feelings of loneliness and pain, march on with his marriage and kids. For the kids.. Who can throw stones?

"The Yellow Sea" stands out joltingly, even among the already-rich South Korean filmography, most due to the acting by Yun-seok Kim, playing the villain from China. If there ever was "Bad-Ass," he is it. While he start out the movie seeming to be some sort of small-time, local con- artist, as the movie progresses, he shows his chilling, true colors as a soulless, remorseless, goal-oriented psychopath who refuses to lose a fight.

The scenes with Yun-seok Kim are truly some of the most electrifying, disturbing, and soul-killing scenes present in cinema. The Korean gangster counterparts provide almost a "commic" relief in their relative inadequacies, as well as the SK police which is depicted as impotent, as usually done in SK cinema.

Ha plays the main character pretty well, given the script, but it is difficult to believe that a taxi driver from China could engineer to many clever stunts and escapes, given how little time and resource he had. Ha does succeed in capturing the empathy of the audience with his plight.

This movie would have reached a higher level if some of the bloodshed and knifing were edited out to increase the shock value of the truly fierce scenes. Some of the car-chase and crash scenes should have been edited out as well to improve the coherence of the main theme and characters without so much Hollywood-esque action and noise to get in the way and dilute the mood.

But overall the movie still shines bright as a dark, stark, chilling shocker that could not exist anywhere else in the cinema world.

It's quite refreshing to watch a movie that holds the viewer's interest with story, characters, chemistry, and real life issues without resorting to gunfights, gratuitous violence, sex, or heroes.

There are no heroes in "Befoe I disappear, and why should there be, when the real world does not really have heroes, either? A group of people, all of whom with serious flaws and real-life issues, interacting with each other in situations that are not cookie-cutter'd or neat, can be a fascinating yet frightening thing to behold, as in this movie. Yet, there is just enough of humanity and hope in each of them to deserve rooting on by the viewer. Nobody in this movie is perfect, and nobody is beyond even a little hope, just like us in the world at large.

Fatima Ptacek is a crack of sunlight shining through the dark, damp corners of the world in this movie, reminiscent of Natalie Portman in "Leon: The Professional," although "Before I disappear" is far more cliché-free.

After seeing Jeong-min Hwang in the electrifying role in "New World," some people may be disappointed to see him act in this classic Korean love story which is proudly formulaic. The story has been done a million times before, and the script presents a series of rather predictable events along with often-used cliché's and emotional buttons.

Yet, once one gets past the cinematic mechanics, Hwang's magnetic acting pulls things together into an endearing, touching movie that belongs on a must-watch list for those who study Korean culture and its multitude of nuances. This is no eternal cinema, but like trickling light rain, the viewer is likely to find him/herself soaked with humanity by the end of movie.