Stand by Me (R) 8.0

Stand by Me (1986): After the death of a friend, a writer recounts a boyhood journey to find the body of a missing boy. (8.2)

Director: Rob Reiner
Stars: Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix and Corey Feldman

I was at USC when I first saw this movie. After the movie, there was a discussion with Rob Reiner and (I think) Richard Dreyfuss and a couple of more people involved with the movie. One thing I do remember from the discussion was that the reason for the R rating was because the dialog had "descriptive use of profanity," they were told. You can read the plot in the Wikipedia article about the movie. Being a bit wet behind the ears back then, this "coming of age" movie had a large impact on me as well. Wonderful use of 50s-60s music, specially the title track, even though the book has a different title. Seeing it today, I couldn't help but compare the fate of River Phoenix's character to his real life (different circumstances, yet the same end result). One of my favorite Rob Reiner movies. My Rating: 8.0

Inception (PG-13) 8.5

Inception (2010): In a world where technology exists to enter the human mind through dream invasion, a highly skilled thief is given a final chance at redemption which involves executing his toughest job to date: Inception. (8.9)

Director: Christopher Nolan
Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Ellen Page

Quite an involved and twisted storyline. The movie takes a lot of effort in explaining the rules, developing characters, etc. Just like in the Matrix, even within someone's dream, there's quite a lot of firepower and explosions. That's gotta be a Hollywood requirement of some sort. Then again, some of the initial explanation scenes where they sit in a cafe and things just explode w/o any firepower was cool. Now, that's what dream sequences should be like. Things happen unlike in real life. Surprisingly, they didn't have the dreamer or the architect change the things around mid-dream for their own advantage. Kept me guessing until the end if everything is real or memorex. I liked this movie quite a lot. My Rating: 8.5

The Myth (PG-13) 5.0

The Myth (2005): Martial arts legend Jackie Chan stars as Jack, a world-renowned archaeologits who has begun having mysterious dreams of a past life as a warrior in ancient China. (6.1)

Director: Stanley Tong
Stars: Jackie Chan, Hee-seon Kim and Tony Leung Ka Fai
Language: Mandarin (w/ English Subtitles)

Interesting story that goes back and forth between present day and ancient China. But, instead of developing the story and characters, the movie spends way too much time in martial arts sequences. (It is a Jackie Chan movie, after all.) They could have added a lot more dialog from the ancient time and used Hee Sun Kim more on the screen. The outdoor and battle sequences were okay, but having seen Mongol it left me expecting a lot more. A lot of effort must have gone into the battle scenes and the floating fights, but not being a martial arts fan, they didn't impress me much. I watched the movie mainly for the song, but it was barely sung. Even then, it was the Chinese/Korean version, which is okay, but I wanted hear the full Chinese version. I thought they'd have the song at least over the credits at the end, but it was just the music. My Rating: 5.0

The Age of Stupid (PG-13) 8.0

The Age of Stupid (2009): A future archivist looks at old footage from the year 2008 to understand why humankind failed to address climate change. (6.9)

Director: Franny Armstrong
Stars: Pete Postlethwaite, Jeh Wadia and Alvin DuVernay

An interesting perspective -- looking at today's society through the eyes of the future generations. What the movie talks about are so true, yet why is it that we as a civilization fail to act? We are still only thinking of individual gain and happiness. In that sense, an ant colony is more advanced than the human society. As long as there are people who put profit ahead of the collective good and there are those who focus on the individual rights more than that of the entire society, we will fail to do the right thing for good of the future. "Protect the environment" is a silly notion. The environment, the mother earth, doesn't care. The earth will go around circling the Sun for another 4-5 billion years oblivious if it has an advanced civilization or not. We need to protect the future of the human civilization. Good movie to make you think. My rating: 8.0

The Last Airbender (PG) 6.5

The Last Airbender (2010): The story follows the adventures of Aang, a young successor to a long line of Avatars, who must put his childhood ways aside and stop the Fire Nation from enslaving the Water, Earth and Air nations. (4.5)

Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Stars: Noah Ringer, Nicola Peltz and Jackson Rathbone

I'd only seen bits and pieces of the animated series, so the movie, at least for me, was a fresh story. As a single story it held together, even though the kids said that this movie is trying to cram 4 seasons of the animation into 2hrs, it is missing so much, etc. etc. The acting wasn't bad at all, and the special effects were quite good. Unlike those who may have followed the series on TV, I'd give the movie high marks. [Interesting to see a couple of Indian actors portraying fire-nation people. It would have been better, IMHO, if the main characters were Asian.] My rating: 6.5

Girl Who Played With Fire (R) 6.5

The Girl Who Played with Fire (2009): As computer hacker Lisbeth and journalist Mikael investigate a sex-trafficking ring, Lisbeth is accused of three murders, causing her to go on the run while Mikael works to clear her name. (6.8)

Director: Daniel Alfredson
Stars: Noomi Rapace, Michael Nyqvist and Lena Endre

Pretty good acting on the part of Noomi Rapace, but the others are quite ordinary. I'm not sure if some of the scenes (specially close up ones; speaking ones) were shot again for English version. The English dialog and the subtitles don't add up, as, I think, the subtitles are the Swedish translations. Since this is a book turned into a movie, I get the feeling that the book is a lot more descriptive. Still, a pretty good non-Hollywood (with all that implies, mostly good things) story. My Rating: 6.5

All the President's Men (R) 7.0

All the President's Men (1976): Reporters Woodward and Bernstein uncover the details of the Watergate scandal that leads to President Nixon's resignation. (8.0)

Director: Alan J. Pakula
Stars: Dustin Hoffman, Robert Redford and Jack Warden

I haven't read the book by Woodward and Bernstein after Mark Felt came out as Deep Throat, but the movie sill describes what went on with the Nixon White House. From various other sources we find that Nixon himself was paranoid about everyone. The movie is about what went on before the resignation. It is well written and well made. Provides a good historical perspective, yet its most memorable line "follow the money" is said to be not accurate (Felt never said it). My rating: 7.0

The Fifth Element (PG-13) 6.0

The Fifth Element (1997): In the colorful future, a cab driver unwittingly becomes the central figure in the search for a legendary cosmic weapon to keep Evil and Mr Zorg at bay. (7.5)

Director: Luc Besson
Stars: Bruce Willis, Milla Jovovich and Gary Oldman

Um, this is sort of like Die Hard, Star Wars, Matrix, Space Balls, 007, etc. all rolled into one. It isn't quite Sci-Fi, not quite comedy, not much drama. I'm not sure what it is. However, it does have some good moments. In the core of the story, there's nothing there. At the end, what is the absolute evil and what is the secret weapon ... nobody knows, including the writers, I guess. Just for Milla Jovovich (with that bright orange "red" hair), I'd give this one high marks, but they could have picked one theme (ie: stick with the sci-fi angle) and made it a serious movie. My Rating: 6.0

Au Revoir Les Enfants (PG) 6.5

Au Revoir Les Enfants (1987) Goodbye Children: A French boarding school run by priests seems to be a haven from World War II until a new student arrives. He becomes the roommate of top student in his class. Rivals at first, the roommates form a bond and share a secret. (8.1)

Director: Louis Malle
Stars: Gaspard Manesse, Raphael Fejtö and Francine Racette
Language: French (w/ English subtitles)

WWII era elite boarding school run by priests who try to do the right thing. A thinking movie. My rating: 6.5

Casablanca (PG) 8.0

Casablanca (1942): Set in unoccupied Africa during the early days of World War II: An American expatriate meets a former lover, with unforeseen complications. (8.8)

Director: Michael Curtiz
Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman and Paul Henreid

I'd seen bits and pieces of this movie previously, but this was the first time I watched it in full. Casablanca is a great movie, with a great story, good acting, and nice dialog. Look, I know this was made in the 40's and all, but why do the French, the Germans, the Checks, Moroccans, all of them have American accents? My rating: 8.0

Splice (R) 5.5

Splice (2009): Two young rebellious scientists are told by their employers to halt groundbreaking work that has seen them produce new creatures with medical benefits by splicing together multiple organisms' DNA. They decide to secretly continue their work, but this time splicing in human DNA. (6.1)

Director: Vincenzo Natali
Stars: Adrien Brody, Sarah Polley and Delphine Chanéac

The Wikipedia article about this movie quotes the director as saying "... to create something shocking but also very subtle and completely believable." Seriously? You splice together DNA from a blob and a human and you end up with a tail, a sting, wings, gills, etc. etc. is believable? The central theme of the movie was good, and they could have created a humanoid and debated a lot of ethical questions. But, no, they went for the horror aspect and lost thinking part. That's why my score is low. My rating: 5.5

The Gods Must Be Crazy II (PG) 7.0

The Gods Must Be Crazy II (1989): Xixo is back again. This time, his children accidentally stow away on a fast-moving poachers' truck, unable to get off, and Xixo sets out to rescue them. (6.3)

Director: Jamie Uys
Stars: N!xau, Lena Farugia and Hans Strydom

You must see the first movie to "get" the title and to better understanding the bushmen in the Kalahari desert. This movie is not bad, the story is a bit thin compared to the first movie, but still has hilarious moments. Also makes you think about who's happier in this crazy world, the so-called civilized people or the primitive tribes. My rating: 7.0

Wristcutters: A Love Story (R) 6.0

Wristcutters: A Love Story (2006): A film set in a strange afterlife way station that has been reserved for people who have committed suicide. (7.4)

Director: Goran Dukic
Stars: Patrick Fugit, Shea Whigham and Tom Waits

Dark comedy. I think, they could have pushed it towards very dark side and gotten a few more laughs at the expense of, uh, "them people who've done silly things" and their "methods to get there," but they stuck to the story. The story isn't bad, but not all that significant. If things work out okay for the, um, losers passing through "that way station," I suppose, I could give this method a shot and see what happens, too. {grin}. My rating: 6.0

City of God (R) 7.5

City of God (2002): Two boys growing up in a violent neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro take different paths: one becomes a photographer, the other a drug dealer. (8.8)

Directors: Fernando Meirelles, Kátia Lund
Stars: Alexandre Rodrigues, Matheus Nachtergaele and Leandro Firmino
Lang: Portuguese (Eng Subtitled)

heh ... the IMDB description above doesn't even begin to describe this movie. It has loads of violence, drug use, profanities, etc. This is not a movie for the squirmish. How accurate this is about the slums of Rio in the 60s, 70s and 80s, I'm not sure. But, it can't be all that far-fetched either. The use of color filters in some situations (most?) gives this movie an interesting feel to it. The story told in various perspectives is also good, not original, but still pretty neat. My rating: 7.5

Not One Less (G) 6.0

Not One Less (1999): In a remote mountain village, the teacher must leave for a month, and the mayor can find only a 13-year old girl, Wei Minzhi, to substitute. The teacher leaves one stick of chalk for each day and promises her an extra 10 yuan if there's not one less student when he returns. (7.6)

Director: Yimou Zhang
Stars: Minzhi Wei, Huike Zhang and Zhenda Tian
Lang: Mandarin (Eng Subtitled)

The acting in the movie isn't worth writing home about and the story is quite simplistic. Then I read the Wikipedia article about the movie and realized that Zhang Yimou is using real people to in a docu-drama style. The story between the lines is the plight of the rural communities in modern (1990's) China. Yimou directed "The Road Home" around the same time, with a similar theme, but I liked that a whole lot more because the storyline was a lot stronger. My rating: 6.0