TomCworld Blog

GRADE : B-
Very creepy, but not not very M. Night Shyamalan-ness. The acting was terrible, Mark Wahlberg did not deliver a convincing role. John Leguizamo, on the other hand made this movie bearable. If you are really into M.Night’s flicks don’t watch this one because you will be disappointed.
Action/Adventure, Thriller and Politics/Religion
1 hr. 31 min
Rated R
Directed By: M. Night Shyamalan
Starring:  Mark Wahlberg, Zooey Deschanel, John Leguizamo, Spencer Breslin, Ashlyn Sanchez
Description by Yahoo: A family is on the run from an inexplicable and unstoppable event that threatens not only humankind–but the most basic human instinct of them all: survival.

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GRADE : B+
Not a very good movie, but I am a sucker for romantic comedies. I hate to admit this, but I really did enjoy this movie. If you are into teen comedies then this is a movie for you.
Comedy, Teen
1 hr. 47 min
Rated PG-13
Directed By: Joe Nussbaum
Starring:  Amanda Bynes, Matthew Long, Sara Paxton, Jeremy Howard, Crystal Hunt
Description by Yahoo: Gorgeous freshman Sydney White has come to Southern Atlantic University to pledge her late mom’s once-dignified sorority. But while surviving the pledging process wrought by evil campus witch Rachel, Syd finds out this version of sisterhood isn’t remotely what it’s cracked up to be. Banished to a condemned house on Greek Row, Syd finds her rightful place with a band of seven very socially challenged guys. With the help of one lovestruck frat boy named Tyler, she and the doofs campaign to take over student government. Fighting for the rights of misfits big and small, Syd organizes her gang to revolutionize the system, once and for all.

GRADE : A
It was very entertaining from start to finish without a single boring moment throughout. The Coen Brothers did an amazing job creating a movie that accurately resembles the original Iron Man comics. Catch, what I believe will be the movie to watch this summer.
Action/Adventure, Science Fiction/ Fantasy and Adaptation
2 hr. 14 min
Rated PG-13
Directed By: Jon Favreau
Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Terrence Howard, Jeff Bridges, Shaun Toub, Leslie Bibb, and Gwyneth Paltrow
Description by Yahoo: Tony Stark is a billionaire industrialist and genius inventor who is kidnapped and forced to build a devastating weapon. Instead, using his intelligence and ingenuity, Tony builds a high-tech suit of armor and escapes captivity. When he uncovers a nefarious plot with global implications, he dons his powerful armor and vows to protect the world as Iron Man. While hunting down bootleg kung-fu DVDs in a Chinatown pawnshop, Jason makes an extraordinary discovery that sends him hurtling back in time to ancient China. There, Jason is charged with a monumental task: he must free the fabled warrior the Monkey King, who has been imprisoned by the evil Jade Warlord. Jason is joined in his quest by wise kung fu master Lu Yan and a band of misfit warriors including Silent Monk. But only by learning the true precepts of kung fu can Jason hope to succeed - and find a way to get back home.

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GRADE : B+

Not a serious kung fu movie, but a awesome and fun movie for friends and family alike.

Action/Adventure and Science Fiction/Fantasy

1 hr. 53 min

Rated PG-13

Starring: Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Michael Angarano, Liu Yifei, Li Bingbing, Collin Chou

Description by Yahoo: While hunting down bootleg kung-fu DVDs in a Chinatown pawnshop, Jason makes an extraordinary discovery that sends him hurtling back in time to ancient China. There, Jason is charged with a monumental task: he must free the fabled warrior the Monkey King, who has been imprisoned by the evil Jade Warlord. Jason is joined in his quest by wise kung fu master Lu Yan and a band of misfit warriors including Silent Monk. But only by learning the true precepts of kung fu can Jason hope to succeed - and find a way to get back home.

GRADE : B+
A touching story of a Chinese-American Family living in the suburban New York and trying to adjust to the mundane reality of their lives and the dysfunction that is slowly creeping into their family. I found this piece extremely moving; being Chinese-American myself this plot hits home with very relative situations. It’s serious at times but, alos has its humorous side as well. Recommend for all that is dealing with the harsh realities of adpoting multiple cultures.
Comedy and Drama
1hr. 30 min.
Rated R
Starring: Kathy Shao-Lin Lee, Jacqueline Kim, Elaine Kao, Tzi Ma, Freda Foh Shen (II)
Description by Yahoo: Red Doors follows the lives of the Wongs, a bizarrely dysfunctional Chinese-American family living in the Connecticut suburbs. Ed Wong is nearing retirement in less than a month and plots to escape his mundane life by fleeing to a Buddhist monastery; however, the madcap lives of his three rebellious daughters change his plans…

GRADE : B-
I found some parts of this movie a bit strange but, overall very funny. If you got the time this movie can bring you some good laughs…
Romantic Comedy
2hr.
Rated III
Starring: Choi Gang Hyee, Cho Eun Ji, Park Yong Woo
Description by Yes Asia: Korean romantic comedies were never quite like this! From writer/director Son Jae Gon comes My Sweet, Yet Brutal Sweetheart, a darkly comic send-up of the typical Korean romantic comedy that proves to be anything but formulaic! Park Yong Woo (from Ditto and Blood Rain) takes on the lead role of Dae Woo, an educated, cheerful thirty-year-old who has gone his entire life without asking a woman out on a date. However, fate soon intervenes when a beautiful art school graduate with alluringly expressive eyes (Choi Gang Hee, from 1998’s Whispering Corridors) moves into Dae Woo’s apartment complex and takes residence in the room just below his. Thanks to some increasingly proactive encouragement from one of his faithful friends, Dae Woo actually musters up the courage to ask her out to dinner, and - surprise, surprise - the two hit things off!

It isn’t long before the young lovers fall head over heels in love! But as the relationship takes off, Dae Woo begins to suspect that his new girlfriend may be hiding a dark secret. But what? His bewilderment at the situation quickly develops into concern, if not outright shock! Also known by the international title My Scary Girl, this 2006 film takes the typical romantic setup found in most films of its ilk, and turns the whole genre on its head! Instead of settling for the expected schmaltz and melodrama, My Sweet, Yet Brutal Sweetheart delivers the unexpected, resulting in a delirious, tremendously refreshing trip to the movies!

GRADE : B+
Funny, Funny, Funny! Very Old School, American Pie Like! Justin AKA the Mac guy is hilarous, he really makes this movie what it is. I highly recommend this flick if your looking for a flat out stupid funny.
Comedy
1hr. 32 min.
Rated PG-13
Starring: Justin Long, Blake Lively, Lewis Black, Adam Herschman, Jonah Hill
Description by Amazon: High school senior Bartleby “B” Gaines is on his way to scoring eight out of eight rejection letters from colleges, which isn’t going to go over big with Mom and Dad. At least he’s not alone in the exclusion. Several of his crew of outcast friends are in the same, college-less boat. So how does a guy facing a bleak career please his parents and get noticed by dream girl Monica? Simple. Open his own university. B and his band of misfit freshmen take “liberal” arts literally when they fool their parents and peers and create the esteemed South Harmon Institute of Technology. Just as they are settling in, B and company realize they’ve done their jobs too well. Dozens of other college rejects show up for classes at this less-than-lofty institute. Under the scornful eyes of the privileged students from the neighboring college, B and his friends forge ahead with maintaining a fake, functioning university. With his future in the balance, it’s going to take more than just sleight of hand to keep B out of jail as he strives to get the girl, impress his parents and just become “Accepted.”

GRADE : C+
Definitely not one of Spike Lee’s better pieces. The direction and structuring of the movie was unorthodox given that a lot of the conclusion was given away from the get go. Almost makes you not want to watch the rest of the movie becuase you know exactly whats going to happen.
Drama, Thriller and Crime/Gangster
2 hr. 8 min.
Rated R
Starring: Denzel Washington, Clive Owen, Jodie Foster, Christopher Plummer, Willem Dafoe
Description by Yahoo: Four people dressed in painters’ outfits march into the busy lobby of Manhattan Trust, a cornerstone Wall Street Branch of a worldwide financial institution. Within seconds, the costumed robbers place the bank under a surgically planned siege, and the 50 patrons and staff become unwitting pawns in an airtight heist. NYPD hostage negotiators Detectives Keith Frazier and Bill Mitchell are dispatched to the scene with orders to establish contact with the heist’s ringleader, Dalton Russell, and ensure safe release of the hostages. Working alongside Emergency Services Unit (ESU) Captain John Darius, all are hopeful that the situation can be peacefully diffused and that control of the bank and release of those inside can be secured in short order. But Russell proves an unexpectedly canny opponent–clever, calm and totally in command–a puppet master with a meticulous plan to disorient and confuse not only the hostages, but also the authorities. Outside, the crowd of New Yorkers grows as the situation becomes increasingly intense tense, with Frazier’s superiors becoming more concerned about his ability to keep the standoff from spiraling out of control. The robbers appear to consistently be one step ahead of the police, outwitting Frazier and Mitchell at every turn. Frazier’s suspicions that more is at work than anyone perceives are justified with the entry of Madeline White, a power player with shadowy objectives, who requests a private meeting with Russell. The chairman of the bank’s board of directors, controlling entrepreneur Arthur Case, is also uniquely interested in the moment-to-moment happenings inside the branch. But just what are the robbers after? Why has nothing worked to alleviate the standoff, which stretches on hour after hour? Frazier is convinced that invisible strings are being pulled and secret negotiations are taking place as the powder keg situation grows more unstable by the moment.

GRADE : D+
A bit corny, a plot that does no justice to a reference of Shakespeare, and hardly funny makes this piece not worth checking out at all cost.
Comedy
1hr. 45 min.
Rated PG-13
Starring: Amanda Bynes, Channing Tatum
Description by Amazon: Shakespearean comedy and American high school are a match made in heaven–or Hollywood, at any rate. Somehow the exaggerated emotions and budding hormones of adolescence are perfectly suited to Shakespeare’s twisty plots, and She’s the Man is a perfect example. Viola (Amanda Bynes, What a Girl Wants) is furious when she learns that her high school, Cornwall, has cut the girl’s soccer team–so furious that she takes advantage of her twin brother Sebastian (James Kirk, Final Destination 2) skipping town for a few weeks to take his place at his school, Illyria, so she can join the soccer team there. But her disguise as her brother leads to complications when she falls in love with her soccer-playing roommate and the girl he’s in love with falls in love with “Sebastian”… Bynes may not be entirely persuasive as a high school boy, but she’s got the charm and sprightliness to make the audience follow her anyway. The clever script walks a fine balance, treating the situation realistically enough to make Viola’s efforts matter, but zipping along quickly enough that we don’t worry too much about the details. As Duke and Olivia–the other two parts of the love triangle–Channing Tatum and Laura Ramsey combine sex appeal with engaging sweetness; the excellent supporting cast includes David Cross (Arrested Development), Julie Hagerty (Airplane!), and former British soccer star Vinnie Jones (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels). All in all, a delightful bit of fun.

GRADE : B-
Not as funny as the trailer depicted it to be but still never the less another entertaining piece from Anne Hathaway. I’m going to get a lot of grief from my buddies for watching this flick but, I’m a sucker for Comedies (Any Kind) and I don’t care. With that said this movie is not for everyone, if your into comedies, want to learn some fashion, or got a horrible boss then this flick is for you.
Comedy
1hr. 46 min.
Rated PG-13
Starring: Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt, Stanley Tucci, Adrian Grenier
Description by Amazon: This clever, funny big-screen adaptation of Lauren Weisberger’s best-seller takes some of the snarky bite out of the chick lit book, but smoothes out the characters’ boxy edges to make a more satisfying movie. There’s no doubt The Devil Wears Prada belongs to Meryl Streep, who turns in an Oscar®-worthy (seriously!) strut as the monster editor-in-chief of Runway, an elite fashion magazine full of size-0, impossibly well-dressed plebes. This makes new second-assistant Andrea (Anne Hathaway), who’s smart but an unacceptable size 6, stick out like a sore thumb. Streep has a ball sending her new slave on any whimsical errand, whether it’s finding the seventh (unpublished) Harry Potter book or knowing what type she means when she wants “skirts.” Though Andrea thumbs her nose at the shallow world of fashion (she’s only doing the job to open doors to a position at The New Yorker someday), she finds herself dually disgusted yet seduced by the perks of the fast life. The film sends a basic message: Make work your priority, and you’ll be rich and powerful… and lonely. Any other actress would have turned Miranda into a scenery-chewing Cruella, but Streep’s underplayed, brilliant comic timing make her a fascinating, unapologetic character. Adding frills to the movie’s fun are Stanley Tucci as Streep’s second-in-command, Emily Blunt (My Summer of Love) as the overworked first assistant, Simon Baker as a sexy writer, and breathtaking couture designs any reader of Vogue would salivate over.