Movie Review: The Avengers

Recently, for some reason, I’ve been on a Marvel movies binge. In the span of a month I managed to catch up on almost all of the Marvel superhero movies, and the last one I saw was The Avengers. Despite the original Iron Man cutting it pretty close, I have to say that The Avengers was my favorite of the whole bunch. This may be my favorite superhero movie ever. (And that’s counting X-Men First Class.)

The Avengers begins with Loki, the antagonist from the prequel-ish movie Thor, stealing a cube called the Tesseract from supersecret organization SHIELD and promising to bring havoc to the world with his alien Chitauri army.

Movie Review: The Hunger Games

I have found an interesting trend regarding this particular movie: all the guys I know hated it and all the girls I know loved it. I have no clue why. Either way, I went to see The Hunger Games the week after it came out, and I personally really enjoyed the movie.

I don’t think a plot summary is entirely necessary for this review, but I’ll include a small one anyway. The dystopian country of Panem is divided up into the Capitol and 12 districts, each of which specializes in producing some product. As punishment for a previous uprising against the government, every year the districts each offer up a girl and boy tribute to compete in the Hunger Games. The Hunger Games are a twisted survival TV show in which the tributes must fight to the death in an arena until only one winner remains. The book opens before that year’s reaping, or the selection of the tributes, where we meet our protagonist…

Movie Review: The Secret World of Arrietty

I previously stated that I have minimal love for Miyazaki movies. Well I’m going to have to retract this statement, because I loved this movie so much I’m not sure I have coherent words for it.

The movie begins by introducing a girl named Arrietty, who is absolutely tiny and a “Borrower”. She lives inside the walls of a human’s house along with her mother and father, and they’re not sure if they are the last Borrowers left, since their species has been gradually declining in population. They live by stealing tiny bits of food and things to make into objects to use. The movie begins with the arrival of a sickly boy named Sho, who Arrietty sees as he drives up to the house. Arrietty also has her first expedition to go gather materials that night with her father, and while they have a mildly successful time, it ends in disaster when Arrietty is seen by Sho. With their secret exposed, the Borrowers must find a new home before they and their home are discovered by people less kind than Sho.

Movie Review–Green Lantern: The Emerald Knights

I actually thought this was the Green Lantern with Ryan Reynolds in it, but sadly I was mistaken. This is actually a series of stories about the Green Lanterns…in cartoon.

It was still okay. I haven’t watched the Green Lantern yet and therefore have not yet formed any sort of attachment to the characters, so I guess if you liked the Green Lantern and its characters then you might like this. Basically, the more senior Green Lanterns tell Arisa, the new recruit, stories about themselves.

Movie Review: Kiki’s Delivery Service

It’s kind of a shame that I never watched this movie before. I’ve likely mentioned this before, but I watched Spirited Away, another Miyazaki movie, at a fairly young age and didn’t understand the plot at all. I saw Princess Mononoke when I was older, but I still wasn’t quite old enough to understand the plot and disliked both movies greatly. Unfortunately this bad history with Miyazaki movies has clouded my opinion of them and I have a tendency to avoid them even now.

This movie has changed my opinion of Miyazaki movies entirely. Maybe it’s just because I’m old enough to understand the movies now, but I have every intention of watching almost all the rest of Miyazaki’s movies now (except Spirited Away, nothing will get me to watch that movie again).

13-year old Kiki is a witch in training, and as per custom she has to leave home for a year as part of her training. Eventually she finds a beautiful seaside town called Koriko, and despite a somewhat less than perfect introduction to the locals, she and her cat Jiji settle nicely into the town. Eventually Kiki begins her titular delivery service, making friends with people around town. Unfortunately, after she is crushed by certain events, the worst thing possible happens to Kiki. She then must redefine herself in the face of losing everything that she believed defined her.

Movie Review: Lemonade Mouth

I feel kind of weird writing a blog post on a Disney Channel movie. But I actually liked watching this one. It’s the usual “outcasts” of the school throwing aside their differences for a common interest – music.

Stella (Hayley Kiyoko), Olivia (Bridgit Mendler), Charlie (Blake Michael), Mo (Naomi Scott), and Wen (Adam Hicks) meet in detention. After singing together “Turn Up the Music”, they perform at the Halloween bash and are an instant hit…but the rivaling boy band Mudslide Crush, led by Ray, is furious. Not only are they furious, but so is Principal Brenigan because not only do they express themselves in their music, but they also begin to express the

These are the band members: (from left to right) Win, Olivia, Stella, Charlie, and Mo.

voices of the students of the oppressed Mesa High School.

Movie Review: Grave of the Fireflies

I can honestly say this was one of the most depressing, moving, and heart-wrenching movies I have ever watched. Based on a true story, Grave of the Fireflies depicts the sufferings of two children who lose their houses in the Kobe bombing during WWII. This movie is unrated, but I personally would not recommend it for anyone under 13 years old due to some graphic depictions of suffering and disease.

I feel that the WWII context gives this movie a bad reputation. Many people might assume that this movie is an anti-American movie, but it’s not. This movie is profoundly anti-war itself. It begins with the death of a main character, and then backtracks to when the story begins at the Kobe bombings.

Movie Review: Tangled

Well I finally took the chance to go see this movie that all my friends are raving about. Was it good? Yes. IT WAS BEAST.

Do you like the way Disney is taking classic fairy tales and morphing them into something cooler? I do. How’d you like The Princess and the Frog, the way they added jazz and flair to the whole story? Tangled, as you might have guessed already, is a retelling of Rapunzel. And Disney brings it to a whole new level.

Movie Review: The Girl Who Leapt Through Time

This movie was absolutely incredible. On the surface it looks like your standard “girl gets magical powers, abuses them, learns an Aesop lesson and comes out of it more mature than before” boring movie. …It’s not. It’s so much better. 

Movie Review: Tekkon Kinkreet

The general reaction of people who see the cover of Tekkon Kinkreet, a full-length Japanese animated film, is “what is that what the heck why is the art so weird that’s weird I don’t want to watch.” That was my first reaction, at least. But this movie is just one of those movies you need to watch.  Just have a little faith in me, and I promise you won’t be disappointed.  It’s amazing.

The two boys in the picture above are named Black and White, and they live in Treasure Town as orphans on the street. Black is a fierce fighter that rules the streets with force, while White, several years younger, is a dreamy, innocent boy that’s a little out of touch with reality.

Movie Review: The Green Hornet

This movie has now become my #1 favorite movie of all time.

I first went to see it with my friends because of Jay Chou (who plays Kato in this movie). You may have seen my earlier post about Mandopop. Jay Chou (or 周杰伦) is known as the “king of Mandopop”, and he is super super famous in Asian countries. When I first heard that he was going to act in this movie with Seth Rogen (who plays Britt Reid), I knew I had to go watch it. And I was not the least bit disappointed.

Movie Review: Shrek Forever After

When I heard this movie was coming out, I was like, “Another one?” This is the fourth movie in the Shrek series, the previous films being Shrek, Shrek 2, and Shrek the Third. I didn’t expect it to be good, because most sequels can never match up to the first movie. But, this one definitely met up to my standards.

Movie: Mamma Mia!

Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) is about to get married to her fiance, Sky, but she wants two more things: 1) to have a big white wedding on a romantic island; and 2) to have her father give her away. She has no idea who her father is since her mother, Donna (Meryl Streep), never got married, but after ransacking the attic, she finds her mother’s old diary.

Movie Review: Legend of the Guardians The Owls of Ga’Hoole

I remember reading this series when I was in elementary school. Apparently, it’s based on the first three books of the series: The Capture, The Journey, and The Rescue, all written by Kathryn Lasky (who, interestingly enough, was an executive producer of this movie). So when it came out in DVD, I decided to watch it.

Fun Holiday Movies!

It’s that time of the year again – the holiday season. For some people, this can be the most exciting time of the year, while others might not share the same passion for the gentle snowflakes (which we only get about once a year, unfortunately, in my opinion) and bright holiday lights. However, it doesn’t matter whether you love the holiday season or not when it comes to loving these holiday movies.

Movie Review: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1

The first part of the end of the Harry Potter series obviously has a lot to live up to. There was a lot riding on this movie, so did it deliver? I personally think it totally did.

Movie Review: She’s the Man

Looking for a perfect “high school movie” to watch with your friends? I recommend She’s the Man.

Viola Hastings’ (Amanda Bynes) girls’ soccer team has just been cut, and the coach won’t let the girls try out for the boys’ team. So, to prove that girls CAN beat boys, she takes advantage of her brother’s (Sebastian Hastings, played by James Kirk) absence and takes his place at his new school, Illyria, which just happens to be the first opponent (and the biggest rival) of her old school. Her plan is to go there, make the boys’ soccer team, beat Cornwall (her school) and show the coach AND the boys that girls rule. But things aren’t that simple.

Movie Review: Inception

I’m honestly surprised no one has reviewed Inception yet; the only reason I held off on it was because I assumed someone else would. But since it’s been like 3 months since it’s release and no one has reviewed it yet…fair game~

Inception is honestly the best movie I have ever watched, hands down, no questions asked.

Movie Review: Diary of a Wimpy Kid

Jeff Kinney’s famous illustrated novel, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, has been turned into a movie.

Greg Heffley (Zachary Gordon) is making the move from elementary school to middle school, along with his friend, Rowley Jefferson (Robert Capron). He’s sure he’ll be fine in middle school, and he’ll become favorite of the class with ease. But a bunch of problems surface, and he finds that maybe middle school isn’t that easy to overcome.

Movie Review: Summer Wars

The official Summer Wars poster

Summer Wars was easily one of the best movies I have ever watched. (I just got back from China, so, no, I have not seen Inception yet.) Personally Miyazaki movies always go over my head a little bit, so I was never a big fan of a lot of his movies like Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away because they never quite grab my attention that well. This movie completely grabbed my attention by the neck and held it until the end.