Anjchang movie blog on blogspot.com

Tonight we saw The Hurt Locker at LSC. War movies are not my favorite genre, and I was afraid to watch some parts of it. There were more than a handful of intense scenes that required me to shield my eyes. I thought the actor and drama was really riveting, the character development of the main character was fascinating. It is clear that sometimes, people get addicted to doing something they feel is important and they get a high from it. However, once you have a social responsibility, it seems like it can't end well if you give up your passion for a stable life. It was definitely an interesting movie, and shows that there are a lot of tough choices to be made for people who are exceptionally talented.

Recent Trace Buster Buster movies I've seen (my 5 star system):
Star Trek ***** yay, spock! yay kirk! yay space! yay big worm holes and time travel. Live long and Prosper.
Angels and Demons **** it was a trace buster buster plot, involving some very strange methods of execution. Who knew selecting a new pope would wreak such havoc! Also the first time I've seen immolation.
Wanted **** campy and fun, angelina jolie plays a great assassin. Morgan Freedman is terrific in his advisor, infallible role. This was also a trace buster buster plot.
Starship Troopers **** Always fun, but I always forget how gory this movie is. I hear the book is much better.
THe Big Hit ***** Trace Buster Buster says it all!
Up! ***** its a great story, makes you realize that true love is having that person around you day to day, and celebrating that other person. "Every day is a honeymoon!"
Sherlock Holmes (The Blue Carbuncle) *** such sporting gentlemen, hard not to like the intrigue and the plot twists. Watson's repartees could be a bit more clever and witty, as I always enjoy British banter. The acting was quite affected and ridiculous at times, but all in all, good fun.
The Last Boy Scout ***** funny, had to wait until the minors were asleep before we saw this one, but very funny. Bruce Willis does crazy cop really well.
Wall-E ***** Pixar hits the spot with this Intergalactic Planetary plot!

We saw a lot of movies recently. here are some of them from good to horrible.
Live Free or Die Hard. So good that I would watch it again. Funny and great.


Blood Diamond was tops. Leonardo DiCaprio was a good bad guy, and the plot twists were good. Good character development, you really sympathize for the native guy and his family. I liked the way DiCaprio says "hey bruv". The interplay between people was good. The end could have been more disney, but it was good the way it was. I think the plot would have been better if there was less violence, but it wasn't bad compared to the grisly hooks in The last king of scotland.


Iron man was enjoyable, although the girl in the movie was too dumb a character for my liking. the plot was good, and the fight scenes were alright. It is nice to see the sweat of engineering being done in a movie.I was cheezed by the cameo of Samuel Jackson at the end. It was lame, and had no point. Actually some of the bits were supposed to be funny in the movie I thought was too dry, and the character development was pretty shallow.


I am Legend was disappointing. I had heard a lot of good things about it. but the plot was sappy, kind of illogical. I don't see the motivation of the Will Smith character at the end being rational. I also think the hunting scenes were dumb, because if the doctor was THAT smart, he would have gone up high and sniped, not chase deer in a thunderbird. The acting was mediocre. "I was saving that bacon" whatever. Smith always looks like the same character, Fresh Prince (laugh but don't laugh). Vampires were done with a lot of c.g., but I didn't think they were scary at all-- maybe just weird and kind of uncanny.

Mimic was definitely a b-horror flick. There was an autistic boy in this, which made for an interesting plot twist. The scary-dark was scary and good, but the bugs were silly and gooey. The science is doubtful.


Last and least on the list:
Born To Fight was horrible. Much worse than Ong Bak. The plot was unbelievably pointless, the acting was horrible, and the fighting was too ridiculous to believe. I was going "wtf" when there's a very long and uninteresting advert of Thailand right in the middle, and then bloodthirsty disgusting hateful things happening. Maybe this movie was not for non-Thais...? I wanted to pukem this movie was soooo bad. It was excruciating.

DayWatch is the sequel to Nightwatch. It is a gripping story about how the world ends, as the battle between light and dark comes to a turning point. Beautiful and compelling storyline, I really enjoyed it, especially the Russian version.

ALso saw StarDust, which was sweet, but too bland. The ideas about true love are okay, but the plot twists are a bit too sophomoric. The character development was a little shallow, although the evilness of the villainous witchsisters was good. It was a good plane movie, but I didn't find the story that satisfying. I enjoyed the theme of finding and recognizing true love, although it wasn't really weirdly humorous enough to become a cult classic, like The Princess Bride.

Last weekend we saw The Golden Compass with V&R. It was good to see the realization of the book details on the big screen. The characters were nicely portrayed, but the story was not told as well. My most obvious complaint was the missing last chapter, but there were other details that I was looking forward to seeing, such as the chase scenes with Lyra meeting a nice stranger, and stealing a boat from the gypsies. I missed most the sordid demonstration of that Grumman guy's head in a block of ice, since I was rather curious about it when I read the book. I liked the book so much that I felt that the storytelling in the movie was rather choppy and sloppy. They left out a lot of good stuff. They should have some sort of narration to transition between scenes better. The fighting scenes were rather kewl, and the shots of the panserborne bears were great (although I thought Iorek could have run faster in the external crosscountry shots). I enjoyed the vibration force of the bear roars, though! Nicole Kidman plays a terrific Mrs. Coultier... I thought the monkey would have been bigger (had longer, shimmering hair). They didn't do justice to the Dr. Jekyll/Mr.Hyde personalities between the monkey and Mrs. Coultier--- but all in all I am glad I saw it. I really really wish that they would have ended it properly. It feels like dinner without dessert... I didn't get to see the inadvertent betrayal of best friends that really made the story heart-wrenching and awesome.


Speaking of best friends, I also got to see Superbad with the students. Oh Yeah, it was awesome. All the McLovin' parts were AWESOME. "McLovin"!!! Can you get better than the whole story of best friends in their senior year. Although there was a lot of crass humor and sticky situations, I really enjoyed the McLovin part, and how true the characters were to how I believed they would behave in those situations. ONe guy was completely selfish because he was insecure, while the other was trying to do what he thought was right. And McLovin was just trying to be cool, and he took it all the way, which was just awesome. The Cops were hilarious, Mclovin... Sounds like a sexy hamburger! I was ROTFLMAO yes. go see it. it was gooooooood.

The revised version of Hairspray is awesome. John Travolta's acting was superb, and so was Christopher Walken. The songs were terrific, and the slapstick humor had me rolling.

On the other hand, American Gangster was very bloody and violent. Not for your faint of heart or sensitive person.

In fashion class, we saw Qui êtes-vous, Polly Maggoo?, a movie about Twiggy-ish model in Paris. It was a little surreal, with the musical choruses, and the bizarre fashion. But I think the movie is meant to capture the essence of that era,the 60s, where everything foreign, political, rural, fashionable was in. The movie was interesting and although I don't think I really *got* the movie's whole message, it was visually stunning, even for such an old movie. I got confused about how Polly ends up, but it doesn't really matter. Its clear she is her own woman and she's not just a facade that the antagonist (filmmaker) wants her to be. I enjoyed it, if only because it was so different from anything I've seen before.

Today I caught Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix with my good friend J. I wasn't sure that I would like really, because so far many sequels have been disappointing (Pirates 3 which my students were watching last night). Harry has grown older, and the stakes have risen higher in this one. I was at in suspense, even though I knew what had happened cause I had read the book. The Death Eaters and the wizard battles were even better than I had imagined, and also, I thought the movie's bad girl, The Umbridge Woman, was sheer evil! It was amazing what a complete fascist she was, and how she behaved. I was scared! I enjoyed the final battle moments the best, when Harry and Dumbledore are under Voldemort's attack. What awesome magic! :) This is a must see, particularly if you have read the books and seen the previous movies.

Saw the Silver Surfer 2 with V & R. It was awesome. I just enjoy watching the Welsh actor that plays the main character, Ioan Gruffudd. He plays the brilliant Reed Richards, and is engaged to Sue Storm in the beginning of this movie. The character development for him is again about the dual roles he has to play. He has both a sensitive side (and tries to make all the right moves when it comes to his sweetheart (Sue's a lucky gal)), who also has a Super-nerdy side as a brave scientist-superhero good-guy (Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic). He also shows some terrific awkward but cool dance moves, but he can dance! Is it me, or does his shy side make him even more handsome [cue Diana King's "Shy Guy" lyrics]? I enjoyed reminding myself of the swashbuckling, principled but mischievous character he played as Horatio Hornblower. I have trouble deciding what makes Gruffudd's characters so cool:
1.he's ultra handsome slim, tall, and built (but shows humbleness)
2.he's got brains and he's not afraid to use it, particularly when it comes to saving the day
3.his chivalrous and witty attitude, funny even when the going gets tough
4.cool costumes and toys! Swashbuckling or superhero? everyone loves a guy with a cool ride,whether its a futuristic spaceship or a beautiful wooden boat
I think its the humor and good nature of his roles. he reminds me of my own Mr. Fantastic, so handsome, witty and kind!

So, this is quite a long post, and I've rambled too long about the leading man. NEWay, I thought the movie was awesome mainly because of Mr. Fantastic, but I also liked the other characters and enjoyed watching it. The plot itself is pretty standard, but nicely acted out. The special effects were very nice, particularly the costumes (the way Johnny Storm flames up, Silver Surfer's shine, Ben Grimm's stony-physique, Sue's invisible woman). [Michael Chiklis did very well as Ben Grimm, and I enjoyed his humorous zingers, so different from his role as Vic Mackey in The Shield.] Maybe one reason I liked it sooooo much was because I expected one of those comic book hero films where the lead character is shaped by revenge and is lonely all the time. Instead, the movie was cute and romantic, even though I didn't expect that. It also reminded me some of the Incredibles. There is a lot of appeal in characters who have moral fiber and stand for good virtues, loyalty, and love. Jessica Alba's character (Sue Strom) was brave and also kicked ass. I always like strong leading female characters.

In the movie Sue Storm's wonderings about a normal life are things MIT graduates think about too... I thought the movie gave me some nice perspective in that area because at MIT life is hectic and we work so much that I often wonder what a normal life would be like. but then the way it ended made me realize that I wouldn't trade what I have right now for the world, 3AM nights, dorm rooms, too much too do, too much to think about... wonderful!

Pirates of the Carribbean 3 was okay. Some of it was enjoyable, other parts were too long. I didn't think there was enough Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) pirate acting, and there wasn't nearly enough swashbuckling. I'm a little annoyed that there was too many crossed romances to keep track of. Also, it didn't seem like the resolution in the end was a true resolution, not all the couples ended up together-- or it wasn't a good ending anyway. Also, don't they pay these people to do editing? What's with all the ho-hum pirate arguing over a table, and Sparrow's dad-- unnecessary plot baggage!!!! At least I got to see a pirate wedding-- that was alright, and some interesting naval fighting. Luckily, my Amazon shipment came in, and I also got to see a better movie:

Those Magnificent Men and Their Flying Machines. The Italian count was AWESOME!!! He does everything with relish, and also I thought the heroic acts were quite interesting. The plot was full of humor and suspense, and the love story was nice too. *ah* Engineers! The thrill of the international competition, the fierce rivalry between nations, the charm of the different cultures. Brilliant!

Pan's Labyrinth was dark, but good. I really liked the imagery of the nightmare scenes, and the folklore of the mandrake root. It was interesting because these details were imaginative and detailed, in a way that I felt was very believable. The creature-monster was unbelievably nightmarish, and I am still wondering if the faun was good or bad. what was he eating? The ending scene with the villagers reminds me of Jim's game, Resident evil 4, "muerte muerte muerte".

The Prestige at LSC. It was great, worth seeing. It was exciting. I really enjoyed the plot, and I don't want to spoil it, but the plot twists are great. I wonder how it compares to The Illusionist. Apparently, the 2nd time is even better, so I might have to catch it on DVD. The suspense was good, and Tesla was a terrific character for us nerds!


Also recently saw the end of Love Actually again. The brits make great movies, Guy 101 which won the BAFTA for Short Animation this year.

Happy New Year! It was fun hanging out with all my friends and family. Here's a toast to 2007!

Recently we saw "The Pursuit of Happyness". It was very uplifting. Highly recommended. The acting was terrific, particularly the look of Will Smith getting happyness. I also thought the cameo of Chris Gardner was cool. It is amazing what we will do to pursue our dreams.