Six Movies in a Week

Stepmom ( 1998 )

Director: Chris Columbus

Cast: Julia Roberts, Susan Sarandon, Ed Harris, Jena Malone

Running time: 124 min.

Rating: 5.8/10

Stepmom isn’t just a story of Isabel’s (Julia Roberts) struggle to fit in and be part of a broken family. It reflects the battle that the family members have to endure each time the parents decide to part their ways and be divorced. Sadly, the ones mostly affected are the children. They bear the suffering, confusion, and all the issues that go with their parents’ failure to save the relationship. I can’t just imagine how difficult it is for the kids to understand the things that are — even to their mom and dad — incomprehensible.

Art of Seduction ( 2005 )

Director: Oh Ki-hwan

Cast: Son Ye-jin (The Classic and A Moment To Remember), Song Il-guk (Red Eye, Jum-ong)

Running time: 99.46 min.

Rating: 5/10

Contrary to its suggestive title, the Art of Seduction isn’t really about sexual desire but about a romantic comedy story: two different people trying to compete with each other. The contest? Who will first fall in love to whom? And like many other films about romance, the two end up falling in love with one another.

I like the movie; It’s funny, romantic, and witty — really entertaining, despite its lack of suspense and mystery, high level of predictability, and obvious manifestation of mediocrity, which serve as my reasons why I don’t — because I can’t — devote a full length review about it.

200 Pounds Beauty ( 2006 )

Director: Kim Yong-hwa

Writers: Kim Yong-hwa, No Hye-yeong Suzuki Yumiko

Cast: Kim Ah-jung, Ju Jin-mo, Kim Yong-geon, Song Dong-il, Lim Hyeon-shik, Lee Han-wi, Kim Hyeon-sook, Park No-shik

Running time: 120 min.

Rating: 5.5/10

What would you prefer, beauty without talent or talent without beauty? With the advent of the latest technology in the art of cosmetics, this issue wouldn’t be much of a problem. However, clinic beauty has limitation: It ends right where confidence begins. And oftentimes, the perception of beauty lies not on how smooth your skin is, nor on how well-sculpted your muscles are, but on how much self-esteem you’ve got. That’s what 200 Pound Beauty is all about. You can’t just exchange your life and everything that you’ve got — especially your loved ones — for an ounce of pretty face, a minute of fame, and an amount of wealth; that certainly is unbearable in the long run. Choosing mundane things (popularity and money) over what you primordially need (family) to survive will cause you terrible emotional pain until you can no longer do anything but blame yourself for doing such stupidity. Just hope that it won’t be too late for remorse yet.

200 Pounds Beauty won 2 major awards in 2007 Grand Bell Awards: Best Actress for Miss Kim Ah-jung and Best Cinematography for Mr. Park Hyeon-cheol. Its Director, Kim Yong-hwa, was likewise nominated for Best Director and the film itself was a contender in the Best Film category.

Step Up 2 the Streets ( 2008 )

Director: Jon M. Chu

Writers: Toni Ann Johnson and Karen Barna

Cast: Robert Hoffman (as Chase Collins), Briana Evigan (as Andie), Will Kemp (as Blake Collins)

Running time: 98 min.

Rating: 6.5/10

Dancing is just amazing – well coordinated group of bodies with tight abs and curvaceous hips, swaying back and forth to the rhythm of the music. How cool is that? Step Up 2 says yes but underscores that dancing is more than bodily movements. It’s a medium that allows us to realize that even culture and social barriers can’t hinder people to learn how to move and work together to achieve a common goal – a stronger and better relationship. May it be among lovers, friends, and family members.

Zathura ( 2005 )

Director: Jon Favreau

Cast: Jonah Bobo, Josh Hutcherson, Dax Shepard, Kristen Stewart, Tim Robbins, Frank Oz, John Alexander

Running time: 116 min.

Rating: 6.5/10

Zathura has a heartwarming lesson I would never forget: Love your brother or sister. When you play together and conflicts arise, don’t harbor anger against each other. Instead, it would be best to work hand in hand to solve the problem.

Cars ( 2006 )

Directed: John Lasseter and Joe Ranft

Screenplay: John Lasseter, Joe Ranft, et al.

Voice Over: Owen Wilson, Paul Newman, Bonnie Hunt, Tony Shalhoub, John Ratzenberger, George Carlin, Cheech Marin

Running time: 116 min.

Rating: 7.8/10

In a car race, there is only one winner, all the others are losers. But there is more to race than winning. It’s learning to take time to look back, enjoy the travel, consider the feelings of others – care for them as much as you can, and remember that there is no such thing as one-car [man] show — for a triumph a car [man] considers solely his own and believes he gets it by himself alone is not really a triumph; it’s a conceit that’s bound to fail.

Cars made me cry, not in a literal sense, more of a figure of speech.

It’s my way of saying one thing to mean another — concealing few to reveal more than what I’ve hidden. Why do you think this animated film made me cry?#

Iron Man (2008)

Director: Jon Favreau

Casts: Robert Downey Jr., Terrence Howard, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jeff Bridges

Running Time: 128 minutes

Rating: 7.5/10

——–

Was it good? I think so. Perhaps better, but not great.

After several Marvel comics-turned-movies films had been shown in the theatres for the past several years, it would be hard to make a review without making a point of comparison of not only Iron Man versus Spiderman or Fantastic 4, but of Iron Man versus Transformers as well. I liked Ironman. For a highly commercialized film, its cinematography wasn’t bad after all. Its theatricality was good but the acting was lame. Well, what do I really know about how should an actor shape his face to mimic happiness or portray sadness? None. So, that portion was just an attempt to make an academically sounding review based on my basic layman’s exposure to and love of films. What do you think? Can I now pass the scholastic?

Next on the list: The value it promotes. There’s a thought I won’t forget with Spiderman. This is — and I’m paraphrasing it — “we are the ones who make our own choice. Whatever we’ll become in the future, it lies on the kind of choice we make today.” With Ironman, what I’ve learned was (drum rolls)… can I watch it again?

Okay, let’s dig a little bit deeper, beginning with irony. Funny they sound nearly the same — Iron Man, irony. It was Alfred Nobel who invented dynamite, the cause of millions of death, the beginning of destruction, the root of war. But he was also the same person who established an award giving body to recognize personalities with great contributions in promoting peace. So, that means, Nobel advanced war only to promote peace after. Again — let’s quote my favorite line — how ironic. That was Iron Man.

Stark (Downey) was a genius inventor of various intelligent missiles for the US government. Of course, as a businessman, which was a profession he inherited from his father, he created the weapons in an attempt “to be respected or to be feared or both.” Arguably noble. Soon, he realized that the very same explosives he created endangers his life, kills a lot of people, induces greed for power and wealth, and promotes destruction of the human race. Upon such awakening, he decided to shut down his missile factory and become Iron Man. Stark, thus, is pretty much the same as Nobel. He elevated war into a higher level of destruction, then raise awareness about peace by recognizing heroes. The difference however is, Nobel is a reality, Ironman is an ironic fiction. Still ironic though. And since truth is stranger than fiction, no matter how many people today may be recognized by Nobel Peace Prize as heroes of peace, the dynamite-upgraded war would remain unstoppable. Ironman, certainly, wasn’t like that. He prevailed. He forwarded peace, subdued devil, won over what was bad. And in the end, he proved that our dreams can be realized only when we’re asleep. Nice and interesting value to learn and to live with, aren’t they?

Last, but not the least, the costume. It was very very cool. Can I give a perfect ten for that? Minus the way he flies, which was a bit strange and funny. On my way out of the cinema house, a man said to his friends: “It’s an exaggeration to say that the way he [Ironman] flies was so gay.” I give no emphasis. Neither do I agree nor disagree.

A postscript: Don’t immediately go out of the theatre after the film. Read the credits. Wait for the last part, and you’ll discover something I did not clearly understand at first, but I think it sounded like Avenger.

Wait! I’ve learned another thing: If you’re a film maker and you want your credits to be read, put a 5-second teaser after the long list. That’ll make the viewers endure all the unrecognizable fonts on the screen.#