Rylan's Talk

My Sister's Keeper

OK lesson learned never underestimate a Nick Cassavetes film.Anyone who had their heart captured by the brilliant man that brought us The Notebook will probably love this film.You go into it knowing that you are dealing with an uneasy subject matter from the get go,so as long as you have come to grips with that and have several tissues on stand by you will be fine.The cast was amazing,ALL of them.I do have to say the standout for me in this one absolutely has to be Cameron Diaz.She showed me before that she could shake the giggly girl next door image when she took on Any Given Sunday.She has proven to me once again to NOT put her into any single catagory for a film.She was a character that embraced the mother role very well and the over-bearing never want to give up on her sick child mother even better.Was what she did right or wrong who is to say?I am not God and I am dam sure not going to judge others for situations such as this because I don't like being judged either.However coming from the standpoint of being a mother myself I cannot imagine the enormity of making decisions like this and trying to justify to yourself and the world around you that you just want your child to live.There is depth and balance in this movie and a bittersweet balance that really kind of surprised me was Alec Baldwin's role,very well done.I will recommend this movie to everyone I see whenever I hear the name,you can bet on it.SEE THIS FILM!

Public Enemies

Awesome!!Bale and Depp are the yummiest duo onscreen in 2009 so far for me,that probably won't change.Anyway the film was as great as I thought it would be,I learned quite a bit and think the casting was excellent.Definitely see this movie.=)

Chi Bi: Xia - Jue zhan tian xia (Red Cliff II)

For this movie , there will be two main groups of audience. First, there'll be those who know little about the background, be it historical fact or the romanticized historical fiction The Three Kingdoms. At the other end of the spectrum, there'll be those who are familiar with the Battle of Red Cliff just as some people are familiar with Camelot or Alamo. A really smart thing though is taking two well-known anecdotes and running them parallel as reciprocal challenges between the two top-notch strategists Zhou Yu (Tony Leung) and Zhuge Liang (Takeshi Kaneshiro), each putting his life down for failing to fulfill his end of the bargain. Their assignments, respectively, are to trick Cao Cao into killing his two best generals and to secure a huge supply of arrows from heaven knows where. This is one of the best parts of the movie, filled with dramatic tension as well as relieving humour. Depicting the rivalry-cum-comradeship between two heroes who have great respect for each other is of course vintage John Woo. The heart and soul of the movie, the battle itself, is a joy to watch. At the helm, John Woo has again done something very clever ? removing the Zhuge Liang's supernatural element of the original novel. Zhuge Liang attribute the critical event to the strategist's ability, be it an art or a science, to predict weather patterns. In enriching the movie for general consumption, John Woo has to create material for his two female leads almost out of a vacuum. He has in fact been quite successful, from the angle of dramatic appeal, albeit at the cost of some sacrifice of common sense and logic. This is a high quality, entertaining movie which John Woo has succeeded in creating by a very clever decision to concentrate on a simple agenda, The Battle of Red Cliff, despite the lure of numerous potential sub-plot.

The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep

Pretty cute Fantasy /Adventure movie.Kinda feels a little Free Willy but with a Scottish ring to it.Anyway great film for the whole family. =)

Ip Man (Yip Man)

Awesome,Awesome movie.This has been recommended to me a few times now,finally got a chance to see it.It kicks the Badassery level way up there! Great Martial arts flick if you are a fan you want to see this one for sure.=)

Keulraesik (The Classic)

Although many had expected this movie to be a sequel, or even a prequel to My Sassy Girl, there is no real connection between the movie besides the fact that it was directed by the same people, Jae-young Kwak. Jae-young Kwak's The Classic is actually the opposite of My Sassy Girl, whereas My Sassy Girl was a light-hearted comedy based on a couple's unusual meeting and eventual romance, The Classic is more of a melodrama, depicting the relationship between Jun-ho and Ju-hie in parallel to the current relationship between Ji-hae and Sang-min. However, with a link between the two couples from both the past and the present by means of letters written to Ji-hae's mom, viewers are able unravel the connection, as the characters are oblivious. Filmed in various locations reminiscent to Korea in the past, Jae-young Kwak captures not only the innocence of love between the pair of lovers from the past and the present, but manages to depict the social influences on the characters as well.

Luxo Jr.

What you have here is an extremely well made film that creates live characters without the use of dialogue or facial expressions or even bodies, and all this tremendously realistic animation was done in the 80s, before computers themselves had had much of an impact on the movies. Luxo Jr. is an absolutely ingenius creation of animation, Pixar managed to come straight out and begin their career with a flawless animation movie. This movie is absolutely flawless as far as characterization, simplicity, amusement, and, probably most of all, the amazingly realistic sound effects that served to help bring the hopping lamps to life. This is some of the simplest stuff that can be brought to the screen and still have meaning, but Pixar has managed to make this three minute film a truly memorable cinematic experience.

Jack-Jack Attack

Everybody expects quality work from Pixar and Brad Bird and that's exactly what they get from The Incredibles. Now everything that the movie stood for is continued in the hilarious short Jack-Jack Attack. Bringing back all of the original voice and art talent from The Incredibles, writer/director Brad Bird puts together a brilliant comedy sketch based on ideas from his original concept of the movie. Brad Bird gives new life to two of the movies most animated minor characters Karrie McKeon and Jack-Jack Parr setting them both up for the adventure of their lives. The short is full of action and nonstop hysterics that run hand in hand with the movie. Viewers find out exactly what happens while the family is away from the home and get more than a little bit of insight into Karrie McKeon's quirkiness as well as Jack-Jack Parr's cuteness. While the clip is geared more towards kids than the movie was, Jack-Jack Attack will find a place in the heart of every adult. Kudos to Brad Bird and company on more, good quality family entertainment.

One Man Band

Another surprise gem from Pixar, which was shown in the cinema alongside Cars. It's another musical short in a similar vein as Boundin' but whereas that prelude to The Incredibles was aimed squarely at kids, One Man Band is funny regardless of your age but still has a strong fable at its heart. Animation, as you'd expect from Pixar, is faultless - the whole thing looks and sounds fabulous. It's also wonderfully funny as both street performers become ever more aggressive in their attempts to get the little girl's money. Brilliantly written, wonderfully scored, genuinely amusing.

For the Birds

For The Birds is the side-splittingly hilarious short animated movie that preceded the rather unimpressive Monsters, Inc. Pixar is becoming more and more famous for the hilarity of their movies and For The Birds is definitely no exception. This movie is a very simple short, with no dialogue. The little birds are really cool with great facial expressions and manage to be really likeable. The big bird looks real goofy and it's easy to join the little birds in mocking him. The animation is superb, the backgrounds are bright and colourful and each feather on each bird looks really realistic. The short is very funny - funnier than it sounds, the little birds are really funny, kids will love it because all the comedy is visual, adults will love it because it's not too childish. It feels better than it is because it is a one-joke short.

Geri's Game

The overwhelming success of such Pixar features as Monsters Inc and Finding Nemo may mean that's where all the attention's currently going, but their four-minute short Geri's Game is definitely an enjoyable and highly original little movie that deserves to dwell up there with the company's finest output. The quality animation aside, and with the European plaza-style music setting it off to a nifty pulse, it's the slick editing that really makes this concept come alive. Unlike other Pixar shorts, including Knick Knack and For the Birds, Geri's Game may not be a laugh-riot exactly, but then laugh-out-loud hilarity has never been the essential ingredient for class entertainment. What makes this movie so engaging is its intelligent story, gentle humour and truly charming sense of character. The cool visuals are a delightful bonus.

BURN-E

The customary short movie on Pixar releases generally picks up a side character from the main movie, WALL-E, and does a new story with them as the focus. In this case that is sort of true because the short actually looks back at the final third of the main movie and essentially retells that but does it quickly and by focusing on a very minor character. This movie tells the background story of Burn-E (Basic Utility Robot Nano-Engineer), a persistent little robot whose job it is to replace light posts on the exterior of BnL's Axiom spacecraft, which houses Earth's people while robots such as WALL-E (Waste Allocation Load Lifter-Earth) clean up the mess they left behind on their planet. It's an amusing story that takes place during the feature movie. A slightly different short from Pixar then, but not a lesser one by any means. It is charmingly delivered with the high standards of the main movie and delivers several good laughs even though it is essentially one joke repeated.

Kiwi!

In the time and age of cookie-cutter-CGI "comedies" featuring talking animals and supposedly cool pop culture comments, the magic of what animation can really achieve is often forgotten. Only Pixar reminds us continually of the wonderful opportunities animation has in its storytelling, both in its visuals and its characters. Kiwi! shows how it's done. For starters, its title (and single) character is silent - no silly one-liners here. And yet, he is a fully developed character and the fact that he gets characterized simply via mimic and gestures is one of the many wonderful things the creator has achieved. The animation is simple but distinct. Kiwi's big expressive eyes endear him to the viewer as does his resourcefulness in his preparations. The animation's clarity adds to the overall effect and the theme music is great also. One should not talk about details of the story for fear of spoiling the experience. Again, it's a simple one, almost fable-like. It uses its diminutive bird protagonist to say something profound about the human condition - how far one would go to achieve one's dreams.

The Horsemen

Pretty good,Could have been alot better.The whole deal with Ziyi Zhang being the 'bad guy' just felt a little artificial to me.I guess on this one judge it for yourself.

The Girlfriend Experience

A complete mess.Dont bother.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Just as bad ass as the first.Sam's parents are hilarious,GREAT summer flick,you won't want to wait for this one to come out on dvd,see this one in the theater for all the kick ass special effects and that awesome THX sound!! =)

Year One

Really?Seriously?! Oh Lord!! PASS!! Michael Cera was AWFUL! I only watched this for Jack Black,he didn't help things out any.Don't bother.

The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3

Forgot what a great Bad guy John Travolta really is.See this film!

The Proposal

Cute and funny,I would take Ryan Reynolds in a heartbeat.=)