Movie & Television Reviews

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Title: Ender's Game (2013)
Directed by: Gavin Hood
Screenplay by: Gavin Hood
Starring: Asa Butterfield, Harrison Ford, Hailee Steinfeld, Ben Kingsley, Abigail Breslin
Run time: 114 minutes

The book vs the movie

I realize that there is a lot of controversy over this movie, mostly to do with Orson Scott Card's insistence on sharing his personal views with the world. I try to ignore author wank, but some of the things he's done in recent years have really offended me. Still, I am of the belief that a book and its author should be judged separately, and as a piece of art, Ender's Game is a great story.

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Title: Dong Yi, also known as "Dong Yi: Jewel In the Crown" Directed by: Kim Sang-hyeob, Lee Byeong-hoon Screenplay by: Kim I-yeong Starring: Han Hyo-joo, Ji Jin-hee, Lee So-yeon, Bae Soo-bin Language: Korean This historical drama set during the Joseon dynasty in Korea is a retelling of the story of King Sukjong and Choi Suk-bin, mother of King Yeongjo. }

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Title: Silenced (International)
Title: The Crucible (“Dogani” in Korean)
Release year: 2011
Directed by: Hwang Dong-hyuk
Screenplay by: Hwang Dong-hyuk
Starring: Gong Yoo, Jung Yoo-mi
Based on the novel “Dogani,” by Gong Ji-young

Summary: Based on actual events, it depicts the brutal physical abuse of children at a school for the hearing impaired. One of the victims is a deaf mute boy, one is a mentally handicapped girl, and the other is a deaf girl. The movie sparked controversy and brought about a change in legislation that went through in late October 2011. Called the Dogani Bill, it changed the statute of limitations for sex crimes against minors and the disabled in South Korea.

Pick up a copy from Amazon.

The minute I read the blurb I knew this was going to be one of those movies that was going to completely wrench my emotions. I was right.

I would still watch it again.

This was such an excellent movie that it forced me to see passed its subject matter. The rape of the children was depicted in a manner that highlighted just how brutally they were treated, yet the camera angles and cutaways mean that it’s not as graphic as it seems.

Title: The Faculty (1998)
Directed by: Robert Rodriguez
Written by: David Wechter (story), Bruce Kimmel (story), Kevin Williamson (screenplay)
Actors: Elijah Wood, Josh Hartnett, Clea Duvall, Famke Janssen, Jordana Brewster, Laura Harris, Jon Stewart
Genre: sci-fi, horror
aStore: DVD, Blu-Ray

So this is one of those teen movies where a bunch of kids fight the alien invasion by killing people and doing drugs. Basically, it’s high school.

Btw, this movie has a crazy number of famous actors in it — Elijah Wood, Josh Hartnett, Jordana Brewster, Clea DuVall, Shawn Hatosy, Salma Hayek, Famke Janssen, Christopher McDonald, Bebe Neuwirth, Robert Patrick, Usher, and Jon Stewart.

*spoiler alert* Elijah Wood is Casey Connor, a nerdy kid being bullied. At the very beginning, he’s grabbed by his arms and legs by a bunch of jocks and slammed crotch first into the flag pole. So at the end of the movie, I hate the fact that Casey doesn’t use his newfound popularity to help that poor kid getting his ass kicked. He was totally hating life while he was being bullied, but he doesn’t do anything to help some other poor shmoe? Forget that you just saved the world or whatever, you’ve lost a ton of cred with me.

Anyways, watching this movie, I like to imagine what would have happened if it turned out they were just hallucinating the alien invasion and they went on a drug-fueled killing spree. It’s like, what if the Matrix isn’t real, and Neo is just some crackpot with a bunch of machine guns running around in too much leather.

Also, the ending was weak because in real life, they totally would have blamed those kids for everything during the clean up, and there would have been a massive government cover up. Maybe the guys who came … Read the rest “RE MOVIE: The Faculty [sci-fi, horror]”

I make wishes on the stars all the time. It doesn't seem like a waste to me. Because in the forming of a wish--an idea--a concept of what can be is created. And until a wish is formulated, it's nothing but stardust and fantasy.