THE HANGOVER: PART II
4 out of 5 stars

“well, we’re living here in alan town / and he’s driven our lives into the ground / when we woke up we were wasted and drunk / phil got shot... / we got beaten by a monk... / i was happy and my life was good / getting married like a dentist should / roasting marshmallows on a stick / i got fucked in the ass... / by a girl with a dick...” – stu singing (yet again...)

phil: “wait a second, chow... we’re in bangkok?”
mr. chow: “holla! city of squala!”

THE WOLFPACK IS BAAAAAAAACK!!! :P

this time, in thailand... this time, stu (ed helms) is getting married to a thai chick named lauren (jamie chung), and he’s asked all his friends AKA phil (bradley cooper), doug (justin bartha) and reluctantly...alan (zack galifianakis) to fly to bangkok for the wedding. they all wake up the next morning (after their racuous night), and find a monkey in the bathroom, leslie chow naked with his “worm” hanging out, stu with a face tattoo just like mike tyson’s, and teddy, lauren’s lil’ bro... he's M.I.A.! thus, the guys try and retrace their night...

best scenes: ALL of mr. chow’s scenes; ALL of alan’s scenes; when stu meets miss kimmy; the drug monkey; the special guest singer at stu’s wedding (no dan band this time but someone better!); and of course, the pictures from teddy’s phone (end credit photo montage of the wolfpack’s infamous night in bangkok) i mean, if you’re gonna fly all the way to thailand for a wedding, you might as well hit up bangkok...well, with a bang, right? ;)

SNOW FLOWER AND THE SECRET FAN
2 out of 5 stars

i had trouble rating this one because it wasn’t as good as the joy luck club or other great chinese films i.e. hero or crouching tiger, hidden dragon, but it wasn’t bad either... :/ 

i don’t think the plot followed EXACTLY like the book because there is this present-day connection with two girls named nina (bing bing li) and sophia (gianna jun), who live in shanghai. we learn that sophia had an ancestor named snow flower, who had a laotong named lily. (played by the same actresses in case we couldn’t follow the parallel storyline) snow flower and lily both were born in the same year, had their feet bound at the same time, and went through the motions of signing their laotong contract at temple so that they could be sisters for life. snow flower actually came from a better family, however lily ends up marrying master and lady wu’s son because of her beautiful feet. snow flower ends up with a butcher, and life for her is simply trying to bear sons and deal with his beatings. a lot more happens esp. when the taiping revolution occurs, but back to present-day... it’s nina’s going away dinner because she’s moving to new york city, but then sophia gets into a bicycle accident...slipping into a coma. nina starts to investigate/piece together sophia’s life, and discovers that she was writing a novel on snow flower and how she communicated with lily via a secret fan and a secret language. she also learns that sophia was in a relationship with australian businessman and night club owner arthur (hugh jackman- why is he in this?!? soooooo random!!! and quite a surprise!), and learns sophia’s secret... (you'll see...kind of obvious) 

well, my #1 gripe is basically this parallel storyline with nina and sophia because it was completely unecessary to me. i think they (the producers and whoever wrote this movie) took the audience for granted, and SHOULD HAVE just stuck with the original story by lisa see. this was a very shallow attempt at showing us TRUE chinese culture, and i completely got lost towards the end...mainly b/c we’re not shown/told WHY snow flower and lily break up. also, WHO CARES ABOUT THIS NINA AND SOPHIA?!?!? waaaaaay too much focus on the modern storyline....not enough of the historical/old. I WANTED MORE CULTURE, DAMMIT!!! :P

p.s. why is a korean actress playing a chinese character? correction: a chinese speaking character? b/c gianna jun is korean and doesn't speak chinese, her parts in chinese were dubbed over... seriously- was EVERY actress in chinese hollywood busy at the time? then, give an unknown a big break! :X

CRAZY, STUPID, LOVE
4 out of 5 stars

“cal, you’re better than the gap.” – jacob palmer (the ultimate womanizer)

ryan gosling sure looks good in a suit... regular suit or birthday suit...does it even matter?! DROOOOOOOOL. hubba hubba. ;)

the movie starts with a typical married couple...cal and emily weaver. (steve carell and julianne moore) cal and emily are ready to have their dessert on their date night, but emily just blurts out that she wants a divorce. cal is so devastated by the news that he jumps out of their car on the way back home, rather than deal with the situation/talk it over with emily. of course, it doesn’t help that emily confesses that she slept with a guy from work named david lynn hagen. (kevin bacon- i know, random!) cal decides to move out, get his own place, and of course, drown his sorrows in a cranberry vodka at a trendy hip LA bar. hottie and “mayor” of said bar (get my foursquare reference?), jacob (ryan gosling) notices sad cal, and decides to revamp his image and have him “re-discover his manhood” via a shopping spree and some lessons in how to pick up a lady “properly”. ;) of course, all the while this is happening, cal’s son robbie is in love with his babysitter jessica, but sadly, the babysitter is in love with cal. (he doesn’t know that though) oh, and jacob AKA the ultimate womanizer falls in love with a sassy girl named hannah (emma stone), who only wanted him as a rebound but hey...it’s a rom com. turns out they end up falling for each other... but wait until you find out how all the different characters know each other. is LA really that small of a town? :P

A+’s for julianne moore, emma stone, and ryan gosling!!! steve carell...notsomuch. he’s suppose to be a comedian, but he’s not funny in this at all. just pathetic! overall, it’s a good movie about love, and if that’s all you’re looking for one random saturday night, then here you go...this movie is for you. best scenes: the “big move”- LOL!; the shopping spree/cal’s makeover; jacob in full action at the bar; hannah and jacob’s first kiss-HOT, and of course, when jacob meets hannah’s parents for the first time and ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE. :P man, i can’t get over how hot RG was in this movie!!! baby, i can be your orange peel to your old fashioned drink any day of the week. ;) (you’ll see when you watch this- the guy’s fave drink is an old fashioned. good choice.)

RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES
4 out of 5 stars

talk about a movie that goes ape-shit... LITERALLY. :P

the city of san francisco sure is in for a “treat” when gen-sys scientist will rodman (james franco) successfully develops a drug called AZL-112, which will help regenerate dead brain cells in humans (thus curing alzheimer’s) but enhance the intelligence in apes. will has been working on developing AZL-112 for the past five years, and he’s ecstatic when he hears that one of the chimps he’s been experimenting on is successfully solving problems and showing signs of heightened intelligence. while will is presenting to the board of gen-sys, bright eyes escapes from her cage, and becomes really aggressive with EVERYONE...eventually, the security guards have to shoot her down. so, will’s project basically gets shut down, and he discovers a small baby chimp inside bright eyes’ cage. (she wasn’t being aggressive- just protective of her young) will brings him home, and we discover that will lives with his father who has alzheimer’s. his dad and the chimp bond instantly, and pretty soon, caesar is a full member of the rodman family! will monitors caesar’s cognitive abilities and whatnot, and caesar soon longs to experience the world/live outdoors and ride bicycles with the neighborhood children. you realize that with caesar’s heightened intelligence, he starts to think for himself and begins to resent humans for mistreating his kind when he ends up in an animal shelter after attacking one of will’s neighbors. one can’t help but notice: LIBERTY...EQUALITY...FRATERNITY FOR ALL APES!!! :P

it’s an interesting story about how the apes take over the world and the extinction of the human race. (i don’t want to give it all away, but you’ll see what happens to the humans with the new and approved AZL-112) ceasar’s story is well-told, and you really connect with him as a central character in this movie. andy serkis AKA gollum in LOTR put on the chimp body suit to play caesar, and he really nails it...AGAIN. caesar’s personality AKA his wants/desires and his resentment for humans makes this movie worthwhile, and although he is an anti-hero, he really is a hero. one of my fave scenes is the final stand-off between the apes and the humans on the golden gate bridge. guess who ends up quarterbacking that fight? boo yeah... apes:1, humans: 0. ;)

WARRIOR
4 out of 5 stars

“you talking about sparta? brendan, please. you got a better chance of starting a boy band.” – brendan’s trainer/coach

you can tell brendan's coach has a lot of faith in him... :P  the acting in this movie wasn’t as good/refined as in the fighter, but nick nolte really shines as a reformed alchy dad in this pugilist movie about two brothers who become MMA (mixed martial arts) fighters. :)

so, we’ve got the conlon brothers, tommy (british actor tom hardy whose been in inception and starring as bane in the soon-to-be new batman) and brendan (aussie actor joel edgerton). tommy was a marine who served in the corps, and brendan is now a high school physics teacher, who moonlights as a MMA street fighter in crappy parking lot fights. tommy moves back home with his dad, but joins a neighborhood gym to release some steam. he ends up fighting a guy named “mad dog” grimes, nearly kills the guy, and becomes this youtube sensation in the UFC fight world. brendan, on the other hand, works his way up, and when he’s suspended for his second gig, he has no choice BUT fight because there is no other way to make his house payments and such. they both end up in some tournament called SPARTA, and of course, brendan’s got his eyes on the prize (money), and you wonder if he’ll even try and take down his bro to get it? to add fuel to the fire, there’s a lot of bad blood between tommy, brendan, and their dad paddy because of their past re: their mother and paddy’s abusive ways, and being that it’s a lionsgate movie, emotions run deep... (expect tears)

both tom hardy and nick nolte really make this movie worthwhile because their scenes together show true emotion and tension so thick- you can cut it with a knife! paddy (nolte) tries sooooo hard to patch things up with his son tommy and later brendan, but these boys just won’t forgive their father for their own personal reasons. it’s a very gritty film... like i said, not as good/refined as the fighter (comeon, not a fair fight with bale in it), but the movie had a better story. my only gripe is that i didn’t feel tommy’s character was developed as much as brendan’s, but at the same time, brendan could have AND should have been played by someone else with more punch. pardon the pun... ;)

WATER FOR ELEPHANTS
3 out of 5 stars

didn’t have high expectations for this one, but i ended up liking it because the story really appealed to me. it’s the classic story of how boy meets girl, but there’s also an amazing elephant named rosie in the mix. it wasn’t bad...for a robert pattinson movie. :P

so, robert pattinson plays a vet student named jacob jankowski, who was in the middle of taking his cornell veterinarian science final, when he is informed that his parents died in a car accident. he’s devestated by their deaths, but even more so to the fact that he’s going to have to drop out of school to pay for his father’s debts and the mortgage on his home. he decides to run away/flee his hometown (i guess there is where the term “run away and join the circus” comes into play), when he literally crosses paths with a circus train. the train is filled with animals, stagehands, performers, etc., and jacob decides to work for the benzini bros. circus trope. it’s a lot of hard/gross work at first...cleaning up animal feces, feeding the lions, setting up the big top, etc. then, one day, he watches marlena (reese witherspoon) with her horse act, and immediately falls in love with her. he also learns that marlena is married to the cruel and asshole ringmaster named august (christoph waltz- that man is diabolically awesome), and decides to tread lightly since august is...well, PSYCHO. throwing off men in the middle of the night because you can’t pay their wages is a clear indication that this man is NOT sane. (gotta love the great depression...) after marlena’s star horse is put down, august decides to elevate her act with an elephant, and august promotes jacob to bull man. (trainer to elephant rosie)

the real star of this movie is rosie the elephant because the acting here just skates by. robert pattinson to me has always been a bore, and reese witherspoon annoys me. (she’s even more annoying in this one b/c of that marilyn monroe-like hair) christoph waltz is always fab esp. in villainous roles like this, but the rest of the movie just hums along. the story, itself, i thought was creative and very nicholas sparks? (i.e. the notebook) so, as a girl, of course, i loved that about this movie! very bittersweet and melancholic, and this is one that nostalgic ppl would love. ;)

PUNCTURE
4 out of 5 stars

this movie wasn’t what i thought at all... in fact, it’s BETTER and gives us a very raw look at how two underdog attorneys take on a powerful corporation that manufactures healthcare supplies. anyone in the medical profession should probably see this movie. ;)

based on a true story... mike weiss (chris evans) and paul danzinger (mark kasssen- he and his bro are directors of this film) are two personal injury lawyers, who decide to take on a case that’ll change their lives forever. basically, mike and paul are subcontractors for a bigger firm made possible through their friend daryl (jesse l. martin from L&O), and he suggests that they go see a nurse who was infected by a needle 3 years ago. she got infected with HIV, and has full-on AIDS...living on worker’s compensation, and shows mike and paul an invention made by her friend jeffrey dancort called the safety needle. it’s basically a contractible needle that’s foolproof, and will prevent nurses from sticking themselves, thus preventing them from contracting dangerous diseases i.e. HIV. the problem is that none of the hospitals in houston or in the state of TX want to use this safety needle because they’ve already got contracts to use another company’s brand of needles (thompson) via a healthcare supplies corporation called united healthcare supplies. because they’ve got the monopoly of healthcare supplies, there is NO room for safety point, and mike and paul believe this is a sound anti-trust case. as mike does his research and recon work on united healthcare supplies and beyond, he is baffled by the amount of backlash including firms refusing to take this particular case... mike and paul are on the verge of bankruptcy, and it doesn’t help that mike is a drug addict, whose also got hookers shooting up with him and even snorts coke in a senator’s office building. man, what a mess... :P

i think this was a 3 star movie, but i gave it an extra star due to the fact that the subject matter was interesting. it’s amazing to see how biased the healthcare system is, and how much GPOs (group purchasing organizations) have a blatant disregard for human safety, especially for the frontline nurses who are at risk for contracting these infectious diseases. chris evans does a good job as an ambitious yet drug-addicted attorney, and the script is really well-written. this movie is a good one for both those interested in law AND health. i have to warn ya...the ending is very sad, but there’s a twist at the end where justice prevails. ;)

MIDNIGHT IN PARIS
5 out of 5 stars

“paris exists and anyone could choose to live anywhere else in the world will always be a mystery to me” – adriana

what a lovely film! woody allen presents us with a beautiful film about the most gorgeous and inspirational city in the world...PARIS. ;)

gil pender (owen wilson) is a hollywood writer, whose engaged to bitchy inez. (rachel mcadams) they decide to tag along with inez’s parents’ trip to paris, since inez’s father is some corporate bigwig and has some big merger plans with a french company. while they’re dining one night, paul (michael sheen), a friend of inez’s from college?, recognizes her and they decide to hang out. they go to versailles, museums, dinners, etc., but gil doesn’t really like paul b/c well...he’s a bit of a douche. :P so, one day, after a wine tasting at a fancy hotel, inez, paul, and paul’s wife/gf? decide to go dancing somewhere, and gil takes a midnight stroll through the city of lights. he takes a quick rest by a church, but then an old 20s style taxi buggy filled with flapper girls and dudes take him for a ride. he arrives at the home of jean cocteau, and is immediately greeted by zelda and scott...fitzgerald. gil even sees cole porter playing the piano in the salon, and can’t begin to fathom what’s going on... pretty soon, he’s running into ernest hemmingway, gertrude stein, pablo picasso, and meeting other artists i.e. salvadore dali, man ray, henri matisse. however, he begins to realize that he may not be in love with inez as he thought he was when he meets the beautiful adriana (marion cotillard), mistress to picasso... ;)

what is unique and wonderful about this film is all the different literary and artistic characters that “inspire” gil to reflect on his life and writing, and the story is very well told. well, it’s woody allen, and he does a terrific job capturing the present paris vs. the roaring 20s paris. there’s no crazy porthole or even a crazy sci-fi-esque time travel here, and the casting could not be perfect! (kathy bates as gertrude stein: PERFECT and adrien brody as dali is a HOOT) yes, it’s a bittersweet comedy about a writer and man who does not know what he wants out of life, and there’s humor, sadness, and even uncertainty wrapped in one movie. EXCELLENT. just like a nice french wine with the perfect slice of cheese. :)

MARGIN CALL
4 out of 5 stars

another wall street movie re: the 2008 financial crisis, and it’s actually pretty good. not as good and dramatic as wall street 2, but still pretty realistic. plus, did i mention an awesome cast of kevin spacey, paul bettany, jeremy irons, zachary quinto, simon baker, and stanley tucci? yeeeeah, quite the cast. ;)

so, this movie centers on the junior and senior executives of an investment firm called MBS. it starts with the first round of firings as peter sullivan (zachary quinto) and seth bregman (penn badgley) look on with disbelief. they can’t believe half their floor is gone, and they are SHOCKED when eric dale (stanley tucci) AND peter and seth’s boss is let go as well. but before eric leaves the building, he gives peter a USB flash drive containing a project he was working on. peter starts working on the missing elements of eric’s project, and soon discovers that trading will soon exceed the historical volatility levels used by the firm to calculate risk. because of this, it is predicted that the firm will suffer a loss greater than its market capitalization. what does all that mean? in plain english: because the firm has exceeded the historical volatility levels, the firm is at risk for BANKRUPTCY and thus will have no value. peter alerts his boss’s boss will emerson (paul bettany), who then alerts his boss sam rogers (kevin spacey), who then alerts his boss jared cohen (simon baker) and chief risk management officer sarah robertson (demi moore), who then alerts the top dog...john tuld. (jeremy irons) if the CEO of your company is flying in via helicopter in the middle of the night to deal with a problem like this, you know this is serious shit. wait until you find out what the CEO wants to do. typical wall streeters... ;)

i thought wall street 2 was better because this movie didn’t really have much character development to start with. the only character whose got some depth is kevin spacey’s, but it would have been better if the others were treated the same way. plus...the ending?! WTF was that?! laaaaaame and too open-ended... we need to know what happens to the firm and everyone we spent getting to know for the past hr and 47 mins!!! :/ i was attracted to this movie because of its awesome cast, and everyone does a pretty good job in their respective roles. it’s no surprise that wall street is a volatile place at the moment, but geez...this is a very realistic look at what goes down in crisis. check it out if you’re into finance. ;)

HARRY POTTER & THE DEATHLY HALLOWS: PART 2
5 out of 5 stars

EXCELLENT!!! or as the brits say...BRILLIANT!!! i was deathly bored with harry potter: part 1, but part 2 brings it all home and more! what a bittersweet ending. :)

RECAP: harry potter and his friends, hermione and ron, tend to their wounds and re-evaluadte their game plan to bring down the one and evil voldemort by destroying all the horcruxes. if you don’t remember from part 1, read my review on HP7: part 1. but in case you don’t have the time... harry learns that the horcruxes contain a piece of voldemort’s soul, and by destroying all of them, one destroys voldemort. so, harry and his friends question a goblin who works at gringotts wizarding bank who was being questioned by bellatrix from the first movie, and gets him to take them inside bellatrix lestrange’s vault in exchange for griffindor’s sword. (greedy-ass goblin...) all is semi-going well until the goblin betrays them and locks them in the vault, so harry and his friends have to escape via a fire-breathing dragon who was guarding the vault! they then realize that another horcrux AKA rowena ravenclaw’s diadem (in case you didn’t know- it’s sort of a tiara) is INSIDE hogwart’s castle. they are helped by dumbledore’s brother abeforth, and neville longbottom and co. help harry get back into hogwart’s to complete their mission. pretty soon, hogwarts is attacked by trolls, giant spiders, death eaters, and even lord voldemort himself...who now possesses the elder wand, the most powerful wand in the world. does harry have a chance now? well, you’ll see... ;)

like i said, i was deathly bored with harry potter part 1, but this was by far THE BEST HARRY POTTER MOVIE....HANDS DOWN. it’s clearly a continuation of the first part, and it brings everything home, even the epilogue. it’s bittersweet and packed with magical battles and the final showdown between harry and voldemort is very appropriately shown. at the end of the day, good always triumphs over evil, although in this case, a lot of sacrifices had to be made. (i.e. death of harry’s parents, sirius black, remus, dumbledore) we also know snape’s true intentions, and i think that’s what makes j.k. rowling such an amazing author. great storytelling translated into a great movie! BRAVO, HP7: part 2. the whole series will surely be missed. :’)

KUNG FU PANDA 2
5 out of 5 stars

"stairs...  my ENEMY." - po

even better than the original! dreamworks, you’ve done it again. great work with kung fu panda 2... ;)

po the loveable dragon warrior (voiced perfectly by jack black) is baaaaaack with the furious five, protecting china from evil and darkness. in case you’ve forgotten...the furious five consists of a praying mantis AKA seth rogen, snake AKA lucy liu, monkey AKA jackie chan, crane AKA david cross, and of course, tigress AKA angelina jolie. under the tutelage of master shifu (dustin hoffman), po learns the importance of achieving inner peace, but the peace of china is soon disturbed by the evil lord shen...a handsome yet evil peacock. (voiced perfectly by gary oldman) the story of the peacock is that the peacocks were the ones who invented firecrackers, but their son AKA lord shen had other plans for the invention and wanted to use firecrackers as a source of evil. the soothsayer goat had predicted that lord shen would be defeated by a warrior of black and white, thus lord shen decided to terminate all pandas living in china... thus, we learn the origins of po and how he ended up being raised by a noodle-loving goose. ;)

the story of po is really sweet, and i loved how lord shen and po had interlocking storylines. (not just a good vs. evil plot) 2011 was truly the year for sequels esp. animation movies, and i thought dreamworks did a nice job providing us with a sequel that was more of a prequel this time? i certainly hope how to train your dragon is this way next year! however, the ending of this movie makes me wonder if there’ll be a kung fu panda 3? maybe... if it’s anything like this one, i’d definitely put it on my list to watch it. ;)