D-War released in North America as D-War: Dragon Wars, also referred to colloquially and in some marketing materials as Dragon Wars, is a 2007 South Korean film written and directed by Shim Hyung-rae. It is a fantasy-action film that was its nation’s largest-budgeted as of 2007.
Dragon Wars, or D-War as it was originally titled, is a Korean film set in Los Angeles, financed with Korean money and helmed by a Korean director (former comedian Hyung-rae Shim), starring a largely American cast. Its plot revolves around TV reporter Ethan (Jason Behr) who discovers that L.A.’s recent earthquakes aren’t just natural plate tectonics but the awakenings of a giant ancient serpent — a Korean serpent — that he is fated to battle because, well, the 500-year-old spirit of a warrior lives within him. He’s charged with finding the reincarnated version of that warrior’s soulmate, now a hot girl named Sarah (Amanda Brooks), and defeating the serpent before it becomes a dragon, destroys L.A., wreaks havoc on the world, etc.
Originally titled Dragon Wars (and still referred to by this title in publicity material), D-War has a long production history in South Korea. The film was announced in 2002 by director Shim Hyung-rae as his follow-up project to Yonggary.
Star(s) to watch : Jason Behr (”Skinwalkers”, “Freddy vs. Jason”, “The Grudge”) as Ethan Kendrick, & Amanda Brooks (”Flightplan”) as Sarah.
As Heard in the Film review by Clark Douglas: I’m a fan of director Frank Darabont. His adaptation of the Stephen King story ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ is one of the most beloved films of all time, frequently being mentioned in the same breath as ‘Casablanca’. Darabont turned to King again for his next film, ‘The Green Mile’, a moving drama with some good characters. Yet another Stephen King story is the basis for Darabont’s latest film, ‘The Mist′. Unlike the first two King stories, ‘The Mist′ is not an uplifting drama, but rather a straight-ahead horror story.
Based on a Stephen King novella and adapted for the screen by writer/director Frank Darabont (who has some experience with successful King adaptations), The Mist is the story of a small town that becomes shrouded in a mysterious and malevolent fog. The brunt of the film takes place in a claustrophobic grocery store (classic horror film convention) where a band of survivors barricade themselves in and (hopefully) out of harm’s way. Some doubters venture outside into the mist and are never heard from again. Some come back in pieces.
Yet, strangely enough Landscape in the Mist is not a film of visual contrasts. Most certainly not in terms of color use. On the contrary it very much feels as something Andrei Tarkovsky would direct. Gloomy, misty, almost hypnotic at times this is a story that pushes the viewer into a near state of lassitude. The only thing that keeps the senses aroused is the director’s striking gift to discover beauty where most would see boredom.
Star(s) to watch : Alexa Davalos (”The Chronicles of Riddick”) as Sally, & Thomas Jane (”The Punisher”, “Face/Off”, “Dreamcatcher”, “Original Sin”) as David Drayton.
The Forbidden Kingdom features the first ever on screen pairing of cinema’s two greatest living martial arts legends: Jet Li and Jackie Chan. That alone makes this movie a must see for anyone and everyone, but screenwriter John Fusco and director Rob Minkoff have done more than simply throw two of kung fu’s most famous faces together in the same picture. They?ve crafted a magical film using both Chan and Li?s legendary reputations as the lynchpins in telling an entertaining, crowd-pleasing, action-fantasy story. 4
Why are the two men fighting? Because the Silent Monk stole a magical staff from a friend of Lu Yan’s. And the fight comes to an end when this friend finally shows up and reclaims the staff. But here’s the part that martial-arts fans probably didn’t expect all those years: The friend in question is an American teenager, and the first film to co-star Jackie Chan and Jet Li casts them both as supporting characters in this teenager’s story. What’s more, the film, directed by former Disney animator Rob Minkoff (The Lion King, Stuart Little), almost feels like it was made for kids.
Star(s) to watch : Jet Li (”Fist of Legend”, “Kiss of the Dragon”, “Hero”, “Fearless”) as The Monkey King/Silent Monk, Jackie Chan (”City Hunter”, “The Armour of God”) as Lu Yan, Collin Chou (”The Matrix Reloaded”, “Fearless”, “DOA: Dead or Alive”) as Jade Warlord, & Michael Angarano (”Sky High”) as Jason Tripitikas.
Depending on which trailer you watch, you might get the idea that Nim’s Island is a star vehicle for Jodie Foster, Gerard Butler or Abigail Breslin. And even after seeing the movie, that’s a hard question to answer, considering the actors each spend a majority of the movie separate from each other.
Nim (Breslin) is a young girl who imagines an island to be magical, basing its mystic nature on the experiences of her favorite fictional character, Alex Rover (Butler). When Nim’s father (also played by Butler) goes missing on the island, Nim teams up with Alexandra (Foster), the author of the Alex Rover books and Rover himself.
Star(s) to watch : Gerard Butler (”300′, “Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life”) as Alex Rover/Jack, & Jodie Foster (”The Brave One”, “Flightplan”, “The Silence of the Lambs”) as Alexandra Rover.
Abigail Breslin stars as Nim Rusoe, a girl with her very own tropical island which she shares with her scientist father Jack (300′s Gerard Butler). They live in a way-cool tree house and while the widower Jack makes a living writing about his scientific research, Nim romps about on the endless playground with her animal friends, which include a lizard who caws like a parrot and a pelican more helpful than Lassie if you get in a jam.
In the movie (unlike the book, which had no evil organization) there is an ancient cult of bad people, religious zealots, who hunt jumpers (of which there are many) and slay them. To do this they use strange shock batons which lash out cables that capture their targets, tase them so they can′t teleport away, and hold them until the guys can use ceremonial knives to execute them. Apparently they have not heard of bullets.
Also in the movie (unlike the book, which had no other jumpers) there is Jamie Bell who plays “Griffin″ one of several. They “team up″ (Griffin is mentally disturbed at best) and wage an incredibly inept war against Jackson who is not fooling around (except for using the weird cable guns … that’s “fooling around″ as far as I can tell).
I think the driving force behind Jumper was the director’s wish to film in exotic locations, the best of which is inside the Colosseum under the conditions that no equipment could be placed on the ground, that they only had 2hrs per day, and used natural light. I bet that was a blast. They also got to do Tokyo and even Ann Arbor! Beyond that, though, I′m not sure they had a lot in mind really: mostly just some set up for Jumper-2 (the book’s sequel was called Reflex).
The problem with Jumper is not in the details. Hayden is a strong lead, Jackson has charisma even when his character is purely two-dimensional and doesn′t make a lot of sense (they have religious objections to teleporting but have a machine that allows them … to teleport). The locations are indeed sumptuous and the action, courtesy of Simon Kinberg (X-3, Mr. & Mrs. Smith) is pretty crackling. No, the problems are not in the wide angles: they′re in the details.
The movie asks several questions (will the main character, David, unite with his high school sweetheart? What happened to his mom? Will he make it in the world? Who is Jackson, anyway?) and answers them all in a pat, flat manner. Hayden isn′t impossible to care about but he’s a bit of a cold fish (at one point he watches people trapped in a flood-zone on TV with the announcer saying that it’ll take a miracle to reach them–he goes surfing–and the character arc of him becoming less self-centered is never resolved). The other characters only have first names which, while not meaningful in and of itself, is pretty telling since they only have one dimension to the rest of them too.
The whole electrical baton and fighting while teleporting thing is visually well done but takes center stage when it should be a throwaway (in Cammeron’s T2, the terminator does things like grow a 3rd arm to fly the copter and shoot and turn around by morphing during the battle–this is as it should be–understated). When watching the movie I felt like it was all sugar and no meat.
Ultimately Jumper is a big summer movie that came out in the winter. It’s loud, flashy, and dumb. It has reasonable star power and good location shots (the on-top-of-the-Sphinx money shot is worth whatever the paid for it). It’s a bit like the Wizard of Oz trio though in that it doesn′t have the guts to take real chances, it lacks “heart” in terms of characters that we really connect to, and it, um, isn′t too smart.
Star(s) to watch : Diane Lane (”Unfaithful”, “Streets of Fire”) as Mary Rice, Rachel Bilson as Millie Harris, AnnaSophia Robb (”The Reaping”, “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”) as Young Millie, Hayden Christensen (”Star Wars”) as David Rice, Samuel L. Jackson (”xXx”, “The Negotiator”) as Agent Roland, & Jamie Bell (”King Kong”) as Griffin.
A fairy tale comes to life in this thoroughly original, new Disney Classic. Drawing inspiration from its classic heritage, Disney creates an inspired story unlike any you’ve experienced before. Filled with excitement, fun, and incredible music from the legendary Alan Menken, Enchanted is the ultimate fish-out-of-water adventure. For princess-to-be Giselle, life is a fairy tale - until she’s banished from the animated land of Andalasia and thrust into the very unmagical, live-action world of modern-day Manhattan. When a cynical, no-nonsense divorce lawyer comes to her aid, little does he realize that this joyful, wide-eyed innocent is about to enchant him. Enchanted - the musical comedy that will have your entire family under its spell.
After all their animated fantasies, true-life adventures, inspirational sports stories, and shaggy dogs, the Disney studios finally took the time to spoof themselves a bit. With tongues firmly set in cheek, screenwriter Bill Kelly (”Blast from the Past”) and director Kevin Lima (”Tarzan,” “102 Dalmatians″) set out to turn the Disney image inside out with a partly animated, partly live-action fairy tale that upsets all the conventions of traditional Disney fairy tales. In this regard, it’s a little like the first “Shrek” movie; if not quite so pointed or caustic, just as amusing. And with the added quality of a really sweet love story thrown in, “Enchanted″ is hard to resist.
And then, it morphs into a live action film set in Manhattan that plays like a Disney animation. Enchanted is a romantic musical comedy, a light-hearted satire and a fantasy, but most of all, it’s a fairytale.
Star(s) to watch : James Marsden (”X-Men”, “Superman Returns”, “Disturbing Behavior”) as Prince Edward, Amy Adams (”Serving Sara”, “Catch Me If You Can”) as Giselle, & Patrick Dempsey (”Scream 3?, “Outbreak”) as Robert Phillip.
It’s been over six years since the devastating events of 9/11, and already we’e getting films about it. This new thriller follows in the very lengthy tradition of the monster movie genre. Monster movies in the 50′s and 60′s were often allegories for America?s worst fears, such as nuclear testing or the Red Menace. There is a shot of a Manhattan skyscraper crumbling to the ground, and images of panicked citizens running in the streets, covered in soot and dust, taking refuge in nearby stores as chaos surrounds them. Let’s be honest: the filmmakers could have set this story in any city, but they chose New York for a reason.
A sort of Blair Witch Project crossed with Godzilla, Cloverfield tells the story of a monster invasion in Manhattan through the eyes — and lenses — of a group of twentysomethings. And critics say it’s one of the most intense cinematic offerings of the new year. The film begins at a going-away party for Rob (Michael Stahl-David). Just as the festivities get into full swing, a crisis grips the borough; it turns out a creature is on the loose, and the partygoers wade out into the terrifying urban landscape, recording the bedlam on their camcorders. The pundits say Cloverfield may be a gimmicky take on old monster movie tropes, but it’s also economically paced, stylistically clever, and filled with scares. At 70 percent on the Tomatometer, Cloverfield is a monstrously fun time.
The story of Cloverfield does not begin with a surprise party or with found footage of a disaster. It started here in the real world, when a trailer appeared in movie theaters in July 2007. It showed a going-away party in New York City interrupted by some sort of large-scale attack. As fiery debris fell all around the characters, they rushed outside to see the severed head of the Statue of Liberty crashing down onto the street, right in front of them. The trailer ended by name-dropping producer J.J. Abrams (Lost), followed by “1-18-08.” It was certainly attention-getting, but it revealed very little of what the movie was about. More intriguingly, it didn’t even tell viewers the movie’s title.
Star(s) to watch : Jessica Lucas (”The Covenant”, “She’s the Man”) as Lily Ford, & Mike Vogel (”The Deaths of Ian Stone”, “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre”) as Jason.
Hey, wasn’t Stephen Chow supposed to be in this movie? Regardless of a lack of Chow, CJ7 channels Stephen Chow goodness and has the humor and heart to entertain the youngor those with young minds. You can decide which camp you belong to.
Featuring the trademark Chow slapstick humor, CJ7 is a comedy about a poor laborer father, Ti, played by Stephen Chow, and his young son, Dicky. When a fascinating and strange new pet enters their lives, Dicky, an elementary school student, sees a chance to overcome his poor background and shabby clothes and impress his fellow students for the first time in his life. The “pet” however has other ideas and when Dicky brings it to class, comedic chaos erupts including a showdown with the terrifying school bully, Storm Dragon!
The film’s difficulty in shifting between these tonal registers is the primary obstacle to its success. Chow seems unsure how to bridge low comedy and high melodrama, utilizing two wildly distinct formal approaches that often resonate atonally. One early comic sequence in which Dicky witnesses schoolmates playing with an expensive toy is quickly followed by a scene in which Ti spanks Dicky in a toy store for misbehavior. The extraordinarily loud, crisp sound work makes the sequence deeply upsetting, bringing to mind of all things that painful, awful slap in Bicycle Thieves (a comparison Chow would likely invite, given the film’s interest in class cleavages).
Star(s) to watch : Stephen Chow (”Kung Fu Hustle”, “Shaolin Soccer”) as Ti, & Kitty Zhang Yuqi as Miss Yuen.
