Movies

Title: Scandal Makers
Directed by: Kang Hyeong-cheol
Written by: Kang Hyeong-cheol
Starring: Cha Tae-hyun, Park Bo-young, Wang Seok-hyeon
Running time: 108 minutes
Language: Korean

Summary borrowed from Wikipedia: Former teen idol Nam Hyeon-soo (Cha Tae-hyun) who thinks he is pretty popular is now in his thirties and working as a radio DJ. A young woman named Hwang Jeong-nam (Park Bo-young) sent stories about her being a single mother to the radio station Hyeon-soo worked at, telling him she is going to meet her father. When he finds out that he is the father of Jeong-nam when she comes to his apartment with her son Ki-Dong (Wang Seok-hyeon). He also finds out that Jeong-nam was his first love’s name and the other Jeong-nam’s real name is Jae-in. Jae-in and her son, Ki-dong.

My thoughts: This is a cute and funny movie with one of the most adorable child stars I’ve seen in a while. Seriously, Wang Seok-hyeon is great as 6-year-old Ki-dong.

There are some touching moments, some slightly cringe-worthy moments, but mostly this is a fun and heartwarming movie.

One of the best scenes: When they’re in the police station. That was good.

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Or watch it on Amazon. (Currently available free for Amazon Prime members.)

Allies & Enemies at Amazon

I recently watched the movie “Miracle In Cell No. 7” and it was absolutely beautiful. The end made me cry.

The cover makes it look like some wacky “Three Stooges”-like comedy, but it’s not. It’s this incredibly touching drama about a mentally disabled man, Yong-goo, being sent to prison for rape and murder of a little girl. It’s a crime that he didn’t commit, but the system works against him and there’s no one to help him when he’s railroaded by the police. Once in prison, he bonds with his cell mates and through him they are all bettered in some way — rehabilitated.

What makes this such a powerful movie is Yong-goo’s young daughter Ye-seung. Gal So-Won’s acting was amazing for such a little girl. I really believed that Ye-Seung was desperate to see her father and was joyous just to be with him.

This was an amazingly good movie and I can’t recommend it enough. Seriously, this movie really got to me. It was so funny and touching and sad.

http://www.hancinema.net/korean_movie_Miracle_in_Cell_No_p_7.php

Let's Make Dumplings at Amazon

“Does anyone know where I can get a copy of the sci-fi/horror movie Nightflyers on DVD?”

This was a movie that had a bit of everything:
-80’s hair
-threatening psychotic brain controlled spaceship
-laser surgical theater of DOOM!
-cross-sex clone with super pretty 80’s boy looks, psychic powers, and a sensitive nature.
-sex between Skeletor and stern model chick.
-search for that ribbon thing from the Star Trek: Next Generation movie with Will Shatner (Generations.)

It was the movie version of one of the cyberpunk sci-fi books that were popular at the time. It wasn’t perfect, but there was so much going on. My brain even now bubbles thinking about it.

That’s a movie I would like to have on DVD. It could probably also be remade as a bigger Prometheus/Serenity type blockbuster. I mean, if you’re going to remake something, why not something with a good basis that just never got a chance? I’m just sayin’.

SUMMARY: An expedition looking for some mythological space rumor with a crackpot scientist that barely got funding. They’re all there for the money, meeting up before boarding the ship they’ve chartered, piloted by a mysterious man that uses the computer to communicate with them. But he’s always watching through the red light eyes of his cameras.

The crew as I remember it: An empath for rent. A surgical doctor and his nurse wife/girlfriend. The scientist on his mad journey.

Mysterious things happen and all kinds of terrifying things. And there’s just a ton of sci-fi tropes tossed out that it’s like some mad guidebook.

SPOILER ALERT!!!

Panoply at Amazon

Trailer For “Psycho Beach Party”
Vietnam Veteran Talks to Mitt Romney About Gay Marriage
Obama and Romney Tackle 14 Top Science Questions From Scientific American
Bill Clinton’s Full DNC Speech 2012

 

Trailer For Psycho Beach Party

The trailer makes it seem kind of over the top, but I actually really love this movie. Lauren Ambrose did an awesome job as Chicklet — which the trailer didn’t really highlight — a sweet and unintentionally hilarious character. Then the switch to Ann Bowman… wow. She is a great character actress.

For some reason, this movie was marketed as though it was an American Pie kind of movie, and it’s not. All the characters are pretty innocent and hyper-1960’s American TV people. Except there’s all these innuendos and every once and a while a character will have a “WTF?” moment as they realize something kind of sexual or raunchy just happened. It’s kind of like Pleasantville, though with a lot of silly humor.

This movie is also gay friendly, parodying a lot of the 1960’s beach movies. There’s a mystery to be solved, and a lot of hot guys that mostly go around with their shirts off. The murder is gruesome, but in a cartoonish manner. There’s a sexual identity crisis, multiple personality disorder, and tough women — the guys think they’re in charge, but the women are the ones going around doing everything. There’s a bit of raunch and some black humor, but as long as you can laugh about it things should be cool.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UA_G2Ts8xmo

 

Vietnam Veteran Talks to Mitt Romney About Gay Marriage

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRN9Y5Nvdqk&feature=player_embedded

 

Obama and Romney Tackle 14 Top Science Questions from Scientific American

So they went and answered some science questions. There’s a lot of politico spin on it and some definite… I don’t even know the word. Mitt Romney says he’s not a scientist and I believe him. But he is a politician, so I was still confused by his answers. Obama was a little more concise and to the point and I liked that a bit better than a long rambly answer that didn’t really answer anything.

They were both being the politician guys, which kind of disappoints me because I wanted some straight, honest answers. Science stuff is actually pretty important, and even if I’m personally too dumb to understand it… it’s still the kind of thing that shapes the way we live in the world today and tomorrow. And the President of the United States, as the Commander In Chief, is the guy that while he doesn’t know how to make flying cars himself, can point at some inventor dude and say “Get it done.” That or he’s supposed to know enough to say “This is stupid. Work on something that’s actually relevant. And please don’t tear up the environment while you do it. No more chopping down redwoods to make picnic tables.”

Here’s the link to the article: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=obama-romney-science-debate.

 

Bill Clinton’s Full DNC Speech 2012

I didn’t see the speech as it played live because I was watching the movie Battleship (there will be a review of that coming soon) but I was kind of skimming the tweets. Then I tried to catch the rehash on CNN and they were just cutting it all up. So of course I went in search of the full speech.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzDhk3BHi6Q&feature=youtu.be