Red Cliff: Part One (2008) - ★★★★½

Director: John Woo
Writers: John Woo, Khan Chan, Cheng Kuo, Heyu Sheng (screenplay), Guanzhong Luo (novel)
Stars: Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Fengyi Zhang, Chen Chang, Wei Zhao, Shido Nakamura, Chiling Lin

Red Cliff is one of the most spectacular, breathtaking, epic films of all time. Every time I see this film, it leaves me in a state of awe. The cinematography is as beautiful as anything I've ever seen on film. The score by Taro Iwashiro is one of the most beautiful pieces of music I've ever heard... it sends chills up my spine. The talented all-star cast managed to make these legendary war-lords and ladies appear every bit as powerful as their legend says. Let me tell you, Red Cliff is two and a half hours of thrilling action, handled with amazing artistry and graceful film-craftsmanship. To me, this movie is every bit as entertaining and epic as The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. 

Milk (2008) - ★★★★½

Director: Gus Van Sant
Writer: Dustin Lance Black
Stars: Sean Penn, James Franco, Josh Brolin, Emile Hirsch, Diego Luna, Alison Pill, Victor Garber

Milk is one of the most important films ever made. This is a film I believe every gay and lesbian youth should see. It's brutal in its depiction of homophobia in the 1970s, it's unflinchingly honest in the way it represents the homosexual community at the time, and it is filled with powerful moments and speeches that support the LGBT community. Sean Penn won an Oscar for playing Harvey Milk, the first openly gay US politician. I believe it is his greatest performance, and one of the best Oscar winning performances of all time. This film may even change the minds of the naive, misinformed, or unsure anti-gay crowd. Milk shows the world a small, but utterly significant chapter of US history. It was an extremely emotional cinematic experience for me.

Antique Bakery (2008) - ★★★½

Director: Kyu-Dong Min
Stars: Ji-hun Ju, Jae-wook Kim, Ah In Yoo, Ji-ho Choi, Andy Gillet

"I'm a gay of demonic charm." Right off the bat, this is one of the most memorable lines I've ever heard. Antique Bakery is a romantic-comedy that works from the age-old 'odd couple' routine. We have a very manly man trying to make a business work with a very feminine man, which leads to funny mishaps and crazy outcomes. What makes this different, and really interesting, is that the feminine man is a homosexual playboy that had a crush on the manly man in high school. It's such a nice, light-hearted, funny film! I couldn't stop smiling throughout the movie. Their smiles, their chemistry, their dialogue, their story... this film has such an infectious charm. I've seen many Korean romance movies, and Antique Bakery is definitely one of my personal favourites.

Were the World Mine (2008) - ★★

Director: Tom Gustafson
Writers: Tom Gustafson, Cory James Krueckeberg, (Based on A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare).
Stars: Tanner Cohen, Wendy Robie, Judy McLane, Zelda Williams, Jill Larson, Nathaniel David Becker

Were the World Mine is based on one of my all time favorite stories, which is A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare. It has a lot of heart, a lot of flare, and many entertaining moments. It's obviously amateur. The shoe-string budget look does not do favours for the quality of the adaptation. The performances are stilted, the cinematography and set production isn't great, but the music is wonderful (for the most part). There were two things I loved about this movie: the performance by Wendy Robie as the drama teacher, and the awesome songs inspired by the play. There's potential here, but it couldn't achieve greatness due to the lack of funds and film-making experience.

In Bruges (2008) - ★★★★½

Director: Martin McDonagh
Writer: Martin McDonagh
Stars: Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Ralph Fiennes, Clemence Poesy, Jordan Prentice

*Warning* Inappropriate language used in this review.

In Bruges was such a breath of fresh air! It's one of the funniest, intelligent, well made dark comedies of all time. Every once in a while I stumble upon a movie filled with high points, and that's exactly what happened with In Bruges. The humor and wit reminded me a bit of Father Ted (1995), but instead of priests they were hit-men. It's the classic 'grown-up partnered with man-child' routine, yet McDonagh managed to make it fresh and consistently funny. In Bruges was so darn entertaining that I literally watched it again the very next day.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008) - ★½

Director: Woody Allen
Writer: Woody Allen
Stars: Rebecca Hall, Scarlett Johansson, Javier Bardem, Penelope Cruz, Chris Messina, Patricia Clarkson, Kevin Dunn
Genre: Drama, Romance, Comedy

This movie really bugged me. There were so many things that frustrated me about Vicky Cristina Barcelona that I don't know where to start.

WALL.E (2008) - ★★★★★

Director: Andrew Stanton
Writers: Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter, Jim Reardon
Voices: Jeff Garlin, Fred Willard, John Ratzenberger, Kathy Najimy, Sigourney Weaver

Not only is WALL.E one of the greatest animated movies I've ever seen, it's also one of the greatest movies ever made. I can't believe it took me 5 years to finally see this movie! I don't think I've ever loved a character as much as WALL.E, or a romance as cute as the one he had with EVE. The story is like a classic silent-movie romance mixed with the setting from 2001: A Space Odyssey. There is heaps of original content too, and tons of fun in every scene. I ended up growing so attached to the mechanized lovers that they even made me shed a tear of joy. This movie proves that the golden age of Disney is not yet over.

The Happening (2008) - ★

Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Writer: M. Night Shyamalan
Stars: Mark Wahlberg, Zooey Deschanel, John Leguizamo, Betty Buckley

Wow. This movie is bad. It's really, really, really bad. Every actor deserves a Razzie for Worst Performance. M. Night Shyamalan deserves the Razzie for Worst Screenplay and Picture. This is one of the worst movies ever made. Even though I laughed at this movie, it wasn't 'so bad it's good.' It's just terrible.

Junjou Romantica ‘Pure Love’ (2008) – ★★★★½

Director: Chiaki Kon   |   Writers: Shungiku Nakamura

Voice Actors: Itou Kentaru, Nobutoshi Canna, Kazuhiko Inoue, Takahiro Sakurai

At first glance, Junjou Romantica seemed like a regular animated manga series. The further I delved into the stories, they grew much more beautiful with deep and powerful dialogue. It’s a pretty funny show, with unique characters and standard romance. Five episodes into this series, I knew I had found something special.

Quantum of Solace (2008) - ★★★★

Director: Marc Forster
Writers: Paul Haggis, Neal Purvis
Stars: Daniel Craig, Olga Kurylenko, Mathieu Amalric, Judi Dench, Giancarlo Giannini

I must be one of the only people to think that this installment of the James Bond franchise is better than its predecessor Casino Royale. I loved it. It was absolutely riveting, and whether you like it or not, Craig's bond is tough. He isn't suave, he isn't kind, but he is human. For me, he has made the character evolve into an interestingly different man. A no-nonsense man out for revenge.

This film's story picks up where Casino Royale left off, with Bond (Daniel Craig) still bitter and angry about the death of his love interest Vespa. When his boss, "M" (Judi Dench), is almost assassinated, he learns that Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric) is responsible. Greene is intent on securing a desert area of Bolivia in exchange for assisting a dictator overthrow the government there. Only Bond, with help from a beautiful and retired spy named Camille (Olga Kurylenko), can stop Greene. The problem is that "M" doesn't know if she can trust Bond, for the vengeance that possesses him has made him reckless.

I will admit that this is not the most original (or interesting) plot to a James Bond film. However, I love the fact that this film continues from the plot of Casino Royale. You never see a Bond film where he remembers old flames. Over the years, particularly during the Roger Moore era, James Bond made women fall in love with him, then in the next film they disappeared and you never heard from them again. It is hard to get into a story when you know that the romance means nothing, for it is almost always discarded by the time the next film comes around. That is why I loved Quantum of Solace, for the highly likable Vespa of the previous film is still remembered, not forgotten. Now every time I see Casino Royale, I will know that his feelings for Vespa were real. That is a big plus-side for me.

The action in this film kept me on the edge of my seat a number of times. I loved the opening scene. It was a huge step-up from Casino Royale's, which I found rather disinteresting. However, the opening credits didn't exactly sound right. I'm a huge fan of Jack White and Alicia Keys' music, but their song and their voices did not suit the James Bond franchise. I did like that they brought back the silhouettes of naked women, bringing back a taste of the old days.

I found the Bond girl Camille was one of the better characters from the franchise. She was strong, witty, and for the first time did not sleep with James Bond! I was shocked to say the least. Judi Dench is absolutely brilliant as "M". She really lights up the screen. I look forward to scenes with her in it, for she really is one of the most entertaining characters of the series. Mainly because she won't take crap from Bond and doesn't care much for his recklessness. Amalric played one of my favorite Bond villains in this installment as Greene, who was intelligent, sly, and evil. He was a more modern villain, not one of those typical ones with scars on the face, or patting a cat on their lap. Most importantly, I really liked Daniel Craig's vengeful Bond in this film. I guess everyone has different expectations when they come to see the character, and I expected him to be angry for the loss of his love Vespa. 

Many people didn't enjoy this film for these reasons: There is too much action, the story is weak, Bond isn't funny enough, Bond should be suave, and there's too much emotional baggage from the last film.

I liked this film much better than Casino Royale because: there were great action sequences, an interesting story, Bond was rough and serious, and he actually had human emotions. I think it's crazy that people don't like that the story followed on from the previous film. I think it's even worse that people don't like Bond being rough and ungentlemanly. This is the way the character is in Daniel Craig's series. Take Bond as he is, not as he was.

Quantum of Solace is a great film that has been subjected to unfair critiquing based on past films. This is how Bond is now. Some may not like it, but I certainly hope he doesn't change his attitude anytime soon.

Religulous (2008) - ★★★

Director: Larry Charles
Stars: Bill Maher

Bill Maher's Religulous was compelling enough to keep me entertained throughout the documentary, but I ended up wondering what the point of making it even was.

No religion was left unscathed in Maher's hilariously funny interviews with people that span from the uneducated Christian's of the South to the man who claims he is the second coming of Jesus. Much of the film is Maher giving his opinion on religion, which I found interesting, however, I was disappointed in the lack of information presented from the pro-religion side.

Much of the interviews were from, excuse my bluntness, idiots. It could have been so much better had Maher interviewed more authorities on the subject. I understand that he is blacklisted from many religious foundations across the world, but interviewing ignorant and clueless strangers just didn't add up to make a great documentary.

There wasn't much of a point made. Obviously Maher wants to prove that religion is silly and inhibits the progression of mankind, but that just doesn't come across in this film, which is the fatal flaw of it all. I was expecting cut-throat facts and evidence from his part, but all he gave was peoples opinions on the subject, which disappointed me deeply. I will however mention one scene that had me laughing for a while. Maher interviews a man that 'used to be' gay, and when they hugged at the end the theme to Brokeback Mountain started playing, which I thought was extremely subtle, clever and hilarious.

I admire Bill Maher very much, and I love his viewpoint on religion. This documentary just seemed half-assed and presented nothing new. It was the same old debate from Christians, Jews, Muslims, Mormons alike. Regardless of its unoriginality, this film is entertaining, which is why I give it a thumbs up.