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Reviews
Shanghai Kiss (2007)
Will lead the Asian American revolution.
I've been following this movie since before it even started shooting and managed to see it earlier this year at the San Francisco Film Festival. Now I see it's finally getting released. When I first read about it, I thought, an Asian guy dating a white girl in a Hollywood movie?! As an Asian guy myself I hoped it was good because I was sick of people like William Hung representing us. Harold and Kumar had a romantic subplot but it wasn't really the focus of the movie and Harold is a bumbling nerdy stereotype. The problem with AA movies is that none have been really good. Better Luck Tomorrow and Saving Face was probably the best (Motel's good), but where are the sex, lies, videotapes, Reservoir Dogs, Little Miss Sunshines, The Squid and The Whales? For an AA movie to break through into the mainstream, there needs to be a film that can be considered as great as any of those. Even better, it needs to be as good as the best movies out there: godfather, Annie Hall, The Apartment. So you can tell I had high expectations.
This movie surpassed my expectations. This is the film that is "good enough" to put AA cinema into the mainstream and I hope it leads the Asian American revolution and also, raises the standards of other Asian American movies. Good is not enough Asian American filmmakers, your movies need to be great. This movie was funny, sad, romantic, beautiful, and deals will so many issues like a young man struggling with feelings for a teenage girl, alcoholism and how it creates a wall to your family, the loss of a parent at a young age, communicational gaps between 2nd generation American and his 1st generation father, what it means to be American vs Chinese, racial stereotypes in Hollywood, leading a practical, stable life vs a fulfilling life (becoming a lawyer or an artist), maturity vs immaturity, following your heart vs complying to what's socially acceptable, - and it faces all these issues in a funny way. This movie is so funny and that's what makes it so enjoyable. It's not a message movie nor is it preachy. It doesn't try to make a statement, it just tries to entertain but the message, the statement comes through subtly. I hope other Asian American filmmakers take notice. The bar has been raised.
Because I Said So (2007)
Miscast
A romantic comedy's strength is not in the cleverness of its script, it's in the chemistry of its stars. Many generic romantic comedies have won me over to due to the charisma of its leads. Mandy Moore is just too bland for anyone to fall in love with. From her personality to even her looks, she is pretty in a boring way. Actors like Tom Hanks, Billy Crystal, Meg Ryan, Drew Barrymore, Sandra Bullock, Hugh Grant command this genre. People don't fall in love with beauty, they fall in love with someone "like them". There needs to be an "every man" or "every woman" quality. A bit of dorkiness/clumsiness that make people think "he/she is exactly like me". Although they attempt that with Mandy's hyena laugh or the balloon sticking to her behind, it seemed forced. Only someone like an accountant would fall for such a boring woman, not a cool down to earth musician or a rich architect.
I'm sure a lot of people will identify with the overbearing mother and the story had a lot of potential. That is not the problem. The problem is with its star.
The Last Time (2006)
Entertaining
Now, this is a movie with a ton of flaws, I won't deny that but I'm not going to as nit-picky as some of the users here. Some people seem to enjoy movies but then later find flaws or plot holes or question some of the believability of scenes, then later decide they didn't like it even though they enjoyed the movie when they saw it, and throughout the course of 100 minutes, they were thoroughly entertained. Michael Keaton in this movie is such an unpredictable fascinating character that nobody can say they were bored. They may not think the performance is believable as a real person, but it wasn't boring.
I'm recommending this movie because I was entertained, simple as that. There was many problems I had throughout the film that were all solved by the end, but the ending created more problems if I took the time to think about it. But taking the time to think about it after the fact shouldn't affect my emotional response I had when the credits were rolling.
People blast movies like Sixth Sense for the same reason. By the twist ending, everybody in the audience were shocked. Their minds were reeling. They were entertained. Then, driving home, they rethink the movie with knowledge of the twist, and find all sorts of plot holes. Then they decide they hate the movie.
If you are entertained during the course of the movie, that's all that matters. Don't analyze everything and try to find problems.