Reviews - Karate (?), Toys, and Inception

Haven't written anything in a while, sorry about that! I was planning on doing full length reviews for all of the movies below, but alas, I don't see myself getting to that. Ever. Thus, something is better than nothing!! So here goes.


This is one of those movies I had no intention of seeing. I have no real emotional connection to the original Karate Kid (though I did see it when I was younger), so the remake idea didn't appeal to me. However, I'm a sucker for popular opinion and once I saw that the reviews were in the positive, my interest was peaked.

The Karate Kid is all about Kung Fu, not Karate at all. Strike one against it. The cinematography is great... admittedly it mostly only shows the toursity side of China, but even still it's gorgeous. I loved that they actually did show old people on exercise machines outside and people dancing in the streets. I became emotionally involved in the movie the moment the plane started taking off for Beijing. The time-lapse of a 15 hour flight was awesome.

Overall this is a fun movie. It has some heart and I was genuinely interested in Dre's and Mr. Han's character arcs. Dre's little middle school relationship however was completely silly. I'd recommend most people watch this movie. Maybe rent it once it comes out, or if you have kids you should 100% watch it with them. It's a great great movie to take boys to, especially when very little live-action cinema is targeting them. The martial arts sequences are fun, the tournament is very exciting, and by the end of the movie you may even stand up and cheer like the lady in front of me in the theater did.

Potential based on Preview: 6/10
Overall Score: 7.5/10



Pixar does it again! Does this even need a review? It's Pixar's most famous property and we all know they have the golden touch. The same is true here. Toy Story 3 is incredibly good. Rather than really review it, I'll just say why it has a special place in my heart...

To start, it came out when I was about the same age as the main character, Andy. Given that my name is Andrew, we could relate. At the end of Toy Story 1, Andy gets a small dog named Buster. I have a small dog named Buster. In Toy Story 2, Woody meets a cowgirl whose owner's name is Emily. My sister's name is Emily. Basically as each new Toy Story came out, it borderline perfectly matched my age and point in life at the time. Is all of this a reason to love the films? No not really, but the fact that they hold up so well and were some of my favorite movies growing up give them a special spot in my heart.

Toy Story 3 is a perfect ending to a near perfect trilogy. It could even be the best film trilogy in existence. Toy Story 3 is emotionally satisfying, being both sad and happy at the same time. It has a great action/suspense sequence in the middle, it delves into very deep human emotions and even some philosophical issues... but it's still able to keep all of that together with one cohesive narrative. The characters stay true to themselves and everything ends exactly how it should. Exactly. I mean to the last frame you see on the screen, which references the very beginning of the first movie. Brilliant.

Potential based on Preview: 9/10
Overall Score: 9/10



Inception was easily my #1 most anticipated movie of the whole year. It's the 7th feature length movie from Christopher Nolan (Following, Memento, Insomnia, Batman Begins, The Prestige, The Dark Knight)... basically he's awesome. Lucky for me, Inception is just another notch in his list of awesome movies.

First off, let me say that this movie is absolutely non-stop information for the first hour and a half and non-stop crazy rollercoaster for the last hour. If you leave the theater for any reason or any length of time during the movie, you WILL miss something relatively important. Another consequence of this is that even if you stay in the theater the whole time, you have to be focused on the movie. That's not to say the plot is confusing. In fact, I think the plot is really really simple, more so than most movies these days. But the rules required for the plot and the manner in which the sequences occur can be jarring and trick people into thinking it is a confusing movie. Inception is not a confusing movie.

Just to say how much I like his movie, it's currently tied for #1 as my favorite movie of the year (if you read this blog ever you can guess my #1). The set pieces are mind blowing. The use of practical effects still confuses me... clearly the floaty-scenes were not CG, but how did they do it!? Mind has been boggled. Joseph Gorden Levitt steals the whole movie with his action-centric role. The love story between DiCaprio and his wife effects me every time. I can find very very few faults in Inception. The only major flaw is that the first hour and a half is not very re-watchable. Having seen Inception 3 times now, I'd now just like to fast forward to when the characters get in the 747. That's not to say the first hour and a half is bad, it just doesn't hold up to multiple viewings, and truly genius films should hold up all the way through.

Bottom line though, if you only see one movie this summer, make it Inception!! Actually you should probably see Scott Pilgrim vs. The World too, but it isn't out yet so you can't.

Potential based on Preview: 10/10
Overall Score: 9.5/10