Red Cliff 2

• Directed by John Woo
• Starring Tony Leung, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Zhang Fengyi
• Red Cliff 2 is pretty much a direct continuation of Red Cliff 1, with less fluff than part 1 and more intense actions. I enjoyed this one a lot more. -Comment written by Dear
  

The Day The Earth Stood Still

• Directed by Scott Derrickson
• Starring Keanu Reeves, Jennifer Connelly
• A truly half-assed apocalyptic film. The various plot lines feel artificial and ultimately inconsequential in this movie, and it felt like watching a bunch of people I don't care about getting killed or whatever. Special effects are standard Hollywood stuff, nothing exciting. -Comment written by Dear
  

20th Century Boys

• Directed by Yukihiko Tsutsumi
• Starring Toshiaki Karasawa
• Forget the movie. Read the comic. The wayyyy over the top nuclear explosion might be worth watching just for the laughs. -Comment written by Dear
  

Quantum of Solace

• Directed by Marc Forster
• Starring Daniel Craig, Mathieu Amalric, Judi Dench, Jeffrey Wright, Olga Kurylenko
• A real disappointment. It's hard to explain where the movie went wrong. I think it tried hard to build out of the success from Casino Royale, but that lack of ambition made it worse than the original in every single ways. -Comment written by Dear
  

Tropic Thunder

• Directed by Ben Stiller
• Starring Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Robert Downey Jr.
• The funniest satire film I've seen in years. Well done. -Comment written by Dear
  

Body of Lies

• Directed by Ridley Scott
• Starring Leonardo DiCarprio, Russell Crowe
• Excellent performance from DiCarprio, and Crowe delivers his usual stuff. Script is strong, cinematography wonderful. However, in the end the film lacks a clear direction in which to steer itself, and this shows in the disappointing climax (or lack thereof). This is a movie where the individual parts are stronger than the whole package. -Comment written by Dear
  

Eagle Eye

• Directed by D. J. Caruso
• Starring Shia LaBeouf, Michelle Monaghan
• With a recycled plot resembling gazillion other movies like Terminator, Eagle Eye does not break new grounds. The special effects are slick and cool, but that's about it for this movie. -Comment written by Dear
  

Bangkok Dangerous

• Directed by Oxide Pang Chun and Danny Pang
• Starring Nicholas Cage, Chakrit Yamnarm
• Nicholas Cage's hairstylist in this movie and Tom Hanks' s in The Da Vinci Code must be the same person !
  

Made of Honour

• Directed by Paul Weiland
• Starring Patrick Dempsey, Michelle Monaghan, Sydney Pollack
• Despite poor scriptwriting and familiar plots, Patrick Dempsey and Michelle Monaghan are cute in this romantic comedy film.

Sukiyaki Western Django

• Directed By Takeshi Miike
• Starring Hideaki Ito, Kaori Momoi
• The movie tells a story of a mysterious gunman who comes across a deserted town controlled by two rival clans. They persuade him to take side with them, but he instead chooses to join a group of townspeople led by a woman. Like watching "Kill Bill", this film is soaked with blood but not violence, because it is unbelievable and full of weird, crazy humor. If you like Kill Bill, you'll love this film.
  

Mamma Mia!

• Directed by Phyllida Lloyd
• Starring Meryl Streep, Amanda Seyfried, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth
• As one of ABBA's huge fans, I had a lot of fun watching this musical movie. Meryl Streep is so fantastic and fun while Amanda Seyfried fascinates us with her lovely voice. Pierce Brosnan's terrible voice, however, is compensated by Colin Firth's singing talent. For me, watching this musical film is much more enjoyable than the Broadway show at New York City because here I can see everything, while there all I could see were heads of the people in the front rows.
  

WALL-E

• Directed by Andrew Stanton
• WALL-E is a wonder for the eyes and the heart. A purely enjoyable romantic adventure. -Comment written by Dear
  

Be Kind Rewind

• Directed by Michel Gondry
• Starring Jack Black, Mos Def, Danny Glover, Mia Farrow
• The film's story may not be that great in the classical sense, but damn it is fun. What the characters are doing may not be totally believable or probable, but I sure had fun with them. Like the video renters in the movie, I really wanted to watch the movies that they shot, and I also wanted to create the movies with them. The film has a pro community message, and it succeeds so well because it reaches to the audience not with brains, but with heart. -Comment written by Dear
  

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor

• Directed by Rob Cohen
• Starring Brandan Fraser, Jet Li, Maria Bello, John Hannah, Michelle Yeoh
• Speaking as a critic, I would say that the movie is a mess, with laughable scripts and acting across the board, and once again a tragic misuse of Jet Li (Will Hollywood ever give him the role he deserves?). However, Brandan Fraser looks so comfortable and fun in this adventure that he lifts the movie from utter failure to an at least watchable level. -Comment written by Dear
  

Red Cliff

• Directed by John Woo
• Starring Tony Leung, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Zhang Fengyi
• This is John Woo firing all cylinders in an ancient China setting. The attempts at political setups are admirable, if not a little too biased towards the 'good guys', but Woo's usual flair for crowd pleasing action sequences is the definite star of the movie. Terrific acting across the board, especially by Tony Leung. -Comment written by Dear
  

Hellboy II: The Golden Army

• Directed by Guillermo Del Toro
• Starring Ron Perlman, Selma Blair
• Highly enjoyable. The acting and script is so very self conscious of the super hero genre that it pokes so much fun in itself (look forward to the show stopping duet between two of the main characters). The action sequences are terrific this time around as well. But the highlight is definitely Del Toro's unique blend of animatrics and CG animations in creating his fantasy world. It's like Pan's Labyrinth times 100, and the result is absolutely spectacular. -Comment written by Dear
  

The Dark Knight

• Directed by Christopher Nolan
• Starring Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Michael Caine
• I cannot find enough good things to say about this movie. This story is about the pursuit of justice and virtue, and the way it goes about exploring this theme goes far beyond the previous limits of a super-hero movie into the realms of classic crime sagas like The Godfather II. The movie has so many layers that each repeated viewings bring about another angle to the conflict that you might not have noticed before. I need not say anything about the stellar casts, who are all excellent, especially Heath Ledger's Joker, which is so memorable that it has become the real icon of the movie. Christopher Nolan has truly stepped into the best class of directors with this film, and I look forward to whatever he decides to create next. Bravo, sir, Bravo! -Comment written by Dear
  

Hancock

• Directed by Peter Berg
• Starring Will Smith, Charlize Theron, Jason Bateman
• Despite great superstars Will Smith and Charlize Theron, this film is a failure due totally to its story.
  

Wanted

• Directed by Timbor Bekmambetov
• Starring James McAvoy, Angelina Jolie, Morgan Freeman
• A super hero movie for the adult crowd, with a taste for spectacular actions. It gets 5 stars in terms of over-the-top actions, and the rest of the film is also nothing to laugh at, either. Destined to be a cult classic. -Comment written by Dear
  

The Incredible Hulk

• Directed by Louis Leterrier
• Starring Edward Norton, Liv Tyler, Tim Roth, William Hurt
  
• The movie was alright, but the fact that of the entire movie, I was most excited by the fan-service cameo ending doesn't look well for the rest of the movie. -Comment written by Dear
  

Sex and the City: The Movie

• Directed by Michael Patrick King
• Starring Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Cynthia Nixon, Kristin Davis
• Men may want to know why this HBO series was so famous among women that it is made a big screen movie. The 2-hour movie is full of fashions, brands, sex, and other materialistic values, all of which are nonsense and shameful. Well, that's why this movie is fun and entertaining. C' mon, it is just a movie. We know these things are crazy and unreal but please give us a break because we just want to enjoy watching the girl things once in a while.
  

Memory (Memory Rak Lorn)

• Directed by Torpong Tankamhaeng
• Starring Ananda Everingham, Mai Charoenpura
• A Thai thriller story about a young psychiatrist who falls in love and lust with his child patient's mother. The movie is interesting and thrilling at first before turns complicated and unbelievable in the end. There are unnecessary scenes/plots which should be removed. It doesn't make sense how the doctor falls in love with the mother. Does it matter whether the child is a girl or a boy? Who is the father anyway? However, despite the screenplay, the film making is neat.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of The Crystal Skull

• Directed by Steven Spielberg
• Starring Harrison Ford, Ray Winstone, Cate Blanchett, Karen Allen, Shia Labeouf
  
• This film brought back memory of the old times, over 25 years ago, when we had so much fun watching Steven Spielberg's series of the Indiana Jones movies. Prior to seeing this film, I wondered whether Harrison Ford could be able to play the daring action hero Indiana Jones as he is now 64. It turns out that he is still good and fits for this role.
  

Iron Man

• Directed by Jon Favreau
• Starring Robert Downey Junior, Jeff Bridges, Gwyneth Paltrow, Terrence Howard
• Robert Downey Junior IS Iron Man. His unusual protagonist and charms help turn an already very competent superhero movie into a hugely entertaining one. I expect, no, I want more sequels of this. Good visual designs all around from the FX teams as well. - Comment written by Dear
  

Vantage Point

• Directed by Pete Travis
• Starring Dennis Quaid, Matthew Fox, Forest Whitaker, Sigourney Weaver, William Hurt
• Although the twists and turns are quite predictable, the switching of viewpoints never get old and each brings new interesting things to the viewer each time. The chase at the end is also remarkable, Jason Bourne mode. I expect more movies to use this storytelling style to greater effects in the future. -Comment written by Dear
  

Jumper

• Directed by Doug Liman
• Starring Hayden Christensen, Jamie Bell, Samuel L. Jackson, Diana Lane
• A hugely disappointing movie. I did not expect much from the plot, and the movie certainly did not deliver on this front. However, the Jumper idea should have lend itself to a much more imaginative and wild action sequences, and its unforgivable that this movie could not even do this right. -Comment written by Dear
  

American Gangster

• Directed by Ridley Scott
• Starring Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe
• The potentially colossal face-off between Washington and Crowe is burdened by the story's persistent in sticking to the truth. The movie is still entertaining enough, if not memorable. -Comment written by Dear
  

Enchanted

• Directed by Kevin Lima
• Starring Amy Adams, Patrick Demsey, James Marsden
• Really enchanting and fun to watch for both adults and children.
  

Cloverfield

• Directed by Matt reeves
• Starring Michael Stahl-David, Mike Vogel, Odette Yustman, Lizzy Caplan
• A really exciting movie that cleverly places you right in the middle of all the actions. The point is never about explaining where the monster came from, but how a Godzilla class event might affect the average joes. I didn't get nauseous at all from the camera style, but your mileage may vary. Despite the home video look, I strongly recommend seeing this on the biggest screen available. -Comment written by Dear
  

Across The Universe

• Directed by Julie Taymor
• Starring Jim Sturgess, Evan Rachel Wood, Joe Anderson
• I thought I would be able to sit back, relax and listen to the original Beatles' songs but I was wrong. The film was heavy and the songs were performed by the actors/actresses in the film. Although they were very good, I was kind of disappointed.
  

National Treasure: Book of Secrets

• Directed by Jon Turteltaub
• Starring Nicholas Cage, Diane Kruger, Jon Voight, Ed Harris, Harvey Kietel, Justin Bartha, Helen Mirren
• As an Indiana Jones-like, I felt this movie delivers on its premise. The movie felt much more confident and at home when it's in the white house than when it's trekking through Indian Architectures. Ideally, most of the actions should have been set in well-known places, and not in made up underground dungeons, not that there are many in the USA. -Comment written by Dear
  

Elizabeth: The Golden Age

• Directed by Shekhar Kapur
• Starring Cate Blanchett, Clive Owen, Geoffrey Rush
• Cate Blanchett still gives a worthy performance even with a mediocre script, but no amount of wardrobes and English slurs can convince me that this Clive Owen belongs in Old England. At times, the movie feels like a Hallmark movie. You can see the actors trying to add more flavors and expand the movie beyond the misguided guide hand of the director, but as a whole, the movie disappoints. -Comment written by Dear
  

I Am Legend

• Directed Francis Lawrence
• Starring Will Smith
• While the design is impressive, ultimately the plot is a serious let-down. Legendary, this movie is not. -Comment written by Dear
  

The Love Of Siam (Rak Hang Siam)

• Directed by Chukiat Sakweerakul
  
• Starring Sinjai Hongthai, Mario Maure, Witchwisit Hirunwongkul, Chermal Boonyasak, Songsit Rungnoppakunsri
• This Thai movie tells a story about different kinds of love; love of parents for their children, love of friends, love between opposite sexes, and love between gays. The film is neatly made and all the actors, old and new, perform very well. The music is also beautiful. However, the film is too long. A lot of scenes can be eliminated or cut short without changing the theme. Why does a good film like this fail at the end? Anyway this is the best Thai film in 2007.
  

Michael Clayton

• Directed by Tony Gilroy
• Starring George Clooney, Tom Wilkinson, Tilda Swinton, Sydney Pollack
• A wonderfully complicated and mature tale of morality and corporate evil. Movie succeeds in being simple yet subtle in presenting its ideas, and do not have to use any action, sex or CG to charm the audience. However, back at home, I caught The Peacekeeper (another George Clooney movie) on the cable, and enjoyed it so much more than this movie. Does this say something about me, or does it say something about this movie? Hmm. - Comment written by Dear.
  

Lions For Lambs

• Directed by Robert Redford
• Starring Robert Redford, Meryl Streep, Tom Cruise
• All the actors perform admirably, particularly how Tom Cruise succeeds at making his charming face into a devious politician looking face. However, story is far too preachy and impersonal for us to take seriously at the convincing level. I want moving, convincing and personal arguments in movies, not a lecture. The messages are there, but they just don't get across. - Comment written by Dear.
  

The Kingdom

• Directed by Peter Berg
• Starring Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Garner, Chris Cooper
• Entertaining enough, but at times the movie feels like an overblown TV episode of CSI, which to you, might be good or bad. For me, I'd rather watch a Jack Bauer movie. How would they name a 24 movie, 2? 3? 2 and a half? -Comment written by Dear.
  

Underdog

• Directed by Frederik Du Chau
• Starring Jim Belushi, Alex Neuberger, Jason Lee (Voice)
• This movie about the superhero beagle is for children and people who love dogs. Do not expect to see the special effects or anything serious and do not compare with "Babe". Watch it just for fun and you will be entertained, at least by the laughter of the children who sit next to you.
  

The Brave One

• Directed by Neil Jordan
• Starring Jodie Foster, Terrence Howard
• Once again, Jodie Foster does not let her fans down. She delivers her best performances in this drama-turned action thriller movie. Although the plottings are unbelievable, this film is entertaining, especially in the real world where we desperately want this kind of dark hero.
  

Little Children

• Directed by Todd Field
• Starring Kate Winslet, Patrick Wilson, Jennifer Connelly
• The movie tells a story of three people, a disappointed housewife whose husband prefers sex phones to her, a househusband who has to rely on his wife's income, and a former policeman who keeps harassing a convicted sex offender, and the relationship between them. It's an honest film that tells the dark side of human behavior. Excellent scriptwriting and fantastic performance of Kate Winslet.
  

The Bourne Ultimatum

• Directed by Paul Greengrass
• Starring Matt Damon, Julia Stiles, Joan Allen, David Strathairn
• Matt Damon is back as Jason Bourne. This time he hardly talks, eats, or sleeps and wastes no time with girls. It's a non-stop action movies and the most exciting for the trilogy. The most exciting part is when he fights with another assasin. So sad there is no more Jason Bourne.
  

Harry Potter and the Order of The Phoenix

• Directed by David Yates
• Starring Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Ralph Fiennes, Gary Oldman, Alan Rickman
• The comment of this movies is supposed to be written by Dear, because he is a big fan of the Harry Potter series. However, since he keeps postponing writing the comments, I think it is my responsibility to write some for the time being, although he may not agree. Well, it's more fun than the past four series because Harry is old enough to kiss a girl. How about that?
• Comment from Dear: I don't consider myself BIG fans of the franchise. For fantasy, I'd recommend George R. R. Martin's 'A Song of Ice and Fire' series or Steven Erikson 'Malazan book of the Fallen' series. Harry Potter sure is fun as a blockbuster book, but is not something that sticks with you. I do think that this is one of the more entertaining movies in the Potter franchise, especially after the disappointing fourth movie. The film is smart in that when it chooses to cut something of the book from the film, they do it in entirety, not leaving plot lines that are undeveloped and premature. Fight at the end is also fun in a kung-fu kind of way.
  

Die Hard 4.0 (Live Free Or Die Hard)

• Directed by Len Wiseman
• Starring Bruce Willis, Justin Long, Maggie Q
• Before watching the movies, I had thought it would be boring, like the second and the third sequels. It turns out to be the best Die-Hard sequel, or at least as good as the first one. The story is action-packed, no time wasted for love or drama things. Bruce Willis is fantastic. It is so entertaining that I wish there would be Die-Hard Part 5,6,7,... with Bruce Willis as John McClane forever.
• Dear's Comment: I wish that John McClane and Jack Bauer can team up and pretty much die hard for 24 hours.
  

Transformers

• Directed by Michael Bay
• Starring Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox
• Great special effects. Fun to watch.
  

Fracture

• Directed by Gregory Hoblit
• Starring Anthony Hopkins, Ryan Gosling, David Strathairn
• Anthony Hopkins's role as a successful engineer Ted Crawford is so familiar. It's like watching Dr. Hannibal Lecter playing games with the detective again. Despite solid performances of the casts, I think the twist at the end is not good enough. I had thought it would be more complicated. Had it be, it would be more fun.
  

The Fantastic Four: Rise of The Silver Surfer

• Directed by Tim Story
• Starring Michael Chiklis, Jessica Alba, Ioan Gruffudd, Chris Evans
• If you don't expect anything serious, this summer movie is fun to watch with great special effects.

Ocean's Thirteen

• Directed by Steven Soderbergh
• Starring George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Al Pacino, Ellen Barkin
• The movie's only major flaw is that there are literally no real obstacles to Ocean's 13. We never get any doubt that the group wouldn't succeed. Apart from that, the talented cast supplies the movie with classy humor and charm. It would have been nice if it is more exciting, though. -Comment written by Dear.

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

• Directed by Gore Verbinski
• Starring Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley, Geoffrey Rush, Bill Nighy, Chow Yun-Fat
• Although the film spends too much time on too many irrelevant plot threads, the final act features some very exciting climatic action sequences. Combining that with terrific cinematography, great visual effects and imaginative costume designs make this trilogy ending a good summer epic movie. -Comment written by Dear.

Next

• Directed by Lee Tamahori
• Starring Nicholas Cage, Julianne Moore, Jessica Biel
• Next will be one of the funniest movie of the year. I don't even need to look into the future to know that. Of course, everything about it is absurd. The plot is full of holes, over-acting splashed all over, and Cage sports the worst hair-do since Tom Hanks' in The Da Vinci Code. By the end, the absurdity of it all adds up to create a surreal blockbuster where the audience isn't sure what's happening, and not in a good way. Bizarrely, the last minute decision to add in action sequences into the film also brings about ninja-like cloning techniques and even some special effects that look like how The Matrix would be if they were made 20 years ago. This movie is a real mess, but hey, everybody in the theatre had a good time laughing at the film afterwards, so I'm going to have to recommend this. Next! - Comment written by Dear.

Spider-Man 3

• Directed by Sam Raimi
• Starring Tobey Maguire, Kristen Dunst, James Franco
• Spider-Man 3 is a case where the sum of individual parts don't add up to a solid well-made film. Certain elements in the movie (Villain Sandman and a bizarre dance number) should have been cut or trimmed out entirely. In comparison, Spider-Man 2 as a whole is much better at weaving a coherent story. However, I like some of the parts in Spider-man 3 so much that I find myself preferring it over the first two films. James Franco's role as the second green goblin is brilliantly scripted and acted. The fight chloreography is also exceptionally done. On the whole, I prefer this movie over the first two. -Comment written by Dear.