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.

Pan's Labyrinth

• Directed by Guillermo Del Toro
• Starring Sergi Lopez, Ariadna Gil
• A fantasy film done right. Never once does the special effects threathen to overstage the drama. The movie makes it clear from the beginning that you're supposed to take it very seriously. The plot is a depressing, harrowing one, but not overly so as to be excessive.
• The thing with fantasy genres is that they left themselves for many types of intepretation. I always felt that the scholars usually overanalyzed these films, stretching themselves to find meanings in every irrelevant details. To me, however, this movie is probably one that should be analyzed, and will be rewarding to those who tries to.-Comment written by Dear.

Alone (FADD)

• Directed by Banjong Pisanthanakun, Parkpoom Wongpoom
• Starring Marsha Wattanapanich, Witaya Wasukraipaisan
• This Thai movie tells a story of Siamese twins, one of which managed to survive after the surgery to separate them from each other. Marsha Wattanapanich makes a great comeback after staying out of the movies business for more than 10 years. She proves that her acting capability does not fall short of her charm. The overall production is also good although it should be a lot better should the story tell more of the twins' biological organs and their relationship.
  

The Good Shepherd

• Directed by Robert De Niro
• Starring Matt Damon, Angelina Joli, Alec Baldwin, Robert De Niro, William Hurt
• This drama movie tells a serious political inside story of the CIA in their first years. Although the story is interesting and thrilling, the movie is too long. Matt Damon doesn't grow any older during 1939 and 1961, making me confused trying to figure out the timing of the scenes. He also looks much better when he is Jason Bourne in The Bourne Identity.

Music & Lyrics

• Directed by Marc Lawrence
• Starring Hugh Grant, Drew Barrymore
• This is an entertaining romantic comedy movie. Hugh Grant is charming, warm, and funny and he proves that he can sing very well. Drew Barrymore is also charming but there is not enough chemistry between the two. The best part is the closing credits which is very funny. Be sure you see it before leaving the theatre.