A Cinderella Story (Widescreen Edition) (2004) Review

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(More customer reviews)Hilary Duff stars in this movie as a girl whose father dies in an earthquake. Because there is no will left her stepmother gets everything, including Sam (Hilary).
The movie picks up 8 years later where Sam is a senior in high school preparing to go to college at Princeton (that is, if she gets accepted). High school isn't exactly a happy experience for Sam as she has only two friends. One real, one an email friend that texts her constantly. To everyone else in the school she's know as Diner Girl.
Home isn't any better, as she is forced to live in the attic, do all of the chores, wait on her stepmother and sisters constantly, and work seven days a week at the diner owned by her stepmother.
Since I saw the previews of this movie I thought it looked funny. I've been looking forward to it since the first preview. However, now that it's out and I read the reviews I was nervous. Luckily my fears weren't realized. This movie ended up being a sweet, family friendly, romantic comedy. Duff does an excellent job of portraying Sam. She truly is an excellent young actress, the pep rally scene is proof of this.
While this movie wasn't really laugh out loud funny, it was funny at times, but more than that it was sweet and, for lack of a better word, cute. The direction was really nice. It wasn't super artsy, but it was well done and added a certain beauty to the film.
Cinderella Story ended up being a really sweet movie that deserves a better reaction than it recieved. Great acting, a clever update of an old fairy tale, an awesome soundtrack, and a likeable cast makes for a great afternoon at the movies.

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Meet high school student Sam (Hilary Duff), who scrubs floors at a diner, copes with her wicked stepmother and stepsisters, and all the while dreams of Princeton (the perfect spot for a would-be princess to find a prince). But maybe she has a Prince Charming already: her anonymous e-mail buddy (Chad Michael Murray), who arranges to meet her at the Halloween dance. Sam panics when Mr. Anonymous turns out to be the coolest guy on campus. Can he love a girl who isn't part of the in crowd? Can fairy tales come true? Sure - but only if Sam stands up for herself and turns her dreams into reality.DVD Features:Additional ScenesAudio Commentary:Hilary Duff and other castmembersChallenges:Find Your Prince/Princess Challenge: See video clips and answer questions to see who your true love is. Featurette:Cinderella Couture: The Making of a Fashionably Modern Fairytale: A featurette on the costumes and makeup that at first "made under" and later made over Hillary Duff. Music Video:"Our Lips are Sealed" by sisters Hilary and Hallie DuffOther:PRE-SELL DATE TBD

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Dragon Wars - D-War (2007) Review

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(More customer reviews)I am a 56-year-old movie buff and right off let me confess, I love this movie.
In my opinion this movie was never intended to be taken seriously at all. Consider that in the first exposition scenes you have not one, but 2 entirely different characters in different scenes say directly to the narrator in the middle of his attempted explanation of this nonsensical tale "what are you talking about?" I don't believe this was accidental folks, this is called comedy.
One thing to be aware of when you're watching this movie is that the director is the most popular comedian in the entire country of Korea. He gained his fame and fortune as comedic actor. In other words his entire professional career has been based on making people laugh.
I think most people who are reviewing this movie are completely missing the comedy. Frankly I found the movie to be hilarious.
How anyone could possibly take this movie seriously after seeing the Darth Vader character stupidly get run over by a car 2 times in a row is beyond me. That was obviously comedy (and very funny).
Yes it is entirely overblown. Layers of complete absurdity are piled with additional layers of even more absurdity. Which makes it a perfect satire of the Star Wars, Lord of the rings, Harry Potter and all of the rest of the overly pompous mega-movies. If there is a big overblown scene in one of those movies you're going to see a similar scene in this one.
A few examples. The Gungan Army scene from Star Wars episode 4 -- only this time the Army with the cute, smiling dinosaur critters with the weapons on their backs are the bad guys. And these smiling dinosaurs are wreaking total havoc on Los Angeles fighting the LAPD. The incongruity of the destruction and the cute smiley dinosaurs is absolutely hilarious.
Remember the giant explosion scene in Independence Day with the flames and flying cars rushing up the street? It's here, but with a very funny twist. In this movie the same thing is done by a giant snake rushing up the street. The exorcism scene in the Exorcist? Yep, it's here too, tossed in like the kitchen sink, completely unconnected to any plot points.
Giant marching Imperial Army and Ninjas? Sure enough. Darth Vader character with a ridiculously laughable sinister voice? Of course. Rampaging Jurassic Park dinosaurs? You got it. Dogfights straight out of Independence Day? It's here too.
Savor the site of Ray Harryhausen look-alike creatures doing massive destruction that Ray most certainly dreamed of, but couldn't accomplish with the technology of his day. I can tell you that he is smiling in his grave cause this movie delivers a wonderful tribute to his work.
Let me name a few more of the movies that have tributes here. Pitch Black, King Kong, Seventh Voyage of Sinbad, Men in Black, Dragonheart, Ghostbusters, Godzilla, Ninja Mutant Turtles, the Host, The Thing, Rodan and even Monty Python and the holy Grail. It doesn't stop there, look carefully and you'll see many many more.
Does the acting suck? Absolutely. Is the story completely incomprehensible? It most certainly is. Is it even more ridiculous than Star Wars, Lord of the rings or dozens of others. Yes it is, and I believe that was exactly the point.
I predict this movie will be watched at midnight showings at colleges 10 years from now with folks rolling in the aisles.
I have seen lots of Hollywood studio comedies recently and have not laughed nearly as hard as I did watching Dragon wars. I literally had tears streaming from my eyes many times because I couldn't stop laughing.
So give yourself a break from any pretensions of seriousness, have a glass of wine and have a fun time watching and laughing at the funniest, most ridiculous spectacular eye candy CGI movie ever.

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Meet Buraki, the vicious, 200-meter long Imoogi serpent from ancient Korea. His army includes giant lizards with missile launchers, flying dragons, soldiers bred for evil and mega-intelligent dinosaurs. Together, they will destroy Los Angeles and possibly the world unless reincarnated warriors Ethan and Sarah can outrun them and resurrect the Good Imoogi, Buraki's ancient nemesis. Dragon Wars reveals every last detail of Earth's greatest battle, a war you'll only believe when you see it for yourself.

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