Couples start off with interviews of the couples as they state how their romance began. As the movie progresses, so does the couples’ love story. After the interviews, the movie goes into a series of narratives that in some way or another overlap with each other.

At first you might think that Couple is just a series of shorts about each couple’s story. But there will come a point in the movie where you realize that the events are connected with each other. Then you become more observant of the little things on screen. The director manages the overlapping part of the narrative seamlessly. It is also watertight that it doesn’t feel forced at all.

Couples features good performances for its cast members. Yoo Suk (Kim Joo Hyuk) is a tea shop owner who is still depressed by the disappearance of his girlfriend (Lee Si Young). In her absence, he starts a romance with the pretty traffic cop (Lee Yoon Ji). Things get a little complicated when the girlfriend suddenly reappears and she brings a lot of trouble with her.

Couples also has Bae Seul Gi as Yoon Ji’s best friend. It is good to see that she’s active again as an actress. Last time I saw her was in The Greatest Love, where she also had a small role as a friend of the lead.

This begins the spoiler. Si Young gets money from her gangster boyfriend. She hides it in Joo Hyuk’s house. Yoon Ji finds the money and gets it. But as it turns out, the money is counterfeit. In the end, all the couples end up together except for Si Young and the gangster. End of spoiler.

Couples might look complicated on paper because of its overlapping plot, but in reality it is a simple romantic comedy. You just need to sit back and enjoy the show. With its likeable characters and a couple of funny moments, it is a good date movie.

One thing missing from The Hunger Games series is character development. This is the same in Mockingjay. Katniss never evolved from being the clueless teen who found herself in the middle of a revolution. Gale and Peeta remained paper-thin. I didn’t even care who she chooses in the end.

Suzanne Collins managed to describe how appalling war can be in Mockingjay. A lot of characters died in the book, including someone very close to Katniss. She could have used the horrors of war as a way to redeem Katniss’ character but she remained empty until the very end.

I think that Suzanne Collins was lazy or chasing a deadline when she wrote Mockingjay. We were given summaries of the events. Instead of showing us the story, she told it to the readers. Finnick was written as one of the most likeable characters in The Hunger Games but he was killed in a sentence. The same goes for Prim’s death.

Even Katniss’ decision to agree with President Coin for another Hunger Games featuring children of Capitol citizens was not explained. I know she did it so that she gets an opportunity to stop Coin but that was not obvious in the text.

Mockingjay featured Katniss at her finest. She was seen hiding, crying, and running most of the time. Then there’s the time she spent sleeping at the hospital. Instead of being engrossed with the story, I found myself putting it down. This is the reason why it took some time for me to finish the book. If I can choose to unread books from all the books that I’ve read so far, The Hunger Games trilogy would be on top of the list.

The Front Line is a war drama about the last battle of the Korean War that determines the border between the south and the north. It focuses on the story of the soldiers from both sides of the fence. It shows the harshness of the war as it lingers on. Good thing is that the end is near.

Right before the ceasefire is signed, Lieutenant Kang Eun Pyo (Shin Ha Kyun) was sent to the front lines to investigate a murder. He has to do his job while his side battles it out with the Northern army. The ownership of the hill changes side each day.

It is in the front line where he meets his friend Kim Soo Hyuk (Go Soo) and his platoon. As the day of the ceasefire draws near, he builds up his case but the fighting has also become more vicious. Hundreds of soldiers die until Eun Pyo claims the land for the South.

The Front Line also shows the soldiers belonging to the North side. One of the more memorable characters from the north is their girl sniper Cha Tae Kyung (Kim Ok Bin). Apart from her being the only eye candy in the movie, her character is the perfect example of how senseless the Korean War is about. It is like killing your own family.

I expected The Front Line to be a brutal war movie. Instead I get to see guys crying while carrying big guns. But it delivers its message loud and clear. War is stupid and in the end, everyone loses. It shows the sacrifices made by the soldiers in the field as well as how humans can still be good even if faced with atrocities.

I’m not an expert with regards to the Korean War, so I will not tackle the authenticity of the story. But overall, The Front Line is good war movie. It gives faces to the statistics you just read in the history books.

The main guy of Moneyball is Billy Beane (Brad Pitt). He’s a former player turned general manager of the Oakland A’s. He’s having a hard time turning the team around and sees the old ways of running the team as inefficient.

Then he stumbles upon Peter Brand (Jonah Hill), who has a rating system that determines the value of the players based on stats. Billy and Peter begin signing, trading and developing talent according to the system and not on scouting This is not received well by some members of the team organization including Art Howe (Philip Seymour Hoffman), the team manager.

Through Peter’s system, the Oakland A’s starts winning games with the team composed of unlikely players, such as Scott Hatteberg (Chris Pratt) Chad Bradford (Casey Bond), and David Justice (Stephen Bishop). The nation’s eyes are all on the A’s as the team rises in the standings, on its way to a place in the World Series.

Everyone knows Brad Pitt can act and he brings his A game in Moneyball. The role requires him to be calm on the outside but you can still feel his frustration and pain in the inside. Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Jonah Hill compliment perfectly with Brad Pitt’s perky character. As Peter Brand, Jonah is shy, quiet and smart. As Art Howe, Phillip is stubborn, cold and tough.

Peter Brand (Jonah Hill): It is about getting things down to one number. Using the stats the way we read them, we’ll find value in players that no one else can see. People are overlooked for a variety of biased reasons and perceived flaws. Age, appearance, personality. Bill James and mathematics cut straight through that. Billy, of the 20,000 notable players for us to consider, I believe that there is a championship team of twenty-five people that we can afford, because everyone else in baseball undervalues them.

But the one thing that stands out from Moneyball is Brand’s system. The combination of numbers and baseball is what got my interest. Peter explains the system to Billy, which in a way breaks it down to the audience as well. This way, everyone gets how it works. It shows that player statistics is an important factor in determining the success of a team.

Billy Beane (Brad Pitt): How can you not get romantic about baseball?

Moneyball is an inspirational movie. It has elements that everyone can find entertaining. It has baseball action for the sports junkie, although most of the interesting actions are behind the scenes. It also has enough drama for the girls to love. You will enjoy it even if you don’t have any interest in the sport.

Three years after the accident that rendered Soo Ah blind, she is kidnapped by a psycho serial killer Myung Jin (Yang Young Jo), who drives a car to lure young women and torture them to death. She barely escapes from him when he accidentally hits a pedestrian. She goes to the police but they treat the blind witness lightly.

Her case is assigned to Detective Jo (Jo Hee Bong), who takes it half-heartedly. Then he realizes that So Ah’s case could be connected to the series of missing women in the area, he tries his best to look for the murderer. This is another Korean movie that I’ve recently saw that depicts their police force as ineffective.

To complicate the investigation, a young biker Gi Sub (Yoo Seung Ho) tells the police that he witnessed the accident. He says that he saw a foreign car fleeing the scene. But this contradicts with Soo Ah’s testimony because she’s certain that her kidnapper is a taxi driver and dismisses the young guy as someone who is only after the reward money.

What they don’t know is that Myung Jin the serial killer has caught up with them and has started hunting down the two witnesses of his crime.

Kim Ha Neul is the perfect choice for the role. It is very different from her role in You’re My Pet, which is also released in 2011. You would really think that she’s blind in real life. Plus, she exudes the persona of a proud person just right that would still make her likeable even though she’s thick headed sometimes.

Soo Ah’s guide dog Seul Ki (Dali) almost steals the show from the human stars of Blind. She’s the same dog in the Heart Is… movies. She’s the source of comedic relief in Blind but also the one who will probably make you cry.

Blind starts as a good, suspenseful thriller but all hell breaks loose in the last part of the movie, when common sense makes room for brutal action, which is the norm for most Korean movies of the genre. You will either love or hate the movie for it. The psycho killer, Soo Ah, and Gi Sub find themselves in an empty orphanage where they play a deadly game of hide and seek in the dark.

Blind is a typical Korean thriller. It has misogyny, inutile police officers, and a pure evil psycho killer. It has the right amount of suspense to keep the audience at the edge of their seats but the climax could have been done differently. But despite its flaws, Blind is an entertaining movie.

Hot Summer Days is a romantic comedy that takes place in Hong Kong Beijing and Shenzhen. It consists of several love stories amidst a sizzling summer. There’s the driver (Jackie Cheung), a single father who is recovering from heat stroke. He accidentally sends an SMS to a pianist-turned-foot masseuse (Rene Liu). The single message sent by mistake sparks a romance between the two and shows how SMS helps in fostering a long distance relationship.

Elsewhere in Hong Kong, a food critic (Vivian Hsu) tries to convince a sushi chef (Daniel Wu) to take their relationship to the next level. But he is too busy with his work to accept her proposal. All I can remember from their story is his moustache that makes him look like a porn star.

While everyone is complaining about the hot weather, an air conditioner repairman (Nicholas Tse) is making lots of money out of it. Then one day a mysterious biker chick (Barbie Hsu) comes and he literally pursues her. Their story is bitter sweet because Barbie’s character is sick. Think of it as a Nicolas Sparks novel. He also has an issue with his beach vendor father (Gordon Liu), who has a habit of telling bad jokes to bikini-clad beach dwellers.

In mainland China, a young villager (Jing Boran) tries to prove his worth to a factory worker (Angelababy). He has to stand outside the factory at noon for 100 days straight. It’s funny to see how he tries his best to keep his promise even when it’s scorching hot. I almost didn’t recognize her as the innocent village girl. Their story stands out among the rest because of its light comedic nature.

Lastly, there’s the story of an arrogant photographer (Duan Yihong) and his loyal apprentice (Fu Xinbo). They travel across the country to hunt down a model (Michelle Wai) who they suspect has cursed the photographer, which resulted into his blindness. Photographer turns cupid and matches model with apprentice.

Although it might seem illogical but all the love stories intertwine with each other. Some of the characters meet during the course of the movie. One movie that pops in my mind right away after watching Hot Summer Days is Love, Actually. The latter shows warmth during a cold season and this movie will give you a heat stroke. It has it flaws but they can easily be overlooked due to the likeable characters.

While I don’t recommend watching Hot Summer Days at this time because you will tend to sweat more in this heat if you see sweaty people on screen. And don’t expect nudity in it because there is none. This is a wholesome romantic comedy for the whole family. There’s something in it for everyone.

It is a body-swap, buddy movie. Dave (Jason Bateman) and Mitch (Ryan Reynolds) are old friends with opposite lifestyles. They secretly envy each other’s life. Dave is the dedicated family man with three kids and a loving wife. On the other hand, Mitch is a bachelor who enjoys having sex with different woman and taking drugs on the side. Then one night they piss in a magic fountain and the next day they discover their bodies switched.

This is the start of all sorts of hilarious moments as the two friends learn not to take their lives for granted. Some of the scenes might gross out some people but overall, it is a very decent comedy. And when it tries to be serious, it feels so natural because you care for the characters. That is one of the things that surprised me about The Change-Up.

Even though it is a raunchy comedy, it is well-written by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore of Hangover fame. Director David Dobkin also deserves to be praised for his work. The cast and the writing make The Change-Up a refreshing body-swap comedy.

An R-rated comedy is incomplete without the hot girls. The Change-Up features some of the sexiest women in Hollywood. Leslie Mann plays Jamie, Dave’s wife. Even though they already have three kids, she doesn’t look like it. And it has been one of Mitch’s fantasies to have sex with her. And as always, her comedic timing is spot on.

Then there’s the lovely Olivia Wilde as Sabrina, Dave’s legal associate. She complicates things. Dave has a crush on her but he doesn’t want to have an affair. He takes the opportunity to go out with her while he’s inside Mitch’s body. Technically, he thinks that he’s not teaching on his wife.

Despite being predictable, the characters of The Change-Up manage to turn the story into an interesting one. They embrace the change instead of freaking out on a Friday. Big changes occur to them but Dave tries hard to be Mitch and vice versa. Dave enjoys being 18 again in Mitch’s body and Mitch feels like he’s 13 going on 30. Guys love the movie because of the hot chicks in it. Well it might be a boy/girl thing.

Mitch Planko (Ryan Reynolds): Growing up we both had dreams. Dave wanted to be an astronaut. I wanted to sell dolphins on the black market. But found that’s hard to do. We live in Atlanta… dolphins are hard to find…

The Change-Up is about flawed characters swapping bodies for the better. Their journey is filled with fun and hilarious moments that the audience will surely love.

Ghastly suffers from the lack of originality of the story. None of the scenes are scary at all. You can predict what will happen next. It features a lot of formulaic moments already done in past horror movies.

One of the things I like about Ghastly is Han Eun Jung. Her performance is convincing enough to convey that something terrifying is happening around her. It’s a bonus that she’s easy to the eyes. The audience knows that the boy is evil but Sunny is clueless about it. This is a bit frustrating and there are times that you would want to knock some sense into her.

Hyomin of T-ara plays Sunny’s little sister. I don’t have any problems with Hyomin because I’m a T-ara fan. I do have some issues with her character. Yoo Rin appears to be a spoiled brat who competes for her sister’s attention. Her sister is experiencing some financial problems and yet you see her partying in a club with her T-ara friends. To be honest, I expected her to be the first one to die.

Overall, Ghastly is a bad horror movie. There really is no reason to watch it except if you’re an Asian horror lover or a rabid T-ara fan.

The other stars of Our Idiot Brother are Ned’s sisters. Elizabeth Banks plays Miranda, who works for Vanity Fair. Then there’s Zooey Deschanel playing Natalie, a lesbian standup comedian who lives with her lawyer girlfriend (Rashida Jones). Lastly, there’s Emily Mortimer, as Liz, the only married one amongst them.

Each of the sisters has her own issues and it doesn’t help them when Ned barges into their houses after he is released from prison. He’s clueless that he is causing much trouble already that it’s not a surprise that his longest relationship is with his dog Willie Nelson.

Aside from the sisters, Our Idiot Brother features a lot of eye candies including Janet Montgomery as Lady Arabella. Her character is vital to the story as it shows how Ned is used by his sister Miranda, who is assigned to interview Lady Arabella. Ned becomes close with the lady and she opens up about her relationship. This is the information that Miranda needs for her article and she tricks her idiot brother into spilling it out to her.

Ned (Paul Rudd): I like to think that if you put your trust out there; if you really give people the benefit of the doubt, see their best intentions, people will rise to the occasion.

Our Idiot Brother shows that people’s perception of stupidity can subjective. Ned’s honesty is misinterpreted as immaturity. He maintains as integrity when her sisters’ wavered. He is seen as the source of the problem when in reality, he is the solution.

Our Idiot Brother succeeds in delivering a funny story and at the same time keeps the audience engaged. In the end, everyone likes Ned and so would you.

As you might have guessed, The Cat features a scary cat. Instead of a black one, they opt to use a white cat. The movie combines feline shocks with traditional Asian horror motifs, such as a child ghost with black eyes. The ghost provides a lot of jump scares.

Aside from the addition of the cat as a plot device, The Cat doesn’t bring something new to the table. I have already seen it done before. It’s a usual mystery regarding a ghost with unfinished business and the body must be found in order to exorcise it.

But The Cat has Park Min Young in it and she makes it more interesting, well for me at least. She’s much cuter than the cat, which might have been the reason why during one of the events the cat tried to rip off her dress. Or maybe the cat’s a guy who wants to take a look at her puppies.

If you’re someone who hasn’t seen a lot of Asian horror movies, then prepare to be traumatized by The Cat. You will not look at a cat the same way again. But if you have seen the likes of the Grudge then you might find the movie weak and predictable. As for me, Min Young made watching the movie worthwhile.