Illustration: Karen Chung Publish: Karen Chung Teachers: Christina Rivera & Karen Chung Contact: Iris Han

Company: English First

Movie Review Collective

The following movie reviews were written by students who participated in the Writer!s Guild Winter Course 2014 at English First SH13. Some students have written both positive and negative reviews of the same movie, in order to give fresh perspectives of both sides. The movie genres include Japanese anime, animated, action, sci-, and more.
Special thanks to Daniel Ji, Daniel Liu, Dick Xia, Ekki Lu, LeeAnn Chen, Pinkie Gao, Sarah Hu, Sue Su, Tracy Zhu.

Anders Game. Time to end.

Its a science-fiction about bug attack the earth and the army on the earth train the children into soldiers. Ander is the best of the army. Soon he has become the leader of the whole space fleet. He is asked to destroy the bugs planet ,but he refuses to do so. Once he thinks he is using the simulation to attack the planet, without notice that it wasnt a simulation. After this he has a lot of regrets and guilt, and Ander feel helpless for a long while. Its not an original movie. There has already been a lot of movie about bugs such as Men In Black. the rhythm of the movie isnt like the others. Theyve spent a lot of time on how to train children into soldiers and only the last 30 minutes he go on the leader road. And the bug never comes out the end of the movie, which was very disappointed. In the ending, Ander just gets in a spacecraft and flew away, but we could never find out where he will go. I feel like 95 minutes of my life has just gone for noting but a virtual game.

How to win the battle

My favourite movie is Men In Black. Its a science-fiction movie. Its mainly about aliens come to the earth for living. And W (played by Will Smith) and K(played by Tommy Lee Jones)are both in charge of keeping them in peace. But one day he found an evil alien was trying to steal the energy of the space. So W and K deiced to kill him. There are lots of funny things going on that trip. Personal favourite scene is at the end the alien turned into a gigantic bug and he wanted to go back to his planet with the stolen space energy. W and K must stop him and fight scene between the bug and W. The ending is fun to watch. First W was eaten by the bug. But his partner W saved him. There was many disgusting things on his suit and that was hilarious. I think its a great movie for all age, very entertaining!

Written by Daniel Ji Another one for Monster Uni.

Last summers movie-Monster University is a rare movie that can be enjoyed by the entire family. It has two title characters Mike and Sullivan who had distinguished lives in college. Mike studied hard every day while Sully fooled around the whole time. Finally they became good friends and squeezed themselves in the Monster Inc, and little by little, they became Scarers. The movie tells us a story of how bad students in the eye of teachers can be successful. Mike and Sully both were kicked out of the Scary Program for the reason they started a fight during the exam. However, after many struggles they became good friends by sharing many horrible adventures.! By watching the movie people can learn that if they chase their dreams and never give up, the dreams will come true. The movie tells us this secret of success in a simple and funny way.!

Monster University!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
" Monster University is the continuation of Monsters Inc, an extremely successful movie of Pixar. Monster University talks about stories of the title characters of Monsters Inc., Mike and Sullivan. How they met and become friends in a university that teaching scare techniques. " First, Monster University cant fit together with the Monsters Inc. In Monster University, the main character Mike is very smart and clever but back to the Monster Inc. He became silly and rash. " However no surprise is the most common negative comments received by the new movie. Peoples find no new creative stuff but piles of Pixars best in the past.! There are plush toys of Mike, Sullivan and other monsters released together with the new movie. Although the story is fun, the producers seems more keen on making money. " The new movie is different from the previous one that the story happened in a university. However, the college life part here is also not well! done. There are so many fights among students and teachers are unkind to students. I dont believe the reality in university is like that. However in order to tell the story, they on purpose make us believe something is true.

Written by Daniel Liu

Evangelion 2.0:You can(not) advise

Eva2 is a famous Japanese cartoons in the world. Most of the anime fans know that. l have watched this movie three times, but I never felt bored. Eva2 was released in 2009. It is 108 minutes. It is very philosophical. What is eva? Eva are human like things with armored. It is about the eva1' driver Shinji met the eva2'driver Asuka and she was sweeping to beat the seventh angle. Asuka is really different from Rei She is pride and Rei is quiet and slightly. Rei is the eva0'driver. All of Shinji, Asuka and Rei worked together to resisted the attack from the eighth angle. After that Asuka moved to Shinji's home with Misato, their boss. One day, Kaji, Misato' boyfriend invented Shinji, Rei and Asuka to a company is make the red water reduction. From Kaji's talk, Shiniji know that why Misato came to the NERV. When Asuka returned to her eva3,the ninth angle invade it.The eva2 was out of control. Shinji was ordered to stop it.When he known Asuka is on the eva3,he refused to kill eva3. So Ikari Gendou change with puppet control system. The eva1 kill the eva3 bloodily. Shinji felt very remorseful, because he thought he was a killer,he killed his friend. Shinji didn't want to drive the Eva. He left his home. When he left,the tenth angle came. Mari instead of Shinji battled,but she failed.Than Rei drove eva0 and hold N2 bomb want to perish together with the tenth angle,but the tenth angle ate the eva0,both of Rei. Shinji saw it all.He was very angry.He returned eva1 and beat the tenth angle.Finally,eva1 wake up and went into the deepest of the tenth angle to found Rei. When Shinji hold Rei and them come together,the third impact was happening... I felt very shocked and teary.What strengths made Shinji wake up?Love?Anger?Instinct?Despair? By contrast, by the first movie has more actions and was well made.Some people don't know what is it about and may find it boring .I think the reason is it has many Christianity backgrounds and elements in the movie. It is a film full of philosophy.If you didn't want to change your view of the world, you'd better not watch this film because it would be too complex and some may not even make senses. But for Eva fans , it is also a big milestone of Japanese animations.

Despicable me 2
The villain Gru decided to be a good daddy for his three daughters.for this reason,he begin to make jam.one day,when Gru is playing with his pet,a lady spy named Lucy who came from anti-villain league kidnapped Gru and took him to her basement. Gru met the chairman Mr.Pigu. Mr.Pigu wanted Gru to catch the antagonist with Lucy ,but Gru refuse it.However, he changed his mind and decided to find the antagonist. Gru and Lucy beat the antagonist.In the process,Gru and Lucy fell in love and get married. Gru cut the rope quickly and asked Lucy :'Would you like to go on a date with me ?'lucy answered:'Sure! Of course I Would!'Then Gru held her and fell into the sea. Despicable Me 2 is a brilliant film.The end of the story is very warm and sweet. Gru and Lucy got married made me very happy.The movie is a little messy.By contrast,I prefer the first one.

Written by Dick Xia

The successful person always tries their best while others wanna give up
It's a series of movie about a virtual magic world. There're eight movies in total. In fact, of them all, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II , the final one, is my personal favorite.. In this movie, goblin Griphook helped Harry Potter (Played by Daniel Radicliffe) and his friends breaking into Bella(Played by Helena Bonham Carter)'s vault at Gringotts bank and got the Horcux, the object that you put piece of your soul in it. Through the connection with Vorldmort(Played by Ralph Fiennes), Harry realized another Horcux that connected to Rowena Ravenclaw, one of the founders of Hogwarts, was at Hogwarts. In the Room of Requirement where was the Horcux were, Harry ran into Draco Malfoy(Played by Tom Felton), who was used to be Harry's enemy but Harry saved Draco's life from fire and destroyed the Horcux. Harry saw Vorldmort was going to kill Professor Snape(Played by Alan Rickman). The trio quickly went the boathouse, where Vorldmort and Snape were, Harry got Snape's memories and knew he was the last Horcux. The scene is one of the tensest moments in this movie. This is a truly inspiring movie, it teaches and encourages us how to deal with the hardships that appeared in our lifetime. Just like Harry, he was born and grew up with the nickname 'the boy who lived'. Everyone in that world thinks Harry has super power to against Vorldmort, they expect him to save the world and their lives.They think Harry has to fight and defeat Vorldmort. They don't even realize Harry is just a normal kid, he doesn't have the great power to do that, it was his mother, she performed a spell on Harry. He had no choice, but to take the responsibility that no one would like to take, he had to be the chosen one who saved every witch and warlock. Compared with Harry, the difficulties we've met was only a piece of cake. Then why can't we face them bravely, just like Harry did? Why we sometimes give up easily before we try hardly? You will finally get the land of success after you work hard and try your best. You will finally defeat yourself.

Time to change the ending

If you are looking for a sci-fi movie and you are tempted because of the title 'Gravity', I would advise you to change one because it's just a boring movie that you can watch it online on the computer. It really doesn't deserve your money. The whole movie is about an accident at the American space station, all the spacemen died except Ryan Stone(Played by Sandra Bullock) was the only survivor. She tried to find a way to go back to the Earth and rest of the movie is about how she flutters on the way home. Part of the reason that I wanted to see this movie is because George Clooney (Played Matt Kowalski) in it. But he only appeared a few minutes then died because of he ran out of his gasoline. That's ridiculous! I totally don't understand why the director of this movie wrote the script like that? There probably are some ways to solve the gasoline problem. Why don't he use the reserve gasoline? Maybe that will work! Some people said it is amazing because the science technology were very miraculous. I agree it but I wonder its purpose? Why do they make this movie? Were they not trying to tell you how great the science and technology is? Or to persuade everyone to work harder, and create the better sci-fi movie by the developing Science? Also, the ending of the movie is just an epic failure clich. Like the other movies, the leading character went through a lot of bumps but still was able to go back. Why can't it be even a little more creative? You can predict the ending once you watch the beginning. Could it be said that movie directors dont have other new ideas besides mission accomplished? Its time to change the trend, or you will bore the audience to death!

Written by Ekki Lu

Hunger Games-the cruel and boring games

From the Treaty of the Treason: In penance for their uprising, each district shall o!er up a male and female between the ages of 12 and 18 at a public reaping. These Tributes shall be delivered to the custody of the Capital. And then transferred to a public arena where they will ght to the Death, until a lone victor remains. Henceforth and forevermore this pageant shall known as The Hunger Games. The Hunger Games, the attractive words neared as the movie begins. This movie was adapted by the books written by Suzanne Collins. It is a survival story, I felt fresh when I rst read it. The writer created a new country, a new history, a new world. That is why the Hunger games are so exciting. I like the movie version better than the books. The exciting scenes in the movie are more vivid than the ones that I image the book. If you would like to try something new, why dont watch the Hunger Games? It is talking about: Peeta (played by josh Huntcherson) and Katniss ( Jennifer lawrence) worked together acted as a couple to get attention, help, and prize. But there is also many di"culties couldnt be changed by acting as couple. Such as other textually capable tributes, the horrible environment, the poisonous plants and berries. Everybody was in danger all the time, they felt scared Of course they won the game, the stayed alive. That is a predictable ending, but a wonderful story wont stop here, the new Hunger Games movie Catching Fire released in Fall 2013.

A new country, A Fantastic game

The Hunger Games is very hot recently. Many people like it after watching. But there is still some of the spectators dont like it at all, and Im going to tell you why. In penance for their uprising, each district shall o!er up one male and one female between the ages of 12 and 18 at a public reaping. These Tributes shall be delivered to the custody of the Capital. And then transferred to a public arena where they will ght each other to the death, until a lone victor remains. In this game, the 24 teens become cruel. They kill of others with no mercies. I dont think it is a nice theme for little kids; some scene in the movie is cruel and gory. Katniss , the main character of this lm. She is an independent girl. katniss goes hunting everyday. She sells the loots for money. She isnt a friendly girl at all, not adorable or beautiful. That is a big di!erence from other movies, no beautiful actresses. This movie is about a serious topic. So children may be bored when they are watching. It is very di!erent from other movies. If you cant accept this kind of survival lm, you might feel confused by, why is this movie so weird? Will I let my child watch it? Worrying and troubling is the main atmosphere of the Hunger Games. It isnt an interesting movie for people who want to watch a movie to relax. The ending is totally the same as other heroic movies, a clich ending, nothings new.

Written by Pinkie Gao

Not wonderful like beforeEndymion!No Kiseki #

Endymion$No Kiseki is a new story from a Japan popular novel. This novel is one of the most famous novels in Japan. But it has more than 30$volumes and$publishes nearly 10 years. For some people, the novel is too long-winded, you would expect the movie to be informative, and it may surprise you. # The leading roles in this movie are Touma (played by Abe Atsushi) and Index (played by Iguchi Yuka). Touma is a high-school student. He is common but he has a special abilityhe can remove any power with his right hand; on the other hand, Index is a$nun. She has read many books about magic. She is called The moving church. Arisa (played by Misawa Sachika) is a new character only in the movie. She is good at singing. Her goal is to sing on a big stage. # This movie is about two leading roles$Touma and Index, they met Arisa. They had the same hobbies. Soon they became good friends. But Touma and Index found that Arisa will cause war between magic world and science world. They tried to stop it. This kind of story is too stale. It is just similar to many Japanese animations. Those are already existed. Also at the end of the movie, it said that the only way to save the world is to sing songs. That is too childish and naive. But it was bused on the$original works, yet they made the movie even less entertains. # On the other hand, the characters in the movie hadnt been drawn very well. Sometimes peoples faces looked strange and unreal. The movie maker didnt pay attention on the graphics. # Maybe it will attract the Sixth graders. But it is not preferable for highschoolers or adults. The writers have to be more creative in thinking about the story. Otherwise, it will be out of date in less than two weeks.

Ninjas life is a destiny - ROAD TO NINJA NARUTO

NARUTO is one of the most famous animations in the world. Many teenagers even adults love it very much. I am also a fan of this comic. So I have watched the film, too. Every NARUTO fan will love it. The leading role in this film is NARUTO. There is a huge monster in his body. He is brave and helps his village solve many problems. The female leading role is SAKURA. She is a doctor and look after the injured ninjas. The supporting role is SASUKE. He escaped from the village and he will destroy the village soon. The story begins with a war. An organization called Akatsuki attacked the ninja. Akatsuki always kills people to get goods. He used ninjutsu to bring NARUTO and SAKURA into a different space-time. Every one there was quite different. NARUTOs parents were died when he was a baby. But they appeared here. NARUTO was so excited to see them, he spent a lot of time with them. SAKURA was also very happy. She likes SASUKE and now SASUKE presented flowers to her every day. This two people fell in love but they didnt forget their plight. This was just a dream. It was not true. So they were going to find some way to get out of here. NARUTO was so sad that if he comes back, he will not enjoy the time with parents any longer. But he couldnt complain with anyone. He could just think of his parents in his heart. I admire NARUTO. Because he loves his parents. He helps others when they are in danger. He can save his village even lose his life. Now he is chasing his best friend--SASUKE. He promises that he will take SASUKE back because they are best friends. His graveness moved me. I believe in him. I am looking forward to seeing that.

Written by Sue Su

Over-killed Bloody Zombies Fight--Resident Evil4

For horror film fanatics, you may be expecting to be scared in the new Resident Evil movies---Resident Evil4. Let me give you some warnings for the younger or viewers. This story happens in a place in Mid Western industrial city in North America the Harvard Will airport. Claire (played by Ali Larter) continues her RE experience, she is now a member of non-governmental organizations for the relief of victim who has being abused by the biological and chemical weapons .Yet the weapons are still over-flown around the world, which has set a step for another zombie war to come Some scenes are very unnerving, especially in one scene when lots of zombie come and bite people who are strives for survival. It was way too going beyond disgusting. Some viewers claimed that they are constantly having bad dreams over weeks after watching RE4. They dream t about getting bitten and eaten by zombies. The scenes in the movie are overly bloody and cruel. The plot is very simple and mono: People always got bitten and then got shot, flesh and blood are everywhere. Overkilled!

Coolest Zombie Fight----Resident Evil1

Although Resident Evil is a horror movie, I really liked it! I think this movie can really scare you because you dont know when a zombie will come and bite you. It happened in a biochemical laboratory, a selfish man let a virus called T-virus spread out. Unluckily, it hurt everybody except Alice and only a few others. Alice and the people try to escape from the danger. By the way, some zombies will come out and hurt them. Luckily, theres an antivirus. It saved the people who were bitten, and avoid them to become zombies. To my surprise, Alice maybe the only person in the world. Sometimes when I was watching the movie, I was very scared and shaking all over my body. I felt really nervous and afraid, because you dont know when the zombies will attack. However, among these five movies, I like the last one best. In that movie, zombies can carry guns, ride bicycles, control ed by the Red Queen to shoot people, and the most interesting point is that the Umbrella Company copy a lot of people to look similar to Alice. And when Alice hid in a house, she found she has a daughter---Betty. So she tried to protect her, rescued her. In this movie, the Chinese famous movie star----Li Bingbing, as Alices friend, help her finish the war. Some people like this movie, because its very scary and exciting, some people dislike this movie because it scared them, but I like it because it makes me feel very happy while Im watching it.

Written by Sarah Hu

Trying your utmost persistently to do everything - Film Review : Kung Fu Panda 2 --Tracy Kung Fu Panda 2 is a 2011 3D American computer-animated action comedy-drama martial arts lm, directed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson, produced by DreamWorks Animation. Po (played by Jack Black ) has become the dragon warrior, following the kungfu master (played by Dustin Ho!man)and peerless ve man : Katherine Jiao tiger (played by Angelina Jolie), the monkey (played by Jackie Chan), fast mantis (played by Seth Rugen ), Qiao xiao Liu (played by Lucy Liu), crane (played by David Cross )to protect PingGu. However, evil villain Shen is going to use a secret weapon to conquer China and destroy kungfu, the treasure faces a new challenge. He must nd the key power to defeat the enemy. See the lm, I was impressed .Kungfu Panda2 is a good movie, it is very interesting and exciting. The 3D e!ect is the best this year! The rhythm is compact. The plot is humorous. Film camera Angle is very exible. I am very enjoyable. The use of Chinese elements is nice. Americans always use: who am I, be yourself, freedom, inner peace as the core idea. Shadows and Freud psychoanalysis, youth distorted personality and so on. But, still looks good. I also learn something from it, such as courage. So when you encounter di"culties, don't give up. I really admire Po ,a great panda! The panda Po is lovely and funny. I like him. He is warm-hearted. This movie tells us: every di"culty can be overcome as long as you tried your utmost persistently. I recommend the lm to you.

Life of Pi
Pi$is$an$Indian$boy. This is not just a lm, it reects our real life. It is telling a very beautiful journey of Pibut it is not accepted by the others .The views are beautiful. From the opening to the end, the water and the sky are very beautiful. Every scene is a beautiful picture. The colors are brightThe little boat just oating in the ocean, the sea seems to have no end. The soundtrack is very touching, and the music is great too. In all, the lm is worth watching. After$I$watched$this$lm$I$thought$a$lot.$Can$I$be$cal m$like$Pi$if$I$Sail$a$boat$with$a$tiger? And$do$you$think$$god$is$looking$at$you$all the time? The$lm$also tells$me$that$we$must have$the$courage$to$face$di"culties$and$get$on$well$ with$each$other. This is a very signicant lm. A droll panda became kung-fu ace -Film Review: Kung Fu Panda 1 Kung Fu Panda is a 2008 American computeranimated action comedy lm. Po, loves Chinese kung fu, has been identied as the dragon warrior" by coincidence, and was ordered to deal with the devil big leopard which has just escaped from prison. The dragon warrior faces the biggest challenge in life how to become a River's Lake kung fu master in no time? Another heroic movie, another story to tell the audience how to become a hero from zero. The plot is boring and the audience way too simple. The theme is not original either. Maybe this is just setting. Kung Fu Panda 2 ,the sequel of this movie is better than this. Secondlyit is an action lm about kungfu. So the visual e!ect of this movie looks not very shocked. It didnt reach the electrifying e!ect. Maybe dream works could use 3D technology to consummate this lm. That will be more superb. Finally, I think the end of the movie some do not conform to the plot. But, I think the voice e!ect sounds nice and interesting. Its great. This lm also gave us some positive power and great fun. Look back and get experience. Look forward and see hope.

Written by Tracy Zhu