The Karate Kid (2010)

Image Credit

Year Released: 2010

Directed By: Harald Zwart

Produced By: Will Smith and Jada Pinkett-Smith

Written By: Christopher Murphey (Screenplay); Robert Mark Kamen (Story)

Actors You Should Recognize: Jackie Chan [Rush Hour], Jaden Smith [Pursuit of Happyness], Taraji P. Henson [I Can Do Bad All By Myself]

The Rundown: Dre (Smith) and his mother (Henson) move to China with the movement of his mother's job. Enter teen angst, bullying, and forbidden love, and you have all the makings of The Karate Kid circa 1984. Of course, a Karate Kid film wouldn't be complete without a Mr. Miyagi, now Mr. Han (Chan), and plenty of martial arts fight sequences.

Why You'll Hate It:

Subpar acting by the majority of the secondary characters as well as a failure to develop certain secondary
characters. The one that really comes to mind here is his "friend" Harry.

The music doesn't always seem to fit the scene it is played in.

Intermittant use of subtitles when Chinese is being spoken. In other words, sometimes you'll know what's going on, and other times you'll have no idea.

It's not the original, but that might only matter if you grew up around the time the original was released.

Why You'll Love It:

Fight sequences are fantastic, and who can get tired of Jackie Chan kicking ass?

Jaden Smith isn't just riding the fame of his parents. This kid has real talent. 

Jackie Chan is finally in a serious role for the first time since I can even remember. He pulls it off well.

Much of the movie was filmed in China, providing a lot of incredible scenery for the film.

Quotes Worth Remembering:

Mr. Han: You think only with your eyes so you are easy to fool.

Dre: So what are we learning today?

Mr. Han: Internal energy; the essence of life. It moves inside of us. It flows through our bodies; gives us power from within.

Dre: I get it; like the Force in Star Wars. You're Yoda and I'm like... I'm like a Jedi.

Mr. Han: You have taught me very important lesson, Xiao Dre. Life will knock us down, but we can choose whether or not to stand back up.

Mr. Han: Being still and doing nothing are two very different things.

Never Let Me Go (2010)

Image Credit

Year Released: 2010

Directed By: Mark Romanek

Produced By: Kazuo Ishiguro, Mark Romanek, and Tessa Ross

Written By: Kazuo Ishiguro (Novel); Alex Garland (Screenplay)

Actors You Should Recognize: Andrew Garfield [The Social Network], Keira Knightley [Atonement], Carey Mulligan [An Education]

The Rundown: Kathy (Mulligan), Ruth (Knightley), and Tommy (Garfield) are genetic replications of 'Possibles'. They become close friends at an English boarding school by the name of Heilsham where they are raised to be organ donors. Kathy loves Tommy; Tommy dates Ruth, but seemingly loves Kathy simultaneously. A love triangle ensues over time and the separation of the group.

Why You'll Hate It:

There's no overt happy ending.

Time is split between focusing on the relationship angle of the story and on the story of how those who are brought up to be organ donors live their lives, leaving both sides to be a bit lackluster.

Why You'll Love It:

It will make you think on what defines humanity.

Carey Mulligan's character is fantastic, leaving most anything worth being quoted coming from her mouth.

The music is incredible.

Quotes Worth Remembering:

Kathy: It had never occurred to me that our lives, which had been so closely interwoven, could unravel with such speed. If I'd known, maybe I'd have kept tighter hold of them, and not let unseen tides pull us apart.

Miss Emily: You have to understand, Hailsham was the last place to consider the ethics of donation. We used your art to show what you were capable of. To show that donor children are all but human. But we were providing an answer to a question no one was asking. If you ask people to return to darkness, the days of lung cancer, breast cancer, motor neurone disease, they'll simply say no.

Miss Emily: We didn't have The Gallery in order to look into your souls. We had The Gallery to see if you had souls at all.

Kathy: I come here and imagine that this is the spot where everything I've lost since my childhood has washed up. I tell myself that if that were true, and I waited long enough, then a tiny figure would appear on the horizon across the field and gradually get larger until I'd see it was Tommy. He'd wave and maybe call. I don't let the fantasy go beyond that. I can't let it.

Kathy: What I'm not sure about is if our have been so different from the lives of the people we save. We all complete. Maybe none of us really understand what we've lived through or feel we've had enough time.