How Do You Know ★★★☆☆

I got very interested in watching this movie when I first saw, on IMDb, the trailer. The trailer looks promising and I finally got a chance to see the movie. Despite what the trailer and the cast may suggest, I really want to like the movie, and I was disappointed. 

How Do You Know is kind of taking a bunch of serious good ideas and putting them into a comedy environment, but is more like mixing the star power and popularity of Reece Witherspoon and Owen Wilson-styled humour, and a very ambitious yet clueless story. 

The story has 2 parts:

Part 1: George (played by Paul Rudd) is son of Charles (Jack Nicholson), who is the target of a federal investigation. George is then set up by his own father to take the blame for falsifying corporate documents. So he has to choose whether he would go to jail for his dad within the next few days. 

Part 2: Lisa (played by Reece Witherspoon) is a softball player but she gets cut from the Olympic team because of her age. At the same time, she also has commitment issue with her boyfriend Matty (Owen Wilson) who is a $14 million per year baseball player. 

The two stories seem unrelated and complicated. But the movie does not explore into either actually. There's not much detail into either George's and his father's business, nor is there anything about Lisa's dream of being a successful athlete. The movie suddenly becomes a romantic fluff, and suddenly, their personal backstory and issue are not important anymore. 

I feel the only enjoyable part of the movie is  the last 30 minutes. I absolutely love all the scenes in the last part. The movie gets 3 stars based on that. But the problem is: you need to sit through the first hour of boring long dialogues with nothing really happening before getting there. 

With such great actors and talents, I expected more. Now, the whole movie just seems forced. The characters don't seem to connect with each other. The stories don't fit with one another. There is no chemistry and the relationship is not convincing per se. There are too many random moments that seem important, but unanswered and unresolved, and instead, I was left to believe that the writer/director was probably thinking, "I don't know!" when someone asks him "How Do You Know?" 



Great Acting: OK. 
Entertaining: Not really. 
Enjoyable Fluff in the last 30 minutes: YES!
Is it Worth the Price of a Movie Ticket: NO! 
Would I watch It Again: Maybe a long time from now. 

The Amazing Spider-Man ★★★★☆

Recently my friend and I were discussing that not many quality summer blockbusters had come out during the summer (unless you count the very brainless Avengers, or the very gory and crazy Prometheus); then I see The Amazing Spider-Man. 

To say it is not a film that I am normally interested in would be an understatement. I wasn't a fan of the Marvel comic teenage superhero, nor was I an admirer of the original franchise starring Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst to fully appreciate the depth of this story. Additionally, if there was ever a movie that screamed "another-recycled-action-flick-cos-we-ran-out-of-ideas" it would be this one. In spite of that, I've heard wonderful things about the the director Marc Webber, and the casting (with Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone and Sally Field) and decided to view the movie. I'm happy to say that I'm glad that I did. Virtually the director Webber put together a cast of relatively new young and better-looking actor and actress with spectacular special effects that truly made the story go. 

Webber, who is most famous for (500) Days of Summer, renewed the whole casting and changed the approach (no more Mary-Jane or the Oscorp father and son). Peter Parker is not the innocent and naive high school boy like in the first few movies, but he is troubled teenager who is a photo-taking geek. The rather young and new cast has a fresh feeling on the story and there are no preconceived notions based on a past actor or actresses work. That being said Andrew Garfield (the Social Network), and Emma Stone (the Help) had a true coming out party in The Amazing Spider-Man. Both of them played fantastic parts, which really made their chemistry mesh nicely together. Rhys Ifans, Sally Field and Martin Sheen were all spectacular in supporting roles alongside Garfield and Stone. The villain this time is the Lizard who is truly frightening and did a good job scaring the hell out of the audience. 

When a movie has the explosions, crazy action or crude humor that we've become accustomed to seeing in newer movies there has got to be a great story attached in order to maintain your interest; The Amazing Spider-Man had that great story. There aren't many movies that have you laughing, crying, getting angry or frightened and end up still being fantastic and that is where this one had me. With my common rule of no movie should be over 2 hours unless it is special; this one is very special. I would be surprised if there aren't a number of sequels coming.

Some scenes are quite fragmented and silly, and dialogues sometimes corny but thank god the movie quickly went back to its right path until the end. I still do not like how the scene when Peter Parker got bitten by the spider was handled. But the story generally flows well, and there is no lacking in its actions to keep you from being bored. Having said that, I watched it in 2D which I think is good enough. Never a fan of the 3D movies. 

Great Acting: YES! 

Entertaining: Yes 

Summer Movie Grade: A+ 

Is it Worth the Price of a Movie ticket: Yes 

Would I watch It Again: Yes!