Book Review: A Thousand Miles To Freedom

I just recently finished reading Eunsun Kim's autobiography A Thousand Miles To Freedom. I was first introduced to this book through this National Geographic article and was compelled to read the entire book myself. Overall, I found it to be an incredibly eye-opening read that introduced me to a topic that I didn't know a lot about.
A Thousand Miles To Freedom tells the story of how author Eunsun Kim, at the young age of 11, escaped the country of North Korea with her older sister and mother. More than simply an escape, Kim's harrowing journey takes her across China and Mongolia, through many hardships and perils, and takes many years to complete.
Now getting into my review, I want to start with what I didn't like as much about this book. The two main points that I want to make is first that parts of the book I personally didn't find overly interesting to read. The story detailing Kim's escape from North Korea was quite riveting, but the occasional flash forwards detailing her recent pursuits and current life in South Korea I thought were slightly dull. The second negative about A Thousand Miles To Freedom is that some parts of it are written with little substance. By this, I simply mean that sometimes certain sentences are short, and simple descriptive words are used. I actually feel bad critiquing this part of the book because I understand that the author is not a native English speaker, and so the English writing is not going to be on a level of brilliance.
Now onto the positives, because overall A Thousand Miles To Freedom was a really good book that I actually feel bad critiquing! The biggest thing going for this book is that it tells a stunning story of a young girl's journey, a story that few have told or written about before. It provides a window into the lives of people living in North Korea, and what the people who choose to escape this country go through. In addition to the story, I also enjoyed the voice of the author. She is relatable and doesn't at all evoke a tone of superiority through her writing. You may expect someone who has endured so much hardship and survived, and gone on to write a book to be a bit cocky, but on the contrary Kim comes of as being very humble and gracious in the pages of her book.
All in all, A Thousand Miles To Freedom was a good read and told of a world completely unknown to me. Although it may not be the best book I have read, I would certainly recommend it if you enjoy nonfictional stories about people and their lives. It will certainly give you a new outlook on life, and hopefully it will help inspire all of us to make this world a better and more peaceful place.
Author: Eunsun Kim
Genre: Autobiography/memoir

Pages: 228

Year Published: 2015

My Rating: ★★★☆☆

Movie Review: The Gift

The new psychological thriller The Gift is certainly no gift to the world of film. Quite frankly, I found it to be very disappointing for a movie that I expected loads of suspense from. Maybe I'm just not scared easily enough, but I'm pretty certain it's just because this is a lackluster film.
So, what is The Gift even about, you may be wondering. It opens with a husband and wife, Simon and Robyn, looking for a new house to buy in the Los Angeles area. They end up buying a mid-century modern house with way too much glass. After moving in with their pet dog, they go house shopping and run into Gordo, an old childhood classmate of Simon's. In the following days Gordo becomes persistent at spending time with Simon and Robyn, leaving gifts at their doorstep, having dinner with them, and showing up to help fix things up at their house. At first they shrug off Gordo's odd behavior, but things come to a head when past events surrounding Gordo begin to surface.
Before I get into what didn't work in The Gift, I first want to address its positive elements. Although not as much as one would expect, there was a degree of suspense that this film brought to the table. I would have appreciated more, as The Gift is classified as a thriller, but there was at least enough to keep me watching. I also thought that the plot was fairly creative and fresh; I don't know of any other movies that have a similar storyline. The acting was also done well, especially on the part of Joel Edgerton who plays the creeper role pretty well.
Now it's time we move on to what didn't work about The Gift. First I should address the fact that, although creative, I just didn't find the storyline to be all that engrossing. On the contrary, I predicted a lot of what ended up happening in this film, and my head was already guessing as to what would happen later in the plot. Adding to its predictability, I also found The Gift's plot to be a bit slow; it took some time for things to really get underway and for the main twist of the storyline to be revealed. The last point I want to make is that it was also incredibly hard for me to empathize with any of the characters in this movie. Even the people that are not portrayed as "bad guys" are simply empty shells; that is, there's no backstory about them that strongly connects them to the audience. I didn't root for anyone in The Gift, because frankly I didn't have any emotional investment in their character. I just wanted to watch and see what happened out of sheer curiosity.
So, as my closing statement for this movie review I will say that The Gift is probably not worth the price of a movie ticket to go see. Although it has a few positive elements that some of you may quite enjoy, for me it just was not very impressive. Maybe I'm the one missing something here, because this movie has rave reviews on Rotten Tomatoes and other movie review websites. But I'm only here to tell you what my opinions are, and put simply my opinion is that The Gift is a bit of a disappointment.

Rating: R

Genre: Psychological Thriller/Mystery

Run Time: 108 minutes

Release Date: August 7, 2015

My Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Movie Review: Paper Towns

The recent film Paper Towns, based on the novel by author John Green, was playing at my local theater and so I opted to go see it. Although I didn't have many expectations for this movie, I left the theater slightly disappointed about what I had just watched. I'll explain in further detail below, but first I want to give a quick summary as to what Paper Towns is about.
The film centers on the character of Quentin, who was close friends with his neighbor Margo until they enter high school and grow apart. One night while he is sleeping, Margo breaks into Quentin's bedroom and convinces him to help her go on a mission to get revenge on everyone who has wronged her. The next morning, Quentin goes to school and realizes that Margo is missing. He begins to follow clues that he finds in order to track down Margo's whereabouts, and eventually recruits a team of his friends to help in the search. Through his searching for Margo, Quentin experiences things that would normally fall outside of his comfort zone, and he begins to question his relationships and his life.
What this film did bring to the table was both a good portrayal of teenage confusion, and an interesting plot that managed to hold my interest through the entirety of the movie. I suppose John Green should be credited for this particular aspect; after all, the film is based on his book. In spite of the shortcomings that Paper Towns has, the storyline was still good enough to make me want to keep watching and see what happens in the end.
But despite these two positive elements, Paper Towns managed to underwhelm me in nearly every other aspect. First, I want to address the acting, which I thought was somewhat mediocre. Although nobody who stars in this film did a terrible job portraying their characters, nobody really shone either. I especially didn't feel much of a genuine connection between the two main characters, Margo and Quentin, played by Cara Delevingne and Nat Wolff. Also, despite the unique plot, there was an element of ennui throughout the duration of Paper Towns that just never seemed to go away. I can't say I was completely bored; the plot was interesting and did hold my attention. But there is just a certain lackadaisical element that has a strong hold on this film. The bottom line is that there's just a thick enough thread of a story to pull you into Paper Towns, but hardly any impact beyond that, emotional or otherwise. I found myself not really caring what happened to the characters or how the film would end, I just wanted to see it through simply to know what happens.
So the bottom line is this: I expected more from Paper Towns and overall was disappointed with what I ended up watching. It's certainly not a terrible movie, but it really lacks the depth or character connection that transports a movie into an award-winning classic. If you're still adamant about watching Paper Towns, at least wait until you can view it somewhere cheaper than a theater.

Rating: PG-13

Genre: Mystery/Drama

Run Time: 109 minutes

Release Date: July 24, 2015

My Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Movie Review: Max

Filled with high hopes, I recently went to go see the family flick Max. However, I ended up leaving the theater with mixed feelings about this film. Although it's truly a heartwarming movie about a boy and his dog, in my opinion it most certainly did not live up to its full potential.
Before I get too far into the details, I'll catch you all up on what Max is about. After Kyle, a dog handler in the U.S. Marines, is killed in Afghanistan, his German Shepherd Max is sent back to the states. Max is is extremely distrusting of and violent towards other people, but shows an affinity towards Kyle's younger brother Justin. Because of this Kyle's family takes Max in, and Justin begins training him with the help of his best friend's cousin who is good with dogs. However, things take a turn when Kyle's friend Tyler begins to get closer to Kyle's family. Eventually, Justin must rely on Max to help him find out the truth behind Tyler and what secrets he is hiding.
First, I want to state that Max proves itself to be a good film that perhaps older kids can get something out of. It might not be the most appropriate movie to take your four-year-old to see (there are some violent scenes), but I think most children around age 10 or older would thoroughly enjoy Max. It's quite rare these days for a non-animated movie that is child-friendly to be released, but this film is one of them. Families aside, I think that anyone who is a dog-lover could appreciate this movie for the story that it tells, as it is a good depiction of the strong bond between a boy and his dog.
However, there are some numerous negative aspects to Max as well. Firstly, this movie didn't quite know what it wanted to be and never really made its genre evident to the audience. It could easily be a patriotic war movie, filled with action scenes and the quintessential "catch the bad guy" plot that accompanies most action movies. However, it can also be labeled as a coming-of-age flick, where the relationship between a young teenage boy and his family and friends are put to the test. Take your pick, because Max does not make it clear at all. Overall, there's just too much content weaved into the relatively weak plot that this film centers on. Another negative is that I personally found this movie to be a bit slow, even slightly boring at times. It also had an extremely predictable plot, to the point where nothing at all surprised me while I was watching Max. Perhaps this is because it's a family film, and so the plot should understandably be a little bit easier to follow because kids will be watching it. But adding to this point, I do want to say that Max is actually a bit of a violent movie for younger children. I'm not a parent, so perhaps I have no right to step into this realm of movie critiquing, but in my opinion there were several action scenes that would make me think twice about taking younger kids to see Max (think war scenes, shooting, dogs fighting each other, and throw some explosions in there too). The last negative point that I want to make about this film is the acting. I personally wasn't moved by any of the characters in this movie, and despite their eldest son Kyle having recently died in war, his family didn't show much believable emotion over his death. Just in general, I thought that no one who acted in this film did an amazing job.
So there you have it, perhaps a bit harsh but my truly honest opinion for the 2015 movie Max. Maybe it's because I was expecting this film to be really good that it fell pretty short for me, but maybe one of you will enjoy it more. It's not a motion picture that I would recommend going to see, but I wouldn't tell you to not watch it. Maybe just wait until it's on DVD and rent it for a dollar instead of paying the big bucks at the movie theater.

Rating: PG

Genre: Action/Adventure

Run Time: 111 minutes

Release Date: June 26, 2015

My Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Movie Review: Every Secret Thing

I was initially compelled to watch the crime drama Every Secret Thing for two main reasons. First of all because I typically like movies that are mysterious and suspenseful, and also I enjoy several of the actors that were cast in this film. Let me cut right to the chase: I was not very thrilled with this movie. Although it did have some elements that were done right, it fell short on almost every aspect possible. I will elaborate further, but first let me give you a quick synopsis of what Every Secret Thing is about.
The movie begins as two young girls, Alice and Ronnie, go to a pool party together. They are distant from each other and only hang out together because Alice's mother doesn't want Ronnie to feel left out. Walking home from the party, the girls steal an infant from the porch of a house and attempt to care for it, but the baby eventually dies and the girls both go to prison for seven years. Soon after their release, a local toddler goes missing from a furniture store and Nancy, the same police detective that worked on Alice's and Ronnie's case, is also assigned to this new one. Upon further investigation, Nancy suspects that the two events are linked, and that Alice and Ronnie might be involved with a second missing child case.
Let me begin with the pros of Every Secret Thing. What drew me to this movie in the first place were the actors that are in it, and honestly they all did a good job portraying their individual roles. I especially liked the characters of Ronnie and Nancy, played by Dakota Fanning and Elizabeth Banks, respectively. I also thought that the storyline of Every Secret Thing was unique and very original, and I was somewhat drawn into what was playing out onscreen. However, this is pretty much where the positives stop for this film.
Despite the unique plot, it didn't provide me with a lot of surprising moments or truly thrilling "on the edge of my seat" scenes. The story that Every Secret Thing centers on is also quite unbelievable in the sense that an unattended infant is just randomly snatched up by two young children who have absolutely no reason to do this. This is just something that is fairly inconceivable in reality. But the glaring issue of this film is simply its slowness. The plot is like proverbial molasses, slowly lumbering along and taking much longer than necessary to get its main points across to the viewer. Every Secret Thing is not a long movie, but despite this its hour and a half run time still seems much too drawn out.
So in conclusion, I would say that Every Secret Thing is probably not a film that I will be recommending anytime soon. I wouldn't adamantly try to stop you from seeing it, as it does have some good elements. I would simply warn you that, in my opinion, it's probably not worth your time or money.

Rating: R

Genre: Crime drama/mystery

Run Time: 93 minutes

Release Date: May 15, 2015

My Rating: ★★☆☆☆