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tburick
Reviews
The Karate Kid (2010)
No need to re-make a movie that has no flaws
I am sorry, but trying to recreate a classic just never works. I will start off with the positive remarks first. Despite what I have heard about Will Smith "buying the role", Jaden did pretty good. I believed him, although at times he just seemed like a spoiled brat, but then again at times so was Ralph Machio.
Jackie Chan: Great departure film from the same ole' song and kicking dance he has done in every other movie. With the exception of his break down regarding the death of his wife, he really did a good job, and did not break into a comedic role, that he was so comfortable with in the past.
Now for the bad. (and I will keep it short) The development of this film between the characters seemed very rushed, and if you saw the original, it was like the cliff-note version of Ralph Machio and Pat Morita. You felt the bond that they developed in the original, with the new movie, it was just very rushed and nothing really tied them together.
The relationship between the girl and Jaden... he does a little break dance in front of her, and she seems to fall right for him. No development, I don't know if the producers were trying to cut costs, but it was trite and shallow.
Likewise with the antagonist, we don't know why the group of bullies starts in on Jaden, where in the original it was obvious that "Daniel Son" was a threat and trying to get together with Allie. This was about as shallow as you can get.
I thought the movie was a complete waste of time, and it was over before it began IMHO. I was actually looking to enjoy the movie. They should have changed it up a bit.. the only difference was the way he taught him to hang a coat, and pick it up vs. the infamous "wax on... wax off" you were basically hearing the same lines as the original movie verbatim.
Like I said, The Karate Kid was a movie that NEVER needed to be re-done.
Tenure (2008)
Not a bad movie...
I am not going to bash this movie as many have done... I saw the movie, and was think I set the bar too high. Without giving away too much of the movie, I found that the acting was good, the story was different from a "bottled, formulaic, Animal House-ish" rewrite college comedy.
It was smart, clever, and told a good tale, there was only a small amount of unanswered questions I had in my mind when it ended... I stared at the screen and said... "OK...it wasn't awful, it was .... well OK"
The bottom line is, I am not going to say it was a horrible movie, because it was not... I found that I was entertained by the movie, and they did not try to market it as a blockbuster.. A decent film, and not too far removed from what it was about.. trying to get tenure at a College.