‘Hawaii Five-O’ Recap: ‘Kanalua’
In “Kanalua,” Ed Asner returns as August March, the former criminal who always has an ace up his sleeve. The 5-0 team seeks his help in solving an art museum robbery since he’s the only one on the island with…
Author: Myong Choi
Nonstop Movies: ‘Looper’
Well I certainly wasn’t expecting that.Because trailers these days give practically everything away, I thought I had “Looper” all figured out. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is a looper, an assassin in the year 2044, whose job is to kill people sent from…
‘Hawaii Five-O’ Recap: ‘La O Na Makuahine’
And, we’re back!After missing the big red carpet premiere of the Season 3 first episode yesterday at Sunset on the Beach since I was on the mainland, I had to wait like every other “Hawaii Five-0” fan until Monday night…
New(ish) eats: Yakiniku Lulurara
As far as I’m concerned, there can never be enough Korean barbecue places. So I was happily surprised when I stumbled upon the newest one, Yakiniku Lulurara. After a movie, a friend and I were driving around looking for a…
Nonstop Movies: ‘Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai’
Sometimes visionary and often times controversial, director Takashi Miike is one of Japan’s more prolific and notorious directors, helming some of Japan’s most famous exports, including “Audition,” “Ichi the Killer” and last year’s critically acclaimed remake of “13 Assassins.”Normally I…
Nonstop Movies: ‘Premium Rush’
Some jobs just are impossible to make sexy, no matter how pretty you dress them up. Parking lot attendant. Public park restroom cleaning guy. Engineer. Now you can add bike messenger to that list.“Premium Rush” tries its best to glamorize…
Fab 5 Films: RIP Tony Scott
I was shocked and saddened to hear of director Tony Scott’s death by apparent suicide Sunday afternoon. I grew up watching his many commercial blockbusters as his film career and my appreciation for movies seemed to blossom at the same…
Fab Five Films: Van Dammage!
For me, the most exciting thing about “The Expendables 2” opening this weekend is not the return of Arnold, Bruce or Sly. It’s all about the Muscles from Brussels, Jean Claude Van Damme.“The Expendables 2” is Van Damme’s first appearance…
Nonstop Movies: ‘The Odd Life of Timothy Green’
“The Odd Life of Timothy Green” is a great family film that unfortunately gets its release after most children (at least in Hawaii) are already back in school. Had this film been released earlier in the summer, it would be…
Forgotten Films: ‘American Anthem’
I love the Olympics. My first Olympic memory is McDonald’s giving away scratch-and-win cards in 1984, where you could win food prizes for every medal the United States won in the event on your card. Of course, the boycott of…
Nonstop Movies: ‘Total Recall’
I didn’t think it was possible to dumb down an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie, but the 2012 version of “Total Recall” proves that in Hollywood, anything is possible. A remake of the 1990 sci-fi action hit, this version borrows the original…
Nonstop Movies: ‘Monsieur Lazhar’
An Academy Award nominee for Best Foreign Language Film last year, the Canadian film “Monsieur Lazhar” deals with the coping of death in an unusual setting – an elementary school classroom. A young and popular teacher has just committed suicide…
Nonstop Movies: ‘Step Up Revolution’
What happened to the dance film genre? When did it get dumbed down so much? I grew up watching and loving dance movies such as “Breakin’,” “Beat Street” and “Flashdance,” and while they didn’t have the most elaborate storylines, at…
Nonstop Movies: ‘The Dark Knight Rises’
Epic.It’s a word so overused that it’s beginning to lose its meaning. Nowadays, the word can be found everywhere on blogs, Twitter and Facebook to describe everything from a meal, to a birthday party, even something as mundane as running…
Nonstop Movies: ‘The Amazing Spider-Man’
This isn’t your daddy’s Spider-Man. Shoot, it’s not even my Spider-Man.Just five years after “Spider-Man 3,” Columbia Pictures has decided to relaunch the franchise with a new cast, new villain, even a new origin. Gone are Mary Jane Watson, the…
Nonstop Movies: ‘People Like Us’
Josh (Michael Hall D’Addario) is an annoying kid with an even more annoying hair cut who blows up a swimming pool, shoplifts CDs and beats up other kids for no reason whatsoever. It’s no wonder why he has no friends.…
Nonstop Movies: ‘I Wish’
Brothers Koichi and Ryu (played by real life brothers Koki and Ohshiro Maeda) are forced to live apart when their parents separate. Koichi, the older one, lives with his mother and grandparents in a town directly beneath an active volcano…
Nonstop Movies: Fab Five Romantic Comedies
Remember when romantic comedies used to be about real characters and not gimmicks, such as how many bridal dresses someone owns or how many days it takes to break up with someone? Romcoms nowadays seem to be built around novelty…
Nonstop Movies: ‘Brave’
Pixar, the studio that produced crowd pleasing favorites such as “Toy Story” and “The Incredibles,” features its first-ever female protagonist with a story of a Scottish princess named Merida in “Brave.”Merida’s look, with her bushy red locks of hair, is…
Nonstop Movies: ‘That’s My Boy’
Adam Sandler is more offensive than ever in “That’s My Boy,” but does that mean there are more laughs? After playing a moronic female in last year’s horrible “Jack and Jill,” Sandler now plays the washed-up Donny Berger, whose one…
Nonstop Movies: ‘Rock of Ages’
“Paradise City” by Guns N’ Roses plays over the opening credits. The audience immediately bobs their heads to the beat. Then we see Sherrie Christian (Julianne Hough) looking through her rock album collection as she rides a bus to Los…
Nonstop Movies: ‘Prometheus’
“Why are we here?”It’s an age old philosophical question that man has been asking for centuries. Scientists believe we’ve evolved over thousands of years from single-celled organisms to the creatures we are today. People of faith believe that a powerful…
Nonstop Movies: ‘Men in Black III’
I must admit I had pretty low expectations for “Men in Black III.” I’ve never been a fan of the franchise as the whole alien theme seemed silly to me, and it’s been a decade since the last film, so…
Nonstop Movies: ‘Battleship’
Actor-turned-director Peter Berg had a promising start behind the camera. After a shaky debut with the dark comedy “Very Bad Things,” he went on to direct the very underrated “The Rundown,” the small-town football film “Friday Night Lights” and the…
‘Hawaii Five-O’ Recap: ‘Ua Hala’
Whoa. After catching up to last week’s action-filled episode involving the Yakuza and Wo Fat, I was positive that the Season 2 finale would no way match that episode’s intensity. I’m so glad I was proven wrong.The writers did an…
Nonstop Movies: Fab Five summer movies
It’s just mid-May, but the summer movie season is already upon us with the recent, record-breaking opening of “The Avenger.” I was in Japan, so I missed out on contributing to its $200-million opening, but I have since seen the…
IONA Contemporary Dance Theatre: ‘La Madonna’
The first time I attended an IONA Contemporary Dance Theatre performance, I was surrounded by beautiful, lithe dancers in full-body makeup and animal costumes, who gracefully made their way through the crowd, silently interacting with the audience. I felt like…
HIFF Spring Showcase: ‘Love On-Air’
Actresses have it tough when it comes to romantic comedies. Most of the success of a romantic comedy depends on female stars being able to carry films with their looks, charm and quirkiness. It’s very rare when male stars are…
HIFF Spring Showcase: ’11 Flowers’
“11 Flowers” take place in rural China during the end of the Cultural Revolution, when artists and intellectuals are forced to move away to work in factories, as a way to promote socialism and eliminate capitalism and cultural traditions. Families…
HIFF Spring Showcase: ‘Always’
If there’s one thing Koreans love as far as entertainment, it’s melodrama, which is why emotional roller coasters are ever present in movies, TV dramas and even music videos.This storytelling genre has been perfected over the years, and Koreans can…
‘Hawaii Five-O’ Recap: ‘Ha`alele’
Stars are stars for a reason. They have the charisma and talent to lead and produce a quality product, whether they’re the quarterback of a football team, the CEO of a company or the lead on a TV show. Alex…
Yeobosaeyo! Are you a K-drama addict?
If you turn your phone off between 7 and 10:30 every night to watch Korean TV, you may be a Korean drama addict.If you start to greet people by saying “anyeonghasaeyo,” you may be a Korean drama addict.If you know…
Nonstop Movies: ‘Wrath of the Titans’
“Wrath of the Titans,” the sequel to last year’s modest hit, “Clash of the Titans” is the epitome of what’s wrong with action films today. No longer are we asked to care about characters or stories, which yes, do count…
‘Hawaii Five-O’ Recap: ‘Kalele’
I’m getting worried. It was bad enough when white hairs became more plentiful on my scalp, my body ached after a few hours of basketball, and I had soup for dinner. Yes, soup, and not even a hearty one. And…
Nonstop Movies: ’21 Jump Street’
“21 Jump Street” is the big-screen reboot of a popular ’80s TV show, which featured youthful looking cops going undercover in high schools to solve juvenile crimes. And “juvenile” is the perfect word to describe this film, although I don’t…
Nonstop Movies: ‘John Carter’
I cannot recall the last time I wanted a movie to end so badly so I could leave. Watching “John Carter” was such an excruciating exercise in tolerance that the theater felt like a prison cell. I felt so liberated…
Nonstop Movies: ‘I am Bruce Lee’
Charisma.The lucky few have it. Many wish they had even a bit of it. But Bruce Lee defined it. That’s what I got out of watching “I am Bruce Lee,” the latest documentary featuring the life of one of the…
‘Hawaii Five-O’ Recap: ‘Lekio’
This episode was all about the Caan – James Caan, that is. The legendary actor, known for playing hothead Sonny Corleone in “The Godfather” (or Elf’s dad, depending on what decade you were born) and real-life father of “Hawaii Five-0”…
Nonstop Movies: Predicting the Oscars
In all honesty, the Academy Awards has lost credibility with me, with its history of rewarding safe and conservative films, instead of pioneering and daring ones. “Dances with Wolves” over “Goodfellas,” “Shakespeare in Love” over “Saving Private Ryan,” “Forrest Gump”…
‘Hawaii Five-O’ Recap: ‘Kupale’
What do you get when you combine a Major League Baseball player, an Olympic skating champion and 100 Hawaiian warriors dressed only in malo? No, it’s not the start of a bad joke… but the start of a pretty bad…
‘Hawaii Five-O’ Recap: ‘I Helu Pu’
You have to love when a show takes a chance and succeeds. That’s exactly what “Hawaii Five-0” did with “I Helu Pu,” an episode with a non-linear storyline a la “Pulp Fiction,” which resulted in one of the most original…
Nonstop Movies: ‘The Vow’
Just like how fashion magazines set impossible standards for women, movies like “The Vow” do the same for men. The leading man is always flawless, completely understanding of his mate and willing to sacrifice everything to make her happy.In “The…
‘Hawaii Five-O’ Recap: ‘Mai Ka Wa Kahiko’
What’s with the staccato airings of the last couple of Season 2 episodes? Last night’s episode “Mai Ka Wa Kahiko” was just the fourth new episode in the last nine weeks. But it was worth the wait, as the 5-0…
Nonstop Movies: ‘Man on a Ledge’
A sharp-dressed man named Nick Cassidy checks into a luxurious Manhattan hotel, orders himself a fancy meal of lobster and champagne, then cleans the room of prints, leaves a brief note, and steps out onto a narrow ledge, threatening to…
‘Hawaii Five-O’ Recap: ‘Pu`olo’
Now that’s more like it!“Hawaii Five-0” returned after a one-week break with “Pu`olo,” the best episode of Season 2. The silly plotlines of filler episodes were replaced with a clean story that actually had purpose. Not only do we finally…
Nonstop Movies: ‘Joyful Noise’
It’s only January, but is it too early to proclaim a film the feel good movie of the year?“Joyful Noise” stars Queen Latifah and Dolly Parton as two rivals vying for a choir leader position in preparation for a national…
‘Hawaii Five-O’ Recap: ‘Ka Ho`oponopono’
It’s been three weeks since the last new episode of “Hawaii Five-0,” and fans have been anxiously waiting for tonight’s show. What they got was a convoluted story about a beach party, an overdosed boyfriend, a sex tape scandal between…
Nonstop Movies: Fab Five Films of 2011
It wasn’t a great year for original films. Rather, we saw even more sequels, prequels and remakes than ever. But despite an overall lack of originality, Hollywood did manage to produce some fine films in 2011, and some memorable performances…
Year in review: The incredible hikes
I’ve always enjoyed hiking, but 2011 was the first time I really challenged myself to get off regularly traveled paths such as Diamond Head and Mariner’s Ridge, and hit some of Oahu’s many ridge trails. Thanks to my good friend…
Nonstop Movies: ‘War Horse’
Only director Steven Spielberg could make a film epic about a horse work this well. Known for delivering a level of sentimentality (sometimes excessively) in nearly all his films, that earnestness and purity help create just the right tone for…
