Brick Mansions is one of Paul Walker's last films. It's also a remake of the French Film Banlieue 13 (District 13.) It's almost the same as the original, with the exception being Paul Walker's brand of action is a bit different than that of Cyril Raffaeli (who was the original dude in District 13.) There's also the character played by RZA being rewritten to portray him in a more sympathetic light, which probably may not be the screenwriter's fault. Who'd want a drug addict to be mayor of their city? Beats me. If I were you, I'd rather watch the original, but if you miss Paul Walker and want to see him one last time, why not.
There's one really good thing about Amazing Spiderman 2, and that's the chemistry between the two leads. It's marvelous (pardon the pun) seeing these two wonderful actors who are naturals in their roles. Marc Webb's experience with indie romance movies really helped this one. It's not just that, of course. Andrew Garfield is the perfect wisecracking Spiderman we all know and love, and Emma Stone plays not only a great romantic lead, she's a great character period, although her character has a few weird motivations (which are probably not her fault.) The problem is that this chemistry is lost in a maze of underdeveloped villains that remind me of the Joel Shumacher Batman films , ridiculous plot points that twist and turn and leave us trapped like spiders in a web (zing!)
The special effects and the action scenes are also really good, except for that one rendition of Itsy Bitsy Spider that had me facepalming. There's a good movie in here somewhere, but it's lost in the mess. I still enjoyed it regardless, but your mileage may vary.
I noticed something about how Korean and Japanese films do their tearjerker movies after watching the South Korean melodrama Miracle in Cell No. 7. The Koreans make people cry through scenes that maximize their dramatic effect; it's like they have a checklist of stuff designed to make you cry. The scene itself is a product that makes you cry, because it should be. For example, a man is crying with his wife because it is the woman's last day before the man is sent to war to a certain death. Dramatic music swells in the background. Their eyes are both teary and yours is as well, because you are swept in the scene designed to affect you.
The Japanese, on the other hand, make you cry through introducing concepts incorporated through scenes that, in turn, make you cry. The scenes themselves, taken out of context, may not be a tearjerker, but because of established plot points in the film, it becomes one. A simple walk in the park is made more meaningful because (for example) the man walking in the park just lost his wife, and he's walking to reminisce, etc etc. I'm generalizing a bit here, but that's what I noticed.from watching many dramas. This one follows the Korean formula and in a very loose way, it's like I Am Sam in prison. The scenes are a bit implausible for the sake of drama, but they have a charm to it that you tend to suspend your disbelief anyway. You will probably not look at Sailormoon the same way again after watching this.
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