Directed by Pierre Morel, “Taken” is a very thrilling and touching movie about a former spy who saves his kidnapped daughter. This movie covers action, crime, and thriller, and the main character of the movie is Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson). Bryan Mills is a retired agent who used to work in Central Intelligence Agency, but he left CIA to look after his daughter, Kim, in California. His only daughter named Kim (Maggie Grace) lives with her mother and a wealthy stepfather, and he cares a lot about her. One day, Kim travels to Paris with her friend, Amanda. When Kim and Amanda arrive in Paris, they share a cab with a strange man. Unfortunately, the strange man turns out to be a member of a human-trafficking Albanian gang. Amanda gets kidnapped first and Kim gets kidnapped while she calls her father in the last minute. Bryan warns the kidnappers, “I don’t know who you are, but if you don’t let my daughter go, I will find you, I will kill you.” And then, Bryan travels to Paris and saves his daughter. “Taken” is a very touching movie because it shows family love and makes you feel grateful for love you receive from your family members. bout family members you have. I recommend this movie to people who enjoy watching action and thriller movies.

Have you ever read any novels from a worldwide known author, Stephenie Meyer? Including the Twilight Saga, all of her books are very popular among teenagers. One of her bestselling books, Twilight has come out as a movie. Directed by Catherine Hardwicke, “Twilight” is a fantasy and romantic movie about a vampire and human’s love story. These days, novels about fictional characters such as vampires and werewolves are very popular and many people are liking it. The main characters in the movie are Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) and Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson). Bella Swan is a teenage girl who is slightly different from other girls in her age. After her mother’s remarriage, she moves to gloomy Forks to live with her father. She starts her junior year in Arizona high school, and she meets the Cullens. Bella finds about that the Cullens is a very unique vampire family because they don’t drink human blood. For Edward, Bella is his soul mate who he has been waiting for 90 years. They fall in love and face many conflicts and adventures. The movie gives the lesson how building trust is significant when it comes to living a social life. For example, even though Bella and Edward face many conflicts, they still love each other because they trust each other. Even though I watched “Twilight” almost three years ago, I still remember this movie very well because I enjoyed it a lot. I strongly recommend people who enjoyed Meyer’s novels to watch this movie, I can guarantee that you will like it.

“Step Up 3D” is a musical and romantic movie that I watched last year. Directed by Jon M. Chu, the movie is about teenagers who are passionate about dancing and looking forward to winning the championship in the globally known dance competition. The main characters in the movie are Moose (Adam G. Sevani), Luke (Rick Malambri), and Natalie (Sharni Vinson). They all meet each other in New York City while finding a dance crew in the street. Luke falls in love with Natalie and the romance starts. However, after Luke finds out about Natalie’s true identity (sister of their enemy, House of Samurai’s leader, Julien (Joe Slaughter)), their love falls apart as he gets angry that she lied to him. Despite the hardship they went through, they managed to get together and win the championship. “Step Up 3D” shows that passion leads a person to become the best and how dreams can affect a person to become hard-working. The movie gives hope to those who are enthusiastic about dancing, singing, and activities that require to perform in front of the audience. I strongly recommend this movie to teenagers who enjoy watching musicals or romantic movies. In addition, the fact that the movie is 3D, it makes the movie more interesting and attracts people to watch it.

Have you ever heard of the famous tale called “Beauty and the Beast?” Did you enjoy it? If you did, I strongly recommend you to go watch a romantic fantasy movie, “Beastly.” Directed by Daniel Barnz, the movie is a modern version of “Beauty and the Beast.” The movie gives a lesson that external beauty is not everything, but what matters more importantly is internal beauty. The main character in the movie is Kyle Kingson (Alex Pettyfer), who has everything — intelligence, attractive looks, confidence, wealth, and fame. However, he is being very brutal to his “aggressive unattractive” classmates by mocking and insulting them. One day, he invites Gothic classmate, Kendra (Mary-Kate Olsen), to the school’s prodigal environmental bash, and humiliates her in front of his classmates. Kendra casts a magic spell in order to physically transform Kyle into everything he abhors. Then Kendra tells him that the only way to get his looks back is to find his true love, which he thinks is impossible. Due to his disgusting appearance, Kyle’s father moves him to Brooklyn with an African-American housekeeper (Lisa Gay Hamilton) who Kyle always makes fun of and a blind tutor (Neil Patrick Harris). Fortunately, he finds Lindy (Vanessa Hudgens) liking him despite of the monstrous appearance. After Kyle finds his true love, he transforms back and realizes what is shown externally is not everything. I find “Beastly” very interesting and it reminds me of “Beauty and the Beast.” I suggest the movie to those teenagers who like fantasy and romantic movies and I am willing to watch this movie again in my spare time.

“Suspicious Customers” is a comedy movie that I watched last week. Directed by Jinmo Jo, the movie gives a lesson that money is not everything and life is beautiful. The main character in the movie is Byeongwoo Bae (Seungbeom Ryu), a talented, arrogant young man who works at an insurance company. His goal is to become top at his company and earn lots of money. Things change, however, after he meets four of his customers who are willing to commit suicide for the insurance money in order to support their families. Suspected of helping them out with suicide, Bae tries to convince them not to kill themselves and teaches them that life is valuable. In the meantime, he himself realizes what he has been focusing on, money, is not the most important element in life. He starts to value happiness, humanity, and family over wealth. Moreover, the movie portrays social conflicts people face and how they want to give themselves up for their families. For example, one of Bae’s customers who has a tic disorder can’t control himself from swearing even he wants to fix it. He collects newspapers in the subway to provide financial support to his family. One of the interesting sides about this guy is that he writes down three things that make him happy everyday, and that is considered to be his own way to appreciate his life. While watching that episode of the movie, I had a chance to look at my own life whether I’ve been grateful of what I receive or have. I really enjoyed “Suspicious Customers” and want to suggest to those who like comedy movies with lessons since it contains sarcastic yet realistic humor.

Most people who ride a horse for the first time complain for a few next days that their muscles ache. I still remember the time when I had to deal with the same situation. My arms were literally shaking immediately after the riding, and it affected my daily routine for the next three days. Despite the pain you experience at first, horseback riding gives you many benefits. It helps you with your diet since it burns body fat; it burns approximately 75 calories in 15 minutes. After I started horseback riding, I gained muscles and I am maintaining a good health right now. Secondly, it decreases the risks of developing weight-related diseases e.g. heart disease, colon cancer, etc.. Thirdly, horseback riding helps in easing back pain. Because it requires you to sit up straight the entire time, you have to pay close attention to your posture. Fourthly, it improves health conditions, elevates metabolic rate, and produces endorphins which give you happy energy. I myself have gone through this experience as well. After a ride, I always feel happy and I believe it was because of the above-mentioned reason. Lastly, horseback riding affects you in psychological ways. It helps you meditate as you ride a horse and take your time to relax in the nature. I feel all the stress released whenever I finish my riding lessons and it boosts confidence.

As a person who enjoys horseback riding, I personally think it’s important to know how to communicate with horses in order to protect yourselves from any unexpected accidents and understand them better. Most of the communications you have with them would be body signals; you will have to pay close attention to their ears and facial expressions for the purpose of interpreting their emotions. It is widely known that when a horse is angry and aggressive, she lays her ears back flat to her neck. However, this is not always the case. It could mean that she is afraid and thus listening to threats surrounding her or perhaps she is sleepy. Even if her putting her ears back may indicate various emotions, there is a single tip that could be very useful in communicating more effectively with her. When you see her ears are back and the white of her eyes, you might want to run away immediately from her: she is virtually preparing herself to bite or kick against the threat. Another way to figure out a horse’s emotions is through her facial expressions. For example, when her mouth is pinched and eyes are narrowed, this signals that she is in a bad mood or in pain. In this case, it is better to let her take a rest because it could be very dangerous to ride a sick horse. Feeling empathetic towards your horse and satisfying her needs is significant if you are willing to have a safe ride and maintain a good relationship with her. When I go horseback riding, I always check for these signs beforehand and keep myself safe.