| Movie | Rating | Review | Date | Your Rating | Match | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Le Scaphandre et le Papillon (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly) - PG-13 |
A poignant biopic of famed French journalist Jean-Dominique Bauby who fell into a coma after a massive stroke and woke up with locked-in syndrome, a very rare condition in which his entire body's paralyzed except for the left eyelid, with his mental capacities intact. He was able to communicate only through the blinking of his eye. The film brings you into the perspective of Bauby, literally at the beginning as the lens of the camera portrayed itself as his eye, writhing with panic and disorientation until it becomes oriented and swiveled with limited scope. Figuratively, such perspective plunges you into the core of his mind, him depicting his condition as being locked in a diving bell--slowly plummeting down the ocean, sensing the pressure of the depths, with him and the sound of his voice trapped inside the bell. But apart from his eyes, there are two things that aren't paralyzed, his imagination and his memory, symbolized by a butterfly earnestly wriggling out of its cocoon and flying away. His imagination and memory freed him from his deadened physical self. It is one of those movies that triggers human sentiments but won't make you cry (at least for me it didn't), instead leaves you with a note that truly it is not the cups that matter, it's what inside the cup, the quality of your life that will matter. Bauby in his locked-in condition did not ruminate about the car he drove or his position as the editor-in-chief of Elle France Magazine, but remorsed for the women he was unable to love, the chances he failed to seize, and the moments of happiness he allowed to drift away. He even asked himself if he have been blind or stupid, or does it take the harsh light of disaster to show him his true nature. The movie likewise illustrated some reality in the world we live in (those I noticed along the way), like desperately clutching into anything that will save you from your seemingly hopeless state such as soliciting chants and pleas to the assortment of world deities, whereas one truth holds, that is The Way alone; and infidelity being a status quo, with Bauby having a mistress and still favoring (in terms of love) the mistress over his wife, which he considered not as wife but only the mother of his children, despite her faithfulness. It's wrenching and disappointing (and not giving the movie poster with the face of the wife its due), that I had to let go of one star. But overall it's one worthy movie. |
June 13, 2009 | N/A | |||
| August Rush - PG | This movie fails in many aspects, for me. it should've worked if the music element to it was treated in real terms, not in a fairy tale-ish fashion. | June 13, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - PG-13 | June 13, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| The Visitor - PG-13 | May 31, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| I'm Not There - R |
This movie defines a great movie that made me define what a great movie is. It was a plus that I wasn't able to read reviews before I watched it, which made me think and figure it out for myself. It's an out-of-box storytelling of the life and times of Bob Dylan. Dylan juxtaposed in six characters, with Cate Blancett giving the most superb portrayal. And its not just the nonconformal, artistic storytelling, it is the whole revolutionary filmmaking that made it great.
(This is also the second to the last movie I've seen with the late Heath Ledger, the last being The Dark Knight as Joker, which he awesomely portrayed.) |
May 31, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Zodiac - R | May 30, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| Once - R | The nameless pair's connection passed by, but the music lingered. all in all there were madly-strummed guitars, delicately-tapped piano keys and gorgeous male-female vocals making beautiful music in an Irish backdrop. and such music told their story. Much deserved the Oscars for best musical score. :) | May 30, 2009 | N/A | |||
| The Painted Veil - PG-13 | Proving that great love stories doesn't have to end in they-all-lived-happily-ever after. (Fairy tales doesn't really sell to me. well, except if they cast Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore, hehe.) | May 30, 2009 | N/A | |||
| The English Patient - R | May 29, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| Lost In Translation - R | May 29, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| Be Kind Rewind - PG-13 |
When I saw the trailer of the movie, I thought it'll be like ROTFLOL like White Chicks. Watched the movie and yes there were some funny moments, but I didn't roll on the floor in laughter. Though that did not leave me disappointed.
Be Kind Rewind is comedy because of its well, comedic plot (which is original and ingenious by the way): A man whose brain becomes magnetized unintentionally destroys every tape in his friend's video store. In order to satisfy the store's most loyal renter, the two men set out to remake the lost films. Nevertheless, the gist and essence of it all surpasses the comedy. It happens to be funny along the way because of such creative story line and Mos Def/Jack Black improvisations but most of the movie is sweetness and sensitivity--of friends who argue and land each other punches but remain the best of friends (Mike and Jerry), of twines that bind video shop owner and his gentle worker which is like his adopted son (Mr. Fletcher and Mike), of kindhearted patron of VHS amidst the era of DVDs (Miss Falewicz) and of the entire neighborhood harmony and community togetherness (lovely Passaic townsfolk, who are actors in movie as well). Sigh and smile at the end make it one good movie. Plus I just happen to be a fan of 80s nostalgia and Gondry and Jack Black. Now I must see Jerry and Mike's "Sweded" films in their site! (: |
May 29, 2009 | N/A | |||
| L'Heure d'été (Summer Hours) - Unrated | May 29, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| Le Voyage du Ballon Rouge (The Flight of the Red Balloon) - PG | May 29, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| Management - R | May 29, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| The Soloist - PG-13 | May 29, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| The Brothers Bloom - PG-13 | May 29, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| Earth (Disneynature's Earth) (Planet Earth) - G | May 29, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| Coraline - PG | May 29, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| Anna and the King - PG-13 | May 29, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| The Kite Runner - PG-13 | May 29, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| Up - PG | May 29, 2009 | N/A |
21 ratings
6 reviews
