This movie is horrible

I decided to watch the movie "I Really Hate My Job" from the free on-demand feature of my cable TV package, and it was AWFUL! Avoid it! It's about nothing and is not the least bit satisfying or meaningful in any way. Now I know why writers use plots and include likeable characters and other characters who we can identify with, because this movie had *none* of that. I couldn't relate to any of the characters, they all seemed like jerks, most of them were lazy, self-indulgent, and went on about obscure intellectual concerns that no one cares about. I can't believe well-known people were involved in this project. And I'm sure that there are people out there who think I'm pedestrian in my taste, but I don't care. The movie had no focus and nothing to offer other than whining women who all had hangups that only mattered to them and the pretentious writer. Serious thumbs down, not worth the rental price (or time).

I just saw this good French movie tonight

I'll be honest: I don't go to movies much because they seem crass and shallow, or have too much violence or the stars are so self-indulgent and obnoxious, it's hard for me to shell out the 11 bucks (!) to support them.

But I saw a really good movie tonight: Coco Before Chanel. It's in French, so it was especially interesting for me to read the English subtitles while trying to figure out what they were saying.

Here's the French trailer for the film, and below that is the English trailer. I'm putting the French one first because, of course, I'm a language fan :D

Metropolis movie poster and clip in German

Here's a poster for the movie Metropolis, which was a silent German film made in the late 1920's. Here's a clip with the original German titles:



You can see more clips with the German at this link.

Also: someone let me know that this post was linked to a list of the best movie posters, so if you're interested in seeing a bunch of interesting designs, check it out.

See star trek

I rarely see movies, but I decided to see "Star Trek" because I've watched several episodes of Next Generation, Voyager (my favorite series) and Deep Space Nine. But you don't have to know anything about Star Trek to enjoy this movie, and if you are totally into Star Trek's history, story lines, characters, and quirks, you will have to put all that aside because this movie is starting a new era.

You don't even have to be into sci-fi. It's just a good movie, and if you like action, special effects, good acting, and high quality production value, then you'll really like this movie.

And what's weird is that the guy who plays Kirk looks and acts like a guy I work with, which I'm going to tell him on Monday because I doubt he reads my blog :D

This movie looks better than I thought

One of the books on my "favorite" list even here is The Devil Wears Prada, which I've recommended to other people who don't really like it. I don't even think I'm the "typical" reader for this book, but I really enjoyed the truth of the writing style and the story, probably because it was a thinly-veiled memoir.

When the movie came out, I decided not to see it because I really liked the book and thought the movie wouldn't measure up. Plus, Meryl Streep seemed to portray an the book's type-A boss, high-strung, elitist boss as too subdued.

But I've been watching it on TV, and it's actually a good movie. I see that Streep's treatment of the dragon-lady carries more power because everyone around her wants to please her, even though she never has to raise her voice. And the style of the movie doesn't have the tackiness I thought it would, but seems even sophisticated.

Plus, I'd never seen Anne Hathaway in a movie, just saw her image plastered everywhere because her PR machine is powerful. But she seems like a good actress with a cheerful disposition.

So I'll probably see this movie again because it ends way past my bedtime.

We all want a golden ticket

I've seen Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory many times (the original 1971 version, not the remake, which I've never seen), and even saw a special DVD with commentary and interviews with the stars, which I highly recommend. Well tonight I saw the movie for the umpteenth time, and realized that it's very popular because both kids and adults want a golden ticket--something really great that's given to them that leads to a better life. I think that's why we identify with Charlie: all of us may not be living in poverty, but we often want something to come along that that will improve our lives in a surprising way, especially for being a nice person, because it seems that sometimes it's the jerks who get ahead and achieve success.

A dumb question

I watched the movie Pride & Prejudice, and after the lovey-dovey ending (which was not in the UK version), I said to my husband, "That's a woman's dream--I wonder what guys thought of this movie," and he said, "This isn't the type of movie guys see."

Obviously. It's definitely a romantic, relationship-oriented chick flick, so I don't know why I assumed guys would've seen it.

Precious and cold

I thought I hadn't seen The Last Emperor, so I just sat through the whole thing, then realized that I saw it a while ago. I know it won a bunch of awards and everyone loved it, but I found it precious and cold, as in *too* precious and cold. Yeah, I know that we "should" like it, but it seemed like the movie was a series of story boards, like every scene was carefully planned like a painting. Maybe that's what they wanted: to create a movie that's like Chinese panels. Or maybe they kept it safe because the Chinese government back in the 80's gave them permission to film it in the Forbidden City, so they couldn't cross any lines by suggesting anything negative or even emotional.

I can see why it won an Oscar

I just saw the The Counterfeiters, which won an Academy Award for best foreign film this year. It was quite depressing, but it was really good and thought-provoking, so if you don't mind deep movies that contain despair and hardship and plenty of moral gray areas, you'll definitely like this one.

The movie was made in Austria, so it's in German (here's the German site) and I'm sure if my German wasn't so awful, I would've been able to figure out some of what they were saying. Which means I really need to resume studying German.

Last year's Oscar winner was also German: The Lives of Others, which I also saw. And I think I was thinking the same thing about learning German again. Obviously there's some good culture coming out of that area.

I knew it!

After I saw "La Vie En Rose," I said that "I would be very surprised if that film and/or actress did not win an Academy Award."

Well, the movie won some awards, and Marion Cotillard won best actress! Even though the media is saying that it's a "surprise", it isn't to me--she was incredible in that movie!

Good documentary

I usually don't watch VH1, but I ended up watching Air Guitar Nation because a couple of months ago I had to edit an interview with an air guitar champ, and I wanted to find out what that scene was like. I highly recommend this documentary--it's interesting and entertaining and is stylish in terms of the graphics and how they shot and edited it. By the end, I cared about how well these people were going to do. It doesn't mock them but just follows what they're doing and shows the drama of their pursuits.

It's a Wonderful Life online!

This is great news: according to Mad Minerva, one of my favorite movies has been posted online: It's a Wonderful Life. You can watch it for free in its entirety! It even has subtitles, in case English isn't your native language and you want to understand everything.

It's been a "tradition" during the holidays to watch it on television, and I've seen it many times. Now I don't have to wait for it to be broadcast, and there are no commercials.

Extremely sad movie

Wow, I highly recommend La Vie en Rose. It's a French film about Edith Piaf. It was so extremely sad, from the first moment to the last. I literally could've cried my eyes out the entire time, but I managed not to. Her life was absolutely tragic. I would be very surprised if that film and/or actress did not win an Academy Award. I would love to know how French people reacted to that movie. I'm sure it was very popular over there. But here in Chicago, on a Friday night, there were like 15 people in the theater. I hope Americans go to see it, but it's also ironic, because when Piaf first came to the U.S. to perform, audiences didn't like her, though critics did. So I guess she has a similar fate as a movie subject.

Amazing, sad, tragic, film. And life.

Hating Toronto

I didn't know so many people in Canada hated Toronto. I like it, which is why I'm going there this weekend for a short vacation. Too bad I can't see this documentary there. That would be cool. But it was only shown for a couple of days (last weekend), and it sold out fast.

According to an interview with the filmmakers, if people don't hate it, they mock it. That's odd, but I guess they don't have much else to do up there ;)

Double English

I finally saw Das Boot. It's a great film, though not really my type of movie because I'm not interested in war movies or thrillers or plots that are overwhelming suspenseful with disturbing scenes--there's enough stress in life without the need to get lost in a movie that is relentless. It clearly shows how awful war is and how humans can suffer and inflict suffering and express degradation and debauchery in difficult situations.

I was fortunate to see the director's cut which I guess has lots more scenes in it than the original. I recommend that version, though I have nothing to compare it to, but the director said that this version allowed him to show what he wanted without the constraints of time and content that international distribution required back in the early 80's. It was a big-time hit back then, and I was actually old enough to be able to tolerate it when it came out, though I doubt I would've appreciated the subtleties and artistically presented scenes.

One cool feature of the director's cut is that you can play it in dubbed English (the original is in German, of course), and you can watch it with subtitles in French, Spanish, or English. But what's really a weird experience is watching it in dubbed English with English subtitles--they don't match up! The idioms are different and so are the phrases. So if you're really into the variations of English, you can be exposed to both at the same time.

I am looking forward to seeing the extra features: The Making of/Behind the Scenes and Director's Commentary, which I'll probably watch later this week.

What's weird is that it wasn't made in Germany, but WEST Germany, ie, when there was Free Germany and Commie Germany. Which reminds me of the awesome German movie I recently saw about East Germany.

INCREDIBLE German movie!

I just saw one of the best movies ever (not just an excellent German film): The Lives of Others (or Das Leben der Anderen in German).

It deservedly won an Oscar--it wasn't just awesome because of the interesting story, which takes place in East Germany before The Wall went down, but it works on so many levels. I could easily see it again. I don't usually get so excited about movies, but this one was entertaining, evoked a range of emotions, and had symbolism and layers of meaning.

I highly recommend this film! Even with the subtitles, you can see how great the actors are and appreciate both the complexities and subtleties of the story. It was so thought-provoking and stimulating that I'm sure it will be on my mind for a while.

Excellent Japanese movie

I just saw an excellent Japanese movie--actually, it's an excellent movie, no matter where it was made: Always - Sunset on Third Street. The acting is great, the story is interesting with humorous and sweet moments--it's just a lot better than some other films that everyone goes crazy over. It won a bunch of Japanese Academy Awards and could easily win awards in the U.S. too, but people are too busy salivating over such drivel as the Pursuit of Happyness, which I seem to be the only one it didn't win over.

Also check out the official Japanese site too.

A movie you should see

I rarely go to movies because they're expensive and some of the other movie-goers are usually idiots who like to talk during the show or are just annoying. You'll see that I have two favorite movies, though there are other ones I've seen and enjoyed, though not enough to list them as my faves.

An excellent movie that I saw recently was the The Queen. At first, when my family invited me to see it, I was like, "Who cares about the Queen and Diana?" I was in junior high when they got married, and to me it was such a fairy tale. I still remember how I felt watching the wedding and all that surrounded it on TV--absolute envy and hopefulness that I would one day experience such a thing (though without the pomp or wealth). I'm sure I was one of millions of girls who thought that.

Little did I know what a failed nightmare it would become. And as Diana continued with her PR campaign to make up for her misery, I didn't follow her, but it was hard to avoid her exposure because she was everywhere in the media, mostly unwillingly. Surprisingly, when she died, I was really affected. I really didn't care about her, or so I thought, but she'd been in the background of my own life for so long, I just always assumed she'd continue being there.

I remember the night I turned on the TV to check the weather--it was very late at night, and I had to wake up early the next day for my Japanese lesson, so I wanted to make sure I wasn't going to melt in the hot Chicago summer. I saw the words "Diana dead" on the screen--what? I couldn't believe it. I watched TV for hours to find out what the heck was happening, and during that subsequent week, I read practically every article about her and watched all the TV specials I could about her. Stuff I usually don't do--I don't like to get caught up in celebrity crapola. I told a friend about my obsession, and she said she felt the same way--she hadn't cared about Diana, or so she thought, until she died. I think a lot of people were mourning her death.

I'm so not into movies that I didn't even know this one existed until I was invited to see it. Even after I heard the title, I still couldn't figure out what it was about--"The Queen" could mean many things. I really thought it would be uneventful and an unnecessary viewing experience, but it was absolutely incredible--so incredible, in fact, that I'm planning to see it again.

It doesn't have special effects or really awesome scenes, but the acting is superb, and perhaps because it's a British production, it doesn't have that Hollywood mercenary style or the cheapness that pervades American films as they try to rope in the world for profit. It is an elegant, understated movie that is in excellent taste, and I walked away wanting more. It's really like viewing fine art--the combination of excellent acting (which I already mentioned), cinematography, direction, whatever. If this movie doesn't get an Oscar, at least for Best Actress, then there really is something wrong with popular culture.

Not worth it

I got a free ticket to see The Pursuit of Happyness, and it's a good thing I didn't pay for it because it's not worth the dough.

Will Smith is a good actor, and so is his son--actually, everyone is great in this movie. But the story is full of struggle after struggle, obstacles followed by more obstacles, letdowns and frustrations--for most of the movie. I kept looking at my watch, wondering when it was going to end because I felt like I was being barraged with negativity and frustration most of the time. I knew what the ending was going to be, but I had to wait through a lot of stomach churning endurance to get there.

So I'm glad I didn't pay--it's not even a movie that has to be seen on the big screen.

Rich and Strange

This past week, I got home really late but couldn't fall asleep, so I turned on the educational channel where they usually show really old movies (usually British) late at night/into the early morning. Usually, they're sort of odd, but I was fascinated by one: Rich and Strange. The shots are great--they show different ports and countries, and each scene seems painterly or like a good quality photograph. But what was also interesting was the interaction--even though it was in the early 1930's, the characters seemed modern, which helped get me into the story. I felt like I was a part of their trip, though the editing was choppy and the sound was awful. Apparently, from what I've read online, none of the versions seem to have good audio.

When I told my friend about how interesting and cutting edge it was for that time, he said that it was probably a Hitchcock film, but I doubted what he was saying because Hitchcock usually did mysteries. But yes, it is by Hitchcock, which explains why the style is relatively sophisticated.

Eleven

I'm going to help out with (not play) a softball game, and the gal in charge asked me what number I'd like on my jersey. Obvious answer: Eleven!

Nigel: This is a top to a, you know, what we use on stage, but it's very...very special because if you can see...

Marty: Yeah...

Nigel: ...the numbers all go to eleven. Look...right across the board.

Marty: Ahh...oh, I see....

Nigel: Eleven...eleven...eleven....

Marty: ...and most of these amps go up to ten....

Nigel: Exactly.

Marty: Does that mean it's...louder? Is it any louder?

Nigel: Well, it's one louder, isn't it? It's not ten. You see, most...most blokes, you know, will be playing at ten. You're on ten here...all the way up...all the way up....

Marty: Yeah....

Nigel: ...all the way up. You're on ten on your guitar...where can you go from there? Where?

Marty: I don't know....

Nigel: Nowhere. Exactly. What we do is if we need that extra...push over the cliff...you know what we do?

Marty: Put it up to eleven.

Nigel: Eleven. Exactly. One louder.

Marty: Why don't you just make ten louder and make ten be the top... number... and make that a little louder?

Nigel: These go to eleven.

The Great Raid

Yesterday I said I was going to see the movie The Great Raid (the official site may not be working right now, but you can see a trailer here).

I usually don't like to see war movies, and I wouldn't have seen this one, but it was my husband's birthday, and that's what he wanted to do. It's not a chick flick--far from it--but it's also not some cutsy or melodramatic, slick Hollywood film. It was very straightforward and clear, and included real footage from that time. And I think that it showed not only the bravery of the guys who rescued the POW's (prisoners of war), but it also showed the bravery of the Filipinos who fought alongside the Americans and how courageous the Filipinos were who risked their lives in the underground resistance.

The Great Raid was for real: "The Great Raid on Cabanatuan in the Philippines on 30 January 1945 by US Army Rangers and Filipino guerrillas resulted in the liberation of more than 500 American prisoners of war (POWs) from a Japanese POW camp near Cabanatuan, was a celebrated, historic achievement involving Allied special warfare operations during World War II."

And the movie portrayed what POW's really experienced:

The POWs also experienced intense cruelty at the hands of their captors in Cabanatuan. All had witnessed hundreds of their compatriots die for lack of food and medicine. All had witnessed torture and summary executions. All had experienced Japanese brutality firsthand.

Former POW Richard Beck remembered:

It's a very sinking feeling to know that you are going to be abused for a long period of time, and that's exactly what it was, it was a long period of abuse -- starvation, beatings... Some people were shot for no reason at all, so you never knew how to assess the situation, whether you should try to lead a low profile. It was a case of never knowing how to cope.

Here's a description from another former POW of the kinds of things that went on:

If a prisoner escaped ...I can recall the second camp, Cabanatuan, uh, I thought it was a Filipino. It was an American Indian. They beheaded the individual. They put his head on a pole and they walked up and down the main road in the camp so we could all see what happened to an escaped prisoner. If you escaped in Cabanatuan, they took out nine men from your squad and shot all nine of them. And they did that. So as a result, we had people agreeing not to escape because it would mean the lives of other people. We had squads made up of ten people and I've got-- well, I remember people signing certificates they would not escape. And if they did, they'd be subject to court martial after the war. Because the Japanese would shoot the other nine. So your responsibility as a soldier to escape was cut off in a hurry unless you wanted to take the lives of somebody else with you.

The movie also showed the fear that the POW's had--that they would all be killed by the end of the war, which ended up being official Japanese policy:

The Cabanatuan POWs' fear of becoming victims of another large scale massacre were well founded. After the war, it became clear that there existed a high command order -- issued from the War Ministry in Tokyo -- to kill all remaining POWs. This order, read in part:

Whether they are destroyed individually or in groups, and whether it is accomplished by means of mass bombing, poisonous smoke, poisons, drowning, or decapitation, dispose of them as the situation dictates. It is the aim not to allow the escape of a single one, to annihilate them all, and not to leave any traces.

Throughout the Pacific theater, the Japanese treated POWs and civilians barbarically. Survivors of camps in Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Burma and Laos all reported experiencing tremendous cruelty, torture, disease and starvation. It is an astounding fact that while POWs died at a rate of 1.2% in Germany, they died at a rate of 37% across the Pacific.

I can't imagine how the POW's who suffered in those camps can function in their post-war lives. It takes a very strong person to not only live with the emotional and physical scars, but to forgive their captures for what they did. Every day we have to forgive people for what they've done to us, but those are usually tiny offenses compared to what the POW's experienced. Even living in post-war, prosperous Japan was difficult for me, but to have to survive the activities of imperial, militaristic Japan must have been practically impossible. I just hope all the former POW's have been able to find peace.

LOTR rules

Lately, they've been showing The Fellowship of the Ring on cable television, and it's as incredible as ever. The Lord of the Rings screams "I'm excellent" every time I watch it. It is a masterpiece, a work of art, and it's made it difficult for me to see any other movie in a theater. Everything about it is quality, which is difficult to find in our crass pop culture.

I didn't see The Fellowship of the Ring when it came out a few years ago because I wasn't interested in fantasy. But a friend of mine convinced me that The Two Towers was great, and after enduring his nagging, I went to the movie theater and saw it, and loved it. Of course, I had to go back and watch the first movie on DVD to understand the context.

After I saw both movies a few times, I read JRR Tolkien's biography, and was really inspired by his brilliance and creativity. He spoke and read several languages, he wrote, he was quirky, he was unapologetically intellectual, a unique thinker.

Peter Jackson has not only made a stellar cultural contribution, but he has even helped his country's economy. How many people have done that, with integrity?