Kinderspiele (1992)

Not sure if I got the spelling right... anyway its also known as Child's Play.

The story is of Micha, a rebellious boy of about 12 or so in Germany around the 1960s. Much like 400Blows and Joe the King, Micha is a rather neglected kid...he feels unwanted and unloved. His mother has just moved out of the house and chooses to bring along his younger brother while he is left to the care of his sometimes violent father.

Micha struggles to prevent the divorce and becomes the mediator between his parents by passing along letters that he sometimes fabricated himself.Of course his naive attempts at bringing his family back together is unsuccessful.

***Spoilers***

His father angered at being made a fool by Micha, with the letters, started smacking him around. In self defence Micha grabed the nearest thing which was a hammer, struck his father on the head, and his father dies almost instantly.He cries and tries to wake him up. Next we see Micha in the bathtub trying wash his guilt away. And before the credits roll they showed a scene of several police cars in front of the family home. Several things could have happen here. The father does not make an appearance at work and his colleagues alerted the police. They find him dead...and Micha gets into a whole lot of trouble. But I think this seems more likely...Micha kills himself in the bathtub...he feels guilty of his father's death and the fact his family won't be together again. He doesn't visit his mother and so the police goes and check the house. Anyway thats just what I think.

Overall the story is ok...rather sad. Slow at times but still managed to keep me watching.

Flixster

I have a new Flixster account. Check out the new page here.
The reason I had to change...My first account had way too many glitches. Most of the movies I rated never appeared on My Ratings page. So I cancelled and set up a new account...and even then I encountered several problems and had to register several times...thats why the address is quite weird. I love the idea of Flixster and everything, but it has so many flaws...they really have to fix those glitches.


Tags: Movies, DVDs, Coming Soon, Flixster

Spider-Man 3

The past week two new posters were released(see above). They're pretty much the same...only different colours.I don't get it. Whats the point right?

Watch the teaser trailer here and the trailer(which was recently released) here. I think I prefer the teaser. The Fox Spider-Man 3 tv clip is online. Check it out here. Enjoy.

Baran (2001)

Baran is brought to us by the same writer/director, Majid Majidi, who also made Children of Heaven. Personally I preferred Baran to Children of Heaven. It is a rather simple film with little dialogue...Baran for example says nothing throughout the film...but yet her silence is able to speak to us.Some have said that it kind of looks like a documentary, I guess it does in its simple natural approach. What the film does is gives us a glimpse into a certain period of Lateef's life where he meets Rahmat/Baran. You see Baran is a girl of about 16 or so. When her father injures himself at work, she goes to take his place as a construction worker and disguises herself as a boy. And she went by the name of Rahmat. Lateef works at the same construction site and so he meets Rahmat. He will later discover her secret and falls in love with her. He sees her hardships and her perseverance to survive and tries to secretly help her. But the doom love affair of course ends before it pretty much begins.

I would highly recommend this film. Not only does it has great story...but it opens your eyes to a different environment, culture and life.


Tags: Movies, DVDs, Drama, Majid Majidi, Baran

High School Musical (2006)

I don't know how this movie got soo popular. I guess I am not thier target audience so its natural for me not to like it...and I do not like it. I have to admit, musicals are generally not my thing(so I am likely bias here)...I don't like seeing people breaking into song and dance every other scene...thats why I dislike bollywood movies. Same for this movie...and the acting was rather stiff. Vanessa Hudgens is hardly believable as the wallflower/bookworm/nerd who can sing and dance...she looks more like the popular kids in school. And the songs...they were not good...they all sounded the same...even the theme song, Breaking Free. I cringe everytime the kids started singing...I stopped watching after about 45 minutes or so. If you love musicals or still a kid then I'm sure you'll probably like this. Oh and they're making a second one too.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix

The past week has been a great week for Harry Potter fans. The teaser poster has been revealed to us...a dark glowing Voldermort (see above). The teaser trailer is also available online. Click here to watch. I have to say, I am not impressed. It looks a bit boring...but then again this is only a teaser.The dark lord building an army...sounds like Sauron of Lord of the Rings...don't you think?And accompanying all this are the pictures which you can view here. Oh and not forgetting...the movie website is also up...where you can also pretty much view the stuff mentioned above.Enjoy.

Posters Galore

I love posters. A great poster garners interest for the movie. First impressions are everything right? Here are some recent ones.





Shrek 3: This is the second poster for Shrek 3. I much prefer this poster. Hmm are the trailers up yet?

Eragon: Like the Dragon poster. Everyone must have heard about this movie by now. Its the latest fantasy, dragon flick...a lot of hype. Hmm but it reminds of me too much of Dungeons and Dragons, with the whole dragon thing and the fact that Jeremy Irons stars in this one too... Dungeons and Dragons was bad...lets hope this one is actually good.




Charlotte's Web: Have never read the book. Watched the trailer...and it kinda reminds me of Babe...not that I've ever watch Babe.






Tags: Movies, DVDs, Drama, Shrek 3, Eragon, Charlotte's Web

Japanese Story (2003)

When I first saw the posters of this movie when it was first released I thought...this must be an arthouse flick. I guess it is... right? By the way...what is an arthouse flick? Something that is independently made? With a small budget? One that usually has little, but deep insightful, meaningful dialogue and long moments of again deep, thoughtful silence? Anyone care to explain?

So anyway, caught this little flick a while ago. Well it was ok...can be quite dull and draggy at times. I thought I got the story but then again maybe not. In summary, Toni Collette is this Aussie woman who is to show this Japanese guy around the country. They didn't hit off well. Each was not aware of each others culture and tradition. There was also the language barrier as the Japanese guy spoke little English...thus a whole lot of misunderstanding happens. But soon things got better. ..there was even an attraction there. And just as they were enjoying each others company...a tragic accident happen. I won't spoil it for those who actually want to see this movie...I mean, I never thought the story took the turn it did.

So the end was rather sad...but I couldn't really understand the whole thing. Its definitely not for everyone.

Tags: Movies, DVDs, Drama, Japanese Story

The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945)

As mentioned in an earlier post, The Picture of Dorian Gray has got to be one of my favourite books...although I only have read it a grand total of once (borrowed it from the local library). Anyway I was lucky to have stumbled upon this movie on MGM as I was flipping channels one boring weekend. And well... I didn't really like it.

Here's what I thought... the guy who played Dorian was much much too old to play Dorian. Dorian is supposed to be this boyish looking 21 or so year old guy...and the actor is nowhere near 21 year old looking. The actress who played Sibyl Vane too looked too old to be the 17 year old Sibyl...Hmm and if I remember it correctly...wasn't Sibyl suppose to play Juliet when Dorian met her...why did they have her singing stuff??Lord Henry Wotton...I would have much liked to have seen more of his cynical philosophies of life...The paintings, I liked neither of them. And finally Basil's death scene...it was very very comical.

Well ok I'm bias...I didn't like it so I can only find stuff to criticise. I sure hope that the upcoming adaptations are a lot better.

1000 Greatest Films

Again through a link on IMDB, I found this website, They Shoot Movies Don't They. And they've compiled 1000 Greatest Films using critics' and filmmakers' top-tens. I love looking at movie rankings...and this is interesting. No surprise what the no, 1 film is....Citizen Kane. I've actually watched it...and I don't get it...I can see that its a good movie...but what makes it a great movie? Moving on...I actually did this...I actually counted how many recent movies got on the list...by recent , I mean 90's and beyond. 90's, only about 96 got on the list and 2000's a pitiful, 8. What does that mean? So anyway check the link above to see the what made to the list of 1000 Greatest Films.

Oh and out of the 1000...I've only watched 51 of them which I listed below.

Citizen Kane, Godfather, The, 400 Blows, Wizard of Oz, Barry Lyndon, Gone with the Wind, Star Wars, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, Exorcist, The, Shining, The, Raiders of the Lost Ark, To Kill a Mockingbird, Rosemary's Baby, Graduate, The, Great Expectations, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Alien ,Empire Strikes Back, The, Rebel Without a Cause, Carrie, Sound of Music, Piano, The, Back to the Future, Hustler, The, Shawshank Redemption, Forrest Gump, American Graffiti, Lolita, Edward Scissorhands, Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The, Wicker Man, The, Beauty and the Beast, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Usual Suspects, The, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Ten Commandments, The, Superman, Matrix, The, When Harry Met Sally, Fight Club, Ghostbusters, Rain Man, Remains of the Day, The, Se7en, A.I. Artificial Intelligence, Jurassic Park, Jacob's Ladder, Nightmare on Elm Street, A, Royal Tenenbaums, The , Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The


Tags: Movies, DVDs, Film, Movie Rankings, 1000 Greatest Films

Hidden Picture Game

Through a link on IMDB I found this cool Scary movie Hidden picture game on M&Ms website. Check it out here.

I love hidden picture games...aren't they fun. The last time I played was the 40 bands one...I think that was by Virgin.

Bride & Prejudice (2004)

Yes this is another modern adaptation of Pride and Prjudice.But unlike Bridget Jones's Diary...this one follows the same plot throughout...And this one has a Bollywood touch to it too. I don't like Bollywood movies... because people breaking out into song and dance every other scene...irritates me. Luckily this one does not go entirely overboard with the whole Bollywood thing...but it does have the occassional, lovers dancing in the fountain/fields/beach thing...*cringe*. And I am convince that Martin Henderson can't dance nor sing, since you see little of him dancing and non of him singing...or maybe its just his character...as you see..he plays the stiff Will Darcy...the wealthy heir to a hotel chain...While Aishwarya Rai play Lalita...the modern Indian version of Lizzie Bennet...and of course the two falls in love...but their pride and prejudice gets in the way.

Surprisingly...I did enjoy watching this movie. It is quite funny and has its cheesy moments but overall it is a fun and colourful movie. Oh and if you love the Gilmore Girls...Alexis Bledel acts in this one too. She plays Darcy's little sister and Naveen Andrews (Syed on Lost) plays Darcy's best friend.