DVD : 4/5 Rating : Love Me If You Dare

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IMHO REVIEW :
saw this yesterday. rented this based on it's trailer - it looked like a romatic comedy, and it started out as such but then mid way changed.

this movie reminded me of bitter moon - where the story explores love, both it's happy side as well as it's dark side.

this movie starts out with two kids, one with an ailing mother and another a porlak from a poor family which everyone teases. they become friends and to make each other happy they play a game of dare. initially it's cute, then funny and as they grow older you see that they have something very very special.

then the turning point when the girl can not distinguish if the boy truely loves her of if it's all just a game... then the story turns very very dark.

it's a great story and well told, just not for the faint of heart and not for those looking for a happy ending. it is NOT like 'when harry met sally' as much as it seems so in the beginning.

watch it, but be forewarned it isn't your typical love story.

DVD : 3/5 Rating : Audition

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IMHO REVIEW : *WARNING*
i heard about this movie from a friend of mine who went to see it at the theatres during the showing various people left and puked... the last 20 minutes is that violent.

mind you this movie is directed by the same director (Takashi Miike) who directed Ichi the Killer. the difference with this movie is that Takashi explored the more emotional aspect of violence / terror. for the bulk of the movie you're just tense... there are just things that isn't right. there are moments when you just feel creeped out.

so the overall plot of the movie is this - widowed film maker (who has a son) is told by a friend that he should remarry. when the film maker states how is he gonna find the right gal his friend suggests that they use a movie audition as an excuse to find him a wife / date. needless to say they go through various gals until the director finds one who he likes.

they go on one date and the director is wondering if he should really persue this. during this lull Takashi shows a scene where the gal is sitting on the floor of an empty room - except for a telephone and what looks like a bag filled with dirty laundry (it looks like a duffle bag). he holds this scene - with her head down for a bit.... then he shows it again - she has not moved.

then the phone rings... she picks up.... and there is a scene where out of nowhere the bag starts to tussle/move. - bloodie creepie! later in the movie you actually see what's in the bag.

it's an amazingly creepy violent movie - interesting story + telling only if you can stomach it. again - when it showed in theaters many people walked out puking (so my friend told me) and after having seen the movie i understand why.

DVD : 3/5 Rating : Howl's Moving Castle

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IMHO REVIW :
watched this movie yesterday - via Netflx.

all in all a pretty good flick, but not as great as i had hoped. a part of that could be cause i'm such a huge fan of Hayao Miyazaki's previous works. works such as my neighbor totoro, nausica of the valley of the wind, spirited away and my personal favorite princess mononoke (in case you're wondering what mononoke means - ghost (angry), specter).

howl's moving castle has a similar feel - creepy creatures, magic, spirits and the like. his creativity of how the castle works is pretty amazing. his characters are super sweet - but it seemed lacking. the movie felt long, the story slow to develop and the ending seemed very abrupt. everything tied up very nicely in 5 minutes and left you wondering... really. that's all you had to do?

this would be a rent for me. if you are curious - i'd strongly suggest his other works - especially Princess Mononoke.

DVD : 3/5 Rating : Saving Face

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IHMO REVIEW :
i'd also add if you're asian it'll make your cringe - the mother character reminded me of my mother... ooo ouch... yikes... pow...

FYI for the fellas - rent this movie to show you're a caring individual who loves romatic comedies with heart. then watch it for the asian lesbian scene. ho ho!

the story of this movie is very typical of asian culture - as you go older in generation it becomes more and more strict. the movie about the interaction between the lesbian daughter and her mother - and her mother to her parents. the mother (who is a widow) becomes pregant - which is a huge no no. she is kicked out of her parents house (the grandparent's house) and is told that she MUST marry.

the mother goes to live with her daughter whose a med student/doctor + lesbian which her mother refuses to believe and constantly tries to set her up with single men.

it's an interesting story of how past cultures are mixed with that of american culture and where children who grew up here must live a mixed cultured life - what makes the movie so interesting to watch (and i don't just mean the lesbian scenes) is the movie looks at what happens to those cultures as they are faced with personal desires which are contrary to what they were raised with.

DVD : 3/5 Rating : Last Life in the Universe

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IMHO REVIEW :
finally watched the movie last nite and here's my review.

1. initially it seemed very slow (meaning the story telling was slow) and so it annoyed me. then i noticed that it was intentional. that the movie was trying to tell stories with images / scenes without any interactions with the actors. there were shots / scenes of empty rooms with nothing happening. you were allowed to view the empty space and get the story.

2. so i got the bit of how they were trying to use images to help tell the story. there were many things which suggested at importance but didn't explain further. this annoyed me. so i decided to watch it again with the commentary on. the commentary was by the cinematographer and he talked more about 'image making' and towards the end he actually stated. the movie / images are what they are. they don't have to be explained. when you look at a painting you don't ask why - you just enjoy it.

3. bloodie hell! so the movie didn't explain it's images / scenes.... but after some thought i found this interesting. the movie - with it's lack of hand holding to tell the story - makes you get involved. makes you think about the visuals, the pacing the interactions between the two main characters. it makes you think.

overall : if you're into 'image making' of diciphering visual language, you'll like this movie. this is not a hollywood type flick so don't watch it if you want to be 'entertained - and forget about your day.' DO watch it if you want to interact with the movie. ideally watch it with a friend and discuss it afterwards.

DVD : 0/5 Rating : Must Love Dogs

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IMHO REVIEW :
must love dogs should be titled 'must love crap.'

yes yes, it's pretty harsh - BUT IT'S TRUE! i felt the need to watch a romatic comedy - don't ask why - so i had must love dogs and alfie on my netflix que. they came, i watched - and here's my review.

do not waste your time with this movie. this movie had average ratings on both amazon.com and netflix.com but the movie is just plain aweful. the jokes were forced, the 'insightful' look into the dating world was cliche and the heart to heart moment between diane lane's character and her dad was just plain... stupid.

why you ask? well her dad is posting ads online - then dating all these women, he dates three women at once, his daughter (Diane Lane) speaks to him of how unfair this is to the women and how she feels his hurting one in particular. his response - i've lost the love of my life, now i'm just trying to keep busy so i won't have to remember her. WTF - that just means (in the wise words of snoop) we don't love them hoes.

with this answer of course Diane Lane is all cryin' and crap. whatever. it's a real shame considering that i think john cusack & diane lane are great actors, but the story is crap - and it felt like the actors just didn't care - there was nothing.

DO NOT WATCH THIS MOVIE!

DVD : 2/5 Rating : Alfie

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IMHO REVIEW :
saw this movie some time ago - here's my review

it had promise... too bad it didn't have the right cinemontographer, director, etc... what do i mean by that? to my surprise the story wasn't that bad! i say this because the reviews i had seen / heard when this movie was in theaters were aweful. so i wasn't expecting much... but to my surprise the overall story was pretty darn good - the acting (especially by jude law) was pretty good as well... so why did i not love this movie.

well for one - the bloodie heavy handedness of the visuals. the random large words - which is suppose to look like ads? but is just over the top messaging by the bloodie director. YUCK! it insults me as a viewer that they have to be so blunt. the look of the movie... the bloodie thing had three different looks! WTF! that's right - in the beginning it's got a slick MTV look to it - meaning the lighting is over the top, everyone looks beautiful, etc.. etc.. then suddenly the lighting changes to be drab, cold, etc... the change is too harsh, again - very heavy handed.

the overall story is the same ol story. player luckie enough to find good women - but screws it up cause his selfish and is constantly looking for something better - when he loses what he had then he comes to the realization... oh shit i had something good.

bottom line - it's an 'eh' movie - it did make me curious about the original though - gonna que the original on netflix.

DVD : 3/5 Rating : Failure to Launch

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Blue Dot

IMHO REVIEW :
saw this yesterday - to my shock it was pretty good. mind you i went into it thinking it was gonna suck. i had very very low expectations - didn't expect to get anything from it, perhaps a few random chuckles at best.

and that's exactly what i got. a silly unrealistic romantic comedy which had a few laughs.

all in all - expect nothing special - but it is entertaining to watch.

DVD : 3/5 Rating : Brokeback Mountain

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IMHO REVIEW :
saw this the other night and it was pretty good. didn't get the full experience as i had to see it on two different nights to watch the whole thing (damn you netflix!) as the first dvd stopped playing mid ways. :(

the storytelling, the acting, the cinemontagraphy were very well done. the overall story was good as well. the only reason i didn't love the movie was i kept thinking - "what a bunch of assholes - what about the gals they married? what about their kids?"

i understand the movie was trying to show the shittiness of the cowboy life style and how homosexuality is a big no-no which will incure murder - but to marry someone to hide the fact your gay.... i don't know, it just didn't seem right to me - and because i was caught up on this one aspect i didn't enjoy the movie as much as i might have.

again - storytelling fantastic, acting super duper, the cinemontography top notch, just that one annoying aspect that bugged the hell outta me.

bottomline : if you're not homophobic (there are make out scenes) and enjoy good storytelling then this is a good movie to rent.