Lust , Caution - 色 。戒

Wow, I can't even remember when's the last time I wrote a post for movie reviews,
I guess I just didn't watch anything worth writing for the past few months.

Lust . Caution 色 。戒-


Another masterpiece from Ang Lee,
I'm so proud of him! (saying that without any hesitation)
He can always bring the most subtle things to life,
The way he sets up the scenes, the tempo of the stories, and the cinematography just make me speechless.

Lust . Caution is based on a short novel written by Chang, Eileen,
A famous Chinese writer during 20th century.

During World War II, Japanese government tried to take over China,
Many Chinese spy groups have been formed.
Their purpose is clear,
Find out who are the Japanese collaborators and kill them all,
So that the Chinese can claim their country back.

The main storyline builds around the mission of assassinating Mr. Yee, a Japanese collaborator;
Along with the "lust and caution" between him and Wong Chia Chi, a college student that carries on the duty of reaching that goal.

It is important to understand the history background in order to better appreciate the movie,
Plus all the different dialects used throughout the film makes it an even harder task for a perfect translation.
I'm not surprised that the reviews for Lust . Caution in America are not quite as well,
But from my point of view,
It's truly a masterpiece.

Go watch it!

Cindy's Rating: 8

The Simpsons Movie

Da Da Da Da~
Da Da Da Da~
Da Da Da Daaaaaaaa~

I'm proudly present you, The Simpsons-


It was 87 minutes of non-stop laughing.
Seriously, every little scene from the movie was funny, and every single conversation was hilarious.
Starting from the 21th century fox opening till the end of the movie credit,
There's always something "different" and "hysterical" that makes you laugh.

Cindy Created from The Simpson's Website-


Just like what Homer Simpson said,
Why do we need to pay for something we can watch for free on TV?
But trust me, it's definitely worth it!

Cindy's Rating: 8

http://www.simpsonsmovie.com/main.html

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Director: David Yates

Current Status: Number one in the box office; $77.4 million during the opening; I guess all we muggles are in love with the movie.

Personally speaking,

I prefer the last Harry Potter sequel way more than the Order of the Phoenix,

I feel that the Order of the Phoenix still has lots of rooms to better stretch the story line,

Just to make it more detailed and expanded further.

By the way,

The lines were crazy,

Good thing that there's internet so I got my ticket way before the movie starts.

But that doesn't mean anything yet,

I still need to stay in the line to secure a good spot in the theater.

Here's the line all the way to the back of the Spectrum-

Where Was I?-

Those are not my feet,

I was standing behind them,

Yes,

On the construction site.

Cindy's Rating: 4

I expected a little bit more from the movie,

Maybe too much.

Whens the next one coming?

November 2008.

Why do we have to wait for so long for movies nowadays?...

(Me singing..one for the money....two for the show...)

Ratatouille

What a wonderful movie,

Perfect for kids,

Superb for adults,

And aces for food lovers!

The basic story is about a rat who's just like me!

Well, kind of.

It was about the little adventure of Remy the rat, into the exquisite world of culinary.

The building of relationships with Linguini - an "uprising" cooking star,

The beloved rat family,

And the passion for food.

As I was watching the movie,

Mysteriously I found some similarities between me and the critic-

I wonder.

And somehow there were tears circling in my eyes toward the end of the movie,

I don't know,

I even cried when I watched Discovery Channel.

Conclusion?

Ratatouille is definitely a must seen!

http://www.disney.go.com/disneypictures/ratatouille/main.html

Cindy's Rating: 10!

Shichinin No Samurai - Seven Samurai

Directed by Akira Kurosawa,

Awesome director and writer,

And I just found out that his birthday and my birthday is only 3 days apart,

Well,

Of course not mentioning the years.

Shichinin No Samurai is a great classic film that you have to watch,

It's a black and white movie (1954) lasting for about 160 mins.

I can assure you that this 160 mins will be one of the best movie moments in your life.

The basic story line is about farmers finding 7 samurai in order to fight the bandits.

Some knowledge in Japanese culture will greatly enhance the interpretation of the film,

Such as class level (samurai, farmer, etc) and history background.

Here's the picture of the seven samurai-

Ahhh,

I can't wait to watch more mater pieces by Akira Kurosawa.

Cindy's Rating: 8

Surf's Up

One super cute movie by Sony Pictures Entertainment,

The whole movie was done in a documentary-like setting,

Filming the life and journey of Cody-A young surfing-addict penguin.

This movie is worth watching for sure,

Everything's so cute,

Everyone in the film was so laid back,

Especially the squid and the kids,

I love them,

They are just,

Way too adorable.

Here are the adorable three kids-

I also enjoy the background music they used throughout the movie,

Go watch it!

It will brighten up your day,

Guaranteed.

Cindy's Rating: 8

Ps. How much I wish they can make one anime for snowboarding.

Knocked Up

Director: Judd Apatow.


Who is this guy?
Well I'm sure you'll know him after I mention some of his works,
40 Year Old Virgin,
Talladega Nights,
and Anchorman.


Knocked up is about the struggles of parenthood between two young adults after an accidental one night stand.

I'll leave the rest for you to discover.

Basically it's a very cute movie,

Cindy's Rating: 6.5

Paprika

I would like to use the word "typical" to describe this Japanese anime,
But I feel like I'm falling into the trap of generalization.

However, if you do watch a lot of movies from Japan,
(Not the "pop culture" type)
You will find similar story structure/layout in all these films.
Paprika..
Not doing a good job separating it from others.

Paprika-


http://www.sonyclassics.com/paprika/

Cindy's Rating: 5

Just my personal taste.
No offense.

Pirates of the Caribbean-At World's End

Few words about this movie-

Special effects were good,

Story lines were...ok...

I have to admit that I got confused in some parts of the movie,

Not like I can't understand English,

Just,

Somehow it seemed so fragmented (to me),

Fragmented in a way that...it doesn't flow anymore.

However,

I do give extra point for At World's End because of Yun-Fat Chow (周潤發),

I love him.

Great actor,

Great person.

PS. Remember to stay all the way till the end,

unless you want to skip the "last part" of the movie.

Cindy's Rating: 5

Shrek the Third

I got into the theater late,
Ended up sharing one seat with a little kid,
Which was fine,
She was nice and quiet throughout the whole movie.

Shrek the Third-

Not as good as the first and the second one.
But Puss was super cute-


Cindy's Rating: 5

By the way,
I took some pictures on the way in and out of the theater.

These two things were in the lobby.

Front-

Back-

So many good animations coming out this summer.

I'm excited.

The Namesake

Director: Mira Nair

The name probably won't recall anything. Just to bring up your memory, here's the list of a few of his works: September 11, Monsoon Wedding, and Salaam Bombay. Very talented director.

One of the casts: Kal Penn

He actually surprised me by his performance in this movie, I guess I was still having the image of him being a silly college student from Harold & Kumar.

Few words about this movie:

Mellow yet subtle. Precious every moment in your life and don't regret anything you do.

Cindy's Rating: 6.7

Children of Men

After tonight's long ass presentation,
I'm proudly announced that I'm finally, finally,
Semi-officially done with school!
(Still have one more take-home final to do, but no biggie)

As a small celebration,
I ordered On Demand at home tonight.
Movie of the day: Children of Men-



Great casts.
Clive Owen and Julianna Moore, both are my all time favorites~!

Alfonso Cuaron, Awesome director.
He's been involved with many great movies such as Y Tu Mama Tambien, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and Pan's Labyrinth.

I'll leave the content of the movie for you guys to explore.
And as what I get from the movie, well, it's just a small thing.
-We, the human always make things so complicating-

Really good movie, highly recommended.

Cindy's Rating: 7.5