Bin-jip (3-Iron) (2004)

Today's film is 3-Iron, named after the golf club.  I liked it.  It is a quiet film, but you won't really notice the lack of dialogue.

So this guy, Tae-suk is a kind of squatter.  He breaks into people's homes while they are away, and lives in them, traveling from house to house.  But, he's not like the squatters here that trash the place and poop everywhere.  Squatters here are a big problem, usually requiring police intervention to remove.   Tae-suk repays the house owner's "hospitality" by doing repairs and cleaning around each house.

One day he meets a lonely housewife and they "visit" various homes together.  Even though they are together, they don't really speak at all.  Some people may find their silent company endearing, but others may find it frustrating!  Especially for the police officers that question them.  They suspect them in the death of a resident, but it turns out he died of natural causes.

The housewife returns to her home with her husband, but sneaks kisses with Tae-suk under his nose.  Ok now she's just cheating.  So she wants the security and comfort of a husband, but the romance of a wandering boyfriend.  You can't have both.  She needs to be honest and choose one man.  I will give this film a 7/10.

The Girl who Played with Fire (2009)

Today's film is The Girl who Played with Fire.  It's not as interesting or mysterious as the first film.  It involves Mikael's news investigating a sex trafficking ring.  Then, three people are murdered and the police want Lisbeth. 

It ends up that the man in charge is a Russian spy who also happens to be Lisbeth's father.  Not only that, but the huge blond man who beat up two of her friends and tried to set them on fire, is her brother.  Her German brother who cannot feel pain.  So, to sum this up, she is a Swedish computer hacker with a Russian spy father and a German brother who acts as the father's muscle since he can't register pain.  Can this story get any crazier?  I will give this film a 6/10.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009)

Today's film is The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.  This film is the original Swedish version.  I have not read the book nor do I intend to. 

I thought Noomi Rapace did an excellent job as Lisbeth.  The movie is slower paced, and the way it starts, you have no idea what to expect next.  A reporter, Mikael, is set up and will be going to jail, but a rich man hires him to search for his missing niece. Shockingly, Lisbeth, who was hired to hack against him begins helping him, maybe out of curiosity or boredom. 

They begin to officially work together on the case.  But what they uncover shocks everyone. They find a pattern of murders.  But not just murders.  Religious ritual racist Nazi murders.  Say that three times fast.  This film is very graphic, with murders, rapes, and torture/injury scenes.  I liked the pace of the movie, but some scenes were far fetched, like when Mikael is saved at the last minute.  Like of course he's not gonna die, he's one of the main characters.   I'm gonna give this film an 8/10.

If... (1968) and Elephant (2003)

Today's movie is If... !  It's a look back to high school days, but it's also more than that.  My high school was almost exactly like this, except, you know, we're girls.  The main character, Mick (played by Malcolm McDowell) is a upperclassman who enjoys rebelling against the system with his friends.
The staff of the school are rather bizarre and let a group of seniors, called Whips do all the discipline, which they are more than happy to dole out to Mick and his friends.  Mick and his friends are not bad people, they are free spirits in a restrictive environment.  After a particularly cruel beating Mick and them are forced to clean out the basement, and find grenades, because of course there'd be grenades in a basement.

During the Founder's Day celebration, everyone is gathered inside until Mick and friends smoke them out.  As they run outside, the group picks them off with automatic weapons from the rooftop.  This entire part is surreal, because no one would really do this.  Oh wait, I live in America, yes this sort of thing happens quite often.  And no one seems to know what to do to prevent it.  I will give this film an 8/10.  It's more about rebelling against an unforgiving strict society that aims to keep us down.


Today's film is also Elephant, which can either be called "sad homage to a film like If.." or "sad reflection of today's reality".  The story is basic at best.  Really long takes of people walking, long takes of the sky, like I don't care.  In both films, we don't see any parents interacting with their children.  Except for the one drunk dad who's a screw up.

Then, there's the bullied kids who end up shooting up the school.  If you're wondering how it's possible for them to obtain weapons, well I live in Florida where it's extremely easy to buy guns.  There's a gun store on every corner, and shooting ranges/clubs everywhere.  There was a famous ad here from Nation Trucks that offered a free AK-47 with every purchase of a truck.  In actuality, they gave us a $400 voucher for the gun store where you could buy anything and the AK-47 was an attention grabber.  It really is the best and easiest to handle out of the automatic weapons. imo.   Also, the kids could just get it from their parent's room.  The man who shot up the church in Charleston got his gun as a birthday gift.

The problem with Elephant is that we don't get to know anyone whereas in If, we get to know Mick and his friends, and even some of the minor characters in other grades.  It's more like a documentary style.  But there's no heart in it.  It's just some bullied kids who can't handle their emotions and anger taking it out on everyone around them.  The threat of being shot, along with common core, is one of the reasons it might be a good idea to homeschool.    Most schools nowadays have metal detectors because of the sheer amount of shootings.  Also, the movie takes so long to get to its point, and then oh its just a school shooting for shock value.  Yeah I learned nothing.  I will give this film a 2/10.

El secreto de sus ojos (The Secret in Their Eyes) (2009)

Today's film is El secreto de sus ojos (The Secret in Their Eyes).  It comes to us from Argentina, and is the winner of the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film.  It didn't really read as a mystery to me; more like a crime drama.

Benjamin Esposito is a retired deputy who is writing a novel about one of his most difficult cases.  The crime happened over 25 years ago, when a woman was raped and murdered.  He visits his former coworkers and other people affected by the crime, and learns more about it as he goes along.

Benjamin has always been in love with his superior, Irene, but the love has never been quite returned.  She reads his draft of the novel. It ends with him riding on a train and her chasing after it on the station, you know, like the most cliche movie move ever.  She tells him how ridiculous that is, and if she was doomed to be alone for the rest of her life, then why didn't he take her with him?  So, he asks her out and she tells him it will be complicated.  Will they end up together? We don't know.

Benjamin also visits the victim's husband's house.  That's where he learns more about how he coped with his wife's death as well as his response to the killer's freedom.  Overall, it was a good film, but it wasn't anything outstanding.  I will give it a 7/10.

Cidade de Deus (City of God) (2002)

Today's film comes to us from Brazil.  It's Cidade de Deus (City of God).  It shows the history of a slum (favela) near Rio de Janeiro, and how the drug trade affects residents there.  Many of the actors in this movie are from nearby neighborhoods.  They couldn't actually film inside the real City of God, because it is too dangerous.

It starts off in the '60s, where kids watch older teenagers commit crimes and learn from them. One kid, Lil Dice (later Lil Zé) starts off robbing a hotel and killing it occupants, and as he grows up, uses his thirst for killing to control the entire favela.  He deals drugs, and literally kills off his competition.  

Another character, Rocket, also grows up in the favela, but dreams of being a photographer.  He starts off small, but gets his chance when a photo he takes of Lil Zé and his gansters gets published in the newspaper he works at.  Meanwhile, a war erupts between Lil Zé and Carrot, the last remaining rival, which is made worse by their endless supply of weapons.  Rocket gets caught up in the war between the drug lords and the cops, when all he wants to do is take pictures and not die.

I liked how the camera shook sometimes.  It really showed the hectic pace of the scenes.  Other than that, it flows nicely from decade to decade as we see how the drugs take over the neighborhood.  It also shows that in what looks like a beautiful beach resort city has areas that are filled with crime and violence, that often go forgotten, and I think that's true in a lot of cities.  I will give this film an 8/10.

Good Bye Lenin! (2003)

Today's film is Good Bye Lenin!  A long time ago, Germany was split into two different countries: East Germany and West Germany.  East Germany was communist while West Germany was not.  In this film, Alex lives with his family in East Germany.  His dad runs off to the West, and his mother breaks down.  We learn throughout the film that Alex's mother really cannot take any kind of shock.

Eventually, his mom leaves the hospital and returns to take care of Alex and his older sister.  Fast forward several years later, and people are protesting the regime more and more.  Alex's mom witnesses him being arrested during a protest, and collapses due to a heart attack.  She stays in a coma for 8 months.  During this time, Alex forms a relationship with a cute nurse, while the two sides of Germany reunite.  Mom finally wakes up, but the doctors say she cannot take any kind of shock or it may kill her.  Alex wants to bring her home.

The problem is that Mom loved her country, and was very active in the communist community.  If she learned that everything she believed in and worked for is gone,  she would be shocked to death.  So, Alex goes out of his way to pretend like everything is the same.  This gets harder and harder as Western capitalism, think: Coca Cola, invades their precious country.  Alex's friend helps him make fake news reports to "explain away" all this Western influence.

As time goes on, we learn that not only is Alex preserving the old country for his mom, but perhaps he is doing it to instill a sense of nostalgia, like he's remembering the good old days of when his family was all together.  But, perhaps his mom has some secrets of his own.  Alex's girlfriend and sister think he is taking it too far with all this pretending.  But, I see it the same way we tell our children about fairy tales.  It's making a perfect pretend world where everything is safe and nothing has changed.  His mom doesn't have very long time to live, so he's making her last few months comfortable.  He wanted her to die happy.  If she would have lived for several more years, then he would have had to explain that their country had reunited and that communism had failed.  However, he does find his dad because she wanted to see him one last time.  After she died, they put her ashes in a firework and shot it into the sky.

This film shows how an adult child will go out of their way to make sure their parent is safe and happy in their final moments.  Even though we may not understand or agree with how they do it, we know that his mom died where she was happy.  I will give this film an 8/10.

Children of Men (2006)

Today's film is Children of Men.  It shows a sadly realistic portrayal of a future world.  No spaceships, laser guns, or anything futuristic technology-wise, just a sad, crumbling planet thanks to our actions.  In this film, it's been about 18 years since the last baby was born.  The movie's not concerned with why women can't have babies, they just can't.

Clive Owen plays Theo, a one-time activist who grew up and got a job.  He is asked by his fellow activists, including his ex-wife, to get papers and help transport a young woman named Kee.  Kee is pregnant and needs to go to the Human Project, a group of scientists dedicated to fixing the fertility problem.  The activists, known as Fishes, want to use the baby as a pawn in their political scheme, and the government, well the government just sucks.  So Theo and Kee are trapped in the middle.  However, they do get lots of help from many people who want to make sure that Kee and her baby are safe.

Michael Caine was my favorite part of the movie.

This film is not so much a film about a dystopian future as it is a commentary on our modern society.  The film takes place in England but much of what we see is more about America.  We have a huge mistrust, almost hatred, of immigrants, yet we are a country founded on immigrants.  When Theo and Kee go through the first part of the refugee camp, we see the immigrants hooded and caged.  These people are in the exact same poses as the prisoners in the Abu Ghraib prison.  Also, I noticed the floating pig from that Pink Floyd album.

Something else I noticed was the impending danger associated with oranges.  Someone peels an orange in the car, and Theo's ex-wife is killed.  His pot-growing friend, Theo, has an orange right before the rebels kill him.  In the refugee camp, the gypsies share an orange with Kee and her baby, right before they have to run out into all that violence.  Every time we see an orange, someone gets killed.  This also happened in The Godfather.

I think the ending of this film is upbeat and positive.  Yes, Theo dies, but he has to.  He represents the dying out of a diseased generation, while Kee is the new generation that starts over.  She gets to start over fresh with her new baby.  And, the boat that comes to pick them up is named "Tomorrow".  That says a lot to me.  As the picture fades out, we hear the laughter of children, signifying that more children will be born and the world will be saved.  I will give this film a 7/10.

Le scaphandre et le papillon (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly) (2007)

Today's film is Le scaphandre et le papillon (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly).  At first I wondered what a diving bell had anything to do with a butterfly.  Butterflies don't go underwater.  But as I watched the film, I saw that it was a metaphor a man had created for his body and his life.  An extraordinary event changed him forever and trapped him.

Jean-Dominique Bauby (Jean-Do to his friends) was once a promising editor at the glitzy fashion magazine Elle, based in France.  For some unknown reason, he suffered a stroke at the young age of 43 which attacked the function of his brain stem.  The doctors described it as locked-in syndrome and told him it was a very rare occurrence which trapped him inside his own body.  Jean-Do no longer had function of any part of his body.  He couldn't walk, move his arms, turn his head, nothing.  The first part of the film is shown through Jean-Do's point of view, as he discovers what is going on.  He is sad to learn he can no longer talk.  His brain functions work perfectly fine, as he can still think.  So even though he is awake and completely aware of what is going on around him, he really can't interact with the world.

Jean-Do's super hot speech therapist, Henriette, teaches him how to communicate using the only control he has: blinking his left eye.  The doctor had to sew up his right eye because he couldn't blink.  If he didn't, then it would dry up and get infected.  Henriette tells Jean-Do to try to tell her something.  She uses a series of letters, and he blinks when he hears the letter he wants, spelling out his words. He spells out "I want to Die".  Henriette is shocked and insulted because she is trying to help him, but I can't blame him.  He can't move or anything.  Poor guy can't even use the bathroom.  He's not really living, he's being kept alive by other people and artificial means.  He's moved around by people everywhere, in the pool, in a wheelchair, all to prevent bedsores and exercise him, and he's fed by a feeding tube.

I wonder if he would have benefited by learning Morse code with his blinking eye.

After a while, Jean-Dodecides to write a book about his plight.  He originally wanted to write a book based on The Count of Monte Cristo, that book we were forced to read in high school.  But he wants to tell his own story.  He feels he is trapped in his own body, like a big diving bell, unable to move himself and just floating along down in the ocean.  But, like a butterfly emerging from its chrysalis, his spirit breaks free from his useless body and he finds happiness.   He called his book The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.

There are so many beautiful moments in this movie as Jean-Do basically lives in his imagination.  Ten days after the book was published, Jean-Do passed on from pneumonia.  He was never able to break free from his body in real life.  I found this film to be inspiring and powerfully sad.  Nobody deserves a fate like Jean-Do, to see the world pass him by and not be allowed to join in.  I will give this film a 9 out of 10.

District 9 (2009)

Today's film comes to us from South Africa.  It's District 9  and it is mostly awesome.  It took me a few tries to get through the first half of it.  The first part is presented documentary style.

Aliens have landed in South Africa, and are rounded up by the humans and placed in government housing.  And we all know how nice those are.  In the documentary portion, we see the main character, Wikus Van De Merwe, as he and the other humans mistreat the aliens, known as prawns.  They even stomp and kill their eggs.  They have no respect for them. Throughout the film, we see how the prawns and humans interact with each other and it is apparent that this film is a thinly veiled metaphor for apartheid.  

How can the humans and aliens understand each other if they can't speak each other's languages?  Because, the aliens have been on Earth for 30 years.  Even though we can't replicate their clicking noises, and they apparently can't form words,  30 years is more than enough time to understand someone's language.

Later, Wikus touches a prawn's weapon and his arm starts turning into a prawn's arm!  How does touching an alien's weapon turn you into an alien?  That makes no kind of sense!!  I know that Wikus's transformation is central to the plot, but it does throw me off a bit.  It allows him to emphasize with the oppressed prawns and generally become a better person.

All of the action happens as we watch Wikus try to escape the South African government, who want to use him for experiments for their weapons, and the evil Nigerian thugs.  Ironically, his best allies turn out to be the prawns, the very people that he scorned earlier.

This movie is fast paced, full of action, and provides a glimpse of life in South Africa, even though it's sci-fi'ed up a lot.  I thoroughly enjoyed watching this movie.  It also had a nice mixture of special effects and CGI.  I will give it an 8/10.

Home on the Range (2004)

Normally my daughter and I will never say "no" when you ask if we want to watch a Disney animated movie.  But we're going to have to say "no" to this movie.  Today's animated feature is Home on the Range.

The usual cute animal stars are replaced by three cows, one voiced by Roseanne, who travel to catch a cattle rustler for a ransom in order to save their farm.  The cattle rustler uses the profits from the stolen cattle to buy up all the land in Nebraska for some sort of revenge plan that I don't understand.  Also there is a plot twist in the middle that is pointless and doesn't affect the story so don't worry about it.

You know what the best part about Disney movies is?  The memorable songs!  We love singing.  Even my daughter, who cannot speak, will sing the melody of the Disney songs.  This movie has a couple country western songs that we couldn't remember ten minutes after viewing the movie.  They were really bad.

So this was one of the worst animated films we have ever seen.  We cannot recommend it to anyone and anyone involved in its production should be ashamed of themselves.  We will give it a 2/10.

Lost in Translation (2003)

Today's film is Lost in Translation.  It's an realistic, honest look at two lonely people in a crowded, strange city.  Bill Murray is Bob Harris, a faded movie star reduced to making whisky commercials.  The impossibly beautiful Scarlett Johannson is Charlotte, a young woman accompanying her photographer husband to Japan on business.  She is a recent graduate who majored in philosophy, which explains why she doesn't have a job.

Bob is bored in his 25-year-old marriage.  Instead of love notes, his wife sends him passive aggressive notes and carpet samples.  Charlotte is bored in her new marriage.  Her husband, John, would rather work than spend any time with her.  Through their loneliness, combined with being in a strange city, Bob and Charlotte form an unlikely bond.  They tour the city, party, do karaoke, and generally have a good time.

Yes, they do kiss, but it never goes any further than that.  Their connection is a spiritual one, not a physical one.  At the end, Bob has to leave, and he is sad to go.  When he whispers to Charlotte, I turned my computer Way up, and this is what he says: "The next time you see John, you tell him the truth, okay?"

I like this movie because it feels realistic and yet engages me at all times.  Also, there's no reason why men and women can't just be friends.  It could have easily fallen into the trap of romantic comedies and it didn't.  I will give it an 8/10.

Cherry Blossoms (Kirschblüten - Hanami) (2008)

I'm trying to review films from 40 different countries, and the first one is from Germany.  Today's film is Cherry Blossoms.  It sounded interesting so I wanted to watch it.

It's the story of Trudi and Rudi, who not only have rhyming names but are married.  Rudi is a boring man who works at a waste management facility and lives for a routine.  The film opens up with doctors telling Trudi that her husband has a terminal illness without telling him.  They discover the illness by a scan but it never gives the reason why he went for the scan in the first place.  Also, the doctors never contact him and tell him the diagnosis or explain anything.  So, Trudi keeps the illness a secret from her own husband and demands to go visit the kids, the beach, and Japan, which she also inexplicably loves.

I don't know anything about ethics, but shouldn't doctors have to tell a patient a diagnosis?  Especially if he is a fully grown adult capable of making his own decisions?  At one point he does say that if he knew he were about to die, he'd still go to work and still come home, but I think that just means he's happy with his life.  Some people aren't travelers or adventure-seekers, he seems genuinely content with his simple life even though it seems dull to us.

The visiting scenes are exactly like Tokyo Story which I totally watched part of before I fell asleep.  But the real story starts after this part.  Trudi unexpectedly dies during the visit and Rudi is left alone and depressed.  She never fulfilled her lifelong dream of visiting Mount Fuji in Japan.  This reminded me of Up, where Ellie dies before she achieved her travel dreams.  I've had a dream since I was 17 to backpack across Iceland and I still haven't gone.  Movies like these are depressing because I want the characters to achieve their personal dreams but their life gets in the way.  The surprising part is one of their children moved to Tokyo and they could have visited him at any point in time.  That's why you shouldn't keep putting things off because now it's too late for her.

Rudi decides to fly to Tokyo to visit his son and see Mount Fuji.  Also, Trudi was very interested in Butoh dancing, an artistic style of dance that invokes organic forms and shadows.  For example, Ballet is beautiful but there's nothing natural about spinning around on your tippy toes.  Butoh is complicated to explain and there is no real explanation for it.  It's artistic expression at its best.  Rudi meets Yu, a Butoh dancer who uses a phone as a prop.  She explains that is how she communicates with her deceased mother, through the phone, and through Butoh.  He learns more about this dance-art-thing from Yu and eventually travels to Mount Fuji to fulfill his wife's dream.  And still, this entire time Nobody has told him that he is going to die because of a fatal illness.

This brings us to the point of the title.  Rudi goes to Tokyo during the blooming of the cherry trees.  The cherry blossom signifies impermanence, they stay for a bit, then go away.  Same way with our lives.  Rudi went out of his way to make up for what Trudi didn't get to accomplish because she sacrificed for everyone else.  It also lets us know that it's okay to take a little time for ourselves and work towards accomplishing our dreams.  I will give this film a 7/10.

The Hangover (2009)

Happy New Year everyone! I thought this would be the perfect movie after the world's biggest annual party. The Hangover is the kind of movie I can watch over and over while drinking and it will always be hilarious.  Right now I'm having some apple ale.  It's an ale with a distinct taste of apple.  What a time to be alive.

The Hangover is about four guys who drive up to Las Vegas for a bachelor party.  When they wake up, they have no recollection of last night, and worse, the groom is missing!  Why is there a baby in the closet?  Whose baby is it?  How did a tiger get in the bathroom?  What's up with Mike Tyson?  All these questions will be answered and more.

I enjoy all the randomness that seems to spout out of Zach Galifianakis's mouth.  Such as "It's not a purse, it's a satchel. Indiana Jones wears one." and "It's not illegal, it's just frowned upon, like masturbating on an airplane."  The only person more dedicated to comedy in this film is Ken Jeong.  He bursts butt-ass naked out of a trunk and starts wailing at the (now three) friends with a tire iron.  He wasn't even supposed to be naked! He just did it!

Some scenes are subtle nods to other movies.  For example, they stay in the same suite as the characters in Rain Man do, while Alan finds a book on how to win at blackjack and suddenly becomes a math whiz. Then you have scenes like the one above where a tiger wakes up in the back of their car.

Let's do a comparative list.  In their car, they had a baby, then a tiger, then a naked man with a tire iron.  In my car all I have is a car seat, toys, golf clubs, rainclothes, and a bocce set. Clearly these men are leading more exciting lives.

I have not seen either sequel of this movie.  But with this movie being so silly, how can the others surpass it?  Be even sillier?  I will give this film a 7/10.

Coraline (2009)

Today's animated feature is Coraline.  It's a film that I think I would have been too frightened to see as a child, but as an adult I really like it.  This film was directed by Henry Selick, who also directed The Nightmare Before Christmas.  However, instead of a sing-songy cute creepy movie, we get an actual creepy adventure where a lot happens in a short running time.  Still, it is the longest stop motion animation ever made.

Coraline and her parents move into an old house that's been converted into apartments.  Her parents write for a gardening catalog and are too busy writing to do anything else.  They have no time to fix up the place, most of the boxes are still unpacked, they often forget to buy food, have no time to actually do some gardening, and above all ignore Coraline at all times.

Bored and lonely, she decides to explore the area.  Her other neighbors are a pair of ancient retired actresses living in the basement.  They love their terriers, and once one of them dies, they stuff them and dress them as an angel.  The upstairs neighbor is an eccentric Russian who trains circus mice.  The main person she talks to is the owner of the house's grandson, Wybie (the only character not in the book).  She is mostly annoyed by him.  While exploring, she comes across a tiny door wallpapered over.

She eventually opens the door to find a brick wall.  Disappointed, she goes to sleep that night.  Then, she goes downstairs to the door to find a tunnel to an alternate reality!  Everyone in the house, including her parents are there.  The weirdest thing is that they all have black buttons for eyes.  Everyone exists to serve or entertain her in this world.  Her "other mother" cooks fantastic meals and scrumptious desserts.  Everything is so amazing here.

I'm not going to write everything that happens, but this world exists to lure her in and trap her, like a spiderweb traps a fly.  Coraline realizes this almost too late and manages to escape, only to find her parents trapped.  Earlier, she would have given up this world for the seemingly better one, but after finding out what is really going on, she heads back to the other one to rescue them.  Like in Alice in Wonderland, Coraline is helped out by an intelligent talking cat.  She will need all the help she can get to defeat the Other Mother and escape this world.  This was one of the best stop motion animations I have seen, it was creepy without being "cutesy creepy" like any Burton crapola and yet I feel my daughter would like it.  I wanted to see it first to make sure it wasn't awful.  I will give this film an 8/10.

The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning (2008)

My co-film critic has decided that today's animated feature is The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning.  Now, we all know one thing about direct-to-video sequels from Disney: They suck.  But not this one. This one they actually put effort into and is a cute story.

The movie starts off with Ariel and her six sisters as young children, back when everyone was happy.  Their mother, Athena, loved music and sang to them often.  They spent much of their time on the rocks above water.  One day, a pirate ship passed through, ran aground, and crushed Athena in the process.  This explains why Triton hated humans so much in the original movie, and why he forbade everyone from going to the surface.

Triton was so distraught with his music-loving wife's death, that he completely banned music in the kingdom.  Fast forward ten years later, when Ariel is about 13 years old, and not interested in boys yet.  But some of her sisters are! One good thing about this movie is that we see more of her sisters and their unique personalites.  We also see how Ariel meets Flounder.

Now, one thing about the songs in this film: they are terrible.  The sisters' governess, Marina, is played by Sally Field, who has multiple songs to sing.  She should not be a singer ever.  It's worse because every time Azalea hears a song, she grabs my chin and lip and signs for me to sing.  I really really do not want to sing any song from this movie.  But sometimes I have to.  For a movie in which music is banned, there are a lot of songs.  But Azalea really likes it, and it is much better than any sequel I've seen.  So I will give it a 6/10.

Adaptation (2002)

Today's film is Adaptation.  Twice the Cage, Twice the fun!!

We get double the Nicolas Cages!  No matter how bad a movie is, Nicolas Cage is always entertaining.

I don't care if he's writing a screenplay or stealing the Declaration of Independence, I will totally watch that movie. And I liked how the twins had opposite personalities so Nick had to do twice the acting.

This film is actually meta because we are seeing what the twins wrote.  It's the story of them writing the story.  Charlie wrote the first half and Donald wrote the second half.  This way it feels like two different movies.  Charlie is struggling to adapt The Orchid Thief into a screenplay because it is a nonfiction book, not a novel.  What kind of story can he derive from it?  This is an exceptionally difficult task.  This part of the movie is slower but more intellectual.  (By the way, Charlie Kaufman actually did write this script and dedicates it to Donald.  But Donald is just a fictional character.)

The next half of the film, his brother takes over.  After all, he has taken a writing seminar and totally knows much more than his professional screenwriting brother.  He transforms the nonfiction book into an awesome action film.  He makes the author of the book fall in love with her subject, and together they do drugs and go after the brothers!!

I'm happy to see a film (or at least part of it) take place in Florida. There are orchids everywhere here, especially in my office.  The main class during our annual garden festival is "You too can grow orchids!"  We are serious about our orchids here, but I've never seen them used for drugs.  But that doesn't mean it's impossible.  Follow your dreams.  Also, Florida is not mostly jungle swampland as this movie would have you believe.  

This film was great and had a unique plot.  In fact it was kind of original.  I liked it.  I will give it a 7/10.

Requiem for a Dream (2000)

Today's film is Requiem for a Dream.  It is a very dark and disturbing drama that will keep you up all night and leave you feeling empty inside.  The film takes us through the paths of four people whose lives are destroyed by drugs.

Three characters fall victim to heroin addiction. One is addicted to amphetamines.  Their lives go swimmingly for a while but then gradually fall apart.  Marion, a promising dress designer, loses everything to her addiction.  Tyrone and Harry made a lot of money selling their drugs, but as their stash and cash dwindle, they follow a shipment to Florida.  There, Harry's infected arm becomes too much to handle and has to be amputated and Tyrone is arrested.

Harry's mother, Sara Goldfarb, becomes inadvertently addicted to amphetamines while trying to find a quick way to diet.  She's also addicted to television.  Her life is empty. All she has is her empty boring apartment, her television constantly set to the same reality show, and sitting outside with all the other old ladies.

The most stunning part of the film is the score.  It is so beautiful.  I listened to the score long before I watched this film.  Another beautiful element is the color choices.  Sara is covered in red.  She has red hair and an unusual red hair dye job.  The red matches her manic state.  The other addicts wear dark, drab colors.  Marion always wears gray, one of the darkest and most depressing colors.  Their costumes go from brighter in the beginning to darker and grayer as the movie progresses.

This one of the the darkest films I have ever seen.  It was well written and every character is someone I wanted to succeed, but their addiction became too much for them to handle.  I will give this film a 9/10.

Tinker Bell (2008)

Today's animated feature is Tinker Bell. I have always loved Tinker Bell but have never liked the movie Peter Pan.  I wanted a movie that just featured her.  So I was excited when this movie came out.  There are several sequels and they are mostly hit or miss.  My daughter also loves two of these sequels and I'll be sure to review them.  It is important to write about this one first because it introduces all the characters.

Legend has it that when a baby laughs for the first time, that laugh travels all the way to Neverland, to a magical place called Pixie Hollow.  There, the laugh, carried on a dandelion seed, transforms into a fairy.  The fairy appears to be full grown, yet has much to learn.  Immediately after being created, she is forced to choose a talent. Surrounding her are many objects, such as a flower, snowflake, and a hammer.  When she passes the hammer, it glows, therefore that is her talent.  She is declared a tinker fairy and named Tinker Bell.  Wouldn't that be great if that's how you chose your major in college?  I wouldn't have had to change it so many times!

We see all the fairies during this stage, but many things change throughout the sequels.  In one film, the winter fairies live in a separate area because they cannot stand the warmth of the other seasons.  In another, most of the tinker fairies go to the mainland even though we are informed they do not.  It seems like the filmmakers made this movie in a hurry and later established the "fairy rules" as the sequels were written.  So, if you or your child watch this, you will notice many discrepancies.

The main purpose of the first film is to introduce its many characters.  Every fairy has a special talent that they use to bring about the changes of seasons on Earth.  I like how all the fairies look different so that little girls all over the world can identify with them.  In my hometown, I see little girls dressed as these fairies all the time.  Here is a list of the main characters and their talents, which are pretty self-explanatory:

• Iridessa, a light fairy. She wears a sunflower dress and manipulates light.
• Rosetta, a garden fairy.  She creates flowers, paints petals, and does not like mud.  She is a Southern Belle brunette with a strong accent and reminds me of quite a few relatives.
• Silvermist, a water fairy.  Rather ditzy.
• Fawn, an animal fairy.  She is in tune with animals' needs and helps them.
• Vidia, a fast flying fairy.  She creates breezes, with she uses in many different ways.  Jealous of the new girl Tinker Bell.
• Terrence, a dustkeeper fairy.  He is in charge of Pixie Dust, which allow the fairies to fly.
• Clank and Bobble, nicknames of two tinker fairies, the engineers of the fairy world.

From left to right: Iridessa, Fawn, Tinker Bell, Rosetta, and Silvermist

If you'll notice, everyone works hard at their talents and yet there seems to be no payment system.  The changing of the season is payoff in itself.  Everyone works for the betterment of their world and ours.  It's essentially a perfect system.  If it were me, I would be a garden fairy.  I would get to paint the leaves orange and red for autumn.  That would be sweet.

The movie has a good message too: Be yourself and don't let others get you down. Vidia, being jealous of the new girl Tinker Bell, convinces her that she's useless because she lacks the magical nature talents of the other fairies.  Tinker Bell creates pots and baskets, not rainbows and flowers.  Tinker Bell decides to learn about the other talents, but failing in all of them, feels even more useless.  But when one of Vidia's cruel pranks backfires, Tinker Bell uses her engineering know-how to fix everything.  She no longer worried about not having the same talents as everyone else, she used her own talent to the best of her ability.  I will give this film a 6/10.

Tsotsi (2005)

Today's film is Tsotsi, which came all the way from South Africa.  Tsotsi means "thug" and is the street name of our main character.

Tsotsi and his friends/fellow gang members live in the worst part of Johannesburg.  He lives an aimless live of crime, not caring about anyone.  One day, after randomly carjacking a woman's car after shooting her, he drives off.  He discovers a baby boy in the backseat.

Tsotsi tries his best to care for the baby, but he has no idea how.  He leaves him with some milk, but ants get all over him.  Tsotsi finds Miriam, a young woman with baby of her own to feed the baby for him.  Meanwhile, he robs the baby's parent's house of their formula and stuff so he can care for the baby.  Notice how he doesn't return the baby to the house, he steals the baby's stuff.  Does he intend on keeping the baby?

Miriam convinces him to bring the baby back to his real parents.  So he does.  That's the entire movie.  I think the point of the film is for us to see the daily lives of impoverished people in South Africa.  It is definitely a different kind of life.  It's not a groundbreaking movie by any means, but it was okay.  I will give it a 5/10.