Friday, December 31, 2010

Movies

These are the movies I've seen. (I'll be posting about the ones I've seen in the past with older posting dates, not necessarily with the correct viewing date as I don't remember it exactly.)

Thursday, December 30, 2010

Surrogates (PG-13) 6.3

IMDB says about Surrogates: Set in a futuristic world where humans live in isolation and interact through surrogate robots, a cop (Willis) is forced to leave his home for the first time in years in order to investigate the murders of others' surrogates.

Director: Jonathan Mostow
Stars: Bruce Willis, Radha Mitchell and Ving Rhames

Somewhat original storyline about people living through robots (I've read several short stories with similar themes) where the tension is between the guy who originally developed the robots and current company that monopolized the use of them. Of course, the feel-good ending is the "humanity" wins. :-)

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Pan's Labyrinth (R) 8.4

Pan's Labyrinth (2006): In the fascist Spain of 1944, the bookish young stepdaughter of a sadistic army officer escapes into an eerie but captivating fantasy world.

Director: Guillermo del Toro
Stars: Ivana Baquero, Ariadna Gil and Sergi López
Lang: Spanish (Eng Subtitled)

The story involves real life during Spanish civil war (1944) and fantasy world. The Pan in the title is really the translation of faun (not the Pan god from Roman mythology). A brutal story to be a "fantasy" film, but it depicts a cruel, bloodthirsty army captain. Even the fantasy world "tests" seem to be scary. Liked this movie a lot.

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

As It Is In Heaven (PG) 6.5

IMDB says about As It Is In Heaven (2004): A successful international conductor suddenly interrups his career and returns alone to his childhood village in Norrland... (See IMDB entry for a full summary) (7.5)

Director: Kay Pollak
Stars: Michael Nyqvist, Frida Hallgren and Helen Sjöholm
Language: Swedish

The conductor returns to his childhood hometown and affects everyone's life. Even though the local choir had been meeting before his arrival, the new changes trigger a series of events that change the lives of almost everyone in the group. Quite an interesting human story. My Rating: 6.5

Friday, December 24, 2010

The Butterfly Effect (R) 8.0

IMDB says about The Butterfly Effect (2004): A young man blocks out harmful memories of significant events of his life. As he grows up, he finds a way to remember these lost memories and a supernatural way to alter his life.

Directors: Eric Bress, J. Mackye Gruber
Stars: Ashton Kutcher, Amy Smart and Melora Walters

The title of the movie gives away a little bit. By picking slightly different initial conditions, you can affect the outcome of a series of major events. And, if you can go back and pick various initial conditions, wouldn't you be able to make the world the way you'd want it to be? I wrote a blog entry called Fate about this same thing, but from a different perspective. This movie, sort of, comes to the same conclusion ... there's only one fitting way for things to happen. I like this movie a lot. My Rating: 8.0