The Wedding Banquet (R) 7.5

The Wedding Banquet (1993) Xi yan (original title): To satisfy his nagging parents, a gay landlord and a female tenant agree to a marriage of convenience, but his parents arrive to visit and things get out of hand. (7.5)

Director: Ang Lee
Writers: Ang Lee, Neil Peng, and 1 more credit »
Stars: Winston Chao, May Chin and Ya-lei Kuei
Languages: Mandarin and English (w/ English subtitles)

The first thing to remember when watching this movie is that it was made in 1993. The subject matters, and quite frankly some of the scenes, challenge the norms not only of the Chinese-American community but also the period sensibilities of the broader American culture. It is a very bold step forward by the director/writer Ang Lee. I think, I may have missed some inside jokes in the community, but the comedy and drama were in right proportions. The plight of the immigrants w/o a green card could have been emphasized a bit more, but that wasn't the main theme of the movie. The acting was good except for a few scenes. The storytelling was captivating. My Rating: 7.5

High Cost of Living (R) 6.5

The High Cost of Living (2010): The story of a young, pregnant woman whose world falls ... (5.8)

Director: Deborah Chow
Stars: Isabelle Blais, Zach Braff and Patrick Labbé
Language: English and French

I sort of knew where the story was headed, and kept saying "no, not that" but then that would happen. So, in that sense, it was like a train wreck, you didn't want it to happen but you still wanted to see the aftermath. Same with the life of the main character. At one point, you sort of ask yourself what would you do in a situation like that. Makes you think about some of the moral dilemmas. I would give a higher score than the IMDB average since it is a bit of a thinking man's movie. My Rating: 6.5

Ip Man (R) 6.0

Ip Man (2008) Yip Man (original title): A semi-biographical account of Yip Man, the first martial arts master to teach the Chinese martial art of Wing Chun. (8.1)

Director: Wilson Yip
Stars: Donnie Yen, Simon Yam and Siu-Wong Fan
Language: Cantonese, Mandarin, Japanese (w/ English subtitles)

I didn't think this is a completely a martial arts movie, but it pretty much is. The story behind it has been inspired by the Sino-Japanese war and the real-life Wing Chun style martial artist but the movie's storyline is predictable and the stuff expected of such a movie. Yes, the set production, the martial arts choreography, etc. are superb. But, the acting, the flow of the story ... meh. "you done me/us wrong, so I beat you up" is not a complex story. My Rating: 6.0

Limitless (PG-13) 7.0

Limitless (2011): An action-thriller about a writer who takes an experimental drug that allows him to use 100 percent of his mind. As one man evolves into the perfect version of himself, forces more corrupt than he can imagine mark him for assassination. (7.2)

Director: Neil Burger
Writers: Leslie Dixon (screenplay), Alan Glynn (novel)
Stars: Bradley Cooper, Abbie Cornish, Robert De Niro

A bit of a stretch in the premise of the story, but hey, with drugs these days, anything's possible. With such 100% brain power, I wouldn't have gone in the direction of that legalized ponzi scheme called the stock market or the pit of corruption called the politics, but that's where the writers decided this super-braniac must go. As a movie, it is not half bad. Use of blue and amber hues depending on the alertness of the subject is neat trick, but not original to this movie. Acting was pretty good. My Rating: 7.0

Castaway on the Moon (PG-13) 6.5

Castaway on the Moon (2009) Kimssi pyoryugi (original title): After failing to kill himself by jumping off a bridge, the man is washed up on a deserted island in the middle of the river, but within view of the city's high-rises. (7.9)

Director: Hae-jun Lee
Stars: Min-heui Hong, So-yeon Jang and Jae-yeong Jeong
Language: Korean (w/ English subtitles)

Okay, if you accept the premise of the predicament of the two main characters (yeah, that's a big IF) it is a funny story. It is sort of like a funny situation comedy. A cute story, but then again, the "surviving on a desert island" story has been done many times by now. I guess, the IMDB rating is purely from the Korean audiences (who may understand the subtle comedy from the average consumer culture inserted into the absurd situation) but I'm not impressed with the whole movie to write home about it. Yeah, it's okay, but missing quite a lot. My Rating: 6.5

Beneath the Dark (R) 5.5

Beneath the Dark (I) (2010): Driving to a wedding in Los Angeles through the Mojave Desert, Paul and Adrienne pull off the highway and into Roy's Motel and Cafe. This roadside artifact proves to be a strange and surreal place with an unsettling mix of travelers, who force our couple to discover the secret hidden between. (4.7)

Director: Chad Feehan
Writer: Chad Feehan
Stars: Josh Stewart, Jamie-Lynn Sigler and Chris Browning

Hmm.. formulaic and predictable. Empty and creepy motel, people with thousand-yard-gaze. I think, I've seen scenes of this in other movies. Then again, this one has a tad too much of predominant religion in it. Still, to its credit, it held my interest and I wanted to see how it ended. Speaking of which, the ending was a bit confusing and convoluted. "A movie to kill time for those who like it better dead?" Yeah, that. My Rating: 5.5

Agora (R) 8.0

Agora (2009): A historical drama set in Roman Egypt, concerning a slave who turns to the rising tide of Christianity in the hopes of pursuing freedom while also falling in love with his master, the famous female philosophy and mathematics professor Hypatia of Alexandria. (7.1)

Director: Alejandro Amenábar
Writers: Alejandro Amenábar, Mateo Gil
Stars: Rachel Weisz, Max Minghella and Oscar Isaac

This movie is about Hypatia, the philosopher and the mathematician of Alexandria. It is about how a woman in a male dominated society goes about thinking critically of astronomy, religion, and life in general. The story is told in the perspective of a "pagan" and that fact goes a long way to depict what truly took place in that period of time. It shows what people are capable of doing when blinded by the religion and the unquestioned faith in a god. The movie is fabulous. The telling of the story, the acting (specially that of Rachel Weisz), the sets, the camera angles, the use of light, the attention to detail ... all of them are superb. The historically accurate story doesn't paint a favorable picture of Christianity, and hence, I think, the movie hasn't garnered a higher critical acclaim. This movie shows (documented evidence) how the knowledge and civilization has been destroyed in the name of religion not to mention the countless innocent lives slaughtered. People can be so cruel in their blind faith. [Agora is the Greek word for open space for discussion or the marketplace. That's what Hypatia had before it was destroyed by the rise of Christianity in Alexandria.] My Rating: 8.0

Tuya's Marriage (PG) 6.0

Tuya's Marriage (2006) Tuya de hun shi (original title): Set in Inner Mongolia, a physical setback causes a young woman to choose a suitor who can take care of her, as well as her disabled husband. (7.2)

Director: Quan'an Wang
Writers: Wei Lu , Quan'an Wang
Stars: Nan Yu, Ba'toer and Sen'ge
Language: Mandarin

While the story is not based on true events (as far as I know), the movie flows like a documentary. The daily life depictions are very close to Mongolian village life yet the crux of the story requires a leap of faith. Because of that, I didn't feel the emotional wranglings of the characters the director wanted us to get. The content of the story doesn't mean the picture quality and cinematography has to be dreary too. The locations could have been filmed to give nice shots (ie the movie Mongol). Potential of the story and the location hasn't been utilized properly, IMHO. My Rating: 6.0

Guns, Germs and Steel (TV) 7.0

Guns, Germs and Steel (TV Series 2005): A PBS documentary concerning Jared Diamond's theory on why there is such disparity between those who have advanced technology and those who still live primitively. (7.4)

Stars: Jared Diamond

This is a three-part NatGeo/PBS documentary based on Jared Diamond's book by the same name. The details about the book and Diamond's theory are outlined in this Wikipedia article. Note that he is a professor of geography (at UCLA). He argues that the reason for the Europeans to have more "cargo" (stuff) is the simple matter of geography ... they were in the right place at the right time with the right raw material (crops, animals and steel). The documentary should really be called a docu-drama as some scenes are reenactments of what "may have" happened in key historical events. My argument is that Diamond glosses over the effects of economic, cultural and religious reasons for Europeans concurring the rest of the world. IMHO, he gives too much emphasis to the happenstance and geography of early societies. (But, a debate of the content is suitable for a different blog.) The documentary is good, but it probably could have been condensed into a single episode. As is always the case, I bet the book is better. My Rating: 7.0

The Housemaid (R) 7.0

The Housemaid (2010) Hanyo (original title): A man's affair with his family's housemaid leads to a dark consequences. (6.6)

Director: Sang-soo Im
Writers: Ki-young Kim (based on the film by)
Stars: Do-yeon Jeon, Jung-Jae Lee, Yeo-Jong Yun, Woo Seo
Language: Korean (w/ English subtitles)

The opening sequence is somewhat disconnected from the rest of the movie, but it gives a nice glimpse into the daily life in a South Korean city. Then the movie shows what goes on in a super-rich family. (w/o giving away the plot detail ...) I was waiting for the two maids to get back at the evils of the rich family in a different way, that door was cracked open a bit with the mention of the older maid's son at two occasions. I didn't feel any strong emotions towards any of the characters; perhaps, a bit more development in the maid's character would have earned more sympathy. Very good acting by the whole cast. My Rating: 7.0

Untamed Heart (PG-13) 6.0

Untamed Heart (1993): Caroline has not had much luck in love. Boyfriends seem to either leave her or cheat on her. Then she meets a shy, introverted man at work named Adam. (6.6)

Director: Tony Bill
Stars: Christian Slater, Marisa Tomei and Rosie Perez

Originally, I was going to give a high score for this movie simply because Marisa Tomei looks good. But the story doesn't have a hell of a lot in it. The story can be summed up as "Girl meets boy. They fall in love. Tragedy strikes." (That's the summary line in IMDB.) At least, Rosie Perez has her chipmunk voice under control, most of the time. I guess, the character development at the beginning was all wrong; Tomei's character doesn't earn the audiences' sympathy enough. But her acting was pretty good. Story had potential; needed something more. My Rating: 6.0

The Man from Nowhere (R) 6.0

The Man from Nowhere (2010) Ajeossi (original title): A quiet pawnshop keeper with a violent past takes on a drug- and organ trafficking ring in hope of saving the child who is his only friend. (7.8)

Director: Jeong-beom Lee
Stars: Bin Won, Thanayong Wongtrakul and Sae-ron Kim
Language: Korean (w/ English subtitles)

No originality in the story. Too predictable, too sentimental, too formulaic. The fight scenes are nicely choreographed, but utterly unrealistic and silly to the point of being laughable. A set of bit over-the-top dramatic moments (quite a few, actually) take away otherwise a good acting performance by the whole cast. (Funny to hear some guy shouting in Sinhalese in one of the scenes in a Korean movie; he gets killed pretty quickly, so I don't know who that Sri Lankan man is.) My Rating: 6.0

Fire in Babylon (PG) 6.5

Fire in Babylon (2010): Feature documentary about the great West Indies cricket team of the 1970's/80's. (7.2)

Director: Stevan Riley
Writer: Stevan Riley
Stars: Clive Lloyd, Viv Richards, Gordon Greenidge, Michael Holding, Colin Croft

I grew up reading (okay, barely understanding the English sports page) about the fearsome West Indian cricket team. Not having seen any TV coverage (we didn't have TV back then), I hadn't much seen any of them play, so it was nice to see some of the match footage. I guess, I learned from this documentary that Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson showed the Windies how the bowling should be intimidating. I would have liked to have seen the famous "Michael Holding to Jeff Boycott" over. As a documentary, it has a lot more than just cricket footage ... in that famous laid-back island style, which is great. But I'm puzzled by the fact that they didn't talk about the two limited-over world cup titles the team won during the same era. Towards the end, do they sing their own praises a tad bit too much? I dunno. Then again, for the rest of the world, West Indies were (still are?) the second favorite team after their own team. I'm sorry that _that_ team never came to Sri Lanka as we didn't have Test status back then. I think, the director could have used other voices other than the team members. It would have been nice to have heard from those who played against that team. My Rating: 6.5

Rango (PG) 7.0

Rango (2011): Rango is an ordinary chameleon who accidentally winds up in the town of Dirt, a lawless outpost in the Wild West in desperate need of a new sheriff. (7.4)

Director: Gore Verbinski
Stars: Johnny Depp, Isla Fisher and Timothy Olyphant

Ha ... all the cliches, all the stereotypes, etc of old westerns; yet, somehow when they are done by animated cartoonish animals, it is hilarious. Yes, spoofs of lots of movies, and even Mr. Eastwood makes an appearance. That's just good. Dialog and animation are nice. My Rating: 7.0

The Lathe of Heaven (PG) 6.5

The Lathe of Heaven (TV 1980): George Orr, a man whose dreams can change waking reality, tries to suppress this unpredictable gift with drugs. Dr. Haber, an assigned psychiatrist, discovers the gift to be real and hypnotically induces Mr. Orr to change reality for the benefit of mankind. (7.2)

Directors: Fred Barzyk, David R. Loxton
Writers: Diane English, Ursula K. Le Guin (novel)
Stars: Bruce Davison, Kevin Conway, Margaret Avery

I haven't read the novel. This is a made-for-tv movie from PBS (and the transfer to DVD is pretty bad). The story is very intriguing. Le Guin is listed as a technical consultant to the movie also. The acting is fine. I just can't get too excited about the looks of the movie, being 30+ years old and VHS -> DVD transfer bleeding colors... I should go read the book. My Rating: 6.5

V for Vendetta (R) 8.0

V for Vendetta (2006): A shadowy freedom fighter known only as "V" uses terrorist tactics to fight against his totalitarian society. Upon rescuing a girl from the secret police, he also finds his best chance at having an ally. (8.2)

Director: James McTeigue
Stars: Hugo Weaving, Natalie Portman and Rupert Graves

The movie, loosely based on a DC comic, tells a powerful story of uprising against "A Brave New World"-esque society in England. Hugo Weaving as V gives a wonderful performance, considering that the audience never sees any facial expressions. The portrayal of "news" the home viewer "needs" to hear by the government/corporation controlled media and purported experts is so chilling because we can see it on today's TV. The movie does retain some action sequences from the comic-book style. (So, I watched this because my son reminded me of the rhyme "Remember remember the fifth of November gunpowder, treason and plot. I see no reason why gunpowder treason should ever be forgot..." today 11/05) My Rating: 8.0

Il Mare (PG) 8.0

Il Mare (2000) Siworae (original title): The two protagonists who both live in the same house two years apart in time, but are able to communicate through a mysterious post box. (7.7)

Director: Hyun-seung Lee
Stars: Jung-Jae Lee, Gianna Jun and Mu-saeng Kim
Language: Korean (w/ English subtitles, also Mandarin|Cantonese)

All the descriptions above this move gives away the major plotline, but the strength of it is in the human story. The movie is less about the wonder of being able to communicate across the timeline and more about the struggles the characters go through. If you identify with either or both characters, this movie will speak to you. My score is based on that fact (YMMV). Acting and cinematography were great. My Rating: 8.0

Red State (R) 6.0

Red State (2011): Set in Middle America, a group of teens receive an online invitation for sex, though they soon encounter fundamentalists with a much more sinister agenda. (6.4)

Director: Kevin Smith
Writer: Kevin Smith
Stars: Michael Parks, Melissa Leo and John Goodman

This is kind of a ripped from headlines story that combines the Westboro Baptist Church tactics with the Davidian compound in Waco, TX & other ATF/FBI raids and the paranoia around "domestic terror cells". It starts out with a bit of a thought process, but soon loses the cerebral quality to the gun-toting action-packed drama. I would have liked if this was presented as a multi-faceted argument for/against various points of view. Opportunity missed. My Rating: 6.0