movies we watched together,
Stick, help me complete this
not in chronological order
the English Patient
Men of Honor,
5th Element
What dreams may come
Spirited Away
Cowboy Bebop
Troy (the last one i guess)
Red Dragon
Matrix Revolution
Dead poets' society
Charlotte Grey
花样年华
Good Will Hunting
Lolita
Dance with me (did we really watch this stupid jap movie together?)
Legend of the Fall (many times)
American History X
Gangs of New York
Detective Conan (many episodes)
... memory not working well
movie reviews, c'td by stick
I’ll transcribe the list wholesale. Can’t really recall which (rare) ones I watched on my own, in the ennui of pre-exam days when everyone else freaked out and really studied, and I continued on my movie watching quest, doomed/dead-pig-unafraid-of-boiling-water style. Or no-coffin-no-tear style. Whichever you think is more accurate.
Bodyguard—sucky really, in the humble opinion of Stick. Saccharine and predictable. Racist and male chauvinist. Still, how we swooned whenever Costner appeared onscreen……hopeless pair of dudes.
Keep the faith—Norton! Yes, Norton Norton Norton! More of him please! What’s that goofball guy doing there, what’s his name? Never mind, Norton is all we want, face and voice, body and soul…(getting obscene…)
A streetcar named desire—remember how we anticipated this famous classic to rock our lives? And it really did, baffled and screwed our brains more like, and not for just that one night. What was your reaction? MY head was spinning afterwards. The inimitable Vivian Lee rules the silver screen as an actress, and despite/because of that her personal life a complete wreck from that point onwards. Brando, well, I need to watch more of his films to give a creditable opinion. Only this much I know: I liked him in that film.
My big fat greek wedding—too high an expectation made this comedy looked pathetically average. Might be cultural barrier that reduced the force of some of the comic elements in there, but hey, don’t we always love the Greeks?
Traffic—well, hard to write anything on this one except it’s about drug trafficking and lovely Zeta Jones is in there, so is her oldman hubby whats-his-name-again whom we have always been quite unable to bring ourselves to even remotely like, save comprehend what Catherine saw in him. The movie had some strong message, I wish I only knew what it was.
American history x—Edward and Edward!! I mean Norton and Furlong!! I’ll refrain from writing anything here and save every bit of energy it induces in me for a future, FULL review of this mesmerizing film. Agree?
Monster’s ball—you loved this one so much you bought it. Which always sort of puzzled me because though I admit I liked this film very much I’d hardly ever have the guts to watch it again. I can sit through all the violence and racist talks in American history x alright, but not the terrible, despairing plot playing around death in this one…when the young son pointed the gun towards his heart and shot himself dead, my heart missed several beats, feeling the pain reaping through itself. A dark heart with an unhealthy overdose of empathy makes one miserably allergic to films like Monster’s ball. Do write a review on it sometime, Slap. I wish to know very much what it is to you.
Chicken run—stupid family fun. Couldn’t recall why the hell we watched it. Probably ran out of things to borrow on that particular day. Review it if you like, I am not gonna do it, even for remembrance’s sake.
Sweet November—how could you have possibly failed to mention this one?! It’s about one of the first few movies we watched together right? And it made good, cozy memory. We adore Reeves, this sad-faced semi Chinese man, so incapable of conveying internal feelings through facial expressions and body language yet often fortunate to find roles that demanded exactly that incapability. This one, and Neo, and what else.? And yes yes I know you are growing impatient here—charlize theron! It should be “!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” if my hands were Slap’s. Alright, I’ll leave that half to Slap to review. All I have to say is, she’s an angel.
MORE TO COME…..i am getting very fatigued right now. It’s almost 2 am and I’ve spent the whole evening playing tennis (picking up balls most of the time). Sore……I’ll drop the rest of the list here, which you might like to briefly review. Hehe up to you. No division of labor here. Only preliminary stuff here anyway, more extensive, detailed reviews to come…
Jerry Maguire
Marvin’s room
The graduate (hahaha and your leggy encounter afterwards)
Spirit—stallion of the chimeras
Silence of the lambs
Harry potter
Catch me if you can
Chicago
The talented mr ripley
12 monkeys
being john malkovich
someone like you
the portrait of a lady
adaptation
almost famous
the hours
pirates of the caribean. Did we watch this together? (slap: no)
lord of the ring!!!
lemme point out that from the above list,
12 monkeys
being john malkovich
the portrait of a lady
adaptation
almost famous
the graduate
i missed them
ok will keep loading
on why slap likes monster's ball so much to the point of buying... well, i must confess i never ever watched it for the second time. and yes i can never forget that single bullet that sent his son away. it's a morbid film and gives me a very yellowish burnt feeling, something that's reminiscent of the species I,or is it I, that took place in a rather outcast space ship, it was the same faded yellow, a sigh of plague n illnesses. it must be the music that aroused my nerve. it was raining. those two people weren't talking. most of the time it was just still frame, that's why i liked it so much at the moment coz i expected a quiet or even wordless film that would weigh your heart down. it was really a very quiet film, it gave me lots of time to ponder while it was still playing. him sitting there asking for a sunday, or was it banana split, them mesmorized by the midnight sky sprinkled with stars, them sitting, standing, everything except talking. if they allow the background music to be erased off, i'm pretty sure it is frequent intermissions of silence. even the ending is soundless, as if theif sneaking away on tiptoe but the household would be different after. so much for monster's ball, i might watch it again.
A streetcar named desire- stick, was it 3/4 through the film we came to the realization that desire was the streetcar, or was it just me that was so mentally stomped by the complexity of their overexpressive language that i hardly catch the word 'desire'. i wasn't a vivan fan but i have to admit she's brilliant in that movie, how she acted so beside herself, but, well, i'm not giving any comments till i read the play.
Bodyguard- as much as i hate to admit it, what you said is absolutely right. still, allow me to revisit some of my top choice scenes in this movie.
1. costner(wat's his name in the movie?) watching huston on screen, alone at night, he was literally STARING he looks most charming when he's serious, very intense GREENISH BLUE gaze(stick, ou'll have to back up on this)
2. how many times costner watched the samurai movie, was it 55?
3.(sound of glass breaking) costner jolted back to 'bodyguard mode', very alarmed, held houston closer and surveyed the surrounding.
houston: don't worry.(half serious)
don't worry, i'll protect you.
4. of course before that, costner's fav cowboy song playing on the dance floor, i'll always love you. which echos back to the ending.
5. houston's ex-bodyguard tony, wanted 'an answer' from costner. fights took place in the kitchen. costner used a small handy knife to cut apple, horrizontally sliced it into thin plates.
cough, change topic. should stop huachi-ing.
Marvin's room- brilliant, touchy, down-to-earth movie. leonardo's not the protagonist though. remember the song 'two little sisters'? i'll leave this review to you, haha.
lemme review all the animes we watched together
worst first,
chicken run- who borrowed it, own up. those bloody british accented female chickens! and a yankee clown rooster!!!!! and how they interbred!! on a no man's island! and they know how to fly just like the Wrights brothers. i love chicken meat btw, just had them for dinner.
here comes the better,
cowboy bebop- knocking on heaven's door. what an pandemic bioterrorist strike, if u can still remember the whole bloody plot. the suspicious looking virus which mimics harmless looking normal lymphocytes. the message goes something like matrix 'are you living in the real world?', we can't blame it coz the director also made one episode out of animatrix, the last one on the brave detective who in the end, pointed a gun at 3 x agent smith or smiths, and who knows what became of him after that coz the screen went black. dazzled by martial fights scenes, and how Spike never died. and of course the golden butterflies that dance so dangerously beautiful, until they cover up the whole sky and you know you're dead.
spirited away- we all love the seaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, the pictures and the music. ever dreamt of riding a train that glides on water? and far away from the window the small white house standing peacefully on an island dressed golden by dawn. it steals the mind away. and we're not going to share it with anyone else!! we selfish slapstick are going to get lost in this quiet fantasy and not letting others disturb us. and the lamp-headed stick that jumps around and guides the guests through the forest, how warm that hut looks. pets spinning threads and cakes served on the plates. it's like another dream in a deep dream, when you wake up you're still smiling. title song-always with me, memory and courage that's not to be taken away. did you enjoy the rather ambiguous ending? 'one day we'll meet again'
more to come!
Once again.
I can’t help it; I watched Lily ChouChou again and yet again (within one week). When Salyu sang her 'Wings that can't fly' and Shiori pulled the strings and beamed watching the eagle-like kites, heart wrenchingly innocent and delicate, and so happy, I wept. Could only weep, and then more weeping. I can’t describe it. just breaks me.
Towards the end I got so tense. Because I could not remember the ending. It's been...eighteen months now, and my memory appears a moth-bitten carpet. I remember...crouching in the dark watching it for the first time with you in the home sty, I remember muffled gasps and tears (was it just me..) and going to bed with heavy heart and my face somewhat swollen and neither of us saying much besides a confused, broken discussion. (think Lily Chou-Chou is in many ways always associated with those hot summer days in Suzhou and the smell of the bamboo mat in your air-conditioned room). I couldn’t remember...what happened to Hasumi after Hoshino died. When he played a few notes on the piano at home and the camera cut to his torso quite still in midair my heart clutched itself and shuddered in fear, fearing that he might have hanged himself and that I have forgotten. (But how could I, if he did such a thing, or anything at all??) The ending came to this scene, billowing sunlight and Debussy, and the resemblance of this to the Love Letter scene struck me only now. My infinite respect and gratitude for Shunji Iwai, for giving closure (like how Ondaatje said a storyteller should do), and calm, pulsing hope.
And I just got more moRE mORE nostalgic for Kokyu and Salyu-as-Lily Chou-Chou. Saw this fictional discography of Lily Chou-Chou on the wiki page, beautiful, Lily-styled names, why can't they produce all of them?!
