personal.amy-wong.com – A Blog by Amy Wong.

Posts Tagged ‘doubt’:

RIP Miramax

Written by Amy on Friday, January 29th, 2010 ( 3 responses ) | Heart It! (2) | Share This!

But it’s a sad day as Disney (who bought them for only $70M) has decided to shut down Miramax.

Yes, that same Disney that keeps feeding us with ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy, cancels Pushing Daisies… and gave us Miley Cyrus to rot the minds of our younger generation.

Miramax gave us The Piano, Reservoir Dogs, The English Patient, Shakespeare in Love, Chicago, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Clerks, Doubt, There Will Be Blood, Gone Baby Gone, Happy-Go-Lucky, Le Scaphandre et le Papillon, No Country for Old Men, Kinky Boots, Finding Neverland… just to name a few.

Good taste is dead. *sighs*

Filed under: English, Films, French, Rants
Tags: abc, death, disney, distributors, doubt, news, no country for old men, pushing daisies, the diving bell and the butterfly, there will be blood

Why Is Avatar? – 2009 Films in Review

Written by Amy on Monday, January 18th, 2010 ( 4 responses ) | Heart It! (6) | Share This!

I enjoyed Avatar. I did. When those flighty things were hovering on screen, I playfully stretched my arm and tried to grab one. I’m sure if it had been my first 3D film, I would have ended with a terrible headache. However, did it need a nomination? And most important, did it need winning?

I remember on 2008, I was uncertain which film to choose as a favorite. I had loads of fun with Slumdog, and I was one of those that actually liked Benjamin Button. Obviously, there was The Wrestler, Milk, Doubt, Entre les Murs, Il y a Longtemps que Je t’Aime, The Dark Knight, Revolutionary Road, Waltz with Bashir.

But my favorite of 2008 was Let the Right One in.

Obviously, LtROi didn’t win anything. But still, 2008 was a great year for films. And it was a pretty good year for acting as well! With Richard Jenkins’ The Visitor (though I think this is technically 2007), and Michael Shannon’s Revolutionary Road — which I totally called for Best Supporting, by the way.

With 2009, however, I kept waiting and waiting. Kept telling myself that studios wanted to push their films for late releases for award season. After their release, I felt mostly underwhelmed with a vast majority of films. And I have seen nearly 100 films dated 2009, and I haven’t given none of them a 9 rating on IMDb. Merely 12 of them with an 8 rating, which include (500) Days of Summer, Red Cliff Part II, District 9, Inglourious Basterds, Mother, Mary and Max, Precious, Public Enemies, Star Trek, Up, Up in the Air, Where the Wild Things Are.

Out of 117 films in 2008, with 22 at an 8 rating. That’s double the films! LOL

So did Avatar win because it’s a weak film year?

Discuss. LOL

Filed under: Chinese, English, Films, French, Korean, Rants
Tags: 500 days of summer, awards, district 9, doubt, inglourious basterds, let the right one in, madeo, milk, pixar's up, precious, slumdog millionaire, the curious case of benjamin button, the dark knight, up in the air, waltz with bashir, where the wild things are

Japanese Cinema Blogathon 2009 – Day5

Written by Amy on Saturday, June 20th, 2009 ( One response ) | Heart It! (5) | Share This!

This is my last post for this blogathon, unless I can come up with something on time for tomorrow~

I was reading this post on Japanese Films and Women in Cinema- now, female in cinema is a big BIG subject. I’m not in the position to point out feminists or non-feminists films across the decades or countries. However, I have to admit that looking back at the films I’ve seen the past year, it feels like many (if not most of them) have a female protagonist. In general, I don’t know the reason – if there are more films about women, or if I’m watching them because I’m looking for them. What I do know is that I watched many Japanese films with female leads because I had been on the hunt for Juri Ueno and Yu Aoi projects – so that’s got to be at least 10 films led by a female, right?

So here it is… some~

Japanese Chick-centric Films or with Female Leads~

Tonari no Totoro (My Neighbor Totoro)
Kiki’s Delivery Service
Hula Girls
Swing Girls
Hana to Alice (Hana & Alice)
Gaichu (Harmful Insect)
Kame wa Igai to Hayaku Oyogu (Turtles Swim Faster than Expected)
Kiraware Matsuko no Issho (Memories of Matsuko)
Quiet Room ni Youkoso (Welcome to the Quiet Room)
Linda Linda Linda
Kamikaze Girls
Shinku (The Deep Red)
Love Letter
Sakuran
Sasameyuki (The Makioka Sisters)
Rinne (Reincarnation)
Tenshi no Tamago (Angel’s Egg)
Wool 100%
Hyakuman-en to Nigamushi Onna (One Million Yen Girl)
GuGu Datte Neko de Aru (Gu Gu the Cat)
Kaze no Tani no Naushika (Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind)
Nishi no Majo ga Shinda (The Witch of the West is Dead)
Blood the Last Vampire
Pikunikku (Picnic)

Of course, there’s many animated films asides from the ones I’ve mentioned above like Paprika, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, The Milennium Actress or Perfect Blue. And yes, there are films in my list that are not quite remarkable… and we can also point out that there aren’t many female leads of over 30 or 40 (in some way, Matsuko which chronicles her life, The Makioka Sisters, GuGu, and The Witch of the West – who knew Shirley McLaine’s daughter spoke Japanese?), but then again… that’s a problem that seems to be common in Hollywood too. Does it happen much in Europe? Countries like France or Germany? Are there many films with female leads, or are they as hard to find??

In the end, it was good to see Meryl Streep (Doubt), Melissa Leo (Frozen River), Julie Christie (Away from Her), Laura Linney (The Savages), and to some degree Kate Winslet (The Reader) and Marion Cotillard (La Vie en Rose) getting recognition these past two years.

– EDIT June 21 –

I thought this was a great post on the subject. =D

Filed under: English, Films, French, Japanese, Rants, Sharing
Tags: away from her, blog, blogging, doubt, gaichu, hana to alice, harmful insect, hayao miyazaki, hula girls, hyakuman-en to nigamushi onna, japanese film, julie christie, kame wa igai to hayaku oyogu, kate winslet, kiraware matsuko no issho, la môme, la vie en rose, linda linda linda, marion cotillard, melissa leo, memories of matsuko, meryl streep, one million yen girl, paprika, quiet room ni youkoso, swing girls, turtles swim faster than expected, ueno juri, yu aoi

Awarded Movie Watched List

Written by Amy on Tuesday, January 27th, 2009 ( Start discussion ) | Heart It! (0) | Share This!

Last year was a particularly good year for me to watch films. Why? Well, compared to the previous year, in which many or most of the films nominated were still on my ‘to-watch’ list, this year I’ve done all my movie watching before Oscar was announced.