Still deciding a few more films and tv shows I should review and talk about.
I don’t think I have enough time~
In the meantime, follow all the posts that will be added during the week.
Archives For DVD/BR
Thoughts on Ooku?
You know I really really love Kou Shibasaki’s acting (not so much her music), and she was easily the best part in that movie. And it’s not even that scene in which the chambers opened to a sight of pretty men bowing to her, and she tells them they’re a bunch of useless and pretty men. LOL
Is not even that scene.
I know, I know… I haven’t been blogging about any of the awards since I launched YAM. But hey! If you were following YAM on Twitter, you’d know I’ve been commenting on them~
Did the Globes [Firth, Portman, Annette Bening (The Kids Are All Right), Paul Giamatti, Melissa Leo + Christian Bale, + The Social Network wins for Movie+Score+Script+Director] Did the whole SAG Awards [Colin Firth (The King’s Speech), Natalie Portman (Black Swan), Melissa Leo + Christian Bale (The Fighter) + The King’s Speech for Cast), and the Oscar noms aren’t really that surprising, but there were a couple of nice things.
First, Yay Javier Bardem, Yay John Hawkes.
Here’s my list of watched and not-watched films.
Light blue – Watched
Hot pink – Dying to watch.
This is a rant. xD
I’ve never been religious… I was as catholic as a 5-year-old could get when their aunts are catholic/christian. Every time we would cross a local church, I would do the cross sign, and I had at least once done the local church tour for Easter week.
I have the utmost respect for people and their selected religion.
However, it really irks me when religious people go on and put down other religion’s beliefs, which is the worse kind of religion and the preferred type churches want their followers to have.
It’s such a pity, because religion can be such a fulfilling experience to some. It makes your life lighter, and sometimes it can get you going.
Guys, you can be logical and have faith. It’s like that bit on Peter Pan. I do believe in fairies, I do! I do! It’s a wonderful thing to have, and to feel.
Natalie Portman’s Where the Heart Is is probably the least favorite film amongst the fans, a list that includes the Star Wars prequels, Free Zone, Mr. Mangorium’s Wonder Emporium, Mars Attacks and Anywhere but Here. However, Where the Heart Is, as well as Anywhere but Here are the only of those films that pretty much were completely fronted by Portman.
Now, compare that to Leon… or Black Swan. Mmmkay~
As a teenage Portman fan, I obviously watched those AND enjoyed them~~~ but we’re here to talk about Where the Heart Is now, so let’s talk about it.
Where the Heart Is, for what it’s worth, marks Portman’s step into womanhood, as she played a 17-year-old pregnant Novalee Nation, giving birth in a Walmart. In short, she’s pretty tacky but with a lot of heart… and what’s even more ironic, the first time I saw Portman in that fake pregnant suit in slippers (and then barefoot), I thought of Britney Spears whom later ended up stepping on a public bathroom barefoot.
But I digress. Where the Heart Is is sappy, and over-the-top acting drama… it ends up being funny. Portman looks so awkward as Novalee… skinny and so overly-fake-pregnant, plus the hair. Add to that Novalee’s white trash mother who abandoned her family for a man whose name she can’t even remember played by Sally Field, hot-peen-hungry mother of multiple children named after junk food Nurse Lexie played by Ashley Judd, cut-throat music producer Ruth Meyers played by Joan Cusack, and AA-member fornicating Sister Husband played by Stockard Channing — all over-acting. Pure amazingness.
Let’s not even begin to discuss the love-making scene, which marks a first for Natalie Portman on screen, which she shared with UK actor James Frain who’s like 15 years older than her and plays a character named Forney. Novalee doesn’t have sex with Forney, she makes love to him after his sister passes away. There’s sweet love-making pop-country crossover music as his hand entwines with hers.
But despite it all, I couldn’t take my eyes off the film… except maybe the bits without Natalie Portman on screen, in which we focus on Novalee’s baby daddy Willy Jack Pickens played by Dylan Bruno. His storyline seems a bit pointless, since we’re not supposed to feel sympathy for him and it just makes the story go slower. But then again, without him… we wouldn’t have the amazingness of Joan Cusack.
Natalie Portman as a “reformed” Novalee, mother of Americus and photographer, holding her camera shooting the fat baseball team, or with her Xmas/winter gear, and looking for Forney are probably the most gorgeous Portman could be on film.
Where the Heart Is might be cheesy, and actually pretty bad — and shame on you if you think it’s the best movie ever made — but it’s one of those films teenage girls have to watch. We were all probably 14 when we saw it, and I guess 14-year-olds watch much more crass films nowadays. However, I still think 12 or 13-year-old girls would be able to appreciate it.
I don’t think Anywhere but Here is worse than Where the Heart Is, but IMDb seems to disagree.
3/5 (2.75 without the sentimental value LOL)
I have to find time to do this one. After all, I’m a big Natalie Portman fan.
Fan-worship sort of officially began in 1999 – pretty sure. After all, teenage years is the time to fangirl over anything. So just to piss EVERYONE off, I’m going to be talking about her least popular films. LOL
Yup, I’m picking Anywhere but Here, as well as Where the Heart Is – take that film fans! LOL I’m not sure if I’m doing reviews of those, or what. I should probably re-watch them if I’m doing those. I just wanted to post this to keep it in mind, instead of the link on my bookmarks.
Anyway~~~ Any Natalie Portman requests?
Also, Amy/Natalie Portman facts~
Both my parents think she’s the best. But then again, if you ask my mother the name of any other young actress, she can’t come up with any other names… that must mean my mother thinks Natalie Portman is super-famous.
My dad is still requesting a sequel to Leon. Get it, Natalie? Let’s get that one rolling once and for all.
You know what this means right? I finally saw a new Yu Aoi film, so I can move the queue just a little bit. We’re discussing Honokaa Boy first, then Ikechan to Boku… instead of One Million Yen Girl because of the length of roles that Yu had in the films… and we’re leaving Hyakuman-en up on the feature spot for a while… ;P
First a little about the film~
Honokaa Boy tells the story of a boy – Okay, a young man – who ends up living in the small Hawaiian city of Honokaa, after he mysteriously falls in love with the place during a failed trip with his girlfriend. In there, he meets a bunch of quirky people that are very likable, who end up having an impact on his life.
Genre: Dramedy with a bit of Romance
Starring: Masaki Okada, Chieko Baisho, Keiko Matsuzaka, Jun Hasegawa
Duration: almost 2hrs
I don’t think I’ve seen too many Russian films. At the moment, I can remember The Russian Ark — because it’s got Russian in the title — and I just did an IMDb search. I’ve also seen 12, Night Watch… and I guess Mongol is kind of Russian, even though it was the Kazakhstan Oscar entry.
So this is actually my 4th official Russian film.
Despite having very limited on-screen time on Good Bye, Lenin!, Chulpan Khamatova floored me. Plus, I love how Daniel Bruhl says “Lara!” So I was always meaning to watch all of Khamatova’s filmography. But do you know how difficult it is to find Russian films on actual DVD? Anyway, I finally got hold of Luna Papa. I had literally no idea what is was about, so I went in blind. This is what you should generally do. No expectations, good surprises.
Luna Papa tells the story of a 17-year-old named Mamlakat whose love for theater and the arts lead her to one of the theater company’s presentation. She misses it by a hair, as she is walking in the dark paths only lit by the moonlight, she is mysteriously seduced by a no-face man. Next thing she knows, she wakes up in the morning with her torn dress… no longer a virgin.
Now, you may think this is all serious business and that the film gets all drama from this point forward, but it doesn’t.
Luna Papa is actually the fantastic tale of a young mother from the point of view of an unborn baby. Whatever your opinion on pro-life or pro-choice is, you can’t just dismiss this simply as either of those.
Unless I really REALLY suck at math, Khamatova should be in her 20s while shooting this role, but actually looks like she’s about 15. She’s terribly endearing, and terribly sassy.
Khamatova’s mentally-ill brother is played by German actor Moritz Bleibtreu… who I thought was going to be playing a talking role in Russian, but he mumbles one-words. It isn’t bad, he’s actually very effective and quite endearing as an over-protective older brother. As well as the father, who despite cultural prejudice in the town, does a lot for her daughter and son.
I have no idea if it was the lack of any knowledge about the film, but that ending came from nowhere. It didn’t feel like cheating, because there were a lot of things that came left field since the beginning. Luna Papa — I still have no idea why it’s called like that — was just a pretty nice blend of wacky comedy with some high tension moments.
My only real big issue with a highly entertaining film like this is that Khamatova — who is of Tartar origin — doesn’t look like she’s a Tajik girl. Not like I have any grasp on ethnicity, but she felt so out of place from where the movie was taking place.
My favorite scene’s got to be Mamlakat at the abortion clinic, as the doctor tells her to lie down.
*EDIT*
Gonna share this on the 2011 YAM Blogathon
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Let’s see, I missed posting yesterday! Coding is such a mess~ Please, if you know anything about WordPress plugins, programing, and crazy coding talk – HELP ME!
Anyway, to clear my head from that problem, I was having a debate on whether or not The Kids Are All Right is anti-male or not. The participants? The Film Snob (snobbyfilmguy), Kevin Ketchum (KevinnK), Johnny Splash aka. filmcave, Benjamin Vargas aka. bensower, and MovieBungalow.
When the film first came out, a lot of the critics and bloggers were singing praise left and right. TKAAR is my flare, light drama with bits of comedy. Plus, it’s got Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo, of course I was going to watch it. However, with positive feedback, there’s also the few that can’t help but feel disappointed… or outraged.
While reading IMDb (battle zone!!), and some comments on AfterEllen.com, you could find lesbians saying the film is “anti-lesbian” because no way Julianne Moore’s character would sleep with a man, saying that it makes it seem like lesbians can’t live without c*ck – their words not mine.
That’s like saying Imagine Me & You is “anti-heterosexual” because no way Piper Perabo’s character would go for a woman. Hmmmmmkay.
Let’s start with the basics. The Kids Are All Right is the story of a lesbian couple that’s going through a rough patch. Nic (Bening) is a doctor that’s spending more time tending to her patients, than her wife Jules (Moore) who’s a stay-at-home mom, whose string of career switches fill her with insecurities.
After years of marriage (ten?), they’ve got two kids, almost-18-year-old Joni (Wasikowska) mothered by Nic, and 15-year-old (16?) Laser (Hutcherson) mothered by Jules. They seem you’re average white upper-middle class family with no kids problems, no money issues. Since Joni is about to turn 18, her brother asks her to contact their sperm-donor father — Enters Paul (Ruffalo), and all hell breaks loose.
WARNING: LOTS OF SPOILERS~~~
