Tatsumi

This is a story based on the life and works of Yoshihiro Tatsumi who is a famous Japanese comic writer.

Liked the interesting study into human psychology in the short stories! Also liked how the film showed the comic writer in person at work towards the end!

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Mr Popper's Penguins

The story is about how the life of a businessman called Mr Popper changed after he inherited a few penguins from his father.

Liked Ms Pippi who spoke in rhymes and looked quite pretty! Didn't find the penguins cute though and pitied Jim Carrey for having to put up with them.

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Biutiful

The story is about a man coming to terms with his life as he is about to die. He is separated from his wife and profits from illegal immigrants but he loves his kids and helps the family of the deceased through his ability to communicate with the dead.

Great performance by the actor and I liked the jigsaw puzzle way of story telling! The pace is a bit too slow moving though.

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Rango

This is an animation about how a chameleon became a hero for a small town in the desert by accident.

Liked the action sequences and how the protagonist searched for his purpose in life! A little disappointed that they didn't really put the water into good use in the end though.

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Black Swan

The story is about how a ballet dancer's strive for perfection caused her to lose herself as she prepared for two contrasting roles in a new adaptation of "Swan Lake".

Liked how the film depicted the psychological transformation of Natalie Portman! Great special effects that merged dream and reality! Also liked the pretty costumes and the nice music!

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It's A Great Great World

The film consists of four short stories about the Great World Amusement Park in Singapore that was established in 1929 and closed down in 1978.

Liked how the director covered several parts of the amusement park across different eras! Henry Thia's photo shoot in the first segment was innovative, the ghost ride in the second segment was scary, the songs were nice in the third segment and the dialect jokes in the final segment were funny!

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When Hainan Meets Teochew

The story is about how two neighbors, Hainan and Teochew, met and fell in love with each other. Hainan is a manly woman who used to share her flat with her ex-girlfriend. Teochew is a man who wished that he was a woman and whose dead brother would appear from nowhere to give him advice.

The relationship among the characters was too complex for me to comprehend but I liked the scene where Hainan was teaching her siblings how to pronounce the Hainan dialect properly! Her younger sister looked quite cute!

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White Ribbon

The story is about life in a German village just before the first World War narrated by a school teacher who fell in love with the baron's maid. Besides the baron, the village also has a doctor, a midwife, a steward, a priest and a group of school children.

Liked the nice black and white cinematography and how the director depicted the human psychology within the village! Great acting by the priest's children! The priest reminded me of the step father in Bergman's "Fanny and Alexander".

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The Housemaid

This is a remake of Kim Ki-Young's 1960 film with the same title. The original film can be watched for free here. The story is about what happened after a housemaid got pregnant by the master of the house. The wife had a young daughter and was pregnant with twins at the same time.

Liked the nice soundtrack and beautiful choreography of the sex sequences of this film but the original film was more exciting in terms of the suspense and thriller portion! Half expected the old maid's son would play a part in the maid's revenge but was disappointed.

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Son of Babylon

The story is about how a boy went on a journey with his grandmother to search for his father who went missing during the Iraq war.

Liked the interesting journey and the beautiful scenery but the boy was really annoying for crying out to his grandmother for every small little thing.

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The Social Network

The story is about how the social networking site "facebook" started and got popular.

Liked the witty dialogue and how the director depicted Zuckerberg's relationship with his friends and competitors!

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Sandcastle

The story is about a young man enquiring about his father's past after his grandfather died and just when he was about to enter National Service. His father was involved in the Chinese Student protest in 1956 and was exiled to Johor Bahru before he died of cancer.

Liked the nice National songs but still preferred Kit Chan's version of "Home"! Thought the film would provide some kind of documentary insight into the Chinese Student protest, so I was a little bit disappointed when it did not.

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The Sorcerer's Apprentice

The story is about how a sorcerer found an apprentice with the potential to defeat an evil witch after searching around the world for many years. The film title came from a poem by Goethe and Walt Disney first adapted it into an animated film called Fantasia in 1940.

Not as exciting as "National Treasure" or enchanting as "Fantasia" but the special effects were pretty good. Wished that the apprentice had learnt more tricks rather than using his ring like a remote control though. I thought that the evil witch should have implemented redundancy into her system rather than assuming everything works properly.

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A Single Man

The story is about a day in the life of an English professor when he plans to commit suicide after work as his lover died eight months ago.

Liked the soundtrack and the flashbacks that gradually revealed the professor's past! The slow motion sequences were pretty interesting too! The film also made me want to check out Huxley's "After Many a Summer Dies the Swan", Kafka's "Metamorphosis" and Capote's "Breakfast at Tiffany's" one day.

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Alice in Wonderland

The story is adapted from Lewis Carrol's novel "Alice in Wonderland" and "Alice Through the Looking Glass".

Liked how elegant the Cheshire Cat floated and flipped around in the air! The plot was not particularly exciting and the ending was a bit awkward in my opinion but there is an interesting analysis that explains the mathematical background of the story!

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72 Tenants of Prosperity

The story is about how the tenants on a street in Hong Kong helped each other in times of crisis.

A little bit messy as the director tried to fit as many big name actors and actresses into the film as possible into the plot but I liked the marketing strategies of the two mobile phone shops! They were pretty innovative!

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Mother

The story is about a mother investigating a murder mystery that allegedly was committed by her dim-witted son.

Great acting by the mother! Liked the twists and turns in the murder mystery! Was really taken aback when they revealed who the real killer was!

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Not Without You

The story is about a father who brought up his daughter single handedly only to face a series of red tape when he tried to register her for school.

Liked the beautiful black and white cinematography and the cool dream sequence! The ending was nicely executed too!

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Astro Boy

The story is about a robot made in the image of a scientist's son who died in an accident. This is an adaptation of a Japanese manga and TV series.

The protagonist looked quite cute with his big eyes and spiky hair! Was inspired to check out the TV series online after watching the film and I found the TV series to be even more interesting! The soundtrack and the storyline are both even nicer!

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The Song of Sparrows

The story is about how a middle aged man working in an ostrich farm was fired and accidentally found work in the city as a motorcycle driver. His family life suffered in the process.

Liked "Children of Heaven" better as the protagonist was a really unlikable guy, shouting at his kids for no reason at all most of the time! Hope no animal was hurt making this film!

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