Thursday, June 29, 2023

Wish Dragon

The story is about a young man's encounter with a dragon that grants its master three wishes.

Liked the front part of the movie that introduced the two good friends! Thought it was quite impossible for the young girl to not recognize her old friend though.

Internet Movie Database Link

Sunday, May 28, 2023

Ballerina

The story is about two orphans pursuing their dreams after escaping from the orphanage.

Liked the amazing dance sequences and how Odette trained Felicie! She was like a kungfu master teaching her student!

Internet Movie Database Link

Wednesday, May 10, 2023

The Summit of the Gods

The story is about an avid mountain climber who is obsessed with climbing mountains and a journalist who tries to undercover the reason behind his obsession.

Liked the nice mountain scenery! Quite amazed by how they almost climbed vertically up the mountain through special boots!

Internet Movie Database Link

Thursday, May 04, 2023

Aiko

The story is about a day in the life of a group of young Japanese who worked in a bakery.

Liked the insider view of the bakery and the interesting sound effects that don't quite match what is shown on the screen. The film reminds me a bit of Masculin Feminin by Godard where the young people were referred to as the children of Marx and Coca-Cola.

Internet Movie Database Link

Thursday, April 27, 2023

House

The story is about what happened when seven friends visited an aunt's house during the summer vacation.

Liked the interesting special effects! Was quite worried that it would be super scary but it was not as bad as I imagined.

Internet Movie Database Link

Monday, April 24, 2023

List

The story is about a young woman making a list of things that she wanted to do at a hotel with her mum.

Liked how the director made a coherent plot based on the seemingly random list of things! The interaction among the three characters was pretty interesting too!

Internet Movie Database Link

Sunday, April 23, 2023

Beijing Watermelon

The story is about how a Japanese grocer went beyond his means to help a group of poor Chinese students in the late 1980s.

Liked the nice Chinese song and William Tell overture music sprinkled in the film! Was a bit puzzled why they didn't go physically to Beijing but realized the reason when I saw the date they were supposed to go.

Internet Movie Database Link

Friday, April 21, 2023

Children Who Draw

This is a documentary about art lessons in Japan during the 1950s.

Liked the nice art drawings and clay sculptures by the children! It was interesting to see how the childrens' drawings reflected how they were feeling that day!

Internet Movie Database Link

Thursday, April 20, 2023

A Taxi Driver

The story is about how a Korean taxi driver drove a German journalist from Seoul to Gwangju to cover the Gwangju uprising in 1980.

Quite surprised that this was based on real events as it seemed unbelievable that the duo would make it safely to Gwangju and back! Great acting by Song Kang Ho as the taxi driver! I have seen him in many other Korean films!

Internet Movie Database Link

Saturday, April 15, 2023

Stand by Me

The story is about how four friends went on an adventure to find the dead body of a stranger.

Liked the strong friendship among them and how they stood by each other in the face of danger, whether is it a train chasing after them, leeches biting them or bigger boys threatening them!

Internet Movie Database Link

Wednesday, February 01, 2023

The Wandering Earth

The story is about how the people in the world had to make earth wander out of its usual orbit and travel for many years to another place to save it from destruction.

Liked the final part of the film where everyone was trying their best to save the world! Most of the places looked quite similar though, so I couldn't tell them apart.

Internet Movie Database Link

Wednesday, January 25, 2023

The Menu

The story is about a group of diners having an expensive dinner at an island but many unexpected things happened along the way.

Liked the twists and turns in the film! I couldn't predict what would come next! I thought the bread dish was the most ridiculous!

Internet Movie Database Link

Wednesday, January 18, 2023

Never Rarely Sometimes Always

The story is about how a young girl travelled to New York with her cousin to abort her baby.

Liked the friendship between the cousins and the scene that explained what the title was all about!

Internet Movie Database Link

Friday, January 13, 2023

When Marnie Was There

The story is about how a shy little girl made friends with another little girl called Marnie.

Liked the friendship between the two girls! The final portion where they slowly revealed the identity of Marnie was pretty exciting in my opinion!

Internet Movie Database Link

Tuesday, January 03, 2023

Roald Dahl's Matilda the Musical

The story is about how a smart little girl survived studying in a school with a very fierce principal.

Liked the nice songs that blended well with the plot! Thought it was pretty interesting how fiction mixed with reality!

Internet Movie Database Link

Friday, December 30, 2022

Doraemon the Movie: Nobita's New Dinosaur

The story is about how Nobita tried to send his pet dinosaur back to the time where he belonged.

Liked how hard the dinosaur trained to learn how to fly! An exciting adventure!

Internet Movie Database Link

Wednesday, December 28, 2022

Dinosaur

The story is about how a dinosaur raised by lemurs trekked to a sanctuary after a meteorite shower destroyed his home.

Liked the realistic action sequences! Not really sure why the rest of the dinosaurs had to listen to the head dinosaur who just wanted to charge ahead.

Internet Movie Database Link

Monday, December 26, 2022

Shoplifters

The story is about a group of outcasts staying together as a family. Some of them shoplift to survive.

Liked the interrogation scene towards the end where we slowly figured out the relationship among the "family members"! I think they act more like a family than real families do!

Internet Movie Database Link

Friday, December 23, 2022

Our Little Sister

The story is based on a Japanese manga series called Umimachi Diary. It describes how a young girl came to live with her three older step sisters after her father passed away.

Liked the nice idyllic life at the countryside near the beach! My favorite part would be when the big sister and the little sister climbed up a hill and took turns to shout something towards the sea. I was surprised by what the little sister shouted but it made sense in retrospect.

Internet Movie Database Link

Thursday, December 22, 2022

Home Alone

The story is about what happened when a little boy was accidentally left at home around Christmas while his family went on a holiday to Paris.

Liked the part where Kevin went to church and realized that his old neighbour was much friendlier than he thought! The rest of the plot was a little bit too unbelievable in my opinion. It will be an advanced challenge for a ten year old kid in an "Old Enough" episode.

Internet Movie Database Link