A Japanese Wonder

When Departures won the best foreign movie award at the Oscars, I was quite taken aback, I've never heard of it and the victory can be considered as an underdog story. Many critics thought that Waltz With Bashir was gonna take the cake, but after watching Departures I knew exactly why it won. This is a beautiful movie, storytelling to the artistic shots used by director Yojiro Takita. It covers the heartland of Japan and an astonishingly beautiful look at a sacred part of Japan's cultural heritage. The movie revolves around Daigo a musician who is unemployed, he needed to get a job desperately to support him and his wife, Mika. Spotting a Help Wanted ad featuring the word “departures,” he is excited about the prospect of trying a new career in the travel industry. He arrives for the interview, curiously eyeing the coffins lining the back wall of the office. The company owner, Sasaki instantly was taken by Daigo and hired him on the spot, he basically made him an offer he can't refuse.

Daigo would have to work in a funeral home, something he was not totally honest about to his wife, the story starts revealing itself when Mika finds out about Daigo's new role and with it, it brings a new prospect on death, the elegant culture of Japan's funeral process and the beauty of developing new bonds and discovering old bonds. A masterpiece indeed and part of the story revolves around a rock, that I would say is the most endearing aspect to the film.. 2 thumbs up!

A Dog's Life

Apart from watching movies, something else really close to my heart are animals. I grew up having all kinds of pets and my love for animals only grew stronger each day. Recently I watched a feel good children movie titled Hotel For Dogs. However, it wasn't really feel good, in fact it went quite deep, in a bigger picture, the 2 kids played by Emma Roberts and Jake T Austin had a very sad life. They were put in one foster home to another and their only joy is their dog Friday (such a joy to the movie), who they can't declare in open because their foster parents who are rockstar wannabes do not allow pets. That aside, the siblings will con and do whatever it takes to get some money to feed Friday, because of their antics, they end up getting in trouble all the time, but their intention was noble, to feed their beloved dog. Why should the kids get punished for helping a dog? I think sometimes adults should learn a thing or 2 from kids.

Anyhoo, Andi & Bruce were looking for a place to hide Friday when they stumble upon an abandoned hotel with 2 residents, a Mastiff Lenny and a pug, Georgia. They then with help from some friends manage to make the hotel into a safe haven for strays they saved. As usual though whatever good that Andi and Bruce do, the idiotic adults will always make their lives difficult by tracking down the dogs and putting them in the pound. It ended on a happy note of course, but that was on film, why can't that happy ending apply in real life. My dream one day is that there will be "Hotel For Dogs" in every city in the world, and I don't mean just a pet friendly hotel but a safe haven where the neglected and abused animals, all sort of animals can find happiness and love for their remaining lives.. As for the movie, if you love dogs, then it's definitely a treat!

Dude Flick

I have to admit that I love indulging in chick flicks/romantic comedies.. though I know at the end of the movie the guy will get the girl and it always has a happy ending, the usual, and even if the reviews are bad I would still indulge... Well, it's not called a chick flick for no reason. But rarely romantic comedies actually revolve around the male character, usually the guys are the pricks or the ones that break the girl's heart or the guys are portrayed as marijuana loving/ porn surfing dudes (Knocked Up).

Recently I got the chance to watch I Love You Man and boy I could not have imagined how hard it is for a guy to get friends without looking gay. Paul Rudd plays Peter Klaven who has always been a ladies man, not a playa, but he has more girl friends compared to guy friends.. nothing wrong with him it's just that his life revolves around his fiance played by Rashida Jones.. So when he popped the big question to his girlfriend, the problem is he has no candidate for a best man. So the funnies takes place when Rudd search for his best man and that's when Jason Segel comes in and the story takes a pleasant turn.. Rudd and Segel's chemistry was simply brilliant especially their "Rushified" moments, you'll get it if you watch it.. Overall a pleasant movie which is pretty spot on for the guys.. and girls, you can take note and give your guys a break.. because they don't cheat when they're with their friends, they're just well.. being guys!!

A Religious Experience

This is not something I just watched but it remains as one of my favorite movies of all time, the rawness of it all armed with superb direction by Fernando Meirelles makes this a must see for avid movie goers. Some even described it as the Brazilian scarface.. City Of God! There is just something about this movie, its rawness and purity makes it a gem. The film provides no comfortable answers for disturbing problems it depicts. It centers around the growth of organized crime in a Rio de Janeiro suburb, between the end of the '60s and the beginning of the '80s, with the closure of the film depicting the war between the drug dealer Lil Ze and Knockout Ned..The storytelling is breathtaking, its fast paced and the story unfolds itself in the end. The most relatable part about this film is that at the end of the movie, the photos of the real life people were put alongside the actors who played them, and the uncanny resemblance between the actor playing Knockout Ned (Seu Jorge) with the real person (Mane Galinha) was unbelievable. Many scenes remains unforgettable in this film, one of it involves a boy who had to shoot a younger boy in order to be accepted in the gang.. That scene was gruesome but it was the real deal and that was how most of the kids grew up in slums, bullets and blood is apart of their everyday lives, sad but true which only makes City Of God in a league of its own..

Little Moscow

I had this DVD for awhile and never thought of putting it on, as you know how it's like you got to be in the mood for a serious war-like drama. One night i told myself, I wanted something to watch something with depth.. So Little Moscow was staring me in the face.

I was hooked on it as soon as the movie started. It's a beautiful period melodrama which took place in the southwestern Polish city of Legnica, the headquarters to the Soviet forces stationed in Poland from 1945-90. So it's basically a triangle love between Vera who is married to Jura a Russian military pilot, but soon after she fell for Michal a Polish lieutenant. The gorgeous Svetlana Khodchenkova plays dual role between Vera the mother in the 60's and Vera the bitter confused daughter at present time. Svetlana did a decent job in the roles and stands out throughout the film, but it was Jura who managed to gain the viewers sympathy..

If you're feeling a little bit sentimental, this would perfectly fit your mood..

Not Bad At All

Watching a good movie or good tv series, well completes me, much like how Tom Cruise felt when he was expressing his undying love to Renee Zellweger in Jerry Mcguire. After the very stimulating 2009 Oscars, i was left with very little inspiring movies. So I moved on to TV series, I thought why not give "Breaking Bad" a try, especially since Bryan Cranston won best actor at the Emmy's last year. That decision was one of the best I've made, the show was so wrong yet so right on so many levels.

Bryan Cranston plays Walter White, a struggling high school chemistry teacher with a teenage son who has cerebral palsy and a pregnant wife, Skyler. As if that was not hard enough Walt was then diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. He needs money to support his growing family and how in God's name is he gonna do it with his salary so he turns to a life of crime, and starts producing and selling methamphetamine with his former student Jesse Pinkman played by the brilliant Aaron Paul in a desire to secure his family's financial future.

From then on the roller coaster begins and you get to see what desperation can do to a person and how loyalty will just pop up when you least expect it.

Season 2, is one of the best tv series I've seen in a long time, there are no frills, no happy endings just pure raw brilliant performances from Cranston and Aaron Paul who got his first Emmy nomination in the best supporting actor category, I jumped for joy cause I thought Jesse "yo" Pinkman was the one in the drivers seat in season 2 and he soooo deserves the Emmy!! You heard here first, Aaron Paul will be going places, he the man yo!