Hi everyone,
Just want to share that I went to see Dunkirk last weekend.  I am impressed that it has been such a great success at the box office, because it's not exactly a summer entertainment-oriented movie.  It shows if the movie is excellent, audiences will show up.
Here is my reaction:  I went to see it because of the excellent reviews it got, but a few minutes in, I was wondering if I'd really enjoy the experience, even though it certainly was an experience for any self-respecting movie lover.  I felt the sense of desperation, despite knowing some of the historical numbers of the retreat.  The sense of despair did not lift throughout most of the movie.  I wondered how many of the main characters will make it, especially the young soldier from "the mole" story line and I kept wondering what would happen to the main pilot.  
After the movie ended, I started to like the experience more.  I was glad that in a small way, we get to feel what it was like.  I looked up some more historical facts afterwards, and think the movie did a wonderful job portraying the history without making it sound like a history lesson.  It shows all that history from very very personal levels.   
I also like how understated the heroes were drawn.  It stayed true to he fact of the military failure and how survival was such a miracle.  In the end I can't help but feel that the Brits must really be proud of this chapter in their history.  I highly recommend it!

Wonderwoman:  Great summer fun movie.  Love the no-nonsense fighting scenes of the Superhero and a great cast
of Leading ladies.  Wonderwoman certainly looked the part!
Rui

Amazing film!

'Dunkirk' is too good a movie to be truly great

http://buffalonews.com/2017/07/20/dunkirk-good-movie-truly-great/

Mark Rylance, one of the great British actors, personifies those British reservists. His heroism is self-evident but it is also underplayed. There is no vulgar attempt to underscore the obvious--that this enormously patriotic and humane man is doing everything an ordinary citizen can do to get his country's "boys" back home.





[ 本帖最後由 阿管 於 2017-7-25 14:41 編輯 ]

The Battle of Dunkirk was a military operation which took place in Dunkirk (Dunkerque), France, during the Second World War. The battle was fought between the Allies and Nazi Germany. As part of the Battle of France on the Western Front, the Battle of Dunkirk was the defence and evacuation of British and Allied forces in Europe from 26 May to 4 June 1940.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Dunkirk

Hi everyone,
If you have not seen this movie, I highly recommend checking it out, for the performances and for the story that is based on history. This is about 3 African American Ladies who worked in NASA, who all contributed a lot to the space programs.  

It is a highly inspirational story of pursuing  one's true potential while facing all kinds of obstacles such as discrimation based on race and gender.  The story is set in the 60s, but it is sad to see many of the discrimation still is wide spread, just not so obviously.  For example, are anyone surprised at the news coming from Hollywood, silicone valley or the media, showing very high frequencies of harassment women have to experience?  
The movie succeeds because it is not bitter or angry about the unfair treatment received by these highly accomplished ladies.  It shows them trying to change things persistently, cleverly.  It is uplifting to see their accomplishment in the end.  I will share one little story from the movie.  For most of the movie, one lady was instrumental in calculating launch orbitals and landing areas... and she developed many new mathematical methods, but she was not allowed to put her name on the reports.  She officially got no credit for the work!  But she kept trying.  Eventually, we saw her publishing a paper with her colleague on her work.  

Well, a similar type of thing actually happened to me today, when my work was not credited for a presentation, even though I wrote the first half of the presentation and those were my original analysis!  I stood up for myself today.  I am proud of my work, am accountable for them and I need to receive credit as due.  I sure thought about the struggles of these ladies in the movie, and I am glad I spoke up.

Back to the movie, it's a great experience. One of the joys of watching a movie is that we can imagine ourselves in another life, in the shoes of others.  I hope you all will be inspired.  

Rui

May you stand up for your own rights this New Year,  may nothing stop you from championing a cause that you hold close to your heart.

Happy New Year!  All the Best in 2018!

THank you very much!  Happy New Year!

Well, I finally saw This is Not What I Expected during the Christmas break on Netflix.  I loved it! Watched it twice.  It had lots of slap-stick elements in the movie, but it is also very sweet.  AS unlikely as the setup is, it is believable that Lu is so supermely focused on his job, that he may not have had much romantic attachments.  The back story of the dogs are great, it showed how Lu was brought up.  I laughed out loud on some of the lines such as the speech of hating apologies or the speech of thinking from his angle when he is firing the whole staff.  It's kind of right ON!  But he is human after all, and kind of likable in his weakness for food.  The OCD parts of him, such as the way he makes instant noodle is great!  He is hyper critical on all kinds of things, an occupation hazard, which made it really remarkable that he is tolerating GU's messy home.  Ah, love makes fool of all of us!  When we saw him pretending still to be crazy after the blowfish poisoning, we know he is totally in love!  Very nicely transitioned.  Hats off to the script team and the director.  And the extra benefit is to look at the Gorgeous Takeshi perfectly dressed for all occasions!  Perfect movie for a holiday.

I saw this movie recently and I am truly impressed by the performance of Gary Oldman.  He IS Churchill, he so completely embodied a figure that is so familiar in our recent history and our collective consciousness, I felt completely transported to the time in WWII.  I watched and listened to quite a few speeches by the historic Churchill just before this movie.  All I can say after seeing "Darkest Hour" is He nailed the role magnificently!  

The camera work was great.  We are allowed to feel all these crammed spaces, the HQ underground and the parliment in-session through the camera.  Also, I must say I loved how Kristin Scott Thomas played Clementine Churchill.  From historical accounts, theirs was a strong marriage, and I am glad to see in this movie how much she helped Sir Winston.

容許我能在這裡寫中文關於一些電影感想。

前幾天看了一部台灣動畫電影《幸福路上》。 這套電影在台灣去年已播放。 今年香港國際電影節有這套電影參展。動畫是我喜歡的類型。

講述一位７0年代出生的女主角小琪成長故事。故事已長大成人女主角從美國回國開始講起。當中穿抽小時候跟爸媽從鄉下搬去台北城市生活，學校、工作、出國讀書、結婚、再回去台灣自己長大的地方。 電影很多著隨台灣社會變化，女主角遇到生活的人與事，然後出國的際遇也選擇了她怎樣走下去，她要的幸福。 電影想表達幸福是什麼？導演也很像問觀眾們我們幸福嗎？ 雖然對台灣一些過去幾十年前歷史不太熟，但也是一個亞洲社會，像自己熟悉華人思想總覺得一直活得壓抑。自小就被期望是別人，長輩們期許，或是所謂社會標準。到最後能夠堅持自己的路有多少？當中遇到問題，迷失了，也能夠勇敢克服，走下去嗎。 或是拐一條路自有另一道風景。 這是一套很認真思考人生，笑中有淚的動畫電影。也是導演宋欣穎半自傳式電影。 喜歡電影女主角小琪豐富想像力，單純美好。  長大成人和一些低潮，身份，家在哪裡，去或留一堆的問題，我是有點共鳴。  

最喜歡小琪表哥台詞 『你要用心的眼睛看世界⋯⋯用智慧看事情』

Sparkling,
Thank you for posting about this movie you saw at the film festival.  If I have a chance, I would love to check it out.  Please feel free to share more movies and comments in the future.  I have always hoped this discussion thread to be a place where we share amateurish critiques on movies, but more importantly how we feel about a movie.

I wish there were more films about human lives, relationships and conditions playing in cinemas.  Some good movies make the audiences think.  This one sounds interesting because it asks the choices we make in life.  Is Happiness the ability to be true to oneself?  Are we all free to choose where we live, what culture(s) to participate in?  I think I can understand what you mean by the stifling effect of culture/expectations of what one should do with one’s life.  I hope this movie was a cathartic experience for its audiences.  Thank you again for sharing.

Rui

Best quote: “Sometimes it is the people no one imagines anything of who does the things that no one can imagine.”
Now, this a surely an inspiration to be true to oneself.

I re-watched this movie at home recently.  Last time, I saw it on the big screen.  I was so swept up by the puzzle-solving and WWII part of the plot, I don’t think I paid enough attention to the other half of the plot: two brilliant people weren’t able to be who them want to be because they were different from the social norm, despite the fact they were both relatively privileged and highly educated.  Joan as a women mathematician whose parents rather her marry than work amongst all men as a single woman.  Alan who is gay is criminalized and persecuted by the country he helped to save!  They both lived true to themselves as best they could.  It was incredibly moving.  And I am glad for movies like this that make us reflect on our past and how we can do better.  

The acting was superb, especially Benedict Cumberbatch’s.  If you have seen other works by him, Sherlock, August Osage County, Parade’s End, Atonement... it is obvious to me that he is one of the greatest in generations.

Hi Rui,

Sure I would love to share everyone the movie I watched, my expression and feeling
after the screen.  Probably that is the way l could say something here and the thoughts of what was the movie passage to tell audience.


The movie is called “ Happiness in road” if  i am not wrong in english. It was touchable in your
heart and smile on your face Recommend!

I have not watched many movies in the cinema lately.  The humongous Avenger was impossible to avoid, and I enjoyed it and thought it was better than my expectation, knowing how many superheroes and CGIs they tried to put in.  THe credit goes to the writing team who produced a coherent plot with humor and suspense.

BUt I also want to recommend a couple of very different films that have unlikely heroes?  THe description of these heroes may be so unappealing that you may delay watching the films.  A Stasi officer from East Germany who was part of the monstrous machine that spied on every citizen.  A Nazi Lieutenant as part of occupying force in A French town.  The first movie is THe Lives of Others, an all-time favorite movie of mine, which was highly praised.   I recently watched Suite Francaise and thought it deserved more notice.  I don't want to spoil the discovery of these films, but Just say both movies are deeply moving and showed the possibilities of love.  
MAybe in real life, there are no such heroes, some may argue.  In fact, Lives of Others was criticized for imagining a compassionate secret policeman. However, Suite Francaise was based on a book written by a Jewish authoress who died in the Nazi concentration camp in 1942.  SHe wrote the book in secrete under occupation and hiding?  She who suffered unimaginably wrote the unlikely hero, an ultimate testament to believing in the better side of human beings.

if you give these two movies time, you will be rewarded in discovering beautiful strong truthful acting and suspenseful stories.  

RUi

It's been months, and I watched a few good movies, but recently a lot more TV shows on Netflix.

Today, I want to talk about Far from the Madding Crowd (2015).  Don't let the fact that the original novel was written by Harding in Victorian time make you think it is a movie about old days and traditions.  What I love about the novel and this adaptation is that it has a thoroughly modern topic-- how to find Mr. RIght for an independent, vivacious woman.  WHat I love about Harding is his portrait of female protagonists.  in this novel, Bethsheba Everdene is strong, smart, willing to work hard, highly independent, but also makes plenty of youthful mistakes.  In many novels, TV shows and movies, when a female lead makes mistakes, the negative consequences are often irreversible, life is ruined when you end up with a bad guy.  Here, Bethsheba had to choose from three suitors, one offers charm and passion but a playboy, one is rich, kind and doting, one is strong, poor, honest and understands her.  I think it teaches a great life lesson on how to choose Mr. Right and learn from mistakes.  The acting of two main leads are superb, and the music and scenery has a wild beauty that is very suited for the story.