Traveling with Yoshitomo Nara
rare glimpse into the heart of an artist
Type: about life|cultural flick|documentary
Story: this is a documentary which offers a rare glimpse of yoshitomo nara, an internationally acclaimed artist. the filmmaker follows him as he goes to a fan club meeting to setting up a gallery exhibition to traveling for inspiration to Seoul, New York, Osaka, London, Bangkok and more.
Thoughts: i didn’t know much about yoshitomo nara before seeing the movie, although i am familiar with his work. i found this documentary so special. as such a private person, i wonder how the director persuaded him to let him into his world. throughout the movie, you truly fall in love with him. he’s such an empathetic, lonely, creative person with so much art to communicate to others. as he begins to let others into his world and connect more with people, his inner beauty really culminates as he creates this magical city of art and characters. i wish they hadn’t burned it down in the end, because i would have loved to see it.
Format Viewed: movie theatre
Writer(s): none
Director: Koji Sakabe
Starring: yoshitomo nara and friends
Length: 93 minutes
Year Released: 2007
Country: Japan
Language: Japanese
rare glimpse into the heart of an artist
Type: about life|cultural flick|documentary
Story: this is a documentary which offers a rare glimpse of yoshitomo nara, an internationally acclaimed artist. the filmmaker follows him as he goes to a fan club meeting to setting up a gallery exhibition to traveling for inspiration to Seoul, New York, Osaka, London, Bangkok and more.
Thoughts: i didn’t know much about yoshitomo nara before seeing the movie, although i am familiar with his work. i found this documentary so special. as such a private person, i wonder how the director persuaded him to let him into his world. throughout the movie, you truly fall in love with him. he’s such an empathetic, lonely, creative person with so much art to communicate to others. as he begins to let others into his world and connect more with people, his inner beauty really culminates as he creates this magical city of art and characters. i wish they hadn’t burned it down in the end, because i would have loved to see it.
Format Viewed: movie theatre
Writer(s): none
Director: Koji Sakabe
Starring: yoshitomo nara and friends
Length: 93 minutes
Year Released: 2007
Country: Japan
Language: Japanese
Kissing Cousins
relationship terminator learns how to love
Type: cultural flick|relationships|laugh out loud
Story: in this romantic comedy, a professional heartbreaker (he actually gets hired to break up relationships) learns how to be in a relationship…from his cousin. it first begins as a joke to pretend to be a couple, but the joke slips into a complicated reality as feelings grow between the two.
Thoughts: it’s so refreshing to see a romantic comedy that thinks outside of the box. it gets a little uncomfortable, particularly when you keep getting reminded they are cousins, but the film is a funny, touching, interesting journey. i was laughing out loud!
Format Viewed: movie theatre
Writer(s): Amyn Kaderali
Director: Amyn Kaderali
Starring: Samrat Chakrabarti, Rebecca Hazlewood, David Alan Grier, Jaleel White
Length: 99 minutes
Year Released: 2008
Country: United States of America
Language: English
relationship terminator learns how to love
Type: cultural flick|relationships|laugh out loud
Story: in this romantic comedy, a professional heartbreaker (he actually gets hired to break up relationships) learns how to be in a relationship…from his cousin. it first begins as a joke to pretend to be a couple, but the joke slips into a complicated reality as feelings grow between the two.
Thoughts: it’s so refreshing to see a romantic comedy that thinks outside of the box. it gets a little uncomfortable, particularly when you keep getting reminded they are cousins, but the film is a funny, touching, interesting journey. i was laughing out loud!
Format Viewed: movie theatre
Writer(s): Amyn Kaderali
Director: Amyn Kaderali
Starring: Samrat Chakrabarti, Rebecca Hazlewood, David Alan Grier, Jaleel White
Length: 99 minutes
Year Released: 2008
Country: United States of America
Language: English
God Grew Tired of Us
documentary chronicling the lost boys of sudan
Type: about life|cultural flick|documentary
Story: this documentary closely follows three "Lost Boys" from the Sudan who leave their country for a refugee camp and move to America. it focuses on their journey away from Sudan and their transition in the united states.
Thoughts: i saw the film a couple of days ago and it is still on my mind. i thought the story was fascinating. it’s difficult to imagine trekking across the land with total uncertainty as a child. there’s the physical exertion and on top of that, the lack of resources and things to do. these young men catch a break when america accepts refugees and watching their transition to the states is shocking. from the way their communities accept them to the stark contrast from sudan and kenya, we’re lucky to have caught the story on film. even more powerful is how far these men are able to go with support.
Format Viewed: dvd
Writer(s): Christopher Dillon Quinn and Tommy Walker
Director: Christopher Dillon Quinn
Starring: Nicole Kidman (narrator), John Dau, and Daniel Abul Pach
Length: 86 minutes
Year Released: 2007
Country: United States of America
Language: English
documentary chronicling the lost boys of sudan
Type: about life|cultural flick|documentary
Story: this documentary closely follows three "Lost Boys" from the Sudan who leave their country for a refugee camp and move to America. it focuses on their journey away from Sudan and their transition in the united states.
Thoughts: i saw the film a couple of days ago and it is still on my mind. i thought the story was fascinating. it’s difficult to imagine trekking across the land with total uncertainty as a child. there’s the physical exertion and on top of that, the lack of resources and things to do. these young men catch a break when america accepts refugees and watching their transition to the states is shocking. from the way their communities accept them to the stark contrast from sudan and kenya, we’re lucky to have caught the story on film. even more powerful is how far these men are able to go with support.
Format Viewed: dvd
Writer(s): Christopher Dillon Quinn and Tommy Walker
Director: Christopher Dillon Quinn
Starring: Nicole Kidman (narrator), John Dau, and Daniel Abul Pach
Length: 86 minutes
Year Released: 2007
Country: United States of America
Language: English
Ratatouille
gourmet rat gets a chance to exercise his talents
Type: about life|animated
Story: a rat finds that his sensitive nose gives him a sensitive palate. he turns up his nose at regular garbage and seeks out the best ingredients to cook up a delectable feast. good fortune has him collide with a bad chef and they enter into a shaky partnership.
Thoughts: i think this animated film has everything. it’s funny like all pixar films are, but the emphasis on the story is what drew me in. these days, kids flicks seem to find a cliche lesson and drive the point in until you can’t take it anymore (finding nemo did this in my opinion), but ratatouille is about this rare, yet believable story that justs takes you away. it’s touching, visually beautiful and about a zany, lovely relationship.
i love that aside from all of this, you still get glimpses of many different "lessons" in a way, from feminism in the kitchen to being your own person and discovering your passion. i think the family story within probably resonates with a lot of immigrant families, where the children find "fuzzier" things to study in college than their parents expected. you can find so many gems within and i’ll have to see the film again to catch all of its nuances and be taken on the journey all over again.
Format Viewed: movie theatre
Writer(s): Brad Bird (also story), Jim Capobianco (story), Jan Pinkava (story), Emily Cook and Kathy Greenberg (additional story material)
Director: Brad Bird
Starring: Patton Oswalt, Ian Holm, Lou Romano, Brian Dennehy, Peter Sohn, Peter O'Toole, Brad Garrett, Janeane Garofalo and Will Arnett
Length: 110 minutes
Year Released: 2007
Country: United States of America
Language: English
gourmet rat gets a chance to exercise his talents
Type: about life|animated
Story: a rat finds that his sensitive nose gives him a sensitive palate. he turns up his nose at regular garbage and seeks out the best ingredients to cook up a delectable feast. good fortune has him collide with a bad chef and they enter into a shaky partnership.
Thoughts: i think this animated film has everything. it’s funny like all pixar films are, but the emphasis on the story is what drew me in. these days, kids flicks seem to find a cliche lesson and drive the point in until you can’t take it anymore (finding nemo did this in my opinion), but ratatouille is about this rare, yet believable story that justs takes you away. it’s touching, visually beautiful and about a zany, lovely relationship.
i love that aside from all of this, you still get glimpses of many different "lessons" in a way, from feminism in the kitchen to being your own person and discovering your passion. i think the family story within probably resonates with a lot of immigrant families, where the children find "fuzzier" things to study in college than their parents expected. you can find so many gems within and i’ll have to see the film again to catch all of its nuances and be taken on the journey all over again.
Format Viewed: movie theatre
Writer(s): Brad Bird (also story), Jim Capobianco (story), Jan Pinkava (story), Emily Cook and Kathy Greenberg (additional story material)
Director: Brad Bird
Starring: Patton Oswalt, Ian Holm, Lou Romano, Brian Dennehy, Peter Sohn, Peter O'Toole, Brad Garrett, Janeane Garofalo and Will Arnett
Length: 110 minutes
Year Released: 2007
Country: United States of America
Language: English
Transformers
more than meets the eyes
Type: tense thriller|looking for action
Story: transformers the cartoon makes a debut on the big screen
Thoughts: i really liked the movie. it’s funny because when i was little, i never thought of transformers as aliens, but it turns out that they are.
there was more star power than what was necessary for the film, and some of those characters were ridiculously overacted (particularly the guy from sector 7). still, i loved the special effects and the characters. the movie was a wild ride for me. the only other thing that threw me off was that the 2 main women were attractive in an insane, unrealistic kind of way. no one would believe that girl looks like someone in high school - at least she was strong!
the only thing that i wasn’t happy about is that the transformers theme song never happened - what’s up with that? no matter what, watching the film was seeing the magic of one of my favorite cartoons coming alive on the big screen.
Format Viewed: movie theatre
Writer(s): John Rogers, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman
Director: Michael Bay
Starring: Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel, Rachael Taylor, Tyrese Gibson, Jon Voight, Anthony Anderson and John Turturro
Length: 144 minutes
Year Released: 2007
Country: United States of America
Language: English
more than meets the eyes
Type: tense thriller|looking for action
Story: transformers the cartoon makes a debut on the big screen
Thoughts: i really liked the movie. it’s funny because when i was little, i never thought of transformers as aliens, but it turns out that they are.
there was more star power than what was necessary for the film, and some of those characters were ridiculously overacted (particularly the guy from sector 7). still, i loved the special effects and the characters. the movie was a wild ride for me. the only other thing that threw me off was that the 2 main women were attractive in an insane, unrealistic kind of way. no one would believe that girl looks like someone in high school - at least she was strong!
the only thing that i wasn’t happy about is that the transformers theme song never happened - what’s up with that? no matter what, watching the film was seeing the magic of one of my favorite cartoons coming alive on the big screen.
Format Viewed: movie theatre
Writer(s): John Rogers, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman
Director: Michael Bay
Starring: Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel, Rachael Taylor, Tyrese Gibson, Jon Voight, Anthony Anderson and John Turturro
Length: 144 minutes
Year Released: 2007
Country: United States of America
Language: English
[archive]