Into The West

The movie "Into the West" is a classical tear-jerker.
A dead mother's soul continued to protect her children. A man chose to exile after his beloved wife passed away. And, you’ve got a grandpa who could tell a mythical story symbolizing eternity.

The movie was set in Ireland, where you can easily feel melancholy without any knowledge about the story. However, the tension between Irish travelers vs. the modern society was depicted in a flat tone. The filmmakers did not bother to put more layers on either side of characters. Yes, you probably already guessed what I am going to say next.

Nevertheless, I still enjoy seeing this movie. It fairly coveys some romantic ideas about life and love, which may be impractical but precious in this cynical world.

So, you may still want to check out this lovely story, and then think about having a trip to Ireland someday as I did :)

Click the following picture to see the clip:

Iliad (Troy)- the best story of all times

Usually some brilliant indie movies are underrated underdawgs. However, some made-in-Hollywood movies with A-list actors can be underrated as well. Wolfgan Petersons' "TROY (2004)" is one of the examples.

I first read the story of "Iliad" when I was about 10 years old. It totally blew my mind away when I entered the world of the Trojan war where you could see the fights between Greek Gods, Godesses, superheroes and human beings. It was a breath-taking journey. The name of Achilles was like a tatoo on my childhood dream. A superhero who was a son of God Zeus and sea nymph Thetis -- how cool was that!



It's really risky to have Brad Pitt and the new heartthrob Orlando Boom in an epic film like "Troy." Beautiful actors are tricky assets in a movie project where the story is supposed to be the focus. Although it's painful to watch Orlando Boom saying his lines on the big screen, I am not denying Brad Pitt is a talented actor. However, Brad Pitt is not quite cut out for a legendary figure of ancient times. Fortunately, Eric Bana's performance was adorable and convincing.

Wolfgan Peterson removed the religious parts of the original story, and added more humanity to the movie. I think this is the right decision. The movie kept its decency in everything we look for in an epic film. However, this movie did not get as much attention as it deserved, partly because this is a story already being told millions of times; or maybe moviegoers are expecting to see a sandal-and-sword epic film passing the bar raised by "Gladiator."

The unforgettable fight between Achilles and Hector:

Curse for genius?

I personally think the success of Ron Howard's "A Beautiful Mind" has little to do with his filming skills or artistic views. I am not saying that Ron Howard is a mediocre director. However, I would be happier to see "The Fellowship of the Ring" snapped the Oscar's best picture than "A Beautiful Mind" in 2002. Well, the former is an amazing cinematic journey, while the latter is at best a fictionalized documentary film.

Having said that, this is still a decent film. The life of John Nash is that kind of story people resort to for drama: a jackpot for genius, lunacy, charisma, maverick, and above all, Nobel Prize – entirely falls on one individual. Can you imagine a more dramatic life a person can have?



Caution needs to be exercised when it comes to deciphering the information delivered by this movie. This movie seems to add more stereotypical images to individuals with extraordinary cognitive capacities. Yes, it was based on a true story, but not quite true in some regards. The out-of-date treatment in psychiatric hospitals demonstrated in this movie may further demonize the psychiatric medicine and fuel the war between sciences and arts. The fact that John Nash miraculously backed on his feet without much help of anti-psychotics may also mislead the general audience. You see, with an IQ score greater than 150, John Nash can afford his unleashed psychotic symptoms; this doesn’t work for most patients.

Anyway, I am personally inspired by John Nash’s passion on pure sciences and his perseverance in original ideas. The filmmakers have succeeded in telling us that the mind of human beings has great potential despite our physical fragility, for which I am truly thankful.

It never gets old

Just like Peter Pan, Mozart never gets old, or we should say, "Amadeus never dies."

Yes, my confession is that I am a huge fan of Mozart. It will be unwise for me to critique the movie "Amadeus."

"Amadeus" is no doubt something a moviegoer shall never miss. The music, drama, and the everlasting genius-vs-mediocre battles inside of us, comprise an exceptional experience that you can hardly forget.



Under the mask of parodic mockings lies his infinite sadness. However, Mozart never whined about his humiliations and pains, and instead he gave the world his divine music. In his operas, he effortlessly turned vulgar stories into something deeper by his music. What else can we pray for from a musician?

Mulholand Drive (2001)

As a movie fan, you may either hate or love David Lynch. He is one of the few directors followed by a cult.

However, it's fair to say that his movies are decently suitable for course materials in film schools. Among his famous works, Mulholland Drive is definitely a great example. This film contains a wealth of montage stuff, clues, and symbols. In addition, he threw in some misleading and distracting threads to deceive the audience that would drive you nuts if you are eager to figure out what the heck he was doing. Pretty exciting, huh?

Unfortunately, he sort of overcooked this film. Yes, although he swtiched back and forth between dreams and reality like a veteran magician, I became less and less tolerant with his show-off. The film becomes drier and drier when you realize that he was not attmpting to make you feel touched. This is just an experiment.

Fortunately, Naomi Watts saved the world of Mulholland Drive. Her performance in the beginning was so pretentiously awkward. Alas, she was trying to tell you that she was a lousy actress-wannabe in the real life, but actually she was a talented rising star at Hollywood in her weirdest dream. Oh my god! As the story unfolds, you have already fallen in love with a devil, and you know it. Such a multi-layer performance is so precious and rare in the film history that you can forgive any flaw in this movie.

So, this is still a journey worth taking.


[16 reasons why I love you]

Mystic River

Mystic River (2003)


"Mystic River" is a modern version of Greek tragedy.

The movie started with a horrifying distant memory, while the audience were forced to witness the ugliest human's sin. At this point, we all felt that something disturbing would happen down the road. Then Clint Eastwood skillfully and modestly switched the tone to a CSI-like milue where suspense and murder and all other crap began to unfold.

Eastwood knew how to tell a decent story. The intensity of the conflict and darkness of human nature kicked in while we were anxiously waiting to find out who is the killer. And then, the one and only twisted person (played by Tim Robbins) appeared to be the victim-turn-villain guy. Henceforth, the ill-fate character was slowly and helplessly crucified in front of the audience. It was like a silent bolt of shock and sadness piercing our hearts.

The film was so flawlessly made. We have to be ready to embrace the heaviness and melancholy of the tragic story and to figure out how dark we all can turn to be. And after that, we solute Eastwood:

This is by all means a masterpiece!

Happy isn't normal

About 【Garden State】




I cannot really say how I should recommend this movie. The director/writer Zach Braff mentioned this story is sort of a composite of his and his friends' stories. The funny thing is I have thought little of New Jersey for a long time. To me, New Jersey is just like some place you have to go through when you leave or head for New York. After seeing this movie, it's the first time that I found the garden state -New Jersey, is more interesting than I used to think.

Since 【Garden State】 is biographical in essense, you cannot really criticize whether the story has any deeper meaning or else you will get frustrated when you try to read between the lines. The protagonist is totally depressed, although his father is a shrink. His family was devastated by a tragedy when he, as a 9-year-old child, pushed his mother and made her stay in the wheelchair until she died.



I have to admit that the main character is not particularly lovable, unless you have unconditional empathy for whomever suffers from depression. However, another main character, Samantha (played by absolutely charming and talented Natalie Portman) somehow saved the ass of this movie. Her arcane but cute personality is destined to rescue whatever was screwed up in this story.

Overall, this sentimental movie is full of witty comedic components here and there, though not quite consistely.

The reason why I still spent time writing about this movie is because of what the protagonist said to his psychiatrist father near the end of the movie,

"We may not be as happy as you always dreamed we would be, but for the first time let's just allow ourselves to be whatever it is we are ..."

Forgive and forget

EVERYTHING IS ILLUMINATED (2006)



"Everything is illuminated" is just like a movie you want to share with you close friends or family. The story is also about legacy and roots. Every issue it addressed looks trivial but with great percussions.



The protagonist (played by Elija Wood) kept collecting weird stuff in his plastic bags and said he was doing so lest he would lose these memories in the future. This kind of struck me because I suddenly realize that some people are trying so hard to forget while some people are scared to forget their endeared things.

"Eveything is illuminated" is something you would love when you appreciate the beauty of forgiveness and a mixture of infinte sadness and peace.

A brand new start

It's exciting to use this new blog. The design looks clean and neat. I like it! Let me figure out how I can post some cool stuff here.

Maybe I should talk about the movie "Garden State" I saw a few days ago. It was written and directed by a young filmmaker: Zach Braff. We'll see.

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