About Chocolate Parfaits

Breakfast at Tiffany’s

When it comes to me, I like to search about reviews and analysis when I see and read something I liked. However, I think that the book is far deeper than the movie, so I actually browsed the intrawebs for the book – only to find the hint that the Paul-baby in the book was actually homosexual. (Where the hell can one see that?) Oh my… but aside from that, I think I got the major meaning of the book. Holly Golightly is a woman from the demi-monde and she makes me wonder once again why there are so many popular classics about prostitutes (Emila Zola’s Nana, La Traviata, Proust’s Swann) I actually find them fascinating too, but it surprises me how they have appeared as protagonists in literature in all kinds of times – and shocked the audience over and over.

Anyways, I actually liked the movie. I was a bit irritated to see Paul Varjak to look so damn handsome, because in the book, he’s basically totally boring – but the end obviously explains. A propos the ending, my god, that was a surprise too. I should have known it, but to me, there was no way Holly could have ended up with him. Everything was fine and most scenes were taken from the book, so it couldn’t be that the three very last minutes deviate so much, right? XD But still, it was a believable Hollywood end.

Aside from the ending, I really liked a lot of scenes ‘new’ to the movie, especially the Yunioshi (even though his role is so despised among critics) and the delightful day that Holly and Paul spent together. Actually I don’t really want to compare the book with the movie, because I think either of them has their good points: The book is much more sophisticated and intellectually challenging, the movie has a more likeable Holly, is quite light-hearted and fun to watch.

When it comes to Audrey Hepburn movies, there aren’t that many that I am planning watch: War and Peace, The Children’s Hour (which I expect to very emo already) and Charade. I’ve seen all the other interesting ones and would rank them like this:
1. Wait until dark
2. Sabrina
3. Roman Holiday
4. Love in the Afternoon
5. Breakfast at Tiffany’s
6. Two for the Road
7. My Fair Lady
As you can see, my taste totally differs from the general opinion O.o

Election

Again, I find it rather difficult to talk about this movie, because even though this is a (good) comedy, I was a lot into the seriousness underneath it. The main reason is that I could totally relate to McAllister (even though I didn’t really like him) and absolutely hate the character of Tracy Flick. You can say I’m not a very ethical person, but I really could understand why that frustrated teacher acted like that: After all, his bourgeois wife is utterly boring (in fact, the other woman was too, but at least she was a distraction) and his job isn’t all that great either, so he has no other choice than be envying Tracy Flick and hate her neurotic behaviour. I also rolled my eyes at Linda who really was the one who pushed him into betraying his wife and then went back saying how he take advantage of her. Oh my God. Poor guy. So I wouldn’t really say that he ‘deserved’ to be fired and dumped: I really think it’s his shitty environment that made him what he is.

I really liked Paul – he was, like, the shining star of the whole story, even though he was obviously dumb as hell. He was the only one who felt natural and neither emo nor neurotic. Hach *_* His sister, the emo girl, was the total opposite. Of course her character is supposed to be funny (and therefore, her lesbian tendencies are supposed to be laughed at – oh my God, her new love was so ugly *ahaha*), but actually she’s kinda strong and cool. Melikes.

Even though she’s perfect for “Naturally Blonde”, I think Reese Witherspoon excelled in this movie. She manages to do Tracy Flick’s distinctive facial expression so well that I was shocked. By the way, I knew about “Election” for about 5 or 6 years now. One of the girls in my class talked about it (that’s why I knew already about the ending scene with the little girl), and she also said that Tracy Flick is her biggest ideal. (Well, she really was a little bit like her, but in a more positive way…) Oh my God XD

Hah, in the end I didn’t talk much about the movie, and maybe it’s better like that. The movie makes me feel I’m a bad person, for some reason *ugh*

Gerry

I don’t care about whether and how much they photoshopped the nature shots in this movie, it’s stunningly beautiful nevertheless – and actually the main reason why I didn’t find this movie boring at all. Usually, I come to like a movie as soon as the people begin to speak (Pulp Fiction is the perfect example for that). In this case, however, I felt so much more tension as soon as they stopped to speak. It also helped a lot that the soundtrack was absolutely gorgeous and added a lot to the atmosphere. (The soundtrack actually kind of reminded me of “Elephant”, even though the music didn’t catch my attention that much when I was watching “Elephant” back then.)

By the way, I think that Matt Damon isn’t that much of a bad actor. I loved him in “Good Will Hunting” actually *cough* Unfortunately, he’s doing so many bad movies… it’s like Cameron Diaz – she only lived up to her potential in “Being John Malkovich”.

Then, about 20 minutes before the end, I was so tired I couldn’t even move anymore (or so I thought), so I unfortunately didn’t watch the dramatic ending scene. ^^;;;; But it was very interesting indeed, even though I don’t have much to say about it. (And oh, I lurv this poster.)

Shortbus

Actually I am planning to write three postings today, but I want to start off with Shortbus because it’s the the most recent one and therefore the one where my impressions are still very fresh.

Again, I won’t delve as deep as Prog into the whole story, especially since Milkmaster and I really didn’t think much about it – we basically just sat there and enjoyed the funny scenes. Actually that was a topic we’ve talked about: We don’t have any of these sex problems as those character, neither that kind of relationship problems; therefore, there was nobody (at least not for me) among them who I could identify myself with. Consequently, I won’t talk much about these problems because I don’t think I can judge anything at all. However, I do get the impression that these dialogues are sometimes a little bit clichéd, but it didn’t really bug me – after all, I don’t hear those kinds of dialogues very often, because it’s been ages that I’ve watched any american sitcoms like Sex and the City.

By the way, Milkmaster’s favourite character is the owner of Shortbus. Mine is Ceth, obviously *g* I mean, he’s really cute and even though he played an awfully boring character, he was funny and sympathetic. Aside from Ceth, I felt really sorry for Jamie because he had to bear with the fucked up character of James. After all, this is something the movie did really well: The characters were the most interesting point of the film, and I am a sucker for “character films”.

I should maybe mention the sex scenes as well: I didn’t find them repulsive at all. When I saw the DVD itself, I first found it a little bit disturbing, but in the film itself, the sex looked quite aesthetic in my opinion. I also didn’t think there was too much of it. On a side note, the sex wasn’t turning me on directly, but after watching it, it seems it kind of, say, influenced our actions that evening. *hrr hrr*

All in all, Shortbus was really funny and we thoroughly enjoyed it. I even think it is worth to be watched a second time, some scenes (like singing the hymn into the other’s ass) were just priceless.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Again, there is a movie I find it difficult to talk about. The reason for it is pretty explainable: Recently, I tend to watch movies that I am watching for a reason and with rather clear expectations, not just only for the sake of it: Dangerous liaisons, Butterfly Effect, this one. Obviously most movies don’t met my expectations – they’re not better nor worse, just different from what I would expect. I can’t say “I liked this movie” nor “I dislike it”.

I feel so sorry for Stan. I actually also liked Mary and don’t quite understand why Pochi dislikes her character. She’s just a poor girl and Kirsten Dunst played her pretty well, really. Of course she doesn’t have any deep and interesting character traits, but she’s great as the cute, desperate side character. I’m still not sure whether I want to see Elizabethtown though. Actually I don’t.

About 20 minutes before the end, I started watching the movie from the beginning and noticed how clearer everything was to me again – and how beautiful the first part seemed to me, compared to the middle and the end of the movie which I actually found less interesting.

Okay, I’ll be honest: After reading this insightful post, I felt like no matter what I do, I won’t be able to write anything as good anyways. So why should I even try? And now I want to watch Shortbus too XD

Before Sunset

Still no post about Eternal Sunshine. I just had to watch “Before Sunset”, because for some reason, I couldn’t stand not to know what happened with them afterwards. In the end, the sequel is a lot like I’ve expected, and it definitely is targeted at people who have watched and liked the first movie, in my opinion. It simply refers too much to what happened in “Before Sunrise”.

Oh my god, this movie is so addicting, it’s Parfait Tic for adults. XD Then again, I think I am only continuing to watch because I have the impression that they only talk with each other, but nothing actually happens between them. In fact, I even think that for the first part of the movie, they reminisce about what happened backwards and let each other know what they are doing, and it’s not before the trip on the boat that they began to talk about both of them, their relationship. On top of that, it struck me as pretty weird that Celine talked so much about her ex-boyfriends and about ‘men’ in general. It’s kind of disillusioning for me: I have always thought that Jesse would kind of be the one for her, and not just another guy who left her and married. If I were Jesse, I probably would have felt a bit weird hearing her talk. Therefore, it gives me the impression that they are falling in love with each other again, but this time at the end of the movie.

In fact, both characters have grown into rather unsympathetic characters – but probably that’s just me, I don’t quite like “angry, maniac, depressive activists”. *hrr* This brings me to the fact that they talked about a lot of things I wished they didn’t… I don’t really want to hear their views of politics (aside from the fact that they seem quite unreflected and not differentiated at all) or even human rights (oh god!), and I especially hated her citation of Einstein. In case you don’t know: In my opinion, Einstein is a scientist and nothing more. He excelled in his research, but he wasn’t particularily ‘smart’ when it comes to ethics, political views and sociology; the stuff he said about life, the universe and what is right or wrong cannot possible all come from himself. I dislike the citations because it shows people’s narrow-minded attitude about how a great man also has to say great things, and not understanding that geniuses are ‘only’ particularily good in one field. I doubt Einstein had the time to think much about life, politics and stuff. Jesse was much cooler, but had less interesting character traits than Emoceline. In fact, I had the impression that Celine was more developed as a character and stood more in the middle of the movie than Jesse. She also looks great in this movie – her top in the movie is absolutely gorgeous *hrr hrr*
(Then again, Jesse’s going to commit adultery, oh his poor son! Okay, actually he’s not cool a all.)

This time again, the movie made me laugh a few times, for example: “Do I look different?” “You look skinnier… thinner.” “What, you thought I was a fatty? You wrote a book about a fat french girl!” XD I have written so many negative things about the movie, but actually I liked it despite all the clichés in it *_*

All in all, it was great to have watched the movie because I couldn’t stand the cliffhanger of the “Before Sunrise”. Even though I was surprised at the sudden ending of “Before Sunset”, it made clear that they decided to stay together, at least for awhile – there’s no real good-bye scene, which is quite comforting. Actually I would really watch a third part! Let’s say, after 18 years when they are nearly old people XD I wonder a bit how the title would be then, but whatever XD (And what city to choose… maybe Rome?)

Before Sunrise

I would never have expected myself to watch this movie. There was a long time when I disliked romatic love stories, but I have to admit that this story (again) is something between thoughtfulness and Hollywood romance: On the one hand, the whole story lives through its characters and their interesting dialogue; on the other hand, these dialogues are rather generic and not particularily intelligent. (“We are just a fraction of the people from 50000 year ago?” Huh?) However, I liked when they talked about personal things and their feelings, and… love – that’s so much better than talking about ‘bigger’ things such as politics, religion, or ‘humans’ in general.

Ah, Julie Delpy is oh so lovely. I love her! Not because she’s a good actress (after all she seems to be playing the same person all the time), but because of her looks: her slightly ondulated hair, her charming smile that gives off a very feminine air, her not particularily intelligent, but beautiful and kind of sophisticated eyes. She’s attractive and even though she appears mature (and therefore not at all innocent), you would never project any sexual desires on her. A sex scene with her does not feel like a sex scene XD She makes the way they flirt with each other so natural and not awkward at all.
And when she frowns, she looks like a woman who had never any problems in life and is able to spend all her time thinking about love. In some ways, she reminds me of Kate Beckinsale, who actually isn’t as charming as Julie Delpy. This brings us to “Serendipity”, another clichéd romantic love film which I *cough* like very much. That one is really stupid (similar to Notting Hill maybe), but I found it so cute! Awww~

There even actually were some scenes that made me laugh a bit. First was that “That’s so french, so cute!” and how La Delpy blurted out how she hates this so much, second was the scene with the poet when they picked “milkshake” as word. “Milkshake? I was gonna say ‘rooster prick’.” Hahaha. The poem was just like the movie: Good, in some ways, but not really a literature masterpiece.
By the way, the third scene was how Jess talks about monkeys and does that… err, monkey move XD
The fourth very entertaining one obviously was when they phoned their imaginative friends.

By the way, I do think that both of them are pretty clichéd. She’s not that french, but he appears SO american, at least to me, and therefore reminds of me of a certain person (my god). Probably this even is a by-product of his good acting skills *hrr hrr*

Err, I find myself unable to write some conclusion to this blog post. Maybe it reflects how the film itself didn’t really have a conclusion – after all, you don’t even get a glimpse of bout what happened afterwards. Luckily, there’s a sequel. *g*

PS. The DVD covers and posters for this movie are all so incredibly awful. >.< PPS. The review for "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" comes tomorrow. I kind of need to sort my thoughts for it.

The Butterfly Effect

Actually I’ve watched this movie a few days ago (and to be exact, I am currently in the middle of “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”, because last time, I didn’t continue watching it after dinner). It’s quite difficult to describe my feelings towards this film. Because in the end, this film did not make me feel anything (haha).

The title says it – all in all, this movie was a lot like Donnie Darko. A young, good-looking protagonist, a girl he wants to protect, a sacrifice at the end, time travelling – everything. However, Kayleigh (oh, I love the sound of this name… it’s like “Imogen” – you would never have expected this accumulation of weird sounds to be a woman’s name) is blonde and slightly stupid while Gretchen is much cuter and fragile. Ashton Kutcher can’t be taken seriously as well (even though he didn’t play that bad in this one) and he doesn’t have even one ounce of Jake Gyllenhaal’s sex appeal which consists of an incredibly charming smile and intelligent looks. The actors are probably the reason why Donnie and Gretchen’s relationship were very touching and cute (and it was so nice to see them kiss *tihi*) while Evan and Kayleigh were just boring.
However, unlike most other people (I guess), I liked the ending. One aspect was that the Oasis song made me feel touched at that scene. The other is that I really think it was a good conclusion: The ending made clear that Evan realized that he is not supposed to be together with her and that it probably should remain that way. That’s a nice and somehow beautiful message in my opinion. The other ending (the director’s cut one) was absolutely gorgeous too. I can understand that it doesn’t leave the same bittersweet touch as the final version, but it’s much cooler and to most fans probably the better ending – after all, the producer feared that the director’s cut ending was too cruel and forced the writers to change it.

The movie itself was good and I was about to give it a rather good rating, because it was much more interesting than the other movies I’ve seen recently. But then I remembered how I felt while watching Donnie Darko: I sat right before the TV and couldn’t move my eyes away, I felt totally sucked into that world and oh my, how much I loved that suspense! The Butterfly Effect was nothing like that, that’s why I will probably always remember it as similar to Donnie Darko, but not half as good.

A little note about the logical problems of the movie: Who cares. In my opinion, the movie did a good job to illustrate the interesting subject of time travel and its questions, consequences and possibilities despite all the exaggerated, trashy and unlogical storylines. “Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo” (The Girl who leapt through Time), another movie I’ve watched this Tuesday with Milkmaster, was not half as good at this. But then again, I think Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo was a children’s movie and not to be taken seriously aside from its stunning animation quality.

I still recommend it though – Hollywood is able to do a good movie on the line between mainstream and indie.

Dangerous Liaisons

It really isn’t easy for me to explain the impression this movie has on me. Actually it turned out to be exactly like I have expected: I end up preferring the “Cruel Intentions” version since I don’t like the actors while I do admit that their acting was very good. Since everybody knows that this is the most reputated and obviously the best adaptation of “Les liaisons dangereuses”, I guess I will talk more about the bad points of it.

First of all, I think Glenn Close is way too old for that role. I don’t see any reason for a man to want to sleep with her, while Mme de Merteuil is one of the most charming and intriguing characters of the story.

Malkovich… Malkovich! Harr, I love him, but he’s one guy I would never sleep with either. He’s a great man for comedies and all, but he doesn’t really appear very charming to me. (Okay, Ryan Philippe isn’t the most charming guy either – and he’s a bad actor. But I thought you could feel his love for that stupid girl.)

And the rest: I didn’t quite like the end, everybody cried out loud, Valmont was way too violent towards Mme de Tourvel (violence is so… unclassy! XD) and the ending scenes were so… short. I also couldn’t quite follow the way Valmont actually seduced Mme de Tourvel. Ah well, maybe I just am not receptive enough towards this adaptation XD

Of course I admit that this version is much deeper than the teenie one (even though the novel is much more enlightning about basically everything, especially Mme de Merteuil’s background and intentions), but I still don’t really enjoy it. The best point of it was how the love between Merteuil and Valmont was depicted – I think they put a greater emphasis on this than in all the other versions.

In the end, I’m glad I have watched this movie because I have heard so much about it and wanted to watch it since ages. But I didn’t expect much and so I’m fine with watching a fairly good adaptation. (Now that I’m thinking about it… maybe I didn’t like the movie that much because I know the story so well already? *hrr*)