Favorite Movies

Haven't been updating because of school and work and all that. And been watching fewer movies too.

Let's see,  in one month I've only watched Captain America, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, and  Bride and Prejudice. Rise of Apes trumped the other two, not because they  were bad or anything (they were all pretty darn good actually), but because I had to hold and comfort two scared friends while watching apes take over the planet. APES TAKING OVER THE PLANET IS SO FREAKING SCARY, MAN. And at first you're all sympathizing with Caesar. And then Tom Felton is mean and has an American accent. And then I'm the only one laughing in the theatre when there's that circus orangutan. And then before I know it both G. and A. are whimpering and crying and I have to pat them comfortingly. Rise of the Planet of the Apes definitely makes one of my favorites. 

lol circus orangutan

All that made no sense. Okay whatever, here I go with my favorites, in descending order.

• Pope Joan
• Rise of the Planet of the Apes
• Super 8 (see Summer post)
• Sita Sings the Blues 
• Ip Man 1,2
• Tombstone
• ชั่วฟ้าดินสลาย
• มหา'ลัย เหมืองแร่
• Inglourious Basterds
• A Better Tomorrow 1,2,3

...

I just realized that a lot of these have the "Epic Line." You know, when at the climax there's this Epic Line. Like for Rise of Apes, it'd be SPOILER 

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Picture-heavy after the jump.




Pope Joan - Female pope in disguise. Brings out the feminist in you.

I HATE THE HORRIBLE SEXIST DAD WHO BEATS HIS WIFE AND DAUGHTER. For example, when his wife is giving birth, he doesn't let her use any pain-easing medicine because a woman has to "have pain in childbirth." And when his daughter learns to read he forces her to erase the words in her books using a knife. URRRGH

Also learned a lot of Catholic vocab (ie. Superista).

Sita Sings the Blues- 
This will be the strangest movie on this list. But I want to talk about it because you know what? There is no conversation where it's normal to bring up this movie. Lol.

This is a animated version of the Ramayana with commentary by 3 Indians portrayed as shadow puppets. The plot has parallels with the director's heartbreak story. And the whole thing is made into a musical with tunes from a 1920's singer.

Wait, what?

Not only that, the whole thing is made (animated, directed, etc) by one person, and the whole thing is legally available on YouTube as a Creative Commons piece. Viewers are encouraged to "donate to the filmmaker."

I find this movie really, really funny and creative; plus, it's an easy way to learn about the Ramayana. The Ramayana seriously brings out the feminist in you.

 There's a couple of spazzy moments when it's just weird hypnotic animation with Hindi singing, but it fits the overall feel of the movie. (Sita has a tiny waist, just like Jasmine in Disney.) Also, 20's songs are really, really catchy.

Epic Line: There are like ten of them.

Ip Man is also really nice to his wife (girl in purple), haha.

Ip Man
Ip as in skip, Man as in bun. (By the way, how great was The King's Speech?!) Story about Bruce Lee's master's awesome skills at Wing Chun (type of Chinese martial art).

In the first movie it's during WWII so there's a lot of Wing Chun vs. Karate/evil Japanese officers.

 In the second movie Ip Man escapes to Hong Kong, so it's Wing Chun vs. Stupid White Men's Boxing. 

I watch this kind of movie with my dad. Lol.
Ip Man 3 is bad, though, because of no Donnie Yen.

Tombstone

When this movie was given to me I was like, "What? An American western? For me? Lol." But then I watched it, and mind =blown because:

1. Angry cowboys.
2. Doc Holliday: supercool Southern gentleman guy.
3. Epic Line: "YOU TELL 'EM I'M COMIN' AND HELL'S COMING WITH ME, YOU HEAR? HELL'S COMING WITH ME!"

ชั่วฟ้าดินสลาย / Eternity
Of course there should be a Thai movie here. I'm Thai, after all. #Duh
1932, Burma: Husband finds out that his wife and nephew are having an affair, so he shackles them together.

THIS IS NOT A HAPPY MOVIE

Also: great costuming, Ploy Cherman, Ananda Everingham, and a healthy dose of insanity. What more could you want?!
Epic Line- Hint: When you hear the movie title

มหา'ลัย เหมืองแร่/ The Tin Mine
Hands down, favorite Thai movie of all time.

1949: An engineering student at Chula fails so he is sent to work in a tin mine by his father as a punishment. He meets friendly and quirky characters, like his farang boss and a money-loving Chinese vendor. What makes this even cooler is that it's a true story.

The description of the video has more info.

Sad thing is, this movie failed at the box office. It took 70 mill baht to make but made only 11 mill. And I know a lot of crappy movies that make way too much money (Transformers).
The movie also has a lot of ♪You Are My Sunshine. 
I have the DVD, but it has no subtitles.
I don't remember THE epic line, but I remember AN epic line:

"For businessmen, there is no right or wrong, only profit or loss."

Inglourious Basterds

1. 
   

My favorite western (as in white people) movie. Why:

1. Quentin Tarantino- Pulp Fiction is also good (the dancing scene!) Have yet to check out Kill Bill. I SHOULD HAVE A KILL BILL MARATHON

2. Col. Hans Landa- Awesome acting. Also, all his lines are Epic Lines. "Au revoir, Shoshanna!"

"That's a bingo! Is that how you say it, that's a bingo?"

3. Everything else. Like that game where they put namecards on their foreheads and try to guess what they are. And Brad's Southern accent. And how perfect Bridget von Hammersmark looks all the time. And that glass of milk scene at the beginning. And that nice Nazi. And the fact that it's in four languages. And Hugo Stiglitz. :D


 Picture spam.

A Better Tomorrow 1, 2, 3

What is there to say?

I was riding home one night in a taxi with a TV, and the 3rd movie was playing. Before I reached home, I decided to just go for it and asked the driver what was the name of that movie. Without taking his eyes off the screen, he said, "โหดเลวดี 3" (Thai name of the movie).

With a title like that ("Cruel Evil Good"), it took two or three days before I could get the guts to ask my mom if she knew about that movie. All the while I was stewing the movie name in my brain. To my delight, she answered, 

"Hey, those were the movies that we all went to watch in our teens! Sanook sood sood! Mun khoad khoad! People kept saying that your teenage dad looked like young Chow Yun Fat, but with smaller eyes."

 and promptly got me the VCDs. All three movies for 59 baht. Thai dub. Most awesome 344 minutes of cinema ever.

MY TEENAGE DAD, BUT WITH BIGGER EYES

From the first movie

From the second. Omg I love this scene :D

Did you know that #1 in the trilogy is listed as #2 on the best Chinese films of all time? Did you know that the soundtracks to all three movies are so poignant and grand and powerful that I listen to them when I need to power through work? DID YOU KNOW THAT I BUMPED LORD OF THE RINGS AND PULP FICTION OFF THIS LIST FOR THEM?

Third movie

You know what? I don't even want to tell you what the movie's about. Just watch this clip to get a feel of some awesomeness. This whole clip is an Epic Line. In fact the whole movie's an epic line. 

APOLOGIZE TO THE RICE RIGHT NOW

I still feel like I haven't fully enjoyed all I can from it. I must watch it again, this time in the original Cantonese. Even with the Thai dub, I cried twice during the first movie, threw something at the screen during the second one, and probably both of the above during the third movie. Lol. Crazy.
Does anyone else outside of my immediate family that I know watch Hong Kong movies? xD

Man, this is a long post. I feel so geeky now. But that's not new or anything. But I'll be updating less so be satisfied with this.

Finally, as promised, more blackmail material for you.

I love Jane's handwriting

LOL LOOK MELIE LIKES CASTAWAY. THAT MOVIE SCARRED MY CHILDHOOD HAHHAHA

Until next time!