Awards Fever

We've been trying to catch up with the Big Ones..

and so far in the past couple of weeks, have watched...

Memoirs of A Geisha

I gotta be proud of Michelle Yeoh, our very own Malaysian Miss Malaysia/Bond Girl.

One thing that I have in common with Michelle is, ironically, she still cannot read Chinese and she has to have Chinese script read to her and memorizes them phonetically to some extent. Er..well, I can read SOME elementary chinese but I'd get lost in China without some kind of subtitles.

I CAN CONVERSE in Mandarin and at least 2 other Chinese dialects, but READING chinese characters is something I need to work on.

Thing is, they had Chinese women play all the main Geisha roles, not that they didn't do a great job, but it just begs the question, "Why didn't they get Japanese actresses?"

Gotta go find out.

p/s: Great movie, visually stunning. And with music from John Williams, with a little bit of Yo-Yo Ma and Itzhak Pearlman for good measure, you can't go wrong.

Cinderella Man

Tagline: One man's extraordinary fight to save the family he loved

Cinderella Man is a great movie about humanity, hope, triumph and is possibly one of the best movies about the Depression since The Grapes of Wrath.

p/s: I had to hold my hands to my ears during the boxing scenes to keep from hearing all the bone crunching special effects sounds, and took solace in the fact that even Rene Zellweger has "full" cheeks

Great acting from everyone, great direction from Ronny Howard

The Matador

Love this quirky movie with an even quirkier very-unBond-like Pierce Brosnan, produced by his own production company - one of the reasons he gave for why he could now branch out to NON Remington Steele and James Bond roles

I hate to call this a "buddy flick" but Pierce and Greg are great together as an unlikely duo in their respective roads to self discovery.

The Constant Gardener

Synopsis : A widower is determined to get to the bottom of a potentially explosive secret involving his wife's murder, big business, and corporate corruption.

Good movie, just ultra sad in the end, with very stark representations of Africa ( we thought Cindy would appreciate that the most, as she goes on a Medical Mission to Zambia every year )

As Ebert and Roper say it, " "The Constant Gardener" begins with a strong, angry story, and peoples it with actors who let it happen to them, instead of rushing ahead to check off the surprises. It seems solidly grounded in its Kenyan locations; like "City of God," it feels organically rooted. Like many Le Carre stories, it begins with grief and proceeds with sadness toward horror."

Others we've seen over time:

Kung Fu Hustle ( Best Foreign Film contender, believe it or not!)
Chronicles of Narnia
King Kong
Syriana ( well, David has, but I'm so a-political, he watched it on his own )


Gotta watch movies....gotta watch movies.....