2014 Movies watched

Butler served in the White House while his son protested for civil rights. American history from cotton fields in NC (his dad was shot dead by his moms white rapist), blacks not being served, freedom bus to Obama elected as first black president.

Enjoyed the film a lot

A cynic and woe is the world kinda guy in a relationship and ultimately losing her.

Fell asleep during the second half of the movie. Interesting way of filming with just the dialogues between the two main characters and their spouses who are cheating with each other (we don't get to see their faces).....it is very draggy and boring, happening in a narrow corridor and noodle shop mostly and with nice cheongsams.

Seemingly random days played out in each scene. It is in some sort of chronological order though for the plot to make sense.

Cynic/spontaneous/cold girl have an on/off thing with idealistic romantic who believes in true love.

The last scene on the hilltop overlooking is profound. She said...What I felt with him was what I was never sure with you (love). It said to me that someone who u think is your ideal love might just feel the same about someone else and not you. There is nothing to be done about it.

A typical coming of age story of high school years. Close friendships between a few misfits. Emma Watson and the guy each have a bit of history that was only played out slightly towards the end. His aunt Helen got killed in a car crash shortly after asking him to wait for Santa....something was revealed during his therapy scenes that she did something to him before...his best friend killed himself a year ago. He is this very quiet, well read guy (the English class teacher was hot though)...and took on extra readings...Great Gatsby, to kill a mocking bird.. the really nice, sensitive guy who loved Emma and in the end they just shared his first kiss, have sex and then she departed for college, and he had a psychological breakdown....spent a few scenes in hospital and it ended. unimpressionable film but light hearted enough to laze to.

To me, this is about Colin Firth's superb acting. Won best actor in the Oscars. The plot is very thin - about him overcoming the stammers of public speaking (live radio speaking in those times) to finally deliver the King's speech in wartime England...in an enclosed room with his speech therapist. Very short scenes of their various interactions....I especially enjoyed the first meeting when he insist to play by his rules calling him Bertie, where he watched Bertie stormed away in a park after being insulted by him, the rehearsal in the cathedral where he sat at the coronation chair angering him. Based on a true story. It was alright only.

This is the second Woody Allen film I have watched, after Annie Hall. I like his style of neurotic characters, dialogues, very relaxed pace and humor. Cate Blachett was excellent here. She is this glamorous and immaculately dressed-chanel-hermes-character whose exterior/past is a juxtaposition from her current state of mind/present. She never lets go of this throughout the film, hanging onto this inflated ego and snobbery based on the former self she adores and still desires to return back to "when Hal was....when we were living in...." Such is the irony that she looks down on her sister and her choice of boyfriend while continuing with the delusional of grandeur and self deception and nearly marrying the rich and handsome guy. She was so near to getting back to that lifestyle - what could have been and what is. The portrayal is often nervous, anxious, hilarious and I never once felt sad or sorry for the character. There is such resilience, strength (going for computer class with the aim to take an online interior designer course) and humour in her desperation and disdain for her present. Very likeable and not an ounce of self pity.

One of those films where the mood and intensity takes center stage, and I cannot remember much else despite having watched it last evening. Past scenes intertwine with the present. The resentment (on her part) between a married couple with a kid, further manifest itself on their weekend away to a hotel room aptly named future. She rejected him repeatedly in the shower scenes and in the end, he rejected having sex with just her body. It was as if alcohol was necessary to remove the distance between them, to stand being alone with him. Their happier times in the past have faded into this, the audience do not know how, it just had happened. A very real movie. Back from the weekend, it finally escalated to a full blown outbursts by him at her workplace and she screaming for a divorce. With a vague ending of her needing space. The acting was not particularly memorable...the actress could be better casted as some moody and antsy teenager with mental demons. It is a movie to drift along to its mood, not one for plot nor characters.

Wow! I have finally seen this and I should have seen it way earlier. A gripping 175min masterpiece with divine acting by Marlon Brando and Al Pacino. Scenes one would remember for a very long time. 1) The opening scene begins with the camera focusing on the one asking Don Vito Coeleone for help and then shifts to the Godfather. His command, presence and tone has been set... that calm authority in the gentle husky tone. 2) The director wakes up in a blood-soaked bed pushing down the sheets to reveal a dead horse and screams. I bit my fingers. 3) The restaurant when Mike Coeloene fixes his hair, comes out of the restroom, sits awhile (I thought he was going to back out of the plan) and then shoots both of them. A scene that will forever change his fate and makes his believable transition slowly from a quiet one who wants nothing to do with his family business to the head of the group. I think it is notable that he demonstrates the coldness and calm and intelligence...his first task of the double shooting, reaction to brother Sonny's death, when he looks at his older brother coldly and said never to take side against the family, and in the ending, where he got his sister's husband killed despite attending the baby's baptism, telling him to get out alive, and his sister's plea.....the cold brutality (even against family) is even more than Don Vito ever demonstrated 4) Sonny was shot many times in his car while trying to get to his sister ferociously abused by her husband

This is a long drawn out pointless movie. It is supposed to be good yeah, having won so many awards. Utterly wrong. First massive fight and bloodshed saw the priest (Amsterdam's father) being killed by the butcher. In between, Amsterdam became the butcher's trusted right hand man, only to be betrayed by his childhood pal, falls in love with the butcher's girl. Finally the last scene was a repeat of the first, massive fight, blood, graphic violence, dead and of course he killed the butcher and got the revenge. About the 5 points in new York. There is no point or plot of much in this movie, only go see it if you like to see bloody violence without a story. The only scene I like was Amsterdam and the girl in bed the morning after the butcher left them.

After watching Annie Hall and Blue Jasmine, and reading that Manhattan is one of Woody Allen's best films, I was expecting myself to enjoy this but was left disappointed. I remember the beginning scene of fireworks exploding slowly in the skyline of Manhattan, and the planetarium scene where the two characters first revealed the attraction towards each other....beautiful in black and white. This reminds me of Annie Hall....it is the same type of Woody Allen neurotic character....this time, he was with a 17 year old girl and ends up falling for his best friends mistress (Diana Keaton) while his ex-wife (Meryl Streep) writes a biography about their lives together. Then the mistress goes back to his best friend and he wants the 17 years old not to go to London for studies as he made a mistake...the 17 years old said what is 6 months if they are serious about each other. I like the acting of the 17 year old and their emotional maturity is such a contrast. She looks a bit like Michelle Williams in blue valentine....that deep teenager look? His films are easy to watch, drift past...

My Al Pacino obsession begins. He was so delicious in the Godfather (and I remember many years back watching Dog Day Afternoon on TV and being mesmerized by it, more by the gay one then). 2 hours plus movie about a whistle blower for a tobacco company - based on a true story. The man was fired as head of research and VP, puts his personal reputation and cost to his family on the line to reveal an insight about the tobacco company, only to have CBS corporation not wanting to air his interview for fear of being sued big time. In the end, the passion and conviction of the 60minutes show producer Lowell (Al Pacino) resulted in CBS news admitting what had happened (the process involved the internal affairs of CBS news vs CBS corporation, scandals to taint Jeff's name and integrity of his words, trust between the two men) and airing the interview. Lowell quit in the end despite the good outcome as...you cant go back to what has been broken, cant go to the source and said trust me and you will be fine, maybe.