11.Oct.2009 TSS: Movie Mini-Reviews: Julie & Julia, Coraline, Shawshank Redemption, My Neighbors the Yamadas
I’m going to watch WICKED the Broadway Musical this Wednesday so I’m reading Wicked the book by Gregory Maguire feverishly so I can finish it before Wednesday — which is a more difficult task than I thought, because the book is LONG. I’ve been reading it for about 2 weeks now!
Surely I will write my thoughts on the book and the musical on one post, so stay tune!
Meanwhile, here are some foreign movies and movies based on books that I watched recently:
Julie & Julia (2009)
Official site
What can I say? It’s a film about blogging and cooking! It’s as good as what everybody says! The modern Julie’s story is so close to my heart that I often had tears in my eyes throughout the movie (I also have loved Amy Adams since Enchanted). Julia Child felt a bit over the top, but maybe that’s what she really was like? I’d never heard about her until the movie came out.
Interesting fact: Julie & Julia is the first movie ever made based on real blog.
Rating: 9/10
Note: You may think that I’m a bit late in watching the film, but it just opened this week in Australia!
Coraline (2009)
Official site (Excellent website!)
Based on book with the same title by Neil Gaiman, it is a delightful movie, even though things were a bit too predictable. I loved the colors in this movie — they struck me as being really vibrant. I was quite amazed by the smoothness of stop-motion technique that they used to make this movie. It must’ve been tons of work! Check out the website for more details on the making. The information is sort of scattered all over the place, but they might’ve done it on purpose to make you do some treasure hunting to find hidden gems. I just saw a clip about the knitter of all the tiny clothes that the characters wore! She used needles to knit them. Wow.
Rating: 7/10
Note: Again, you may think that I’m a bit late in watching the film, but it just opened last month in Australia!
Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Shawshank Redemption is based on the novella Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption (1982) by Stephen King. I watched in on DVD and surprisingly loved it since it’s not the kind of premise that I’d normally go for. The story is in prison, but it’s mainly drama and not action. Apparently the film is one of the most popular dvd rent of all time, because it wasn’t that popular when it was out and people are late in catching up. Tim Robbins as Andy Dufresne was very impressive (why hadn’t I heard of him before?). Morgan Freeman kept his cool like always. Worth watching.
Rating: 9/10
My Neighbors the Yamadas
1999 (Japan), 2005 (overseas)
My Neighbors the Yamadas is again, a surprising gem. It’s somehow a less popular movie by Studio Ghibli (the maker of Spirited Away, How’s Moving Castle, etc), directed by Isao Takahata (Miyazaki’s long partner) and I don’t know how I ever missed it before, but it’s so funny and heartwarming – loved it to pieces! The story revolves around Yamada family, who’s like your ‘neighbor next door’. The minutiae of their (crazy yet normal) everyday life is so endearing and humorous, you can’t help but relate, even though they’re Japanese. It just shows that some things happen everywhere around the world, no matter where you are and which culture you’re from. And I love the simplistic animation style!
Rating: 9/10
mrdes 
mee 
