Round up!

Punk is not dead but I just don't like it.


Obviously, I could not finish my marathon list as expected. I finished 6 out of 14 titles in the list, which I presumed to be impressive enough for me to feel content about it. Out of the 6 titles, I've ranked them according to my preference as follows.

1. Persepolis ( imdb )
Witty, cynical coming-of-age movie that dissects the life revolving an Iranian girl turning into a lady, leaving her home land to Europe and back again. From scenes to scenes, the movie also illustrates the rebellion of suppressed Iranian people against the autocratic government - something, we and the world that claims to be victimized by terrorism, will never have understood before watching this movie. By the way, "Animation" sounds like a 5-minutes clip on youtube. So, I called Persepolis a "movie", since I enjoyed me more than the rest.

2. Rocket Science ( imdb )
Another coming-of-age tale about a stuttering boy being conned into a high school debate team by a dazzling girl that recruited many other "losers" in high school right before she transferred to a high school with winning team. Stutter boy did the stuttering act so well that it really annoyed me throughout the movie very much. Claire Benette's flying boyfriend is in the movie as the star debater that this lil' boy looked up to. Overall, it's quite enjoyable to look into a suburban boy's life and see how he sees through his own weakness.

3. Across the Universe ( imdb )
Being The Beetles' fan, I love the soundtrack and all the rearranged song covers. Some of the scenes in the movie really gave huge impact by using the right song eg: a young African American boy hiding next to a car while the police were pacifying the African American crowd on riot; a cheerleader walking away from the field while her crush kissed the cheerleader captain. My memory is wearing off now, so you should watch it, skip through a few, if you think the songs are too much. But, just a note: the songs used in the movie fit perfects in each scene; actors/singers' voices brought out the soul in the music; each scene is just interwoven to the next smoothly.

4. Suburban Girl ( imdb )
Don't waste your time watching this.
Sarah Michelle Gellar trying to be next...big hit romance actress. That sounds like a weekend filler that brings you no where but loose plot - imagine SMG fell for an old man. after her dad died, suddenly she claimed to have grown up and ditched him. The director presented the story in chapters just like arrangement in a book, as a trick to tie to the movie setting which is in publishing business. This is something new for me, that I can't comment much.
Still, a crap that I won't detest since I haven't come across crappy movie in such a long while. I'm just having good taste in movies all the while until now.

5. Ensemble C'est Tout ( imdb )
Audrey Tautou doesn't give a plus for this movie. The editing and cinematography are of typical European style with subtle details and less climatic storyline. It's not the typical romantic movie with lots of kisses, tears, hugs, and "i-heart-u"s.

6. El Camino Los Ingleseas/Summer Rain ( imdb )
I'm giving up to finish this poetic movie. I don't deny that it has very beautiful cinematography & script that made me feel like I was watching a piece of poetry with lots of symbolic scenes with a lot of exotic looking Spaniards. However, another coming-of-age story is not that I should be watching after a weekend with so many of them. I finished 50 minutes of it and I don't think I can continue it until I need some youth revival in months to come. This is not a conclusive opinion so...you can leave this aside too. Note, this is the first directorial work by Antonio Banderas and I think he did a great job!

Hah, I hope I'm not turning this into a movie blog. Better not.