Actually, both of her parents are a little bit morbid. Her father always plays with stuff birds alone, while her wobbly mother is addicted to sherry. Poor Mary feels confused about all the things around her and eagerly hopes there is a friend to share and tell.
Meanwhile, Max, a severely obese man with Asperger’s Syndrome is suffering from the chaos of New York. Just like Mary, he adores chocolate, watching ‘The Noblets’, and feeling confuzzled (an original word created by his own, the combination of “confuse” and “puzzle”) about the world. Mary and Max live in total different environment, but they do share some experiences and keen feelings, such as broken family, loneliness, thus beginning their friendship through letters.

For Mary, Max just like a guide who seriously answers her childish questions and wisely comfort her. Also, he is a friend beyond the age barrier. Having problem communicating with the world makes Max innocent and kind as Mary. He put a deep influence on Mary, from her childhood to adulthood, from a ugly girl to a famous writer. It is Max who makes Mary.
For Max, Mary is a window which sends in fresh air to his depressed world. A sort of responsibility rises in him. With the continuous letters with the little girl, he gradually realizes the problem of himself and tries to accept himself and forgive Mary and the world. “You are my best friend. You are my only friend.” The last words Max says in the movie tell all.
This movie is based on a true story of the director. It is obvious that the director’s intention is to extol the great power of friendship. However, the meaning of the story is much varied. Friendship is great in the movie because it helps trigger your confidence, makes your life bright. Friends are live links to the world. No friends equals no connection with the world. And only when one establishes good relation with friends could he deal with the world smoothly. In the movie, the process of developing their friendship is also the process of self-realization.
The following words Max say in the last letter to Mary impressed me very much:
The reason l forgive you is because you are not perfect. You are imperfect, and so am l. All humans are imperfect, even the man outside my apartment who litters, free kisses. When l was young, l wanted to be anybody but myself. Dr Bernard Hazelhof said if l was on a desert island then l would have to get used to my own company -just me and the coconuts. He said l would have to accept myself, my warts and all, and that we don’t get to choose our warts.
I guess most of us often fell into the trap of self-doubting, even self-negation. Such negative emotion wouldn’t trouble truly mature soul. The goal of our life is to be strong enough to defeat all the pressure from the outside world. But the first step is to sweep the obstacles in ourselves. And the only way is to accept yourself, to believe yourself. Then you will have the faith to enter the world, to face it. Love yourself first, and love the world.
Ps. the wonderful OST of Mary and Max is: Penguin Cafe Orchestra – Perpetuum Mobile

Volcano eruption, climate anomaly, earthquakes are here and there. It seems that 2012 is just around the corner. When Poland people dwelt on their departed President, a rumor emerged which said the President actually didn’t board the plane, but secretly went to the Big Boat instead.

Obviously, most people take the rumor as a joke, but it reveals people’s panic. Our mother earth is in trouble. Are human beings mighty enough to reverse the track of our planet of earth? I’m not sure. What I am sure is that it is our industrialization drive modernization drive that leads to the deterioration of the environment. No one wants to be a loser, nor does any country.

Competition, expansion, exploitation, we are on a treadmill with the purpose of being faster, higher, stronger. Olympic spirit is not exclusively shown on track and field playground, but on also on international stages. As a matter of fact, we are in race with our future.

impressive poster

What is happiness? What is love? What is success? What do you live for? Who are you? What should you be like? You can provide various answers to these questions. But the simplest way to deal with them is to figure out what you need and what you want.

“I am an adult. I know what I want.” For an adult, what he wants usually equals what he needs. As a man grows up, he gradually get rid of his naivety, fantasies, but becomes more and more sensible and practical. He is down-to-earth. However, a kid knows little of himself, and less of the world. Sensibility but not sense dominates him. He wanders aimlessly in his world, just like a cloud up in the air.

Ryan is the kid, while Alex is the adult. Ryan led a life of hedonism. The only aim of his life was 10.000.000 miles, a symbol of success. Unexpectedly, the balance of his life was broken after a hearty conversation with his brother-in-law. When his brother-in-law began to doubt the meaning of marriage, of life, Ryan began to examine his own life. It suddenly occurred to him that not all the things could be explained as meaningful. You should not give up life simply because it tortures you. Nor should you refuse marriage because it fetters you. Life is hard; life is troublesome. But the essence of life is to experience, that is to live with whatever God gives you.

Ryan & Alex

What Ryan wanted is not what he needed. What he really needed was Alex, and a warm and cozy home. Thus, an instinct pulled him from the air to the earth. The instinct is called love, which always exists inside one’s heart but becomes dull and numb as time goes by. But the fact only proved his naivety. The instinct dropped to impetus.

The impetus of brother-in-law is the freedom in the air, and it in turn took him back to the earth. On the contrary, Ryan’s impetus is the true love on the earth and it sent him back to the air. Indeed, happiness is inertial, springing from repetition.
The ending reminded me of the Hurt Locker. Just like James, Ryan restarted his trip on plane without knowing the deadline. His happiness is only available in one place-up in the air.

about the war between Cameron and his ex-wife Kathryn. The result had shown that The Hurt Locker overshadowed Avatar greatly. At the same time, Kathryn Bigelow became the first female winning the Award of Directing. A great woman who changes the history of the Oscar will definitely change the history of human society.

I always hold the belief that males and females are born equal. Equal in rights and obligations, but complementary in capacities. Anyway, they’re born different, in physiological structures. However, with tremendous endeavors and willpower, females can be strong as males. Today I happened to read a ballad, Mulan, which is translated from a classical Chinese poetry. I believe most of you know the Disney-made movie entitled Mulan. Actually, the film is based on this ballad. Share with you the last part of the ballad:

Today is a special day-International Women’s Day, so I’d like to recommend a special film for all the women.

Film: A Good Woman
Director: Mike Barker
Cast: Helen Hunt/Scarlett Johansson/Tom Wilkinson

A Good Woman is a drama film adapted from Oscar Wild’s famous play Lady Windermere’s Fan.
I just want to comment on a few insightful sentences in the movie.

1. Marriage is based on mutual misconceptions.
How many secrets husband and wife keep from each other, though some of them are out of good intentions? Sometimes the good intentions cause greater hurt rather than telling the truth. Robert doesn’t want to reveal the identity of Mrs Erlynne to Meg just because he doesn’t want to shatter her fairy-tale imagination of her mother. But what is the price? Meg is crazy that her husband falls in love with another woman. She is at the verge of being seduced by Lord Darlington if not her mother finds out her in time. Maybe others would put the blame on Meg, why she just simply believes in her husband?
I think it’s easy to say and hard to do. How can you judge whether your sweetheart betrays you? Wait and see? Actually Meg has seen it by her own eyes that her husband stays with Mrs. Erlynne and gives her money. If I were Meg, I would not believe Robert, either. I think Robert is the one who to blame, why doesn’t just tell Meg the truth? Is it so difficult to put it straight rather than seeing their marriage destroyed? Talked about Meg, the fault is that she wants to revenge, to get Robert’s notice again by plunging into another man’s breast. Anyway, I should say, people become real fools when they fall in love, so whether we’ll make the same mistakes is hard to say.

Scarlett Johansson in the film

2. Before you get married, you have to keep your eyes open widely and after marriage, only half open.
Actually not only the marriage, but all the important choices in life should be considered carefully beforehand, and after you’ve made the choice, you’d better do your best to make it as good as possible, not to regret, because that’s only waste of time

Poster

Cast: Richard O’Barry/Louie Psihoyos/Simon Hutchins/Kirk Krack/David Rastovich/Scott Baker

A dolphin’s smile is nature’s greatest deception, it creates the illusion they’re always happy.

Nothing is as misleading as the gorgeous scenery along the coast of Japan near Taiji. As an unsuspecting tourist I would not have the vaguest inkling of the brutal slaughter that takes place yearly right under people’s noses.
Produced by the Oceanic Preservation Society, “The Cove” tells the story of O’Barry’s mission to obtain hard evidence of what goes on in Taiji and exposed it to the public. “The Cove” is much more a spy thriller than just a record of that adventure. When the director Louie Psihoyos slipped into the little coastal town of Taiji, Japan, it was under cover of documenting the degradation of ocean reefs. Those men — perhaps cops, perhaps worse — trailed Mr. Psihoyos and his crew unrelentingly, determined to prevent anyone from filming the enormously lucrative dolphin capture and slaughter that support the town’s economy and employ its fishermen.

From flipper’s trainer to dolphin defender, the persistent O’Barry, who has been arrested many times for trying to free captive dolphins, is practically Taiji’s Public Enemy No. 1. The film is larded with footage of

Harmonious Scene

fishermen barring him from entering the cove, where all photography and recording have been banned. When he gate-crashes a meeting of the International Whaling Commission, the video screen strapped to his chest is like a physical manifestation of decades of guilt. A real hero is always daring to admit and fix his mistakes. “If a dolphin is in trouble anywhere in the world, my phone rings,” he says. You may not give a fig for dolphins, but Mr. O’Barry is giving enough for us all.
The director and all the team members are heroes for their intelligence and courage. Heroes, however, are instantly identifiable, like the shy Japanese councilmen who risk their jobs to protect schoolchildren from mercury-tainted dolphin meat.

“The cove” exposes the guilty in Taiji, bringing us terror and anxiety at first and hope and confidence in the end. Think over what can you do to confer your care for dolphins. Of course, all the creatures in nature is equal, please treat them as your pet!

Director: Neill Blomkamp
Cast: Sharlto Copley/Jason Cope/David James

“It wasn’t like watching a movie; it was like living an experience” one of my friends said after watching District 9.
4 Oscar Awards nominations, including Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Visual Effects, and Best Editing, make District 9 one of the hottest movies of the year of 2009, comparable with Avatar. The film was produced by none other than Peter Jackson, thus assuring the box office. The director Neill Blomkamp was raised in South Africa until he was 18, and this film is a direct reflection of a similar camp called “District 6? which was used to segregate blacks until apartheid was finally lifted.

The story, adapted from Alive in Joburg, a 2005 short film directed by Blomkamp and produced by Copley, pivots on the themes of xenophobia, inhumanity and social segregation.

The film was produced for $30 million and presents fictional interviews, news footage, and video from surveillance cameras in documentary style. On August 14 2009, the film opened to critical acclaim, in North America and earned $37 million in its opening weekend. Many saw the film as a surprising hit for its relatively unknown cast and low-budget production, while achieving success and popularity during its theatrical run.

Wikus van de Merwe (Sharlto Copley), an MNU field operative, was assigned to relocate the aliens, derogatorily referred to as “prawns”, from District 9, a military-guarded slum in Johannesburg, South Africa, to an internment camp outside the city. Collisions between MNU and aliens and gang group take place continuously and you can never take your eyes off the screen during watching.In the end, MNU’s illegal experiments on the aliens are exposed. The aliens are shown to have successfully moved to District 10. Wikus’s wife reveals to have found a metal flower on her doorstep, which provides her with hope that her husband is still alive. In a scrap yard, an alien presumed to be a fully transformed Wikus is seen crafting a flower out of metal.

Wikus negotiates with Prawn

Sharlto Copley as Wikus van de Merwe, the main human protagonist, a mild-mannered manager at the MNU Department of Alien Affairs. This was the first time acting professionally in a feature film for Copley, a friend of director Blomkamp. His performance was so wonderful that I doubt why Academy Award didn’t nominate him for Best Actor.

The film is impressive not only in the wonderful performance and exciting plots, but also the soundtrack and its themes. The two are perfectly combined and cast a shadow on the viewers. You can’t miss it!

Poster

Cast: Daniel Day-Lewis/Marion Cotillard/Penélope Cruz/Judi Dench/Stacy Ferguson/Kate Hudson /Nicole Kidman/ Sophia Loren

“They are the only movies telling the truth about the modern world: the death of religion and sexual revolution” the most memorable line from the glossiest film of the year of 2009-Nine, which is also considered with the best cast of the year.

“Nine,” from the Broadway musical, is a movie about a famous director’s creative blockage and sexual confusion, but not quite in the way it wants to be. Straining to capture artistic frenzy, it descends into vulgar chaos, less a homage to Federico Fellini’s “8 ½” (its putative inspiration) than a travesty.
“I can’t make this movie,” the director sings. It seems that he is busily doing everything but making a movie. Escaping from the news conference, dating with his mistress, and keeping falling into nostalgia. The only hope to save him from such messy situation lies in his wife.  His name is Guido, and while his co-workers and admirers call him Maestro, his mastery is purely notional. He made some great films in the past, apparently, but now, in Rome in the mid-1960s, he finds himself in a professional and personal ebb just as his new project, the vague-sounding epic “Italia,” is about to commence shooting.

Gorgeous Scenes

“My husband makes movies,” sings Marion Cotillard, with upswept Audrey Hepburn hair and an air of resignation. She was once mistaken Guido’s behaviors on the casting day was especial for her. And when he asks the heat-broken wife for help, her sympathy and love push her to the fickle husband. But again and again, he breaks her heart consciously or unconsciously. And finally, she left him and get together with another man happily.
None of the rest of Guido’s ladies are so lucky. It must be said that “Nine” is an impressive feat of casting, with a shocking number of Oscar winners and nominees assembled in the service of its dubious and incoherent cause. Judi Dench is Guido’s costume designer and confidante. Penélope Cruz is his super-seductive mistress, Carla, a married woman with serious mascara issues. Nicole Kidman is a Nordic actress meant to conjure memories of Anita Ekberg, though sadly she does not walk around with a kitten on her head. Sophia Loren is Guido’s Mamma, and Kate Hudson is a Vogue reporter who flings herself in his direction.

Impressive Poster

Cast: Carey Mulligan/Peter Sarsgaard/Alfred Molina/Cara Seymour/Dominic Cooper

Nominated for 3 Oscar awards, this BBC-produced film has captured great attention.

It brings us a heartfelt juvenile story about a girl fighting the expectations of her family and society as she falls in love with a middle-aged man.

Jenny (Carey Mulligan) is a charismatic, lively 16-year-old girl in the 1960s. On the surface, she seems like a typical nice reserved British girl – prepping to go to Oxford, sneaking out for smokes with her friends, dreaming of going to Paris. But actually, she is not satisfied her current life and wants more. After all, her father just wants her to go to Oxford at whatever cost, thus putting a lot intangible pressure on Jenny and pushing her to rebel.

Edward & his wife

Film: Big Fish
Director: Tim Burton
Cast: Ewan McGregor/ Albert Finney/ Jessica Lange/ Helena Bonham Carter

Do you want to see something special? Possibly something that will have you look at relationships and life in a slightly different way.
If you are, then Big Fish could be just the thing you are after.
It is a gentle and whimsical story of Edward Bloom (Albert Finney and Ewan McGregor) whose tall tales of his life makes him attractive to almost everybody.
One person who is not so keen on the stories is his son Will who has kept distance from his dad because he doesn’t believe Edward is being truthful with him.

The two are reunited when Ed falls critically ill and Will returns from France with his wife Josephine to spend time with him.
Through a series of flashbacks the tale of Ed Bloom’s adventurous life is told and the essence of it is his fidelity for his

Colorful Life of Young Edward

wife.
Big Fish is a quiet and colorful film that includes mysterious villages, circus acts, giants, witches, strange things, and true love. You are pretty sure that Ed’s tales are fictional, but then in a Burton movie you can never tell. You may feel this film is the illusion of Burton’s ideal life. That’s also my guess. The fearless, persistent Edward is just the ideal image of Tim Burton. If so, I will love Tim Burton more than ever
The cast is superb with both Finney and MacGregor (who plays the younger Ed) performing brilliantly. The video transfer is exquisite and the soundtrack is very harmonious.
Big Fish an exceptional tale that will leave you feeling pleasantly surprised. It is a movie that should be seen by absolutely everyone – young and old.