HEREAFTER

"HEREAFTER"(2010/U.S.A)
Synopsis
A drama centered on three people who are haunted by mortality in different ways. George is a blue-collar American who has a special connection to the afterlife. On the other side of the world, Marie, a French journalist, has a near-death experience that shakes her reality. And when Marcus, a London schoolboy, loses the person closest to him, he desperately needs answers. Each on a path in search of the truth, their lives will intersect, forever changed by what they believe might-or must-exist in the hereafter.

The hero was a psychic and he could not lead an ordinary life because of his gifts. So he quited his job as a psychic and tried to be a normal person. But he could not escape his fate. 
The heroine had an intense near-death experience and her life was changed. She wanted the people around her to know the truth but the things that she had experienced was a taboo subject especially for a journalist like her.
The boy lost a twin brother and wanted to know what it feels like to die. He started to find information about a psychic on the internet.
The three story proceeded separately and one day, three people met each other.
In my opinion, they had been hurt very much before they met, so it is very hard to find a person who can understanding their feelings especially for people like them.
This movie was not an occult, but it was about totally different people who met each other by chance.
I like this movie very much, but I was shocked in the scene of the tsunami. That was very realistic and I was scared.
In Japan, this movie was released last February, but after the big earthquake and tsunami in Fukushima, this movie was discontinued because of the scene. Indeed, this may be very sad and painful for the victims.
But the end of the movie was not bad and it made me so happy.


My rating: ★★★

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE-GHOST PROTOCOL

"MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE-GHOST PROTOCOL"(2011/U.S.A)
Synopsis
In the 4th installment of the Mission Impossible series, Ethan Hunt and his team are racing against time to track down a dangerous terrorist named Hendricks, who has gained access to Russian nuclear launch codes and is planning a strike on the United States. An attempt by the team to stop him at the Kremlin ends in a disaster, with an explosion causing severe destruction to the Kremlin and the IMF being implicated in the bombing, forcing the President to invoke Ghost Protocol, under which the IMF is disavowed, and will be offered no help or backup in any form. Undaunted, Ethan and his team chase Hendricks to Dubai, and from there to Mumbai, but several spectacular action sequences later, they might still be too late to stop a disaster.


I like this movie series, so I was really looking forward to watch the latest one.
This movie exceeded my expectations and all of the actors were splendid!

For example, Jeremy Renner acted as a soldier in 28 WEEKS LATER and THE HURT LOCKER. I was impressed with him very much. He will be replacing Matt Damon in Jason Bourne's series. Josh Holloway acted as Sawyer in the very popular TV series LOST. I like Sawyer better than the hero Jack. Needless to say Tom Cruise was amazing.

The best scene in this movie was that chasing of terrorist by Ethan. In an action movie, the audience usually don’t recognize where exactly is the hero in the scene of chasing and what happened because camera switches a scene so quickly. But in this movie, every chasing scenes were so clear and I could understand where he was and what happened. I thought it was a new method of the new director.

Tom Cruise was very active without a stuntman, so I think he had gotten to his age when he acted but he is almost fifty years old. In this movie, the independent Ethan became a team leader for the first time, so I think he will order an up-and-coming hero mission as a chief in the next story. Otherwise, if he doesn’t become to be a chief, he will continue active like Jackie Chan.

Anyway I enjoyed this movie as an entertaining and I want to go and see the world’s tallest building Burj Khalifa in Dubai someday.


My rating:★★★

RED RIDING HOOD

"RED RIDING HOOD"(2011/U.S.A)
Synopsis
Valerie is a beautiful young woman torn between two men. She is in love with a brooding outsider, Peter, but her parents have arranged for her to marry the wealthy Henry. Unwilling to lose each other, Valerie and Peter are planning to run away together when they learn that Valerie's older sister has been killed by the werewolf that prowls the dark forest surrounding their village. For years, the people have maintained an uneasy truce with the beast, offering the creature a monthly animal sacrifice. But under a blood red moon, the wolf has upped the stakes by taking a human life. Hungry for revenge, the people call on famed werewolf hunter, Father Solomon,to help them kill the wolf. But Solomon's arrival brings unintended consequences as he warns that the wolf, who takes human form by day, could be any one of them. As the death toll rises with each moon... 

The several scenes of this movie paid homage to the fairy tale "Little Red Riding Hood". However this movie had a totally different story. 
The residents of a village were afraid of a werewolf and the werewolf was living among the villagers. I was exicited to find who it was.
This movie was full of fantasy and the soundtrack was so cool. The fans of TWILIGHT must be angry with my opinion, but the story was not that interesting because I think it lacked the element of drama. I'm a fan of Gary Oldman, so I wanted him to be more active! 
This movie's keyword was RED. The person who the werewolf bit in a red moon night would turn into a werewolf. Although all residents had plain clothes, the heroine wore a red hood. The heroine had inherited the blood of the werewolf so it made her apperance very impressive when she wore a red. Red is a very beautiful color but in this movie, this color was cursed.
By the way, I was impressed by her mysterious emerald eyes.


My rating:★★

NEVER LET ME GO

”NEVER LET ME GO”(2010/U.K/U.S.A)

Synopsis

As children, Ruth, Kathy and Tommy, spend their childhood at a seemingly idyllic English boarding school. As they grow into young adults, they find that they have to come to terms with the strength of the love they feel for each other, while preparing themselves for the haunting reality that awaits them.

The three children were living in a exemplary boarding school and one of their teacher told them that they existed only as organ donors for transplants. It meant they were cloned human. They accepted their fate and they grew up with a feeling of  love and friendship until the day of donation.

At first I did not understand why they did not try to escape. But as the movie progresses  I found the answer to my question.

Their knowledge was all that they learned from the boarding school and their world was also confined in there. They could not think leaving of the outside world from there.

When I watched this movie, I thought the subject matter is similar to "THE ISLAND".　But when it comes to the storyline, this movie and THE ISLAND are worlds apart. In my opinion, this movie may be more cruel but this is realistic.

The cloning research may benefit the human but it always involve moral issues. In this movie, they were born and raised almost as livestocks. But they had souls and feelings and that made me so sad.

At the end of the movie the heroine Kathy asked to herself whether her fate is really any different from the people who will receive her organs: after all, "we are all complete" and we all have the feeling though we never had enough time. 

Yes, she is right.  Life is valuable whether you live long or not, it doesn't matter. What mattters is how you live your life.

My rating:★★★★

Mitten(Varezhka)

Mitten/Varezhka(1967/Soviet Union)
you can watch this video in full-length movies.

This movie was made by Roman Kachanov who is one of the most famous Russian animators and a founder of Russian stop-motion animation.

Mitten was the first puppet animation in the Soviet Union and became a classic of world animation during the 20th century.

Speaking of animation, folk tales of fantasy were the dominant before Kachanov started to make them, but this animation reflects the situation of society during that time. He used a theme of a contemporary and realistic approach.

The girl seemed to be good at playing with herself because her mother didn't have time to play with her.  She wanted a puppy from a neighbor but her mother refused her request. So she imagined a puppy in one of her mittens. Rather than imagining, she certainly believed that one of mittens was a real puppy. You may have experienced like this when you were a child.

All of the puppets which Kachanov manipulated in this movie have a very lovely gesture. Since I just started keeping a puppy this year, I can deeply empathize with this story.

The puppet or stop-motion animation movie like this is loved by people beyond the borders without words. That was why I started making clay animation. Mitten is a scripture for me forever.

My rating:★★★★

I AM LEGEND

"I AM LEGEND"(2007/U.S.A)
Synopsis
Robert Neville is a scientist who was unable to stop the spread of the terrible virus that was incurable and man-made. Immune, Neville is now the last human survivor in what is left of New York City and perhaps the world. For three years, Neville has faithfully sent out daily radio messages, desperate to find any other survivors who might be out there. But he is not alone. Mutant victims of the plague -- The Infected -- lurk in the shadows... watching Neville's every move... waiting for him to make a fatal mistake. Perhaps mankind's last, best hope, Neville is driven by only one remaining mission: to find a way to reverse the effects of the virus using his own immune blood. But he knows he is outnumbered... and quickly running out of time.


This is one of my favorite movies.
The hero, Robert had been experimenting with a vaccine and tried to cure people infected with the virus. Eventually he succeeded in developing a vaccine, but it was too late. The vaccine was entrusted to Anna who was a survivor after Robert died. This was the ending in the theatrical version.
In this movie, there is another controversial ending. It was suddenly changed a month before the screening.
In another ending, Robert knew that a male monster, a person infected tried to regain his partner who Robert caught for his experiment.  At that time, the virus has already spread to the entire NY and the monsters had formed an intelligence community. It meant that Robert became a minority there and his vaccine would break their community. He recognized the fact and he apologized to them. The director wanted to tell us a hubristic side of humans in a sarcastic way.
Why was this ending not accepted?  In my opinion, the Hollywood officials thought that a hero should be a hero till the end, not make mistakes, not apologize to the enemies. That was why Robert should be dead as a hero who saved the human race.
Sometimes you can see another ending like this in a recent movie. Maybe that is what the director wanted to convey.
Anyway, I like the ending in both versions of this movie. How about you?

My rating:★★★★

TED-J.J. Abrams' Mystery Box

Today's review is not about movies, but I'll introduce an interesting speech.
Recently, I have been hooked on watching TED and I found a J.J. Abrams' speech.
It goes without saying that he was the director of the popular American TV series LOST.
In the speech he is quick-witted, talks fast and his talk is so interesting. He seems like a funny man.
I am most interested on his speech about his perspective on things. Here he is likened to the Mystery Box that is quite different from ordinary people.
LOST ended in a scene which no one imagined. I think the ending was due to his unique perspective.
He also talked about the movie which he produced, "Mission:Impossible Ⅲ.
It is very interesting that he talked the behind the scenes of this movie especially about Tom Cruise's hands! If you like watching movies, I think you should watch the speech part.