moviefreak

This 2007 Taiwanese movie was really not what I expected (in a good way). The other title is also “The Secret That Cannot Be Told”. At first glance, I thought it was just a regular boy/girl love story in an arts school. After the plot progressed for a while, I thought it was a love story between a boy and a ghost. Boy was I wrong!!! But I won’t say anymore since it’ll ruin everything he he…

The Story:

Ye Xianglun (Jay Chou - a famous musician who’s also the co-writer of this movie) enters Danjiang Secondary Arts School to study music. The first day he comes to school, he meets the mysterious Lu Xiaoyu (Kwai Lun-mei). He heard her play a beautiful piece of music, so he’s very curious about her. They fall in love at first sight and they keep meeting each other. They’d play the piano together and he’d take her home with his bike and she teaches him how to play the pieace of music that he had heard the first day they met. One weird thing about her is that sometimes she doesn’t come to school for days. Every time Xiaoyu throws a disappearing act, Xianglun misses her more.

There’s another girl in the class who also likes Xianglun. Her name is Qing Yi (Alice Tzeng). So in the beginning it seems that there’ll be a love triangle. One time after Xiaoyu disappears from class for days (she claims that she has asthma, so sometimes she has to rest at home), she gets more and more jealous of Qing Yi.

One day Xianglun passes a note to Xiaoyu in the middle of a lesson, but the note actually reaches Qing Yi. So Qing Yi comes to the music hall to meet Xianglun and since Xianglun thinks that she’s Xiaoyu, he kisses her. Xiaoyu, who’s standing outside the room, is angry and she runs back home. She also refuses to meet him when he waits for her in front of her apartment’s gate. Xianglun keeps on waiting outside for days, but to no avail. One woman who lives in the same apartment complex tells him that Xiaoyu has quit going to school, so Xianglun doesn’t bother coming to wait for her anymore.

By now five months have passed by and it’s graduation day. Everybody in the school knows that on graduation day, the old music hall will be demolished and they’ll build a new music hall there. What happens on graduation day? Will Xianglun meet Xiaoyu again? Why is she so mysterious? What kind of secret does she have?

Here’s the piano battle between two students in the movie. It’s HOT HOT HOT!!!!

Note:

This movie actually reminds me of “Somewhere in Time“. I think the first half of the story was rather puzzling (it could have been made more engaging), but after I got more explanations on what had happened and the tension kept on rising until it reached the peak and at the end of the movie, I felt a HUGE SURGE of relief. For that and also some beautiful special effects and WONDERFUL piano performances, I’ll give this movie a 7.5 stars out of 10.

I watched this movie here, though the quality isn’t perfect, but at least I got to watch it for free ha ha ha…

I’ve never seen Boogeyman 1 (not that I remember anyway!), so I had no expectation whatsoever about this movie that came on TV tonight. Well, since I don’t know anything about the first sequel, while watching this movie, I started wondering whether Boogeyman was really a person or a “monster-like legend”. Well, I got my answer at the end of the movie, of course he he…I think if you have no expectation about this movie, it’s okay enough to watch. At least I was involved in the movie enough so that I was frantic while the Boogeyman was after them and I wanted them to hurry to safety he he he…For that, I’ll give this movie a 7 stars out of 10.

Mind you that it’s bloody and gory in some parts (there’s a part where the Boogeyman “opens up” the chest of one person and rips out the heart) and there’s also a sensual scene!!!

The Story:

It begins with a family of four having dinner together and 11-year-old Henry Porter (Jarrod Bailey) is afraid to go to the toilet since the light is out in there. Henry has an 8-year-old sister named Laura Porter (Sammi Hanratty). Laura asks her Dad to fix the light and while he’s fixing the light, Henry and Laura see a black-hooded person kill their Dad. They believe it’s the Boogeyman. They run to another room and find their mother’s throat stabbed with a knife. Screams ensue…

Fast forward to 10 years later. Henry (Matt Cohen) is released from the psychiatric hospital since they believe he’s been cured of his fear of the Boogeyman. Laura (Danielle Savre) is so happy about the fact that she can be together again with her brother. She’s in fact still afraid of the Boogeyman, though she won’t admit it out loud. Once out of the hospital, Henry tells Laura that he has an interview the next day for a possible job in another city. Laura is upset since she’s afraid of living alone. The Boogeyman still haunts her dreams.

To make her feel safe, Henry escorts Laura to the psychiatric hospital where he was treated so that she can spend the night there while he has an interview. He promises to be back the next day to get her out of there. The hospital is a pretty strict place to be, so nobody can get in and out as they please. In the hospital there are patients who have some deep fears of different things.

1. Nicky (Chrissy Griffith) is afraid of being fat.

2. Darren (Michael Graziadei) is afraid of letting people inside his heart. He had a brief relationship with Nicky.

3. Alison (Mae Whitman) is a cutter. She finds release in her emotional distraught by cutting herself.

4. Paul (Johnny Simmons) is afraid of the dark.

5. Mark (David Gallagher) is hypochondriac (a clean freak).

The two doctors that treat the patients are Dr. Jessica Ryan (Reneé O’Connor - Gabrielle in Xena series)  and Dr. Mitchell Allen (Tobin Bell - yep, the Jigsaw in Saw series!!!). Dr. Mitchell is pretty harsh on the patients for some reason and Laura doesn’t like him. Anyway, one by one while Laura stays in the hospital, they’re forced to face their own fears by the Boogeyman.

Is it a real Boogeyman or is it just someone in a mask? Who will die and who will survive in the end?

Here’s the trailer:

This 2002 sci-fi movie could’ve been better had I not been able to guess the ending he he he…It has all the twists and turns that can make a good movie. Unfortunately, even though I couldn’t guess the details, but I could give a right guess to one particular important thing in the movie, so that makes me feel a bit disappointed. Overall, though, it’s a pretty good movie. At least I wasn’t bored while watching it. I’ll give it a 6.7 stars out of 10.

The Story:

In the beginning, we find Morgan Sullivan (Jeremy Northam) being tested to be a potential spy of a company named Digicorp and he passes the tests. It seems that his wife wants him to stay home and wait for her Dad to give her a job opportunity instead of looking for a job on his own. However, Morgan insists on taking the job in that pharmaceutical company, though he has to lie to his wife about this. After all, he’s supposed to be a SPY, right?

Well, he’s then sent to some kind of convention under the name Jack Thursby and he’s told to record everything that’s been said by the speakers. He’s bored to death by the boring speeches, but he does follow orders well. Despite his wife’s protest, he has to go to another convention as his next assignment in order to do the same thing. It seems that the pharmaceutical company he works for wants to steal information about their competing company named Sunways.

On this assignment, he meets an attractive woman named Rita Foster (Lucy Liu). He feels attracted to her, but she knows that he’s married. After taping the speeches at the convention, he is “attacked” by a group of people, one of whom is Rita, and he’s forced to tell them what kind of device he uses to record the speeches in the convention. Then Rita explains to him that he’s been fooled by people who hire him and that the convention is merely a “mask” for something else. She gives him tablets to take since she knows that ever since he was hired by the company, he’s been having nightmares and neck pain. He is also given an injection to get rid of the drug effect given by the company during the convention. Rita tells him to stay as Jack Thursby no matter what other people say and that he shouldn’t react to anything during the convention no matter what happens.

After being injected, he stays “sober” during the convention and he realizes that other people have lost their consciousness, though their eyes are open. Although the speaker of the convention still gives a speech, then some people come out to brainwash them by putting some kind of device above their heads and they’re forced to watch some tapes over and over again. Each individual is given different tapes that shows different kinds of life and lifestyle. Then they’re “sent off” to their new lives. Upon boarding the plane, Morgan is sedated and he wakes up in a new house, new environment, and new wife and he’s called Jack Thursby.

What’s going on here? Why are they doing that to all those people at the convention? Can the mysterious Rita help?

Stop here if you don’t want to read the spoiler he he he…

OK, I’m warning you again…

Still scrolling down? OK then as you wish…

So the bottom line is that Digicorp has brainwashed all those people so that Sunways would hire them as their agents. However, Sunways finds out that Morgan is not brainwashed, so the head of the company tells him to be a double agent. At first he doesn’t want to do so, but he’s told that if Digicorp finds out that he’s not brainwashed, he’ll be eliminated. So he starts following orders from Sunways this time.

Still confused, he contacts Rita Foster again for help. Rita tells him that Sebastian Rooks can help him get a new life and a new identity. She tells him that once Sunways doesn’t need Morgan anymore, he’ll be eliminated. So now his choice is to trust Rooks to protect him. On his last assignment for Sunways, he has to switch the disk with the one Rooks gives him. The disk contains a search program that will log in into Sunways’ computer network and steal a file.

Turns out that Morgan Sullivan is actually NOT Morgan Sullivan. He’s actually Sebastian Rooks, the spy that nobody has ever seen. He “brainwashes” himself to be Morgan Sullivan and he hires someone to be his wife just to get into Digicorp. He knows all along that he’ll be brainwashed by Digicorp and then he can work for Sunways. He wants to steal some data about Rita Foster from Sunways’ computer network, since Rita is his actual girlfriend. Why does he want to steal the data about Rita? Because in Digicorp’s computer system, Rita Foster is scheduled to be “eliminated” and he’s erased the file at Sunways’ computer network.

At first he doesn’t remember that he is actually Sebastian Rooks, but after some time he remembers again. The movie ends with Sebastian Rooks and Rita Foster sailing together happily.

This 2006 movie boasts itself as a “good old American horror movie” that isn’t a remake of any other horror movie and not a remake of any Asian horror movie, either. So I was expecting something good, but turns out that it’s not that good except the fact that it’s bloody and gory. The theme of the story is fine, but there are some things that disturb me while watching the movie, which I’m going to tell later (but it’s related to some nudity). Anyway, this movie is rated R for strong bloody horror violence, sexual content, nudity and language. Overall I’ll only give this movie a 5.5 stars out of 10, because I’ve seen many more BETTER horror stories with better plots.

The Story:

In the beginning of the story you see an old man and his son on a boat, trying to catch something. The next thing they know is that they’re attacked by somebody. The scene shifts to a wild party in the city (you can see topless girls here). A group of friends have decided to join the party, though one of them isn’t really enjoying it since he’s just broken up with his girlfriend, so he’s kinda depressed. His name is Ben (Joel Moore). Instead of going to the bars and drink until they are drunk, Ben wants to go on a Midnight Boat Tour, since one friend has done that before and he’s told him that it’s an exciting experience.

Marcus (Deon Richmond), one of his friends, decides to come along out of pity. Off they go to book the tour, but the place is now closed. The owner of the place was sued for negligence during the last boat tour, so he has stopped doing any boat tours. So he tells them to go someplace else to book that kind of midnight tour. So they follow his advice. The guide of the boat tour is Shawn (Parry Shen) and the group of people who are joining them are: Mr. Permatteo (Richard Riehle), Mrs. Permatteo (Patrika Darbo), Marybeth (Tamara Feldman), Shapiro (Joel Murray), Misty (Mercedes McNab), and Jenna (Joleigh Fioreavanti).

Shapiro is a director of a porn movie and he keeps on asking Misty and Jenna to pose for him everywhere he goes. This is one thing that I don’t like from the movie. Anyway, Shawn drives the boat at midnight and then the boat gets stuck and it starts to sink. As there are gators (or crocs?) in the river, Marybeth pulled out a gun to help save Shapiro from being eaten. So they all manage to get to land and save themselves, but are they really safe?

Marybeth starts freaking out by then. Turns out she’s not interested in the boat tour at all. She’s actually looking for his missing Dad and father (the two guys who appeared in the beginning of the story). She’s worried that they’re dead, since she knows the legend of Victor Crowley, the owner of that place.

Victor Crowley was born disfigured and he’s taken care of by his father. Kids always teased him and threw stones at him. One day while Victor was in the house and his Dad was out, a few kids threw firecrackers at the house and it got burnt! Victor’s Dad came right on time and he tried to open the door with an axe. However, poor Victor was leaning so closely to the door that accidentally, Victor’s Dad hit him with the axe and Victor was dead. After that, Victor’s Dad got depressed. He never left the house and then he died of a broken heart. Legend says that Victor Crowley still roams around that area and you can still hear him calling his Dad for help.

True to prediction, the group of people could suddenly hear Victor’s crying out for his Dad. They turned around in the darkness and found out that they are actually very near Victor’s house. So now begins the cat-and-mouse chase. Will they be able to escape? Who will survive in the end? Are Marybeth’s Dad and brother dead?

As usual, here’s the trailer:

The other week I sorted out my widgets, but then I must have clicked the wrong button, since I lost several widgets, including My Blogroll. There’s one person who has exchanged link with me, but I have no time to find the email in my mailbox (since I had to move to a new apartment and by then my mailbox is SO full of emails!!!). I’ve tried finding it through today.com messages, but to no avail. So for that person, PLEASE FORGIVE ME if you can’t find my link in my blog here. Will you be so kind as to tell me your link again?

THANK YOU for your understanding and sorry for the mess!!!!!!

First of all I’d like to say CONGRATS to all the Oscar winners, including Heath Ledger in his role as The Joker. Now I can’t wait to see Kate Winslet in Revolutionary Road!!! Btw, I think she looks more and more gorgeous as time goes by!!!

Anyway, I guess the “Twilight fever” has also reached Finland, since today when I was putting on the plastic cover of a teen magazine (remember that right now I’m helping out at the library), the cover of that magazine is of Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattison. In the middle of the magazine there’s a huge Robert Pattison poster like this one:

While browsing the internet for Twilight items, I can’t help wondering who likes buying life size cutouts of any movie characters like this one:

Have you ever done such a thing? I must admit that at one time I used to have a clipping book of Chinese martial arts’ series. I was so into them that I also collect small pictures of the cast and characters (the pictures fit in my wallet, so I could bring some of my fave with me he he he….) I especially loved the ones with the entire cast in the pictures like this Twilight cast sticker:

So, ‘fess up, people! Have you ever collected anything related to a particular movie or movie characters?