Legend of The Fall (1994)

6.5/10


Plot: Epic tale of three brothers and their father living in the remote wilderness of 1900s USA and how their lives are affected by nature, history, war, and love.

Tight knit story surrounding the lives of three brothers, and their stories of war, love and pain. Well acted, great cinematography, splendid sceneries and very detailed character study. Also, the 1994 Oscar winner for Best Cinematography.

This film is a fine piece of work, HOWEVER I am very against the way the film glorifies killing and death. It makes revenge and  killing to be almost heroic.

A film worth seeing for it's cinematography and characters, but not a good role model film

Lake Placid (1999)

6.5/10

What do you get when you throw interesting/wacky characters, chopper, gun fire, action, endless sarcasm, and one big croc? One fun Saturday movie night.

Here are the pros of this film: it almost feels like a wildlife documentary, lingered with a slight tone of horror, classy yet gross use of gore, and hilarious dialogue. I felt myself chuckling at the many sarcastic remarks and bantering of Shieff Hank and Mrs. Delores Bickerman. This film differs it self from many other creature features in the sense that the writers put focus on the characters of this film instead of just the 'horrifying monster'. OH and Betty White probably is the gem....

Starring Bill Pullman, Oliver Platt, Brendan Gleeson, Betty White


Cons of Lake Placid: Bridget Fonda's character kelly was a bit of a nag, I found her more peeving at times. If you were looking for horror, this film doesn't really make you jump (I dont do horror well, so this is a pro for me hehe) but it does make you not want to go swimming in a lake for a while. Some action taken in this film doesn't really have much common sense, but then again that's what makes it fun


Overall, it was fun ride. Not overly epic, but has some funny as well as gross moments.

Lost Room (2006)

8/10 [highly recommended]

Despite some flaws, still mindblowingly awesome.

A detective investigates a mysterious motel room, which acts as a portal to alternate universe after he lost something precious in the room.

The Lost Room had me completely engrossed from the first episode, I was pulled in and couldn't turn away until it ended.

Premise of The Lost Room is astounding. Without giving too much away, Lost Room is about a motel room and the many contents that it came with. The room and each item has a different/very unique abilities that is attached to it. The mini-series is built around these items and the people who covet after them. I was completely absorbed by the different qualities given to the items and the way all the items comes together.

Despite the fascinating premise, there were certain flaws that made it hard for me to give this series a perfect 10. The mini-series had way too many characters and sub-plots that didn't get developed enough. The character relationship was lacking in material and emotion. The main character, Joe Miller, felt kind of one-dimensional and we aren't really told why he was so special in comparison to the rest of people whom were once involved with the mysterious hotel room.

Joe Miller's relationship with the different characters, eg with the girl interest Jennifer Bloom, was thin and rushed. Besides being a cop and single father, we aren't given much background about Joe  and yet almost everyone he meets seemed very inclined to help him.

Also the gun, the way he points it at people at such close distance can be so easily swatted away, yet no one seem to be capable of disarming him....(i know, this is just me being picky but nevertheless bothersome).

Overall, I did enjoy this mini series and highly recommend it. The main focus of the film (the special abilities of the motel room/items premise) does overshadow the flaws (the undeveloped characters/relationships).  Very entertaining and will keep you at the end of your seat!

The Last Castle (2001)

3/10

The premise sounded good but the dialogue, storyline and scenarios are stupidly ridiculous and overly exaggerated

All the characters are very one sided and simple minded. The dialogue is shallow and cliched. "The Castle prison" doesn't even feel like a real prison. All these bad-ass dangerous prisoners, who get food/beverages/free time/family visits, all act like babies whining about mistreatment and minimal issues making this film feel like a high school drama.


The prisoners and prison is built up at the introduction of the film to be dangerous and strict, however the film does not deliver this atmosphere at all. Also to add to the stupidity of the film is the "forbidden salutes" rule of the prison.

Bad film, it had potential but failed to create much emotion or thought. The action in this film is bare minimum, so I won't even recommend it as a brainless action flick.

Le grand blond avec une chaussure noire (1972)

6.5/10

Slow paced, quirky, funny

Plot: Hapless orchestra player becomes an unwitting pawn of rival factions within the French secret service after he is chosen as a decoy by being identified as a super secret agent.

I stumbled upon this French film accidentally and found it fairly entertaining.  The concept of this film intrigue and the introduction grabbed my attention right away. This is not a film to take too seriously as it is very quirky and full of ridiculous moments.

It wasn't as exciting or thrilling as I had hoped but there were numerous scenes that was ridiculously amusing and funny.

A remake of this film titled "The Man with One Red Shoe" was made in 1985 starring Tom Hanks.

La môme (2007)

8/10 [highly recommended]

Stunning film all around!

La môme is the life story of singer Édith Piaf.

Our attention are gripped not only by the story but we are carried away by amazing music, brilliant make up and one amazing French actress, Marion Cotillard.


Love Me If You Dare and Inception are the first films I saw starring Marion Cotillard. With those films I was already in love with her performance. After seeing La môme, Cotillard has become one of my favourite actresses. Her performance as Edith Piaf is so stunning that, at times during the film, I forget I am watching a portrayal. Capturing the singers walk, gestures, facial expression, quirky, tone of voice and stance. Cotillard won the Oscar for Best Actress for this film, and damn did she ever deserve it!

The story is told out of sequence in a mix of flashbacks, memories and 'present' day. We follow Piaf's life in a classic fairy tale of the ugly duckling transforming to a beautiful swan. However, what most fairy tale fails to do is tell you that transformation into the beautiful swan, is not the ending of the story. As we can see in Piaf's story, her shining transformation came with a price.

Towards the end of the film, we find out a vital event that occurred early in the singer's life, which seems to finally shine some light on Piaf's later statement mind that was depicted early on in the film. A mix of songs at different stages in Piaf's life is knitted together by a non-linear storyline of her life. Throughout the film, I found myself slowly starting to piece together the story. It is as if each minute that passes, we are receiving a piece of puzzle building up to a mystery image.

The music is beautiful. It didn't matter that I didn't understand what the songs were about because music and singing had a way to sweep you away.

The second Oscar that this film won was for make up. The detail and realism that was involved in making Cotillard to look like Piaf, succeeded. The make up department was able to capture the singer in the late stages of her life looking ill, weak but still with energy to sing. It is not too difficult to make someone look old, BUT it is mighty hard to make someone look not only 1) old 2) resemble a different person 3) realistic. What really was impressive is the fact that the make up team was able to make the singer look like she's wearing make up to cover her ill stricken skin.


I highly recommend La môme! It is a work of art. Pieced together by a talented/dedicated actress, a great make up team, unique storytelling and pure beautiful music.

Little White Lies (2010)

7.5/10 [recommended]

Made me laugh, smile, cry and appreciate all that comes with friendship A fantastic film.

I don't even know where to begin telling you how much I enjoyed this French film. The amaxing casting, great writing, witty dialogue and heartfelt story makes this film SHEER CLASS.

Guillaume Canet did it again by writing/directing another phenomenal film that. Canet has a way of taking something simple (a group of friends on vacation) and making it into a heartfelt gem (their bonds and appreciation for one another). His focus on character development and simple witty dialogue exchanges makes him stand out from other films. 

Lady in the Water (2006)

4.5/10

Nice visually but slow story that is easily forgettable.

The Lady in the Water is about an apartment building superintendent Cleveland Heep rescues what he thinks is a young woman from the pool he maintains. When he discovers that she is actually a character from a bedtime story who is trying to make the journey back to her home, he works with his tenants to protect his new friend from the creatures that are determined to keep her in our world.  (imdb)

Lady in the Water wasn't as good as I hoped. It has a neat concept and puts emphasis on the fact that it is a fairytale story..BUT sadly, the execution and pace of the story is slow and boarders boring. I felt myself distracted away from the movie quite a number of times throughout the film. The stories tries to make itself different in the sense that it refers to itself within the movie. This film is definitely bizarre one that left me bored but pondering.

The casting for the film is solid and believable. I am definitely a fan of Bryce Dallas Howard after watching the Village, but I'm not sure how to feel about Lady in the Water.

The cinematography is visually appealing in this film with nice choice of angles, pans and unique use of camera focus. The shots make the audience aware of the fact that a camera is present, which emphasizes the idea of the story referring to itself.

Overall, mediocre story with nice visuals that sadly didn't hold my interest. I guess this film takes a special kind of audience, who enjoys the slow bizarre plot and the neat camera angles.

Letters To Juliet (2010)

5/10Beautiful landscapes, a sweet story but a bit too cheesy and cliched

Letters to Juliet is about An American girl on vacation in Italy finds an unanswered "letter to Juliet" -- one of thousands of missives left at the fictional lover's Verona courtyard, which are typically answered by a the "secretaries of Juliet" -- and she goes on a quest to find the lovers referenced in the letter.

This film is very sweet with cute characters, however Letters To Juliet is slow paced, a bit too cheesy and cliched even for a romantic flick. This film's storyline came from the same cookie-cutter that formed many other romantic comedies, where the story and ending became apparent the moment the movie started. The characters are all pretty simple and wear their emotions on their sleeves that it became a bit boring to watch. I felt the dialogue, though sweet, is too cheesy and fairytale like.

Don't get me wrong, this movie is quite charming and the locations in ths film are breathtaking. The landscape choice alone is worth giving this film a chance. Sadly, the landscape could not help make this film a stunning one as this movie put too much emphasis on wanting the term 'awwww' to be used that they over did it resulting in a giant 'cheeseball' of a film.

I really wanted to like this film as I adore Amanda Seyfried in Mean Girls and Christopher Egan is awesome from TV series Kings. But the writing just didn't keep my interest level. I came into this movie with expectation of a Nicolas Sparks book/movie, which this movie did achieve but went a bit overboard in wanting to keep it sweet.

I recommend this film to romantic movie lovers who just want a sweet charming film and to those who love seeing the sceneries of Italy. Christopher Egan is definitely great addition to this film. Though, this movie wouldn't be one I'll be watching again

The Lazarus Project (2008)

5/10

Slow but builds up towards the end

The Lazarus Project is about a former criminal is drawn into a criminal endeavor and subsequently finds himself living an inexplicable new life working at a psychiatric facility.(imdb)

The storyline feels similar to Shutter Island, except this is not apparent until the later half of the movie but before you can state the similarities The Lazarus Project takes a turn. The movie is fairly slow but despite the slow pace the movie kept me intrigued.

The strong dialogue and multiple use of canted camera angle makes this film fairly interesting and engrossing. Together these elements create a suspenseful and mysterious atmosphere.

Give this movie a shot, plow through the slow bits and you may find yourself liking this film.