Midnight in Paris, Dream House & 50/50

a romantic movie, a mystery-horror flick and a dark comedy about dealing with cancer. these are my favorites of the week, but one has gone into my list of best movies ever, aka one of my favorite movies of all time.

 

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i absolute adore this movie ‘midnight in paris’!

from the opening montage of the many popular sights of paris along with the soothing soulful sound of sidney bechet’s jazzy saxophone, i’m already in love with this movie. the story is so magical, the script is witty and funny, the leads did a great job being charming, and the city of paris is just amazing. 

a writer is on a paris trip with his fiancee and super-rich future in-laws. instead of joining their social outings, he decided to take a night-stroll alone, when he somehow entered the past – 1920’s paris. he was star-struck as he met a string of his literary idols – scott fitzgerald, hemingway, and t.s. eliot, along with legendary artists like picasso and salvador dali. here he also fell in love with picasso’s mistress, and have wonderful midnight walks with her, enjoying the nostalgic night air in paris. always at midnight, always a magical moment.

the end kinda reminds me that we all feel the need to ‘escape’ at some point of our lives, but we just have to go back, and face the music. make the best of what we have. a great movie!

why i LOVE this movie :

1. i love woody allen’s movies. my favorite before ‘midnight in paris’ is ‘purple rose of cairo’. you should check it out. woody allen’s script is always so original, witty and funny.
2. it’s a time-travelling story, but it doesn’t bore us with details on how the character suddenly ends up in the past, or whether his ‘science fiction’ story would affect the course of history when he let getrude stein read it. it’s just a simple slip in time whenever he was out for a walk and woody allen just invites us to join the character in his nostalgic midnight adventures.
3. i know owen wilson as this funny loud-mouthed sidekick of jackie chan in the shanghai noon series, but in ‘midnight in paris’ he has become this sweet, romantic idol who is charming, sincere and passionate about his ideas, about paris and about being a hopeless romantic. he’s not brad-pitt or johnny-depp handsome, but he sure is loveable!
4. i major in literature so i could relate to his adventures of meeting all this famous literary figures, and how incredibly excited he was in being able to converse and share his books with them.
5. rachel mcadams plays inez, the main character’s fiance – and i LOVE her outfit throughout the movie. i’m NOT a fashion person, and i seldom care about what an actress wears in a movie – but her long-shirts-thin-belt look is so smart and feminine at the same time! love her, and love her look!

 

yes, ‘midnight in paris’ has now become one of the my favorite movies ever, alongside ‘shakespeare in love’, ‘sense and sensibility’ and ‘back to the future’ trilogy. highly recommended if you’re simply a romantic person at heart. oh, and if you love paris!

 

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been wanting to watch this for the longest time, since i first saw the trailer. watch the trailer, and you’ll see why. it gave me such a chilling feel, that no other ghost story has given me for a long time. HOWEVER, what disappoints me is that the trailer had actually given away most of the best part of the movie. what i wasn’t ready for was, the twist at the end.

also, the story is more of a creepy mystery than a scary horror movie.

basically it’s about a happy family who just moved into a house, and mom and dad and their two girls are just excited to decorate, paint and be at home with this new house. then they found out that there used to be a gory murder in that house, where the father had shot his wife and two girls… they found out that the murderous father is still alive and is at a psychiatric hospital. the dad went to the hosp to find out more, when he was told a very shocking truth…

i thought ‘dream house’ is like ‘nang nak’ (the super-awesome super-scary thai movie about a man who lived a normal life in his house with wife and baby, not knowing that they’re already dead..) but there’s a different twist to this movie. the ending was nice – even put a little tear on mr. khairul’s eye as a father – but to me it’s a little anti-climax.

the premise of the story was brilliant, but the follow-up plot seems rushed and too easy.

 

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i won’t spoil your viewing pleasure by giving away the ending, but i will tell you that you will cry. and if you know someone who had a terminal illness, you will cry even more. tears of joy, tears of pity, tears of sadness, and tears of triumph. oh, and it’s a comedy about trials and tribulations of beating cancer!

just a regular guy who doesn’t smoke, and doesn’t drink. has a nice house, and a cute girlfriend. and then one day – bam! – ‘you have a rare spinal cancer’. his chances of recovery? 50-50. he’s asked to go see a trainee psychiatrist doing her phd, and begins an awkward relationship that is funny and sweet.

i love how the movie potrays his friendship with bestfriend played by funnyman seth roger. he bashes him, throws profanity, hates his girlfriends – but we all know that their bromance runs deeper. the scene before he went into the operation theater really gets to me. their friendship is just the sweetest.

also, i love how the ending is unpredictable, as it could go both ways. he was wheeled into the operating theater – and viewers have to wait. if he died, we would’ve expect a sad ending but rejoice at his full life. or if he made it, we would’ve expect his survival because he has such loving support from family and friends. which one? go watch!

this movie is about dealing with cancer. if you had cancer, of if your child had cancer, or if your bestfriend had cancer, or if your boyfriend had cancer – how would you deal with it? this movie deals with this very serious and most undesirable condition, yet managed to come off really funny and charming. the script is never boring, and the actors did their part convincingly.

one memorable line – he was sickly and pale, yet his bestfriend suggested they go hook up with girls – “i look like lord voldermort!” haha.

highly recommended.

 

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next threen movies coming soon. watch this space!