Tuesday, April 20, 2010

KICK-ASS (2010, Matthew Vaughn, A+++++)

ELECTRA MY LOVE (1974, Miklós Jancsó, A++++++++++)

KICK-ASS (2010, Matthew Vaughn, A+++++)

THE RED SWEATER (1979, Michel Drach, A+++++)

THE FLOOD (1986, Lutz Dammbeck, A+)

FROZEN (2010, Adam Green, A+)

KONTRASTE (1982, Sieglinde Hamacher, A+)

CHLOE (2009, Atom Egoyan, A+)

SHUTTER ISLAND (2010, Martin Scorsese, A+)

THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG (2009, Ron Clements + John Musker, A+)

LEGION (2010, Scott Stewart, A+)

SECRET SUNDAY (2010, Saranyu Jiralak, A+/A)

PETITES VACANCES A KNOKKE-LE-ZOUT (2009, Yves Matthey, A)

HÄNSEL AND GRETEL (1955, Lotte Reiniger, A)

CANARY BEAT (2006, Jürgen Haas, A),

THE GROCER'S SON (2007, Eric Guirado, A)

3 comments:

celinejulie said...

LEGION is a silly film, but I always fall in love with a guy who "follows his own conscience", instead of "following orders". That's why I also love films like REDEMPTION (2009, Sabrina Wulff, A+++++) and AVATAR (2009, James Cameron, A+), and love a true story in COLD HOMELAND (1995, Volker Koepp, A+++++++++++++++), which is about a German soldier who was ordered to kill some innocent people in WWII, so he decided to shoot his superior instead, though he knew that he would be executed for doing this. I wish the world was full of guys like this--guys who sacrifice themselves to kill their cruel boss, instead of killing innocent people.

initial A said...

I'm glad that you love "kick ass" and "Chloe". I think KICK ASS is a bit disturbing but funny in the same time.This movie is not a play-safe.

As for "Chloe",I really feel sympathy for Chloe so much although her reaction is not suitable and I personally wish Catherine ended together with her .Overall,this movie is so sad

celinejulie said...

Yes, I agree with you about KICK-ASS and CHLOE.

Things I like in KICK-ASS:

1.At first I presumed this film might be a silly comedy or just a spoof of SPIDER-MAN, but it turns out to be much more enjoyable than SPIDER-MAN. I think SPIDER-MAN and SUPERMAN are too clean for me. I like that this film has a little girl who can kill, a teenage hero who has sex, and a world which is full of evil people. I think the most disturbing part for me in this film is when Hit-Girl kills a woman who only has a broken bottle as her defence. However, I think this scene makes Hit-Girl more like a human-being, or a violent human-being, instead of idealistic hero/heroine often found in other superhero films.

2.The character Hit-Girl is great. This character is so easy to identify with, and that means I can feel much closer to this film than BATMAN BEGINS (2005, Christopher Nolan, A+) or THE DARK KNIGHT (2008, Christopher Nolan, A+). I think Hit-Girl should join forces with the character played by Maggie Cheung in THE HEROIC TRIO (1993, Johnnie To, A+++++), JeeJa Yanin in RAGING PHOENIX (2009, Rashane Limtrakul, A+), and Nikita in LA FEMME NIKITA to fight against villains in the next film.

3.I like that the climax seems to focus more on Hit-Girl than on Kick-Ass. It's a very nice surpise. It reminds me of the nice surprise I found in SO CLOSE (2002, Corey Yuen, A+) when the climax focuses on Zhao Wei and Karen Mok, instead of Shu Qi.

4.The film seems to imply that revenge, as personified by Hit-Girl, is much more powerful than the drive for justice, as personified by Kick-Ass. I think I like films about revenge, such as HUNT (ล่า) and THE PUNISHER. Anger and hatred in this kind of films strike a chord with me.

5.The scene in which Kick-Ass looks at the mirror near the end of the film is very touching. It's like he has been through hell and now he is really grown-up. He now knows that the search for justice is not easy and doing good things means you must be ready to sacrifice your life. He now knows that the world is cruel and life is cruel. This kind of feelings is not what I expected to find in this film.

The only thing which I don't like that much in KICK-ASS is the fact that Hit-Girl is not really an "idealistic" character for me, but she is really close to my idealistic character. If she was really my idealistic character, she would be the daughter of the mafia boss. But she would decide to help Kick-Ass destroy the mafia gang because she knows that her own father is evil. I prefer characters who betray their own evil families to characters who avenge their own families.