The Martian

The Martian (2015)

There are a lot of hypes about The Martian being like the best movie ever made this year so I had to see it. I walked into the cinema full of expectations. I loved the film but it did slide off of what I expected.

I didn’t read the book version so I have no idea what the film is about. All I know is that a guy is left stranded on Mars…That’s it. Walking into the cinema I thought I’m going to see full-on action at the edge of my seat kind of movie but it wasn’t. To me, it’s more about hope and being positive in like the worst situation ever (I mean how can you be positive when you’re left behind on Mars, i mean c’mon!). The story is about an astronaut, Mark Watney, who is still alive after being left to death by mistake on the surface of Mars. The main character, Mark Watney, is the most likable hero you could ever think of. He’s funny with a touch of sarcasm, he’s smart and the most important thing he’s not giving up. He has to fight with harsh living conditions and being alone for like a year, sane people could go insane, also not having enough supplies and everything that could go wrong on Mars. Mark tells his stories through a VDO journals he keeps everyday so it does’t feel too much like he’s explaining the plot directly to us, so that’s a plus. Because sometimes when you have a movie with like a main character being “the last one on earth” or “the last one to survive”, it can turn to a lot of chatting with themselves explaining what’s gonna happen next and I find that a bit awkward. Also, the movie’s soundtrack is full of 70s – 80s disco music, which I think adds on to the charm of the film. When the film ended, credit rolled up and the song “I will survive” came on, I’m like that’s a happy ending.

At the end, the film has given me a warm feeling in my heart. If we have hope, never give up and see the good in a bad situation we are going to make it, you are going to survive. And I think that is a very valuable lesson to learn for all of us. So prepare to laugh or giggle (surprisingly for a Ridley Scott’s film) and pushed on to the edge of your seat at some point and smile at the end of the day. Full on 5 stars for this.

Paper Towns

ครั้งแรกที่ได้ดูตัวอย่างหนัง Paper Towns ก็นับวันรอเลยว่าเมื่อไหร่หนังจะเข้าซักที รอไม่ไหวจนในที่สุดต้องไปเอาหนังสือมาอ่านแก้คันไปก่อน แล้วก็ต้องบอกเลยว่าเป็นอีกครั้งที่ John Green ไม่ทำให้ผิดหวังจริงๆค่ะ

Paper Towns เป็นเรื่องราวของหนุ่ม Quentin Jacobson (แต่เพื่อนๆ เรียกเขาว่า Q) ที่หลงรักผู้หญิงข้างบ้านมาตั้งแต่เด็กๆ ในความคิดของเขา Margo Roth Spiegelman คือปาฏิหาร จนคืนนึงที่ Margo ปีนเข้ามาที่หน้าต่างของ Q และเปลี่ยนชีวิตของเขาไปโดยปริยาย หนึ่งคืนที่พวกเขาออกไปผจญภัยร่วมกันทำให้ Q แอบมีหวังอยู่เล็กๆว่า ในที่สุดชีวิตใน High School ปีสุดท้ายของเขาก็ไม่ได้แย่อย่างที่คิด จนกระทั่งวันรุ่งขึ้นที่ Margo หายตัวไป และไม่มีใครรู้ว่าเธอหายไปไหน ฟังแล้วมันน่าลึกลับมั้ยละ แต่ถ้าใครหวังว่ามันจะเป็นหนังสือสืบสวนแบบว่า พลิกล็อคไปมาซักสองสามรอบก็คงต้องผิดหวังกันไปนะคะ ถึงแม้ว่า Margo จะทิ้งเบาะแสเอาไว้ว่าเธอไปไหนแล้วก็มีการไขเงื่อนงำอะไรแบบนี้ แต่เงื่อนงำเหล่านั้นที่จะพาQไปหา Margo กลับทำให้ Q ได้รู้จักตัวเองมากขึ้น ได้ทำในสิ่งที่เขาไม่เคยได้ทำมาก่อนและไม่เคยรู้ว่าทำได้ เขาได้รู้จักอีกมุมนึงของเขา และได้เห็นมุมอีกมุมของ Margo ที่เขาไม่เคยรู้จัก เพราะบางทีเราจินตนาการถึงคนที่เราได้พบเจอว่าเขาเป็นอย่างนึง แต่จริงๆแล้วนั่นอาจจะไม่ใช่ทุกอย่างที่เขาเป็น นี่คือสิ่งที่ John Green สื่อออกมาพร้อมกับอารมณ์ขันของเขาได้ดีมากจริงๆ แถมยังมี Quote เท่ห์ๆ ที่เอาไปพูดไปเขียนต่อกันได้อีกไม่รู้จบ พออ่านจบแล้วก็หันมามองตัวเองเลยว่า ความจริงแล้วเรารู้จักตัวเองมากแค่ไหน และคนที่เราคิดว่ารู้จักเค้าน่ะ เราได้รู้จักเค้าจริงๆมั้ย

“Margo was not a miracle. She was not an adventure. She was not a fine and precious thing. She was a girl ” – John Green

Signs of Life

Hello friends. It’s been a while that I haven’t update anything. Well, I’ve been really busy and also haven’t got time to watch anything interesting. But this week at SAE Institute Thailand Movie Night, my good friend decided to show the students “Signs of Life” by Werner Herzog. It was his first feature film in his career and I’d have to say that I enjoyed it very much!

It’s a story of a group a German soldier, Stroszek, who was injured during the war and sent to a remote Greek Island to recover. There he met with two other soldiers, Becker and Meinhard and together they guard the fortress and an ammunition dump. He finally married a local woman there called Nora. However, things got out of control when Stroszek (due to his post war trauma) went crazy and threaten everyone that he’s going to blow up all the ammunition and basically kill everyone. At the end he was subdued and taken away from the island for treatment.

The cinematography was executed beautifully even though there are a lot of hand held shots which doesn’t bother me at all. It gives a sense of reality and a documentary feel to it along with the narrator, which actually works well for me. The whole thing was almost like watching a real life solider not a group of characters. The solider were put here for their resting period but they were instead battling with hot and dry weather but most of all boredom. Herzog shows how they all have their own obsessions that keeps them going in quite a comedic manner, which is quite different from I was expecting from this kind of subject matter. Also after Stroszek went crazy, Herzog never shows him in close up ever again as if he was not of our group anymore. He was in his world and we have to take care of him. Even the ending after Stroszek was subdued we only see the road track and we drove away from the Island. I thought it was a very clever way of telling the story. I enjoyed watching it without any boredom at all.

Interstellar: More Than Just a Blockbuster

“Love is the one thing that transcends time and space,” Interstellar 2014

I went to see Interstellar on Wednesday night without any expectation at all. “Just another space movie.” I thought to myself, but I was wrong. Interstellar is nothing but another space movie. It is immensity sentimental and exciting at the same time. Christopher Nolan has perfectly blended sentimentality with space. I literally cried a little here and there.

A story of a father who leaves his family behind to save humanity, which his family is a part of, on a quest across galaxy to find a new habitable world. The film touches on some global issues like starvation and environment exploitations which cost the earth to fall apart. However, I think the core of the movie is family. The reason Cooper (Mathew McConaughey) decides to leave in the first place is because he wants to safe his family even though his daughter, Murphy is mad at him for leaving. The love for his family is what keeps him going throughout the story. The casts are brilliant, including Mackenzie Foy who plays the young Murphy. I cried a little watching the good bye scene between her and Mathew before he goes to space. The movie has done a great job sentimentalized a scientific concept like the relativity of time and space and gravity so you don’t really need to understand any Physics to get this movie. I must say there some silliness of the plot towards the end of the movie BUT I forgive it because of all the things that come before and the image is spectacular. More than two hours I spent in the theatre flew by very quickly. Interstellar is definitely is a Must see and you won’t regret it.

Gone Girl: เล่นซ่อนหาย

**SPOILER ALERT**

Gone Girl has become the ‘must-watch’ movie over night in Thailand (It just came out on the 23rd of October). The catch phrase would go “Have you seen Gone Girl?” “Oh my god you have to see it!”. As for me, I finished the book version last week and so it’s finally time to go watch the movie that creates the buzz.

First of all, I love the book. When you start you just can’t put it down so I have quite high expectation of the movie. I know David Fincher is a brilliant director but I still fear the movie might ruin everything. Well, turns out I love the movie also! Rosamund Pike is brilliant! The whole movie just tosses and turns you in so many directions you could get dizzy. Though, I wish they could cover everything from the book, the movie might run for 4 hours. “Gone Girl” has revived the concept of Femme Fatale and some other concepts of the 40s Film Noir – The dysfunctional family, the affair, the plotting and revenge.

Long story short – Amy and Nick Dunne is married for 5 years and on their fifth anniversary Amy mysteriously disappears from their home. Nick becomes the prime suspect of his wife’s disappearance. Until we learn that Amy has planned this whole thing to frame her husband for her murder – that’s your femme fatale right there. Why? because Nick cheats on her with a younger woman – BAM! the affair. We learn little by little that Amy and Nick’s affections for each other is long gone and kind of hate each other – there you go ‘the dysfunctional family.’ Nevertheless, the core of the story is how you project yourself to others and how they perceive and interpret who you are. A great example is how Amy does it – she has many versions of Amy she chooses to project to different people. Nick also has his version of best self he projects to Amy earlier in the marriage. However, their true selves slips out and ruin their marriage. The theme runs through the whole movie. How Nick behaves or what he says determine his ‘likability’ to the public. Like they say public opinion is fickle, one minute they love Nick and then they hate him, which is true in live. We project a selected aspect of ourselves to others.

I went to see the movie with my boyfriend and he ended up so scared. According to him, Gone Girl is scarier than horror movies because he has no idea what Amy is thinking and that frightened him. I guess this is what makes the story works, you don’t know where the story will take you. I guess ‘Gone Girl’ is the perfect movie to scare your boyfriend this Halloween?

The Fault In Our Stars: Okay? Okay

 

I spent my Wednesday night alone, sobbing while watching “The Fault In Our Stars.” I didn’t watch it in theatre because frankly I don’t want to cry in public, it’s embarrassing. After watching it I want to run to the bookstore and get a copy of the book.  Thank you John Green for making my eyes swollen like two red tomatoes.

“The Fault In Our Stars” is about love and death. One of the themes we see throughout history of storytelling. Who doesn’t love movies about love and death? If you look on the surface is a love story between two young adults who, unfortunately, both suffer from cancer. Hazel Grace, a 17 year old girl suffers from thyroid cancer that eventually reaches her lungs and destroys parts of them. So she has to walk around with her oxygen tank but that doesn’t stop Augustus, another cancer survivor, from falling in love with her. Well, it could have been nicer if none of them has to suffer and die. For me I think it’s about putting people who should be living their lives at their fullest and having the best time of their lives in the worst situation you can think of and you realize how lucky you are because their time in this world is taken away. The movie is quotable all the way through; their dialogues are crafted so well you might not believe they are 17 or 18 years old. May be it’s because death looks them in the eyes everyday of their lives so they talk about oblivion and live after death and worry about those they left behind.

I suggest everyone watch “The Fault In Our Stars” with a box of tissue. Which is your favorite scene in the movie? Mine was when Augustus’ best friend Isaac and Hazel read their eulogies to Augustus. It’s beautiful and you see that these they are not afraid of death but just wish they have more time together.

Jiro Dreams of Sushi: An inspiring story

I don’t usually watch documentaries but Jiro Dreams of Sushi is something else. First of all, despite the fact that I’m vegan – I adore sushi. I used to eat sushi every time I have the chance. Now I usually just order something with veggie or tofu in it. It’s so simple yet complicated and it gives you wide variety of flavors. For those sushi lovers out there please watch this! It’s mouthwatering and a beautiful work of art. Even if you don’t like sushi you can still enjoy it since there are much more depth than just making sushi.

Jiro Dreams of Sushi is a story of a 85 year old man who owns a small sushi restaurant in Tokyo. His restaurant is the first sushi restaurant to receive 3 Michelin stars. The documentary reveals his secret to success as he works hard everyday of his life for 40 years, never stop improving his skills and his passion for sushi. I think it’s just fascinating that someone could fall in love so deeply at what he does. You’ll get to see why his sushi is renown as the best sushi in the world – starting from the fish market to the kitchen along with dedication he makes for the best sushi possible. Along the line, it’s a story of a father and sons (particularly his oldest son). The pressure since he is the successor and relationship they have with each other. What he teaches his sons who also turns out to be two of the best sushi chefs. It’s a beautiful story and you learn a lot from Jiro’s lessons. You can just take his advices and apply them to anything. It’s very inspiring and the cinematography is impressive for a documentary. I enjoyed every minute of it.

For those of you who have seen it. What are your thoughts on the documentary? I would like to read it =)

Ender’s Game: A children’s Book?

Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card

Around 2 months ago I was wandering at the book store waiting for my boyfriend when I came across this book called “Ender’s Game”. It said on the cover of the book that it’s “now a major motion picture” and it’s “The New York Times bestseller!”  I’ve never read a sci-fi book before so I gave it shot. Took me long enough to finish the book but I finally did it! woohoo!

Basically it’s a story about a military operation in space that trains young prodigies to become troop commanders or military personals or what not, to save the world from an alien (aka. Buggers) invasion. The book turns out to be not what I was expected. The subject is kind of heavy and it involves some violence in it. This is definitely a book for teens and young adults but it is told through a point of view of a 6 year old kid called Ender as he grows through military trainings and “Games” (a war stimulator), which becomes more real to Enders and the children as the story progresses. The characters themselves are interesting as they are children but their thoughts, determination, and emotions are legit and real. They are no less of a person than adults are to the point that they even influences and takes control over the adults.

Peter, Valentine and Andrew (aka. Ender) Wiggins are very interesting characters. The three are siblings that has different traits but they are all connected. Peter is ruthless, manipulative and power greed. He doesn’t care about anything but himself and he would do anything to achieve what he wants. Valentine is pacific, intelligent and compassionate but sometimes she could be persuasive and we have to admit that she enjoys the taste of power for a bit. However, Ender is in between the two so we don’t know what he would turn out to be. Will he become a monster? a killing machine? or a hero that saves us all? I definitely recommend this book because I never thought a sci-fi fiction could be so deep that It touches the meaning of what it is to be human.

I haven’t seen the movie version of it but I’m looking forward to seeing how the directer interpret the book and I think it could be very interesting. For those of you who have read the book – Do you like it? what are your thoughts about the book and/or the movie?

Don’t you just love Fall?

You’ve Got Mail, 1998

It’s officially fall! I love fall. It means that holiday season is coming and the weather’s getting cooler here in Thailand. Towards the end of the year, I gravitate towards a 90s flick for no reason at all and so today I watched “You’ve Got Mail.” It’s perfect! because the story starts in New York in the fall. I just love every nostalgic details in the movie from AOL to exchanging e-mails and things that you wouldn’t see anymore like main characters who own book stores! (people still read books like an actual book!). World without smartphones and e-books and social media has its own charm that I adore. A love story that happens through technology that isn’t as superficial (you have to admit that the e-mails are well thought than any of our instant massages now a days). You’ve Got Mail is my go-to comfort flick for this fall. What about you? what’s your movie that you constantly go back to on certain seasons or situations?

Sunset Boulevard

Hello guys! I’ve been very busy lately so haven’t got a chance to update my blog =( Well, today let’s talk about Hollywood! Last week I’ve screen Sunset Boulevard for my student at SAE Institute and there were some interesting topics that we discussed about.

Sunset Boulevard was released in 1950, directed and co-wrote by Billy Wilder. For those who haven’t seen the film let me give you a synopsis. A B-movie writer, Joe Gilles, hid his car in the big abandoned mansion on Sunset Boulevard after his tyre exploded while trying to get away for the financial guys who are confiscating his car (whew!). Well, turned out the mansion belongs to Norma Desmond, a big…big… silent movie star. She learned that Joe is a writer so she asked him to help her with the script she’s writing for her next big movie (she’s trying to make a come-back). Joe in need of the money accepted the deal but she kind of locked him up with her in the mansion may be because of loneliness that in the end turned into infatuation. At the end of the film, she killed him by the pool at her big empty mansion; a crime of passion.

Frist thing is the movie is one of the very first movies that exposed Hollywood of its dirty secrets. Hollywood promise a dream and a glamorous life but when you become obsolete like Norma Desmond or you can’t sell like Joe Gilles’ script, you’re done. Gloria Swanson playing Norma Desmond was actually a real star in the silent era but when the 30s came she couldn’t transit through and she never got where she was again (until she was nominated for Oscar after this movie). Eric Von Strohiem played Max her loyal butler was actually a famous director from the 20s that has worked with Gloria in many films but failed to transit to the talkie. In this movie he was depicted as a servant….a servant! who fulfilled Norma’s fantasy by sending her fan letters giving her hope of becoming big again. He clings on Norma in hope of going back to Hollywood again may be. He just couldn’t let go of his golden years of his life. Also Norma’s friends (The waxwork) are all big silent movie stars which by 1950 wouldn’t have any jobs. This is what makes this movie special; it’s real.

This film is a perfect example of Film Noir with the flash back storytelling (Joe Gilles narrating the story of his death), incompetent male character and Femme Fatale which is Norma. A lot of people might be wondering why in Film Noir male writer would write a powerful and cunning and sometimes richer female character. Well, let’s think about this for a sec. During WW II which is when Film Noir became prominent in theaters, women became more independent. Why? because men has to leave home to war; women came out of the kitchen and work, so there are this fear of wife having an affair or one day they would leave the husband because she can do better. This is actually a scheme to bring women back to the kitchen because if you notice Femme Fatale doesn’t end well in the movie; sometimes dead, sometimes went crazy. Powerful, independent and cunning women have to be punished one way or another.

สวัสดีทุกคนค่ะ ขอโทษที่หายไปนานเลย วันนี้ขอกลับมาพูดถึงภาพยนตร์เรื่อง Sunset Boulevard ที่ฉายให้กับนักเรียนที่ SAE Institute ได้ดูและวิเคราะห์ไปพร้อมๆกัน สำหรับเดือนกันยายนนี้ เรามาดูกันถึง Film Nior สไตล์หนังที่โด่งดังในช่วงยุค 40 จนถึงกลางยุค 50

Sunset Boulevard ออกฉายในปี 1950 กำกับโดยและร่วมเขียนโดย Billy Wilder สำหรับคนที่ไม่เคยดูจะขอสรุปเรื่องโดยย่อให้แล้วกัน นักเขียนบทภาพยนตร์ไส้แห้ง Joe Gilles จับพลัดจับผลูขับรถที่กำลังจะถูกยึดมาซ่อนที่คฤหาสน์ที่เหมือนกับร้าง แต่ปรากฏว่ากลายเป็นบ้านของดาราหญิงชื่อดังในยุคหนังเงียบ Norma Desmond ที่กำลังหาทางกลับมาดังอีกครั้ง เธอขอให้เขาช่วยเขียนหนังที่เธอจะเอาไปให้สตูดิโอทำหนังเพื่อให้เธอแสดง เธอจองจำเขาไว้ในคฤหาสน์หลังนั้น อาจจะด้วยความเหงา แต่สุดท้ายกลายเป็นความหลง และด้วยความหึงหวงเขา Norma ฆ่า Joe ตายที่สระว่ายน้ำของเธอ หลังจากเหตุการณ์นั้นตัวเธอก็ตกอยู่ในสภาพไม่ค่อยจะเต็มซักเท่าไหร่

อย่างแรกที่อยากพูดถึงคือ หนังเรื่องนี้เป็นหนังที่เปิดโปง Hollywood เรื่องแรกๆ และวิจารณ์ว่า Hollywood สร้างฝันให้หลายๆคน แต่เมื่อดาราคนไหนเก่ากึกเกินไปก็ถึงเวลาต้องโละทิ้ง เหมือนกับ Norma หรือ ใครที่ขายไม่ได้ เหมือนบทของ Joe ดาราดับจากยุคหนังเงียบที่เปลี่ยนผ่านไปสู่ยุคเสียงไม่สำเร็จ Norma Desmond แสดงโดย Gloria Swanson ซึ่งตัวจริงของเธอนั้นก็เป็นดาราดังในยุคหนังเงียบซึ่งเมื่อ Hollywood สร้างภาพยนตร์เสียงขึ้นในช่วงยุค 30 เธอก็ไม่สามารถกลับไปอยู่จุดสูงสุดของเธอได้ (จนกระทั่งหนังเรื่องนี้ที่เธอได้รับเสนอชื่อเข้าชิงรางวัลออสการ์) คนรับใช้ของเธอ Max แสดงโดย Eric Von Strohiem ผู้กำกับชื่อดังในยุคหนังเงียบที่ทำงานร่วมกับ Gloria มาหลายครั้ง แต่ในเรื่องกลายมาเป็นคนรับใช้ที่คอยเติมฝันให้ Norma ว่าเธอยังคงมีหวังที่จะกลับมาโด่งดังอีกครั้ง โดยการส่งจดหมายแฟนมาให้ เพราะตัวเขาเองที่ยังคงยึดติดกับ Norma ก็หวังอยู่เล็กๆว่าจะได้กลับไปอยู่ในวงการอีกครั้ง นอกจากนี้เพื่อนที่มาเล่นไพ่กับเธอเป็นประจำก็ประกอบไปด้วยดาราดังในยุค 20 ทั้งหมดที่ถึงตอนปี1950ก็เกือบจะไม่มีงานทำกันไปหมด และสิ่งนี้แหละที่ทำให้หนังเรื่องนี้พิเศษ เพราะมันจริงแบบเห็นกันคาตา

เรื่องนี้เป็นตัวอย่างของ Film Noir โดยสมบูรณ์เริ่มที่ การเล่าเรื่องโดยการใช้ Flash Back โดย Joe Gilles เป็นผู้บรรยายเรื่องราวทั้งหมดที่เกิดขึ้น ตัวละครชายที่ไม่สมบูรณ์ และ Famme Fatale ซึ่งก็คือ Norma นั่นเอง แต่หลายคนก็สงสัยว่า ทำไมนักเขียนชายถึงเขียนให้มีตัวละครหญิงที่มีอำนาจมาก อีกทั้งยังเล่ห์เหลี่ยมจัด หรือแม้กระทั่งรวยกว่าตัวละครเอกและในที่สุดทำให้ตัวละครชายต้องตายหรือแบบตกอยู่ในสภาพที่แย่มาก โอเคลองมาคิดดูดีๆ ในช่วงสงครามและหลังสงครามผู้หญิงเริ่มออกมามีปากมีเสียงขึ้นในสังคม บางคนก็ออกมาทำงาน มีความเป็นอิสระมากขึ้น ซึ่งก็ทำให้ผู้ชายเริ่มกลัวๆหวั่นๆว่า วันนึงเธอก็อาจจะทิ้งเขาไปมีคนอื่น (อีกหนึ่งลักษณะของ Famme Fatale คือ ชอบนอกใจ) หรือ วันนึงเธออาจจะไม่ต้องการเขาเพราะสามารถหาเงินเลี้ยงตัวเองได้ ความจริงแล้วนี่มันเป็นแผนที่จะล่อให้ผู้หญิงกลับไปอยู่หลังครัวเหมือนเดิม เพราะสิ่งที่เกิดขึ้นกับ Famme Fatale คือ ตาย หรือ ไม่ก็เป็นบ้าไปเลยเหมือน Norma ผู้หญิงที่มีอำนาจ ร่ำรวย หรือ ฉลาด เล่ห์เหลี่ยมมากนั้น ต้องโดนลงโทษไม่ทางใดก็ทางนึง