Cape No. 7 (海角七號) is a Taiwanese romance, comedy and music-drama all rolled into one. Filmed, written and directed by Wei Te-Sheng, it garnered 3 awards at the 2008 Taipei Film Festival as well as being its opening film. The film contains lines spoken in Mandarin Chinese, native Taiwanese and Japanese showcasing the backdrop of Heng Chun, Taiwan with its richness in contrasts: mountains along with beaches; the old towns near the modern resort hotels, the aging population with the young working in Taipei, the diversified demographics with Hoklo, Hakka, Mainlanders and Taiwanese aborigines, the weather variation between the tropical southern Taiwan and the snow-laden Japan.
Prior to this film, the two leading actors Van Fan (范逸臣) and Chie Tanaka (田中千絵) (stayed in Taiwan for 15 months to study Chinese) only had minor acting roles but they have done justice to the film and themselves, turning in a credible performance. Even without a strong promotional campaign (tight budget I might add), this movie has become so popular in Taiwan that it became the 2nd highest grossing film in the island's cinematic history, behind the all-time tearjerker, The Titanic. Naturally, it came as no surprise when the film was nominated for 9 awards in the 2008 Golden Horse Award and competing in the 81st Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film as Taiwan’s representative.
On his trusty motorbike and his back on Taipei, Aga (Van Fan) journeys back to his hometown in Heng Chun after failing to make his mark as a rock band singer. On his return, Aga's step father (Ju-Lung Ma), the Town Council Representative, arm-twisted a position for him as a postman, replacing Uncle Mao (Johnny C.J. Lin) after an accident broke his leg. On his first day, Aga comes across an undeliverable piece of mail that was supposed to be returned to the post office (the daughter of the now deceased Japanese teacher has decided to mail the unsent love letters to Taiwan after discovering them, 60 years later). The rebel Aga unlawfully keeps and opens the package to uncover its contents, but the old Japanese-style address Cape No. 7, Hengchun County, Takao Prefecture could no longer be found. Ever so slowly, contents of the 7 love letters will be individually narrated throughout the movie, bridging the gaps of the characters and unraveling the final piece of the puzzle.
In the meanwhile, a local resort hotel is organizing a beach concert featuring Japanese pop singer Kousuke Atari. Putting his official position to good use, Aga’s step father bullied his way into insisting a local band opens the concert. Tomoko (Chie Tanaka), an over-the-hill Mandarin-speaking Japanese fashion model dispatched to Heng Chun, is assigned the difficult task of managing this hastily assembled band, led by Aga along with six other locals of rather unorthodox backgrounds. After a frustrating trial period Aga and Tomoko unexpectedly begin a love relationship which is flawed in the way it is handled, expressed and presented (focus on their romantic link-up is weak). With some assistance from hotel chambermaid Ming Chu (Shino Lin), Tomoko helps Aga find the aged Kojima Tomoko, the rightful recipient of the seven love letters. Aga then returns to the beach resort and performs a highly successful concert with this local band and Kousuke Atari.
In the final ending of the movie, it is revealed that in 1940s when Taiwan was a Japanese colony, a Japanese teacher (Kousuke Atari) dispatched to the southernmost town of Heng Chun fell in love with a local girl with the Japanese name Kojima Tomoko. After the Surrender of Japan, he was forced to return to his home country. On his trip home, he penned seven love letters to express his regret for leaving Tomoko, who originally planned to elope with him to Japan.Watch because you have love for the film industry and at the same time, take in the wonderful sceneries of Taiwan. I give it 4 stars out of 5, very funny and heart-warming at the same time.
Missing the opening scene is not always a good start to a foreign film but I managed to do just that while sitting down and getting comfy, my first scene was that of a Mexican family gathering round for a hearty family dinner feast and exchanging banter when the head of the family, Ramon, suddenly chokes on his food. A child prays silently to God to save Ramon whilst Elena, Gustavo and other family members rushes to perform the Heimlich Manoeuvre which rescues him.
The Bucket List brings together two actors (Nicholson and Freeman) who had made countless number of movies, living legends of their time, on the big screens for the first time. Directed by Rob Reiner, the story follows two terminally ill men embarking on a final road trip with a list of things to do before they die. They gamely shaved their heads for the movie.
Blue-collar mechanic Carter Chambers (Morgan Freeman) and billionaire hospital magnate Edward Cole (Jack Nicholson) meet for the first time in the hospital room. They become reluctant friends at first as they undergo respective chemo treatments for cancer. Carter is a gifted amateur historian, answers questions on ‘Jeopardy’ with absolute ease and family man who had dreams of becoming a history professor. A dilemma in his youth, simply put "broke, black, and with a baby on the way" did not pave the way for his ambitions and he stuck to his job at McCreath body shop ever since. Cole, on the other hand, is a corporate tycoon cum eccentric loner, who enjoys nothing more than tormenting his personal servant, Matthew whom he calls Thomas (Sean Hayes).
When both are diagnosed with terminal cancer, Carter begins scribbling a "bucket list," or things to do before "he kicks the bucket." After hearing he has less than a year to live, Carter wads it up and tosses it on the floor. Cole finds it and pushes Carter over the edge by suggesting things like seeing the world, sky diving, "fun things" with an unlimited budget as he is very wealthy. Despite the protests of his wife, Virginia (Beverly Todd), Carter eagerly agrees to it. The pair then set off in an around-the-world vacation, embarking on race car driving, sky diving, climbing the Giza Pyramids and going on lion safari in Africa. Along the way they discuss faith and family, we learnt that Carter has long been feeling less in love with his wife and Cole is deeply hurt by his estrangement with his only daughter, who disowned him after he "took care" of her abusive husband. 
Cole goes on to live till a ripe old age of 81 years old. When he finally passes away, he has his ashes placed inside a Chock Full o' Nuts coffee can, alongside Carter, on the top of Mount Everest which Carter mentions that Cole would have liked, as it was against the law. When Matthew completes this, he crosses off the last item on the Bucket List (witness something truly majestic) and places the list with them, closed the small black box and reburies it in the snow.
The story is moving and opens you into the inner-most thoughts of the terminally ill. Watching these two great actors deliver their lines at the highest level of their craft is nothing short amazing, leaving me breathless and in awe. Ratings in this case is useless, just go watch it and really feel it!
The story unfold in the year 1992, where a young and aspiring Will Hayes dreams of becoming the President. He made a decision to move away from his college sweetheart, Emily (Elizabeth Banks), embarking on a trip to New York to work on the Clinton campaign. She gives him a wrapped package and asks him to give it to her reporter friend, Summer (Rachel Weisz). In New York, he meets April (Isla Fisher), the photocopy girl for the campaign while he was performing menial jobs as the toilet-paper/coffee boy. They formed an instant attraction immediately. Out of curiosity, Will could not resists opening the package. It was Summer's diary. He reads it and comes across pages describing a love affair between Emily and Summer. Intrigued, he visits Summer to bring the diary, meets her roommate and sometimes-lover, her college professor and famous writer named Hampton Roth (Kevin Kline). April and Will met outside work while buying cigarettes. The connection grew when she tells him its her birthday and Will responded by buying her dinner but settled on accompanying her to a party. On the rooftop, Will eventually practices a proposal to Emily on April and she is taken aback by his words. They go back to her apartment, where April has multiple copies of Jane Eyre in her collection, explaining that her father gave her a copy with an inscription in the front shortly before he died, and the book was shortly lost. Will and April eventually kiss but Will left quickly while berating himself. 
Emily visits earlier than expected and expectedly, Will proposes in the park. Startled, Emily turns him down by telling him that she slept with Will's roommate left him devastated and heartbroken. Time past and Bill Clinton becomes president of the United States and Will moves up to become speech-writer for a candidate to be Governor of New York. April travels the world, and she and Will become pen-pals. Summer and Will's path crossed once again. Eventually, with the encouragement of Roth, Will and Summer become romantically involved. But it ended abruptly when she writes unfavourably about the politician Will works for. Will becomes disillusioned about his choice of profession when Bill Clinton is implicated in the Monica Lewinsky scandal. He hates his job and starts to heavily drink. On his birthday and in a drunken rant, he confesses romantic feelings towards April but in the process, ends up hurting her in a fight with her where he tells her to "go to life rehab".
Will eventually chance upon the copy of Jane Eyre that April's father gave her. He goes to give it to her, but left when he finds out that April and her boyfriend are living together. Summer and Will bumped into each other while he is at a cafe, and she invites him to a party where he meets Emily, now living in New York. They end up starting up another relationship and Emily turns out to be Maya's mother. Will signs the divorce papers served to him. Maya is happy that she figured out the story, but also realizes that her father still loves April, as even though Will changed the names of Emily (Sarah in real life), and Summer (Natasha in real life), he did not change April's name. Encouraged by Maya, who wants her father to be happy, he goes to try to win April's heart. The movie ends with Will confessing he held on to the copy of Jane Eyre because it was the only thing he had of hers. Maya and Will go to April's apartment to reconcile. The movie ends with April jumping into Will's arms to kiss him. Wonderfully scripted and never a dull moment, watch it with a romantic date. 
One night, Evan follows an unusual sound that seem to call out to him and left the orphanage to follow it. He is picked up by a trucker and taken to New York when the latter calls Richard’s number on the card. Evan is told to stay and wait but after the wind blows the card into a sewer vent, he wanders around the city in a whimsical fantasy of sounds before he is attracted to guitar sounds played by a boy named Arthur (Leon G. Thomas III). Soon, he follows Arthur back to an abandoned theatre where he meets a group of kids, all street musicians taken under the wings of "Wizard" (Robin Williams) a former busker turned hustler who lets the children stay, in return for a cut of the money they made. When Evan begins to play music for the first time using Arthur’s guitar, Wizard puts him to ‘work’ on his former spot in central park. In no time, Evan started to wow the crowds with his unique brand of music and bring in the big bucks for Wizard. To hide Evan’s real identity from the authorities, Wizard gives him the stage name of ‘August Rush’, taken off a slogan on a truck driving by about the August rush to the beach.
On his deathbed, Lyla’s father confessed that her son had survived the car accident. Lyla rushes to New York City in a frantic search of her son and meets Richard. Meanwhile, Evan's father Louis has also begun to trace Lyla and ended up back where they had originally met. Still hot on Evan’s trail, Richard becomes suspicious of Wizard and has the police follow him to the condemned theatre where the kids live. Having escaped the police raid, Evan hears a choir singing in a church and meets a little girl named Hope (Jamia Simone Nash) who teaches him how to read and write music. To the surprise of Reverend James (Mykelti Williamson) and Hope, Evan manages to compose a musical piece and play the pipe organ with consummate skill in no time at all. Seeing the musical genius in Evan, Reverend James enrolled the child prodigy in Julliard School where he impresses everyone by writing a magnificent piece called "August's Rhapsody" which is going to be performed in New York City's Central Park with the New York Philharmonic.
Out of nowhere, Wizard shows up in Julliard after learning about Evan's performance through the concert posters and forces him to leave by implying that he will tell everyone Evan's real name. Reluctantly, Evan goes along with his so-called ‘Father’. While busking, Evan meets a fellow guitarist unknown to both of them, is actually his Father Louis. Under the alias of August Rush, Evan says that he has a big concert coming up but he cannot go. Louis tells him that he would not miss it for anything in the World. On the day of the concert, Evan is in the subway station with Wizard and Arthur when he tells them of his intentions to leave for good. After escaping Wizard’s attempt to stop him from leaving, Evan arrives just in time and begins to conduct his music at the same time Lyla is leaving the concert. Attracted by the music, Lyla stops and turns around to approach the stage. At the same time, Louis and his band are inside a car near the park, stuck in slow moving traffic. He sees a poster hanging off a lamp post announcing the performance by August Rush in central park, like the boy told him but most importantly, Lyla’s name is on it as well. Ecstatic by the discovery, Louis runs out of the car towards the music. Approaching the stage, he recognizes the conductor as the boy he met in the park. There, he finds Lyla right in front of him listening to the music which brought him to her. Louis stands right next to her and quietly holds her hand. Mesmerized by the music, a surprised Lyla looks to her side and is thrilled to see Louis. Sensing the presence of his parents, Evan turns to the crowd and the trio recognized each other through their bond for music. I think Evan said it best at the end of the movie when he delivered a sweet monologue, "The music is all around us. All you have to do is listen."
The soundtrack contains gems like "Moondance" and "This Time" performed by Jonathan Rhys Meyers, while "Raise it up" was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song. Click on this link 
Juno strikes up an instant friendship with Mark when she notices a Gibson guitar in his room and they started jamming. Soon, she finds herself going over the Mark's place more often, who shares similar tastes in music, film and pop culture. However, Mark slowly discovers that he is not ready to be a father and still longs to be in a rock band but has set aside his dreams for a conservative life with Vanessa. Although Mark works as a commercial composer, he feels like an outcast in his own home, not given room to exercise his dream. Cracks are showing in the beautiful portrait of the lovely couple shown in the classified ads. All this while, Juno wrestles with the new emotions she feels for her baby's father, Paulie who also has feelings for Juno but plays it cool. Juno maintains an outwardly indifferent attitude to Paulie but confronts him when she learns that Paulie had asked another girl to the prom, only to be reminded that it is at her request they remain distant and points out she was the one who suggested his prom date in the first place. Another scene worth mentioning is when Juno's step-mum berates the ultrasound technician to stick to "What she knows" after passing an insensitive remark on Juno's pregnancy at such a young age. It felt great to see how she defended her step-daughter from snide remarks and let those who judge a person without knowing them, a taste of their own medicine. 
Not long before her baby is due, Juno is once again visiting Mark who confesses that he is leaving Vanessa and moving out. Vanessa arrives home and an argument ensues between her and Mark about whether or not it is "bad timing" for them to proceed with the adoption. As she watches their marriage fall apart, Juno leaves and cries on the side of the road not before coming to a decision. Returning to the Lorings' home, she leaves a handwritten note for Vanessa. After a heartfelt discussion with her father, Juno came to the realization that she loved Paulie all this while and revealed her true feelings to him. Later at a track meet, Paulie notices Juno is not in the stands and rushes to the hospital to be with her. At the hospital, he comforts Juno by holding her tight in bed and they both agree not to see the baby. Vanessa arrives at the hospital alone and joyfully claims the newborn boy as a now-single adoptive mother. Juno's note to Vanessa is finally revealed, in place of a portrait of her and Mark, reads "Vanessa: If you're still in, I'm still in. - Juno." The film ends with Juno and Paulie playing guitar and singing to one another. Watch out for the group of runners, appearing in timely scenes of the movie.
**Backtrack to 1938 with China at war, many Chinese students including Wang escaped turmoil back in their homeland to further their education in a safe haven - Hong Kong University but the thought of fighting the war in a limited capacity were not far away from their young impressionable minds. This is where first year student Wang Jiazhi is roped in by a fellow student activist Kuang Yumin (Wang Leehom) to join his stage-play aimed at raising funds and show their resistance and unity against the Japanese. Success of the play soon lead to a real-life mission to kill a much hated traitor residing in HK aka Mr Yee who is collaborating with the Japanese occupiers and responsible for the torture and death of hundreds of patriots. The team of 6 students headed by Kuang hatched a plan to infiltrate the home of Mr Yee via his mahjong-playing wife (Joan Chen) so that they can target Mr Yee for assassination. Wang is thrown into playing the role of her a lifetime as Mrs Mai, wife a small time businessman who is in the import and export business. Unknown to Wang, the group has made plans to thrust her into becoming Yee’s mistress in a bid to win his trust and the scene where Wang loses her virginity to a fellow student showed her absolute resolve and commitment to the mission. Nevertheless, they fell short in Hong Kong although Jiazhi manages to lure Yee to her fellow conspirators but the ever guarded Yee did not bite. The mission is left in limbo when Mrs Yee called to announce their plans to move to Shanghai in short notice. 
***Fast-forward to Shanghai in the year 1941, Wang Jiazhi is now a poor student living with her aunt and studying Japanese to dull herself. Kuang reappears into her life with news that Mr Yee is in Shanghai and tries to persuade Wang into reprising her role of Mrs Mai. Introduced to Kuang’s superior, a senior member of a secret Chinese Agency, Wang throw caution to the wind and reaffirms her commitment to get the job done. This time the plan is clear, Wang is to seduce Mr Yee again and set him up for termination. When the mission is accomplished, they will reunite Wang with his father in England. Mr Yee is delighted to see Mrs Mai again but his cautious nature gave way to lust as he finally getting his hands on Wang, literally. The stages of sex entangled the level of trust Yee is willing to go and as their rendezvous continued, the deeper she falls for him. At one stage, Kuang realizes the predicament Wang is in, even beg their handlers to speed things up and complete the mission quickly. The conflict between duty and love comes to a head when the final moment of Yee’s assassination draws near. Will she go with her head or heart? 
****Drawing a fine balance between Lust and Caution is the theme of the movie but when love gets into the mix, it becomes a double-edged sword. When you are in love with someone who has to carry out a dangerous mission, how do you balance feelings of Love and Caution? Personally, I was smitten by the beauty and innocence of Tang Wei. When it came to delivering her lines in fluent Cantonese and Shanghai dialect, it was well-executed and believable. Her wonderful rendition of a classic mandarin love song was another highlight in this art-house film. The incredible performance by Tang Wei was top-notch throughout and I could feel every emotion of love and angst in her which is surely worth a Golden Horse Nomination. We now know why Ang Lee cast her in the role of Wang Jiazhi ahead of other big names. Tony Leung never lets us down with his masterful interpretation of Mr Yee who is equally tragic in his yearn for true love and trust. Wang Leehom is a tad disappointing in his role as Kuang Yumin who is stiff and 'deadpan' at times but this will be a great learning experience for him to improve on his limited acting skills. “Lust, Caution” can be heavy at times when we see the lives of people put through hell in times of War. One last thing, the cinematography was beautifully executed especially the scenes of populated streets in Shanghai were spectacular. The many pieces of cheongsams worn by Tang Wei also gets a notable mention as they show off her curves to seduce Yee and ME! 
I must get this off my chest - Ratatouille is the best CGI animation movie involving a rodent. No disrespect to “An American Tail” and “Stuart Little” but I was charmed by Remy, the little chef. The setting is Paris, France where miles of sewer tunnels ran underneath a cosmopolitan city, a city of great culinary history and fine gourmet restaurants. However, the underground sewers gave birth to a huge rat population and this is where we have a rat that harbors a dream of becoming a Chef one day. Academy Award winning director Brad Bird [who brought you “The Incredibles”] of Pixar animation studios takes us on a culinary journey through the eyes and ears of a rat who finds his way into the famous Chef Auguste Gusteau’s French restaurant led by the ghost of the late chef when Remy got separated from the colony while on the run. I loved the scenes where we see Remy’s point-of-view manoeuvring through the maze of pipes, cracks and sewers. The great chef was famous for his motto of “Anyone can cook” but little does he knows a RAT would become a master chef. 
The opening was great, I was drawn immediately to Remy (voiced by Patton Oswalt), a suburban rat who enjoys gourmet food. His sense of taste are refined and impeccable, a connoisseur of food and its ingredients that made it so appealing. A nose for freshness resulted in a refusal to eat garbage but eventually, forced by his father to use Remy's gift as a "poison detector". A hidden desire to become a chef like his hero, Gusteau comes in the form of Linguini (Lou Romano), a newly hired garbage boy cum kitchen cleaner at a Gusteau’s Paris restaurant. He forms an unusual partnership with the Remy, working together in funny circumstances, hiding under Linguini's chef's hat. Soon, Remy started to create dishes of culinary delight by manipulating Linguini, like pulling strings on a puppet. His culinary adventure is lived through Linguini and as word of mouth spreads, Gusteau's Restaurant is the talk of Paris again. Skinner, the Head Chef is jealous of Linguini’s newfound fame tried his best to discredit him but was ousted from the restaurant when the truth surfaced, Linguini is Gusteau’s son. Linguini not only gets ownership of the restaurant and in the process, wins the heart of the only female chef Colette (Janeane Garofalo). Skinner vows revenge and rats to the health department on the rodent infestation at Gusteau’s.
The real test comes when France’s most feared food critic Anton Ego (Peter O'Toole) decided to revisit Gusteau's having earlier given the restaurant a death sentence [review] that caused the death of a broken hearted Chef. When Linguini comes clean on the secret of his success and reveal the origins of his remarkable talent, the entire kitchen and waiting staff walked out on him. Faced with a disaster, Remy took over the reins of the kitchen with the help of his rat colony and dished out his version of the Ratatouille [vegetable stew] to the absolute surprise and utter delight of Ego. The scenes in the kitchen were extensively researched by the team of animators who spend time at “The French Laundry” [The French-based Michelin Guide bestowed “Three Stars” to The French Laundry] helmed by famous Executive Chef, Thomas Keller who served as a consultant for the movie. Everything you see in the movie mimics a professional kitchen/ restaurant setup, down to the recipes, ingredients and terms used are real, to its very last detail. The animators got all the cutting, chopping, knife work, ingredient preparation, cooking sequence, various cooking stations and kitchen equipments as close to reality as possible, making the action in "Ratatouille" truly exceptional.
There are times that even I, forgot that Remy is a rat! The seemingly conflict is between rats and humans, but in fact, members of each species get to learn a little about the other, in terms of racism and tolerance. To quote from Anton Ego: "Not everyone can be a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere." "Ratatouille" is very entertaining from start to finish and heart-warming in the closing moments, suitable for both the young and the old. 
Extra: The various titles used in a professional kitchen of a French restaurant.
