Movies, and more movies :)

Ok, over the 1 week (inclusive of 2 days of annual leave), I caught 3 movies:

1. Never Been Kissed

2. Not One Less (Chinese movie)

3. Casino Royale

And my verdict? Awesome! All 3 were great movies and I didn't regret catching them. Yeah, I can hear you, you sarcastic cynics, you and your negative remarks about those movies, but heck, like I bother... duh...

In my honest opinion, I was awestruck by those movies - the acting skills and most importantly, the story, the message.

Never Been Kissed starred Drew Barrymore and she was just fantastic in that movie. So natural and so convincing as a awkward, shy but intelligent girl who always seem to get the worst impression from everyone, since college days, and always being made fun of by guys she liked. And she had a great principle - she thinks of love like what a species of penguin does - they search for an entire lifetime sometimes for their life partners. And I agree :) Like the main title of the movie - "Some things ARE worth waiting for".

I quote what she thinks about love:

"That thing, that moment, when you kiss someone and everything around becomes hazy and the only thing in focus is you and this person and you realize that that person is the only person that you're supposed to kiss for the rest of your life, and for one moment you get this amazing gift and you want to laugh and you want to cry because you feel so lucky that you found it and so scared that it will go away all at the same time."

Very rare nowadays to find people who have this mentality, especially in US. And did she find her true love at the end??? *smiles* Why don't you watch it yourself and tell me, or you could get to know the ending from me, in person *winks*

The second movie was great too - it was directed by Zhang Yi Mou, and starred an unknown teenage girl. I tell you, it opened my eyes to truly see how blessed and fortunate I am to have what I have now. The story was great - about a 13 years old girl who was a substitute teacher for a small Chinese village school. The last words of the teacher before passing the baton to her was "Don't lose any student. Not even one." Hence, the title of the movie. And I tell ya, she truly has a very persistent, stubborn and strong attitude. She went to great lengths to keep all the naughty students together. And throughout the movie, you could see the poverty of the village people - not even enough money to buy enough chalks, and one scene was very touching...

One of the kids ran away to the town (Beijing, I presume) to work because dad died, mom is sick. And he is only 9!!! My God! And the substitute teacher got to know about it and decided to go all the way to the town to get him back. It's just amazing, because the town is so far away, she decided to raise funds for the trip there together with her students, who are all kids 5-9 years olds. So the first job they tried to carry bricks because they heard that carrying 1 brick earns 1/2 cents. They needed 6 dollars, meaning they needed to carry 1200 bricks! Wow, and they all did it - carrying the bricks back and forth until the construction boss discovered them and scolded them for doing it without his knowledge and don't want to pay them. But after much persuasion and pity on them, he paid them 9 bucks :) And because they had a surplus of 3 dollars, they decided to go celebrate it by buying something to drink at a nearby store. And guess what? A can of Coke is 1.50, and there were at least 20 of the kids, including the teacher. Then the touching moment was when some of the kids said, nevermind, we can share. So the teacher bought 2 cans of Coke, and they all shared it. Just one or two sips per person!!! Oh man... I almost shed tears, looking at their condition...
This whole movie is full of scenes that will move your heart. And make you appreciate what you already have now, though you might complain and think you don't have enough. Face the fact - you will never have enough. It is human nature to keep wanting something more, better, bigger, nicer, etc. We should learn to be contented with what we have now, love the people around us and cherish the time we have to do meaningful stuffs.

Ok, move on to the last movie I saw - Casino Royale. Man, it's the best Bond movie I've ever seen, plenty of action and great story too. This Bond is more emotional that the previous ones. Not so frivolous and more loyal. And he's more MAN too. I just think that all the previous Bonds looks a bit sissy who needs high-tech gadjets to keep themselves alive. Oh, I love the cars in this movie. Super cool 2006 Aston Martin DBS!!! I won't tell you the story, cos, I think you should see it for yourself and be your own judge. I personally think that the love element is much, much stronger and appealing than previous Bond movies.

Ok, back to work now... hahaha...