I have a habit of putting off watching movies no matter how hyped it is or no matter how many times people recommend them to me. I like watching movies in my own time. It makes me enjoy them more.

So, this morning, I watched Caroline (2009), a movie about family. It is famous for its animation and storyline with characters who have buttons for eyes.

The animation is unique and very different from Disney and other animation studios. As for its storyline, I like that it teaches kids to be more understanding of their parents.

I've been watching a lot of movies lately. One of them is Memories of Murder (2003), a movie based on serial killings in South Korea. And yes, the main actor, Song Kang-ho, starred in the recent film, Parasite (2019). Both films are directed by Bong Joon-ho.

Cinematography and music score was okay for me. The movie had a really dark theme at first but eventually became bright and colorful towards the end. The main cast acted pretty well especially in scenes having tension and heavy emotions. The storyline was told beautifully. Perhaps a downside, this film contains a bit of nudity. Corpses were showed and there was a lot of violence especially when the investigators did their interrogations. I do not recommend this movie to those who might not be comfortable watching those kinds of scenes. 

‼️ Caution. Do not read beyond this line. Spoilers ahead.

Plot. The movie is about three investigators who get on a case of serial killings in a small Korean province. Victims of the serial killer were all women who wore red on rainy evenings. They were tied up, strangled with their own brassiere, gagged with stockings, raped, and head covered with their own panty. The investigators tried so hard to catch the serial killer but they did not prevail. The case remained unsolved and the film ended with Song Kang-ho's character revisiting the place where they found the first victim.

Anothing thing, I consider the ending as a cliffhanger. In the end, Kang-ho's character was told by a young girl that a man with a plain face also came in the site earlier and said he had done things there. There were a lot of questions that ran up my mind during the time. Were they right on track with their investigation? Or was the killer far off their radar?

I know I'm a little late on this, but I just finished Queen's Gambit this morning. It's about a young girl who worked her way up in the man-claimed world of chess. 

I really like the series. Cinematography and casting was excellent. Takeaway points I got from it is (1) great things come from unexpected places, (2) anyone can be anything they want if given the opportunity,  (3) people can lose contact for years but still silently root for you, (4) sex makes no difference in a game of wit.

I really love this series. I've put off watching it for many months now with no regret because having a lot of time right now, I got to enjoy every second of this masterpiece.

Disclaimer: Photo found in this post is a screenshot from the movie, The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014). Also, I am still new to making movie reviews so please bear with me. 

The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) Movie Review

The Grand Budapest Hotel is a very rich and very colorful film with outstanding cinematography. It's about the story of Zero and how he came to own The Grand Budapest Hotel. He started off as a lobby boy, a protege, to concierge, Gustave. When Gustave got into trouble with the family of the late dowager whom he had an affair with, Zero becomes his friend. The two shares an adventure of proving Gustave's innocence. Gustave inherited the hotel from the dowager and Zero inherited it from Gustave.

The Grand Budapest Hotel is not the kind of movie we see nowadays. The movie has a very rich script as most of the story was narrated. The narrator (author) paints very vivid pictures to the viewer as to what the people and places were like, accompanied with very rich presentation of them on screen. The characters too had rich dialogues.

Overall, every aspect: the narration, the dialogues, and the cinematography brings the viewers into Zero and Gustave's adventure. I really enjoyed watching this movie. :-)

Disclaimer: Photos found in this post are screenshots of scenes from the movie, The Boy in Striped Pajamas (2008)

The Boy in Striped Pajamas is a movie based on a novel by John Boyne. It's about a German boy, Bruno, the eight-year-old son of Ralf, the newly promoted Herr Kommandant, and his new found friend, Schmuel, an eight-year-old Jew detained in a nearby concentration camp to which Burno's father was assigned.

The movie had really great cinematography. It's gray hues and blueish undertones set a really gloomy mood fit for the World War era. The script provided better understanding of what was going on. Multiple scenes were set at angles that emphasized a huge difference between the lives of the two boys i.e. scenes of Bruno looking through house windows and scenes of Schmuel behind an electric fence. Their difference in their circumstances are greatly shown in scenes where Schmuel looks through the electric fence and is seated on dry barren land within the labor camp while Bruno is free on the other side.

I love how the movie depicts innocence of a child. In the movie, Bruno asks a lot of questions especially to Herr Liszt, their home tutor. Having made friends with Schmaul, Bruno cannot fathom how all Jews were considered as evil vermin as what was taught to him by the tutor. He is convinced that not all Jews are bad because of his Jewish friend, Schmaul who is a detainee in the nearby labor camp, and their Jewish house servant, Pavel, who once practiced as a doctor before being detained and made to serve the Herr Kommandant's family by peeling potatoes.

Aside from Bruno's innocence, there were a few characters with different beliefs worth taking note of. We have (1) Natalie, Bruno's grandmother who was against the propaganda, (2) Elsa, Bruno's mother who was patriotic to their country but against mass murder of innocent Jews; I love her because despite what the norm was of their society back then, she had compassion for the innocent. She believed that Germany can attain greatness without burning the Jews, and; (3) Gretel, Bruno's sister who was brainwashed by Herr Liszt into believing in the propaganda; she threw her dolls away to make room for more serious stuff like putting posters of Nazism up on her bedroom wall.

I really like the variations characters had with their personality and stand on the German Nazi propaganda.

I must say, I was really moved by this character (Pavel). Despite being captured, detained, and maltreated, he maintains compassion for the young boy. He remains kind to him and kept Bruno's innocence by not telling the truth to what really happened to him.

In the end, there's a huge consequence to Bruno's innocence as he sneaks inside the camp to help Schmuel find his father.