The Alchemist

Favorite quotes from the Alchemist: "When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it."

Blue Jasmine

Really like Cate Blanchett's performance in this Woody Allen movie.  I do think she deserves an Oscar.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2334873/

Blue Jasmine (2013)

www.imdb.com

Directed by Woody Allen. With Cate Blanchett, Alec Baldwin, Peter Sarsgaard, Sally Hawkins. A New York socialite, deeply troubled and in denial, arrives in San Francisco to impose upon her sister. She looks a million, but isn't bringing money, peace, or love...

致我們終將逝去的青春

一向少看國產電影, 一般都太重「娘」味（單看戲名已經說明一切），而且看了一些影評，都說有「那些年」的影子，本來都沒有太大期望。只知道趙薇導演及片中有一幕唱「紅日」，你話有幾吸引！（當然之前完全不知道趙又廷有份演出！所以看的時候絕對有驚喜！）

前半段講國內的大學生活的確沒有很投入，但到後來從女性角度講現代人感情觀有些位卻很有共鳴，甚至有點觸動情緒。女人的命運，是否就是只有這幾種？

比想像中好看！

Searching for Sugar Man

Initially I wasn't going to watch this, in spite of all the hype for the Oscar award.  I was not particularly impressed by the poster (see the HK version below) - a talented man with long hair carrying a guitar walking on the street unnoticed and unrecognised...this sounds too familiar.  Almost all musical movies have a plot like this.  So the movie has been released for a while and I didn't have any plan to go to the cinema to watch this.  I thought perhaps I'll give it a chance later when the DVD is out.  But then, recently I was reading Denise Ho's weibo and she highly recommended this.  She said something like "music that has a soul will not only live the moment it is released, but it will live forever in the hearts of the music lovers."  Ok I'm not a super fan of Denise Ho and considering how old I am I will not (and I do not) blindly follow what a celebrity said simply because that's what a celebrity said!  But I'm curious.  And curiosity is often my motivation.  So I thought, why not?  And thank god I did!  It was probably the best movie I've watched in a while.  (And yes I have watched The Great Gatsby too and I actually like this one better!)

Not going to talk about the plot.  I guess the reason why I enjoyed this movie so much is I really had no idea what the story was about and I didn't have much expectation.  There was a scene where I was teary-eyed.  And of course when the movie finished I immediately went on Wiki and imdb and read a few reviews like all the other audience. What an amazing, inspiring story!  Even the story behind the production (how the director, running out of budget, used an iphone app to film an Oscar-winning movie) is inspiring too!  And yes, we need to hear more stories like this.  We have all noticed that the world we live in now (at least for this part of the world) is a bit imbalance - people are complaining about everything and there are lots of negativity in the media.  People stopped believing.  This movie brought hope and reminded us that there is always a way.  I truly believe that even though you may not realise, you are always loved, whoever you are.  But first you have to love yourself and never give up on yourself.  And you extend your love to people around you.  Then one day what you gave out will come back to you multiplied.

Poster - UK version

Poster - HK version