Bee Movie (2007)

The latest computer animated feature from DreamWorks. Heard about all the hypes. The beginning was very captivating as the animation of the bees’ world is just fantastic! So humanized! You can tell the animators did a lot of research, and the coloring was just very pleasant.

But I just think with this kind of animations, it’s better human only or just animals. I think they went too far with making the bee and a human girl become friends. They even have coffee breaks together, go to courtroom sessions against the honey corps, and fly an airplane together! That’s just too exaggerated.

Overall, it’s a cute, research-loaded movie. But see how those two don’t usually go together? That’s the reason I’ll give it 3 stars out of 5!

3 Pigs and a Baby (2008)

This is one of the Unstable Fables featured animations. It’s one of those “classic tales with a twist.” Kind of like Hoodwinked, but not as slick.

One notable thing is one of the voice talents, Steve Zahn, looks almost exactly like my friend Dragan:

(left: Dragan; right: Steve Zahn)

Yeah?! They’re like identical twins! Oh, sorry, Dragan, for using your picture without permission. :Þ

来我家吧 (Come To My Place; 2001)

今天终于看完了这套一直收在抽屉底的偶像剧。大概因为是VCD，所以一直没拿出来看。亏了自己是在每天跑步30分钟的健身房里用电脑看完的。幸好只有短短的7碟。
当然不及流星花园。虽然F4也有在里面客串，但是所演角色都属平凡，让我有了一种沉痛的感觉。女主角许如芸也当然不及大S，听她念独白的时候就知道了。只是气质还不错，而且还会弹钢琴，赞!

情节起伏不大且慢，差点撑不下去。唯一让我看完的因素是故事的真实性。分手了，她在酒吧遇到的一个比自己小的男生，居然第二天醒来后躺在隔壁!就这样，他们让彼此有个机会，交往了。心里一直放不下前男友；为了生活，他放弃了钟爱的钢琴，做起上班一族。可她不愿放弃理想，所以分手了。正当自己的演奏事业以及和新男友更进一步的时候，前男友回来了，并表示不能忘怀。这个时候，她该选择谁呢?明明思念着前男友，再加上新男友的摄影技术似乎受到了否定，正在思索是否应该放弃。因为鄙视放弃梦想的人，她偏向了前男友；因为他表现出强烈的需要，以及要重拾对钢琴的热忱。但越与前男友接触就越发觉两人间无形的距离，而且频频想起新男友。到底该如何?

过去了的感情还是让它过去吧，珍惜眼前的才是重要。于是她做出了最后选择 – 那个比她小的男孩儿。正好他的摄影事业有了转折，两个非常努力的人又走在一起了。可是，渐渐地，男的表现出对事业更关心。女的受不了了，觉得自己已不被需要。她该何去何从呢?正当她要到另一个城市开始新生活的时候，拿了奖的男孩儿追赶上她。他挽留她，说“来我家吧!”

就是这么个简单但真实的故事。让我想起了漫画“蓝色青苹果”。如果我是她的话，我会怎么抉择?当然是为生活认真的人咯!为了梦想而活，如果实现了，那还好；不管多努力还是实现不了的，只有梦想的人，怎么依靠?就这点来讲，女主角却不够现实。但是故事刚好安排成他们两个都成功了。唉，终究还是演戏啊!

Waitress (2007)

Maybe it was Keri Russell, maybe it was the poster, or maybe it was the pies; but as soon as I saw the cover picture of the film, I wanted to see it! Had no idea it was an independent film shot in a small town. But the director was also the writer and played one of the dopy characters – Adrienne Shelly, you were bright! Note the word “were”, yes, unfortunately, she was murdered not long after the movie was wrapped….

Back to the movie, it was a bittersweet comedy/drama about relationships and pregnancy. It was nothing like what I had imagined. I was a little disapointed towards the whole thing about pies. Really, it had nothing to do with making wonderful pies. The act of making pies was rather used throughout the film to depict the main character’s emotions and thoughts at that point in time. Also, I waited the whole movie to see how she triumphs at the end and breaks away from her controlling husband. Well, yeah, at the end, she succeeded by having a daughter and opening her own pie shop, but she still didn’t leave the town like she’s always wanted to! And too bad she didn’t end up with that cute doctor! Maybe that’s why it’s “bittersweet”, although the movie left audiences praising the girl, but I didn’t feel all that good!

Overall, I’ve got mixed feelings towards this movie. But it was good to see Keri Russell shine. Goodness, she looks SO MUCH like my GED teacher Linda Austin. I can’t believe it’s been almost 10 years since she taught me. Too bad we lost contact….

天下无双 (Chinese Odyssey; 2002)

挺有趣的一部电影。演员阵容除了张震我不太熟(或者是他不够突出)，其他都是一级棒的!王菲不错(嗯，不过也不至于好到可以拿最佳女演员奖吧!?那是太“故意”了点儿…)，很可爱。赵薇更可爱，不愧是我心目中最喜欢的大陆女演员。梁朝伟超可爱!特别是他模仿 Michael Jackson 跳舞那里，笑到我喷饭!我想粤语版的一定更好笑，可惜我只有国语版的。

Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii)

The least fun Wii games I’ve ever played! I guess it’s designed for boys. I just don’t know what fun it is hitting each other when you don’t even know what button you pushed triggered what action. Yeah, the graphic design is state of the art, but it’s still not worth $49.99!

Colorado Ballet – The Repertory Series

Mercedes is a such true friend who always thinks of me. Today, she invited me to see the Colorado Ballet performance as she has an extra ticket. So she, I, and her step daughter Skii, drove to the Denver Performance Arts center in downtown, on this beautiful Saturday afternoon.

Because Mercedes couldn’t find her keys, we were running late. By the time we got there, the show had already started, so we had to sit at the very back till the first intermission, to get to our real seats, which were quite good – they were on the second row.

The Repertory Series is consisted of three performances. The first one is called “Leaves are Fading.” It premiered July 17, 1975 in New York:

Since we were sitting too far back, I couldn’t enjoy it as much. At times I even got so sleepy.

What a relief it’s intermission time! (This is how far back we were sitting):

So we got up and walked around the theater. It is truly artistic, from the doors:

… to the arts:

… to the stairs/building structure:

Here’s Mercedes and Skii, in front of the oh-so-real wax statues.

Break time is up and we found our excellent seats on the second row. The second performance is called “… smile with my heart” and was premiered October 23, 2002 in New York:

It is my favorite performance out of the three. Because it was very fresh, modern, and I felt I could understand the message they were trying to convey better. And I liked the fact that the band was on stage, playing live, as well:

The third performance was visually the most stunning one. It’s called “Straight Line to Never” and it’s a new performance just premierd March 15, 2008 in Denver!!! The costume, make-up, and dance routines are all very oriental. But I just couldn’t make out what message they were trying to deliver. Maybe because the music wasn’t soft enough. It sounded like music from the Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon soundtrack. But isn’t the stage setting gorgeous?!