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Happy Together, a review by Danae Cassandra

Happy Together (Chun gwong cha sit)
Year of Release: 1997
Directed By: Wong Kar-Wai
Starring: Leslie Cheung, Tony Leung, Chang Chen
Genre: Drama, Romance

Overview:
Winner of the Best Director prize at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival, Wong Kar-Wai's Happy Together is a stunning display of filmmaking style and a touching story of love on the brink of dissolution.

Hong Kong cinema superstars Tony Leung and Leslie Cheung play a pair of lovers living out the waning days of their relationship as expatriates in Buenos Aires. Lusty tango bars, the salsa music of the La Boca sidewalks, and a hypnotic visit to the nearby Iguazu Falls give further dimension to the tensions growing between the two lovers.

With its "stylistic magic" (Newsweek), Happy Together cemented the international reputation of Wong, the director of such films as In the Mood for Love and Fallen Angels.

My Thoughts:
This is a magnificent film about the disintegration of a relationship. Two lonely people with little in common beyond physical attraction and mutual alienation try to make their romance work, only to find their differences too great to overcome. Each reaches out at different times and is rebuffed, and each is happiest when the balance of power in their relationship shifts in their favor. Po-Wing inserts himself back into Yiu-Fai's life after he is injured, turning to Fai despite their breakup and Fai's insistence on not wanting him back. In turn, Yiu-Fai tries to hold on tightly once he has accepted Po-Wing back into his life. His alternating of rejection of Po-Wing's attempts at intimacy with possessiveness of Po-Wing's time and violence as he slips away ultimately drive Po away. Moments of mutual happiness, such as when they slow dance together in their apartment, are rare. Yet they circle each other, noting that "lonely people are all the same," until Fai makes a friend and starts to break from the destructiveness of his relationship with Po. While Po's part of the ending is sad, a glimmer of hope exists (to my mind anyway) for Fai, in the potential of something new.

Wong Kar-Wei is a great director, and it really shows here. He contrasts a very realistic, gritty truth about relationships with high-art cinematography. The camera portrays the alienation of the couple quite well; both the alienation of each from the other and their alienation from the world around them. The non-linear storyline, moving back and forth from present into past, moving from snapshot to snapshot of their lives together and apart, shows the problems between them are not new, and in fact are longstanding. Each is at fault, and Wong is not afraid to show both characters in a bad light. The actors each give a fine performance, authentic and believable as their characters. Very highly recommended, unless you don't like unhappiness in film. Excellent film.

Bechdel Test: Fail

Overall: 4.5/5

(From Within My (Mom's) Lifetime Marathon on July 13th, 2015)

Tron, a review by addicted2dvd

Title: Tron
Year: 1982
Director: Steven Lisberger
Rating: PG
Length: 96 Min.
Video: Widescreen 2.20:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1, French: Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish: Dolby Digital Surround
Subtitles: English

Stars:
Jeff Bridges
Bruce Boxleitner
David Warner
Cindy Morgan
Barnard Hughes

Plot:
The first film to venture forth inside the previously unexplored three-dimensional realm of computer imagery, "Tron" dazzles with revolutionary visual effects and mind-bending action sequences. Flynn (Jeff Bridges), a computer whiz who invents video games, finds himself at the mercy of the evil human forces who answer to The Master Control Panel - a powerfully corrupt computer presence that has beamed Flynn inside its deadly game grid. There, an electronic civilization thrives, and "Light Cycles" race at heart-stopping speeds. With the aid of his friends, Alan (Bruce Boxleitner) and Lora (Cindy Morgan), Flynn's only hope is to activate Tron, the courageous and trustworthy counter-program, in a heroic battle to save humankind!

Extras:
Scene Access
Trailers
Closed Captioned

My Thoughts:
This is one I have heard a lot about over the years... but never got to see myself. It is one that our good friend Roger sent me while going through his DVDs. Being a Disney movie I went into this one hoping to enjoy it... but at the same time thinking with the subject matter it had to be dated (after all... this movie is almost 30yrs old now) and was think time probably wasn't good to this movie. And I was right about that... but it really didn't matter. While not what I would call great... this is a good, entertaining movie. I had fun watching it.



(From Weekend Movie Marathon: Unwatched DVDs on November 13th, 2009)

The One Where It All Began: The Pilot Marathon, a review by DJ Doena

What's the show about?
Dean and Sam Winchester are brothers. 22 years ago a yellow-eyed demon killed their mother. Since then their father has been on the hunt for all kinds of supernatural beings and phenomenon.  Sam once tried to get out of the "family business" but after his father went missing and his girlfriend was murdered in the very same way his mother was he has rejoined with his brother. They fight against vampires, ghosts and everything else you dare not think about in the middle of the night.

"Pilot"
22 years ago. John Winchester has to evacuate his son Dean and infant son Sam out of the house after something pinned his wife onto the ceiling and set her on flames. Present day. Sam has stopped hunting two years ago and studies at Stanford now. But suddenly his brother Dean stands in the door and announces that their dad has gone missing while being on a hunt. Sam agrees to accompany Dean on this one thing to find their father - only 'til Monday.

My Opinion
I was never really into horror stories, but shows like Buffy and Angel brought me closer to the topic and since I liked Jensen Ackles in Smallville's fourth season I thought to give it a try. And it's a great show. Except for the fact that there's a monster of the week every episode is totally different due to the very nature of the supernatural being. There's also an overall story arc that includes the yellow-eyed demon, fallen angels and the apocalypse.

(From The One Where It All Began: The Pilot Marathon on September 2nd, 2009)