Malèna DVD box set: my favorite one in Giuseppe Tornatore trilogy

Malèna takes place in the 1940s, as Italy gears up for war with the Allied nations, confident in its superiority and in its righteousness. The film stars the beautiful Italian actress Monica Belluci (Brotherhood of the Wolf) as the titular character, a young wife who was brought to this new town by her new husband, who has since gone to war leaving his wife to care for his deaf father. For the simple reason that she is gloriously beautiful and the object of desire for the town’s men (and boys), Malena becomes the target of hateful rumors and petty acts of jealousy by the women: They don't sell her fresh food and would rather spit on her rather than say "Hi".

When news arrives that her husband has been killed in action, Malena’s new “availability” status becomes the source of lustful actions by the town’s men. This, of course, also makes the town women despise her even more. All of Malena’s trials and tribulations are seen through the eyes (and ears) of 12-year old Renato (Giuseppe Sulfaro), who discovers lust, love, and devotion in the form of the lonely Malena.

Malena has only one supporter: the young Renato. Like any other man or boy in the town, he is in awe of Malena's physical attractions and she dominates his burgeoning sexual thoughts. As he follows Malena around the town he soon becomes aware of the intolerance she has to face. Realising that this prejudice is based on fantasy and jealousy, he becomes Malena's distant, but disabled, guardian.

This is a film that succeeds on several levels and thanks to some first-rate cinematography is a complete visual feast. Malèna DVD box set is a good film, and like its much-suffering heroine, is very worthy of loving praise.

Reblogged from http://jennyyu.edublogs.org/2013/01/10/malena-dvd-box-set-my-favorite-one-in-giuseppe-tornatore-trilogy/

Blue Valentine DVD box set

"Blue Valentine" DVD box set is a movie that ruefully reminds you of what it's like to fall in and out of love. We meet Dean (Ryan Gosling), a house painter and morning drinker, and his wife, a nurse named Cindy (Michelle Williams) as their relationship is unraveling; the end seems near.

Here is a film that watches pretty well itself. Derek Cianfrance, the film's writer and director, observes with great exactitude the birth and decay of a relationship. Toward the end of the six years, when Cindy is hardly able to remember why she wanted to marry Dean, Cianfrance observes the physical and mental exhaustion that has overcome her. And the way that Dean seems hardly to care — just so long as Cindy remains his wife and his watcher, which in his mind was the deal. Dean thinks marriage is the station. Cindy thought it was the train.

All marriages have milestone moments, events of startling clarity that allow the new lovers to see themselves as a couple who have been defined. Dean is capable of grand goofy romanticism, and Cindy likes that. She yearns toward it. They first meet at her grandmother's retirement home. Have you ever had one of those chance meetings with a stranger in a place neither one of you belongs? Did a space empty of your lives so that you start new with your first conversation and plunge straight ahead into a suddenly new future?

"Blue Valentine" DVD box set moves between past and present as if trying to remember what went wrong. From Dean's point of view, maybe nothing did. He wanted to be married to Cindy, and he still does and he still is. Cindy can't stand that. He never signed off on the growing old along with me part. He doesn't think the best is yet to be. He thinks it's just fine now.

"Blue Valentine" strives to paint that shadow of loneliness and fear which drives many to marriage – only to find them more lonely and afraid than ever.

Mr. & Mrs. Smith DVD box set sale

Mr. & Mrs. Smith is a romantic comedy disguised as an action movie. Also, it is a fun, summer popcorn movie that actually manages to get in a few humorous but truthful bits on relationships and marriage, being suitable to watch at your home with your lovers. So, that you need to have the movie DVD box set collection.

The plot of the movie is immaterial. What matters is the "chemistry," a term that once referred to a science but now refers to the heat we sense, or think we sense, between two movie stars. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have it, or I think they have it.

The eponymous couple lives in an idyllic house in an idyllic neighbourhood but their marriage is in trouble. In the film's funniest scenes, we see John and Jane meeting a therapist, bemoaning the lack of sparkle in their six-year-old marriage. But they are keeping a secret from their counselor and from each other: they are both two of the world's most highly-paid assassins, with pretend jobs as a computer specialist (Mrs) and a construction worker (Mr).

The duo leads cat-and-mouse lives while trying to keep a sense of harmony at home. Jolie pops off to her office - staffed by doll-like girls and in the mould of Jack Bauer's CTU headquarters in 24 - to find out her latest kill, while Pitt goes to his own office where he works alongside Vince Vaughn, a rather nervy partner who injects some welcome humour into the situation.

The movie pauses from time to time for more sessions with the marriage counselor, during which it appears that professional killing is good for their relationship. After we get our money's worth of action, their problems are resolved, more or less. Although many lives have been lost, the marriage is saved. 

Sunshine (1999): the gift of breathing freely

Sunshine DVD box set ollows a family of Hungarian Jews through 70 years of political history, and the various regimes that took over and ultimately abused their people. Ralph Fiennes plays three roles that of grandfather, son, and grandson as the years sweep by, managing to carry the differences between the men without a hint of strangeness. This deep and moving film has themes and sub-themes to spare, and is an epic drama worthy of the respect it has earned, with a Golden Globe nomination for Best Picture.

The first story takes place during the tail end of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and centres on Ignatz Sonnenschein, the eldest son of a successful Jewish distiller. Though the family fortune has been made on a secret tonic recipe that has been passed down for generations, neither Ignatz nor his brother, Gustave (James Frain), have any interest in joining the family business, perfering instead to enter into the fields of law and medicine, respectively.

The second story focuses on Ignatz and Valerie's younger son, Adam, who comes of age after the collapse of the monarchy and becomes a celebrated, Olympic gold medal winning fencer. Sunshine tells a massive story (I've really only revealed the plot in broadstrokes and left out tons of plot threads, developments, and characters) and, for the most part, tells it quite well. The first two segments concerning Ignatz and Adam are engaging and often thought provoking; however the film runs out of steam in the midst of the third and final story.

To sum up, Sunshine is a thoughtful and powerful drama. It tells me that have faith, but we don’t need to be stubborn. It is a natural rule of sun rose and set, the life will continue, but one day, everyone will be gone. 

One of my favorite classic comedies: Dumb & Dumber DVD box set

Dumb and Dumber that made me laughs so loudly I embarrassed myself. I just couldn't stop. The funniest scene of the movie exactly is Jeff Daniels’s personal show running to toilet.

Despite there is no nutrition in the film, the biggest feature of two leading role is dump and dump, is so super funny film that appropriate often watch the movie DVD box set at home.

The movie is more silliness from Jim Carrey, who is beginning to grow on me. It's strange. His mannerisms, instead of becoming more wearisome from film to film, grow more endearing. I hated him in "Ace Ventura," enjoyed him in "The Mask," and felt positively fond of him here. He plays a limousine driver whose roommate (Jeff Daniels) runs a dog-grooming service, although business is bad for both of them and they live in a dump. (At one point a gangster suggests trashing their apartment, and decides they wouldn't notice it.) As the movie opens, Carrey is driving a beautiful but troubled young woman (Lauren Holly) to the airport. He has fallen instantly in love with her. When he notices that she has left a briefcase on the terminal floor, he races into the building and snatches it - thus foiling a kidnap ransom payment. Trying to chase after her onto a flight to Aspen, he has a nasty accident that is the movie's second big laugh, although not nearly so big as the parakeet.

Dumb and Dumber is not so much about dumb guys as it is about earnest guys. And people can be pathetically funny when they are just being earnest lunks.

Dumb and Dumber

All in all, Dumb and Dumber is riddled with smarts, and that's the part you end up admiring the most.

Le grand bleu: the end you did it alone

Jacques Mayol and and Enzo Molinari in the Le grand bleus DVD box set are two men who have shared an intense passion for the sea since their childhood.  Molinari, the current world free diving champion, coerces Mayol into competing against him in the next tournament.  When Mayol beats his record, Molinari is determined to win it back again.  A dangerous friendly duel ensues.  Meanwhile, Mayol is pursued by a young insurance clerk, Johanna, who is madly in love with him, although the young diver is unable to respond to her affections.  In the end, Mayol has to choose between the sea and his pregnant girlfriend.

Although the Le grand bleus DVD box set has been criticized for lacking much in the way of a plot, the film has enough of a plot to give it direction and meaning.  This is very spiritual film, a film which communicates directly with the soul, something which gives it great power and eloquence.  Jacques Mayol is overwhelmed by his love for the sea, longing for an alternative existence, whilst his girlfriend is equally obsessed with a very earthy desire which he cannot participate fully in.  This conflict of the spiritual and the physical is portrayed with great power and sensitivity, and its resolution at the end of the film is devastatingly effective.

The story investigates the self-sacrificial nature of genuine love and the destructive potential of men's rivalry. Other themes explored in the film are the relationship between humans and nature, the feelings of frustration and alienation experienced by certain people who feel unable to fit in society, the misunderstandings as well as the conflictual needs and expectations of lovers.

As a viewer, I want to see the film simply and purely. It doesn’t matter with love, hate, and desire.

How many people can put aside all worldly desires?

How many people can always adhere to the original ideal?

And how many people be most authentic self?

Big Fish DVD box set: believe what you want to

Big Fish is the enchanting story of a father and son, but it's really the story of stories themselves. It's about all kinds of stories, from the first stories whispered by a father to a sleepy child to the stories a son tells his father to comfort him as he nears death. Facts are fine, but some truths can only be told by fiction, and this movie tells a captivating tale that is a delight for the eye, the heart, and the spirit. In a word, Big Fish DVD box set is worth doing collection.

Maybe we will ask when watching the movie, are Ed's stories true? Are they embellishments of fact? Or are they complete fabrications? The film answers this, but it also provides us with a final query...does it matter? Looking at Ed's saga, does it really matter whether those events he claims to have lived through actually happened? They're stories. If people accept them as real, then they're real. "Big Fish" ask us to let go of our common sense and simply believe that anything can happen. It sends us back to our childhood, a time when we knew slimy green monsters lived under the bed, not because we saw them, but rather because they had to live somewhere. Do you ever think back to some of the things you believed in as a child? Think about it. About how gullible you were. And now think about how fun life would be if you could still be that gullible. Just remember, anything can be real. All you have to do is believe.

Additionally, I associate the movie with the Life of Pi that is top one of the box office in recent days. At the end of the movie, Pi asked: two stories, which one you believe? So is Ed Bloom a big fish? Hey, what do you believe?