Luna Spirit of the Whale

Inspired by a true event, Luna Spirit of the Whale shares a story of how Mike Maquinna becomes the Chief of the Mowachaht-Muchalaht First Nations Band with the help of an orphaned orca named Luna.

Mike has not been home for 5 years since he left. He is only back for his father's wake, not realising his return signify the beginning of a new challenge for him. He has refused to follow the family tradition and has been running away from home to find his identity and life path.

Luna starts to appear in Golden River of Vancouver Island soon after Mike's father passing. Several attempts have been made to lead Luna out of the harbour but she returns each time. The Band believes that Luna embodies the spirit of their late Chief and feel strongly that they should keep the orca in the harbour.

On the other hand, the fisheries are trying to deport Luna under the pretext of reuniting the orphan with his pod. The struggle captures the attention of TV stations. Mike finds his path and meaning to his origin as he leads his people through the spiritual and political controversy to save Luna.

Rating: 4 out of 5 fairy clouds. A low budget film this may be, yet it captured my heart and it captured my attention. The fight for freedom for Luna has led to the new personal growth for Mike Maquinna which is pretty amazing. It isn't always that easy to find your life path or have the courage to face it. I salute the Mowachaht-Muchalaht First Nations Band for their belief and spirit.

Then She Found Me

Most of us (or almost all of us) hope to achieve some kind of personal fulfillment in our life. What exactly is the form of fulfillment? What might be the path we take to manifest this? We do not know but we will try. That's the beauty of life itself.

April Epner's life has starting to fall apart. At 39, her biological clock is ticking rapidly. Her husband abandons her and the next day, her adopted mother passes away. Just when you think life couldn't be more brutal to her. She finds out she is pregnant.

You would think life would be great. She finally fulfills her dream to be a mother. She meets with her birth mother and falls in love with a man who is recently divorced and caring for 2 young children. But life is cruel to April. At week ten she loses her baby, finds out the truth of her abandonment and loses her man. Phew! What tough luck this girl has. Don't worry, in the end, all ends well for April.

Rating: 3 out of 5 fairy clouds. Things are indeed rough for April but yet I am unable to feel the intensity of it all. I find that the events have been simplified to provide the general idea and direction of where her life is heading. It has failed to highlight the real trauma and growth she has to overcome to become a much more happier and fulfilled person.

Inglourious Basterds

Inglourious Basterds, another amazing production of Quentin Tarantino, is absolutely hilarious despite the grim backdrop of World War II.

The film has two sub-plot. The first starts in France in 1941 at a French dairy farmer's house. An SS officer, Hans Landa, who is famed as a Jews Hunter, visits a farmer, Perrier LaPadite, who is harbouring a missing Jew family in his basement. Landa finds the hunting spot and executes the family. However the daughter, Shosanna, manages to escape, setting the plot for a future development.

The second subplot evolves around a group of American Jews, who are led by their leader, Lieutenant Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt). Also known as the Basterds, these men are in France killing Nazis and leaving survivor with a swastika curved onto their foreheads to spread fear among the German military.

Three years later, Shosanna has assumed a new identity as Emmanuelle Mimieux, and runs a small theatre. A chance encounter with a war hero, Fredrick Zoller, leads to the use of her theatre for a premier of a new movie, Nation's Pride, which is featuring Fredrick. All the important Nazi leaders and officers will be attending the premier, which creates a perfect opportunity for Shosanna to plot her revenge.

On the other hand, the British conceives a new plan, Operation Kino, to end the war by eliminating the Nazi leaders who will be attending the movie premier. The Basterds are involved in this operation by attending the premier to asissinate Hilter. The premier night leads to the final showdown of the film, Inglourious Basterds.

Rating: 5 out of 5 fairy clouds. Amazing plot, storyline and character development. I especially love the ending with Aldo Raine performing the last swastika curving on the last Nazi. Perfect ending to a perfect showdown. "You know something, Utivich? I think this just might be my masterpiece," said Raine.

9

What will happen if machines can successfully rise and take over the world? We have seen many apocalyptic movies like Terminator, I Robot, War of the worlds, etc., 9 runs along the same line.

9 is the last creation of a brilliant scientist. He gives his soul to each of his rag dolls in hope that they will unit and one day save the world from his wayward invention, The Great Machine, which is responsible for the decimation of mankind.

It is a challenging path for 9 to unit the rest of the rag dolls. 1 is a war-veteren who wants to keep the rest of the members safe from the machines. 2 is a inventor and explorer who unfortunately lost his soul to the Great Machine. 5 is a faithful companion of 2, a handy man himself. 6 is a visionary nut who saw the key to end the war. 7 is a daredevil warrior, couragously taking on the machine herself. 8 is dumbnit follower of 1.

9 has the typical wholesome entertainment whose objective is the good and courageous saving the world. It definitely lacks depth and imagination. Though the animation and graphic is good, I feel the storyline has not developed since its conception. The backdrop of 9 was conceived by the young director in his graduate days and was nominated for 2005 Oscar Best Animted Short film.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 fairy clouds. Too much deja-vu and feeling of I have seen this in other blockbuster action-packed movie. Suspense is weak and so is the story development. Overall, 9 lacks creative story-telling and identity as an unique animation.

I Am Sam

I Am Sam is about a mentally challenged father Sam (Sean Pean) and his fight to have custody of his daughter, Lucy. Sam, who has the mental capability of a 7 years old, has been taking care of Lucy since infancy.

On Lucy's 7th birthday, a social worker takes her away as Sam is judged to be incapable of taking care of a young child. His friends recommend that he look for a lawyer to represent himself, and that is when he meets Rita (Michelle Pfeiffer), a cold and selfish lawyer.

Rita becomes Sam's pro bono lawyer just to look good in front of her colleagues at work. Little did she imagine, that knowing Sam and his love for Lucy would change her life and her relationships with her husband and son, Willy.

Love conquers all as we always love to see in the real world. Sam has to face with many challenges as a mentally challenged person, and even more as a father and caregiver to a young child. In spite of this, there are one or two things we can learn from Sam; especially the way he has genuinely and unconditionally loved Lucy and will do anything to give her happiness.

Rating: 4 out of 5 fairy clouds. Its a very heartwarming movie to see how Sam finally touches the people around and wins them over on his side. In reality, I doubt the society will really condone such an arrangement.

Coco Avant Chanel

Coco Avant Chanel shares a snippet of Mademoiselle Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel's life, her rise to success and the two men who had helped her.

While working as a seamstress, Coco (her nickname) tried her luck as a singer at a cafe and met a millionaire playboy, Étienne Balsan. Taking her chance with Balsan, she moved herself into his chateau and became his mistress. There, she moved into his circle of friends and associates, and started to design hats for his friends.

A revolutionist and rebel, she abandoned corset dresses and opted for simple, loose fitting masculine-style of clothing, which became her signature style. Later, she met with her second love interest, an English industrialist, Arthur Capel who supported her in her business venture and soon started her own shop.

She created new fashion statement and style of dressing, by taking inspiration from people around her, especially men. The simplistic of the clothing she designed and modern cutting made her an icon and celebrity to many. Mademoiselle Chanel is a visionary, entrepreneur and feminist who was way ahead of her time.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 fairy clouds. Bravo! C'est formidable. Elle est une inspiration.

Up

Partly Cloudy (in 3D)

The story of a stork and his unique friendship with one of the cloud people who create babies. This animation is super cute and will most definitely tickle you. I found a site which has the animation, http://www.snotr.com/video/2938.

Up (in 3D)

Up, up and away! Up is Pixar's latest animation movie. Carl Fredricksen, a cranky old man, meets the young innocent wide-eyed overly-eager Wilderness Explorer, Russell, when he is about to set out on an adventure.

The young Carl is a very shy boy when he meets Ellie, an eccentric and adventurous girl. They dream of being on an adventurous trip to South America, following their idol adventurist, Charles Muntz. Over the years, they falls in love and married to each other. When Ellie passes away from old age, they did not realise their adventure dream.

After a mishap with a construction worker, Carl is given a court order to move into a retirement home. Refusing to succumb to such a life, Carl releases a thousand balloons and make this home into a flying ship, hoping to fulfil Ellie's dream of going to Paradise Fall in South America.

Carl's adventure is disrupted when he discovers little Russell in his front porch of his flying house. Together they set off into a new adventure to South America, forging an strong and lasting friendship; changing both their lives forever.

There are many amusing and funny incidents between Carl and Russell as well as the other side characters like the legendary bird, which was named Kelvin by Russell and Dug, the talking dog. Its a heartwarming and touching animation for all ages. Good story line.

Rating: 5 out of 5 fairy clouds. The 3D animation is so cool! Also, I'm really touched by the love story between Carl and Ellie as well as the final part of the movie which you'll see Ellie's love for Carl as she made a picture book of all the things she would do when she grows up; all the things involve being with Carl. This scene makes me cry.