Guess the Footballer: Hard

Finally, here are eight from The Times, plus an extra (rather awfully drawn, far too on the nose) one that I did.

The answers to yesterday's medium level puzzlers are at the end of this blog.

Enjoy!

1. 

Guess the Footballer: Medium

Continuing with the game I showed yesterday, here are the pictionaries which are a tad trickier! At the end, I'll provide the answers to the ones from yesterday!

1.

Guess the Footballer: Easy

So, England are out of the World Cup, getting beaten by a Croatia side who simply had more guile and experience than them.

As predicted, I am ambivalent about this loss, largely because my main draw for supporting England spent the majority of the tournament warming the bench (at least Gaz had Phil Jones to keep him company).

Also, I despise Jamie Vardy and will never quite forgive the British press (especially a certain football journalist who I used to be on quite good terms with #cryptic) for affording Vardy a free pass for racially abusing a Japanese man.

These same football journalists wrote mini-tomes about racism when Suarez and Terry did it. And to me, an east Asian, the silence from the hacks after Vardy’s choice word selection is a pretty clear sign that the British media don’t think racism against east Asians is problematic.

By not acting, the British press was complicit in the racism that I have suffered and continue to suffer.

That being said, there was a certain spark in the England side of the 2018 World Cup that was a joy to watch at times, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t get swept up in the momentous occasion of us winning our first penalty shoot-out in an international tournament since 1996. There's also something to be said for seeing the country unify over a common cause, especially when the weather was so gorgeous too.

In the final, I’ll be supporting France, a decision that I'm not ashamed to admit that is largely driven by aesthetic reasons.

OOTD: I knew you were trouble when you walked in

What I wore to dine at one of my favourite Japanese restaurants for the umpteenth time!

Angelica T-shirt: New Look (a store I'm clearly a fan of!)
Earrings: Won in a competition

U-rated films with the longest (or most eye-catching) BBFC short insights

Unlike the MPAA rating ‘G’ which is almost becoming obsolete these days (even My Little Pony: The Movie got a PG in America) the BBFC does not require a film to be squeaky clean in order to get a U-rating (ditto Ireland and their equivalent to the U, G).

The guidelines at U allow for more in the way of comic violence, threat, very elementary sexual innuendo (eg flirting) and mature themes than the Americans. (Case in point: Inside Out, Finding Dory and Love and Friendship were all U/G here and in Ireland, yet received a PG in America.)

When I was wondering around WHSmith and Tesco, I noticed a few DVDs which really testify to this fact, from the sheer length of their short insights (in case you hadn’t realised, turning over DVD cases and reading the back is one of my favourite pastimes *James Franco in The Disaster Artist-style awkward laugh*).

The Angry Birds Movie, which was cut to get a U-rating (read about why here), is the longest with four issues at U:

My Seven Favourite Songs from Disney Musicals

I’ve restricted the options to just songs from Disney musicals, as opposed to songs that appeared in Disney non-musicals, such as ‘When She Loved Me’ from Toy Story 2, otherwise it would have made a hard task even harder (I love ‘Le Festin’ from Ratatouille)!

07. Hellfire – The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)

A left-field shout, given the crux of this song is about the sexual frustration a pious priest feels towards the beguiling gypsy Esmeralda. But I had to nominate Hellfire because it’s memorable, taboo, and tonally, so recherché (what other Disney film features the line ‘he made the Devil so much stronger than the man’?)

Essentially, the message of Hellfire is ‘if I can’t have her, no-one can’. It’s every possessive ex-boyfriend, immortalised in a Disney song, and fits in neatly with the plot, as dastard Claude Frollo’s unsatisfied urges are his motivation for a Domino effect that leads to Paris burning. The religious imagery employed in Hellfire only go to compound Frollo’s sense of sinful lust for a woman he both despises, yet will do anything to possess.

I like songs which shine a torch onto the hypocrisy of religion, and Hellfire offers an insight to this holier-than-thou priest’s mindset. Turns out, his thoughts aren’t so holy, and the choir-like vocals accompanying Frollo’s disturbing soliloquy underscores this irony nicely.

(On a slight film ratings tangent, the likes of fluffy Frozen and Tangled getting rated PG when The Hunchback of Notre Dame, by far one of their darkest films, was only a U, is mighty misleading. It ought to be at least a 12 for the creepy overtones in this song alone).

06. Prince Ali – Aladdin (1992)

A Silent Microaggression.

You know, for a newspaper who loves to lecture their readership about racial stereotyping (in a case of timing you couldn't make up, just four days ago they ran this hectoring piece about Asian stereotypes), you'd think they'd bother to learn the difference between Japanese films:

The caption pertains to A Silent Voice. Yet the image is a still from Your Name. I guess all Japanese animes look the same to Guardian sub-editors.

Perhaps of Guardian writers focused on say, actually doing the research they're paid to do, rather than preaching piously or shagging about, they wouldn't have made such a mistake. Just suggesting.

This isn't the first time they've confused two compatriots, with embarrassing circumstances. In their tribute to the passed away Cruyff, they published a photo of Rob Rensenbrink:

No wonder The Guardian are begging for money now. #FakeNews

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Bonus graphic, from The Evening Standard, which perfectly encapsulates my confusion on how Isabelle Huppert's icy tour-de-force in Elle lost to Yellowface Felicia dancing like she had two left feet:

My BBFC game (level 3)

Short insights with the word 'threat' in them.

I have no life.

Your Misname.

Another one of these 'times the Irish rated a film lower than the BBFC did' posts (on average when the two awards bodies disagree, the IFCO tend to rate higher).

Your Name, which has a cracking trailer and almost universal acclaim from everyone who's seen it, is bizarrely getting a very limited release in the UK. I have my ticket to see it on the 24th November, but had to settle for a slightly out-of-my-way Odeon venue, as all the central London ones were all booked up. Hopefully it will be worth it tho; I bloody love me some Anime.

Needless to say, I read the BBFC long insight as preparation for the film. That's a bit of a gamble as the long insights are laden with spoilers, but there you go. It's rated 12A over here for 'moderate language, sex references', in a classic case of a BBFC misnomer. 

The plot revolves around a small town girl living in a lonely world and a city boy exchanging bodies, Freaky Friday-style. From the report, it sounds like the main reason the film's a 12A is because the boy, in discovering he's in the body of a woman, touches his boobs.

Bit harsh to rate a film a 12A for that, given that would be a pretty natural response! I also don't think lingering on a girls' chest counts as a 'moderate sex reference', either, so major inaccuracy in its short insight, there. 

Glad to see that the Irish saw sense, and gave the film the PG it (sounds like it) deserves. Note how they also accurately classed the focus on a girls' chest as 'suggestive scenes'. That is pretty much all it is, not a sex reference. No need to make it sound seedier than it is.

Why are the BBFC so affronted by a bit of cleavage???

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I'm somewhat of a BBFC obsessive. All my other BBFC pieces are listed here.

OOTD: going to pick up A-level results with my brother

It was A-level results today, and my brother did OK. ("OK" is an understatement: he got into his first choice Uni and was singled out on two websites for his exceptional performance. But I've raved about him on several social media outlets already, so to avoid getting repetitive because I never repeat myself. Cara Delevingne was shit in Suicide Squad, by the way, I'll just display my grungy outfit!

Glasses: Red or Dead

Homer Simpson T-shirt: H&M

Cardigan: H&M

Here he is breaking the good news to mum. Why so serious mate?

Sorry, I know I just said I wasn't gonna repeat myself but... TOM ABSOLUTELY KNOCKED IT OUT OF THE PARK, YOOOOOOOO. #LIKEABOSS Could not be more proud to call myself his sister. Boy is clever, compassionate, kind, and doesn't take himself too seriously. All things I'm not.

He's gonna go far. 💯

Film review: WHEN MARNIE WAS THERE (Hiromasa Yonebayashi, 2014)

Remember when I complained about how due to the restricted choice of films screened at Cineworld cinemas, despite watching 42 films on the Unlimited card last year, I saw a meagre 2 foreign films? Well, I’ve already seen half that number of foreign movies on my Odeon Limitless card, at Panton Street Odeon, where I saw When Marnie Was There.

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Ever since she was young, 12-year-old Anna Sasaki has been an outsider. She doesn’t fit in with the children in her year at school, feels disconnected from her foster parents and her social awkwardness is compounded by a deleterious breathing problem, which rears its head when she feels upset or stressed.

Deciding the key to Anna’s breathing attacks, and hence, her timidity, is clean air, her foster mother Yoriko (whom Anna refers to as ‘Auntie’) sends her to spend the summer with Yoriko’s relatives, in a coastal town. A few days after arrival, Anna spots a blonde girl in the window of a seemingly deserted mansion across the shore. The enigmatic girl introduces herself as Marnie, and a bond is immediately formed between the two girls.

Based on British author Joan G. Robinson’s novel of the same title, writers Masashi Andō, Keiko Niwa and Hiromasa Yonebayashi altered the location in the original story from Norfolk to the Japanese town Hokkaido. Graciously, nothing has been lost in translation. The story is simple, but told cleanly and elegantly, and the themes of bereavement and isolation, tackled with immense sensitivity.

As she embarks on her personal journey, audience members will recognise elements of themselves in the protagonist Anna, who is crippled with self-doubt, feeling she had never been loved due to her parents and grandparents having died when she was a baby. But behind those fragile Anime eyes, still waters run deep. She’s surprisingly intense for her age. The question of whether or not Marnie truly exists, or is just a figment of Anna’s imagination is soon broached. But you get so lost in the budding friendship between the two girls that it is only of secondary importance.

From the outside, Marnie seems to have an enviable life, living in a huge house with extravagant parties thrown by her parents. But inwardly, the two girls are just as alone and unhappy as each other. It is because of this similarity that Anna lets down her walls around Marnie, and we come to learn why it is that she feels so badly about herself. It is sad that a 12-year-old could feel so bad about themselves, but this just makes her blossoming friendship with Marnie ever the more rewarding. Throughout When Marnie Was There, the two characters embrace quite a few times, and it is refreshing that a film can capture the innocence behind such a sweet act.

As with all Studio Ghibli films, the film is exquisitely rendered. One shot, which taps into audience’s doubt of whether Marnie is real or of Anna is Fight Clubing us, is cleverly done without being so over-stylistic as to detract from the story. Unlike recent Disney and Pixar movies, which, for better or for worse, always feature a message, When Marnie Was There concerns itself with straightforward, unpretentious storytelling. The film is entirely about Anna, Marnie and their connection, and if anything about their relationship spoke to me, it was in an organic way, rather than feeling corny or heavy-handed. And finally, although it is by all intents and purposes a harmless U-rated film, it is not just the title that evokes memories of Hitchcock: there is a distinctly suspenseful undertone running throughout.

When Marnie Was There doesn’t reach the imaginative, pulse-racing highs of Spirited Away or the heart-shattering pathos of Grave of the Fireflies, but it is a delightful experience all the same, one which doesn't allow itself to get bogged down in the sadness to celebrate some of the richnesses of life: friendship, family and the power of memories. The hand-drawn animation is beautiful; I lost count of the number of beautiful visuals in it. At the film’s big reveal, I sobbed with abandon. Crying can be cathartic sometimes!

When Marnie Was There is said to be Studio Ghibli’s final film, although whether this is true proves to be seen. I sincerely hope that’s not the case: no-one tells delivers moving story like Studio Ghibli.

8/10

A Look Ahead to Best Original Song, 2010.

Hiya, I thought it’s high time I got my finger out and actually did some proper film blogging, haha. And what better way than to analyse each of the Oscar nominated categories? So, whilst I brush up on watching the remaining 2010 Oscar nominated movies that I need to watch, I thought I’d analyse the one category wherein I don’t need to watch the movies to analyse the category: best song. Of course, the whole aim of a song is that it’s supposed to epitomize the film, and in that case, having seen the film might improve my appreciation of the song, so in that case, 127 Hours and Toy Story 3 might be at a (dis)advantage. But I’mma try to analyse these songs from a purely aural point of view, ignoring context.

Oh yeah, and if you're wondering what the frick this is, it's basically me pretentiously rambling on about the things I love, the things I hate and everything in between in all the Oscar nominated categories (or just the ones I can be arsed with). Past examples: costume 2007 / score 2006 / supporting actress 2007 etc etc

The nominees are:
127 Hours: A.R. Rahman, Rollo Armstrong, Dido- "If I Rise"
Country Strong: Tom Douglas, Hillary Lindsey, Troy Verges - "Coming Home"
Tangled: Alan Menken, Glenn Slater- "I See the Light"
Toy Story 3: Randy Newman - "We Belong Together"

My rankings and grades:
01. Coming Home/Country Strong

A country music ballad as good as they used to make ‘em, Gwyneth Paltrow’s surprisingly mellifluous voice (check her out in her performance in Glee, covering “Forget You”, he sass and swagger gave me a newfound appreciation of the song and cemented its place as my favourite song of 2010) sings about finding love and one’s place in the world. Standard topics, then, but her belting out “H-oooome” in the chorus is so powerful that it almost evokes the nostalgia-type emotions that I get in listening to my personal favourite song about homecomings, Kanye West’s Homecoming. A.

02. We Belong Together / Toy Story 3
“When we're together/Gray skies are clearer./And I'll share them, till where I'm less depressed./And it's sincerely, from the bottom of my heart/I just can't take it when we're apart” go the sweet but very Disneyfied lyrics of Randy Newman’s Oscar nominated Toy Story 3 entry. Whilst not quite touching the heart quite as much as “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” did, it’s still an adorable song which can bung a smile or two on my face with its unapologetically uplifting lyrics. B+

03. I See the Light/Tangled

A very pretty song, but emotionally, it doesn’t really do anything for me. It starts with the female lead singing a verse, then the male lead singing a verse, then, surprise surprise, the two of them fusing into a harmony. Musically, it’s hardly revolutionary, and, as with Randy Newman’s Toy Story 3 song, the lyrics are so massively Disney that it borders on tedious. The guitars, strings and piano chords are all very nice though. C.

04. If I Rise/127 Hours
Urgh. I’ll be analyzing Best Original Score tomorrow, wherein I’m not gonna bother hiding my disdain for 127 Hours bagging a nomination for its joke of a score. But yet another travesty is that it stained the Best Song category, when there really were many other more deserving songs that should have been nominated. Dido, on seeing how successful M.I.A. got with her super-swaggerous “O Saya” in Slumdog Millionaire, teams up with A.R. Rahman to wail away on this crappy song. I quite like Rollo’s vocals in the chorus, but Dido’s caterwauling and the bland lyrics are just disgraceful. E.

Who should win: Coming Home
Who will win: I legit have no idea! Um, If I Rise from 127 Hours?

Who should have been nominated: “Sticks and Stones” from How to Train Your Dragon, and that ain’t even a fucking question!!!!! Such a good song that it’s already been employed in a bunch of “2010: a retrospect” type montages, it sums up the film perfectly; highs, lows, and loving life. Terrifically fast-paced and with more life than an energiser bunny, this really is an adorably sweet song. I was also a fan of “Never Say Never” from The Karate Kid, though that is hugely due to Jaden Smith’s “no pun intended, raised by the power of Will” line. Lawlzswagger.

But yeah, “Sticks and Stones” from How to Train your Dragon is literally sublime. And that's an Emmabung kind of literally, not a Redknapp kind of literally. ;) Me and my bro spent all Christmas dancing around our house to it like the nerds we are. You’ll hear it on lots more awards shows and montages, mark my words, so you best download it here now so when your mates say “I wonder what song that is, it’s nice”, you can wow them with your trivia. ;)

Strong inside but you don’t know it, good little girls they never show it.

Disney princesses – or leading ladies of Disney films in general – all have, without failure, the gift of radiant beauty. From Snow White’s skin so white and lips so red that the Queen feels the need to do her off, Cinderella’s neat blonde hairdo and svelte figure to Ariel’s eye-catching red hair and seashell bra that leaves nothing to the imagination, Disney females have are all without fail, beautiful, no matter what their hair or eye colour, face shape or character. However, in the three that I’ve mentioned are also noticeable character flaws, or even lack of character whatsoever. Snow White is guileless and child-like to a point where she accepts food from strangers The counter argument that she is just a child seems empty if we consider that at the end of the film she goes off with a man much older than her, so either Disney accepts she’s dumb, or they accept they’re basically administering paedophilia to young kids. Either way, they’ve gone wrong somewhere. Cinderella is the epitome of the beleaguered lady who is mistreated by all those around her, but thankfully, she’s pretty, so she catches the eye of the Prince. And being absent minded and losing a shoe? Well, she’s pretty, and she seems to have a remarkable sized food that no-one else in the kingdom has, so that’ll work to her advantage too. As for Ariel, she sacrifices her one gift – her voice, abandons her family and her roots to pursue the man she’s had her eye on. These three women don’t really say much for feminism, truth be told.

Luckily, it isn’t all that way. There are a few Disney females who I was genuinely inspired by, and rooting for throughout, rather than gnashing my teeth at. Here they are:-

Jasmine (Aladdin, 1992)

Being the sultan’s daughter should, in theory, be the sweet life. But not for Jasmine, who feels repressed and cloistered. Whereas previous Disney films had centred around the princess, Jasmine is but a secondary character to Aladdin. But that doesn’t make her inferior in terms of strength of personality, not at all. Standing up to her father and refusing to marry someone she doesn’t love is one thing, but her lack of interest in class or marrying for money is completely inspirational, particularly in this sad day and age, where women will happily plump for a footballer husband who cheats on them as long as they get fancy things. My only lament about Jasmine is that we don’t find out enough about her, and her backstory. For example, she doesn’t seem to have any female friends in the film, and one can’t help but wonder why.

Megara (Hercules, 1997)

From one loner to another. Megara has actually done the whole “giving up her life for a man” thing, quite literally in fact, when she sold her soul to Hades in order to settle a debt her then boyfriend had with him. Sadly for her, he left her as soon as a hotter model came along, leading her tied to the devil, and feeling jaded and disillusioned with men. Meg is by all intents and purposes more of a “woman of the world” compared to other Disney females, but by being older and wiser, she makes for a more relatable and watchable characters.

Armed with a whole arsenal of sarcastic put-downs, it’s no wonder that Hercules becomes so fascinated with her (interestingly, it is he who is the more “feminine” of the two in his innocent ways). And, for all the obvious beauties of Aurora and Cinderella, Meg’s feistiness and sassiness gives her a kind of swagger that makes her, for me, the sexiest Disney character.

Mulan (Mulan, 1998)

Although depicted to be clumsy dolt and constantly speaking without thinking at the start, there’s no denying she has a fierce fire inside her. This fire is unleashed when the Emperor calls for a man from every family to fight for their country. There are no other men in Mulan’s family apart from her dad (she hasn’t a brother), but her father is ill and frail. Despite her protestations, he insists that “it’s my place. It’s time you learnt yours.” Any inferior Disney princess would accept that as a queue to munch into another apple or lie in a bed and sleep until their prince comes, but not for Mulan. Shedding her lustrous locks and donning the less-than-flattering soldier’s uniform, she disguises herself as Ping, her father’s “Son”. At the start she is less-than-convincing, though her ineptitude as a soldier is partially disguised by the blunderings of all those around her. But as time goes by, she cements her place as one of the best and most loyal fighters and catches the eye of the General leading them. Resourceful, brave, and with a never-say-die spirit that many Disney princes could do with, Mulan is a film that makes me proud to be Chinese, and Mulan a character that makes me proud to be a woman.

Tiana (The Princess and the Frog, 2009)

Tiana isn’t actually a princess, only mistaken for one (she is in fact a poor girl working as many jobs as she can, determined to reach her dream of owning a restaurant). And she and Prince Naveen don’t even get off to a good start. Both characters have their flaws; Naveen is a hedonistic, selfish brat and Tiana is the opposite, so hard-working she barely pauses for breath, and in doing so occasionally comes off as judgemental, and has no time for any of that namby pamby “romance” stuff. However, she is also inventive and clever, and it is mainly thanks to her wits that she and Naveen manage to survive so long, never mind at all, as frogs. Both characters grow up and change through the course of the film, and it is this mutual understanding and friendship which builds between them that makes their romance so moving, as opposed to carbon copy “HE SAW HER AND WAS SPELLBINDED BY HER BEAUTY” of the 50s and 60s Disney films.

So that’s me. Who are your favourite Disney gals?

x

The Princess and the Frog, Live Action 3D version.

Look who was on The Simpsons!

The Simpsons, Season 20, Episode 13: Gone Maggie Gone.

The Solar Eclipse hits the world, and, as Kent Brockman declares, "A solar eclipse is like a woman breast-feeding in a restaurant - it's free, it's beautiful, but in no circumstances should you look at it." Springfrield residents are recommended to look at it through a Camera Obscura, but Homer being Homer, breaks his before they can get started and Marge being Marge, donates her to him to keep him happy. Unfortunately, she decides straight away that she wants to look at the Solar Eclipse, and in erroneously looking straight at it, goes blind. Without her sight, Homer is assigned all the housely chores, all of which he neglects, leading to their home to be infested by rats. On his way back from buying poison, Homer crashes their car and in rowing back across the water, he abandons Maggie, who gets taken in by the local nunnery, who refuse to give her back to her incompetent father. It's up to Lisa to get her little sister back by infiltrating the nunnery and solving a stage of convoluted clues to unearth a Da Vinci Code-style secret.



I deeply enjoyed this episode of The Simpsons. Although there were no real belly-laughs, you could tell quite a bit of thought had gone into the The Da Vinci Code parodying. There were nods to other films too - Ratatouille and The Seven Year Itch, namely, as well as witty one liners - "if you're happy and you know it that's a sin." The funniest part was easily when an Ed Begley solar powered car stopped right in front of a solar powered train... which also stopped. Heehee.

The Simpsons is not as good as it used to be.

Me stating the above statement would be like saying "a fish only survives in water" and "I like saying the word bung", ie, a total statement of the obvious, but it had never struck me just how much The Simpsons deteriorated until I watched an episode from Season 20, "Wedding for Disaster", today. Bearing in mind that I hadn't seen an episode of The Simpsons since late 2008, and the ones I had seen then had all been the good ol' reliable season 7-9 episode repeats on C4, I was shocked by what I saw.

Firstly, the opening sequence has been tweaked, and not for the better. Matt Groening has bunged a bit more danger and mischief about, but I felt it went overboard. There was a time when The Simpsons was this lovely little PG, occasionally 12-rated animated comedy that I could watch with my brother Tom, but now it's trying to make itself as a more family-friendly South Park, which surely is a contradiction in terms. The opening credits scared me.

The actual episode itself wasn't that bad, though the premise was awfully thin. As with all The Simpsons episodes, it begins with something and then the plot modulates to relate to The Simpsons family. Here, it started with Reverend Lovejoy's announcement of the visit of a Parish member. Said member brings bad news for the Reverend, which is that, since his failed attempt to pay for his recertification with a credit card that was maxed out on poker debts, his holy behaviour for the past three months are worthless. One of these activities was to remarry Homer and Marge (we get a cheeky 30-second flashback via a photo album of a scene that I've seen many times), et voila, the constantly-strapped-for-money suddenly find the time and funds to have a third wedding.

In planning her "best" wedding, this time round, Marge gets a little excessive (think Monica in Friends when she was planning wedding), and inadvertently shuns her spouse. When the wedding day actually arrives, Homer is nowhere to be found, and Marge blames herself, thinking it was her hyper-organized, overbearing bossiness that scared him off. In fact, Homer Simpson has been kidnapped. The ever-wise Lisa Simpson cottons onto this, and, finding a key with the initials "SB" attached to it, she and her brother Bart (not irrationally) go on a witch-hunt for Sideshow Bob, believing him to be the proprietor. But, in fact, it turns out to be a pair of people that have kidnapped their dad, two people who are a lot more closer to home..



There are amusing moments in this episode, but the parts that evoked no larfs from me at all were when Homer was locked in a Saw-esque dungeon, and was forced to eat a chili-sauce flavoured lollipop to get through to the key inside it. Such a level of cruelty was a bit severe for a The Simpsons episode, and the people who did it, though it has often been common knowledge that they weren't keen on the big ol' boy, seemed somewhat uncharacteristic. Overall, episode 2015 of The Simpsons left me a little confuzzled and pining for the good, more innocent days.

The Cutest Films.

01. My Neighbour Totoro
An initial flop in Japan, people slowly came round to loving My Neighbour Totoro. It tells the story of two sisters, Satsuki and Mei, 11 and 5 respectively, who move to the countryside for the health of their sick mother. Their house is near a forest, and soon they’re encountering mysterious and intriguing woodland creatures. These woodland creatures are utterly adorable and so, well… cute. And even though the film is very innocent, devoid of any evil characters, Miyazaki isn’t afraid to take a walk on the dark side too, meaning that this never veers into saccharine-Disney mode. And honestly, Totoro, Neko Bus Chu Totoro and Chibi Totoro are just so. darn. cute.








02. The Road Home
If you want to see how likeable Zhang Ziyi was before she became a full-blown diva, check out this film, in which she plays (in flashbacks) a girl who waits patiently for her love by the road. My heart literally broke and I was bawling my eyes out when, in once scene, the food she was carrying for him (I think it was dumplings) rolled down a hill, and the wife too, cries. Along with Not One Less, The Road Home also captures the impoverished, hardness of Chinese life, yet does so with a nostalgic fondness. Beautiful.

03. Monster’s inc
Mainly for Boo, the type of character that I usually find annoying in a film, but in Monster’s Inc, she completely won my heart. And the final look on Sulley’s face when he opened the door… ♥

04. The Spirit of the Beehive
05. Ponette


06. Wall-E
Sorry, I know I've said this about a thousand times, but - Eve was just so cute! Her giggle! And also, the whole holding hands thing. And the umbrella thing. And the scene where Wall-E and Eve were flying through space. They all left me feeling lighter than air.


07. The Hudsucker Proxy
Timmy Robbins swinging the hula-hoop... lols.

08. The Cave of the Yellow Dog
09. The Apartment
10. Jerry Maguire

Funniest movie of the Summer?

♥

52. Hercules (Ron Clements & John Musker, 1997).