2014 Mid-Year Review: Top 10 Movies

It is now July and it has been a great six months of movie-watching for me. I went to several film festivals and discovered a lot of great films in the process.

Here is my list of the Top Ten Films of the past six months. I saw 106 films but i will only restrict my selections to those movies that were released this year or late last year but only expanded this year. I will also consider those films that were released in prior years but were only exhibited at a film festival this year. I will not consider the movies i saw on DVDs unless they are 2014 releases.

#1) We Are The Best (Denmark) - This is a film about 3 girls who formed a punk band despite being told that punk was dead! A lovely film that pulsates with life and youthful exuberance! This one earned the biggest applause from me during the Scandinavian Film Festival LA in late January this year. If Denmark decides to submit this film to this year's Oscars, it has a strong chance at making the shortlist. (And a nomination, i pray.)

#2) The Fault in Our Stars (USA) - Gus and Hazel. Enough said. But, really, I have never cried myself dry as much as I did for this movie. I saw it at an early screening in April and have seen it twice after it opened in theaters in late May. The movie has all the winning elements of the genre and it features an Oscar-caliber performance by Shailene Woodley.

#3) Giuseppe Makes a Movie (USA) - This is one of the funniest and interesting films i've seen this year. This documentary is a behind-the-scenes look at the making of Giuseppe Andrews' (the title character) 30th feature as a DIY filmmaker. Armed with a $1,000 budget and a cast of homeless friends and kindly neighbors, he makes a movie for 2 days and have lots of fun in the process. I discovered this film at this year's Los Angeles Film Festival. I hope it gets picked up for distribution because it has the potential to become a sleeper hit.

#4) Ilo Ilo (Singapore) - A favorite from this year's Palm Springs International Film Festival, this heartwarming drama tells the story of the relationship between a rambunctious boy and his Filipino nanny during the Asian crisis in 1997.

#5) Transit (Philippines) - One of the best Filipino films i've seen in many years. This feature debut from Hannah Espia is a masterful examination of the effects of Israel's discriminatory law that called for the deportation of children born to non-Israeli parents to a group of Filipino migrant workers. The movie is based on the filmmaker's own experience meeting a deported child at an airport during one of her travels.

#6) Clownwise (Czech Republic) - This film is about three estranged stage comedians whose friendship was inexplicably broken three decades earlier only to be confronted by their shared past when one of them tried to stage a farewell show. This is my favorite film from the Santa Barbara International Film Festival last February.

#7) The Gambler (Lithuania) - Another favorite from the Santa Barbara Fest, this one is a gripping drama about a luckless paramedic who finds success in a scheme that plays on the survival chances of the patients they take in. This is a powerful film that mirrors the games of chances we play with our lives by the choices that we make every day. The closing scene is so haunting that it offers two plausible scenarios depending on one's own disposition when he watched this movie.

#8) Mother, I Love You (Latvia) - This is a tender portrait of adolescence as seen through a young boy's strained relationship with his mother and his tendency to solve his juvenile mistakes with equally juvenile solutions. This movie features a winning performance from the young actor whose name escapes me at the moment.

#9) X-Men: Days of Future Past (USA) - This is the best popcorn entertainment that Hollywood offered this year. Bryan Singer's reboot and reimagining of the X-Men universe is masterful. He brought old and dead characters back to life and we do not even pause for a second to ask why instead we race everyone to a thunderous applause of appreciation for the gift that the filmmaker has bestowed his audience.

#10) The Life and Mind of Mark DeFriest (US) - This documentary will leave you with a conflicted sense of the law. The story is about Mark DeFriest who was sent to prison in his early twenties for the crime of "stealing" some tools that his father willed to him. 30 years later, he is still in prison - in a maximum security prison, no less - because he was incorrectly diagnosed as mentally fit for trial during his initial incarceration. The psychiatrist who made the mistake is now revising his initial findings but everything might be too late because Mark is not set for parole until 2081. You'll have to watch this documentary to marvel at how even well-meaning laws can victimize the most innocent among us. 

Below is the list of movies 106 movies i've seen, so far, this year.

2014 Movies

January

Transit (Philippines) – 5 Stars

Ilo Ilo (Singapore) – 5 Stars

Metro Manila (UK) – 4 Stars

Tatuagem (Brazil) – 1 Star

Han Gong-ju (Korea) – 4 Stars

Broken Circle Breakdown (Belgium) – 5 Stars

Wolf of Wall Street (US) – 3 Stars

Secret Life of Walter Mitty (US) – 1 Star

American Hustle (US) – 3 Stars

Girl,Boy,Bakla,Tomboy (Philippines) – 1 Star

Full Speed (France) DVD – 3 Stars

The Mudge Boy (US) DVD – 3 Stars

Bekikang (Philippines) DVD – 1 Star

The Monuments Men (US) – 1 ½ Star

About Time (UK) DVD – 2 Stars

Les Miserables (US) DVD – 3 Stars

Mother, I Love You (Latvia) – 5 Stars

The Disciple (Finland) – 4 Stars

Call Girl (Sweden) – 5 Stars

Frost (Iceland) – 2 Stars

Conversations on Serious Topics (Lithuania) – 4 Stars

The Shooter (Norway) – 3 Stars

Two Lives (Germany/Norway) – 3 Stars

We Are The Best! (Denmark) – 5 Stars

Empire State (US) DVD – 1 Star

The Internship (US) DVD – 1 Star

February

Mount Joy (US) – 3 Stars

Sam (Switzerland) – 4 Stars

Cold Eyes (Korea) – 4 Stars

Night Has Settled (US) – 2 Stars

The Gambler (Lithuania) – 5 Stars

Barefoot (US) – 3 Stars

Clownwise (Czech Republic) – 5 Stars

Late Spring (Korea) – 2 Stars

Algunas Chicas (Argentina) – 1 Star

Short Term 12 (US) DVD – 4 Stars

Enough Said (US) DVD – 3 Stars

A Hijacking (Denmark) DVD – 5 Stars

Philomena (UK) – 5 Stars

Los Dias Del Agua (Cuba) DVD - Qualified Rating

The Imposter (UK) DVD – 5 Stars

Don Jon (US) DVD – 3 ½ Stars

Enemy (US/Canada) – 5 Stars

The Breakfast Club (US) Streaming – 4 Stars

Bona (Philippines) DVD – 5 Stars

The Lone Ranger (US) DVD – 2 Stars

The Counselor (US) DVD – 2 Stars

March

The Deadly Game (UK) DVD – 1 Star

Fire With Fire (US) DVD – 1 Star

Prisoners of the Sun (Australia) DVD – 1 Star

Starting Over Again (Philippines) – 3 Stars

Disconnect (US) DVD – 2 Stars

El Mar (Spain) DVD – 3 ½ Stars

Touch of Pink (Canada) DVD – 2 Stars

Captain America: The Winter Soldier (US) – 2 ½ Stars

When the Love is Gone (Philippines) DVD – 1 Star

The Last Year (US) DVD – 1 Star

Back Soon (US) DVD – 1 Star

Eating Out (US) DVD – 3 Stars

Kids (US) DVD – 5 Stars

Muppets: Most Wanted (US) – 3 Stars

Nymphomaniac: Volume 1 (US/Denmark) – 4 ½ Stars

April

Nymphomaniac: Volume 2 (US/Denmark) – 4 ½ Stars

August: Osage County (US) DVD – 3 Stars

Old Boy (US) DVD – 2 Stars

The Grandmaster (HK) DVD – 5 Stars

The Fault in Our Stars (US) – 5 Stars

On The Road (US) DVD – 3 Stars

Shame (US/UK) DVD – 4 Stars

Noah (US) – 2 Stars

Drug War (HK) DVD – 5 Stars

Outrage: Beyond (Japan) DVD – 4 Stars

May

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (US) DVD – 4 ½ Stars

Transcendence (US) – 2 Stars

Heaven is for Real (US) – 3 ½ Stars

The Other Woman (US) – 3 Stars

Lust, Caution (US/China) DVD – 4 ½ Stars

Vengeance (France/HK) DVD – 4 Stars

A Complicated Story (HK) DVD – 3 Stars

Cold War (HK) DVD – 4 ½ Stars

Firestorm (HK) DVD – 3 ½ Stars

Godzilla (US) – 4 Stars

Neighbors (US) – 1 Star

Mamma Mia (US) DVD – 4 ½ Stars

(500) Days of Summer (US) DVD – 5 Stars

X-Men: DoFP (US) – 5 Stars

We Need to Talk About Kevin (UK) DVD – 4 ½ Stars

June

A Touch of Sin (China) DVD – 5 Stars

Maleficent (US) – 3 Stars

Maybe This Time (Philippines) – 2 ½ Stars

A Million Ways to Die (US) – ½ Star

The Grand Budapest Hotel (US) – 4 ½ Stars

Lone Survivor (US) – 5 Stars

Edge of Tomorrow (US) – 4 Stars

The Liberator (Venezuela) – 5 Stars

The Overnighters (US) – 3 Stars

Walking Under Water (Poland) - 4 ½ Stars

The Life and Mind of Mark Defriest (US) – 5 Stars

Starred Up (Ireland) – 4 Stars

The Well (US) – 2 Stars

Giuseppe Makes a Movie (US) – 5 Stars

The Road Within (US) – 3 ½ Stars

A Thousand Times Goodnight (Norway) – 4 Stars

Deliver Us From Evil (US) – 3 Stars

In The Blood (US) - 2 ½ Stars

Bends (HK) DVD – 5 Stars

XXX
Raymond Lo

Pics from the TFIOS Premiere!

Okay, so i don't own these pictures. I gathered them from many twitter tweets and i thought it would be a lot better if we can see all the pics from tonight's NYC premiere of the "The Fault in Our Stars" - the biggest movie of the summer! Yes, i am this crazy over this movie!!!

XXX
Raymond Lo

TFIOS: My Interview with Ansel Elgort

Last Saturday, i posted here the text of my interview with Shailene Woodley. Here now is my separate roundtable interview with Ansel Elgort, who plays Augustus Waters in "The Fault in Our Stars," which was published today. The online link is here: http://www.philstar.com/entertainment/2014/06/03/1330363/fun-close-encounter-fault-star

The movie opens June 6. Can't wait!!!

MANILA, Philippines - Hollywood roundtables can be a lot of fun sometimes. Consider my roundtable interview with The Fault in Our Stars heartthrob Ansel Elgort recently. There were about six other journalists with me in the roundtable. There was someone from Russia, who coincidentally was a cancer survivor herself, one from France, another from Germany. And there was one lady from Brazil who was writing for a fashion magazine. Imagine the kind of questions the journalist from Brazil had in between questions about Ansel’s thoughts on love, friendship and death. It’s a credit to the 20-year-old actor for navigating quite impressively the jumbled questions being thrown at him.

Here’s a sample of how much fun we had during that interview in early April held at the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills.

It was towards the end of our 20-minute interview and Ansel was telling us how much he admired the actor who acted as his leg double in the film and how he influenced the way he shaped his character Gus. "He’s 17 and he has a lot of pride. He was buffed, works out a lot. He lost his leg in a hunting accident not through cancer but he still goes hunting. He still does everything he used to do and more. He’s very proud to be a prosthetic-user and I think that was very important. He was inspiring to me because I think that’s the thing! It shouldn’t be too emotional, shouldn’t be too depressing. It should be positive." The boy ended up becoming his friend and he repeated to us what the boy would usually exclaim on the set. "I am part-cyborg now!"

Cue in the Brazilian journalist.

"To change the subject," she interjected, "we admired your muscles in your naked scenes, (everyone burst into a huge welcome laughter at this) how do you keep fit?"

Ansel blushed. (You know he’s a newcomer because he pauses and blushes a lot during the interview.) "Thank you," he replied shyly. "I rock climb and I play basketball and I box," he added.

The journalist from Russia then asked if he still dances. "I don’t dance ballet anymore," he said. Earlier in the interview, Ansel shared with us how he used to dance ballet (from age nine to 15) and how through ballet he discovered girls.

So, yes, the interview covered many areas including Ansel’s parallel career as a deejay and his dreams of one day doing scores for films and writing and producing music through his DJ Ansolo brand.

Shailene Woodley, the actor’s leading lady in the movie, was right when she told us during our separate interview with her that Ansel would delight us the same way she was delighted by him.

"He’s such a light and you’ll see it when you see him," she gushed. "He’s so pure!"

At the start of our interview, I told Ansel that Shailene adores him. "Oh, that’s so nice," was his quick reply. "I don’t feel the same way," he joked before adding, "No. I like her a lot, too."

He initially couldn’t focus on our questions because his attention shifted to the movie editions of the novel that had him and Shailene on the cover. "It’s pretty crazy to have your face on the cover of a book," he exclaimed. "It’s amazing!"

The Russian journalist suggested that maybe he could sign them. He immediately agreed. I immediately took out my copy of the book and had him sign it, too. We lost about two minutes of our allotted interview time with him but it was a refreshing sight to see a Hollywood actor that’s on the verge of becoming one of the biggest stars of the year excited to sign autographs! Shailene was truly right!

"I am surprised," he managed to say after I asked him what he feels now that his fans are multiplying by the thousands every day on account of his role in a movie that is essentially just his third outing (he was in the remake of Carrie last year and was in Divergent this year). "It’s fun. It’s crazy! Yesterday, I had 35,000 more followers! Wow!"

You will be surprised what goes on in the mind of this young man when he starts considering what good he could do with the fame that might come his way. "Once I have a big fan base, I want to do really good things for the world. Think about what if, let’s say, I went to an awards show and my guest — the seat with me — was auctioned off and the money goes to charity, who knows how much money you could raise!"

Yes, he is quite a guy. No wonder many fans of the book who have fallen in love with Augustus Waters have also fallen in love with him. Gus, in the book, is a thoughtful friend who is scared of oblivion, of dying without leaving the world something to remember him by, until he meets Hazel who becomes his best friend and helps him change his perspective on life and death, of the inevitability of oblivion.

But do guys like Gus exist in real life?

"I think so," he replied.

Did he find anything in Gus that related to him?

"There’s a person in my life who I have been with for a while and it’s the same kind of thing," he revealed. "It’s a best friend kind of a relationship. That’s important. I am a little bit of an idealist. I want to do great things and leave my mark. I am only 20 now so I can understand why Gus is somewhat devastated when he realized that he’s going to die and he says, ‘I haven’t done anything.’"

"I can understand that because, if someone would tell me I would die now, I would be very upset because there’s so many things that I want to do!"

"The Fault in Our Stars" is a movie that celebrates not just love but also that kind of true friendship that transcends illnesses and even death. So I had to ask Ansel what kind of a friend is he to his best friends.

"I have only a few friends because I like quality not quantity," he said. "My best friend, I’ve been best friends with since pre-school and we do everything together. He’s kind of like my partner-in-crime, my best friend. And then I have another best friend and I have my roommate who’s a very good friend of mine."

Nat Wolff, who plays his best friend Isaac in the movie, is one of his closest friends, too.

This is the first part of the interview when you just thank the heavens you had the Brazilian journalist on the same roundtable with you.

Ansel was still in the middle of telling us who his best friends were when she asked this question:

"Do you have women friends?"

The actor blushed and very slowly answered, "Yes, I have women friends."

"And lovers?" the Brazilian journalist continued.

The roundtable erupted in nervous laughter.

"Yeah," Ansel struggled to answer. "I consider her my best friend."

"Like a lover?" the Brazilian insisted.

"Yeah, my best friend," Ansel was adamant.

"A fiancée?" the Brazilian asked some more.

"No, I don’t have a fiancée," Ansel replied.

And the Brazilian was on a roll. "You are dressed very nicely, congratulations!" she asked before segueing to her fashion-magazine questions.

It was a fun interview!

And to the girls who have a deep crush on him, this writer did not forget about you. I did ask Ansel what his ideal girl was and he was quick to answer, "I like ballet dancers a lot."

"I like someone who is very passionate about something," he added. "Intelligent is good. It helps because if you’re going to be best friends with someone it’s nice if they are intelligent because then you can talk about anything and I want someone to be very nice, and sweet and kind to everyone. But the most important thing is, they have a passion because I am obsessed with them and I spend a lot of time…"

His ideal girl doesn’t have to share his passions. "They can have their own passion. I think that’s important, too. Something interesting, too, then you talk about it and it’s not like something, you know, you spent the whole day doing."

The Fault in Our Stars opens in theaters on June 5. Watch it. Bring a box of Kleenex.

XXX

Raymond De Asis Lo

TFIOS: My Interview with Shailene Woodley

My story on TFIOS was published today and i am reprinting the text below. Here's the online link: http://www.philstar.com/entertainment/2014/06/01/1329638/fault-our-stars-greatest-love-story-10-years

Confession: I am listening to the audiobook version of the book now (Thank you, Rjay!) and I am having difficulty deciphering the numbers in my spreadsheets because i have been sobbing again on-and-off for the past couple of hours. I can't wait for June 6 to watch the movie again.

So, yes, i have seen the movie and it is my favorite movie of the year! I looove it!!!!

MANILA, Philippines - Listen up. You should clear your schedule this week. Why, you ask. Well, it’s because on June 4, a movie is set to open and this writer highly recommends that you watch it on the first day because you will spend the next days planning to watch it again!

This writer has seen the preview of Fox’s upcoming film The Fault in our Stars, back in early April and it’s been a long torturous many weeks waiting for the movie to open regularly in theaters so I can head back to the cinema and watch it again. And cry again. And, perhaps, watch it again just so I can be with two of my current favorite characters in movies (and in books).

At the exclusive screening held inside the Fox lot in Los Angeles, boxes of Kleenex were lined up by the entrance and every journalist who walked in was encouraged to get a couple of stacks because at the screening held earlier in the day people had nothing to wipe tears away from their faces.

It’s what I would advise to my readers as well. Bring lots when you watch it because it will make you cry. Good cry, I suppose. Many journalists I talked to likened it to the classic film Love Story while Entertainment Weekly declares it the greatest love story in 10 years.

The Fault in our Stars is based on the New York Times bestselling book by John Green and it tells the story of Hazel and Gus, two extraordinary teenagers who share an acerbic wit, a disdain for the conventional, and a love that sweeps them on an unforgettable journey. What makes their love story amazing is the fact that they met and fell in love, while attending a cancer support group.

Yes, the movie is about two teenagers who try to defy the threat of death by falling hopelessly and magically in love with each other. It is not about cancer, it is not about dying, it is not even about death itself — it is about love.

Shailene Woodley, Hollywood’s breakout star of the year, plays Hazel in the movie and she, too, shares the same sentiment about the book.

"I read the script before I read the book and I was just sort of blown away not necessarily by being an actor reading a script but as a human being and being profoundly moved," she said of the story. "I immediately read the book and what I love about it is, it doesn’t victimize death and it doesn’t victimize cancer and it’s not a movie about cancer or a book about cancer. It’s a movie that celebrates life."

She also thought that the messages interwoven within the story were so vital and so important to put out into the world right now. "This world where so many crazy things are happening and these simple messages that both Hazel and Gus understood at such a young age due to their circumstances: That life is fleeting and that it’s not fair and nothing is guaranteed, and so to live a life based on fear or doubt or worry is just so pointless because as Hazel says, ‘Death is inevitable and oblivion is inevitable.’ And when it happens to you it’s one thing but it’s going to happen to you no matter what age you’re at. I just thought that there were so many beautiful messages that it completely changed who I was as a person when I read the book."

Shailene further shared that death was something that was always at the back of her mind when she was a teenager but it all changed when she did The Descendants with George Clooney some years back.

"When I was in Hawaii doing The Descendants, something happened that made me like sort of switch that attitude," she revealed. "After doing Fault…, it just reaffirms it. It’s like literally there’s no way to justify why we are here in this beautiful room at the Four Seasons and why there are women in India who have acid getting thrown at them and why there’s probably someone four streets down who is beating up his wife or her husband or what. There’s no way to justify life. There’s no way to justify whether 16 year olds are dying of cancer or let alone two year olds who are dying of cancer. And so to sit in life and to worry about and to look at death that’s something to be feared makes zero sense because it’s going to happen and it’s completely out of our control — 100 percent! There’s no way human beings can control death."

This writer was completely amazed at the level of maturity coming out of someone who is only 22 years old so I had to ask her again how old she really was. I also had to ask her where all this was coming from.

"I was raised by two psychologist parents," she revealed. "At a young age, empathy and compassion were very important in my household which I think a lot of people don’t learn until they are older so I got very lucky with that."

Through her parents, she also learned to harness the power that nature could bring to a person’s well-being.

"I spend a lot of time with nature and that may sound hippie but it’s true. The second that you get out of the crazy rat race of competition and trying to survive and you really just get down into the basics and it’s just you and nature, you are able to hear your own intuition. I wake up in the morning and I make my herbs and I make my tea at the Four Seasons or wherever I am. You bring the lifestyle of who you are. Just in the same way when you pack your toiletry bag, you bring the toothpaste you like or you bring whatever you like."

The beautiful actress has been making her own herbal drinks for many years now. She has been studying Herbology (study of plants for medicinal purposes) for four years. She doesn’t take any medicines if they are not plant-based. She’s a staunch environmentalist and a fully self-aware person.

She shared that the first thing she does when she wakes up is to say thank you. "I start my morning just meditating and at the end of the night, you like get it out of your mind before you go to sleep just running through the adventures of the day."

"We are alive that’s such a blessing to celebrate and be so grateful for. I just think that I embrace life whereas before I was half-spending so much time thinking about the future that you sort of forget about what’s actually happening right in front of you and that’s all you have, the moments, that’s the only thing that’s guaranteed."

Another thing that she is most thankful for is the fact that all her success in Hollywood now did not happen overnight.

"I’ve been really lucky that nothing was overnight. I’ve been doing this for 17 years and it took me 13 years to book a feature film and it was all slow," she shared. "I started commercials, then movie-of-the-weeks, then small TV roles, then bigger TV roles, then a TV series, then Sundance — it’s all been really slow. And I think that if it happened overnight, I would have quit immediately because all of the stuff like magazines and dress-ups for red carpets — as an adult it’s easy to rationalize it and understand it now but as a kid I would have been, like, ‘This is boring, I’m done.’"

And she had an interesting way to rationalize all the non-acting part of the acting profession. "The fun part as an actor is being on the movie set. It’s like a painter who paints his painting and then has to go to the street to sell the canvas. That’s not his favorite part but it’s so important to do. That’s part of the whole process."

With a blockbuster franchise in Divergent and critically-acclaimed performances in The Descendants and last year’s The Spectacular Now, Shailene is poised to follow the career trajectory of Jennifer Lawrence. And, after June, her star will only further ascend.

But she won’t allow herself to even think of that possibility. "I feel grateful that it all happened slowly," she remarked. "You are only in control of these moments right here."

Of course, we also tried to talk about her first love, because her movie is about that after all, but she was so sweet when she answered our initial question that when she hinted that she’s not willing to talk further, we honored her request.

"What I love about this book is that it’s not about cancer. It’s about teenagers discovering themselves and coming to age and falling in love for the first time — we can all relate to those themes. I didn’t really have any first love the way Hazel and Gus had at first love, no. That’s all I am willing to comment on," she said before breaking into a sweet smile.

Ansel Elgort, her co-star in the movie, is a relative Hollywood newcomer who previously played her brother in Divergent and who now plays her lover in The Fault in our Stars.

"One of the gifts of being an actor is you get to try out different colors and put on different masks all the time. We got really lucky the fact that we did Divergent before this movie because we became close in Divergent," she said. "He’s such a light and you’ll see it when you see him. He’s so pure. Everything is so new for him in a way because he is younger."

After we ended the interview, she hurriedly went looking for her shoes (which she took off at the start) and wished that we could all "go out and enjoy the sun."

XXX

Raymond De Asis Lo

Favorite Movie: The Fault in Our Stars

Here are some priceless stills from the upcoming super blockbuster film -- and my first favorite film of the year!! -- "The Fault in our Stars".

The movie opens on June 6 in the US and June 4 in Asia. I have seen it and i am only holding back myself from putting out a full rave review because my stories and interviews from the junkets have not been published yet but otherwise you should be able to read between the lines.

XXX
Raymond De Asis Lo

Movies: April 2014 List

The Fault in our Stars

My calendar the past two months has been rather busy (which is good, $ kind of good, you know) and i have been reduced to watching movies just on DVD or Blu-ray and my singular visit to the cineplex only yielded disappointing results.

However, i saw one movie this month that will open in theaters in June and which i truly, truly adore! It's based on a book that i haven't read but already bought and gave away a few copies just because it's supposed to be one of the best books written in the past couple of years.

I am referring of course to John Green's "The Fault in our Stars", which will open in cinemas June 6 - and, which i think, will be one of the sleeper hits of the summer!). I went to the junket and interviewed the leads and the author. My stories will see print very soon and will definitely share with you when it hits online.

Meanwhile, here are the ten movies i saw this month.  

Nymphomaniac: Volume 2 (US/Denmark) 4 and 1/2 Stars

August: Osage County (US) DVD 3 Stars

Old Boy (US) DVD 2 Stars

The Grandmaster (HK) DVD 4 1/2 Stars

The Fault In Our Stars (US) 5 Stars!!!!

On The Road (US) DVD 3 and 1/2 Stars

Shame (US/UK) DVD 4 Stars

Noah (US) 2 Stars

Drug War (HK) DVD 5 Stars

Outrage:Beyond (Japan) DVD 4 Stars

This month, i also discovered the movies of HK's Johnnie To. I loved his current film "Drug War" and i saw a couple more in May which i will share when i post my May summary.

But my favorite of the month is easily "The Fault in our Stars". I will print my review after my main stories have come out but the 5 stars i gave it indicates how much i looooooved it!

XXX

Raymond De Asis Lo

#TFIOS

The Fault in our Stars

...Or what we all know as "The Fault in our Stars". The trailer went online today and i have seen it over twenty times already!!!

I just adore this movie (or book!) so i filched below details and info from the YouTube account of Fox.

THE MOVIE OPENS IN JUNE!

Synopsis:

Hazel (Shailene Woodley) and Gus (Ansel Elgort) are two extraordinary teenagers who share an acerbic wit, a disdain for the conventional, and a love that sweeps them -- and us -- on an unforgettable journey. Their relationship is all the more miraculous, given that they met and fell in love at a cancer support group. THE FAULT IN OUR STARS, based upon the number-one bestselling novel by John Green, explores the funny, thrilling and tragic business of being alive and in love.

The Fault In Our Stars | Official Trailer | 20th Century FOX http://www.youtube.com/user/FoxMovies