Tesis

Year : 1996
Runtime : 118 Min.
Genre : Horror, Thriller, Mystery
Director : Alejandro Amenábar
Movie Stars : Fele Martínez,Eduardo Noriega,Ana Torrent
Country: Spain
Language : Spanish

Wiki: Ángela (Torrent) is a film student at the Madrid's University Complutense. Searching for research material for her thesis (hence the film's title) on audio-visual violence, she attains the friendship of Chema (Martínez), a fellow student and introvert with an encyclopedic collection of violent and pornographic films.
After her professor dies while watching a film she steals the videotape, discovering that it is a snuff film featuring a girl whom Chema recognizes as a former student at the university - and a former associate of current student Bosco (Noriega). Investigating the origins of the tape, they are drawn into the operations of a chilling snuff ring.

I did not known whether I wanted to watch this movie or not because of the year it was made. I usually do not like to watch films made around the year I was born. I don't know why maybe it is because of the differences in hair and clothing styles that puts me off. Anyway, I decided to give this movie a chance because of the trailers. I loved it! It kind of reminded me of a Lifetime mystery movie but ten times better.  I loved the plot. It definitely kept me guessing as to who the killer(s) were. I would love to use a time machine and transport myself to 95 Spain to see what the Spanish thought of this film because I don't believe there were many like it back then.

A few points: The film was made with a low budget and was shot in 5 weeks! WOW. Many films with high budgets and long filming times are not as good as this. Eduardo Noriega (played Bosco Herranz) also stars in The Devil's Backbone. I knew I saw that face somewhere! Fele Martínez (played Chema) looks just like Johnny Depp in this film. I barely recognized him from his later film Bad Education.
Rating: 5/5

Sex Drive

Year : 2008
Runtime : 110 Min.
Genre : Comedy, Romance
Director : Sean Anders
Movie Stars : Josh Zuckerman, Clark Duke, Amanda Crew, James Marsden, Seth Green
Country: USA
Language : English

A high school loser fakes an online profile to met up with a hot chick over 100 miles away in Kentucky to have sex with her and finally lose his virginity. Armed with his two friends, his brother's stolen car, and Google maps the three friends travel cross country and meet some unusually circumstances and people along the way.

A few of my friends were raving about this film awhile ago so I finally decided that I needed to lay off the thrillers. I remembered seeing the previews back in 2008 but the movie looked like your average meaningless sex comedy so I was a little reluctant to watch. I'm definitely glad I gave this a chance.  This film was freaking hilarious in every way possible. If you liked Harold and Kumar, road trip/teen sex films, and The Hangover than this movie is a must watch for you.  
Rating: 5/5

Watch Online: StageVU
Quality: Medium- Good (blurry bit at bottom)
Subtitles: None

The Host (Gwoemul)

Year : 2006
Runtime : 119 Min.
Genre : Comedy, Drama, Horror, Monster-Movie
Director : Bong Joon-ho
Movie Stars :  Song Kang-ho, Byeon Hee-bong, Park Hae-il
Bae Doona, Ko Ah-seong
Country: South Korea
Language : Korean
Watch Online: PutLocker
Quality: Medium- Good
Subtitles: English

Wow, what an extraordinary tale of an family bonded together after a terrible instant that changed their lives forever. This films blends elements of horror, human nature, comedy, and family drama together so well that it's hard to believe it's all from the same movie. This is by far the best monster movie to date. Koreans sure know how to take something as cheesy as mega monster film and turn it into a mega hit.

The story begins in 2000 when an American and Korean assistant dump dangerous chemicals down the drain and into the Han river creating a enormous creature that looks like a huge fish with legs and extra mouths. There is a bit of anti Americanism in South Korea, being that the Americans created this mega problem (side- note: the main American scientist is crossed eye and looks like a retard).

Events take a turn for the worst (well, more worse) when the giant monster takes Nam-Joo and the whole town is quarantined. The girls family believes she is dead till Gang-Du, the father, receives a call from Nam-Joo. Unable to convince the police and military that Nam is still alive the family take it into their own hands and escape quarantine and begin their search for Nam-Joo. Though the journey there is tragedy, comedy, and hope.

I give a hand to Nam- Joo's character. She was able to survive many days without food and decent amounts of water and never lose hope. Aside from putting her life in danger to save a little boy that she had no relation with till this tragic event. All in all, I appreciate Nam's strong character though-out the whole film.

The ending is quite different from the rest of the film. A lot of people did not like it because it was so slow and uninteresting unlike the rest of the film. I disagree. I think it was a nice quit wrap up to an action-packed tale.

Plot
A young girl is taken by a human-made monster and forced to survive as her family searches for her in quarantined South Korea. 

Jeux d' Enfants

Cap ou pas cap? (Are you game?)

The Ending
I had a hard time with the ending and the first part of the movie where the cement is showed and Julian as a young boy is talking. Yes he does say "you must never play, even if your best friend wants you to. That’s burying yourself in a block of cement" but it's his voice as a child and at the end of the movie he says "Sophie is my best friend" as a child again. I think that was put in too say that he was willing to do anything for her- to show his commitment to the game (love) . When the cement with Julian/Sophie is showed Julian says "and that's how we won the game, together. Deep in concrete we finally shared our childhood dream, the dream of endless love". Maybe the elderly people are the “endless” love. They have died but their souls are together in love. That could explain the display of scenes in the movie like when their kissing as kids, teens, adults, and elderly people. The story of Julian and Sophie ends in a grand finale in which love and death appear to be unified, its a anothor test of love and of the game. Their goal is to be together forever and have happiness without end.

Why Did They Kill Themselves?
They were still in love and always would be in love with each other. They had tormented each other throughout their young, teen and adult lives. To be sure that they would never be without each other they had to kill themselves. I do believe so in a way. As you watch the movie you see that the harder one plays the harder it is to communicate one's emotions.


Understanding The Characters
Yann Samuell took a risk in making this film as it would have been very easy, had he made the slightest mistake, for the audience to get increasingly frustrated with the characters whom we can tell from the beginning are paving a road for themselves to self destruction. This, however, is not the case. Guillaume Canet and Marion Cotillard are so endearing in their portrayals of Julian and Sophie that we find ourselves quickly taken in by their games. They are so fragile as characters that we are not able to reprimand them for their actions, as the rest of the world around them does, but only want to shield them from the world. For it does not take very long to realize that the dares they set themselves do not stem from impertinence (which is what you first think) but because, as young children, this complicity was the only way they could isolate themselves from the things that were happening (Julian's mother dying and Sophie's poverty) and express their feelings for each other. As they get older, their reluctance to cease these games is due to their fear that if they do stop they will lose the naivety and the principle that their relationship was first based on and in doing so will also lose each other. No matter how much they hurt themselves through these childish games, they continue to accept each other's dares which, above all, are a sign of commitment to each other.

Review
This movie is brilliant, breathtaking, and amazing. You really have to watch it more than once. The fist time to see what happens and the second to appreciate the wonder of this film and understand the characters. Third and etc. you watch the film because you like it.
Rating

Watch Online {Click}
Susbtitles: English
Video Quality: Medium- Good
Source: Google Video