Dead Poets Society (1989)

 "O Captain, My Captain!"

Between January and February, I've been busy searching Oscar nominated movies. After that, it's been a dry land. Of course, I've been so caught up with routinity and there's not much time. Fortunately I found several worth-to-watch movies. Some new movies can't compete the legendary classic movies, like Dead Poets Society. You can always rely on classic, if you are bored with anything up to date. Again, it feels like a found a treasure, because not only it's a movie back from 1989, but this movie also have an outstanding message for life. I could see this movie being one of the best ones I've seen.

Painfully shy Todd Anderson has been sent to the school where his popular older brother was valedictorian. His room-mate, Neil, although exceedingly bright and popular, is very much under the thumb of his overbearing father. The two, along with their other friends, meet Professor Keating, their new English teacher, who tells them of the Dead Poets Society, and encourages them to go against the status quo. Each, in their own way, does this, and are changed for life. (imdb.com)

The King's Speech (2010)

Like any other movies that has been nominated in prestigious awards, this movie has been on my watch-list. Fortunately, I don't have the opportunity to read other reviews about The King's Speech. I've discovered that reading other review might give you high expectation but still it's you to decide what's good and what is not. But still, you can sense whether the movie have depth or not from the director, the cast, the movie title and the poster.

The story : Biopic about England's King George VI (father of present day Queen Elizabeth II) and his lifelong struggle to overcome his speech impediment. Suffering from a stammer from the age of 4 or 5, the young Prince Albert dreaded any public speaking engagement and history records that his speech at the closing of the 1925 Commonwealth exhibition in London was difficult for both him and everyone listening that day. He tried many different therapies over many years but it was only when he met Lionel Logue, a speech therapist, that he truly began to make progress. Logue did not have a medical degree but had worked as an elocution coach in the theater and had worked with shell-shocked soldiers after World War I. Through a variety of techniques - and much hard work - he learns to speak in such a way so as to make his impediment a minor problem and delivers a faultless speech heard around the world by radio when England declared war on Nazi Germany in 1939. The King and Logue remained lifelong friends.(imdb.com)

Shawshank Redemption (1994)

How many of you have not watch Forrest Gump yet? I figured not much, except you who was born in 1994. I never put Forrest Gump in the blog because I know everybody knows it. I still love it 'til now. Tom Hanks was remarkable. They probably want to make the remake of it by now.

Read the plot summary here.


I read that Shawshank Redemption was out in theater in the same year with Forrest Gump, and was less popular. Oscars somehow loved Forrest Gump more, the movie grab many awards from many nominations, including from Shawshank Redemption (SR). But SR now is the number one movie in IMDB's Top 250 movies ever. It's been calculated from 500.000 votes, while Forrest Gump is number 34 (The result could change depend on votes). There were a lot of other linkages from both movies. Tom Hanks was even considered to play as Andy, but turn it down because he was committed to Forrest Gump. Read more here.

TEMPLE GRANDIN (2010)

Temple Grandin is a 2010 biopic directed by Mick Jackson and starring Claire Danes as Temple Grandin, a woman with autism who revolutionized practices for the humane handling of livestock on cattle ranches and slaughterhouses.

Mary and Max (2009)

The film takes place from 1976 to 1998 and tells the story of the unlikely pen-pal friendship that lasts for 22 years between Mary, a chubby lonely 8-year-old girl who lives in Mount Waverley, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia, and Max, a 44-year-old, severely obese, secular Jew atheist with Asperger syndrome who lives in New York City.

THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS (2006) : Struggling Father

Chris Gardner is a husband, a devoted father of one child, and a desperate bone-density scanner salesman. He strive to make things altogether when things fall apart. His wife left him, nobody wanted to buy his product, no money to pay rent or anything and a child to take care. As he pull stuff so hard to survive, he apply himself an stockbroker internship.