Secretariat (2010)

I've marked this movie to be on my watch-list, because I read in some movie blogs that it is recommended. Secretariat is based on a true story of Penny Chenery and her winning race-horse Secretariat back in the 70s. I couldn't help but comparing the movie with Seabiscuit, who received awards for a heartwarming story. Sometimes no matter how good or inspiring the true story is, it is the packaging of the movie that's people going to see.

It tells a story about a housewife and mother, Penny Chenery, agrees to take over her ailing father’s Virginia-based Meadow Stables, despite her lack of horse-racing knowledge. The film is based largely on William Nack's book Secretariat: The Making of a Champion. He was also a consultant for the film. (wikipedia)

Human can do have a connection with animals with their minds and interactions. Diane Lane plays Penny Chenery who looked up to be a devoted wife and a classy owner of a race-horse. She appear to be a perfect, well-together and dedicated woman. At some point I felt the movie got monotonous, until John Malkovich (who plays Lucien, the eccentric horse trainer) is in the picture.

127 Hours (2010)

It was just a matter of time for me to put the movie in this blog. I was afraid that it's going to be surviving movie that focused on the pain leading to frustration in the end making the viewers depressed, much like Into The Wild's pitied story. As I read that the director, Danny Boyle, has directed Slumdog Millionaire, no wonder it has the same fast paced time movie and not at all boring.
 
127 Hours is the true story of mountain climber Aron Ralston's remarkable adventure to save himself after a fallen boulder crashes on his arm and traps him in an isolated canyon in Utah. Over the next five days Ralston examines his life and survives the elements to finally discover he has the courage and the wherewithal to extricate himself by any means necessary, scale a 65 foot wall and hike over eight miles before he can be rescued. Throughout his journey, Ralston recalls friends, lovers, family, and the two hikers he met before his accident.

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)

The Fighter (2010)

I for one, not a fan of boxing. If there's nothing on television and I'm on the state of boredom, I will watch it and maybe even liked it eventually. But it's not my favorite type of TV program or sport. One thing that made me drawn to The Fighter first of all, is the depth feeling of the poster, as I use in the left. And so I heard that the movie got nominated in 7 categories in Oscars. I was not going to let my subjectivity in boxing made me pass the movie, of course I have to see it.

The Fighter, is a drama about boxer "Irish" Micky Ward's unlikely road to the world light welterweight title. His Rocky-like rise was shepherded by half-brother Dicky, a boxer-turned-trainer who rebounded in life after nearly being KO'd by drugs and crime. (imdb.com)

The movie felt like a winner, because it portrays a definite contrast between the basis of older and younger brother treatment from their mother and how Mark Wahlberg, who plays Micky Ward, after feeling down by losing 7 times tries to get back in the game. Micky was managed by his mother and trained by his former great boxer brother, Dicky.

Marley & Me (2008)

The two leading stars, Jennifer Anniston and Owen Wilson, can fool you into thinking the movie would be full comedy. I think it was an instant impression seeing the poster, which I think it's probably too cheerful for the movie. Sure, seeing Marley the dog uncontrollable can make you giggle. Well, that is not all. Few tears is one of the effect after watching the whole of the story.

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.