[Movie Review] Emperor (2012) by Tommy Lee Jones and Matthew Fox

Most of the Japanese war movies that we watch mainly deal with Pearl Harbor or the die-hard patriots from the Japanese side.  This post-Hiroshima movie about General MacArthur looking for a reason to hang Emperor Hirohito is very refreshing.  We know that the army and military had to follow the orders of the politician in power and the question was who was in power. The officer in charge of the investigation had 10 days to report his findings of where the guilt should be laid.  Interesting take on the subject and very well done.  See trailer here.

War continues to be an important subject of discussion at our home in view of recent developments of US’s position in the Middle East.  And even more so, the question of what is a just war.  When is the retaliation just and by how much.  Hiroshima went over and beyond morality, I think.

[Movie Review] Pacific Rim (2003)

My entire family with my son’s girlfriend went to see Pacific Rim on opening day.  I really liked the selection sparing between the main character and the Japanese girl, and the monster vs robot fight in the city.  It’s like watching wet suited Ultraman against monsters knocking down countless cardboard made buildings back in the 70’s from the Japanese TV series, only that this one has more color and effects.  The only disappointment is that they show too much close ups of a leg here, a blow there, the gaping mouth and not enough of the distant shots where they show the moves of the fights.  Fine, so it’s not a kung fu movie but I just couldn’t help thinking how much more destructive it would look if they have a few distant shots.  It might flatten the city.  Very cute imagined Hong Kong. And I love how they do have Cantonese speakers as announcers and in dialog among the masses.  Thank God they didn’t put in Mandarin speakers.   I have to laugh when my kids were so revved up with the Russian robot and the Chinese robot and we didn’t get to see much of them. All in all, a good movie, much better than Man of Steel or Lone Ranger, Spiderman or Batman.  It baffled me though of the way they were being transported.  I thought robots could walk on its own.   Trailer here if you haven’t seen it yet.  It’s worth watching a second time for the city fight scene.  Oh, bring some earplugs.  It’s not as loud as Man of Steel but it’s super loud!

[Movie Review] Elysium by Matt Damon

I think out of the four movies we watched this summer, this was the best.  If you haven’t seen it yet, I highly urge you to.  I thought it was about some apocalyptic society but it’s not really.  It’s just the result of overpopulation and how the rich saves themselves and didn’t care about the poor.  Absolutely love how they flesh out the dictatorial society with robotic police.  Jodie Foster is superb in her role as the minister of defense. Feisty and chic.  Everything about her makes the movie so much better.  I would not be surprised when end times come as the bible prophesies, that the world will degenerate to such a state.  It’s a grim reminder that the rich does not always look out for the general populace.