Under the Same Moon

Rating: B+

Premise:  A Mexican mother leaves her son with her mother in order to find a better life/$$ in Los Angeles.  When the grandmother dies, the son comes to LA to be with her.

Recommend:  Yes.  I had heard good things but wasn’t sure what to expect.  I ended up really liking this film.  Especially the character of Enrique.  Subtitles.

Technorati Tags: La Misma Luna, Under the Same Moon, Kate del Castillo, Eugenio Derbez, Adrian Alonso, America Ferrera

Persepolis

Rating: A

Animated movie that depics the life of Marjane Satrapi's life from her childhood in Iran during the Islamic Revolution to her adulthood in Europe.

This is a beautiful movie.  A must-see.

Technorati Tags: Persepolis,Marjane Satrapi

Bella

Rating: B

A pregnant waitress and a chef have a really good day together.

That's about as basic as it gets.  To explain more would give away the story and I don't want to do that.  This is a very sweet movie - lots of Spanish subtitles but they don't get in the way.  I actually found myself crying towards the end.  Definitely leans toward the chick flick.   I would recommend it.  It's only 1.5 hours long.

Technorati Tags: Bella, Alejandro Gomez Monteverde, Eduardo Verástegui, Tammy Blanchard

The Lives of Others

Rating:  A

This is set in the 80's in East Germany.  The "stasi" are secretly watching the theater people (writers, directors, actors) in an effort to eliminate any artists that speak out against the government.  When a writer is under surveillance, the officer watching him starts to have second thoughts about what the government does to people. 

This is an excellent movie.  Should be watched by everyone so as not to forget what can happen when you don't live in a democratic state. 

Technorati Tags: The Lives of Others, German

Volver

Grade: B

Premise: A mother's ghost comes back to find forgiveness with her two daughters. And there are killings.

Recommend?: I really liked this movie. It was two hours but it flew by. Strong acting by Penelope Cruz who I usually don't care for. It was actually quite heartwarming in a non cheesy/sappy way.

Volver Penelope Cruz Pedro Almodovar

Pan's Labyrinth

Grade: A

Premise: A young girl believes that she is the Princess of the underworld and must accomplish three tasks before she can claim her spot. There is a war happening all around her (in real life)

Recommend?: I thought this movie was excellent. Not a kids movie even though the main character was a young girl. Plenty of violence. The story, acting and effects were all wonderful. Spanish with subtitles.

Pan's Labyrinth Guillermo Del Toro

Quinceanera

Grade: B

Premise: Girl gets pregnant before her Quinceanera which pisses off her preacher father.

Recommend?:Yes. I thought this was pretty good. Some bad acting but a good story. Spanish subtitles through part of it.

Quinceanera

Happenstance

Grade: B+

Premise: Horoscope says that a girl will meet her true love that day - the first time they will pass but the second time they should never let go

Recommend?: I have that thing for s l o w moving foreign films and I think I am developing a girlcrush for Audrey Tatou - so this movie really appealed to me. It is kind of cool in that you think you know who they are trying to get together and then it ends up being the most obvious and not where you thought they were headed. Subtitled. Listening to French was groovy. The pay off is at the very end (last scene). Overall I thought it was entertaining.

Happenstance audrey tatou

A Very Long Engagement

Grade: B

Premise: Young woman can't believe that her fiance was killed in WWI and sets out to discover what happened to him.

Recommend?: Yes, if you like long, french subtitled movies. Audrey Tautou gives another good performance as the young woman. It got a little bloody for my taste but I could still sit through it. Had the same director as Amelie (Jean-Pierre Jeunet) so sometimes it has a bit of the same quirky film style. Look out for a cool cameo by Jodie Foster - parlezing en Francais!

Tags: Very Long Engagement
Audrey Tautou Jean-Pierre Jeunet Netflix Movie Review

Maria Full of Grace

Grade: B

Premise: A knocked up teenager in Colombia decides to become a drug mule.

This was really REALLY good. It would have gotten an "A" but I reserve "A"s for those movies that I must buy on DVD. This is a little to dramatic and intense for me to see over and over, but I would highly recommend it to anyone that was wanting to see it. English subtitles.

Amelie

Grade: A
Premise: A French girl sets out to find herself and finds love. *awwww*

Really loved this movie. Quite quirky. For boys and girls.

Monsoon Wedding

Grade: C
Premise: Revolves around the days prior to and of an arranged Indian Wedding.

Liked this movie a lot...probably couldn't sit through it again though. The main characters aren't that interesting but some of the sub-plots are cool. Lots of Indian singing and dancing which is just wonderful.