Two men met at a hospital. Both were dying with cancer. One (Jack Nicolson) was rich but lonely and owns the hospital and its empire. The other one (Morgan Freeman) was poor and surrounded by his family but was burned out from the family and the relationship with his wife. Before exiting the hospital room which they both shared, they came up with a “Bucket List,” a list of things to do before kicking the bucket.

They both proceeded to cross out the bucket list including sky diving, car racing, safari hunting, climbing to the top the Egypt Pyramid, almost reaching the top of the mountain (Himalaya). The poor guy was tempted with sex by a professional hired by the rich guy. During the encounter, he finally realized how rich he was with his family. He returned home. On the way home, he tried to get the rich guy to find the joy of his life by getting him to see his own daughter, who had many years before refused to see him due to his intervention into her relationship with her abusive husband. The friendship came an abrupt stop and then the poor guy died. The rich guy fulfilled his friend’s wish to see his daughter and found his joy and kissed the most beautiful woman in the world – his own grand daughter.

The story line is safely predictable and is nothing but a different and opposite spin of the hero’s journey. But the acting by the two old and skillful actors was simply phenomenal and believable. The roles fit the their personalities rather well. There were so many traveling for the shoot; I bet they had a good time shooting the movie. It’s heart warming to see how a friendship develops so quickly at the time of their personal crises. It probably would never happened normally. And yet the friendship took a turn when a conflict arose and once they resolved the conflict and friendship moved to a higher level, even beyond their own mortality.

I enjoyed the scenery and the movie.

This is a very slow developing “sixth sense”-like movie. The main character, a washed-out psychiatrist (sounds familiar?), tried to help the survivors getting over the post-traumatic symptoms. The bad guy from the airlines was the pilot that didn’t save the airplane from crashing because he wasn’t at the captain seat when the plane engine burst to flame.

As it turns out, they, including the main characters, are the living dead. And perhaps the entire setting is fake for their benefit – another “Matrix”? They just need to convince themselves or be convinced by their dead loved ones that they’re really dead. It’s full of decoys, like buses and cars stopping, to confuse the audience thinking that all these survivors are alive. Interesting twist near the end.

The movie is a bit creepy but a interesting angle borrowed from “Sixth Sense” and “Matrix.”

Watched the DVD again 25 years after I watched it at a movie theater in 1984. I didn’t remember the exact plot besides it, probably wouldn’t have sunk in at my young age. It’s when one reaches the middle age and looking back, people can really appreciate it meant to be NOT in the top of his/her field and the envy/jealousy brewed to the highest degree seeing the “top” gun on top of his/her game and having the talents to sustain it above all others.

The movie is narrated from the perspective of Salieri, whose respect for Mozart turned him into a jealous and scheming competitor. Although Salieri was adored and respected by his employer, the Austria empire, he found in his heart never as good as Mozart. His competitiveness and strive for the best caused him to construct conniving schemes against Mozart. He was convinced that all of his schemes caused Mozart’s death, especially his behind-the-scene commission of the “Requiem Mass.” It’s possible that Mozart’s composing of “Requiem Mass” may have sunk him to the bottom of his health. But by historical account, Mozart probably brought on his own death by his excessive drinking and partying. Well, if you can not be the best, why not be the destroyer of the best? Another one-up by Salieri?

It’s sad to see Mozart died so poor that even a proper funeral was’t held. His body was dumped into a pit and buried along with all the nameless people. Unfortunately, many great artists have died broke and miserably. But we know their work, especially Mozart’s, live on and continue to make a positive impact on our life.

The most dramatic scene at the end: Antonio Salieri said, “I speak for all mediocrity of the world. I am their champion. I am their patron saint. I absolve you!” I guess he went nuts but his words are powerful and perhaps calming. Theoretically, there is only one or few “bests” like Tiger Wood, Michael Jordan, and Michael Phelps. It’s OK to fail to become one because Antonio Salieri has forgiven you and absolved you.

The movie, full of Mozart’s symphony and opera pieces, are quite enjoyable. Watching on my desktop also allowed me to pause and google on many of the interesting bits such as “Don Giovanni,” “Requiem Mass,” and etc. It’s been a wonderful artistic experience.

I heard about Citizen Kane movie for while but I never knew what it's about. I finally rented the DVD.

Orson Welles, resembling the look of Leonardo De Caprio with a voice and demeaner of Kelsey Grammer (Frazier), acted brilliantly as Charles Foster Kane, a man who was sent away from his family as a boy to a rich family and became an ambitious and successful newspaper tycoon. After declaring his principle or mission statement, Kane started taking down corrupt public figures and serving the interest of the readers. He became successful after acquiring one newspaper after anothe – just like William Hearst. He knew no limit to his charm and power. After several failed marriages in his feable attempt to earn/buy the love from others but insisting on his way, he later became isolated and rejected from all his friends and loved ones. Finally, he died in his Xanadu castle and uttered his last word – "Rosebug," a word that became a topic of fascination by a reporter in search of the true meaning of the word. Only the audience know at the end of the moive that it's carved on the snow sled of his childhood, a time when he was truly happy.

In a way, I empathize with him. It's probably very hard to win the true love from someone from his position of power. Buying love was quick and effective in a short term. But the wind direction can change quickly, like the case when he was running for a public office and his extramarital affair was exposed by his opponent. Sadly, winning the public opinion seems easier than winning the affection of his wives.

I utterly enjoyed the movie. The "rosebug" mystery kept people's interest piqued at finding out what it meant. It's sad to see a prideful, powerful man got brought down by something an ordinary people can enjoy relatively freely – love and be loved. On other hand, he was handicapped by not being loved by his own mother in the first place.

I agreed with the critic that this is a classic from 1941 with lots of the innovations of its time. The makeup that ages each of the characters are simply amazing and first class.

Rented this movie on Netflix. Didn’t know what it is and was surprised to see it was an animation film. The plot was simple and no different than a typical monster movie. Few people’s greed turned a T-virus and even G-virus into an zombie epidemic starting from an airport. The added dimension was that the ultimate monster was previously a victim who went on a revenge spree. The new G-virus infected monster was a lot more powerful than the Incredible Hulk, who couldn’t even remember his own sister and wanted to mate with her to propagate the odd species. In any case, Leon, the ultimate American Idol like hero, saved the day and captured the bad scientist, who sold the secret to the terrorist.

The animation was quite well done though the facial expression still look woody. I believe the film was animated and produced by Japanese. Not bad. Wished the movie plot was a lot smarter.

A warlord in the 19th-century Japan gave up his authority and anoint his eldest son of three to be the new lord. This resulted in a bloody 3-way fight for power. The youngest son was banished because he was against the idea. The 2nd son was a true politician, pretending to go along with the decision, ended up killing his eldest brother and took over his conniving wife, whose had her head cut off after making her avenge. The old lord finally went crazy but was later saved by his youngest son, who loved him the most. The youngest son, on his triumphant return, was assassinated by the 2nd brother’s assassins. In the end, all three sons died and the old man survived with his light turned off.

The movie was fit for an on-stage drama. The acting of the elder warlord was simply amazing. The war scenes with infantry and horse-back riders mixed with gun, arrows was very interesting. The war strategy, taking Sun-tzu’s art of war to an art form, was pretty advance too.

The lessons learned are 1) don’t give up power until you’re convinced the people who inherit the power are well respected and would not abuse the power and you’re well protected away from power, 2) what goes around, comes around. You may end up eating the fruits of your own. 3) Listen to why people object to your ideas. They may mean the best for you and love you the most. 4) Re-pay people’s loyalty with kindness. They may have more choices than you think when they chose to stick with you. Very good movie, indeed.

This is a great movie about a young child (Amir) good at storytelling growing up with his best friend (Hassan) in Afghanistan in a well-to-do family. His best friend was the son of his father’s servant, Ali. They played together; Amir told good stories and Hassan was good at slingshot. During one of the kite runner festival, Amir won the race by “cutting” off all other kites. Hassan, like a good friend with an unconditional love for Amir, went to retrieve the kits and was raped by the bad neighborhood boys. Amir witnessed the whole thing and yet did nothing to help his friend. In fact, he turned even nastier toward his “damaged” friends and started to despise him and put him in trouble and resulted in his family’s departure from the household.

When the Russians’ tanks rolled in, Amir and his father escaped to America where Amir grew up to be a writer and his father owned a gas station in Fremont. After a marriage to a local Afghan girl, an Afghan’s general’s daughter, he was called back to see for the last time his mentor, his father’s best friend who listened to his stories and provided guidance to him when he was a child. Before his mentor’s death, he was told that Hassan was his half-brother and he was killed guarding his childhood home against the Talibans and he was asked to save Hassan’s son. With courage and determination and as a redemption of the sins he committed against Hassan, he went back to Kabul, Afghanistan and faced his arch rival Assef and rescued the boy.

This is a really good story about personal redemption and making amends to our friends and relatives, who may have given us unconditional love. The road to paying back may help us find our true self and make us a true hero. Love the story and the beautiful kite scenes. I have come to understand the life of the Afghan and the people a little more.