SeanChoe : blog

social media, movies and technologies

Facing the Giants

This Monday, I watched the movie Facing the Giants. It just moved my heart. I weeped more than ever I watched a movie.

It can be classified as a christian movie. The director Alex Kendrick is a pastor of the Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, and he founded Sherwood Pictures.

I've looked him up. This movie Facing the Giants was released in 2006. After that, he made another movie Fireproof in 2008, and it made a huge hit. I haven't watched Fireproof yet, but I definitely will soon.

It is first time I watched a "fiction" movie which has a story of christianity. I've been wondering if it's possible to make a "fun" movie with a story of christians except the Bible stories like Passion of Christ, but it was. This movie Facing the Giants is the story of high school football team, and it even has a nice plot as a general movie. At the first part of the it I felt that the movie isn't as sophisticated as other Hollywood ones, but more I watched, I found myself diving into the story.

This movie also inspired me about my career. I have a vision to live as a christian film maker, and this movie and the director Alex Kendrick showed me one of the ways about it.

If you're a christian, you may feel what I felt and cry yourself out. Even if you're not a christian, I believe this movie will entertain you, and hope that you can be changed by the Gospel like the students in the movie.

Avatar : an epic for minorities

(Note : no spoilers ahead. but If you are sensitive about leaking the story before watching a movie, I recommend you to read this after you watch the movie.)

As I've been looking forward the movie Avatar for a few months, I've been worrying at the same time that what if I disappointed because I expected about it too much.

And after I watched the movie, if you are worrying about same thing as me, I can tell you. No need to worry at all.
I don't know about you who are reading this, but for me, the movie Avatar was the best entertaining movie ever in my entire life. Seriously, this movie just blew away my mind.

Avatar is truly a buzz these days. Many people are saying about its stunning 3D computer graphics. It was really fantastic, but I want to weigh more to the movie's ideas.
The story is about a paraplegic ex-marine (Jake Sully) being committed to the unique mission called "Avatar", which is transplanting his personality into a alien body and putting into the it's tribe. This movie has many factors I concern about and like. nature, adventure, and a interest in minorities are them. Jake Sully is a minority in human society because he is a disabled. and he became an alien as well after he tried to join the Navis(alien tribe). But he slowly gain their trust, and becomes one of them.

There was one line in the movie which came through my mind. Quaritch (a villian, sort of.) says to Jake "Do you think you're one of them? There's no way you can be." (maybe not correct) Jake's in the alien's body, but theoretically he can't be one of them. And if he go back to human life, It may not be worth living. I've always been thinking about the pain of minorities like foreigners, aliens, Korean-Americans, and so forth. They are always wanting to join one of the tribes, but basically they can't be neither sides. This movie is letting us to take care of that kind of people in our society.

And this movie also lets us to dream. The planet Pandora is no where can exist on earth. Director James Cameron create a new world and made it feel like real by cutting edge 3D graphics. Watching movies are always like dreaming. Good movies make it feel like more real, but as the line in Avatar, sooner or later though, you always have to wake up. And we go back to boring life.

This movie is like awesome dream so that I want to watch it on and on. And that's what I'm wanting to do in my life as well. Giving people good dreams, good hope. 

Movie review : Drag Me to Hell

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I've wanted to watch this movie for a while because I read lots of good reviews about this movie. The movies I know from the director Sam Raimi was just the Spider Man series, but after I watched this movie, I found out he has a very unique style of making movies.

Drag Me to Hell is a horror movie, but in a different point of view it's very funny somehow. There are many frightening and disgusting scenes, but I didn't feel bad about them. they made me excited and enjoy the movie. This movie was just like a roller coaster. It was not serious at all, just make the audiences to be freaked out all the time. I think it's very good movie to watch with friends or a lover in a theater.

So, if you are hesitating to watch this movie because it seems to be too scary and creepy, just open your mind and enjoy the movie. Don't take this movie too seriously. That my only advice and I recommend this movie.

Movie review : Lola

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After I found the beautiful movie "the Umbrellas of Cherbourg" by courtesy of @WonSuk, I wanted to watch another Jacques Demy's movies. So I went to watch Lola after a week, with @jAykaZ and @WonSuk again.

I met @jAykaZ on Twitter also, and it was first time we met in person. He was very nice guy and he works for CGV, the movie management company. We both were movie lovers, so we could have fun time talking.

the movie Lola is called "the musical without music". It is a monochrome movie, but I felt it's very vivid and animating. And specially I loved the atmosphere of the theater itself we watched the movie in. Old interior, sound of a cinematograph, scratched flim, it was not just watching a movie. everything I felt in there was a unique and great experience. And I really loved that experience.

Roland Cassard, (he's in Umbrellas of Cherbourg also. the story connects.) the main male character said in the movie that he doesn't know what he's living for. There's no reason to work hard and get by day after day in the place he's living. I think that's the same question we young souls ask to ourselves now in 2009 as well. Even if we are working at a nice company and living a not-bad life, we're all always asking the question to ourselves.

However, Roland found the answer. It was the "love". He found his reason to survive and not to leave the hometown after he met Lola, his old friend, after more than 10 years. He falls in love with her. Eventually the movie ends with not so happy ending, but that's the life, we know that.

Beautiful sound of the French language makes this movie more melodic. If you want to feel the passion and love of young minds, this movie will bring you what you want.

Movie review : The Umbrellas of Cherbourg

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Last night (on 14th Aug) I had a precious opportunity to watch the movie "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg". I met @WonSuk, a great Korean film maker, on Twitter and he said he'll watch the movie and asked if someone will join him. So, @WonSuk, @RobRho and I went to the Cinematique theater on Nakwon-dong, Seoul.

The movie released on 1964. It is being said one of the "romantic trilogy" of the French director Jacques Demy. It was the first time I watch that movie, and I was moved so much.

I was surprised that the situations in Cherbourg in 1950s is pretty similar to the one in Seoul in 2009. It's true that I sympathized because I'm in love now and thinking about the marriage. And the fact that young man should go to the army for 2 years was incredibly same with the situation in Korea now. The lovers in the movie had been separated because the boy went to the army service. All Korean audiences laughed when the boy said "I've got the draft notice from government" because the line feels very familiar to them. to me as well.

And another great part of the movie was the music. It is a musical movie. Every line in the movie is being sung in melody, I've heard the main theme of this movie before but didn't know where it came from. And I just stunned when I heard the theme in the movie. It was just BEAUTIFUL. Here you feel it yourself.

I give a huge gratitude to @WonSuk for giving me the opportunity to watch this great movie on a big screen.

Transformers 2 : Must be watched in IMAX

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Finally watched the "Transformers 2 : Revenge of the Fallen" last night. I've been waiting and looking forward  so long! I watched it at the IMAX theater on the second day.  With my colleagues. (Actually our company bought all of us a ticket. How cool is that!) And the movie was just cool as expected! If  you're planning to watch this movie, you should definitely watch it in IMAX. The movie is not filmed full-IMAX, but the selected scenes which have been re-mastered as IMAX, They're just worth to watch. Just like the poster above says, This movie is just about the robots, explosions, and Megan Fox. Expecting something more? please don't. This three things are just enough to satisfy boys' dreams. I don't know how girls feel about this movie but, boys, believe me. Just watch it. And Megan Fox has just the same percentage as the robots do in this movie. Frankly, I've a little bit disappointed when this movie ended. Because I just thought there will be more action scenes! It concluded too fast. (Some people says this movie is too long and boring, but not for me.) You better be aware of that and don't expect too much about the ending. I will watch it twice more at another IMAX theater. I've already bought the tickets. The positive thing about this kind of blockbuster movie is, They worth to watch many times.