The Intouchables (2011)

The Intouchables Trailer

This is a French movie about the unlikely friendship developed between a millionaire and an unemployed young man who becomes his caregiver.

It reminds me of Driving Miss Daisy (1989) which is also about the unlikely friendship between an old lady and his driver. Both movies juxtapose the conflict between the protagonists' different social classes.

It is always cathartic to watch movies which the uptight character has a character arc, and becomes more open and liberal to people from a different background; while the lower-social-class character slowly earns the respect from other people.

The Butterfly Effect (2004)

***Spoilers Alert***

This is another time-travelling / altering fate story. Evan Treborn one day realizes that he has the ability to go back in time by reading his teenage journals. He travels back in time to moments which he has memory blackouts. He uses the opportunity to try to save his childhood sweetheart from a tragic life. But each time he changes the past, he finds that the future is changed into something that he doesn't like. For example, he ends up in a prison or he loses his leg. Finally, in the director's cut, Evan chooses to commit suicide inside his mother's womb because he thinks that the best thing for his childhood sweetheart and the world is that he was not born.

This is a radical plot. In Doraemon's time travelling, things usually gets better but not worse. But in this story, the more travelling to the past, the worse is the future. That sucks. Evan's mother reveals that she has several miscarriages. It hints to Evan that his elder brothers and sisters also committed suicide. It is a horrible conclusion that the non-existence of the protagonist is the resolution. This is a really dark story.

McDull: Rise of the Rice Cooker (2016)

This is the seventh installment of the McDull movies.

Last time in McDull: Me and My Mum (2014), McDull grew up and became a detective. In this movie, McDull is still a primary school kid in a parallel universe.

The mood of the movie is nostalgic. The story is about how people in a small town react to a global threat: a green alien monster which destroys the world. It reminds me of 20th Century Boys (2008).

The McDull series used to localize the protagonists in Hong Kong. But in this movie, Hong Kong is never mentioned. Probably because the producers want to market the movie to a broader market. The small town actually looks like a village by the sea in Greek. Most of the screen time happens in U.S.A., e.g. the destruction of a city, the robot marathon, and the final battle with the monster, etc. 

The old familiar characters are gone. No more McMug, Darby, May, June, Goosie, Fai. But there's a new character called April.

An interesting point to note is the subtle LGBT message embedded in the movie. It all came to me when I saw the rainbow-colored parachute. In addition, how the Rice Cooker Robot defeats the monster is very controversial. It makes it "comfortable" and the monster determines to take the Rice Cooker Robot with him to its planet. But the "massage" sequence is very hardcore. I don't think children understands it but this sequence is inappropriate for them. Moreover, there's a sequence in which McDull insists on wearing cosplay dress and a wig (Sailor Moon) to wander in the city. It can only be interpreted as a LGBT message or it is a completely meaningless sequence.

In my opinion, McDull movies usually have deeper meanings for adults. Sometimes the ending is dark. Therefore, it is not recommended to bring children to the cinema as some children became upset in the middle of the movie and their parents were busy consoling them and missed the resolution of the story. A movie isn't complete without a resolution. So never bring children to a cinema who are not mature enough to stay calm until the every end of the movie.