1. Avatar - I was SO against watching this movie. I had no desire to sit through a three hour movie about blue people. Little did I know that it was totally about international relations and humanitarian efforts and peacekeeping and all of the things that I'm studying in grad school! Needless to say, I loved it. James Cameron did not disappoint in this film about an ex-Marine assigned to a mission whose target is to wipe out the indigenous people of the planet. As he uses his "avatar," clone of the people, he learns their ways and becomes one of them and instead, tries to help the Na'vi people save their planet.
2. Slumdog Millionaire - Everyone who has read my blog or seen my 25 list is always shocked to hear that I want to go to India but have never seen this movie. Well, I finally did and, again, I loved it. I was not at all disappointed. Set in Mumbai, the film starts with Jamal Malik, a young man from the slums of India who is being interrogated for having answered all of the questions correctly on the show "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire," putting him in the spotlight to win 20 million rupees. The film follows Jamal's life from childhood and demonstrates how his difficult life has put him through situations that he looks back on for the answers to the questions.
3. The Pianist - After reading the book "Sarah's Key" last week (which I hated), I'm on a bit of a WWII kick so this movie was the perfect thing to watch while I was bored at work stuffing envelopes today. Set in Warsaw in the 1940s, the film follows a Polish Jewish pianist struggling to survive the round-up of Polish Jews my German Nazis during WWII. Rather than a sad story about the fate of Jewish people during the Holocaust, the film is a story of struggle and survival. I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a good drama or with an interest in WWII and the Holocaust.
So there it is! Stay tuned for my posts this week about my September recap, Whip It up Wednesdays, counting down to Race Day and starting to blog again!
