It's my first Transformers experience and it way exceeded my expectation - I had none , which certainly helped - especially when the plot was incoherent and cliche, the characters were plastic and mostly hideous to a non-fan (the only character, Carly, that looked gorgeous at the onset had to tout her lips so much that she felt like a Talking Barbie). AND it's in 3D, which always makes me dizzy.

Another contributing factor was that I completely disarmed myself. Walking into the cinema with my 3D glasses on, I swapped my identity with a five-year-old boy. It is so cool to transform, in a split second, a zooming sports car into a giant robot that can talk, fight, think and somehow feel. It is even cooler to transform from a much-ignored underdog into the glorious hero of the entire planet - with that bombshell (and that rabbit), that apartment, and those incredible cars.

Last but not least, I went with S - to trade for the right to watch "Certified Copy", during which he fell asleep as expected. If there had to be a lesson learnt from each movie, for Transformers, the lesson shall be: every guy has a five-year-old inside, and to spend time with this kid is as much about discovering him as myself.

2. Certified Copy *****

Alright I am biased. Certified Copy's got everything that makes me free fall - the theme, the plot, the setting, the cinematography, the dialogues, and, oof, the extremely sensual Juliette Binoche (she won the Palme d'Or award for her performance in this movie at the Cannes this year).

Like 5 x 2, the movie revolves around love vs. marriage, truth vs. lie, ideal vs. reality, original vs. copy; but it's more like infinity x 2. As she (Binoche doesn't have a name in the movie) and he (James) meanders around this small town in Tuscany, their stories unfold, their conversation spins rhythmically around the theme - the debate sees no end.

My favorite scene was when she applied the red lipstick and tried on the red earrings in the washroom - in a clumsy effort to reignite the fire of love. Looking so ethereal, she seemed a shadow of a line that repeatedly appeared in the movie: sometimes it's not the object itself but our perception of it that matters. At that moment, the perception of love/marriage/self is so full of life, the shadow is larger than the object.

In many ways, the movie also reminds me of Before Sunset - the texture of light, the revelation through long but never boring conversation, the whims and the sense of humor, the lingering feelings, the open end... But then Certified Copy is different. If Before Sunset is about the heart, Certified Copy is about the soul.

3. Mother and Child ****

If we should be greater than the sum of our parts, so should our movies. Mother and Child did exactly that, weaving the fragmented lives of a few women into an intelligent tale that is larger than life.

(Talking about "larger than life", I was reading a novel and the character was saying how he liked to sit in the front row in the cinema so everything was blown up - "I would say 'larger than life', but I never understood that expression...I'm a man who wanted to be as large as life." I thought that was an excellent line.)

Mother and Child rose above life not by "blowing up", but vaulting over the individual characters and their stories to explore this special tie between mother and daughter and this almost dual identity of a woman. You don't just think about yourself, your mum and your daughter. You think about your grandma, your grandma's mum, your daughter's daughter (and they could be adopted daughters. The bond could be just as strong).

The three main female characters (who were, of course, as the plot developed, intricately related) all had had problems with men. In fact, the male characters in the movie were mostly feeble figurines that don't seem to deserve more attention than the director decided. For all three, the longing for this mother-child tie could be seen to have eventually helped them cast the emotional baggage aside and to glow as if there were no such thing as hurt.

This reminds me of "the Silken Tent" by Robert Frost:

She is as in a field a silken tent

At midday when the sunny summer breeze

Has dried the dew and all its ropes relent,

So that in guys it gently sways at ease,

And its supporting central cedar pole,

That is its pinnacle to heavenward

And signifies the sureness of the soul,

Seems to owe naught to any single cord,

But strictly held by none, is loosely bound

By countless silken ties of love and thought

To everything on earth and compass round

And only by one's going slightly taut

In the capriciousness of summer air

Is of the slightest bondage made aware

4. We Won't Pay We Won't Pay *

Though the script was interesting and highly relevant (touching on rampant inflation and people's revolt), the rest was so amateurish that my friend couldn't help but lamenting, "I thought people only do that kinda thing in secondary schools."