Saturday, October 22. 2005
[ skip this post if you're not into reviews of out-dated movies ]
- fight club. here's what i always do: watch a movie once, then watch it again five or six years later. the result: the same movie, watched during the different phases of my life tends to be, different. its like first you watch a movie in cantonese and you have to read the subtitles cause your only cantonese words are 'chau ma hai'. then six years later you've mastered cantonese (which explains the strings of hot chinese girls you've been dating over the years but this is totally irrelevant for this review), and watch the movie again, it's just different yo! now the fact that i start babbling means that this movie is really something.
- final fantasy vii: advent children. i'm not a fan of computer games - but i like this movie for its special effects and its cast of characters (with their m4d l337 kung-foo skillz and warrior outfitz which certainly give them more than enough street cred). the fact that i've no further comments on this movie despite the fact that i'm not a gamer says that this movie is worth watching even if you're not a gamer. 7/10
- the hitchhiker's guide o the galaxy. read the book 15 years ago, only to reread it for the first time after the watching the movie. it's light-years away near the book. it was an easily forgettable movie, unlike the book. however, it was not really that dissappointing, and if you've read the book, you'll know why. 6/10
- inital d. for a movie that tries to be sleek, smooth, cool (add a teaspoon of cute to that), Andrew Lau and Alan Mak certainly made it. but i am not fond of this movie. what producers in their right-mind will take a japanese manga, make a movie of it, film it in japan, and have a cast of Cantonese speaking authors? for a racing movie, there's no high-octane action either. everything is just sleeky smooth: the road, the weather, even the drift of the AE86 as it pwns the corners of Mt. Akina. heck, even jay chou's (very bad acting mr jay - just stick to singing) character has no street cred despite his m4d l337 driving skillz - he can't even fix a broken car, let alone know what to do. 6/10
- the interpreter. boring. see review of kingdom of heaven below. 5/10
- kingdom of heaven. a rather dissappointing movie, even made more dissappointing by orlando bloom playing an unconvincing knight. and made more incredulous when at the ending salahuddin said that Jerusalem 'is worth nothing... and everything'. kingdom of heaven is like watching an unnecessarily elaborate cover-up of the obvious reasons of the crusade war. 5/10
- madagascar. absolutely hilarious! pure pWn4g3! 8/10
- sin city. absolutely brilliant! take my word - even if you're not a graphics novel or comic fans, you'll love this movie. its so art-housey, despite its graphic and senseless violence. 9/10
- underworld. the message is this: being a vampire or a lycan, one has to look menacing, dangerous, ultra-smart, highly capable in combat and hi-tech gadgetery, mad l33t driving skills, owns a gothic-victorian crib, aston martin vanquish, and yeah, skintight leather suit, and yeah, perfectly tousled hair. shot in metallic monochrome, this movie is a hell of a trip, except for the shooting and fighting scenes that just does not hold up against other movies of the same genre. 8/10.
- war of the worlds. errmmm... a pretty good adaptation of the book i must say, even though i've forgotten most of what i read 15 years ago. also, if you're politically-inclined (as i sometimes am), then you can't help to think of terrorism, holocaust, the iraq wars, the bali bombings, stalin, suicide bombers, etc. except that in the movie, the special effects are stunning, and the actions are adrenalin-pumping (what a cliche, heh). 8/10.
that's it. i'm looking forward to watching more hongkong and taiwanese movies in the coming month.
listening to: fiona apple - waltz
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