July 9, 2006

  • movies I've seen recently...

    Fearless (Huo Yuan Jia)  (2006)  B

    "Fearless" is based on a historical Chinese figure in the martial arts world, "Huo YuanJia." The story itself is not so far off from other Kung Fu films, and the plot progress goes rather well. Although there were some plot holes that weren't covered up too well. It was a little unusual seeing Jet Li playing an unlikeable character
    in the beginning though, but ofcourse he redeems himself. I also felt it got a little over dramatic at the end hammering down the message of the story to us.
    The fight scenes however I thought were pretty good, except they did
    use some camera tricks that kinda irked me. Good film, and if this
    really is Jet Li's last Kung Fu movie set in the old periodical Chinese times, then it's a good
    way to go.

    Cars  (2006)  B+

    The very first thing you need to get over with when watching "Cars," is the fact that vehicles that are made to be driven by humans are alive, yet there are no humans around. Just imagine that these living cars are actually humans, and things should go down a lot easier. Okay, as for the movie itself, since it's from Pixar I expected it to be good, but not as good as it ended up. The quality of the visual is obviously top quality all the way through. I also have to give kudos on actually making the cars resemble their voice actors in a very uncanny way. Looking at the Hudson Hornet, actually does make me see it's voice actress Paul Newman instead of simply just a car. I do have to criticize that the plot progression is very much your standard cliche story, BUT even so the comedy, action, and drama still work very very well. In fact there are many touching moments in the film that should pull on your heart strings, despite the predictability of the scenes. I also have to mention that there are some humor kids won't get but adults would, like female cars "flashing" the race car Lightning McQueen with their headlights (if you know what I mean). Overall though, Cars is easily in the higher bracket of Pixar's film resume, go see it.

    Three... Extremes (saam gaang yi) (2004)  B-

    "Three... Extremes" is actually an anthology set by three different directors doing three different horror films. These aren't your slasher films, but the kind of horror that creeps up in your psychosis. Needless to say, this film is definitely not for everyone. Fruit Chan did the segment called "Dumplings," which is actually a shorter form version from a full length feature version. That story is about how some people can be too obsessed with obtaining youth and beauty. In this case, they are willing to eat.... something horrific to get it. Disturbing? Yes, very much so. Chan-wook Park did the segment called "cut," which is about a pyschotic man trying to make a sociological argument by ways of torture involving piano wire and chopped fingers. This segment will keep you guessing on how it'll play out, and it is definitely messed up. Takashi Miike did the segment called "Box," which is about guilt and jealousy involving sisters and them being able to fit into small boxes. This is the one that is purposefully done to be really slow moving and meditatively quiet. At the same time, this is also the one that achieves to be the creepiest of the three. In all three segments, I was very much engrossed in the stories. I had a few complaints here and there, but for fans of the "Asian extreme cinema" sub-genre, this one is for you.