Three Kingdoms

When I planned to watch this movie on the theater, I must admit that I was skeptical. Well, my worries were justified. Despite its great in almost everything, the plot was mostly nowhere near the original story. I mean, Cao Ying? Come on, don't be ridiculous. Or that Zhao Yun got killed in battle? Now that would just like saying that Abraham Lincoln died while leading his army during the civil war. From start to finish, I'd say it was a tormenting moments. Zhao Yun didn't start from lowly position in the Liu Bei's army. He even saved Liu Bei's life in the beginning of their acquaintance. Such a shame. The original was a great story, why couldn't just keep it that way? Despite that, the movie was well directed. The emotional stirring was pretty felt. Acting was all good, but the harp-playing scene was awful. No need for that one. Heck, no need for even put Cao Ying on the scene. The score for the plot was 3, the directing was 8, the acting was 8. Overall, it was an obvious disappointment of 6.

Still, there is another release planned regarding the Three Kingdoms. Tony Leung will be a part of it, and it would be focusing on the Battle of Red Wall. With the Chinese government involvement in the project, I guess the quality must be way better than the Resurrection of the Dragon.

I'd also still see the TV series was way better than Resurrection. Well, sometimes some novel just couldn't be fitted into a single movie. Learn from the LotR.

The Darjeeling Limited

Just watched it this morning. My interest wasn't actually on who acted in this movie. It wasn't on who directed this movie also. Instead, it was the title that intrigued me. All I know that Darjeeling is some sort of tea. After watching it for a while, it appeared that Darjeeling Limited was the name of the train the three brothers used. An interesting way to tell a story, though. Nice work, but the story was rather dull. The acting was of standard quality, not too good, but not bad either.
If it was supposed to be a life-changing, spiritual journey, well I couldn't see how that could possibly happens. At least not to me. I'd take it as a simple vacation. Fortunately, it wasn't like those stupid comedies with same plot "a group vacation/journey" with lots of things happening during the journey. Well, the story was so-so, I'd give it a 6, the acting was slightly good, worth a 7, the directing was interesting, making the movie a joy to watch. I'd give it an 8. Overall it was a simply average movie to watch.


Well, I'm planning to see The Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon tomorrow. I hope it's good...

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

If you couldn't stand gruesome, bloody scenes, then either close your eyes during such scenes, or just stay away from the entire movie. Johnny Depp's "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" was a great movie to watch. It's not that I love bloody scenes, but the way it was made and played was able to compensate for its gruesome scenes. I've never been a fan of musical features films, but aside from Moulin Rouge & Chicago, I've made an exception for Sweeney Todd. The plot was pretty good. The twist in the end made it somewhat memorable. The acting was not super, but hey, it's musical. From my standpoint, the directing was great (8), the plot was also very good (8), the acting, well, quite good (7). I think it wasn't the acting that made it great, but the directing and the plot that made this movie great.

According to wikipedia, there are other adaptations of Sweeney Todd. I guess, I'll go and look for them, especially the one with Ben Kingsley on it.

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)

A few months ago I watched "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford". I was actually expecting an action movie, but instead the movie was a drama. I fell asleep though, watching the early half of the movie, but after that it became very interesting. No, not in terms of the plot. The plot was not that extraordinary, however. It was Brad Pitt's performance that was so impressive. You can feel that sense of fearsome impression behind the calm, cold look of Jesse.
On the other side, I could feel the disgust with Robert Ford. It was also a great performance by Casey Affleck. The film indeed painted a heroic impression in the character Jesse James. I don't know, perhaps it was because of the plot, or was it because of Brad Pitt's performance? Maybe both. In the end, I give the score of 10 in acting, a 7 in plot, also 7 in directing. Overall, it is a highly recommendable movie, but if you want an action movie, just forget it. The only action in this movie was silent one. It was all about expression.

A new start

Another "restart" after a long time of absence. I intend to rant more about movies that I've seen. I actually planned to start a new blog, but I don't think that would be practical for now.

I've seen lots of movies since my last posts. Some were good, some were awful, but hey, good movies are harder to come by these days.

I may not be posting today. Got a flu right now. So, maybe tomorrow I'll write.

See ya.

Struck down [again]

Got struck down with flu the last three days. Probably because the air con at my office was set too cold. I hope it won't be getting too serious. I've been ill one time too many this year. I even think that this city is just not suitable for me. Too unhygienic. Dirt everywhere, pools of spits everywhere. Disgusting.

As disgusting as those Taliban sombitches. Holding innocent hostages and killing them. Who do they think they are? God? If they want to protest, why don't they launch an attack to an army camp or an army base? Or even better, to the White House. Of course they can't. They don't have the guts. Pieces of shits like them ought to be mutilated alive [like what that bad guy did in Hostel]. For Jihad they say. If I'm God, I'll quash them with my foot like dirt. Well, I hope those hostages will survive this madness. These hostages should also learn the lesson that some people just don't deserve mercy. Let them die and rot there. I wonder why the US haven't done anything. They could just raid the whole Afghanistan. Sweep the country inch by inch. Why, they could land their men on the moon, why they couldn't do a full sweep on a small country like Afghanistan. Yeah, I know, there's no profit in it for them.

A disgusting habit

Spitting is disgusting, isn't it? Yet a lot of people here are doing it everyday. I always say to myself whenever and wherever I spot someone spits: "OMG! What the hell is he/she thinking?". Although I've noticed only a few female "spitters", but yes, ladies and gentlemen, women also spit outdoors.

I'd say, perhaps there should be a law to forbid spitting in public. First, it's disgusting, second, it lacks respect to others (I even consider it as an indirect insult, be it intentional or not), and third, it's extremely unhealthy.

Imagine how far healthier our world would be if spitting is considered illegal. Can you imagine how potent the saliva is as an agent of contamination? Diseases could spread from it!

Amazingly, them people seemed to be in ease when they spit. Even more like a reflex action.

I hope one day, people could be sued for spitting in public, for committing the act of endangering other people's lives. I mean, if they could ban smoking in public, why not ban spitting in public.

Thank God Mr. Monk doesn't live in this city. He would've died of paranoia. Speaking of Mr. Monk, it is unfortunate that, just like CSI: Miami, the series seemed to be losing its charm. I'm watching the fourth season now, and I couldn't feel the same enthusiasm that I felt when watching the first and second seasons. The show is hardly funny anymore.

I watched A Fish Called Wanda the other day, but somehow failed to spend my time laughing at it. Weird, eh? Despite the praises from critics about the movie, I felt that the only hilarious moments were the ones when Ken tried to kill the old lady. The first time he tried, he killed lady's first terrier. The second time he tried, he turned out to be flattening the lady's second terrier (literally!), and the third time he tried, he crushed the third and the last dog which, eventually sent the old lady into a heart attack and died. To me the funny thing was that Ken was an animal-lover!

Well, anyway, that's all for now. See you all later.