黄金甲

黃金甲在LA一直都是限量放映的. 我一直沒看,是不想開車開老遠的去看一個很可能很不好看的電影. (雖然總有人拿支持亞裔電影事業的大帽子來壓我.)

周五快下班的時候, bf突然來電話說我家附近的電影院也開始放黃金甲了. 于是趕著去看了.停了車時間已經有點晚了,小跑著進去.發現空空的沒幾個人.才松口氣坐下. 這麽空可能是因爲黃金甲沒有十面埋伏公映的時候那麽多宣傳. 也可能因爲不是武打片,也可能是因爲沒有章子怡.

黃金甲裏這群人,演技最好的就是劉烨了. 我一直喜歡他. 雖然辛巴大姐總說他是民工相. 可是他凹下去的雙頰,蒼白的臉色,大而圓的眼睛. 正好適合演這樣一個聰明又懦弱的王子. 劉烨發現密謀,然後質問皇後那段最好看了. 話都說的全,說的盡. 表演的也淋漓盡致, 看著痛快. 不象戲裏其他人, 欲言又止吞吞吐吐. 看得我著急.

周傑倫的演技就被比下去好多. 初聽皇後藥裏有毒, 需要表現出震驚和憤怒,我看的時候都替他捏把汗. 周傑倫的衣服好象太沈.不然武打動作還可以顯得再驕健些.洗澡的鏡頭遠看我還以爲是大王子呢. 結果是周傑倫,給他洗澡不知道是啥意思.又沒有秀身材%$##%$

如果真要一一對位, 周傑倫帶兵反抗的精神有些象雷雨裏面的魯大海. 可是他的反抗是局限在母子之情,爲了救母才起兵. 並不是出于想要推翻獨裁, 他最後也並不能背叛父君. 所以最後一劍還是刺在自己身上. 這一點就和魯大海反壓迫反封建要求平等的精神完全不同了. 沒有了這層精神,我就不太明白翻拍一個雷雨的意義在哪裏.

我不喜歡黃金甲裏把吃藥改成了毒藥. 我覺得,十年來枯木死灰的生活夠讓人絕望了, 再加上大王子要出走, 這時候皇後被逼謀反. 更有震撼力. 改了毒藥之後,一切都簡單化了. 你要毒死我,我自然要反抗. 也許皇後的謀反也是爲了留住大王子. 只是加了毒藥這一節, 謀反留人的效果就被削弱了.

不過,就算謀反成功了. 留得住留不住大王子,皇後都沒有好結果. 留住了,荒淫的皇太後在曆史上都沒有好下場的. 向來女子都逃不過忠孝禮義的懲罰.那些大臣們怎麽可能放過她.
留不住呢,雖然不用再吃毒藥了. 然後呢? 繼續枯木死灰. 一樣的悲劇. 所以說毒藥這一節是多余的. 殺死皇後的又不是毒藥.

讓我遺憾的是, 謀反的力量差別太懸殊了. 根本沒有撕殺. 直接屠殺! 沒有給人一點點希望. 一進大門就知道他們完了. 後來亂箭齊放是在炫耀武力. 其實那時候根本可以讓他們繳械的. 很多人也都會繳的. 與其屠殺, 讓二王子看著手下齊齊下跪, 背叛他, 更能顯示皇帝的至高無上不可動搖的權利. 是皇帝不會弄權還是導演的智謀和武夫相當.

說到智謀,二王子邊疆三年,是應該稍微懂得帶兵的. 可是向來逼宮是講究講裏應外合的, 二王子怎麽只把禁衛軍撤了,而沒有預備自己的人呢. 這樣,就算皇帝預先不知道謀反的密謀, 內宮那麽大,他也是可以趁機逃跑的. 只要皇帝不死,別人是坐不了王位的.
再說, 帶兵是要過一關守一關的, 沒見過沖進大門了, 居然沒有派人把守的大門. 這樣的打法,就算皇帝不知道他們謀反,我看也難成事.

bf對結局很不滿. 說沒有交代清楚. 我問他對誰的結局不明白. 他想了想, 說都明白. 可是覺得還是交代出來比較好. 我覺得結局明白交代二王子自殺已經不錯了. 如果停在三個人都坐下那一幕,你說是不是叫人更犯嘀咕? 我想bf對結局不滿意是覺得受欺負受壓迫的都死了, 失去了這麽多生命,並沒有換來什麽? 改變什麽, 動搖什麽. 一切都沒變. 只是犧牲了很多無辜的生命. 這確實夠讓人失落的.


另外: 結局拍得還是不錯的. 透綠色的杯子和暗紅的藥水飛出去,然後慢慢灑下來, 讓人覺得,電影又回歸到因簡單自然而體現出來的美. 或者說,結局讓人更加感激簡單自然的美.

The Holidays

After watching the first half the holidays, I was already disappointed. My bf asked, "What did you expect from this movie?" I was expecting another "Kissing Jessica Stein", journeys of two completely different girls rediscovering love, life and themselves by breaking out of the normal routines, by doing something completely different.

The holidays wasn't as thought provoking as "Kissing Jessica Stein". It was not even as heart warming as "Love Actually".
The holiday started off with a very attractive concept, swapping homes with someone from a different city. One was from LA, the other London, and first time in the new cities for both. How exciting as I had longed for such an experience, escaping to a different city, a new home, new people, living a different life, experiencing a different culture, a life do-over.

But the holidays quickly shrank this concept to just a new romance, a new leading man. The only difference between LA and London as far as I could tell was the accents. The London experience never went beyond the girl's cottage and Jude Law's bedroom.
The LA experience was limited to only the LA movie industry. Three people in her LA life were a movie script writer; a movie music composer, and an actress. How dare they reduce LA to just the Hollywood?

But I loved Jude Law's role in this movie as a caring father. I loved when Jude Law showed his insecurities as he talked about how hard it was to be a father and a single man. I was a little surprised when he said he sometimes pretended the kids didn't exist. Surprised because I had already settled down into this otherwise completely sugar coated movie.

Watch TV, Learn About Men

Don't you just love numbering? It makes things so easy to follow!
What else makes things easy to follow? Proper indentations! Tabs! :D:D
That's why Vi editor doesn't get my vote.

1. After watching, Miami Vice, I learned that when a guy asked you if you had a secret stash , such as a a secret mansion, bank account; if you wanted to stop drug smuggling and disappear with your money BY YOURSELF, you need to be alarmed because he is an undercover cop!!

Men lust for money more than women. If a man tells you to not be greedy and leave while you can, red lights should flash everywhere and loud speaker should go off,"He is a cop! He is a cop!"

P.S. Gong Li saddens me. Lots of the roles she played were seemingly independent women who indeed were submissive to men, and needed men's care and protection to survive.
In this movie, her business partner\the big boss\bed buddy\whatever you want to call him gave her to the second man in command when he found out she was no longer loyalto him. He did not question her in person nor did he give her a chance to explain. It was like giving away a pet. No one asked the pet's opinion because a pet is a pet is a pet. At the will of a man, her man, Gong Li turned from a powerful business woman to a captive. Just like that! Snap!

After the undercover cop saved her and made arrangements to send her away, she asked him no questions. She put up no resistance. Why did he betray her? Why did he save her? Where is he sending her? Is he going with her? Why not? These are my questions. But she wasn't curious like me. She went as she was told. She was just a helpless little girl that needed the big powerful men's rescue after all! Pity!

2. After watching Dexter, I learned that when a girl exclaimed,” WOW! You are the last good men in the world." "You are so perfect!" she ought to realize that he was a serial killer.

Perfection is impossible to achieve.
Imagine the determination it requires to mock perfection CONSISTENTLY.
If a guy can mock perfection, he can do anything, fool anyone. He gets away with killing as easily as a kid gets away with stealing cookies from the kitchen jar. Just hide the crumbs and clean your hands afterwards.

3. After watching Dead Like Me, I learned that it was OK to call men shallow. “Shallow is the new deep, haven’t you heard?” :)

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

I can never remember how to pronounce the word: Chronicles if I am not staring at it.

On Monday, one of my co-workers wanted to know if I saw the Chronicles of Narnia.
He said it like this, " Hey, did you watch the **hmm hmm** of Narnia?"
I couldn't help but smiling.... one more person that couldn’t say the word: Chro-ni-cles-. :D haha~

I liked the movie a lot. I was surprised that my boyfriend liked it, too. In the first half of the movie where they tried to set up the story and the world of Narnia, I was a little worried that he might think it was too slow. I thought he would be anxious to see the lion and the battle scenes. Surprisingly, he enjoyed the story and enjoyed watching the fauns and the witch and the talking beavers coming to life.

For me, I especially liked little Lucy and her conversation with Mr. Tumnus. When they first met, Mr. Tummus looked at Lucy up and down and asked, "Are you a dwarf?" "No~~~" Lucy frowned a little then smiled, "I am a girl~~~ I am the tallest in my class." The whole theatre burst out laughing at the same time.
I am a little surprised she didn't say, "I am a human and this is earth. Now! Tell me where you come from, little faun?" Well, that would have just been boring, wouldn’t it?

The movie is rated PG. In the battle scenes, there was no blood shed except when little Edmund got thrust by the Witch in the chest. Everything else killed by the witch got turned into stones. I can't remember what happened to the animals killed by the lion's side.

Since C.S. Lewis wrote these books for his granddaughter, Lucy, who was a little girl at that time, he added a grandfatherly story teller figure in the book who would jump out and explain things occasionally. The story teller had said things like," You should never trap yourself in the closet with the door closed" or "She kicked her shoes off and keep her head above the water. This is what you should do when you fall in the water.” and other things to make sure a little girl can understand the stories. It's very sweet of him to do these. But they made the pace of the books slow for me to read. This is why I only got passed the first book after my friend bought them for me several years ago. (It is either that or I am too old for fair tales.) The movie didn't have the story teller to interrupt the pace. It made the movie a lot more enjoyable. The movie also visualized everything, such as, the fauns, the centaurs, the bulls with man’s heads, the White Witch, the great lion with his legendary hair. It makes everything so much easier for the less imaginative people like me. Who says movies and televisions make people stupid, huh?

I have started to read the next book, AGAIN. I still get frustrated occasionally because of the pace. But the unknown of the world in the Far East kept me from quitting.

Garden State

I like Zach's comments about home.
He said something like you reach to a certain age and you realize that the idea of home is gone. There is this place where you put all of your stuff in. But it is not really your home. It's like you miss this place that doesn't exist anymore. You can no longer call your parents' place your home. Until one day, you start your own family, then this new family become your home.

I like this comment because although I have realize the same thing myself, I think many people have, but I don't hear people say it out loud very often. This is for the first time, I think, I hear someone say it in a very honest, genuine, non sarcastic way.

I did miss home a lot when I first came here. I went to sleep cry almost every night during the first week. But it eventually hit me that home is forever behind me or even better, the idea of my home went *puff* into the air.... That's when I don't feel homesick anymore. That's when I really start to enjoy my life here without that funny feeling in my heart. the feeling that there is a string attached to my heart and someone pull it ever so slightly now and then is gone. To realize that I am completely on my own and there is no home to fall back on is scary but liberating.

Another thing I like about this movie is the idea of being totally original and unique. I truly believe everyone is very very unique deep inside. But we don't let it out very often. We are so afraid to be the odd ones. I don't need to be unique. I just want to be my original self. But it is so hard to shake off all of the pretentious crap off me.

Then there is this lying part about Sam, the girl character in the movie. I lie about unimportant facts in my life as well. I don't know why. I just like to alter things here and there, all totally harmless, when I answer people questions. I guess I do it so one will never know who I really am. That's how I protect myself I guess. And to confess is my way of accepting this person in my life.

and I also like the simplicity of the colors in this movie. It helps me focus on the personality of the characters, understand the messages, and capture the soul of the movie.

There is nothing in this movie that makes me go, "wow~~ I have never heard that before!"
I didn't see anything totally mindblowingly new.
This movie is more like an echo in the valley. I thought of these things in my mind, but this is the first time to hear these thoughts being played back to me.
This movie is just very very real. That's all I have to say. After watching the movie, I felt like I've spent the entire Friday morning talking to an old friend.

Before Sunset

you met, talked all night, felt a strong connection. but you let each other slipped out of your lives. you were both young, in the early 20s. you think life was full of endless possibilities~~ you let fate decide if you shall ever meet again~ and you never did.

has this ever happened to you?
Yes?
before sunrise(1995).
he, the america, she, the french, met on a train in australia, spent a night in venice~ they walked around in the streets and they talked and talked~~ they only had one night. in the morning, he needed to catch a flight back to america. before they went different ways, they decided they would meet again in 6 months if both of them could make it. they didn't bother to get each other's contact information or last names....


before sunset(2004)

BeforeSunSet
9 years later, he wrote a book about the night they spent together. She showed up at his book signing event in a bookstore in paris .

"have i changed?" they asked each other~~. "no." each answered....with a smile.

9 years have passed~~ the movie slowly revealed that they never found the same connection they felt for each other with another person. the chemistry they shared at that time was truly a once in a life time experience for both.
again, he needs to leave before sunset to catch a flight back to america. however, they keep talking like there is no tomorrow just like that one night 9 years ago.

the sun starts to set in the west. what will they do differently this time? now they both have grown up. so grown up that he is already married~~ they found each other a little too early 9 years ago, and a little too late now. what will you do?

I sighed deeply at the end of both films. how often do we find that someone special? how easily do we let them go?

remember the scenes from Meet Joe Black? they met in a coffee shop~~ lightning stroked~~ they felt the attraction for each other instantly. after they walked out of the coffee shop, she turned left and he turned right. as they started to walk away from each other in the opposite directions, each one looked back at the other, hoping the other would look back at the same time, then looked away coz they missed each other by a few seconds. In the end, they looked back one more time, hesitated, then disappeared around the corner.

will they keep pondering about this incident happened on a early monday morning? probably~

being young is working against us. we are only at the beginning of the journey. we don't know we need to cherish each other and whatever opportunity we have to be together. we toss things away thinking we can find the same thing or something better at the next corner. Will we??? It’s for us to find out~~

considering the years they are made in, before sunrise/sunset are not really for our generation. however, it serves the purpose of a big red warning sign. history repeats itself, doesn't it?