Kam
09-11-2008, 07:46 AM
A World Without Thieves (2004, China, Starring Andy Lau) - The story follows a pair of grifters at the end of their last job, having stolen a BMW and are about to sell it. The girl (Rene Liu) wants to end their ways and start a new life and the guy (Andy Lau) wants to keep going. They break up, both romantically and professionally, and go their separate ways. Andy takes off in the car and Rene walks the Chinese countryside. Rene then runs into a very simple villager/orphan who is looking to go back home and find himself a wife with his lifes savings of 60,000 yuan.
She goes with him on a train where Andy catches up with her, seeking to get back together and the three form a strange union/family on the trip on the train. However, also on the same train is another group of thieves who have overheard the orphan and know he has money. A battle of wits and tactics ensues as the group of thieves tries to get the money and Andy/Rene try and protect the orphan. A few twists and turns and tricks along the way and you've got an entertaining and very touching story. Highly reccomended.
The Spiderwick Chronicles (2008, USA, Freddie Highmore [the kid from finding neverland]) - meh. It's kind of a Narnia knockoff. It was interesting enough and i wasn't bored watching it, but nothing that really drew me in to make it an over-the-top success. Divorced/Separated mom with twins and a daughter moves to an old family house where the recalcitrant twin (both played by Freddie highmore, with some pretty solid special effects to do so) finds an old book of secrets written by their great grand uncle Mr. Spiderwick. He opens the book and signals to the bad guy Ogre that the book is 'openned'. The ogre wants the book for world domination, as Ogre's are want to do, and the kids want to protect the book from the ogre to prevent said world domination. Hijinks ensue, good fights evil, yadda yadda. Marginally reccomended.
The Legend of the Shadowless Sword (2005, Korea, lots of people i didn't recognize) The king is dead! The princes are almost all dead! Only one remains and the best warrior maiden of the kingdom is sent to bring the last remaining prince back to lead the kingdom. The badguys (obviously the ones who have killed the king and the princes) have set a group of assassins to kill the last prince. There are rivalries and lots of action as we find out some people aren't who they seem to be and others are worse than we thought they were.
Once you get past the intro section and into the movie, it gets a LOT better. Especially once they get rid of one character that is too obviously, and horribly done, as a Jack Sparrow rip-off. After the warrior maiden (who is quite hot, just fyi) gets the prince out of his comfort zone of being a douche-bag and back on the trail of becoming a prince, it's a fun, entertaining movie. The martial arts sequences are more dance poetry than anything else and they go ridiculous on the wire work ala Crouching Tiger, but without the stunning wushu moves that also go into Chinese choreography. Reccomended.
Doomsday (2008, directed by Neil Marshall, with Rhona Mitra) So... i picked this up mainly because i'm a big fan of neil marshall's other movie, Dog Soldiers. But to be honest, he's gone downhill since then. I loved Dog Soldiers (originally reccomended by our very own worfster), and i loved the first half of The Descent before it really descended into stupidity, and now Doomsday is nearly all crap. Just watch the trailer and you'll have seen enough. Although Rhona Mitra is redonkulously hot, it's just not enough to carry an otherwise horrible movie. And it's not bad enough to be in the "so-bad-its-good" category. It's just plain stupid. NOT reccomended. :D
more reviews coming soon!
peace
k2
She goes with him on a train where Andy catches up with her, seeking to get back together and the three form a strange union/family on the trip on the train. However, also on the same train is another group of thieves who have overheard the orphan and know he has money. A battle of wits and tactics ensues as the group of thieves tries to get the money and Andy/Rene try and protect the orphan. A few twists and turns and tricks along the way and you've got an entertaining and very touching story. Highly reccomended.
The Spiderwick Chronicles (2008, USA, Freddie Highmore [the kid from finding neverland]) - meh. It's kind of a Narnia knockoff. It was interesting enough and i wasn't bored watching it, but nothing that really drew me in to make it an over-the-top success. Divorced/Separated mom with twins and a daughter moves to an old family house where the recalcitrant twin (both played by Freddie highmore, with some pretty solid special effects to do so) finds an old book of secrets written by their great grand uncle Mr. Spiderwick. He opens the book and signals to the bad guy Ogre that the book is 'openned'. The ogre wants the book for world domination, as Ogre's are want to do, and the kids want to protect the book from the ogre to prevent said world domination. Hijinks ensue, good fights evil, yadda yadda. Marginally reccomended.
The Legend of the Shadowless Sword (2005, Korea, lots of people i didn't recognize) The king is dead! The princes are almost all dead! Only one remains and the best warrior maiden of the kingdom is sent to bring the last remaining prince back to lead the kingdom. The badguys (obviously the ones who have killed the king and the princes) have set a group of assassins to kill the last prince. There are rivalries and lots of action as we find out some people aren't who they seem to be and others are worse than we thought they were.
Once you get past the intro section and into the movie, it gets a LOT better. Especially once they get rid of one character that is too obviously, and horribly done, as a Jack Sparrow rip-off. After the warrior maiden (who is quite hot, just fyi) gets the prince out of his comfort zone of being a douche-bag and back on the trail of becoming a prince, it's a fun, entertaining movie. The martial arts sequences are more dance poetry than anything else and they go ridiculous on the wire work ala Crouching Tiger, but without the stunning wushu moves that also go into Chinese choreography. Reccomended.
Doomsday (2008, directed by Neil Marshall, with Rhona Mitra) So... i picked this up mainly because i'm a big fan of neil marshall's other movie, Dog Soldiers. But to be honest, he's gone downhill since then. I loved Dog Soldiers (originally reccomended by our very own worfster), and i loved the first half of The Descent before it really descended into stupidity, and now Doomsday is nearly all crap. Just watch the trailer and you'll have seen enough. Although Rhona Mitra is redonkulously hot, it's just not enough to carry an otherwise horrible movie. And it's not bad enough to be in the "so-bad-its-good" category. It's just plain stupid. NOT reccomended. :D
more reviews coming soon!
peace
k2