[review] AVP, going the distance, garden state & hero

yes,
in my copious amounts of free time
all i do is watch movies
or that's how it must seem :P

anyways,
had the chance
to catch a bunch of movies
and here's what i thought

AVP
(alien vs. predator)
much anticipated
the posters have been so cool!
the trailers, so-so
the idea for the movie
seems like a test for audience satisfaction
and finally,
the movie
wasn't that bad at all
if you liked predator
and you liked aliens (not alien)
plot = predictable
and tho humans die in droves
it's not like you really get to know many of them
so you don't really care
the action was ok,
the pyramid shifts were a tad confusing
character development was near zero
tho for those that remember the old movies well
bishop reprises a role
as does the predator ship
(which i think bares a vague vague resemblance
to the ship in aliens...
the corpses in aliens were a bit too big tho...)
so to sum it up
doesn't have the suspense of alien(s)
or even predator
but it's definitely
a sci-fi nut's movie :)

going the distance
canuck movie!
wow,
didn't even realize this
until i saw it
just for the heck of it
never seen any of the actors before
i'll assume they're canadian?
definitely deserves it's rating (18A)
and tho it had it's moments
it was only "ok"
what can i say...
if you like sexual innuendo
and blatant sexual gags as well
and if you like crass humour
well, this is your movie
parts of it were funny
most of it seemed disjointed
as if they were trying to portray
different parts of canada
more than they were aiming for a cohesive plot
i must say
they did get west to east fairly well
tho i gotta wonder
what about up north? :)

garden state
was surprised by this movie
didn't really know what it was about
so didn't really have any expectations
i enjoyed
the way it was written
definitely not an effects movie
and relied totally on the script, direction
and the actors
whom i think were really quite believable
it was fun watching them interact
and "normal" enough
that it didn't seem contrived
the people were so weird sometimes
they were "normal"
natalie portman seems to be in a role
between "girl" stage and "woman" stage
and i think she's really got
potential
if they'll cast her in some different roles
most of her roles to date
seem to have a similar feel to them
i guess we'll see...
never seen the guy (zach braff) before
but neat to watch their interaction
nothing melodramatic
(except maybe a bit at the end *wink*)
and so i guess the movie balances out
for a flick
that's so heavily reliant on dialogue
i really enjoyed it
more and more as i think about it
...it's one of those types of films :)

hero
ah!
what can i say?
i'm really glad they brought this to the big screen
i watched it on vcd
and enjoyed it immensely
tho i must say
they made a few changes
for the north american release
that took away from the artistry of the film
then again
if you don't read chinese
i suppose it doesn't matter as much
(the final words in the sand
are never shown in the big screen release here)
for those that didn't know
hero came out about 2 years ago
(that's when i saw it at least)
and it's way better than crouching tiger
especially since it's filmed in china
and not on a hollywood budget
so it's a true foreign film
(unlike cthd)
anyways,
the artistry of the film is beautiful
cinematography aside
the way they used colour themes
was neat
and the portrayal of ancient historical figures
always makes it even neater
even if the events never happened :)
that being said,
i must say
the effects seem overdone
when viewed on a big screen
i can't say why
it just feels that way
the wire work these days
is getting really good
you can't see them
tho you can tell by the way
people move
how they're harnessed :)
the lake fight scene
was one of my favourites
i hope they'll release a dvd
with the filming of that part :)
the acting...
weird again,
but jet li feels way more believable
when i watch him on my computer
don't know why that is
one other thing is
the movie had english subtitles
the vcd had only chinese ones
and with my almost illiterate chinese skills
my own interpretation of the words
(i can understand some of the spoken language)
-spoken and subtitled
i've gotta say
i created a way more interesting story :)
hehehee
and in this case
i'm pretty sure
my own interpretation
was inferior in accuracy
for the most part
the english subtitles made sense
tho they always fail to convey
the poetry of the language
then again
the poetry of the language
has me making up a completely different story :P
hehehehe
in the end,
i still enjoyed it
zhang yi-mou (director)
is just plain cool
(terracotta soldier - qinyong,
is still my fave of his movies)
and i'm glad he made this movie
ok
that's about it
don't know when
i'll have a chance to watch any more movies for a while
so i guess,
i'll spare us all
with these reviews :)