All caught up on movies
Two trips to the theater in one weekend is usually a bit much, but one takes what opportunities one has.
"Hero"
From reviews, I knew enough to think this more than just a martial arts flick. I'd also read just enough to think it may be subtitled, but I didn't really expect a warning about that from the ticket seller.
This movie sums itself up in my mind with one word: beautiful. Visually, it's a very interesting experience with the scenic vistas and bright color themes for each scene. The fight scenes are fanciful, as you would expect of Chinese cinema, and struck me as perfect inspiration for Exalted.
Really, though, it's not about the visuals. It's about storytelling - not just by telling a story, but by examining how the characters do so. To me, that was very refreshing. The pace of the movie is sedate next to most of what I am accustomed to, but I even appreciated that.
"AvP" - Alien versus Predator
More standard American action fare, and about what I was expecting. It wasn't great, it could have been worse - entertaining enough that I don't feel cheated out of my money, but there's still plenty I could gripe about.
I still maintain it would have been better had they used the story out of Dark Horse's "Aliens versus Predator" comic miniseries. That was good. This movie was just okay.
Also, during the evening, I watched the original "Predator" movie on TV. Strangely, this 17-year-old movie doesn't *look* cheesy like most sci-fi movies do after time. Sure, the cloaking effect and energy weapon blasts look better now, but AvP's predators actually looked less real to me than the original. Maybe it was the glossy, almost-CGI shine to their weapons, but they just didn't ring true.
I may not be able to drive a truck through the holes in the plot, but there were enough things to which I thought "why couldn't they use a little common sense, and spend the five minutes to fix this?"
So now I'm all caught up as far as movies I wanted to see. @whee.
"Hero"
From reviews, I knew enough to think this more than just a martial arts flick. I'd also read just enough to think it may be subtitled, but I didn't really expect a warning about that from the ticket seller.
This movie sums itself up in my mind with one word: beautiful. Visually, it's a very interesting experience with the scenic vistas and bright color themes for each scene. The fight scenes are fanciful, as you would expect of Chinese cinema, and struck me as perfect inspiration for Exalted.
Really, though, it's not about the visuals. It's about storytelling - not just by telling a story, but by examining how the characters do so. To me, that was very refreshing. The pace of the movie is sedate next to most of what I am accustomed to, but I even appreciated that.
"AvP" - Alien versus Predator
More standard American action fare, and about what I was expecting. It wasn't great, it could have been worse - entertaining enough that I don't feel cheated out of my money, but there's still plenty I could gripe about.
I still maintain it would have been better had they used the story out of Dark Horse's "Aliens versus Predator" comic miniseries. That was good. This movie was just okay.
Also, during the evening, I watched the original "Predator" movie on TV. Strangely, this 17-year-old movie doesn't *look* cheesy like most sci-fi movies do after time. Sure, the cloaking effect and energy weapon blasts look better now, but AvP's predators actually looked less real to me than the original. Maybe it was the glossy, almost-CGI shine to their weapons, but they just didn't ring true.
I may not be able to drive a truck through the holes in the plot, but there were enough things to which I thought "why couldn't they use a little common sense, and spend the five minutes to fix this?"
So now I'm all caught up as far as movies I wanted to see. @whee.
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