I had avoided any movies, talks, etc, which reminded me of "The Crucible" since the time I had to read a play with the same name, in year 10, High School. The chaos, craziness, dishonest, etc of that play, frightened the hell out of me as a newly migrant to Australia at the time.
But I watched it last night, because of Daniel Day-Lewis, who played John Proctor in this movie. (I have become curious of the actor who dared play the role of the playboy Tomas in the movie "The Unbearable Lightness of Being").
I was real impressed with him and the movie.
Gee, the way he was so convincing in his role as a righteous, passionate farmer, who ready to die for his beliefs, his faith, his values in life, etc, gave me goose bumps.
Winona Ryder was very good too. She looked so dishonest, cunning and nasty, just as the role of Abigail Williams should be.
Joan Allen was incredible as Elizabeth Proctor, the wife of the righteous and passionate John. The two of them were so contrast in personality, except for the love of goodness. While Elizabeth sticked to rules, John sticked to the basic of why rules were made in the first place. They respected each other. They loved each other in their own way, and between their love, remained an uneasiness about the fact that John once did have an affair with Abigail Williams.
The movie was about a pretty but malicious Abigail, who manipulated events which had happened around her, to remove anyone she disliked, among these, the wife of her once, lover. Many residents of the town of Salem joined in with her game, under the name of "destroying witchcraft for Salem". Turned out, that many of them had been habouring anger, vindictiveness in their heart against certain fellow villagers. With Abigail Williams and a court full of proud and brainless judges, the game of revenging was carried out beautifully, even the devil himself could not have done better there.
The result was, many good and innocent residents of Salem were killed by hanging.
Anyone who wanted to learn about human being's weaknesses should watch this movie. It is brilliantly done, the cast did a terrific job, the conversations involved worthed thinking about and being comptemplated.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
In Good Company, 2004
If you are a bit skeptical about life in general, or happen to feel a bit pissed off with the whole world in general and don't even know why, try watch this movie "In Good Company".
Watch it, and laugh (or giggle, or whatever), because that movie would show you cases, in which others who thought there could be nothing wrong with their lives, suddenly found out that, nothing is really what they seemed to be.
I have always liked Dennis Quaid (doesn't mean that I liked all the movies in which he was in!), perhaps because he is a musician who seemed to have a very good sense of humour & with principle.
In this movie, not only him, but the whole cast was great.
The plot? Hmm, imagined that you were a successful 51 (turned 52) years old saleman, and so sure that everything was OK in your life: a beautiful house with a mortgage, 2 teenagers daughters growing up, 1 of these 2 was in university, your job was OK, everything was under controlled.
or that you were a successful 26 years old saleman. Your life was truly looking up. You kept having one promotion after another because you could always talk your way out of any troubles. You just married to a beautiful girl who came from a wealthy background.
Anything could be wrong from here?
Dan Foreman (Dennis Quaid) was the boss of his team of sale. Everything was OK in his life. His staff respected and liked him. His customers were all happy with his service. Then suddenly everything seemed to be in chaos: parallel with losing his top position in his company (result from a takeover), he found out that he would be a father again soon; he might be fired any time (& losing his job); his daughter Alex (Scarlett Johansson) wanted to change uni, to a better one (which required higher school fees). There was no choice for him, except to take out a second mortgage, and bit his toungue to all the changes in his company.
Carter Duryea (Topher Grace) was the young man who was just got promoted again. From the takeover, he then became Dan Foreman's boss, even though he had no idea how to make thing better for this new company (except to fire staff). He was so happy with the way things looked up for him. He wanted to begin to have kid... But his young and beautiful wife had no intention of becoming a mother that young (or ever). She divorced him soon after that. Carter Duryea suddenly found himself lost.
Carter and Alex got attracted to each other, but knowing how Dan felt about his new boss, the two secretly went out with each other, until Dan found them out.
The movie was full of humorous moments, in a "tongue in cheek" style. It showed the ups and downs of life, of how uncontrollable life and its events could be.
I was impressed with Topher Grace. He was terrific in the role of a saleman, the way he fibbed so well to everyone with a straight face, but for some reasons, he could never lie to Alex (Dan's daughter) or to Dan.
Scarlettt Johansson was very good in playing her role. She looked secretive, innocent, very direct, very simple, never coquettish, always was a good daughter, who knew her own mind. I was very impressed with her acting, "always simple but to the point"! Watching her, I thought of the saying, "Actions speak louder than words", for she expressed lots just by using body language and some facial expressions.
Dan's wife, Ann (Marg Helgenberger) was superb in her role too. It took me a while to figure out where I had seen her. It was CSI, Crime Scene Investigation. (She was the main investigator of the series or so).
A very entertaining movie with lot of depths.
Watch it, and laugh (or giggle, or whatever), because that movie would show you cases, in which others who thought there could be nothing wrong with their lives, suddenly found out that, nothing is really what they seemed to be.
I have always liked Dennis Quaid (doesn't mean that I liked all the movies in which he was in!), perhaps because he is a musician who seemed to have a very good sense of humour & with principle.
In this movie, not only him, but the whole cast was great.
The plot? Hmm, imagined that you were a successful 51 (turned 52) years old saleman, and so sure that everything was OK in your life: a beautiful house with a mortgage, 2 teenagers daughters growing up, 1 of these 2 was in university, your job was OK, everything was under controlled.
or that you were a successful 26 years old saleman. Your life was truly looking up. You kept having one promotion after another because you could always talk your way out of any troubles. You just married to a beautiful girl who came from a wealthy background.
Anything could be wrong from here?
Dan Foreman (Dennis Quaid) was the boss of his team of sale. Everything was OK in his life. His staff respected and liked him. His customers were all happy with his service. Then suddenly everything seemed to be in chaos: parallel with losing his top position in his company (result from a takeover), he found out that he would be a father again soon; he might be fired any time (& losing his job); his daughter Alex (Scarlett Johansson) wanted to change uni, to a better one (which required higher school fees). There was no choice for him, except to take out a second mortgage, and bit his toungue to all the changes in his company.
Carter Duryea (Topher Grace) was the young man who was just got promoted again. From the takeover, he then became Dan Foreman's boss, even though he had no idea how to make thing better for this new company (except to fire staff). He was so happy with the way things looked up for him. He wanted to begin to have kid... But his young and beautiful wife had no intention of becoming a mother that young (or ever). She divorced him soon after that. Carter Duryea suddenly found himself lost.
Carter and Alex got attracted to each other, but knowing how Dan felt about his new boss, the two secretly went out with each other, until Dan found them out.
The movie was full of humorous moments, in a "tongue in cheek" style. It showed the ups and downs of life, of how uncontrollable life and its events could be.
I was impressed with Topher Grace. He was terrific in the role of a saleman, the way he fibbed so well to everyone with a straight face, but for some reasons, he could never lie to Alex (Dan's daughter) or to Dan.
Scarlettt Johansson was very good in playing her role. She looked secretive, innocent, very direct, very simple, never coquettish, always was a good daughter, who knew her own mind. I was very impressed with her acting, "always simple but to the point"! Watching her, I thought of the saying, "Actions speak louder than words", for she expressed lots just by using body language and some facial expressions.
Dan's wife, Ann (Marg Helgenberger) was superb in her role too. It took me a while to figure out where I had seen her. It was CSI, Crime Scene Investigation. (She was the main investigator of the series or so).
A very entertaining movie with lot of depths.
Monday, May 14, 2007
Dungeons & Dragons: Wrath of the Dragon God, 2005
Warning: This movie is extremely good!
I was supposed to write review for the first "Dungeons & Dragons" movie, done in 2000, but by accidents, I got this movie instead. Whatever! (I thought)... So I sat there in front of the screen, thinking, "perhaps it would be just another fancy movie about dragons, princesses and princes stuff!"
A pleasant surprise when I found myself got sucked up in the plot, and promptly fell in love with the hero(s) and heroine(s) of the movie. However, I was very worried with myself, because for the life of me, I did not recognise any of the brilliant cast.
Read the reviews for this movie later, I realised why! Turned out that this movie was a low budget one, with many "not too well known actors actresses" in it. Perhaps because they (the actors actresses) were pretty fresh, that was why they gave such a marvelous play acting?
The movie was brilliantly done, with a "full of surprises and twists" plot. The story told of a mythical kingdom (Ismir) where magics, mages, sorcerers, curses, evil dragons, anything that your mind could fancy and imagine of, would be there.
Wonderful use of special effects in this movie. A touch of "The Matrix" here, a bit of "The Mummy" there, and at between, lots of scenes which reminded the viewers strongly of "Xena the warrior", "Hercule", as well as all the Greek Gods and their wraths.
I love the costumes and all the wonderful magic/illusions they showed in this movie. Damodar (Bruce Payne) strikingly resembled the "bad" High Priest Imhotep in "The Mummy" (1999). Instead of all the horrors comed with "The Mummy", this movie showed the viewers all the dark and evil things in an artistic way. The thrills and all heart stopping moments were there, not because of scary and disgusting images, but of the unknown, the climax of the story.
The plot was about a powerful and evil dragon, which had been captured and trapped in a certain mountain by the wise men and women of Ismir many years ago. Its evil power was restricted by the removal of its magical strength and power, into a black orb. The ancient sorcerers and sorceresses of Ismir kept the dragon and this black orb separated to ensure that this specific dragon could no longer harm anyone, especially the human species.
Damodar, an evil sorcerer, thought differently. He schemed with the dark world, to unite the black orb back to the evil dragon, with the hope that this powerful presence would give him the power to reign over the human species, once the evil dragon had released its wrath and vengeance over the kingdom of Ismir.
Melora (Clemency Burton-Hill), the young and beautiful wife of the courageous and loyal Lord Berek (Mark Dymond), who was the king's treasurer, happened to be a young sorceress of Ismir. While trying out a magic, she happened to encounter the evil spirit of Damodar, and got entangled into a bad cursed by him. In her vision, she also saw a lot of bad things which was about to happen to Ismir.
Consulted with the senior sorcerers and sorceresses of Ismir over this big problem, lord Berek was asked to go on a mission with the 4 best warriors of the kingdom, to get the black orb before Damodar could get his evil hand on it to cause destruction to Ismir. The 4 warriors who accompanied lord Berek represented Intelligence, Wisdom, Honor and Strength, in the fight against the evil magic.
The journey they took was full of dangers, traps, and attacks. Step by step, they came closer to their target, not without big loss.
Lord Berek managed to bring the black orb back to the High Priest of Ismir, without knowing that the real high priest had been removed/killed, by the dark world. The black dragon was reunited with its power, and Ismir was in for destruction.
Melora was dying then because of the curse by Damodar. Seeing the destruction of Ismir, she managed to figured out the way to defeat the black force: by putting faith into the God of Nature.
With the shiny white orb (created by faith), the black dragon was destroyed completely, (not right at once of course!).
The movie was real beautiful, very touching with the love Lord Berek shared with his Melora, the love the people of Ismir had for their country, the kindred spirit which the warriors shared with each other, especially in time of trouble. All of that in a short and powerful movie, with superb acting, and with no sexual nor nude scenes, truly incredible!
I was supposed to write review for the first "Dungeons & Dragons" movie, done in 2000, but by accidents, I got this movie instead. Whatever! (I thought)... So I sat there in front of the screen, thinking, "perhaps it would be just another fancy movie about dragons, princesses and princes stuff!"
A pleasant surprise when I found myself got sucked up in the plot, and promptly fell in love with the hero(s) and heroine(s) of the movie. However, I was very worried with myself, because for the life of me, I did not recognise any of the brilliant cast.
Read the reviews for this movie later, I realised why! Turned out that this movie was a low budget one, with many "not too well known actors actresses" in it. Perhaps because they (the actors actresses) were pretty fresh, that was why they gave such a marvelous play acting?
The movie was brilliantly done, with a "full of surprises and twists" plot. The story told of a mythical kingdom (Ismir) where magics, mages, sorcerers, curses, evil dragons, anything that your mind could fancy and imagine of, would be there.
Wonderful use of special effects in this movie. A touch of "The Matrix" here, a bit of "The Mummy" there, and at between, lots of scenes which reminded the viewers strongly of "Xena the warrior", "Hercule", as well as all the Greek Gods and their wraths.
I love the costumes and all the wonderful magic/illusions they showed in this movie. Damodar (Bruce Payne) strikingly resembled the "bad" High Priest Imhotep in "The Mummy" (1999). Instead of all the horrors comed with "The Mummy", this movie showed the viewers all the dark and evil things in an artistic way. The thrills and all heart stopping moments were there, not because of scary and disgusting images, but of the unknown, the climax of the story.
The plot was about a powerful and evil dragon, which had been captured and trapped in a certain mountain by the wise men and women of Ismir many years ago. Its evil power was restricted by the removal of its magical strength and power, into a black orb. The ancient sorcerers and sorceresses of Ismir kept the dragon and this black orb separated to ensure that this specific dragon could no longer harm anyone, especially the human species.
Damodar, an evil sorcerer, thought differently. He schemed with the dark world, to unite the black orb back to the evil dragon, with the hope that this powerful presence would give him the power to reign over the human species, once the evil dragon had released its wrath and vengeance over the kingdom of Ismir.
Melora (Clemency Burton-Hill), the young and beautiful wife of the courageous and loyal Lord Berek (Mark Dymond), who was the king's treasurer, happened to be a young sorceress of Ismir. While trying out a magic, she happened to encounter the evil spirit of Damodar, and got entangled into a bad cursed by him. In her vision, she also saw a lot of bad things which was about to happen to Ismir.
Consulted with the senior sorcerers and sorceresses of Ismir over this big problem, lord Berek was asked to go on a mission with the 4 best warriors of the kingdom, to get the black orb before Damodar could get his evil hand on it to cause destruction to Ismir. The 4 warriors who accompanied lord Berek represented Intelligence, Wisdom, Honor and Strength, in the fight against the evil magic.
The journey they took was full of dangers, traps, and attacks. Step by step, they came closer to their target, not without big loss.
Lord Berek managed to bring the black orb back to the High Priest of Ismir, without knowing that the real high priest had been removed/killed, by the dark world. The black dragon was reunited with its power, and Ismir was in for destruction.
Melora was dying then because of the curse by Damodar. Seeing the destruction of Ismir, she managed to figured out the way to defeat the black force: by putting faith into the God of Nature.
With the shiny white orb (created by faith), the black dragon was destroyed completely, (not right at once of course!).
The movie was real beautiful, very touching with the love Lord Berek shared with his Melora, the love the people of Ismir had for their country, the kindred spirit which the warriors shared with each other, especially in time of trouble. All of that in a short and powerful movie, with superb acting, and with no sexual nor nude scenes, truly incredible!
The Unbearable Lightness of Being, 1988
A bit erotic at the beginning of the movie! (The cover implied it too, a picture of a beautiful female, in a very artistic and seductive pose, terribly promising!)
Luckily, the movie did not focus on just that aspect only (thank God!), but used it to talk about something more serious: a philosophy of life which one of the main characters, Tomas, a successful surgeon in the movie/book, adopted.
To him, life meant enjoying, simply enjoying whatever life offers. In his case, it meant wealth, easy life, women, meaningless sex, etc.
From the same named novel, "The unbearable Lightness of Being" by Milan Kundera, 1982, published in France, 1984, the movie was about Tomas and his life, his lovers, etc, in 1968, when the USSR took over Czech.
The movie was directed by Philip Kaufman, an American, but the cast chosen for the movie, was mainly from Europe, with Daniel Day-Lewis, British (Tomas); Juliette Binoche, French (Tereza); Lena Olin, Swedish (Sabina); etc.
The producer, Saul Zaentz, was the very same who did Amadeus (1984), The English Patient (1996).
With beautiful cinematography, superb acting, the movie was done in a stylish and artistic manner, which conveyed a poignant and deep themes behind: philosophy entwined with politics and a brief history of Czech around the event of 1968.
Tomas in this movie, represented a young and successful intellects of Czech at the time. He enjoyed living, doing his duties as a surgeon, and making love to whomever his mood came. Life to him, meaned no politics, no serious stuff. Sabina was his favourite lover, a painter, who shared his view of life: free from anything too serious like commitments.
Being pushed into certain situations, one of which was falling in love with a young and innocent Tereza, (who later, became a successful photographer with Sabina's help and encouragement), Tomas married her. However, Tomas couldnot see why he had to be faithful to his wife.
Running to Switzeland when the regime changed hand in Czech 1968, Tomas continued with his affairs and work, while Tereza became frustrated with the way her life turned out over there. Being a serious person, she decided to let Tomas be with his way of life, and left for home. Unexpected to her, Tomas risked everything to follow her back to their homeland, facing hardships from the new regime.
Due to his view over Czech communist, and what he pulished before, the new regime demanded Tomas to retract what he wrote. Tomas suddenly realised that life was not simple as he had thought. Refused to retract his view, Tomas and his wife found life unbearable under the new regime, but they were by then, no longer could leave the country.
Could not practise his professional career because of his view about the communist regime, Tomas and his wife had to find any work to survive. However, being a window cleaner did not seem to stop Tomas from having affairs with other women. Tereza in one of her angry mood, decided to copy her husband.
Realised that things around them had become too complicated, with undercover police, politics, etc, everywhere, the couple decided to run far away. They settled down happily as farmers. Returned home after an odd trip to town, the couple got killed in a road accident. The last scene showed that they had found peace and happiness within themselves and with each other, prior to the accident. (Tomas was driving the truck, Tereza sat next to him, the rain was steady, the road was lonely, but almost clear...).
Sabina received the news. She was in America at the time, contented with her life as an artist in a free country. Nothing showed much here, except her quiet tears. It was beautifully done!
The novel might have mentioned about the couple's son, who corresponded to Sabina, and was the same one who sent Sabina the sad news. The movie skipped this detail (about the son) completely.
Daniel Day-Lewis, Juliette Binoche and Lena Olin were all terrific in playing their roles. Watching Daniel Day-Lewis, I kept thinking of the young John Travolta in "Grease" (1978). However, Daniel Day-Lewis with his slim, tall and stylish figure, definitely beat John Travolta in this role of a playboy, the type who "loves them and leave them"...
I was impressed with Lena Olin. She seemed to be able to hide (or show) whatever emotions she wanted to. A real artist!
Just as in "Amadeus", this movie was equipped with beautiful music. Different to "Amadeus", it was not burdened much with heavy clothings. As a matter of fact, it was full of scenes with nudity, love making, etc, in very artistic ways.
(wrote this review for my friend in Czech)
Luckily, the movie did not focus on just that aspect only (thank God!), but used it to talk about something more serious: a philosophy of life which one of the main characters, Tomas, a successful surgeon in the movie/book, adopted.
To him, life meant enjoying, simply enjoying whatever life offers. In his case, it meant wealth, easy life, women, meaningless sex, etc.
From the same named novel, "The unbearable Lightness of Being" by Milan Kundera, 1982, published in France, 1984, the movie was about Tomas and his life, his lovers, etc, in 1968, when the USSR took over Czech.
The movie was directed by Philip Kaufman, an American, but the cast chosen for the movie, was mainly from Europe, with Daniel Day-Lewis, British (Tomas); Juliette Binoche, French (Tereza); Lena Olin, Swedish (Sabina); etc.
The producer, Saul Zaentz, was the very same who did Amadeus (1984), The English Patient (1996).
With beautiful cinematography, superb acting, the movie was done in a stylish and artistic manner, which conveyed a poignant and deep themes behind: philosophy entwined with politics and a brief history of Czech around the event of 1968.
Tomas in this movie, represented a young and successful intellects of Czech at the time. He enjoyed living, doing his duties as a surgeon, and making love to whomever his mood came. Life to him, meaned no politics, no serious stuff. Sabina was his favourite lover, a painter, who shared his view of life: free from anything too serious like commitments.
Being pushed into certain situations, one of which was falling in love with a young and innocent Tereza, (who later, became a successful photographer with Sabina's help and encouragement), Tomas married her. However, Tomas couldnot see why he had to be faithful to his wife.
Running to Switzeland when the regime changed hand in Czech 1968, Tomas continued with his affairs and work, while Tereza became frustrated with the way her life turned out over there. Being a serious person, she decided to let Tomas be with his way of life, and left for home. Unexpected to her, Tomas risked everything to follow her back to their homeland, facing hardships from the new regime.
Due to his view over Czech communist, and what he pulished before, the new regime demanded Tomas to retract what he wrote. Tomas suddenly realised that life was not simple as he had thought. Refused to retract his view, Tomas and his wife found life unbearable under the new regime, but they were by then, no longer could leave the country.
Could not practise his professional career because of his view about the communist regime, Tomas and his wife had to find any work to survive. However, being a window cleaner did not seem to stop Tomas from having affairs with other women. Tereza in one of her angry mood, decided to copy her husband.
Realised that things around them had become too complicated, with undercover police, politics, etc, everywhere, the couple decided to run far away. They settled down happily as farmers. Returned home after an odd trip to town, the couple got killed in a road accident. The last scene showed that they had found peace and happiness within themselves and with each other, prior to the accident. (Tomas was driving the truck, Tereza sat next to him, the rain was steady, the road was lonely, but almost clear...).
Sabina received the news. She was in America at the time, contented with her life as an artist in a free country. Nothing showed much here, except her quiet tears. It was beautifully done!
The novel might have mentioned about the couple's son, who corresponded to Sabina, and was the same one who sent Sabina the sad news. The movie skipped this detail (about the son) completely.
Daniel Day-Lewis, Juliette Binoche and Lena Olin were all terrific in playing their roles. Watching Daniel Day-Lewis, I kept thinking of the young John Travolta in "Grease" (1978). However, Daniel Day-Lewis with his slim, tall and stylish figure, definitely beat John Travolta in this role of a playboy, the type who "loves them and leave them"...
I was impressed with Lena Olin. She seemed to be able to hide (or show) whatever emotions she wanted to. A real artist!
Just as in "Amadeus", this movie was equipped with beautiful music. Different to "Amadeus", it was not burdened much with heavy clothings. As a matter of fact, it was full of scenes with nudity, love making, etc, in very artistic ways.
(wrote this review for my friend in Czech)
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Runaway Jury, 2003
Have to admit, this movie is terrific. A real success!
The funny thing is, I often saw this movie on TV, but always avoided it, because I confused it with another movie, "The Juror", 1996, in which Demi Moore was the main cast. (That movie was OK, and once I watched it, I did not want to watch it again!).
Since reading John Grisham's "The Street Lawyer" and "The firm", I have begun to be curious about movies based on his books more than before. I had watched "The Pelican Breef", "A time to kill" & "The Client" long before, and thought they were OK. After reading "The Firm", I searched for the movie based on that book to watch, and was a bit disappointed, for the book was much better than the movie.
Never read "The runaway jury" before, and practically avoided reading it, for I was worry that knowing the book would make me become too difficult to please with the movie (as in the case of "The Firm").
Before watching this movie, I have heard quite a bit of bad gossips about John Cusack, as well as watched a few of his other movies, all of which were very ordinary. Saw him in this movie "The Runaway Jury", I thought I was about to see just another ordinary movie.
Surprisingly, John Cusack was so brilliant in his role in this movie (as Nicholas Easter). The body language he used was so good, so superb!
Dustin Hoffman & Gene Hackman were also superb in their role. I almost thought that they were real enemies to each other in real life, one was so dignify, honest, the other was so slimy and greedy.
(Strange, Gene Hackman also played the role of a slimy character in "The Firm" (1993)).
Plot:
A young father was gunned down by a dissatisfied ex-colleague, at the same time with his other fellow workers who happened to be at the workplace at the time. His widowed decided to sue the gun manufacturer, with the hope that the government would restrict the laws related to buying and owning any gun.
Nicholas Easter was chosen to be one among the jurors in this case. He seemed to try his best to wriggle out of his duty, and to the normal eyes, he was just an opportunist, a greedy and lazy young man.
The truth was, Nicholas Easter happened to blame himself partly for the death of one of his childhood friends, who was gunned down by a kid in the same school with his group. He could not help his friend to avoid the bullets on that specific day, and growing up, decided to do something about it.
With the dead kid's sister, Marlee (Rachel Weisz), Nicholas Easter played quite a lot of tricks on the jurors, as well as on the laywers of the court case.
(Rachel Weisz did look very mysterious, serious and haunting with her big sad eyes and determined attitude, quite appropriate for the role of Marlee. However, I was surprised that she and Nicholas Easter dared playing their amateur game against a ruthless gun manufacturer and still alive and kicking at the end of the movie...).
Seemed as the court case in the book was about tobacco, while in the movie, it was about guns.
The outcome? Real good, with a terrific ending!
The movie in general, was real impressive!
(From some reviews I read, some people who read the book first, did not like this movie too much due to all the changes and differences between the book and the movie. Since I did not read the book, the movie was above my expectation!).
The funny thing is, I often saw this movie on TV, but always avoided it, because I confused it with another movie, "The Juror", 1996, in which Demi Moore was the main cast. (That movie was OK, and once I watched it, I did not want to watch it again!).
Since reading John Grisham's "The Street Lawyer" and "The firm", I have begun to be curious about movies based on his books more than before. I had watched "The Pelican Breef", "A time to kill" & "The Client" long before, and thought they were OK. After reading "The Firm", I searched for the movie based on that book to watch, and was a bit disappointed, for the book was much better than the movie.
Never read "The runaway jury" before, and practically avoided reading it, for I was worry that knowing the book would make me become too difficult to please with the movie (as in the case of "The Firm").
Before watching this movie, I have heard quite a bit of bad gossips about John Cusack, as well as watched a few of his other movies, all of which were very ordinary. Saw him in this movie "The Runaway Jury", I thought I was about to see just another ordinary movie.
Surprisingly, John Cusack was so brilliant in his role in this movie (as Nicholas Easter). The body language he used was so good, so superb!
Dustin Hoffman & Gene Hackman were also superb in their role. I almost thought that they were real enemies to each other in real life, one was so dignify, honest, the other was so slimy and greedy.
(Strange, Gene Hackman also played the role of a slimy character in "The Firm" (1993)).
Plot:
A young father was gunned down by a dissatisfied ex-colleague, at the same time with his other fellow workers who happened to be at the workplace at the time. His widowed decided to sue the gun manufacturer, with the hope that the government would restrict the laws related to buying and owning any gun.
Nicholas Easter was chosen to be one among the jurors in this case. He seemed to try his best to wriggle out of his duty, and to the normal eyes, he was just an opportunist, a greedy and lazy young man.
The truth was, Nicholas Easter happened to blame himself partly for the death of one of his childhood friends, who was gunned down by a kid in the same school with his group. He could not help his friend to avoid the bullets on that specific day, and growing up, decided to do something about it.
With the dead kid's sister, Marlee (Rachel Weisz), Nicholas Easter played quite a lot of tricks on the jurors, as well as on the laywers of the court case.
(Rachel Weisz did look very mysterious, serious and haunting with her big sad eyes and determined attitude, quite appropriate for the role of Marlee. However, I was surprised that she and Nicholas Easter dared playing their amateur game against a ruthless gun manufacturer and still alive and kicking at the end of the movie...).
Seemed as the court case in the book was about tobacco, while in the movie, it was about guns.
The outcome? Real good, with a terrific ending!
The movie in general, was real impressive!
(From some reviews I read, some people who read the book first, did not like this movie too much due to all the changes and differences between the book and the movie. Since I did not read the book, the movie was above my expectation!).
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
Draft Review, movies
1. In Her Shoes, 2005, with Cameron Diaz and Tony Collete as the two sisters. A surprise to see Cameron Diaz in a "serious" role. A very touching story, though maybe a drag to some. Good cinematography, and the way scenes were entwined skillfully to enrich and thicken the plot of the movie.
2. Their Eyes were watching God, 2005, Halle Berry. Hmm, the beginning and the end was good, the middle (long) was very boring. From the comments of other viewers, seemed as the book was very good, not the movie! Halle Berry was terrific in her role, regardless. Guess it was just the way the script was done (not good enough?), that made the movie a bit dragging. I almost slept (a few times) during that movie.
3. The four musketeers, 1974. I watched this many times before. Watched it again in DVD, only because I thought it was a new version. Got many good laughs out of watching it, for the movie was a real comedy though the main theme was real serious stuff. Interesting to see many famous and old actors actresses looked so young and beautiful in there. Of course, it was 33 years ago that this movie was first shown. Beautiful costumes in this movie!
4. Collateral, 2004, Tom Cruise. Interesting to see Tom Cruise being disguised as a middle age assassin. He did look very terrorrist in this movie. A bit boring in the first half of the movie, but became better at the end. The plot is not very convincing I think. How often do you hear of assassins who became attached to one of their victims, and decided to protect that specific victim? A few points I want to dissect and analyse, for I don't think it sounded right at all! In general, the movie is not bad!
2. Their Eyes were watching God, 2005, Halle Berry. Hmm, the beginning and the end was good, the middle (long) was very boring. From the comments of other viewers, seemed as the book was very good, not the movie! Halle Berry was terrific in her role, regardless. Guess it was just the way the script was done (not good enough?), that made the movie a bit dragging. I almost slept (a few times) during that movie.
3. The four musketeers, 1974. I watched this many times before. Watched it again in DVD, only because I thought it was a new version. Got many good laughs out of watching it, for the movie was a real comedy though the main theme was real serious stuff. Interesting to see many famous and old actors actresses looked so young and beautiful in there. Of course, it was 33 years ago that this movie was first shown. Beautiful costumes in this movie!
4. Collateral, 2004, Tom Cruise. Interesting to see Tom Cruise being disguised as a middle age assassin. He did look very terrorrist in this movie. A bit boring in the first half of the movie, but became better at the end. The plot is not very convincing I think. How often do you hear of assassins who became attached to one of their victims, and decided to protect that specific victim? A few points I want to dissect and analyse, for I don't think it sounded right at all! In general, the movie is not bad!
Match Me If You Can, Susan Phillips, 2005
Remember this famous quote from Pride & Prejudice (Jane Austen), "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife."?
Well, this novel was about a man in such a situation: Heath Champion, a good looking, successful and ruthless sport agent, who wanted to get married by the time he turned 35.
He realised that in his sport circle, he could get laid easily, but the girls he encountered, were not whom he truly wanted to have as wife, for they could not help him advancing his future and career further.
Came from a poor background, with a drunk and womaniser for a father, Heath Champion tried his best to shake off all the bad things behind, among which, was poverty (& its smell). Got a law degree (or something similar) from Havard, he focused his career in becoming business manager for famous athletes. Then 34 years old, Heath decided to hire the best matchmaker of the country: Portia Powers, a 42 YO, cold, ruthless woman, who owned a matchmaking business named "Power Matches", to help him find a beautiful, intelligent, sweet, and "blue blooded" wife.
Unfortunately for Heath Champion, one of his best client (and friend) happened to mention his intention to his wife. This wife had a close friend, Annabelle, who at the time, was struggling to make her inherited (from her maternal grandmother) matchmaking business survived.
Out of courtesy to his client/friend, Heath had to let this Annabelle meet up with him. He did so, with reluctance, and had every intention to politely refuse her, for he had already hired a good matchmaking agency, "Power Matches" to find a wife for him.
Annabelle was 31, kind hearted, sweet, a shorty (from Heath Champion's view of her!), who had a degree in acting, (but had got no where with her life by then,) with average look, clumsy, but very determined to make her grandmother's business worked and became a success. She believed that with Heath Champion as her client, she would be able to make her "Perfect for you" matchmaking at least survived for the time being.
Heath Champion could not shake Annabelle off. He had no choice but to let Annabelle tried out her first matchmaking. He got hooked since then due to many reasons (you have to read the book to understand!).
The plot had many surprising twists, all was pleasant and cute.
The ending?
Heath realised that he liked Annabelle very much, more than anyone he could think of, but she did not possess certain features which he listed as "required" to be his wife (eg, she was not elegant or beautiful enough, too short, etc). The fact that she was an agent who supposed to help him finding a wife, confused matters further. He continued to see one lady after another (with Annabelle present as his assistant in this wife searching business, for he realised that Annabelle could help him smoothed out all the appointments he got with new candidates sent from the matchmaking agencies).
He was matched finally with a beautiful, elegant and well educated lady, from a well connected family. Her age was perfect too, 29! The lady was very keen to settle down with him, but suddenly, Heath found out that he was reluctant to propose to her or anyone.
Thing did not simply end there, that was the beauty!
I guess one has to really read it, to understand, for this novel has a very thick plot. The novel does not simply focus on just Annabelle, or Heath, but on many interesting characters. The psychology behind all the stories within, is truly amazing. Reading it, readers would feel sucked in, for the novel mentions, reflects many issues which the young generations are currently facing. I do like the way the author ends this novel, very cute!
Well, this novel was about a man in such a situation: Heath Champion, a good looking, successful and ruthless sport agent, who wanted to get married by the time he turned 35.
He realised that in his sport circle, he could get laid easily, but the girls he encountered, were not whom he truly wanted to have as wife, for they could not help him advancing his future and career further.
Came from a poor background, with a drunk and womaniser for a father, Heath Champion tried his best to shake off all the bad things behind, among which, was poverty (& its smell). Got a law degree (or something similar) from Havard, he focused his career in becoming business manager for famous athletes. Then 34 years old, Heath decided to hire the best matchmaker of the country: Portia Powers, a 42 YO, cold, ruthless woman, who owned a matchmaking business named "Power Matches", to help him find a beautiful, intelligent, sweet, and "blue blooded" wife.
Unfortunately for Heath Champion, one of his best client (and friend) happened to mention his intention to his wife. This wife had a close friend, Annabelle, who at the time, was struggling to make her inherited (from her maternal grandmother) matchmaking business survived.
Out of courtesy to his client/friend, Heath had to let this Annabelle meet up with him. He did so, with reluctance, and had every intention to politely refuse her, for he had already hired a good matchmaking agency, "Power Matches" to find a wife for him.
Annabelle was 31, kind hearted, sweet, a shorty (from Heath Champion's view of her!), who had a degree in acting, (but had got no where with her life by then,) with average look, clumsy, but very determined to make her grandmother's business worked and became a success. She believed that with Heath Champion as her client, she would be able to make her "Perfect for you" matchmaking at least survived for the time being.
Heath Champion could not shake Annabelle off. He had no choice but to let Annabelle tried out her first matchmaking. He got hooked since then due to many reasons (you have to read the book to understand!).
The plot had many surprising twists, all was pleasant and cute.
The ending?
Heath realised that he liked Annabelle very much, more than anyone he could think of, but she did not possess certain features which he listed as "required" to be his wife (eg, she was not elegant or beautiful enough, too short, etc). The fact that she was an agent who supposed to help him finding a wife, confused matters further. He continued to see one lady after another (with Annabelle present as his assistant in this wife searching business, for he realised that Annabelle could help him smoothed out all the appointments he got with new candidates sent from the matchmaking agencies).
He was matched finally with a beautiful, elegant and well educated lady, from a well connected family. Her age was perfect too, 29! The lady was very keen to settle down with him, but suddenly, Heath found out that he was reluctant to propose to her or anyone.
Thing did not simply end there, that was the beauty!
I guess one has to really read it, to understand, for this novel has a very thick plot. The novel does not simply focus on just Annabelle, or Heath, but on many interesting characters. The psychology behind all the stories within, is truly amazing. Reading it, readers would feel sucked in, for the novel mentions, reflects many issues which the young generations are currently facing. I do like the way the author ends this novel, very cute!
Monday, May 7, 2007
Draft Review, Match Me If You Can, Phillips
The tittle really caught my attention, for the movie "Catch me if you can" was quite interesting. Since I have never read any book written by Susan Elizabeth Phillips, I was a bit curious. All in all, the introductions from various sources about this novel did sound good!
Hmm, about a sport agent looking for a respectable and "blue blooded" wife?
Good looking or not, I was a bit weary (I didn't really like the movie "Jerry Maguire" (1996, Tom Cruise)), but I was curious about the fights between the two matchmakers of the story...
It was a complete surprise to me, for the book was real good. I read and treasured every word, every line in that novel, and kept admiring the author. It took me a whole night to read it, (plus another 2 hours of the next day). The plot was full of hilarious twists, the characters in the novel were fascinating, the writing was terrific.
I was so impressed with the writer, that I am going to read more books from her (just to check out for more of her writing styles, her thought, etc...)
Plot? Can I tell you later? (It is a real cute romance, very convincing...)
Hmm, about a sport agent looking for a respectable and "blue blooded" wife?
Good looking or not, I was a bit weary (I didn't really like the movie "Jerry Maguire" (1996, Tom Cruise)), but I was curious about the fights between the two matchmakers of the story...
It was a complete surprise to me, for the book was real good. I read and treasured every word, every line in that novel, and kept admiring the author. It took me a whole night to read it, (plus another 2 hours of the next day). The plot was full of hilarious twists, the characters in the novel were fascinating, the writing was terrific.
I was so impressed with the writer, that I am going to read more books from her (just to check out for more of her writing styles, her thought, etc...)
Plot? Can I tell you later? (It is a real cute romance, very convincing...)
Update on Friday 4th May
That afternoon was one of the most horrible Friday afternoon that I had ever encountered.
I had come early by car that afternoon, about 1/2 an hour before the time the school finished, but all the parking lots on the streets around that area was full with cars, (new, old, big, small, etc... any model you could think of!).
I was shocked!
Drove around the area about 4 rounds, finally, I resigned with my fate: I had to settle for a parking spot which was pretty far from the school (too late by then to park the car at home, and walked back to the school!).
The church next to the school chose that time to open its huge 2 doors. People in black suits, dresses, etc, squeezed out like ants.... Hah, so it was a burial ceremony! Damn it, why chose a Friday afternoon to congest the whole suburb like that?
I knew that we should respect the deads and all that, but when one had to fight to get through the crowds in order to pick up one's kids, then later, had to face the same struggle just to get out.... I was real mad by then.... A thought passed my mind: some people could manage to annoy others even after they were truly dead!
The dead person must be someone important, or very popular! People who attended the ceremony spreaded themselves out into a long line of about 20 metres to show respect to his coffin (the last time!).
Normally, I would admire such a show of respect, but when that black crowds of about 500 people caused extra blockage to an intersection which had always been busy, (it was truly a black spot, where many accidents frequently happened), the chaos then annoyed me greatly...
I began to feel sorry for the dead guy... (I bet he would not like to cause such an inconvenience to the area if he could voice out his opinion!).
***
Found out today, that the dead man was a local, well liked by many. He passed away suddenly from a heart attack, when he was only about 50 something years old. Asked if he was a very successful man in life, I was told, "No, he lived a very ordinary life, joined all sort of group activities, (sport(s) plus others), and got on pretty well with everyone. All the friends he made, he kept, that was why when he passed away, they all wanted to come to say goodbye to him the last time...."
Hmmmm.... sound like the dead man was quite a character!
I had come early by car that afternoon, about 1/2 an hour before the time the school finished, but all the parking lots on the streets around that area was full with cars, (new, old, big, small, etc... any model you could think of!).
I was shocked!
Drove around the area about 4 rounds, finally, I resigned with my fate: I had to settle for a parking spot which was pretty far from the school (too late by then to park the car at home, and walked back to the school!).
The church next to the school chose that time to open its huge 2 doors. People in black suits, dresses, etc, squeezed out like ants.... Hah, so it was a burial ceremony! Damn it, why chose a Friday afternoon to congest the whole suburb like that?
I knew that we should respect the deads and all that, but when one had to fight to get through the crowds in order to pick up one's kids, then later, had to face the same struggle just to get out.... I was real mad by then.... A thought passed my mind: some people could manage to annoy others even after they were truly dead!
The dead person must be someone important, or very popular! People who attended the ceremony spreaded themselves out into a long line of about 20 metres to show respect to his coffin (the last time!).
Normally, I would admire such a show of respect, but when that black crowds of about 500 people caused extra blockage to an intersection which had always been busy, (it was truly a black spot, where many accidents frequently happened), the chaos then annoyed me greatly...
I began to feel sorry for the dead guy... (I bet he would not like to cause such an inconvenience to the area if he could voice out his opinion!).
***
Found out today, that the dead man was a local, well liked by many. He passed away suddenly from a heart attack, when he was only about 50 something years old. Asked if he was a very successful man in life, I was told, "No, he lived a very ordinary life, joined all sort of group activities, (sport(s) plus others), and got on pretty well with everyone. All the friends he made, he kept, that was why when he passed away, they all wanted to come to say goodbye to him the last time...."
Hmmmm.... sound like the dead man was quite a character!
Thursday, May 3, 2007
Gloomy Friday
A few piles of dirty laundry to do, movies to watch, articles to write (to entertain my many friends), an old neighbour I need to visit, blah blah blah, the list goes on...
Time flies, regardless of how busy we are!
Our house guest left this morning. I had promised to provide dinner for him this coming Monday night, to save him some times. He is going to move into his new flat on that day!
He should have asked his wife to come along to ease some of his problems, but his mother in law is real old and sick at the moment, so I guess his wife would not and could not do that, ie, left the 80+ mom to someone else to care for. (The funny and sweet lady has been living with him and his wife for quite a long time now...).
I am right now, doing his dirty laundry for him, as an act of charity (hehehe).
He has been a good old friend and colleague to my husband for almost 10 years now. The two, both were born under the sign of Ox (based on the Chinese horoscope, that means they both share similar outlook of life, both believes in being steady, in hardwork, stubborn, etc). The differences between them are: my husband is a younger ox (by 12 years!), who is more stubborn and with less experience of life!
I have been doing my best to encourage and nurture the friendship between the two, for my husband does need some one very mature to chat to.
It has been 3 weeks this time, that he stayed with us. He sighed, told us that he did not have the chance to spend time with his grandchildren like he does with our young kids. It is funny, the way my babies in their early years, used to believe that our old friend, was really Santa Clause. He does resemble Santa Clause with his thick and fluffy white hair, beard, gentle smile and a huge/protruding belly.
I believed I had fed him well the last 3 weeks (while my husband stuffed the man with our good stock of wine/alcohols!). Just hope we did not shorten his life by doing that, for his wife is a real lovely person, who loves natures and seems to rely on him greatly for everything. (Though she always pretends as she could be very tough. A typical dragon!)
I admire them and their love for each other!
(hmm, from what I heard, they did their fair shares in bickering, fighting, arguing with each other too... But while their other friends and acquaintances' marriages all seemed to fall apart, theirs seem to be secure as ever. A true love of the 1960s, hippy and all? Yeah, she is still with long flowing hair (must have touched her hip or lower), bare feet whenever she could, and is most happy among the wilds...).
Time to run!
(It is very gloomy today. No rain like yesterday though. OOps, I am supposed to do something fast before the clock strikes 12 noon!)
Time flies, regardless of how busy we are!
Our house guest left this morning. I had promised to provide dinner for him this coming Monday night, to save him some times. He is going to move into his new flat on that day!
He should have asked his wife to come along to ease some of his problems, but his mother in law is real old and sick at the moment, so I guess his wife would not and could not do that, ie, left the 80+ mom to someone else to care for. (The funny and sweet lady has been living with him and his wife for quite a long time now...).
I am right now, doing his dirty laundry for him, as an act of charity (hehehe).
He has been a good old friend and colleague to my husband for almost 10 years now. The two, both were born under the sign of Ox (based on the Chinese horoscope, that means they both share similar outlook of life, both believes in being steady, in hardwork, stubborn, etc). The differences between them are: my husband is a younger ox (by 12 years!), who is more stubborn and with less experience of life!
I have been doing my best to encourage and nurture the friendship between the two, for my husband does need some one very mature to chat to.
It has been 3 weeks this time, that he stayed with us. He sighed, told us that he did not have the chance to spend time with his grandchildren like he does with our young kids. It is funny, the way my babies in their early years, used to believe that our old friend, was really Santa Clause. He does resemble Santa Clause with his thick and fluffy white hair, beard, gentle smile and a huge/protruding belly.
I believed I had fed him well the last 3 weeks (while my husband stuffed the man with our good stock of wine/alcohols!). Just hope we did not shorten his life by doing that, for his wife is a real lovely person, who loves natures and seems to rely on him greatly for everything. (Though she always pretends as she could be very tough. A typical dragon!)
I admire them and their love for each other!
(hmm, from what I heard, they did their fair shares in bickering, fighting, arguing with each other too... But while their other friends and acquaintances' marriages all seemed to fall apart, theirs seem to be secure as ever. A true love of the 1960s, hippy and all? Yeah, she is still with long flowing hair (must have touched her hip or lower), bare feet whenever she could, and is most happy among the wilds...).
Time to run!
(It is very gloomy today. No rain like yesterday though. OOps, I am supposed to do something fast before the clock strikes 12 noon!)
Underworld (2003)
Plot:
The war between the lycans (werewolf) and vampires had gone on for centuries. The truth about whom had begun the war first, was not really clear according to the history book recorded by the vampires.
At the time when this movie began to tell its story, the leader of the lycans, Lucian (Michael Sheen) was believed to be dead at the hand of Kraven (Shane Brolly), a vampire warrior. For this wonderful victory, Kraven was rewarded: he was allowed to be in charge of the vampires on behalf of the vampire elders who were the most powerful of the vampires. These elders seemed to need rest, each in their special vault, and in a certain manner (quite interesting, like they were being re-charged, with all sort of wires attached to their back, neck, etc) for certain centuries.
Even though the leader of the lycans, Lucian, was believed to be dead, his species almost became extinct, the ruthless and vigilant death dealers continued to keep watch. As vampire warriors, their main duty was to find any survival lycans, and destroyed them without thinking twice.
Selene (Kate Beckinsale) was one such death dealer. She was intensed and very focus in doing her duty. Being beautiful, terribly intelligent and loyal, she was targeted by Kraven as his future vampire queen the day he managed to become king. Selene knew nothing of this. She was highly respected by her fellow vampires for her skills and intelligence. Not only that, she was almost like a daughter to Viktor, one of the powerful vampire elders. She felt like she was in debt to that specific vampire for rescuing her from being torn into pieces like her whole family, by the lycans from one of their raids. Viktor after saving her, had decided to pass the immortality of the vampire species to her, then, just a little girl, by turned her into a vampire like him.
While Viktor was having his rest in his vault, Selene pledged her allegiance to Kraven without questioning the elders' decision to put Kraven in charge of the vampires.
In one of her nightly hunts for lycans, she noticed a few strange events. There were two lycans who seemed to be intent on their stalking of a certain human. Not only that, she happened to encounter a place, where the number of lycans present, seemed to be completely unbelievable, compared to what she was led to believe, that they were seriously on the verge of being extinct.
Kraven's indifferent attitude about these odd events, made Selene became more curious and suspicious. Perhaps things were not really what they seemed! Believed that the strange human who was specially targeted by the lycans, might be the key of everything, Selene decided to confront him.
Selene arrived just in time to save the strange human, Michael Corvin (Scott Speedman) from being kidnapped by the lycans. However, both Selene and Michael Corvin were injured from the attack. Being bitten by one of a very powerful lycans, Michael Corvin's fate seemed to be sealed: he was turning into werewolf.
The encounter with the powerful lycan who injured them both, puzzled Selene. From searching the history books about the war between lycans and vampires, Selene suddenly realised that the lycan who hurt her and Michael Corvin before, must have been the very same Lucian, the leader of the lycans, who had been supposed to be killed by Kraven a long time ago (based on the pictures recorded in the book and what she saw with her own eyes).
Did not know where to turn, Selene secretly woke Viktor (Bill Nighy) up, the same vampire elder who had taken care of her when she was a little girl. Since she disrupted the order of waking up certain vampire elder at certain century, Selene displeased Viktor greatly. Her suspicion of what went on: about the lycans secretly regrouping, of Kraven being the mole within their organisation, of Lucian still alived and well, of the lycans' secret planning to overpower the vampires, which might involve a human being namely Michael Corvin, etc, was ignored by Viktor as un-confounded. Selene was confined to await for a correct punishment, for daring waking up any elders, especially waking up a wrong one. Her punishment was supposed to be properly meted out by the other vampire elders who would soon arrived for their pre-arranged council.
Lucky for Selene, one of her fellow vampires, a pretty blond named Erika (Sophia Myles, who played the elegant and wonderful Lady Penelope in Thunderbirds, 2004), happened to dislike the idea of Selene as Kraven's bride. Erika secretly helped Selene escaped successfully.
Thus, Selene had the chance to find some proofs of Kraven's treachery, to show Viktor. Unfortunately, her proof came slightly late, for the lycans managed to slaughter Amelia, the powerful vampire elder who had arrived with her own group for the scheduled council.
Amelia's blood was drained dry, with the purpose of turning the leader of lycans, Lucian, into a powerful and strong werewolf, who would be stronger than any vampire or lycan ever existed. This could only be done, with the presence of blood come from a certain direct descendant of the ancestor of both the lycans and vampires, whose blood must contained neither werewolf nor vampire diseases.
Before such event could take place, Viktor arrived, and injured Lucian badly. From the revealing of Kraven, Selene found out that her family was killed on that fateful night, not by lycans, but by Viktor in one of his wild mood. Little Selene was saved, only because she reminded him of his only daughter, whom he had killed, because she dared married Lucian, a werewolf, and were pregnant with his child. The war between lycans and vampires began and went on since that event. (Before that, lycans were slaves to the vampires. Their duty was to be "daywalker" guards to their betters).
To save Michael Corvin from being killed by the cruel and wicked Viktor, Selene promptly bit Michael Corvin, following Lucian's advice. (Lucian realised that those two were attracted to each other. That reminded him of the love he and his wife had shared. He let Selene know that, because Michael Corvin was a direct descendant of the ancestor who were with pure blood, if he carried both vampire's and lycan's blood (ie, got bitten by both), he should become the strongest of the two species).
The war did end as Lucian predicted.
_______
The movie was done in a very sophisticated and stylish manner. It had certain scenes which reminded viewers of "the Matrix" and "Spiderman". All horrible images (including bloodshed), were implied or shown briefly via sketches, which enabled the viewers to enjoy an interesting and unconventional plot which was full of twists and turns. The movie was impressive with a good cast, beautiful cinematography, and wonderful costume. Selene character was marverlously portraited by Kate Beckinsale. It was very pleasant to the eyes, just watching her beautiful and elegant figure, as well as following every movements she made, in her stylish black leather cladding.
It was a pleasant surprise to me, when I found out that in real life, Kate Beckinsale (Selene) and Michael Sheen (Lucian) once were in a relationship with each other. Their daughter, born January 1999, is now living with mom Kate Beckinsale.
Kate Beckinsale was so good in her role, that even though I felt sorry for Sophia Myles, being given such a minor role in this beautifully done movie, I had to agree that Kate Beckinsale was the best choice to play Selene character.
Scott Speedman did look a bit fragile for the role of Michael Corvin (even though he was very good looking!). Other than that, all the cast was wonderfully chosen. They were all marverlous in their role.
The movie was a real success.
(Some did point out somewhere, that this movie did not follow all the traditional myths about werewolf and vampire, eg, Selene was not supposed to pass out due to an injury which caused blood lost, since vampires could regenerate themselves. Also to them, it was annoying that this movie only had nights, never days, etc. Me, I think this movie was a real masterpiece).
The war between the lycans (werewolf) and vampires had gone on for centuries. The truth about whom had begun the war first, was not really clear according to the history book recorded by the vampires.
At the time when this movie began to tell its story, the leader of the lycans, Lucian (Michael Sheen) was believed to be dead at the hand of Kraven (Shane Brolly), a vampire warrior. For this wonderful victory, Kraven was rewarded: he was allowed to be in charge of the vampires on behalf of the vampire elders who were the most powerful of the vampires. These elders seemed to need rest, each in their special vault, and in a certain manner (quite interesting, like they were being re-charged, with all sort of wires attached to their back, neck, etc) for certain centuries.
Even though the leader of the lycans, Lucian, was believed to be dead, his species almost became extinct, the ruthless and vigilant death dealers continued to keep watch. As vampire warriors, their main duty was to find any survival lycans, and destroyed them without thinking twice.
Selene (Kate Beckinsale) was one such death dealer. She was intensed and very focus in doing her duty. Being beautiful, terribly intelligent and loyal, she was targeted by Kraven as his future vampire queen the day he managed to become king. Selene knew nothing of this. She was highly respected by her fellow vampires for her skills and intelligence. Not only that, she was almost like a daughter to Viktor, one of the powerful vampire elders. She felt like she was in debt to that specific vampire for rescuing her from being torn into pieces like her whole family, by the lycans from one of their raids. Viktor after saving her, had decided to pass the immortality of the vampire species to her, then, just a little girl, by turned her into a vampire like him.
While Viktor was having his rest in his vault, Selene pledged her allegiance to Kraven without questioning the elders' decision to put Kraven in charge of the vampires.
In one of her nightly hunts for lycans, she noticed a few strange events. There were two lycans who seemed to be intent on their stalking of a certain human. Not only that, she happened to encounter a place, where the number of lycans present, seemed to be completely unbelievable, compared to what she was led to believe, that they were seriously on the verge of being extinct.
Kraven's indifferent attitude about these odd events, made Selene became more curious and suspicious. Perhaps things were not really what they seemed! Believed that the strange human who was specially targeted by the lycans, might be the key of everything, Selene decided to confront him.
Selene arrived just in time to save the strange human, Michael Corvin (Scott Speedman) from being kidnapped by the lycans. However, both Selene and Michael Corvin were injured from the attack. Being bitten by one of a very powerful lycans, Michael Corvin's fate seemed to be sealed: he was turning into werewolf.
The encounter with the powerful lycan who injured them both, puzzled Selene. From searching the history books about the war between lycans and vampires, Selene suddenly realised that the lycan who hurt her and Michael Corvin before, must have been the very same Lucian, the leader of the lycans, who had been supposed to be killed by Kraven a long time ago (based on the pictures recorded in the book and what she saw with her own eyes).
Did not know where to turn, Selene secretly woke Viktor (Bill Nighy) up, the same vampire elder who had taken care of her when she was a little girl. Since she disrupted the order of waking up certain vampire elder at certain century, Selene displeased Viktor greatly. Her suspicion of what went on: about the lycans secretly regrouping, of Kraven being the mole within their organisation, of Lucian still alived and well, of the lycans' secret planning to overpower the vampires, which might involve a human being namely Michael Corvin, etc, was ignored by Viktor as un-confounded. Selene was confined to await for a correct punishment, for daring waking up any elders, especially waking up a wrong one. Her punishment was supposed to be properly meted out by the other vampire elders who would soon arrived for their pre-arranged council.
Lucky for Selene, one of her fellow vampires, a pretty blond named Erika (Sophia Myles, who played the elegant and wonderful Lady Penelope in Thunderbirds, 2004), happened to dislike the idea of Selene as Kraven's bride. Erika secretly helped Selene escaped successfully.
Thus, Selene had the chance to find some proofs of Kraven's treachery, to show Viktor. Unfortunately, her proof came slightly late, for the lycans managed to slaughter Amelia, the powerful vampire elder who had arrived with her own group for the scheduled council.
Amelia's blood was drained dry, with the purpose of turning the leader of lycans, Lucian, into a powerful and strong werewolf, who would be stronger than any vampire or lycan ever existed. This could only be done, with the presence of blood come from a certain direct descendant of the ancestor of both the lycans and vampires, whose blood must contained neither werewolf nor vampire diseases.
Before such event could take place, Viktor arrived, and injured Lucian badly. From the revealing of Kraven, Selene found out that her family was killed on that fateful night, not by lycans, but by Viktor in one of his wild mood. Little Selene was saved, only because she reminded him of his only daughter, whom he had killed, because she dared married Lucian, a werewolf, and were pregnant with his child. The war between lycans and vampires began and went on since that event. (Before that, lycans were slaves to the vampires. Their duty was to be "daywalker" guards to their betters).
To save Michael Corvin from being killed by the cruel and wicked Viktor, Selene promptly bit Michael Corvin, following Lucian's advice. (Lucian realised that those two were attracted to each other. That reminded him of the love he and his wife had shared. He let Selene know that, because Michael Corvin was a direct descendant of the ancestor who were with pure blood, if he carried both vampire's and lycan's blood (ie, got bitten by both), he should become the strongest of the two species).
The war did end as Lucian predicted.
_______
The movie was done in a very sophisticated and stylish manner. It had certain scenes which reminded viewers of "the Matrix" and "Spiderman". All horrible images (including bloodshed), were implied or shown briefly via sketches, which enabled the viewers to enjoy an interesting and unconventional plot which was full of twists and turns. The movie was impressive with a good cast, beautiful cinematography, and wonderful costume. Selene character was marverlously portraited by Kate Beckinsale. It was very pleasant to the eyes, just watching her beautiful and elegant figure, as well as following every movements she made, in her stylish black leather cladding.
It was a pleasant surprise to me, when I found out that in real life, Kate Beckinsale (Selene) and Michael Sheen (Lucian) once were in a relationship with each other. Their daughter, born January 1999, is now living with mom Kate Beckinsale.
Kate Beckinsale was so good in her role, that even though I felt sorry for Sophia Myles, being given such a minor role in this beautifully done movie, I had to agree that Kate Beckinsale was the best choice to play Selene character.
Scott Speedman did look a bit fragile for the role of Michael Corvin (even though he was very good looking!). Other than that, all the cast was wonderfully chosen. They were all marverlous in their role.
The movie was a real success.
(Some did point out somewhere, that this movie did not follow all the traditional myths about werewolf and vampire, eg, Selene was not supposed to pass out due to an injury which caused blood lost, since vampires could regenerate themselves. Also to them, it was annoying that this movie only had nights, never days, etc. Me, I think this movie was a real masterpiece).
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
Blade II (2002)
Spent a bit of time yesterday in the library, went through some reviews about this movie. (yeah, for some reasons, I was not kicked out even my booking time on that specific PC had finished).
Hmm, seemed as Blade I was not that great (but some said differently! Since I can't be sure that I had watched that specific movie, I have no idea one way or another!).
I, however, was impressed with the amount of blood, martial art and explosive weapons, etc, used in this second movie. Wesley Snipe was good in his role (as Daywalker, the vampire hunter). He did look real big, dark, dangerous, cool, unemotional (almost) and quite competent in the role of helping the world get rid of all vampires independently.
Didn't like too much of all the grostesque scences, in which Reaper vampires (a hideous species who was a mix of the famous monster Frankenstein and people who got inflicted with incurable consuming diseases and on their way to the gate of hell!), who only attacked vampires, and turned them into reaper vampires by biting their's victim's tounge (thus, passing the infected blood/saliva?).
The weapons used in this movie (to combat the vampires and reaper vampires) were quite interesting too. Not only garlic, sunlight, UV light, silver plated weapons, etc were mentioned, but also bullet/explosive device with UV flashbang. I was surprised to see EDTA, a chemical which could thin out blood, was mentioned, and used as part of weaponaries against vampires, (but it seemed as this EDTA thing had no effect whatsoever on the Reaper species (as it had on the normal vampires)).
Plot:
Daywalker, the vampire hunter, successfully rescued his mentor, Whistler (Krist Kristofferson) from the enemy. With Scud, (Daywalker's sidekick, whose main task was to create weapons for Daywalker to destroy the vampires), they later were asked by the vampires to help them out in the new war: destroying the Reaper vampires, who seemed to intent to attack only the vampire species.
(Krist Kristofferson was pretty good in the role of a "father figure" and "mentor" to Daywalker. His frail, old, and weary presence, seemed to balance out the ruthlessness, unreal and bloodiness of the movie some how).
Daywalker was reluctant, but agreed at the end. He was constantly keeping vigilant against their new team mates (a group of vampire warriors, whose previous task was to hunt Daywalker) while joining them searching for the Reaper vampires, (led by Nomak). The movie was full of suspense moments, for it was not a simple war between Daywalker's team and the Reapers, but a war between Daywalker and all the potential enemies around him. Daywalker could trust only himself and his intuition until he could figure out what really went on. In the mean time, he had to listen patienly to Scud's repeated warnings about the potential that Whistler might have been converted into a vampire (or least, defecting to the enemy's side) due to his long captivity.
The presence of the vampire's leader's daughter, Nyssa (Leonor Varela), gave the movie a touch of implied romance, a sort of sweet attraction between two immortals, both of them full of good intentions.
Among the aggressive vampires, Nyssa represented freshness, honesty, good intention, etc. Perhaps that was why our hero Daywalker was always very caring towards her (especially towards the end of the movie).
When the Reapers were almost wiped out, Daywalker was captured by the vampires. The leader of these vampires wanted to improve his species, using Daywalker's blood (with all of its special genetic codings?), to invent a better vampire species which could withstand the daylight like our hero. Turned out that Nomak, the original Reaper vampire, was the latest result of an experiment went wrong by this very same vampire leader. Nomak however, did not forgave "his father" for creating him, then cast him away so fast. Thus he only aimed to attack the vampires as revenge.
Realised that her father was prepared to sacrify her, his only daughter, and that he himself was the reason for the birth of Nomak, Nyssa became very angry. Found out that her father used Daywalker to destroy Nomak's species, then later, captured Daywalker for his own purpose, Nyssa decided to help Nomak (her so-called "brother").
Nomak successfully revenged the vampire leader as well as attacking Nyssa. He was later destroyed by Daywalker.
Nyssa's wish to die under the sunlight was fulfilled with Daywalker's help.
The movie was quite entertaining, but perhaps not for anyone who dislikes the scenes of huge amount of blood spattering out every where, with sickly bald men opening their huge mouth (and it promptly turned into some sort of terrible, disgusting and bloody thing, reaping people apart (or whatever... I tried to not looked at these repulsive scenes whenever they happened!)). I admired however whoever that imagined and put together the inside of a supposed Reaper vampire: the organs inside remided me of all the beautiful sea creatures, a mixture of corals, star fish, octopus, etc.
Hmm, seemed as Blade I was not that great (but some said differently! Since I can't be sure that I had watched that specific movie, I have no idea one way or another!).
I, however, was impressed with the amount of blood, martial art and explosive weapons, etc, used in this second movie. Wesley Snipe was good in his role (as Daywalker, the vampire hunter). He did look real big, dark, dangerous, cool, unemotional (almost) and quite competent in the role of helping the world get rid of all vampires independently.
Didn't like too much of all the grostesque scences, in which Reaper vampires (a hideous species who was a mix of the famous monster Frankenstein and people who got inflicted with incurable consuming diseases and on their way to the gate of hell!), who only attacked vampires, and turned them into reaper vampires by biting their's victim's tounge (thus, passing the infected blood/saliva?).
The weapons used in this movie (to combat the vampires and reaper vampires) were quite interesting too. Not only garlic, sunlight, UV light, silver plated weapons, etc were mentioned, but also bullet/explosive device with UV flashbang. I was surprised to see EDTA, a chemical which could thin out blood, was mentioned, and used as part of weaponaries against vampires, (but it seemed as this EDTA thing had no effect whatsoever on the Reaper species (as it had on the normal vampires)).
Plot:
Daywalker, the vampire hunter, successfully rescued his mentor, Whistler (Krist Kristofferson) from the enemy. With Scud, (Daywalker's sidekick, whose main task was to create weapons for Daywalker to destroy the vampires), they later were asked by the vampires to help them out in the new war: destroying the Reaper vampires, who seemed to intent to attack only the vampire species.
(Krist Kristofferson was pretty good in the role of a "father figure" and "mentor" to Daywalker. His frail, old, and weary presence, seemed to balance out the ruthlessness, unreal and bloodiness of the movie some how).
Daywalker was reluctant, but agreed at the end. He was constantly keeping vigilant against their new team mates (a group of vampire warriors, whose previous task was to hunt Daywalker) while joining them searching for the Reaper vampires, (led by Nomak). The movie was full of suspense moments, for it was not a simple war between Daywalker's team and the Reapers, but a war between Daywalker and all the potential enemies around him. Daywalker could trust only himself and his intuition until he could figure out what really went on. In the mean time, he had to listen patienly to Scud's repeated warnings about the potential that Whistler might have been converted into a vampire (or least, defecting to the enemy's side) due to his long captivity.
The presence of the vampire's leader's daughter, Nyssa (Leonor Varela), gave the movie a touch of implied romance, a sort of sweet attraction between two immortals, both of them full of good intentions.
Among the aggressive vampires, Nyssa represented freshness, honesty, good intention, etc. Perhaps that was why our hero Daywalker was always very caring towards her (especially towards the end of the movie).
When the Reapers were almost wiped out, Daywalker was captured by the vampires. The leader of these vampires wanted to improve his species, using Daywalker's blood (with all of its special genetic codings?), to invent a better vampire species which could withstand the daylight like our hero. Turned out that Nomak, the original Reaper vampire, was the latest result of an experiment went wrong by this very same vampire leader. Nomak however, did not forgave "his father" for creating him, then cast him away so fast. Thus he only aimed to attack the vampires as revenge.
Realised that her father was prepared to sacrify her, his only daughter, and that he himself was the reason for the birth of Nomak, Nyssa became very angry. Found out that her father used Daywalker to destroy Nomak's species, then later, captured Daywalker for his own purpose, Nyssa decided to help Nomak (her so-called "brother").
Nomak successfully revenged the vampire leader as well as attacking Nyssa. He was later destroyed by Daywalker.
Nyssa's wish to die under the sunlight was fulfilled with Daywalker's help.
The movie was quite entertaining, but perhaps not for anyone who dislikes the scenes of huge amount of blood spattering out every where, with sickly bald men opening their huge mouth (and it promptly turned into some sort of terrible, disgusting and bloody thing, reaping people apart (or whatever... I tried to not looked at these repulsive scenes whenever they happened!)). I admired however whoever that imagined and put together the inside of a supposed Reaper vampire: the organs inside remided me of all the beautiful sea creatures, a mixture of corals, star fish, octopus, etc.
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
Underworld (draft review)
Hope I remember the name of this movie correctly! but since I am going to edit it properly once I have time, I guess noone would really mind here...
(In the library at the moment due to some other business, and I have exactly 9 minutes to type whatever I wanted to type here, before my time for using this PC is really UP!)...
I had begun to watch that movie on and off again for the last 2 weeks, but I kept having trouble with setting it up perfectly, but finally, the night before last, I managed to equip myself with the background plot of the movie, a correct subtitle version for the movie I had, and relaxing in front of my PC, I was really being sucked into the story.
I guess I was in love a bit with the actress who played Selene, the Death Dealer of the vampire world. She was beautiful, dignified, gracious, and real elegant (reminded me of a certain actress who was famous in the acting world, but damaged her own name a bit when she left her husband and daughter for love of another man... ).
The movie was truly beautifully done, gave glimpses of what going on between the vampire world and their enemy, the Lycans. The horrors and bloodsheds were there, but were covered/implied in an artistic way, made the viewers felt free to follow the wonderful acting and plot.
that is it, the booking time is up. Time to get out right now before I got kicked out ruthlessly, mercilessly....
(see yah later!)
(In the library at the moment due to some other business, and I have exactly 9 minutes to type whatever I wanted to type here, before my time for using this PC is really UP!)...
I had begun to watch that movie on and off again for the last 2 weeks, but I kept having trouble with setting it up perfectly, but finally, the night before last, I managed to equip myself with the background plot of the movie, a correct subtitle version for the movie I had, and relaxing in front of my PC, I was really being sucked into the story.
I guess I was in love a bit with the actress who played Selene, the Death Dealer of the vampire world. She was beautiful, dignified, gracious, and real elegant (reminded me of a certain actress who was famous in the acting world, but damaged her own name a bit when she left her husband and daughter for love of another man... ).
The movie was truly beautifully done, gave glimpses of what going on between the vampire world and their enemy, the Lycans. The horrors and bloodsheds were there, but were covered/implied in an artistic way, made the viewers felt free to follow the wonderful acting and plot.
that is it, the booking time is up. Time to get out right now before I got kicked out ruthlessly, mercilessly....
(see yah later!)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
