woweewoeeewoaoa
i check this almost daily and yet i barely write here. if at all. but i'll fuck around here first before posting in myspace, where i do lots of movie reviews and use way more pictures, thankfully taken from the nice film stills community (so that i'm not a total asshole, i put them on my own photobucket account and give credit where it's due), this will be the beta, sans the tons of images because i'm not a good writer and i think it's cool to see a few images from a movie rather than an essay review. so this is the trail version. with at least movie posters. maybe i'll incorporate pictures later once i learn how to do lj cuts.
i can write about life later. there's been some up and downs, mostly downs but i'm ok. still in school, rocking it and i've balanced my time well enough that i can still watch a lot of movies while in school, so i'm happy. my birthday started rather shitty but by nighttime it got so much better thanks to some wonderful friends of mine. i also got myself the host r3k dvd, taste of tea (korean dvd, since it's way cheaper than the japanese edition) as well as the criterion remasters for yojimbo and sanjuro, WHICH TOTALLY RULE as i'm such a akira kurosawa fanboy, not to forget toshiro mifune, takashi shimura and tatsuya nakadai.
finished watching the first season of dexter, which was most excellent and i can't wait for the second season. i'm ALMOST all caught up with the third season of battlestar galactica, so i'm very happy about that. i LOVE that show.
ANYWAY.
i'll start posting 2-4 movie reviews, very brief, daily. starting from what i've seen this january, i'll do it alphabetically. maybe once i catch up, i'll do a weekly thing. that way i can have it mostly done for when i post on myspace, where i do it alphabetically of the movies i've seen the previous month.
ok. here we go.
ASHES OF TIME by Wong Kar Wai
i can't believe we have so many dvd versions of chunking "california dreaming is so overplayed to the point of complete annoyance and irritation that i can barely tolerate watching those scenes and i can only hope a hard boiled restaurant type action scene takes place where faye wong's character is riddled with bullet holes so she won't play that GODDAMN SONG EVER AGAIN" express yet the 2 dvds out there of this movie are ATROCIOUS. here's hoping for a new transfter but it's been years...what gives?
last i heard there's supposed to be a new cut too, which would be interesting-because i know a lot of footage was shot and there's massive star power here-and the movie, while i like it a lot for taking the wuxia genre and breaking all the rules, wong kar wai style-it feels as though there are things missing, it feels unfinished, incomplete. its being held back somehow, kept from being a truly amazing and great movie where as of now it's just damned good (though an acquired taste, i know so many people that HATE this movie and just as many that LOVE it).
so for now, it's good-and i think it's worth the watch for anyone that likes wong kar wai with the best cast he's ever had and don't mind seeing a wuxia told differently but yeah. here's really hoping, so that we can properly enjoy christopher doyle's cinematography as well. so this isn't much of a review but from seeing the movie again through my horrid dvd copy, it's just such a shame this hasn't been cleaned up and given the attention and care it properly deserves. i really do think once this new wong kar wai edit comes along, with a cleaned up picture and proper transfer, it's going to be just as good as in the mood for love, fallen angels and happy together for me and it'll finally get the love it deserves.
synopsis (taken from netflix):
Hong Kong auteur Kar Wai Wong helmed this highbrow costume drama, which is packed with moving performances, stirring music and hypnotic images. Shot in Mainland China, the complex tale follows a group of itinerant swordsman-for-hire, all with bittersweet tales to convey about virtue lost and love shattered. The director lowers the volume on the action segments in favor of crafting a captivating and introspective character study.
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baadasssss! by mario van peebles
truly an under-rated, fun picture, written, directed and main lead by mario van peebles. yeah, i know, a lot of people go "pfft...mario van peebles? SKIP!" but seriously this movie will give you a good time, leave you with a smile and respect for the trails and tribulations van peeble's father went through to get "sweet sweet back's baaadassss song!" made. it's a good movie about making movies, the strong passion for it, where nothing else matters and nothing is going to stop the director from seeing his vision made, unaltered and unfiltered. it also has some really cool cinematography and shots. if i get some time, i'd love to do some stills of it, now that i know you can do that with vlc. if you haven't seen this, do yourself a favor, you'll have a nice time.
i can write about life later. there's been some up and downs, mostly downs but i'm ok. still in school, rocking it and i've balanced my time well enough that i can still watch a lot of movies while in school, so i'm happy. my birthday started rather shitty but by nighttime it got so much better thanks to some wonderful friends of mine. i also got myself the host r3k dvd, taste of tea (korean dvd, since it's way cheaper than the japanese edition) as well as the criterion remasters for yojimbo and sanjuro, WHICH TOTALLY RULE as i'm such a akira kurosawa fanboy, not to forget toshiro mifune, takashi shimura and tatsuya nakadai.
finished watching the first season of dexter, which was most excellent and i can't wait for the second season. i'm ALMOST all caught up with the third season of battlestar galactica, so i'm very happy about that. i LOVE that show.
ANYWAY.
i'll start posting 2-4 movie reviews, very brief, daily. starting from what i've seen this january, i'll do it alphabetically. maybe once i catch up, i'll do a weekly thing. that way i can have it mostly done for when i post on myspace, where i do it alphabetically of the movies i've seen the previous month.
ok. here we go.
ASHES OF TIME by Wong Kar Wai
i can't believe we have so many dvd versions of chunking "california dreaming is so overplayed to the point of complete annoyance and irritation that i can barely tolerate watching those scenes and i can only hope a hard boiled restaurant type action scene takes place where faye wong's character is riddled with bullet holes so she won't play that GODDAMN SONG EVER AGAIN" express yet the 2 dvds out there of this movie are ATROCIOUS. here's hoping for a new transfter but it's been years...what gives?
last i heard there's supposed to be a new cut too, which would be interesting-because i know a lot of footage was shot and there's massive star power here-and the movie, while i like it a lot for taking the wuxia genre and breaking all the rules, wong kar wai style-it feels as though there are things missing, it feels unfinished, incomplete. its being held back somehow, kept from being a truly amazing and great movie where as of now it's just damned good (though an acquired taste, i know so many people that HATE this movie and just as many that LOVE it).
so for now, it's good-and i think it's worth the watch for anyone that likes wong kar wai with the best cast he's ever had and don't mind seeing a wuxia told differently but yeah. here's really hoping, so that we can properly enjoy christopher doyle's cinematography as well. so this isn't much of a review but from seeing the movie again through my horrid dvd copy, it's just such a shame this hasn't been cleaned up and given the attention and care it properly deserves. i really do think once this new wong kar wai edit comes along, with a cleaned up picture and proper transfer, it's going to be just as good as in the mood for love, fallen angels and happy together for me and it'll finally get the love it deserves.
synopsis (taken from netflix):
Hong Kong auteur Kar Wai Wong helmed this highbrow costume drama, which is packed with moving performances, stirring music and hypnotic images. Shot in Mainland China, the complex tale follows a group of itinerant swordsman-for-hire, all with bittersweet tales to convey about virtue lost and love shattered. The director lowers the volume on the action segments in favor of crafting a captivating and introspective character study.
-----------
baadasssss! by mario van peebles
truly an under-rated, fun picture, written, directed and main lead by mario van peebles. yeah, i know, a lot of people go "pfft...mario van peebles? SKIP!" but seriously this movie will give you a good time, leave you with a smile and respect for the trails and tribulations van peeble's father went through to get "sweet sweet back's baaadassss song!" made. it's a good movie about making movies, the strong passion for it, where nothing else matters and nothing is going to stop the director from seeing his vision made, unaltered and unfiltered. it also has some really cool cinematography and shots. if i get some time, i'd love to do some stills of it, now that i know you can do that with vlc. if you haven't seen this, do yourself a favor, you'll have a nice time.