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Reviews
The Illusionist (2006)
Morally reprehensible
Okay, I will go straight to the point, I find the premise of this movie morally reprehensible.
A poor boy falls in love with a rich girl. The poor boy does not stand a chance to get the girl. So the poor boy becomes a magician. One day he meets the rich girl again. Only this time she is to marry a crown prince. The poor boy meets the rich girl, they fornicate. And then they decide to fake the rich girl's death, and blame it on the crown prince. And as a result the crown prince commits suicide. And because the crown prince never became the emperor, WW I erupted, and the whole of Europe was thrown into chaos. And the co-architects of the downfall of the crown lives happily ever after.
Since when has it become fashionable to condone murder in the name of love? I never realized that Hollywood has sunken this low.
And oh, most of the acting was sub par. I especially abhorred their horrible fake European accents. If you can't fake proper continental European accents, just speak in plain vanilla American style English, at least then it would sound more pleasing to the ears.
10,000 BC (2008)
Definitely not the worst movie I have seen, but pretty close to it.
I think human actors, in order to act convincingly, need something tangible to interact with. If you force them to act in front of a blue screen, something that sparks of real life is just, lost. Give them a real life environment, they give you life like acting. Give them a 2D blue screen, they will give you 2D acting.
It is one thing to pretend that you are in real life in front of a camcorder, when you are surrounded by real people and objects, it is quite something else when you force the actors to stand of a blue screen and require them to react to non-existent people and objects. The director has the imagination and the brain to picture all these non existent people and objects, that's his job. I doubt most actors have the imagination or the brains to take on the director's job.
Well, with this out of the way, what can I say about this movie. Has great CGI effects, without a doubt. The storyline is cheesy. I don't feel connected with any of of the characters, not even with that pretty blue eyed girl (she could have been hotter if she wore less, I thought most prehistoric women went around butt naked). In all honesty, towards the end of the movie, I couldn't care less if all them got trampled by those stampeding mammoths.
As to that "god" figure, we were never told who he was, what he represented, why he wanted to build those pyramids, and why he had the big boat there, we never even got to see his face. And towards the end, he just died, just like that.
My final judgment, this movie is not worth the ticket price, but it is a good mindless flick that's worth a rental when it comes out on DVD's.
Rurôni Kenshin: Seisô-hen (2001)
A conclusion
Before you watch this OVA/movie, you should really watch some parts of the TV series, and the first two OVA's in the Kenshin universe. This will really help you flesh out the background, and make watching this OVA/movie more enjoyable.
This OVA/movie is really a recap of some of the major events in the TV series and the first two OVA's. The animation is completely brand new, so they didn't just reuse the old footage, they redrew everything from scratch. The animation style is distinctly different from what you are used to seeing. Some people like it, some people don't. I still feel ambivalent about it, particularly about the eyes, they are much more exaggerated.
As to the story, well, even after all these years, Kenshin is still laden with the guilt over all those people he killed during the Meiji Restoration era. He married Kaoru, and they had a son. But Kenshin feels compelled to continue to lead the life of the wandering samurai, only returning home to Kaoru intermittently over the years, because he cannot set aside his guilt laden conscience, and feels that by leading the life of a wandering samurai, and helping people along the way, he is in some measure making atonement for his bloody past.
At some point Kenshin contracted leprosy (the OVA/movie never explicitly states this, but sure looks like it) and suffers horribly from it. Kaoru willingly contracts it from Kenshin, because she feels that in contracting the same illness as Kenshin's, she can share Kenshin's pain and suffering, and in some measure be emotionally more connected to Kenshin.
Kenshin then went to China at the behest of the Japanese government. From the time line, it should have been around the time of the first or the second Sino-Japanese war. Then after some time while in China, Kenshin falls gravely ill. Sanosuke then came, and helped Kenshin get on a cargo ship headed back to Japan.
Kenshin and Kaoru finally meet again after so many years of separation. Kenshin then dies while resting in Kaoru's lap. After the credits, we see Kenshin and Kaoru's son, Kenji, all grown up, very much like the young Kenshin we are all familiar with from the TV series, and a his young girl friend, very much like the young Kaoru. They promise each other that they would lead a happy life together, a life which, because of Kenshin's past, so eluded Kenshin and Kaoru.
Overall, it's a OVA/anime. But I do feel that the story is not on par with the first two Kenshin OVA's. I especially have problems with the part about Kaoru willingly contracting leprosy from Kenshin, and that in contracting the disease, Kaoru feels that she is emotionally closer to Kenshin. This whole premise just feels contrite and forced.
Kenshin probably suffers from some serious post traumatic stress disorder. This is probably why he sets out wandering all over Japan and then to China even after his marriage with Kaoru and even after Kaoru gave birth to their son. Once scarred, you are scarred for life. Even in this day and age, there are seldom effective treatments for PTSD's.
It's a sad ending.
The Man from Earth (2007)
Thought provoking
This movie doesn't have any action, CGI special effects, all it has are just a bunch of college professors sitting around a fireplace, discussing some really mind boggling ideas.
I really enjoyed watching this movie. It's rare that you can stumble upon a thinking person's movie nowadays.
What if you are as old as humanity itself, what if you have stood witness the evolution of mankind from its birth to the present day, what would you have done, which chapters in mankind's history would you have written.
The concept of immortality is as old as mankind itself, but never before have I seen this concept explored with such, thoughtfulness and philosophy.
One minor thing I did not like about the movie is the prolonged overly dramatic outright hostility towards John's confession. I don't think the incredulity is really necessary here, especially amongst a bunch of intellectuals.
San xia hao ren (2006)
Just plain awful
Don't believe all the hype. This movie is nothing but a bad amateur film.
First the good part. This film does give you a glimpse of the lives of ordinary Chinese citizens who are living at the bottom of the social ladder. Many contemporary films out of mainland China do no show you this aspect of modern Chinese society. So kudos to the director for bringing this to light.
Now the bad parts. The story is non existent, the script is hollow, the acting is wooden. This whole film is a mess. The two main stories of the film have nothing to do with the mass migration of people out of that city that is about to be flooded because of the building of Three Gorges Dam.
The first story is about a man from a remote mountain village located in a another province who comes to the city looking for his wife. The man bought his wife from human traffickers 16 years ago. The had a daughter together. After the authorities discovered it, the wife and the daughter returned to her native city, and the man remained in his mountain village. Now 16 years later, out of the blue, the man storms out of nowhere and wants to be reunited with his wife and daughter. For crying out loud, are we supposed to have sympathy for this man, for modern day slave trading, or for the supposed emotional bondage that could have developed between a slave owner and his slave? This story arc is more suited to a film about human trafficking than about the mass migration caused by the building of the Three Gorges Dam.
The second story is even more ridiculous. This time a married couple from a different province in China, the man came to this city 2 years ago because of job prospects in demolishing buildings, and the wife stayed behind. Now 2 years later, both the wife and the husband developed extra marital affairs and want a divorce. Again what does this story arc have to do with the mass migration caused by the building of the Dam? The building of the dam is hardly the cause behind the separation of the husband the wife. If the script writer wants to blame anyone/anything for this marital discord, he should place the blame on the fragility of long distance relationships.
The worst part about this film is the atrocious acting. None of the protagonists know how to act, period! It's like the director just randomly plucked people off the streets and asked them to pose in front of the camera. Throughout the film, from the minor characters to the protagonists, all the acting was wooden, stiff and emotionless. It was truly painful having sit there for almost 2 hours and being forced to watch all the sub-amateurish acting.