I can be your "Hero" baby!

I freaking loved Hero. I am a major fan of kung fu movies. Especially ones that have Ziyi Zhang and/or Jet Li in them.

The action sequences were choreographed so well. Obviously they used wires during some of the fight scenes, but that just gave the film an even more ethereal feel. I loved the use of fabrics and wind to lend to the fluid aspect of the movie. I also liked how every time a different version of the story was told, the characters wore a different color scheme in their clothes. And the color contrasts of the clothes and the surroundings were gorgeous and really lended to the atmosphere of the film. I also liked the camera’s use of slow motion.

The story itself was interesting. After every tale, either the king or Nameless, contradicted the other and said, “I know that’s not true, and this is why.” I felt like I was on the edge of my seat because I wanted to know which story was actually true. I thought it was interesting that when the king told Nameless that he knew he was lying and asked him why he was trying to kill him, Nameless actually answered him straight out. Then, the king was understanding about it. He kind said “Oh yes, I see. That makes sense that you would feel that way.”

As I said before, I really liked the movie. I’m glad this movie was chosen instead of Fearless, because I have already seen it. I realize that I could have gone out and rented Hero myself, but this was more convenient.

"Not One Less" Review

Not One Less is a movie about a thirteen year old girl who ends up being a substitute teacher for a tiny school in the mountains. She’s not very good at teaching or disciplining the students and just sort of let’s them run wild. She tells them to copy their lesson and they cannot leave until they do. After she tells them this, she sits on the front stoop and basically twiddles her thumbs. She does not really seem to care about the students. She seems to just be in it for the money. She will get fifty yuen at the end of the teaching period and an extra ten yuen if none of the students have left the school. An hour into the movie two of the students have left. One of them was recruited for a sports school and the other had to drop out to work. At first to me it seemed like she maybe cared that the student was not getting an education and that is why she was raising the money to travel to the city and look for him to bring him back to school, but she was just doing it to get the extra money. Teacher Wei was not very smart in her attempts to find the student in the city, but she was persistent, and eventually her message was broadcasted to the audience she wanted. However, during the time she was in the city, I was curious as to what was happening with the kids in the mountains. They were not getting an education while she was away. I thought the movie was interesting, I just do not really think she cared that much about her students. I liked the colored chalk at the end too. :)

"Swades" Review

The movie, Swades, was a long way of telling a common story. Boy goes back to visit family, boy meets girl, girl rejects boy, boy helps girl, girl falls in love with boy, boy goes away, boy realizes he would rather be back with girl, boy returns to girl, swelling music, happy ending.

However, even though it was long and not a new story, I feel that it was made in a way that was not boring. It held my attention the entire time; which is more than I can say for some of the other longer movies we have seen in class.

I really liked seeing all the elaborate costumes that are traditional of the Bollywood films. I thought the songs and performances were interesting as well; still, I agree with what Julia had said in class in that for the movie to succeed in the United States, the songs should probably be cut and also some of the other scenes that are not necessary to the story. Other than that, the storyline is very similar to movies shown in the United States and would succeed.

I found myself having to read the subtitles the entire time. The transition between the languages was very fluid and sometimes the character would have been talking in a different language for a couple of sentences and I would not have realized it yet.

I found the movie entertaining and enlightening. I feel it represented its main points really well.