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Reviews
Memoirs of a Geisha (2005)
Aesthetically pleasing and outstanding performances
Having found out that 3 of my favourite Chinese actresses would appear as leading characters in this film, I was obviously inclined to read the novel before watching the film. I enjoyed the novel and looked forward to watching the film. And I was not disappointed.
The story is set in 1920s Japan. Our protagonist, Chiyo, is sold into a geisha house and antagonised by the head geisha, it is only when an encounter with a complete stranger changes her life and as a result, causes her to harness a forbidden infatuation with him
Rob Marshall and the crew have shown much care and attention to the aesthetics of the film to ensure that the setting was convincing as a 1920s Japanese town, even at times I completely forgot the film was made in America and not Japan.
The costumes were also really beautiful and I would pay just to own one of them.
Performances from supporting and leading cast members exceeded my expectations. Suzuka Ohgo; who plays the little Chiyo captures your heart immediately and is just adorable.
Zhang ZiYi was an unexpected choice at first but she managed to portray Sayuri well ageing gracefully from the naive and vulnerable age of 15 to a sage early thirties.
Watanabe Ken didn't have much screen time which is understandable, but it is a good change to see him play a different character and not a scary sword yielding samurai.
Gong Li's Hatsumomo stole most of the film and was by far one of the highlights of the film.
Another outstanding performance was from Michelle Yeoh's Mameha, who played a very sage, wise and beautiful geisha which was necessary for the portrayal of Sayuri's mentor.
Once again, Williams produces one of the greatest scores of his career after passing up on Harry Potter, though most surprisingly, his score lost to Brokeback Mountain.
At first I was disappointed that the film would be made in English and not Japanese as I tend to find it quite cheesy.
Kudoh Youki like Zhang was capable of portraying a young 15-year old Pumpkin, but it was later on in the film when Pumpkin becomes a drunk and loose hooker that disappointed me greatly as that was not how Pumpkin was described after the war.
Similarly, the scene involving the Baron and Sayuri disgusted me and looked like a rape scene when I saw it.
In conclusion, I feel the film is definitely one of the most beautifully shot films of the year and would recommend it to anyone who are fascinated with Japanese culture.
Tian mai zhuan qi (2002)
"Just" average
As a fan of Yeoh's films, I desperately felt I needed to see this film, I was impressed with the trailer but then it all led to disappointment when I saw the film. I was aware that the film was receiving bad reviews but when I saw it, it was not as bad as I thought it was but there were some major faults.
The use of incredible locations in the film was a plus, the story line sounded perfect for an adventure film and there was that wonderful combination of action, romance and comedy
I felt that one of the main flaws with the film was the ensemble of actors; though they do look good in their roles, the way they portrayed their characters was rather poor.
Yeoh's performance was not of a satisfactory level, but provided she got to use some martial arts in the film, I was happy.
Ben Chaplin, who plays Eric,provides most of the comic relief for the film, particularly when he attempts to sing a love song in Mandarin Chinese but forgets the words half way through the song. I am still wondering whether the character Bob was even meant to be funny at all as he was just pathetic throughout the film.
Brandon Chang and Margaret Wang who play Lily and Tong are newcomers, of all the actors in the film, their performances were the most disappointing; my reason is mainly that when they spoke, it sounded as if they were on a "lets talk English programme", they were expressionless and bland with their acting.
Another flaw was the use of special effects in the film, particularly in the climax that takes place in the burning cave, at the beginning of the scene, the flames looked real, but whoever was in charge of the cinematography made a huge mistake after applying the flames because the fire looked incredibly fake afterwards as well as a list of other faults concerning the CGI.
Despite the faults outweighing the good points, I did enjoy the film, but it was merely average.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)
Seen it, loved it, however...
I'm am a Harry Potter fanatic and book 4 is my favourite book at the moment, I was so excited when this film came out!!!!!!!!!! I literally had goosebumps from the beginning till the end of the film. The 12a rating evidently implies that the trio are kids no longer and they have grown-up. It was good to see the film done by a British director for once as it is a British novel. The visual effects (especially the dragon and underwater scene), were realistic. However, I felt that the dummies used in the underwater scene looked unrealistic and nothing like the actors. I also felt that the maze scene could have been improved (i.e. in the novel, there were several magical creatures in the maze, unfortunately in the film there wasn't). The quidditch world cup proved disappointing also as it was only on for 5 minutes. I also was disappointed about the fact that some characters were either not included or had little time on the screen (i.e. Mrs Weasley, Winky and Dobby, Ludo Bagman and Sirius Black).
Performancewise, Ralph Fiennes' Lord Voldermort exceeded my expectations and portrayed the dark lord very well. I would have liked to see some of the newcomers more on screen such as Stan Ivanevski(?)(Viktor Krum), Katie Leung (Cho Chang) and the Patil sisters.
The music was impressive, though I would have preferred Williams to have composed the score.
Like most British films, plenty of comedy was provided. But this film also provided a lot of unsuitable material for younger children. In the cinema I went to, there were a lot of young children and Voldermort appeared, there seemed to be a large number of young children heading towards the toilet. It is an incredibly dark film, all we have to do know is wait for a Harry Potter film with a 15-rating!
Xin liu xing hu die jian (1993)
Generally very good...if you like the old HK films
I brought this movie as a fan of Michelle Yeoh and Donnie Yen films. I was not disappointed. The choreography was reasonably good. The storyline was also good. Michelle Yeoh delivered an outstanding performance as usual. The comedy provided was also reasonable although not hysterically funny. I don't particularly enjoy seeing blood in films, this film provided enough of it (though not entirely realistic). I enjoy listening to Chinese songs, the theme tune at the end credits was well performed by Yeoh.
My only criticism(s) are that the director Ching Siu-Tung could have taken care with the use of camera angles; the shots in some of the fight scenes seemed almost entirely random, the user becomes confused during the fight scenes. Furthermore, when I watched the end of this film, it seemed to end suddenly without even a proper ending...what happened as soon as Yeoh turned her back to the screen?