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Reviews
Ying xiong (2002)
A beautiful and intriguing film......
This is a wonderful film.
First and foremost it is a work of visual art. Every scene is made to be as appealing to the eye as possible. There are shots from the film that one could frame and hang in a gallery. It is a pleasure to just watch.
Secondly, the movie is about political intrigue. "Who is nameless?" "What are his motives?" "Did he really kill the most dangerous assassins in the land?" These are the questions the movie asks. The story is quite good. It has no clear good or bad guy, and flips around the perspective several times. The story is one of the best in Chinese action films, and stands up against even more story-driven films.
Overall there is little wrong with this movie. Most westerners would disagree with "The individual doesn't matter" way of thinking, and it certainly does smack slightly of communism. However, it is a foreign film, and they see things differently. The only other complaint I have is a minor one. Some of the scenes are a touch indulgent. They last longer than necessary and are just prolonging nothing. But that is a matter of taste not quality.
Dinner Rush (2000)
I absolutely love this film.......
This is one the rare gems of independent cinema.
I wish more people had seen this when it came out. It is a beautifully shot film about the life of a restaurant on a busy night. But there is so much more to this film. It combines a fascinating mob element that you don't fully understand until the end with the delicate flair of a master chef combining ingredients in a meal. The ending is immensely surprising and gratifying. All the performances are believable, especially Corbett who is in his best film. It is the dynamic of a trendy restaurant dealing with a record-breaking night, however that makes this film superb. It takes so many lives and elements and brings them together with aplomb. This is one of the best films in recent years.
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
This is possibly the worst film in history.........
This movie is TERRIBLE. It is the most bloated, self-indulgent piece of drug-induced trash in cinematic history. There is no point to this film. Hal, who is considered one of the best villains in film, is hardly in the movie. And his demise is one of the most anti-climactic moments ever. It would be one thing if the movie had no point but to take such a long time to say nothing is painful at best. The whole end scene with the guy seeing himself, and then becoming himself is just plain stupid. In regards to quality, it is a drawn-out student film. I wish I had those two-and-half hours back that I wasted watching it. As a writer I am offended at this movie's high regard in film circles.