Anjchang movie blog on blogspot.com

We saw a lot of movies recently. here are some of them from good to horrible. Live Free or Die Hard. So good that I would watch it again. Funny and great. Blood Diamond was tops. Leonardo DiCaprio was a good bad guy, and the plot twists were good. Good character development, you really sympathize for the native guy and his family. I liked the way DiCaprio says "hey bruv". The interplay between people was good. The end could have been more disney, but it was good the way it was. I think the plot would have been better if there was less violence, but it wasn't bad compared to the grisly hooks in The last king of scotland . Iron man was enjoyable, although the girl in the movie was too dumb a character for my liking. the plot was good, and the fight scenes were alright. It is nice to see the sweat of engineering being done in a movie.I was cheezed by the cameo of Samuel Jackson at the end. It was lame, and had no point. Actually some of the bits were supposed to be fun...

DayWatch is the sequel to Nightwatch . It is a gripping story about how the world ends, as the battle between light and dark comes to a turning point. Beautiful and compelling storyline, I really enjoyed it, especially the Russian version. ALso saw StarDust , which was sweet, but too bland. The ideas about true love are okay, but the plot twists are a bit too sophomoric. The character development was a little shallow, although the evilness of the villainous witchsisters was good. It was a good plane movie, but I didn't find the story that satisfying. I enjoyed the theme of finding and recognizing true love, although it wasn't really weirdly humorous enough to become a cult classic, like The Princess Bride .

Last weekend we saw The Golden Compass with V&R. It was good to see the realization of the book details on the big screen. The characters were nicely portrayed, but the story was not told as well. My most obvious complaint was the missing last chapter, but there were other details that I was looking forward to seeing, such as the chase scenes with Lyra meeting a nice stranger, and stealing a boat from the gypsies. I missed most the sordid demonstration of that Grumman guy's head in a block of ice, since I was rather curious about it when I read the book. I liked the book so much that I felt that the storytelling in the movie was rather choppy and sloppy. They left out a lot of good stuff. They should have some sort of narration to transition between scenes better. The fighting scenes were rather kewl, and the shots of the panserborne bears were great (although I thought Iorek could have run faster in the external crosscountry shots). I enjoyed the vibration force of the bear...

The revised version of Hairspray is awesome. John Travolta's acting was superb, and so was Christopher Walken. The songs were terrific, and the slapstick humor had me rolling. On the other hand, American Gangster was very bloody and violent. Not for your faint of heart or sensitive person.

In fashion class, we saw Qui êtes-vous, Polly Maggoo? , a movie about Twiggy-ish model in Paris. It was a little surreal, with the musical choruses, and the bizarre fashion. But I think the movie is meant to capture the essence of that era,the 60s, where everything foreign, political, rural, fashionable was in . The movie was interesting and although I don't think I really *got* the movie's whole message, it was visually stunning, even for such an old movie. I got confused about how Polly ends up, but it doesn't really matter. Its clear she is her own woman and she's not just a facade that the antagonist (filmmaker) wants her to be. I enjoyed it, if only because it was so different from anything I've seen before.

Today I caught Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix with my good friend J. I wasn't sure that I would like really, because so far many sequels have been disappointing (Pirates 3 which my students were watching last night). Harry has grown older, and the stakes have risen higher in this one. I was at in suspense, even though I knew what had happened cause I had read the book. The Death Eaters and the wizard battles were even better than I had imagined, and also, I thought the movie's bad girl, The Umbridge Woman, was sheer evil! It was amazing what a complete fascist she was, and how she behaved. I was scared! I enjoyed the final battle moments the best, when Harry and Dumbledore are under Voldemort's attack. What awesome magic! :) This is a must see, particularly if you have read the books and seen the previous movies.

Saw the Silver Surfer 2 with V & R. It was awesome. I just enjoy watching the Welsh actor that plays the main character, Ioan Gruffudd . He plays the brilliant Reed Richards, and is engaged to Sue Storm in the beginning of this movie. The character development for him is again about the dual roles he has to play. He has both a sensitive side (and tries to make all the right moves when it comes to his sweetheart (Sue's a lucky gal)), who also has a Super-nerdy side as a brave scientist-superhero good-guy (Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic). He also shows some terrific awkward but cool dance moves, but he can dance! Is it me, or does his shy side make him even more handsome [cue Diana King's "Shy Guy" lyrics]? I enjoyed reminding myself of the swashbuckling, principled but mischievous character he played as Horatio Hornblower . I have trouble deciding what makes Gruffudd's characters so cool: 1.he's ultra handsome slim, tall, and built (but shows humbleness)...