living, thinking and writing
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| PRACTICE living, thinking and writing |
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Tuesday, December 24, 2002 movies for the holiday Watched two movies in the weekend. We are not frequent movie goers; these two movies consist 50% of total movies we went the whole year. And these two happened to be, to some degree, British-imported. Lord of rings-The Two Towers is uncontrovertibly among the best British literature heritage, and James Bond reminds us the remains of Great Britain empire. Who said the American culture imperializes the world? See, these popular cultural products still originates from British archetypal forms. I went to watch Lord of Rings purely at the instigation of my cousin, 5 years younger than me and one member of the¡°cool¡± generation. I even did not watch the first episode until the night before we scheduled to watch the second one. I thought the movie is something similar to Harry Porter, which I could not sit down watching for 8 minutes. Once you did not expect too much on something, you achieve something unexpected. We are amazed by how good it is. Remember we watched the two episodes at two consecutive nights, the pleasure is even doubled. The story is complicated, sad and spectacular, the type I love and I even ask for the original novel as my Christmas gift from Zhanghong, one of our best friends who insists bringing us some Christmas spirit. Unlike other saving-the-world movies where only ¡°the one¡± hero is endowed to save the world, in Lord of rings, the fate of the ¡®world¡¯, including the mortal and immortal, human and spirit, kingdom and village, hobbits and warrior, even trees are so closely tied; no single one can fulfill the holy mission. Therefore, the movie creates a group of unforgettable heroes, with unique and vivid personality respectively. For most part of the movie, I was suffocated by the shadow of disaster and death, and that¡¯s why I, as many others who¡¯ve watched the movie, enjoyed so much of the magnificent scene of siege battle at the last half an hour. And again, there is no miracle on the victory, but the cooperation of all heroes and ordinary lives. And finally but not the least importantly, the animation and special effect in this movie did not overwhelm but complement the human element. These are something make me like about this movie, and it stimulates me back to read the book, to become a Tolkien fan. As for Die another day, I did not felt totally disappointed since people had kept telling us how crappy it is. Well, what else are you expect from a James Bond movie? If you are fed up with the combination of high-tech gadgets, never-ending action and Bond girls, get something else. Besides, James Bond was among the first charming men we¡¯d ever seen since Western culture was imported to China during my childhood. To me, watching 007 is a nostalgia ritual, and therefore not cares much of its artistic taste or philosophical insight. When I walked out of the screening room, I heard an American couple said the movie ¡°is quite realistic¡±. I¡¯m not sure if they mean the special effect of bombing and blasting is quite realistic, or the threat from one of the ¡®axis of evil¡¯nations is realistic. Since the two guyes going with me convinced me that the laser from satellites is not able to hit the ground target at present, I assume people will think the threat of North Korea is realistic. But I guess after 911, all crises in movie have become real for American audience (Time magazine even compares Saruman in Lord of Rings to Bin Laden, and find their resemblance). The movie came out just about the time when North Korea declares their Nuclear facility, and US went to Iraq for war on terrorism. The evil role in the movie is much more realistic than the media tycoon ( in Tomorrow will never die) or beautiful heir of oil tycoon (in the world is not enough). Since I did not hold high expectation, I still find novel things in the move. James Bond is not as heroic as he used to be: he was imprisoned for 14 months, bearded and ragged as he never was before; His adventure to some degree is for his personal revenge, to crackdown the one that betrayed him; He only stopped the further bombing of US base in Korea instead of saving the whole world. Helle Berry distinguished herself from other Bond girls with her boyish and naughty personality. The only part I really don¡¯t like is the sex scene in the Korean temple, which just reflects the arrogance and ignorance of western invader to the third world: they show no respect to your tradition and religion. posted by lmeimei @2:22 PM| permanent link| | |
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