This was a good movie, and though I’ve seen it I may not be a completely impartial judge. That is for two reasons. The first is that I’ve heard that this movie was a primary influence on George Lucas’ original Star Wars and I am a fan of the Star Wars universe. Now, the story didn’t seem especially remeniscient or Star Wars except on paper:

Two farmers join with a warrior and a fugitive princess to escape from behind enemy lines.

The greater plot was really not that much like Star Wars, though I did indeed have a moment near the end where I could have been watching Star Wars. Kurosawa’s music started in very heavily with the drums so that it was something that might have been mistaken for the Imperial march. Da Da Da Da Dum Ta Da Dum Ta Da. Right at that moment one of the fuzzy barriers of scene changing floated from right to left across the screen. It could have changed the sceen to C3-PO and R2-D2 trudging across the deserts of Tatooine. But it wasn’t, we were still in feudal Japan.

The second reason is that the copy I have of the movie is very bad. I bought a Kurosawa box set, published by Bo Ying. The picture quality was questionable as it seemed to be almost pixelated. Far worse were the English subtitles, even beyond the fact that any long phrases were cut off completely. The translation itself was horrible. If any native Engligh speakers reviewed the text before it was put on the DVD, I would be surprised.

The farmers were afraid of capture because they did not want to “dig holes for cropses”, yes cropses. They were trying to escape to “Country Joe”. General Ching told the farmers before he left “If I don’t come back, stay here.” These are only a few examples of the poor overall quality of the subtitles.

Between these two factors, I may have completely missed the entire movie, but I enjoyed what I did experience.

First and foremost, I must say that I was impressed by Tony Jaa. It was like the first time I saw Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan or Jet Li in a martial arts movie. I won’t make comparisons between those three or Jaa as they are all great. Most importantly, Jaa does have the impressive ability to make you say wow with his stunts. I liked the theme, that is that people are being corrupted by modern lifein the city and that the old ways are good and pure.
I did think the plot was a little on the light side, many of the better kung fu movies will have a well developed plot, good fighting and distinct characters. A little more character development would have gone a long way here.
Overall, a great movie for fans of martial arts.

I really enjoyed this movie and felt that it was made with the same feel as the book even if it wasn’t exactly the same story as the book. They also managed to keep my favorite part of the book in the movie. This was where the whale is created high above the planet and you get to know what it is thinking as it falls. I thought that Marvin looked nothing like I imagined him, but Alan Rickman brought him to life anyway. Finally, please remember not to forget your towel.

This is the 17th book in the Star Wars: New Jedi Order series. Why am I giving up on it? Because it sucks! For the most part the NJO series has been good, but now it has fallen in to the same repetitive, boring pit that many pre-NJO Star Wars books fell into.

The entire Force Heretic trilogy is crap! There is nothing new, nothing interesting, the battles are boring and repetative and the plot is completely predictable. Blech!

An interesting story that I listed to on audio book. I had no real prior knowledge of H. H. Holmes or the Chicago Columbian Exposition.

This movie came recommended, but my wife an I both hated it. I will give a warning of a possible spoiler following this period. I say possible because you have no doubt from he beginning of the movie that John and Sara are going to find each other again. I would have given this movie 3 extra stars with only a minor change at the ending. That is, at the ending when John is laying on the concrete skating rink, Sara should walk right up him, they should look at each other not recognize each other and go on with the miserable lives they have created for themselves.

My wife preferred the ‘fate hits them with a large truck when they finally find each other’ option.

I really enjoyed this book as it was a funny book that I could relate to. Having a mixed Persian/European heritage I felt like an insider on many of the jokes and felt that many of the stories of her family could have been mine.

I have enjoyed the other work of David Lynch; I could not get through this. Perhaps there was better work at the end, but I didn’t get that far.

It is not surprising that Ray Bradbury wrote for the Twilight Zone as this book seemed very much like one of its better episodes. An enjoyable and quick read!

I liked this movie while my wife thought it was a complete waste of two hours. In either case it is the story of two young men in Beijing who both lay claim to the same bicycle. It portrays the differences and issues faced by rural and city people, who both are in Beijing.