From my movie review blog:

I have been lucky enough to rent Zhang Yimou’s newest big-budget epic, Curse of the Golden Flower.

The film tells the story of a dysfunctional royal family of China that would be reminiscent of The Lion in Winter had the royal family been less than dignified. Every character seems to have their own form of poise and respectability, even when they are caught in a moment of passion. The ambitious Emperor (Chow Yun-Fat) and his 2nd Queen Consort (Gong Li) are in the midst of a quiet power struggle that slowly becomes more visible as the plot rolls on. Caught in the middle are the three Prince’s, each who have their own emotional problem in connection with the crown. Though the film begins with a great deal of dialogue the pay off comes towards the end with an action-packed explosion of emotions, blood, and sheer color as the Empress attempts a coup on her husband.

This movie is big budget, big sets, big hair, big throngs of people, big everything. Like many Chinese epic films, the colors are perfectly cordinated and cinematography provides the audience with an interesting scope. Though not historically accurate, the costuming is amazing, coinciding with the scenes perfectly, making it obvious that each was meticulously created for its own aesthetic purpose. The opulence of the royal palace provides a lush, color-rich atmosphere in which dramatic events worthy of the theatre unfold.

The plot doesn’t fail to please. The complex relations between the characters, such as the Empress’ three year affair with her stepson and crown Prince Wan, create an enthralling tangle of emotions and drama that can really suck you in. Dramatic suspense builds not because of the impending events, but because of the relationships between the characters and the concealed truths that they hold. When are the Emperor and the Empress going to snap? Will the Emperor discover the affair between his wife and son? What exactly is the Empress hiding from everyone?

This film is beautiful, dramatic, and, best of all, doesn’t overstay its welcome as most of this big budget films do. Happy watching!

I ended up watching this on my flight to Denver airport.

I enjoyed the typical theme of the man who goes for his dream no matter how crazy and rejected it is, considering I’m quite the daydreamer.

I give the creators credit that they came up with a very original plot and that the cinematography provided a real vision of stark countryside (you can see why the man wanted to go into space) but their approach to the plot just didn’t sit right with me. It didn’t trick you into suspending disbelief at all.

If their isn’t anything else on TV one night and this happens to be on, it’s worth a look but don’t bother paying for it.

Review from my movie review blog:

Venus is a film that should have finally won Peter O’Toole the academy award for best actor (though I will confess I hadn’t seen any of the other films nominated for best actor but I don’t care, poor Peter has had the award stolen from him too many times.) It is a story about aging, about the difficulities of life, love, and temptation.

Maurice (Peter O’Toole) is a aged actor whose life has been reduced to playing corpses in soap operas and taking medication. However, when he meets Jessie, a relative of his friend Ian, he finds himself attracted to her. Initially, Jessie makes it very clear that she does not want to be in the company of two men who are practically decomposing. After Maurice gets a job for her however, Jessie begins to slowly ease into the idea of hanging around with an old coot. Maurice begins to fall in love with her (or is acutely sexually attracted, perhaps both) to the point of infatuation, buying her gifts, doing favors for her, and at times making very forward advances towards her. Throughout the entire movie, Jessie’s motives for allowing this almost sexual relationship are speculated.

Peter O’Toole was perfect for this role. He is suave, charming, and still has those bright blue eyes of his youth that seem to insinuate a young soul burning within him. Aesthetically, personally, vocally, he is simply perfect for it. Newcomer Jodie Whittaker doesn’t fail to deliever either. Having an unknown play her role was a brillant idea. We feel like we have known Maurice all our lives and Jessie is this stranger we are just getting to know, as Maurice is.

I recall reading a review that compared the relationship between Marice and Jessie to the relationship between Henry Higgins and Eliza Dolittle of My Fair Lady, which were my thoughts exactly while watching this film as well. Just make the Higgins/Dolittle relationship contemporary with some sexual tension and BOOM, there you go. Don’t let that scare you away though, it is still very different but there are some noteable parallels to be made.

Friendships, past loves, and current loves are scattered throughout this movie. Be prepared for tangled relationships but not to the point of the dramatic. It still is a comedy, but a deep one. It conveys the transedence of every kind of love and how the spirit of youth remains caged within people as they age. It has a great deal of true things to say about life, love, and the human mind. I recommend it to anyone.

Why is it that all people possessed live on ranches out in the middle of nowhere? And why do the possessed always run to the barn/stable?

This poor excuse for a family was totally contrived, as was most of the acting in general. The father was an idiot. He was hostile towards anyone and everyone, even his own daughter.

A lot of the actors sounded as though they read the script but didn’t really understand it. A lot of the lines were said with an emotion that didn’t match what they were actually saying.

Every character had their own trite sob story and every man their obscenely hostile side.

The makeup artist of this movie should be shot, as well as wardrobe. Having this girl look like a badly spooked out honeymooner was difficult to take seriously. Her constant sexual advances on everyone around her made it look like the writers didn’t know how to create someone evil (then again there was a lot of pointless sex in this thrown together plot.) I have to admit, she was a little scary though.

The priest’s acting was one of the worst, not to mention he looks very similar to my freshman year earth science teacher. Hard to take him seriously at all.

Then there was Claire, stupid whore who was a whiney bitch the whole time. “You didn’t have sex with me, so you don’t love me!” No wonder she’s sexually frustrated and bitchy about it, she looks like she has the body of a sixty year old (shitty makeup artist doesn’t help her), she never gets laid. Then again she apparantly practices dark magic? There were so many ridiculous plotlines I didn’t know what was going on.

Ultimately the ending earns a total “wtf?” response.

Overall, this was a pretty terrible movie. The sad part is, I enjoyed it more than the Exorcism of Emily Rose.

Among my favorite cultures of the world is that of Native Americans. Their variety is many, their respect of the earth is what seems to string them together, and it is that respect that makes them amazing to me. This adoration made watching this film heartbreaking.

The most painful part had to be the battle between the slow dwindling of a culture and the need for them to adapt to survive. I am wondering if the scene they depicted is really how Sitting Bull died. I would love to read more about this.

Every time I watch movies showing the destruction my race caused on Indian cultures of all kinds, it hits me hard. Their culture deserved reverence and respect. In many ways certain Indian cultures were far more socially sophisticated than our own, I don’t see how we got off denouncing an entire race and not feeling like idiots. I suppose it was the mindset of the times.

This is a wonderful film but don’t watch it if you are depressed, you’ll never stop crying.

I’m not much of a chick flick person, but I really liked this movie. Though I never pictured Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore going together, I really found myself caring about this couple for some reason.

For once I liked the female main character, she was adorable. Hugh Grant played a wonderful 80’s has-been star. Though I can see why people wouldn’t like it, I thought it was adorable and the writing was quite amusing (aside from the lyrics themselves, which were pretty bad.)

This film effectively conveyed the choas surrounding the schism of a family. Just as it is difficult to merge two lives together in marriage it is also hard to break them apart.

The characterization was perfect. It had just the right amount of dry comedy and sometimes revolting drama to create a film ultimately about growing up, no matter what age.

First off, I would like to say that this should be declared the film most likely to induce an epileptic seizure.

Now that I got that off my chest…

I will be the first person to declare my hatred of math in a group of people. This film, aside from simply being interesting because of Max’s utter insanity and obsession, shows the a most intriguing side of math that I don’t see very often.

I was extremely interested in the mathematical code of the Torah and want to look into that a bit more. The idea of the number creating an instant of self-awareness in the computer was the scene that grabbed me most intensely, I would have liked to hear more about it from the characters.

Ultimately I wonder, did Max find happiness? I would suppose so but then again one could always counter with: Is ignorance (or lack of genius in this case) bliss?

Everyone should see this movie at least once. It’s the equivalent to a spiritual experience.

As a humanist, this movie struck me as beyond amazing. It shows the face of mankind and our relationship with the earth, both positive and negative. It shows the past, present, and future of humankind.

I could go on forever but in short, I adore this film.

Like many bollywood movies that are on a more serious note, Chokher Bali is a feast for the eyes. Though scenes could sometimes be too slow I spent the time in between conversations drinking up the imagery.

This movie is about the observation of relationships, not action. The characters were complex and engrossing, kept me on the edge of my seat.