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Reviews
Westworld: Années Folles (2022)
wait so when did Bernard wake up?
Love this episode and the direction it's taking Westworld, but I'm confused about Bernard's timeline: seems he went to the Sublime realm during the end of season 3, then wakes up 7 years later in this episode (which is supposed to coincide in time with Maeve and Caleb teaming up again), but then he found the group of Caleb's grown daughter, but that's supposed to be 23 years after the human Caleb died. Did it take Bernard 23 years to find Caleb's daughter and dig up Maeve? But why, since he already knew where to dig? Confused... (update: confusion resolved upon re-watching the episode. Bernard woke up 30 years after end of S3, not 7 years, got confused by the time-jump editing and by the Westworld fandom wiki.)
Invasion (2021)
Expensive Misfire
So I've just finished the whole 1st season, hoping against hope that my patience with the slow-burn buildup will be rewarded with a climatic finale, but nope, even less happened in the season 1 finale. It seems the whole slow first season is just a prolog/trailer for subsequent seasons, where hopefully the pace will finally pick up and things finally happen.
I love the other Apple+ TV show (Foundation), but can't really get excited about this one. The problems with this show are plenty: Too many story lines with no meaningful connection to each other; too many unlikable characters whom I cannot care less about; weak writing/directing which serves to disengage rather than engage viewers' interest, etc. Etc. I get that they're trying to show us the POV from different ordinary people when something like this happens, but there's got to be better ways to tell the story than they did, because honestly it's boring and I'm usually a patient sci-fi lover who love both cerebral and action shows.
I'll still watch season 2 when it comes out, though I won't be holding my breath waiting for it like I'm doing for Foundation's 2nd season.
Foundation (2021)
Stunning ADAPTATION
I've read all of Asimov's Foundation novels, starting decades ago. It's a classic and one of the best hard sci-fi novels. So of course I'm a big fan, but it's clear to me that a straight-forward adaptation of Asimov's words onto the small/big screen will never work, since there are so many characters and not much depth for any of them. It'll be like watching a documentary, or worse. Which is why I fully understand Apple's need to change things around so that we can focus on a few anchor characters and then let the grander story evolve around them. This keeps us emotionally attached to the story through the POV of the anchor characters without losing sight of the grand plot in the background. If you're one of the purists who's offended by any changes to the original books, think of this as a side-story that fills in the background stories of some of the characters, from their own points of view, and think of Asimov as an Encyclopedist who tried to record everything and everyone, and who may have missed some of the personal details... As for me, five episodes in, I'm fully hooked and looking forward to many seasons more!
P. S. Skimming over the negative reviews revealed that apart from those from purists (to whom I've answered above), most others are from people faulting the show for being "woke", progressive, not white enough etc. Yeah you know where that crowd is from, so ignore them.
Another Life (2019)
a sci-fi Frankenstein
It's a pity, this show showed some promise in the first episode, but then it goes rapidly downhill from there, getting so bad that I can't bear to watch any more after the 3rd episode... it's like some people with no interest or knowledge in science or sci-fi decided to make a sci-fi show, so they copied parts of other better sci-fi shows and stitched them together, no matter whether the parts fit well together or not. The result? A sci-fi Frankenstein made of mismatched bits of other shows. Add to that the worst and most unlikable spaceship crew this side of Alpha Centauri (with the exception of Katee "Starbucks" Sackhoff), and you get one of the worst sci-fi shows. Pity, as I said.
note to future sci-fi show producers: invest a bit of time (not even money since they're not expensive) to hire real scientists and/or sci-fi writers to serve as writers and advisors. That's about the only sure way to avoid making garbage sci-fi shows like this one.
(P.S. the two-star rating is for Katee Sackhoff, who tried but couldn't save this stinking pile...)
Ying xiong (2002)
Still the best of the genre
Ying Xiong is a rare gem among WuXia (chinese historical kung-fu) movies. It has the perfect balance of all the elements: story, writing, acting, cinematography, visual effects, music etc. The only other movies of the genre that achieved this are Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and House of Flying Daggers, and in my opinion Ying Xiong is the better of the three. All other movies in the genre are lacking in one or more of the elements, and especially lacking in the recent crop of big-budget WuXia movies are the story, writing and acting. More often than not, these movies concentrated too much on the visual effects, i.e. way too much CG with way too poor story and acting (e.g. Tsui Hark's Zu Warriors (2001), Wu Ji (The Promise 2005), Ching Din Dai Sing (Chinese Tall Story 2005)). But as exemplified perfectly in Ying Xiong, sometimes less is better than more. The spectacular and beautiful visual effects in Ying Xiong are perfectly in tune and blend in seamlessly with the rest of the movie, thus enhancing the overall experience instead of being jarring distractions like the CG used in so many other movies of the genre. But what's more important, the story in Ying Xiong has an elegance, gravity and nobility which is so seldom achieved in other movies of the genre. It's the result of mature writing and superb acting.
Qing dian da sheng (2005)
Another visually pleasing but otherwise silly HK flick - what a waste!
First there was Tsui Hark's Zu Warriors (2001), which is visually ground-breaking, but much lacking in the acting and writing departments, now this movie, which is visually almost as good as Zu (though no longer ground-breaking), but is even worse in the acting and writing departments. It's really sad that there seems to be an almost complete lack of acting and writing talents in the HK movie industry. I guess you need to understand Cantonese to understand how bad and vulgar the dialogs in the movie really are. It's like some delinquent kids talking in the street, it's that bad. To make it worse, the actors and actresses themselves look like delinquent kids, and can't act even if their life depend on it. I understand that this movie is supposed to be a comedy aimed at the younger generation in HK, but has HK youths really become so brain-dead that they can't appreciate anything but such juvenile and vulgar acting/writing? If that's the case, it makes me ashamed to be from HK.
I wish HK movie makers will learn some lessons from directors like Zhang Yi-Mou or Ang Lee, and finally make a movie that's both visually stunning as well as competent and mature in the acting and writing departments. And stop using young singers/idols/heartthrobs as actors because they can't act however many fans they may have in HK!
Shu shan zheng zhuan (2001)
Jaw-dropping visuals dragged down by terrible acting and script
Tsui Hark's visual artistry is at its peek in this movie. Unfortunately the terrible acting by Ekin Cheng and especially Cecilia Cheung (I felt the urge to strangle her while watching this, it's that bad :) made it difficult to watch at times.
This movie is a real breakthrough in the visual department. When I first saw this, my jaw dropped repeatedly and I thought to myself that I've never seen anything remotely like it but this is how it should be done in order to do full justice to the mythical world of Chinese historical kung-fu novels! Without a doubt this is one of the best-looking Chinese historical kung-fu epic ever made.
But alas, Tsui Hark hasn't improved much in the writing department, and the story and dialog are rather juvenile (his apparent obsession with the silly and overly-long depiction of the evil guys didn't help either). To make it worse, this movie is very badly cast. They decided to use the "hot" popular Hong Kong idols as lead characters, but unfortunately both Ekin Cheng and especially Cecilia Cheung are totally unsuited for historical kung-fu dramas because they lack the nobility and mystique that such characters are supposed to embody. Adam Cheng Siu-Chow and Brigitte Lin in the 1983 version are infinitely better.
I wish that someday Zhang Yi-Mou and Tsui Hark can join forces and produce a movie that has the visual artistry of Tsui but with the maturity and story-telling poetry of Zhang...
Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005)
A Competent and Visually Stunning Conclusion to the Star Wars Saga, but Still Flawed.
"A pile of CG-intensive scenes loosely tied together does not a great movie make", as Yoda would say :) Sadly Lucas still hasn't learned this basic lesson. Many fans may have overlooked the shortcomings of this third installment of the prequel trilogy, simply because there are so much action and story elements packed into 2.5 hours that it's almost overwhelming. But I came away from the theater feeling flat, not being excited and invigorated like I felt when I saw the first trilogy. I think the problem is that Lucas has chosen to present the story in this movie (and the others in the prequel) in a matter-of-fact manner, without taking the time to set up the mood of a scene, or to streamline the transition between scenes. Lucas would do well to learn from his mentor Irvin Kershner (who directed Empire), who understands that sometimes little touches here and there can make huge differences in the impact of a scene. In fact one would have thought that such things should be elementary for every film school student, but perhaps Lucas dropped out or skipped class :) This movie suffers from the same basic flaws as the previous two installments: Flat story telling, wooden dialog, cringe-inducing "romantic" scenes, and to a lesser degree, a lack of tightness in binding the story elements together. This movie seems better than the other two only because there are so much going on on the screen that we don't have time to think about its flaws, but you'll realize it as you search your feelings after the movie ended :)
This said, I'll probably go see it one more time in a theater, and I'll definitely get the DVD when it comes out :)
*** MINOR SPOILERS BELOW *** ----------------------------
I found the process of Anakin's transition to the dark side rushed and unconvincing. The main motivation is simply not strong enough (especially given the lack of on-screen chemistry between Anakin and Padme) for Anakin to turn literally overnight from slightly rebellious Jedi to the one-man-slaughterhouse evil Sith. It felt forced.
Also, the downfall of the Jedi seems a bit too easy, given how invincible they all seem in previous movies. If a handful of Jedi can hold off the huge droid army in Geonosis, it's inconceivable that all the Jedi in the Jedi temple cannot hold off the clone troopers longer, even if they're led by Anakin.
And here's a technical nitpick: If a Jedi can move massive objects by sheer will of the Force, why can't Obi-wan and Anakin use the Force to deflect tiny incoming missiles?? :)