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christos200
Reviews
Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015)
Star Wars is back and you will love it!
The original Star Wars (A New Hope) was a simple tale: that of a young boy growing up to become a hero and of a clash between good and evil. The prequel trilogy did not grasp this and that's why it failed. But this movie returns back to the simpler narrative of good vs evil we loved. Gone are the trade negotiations, discussions about taxes and laws, voting in the senate. We are back to the fairytale like world of the original trilogy.
The cinematography is stunning. The desert in Jakku where Star Destroyers have crushed is a pleasure to watch, as well as the frozen forest of Starkiller Base. None of this feels fake and you will be awed by the scenery. But, of course, in a Star Wars movie it is the characters and story that are the most important.
Personally, my favorite character of the new ones was Finn. His story was unlike that of most heroes in Star Wars: a Stormtrooper who decided to leave behind the First Order and wanted to run away from conflict. Not only was his background interesting, but he was well acted and offered most of comic relief of the movie, which was fun to watch and did not feel silly like Jar Jar Binks in Episode I.
Rey, the protagonist of the movie, was great as well. Daisy Ridley gave a great performance as Rey and her chemistry with Finn made the two characters fun to watch. Her story was the classic young man/woman grows up to become a hero. Which was just fine. Harrison Ford returned as Han Solon and he was arguable the best character in the movie. His character did not return to the series simply for nostalgia reasons, but he was crucial to the plot, well acted with his famous one liners and every bit as entertaining as he was in the original trilogy.
As for the other characters, Kylo Ren was quite good as the main villain. Adam Driver did an excellent job in portraying the emotional conflict in his character. He was not meant to be a second Darth Vader, but a conflicted villain and a person who battled with his emotions and Adam did that just fine. Admiral Hux was good as was Leia, although both of them did not play a major role in the story. BB-8 was cute and I liked him.
The plot too was good. It copied the tone and style of the original trilogy but did not feel like a cheap rehash, for it inserted it's own original characters, pace and twists into the story. It did a good job in that, as it felt like real Star Wars (something that the prequels failed to do) while not being a direct copy.
Overall, it is a great movie and you should watch. Ignore haters and you will have a great time watching this awesome movie.
Wo hu cang long (2000)
A very good, but overrated film
Being more a fan of 70's Hong Kong Kung Fu films (mainly Shaw Brothers) and not a fan of more modern Kung Fu films that overuse CGI, I was reluctant at first to see this film. However, after reading many positive reviews, I decided to give it a try. It did not disappoint me. In fact, it impressed. However, I still believe that this film is kinda overrated.
The plot is somewhat complex, although easy to understand, and has to do with a rare Sword of great power, the Green Destiny Sword, being stolen, a young aristocratic woman, Jen Yu, who is in love with a bandit, Lo 'Dark Cloud', and a Kung Fu Master, Master Li Mu Bai, who tries to find the sword.
The plot is quite good, as well as the acting, and it is surely better (in terms of plot) than most Kung Fu films I have seen. The plot, although complex, it is, as I have already mentioned above, very easy to understand. My personally favorite character is Master Li Mu Bai (Yun-Fat Chow), who gave an excellent performance.
The fight scenes, although sometimes overuse the supernatural element, are quite good. While not as good as in old 70's Kung Fu movies, the choreography is exciting and very well done.
Overall, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is one of the better Kung Fu films I have seen. But still, I believe that people who view this as the "best" Kung Fu movie or a "masterpiece" are overrating it. Although it is a quite good movie and it impressed me, I have seen other Kung Fu movies which I consider better, like One Armed Swordsman (1967), Blood Brothers (1973), Snake in the Eagle's Shadow (1978) and Young Master (1980). So, while a quite good film, I would not say that it is the best Kung Fu film.
You ling shen (1979)
One of the best Kung Fu movies of all time
This movie is a classic. It has everything. Great settings, nice music, well developed characters, a good plot and awesome Kung Fu battles. Cha Ta-chu (Chang Yi), master of the 'Palm of Death, is recruited by a Qing government official to find a manuscript. In order to do this, he has to fight against the Ming Union, a rebel group that wants to overthrow the Qing and restore the Ming.
The Kung Fu fights are very good, with awesome choreography. You should see the Monkey and Mantis style that provide the best battle of the movie. Also, this movie has a good plot. It is not just fighting, like in many Kung Fu movies, but it has character development. Chang Yi is the true protagonist in the story and he is awesome. Lee Kwan is also quite good and provides a lot of comical scenes.
All in all, this film is a classic. 10 of 10. If you have not seen it yet, then go and buy/rent it now.
Shi di chu ma (1980)
A great Kung Fu Comedy of Jackie Chan
First, if you like Comedy Kung Fu movies and Jackie Chan, then this is a must see for you. Second, if you expect very good acting or a serious plot (By serious I do not mean a Plot that is not a comedy, but a plot that...well is a real plot and makes sense, then this movie is not for you.
Now that we said those things, I can start the review of the Young Master. The Young Master is a Kung Fy Comedy, Jackie Can style. It has lot of action and funny moments.
The story has to do with Jackie taking part in a lion dance against an other school. The one who was supposed to be the lead, was Jackie's brother (Tiger), but he faked an injury so he could fight for the other school. This leads to Tiger's exile.
Tiger meanwhile joins the other schools and helps them free a criminal who is a very good Kung Fu fighter. Tiger freed the criminal using his White Fan.
Back in Jackie's school, after a dramatic scene where all students blame Jackie for all the trouble and he thanks his master, his master allows him to search for his brother. Jackie Chan also has a White Fan like his brother, which makes the police think that he is the one who freed the criminal and so Jackie must fight the police and at the same time to try to find his brother................
While the first half an hour makes you think that this is a dramatic film and has a good plot, the rest of the movie is a comedy with almost no plot. The plot seems to serve the role of connecting the Action and Comedy scenes. The fights are very well done. The last fight lasts 15 minutes, the longest in any Kung Fu movie and Jackie is beaten again and again. The comedy scenes are awesome and make you laugh hard. The acting is very good (For Kung Fu standards, of course).
Hwang In-Sik is awesome as the criminal while Shih Kien is very good at the role of the policeman.
Now the rating: Plot: 2/5 Comedy: 5/5 Kung Fu scenes: 4/5 Scenery: 3/5 Acting: 4/5 So this is rated 8/10. It is an awesome movie and everyone should see it.
Ci Ma (1973)
One of the best Kung Fu movies of all time!
The Blood Brothers is one of the best Kung Fu movies of all time for many reasons. First, it is one of the few Kung Fu movies that has a plot that not only makes sense, but it is a bit more complex. Second, all actors are amazing. Third, the story begins as a flashback, something that is rare in Kung Fu movies. And this is well done.
The story follows two bandits, Chang Wen Hsiang (David Chiang) and Huang Chang (Chen Kuan-tai) who attempt to rob Ma Xinyi (Ti Lung). They fail to defeat Ma, and so they decide to join forces with Ma and become blood brothers.
At first they take over a hill under the control of bandits and then train the bandits, creating their small private army. However, the wife of Huang, Mi Lan (Ching Li) falls in love with Ma. Ma tries not to see Mi Lan because he does not want to betray his blood brothers, but the film shows that he is in love with her.
After a few years Ma recruits his blood brothers and his private army to the Qing army and they fight rebels. But Ma's love for Mi Lan will lead him to betray his blood brothers................
That is a synopsis of the plot. The story lets you know from the start that Chang killed Ma. So what keeps the plot interesting is how those close friends could kill each other.
The only criticism I can make is that while the film makes the love story between Ma and Mi Lan believable and while it also makes believable that Chang and Huang are friends, it spends little time developing the relationship between Chang and Huang and Ma. Ma never seems to be a real friend of the two bandits and the viewer cannot really believe that Chang and Huang believe so much on Ma. But this in no way means that the Blood Brothers is not a good movie.
Also most Kung Fu movies use the plot as an excuse to connect Kung Fu battles. This movie uses the Kung Fu scenes to connect the Plot instead. Even without Kung Fu scenes, the movie would still be awesome. But the Kung Fu battles are awesome and really good to see.
Now the rating:
Plot: 4/5
Acting: 4/5
Kung Fu battles: 3/5
Scenery: 5/5
So in total, this films ranks 8/10. It is an awesome film, one of the best Kung Fu movies, but the films fails in the blood brothers relationship part. Had it had more development between the three main characters, this might well had been ranked 9.
Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005)
A good movie, but not as good as I hoped
Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith has to do about the fall of Anakin to the Dark Side of the force. If you have seen the Original Trilogy, there is not really much to spoil.
The Movie begins with an Amazing Space Battle. It is an epic scene, but I feel like it has too much CGI. Other than that, the start of the film is amazing and reminds you A New Hope.
Then Anakin and Obi Wan start talking. This is where all goes wrong. The dialog is wooden. There is no emotion and it is very bad written. Hayden Christensen cant act. At all.
The scenes between Padme and Anakin make me want to commit suicide. In Episode V, Han and Leia looked like they were being in love. In Episode III, Padme and Anakin feel like they are forced by the script to be in love.
Ewan McGregor (Obi Wan) is the one of the two actors who can act in this film. He, and Ian McDarmuid (Palpatine), are the only ones who give emotion to this film. I liked the way Palpatine tried to manipulate Anakin.
Then, the battle between Obi Wan and Grevious begins. It is an amazing battle. Hunderds of Clones and Droids fight, while Obi Wan and Grevious duel to death. An amazing scene.
After this duel, the film became better. The reason: It had more duels and less talking. I am not someone who likes only the battle scenes. I like dialogs and story development in the films more than the battles. But if I have to chose between wooden dialog with no emotion and an amazing battle scene, I would chose the second.
Mace Windu faces Palpatine in a Duel, and then Anakin and Obi Wan fight to death. The choreography is amazing!! Although in the final battle, the reason why Obi Wan won is idiotic.
So, to recap:
Fight scenes: Amazing!! 4/5
Plot, Story and Character Development: Fail!!!! 1/5
So I will give this 5.
The reason for the 1 that was won in the Plot, Story and Character Development is Ewan McGregor (Obi Wan) and Ian McDarmuid (Palpatine).