Casino Royale

New timeline, new structure, new James Bond

We can see alot of changes in Casino Royale, no Q from the R&D division, no special weapon, no high tech gadgets, no Moneypenny.

The classic James Bond theme only plays in ending credit, not in the movies.

The opening sequence use playing cards and guns, instead of naked girls in silhouette like previous Bond film.

And if I'm not mistaken, this is the first time they use male singer to perform the title song.

Why are there so many changes?
I have to admit, the first time I watched this movie 2years ago in cinema, I really cannot accept all those changes.

But after I watch it over and over again, I start to like Casino Royale...
and one thing that distinguish this movie wih previous Bond film is
~ they put alot of effort to the script and focus on character development~

Despite the criticsm, I think Daniel Craig did a good job.
Some say he looks like a villain, some say he is not good-looking, some say he is too cold.

But if you realize their intention to make a new and fresh Bond, you will understand why Daniel Craig acting in that way.
And I admit, I actually under estimated his performance at the begin.

The new Bond is more brutal and more emotional. He made mistakes.
The new Bond is inmature and innocent. He learn lessons.

Which is why, in my opinion, his character is developed really well in the whole movie.
And you need solid performance to take this role, and it is not easy.

Pierce Brosnan's James Bond perhaps is more cool, and more clever.
But frankly, there is not much of effort put on scriptwriting.

For me, Casino Royale is the best James Bond movie in recent years.

The dialogue and conversation is fantastic.

The location chosen is really good, Madagascar, Bahamas, Montenegro, and Venice....
it brings you back to Roger Moore and Sean Connery era, different costume in different country...
~~the James Bond feel is back~~

Talking about cinematography, the action sequence in Madagascar is one of the best scene I have ever seen in Bond movies.

The ending is so sad, terrific climax!!!

Perhaps some of the fans still cannot accept the new James Bond....
but it needs time....

Casablanca (1942)

Classic film set in unoccupied Africa during World War 2.

Rick Blaine, who owns a nightclub in Casablanca,discover his ex-lover Ilsa Lund is in town with her husband, Victor Laszlo.

Laszlo is a resistance leader, and with Nazis on his tail.

Ilsa knows Rick can get them out of the country.

But will he???



I don't know if writing a review about Casablanca is a suitable act.

This is one of the most prestigious film ever.

Absolutely Classic!!!


I am not a classic movie goers,

I just want to expose myself to other genre,

riding a time machine back to the historical moment that we can see the greatest films of all the time.


Casablanca, a dramatic and romantic war epic film.

Not as sensational as Gone With The Wind, but personally, I like Casablanca more.

A huge signature of Hollywood golden age.


We will all remember Rick and Ilsa, probably the best screen couple ever.

Time goes by, Casablanca still has its charm.


A movie that can survive in history and time.

A movie that will survive for another 100 years.


"We will always have Paris"
Play "As Time Goes By"

Face/Off

In order to trap him, you must find him, face him, and....become him.

It's like looking in a mirror, only not.

Three important people to discuss in this movie~ John Woo, John Travolta, and Nicolas Cage~

Face/Off is considered John Woo's best film in Hollywood, solid directing technique, very cool and stylish...

There is alot of similiarities between Face/Off and The Killer (starring Chow Yun Fatt).

John Woo actually bring his signature image and pioneer heroic bloodshed scene from his earlier HongKong movie.

For those who like action movies, this is a must watch movie!

Following are some of my personal comment, but I think you need to watch the movie first, otherwise you might not get what I meant.

Coz the two main characters and the two actors actually switching each other role in the plot.

The climax part of the movie is the battle in church.

Church, statue of Jesus, Cross, choir, candle light, coffin....and doves....

Doves signify peace, John Woo choose doves as his signature's image.

Next, Mexican-standoff~~ a strategic deadlock of no-win situation.

Multiple opponents with guns aimed at each other.

Neither one of them can take a move.

The destroyed of church artifacts, chair, statue.

Carry a child by your left hand and holding a gun by your right hand, then kick your enemy ass!!!

Slow motion scenes, very stylish, very breathtaking, very beautiful.

We can see all those famous and memorable scenes in his movie!!!

Talking about the story, I think it is ridiculous, and, some people say....it is stupid.....

The movie didnt show us too detailed about the transform of whole body physical appearance, only FACE.

But I think the idea is not bad...just, there would be many weakness in the plot for the story like this.

But who cares?

The starpower of John Travolta and Nicolas Cage rescue all those weakness, with their terrific performance and topclass acting!!!

You can see how Travolta and Cage switching each other role, playing each other character in the movie.

Every single scene. you will definitely reinterpreting their character~ Archer and Troy.

The character name is notable from the Trojan War, the fight between Achilles and Hector.

Face/Off is like a modern Trojan War, where the enemy invade your city by Trojan Horse.

As we can see in Face/Off, the enemy invade your life by the same technique.

How far would you go to kill your enemy?

Put the bullets on his head ??? (wait, that's your face on his head)

It's like pointing the gun at yourself, and yourself are pointing the gun back at you.

I simply love this kind of complex feeling and contradiction shown in this movie.

I like the scene where Archer and Troy face each other in the mirror.

Very brilliant, a superb move!!!

Finally you can see your enemy face, and recognize your enemy once again, to remind yourself who you really are.

That is the only way you can shoot your enemy, pull the fuckin trigger to release all your hatred and anger....

Face/Off~~~ J.T.'s favourite~~~

Lust, Caution 色, 戒

To kill the enemy, she would have to capture his heart, and break her own...

A group of university students carry out an ambitious plan to assassinate a national traitor during puppet government era.

A shy young lady have to transform herself into a seductive woman to approach her prey.

The sexual relationship soon become deeper,stronger and emotional.

The lady tried to avoid from falling into the trap she set, but in the end, she can't resist his love for her.

This movie had create many controversies, mainly because of censorship and sex scenes.

I watched the uncut version, and the sex scene is so real.

I bet you will hold your breath when you watch it, Tony Leung and Tang Wei had a top class performance.

Anyway, I think the audience still able to digest the movie even if they are watching the censored version.

Not to say that the sex scene is unnecessary, but it didnt affect the storyline that much actually.

Ang Lee need sex scene in Lust,Caution because

~it shows audience how struggle and sadistic the lady was.

~then soon, she start to feel the pleasure of having sex with him.

~how he remain suspicious of her when they were having sex.

~then soon, he start to trust her

So, sex scenes would be the best and the "most crystal clear" way to show all those emotional elements.

I watched some Ang Lee's movies before, some are boring, some are good.

But overall, I just don't like his movies.

Lust, Caution is the first Ang Lee's movie that I like.

Despite some criticism that Lust, Caution is too slow or too long,

I think this is Ang Lee's best film.

The cinematography is great. ( I love the last scene)

The music is excellent.

A good movie.

Connected 保持通话

改编自好来坞电影“Cellular"，故事叙说被绑架的单亲妈妈(大S) 必须与财务公司职员(古天乐) 保持电话联络，以免匪徒伤害她无辜的女儿。

电影上半部拍得不错，人物和情节交代得合情合理，故事蛮有张力，大S和古天乐以及张家辉的三线连接也接得不错。

但电影下半部却已经离开了“保持通话”的主题。某些细节方面处理得略嫌马虎，文戏也略嫌罗嗦。

这是香港首次改编美国电影，是否意味着美国故事也有可取之处？还是意味着香港电影人开始忧闷了？

我本身蛮喜欢“保持通话”这题材，电影拍得好当然不能只把功劳归给美国人，毕竟香港编剧们也重新设计了一些人物和细节，并加入了娱乐性的港产片元素。

陈木胜鲜少让我失望，不知不觉这已是我连续六年在电影院看的陈木胜电影。
我觉得目前香港最好的动作片导演非陈木胜莫属。

他可能没有吴宇森的“型”，没有徐克的“潇洒”，没有叶伟信的“暴力”，没有杜琪锋的“男儿气”，也没有刘伟强的“聪明”。

但这又不是吴宇森电影，根本无需拿他来和吴宇森做直接比较。

陈木胜电影有风格，也有活力，却不乏幽默感。
人物塑造得刚中带柔，柔中带刚，也不忘探讨人性一面。

很喜欢陈木胜在“新警察故事”里塑造给吴彦祖的奸角。很有神韵，很坏，很奸，很聪明，也很有神秘感，是个看了叫人痛心的悲剧人物。

刘烨饰演的奸角中规中矩。没什么启发性，没什么爆发力。一名戴着黑眼镜耍酷的坏人角色，根本就难不倒一名专业的大陆演员。

一个好的动作场面除了要带动观众情绪，也必须把一个故事情节引进另一个新情节。
总不能无端端就来个追逐战，无端端又来个爆破场面或是疯狂枪战。

陈木胜在这一点就处理得非常好，节奏快得来让你有少许的屏息空间，再延续另一个动作场面和更进情节。（谷德超和王祖蓝的客串恰到好处〕


情人眼里出西施，西施眼里出什么？
原以为大S会靠着她女儿问的这个谜语坚强下去，直到与女儿相遇后再向她要答案。
谁知，最后却没有交代。

没关系，再说，“保持通话”还尚算是部好电影。
拍得不算很精彩很刺激，但却拍得有节奏有感觉。

不得不赞赏他，陈木胜!!!

Veronica Guerin

Based on the true story of Veronica Guerin,

an Irish journalist, who exposed the largest drug lord and drug dealers in Dublin since 1995.

She has been digging into criminal underworld to find information sources for her stories.

In 1996, she was murdered by two assasins hired by the drug lord.

Veronica is brave, she never give up.

But yet the film shows her weakness and fear too, when she was threatened by violence.

Cate Blanchett potrayed the character with her mature and convincing performance.

Without her, the movie is left with a dull cinema aspects.

Anyway, this movie is still mildly recommend!

For me, it is....

Heartbreaking!!!

God of Cookery 食神

God of Cookery (played by Stephen Chow), a famous chef who know how to use media power to secure his title.

But then, he was betrayed by his business partner and publicly humilated by his rival.

He meet a street noodle vendor, Sister Turkey (played by Karen Mok) . She help him to regain confidence and fight back the title.

But still, he didnt learn his lesson yet....

Some people say Stephen Chow is 无厘头(making jokes for no reason), I disagree that....
There are always some hidden meaning behind his jokes, or behind a movie line.
A message, a moral value, an inspiration.

Well, ofcourse, I am not asking you to purposely concentrate for each scene and dialogue, in order to find the hidden meaning.
If you do so, you will lose the excitement of the jokes.
Yet, not every single joke also has a hidden meaning.

Just watch the show, enjoy it, and laugh....
If you get the hidden meaning, well....that's good for you.
If you do not get it, don't force yourself to.


Following is a conversation between Stephen Chow and Karen Mok in the movie.

Mok: 我山长水远地来到这里, 只是想你帮我画个心, 你这都发我脾气。
你不念我为你做了这么多事，也都念在我为你挡了这么多刀呀。

Chow: 这些事不是我叫你做的，这些刀也不是我叫你为我挡的。

那其实又关我什么事呢？ 如果照你说法，

人人都走来说为我挡两刀，说要这样和要那样的，那我岂不是很麻烦?

(after a moment)

Chow: 很多事是注定的，有就是有，没有就是没有。
是没有的就算你挡多二十刀也是没用的， 你明白吗？


It was one of the most successful movie in Stephen Chow's filmography. He takes his jokes seriously....

He used back most of his standard cast and crew in previous movies.
Alot of funny characters....the ugly chef, the fortune teller, green-haired triad member, and ofcourse the ugly cameo of 八两金.


If you want to know more about 八两金, click this....
http://www.com.cuhk.edu.hk/ubeat/010545/ugly.htm

The Rock

A chemical weapons expert and an ex-con must lead the counterstrike when soldiers threaten a gas attack from Alcatraz against San Francisco

This movie is

SENSATIONAL and BREATHTAKING!!!

if you notice the golden casts and crews of this movie, you will know this is definitely a top class production.

Directed by: Michael Bay

Produced by: Jerry Bruckheimer

Music by: Hans Zimmer

Starring: Nicolas Cage, Sean Connery, Ed Harris


Michael Bay is my favourite director, the best action movie director in Hollywood.

His action sequence is planned so well, fully utilized the chemical effects of video and audio, and it gives visual pleassure to audiences.

Jerry Bruckheimer is the undispute best producer of all time, for his commercially success movies.

"We are in the transportation business. We transport audiences from one place to another."
This is his point of view to film industry.

As we can see, he make movies for audiences, entertainment and excitement are the main concerns.

Hans Zimmer is always great, my favourite music composer....his film score can carry audiences' emotion shot by shot, scene to scene. The original soundtrack of this movis is recommended....

Trust me, this is a movie you don't want to miss!!!

10 minuta

"10 minuta" is a ten minutes Bosnian short-film that won Best Short-Film Award in European Film Awards 2002

This is one of the foreign short films that impress me the most....

it's Huge, it's Impressive, it's Great!!!

"The film's opening scene start at Italy, showing a Japanese tourist go into a photo-printing shop, asking the shop owner is it possible to have his films finish print in 10minutes

The shop owner ensure him that the photo can be done in 10minutes. And so, he wait outside the shop, take his cigarette, and look at his watch, 10minutes on!



Then the film's scene switch to Bosnia, showing a woman ask her son to buy a loaf of bread and fetch some waters home

In order to do so, the little boy must go through a war zone....and so, he walk all the way in the war zone and reach to the breadseller....While he is buying the bread, suddenly the enemy army start bombing to Bosnian

The little boy run all the way back to his home and found his family was dead!!!



The scene switch back to Italy, showing the Japanese tourist's photos are done, 10 minutes end.... "




The cinematography is great!!!

Single continous shot in the Bosnia scene....

Not shaky at all, camera angle and movement is perfect!!!

The setting is massive and excellent....



This film show us the contrast of Rome and Sarajevo....

Perhaps a "10 minutes" doesnt mean anything for the Japanese tourist

But for the Bosnian little boy, a "10minutes" had changed his life forever!!!

Can you imagine??? What a big impact it was!!!!



Highly recommend by JT, must watch....haha!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppAn0LNU_V8

Psycho (1960)

Psycho is a suspense film directed by Alfred Hitchcock.

Multi-award nominations... no doubt, this is indeed a CLASSIC....

Following are the most important recognition of Psycho:

1: AFI's 100 years... 100 movies

2: AFI's 100 years... 100 film scores

3: AFI's 100 years... Villain#2

4: AFI's 100years... 100 movie quotes

Psycho is the first Hitchcock's film that I watch, which is why, it is not fair for me to judge his style...people said he is the pioneer of many technique in filming psychological and horror film. I don't know why.


"The Shower Scene" of Marion Crane has been studied and discuss for so many years....people said it was horrify, I don't know why.


I always respect to classic and old movies, but I have to say, as an audience, I really didnt feel terrify at all when I watch the famous shower scene....I still can take my shower without leaving the bathroom door open. (because I'm afraid of cold, not afraid of murderer,haha)


But ofcourse, the interesting part of the shower scene are the Editing and Camera Shot, which are something worth for film studies....the combination of Close up and Extreme Close Up, rate of frame cutting, duration of each shot are really hard to estimate and joint in order to let audiences make sense of what is going on.


By the way, the concept of the shower scene is brilliant, Hitchcock used shower to "wash away" Marion Crane's guilt. When she stepped into the bathtub, it was as she was stepping into the baptismal waters. When the water sprayed from the shower and beat her body, her soul was purified from the evil. We can see that she take her shower in peace.


Instead of the shower scene, actually I was get frightened at the scene where Bates come out from his mother room and killed the detective.


High angle shot showing the staircase and the room's door in silent. The detective is going up from the staircase...suddenly a curly hair old woman come out and stabbed the detective, the scene fit very well with Bernard Herrmann's score.


Next thing to discuss is about Norman Bates, a psychological killer who killed his victims while wearing his mother's cloth. For me, this character is very worth for discusssion. A tragedic villain who suffered for emotion abuse....struggle in between the personalities of "Norman" Bates, "Norma" Bates,"Normal" Bates??? Personally, I really like the resolution part where the truth reveal who Norman Bates actually is.


Allright, this is it, a movie that is recommended for film studies or psychology studies.


There are alot of interesting conversation in this movie. I love this movie not because I want to get frightened, it's because I really like the idea, the concept and story.


Movie quote that I like from Norman Bates:

• A boy's best friend is his mother.

• Oh, we have 12 vacancies. 12 cabins, 12 vacancies.

• A hobby should pass the time, not fill it.
  
  
  
  

City of Angels

A story about an angel called Seth, decides to become a human so that he can experience all of the human feeling that he had never been able to understand all this while....

He is willing to give up his immortality, his eternal life....it's all happen because of falling in love with a surgeon called Maggie....

The symbolic action of falling from a building.... signify a fallen angel falls into the river of love!!!

So sad, so romantic....

The movie is beautiful, I love the story, very simple, very pure....

No dramatic or twist ending, it is not a sensational romance story like Paris and Helen...

But it is sad enough to make u cry....

I didnt cry, but I can feel the pain of Seth, when he lost Maggie....

Yet I can feel his joy in being human....he did not regret....

And this would be my favourite quote...conversation between Seth and his angelic colleague Cassiel...discussing about the feeling of become human...

Cassiel: To smell the air.

Seth: Taste water.

Cassiel: Read a newspaper.

Seth: To lie.

Cassiel: Through your teeth. To feed the dog.

Seth: Touch her hair.

Cassiel: What are you waiting for?

Soundtrack recommend:

"Uninvited" by Alanis Morissette

"Angel" by Sarah McLachlan

"Iris" by the Goo Goo Dolls