House of the flying daggers

mr cat

mr cat

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this is a great film - I haven't time for an in depth review...but buy it!
 
I agree probably my favourite film of the last 12 months, had a region 3 copy for some time now, I think its best in its native dialogue with subtitles.

Mr Perceptive
 
domfjbrown said:
Is this watchable without falling asleep? I loathed Hero...
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It has a better plot Dom (or at least is easier to follow).
Hero scenes were drowned in coulours, and should have kept you awake. :)
 
I saw it the other week and enjoyed it a lot. Fantastic colours and settings and set pieces (like the Echo game), but ultimately the doomed tragic love affair didn't work too well and got a bit silly at the end. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon has more convincing plot and works better emotionally.
 
Quite a lot of japanese stories are very different in their structure from 'Western' films. Crouching Tiger is a westernised japanese style film. For example Princess Mononoke (another Miyazaki film) is less accessible to us westerners than some of his other films, but it is more popular in Japan because it references the destruction of the natural world amongst other things - a sensitive subject in japan.
 
IMO its a distant third behind Hero & CTHD. As alanbeeb says, there are some very good set-pieces (echo game, bamboo fight), but the film doesn't really come together for me. Its also not set on a scale anywhere near as large as his previous epics, which might account for why I was underwhelmed.

Maybe he fancied doing a martial arts film where the emphasis was on love & human relationships, rather than combat and cinematography?

Still a decent film in it's own right.

Domfj, if you fall asleep watching Zhang Ziyi, there's something wrong with you! She's *gorgeous*!

DT
 
Dynamic Turtle said:
Domfj, if you fall asleep watching Zhang Ziyi, there's something wrong with you! She's *gorgeous*!
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He he he - well, that's taken as read (about Zhang Ziyi - we already KNOW the "something wrong" bit - yer, mental!).

Seriously though, in some material I watch in the cinema, I've been known to fall asleep no matter how good the movie (especially if it's subtitled) due to having to overcrank my poor eyesight to take it all in, and thus making myself literally mentally exhausted. I fell asleep in BOTH of the first LOTR installments, even though I was really getting into them! Luckily, my mate nudged me awake after a few seconds so I didn't miss too much. This is why I prefer dubbing - I know it's not right, but trying to keep up with subtitles is really knackering when my nystagmus kicks off...
 
LOTR - first one was great, second one OK, third one was dire. Spent increasing amounts of time editing the extended DVDs and left very little time to edit the next theatrical release. Poor.


Zhang Ziyi - mmmmmmmmmmm
 
I've heard the LOTR trilogy being called many things, but "poor" is not one of them. Definately in the minority there, hifikrazy!

DT
 
DT - just to clarify, i actually thought the first one was great. Just thought the 3rd one really lets the side down, which is a shame. For example, there is no attempt to explain why Denethor (Steward of Gondor) is going mad. If they had simply included a scene with him looking into the Palantir (seeing stone) then it would have been a bit clearer. Wouldnt have to make it longer either, could just cut out all/some of the crap at the end. (or in several other places).

Anyway, im always in a minority. Im one of the few people who thought that Pirates of the Caribbean was garbage. :)
 
Good point - overlooked that detail ;) Also, I can imagine people being underwhelmed watching it on tv. Sort of movie that needs a mahoosive cinema screen to do it justice really.

POTC is garbage. It does star pre-bulimia Keira Knightley though, in a tight corset. Which makes up for a lot :p
 
I think Hero, CTHD and HOTFD are all pretty good, if quite similar, films. They go together quite nicely as a collection imo. I like this genre but can't say I've seen any of the other works of these directors.
 
I liked it but I'm getting a bit fed up with the old ballet'n'wire work martial arts films, despite the undoubted attractions of Zhang Ziyi. I want to see Ong Bak, which is back to real techniques (in this case Thai boxing).
 
midlifecrisis said:
I liked it but I'm getting a bit fed up with the old ballet'n'wire work martial arts films, despite the undoubted attractions of Zhang Ziyi. I want to see Ong Bak, which is back to real techniques (in this case Thai boxing).
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Yeah...thats why I think the 3 go together quite well, as they use that same style, but I think maybe thats enough of that for now. Gets a bit much after a while.
 
midlifecrisis said:
I liked it but I'm getting a bit fed up with the old ballet'n'wire work martial arts films, despite the undoubted attractions of Zhang Ziyi. I want to see Ong Bak, which is back to real techniques (in this case Thai boxing).
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Good point - never really thought of it like that.
 

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