Movie Selection

I went to see Shrek the Third last evening with Cora. It was ok, I think the Shrek 2 is better. But I did enjoy it.

I love movies, though I’ve not seen as many as I used because of my densely packed schedules. I still love to see movies whenever it is possible. Of course, I’ve to be quite selective these days in order to cherish the precious time that I have. When I was in the States, including cinema and videos, I saw more than 40 movies a year, that didn’t even include Hong Kong movies when it was still worth watching. I saw movies of all kind, from ‘old’ classic to blockbusters, from Art film, foreign film (movie in French/Japanese), to Hollywood movies. Including sci-fi, horror, drama, action, cheesy comedy, etc, it depends on my mood most of the time, particularly for foreign art films and old classics. Cos, if I don’t have patience, I couldn’t enjoy them or even finish them. Casablanca is an example, I borrowed that movie twice before and couldn’t pass the first 10 minutes each time, because I was tired and it bored me to sleep. So, even though that movie is supposed to be a classic and everyone keeps saying how great it is. I’m sorry that I’ve yet to be able to finish watching it once. I also remember the movie ‘Raise the Red Lantern’ by Gong Li. It was supposed to be a great art film from China at the time, however, the pace of the movie was so slow that…I remember I’ve to fast forward the view just to see a women walking from far away with a lantern in her hand to come closer to the camera for the movie to proceed. That’s why ‘mood’ is important in watching those movies.

Nonetheless, the reason I love movies is because it just provides people a window to escape reality, especially when the reality is boring or sad. Certainly, the special effect, the fantasy, and eye-candies are enticing and appealing eyeballs. In terms of watching movie experience, I think that I can cite a few that is kinda memorable in terms of the ‘feeling’ that they created after watching it:-

Rambo – I remember I saw that when I was in high school. It was the first Hollywood movie that I went to see by myself. I remembered that I felt so ‘pumped up’ after watching it that I felt like I could pick a fight while I was walking my way home.

Godfather I, II & III – I remember I saw all 3 videos in a row over night in a snowy winter when I was in the States. I was looking of job after graduation and I didn’t have much money to spend on entertainment, so I borrowed a lot of classics from local library at that time. I saw part I in the afternoon and part II and part III at night. After I turned off the light and closed my eyes to go to bed. I could hear the Godfather theme in my head playing over and over; also I saw the mansions from Italy in my head as well that night.

Blair Witch Project – what a phenomenon! The movie was full of ‘shit’ and ‘fuck’ in dialog and it was boring – just a few grudging kidults got lost in the woods. Only worthy seeing was the last few minutes of the movie. Overall, the camera movement gave me a headache so bad that I’ve closed my eyes few times to keep my orientation. I remember my friend Helen and her roommates need to lean their head to the back panels of the seat in front because they were dizzy.

Matrix Revolution – it was the first IMAX movie that I saw during my long business trip to Singapore when I was in my ex-company. The screen was huge – like 5 floors and the movie of course were phenomenal! Especially during the screens when the robots were shooting the hell of each other. However, the spore on the face of each actor/actress were so visible that it made them look bad, particularly for Lawrence Fishburne who has so many pimple leftovers from his younger days (I guess) and the large gap between his front teeth that IMAX made him look so ugly that you want him (as a good guy in the movie) to die!

Schrinder’s List – An excellent film about the Holocaust. I saw that on a Christmas morning in the States. Usually on that day, most families are celebrating and staying at home. I was a bit lonely that year, so I just went to movie and saw that. I remember that there was a scene in the movie about the smoke coming up from chimney which signaled some Jews were tricked to take shower but got poison with gases instead. As the movie was in black and white and the smoke was up against a grey sky. I remember I left the cinema and drove home and saw some smoke coming out the chimney of some folk’s houses (it was winter and people that burnt woods in-house to keep warm). Somehow, I link scenes, one from the movie and one in reality, together, kinda strange and coincident.

Well, that’s all for movie this time. Certainly, I will talk about movies more in future.