Tuesday, January 05, 2010

Movie reviews: From west to east

Another 2 movie reviews.

Watched New Moon last night.


I always thought that twilight fans are over hyped, what is there to drool over? pale lifeless looking vampire and half naked under aged werewolf? However with that being said, i also felt that the twilight haters are over judgmental as well. Though there is absolutely nothing qualifies the movie as A rated blockbuster, but for a chick flick movie, maybe it wasnt that bad after all. Many said the books are good, so the translation from words to celluloid works cant be that bad. Probably, there is some neutral ground in between.

boy, how wrong was i.

The movie SUCKS, BIG TIME. I have wasted two precious hours of my life watching the mundane life of a suicidal confused teenage, a pretty useless vampire and a nearly peadophile victim.

No more comments, case closed, am downgrading myself if i write more.

Another movie i've watched was Hua Mulan.



It was a stark contrast compare to New Moon. The story literally hammered hard in my heart.

It was a sad sad movie. A totally different interpretation/rendition of the lady warrior story that we are so familiar with. If you have watched the Disney Mulan or the Drama series Mulan, you will know exactly what i'm talking about. In this 2009 version, there is no hillarious makeup scene ready for match making; there is no cover up scene whenever Mulan true gender was getting exposed; there is no animated dragon mushu that talks non stop; and there is no 'happily ever after' the end.


The love between the jeneral (or rather the 7th prince) and Mulan in the movie was forbidden from starting till the end. The only time Mulan acts on her feelings, it costs the lives of her own comrades. The ill fated lovers are bound by their duty and responsibilities to protect the country, they suppressed their feelings, parted their ways and lived in each other's memories.

To be honest, there are flaws in the storyline, the background of the heroine (Vicky Zhao) was nothing more than a brief walk through, and the character development of her love (Chen Kun) was a stark constrast to the heroine's, vague and under developed. However, it was understandable as the story was focused on the perspective and emotions of the female in the setting of a cruel and gruesome war.

Frankly, am not a patriotic person, i cant comprehend the sentiments behind the heavy price which Mulan paid to restore the peacefulness. But i do know that war is nothing but man made calamity, the fruit of evil bore from the selfishness of irresponsible and arrogant leaders. The movie reminds the spectators there is always causalities during wars, it doesn't matter if they only leave behind a wooden name tags, they shouldn't be forgotten by the survivors after the battle was won.


A heavy movie to digest but a definitely must watch.

5 comments:

Pike-chan said...

The New Moon sucks totally~~~ and i havent watched Mulan yet :p Hmmm.. not planning to anyway :p

Medie007 said...

Mulan is a new movie? ur review made it interesting. hmmm... maybe i should consider...

Dorcas said...

hahhaa..i agree. i think the twilight saga is best enjoyed with the book. i loved the book. so when the first one came out last year, i went and watch it, what a big dissapointment, it's like watching a teen movie!! SOmehow, i cannot imagine all the characters in the book being so young, especially the vampire dad.
and the casting of kirsten as bella is just wrong..she only have one expression :(

Elena said...

Agreed. Twilight movies suck. Major time.I only enjoy watching the pretty girls. No idea why girls go crazy over that edward cullen. he's not even close to good looking. =/
haven't watch mulan though..now tat u've mentioned that it ends with a sad ending, I'm thinkin twice :(

manglish said...

ahhhhhhhhhhhh mulan sounded like a good one....will download soon heheehhe