Brief movie review Neverwhere

Written by Sandman scribe Neil Gaiman, this six part mini-series produced by BBC 2 and broadcast by the same network is a pretty good fantasy story, set in the mythical London Below, but it also has some problems. Most notably the series looks like a 70s Dr. Who episode, with poor video quality and baaaad special effects. The lack of budget shows through, but quality acting from most of the leads and a well written script does alot to save it. Maybe it was because I was watching Kung-Fu movies on the same day as this, but the two fight scenes in this film were terribly done. I don’t want to be able to see the actors trying not to hurt one another.

My favorite background subtlety in this whole mini-series was the fact that in the beginning episode when Richard is talking to his girlfriend on the phone you see a picture of her on his desk. The funny thing is, she has the same picture of herself on her desk. I like little things like that.


Brief movie review Hero

More excellent wire-fu. This is a very, very pretty movie. It uses color in ways much like they did in The Cell only with an interesting story. Color is very important to this film. The film is told in a series of flashbacks mostly, and each time there is a different color theme used in the costumes and settings. The use of reds and oranges in a fight scene set in swirling autumn leaves is especially gripping. When one of the fighters is defeated the leaves go from bright orange to a deep red.

Really imaginative filmmaking here. I’d really recommend it to anyone who enjoyed Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, it has much of the same epic, romantic scope, but adds quite a compelling visual punch as well. I’ll be interested to see if this one gets as heavily touted if it gets a US release.

The film stars Jet Li and Zi Yi Zhang (who debuted in CTHD), also Dao Ming Chen as the conqueror Qin, Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Maggie Cheung and Donnie Yen.

I would recommend this one if you see it in a bootleg or import DVD.