The Sorcerer and the White Snake - China

          Director:  Siu-Tung Ching

          Year:  2011

          Plot:  "Action director Ching Siu-Tung helms this fantasy film based on an old Chinese legend about an herbalist who falls in love with a thousand-year-old White Snake disguised as a woman. Jet Li stars as a sorcerer who discovers her true identity and battles to save the man's soul."

          I actually watching this movie about a week or so ago, but homework has gotten in the way of writing a review.  As such, this review might not be as specific as those that I write right after viewing the movie.  I bought this from a little stand in the Mall of America, because my store was closed down (F.Y.E).  Because of the place I got it, the subtitles were a little interesting.  They weren't hard to understand, but they were so light sometimes, the white would disappear into scenery and clothes.

          Anyway, that has nothing to do with the movie itself.  n.n  Though I have seen quite a bit of complaints about this movie, I really enjoyed it.  It wasn't the best because I do admit some of the flaws it faces.  This movie has a lot of CGI, and it wasn't exactly on par with some of the movies that come out in the US.  This fact really doesn't bother me though as Asian movies don't usually us CGI as much, so it makes sense that they haven't exactly perfected everything.  Many parts of the movie were still very well done despite the usual CGI problems.  The only reason I had even a little problem with it is that it did take away from some of the fight scenes.

          I really like the story of the movie though.  It does come from a legend so it really has a fairytale feel to it, just with more fighting than most of us are used to.  n.n  I found that some people also had a problem with Jet Li's character in the movie because he is kind of mean towards the demons.  I actually enjoyed his character.  Sure, he is kind of mean to the snake lady, but he is a monk who fights demons.  In general cases, it is usually not a good thing to trust any demon, even if they play nice.  I also have to say that the end really made the movie and especially Jet Li's character.

          I would definitely suggest this movie to those who enjoy a variety of Asian movies.  I do not think this is one for those knew to Asian movies or culture.  I had to explain a few things to my mother, but she did understand the basic story because it falls pretty inline with some of our own tales.  Also, I really only wanted to see this movie because I love Jet Li.  I think Neng Ren is my favorite character though.  n.n

Invisible Target - China

          Director:  Benny Chan
          Year:  2007
          Plot:  "Three cops team up to bring down a criminal gang of seven, who have their own hidden agenda."


          The plot sure seems rather boring as it stands, but it gets better when I tell you that those cops are none other than Nicholas Tse, Shawn Yue, and Jaycee Chan (Jackie Chan's son) and that the main bad guy is Jacky Wu.  If that didn't make this movie sound better, let's just say all the movies I have watched with any of them in it turn out to be pretty good.
          As about the movie itself, it is a a rather big winner in my book.  The story line to it is very well done.  Each cop has there own reasons for wanting to catch the bad guys.  Not only does each cop have their own story, but the bad guys do as well.  This one doesn't have the irritating ultimate evil, you know the guys that are pure bad and nothing good about them, but that doesn't mean they aren't viable bad guys either.  It is the fact that they have some sliver of human in them that makes them very good characters.
          The stunts in this movie were great as well.  It was the director that requested that no stunt doubles be used in this movie.  That fact makes all the stunts even better.  I mean sure they tried to keep them as safe as possible, but it's really Jaycee landing in fire, and really Nicholas and Shawn getting fiery bits blown at them.  You can't get much better than knowing that the cast were in all the scenes they were supposed to be in and not some stunt guy pretending to be them.  For me it makes an action movie all the better.
          I really liked how this movie ended.  The final fights played out to the characters.  They really did work themselves out really well.  I also have to say I loved the final scene during the credits before the stunt parts came up.  I just felt that part was so nice and rather touching to see make it in there even if it was during the credits.  I am going on a bit much here, so I will end it.  n.n


          The action to this movie is really great, but the story line is just as superb.  This is just another one that needs to be added to my collection.

Intial D - China

          Director:  Wai-keung Lau, Alan Mak, and Ralph Rieckermann
          Year:  2005
          Plot:  "After winning his first competition, Takumi focuses his attention on drift racing, a sport he has unknowingly perfected while delivering tofu in his father's Toyota AE86."


          I am not sure why I decided to watch this movie over all of the others on my list.  I do like Edison Chen, but that wasn't really a deciding factor for me.  I had decided to watch it while I was knitting, because knitting without watching something is pretty boring (well for me).  The problem with this movie was that halfway through I had to stop knitting.  I was rather into the movie.
          I haven't read the manga or anything, but I did enjoy this movie.  I am not a fan of most racing movies.  There is a reason for this though.  I don't find normal racing to be very entertaining.  In many race movies, I get the feeling that not much skill is very necessary.  It is more whose car is better not really who is more skilled (I know it is not supposed to be that way and many movies try to show the skills but I just don't believe that they are good).
          My feelings about race movies change when you make it drift racing.  I simply can't get enough of it, nor the skills that they shoot.  Oh yeah, the movie.  This is a good drift movie in my opinion, well, better than Tokyo Drift.  I liked Tokyo Drift, but this one has the better story line to me.  I loved to see Takumi in the Toyota AE86 take on the so called better cars.  The funny thing is that my heart was pretty much racing with the cars during the final race.  I got a little too much into this movie.  n.n
           I did have an issue with the ending though.  I thought it was quite sad especially because they never even discussed what was going on.  The two just left it that way even though one had decided to stop what the other was upset with.  Man, talk about trying not to give a spoiler, yet still explain myself...  Sometimes this is hard.  >.<


          I definitely suggest this one.  It is definitely at least worth your time.  I found it to be more than just a good waste of time, specially seeing that it caused me to put down the pillow I was working on.  >.<  Man, now I have to find another movie to watch so I actually get some work done.

Hua Mulan - China

          Director:  Jingle Ma, and Wei Dong
          Year:  2009
          Plot:  “The epic story of the Chinese girl-warrior, Mulan, who fights to defend her father.”


          Here is another one that I just had to watch.  When I was little, I remember watching the Disney movie about Mulan.  As an adult I found myself coming across Mulan again, but this time it was the movie made for adults.
          I have to say that this movie was one of those that got me crying.  Yeah, it seems a lot of Asian movies have been doing that to me lately.  I have no problem with this fact though.  It just seems to prove that they are in fact good movies.
          It was definitely strange to watch this movie having previously seen the Disney version.  This one though is definitely a better movie as there is more depth to the story and the characters, but of course kids would definitely enjoy the former better than this one.
          I don’t know if there was anything that I felt was done poorly in this movie.  I really did enjoy pretty much everything about it.  I did though get disappointed with the ending.  I know it is the most logical, but I would have been happier with a perfectly happy ending.  The ending just made the movie seem more realistic, and like I said, it made sense.


          I feel that this is definitely one to watch.  I actually bought this movie minutes after watching it.  I simply couldn’t pass up the opportunity to own this movie for myself.  Like I said, this is definitely one to watch, and I would suggest it to just about everyone.  n.n

Ip Man - China

          Director:  Wilson Yip
          Year:  2008
          Plot:  “A semi-biographical account of Yip Man, the first martial arts master to teach the Chinese martial art of Wing Chun.”


          I bought this movie a while back (like three weeks or something), and just finally got to watch it.  I wish I would have watched this sooner.  It also has to do with the fact that it stars Donnie Yen, who I am starting to become a big fan of.  n.n
          I have to say that this is a very good movie.  I loved the fight scenes in this movie.  Again people complained about wire work, but really I think those people watch the movie to see the wire work.  If you are actually focusing on the movie and not caring how they made it, wirework just doesn’t seem obvious.  I really didn’t see any problem with or without wirework.
          I loved when Ip Man beat the guy up with what looked like a feather duster.  I mean, how great is that, though some of the sound during it didn’t make much sense.  I don’t think I can really list specifically what I liked about the various fight scenes, as there is quite a bit, but I did think it was great that he taught the mill workers to fight, even though they weren’t the greatest.  Oh and the scene near the beginning with the police officer’s gun.  It wasn’t much, but I thought it was rather interesting.
          I don’t know if there was really anything that I disliked.  There might have been points that could have been a bit better, but nothing really specific.  I think this movie was very entertaining and rather well done.


          I am happy that I decided to buy this and have it in my collection.  It is a good movie for martial arts fans, and of course those of Donnie Yen.  Definitely one I would suggest, and not just as a martial arts movie, the storyline is also quite entertaining of itself.

Silver Hawk - China

          Director:  Jingle Ma

          Year:  2004
          Plot:  “A Chinese socialite, in her spare time, fights the forces of evil.  She teams up with her childhood buddy, Mr. Rich Man, who is a police officer, to foil a kidnapping ring with more sinister undertones.”


          I forgot to write this up after I watched the movie.  I might be missing some things that I wanted to say about this movie, but I will do my best to get all the important stuff in here.
          I have to say one of the reasons I watched this movie is because I am a bit of a Michelle Yeoh fan.  This movie did really disappoint me either.  I found this movie to have been rather enjoyable for the time I spent watching it.  It isn’t one that I would own besides the fact that it would be a good addition to a Michelle Yeoh collection, but it wasn’t bad.
          As far as the comedy goes in this movie, I felt that it was rather good.  A few points were rather ridiculous, but the majority of the movie had very well done humor.  I absolutely loved Rich Man and Kit though.  Those to following Silver Hawk as she went after the bad guys was quite funny, especially with Kit pretty much laying on top of Rich Man to see, and constantly hitting him.  You also gotta love, “Ten more minutes.  Five minutes?  Two.”
          This is rather reminiscent of Batman, but I did find this movie to be the better one.  The comedy in this movie kept it from suffering from the same problems that the Batman movies did for me.  This was more entertaining than a rich guy in a bat costume, and the action sequences were better as well.  I enjoyed the scenes between Silver Hawk and Jane, and Moris the most.


          This isn’t one that I would own necessarily, but it is definitely worth a watch when you need something to do.  The comedy in it, though sometimes a little too much, is very entertaining and enjoyable.  Also it is one that a Michelle Yeoh fan needs to watch simply because she is in it.  n.n

Dragon Tiger Gate - China

          Director:  Wilson Yip
          Year:  2006
          Plot:  “Three young martial arts masters emerge from the back streets of Hong Kong to help the powerless fight injustice.”


          So many of the comments on this were really split on the site I choose to watch my movies on.  Most of the ones that were bad complained about the sfx.  I don’t usually have a problem with this, so I gave this one a shot.  I am very glad that I gave this one a shot, and I bought it halfway through watching the movie.  This one was great from the get go.  I absolutely loved Tiger and Dragon, and I can’t forget about Turbo either.
          The fight scenes were sometimes a little over done with sfx such as the flying and all, but it does make sense as to why.  This was based off a comic book and done so in a rather dedicated way.  The over-the-top action makes perfect sense when you take into account that comic book action is very over-the-top as well.
          The only problem I had with this movie was the ending.  Not necessarily how it ends, but the end of the final fight.  That one got a little too sfx-y for even me.  Though it was way too much with the ending, I still absolutely loved this movie.  The action is great in all other parts of the movie.  Especially when Tiger takes on the gang goons.  It is near the beginning and was a really great hook for it.


          This is a rather good movie despite the final battle having a little too much sfx.  The action is really good as well as a well put together storyline.  This is one that I will be watching again as soon as the DVD comes in the mail.  It is definitely one that belongs in my martial arts movie collection.