Thoughts: A look into how martial arts and Hong Kong film-making have changed the way Hollywood has produced their films i.e. Kill Bill and Quentin Tarantino. There was nothing ground breaking in this documentary at all. If anything I think this was more of a "Hong Kong Films for Dummies". The only good thing I got out of the whole 55 minutes was watching interviews from Jackie Chan, Jet Li, John Woo and of course Bruce Lee.
(M) Stage Beauty. (2004, Richard Eyre)Grade: C+
Thoughts: When the moive was originally released, it came out to some positive reviews. Unfortunately, I could not agree. It was pretty entertaining but there was something missing, they could have done so much more with the movie. I did not buy the relationship between Edward "Ned" Kynaston (Billy Crudup) and Maria (Claire Danes). It just felt unrealistic which is funny because in real life Billy Crudup left his 8 month pregnant wife for Claire Danes so go figure. The concept of the film, a man who plays a woman is out of the job when women start playing their own roles which use to be outlawed in England, is interesting though.
(M) Mong Bat Liu (Lost In Time). (2003, Tung-Shing Yee) Grade: A-
Thoughts: After watching 4 or 5 bad Chinese films it is always great to come across a gem. Lost In Time is definately one of them. Soon to be wed Siu Wai (Cecilia Chung) discovers her bus driving fiance Ah Man (Louis Koo) is killed in an accident. She decides to continue raising his five year old son (from his last marriage) and take over his bus driving career. Enter Dai Fai (Ching Wan Lau), a cowoker of her fiance, who helps Siu Wai adjust to her new job. Eventually the two fall in love and it is so sweet and heart wrenching all at the same time. I love my romantic sap and this has loads of it.
(M) Dear Frankie. (2004, Shona Auerbach ) Grade: B+
Thoughts: A sweet and endearing film about a mother and her son. Note I said mother and son NOT mother and hot hunky man. At first I thought the film was going to be a romantic drama but I was wrong. Lizzie (Emily Mortimer) is a single mother raising her deaf nine year old son Frankie (Jack McElhone) with the help of her mother. Lizzie informs Frankie his dad is at sea which explains why he is never home and the only way to reach him is through letters, hence the title of the movie "Dear Frankie". Unknown to Frankie the letters are actually written by his mother and when the ship his "father" is on lands in their port, Lizzie realizes she has a huge problem on her hand. With the help of her coworker she get a stranger (Gerard Butler) to pose as the dad for a day. The acting is strong all around and the scenes of Ireland are amazing. The ending really puts the whole film in place and just breaks your heart but in a good way.
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