Curse of the Golden Flower, Shampoo, I Heart Huckabees
Saw these three DVD’s recently…no spoilers.
Curse of the Golden Flower
I wish I saw this on the big screen. Next to “Suspiria,” it may be one
of the most colorful films I’ve ever seen. And it’s the full
spectrum, in many of the shots…like a rainbow caught on film. And
the sets! OMG, the sets are real. I thought they were all
mattes..but the making-of shows that these sets are real…some of the
biggest ever built for a film. And Yimou Zhang does a great job of
melding CGI with real sets and action. I never knew if I was looking
at real or fake. Oh..and this film must be seen for the ninja scenes.
The ninjas attack in a gorgeous, silent manner… they descend like
bats on to their prey..awesome.
Besides it’s gorgeous look though, I wasn’t really moved by the drama.
And there’s plenty of drama… incest, filicide, fratricide, and
mariticide. Chow Yun Fat is okay… first time playing a real bad
guy. Gong Li is of course gorgeous and knows how to cry and look deep
in thought. Check out the nip slip.
But Man Li..a newcomer… is the find in this pic. Gorgeous girl. The best. I hope she has a bright future.
Actually this film is better than “Flying Daggers,” so if
you liked that..see this. But over all, I walked away thinking…great
looking film but so what.
———————————————-
Shampoo
Voted by the AFI as one of the 100 funniest films ever… that’s
strange cause this film is not funny. It’s actually quite sad. I
can’t believe it took me all these years to see it. I’ve actually
stayed away from Ashby films… maybe because I thought I’ve already
seen Ashby’s best film (“Harold and Maude”) and it’s all down hill from
there. I have yet to see “Bound for Glory” and “Coming Home.” I will
in the coming weeks. Saw “Being There” and “Last Detail” of course.
Anyway, not really moved by this one. I see what they were going for
but perhaps it needed more of a comedic approach to Beatty’s libido.
I don’t know. I was also thrown by the outrageous hair-dos from the
era. Julie Christie is great but looks so ridiculous that I’m taken
out of every scene. If someone wants to tell me what they see in this
film, please leave a comment because perhaps I just wasn’t in the
mood. Lil note.. I recently saw “McCabe and Mrs. Miller”…and it’s
very interesting to see Beatty and Christie together in two different
rolls… too bad they didn’t become an item… looks like they
belonged together.
———————————————————-
I Heart Huckabees
I rented this film because of the viral video in which Lily Tomlin
flips out on David O. Russell and vice versa. Great PR for the film.
Overall, enjoyable film..but I must admit.. that viral is ten times
more entertaining than the film. Naomi Watts is beyond gorgeous in
this…and I’m finally realizing what the rest of the world sees in
her. Primo.
But about the film, if you’re going to make a film about
existentialism, must you mention existentialism in every scene…just
make an existentialist film. Jason Schwartzman who almost lost me
with “Spun”, won me back. Probably the best thing about the film
besides Watts’ ass of course.
Lil note: I think I wrote this film off, like many others did, because
it seemed like it was just another entry in the Wes Anderson/retro
Ashby camp… not so… very different from Anderson’s films. Check
it out if you have time..if you don’t..check out Youtube for the
Russell/Tomblin video..much better.
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OpenCritic
Thoughtful and detailed insights (into ass) as always. Why don’t you get more comments? It boggles the mind.
Seriously, I watched Shampoo a few years ago since it was on my must list and I think this is just one of those movies that arent timeless. It had a certain impact at the time due to its sexual openness and frankness – it was refreshing and controversial. People really sat up and took notice, it had a generational voice. But from our perspective it just has absolutely nothing to offer.
I didn’t heart huckabees but I found it interesting and engaging enough that I saw it twice. I agree that it spends way too much time exploring itself, though the dense dialogue is fascinating to keep up with. I much preferred Hoffman in Stranger Than Fiction, where he plays a similar role but (and this can be seen as better OR worse) is much simplified.
Huckabees is exceedingly original, which means I like it, despite its entertanment value being (overall) quite low. Great performances by all involved, and a memorable movie. But again, not one for the ages. Just leaves you feeling cold.
Makes me want to see Flirting with Disaster again.
I will check out Curse of the Golden flower. Though the star wars prequels suck in many ways, I was also impressed to see (through documentaries) just how much of Lucas’ sets were indeed real and not digital — I’d assumed that Lucas did EVERYTHING CGI when in fact, he did not. But ironically he lit everything so uniformly (perhaps to make the blend with CGI easier) that even the REAL sets had a 2D look.
Yeah, I need a name for my reviews that include a mention to ass..cause from now on all my reviews will mention the quality of ass on screen… any suggestions?
“Ass on Asses”?
“Butt Seriously: The Opinions of Bake Snaker?”
“Assrested Developments: Mature reviews with a Juvenille twist”