Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly said, “Soaring and romantic, wild and serene, feminist and gutsy, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon is one of the best movies of the year.” The movie is powerful and a terrific film all in the same time. Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, a movie’s plot based around a sword. The movie is very action packed and it is like the Matrix all over again. The choreography was done by the same choreographer as the Matrix. Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon isn’t all about the action of trying to retrieve a stolen sword, but the movie also has a basis of a love story or love stories.

Master Li Mu Bai, played by Chow Yun Fat, has had the Jade sword and used it in combat. Now, he was going to place it in Governor Yu’s care. Yu Shi Lien, played by Michelle Yeoh, offers to bring the sword to the Governor. Secretly the two masters have feelings for each other, but because of who they are they don’t speak about their relationship. When Yu Shi Lien arrives to the Governor’s house, she meets Jen Yu, played by Zhang Ziyi. Jen Yu will be married off in a couple of days, but that is not what she wants. Yu Shi Lien never had to be married off to someone she didn’t know, she was in control of her own will. Jen Yu looks up to Yu Shi Lien because of that fact. Women weren’t supposed to learn how to fight, but Yu Shi Lien learned too. Also, women were supposed to be wives, but Yu Shi Lien had feelings for Master Li Mu Bai. She was a feminist character. A thief steals the sword when it arrived to the Governor’s mansion. The thief ended up to be Jen Yu, the Governor’s daughter. From the point when we know Jen Yu was the thief the story begins to unravel the love story behind the motives.

The story plot was very well thought out, very well structured. All questions were answered by the end of the movie. There were no confusions whatsoever. It was odd to listen to the dialogue of the movie. The characters spoke in a flowery way. Everyone was well mannered and proper to one another in the movie, making the time period of the movie old. The only big symbol of the movie was the Jade sword. The sword was what revealed Jen Yu’s love story, and also it contributed to Master Li Mu Bai and Yu Shi Lien to get closer. The theme of the movie was all about love.

Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon consisted of a very magnificent cast. Ziyi played her role very well, along with Yeoh and Chow. The sets were beautiful with ancient Chinese architecture, making the time period really believable. Also, on top of the fantastic buildings, the scenery was what made the movie eye pleasing. The fight between Jen Yu and Master Li Mu Bai was taken place in a forest of bamboo. The very green baby made the two white dressed characters stand out, and easy to catch. The great story line and amazing scenery made the movie worth seeing. Even though it’s an ancient Chinese film and people have progressed, the movie has a strong theme of love and great choreography for everyone to enjoy.

The Two Young Male Actors

A sequel to Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring and second movie of a trilogy was nothing but spectacular. Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers was the most action packed movie out of the three. The movie continued where the first movie had left off, and it begins with Frodo, Sam, and Golem (also known as Smiggle) journeying their way to Mordor. Elijah Wood played the hobbit Frodo Baggins, and throughout the trilogy he was the ring carrier and was given the task to destroy the ring. Like Richard Corliss and Richard Schickel said from Time, “But the film’s true battle is between Frodo the Hobbit (Elijah Wood) and the great Ring in his care. Frodo can feel its power to sap and seduce.”

The whole story is surrounding the ring, and Frodo (Elijah Woods) plays the biggest part of the movie. He’s the ring carrier and the character is tempted and is restless with the ring surrounding his neck. Wood being one of the attractive male actors on set plays Frodo Baggins character quite well. From The Adventures of Huck Finn to Spy Kids 3D: Game Over, Wood is a very versatile actor. Wood has to play a hobbit that is becoming weaker and less able to withstand the ring as he travels to Mordor. He struggles to trust between friend and foe. Sure, Golem (and his other personality Smiggle) helps guide Frodo to the black gates, but all throughout the journey he wants the ring for himself. Frodo gives Golem a chance and trusts him, but then struggles to listen to Sam, his companion hobbit. Wood does a very good job at acting weak and vulnerable. He is able to make himself look restless and paranoid of everything around him. When the Ringwraith goes flying through the swamp searching for the ring, he’s acting of the pain the Ringwraith left him was very believable. Holding onto the place where the Ringwraith had cut him and rolling his eyes back showed how much pain he was in. Frodo was a job well done by Wood.

The story also follows Aragon (Viggo Mortensen), Legolas (Orlando Bloom) and Gimli (John Rhys-Davies). The trio tries and follows Merry (Dominic Monaghan) and Pippin (Billy Boyd) and end up at Rohan trying to save the king Theoden (Bernard Hill) from the evil grasps of Saruman (Christopher Lee). Saruman wants to take Rohan down, and the trio stays and fights. Legolas played by Orlando Bloom (another very attractive male actor) made his debut in The Lord of the Rings: the Fellowship of the Ring. He didn’t play any other major roles in movies before the trilogy. Behind the scenes Bloom was seen as a very outgoing and adventurous person. He did a lot of extreme sports and was said to have made some injuries while doing them. Bloom seemed to be like any other boy, very into sports, getting tattoos, and getting mohawks. His wild personality was not seen on film. The elf prince Legolas is a beautiful and very graceful character. He was also very strong in battle. The scene where Legolas skateboards down the stairs on a shield, while shooting arrows repeatedly was one of the times who got to see a little of the real Bloom. Yet, Bloom was able to play an elf prince beautifully. With his graceful strides, and effortless speech he was able to portray what an elf prince should be like. Who knew, underneath the tights, armor, blue eyes, and long blonde hair laid a versatile actor.

She's the Man: Is she really?

I have recently watched the movie “She’s the Man” starring Amanda Bynes. The movie was based on Shakespeare’s play “Twelfth Night.” Bynes plays Viola who is the twin sister of Sebastian and also the star soccer player on the girls’ team at Cornwall. Unfortunately, not enough girls signed up for soccer at Cornwall, and the girls’ team was cut. Viola and her team decide to try out for the boys’ team, and the captain of the boys’ soccer team, Justin who is Viola’s boyfriend, says girls aren’t good enough. Coincidentally Viola’s twin brother Sebastian was sneaking off to London for two weeks and not attending Illyria. No one knew Sebastian at Illyria and to prove the boys’ soccer team at Cornwall wrong, Viola decides to tryout for the boys’ soccer team at Illyria as Sebastian. The movie wasn't extraordinary but I had quite a few laughs. Like Roger Ebert said, " I didn't for one second believe the plot of "She's the Man," but I did believe for the entire movie that Amanda Bynes was lovable." I agree too that the plot was not believable, but that doesn't mean it wasn't a good movie. Amanda plays the role of Viola really well, by being comical. Playing a high school student and encountering things that high schoolers do, made the movie laughable. From wanting to switch lab partners in chemistry to be with the girl you like, to breaking up with your twin brothers girlfriend. The movie was silly and funny overall.

It was funny and silly, but it was unbelievable. Roger Ebert stated, "Can Amanda Bynes convincingly play a boy? Of course not. She plays a cute tomboy with short hair who keeps forgetting to talk low and then nervously clears her throat and talks like she's on the phone to the school office: 'Viola is sick today, and this is her mother speaking.' Can she play soccer and live with a male roommate and take showers and not be exposed as a girl? Of course not, but at least the movie doesn't make a big deal out of it; she has a few close calls, and thinks fast." It's hard to pass for a boy when you're really a girl, and rooming with a boy and falling for the boy you're rooming with. Viola rooms with Illyia's boys' soccer captain, Duke. After tryouts Viola gets put on second string. Duke has this huge crush on a girl name Olivia, who Viola is partnered up with in chemistry. Viola agrees to help Duke get a date with Olivia in exchange to help her get on first string to be able to play for the first game against Cornwall. In helping Duke get Olivia, Viola who is pretending to be Sebastian, pretends to be Viola to help Duke talk to girls. I thought that was one of the funny parts of the movie. While helping Duke talk to girls, Viola asks if he likes cheese, and of course later on in the movie Duke uses that to try and start a conversation. Then in the middle of the conversation a tarantula crawls over Duke's foot, and both of them scream and hold on to each other. Viola screams like a girl and you would think Duke would be suspicious, but then Viola is technically a guy right there so a guy to guy freak out is goofy. Which is what made it funny.

Overall the movie's plot was not believable, but it was a good laugh. Amanda is comical and she made the movie goofy and funny with her forgetting to talk in a deep voice and clearing her throat every other minute. Also there were funny characters like the principal who seemed to do all the jobs at school from being a lunch lady to being a janitor. Viola's mom dreams to see Viola become a debutante, while Viola chews with more then spoon fulls of food with her mouth wide open. Amanda Bynes role as a tomboy made the movie quite hilarious and a good movie for laughs.

Video Embedding

I chose a clip from the movie A Walk to Remember. When Landon finds out that his girlfriend, Jamie, has leukemia he didn't know what to do. He frantically drives over to his dad's house hoping to get help. Landon's dad is a doctor and he asks his dad to look at Jamie, but Landon's dad told him he couldn't help Jamie because he didn't know her condition. Once Landon hears that his dad isn't able to help, he gets into his car and drives off. The camera is close-up to Landon's face the whole time while he's driving. We are able to see the expression on his face, and seeing that we are able to set the mood of the scene. The close-up wasn't the only thing that contributed to the sad and emotional mood, but the lighting as well. The close-up had a dark lighting that set the mood even more. It made the situation seem hopeless and the character himself look desperate for help. The close-up and dark lighting together was able to convey that Landon didn't know what to do. He didn't want to lose Jamie and we were able to see that through the scene.

The Day After Tomorrow

One of my favorite movies is The Day After Tomorrow. The movie is about the effects of global warming. One of the main characters named Sam Hall (Jake Gyllenhaal) travels to New York City and during his stay there he gets trapped in a snow storm. The storm didn't effect New York alone, but also other parts of the world. Sam's dad, Jack Hall (Dennis Quaid) is a climatoglists and he tried to pursue the president that a new ice age will come if people don't start taking care of the environment. The ice age came earlier then expected, and Sam is trapped in New York. Jack heads off to New York by foot because the weather was to harsh for other means of transport.

This movie was what got me interested in global warming. Yes, the movie was over dramatic, but a message was being sent to the audience. Other then the big issue of global warming, I enjoyed it because it was overall a really good movie to watch. Unlike Cloverfield that made me sick watching it, The Day After Tomorrow kept my attention the whole time. I thought the plotting of the movie was good. There are some movies that are really easy to predict, but The Day After Tomorrow threw some little things at you. It wasn't just all action, there was also some humor in the movie which, I thought, made the movie good. Also Jake Gyllenhaal was in it, and who doesn't like Jake Gyllenhaal?

Except the critics say different. The Day After Tomorrow didn't get a whole lot of great reviews, and got rated 48 out of 100 based on 39 reviews. Roger Ebert thought the movie was silly, but it was also very scary because of the amazing special effects. Other critics said that even the most meteorologically challenged person is now hooked onto the weather channel. So the movie did have a huge impact on what people thought of global warming through its great special effects. Overall critics thought the movie was goofy, but it sent the message through saying that global warming exists.