Winter Break in Movies…

First: happy new year to everybody!
Second: I can’t believe this is my last official winter break… the thought is kinda scary actually…

Third: This winter break I’ve had the fortune of seeing many movies with many cool people.

1. Happy Feet – Saying it had a “somewhat inane plot” would be emphasizing the realistic plot complexities — but at the end of the day, seriously, how can anybody NOT like a movie with cute penguins dancing and singing? It’s just not humanly possible…
2. Pirates of the Caribbean 2 – Disappointed is an understatement. While I certainly appreciated the humor, and the cast of Keira Knightly, Johnny Depp, and Orlando Bloom can’t be all bad, and the three-way fight scene was amazing — the plot was completely incomplete here and the ending which screamed “wait for Pirates 3″ — I don’t know, I was not a fan.
3. Pursuit of Happyness – This is an amazing and inspiring film. Will Smith does a great job portraying Chris Gardner, and Will Smith’s son Jaden Smith also does a great job of depicting the relationship between Gardner and his son. There was just so much there to see in the movie itself — they filmed some of the footage (esp. the BART scene) in the actual station where Gardner slept for a night. The depictions of Gardner’s struggle were realistic and poignant and frustrating — and I was particularly amazed at the degree to which the film was able to capture just how little the rich white men could comprehend of Gardner’s struggles with poverty. The way they laughed at Gardner getting put in jail for not paying a parking ticket or for understanding why Gardner had to leave everyday at 5 to make it to the homeless shelter or to pick up his son. If you haven’t seen it, watch it.
4. The Good Shepherd – Some people will like it. Some people won’t. It’s not a thriller. It’s not a romance. It’s not even really a biographical sketch. It’s a film which explores the origin of the CIA and especially one man’s involvement in that rise and the lengths to which he goes to defend the country and the toll it takes on his emotional and family well-being. It’ll make you think about what secrets can do to relationships, and it’ll make you think just what your tax dollars are going to. And, it includes one of my favorite lines of all time: “A senator once asked me why we don’t say “the” when we refer to CIA. I replied, ‘Do you put “the” in front of “God”?’” Suffice to say, I liked it.
5. Mission Impossible 3 – Much better than the second and much better than I expected. The outcome is not exactly surprising, but its more of a real twist than a lot of thrillers I’ve seen lately. Overall: its a fun film to watch. Not breath-taking, not original, just good thriller/action film. And of course, I absolutely LOVE the Mission Impossible song.
6. Curse of the Golden Flower – A Zhang Yimou film starring Chow Yun Fat and Gong Li. What more do I need to get me interested? For you C-pop fans, Jay Chou also stars as a character named Prince Jai. The film is very much like his efforts with Hero and House of Flying Daggers in that it tries at painting an epic tale, it uses very stylized and beautifulfighting, and employs splashes of primary colors and very unsubtle Chinese cultural motifs (ie chrysanthemums galore). The story is utterly depressing and is very much like the Good Shepherd in depicting a completely fallen apart family where members only act like they respect each other for the sake of appearances and in reality are plotting against one another. I liked it — but then again, you have to like this particular genre (one that I’m very used to after taking Screening Modern China and liking the angsty Zhang Yimou violent films).