I am a movie lover but not necessary a movie theatre-goer, the last blockbuster that pulled me back to a movie theatre was Matt Damon's The Bourne Ultimatum. This week was the Singapore release of Harrison Ford's Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull, I absolutely love the previous Trilogy of Indiana Jones movies, could watch them over and over again without getting tired of them. Like many, I thought The Final Crusade was the final installment back in 1989, until this new one came out this year. That was what - 19 years apart?
Crystal Skull was disappointing in many aspects, too many re-hash of what had gone before. I suspect this one was meant to provide some sort of a continuation for the next generation, i.e. Indiana's newly found son. The storyline of Crystal Skull was weak and a little too far-fetched in my opinion.
The disappointment with Crystal Skull drove me to watch a slew of DVD movies over the weekend instead..............
(1) The Darjeeling Limited (Owen Wilson)
(2) CJ7 (Stephen Chow)
(3) The Amazing Panda Adventure
(4) The Bourne Ultimatum
CJ7 was also a big disappointment, Stephen Chow going the same direction as Indiana Jones -- Extra-terrestial lifeforms. Trying to do a Chinese version of ET perhaps? The dog-like creature was cute but that was just about it really! Trying to incorporate his usual slapstick comedy elements into this particular storyline was like having coffee and tea at the same time.
Bourne Ultimatum was still just as engaging to watch as the first instance. The action sequences were more real, much more so than James Bond! I lost count how many times I have watched this and the first and second installments. Like Indiana Jones, I love this Bourne series just as much.
I had watched the Panda Adventure on cable TV previously and was captivated by the sceneries, the storyline was rather weak as was the acting. I love Pandas, I think they are the most beautiful creatures on earth, having watched them at such close range at the Chengdu Panda Base. This movie was shot, I think at the Wolong Reserves and the surrounding Siguniang (四姑娘) mountains in Sichuan. A tibetan village was thrown in for good effect. The message of this movie was the danger of extinction of the Pandas and how fragile their existence have become and this movie should be taken in that light.
I watched The Darjeeling Limited, twice in fact, because it was simply a delightful little movie and also I needed to watch it again to pick up those metaphoric moments planted within the movie. This is not a comedy and anyone looking for that will be grossly disappointed, the only humour I think exist only on the faces and expressions of the 3 main characters and in the way they carried their roles. The settings and the casting oddly enough, worked magically! The movie may appear a little slow and quirky at first but if you consider all the things put together, including the music, this movie do deliver many little things about life and relationships in very subtle ways. Not sure if it was just me but I always find a long train journey draws out the best and the worst in a person. This movie also gave a very good first-hand insight into an Indian train journey as well as a journey through this vast, colourful and oft-misunderstood country. I felt the director, Wes Anderson did a marvellous job faithfully reflecting even the tiny little details of life in India that are so commonplace. The sparseness and simplicity of the dialogue worked wonders too! Saying so much without the need for too many words. In a movie like this where every aspect of the film set were so carefully thought out that one tends to veer towards the finer details of each moment to enjoy the movie to its fullest.
Crystal Skull was disappointing in many aspects, too many re-hash of what had gone before. I suspect this one was meant to provide some sort of a continuation for the next generation, i.e. Indiana's newly found son. The storyline of Crystal Skull was weak and a little too far-fetched in my opinion.
The disappointment with Crystal Skull drove me to watch a slew of DVD movies over the weekend instead..............
(1) The Darjeeling Limited (Owen Wilson)
(2) CJ7 (Stephen Chow)
(3) The Amazing Panda Adventure
(4) The Bourne Ultimatum
CJ7 was also a big disappointment, Stephen Chow going the same direction as Indiana Jones -- Extra-terrestial lifeforms. Trying to do a Chinese version of ET perhaps? The dog-like creature was cute but that was just about it really! Trying to incorporate his usual slapstick comedy elements into this particular storyline was like having coffee and tea at the same time.
Bourne Ultimatum was still just as engaging to watch as the first instance. The action sequences were more real, much more so than James Bond! I lost count how many times I have watched this and the first and second installments. Like Indiana Jones, I love this Bourne series just as much.
I had watched the Panda Adventure on cable TV previously and was captivated by the sceneries, the storyline was rather weak as was the acting. I love Pandas, I think they are the most beautiful creatures on earth, having watched them at such close range at the Chengdu Panda Base. This movie was shot, I think at the Wolong Reserves and the surrounding Siguniang (四姑娘) mountains in Sichuan. A tibetan village was thrown in for good effect. The message of this movie was the danger of extinction of the Pandas and how fragile their existence have become and this movie should be taken in that light.
I watched The Darjeeling Limited, twice in fact, because it was simply a delightful little movie and also I needed to watch it again to pick up those metaphoric moments planted within the movie. This is not a comedy and anyone looking for that will be grossly disappointed, the only humour I think exist only on the faces and expressions of the 3 main characters and in the way they carried their roles. The settings and the casting oddly enough, worked magically! The movie may appear a little slow and quirky at first but if you consider all the things put together, including the music, this movie do deliver many little things about life and relationships in very subtle ways. Not sure if it was just me but I always find a long train journey draws out the best and the worst in a person. This movie also gave a very good first-hand insight into an Indian train journey as well as a journey through this vast, colourful and oft-misunderstood country. I felt the director, Wes Anderson did a marvellous job faithfully reflecting even the tiny little details of life in India that are so commonplace. The sparseness and simplicity of the dialogue worked wonders too! Saying so much without the need for too many words. In a movie like this where every aspect of the film set were so carefully thought out that one tends to veer towards the finer details of each moment to enjoy the movie to its fullest.
There were a mix-bags of reviews of this movie online, mostly minuses but I beg to differ. One can imagine this as a beautiful picture (pun intended), starting with a basic canvas that is the Indian backdrop and the drawing, albeit very slowly at times, evolves into quite a masterpiece of art. The last bit where each character was "painted" in individual train cabins as the train chugs along was a poetic touch to reveal the endings of each character like the usual end-of-film scrolling of the credits, only this was done laterally instead. The signature of this movie in my opinion, was the custom-designed,numbered and personalised 11 pieces of LV bags and luggages the 3 brothers lug around on this trip. Apart from implying that they are financially well-endowed, the sizes and numbers of luggages also signify the heavy emotional baggage the 3 brothers carry with them on this supposedly spiritual journey and at the end of the movie they had to discard all of them while chasing to board their departing train, metaphorically letting go of the emotional trappings they have been carrying with them all these while.
In real life I guess most of us carry some emotional baggage one way or another, it is the letting go that is the most difficult part.
The 3 brothers in this movie set out to find a divine intervention to their problems but eventually it was the journey itself and the people that they crossed paths with that provided the breakthrough they were seeking. It was also within themselves that they ultimately found all the answers.
After watching The Darjeeling Limited, it got me to think about once again planning the trip to Darjeeling which was aborted in favour of the China trip in March this year. Will see if time and resources (i.e. money) do permit this time around.
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