I did some Googling. Since 1972, Communist China has officially considered the first Qin Emperor a Good Thing. Qin Shi Huang.

I was a little annoyed that in every single version of the backstory Flying Snow was the least enlightened of the bunch. It's all about the guys, really, with the women there to aid or hinder them.

But the movie's not about the plot, for me. It's about the go game in the rain and the battle in the falling leaves and the teardrop falling on Flying Snow's cheek in the pavilion in the lake.

Just finished watching Kill Bill straight through.

I liked it.

Quentin is one fucked up dude.

Quentin is one fucked up dude.

I was thinking the exact same thing today when Uma was burried alive.

Yep, that was one of the places that thought went through my head.

And how funny we were both watching that today, tommy. Spooooky.

I saw A Home at the End of the World tonight. It wasn't what I'd expected at all, though I think it was pretty good. And seeing Sissy Spacek puffing on doobies throughout was quite the treat.

I had to fight a horrified reaction early on when the actor who plays Hunter on Queer as Folk popped up as the teenage version of Dallas Roberts' character. Not that he did a bad job in the movie, but my automatic reaction to him is "Kill it! Kill it before it can sulk again!"

Betsy, I saw Hero today, too, and I agree with all your points, and Dana's. Best to just let the colors and the images and Perlman's violin wash over you, and not worry too much about the plot(s).

DH and I saw it together, and we rashly disregarded Jess's advice to NOT read the cards before and after the actual movie. The next to final one said, "to this day, the people of China refer to their homeland as"

and DH and I both said "This land" as the "Our Land" card went up. And then I did dinosaur noises and he said "I think we should call it your grave! Die, die!"

Yeah, pretty much ruined the mood. In short? Listen to Jessica. Don't read the cards.

Quick meara: I love The Fifth Element and Moulin Rouge. I like Big Fish, but am not gloriously in love with it. The Apple is splendiferously ridiculous, and I think we are all the better for having seen it.

And since Nutty and I disagree so often:

I would call The Thin Red Line about 80% narrative-free, focussing instead on the beauty of the landscape (that the soldiers are churning up as they cross it). The other 20% was dress rehearsal for The Passion of the Christ, so I coulda lived without it anyway. But, you know, some people did like it. (Me, I like Malick more when he can make his sense of beauty serve a story.)

I hate The Thin Red Line with a fiery passion.

P-C and I are one! Perhaps for this movie and no other.

I hate The Thin Red Line with a fiery passion.

Me, too. Therefore, P-C is less dead to me now.

What do folks hate about The Thin Red Line? I liked it when I saw it, but I don't remember much at all of it.

A military historian says that the movie version suffered from "Hollywoodization" when compared to the original book, which is considered one of the greatest military novels, and an accurate portrayal of the fighting on Guadalcanal. (I haven't read the book, but it's on my list of books to buy.)