Yip. That's why I ultimately love CTHD more. Hero is a more beautiful movie, but CTHD has a better text and subtext for me.
As Willow goes, so goes my nation.
Oz ,'Selfless'
Buffista Movies 3: Panned and Scanned
A place to talk about movies--Old and new, good and bad, high art and high cheese. It's the place to place your kittens on the award winners, gossip about upcoming fims and discuss DVD releases and extras. Spoiler policy: White font all plot-related discussion until a movie's been in wide release two weeks, and keep the major HSQ in white font until two weeks after the video/DVD release.
Betsy HP - Sep 06, 2004 4:39:29 pm PDT #3640 of 10001
If I only had a brain...
tommyrot - Sep 06, 2004 4:48:41 pm PDT #3641 of 10001
Sir, it's not an offence to let your cat eat your bacon. Okay? And we don't arrest cats, I'm very sorry.
For the record, I did like Terminator III. And I managed to watch the whole thing without being distracted by the fact that the lead character is governor of California.
I think I should rent Predator. That movie has two governors in it.
Lilty Cash - Sep 06, 2004 5:36:32 pm PDT #3642 of 10001
"You see? THAT's what they want. Love, and a bit with a dog."
I think I should rent Predator. That movie has two governors in it.
Vote Carl Weathers in '05!
§ ita § - Sep 06, 2004 5:37:17 pm PDT #3643 of 10001
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
I really dislike T3.
I really liked Hero, but my heart went out most to Snow and Broken Sword. Oh, god, and poor Sky who's just going to hear about all this on the rumour mill.
Something I did notice -- although the subtitles only said "our land" when they were specifically talking about the country, the Mandarin phrase was used a whole lot in the minutes following. Kinda cool.
But yeah, I had a profound sense of sadness knowing how it was going to end as soon as Qin sussed Nameless.
Betsy HP - Sep 06, 2004 5:38:23 pm PDT #3644 of 10001
If I only had a brain...
Can you make a wuxia movie with a happy ending?
§ ita § - Sep 06, 2004 5:42:13 pm PDT #3645 of 10001
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
I think there seems to be a requisite nobility and sacrifice that lends itself to that sort of ending. But a movie like Wing Chun is wuxia, and a pretty happy wrapup.
For me, Hero went past that sort of expectations of the genre into the same sort of place as Amistad, or The Last Mohican, or Schindler's List -- where lots of real people really died. If it had been a little less lyrically beautiful, I might have cried for what of history it made me remember clearly.
Betsy HP - Sep 06, 2004 6:31:39 pm PDT #3646 of 10001
If I only had a brain...
I was pretty confident early on they weren't going to successfully kill the Emperor. It wouldn't have matched the arc of the story. But I STILL think that Falling Snow died ignobly, if beautifully photographed. As the Emperor said way back, they're greater-souled than that. I would have been happier if the final quarrel wasn't framed as Snow's being obviously wrong.
§ ita § - Sep 06, 2004 6:35:16 pm PDT #3647 of 10001
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
I disagree with the framing of the final fight scene. I think that the movie could have pushed the "our land" harder. I'm glad it didn't, because any harder I couldn't have liked it. I was convinced that Nameless and Broken Sword believed deeply in their way, but I didn't find as much textual condemnation of Falling Snow as I'd expected. She never changed her mind -- I didn't think the suicide of the earlier POV was ignoble -- why this one?
Betsy HP - Sep 06, 2004 6:41:08 pm PDT #3648 of 10001
If I only had a brain...
Sorry, I wasn't thinking clearly. The suicide was exquisite. Her killing him was just dumb. Dumb dumb dumb. The suicide was like Juliet stabbing herself on Romeo's corpse -- once you get to that point, it's the only thing to do, but why did you put yourself in that position, you stupid #WQ$@#$@#s?
§ ita § - Sep 06, 2004 6:46:02 pm PDT #3649 of 10001
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
He had to die because he couldn't win the fight. She had to fight because it was one of those honour things -- again, that behaviour was established as kinda SOP too. She knew she was fighting a losing battle, but she expected to be the one that lost. It was basically a suicide, but she couldn't get her revenge with him alive, and she had to try.