Blue is Me

Tag: cinema

  • What is the best movie in Hong Kong cinema?

    There’s so many, especially during the peak of HK cinema in the 70s, 80s and 90s.

    Top 5 80s HK movies

    A Better Tomorrow (1986) – This is Chow Yun Fat’s breakout action role that made him a legend and established John Woo as one of the top action filmmakers in the world.

    The Killer (1989) – while not as influential as A Better Tomorrow, this John Woo classic has better action imo especially the church and beach house shootouts

    My Lucky Stars (1985) – One of Sammo Hung’s best films, it stars the three sworn brothers Sammo, Jackie Chan and Yuen Biao in what I would consider a perfect blend of action and comedy

    Mr Vampire (1985) – Another one of Sammo’s great films, this film is a great blend of action, horror and comedy and established the Jiangshi (Chinese Vampire) genre in HK films

    A Chinese Ghost Story (1987) – Starring the great Leslie Cheung and Joey Wong, this is a cult classic that made ghost films popular in HK and around Asia

    My top 5 90s HK movies

    A Moment of Romance (1990) – This is the movie that solidfied Andy Lau as one of the most versatile and badass HK actors and a legend. An action-packed love story between an underworld rag and a rich heiress and is considered a major classic of Hong Kong cinema.

    Farewell My Concubine (1993) – Starring the great Leslie Cheung and Gong Li, It chronicles the troubled relationships between two Beijing opera actors and one of their wives. The film’s themes include identity confusion and blurred lines between real life and the stage. Highly recommended, it’s a classic of Chinese/HK cinema.

    Hard Boiled (1992) – further solidifying John Woo and Chow Yun Fat’s incredible pairing, some of the greatest action scenes in HK cinema appears in this one, and it’s a must watch for fans of action cinema.

    Chunking Express (1994) – A Wong Kar Wai classic it stars Takeshi Kaneshiro and Tony Leung – two legendary actors – each in an complicated relationship with a woman. Definitely another must watch for HK drama fans.

    In the Mood For Love (2000) – ok technically not a 90s film but I consider this the last great HK film before HK’s cinema began its downfall in the 2000s and its themes really echo a lot of other Wong Kar Wai films from the 90s like Days of Being Wild and Chunking Express. It’s one of the all time classics – Tony Leung and Maggic Cheung in a romantic drama dealing with complicated relationships with their spouses and with each other. Another must watch HK drama.

  • How do you feel about the fact that “Everything Everywhere All at Once” won seven Oscars, including best Picture? How do you evaluate the film?

    First of all, the Oscars don’t mean anything anymore. It’s a ceremony that’s basically just a platform for Hollywood elites to get political about stuff. I don’t really care that Michelle Yeoh was first Asian to win the Oscar because I don’t care about the Oscars. I know there’s been a lot of great Asian performers over the years.

    For example.. Chow Yun Fat in God of Gamblers

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRH6m3IBXn0

    Andy Lau and Maggie Cheung in As Tears Go By

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGPv0lE1V9w

    Leslie Cheung in A Better Tomorrow

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMKcL2cXr4E

    Tony Leung in In the Mood for Love

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8GuedsQnWQ

    Moon Lee in Iron Angel

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxjhWR6yWOw

    Sammo Hung in Encounters of a Spooky Kind

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpDhXY31aDs

    Joey Wong in Chinese Ghost Story

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0dpajscuPo

    And this is just for HK, where in the 80s and 90s it was home to some of the greatest Asian actors and actresses of the time, where Michelle Yeoh cut her teeth as an actress.

    So, that’s one thing. The second thing is – the film is it that good? Personally, I think it’s a fine movie but it’s not as great as winning 7 Oscars would lead you to believe.

    First of all let’s get this out of the way – it’s a far more original movie than Crazy Rich Asians, the movie which opened up more acting opportunities for Asian Americans (Ke Huy Quan specifically cites it as the reason he un-retired). Crazy Rich Asians wasn’t an interesting film by any means except for just being historic for having an all-Asian American cast for the first time since Joy Luck Club. EEAAO is a more interesting movie exploring philosophy, nihilism and absurdism.

    I think it’s a movie that needs to be rewatched several times to find the hidden meanings because the movie has quite a fast pace. Evelyn goes from jaded unhappy wife and laundromat owner to multi-dimensional hopper in a fairly short time. Sometimes I think the film could have benefitted from a longer runtime because I felt the pacing was too much at times, there is a lot of jumping around and it’s easy to miss things. Another thing is some parts are just pretty silly. Like the hot dog fingers, raccoon guy, the dildos etc these are things that kind of hurt it if you bring it up in all time movies discussions since it has these silly comedic bits in it. I think Michelle, Ke and Stephanie were all great actors. I think the editing was very good as well.

    But is it an all time movie like the award count would suggest? No. It’s one of the most interesting movies of the 2020s, I’ll give it that. But all time? nope.

    Hirokazu Koreeda’s I Wish had more emotional impact and better storytelling for me

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Tei4e1mNvY&t=49s

    Same with Bong Joon-ho’s Mother

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCj6LXGA_Ds

    Lee Chang Dong’s Burning also had many layers of complexity which required multiple rewatches

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUN9IPMwEPY

    Park Chan Wook’s Handmaiden had a more interesting setting

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whldChqCsYk

    Or the emotional struggles in Wong Kar Wai’s Days of Being Wild

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSgnpdqTUcg

    These are just some of the other Asian films I thought about.

    And that’s not to mention all time films like 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Godfather, Sunset Boulevard, Mr Smith goes to Washington, The Apartment, Shawshank Redemption, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Lawrence of Arabia, Vertigo, Rear Window, Treasure of Sierra Madre, Casablanca, On the Waterfront, The Searchers, Schindler’s List etc it’s definitely not at that level either.

  • Who is generally considered the “nicest guy in Hollywood”?

    Modern day, it’s probably Keanu Reeves.

    Historically, Jimmy Stewart

    This legend of the silver screen was a decorated war veteran, and as classy as they come. Plain spoken, humble, honest and just in general a great guy. Not to mention, unlike Reeves, he is considered one of the greatest actors in Hollywood history and starred some of the most well acclaimed films of all time from Mr Smith goes to Washington to It’s a Wonderful Life to Vertigo and Rear Window. He’s in some of the greatest films of all time AND he served his country and stays classy and humble? He gets my vote.

  • Is Quentin Tarantino overrated?

    Definitely.

    Tarantino has never had an original bone in his body.

    Reservoir Dogs is a heavily plagiarized work from Kubricks’ ‘The Killing’ and the Hong Kong movie ‘City on Fire’.

    ^ See how it’s plagiarized frame by frame

    Pulp Fiction is his interpretation of arthouse directors Jean-Luc Godard and Wong Kar Wai except without all the depth.

    And those are his best movies. Everything else is a shallow copy of a Godard, Wong Kar Wai, Kubrick, Shaw Brothers or Kurosawa film. Kill Bill is a ripoff of Japanese cinema like Lady Snowblood for example. He adds some catchy music to his films and pretends it’s ‘avante-garde’ indie filmmaking.

    When Tarantino first made his Rolling Thunders pictures company, the first movie he bought the US rights to was Wong Kar Wai’s Chungking Express. He’s a big fan of a lot of the 80’s HK films, like Chungking Express, Zhang Yimou’s Hero etc, and after that he releases these asian movies on disc in the US except he erases the original director’s name from the case, puts his big ass face on the cover, then puts in big words, QUENTIN TARANTINO’S then in small print “presents” then the name of the film – e.g Chungking Express – then when you look at the back of the case it says ‘for special features – interview with director Quentin Tarantino and actor Jet Li’ and you would think it’s him that was the original director. Then he would put the real director’s name in a super narrow font that’s virtually unreadable while his name is large and in bold font everywhere.

    ^ references to the movies I mentioned. See how Tarantino puts his giant name on there and either puts the REAL directors name in small font (Wong Kar Wai) or just omits it (Zhang Yimou). What a dick.

    Tarantino is a fraud. He rips off international directors for his films and gets all the ‘innovative’ credit because most people have not seen these international films.

    https://pagesix.com/2021/11/26/that-time-quentin-tarantino-vowed-never-to-share-a-penny-with-his-mom-more/

    https://www.indiewire.com/2021/06/tarantino-bruce-lee-hollywood-scene-critics-1234647709/

    ^ oh yeah, did I tell you how much of an asshole this guy is too?

  • My All-Time Favorite Movies

    My top 15 movies all time from each decade:
     
    1930s: Gone with the Wind, The Wizard of Oz, Mr Smith goes to Washington, Red Dust, Daughter of Shanghai, It Happened One Night, Only Angels Have Wings, Heidi, The Awful Truth, Bringing up Baby, Grand Hotel, Top Hat, City Lights, Modern Times, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves
     
    1940s: Casablanca, Maltese Falcon, The Big Sleep, It’s a Wonderful Life, The Killers, Notorious, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Citizen Kane, The Philadelphia Story, Lady from Shanghai, The Grapes of Wrath, Pinocchio, Meet me in St Louis, Fantasia, His Girl Friday
     
    1950s: Bridge on the River Kwai, Ikiru, Seven Samurai, In a Lonely Place, Sunset Boulevard, North by Northwest, Rear Window, A Place in the Sun, On the Waterfront, Vertigo, Rebel without a Cause, Sabrina, Some like it Hot, The Searchers, Singing in the Rain
     
    1960s: High and Low, The Hustler, Doctor Zhivago, The Graduate, How the West was Won, The Man who shot Liberty Valance, Yojimbo, The Magnificent Seven, Dr Strangelove, The Longest Day, Lawrence of Arabia, The Good the Bad and the Ugly, Breakfast at Tiffanys, Bullitt, 2001 a Space Odyssey
     
    1970s: Andromeda Strain, Dawn of the Dead, Rocky, Taxi Driver, 1941, Blazing Saddles, Star Wars, American Graffiti, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Enter the Dragon, The Godfather, Alien, Barry Lyndon, The Exorcist, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
     
    1980s: Platoon, Stand By Me, Do the Right Thing, E.T, Big, Blade Runner, Full Metal Jacket, The Goonies, Aliens, The Last Crusade, Back to the Future, Airplane!, Empire Strikes Back, The Breakfast Club, Who Framed Roger Rabbit

    1990s: Terminator II, Reservoir Dogs, Groundhog Day, Magnolia, Boogie Nights, Clueless, Forrest Gump, The Sixth Sense, Schindler’s List, Jurassic Park, American Beauty, Fight Club, The Matrix, The Lion King, Shawshank Redemption
     
    2000s: Almost Famous, Cast Away, Mulholland Drive, Memento, In the Mood for Love, The Pianist, Vanilla Sky, Lost in Translation, Inglorious Basterds, Up, Old Boy, Spiderman 2, The Royal Tenenbaums, Millenium Actress, The Dark Knight

    2010s: The Wolf of Wall Street, Inception, Interstellar, Toy Story 3, The Handmaiden, Parasite, Snowpiercer, Joker, Dunkirk, Silver Linings Playbook, Blade Runner 2049, Life of Pi, The Social Network, The Tree of Life, I Wish
     
    Top 10 Superhero films:
    1. Spiderman 2
    2. The Dark Knight
    3. Logan
    4. X2
    5. X-men Days of Future Past
    6. Captain America: Winter Soldier
    7. The Avengers
    8. Thor: Ragnarok
    9. Avengers: Infinity War
    10. Black Panther
     
    Top 10 Comedies:
    1. Airplane!
    2. Monty Python and the Holy Grail
    3. Airplane II
    4. Animal House
    5. Caddy Shack
    6. Blazing Saddles
    7. Space Balls
    8. Office Space
    9. Groundhog Day
    10. 1941
     
    Top 10 Sci-Fi:
    1. 2001 A Space Odyssey
    2. Aliens
    3. Empire Strikes Back
    4. Back to the Future
    5. Interstellar
    6. Blade Runner
    7. Alien
    8. The Matrix
    9. Inception
    10. Terminator II
     
    Top 10 Drama:
    1. The Godfather
    2. Casablanca
    3. Lawrence of Arabia
    4. The Godfather II
    5. Gone with the Wind
    6. Ikiru
    7. Shawshank Redemption
    8. Schindler’s List
    9. Mr Smith goes to Washington
    10. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
     
    Top 10 Thrillers:
    1. Vertigo
    2. North by Northwest
    3. Rear Window
    4. Mulholland Drive
    5. Memento
    6. Taxi Driver
    7. Magnolia
    8. Pulp Fiction
    9. High and Low
    10. Old Boy
     
    Top 10 coming of age:
    1. The Breakfast Club
    2. Stand by Me
    3. Big
    4. Heathers
    5. Sixteen Candles
    6. The Goonies
    7. Moonrise Kingdom
    8. Clueless
    9. Karate Kid
    10. Lucas 
     
     

  • Discovering Golden Age flicks

    While I’ve been struggling a lot with anxiety and depression this year (due to crypto troubles + breaking up with gf), the doctor prescribed me antidepressants for me, and although they’ve helped me sleep easier, one side effect is that they make me quite tired every day. As a result when I finish work everyday, I just go home, lie on the bed and watch a few movies until I drift to sleep. I’m tired almost the whole day.

    So I’ve been watching a lot of old time American movies these days from the 40s and 50s. I love these old classics, they take me back to a different time when everyone wore suits and dresses and behaved so classy. Some of the movies I’ve watched recently are The Big Sleep (1946) with Humphrey Bogart, Notorious (1946) with Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman, A Place in the Sun (1951) with Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift, Rear Window (1954) with Grace Kelly and James Stewart, Sabrina (1954) with Audrey Hepburn, William Holden and Humphrey Bogart, On the Waterfront (1954) with Marlon Brando, Gentlemen prefer Blondes (1953) with Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell, East of Eden (1955) with James Dean and Julie Harris, High Society (1956) with Grace Kelly, Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby, North by Northwest (1959) with Cary Grant, The Man who shot Liberty Valance (1962) with James Stewart and John Wayne and Breakfast at Tiffanys (1961) with Audrey Hepburn.

    A lot of these are classics, and I’m glad I rediscovered a lot of these golden age American cinema classics while I am basically bed ridden these days after work.

    The Big Sleep (1946)

    Rear Window (1954)

    Sabrina (1954)

    Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)

    High Society (1956)

    Who shot Liberty Valance (1962)

    Breakfast at Tiffanys (1961)