h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I realize the Film Club may have gone with the wind, and no one has been discussing Casablanca (March) or My Dinner With Andre (April), but I thought I would propose the May movie:

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon!

Any thoughts? Will this work for people?

Hey! I discussed Casablanca and gave my thoughts on My Dinner With Andre! Although, I've still yet to get to Metropolis....

I like the thought of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. I've not seen that one yet, and it represents a gaping hole in my knowledge of pop culture. I may rent it on my way back into town from campus tomorrow, as a matter of fact.

Okay, okay Affy. My apologies. You're not "no one".

No problem. But you are right, the talking's been a little on the brief side.

But I think that a movie like CTHD might give this place a shot in the arm.

And you've gotta admit, last month's movie selection was hindered by my own wishy-washiness.

Alright, everybody! Line up for your shots!

I've never heard of it. It sounds like a martial arts movie.

Chow! Yeeeeeeeeeha! Pow!

It is. It became a big hit in the US and its country of origin (I wanna say Japan, but for some reason I think it's China. Too lazy to check IMDB right now). Had people jumping off of trees in the previews.

I've heard conflicting reports. Some people've told me that it's a groundbreaking new type of martial arts movie, others've told me that it's the same old thing that's always being produced, just that this one had a large enough budget to make it overseas.

I honestly don't know how good it'll be, but most of the things I've heard indicate that it isn't a bad film.

I own and love this film. The cinematography is breathtaking, the effects are over-the-top but yet don't distance the viewer (like some of these hokey films do), and the story (and back-story) were very interesting. These characters had history and it was very nice to see what they had to carry with them.

Last night I went to see Kill Bill 2 and I saw a preview of Hero, which looks to be in the same spirit of this film. I have to say it was the best preview I've seen this year.

Here is the japanese site for the movie:

http://www.hero-movie.jp/phase2/

And the american:

http://www.herothemovie.com/

And here is a horrible trailer for the film, not the one I saw last night certainly:

http://www.movie-list.com/h/hero.shtml

And here you can presumably view the "real" trailers:

http://www.herothemovie.com/trailer/56k.html

I say presumably because I can't play either format on my mac.

Yes, it is a Chinese martial arts movie, but everything about it--the story, the cinematography, the acting and the special effects--make it simply a highly entertaining film. It because a big hit all over the for a very good reason--it's a great flick!

And it's one of those things that you see spoofed a lot. People jumping from tree to tree in comedies would've been more noticable if the "Matrix" hadn't made everyone wanna do the rotating camera trick at about the same time.

Hey FG - I commented on the first three films!

I won't be taking part in this one though - I watched about 40 minutes of Crouching Tiger and that was enough for me to know I didn't need to see the rest...

The cinematography was brilliant, and it was beautiful. Just not to my taste. At all. Sorry folks...

I liked Crouching thing Hidden whotsit. We got the dvd some time ago and I think it's best watched with English subtitles.

I have been meaning to rewatch it, so it gets my vote as May's film.

::passes a slice of as an apology to Candi for missing her commentary on the March and April films::

Actually, I didn't comment on the April film (I'm afraid I don't even know what it was )- but I commented on the first three: Gone with the wind, Metropolis and Casablanca.

But thanks for the ... Yum!

Okay, I've watched CTHD now. I'm glad that I watched it, but I agree that it wasn't quite my style. I watched it first with English subtitles, and then again with English dubbing. I think that I preferred the dubbing, although the translations were slightly different.

The cinematography was really good, no doubt in my mind. And the music was nice. Plotwise, it was interesting to follow the characters along, although I wanted more backstory for some of the characters. Like Jade Fox, it was never really explained just how she met the girl that she started teaching, etc.

This is another one of those movies that I'm really, really glad that I've watched, but don't think that I'll watch again any time soon.

When I watch it, I prefer to have it in Mandarin Chinese with English subtitles. I like to hear the sounds of the original language. It brings so much more emotion to the scenes.

Ah, the ol' subtitles vs. dubbing debate. I think the Atelier spoke about this for about a week once.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I preferred the dubbing. This may just be because I say it with the dubbing the first time around, but the spoken part seemed more figurative where the dubbing seemed more literal to the spoken word.