Movie Review-SwordFish/Fourth Entry

Swordfish is an action movie, with hacking thrown in as an interesting gimmick. A genius hacker is arrested in LA. Meanwhile, another hacker is recruited to a meeting with $100,000 bait. (Even lawyers don't get that much for a meeting - do they?). If he sniffs a rat, he is not deterred by the smell. The movie, rather needlessly, uses his daughter, not greed, as his motivation. By the way, the first hacker was called Torvald, presumably after (the much admired and liked) Linus Torvalds, inventor of the Linux operating system kernel. The second hacker was called Jobson - son of Jobs - Steve Jobs of Apple computer, geddit? These weird name references were not particularly apt, in fact they seemed downright odd and my disbelief lost its delicate suspension and crashed and burned.Now this recruited hacker, Jobson, is supposed to be the best hacker in the world. The best! And yet he was played by Hugh Jackman, a beefy action-hero-type. It is nice to see the film try to destroy the pasty kid in bedroom stereotype of a hacker - and it is true that professional hackers do not usually fit in this category - but I could not buy into Mr Jackman being a hacker, not for ten million credit card numbers.Besides, the best hacker in the world would have no difficulty in obtaining money, so he wouldn't be living in a trailer park unless he liked it. And he certainly would never get caught. (In the movie Jackman had just been released from jail for hacking offences). You never hear about the best hackers, they are invisible. So this ruined the realism of the movie somewhat for me. Having said that, Jackman is actually pretty good: he exudes this gritty look that his role ultimately requires. He may well end up as that rare thing, a likeable A-list actor. But... I didn't buy him tapping away on a laptop. It didn't feel right. He was muttering stuff about password scanners and worms but he didn't seem to have that genuine feel for his subject that an obsessive hacker (the best are obsessive, after all) would have.Travolta was OK as the baddie. But I hate to think how much his dreadful cult, scientology, made out of the movies he features in. This loonie, money-grabbing cult takes a slice of all their member's earnings, and then uses that money to sue its critics.Swordfish is still a fun movie to watch though.

Movie review for 'The Village'/second entry

'The Village' is one of my favorite films.

It's about a small community of people who live an idyllic life in a isolated little town,Covington, Penn.. The town is governed by a group of elders who keep the peace, respond to the needs of the townsfolk, and set down the few laws that are necessary to ensure the harmony.One of the odd rules is no one is allowed to enter the surrounding forest,for it is said that the forest is the territory of mythical creatures referred to as 'the ones we do not speak of'.These creatures haven't been seen,but they're voices haunt the town..

The village patriarch and a member of the village counsel, Edward Walker, becomes concerned when both of his young daughters fall for the quiet, challenging demeanor of Lucius Hunt (Joaquin Phoenix).

Lucius wants nothing more than to challenge the village law of never entering the woods. He believes that the village needs medicines and supplies that don’t grow rampant around the village. He wants to journey into the woods but the village counsel is dead against it.

Lucius’s childhood sweetheart, Ivy Walker (Bryce Dallas Howard), is the youngest daughter of Edward Walker and blind. Ivy admires Lucius and his curiosity of what goes on in the woods.

When a freak accident occurs, the village counsel and Edward Walker are forced to look past the creatures and the woods for help. It is that desperate act that is destined to change the face of Covington forever..

My favorite quote from the movie goes like this,

"She is lead by love,
the world moves for love,
it kneels before it in awe."

Director,writer and producer M. Night Shyamalan's 'The Village' might not be what you expect.He's famous for he's twist endings,he's unpredictability.

The movie is beautifully shot and populated by a terrific cast. It delivers thrills, a few chills, and the appropriate number of unexpected twists.Best of all,it makes you think about human behavior.I believe you can find it on our movie-tsinghua network.It's worth a watch.Enjoy :)

Movie review for 'Crash'/first entry

I never keep blogs, it's fine with me if people want to put their thoughts and daily activities online for other people to read, share their experiences and what not.But for me, anything that's worth writing down, wouldn't be appropriate to share with the whole world, it wouldn't be private and personal.I see no point in writing down daily activities, you do them daily, what's going to make you forget? Thoughts and feelings are priceless, one feeling, you might get once in a lifetime. So i wouldn't want to forget about that.

Anyway, one of my passions in life are films. When i see a good film, it always amazes me. A good film to me would either be very amusing and entertaining or it would make you think, make something in your mind shift.
I recently saw a film called Crash.The film is about a Brentwood housewife and her D.A. husband. A Persian store owner. Two police detectives who are also lovers. An African-American television director and his wife. A Mexican locksmith. Two car-jackers. A rookie cop. A middle-aged Korean couple. They all live in Los Angeles. And during the 36 hours, their lives all collide.
My favorite part of the movie was the beginning scene, the very first few lines.The detective says to his partner after a crash.
''It's the sense of touch.
Any real city,you walk,you know?
You brush past people,people bump into you.
In L.A nobody touches you.
We're always behind this metal and glass,I think we miss that touch so much,
that we crash into each other just so we can feel something."

It's a film you won't stop thinking about, arguing over, debating, after the lights come up.What makes Crash so gripping,so terrifying in spots, so moving in others, and even a little funny at times,is how nothing happens as we think it will.It's unpredictable in it's brilliance.