'Snow Flower and the Secret Fan' is Compelling yet Complacent

By Aphrodite M.

"Snow Flower and the Secret Fan" is a compelling tale about two sets of friends separated by several generations. Although the two narratives about deep female friendships in 19th Century China and in present day Shanghai are interesting, the film unfortunately remains in a stagnant bubble which doesn't create enough of a climax to really move the viewer.

It's worth seeing if only to experience Hugh Jackman singing in Chinese. Of course, there is also the engaging history on foot binding as a tool in propelling young Chinese women's status, class and desirability. Questions of what creates a society's aesthetic ideals, and how often times these ideals become ways to keep women subordinate, are raised in the viewer's mind as a result of the historical narrative.

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Hugh Jackman in a scene from 'Snow Flower and the Secret Fan'

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Movies I've Seen Recently – May – September 2010

Reading over this list I think DANG I watch a lot of movies, but who doesn’t? I don’t get to write about them as much I would like to, but I’m not a critic anyway. I haven’t done this in a while, but as you can see by the list that I’ve wanted to.

For older movies that I had a repeat viewing of I also included the date of release in [brackets]. I kind of separated them into three sections, but generally I’ve seen these movies between May and September 2010.

There are some “hidden gems” included on this list. Some of these movies are little known, but I found out about them and when I finally did see them they were good. I highlighted them in RED.

Films in theaters now worth checking out as of this publishing Takers & The Town and Devil. Takers & The Town are both heist movies, but both worth checking out.

So here's a quick rundown on the films I have seen recently all ratings are 1-5 stars with some minor commentary.

· Iron Man 2 3 stars. Solid.

· Robin Hood 1 ½ stars. (about a ½ star for the directing)

· Raw [1987] (repeat viewing) 5 stars. Still so effing funny

· Charlie Murphy: I Will Not Apologize NO stars. When talking about the Michael Richards (Kramer from ‘Seinfeld’) racist rant Howard Stern said this, (Paraphrasing) “Some people are “Comedic Actors” and NOT “Stand-Up Comedians”.” The same can be said for Charlie Murphy.

· The Princess Bride [1987] (repeat viewing) 4 stars. Classic!

· Star Trek: First Contact [1996] (repeat viewing) 4 stars

· Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay [2008] 3 stars. Same kind of stoner humor and same funny.

· Jennifer's Body [2009] 1 star. Horrible.

· Date Night 2 stars

· The Karate Kid [2010] 4 stars. Terrific remake, wasn’t expect it to be.

· Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths [2010] (animated) 4 ½ stars. Has all the “All-Stars” Superman, Batman etc. with wall to wall great action.

· Nothing But a Man [1964] 3 stars. Good movie, but hard to watch. Story is a downer. Best portrayal of racism by a white director though, they usually never get it right.

· Where the Wild Things Are 4 stars. Great live action children’s film.

· Menace II Society [1993] (repeat viewing) 5 stars

· She's Gotta Have It [1986] 3 stars. Good movie, but more an exercise in cinematography (camera work) than anything.

· Disappearing Acts [2000] (repeat viewing) 4 stars. One of the BEST depictions of black relationships on film.

· Pitch Black [2000] (repeat viewing) 4 stars

· Unthinkable 3 ½ stars. Starring Samuel L. Jackson, finally a movie he does some real acting in!

· Inception 5 stars

· GoodFellas [1990] (repeat viewing) 6 stars

· Memento [2000] 3 stars. Good movie, but I was really trying to get to the end (beginning?) to get to the mystery. Probably will go up in stars after I watch it again.

· Ripley’s Game [2003] 4 stars. A sequel to ‘The Talented Mr. Ripley’ [1999] with John Malkovich taking over the role of Tom Ripley from Matt Damon. Malkovich is THE REASON to see this sequel. He is fantastic as the older Tom Ripley. Matt Damon’s Tom Ripley was kind of a punk. Malkovich’s is SO gangsta. You got to see the film to see what I mean.

· Up [2009] (animated) 5 stars. Terrific! This film is as wonderful as everyone says it is.

· Salt 2 stars. Same ol’ counter-intelligence stuff I have seen done better in other films.

· This Filthy World [2006] 3 stars Saw this while channel surfing on cable early morning and was pleasantly surprised. Starring John Waters in a one-man show discussing his life and career in front of an audience. Funny, witty and entertaining.

· Sherlock Holmes 4 stars. This movie was better than I thought it would be. Great direction from Guy Ritchie. Personally the only drawback was the thick cockney accent that Robert Downey Jr. applied. I had to turn on the captions 5 minutes into the movie to understand what he was saying.

· The Book of Eli 3 ½ stars. 2 ½ for the movie 1 whole star for the ending.

· The Expendables 1 star. Should have been more fun than it was.

· The Godfather [1972] (repeat viewing) 6 stars

· The Godfather, Part II [1974] (repeat viewing) 6 stars

· The Last Exorcism 2 ½ stars. Explains everything in the film. Doesn’t leave you hanging, but only ok.

· Takers 3 ½ stars. Better than I thought it would be

· Beverly Hills Cop (1) [1984] (repeat viewing) 4 ½ stars

· Harry Brown 3 ½ stars. Gritty & raw with the excellent Michael Caine.

· Revenge of the Nerds [1984] (repeat viewing) 4 stars. Haven't seen this film in about 20 years & it's still funny & it's still a classic.

· Boomerang [1992] 4 stars. One Eddie Murphy’s best films and definitely one of the best ensemble black casts since he was ‘Coming to America’.

· The Godfather, Part III [1990] (repeat viewing) 3 stars. Not a classic like the 1st two parts, but I still liked it. Mostly for Andy Garcia and the shocking ending.

· The Score [2001] (repeat viewing) 3 ½ stars. Solid heist movie.

· Justice League: The New Frontier [2008] (animated) 2 stars. Ok. Has all the heroes in it, but a different kind of story.

· Machete 2 ½ stars .Ok. Didn’t hate it. Kinda bloody, but a movie called Machete…

· Training Day [2001] (repeat viewing) 3 ½ stars mostly for the performances of Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke.

· Batman: Under the Red Hood [2010] (animated) 3 stars. The coolest thing about this film was the villain Red Hood. He was the anti-Batman, killing bad guys. Cool.

· The Town 4 stars. Again, better than I thought it would be. Seen a thousand heist/robbery movies and this one managed to have a different angle.

· The Perfect Storm [2000] (repeat viewing) 3 stars. Solid movie.

· One False Move [1991] 3 ½ stars. Heard a lot of good things about this movie back when it came out. Finally saw it and it wasn’t THAT good, but it was good. Surprisingly, one of the stars Billy Bob Thornton, was horrible.

· Devil 3 stars. Solid movie.

· Malcolm X 5 stars. [1992] (repeat viewing) My second favorite Spike Lee Joint.

Here are my older reviews from earlier in the year.

Movies I Have Seen Recently-April 25, 2010

Ok here's a quick rundown on the films I have seen recently all ratings are 1-5 stars with some minor commentary.
•Zombieland 3 stars. Cool movie.
•Paranormal Activity 1 star. Not scary or suspenseful despite what the commercials and online ads say.
•Kick-Ass 3 stars. Funny, crude and violent, but I liked it.
•Why Did I Get Married Too? 3 ½ stars. Good flick. Not better than the 1st one, but good job by everyone.
•Clash of the Titans 1 star. Horrible. The action was weak on a television series scale. Think ‘Hercules: The Legendary Journeys’ on the big screen. Don’t need blood. I enjoyed ‘The Mummy’ (1st one) and it had no blood.
•Robocop [1987] (repeat viewing) 4 stars. Classic film. Of course the special effects technology is better now, but watched it again to see if it held up. It did.
•Death at a Funeral 1 star. Horrible. Only a couple of funny moments, but the whole cast didn’t gel. No chemistry AT ALL.

•Ninja Assassin 2 ½ stars. Usual revenge, clan, master crap. Very bloody, live action anime movie. It was cool though. I didn’t hate it.
•Predator [1987] (repeat viewing) 4 stars. Classic film. Still cool. Still great group of soldiers Bill Duke, Carl (Apollo Creed) Weathers, the big Indian guy from ’48 Hrs’, Jesse “The Body” Ventura and of course Schwarzenegger.
•Brothers 1 star. Wanted to see this in the movie theater. Looked like a good date movie. WRONG. The movie was pretty horrible. Waste of time.
•Citizen Kane 5 stars. I've heard the "greatest movie ever made" for a long time, but never sat down and watched it for myself and WOW. I don't know if it is the "greatest ever" yet, but masterful, masterful filmmaking on all levels. We had to watch some of the scenes in college and while I totally saw why the professor showed it to us I wasn't ready to watch it, I guess until now. I've said before that I can "turn off the filmmaker" the 1st time I watch a film and just enjoy it as a viewer, but gotdamn it was so beautifully shot I just couldn't. WOW.

Movies I have seen recently-March 7, 2010

Ok here's a quick rundown on the films I have seen recently all ratings are 1-5 stars with some minor commentary.

• Surrogates 1 ½ stars. A sci-fi TV movie that could have been made for SyFy channel.

• Edge of Darkness 2 stars. Good ending, but mystery is tooo drawn out and talky.

• The Wolfman 3 stars. Gets a little talky as well, but when it "wolfs out" it wolfs out!

• The Hurt Locker 4 ½ stars. Very good motion picture.

• Up in the Air 3 ½ stars. Exceeds on all levels, but nothing spectacular.

• Precious 4 ½ stars. Amazing motion picture.

• Brooklyn's Finest 1 ½ stars. sluggish and uneven. Lackadaisical performances.

• Shutter Island 4 stars. Good bordering on very good. A little too long. Great direction...of course (Martin Scorsese).

Michael Jackson's This is It-Review

Michael Jackson's This is It

Directed by Kenny Ortega
Michael Jackson (stage actions)

Produced by Paul Gongaware,
Randy Phillips

Cinematography by Kevin Mazur

Released: Ocotber 28, 2009 (USA)

REVIEW by Cool Black

This Is It...Ain't It. Before you say that's cold. Let me explain. I’m gonna say it from the start, this movie is ok. Don’t get it twisted, I didn’t hate it and it’s not a bad movie, but you have to keep in mind several factors.

This footage was never meant to be released as a film. It's NOT a documentary and doesn't have a story. This is a bunch of filmed rehearsals. It was meant to be compiled into one of those promotional films that plays while Michael changes costumes and the crew changes the sets and stuff. All of this footage probably was supposed to be in a 10-15 minute film not a 2 hour one.

Having said that, you do get glimpses (only glimpses) into what a creative person and perfectionist he was. You also get glimpses into what a FANTASTIC tour this would have been. You get to see some of the set designs and set-ups for his most popular songs. Also let me say that 95% of this film is Michael. I was expecting a lot of filler interviews and such, but there wasn’t. It’s all Michael and kudos to the filmmakers for that.

Latoya Jackson stated that she felt that Michael wouldn't have wanted the film to have been released because he wasn't giving his all into his performances.

"Michael [Jackson] always wants to give his best. This is a rehearsal. He wasn’t giving his all [...] He loves to give his all always. That’s just the way he is. He wants people to see him at the top of the ladder and not half-stepping because he doesn’t want to do a full-out rehearsal."*

That seems true in this film, these are rehearsals and Michael didn’t want to go “full blast” with his singing and dancing, but the film happens to catch moments when he just couldn’t help it and sang and danced his heart out. His voice was just as perfect as ever and his dancing was equally on point.

The end result of this film is that you see that Michael wasn’t in this just to make a buck, he wasn’t going to “phone it in”. Michael was committed to bringing an ultimate concert experience and nothing less. A true testament to his vision, his talent, his genius.

*Latoya Jackson quote source: Access Hollywood

Cool Black's Mad Commentary: After his death there were reports that Michael was not physically fit enough to do this tour. While he was quite thin, he was moving, grooving and singing just as well as he ever has. As a filmmaker I know that any footage that cast Michael in a negative light (as far as his health) would never make it into this film, but from what I saw he was ready as ever.

Related post: Michael Jackson Memories

BOX OFFICE UPDATE

Big Sunday shows 'This Is It' isn't performing like a concert film
Los Angeles Times
November 2, 2009 1:13 pm

"This Is It" continues to throw all the old rules about concert movies out the window.

Domestic ticket sales for the Michael Jackson (pictured left) movie totaled $8.3 million on Sunday, nearly $2 million more than the $6.3 million Sony Pictures projected Sunday morning and 17% more than the movie grossed on Saturday. The movie's total domestic gross is now $34.4 million, making the worldwide number $103 million.

Concert movies traditionally see ticket sales decline rapidly after they premiere, as avid fans who turn out on opening day make up most of the audience. But "This Is It" grossed more on Sunday than any day since it debuted, a sign that word-of-mouth is strong and moviegoers who initially may have been hesitant are turning out. There also may be repeat viewing, which is often the case for concert films.

If the trend continues, "This Is It" should enjoy a relatively modest decline next weekend, and what initially looked like a middling domestic performance may actually turn into a pretty good one, albeit not nearly as big as overseas. That's where Jackson is really cleaning up.

-- Ben Fritz