Shaolin (新少林寺)

I'll start off by saying that this is the most pro-Buddhist movie I have ever seen.  The movie doesn't stop to promote the Buddhist ideals of peace, harmony, community and zen despite all of the action going on.  The main plot revolves around a fallen general who changes his wicked ways and becomes a shaolin monk.  He trains in the Shaolin martial arts ways and becomes a good monk, defending the people from his power hungry former officer.  I guess I'm not into all the emotional stuff in this movie.  All the crying is just a bit too much for me.  The action scenes were pretty good though and I guess I sympathize with some of the Buddhist ideals.  I guess I like the lesson in this movie that that we can all repent from our sins and change our ways, which is similar to that of Christian ideology but obviously different in its execution and faith.  Great acting skills from lead Andy Lau and Nicholas Tse, Jackie Chan added a few laughs too.  A very serious movie, I guess I'd prefer something lighthearted, then again the most movie I'll probably watch is Black Swan, though my reason for seeing it is mostly for Natalie Portman, maybe I should watch No Strings Attached instead for the same reason?  To be continued...

Fantastic Mr. Fox

A rather strange but funny movie, Fantastic Mr. Fox is full of surprises.  I guess from the opening scene it's hard to know what to expect next.  The stop motion animation is pretty creative, going beyond the rules of gravity and common sense.  The dialog is quick witted.  I love when the animals break out of their human like character when they eat and become animalistic.  All in all good fun I suppose.

The Green Hornet

This was a fun movie, despite all of it's failings.  I think the movie focused a bit too much on Seth Rogen's failings as a head superhero character and the drama over Cameron Diaz's character was unneeded.  Also much of the script needed more work to make it more believable and less Seth Rogeney.   What does make the movie enjoyable though is it's humor and craziness.  One example would be when the Black Beauty gets cut in half but can still run in front wheel drive.  Then there are the slow mo action scenes and Michel Gondry's psychedelic artistic shots.  I guess in summary the movie was a good laugh, not something to be taken too seriously.  Take a closer inspection and the story sort of falls apart.