Hero
Hero
Directed by: Zhang Yimou
Written by: Feng Li, Bin Wang, Zhang Yimou
Starring: Jet Li, Ziyi Zhang, Maggie Cheung, Donnie Yen
The last decade has seen a huge influx of Eastern culture over here in the Western hemisphere, from the surge in popularity of anime, to the success of action stars like Jackie Chan and Chow Yun-Fat, to a collective newfound love of sushi (okay, maybe that one’s still in the works). Although a lot of Eastern culture has been misrepresented over the years, there has also been a gradual movement towards true appreciation and understanding of it. Hollywood studios would seem to be doing their part by importing all the Asian cinema they can get their hands on, but unfortunately their lazy and ignorant methods of distributing foreign films have sometimes been doing more harm than good. Miramax in particular has developed a bad reputation for buying up popular movies from overseas and then getting cold feet, shelving them until they can figure out how to market them to mainstream audiences (or even worse, editing them down into unrecognizable scraps and further demeaning them with atrocious English language dubbing).
Zhang Yimou’s “Hero” was one movie that hung in limbo for a number of years after Miramax acquired the rights. It was released in China in 2002, became the highest grossing movie of all-time there, and was nominated for the Best Foreign Film Oscar. And yet it took another 2 years for it to arrive in North America, thanks to Quentin Tarantino who finally persuaded Harvey Weinstein to release it (but only with Tarantino’s name on the posters to sell it of course). Many imported bootleg DVDs had already helped spread the word of this beautiful film by the time it arrived here, but now finally North American audiences have a chance to see it on the big screen. What’s more, it is uncut (as far as I can tell) and has decent subtitles too.
But really, I don’t see why this movie shouldn’t achieve some degree of success here. It stars Jet Li, an action star that Westerners are familiar with, and it has numerous connections to Ang Lee’s “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”, the movie that first brought credibility and acceptance of wire-fu martial arts to the West. Crouching Tiger is probably a good gauge for whether or not you’ll like Hero; if you thought it was silly and unrealistic to see sword fights with opponents prancing across tree tops and defying the laws of gravity, you’ll probably want to stay far away.
However, Hero’s story is more straightforward and less muddled than Crouching Tiger’s, although it isn’t without some interesting twists. Hero has also been compared to the classic Japanese film Rashomon because it presents multiple perspectives of one story. In feudal China, a nameless warrior defeats 3 assassins and as a reward he is allowed to sit in with the king of the most powerful warring nation. When the king asks him to tell of how he defeated these warriors, the events are retold in flashbacks. As the king becomes suspicious and challenges his story, we learn about a love between two of the assassins, and slowly uncover the truth.
The main reason why you must see Hero is for the visuals. Director Zhang Yimou has truly used the screen as a canvas here, mixing together cinematography, choreography and set/costume design to paint a dazzling array of pictures. The use of colour in this movie is unprecedented, with each segment of the story seen through a different thematic hue. The pacing of the movie is fairly laidback, with plenty of slow-mo and contemplative camera work (even many of the fight sequences aren’t adrenaline-pumping set pieces), and it allows you to soak up all of the marvelous images at your leisure. It also helps showcase the true “art” in martial arts, emphasizing the fluidity and gracefulness of the actors’ movements.
Like many Eastern movies, Hero can be criticized for being a bit too pretentious and overblown at times. There are scenes that drag on too long, and there are moments of honour and integrity that seem forced and unnatural. There are points where the suspension of disbelief hangs by a thread. However, some of the awkwardness here can probably be attributed to cultural differences, and the fact that the movie is a fantastical one.
Perhaps the most enigmatic thing about this movie for Western audiences is not the plot or the language barrier, but rather the message of the movie. Yimou hammers home a decidedly un-American theme of sacrificing individual desires in order to benefit the good of all. And while it is undoubtedly a communist idea at heart — a potentially frightening one — it’s also something we could all learn from. In the U.S. we don’t often hear someone being called a hero for willingly falling in line and preserving the status quo… but maybe every now and then we should.
To be realistic though, Hero will probably not change your outlook on life, but it will remind you that there are some extremely talented people making movies outside of North America. Hollywood couldn’t come up with a movie like this in a million years. Don’t dismiss this film because it’s subtitled or because you’re tired of hearing about kung fu movies. There’s a lot more at work here, and this one is worth seeing. — Sean

Having labelled themselves as “folk-infused chamber-pop”, my interest in the Vee Device was definitely peaked. Although this term seems somewhat non-specific, bands such as The Polyphonic Spree, Sufjan Stevens, and The Danielson Famile are brought to mind — a mix of banjos, cellos and horns that come together as an entire pop orchestra. After listening to their debut album “Out of the Darkness”, I had mixed feelings.
Amidst a summer of big clumsy special effects movies, Open Water is a welcome breath of fresh air.Shot for under $500,000, this indie flick was picked up at the Sundance Festival this year and ushered into theatres to provide the perfect alternative to horrendous big budget thrillers like Alien vs Predator andExorcist: The Beginning. Open Water proves that it’s not the special effects that generates suspense or scares, it’s the filmmaking.
I was never a huge Metallica fan. Despite being a skid throughout most of the 90s, I always found Metallica to be hit-and-miss, a band I couldn�t listen to a full album of, who had cheesy lyrics and boring drumming. To this day I still don�t think their old era any better to their newer stuff. Theres things that are OK, theres things that are good, things that are crap. Whatever. However I am one of those people that went apeshit trashing the band during their famed anti-Napster crusade just a few years back. If the band have any brains at all, they at least secretly regret what they did and know it didn’t make a difference, that it just turned their own fans against them and cost them thousands, maybe even millions, of dollars.
The documentary has many surprises and cameos. Lars Ulrich’s father is way more hardcore than he is. Dave Mustaine of Megadeth shows up for some bizarre reason to explain how tortured he is by fans who bring up Metallica instead of his own band. Band members randomly speak in psychobabble relating to their psychiatry and their feelings. Lars discusses the nature of art and then sells some of his own.
Garden State is one of those ‘plotless’ movies. Like Igby Goes Down and Lost in Translation, it to most people is simply “a bunch of stuff that happens”. No definable climax and a resolution that won’t seem to everyone like a real ending. It�s a character driven film that requires an investment from the cast involved and superb writing. With this in mind Garden State is amazingly successful, not to mention funnier than both of the films I just mentioned.
What gives it such impact is the quality of the performances. Peter Sarsgaard is that guy who never does anything with his life. And its not a Jack Black “Orange County” type bum, this guy is real and completely believable. Natalie Portman gives the best performance I’ve ever seen her in, Oscar worthy even, as first off “the love interest” but is much more as a borderline insane pathological liar. She is introduced as one of those obnoxious types everyone knows who talks to much with you when you’re in a bar, store, or in Garden State, a waiting room. By getting to know her, Braff’s Largeman is changed in a way that has fuelled a massive Internet debate about the ending of the film.
Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy is a noteworthy game from Midway that really deserves the attention of gamers everywhere. It’s been mostly overlooked, I’m sure, because it is an original title that does not resurrect any 1980’s video game franchise, nor is it based on any movies, nor does it have any celebrity endorsements. The sad truth is that name recognition is everything nowadays and new franchises have their work cut out for them if they hope to break through and gain a following with the kiddies.
Psi-Ops further showcases the benefits of a full environmental physics simulation when Nick remembers his first and most important ability: telekinesis. This is where the real fun starts. Suddenly you can levitate objects and hurl them at enemies, or levitate enemy soldiers themselves and toss them around like ragdolls. Not only that, but you can climb onto objects and then levitate yourself — an unexpected and unintended technique resulting from the flexibility of the physics system. The control scheme for this game is very well conceived, making it simple yet gratifying to either throw objects with force or precisely position them where you need them.
There are certain sequels and movie matchups that should never be made, and most people with any inch of credibility in the film industry understand that. The problem is that when push comes to shove, credibility is irrelevant and money means everything. Alien vs Predator has existed as a concept for years in both video game and comic book form, but it has never been dignified with an actual movie because… well, it probably didn’t deserve one. Recently, however, the people at 20th Century Fox were reminded that the Alien franchise still has a devout following that even Alien Resurrection couldn’t kill. When that other famous face-off, Freddy vs Jason, didn’t tank at the box office, the next step was a logical one: call up a Hollywood jobber like Paul W.S. Anderson, turn Alien vs Predator into a hip acronym, and make it a reality.
There have been a few reviewers who claimed this movie was at least able to entertain on a visceral level. I have to disagree, and it’s not because the special effects were bad; on the contrary, this is one of the few areas where I thought the movie did retain some dignity. Unfortunately, I have no idea why they felt it was appopriate to make AvP a PG-13 film when none of the Alien or Predator movies were rated anything less than R. The PG-13 rating is a huge problem because it means we have a showdown movie with absolutely no payoffs. You never see anyone get hurt, and it quickly becomes repetitive as every death ends with the camera cutting away to a long shot while screams echo in the distance. The fight scenes that everyone paid to see are nothing but boring montages of jumbled close-ups and shaky camera work.
Normally I am not a big supporter of single EPs. They usually only feature one song that you’ve already heard, and while they may throw in an additional unreleased song to hook you, they rarely deliver good value for your money. Buying a CD for one song shouldn’t even be necessary in this day and age, after all, that’s what they invented MP3s for, right? (Wait… did I say that? Nope, I didn’t.)
Australia’s had its share of great rock bands over the years, and hey why shouldn’t they? Just because they’re all the way on the other side of the world doesn’t mean they can’t rock… it just means that sometimes it takes a while for the rest of us to catch wind of what’s going on over there.
Doom 3 is 4 years in the making and one of the most anticipated games to date. Now that it’s finally out, was it worth the wait? Or did the hype kill it?
The overall gameplay in Doom 3 is basically the same as in the other Doom games. It’s that straightforward 1st person shooter, run down corridors, point and shoot whatever shit is moving. After a while this gets pretty boring and outdated I must say, but it’s a game anyone can pick up because there really isn’t a learning curve to absorb. Along the way you must find and download other people’s PDA files and email to find out key combinations and other hints. At one point you have to log on to a website to retrieve a code to open up a locker for a few items. As far as weapons go, you’ll find the usual set of weapons; shotgun, machine gun, plasma gun, chainsaw, chaingun, your fists, pistol, grenades, rocket launcher and the gun of all guns the BFG, which stands for BIG FUCKEN GUN! The guns are cool but it kind of sucks considering they only have a primary firing action. 






























