Showing posts with label epic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label epic. Show all posts

Thursday, August 14, 2014

Final Fantasy VII: Avent Children (2005)






As I have mentioned before, I am an animation fan.  Can't help it.  I am an adult and I still like watching cartoons.  Especially due to the fact that animation in whatever form it is allows for so much more spectacular story telling and effects.  Live action is catching up, but when it has come to super heroes and the sci-fi/fantasy world nothing beats animation.

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children is based of the video game franchise of the same name.  I was a bit distracted today, but this one was kind of a disappointment.  The story was a bit fragmented and was hard to follow.  Some of the story elements were kept in the dark about until the end.  Even then I was confused.

I action was fun although seemed a bit repetitive.  Multiple motorcycle chases and battles that seemed to be pretty much the same sequence each time.  The final battle was cool though.

Watched this particular version with English subtitles and that could have been a part of the problem as well. Anyway, the main reason I watched this one was due to my enjoyment of the 2001 release of Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within.  The version of that film that I watched was in English and I felt that the storyline was much better and easier to follow.  There were times with Advent Children that I was just confused as to what the objective was.

Watched on Netflix.  You might like this you might not.  There are some good fight scenes.  I could be wrong about my assessment, but just not really thrilled about this film.

Monday, August 11, 2014

The Assassins





The Assassins stars Yun-Fat Chow and is one of those Chinese epics we have become use to as of late.  Not nearly as majestic as Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, but still wonderfully shot and wonderfully acted.

Actually, this film is based in truth and covers the later years of Cao Cao's life.  Cao Cao tried to unify China under his rule, but was unable to do so. 

No gory violence was shown, but plenty was implied.  This film was more about intrigue and tactics than about the violence that has been associated with Chinese films of the past.  As I mentioned with A Man From Nowhere, if you can get past reading the subtitles, you will enjoy this film.  Very male dominated, but remember that we are talking about Ancient China.  So, woman are subservient.  Nature of the day.