Monday, February 13, 2012

Helen of Troy 2003

Released Year: 2003
Directed by John Kent Harrison

Casted by:
Sienna Guillory as Helen
Matthew Marsden as Paris
Rufus Sewell as Agamemnon
John Rhys-Davies as King Priam of Troy
Maryam d'Abo as Queen Hecuba
Emilia Fox as Cassandra, Princess of Troy
James Callis as Menelaus
Story:
The film begins with the birth of Paris, and Cassandra's prophecy that he would be the cause of Troy's destruction. Worried, his father King Priam leaves him on Mount Ida, where he is found and raised by the shepherd Agelaus. When he is an adult, he judges Aphrodite as the fairest of the three goddesses, Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite. After awarding her the golden apple she promises him the love of Helen of Sparta, the most beautiful woman in the world.

Meanwhile in Sparta, Helen sees in a pool Paris's judgement, and happily accepts his choice of her love. She later meets the Mycenaean King, Agamemnon, who has come to claim her sister, Clytemnestra, as his bride, but is also immediately taken by her attractiveness. During the wedding, Helen is kidnapped by two Athenians, Theseus, and his friend Pirithous. They take her to Athens, where Helen falls for Theseus, before her brother Pollux raids Athens and kills him. As he is dying, Theseus stabs Pollux. In Sparta, Helen's father Tyndareus rages at his daughter, blaming her for losing his heir. He presents her to the suitors who seek her hand, bidding them to do as they wish.

The suitors draw lots after swearing an oath suggested by clever Odysseus that if anyone disrespect her husband's claims to her, they should unite and wage war against him. Odysseus rules himself and Agamemnon out of the lot, since they are both married. They agree to the oath, and Agamemnon's brother Menelaus wins. Agamemnon is visibly jealous. Shortly after Paris' favorite bull is taken for the Trojan tribute games. Paris insists on competing, despite his father's protests. After winning in every competition and being recognized by his sister Cassandra, Paris is welcomed by an overjoyed Priam to Troy. Cassandra and his elder brother Hector are upset at their father's decision. Paris is sent to Sparta few days later to draw out a peace treaty with the Atreids, Agamemnon and Menelaus. His treaty is refused and Agamemnon plots to have him murdered. While there, however, he gains the love of Helen, and she helps him flee. Together they sail to Troy. When Menelaus finds this out, he demands that his brother launch war on Troy, and the former suitors are gathered to fulfill their oath. But the winds are not in their favor and after a month, a soothsayer reveals that Athena wants Agamemnon to sacrifice his daughter Iphigenia. Agamemnon is horrified, but nevertheless carries out the deed.

Helen and Paris arrive at Troy with the Greek army at their heels. Priam is at first reluctant to allow Helen to remain at Troy, until he sees her. When the Greeks send an embassy of Menelaus and Odysseus to demand Helen's return, Priam refuses, and the Greeks plan an attack. In the morning, the battle is joined on the beach of Troy, with Hector nearly killed by Agamemnon. The battle ends with the Trojan army's crushing defeat and the Greeks camping on the beach. Ten years pass. Agamemnon agrees to end the war with a single combat, between Menelaus and Paris. If Menelaus wins, Helen will be returned. If Menelaus loses, the Trojans may keep her. Whatever the outcome, the Greeks have to leave Troy. Agamemnon cheats, poisoning Menelaus' javelin without telling him. During the duel Paris is cut and the poison disorientates him. Menelaus does not take advantage of him; instead, they stop fighting and make peace between each other as a fog hides them from view. As the fog lifts, Agamemnon's cheating is exposed. Hector challenges Agamemnon to a duel that will end the war—this time, to the death. Achilles takes up the challenge, fighting for Agamemnon, but agrees to fight not for Helen but for his own honor. Achilles easily succeeds in killing Hector.

That night Helen, fearing for Paris's safety, goes to the seer Cassandra and asks to know what she can do to protect Paris. Cassandra replies that her only choice is to give herself to the Greeks. Helen agrees, presenting herself in Agamemnon's tent and offering a trade—her for the body of Hector. Agamemnon refuses, as he does not want his daughter's death to be in vain, and chases her around the camp, but Paris arrives in time to save her, challenging Agamemnon for the safety of Troy. Achilles charges at him, but Paris seizes a bow and shoots Achilles in the heel, killing him. Afterwards the Greeks attack him, but he hides and is reunited with Helen. Shortly thereafter, Agamemnon finds him and stabs Paris in the chest after a quick duel. He dies in Helen's arms, whispering "goddess". During Paris' funeral, the Greeks are reported to have sailed away—leaving a massive wooden horse on the shore. It is taken into the city, and Troy celebrates late into the night. When they are all asleep, the Greeks come out and sack the city, slaying Priam and Hecuba. The great Agamemnon seats himself proudly on Troy's throne as the new Emperor of the Aegean and Ruler of the World. Agamemnon has his men bring Helen to his throne and orders her to kneel at his feet. Agamemnon strokes Helen's hair, then begins to rape her. Menelaus tries to stop him, but is held back by Agamemnon's guards. He orders Agamemnon to leave his wife alone, but his brother pays no mind to his commands and continues to rape Helen.

The next morning, as the Greek soldiers ravage the ruins of Troy of its riches and its people as slaves, Agamemnon's wife arrives in the royal palace of Troy, where she ventures into the royal pool. There, she finds Agamemnon and Helen, both naked. Agamemnon relaxes in triumph, while Helen lies in a corner, not saying a word. She sends Helen away and she is alone with Agamemnon. She tells him she comes for their daughter, Iphigenia. She then throws a net on him and starts to stab him to death. Helen wanders woefully through the ruined city, when she sees a sudden apparition of Paris. She begs him to take her with him to the afterlife, and he tells her he has prepared a place for her, but she must wait until it is her time. He disappears, and Menelaus crosses her path, sword in hand. Helen prepares for punishment, but can do nothing but feel sorry for her. Helen tells him she cannot love him, but she "will follow". The two head back to the Greek ships, ready to live the rest of their lives as King and Queen till the next war.
L² Scored: 2/10

L² Comment:
I really think it is a waste of time watching this movie. Its actually a miniseries from the Universal Home Entertainment. At first when i saw the DVD cover, i thought this is the one which filmed in 1956, but apparently it is not~ the whole movie is kinda weird cause the language they speak is kinda modern to me, ain't it suppose to be more vintage?

Friday, February 10, 2012

The Sleeping Beauty

Released Year: 1959
Directed by Clyde Geronimi, Les Clark,
Eric Larson & Wolfgang Reitherman

Voiced by:
Mary Costa as Princess Aurora/Sleeping Beauty
Verna Felton as Flora and Queen Leah
Barbara Jo Allen as Fauna
Barbara Luddy as Merryweather
Eleanor Audley as Maleficent
Bill Shirley as Prince Phillip
Taylor Holmes as King Stefan
Bill Thompson as King Hubert
Story:
After many childless years, King Stefan and his Queen welcome the arrival of their daughter, Aurora. While still an infant, she is betrothed to Prince Phillip, the young son of King Hubert, so that the kingdoms of Stefan and Hubert will be forever united. At her christening, three good fairies, Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather, arrive to bless the child with gifts. The first fairy, Flora, gives the princess the gift of beauty, while the next fairy, Fauna, gives her the gift of song. Before Merryweather is able to give her blessing, a wicked witch named Maleficent appears, expressing disappointment of not being invited to the ceremony. The evil enchantress curses the princess, proclaiming that before the sun sets on her sixteenth birthday, she will prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel and die. Merryweather is able to use her blessing to weaken the curse, so that instead of death, Aurora will fall into a deep sleep that can only be awaken by true love's kiss. Though King Stefan orders all spinning wheels in the kingdom to be burned, the three fairies know Maleficent's spell cannot be stopped that easily and devise a plan to protect her. With the King and Queen's consent, they disguise themselves as peasant women and sneak Aurora away with them to a woodland cottage until her sixteen birthday passes.

Years later, Aurora, renamed Briar Rose, has grown into a beautiful young woman with the blessings that Flora and Fauna bestowed to her. Sweet and gentle, she dreams of falling in love one day. On her sixteenth birthday, the three fairies ask Rose to gather berries in the forest so they can prepare a surprise party for her. While singing in the forest, Rose attracts the attention of Prince Phillip, now a handsome young man, as he is out riding his horse, Samson. When they meet, they instantly fall in love. Realizing that she has to return home, Rose flees from Phillip without ever learning his name, but asks him to come to her cottage that evening. While she is away, the fairies' magical preparations draw the attention of Maleficent's pet raven, revealing the location of the long-missing Aurora. Back at home, the fairies tell Rose the truth and escort the now-heartbroken princess back to her parents. Meanwhile, Phillip tells his father of a peasant girl he met and wishes to marry in spite of his prearranged marriage to Princess Aurora. King Hubert tries to convince Phillip to marry the princess instead of the peasant girl, but fails.

In the palace, Maleficent lures Aurora away from the fairies and up to a tower, where an enchanted spinning wheel awaits her. Aurora touches the spindle, pricking her finger and completing the curse. The good fairies place Aurora on a bed in the highest tower and place a powerful charm on all the people in the kingdom, causing them to fall in a deep sleep until the spell is broken. Before falling asleep, King Hubert tells Stefan of his son being in love with a peasant girl. The fairies realize that Prince Phillip is the man with whom Aurora has fallen in love. However, the Prince, arriving at his peasant girl's home, is kidnapped by Maleficent to prevent him from breaking her spell.

The fairies discover the Prince's whereabouts and sneak into Maleficent's castle to rescue him. Armed with a magical sword and shield, Phillip and the fairies escape from the witch's prison. Maleficent surrounds Stefan's castle with a forest of thorns, but when that fails to stop Phillip, Maleficent transforms into a gigantic dragon to battle the prince herself. Ultimately, Phillip throws the sword, blessed by the fairies' magic, directly into Maleficent's heart, causing Maleficent to fall to her death from a cliff.

Phillip's kiss awakens Aurora, and the spell over her and everyone else in the castle is broken. The royal couple descends to the ballroom, where Aurora is happily reunited with her parents, and she and Prince Phillip live happily ever after.
L² Scored: 9/10

L² Comment:
Once again, i feel bored on watching "human" movie and decided to watch this Disney animated film~ I feel like the old cartoon, no matter how many times i watch, i will never get bored with it. Aurora seems like the main character of this cartoon but actually the three fairies fo more talking throughout the whole film...

Thursday, February 9, 2012

The Mosquito Coast

Released Year: 1986
Directed by Peter Weir

Casted by:
Harrison Ford as Allie Fox
Helen Mirren as "Mother" Fox
River Phoenix as Charlie Fox
Conrad Roberts as Mr. Haddy
Story:
The film opens with Charlie Fox explaining that his father, Allie Fox, is a Harvard drop-out and brilliant inventor with "nine patents, six pending." Allie has grown fed up with the American Dream and American consumerism, believing that Americans "buy junk, sell junk and eat junk," and that there is an impending nuclear war on the horizon as a result of American greed and crime.

Allie and Charlie go to a hardware store to buy components for a new invention, an ice machine known as Fat Boy. Upon seeing that the product was made in Japan, Allie refuses to purchase it. Allie and Charlie acquire the components at a local dump. Allie finishes assembling his creation. Allie's boss and asparagus farm owner, Mr. Polski complains that Allie is not tending to the asparagus, which is rotting. Allie, Charlie, and Allie's youngest son, Jerry, meet Mr. Polski, and Allie shows him "Fat Boy." The machine leaves Polski unimpressed. As he drives past the fields,a dejected Allie comments on immigrants picking asparagus, and says that where they come from, they might think ice was a diamond of some sort. The home of the migrant workers is in a state of disarray exemplifying their poverty.

That night, Jerry tells "Mother", that he believes something terrible is about to happen, which Mother rebuffs, explaining that she believes something good will happen. The next morning, Allie throws a party for the immigrant workers, before telling his family that they're leaving the United States. Boarding a Panamanian barge, Allie shouts a defiant "Goodbye, America!!! Have a nice day!!!," as the barge sails. Aboard, Allie's family meets Reverend Spellgood, a Christian missionary, his wife, and their daughter, Emily. Emily flirts with Charlie. Allie and the Reverend begrudgingly try to get along, despite having entirely different religious views. The barge docks in Belize City. The families disembark and go their separate ways. Allie, with the consent of the Belize government, purchases a small village called Jeronimo in the rainforest along the river.

Mr. Haddy takes Allie and his family upriver to Jeronimo. Allie meets the inhabitants and proceeds to start building a new, 'advanced' civilization, in the process inventing many new things. The locals take kindly to Allie and his family, but Allie's will to build a utopic civilization keeps them working to their limits. One day, Reverend Spellgood arrives to convert Jeronimo's citizens. In the process, Allie and Spellgood angrily denounce each other, leading to a permanent schism: Allie believes Spellgood to be a religious zealot; Spellgood believes Allie to be a Communist. Allie sets to constructing a huge version of "Fat Boy" that can supply Jeronimo with ice. Upon completing the machine, Allie hears rumors of a native tribe in the mountains that have never seen ice. Allie recruits his two sons to carry a load of ice into the jungle to supply the tribe. Upon arriving, Allie find that the load has melted, and that the tribe has already been visited by missionaries. When Allie returns to Jeronimo, he learns that Spellgood has left with much of the populace, scaring them with stories of God's biblical destruction.

The near-empty town is visited by rebels, who demand to use Jeronimo as a guerrilla base. Allie and his family accept to accommodate them while Allie constructs a plan to be rid of them. Set on freezing them to death, Allie bunks the rebels up in the giant ice machine, tells Charlie to lock the only other exit to the machine, leaving them no escape route, and starts the machine. The rebels, waking in panic, try to shoot their way through. This causes an explosion, blows up the ice machine and, thereafter, Jeronimo. Allie and his family watch on in horror.

Forced downstream, Allie and his family arrive at the coast. Mother and the children rejoice, believing they can return to the USA. Allie, refusing to believe his dream has been shattered, announces that they have all they need on the beach and, lying, tells the family that America's been destroyed in a nuclear war. Settling on the beach in a houseboat he built, and refusing assistance from Mr. Haddy, a paranoid Allie believes that the family's accomplished building a utopia. One night, there is a terrible storm, nearly forcing the family out to sea, until Charlie reveals he's been hiding motor components given to him by Haddy, allowing them to start the motor on the boat. The family becomes physically and emotionally weaker for lack of food, shelter and other human companionship. Traveling upstream once again, Allie and his family stumble across Spellgood's compound. Coming ashore, Allie sees barbed wire, and believes the settlement to be a Christian concentration camp. While the rest of the family sleeps, Charlie and Jerry sneak over to the Spellgood home. After finding out that the US was not destroyed by a nuclear war and that Emily will assist them in escaping from Allie, Charlie obtains the keys to a jeep. Before Charlie can convince Mother and his sisters to leave, Allie sets the Spellgood church on fire. Reverend Spellgood shoots Allie, paralyzing him from the neck down. The family escapes aboard the boat.

The film concludes with the group traveling downriver again, where Allie drifts in and out of consciousness. Allie asks his wife if they are going upstream. She lies to him - going against the wishes of her husband for the first time. Charlie's final narration reports the death of Allie but gives hope that the rest of the family can live their lives freely from now on.
L² Scored: 7/10

L² Comment:
Well, its been a while since i watch this kind of old movie, and i quite enjoy it :) The story is kinda interesting on how Allie Fox took the risk to move his family to a place he has never been before, and build up the whole things by himself. Harrison Ford of course is the Mr Hot of this film; and this would be my first time to watch River Phoenix's film. This pretty boy has left us when he is 23yo, and he is so damn cute even when he is young. Too bad the brother Joaquin is not as hot as him~

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

My Kingdom 大武生

Released Year: 2011
Directed by 高曉松 Gao Xiao Song

Casted by:
吳尊 Wu Chun as 關一龍 Long
韓庚 Hankyung as 孟二奎 Gui
徐熙媛 Barbie Hsu as 席木蘭 Lan
劉謙 Liu Qian as 盧局長 Officer Lu
于榮光 Yu Rong Guang as 岳江天 Tian
元彪 Yuan Biao as 余勝英 Ying
伊能靜 Annie Yi as 馮姨太 Mrs Feng
Story:
Ying rescued Gui from being kill and Gui become his apprentice together with Long. Ying was also crowned as the best actor in the chinese opera. But Ying face a challenged from Tian, Ying loss and forced to leave the chinese opera. 20 years later, Long and Gui has learned enough and went to Shanghai to defeat Tian.

Tian is still the best actor in the chinese opera and decided to marry his apprentice Lan. Long and Gui challenge Tian and Tian loss on the stage in front of the audience. Tian cannot accept the humiliation and suicide on the stage. Long and Gui become the best actor in Shanghai and they live in a fancy world. Long even get to tackle Mrs Feng who is the wife of a gangster.

Gui decided to left the chinese opera team and make his revenge, he has assassinate 3 sons of his rival and left one who he didn't found. Once when Long is having affair with Mrs Feng, he was almost caught but Lan safe him. By killing the 4th son, Long save Gui from getting into trouble and found out he was the son of the 4th dead guy. Gui came to fight with Long and defeated Long by breaking his leg. Gui fall in love with Lan and have sex with her after a fight. But actually all this is plan by Lan to take revenge for Tian. Gui fell into the trap and was poison to be mute.

Lan left, Gui found Long and both of them decided to go back to Beijing and start their life again.
L² Scored: 6.5/10

L² Comment:
To be honest, the storyline is kinda so so. But the martial arts and the fighting scene is great. Yuan Biao just appeared in a few scene but its enough to show off his great martial arts to us :) Comparing Wuchun and Hankyung, Wuchun seems to be a bit sissy when comes to action. No offense, but Hankyung can move better than him and seems to be more manly than this pretty boy Wuchun.

Overall the movie is still ok, the costume and action is good. As for Barbie, she's not bad too in this movie, but she definitely needs more hard work in acting if she wanted to win some awards in this field.

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Young Adam

Released Year: 2003
Directed by David Mackenzie

Casted by:
Ewan McGregor as Joe Taylor
Tilda Swinton as Ella Gault
Peter Mullan as Les Gault
Emily Mortimer as Cathie Dimly
Story:
The film is set in Scotland in the early 1950s. Shiftless young drifter Joe Taylor works on a barge that operates along the River Clyde between Glasgow and Edinburgh. He shares the cramped on-board living quarters with its operators, Les and Ella Gault, and their young son Jim. One day Joe and Les pull the body of a young woman, naked except for a petticoat, from the water. Via flashbacks, we learn Joe knew her, and scenes involving his relationship with office worker Cathie Dimly are juxtaposed with those set in the present time.

After finding Cathie's body, Joe and Les go to a local pub to play darts. Joe leaves Les behind and returns to the barge, where Ella succumbs to his advances. Not wanting to disturb the sleeping Jim, the two engage in sex on the towpath. It proves to be the first of many such encounters they enjoy whenever they can find a few moments away from Les.

In the past, Joe meets Cathie on a beach and the two soon are living together. He aspires to be a writer and spends his days banging on a battered typewriter while she works to support them. Joe begins to suffer from chronic writer's block and Cathie, unhappy with his lack of productivity, accuses him of taking advantage of her. He packs his meager belongings and moves out. After tossing his typewriter in a canal, he meets Les, who offers him a job on the barge.

Les eventually becomes aware of Ella and Joe's affair and moves out of the barge, which belongs to her, and Ella and Joe drift into a more serious relationship. When she receives word her brother-in-law has died, she and Joe visit her sister Gwen and invite her to spend a couple of weeks with them. One evening, on the pretext Gwen would like to see a movie, she and Joe leave the barge and go to a pub. After a few drinks, the two have sex in a deserted alley.

Eventually, Ella's desire to settle in the suburbs and her no-nonsense supervision of the barge's daily commercial activities put a damper on the once-unbridled passion in her relationship with Joe, and he packs and leaves. In the past, Joe and Cathie reunite on the waterfront and have sex beneath a parked truck. She reveals she is pregnant with his child, and when Joe nonchalantly begins to walk away, she runs after him, trips, and falls into the water while dressed only in her petticoat. Joe makes no move to rescue her and, when she fails to surface, he panics and runs away.

Past and present converge. Daniel Gordon, a plumber who Cathie was casually seeing, is arrested and tried for her murder, and Joe spends a few days in the courtroom listening to testimony. Guilt-stricken, he writes an anonymous note absolving Daniel of the crime and leaves it where a courthouse guard can find it. It has no effect on the proceedings, and Daniel is found guilty and sentenced to hang. Unwilling to risk his life, Joe opts not to confess how Cathie really died and sets off for parts unknown.
L² Scored: 4.5/10

L² Comment:
Basically the whole movie is sucks, the 4.5 marks contributed from the multiple sex scenes & Ewan McGregor's huge dick~ beside this, nothing else is good enough~

Monday, February 6, 2012

Live Flesh (Carne Trémula)

Released Year: 1997
Directed by Pedro Almodóvar

Casted by:
Liberto Rabal as Victor Plaza
Javier Bardem as David
Francesca Neri as Elena
Angela Molina as Clara
Jose Sancho as Sancho
Penelope Cruz as Isabel Plaza Caballero
Story:
Madrid, Christmas 1970: with the nation under a state of emergency ordered by the Franco regime, a young prostitute, Isabel Plaza Caballero, gives birth on a bus to a son she names Victor. Twenty years later, Victor Plaza shows up for a date he made with Elena, a junkie with whom he had sex a week earlier. Waiting for her dealer to arrive, Elena is not interested in seeing Victor and tells him to leave. Finally she gets a gun and orders him out of the flat. Enraged, Victor wrestles the gun from her; in the process Elena gets knocked out, and the gun goes off.

A neighbor hears the shot and calls the police; and two cops respond to the report. The older cop, Sancho, is an unstable alcoholic who suspects his wife Clara of infidelity. The younger cop, David, more clean-cut and sober, prefers to do things by the book. Through the window they catch sight of Victor physically struggling with Elena, and Sancho is ready to storm in, while David wants to call for a back-up. When they enter, Victor holds Elena hostage with her gun. David tries to calm him down and get him to drop his gun, but Sancho sabotages his efforts by continually threatening Victor. Finally, David puts his gun to Sancho's head, gets him and Victor to put down their guns and orders Elena to flee. Sancho then lunges for Victor, they wrestle for the gun, and another shot rings out, hitting David.

Two years later, Victor, in jail, watches a wheelchair basketball match: the now partially paralyzed David is a star player in the 1992 Summer Paralympics, with Elena, who is now his wife, cheering him on from the sidelines. Victor has made good use of his time, taking a correspondence course in education, working out, and enriching his mind with a variety of subjects, including the Bible. Before he is released, another four years later, his mother dies and leaves him some money and a house in the slums. One of his first stops after he gets out of jail is his mother's grave, where he encounters Elena at her father's funeral. While leaving the cemetery he meets Clara, Sancho's wife.

Elena, now off drugs and operating an orphanage, tells David of her encounter with Victor. David stops by Victor's house and warns him not to go near his wife. Victor queries how he can do this, but David grabs his genitals and he doubles up. When David gets into his car to leave, he sees Clara arriving, and stay on to watch from a distance. Attracted by Victor's enthusiasm and good looks, Clara agrees to teach him how to make love, as well as pampering him with gifts and affection. She eventually falls in love with him. Victor begins to volunteer at the orphanage, which is happy to have him because he fixed the boiler, has a degree in education and is very good with the children. Elena objects, but can't find a compelling reason to throw Victor out.

David continues to trail Victor and finds out that Victor works at Elena's orphanage. He confronts him again; Victor tells him that it was Sancho who made Victor squeeze the trigger. Afterwards, David tells his wife what Victor said, and the revealing context that Sancho shot David because he was having an affair with Clara. Elena is disgusted, but still plans to leave the orphanage to get away from Victor. Victor tells Elena that his original plan of revenge was to become the world's greatest lover, make love to Elena all night long, and then leave her hanging, but that he still loves her too much to do so.

Victor tells Clara that they should stop meeting, and they break up. While Victor is on night-shift at the orphanage, Elena comes in to remove her belongings, and agrees to a night of passion with Victor, on condition that he never contacts her again. Elena tells David herself about her infidelity, and although she plans to stay with him, he plots his own revenge. Clara leaves Sancho, who was abusing her, shooting him in the process. David shows up at Sancho's place with photographic proof of Victor and Clara's affair. Sancho and David drive to Victor's house, where Sancho shoots and kills Clara, while Clara also wounds Sancho, and Sancho finally kills himself.

At the end, David narrates a letter written to his wife from Miami, where he is spending Christmas with some friends, apologizing for the way everything turned out. While at the orphanage, a pregnant Elena goes into labor and on the way to the hospital, she and Victor get stuck in heavy traffic. Victor is reminded of the circumstances of his own birth, and tells his unborn child that the fears of the Spanish have passed.
L² Scored: 8.5/10

L² Comment:
I love this Spanish movie a lot, its kinda different from the others movie i watched previously. The opening with Penelope acted as the girl who gave birth of her son in the bus creates the movie, though she and Liberto later on has the benefit of using the bus for free for the rest of their life, but it does not show much in the movie.

Liberto Rabal is the best thing that appeared in this movie, beside showing us his cute/good looking face, his dick seems to be yummy as well~ lol.

Thursday, February 2, 2012

The Bodyguard from Beijing 中南海保鑣

Released Year: 1994
Directed by 元奎 Corey Yuen

Casted by:
李連杰 Jet Li as 許正陽 Allan
鍾麗緹 Christy Chung as 楊倩兒 Michelle
鄭則仕 Kent Cheng as 肥波 Charlie
倪星 Collin Chou as 王建軍 Wang Weng Jun
梁榮忠 Leung Wing Chung as 阿強 Ken
伍衛國 Ng Wai Kok as 宋世昌 James
Story:
Known by few, there exists an elite corp of international bodyguards based in China. Allan Hui Ching-yeung is one of their most promising members known for his highly unorthodox methods, such as pointing a gun at a client's head. Although his methods are anti-trust building, his decisions are usually right.

When a wealthy man's girlfriend, Michelle Yeung becomes the only surviving (of three) witness of a mob murder, Allan is hired to deal with the many attempts on her life. After isolating her completely in her penthouse with her young nephew and two Hong Kong policemen, Charlie Leung Kam-Po and Ken, he has to deal with her anger at being sequestered.

Meantime the mob boss becomes desperate to off this last witness to her murder before his upcoming court date. He hires a deadly Chinese assassin Wang Wen Jun and calls in sick to postpone the court date. All the while Michelle goes berserk as she is not allowed any freedom (such as going to the mall) with Allan being equally fed up at not being able to join the Chinese Premier's bodyguard detail in Southern China. Michelle eventually storms out of the estate. This turns ugly as the mall is crawling with mob assassins dressed as mall clerks, custodians, patrons, and police officers.

After a massive shoot-out inside the mall killing all would-be assassins, they manage to get out to the car. However, an assassin posing as a police officer comes to shoot her with a pistol in his jacket pocket. Fortunately, Charlie stops him and is shot twice in his bulletproof vest. In response, Allan fires several shots from the car killing the perpetrator. The plot gets ugly as the "police officer" turns out to be the younger brother of the Chinese Assassin, who helped save him from a bullet while they were both serving in the Chinese People's Liberation Army. He abducts the body from the police morgue killing five forensic centre guards with a tri-bladed bayonet. Burying the body and tossing paper money into the flames, he swears vengeance against the bodyguard.

Meanwhile back at the penthouse, Michelle finally begins to understand that her bodyguards care for her. After apologizing to Allan, she finds that she is falling for him and tries to seduce him. Allan also has some feelings towards Michelle as she tries to seduce him, but held his feelings. Finally, things come to a climax when the a group of assassins and Jun storm the house. Fighting in the house, Allan holds the advantage of being familiar with the house's layout. He takes out most of the assailants leaving only Jun standing but not before they severely wound the two policemen.

With no one left to stop them, Jun and the bodyguard engage in a long hand to hand fight, trashing most of the house. During the melee, the boyfriend enters the house just as Jun recovers his gun. Michelle breaks cover to hold up a stumbling Allan who had been bayoneted in the left lung. Jun points the gun at all three of them asking her to choose who should die first. The boyfriend makes an offer to double whatever he was being paid for the hit in exchange for her life which the assassin refuses. He says his brother was shot seven times, and he intends to put seven bullets into somebody as retribution but then adds, "Perhaps you could pay someone to take the bullet for her?". Allan steps forward as Jun fires a shot at Michelle.

The shot hits Allan in the chest causing him to fall back into Michelle's arms. "One down, six more to go." Jun says and fires again. Impossibly Michelle tries to shield Allan with her body only to have him struggle up pushing her away. The bullet hits him in the back spinning him around. As he spins toward Jun, he uses the last of his strength to pull the bayonet from his chest and throw it into the assassin's neck. The scene ends with Michelle holding the convulsing Allan and crying inconsolably.

With the danger over and the court concluded, we see Michelle and her boyfriend driving to the Chinese/Hong Kong border. The boyfriend, James, was given a note by Allan stating that he needs to be there for her. At the border they try to get Allan to stay in Hong Kong with them. However they are barred from setting foot on Chinese soil pass the checkpoint. As per his wishes, two items were left for them in Hong Kong. The first was the trunk full of money paid by James to Allan which he wills to the police chief. In it is a note, that the money is for his son's education and that the chief shouldn't gamble anymore. Lastly there was a small box for Michelle. The box had his watch which were usually swapped between persons as mementos of the person. Michelle remembers and cries 'Allan' as his car drives away from the border checkpoint back into China.
L² Scored: 8/10

L² Comment:
This is a good film, no matter how many times i watch it, i still like it a lot. The scene that i like the most will be the one in shopping mall when Jet Li rescue Christy from being assassinate. I got so gan cheong everytime~ lol... And the scene when Christy try to seduce him on bed~ phew, that one is good too. But too bad our super action star Jet Li never has any bed scene before in all of his movie, what a waste~