Movie Pictures

Turn of the Century Hong Kong Cinema. The late 90's/early 2000's saw a surge in Hong Kong films making a big impact on the world:

Infernal Affairs (Part 1). Remade by Scorsese as The Departed. Similar to Scorsese's film this had the cream of the crop of acting talent. (Andy Lau, Tony Leung, Anthony Wong, Eric Tsang, Kelly Chen, Edison Chen, Chapman To etc). I would rate Infernal Affairs as the superior film due to more nuanced performances by the cast (Especially by the fantastic Tony Leung and Eric Tsang). Tsang's Sam is far more intimidating than Jack Nicholson doing Jack Nicholson (In my opinion of course).

From Infernal Affairs I:


The same period saw Wong Kar-Wai become more well known (At last). His incredibly stylish and lush "In The Mood for Love" does owe a huge amount to his Cinematographer Christopher Doyle. But every frame is a picture. This shot tells you all you need to know about this repressed pair of people who's partners are having an affair with eachother.

In The Mood For Love:


And my favourite Wong Kar-Wai film: Chungking Express. Two stories set in mid 1990s Hong Kong. Again fantastically shot by Doyle but dialed back a little (Especially in the Faye Wong/Tony Leung's story. Fun, youthful and just plain romantic.

Chungking Express:

When any one mentions 'scary Films' I always think of Don't Look Now and this scene always jumps into my mind.

I was far too young when I saw it (probably about 10), and it still gives me 'The Willies' forty odd years later.:eek:

The Shining

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

While the Batman movies had descended to Jim Carey's Riddler and Tommy Lee Jones's maniacal Two-Face and...... cars driving up walls, the superb animated series released a movie. Ironically, while the movies were descending into camp and cartoon characters the cartoon series on TV and in the movie delved into the inner workings of Batman and Gotham City.
How stable is a man who dresses up as a bat and fights crime? How damaged is he? How responsible is he for the villains that he fights? How do the cops feel about a vigilante on their streets? The villains were amazingly portrayed (The Animated series turned Mr Freeze from a minor, generic bad guy to a tragic lost good man.) The Joker was terrifying. always an inch from exploding. Ledger's joker owes a lot more to the animated series's Joker than Nicholson's 90's camp. It investigated how Batman's obsessive nature poisoned his relationships.
The Mask of the Phantasm showed a character similarly traumatized to Batman but took a different path.
The animation was a little clunky compared to Disney films of the time or the clean 2D digital animation we see today but this shot is amazing: The Joker, completely at her mercy and completely insane and OK with what she chooses to deal out. This joker was as far removed as you could get from Nicholson and it would be 25 years before you saw something similar.

more Clint, from the dark and strange High Plains Drifter