sarahgoh Reviews

Dungeons & Dragons (2000)

Stunned disbelief

[1/10 · 8 December 2000]

As a film student and an avid film lover, I have never claimed that a movie has ever wasted my time before. After watching this film, I am tempted to hunt down the filmmaker and demand the two hours that it took from my life back. I have never seen such predictable, redundant, utterly useless drivel on a screen before. I actually sat through the entire movie waiting for the punchline. And grew in utter disbelief as I realized that it wasn't a joke. Someone made this film and said, "Gee, this is good enough to release." I actually felt insulted as an audience member to be treated so dumbly. Children felt insulted.

You've got the evil mage (Jeremy Irons, who obviously lost a bet and got cajoled into this project) threatening the world and its young empress (Thora Birch) and it takes a small group of courageous warriors to stop him. Does it matter what happens? Absolutely not.

The acting was so abhorrently bad and it had nothing to do with the actors. I blame the director, he made every actor speak their lines as if they were issuing a new commandment. The ONLY redeeming quality in this entire plague on the eyes is Marlon Wayans. Yup, Marlon Wayans. I rest my case; avoid this movie at all costs. This film made the Phantom Menace reach the artistic level of The Seven Samurai. Escape, escape while you can, do not get sucked into this debilitating film-watching experience because of the title.

And for the love of god, do not let this guy turn this thing into a trilogy like he wanted...

Farewell My Concubine (1993)

One of the grandest epics of our time...

[22 March 2000]

A masterpiece in every sense of the word, Chen Kaige's breath-stealing parable of China's multi-layered political revolution, is centred on two men. Chen presents us with an absorbing story of a 52 year-old relationship between two opera actors mounted upon an impossibly large canvas. But without sacrificing any intricate plot development or smudging over any delicate complexity in the relationship.

Considered by many to be one of the greatest epics of all time, this film rightly established Chen's reputation as one of the most brilliant narrative and artistic directors of our time, along with other such contemporary auteurs as Kieslowski, Bertolucci and Kurosawa.

You can not call yourself a film-buff if you haven't seen this movie. And film-students: you can witness the true art of filmmaking and story telling through the skilled hands of Chen Kaige's Farewell My Concubine.