Movies...

Watched Curse of the Golden Flower last week. It was a major letdown. Even the visuals were disappointing to me. Too much pink and purple...in the same frame that is. Also, way too much yellow. It wasn't pretty...the chrysanthemum ocean. Kinda overwhelmingly ugly actually. The story was really ridiculous..the queen's sleeping with her stepson, who is sleeping with his half-sister. The King is slowly poisoning the Queen. The Queen knows she is being poisoned and enlists her dutiful son's(NOT the one she is sleeping with..he's a spineless wimp!)help in overthrowing the king in a coup. Everyone dies in the end. The only thing I liked were the king's highly trained guards, who came swooping down like falcons from the sky. They were kind of cool....like a Tung Dynasty SWAT team. Otherwise...disappointing action-wise, story-wise and in every other department. Gong Li as the queen does try to put some soul into her role as the troubled queen. She trembles and breaks into a sweat with zealous purpose. She clings to her devoted son and her not-so-devoted wimpy lover step-son. Chow Yun Fat is regal in his role as the king. I don't understand why he must have his eyes closed for half the time he is on screen. I have to watch another movie with the friend who came with me to watch this one, to make up for dragging her to this one!