Beanbioca As Good As It Gets

CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

HottWwjdIam There is just so much movie here. For some it may be too much. But in the same secretly sarcastic way most telemarketers say the phrase, the title of this one is particularly apt.

Micah Lloyd Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

Allen Rubin I cannot say enough about this film. The production value was TOPS. The locations, story, acting, music, and everything else involved in it was extraordinary. I watched it 10 times (Each time forcing others to watch, which they all agreed with me). It should have won an Oscar, but since there are probably big politics with Mainland China vs Hong Kong, it never got a mention. I am not Chinese, but do appreciate a fine film. WATCH IT!!! TRUST ME. You will agree. The music writer scored many other Top Chinese films like Farewell My Concubine, Ju Duo, and Raise The Red Lantern, just to name a few! WoW! The acting was superb. Natural and realistic. I cried each and every time I watched it. What can I say? I definitely think it was one of the best made films I've seen in many years. I am an actor and have produced a few action films (nothing that compares to this, or even gets close...PLEASE! I wish!). This has every emotion and is to be considered an EPIC of Extraordinary Proportions!

camel-9 When Zang Xiao Ping died three years ago at the age of 91, Richard Holdbrooke, the US Ambassador to the UN said that he will be remembered as relentlessly trying to bring a long-lasting period of peace, away from food famines, war, instability, financial dependence to foreign nations. The king in this motion picture, while claims that a national anthem will conquer hearts and minds of the eventually united kindoms that make China, also ponders on unifying scales and measures, trade protocols, language. Interesting parallel with modern-day China of Zang, the king's daughter is cripple from a fall off a horse. Zang's son was crippled from a fall off a window in the late sixties trying to escape the Red Guards during the Cultural Revolution.

red-74 Don't be misled by ANY of the US critics who reviewed this remarkable movie. The Emperor's Shadow's (Qin Song) opening sequence-anything but subtle with hundreds of enormous bells being sacrificed to a thundering cataract of water and river foam--and the dying Emperor's last pronouncement are a perfect preamble for what follows.And pay no attention to the cursory plot summaries--far more is involved here than a simple stubborn musician who seduces the Emperor's favorite daughter and refuses to compose a national anthem. Word play, puns and verbal sparring are very important in the film (e.g. the instrument the musician plays is a qin; the Emperor is head of the Qin dynasty); and the love/hate; cat and mouse; art vs politics; peace vs war; pacifism vs force themes embodied in the relationship between the Emperor and the musician is one of the most fascinating interpersonal conundrums since Henry II and Thomas Becket.The fact that this extraordinary film did not make the rounds of all US art houses is a tragedy. The scope, the grandure, the uniformly excellent performances, the stunning cinematography add up to a unique and unusually compelling experience.The Emperor's Shadow may also be one of your very last chances to witness a true epic--there are no computer generated masses here--each one of those thousands and thousands of soldiers is a real human being.The Emperor's Shadow is a misunderstood, over-looked, underestimated masterpiece.

alasf A stirring beautiful epic with a heart at the center. The kind of movie that the U.S. doesn't make much anymore. Not amazing that people in around 200 BC had feelings and emotions like ours, even the people in high high places. There's one line about sex and politics (the emperor talks to his council about how affairs of the state have no relation to sexual matters) that had the small audience (the movie has been playing here for 28 weeks) laughing. Really enjoyable and interesting movie.