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annbower
Reviews
Shanghai Kiss (2007)
excellent surprise
I did not know about this film before I rented it on a whim. It was very entertaining and the acting was great. I especially liked the male lead, Ken Leung. I have only seen him acting as a bad guy in action films. He carried this movie as a leading man (a woman's opinion). I will look for him in movies in the future no matter the genre. Hopefully more Asian's will be seen in mainstream movies. I thought the commentary on the DVD was interesting. It opened up my mind on the meaning behind some of the scenes that I had not considered. I especially enjoy films that keep me thinking about them after they are over. I would watch this movie again just to take it to another level.
Before It Had a Name (2005)
not well done
The photography on the DVD is so dark I thought the screen had died. I think I missed seeing half of the movie. Still, it was poorly crafted and not interesting. I did not find the story related to the title "The Black Widow". I was hoping for a mystery or a thriller but did not get involved enough to care after the first few frames. I rented the movie especially for Willem Dafoe and was sad it wasted his talent. I do not believe Giada Colagrande has studied movie making long enough to develop a major motion picture. She is attractive and might develop into an actor but she took on too many tasks in this movie. Although they are married in real life, they lack chemistry on the screen. Their relationships did not seem believable. I do not understand why the other characters were even introduced into the plot.