Based on the novel of Vu Trong Phung, Giong To is a very dark and disturbing drama. It is still giving me a chill with its family affairs. The film is set in the early 1910; therefore, it is a despicable toward women. They are raped, bought and shared like sex toys. The conflicts are quite complex and distressful. Of course, the critical themes are involving sex, power, and revenge. Even though the overall acting is not so bad, I am not finding this film to be enjoyable. On the contrary, I find the topics to be unsettling. The sexual content, the language usage, and the subject are quite explicit so keep this film away from your children.

Whenever I watch a film on Viet Nam war, the focus is never on the communist. They always hide in the shadow and I never get to understand their point of views. With Nguoi Dep Tay Do, I get to see their strategies and operations. I don’t care much about political issues, I just enjoy the acting and the undeniable beauty of Viet Trinh.

The story takes place in the 40s during the controlling of the French. The film revolves around Bach Cuc (Viet Trinh). A beautiful lady who gives up her love and sacrifices her life for her country. As an early age, Bach Cuc was married into a rich family that was arranged by her grandmother. Bach Cuc was mistreated by her in law family and abused by her husband. These horrific scenes will make your tears drop. Later, a member of the Viet Minh (communist) protected her and took her out of misery situation; therefore, she decided to join the Viet Minh. Because of her striking beauty and fluency in French, she was assigned to work undercover where she met an interpreter Hoang Thai (Don Duong who also casted in We Were Soldiers along with Mel Gibson). Together they gathered inside information from the French and provided to the Viet Minh to help setting up attacks.

Along with the cast, both Viet Trinh and Don Duong give convincing performances but the work of Le Cung Bac (director), Tram Huong (screenwriter), and Nguyen Ho (writer) cannot go unnoticed, especially the clever references to the war. Nguoi Dep Tay Do is a communist film but if you can get pass the political point of view, it is quite a moving motion picture.

What the heck is Giao Thoi? Thankfully, the term is explained by Mrs. Lan (Minh Duc) at the end of the film. It literally means everyone gets to shine once in his/her life. Throughout Giao Thoi, you will see the rise and fall of many individuals whether they are rich, poor, powerful or weak. One minute you could have everything; however, the next minute, you could walk away with bare hands. And yes, women can ruin your life.

Giao Thoi is a Vietnamese romantic drama TV series directed by Phan Hoang and he had done a fantastic job of putting women on the frontline. The smart and sexy women in the film put men in critical conditions. Kieu Linh (Truong Ngoc Anh) changes men like changes clothes and they still fall head over heels for her. She feels no remorse for her action and willing to move on like nothing happen. Kieu Hanh (Hien Mai) uses men to gain social power. Along with a college degree, she uses her look to get higher ranking even sleeping with old men. She is the greediest and the most dangerous of the three sisters. Kieu Lan (My Uyen) is the youngest and the sweetest. Opposite from her sisters, Kieu Lan is not greedy and she believes in true love. Ironically, the mother, Mrs. Lan, also overpowered her husband. She has all the control and the old man (Manh Dung) is powerless in the house of four women.

Giao Thoi was filmed in 1999 and they had covered almost every social issue that goes on in Vietnam including: Sex cafe (Cafe om), sex restaurant (bia om), poverty, use power to except illegal cash, AIDS, Taiwanese marriages, and much more. The best part of the film is when Kieu Lan slaps the Taiwanese bastard in the face and said, “dirty dollars.” I wish Vietnamese women did that in real life instead of the other way around. The best line is when Kieu Linh commented on artists, “Every artist thinks he has a mansion up in the sky.” The film also touches on commercial art vs. real art. It is interesting to see how commercial work could ruin an artist’s stage of mind and creativities.

Giao Thoi is well directed, well written, and the entire cast had done a wonderful job of holding up the series. Everyone is equally good in his/her role. Furthermore, Nguyen Anh 9 and Nguyen Quang had done an outstanding job on the musical score. It enhances the film nicely. Although Giao Thoi is 40 hours long, the good stories will keep you engage till the end. It is highly recommended for the Vietnamese movie lovers like myself.

DreamWorks animation had once again cooked up another delicious dish with different flavors for both the parents’ main course and the kids’ happy meal. Shrek 2 is not overshadows by the original Shrek because of the amusing parodies that cleverly blended into the ingredients. From The Little Mermaid, Beauty and The Beast, The Lord of The Ring, the Red Carpet, to Hollywood, these references make Shrek 2 fresh and enjoyable. They also brought back “Livin’ La Vida Loca” and I thought that song is dead.

The new addition to Shrek 2 is Puss ‘n Boots who is mad adorable. The animator must have whipped up his characteristics based on Antonio Banderas’s charisma. It is so him. Of course, DreamWork’s CGI is marvelous and Shrek 2 is bangin’.

New Vietnamese chick flick Nhung Co Gai Chan Dai hits Ho Chi Minh and Ha Noi city on June 15. Of course, I won’t be able to see it but I don’t think I’ll miss out much. The only thing attracts me about the film is obviously the long legsVietnamese chicks. Anyway, the real reason I write this post is to draw your attention to the poster design competition. Although the entries are impressive, this is the one that speaks to me. The use of type tucks into the long legs is a nice touch. The color choice is quite aphrodisiacal. Nicely done.

A Vietnamese ghost story, Oan Hon, looks freaky as hell. It reminds me of the good old days when I was a kid in Viet Nam. At night, six or seven of us from the neighborhood always gathered around my friend’s mom and listened to her ghost stories especially when the power was out. She was such a great storyteller that I was scared to go home by myself even though her house is adjacent to mine. In fact, I was scared of taking a piss; I had to hold it all night long. Just listening to the voices on On Hon’s trailer gave me the same chill when I was a kid. I can’t wait to see it on Halloween this year. The DVD is due out October 31, 2004. Meanwhile, you can read the review at Asia Pacific Arts called Spirit of Vietnamese Culture by Chau Nguyen.

Actually, the title should be Spring…, Summer…, Fall…, Winter…… and Spring. The extra periods are added to warn viewers how long each season takes. Although the cinematography is absolutely beautiful, what you see from the trailer is what you pretty much get in the film. It’s the same place throughout the featured and only the season changes. Wish I liked the film but I couldn’t keep up by the time fall arrived.

What bother me the most about the film are the missing subtitles. They only come up about once every forth line. I guess the other three lines aren’t important so they don’t show the subtitles for those. They probably did that on purpose so that viewers can focus more on the aesthetic qualities; however, the paste is quite slow and there isn’t that many lines to get distracted from the beautiful shots.

Although the film is quite slow, there are some great moments come through nicely. I am not going to spoil it for those still want to see it. One of the themes the film plays on is nature. Obviously the beauty of nature is showcased throughout the featured but the deeper focus is on human nature. Sex, love, lust, angry, and jealousy are part of human nature. If we can’t control our human nature, one thing leads to another will get us deeper into sin. Even a monk commits murder if he can’t control himself. This is probably one of the Buddhist philosophies that the director, Kim Ki-duk, wants to get across.

What intrigues me the most about the film is the wall-less temple. There is a gate to the temple but there are no fences surrounding it. There are doors in the temple to separate the bedroom from the worship room but there are no walls between them. Is this a Buddhist indication of openness and acceptant? If you have any thought on this, I would love to hear it.

The title, temporary translated as Blood Money, is a bit exaggerated. Dinh Duc Liem’s Dong Tien Xuong Mau is not quite as dramatic as the title suggested. It’s more like Hong Kong’s romantic drama TV series but lacking the deep impact. Similar to soap opera, Dong Tien Xuong Mau takes forever to build characters. It would have been a great film if it were 2 hours instead of 12 hours series.

Since the plot is not too complicated, it could have been done effectively in 2 hours. Basically, the themes revolve around Dong Tien Xuong Mau are: money, power and relationships. The film emphasizes on the conflict between the old and new generations. In this case, the disagreement is between the father and his children. He’s protective but his children are willing to take risks. The family falls apart when the kids no longer listen to their father and begin to make their own decisions.

While most of the characters are above average, Lam Toi gives an outstanding performance as a father who holds the family as well as the series together. Truong Ngoc Anh is not so bad in her role as Lan Anh but she could have been stronger. Huyen Anh is the pretty one. She’s not drop dead gorgeous but her simple beauty is nice enough to add some visual elements to the film.

Although Dong Tien Xuong Mau is not one of the best Vietnamese drama films, it is still entertaining. If you enjoy Hong Kong’s romantic drama series, you might like this film. What I like the most about the film is the incorporating of Ngoc Lan’s music into the love story. Ngoc Lan’s voice adds tremendous aesthetic experience to the film even though her music was used subtly. Just picture a sad relationship on screen with Ngoc Lan emotional vocal on Tinh Khuc Buon playing in the background, what could be more heartbreaking than that? It’s a perfect enhancement.

Totally disappointed. I was looking for some hot action and there was more talking than fighting. Kill Bill Vol.2 focuses on the relationship between the Bride (Uma Thurman) and Bill (David Carradine). The love story between two people for 2 and half hours is a long time. This shows how much Quentin Tarantino loves his own work. The first few chapters are long and boring. He should have cut down some of those and save some time for the final fight between the Bride and Bill. The final fight is disappointing. Is Quentin Tarantino getting burned out at that point and decided to wrap up the film quickly?

The best part of the film is the action scene between the Bride and Elle (Daryl Hannah). The training scenes with master Pai Mei (Gordon Liu) are pretty hilarious. Lastly, the little girl, Bride and Bill’s daughter, is so adorable. She gives us a few laughs. Personally, I don’t like Vol. 2 as much as Vol.1 even though the storyline is more solid and the characters have some dimensions. I am all about kung-fu flick with hot beats. By the way, RZA gives wonderful scores for both volumes.

Chris Rock definitely ain’t never scared when he rocks the stage. He speaks his mind and he surely doesn’t give a fuck as long as his audiance laughs. I wish rappers would lyrically assault Rock so I can hear him murder their ass in comedy. Rock takes shot at Jermaine, “the greasiest Nigger you have never seen. When Jermaine is on TV, I have to wipe the grease off the screen.” Rock rips Michael Jackson apart by describing how he would look after a month in jail, “When the perm grows out of his hair. The shit all nappy and gray.” He busts cap on Janet’s tittie, “40 years old tittie, your man’s tittie. 20 years old tittie, community’s tittie.” And of course he takes on R. Kelly, Kobe Bryant and many more.

Rock is just way too hilarious. His point of view on relationship hits straight on the mark even though it is biased toward women. The focus is always on her and he is absolutely right. Once you’re married, kiss all your dreams good-bye and “make the bitch happy.” Good relationship is simply eating and fucking. The longer you’re with someone, more eating and less fucking. It’s all about married and bored or single and lonely.

If you have seen Bring the Pain and Bigger and Blacker, you can definitely recognize Rock’s patterns. His main topics include hip-hop, politics, gun and race. The United State governments hate rap music because they are clueless about rapper killers. George Bush’s answer to gay married, “Fuck them fagots.” Rock loves to pick up chicks at abortion rallies because “you know they are fucking.” White people makes gun, no problem; Black rapper said gun, congressional hearing. His view on Affirmative Action, “I don’t think I should get a job over a white person if I scored a lower mark on the test but if there’s a tie, fuck them. You have 400 years head start motherfucker.”

Chris Rock is still the funniest man in America. He’s confident and he mastered his work. He is best at what he does best. Some thinks his hardcore hip-hop stage pose gets in the way. I don’t find it annoying at all. In fact, I don’t find him to be as hard edge as Martin Lawrence, Jamie Foxx or other black comedians. While some thinks the black and white issue is old, I think it is still relevant today. Racism still exists in America. And if you think he is sexist, you’re dead wrong. He is just keeping it real. Chris still rocks.