curiositee
Lifetime Total
1+
IMDb Member
13 years
Reviews
San guo (2010)
Terrific
(Don't be fooled by the picture posted above - it is the one for the movie Three Kingdoms that was released recently.)
This series is simply terrific. It was quite an ambitious undertaking, for one. A whopping 95 episodes, fast-paced and intricate in many parts. It largely follows the novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms though it does deviate in some parts. It's been almost 3 decades since the last notable attempt at serializing Romance, and now with plenty of Yuan and manpower to throw around, the deed has been accomplished. First, the scenery is remarkably grand and beautiful (both natural and CG) - from Zhuge Liang's hut in the middle of a forest, to gratuitous (though appreciated) shots of the Yangtze River, to the rather intimidating sights of tens of thousands of little armored men rushing forward.
Second, I appreciated the script. Perhaps it isn't as antiquated as it could have been, but let's be honest. If the producers and scriptwriters conformed to the way scholars of 200 AD spoke, like 8 people would understand. What would be the point? Rather, the writers decided to focus on making the dialogue engaging and meaningful to the target audience. Moreover, it still sounded decently authentic to adequately serve its purpose.
And finally, I enjoyed the acting and character interpretations. Chen caught me off-guard at first with his Cao Cao, but he's seriously grown on me. He has now become the representative Cao Cao in my mind - just devious and cunning enough, but not evil for the sake of being evil as he is sometimes portrayed...though at times of questionable mental stability. Lu Yi's Zhuge Liang is subtle, graceful, and dignified even in distress...not to mention terrific eye-candy... I digress. Zhou Yu's portrayal, though not especially flattering, was conveyed well by Victor Huang, and made me want to give the poor guy a hug (at the risk of disembowelment).
My major complaints would probably include the portrayal of the formidable general Zhang Fei. What are we, five? Did they really need to flatten and degrade a famed general by giving him the intelligence and self-control of a petulant pre-schooler? And Liu Bei's stubborn adherence to his so-called virtue got really old, really fast, though I suspect that had more to do with the man in history/Romance than the series itself.
This series is simply terrific. It was quite an ambitious undertaking, for one. A whopping 95 episodes, fast-paced and intricate in many parts. It largely follows the novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms though it does deviate in some parts. It's been almost 3 decades since the last notable attempt at serializing Romance, and now with plenty of Yuan and manpower to throw around, the deed has been accomplished. First, the scenery is remarkably grand and beautiful (both natural and CG) - from Zhuge Liang's hut in the middle of a forest, to gratuitous (though appreciated) shots of the Yangtze River, to the rather intimidating sights of tens of thousands of little armored men rushing forward.
Second, I appreciated the script. Perhaps it isn't as antiquated as it could have been, but let's be honest. If the producers and scriptwriters conformed to the way scholars of 200 AD spoke, like 8 people would understand. What would be the point? Rather, the writers decided to focus on making the dialogue engaging and meaningful to the target audience. Moreover, it still sounded decently authentic to adequately serve its purpose.
And finally, I enjoyed the acting and character interpretations. Chen caught me off-guard at first with his Cao Cao, but he's seriously grown on me. He has now become the representative Cao Cao in my mind - just devious and cunning enough, but not evil for the sake of being evil as he is sometimes portrayed...though at times of questionable mental stability. Lu Yi's Zhuge Liang is subtle, graceful, and dignified even in distress...not to mention terrific eye-candy... I digress. Zhou Yu's portrayal, though not especially flattering, was conveyed well by Victor Huang, and made me want to give the poor guy a hug (at the risk of disembowelment).
My major complaints would probably include the portrayal of the formidable general Zhang Fei. What are we, five? Did they really need to flatten and degrade a famed general by giving him the intelligence and self-control of a petulant pre-schooler? And Liu Bei's stubborn adherence to his so-called virtue got really old, really fast, though I suspect that had more to do with the man in history/Romance than the series itself.
Death Note: Desu nôto (2006)
Epic, epic win
Wow, what a masterpiece. Smart, clean, smooth, with one of the most entertaining, unique characters in recent memory - L is made of so much win it's not even funny.
The entire premise is very unique and morally provocative. Not to mention, Light is one of the best anti-hero protagonists EVER, and he throws hands-down the best b****-fits. Bristly, indignant Raito-kun caught off-guard and getting all hissy is beyond awesome. Somebody buy the boy a line of shots and a spa package.
However, there are exactly 1.5 drawbacks for me when it comes to Death Note: First, the Misa character - who the hell thought it was a good idea to stick a high-pitched airhead in the middle of an otherwise perfectly enthralling, intelligent storyline? I know the creators were probably trying to lighten up the mood, but 1, that's hardly fitting, and 2, the resulting gap in intelligence between L and Light on the one hand and Misa on the other is just jarring and kind of misogynistic. And not-really-second, the second story arc did kind of disappoint, especially after the amazing first half. But I don't know if this counts as a full compliant, bc the second half is by no means bad.
And lastly, as with almost all other foreign works, subs > dub.
The entire premise is very unique and morally provocative. Not to mention, Light is one of the best anti-hero protagonists EVER, and he throws hands-down the best b****-fits. Bristly, indignant Raito-kun caught off-guard and getting all hissy is beyond awesome. Somebody buy the boy a line of shots and a spa package.
However, there are exactly 1.5 drawbacks for me when it comes to Death Note: First, the Misa character - who the hell thought it was a good idea to stick a high-pitched airhead in the middle of an otherwise perfectly enthralling, intelligent storyline? I know the creators were probably trying to lighten up the mood, but 1, that's hardly fitting, and 2, the resulting gap in intelligence between L and Light on the one hand and Misa on the other is just jarring and kind of misogynistic. And not-really-second, the second story arc did kind of disappoint, especially after the amazing first half. But I don't know if this counts as a full compliant, bc the second half is by no means bad.
And lastly, as with almost all other foreign works, subs > dub.