Recent Films Haven't Let Me Down

It's always nice when a film that you've waited a long time to see live up to your expectations.

The first film is Hero, which I finally caught on Sunday night was excellent. Definitely one of the best films I've seen this year. It's a beautiful film, the fight scenes are art, and everything about it is like looking at a painting. Jet Li is given a chance to finally shine. It's nice to hear him speaking in his native tongue, because as much as I love the guy, whenever he speaks English I always find it somewhat painful, but in Hero he's great. The fight in the rain between Jet Li and Donnie Yen (of Iron Monkey fame) is phenomenal. All in all its a beautiful film.

Embarrassingly, the other film that I finally saw was The Silence of the Lambs. It's one of those films I've heard so, so much about. I decided, to feed my collecting bug, to get the Criterion Collection version, which is out of print and a nice collectible. So, finally tonight I sat down to watch it. What with it winning so many Oscars, and having Hopkins performance being so hyped up, I was prepared to like it, but to be underwhelmed. However, in the end the film is so good I was won over. Jodie Foster is excellent. Hopkins was excellent. Just to see that one conversation between the two was worth it. Demme builds the suspense excellently. I can see how ever serial killer film since it has tried to ape it in so many ways. It really is great.

So it's nice when those things happen and films exceed your expectations. Hopefully it'll continue for a while.