we netflixed "alexander" and "house of flying daggers". in short, the former sucked and the latter rocked. everything that was bad about "alexander" was good about "house of flying daggers".

i have been wanting to see "alexander" for a long time now. this is only because last november we went to the movies and it was either "alexander" or "national treasure". we ended up seeing "national treasure". since then i thought that i should see the movie we didn't chose. now that i've seen it, i'm really glad i never paid theater money to see this bloated piece of shit.

the film is way too long. the first 30 minutes or so could've been told in 5 minutes. the pacing dragged on and on. the story jumps back and forth between present and past and skips alexander's first conquests. he goes from boy to suddenly being this military master. also, it seems like every little thing conjures up a memory for alexander and it's really ridiculous things. maybe some thorough editing could've fixed this but that doesn't save the film from the crappy dialogue and horrid accents. what the hell is going on? does val kilmer really have to put on an irish accent to justify collin farrell's accent? and what the hell was going on with angelina jolie's accent? that girl cannot do accents. why not just let everyone speak the way they normally do if it's gonna be this bad.

on to the cinematography and special effects. the cinematography was shit. too many sun flares. the lighting was terrible for most of the shots. however there was one shot where the lighting's just right on angelina jolie and it makes her eyes appear feline. that was really cool. perhaps the cinematographer only sucks using outdoor natural lighting. the computer generated elements were really lacking in reality though. you could totally tell that they were fake. it was hard to fathom that such a big budget film with a big name director could have such poor cgi.

it boils down to pace, dialogue, cinematography, effects. maybe one more thing but those are the main points--weaknesses of "alexander" and strengths of "house of flying daggers". perhaps emotional connection is the other element.

i thought that "house of flying daggers" was beautiful, quick-paced, solid dialogue, and had effects that blended in and enhanced the scenes. i don't know if it's that the film itself was good or just good in comparison to the crap i had seen before it. i have seen some other films that the actors have been in and the director has done. they're all pretty good so i'm sure that it's not simply that this film was good in comparison.

the only issue i had with the film is a small one that really has nothing to do with the filmmakers. it's the english language title. it's misleading. it makes you think the film will be all about the house of flying dragons when rather this is a romance with action. it's just that some of the characters involved are members of the house of flying dragons. given that the house of flying dragons is a much larger organization, it does leave open the possibility of making a series where each film peers into the lives of a few members. i doubt that this will happen but i'd be interested in such a series. the modern film scene really lack a good serial picture.