Netflix update

Tuesday night, I spent hours on the couch just trying to cool off. Full blast AC and very chilled white wine were barely cutting it. I put my couch time to use watching House of Flying Daggers. It’s really amazing. I wasn’t sure I was going to like it at first. I’m a fan of director Zhang Yimou, and I loved his last film Hero. This one is quite different—it’s more personal and less epic. It’s hard to judge whether someone is a good actor when you don’t speak the language, but I am not terribly impressed with Zhang Ziyi. She’s better in this than she was in Hero, but I still think she overacts a bit. Maybe this is a cultural thing I am just not getting.

Last week, we watched Closer, which completely blew me away. It’s pretty emotionally devastating—a really compelling film. That Clive Owen sure can act. And that Jude Law sure is pretty (and can act too). I like what Mike Nichols did with this adaption—he kept the structure of the film very much like a play.