Movie Review: The Forbidden Kingdom

The Forbidden Kingdom: So get this. You’ve got a kid from Boston magically transported to middle-ages alt-China. Kung fu and the whole deal. You’ve got Jackie Chan and Jet Li on board (for the first time in a Hollywood film), and you make this movie? Good lord, someone make sure this scriptwriter isn’t let near a movie studio again (though IMDB suggests he’s about to murder a classic). Stunning visuals and good fight coreography entirely let down by a plot that takes itself much, much too seriously and doesn’t bother to explain its oddities (like 14th Century Chinese emperors speaking English) along the way. ★★★

Movie Review: The Kite Runner

The Kite Runner: poignant tale of two Afghani kids, one Pashtun, one Hazara. Growing up in Afghanistan before the Russians invade, and then torn apart by the invasion. Based off the book of the same name by Khaled Hosseini, though I’ve yet to read it. Reasonably hard hitting story that manages to have a few light-hearted moments in it, with some excellent acting. ★★★★

When Galaxies Collide

When Galaxies Collide: These are some astonishing pictures that makes me wish I could go back in time and choose to be an astronomer like I dreamt of when I was 13. Some of the numbers are mindboggling – galaxies 450 million light years away, a 100,000 light years across… and we get to see them from our infinitesimally small spec in the universe. How could we have the hubris that this was created solely for human? Simply amazing.