Say what you will about Zhang Yimou's previous two swords and kung fu flicks, but they sure were pretty. Lots of luscious colors and tableaus straight out of paintings. But they also weren't the most exciting films you’ve ever seen. You either gasped at the prettiness and rolled with it or you said nice shot and hoped for something else to happen. For us, Hero was the one that blew us away, the use of color so dazzling and original it left us awe-struck. House of the Flying Daggers, however, didn't do it for us. ...

Where we're from, we have a fine and vibrant Chinatown. Not huge, but you can certainly get anything there that you can get here (well, except in the produce department). Still, we drop by Chinatown every Christmas to pick up the kind of trinkets, doodads and gewgaws that you can get for less than five bucks and hand out to that friend you run into from high school that you totally forgot to get a......