Rich Kao

During a recent ministry trip to North Carolina, I watched Gangs of New York on my MacBook laptop.   Heard lotsa of critical acclaim, and thought I'd make it a point to watch it.  Daniel Day-Lewis was awesome,  Cameron Diaz was forgettable (how shocking), and Leonardo (whom I like as an actor in general) was competent.  Story line was not as taut or riveting as I was led to believe, and there was completely unncessary gratutious skin scenes.    What kept me going through the whole movie was Daniel Day-Lewis as the heartless, ruthless keeper of "American" pride during the influx of Irish immigrants into New York in the late 1800's (I believe).  I guess, he's a total devotee of "method acting"  (staying in character the entire time of shooting!).   The method seems to really work for him.  I guess his most recent Oscar win validates his skill as a top tier actor.  I was impressed.  B minus for the movie, and don't let your kids watch it; that's for sure.

Wow.  Just watched Blood Diamond starring Leonardo Dicaprio & DJimon Hounsou.  Powerful stuff.  A very intense, graphic movie about "conflict diamonds."  Made me a believer in the cause against conflict diamonds.  I realize, with my heightened sense of orientation towards social justice -- because of church planting in Vancouver, Canada -- this kind of documentary / story-telling / cause based movie really gets me going.   I really recommend you watch the movie a second time with  the director's comments on.  That's where you'll really learn a lot.  It's like sitting through a college course.  Life changing stuff - seeing the atrocity of children-soldiers; how materialism in one part of the globe has consequences in another part of the globe; how people, nations, corporations fight over commodities because of greed.  It's sobering.  Not for children to watch.   Another thing that intensified the emotions in this movie.  Two new refugee families from Africa have just joined our church, and they experienced some of what was portrayed in this movie.   Really brings things home.