Number one, no more/ Seven Swords

Finally got to rest after a hectic week at work. I'm gonna catch Tsui Hark's Seven Swords (七剑) later. Ever since Crouching Tiger- Hidden Dragon, there's been a good supply of these wuxia (武侠) movies surfacing. I'm quite happy with what I've seen so far, the likes of Hero, House of Flying Daggers, are quality productions with fantastic plots.

For quite some time now, Cathay's Orchard Cineleisure has taken over Shaw's Lido One as the my number one venue for my weekly movie event. Although none of the halls are as big as the gargantuan Lido 1, they have soundly(pun intended) beaten Lido 1 in all other aspects-

1. THX sound system - I don't know what happened to Lido 1, but are they still THX certified? Cathay has been making claims that their Cineleisure multiplexes are the only THX certified ones in Singapore, so does that mean Lido 1 has lost it?
2. Unblocked viewing - the hall's gradient and seat height is excellent. Even if the hyper-tensed bloke in front of you sits fully upright, you are unlikely to have your line-of-sight to the screen blocked. Unless, the bloke in front of you is Michael Jordan or Shaq O'Neil!
3. Air Conditioning - they got it just nice! Not too warm, and definitely not too cold! In some other theatres, I could've swear that I'd stepped into a container for freezing meat!
4. Washroom - yep, they got a loo, a toilet, whatever you choose to call it, right at the back, inside the hall, the bigger ones got 2. No need to run all the way out of the hall to a common toilet, and miss the most climatic scene of the movie!
5. Nice mix of retail outlets - although the building is not as big as Plaza Singapura (where GV plaza is) or Shaw House(where Lido cineplexes reside), they still manage to squeeze in a good mix of retailers, sports stuff, music, food, fashion, to keep both the guys and girls happy.
6. Human traffic - well, this is what my colleague said, not me! There's a 'nice' flow of human traffic there...blah blah blah!

So, there you go. I can't wait to see Donnie Yen in action again. He is a true martial artist, fights hard, can clown around, can be deadly intense just the same, and he speaks fluent cantonese, mandarin, english, and probably french as well(since his family is in Canada). I expect the movie to be a little hectic and requires a lot of imagination, what with the original cut being about 4-hours long! So it helps that the official website gives alot of background info and history of the characters and of course the swords. I hope Tsui Hark won't overdo those superman flying around stuff, and I hope it will have a gripping plot like Hero, and the color and romance like Flying Daggers. And quoting Donnie in an interview with China Times, I'm pretty positive that I won't be disappointed.

“I love Tsui Hark, love Seven Swords simply because of its level of realism. I don’t like movies in which the people can fly. Nowadays, due to the abilities of the actors, stunt doubles have to be called in or special effects employed even for not especially sophisticated action, while understandable, I do not support this.”

But, the best way to truly enjoy a movie is not to read or believe in any reviews (they are, after all, just the opinion of one or two individual), and to go with ZERO expectations.
Seven Swords, here I come!