Movie Review: The Green Hornet

During my recent travels in Thailand, The Green Hornet was released in Asia...so, of course, I went to see it the very first day that it came out (as a dedicated Jay Chou fan).

Let me just say, seeing a movie in Thailand is interesting anyway...you stand for five minutes at the beginning of the movie in honor of the king while they play the anthem and show video footage of him. But anyways....we really liked the movie (and in fact went to see it again the next evening and later bought a bootleg DVD of it...hey, I did my part in supporting it in the theatre).

So, my review is as follows:

While I am a big fan of Jay Chou, I honestly didn't know what to expect...I knew I would think his English was cute, but honestly didn't expect for it to be great, and didn't know if he would really be able to pull off the subtle humor that the dialogue required....but he definitely did.

I am also not a big Seth Rogen fan, but I found him pretty funny in this movie. The movie itself is an anomaly, and I think a very good one, in that its treatment of Kato as a character is really positive for Asians....without turning him into a flawless martial arts god, they made Kato the "cool guy" and true hero of the film, while still allowing him character flaws (though admittedly not to the extent that Seth Rogen's Britt Reid displays as he deals with some major insecurities of playing second fiddle to the "sidekick".

The dialogue and fight scenes were entertaining and actually really funny, and the chemistry between Jay Chou and Seth Rogen is great. Cameron Diaz also is limited in screentime, which is probably good as she wasn't exactly super-convincing as the brainy Lenore Case.

Britt: "Sit with me Kato. Tell me your tale."

Kato: "I was born in Shanghai. You know?"

Britt: "Yes, I love Japan!"

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Apparently there are already talks of a sequel...which I fully support. It's about time Hollywood featured a cool Asian...not the stereotypical "funny guy with accent".

Language Learning

Can I get an awwww? My favorite popstar at his first American movie premiere...he went from not speaking English to being able to give interviews in English very quickly...hard work! It gives me some hope about my own Mandarin abilities...it's easy to compare to people who are bilingual...but I am learning to give myself some grace and have fun, because I've only studied formally for one year, whereas your average Chinese students has studied English since they were a child.

Some things I am learning about language acquisition:

• Have fun, and relax! Don't try to prove your ability to anyone, just seek to have genuine conversation! It's ok to not express yourself perfectly, you are still learning!
• Have friends who don't speak your language, as well as those who do. People who can help you by forcing you to speak only in the language you are learning are great, but it's also useful to have friends who can explain and correct you.
• Immerse yourself in fun ways! I watch Chinese movies/tv, listen to Chinese music (and look up the lyrics), and got renren.com (Chinese facebook) to practice reading and composing sentences in a more fun way...also, having cultural things to practice with helps you learn common usage outside of a textbook. Also, when I was studying Arabic, Arab music was extremely helpful in learning pronunciation in a beautiful way, believe it or not!
• Find your motivation in learning...I have reasons for wanting to learn to communicate with people
• Learn about the cultural aspects of places where the language you are learning is spoken...it helps a lot with understanding language usage and evolution!
• It's ok to enjoy speaking in your native tongue....your mind does need a break!