Hot Movies

本期向读者介绍北美最新出炉和即将上映的几部热门影片, 让您一睹为快.


Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Release date: November 18th, 2005
Genre: Kids/Family, Science/Fiction/Fantasy
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint
Directed by: Mike Newell
Synopsis: In his fourth year at Hogwarts, Harry faces his greatest challenges and dangers yet. When he is selected under mysterious circumstances as a contestant in the Triwizard Tournament, Harry must compete against the best young wizards from schools all over Europe.
Review: "This film is a must see and has all the Harry Potter standards."

 

The Weather Man
Release date: October 28th, 2005
Genre: Drama/Comedy
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Michael Caine
Directed by: Gore Verbinski
Synopsis: Professionally, Dave is on the top of the world, but his personal life is in complete disarray. Dave's painful divorce, his dad's illness and trouble with his kids have him poised on the knife's edge between stability and disaster. The harder he tries to control events, the more he finds life, like the weather, is completely unpredictable.
Review: "It's strange to say, but the nice thing about Weather is that things don't end smoothly for all characters. The clouds break for some, and continue to accumulate for others."

 

Shopgirl
Release date: October 21st, 2005
Genre: Comedy/Drama
Starring: Steve Martin, Claire Danes
Directed by: Anand Tucker
Synopsis: Mirabelle (Claire Danes) mans the glove counter at a high end department store, selling things that nobody buys anymore. An artist struggling to keep up with even the minimum payments on her credit card and student loans, she lives a quiet life and keeps to herself until Ray Porter (Steve Martin) sweeps her off her feet.
Review: "Though the film would like to be about how men and women see relationships differently, it's really about how Steve Martin and women see relationships differently."

 

Chicken Little
Release date: November 4, 2005
Genre: Comedy/Animation
Starring: Zach Braff, Joan
Directed by: Mark Dindal
Synopsis: Picking up where the classic fable ends, and in the wake of the "unfortunate acorn incident," Chicken Little's name is mud in his hometown of Oakey Oaks. Down but not out, he struggles mightily to restore his reputation. But no sooner has Chicken Little redeemed himself then he is conked on the head one more time.
Review: "This digitally animated feature is not quite as funny as we may have hoped. But it does have a peculiar, goofy sweetness to it, and the sheer inventiveness of the whole thing makes it pretty enjoyable."

 

Get Rich or Die Trying
Release date: November 9th, 2005
Genre: Drama/Musical
Starring: 50 Cent, Joy Bryant
Directed by: Jim Sheridan
Synopsis: An orphaned street kid (Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson) makes his mark in the drug trade, but finally dares to leave the violence of his former life behind to pursue a promising career in the music business as a rapper.
Review: "This movie is a logical follow-up to In America, Sheridan's previous film, a personal tribute to his own experience as an immigrant-outsider in New York."

 

The Legend of Zorro
Release date: October 28th, 2005
Genre: Action/Adventure/Comedy
Starring: Antonio Banderas, Catherine Zeta-Jones
Directed by: Martin Campbell
Synopsis: Set several years after the previous adventure, Alejandro and Elena are married and have a 10-year-old son. Though Alejandro continues to don the mask of Zorro to protect the poor and oppressed residents of the California territory from the greed of the overlords, he is torn between his duty and his desire for a more normal life.
Review: "The movie is brisk and breezy, but it's a pile of empty cinematic calories. After a seven year wait and a successful foundation, the audience deserves a little more than that."

 

 

Beauty for body and soul
Photo by Vivian



A new art venue in Xiamen is always cause for celebration among the culture lovers of our city. Nihaonet Art Center opened to the public on November 5, 2005 with a contemporary exhibition entitled "Black Landscape".

Housed inside a beautiful old house at 9 Gongyuan Nan Road, opposite the main entrance of Zhongshan Park, the center is stylish and accessible.

Xu Jing and Paul are a couple of art lovers who opened the center in the hope that the works they exhibit will be distributed throughout the world. They would like to see the world outside China find out more about the modern scene flourishing here. To this end, the ground floor is reserved for exhibitions by contemporary Chinese artists.

For visitors who take their own beauty as seriously as that on the canvas, the second floor is a beauty and health salon with the full range of treatments available, as well as quiet corners to sit and discuss the pictures over a drink.

The opening exhibition is dedicated to works by Tang Nannan, a local artist just beginning to make a name for himself. It will run till the end of this month.

 

 

Tourist souvenirs on display
Photo by Yao Fan



The 2005 Xiamen Tourist Souvenir Design Contest will be staged on the fifth floor of the Cultural Palace on November 5-13. The contest has attracted a large number of entrants who produced over 800 designs. The contest organizer will help design firms and individuals to secure copyright protection. This move will allow designers to display the results without worrying about plagiarism. Design works submitted will be evaluated mainly by experts, but visitors may also give their ratings. Local citizens and tourists are welcome to come and examine and vote for the designs they like best.

 

Vocabulary
acorn 橡树果实
conk 击打
goofy 愚蠢的
rapper 说唱者
disarray 混乱
don 戴上
plagiarism 剽窃
souvenir纪念品