Zhou Family Movie Month
The Zhou family went to watch new movies three weeks in a row in May! Alex (age 7), Shudong (adult), and Diane Zhou (age 11) sent summaries and opinions about the movies they liked to GWN. Thanks, Alex, Shudong, and Diane!
Iron Man
Written and Typed by Alex Zhou
On Saturday, May 10, Alex and his family went to watch Iron Man. It was awesome. There was a lot of technology that doesn't exist. A person named Tony Stark made many weapons like missiles. There was this person who worked with Tony Starks dad. Since his dad died, the person had to work with Tony Stark. He didn't like Tony Stark and wanted to kill him. He sent him on a dangerous mission. The people there wanted Tony Stark to build a missile. He had to build it in a cave. Instead of building a missile, he started to build an iron person. He finished it but he didn't have enough time to go wear it to escape so the people went after him. While the people went to the place where Tony Stark was working, he wore the iron suit. He finished in time and killed the people. He escaped. He also made many other iron men. At the end, Tony Stark almost got killed. Some people in the cave survived and they were friends with the person who wanted to kill Tony Stark. The people found the parts of an iron man and took it. The friend of them took it and Tried to kill Tony Stark. At the end, Tony Stark survived. It was an awesome movie!
Prince Caspian
Written and Typed by GWN Founder Diane Zhou
On Sunday, May 18, my family went to Century Theaters in Union City to watch “Prince Caspian”, the second movie of “The Chronicles of Narnia”. I read the novel and the whole series by C.S. Lewis already and wanted to compare it to the movie. I have to say, which is rarely said, that the movie was better than the book! I did well at my ice skating competition on May 17 (from last week's issue), so my parents let me watch Prince Caspian.
The movie was pretty similar to the novel. I don't want to spoil the movie for you, so I'll just briefly tell you the backgrounds. In the first book and movie, four children named Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy found themselves in a land called Narnia. They fought against the evil White Witch with the help of a wise lion named Aslan. Aslan killed the White Witch and freed Narnia of the spell the Witch casted. She casted a spell that made Narnia winter forever. Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy became the Kings and Queens of Narnia. They forgot about Earth until they found themselves back into the wardrobe in which they came from.
In Prince Caspian, the four of them returned the Narnia when Prince Caspian, in Narnia, blew a magical horn (that was owned by Susan when she was Queen) that promised help. You should watch the movie to find out what happened to Narnia after 1300 years and see how evil and different Narnia was. Hope you enjoy!
I still think I like the first movie, “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” more. It was very original and I think, more interesting. It was still very fun to see what happened next. “Prince Caspian” was interesting with the jokes in it. You should watch the movie once you have a chance! (It's rated PG.)
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of Crystal Skull
Written and Typed by Shudong Zhou
Our family went together to see the latest Indiana Jones movie. We first went to AMC in Cuptertino on Saturday (May 24) afternoon, but the tickets were sold out for the showtime we picked. We ended up watching the 11:30am (on May 25) show at Century 21 in Union City. When we sat down in the show room, Matthew Kim, Alex's friend, arrived with his family and sat down in the row behind us. Alex happily changed his seat to be directly in front of Matthew.
The movie started with a team of Soviet agents going to a military base, "Hangar 51", in New Mexico, where a lot of unusual artifacts are stored. Indiana Jones was carried here to help find a crate holding the remains of an alien life, along with his old partner Mac. While attempting to escape the Soviet agents, he found that Mac was actually a Soviet agent as well! Indiana escaped anyway.
Indiana Jones (Indy) is a professor of history and archeology, a fictional character created by George Lucas, the same person who created the Star Wars movie series. He believes that students should learn history and archeology by going out on adventures instead of sitting in classrooms and libraries. Each Indiana Jones movie depicts an adventure to discover the secret behind a legendary artifact. In the first movie, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana went to Egypt to find "the Lost Ark", a golden box containing the Ten Commandments according to the Bible. In the second movie, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Indiana goes to India and escapes danger with the power of Sankara Stones. In the third movie, Indiana Jones and Last Crusade, Indiana searched for the Holy Grail, the cup Jesus used at supper the night before he died.
The Kingdom of Crystal Skull is the fourth movie. After escaping from the Soviet agents, Indiana went back to Marshall College in New York. But he had to take a leave of absence because of his association with Mac, now being investigated for helping the Soviet Union. As he was leaving New York, he was stopped by a young man named Mutt Williams. Mutt told him that his old friend Oxley disappeared after finding a crystal skull with magic power. So Indiana went with Mutt to Peru to find Oxley.
In Peru, they retraced the steps of Oxley and found the Crystal Skull, but was captured again by the same group of Soviet agents Indiana escaped from at the beginning of the movie. The Soviet agents wanted to unlock the psychic power in the Crystal Skull, but didn't know how. By forcing Oxley and Indiana to communicate with the skull, they found that the skull
wanted to be returned to Akator. The story took us through the jungle, down the Amazon river, and to the ancient ruins of the Mayan culture. Along the way, Indiana fought against the Soviet agents as well as dangers in nature.
Did Indiana and his friends return the Crystal Skull to the right place? Did the Soviet agents unlock of the psychic power of the Crystal Skull? You should watch the movie to find out!
Note--Crystal Skulls are human skulls made from clear quartz, claimed to be made in ancient times (before Christopher Columbus came to America) and exhibit paranormal behavior. Modern science has shown that they are made in late 19th century with no spiritual power.
Sounds fun to watch new movies three weeks in a row!
