Movies
In Chinese entertainment, 2010 started with a few hold overs from 2009 in The Storm Warriors, The Treasure Hunter, and Bodyguards and Assassins. I actually liked all three films, even with all the hype.
Then the ancient era, Chinese New Years, and Valentine films came pouring in, Confucius, True Legend, 14 Blades, All's Well, Ends Well 2010, 72 Tenants of Prosperity, Hot Summer Days, and Little Big Soldier. From there, I seemed to lose interest as I was generally disappointed with the movies established in early 2010. Triple Tap and The Stool Pigeon were good movies. But I was disappointed in general overall up until October. Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame and Reign Of Assassins were excellent movies.
Zhong Guo movies that caught my eye were Go Lala Go!, Driverless, Aftershock, I Wish I Knew, Ocean Heaven, If You Are the One 2, and Let The Bullets Fly. I wish I had better things to say about them. As a whole, the movies out of Zhong Guo are getting more commercial, but the leading men are not.
In Taiwan, a little movie called Monga made its release. Other notable movies include Zoom Hunting, Au Revoir Taipei, Tears, Taipei Exchanges, Love You 10,000 Years, and Close To You. In general, there was a resurgence in Taiwan cinema in 2010 with the most releases within a year in a long time. I didn't see many, as getting a hold of them with English subs was quite difficult. I need the English Subs for when they speak Taiwanese. Good for the movies, not good for me since I only understand Mandarin.
Dramas/Series
On the Idol drama front, holdovers from 2009 included Autumn's Concerto, Hi My Sweetheart, and Momo Love. I gave up watching all three after enjoying the early episode of each. Unfortunately for me, I just didn't have the time to commit to them.
I did have time to watch The Myth and that was pretty much it.
As much as I love wuxia series, there were few this year that peaked my interest. On the idol drama front, weak year IMHO.
Music
Lots of great music came out this year in MandoPop. I picked up Da Mouth, Yanzi, Jay Chou, BearBabes, Sodagreen, Hebe, Cherry Boom, and Lara.
Faye Wong made her return to the entertainment circle! Yay!
Thoughts
I really got back into Chinese and Taiwanese entertainment in 2008 to help me improve my Mandarin. That continued into 2009. I am trying my best to pass it along to both my daughters. As 2011 is right around the corner, I just have no time. Time is my enemy. And passing along Mandarin gets harder as my daughters get older. Because my Mandarin gets worst every year. I can listen just fine. But speaking it coherently gets harder.
So, with limited time, limited skill, I press on to retain my Mandarin and pass it along. And with that interest, I will continue to follow Chinese and Taiwanese entertainment to keep on keeping on.
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