Curse of the Golden Flower (****, $28.95) Zhang Yimou’s visually stunning follow-up to the vastly entertaining House of Flying Daggers and Hero will provide the perfect test for anyone’s home-theater system. The color scheme ranges from ultravivid reds, yellows and golds to inky black, which stands in discreet contrast to the flat blacks and dark grays in scenes involving ninja attacks. The palette speaks to the opulence and majesty of the court of Emperor Ping (Chow Yun-Fat). In a plot that echoes Shakespeare, Ping’s attempt to handpick his successor is complicated by treachery, conspiracies, paranoia and ambition, while his fanatical grip on his realm is tested by his wife, children and a former lover now married to the imperial physician. For his part, Ping is slowly poisoning the Empress Phoenix (Gong Li), who’s engaged in an affair with her stepson. All of the meshugaas comes to a head on the eve of the Chrysanthemum Festival, 928 A.D., when her army of gold-armored soldiers confronts the black ninjas and silver-suited soldiers of her husband in a courtyard transformed by a carpet of brilliant yellow flowers.