Future releases [2]

At first when I saw Matt Damon in a medieval Chinese setting I was kind of pissed: he doesn't belong there. Then I saw this is a Chinese made fantasy epic, and I'm a huge fan of Chinese epic movies. Finally we see how clever their marketing is: there's a Chinese focus of course, but they recruited some big name Western actors to help them sell the movie world wide (we get Prince Oberon back!). Gotta love it. I hope it's great.

AND.... it has badass Asian chicks kicking butt. Can't possibly go wrong with BAACKB.

More boob plate.

This film really stands out to me as an example of the Chinese film industry wading into the international blockbuster market.

halfwise wrote:Money.   But yeah, the original was about as good as film can get with a spare dialogue.  All style and concept.  This new film better be blasted good or they will lose their shirts.

All style and concept my foot! Those sets didn't build themselves you know!

Yes, they had extra time because of the writer's strike. That's why the style was so perfect, and has largely been unmatched since. They had time to take it where no film had gone before.

"All style and concept" was not a contemptuous remark. It was a tip of the hat to a movie that was great with no clever banter, no great monologues (though the voice-overs were pretty great); a lot of time taken for scene setting, and time to let the philosophical ramifications of the replicants settle in. It was essentially a Sergio Leone science fiction film.

Hm.
I thought it was a general consensus that the removal of the voice-over from the Director's Cut made Blade Runner much better.

I agree about the movie doing a good job of adopting a pace that allowed one to think through this question of the replicants, and their plight.

Although the "Tears in Rain" speech is absolutely a great monologue, by any filmic definition!

At first when I saw Matt Damon in a medieval Chinese setting I was kind of pissed: he doesn't belong there.- Halfy

{{Saw the director talking about thts and he just laughed at the accusations Damon was taking work from a chinese actor- and said of course he is not-his character in the story is supposed to be someone from the west- so that sorts that out!}}

Although the "Tears in Rain" speech is absolutely a great monologue, by any filmic definition!

Yes, truly a great monologue.  But what other movie only has one or two memorable speeches, yet is still considered great?  The whole stylistic construct was built to frame that one concept finally articulated at the end.  It's not a movie built on dialogue and human relations, it's aiming for the abstract.  And did so brilliantly.

Halfwise wrote: But what other movie only has one or two memorable speeches, yet is still considered great?

The Lord of the Rings trilogy.


No, not really. I see what you mean.

The Great Wall is just the sort of chop socky film that I like With these Oriental fantasy films I don't care abourt this or that, I just take it all in as a whole, I wont even analyse it, I just enjoy them for the spectacle they are
And yes, Forest, great speech from Rutger

This looks fun.

Id watch it & I really don't like musicals. My beef with Disney before Pixar jumped in was, the eeeeeeeeeeeeendless bloody singing ! A 2 or 3 minute song, ok but, every time anyone opened their mouth ???!!!!

I'm looking forward to that

Oh hey, it's that girl from Fantastic Beasts.

Well they certainly covered the sexual imagery with that shower scene.

Is it just me, or does the plot appear to be exactly like the last film? People are instructed to go somewhere, the robot-dude comes along, people get infected by face-hugger as they stand over ominous penis-projector, and everyone probably dies.

I'm all for using a tried-and-true storytelling method, but is a new cast enough to make this film worth watching if it follows the same basic steps as the last film? I mean, they even included the slowly-metamorphing bit with that small speck of black that goes in the guy's ear.

they will probably do a lot of running down dark corridors. I will still watch it though.

Dark vaginal corridors.

*gulp*

heard they are making Kingsman 2

The Power Rangers reboot looks terrible, and not 90's cheesy terrible like the TV series:

What a mountain of banality these CGI-drenched slam-fest movies are these days.

yep, it certainly does but, there may come an afternoon when, I just might watch it . I do hate it when someone says "you was born for this"......or......" I was born for this"......NOOOOOOOO! you fooking weren't, it was written in the script by a lazy person !

The cliche lines in the second trailer for The Great Wall were as numerous as they were ridiculous.

Spoiler:

"A weapon more powerful...than any that we have ever known."

Ultimate Weapon, check.

"There are many things you have not seen."

https://youtu.be/moaW8LRusak?t=110

"The... only barrier... keeping the world safe."

The stakes? 

Ultimate doom for everyone!

Where have we seen this?

Every super-hero/sci-fi/epic-fantasy film of the last twenty years.

"They've trained all their lives for this war."


Along with Aragorn and all the others who have been "preparing for something their whole lives".

"I've fought for greed. And gods. This is the first war I've seen worth fighting."

Priam in the 2004 film Troy: "I've fought many wars in my time. Some I've fought for land, some for power, some for glory. I suppose fighting for love makes more sense than all the rest."


And just Mulan: "A girl worth fighting for!" 

The jaded warrior finds a cause worth dying for... Give me a break! 

And, of course, enough cliff-diving bass-drops, dissonant descending horns, and racing orchestral music to blast a film producer out of his shoes and out the back wall of his mansion into the champagne pool.

Oh yes

Well, we all know the trailers do not reflect the actual movie. I'll wait to pass judgement since I kinda liked the first trailer.

But it's a little unfair to judge a movie on plot points. All plot points are recycled endlessly. Robert Heinlein said there were only three story lines: boy meets girl, the quest, and the clever taylor (outsmarts everyone he meets). The key is in how all these time-torn ideas are fleshed out.

Forest Shepherd said there was only one story: Something happens! 


The majority of my criticism is motivated by the fact that the movie is about large green dogs storming the Great Wall of China. The inclusion of all these tropes to suit and accommodate that central plot-point is what makes me dismiss the film's merits out of hand.

Reminds me of Gary Larson's The Far Side.