First off, I am in no way biased against non-English speaking films or anything. A lot of my favorite films fall into that category. I saw this was somehow listed in the top 5 of Rotten Tomatoes' "top streaming movies" list with a 96% audience rating and decided to give it a go. I am a private pilot and worked in the airline industry for many years and am a total sucker for airline movies. "Airport" for example I can still watch to this day and enjoy even though it is admittedly cheesy as hell. From some googling it appears this movie was a smash hit in China and very highly regarded. Um... I'm sorry China, but you have a LONG way to go when it comes to making movies. This is on par with some random late 90's direct to DVD airline disaster movie starring Dean Cain. Super unrealistic, horribly acted, bad effects, and unbelievably corny. Also the propaganda is pretty strong with this. Everyone involved with the airline or government is just about the most attractive, hard working, professional, heroic person to ever live. Pretty, pretty bad.
Wow, who thought this was a good idea? This movie will be marveled at and puzzled over by film scholars for generations to come. I say that jokingly of course, but maybe I don't... I saw the original back when it came out and really liked it. I saw how bad the reviews were for this, but still for some reason I had to check it out, mostly because I really like JLD and Will Ferrell and wanted to see how it could of gone so wrong. Tonally it is all over the place, it can't figure out at all what it wants to be. It has none of the emotional impact of the original. It is horribly miscast, and not just the two leads, pretty much everyone. Just a misfire in every way possible. However, I try to think if maybe I would feel differently if I hadn't seen the original. Perhaps, I guess it's not offensively bad on its own merit, I've seen a lot worse movies, but still, it's pretty bad. Stop remaking foreign movies, it's just a bad idea. Spike Lee's Oldboy comes to mind and I'm sure we'll have a terrible remake of Parasite to look forward to in a few years.
I liked this movie overall I guess, it certainly told an interesting story, the acting performances were good, and hey, everyone loves dogs, but how they pumped up the action sequences to such a ridiculously absurd degree took me out of it. It's a true story, just telling it in a realistic matter would be good enough without all the super fake looking CGI shots of zooming down 45 degree plus mountain cliffs and that crazy ice jumping scene looked straight out of a sci-fi/fantasy movie taking place on an alien planet. The greatest dog musher in the world with the greatest dog team of all-time would of died exactly 5 seconds into this movie. The frost/ice around the outside of the frame during the whole movie also looked super hacky. I don't know, just could of been better imo if it wasn't filmed so much like it was a cartoon, but I guess it is a Disney film...
Just an off the cuff reaction of this, having not read any other reviews, haven't even seen any on the internet yet. The Deadwood Movie was quite satisfying for me because it put some closure on a show that wasn't planned to be finished, and also a long time had passed. Breaking Bad has Better Call Saul keeping us involved in that whole universe, and imo the final season of Breaking Bad is the greatest season of television ever, it ended at it's peak, it ended more or less perfectly, with Jesse driving off into the unknown. Sure, it was fun to see these characters again, it was well made and well acted ofc, but what was it really? A 2 hour long, average (by Breaking Bad standards) quality episode of the show that adds nothing to the overall story, Jesse kills some randos, and then ends with him driving off into the unknown again. It was fine, I ain't mad at it, but utterly unnecessary.
I'm sure I would of never heard of this, but P.T. Anderson recommended it on podcast I was listening to. Pretty high praise to have someone of that stature mention your movie. The star is a first time director and actual Olympic track athlete.
As someone else here commented on, I think this is an good example of bad marketing and a hackneyed title hurting a film. Very good critical reviews, good imdb score, lots of likes here, but bad RT audience score, bad CinemaScore, and ended up not making much money. All the marketing and the title made me think it was some sort of jump-scare horror or zombie movie, but it's not. If you go in with no expectations and an open mind I think you'll enjoy it as I did.
Seems that for some reason this isn't getting the buzz that some of the other recent big name docs like Making a Murderer or The Jinx received and I'm not sure why as I think it might be better than both of them. Great reviews, 100% on RT but I don't hear anyone talking about it really. Maybe being released so soon after the FX series wasn't a great idea as people might have a little OJ overload. I watched the FX series and enjoyed it very much and was wondering myself if I needed another 8 hrs on the same topic, but this is a VERY different thing. Truly great doc that covers WAY more than just the trial and the 5 episodes just flew by for me. I am a big 30 for 30 fan, almost all of them have been enjoyable for me, but this one is just on a whole different level. Highly recommended.
I'll leave a comment for this one because it has so few checks and no comments and I feel it deserves at least SOME mention: It has two actors I like (Olivia Thirlby and Vincent Kartheiser) who give good performances, and it has beautiful scenery and excellent cinematography, however, the story is too uninteresting and low-key to have this film be any more than a totally forgettable albeit nice little artistic film. I will keep an eye out for more films from this director though.
Comments 1 - 9 of 9
Movie comment on Zhong guo ji zhang
HellOui
First off, I am in no way biased against non-English speaking films or anything. A lot of my favorite films fall into that category. I saw this was somehow listed in the top 5 of Rotten Tomatoes' "top streaming movies" list with a 96% audience rating and decided to give it a go. I am a private pilot and worked in the airline industry for many years and am a total sucker for airline movies. "Airport" for example I can still watch to this day and enjoy even though it is admittedly cheesy as hell. From some googling it appears this movie was a smash hit in China and very highly regarded. Um... I'm sorry China, but you have a LONG way to go when it comes to making movies. This is on par with some random late 90's direct to DVD airline disaster movie starring Dean Cain. Super unrealistic, horribly acted, bad effects, and unbelievably corny. Also the propaganda is pretty strong with this. Everyone involved with the airline or government is just about the most attractive, hard working, professional, heroic person to ever live. Pretty, pretty bad.Movie comment on Downhill
HellOui
Wow, who thought this was a good idea? This movie will be marveled at and puzzled over by film scholars for generations to come. I say that jokingly of course, but maybe I don't... I saw the original back when it came out and really liked it. I saw how bad the reviews were for this, but still for some reason I had to check it out, mostly because I really like JLD and Will Ferrell and wanted to see how it could of gone so wrong. Tonally it is all over the place, it can't figure out at all what it wants to be. It has none of the emotional impact of the original. It is horribly miscast, and not just the two leads, pretty much everyone. Just a misfire in every way possible. However, I try to think if maybe I would feel differently if I hadn't seen the original. Perhaps, I guess it's not offensively bad on its own merit, I've seen a lot worse movies, but still, it's pretty bad. Stop remaking foreign movies, it's just a bad idea. Spike Lee's Oldboy comes to mind and I'm sure we'll have a terrible remake of Parasite to look forward to in a few years.Movie comment on Togo
HellOui
I liked this movie overall I guess, it certainly told an interesting story, the acting performances were good, and hey, everyone loves dogs, but how they pumped up the action sequences to such a ridiculously absurd degree took me out of it. It's a true story, just telling it in a realistic matter would be good enough without all the super fake looking CGI shots of zooming down 45 degree plus mountain cliffs and that crazy ice jumping scene looked straight out of a sci-fi/fantasy movie taking place on an alien planet. The greatest dog musher in the world with the greatest dog team of all-time would of died exactly 5 seconds into this movie. The frost/ice around the outside of the frame during the whole movie also looked super hacky. I don't know, just could of been better imo if it wasn't filmed so much like it was a cartoon, but I guess it is a Disney film...Movie comment on El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie
HellOui
SPOLIERS, don't read if you haven't seen it...Just an off the cuff reaction of this, having not read any other reviews, haven't even seen any on the internet yet. The Deadwood Movie was quite satisfying for me because it put some closure on a show that wasn't planned to be finished, and also a long time had passed. Breaking Bad has Better Call Saul keeping us involved in that whole universe, and imo the final season of Breaking Bad is the greatest season of television ever, it ended at it's peak, it ended more or less perfectly, with Jesse driving off into the unknown. Sure, it was fun to see these characters again, it was well made and well acted ofc, but what was it really? A 2 hour long, average (by Breaking Bad standards) quality episode of the show that adds nothing to the overall story, Jesse kills some randos, and then ends with him driving off into the unknown again. It was fine, I ain't mad at it, but utterly unnecessary.
Movie comment on Tracktown
HellOui
I'm sure I would of never heard of this, but P.T. Anderson recommended it on podcast I was listening to. Pretty high praise to have someone of that stature mention your movie. The star is a first time director and actual Olympic track athlete.Movie comment on Go
HellOui
This movie has 3 comments and is in zero top lists? #SadI enjoy the hell out of this movie every time i see it.
Movie comment on It Comes at Night
HellOui
As someone else here commented on, I think this is an good example of bad marketing and a hackneyed title hurting a film. Very good critical reviews, good imdb score, lots of likes here, but bad RT audience score, bad CinemaScore, and ended up not making much money. All the marketing and the title made me think it was some sort of jump-scare horror or zombie movie, but it's not. If you go in with no expectations and an open mind I think you'll enjoy it as I did.Movie comment on O.J.: Made in America
HellOui
Seems that for some reason this isn't getting the buzz that some of the other recent big name docs like Making a Murderer or The Jinx received and I'm not sure why as I think it might be better than both of them. Great reviews, 100% on RT but I don't hear anyone talking about it really. Maybe being released so soon after the FX series wasn't a great idea as people might have a little OJ overload. I watched the FX series and enjoyed it very much and was wondering myself if I needed another 8 hrs on the same topic, but this is a VERY different thing. Truly great doc that covers WAY more than just the trial and the 5 episodes just flew by for me. I am a big 30 for 30 fan, almost all of them have been enjoyable for me, but this one is just on a whole different level. Highly recommended.Movie comment on Red Knot
HellOui
I'll leave a comment for this one because it has so few checks and no comments and I feel it deserves at least SOME mention: It has two actors I like (Olivia Thirlby and Vincent Kartheiser) who give good performances, and it has beautiful scenery and excellent cinematography, however, the story is too uninteresting and low-key to have this film be any more than a totally forgettable albeit nice little artistic film. I will keep an eye out for more films from this director though.