影 (Shadow) is an 2018 movie out of Zhong Guo. The movie stars Deng Chao and Sun Li. The supporting cast include Zheng Kai, Wang Qianyuan, Hu Jun, and Guan Xiaotong. The film is directed by Zhang Yimou.
Set during the Three Kingdoms. The kingdom of Pei of has lost control of the city of Jing. The commander of the army wants to get it back from the Yang family. The king of Pei does not want it back and wants to keep the status quo. The commander however has had failing health over the past year and send his Shadow in his place. The Shadow is someone that looks just like the original. In the case of commander, he must guide his shadow in court matters and train him to defeat the Yang general in battle. Will the King of Pei find out that this is a shadow?
This was one of the best films I've ever seen. Zhang Yimou out does himself with this latest epic. The real life married couple of Deng and Sun have instant chemistry onscreen. From the court politics to the shadow training, I was at the edge of my sofa the whole movie. I was kept on my toes scene after scene trying to see how things would unfold.
I ended up watching it again a couple of nights later to figure more things out. OMG, the second time around, I was even more impress. I had recently started watching Hero on Netflix. I was halfway through and remember just how awesome that film was. Shadow is an even better made film and shows Zhang's growth in this genre.
I caught the movie via iTalkBB. It'll be released in the USA in May.
流浪地球 (The Wandering Earth) is an 2019 film out of Zhong Guo. The movie stars Qu Chuxiao, Li Guangjie, Ng Man-tat, Zhao Jinmai, Wu Jing, and Qu Jingjing. The movie was released over the Lunar New Years and than in other countries including the US a week later. In the 2 weeks that it has been released, it is now the second highest grossing movie of all time in its native country of Zhong Guo. Time will tell if it can make it to number one.
The sun is flaring up and the scientist of earth have determined that the sun will continue to grow and engulf the earth. Thus, the countries of the earth have decided to launch the earth out of its orbit, borrowing the rotation of Jupiter to sling shot the earth out of the current solar system to find a new suitable sun. The earth now needs the people to move to underground cities in each of their countries to survive the move. The lottery system is implied as not everyone was allowed into the underground cities. 15 years after exiting the earth's orbit and closing in on Jupiter, miscalculations have caused the earth to get sucked into the orbit of Jupiter at a wrong trajectory. This will cause the Earth to collide with Jupiter. The earth reacts by causing wide spread natural chaos. The movie follows a band of surface level drivers as they try to save the earth.
I caught this movie the second Saturday after released in the US in the morning. The small-ish theater I was in was packed, with almost all the front rows filled in. Surprising given that Saturday AM showings are 50% off due to the slow pace. I ordered my tickets on Atom as there are assigned seats. I was surprised at how up front I had to sit.
As for the movie, I was quite disappointed by it. The lone non-Asian in the theater walked out with about 30 minutes left and did not return. A whole family of 5 or 6 left towards the end too. I was thinking of walking out. BUT I kept on and finished the movie. The movie was way too loud fall asleep too, but it was not a good movie. The main characters have no redeeming qualities other than that they were super selfish. The storyline of no one left behind is not new, but with Wandering Earth, the main cast presented it so distastefully that I hated them all. Even Wu Jing's character was hard to get behind. In all, the movie goes on to kill many, but those around the main cast died mainly due to their selfish desires. The main cast yells, screams and weasels their way from one situation to the other. When they finally make the right decision, even that seems like a we got nothing else to do. No honor really in their decisions.
Maybe its because I had just binged watched The Expanse the 2 weeks prior to going to watch the movie. Literally finishing Season 3 the night before. The Expanse could be one of the best sci-fi television series ever made. Watching this movie, Wandering Earth, right after didn't do it justice.
Netflix than announced this past week that it had signed exclusive streaming rights for the movie. When it shows up for me, I am going to give it thumbs down.
Skip this, watch Wu Jing's Wolf Warrior 2. That is a better representation of Zhong Guo cinema.
The Expanse is an television series starting in 2015. As of this writing, The Expanse has three seasons released with a fourth one set for release later in 2019. The series is based on a book series of the same name. The television series stars Steven Strait, Cas Anvar, Dominique Tipper, and Wes Chatham. The four main crew members of the Roci spaceship. The supporting cast include Thomas Jane, Florence Faivre, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Frankie Adams, François Chau, Cara Gee, Terry Chen, Byron Mann, and Nadine Nicole.
The story begins in space and something horrible has happened. From there, in the first season, there are 3-4 main story arcs featuring a Ceres, the Canterbury survivors, Earth, and Mars. The second season has 2-3 main arcs with Roci, Earth and Mars, and the Tycho Station. The third season does something similar for half and another for the second half.
I was able to catch the series recently via my Amazon Prime account. I started towards the beginning of 2019 and recently finished the series. I wanted to watch more and binge, but set my limits and it was pretty good. One of the best series on TV in my opinion. The storyline to the cast kept me engaged. I think having 10-13 episodes per season makes it easier to digest. But that also means a lot of characters do not get their due on screen.
I liked the concepts of the inner and outer planets. The inner planets being Earth and Mars, whereas the outer our for Jupiter and Saturn. Life in space has had a few centuries to develop so we don't have to worry about traveling in space. The three fractions are Earth, Mars, and the Belters. All very good groups and easy to understand.
If you like Science Fiction and the drama of space politics, this is a series for you. The fourth season will be release via Amazon Prime Video and I can't wait.
The Predator (終極戰士:掠奪者) is an 2018 film. The movie stars Boyd Holbrook, Trevante Rhodes, Jacob Tremblay, Keegan-Michael Key, Olivia Munn, Thomas Jane, Alfie Allen, and Sterling K. Brown. The movie is based in the same universe as the other Predator movies, but isn't a direct sequel. The story takes place in present day earth.
On a stake out mission, a Predator ship crash lands in their area and starts to dismantle the secret op group. The sniper of the group finds a couple of items from the Predator ship and send it back home. He's captured and interrogated. Sent to a "prison" where they disappear, he escapes when the Predator wakes and escapes to find those same things he sent back home. Now, he has to go find it and stop the Predator from killing his son. The government is hot on both their tails.
An interesting take on the franchise with the main protagonist a murky and flawed character. However, the other protagonist turns out to be the Predator itself and starts to review more about their civilization. And how they play with their prey. The movie also goes a bit science with Olivia Munn's character.
In general, I think its a major miss and their not going to continue with this storyline. They'll have to re-start yet another one to try to reboot this.
Night School is an 2018 film. The movie stars Kevin Hart and Tiffany Haddish.
Kevin Hart needs a job. In order to get this job, he has to get his GED. Enter the night school classes that will teach him how to get his GED. Fun times ensue.
Funny movie. Kevin Hart AND Tiffany Haddish are funny. You have the mouth character of Kevin Hart and the I am not going to take any BS from no-one attitude of Haddish, BAM, instant funny. The plot devices were all to make comedy. It works, its a funny movie. A movie that deserves just one watch.
Peppermint (血薄荷) is an 2018 film. The movie stars Jennifer Garner. The role returns Garner to our bad @$$ days on the television show Alias.
Peppermint is the story of an hard working mother played by Jennifer Garner as Riley. Riley and her husband struggle to make ends meat. Her husband is made a proposition to be a get away guy in a heist against the local drug dealer. The husband initially agrees, but later rejects the offer, not wanting to get involved. BUT the drug dealer finds out that he had agreed and decide to eliminate everyone that had even thought about it to send a message. That night, Riley goes to a fair with her husband and daughter. The gang does a drive by and kills her husband and daughter. Riley is also shot, but survives to try to take them down in court. However, during the trial, she realizes that everyone involved had been bought out by the gangs. Riley escapes and goes underground. 5 years later, she comes back as Peppermint and she wants revenge!
This is classic revenge flick. Riley is innocent and wronged, the system is bought and she suffers. She comes back for revenge against those that wronged her. Many a stories like this in martial arts and Japanese films in the 1970s. It still comes back from time to time, a la Kill Bill.
I enjoyed it, but am on the fence about recommending it. I loved Alias from back in the day, but its been a long time. Jennifer Garner is very likable too.
I picked this up via T-Mobile Tuesday Redbox Promo.
The Equalizer 2 (私刑教育2) is an 2018 film. The movie stars Denzel Washington. With The Equalizer 2, Denzel Washington does a rare reprisal of a role from a film this is a sequel of, The Equalizer.
Robert McCall now drives an uber and lives in urban Massachusetts. He lives in a apartment complex with diverse cultures. He befriends a local kid that starts to hang with the wrong crowd. Along the way, we find out more and more of his past. Susan from the first film is killed while on assignment. Robert begins to investigate and finds out who killed her. The Equalizer goes into action to avenge one of his last remaining friends. Will the Equalizer win or get killed doing it.
This second time around felt so different from the first film. The first film dives into his life and how organized it is and how he carries himself. This one spends significantly less time there. But the replacement is McCall's back story and how he befriends a kid that could be making bad decisions.
I picked this up via T-Mobile Tuesday's Redbox Promo.
The Darkest Minds (闇黑之心) is an 2018 film. The movie stars Amandla Stenberg and Harris Dickinson. The supporting cast include Skylan Brooks, Miya Cech, Mandy Moore, and Gwendoline Christie. This is also Jennifer Yuh Nelson's first live action film as a director. Yay!
In the future, kids gain super powers and segregated from the rest. The kids are divided up into sub groups based on their power level. When Ruby Daly is brought in, she displays some awesome powers. Green is the most harmless, whereas she's an orange. Someone that can do many things including mind manipulations. Rudy escapes the camp with the help of an underground organization trying to free the children. Along the way, Rudy doesn't feel right about the group and ditches them and bumps into another group looking for a safe haven for escaped children. Chased by bounty hunters because she's an Orange, the adventure begins.
Really fun film. I think my teenage daughter would enjoy this. Because I got this via T-Mobile Tuesday's Redbox Promo, I watched it solo. But I'll try to get a cheap copy for her in the future.
Yuh does a good transition from animation to live action with this film. Really well made and I really felt the emotions of the teenagers. The diversity of the cast didn't seem forced and it added to the realness of their situation. However, this movie did give me the same vibes as another movie from a year early, Logan (羅根). Kids with power trying to escape the government.
