Shows
LaimingLuo过年好(年度最烂标杆粉墨登场)"Guonianhao", or Happy New Year, is the worst Chinese film I have ever seen in a cinema. Don't get me wrong, it is not the worst film ever made in this country. Every year, more than 80 percent of lousy films fail to reach the cinemas, and among those that do make it, most are kind enough to show some signs to tip off the discerning audience, for example, an inadequate actress who may have been born with a typical disability to control her facial muscles, a complacent director who has lost touch with the times, or simply an awkward title...
2016-02-0406 min
LaimingLuo星球大战原力觉醒(依葫芦画瓢的典范)Despite competition from more than a dozen Chinese and foreign challengers, Star Wars Episode Seven is still going strong after more than two weeks of hegemony in the Chinese market.Director J. J. Abrams said the key for the film was to return to the roots of the first Star Wars film and be based more on emotion than explanation. That pretty much sums up the most defining characteristics of the film. As the grand re-entry of the epic space opera unfolds on an IMAX screen, I was stunned not so much by the enhanced spectacle as by...
2016-01-2904 min
LaimingLuo2016春节档能看点啥In 2015, China&`&s movie industry witnessed progress in almost every aspect of filmmaking. As infrastructure building continued to expand, new box office records were cropping up by the month. The changes in the moviegoing demographic impacted on the genres of films rolling off the production line. Stories that appeal to a wider range of audience in smaller cities saw significant increase in numbers.In the year 2016, the same pattern will most likely continue. Among the movies that have already booked a release date, a large proportion of them fall into the comedy category. At least five will hit...
2016-01-2008 min
LaimingLuo老炮儿(斗殴咋就演成了代沟?Or vise versa)Director Feng Xiaogang is known as much for his quick temper as for the fluctuating popularity of his movies. But not many know of the ups and downs in his private life. In Guan Hu&`&s "Mr. Six," Feng takes on a role that shares much in common with himself in age and temperament, and that gig has won him a best actor title at China&`&s 52nd Golden Horse Awards.Mr. Feng plays an old street punk "Mr. Six" in his 50s who has considerable influence over his neighborhood in Beijing. While respecting the official laws and...
2016-01-1204 min
LaimingLuo2015国产电影不完全盘点China's movie market has been expanding for some time now. A year ago, people were feeling slightly regrettable when total annual box office income failed to pass the 30 billion yuan threshold. This year by December 3rd, a 40 billion yuan record has been set and China's home-made movies account for nearly 60% of the total. Above all, China's 3D fantasy adventure film "Monster Hunt" became the country's highest-grossing film in July, beating international box office powerhouse "Furious 7".In the year 2015, China's movie industry not only achieved gratifying income figures, they've also made progress in an all-around manner.First...
2016-01-0412 min
LaimingLuo师父(武侠世界的礼崩乐坏)2015 Chinese martial arts film "The Master" is the first big budget commercial film by writer and director Xu Haofeng, and also the first opportunity for the wider audience to have a taste of Xu's distinctive style.Xu's very first feature film met with lukewarm reception from the market back in 2012, and for that reason his second one never received wide-scale publicity. Although his stories have been adapted by famous film director Wong Kar Wai in "The Grand Master", and by Chen Kaige in "Daoshi Xiaoshan" or "Monk Comes Down the Mountain," neither of those has quite captured the...
2015-12-2205 min
LaimingLuo杜拉拉追婚记(再美的脸也别总给特写啊)别的且不说，连影片自带福利林珍娜的腿都没让人看够，就说这特写有多令人沮丧罢。In 2011, Taiwan TV series "In Time with You" starring Ariel Lin and Berlin Chen was aired in Chinese mainland, it was a cheesy romantic drama, but the chicks loved it.December 2015, Ariel and Berlin team up again in a chick flick "Go Lala Go," many fans of the TV series visit the cinemas just to see the couple together again. Well, that and the fact that this may count as a sequel to a 2010 romantic comedy of the same name, are enough reasons to get the girls crazy. However I'm not sure they'll enjoy it in the same way they used to adore the TV series, because this awkward combinat...
2015-12-0904 min
LaimingLuo007幽灵党(这还是007吗?)One of the few possible ways to appreciate "Spectre" is to think of the latest and most expensive title of the series as a standalone piece. The irony notwithstanding, this seems to be the only way to prolong the life of one of the longest continually-running film series in history.Surely as per routine, "Bond 24" delivers adrenalising car chase, enchanting female bodies and cut-throat fighting scenes. In fact, courtesy of filmmakers Gary Powell and Neil Layton, actresses Monica Bellucci, Léa Seydoux and actor Dave Bautista, "Spectre" has scored well above average in the plentitude of visual thrill.
2015-11-2405 min
LaimingLuo山河故人(贾樟柯迈出去的一小步)Heaven and earth do not act from the wish to be benevolent; they treat all things and beings equally as they would dogs of grass. This sentence from the classic Taoist text explains Jia Zhangke's approach to formulate his new story, but paradoxically, his leitmotif is one of utmost sympathy and compassion.Life of ordinary people in Jia Zhangke's hometown Fenyang, north China's Shanxi Province is a recurring theme in his films. "Mountains May Depart" begins with a love triangle involving three young people Tao, Jinsheng and Liangzi in the very city back in 1999. Tao's indecision between the...
2015-11-2004 min
LaimingLuo头脑特工队(我们一路走来丢掉了多少记忆)Director Pete Doctor of Pixar's touching comedy "Up" continues to explore into the matters of the mind. His successful attempt to unravel the emotional activities of an 11-year-old girl has appealed to the sympathy of almost every viewer and critic.In China, the title of the film "Inside Out" is an almost shameful cliche. "Tou Nao Te Gong Dui," the awful translation constitutes a deplorable misrepresentation of the story's startling originality. In 2009 inspired by the changes in his daughter's personality as she grew older, Pete Doctor developed the idea of an animation film featuring human emotions. Since adventure...
2015-11-1605 min
LaimingLuo夏洛特烦恼(什么东梅?马什么梅?马东什么?)The success of Chinese comedy film "Goodbye Mr. Loser", or "Xia Luo Te Fan Nao", dredges up unaddressed questions from the past and in doing so may help bring about some solutions.The box office powerhouse is adapted from a popular stage show of the same name, which had previously only been seen in a limited number of cities. It is about a middle-aged loafer who makes a fool of himself at any given moment. During a very public showdown with his wife, the man loses consciousness and wakes up to his life 20 years earlier. He goes on...
2015-11-1204 min
LaimingLuo九层妖塔(特效看起来比演员值钱)Since the beginning of October, China's film market has been dominated by local films. Normally the box office figures reveal little beyond the capricious tastes of Chinese moviegoers, but this time the disparity among the forerunners can serve as an indicator of some sort, or at least as a lesson for certain filmmakers.Top earner "Lost in Hong Kong" is the work of actor and director Xu Zheng, whose ingenuity and unblemished record in the market guaranteed attractive content, generous funding and efficient publicity campaign. Second placed "Goodbye Mr. Loser" is based on a popular stage comedy, whose...
2015-11-0904 min
LaimingLuo小黄人大眼萌(自带配角属性的主角)More often than not in the movie business, the best way to ruin a well-loved title is to make a sequel. And the best way to ensure its total degradation is to make a spin-off. Both happen to be efficient ways to extort the last penny possible from movie-goers, and that's why the allure of popular franchise inevitably wears off."Minions", the spin-off of the "Despicable Me" franchise is the best and latest example of that theory. The 2010 original featured a refreshing perspective on villains and that impressed the market. The following 2013 instalment was a fall from grace...
2015-11-0604 min
LaimingLuo滚蛋吧肿瘤君(怕死才能活得更精彩)I almost failed to hold back my tears when watching "Go Away, Mr. Tumor." Other audience members were not so successful, throughout the film sobbing could be heard from various parts of the auditorium. But this film is not merely a tear jerker, from time to time the audience also erupted into fits of hearty laughter. They were celebrating the optimistic spirit of the dearly departed.Director Han Yan's story about a young woman's battle against cancer is based on the final years of cartoonist Xiang Yao. Under the alias Xiong Dun, the girl created many amusing comic...
2015-11-0404 min
LaimingLuo伸冤人(远看是蓝领,近看是绅士,其实是杀器)2014 American crime thriller "The Equalizer" is making some people wonder whether the winds have shifted in Hollywood, so that instead of soft-skinned teenage boys who can't act and muscular men who knows an awful lot of four-lettered words, filmmakers are giving the floor to elderly man with obsessive compulsive personality disorder who likes to read. But that's not true, the age when manners and knowledge become the new sexy will not dawn on humanity until Hollywood goes bankrupt and is taken over by a union of wealthy librarians and bookstore owners. And since the librarians and bookstore owners are busy...
2015-11-0404 min
LaimingLuo血战台儿庄(艺术价值+历史意义)“Battle of Taierzhuang” is a historical and historic film made to mark the fortieth anniversary of China's victory against Japanese Aggression and the end of the Second World War. The filmmakers' attention to historical detail demonstrates their reverence to those who died defending the country. Now as we cherish peace at the threshold of the 70th anniversary of the end of the war, our memory of wartime history threatens to fade with the departure of each living witness. It is reassuring to realise we can still revisit history by turning to this classic film, but it is regrettable that no mode...
2015-07-3004 min
2015-07-2404 min
LaimingLuo大圣归来(大圣不是你们家隔壁养的小狼狗)With cutting-edge CGI technology, "Monkey King: Hero is Back" conjures the rebellious protector from the childhood of China's younger generations and channels tremendous consumer power. The explosions of positive reviews and box office figures mark the triumphant fusion of nostalgia and modernity, but don't necessarily signal a brighter outlook for Chinese animated films.Due to a lack of originality in story-writing, Chinese filmmakers often turn to classic texts for inspiration. For that reason, Ming Dynasty novelist Wu Cheng'en's "Journey to the West" has recently witnessed a comeback in popularity as a subject for adaptation. Hong Kong directors Stephen...
2015-07-2404 min
LaimingLuo道士下山(动作片并不是吊威亚)Mortal men and women like success stories. They adore successful figures and enjoy projecting their own egos with such stories. Few of them understand that success sometimes comes as a curse rather than a blessing. Chinese director Chen Kaige is one of those successful yet unfortunate people who live their lives under a curse. His 1993 movie "Farewell My Concubine" made him the only Chinese director to win a Palme d'Or, but like his other recent outings, Chen's latest project "Monk Comes Down the Mountain" has once again put his name and fame into question.The comedy-fantasy-adventure film is...
2015-07-2405 min
LaimingLuo杀破狼2(很给力的现代都市武侠片)Director Cheang Pou-soi and writer Jill Leung weave an elaborate labyrinth of multiple narratives to paint a bleak picture of a dog-eat-dog underworld in "SPL2: A Time for Consequences." At times hard to stomach but mostly riveting, the action thriller offers a wide range of spectacular imagery culminating in the clash of top martial artists from Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Thailand.For a film that boasts an international cast and setting, SPL2 exhibits an exceptionally indigenous Chinese flavour. An undercover policeman struggling with drug addiction, a prison guard with a leukaemia-afflicted daughter, a ruthless organ trafficker in...
2015-07-2404 min
LaimingLuo侏罗纪世界(史上第二吓人的侏罗纪电影)"To a canary, a cat is a monster. We are just used to being the cat."As a species that dominates our planet with superior intelligence, human beings often forget about the monster in ourselves and take for granted our hegemony in the food chain. Stories about beasts of sheer size and brutal strength, like Godzilla, sometimes take us by surprise, but for most of us the lumbering kaiju looks more amusing than seriously frightening.On the other hand, smart predators with cunning and resource equal to mankind are a different story, because we homo sapiens...
2015-07-2404 min
LaimingLuo哆啦A梦伴我同行(怀旧这座山，迟早要吃空)On June 1st, Children's Day in China, the Wanda cinema in west Beijing was busier than usual. Young couples in their late 20s or early 30s took their children to watch the first Doraemon movie with 3D CGI technique. The story induced laughters and tears among the most sympathetic audience members, but when the end credits appeared and the lights went on, it was the parents who lingered in their seats trying to catch the behind-the-scenes extras, while the children were anxiously beseeching their mums and dads to leave.It was a remarkable contrast to other, more ordinary...
2015-06-1003 min
LaimingLuo超能查派(人类的自我否定之旅)What distinguishes South African-Canadian filmmaker Neil Blomkamp from others is the audacity to challenge the traditional concept of human existence.In his first film "District 9," co-written by Neil and his wife Terri Tatchell, the lead character was infected by a fluid which gradually turned his physical form into that of an alien. The sight of a human body morphing and developing the feature of an insect-like creature was not appealing to average viewers’ stomachs. His 2013 science fiction movie "Elysium" was a big-budget blockbuster. For better box office results the director had to tune down on his peculiar interest, al...
2015-06-0304 min
LaimingLuo十二公民(偷换概念的改编)Despite some credibility and consistency issues, Chinese courtroom drama "12 Citizens" is otherwise a successful adaptation of a classic text.In 1954 American film and television writer Reginald Rose wrote the script for the teleplay "Twelve Angry Men," where 12 jurors try to reach a unanimous decision on the fate of a young murder suspect. The story has since been adapted multiple times by various filmmakers in different countries. Each of the adaptations reflected different social-political issues in a specific time and place.In the 1957 American film, the fate of a Latino slum dweller was the centre of jury...
2015-05-2103 min
LaimingLuo复仇者联盟2(武戏让人瞌睡,文戏不知所云)When I was a school boy, Japanese comics were the currency of the day. Whoever came into possession of one volume of Dragon Ball or Saint Seiya would instantly become the most popular kid, at least among the boys. During breaks and on the way home, their friendly discussions and passionate squabbles often centred on whether Vegeta could beat Goku or who among the Knights of the Zodiac was the strongest. Through the exchange of stories and opinions, acquaintances became friends and the manga stories the shared experience of almost an entire generation. Today, if the occasion permits, reference to...
2015-05-2104 min
LaimingLuo赤道(咦？这张碟B面坏掉了吗?)Watching Hong Kong crime thriller "Helios" is like watching American TV series "24," or more precisely, the first few episodes of any season of "24."At the centre of "Helios" is a weapon of mass destruction, a portable nuclear bomb stolen from South Korea and transported to Hong Kong. Here at the so-called international intelligence hub, a villain code-named Helios plans to sell the device to the highest bidder. But things don't work out as planned and the nuke ends up in the hands of the Hong Kong police, who in turn become the target of various intelligence agents.Hong...
2015-05-0704 min
LaimingLuo王牌特工(各种stereotype)Britain's first female ambassador to China, Barbara Janet Woodward, once compared China-UK relationship to the ancient Chinese cooking utensil known as a Ding, which is a type of pot with three legs. Now that government-to-government and business-to-business ties are bolstering each other, the time has come to take more action in people-to-people and cultural exchanges. In March 2015 when Britain's Prince William paid a visit to China, one of the many items on his itinerary was to promote British films."Kingsman: The Secret Service" is one of the British pictures to reach the Chinese people following in the footsteps...
2015-04-0903 min
LaimingLuo失孤(影帝的自我修养)For mortal men and women, life is the irreversible progression of time marked by a series of meaningful and meaningless events. Oftentimes, it is the latter that wears away our tenure in this world.However, for Guo Gangtang, a former tractor driver in East China's Shandong Province, a considerable portion of his life, some 16 years, was devoted to a nationwide search for his missing son. He probably would have lived an uneventful but happier life if his son wasn't kidnapped, but who is to say his 400,000-kilometre journey on motorcycle was meaningless? After all, his efforts did lead...
2015-04-0103 min
LaimingLuo天将雄师(成也政委,败也政委)7 years ago when Beijing staged the Opening Ceremony of the 29th Olympic Games, I was moved to tears thinking this grand event could be an opportunity for the world to understand the friendly Chinese people and their culture. Now seven years later, Chinese historical action film "Dragon Blade" also calls for understanding and friendship in the same spirit, it made my eyes moist again, but failed to create the same emotional ripples that resonated in my heart 7 years ago.Hong Kong director Daniel Lee's "Dragon Blade" stars Jackie Chan and tells the story of a Roman Legion that...
2015-03-2605 min
LaimingLuo鸟人(老压抑了)这期音响木有字幕，只有大纲可以参考一下。Birdman is the winner of the best picture Oscar at the 86th Academy Awards. It is a story about an old actor who has past his prime and fallen back to obscurity. He tries to prove his worth by staging a stage play, but gets disappoionted over and over again. Meanwhile, he clings to his glorious past playing popular superhero Birdman and imagines himself having super powers.Today, Sam Ducket is here with me to talk about this immensely depressing story.1. cinematography, a best cinematography Oscar for , arranged and edited to look as if the pictures are filmed in on shot.a) flex his muscle...
2015-03-1907 min
2015-03-0405 min
2015-02-2707 min
LaimingLuo有一个地方只有我们知道(无视情节看风光罢)February 14 2015, while the world relished director Sam Taylor-Johnson's erotic drama "Fifty Shades of Grey" on Valentine's Day, Chinese lovers had to settle for a tourism marketing video in the guise of a love story."Somewhere Only We Know", or "'You Yi Ge Di Fang Zhi You Wo Men Zhi Dao", is a romantic story with minimum nudity. It is about the encounters of a young Chinese woman who has been dumped at the altar. In order to calm her nerves after the traumatic experience and also to revisit one episode of her late grandmother's past, Jin Tian travels...
2015-02-2506 min
LaimingLuo狼图腾(诚意之作发人深省)To think outside the box is an exceptional ability and one that few people can claim to possess. Just to capture an occasional spark of that creative enlightenment, we often have to break away from the confines of existing norms. For most Chinese and other descendants of agrarian societies, Lv Jiamin's semi-autobiographical novel "Wolf Totem", which he wrote in 2004 under the pseudonym Jiang Rong, was a real eye-opener about life on the Mongolian grasslands. Now a decade has passed, Jean-Jacques Annaud's film adaptation of the story once again warns us against the complacency that we might hold for our current...
2015-02-1005 min
LaimingLuo歌曲改变人生(Once导演卷土重来)To recognise a chick flick requires two simple steps. First you look at the colour of the pictures, if the images scream of loud, warm and dreamy colours, you can be 80 percent sure. Then you look at the story, if it deals with heartbreaks or unrequited love, it is no doubt a chick flick.However there are distinctions within the genre should you care to look closer. If the characters quote a dead poet or a dead writer, or try to speak like one, you are watching a Woody Allen film; but if someone fiddles with a musical...
2015-02-0203 min2015-01-3007 min
2015-01-1506 min
LaimingLuo智取威虎山(国产漫威大片)When I was just a little boy, I always fancied Chinese epic war films, like "The Tunnel War", "The Mine War" and the "Three Great Campaigns" franchise. These films provided enough fanfare, action and heroism that a small boy desired. But when I was a bit older, I began to reflect on their storylines, which were based on Chinese people's struggle in the first half of the 20th century. I recognised their rich historical and ideological contexts and thought perhaps these films were uniquely made in China.As it turned out I was wrong, and it took another...
2015-01-0105 min
LaimingLuo一步之遥(影评人情怀的试金石)In 2010, Chinese director Jiang Wen released an action comedy film “Let the Bullets Fly” which rocked the country’s movie market. Its huge commercial success made everyone believe Jiang had found the way to dominate Chinese cinemas. In fact, his grip on the audience was so firm that even critics refrained from pricking, or if they did whine their voices must certainly have been drowned in the deafening sound of adulation.
But with the advent of his new film “Gone with the Bullets”, the previously muffled discontent of his antagonists has suddenly found an outlet. Starting from real estate vet...
2014-12-2505 min
LaimingLuo少年时代(安静忧郁美少年的12年养成计划)When people talk about Richard Linklater's ground-breaking film "Boyhood", they always speak of the 12 years the project has spanned, as if time when it reaches certain scale acquires a magical ability to amplify the nature of things. In certain sense it is true. For example, solitude can be kind of sad, but if you add 100 years to it, you get the inconsolable sadness of a literary masterpiece.
But it is not always the case, a lot of us live to the age of 80 without achieving anything but sustained banality. Time does not automatically translate those unfruitful decades into...
2014-12-1104 min
LaimingLuo万物理论(理科男与文艺女的爱情故事)Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.
There is one point missing in William Shakespeare's romantic tribute to great persons, they are not always immediately appreciated. Some historical figures like Vincent van Gogh wait for decades, patiently in their deaths, before their names receive world acknowledgement.
Stephen Hawking is lucky in this sense, the scientist's best-seller "A Brief History of Time" has allowed us - his contemporaries - to realize his brilliance as he continues a life-long struggle with motor neuron disease. But the greatness of his ex-wife, Jane...
2014-12-0404 min
LaimingLuo星际穿越(地心引力的姐妹篇)Despite Christopher Nolan's conscientious efforts in keeping his filming projects secret, what he cunningly gave out to feed the press was enough to indicate his latest outing would be a very simple story. Months before the release date, I was looking forward to something similar to Alfonso Cuaron's "Gravity". I knew it would be spectacular, but never expected it to be so phenomenal.
At least in China, the space epic stirred up huge ripples. Comments about the film were flying all over the internet: movie experts wondered how the amazing special effects were created, young women relished the...
2014-11-1804 min
LaimingLuo忍者神龟(卡通的龟才是可爱的龟)The latest “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” movie is directed by Jonathan Liebesman, but the smell of producer Michael Bay permeates the stereotypical popcorn flick.
Based more or less on the 1980s franchise of the same name, the film introduces a somewhat different origin story showing much closer connection between female journalist April O’Neil and the four humanoid reptiles. The team is still up against Foot Clan leader Shredder, who threatens to release a deadly virus to the New York City.
Not much ingenuity is spent on the storyline, the format is almost identical to Michael Bay’s...
2014-11-1104 min
LaimingLuo超体(内涵嗨片)French director Luc Besson must have allowed his imagination to go wild when he wrote the story for sci-fi action film “Lucy”, although the effect of such wildness is hard to determine.
Scarlett Johansson plays the titular girl named Lucy, who is forced by a brutal gang to become an involuntary drug mule. During a violent encounter with a gang member, the small package sewn to her abdomen is broken and the leaked content is absorbed by her body immediately. This new type of synthetic drug unlocks the previously untapped potential of Lucy’s brain, giving her godly abilit...
2014-10-3004 min
LaimingLuo蓝色骨头(淘金时代的跨界良心)When I heard about rock star Cui Jian's first feature film "The Blue Bone", my first reaction was to dismiss it as just another piece of amateur nonsense by someone trying to cash in on China's fast expanding film market. Heaven knows we've had enough of those recently. But before I even finished the film, I had begun to regret my narrow-minded assumption, "The Blue Bone" is one of the best directorial debuts in years, or at least it is better than the products of some who label themselves professional directors.
The story is mostly about how two...
2014-10-2304 min
LaimingLuo银河护卫队(小心中了原声的毒)Three days after watching "Guardians of the Galaxy", I still haven't quite shaken off the tight grip of its original soundtrack. "Hooked on a feeling", "Moonage Daydream", "Fooled Around and Fell in Love", "Cherry Bomb" and "Come and Get Your Love" have been looping non-stop in the background as I tended to domestic chores over the weekend. The smoggy weather of Beijing made it almost a suicide attempt for people to venture outdoors, but thanks to "Awesome Mix Vol. 1", I didn't feel the least confined or depressed.
The amazing soundtrack is just one small part of Disney's plot...
2014-10-1504 min
LaimingLuo14999049940313990Before seeing Chinese director Ann Hui's latest offering "The Golden Era", I was compelled to do a bit of homework, because this biopic of Chinese writer Xiao Hong seemed pretty daunting to anyone who is not familiar with Chinese literary circles in the early 20th century. However, after a grueling three-hour-long screening, I found these efforts totally unnecessary.
"The Golden Era" is along the same line of the director's usual creative impulse of telling stories from a feminine perspective. Her version of Xiao Hong is a girl who spent her entire life running away from patriarchal control, yet...
2014-10-0905 min
LaimingLuo心花路放(宁浩也走出阴影了吗)For Chinese cinema-goers, the 2014 National Day Holiday is perhaps all about Huang Bo.
In Peter Chan's "Dearest", which hits the cinemas on September 25th, the Chinese actor plays a divorced father traveling all over the country looking for a kidnapped son. It is a tear jerking semi-documentary based on a true story, yet Huang is not able to deliver his knock-out punch, due to the film's unsatisfactory narrative.
But that's okay. Since September 30th, he also appears in Ning Hao's road trip comedy "Breakup Buddies". And quite coincidentally, he takes on the character of a divorced...
2014-09-2604 min
LaimingLuo猩球黎明(新侏罗纪版教父)Why launch a reboot of the "Planet of the Apes" series when the storyline had already been exhausted by filmmakers in the 1970s? Or to put it in another way, why would viewers of our times welcome a remake of the classic science fiction story?
The most obvious reason is, they didn't have the adequate technique back in those days to present a planet of the apes. The crude idea of letting human actors wear a mask to pass as apes can no longer appeal to modern day viewers. The images in Charton Heston's work may seem too...
2014-09-2204 min
LaimingLuo亲爱的(值得一看的导演创新之作)About a quarter of a century ago, when Taiwan movie "My Beloved" was aired in cinemas, viewers were advised to bring a handkerchief, because the touching story was supposed to induce massive and unstoppable weeping. Now, 25 years later at the previews of Peter Ho-sun Chan's recent big screen product, the guests find small envelopes on their seats containing a tissue. That, combined with earlier news releases about the movie, is enough to inform the viewers that they are in for a weeper.
But Peter Chan is far too ambitious to stop at a simple story about child abduction...
2014-09-1604 min
LaimingLuo敢死队3(良心发现的系列最佳)I've never been impressed by a film that stars Sylvester Stallone, because I find it difficult to accept the utterly unrealistic action style. I mean: are you kidding me? Delving into a shower of bullets and shrapnel and emerging without a scratch, waving a handgun around casually and killing ferocious-looking enemies by the dozen. That's not heroic, it's divine intervention. And if it is miracles that I seek, I would read the Bible, rather than watching an action film.
Since the veteran actor continues to play God in the 21st century, I've been struggling to appreciate his Expendables...
2014-09-1004 min
LaimingLuo14111630454445702"How to Train Your Dragon 2" is the most popular film in China this week.
The 3D animated feature centers on a Viking village Berk where people keep dragons as pets. With the grace of a cat, the loyalty of a dog and the merit of a flying ride, the imaginary beasts in the movie have won the hearts of many animal lovers.
Like its 2010 prequel which gathered almost half a billion dollars from the global market, "How to Train Your Dragon 2" shows the same prospects in sales. Just a fortnight after hitting the global market, it...
2014-09-0104 minLaimingLuo绣春刀(真正有诚意的古装运作片)"Brotherhood of Blades" is the best Chinese historical action film since "New Dragon Gate Inn" and Tsui Hark's "Once Upon a Time in China" series.
Set in the final years of the Ming Dynasty, the movie tells the story of three secret police whose lives are changed after being tapped to assassinate a runaway, corrupt eunuch. Unlike other historical action films made in recent decades, director Lu Yang's product is characterized by realism and attention to detail.
First of all, there are not as many wire stunts. The characters are not flung across the screen to...
2014-08-2203 min
LaimingLuo白发魔女传(范爷的脸修成那样想必很贵吧)If you decide to watch Chinese wuxia fantasy film "The White Haired Witch of Lunar Kingdom" or Baifa Monü Zhuan, make sure you've read the original novel by Liang Yusheng, otherwise you'll have to use your imagination to sail through the film's problematic storyline.
Liang Yusheng is one of the three most important wuxia-story writers in China. His 1957 novel Baifa Monü Zhuan tells of the romance between a young swordsman Zhuo Yihang and his lover Lian Nichang. Set near the end of the Ming Dynasty, the story also depicts an ailing empire plagued by internal corruption and Manchurian in...
2014-08-1404 min
LaimingLuo后会无期(公路片的意思就是请您走马观个花)Having dominated China's box office rankings for about a week, the notorious teen fantasy film Tiny Times 3 gave way to yet another controversial Chinese movie. But to be fair, first time director Han Han's film-making debut is not marred by low taste. The criticism mostly comes from a demanding audience with high expectations.
In 1999, Han Han shot to fame after winning a national writing competition, one year ahead of Guo Jingming, the director behind the Tiny Times franchise. But it seems that good writing skills are the only thing the two have in common, and after acquiring a...
2014-07-3104 min
LaimingLuo小时代3(能别残害无知少女吗?)The last time I got angry in a cinema was when Wong Kai Wai released his incomplete martial arts drama film "The Grandmaster". He showed no respect for cinema-goers and the movie business as he peddled an unfinished product.
But that sentiment was nothing compared to what I felt while watching Tiny Times 3. The latest outing by novelist and businessman Guo Jingming witnessed a catastrophic downgrade from the previous installment, which itself barely breached the level of mediocracy in the first place. The narratives in both films are practical jokes just the same, but at least the cinematography...
2014-07-2404 min
LaimingLuo分手大师(二人转走出大城市登上大荧幕)The Breakup Guru is the latest example of how one-man's license can backfire, and how twisted China's upstart movie industry can become.
Among all the Chinese celebrity couples that I know of, none is more odd than the combination of Deng Chao and Sun Li. 32-year-old Sun has recently shot to fame after her appearance in soap opera "The Legend of Zhen Huan" captured the attention of countless men and women who worship the sort of earthly sophistication known as court intrigue. Her composed and graceful manner belies a vengeful soul who sees everything and controls everything. And...
2014-07-1705 min
LaimingLuo了不起的狐狸爸爸(相比之下所谓大片都是渣)After watching "Grand Budapest Hotel", I find myself deeply obsessed with Wes Anderson films, which are endowed with a unique style, quite different from the ordinary stock that average Hollywood filmmakers can offer. This week, I'd like to introduce one of his previous works.
The 2009 "Fantastic Mr. Fox" is Anderson's first adapted film; it is based on the work of Roald Dahl, who also wrote "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory". Anderson's story is about a series of adventures involving a family of foxes, as they test their wits and strength against the cunning and spite of three mean...
2014-07-0905 minLaimingLuo变形金刚4(想去厕所可以随时去不用等尿点)One important criterion we Chinese use to evaluate blockbusters is something called a pee-point. It describes the part of a movie where nothing exciting happens and therefore the viewers could safety embark on a journey to the lavatory without missing anything significant. Often some nice amateur critics online would kindly pinpoint these pee-points so other viewers would know when to visit the loo. And of course, the more pee-points there are in a film, the worse it is considered to be.
"Transformers: Age of Extinction" have no pee-points for first time viewers: all viewers should be willing to...
2014-07-0405 min
LaimingLuo布达佩斯大饭店(神经质文艺范喜剧)I've always enjoyed the irresistible charm in movies that reflect a specific period of time: They are a good way to pass down history, sentiments and even techniques--"Grand Budapest Hotel" is one of the best examples.
Based on the works of Austrian novelist Stefan Zweig, the movie tells the story of a hotel concierge at the Grand Budapest Hotel in the fictional Republic of Zubrowka. The popular and well-mannered concierge, Gustave, finds himself implicated in a murder case of his friend and former client, Madam D. During his quest to clear his name, he comes across soldiers...
2014-06-2605 minLaimingLuo明日边缘(读档权限之战)One of the stupid things I did after getting a PC was to download the video games, which I failed to beat as a child. The video game simulator software comes with build-in save and load functions, which were not available on the earlier, more primitive, gaming consoles. With the help of the save and load buttons, I was able to complete the tasks previously too demanding on my skills and patience.
The film, "Edge of Tomorrow", starring Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt, is based on a similar idea. Tom Cruise is a soldier who has never seen...
2014-06-1204 min
LaimingLuo窃听风云3(土豪的完美诠释)Wire-tapping has always been just a hook in Siu Fai Mak and Felix Chong's "Overheard" series, the third and latest installment presents the most advanced techniques of espionage, but the gadget-mongering never overshadows the moral discourse in a Hong Kong-specific context.
The story is set in modern time New Territories, Hong Kong, when the largely agrarian peninsula is targeted by powerful real estate tycoons, much like the rest of contemporary China. The influx of capital wakes up insatiable desires in the local residents and threatens to obliterate traditional, family-centered values. Qing Wan Lau, Daniel Wu, Louis Koo each...
2014-06-0506 min
LaimingLuoX战警之逆转未来(变种人的春晚大联欢)The X-men film series has always been on the list of science fiction films that I would introduce to others. When I was younger, I loved the fantasy elements and the spectacular exhibition of mutant powers, but as I've gotten older, the series' many dedicated actors, the inter-related, yet complete, storylines and the social metaphor hidden in plain sight have kept me from outgrowing the cartoon adaptation. "X-Men: Days of Future Past" has everything we've just mentioned, and they are presented in a fully-packed installment.
First of all, "Days of Future Past" commands the most powerful cast that...
2014-05-3004 min
LaimingLuo归来(洗尽铅华,回归本色)"Coming Home", or "Gui Lai", is more than just a man's struggle to come home, it also marks director Zhang Yimou's return to his creative sweet spot, and more importantly, a rebooted quest with a new companion. How far the couple would go depends on the market reaction to their first joint venture.
"Coming Home" is adapted from the last 30 pages of Chinese writer Yan Geling's novel "Lu Fan Yan Shi". It tracks the life of ex-criminal, Lu Yanshi, as he tries desperately to get back to his family. Actor Chen Daoming and actress Gong Li take up...
2014-05-2105 min
LaimingLuo超凡蜘蛛侠2(神特效)The Amazing Spiderman 2 is a love story and an unprecedented superhero spectacle.
Most female characters in superhero movies are simply required to look good, scream when kidnapped and push a button or solve a puzzle at some point. Their presence is purely ornamental and they only appear when the director wishes to control the pace of the movie. But Emma Stone's character Gwen Stacy in the new Spiderman movie is different.
I am not saying she doesn't scream loud enough when kidnapped by the Green Goblin... she also solves a puzzle and pushes a button by...
2014-05-1605 min
LaimingLuo催眠大师(良心之作)"The Great Hypnotist", or Cui Mian Da Shi, is a fascinating thriller produced by dedicated filmmakers. It would have been the perfect story if it wasn't deliberately simplified to meet the demands of lazy viewers. Sadly, this nice gesture has not been appreciated by film critics.
The story is essentially a battle of wits between a highly successful psychotherapist and his female patient. The girl claims to be disturbed by her ability to see ghosts, but the therapist, being a confident man of science, insists on uncovering the secrets behind the patient's state of mind. After an excruciating...
2014-05-1605 min
LaimingLuo同桌的你(怀旧尚可,庸俗有罪)The post-80s and 90s generations make up a significant age group in China; not because they are too self-involved or carefree which they are often criticized for being, but because they are the most willing consumers in an otherwise conservative market.
The post-80s generation have been in the workforce for some time and are becoming more mindful of the need to invest their money in sustaining a quality lifestyle. In general, the post-90s group have yet to make a splash in the job market, but have grown up in a relatively affluent society, often with...
2014-05-1105 min
LaimingLuo超验骇客(GUB是都儿哪哪)The path to making a successful science fiction film is one filled with many a traps and pitfalls. The storywriters must be vigilant not to mess with the laws of science, at least not too much; the fictitious elements must be carefully managed so they don't infringe on the story; and above all, the story must be guided by an idea that most viewers could relate to. But even if all these requirements were met, there is always the chance that the old folks at the Academy wouldn't appreciate the effort.
Wally Pfister doesn't have to worry about...
2014-05-1105 min
LaimingLuo里约大冒险2(求别再拍续集)For a film that invokes the ghost of William Shakespeare, "Rio 2" is surprisingly lacking in dramatic conflict. It is essentially an animated version of "Meet the Parents" that has spun a wee bit out of focus.
In a continuation of the metaphorical chiding of modern, city-based human existence, "Rio 2" brings the Blue Macaw family to the Amazon jungle to test their wings. But in their search for the rest of their species, they are hunted by a vengeful cockatoo, their arch enemy from the prequel. There is also a mission of equal urgency to protect their natural habitat...
2014-04-2406 min
LaimingLuo美国队长2(续·妇联政委本纪)Sometimes building a new world means tearing the old one down. Marvel Studios has not actually brought down the old Hollywood discourse dominated by the overly-romantic Excellencies of Academy members. However, they have started creating a fantastic cinematic universe with the Captain America, Thor, Hulk and The Avengers films, as well as the TV drama "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.", the pieces are all falling into their places as Marvel slowly uncovers the new world envisioned by comic book writer Stan Lee.
Captain America: The Winter Solider unfolds even more slowly. The beginning is extremely...
2014-04-1406 min
LaimingLuo雪国列车(韩美合拍,值得一看)Just one month ago, South Korean soap opera "My Love from the Stars" reached insane levels of popularity in China. Its lead actor Kim Soo-Hyun is still raking in appearance fees from various commercial events in China.
But South Korean films are quite a different story. The country's most expensive co-production to date, "Snowpiercer", is now being screened in China and has fallen behind Chinese art-house movie "Black Coal, Thin Ice" in terms of box office earnings. That's important because as we mentioned last week art-house films don't usually sell very well in China.
Strangely enough...
2014-04-1006 min
LaimingLuo白日焰火(犯罪悬疑文艺片)It is a commonly accepted norm that art-house films winning international awards don't sell very well in Chinese cinemas. Director Wang Quan'an's romantic drama "Tuya's Marriage" won the Golden Bear at the 2007 Berlin Film Festival, but its total box office revenues never exceeded the 2-million-yuan benchmark. China's film market has expanded exponentially since then, but 2 million yuan still remains a meager amount in the world of Chinese cinema.
Director Diao Yinan's award-winning thriller "Black Coal, Thin Ice" is different. In just four days of its release, the latest winner of the best picture award in Berlin has earned...
2014-03-2706 min
LaimingLuo她(在AI的爱面前颤抖吧,浅薄的人类们)I like director and actor Spike Jonze. His 1999 movie "Being John Malkovich" is on the list of some pretty thought-provoking films that I would offer to sober movie fans, while the "Jackass" franchise, which he had a hand in writing, is a favorite of one of my colleagues, who always takes it upon himself to cheer people up. The true talent and versatility in Spike Jonze have surprised us again and again, and his latest offering is his 2013 science fiction and romantic film, "Her".
Like "Being John Malkovich", the Oscar-winning "Her" is full of hidden messages not immediately...
2014-03-2206 min
LaimingLuo时空恋旅人(超温暖)"About Time" has got all the characteristics of a classic chick flick.
For starters, it tells the story of a boy from a family of male time travelers, but the time travel part is pretty messy. In fact, it is so messed up that I don't even know where to start explaining, so let's just settle with "Yes, yes, it is messy but never mind".
Secondly, it tells the story of the love, family and life of the time traveling lad. Now that combination could be a bit misguiding; as soon as the boy learns his...
2014-03-1305 min
LaimingLuo机械战警(轰隆隆隆隆隆的片子)It's safe to say, Robocop will not make much of a dent in Chinese film market. Not because it faces strong competition against the new Hobbit film, but rather because it has its own disadvantages.
Firstly, the original 1987 film of the same name is not very well known in China. Despite its one-time popularity which spawned a lackluster franchise, all I could vaguely recall is an animated TV series. There are some science-fiction fans who remember Paul Verhoeven's movie as a must-see classic, but generally speaking few would walk into the cinema knowing they'll be seeing a remake.
2014-03-0606 min
LaimingLuo霍比特人2(卷福演蜥蜴好罗嗦)About 80 years ago, when English author J. R. R. Tolkien wrote "The Hobbit," he might not have known that his art of symbolism would become reality on the other end of the Eurasian continent. He might not have known that the phantom of his imaginary dragon would loom over the world's largest population. Yes, since last weekend, Beijing residents have been seeing and living "The Desolation of Smaug".
To those careless viewers, Peter Jackson's adaptation of Tolkien's children novel, "The Hobbit," is a trilogy of fantastic films, the second installment being slightly better than the first entry. The...
2014-02-2706 min2014-02-2406 min
LaimingLuo北京爱情故事(野心大于能力)China's huge market potential has encouraged many novice directors to join the film rush. These fledgling newcomers fall into two categories: smart ones like author and businessman Guo Jingming who use modern information technology to pinpoint their target audience, and the others, who waste no time on the trivial, but design their products to target people of all age groups.
Chen Sicheng obviously belongs to the second category. His chick flick "Beijing Love Story" bears the same name as his popular TV series from 2012, but includes five incongruent stories about the least romantic aspects of love that could...
2014-02-2004 min
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2014-02-1704 min
LaimingLuo冰雪奇缘(迪斯尼复兴力作)In North American and the international market, Disney's 3D animated comedy "Frozen" is commonly accepted as the second step on the company's journey to a renaissance. Step one was taken in 2012 with the family comedy "Wreck-It Ralph." But in China, the film has suffered a fate of obscurity and is only recently showing signs of an improvement in box office numbers.
Built on the traditional fairy tale "The Snow Queen" by Hans Christian Anderson, Disney's latest princess story is a great boost from the original script by adding powerful vocals from Kristen Bell and Idina Menzel. I remember...
2014-02-1205 min
2014-02-0706 min
LaimingLuo华尔街之狼(华尔街的酒池肉林)"Wolf of Wall Street" is a three hour long film. Despite some critics' comment that it is fast and dynamic, I actually broke it up and watched it in two days, not because the on-screen excitement is too much to take in for a single day, but because I got too bored to care about what was coming up next.
It seems the story is built on the belief that the Wall Street belongs to hungry dealers who coax money out of ordinary investors. And when the money is in their hands, the brokers do nothing but celebrate...
2014-02-0605 min
LaimingLuo特殊身份(某人的2013三部曲之一)“Special ID” would have been a decent action movie, if less effort were made to highlight one of the female characters.
Hong Kong director Clarence Fok’s latest outing stars Chinese martial artist Donnie Yen and actress Jing Tian. Yen plays an undercover police officer working for a local gang leader. He is assigned by both the gang leader and his senior officer to investigate a missing person case. His mission brings him in cooperation with female officer played by Jing Tian. Together the partners have to find o ut the culprit, and why the police and the gang b...
2014-02-0402 min
2014-01-2904 min
LaimingLuo爱在午夜降临前(小清新也终将会老去)To watch director Linklater's "Before …" series is like watching an extended edition of "One Day": both attempt to depict a love that stands the test of time. The "Before …" series, however, are much more intellectual and spontaneous.
Following "Before Sunrise" in 1995 and "Before Sunset" in 2004, the newest addition to the series is "Before Midnight", released after the same interval of nine years. 18 years ago, Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy each played an American man and a French woman in their early twenties who met on a train and decided to disembark in Vienna. They spent a night together walk...
2014-01-2803 min
LaimingLuo蓝色茉莉(凯特演碧池看得人牙痒)If Cate Blanchett were to win the best actress Oscar this year, I wouldn't be surprised. Her presence simply dominates and shines through Woody Allen's new film "Blue Jasmine".
Hers is a stereotypical character: a woman who gets used to living on the love of her rich husband. When that love is taken away, her life plunges into a bottomless abyss. To be more precise, Jeanette was an orphan girl in third-year college before she met a rich man who swept her off her feet, married her and introduced her to the life of a socialite. She even...
2014-01-2605 min
LaimingLuo惊天魔盗团(貌似很神奇)"The closer you look, the less you'll see." The magicians reiterated this magic sentence in director Louis Leterrier's caper thriller, "Now You See Me." The magicians' audiences are warned of the performers' prowess, but still miss the critical movement every time.
So is the same with Chinese moviegoers in front of the big screen. While the director tries desperately to convince audiences that magic shows are important because they make people happy, the majority of Chinese audiences are preoccupied with the logic of the story and its many loopholes.
Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Isla Fisher and...
2014-01-2403 min
LaimingLuo安德的游戏(养眼健脑，要啥有啥)Chinese science-fiction fans and gamers must be excited at the release of Gavin Hood's screen adaptation of the celebrated futuristic thriller, "Ender's Game."
On China's social network website, Douban.com, there have already been book reviews on the original novel of the same name by American author Orson Scott Card. Many of them were anxiously looking forward to seeing the Nebula Award winning sci-fi classic being brought onto the big screen. The movie's launch in China on January 7th is sort of a celebration for Chinese fans.
Most of the book worms seem to agree that...
2014-01-2404 min
LaimingLuo神偷奶爸2(萌点低的同学不要去看)Cute, lovely, adorable, how many words with the same connotation can you come up with? Well, you'd better start taking your vocabulary lesson now, because once you've seen the second installment of the Despicable Me series, you’ll be searching your brain for words to describe the irresistible charm that directors Pierre Coffin , Chris Renaud and their team have tried to instill in their latest product.
In the first episode, super villain Gru realized his dream of stealing the moon and in the process adopted three orphan girls. Now as a father, Gru has retired from his evil bu...
2014-01-2303 minLaimingLuo斯大林格勒(俄国人的感情您摸不透)Between the summer and winter of 1942, nearly two million lives perished on the battlefield of Stalingrad. One of the bloodiest battles in the history of warfare, the battle of Stalingrad has been immortalized in movies by Germans, Russians, British and American filmmakers. The latest of such efforts is the work of Russian director Fedor Bondarchuk.
The story by Ilya Tilkin revolves around two Russian girls with starkly different fates. Young Katya is protected by a group of Russian soldiers who defended a house on the bank of the Volga River. Meanwhile, Masha is protected by a German officer...
2014-01-2303 min
LaimingLuo地心引力(最佳导演等六项奥斯卡)Have you ever stared into the blue sky and reached out with your imagination, only to find yourself intimidated by the magnitude of the galactic bodies and the fear of being alone amongst all that vastness of space? If you haven't, go watch director Alfonso Cuaron's space disaster film Gravity, and you'll understand what I mean.
The story envisioned by Jonas and his father director Cuaron is quite simple. A team of spacewalking astronauts servicing the Hubble Telescope are caught in a shower of space debris. All but two of them are killed when their workstation is destroyed...
2014-01-2304 minLaimingLuo饥饿游戏2(片子是烂影评不烂呀)When I was young and ignorant, I could never figure out why adults so often failed to understand their younglings. I mean, they've all had their youthful years and must surely be able to recall how their own adolescent minds once worked. But the truth is, as years pass, I find myself losing the ability to process teenage fun. This revelation dawned on me after the screening of "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire."
It was a Friday night in a fully packed cineplex. As the closing credits emerged, half a dozen teenage girls behind me burst out with...
2014-01-2303 min
LaimingLuo被偷走的那五年(恨它太长)After watching Hong Kong director Barbara Wong's movie "The Stolen Years", a question occurred to me: is there such a thing as an overcooked chick flick? Well, I guess for most men, all chick flicks are overcooked, but this one, "The Stolen Years", is particularly so.
He Man is a young divorcee who is lucky enough to get a second chance at her failed marriage and her ex-husband loves her enough to let her. But this only happens after a car accident which causes her to lose her memories from the past five years. Now, since her most...
2014-01-2303 min
LaimingLuo无人区(结尾的色调好奇怪)Sometimes development is made through compromise.
About four years ago, director Ning Hao's black comedy "No Man's Land" was denied release in Chinese cinemas due to its allegedly exaggerated and unrealistic depiction of the dark side of human nature. Now, after four years of repeated alterations, it is finally being shown in cinemas across China.
It is difficult to tell whether the release is a victory for the film industry or its watchdog.
On the one hand, the movie watchdog rejected the film based on ideals which are deeply-rooted in Chinese culture. Confucianism does...
2014-01-2303 min
LaimingLuo风暴(中环和华仔都被玩坏了)For viewers who aren't too fond of action films, Firestorm can be a bit intense, but there is still much to appreciate.
Upon walking out of the cinema, I remember the numerous gunshots and explosions; I remember being dazzled by the flashing images; and I vividly remember the aftermath of the lethal struggle between the Hong Kong police and the most vicious villain in recent cinematic history.
Veteran megastar Andy Lau starred in and produced the film. He goes up against Ray Lui, Lam Katung and mainland actor Hu Jun. The bad guys are well equipped...
2014-01-2303 min
LaimingLuo私人订制(喜剧片求严肃对待)Personal Tailor is definitely the most topical film of the week.
First of all, its director Feng Xiaogang also helms this year's New Year gala on China Central Television. The show used to claim the attention of all Chinese people around the world, so Feng is getting a lot of media attention.
Secondly, Personal Tailor marks Feng's return to comedy, after his two previous attempts at the disaster genre in the form of "Aftershock" and "Back to 1942". With the amount of promotions on his odyssey, the audience has naturally got their hopes up. And when they...
2014-01-2303 minLaimingLuo警察故事(你们知道"她"有多努力吗?)The key to making a box office hit in China is controversy. "Police Story 2013" may not have provoked as much discussion as Feng Xiaogang's latest movie "Personal Tailor", but there are still many issues that have got filmgoers talking.
The police action thriller stars Jackie Chan as a Chinese police officer caught in the machinations of a criminal gang. The owner of a nightclub kidnaps a group of partygoers, including the officer's daughter, played by Jing Tian. Chan must play along with the villains until he finds a way to release the hostages. But as the story unfolds...
2014-01-2302 min
LaimingLuo美国骗局(我智商低没看出来是喜剧)"American Hustle" is a faint crime drama and a flat comedy; however, it features the perfect atmosphere for its actors and actresses to present their skills.
Based on the FBI ABSCAM operation of the 1970s, Eric Singer and David O. Russell's screenplay reconstructs the experience of conmen Irving Rosenfeld, Sydney Prosser and FBI agent Richie Di Maso, as well as Irving's wife Rosalyn. These roles are shared by Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence respectively. The story begins with the conmen getting arrested by agent Richie. The FBI agent proposes to release them if Irving...
2014-01-2303 min
LaimingLuo为奴十二载(奥斯卡最佳影片)There is so much about this year's Golden Globe winner "12 Years a Slave" that shows why it deserves universal acclaim.
First and foremost, it is in itself a fairly good movie to begin with.
Story-wise, it is based on, and strictly faithful to, Solomon Northup's 1853 memoir of the same name. The book offers an account of 19th century America's slavery system, from the perspective of a free Negro sold to slavery. Unlike Quentin Tarantino, in his 2012 film "Django", director Steve McQueen doesn't take the subject for granted and instead allows the viewers to learn about the...
2014-01-2303 min