The Great Wall - Chinese directed movie ft. Matt Damon

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clamum

clamum

Lifer
Feb 13, 2003
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Just saw on Bing news that the first trailer for the upcoming movie The Great Wall was released. It's directed by Chinese director Zhang Yimou and stars Matt Damon and Pedro Pascal (Oberyn Martell from GoT, W00T), among others. It looks pretty entertaining and I'm interested in seeing something from a director whose work I haven't seen before. Plus I think Pedro Pascal kicks ass.
 
purbeast0

purbeast0

No Lifer
Sep 13, 2001
53,584
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saw the trailer yesterday on imdb (without sound though since i don't have sound at work) and thought it looked really really bad and cheesy.
 
zinfamous

zinfamous

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Jul 12, 2006
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purbeast0 said:
saw the trailer yesterday on imdb (without sound though since i don't have sound at work) and thought it looked really really bad and cheesy.
Click to expand...

It could be, but some of his earlier stuff is pretty entertaining--visually and sound-wise, at least.

If you haven't seen it yet, I'd recommend watching a BD of Curse of the Golden Flower on your HT system. I think you'll like it.

Yimou also did Hero and House of the Flying Daggers, so it has a bit of that flying around mumbo jumbo, but it's fun. (CotGF has much less of that iirc, and is more about dynasty politics and pitched battles with large armies...with a bit of mumbo jumbo tossed in)


ah...just watched the link. ...this is about fighting monsters? ffs. Well, it looks visually awesome and could be quite the spectacle in the theater. It may be one of those pictures that is worth seeing for that alone, but this type of flick has become so saturated with the rise of CGI :\
 
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sdifox

sdifox

No Lifer
Sep 30, 2005
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zinfamous said:
It could be, but some of his earlier stuff is pretty entertaining--visually and sound-wise, at least.

If you haven't seen it yet, I'd recommend watching a BD of Curse of the Golden Flower on your HT system. I think you'll like it.

Yimou also did Hero and House of the Flying Daggers, so it has a bit of that flying around mumbo jumbo, but it's fun. (CotGF has much less of that iirc, and is more about dynasty politics and pitched battles with large armies...with a bit of mumbo jumbo tossed in)


ah...just watched the link. ...this is about fighting monsters? ffs. Well, it looks visually awesome and could be quite the spectacle in the theater. It may be one of those pictures that is worth seeing for that alone, but this type of flick has become so saturated with the rise of CGI :\
Click to expand...

I am sorry, Zhang Yimou has been making crap movies for a while now. He has been trying to out Ang Lee Ang Lee and failing badly at it.
 
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quikah

Diamond Member
Apr 7, 2003
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I have enjoyed all of Zhang Yimou's movies, I am just seriously confused about the stars.
 
Eug

Eug

Lifer
Mar 11, 2000
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Sonikku said:
Well I wasn't expecting that.

Was expecting some Mongols. :hmm:
Click to expand...

Same here. :D

This should prove interesting, since it's filmed by Zhang Yimou. He was originally known for movies like The Story of Qiu Ju and Raise the Red Lantern, which I think are great, but he's also shown his action chops in movies like Hero (one of my faves of all time) and House of Flying Daggers. I also liked his comedy, Happy Times. However, some of his recent movies have gotten poor reviews, and that trailer looks kinda cheesy, so who knows if it will be any good.

BTW, I see that they filmed it in Qingdao. Pretty good beer there.
 
purbeast0

purbeast0

No Lifer
Sep 13, 2001
53,584
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zinfamous said:
It could be, but some of his earlier stuff is pretty entertaining--visually and sound-wise, at least.

If you haven't seen it yet, I'd recommend watching a BD of Curse of the Golden Flower on your HT system. I think you'll like it.

Yimou also did Hero and House of the Flying Daggers, so it has a bit of that flying around mumbo jumbo, but it's fun. (CotGF has much less of that iirc, and is more about dynasty politics and pitched battles with large armies...with a bit of mumbo jumbo tossed in)


ah...just watched the link. ...this is about fighting monsters? ffs. Well, it looks visually awesome and could be quite the spectacle in the theater. It may be one of those pictures that is worth seeing for that alone, but this type of flick has become so saturated with the rise of CGI :\
Click to expand...

yeah i was very intrigued by the trailer and atmosphere of it ... until cgi monsters showed up. then it almost became LOL worthy.
 
Binarycow

Binarycow

Golden Member
Jan 10, 2010
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I simply don't get why some people have a huge problem with a "white guy" actor in an Asian movie playing the role of a savior. No one ever complains about Jackie Chan or Jet Lee come over to our shore doing basically the same thing.
 
clamum

clamum

Lifer
Feb 13, 2003
26,256
406
126
sdifox said:
I am sorry, Zhang Yimou has been making crap movies for a while now. He has been trying to out Ang Lee Ang Lee and failing badly at it.
Click to expand...

I hadn't heard of him until now and after looking him up, haven't seen any of his movies either. Apparently his "Raise the Red Lantern" is considered to be quite good though.

Some of the CGI looked kinda crappy in the trailer, but whatever. It's not like I'm expecting the movie to stand next to The Godfather or something.
 
M

maddogchen

Diamond Member
Feb 17, 2004
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the point of hollywood stars going to asia to shoot films is so we don't have to watch them sleep walk through a crappy movie just to collect more money....
 
sdifox

sdifox

No Lifer
Sep 30, 2005
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clamum said:
I hadn't heard of him until now and after looking him up, haven't seen any of his movies either. Apparently his "Raise the Red Lantern" is considered to be quite good though.

Some of the CGI looked kinda crappy in the trailer, but whatever. It's not like I'm expecting the movie to stand next to The Godfather or something.
Click to expand...

I like his work up to and including Hero.
 
Eug

Eug

Lifer
Mar 11, 2000
24,055
1,697
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Interview with Zhang Yimou

Highlights:
First time dealing with Hollywood
US scriptwriters. He came on later in the process.
He doesn't understand English
If you ignore the monsters, they tried to accurately portray that period, using historical research.
Nobody in the movie has superpowers.
<-- Very mild spoiler.

---

Meanwhile, some Asian actors and what not are freaking out because they think this is whitewashing. Constance Wu from Fresh Off The Boat is reportedly having a twitter fit.
 
sdifox

sdifox

No Lifer
Sep 30, 2005
99,671
17,675
126
Eug said:
Interview with Zhang Yimou

Highlights:
First time dealing with Hollywood
US scriptwriters. He came on later in the process.
He doesn't understand English
If you ignore the monsters, they tried to accurately portray that period, using historical research.
Nobody in the movie has superpowers.
<-- Very mild spoiler.

---

Meanwhile, some Asian actors and what not are freaking out because they think this is whitewashing. Constance Wu from Fresh Off The Boat is reportedly having a twitter fit.
Click to expand...


so acurate that there are round eyes guarding the wall. And throw in a female general for boot. Matt Damon is Legolas, in China!

Having white actors playing Chinese is the very definition of whitewashing.
 
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Q

quikah

Diamond Member
Apr 7, 2003
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sdifox said:
I am still trying to figure out the connection between the Last Samurai with The Great Wall.
Click to expand...

It starred Tom Cruise, people that didn't watch the movie assume Tom Cruise is playing an Asian man. The Great Wall looks like white actors playing Chinese roles. No idea if that is true.
 
sdifox

sdifox

No Lifer
Sep 30, 2005
99,671
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quikah said:
It starred Tom Cruise, people that didn't watch the movie assume Tom Cruise is playing an Asian man. The Great Wall looks like white actors playing Chinese roles. No idea if that is true.
Click to expand...

The characters have Chinese last names. Assuming time travel, at the very minimum they are playing Chinese Americans.
 
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