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HSI,NGSI (Haven't Seen It, Not Gonna See It)

Frayed Knot Feb 24 2017 12:17 PM

So I was in the theatre a couple months ago and one of the coming attractions was for a historical drama involving Stalin's systematic starvation of the Ukraine in the 1930s. OK, I thought, looked pretty cool (although don't most trailers?) especially since I tend to go for movies about important events and this particular one is a largely under-emphasized even though it may have killed 20 million. I then largely forgot about it after seeing the trailer although some remnant of it remained in the back of my head somewhere. I got reminded of it this week as this is the weekend BITTER HARVEST opens. But then I see the 2/3 page ad in today's NY Times touting the flick with a photo of a young and of course beautiful couple with the tag line: Stalin's tyranny could destroy their country, but not their love Yeah, I think I'm going to skip this one. The 9% rating on 'Rotten Tomatoes' isn't exactly an inducement to go either. I mean, I realize that the flick is just out and there may be some votes still coming in from outlying precincts, but shit, even FIFTY SHADES DARKER is getting a fucking 8% 'Fresh' rating and I'm pretty sure even the folks who like that movie would, under truth serum, pretty much admit that it sucks, as did its predecessor, but they got hooked on the book(s?) and wanted to see some of the kinky shit acted out so they couldn't resist.

Vic Sage Feb 24 2017 01:43 PM Re: HSI,NGSI (Haven't Seen It, Not Gonna See It)

[u:3fhkrrd3]Nominated films / HSI,NGSI:[/u:3fhkrrd3] CAPTAIN FANTASTIC ELLE FENCES FLORENCE FOSTER JENKINS HIDDEN FIGURES JACKIE LOVING MANCHESTER BY THE SEA SILENCE TONI ERDMANN 20TH CENTURY WOMEN

John Cougar Lunchbucket Feb 24 2017 01:46 PM Re: HSI,NGSI (Haven't Seen It, Not Gonna See It)

FENCES was just a buncha acting, a play on film.

themetfairy Feb 24 2017 02:47 PM Re: HSI,NGSI (Haven't Seen It, Not Gonna See It)

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: FENCES was just a buncha acting, a play on film. Yes - it needed a better adaptation for the screen.

Edgy MD Feb 24 2017 09:12 PM Re: HSI,NGSI (Haven't Seen It, Not Gonna See It)

The Great Wall (Chinese: 長城) is a 2016 monster film directed by Zhang Yimou and starring Matt Damon, who plays a European mercenary in China during the Song dynasty. He encounters the Great Wall of China and meets Chinese soldiers who defend against monsters. The Chinese-US co-production also stars Jing Tian, Pedro Pascal, Willem Dafoe and Andy Lau. This sounds like it was born to be an analog for the proposed US-Mexico border wall? I'm sure Matt Damon wouldn't want that to be seen as such, but the actors in The Two Towers didn't want their film to be used as an argument for the The Iraq War, but it was. It's February, though, and February is a month for dumping films the studios have no faith in, so I'm guessing The Great Wall isn't going to big enough to be used for a propaganda campaign.

Frayed Knot Feb 25 2017 07:23 AM Re: HSI,NGSI (Haven't Seen It, Not Gonna See It)

The key phrase here is the part about this one being a "Chinese-US co-production". This makes it almost irrelevant whether it plays well on this side of the Pacific as long as it sells to the market of 1.3 billion on the other side where it can serve as a metaphor not so much for the U.S./Mexico border but for the Chinese keeping their foreigners out, either the scary ancient "monsters" for whom the wall was originally built or the more modern type in a region that's long been distrustful of outside influences and in a country which issued just 1,576 permanent residency cards last year (that's like 0.0001% of the country) and even that paltry figure represents a large increase from previous tends. Plus it's chock full of Chinese heroes and a plot where the foreign mercenary follows them instead of the other way around, all very good for Chinese self esteem. Plus Damon gets to build himself a huge new audience that he hopes will demand his participation in their movies long after he's too old to play Jason Bourne or astronauts. But, yeah, it's on the HSI-NGSI list for me too and on this one I wasn't even remotely intrigued by the trailer.