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December 30, 2005
THOSE DARN REVIEWERS!
Where do they get all their wacky opinions? How did they get their jobs? Why are they so wacky?
Dunno.
But here's another installment of THOSE WACKY REVIEWERS!
Jeff Lau's JOURNEY TO THE WEST meets EARTH VS THE FLYING SAUCERS flick A CHINESE TALL STORY has just come out (this is the movie that made Charlene Choi ugly) and those wacky reviewers are kicking it around like a ten cent soccer ball. "It falls rather short. Heck, it misses the branch, drops to the ground, and lands flat on its face." Ouch!
"The humor is somewhat unrefined and many scenes are downright weird." Yikes!
The whole is a bombastic fantasy mess, but some charm does exist in there. Somewhere." Zing!
The Hollywood Reporter continues in its role as the internet's self-elected contrarians with their review of the greatly-loved ELECTION. It's old news, but let's just mull over their assessment once more as they call Johnnie To's incisive film "A repellant movie filled with gratuitous violence..."
Variety summarizes THE PROMISE as "...a mixed bag of near-risible storylines, second-rate CG effects, some fabulous set pieces, somewhat cartoonish martial arts fighting and difficult international casting."
Then Screen Daily says that the widely reviled THE PROMISE is Chen Kaige's "most enjoyable movie in years" and predicts that it will do HERO-sized business in the US and that its success in China "...is assured given its rich fantasy elements and the fact that it has been submitted as China’s Oscar entry." And people say that I make speculative leaps...
But what else do you expect from THOSE WACKY REVIEWERS?
December 30, 2005 at 10:02 AM in Reviews | Permalink
Comments
Sir - I share your concerns about some of these reviews, but questioning the critical faculties of the Hollywood Reporter's Ray Bennett is surely a step too far. For example, late last year the HR European Bureau Chief mounted this thorough investigation into the UK music scene : "England is swinging these days more than it has in years with world-beating acts including Coldplay, Gorillaz, Kaiser Chiefs, Girls Aloud, balladeer James Blunt and the hot new band Arctic Monkeys".
Posted by: Richard Taylor, from groovy olde England | Jan 2, 2006 9:52:34 AM
Forsooth! Methinks I did jump ye olde gunne on this one. Faithful readers! Men, women and all inhabitants of our fair village of Hope-On-Lees! Children and pets! Simians of all color, size, and fur quality. Harken to the word from Richard Taylor. He brings tidings from the mother land and invites us to reassess the writings of Ray Bennett. And lo, it is done.
Sir Taylor, many thanks. You have saved us from a fate worse than death, and you have used the phrase Arctic Monkeys in your post in a bold and unapologetic manner.
I dub thee Sir Taylor of the White Fur!
Posted by: Grady Hendrix | Jan 3, 2006 7:25:34 AM
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