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f13.net  |  f13.net General Forums  |  General Discussion  |  Movies  |  Topic: The Great Wall AKA Matt Damon gets paid 0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.
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Author Topic: The Great Wall AKA Matt Damon gets paid  (Read 2607 times)
Ginaz
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on: February 19, 2017, 02:29:54 PM

I went to see this today and while it's not as bad as the reviews make it out to be, it's still pretty mediocre.  Dirty, uncivilized white man goes to China and learns the errors of his ways through exposure to superior Asian culture, becomes the hero and tries to save the day.  The uneven plot, which gets pretty stupid at times, doesn't help and saying Matt Damon was miscast for this is an understatement.  He doesn't look comfortable in the fantasy setting and whatever accent he was trying to use disappears after about 20 mins into the film.  Just wait for it on Netflix or whatever.
Soulflame
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Reply #1 on: February 19, 2017, 02:42:53 PM

It looked pretty awful in all the trailers I saw for it.  I admire your dedication to go see this for us.  You are a brave man.
HaemishM
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Reply #2 on: February 19, 2017, 02:46:44 PM

I never understood what Matt Damon was supposed to be doing in this movie. He just stuck out like a sore, white thumb.

Ginaz
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Reply #3 on: February 19, 2017, 03:40:31 PM

I never understood what Matt Damon was supposed to be doing in this movie. He just stuck out like a sore, white thumb.

Apparently, this is a Chinese produced film that was intended for a western audience so they wanted a well known western actor in the lead role.  I imagine they had to roll up dump trucks full of money to Matt Damon's front door to get him to sign on.
Khaldun
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Reply #4 on: February 19, 2017, 05:52:09 PM

It is certainly one of the least well-timed movie titles and themes in modern history.
Soulflame
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Reply #5 on: February 19, 2017, 07:51:31 PM

I never understood what Matt Damon was supposed to be doing in this movie. He just stuck out like a sore, white thumb.

Apparently, this is a Chinese produced film that was intended for a western audience so they wanted a well known western actor in the lead role.  I imagine they had to roll up dump trucks full of money to Matt Damon's front door to get him to sign on.

That actually makes it more interesting to me, oddly enough.
Speedy Cerviche
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Reply #6 on: February 20, 2017, 12:33:29 PM

Apparently, this is a Chinese produced film that was intended for a western audience so they wanted a well known western actor in the lead role.  I imagine they had to roll up dump trucks full of money to Matt Damon's front door to get him to sign on.

A bunch of Chinese industrial kingpins, backed by the government who thinks it might make China likeable if they flood the world with propaganda, have decided to go into the movie business and are spending tens of billions of dollars on it. Hollywood happy to sell-out. The Chinese are willing to shoulder big losses on these flops too since it is a patriotic national initiative with government sponsorship, so expect to see a deluge of crap this over the next decade no matter how bad they are.
HaemishM
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Reply #7 on: February 20, 2017, 12:35:53 PM

China is doing the same thing with its domestic soccer league, spending stupid huge transfer fees to bring decent players to play in China. They haven't quite gotten the BIGGEST stars but they've gotten guys who are big enough names that the first reaction of football fans is mostly "why the fuck are they paying so much for THAT guy?" They've been overpaying so bad the Chinese government told them to knock it off.

Merusk
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Reply #8 on: February 20, 2017, 12:50:22 PM

No surprise. The party knows they're going to wind-up the biggest economy sooner rather than later (especially with Trumpkin, Britain, and Putin doing everything they can to destroy "The West")  With that comes incredible power to leverage cultural propaganda in the same way the US has for the last 50 years. Become the locus of entertainment because you have all the money, and you get to spread whatever message you want.

In the West entertainment became counterculture and struggle against the establishment for a milleux of reasons, but it certainly wasn't that way from the beginning. (Especially the 40's-early 60's.) With the controls the Chinese government has there's no reason for it to move into counterculture vs. propaganda.

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Speedy Cerviche
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Reply #9 on: February 20, 2017, 01:08:25 PM

The question is can they actually make anything good? They are building a new 20th century style centralized Hollywood at a time when the original Hollywood is less and less relevant. Oh yeah, and add in a pinch of ham fisted Chinese political control, sure to amplify success!  We're entering an age where the barriers to entry for high quality filmaking are diminishing because of digital technology. Editing and shooting costs lowering, along with the costs of quality effects. Easier for writers to get their works to producers. The return on investment in big actor names and over-promoted blockbuster movies is also diminishing and would be in real trouble if not for a short term boom in rubish foreign audiences to make up the numbers on flops that Americans have given a pass on.
Bunk
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Reply #10 on: February 20, 2017, 01:21:42 PM

Its sad. There's been some truly great movies out of China/Hong Kong over the last few decades - and they try to appeal to US audiences with this CGI monster horde crap?

I'll just go re-watch something with Chow Yun Fat or Stephen Chow instead, thanks.

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Merusk
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Reply #11 on: February 20, 2017, 01:34:20 PM

The question is can they actually make anything good? They are building a new 20th century style centralized Hollywood at a time when the original Hollywood is less and less relevant. Oh yeah, and add in a pinch of ham fisted Chinese political control, sure to amplify success!  We're entering an age where the barriers to entry for high quality filmaking are diminishing because of digital technology. Editing and shooting costs lowering, along with the costs of quality effects. Easier for writers to get their works to producers. The return on investment in big actor names and over-promoted blockbuster movies is also diminishing and would be in real trouble if not for a short term boom in rubish foreign audiences to make up the numbers on flops that Americans have given a pass on.


Hollywood is only less relevant because of the shifting content delivery paradigm. However, as soon as Net Neutrality is killed here in the states people will wind-up going to movies at least a few more time as it will be a net cheaper cost than Netflix/ Hulu/ Amazon + Carrier Cost + ISP. We'll be hitting cable-level costs for our current free stuff, imo. At least in the US, which is the big hub. It will remain to be seen if those in other countries pick-up or just let the Chinese take over as major content deliverers.

High quality film making getting cheaper doesn't help the consumer, it helps the studios who still control the means of distribution. Their costs are lower so their profits are bigger. Big name actor returns doesn't help the consumer or the producers since they come with equally big paychecks that then cause producers to be risk-averse.

Anywho, I wouldn't assume this is the quality we'll always be getting from their push any more than I'd assume that the crapfest that was Gods of Egypt means Thunder Road can't produce good films. (John Wick.) Who knows, they might actually push some of the good stuff on us, the same way Japan finally gave us more than the terrible anime from the 70's.

The past cannot be changed. The future is yet within your power.
NowhereMan
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Reply #12 on: February 28, 2017, 08:14:29 AM

Its sad. There's been some truly great movies out of China/Hong Kong over the last few decades - and they try to appeal to US audiences with this CGI monster horde crap?

I'll just go re-watch something with Chow Yun Fat or Stephen Chow instead, thanks.

Hong Kong cinema has taken a serious nose dive in terms of quality in the last few years as Beijing has been cracking down on content and studios have been self-censoring as much as possible. Apparently Taiwanese movies are taking up the creative slack but I haven't watched any myself.

I'd also agree that just because China has been hilariously bad at soft power doesn't mean they will always be but I haven't seen a lot of signs showing that they're learning how to co-opt an inspire artistic creations. They still seem to be very much stuck in, 'this movie has to make China and Chinese culture seem amazing, maybe some corruption is seen that the system is able to root out and put down.' Things like Japanese style Kaiju movies or US style disaster ones being impossible in China because they require the system or the state to fail in some way to protect people. Chinese censors can't permit any kind of real jeopardy or tension in movies because it might be interpreted as real jeopardy for the population currently. Even trying to use sci-fi or historical settings to explore contemporary issues is verbotten, which makes it hard to create compelling stories or worlds.

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