Chinese Zodiac Movie

[abcdefg]

Saw Jackie Chan's 成龙 new movie "十二生肖" today in a theater downtown. It was the 2 p.m. Friday matinee and the house was almost full. Jackie Chan stars in it as well as directs and produces it. Also featured is the beautiful Yao Xingtong 姚星彤.

This film measures up well as a comedy/action movie and I think it's one of his best over the last five or ten years. (I have not seen all his films.)

This film is a real crowd pleaser and should appeal to older kids as well as young adults. The edition I saw had small English subtitles under the Chinese which made parts of it easier to follow.

As a footnote for those of you who live in Kunming, you can find local movie times at this website:

http://theater.mtime...ovince_Kunming/ (They aren't always accurate, but in, my experience, they usually are.)

[skylee]

I saw the trailer a few times. And I think that was all I can take.

[abcdefg]

I saw the trailer a few times. And I think that was all I can take.

Confession: I chose this movie because it started at a convenient time. Had not watched trailers or read reviews beforehand. Had really hoped to see either "大上海" or "1942" but scheduling problems prevented that. I figured I'd try this 成龙 film but I had low expectations. Tickets were discounted because of the early hour.

Was pleasantly surprised and stayed for the whole long （122 minutes) performance. This film contained many moments, where I silently thought "Oh no, not that old stunt again" even though Chan changed them up a bit. It was clearly a derivative production, and it wasn't difficult to find bits and pieces of many movies from James Bond and Rush Hour to Pirates of the Carribean mixed in. But somehow or other, Chan and company pulled it off. They even tacked on a cheesy "feel good" Hollywood ending.

The kids didn't squim and run around the theater and the adults didn't spend too much time chatting and texting on their mobile phones. I predict this movie will make lots of money.

EDIT: On a philosophical note, a convenient time, a discounted tickt price, and having low expectations seem to often be parts of a sucessfull movie-going experience for me here.

[skylee]

Yes. Discounted ticket, low expectations, convenient time and quiet audience are important. I get an urge to hit someone when I hear people talking or explaining to each other about the film they are watching.

Why are we discussing this film? Is Les Miserables being shown in Kumming? This is a big film. I like it a lot and have watched it three times now.

[abcdefg]

#4 -- As far as I can tell, it has not yet arrived here.

"The Artist" 艺术家 opened yesterday. It's French; has gotten good reviews and won more than a few awards.

[skylee]

The Artist is a 2011 silent movie. The road to Kumming is indeed long.

[abcdefg]

I'm afraid you are right.

[steveh]

I dont really get the point of this topic. But anyways, I saw this film with friends in a packed theater here in China.

I don't know what type of humor you enjoy, but unless you like to laugh at horrible stereotypes of westerners, horrible acting, unbelievable story plots, almost being lectured to over and over about the past history, and extreme nationalism, this movie was neither entertaining nor funny. I maybe laughed a total of 3 times, and the times I laughed, no one else in the theater (again, all chinese) was laughing.

The only reason why I stayed was because I didnt want to disrespect my chinese friends who I went with. If someone offered me another free ticket, I would gladly refuse.

Apparently, stealing something from someone who took something in the past in not called "stealing", its called "returning" and is PERRFECTLY OK in the minds of everyone who in the theater began saying out loud "有道理". Reference to the islands I'm assuming (as well as the zodiacs).

[ChTTay]

The foreign acting in this film was terrible. So bad, hard to believe they were professional actors.

As long as your expectations aren't too high then its a decent watch.

[Meng Lelan]

Jackie Chan movies in the last several years haven't been as good as his earlier movies like "Snake in the Eagle's Shadow" and "Drunken Master".

[abcdefg]

#10 -- Agree. The recent films seem to be striving mainly for commercial success and they use every imaginable gimmick to achieve that end.

[Meng Lelan]

Yes, that and the earlier Jackie Chan films did not rely on high tech tricks so prevalent in today's films. I'm watching "Snake in the Eagle's Shadow" right now at that hilarious scene where a Catholic priest tries to break up a kungfu fight. Haw haw haw!!! what funny fun!