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'Flowers of War' Trailer - Christian Bale Stars In China's Most Expensive Film Ever

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T

Timbuktu

Member
GG-Duo said:
Uh, it's just a very colloquially Hong Kong love comedy. There's better/more important films than that.
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It is really good though. Big budget 'important' movies nowadays would neccessarily go for the mainland Chinese market and have to obey the censors. Not that those films can't be good, but for something different, it would have to be small and colloquial.
 
T

ThoseDeafMutes

Member
Simplet said:
WW2 did start in 1937 though
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1937 was when the second Sino-Japanese war started. WW2 started in 1939 with the German invasion of Poland (and subsequent cascade of alliances). The fact that Japan and China could fight for two years without external intervention should make it apparent why most historians do not consider the second S-J war to be the start of WW2.
 
S

Simplet

Member
ThoseDeafMutes said:
1937 was when the second Sino-Japanese war started. WW2 started in 1939 with the German invasion of Poland (and subsequent cascade of alliances). The fact that Japan and China could fight for two years without external intervention should make it apparent why most historians do not consider the second S-J war to be the start of WW2.
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Japan also started fighting mongols and soviets as soon as summer 1938
 
S

Simplet

Member
ThoseDeafMutes said:
Yes, but nothing about any of these conflicts dragged in the majority of the world (the definition of a World War), nor did these events lead to the war that did.
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It led to a lot of things though. It led to the the non-agression pact between Russia and Germany, which allowed Germany to attack Poland. It led to the Japanese deciding to conquer the Islands in the south instead of Siberia in the north, and thus to attack Pearl Harbor and the european colonies, and so on so forth.

Everything that happened then is completely connected to the rest of the conflicts. It's a bit artificial to separate it from the rest of the war. Not to mention all the foreign interventions in China and during the spanish civil war. It's a bit like saying that WW1 didn't really start until 1917 or at least around 1915 with Turkey and some french and british troups from the colonies.
 
T

ThoseDeafMutes

Member
Simplet said:
It's a bit like saying that WW1 didn't really start until 1917 or at least around 1915 with Turkey and some french and british troups from the colonies.
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I think a better analogy would be to arguing that the First World War started in 1908 with the Bosnian crisis, since it set the stage for what played out later. The Invasion of Ethiopia, Spanish Civil War, Sino-Japanese War, Japanese invasion of Russia and German invasion of Czechoslovakia are all considered to be important precursors that were never-the-less not "part of World War II". Call this artificial if you wish, but I think it seems quite reasonable.
 
S

Squash

Member
I guess I'm in the minority here but... from the trailer alone it looks kind of bad?

I loved Hero and to an extent House of Flying Daggers though.
 
D

DMczaf

Member
686edb87.jpg
 
WorriedCitizen

WorriedCitizen

Member
Just how many films about Nanjing are there? City of Life and Death + John Rabe only came out two years ago and now another one so shortly after?
 
C

Cow Mengde

Banned
Unknown Soldier said:
especially after John Woo made Red Cliff actually pretty damn good and redeemed his Hollywood career.
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Red Cliff is one of the biggest jokes in Chinese cinema, comparable to Revenge of the Fallen. Also started a Chinese meme.

If that's what it takes to redeem his Hollywood career, I'd hate to see what his Hollywood career looks like.
 
bengraven

bengraven

Member
Cow Mengde said:
Red Cliff is one of the biggest jokes in Chinese cinema, comparable to Revenge of the Fallen. Also started a Chinese meme.

If that's what it takes to redeem his Hollywood career, I'd hate to see what his Hollywood career looks like.
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Explain the meme.
 
C

Cow Mengde

Banned
The horse Meng Meng is now used to represent stupidity.

This isn't first hand, but I heard people in China were laughing at the movie in theaters because of the batshit stupid dialog. I saw the movie and speak mandarin and the dialog was batshit stupid.

Red Cliff is an abomination.
 
T

tino

Banned
Cow Mengde said:
The horse Meng Meng is now used to represent stupidity.

This isn't first hand, but I heard people in China were laughing at the movie in theaters because of the batshit stupid dialog. I saw the movie and speak mandarin and the dialog was batshit stupid.

Red Cliff is an abomination.
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I haven't seen Red Cliff. But my impression from the Chinese forums is that it was received decently. Unlike CTHD, which was not liked by 90% of the Chinese.

John Woo was never considered an top tier director in China/HK, so he got a pat on the back when he made an entertaining movie.

For the record I love CTHD, I thought it was best movie Ang Lee ever made.
 
C

Cow Mengde

Banned
tino said:
Unlike CTHD, which was not liked by 90% of the Chinese.
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CTHD = Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon?

If so, yeah, that movie, Hero, and House of Flying Daggers are the unholy trinity of suck in Chinese cinema. Many brain cells were brutally murdered by these 3 films.
 
Z

Zalasta

Member
Personally, I don't care for the political undertone in some of Zhang Yimou's films. I often wonder at the truth that the government has some hand in the making of mainland movies, especially ones that deal with war.

tino said:
I haven't seen Red Cliff. But my impression from the Chinese forums is that it was received decently. Unlike CTHD, which was not liked by 90% of the Chinese.
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Not sure where you get that statistic. Considering CTHD was based off of a fairly popular wuxia novel that was also turned into TV series. Whatever, I guess I belong in that so called 10%...
 
T

tino

Banned
Cow Mengde said:
CTHD = Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon?

If so, yeah, that movie, Hero, and House of Flying Daggers are the unholy trinity of suck in Chinese cinema. Many brain cells were brutally murdered by these 3 films.
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You represent the popular Chinese opinions of these films.

Have you seen other Zhang Yimou movies by the way?
 
T

tino

Banned
Cow Mengde said:
The only movie I ever remembered vividly watching in China as a kid was The Good The Bad and The Ugly on TV. If it's one of the 3 unholy trinity of suck, then I guess I've seen it.
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Can't tell if you are joking. But early and mid career Zhang Yimou movies are very good.

I am talking about Akira Kurosawa good. His "generation" represent the golden age of Mainland china cinema.

His high budget wire-fu flying shit are consider sellout movies to most people.
 
E

Expendable.

Member
So, I guess this is actually really good. I couldn't make the screening but someone from my team went:

[Review] Flowers of War



The latest feature from internationally heralded Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou, The Flowers of War, is not a tale of soldiers and strategies, but rather of the women and children caught in the crossfire of war. Based on Geling Yan’s novel The Thirteen Flowers of War, this sweeping historical drama is set amidst the horrific backdrop of the Rape of Nanjing, the six-week period in which the Japanese invaded Nanjing, China, and killed hundreds of thousands of Chinese civilians, then–as the weeks drew on–raped the survivors. Yimou, who has created such visually stunning features as House of Flying Daggers and Ju Dou, does not shy away from the brutal realities of this heinous moment in history. The film’s violence is unrelenting and yet beautiful, punctuated with the bold colors for which Yimou is known. For example, when a war-torn building is blown sky high, amid the gore and dust, hundreds of vibrant boxes and ribbons also take to the air, creating an explosion of incredible violence and color. Details like this—where gore and grace share screentime—can be found throughout the film. This is because The Flowers of War is a tale of lightness amid the dark, bravery in the face of brutality, and the humanity and heroism found even within the cruel crush of war.
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A-
 
C

ChanHuk

Banned
Saw the film and all I gotta say is fuck males :( I haven't seen a movie where I've been disgusted by males but this has gotta be it. But as for Bale, sub any other round-eye for him and it's still the same movie. That's not racist right?
 
E

Eggo

GameFan Alumnus
Saw this tonight not knowing anything about it. I liked Zhang Yimou's other movies like Curse of the Golden Flower, Hero, and House of Flying Daggers. This was nothing like any of those. It's over 2 hours of the atrocities of war. Death, raping of kids... It's very difficult to sit through to be honest. I was expecting visual spectacle and beautiful cinematography, such as what he displayed in the Olympic opening ceremony, but there are only brief glimpses of color in this very dark and grey world. If I had a better idea of what the movie was like, I would not have went.
 
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