qiaoyu-ma Reviews

John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum (2019)

Honestly, disappointed for me as a John Wick fan.

[4/10 · 14 June 2019]

Maybe it is easy to critic a hard work, but comparing to the previous two, I feel sorry about how they made this chapter.

In 2014, the first JW came out as an explosion to me. It was an excellent movie from almost every point (in case I miss any). A very touching story between John and Helen, a legendary story of the Baba Yaga. The story started from touching the limit of a prof. assassin. This one has very clean fighting scenes, ruthless, efficient, no hesitation, totally lives up to the characteristic of John they tried to make. The end was also good that with a little twist.

The second chapter was also good. John was forced back to business. Somehow the part of Helen was ignored in this chapter but the good thing is they maintained the quality of shooting and fighting scenes, which somewhat compensates the weak story line from the emotional perspective.

But this one? I can see that they try to put the story line of Helen back again but they did it in a way very awkward by mentioned Helen's name at several points which are not necessary. They increased the weight of fight scene, like the typical Hollywood style, which is fine. What disappoints me was they made them in such a bad way, like the typical Hollywood style as well! If you are a fan of martial art action movie, I am sure you will notice those bad guys wait to be cued in inside the camera (in the background) and they made it so obvious. The motor chase was also badly made. In my opinion, those motor guys were there doing nothing but waiting to be smashed. And the last fight was totally unprofessional at all. The bad guys fight John with fair competition spirit as professional assassins. I mean, seriously?

I do still have expectation to chapter 4. I hope they can make it back on track.

Drunken Master II (1994)

The BEST martial art movie of Jackie Chan.

[10/10 · 31 July 2018]

Recently I accidently rewatch this movie. I lost count on how many times I have watched it since I was a child. I have watched almost all Jackie Chan's movies. However, until now I am very impressed by this one.

By putting the word "Best" in the title is not saying the others are not good. The point is that the final fight in this one tops all the fighting shots. The opponent is really good and he fights back even after the tipping point. This is very rare in all the martial art movie. Usually the bad guys surrender easily when the good guy reaches to the submit.

Also unlike other Hollewood productions, they did not use many stunts. The stunts are directly part of the film with makes the cuts of the film are much better.

In addtion, this movie contains two types of martial art fights. The first one against Master Fuk is the classic one, just like in the Drunken Master I. The second in the Factory is more modern and faster. I believe they increase the camera speed. So the audience can enjoy a transition of the martial art fights.

Tomb Raider (2018)

All points to Alicia from other films.

[5/10 · 1 June 2018]

Frankly speaking, how can they make a movie worst than the Angelina's?

Quote from other reviews "disappointing, boring, poor acting, cheap CGI" and bad script.

I came to the film because they sign Alicia as the new Lara. I also get the idea that they are gonna to rewrite the story, rebuild the character, redo everything. But something like this is unacceptable. It is everything but you would expect from Tomb Raider. Obviously, the try to create some emotions but fail totally.

Den of Thieves (2018)

They should make it within 2hrs

[5/10 · 13 April 2018]

Get to the good points. I didn't get bored during the movie. The movie has a good pace. The shooting action is at the point, neither too long nor too short.

Before the end, I got confused when they got the trash truck and obvious you realize something is not right especially later nobody made no doubts about the package. The whole story is a mimic of Usual Suspect and the main story did a good job. Minor acting flaws are not discussed here.

However, for some unknown reason, they add the personal life of the sheriff as the Line B, which is a completely useless and no ending story. This stretches the film to two and a half hour. One more bizarre screen play is the telephone man after he was told burned. He acted like he was pissed but at the end it showed that he should be smiling.

At the end, if you don't focus, probably you would be very confused at the end. On the other hand, if you focus, you will probably get to where I am right now, puzzled.

Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017)

Adventure based on chaos imagination

[6/10 · 28 December 2017]

After The Force Awakens, I pretty much take it as just another movie that uses the title and story background of Star Wars. As the descend of Han Solo in the previous one and the glimp of Skywalker at the end of the movie, I was expecting Luke would play a role more or less like Yoda in the orginal series. I should claim that the difference between the movie and what I expected is not the reason for this score. As we all know it is not easy to stick with science as movie serves another purpose. However, there are some amazing scenes in this movie that simply blowed my mind into the galexy. At least on IMDB, it is not in the category of Scifi. Despite the acts that main characters survived all those explotion, huamn can survive exposing to the spacing without helmet and suit (especially Leia)? As well, the story was full with chaos and confusions that lead the audience to nowhere. The conflict of Luke, the conflict of Rey, too overwhelming in 2h30min. One thing appreciated is at least the movie did not bore me during the whole time. Only left a mess mind of no impression of the story.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017)

It is better than the last one but nothing more.

[7/10 · 27 May 2017]

When I saw the last scene of "At world's end", I thought the next one will be the story about Turner and his son. But it did not come up until now. However, the story is not about them neither.

Consider the disappointment to the last one, I found this one is acceptable though there are many parts of the story does not make much sense. And since the last one, it seems that Jack Sparrow is not doing the main acting or we say not the actual leading character in the film. Rather someone attached to the story for a very unique and not so firm reason. Certainly, I would like to see more sea battle between the captains or legends.

Needless to say, the graphic design is marvelous. The film technology is improving but the script quality is decreasing. Just like video games.

Spectral (2016)

A good idea with bad script

[6/10 · 13 December 2016]

The good and bad of the movies are very obvious and have a strong contrast from my point of view. The idea of this sci-fi about advance weapon is very interesting in spite of the theory part which I don't understand and don't care much about it. The actors did a decent performance in the movie. The vision effect of the fighting is very good, much better than video games. However, the whole story doesn't make any sense starts with the retreat of the engage. There is land mines on the ground for cars but they run on streets like there is nothing. After that, somehow with super luck they reached to a "safe house" and met the key person. The doc told the base how to modified the camera but not about the iron dust point. And along the way they were holding guns all they time and no any sight of enemies. And in the shelter they just upgrade the whole gears in hours and rush out to confront the "ghost". And at the end it is still confused how the "weapons" are controlled by the power plant and how they work. Anyway, the movie is a heroic story with some interesting thoughts.

The Handmaiden (2016)

Masterpiece

[9/10 · 8 December 2016]

It is a breath taking work. Probably it is a break through of Korean movie. The two actresses did a fabulous performance from the very beginning to the end. No unnatural behavior. I was completely convinced by their acting. The pace, the tense, the emotion and the atmosphere are all perfect en every chapter. From the story to screen play, everything make sense at the end. All details are part of the big puzzle. Also, the film has a spirit of the Korean and Japanese culture. The clash between the two. A story about man and woman, business and love, rational and emotional, oppress and resist. Again it reveals the power of woman. It is definitely the best Asian movie I have ever seen this year.

Allied (2016)

Classic classic

[7/10 · 27 November 2016]

All in all, it deserves an 8/10 if they expand the movie for another 10 mins. The story is wonderful with tension. It reminds me the classic spay stories of George Smiley(by John le Carré). Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard did fantastic performance during those 2 hours. As any of the book, the story has a low start. I have to say that the trailer helps a lot at this point. If I did not what to expect in the coming up, I would probably feel the movie is a little bit boring. However, as the story goes, the pace gets faster. Every part is well connected. I enjoyed a lot of the 2nd-half part. The end of the story is impressive too. However, at the end of the story, I feel there is something still missing. And that would be the V Section. Their appearance is the turning point of the film but that should not be there only role. Maybe if there is another 10 mins for extending the story a little bit more would be better. Or it would be worst. But I enjoy it very much.

And Then There Were None (2015)

Could be better

[7/10 · 22 November 2016]

It is never easy to transform Agatha's work to a film or video. "And then there were none" is the best among all of them, at least in my opinion. It is also the top 3 best crime novel of all time. Hence it makes even harder to put it on screen. It is coincident that I am re-reading the book while I walked into this series. So I would be able to make a parallel comparison. Fair enough to say that this series retain all the main stories of characters. In details there are some modification. For a reader of the book, it is a little bit strange while watching something that are not what it supposed to be exactly. As always, the pace of the development is quite slow in general. Maybe the director wants to create an atmosphere, but doesn't work for me. If they make it into 2 episodes, maybe it would be better.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016)

A gallery more than a movie

[7/10 · 20 November 2016]

I don't know much about the background of this movie/story. But after spending 2hrs in the cinema, I got a feeling that I watched a gallery of fantastical animals. The story itself is rather simple and short. Most of the part of the movie is focus on those special creatures. And at the end, they are not doing much(or basically nothing but breaking things). So I am not sure which is more important, those amazing but not helpful animals or the magic part. But besides the setup of the screen, the actors performance are quite good. The characteristic of each role is demonstrated very clear and vivid. However, if this is the beginning of another whole grand story like Harry Porter, I would like to see how would things come in the next.

Stranger Things (2016–2025)

8 episodes are worth to watching

[8/10 · 14 November 2016]

I got into this without knowing much about the story but only a sci-fi series. As step by step, you can enjoy the story in a mild pace, not fast and not too slow. The first two o three episodes create a tense atmosphere but as more things are revealed, puzzles are putting together. What surprised me was the performance by the main characters. The arguments among kids, the ignorance, ego, imagination and intelligent define what a pure friendship and brotherhood at the early age. As well as a more complicate teenage period by other main characters. Although I don't remember exactly how I would think in those years but I enjoyed the lines. However, like other drama, there are still some main things are not explained or fully explained. At this point, there are not enough clues for speculations. It would be interested to see how the story would continue. And hope that in the future, the story would not turn into another soap drama for teenagers' love story.

Kung Fu Panda 3 (2016)

Good but not good enough

[6/10 · 12 February 2016]

The film doesn't fail to meet the standard of a hilarious animation. The action was as good as the previous two of the series. The feature is better. And music fits the Chinese culture very well.

So what is dissatisfying? It is the story. It goes smoothly until the last fight. Simply it is too sloppy at describing how Po gets to know the mystic "Chi". It all comes in a flip. And things just go overwhelming as usual. Before this point, it could not be better. So I category the movie as one of those have a very good start but doesn't end up as good as the starting.

If there is another one, I do hope the screenplay (story part) could be more logical and sensible.

The Good Dinosaur (2015)

An animation is an animation

[6/10 · 12 February 2016]

There is every reason for this animation to be nominated the best animated feature film. An animation is an animation, it doesn't need to be real or any close to, otherwise animation is not needed in those cases.

The story was quite conventional journey of adventure despite how the characters were set up. Neither impressive nor surprised. However, the idea of that the dinosaurs did not distinct is very inspiring.

The feature of the screenplay was the best part of the movie. There were scenes that are so real that confused me whether they were real shots or just animation. Probably its animated feature is the best in the animation. I am astonished that nowadays animation technique has reach this far. Not even any fancy game's feature could get this high level.

Just enjoy the feature of the movie and don't overthink about the story or characters.

Free the Nipple (2013)

It is an idea to move the society forward

[6/10 · 17 January 2015]

There are many things in the society are considered as "rule of thumb". In the modern society, we are still using the moral standard from our ancestors back into the feudal society. If you think about it, it doesn't make sense especially on sex.

Another related controversy would be should mothers cover their boobs when breastfeeding their babies in the public area. Some people may accuse the behaviors simply because it will make them feel uncomfortable. But who would like to be covered while eating? My guess is normal people won't like it.

Despite the purpose of this movie, the story tells a clear idea of looking at things in a different angle.

The Matrix (1999)

Amazing Story for the future

[9/10 · 11 November 2014]

It is my third time to watch this movie and I have to admit that until the last time did I fully understand the whole story.

There were many reviews and explanations about this movie on the Internet. But without going any further into those details, this is an outstanding movie for people to practice oral English. The actors did a masterpiece work to make every word clear. It is not hard to catch up with the sentences.

What is more, it is a PG-13 movie, which means it is good for teenagers. As someone who speaks English as second language, I highly recommend this movie as a "textbook" material for English learning.

For the story, when you fully understand the logic, there is not much room for critics. Not as other sci-fi movies filmed after it. Maybe there is one of two things that don't make sense. But they don't matter and won't bother you to enjoy the whole story.

Personal Tailor (2013)

Quite far away from expectation

[5/10 · 17 February 2014]

Personally, I like to the films of this director in the past. Most of them were very good comedies (in Chinese sense of humor).

Back in 1997, there was a movie named 'The Dream Factory' by Xiaogang Feng(the same director) and You Ge(the same main actor) demonstrate this dream creating idea to public audience. That movie was a very good comedy. So this is just like a remake of that one after 17 years. Now surprises to me.

If you could survive the first 10 mins of the movie, you could take the rest of it. I don't get the point of the first short story. I feel like it ruins the whole movie.

All of the three stories are based on modern Chinese social issues. They are not new to people and there are too much public education in them. A good story makes the point very clear and it's redundant to say it out loud. As well as the last part of apology.

My favorite part is the last last interview. It is very short, but you can see the big point of people in it.

Now You See Me (I) (2013)

Trailer is better

[6/10 · 23 June 2013]

After the end of the movie, I was still quite confused about the whole story. The trailer attracted me to the movie but the movie is not as impressive as the trailer is.

So let's talk about the movie instead of the story. First of all, there is nothing more after the aside at the end. Second, the magics in the movie are quite real magics without any scientific logic. Third, it is a fancy movie, the scenes are quite vivid. Jesse remains his style as what he did in social network. But there aren't many things left behind besides the scenes. All in all, it is just another movie that draws eyeballs.