Member kami Posted February 11, 2019 Member Share Posted February 11, 2019 Despite some obvious ambitions and nice visuals "Big Brother" is a superficial "Dangerous Minds" rip-off with some dubious solutions, shallow characters and in Donnie Yen's character a boring, flawless problem solving protagonist of who we never get to know from where he got his sage wisdom. I was most interested in the gender nonconformist girl's story but was quite disappointed how her problems were "solved". On the other hand, the three action scenes were quite great although it helped that I had watched the terrible Iceman 2 shortly before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member LoBo Posted February 16, 2019 Member Share Posted February 16, 2019 Yes. I saw this. The two fights were good. I would love to see Donnie mix in some Aikido in his future films. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member NoKUNGFUforYU Posted February 16, 2019 Member Share Posted February 16, 2019 On 2/11/2019 at 1:39 PM, kami said: Despite some obvious ambitions and nice visuals "Big Brother" is a superficial "Dangerous Minds" rip-off with some dubious solutions, shallow characters and in Donnie Yen's character a boring, flawless problem solving protagonist of whom we never get to know where he got his sage wisdom from. I was most interested in the gender nonconformist girl's story but was quite disappointed how her problems were "solved". On the other hand, the three action scenes were quite great although it helped that I had watched the terrible Iceman 2 shortly before. I don't know, it seemed to me that she was a lesbian, and her dad finally had to accept that and her, unless I missed something in translation. It wasn't like she was dating boys at the end, which would have been the resolution in a Wong Jing movie 20 years ago, right? Still, you could say it was somewhat shallow. I saw it on a plane flight with bad subs. I will get the Well Go release. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member kami Posted February 18, 2019 Member Share Posted February 18, 2019 On 2/16/2019 at 2:41 AM, NoKUNGFUforYU said: I don't know, it seemed to me that she was a lesbian, and her dad finally had to accept that and her, unless I missed something in translation. It wasn't like she was dating boys at the end, which would have been the resolution in a Wong Jing movie 20 years ago, right? Still, you could say it was somewhat shallow. I saw it on a plane flight with bad subs. I will get the Well Go release. But we don't even know she's lesbian. For all we know she's just into cars and short hair. It seems to me the filmmakers wanted to tackle some modern themes and problems but on the other hand didn't want to challenge or antagonize conservative viewers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator One Armed Boxer Posted March 21, 2019 Moderator Share Posted March 21, 2019 Not exactly sure I'd say this is something to be proud of, but a quote from my review has made it onto the back cover of the Well Go USA release - Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member D1 Ma Posted March 21, 2019 Member Share Posted March 21, 2019 2 hours ago, One Armed Boxer said: Not exactly sure I'd say this is something to be proud of, but a quote from my review has made it onto the back cover of the Well Go USA release - Congrats! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member ShaOW!linDude Posted March 21, 2019 Member Share Posted March 21, 2019 4 hours ago, One Armed Boxer said: Not exactly sure I'd say this is something to be proud of, but a quote from my review has made it onto the back cover of the Well Go USA release - It's okay. Go ahead and be proud. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DragonClaws Posted March 21, 2019 Member Share Posted March 21, 2019 9 hours ago, One Armed Boxer said: Not exactly sure I'd say this is something to be proud of, but a quote from my review has made it onto the back cover of the Well Go USA release - Way to go @One Armed Boxer, keep up the great work, always read your review's, even if I dont always get round to commenting on them over at CityonFire.Com. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Koravec Posted May 18, 2019 Member Share Posted May 18, 2019 Generic and near cheesy drama and characters. Overly simple solutions to problems. My idea (not necessarily expectations) of this movie was better than what I saw. God awful soundtrack, had to mute the tv or turn the volume down a lot for the songs. Though I have to say I really enjoyed Donnie's character and felt his presence lit up the scenes well. The movie did a good job highlighting a 'cool' Donnie Yen. The three fight scenes are loads of fun, taking place in a gym locker room, basketball court and classroom. If you want to sit through a surface level education and family drama check it out. If not, just hope to find the fight scenes on youtube. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Drunken Monk Posted May 25, 2019 Member Share Posted May 25, 2019 This is a bad film. Awful, almost. Yes, it reeks of positivity and “making changes” but that doesn’t help it. It’s a shallow, unentertaining film at the end of the day. None of the characters shine and, worst of all, the entire film feels like a montage. And to echo previous posts, the soundtrack is bonkers. Melodramatic warbling from the likes of James Blunt are BLASTED throughout. It’s horrible. And this is where my opinion beers away from other board members’. The fights in this film are garbage. It’s the same old shit: triangle chokes, arm bars, German suplexes. I must be the only person that wants Donnie Yen (I know he didn’t choreograph) to put this MMA shit to bed. It’s painfully boring. There hardly any actual fisticuffs or kicks in this one. It’s all grabs and scuffles. I’ve never found donnie to be this mundane before. Not even worth a single watch, in my eyes. A poor movie from start to finish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member LoBo Posted May 25, 2019 Member Share Posted May 25, 2019 Hmm. I liked it. I thought the fights was good too, but not as good as SPL or Flashpoint. Too bad you didn't enjoy it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DiP Posted May 25, 2019 Member Share Posted May 25, 2019 8 hours ago, Drunken Monk said: And this is where my opinion beers away from other board members’. The fights in this film are garbage. It’s the same old shit: triangle chokes, arm bars, German suplexes. I must be the only person that wants Donnie Yen (I know he didn’t choreograph) to put this MMA shit to bed. It’s painfully boring. There hardly any actual fisticuffs or kicks in this one. It’s all grabs and scuffles. One might argue that MMA/grappling would be boring to watch after a while but that's also what I can feel about fisticuffs and kicks, especially after going through the best of the 80s and 90s. The problem with action movies today is lack of variation during and in each action set-piece. As much as non-stop action is good, it can also pay a price: The risk of being redundant and repetitive. The Raid movies, Ong Bak, the Ip Man movies etc. That being said, if you watch the fight scenes again, you'll see more than just grabs and scuffles. To me, it's no longer so much about about implementing stuff that's never seen the light before but how you pull it off and mixing things up to make it interesting and catch viewers' desire for more. Variation. Mixing. Refreshing. Storytelling. Speaking of which... I went to the movies yesterday to watch John Wick 3 and so far it fits this very description I just said. Nothing else comes even close. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member AlbertV Posted June 2, 2019 Member Share Posted June 2, 2019 I'm posting my review on my blog shortly but I have to say I enjoyed it. Yes the action scenes were enjoyable, but I like seeing Donnie do something different when it comes to his roles. Allows him to go versatile. I still want to see the All's Well Ends Well where he goes full comedy. The flashback scene with the war actually nearly made me shed a tear. Overall, I liked it. Especially @Mike Leeder yelling "first round" during Yen's fight in the locker room! That was great! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DragonClaws Posted June 2, 2019 Member Share Posted June 2, 2019 On 5/26/2019 at 12:09 AM, DiP said: The problem with action movies today is lack of variation during and in each action set-piece. As much as non-stop action is good, it can also pay a price: The risk of being redundant and repetitive. The Raid movies, Ong Bak, the Ip Man movies etc. I agree with you on this, I think Video Games are influencing movies more than, movies influencing games in terms of the stagin of action. Some modern fights can look very robotic, rather than organic and natural. When they use CGI to enhance the moves, it becomes even more artifical looking. I've said this before, but at what point does a movie become just a showreel?. On 5/26/2019 at 12:09 AM, DiP said: To me, it's no longer so much about about implementing stuff that's never seen the light before but how you pull it off and mixing things up to make it interesting and catch viewers' desire for more. Variation. Mixing. Refreshing. Storytelling. Speaking of which... I went to the movies yesterday to watch John Wick 3 and so far it fits this very description I just said. Nothing else comes even close. Im intrigued to see John Wick 3 even more, now you said its refreshing choreography. As much as I loved the first two films, I felt the action fell more into the repetative category. One of things I love about Jason Stahtam actioners, is they rarely if at all. reach the point where theres so much action. It just becomes mundane to the viewer, or me at least. Many of his films, have paved the way for John Wick etc. I'm also reminded of what Bruce Lee said, in terms of real fighting. We all have two arms and legs, so until people start mutating or evolving. There's only so many ways you can attack or defend yourself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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