20151209: Fantasy Review--Painted Skin 2

Name: Painted Skin: the Resurrection (2012)    IMDb: link to IMDb

Genres: Fantasy, mystery, romance.    Country of Origin: China.   Directed by:  Wuershan.

Cast: Zhou Xun as Xiaowei (fox demon), Chen Kun as Huo Xin (warrior), Zhao Wei as Princess Jing, Mi Yang as Quer (bird demon), Morgan Benoit as the Wolf Boy of Tian Lang Kingdom, Shaofeng Feng as Pang Lang (the Monster Slayer), Kris Phillips as the Witch Doctor of Tian Lang.

The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux: Sequel to Painted Skin (2008).  Five hundred years have passed since the fox demon Xiaowei was imprisoned in the original film.  The bird demon Quer helped Xiaowei escape, and travels with her.  Xiaowei has a habit of eating the hearts of human men whom she had seduced.  She does this to regenerate the pleasing side of her visible form.

Xiaowei rather disliked the time in the frost prison, and looks for a change to her life.  She encounters Princess Jing and Huo Xin, the warrior who was entrusted to guard Jing.  However, Jing's face was disfigured on Huo Xin's watch.  He blames himself for this; Jing had a golden mask made to cover it.

Delineation of conflicts: Xiawei comes to like Jing and Xin.  She sees a process to become mortal, but it involves bringing harm to Jing and Xin.  Jing would like her own beauty restored, but the cost might be steep indeed.  The Tian Lang state would like to make inroads in Jing's kingdom; Jing and company would rather that not happen. Tian Lang's true motives are darker.

Resolution: One might guess how the film's climax comes to pass, but difficult choices are involved.  Are the principal characters up to it?

One line summary: Poor effects, poor script, so-so actors.

Statistics:
  a. Cinematography: 2/10 The visuals are largely spoiled by effects.  The green screen composites were many, and looked fake.  The models used are not all that well done, and looked to be perhaps 1970s quality.  The credits in the opening sequence looked bad.  Clearly a lot of money was dumped on this project, but the effect was not worth it.

Makeup and wardrobe were poor, obvious, badly done.

  b. Sound: 4/10 The background music seemed overly florid.  The spoken dialogue was irrelevant to me, since I do not understand spoken Mandarin Chinese, and will not any time soon.  The subtitles seemed adequate, and not glaringly incorrect.  The +4 is for the lovely music over the closing credits.

  c. Acting: 0/10 I've seen American directors get better results from unknown actors.  Having to watch the dreary performances of the actors who played the fox, the princess, the warrior, the bird, and the Tian Lang folk was drudgery.

  d. Screenplay: 1/10 Did I identify with any of the characters? No.  Did I empathise with any of the characters?  No.  Did I like any of the characters?  No.  Were the Tian Lang opposition members (the bad guys) interesting? No.  Was there any comic relief?  No.  Did I enjoy 30 minutes of plot being stretched over 131 minutes with this uninteresting group?  No.

Final rating: 1/10, though not that good.  I am usually a fan of Asian film, and this property received much critical praise.  For the reasons given above, I think it deserves little if any.

20150501: Horror Review--Scream 4

Scream 4

1. Fundamentals.
1. Title: Scream 4
2. IMDb: Users rated this 6.2/10 (93,033 votes)
3. Rotten Tomatoes:
   58% liked it of 173 critics
   55% of users liked it of 75,607 ratings
   Critics Consensus:  The franchise is showing its age, but Scream 4 is undeniably an improvement over its predecessor, with just enough meta humor and clever kills.


4. Status: Released
5. Release date: 2011-04-11
6. Production Companies: Dimension Films
7. Tagline: New Decade. New Rules.


8. Budget:  40,000,000 USD
9. Revenue: 97,138,686 USD
10. Runtime: 111 minutes.
11. Genres: Horror, Mystery


12. Directed by: Wes Craven.  Written by: Kevin Williamson.


13. Starring: Emma Roberts as Jill Kessler, Hayden Panettiere as Kirby Reed, Adam Brody as Detective Hoss, Courteney Cox as Gale Weathers-Riley, Rory Culkin as Charlie Walker, Neve Campbell as Sidney Prescott, Mary McDonnell as Kate Kessler, David Arquette as Sheriff Dwight 'Dewey' Riley, Anthony Anderson as Detective Perkins, Erik Knudsen as Robbie, Marielle Jaffe as Olivia Morris, Nico Tortorella as Trevor Sheldon, Roger L. Jackson as The Voice (voice), Justin Michael Brandt as Film Geek, Nancy O'Dell as TV Host, Dredan McFall as Cocky Student, Marley Shelton as Judy Hicks, Alison Brie as Rebecca Walters, Lucy Hale as Sherrie Marconi, Shenae Grimes as Trudie Harrold, Anna Paquin as Rachel, Kristen Bell as Chloe, Britt Robertson as Marnie Cooper


14. TMDb overview: Sidney Prescott, now the author of a self-help book, returns home to Woodsboro on the last stop of her book tour. There she reconnects with Sheriff Dewey and Gale, who are now married, as well as her cousin Jill and her Aunt Kate. Unfortunately, Sidney's appearance also brings about the return of Ghostface, putting Sidney, Gale, and Dewey, along with Jill, her friends, and the whole town of Woodsboro in danger.


2. Setup and Plot


1. Threads, 1.  The high school group (Jill, Kirby, Trevor, Olivia, Robbie, Charlie) will inevitably stumble over each other while dealing with the slasher.  The Stab-a-thon was quite an opportunity for stumbling.


2. Threads, 2.  The older crew (Gale, Dewey, Sidney, Judy) still have some unresolved issues after ten years.  Gale's books spawned the Stab x films, which were roughly about Sidney's life.  In response, Sidney has re-invented herself as an author, but the return home poses some contention.  Dewey and Gale are together, but for how long, given Deputy Judy's presence?


3. Threads, 3.  Just who is the slasher this time?  Will we get a full resolution, or is another sequel in the works?


4. Threads, 4.  How far will the screenwriters go in heightening the 'meta' experience? Apparently pretty far, considering the meeting Gale and Sydney had with the school film club.  That was hardly the end of the wallowing, unfortunately.


3. Conclusions
1. It was wonderful to see a great-looking, fine-sounding film done by professionals who chose a cast of real actors.


2. On the other hand, there was enough boring self-referential bovine scatology (er, 'meta') to last a decade.


3. The series is showing its age, all right.  The same gag has been done too many times.


4. I did like the bit with Anna Paquin and Kristen Bell, but that was the acting, not the meta.


5. One line summary: Sidney Prescott returns home; bad things start happening. 


6. Eight of ten


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 10/10 Very good.


2. Sound: 10/10 Outstanding.


3. Acting: 7/10  Emma Roberts, Neve Campbell, and Courteney Cox were excellent. David Arquette and Anthony Anderson I could have done without.  Marley Shelton did 'creepy classmate' rather well.  


4. Screenplay: 4/10 The writing skills were clearly present, with plenty of wit and intelligence.  However, because of the constant harping on the meta theme, the result was mixed, to the point where the superior production values were blunted.