Almost Buddhist - 戲‧論

★☆☆☆☆ You got to be a Hollywood film junkie, I guess, to be able to appreciate Quentin's latest 'Once Upon A Time In Hollywood'. It's like you got to be a kung-fu junkie to be able to appreciate 'Once Upon A Time In China' as well. I'm not though. So to me it's the most disappointing work by Quentin so far. ' Kill Bill ' series and ' Reservoir Dogs ' are fun and watchable. ' Django Unchained ' and ' Inglorious Bastards ' are superb. ' The Hateful Eight ' is after all not my cup of tea. Quentin once said in an interview that he'd literally retire from filmmaking when he's done making the tenth full-length feature to his career, as 'OUATIH' being his ninth! There'd only be one more left if he really meant it. Sad and bad news for die-hard fans of Quentin, but again, I'm not! I won't be missing him so! It could be me but the film's dragged out and tedious. The story seems to h...

★★★☆☆ This is a story about Chinese rather than a Chinese story, despite directed by Chinese featuring an all-Chinese cast, the main characters, American Chinese immigrants, speaking fluent English and understandably clumsy Chinese, and the rest, speaking native Chinese throughout. Critics said it's one of the best films of the year, but I feel like it's not much better than ' Crazy Rich Asians ' where a bunch of Bananas are introduced to entertain but I don't find it entertaining at all. In case you're curious, here's the story in a nutshell. Nai Nai (grandmother) is dying of lung cancer in China. The family living in Japan and America are going to go back to China to throw a wedding party as an excuse for them to come together to pay Nai Nai one last visit, the so called Farewell instead, since they decide not to tell her the truth with the intention of protecting her from unnecessary grievances, worries or agonies over death itself. 'The Far...