selina_shi Reviews

Legend of the Demon Cat (2017)

Even with distinct advantages and disadvantages, I like it.

[7/10 · 7 January 2024]

I have watched this movie twice. The first time I was scared at the beginning, but the beautiful visual effects still left a deep impression on me. Many years later, I watched it again, then I have dug something new for this movie.

It's a movie with distinct advantages and disadvantages. The disadvantage is, the structure of it is not really good and there are some logical problems which can not be explained.

However, there are more advantages than visual effect. As a Chinese, there are so many real historic characters and some real historic stories that I am familiar with. Therefore, it's better for me to understand the story Kaige wants to express to the audience. Lady Yang's fate is like the fate of Tang Dynasty, when the Dynasty is prosperous, she can be the mascot, but when the Dynasty declined, that's all her fault. That's also the fate with every beautiful woman who was by the side of the emperors who witnessed the decline and fall of the Dynasty in Chinese history. It's such a shame to blame everything on a women only because she was beautiful. And I also feel pity about the fate of Tang and hers.

Kaige uses Lady Yang to show what the human nature is. I really like a review I saw on a Chinese social media website. It seems that everyone loves Lady Yang, but no one really loves the real her. Emperor Xuanzong wanted her to show his power as an emperor because he owned the most beautiful woman in China. Lushan An made rebellion on the name of hers to showed his challenge of the power of Emperor Xuanzong. Abe loved her because he liked Tang Dynasty, he considered her as a symbol of the beauty of Tang. Juyi Bai loved her because she was a symbol of the past prosperity of the dynasty, and he wanted to memorize it. The White Crane loved her only because they had the similar experience in their childhood. Lady Yang understood it, so she said Bai Li's honesty is good for Tang.

Anyway, it's a generally beautiful, removing and heart-broken story for me.

Wonka (2023)

Not bad, but not the Wonka I want

[7/10 · 22 December 2023]

I really love Charlie and Chocolate Factory when I was a child, and I really love how Tim Burton tells this story and how Johnny Depp builds the character Willy Wonka. Therefore, I was excited when I heard there were going to make a movie about the story of young Willy Wonka and curious about how Timothee Chalamet would perform this character.

I have to say the movie is not bad, I was happy and really enjoyed watching it. There are so many funny jokes and many beautiful magical scenes, it's also a movie very suitable to bring your kids and whole family to see before Christmas.

However, it's nothing related to the old version of Wonka. In the old version, Willy Wonka wants to make chocolate because his father is a dentist, and he's not allowed to eat chocolate when he was child, eating chocolate can bring him happiness he has hardly have, so he wants to bring this happiness to everyone. In this version, it changes to Wonka wants to make chocolate because his mother made good chocolate and he wants to chase his dreams and memorize his mom. It's reasonable but you can see this cliché in many other movies, it doesn't have to be Wonka. Also, they change the personality of Wonka, Johnny Depp's Wonka is creepy but special, that's the reasons why this character is memorable and distinctive. Timothee's Wonka is just a warm boy who loves chocolate, even though sometimes it's very clearly to see Timothee is trying to imitate Depp's performance, but I can see it's a bad imitation.

Only Murders in the Building (2021– )

It becomes better and better!!!

[8/10 · 4 October 2023]

At beginning I only watch this TV series because I am a huge fan of Selena Gomez and crime movies/ TV series, I just watch it for fun and don't really care about the quality. To my surprise, it becomes better and better now!!!

It's a kind of crime TV series I have never seen before, it's combined with some comedy elements, which makes it warm and so special, it's so different from other crime TV series which are always cold and cruel. I love the vintage custom the casts wear, I love the music and I even love the decoration style of Arconia.

The first season it's a little bit absurd, the reason why murderer kills is ridiculous, but I can still watch it for fun. The second season becomes better. And the third season is the best up to now. The combination between murder and Broadway makes the show more dramatic. I was moved about the relationship between mother and son, mothers can do everything for their sons, sons try their best to protect mothers, and Meryl Streep's performance is also the highlight of this season!

Pitch Perfect 3 (2017)

There is something wrong with the third Pitch Perfect movie!

[4/10 · 28 September 2023]

I like two former Pitch Perfect movies, especially the second one, but I really don't know what's going on with this one?!

First, I think I am going to watch real college girls enter the real world outside the campus in this movie, but making Fat Amy's dad a BIG BOSS is so unreal, even the escape scenes seem so stupid! In the first two movie, Fat Amy is a girl who is not good at sports, which makes her cute actually, but in this one she suddenly becomes a good fighter without any explanation, that's a failure of building this character!

Second, there are some logical problems which look awkward to me. Gail and John supposed to be the hostess for the acappella competition, when they appear on the event of US army, there's no surprise, only makes it unreal! What's more, when Bellas comes to the riff-off like they always do in other two movies, they criticize the bands that they break the rules because they use instruments not their voice! I mean do they even know what's called band? It makes the girls I ever loved so mean and brainless!