Curse of the Golden Flower : How is this rated so low?

How is this rated so low?

This, Hero and House of Flying Daggers are 3 of the best films I've ever seen.. is there any more visually stunning films than these Zhang Yimou films? I don't understand why the IMDB rating is so low

______________________________
http://www.imdb.com/list/QrvH_XBk74E/ - my top 100 films

Re: How is this rated so low?

because it's a piece of garbage. This movie is junk.

Re: How is this rated so low?

I don't see how anyone can think that, please explain..

______________________________
http://www.imdb.com/list/QrvH_XBk74E/ - my top 100 films

Re: How is this rated so low?

Poorly acted, campy action sequencesblack clad assassins rapelling from the ceiling in the throne room? A sword action sequence right before or after that that is homage to bad late night kung fu theatre, an attempt to mix in serious drama with action (read that as CHINESE action) starsthe list goes on and on.

The film wanted to be serious, then it wanted to be a spy film, then it wanted to be a romance, then it wanted to be an epic drama, then it wanted to be a fantasy films.

It was POOR! One of the absolutely worst films I've ever seen. No surprise considering the country that made it.

Re: How is this rated so low?


No surprise considering the country that made it.


This just invalidates everything you previously said, as there are so many great films from China/HK

______________________________
http://www.imdb.com/list/QrvH_XBk74E/ - my top 100 films

Re: How is this rated so low?

Oh yeah?

Give me a top ten list then.

Everything I've said is true about the film industry run by the PRC.

Re: How is this rated so low?

Check my top 100 films in my signature, there's even more than ten chinese/hk films on it

______________________________
http://www.imdb.com/list/QrvH_XBk74E/ - my top 100 films

Re: How is this rated so low?

No, you list them and why, or I don't believe you.

Re: How is this rated so low?

Why should I? It's your loss, not mine.

______________________________
http://www.imdb.com/list/QrvH_XBk74E/ - my top 100 films

Re: How is this rated so low?

PRC films are subject to censorship and alterations by the communist party, unless they send a positive message about the PRC and Chinese culture.

This film stank up a storm. It was worse than the most dank cesspool near a pig sty.

It's plot was complex, it's genre was mixed, the action was laughable in the extreme. I'll never forget sitting in the theatre with a bunch of San Francisco Chinese residents and citizens, and hearing them chuckle at that scene. And then hearing groans and a few bad comments when the whole experience was over.

You want a huge epic film? "Lawrence of Arabia" beats this thing on all levels. "Doctor Zhivago", "Cleopatra", "Ben Hur", "Spartacus", a whole host of American and European films beat this pile of junk.

Not only did people laugh a little, but the whole story was just implausible. The big climactic battle at the end was ridiculous beyond belief.

I'm just surprised no one walked out on it, me included. And I wish I had.

Re: How is this rated so low?

If you bothered to look at my top 100, you would see I have placed Lawrence of Arabia and Ben Hur higher than this, actually.

Still, I think this is a great film. If a casual American audience found it too complex and groaned at the film, or if they found the temperament of the film to be too foreign for them, I don't think that speaks negatively of the film at all - it's not like casual audiences are known for their great taste in film.

______________________________
http://www.imdb.com/list/QrvH_XBk74E/ - my top 100 films

Re: How is this rated so low?

Which means I didn't bother.

Lawrence of Arabia is an American production. So is Ben Hur. All it means is that we have a bit more experience at making huge epics than the PRC.

This film wasn't too complex. It was garbage. I've seen stuff that would put this piece of trash to shame in terms of pacing and story convolutions. But they didn't have action stars trying to be dramatic actors, nor a dozen plus miniatures or stuntmen dressed in black zip lining from no where to attack the main characters.

It was a stupid movie.

Re: How is this rated so low?

You already stated the film's plot was "too complex", now you're saying it wasn't. Make your mind up.

And why do you keep coming back to insult a film you saw years ago? Seems kind of weird.

______________________________
http://www.imdb.com/list/QrvH_XBk74E/ - my top 100 films

Re: How is this rated so low?

Yeah, that's right. you know what? Here in the good old U-S of A, here in 'Merica, we all drag our knuckles on the ground, drink beer, shoot shotguns, wear baseball caps, beat up jeans and plaid shirts over grease stained white-Tees.

Heck, I'm wondering how I post on dis here whaddyha call it? Web-sight? Hell, I see webs all over my out-house whenas the missus don't clean.

Then I got to beat her good! She still hase a few teeth to jaw with thou

Oh man, I sure could use one-a-dem bowls of Chop-Suey!

Seriously, you're on an American website, using American technology (which I was using in the 70s), using American English. The plot could not be too complex.

Re: How is this rated so low?

Americans sure love to get all the credits for everything. IMDB was founded by a British, using technology invented in Switzerland by a British. Using a language created not by Americans. Americans didn't invent everything, believe it or not.

Re: How is this rated so low?

Technology was invented HERE in the USA. I know. I was there. The film was produced by an American studio.

Re: How is this rated so low?

Yeah, no. Technology came up with a concerted effort by different nations in the world way before the USA existed. As for Lawrence of Arabia. The movie was written by a British bloke, directed by David Lean and produced by Sam Spiegel through his British company Horizon Pictures.

And Americans still wonder why people don't like them, it's because of people like you.

I know you might think you're funny but I assure you you're not.

Re: How is this rated so low?

BS!

I was there hacking on teletypes and PETs in the 70s and on monochrome displays for Apples in the 80s.

You want to lie?

Go yell on the street where someone will believe you.

Re: How is this rated so low?

His inconsistency just further highlights the real underlying reason for his "criticism", that being his xenophobic and bigoted attitude. It's easy to spot a racist by the internal contradictions between their "arguments". You have more patience than me, I can't be bothered to even try reasoning with their type, which I think is commendable of you.

Post deleted

This message has been deleted.

Re: How is this rated so low?

It was a piece of crap of a movie. I don't care who made it. It stank.

Re: How is this rated so low?


Lawrence of Arabia is an American production.

It's an U.K. production.

Michael Wilson is an American but he share writing credits with Robert Bolt, a British. Columbia Pictures distributed it. Arthur Kennedy who played the American Journalist is an American. What else?

Re: How is this rated so low?

I honestly didn't think the film was that good. Have you seen much Chinese cinema cool316? There is so much better out there. The films you mentioned are considerably better than this one but those are just the tip of the iceberg. This film had a weak story line, bad action scenes, and the music was mediocre. The actors did a good job but they didn't have much to work with since the lines were not very well written.




Curse of the Golden Flower (2006) - 6 outta 10 stars





My vote history link:http://imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=5504773

Re: How is this rated so low?

Yeah I watch quite a lot of Chinese films, I still can't understand anyone's reasoning for why they found this bad. It was a Shakesperian-like drama with a fantastic set and all star cast.. the music, I thought, was brilliant.. I love Shigeru Umbeyashi's scores, and he did a great job on this

______________________________
http://www.imdb.com/list/QrvH_XBk74E/ - my top 100 films

Re: How is this rated so low?

It has been explained to you many times.

As others have pointed out, the film was essentially schizophrenic. It tries to be a serious, realistic drama at times but then it falls into a fantasy martial arts movie and then back into something else.

To be clear, I watched it with a Chinese national, and I actually liked this movie better than she did. She thought it was silly since it was so over the top.

Re: How is this rated so low?

There's a simple premise as to why critics do what they do:

Those who can, do,
Those who can't, teach,
Those who can't do either one, criticize.

All critics spend their lives literally *gorging* themselves on the substance of what they critique, whether it be food, literature, movies, plays and so forth.

Imagine yourself stuffing yourself with food at every meal in a different place three times a day; or reading book after book; I can't imagine anything more head splitting than sitting in the dark, watching movies all day and night to keep up with the demand of releases (which are released to news and entertainment outlets across the country before anyone else) the pressure is enormous to get it out, get it first, and GET THAT AUDIENCE or answer to your entire agency why your ratings are in the toilet.

Now, suppose you're a guy and you HATE foreign films, or chick flicks.

Perhaps I've given you some idea of what it's like to spend your chosen profession shoveling food into your face, or watching 6 movies a day!

Maybe now you might guess why some call it "LOVE," while others might call it "pure tripe."

Oh, how I miss Gene & Roger! (Roger Ebert was more "meh," while Gene Siskel was engaged, intent and intellectual) but both could surprise one looking for a decent review.

Aside from the summed up scores on Rotten Tomatoes, where one can get most of the country's opinion, everything today IS tripe.

Re: How is this rated so low?


by kori1701 Sat Sep 26 2015 03:46:15
There's a simple premise as to why critics do what they do:

Those who can, do,
Those who can't, teach,
Those who can't do either one, criticize.


You realized your sentences don't really make sense?

Critics that can do criticize?
Critics who can't, teach to criticize?
Critics who can't do either one, criticize?

But here are my explanations why this movie is rated lower than the OP would which
(The IMDb rating actually mirrors the Metacritic rating as of 2016-11):
1. It's full of madness. (Sure most Shakespeare's characters seem crazy but that alone doesn't make a good story.)
2. Plot holes. (Why did they run all the time from fighting only to face fighting? Why make the medical chief governor only to kill the whole court? The fighting was mostly run and attack. Not what you would think of Chinese "artists of war" How did the black fighters build these black phalanxes without the palace guard realizing it?)
3. The English dubbing is terrible. (Only really seen the English dubbed version though.)
4. It's too irritating with too many factions. (Golden, black, governor, youngest son?)
5. The overuse of overexaggerated cleavages didn't do the film rating any good I think. Mostly with US and Chinese users I presume.
(6. I think the score throughout the movie was good. But what creeped me out was the romantic, hopegiving music at the end right after the poison/acid sprays on the family table. Was that to express now that the clan is dead (or surely soon to be) the country will have a good future?)

Re: How is this rated so low?

I could simply keep it at CGI.
I think the movies strength comes from the actual people within all these ridiculously colored palaces and outfits trying to keep themselves in their act.
The problem is when the people actually go all out fighting I'm not buying it's real. It's a combination of simply a whole lot of computer effects which don't look real enough and within this movie still wanting to deliver on some kind of "wuxia level" (or something) which contradicting to its predecessors doesn't make fights effectively more beautiful and emotional but, again, just less real.
If it wasn't for the action I'd absolutely love this movie.
Top