With war epic The Flowers of War, acclaimed Chinese director Zhang Yimou has produced the most expensive film in the history of his country. He has also imported British Hollywood superstar Christian Bale for the lead, adding an immediate point of interest in an attempt to gain a larger western audience than might otherwise be hoped for. Yimou’s ambitions are big, but the results mixed, as The Flowers of War struggles to find a balance between grim, historical drama and redemptive character piece.
As Ripley Scott has recently discovered, excitement is a dangerous thing. The world drooled like Pavlov’s dogs in anticipation of Prometheus, so when it failed to deliver a masterpiece, we grabbed our torches and pitchforks.
Impressions of Dennis Waterman, cosplay orcs, and Orlando Bloom being sassy… it must be the latest Hobbit production video!
In a move which could be considered treason against Tim Burton, Johnny Depp has signed on for a role in Wes Anderson’s next film, The Grand Budapest Hotel.
No information yet on Depp’s character or the film’s plot, but assumptions can be made that he won’t be wearing a wild wig or wearing stripes. In other news, pigs have evolved into airborne creatures.
