Movies
Oldskool martial arts films that borrows more than a couple of cues from Hark's Once upon a Time in China. The result is a fun but shameless love letter to early 90s Hong Kong action cinema, the only problem is that director Lin himself doesn't quite meet the standard. Amusing, but not a modern masterpiece.
Chinese streamers have been mostly targeting historical fantasy/action work so far, I wish they'd try a bit more sci-fi if only to get the hang of things. A film like Restart the Earth shows enough promise, but it lacks the routine that makes these cheaper Chinese films better than they're supposed to be. The setup is fun and because of the shameless CG, there's no convoluted world-building. The CG isn't great though, neither are the performances. But the pacing is high and the runtime short. There's hardly a dull moment and while the ending could've done with less melodrama, I still had a good time with this one.Read all