The Great Wall (PG) 2016/ Split (PG) 2016

SM City BF Paranaque
The Great Wall is a 2016 epic historical fiction action-adventure monster film(no wonder it was distributed by Legendary Pictures) directed by Zhang Yimou and written by Tony Gilroy, Carlo Bernard, Doug Miro, Max Brooks, Edward Zwick, and Marshall Herskovitz.Wikipedia
Release dateFebruary 17, 2017 (USA)

Honestly, just by looking at this...standee? OK, let's call it a standee, I never imagined the story to be told that "way".  During the first scenes I thought Will and Pero were in Arizona or Utah being chased by Native Americans and I wondered how in the world are they going to China(yes, I was too lazy to research about this and I also wanted just to sit back, relax and enjoy the movie at the Directors Club).  Little did I know that the Khitans were the ones chasing them.


Yes, the visuals were amazing. The stunts were death defying. Hope to see more of Andy Lau, Jing Tian(Tian Jing), Eddie Peng, Lu Han et al in the future.  

What I don't want to see in the future is the movie version of the Taotie.

This is a poster for Split (2017 film).
The poster art copyright is believed to belong to the distributor of the film, the publisher of the film or the graphic artist.
Commercenter, Filinvest City

Directed by M. Night Shyamalan
Produced by
M. Night Shyamalan
Jason Blum
Marc Bienstock
Written by M. Night Shyamalan
Starring
James McAvoy
Anya Taylor-Joy
Betty Buckley
Music by West Dylan Thordson
Cinematography Mike Gioulakis
Edited by Luke Franco Ciarrocchi
Production
company
Blinding Edge Pictures
Blumhouse Productions
Distributed by Universal Pictures
Release date
September 26, 2016 (Fantastic Fest)
January 20, 2017 (United States)
Running time
117 minutes

My mouth is still agape right now.  James McAvoy is definitely a chameleon and he is perfect for playing the role of someone with Dissociative Identity Disorder(DID).  Thank goodness, my friend, Mitzi, highly recommended this.  If not, I wouldn't have watched this.  I thought I wouldn't like it(remember I chose to watch Live By Night instead...), but I am glad I did(with an added bonus, I saw my crush who is a foreigner before watching the movie).

Well, goosebumps still rose, but it was very, very interesting.  Betty Buckley(who played Abby in Eight is Enough, one of my favorite Stepmothers on TV)'s role, Dr. Karen Fletcher, studied Kevin Wendell Crumb and his twenty-two other selves.  I have seen films and TV shows that even exonerated the perpetrator just because his REAL self did not kill the victim because he has split or multiple personalities.  Kevin's case is different and there are people with similar cases like him.  The mind is really very, very complex and Dr. Fletcher's theory reminds me of the ending of The Lost Symbol(for someone who doesn't want to make Dan Brown rich, I seem to be reading a lot of his books---well, I didn't buy the book, it belongs to my sister-in-law)...you know, that thing written on the American Penny.  :-p

It also reminds me of someone I know who believes in the power of the mind.  

I am not saying people with DID don't exist.  Yes.  I believe they do, but I also believe in God, the supernatural, the existence of angels and their counterparts.  I believe they are real. In Dr. Fletcher's theory, it's probably the powerful mind that...

Anyways, it's an amazing story and it was directed and acted well by everyone.

There's just one thing.  The very cute Izzie Coffey looked like a young Claire than a young Casey, but she did her job well.  It was a good thing she thought she was just "playing" and her innocence was still protected(there was a child psychologist present).

Kudos to the cast and crew.  

If you don't like spoilers, don't go to the Wikipedia page where I go the list below:

Cast(From Wikipedia--I removed the "last" character and two others so you would try to imagine the integration/correlation of certain flashbacks)

James McAvoy as Kevin Wendell Crumb, a sufferer of dissociative identity disorder (DID), who has 23 prominent personalities, each with something peculiar or dangerous for his captives. Kevin's body chemistry changes with each personality, resulting in his 24th and final personality, "The Beast", being capable of superhuman levels of strength, speed, mobility (allowing him to scale walls and ceilings), and a voracious hunger for human flesh.[5] The personalities are collectively known as "The Horde" by two of the personalities, "Dennis" and "Patricia", and "The Horde" becomes the name he is referred to in the news.
Anya Taylor-Joy as Casey Cooke, a young girl with a traumatic past and a history of self-harm, who is kidnapped by Dennis, one of Kevin's personalities, to be sacrificed to the Beast. Izzie Coffey plays a 5-year-old Casey.
Betty Buckley as Dr. Karen Fletcher, a psychologist who attempts to help Kevin with his DID, and believes that DID can, in extreme cases, cause physiological changes.
Haley Lu Richardson as Claire Benoit, a classmate of Casey and a friend of Marcia, who is also kidnapped by Dennis to be sacrificed to the Beast.
Jessica Sula as Marcia, a classmate of Casey and a friend of Claire, who is also kidnapped by Dennis to be sacrificed to the Beast.
Neal Huff as Mr. Benoit, Claire's father.
Kim Director as Hannah
Lyne Renée as Academic Moderator
M. Night Shyamalan as Jai, a security guard in Dr. Fletcher's apartment building.

Kudos to everyone involved in this film




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