First off is the “first blockbuster of it’s scale to be filmed entirely in China” – “The Great Wall” which features a horribly accented Matt Damon fighting ugly lizard monsters at the Great Wall of China. If you’re going in expecting “Hero” or “House of Flying Daggers” quality work, you’re going to be sorely disappointed. I think it would have broken my heart to see Jet Li in this garbage, so I guess it’s good they cast Matt Damon as the white (literally) knight hero to save the day. See my reaction to that below…
Finally a brief shoutout to “A United Kingdom” – starring David Oyelowo and Rosamund Pike. It’s the true story of a prince from what would eventually become Botswana, marrying a white British woman, and the fallout from that. Or as I like to call the film “look how far we haven’t come” in terms of our racial prejudice, and governments thinking they can institutionalize racism…..