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Annie (2014)
Worst Movie of the Year is also Worst "Remake" Ever!
The Sony social engineering experiment has failed and the result is consecutive flops for "producer" Will Smith. One wonders which beloved property Mr. Hancock will hijack and trash next?
I didn't think it was possible for a Will Smith produced movie to be worse than "After Earth", but you know what? His unfaithful, insidious "Annie" remake is worse! Much worse.
Oh, and don't listen to the dozens of paid reviews by studio plants. Movie released December 2014 and just look when those magical accounts were created. Surprise! December 2014 - February 2015. New accounts! All fakes! No previous IMDb activity apart from inserting a "review" for Sony's "Annie." Indeed studios are known to place fake reviews in social media in an attempt to salvage their public relations disasters and/or financial flops.
Look at the actual public and critical ratings (IMDb and RT) for Sony's Annie both of which rate the movie pathetic and far below the more faithful and vastly superior 1982 original.
Seriously, this horrific 2014 "remake" has a lower critical rating than Disney's "The Lone Ranger" and a lower viewer rating than the more faithful 1982 and 1999 films.
It's THAT BAD, folks.
A truly insulting, insidious and unfaithful "remake" by producer Will Smith and his massive ego. There are bad movies and then there are REALLY BAD movies that insult the source material. This Will Smith produced atrocity is the latter. It doesn't even hide its arrogance in its contempt for the original 1982 film and Broadway musical.
The opening scene mocks a poor redheaded girl representing classic Annie who does a tap dance to rolling eyes in front of a modern classroom. She then gets booted off stage for being "uncool." What the movie is saying is, "Sit down dork. You may have been an American icon for 90 years, but you're done. You've been erased. Will Smith's replacement girl is here."
Enter Will Smith's replacement "Annie" who then takes over and of course the class loves her because she's into hip hop culture and "cool." Her politics are the polar opposite of Annie creator Harold Gray's from the original comic strip, but who cares? The insidious aim of the producers is clear. Erase classic Annie and replace her in impressionable hearts and minds. Hollywood "replacement theology" at its worst. The level of arrogance at the heart of this vile "remake" is completely disgusting.
If Annie can be anything and look like anyone, then Annie is nothing but a generic character. Harold Gray is rolling in his grave.
Little Orphan Annie is NOT a generic character. She cannot be anything or look like anyone! Sorry Will Smith. It's obvious you and your fellow "hip hop" producers never read a Little Orphan Annie comic strip (1924-2010). Shame on you and your attempt to ruin a classic!
This is a horrible "remake" that is awful beyond words. One of the WORST movies ever produced by Hollywood and a new low for "producer" Will Smith.
Deserves the lowest possible rating. Seriously. Do NOT give them your money, lest you encourage Hollywood to produce more cinematic atrocities in the vein of this unfaithful "remake."
Wo de fu qin mu qin (1999)
Cinematic Perfection!
This movie should have been released in mainstream theaters!
Simple, yet superb storytelling... a profoundly emotional experience... genuine and heartfelt... exquisite... breathtakingly beautiful...
Some movies leave you feeling dirty as you walk out of the theater, but this movie leaves you feeling clean and refreshed!
This is one drama that should be seen on the big screen, definitely.
I feel sorry for the mainstream people who missed it in the art-houses or don't know how good it is or don't know that it exists!
This film would have been a success in the big multi-plexes. I really believe that. An add campaign featuring colorful full page adds highlighting the films' critical praise and the actress Ziyi Zhang would have done the trick. The public is more sophisticated than Hollywood thinks. I'm sure significant numbers of young people would have flocked to see this film had it been released in mainstream theaters. Cinematic experiences like THE ROAD HOME are a rarity indeed.