May 2nd, Sunday

Chen Mao (appeared in Chapter 406) sent his children to school and drove to his usual breakfast shop.

Two cabbage meat buns + two leek vegetarian buns, and a bowl of salted tofu finally made my body recover from the late night.

Chen Mao, who was still a senior movie fan and amateur film critic at the time, became a full-time film critic as early as three years ago as his account [Mao Chengcheng] became more and more famous on the blog.

Professional paper media also invites articles.

It is a pity that Weibo was launched in 2008 and replaced blogs in a short period of time and became the most popular social platform.

During this period, Chen Mao, who had always used blogging as his main platform, was slow to respond, or he was reluctant to give up the millions of fans he had finally accumulated on his blog.

The Internet is changing rapidly, and the traffic of emerging platforms is overwhelming.

It didn’t matter that Chen Mao was slow to respond. After he shifted his career focus from blogging to Weibo, the territory was almost divided. He went from being a top film critic on blogs to a second-tier film critic on Weibo.

Fortunately, the commercialization of Weibo is much stronger than that of blogs in the past. Even if you are a second-tier V, your income has not dropped much compared to the blog period.

Chen Mao's mentality is still good. He has been playing on the Internet for several years. He knows that this thing has its ups and downs. Only by staying calm can he not be troubled by the traffic.

Of course, Chen Mao has this confidence mainly because his fans are very loyal.

Flow is easy to obtain, but iron powder is hard to find.

As long as he can consolidate his fundamentals, he has hope of slowly growing bigger. Even if he can't make it to the top, he can still have a place in the industry.

There are a lot of new movies released in May. Chen Mao has watched them one by one and then written reviews for them one by one. He also recommends any good TV series nowadays. He also occasionally writes articles for the media. At present, he has already done two things day and night.

Week.

But there is no other way, I have to eat properly.

After breakfast, Chen Mao drove home. His wife had already gone to work. She was the head nurse, and sometimes her work was more irregular than him.

After taking a shower, Chen Mao dove into bed to catch up on his sleep, sleeping until 1 p.m. before waking up.

After casually heating up the leftovers to make up for it, Chen Mao went to the cinema to watch the newly released "Sword Rain".

As a key movie in May, or even a key movie this year, Chen Mao's KPI this month points to it.

Today is the premiere and it's Sunday. Tickets are quite hard to get. The most recent show was almost all sold out. Chen Mao could only buy tickets for the next show.

Sitting on the sofa outside the theater when the movie started, Chen Mao was still a little bit embarrassed.

Looking back on those days, he was also a well-known figure on the Internet and one of the most popular film critics on blogs.

When "Xiu Chun Dao" was released, the crew specially invited him to attend the premiere, with all food, accommodation and travel expenses included. Afterwards, the main creators such as Cao Xuan and Gao Yuanyuan personally entertained him... film critics like him, signed various autographs and took photos.

Times have changed, and now he just wants to go to "Sword Rain", but people may not even know who he is.

The sadness of a has-been Internet celebrity...

After waiting for half an hour, he was finally allowed to enter. Chen Mao put aside his depression, entered the theater, and started watching the movie.

The beginning of the movie introduces the body of Moro + the male protagonist who destroys the family with Black Stone.

There is a plot in the original movie that has puzzled many viewers, that is, the male protagonist in the back is so awesome that he is almost invincible in a single fight, but he was wiped out at the beginning.

In fact, it is shown in the plot that the male protagonist faces the three masters Xiao Yu, Lei Bin, and Cai Shi alone, and he has to protect his father and family.

Outnumbered and outnumbered, he still has to concentrate on saving people. No matter how good the hero's martial arts skills are, he still has to endure this kind of scene.

However, because this section is short and does not give enough hints, some viewers will be confused. The Fanxing version of "Sword Rain" has an extra half-minute of scenes, mainly to show that the male protagonist can fight, but is forced by the situation.

Defeated.

The beginning can be regarded as explaining the background and foreshadowing the rest of the story. It is not complicated, but it still makes Chen Mao's eyes shine.

What surprised him was not the plot, but the fighting scenes, which were cool, sharp, and extremely beautiful.

Chen Mao has not seen such a beautiful martial arts style fight scene for a long time.

The Zhang family was destroyed, and Xiao Yu took Moro's body and disappeared. The next scene showed Zeng Jing, played by Zeng Li, renting a house and setting up a stall with her mother-in-law, played by Li Mingqi.

The Empress of the West Palace, who is dressed in a coarse ancient costume, is not very beautiful, but her appearance is beautiful, and she has the feeling of a virtuous and elegant ancient woman.

The two female students in front of Chen Mao called them beautiful, and Chen Mao couldn't help but nod in agreement.

What many people don't know is that Chen Mao is a loyal fan of Zeng Li and has written several articles about Amway Zeng Li.

Chen Mao vaguely remembers that the first time he met Zeng Li was Yin Susu in the 2003 version of "The Legend of Heaven and the Dragon Slayer" starring Cao Xuan. The image of the beautiful, cool and infatuated demon witch made him quite amazed at the time.

Many people debate whether Alyssa Chia's Zhao Min or Gao Yuanyuan's Zhou Zhiruo is more beautiful in the 2003 version of "The Legend of Heaven and the Dragon". In Chen Mao's heart, Yin Susu, played by Zeng Li, is the most beautiful woman in the show.

It's a pity that after Zeng Li, he didn't act in many works, but he left a deep impression on people.

The most famous one is Ding Baiying's "stunning sword" in "Xiu Chun Dao 2", which is still a classic shot of the martial arts actress.

It's so classic that when Chen Mao and many film critics talk about actresses' fighting scenes, especially in the past ten years, Zeng Li's name always comes up, which shows how deeply this character impressed them.

Li Mochou in "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" is also quite outstanding. Apart from the male and female protagonists Xiao Longnu and Yang Guo in the whole drama, maybe Da Mimi's Guo Xiang cannot compare to her.

In last year's "Detective Dee: The Tongtian Empire", Zeng Li played the role of Wu Zetian. She was majestic, unpredictable and powerful. She could be ranked among the major versions of Wu Zetian.

In Chen Mao's heart, Zeng Li's business skills are very strong, his business is smooth, and his conditions are very good. He is a rare big Qingyi in the industry.

If you are more ambitious, even if you don't reach the level of four-dan double soldiers, you can easily join the ranks, especially in subjects such as ancient costumes and martial arts, and you are likely to form a personal brand.

However, what makes him and some Zeng Li fans hate the fact that Zeng Li really has no ambition for his acting career.

Almost every time his career makes some progress, he will enter a period of silence, and he rarely makes public appearances, nor does he accept media interviews or participate in programs.

The only way for many fans to know her is through Weibo, but it is hard to say that she is updated diligently.

The only thing that is gratifying is that although filming is not his heart, Zeng Li has never given up filming, especially in the past two years, he has been producing movies.

Especially in "Sword Rain", she is a rare heroine, and Cao Xuan plays a supporting role for her. She is definitely a top resource in the industry.

Many fans of Zeng Li are excited and looking forward to the rise of their idol. Zeng Li is almost 35 years old this year, and it’s time for him to become famous...

Chen Mao thought the same way. He hoped that Zeng Li would film more movies while he was still young, otherwise it would not be suitable for him to do many roles when he gets older.

Talking back to the plot of "Sword Rain", when Zeng Li first appeared, Chen Mao was still a little unsure whether this character was Xiao Yu or a new character.

When the plot flashes back later, the audience will understand what happened.

After the Zhang family was wiped out, Xiaoyu met the monk Lu Zhu. The two were entangled all the way, and eventually fell in love with each other. In the end, Lu Zhu sacrificed himself to enlighten Xiaoyu and made her give up the way of killing.

In fact, this scene is quite interesting, but the most outstanding characters are not Xiaoyu and Lu Zhu, but an old monk.

The latter is played by You Benchang, the actor of the classic Jigong. You Lao has a profound command of lines, a long charm, and a Zen feel. It is a pleasure to listen to it.

"Before Ananda, a disciple of the Buddha, became a monk, he met a young girl on the road and fell in love with her from then on. The Lord Buddha asked him how much he liked that girl.

Ananda replied: I would like to turn into a stone bridge and be exposed to the wind for five hundred years, the sun for five hundred years, and the rain for five hundred years, but only if this girl walks across the bridge..."

This passage is particularly famous, and it is also the most outstanding line in the entire movie. It contains both infatuation and Zen philosophy.

Especially the performance performed by You Lao's profound line skills is even more memorable.

Chen Mao felt that the lines were well written. Lu Zhu and the old monk did not appear much, but the characters immediately stood up and added a bit of depth to the movie.

In the next plot, Xiaoyu was influenced by Lu Zhu and decided to live a good life, so she changed her appearance and wandered around the market, and then met Cao Xuan.

With his unpretentious hairstyle and clothes, two small mustaches, hunched back, and erratic eyes, he looked like a cowardly little postman.

Looking at that familiar face, all viewers know that this character is not that simple.

How to put it this way, because the male protagonist of the original "Sword Rain" was played by a Korean, many people didn't know him at all, and their expectations for the character were not high. The surprise in the subsequent twist was enhanced.

But now that Cao Xuan is playing the role, he is too well-known, and the audience instinctively feels that this character is fishy.

Not to mention that he was pretending to be a pig to eat the tiger, but this character is really a pig, and many viewers probably thought he could fight back.

Sometimes, this can be regarded as one of the disadvantages of an actor being too popular. It is not conducive to portraying some special characters, and occasionally it will destroy the original positioning of the character.

According to the plot arrangement, the male protagonist's true identity should be revealed in the middle and late stages of the movie, but as soon as Cao Xuan showed up, some smart viewers began to speculate, and even guessed that the male protagonist was the young master who was killed at the beginning.

After all, Xiaoyu's change of appearance has confirmed the existence of the art of disguise. She can change it, and so can others.

When the hero suggested that Ah Sheng and the heroine were getting closer due to various accidents, Chen Mao became more and more determined in his conjecture and even wrote it down directly in his notebook.

"A union with secrets, the Chinese martial arts version of Mr. and Mrs. Smith."

However, if you guess it, you will guess it, but this setting is still very attractive, especially the final showdown where you reveal your identity or pretend to be a pig to eat the tiger, which can really satisfy the audience.

This kind of routine is not outdated even in 2022. There are similar books by Youdian and Lu, where the male and female protagonists hide each other's status as bosses and get married, and then show off their power outside and pretend to be cowardly to each other at home.

After that, the male and female protagonists completely became little people in the market. They met on the street and fell in love with each other. The two lonely people chose to rely on each other and finally got married.

This scene was very touching, especially the scene where the two of them were hiding from the rain and having an emotional moment under the eaves. It looked very sweet and made people forget about Lu Zhu before.

Some viewers even hope that it will end here and let the male and female protagonists live a normal life.

But it is obviously impossible for the movie to develop like this. Soon after, Xiaoyu's identity is revealed, and Blackstone sends people to hunt him down.

Fan Xiaopang's Ye Chanqing's comments on Xiao Yu and Zhang Asheng also contributed to the biggest laugh in the movie so far.

An ugly country woman.

A useless and incompetent street guy.

We don’t know whether the character Ye Chanqing is blind, or whether the director forcibly instills the character’s positioning into the audience.
To be continued...