The Founding of a Party 2011

Andy Webster, New York Times: "Revival" is a proud statement by an ascendant society. But it demonstrates that mainstream Chinese cinema can be as guilty of self-indulgent overstatement as anything out of the West. Read more

John Hartl, Seattle Times: Perhaps the translation is at fault here, but why does the dialogue consistently do so little to flesh out the characters? Read more

Maggie Lee, Hollywood Reporter: The highly-charged crowd scenes in which dissidents clash with authorities are staged with visual flair, conveying an exhilarating sense of self-empowerment which is the essence of revolution. Read more

Mark Olsen, Los Angeles Times: "Great Revival" is in many ways the very definition of propaganda - it even ends with an image of a waving flag - but "Revival" is too harmlessly flabby to be taken quite that seriously. Read more