To All the Boys I Loved Before

Never thought a teen romance movie on an online streaming service would be that engaging. It’s Christmas and I got nothing much to do so I thought I would just put on something light while I was making my beetroot juice. Read quite a bit about ‘To All the Boys I Loved Before’ so thought that I would give it a try. After all it is a teen romcom how hard would it be to follow the story while doing other things?

I was correct. The story was quite straight forward but it was funny and creative at the same time. The premise was quite simple. A girl who was obsessed with romantic novels wrote 5 love letters to the boys she thought she could be in love with but never sent them out. They were properly addressed but never sent. Circumstances changed and the letters got accidently sent. She had to pick up the pieces while controlling the damages to her and those around her. From that point onward, the question became “Would her high score student status be enough for her to survive this turmoil?”

For me kudos must be given to the casting. Netflix has demonstrated that they don’t stick with the traditional Hollywood casting choices as the front and centre was a mixed family. The well-known name for me here was John Corbett, who was trying to do his best as a single father while keeping together his professional career as an established gynaecologist. With three daughters in the family would his gynaecological knowledge be enough to helped him as a father at all? That was part of the fun watching the movie. Also, the brilliant minds of the girls always managed to cook up something that their father was not prepared for.

As Laura Jean, aka LJ, the middle daughter navigated this mess she created, she also created other opportunities for her own personal growth. Lana Condor was an excellent casting choice for the role as she radiates the intelligence that was clouded by silly romantic novels demonstrated by the character. The way she cooked up schemes after schemes to combat the disasters caused by her love letters was hilarious to watch. However, she nailed it when she told her partner in crime Pete (Noah Centineo) that she could handle it because romantic things are fun when they are fake.

It is a teen drama so of course you have all those typical mean girls’ stuff with over confident girls who think they are hotter than Mars treating other girls whom they deemed geeky, goth and unpretty like dirt. Scheming to get them embarrassed at school and showing off their trophy boyfriends, who might or might not care about them. There were a lot of things happening at school and they seemed like that’s all about their lives. However, ‘To All the Boys I Loved Before’ did not play safe to stay in the stereotypical territory. In fact, they broke down the Hollywood generalisation of how teenagers act in school giving them a bit more dimension in terms of characterisation.

I won’t talk about it too much in details as that could spoil some important plot points for the movie. It is not Oscar winning materials but for me it was a very pleasant surprise to watch something that breathed a refreshing life to the genre instead of sticking with the typical ‘horny boys and mean girls’ formula. I personally think that Netflix proved itself as a serious contender in the film and TV industry with the bold choices they are willing to make for their Netflix Originals materials. If you have a bit of time to kill, I highly recommend this refreshing piece of work for a lazy afternoon or a cosy Saturday night in.

To Act or Not To Act? That is the Question

Sometimes it is hard to figure out what you want. But as a kid there is something I always knew I want – that is to become an actor and perform on the stage one day.

That ‘dream’ of mine came through in some form. I eventually managed to attend Theatre School using my own money and eventually managed to get into a few productions. However, that ‘taste’ is not enough, it will never be enough. At the same time I have to admit that a lot of times circumstances were not with me – I did not grow up in Australia, do not have an established circle of theatre or media friends, and I am never in an ‘inner’ circle. Despite being told time and time again when I got into productions to show what I can do that I should be getting work all the time with the quality of work I delivered, a full time acting career never eventuate, at least at this point of my life.

So some people started asking – why bother? Why persist?

The answer is – that’s the only thing that gives me the motivation to continue to work in a full time job because I am doing this to stay afloat so I can wait for the next opportunity, and God knows when and how long I have to wait.

I still remember how I was first mesmerised by actors on the screen when I was a kid. At that young age, I did not know they were real people and just thought that ‘wow these imaginary people and pictures can make me laugh and cry’. When I saw news of those actors in the papers I thought ‘wow the papers wrote stories about these people, how cool is that’. Until one day in the streets I saw an actor in her flesh. I was shocked and my parents told me she is an actor. That was the moment I told myself – how cool is it to be in a job that you can tell story and drive other people’s emotion?

Many years went by and I was slowly working my way to what I want in my life. Being constantly in a position of trying to see ‘half glass empty’ as a ‘half glass full’ situation sometimes is exhausting. I am not a naturally optimistic person but being pessimistically optimistic sometimes take a toll on your resilience. However, every time when I felt exhausted about not going anywhere in my acting career I told myself if I gave up this dream, there would be nothing left.

My parents once thought that I wanted to be an actor because I wanted to have live that fake dream of being rich and famous. That was never the case. I just wanted to be a person who wants to do a job I love and have passion for and earn a decent living out of it. Being famous is not my thing, if people really know me. Throughout the years, my parents have come to realise that I am serious about the acting business because that is what I wanted. If anything, this is one of the most rewarding part of my struggle to become a full time actor.

I recently read an article about not letting a full time job to get in your way to a successful acting career. While I agreed to a lot of what that article said, for me it is simply not a choice I can make. The choice is there but it is not the one I will make. Having a mortgage and everything, especially when you are living in one of the most expensive cities in the world (I moved from the most expensive to the second most expensive, which is an improvement I guess), I need basic financial security to allow me to pursue what I want. Yes, sometimes I am exhausted from politics and other things at work, but I personally believe I will be even more exhausted if I need to worry about money all the time. Compared to a lot of my peers I am quite lucky as I have a more decent and constant stream of income most of the time. And to be honest sometimes I am glad that I have other works to distract me away from my occasional disappointment of an almost non-existing acting career.

Does that mean I am going to give up? No.

In all the years since I graduated from the Theatre School, I came to understand that you can only work for people who can see and appreciate what you can bring to the table. I may not be in any core circles or industry networks that can keep me employed from one job to another. But I do believe if you continue to do your best, one day hopefully someone will see it and offer you the next opportunity. I might need to trigger changes to my current circumstances but as a forever pessimistically optimistic person, I will need to evaluate all the pros and cons so I can make informed changes. One thing I am sure though is that I do not believe in moaning over my acting career as that is an exhausting and unproductive exercise.  I rather spent that time trying to figure out how to manoeuvre the maze of this industry and hopefully without compromising the integrity and standard I set for myself. I might need to pay or have had paid the price for my stubbornness on standards and integrity, but I believe a baseline is always required if you want to keep your feet on the ground to become a better actor. I just need to own up my choice, as I do for all the characters I portrayed so far.

At the end of the day, if you found a job or career that can make you feel alive when you are doing it, it can’t be wrong right?

Ant-man and The Wasp

After all the crazy events of The Infinity War, Marvel desperately needs some palette cleansers for its fans before breathing in further craziness for the previously named Part 2 movie. This palette cleanser is Ant-man and The Wasp.

Despite mixed review of the first movie, I was a total fan of the first Ant-man. It felt like Mission Impossible without the over-zealous seriousness on Tom Cruise’s face. As Kevin Feige, the Executive Producer of the MCU said, they wanted the Ant-man series to be heist movies. The first one delivered and safely to say the second one did that too.

The story of Ant-man and the Wasp happened after Captain America: Civil War and before the madness of The Infinity War. Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) struck a deal with the FBI on house arrest so he could continue to be a responsible father to his daughter Cassie. It is 3 days before the house arrest finishes but some grumpy and uninvited guests showed up and put everything on the line for him again. The Pyms desperately needed his help for he might be the key to unlock the secret to the existence of the original Wasp Janet, Hanks wife, who disappeared in the quantum realm when going sub-atomic in a mission. However, more than one party is actually interested in this knowledge and the technology, so chaos ensured.

What I liked about Ant-man and the Wasp is that, despite the titling, it is basically a Wasp movie as Ant-man failings were frequently covered and dealt with by the Wasp. Hope (Evangeline Lily) who took up her mother’s mantel proved that she is not just a side kick but a formidable partner that can outperform the title character in the last movie (still enjoy how she punched Scott’s face in the training in that movie). There was not damsel in distress as even Janet proved that she is more than what people once thought she was in her role. She is more of a survivor than just a helpless body waiting to be saved. But what I really like was that the motive for Ghost was so understandable that you could hardly hate her for doing what she was doing at all.  A lot of comic fans had issue with the MCU changing the gender of the character, but for me the full scale backstory (littered with Easter Eggs) made the character a lot richer and relatable than its comic counterpart. Things just made more sense with the MCU version of the character. Despite it is about Ant-man and The Wasp, the movie had lent substantial girl power to the whole MCU as none of the female characters were wallflowers. Even Cassie contributed significantly to ensure Scott did not get caught violating his house arrest deal and that was significant in my opinion. I also particularly like how Hope just tied up her hair into a pony tail when engaging in battle with a no bull shit attitude. There is no meticulously permed and straightened hair but just good old practical fighting looks.

Michael Pena returned as the comic relieve Luis with his gang and he certainly delivered again with his crazy story telling technique. Their interactions with the other parties who were after the Pym tech was so funny that I just couldn’t stop laughing. As a bunch of reformed ex-cons trying to sell security systems to clients they certainly built a very interesting dynamic and irony throughout the whole process.

After all Ant-man and the Wasp is an MCU movie, so it still needed to tie into part of the narratives, and particularly explain the world from a more microscopic or ground level point of view about life between Civil War and Infinity War. The most significant part for me was how it casually explained or hinted Ant-man’s role in Avengers 4, which was highly conjectured to be about time travelling and jumping to correct actions avoiding the catastrophic results at the end of the Infinity War. It also hinted on what could be coming in terms of the direction of MCU in Phase 4, where it was predicted that a number of current super heroes will be hanging up their shields and armours making space for a new generation to pick up the baton.

Standing alone, Ant-man and the Wasp is a very independent movie within the MCU as it represents its own genre. Within the MCU it sets up the stage for Avengers 4 and the much anticipated Captain Marvel next year. Personally I think it was a wise choice for the MCU to schedule Ant-man and the Wasp as a silent connector for all the current craziness exploded by The Infinity War. I personally enjoyed and appreciated it a lot.

Ocean's 8

Cate Blanchett once joked about there are only 8 women working in Hollywood, hence Ocean’s 8. But that joke aside, Ocean’s 8 does have the some of the most high-profile female actors in the industry so it is not surprising that it generates quite a bit of buzz for its release, especially it was once a male heavy franchise with the brotherhood of George Clooney and Brad Pitt.

Sandra Bullock played George Clooney’s Danny Ocean character’s sister Debbie. As a con woman she was conned and landed in jail for 5 years. But she didn’t spend her time in there for nothing as she plotted a perfect heist to be carried out as soon as she got out. She then sought out her pal Cate Blanchett to assemble a team of fits and misfits based on their skills. The plot then rolls on to how they put together everything and carried out the heist.

Performance wise there aren’t really a lot of stand outs as it is an ensemble movie. It feels like that the director was keen to make sure everyone has similar screen time while moving the plot forward. It is a wise move but then make it less memorable for each character. Also, during the process there were a lot of side plots that weren’t explored thoroughly making you wondering why. Though some of the loose ends were tied up later, you felt that they came a bit too late in the game to give you that “ah” moment. For me the stand out was Rhianna’s character 9-Ball and her sister. As Sandra Bullock’s Debbie wondered, what did their parents do? They look like social misfits but their technological skills surpassed anyone showed up in the movie (imagine Shuri in Black Panther but in the Bronx in New York). Also, Rhianna’s no bull straight to the point / work attitude made her a much sharper character in all. Sandra Bullock’s Debbie was good but then the web with her ex Claude made it kind of painful to watch for me. My personal point of view was that, if it is a girl power movie, you don’t need an ex-boyfriend side plot to make it relevant. It just dragged the whole level of energy down. Cate Blanchett, one of my favourite actors of the generation, really didn’t do much in my opinion. She was instrumental for putting the team together, but apart from that, I can’t really see what’s her major contribution. That said some of her scenes needed to be scrutinised closely as they became essential to the latter part of the movie. Anne Hathaway’s Daphne Kluger was interesting and at times quite funny. Her diva behaviours were definitely enjoyable to watch, especially her seemingly illogical logic about things. Other members of the party were there for their skills and they have their moments, especially for Helena Bonham-Carter’s amateur con-woman fashion designer. Her lack of professional con skills as compared to others was really funny to watch.

Ocean’s 8 is a heist movie, so in terms of that it has a lot to offer. But as I mentioned earlier, the movie felt more like a drag after the heist was completed and then when I found out more why the story hasn’t ended yet, I kind of already dropped my attention level and picking it up with a level of disengagement was hard. Although the movie had hinted there is more in the dialogue, it still feels a bit too much to me (apart from an outstanding cameo one of the members in Clooney’s franchise). We are here to watch the heist and when the heist is over, to keep the audience attention together we need something more than the reason that it put forward on the screen.

In all I did enjoy it, in the wave of #MeToo and girl power movement, Ocean’s 8 was a display of talented woman don’t necessarily need to play damsel in distress, witches or wall flowers. It was a great demonstration of good actors being put together with chemistry, and there were lots, which I think was no easy task with so many award winners in one movie. The chemistry level displayed probably is the reason why Ocean’s 8 gelled together so well.

Personally, I wish the movie focused more on the characters ability and work together than some insignificant minor thing that trivialised what the group originally tried to achieve. Nonetheless, I enjoyed my time in the theatre and did laugh through a few sequences.

Avengers: Infinity War

Never has the world been so eager to go to war. Infinity War did that. It has already broken a lot of first day opening records across the world and it seems this Marvel machine cannot be stopped, just like Thanos’ quest for the Infinity Stones.

Hype means high expectations, and there is a lot at stake both in terms of the story and the box office. Over 60 characters introduced in the last 18 movies of the last 10 years were assembled against their strongest, and probably deadliest threat – who would be safe if as Gamora said, Thanos managed to get all six stones and snaps his fingers?

There were a lot of storylines to tie together so that the convergence of universes would not look awkward and try-hard. The script really managed to do that. It jumps to different parts of the universe constantly but then none of them made you wonder “why are they there?” Also the way the common thread was weaved through the fabric of the story was clear as despite the Avengers are now divided and separated, they all understood the stake of losing and were, literally, willing to throw their lives to protect others.

The story in Infinity War picked up from where several other movies left off, namely:

  •          Captain America: Civil War
  •          Thor: Ragnarok
  •          Spiderman: Homecoming
  •          Black Panther
  •          Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

So if you are familiar with the endings (and post credit-scenes) of these movies, you will have no problem picking up the progress in Infinity War, as the movie started off right where Thor: Ragnarok left off and jumped right into actions in the 5th gear.  The pace is very fast as there are lots of things to do to refresh the memories of the MCU followers while keeping the new wheels in motion. From that perspective the Russo brothers did a brilliant job, because there wasn’t a single scene that left me wondering “why are they doing this?” Everything made sense from tying up seemingly loose ends from previous movies to establishing new threads of narrative for this and other upcoming movies. I believe one needs to be very diligent and thorough about the whole MCU in the last 10 years to be able to do that. Also probably the dressed rehearsal of Civil War provided the Russo brothers a clear vision on how to approach so many characters in one go and make them make sense again in this mega amalgamation of a movie.

As most people noted, not everyone made it into the movie. The much talked about love-hated-then-loved Hawkeye was nowhere to be seen but was addressed in a dialogue among some members of the group, and so was Ant-man, although nobody knew the Wasp exist yet at this stage. Then of course there are other characters they couldn’t really deal with such as Sharon Carter and Everett Ross, whom, in the super hero assembly against Thanos probably couldn’t offer much. Also Steve Rogers still being on the run did not help with any potential romance with poor Sharon. That said the romance arc between Scarlet Witch and Vision was really too good to be missed. So I am glad that the Russo brothers spent a bit of time to develop that arc in the movie. Very satisfying for me indeed. One of the other surprises for me was the resurgence of a very old character everyone was wondering in the last 10 years.

Infinity War still introduced some new characters, which is the most well publicised Black Order. The children of Thanos, as compared to the daughters of Thanos, aka Nebula and Gamora, who were supposed to be the next power house of destruction, in my opinion were quite under developed. They showed up high and mighty and ended up quite mediocre in the movie from my point of view. However, judging from previous Thanos minions, most of them are like that, which makes it more special when it came to the roles Nebula and Gamora played in Thanos greater schemes of things. And I must commend on the movie’s handling of the relationship among Nebular, Gamora and Thanos, as it at some point made you empathise on Thanos’ seemingly evil scheme despite all the bad things he had done to achieve this scheme. However, I personally would like to see more of the Titan storyline to make it a stronger case for Thanos’ motives as compared to just a story narrative to explain where he came from. The motives were mentioned here and there as emphasis but sometimes for me it is better to witness that struggle and downcast for Thanos so this back story became richer and more formidable as a strong motive of this seemingly evil deed that Thanos wanted to carry out.

As a Marvel movie, you can expect a lot of one liners and punch lines among these assorted groups of superheroes. The bantering exhibited by these group of characters were extremely spot on and what impressed me was that they still behaved in the way they behaved in their own franchises / universes but their behaviours were integrated into the overall tone of the movie flawlessly. They didn’t feel like they were tagged on for the sake of it but they were genuine character behaviours. Also these actors having inhabited these characters for so long in the past 10 years did help a lot to make these characters felt and looked truthful in Infinity War.

If you are never a superhero fan or never care about superhero movies, you will probably don’t like Infinity War or won’t care about it. I have read a review from someone from a prominent publication that when you read the lines you know he has no understanding of what Infinity War or the whole MCU is about. MCU is not just comic fan book tribute or service, but it is also an enormous piece of artwork that you need to actually understand how it was assembled to appreciate its relevance.

For me Infinity War impressed me through its holistic narrative that managed to tie together 18 different scripts written by different people and directed by different directors. That alone is a reason to appreciate it. But more importantly, Infinity War itself told a story that makes you empathise on both sides of the camp, and that, in a context of superhero movies, was an impressive accomplishment. Of course not to mention that it is so action packed and narrative rich that I was not even aware of the passing of time in the cinema. The only thing I really did not like about Infinity War was there was only one end credit scene. Most people in the cinema shared the same “WTH” moment with me when no mid-credit scene showed up when it seemingly acted like one is coming up – yeah it stopped briefly before full credits rolled. Damn you Russo brothers!

The Women of Black Panther

The Black Panther had hit the cinemas like a meteor storm crushing whatever box office records within a short period of time. At the time of writing it is still making it rounds and marking it territories.

A lot of credits were given to The Black Panther for breaking the super hero ethnic mode – being the African super hero that led in technology and skills. It was said to set an example for all ethnic minorities that you don’t need to be white or Anglo to become a super hero. Having said that I still feel that it would be quite amiss not to give credit to the strong female cast in the movie.

Yes, Black Panther is the titular role and everything in the movie is about him and his journey to become King and finding out what kind of King he wants to be. However, it was the women around him who made him who he is. Without the Queen Mother Ramonda, he would not have the wisdom and liberty to become the kind of King he wants to be. Without Shuri, his sister, he will not have the technology he was wielding to get him out of tight corners. Without Nakia, he would not be able to challenge his enemy as he did in the finale and without Okoye, he would not even have an army to back him up or even won the civil war at all.

And these women are not your typical warrior, they are tactical, they have principles, they have the wits to assess situations strategically and they have the courage that outmatched Black Panther himself. Ramonda kept Black Panther’s status in check, making sure he exhibits the behaviour of a real King and guided his moral radar to the throne. When situation eventuated, she was not afraid to get her hands dirty to achieve her goal and prepared to put her life on the line for the throne. Shuri was the tech gal that could easily outmatched Tony Stark. Her execution of technologies and her line of thoughts of how technology can be manipulated to achieve greater goals were reflected in each piece of gear that she crafted or each process or procedure that she carried out. A lot of gadgets were not even seen prior to The Black Panther in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and the function of each piece of gadget was designed with absolute precision. Nakia as a spy was worldly but engaging. Her determination to break out from your typical Wakanda warrior role (as reflected by the fact that she initially refused to put on the armour) forced Black Panther to re-examine what was meant to be a King in this modern world. Okoye’s loyalty to the throne was not blind and her courage to break out of unnecessary traditional bondage of her role provided the world as a stage for her to do whatever it took to bring the kingdom back on to the right track, no matter who her enemy was.

This group of women shaped The Black Panther into what he became at the end of the movie. Without them, The Black Panther was just a title that anyone could take. But with them, it became the heart and soul of Wakanda. Certainly, Black Panther himself did a lot of soul searching but his determination was comparatively weaker than his female counterparts, and this could be seen right from his first reunion with Nakia, which both Okoye and Shuri had predicted the outcome.

Without a doubt The Black Panther broke the barrier of ethnicity when it comes to super hero movies, in a similar way that Wonder Women did with the gender glass ceiling for super hero movies. However, in my opinion, The Black Panther further consolidated the role of women, including ethnic women, as strong characters that are not there to be saved or taken. It showed the world that these ethnic women can shape the world themselves, and in a lot of cases, they can do it better than the main hero in the movie.

There were talks about spin off movies with Okoye and further expanding the roles of Nakia and Shuri in the MCU. At this stage these are talks only. But for me it is quite clear that Marvel had finally opened up the stage of super heroism to a whole cast of women, who can join the ranks of the Black Widow and out matched the likes of Scarlet Witch and command their presence on their own. They managed to do in the TV landscape with Agents of SHIELD, but no the grounds have been broken in the movie world with The Black Panther. Captain Marvel might be coming with a lot of hype and anticipation, but the women of Black Panther had put forward some really big shoes for her to fill.

The Black Panther is great, but it greatness lies in the great female cast and characters more than the title character himself.

Big Little Lies

As per usual I had taken advantage of my long-haul flight catching up with my movie watching. However, this time I decided to do something else. Instead of going through the movie catalogue I was checking out the TV series. One of them particularly caught my eyes – “Big Little Lies”.

The hype around this series has been around for many moons, especially after its successes at the Globes and the Emmys. Also, the premise it visited was particularly relevant to the current social political climate. I checked the details of the series and noticed it has 7 episodes in total – which means a perfect fit for my 9 hours 30 minutes flight.

The premise was kind of similar to “The Desperate Housewives” but with a more serious tone. There were lots of dirty laundry but all of them people were trying to hide. In this glamourous suburb with enormous houses facing an endless stretch of beach and the roaring ocean, all dirty secrets were drowned out as much as possible. These women had made different decisions bringing them to this stage of the lives as the ultimate story unfolded and changed all of them in one go.

Nicole Kidman played Celeste Wright. A woman who gave up her high flying legal career to become a stay home mum for her twins. On the surface she got a pair of beautiful twins and a gorgeous husband, whom in everyone’s eyes couldn’t get enough of Celeste. But beneath this, this “couldn’t get enough of her” had led to serious consequences for the family. Celeste justified every action and decision until to a point that she needed to justify her justification. She did her best but is the best good enough for her? Nicole Kidman layered the character so well that it was haunting. Underneath Celeste there was a bit of Becca from “The Rabbit Hole”. Nicole Kidman had become so competent in playing seemingly strong but extremely vulnerable characters that it is scary. She handled each glance, each smile and each frowning of her forehead with such precisions that she was basically Celeste.

Reese Witherspoon was the outgoing, brave and opinionated Madeline who kept the audience wondering whether it was because of her ex-husband that she became who she was or whether it was the marriage to the current husband that morphed her into the current existence. It turned out there were more to the story and a story that was oblivious to everyone but a chosen observant few. She was always trying to recover as much as possible but it turned out recovery cannot be achieved through conscious efforts but via using the experience as the medicine for others. Reese Witherspoon had proved that she is not a one hit Oscar wonder but an actress with substantial substance. Similar to Celeste, Madeline put on a brave face, but the brave face was in a different context as she had more at stake than ever.

Shailene Woodley’s Jane Chapman could be regarded as the catalyst that triggered numerous chain reactions and slowly deconstructing the town. Being the non-glamour mum who tried to live out a horrid life experience while providing love and support to her son, she was constantly on the edge of the cliff. Madeline’s quick circumstantial friendship had helped accelerating the unravelling of the situation and it finally led to dire consequences for some. Jane’s treatment by the ganged-up mums had made her life even harder than it already was but she was a fighter, and that was the strong common factor between her and Madeline leading to the formation of an unlikely friendship that rocked the foundation of how female bonds should be established in this upper-class beach side community.

Laura Dern ‘s Renata Klein was in for a ride right from the start with the school incident. She represented the group of women who were successful in career but constantly trying to prove that they can be a successful mother too. Her reactions and actions to the circumstances as they unfolded were not unreasonable but at the same time not loveable. Her silent approval to the situation that her “allies” put Jane Chapman into made her the villain without the need to perform any villainous deeds. But was she the villain or she was just being made an accidental-villain that she had to unwilling participate?

“Big Little Lies” is a strong production with a cast of extremely strong actresses. Their chemistry was strong and there were sparks even in the seemingly most mundane scenes of having coffee or just kids pick up. It was the subtleness in everyone that generated tensions. These tensions were magnified by the exceptional “acting out” of the male cast such as Alexander Skarsgård and Adam Scott. The production was an art of contrast without announcing everything with a megaphone. And I think that was why I was so drawn into the story and the characters. The performance of the cast was so right on the money that there were occasions that I was glad that I was watching the whole thing in the darkness of the plane cabin.

For me without a doubt “Big Little Lies” is one of the most emotionally connected TV productions in the recent times. They dealt with real issues that our society is now dealing with but with grace. I just hope that HBO will not be just about milking the success in season 2 (as the book was completely finished with the miniseries) but making it relevant and maintaining the impact without making any of the characters’ storyline looking ridiculous. Personally, I am sceptical about having a season 2 but I will give it benefit of the doubt for the time being. In the meantime, I might revisit this master class again once I got a chance to do so.

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle

I have always been sceptical of sequels since I developed my own brand of cynicism over producer’s zest for milking something great into bare bones and skeletons.

Jumanji was one of my favourite movies since I started developing my own taste and critique in moving pictures. For me from the scene a kid was sucked into the game, to plot points where someone is surfing down the street on a main entrance door next to a croc; or expecting the worse from the thumping sound of stampede bursting through the library walls, Jumanji had sucked me into its world. The performance from the great Robin Williams for me was unmatched. It opened me up to the new possibilities of films. Jumanji always has a special place in my heart and I have seen it many times on both the large LDs and later DVDs.

When they announced Jumanji “Welcome to the Jungle”, I thought: why can’t they let good things stay as good things? Why must this be milked? And when I saw the initial production pictures, I was totally sickened by Karen Gillan’s “outlandish” outfit in a jungle. I thought do they have to downgrade this once loved movie to something sexist and irrelevant? Then came the first trailer, which provided a bit more context to the premise. Yet I was still sceptical. I wondered how much difference could you make to the story when you simply updated the premise from a board game to a video game? Where is the tension from the dice rolling and don’t know what is going to happen next?

Nonetheless, I decided to cast my scepticism aside and went into the cinema to see it. I believe if I want to make a fair judgment of this movie, the cinema is the only place to do so.

I was glad that I did.

Jumanji managed to redeploy the same formula with updated concepts. You can spot the similarities in structure and story with the first one but the experience was different. In this instalment, players were sucked into the original board game that transformed itself into a video game. The original board game self-consciously transformed itself into the new form to attract a new generation of players. As per usual, it claimed its first victim within the first 10 minutes and the plot fast forwarded to the modern times. And this is the part things changed and got modernised.

The new generation of players now take up “Avatars” in the game, and this completely explained Karen Gillan’s outfit and everything made sense. As a video game player myself, I appreciate how they sarcastically discussed how ridiculous a lot of video games have female players dressed in ways that are totally inappropriate for the adventures they are about to go through. Also the mix of characters against their avatars added additional layers to character development, as sometimes the true identity retained its own character but then other times they need to play along involuntarily the function or place of their in-game avatars. That made the movie very entertaining to watch. I personally think the Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Jack Black (whom I usually did not like) and Karen Gillan did exceptional jobs for their characters.

There are lots of modern video game references in the movie, from pop up characters stats, NPC (Non-playable characters), to involuntary cutscenes and level building etc. As a gamer they are all good laughs and Easter eggs. What I appreciate was how they deployed these gags in relation to the story plot, which made them make so much more sense than just simply throwing them out for the sake of referencing them.

The movie also smartly employed time stamped related gags to depict the shift of what was considered as popular culture across 20 years. It was not kind to some of the characters, but then this nod to the older periods enriched the story context making it more multi-dimensional than being just a pure video game adventure movie. Both Tron and Jumanji are “sequels” to the original but by allowing Jumanji to go wild with imagination based on the video game culture, it trumped the Tron sequel which was just a flashier version of the old thing.

Jumanji is by no means without flaws. For example the splitting of worlds and avatars sometimes left me feeling not knowing enough about the avatars because apparently they have their own stories and parts in the video game story, but that was never really more extensively investigated as it focused heavily on how the real life players finally worked together to overcome their trials. Also the fact that the game transformed itself made it a bit more sinister than something that was unknown and triggered, as it was in the original movie. Further I don’t understand how the game landed back on the American shores as it was quite apparent (to me at least) it landed in a French speaking territory when the last movie ended post credit.  But probably a lot of people did not remember that or haven’t seen the original.

In all Jumanji “Welcome to the Jungle” was quite an entertaining movie for the holidays. I enjoyed my ride with the characters and laughed out loud in certain places. But then since it was very heavily culturally referenced, I do not know whether non-gamers would be able to enjoy it as much as I did. Surely they explained certain video game concepts along the way, but then I do not know whether that would be too much for non-gamers to absorb them while trying to understand the gags.

But in the end I enjoyed it and I am glad that I did not go into the theatre with preconceived assumptions. Guess it always worth opening your eyes and mind a bit.

Justice League

Justice League 02.jpg

It is no secret that the DC Extended Universe is lagging behind the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Not only that it feels like an afterthought after the success of MCU but it also failed to capture the audience with some heavily overused properties. The significant turnaround was Wonder Women, that took the world by “wonder”. Its success brought hope back to Warner Brothers and DC, but how does the latest entry Justice League stack up?

The events of Justice League happened after the events of Batman Vs Superman, the movie in many ways had only succeeded in creating a hype for Wonder Woman, but not critical success for its outing. Batman, acknowledging his mistake was trying to make it right. He acquired the files of Lux Luthor after the events of Suicide Squad and began assembling a team to deal with an alien invasion that he sensed is coming.

Justice League all of a sudden introduced 3 new characters and attempting to speed through their backstory become a necessity. Most of those backstories were told through conversation, which is quite smart, or just critical scenes to bring us up to date about these new characters’ life. However, once all the backstory stuff got dealt with it is time for actions. There are lots of them and they are all spectacular. Similar to Avengers, with so many superheroes on display there are a lot more superpower fanfare. However, for me the missed opportunity was the collaboration of powers among them. Sure, there were scenes they helped each other out, but what I was looking for was things what they did in the Avengers where superheroes complement each other with their superpowers. Like Steve Rogers launching Black Widow into the sky and Ant-man taking advantage of Hawkseye’s arrow. There are lots of group fighting in Justice League but it still feels like everyone was doing his / her own stuff.

Ezra Miller’s Flash was more interesting and fun than I expected. I was quite sceptical when they announced a different acting playing the same role while the Flash series is still doing well on the small screen. But Ezra Miller managed to craft the movie version of Flash into his own, making it a fun character to watch. In fact Flash is the major comic relief in the whole movie. The scene where he told Batman after he nearly threw up sawing those bug like enemies that he didn’t like bugs was hilarious. Cyborg, despite playing an important role in the plot didn’t really get much opportunity to shine. Most of the time in the first half he was angry then later it was all about the mission. Jason Momoa’s Aquaman, well, in my opinion, is what you saw in the trailers is what you get. Not that they are bad, but I was hoping for more surprises as he was hyped as the next major entry to the Universe. I like the fact that they acknowledged Batman’s aging in this movie but wonder whether that would mean Ben Affleck’s Batman would be phased out or playing a much smaller role in the future installments, if there are more. Strangely enough the story line of Lois Lane was the most moving for me, the lost and hope and determination was a remarkable journey in the film despite it was just one of the minor supporting arc. Amy Adams and Diane Lane without a doubt added a lot of meat to the bones for Justice League.

Justice League is a big budget movie and it was meant to be a major entrance to the DC Extended Universe. While it succeeded in bringing a number of superheroes together, I still felt like the movie was a rush out of the gate. Don’t get me wrong, it is extremely entertaining and I enjoyed it. But it didn’t have that solid foundation feel that I got when I saw the first Avengers movie. You can definitely sense that DC is trying to play catch up. Things didn’t fall apart but it was not solid story telling at this point. Maybe DC has some other tricks up their sleeves, but Justice League did not make me want for more in an anticipation sense. I will still see the next one if it comes out, but it was not like “I can’t wait for the next one”. It managed to entertain without a doubt, but it needs to do more to convince audience this is a universe that worth invested into.

Nonetheless, as a first entrance to one of the most recognised superhero conglomerates, Justice League in my opinion did not disappoint. Can it be better? Yes. But it is not redeemable, a definite No. One can only hope from this point onward Warner Brothers and DC will avoid further mis-steps to discredit what is already a shaky ground.

 

Wonder Woman

Wonder Woman was a surprised take on the superhero movies. Not only that it is the first female superhero movies that did not overly sexualise their images, it was surprisingly grounded on the common people level. And I think that is what made Wonder Woman stood out not just as a superhero movie but also as a movie itself.

The back story of Woman Wonder had been told again and again in different ways but the innocent and straightforward (even hot headed) approach to achieving world peace laid a great foundation for Diana (Prince) to grow and evolve into whom we previously (or later in terms of timeline)  saw in Batman Vs Superman.

I remember I thought Wonder Woman was under-utilised in Batman Vs Superman and her surprises were mostly taken out in the trailers. So the retrospective background story gave Warner Bros a chance to reposition Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman characterisation that complimented the Batman Vs Superman while completely 3-dimensionalised her to a full fledge character. For me it is great to have Patty Jenkins, a female director, who doesn’t compromise to be at the helm of the movie. As I previously mentioned a lot of female superheroes were overly sexualised in this whole presumptuous male fan boy world. Just look at the standalone Cat Woman movie, together with Elektra and Aeon Flux. Even Black Widow in the early stages were being focused on her looks, which eventually, thanks to Joss Whedon reformed her into a much richer character in the Avengers movies. With Patty Jenkins, Wonder Woman’s outfit is more of a utilitarian armour for movement and maximum efficiency. It was not about boobs and booty and with the ferocity Gal Gadot put into the character, she became a superhero that everyone would look up to.

Even though I felt that Wonder Woman will be a different kind of movie I was scared to see it initially because I was afraid that the hype at launch would not do it justice. So I waited till recently and decided to go see it spontaneously and the decision was a correct one. I was totally hooked and engaged with the characters. The pace was fast no question but even that it was possible to craft a number of really memorable characters whom you cared for along the journey. The heartbreaks and disappointment and the struggles all became very real for those characters. It would be nice to find out more but then it will be at the expense of the length of the movie. Steve Trevor took Diana into a man’s world only to have Diana turning the table and having the men following her lead was a great touch to the movie. From how they were sceptical of her to how they just trust her and became her enablers to achieve her goals was a great comrade story to be told.

It is a superhero movie so there is no way that there won’t be special effects. But the special effects were not there for the spectacular spectacular, they were part of the story. This marks a huge difference from let’s say Batman Vs Superman. The no man’s land sequence is still one of the most memorable scenes in recent superhero movie history, if not just movie history. That was the first time you have a full view of Diana as Wonder Woman, not as a costumed hero, but as a full fledge warrior going to war because of the injustice she saw. The first time you saw Wonder Woman as Wonder Woman was a moment of empowerment and belief. That cannot be stronger than anything as supposed to like sizing up some female superheroes’ butts and boobs then their faces.

The other great thing about the movie was that strong Amazonian heavy metal soundtrack. I still remember the brief impact it had when Gal Gadot showed up in Batman Vs Superman. But now in her own movie, the soundtrack not only create an atmosphere for the character but also created a heavy sense of pressure for her enemies. This contrasts with the softer and funnier scenes creating a very sharp image of who we are dealing with on the battle fields. The script paced the different scenes well but the soundtrack gave life to the world itself.

If I want to pick bones out of an egg, the only thing I was not as satisfied was the apparent choice of the final villain. When that character showed up, in the second scene you already knew that that character is the villain Diana was hunting for to bring peace back to the world. However, this did not spoil the movie as such.  Just that it would be great to have been presented a few more choices so we can be left in suspense for a bit longer.

Wonder Woman by no means is a perfect movie but it is perfect enough for me to revisit it again and again in the future. Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman put a great spin on what was considered as a classic American comic hero (well to be fair she is Amazonian not American) so I am glad that they go with her instead of some blonde bimbo with dyed hair. Also the fierceness that Gal Gadot brought to the character made Wonder Woman one of the most memorable superhero characters on screen so far, and to be honest with you, that totally eclipsed all her male counterparts since the start of the DC Extended Universe. It is without a doubt now it brings huge pressure to the future Captain Marvel movie for the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).

I do not know how the Justice League movie would work out, but I certainly would love to see more of Wonder Woman in action, as long as they got it right. And I hope they would.

Beauty and the Beast

It’s been some time since ‘Beauty and the Beast’ hit the screen. Since then it has gained new life through hopping onto various portable (and not so portable) media and reincarnated itself into a world grossing stage show. However with Hollywood recent years’ of obsession for remakes, it was just a matter of time that ‘Beauty and the Beast’ will be hooked up with the milking machine.

I have been sceptical about the real life remake. After all it is a well-loved animation (especially by me) will really well established characters. Our mind frames were solidly set by the animation itself. So when I first saw the trailer, just snippets of various well known scenes, I can’t help but wonder, ‘would the whole movie hold up?’

Emma Watson, one of the more intriguing actresses of the younger generation was one of the reasons I decided to give it a go. Her growth and evolution as an actress in the Harry Potter series proved that she can act, to a certain point. However her works in ‘The Bling Ring’, ‘The Perks of Being a Wall Flower’, and ‘My Week with Marilyn’ had surprised me not just as an actress, but also as an artist. Her willingness to explore more interesting characters disregarding the importance of those roles made me felt that she is an artist with a clear vision what directions she wants to go. 

Playing Belle is not an easy task. The animated character is too well established and they are big shoes to fill. Emma’s Belle cannot say is weak (in terms of characterisation) but you can certainly see a few moments of uncertainties in the character as what Belle was supposed to do in those scenes. For me this is particularly obvious in the opening market scene as I don’t really know what she was thinking while she was singing about how bored the provincial life was. For me I was looking for the care free and quirkiness in Belle that sets her apart from the crowd. But in the opening scene it just became Belle walking through the village singing for no purpose.

That said, Emma’s performance gradually evolved as the movie progressed. At story points that require deeper and stronger emotional range, Emma Watsons without a doubt delivered. The stiffness and wavering in the earlier scenes were gone. This added a lot of authenticity to what seemingly a story book turned animation turned real life movie. Basically ‘Beauty and the Beast’ is about Belle in terms of performance as most of the other big name actors such as Ian McKellen, Emma Thompson, Ewan McGreggor are all hidden behind the animated version of themselves most of the time. Kevin Klein as Maurice didn’t really have a lot to show, which was not surprising as Belle’s father has always been a supporting role. However what surprised me was how much life Luke Evans and Josh Gad’s Gaston and LeFou brought to the movie. Luke Evans even managed to make Gaston more lovable than his animated counterpart, which is quite hard to achieve. Josh Gad’s LeFou’s sexuality has been the centre of attention, but then that discussion overshadowed the comic and relevance he provided to this seemingly extremely second line supporting role. He made people wonder where he is whenever we see Gaston on screen. And when Gaston is strutting his stuff, we looked forward to what other silly things would come out of his mouth. The Gaston song in the bar is as memorable as one could expect.

Dan Stevens as the Beast is quietly sadly that it really didn’t give Dan Stevens as great an opportunity to shine as despite being a central character he is closely sealed behind the special effects. Also the CGI team made sure he looks exactly like the one in the animation, so there is really not a lot for him to show at the end of the day.

Transiting from animation to real life, ‘Beauty and the Beast’ had changed things around here and there a bit to make it more believable as a real life story. The Enchantress now has more air time and there are few minor plot point changes to make it possible with real actors. There are also a few new songs written for the movie, which I thought blend surprisingly good with the old songs. The notable ones are Belle’s song about the old Paris she thought she knew and the Beast’s song lamenting on what he brought upon himself because of his arrogance. But the ‘Be Our Guest’ song was just spectacular. It managed to bring back the old charm in a real life format, which I thought was quite amazing. As for the ballroom dance scene, I still think I like the animated version better as the lighting is a bit more hopelessly romantic than the real life counterpart.

Overall ‘Beauty and the Beast’ did not disappoint and it has some great moments. I think for those who haven’t seen the animation will enjoy a lot better than someone like me who had watched the animation so many times that can’t help but keep referencing and comparing. I did enjoy the movie though, and probably will watch it again on different medium. As after all it is a great love story that I think worth telling (and watching).

Bright Lights

Bright Lights was made before the passing of Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds. It was intended to record the lives of a very unconventional family. Both Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds are mega stars in their own right and that had more or less caused an impact on their mother-daughter relationship in their early years. Todd Fisher, the brother managed to stay out of the limelight but then he was also tasked to witness how fame adversely impacted on his family during the early years.

Bright Lights is a very frank account of a snapshot of the family legacy. Both Carrie and Debbie are larger than life characters in real life and the great thing about this documentary is that they do not shy away from their struggles. It is not a reality show but an account of the daily struggles they experienced now that they are older but still trying to live up to other people’s expectations of their legacy. It is moving, funny and sometimes sad.

Debbie Reynolds is basically the young girl we knew trapped in a flailing body. You can see life and energy in her eyes but her body was unable to catch up. That is the aspect that worried Todd and Carrie most as they witnessed how their mother’s refusal to slow down was taking a toll on her body. Debbie still wants to be the Debbie she once was but her body acted otherwise. Nonetheless, it is her positive outlook of life that kept enabling her to do “another one last show” after the last. She loves being on the stage and you could see life gushing out of her when she is on the stage interacting with her audience. And you can definitely see her strength to soldier on in the segment about receiving the Life Achievement Award from the Screen Actors Guild. For Carrie and Todd, her insistence to attend was reckless considering her health but nonetheless, as Carrie sang in one of Debbie’s show, she would never say no to her mother.

The documentary also gave a frank account of the breakdown and crisis Carrie Fisher went through post Star Wars years. Her depression and drug addiction to try to be herself again without the need to live up to other people’s expectations was nothing but raw. Debbie Reynolds gave an account of how she didn’t know how to help because the mental illness was not diagnosed (because it was unknown at that time) and how she and Todd were on their toes about Carrie’s spiralling out of control. The emotion was unrehearsed and you can still tell that these events had permanently scarred the family. Carrie Fisher on the other hand are more positive in outlook as now she felt she could really be herself. She knew where she was and you could see how she tried to fight for her own right when she was forced to lose weight for Star Wars: The Force Awaken. As she put it, when she was young she didn’t know what to do but she knew she didn’t like what she was being asked to do. And that was one of the main reasons for her spiralling. She mentioned that there were things and conversation inside Postcards from the Edges that did happen at that time and she didn’t want to hide them.

The so called sibling rivalry between Todd and Carrie was also touched on. However, it is less than a rivalry but more of an unfairness that Carrie felt as she believed “Todd had got it much easier” because Debbie had no expectations for Todd to fill her or his father’s shoes. The whole burden was rest upon Carrie. This is also why Carrie did not want to become a singer as a sign of rebellion to her mother, only to fall into the mega machine of Star Wars unwittingly. As Todd said, Carrie thought it would just be a B Grade Sci-fi movie not knowing that she had thrown herself into the limelight that she had fought so hard to avoid.

There was also an account of Debbie Reynolds trying to establish a museum for the film industry without success. She spent a lot of her savings rescuing memorabilia for the industry but only met with solid walls when trying to convince funders to build a museum to centrally hold these items for the future generation to understand and appreciate. The heartbreak that Todd felt for his mother in her relentless quests to achieve this lifetime goal was very emotional. It also gave us a glimpse of how the American film industry is not interested in looking back but capitalise everything they could. This is a very sad portrayal of how lack of long term vision the American film industry is.

Both Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher are no longer with us. It is a huge loss to a legacy of a family but at the same time Bright Lights gave us a good glimpse of this family, and how human they are despite all the limelight that had ushered them around throughout their lives. We will miss them both dearly and I believe they will continue to be the bright lights they were to many as when they were with us.

The Star of Princess Leia

2016 sees the loss of a lot of iconic figures in the entertainment business. I was telling a friend that when people you knew as a kid and saw them as icon or idols or people you looked up to are dropping off like flies, you know you are really growing old.

One of the latest casualty was Carrie Fisher, the world’s beloved Princess Leia from the Star Wars series. Even with the success of the latest ‘The Force Awaken’, the original Star Wars series is still seen by a lot of people, especially the generation X, or the “X’ers” as the token and best of the whole saga. I personally have watched it countless number of times, and at one stage it was my cheer up movie when I was down, although can’t really say ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ was cheering in any sense. But at least they made me feel I had something to hold on to.

With Carrie Fisher’s passing, it suddenly created a void in this perfection of the Star Wars universe that was once a big part of me. One of the things I admired about Carrie Fisher is that she did not try to maintain the princess visage to maintain a perfect image. She is brave enough to admit her follies and how hard she worked to try to amend them. The courage that was seen in her book ‘Postcard from the Edges’ was something that inspired me that there is nothing too scary to face if you truly want to meet the challenges of your life. Not that I would want to dabble in drugs or alcohol addiction or any kind of such things but the courage to face them and tried to tackle them is a courage I personally feel that I should have if I want to face the obstacles in my life. It gave me the energy I needed to summon when I am in a bad situation in my life.

Carrie Fisher also did not shy away from talking about misogyny and sexism in the entertainment industry. What she said still exists but her views had been very frank – from her unwillingly and unwittingly compliance to what the industry regarded as standards for actresses’ looks and how they should behave; to how wrong she felt and how she did not like that she had compromised to perpetuate this in the industry. She once talked about how her iconic Princess Leia hairstyle came by because “her face were considered as too chubby for the screen so they created two big buns to contain her face to make her look less chubby”. It was funny now but it must be extremely hurtful when people talked about that in her face at that time when she was merely 19.

I still remembered how I could not understand as a kid that why Princess Leia needed to wear that golden bikini in ‘Return of the Jedi’ when she was supposed to be a kick ass heroine. Not that she did not look pretty, she looked extremely hot in it in fact, but as a kid I just couldn’t make sense of that outfit and how it fit into all the other things that she was doing at that time. It did not necessarily destroyed my view on the character but it was one of the unsolved riddles for me as a kid until Carrie Fisher talked about it candidly much much later. This also helped me understood how our society cannot irrevocably accept strong women and heroines and must at some point sexualise them so that they, even as strong women, have a place in a man’s world. This is the sad world that we are living in.

Carrie Fisher’s passing burnt a hole in me in a way that it created a strange sense inside me about losing someone I never knew in person but yet extremely integral to me in most of my life. I never felt such kind of loss as I did with Carrie Fisher because no matter what happened in real life, she would always be the strong, quick wit and sharp tongued Princess Leia, golden bikini cladding or not. She is not a side kick to any men in Star Wars but a strategist and diplomat that no men in the whole saga was able to become, lightsabre wielding or not.

Star Wars will never mean the same to me, but Star Wars will also remain the same for me as I am not going to let this precious memory of an icon and role model to depart from me simply because of Carrie Fisher’s passing. She will always be the Princess Leia whom I respect and look up to.

Stranger Things

Have heard a lot about Stranger Things. Since its debut on Netflix it has created a buzz around it and the kids from the show are everywhere. So true to my usual way of dealing with media hype about shows, I decided to stay away from it as I do not want that hype to create unnecessary expectations that lead to disappointment. Recent events in the real world triggered a self-imposed embargo on the real word, so I needed find something to do to fill up my usual time I spent on reading news and watching current affairs on YouTube. Strangely enough, Stranger Things became something I decided to try on.

Watching the show without thinking about the hype of the show did allow me to look at the show objectively. And the verdict? It was an extremely engaging show that you feel like you have experienced before at the same time.

The premise of the show was quite straightforward, a small quiet town got entangled into a bigger mess brought to them by a mistake that the Government was trying to cover up. As the offenders tried to clean the mess up, it just got messier and messier each day. Centre of the plot were three boys who were trying to find their friend who went missing and in the process stumbled upon bigger and scarier stuff. There isn’t a lot of strange lore and philosophy in it but the show smartly ties the Dungeons and Dragon (I think so) lore into the whole premise making it very accessible for people who grew up with that game.  And this also made it very clear what this show is about. This was especially smart when they tried to explain the alternate dimension with the game board.

One of my pleasant surprises was Winona Ryder (I did not look up anything about the show beforehand so I did not know who were in it apart from the kids) as I haven’t seen much of her since Girl, Interrupted and thought that she was truly forsaken by the ageist Hollywood. Now probably in her forties or even late forties, she has morphed into an extremely refined actress who portrait the mentally exhausted mum trying to find her missing child perfectly. She has always been a good actor in my opinion but her beauty in her younger years had prevented her to be cast into more interesting roles until Girl, Interrupted. So it was great to see her back in top form in Stranger Things.  Other actors were good though they were completely overshadowed by the kids, who were the central characters in the story. The authenticity of the kids was impeccable and I think that is the good thing about kid actors. They were really a blank canvas acting on their instincts. And that gave their performances so much realism than some adults who were trying to “act as the characters”. Whether this trail of excellent authentic performance could continue in season 2 is yet to be seen, but the kids in the show truly shone and it was really about them.

I mentioned that Stranger Things for me was engaging yet familiar. This was because throughout the whole show you can feel the influence of a lot of 80s and 90s stuff in this genre popping up everywhere. First up, the Upside Down dimension has an extremely strong Silent Hill feel with the ashes flying around and the walls covered by weird things like blood vessels. When it switches over to this dimension, it switches over in a similar way and the thin veil between the two dimensions feels extremely Silent Hill. Then the scene where they found the missing kid, it strongly reminded me of a scene in Aliens when the crew found the nest of the Alien Queen. Further, the kids riding on bikes chased by cars had a strong ET feel to it and not to mention the design of the monster looks very similar to the lickers in the Resident Evil series. Probably these were what inspired the premise of the show I don’t know but that does not mean that I have issues with it. In fact it is because of this familiarity and together with an extremely original story with excellent pacing, they made the show more engaging for me than I would have expected.

Stranger Things has been commissioned for another season. Whether it would be as successful is still too early to say. However, with the huge expectation created by the first season, there sure will be big shoes to fill and high bars to reach. I would in the meantime just enjoy the nostalgic yet new experience brought to me by this unique show.

If you like ET, Silent Hill, Aliens, Resident Evil, and sometimes moments of teen horror flicks, you would probably like this show. So check it out if you happen to have a Netflix account.

Sense and Sensibility...and Zombies

In a world that keeps moving and moving at lightning speed, over the years we have created a culture that craves for instant gratification and satisfaction. This culture while is sensually appealing is undermining the very basic foundation of our society beyond our notice.

In my line of work, a lot of things are based on evidence (service improvement) and actual experience (acting). I was taught from a young age that nothing comes quickly but you have to look for them, and if you are willing to look hard enough you will find your answers and thus leads to your personal growth.

However, in a technologically advanced world we are always bombarded with information, be that accurate or not. As a human tendency we tend to filter information to our own liking and gradually developed an information bubble that screens out anything that does not please our eyes or our ears. This tendency of information screening has become worrisome as we can no longer develop balanced views of our world, and thus be truly informed and open minded.

One may say, “If I like something I just like something, why do I need to be open minded and informed?” That is by theory true. If you like chocolate you can eat chocolate to your heart’s consent, it doesn’t bother anyone except you. However, with the predominance of social media and the various platforms available to us, what you like is no longer about what you like. We are living in an age of easy comments on social media. We constantly exercise our freedom of speech to justify our rights to comment. However, in the process we gradually forgot how these ill-informed, one sided comments would affect or hurt our society. When we put something out there, it is no longer about what we like or think but what we tell people this is how things should be according to your own world view. One may or may not notice, every piece of comment floating around on social media will have an effect, no matter big or small. Ill-informed and one sided comments as such do not inform our society but create distorted space in our society that further digresses from the core issue and further distorts views about those issues.

For example, the current marriage equality debate in Australia essentially is not a debate. When we tear this apart and look at it closely, the centre of the debate are arguments such as “The Bible said marriage is between a man and a woman not two person of the same sex”, “I personally do not like this” and “This is not the society I grew up in and should remain so”. None of these arguments are about what positive or negative effect providing marriage equality would have to our society. The negative effects about equating marriage equality put out by the “no camp” about it encourages paedophilia, bestiality and forcing gender fluidity into school programs have no evidence support at all, but are catchy in political means. Even the whole notion that Australia is a Christian country is not correct as Australia had not declared itself as a Christian country constitutionally. What should have been looked at is – would marriage equality brought on issues that we are not constitutionally and legally prepared for? Instead of how a sector of the society wants to see marriage as, we should be looking at some basic human rights, which is what a democratic society is built upon, because anything other than that is irrelevant from a social and constitutional point of view.

Looking further away, the current mess America had got itself into with Donald Trump is another example of such issue. Donald Trump is used to throwing out comments in a manner that sound like fact (hence his casual and assertive tones in his comments), and that is appealing to people who just take words for granted. These people can be intelligent but also intellectually lazy. So as momentum built, fact checking is no longer an important part in Trump’s campaign because people who support him, including the right wing media in the States, do not think fact checking is important anymore. They just want to hear things that fit their world view and for them this is a good President candidate. They will jump to their defence with more off the cuff but flashy comments, and eventually creating this huge void of commentary politics that is doing nobody any good. In fact during the debate on Monday, what Hilary Clinton did was providing fact checking to everything Donald Trump said and claimed he did not say to the audience, which quickly unravelled into a consolidation of exposure of Trump’s lies throughout the whole campaign. The fact that the Trump camp immediately labelling Clinton as nasty and mean because she was exposing all the lies by facts showed that Trump’s campaign thrives on nothing but unfound comments and claims, if not lies. However, the sad fact is that the void the campaign had created is so big now it won’t dent his campaign a bit unless the Republican Party acts, which is not going to happen at this stage.

What saddens me in the current stage of our society is that levelled and balanced evidence based debates are no long that relevant anymore. We have commercial journalist who thrive on catchy headlines and sensational reporting that sometimes are not based on evidence but their own world view or rating attraction potentials. We have media conglomerates that promote ignorance is good and feed their audience with baseless “facts” as actual facts, and these audiences just absorb it like a sponge in the ocean and being nurtured into brain craving zombies to satisfy their brainless hunger for misinformation. When facts and evidence were presented, they were dismissed and criticised forcefully by these media conglomerates trying to suppress them under the disguise of freedom of speech. And even more disappointing is that this kind of practice is championed by some high profile politicians across the world to garner cheap and easy support from the uninformed, which seem to be growing at an exponential rate.

I do not believe there is a Utopia, as humanity had throughout history proved that it is unable to deliver that. But with a bit of sense and sensibility about our society and our world, I do believe that we could live in harmony and with respect at the very least. I will just keep hoping even if it is a fool’s hope at this stage.

To Go! or Not to Go!?

My urb converted into a virtual world

My urb converted into a virtual world

For Pokemon Go!, either you are a Goer or No-Goer. The game came out last week and surprisingly took the world by storm. Servers were crashed, headlines – good and bad were written, and people are talking about it. However, as with all things, it created a whole new bunch of haters. Also as with all things, haters will always be haters as their existence is not for conversion but preaching hatred, whatever it is based on.

For me, Pokemon Go! is a great game because it is Pokemon, period. As someone from the Pokemon generation we understood why it is important to us. So with a game that married modern technologies with a franchise that we have been following since we were kids, of course we will not pass the opportunity out. The fact is, every single Pokemoner had at some stage wishing that they could catch Pokemons in the real world, which is what Pokemon Go! offers.

What made Pokemon Go! successful is that it successfully modernised a franchise of 20 years old that has a huge following and transformed it into a modern, portable and wish fulfilling game. The application of augmented reality in Pokemon Go! places these cute little creatures into our “real life” habitat turning every part of the world into Kanto, the fictional Pokemon world. You can catch them all, you can battle in the virtual gyms to train them up, and you can evolve your Pokemons, just like what you did in all those games on various Nintendo handheld consoles. The only difference is this time the trainer is YOU, not a persona in the game that Nintendo created for you. That aspect further broke down the barrier between you and your Pokemons.

There are a lot of bashers for the game since the phenomenon started. I have a colleague questioning me catching Pokemon around the urbs and thought it is a waste of time. According to him I should go out do some exercise and talk to people instead. My reply was any comments on the game without first understanding the game is lame and I would take no notice of them. I told him his opinion is just like I say to him playing golf is lame (he is a golfer) as it is just a bunch of old men walking on a piece of lawn and swinging their poles. He laughed and said they exercise as they walk and they socialise as they talk. I replied “Exactly! This game requires you to go walk about to catch and hatch Pokemons and along the way you interact with other users in real life finding out more about where to catch Pokemons and share the same passion with each other.” From what I read online, a lot of so called bashers or haters don’t really understand the game or haven’t even tried the game. They read two paragraphs in the papers and started talking shit about the game as if they were experts. For me I don’t really care about their opinions as haters are not there to be converted anyway, so why bother? You can only educate people who have the curiosity in life and want to be educated.

As for reports of people hurting themselves while playing the game, it is not game’s fault but the players’ fault. You cannot blame the game when it is the people who were playing the game acting out irresponsibly. It is just like people driving without paying attention to the road and crashed into a lake or a tree. Is it the car’s fault? People giving out credit card information without thinking whether it is secured to do so, is it the credit card’s fault? People talking on their mobile phones and walked into a manhole, is it the mobile phone’s fault? For me all this Pokemon Go! blaming is just people want to shift responsibility as apparently an application on a phone cannot defend itself against criticisms. What we need to understand is people should always play the game responsibly, that is what needs to be communicated. But then whether people took the advice is another matter.

One thing I appreciate about my mum is that she would try to understand before she makes comments. She messaged me on the second day the game came out and asked me whether I was playing it. When I told her yes I am playing it, she called me to understand how the game operates and stuff before asking me to play responsibly. Yes, I cannot expect everyone to act like my mum, but if we want responsible players, we need to have responsible commentators and critics too. Ignorance will only breed ignorance and I can’t see how this would do any good to our society <cough cough right wing cough commentators>.

Whether you are a Goer or not, it is important to enjoy things without being critical for the sake of being critical. If you are a Goer play responsibly so you don’t give radical bashers an excuse to generalise exceptions and then normalise them. If you are a No-Goer, I respect your choice but I do expect you to respect our choice too and try to understand it better before you pass your judgement. Whether Pokemon Go! has a long lasting appeal is not an issue for me because I am enjoying it and I am not placing a dollar value on to my positive experience. But I do understand none of us live in an augmented reality so it is our responsibility to make the real world we live in a better place, with Pokemon or not.

The Price is (always) right?!

Monday’s Q and A was quite a display. Steve Price’s performance during the segment about violence against women and his unrepentant attitude for his behaviours was quite a scene.

He was first asked by an audience about the media’s role to battle against violence against women. The audience member indicated his sister was a victim to it and was killed at age 23. Steve Price did not offer any condolences (he only offered that after every other panel member did so) and jumped into defence of Eddie McGuire and Sam Newman. He basically said, “It was a blokey joke but the society doesn’t like it so he apologised so that should be end of story. The society and the media had overblown it, which is inappropriate”

Firstly brushed it away as a blokey joke and still see it as a blokey joke highlighted how a non-issue he considered violence against women is. From what he said he basically said “We did not actually do it so it is ok to joke about doing it. You guys should lighten up”. This view was rightly pointed out by the rest of the panel as a first step to endorsement of violence against women because first you joke then you act.

Secondly, the fact that he blamed the society for making this sound like an issue highlighted the fact that he and his friends refused to acknowledge they have any responsibilities on the whole saga. “It is someone else faults but we gracefully showed how accepting we are to the society’s erroneous views” is basically the sub-text of his saying. Refusing to acknowledge personal responsibilities of wrong doings is another issue within the whole violence against women issue.

When the Guardian columnist Van Badham sharply pointed out that he is no different from his friends, Price immediately jumped to his own defence and accused her for painting him with the same brush. This further highlights how lack of solidarity Price is on this issue. He basically knows this is not right, that’s why “don’t paint me with the same brush” but at the same time he refused to acknowledge his views and his friends’ behaviours are incorrect.

Then in the next few minutes Price basically tried to talk over Van Badham to shut her down completely. This is a blatant behaviour of lack of respect for others, not to just mention women. And during the talk over he repeatedly pointed out it is not the women’s exclusive rights to be upset by this or to call this out, which basically mean “we men know better so we don’t need you women to tell us”. Van Badham rightly pointed out to Price his behaviour is an accurate display of the point that she was making.

Price clearly is not happy with the debate. He without a doubt lost the argument as the audience were overwhelmingly unhappy with his performance but gave Van Badham one of the greatest cheers and support on the program this year.

However, the story did not end here, in the next few days he continued to attack Van Badham using his media platforms such as his own show, The Project and his appearance on Andrew Bolt’s program to attack Van Badham. Once again shifting responsibilities to ABC claiming his does not know the question (ABC clarified none of the panellists in history knows the questions beforehand but only the topic) and he felt ambushed. So again typically it is not his fault but someone else’s. He also further trying to discredit Van Badham by claiming he eavesdropped about her troubled personal life. But then seriously is eavesdropping then publicising someone else’s personal life ethical at all? Obviously there is no ethical boundary Steve Price cannot cross gracefully in his and his friends’ views.

He continued to label Van Badham as an aggressive woman when on the show he was the most aggressive one sitting next to her talking over her on the top of his voice trying to shut her down simply because he did not like what he heard.

Steve Price is the typical old fossil right wing misogynist man that this country is currently overrun by in the upper strata of our society. The fact that he is still trying to shut down opposite opinions in the disguise of freedom of speech is disturbing. To this group of people, including Alan Jones, Andrew Bolt, and even Tony Abbott, freedom of speech means their freedom of speech. Anything different from their views are not worth of this freedom. The blatant display of this attitude in the past few years from the Parliament to the media had consolidated a number of views that are not sitting well with our society. Disrespect to and hence violence against women is exactly one of them.

Would the rest of the media let Price go easily or would the society continue to hold these people responsible for their behaviours? Time will tell. But in my opinion, continuation of misogynist speeches like this in the public will only breed a new brand of terrorists – the ones that mostly acted against women. If they think other ethnicities or faiths are not as good simply because they did not have gender equality and thus are backward, Steve Price and his friends are no different, even when they are straight white men with supremist egos and allegedly Christian upbringing.  Their whiteness can never cover up the darkness of their behaviours.

X-men Apocalypse

Anyone who follows the X-men franchise would know that “Days of the Future Past” is a tough act to follow. That entry in the franchise rounded up all the most popular actors and X-men in one movie and re-wrote the timeline of the whole franchise to enable it to move on in a separate space. It was more than just an enabler but a resetter for the franchise that involved some of the best actors in the franchise. In my last blog on the “Days of the Future Past” I wrote that I hope there would be no sequel coming out anytime soon as it was a movie to be relished on.

But as Hollywood has it, “Apocalypse” came out two years later.

The thing is, for me, “Days of the Future Past” still has strong lingering feelings in me. There are still scenes that I dare not to revisit but at the same time still stayed vividly alive in my head. So I basically see “Apocalypse” as a palette cleanser for me. Afterall it is a story that is happening in a rewritten timeline with some of the familiar characters exhibiting different personalities because of what happened in the last movie. The director Bryan Singer also took this opportunity to introduce some new characters and set the stage for future instalments. So for his efforts seemed to have gone unwelcomed.

“Apocalypse” was not particularly well received by critics and fans alike. This came as a surprise as “Apocalypse” reintroduced a number of extremely popular characters such as Angel, Psylocke, Cyclops and Jean Grey back into the X-men universe while continue with the current story line involving Professor X, Magneto and Mystique. So what went wrong?

Personally I think “Apocalypse” represented a huge departure of theme from some of the more popular X-men movies. Previous X-men movies emphasised strongly on the discrimination against mutants and how mutants suffered because of this. There were heavy narratives on non-mutants failing to understand them, and trying to control them, to imprison them or to cure them. They were about pride and being socially disadvantaged at the same time. These themes resonated strongly with fans and audience alike as they are real issues both depicted in the comics and in the society we are living in. However, in “Apocalypse” main story was about Apocalypse woke up in the modern age, did not like what the society had become and decided to cleanse it. This change had inevitably rendered the movie into just another action packed comic book adaptation that has no correlations to fans who supported the franchise because of the theme it had carried in the past.

Is “Apocalypse” a bad movie? I personally do not think so but it just doesn’t carry the pack of punches it used to have when it is just a Sci-fi movie and nothing else. I just could not feel what the characters feel anymore as their journeys became just a dramatic plot paving way for a finale and that’s all. In the earlier X-men movies, the discrimination and survival theme made X-men stood out from its pack. Especially in “Days of Future Past” when they were being hunted down for just being who they were, something they could not change at all. I felt that if the movie capitalised more on the coming of age of the younger characters, it might make the film a bit more relevant, but then it had been done in “The First Class” so it makes it hard to repeat that subject again.

Structure wise “Apocalypse” has a pretty concrete structure although I did feel the motivation for Apocalypse was a bit over simplistic. Maybe he represented a force that used to be on the top but now not even part of the food chain. But then that kind of motive did not really sit well with the rest of the movies in the franchise. As for the four disciples, I can understand why Magneto and Angel wanted to join Apocalypse because of their experience, but then for Psylocke and Storm their motives never really stack up. Quicksilver still stole the screen and Evan Peters’ quirky and geeky approach to the character added so much colour to it that he had made it his own. I did like the back story for Magneto in this movie and in fact I think it really did justice for Michael Fassbender as one of the most versatile actors in his generation. As for many of the other characters, they are either not very flashed out or I just felt the characterisations were a bit on the weak side, disregarding the performances of the actors portraying them.

I am not saying “Apocalypse” is a bad movie. I don’t think it could even be considered as bad or even mediocre as I did enjoy every moment of it while I was in the cinema. But I did feel lacking when the credit rolls. I think maybe to a certain degree audiences do try to relate themselves to the stories on the big screen nowadays. If that kind of connection was not there the audience could feel disengaged. X-men is a series that is not just about super power. Super power in the X-men universe was just a means to an end or even a cause to an issue. Without that theme flowing through the vessels, it feels less human and thus less powerful. Nonetheless if you are just looking for an action packed movie with lots of good CGI effects, “Apocalypse” is still a good choice.

When the difference makes a difference

So Waleed won. There are people who are still not happy. Attacks on him continued but then he won, so those attacks are really irrelevant. The thing is some people said that his win is a big deal because of racial correctness and it shouldn’t be an issue at this day and age. But what is ironic is that people who claimed that mostly belong to people who still hold dear that Australia is a white Anglo and western country and so the media should reflect this.

Does political and racial correctness exist?  Yes it does but then when we are living in a society that is thriving on diversity, the same diversity will inevitably become an issue. Yes Waleed won. Yes he is different. But when the difference made a difference it became a different issue. The fact that certain sectors of the media and our society are so up in arms against Waleed and Lee Lin Chin reflected this part of the society is still fighting the change. It is sad but then at the same time it is encouraging. This is because our society has moved from not-acknowledging the need for change to now acknowledging the change and then moving towards resisting and attacking the change. Noni Hazelhurst nailed this at her acceptance speech for the night – the good thing about glacier is that you either ride on it or you got overrun by it.

I have worked with a number of younger generation producers and writers and for them ethnicity is not any issue for they see characters as, well characters. So TV personalities are, well just TV personalities. The thing with the Gold Logie was that it is a gong nominated and selected by the audience – the audience who are still watching TV. The fact that both Waleed and Lee were nominated means they resonate with the audience in such a way that they reflected the acceptance of TV personalities as who they are. Some of the resisting fractions attack the nominations by pointing out their programs are not that great and popular, so they should not be nominated. However the other ironic aspect of this argument was that Carrie Bickmore who was also nominated was Waleed Aly’s co-host on The Project, but nobody seemed to give a thing about it. So are the attacks about the popularity of the show or are they about something else?

During all the attacks in the foray it seemed that people have forgotten about something – yes Waleed is not white, yes Waleed is a Muslim but also yes Waleed was born and bred in Australia, and yes Waleed was educated in a Christian school. He is as Australian as any of those white hard heads who are trying to hit him like Juggernauts. Like a lot of Australian kids who went to Christian schools he just did not get converted to Christianity but stayed with his parents’ faith.

Waleed’s win both matters and does not matter. It matters because it represents a change of preference of the audience. So many a time I was told the Australian audience is not ready to accept non-Anglo characters as leads in shows (I was even told by a producer to write out or dump down non-Anglo leads in a series that he thought was good but too non-White) but Waleed and Lee’s nominations is a reality check that those recycled arguments are no longer valid – and yes the audience had changed – not just ready for a change but had changed. And this is an ideological battle beaten by reality. It also does not matter because this is already the world we are living in so the television landscape is just catching up whether the power holders like it or not. With the competition from streaming services such as Netflix, the Australian audience have more choices and can switch off on programs they don’t relate to anymore. So the choice for the television industry in Australia is either to go with the flow or as Noni Hazelhurst said get overrun by the glacier.

Am I excited about this change we saw last night? I must say I am just cautiously optimistic as when a difference start to make a difference people in power will do whatever they can to put them down. Star Wars and Hunger Games might be fictional but they did portray people in power in quite accurate ways. These people will do whatever they can in their power to “fix the problem” even deep down they know it is a change not a problem. But who would want to surrender what they believe they have built and yield to the newer and younger generation?

Waleed’s win and Lee’s nomination are pivotal because they were nominated for who they are and not caricatures of where they belong to. For me this is extremely important as a practitioner in the media landscape because this represents the recognition of what is being done instead of where they came from. The likes of Andrew Bolt who argued on the grounds of political correctness gone mad are in my opinion nothing but patronising as I firmly believe you are in no position to talk about the need for non-racial-correctness if you are not a person who had experienced it.

Waleed’s win and Lee’s nomination are also results of hard work being recognised by a changed audience demography. People who said otherwise are irrelevant as they know they are becoming more and more irrelevant as time passes. They won’t be shut down but then when their voices truly become irrelevant, this debate will truly become irrelevant because then truly there is no need to talk about it anymore.  

Captain America: Civil War

Captain America: Civil War without a doubt is one of the most anticipated films of the year. The hype was everywhere and if you were even remotely interested in comic books adaptation movies, you would know it and would have seen one of its trailers.

The Civil War story in the comic book was an extremely dark one. The hunting were ruthless and the hunted usually suffered terrible fates. So I was scared and excited at the same time. To avoid having accidental spoilers coming my way, I decided to see it on the day it came out without waiting for the cheap ass Tuesday discount.

So how did it hold up?

Without giving out too many spoilers I must say I enjoyed it a lot. Nonetheless I will probably need to see it again to catch on to a lot of things – because a lot happened in the movie. And all these things that happened at the same time tied in to the past and future movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. So one sitting of the movie would not be enough for me to pick up all the clues, hints and references. t

The movie picked up where The Winter Soldier and Age of Ultron left behind. The new bunch of Avengers at the end of Ultron are now an operative unit. As they continue to live their “normal” lives, as usual mankind interferes. This is the premise of Civil War. The main question is “Can we trust mankind to take care of the world by having them controlling the super humans who are taking care of them?” “When they said they are afraid what actually should we be afraid of?” It is a great debate in the move and each one of them has his or her strong reason to sign or not to sign on. The truth is when there are greed and politics no one can be trusted. This is something that was shared in common in the conversation between Black Widow and Black Panther before all hell broke loose. Batman Vs Superman touched on the same premise but without the huge back story already created for it, Batman Vs Superman felt like a rush to the destination while Civil War came out as a natural progression of the storyline in this huge Universe.

It is a super hero movie so naturally there are lots of actions and special effects in the movie. The introduction of Spiderman and enlisting of Ant-man have inevitably expanded the games and tricks the Russo brothers can do. Even veterans such as Falcon received an upgrade and not to mention the extended screen time for both The Winter Soldier and Agent 13. The action scenes are spectacular and breathtaking. It is impressive how the movie can squeeze in so many styles of fighting and made every single one of them stood out among the crowd. Every character has a purpose in the fight and that made all those scenes extremely cohesive and meaningful. Some of the superpower combos are well choreographed and appropriately referenced.

Nonetheless a film with all action and no story is still not a good film. That is what I think Civil War did extremely well. As the opening movie for Phase 3 it has a lot to tie in from Phase 2 and a lot to set up for the rest of the movies in Phase 3. It was quite impressive how it managed to weave all the story arcs for different characters in and out without at the same time losing the main plot. Surely a lot of things were handled through different dialogues but it is because of this that when you picked things up you would have that “oh yeah!” or “oh wow!” feel. This kind of reward for paying attention to what they said is the incentive for the audience to pay attention to the dialogues while appreciating all the actions flying off the screen. As I said sometimes you can still get distracted because of the actions and that what makes one wants to go back and see it again to pick up more clues and references.

Relationships among characters had also become very complicated. Sometimes I feel like Tony Stark was the jealous party in the bromance between the Captain and Bucky and thus would try to break them up at all costs. The fact is Civil War is about people falling out after some extremely intense situation that brought them together. One would think the bond would be so strong that they would be friends and allies for life. However, in the real world, politics and egos always come first, so with Civil War setting in the “real” world, it is inevitable that these factors played strong parts to divide this seemingly unbreakable group. When something fell apart from the inside the consequences and aftermaths are a lot messier to deal with. The Avengers certainly tasted it in this one.

Captain America: Civil War reflected that even superheroes could not help themselves. As soon as their common enemies disappeared, personal preferences and politics immediately came into play at the expense of their allies. They might be able to table whatever arguments they had but are they actually working for the benefit of the world that they are trying to protect? That is the question.

If you want to find out whether anyone of them found any resolution in this conflict, you will have to find this out yourself. I am not going to spoil it here. As for me I totally enjoyed it. The hype is quite hyped but then it did not disappoint. As I said earlier I will probably go see it again on a cheap Tuesday so I can pick up more clues and hints as my OCD will not permit me to let things like this left unresolved.

Good to be remembered by people who care about you 🥰🥰💖💖
Good to be remembered by people who care about you 🥰🥰💖💖
Embracing the #difference #jacaranda #pinetrees
Embracing the #difference #jacaranda #pinetrees
Still obsessed with them after all these years #jacarandaseason
Still obsessed with them after all these years #jacarandaseason
#Spring has come to stay - October 2025 (Mid Spring)
#Spring has come to stay - October 2025 (Mid Spring)
#beachphotography #beach #beachlife
#beachphotography #beach #beachlife
A strange crossover. The game is gorey but the tart was yummy #ghostofyotei
A strange crossover. The game is gorey but the tart was yummy #ghostofyotei
#MidAutumnFestival
#MidAutumnFestival
Had two servings of this. Missing them so much. #hongkongfoodfestival @willoughbycity
Had two servings of this. Missing them so much. #hongkongfoodfestival @willoughbycity
End of work week. #beachphotography #beach #beachlife
End of work week. #beachphotography #beach #beachlife
#SpotOn @randwickcouncil @ritz_cinema
#SpotOn @randwickcouncil @ritz_cinema
#naruto #cat #catphoto
#naruto #cat #catphoto
Do I want a permanent nose job without surgery?
Do I want a permanent nose job without surgery?
#foodphotography #foodporn #food
#foodphotography #foodporn #food
#beachphotography #beach #beachlife
#beachphotography #beach #beachlife
To leave or not to leave. That is the question - September 2025 ( Early Spring)
To leave or not to leave. That is the question - September 2025 ( Early Spring)
#spring #photo #photography #building #architecture
#spring #photo #photography #building #architecture
Looks like #Spring has sprung into action a bit prematurely
Looks like #Spring has sprung into action a bit prematurely
#TheFaceOfJizo
#TheFaceOfJizo
#beachphotography #beach #beachlife
#beachphotography #beach #beachlife
Suns out, guns (not mine) out - August 2035 (Late Winter)
Suns out, guns (not mine) out - August 2035 (Late Winter)
Good to be remembered by people who care about you 🥰🥰💖💖 Embracing the #difference #jacaranda #pinetrees Still obsessed with them after all these years #jacarandaseason #Spring has come to stay - October 2025 (Mid Spring) #beachphotography #beach #beachlife A strange crossover. The game is gorey but the tart was yummy #ghostofyotei #MidAutumnFestival Had two servings of this. Missing them so much. #hongkongfoodfestival @willoughbycity End of work week. #beachphotography #beach #beachlife #SpotOn @randwickcouncil @ritz_cinema #naruto #cat #catphoto Do I want a permanent nose job without surgery? #foodphotography #foodporn #food #beachphotography #beach #beachlife To leave or not to leave. That is the question - September 2025 ( Early Spring) #spring #photo #photography #building #architecture Looks like #Spring has sprung into action a bit prematurely #TheFaceOfJizo #beachphotography #beach #beachlife Suns out, guns (not mine) out - August 2035 (Late Winter)