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Reviews
Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)
Why not forget about Spider-Man instead?
Ok I know, if they chose to forget about Spider-Man, or to forget about the connection between Peter Parker and Spider-Man , the movie might not have happened, but seriously, why can't they at least address these two options? It really bugged me towards the end. Pun intended ...
They had to choose to forget about Peter Parker ...
Starship Troopers (1997)
One of the most underrated movies of its time
Under all that patriotism and bravado, it took me quite a few viewings to realize humans were the first to actually damage the bugs' habitat first. When the bug fought back, we chose to exterminate them no matter how far away they were from us simply because we could.
Cyberpunk 2077 (2020)
A Sci-Fi story worthy of its genre
The main story is deep. Very deep.
It is masterfully balanced mix of some of the biggest issues. It even tries to define what soul is on a technical level if you pay attention to the plot. For example the "Soulkiller Programme".
The story develops on three ideological levels, V tries to survive; Silverhand tries to topple the established corpo run society through sacrificing V; and his x-girl friend Alt Cunningham now dead and a cyber being of all rogue AIs combined beyond the Blackwall trying to break into the new net and possibly absorb (wipe-out) all of humanity.
Ultimately V's role represents your everyday humanity, Alt Cunningham represents all advanced AIs, Silverhand is in between.
What's fresh about the setting this time around is it breaks the age cliche that all scary AIs are purely or accidentally created by human. In Cyberpunk 2077, the advanced AIs are instead digitized human conscious without all the sentimental shackles of a flesh one.
The story shows the possibility of an alternative ending of humanity where it ends with transcendence rather than annihilation (humans are destroy themselves for the AIs already). The story on a whole is one take of that mental struggle between the worlds.
Gekijouban Fate/Stay Night: Heaven's Feel - III. Spring Song (2020)
Barely made it to the end in one piece...
I am a big fan of the series. Let me just say, if you do not know what this series is about, there is no way you will understand what this movie is talking about.
That said, this last installment was not consistent with previous two. I think what has happened is that they started off very well, how ever half way through making the third movie they realised "oh shit, at this rate we will never finish the story with only three movies..."then they cut out all the little details which would really flesh the story out a lot more.
This is the over all feel I had when I walked out of the theatre, I could really appreciate what they were trying to do and the embedded message of it. However it had too many compromises and the whole thing feels wrinkled and uneven. Hopefully there would be a director's cut version of it.
As a fan, was it a master piece that I wanted? No, not by a long shot. But, was it grand and enjoyable? Hell yeah.
Jiang Ziya (2020)
Unqualified story tellers' failed attempt at an all time legend
When the story telling is bad, no amount of culture background is going to save it. Background is just that, it's background, it sits in the back. You still need what's in the front to carry your load. Mandarin is my native language, I have seen better cartoons than this ... *movie* ...
The setting was too grand, the amount of substantial topics the story was trying to cover were too many. The movie makers of the story were too ambitious, they touched on so many things on so many levels all the while ignored their own limited understanding of the philosophies behind them. The ideologies were so confused and many parts of the story were logically challenged in terms of its own premises ...
The end product was a grotesquely thrown together short stories of weak characters with no emotional strings viewers can grab on to. The names of the main characters can literally be replaced by a random set of names and it would not have made a difference. You can praise the visuals all you want, but I paid money to watch a story of legendary characters in an epic tale, instead I got a generic Hollywood wanna be that I will forget the instance I finish typing this review.
Liang zhi lao hu (2019)
Very satisfying experience
I do not understand the low rating. I am a native Mandarin speaker, and an avid movie goer. I had always found Chinese movies weak in their writing and directing. I was very pleasantly surprised by this nugget of a comedy/drama/adventure movie.
The humour were dry but not so they flew over my head, if you spend a second they were very very funny! The messages were strong and well delivered. The plot twists and arrangement were so masterly done that there was not a scene that did not have a purpose. I strongly recommend this movie! You will laugh, you will cry, and you will leave the theatre wanting for more!
Tenki no ko (2019)
Similar with Your Name with different twist, no I am not talking about style
Ok I just came back from a viewing. It is a solid anime. Interesting plot twists, good animation, beautiful scenes. You'd think it is very different from Your Name, yet, the premise is almost identical to Your Name.
Boy likes girl, girl likes boy. Girl is trapped/separated by mystical force and faces life and death situation. Boy saves girl, boy and girl ends up together and live happily ever after. Sounds familiar? Don't take me wrong. This was still a very very enjoyable movie, I just wish they took all the real life political stuff out of it just like Your Name did. Environmental awareness, sure, gun violence, no, it is too sad to even think about. I wanted an escape from reality, not being constantly reminded of it. Sometimes, trying too hard to be relevant works against you. But then again, "The world has always been scary!"
Mother! (2017)
Bad metaphor is less than none
There are two major camps of views for this movie. One simply says the movie is bad. The other criticizes the first camp for not understanding metaphors and therefore the movie is great.
Well, I am of the minority. I see this movie as a mediocre attempt on copying what's already in the Bible. It replaces all the characters's name and setting from the Bible with what modern audience is adjusted to. Almost everything happens exactly as the stories in the Bible. There is barely any original metaphor. If this not plagiarism, I am not sure what is.
Crawl (2019)
The gators are only skins.
First, the good. Good acting, good pacing. The way events unfold kept me at edge of my seat through out. No point in time I was bored. I have never seen this actress before, but her acting is definitely something to look out for in the future. Very on point and enthralling.
There are quite a few bad points but are very minor. Scientifically, this movie does not hold up at all. Alligators are not as social as the movie led us to believe. They certainly don't hunt in packs. Wolves and lions hunt in packs, not alligators. With the only exception being in dry seasons, they may meet at waterholes, but they definitely do not coordinate their hunts. Being reptiles their hunting style are more passive, where in the movie,they are extremely aggressive and active, which is impossible, especially in storms. Thirdly, there is no way any female alligator will lay eggs in a passageway where mutiple adult alligators can pass through. Egg nests are usually very hard to find by other alligators.
I understand if above facts were actually fixed there'd be no movie, but being an avid fan of nature documentaries, I had to point out these creative decisions.
Also, rescue helicopters do not operate during a storm. There are regulations prevent pilots and rescuers become victims. Then rescue helicopter would only go out when the storm passes. The movie imply wanted to make people feel good.
Otherwise, this was a very worthy experience of a budget movie.
Gekijouban Fate/Stay Night: Heaven's Feel - II. Lost Butterfly (2019)
One more step to the grand revelation
The series of films and anime was built on an interactive novel published by TypeMoon. In which through different reading path and interaction the main character Shirou Emiya would end up in a romantic relationship with a different female lead. Each season of anime or film focuses on one route of the ending a novel reader would end up with in one of their read through. This movie is the second part of a three-part film that focuses on the relationship between Shirou Emiya and Sakura.
What is constant in all these parallel universe endings is the endless fight amongst masters and servants in pursuit of the holy grail. The larger questions revolve around why magus chase the holy grail, what undying wish these historical heroic spirits have they want to realise so bad that their ghosts linger in our world, and the ultimate questions what is the holy grail and is it worth it?
In order to really appreciate the delicate story lines this series have woven, in particular this second part of the Sakura story line, viewer is advised to gain prior knowledge of the settings of each character in this fictional universe. Because the way the stories are told is in a way that all characters' retain their history and backgrounds, only in each different alternate universe they interact differently. Basically viewers are watching the same period of time in a universe with different historical event turnout.
Other than that, it must be said, answers to a lot of the major questions the whole Fate/Stay Night franchise has built up are getting slowly revealed. There is a real sense of satisfaction in learning those answers. Comparing to Evangelion series, Fate/Stay Night reveals its plot in a very well thought out and methodical order, with a back drop of philosophical and existential provocation, and not handled heavy handily like EVA does. No preaching, which is always a plus to Japanese anime since their characters usually monologues a lot.
Visual wise, the character design may not be everybody's cup of tea. But the scenes are absolutely stunning and the fighting sequences are edge of the seat style breath taking, because the story makes you care about the characters. It is a must see for the fans. And to anyone wants to get into the series, you won't be disappointed.
Sayonara no asa ni yakusoku no hana o kazarô (2018)
Lost opportunities
After seeing last years "Your Name", I had hopes for this movie. That is actually my fault.
Based on the title and its synopsis this was premise with huge potential. The depth it can reach is ambitions, however after viewing it felt flat and came across as pretentious. Reason being it makes attempts on so many idealogical arguments and never even raise the questions right... let along answering them.
I am not saying this movie is a waste of time, because it does occasionally has nice drawn scenarios... but it certainly doesn't live up to its promises.
X: First Class (2011)
Balance
Just came back from an advance screening ! Personal best movie of the year so far, there is no way on earth transformer can match it,however, on the dark side of the moon maybe.
Overall the movie is fairly fast paced, kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time. I am usually quite good at sensing the direction of the plot, if the ending is obvious as a result of good vs evil, then I consider myself good at sensing how. But this one didn't even give me a long enough of a break to think of how ...and the ending is mildly surprising and also makes a lot of sense and ties well with the previous 4 movies.
Story wise it is also really good, especially for a superhero/Sci-Fi/action movie, the script packs quite a punch, and the depth is deeper than your average super sized pop corn bag offered at your local theater!
Don't wanna give out too much detail so someone might get too hyped and lose the pleasantly surprised fact except: This movie is really a nice balance of Sci-Fi, fantasy, action, drama, super hero-comic adaptation, a little short side on the romance(not a bad thing in my opinion ,you want romance in this?seriously ?), comedy...
Really, a group of talented people who promote balance that can actually understand it ! MARVELOUS Job! Get it ? he he