Update for the week…

Hey…I’m back. Hope you are doing well out there. I was kind off feeling a bit moody lately. What’s driving that? I believe the main cause would be the constant thought in my head that there is no possibility of a much needed getaway/travel for me anytime soon in this time of pandemic that is still far from over.

It’s also very much confirmed now that I won’t be heading back to home in KL next month during the Chinese New Year break. There will be just too much trouble and currently Malaysia is in another lockdown. My desire for an escape from this repetitive and familiar daily life and the boring and tiny environment has to remain a desire for much longer. I won’t call it as desire anymore…it’s a need.

I am seeing the daily Covid-19 cases in Singapore and Malaysia everyday, and did not expect to see my sister is part of the statistic. Yes, she was infected with Covid-19 last week but fortunately, she only had mild symptoms and can proceed to just rest at home as hospitals in Malaysia are now at full capacity (due to daily cases of over 3000). I pray for her quick recovery.

Over here in Singapore, community cases seems to have climb up steadily in recent days. This is also a bit worrying especially when Chinese New Year is fast approaching. And till now, I still don’t understand why Singapore love to import so many cases every single day. These cases although isolated, but there is still chance for the virus to slip through into the community due to the varying nature of the virus itself. Easily over 30 imported cases daily. I understand the need for this small country to open up for economy but this is a bit too much though.

Finally, Joe Biden is officially sworn in as the 46th President of USA few days ago after months of denial and allegations of election fraud by his predecessor, Donald Trump. There was also a riot at the US Capitol two weeks ago incited by Trump himself that resulted in 5 deaths. Trump left the post in a very disgraceful manner. Let’s hope Biden and Kamala’s administration will bring about more peace and stability to US which is now very divided and at the same time seriously affected by the pandemic.

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

Finished ‘The Offliners’, my first TVB series of the year.

First released in Malaysia on last November, ‘The Offliners’ is finally getting its local release in Hong Kong end of last month. Since most of its episodes are released in January, I consider it as a 2021 series rather than 2020. Hence, this is the first TVB series of the year that I have completed watching. And it looks like TVB is now fine to release Jacqueline Wong’s dramas after her explosive scandal with Andy Hui in 2019.

‘The Offliners’ is a 20-episode drama that revolves on a nerd yet an IT genius (Owen Cheung) who begins to develop his passion on IT and joined a tech start-up company. He then grow close with his colleagues, his love interest (Moon Lau) and also his lady boss (Katy Kung) who he later developed feeling for as well. Besides Owen, Katy and Moon, the series also starred Jacqueline Wong, Karl Ting, Jason Chan, Brian Tse, Joseph Lee, Bowie Wu, Akina Hong, Suet Nei, etc.

This drama is never meant to be big but I thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s relaxing and entertaining to watch it every evening after work. Owen Cheung is very convincing in this role and I can see his effort in portraying as a nerd in this drama. He nailed it. Katy Kung is also doing well as the first female lead here and she has a good chemistry with Owen too. She is very natural and I do impressed with her emotional scenes. It looks like Owen can just pair very well with any actors/actresses in any dramas he is in.

This pair did well on last Sunday too when they won Most Popular TV Male and Female Character respectively at the TVB Anniversary Awards for their performance in ‘Al Cappuccino’ and ‘Hong Kong Love Stories’. I do see huge improvement from their acting over the years and it looks like they are prepared for more leading roles.

Even the supporting cast are doing great in the series. Every characters including the supporting ones are given important story to develop and no one is left out. Particular credit to Joseph Lee as the stern father who turns good in the end and Akina Hong who portrayed his wife for her breakdown scenes after the death of her son. As for Moon Lau, I just don’t like her voice and expression that seems to be acting cute the entire time. I knew she didn’t mean it but that’s all I can see from her performance. She needs to broaden her range of expressions and work on her voice too maybe.

‘The Offliners’ is not pretentious and is able to deliver on what it needed to be from its straightforward and light-hearted plot and solid acting. Out of 10 points, I rate ‘The Offliners’ a total of 7.7. Yes…tomorrow is Friday already. Weekend is coming!

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

Thoughts on the winner list of TVB Anniversary Awards 2020.

The ceremony for the TVB Anniversary Awards 2020 (萬千星輝頒獎典禮2020) had just concluded a moment ago with 18 prizes presented out to honour the best of their series and programmes for the past year. Several nominated popular artists did not turn up and there is no special or heavyweight guest presenters at all; they are signs that this awards ceremony is losing its status as one of the most anticipated and star-studded ceremonies in Hong Kong entertainment industry. What we end up seeing are TVB actors/actresses presenting gifts to their peers, even for the best actor and actress categories.

Here are the list of winners for the TVB Anniversary Awards 2020 alongside my personal opinions:

Lifetime Achievement: Whole team of ‘Come Home Love’ series

Opinion: This award is presented to honour veteran actor/actress every year who have contributed immensely to Hong Kong entertainment industry for many decades. However, for this year, TVB decided to do something different (and also very weird) by awarding this to the whole cast and crew of ‘Come Home Love’. It’s more like a consolation prize to this series that is not able to win the best series award later on. It’s a very strange and poor act by TVB; they should really stick to the format and reserve it to recognize a particularly deserving veteran actor/actress each year. They just want to honour this long running series (that is still running now with over 1100 episodes to date) in a way by hook and by crook. Not a fan of this move.

Most Improved TV Female Artist: Angel Chiang (Al Cappuccino, Hong Kong Love Stories)

Opinion: The nominees in this category this year are quite weak and the other true competitor I see besides Angel Chiang is Moon Lau. Moon Lau is more deserving but she only has one series this year while Angel has two. Angel also impressed many with her character as a stern female triad senior in ‘Al Cappuccino’.

Most Improved TV Male Artist: Brian Chu (Airport Security, Al Cappuccino, Go!Go!Go! Operation C9)

Opinion: Besides than Owen Cheung, I saw Brian Chu the most in the TV series I watched in 2020. He kept on appearing everywhere with different characters. Although he portrayed mostly minor or supporting characters, but he did good in each of them. Well-built, good looking and can act (so far), so why not?

Best Supporting Actress: Winki Lai (Al Cappuccino)

Opinion: This is one of the categories that I most agreed on for the night. Winki Lai nailed the role as the eldest sister in ‘Al Cappuccino’. I would have prefer Susan Tse from ‘The Exorcist’s 2nd Meter’ or Vivien Yeo from ‘Brutally Young’ to win though because they both delivered much more memorable performances but they are both not even nominated. TVB is weird.

Best Supporting Actor: Jason Pai (Hong Kong Love Stories)

Opinion: I didn’t expect Jason Pai will win although I do hear good words on his role in ‘Hong Kong Love Stories (I didn’t watch this series). After seeing the nomination list, my pick would actually be Tsui Wing from his insane yet funny character in ‘Al Cappuccino’. I guess TVB don’t want ‘Al Cappuccino’ to win too many awards and dominate the whole night. Paul Chun should have been nominated too (and maybe even should win too) from his performance in ‘Legal Mavericks 2020’.

Most Favourite TV Theme Song: ‘Mortals Do Not Understand Love’ by Hubert Wu (The Exorcist’s 2nd Meter)

Opinion: Yes. That is what I predicted and what I hoped for too. This song stood out among the rest in 2020. The only win for ‘The Exorcist’s 2nd Meter’.

Malaysia’s Most Favourite TVB Leading Actress: Katy Kung (Death By Zero)

Opinion: I am in quite a shock hearing Katy’s name called as the winner. Her performance in ‘Death By Zero’ is just average and is not worthy of award. Unnecessary heavy make-up and absurd clothing choice didn’t do any help to that character too. She didn’t deliver enough depth to that role and yet she is crowned Malaysia’s best actress…No!

Malaysia’s Most Favourite TVB Leading Actor: Vincent Wong (Legal Mavericks 2020)

Opinion: I don’t have much objection to this because Vincent didn’t get to win this several years ago in ‘Legal Mavericks’ on Malaysia’s side. And he is as usual, solid in this role as the blind lawyer in this sequel.

Malaysia’s Most Favourite TVB series: Al Cappuccino

Opinion: While I do like the premise of this series, but I don’t find it deserving of major win like this because I felt it didn’t quite manage to pull it off with lackluster performance by some cast members and a plot that is not engaging. Why people do not appreciate better series like ‘Brutally Young’ or even ‘Line Walker 3’? I am particularly terrified that ‘Brutally Young’ is totally ignored and snubbed in this ceremony despite it being my best series in 2020.

Most Favourite On-Screen Partnership: Vincent Wong, Owen Cheung and Brian Chu (Al Cappuccino)

Opinion: I’m fine with this group winning as they are very compatible with each other in ‘Al Cappuccino’. Previously, people were already praising the chemistry between Vincent Wong and Owen Cheung in their previous collaborations. Now, with Brian Chu added in in this drama, things even get better.

Most Popular TV Female Character: Katy Kung (Hong Kong Love Stories)

Opinion: Don’t have much comment on this because I didn’t watch ‘Hong Kong Love Stories’. My personal pick would be Ali Lee from ‘Death By Zero’ or Sisley Choi from ‘Line Walker 3’. Looks like TVB is now seriously pushing Katy Kung to be next leading actress we are going to see a lot in following years. You can’t just push it too hard. I still cannot see her as leading actress material yet.

Most Popular TV Male Character: Owen Cheung (Al Cappuccino)

Opinion: I am expecting Vincent Wong to win from the same series, but it is Owen Cheung that crosses the finish line in this category surprisingly. Both are equally popular and had almost similar screen time in ‘Al Cappuccino’ but I felt Vincent should get it because he has not win this one before although he had won best actor in the past already. His character is also nicely executed and portrayed too. Another way by TVB to heavily promote Owen Cheung to leading actor status.

Best Leading Actress: Sisley Choi (Legal Mavericks 2020)

Opinion: I have to say that she really improved a lot in her acting over the years. From the same role few years ago, she had already won ‘Most Favourite TV Female Character’. Now her character matured and so does her performance as well. However, I don’t find her time has come yet for this coveted prize. I felt she needed another two years. Anyway, the competition for this category this year is very weak and I would rather see her winning than Mandy Wong (another hot favourite) because Mandy’s performance is mediocre only in ‘Line Walker 3’. Ali Lee should have won but due to political reason recently, she won’t be winning unfortunately. But in terms of performance last year, Ali should have won.

Best Leading Actor: Vincent Wong (Legal Mavericks 2020)

Opinion: I pitied Raymond Lam. Lost again. Out of the final 5, he is the only one who has not win best actor before and I do see that he gave solid performance in ‘Line Walker 3’. However, once he didn’t turn up at the ceremony, I knew his chance is very slim. Some people just don’t have luck for awards. Vincent Wong won again for second time from the same role (he last won this award based on this role too in the first series). Wow…both the main lead actor and actress for ‘Legal Mavericks 2020’ are crowned best actor and actress respectively. And Vincent Wong won the most awards for the night, at 3.

Most Popular Mini-Series: Hong Kong Love Stories

Opinion: TVB purposely created this new award at the very last minute to award to the only one series eligible under this mini-series category; Hong Kong Love Stories. TVB is getting very funny. After hearing very recent positive feedback on this series, TVB decided to present yet another consolation to another series that is not going to take the best series prize (after ‘Come Home Love’). What’s the point when you decide to award almost everyone and then ignore really good quality drama like ‘Brutally Young’.

Best Series: Al Cappuccino

Opinion: Again…where is ‘Brutally Young’? I really cannot understand the taste and judgement of Hong Kong audiences. ‘Al Cappuccino’ has quite a refreshing story but it does comes with several notable poorly done aspects as well. ‘Brutally Young’ easily comes out on top for me due to the impressive acting and suspenseful plot it has. ‘Al Cappuccino’ ended up becoming the biggest winner of the night with 5+2 wins.

No comment for the other two remaining categories; ‘Best TV Host’ and ‘5 Best Variety Programmes’. For this year’s winner list, I do agree to half of the list but not the other half. Sometimes, I am really surprised and dumbfounded by TVB decision in some of the categories as explained above. It happens almost every year (such as awarding consolation prizes obviously, presenting to least deserving winners, etc).

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

Decent visit to Jurong Bird Park today despite the rain.

I wrote a post last month describing my visit to the Singapore Zoo and the River Safari. In the post, I highlighted that the remaining park that I have yet to visit out of the 4 under the Wildlife Reserves Singapore is the Jurong Bird Park and that I planned to visit it somewhere this year. And yup, I accomplished the 4/4 parks today after having visited the bird park this afternoon.

I didn’t expect that I would visit it this soon. It was all because there is a promotion only happening this month; $2.50 entrance ticket for a person. That is a superb deal in conjunction with the 50th anniversary of the park. Anyway, do take note that some attractions within the park will charge separate charges (also $2.50 each) too. Overall, it is still a very good deal and I wouldn’t want to miss it.

Despite the rain that seems to never end, I do had a good time in the park. I am not that interested on birds (that is why this is the last park that I visited out of the four) but I do enjoy seeing all the different species of birds here. There are parrots, vultures, macaw, penguins, hornbills, eagles, flamingo, pelicans, turaco, cockatoo, etc. Similarly to the other 3 parks, this bird park is also separated into different zones connected by a walking trail or tram route. Here are some of the shots I took:

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There are two performances daily and I managed to catch only one as the other one is cancelled due to the rainy weather. The most memorable part of the show is a bird that is able to sing in different languages (amazed me a lot!). In the end, it took me almost 4 hours to cover the whole park. This shows how huge this park is…and it is way better than my expectation despite the downpour that did affects the experience.

New Year 2021 fireworks from across the world.

Happy New Year 2021 once again! I just woke up (around 11am as I went to bed at 2am last night) and it’s downpour over here in Singapore this morning. Last night, I head out to the nearby field in my neighborhood to watch the heartland fireworks in conjunction with the new year celebration. Though much simpler, but that’s satisfying enough to usher in this particular new year with bright hope.

There is no major fireworks this year for Singapore at the Marina Bay but there were still 11 smaller heartland fireworks to check out last night. For many parts of the world, fireworks display were called off to avoid huge surge of Covid-19 cases. Back in my country, Malaysia, celebrations were muted with no fireworks at all due to high number of daily cases and their current on-going movement control order.

However, major fireworks display at some main cities across the globe proceeded though with many crowd control measures in place. Here’s few of them:

Sydney, Australia (from the usual Harbour Bridge)

Taipei, Taiwan (from Taipei 101, former world’s tallest building)

Dubai, UAE (from Burj Khalifa, current world’s tallest building)

London, UK (this year’s fireworks not from the usual London Eye location)

Even if there is no new year fireworks in your area, you can still watch and enjoy the fireworks videos I shared above at the comfort of your own home. Have a great year ahead, everyone!

Happy New Year! May year 2021 be much better for us!

Happy New Year everyone!

Goodbye to 2020, a year that poses difficult times to all of us but it certainly gave us memories that we will remember for long. 2021, welcome to the stage and we hope that it will be a much better year for all of us!

I do sincerely wish that in 2021, I would be able to return home to meet my family, I would be able to travel oversea for a much needed getaway, and above all, stay safe and healthy. I hope that the world will be in a much better position from the current Covid-19 pandemic.

May the New Year bring you happiness, peace, and prosperity. Wishing you a joyous 2021!

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

It’s the last day of 2020 today. Happy New Year’s…..Eve!

It’s New Year’s Eve today! I still got to work half day but I don’t think I will be productive in work today as the holiday mood and the feeling to celebrate new year already kicks in. Very much excited for this coming long weekend (one after another…last weekend was the long Christmas weekend!) although there is nothing much to do due to the pandemic. If not, I would have return home at KL or even went for a vacation oversea.

Well, it’s still good to take this opportunity to stay at home and get enough rest; a much needed break after a long difficult year. A difficult year that have changed our way of life, and forced us to adapt to new rules and environment such as social distancing, mask up, work from home arrangement, etc.

On this day last year, I remembered clearly I was heading down to the Marina Bay area in the late afternoon with my friend to get a good spot, waited for many hours just to countdown and observe the dazzling new year fireworks display at night. We can’t do that this year unfortunately; the fireworks display at the Marina Bay is cancelled to avoid huge crowd forming.

That is wise move and the government have instead chosen to set off fireworks at 11 different heartland locations this year across Singapore. Perhaps I can head out to catch one in my neighbourhood tonight. There will be not much to expect because the fireworks would be much simpler and smaller in scale compared to the ones we seen in previous years at the Marina Bay. Or maybe I can’t even see one at all because the exact location of the fireworks are not revealed (again to prevent crowd forming).

In the end, fireworks is a must to usher for a new year! I love watching them on the spot too; the loud noise, the colourful display, the creative pattern or synchronization and the happening crowds add a lot to the festive mood. How would you be spending this evening? Will there be fireworks in your city/area tonight?

Ohh…by the way, I am happy to inform that my blog has reached exactly 3.7 million views on the very last day of 2020…and achieved a total of 350 blog followers recently too. What a nice accomplishments to end the year for my blog! Hoping for more views in the coming years…Alright, that’s it for my last post of the year. New year’s greeting to everyone! Cheers for a great 2021!

My selection of the best for TVB series in 2020.

The TVB Anniversary Awards 2020 set to be held on 10th January 2021 will honour the best of TVB series released this year. Before that ceremony takes place, I’m here to publish my choices, similarly to what I have been doing for the past years. Hence, the result of the awards two weeks later will not affect or influence my judgement and this list is entirely based on my personal view and is also restricted to those series that I have watched (series that I didn’t watch will be left out).

For this year, I have watched a total of 11 dramas. They are:

• Forensic Heroes 4.
• Airport Strikers.
• Brutally Young.
• The Exorcist’s 2nd Meter.
• Flying Tiger 2.
• Death By Zero.
• Al Cappuccino.
• Go!Go!Go! Operation C9.
• Line Walker 3: Bull Fight.
• Legal Mavericks 2020.
• The Witness.

Here comes my top 5 picks for each of the following 15 categories and the one in bold for each categories are my selected winners:

OUTSTANDING CAST ENSEMBLE

• Legal Mavericks 2020
• The Exorcist’s 2^nd Meter
• Flying Tiger 2
• Death By Zero
• Line Walker 3: Bull Fight

OUTSTANDING TV VETERAN ARTIST

• Susan Tse (The Exorcist’s 2^nd Meter)
• David Chiang (Al Cappuccino)
• Lee Shing Cheong (Death By Zero, Al Cappuccino, Line Walker 3: Bull Fight, Legal Mavericks 2020)
• Paul Chun (Legal Mavericks 2020)
• Lau Kong (The Exorcist’s 2^nd Meter, The Witness)

BEST TECHNICAL DESIGNS (VISUAL EFFECTS, SCORES, EDITING. COSTUME, MAKE-UP, PRODUCTION)

• Forensic Heroes 4
• Brutally Young
• The Exorcist’s 2^nd Meter
• Flying Tiger 2
• Line Walker 3: Bull Fight

MOST FAVOURITE TV VILLAIN

• Jack Hui (Airport Strikers)
• Joel Chan (Flying Tiger 2)
• Kenneth Ma (Line Walker 3: Bull Fight)
• David Chiang (Al Cappuccino)
• Tsui Wing (The Witness)

MOST FAVOURITE ON-SCREEN COUPLE

• Joel Chan & Vivien Yeo (Brutally Young)
• Vincent Wong & Sisley Choi (Legal Mavericks 2020)
• Kenneth Ma & Mandy Wong (The Exorcist’s 2^nd Meter)
• Moses Chan & Ali Lee (Death By Zero)
• Owen Cheung & Sisley Choi (Line Walker 3: Bull Fight)

MOST FAVOURITE DRAMA THEME SONG

• ‘I Need You Every Minute’ by Joey Thye – ending theme song for ‘Brutally Young’
•  ‘Confession’ by Fred Cheng – opening theme song for ‘Brutally Young’
• ‘Mortals Do Not Understand Love’ by Hubert Wu – ending theme song for ‘The Exorcist’s 2^nd Meter’
• ‘Feels Like Heaven’ by Raymond Lam & Hana Kuk – ending theme song for ‘Line Walker 3: Bull Fight’
• ‘If You Understand’ by Hana Kuk – ending theme song for ‘Airport Strikers’

MOST IMPROVED TV FEMALE ARTIST

• Vivien Yeo (Brutally Young)
• Roxanne Tong (Forensic Heroes 4, Airport Strikers)
• Gloria Tang (Airport Strikers, The Exorcist’s 2^nd Meter, Legal Mavericks 2020)
• Kelly Cheung (Forensic Heroes 4, Legal Mavericks 2020, The Witness)
• Winki Lai (Al Cappuccino)

MOST IMPROVED TV MALE ARTIST

• Anthony Ho (Brutally Young, The Exorcist’s 2^nd Meter, Death By Zero, Line Walker 3: Bull Fight)
• Owen Cheung (Airport Strikers, Al Cappuccino, Line Walker 3: Bull Fight, Legal Mavericks 2020)
• Hugo Wong (Airport Strikers, The Exorcist’s 2^nd Meter, Legal Mavericks 2020)
• Hubert Wu (The Exorcist’s 2^nd Meter)
• Tsui Wing (The Exorcist’s 2^nd Meter, Al Cappuccino, Legal Mavericks 2020, The Witness)

BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

• Vivien Yeo (Brutally Young)
• Susan Tse (The Exorcist’s 2^nd Meter)
• Moon Lau (The Exorcist’s 2^nd Meter)
• Roxanne Tong (Forensic Heroes 4)
• Elena Kong (Death By Zero)

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

• Willie Wai (The Witness)
• Dominic Lam (Brutally Young)
• Tsui Wing (Al Cappuccino)
• Hubert Wu (The Exorcist’s 2^nd Meter)
• Owen Cheung (Al Cappuccino)

MOST FAVOURITE TV FEMALE CHARACTER

• Mandy Wong (Brutally Young)
• Selena Li (Forensic Heroes 4)
• Ali Lee (Death By Zero)
• Sisley Choi (Line Walker 3: Bull Fight)
• Samantha Ko (Go!Go!Go! Operation C9)

MOST FAVOURITE TV MALE CHARACTER

• Kenneth Ma (The Exorcist’s 2^nd Meter)
• Vincent Wong (Al Cappuccino)
• Raymond Lam (Line Walker 3: Bull Fight)
• Bosco Wong (Flying Tiger 2)
• Moses Chan (Death By Zero)

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

• Mandy Wong (Brutally Young)
• Ali Lee (Death By Zero)
• Sisley Choi (Legal Mavericks 2020)
• Selena Li (Forensic Heroes 4)
• Samantha Ko (Go!Go!Go! Operation C9)

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

• Raymond Lam (Line Walker 3: Bull Fight)
• Shaun Tam (Brutally Young)
• Kenneth Ma (The Exorcist’s 2^nd Meter)
• Wayne Lai (Death By Zero)
• Vincent Wong (Legal Mavericks 2020)

BEST SERIES

• Brutally Young
• The Exorcist’s 2^nd Meter
• Flying Tiger 2
• Legal Mavericks 2020
• Line Walker 3: Bull Fight

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

4 movie reviews today on Christmas Day.

I have been watching quite a number of new movies recently to catch up on a bit of my inactivity in this hobby earlier this year. Without wasting more time, here are my quick review to the following films:

Tenet (2020)

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This sci-fi action thriller film directed by Christopher Nolan tells the story of a secret agent (Washington) who manipulates the flow of time to prevent World War III. The plot doesn’t sound as simple as that actually. In fact, it is far more complicated than just being a ‘time travel’ movie. It is always not easy to grasp on Nolan’s film and it usually takes two or more viewing to truly understand it (but I won’t because I don’t find this movie enjoyable and worth my second viewing). He is brilliant in adding depth to his movies but this isn’t my type of movie. I enjoyed his past ones like ‘Inception’ and ‘The Dark Knight’. Out of 10 points, I rate ‘Tenet’ a total of 6.8.

Freaky (2020)

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‘Freaky’ is a comedy slasher film which centers on a teenage girl who unintentionally switches bodies with a middle-aged male serial killer. First of all, it’s a very interesting direction to blend horror and comedy here. It ended up creating a gory yet funny film to watch. Vince Vaughn delivered a notable performance here portraying as the girl who are trapped in a body of male serial killer. He is a big guy but funny to watch from his expressions and movements required for the character. The film is also surprisingly gory with some graphic murder scenes to spice up the ‘slasher’ side. In summary, it’s a solid comedy slasher film and I would rate it a total of 7.5.

Wonder Woman 1984 (2020)

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This film is the only decent superhero film this year (the other one; The New Mutants also released this year is bad…let’s not get to there). Wonder Woman 1984 is a sequel to 2017’s Wonder Woman. The movie sets in 1984 during the Cold War and follows Diana and her past love, Steve as they face off against Max Lord and Cheetah. The film starred Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Kristen Wig, Pedro Pascal, etc. It is quite a long movie but I never felt bored in any point. The actions are awesome, Gal Gadot is no doubt the perfect choice for this iconic Wonder Woman role, the performances by the cast are on point, the visuals are good, and the last segment is climactic, intense and thrilling. The play of wishes in the movie is also kind of a fresh direction in a superhero film. This is really a decent film and I don’t mind seeing more of solo Wonder Woman films. Out of 10 points, I rate Wonder Woman 1984 a total of 8.4.

Monster Hunter (2020)

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This is a monster film that revolves on a female liutenant and her soldiers who are accidentally transported to a new world and had to engage in a desperate battle for survival against enormous enemies. Many are complaining of the underdeveloped characters and thin storyline to the film but I actually don’t see that as a need for this kind of film. Adding that may turn the movie draggy and boring at times but I do agree to add a bit of that (not a lot) just to get us a bit more connected with the characters. They should have also explained more of the new world and the monsters to us. The visual effects in this movie are very impressive (the monsters and the landscape look so good and realistic) but the editing is poor (especially of the action scenes…quite distracting). Milla Jovovich, the main lead of the film seems to be never ages (remember her very well in Resident Evil film series). Out of 10 points, I rate Monster Hunter a total of 7.0. It is filled with a lot of epic monster scenes and that’s what I’m looking for mostly.

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

Merry Christmas! Stay safe when celebrating…

Merry Christmas everyone!

Although Christmas events or gatherings have to be scaled down this year, do not let them be an excuse to ruin this festive season. We can still celebrate in a more humble manner, in whichever way we may find as long as we continue to stay safe.

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This year may be hard for us but may this Christmas season will still fill your home with joy, your heart with love, and your life with laughter. And may the New Year be full of adventure!

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May the Christmas season end the present year on a cheerful note and make way for a fresh and bright New Year. Season’s Greetings to you all!

(Images in this post are from various online sources)