Movie review for ‘Now You See Me 2’ and ‘Zootopia’ (2016)

‘Now You See Me 2’ and ‘Zootopia’ are the two latest movies of the year of that I have watched recently. It’s now back to the time for movies as I had completed a majority of my works for my first semester which is going to end very soon. Time for entertainment after a week of pressure and staying overnight to complete my assignments.

‘Now You See Me 2’ is a sequel to ‘Now You See Me’ (2013) which was a surprising hit back then and was quite a major success mostly derived from its magic caper thriller theme. This latest sequel continues to that fame and it went with more tricks, actions and spectacles. The girl from the first movie is replaced and I have no issue with that as it is explained well in this sequel’s story development. The rest of the cast returned, led by Mark Ruffalo and Jesse Eisenberg (ohh, we see him in very short hair here and it reminds us of his Lex Luthor role in Batman v Superman) added with some new members like Daniel Radcliffe and Jay Chou. It’s interesting to see a boy who once portrayed a famous magician (Harry Potter) is now in a movie about magic again. Then, we have Jay Chou that would be very helpful of attracting more Chinese audiences to this movie. His scenes are unexpectedly not that short but still not a major role (typical to any Asian in any Hollywood film).

It is still a good movie (like to see those magic tricks, especially some scenes involving long sequences of how the tricks were done which are pretty elaborate and interesting). However, this time, the sequel didn’t gave us much climax or shocking plot twists like what we have seen in its predecessor that excited us. The climax in this sequel is a bit flat and disappointing (on the way Daniel Radcliffe got exposed). Other than that, it’s still a decent movie. Out of 10 points, I rate ‘Now You See Me 2’ a total of 7.0. A bit of fun but not a strong film. Anyway, it still matches the quality of the first movie.

Next one is ‘Zootopia’. It is an animated movie which details the unlikely partnership between a rabbit police officer and a red fox con artist as they uncover a conspiracy that involves the disappearance of predator civilians within a mammalian metropolis. Originally, I didn’t have any intention at all to watch this movie. However, after knowing its extreme popularity across the world as well as hearing all the critical acclaim to it, I decided to go for it. Yes, it is a wonderful film, but still not yet an epic material. Anyway, Walt Disney Studio seldom disappoints in creating very good animated movies and this is one of them. I think I’m a bit late to only have watched this one recently. It’s out on theatres since March.

This is an unexpected hit and the movie is going to be crossing the spectacular US$ 1 billion in worldwide box office very soon. There is hardly any animated movies that could achieve the milestone (so far only Frozen, Minions and Toy Story 3 achieved that). In around a week, this movie will officially becomes the 26th film in history to join the 1-billion club. The movie has a good story but I don’t think it deserved the very high positive critics’ rating it had. Amazing but not yet spectacular. It’s fast-paced, funny, smart and thought-provoking, but at times I felt it is just another ordinary good work by Disney, not yet a masterpiece level. Out of 10 points, I rate ‘Zootopia’ a total of 7.5.

(Images in this post are from various sources throughout the world wide web)

June 2016 couldn’t be better as the end of my first semester is near.

I can’t believe it. In two more weeks, my first semester will ends. That means I have nailed the first out of the four semesters required in my two years of postgraduate study here in Curtin University in Master of Architecture. Time flies so fast that I couldn’t believe that I have already been here in Perth for over 3 months already. It was like I just flied to here from Malaysia only a week or two ago (reality is over 3 months already).

So, this month couldn’t be better as I’m anticipating my semester break. This upcoming semester break is short (only a month long) but that’s enough for me to at least take a lengthy break from the stress accumulated in the first semester and get ready to brace for more in Semester 2 of my study. What’s left right now for me is finishing up my boards for my Urban Design Studio class (that one is a huge work) to be submitted this Friday and then submission of two portfolios by middle of June. After that, I’m a free man!

As I had been working for almost four years in the past after obtaining my degree, right now, I’m still not that used to working on assignments, especially on the heavy tasks that require me to stay overnight for a week or over to finish up the works before the approaching deadlines. Yes, I’m talking about the Design Studio boards that I’m currently working on. Thank God, my concentration and passion allows me to complete it according to plan (somehow…) and to my satisfaction (hopefully to my lecturers’ satisfaction too). I have been working on drawings, editing, and facing my laptop for countless of hours for it. I hope it paid off with great outcome and result in the end.

So now, it’s June. I’m here in Perth, and I have to get ready for the winter for the first time (since there is no such thing as four seasons in Malaysia, my home country). Actually, now, it’s already almost like winter here in Perth, but fortunately, the days here are still mostly sunny (I love sun now due to the coldness).

The new blog header for the month would be nature-inspired. The first thing that came to my mind when designing the header is a view to the forest landscape with beautiful sunlight ray cutting through the trees in a very poetic atmosphere. So, my blog header ended up with that wonderful visual for the rest of the month (Original source of the image at http://www.magic4walls.com). Last but not least, have fun and enjoy June 2016! It’s mid of the year already…