Movie review for ‘Shazam!’ and ‘The Wandering Earth’.

Before I continue with my movie reviews, I have to release my frustration over the super long journey I had last Monday from KL to Singapore after the long weekend break. I already purposely bought an earlier bus ticket (1pm rather than my usual time at 3pm) and I still reached my home in Singapore at midnight. That is insane. The whole journey took literally almost 12 hours (1pm to 1am). Even with normal congestion state, the typical bus ride from KL to SG will usually only takes about 7 to 8 hours.

Our bus had already reached nearby the immigration complex at Johor Bahru before 7pm and we were just stuck there in the traffic congestion for over 3 hours. Our bus can only move few metres for every 15 minutes. In the end, when our bus was quite near to the complex, many of the passengers including myself decided to just drop off and walk to the complex and then through the bridge over to Singapore’s side. This is my first time walking across the bridge and it took about 20+ minutes. Then, I have to grab a taxi to get to home rather than wait for the bus which I believe will only get me back to home at about 2 to 3am. I simply cannot wait for that as I have to get to work tomorrow morning. What a crazy experience. The congestion was really severe and I knew it was all because of the long weekend break where many including Singaporeans head over to Malaysia for vacation.

Okay, now let’s get back to my movie reviews. Recently, I have watched ‘Shazam!’, a DC superhero film about a teenage boy who can transform into an adult superhero after being given the power by a dying wizard. This DC movie strays away from the previous DC films which are set in a much darker or serious tone and that’s a good move. With a much lighter tone and plenty of fun around (that’s what Marvel movies are doing and it is no doubt that they are more successful with that direction), this movie is very enjoyable to watch. It’s refreshing to see that superhero story here is not only restricted to the usual business among the grown-ups but also to younger generations. The kids delivered brilliant performance in this film especially Jack Dylan Grazer whom is a familiar face I recognized from the horror movie ‘It’ too.

The film’s emphasis on family and friendship is good as it adds emotional depth to the whole storyline that most of the previous DC movies are lacking. Engaging and entertaining, I rate ‘Shazam!’ a total of 7.8 out of 10. It received very positive acclaims and yet it still couldn’t make it big at the box office (only grossed over $360 million worldwide, a figure that is so much lower than even the lowest grossing Marvel films). People just don’t want to give DC films a chance or have lost hope to their films. It looks like DC fanbase is so much smaller too.

I have also watched another movie and it’s a Chinese production. The film is called ‘The Wandering Earth’. Set in the far future, the film follows a group of astronauts guiding the Earth away from an expanding Sun, while attempting to prevent a collision with Jupiter. I have to say that the movie marks a great effort by Chinese filmmakers but there are still a lot of elements they can improve on. The story is fantastic but its presentation is quite dull and not engaging. The visual effects are good but are still not to the Hollywood quality yet. The production design is mediocre and lacks depth. I felt flat watching the scenes especially the ones with huge CGI backdrop. The cast are doing well but some of their dialogues were corny. The film can be much more interesting if they explore more on the life of the underground city perhaps (just a suggestion). Out of 10 points, I rate ‘The Wandering Earth’ a total of 6.5. With more experience later on, I’m sure that Chinese filmmakers will be able to deliver big-budget productions that could rival Hollywood ones easily in near future.

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

I.M. Pei, one of the world’s most famous and greatest architects, dies aged 102.

Ieoh Ming Pei, or simply known as I.M. Pei is a name no stranger to anyone in the architecture field across the world. I’m certain there are a lot of people not within this field do heard of this name before too. He is the man behind some of the world’s most recognizable buildings in the world.

He is one of the earlier architects that I have researched before in my undergraduate study years ago. I have read some architecture books that present some of his best works and I’m very inspired. I did wrote a blog post about this legendary architect two years ago too, in conjunction with his 100th birthday (link: https://vincentloy.wordpress.com/2017/04/28/i-m-pei-an-architect-who-just-celebrated-his-100th-birthday/).

This time around, I’m writing about the news of his death and the huge legacy he left behind in the world of design and architecture. He passed away yesterday at the age of 102.

Here’s come a quick biography; I.M.Pei, a Chinese-American architect was born in Guangzhou in 1917. In 1935, he moved to United States to began his architectural education. His career lasted for over 60 years and he had designed over 70 buildings across the world. Some of his most famous works are as follow:

Mesa Laboratory, Colorado, USA (1967)

Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, New York, USA (1973)

John F. Kennedy Library, Boston, USA (1979)

Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center, Dallas, USA (1989)

Bank of China Tower, Hong Kong, China (1989)

The Gateway, Singapore (1990)

Louvre Pyramid, Paris, France (1993)

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Ohio, USA (1995)

Museum of Islamic Art, Doha, Qatar (2008)

Macao Science Center, Macao, China (2009)

Some awesome buildings, right? His design style is very obvious; his emphasis on strong geometric patterns enable him to create some very distinctive buildings ranging from museums to skyscrapers around the globe. He has won various awards and honors in the past; AIA Gold Medal in 1979, 2010 Royal Gold Medal from Royal Institute of British Architects, 1983 Pritzker Prize, 2003 Henry C. Turner Prize, 1992 Presidential Medal of Freedom, etc.

R.I.P, I.M. Pei. You have been a huge inspiration to me and I hope to be just as half as successful as you are (that would be great already).

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

‘Avengers: Endgame’ sank Titanic in box office, and is now certain to topple ‘Avatar’ as the new worldwide box office champion.

As of this writing, ‘Avengers: Endgame’ has grossed a total of US$2.238 billion in worldwide box office. That amount is already sufficient to get past 1997’s ‘Titanic’ to become the second highest grossing film worldwide. ‘Titanic’ grossed a total of US$2.187 billion. However, when you adjust the figures for inflation, ‘Endgame’ is still way far behind. Movie ticket price is way much lower in 1997 than the price on the present day (ticket price now is like almost 3 to 4x higher). That’s what inflation means.

Let’s not get things complicated with this inflation stuff. The official table is still on the figures not adjusted for inflation. So officially, ‘Avengers: Endgame’ is now no.2, and the movie has now just entered its third weekend. There’s still long way to go before the movie is no longer showing in cinemas worldwide. Hence, looking from the current statistic, it looks almost certain for the movie to dethrone 2009’s ‘Avatar’ as the world’s highest grossing film in history. ‘Avatar’ grossed an epic total of US$2.787 billion.

‘Endgame’ needs another US$600 million to break that record. That shouldn’t be too hard. But for now, I’m already looking at the possibility of the movie going a step further, which is to be the first ever film to gross over US$3 billion. I think it’s possible. ‘Endgame’ has like a 50% shot for that unprecedented milestone.

Recently, James Cameron who is the director for both ‘Titanic’ and ‘Avatar’ congratulated Marvel for their accomplishment in the box office as there’s a movie that finally ‘sunk’ Titanic. There has been no other movies in the past that got to do that (let along beats ‘Avatar’), with the closest being 2015’s ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ that grossed US$2.068 billion. For your information, currently there are five movies that are in the prestigious 2-billion dollar club (Avatar, Avengers: Endgame, Titanic, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and Avengers: Infinity War). Breaking into the 1-billion dollar milestone is no longer a tough challenge now as there are almost 40 movies which accomplished that goal.

As of now, two 2019 movies grossed over US$1 billion. They are ‘Avengers: Endgame’ and ‘Captain Marvel’ (this movie grossed over US$1.121 billion). They are both Marvel films. Three other films are expected to join the 1-billion dollar club too this year and they are ‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’, ‘The Lion King’ and ‘Spider-Man: Far From Home’. I’m predicting that the solo Spidey movie is finally going to gross over 1-billion due to the continuing buzz from ‘Endgame’. There are 5 other films this year that may have a chance to go past 1-billion too; ‘Aladdin’, ‘Toy Story 4’, ‘Frozen 2′, Godzilla: King of the Monsters’ and ‘Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw’. It would be insane if there a total of 10 movies in this year alone that grossed over US$1 billion respectively. Anyway, that’s seems almost impossible.

There’s another movie that I’m highly anticipating this year especially after watching its teaser trailer that has just been released a moment ago; ‘IT: Chapter 2’. The trailer looks promising and it’s cool to see the ‘Losers Club’ now being in the adults and has to take down the evil and terrifying Pennywise the Clown again. The movie which is set to release on early September this year is going to do well in box office too, but not to the level of hitting 1-billion or so as it is a horror film which does not appeal to a fairly large chunk of the general audiences.

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

 

1 year after the historic GE14.

Today marks the first year anniversary of the historic 14th General Election of Malaysia that took place on 9th May 2018. There is still a little regret in me for not doing my part as a Malaysian on that day. I was only few days into my new job in Singapore that time and so I couldn’t take any leave (unless it’s unpaid) to return to Malaysia to cast my vote. The voting day is on a normal weekday. It’s one of the last hurdles by the previous nasty government (Barisan Nasional) to prevent Malaysians staying abroad from coming home to vote since they knew most of them will vote for the opposition.

Anway, the coalition (Pakatan Harapan) that I wish to vote on still win in my constituency as well as at the federal level for the first time ever since Malaysia gained independence in 1957. The country erupted into cheers on that very late night when the results kept pouring in with many seats being won by the opposition. The dream to see a new Malaysia turned to reality with Pakatan Harapan winning enough seats to form the federal government. I stayed till 3am++ on that night to watch live broadcast of the result and I’m so excited to see BN lost.

So, now, a year after that historic election, how is the new government been performing so far? My grade to them would be just B-. Not bad, but there’s a lot that can and should have already been done by now. I knew that the previous corrupted government has left the country in serious debt and made it hard for PH to implement policies they promised. However, PH can actually fulfill some other policies, but due to their weak stand and opposition from certain groups, they pulled out. They should be more firm in their decision. Majority of Malaysians voted for them, and hence expecting them to fulfill their manifesto. Not multiple U-turns to what we have been seeing for the past one year.

Tun Dr Mahathir is a great leader and has my respect and admiration. However, it is very obvious that he is too old to be able to lead the country well. He is a likable guy, but age do really matters. Some of his principles are really old-fashioned and only suits well to perhaps two decades ago (during his first tenure as Prime Minister) and not now definitely. His act of taking in the ‘rubbish’ from UMNO (accepting party hoppers) to strengthen his own party is problematic and disturbing. He has one more year to go before passing the duty to Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. I hope that Anwar will take the country to a much greater height soon.

It’s obvious that the support for Pakatan has been decreasing especially now when UMNO became close friend with PAS (while MCA and MIC stay quiet without any power to object…by the way, that MCA’s Wee Ka Siong keep blasting the government every single day but turned into a silent puppy when UMNO decided to marry PAS…what a joke!). Racial card is used again to create tension and to weaken the government. Pakatan should really do something wise and strict about it before it gets worse.

Most ministers are inexperienced and I’m fine with that. They need more time and I accept that reason. After this one year of perhaps ‘probation’, I wish that they will step it up on the game from now on. If not, I’m seeing a high chance of BN taking over the government back in the next general election. I do not want to see that happening. I do not want to see Malaysia returning to the old failed state. As for Najib, why is it he is still around walking as a free man? The court process has been taking too long.

So, this is my view of the Pakatan government since taking the power exactly a year ago. They are doing slightly above average but not great. Let us hope for more great progress from PH in the coming years to bring my beloved country, Malaysia into a nation of multiple success stories, rather than being called previously as a country of kleptocracy.

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

 

‘The Defected’ has so much potential with great cast but couldn’t impress in the end.

‘The Defected’ (鐵探) is a Hong Kong television drama that currently attracts a lot of audiences. The 30-episode series starred Benjamin Yuen as Inspector Sheung Sing, a policeman who becomes embroiled in a conspiracy plaguing the high-ranking officials due to an incident that almost cost him his life. The other main cast include Kara Wai, Philip Keung, Sisley Choi, Oscar Leung, Mat Yeung, Benz Hui, Ben Wong, Grace Wong, etc.

What I first like from this series is the focus on the rivalry of high-ranking police officials to get promoted rather than being another typical police drama that is all about showing undercovers and catching bad guys. The series at least went into a different direction with an uncommon plot. However, I find that the series didn’t do enough on exploring into this area.

Throughout the entire series, only Kara Wai’s character has the upper hand in almost every situation. The plot can be so much more exciting. One of my suggestions is to have several high-ranking officials (such characters with more prominent roles) plotting out some schemes to take down one another (and not just Kara Wai). There are such characters in the series such as Benz Hui, Ben Wong and Lee Shin-Cheong but they formed no important part of the story. What a wasted potential or opportunity to turn this series into one intense and memorable one.

This series had a great cast. Kara Wai is a good choice to portray the ruthless superior. She stands a chance for best actress win at the end of the year with this performance. She had win a lot from film awards but never from television awards. If the best actress competition this year is very weak, she do have a shot at it. However, in my opinion, there is not much from her role that requires her to deliver memorable acting. In most of the time, she just needs to get her eyes opened wide to show the anger while being confronted, and gets to cry for the death of her son near the end of the series. There is particularly no standout or explosive moment from her alone.

Philip Keung on the other hand nailed his role as the undercover named Bingo. He got me immersed into his performance and I particularly enjoyed his interaction with his mother (portrayed by Angelina Lo). He may have a shot at TV king title but I felt that his role is more of a supporting one (preferred him to get best supporting actor or most favourite male character). His character development is great except at the end when he died so suddenly without any honor for his contribution and sacrifice, and incomplete work that should have been finished by him too. Benjamin Yuen took that job since he is the main lead in this drama. His effort to lose weight and gets pale just for this drama is admired but there’s still huge room of improvement for his performance.

The series started off great with high expectation from me. However, it continues to be quite draggy and concluded with a rushed ending (not much climax even when it is near the end). At first, I saw similarity of quality of this series with ‘Line Walker’ (this series is very good). But in the end, ‘The Defected’ wasted most of its potential and becomes just a slightly above average drama this year to my disappointment. Out of 10 points, I rate ‘The Defected’ a total of 7.0.

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

 

Happy Labour Day!

Happy Labour Day everyone! It’s time to catch a little break in the middle of the week. It would be much better if May 1st falls on Friday so we can have a long weekend. Or it can even be on tomorrow (Thursday) so that we can take one day leave on Friday to enjoy a 4-day weekend break.

One third of the year is gone and it’s the month of May now. Tomorrow marks the 1st anniversary of me working here in Singapore. Time flies. By now, I have mostly adapted to the environment here and have known more places in this island for shopping, movies, exploring and sightseeing.

I have learned a lot in this past one year and there’s so much more for me to learn from my career as a junior architect. On reflecting this past one year and to set myself ready for the following years, I have to be like a skyscraper; rising from the ground to the top as sky is not the limit. You will notice this quote up on my blog’s header for this month too. When you are on the city street, try look up to the buildings above you and you will gain a new perspective in life (besides straining your neck to look up..haha).

What am I going to do today? Nothing much. It’s just one day and it’s on the middle of the week and hence there’s nothing exciting or interesting that can be planned. I will just stay at home, watching stuff (Youtube, my Hong Kong drama and a downloaded movie perhaps), go for grocery shopping, rest and updating my blog here (that’s what I’m doing now).

Without labour, nothing prospers. Happy Labour Day once again! We, who worked hard and contributed so much, do deserves this holiday. Now, I’m already eyeing on the next public holiday which is also around the corner; Wesak Day on the middle of the month.