Rewatching Civil War

After rewatching Civil War multiple times, (not necessarily legally) I have come to the conclusion not only is this the best comicbook movie ever, its an expertly crafted move. Not just because it expertly juggles so many characters and has so many quotable lines but also there are so many themes that are explored among all the punching and size changing.

First off Zemo. The promotion of the movie was that both sides are right and here we have a 'villain' who is actually right. One could even argue Zemo is the protagonist. This is a movie about his plan for revenge. Zemo is the voice of innocent bystanders given form. He is the tactical genius smart enough to decrypt the Hydra files and realise that there might be skeletons in the Avengers' closet that he could use. Best of all, the twist has been implied in Winter Soldier.

Speaking of revenge, we've got two other characters seeking revenge as well. Black Panther who ultimately comes to different terms with his need for vengeance (thank the Marvel gods that he stopped Zemo cause Zemo is the best villain since Loki) and Stark who is just I don't care Winter Soldier was mind controlled because everything in my life has fallen apart and revenge is the only thing that can make me feel better.

Civil War is great because it pays off the character development from previous movies. The soldier who was used to chain of command who comes to realise that all organisations are easily corruptible and the safest hands are in his. The rebel who has made so many mistakes who realises that he can't keep running away from accountability.

The scary thing is how can Marvel movies get any better? Can the peak get any higher? 

Captain America: Civil War

Edit: Forgot to include these awesome world building videos:

The airport scene is as good as the reviews say. Pure comicbook joy. I couldn't stop grinning ear to ear. I love how the trailer doesn't spoil the money shots. So weird seeing Spidey interacting with everyone. The only minus is that Vision, being such a powerful character is surprisingly absent for a lot of that fight.

I'm glad we got more Cap and Winter Soldier Jason Bourne action. The fight down the stairs was fun. The thing that left the biggest impression is hot Aunt May played by Marisa Tomei who doesn't look close to 51. You know why Downey is going to be in Spiderman and we all know Tony Stark likes to upgrade.

Also, Cap's mom is not called Martha. Very fun, satisfying almost must watch. The Russo Bros did a good job cramming in so many characters but keeping it a Cap film.

Avengers: Age of Ultron

Someday, someone is going to make a movie about a bad guy who intends to destroy humanity by going back in time and showing all the kids in the 80s the Avengers movies and blow all their minds. First off, there is no after credits scene. Booooo.

The only negative thing I can say is that Ultron while entertaining is just there for the Avengers to beat up and the mcguffin kinda sucks but at the same time fulfills its role which is to create all the great character moments. Someday a Marvel movie will have a great villain besides Loki but its all about the characters and Whedon gets the characters.

Once again, Whedon does a masterful job balancing so many characters, giving them their moment to shine but the true main character is Hawkeye. I really like what Joss does with him and cements his importance to the team. However, I think Ultron is already straining at the maximum number of characters because its very tough service all the characters' story archs and the main plot.

The opening scene is basically the new version of that team on shot scene from the first movie. The money 360 shot from the final battle is straight out of the comicbooks.

Its interesting how the early rumours about Age of Ultron turned out to be true. The ending had me wanting to watch the next one. The only thing I can do is rewatch Age of Ultron again, I guess. Bring on Civil War! Don't go in expecting the feeling of watching Avengers for the first time. Ultron is just a bigger, more polished version.

Unfortunately, the poor people living in Japan will have to wait until 4 July to watch Ultron but I would trade watching Ultron early for being able to eat Coco Ichi every few days.

Actually, there is one thing I hate which is Vision lifting Thor's hammer. Seriously, the one thing I want to see in Infinity War is Cap lifting Thor's hammer and bashing Thanos with it but this diminishes that moment.

Captain America: The Winter Solider, Project Diva F2 and the latest Sambomaster Owaranai Miracle no Yokan Album.

The best way to sum up Winter Soldier is that it makes me want to see Cap 3 more than I want Avengers 2 which is shooting now. Playing Cap as Jason Bourne is a great idea. This is the solo Marvel movie where the tone of the movie is given more importance than making a movie that pleases everyone. Marvel movies will generally never suck because they know what makes the characters tick but there is that element of playing to all sorts of audiences.

Although Cap 2 is based on the Winter Soldier storyline in the comics, it plays second fiddle to the story of Cap finding his place in this world and is pretty much a team movie. Falcon is not just shoe-horned in because he plays an important role as someone Cap can relate to. Kinda wished they had put Black Widow's story from the comics in this but oh well. Marvel continue doing a great job of making boy scout Cap interesting by playing him off other characters and this movie doesn't have the time waster of until Avengers feel cause interesting stuff happens in Winter Soldier that changes the Marvel cinematic universe.

There are things that happen that are a bit outrageous including the big threat but the movie moves at a good pace and there are many great character moments that I didn't have time to dwell on issues of why which makes a strong action movie. As long as there is a strong central theme, character moments and not too many coincidences with plenty of action, I'm happy to sit along for the ride.

Kinda sad I just saw one of the best car chase scenes ever in The Raid 2 last week, but while the car chase and fighting can't match The Raid or even Bourne, they are pretty good, especially the 1v1 fights. The GSP fight was cool. Cap works best as a street level superhero in a world of espionage. Great job by Marvel making their second best movie so far and fingers crossed for Guardians. Don't go in expecting your mind to be blown and you'll find Winter Soldier is a very good action movie.

HATSUNE MIKU PROJECT DIVA F

Ordered the game from HMV Japan. If I had not gotten the PS3 controller last year, I don't think I would have bothered with the PS3 version cause its only 3D when watching the music videos and not playing the game. The game came with a todoke hibike code which allowed me to get the Vita version for 5000 yen.

My order came with a bag which no dude will ever use.

And a boring mouse pad.

SAMBOMASTER: OWARANAI MIRACLE NO YOKAN ALBUM

For the first time in forever, I bought a music CD. I have concert DVDs and game soundtrack CDs which  are more bonus items but I think this is my first ever non-street performer Japanese music CD. lol The reason I got it is that I could not find the album to leech online. Seriously. Sambomaster is that unpopular that I even tried to buy the album digitally from Amazon Japan only to find out I can't buy it cause I'm not in Japan. WTF.

Thought about trying Winny which I think is still going but I couldn't be stuffed. It came with the live DVD of their performances during their tour which is awesome. Album, looks like crap and I hate the pink. Anything Sambomaster puts out is great and they are the one band I don't feel like I only like a certain period of stuff. Should have bought their album when I went to their live last year.

The Raid 2 Berandal

OMFG. What a trip! So nice to watch a non-cgfied, no wire-fu and utterly brutal action movie and so happy that the movie is showing in Australia. My main concerns going in were that they would try to hard to top the action from the first one that it reaches Ong Bak 2 levels of stupidity and that the story might become too convoluted. I'm happy to say that while the story is not as tight as the first Raid/Serbuan Maut, the action scenes are way too awesome.

WHAT I LIKED

Anytime the story feels like its getting boring, we get some crazy action scene that has the audience wincing/laughing along. Stunts that made me go wow instead of CG that makes me fall asleep.

Humour helps a lot in such an incredibly brutal movie. Let's just say I won't be watching Indonesian porn.

The undercover storyline did provide some moments of tension.

Did I mention I love the brutality?

The mud fight scene.

The Raid 2 has got a car action scene that's even better than the one in Ronin and Bourne Supremacy. Gareth Evans knows how to direct his action.

Glass corridor fight. Truly WTF pulse pounding action.

The kitchen fight is truly a thing of beauty.

CG blood is not too over the top obvious and in some cases necessary cause the old burst the blood bag trick would have too much blood for some of the violence in this movie. I still don't like CG blood but it wasn't too distracting.

Some very inventive and painful looking camera angles and long cut action sequences.Nothing as long as Old Boy's corridor fight or Tom Yum Goong no cut fight up the stairs but still impressive.

You will never look at a hammer the same way again.

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE

The WTF snow scene that took me out of the movie and the fight leading up to it was unnecessarily long. As a fan of the first movie, its nice fanservice but ultimately the length doesn't enhance the story or its pacing and not to mention the snow...

A bit too many bad guys running at hero with arms in the air but that's always the problem with 1 vs 20 fights.

Gareth Evan's shaky cam framing is still not as masterful as Paul Greengrass's but its still better than everyone else's.

The Goto family office looks so cheap for a gang that controls half of Jakarta.

Endo Kenichi, Matsuda Ryuhei and Kitamura Kazuki are little more than glorified cameos, unless of course this leads to them playing bigger roles in Raid 3. At least Abe Hiroshi got to kick ass in Chocolate.

SUMMARY

Must watch for action movie fans. You can't get action this awesome anywhere else. My mind is still buzzing from all the ass kicking, neck slicing I just witnessed.

The Dark Knight Rises

Just came back from a 3am screening of the third movie in Nolan's Batman trilogy. What a disappointment. I can't believe all the positive reviews online. Were they watching the same movie? Don't read on if you haven't watched it. If you're going to watch it, dial down your expectations.

What I didn't like:

- Batman is chased by cops on his bike to a dark alley and then flies off with his plane the bat. Did he just leave the bike in the alley for the cops to grab or is he able to store it on the bat? Whoever did the CG for the bat did a poor job on it.

- Alfred getting all weepy just because he's seen a video of Bane taking people out. I don't buy his fear because Bane is strong. Batman's got all sorts of gadgets in his utility belt.

- 50 day fusion bomb hostage situation where the hostage is Gotham City. In a movie about a guy dressed as a bat who doesn't use guns or kill. The movie needed 10 extra minutes to sell me on this cause I just don't buy it. It somehow did not seem believable to me. The scope is so big that short scenes of some army people talking, Scarecrow running  a mock court and people going nuts outside a hotel are not enough for it to seem real.


- Cops with guns running headlong into bad guys with guns?! I know Nolan wanted his Tale of two cities image but WTF? 300 people with guns don't rush at people with guns in a confined area. They take cover and have a shoot out. All the cops should have been mowed down. Batman comes in with the bat, shoots/disables a few batmobiles and the flies off. Uumm, how about gunning down some baddies. Oh yeah, Batman doesn't use guns to shoot people.

- Bane's got the time to smuggle an injured Bruce Wayne out of the United States into some prison somewhere (let's assume Africa) which is at the bottom of a well and is unguarded. Wow, hope no one comes across this 'prison'. Anyone thought about making some rope with cloth, attaching it with a something to grapple on and maybe throw it up from the halfway point of the climb?

- TDK had 'plot holes' but there wasn't enough time and the narrative was strong and tight enough that it didn't matter. We didn't need to know when and how Joker managed to put bombs all over the hospital because I bought the big picture story of Batman vs Joker for the soul of Harvey Dent. We've got head scratching stuff like Batman rescuing Gordon and then straight after that rescuing Robin which is happening in another location. The movie depicts Gordon and Robin's life as being in danger at the same time and I was expecting Catwoman to rescue Robin. 


- Nolan had big ideas but TDKR is lacking execution. The narrative was all over the place. The tale of two cities stuff was unnecessary. The have vs have nots narrative didn't lead anywhere.

What I liked:

- Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle. Wow. Imagine if Nolan had kept the story simpler.

- Thanks goodness the ending wasn't Batman flying off into the sunset and exploding into a mushroom cloud.

Indon movie review: The Raid / Serbuan Maut

No idea why the international name for this movie is The Raid: Redemption cause there's no bloody redemption in this movie, just plenty of ass-kicking, bone crunching violence. Its made by the same guys who did Merantau, which impressed me with the fight scenes. Thought I had reviewed Merantau but a quick search suggests I had not. Sometimes I write a review in my head but forget to type it down.

Yes, if you follow international movie sites, The Riad is very good as advertised. Not the best action movie in 15 years or whatever the reviews are claiming but it is very damn good. 20 Swat team members are sent on a mission to clean up this apartment building which is the headquarters of this powerful gang. Of course things go awry, lots of people get killed and its a game of survival for our hero Rama.

The fighting is awesome. Not as balletic as Tony Jaa movies but more brutal with gunshots to the head, lots of stabbing and neck slicing. Its grittier and has equal amount of moves that have me wincing thinking that has got to hurt. There's a fight where Rama uses a tonfa and a knife which is too awesome for words. Made me realise that in movies, the hero usually doesn't use knives but hey, this is like one man against 100 Indonesian parang wielding gangster.

The director really does a great job showing the claustrophobia of fighting in an apartment building. A few great scenes that do a good job of building up suspense and tension especially with the remaining police trying to hide from the bad guys. Nothing is scarier than a bunch of parang wielding Indons.

Can't believe they shot this movie for $1 million USD. Goes to show its not how much you spend but what they do with it. If only Japan can do an action movie half as good as this. The ending makes me want to see the sequel. Can't wait for his next movie with Iko Uwais Berandal. The sad story is that they are trying to do a US remake of The Raid. The Raid is one lean, mean action movie that knows what it wants to do and does it well.

Avengers: Joss Whedon is god!

Was planning to write about the first 3 episodes of Saka no ue no Kumo which I watched yesterday but can't shake Avengers from my mind. I'm planning the go watch it again tomorrow which I've never done cause a bloody movie ticket in Australia costs like aud $25 which is like USD $26. Normally for movies I loved like Fight CLub, Watchmen or Unbreakable it was just wait for DVD to see it again but Avengers is epic.

I used to buy lots of comic books since I was a teenager, mostly X-men though but but I was a huge fan of Mark Millar's Ultimates which was the grittier version of the Avengers and Ultimates 2 was the last American comic I bought. So many years of reading Marvel comics have taught me that there is no long term pay off for reading them. Its all about creative teams playing in the Marvel sandbox and any brave direction a series takes is always undone. This is not a rant against the fulfillment of reading superhero comics but rather that I am a fan. I think my introduction to the Avengers was playing the crappy Date East Megadrive game at my neighbour's house.

I am however, a huge fan of Joss Whedon on the strength of the first 4 seasons of Buffy and the whole Angel run. Angel getting cancelled was such a sad thing for me, especially with season 5 being so good. Made me stop watching tv after that. Whedon is like a geek god, having written Astonishing X-Men and being the second director beside Kevin Smith to have written a critical acclaimed comic series.

The first Iron man hinted at what the future may bring. The movies following that were good but they weren't satisfying it was all about setting up the Avengers. Marvel made sure they didn't suck but they had to serve a greater purpose. The first X-Men movie was good. The second was even better and one could see an epic third one coming until Fox decided to rush it.

Avengers is what X-Men 3 could have been. Huge payoff after a long set up. Cap and Thor would have been better if they had a bigger budget so they can do more actions and Marvel have been saving the money so they can blow it up in the Avengers. This is what Transformers could have been if Michael Bay cared more about characters than blowing things up and inserting childish jokes. Everything happens in this movie and there a lot of references for comic fans to pick up.

Avengers could possibly be the funniest movie of the year. Funny action movie that manages to be cool? Can't remember the last time I saw something like that. Whedon manages to balance 9 characters in a 2 hour 20 minute movie, give them all their own character arc and time to shine. He's been doing it on tv for a long time, just over the course of a season. Its just unbelievable what a amazing job he has done. Whedon needs to be signed up for a 3 picture deal and be given the freedom to take the Avengers where ever he wants to take them. I want to see Whedon's smaller, more personal Avengers movie that he has mentioned in an interview.

Marvel has finally gotten its 5 star superhero movie. I can't go back and watch Cap and Thor anymore because they seem to crappy in comparison. Screw the individual movies except for Cap 2 cause Cap adjusting to the modern world should be interesting. I want Avengers 2 next year. All hail Whedon. Hope he gets the freedom and money to do whatever projects he wants to do.

Indon movie review: Menculik Miyabi

Kamu harus datang ke rumah gua!

 You might have heard this news last year where the religious right wingers in Indonesia were making a lot of noise about JAV star Maria Ozawa, also known as Miyabi shooting a movie there. What better way to advertise a movie than having religious loons telling people not to watch it? If you've not heard of Maria Ozawa, don't fret because you're not missing much. She is this half Japanese, half French-Canadian JAV actress who is hot enough to be one of those models in the magazines or a really successful gravure idol.

 She's obviously comfortable in this pose.

Unfortunately, she cannot freaking act. Despite her popularity, IMHO her JAVs are boring and I just cannot understand her fame. Granted JAV acting is not real acting but she can't even fucking fake it well. She's good for titillation cameos in Tadano Hitoshi but her acting is probably worse than Fukada Kyoko which is about as low as you can get. As a friend of mine astutely observed, thank the powers that be that she is not a jdorama actress! Even the waking up scene in the beginning of Menculik Miyabi is horribly fake beyond human comprehension. Did the director not have the balls to tell her to redo the scene until she can a half realistic waking up from sleep scene?

The name of the movie translates to kidnapping Miyabi which sounds very exciting except this bunch of dudes end up kidnapping this Chinese girl who they mistook for Miyabi and who's name is Mie Yao Bi. Yes, ladies and gentlemen the plot of the movie is lamer than it sounds. Add in some cliched teen girlfriend plot and there you have it. Maria Ozawa just has a few minor scenes of her talking on the phone and the final scene at the end where she meets the main characters.

Its like someone wrote this lame teen romance script that no one in their right mind would shoot and then somehow managed to rope in a B level celebrity with a recognisable name and named the movie after her despite her hardly being in the movie at all. This is going to be the last Indonesian movie I ever watch, except for maybe Merantau which I heard decent things about but is not high on my priority list. Avoid this movie unless you want to know what Maria Ozawa looks like with her clothes on.

The Longest Night in Shanghai review

Anytime there's some international dual country dorama/movie, it always ends in disaster. See Faye Wong's Uso Koi or Rondo or Fukada Kyoko's Friends. Actually all Fukada Kyoko shows end in disaster but that's besides the point. Most of the time, the aim of the show is to promote or utilise a foreign star. Problem is, foreign star can't speak local language so you end up with a half hearted attempt by the two main characters to communicate with each other and some lame story to make sure that both parties visit each others countries.


The Longest Night in Shanghai is a China/Japan joint production starring Masahiro Motoki (Okuribito) as Mizushima, a charisma stylist who is in Shanghai to do an awards show. Mizushima has reached a turning point in his professional and private life and after what he has achieved, has no idea what he wants. He is bored with his career and his relationship with his girlfriend, who is also his personal assistant has stagnanted. Vicky Zhao (Shaolin Soccer) is Lin Xi, a brash taxi drive who has to take care of her useless brother and has a crush on her mechanic. One could say that the reason she drives so recklessly is so that she can get her taxi damaged.

For someone who's at most a supporting actor, Tsukamoto Takashi's been in some pretty good shows.

On that fateful night, Lin Xi knocks Mizushima down and as an apology, offers to give him a tour of shanghai. Unfortunately, Mizushima has no money, mobile or any idea where he was suppose to stay. At its core, The Longest Night in Shanghai is a fish out of water story. Mizushima is lost in a foreign land with Lin Xi as his reluctant tour guide. They are barely able to communicate; Mizushima knows some English but Lin Xi doesn't. She wants to get rid of him and does, but she comes back to his aid despite being preoccupied with her personal problems.


They encounter various adventures throughout the night and of course come to terms with their emotions and personal problems. I won't spoil what happens but its remarkable that a movie with two people speaking different languages and constantly misunderstanding each other can be so entertaining. Credit the actors and the script. There's some laugh out load moments, especially Takenaka Naoto's (Shall we Dance?) Bruce Lee scene. His imitation is uncanny. For a movie director by a Chinese, the Japanese parts are really good and don't feel fake like when Western movies have Japanese speaking parts and dialogue and characters don't feel authentic.


If there's one real weak link in this movie, its the side story of the megane dude in the bar. Its obvious they want to make it a story about love and relationships, blah blah blah and give everyone a story but megane dude and the American singer story is laugh out bad. First, his English is shit. Second, the dialogue is pathetically fake. Similar to my comment about Japanese in American shows, this is the result of an actor who can't speak English spouting words written by someone who has no idea how lame the dialogue is in English. Good thing its only a minor part of the movie but its so bad it sticks out like a sore thumb.


I highly recommend The Longest Night in Shanghai. Movies with a chinese director doing a half Japanese/Chinese romantic comedy which is different from the norm and using the language barrier has a tool for exploring a story don't come around very often.

Thai movie review: Chocolate

When Ong Bak came out, it was a breath of fresh air. At that time there were too many movies with wire work and non contact kung fu. Basically any actor could be in an action movie and look decent. It seems as though the old days of Jackie Chan doing his own stunts are gone. Tony Jaa showed the world that what Jacky used to do can be taken to the next level with his own brand of acrobatic Muay Tai. He did incredible stunts without wires and slow motion was used to show that the hits made contact. The succesor to Jacky Chan was here and it looked like action movies were entering a new era.

If you want to see badass Abe Hiroshi, this is the film for you..

Tom Yum Goon, the second movie was kinda disappointing but I won't bore you with the details. Suffice to say, the director tried to push the envelope without realising that less is more. Then I saw Bourne Ultimatum and my opinion of what action movies should be was changed. No more stupid 1 vs 100 fights. No more idiots running around asking to get hit. Bourne redefined action as a form of storytelling, not an acrobatic dance just to build up to bullet time/slow mo/fake climax. It showed that action in movies need not be spectacular but rather make sense and have the right mix of realism and danger.

Tiger Knee!

Still, I looked forward to Chocolate. Yes, Abe Hiroshi is in it but but I really wanted to see what Jeeja Yanin, the main actress could do. First thing to note is of course, her blows don't look as powerful as Tony Jaa's nor is she as athletic. That's a given. At times, it felt like a toned down version of Ong Bak. Yes, enemies do run at her arms akimbo asking to be kicked in the face but the real reason to watch are the stunts. There's something gratifying about watching performers put their bodies in harms way for one's satisfaction. Sorta like how Mick Foley nearly destroyed his body during his wrestling career. The more injuries and risks a performer takes, the more inclined we are to cheer for him/her.


Yes, this movie is a glorified stunt-fest. I think the director learned his lesson from Tom Yum Goon and made the story facilitate the action scenes instead of drowning it out. Yes, the acting is bad but I've seen worse. Besides who judges an action film on acting? There are actually quite a few stunts in the movie which are super cringe worthy. A few stunts are too obviously wire stunts which was disappointing.


If there is one main complaint, its that she fights way too many henchmen. Its not as boring as the bone breaking sequence in Tom Yum Goon but some parts to get repetitive. There's less of a psychology to the action and its more a spot fest to borrow another wrestling term. In other words tons of enemies means lack of narrative in the fighting and more like how many different moves can one showcase? The only one on one battle was a spectacular fight with a capoera dude. I think villains in movies should limit their henchmen to single digits and make sure they can't be taken out in one blow.


I was worried about Abe Hiroshi's role and was afraid it would be a small cameo. Luckily he appears in the end and manages to kick ass. I've always wanted to see him do some action. (Sword of Alexander doesn't count) Abe playing Kill Bill and the vicious stunts are good enough for me to enjoy the movie though I have to say his English is horrible! The last action sequence is just so brutal. And the ending just makes me hope they do Chocolate 2 set in Japan. Just make sure to watch the credits!

Chocolate trailer

Chocolate is a new Thai movie coming out this year by the director of Ong Bak/Tom Yum Goong. Best thing about it is Abe Hiroshi as a yakuza! I'm really looking forward to see Abe Hiroshi in a kick ass fight scene. Fingers crossed that he's not the villain who just stands back and lets his henchmen fight.




Probably the selling point for the movie is that the main character is a chick. I was watching her doing all those Ong Bak stunts thinking the mopy hair makes it easy for a stuntman to hide his face until the trailer showed some horrific accidents that happened in shooting. They really wanted to show that it was here doing all those stunts.




While the Bourne Ultimatum has changed the way I view action movies, I'm sold on a chick who puts her body on the line to do real painful fight scenes. Plus Abe Hiroshi! Can't wait! You can watch the trailer here.