Black Adam - 黑亞當

Black Adam (黑亞當) is an 2022 film. The movie stars Dwayne Johnson. The supporting cast include Aldis Hodge, Noah Centineo, Sarah Shahi, Quintessa Swindell, and Pierce Brosnan. The movie is part of the DCEU. As of this writing, the future of the DCEU is rather up in the air. The movie was released after a long drought of blockbusters. The film was considered a flop because it failed to make enough at the box office, even though it held the #1 spot for many weeks.



In a fictionaly country of Kahndaq 5,000 years ago, a thyrant is taken down by champion. In the present Kahndaq, the country is occupied by Intergang and the people seek freedom. When a group of "freedom fighters" seek to remove the Eternium crown. But the group is ambushed by Intergang goons. In desperation, a spell is casted to release Teth Adam. The champion from Kahndaq 5,000 years ago. However, Teth Adam is not a pacifist and starts to take down intergang goons. The Justice Society arrives to stop Teth Adam. And the crown is set release a powerful demon. Can Teth Adam the Justice Society get along?

As a action movie, Black Adam was a fun watch. I liked the CGI mostly and the introduction of the Justice Society. However, the story suffers from so many plot holes. The DCEU are also introducing a who's who of their library of charaters. I thought it was hard to just digest all these introductions.The DCEU seems to have a lack of defining who's in the universe.

Outside of that, I did enjoy the movie and thought the fiction country served to remove distractions of real life geopolictic leanings. Go watch Black Adam, it was a fun watch. Just leave your thinking hat at home or outside.

Jumanji: The Next Level - 野蠻遊戲:全面晉級

Jumanji: The Next Level (野蠻遊戲:全面晉級) is an 2019 film. The movie stars Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, Karen Gillan, Nick Jonas, Awkwafina, Danny Glover, and Danny DeVito. The supporting case reprise real world roles, played by Alex Wolff, Morgan Turner, Ser'Darius Blain, Madison Iseman, and Colin Hanks. This game is a sequel to Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (野蠻遊戲:瘋狂叢林).

Set 2 years later, all four main characters are in their first year of college and head back home for Christmas break. Fridge, Martha, and Britany seem to be living their best lives. Cut to Spencer and we see a unconfident and seemly miserable at his CVS type job. When they all head back to Brantford to meet at Nora's, Spencer's a no show. They go looking for him and find out that he's been sucked back into Jumanji. After some debate, they decide to go help find Spencer so they can win the game. However, grandpa Eddie and Milo get sucked in as well. Later on, they find Spencer and set out to solve the game.



Even though this movie follows a similar formula as the first, the introduction of the grandpas and Awkwafina did refresh the movie. Add to it a new story and obstacles, I was thoroughly entertained throughout. You also see that they did increase the budget as the locales were vastly different. From the jungle, they entered into the dessert and snow capped mountains.

I caught this at a local AMC theatre.

Fighting With My Family- 我和我的摔角家庭

Fighting With My Family (我和我的摔角家庭) is an 2019 film. The movie stars Florence Pugh. The supporting cast include Lena Headey, Nick Frost, Jack Lowden, Vince Vaughn, and Dwayne Johnson. The story is based on the life of real professional wrestler Paige.



Paige grows up in a family of local professional wrestlers in Norwich England. Her parents through local events and they all participate, including her older brother Zac. When the WWE come to Norwich to recruit, they hold try outs. Zak and Paige both join. Zak's been dreaming of reaching the WWE since he was a wee lad. After try outs, Zak is not chosen and asks the promoter why. The response was that he doesn't have "it". On the flip side, Paige, who was only tagging along, was the long contestant chosen to enter the WWE training program. Zak grows distant and Paige heads off to the WWE development center in Florida. Paige leaves home for the first time and has to compete daily with other chosen contestant to make it to the big shows. Along the way, challenges arise and we see if Paige can overcome them.



This was a great film about have talent and not throwing it away. You knew she would make it, because Paige is a bonafide star in the WWE. Throw Vince as the hard nose drill sergeant, you have a great film. The cameo from The Rock Dwayne Johnson was also a nice touch. All in all, you should watch the movie even if you don't have a good understanding of the professional wrestling world. The film does a good job of giving you enough to feel like you don't need to learn it.

I caught this via a Redbox T-Mobile Tuesday deal.

Fast Five - 玩命關頭5

Fast Five (玩命關頭5) is an 2011 film. The film stars Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster, Tyrese Gibson, Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, Matt Schulze, Sung Kang, and Dwayne Johnson. As the title suggest, this is the fifth installment of the The Fast and the Furious film series. This film also introduces The Rock as part of the regular cast.



After the events of Fast & Furious, Dominic, Brian, and Mia are on the run and show up in Brazil. Vince has relocated to Brazil and now has an wife and child since the events of the first film. Vince has a heist planned out for cars on a train. In need of some cash, Dominic and Brian agree to help Vince and his friends. They find that the US Feds are on the train and know there's something important about the cars. Dom catches Vince trying to remove a chip from the GSP system. When they find out that the chip is very important, a heist is planned out to steal from the biggest crook in Rio. Enter in the rest of the crew from the previous 4 films. The heist is on and its pretty amazing.



I am writing this review after I've seen Fast & Furious 6 and Furious 7. I still like this movie the best of all of them in the series. When 2, 4, and 6 are in rotation on cable, I barely stop to re-watch. I may feel the same about 7, but time will tell when it goes into rotation on cable. I still stop and watch segments of 5 all the time. 1 seems like its from another era now, something from an bygone era and nostalgic. Tokyo Drift holds a special place still, but its hardly on reruns.

I enjoyed Fast Five because its the most enjoyable heist of them all. From trying to get access to impossible places, to the full use of the team, and to having The Rock on their tail, the movie had all the right elements to make for an lasting impression.

G.I. Joe: Retaliation - 特種部隊2:正面對決 - 義勇群英:毒蛇反擊戰 - 特种部队:全面反击

G.I. Joe: Retaliation (特種部隊2:正面對決/義勇群英:毒蛇反擊戰/特种部队:全面反击) is an 2013 film. The movie stars Dwayne Johnson, D.J. Cotrona, Byung-hun Lee, and Adrianne Palicki. The supporting cast include Bruce Willis, Jonathan Pryce, Elodie Yung, Ray Stevenson, Walton Goggins, and Channing Tatum. This film was originally set for release for the 2012 June summer session. But Tatum's rise in popularity force the studio to push the date back and add more scenes that included Tatum.



After the events of the first G.I. Joe movie, Zartan has assumed the identity of the president of the US of A. Cobra Commander and Destro are kept in a secret prison in Germany. The plan is to use the alias of the prez to gain the location of the the captured Cobra Commander. Once they do, they can release him and leverage the identity of the Prez to dominate the world. First, they need the Joes out of action because they are the only ones that can stop Cobra. The Joes are framed during a nuclear head mission. Deemed a enemy of the world, they go underground to stop Cobra. But before they do that, they enlist the help of the man for which the Joe name comes. Together, they try to reveal to the world that the president was fake and keep the nuclear weapons at bay.



This film serves a purpose. Big bad @$$ doods like The Rock and kick @$$ ninjas in Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow do their thing. They kick butt and take names later. Add to it the almost non-stop action, its a popcorn flick for the ages. Don't get caught up in the story, don't worry about the terrible acting, don't even think of how ridiculous the concept of Cobra is. Just enjoy that this movie was made to entertain, blow things up, and give you joy in action.

Faster - 極速復仇

Faster (極速復仇) is a 2010 film. The film stars The Rock, Dwayne Johnson. The supporting cast includes Billy Bob Thornton, Carla Gugino, Moon Bloodgood, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, and Maggie Grace. The movie was a return to the action genre after a couple years doing non-action projects.

The Rock plays Driver, a man that's about to be released from prison after serving 10 years. Once he's out, he goes and gets a car, a gun, and a list of people he's going to kill. But he has to do this before the law finds him as his killings are all public. Killer, a hitman, is hired to take out The Rock. Slowly as the movie progresses, the reason Driver is after these people is revealed. As they say, the plot thickens.

The movie was pretty enjoyable for the action alone. I wouldn't say it was an world class movie, but it was fun and had its moments. It felt that the character development of the supporting cast, specifically Killer, was more so than Driver. But it didn't matter to the ultimate plot of the movie. A man out to seek revenge on those that killed his brother.

Fast Five - 玩命關頭5 - Box Office

Fast Five (玩命關頭5) took the box office crown this past weekend with an impressive $86,198,765 take. This is the second straight The Fast and the Furious movie to take number one.

This movie jump starts the summer movie season with a bang. The film stars two action movie icons in Vin Diesel and The Rock, Dwayne Johnson. Both have had success at the box office, but not very consistently. Whereas the fourth installment looked to get spring business, the fifth film was looking for the summer business. The reviews for the movie has been generally more positive than the previous two Justin Lin helmed movies in this franchise. This installment was also estimated at $125-$170 million to make. If the worldwide take is double that, it'll be very good for all those involved with the movie.

Major props to Justin Lin, the Taiwanese-American director at the helm. This is the third The Fast and the Furious movie for Justin and he's done an awesome job so far. I really enjoyed Tokyo Drift as well as Fast & Furious. I am guessing that after this film, Justin will be a legitimate A list director in Hollywood. A first for a Taiwanese guy. Here's to hoping he gets to make the kind of movies he wants to from now on. Indie or mainstream, I will watch his stuff.

Fast Five - 玩命關頭5 - Upcoming

Fast Five (玩命關頭5) is an upcoming movie set for release tomorrow on April 29, 2011, in the US. The fifth installment of The Fast and the Furious film series is again helmed by our favorite Taiwanese-American director, Justin Lin! Some alums of the 2nd installment make their return as well. But the major news recently was the addition of Dwayne Johnson, aka The Rock, as the man chasing them down.

From the trailer, you'll notice lots of the same things from the previous 4 movies in the series. Lots of cars, speed, explosions, and action.

The hyped event of the movie is the epic battle of brawn, wits, and muscle between Vin and The Rock. Two larger than life entertainment personalities.

I am hoping to catch the film in the theaters this time around to support Justin Lin. While the US is getting its fill of speedy cars this weekend, Asia will get its dose next weekend. Keep your eye out for it!

Fast Five - 玩命關頭5 - Teaser Trailer

Fast Five (玩命關頭5) is an upcoming movie set for release on April 29, 2011 in the US. The fifth installment of The Fast and the Furious film series is again helmed by our favorite Taiwanese-American director, Justin Lin! Some alums of the 2nd installment make their return as well. But the major news recently was the addition of Dwayne Johnson, aka The Rock, as the man chasing them down.

From the trailer, you'll notice lots of the same things from the previous 4 movies in the series. Lots of cars, speed, explosions, and action.