As I close in on my 1,500 post, I can hardly believe that I've posted as much as I have for the past year. Since January 2013 when I picked up Box Office reporting, I've been pretty consistent. Although I will never reach my 2009 numbers, I'll be consistent with the box office reporting.
I've also added monthly movie guides. They're really a record of things for me to watch. I think I'm at a 25% success rate on the movies that make my guide. Reviews have been far and few and its because they take so darn long to write and I sit on them too.
There's a lot of of good stuff coming out of Asia. All the time. It just takes a little time to make sure you spend it on the quality stuff. Here on North American shores, Asian entertainment has a few bright spots in Steven Yeun and Justin Lin. There are lots of token Asians showing up in general media from commercials to Agents to movie roles. There's a fresh off the boat thing making its way to the small screen too.
Jeremy Lin's season is not Linsanity like unfortunately. I can only dream he'll somehow get traded to the Lakers.
I leave you with the first of a series that I hope will continue to cover lots in Entertainment from the Asian viewpoint.
Glenn on The Walking Dead, played by Steven Yeun, got back together with Maggie finally. After Glenn's near death experience at the Prison and than searching for Maggie. The experience for Season 4 was two fold. One of sadness and one of urgency. Sadness that sickness was going to end Glenn and than urgency to find Maggie. Now, with the scary Mary character introduction, I am completely thrown off now.
Reports that the "happy ending" of the last episode between Maggie and Glenn was a prelude to a their savage demise in the final episode. They've replaced their minority characters before and they can probably replace their Asian one with new characters next season. I hope they are all WRONG and that Glenn is alive with Maggie!
Hong Kong Box Office - Week Ending: March 23, 2014
Guess Box Mojo is on Spring Break with its International reporting this. Going with the Ent Group now. Will update post with BMJ stuff when its available.
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (飢餓遊戲:星火燎原) is an 2013 film. The movie is the sequel to The Hunger Games from 2012. The primary cast members return, starring Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson. The supporting cast includes Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, and Lenny Kravitz. For this installment, the late Philip Seymour Hoffman joined the cast along with Sam Claflin and Jena Malone. At the moment, it is the top grossing film in the US for 2013 released movies.
The catch up with Katniss and Gale in the woods hunting game. The head back to the projects before splitting up. Katniss has a victory tour to make. During this tour, the different districts start to act up. This prompts President Snow to put in motions a plan to eliminate the species of The Hunger Games victors. Snow takes the Quarter Quell event as a way to make a special games made up of former victors. Thus, eliminating a huge chunk of their species. Katniss is the only female victor of her district and would be chosen for sure. Peeta and Haymitch make the other half, but Peeta volunteers when Haymitch is chosen. The training period starts and Katniss makes friends with the others and tries to survive. But she has every intention of helping Peeta survive to be the victor. This however take a turn. A twist if you will for continuation for the Mocking Jay book.
This movie is well made. Pace is good and it gets us on the side of the victors. Even though they won the lottery, they are trapped. We as "free" people want to see them free and able to decide their fate. As such, we wait and see if their fate will be positive. But we know this is the middle book of a trilogy and will have to wait for the ending. We also know that the book leads to a rebellion and revolution, ala USSR. Jennifer Lawrence doesn't have to do much, she just has to look conflicted. The character development is there, but in essence, anyone could be in those roles and make us feel for them. Looking forward to the next two. Sad it beat my Iron Man 3 for first place in 2013.
Glenn and Maggie reunite again on the second to last episode of the show. Tara plays for the same team as herself and isn't interested in Glenn. Yahoo! No Korean drama type love triangle to deal with. Glenn's already had the terminal illness he escaped. As long as Maggie isn't some long lost relative, we're all good with avoiding the stereotypical Korean drama stuff.
We're also getting to the end of the line with Terminus. On the Inside The Dead notes, Terminus was the 1800s name for Atlanta. ATL! ATL!
做你愛做的事 (Kaisu) is being released in Taipei this weekend. The story of a dental practitioner that seeks a life as an entertainer. But not just any kind of entertainer, but an "extra"! Yah, follow your dreams.
The only reason for me to watch this is 豆花妹 蔡黃汝. I first saw mini boom on Jacky's Wu's Guess varity show back int he late 80s. A segment to find "hot" guys working the hawker stands of Taipei, produced her as the winner and launched her career.
山豬溫泉 (The Boar King) is being released this weekend in Taipei. The movie follows the lives of a family in the mountains of Kaohsiung during the 2009 Typhoon Morakot.
WTH?! The sneak peak for the second to the last episode of Season Four of The Walking Dead. Abraham Ford and Tara Chambler are on watch and chatting while Glenn, Eugene Porter, and Rosita Espinosa are sleeping by the tracks. Abraham challenges Tara about her fondness of Glenn and the dilemma she's in helping Glenn find his wife. WTH?!!!!!!!
Dood, I've only gotten up to issue 48 of the comic series and stopped on purpose. I don't want to know too much more!
I am on the West Coast so The Walking Dead hasn't broadcast yet officially. The HD channel does at 6:00 PM, but I am never able to watch with my two kids running around eating dinner. As such, I don't know what's going on.
But I did come across this promo pic of the people that play Glenna and Tara. Nice funny picture.
Glenn wasn't in the episode much. But he was for a brief minute. Even Rick's been gone for 2 full episodes. The episode from this past weekend, Glenn was in the prologue and the epilogue of the episode. We start with a short vignette of Bob being alone before going to the prison. Bob hears the roar of a hog approaching and sees Glenn and Daryl pull up. Glenn is the gun man while Daryl does the talking. The very last scene of the episode is with Glenn finding the map of terminus.
Here's the hoping that the last 3 episodes of season 4 will bring Maggie and Glenn back together.
March's Blockbusters may get all the attention, but there also are those that dare to walk the path less traveled. You might be one of them. Here's a few "offbeat" movies for you to chew on. This list is based on USA release dates.
Some of these releases are already available via VOD or iTunes.
The Walking Dead returned last night with only 1 scene of Glenn. But it was a good one. The rest of the episoded focused on Maggie, Sasha, and Bob as they head to Terminus. The the other half was Beth and Daryl's "love" relationship that has an epic turn.
Glenn was absent in last week episode and also absent from the trailer for tomorrow's episode. Even The Walking Dead facebook page ask if they will be reunited. Better. Better.
The Walking Dead had a new episode. BUT it only featured Daryl Dixon and Beth Greene. No word on if Glenn gets any closer to finding Maggie! NOOOOOOO. But the preview has Maggie in it. I'll guess that we'll get a little more of Rick and the three person group of Maggie, Sasha, and Bob.
嘉農 (Kano) is being released in Taipei this weekend. Acclaimed director, Wei Te-sheng, takes another foray into the relationship between Taiwan and Japan. This time in the form of a 1931 baseball team.
I really like Cape No. 7 but was only so-so on Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale. And sports movies in general are quite boring for me. But this movie will dive into the cultural aspects of two very different countries.
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