Jack the Giant Slayer - 傑克:巨人戰紀

Jack the Giant Slayer (傑克:巨人戰紀) is an 2013 film. The movie stars Nicholas Hoult, Eleanor Tomlinson, and Ewan McGregor.



Jack is a commoner that goes on a adventure to the land of giants with the princess in his sights. When the giants capture and hold the princess hostage, Jack springs into action to rescue her. When the king finds out that beanstalk can bring giants, he decides to cut it. But the giants get their hands on more beans to grow beanstalks and attacks the mainland. Jack has to spring back in action to save the kingdom this time around.

This was a strang movie. Set in medieval times and England. The movie had a distinct english tone. But at the same time, it was very action oriented. The movie was a fun watch. Caught it in various forms on HBO this month.

Hong Kong Box Office - May 25, 2014 - 香港票房榜

Hong Kong Box Office - Week Ending: May 25, 2014

Weekend of May 25, 2014

Rank	Film Title
1	X-Men: Days of Future Past (變種特攻:未來同盟戰)
2	Godzilla (哥斯拉)
3	Neighbors (賤鄰50)
4	The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (蜘蛛俠2:決戰電魔)
5	香港仔 (Aberdeen)
6	Delete愛人 (Delete My Love/Delete Lovers)
7	永遠的0 (The Eternal Zero/Eien No Zero)
8	超越潛能 (Transcendence)
9	東京小屋 (Chiisai Ouchi/The Little House)
10	Devil's Knot (魔谷奇案)
...	...
14	白日焰火 (Black Coal, Thin Ice)
...	...
17	Kano
...	...
20	魔警 (That Demon Within)
...	...
23	那夜凌晨,我坐上了旺角開往大埔的紅VAN (The Midnight After)

Source: Box Office Mojo and WMOOV - retrieved May 29, 2014

As the Light Goes Out - 救火英雄

救火英雄 (As The Light Goes Out) is an 2014 film out of Hong Kong. The movie stars Nicholas Tse. The rest of the supporting cast include Shawn Yue, Simon Yam, Hu Jun, Bai Bing, and Andy On.



On the eve of Christmas Eve, a power grid station is determined to keep the energy flowing to the all of Hong Kong. When a factory near one of the pipes for energy is disrupted, its up the brave firemen of the Hong Kong fire division to contain it. The crew goes in to save the trapped people and have to fight their way out. On top of this drama is the political drama of promotions and hurt feelings from the fire station. Add to is kids of the firemen are also trapped, you got yourself a story.



This was a Hong Kong movie through and through. Even with the addition of Hu Jun and Bai Bing to give it a little "mainland" feel, it was still very HK. Which is why I liked it so much. I got me back to those days of intense HK movies with extreme situations that put our heroes mettle to the test. If the movie was to end on a sad note, it should. If it were to end on a happy note, it would. In the case of this movie, it ended the way it should have.

This movie was atop of the HK box office at the start of year. It did the same on the Mainland front a few weeks later. It's worth the ride.

Zhong Guo Box Office - May 25, 2014 - 中国票房榜

Zhong Guo Box Office - Week Ending: May 25, 2014

Weekend of May 25, 2014

Rank	Film Title
1	X-Men: Days of Future Past (X战警:逆转未来)
2	归来 (Coming Home)
3	The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (超凡蜘蛛侠2)
4	催眠大师 (The Great Hypnotist)
5	同桌的妳 (My Old Classmate)
6	我的播音系女友 (Broadcasting Girl)
7	考拉大冒险 (The Outback)
8	Hummingbird (蜂鸟特攻)
9	缘来是游戏 (Impetuous Love in Action)
10	求爱嫁期 (To Love Somebody)

Source: Ent Group - retrieved May 26, 2014

X-Men: Days of Future Past - X戰警:未來昔日 - 變種特攻:未來同盟戰 - X战警:逆转未来

X-Men: Days of Future Past (X戰警:未來昔日/變種特攻:未來同盟戰/X战警:逆转未来) is an 2014 film. The movie stars Hugh Jackman, James McAvoy, Halle Berry, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Ellen Page, Nicholas Hoult, Peter Dinklage, Fan Bingbing, Ian McKellen, and Patrick Stewart. The movie is a sequel to X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men: First Class.



In the future, Sentinels are sent to exterminate mutants. A remaining few are left trying to survive on. When they keep losing, they decide to try to send back a person to the past to stop the Sentinels from being created. Wolverine's chosen because his mind and body both have healing powers. From the future to 1973. Wolverine's tasks is to prevent Mystique from killing Bolivar Trask, the creator of the Sentinels program. Wolverine must find the younger Charles Xavier and Magneto to help him stop her. All the while, in the future, the remaining few fight on against the Sentinels.



This movie was pretty good. Definitely a change of pace. Bryan Singer makes his way back to the directors chair this time around. It did have more of a X2 feel than the previous other x movies. Hugh Jackman's Wolverine is prime and center in the storyline, but James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, and Jennifer Lawrence have an equally significant role to the overall story. In a sense, this was more of a team film than the last few where Wolverine was very much front and center.



Without giving away too much, this movie totally blows the continuity of the Fox X-verse. Its like a big reset button was pushed at the end. That's what happens with time travel movies.

Taiwan Box Office - May 25, 2014 - 台灣票房榜

Weekend of May 25, 2014

Rank	Film Title	Weeks
1	X-Men: Days of Future Past (X戰警:未來昔日)	1
2	Godzilla (哥吉拉)	2
3	Neighbors/Bad Neighbours (惡鄰纏身)	3
4	The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (蜘蛛人驚奇再起2:電光之戰)	5
5	Son Of God (上帝之子)	3
6	Walk of Shame (姐姐我醉大)	1
7	Transcendence (全面進化)	3
8	到不了的地方 (Anywhere Somewhere Nowhere)	1
9	The Grand Budapest Hotel (歡迎來到布達佩斯大飯店)	7
10	Brick Mansions (玩命特區)	4
11	The Quiet Ones (靈異檔案)	1
12	羅馬浴場2 (Thermae Romae II)	4
13	香港仔 (Aberdeen)	1
14	Divergent (分歧者)	7
15	Cuban Fury (騷莎大塊呆)	1
16	La Grande Bellezza (絕美之城)	4
17	四十九日的幸福秘方 (Mourning Recipe)	1
18	The Other Woman (婦仇者聯盟)	6
19	喜愛夜蒲3 (Lan Kwai Fong 3)	1
20	只要一分鐘 (One Minute More)	3

Source: Yahoo! Movies Taiwan - retrieved May 26, 2014

Heroes Of Cosplay - Season Two

Heroes Of Cosplay returns to the Syfy channel this coming Tuesday, May 27th. The first season was pretty entertaining. Looks from the previews that they've expanded the cast, but return most of the cast from the first season, including Yaya Han.

Hope they go more than just 6 episodes this season.

The Way Way Back - 三分男孩

The Way Way Back (三分男孩) is an 2013 film. The film stars Liam James. The large supporting cast include Steve Carell, Toni Collette, AnnaSophia Robb, Sam Rockwell, Maya Rudolph, and Amanda Peet. The movie is based on Liam's character Duncan going to the Cape Cod area for the summer.



Duncan's part of modern family. Mother and father are separated. Spending the summer with his mother and sister as they head out to the Cape Cod area. While there, Duncan has a hard time fitting in and is at odds with his mother's current boyfriend, Trent. When Duncan finds a bike, he rides around the area and finds a water park. The director of the park offers him a job. Duncan finds solace at the park away from his crazy home life.

This movie was pretty awesome. It's your classic coming of age story during a summer trip. You got it all. Bad family life, bullied by sibling, bullied by mom's boyfriend, and semi-neglected by his mom. Boy finds the light with a friendly neighbor and his new life at the water park.

I've caught bits and pieces of this film on and off for last few weeks via HBO. Finally VOD the movie from the beginning and was it worth it. I'd have to add this film to my list of favorites for 2013.

Notes: Steve Carell plays against type as a jerk in the film. AnnaSophia is tiny. Sam Rockwell was pretty awesome in this film.

Hong Kong Box Office - May 18, 2014 - 香港票房榜

Hong Kong Box Office - Week Ending: May 18, 2014

Weekend of May 18, 2014

Rank	Film Title
1	Godzilla (哥斯拉)
2	The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (蜘蛛俠2:決戰電魔)
3	Neighbors (賤鄰50)
4	香港仔 (Aberdeen)
5	超越潛能 (Transcendence)
6	Delete愛人 (Delete My Love/Delete Lovers)
7	永遠的0 (The Eternal Zero/Eien No Zero)
8	Heaven Is For Real
9	The Other Woman (小三大聯盟)
10	黑執事 (Black Butler/Kuro shitsuji)
...	...
11	白日焰火 (Black Coal, Thin Ice)
...	...
13	Kano
...	...
17	那夜凌晨,我坐上了旺角開往大埔的紅VAN (The Midnight After)
...	...
18	魔警 (That Demon Within)
...	...
25	整容日記 (Zheng Rong Ri Ji/The Truth About Beauty)
...	...
27	無人區 (No Man's Land)

Source: Box Office Mojo and WMOOV - retrieved May 20, 2014

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 - 蜘蛛人驚奇再起2:電光之戰 - 超凡蜘蛛侠2 - 蜘蛛俠2:決戰電魔

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (蜘蛛人驚奇再起2:電光之戰/超凡蜘蛛侠2/蜘蛛俠2:決戰電魔) is an 2014 film. The movie stars Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone. The supporting cast include Jamie Foxx, Dane DeHaan, Sally Field, and Paul Giamatti. This film is a sequel to the 2012 film The Amazing Spider-Man.



Peter Parker is on his way to his high school graduation where Gwen Stacy is the valedictorian and giving her speech. Peter missed it as he's stopping thieves from hijacking a shipment of plutonium vials. After the graduation, Peter starts to distance himself from Gwen as he thinks his Spider-man activities will endanger her. They break up and we fast forward a year or two. Peter's continued on his super hero adventures while going to school. Gwen is seeking a fellowship in London. Jamie Foxx is a "nobody" that becomes Electro in a freak accident. Harry Osborn returns from aboard to take over Oscorp, but is dying from a family curse. Seeking Spider-man's blood to "self heal", he's angry when scorned. With Electro, Harry go after Oscorp and Spider-Man.

This movie was very entertaining. The movie plays up the Gwen and Peter story to the max. Will Peter's dangerous lifestyle eventually catch up to those around him? Will Gwen's acceptance to the London fellowship permanently break up the couple? The movie plays up the teenage angst but transforms it to young adult responsibility. The villains and how they come into "power" are also essential to the storyline, but the true story is between Peter and Gwen.

Emma Stone is pretty "Amazing" in the film. Emma Stone lights up the screen. She's got it. That "it" that draws your attention to the screen. Garfield does a good job, but this film was almost more for Emma Stone. Thank you Emma.

Go watch it if you like Spider-man. Go watch this if you like action.

Zhong Guo Box Office - May 18, 2014 - 中国票房榜

Zhong Guo Box Office - Week Ending: May 18, 2014

Weekend of May 18, 2014

Rank	Film Title
1	The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (超凡蜘蛛侠2)
2	归来 (Coming Home)
3	催眠大师 (The Great Hypnotist)
4	同桌的妳 (My Old Classmate)
5	Hummingbird (蜂鸟特攻)
6	人间 - 小团圆 (Aberdeen)
7	考拉大冒险 (The Outback)
8	Rio 2 (里约大冒险2)
9	城市游戏 (Urban Games)
10	求爱嫁期 (To Love Somebody)

Source: Ent Group - retrieved May 20, 2014

Fresh Off The Boat Series On VICE

Fresh Off The Boat on VICE started a few years back. I believe this series is only available online.

The creator of the current branding Eddie Huang travels to lots of places with food as the focus of his explorations. It's NSFW. An interesting watch. VICE on HBO is pretty interesting series as well. You only have 15 minutes to present a story, its hard to do justice in that short amount of time. For the subjects I am familiar with, full disclosure is not possible in the amount of time they have.

Taiwan Box Office - May 18, 2014 - 台灣票房榜

Weekend of May 18, 2014

Rank	Film Title	Weeks
1	Godzilla (哥吉拉)	1
2	Neighbors/Bad Neighbours (惡鄰纏身)	2
3	The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (蜘蛛人驚奇再起2:電光之戰)	4
4	Transcendence (全面進化)	2
5	Son Of God (上帝之子)	2
6	Brick Mansions (玩命特區)	3
7	The Grand Budapest Hotel (歡迎來到布達佩斯大飯店)	6
8	The Other Woman (婦仇者聯盟)	5
9	羅馬浴場2 (Thermae Romae II)	3
10	Divergent (分歧者)	6
11	只要一分鐘 (One Minute More)	2
12	菜鳥評審員 (Judge!)	1
13	Dhoom: 3 (幻影殺陣)	2
14	La Grande Bellezza (絕美之城)	3
15	Captain America: The Winter Soldier (美國隊長2:酷寒戰士)	8
16	嘉農 (Kano)	12
17	魔警 (That Demon Within)	2
18	腳踏車大作戰 (Wadjda)	1
19	The Invisible Woman (狄更斯的秘密情史)	1
20	Omar (奧瑪的抉擇)	1

Source: Yahoo! Movies Taiwan - retrieved May 19, 2014

Fresh Off The Boat - Upcoming

Fresh Off The Boat! Picked up by ABC for the fall season, it stars Constance Wu, Randall Park, and Hudson Yang. The trailer does make it very interesting. The taiwanese super market was a bit of an exaggerated scene. But its comedy. Constance seems to know a little Mandarin.

Also of note is the reference to Taiwanese versus Chinese and the use of Asian. I wonder how that will play to the more general Asian market. Will the CJK community rally around this?



Fresh off the boat is actually not just an Asian thing. I've heard it referenced in many minorities enclaves. It's a general term for people new to a country and doesn't know its language and culture well. But for reasons unknown to me, the acronym of FOB has become the nomenclature in the USA mainstream for Asian arriving to the starts. My guess is that majority of the immigration to the USA via "plane" or "boat" is from Asian in the last few decades. The majority of the immigration in general is from Mexico, but they note associated with taking a "boat" to the USA.

I've actually even had a play on words type relationship with FOB. I tried to spruce it up by changing the F to PH, making PHOB. See what I did there? huh huh huh? Ok, that's desperate when I have to point out to you that its cool, automatically regulating it to uncool.

Hong Kong Box Office - May 11, 2014 - 香港票房榜

Hong Kong Box Office - Week Ending: May 11, 2014

Weekend of May 11, 2014

Rank	Film Title
1	The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (蜘蛛俠2:決戰電魔)
2	香港仔 (Aberdeen)
3	超越潛能 (Transcendence)
4	Delete愛人 (Delete My Love/Delete Lovers)
5	The Other Woman (小三大聯盟)
6	Heaven Is For Real
7	Captain America: The Winter Soldier (美國隊長2)
8	Rio 2 (奇鸚嘉年華2)
9	魔警 (That Demon Within)
10	Kano
...	...
12	那夜凌晨,我坐上了旺角開往大埔的紅VAN (The Midnight After)
...	...
16	豪情 (Ho Ching 2/Naked Ambition 2)
...	...
19	冰封俠:重新之門 (Iceman/The Iceman Cometh)
...	...
20	整容日記 (Zheng Rong Ri Ji/The Truth About Beauty)
...	...
26	無人區 (No Man's Land)
...	...
32	愛 - 尋 - 迷 (Enthralled)

Source: Box Office Mojo and WMOOV - retrieved May 13, 2014

Last Week - How Is This Still A Thing?

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver's new HBO show's bit, "How Is This Still a Thing?" had a great segment, "Dressing Up As Other Races". Asian caricatures are quite prevalent in USA mainstream culture. Chinatown gangster, Dragon Lady, Tiger Mom, "me love you long time", ching chong are just a short list of things. The romanization of many Asian languages to English has been the subject of comedy. Hollywood is one of its worst offender.

So, when I saw this piece, it was good because of how absurd the audacity of the people that do this. How is dressing up as other races ever a good thing. 95% of time its not! But ninja outfits are dope. Everyone should just get in ninja gear. Ninja gear doesn't care about yo race, you're like covered 95%. You don't need to blackface it. The black plant goes with the costume like the white stuff goes with a Dracula costumes.

Moral of the story. Story being racist, starting with not dressing up as other races. Especially blackface.

Zhong Guo Box Office - May 11, 2014 - 中国票房榜

Zhong Guo Box Office - Week Ending: May 11, 2014

Weekend of May 11, 2014

Rank	Film Title
1	The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (超凡蜘蛛侠2)
2	同桌的妳 (My Old Classmate)
3	催眠大师 (The Great Hypnotist)
4	Hummingbird (蜂鸟特攻)
5	人间 - 小团圆 (Aberdeen)
6	Rio 2 (里约大冒险2)
7	冰封:重生之门 (Iceman/Ice Man/The Iceman Cometh)
8	考拉大冒险 (The Outback)
9	怖偶 (Enchanted Doll)
10	The Vocano (火山对对碰)

Source: Ent Group - retrieved May 13, 2014

只要一分鐘 - One Minute More - Upcoming

只要一分鐘 (One Minute More) was released in Taipei this past weekend. The movie features Janine Chang and Peter Ho as doggy parents.

I am not a pet guy. I had pets before and I do not have them now. I can barely take care of myself, let alone pets. But and I am fan both Janine Chang and Peter Ho. So I will watch this if I can.

Taiwan Box Office - May 11, 2014 - 台灣票房榜

Weekend of May 11, 2014

Rank	Film Title	Weeks
1	The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (蜘蛛人驚奇再起2:電光之戰)	3
2	Transcendence (全面進化)	1
3	Neighbors/Bad Neighbours (惡鄰纏身)	1
4	Brick Mansions (玩命特區)	2
5	Son Of God (上帝之子)	1
6	羅馬浴場2 (Thermae Romae II)	2
7	The Other Woman (婦仇者聯盟)	4
8	Divergent (分歧者)	5
9	The Grand Budapest Hotel (歡迎來到布達佩斯大飯店)	5
10	魔警 (That Demon Within)	1
11	只要一分鐘 (One Minute More)	1
12	Dhoom: 3 (幻影殺陣)	1
13	Captain America: The Winter Soldier (美國隊長2:酷寒戰士)	7
14	La Grande Bellezza (絕美之城)	2
15	Kill Your Darlings (愛殺達令)	1
16	嘉農 (Kano)	11
17	Draft Day (超級選秀日)	2
18	偉大的咻啦啦砰 (The Great Shu Ra Ra Boom)	1
19	Une Estonienne A Paris (日安可頌)	1
20	Anyday Now (愛回來)	3

Source: Yahoo! Movies Taiwan - retrieved May 12, 2014

2013 Bakers Dozen At The Box Office

For the 2013 US box office, movies have mostly officially closed. Only one movie is left in the box office. But it should be closing soon with the summer movie season in full swing. I covered the top dozen back in December. At the time, Frozen was just on the cusp of becoming the cultural phenomenon it would become just a month later. At the time, no one thought Frozen would make $400 million. The Hobbit was storming it's way past the $200 million mark. Unfortunately, Iron Man 3 was not able to hold on to first place. Unless there are re-releases, this is the bakers dozen of movies that made $200 million or more for the 2013 movie year.

#1 - The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (飢餓遊戲:星火燎原)


#2 - Iron Man 3 (鋼鐵人3)


#3 - Frozen (冰雪奇緣)


#4 - Despicable Me 2 (神偷奶爸2)


#5 - Man of Steel (超人:鋼鐵英雄)


#6 - Gravity (地心引力)


#7 - Monsters University (怪獸大學)


#8 - The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (哈比人:荒谷惡龍)


#9 - Fast and Furious 6 (玩命關頭6)


#10 - Oz the Great and Powerful (奧茲大帝)


#11 - Star Trek Into Darkness (闇黑無界:星際爭霸戰)


#12 - Thor: The Dark World (雷神索爾2:黑暗世界)


#13 - World War Z (末日之戰)


This was another good year for sequels and reboots. Only one third (four films) of the movies were originals. You can even argue Oz is not an entirely original concept.

Retrieved from Box Office Mojo on May 10, 2014

SoCal's OC Night Market

The OC Night Market starts this weekend in sunny SoCal. The layout is much smaller than the annual OC Fair. But there are still lot of vendors. Advertised at over 200. Current twitter hashtags for #OCNightMarket shows that its starting a little slow.

I hit up the 626 Night Market during the summer of 2013. Got there before sundown and it was not super crowded. By the time I left a little sundown, the crowd was crazy and walking around meant bumping into people. Maybe the same will happen for the OC fair.

Lots of "Asian" inspired "night markets" popping in the SoCal area. Good stuff. Go stuff yo face.

Hong Kong Box Office - May 4, 2014 - 香港票房榜

Hong Kong Box Office - Week Ending: May 4, 2014

Weekend of May 4, 2014

Rank	Film Title
1	The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (蜘蛛俠2:決戰電魔)
2	The Other Woman (小三大聯盟)
3	魔警 (That Demon Within)
4	Rio 2 (奇鸚嘉年華2)
5	Captain America: The Winter Soldier (美國隊長2)
6	那夜凌晨,我坐上了旺角開往大埔的紅VAN (The Midnight After)
7	Heaven Is For Real
8	冰封俠:重新之門 (Iceman/The Iceman Cometh)
9	Kano
10	雙生靈 (Bilocation/Bairokêshon)
...	...
11	豪情 (Ho Ching 2/Naked Ambition 2)
...	...
20	無人區 (No Man's Land)
...	...
24	愛 - 尋 - 迷 (Enthralled)
...	...
29	整容日記 (Zheng Rong Ri Ji/The Truth About Beauty)

Source: Box Office Mojo and WMOOV - retrieved May 6, 2014

2014 May Offbeat Movie Guide

May'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 Protector 2 (Tom Yum Goong 2/拳霸2/冬蔭功2)



Belle



Decoding Annie Parker



Walk Of Shame (姐姐我醉大)



Devil's Knot



The Double



God's Pocket



Palo Alto



Chinese Puzzle (紐約愛情拼圖/緣份路線圖)



The Immigrant (浮世傷痕)



The Angriest Man in Brooklyn



Cold In July



Tapped Out



A Million Ways to Die in the West (百萬種硬的方式)



Filth



Lucky Them



Night Moves





Sources:
IMDB Coming Soon
Comingsoon.net
Box Office Mojo
Wikipedia.org
Taiwan Yahoo! Movies
WMoov Hong Kong