Populasian: March 2019

Friday, March 8, 2019

Captain Marvel - 驚奇隊長

Captain Marvel (驚奇隊長) is an 2019 film. The movie stars Brie Larson and Samuel L. Jackson. The supporting cast include Gemma Chan, Annette Bening, Ben Mendelsohn, Clark Gregg, and Jude Law. It is the 21st film of the MCU and the first (1st) of three (3) for 2019. The character is based on the Carol Danvers version of Captain Marvel.

On the Kree homeworld of Hala, we see Vers getting trained to kick @$$. Vers is part of a elite team of Kree soldiers sent to stop the infiltration of another alien race, the Skrulls. When they get to a Kree empire border planet that has been infiltrated, Vers is captured by the Skrulls. On the Skrull ship, Vers memories are being looked at as they are trying to mine a "lightspeed" core, currently located on Earth. Vers breaks free and falls to Earth. Once there, Nick Fury, is sent onsite to arrest Vers. But things go south when Skrulls show up and Vers gives chase. Can Vers find out her past and stop the Skrulls with the help of Fury?

Another good addition to the MCU universe. Many revelations can now be assumed from Carol's big back story. As a stand alone without taking the MCU into account, this would have been a well made origin movie. All the actors were top notch. The story itself needed the MCU to make it more than it is. We do find out that she is Carol Davers. Vers is now her Kree name. Take a look at that.

I went with my now teenage daughter and she loved the film. I can see why. Very strong female characters are presented in this movie. I also asked if she like Captain Marvel more than Wonder Women. My daughter enjoyed this movie much more than I and wants to watch it again. I, however, am not clamoring to watch this again. However, as a MCU fan, this is a must watch.

Tuesday, March 5, 2019

The Mule - 賭命運轉手

The Mule (賭命運轉手) is an 2018 film. The film stars and is directed by mega star Clint Eastwood. It is based on a true life story of a drug mule, Leo Sharp. The movie also has a supporting cast of Bradley Cooper, Laurence Fishburne, Michael Peña, Dianne Wiest, Alison Eastwood, Taissa Farmiga, and Andy García

Clint Eastwood plays Earl Stone, a award-winning horticulturist and World War II veteran living in Peoria, Illinois. We start the story flashback to 2005 at a horticulturist show. Earl seems to be the toast of the event and wins the highest golden award. At the event, he stumbles on a sales booth promoting the future of ordering flowers online. Earl brushes it off. We also see that Earl has decide that this event was more important than walking his only daughter down the aisle at her wedding. Fast forward to the present. Earl's farm is foreclosed and he leaves with all his belongings in the bed of his truck. Earl goes to the wedding shower of his grand daughter. But meets his ex-wife and daughter there. An argument ensues leaving everyone uncomfortable. Some at the party noticed Earl travels a lot from all the state stickers on his truck. He says if he's looking for work, his friends need reliable and safe drivers. Down on his luck, he tries it out and the fun begins.

This movie was awesome. I think I am a lifelong Eastwood fan. I even liked his singer miner movie from back in the day. This movie had a great story, a twist, a chase, and character development from three (maybe more) sides. I loved the pacing too. I was engaged the whole film. The character of Earl is very flawed and really shouldn't be hero. He isn't even an anti-hero. Earl is just a selfish being that used people around him for his own enjoyment. BUT the story presents it and you still cheer for him. It a testament to the great film making.

This film got no love on the film awards circuit. That is a great case to make a case that all these awards circuit should go underground and just matter for filmmakers. Critics voices continue to show that are biased and untethers to the common folks. That is why year after year, the box office winners are not even in the conversation during award shows. Instead we see films that barely matter shriek across the headlines and awesome movies like this get no love.

The Mule is one of the best movies Clint Eastwood has ever made and he's still running strong into his 90s. I watched this film from a free reward from the Atom app.

Monday, March 4, 2019

Venom - 猛毒

Venom (猛毒) is an 2018 film. The movie stars Tom Hardy. The supporting cast include Michelle Williams. The movie universe is the new Sony Spider-verse and not within the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Tom Hardy plays Eddie Brock, a hard hitting journalist in the San Francisco Bay Area. When he goes after a tech giant founder, he's buried. Trying to get out, he loses his girlfriend and career. When he continues to try to investigate, he's imbued with a alien symbiote named Venom. But there are more of them, many more. He starts to figure out the powers and goes after the founder. But the founder has his own symbiote named Riot and they fight. A lot.

Fun fun movie. I went into this film thinking it was going to be bad. It was so bad it ended up being so good. I couldn't believe what I was watching. It was like Venom on steroids.

I watched this in the theatre but got it on Redbox rental recently.

Sunday, March 3, 2019

Bad Times At The El Royale - 壞事大飯店

Bad Times At The El Royale (壞事大飯店) is an 2018 film. The movie stars Jeff Bridges, Cynthia Erivo, Dakota Johnson, Jon Hamm, Cailee Spaeny, Lewis Pullman, Nick Offerman and Chris Hemsworth.

The movie takes place on a hotel that sits half in California and the other half in Nevada. The hotel is called El Royale. On this one special night, a confluence of characters come together with their own dark secrets. A priest, a singer, a secret agent, and a rebel. When you put them all together, bad things happen. Plus, on top of that, the hotel also has a huge secret.

The movie was slow at first, but once the bad things start to happen, it spirals into action. The timeline jumps from present to flashbacks episodes. The acting was top notch, but the story was definitely really hard to follow.

Saturday, March 2, 2019

Ranking The 20 Marvel Cinematic Universe Films - Up To 2018 Edition

With three Marvel films coming out in 2019, I felt like it was time to re-rank the current MCU titles up to 2018. Avengers: Endgame could spell the end of the phase 1 and 2 main characters. Phase 3 introduced a few new ones for us to follow. Since my last MCU rankings up to 2015 films, I have fully embraced the digital ownership world. It really has changed the way I watch now. No longer am I constrained to my Blu-ray player. I've pretty much watched everything from 2012 on multiple times since. In that same span, 8 new MCU movies popped up as well. Here's my new rankings based up to 2018's MCU films.


Rank
1		Iron Man (鋼鐵人) Iron Man started it all. Without the success of this film, the rest of the MCU would not exist. RDJ and Favreau put a compelling spin on Iron Man's origin story. It got people on board and people are not getting off. For 2008, this was a risky film and comic movies were forever changed.
2		The Avengers (復仇者聯盟) When Iron Man succeeded, Thor and Captain America followed to establish more characters. As each film progressed to introduce parts of the Avengers, this was the movie that put it all together. This movie was the cumulative vision of the MCU that's now being copied everywhere. The movie had great acting, great writing, and some of the best action ever. As much as Iron Man shouted to the world that super hero movies can be great. The Avengers established the greatness of the MCU.
3		Avengers: Infinity War (復仇者聯盟:無限之戰) The snap that changed it all. The MCU in all its glory on display, but the main character was Thanos, the villain. Leave it to the MCU to make a villain compelling enough for you to watch to the end. Iron Man shows up in a big way and the Thor storyline propels him to the front of the cosmic MCU storylines of the future. The rest of the characters played their parts. So much going on and excellently presented.
4		Iron Man 3 (鋼鐵人3/鐵甲奇俠3/钢铁侠3) This was movie that truly showed what Tony Stark can do. As he boasted in Avengers, Tony Stark is a "Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist". This plays out in grand fashion as Stark deals with PTSD of New York and AIM trying to destroy Stark Industries. Without his armor, he's still a genius and survivor. The hall of Armors was a great homage to us comic book collectors.
5		Captain America: Civil War (美國隊長3:英雄內戰) Feels like a mini PSA from the MCU of the political divide of the US and possibly the world. Cap and Iron Man basically flip sides from their origin movies to this movie. Cap wants freedom and Stark wants some accountability. But they both find out that the governments of the world are going to do a poor job of it. We're also introduced to two new MCU characters that change the MCU landscape.
6		Avengers: Age of Ultron (復仇者聯盟2:奧創紀元) This movie was for the Avenger comic geek in me. So many references to comics that my head was about to explode. The storyline wasn't as strong as the first, but the action, dialogue, and purposeful way of MCU was noticed. Considered a failure because it wasn't domestically as strong at the box office, but it cleaned up overseas. I've watched this again several times and love it
7		Thor: Ragnarok (雷神索爾3:諸神黃昏) Thor establishes himself as the future of the MCU in his third solo film. Asgard on full display, but the main story is cosmic. Hulk and him become buddies. Everything should sound weird and not make sense. But that's why this movie is so great. A comedy at heart, but it advance the vastness of the MCU to the cosmic realms. Thor's powers also show that he's a force to be dealt with.
8		Iron Man 2 (鋼鐵人2) I think following arguably the best Marvel movie, there will be a let down. This might have been it. As a stand alone, it was quite entertaining. Iron Man is on display again and we all love Tony Stark. But this movie doesn't add much to the MCU and technology seems dated. BUT on recent watches, its been like wine and has seemly aged well.
9		Captain America: The Winter Soldier - 美國隊長2:酷寒戰士 - 美國隊長2 - 美國隊長2:冬日戰士 As much as Iron Man 3 continued on after Avengers, it really was an Iron Man movie. This was the Captain America movie after Avengers and it set the tone for the rest of the MCU. The events there led to massive MCU changes for movie and television. The movie was a story of Cap coming to grips with his modern surroundings. Falcon and Hydra are introduced and we get a massive spectacle along the way. Often reffered to as Avengers 1.5.
10 & 11		Guardians Of The Galaxy (星際異攻隊/銀河守護隊) and Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 (星際異攻隊2) The first film open the MCU cosmic realms. That there is a universe beyond the Earth and Asgard. Where planets are connected. Both films have the same cast and director which made it feel like an episode 1 and 2 of a series. The movies themselves were excellent. There are so many things to explore with the universe from here on out.
12		Spider-Man: Homecoming (蜘蛛人:返校日) Spider-Man's first MCU solo movie. Peter Parker and his relationship with Stark is further explored. But this is a Peter Parker coming of age story. As an high schooler, he's still young and prone to kid mistakes. A fun watch. Well made movie.
13		Black Panther (黑豹) Black Panther is very good film. But the story itself was weak for me. Killmonger was awesome. The action was awesome. The tech was awesome. But the movie was a bit of a letdown given the hype. Black Panther and Wakanda is well established in this movie and a sequel is on its way.
14		Doctor Strange (奇異博士) This was a nice introduction to a different aspect of the Marvel Universe. That of the mystic arts, something that would take away from the science driven portions so far. Whereas technology has driven Iron Man and Cap, Doctor Strange must embrace that of magic. The introduction of the astral form and other realm makes the MCU's much more vast now. The origin story of a once proud doctor that would go toe to toe with Tony Stark and how he is humbled can be applied to many us that start over.
15 & 16		Ant-Man (蟻人) & Ant-Man And The Wasp (蟻人與黃蜂女) This was a comedy with action in it. Rudd is great as a goofball that could. Throw in some really good lines and actors, you have a really entertaining movie.
17		Thor: The Dark World (雷神索爾2:黑暗世界) Asgard in all its glory is in this movie. It talks mythology and runs with it. A race of super humans that have melded technology with life and no screens. The earth stuff was the boring times.
18		Thor (雷神索爾) Thor is awesome, you need a movie to introduce him. This was pretty good. The father son relationship angle was played up to great success.
19		Captain America: The First Avenger (美國隊長) One of those movies that had to be done to set up Cap. Penny is awesome in this film and deserving got her own show. This movie isn't one I go back to watch often.
20		The Incredible Hulk (無敵浩克) Hulk smash and emotes. Not something I would watch again. It's in the MCU, that is its saving grace.